More monsters, plans for "Blucher" and other stuff

First up, it's a sad day as Spock has died again.  Unfortunately it's for real this time.  Thank you for entertaining me for years in space and on impossible missions Mr Nimoy.

I have had a bit of a "run-about like a mad thing" week again.  My Mum has been released from hospital, but is still pretty rough so we are keeping an eye on her.  My Daughter is struggling with post-natal depression, so we are keeping an eye on her too and I am struggling with a constantly coughing wife, so I am keeping an eye on her as well.  I need 3 eyes!  

Painting has been somewhat stifled by the lack of eyes :) but I have managed a few bits.  

 I have rebased some 28mm Old Guard for a nice chap in Belgium, so they are off on their travels soon.

I have also painted 90% of the second batch of the Shadows of Brimstone figures.  3 Slashers(big red things), 6 Hellbats(winged snakes), 12 "Hungry Dead"(zombies with a few conversions using Perrys ACW bits) and 4 heroes(Lawman, Preacher, Indian and Rancher woman).  Just the huge Harbinger left and that is the lot done.  Then it's onto some dead cowboys for Dead Man's Hand.

Due to my wife's bad cough, which is always worse at night, I tend to be up until stupid o'clock in the morning.  So I have been "planning things", which is usually a bad thing as it ends up costing me money.  It also usually ends up with part finished projects, such as 15mm AWI, 15mm ACW, 28mm Dark Ages, 28mm Medieval......The list is endless.  For the first time however I am contemplating getting some Napoleonic figures for myself.  Luckily I am considering a proper size, 6mm!  The reason for this is Sam Mustafa's new set of rules.  Blucher is a fun game and plays quickly, as can be seen in my previous post.  While it is perfectly playable with cards, such as the Hundred Days expansion for it, they are just not aesthetically pleasing to a die-hard figure gamer.  So I spent several hours planning and working out what I would need to replicate the cards in 6mm figures.

Then I slapped myself for being stupid.  Why replicate something that you can already use to play a specific period or campaign?  I'm a dumbass at times, espescially at 3am.  So I started reading up on Leipzig, as it's a major battle and had elements from all the major nations.  Another slapping soon appeared though as I did some working out of bases, figures etc.  If you average the bases out as each representing 2000 men I would need 112 bases for the French Grand Armee alone!  As each base would need 2 units to replicate the brigade that makes each base about £3.50, so about £400 just for the French.  That idea went flying out of the window very rapidly.

A bit more thought and I considered doing Austerlitz, Jena, Salamanca and others, but eventually came up with the winner.  My first project for Blucher is to be Marengo.  The French had about 24000 men and the Austrians had just over 30000, so it's not too big and the forces will form a nice basis to expand for Austerlitz by adding some Russians and additional French.  

The battle itself seems to be fairly interesting, with the initial attacks by Austria pushing the French back before Napoleon counter-attacked and defeated the Austrian army.  So that's the plan now.  I have figured out that I will need 12 infantry and 2 cavalry bases for the French, against 11 infantry and 3 cavalry for the Austrians.  Nothing too major, I will be placing an order next week when some funds have cleared.  It's good to have a plan, even if it's not the plan you had last week, or expected at all.  The aim is to have something approaching this look to my bases, but probably not as good as Steve's. 

Have fun and I'll be back next week.

Improved at the end

After a bad week, I was ill, Tina was ill and then my Mum was taken into hospital, it has improved a bit now.  My Mum is on the mend, although still in hospital with bronchitis aggravated by her asthma.  Tina's on the mend, but still coughing all night long.  I am knackered by feeling ill still, running back and forward to Cornwall to see Mum and not getting much sleep as I am next to the cough monster.  But I'm still smiling....most some of the time anyway.

I have painted several things, but not many of them are finished yet.  I did get some ECW pikemen done, and 4 more Shadows of Brimstone figures too. 

 The pikemen are Renegade figures that I bought when they first released them many years ago, it's good to support a local company.  Lovely figures, but HUGE in relation to the Warlord figures that Colin has.  They will win any fights though as the plastic pikes from Warlord are no match for the lethal, sharpened metal pikes I have given these.  They have drawn blood several times, sadly it's all been mine!

The Shadows of Brimstone figures are 4 of the characters.  Gunfighter, Marshall, Bandido and Saloon Girl are now ready and willing to join the fight.

Currently on the go and just needing basing are the zombies, hellbats, slashers and 4 remaining characters.  Just the big beasty left to do and the bright red plastic figures are all finished!

Gaming has been limited but I did manage to play a first game of Blucher against Nathan yesterday afternoon.  Yes, the "Stop buying new rules" plan for 2015 lasted less than a month.

