Billions of Bavarians

I had quite a productive week this time around.

I painted the Grenadier Company of the Austrian German regiment Arberg – eleven figures plus the sample I painted a year ago - and individual samples for the Lacy Freikorps and the Bavarian “Minucci” Regiment. Thirteen figures in a week is a bit of productivity high for me, why, I could paint a whole regiment in a month..!

Dream on! Still it’s a nice fantasy, and I’ll probably keep it going for another week before I get back to the Victorians.

It’s starting to look like I am gathering a Bavarian Army by stealth.

I have the completed Leib Regiment and those Dragoons, the Minucci Regiment is officially commenced and I stumbled across a handful of Austrian Cuirassiers which means that the Taxis Cuirassiers (or some other regiment) are about to rear their ugly heads.

Can’t you see it happening? I’ll be painting some Brigade staff next, then I’ll just HAVE to paint the Locatelli Hussars and another regiment of Cuirassiers to balance them out, then the Infantry will start to look under represented and I’ll slate another two units there. Oh! And what about artillery?

It just goes on and on!

Heckenfeur

What ho.

Been having a break from the Victorian military forces this week and have dug out some Austrian Grenadiers from the lead mountain that I painted some samples for quite a while ago. I am cracking on with them at quite a pace and am enjoying the results mightily.

Pictures to follow, as ever.

Recently the Duchess and I went to a crime fiction night at the local “Reader’s Feast” mega chain bookstore. I naturally drank too much (*ahem* – free booze) and made an arse of myself in general, but between spouting off too loudly about this and that I stumbled across a large-format book of Richard Knoetels water-colours. I begged and pleaded nicely enough for the Duchess to dispense cash and I made off with my prize. I was delighted to discover it included a pretty fair selection on the Bavarian army. This has led me to decide that the Minucci regiment looked very smart in their mid-blue coat, buff facings and small-clothes and will thus be my next unit after the Austrian Regiment Arberg gets done.

The Bavarian Cuirassiers illustrated in the same volume look rather tempting also, but I suspect Mr Knoetels’ accuracy* when he’s depicting the lace on the shabraques – what’s that triangular lace thing he’s got going on there?

The strength of the Australian dollar at the moment means another order will be going out to the chaps at RSM/DPC for more bags of their Austrian castings.

In other news, I see that Eureka are gearing up for a crack at the 28mm French Revolutionary Wars market with a young Napoleon and a few Grenadiers storming the bridge at Arcola way back in 1796. Will Eureka be able to get a run in an arena pretty well stitched up by Elite miniatures? Only time will tell, I suppose. They look fairly nice in the pictures on the website, though.

I hope there will be Austrians.

*Has anyone of the nit-pickers out there ever thought of putting out a book. The title could be "Correcting Knoetel" or "Mollo, Knoetel and Funcken: A nit-pickers guide" or even: "What the Ospreys got Wrong". Get to it, nit-pickers; money where mouth is.

The Slavic Menace

*Sigh* one blurry and one clear photo of my new Russian Colonel - the figure is by Eureka - an Austrian 1866 Mounted Officer whose shako I cut down and turned into a Field Cap.

It's quite a small casting - almost *true* 25mm, but very fine.

I've just finished off my third Sword and the Flame Unit of Victorian/Imperial infantry. I'm on target to polish them off entirely over the nect few weeks. I'm painting a couple more of the Victorian Cavalry at the moment, and have started work on my allotted buildings.

More updates in the near furture.

Little Wars Pictures

That's my troops in the left background. My Nemesis is in the foreground. The figures are mainly by Eureka.

The enemy's left flank. I accounted for their chariotry easily enough, but his skirmisers (en bloc!) nailed me in the end. I was amazingly lucky to survive under their massed fire for as long as I did.

Eye candy! Eureka carts going into the fortress to escape the onrush of the battle lines! Lovely fortress; I'm assured that this is nothing compared to the one they left at home.

I never got to see this game get unserway. The figures were all from the Eureka Pax Limpopo range. I love the steam-boats! Extremely nicely painted bits of kit.

Amazing Tower of Isengard with squadrons of minis. Brilliant!

Little Wars 2008

I went to the inaugural “Little Wars” show in Melbourne yesterday.

It’s a new event promoted in part by Eureka Miniatures as being aimed at getting gamers in touch with each other.

It certainly did that for me!

The venue was the German Club Tivoli in Windsor. I got through a liter of beer and a plate of rindsroulade mit dumpling despite the rather eccentric catering arrangements!

There were a good few games on. I noted a very impressive “Ring of Isengard” LoTR game that featured a colossal Isengard tower that must have been more than one-and-a-half meters high; this very much impressed the Duchess of Alzheim.

I played in a Sumerian Game – Water Wars with some very nicely painted Eureka Sumerians. It was also my first introduction to the Armati rules; all I can say is we may have done better at rolling for initiative at the start of each turn! As it was, my ability to roll a six with unerring accuracy at most other times kept my chariotry alive under an absolute hailstorm of missile fire for far longer than I deserved!

I picked up a few nice items both from the traders and from the Bring and Buy. Pride of place goes to my English Language edition of Engelmann and Dorns’ volume on Frederician Infantry Uniforms. Apparently all I need do now is track down the companion volume on the Cavalry and I’ve got it made… I picked up a large mixed bag of Castaway Arts oddments which will feed various projects nicely and I was pleased to come across a copy of the WRG 1685-1815 rules for a fiver.

I laid my hands on a copy of the League of Augsburg’s’ “Beneath the Lily Banner” rules for the 1660-1720 period and am now retrospectively very glad I never sold my old Essex figures after all!

