Batch 3

Yep here are the last 5 figures of Batch 3 and a group shot of all of Batch 3 together.

They are a mix of Makes, just Perry Miniatures and Empress I believe, But I may well be wrong about that. So do not take my word at all.

I have mostly stuck with dull cloth in the clothes but with bright accents like turbans or belt sashes.  I say mostly as sometimes I did stray and paint a tunic Pink green red or Blue, to break them up and make them look less uniform. I think it has worked quite well. But the majority of colours are cream and browns

Shields I have painted bright universily and tried to make te colours as varied and bright as possible. Having said that I will do a Lilac shield if there is a next batch as I know I have not painted that colour yet.

But there they are another 20 finished varnished and put ib a case ready for Matt to collect them.

Thanks for looking today and I will need to start on my own figures later this day as I have no idea what I will blog in 2 days time. You never know it might be terrain!

All the best and I hope you are enjoying the Olympics.

Cheers Clint

Fu Manchu

Well I was expecting to get some more Burpas done, but well I got side tracked.. This Figure is from Ironclad miniatures that I bought a year or two ago and then it sat in a carrier bag NOT getting painted. Then I found it a couple of days ago and Baboom! Finished in a evening.

While the figure is sold as Fu Manchu it va of course be any wealthy Chinese man from any period. I can see it being used in Wild West games, Victorian London Games, Modern Gangster games, 1920s Gangster games and plenty of other games as well. It is just a good generic Chinese figure.

Knowing the Chinese consider Red to be a lucky colour and the colour of wealth and prosperity I went for an all red colour scheme. When portrayed in films Fu Manchu usually wears Black or Gold but to me that made the figure to dark and I did not want that. So I broke the Red with Green hem, collar and cuffs and put a "Ying Yang" motif on his back. It was about the simplest motif I could paint and the back did need something  to break up the red.

The figure is 28mm and while not the very best sculpt you can buy is not the worst either so I was happy with it. And I was happy with the way the paint slapped on as well.

Right at the bottom (you have probably noticed) I have a picture of Fu from the movies just so we all know to whom I refer.

Thanks for looking today. I shall get Back to Burpas and to finish some 10mm figs (including the steam tank)and remaking some terrain and even starting a new Dedicated "En Garde!" force in the next few days as things arrive and I get spare time in which to do them.

Cheers Clint

All for One and I am off down the pub!

The scene is set and the showdown
 of the facial hair would be decided!

Yesterday at the club 5 of us tried the "En Garde!" rules out. As a first run out of course we made mistakes but or rereading the rules last night I must say only 1 leaps out and that was the same for each person so not a big mistake AND I have already emailed the guys and told them.



Dusk in the village as two bands of blood thirsty kerrs approach

At the club you can arrange games and Tim and myself had done so and I was sure Matt would join in as he had expressed an interest a few weeks earlier. But You never know who else will want to for on reason or another. And Yesterday Pete and Bob were both looking for a game. Luckily I had already worked out 2 100 point Cardinal Guard "armies" Both of which were split into 50 point forces. So I would Reff and those with Tasches would be on one side and those with beards on another (I am clean shaven so you can see the logic!) I gave everyone a 50 point force! Everyone had a leader with "Commander" attribute at either rank 4 or rank 5.

First  off we spayed a straight skirmish! The light of the day was fallinand range and vision would fade to 12" vision range in  2-3 turns, the weather was overcast but dry and not windy. the Blues (BOB and Pete) approached the village from the left and Tim and Matt (the Reds) approached from the Right.

Blood Alley. Where in Peters heroic named character
manages to fend of Tim's Reds 1 at a time without difficulty
Pete only had 3 figures in his force but the named
character did take up 38 of his 50 points and was
incredibly good at the killing!.

Tims had many more troops but all far weaker and was flanking around and
 DID manage to kill Peters Guard and Servant!
 

On the other side of the table Matt was holding his own against Bob's Blues.
Knowing that Matt had a pistol Bobb was overturning tables
to create barricade at first but finally
charged in with sword and dagger..
 

  The first game ended with bob and Matt on Wavering Morale and Tim with just one man left and also wavering. Peter also had one man left but had an ability to callously ignore his own dead and wounded and stay in the fight! So the game went to the Blues and beards were banished! At least on that occasion.

