Post Op and Pickett's Charge

Well the op is done and I am now free of the tube stuck down my nose.  Instead it comes out of my stomach, so same problems but a lot less obvious.  The op went well and I got an early release the next day for good behaviour.  I think it was good anyway.The bad news is my stomach now has a new hole in it and 3 stiched up holes that are itching like an itchy thing.  Happy days though.

To speed up my recovery Nathan came around last Sunday and we tried out Pickett's Charge, the new American Civil War ruleset from Too Fat Lardies/Reisswitz Press.  Following a bit of a mixup with a review in WSS that was really badly written, we decided to give it a go.  Nathan had played it at the last meeting of the Devon Wargames Group, but I only watched a couple of turns before leaving.  We set up the McPherson's Ridge scenario out of the Summer Storm Gettysburg book and had at it. The scenario had two Confederate Brigades from Heth's Division attacking two Union Brigades from Reynolds 1st Corps.  The Rebs also had a massed battery of 20 guns deploying in support off-table, which would turn out to give the Union troops a fair old slap.  Nathan took the dastardly seccesionist rebel typs and I took the valiant defenders of the Union.

The Union force consisted of the cream of the Army of the Potomac, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st COrps, aka The Iron Brigade.  In total there were 45 infantry stands and a 3 gun battery.

1st Division		Wadsworth
1st Brigade		BG Meredith
19th Indiana		4	Elite	R
24th Michigan		6	Grn	R
2nd Wisconsin		4	Elite	R
6th Wisconsin		6	Elite	R
7th Wisconsin		5	Elite	R
2nd Brigade		BG Cutler
76th New York		5	Reg	R
84th New York		4	Vet	R
95th New York		3	Vet	R
147th New York		5	Grn	R
56th Pennsylvania		3	Reg	R
Artillery
Battery B, 2nd Maine		3	Grn	Rifles

The Confederates only had 37 stands of infantry, but did have support from 5 batteries of guns off table.

Heth's Division		Heth
Archers Brigade		BG Archer
13th Alabama		4	Reg	R
5th Alabama Bttn		6	Vet	R
1st Tennessee		4	Vet	R
7th Tennessee		6	Reg	R
14th Tennessee		5	Vet	R
Davis' Brigade		BG Davis
2nd Mississippi		5	Reg	R
42nd Mississippi		4	Grn	R
55th North Carolina		3	Grn	R
Peagram's Artillery (off table)
Crenshaw's Battery		2	Reg	Nap
Fredericksburg Battery		2	Reg	Mixed
Letcher Battery		2	Reg	Mixed
Pee Dee Battery		2	Reg	Rifles
Purcell Battery		2	Reg	Nap

 The initial deployment had Davis' Brigade facing off against the 2nd Union Brigade while Archer was massed behind a small wood facing the Iron Brigade. 





First turn saw the Iron Brigade double-quick forward as the Rebs hesitated behind the wood..  Johnny Reb and Billy Yank exchanged fire along the ridge and the Reb massed guns fired counter-battery and hammered the sole Union battery.  Nathan's ability to roll a 4+ on casualty dice was working at 80%, 'cos he's a git.

 The second turn was noticeable for the complete lack of Union ADCs.  Three D6 rolled needing 3+ for an ADC to be available.  Yeah, right.

 By the end of the second turn things had gone a bit awry for the boys in blue.  The Iron Brigade "hesitated", unnerved by the scarey woods apparently.  The Union battery fell back as it was getting pounded, replaced in the line by the green troops of the 147th New York infantry.  Things went from bad to worse at the end of the line however.  Nathan managed an 11 on his artillery fire, causing the 76th New York to take a "See the Elephant" test.  I promptly rolled 3 on 2D6 and they fell back 30cm in a "whipped" state. 

 Not good, not good at all.  I was struggling by this point so we called it a day there and put it on hold until Monday, luckily it was a bank holiday so Nathan was free to come over again.

Day 2, turn three and the Iron Brigade pushed into the woods.  On the ridge the Rebs were now organised and there concentrated fire was causing a few casualties. The Union 2nd Brigade was taking a heavy battering all along the line, although they were hitting back reasonably.