The game was a 200pt Anglo-Allied vs French, based on the Flanders map from the Scharnhorst campaign guide.  Nathan took the British and picked a fairly mixed force.

1. 4 units of British/KGL foot  -  60pts
2. 1 unit of Nassau foot  -  12pts
3. 2 units of Brunswick foot  -  24pts
4. 1 unit of Dutch-Belgian foot  -  8pts
5. 2 units of Dutch-Belgian militia  -  12pts
6. 2 units of British heavy cavalry  -  28pts
7. 2 units of British light cavalry  - 20pts
8. 1 unit of Brunswick light cavalry  -  10pts
9. 3 units of artillery(2 foot, 1 horse)  -  21pts
10. Duke of Brunswick  -  5pts

These he split into 2 columns.  Column 1(9 units) was the British foot,  British cavalry and 2 units of artillery and Column 2 was all the Allied units led by Brunswick(8 units).  He detached the 2 units of British light cavalry to scout for his army.

My French force was made up of the following

1. 8 units of French foot  -  96pts
2. 2 units of Young Guard  -  36pts
3. 2 units of Dragoons  -  20pts
4. 2 units of Light Cavalry  -  14pts
5. 1 unit of Guard Light Cavalry  -  15pts
6. 3 units of artillery(2 foot, 1 Guard foot)  -  19pts

I took 3 columns.  Column A  had the Guard infantry, cavalry and artillery plus the 2 units of Dragoons.  Columns B and C both had 4 units of infantry, 1 artillery and 1 light cavalry, with both units of light cavalry being detached to scout.

So both sides had 10 units of foot, 5 of cavalry and 3 of artillery, spooky or what!

I won the intelligence roll, my 2 light cavalry were obviously better than his so I choose a map edge and moved first.

In turn 1 each column only has 3 instead of 6 move points, so initial moves are limited.  Column B moved down and took hold of the town(B3) on the crossroads. Column 1then moved up and occupied a village(D3).  Column C then seized the city in B7 while Column 2 occupied another village in E6.  Finally Column A positioned itself in A3, ready to move to support either of the other columns.  I had seized the most victory points(1/2/3 per village/town/city) so still had the initiative.

 Turn 2 and Column B sprang into action.  6 points allowed me to move west on the road(1pt), move south to cross the stream(3pts) and then keep going south into D2 to flank Column 1(2pts).  Nathan then chose to scout Column B with Column 1, then not to move it.  This proved to be a mistake as you will shortly see.  Column C then moved south, south and west on the roads(1pt per square) into D6 to try and pin Column 2, which it also scouted.  Again Nathan scouted my column and then held position.  Admittedly it did look good for him as his columns were much bigger than mine, 8 or 9 units against 5.  Finally Column A moved south into C3 and scouted Column 1.  I still had the initiative, which would be a game winner for me.

Turn 3 and I declared a battle centered on Column A.  I then moved Column C into position on the other flank of Column 1, preventing Nathan from reinforcing with Column 2.  All he could do was move it into position behind Column 1 and hold they could hold until he could arrive on table.


Like an idiot I forgot to take any pictures, but it didn't go well for the Allies.  Nathan's British were were faced with the Young Guard in front while being squeezed by the other columns on the flanks.  His deployment area was only 10" wide and 10" deep.  It was an untenable position and, although he did his best and caused quite a bit of damage, his force was broken by turn 5 before his reinforcements could arrive.

Not too much should be made of this though, it was a learning experience for both of us and we would both do things differently next time.  The game itself was good, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one.  Plan is to start the 100 Days campaign soon.

Well, I am off to paint some plastic now.  Catch you all later

Lion Rampant with gunpowder

Monday night was spent playing a game of Lion Rampant using the ECW variant that I discovered on the Arlequins World blog.  Colin took the Parliament force, leaving me to fight for King Charles.  Colins force consisted of 1 unit each of pikemen, dragoons and a forlorn hope plus 2 units each of musketeers and harquebusier cavalry. This lot was supported by a saker cannon and crew.  His "Lion Hearted" General was in the pikeblock.  The Royalists had 2 units of cavalier cavalry plus 1 unit each of pikemen, dragoons, musketeers and Irish mercenary musketeers.  My General was obviously a student of Prince Rupert as he was in a Cavalry unit and proved to be "Rash".

 The initial setup saw Colins infantry deployed to protect his saker, with the cavalry on his left flank and the dragoons on the right.

 The Royalists were deployed out of sight of the saker.  The cavalry and dragoons were on the left, facing the Parliament cavalry.  It did leave my right flank open to those pesky Dragoons though.  The downfall of my plan was not checking what effect the fences and hedges would have on movement!  More on that in a minute.