Finally, I picked up a sample pack of Eureka’s’ new Saxons – not the tricorne era ones, but chaps from a far darker age. Very nice and they will give Gripping Beast a run, I think. Review to follow in the next few days.

I was very pleased to be able to spend some time chatting to Gerry from Castaway and Nic from Eureka and to bump into Maurice from the Old School Yahoo group. It’s such a shame he no longer seems to post there – he always was worth reading when he posted! Gerry showed me some newly cast command for his Colonial range – I noted British, Ghurkha and Bengal Lancer Command – so there’s a lot to look forward to from our Australian manufacturers – take note!

I’ll upload a few pictures this evening.

What's all this Defense of Melbourne stuff, then, eh?

In the comments to my last post Jeff asked for a little more information on the "Grand Plan" for the Defense of Melbourne.

The DoM is pretty much my major project for this year. It's taking about 80% of my hobby time. The remaining 20% is turned over to little bits and pieces that I will take on as a break from the main project. It's the culmination of more than a decades' general interest in the colonial defences of what was the Colony of Victoria as well as more focussed efforts on over the past three years.

In the past six months I stumbled across some other gentlemen from Canberra who shared my interest in Australias' pre-Federation defense forces and together we have been working toward a fairly large demonstration game for CanCon which takes place in Canberra over the Australia Day long weekend.

The game will involve a Russian Amphibious assault on Fort Nepean, one of the cluster of Fortifications that defended the Heads of Port Phillip Bay, at the north end of which stands the City of Melbourne with seven millions of Sterling in the bank; a tempting prize for any raider!

It's 1887, and Britain and Russia are at War.

Russia has decided to strike a blow at the Prestige of the Empire and has decided that units of her Pacific Fleet will embark troops and raid the coastal cities of Australia.

The local defenders have been listening with rapt attention to news of the War Scare from Home when, of a sudden, the telegraph cable goes silent. It is Easter and the Militia are already enbodied and at their encampment on the Mornington Peninsula when the Russian attack falls!

Can the defences at Point Nepean hold while a relief column rushes to it's aid? Will the Fort's guns be silenced so a Russian Cruiser Squadron may raid up the Bay?

Who can tell?

That's the general idea. We're constructing a three metre by one metre model of the fort, models of a Russian cruiser and torpedo boat, a Victorian Monitor, a gunboat and spar torpedo boat (I want the model boats to be on tea trolleys, circling the main display... we'll see). The Victorians will have 30-40 figures at the fort and another 100 or so marching to it's relief. The Russians will be attacking with Huge amounts of Infantry, Machine Guns, artillery and the obligatory cossacks.

Rules will be The Sword and the Flame.

I think we are aiming pretty high for this game, but we have more than adequate research resources, the figures are pretty well all sourced. We are in the process of scratch-building the warships, and I am in the fortunate position of not having to build the fort - although i'll be providing sundry barracks blocks &c!

Introducing... The Colonel

There he is, freshly varnished, the Colonel of my 1st (West Melbourne) Battalion of the Infantry Brigade of the Victorian Military Forces.

He's a conversion of this cavalry casting - a head-swap from an infantryman and a gauntletted right arm built up from greenstuff on a paperclip armature. Oh, I also spent ages getting a HUGE moustache to adhere to his top lip.

I think he looks a bit like the illustration from the TVAG (google it) website! and none the worse for that.

Here he is giving orders to his ADC, Capt. Smedley. Young Smedley looks delighted to have a CO at last.

A Quickie for Fitz

I finished off my Victorian ADC tonight. This shot of him is as he was just after getting the coat of matt varnish that goes over the initial coat of gloss I put on.

You'll remember that originally he was basically a hussar with neither head nor right arm.

His new head comes from a spare infantryman, whilst I sculpted his arm from a coil of greenstuff which I wound around an armature made from a bit if bent paperclip that I superglued into his shoulder.

The only tricky bit was sculpting his hand as it wobbled about on the wrist with a millimetre or so of wire poking ot of it as a kind of wrist. I only hinted at the lace detail on the cuff, knowing that I'd paint it on later.

Obviouslly he still needs basing. I'm probably going to use 1mm thick plastic card in a blobby, rounded, "no shape" shape to harmonise with the coins I'm using for the Infantry.

Loose Ends and Norman Nonsense

I've been painting away at lots of "Victorian" infantry the past few weeks and now have more than fifty of them lined up, ready to go, but the TSaTF rules need a batallion to be commanded by a mounted Officer. Now, sadly, the HLBS range never had any mounted Infantry command, so I have have had to improvise somewhat.

Fortunately I had surplus one Line Cavalryman and one Hussar who I thought would make a splendid "Colonel" and a glittering "ADC". So, it was out with the razor saw, a quick zip-zip and off with their heads. I had a pair of infantry colour-bearers going spare, so took their bally heads off and hey presto!

Neither figure has a right arm; the originals were sword arms, and I have no suitable substitutes. I have decided on a tentative venture into the world of sculpting and will create my own.

To have a small break from the Nineteenth Century, I have taken a brief trip back down the time tunnel to both the Eighteenth Century, at last painting the last of the Stadden Command figures for my Prussian Fusilieer Regiment Number 35 per the tip from der Alte Fritz. They look very satisfying and go extremely well with the RSM Fusilieers.

Oh, if only Stadden had done some Austrians!

Finally, some while ago I took delivery of some few Mirliton Normans. I am intending to use Norman figures as the basis of a First-to-Second Crusade Army, and started painting them last night. They are no better than "average" being very stiffly animated, but I'll see how I go. I'm looking about for decent Norman or Crusader figures, but haven't really seen anything I really like at the moment. I don't mind the look of the Black Tree Design ones, and I quite like the Perrys' take on the First Crusade.

