Merry Christmas To One And All

Broadside, Saturday 4th December 2021

Yesterday I attended my first wargames show since 2019 with my club, the South East Essex Military Society (SEEMS), at the Broadside show in Kent. I must say it was a most fun and friendly event which reminded me of the shows of yore. We put on a Peninsular Napoleonic game (using Neil's toys) playing two linked scenarios. I did not take pictures of the other games as we were very busy chatting at the table.

The French had decided to make a nuisance of themselves and sent a not inconsiderable force to investigate the strength of a local fort. In scenario one the British occupied a a hill overlooking the plain and sent news of the French deployment. The French simply had to push the British off the hill to win Day One. Numerical superiority and British reinforcements arriving in dribs and drabs made for an easy French victory.

Two units of skirmishers ready to take on the pesky French.

However the British had a secret weapon. I was the French C in C.  

My advance was a muddled affair with the dice gods leaving me with units failing their activation rolls meaning the units arrived piecemeal. Also my "great idea", to post a battery just out of range of the British in an attempt to tie down two British was folly. At the end of the scenario I discovered my heavier guns outranged the British by 12".

It's a shame the Voltigeurs are being shot to pieces, Pierre. But we are safe!

The farce continued as my advancing columns took fire from that blasted hill.. At least my second battery did some damage.

Incidentally, those Dragoons are some of the best painted Hinchliffe figures I have ever seen.

By the end of the day the hill was still stubbornly occupied, the disordered advance units created a log jam for those behind. All I, as C in C, had was a headache and a burning desire for red wine, baguettes and onion soup!

Merde!

Day Two  was based upon the British retiring overnight to their village stronghold. I did not take any pictures and the matter was inconclusive as by then we were pretty much chatting away to all and sundry in the best atmosphere I can remember for many a year.

The lull before the storm(ing).

The rules were "Rebels and Patriots" with an on-line unofficial extension for the Napoleonic period, "Flags and Eagles". I thoroughly enjoyed it; so much so that I bought a few boxes of Perry Austrians to pit against the French juggernaut. The infantry figures are glued up and the undercoat is on. First results next weekend!

Battle of Bryson's Crossroads

Club night last night and my first opportunity to try out my Union troops and (some of) my Confederates. I was a few minutes late and so was not able to deploy all my snake fencing as a lot had already been laid out but also I got to use The Little House On The Prairie plus my new apple orchard.

Rules were Rebels and Patriots and the scenario was devised by Neil (who also provided the bulk of the Confederates). The Union were in possession of the hill and the rebels controlled the crossroads. Victory was to the player who controlled both by games end.

My plan was simple, use my veteran 54th Massachusetts to assault the crossroads on my left and use my smaller green volunteer infantry and cannon to hold the hill on my right. 

First thing I learnt was the Commanding Officer does not need to be attached to a unit. Doh! The errant rebel figure in the 54th colour party unit is to make up numbers while Gould-Shaw is free to influence wherever he is most needed.

The 54th push forward to the crossroads.

While on the right the skirmishers cover the ground between the woods and the precious hill (complete with my orchard atop!).

A mix of my rebels and Neil's spent a lot of the game just trying to mass for an assault on the hill.

Quite early on the artillery ran out of targets due to line of sight being blocked. Without a limber trying to manhandle the artillery 2" at a time proved laborious.

The assault by the 54th plunges on while the volunteer infantry colour party repeatedly failed activation rolls (even with Gould-Shaw being close enough to add to their rolls).

Eventually they occupied the wood, the artillery dragged onward and supported the skirmishers. The other volunteer unit fired some rather effective volleys on the gathering rebel forces.

However the rebel left never really managed to get it together. By the last turn the mounted skirmishers had just managed to cross over the snake fencing.

The 54th were unstoppable and the crossroads was open for the taking with rebel units retreating everywhere.

So that was it, the last move had the Union poised to take the crossroads and the rebel attack on the right flank effectively covered off before it ever started. Together with the sheer number of rebel casualties confirmed this as a great victory for the Union. Hurrah!!!

This was a lot of fun and already has me thinking about different periods for R&P plus other Osprey rulesets. The figures numbers are achievable, the games take a few entertaining hours and everybody has fun without being bogged down in rule interpretation. Watch this space!

Little House on the Prairie...

 Finished at last! The addition of these three units brings the Union up to strength, for now at least. The 12 figure marching unit are Perry metal figures and the skirmishers are Perry plastics with metal command figures.

I still have enough figures left to add to both sides over time (and I do have a hankering to add some cavalry) but for the moment there are enough figures completed to run a club game.

For the 54th Mass. I only had three heads left to swap and so the figures biting off the cartridge's are just a paint job conversion.