 My first turn was a bust as I rolled 3 on 2d6 and failed to order anything.  God seemed to be on the other side today.  Colin moved almost everything forward, leaving a musket unit to guard the immobile saker.  Turn 2 and I managed to move everything, which was nice.  I pushed forward with all units, trying to seize the defensive hedge before Colin got there.  He pushed forward as well, with the dragoons skirting out wide to his left.

 Now we come to the flaw in my plan.  I checked up on moving over obstacles and came to the conclusion that it was a stupid idea.  So the musketeers swung around the village while the pikemen tried to clamber over the fences.  The horse all moved up as well, which was nice.

 My right flank was wide open though, protected only by some hedges that served to slow down Colin's dragoons.

 My dragoons rushed up to the hedge and dismounted, readying their muskets.  The musketeers skirted the village and the pikemen clambered through the fences and up to the hedge.  The cavalry did....nothing!  Stupid dice.  Colin pushed ahead where he could and his dragoons crossed the hedges and moved towards the pikemen.

 My dragoons opened fire on Colin's forlorn hope, who fired back.  Fire was fairly ineffectual due to the difficulty of hitting the skirmishing targets, compounded by the fact that both units were in cover.  One of the Parliament supporters fell though, so I was winning!

 My next move saw the musketeers advance, the pikemen move away from the enemy dragoons and the rest fail to do anything.  My dragoons fired again, dropping another of the forlorn hope who failed their courage roll and became "battered".  This prevented them from firing back, but they did rally in their turn.  Colin advanced his infantry and a cavalry unit forded the stream.  His dragoons failed to move though.

Marksmen picking away at the pesky forlorn hope as they skulk in the woods.  Bang....arrrghhh.  Hehe

 The next phase was a good one for the Royalists.  The musketeers fired, dropping one of the Parliament cavalry.  The dragoons fired again, dropping 2 more of the forlorn hope.  This was too much for them and they routed.  The pikemen advanced to try and stop the Parliament cavalry flanking the dragoons.  Colins dragoons fired, but missed.  Both his cavalry advanced towards the dragoons but were out of range to charge luckily.  His other troops failed to move.

What's that in the woods?  Dead Parliamentarians, that's what.  

My musketeers fired again, dropping 2 more of Colins cavalry.  The dragoons fired and dropped one cavalryman in the other unit as well.  The Irish finally moved, as did the Generals cavalry unit.  Sadly the other cavalry and the pikemen failed to move.  Colins dragoons advanced to get a better shot at my pikemen.  His infantry advanced over the ford and his cavalry failed to charge. 

 Parliamentarian cavalry loitering in a bad place to be. 

The next two turns were pretty climactic for Colins force.  My Generals unit had to charge Colins 1/2 strength cavalry, which they did and promptly wiped them out without taking any casualties in return.  The Irish and the musketeers both swung around to face off the advancing dragoons while the other cavalry did what it did best, nothing.  Colins dragoons fell back in the face of 24 muskets aimed at them.  His other cavalry advanced and fired at my dragoons as they sheltered behind the hedge and his infantry advanced again.  My General then had to charge again, against Colins remaining cavalry behind a hedge.  A much closer fight this time, 2 of the Kings men fell while 3 of the traitors were run through, the remainder promptly routed.  Nothing else of mine did anything, while Colin advanced his musketeers but failed to move the dragoons.

My  General leads his cavalry in a rash charge that, despite killing of Colins cavalry would prove to be costly.

 Colins dragoons struggle to get through the hedge as the Royalist muskets are aimed at them.

 Ah, see that's why you should check the fine print before hiring mercenaries.  Irish musketeers have Wild Charge, which means that they must charge if they can.  And they could.  So they did.  Best laid plans and all that.  Still, it went well as 4 dragoons died for 1 Irishman.  I didn't take a picture of the other flank.  Colins saker had finally spotted a target and fired at my General and his unit.  All 4 of them were smashed to pieces by a single shot.  Boo!  My musketeers and dragoons fired to no effect, while the pikemen moved up to cross the stream.

 Despite the loss of my General my force stood firm and things were looking good.  Until I tried to order them and failed after the first roll.  Colin was more lucky, with his musketeers firing and routing the Irish.  They didn't fire a shot, fought one fight against some outnumbered, outflanked and dismounted dragoons and then ran away!  Fighting Irish my arse. 

The final turn was good for me and caused Colin to recall his infantry and concede defeat.  My musketeers and dragoons both fired and hit.  Colin rolled low on both courage tests and both of his musketeer units were battered.  Then in his turn he rolled low on both again and they both fell back in disorder.  So the Royalists won the day, but at a heavy cost.  Colin lost 12 cavalry, 6 dragoons, 6 musketeers and 6 forlorn hope in total.  I lost 6 cavalry including the General, 12 Irish musketeers and 1 dragoon.  A victory, but a sad day for the king.