Does anyone have any recommendations? My basic criteria are realistic anatomy and good horses.

Blog Update

Small update to the Defence of Melbourne Blog.

Take This Mans' Credit Card Away From Him!

I've been buying things.

I know I oughtn't.

I have though...

I was messing about last night in front of the TV and decided to get all my Minden Prussians out and line them up. I was pleasantly stunned to realise I'd got almost an entire unit.

I'll be getting more to flesh this lot out. I'm going to have to get some French, too, just to take a look, you understand. Not to build a batallion of them... honest.

Then I went and bought some (about twenty) Hanoverians from Jude Beckers' Venture Miniatures. I'm very eager to get these. Very eager - I'm extremely keen on the style of the sculpting; and the officer with the raised sword looks just like I imagine Baron Munchausen to be. They look a little cartoony, but in a good way, if you understand me.

Then there are the Eureka Sumerians. I've just bought my first 40 or so as I intend to follow Phil Olley's example on how to build an army. Here's hoping I have the discipline... Oh, who am I kidding? I want to paint the little domkey-chariots!

On the imagineering front, I am reading the Cambridge University Press volume on the Agean Bronze Age that I picked up in an excellent 2nd hand bookshop here on Brunswick Street. This has led me to fondle the sample Myceneans I bought from Eureka a couple of years ago and to really regret that it is nowhere near being complete. I must resist the call of the 100 Club - I've other irons in that fire! It's really nice to be reading a volume of history or archaeology that has actually been published less than twenty years ago and represents a rather more recent state of the art than I have been used to in recent years of "self-directed study".

On that topic, I have been watching with a great deal of interest the debate at the Old School Wargames YahooGroup on the topic of Anglocentric history. It bodes well as a topic worth exploration. Indeed, the topic could very well be broadened to take in the whole wargaming-history axis. Who knows what directions that might take us in?

Heckenfeur

It is with a rather guilty start that I noticed the amount of time that has elapsed since my last post. Still as they say, it's a hobby, not a job, and so...

I'm still here and as usual painting far more than ever I game, which suits me well enough, although I do have a little Sword and the Flame bash lined up for a couple of weeks from now. That the game will be between Anglo-Egyptians versus Mahadists is about all that has so far been finalised, so I suppose there will be more as we talk it through.

Continuing along the Colonial front I have finished my first TSaTF unit (20 figs) of Victorian infantry. They look very smart; I'm pleased with how their red tunics came out. Red is a colour I normally struggle with a bit, but this has worked pretty well, despite Games Workshops' dreadful Mechrite Red bought in the hope I really would be able only to put on one coat of it over my black undercoat. I had to bulk it up rather with my trusty Vallejo paints to get an even enough coverage, sadly.

Still, they are done and I've moved on with my reward which is to paint the first four figures of the Victorian cavalry. The castings were most unpromising, just being really quite unattractive sculpts with poor location points for their seperate sword arms. I hope superglue will be enough to hold them on, and that a good paint-job will lift the poor chaps up a bit. Still their horses have painted very nicely and only need a shot of spray varnish to finish them off.

I actually went a bit overboard with the horses and painted seven of them - but I'm cheating and regarding this as preparation for my next "reward stage" which will be converting a couple of Cavalry to a mounted Infantry Colonel and his rather glittering ADC.

On the topic of rewards, I think I remarked in an earlier post that the "Defence of Melbourne" project would be soaking up about 60% of my hobby time this year. At the time I'd not really thought too much about what the rest would be, but now I know.

I've enough Grenze castings from DPC to finish of my Croat forces for the Strudelberg game (whenever that may happen); along with them I also got a couple of bags of Austrian German infantry who I intend to paint up per the test shots I did a while back with the red pants. Too gorgeous.

This ought to see me with some leftover Grenzers. Hm, what to do, what to do... I am thinking of cutting them up and trying to create some pose variants - after all, DPC only offer three - including the ropey Officer/NCO type wearing the cloak with an un-pleasing looking sword being freely brandished. Secondly, I think the cut of the Grenze uniform is not unlike that of the Hungarian infantry during the War of the Austrian Succession, and I'm doing to try my hand at producing some. Ulp! That's about 20% of my hobby time.

The remaining 20% will be taken up with some of the new Eureka Sumerians. This is a period of history that has always exerted a strong fascination for me and I am looking forward to getting some of these minis and really getting to grips with them. I'll review them when I have them to hand and talk about the project when it has gelled a little more.

What else, what else? I was moaning before about the poor quality of the GW "Foundation Paints". Let's go on and suggest that GW get out of the paint game and just stock Vallejo - or someone who does quality paint! Furthermore, have we seen the packs of plastic bases? 20mm and 25mm and 40mm and then the horse bases all in one pack! I guess I won't be buying any more of those then - Litko, here I come!

What's up?

A bit off topic for this blog, but I've been painting 19th Century Victorian troops.

Pictures here.

What I'll be (mostly) doing this Year

Go here for a sneak peek.

The long and the short of it is that I'll be devoting about 60% of my hobby time this year to a fairly ambitious demonstration game slated for the Australia Day Long Weekend in January 2009.

The year is 1887, Britain and Russia are at War over Afghanistan or Caviar or something or other, and the pesky Russians have decided to empty the bank vaults of her Majesty's loyal, but tiny Colony of Victoria!

To do this they need to storm the forts at the Heads of Port Phillip Bay.

