Crocs and Trolleys.

As my self imposed "figure fast" draws to a close on Saturday I do not see myself heading into a "Figure Feast". So first up today is the second Croc from Michael over at 28mm Victorian Warfare who sent me them to flesh out my TAR7AN game, which I really do need to spend some more time finishing. I had one finished before so here is the second one as well, both together. So one very small step closer and again my thanks to the gentleman Michael. Thank you Sir very much appreciated.





Obviously these are not at all related to the crocs, except that they might be considered as articulated if coupled together. These are very well priced at £5 for the set. Ainsty Castings.  (the link will take you to the right page.) On the Ainsty site these trolley Cart train is painted silver. While I did like the silver look as being very science fiction or Spy-Fi I wanted these to stand out on the table top and yet still fit into either setting. As a result I went for a bright yellow main colour with a series of red, brown and a very very dilute black washes. The black applied only into the joins on the cylinder tanks but quite heavy on the grey trolley bases. Given the boldness of the cylinder tanks I settled on a simple grey for the wheeled bases which carry the cylinders as I wanted the tanks to be the focus and not the wheeled bases. I have no immediate use for them but in any science fiction setting or scale I am sure they will get some game action. As we all know cover is cover and a welcome  addition in pretty much on every tabletop game. I must say for the price these really are a good addition and I am strongly considering getting more.

Thanks for reading today. Next update will be on Sunday. So until later take care have fun and blog like crazy! All the best Clint.

6mm Baccus Wss trial figures.

It has been many years, (probably close to 15-20), since I last painted any 1/300th scale or so called 6 mm figures. So I thought it wise (others may say foolish) I should start small (no pun intended) and with a very limited type and amount of figures. As such I have completed 2 units. Completed is the wrong word as I have yet to add the flags. The flags are commercially available from Baccus and thus I will purchase them in due course as it saves mucking about trying to make my own.

The first unit is painted to represent Sir Edward Derings Regiment of Foot, Captain General John Churchill 1st Duke of Marlborough, at the battle of Blenhiem during the War of Spanish Succession. The colours were taken from The War Office. web site. While I am staying close to the colours in many games they will not represent the actual units as they will need to take many roles in a few different eras and theatres.




The second unit has been painted to represent the  Welch Regiment of Fusiliers. Again colours and markings taken from the War Office as mentioned above.

Each unit has been based to match Tim's troops so that if we attempt big games there will be no disparity in sizes. With 3 bases to a unit they will also be usable for "Beneathe the Lily Banners" rules as well.
 While Tim was able to fit 12 "Irregular"figures to a base I was only able to squeeze 8 figures in the same area. Baccus figures are slightly wider and many people say they have big heads. They are most definitely better quality than "Irregular Miniature" and indeed with larger heads, but as they cost more one would hope for better quality. I do appreciate "Irregular Miniatures" and would be willing to get more at a later date but for now Baccus is the way forward for me. I think these may be the re-start of my War of Spanish Succession project despite the fact that I have purchased an army in 15mm as well. 6mm will at least dovetail with Tim's figures which will stop me having to buy two armies and will in the long term save money ..... well maybe, it might just mean I buy more! You know what it's like

I have kept the bases simple with just a paint finish as putting any texture on them would have cluttered them considerably. The base sizes are only 22mm by 12mm so once the figures are attached there really is not much room at all for the little extra bits which make them visually more appealing.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading this and I have several things started on the painting table so I really have no idea what will be finished next. However I have offered to put on a Wild West Zoimbie game in 10 days time or so. Therefore you may expect to see some figures for this game in the very near future.

Best wishes Clint

They don't like it up 'em.

 Tim, Graham and myself had a Sudan game at the  club yesterday. Tim took the Mahdist's forces while Graham and myself were given a supply column and troops of her majesty's most glorious empire. The rules used were "A Good Dusting" Tim supplied everything, troops terrain and the rules and scenario.

The mission was to take the supplies from one table edge to the opposite side. the carts could not cross the hills but everything else could. So we planned the best route and set of moving at the speed of our infantry (4" a turn).

There were two obvious "pinch points" which we would need to take the wagons through. And then the Mahdists turned up. My cavalry scouting ahead trying to secure the first pinch point was met head on by the native cavalry who managed to get the charge in and melee was joined. A melee that was to linger on and on and on. I won each round of combat but the heathens just would not break no matter how hard I tried. My infantry were the advance guard and ever so slowly caught up with the meleeing horse. First I tried a firing line behind them thinking my own might run before the native fanatics then I fanned out to either side to counter the approaching Beja.