And of course The Little House on the Prairie is the Perry plastic farmstead. I have a few lengths of snake fencing left to paint and the Perry weatherboard church will grace the table eventually.

The next few weeks are going to be busy so I am not sure when my next post will be but if I get time I want to play a quick solo game with my new collection just to get my head around the rules (I have played several games at the club but kindly someone else has been umpire and done all the thinking for me!).

Three Months Later...

So after three months my 28mm Union "Army" is the same size and composition as my Confederates. The Confederates took considerably longer at over a year.

It's the 54th Mass. again, this time marching forward with purpose into the fray also showcasing more snake fencing (3 metres and counting). I do have some figures left to complete - two six figure skirmish units and another twelve figure infantry unit (which is complete but just needs basing). Hopefully that will all be complete by Sunday leaving me to return to the other 20mm "America's" projects which I would like to complete by early 2022.

Snake Fencing And Union Reinforcements

 I have had a few weeks away from the painting table, nothing bad, I have just been busy with other things. This week therefore I was fully charged up to get painting once more. 

First up is another 12 figures for the 54th. 

Plastic Perry figures once more with metal head swaps. I have completed another 12 figure units in fact but have run out of bases. The order is in and so they should be ready by next Sunday. This actually makes the Union army the same size (and composition) as the Confederates. I intend to have a numerically bigger Union force and level up the points by differences in morale.

I have also been working on some MDF snake fencing I picked up on Ebay. When complete I will have 4.5 metres of the stuff!

I have started the Perry ACW farmhouse and the church is waiting in the queue. The 3 month deadline is up next week so all in all I am pleased with the results (despite all the distractions). I am looking forward to bringing them down for club night very soon plus getting back to my various 20mm wars in the America's projects.

A Smaller Post Than Advertised

 This week has been rather busy. When I retired I "treated" myself to a greenhouse (how pensioner-ish is that?) Due to COVID demand for greenhouses has been phenomenally high and I was given a date of mid September before it could be delivered. Last week however I received a call, it will be delivered this coming Tuesday. The problem is that the base it will sit on was still occupied by an old galvanised steel shed, complete with 13 years worth of accumulated "stuff". It is now gone and so has the "stuff".

Little time left for painting then. In fact I have only been able to base up the Jacklex Confederate infantry unit I painted last week. 6 stands of marching glory.

I am not sure how much painting I will get done this week but for the rest of the month I will be continuing with the 28mm Perry ACW figures so that by September I will be able to host my long threatened game on club night.

Finally, remember the puppy? The one who seemed to have incredibly gangly legs she could never possibly grow into? Well, Lottie's eight months old next week and all growed-up looking:

Yes, she really is that shiny!

Until next week.

I Got Distracted

It was all going so well. Another Jacklex Confederate  infantry unit in the bag and the first mounted rebel cavalry glued up and waiting for the undercoat. Then I got distracted.

As some may remember 15 plus years or so ago I launched another blog (long since deleted) called "In The Grand Manner" intended to cover the creation of the kind of Gilder Napoleonics I could only dream of back in the day. I painted one base or so and then dropped the idea. Well this unit has been sitting idly by, occasionally having another base completed over the years.

Then this week I decided to bite the bullet and finish the last 12 figures. So here you have it, a 36 man Connoisseur Miniatures French battalion over a decade in the making.

They had to be glossy!

I have no plans to pick the idea up again (even though I may paint up the Hinchliffe Foremost Scot's Greys one day just for the hell of it). I do however have a Hinchliffe ECW glossy project planned.

I will make up for this next week with a bigger Classic 20mm ACW update. 

Glory!

As promised here is the Commanding Officer  for my Union "army", none other than Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his men of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.

I wish I had stuck to my original plan to finish these figures last week as by sheer fluke it was the anniversary of their famous attack on Fort Wagner on 18th July 1863 - immortalised in the 1989 movie "Glory". In my opinion this is the best of the Civil War movies. 

You've got to love that flag too!

The figures are Perry plastics with metal head swaps from pack "ACW26 - Black Union heads wearing forage cap", the details are amazing. Flesh tones are from the Foundry palettes 121A-C and 124A-C.

Shaw is a metal Perry figure with the beard adjusted to look like a goatee.

I also finished that gun and crew from last week, taking the Union army to currently sit at 2 x 12 figure infantry units, 2 x 6 figure skirmishers and 1 x gun and crew. I will be adding more 54th Mass units in the coming weeks as the clock is still ticking!

For an excellent 45 minute documentary of the Regiment's history, narrated by Morgan Freeman, I heartily recommend you head here.