We will be re-enacting this momentus "historical" event by putting on a demo-game of the Russian amphibious assault on Fort Nepean.

Prussias' Hussar Regiment Nr 5

Illustrated is "Altpreussische Uniformen" by Hans Bleckwenn. This book is a nice little snapshot of the Frederician Army. It's not complete, but has a smattering of different regiments of each troop type. Each is illustrated with a colour plate depicting the basics of the Privates, the NCOs, the Officers and the Musicians uniforms as well as numerous small details like their colours and standards.

I had quite forgotten that I had ordered this book via the Internet until it arrived in my letter box. On examining it, I was so taken by the plate for von Reuschs' Hussar Regiment number 5 that I had to try painting some figures up as this regiment.

The figures are RSMs, on one of the galloping horse variants. I used the the Prussian Hussar in Mirliton for the troopers with an Austrian Hussar as the Busby-wearing Officer.

They are quite nice figures, but can be a little tricky to paint on account of the fine-ness of the detail. Try a beer instead of a coffee while you are painting these boys.

Painting was done from a black undercoat with a pretty liberal amount of mid-gray highlighting. It took me the best part of a week to get them done. The "dagging" on the saddle-cloths was done by painting the whole pattern in white and then going over again in red - this let me leave a fine white border while also brightening up the red.

Heckenfeur

Getting the painting wobbles…

I’ve spent most of the past week painting a few old Willies and some Stadden command for IR 35. I had been wanting to be doing a really good job on these figures; not only do they cost an awful lot of money, but they are also my beau ideal for toy soldiers.

The upshot of the whole experience has been to convince me of a few things.

Firstly I’m a choker.

You know whaen you want to do a really, really, really good job painting figures and then just can’t? This happens to me every time I lay my hands on some particularly beautiful or coveted or expensive castings. All of a sudden I am a sausage-fingered idiot with a four-inch brych trying to paint the cross-belts on a 30 millimetre figure.

Sure, and I can paint just fine on any figure I have decided I don’t care about. Perhaps a solution lies in this direction? Perhaps I ought to get good and drunk before I touch my next Willie?*.

Which leads me in a near-perfect segue on to the new Willies.

I have only briefly seen the new ones – incautiously ripping open the mail one afternoon last week to discover my birthday present (roll on March 22nd!) – and admit to some mixed emotions on seeing them.

I have always really liked the older Willie castings for the light and graceful style of their design, but was getting very tired of trying to repair some really shocking imperfections in the castings which for the asking price were really unacceptable.

To me the new Willies are very much based on the old masters, changed somewhat and improved in terms of the research behind them and the fact that the old moulds look to have been re-made from the “new, improved” masters.

That’s all to the good, but (and this is going from a five-minute peer through the plastic baggies) it looks to me that the castings still have certain faults. These are not as bad as in the old range to be sure – I have a couple of French Infantry with lower arms attached by a metal “thread”, and British drummers with no fore-arms – but I saw at least two castings of the 32 I bought with significant pits in the backs of the figurines.

At GBP12.95 per eight castings (or about $AU31!) I’m not too sure as to whether I ought not just wait on Minden Minis or even just buy RSMs!

Has anyone else bought any of the new Willies and seen this problem? I’ll do a more thorough review when I can get my hands on the figures toward the end of March.

UPDATE: I recently bought and started to assemble some of the new customisable GW movement trays.

Initially, I thought that these were a great idea - customisable movement trays that you can size in 20 or 25mm units. Then I started to assemble them. Why (oh, why) are the edge pieces that you glue onto the traysides and front not themselves made in lengths corresponding to multiples of the 20 or 25mm units that make them up? Am I being obscure/silly? It makes sense to me to make the "edges" in - say - 75 or 80mm lengths.

Oh, and instead of providing "corner" pieces, why not just bevel the ends of the "edges"?

Is it just me, or do they seem to be quite bad examples of design?


*fnar, fnar, fn-a-a-arrrr!

Move the Third

The third move saw the Alzheimer side continue to mine doggedly forward. Their three mines now projected three inches forward of the lip of the glacis.

Meantime, the Gallispans had repaired their right-hand sap and opened a 48" second parallel. At the right-hand end of it they promptly emplaced a battery of two guns, having judged that it was time for them to begin striking back at the Alzheimer artillery.

You will remember from last move that I named the Alzheimer fortifications from left to right as the Kurprinz Bastion, the Kurprinzessin Ravelin and the Kurfurstin Bastion. So then, from the six dice the Alzheimers got to throw, five of them came up as either a five or a six. The only fortification that rolled low was again was the Kurprinzessin Ravelin with only one of it's guns striking home.

The five Alzheimer hits demolished the entire Gallispan second parallel and the battery they had planted there, but not before it had itself fired it's guns in defiance, scoring a single hit on the number two gun in the Kurprinzessin ravelin. This hit dismounted the gun.

NOTES: Gunfire is simultaneous. A hit on a gun happens when a six is rolled - the gun is irreparable on a roll of a further six on a d6. The ALzheimers will have to use one of their working parties to repair their gun if they want to have it ready to fire next move.

Introducing IR35

The Fusilieers are coming along nicely enough. I'd say they are about two-thirds complete, with the remaining rank and file of the third of four companies due for completion tonight.

I will then get cracking on their command. I took Jim Purky's advice and bought Stadden command to go with the RSM rank-and-file, and they are a very good match being as they are of a somewhat smaller stature than the rest of the Stadden Prussians.

I'll do a comparison photo tonight to demonstrate.

