4 Wheels on my wagon

And I'm still rolling along. Are you old enough to remember that song? I can! Ok I will admit that I am posting early. This is because I have been told that my nephew has a "Bakers Day" and as such I will be looking after him tomorrow. So I would not get a chance to post again until Monday! I Know I would normally post on alternate Sundays and am scheduled to post again on Sunday, but sometimes real life gets in the way.


Anyway on with the figures. As I am in a wargames rut, nothing too fantastic just a single wagon for my colonial wargames in 10mm by Pendraken Miniature. Although the pictures are not clear it is pulled by 4 oxen. These come in a pack of 2 wagons and teams for £4.50. And while not fighting troops it is always good to have some logistics. I suppose I could always use this for Spanish Civil War as well, after all the German Army in WW2 was still using horse drawn transports.

And Finally for today I thought I should share the palm trees That I have imported from China. These are nothing to do with 10mm troops  but will be used on my Arab revolt game which I hope you will remember is 1/72nd scale. I have kept 1/2 the trees the same height as the arrived and I have shortened the trunks of the rest, just so they have different canopy heights with luck they should look more natural that way. I may has shown these before but they have gone forward a stage since then and are now Milliput(ed) to coins so they can keep upright. Including shipping these trees cost me about £8 if I remember correctly from eBay. So for the price I am very happy.

That's it for now I hope to see you on Monday.
Best Wishes Clint.

Paint Monkey strikes again!

As you can see this is me hard at work. Ok truthfully I am probably a little messier! I also probably get more paint on my fingers and clothes!



















Ok so what have I got today. Well I have finished the WW1 Germans for Matt. Here are the last 3 officers. While not sure of the make I will confirm that they are all 28mm.

It is funny how you notice things when it comes to taking the picture that you had overlooked in the painting. This time the horses eye's need a pupil! Still that's a quick fix and will be done long before Matt gets his hands on them.



Wargaming wise I have hit a little slump and am struggling for motivation. I know it will come back in a day or two but for now I am just in a wargames rut. I have prepped some Sudan 10mm figures and will try to crack on with them. With luck I will have something for Friday. Well that should motivate me a little anyway.

So with Luck I will see you again on Friday and let's all hope the Mojo comes back quickly!!

All the best Clint

Death in the Desert.

Well I did forget my camera, but Graham took some photos and sent them to me. So not too much choice of pictures.

Tim set up a colonial club game for us yesterday. We used the Blackpowder rules and his figures and terrain. Only 2 of us had used the rules before and we are both dyslexic so it was slow going! WE had to look up many things but got there in the end.

I was cut off in a camp and very low on ammunition. Only able to fire 10 times before the supply caravan reached me. I had two units (Companies) and one Gatling gun. The Gatling gun would use up 2 shots each time it fired and each company would use 1 ammo point each time they fired. Colin pictured above had the supply convoy 3 companies of Infantry and 1 company of cavalry to protect the supplies and come and rescue me. Tim and Graham each had about 6 units of Marhdist troops in addition Tim had a smoothbore cannon and some Camalry, while Graham had some cavalry. They each had some hidden units. The rest would arrive in random positions on the table edge.

The Anglo Egyptians had the first move. Colin sent scouts ahead and moved his cavalry to screen the left flank of his column. The Mardist troops started to arrive. Colin's Cavalry charged some Ansar., Both forces came to a standstill one rolling very good dice and the other player rolling poorly. Down near my camp some Ansar came in range so I shot at them and missed everything. The following turn I hit everything so the Dice gods were not being unkind. Anyway the Camels were making slow progress towards me and I though that I would get support before I was over run.

 Colin was being cautious both being unfamiliar with the rules and wary of ambush. After 3 turns the camel train stopped and never moved again for the rest of the game. AHHHH! I need ammo! Colin had problems of his own. He put his troops into line and started firing at the rotten Ansar of Graham and Tim. He easily kept them at a distance with ranked rifle fire. But this was not helping me. Still as long as my supplies arrive in time I would survive.  Tradagy! Colin Blunders an order, the line is pulled out of position and isolated. The Marhdists seize the opportunity and swoop into melee with the company. It fails its break test rolling a 4 on 2d6 and flees the board!
NO!
Colin Gets More Cautious. I have six mardist units closing in on my camp and am now down to 4 rounds of ammunition. One group attack the Gatling gun. If the gun is to survive I have to use half my ammunition. I roll a d6 and miss, I am allowed another shot and roll a 1 and jam the gun! The Ansar close assault it and is over run! I have two walls to defend with my Infantry each of my companies facing 2 Ansar. In the first round I use my "steady" ability and pass my morale checks which was nessercary as the Ansar had "Ferocity" allowing them to re-roll misses in the first round of combat. Now out of ammo firing at point blank range I survive (By jammy dice rolls) for three turns until. Graham fudges his orders dice roll twice in a row and can't get his Fuzzies into combat!! So I am only actually out numbered 2 to 1 with no ammo! First one of my companies unit fails it's morale check and flees from the board. my last Company holds the torn bush defences but is eventually driven back having forced 4 of the 6 Marhdist units to flee the field. They are then forced to retreat further into the camp, abandoning the thorn bush defences.

