Dark Ages and a wee boat

It's been a long time coming, but here is another small update. Things are ticking along as before, good days and bad etc. I have managed to get a bit of painting in and even a bit of gaming. Painting wise has mostly been Dark Ages troops for my collection. After starting out painting enough for Dux Brittanarium games, between 30 and 40 figures each side, I now have enough(almost) for a To the Strongest game with over 100 figures each side.

 So here are the newly painted figures. First up are 8 cracking Romano-British cavalry from Footsore miniatures. They are some of the best figures out there in my opinion and I will, eventually, get some more.

Then we have some plastic Gripping Beast and metal Black Tree Design cavalry. The Gripping Beast ones are ok, saved by the cost compared to metals but certainly not up to the standard of the Footsore ones. The Black Tree figures are nice, but the amount of work that needed to be done to the horses puts them off the future buy list. Sort out the molds fellas!

The next five photos are all Gripping Beast foot figures that I picked up on eBay for not much per figure or left over plastics from my Dux Brit forces. All together there are 117 assorted foot, a mix of spears, javelins, musicians and standard bearers.

 The shield and banner designs are all from LBMS and very nice they are too.

 I had thought I would have enough with this lot as it gave me a total of 32 horse and 240 foot but alas, I need some more archers.

Only 14 more admittedly, but it is still 14 more!





The reason for this is my To the Strongest Romano-British force has quite a few units of light infantry archers. I don't know if they are any good as we have only played the game twice, but I can have them so I will.

Here is the Romano-British army as it currently stands. Three generals, two units of cavalry, one of light cavalry, five units of pedites(spearmen), two units of mercenary Saxon warriors and five units of assorted light infantry. There are only three units of light infantry in the picture and they are missing a couple of figures, hence why I need 14 more.

 To face the Britons I have also put together a Saxon force. Three generals, one cavalry, eight warriors and three units of light infantry. A blunt instrument to be fair, but different to the Britons.

The other bit of painting I have done is a bit different, a small boat from China via eBay. It came as a plywood kit and looks pretty decent for a motor launch type of thing for future games. I have hidden some magnets under the deck so my pulp figures machine guns can be mounted on deck.

And that's it for now. I am playing To the Strongest at the Devon Club next month, so there will be a report on that at some point. Adios for now.

Wargames Foundry and Partizan 2018

As has become a regular occurrence, a bunch of Devon's least wanted headed north for a weekend of wargames in(or near) Newark. Nine of us went up, four from South Devon and the others from the other, less cultured areas.

An early start resulted in the now common sighting of the lesser haired Pingu in its natural state, asleep.

A quick stop at the hobbit hole(Gloucester Motorway Services) for a breakfast and a meet up with the others broke the journey before we headed on  to Wargames Foundry.

There we were amply fed and watered for a small fee, with tea, coffee, cold drinks, pastries, rolls, crisps and snacks all day while we used their table to play a multi-player Dark Ages fight using Dux Bellorum.

 Several hundred figures had travelled North in the two cars and went to battle to decide who was the one true king, Pingu or Steve.

Sadly it proved to be not Pingu as he fell in a blood sodden heap under the swinging blades of Steve and Toms masses.

 Here are the enemy and they are f-ugly! From left to right we have JJ, Tom(son of JJ), Steve the First, Chas the Knowledgeable and Vince the Demon Dice Roller. I didn't bother picturing the opposition 'cos we is even more f-ugly than they are.

After the day at Foundry we split up, the victors heading off to Lincoln to enjoy a victory curry will we headed off to our digs, via a shop for dinner and breakfast supplies. We usually stay at Lincoln Premier Inn when we go up but the price this year was a tad high at near £90 a room, so we had a look around and found a nice little place on Airbnb for just over £80 which could fit us all in. Turned out to be a lovely little cottage on a riding school with all the amenities you would ever need and very comfortable too. Best nights sleep I have had away from home for a long time. It had been a long day and we are all older than we like to admit, so we crashed pretty early and were up pretty early(except Nathan) for bacon and egg rolls and several cups of tea and/or coffee while watching the horses.

Sunday was spent at Partizan and a cracking day it was too. I caught up with some old friends, some who I have not seen for several years, saw some beautiful games and spent a bit of cash. I won't bother putting up a show report as JJ has done one far better and with much nicer pictures than I could, so I will just point you to his report of the show here. As usual though it is IMHO the best show in the country and I shall endeavour to make it up again next time.