My second unit of cavalry were caught in the open and shot up thus retreated and let the foot-sloggers get involved. Eventually they dismounted and formed a skirmish screen on the columns left flank to counter more Mahdist troops streaming in from that side. (Mahdist troops were set up randomly by use of a scatter dice with a chance of more arriving each turn.)

Madist camel troops and a very few fuzzy wuzzies turned up behind the column but Grahams troops made very short work of them. While a horde turned up on my left flank and my cavalry skirmish screen had to edge backwards each turn giving fire and ground in equal measure.

Eventually the Mahdist Cavalry died to a man having refused all decency and not routed and the pinch point opened enough to get some wagons rolling through. But seriously it did take all day to get that result they just would not run the blighters! So I swung my now free horse into the flank of the closest Beja and launched a bayonet charge with a foot unit at the same time.

We ran out of time but it was clear that Her majesty would have been pleased with the action in the Sudan this day. All my troops had taken losses but none had actually broken and disgraced themselves.

There were a number of issues that the rules and situation bought up. I think the British had about twice the number of troops they should have and the fact that the Mahdists turned up in dribs and drabs which meant Tim would never be able to make a strong concerted effort. Which did not lead to a very balanced game in the end which is a shame as I would like to do more of this period. A string of emails have been sent both ways with ideas and suggestions and Tim has amended some of the rules to suit our club more even sending updated quick reference sheets to Graham and myself. I can't say I out played Tim in any regard despite the clear win it was just that at no stage did the poor chap manage to get enough troops on the table. Then when he did get troops into the game they were so scattered that the long range of the rifles (30 inches when foot move 4 inches a turn) meant they could be severely weakened to the point that they could not really impact. So Other than the native horse I initiated the charges with my infantry. We all like a bayonet charge after all!

A slightly disappointing game I have to admit, but lessons learned so with luck next time we play a more even result has the potential to emerge. That's it for today thanks for reading and I will blog again on Wednesday. Best wishes Clint.

Bicycle Boys!

 A couple of old Foundry figures from their Home guard range. I hasten to add that I am still working through my old lead pile and at present have no use for these chaps. I am sure I will find a use for them but what that will be and when is anyone's guess. Painted more for fun and pleasure than anything else following the WW1 figures I was finishing off last week. For now I'll put them in the same box and maybe use them as WW1 dispatch riders.

Not really a whole lot more to say about these two figures.  Something a little different but only a little. I used the same colours as the WW1 figures as British army uniforms did not seem to change colour too much between the wars. That is of course the time for someone to jump in and contradict me. And if the colours are very much different I have an eye test in September so let's not worry about it.

I may have originally got these when VBCW was planned in 28mm but now the club is doing 20mm these might never get used. Oh well never mind, sooner or later they'll either get used or put on a bring and buy.

Changing the topic, I am due to play a Sudan game at the club on Sunday so with any luck an After Action Report on Monday. So until then, take care and hope to see you soon. Best Wishes Clint.

6mm Buildings (2)

 Well here are the other two buildings. Both from the same source as the ones I showed a couple of days ago. Again they have a wide variety of construction techniques displayed on each model (stone work, brick work, timber framed, weatherboarding etc etc.. ) Traditionally Weatherboarding would be white washed but I thought the blue just looked better. If we are being strictly accurate then weatherboarding is a Kent (and Kentish.....you have to be local to appreciate the difference) contextual feature which would mean the building (or Builder) was base in (or from) Kent.  I can already hear the snores so I'll move on.

The third picture shows some of the side views as opposed to straight elevations. This is to show that the details extend to all sides. I really like this approach as when on the table top we would never see a simple facade.  It also goes to show how much fun they are to paint.

Of course now I have these painted up there is no excuses not to do some of my 6mm troops. While I have none on the paint table at the moment, I have as mentioned previously now found them and even had an email back from Tim at Frontline with the sixes of the bases he has used. So perhaps I need to stop procrastinating and get on with it.

As you can see from the last photo here are all the building together. I knew someone would ask for one so just to save you the effort of asking.

So here we go again another blog post over and with luck I shall look forward to hearing from you or to the next post which should be on Friday. All the best Clint

1/300th Buildings (1)

 Having played a game with Tim about 10 days ago using Black Powder rules with his 6mm Jacobites I knew I had some 6mm Malburians by Baccus. Yes I realise these are buildings, please bear with me. The Malburians I knew I had put somewhere "Safe". So I started the search for them and found these resin 6mm (1/300th scale) buildings. So the brush came out and the paint went on because it is always nice to have some scenery for games. There are 2 more which are half painted so look out for them in coming posts.