UPDATE: I finished of the third company tonight - that's them in the second picture from the top of the page. I've also included a picture of the Stadden Fusilier NCO for a point of comparison with the RSM fusilier with the cheeky look on his face. Note also the part-painted Officer and fusilier drummer ithe the completed company.

Gunners

It was common practice to borrow infantry from their parent regiments to serve the battalion
guns with the aid of a few artillery-men.

I've decided to pick up on this by painting a few of my gunners in the uniforms of one of my French infantry regiments - Languedoc if memory serves. Obviously they are not serving a little battalion piece here, but a monster siege piece.

Note that the gunners are doing the things that require artillery skills whilst the infantry are providing the brute labour!

Gunners are by RSM, the gun is a Willie/Suren.

Anyone have any Willie Artillery they'd like to part with? The Gallispans are in dire need. Seriously.

Willies

I've had a long standing thing for Edward Suren's "Willie" range of figures.

With one of the OSW crowd talking up the Regiment he's working on, I was prompted to pull out the ones I'd bought a few years ago. Looking at the paint jobs, I decided it was time for a thorough renovation.

I also thought this would give me something to do as I waited for the temptation to buy some of these frighteningly expensive figures to go away.

That didn't work, did it? I've since bought two packs if the Line infantry, a pack of the Foot Command and a pack of the Mounted Command. I've decided that my old Willies will form the second line of the regiment I build.

I'm really not very good at resisting temptation. Perhaps I may need to build an Old School Brigade?

JAFP*

Well, here we are again, another blog posting. Maybe a few belated new years’ resolutions, too.

Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet of late; boring old real life has been getting in the way of noodling around on the internet. On the bright side, Amy and I have gone a long way toward creating a native garden which in turn in drought-stricken Melbourne goes a long way toward saving water and making it possible to keep a garden alive!

So it goes.

In the blog world, I’ve not had too much to say and am trying to keep to a policy of not saying anything if I have nothing of substance to say. That’s the problem with blogs, I think. That empty page and the perception of an “audience” sometimes prompts me to write where I do not always have too much to say.

It is nice for me to put up yet another picture of the same dozen toy soldiers and say “Well, just did the highlights on their coats – what do you all think out there?” but it doesn’t always add to much to the greater discourse, does it?

Does it?

I resolve not to blog about having painted the gaiter buttons on the officers of the grenadier company of IR35, no matter what a terrific job I think I have done.

That brings me to another little niggle that’s been with me since I stumbled across an article in some Wargames mag or other while in the UK. Proper references later, but the gist of the article was what are you guys blogging about? Your miniatures? Please! I only want you top blog about well-painted miniatures, not some of the duff bits and pieces that I’m seeing.

This was accompanied by some photographs of some rather ordinary bits of painting (unattributed) on some decidedly unappealing bits of sculpting that allegedly illustrated his point that people were/are getting lavishly praised for any old thing.

I cannot begin to tell you how the patronising tone of this article got my back up. I fairly choked on my Full English breakfast!

I actually think the tone of posting that we have in the “blog-o-sphere” is possibly a product of the comments moderation policies of those of us who run blogs, rather than the fairly pathetic sycophancy that the writer seems to think holds sway.

I do think sometimes that commenters are over-nice or over-generous and that sometimes a post will be left as much to register a visit as much as anything else.

What are your thoughts?

I promise not to moderate any comments that are cranky, gnarled or spiky. And yes, you do only have my word for that!

UPDATE: The Article was "Wargaming Meets the X Factor" in WI #241, by Barry Hilton.

I'm strangely conflicted about the article insofar as Mr Hilton basically goes out and sets up a straw man - that the internet has bred a lot of people out for fame as it were and that this is coupled with a lot o people out there who'll praise any old rubbish. I think that what annoyed me was the broad brush approach he took and his complete lack of any real examples.

He then holds up a number of figure painters who he believes are worthy of praise.

Speaking for myself, I may enjoy the work of Holger Schmidt or Kev Dallimore, but really would not try to emulate them as I don't believe that their painting styles are sustainable over the kind of army that I am interested in raising. Indeed, modern painting exemplars strike me as being really only suitable for the single miniature or at most for the skirmish game. Taking the point just a little further, I really find the kind of painting admired by Mr Hilton just a bit depressing because I know that there would be no way I could ever finish of a 60-figure unit in anything like an acceptable time-frame.

Perhaps the failing is mine.

UPDATE the Second: I've posted reasonably lenthy responses in the to the comments in the "Comments" section.

*Who remembers "Blue Thunder"?

Vale Ed Hillary

It's a bit late, and not really on topic, but, well, good on you, Sir Ed.

There are not too many like you.

Sculpting Stuff Arrived

I just got a little parcel of sculpting bits and pieces from the good people at eBob.

It's a sort of a sculpting starter pack and consists of two sculpting tools, a 15cm strip of two-part epoxy putty and three "dollies" and 25mm circular plastic bases, similare to those you get from Games Workshop.

The dollies are almost an exact match in size and proportion to an RSM Austrian (German) Fusilier. Thus means that they are impressively dainty and I may need to buy some of those magnifying goggles to work on them.

I am already suitably intimidated - and a bit awed at how skillful our miniatures sculptors actually are.

So, what's the goal?

I want to sculpt up some French infantry suitable for the War of the Austrian Succession. You know the sort - collarless coats with no collars, although collars could be addd easily enough as they began to appear throughout the conflict.

These figures would form the basis for doing Spanish and even Piedmont-Sardinian infantry from the same conflict. Then there are the light infantry of several nations (not forgetting the Montagnards!), Hungarians and Pandurs from the same conflict, to say nothing of the Austrians...