Turn 4 and the fire from the rebs was enough to drive back the 84th New York with yet another "whipped" result, leaving the 220 men of the 95th New York standing alone against over 700 advancing Rebs.  Things were looking grim on the right........

On the left however it was a different story.  The Iron Brigade was advancing and there fire drove back the 1st Tennessee regiment, splitting the Reb line.  The quality of the Iron Brigade was beginning to tell.

I forgot to take any further pictures, but the Iron Brigade swept through the woods like a tsunami, driving all before them and opening the flank of the Reb line up.  The 2nd Brigade managed to Rally, regaining some points it had lost and things were looking grim for the South.  Turn 5 saw both sides roll and get all theiir normal ADC's, plus an extra one each as both rolled two 6's.  It takes three ADC's to rally a Brigade and it can only be done once per game on each Brigade, so it is a rarity.

Pickett's Charge is a good set of rules.  The system is straightforward and doesn't take long to get sorted in your head.  Each turn you, as a divisional commander, get some ADC's to "assist" in commanding your brigades.  They allow re-rolls or special orders to be used.  Each Brigade rolls for command, if it fails it cannot advance but can still fire etc.  If it passes it does whatever you ordered.  Turns are igoUgo, but with a twist.  Each turn there is an initiative roll and the winner decides who goes first.  If you go first the other side can react to your moves, but you get to charge, move and fire first and can inflict casualties before they fire back at you.  It is a simple system but has enough nuances to make it a good system.  Troop quality goes green, regular, veteran, old lag and elite.  Old Lags are good troops who are battle-weary.  Good in their own way but difficult to get to attack. 

All in all I would highly recommend Pickett's Charge to anybody looking for a set of Regimental level rules for American Civil War games.  I ordered them myself after playing, so it has cost me money already.

That's it for today, I am off now to base up some Rebs for Sharp Practice, then it's back to the hospital tomorrow to check my tube.  Keep rolling those dice folks.

Operation pending and yet more ACW

I am off to hospital tomorrow for the long awaited operation.  It's not the op I hoped for but at least I won't have this damn tube stuck down my nose anymore, so happy days.  Now onto the serious stuff.......

I have finally been motivated enough to get some paint onto lead and plastic.  A while ago I bought the ACW army box that the Perrys sell and it is mostly good.  Some cracking figures, some nice scenery and a couple of mounted officers only available in the box.  Sadly a chunk of the figures are the original ACW figures and not the newer, more dynamic, poses but they will do for a while.  So I have cracked on and now have a near finished Union force for Sharp Practice.  I added to the box contents with a pack of commanders and dismounted cavalry for both sides, plus a sprue of Zouaves, one of cavalry and 2 of union skirmishers from ebay.

140th NY Zouaves

I have nearly finished the Union force now, just the artillery to do at some point but they are a rarely seen support option in the games we have played so far. My planned force is six units of 8 infantry, 2 units of 6 skirmishers and one unit of 8 cavalry with 6 dismounted figures.  Along with that I have 2 standard bearers, a drummer, a physic and 9 leaders, 6 foot and 3 mounted.

Officer types

Cavalry and Skirmishers

I already had some of the older figures painted up, so they make up half of the infantry units with 3 groups of 8 men and a unit of skirmishers.  Newly painted are 24 Zouaves, 2 Zouave leaders, 3 mounted officers, 1 foot officer, 8 mounted cavalry, 6 dismounted cavalry and 6 skirmishers.  I shall replace the older figures with a box of the new Union Infantry from Perry Miniatures soon......maybe.

The zouaves are painted up as the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry, who started out as a regular uniformed unit but were changed to zouaves in the winter of 1863-64 as a reward for their seamless record. 

 I did a little bit of modelling on the cavalry, changing the arms and chopping bits about to give them carbines instead of sabers and pistols. 

I am partway through the Confederate forces as well, but none are based yet.  So there it is.  I had hoped to get the rebs done too but time and other things got in the way.