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable evenings gaming.  Lion Rampant worked pretty well for the period, although there are a few points costs that may need to be looked at.  Apart from that it was great and has made me dig out my Renegade Miniatures figures to see what I can put together. 

Painting wise, I have been busy painting some wild west hero types and putting together more monsters for Shadows of Brimstone.  All in all its been good until now.  Why now you may say?  Because it is 5am, I have a doctors appointment at 9am and I am still awake.  Stupid stomach.

Ah well, keep smiling.  Life is too short to be grumpy, unlike Nathan.  ;)

PAW 2015, Vietnam Armour and don't mention the rugby

This weekend saw the annual Plymouth wargames show, aka PAW, take place.  I managed a quick visit whilst on the way down to visit my mum and was surprised.  This show does seem to be going from strength to strength, with more traders and games each year.  I didn't take any pictures, or spend much time there, as Tina was waiting outside for me but I did manage to get hold of a box of Perrys Men-at-Arms for my forthcoming Lion Rampant force.  For a better review of the show, plus some cracking photos, pop over to JJ's blog. 

I have finally finished some of my Vietnam vehicles, for planned games of Charlie don't surf and modern(ish) Chain of Command.  My previously painted ANZAC platoon has now got some armoured transport and heavy support in the shape of some M113s, an M113-FSV and a Centurion.


But it's not just the forces of democracy, freedom and apple pie that have tanks, the PAVN have also been bolstered by the arrival of a T-54 and PT-76.  Just need to get some infantry for them now.  Oh, and I am waiting for the delivery of some weathering pigments, so all these will eventually be muddied up.


  Following my last post, I also rearranged the standard bearers on the 79th unit so they are the right way around. 

Stupid period anyway. ;-)


Finally, just to shock us all, Nathan has finally updated his blog with not just one but two whole posts.  Pop over there and amaze yourselves at the wit and intelligence exhibited by the shortest wargamer in Devon.

TTFN and see you next time

More bad nights means more figures painted

It's been another week and I'm still here.  A few bad nights again resulted in me painting and basing various things.  My Napoleonic mojo has left the building now and I give fair notice, I will never ever paint Napoleonic Highlanders in 28mm ever again..........EVER!

I only had 23 to paint, trying to match the already painted one that was here.  That was all, just 23 figures.  Doesn't sound like a lot does it, but they nearly broke me.  Bloody tartan, stupid patterned socks, damnable bonnets!  I hates them I does.  I thought they were bad in 15mm but I was wrong. 

Anyway, here they are in all their misery. 

 They are supposed to be the 79th "Queens Own Cameron Highlanders", which served in Egypt, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and France during the Napoleonic War.  Busy little beggars weren't they? 












I also cracked on with some basing of other figures that I have had here for a while.  I believe this lot are French Tirallieurs Grenadiers of the Young Guard, but don't quote me on that.  Again there are 24 of them, but I just based these ones as they were painted when I got them.

As were these 20 Austrian infantry.  So I have based these up as well. 

Other news is I have been to my first show of 2015.  Four of the Chuckadice crew made the trip up to Crusade in Penarth and a fine time was had.  Thanks to Nathan for driving us up the wall to Wales and the members of the Penarth and District Wargames Society for putting on the show.  Caught up with a few people, looked at some games and browsed the traders.  Sadly there were a few no shows from the former regulars, such as Dave Thomas, which meant that nobody had any Flames of War stuff or Perrys Mounted Men-at-Arms.  This was a problem as my shopping list consisted of 2 things, some FoW PAVN infantry and a box of Mounted Men-at-Arms.  Borrocks!  So instead I bought a box of Plastic Soldier Company M4 Shermans and a pack of 4ground Rendered Walls, both in 15mm.  See the similarity to my list?  No, neither do I.  Here's hoping for better luck at PAW on Saturday. 

Monday night was spent fighting off a Dervish horde in Nathan's Sudan campaign.  Colonel Pingers was in charge, ineptly assisted by Major Blunder (aka me).  Despite Nathan's best efforts the Brits managed to hold off the Dervish masses and seized the town, so things are looking better for the Empire this week.  Hopefully Nathan will put a report on his blog at some point.

I have also cracked on with some Vietnam period armour, but it's not quite finished yet so no pictures just yet.  Tomorrow night will mostly be spent shouting at the TV as the 6 Nations kicks off in Cardiff.  Catch you all later, I am off now.