But that's getting ahead of myself.

Better learn how to sculpt first!

I'm thinking my first step might be to gently sever the little heads and trying to get some hats and hair onto them without mucking up too badly.

Let's see how we go.

PS - YES, there will be a seige move enacted this weekend, too.

Projects - good for Lead Mountain reduction

Having a project on focuses the mind.

Doing this siege game has really highlighted to me just how incomplete some of my units are/were.

Just a few examples, my Bavarian Leib Garde were short by a whole company, as were my Gardes Francaises.

Many of my French (or”Gallispan”) regiments while standardised on a three-company organisation were all short various NCOs.

When I started the project my Prussian (or Alzheimer) Fusiliers stood at less than half company strength – now they are at almost two companies and still going strong.

I had almost NO gunners – now I have eight Alzheimer and nine Gallispan (as well as an Ouvrier!) with more on the way.

I had no fortress artillery but for four unpainted and fiddly to assemble Hinchcliffe 12 pounders. Now I have a neat half-dozen from Eureka.

Hurrah for projects; the siege has boosted my forces by something like 70 figures since the start of December.

Note to self

Riding a bike in peak-hour traffic is a great way of developing ones coup l'oeill.

I think the modern term is "situational awareness"!

Second Move

Alzheimer Gunners about to give Johnny Gallispan a jolly good hiding!

No chance cards were drawn this move for either side, so the Gallispans made like busy beavers and began sapping forward.

They opened two trenches and, using three working parties on each, constructed two 36” saps, zig-zagging every 12” as they went.

This left them with an unoccupied working party, so these brave souls went forward along the left-hand sap and constructed 12” of the second parallel.

The Gallispans also now moved to occupy their works, The Gardes Francaises and the Bourbonnois regiments occupying the first parallel, whilst the Berry and la Reine Regiments received their orders to occupy the second parallel once it was completed.

On the Alzheimer side, “Kinsky” watched the sudden surge in Gallispan activity with not a small degree of alarm and while not relenting with his mining activities, determined to open fire on the enemy saps.

Batteries one and two in Bastion Kurprinz opened fire – Battery One demolished the Parapet thrown up before the incomplete second parallel, effectively destroying it. Batteries Three and Four in the Kurprinzessin failed dismally to hit a single thing, whilst Batteries Five and Six in the Kurfurstin Bastion were very successful indeed, destroying two 12” lengths of sap.

Neither side elected to make an ACTION move, so this concluded the second move.

Oh, the Gallispans were gnashing their teeth that night!

NOTES:
Chance cards – at the start of each move, each side draws a chance card from a deck of 20. Half are blank, the other half have various “amusing” (to me!) incidents printed on them.

Move One - Alzheimer

Oberst-Lieutenant Kinsky and his Chief of Engineers, von Fotze stood on the lip of the towns’ glacis.

Von Fotze lowered his glass and opined: “Herr Oberst-Lieutenant, it seems to me that the Gallispans have opened their first parallel and that they have almost finished buildind infantry redoubts at either end.”

“Very good, Captain. Ah, I see my fusiliers are taking a turn on the covered way today?”

“Yes Sir, but-“ and von Fotze lowered his voice “- their morale is low after the last beating they took. They looked more like refugees than soldiers when they came into town.”

Kinsky stuck out his bottom lip. “That won’t do! No, that won’t do at all! Let’s give them something to do other than just stand around. I want three listening galleries driven forward from the edge of the ditch. Knock holes in the counter-scarp if you have to. Start now – it’s slow work, so the earlier we get to it the better. By the time our Gallispan friends have sapped up, we might get far enough out to give them a nice surprise.”

One of the gunners had been trailing them like a lost puppy and now piped up. “Your Excellency, begging your pardon, but I’ve been taking the range and I think I could get a ball as far as the enemy lines.”

Kinsky turned to the man and shook his head. “No. We will wait until he has dug himself further into range before we start burning powder.” He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Don’t worry my lad, there’ll be more than enough to do, bye-and-bye! Now, von Fotze, a crown for each man in the working party that cuts the most clay – does that sound reasonable?”

NOTES:
Mines are dug at the rate of 1” per strategic move.

Detonating a mine or engaging in a day’s artillery fire (ie, firing one’s Artillery in a SIEGE Move) expends a unit of powder. Kinsky has 15 at his disposal. To win, he must hold out for 20 days. Kinsky is seeking to shorten the range before he opens fire.

Kinsky has three infantry units at his disposal. He can this dispose of three engineering officers and thus employ three working parties.

IR35 is on the covered way whilst IR13 mans the bastions and ravelin. The Leib Battalion is in reserve.

With all stragglers now in, IR35 stands at 31 figures.

The Gallispan siege lines are 72” from the salient point of the ravelin and thus at the uttermost extremity of cannon-shot.

First Move - Gallispans

The Marquis de Gonsalvo

In the inevitably gray light that preceeds the dawn, silent files of men were issuing forth from the Gallispan camp.

Each man bore a burden. Some carried ordinary tools in the shape of shovels, mattocks and pick-axes. Others bore stranger items – long bundles of brush-wood that took two men to handle; these were called fascines. Some men wheeled in small carts or simply rolled gabions, large basket-like objects, open at both ends, woven from supple withies.

At the softly-voiced commands of their officers and NCOs all these men stopped and formed a long line facing the Alzheimer fortress.

The Marquis de Gonsalvo dropped his handkerchief fluttering to the ground. At this sign, his engineering officers made their last adjustments to the line, necessary since it was almost as long as two infantry battalions were wide! The men then planted each before themselves a gabion and started to dig.