The first building I have painted I have made into a pub or Tavern. The sign says "Hop and Vine" so it is very generic and could fit in anywhere. The other three are not commercial building but dwellings. All 4 buildings have a variety of building styles and materials. Stone build, timber frame wooden planking and a rendered plaster finish are all in evidence. There is a mixture of tile and thatch roofs and different forms of stonework including quoining. Most buildings have a mixture of styles and techniques which adds to the very village feel of the buildings. over all I am very impressed with these buildings sculpts as they each are absolutely packed with character. When the other two are finished they will make a very charismatic and charming village to battle through.

I did eventually find the place the Malburian figures were hiding. This particular "Safe place" was tucked behind the printer by my computer. I have no idea why they were hiding there but they did  show up so that is another thing to get painted in the coming weeks.

That's it for now. I should post again in 2 days. So until then thanks for reading and as ever feel free to make comments if you choose. All the best Clint.

More WW1 28mm

 I was in a painting mood on Saturday so managed to get some more 28mm figures done. Obviously they are all late war, but I had them hanging about and as I am at present not buying and trying to reduce the unpainted pile it was worth getting them done despite the fact that the rest are early war mostly in caps. Which makes these the first helmeted figures for the force.

The figures are "Great War Miniatures" in a pack of Lewis gunners. I suspect that there should have been 3 Lewis Gunners and 3 Ammunition carriers. In my pack there was a duplicate munitions carrier, middle in the top photo and left figure in the second photo. This is not a complaint. and extra ammunition is rarely a mistake. I am guessing that somewhere there is a figure pack with an extra Lewis Gunner but no No:2 so he'll be short of supplies and may have trouble reloading. Many people would prefer the extra gun but troops carrying things through trenches can always be used in a WW1 setting.

6 figures in a pack at £5:40 including postage having just checked on eBay seems like a good price. I have no need of any more British for now so I doubt I will purchase any more in the foreseeable future. I did enjoy painting them though as the uniforms are straightforward and it means you can get them done without too much thought or colour worry.

Additionally I found this Renegade officer who had failed to get painted when I did the rest of the WW1 figures so I managed to include him in the batch at the same time. He had been attached to a "slotta" base which I must have done several years ago as opposed to a washer. I have no idea why I did not do him those years ago, maybe he was absent without leave at the time and I simply forgot him and then put him in the "to do" box! Who knows, I can't remember. You can see in the group picture at the bottom that despite my camera work in the individual picture he does fit in. (No idea why it came out so much darker and so much browner. Oh well never mind)




I am doubtful these will get any kind of tabletop outing in the near future I definitely have nothing planned for them but you never know. I would need to make another opposing army for them and that is a task I am not willing to take at present.

That is it for today. Thank you for tuning in. If I can get any painting done this afternoon I will post again on Tuesday. I hope to but nothing is ready yet. So until next time keep safe have fun and feel free to comment, or not as the whim takes you. All the best Clint

120mm mortar

Well despite many distractions I have managed to get a single 120mm German WW2 Mortar. While not rare it was on the Plastic Soldier Heavy Weapons sprue so it was worth painting it up just in case. It finishes the sprue so while it might not find an immediate use I am sure somewhere down the line it will get an outing.

Not having read the rules yet or dug on the internet for details I do have some hope of being able to use it for "Chain of Command." so I have painted the crew to match in with my late war Germans.

Nothing else painted in the last two days but a couple of other things started. On the Non painting front I finished "Farcry 3" this morning, By finished I mean all the quests, side quests, vehicles, letters of the lost, communication towers, pirate bases, assassinations, emergency supply runs and animal hunts. I will not be going for all the relics as I want a change now so maybe the latest Tomb Raider or Assassin's Creed II or Fallout 3. I have all the games but like to finish one game before starting another, Frugal of me I think! I don't know which will take my fancy but being drawn towards Assassin's Creed 2 due to my interest in Italian renaissance architecture!

That's todays very quick post. Thanks for reading. I may be able to get a little more done on the Tarzan Board next week no promises but it is my intent. That's it for now take care and hope you can pop by again. Cheers guys.

Third Time Lucky?

 Those with good memories will have seen this lot of lead before. Twice before to be more precise. The fist time I painted them for VBCW in 28mm but the club wanted 20mm. The second time was a big oppsie moment when I picked up a can of white primer instead of the spray varnish.