Tim's luck had returned and he rolled double 1and imeadiatly lost
 a guardsman in an equal fight.
he was run straight through.



The blues came quietly into the town.
The alarm was soon raised and the reds rushed into the town centre!
Matt set his matchlock up at a high window ready to "snipe"
 (well snipe with a matchlock you kind of know what I mean!)
But Naughty Bob had different Ideas about that.
he sent his highest rank around the back of the building and without warning
pummelled all kinds of hell out of Matts Character!

 

Game 2. At this stage we had all learnt but not Mastered the rules! and we had enough time for a second game so we did. This time it was dawn and the light was rising on the town. The Blues had the task of freeing two chaps from the stocks who were going to be forced to grow beards! (OK that may not be the reason they were actually in the stocks but it kind of works!) Some Reds were up and about in the town while many others were still waking up so the Reds were outnumbered until the alarm was raise. Some VERY minor changes were made to some force lists Matt's Reds had now got 1 Matchlock and Bob had changed figures round so that it was less clear which had the greatest rank!.

Overall a fun set of rules and plans and ideas are formulating in my mind. While they do work perfectly well for 3 Musketeers there are just so many other options I feel may work better with regard to how the club functions.

And As I have just received a new book through the post for the period I will say no more until it starts to happen


Thanks for looking today, with luck some more burpas next time. (Wednesday... fingers crossed!)

The bles rushed to the stocks and started to free the prisoners.
As small fights broke out among the other troops.
As the Reds slowly got more troops into the fight

Bobs main character (in what was called "Council worker Yellow"
puts a grievous wound into another guard
and then runs to help the escaping prisoners.


Tim manages to kill the Servant again and peter just has one figure left
as he kills the guard as well with a succession of light wounds which escalate
 to a grevious and then out of the fight. . But Peter unleashes his main character and
first kills one then anoth of Tims troops.
At this stage everyone has but a single figure left.
Bob is on Routing Morale peter is immune to Morale checks.
 And Matt and Tim are both on Wavering Morale

 

Then Tim Does it again and rolls another double 1.
His Morale is shot through. Matt has but a single figure Peter is OK morale wise and
Bob is already routing.
So the Game ends.

5 More Burpas!

Clearly I am painting 5 figures at a time. And here are  the next 5. Again they are for Matt and he mostly does 28mm and these are indeed that size.

A mixture  of make from left to right (I think) 2 Empress Miniatures a Perry miniature and 2 wargames Foundry figures.  All more troops to devastate the Hills of the Indian sub continent and to stop the Colonial British . But they could also be used in pulp games in North Africa or maybe as pirates in and around Turkey. They realy could be quite versatile in their application.

I have 5 more to do in this batch and will show a batch picture wen I publish them.  I do hope to show a club game on Monday and I will be trying the "En Earde!" rules by Osprey for the first time.

Thanks for looking today and with luck an AAR on Monday.

A litle bit of everything..... OK NOT evererything!

The painting Mojo has not returned so I Painted up a pair of M16 half tracks for my Arab Israeli wars collection They were still in use in the Yom Kippur war of 1973 as anti aircraft guns.

The rules say I am only allowed 1 but I had 2 models so I thought I might as well paint them both! For those of you who are not all that familiar with the M16 Halftrack if you think of a WW2 M3 American Halftrak with 4 (quad mounted) .50 Browning heavy machineguns in a small turret. Here is a pic of a real one In Israeli colours and Markings. So Colour wise I am pretty close,

The M16 was used in WW2 by America and for many people the "Matchbox" 1/76 scale plastic model was our first introduction to the machine. I know it was mine. While the guns are designed for Anti aircraft I know it can also be used against ground targets either soft skin vehicles or Infantry. By the later part of the second world war it will have little to no effect against tanks.

But in the Arab Israeli wars it still has its uses both against aircraft and to a lesser extent against ground forces, apart from tanks. but still a nice piece of kit to have on the battle field.

 Meanwhile back at the steam punk tank... no NO pictures now until I finish it. But any colonial force be they Zulus or marhdist forces does need something to counter the Beast! So the obvious choice is to include magic! I can Hear certain people "Frowning" from here. And you did not think Frowning made any noise. I can assure you that it does.