Meanwhile back at the camels. Colin has lost the scouts (tiny unit). He then tries to fill the gap. And pushes his cavalry into melee with the Ansar which are threatening to push through the gap. The Cavalry bounce! They are worn and fail a morale check and are forced to flee the board. Colin still has 2 Infantry units but is now facing a fair amount of Marhdists and has a massive gap in his line. Tim sends his camalry in and they just seize the camel train ahead of Grahams troops. Does not look like I will be getting my ammo now!

Back at the Camp. Graham finally charges with his Fuzzies (beja) and as it is a ferocious charge and as I don't have my defensive thorn bush barricade and no units in support the thin Khaki line dissolves! Game over.

A really good game, the best I have played for ages, such fun. The scenario was really well balanced and the momentum changed sides several times in the battle. It really could have gone any way it just did not go the British way this time.

More painting on Wednesday. Thanks for reading and with luck I will see you soon.

All the best Clint!

Jaeger Officer

I have now finished a Jaeger officer. Unlike the normal German troops of the early period of WW1 the Jaeger (Hunter) is in a green cloth trimmed with dark forest green. The main colour is a grey green with more emphasis on the green than the grey.

This figure has again been painted for Matt (my Friend) and it means just 3 more to go. I plan to have them ready and finished by Wednesday next week. And then I will really needs to crack on with the last finishing touches for my game at BROADSIDE.


Not actually a huge amount more to say about this figure, So I shall end it here and with a club game tomorrow you will probably get an ARR on Monday so until then take care have fun and splash some paint about.

All the best Clint (Paint Monkey)

Paint monkey Part 2

Yeah I know silly title but a little fun. Today we have 4 WW1 German officers again Painted for Matt. All doing officer type things or at least holding papers. Maybe they are just in the cue for the loo. Time will tell when we play a game of  course!

All 28mm and all painted in the Blue/grey of early war Germans.

3 More Mounted ones to go and with luck I shall get them done before the weekend. Don't hold me to that of course, but I have nothing on the painting table other than them of course so I should be back to painting my own figures next week.

That's todays post and with luck I should see you all again on Saturday. Until then take good care and let's paint some figures.

Cheers Clint.

WW1 German Cavalry.

Yes I finally got them done.

Some 28mm Early war German WW1 Cavalry. While the lances all look different heights I can assure you they are not. But as they are being held in different ways it does give that appearance. Again these are painted for a friend (Matt) so not sure of the manufacture still never mind. You will note that one figure has a sword instead of a lance. This was a conversion done by Matt and not myself. I am just the paint monkey!

What I also want to say is checkout Alan Abbey's blog  ( LINK ) as it has the details of the Broadside show this year. It seems that each year we are plagued with mishaps and it is a huge benefit to have Alan beavering away getting things sorted.

Anyway that's enough for today. 3 weeks to go before the show and I still have things to get ready so I had best get on with those now. I also found some more 10mm Fuzzy-wuzzies lurking in a secret stash so they will be put into the painting cue as fast as possible. So the New Project has been put back again! But it's coming Joe it's coming.

Take care and hope to see you soon.

All the best Clint

Villa Citroen..... err not quite!

Well being honest I did not get the figures I was expecting done. I an now on the basing and the hooves and tidying up, so chances are I will get them done tomorrow at the very latest, maybe even tonight. However I do need to get this blog done (while they are drying).

As such I have decided to get some of the buildings I bought at Salute done. These are all 10mm (1/200th Scale) from a company I had not heard of before The Square. Probably my ignorance in not knowing about them, but had I known of them I would not have gone to Kerr and King! While the Quality of these is not as good as Kerr and King the price is so much better. I think they may be a new company as the web site is not fully functional yet. But click the link above to go there.