Then we headed home in the sun. The sleeping Pingu made a reappearance, but too be fair I also had a snooze on the way back. Luckily Nathan didn't, as he was driving. A quick stop for fuel early on was turned into a quick stop for a refill of our bellies, so after a munch on KFC or a baguette we got back underway.



We had picked up a surprise present for our driver as a thank you for his services and a subtle comment on his demeanor at times 😉. A tasty snack which may be one of his 5-a-day, although I doubt it. Well, it does have peanuts in it!

Anyway, all told it was a cracking weekend, a nice trip away with decent company and a fun couple of days away. Bring on next year.

Painting and gaming

Yet again it's been a while since I posted, so here is a general update. I have done a bit of painting, I have done a bit of gaming. I have had good days and bad weeks, but I'm still alive so it's mostly good. 😉

 Painting first. Just lately I have been playing Dux Bellorum as we decided to play it as a group game on our lads weekend to Wargames Foundry and Partizan. The rules give a decent game and it's allover fairly quickly, which is good for an evening or afternoons game.

So some Dark Ages troops have come out of storage and had paint liberally splashed all over them. First up we have 6 standard bearers and 16 assorted foot, all Gripping Beast figures with LBMS shield and banner transfers.

Then we have 26 assorted foot types, a mix of plastic and metal GB with LBMS shields again. A nice addition to my previous Dux Britanniarum forces.


After Partizan I painted up another 5 standard bearers and 13 more assorted foot. All told I have about 150 foot figures done now, with about the same number still to go.





I have also painted some cavalry as a change and to give some options for my force. Firstly though I rebased the 8 I had already painted so they could all be used on the sabot bases I got from Warbases. Four each of heavy and light cavalry, a nice start for my cavalry force.

Then I painted the new additions. Somehow I had 4 mixed metal figures floating about, so they were painted along with the box of plastic Dark Ages Cavalry I had picked up. 24 should be enough for any force right?

So why do I now have 8 Footsore Romano-British Heavy Cavalry waiting to be painted? Why indeed! They are lovely figures though, really pretty.



Gaming has been a bit mixed, with several games of Dux Bellorum as mentioned previously interspersed with some games of Mythic Battles:Pantheon. Apart from that there has been not much done.



Here are a couple of pictures of our multi-player test game of Dux Bellorum. Six players, three each side with a mix of Romano-British, Welsh, Saxon and Raider forces. I won! At least that's how I remember it anyway. 😀

 Finally I managed to injure myself by falling over a box in a savage shark attack! No boxes were injured in ripping the crap out of my leg, but a fair bit of skin and blood was misplaced. Stupid box.

A Partizan and Foundry post will arrive tomorrow.

Big Dux Brit game and some painting

It's been a long month but I am still kicking.....just.  I have had a bit of a downer for a while, but things are a bit better now.

Despite the really bad start to the month I have managed to get some painting done, some for me and some for Nathan.  He had a mixed load of Dark Ages figures that he has picked up from ebay and various shows that he asked me to paint for him.  So far I have done over 50 of them with another 30+ to go.

 Here are some of them, a mixed lot of Romano-British first.

 Followed by a couple batches of Saxons.

So that's 36 of them, I also did another 20 that I gave back to him without taking any bad photos first.

 Also I have finally finished replacing the Dark Ages Wargames Factory figures I had in my Dux forces with Gripping Beast ones.
Here are the "Romano-British", actually a mix of Dark Age warriors and Saxon Thegns.  18 Levy, 12 Warrior and 6 Elite foot, supported by 4 archers and 4 skirmish javelinmen.  I have painted up a few extra command figures to make up the command bases.  There are a grand total of 7 metal figures in this force, cheap is my middle name.

Then the Saxons, 18 Warriors and 12 Elites with 4 archers and 4 skirmishers again.  Same basing system for the leaders as the Brits.Again there are just 7 metal figures in this lot.


Finally I got some cavalry painted up as well.  The 4 at the back are Gripping Beast figures from the lead mountain that came from somewhere long ago.  They are used to represent light cavalry for either side.  The front 4 are Black Tree late Roman cavalry.  They have painted up nicely, but the amount of prep work to get the horses cleaned up was ridiculous.  I think there was more mould leaked metal on these horses than there was metal actually in the horse castings themselves.  Anyway, they will be used as shock cavalry eventually.