Hence the title "Third Time Lucky" As you can see I have re-painted them and varnished them and they are now ready to be put back in the box and with luck they need not be seen again. Unless of course I do another WW1 Zombie game. You never know It could happen.

I have not stressed myself too much about the final finish as it was pretty unrewarding to go over them again. It's not like painting fresh lead.

But they are at least done and dusted and I can now move forward. That is of course until I found some more 28mm WW1 figures. Yes you guessed it I could not leave well enough alone and they are now on the paint cue so they may should be ready by Sunday.

Not going into details but Not looking after my Nephew today. It has taken him an extra day to recover from the operation, so I expect to be looking after him tomorrow. He's fine just needed some extra rest so really nothing major.

That's today's quick post, just rectifying my own mistake from about 8 months ago. I hope all is well with you and I should post again on Friday. SO until then take care, have fun and try to get some painting done. Best Wishes Clint

A Jjacobite AAR

 

I had a game at the club yesterday. Tim wanted to try the Black Powder rules. This is how the game went. The Picture to the right has the board set up. All the figures were supplied by Tim, and were 6mm Irregular Miniatures. While I am not a huge fan of Irregular these were actually well cast and well sculpted which makes a change from what I have seen in the past so perhaps they have improved. The trees walls and two villages were also supplied by Tim. Tim has not put the 6mm buildings up for sale at shows or online but did confirm that he does intent to in the future.

I played the British and Tim took charge of the Scots for a Jacobite battle.  The first picture shows my troops arriving on the battle field. I had only 1 artillery piece, Tim had none, we had one cavalry unit each and I had 8 infantry units to the Scots 12. My mission was to take both the villages and level them. One village on the hill to the left the other on the right beyond the trees.

It is fair to say that we got the rules wrong and continually corrected them as we discovered the right solution. So movement at the start was very slowly and we both struggled with the dice and motivating the troops. However it was equally stifling for us both so no biggie. It was good to have a slow start anyway as it gave us both chance to get used to what we were doing.

My plan was that to try to split the Scots defenders and target one village while using a smaller force to keep the rampaging Scots at bay. Tim had different ideas of course.  The picture to the right shows where my firing line came to a halt on the right. Tim hurled his Cavalry unit straight at my centre The Scots Horse of this period were not very effective and that proved to be the case in the game. They hit a unit of Loyal lowland Scots and suffered so badly that they turned tail and withdrew both disrupted and shaken. For most of the rest of the game poor Tim could not get a general to motivate them again.


The next picture shows where my advance was halted by a series of bad command rolls. Tim had sent 4 foot units to my left out of shot, hence the bent line. He sent his troop forward, down from the hill on the right and into melee with my right flank unit. A series of good dice rolls (from my point of view) first tied the melee and then allowed me to win it. And then the four units to the left hurtled into my loyal Scots who were able to get of shots at close range and disrupt the charge. The resulting fights did not go all my own way but neither were they disastrous.

My right flank was out shooting the Scots quite dramatically, which is not to say the return fire was having any effect. More to say they mine was becoming about twice as effective overall and Tim had to move leaders about and rally troops at every opportunity. I did finally manage to motivate the horse and send them into the highlanders who had finally lost the melee and had withdrawn. They did what any good formed horse should do against fleeing troops and totally wiped them out. They were then on the flank of Tim's troops and after a turn of resting and recovering were able to launch another charge into his troops which had been using a stone wall as cover.

meanwhile to my left the 4 units of highlanders contacted my lowland loyalists. Ouch! One unit acted as a "speed bump" and slowed the Highlanders down but did not stop them. After a couple of turns they crumbled and the unit routed of the board never to be seen again. Of course I reinforced them plugged the hole and steeled myself for the next onslaught. This temporary gap encouraged the scots still on the hill to commit themselves. and I had 1 unit at the corner in danger of having to fight or more than one face, so I got them to form square. While not a conventional tactic we were trying the rules so it was worth a try. They did not fight as efficiently in square as I hoped but it did mean that any failed morale tests would still keep them there and not scatter them. So they did not flee and they did allow me to support the square and I managed to squeeze his highlanders between my two units (square and line).

At the same time my left flank was hurting I managed to charge my horse again into the flank of the unit seeking cover behind the wall. They could not get a last shot off lost the morale check and with a bad dice roll also fled the field. At this stage Tim's flank started to withdraw out of charge range and I made a steady advance with my foot on my Right.