I am currently working on another batch of Jacklex "Classic" Confederates for next Sunday

Pour It On Boys!

I have made progress with the 28mm Union forces with these two 6 figure skirmisher units. I have doubled the size of the Union army in a week . I should have finished a gun and crew as well today but the weather is so warm the paint was literally drying on the brush before I could get it on the figures!

Figures are Perry plastics plus one metal NCO.

 I also found 15 more Jacklex Union troops. I had tried to see if it was possible to paint when I had sight in one eye only and promptly discovered the answer was "No". Well they are finished and based up. I will be cracking on with the 20mm stuff after I have finished adding to the 28mm collection. I have just under two months left before the inaugural game.

Next up is the army commander and his unit, which will be made up of one of the Union's more famous regiments. Assuming of course it cools down enough for me to actually get the paint on the figures.

Down Mexico Way

At last I have been able to finish some of the new Jacklex French in Mexico figures. I do hope the photographs do them justice.

Here are the first French bases, I have a number of other figures started but not finished as painting time has been hard to come by at the moment. I had intended these figure to be "shiny toy style" but as the paint went on  the detail really came out and I felt they deserved my best shading efforts. 

 

I am very impressed by the figures; the detail and proportions make for convincing little miniature men. I am looking forward to completing more (and this collection may well take precedence over the Classic 20mm ACW painting). The figures have also open up a number of conversion possibilities but more on that later.

For the moment my self enforced deadline for the 28mm ACW collection is already running into trouble - one month in to the three months planned and I only have 12 figures to show for it. Therefore I will pull my finger out and get serious.

P.S. This post is a day early as there is a small matter of a football match I will be watching tomorrow night. If we win we can bleat on about it for a few more decades. And if we lose we can do the same. 

A Small Addition To The Union

This week has been rather busy so I have only been able to produce this six base Union unit; this time using the Jacklex "Confederate Infantry Advancing in Kepi"  simply painted Union blue with blackened gum blankets.

This is the last of the Jacklex Union infantry I currently have - so a small dent in the lead pile has been achieved. I have plenty of Confederates to paint so I will complete them before I put in another order (honest!). 

The idea is to complete both Civil War projects this year, but as I have a tight deadline on the 28mm collection that will take precedence. However, not before I post some of the new Jacklex French in Mexico figures next Sunday.

The Union Has Arrived!

At last the first Union force has stepped off the painting table and is now advancing to the field of battle. These are Perry plastics based for Rebels & Patriots.  This is a standard 12 figure infantry unit, however despite the flags this is not going to be the main commander's unit - I have plans for an extra special regiment for that role, which will probably be the next 28mm unit I paint.

I have given myself the challenge of creating a force large enough for games night in three months time. Bearing in mind the rebels took me over a year to complete that is no mean feat. Hopefully my seven day weekend lifestyle will help!

I even managed to paint up some battlefield "clutter"

I have a couple of Jacklex units primed and ready so if I can get them both finished you'll see them in all their glory next Sunday.

Eeeeeyes Right!

 So, after eight months, three surgical procedures and countless pokes and drops into my eyes sight was restored to my left eye a few weeks ago. I have to say the whole thing has been highly unpleasant. I had no depth perception so I could not paint or judge distances with any certainty. My right eye could only really focus on things about ten inches or so away and preferably backlight so my Kindle, tablet etc have been life-savers.

So I was jolly glad to start painting again about three weeks ago. It took some time to get back in the swing (my eyesight is about 80-90% of what it was before) but as you can see I have added quite a few figures to the Classic 20mm project. Figures are all Jacklex.

Sir taking the salute - I need to add a few more bases I think.

I have added another seven base unit in my favourite advancing pose and have one more such unit left to paint before I need to put in another order.

I have even had time to add to the rebel ranks.

Butternut - this season's must-have.

During my enforced absence I have obviously had a lot of time to make plans, especially now as I took the decision to take early retirement in February.  The plan is to post every Sunday as a motivator. I will be concentrating to begin with on the 20 and 28mm ACW collections plus the French in Mexico using the excellent new Jacklex range which frustratingly was launched a few weeks after I lost my eyesight.

There is no guarantee that my eyesight may not go again but for the moment I am enjoying life once more, especially as the day before my last surgery I picked up my new best friend, Lottie.

Lottie is a 6 month old Labrador cross who did not have the best start in life. Her three previous owners were all working families who probably didn't realise how much work is required with a very intelligent and energetic puppy. 

In true "One Dog and Her Man" style it seems want she needed was a pensioner to train. She's got him walking her at least twice a day, throwing a ball and even convinced him to get her a paddling pool for fun in the garden. Clever girl!