As they dug, the soil thus excavated was flung up into the gabions, first to fill them, then to cascade in a natural rampart on the side facing the fortress. The fascines were used to bind the rampart laterally and to top the gabions off.

Whilst the line of the first parallel was being constructed, other parties, each under the close supervision of an engineer began to build one at each end, a redoubt roomy enough to hold an entire company of infantry. Gonsalvo noted with satisfaction that Brunetti his Chief of Engineers had taken him seriously on his worries about having strong places where he could shelter his infantry as they waited to counter-attack the inevitable raiders he was sure would come with mischief in mind!

He noted that Brunetti was keeping busy supervising the cutting of some embrasures in the new parapet. He was a good, conscientious officer. Breathing deep of the sour smell of the freshly-turned earth, he wondered if this might not be the odour of success?

NOTES:

Engineering officers are issued at the rate of one for each infantry regiment a side has.

The Gallispans have seven regiments\battalions and thus seven engineers.

A working party needs to be supervised by an Engineering Officer for relatively complex tasks. Each party can create 12" of parallel in a strategic turn.

"Gonsalvo" elected to build a first parallel wide enough to take two infantry units minus their grenadier companies which he intends to house in the redoubts at its' extremities. In the centre is a small battery position in which he'll be mounting a pair of battalion guns for protection against raiders.

My infantry units have a frontage of approximately 20" and thus we need four working parties to open the parallel, another two to build the redoubts and another to create the small battery position, for a neat total of seven fully-employed working parties.

Rules, rules and more rules.

I just thought I’d take the time to lay out a few basics on the siege rules I’ll be using for this game.

The rules are based on a slightly incomplete set published in “The Courier” years ago by Gary Comardo and heavily modified by me as I like my rules a little less abstract, although I preserve his turn sequence intact.

There are two move types, SEIGE and ACTION.

The turn Sequence for the SEIGE move is as follows:

a) Attacker constructs new works
b) Defender constructs new works
c) Attacker places troops in his/her works
d) Defender places troops in his/her works
e) Defender explodes mines
f) Attacker explodes mines
g) Defender fires cannons
h) Attacker fires cannons
i) Defender fires small-arms
j) Attacker fires small-arms
k) Either side may call for an ACTION sequence

You can find many of the basic ideas that I have “plugged into” this turn sequence in earlier postings:

http://mavisming.blogspot.com/2006/05/seige-rules-some-considerations.html

http://mavisming.blogspot.com/2006/05/couple-more-seige-warfare-thoughts.html


The ACTION turn is played out as a tabletop action, using your favoured war-gaming rules. I favour the Charge! Basic rules as they are quite straight-forward.

As I see it, SEIGE moves will largely be played out on a map, whilst the ACTION moves would occour on the tabletop.

Dramatis Personae

How do you like that, no sooner had I started trawling through Tony Baths' "Setting Up a Wargames Campaign", than one of the OSW comes up with a personality generator!

Without further ado then, I present first the Alzheimer command:

#1Name:Oberst-Lieutenant Kinsky
Major Trait: AMBITION(4)
Other traits:
Great lover
Resolutely loyal
Not easily angered
Highly energetic
Arrogant and stiff-necked

#2Name: Gouvenor Krumpler
Major Trait: AMBITION(4)
Other traits:
Inclined to mercy
Disloyal intriguer
Somewhat lazy
Very generous
Sharp temper if provoked
Rather proud

#3Name:Von Fotze, Major of Engineers, Alzheimer Chief Engineer.
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(12)
Other traits:
Very courageous
Usually loyal
Easily tempted
Rather proud

#4Name: Oberst-Lieutenant von Gruber, Proprieter Lieb Battalion
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(12)
Other traits:
Great lover
A bit of a flatterer
Rather proud
Mostly loyal
Ugly

#5Name:Oberst-Lieutenant von Itzenplitz, Proprieter IR13
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(10)
Other traits:
Not easily angered
Great lover
Loyal intriguer
Average looks
Touchy about family honor

#6 Name:Oberst-Lieutenant von Erdmann, Proprieter IR35
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(12)
Other traits:
Inclined to mercy
Great lover
Rather proud
Very jealous of family honor
Easily tempted
Very charming

#7Name:Captain Kalnocky, hetman of the light forces
Major Trait: AMBITION(7)
Other traits:
Great lover
Very charsimatic and persuasive
Unreliable, a liar and oath-breaker
Merciless, revenge-prone

#8 Name: Georg, Ritter v. Blasthof, Colonel of Dragoons
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(7)
Other traits:
Rather proud
Thinks ahead most of the time
Very charming
Rather dull-witted

And hereinunder, The Gallispan command:

#1Name: Marquis de Gonsalvo, Commander of the Gallispan Seige Forces
Major Trait: AMBITION(7)
Other traits:
Usually loyal
Ugly temper
Holds grudges

#2 Name:Major Brunetti, Gallispan Chief Engineer
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(8)
Other traits:
Thinks ahead most of the time
Great lover
Arrogant and stiff-necked
Steadfast in danger

#3 Name:Christian de Neuvillette, Colonel of the Gardes Francaises
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(6)
Other traits:
Generous if in a good mood
Great lover
Sharp temper if provoked
Very jealous of family honor
Holds grudges

#4 Name:Col. Carbon de Castel, Jaloux, Colonel of Boubonnois
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(4)
Other traits:
A bit of a flatterer
Inclined to mercy
Very courageous
Not easily angered
Somewhat active