 So I present 1 Zulu "witchdoctor". Do not worry I do not see him casting any fireballs and lightning strikes, or any of that sort of malarkey. but more sort of portents and consoulting with oracles and checking the stars and maybe having "Sabotage" card to play on the tank. There may be more on this another time.

 And finally my order from Pendraken has arrived today. I will not go through my whole list of goodies but I have got some stoff for the Steam tank and a whole new project which I hope to get completed over the winter period for Curts Analogue Hobbies painting challenge AND for the Pendraken painting competition.  No reason I cannot do both IF they come out how I hope they will.

Stay tuned to find out what mad thing I have in the planning! But Do not hold your breathe as it will take a while to get up and running!


Hope you found something interesting today. All the best Clint

Next 5 Burpas.

I did mean to post these on the blog yesterday, but time just got away from me.

So a little latter than I hoped, here are the next 5 Burpas. A mix of makes Empress and Foundry (I think) and they should function quite well as Indian hill Tribesmen. And they may even do a turn in some pulp games set in North  Africa. How Knows.

Over all nice to paint as It does allow me to paint some bright colours as well as some drab colours which is always pleasant. I do have 10 more to do so expect 5 more along  shortly.

I may post again tomorrow as I have some 6mm vehicles that are just about done and that will put me back on schedule! At least in regard to blog posts.

Until then have fun take care and smile as much as you can. All the Best Clint

A few more Burpas.

Well the painting Mojo has not yet returned and while I did expect to have these done and on the blog before breakfast this morning you can see I a just a little late.

Firstly let me confess I am not 100% sure of the makes, it was all explained to me but I have since forgotten. BUT from left to right I believe them to be, Perry Miniatures, Empress Miniatures and three Foundry figures.  If I have that wrong please forgive me. They are all 28mm and Painted for my mate Matt. And I will return them to him on Sunday next!

There are 5 more started and they should be finished pretty soon IF I get any enthusiasm back. As you can see this lot are in the more muted palette of colours so should fit in very well with the rest.

So until then you will just have to put up with these figures and hope I can get some more done for Tuesday, when I would HOPE to post again.

All the best Clint

Doll Drums.

Yes it comes to us all. AND I AM CURRENTLY in the painting Doll Drums!

Which is not to say I have stopped, but is to say I have slowed down considerably!

So slow in fact that I have only managed to get 1 British officer of the colonial period finished.  Many if not most will be looking and saying that is the wrong shade of blue it should be darker. And yes Cavalry and artillery officers should be in a darker blue.

However those attached to the Natal Native Light horse units wore sky blue and that did get faded in the African sun.   And I think he's a pretty good match for the African sky in the Picture.Or if you do not like that explanation just assume it id the uniform colour of Her Majesties Royal Navy Landship Squadron.

Thanks for looking today I will try to get more done and quickly for the next scheduled post on Sunday.

All the Best Clint

Natal Native horse. (10mm)

yes back to my 10mm Colonials. No I have not become the MOST AMAZING figure painter over night... the picture is from the film "Zulu Dawn" and Shows a Natal Native Horseman in action.  Many of you will have realised that straight away.

On with the figures. I bought these 10mm figures about 2-3 years ago from eBay in a job lot of 10mm Colonial goodness. Most of that batch are now painted, but I do have about 100 British foot to do should I need any more (I don't think I do unless it is to change the uniforms from red to kaki). But these 12 horsemen took a lot longer as all the spears and carbines were badly bent and they were on card bases and already undercoated. More importantly I did not know what they were OR who made them.

I now think (but do not know) that they are Magista Militum figures. What I am sure about is that they are 10mm Natal Native Horse.  And as such were used in the 1894 Anglo-Zulu war. Unlike most Natal native units they were fully armed usually with a Cavalry  carbine and between 1 and 3 spears. They were also uniformed in Tan jackets trousers and issued sun hats with red bands around them in cloth. Most Natal Native units only had about 20% firearms with the rest using spears!. But all units did wear the red band around their heads so us ignorant colonials would know they were on our side and not try to shoot them.