So my left flank was under pressure my centre was holding but my right had pretty much dealt with the defenders of the first village. With some fortunate motivations (despite rolling double 6). A natural 12 on the motivations mean the unit concerned fails to understand the order properly and may act in a random manner. This surprisingly worked in my favour and they were put in a position to threaten the Scots Horse which had continually failed to motivate and of course Tim was too busy elsewhere to spare a commander to order them back to the fight.

With my right flank free I was able to support the left which were slowly and systematically being worn away. Bringing so many now fresh and rested troops over to the left allowed my to push the remaining highlanders back and I secured the second village.

Conclusion: Although the unit losses tend to make it look like a one sided battle I only lost 3 foot to Tims 11 and a horse. The battle was not as this would reflect. I grant you that Tim was continually on the defensive and to much extent the back foot but a few different dice rolls and I could have been crushed like a bug at one point in the game.

Overall the rules worked well and we shall use them again. They are not a set for picky rules lawyers but they do seem to be a good set for club fun games. The basic rules are simple and despite the hesitations and our initial lack of understanding over motivations worked as I would hope a club set should work. The best part for me was that I have played skirmish games the most part of the last year or so which made a big battle set a very pleasant change.

When I first thought to do War of Spanish Succession  I did buy some 6mm Baccus miniatures. I can see that I might have to hunt them out and get them painted now. Given that I am not buying any wargames figures until September at the earliest this seems to me to be an excellent idea. So give me a while to clear what I have on the paint table already and I can start them.

I hope you found something of interest here today. Thanks for tuning in and I should do my next post on Wednesday. All the best Clint.

Small but mighty!

Events overtook me and I was not able to post as scheduled on Thursday. Which means Yes you guessed it I was looking after my nephew. But despite that and while he played on the computer or watched "Aliens" on DVD I did manage to get some 10mm Kallistra Dwarves painted and based. The first few people who followed this blog or just casually glanced at it will no doubt vaguely remember I started a 10mm fantasy army. Well I still had and have some Dwarfs to paint for this so I thought to do something small and easy to finish between 40k matches (most of which I lost!).

So here we have 4 stands of dwarves. Each stand has 10 figures on it for that nice crowded look which so suits smaller figures. As with the other units in the army I have gone for a bold blue and white colour scheme.  I find bold colours on smaller figures very effective in a fantasy setting as I want them to be clear on the table.


I make no excuses for having painted these figures  in a wargaming manner. They are designed to be see from a couple of feet away and don't need the detail the shading or the highlighting of 28mm figures. Therefore I put a heavy black wash over them and a simple highlight after there base colours were done. Simple and yet effective enough from a couple of feet away.

 I do have more of these little blighters to do so don't be too surprised if they start turning up between now and Christmas. I am even thinking of getting more at SELWG at the end of September. I won't go overboard on purchases, but I do like the look of this army and think it does deserve to be increased to a usable size.

Eventually I will need an opposing army for them and am at present open to suggestions. I am very fussy about fantasy armies though which means I would want something that would fit in and be a worthy adversary for these figures. One guy (Kevin) at the club has some Undead so I would not want to tread on his toes and get them as well. Anyway have a think and let me know.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading and I should post again on Monday. All the best Clint

TAR7AN Board update 5

 Ok not making any excuses, but it's "Summer Holiday" time so having to look after my nephew means I don't get as much hobby time as usual. Because of that I have not got any figures painted. So here's where I am on the board.

As you can see the stepping stones are now in place. Some tidying up to do but overall not too bad.

I have STARTED to paint the river. Only started mind so not the finished shades, but It should I hope, give a rough indication of where it is heading. at least 2 more shades of different blue and another green before I look towards the Varnish.

I have finished dry brushing the cliff. This takes it from a very plastic kids toy feel into a slightly more credible look. Once stains and some foliage is added it should start looking more realistic. At least that is the hope. I don't mind it looking a little cartoony but I don't want bit to look too ropey!

The temple entrance was treated as roughly as the cliff and yet still gives a passable result. I have yet to black in the doorway but even so you can see that it should work.


I would like to say I have more to share, but James (the nephew) has taken and will continue to take up time and effort to entertain. Which is not in any way a complaint, but is perhaps some part of an explanation.

I shall try to get some figures finished for Thursday. Basing and a lot of touching up to do on this next batch..... and due to my self imposed "Figure Fast" you will see they are not from current front runner projects but from something started a couple of years back!

That's it hurried out for today. Hope to see you Thursday. So until then take care have fun and enjoy the sun. All the best Clint.