Yesterday was the Devon Wargames monthly meet again and, for the first time in several years, I actually managed to stay for the whole day and get some gaming in.  It wiped me out for today but it was worth it.  The game was great, with multiple players on each side and about 200 figures a side.  Not bad for a 2 player skirmish game.

Jon put up a nice report on the blog and took some cracking photos, so please pop over and take a look.  Don't mention the size of his warband though, he gets all defensive about it.  ;)

I am now going to bed, so I'll catch you all next time.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! (Please note, some profanity)

So, things move on and so here I am again.  It's been an up and down few weeks.

First up the good. 

Congo, it's a cracking game and gives a good evenings entertainment.  So far we have played 3 games, with no one force dominating and plenty of mad moments.  We have had white explorers defeating African natives, Forest tribes ambushing white explorers and Zanzibari slavers picking up all the pieces.  Highlights included monkeys throwing coconuts at British soldiers, Lions eating some Zanzibari slavers in a thicket and a mass of giant ants upsetting everyones day.  I thoroughly recommend it and plan to play it again soon. 

Then there was Llardiff, a Too Fat Lardies day held at Firestorm Games on Saturday.  A gathering of like minded folk saw several games put on to introduce new players to the games.  Sharp Practice, Chain of Command, I 'Aint Been Shot Mum and Dux Britanniarum were all put on and several purchases were made after games were played.    The venue is cracking, with about 50 tables, a bar, cafe, lounge area and shop all in one place.  On the day itself there was also a bring and buy event, where I picked up a bargain of some 15mm Cold War era Russians for a bargain £50.  12 assorted tanks, 13 BMPs and 3 BTR-80s plus some infantry made it a deal I couldn't turn down.

Now the bad. 

On Friday I received a letter from my consultant, who informed me that my operation had been refused and the only remaining option is a PEG tube through my stomach, replacing the nasal tube I have currently.  So instead of a device that has a 75% chance of curing my constant nausea and stomach pain, frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, being unable to sleep for more than 3 hours and generally feeling so shit that I have also been diagnosed with chronic depression, I will now have a tube that does the same thing as the one I have already.

Well fuck you very much to the medical panel that made this decision.  Despite the fact that I am basically now a burden to my family and the state, the operation can't go ahead as my condition "Is not severe enough".  Despite the leading gastroparesis consultant in the country saying that I am a prime candidate for the operation with a very good chance of it improving my quality of life, the operation can't go ahead. So that's it now, I am stuck like this.  FML as they say and I hope the esteemed members of the panel are stricken with piles and get infested with the fleas from a thousand camels.. 

And finally the ugly.  

I have managed a bit of painting, so here they are in their "glory".

 First up are some carts for my Dux Brit games.  One of the scenarios requires 3 carts as objectives for the Saxons and I bought the carts from Warbases a long time ago.  More recently I got the loads to go in them and the animals to pull them from Colonel Bill and Warbases, plus a few civilians to lead them from the lead mountain.  Here they are, two one horse carts and a two oxen cart loaded with sacks and supplies.  I'm pretty happy with how they came out and they did the job on Saturday in Cardiff.

Also for the Dux games are these command stands.  The basic forces for each side a led by 3 nobles, a level 3 Lord and two level 2 subordinates.  To make it simple to keep track of the nobles level I decided to make them small bases of 2 or 3 figures.  If they are wounded and lose a level of command then one figure can be removed.

The Romano-British ones first, with a standard bearer and champion on the Lords base while a horn blower and a bishop make up the extras on the nobles.  The idea worked well on Saturday, so I'm sticking with it.  The standard is a Little Big Men banner and looks rather splendid.

Then the Saxons, the Lord again gets a champion and standard bearer, while the nobles get an extra warrior and a mastiff respectively. 





So, there you go.  That's the lot for now.  Its 1am and I really should go to bed.  It's been an eventful weekend.  Catch you all next time.

New rules, changed plans and other random mutterings.

It seems to me that we are living in a golden age of wargaming, with rules and figures of quality all coming out with startling rapidity.  I have recently purchased 25mm Colonial British infantry, 25mm Dark Ages warriors, 15mm Cold War British and 25mm Crusader figures.  Not much has been painted, but it doesn't stop me buying them..........

