VBCW (2)

As you can see I have managed to finish a couple more things for the Anglican League unit I was making up. They now have a medium machine gun and 3 crew, (Gunner loader and crew commander). All three have the same arm bands and hats as the  other rifle armed troops I showed two days ago. This Little addition should give them some punch on the table top no matter which rules we settle on. I think from memory that the figures are Great War Miniatures, but I am not 100% sure.
The last figure is an officer. While the arm band is the same the officer has a peaked cap as befits an officer. He carries some form of paperwork which could be anything from written orders to "The Times" newspaper which ever I feel the most appropriate at the time. The leather trench coat is a nice touch I feel as it takes the figure slightly away from green uniform colours and very slightly towards a more civilian feel for the figure. I am sure an officer of sufficient funds would prefer a top coat of strong, but soft leather as opposed to a fabric one. Maybe I am deluding myself!
Strange as it may seem I am moving away from 28mm for this project, (yes I am fickle!) Originally I felt that 28mm was the way to go but on reflection I now think 20mm will be a better choice. So why the change? Well I am glad you asked! There are 2 main reasons. Firstly Tim at the club wants to do the project in 20mm. When doing a project it is always worth having at least one person to encourage you and work with you. Tim may very well be that person. Additionally Relfie (Relfy) has a small force of 20mm 1940's French troops in 1/72 scale. This would immediately get Relfy involved as he bought them already painted and thus really would be ready to go at a moments notice. It is possible, but unlikely, that he might paint some arm bands or insignia so that they could be more in keeping. I shall not hold my breath however. Ian could also feild a 1939-40 German army, but I would fear that it might concentrate far too much on armour. I am willing to be prove wrong though!
The Second reason is that Both  Frontline Wargaming and IT Miniatures are run by club members. Obviously it is nice to support club members and their war gaming companies. IT miniatures produce a very wide range of 20mm WW1 figures including Russian Civil War, Portuguese, East African and several other minor conflicts. They are also willing to sell individual figures so you can get exacly what you want from their range. While closer inspection of Frontline Wargamings range of 20mm WW2 vehicles also includes some civilian vehicles, a couple of home guard vehicle (a delivery van and a tractor) as well as very early war vehicles like the Vikers-Crosley 1928 pattern armoured car and the Vikers-Cardon-Loyd 1936 pattern light tank as well as many other useful bits and bobs. Given that I was to put a WW1 game on for IT miniatures at the BROADSIDE show this year (2013) I will speak with them at the club tomorrow and see if they are happy for me to do a VBCW show game instead.

So there you have it, my progress in what may now be seen as a 28mm dead end and my reasons to change scales to 20mm. I plan to post again on Monday until then take care and keep your chin up old boy! Pip Pip and Toodle-Ooo

1938 VBCW (trial figures.)

I had a conversation with Tim at the club where he expressed an interest in "A Very British Civil War" (VBCW). After a couple of very brief chats on the subject I joined the VBCW forum. I was also lucky enough to have a full day to myself. So I got busy. I think Tim wants to do VBCW in 20mm. While there is nothing wrong with this as a scale the over abundance of tank model kits puts me off as I feel it could degenerate into an arms race. Again this is fine for some games it strikes me as the wrong approach to VBCW. As I like 28mm for skirmish games I rumaged around until I found something suitable in the attic.  I thought I would start with some basic troops.  These figures are 28mm WW1 lowland Scots that I have quickly repainted, re-based and added appropriate VBCW arm bands. 8 figures in all that I originally bought 2nd hand on eBay (unpainted) as such I cannot be 100% sure of the manufacturer. However that is not important at this stage. You will note the arm bands, on each figures right sleeve, they clearly identify the figures as aligned to the Anglian League. The Glenn Gary hats also carry miniature George crosses which again indicate their political affiliation.

 

I have kept the back story of these troops vague at present until I am more immersed into the VBCW background. I chose the Anglian League simply because there is a link to a map on the VBCW forum which shows the dominant powered in that area and the SE of England is mostly Anglian League (at least on the surface). Below the surface any faction could be active and small unit actions between any faction seem possible. Granted there is less likely to be Cornish Independence Party members but there could be a Kent Independence Party (Kent was a separate Kingdom back in the Dark ages, along with Wessex and Mercia) so should players really want to fight for Cornish Independence there is no reason for them not to. Likewise all other political parties could potentially be worked into the background dependant on what club players want.

 

There are a few more of this unit to finish and I hope to have them done by the time I Post on this blog again on Friday. Until then, thanks for reading take care and try  not to do too many impressions of "Giraffes on roller skates" in the snow and Ice!.

A couple more Apache Stands.

I am for now coming to the end of my double shifts But I have found out our secretary will be reassigned to another department which is a real blow as she is so good at her job.
On a wargames note time has been short but I have managed to add a few more stands to the Apache game I started last year. Only another 3 mounted stands and 4 foot stands, so not such a huge amount but "every little helps" or so I am told. Regular readers will know these are 15mm figures from Frie Korp. I have added a few woodland Indians to the foot as I had them as samples a few years ago and they can mix in with little effort as they are the same manufacturer. Still a long way to go before I get this project onto the table, and then I have to determine an opponent for them. US Cavalry is the most obvious opponent, but my current thinking is Mexicans just for a contrast and for something a little different. If they were armed differently and without horses I could have pitted Spanish against them as another option, but as I want this to be a "Colonial" era game US Cavalry or Mexicans are the only real options.

Given that my double shifts should (crosses fingers) be coming to an end I plan to go back to posting on this blog every other day once again. Therefore my next post should be on Thursday. Thanks for reading. I hope life is treating you well all the best Clint.