Size wise they are a very good match for my 10mm Pendraken colonial troops (and yes the steam tank! More of that another time). So they should fit in well as Pendraken do not at the time of tying make any Natal Native Horse. And that is perhaps the point you will never need so very many of these in fact the amount now painted should be more than enough.  Actually I may need more, as I know every wargamer wants to have something just a little bit quirky under their control and as a club we do tend to have several players to each game.

So my Zulu War 10mm project continues and next time some more Burpas for Matt, as some are on the painting table already.

Thanks for looking today, I hope the weather is good for you. All the best Clint

The battle of Crincklie Bottom. (AAR)

"The Royalists Won!" Well maybe, but maybe not! Matt wanted me to say "The Royalists Won!" as he was playing the Royalists teamed up with Tim who was semi referee as well.  While Graham and myself were playing the Parliamentarian forces.  We were using the "To defy a King!" Rules and it was our first game.

Now what I know about ECW can be written with a blunt crayon on the back of a very small envelope! In other words very slightly more than could b written on a stamp. It has never been a war that has interested me. Oh well never mind! Not knowing the rules I am sure we all made mistakes, I know I did!

I was set up across from Matt.

In the rules you may pick the type of unit, (Foot, Horse, Guns or Dragoons)
You place a card for the unit where it is to start

and then when all the cards are placedyou flip them to find out how big the units are
And another card to determine the level of training the unit has.

This was great fun and a nice mechanic.
Above are my 5 units.
Quality wise 3 of them were "RAW" and 2 were "Trained"
NONE were veterans.

We went first and I was under "Advance orders"
The Yellow counters represent Raw units, and the Brown counters
Units that have been disrupted by doing a manoeuvre that was complicated!
In this instance they came down from on top of the hill!

My left wing where the forces met with Graham was quite strong.
 

My Horse on the right. Well they did try hard throughout the game.
To be honest They should have been on attack orders and not advance orders.
My leader was close behind and I thought I could change orders reasonably quickly!
My mistake not knowing the rules.
The Orders had to come from the army commander and took 4 turns to arrive
 and another 2 turns to understand his writhing!

But on my right all was not lost! My Gallopers were pushed back but my Trotters (despite being Raw) Held in place.
The gallopers rolled 2d6 and scaorred double 1s

My advance in the centre of the board was going strong and we were giving the Royalists  a bit of trouble.
Genuieningly I was winning on the left!

My attack orders are just arriving at this stage!
(Bottom left hand side)
And while the Trotters were being beaten
the Gallopers turned the tables and started pushing Matts Trotters Back.

But My Gallopers took to many casualties doing so
and my Trotters were pushed back 3 turns in a row,
they then broke and header for the table edge!

Grahms Horse had meanwhile started to get around the flank and were riding down
Tims Dragoons. Which were tenaciously holding on to the last stand!
Graham's foot were slowly conceding ground as Tims Foot were pushing forward.

My foot were doing well and the area to the left of the town (Crinklie Bottom)
were out gunning the Royalist forces!

But Tims foot were just about through Graham line by now.
Which left Grahams horse behind them ready to sweep along and fold up that flank
(If the dice gods could be appeased!)

Tim Planning to push right through the line and
Destroy all of Grahams Foot!
Yes Graham was lucky enough to start with some veteran foot!

One more Big Push by Tim and the left Foot would crumble.

meanwhile My Gallopers were destroyed
and my RAW trotters now on attack orders
Charged Malls Trained Gallopers.
It was only ever going to end one way!

The left wing at the end of the battle was only just holding on!
But with Graham Horse through and behind Tims line and with Tim having no more Horse
The left flank could be rolled up.
 

The right flank was almost exactly the same the Royalists had pushed through my Cavalry
but my foot had just about seen off Matts foot.

The rules did give a good game and IF I had known them even a little better I think My cavalry might have held out and possibly even won! (Yeah right... OKAY they might have held out a bit longer!)

The Battle was very bloody as we had the morale rules wrong and quite often units fought till the last stand and that just felt wrong so a re-read of that section I think is needed.

Overall I would claim it as a VERY minor Parliamentarian win But we run out of time so I will take a draw as a fair result!