Paint monkey again.

Yes a little more Painting for Matt. As Matt got his WW1 Germans back last weekend he very kindly gave me more things to paint and some beer tokens for doing so. So what Have I managed to do in the last 5 days. There are some mounted officers and Infantry I have just started for Matt as well. So No 1/300th scale started by me just yet.









Well the answer is a Colonial Northwest Frontier Indian gun and crew. I cannot and will not claim to know very much about this period or what the gun is but all the colours are copied from the internet so I am fairly content that they are right.

As there are 4 crew we can assume one is the gun commander, one the loader, one the firer and one the Rammer! I am confident that these will increase his collection and make the Northwest Frontier more of an active project for him. I do have more of this period to do for him so you can expect to see more in the next week.


 The gun is quite small but I for one would not want to carry it up a mountain. so there are an additional 2 donkeys to help with the portage. I am not sure of the make of the donkeys, but the gun and crew I believe are Foundry, but not totally sure about that.







The last picture is them all together and not really much more to say. Thanks for popping by have a good day and with luck more again on Sunday.

Take care of yourself Clint.

New Project Alert.. You are warned.

For the long standing members of this blog you may remember this post LINK about plans for 2013. Well one of them is now on the top of my to do list so I will be starting a new project this week. Gasp shock horror! No it is not chariot racing (maybe by this time next year! Maybe!)

I have mentioned it to other club members and it looks like there is a strong possibility of doing 6mm Cold War Era wargaming. So as It stands it looks like we shall be doing this for our broadside game next year. Unless I get side-tracked or another club member wants to do something else. So we shall see what happens, but as I type this I have good intentions.

This is as much a return to my roots as it is a new project. As I used to play this kind of game a fair amount in the 80's I have found my two armies from this time and will start to re-paint and re-base them over the coming months. I will also build terrain, in fact you may say I have started already as I have three boards carcassed-out and ready to start work on. Don't hold your breath though they are a very long way from finished yet. Merely boards and Battening at this stage, nothing more.

To the right you can see some of my current bedside reading. I do have more rule options as well but as "Challenger 2" was my choice of rules back in the day I have a feeling it will be where I start. First Clash is not a rule set, but more an alternative history.

The following Blogs have inspired me so I would like to say THANKS to them as well. There are of course many more blogs out there covering this topic so this is in no way a definitive list.

http://coldwargamer.blogspot.co.uk/  Doing it in 20mm but packed full of top class information
http://stoppingtheredtide.blogspot.co.uk/ Doing it in 15mm
http://whirarwistan.blogspot.co.uk/ Another 20mm site (more modern than cold war)
http://bleaseworld.blogspot.co.uk/ 6mm Arab Israeli War
http://www.blmablog.com/ 6mm WW2 Western Desert

Well that is just a very short list and I am sure you have got your own favourites for this period and scale.

But now that my SCW game is coming to a conclusion I will be able to concentrate on a new project.

Thanks for looking today and I will have some painted figures by Friday. Just on the basing now.

All the best Clint

Shako shaken

I do not play a lot of Nappys. Lets just say bad experience in the past and leave it at that. But I had a game on Sunday of Shako. I have played these rules about 10 years ago so as you will already have worked out I was totally aware of all the rules and connotations. Also apart from reading and watching "Sharpe" this period is a big black hole in my historical knowledge. So that make me a perfect candidate to act as a subordinate commander as far as the club is concerned.

Anyway Tim was my superior commander and we had the French. Gary, Peter and Colin had the Russians. Gary was more than fluent with the rules and Colin knew them pretty well but Tim and myself lets just say not so much but we had the French. Tim devised a plan and gave me a briefing which made me happy as it meant I did not have to think about tactics or any of that hard stuff. And this is how it all went.

The French line with my troops in the foreground.
The battle was an
Encounter battle.

The Russians had a double line.
It turn out 3/4 of the way through the battle that
Tim had short changed the French
in numbers of troops we were allowed.
Ah well!

The French plan was simple.
I was to hold the Right flank seen as vulnerable
while Tim advanced on the left
and would thus roll up the Russian Line.

My troops move up to the town and then go on defend orders.

My troops hold the town and
 Tim sends his cavalry forward and pivots his infantry.
Taking the battle to the Russians.
 

Tims Cavalry charge.
The Russians form (for the most part) squares.
I think you can guess the result.

The dice were rolled and the
result was just as you expected

Yes you were right! The infantry on in square were trounced
and the follow up charge destroyed another unit.
The Other cavalry died heroically and futility.
Lots and Lots of dead horse
so we all knew what was on the menu that night!
 

Tim wanted a picture of the Russian troops he'd destroyed.

Tim's troops
follow up but have to clamber over
piles of dead horses.
They too get repulsed for the most part.

So as the French Attack had been repulsed.
The Russians went on the offensive.
Firstly with their Cavalry against our reserve cavalry.

The Russians started to advance on the town
 so I brought up my reserve. Yes I was still playing
you cheeky so and so!

Tim brings on some more troops
 as we had forgotten to include them in the army
 at the beginning of the game. I have one more unit to
fill the gap and crest the hill.

From the other side/end of the table.
The Russians having taken the hill
close on Tims Fresh Bavarian troops.

The Russians (under Colin) attack my troops
and the town. The troops on my far right
were driven back. But all others held.
Despite 2 or three columns attacking each of my
Line troops. Yes I got luck with some dice rolls.
 

Eventually the Russians push through the French line.

 

And that's when the French army had taken sufficient casualties to force a withdraw. I think we have to hand it to the other players Gary, Peter and Colin on a good solid game and in Gary's words a Pyric Victory for the Russians.

That's it for today I shall do another post very soon. Thank you for reading. And it has made me want to play some more "Shako" in the future. Take care and I hope you are well.