These buildings will do a dual purpose for me. The single story one I will use for my 10mm Sudan and the larger buildings I will use for my 10mm Spanish Civil war along with the single story buildings. The Square also do some dedicated 10mm Spanish Scenery so expect them painted in the coming months. They also do some Sci Fi Scenery and plants so quite a range of stuff and I will be getting some of those no doubt once my stalled SCI FI 15mm forces get on the go again.

That's it for Today, only a very quick post but sometimes it has got to be. I shall try to show some painted figures next time out. Until then thanks for stopping by and take care.

 All the best Clint

Standard troops.

Well I am still pumping out the Spanish Civil War troops. Two days ago I offered an "exotic" unit so today to balance it I have some more common troops. These are Pendraken 10mm figures again and can be used as either Republican or Nationalist forces by simply swapping the flag over. I have painted them in the Army uniform of the time but painted the blanket rolls in different colours in order to give a less regimented effect.

Gain 3 figures on a round MDF 25mm base to keep them all consistent with mu other troops. The 25mm round base was selected at the beginning simply for ease of handling after-all life is too short to worry about individual figures at a small scale.

Lastly I have also included a single machine gun. Most of the support weapons are only 2 figures to a base but I had far too many officers (in my opinion) in the army pack I bought at Salute this year so the odd one on a machine gun base is not a big thing.

I shall try to post again on Sunday, and with luck something a little different just to break the monotony. Also coming up soon will be some scenery for the SCW, but that will not be ready on Sunday. So until then take care have fun and  sling some paint on some figures!

All the best Clint

Dinamiteros

Dinamiteros  were a group of soldiers in the Spanish Civil War. There are two important traits to consider with Dinamteros, firstly that they used Dynamite and secondly they were killed if captured. The Dynamite was often not thrown but slung in slings and then hurled. Yes they set light to the fuse put the Dynamite in a sling and then twirled it round and launched it towards the enemy. This gave it a greater range than simply throwing it. The most famous Dinamiteros I could find were a bunch of Austrian Miners who fought on the army of the left but it is equally likely that the right also had a similar bunch of specialists.

As such I have painted a small group of 6 stands to represent these men. Or if not these exact men then general Bombers. In a slight variation I have given these troops bases a red edge so they can clearly be identified on the battle field. In game terms they will have a longer grenade range and will not surrender. That does not equate to always passing morale checks as they may well withdraw from the battle if things are not going their way, just that they will not surrender to the enemy as that will usually result in their death.

As they were not in huge numbers 6 stands with no support weapons will be enough to represent them on the battle field. While they are not elite their special ability will no doubt make them favourites mong certain players on the table top. Other players will no doubt discount this ability as just a gimmick in much the same way as officers sometimes did.

Additionally I have managed to get some more Guardia Civil finished. They will help round out some of my forces and bring the police force to a good level. No guarantees of course that they will all reach every battle I put on, but it does give me a few more options.

That's it for today. Take care all and check out Simon's Blog. HERE as he was kind enough to put me forward for a liebster award and while I am grateful for the nomination I have declined it. But the answers to his questions can be found in his comment section. All the best folks see you soon. Clint

RCW Bridge head game

Yesterday at the club I had another game of "Square Bashing" the Peter Pig WW1 rules. We were playing the Russian Civil War and me and Peter had a Red Army Assault force, while the opposing White Army was commanded by Tim and Colin. Our mission was to take the objectives, the objectives being 3 bridges across a river and establish a bridge head.

Centre Bridge.

Peter and myself quickly concluded that 3 objectives were a bridge to far and we formulated a plan to concentrate on two and  station troops close to the third one so  we could contest it. So Peter took the Right bridge and I took the Centre and the left bridge. The left bridge would just hold a token force so we could dispute it at the end.








Centre Bridge preparing for the Assaults
 and Right Bridge After the Cavalry Charge.

While I ready for my troops to assault the centre bridge Peter Leads his Cavalry straight across the bridge and in a very charge of the light brigade way manages not to get them all wiped out (he's just not trying hard enough). They fail a morale check and fall back, back across the bridge. But Peter has some crack troops (in Blue)  Ready to take their place and continue pushing forward.

And then we go! I push over the bridge and severely damage the tank defending and push the infantry back. 
I take no casualties and take the objective. Naturally elevated I am unbeatable!