One of the other things was fixing a computer for a customer.  It was "making some funny noises and not working properly" was the clear and concise information I got.  After a few questions it became clear that this PC was a few years old (Windows Vista!) and had never, ever been cleaned.  So I opened it up and, after removing the dust that was inside the case I started cleaning the fans.  The main fan vents at the back were completely blocked and the fan was so jammed up with crap it had burnt out the motor so I had to replace it.  The cpu fan was also full of crap, so I removed it and found a load more crap.  That's the picture below, after I have removed the cpu fan to clean it. 
I'm actually quite surprised it worked at all, given that the fans were clogged up so badly.  The graphics card fan was also blocked, so it all got a damn good clean out and was soon looking almost as good as new.  A new fan, a good clean and it's all quiet again now.  A quick check of the systems and I find 2 copies of Vista, 3 different users, all with the same name and lots of multiple copies of various programs.  It's all done and gone back now and he is happy as Larry, but it took a bit longer than planned so my painting is now behind schedule.  Ah well, life goes on.

Good luck with whatever gaming you do, I shall return after the hospital release me.

ACW Sharp Practice Campaign

Sorry for the extended absence, I have been struggling with a few things and it has kinda knbocked me for the last few months.  However, yet again morale has been improved by regular beatings from my boss, ahem, I mean wife.  So I have done very little painting or gaming, although I have managed a few boardgames here and there.  I will do another post (hopefully tomorrow) with some pictures of the few bits I have done up.  Good news is that I have finally got a date for the operation to put the tube in my stomach.  April 21st is op day, so I probably won't be celebrating Her Majesties 91st birthday.



One thing I did manage was to run an ACW campaign for Sharp Practice using the Dawns and Departures supplement, which I can highly recommend. 


The scene was set when I found a pair of willing victims"volunteers" in Panjo and Colin.  Panjo is an out and out rebel at heart while Colin is happy so long as he gets to use his figures.  Below is the map used for the campaign, there is also a road running from area 2 to area 23 down the centre squares.

Panjo had the mission of securing the town of Sequatchie to facilitate the advance of the Confederate main force.  He started in area 23 on turn 1.  His force consisted of the following units and resources

1. Major John Major, a handsome, strapping fellow from a military family stricken by hard times
2. Captain Jefferey Thomas, an average sort from a well-to-do military family
3. Lieutenant Ray Mawbry, ugly as sin but loaded with cash from Daddy's cotton fields

These fine fellows commanded five units of 8 infantry supported by a single unit of skirmishers.  Panjo spent his 24 support points on an exploring officer, a physic, a musician, a mule train, spirits and tinder, a unit of 8 cavalry and a status 1 leader for them(Lieutenant Oliver Coleville).


Colin had the ambiguous mission of "stopping the rebs", without knowing what they intended.  He started in area 2 on turn 2.  To do this he had the following force

1. Major Donald Trump, an average fellow flush with cash from the families factories
2. Captain David Lambert, a large chap and former gentleman ranker
3. Lieutenant Richard Hudson, thouroughly dislikeable and a downright cad

They commanded a force of five units of 8 infantry supported by a single unit of skirmishers. Colin had 26 points to spend and bought an exploring officer, signal stations, a physic, a transport cart, an additional status 2 leader(Lieutenant John Ford) and upgarades for his original 3 leaders.

The map below shows the map moves for turns 1 to 7, with Panjo neatly sidestepping Colin and attacking the Sequatchie militia in turn 7.  The use of the Confederate cavalry as scouts gave a decided advantage to Panjo as he had a clearer view of what was going on.  A random event in turn 7 allowed a double move, so Colin was just able to get to the town before the end of the day, but a determined Confederate attack forced the Union forces back in disarray.  Colin lost his transport wagon and 5 wounded men to the victorious Rebs.  Can the Rebs hold long enough to win though?

I will finish off the report tomorrow, this is long enough for one post.  Sadly there are no pictures of the Battle of Sequatchie, which resulted in Major Trump referring to the result as "not real news" as he had some "alternative facts" about the battle...........

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.

Normal service has not been resumed.....oh, and Secret Santa 2016!

But an update is probably past due.  Things are not moving on with the planned operation and I am now totally f****d off with hospitals, tablets and nasal gastric tubes.  It's my four and a half year anniversary tomorrow from when I first ended up in hospital.  I wonder if the op will happen before I die of old age?  I have had the tube fitted more times than anyone else in Torbay hospitals records.  In fact I am such an expert on the bloody things that I now do it myself at home. It saves going to the hospital every 2 weeks I suppose.