Then the rules, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, Kings of War, Men who would be Kings and Congo have all joined the collection recently.  Will I play them all?  Probably not as much as they deserve, but I still have them.  I really enjoy the Dragon/Lion Rampant rules, but they are not suitable for a large battle and some times it's fun to load the table with lead and have at it.  Hence Kings of War, which seems to be everything Warhammer could have been.  And now Congo has reared its head and has been the game of choice for the last 2 weeks.  I have not played it yet, but have run a couple of games for the Monday night lads, with the White Men winning one and the African tribes snatching victory in the other.  I keep getting drawn to North Star and Wargames Foundry to look at the bundles of figures they do but have managed to restrain myself......so far.

So, what do I plan to play next?  Dux Britanniarum is currently the plan as Nathan and I are running a game at Firestorm Games on Saturday 15th.  Also the painting list has been scrapped and replaced with suitable extras, such as carts and the like, for the game.  I have also been painting Romano-British figures for Andy and Nathan.  So far Andys 36 figures have been finshed and returned, while Nathans 19 are awaiting the imminent delivery of shields.  Then it's onto 70 odd other assorted Saxon and Briton figures for Nathans ever expanding warbands. 
 

Bad photo!

Here are Andys British, a mix of metal and plastic figures with LBMS shield decals to finish them off.  Sorry about the crap photo, it was a rush job as I was getting ready to go out.

So thats it for today.  It's just gone midnight and I have to be up early tomorrow for a pointless doctors appointment.  A GPs review of the tablets prescribed by the consultant, so they can't change them without his say so and he won't say so, but they have too see me to review the medication every 6 months.  So on that happy note, good night and I'll catch you all next time.

PS  By all I do mean the 2 people who look at this load of tripe every now and again. ;)

OML3 A brief report(with lots of blurry pictures)

It's 0211 and guess who can't sleep?  Luckily I have things to do.  However, instead of doing them I am typing this up.

Poor old fella.

Last Saturday was the annual Operation Market Larden day, this time called "The Lardest Day" as it was on 6th June.  The usual trio from Devon were joined by our latest Lardy convert, Andy "Pink Fluffy Bunny" Noel.  The four of us got up at stupid o'clock on Saturday morning and set off for the tractor filled wasteland that is Worcestershire.  A quick pitiss stop for the ageing member to relieve his bladder(after he woke from his nap) and we duly arrived in darkest tractor-land at 9ish. 

A right rough trio!

A quick round of hello's to the collection of reprobates lardy wargamers and then Nathan and I got on with setting the table up.  We were putting on a 1940 Chain of Command game based around the events on June 6th 1940, when the German's attempted to complete their invasion of France after Dunkirk.  After a great days gaming, with the extra attraction of the local airshow going on(loved the Vulcan), we retreated to Evesham to sup some of the local refreshments and then partake of Worcestershire's famous dish.....curry!  A hilarious evening was then topped by a reasonable 4 hours sleep back in Tewkesbury.  Thanks to all those who attended and made the day so enjoyable.  We will be back next year!

More on the game I ran and the game I played in my next post, for now I will just show you some blurry and badly taken photos of the other games that were put on.  All told their were ten games being played, ranging from Dark Ages Britain through to Afghanistan. I will let the pictures do the talking now and I'll be back tomorrow.  Well, that is later today really.

Ade's Gallipoli game

Another look at the Gallipoli table

Dodgy looking fellas there

Looks nice, it was a bad day for the Allies though

Would you trust this man with anything?

Paul, Paul(Pingu) and Ade.

Some dodgy looking 1940 CoC game

Dux setup, watch out for the cows

See, the little buggers are making a run for it

Fighting Season, run by Rich Clarke

Brits and ANP seize a compound

The Taliban know they are there though.  Nice tractor

A close up of some of the Brits

I 'aint been Nuked Mum.  Can't wait for this to be released.

15mm IABSM Eastern Front.  Jagdpanthers on the hill!

Lot's of German armour now.

25mm Russo-Japanese War.  Nice setup.

The hills are alive with the sound of chopsticks

Loads of them, hiding in the woods

It's looking bad for the Russians

Lovely looking Sharpe Practice Peninsular game

British infantry defend their supplies

French fire at the defenders.

25mm Sudan game. 

Brits appear to be taking some casualties

Thin blue line.......

Sudanese try to get around the flank

War of the Roses using Sharpe Practice

 

Close up of some of Paul's figures.

 

A gathering of might before the fighting begins