 So with a badly battered (1 stand left) conscript unit in the wood to my right and a heavy machine gun. Or a tank (severely damaged) a battered Infantry unit and a crack infantry unit reinforcing them. I of course choses the wrong one to assault and get pushed back by the conscripts! Colin Brings down some off table artillery and brings two of my 3 units down to a battered level. Then he assaults them with his tank and crack troops and the worn troops. My troops then Break and fall back across the bridge and  one unit routs off table!

Mean while on the right Peter has a failed assault but is not driven back. He holds his ground and in the last turn of the game I through my conscripts across the left bridge and they are soundly beaten but on the last turn I had little to do.

The Red Assault army has taken a battering and is unable to hold onto the bridgehead. Overall Colin and Tim Won the game 40 VP to our 25VP. A good game, but a clear loss.

Thanks for reading and with luck I will post again on Wednesday. One Final picture just for Ray. Hope you faired better in your game than I did in mine.  Hope to see you all soon All the best Clint



Old Desert Terrain and British Heliograph.

 Well here are a couple of shots of my 10mm Pendraken British Army Heliograph. I will talk about the terrain later, but for now I shall just concentrate on the figures. Inall I have 3 of these heliograph teams but as I only need one have only painted 1. The reason for this is that I may want one in a desert khaki colouring for the later Sudan. By leaving 2 unpainted I retain the option of going either way regarding the colours. Like the majority of my colonial figures  they are on a 20mm by 20mm base. And as such will fit in the box assigned to them with little difficulty.



















What follows is a random set up of my 6mm Modular desert Terrain. It was build about 30 years ago and at the time simply used what was available to me. As a result there are a variety of colours. This really does not bother me too much, ideally it would be all the same colours, but I don't live in a perfect world. Not even a model perfect world.  All the boards were hand made from 5mm and 10mm foam board. And as they were all hand made they don't fit together perfectly. As you can see there are some gaps. But overall these gaps are acceptable top me. I have some more 5mm foam board so expect some more of this terrain coming soon.

This is most of my terrain, in my memory there was more! By most I mean about 3/4s so there is still enough for variations and I can almost guarantee that it will not go back in exactly the same way! The River and water sections were done for Battletech but have never been used.

Originally this was made for 6mm WW2 Western Desert. But now as I have a couple of 10mm Sudan armies I will need to replace the buildings (honestly these ones are too small). I have bought sufficient 10mm desert Buildings while at Salute, so that will be a very quick job.

And there you have it, I suspect the terrain will work perfectly well for the change of scale and other than the buildings see no changes that desperately need to change. If I get picky I can always re-paint each board but have no plans to do so at this stage.

Thanks for looking today. Have a good few days and I shall post again on Saturday. Have a good one folks.

Turkish HMG

Having bought this at Cavalier I have finally managed to slap some paint on it. So Today we have an EARLY WAR MINIATURES Turkish Heavy Mg. This is a Maschinengewehr_08 with two crew, we can assume the officer/NCO with the binoculars is able to change ammunition belts as well as peer into the distance. While normally I would use IT miniatures for great war as Tim is a club member, this was an impulse buy at the Cavalier wargames show. Don't get me wrong Early war miniatures do some great stuff and I don't regret getting this model I did find the sculpting a little awkward. Which is not to say I could do better, I can't! It is probably because I have painted so many of one company I have gotten used to their sculpts. Anyway I digress!

Clearly this figure is destined for my Arab Revolt game. As such it will give the Turks a huge advantage. Not sure how I will balance that yet, I may just not bring it into play and have it sitting on the side-lines so peoples think it is an option. As such I now can state that I have all the figures done for the Arab revolt game and am ready to rock and roll. Couple of things I have still to do with the boards so I am in plenty of time.

So what else am I working on? That is an interesting question! About 30 years ago I started making some 1/300th desert terrain. It has only been used in anger once as the guy I built it to play with moved away and I have not seen him for about 20 years now! I had forgotten this terrain if I am honest as it was boxed up and put in the garage. And now I find that I am doing some 10mm Sudan. It seems far too good an opportunity to miss. So I am adding to it. Yes I will have to change the buildings but that really is the only change I will need to make. So later in the week you may get offered a photo of a desert terrain set up. As always there is a lot more to do on it, but it should work for 10mm figures so maybe in a few weeks I will be able to play Black powder as opposed to Patrols in the Sudan.

Ok folks I had better go. Take care and hope to see you back here again soon. Cheers Clint