I am feeling so crap, both physically and mentally, that gaming and painting have taken a real dive.  Hardly anything has been played, although I did get taken out to Panjo's new house for a game of Black Plague last week.  Apart from that sod all in the way of wargaming and very little painting has happened.

Reaper Bones Ebonwrath Dragon

One of the few things that has been finished(finally) is a Reaper Bones dragon for future games of Dragon Rampant and Kings of War.  The Lurtz figure is just there to show its size.

I also did 6 Falschirmjager for Nathan, he does the basing himself  and they have been painted to match some he picked up on eBay.

28mm Falschirmjagers

Stadden 90mm Marines

Closeup of the drum

Finally there is a change from the normal service, with a trio of Stadden 90mm figures. They belong to a lovely lady that my wife knows who served as a WREN with the Royal Marines, married a Marine and both her sons became Marines.  One of them is currently a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London.  Anyway, her husband bought these figures many years ago and I was asked to repair and repaint them.  So, from left to right we have a 1980's Royal Marine in DPM, a RM Bandsman in dress uniform and an officer of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot from the 1660's.  It made a change to paint something that large and the figures themselves are beautiful.  The level of detail is amazing, even down to the coat of arms on the drum.  She loved them, so it was worth the week of stripping and cleaning them, followed by several weeks of painting.

However, I have not picked up a brush since finishing them, so when Chris Stoesen of Wargamer's Odds and Ends contacted me about this years Secret Santa, I jumped in with both feet in the hope that it will revitalise things and shake me out of the doldrums I seem to be stuck in.  I can thoroughly recommend this scheme, I have partaken for the last 2 years and it's been great.

So, that's it.  It's now 0130 and I suppose I should go to try and get some sleep.  Seeing as I average less than 3 hours per night there is no real rush though, so perhaps I'll wait a bit.  Catch you later

Down and nearly, but not quite, out.

It's been a really bad month in several ways, so there is not much to report here.  Funding for my hopefully life-changing operation has been refused, so I am know going through the appeal process.  It seems the 70 to 80% chance of it working is not sufficient for the NHS purse holders to authorise the release of funds.  They are happy enough to fund cosmetic surgery for breast enlargements, tummy tucks or gastric bands, but not a gastric pacemaker.  It's also really pissed me off that one of these young girls who has had a breast enlargement is now sueing the NHS because she has been the subject of online abuse, so she wants a reduction and £10k in compensation.  F**K OFF.  Is it any wonder the NHS is in the state it is or that I am struggling with clinical f*****g depression?

Wargames wise, I went to Legionary a couple of weeks ago and I am going to Partizan on Sunday.  Apart from that it's been a few boardgames and sod all else.  My mojo has moved on, primarily due to how fed up I am feeling. Legionary was good and seems to be improving every year, which is good.  A few new traders, a lot of nice games and a laugh with friends so it was a good day.  I bought a box of Warlord Games Project Z Spec Ops figures, so a vast amount was not spent.  The figures are nice, although £15 for 8 plastic figures is a bit steep.  Yes they come with cards for Project Z, but if I want some more I will probably look elsewhere as they cost more than most metal figures and I am not planning on playing Project Z so the cards are pointless.  It might be a sensible move to retail them without the cards for a bit less money, as I will be buying an others elsewhere.  And don't get me started on the ridiculous price hike on the Wargames Factory Survivor figures.  The bikers look nice though........

Nothing else to report.  I am planning to pick up a few figures on Sunday, but nothing major.  It's more a social visit to see some old mates and to check out the new venue than a shopping trip.

Of course, that may well change once I get there!  Oooh, shiney does have a habit of striking when I am at shows.

Well, that's it for now.  A better update will hopefully rear it's ugly head soon, with pictures and all sorts of pretty stuff.  Take care and catch you next time.

Blood Rage, insomnia, it's all go here.

It'a 01:23 and I should be trying to sleep.  However, as usual my body has decided that it's not up to me and so I am sat here wide awake again.  I remember being able to sleep for 8 hours, but it's been a long time since I got anything close to that.  Ho hum, it could be worse, at least I'm not Craig Joubert! It's bad enough that he so obviously screwed Scotland over, but to then be told by World Rugby that he screwed it up...........

Bear and Raven clan figures

Serpent and Wolf clan figures

Anyway, I managed another couple of hours of gaming this week.  Four of our group decided to go in for the Blood Rage kickstarter and it arrived a few weeks ago.  Last night we gave it a go, well the other three did while I checked the rules and adjudicated on any fights"disagreements" over the actions/events/cards etc.  The game is good, it's easy to learn the rules but there are a lot of things to make it interesting and entertaining.  Highlight for me though is the figures.  They are beautiful and I can't wait to get started on painting some of them.

Mountain Giant (Huge figure)

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the miniatures.  The sculpting is awesome and I just hope I can do them justice when I finally get to slap some paint on them.

All told there are over 80 figures in the set, including the 7 large monsters. 


We have also just gone in on the Urban Apocolypse Terrain kickstarter from Battlesystems.  We are getting enough to do a 4' square area, so a nice big table for any sort of modern/post apocolypse game.  It's going to be great to play all sorts of games on and I may finally find a use for some of these modern figures I have here.

Finally, I now have a date for my visit to the hospital.  Next Tuesday will see my freedom curtailed as I go in to have a longer tube fitted.  Annoyingly the duration of my visit has extended from the overnight visit the doc casually mentioned to a 4 day/3 night stay minimum, more if there are any "complications".  Not impressed but I am glad that something is finally happening.  Here's wishing for a lack of complications and an early release for good behaviour.

Well, that's it.  I am trying to paint some Perry Miniatures Afrika Korp figures but the mojo just isn't there.  I'll probably end up playing World of Warships instead.  Catch you all later

Finally did some painting and things are moving ahead

Sadly not much gaming has gone on lately.  I popped in to see the Devon Wargames meet last Saturday but didn't stay long as I felt rough.  Some nice games again, 28mm French Indian Wars, 15mm WW2 and Star Wars X-Wing were all played.  More info on the blog link above.

I also managed about an hour and a half at the Monday night game.  Zob and Colin were playtesting Fighting Season while Panjo and Andy were killing zombies again.  Shame I couldn't stay longer but yet again I felt like crap.

I have finally finished some figures though, so it's not been a total wipeout.  Yes, they have taken me a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days, but at least I got them done finally.  So, here they are.  Yes, it's more Warlord WW2 Germans, but these are the last of them that I have here.  I will probably get some of the new Falschirmjagers to play about with, but not just yet as finances are a bit tight.

 These 32 figures amount to a platoon for Chain of Command or a reasonable base force for Bolt Action.  Organised into 3 squads of 10 men plus a couple of officer types to lead them, these are the early war figures as opposed to the later war Grenadiers.

Speaking of Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command rules, there is a new release out in their "Pint Sized Campaigns" series.  Operation Martlet covers the actions of the British 49th Division against the German 12th SS "Hitlet Jugend" prior to Operation Epsom in Normandy 1944.  All the previous campaigns have been great to play and/or run, so I am looking forward to this one.

Right, leaving wargames now to less pleasant things.  My ongoing medical problems are hopefully coming to a crucial point.  In a few weeks time I will be going back to hospital to have a ryles tube placed from my nose down into my small bowel.  If it works then it's good news as it means they can do something to fix it, if it doesn't then I'm stuck like this.  Here's hoping that the tube works then.

Anyway, off now to do stuff.  Hope your all having more fun than I am. ;) 

Quick medical update, no wargaming included

So I am back from deepest darkest Chelmsford and the prognosis is more positive.  New consultant reckons he can help me and has a plan of attack to deal with my stomach/intestinal problems.  Hope has reappeared and it's nice to feel a bit positive for once.  I may end up under the knife and with a gastric pacemaker, but if it helps then it will definately be worth it. 

The only other bit of good news is that Wales have got out of the group stages of the Rugby World Cup.  Still have to play the Aussies tomorrow, so fingers crossed for a win for the Welsh.

Man of the Match Dan Biggar

I will update again when I have done something wargames wise, but for now that's all folks.