#5 Name: M. le Comte de Guiche, Colonel of Languedoc
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(9)
Other traits:
Highly energetic
Rather dull-witted
Unreliable, a liar and oath-breaker
Very charsimatic and persuasive

#6 Name:M. le Vicomte de Valvert, Colonel de Berry
Major Trait: AMBITION(3)
Other traits:
Very cruel
Very wise and far-sighted
Touchy about family honor
Ugly temper
Ugly

#7 Name:M. le Comte de Montfleury, Colonel de la Reine
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(3)
Other traits:
Very good temper
Somewhat cunning
Highly energetic
Steadfast in danger

#8 Name: Bertrandou, Marquis de Bellerose, Colonel of the Gardes Lorraines
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(10)
Other traits:
Complete coward
Disloyal intriguer
Very stupid

#9 Name:M. le Vicomte de Ligniere, Colonel of Bearn
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(8)
Other traits:
A bit of a flatterer
Loyal intriguer
Somewhat active
Inclined to mercy

#10 Name:Capitaine le Bret of the Legion of Light Infantry
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(4)
Other traits:
Arrogant and stiff-necked
Touchy about family honor
Very lazy
Very charming
Disloyal intriguer
Great lover

#11 Name:Major Nagy, the Hussards de Turpin
Major Trait: AMBITION(6)
Other traits:
Touchy about family honor
Great lover
Ugly temper
Easily tempted
Thinks ahead most of the time
Resolutely loyal

I think that ought to do for the major cast members.

I may generate more as the need arises, but for now, I suggest that in the next couple of days the first paralel will be opened.

Parenthetically it would seem that almost everyone in the eighteenth century was a great lover. Can we say the same of out own times?

Mise en Scene, Part the Second

The Marquis de Gonsalvo of the Gallispan Army had every reason for satisfaction.

The remnants of the Alzheimer rearguard had at last fled before him and run to the refuge of the small, fortified town he espied on the river. Their last encounter had knocked the Alzheimer fusilier regiment apart and their musketeers had taken grevious damage as well. So far as he knew, apart from whatever third-rate garrison troopers the Alzheimers had in the town (what was it's name again? Schnitzelburg probably, heaven only knew what that was supposed to mean in their barbaric tongue!) that those survivors of the rear-guard would be hard-pressed to man the firtifications.

He anticipated a short seige. Perhaps the govenor of the town would request a parlay after his honour had been satisfied by a brief bombardment?

It would be best if that were the case; he knew the marshall begrudged the time it would take to overpower any obstacle. He would hang back as an army of observation whilst de Gonsalvo conducted the seige operations. A kindly uncle to be sure.

The Marshal, de Gonsalvo and Brunetti, his chief engineer would talk later about what front of the fortress to open seige lines against. He touched his heels to his horses' flanks - he was hungry and wanted to see what Joachim had laid out for lunch at his pavillion. He would invite Uncle along.

Next Post: Dramatis Personae.

Mise en scene*

Generalmajor von Schwerin looked wildly around him; things had gone so badly awry. Who would have thought that the enemy would concentrate his heavy batteries on the Blasthof height and then fell the woods at its’ foot into abatis. His own maneuver to envelop the enemy’s flank was failing, failing.

By God! His own men were faltering in the face of the enemies' guns. Meant to advance thereupon with shouldered muskets, they were now, their ranks shredded first by ball, and now by grape looking back over their own shoulders. The officers and NCOs were having to buffet them forward with their levelled pole arms or with blows of their sticks.

One man slipped through the cordon, then another around it and yet another again. They were starting to pile up in the scrubby woods to the rear, one behind another behind each tree as the trunks were steadily splintered by shot. The blows of the flats of their officers swords did not suffice to shift them and even as he watched, scandalised, he could not at the same time blame them as his own balls shrank up against his belly in unwonted... fear?

No. And as he watched, he saw the colours of the regiment of which he was Colonel-proprieter waver, and that would not stand. He kicked his protesting horse forward to where he could see a Junker sagging to the ground, white-faced to his very lips. He snatched the flag from the boys' nerveless fingers and hoisted it high, the textures of it so rich to his heightened sensibility – the velvet cladding of the staff, the gilt nails that held it in place.

He held the painted silk high, the sun transforming it into a glory of green and blazing white.

“Come on, my Children!” he cried, urging his horse forward.

He was deluged in a dreadful blast of grape and knew no more.



It had been two days since the defeat at Blasthof.

Alzheims army had fallen back, and back. Oberst-lieutenant Kinsky had fought a series of strong, defensive actions allowing the main force of the Army to retire in a semblance or order. Now Kinsky and his men had gained the fortress town of Schellendorf which protected the bridges on the River Schwein. The Army had already passed through and were re-assembling at the encampment at Dunzelwitz. Kinsky and his men knew they had to hang on at Schellendorf whilst the rest of the army got itself in order and brought up fresh troops and more drafts of recruits to try to make good its' losses.

Old Krumpler the Gouvenor had done a good job keeping the defenses in order, and the Garrison battalion was as good as could be expected. His own couple of squadrons of Dragoons and somewhat depleted battalion would let him make a fair defense; he hoped that as the remnants of the Fusilieers drifted in that he might make a fair defense a good one.

From his vantage point in the guerite of Ravelin Kur-Prinzessin, he could see the curve of the Schwein as it made it’s loop to pass through the town and under the Charles Bridge that was it’s main crossing. He knew the enemy would have to attack up the salient formed by the bend of the river here – the nearest fords were miles away and just not practical for effective communications and that this front of the fortification would be where the main blow would fall.

He was sure that the enemy would use his army to throw up a cordon around the town first to stop him from bringing in any more supplies while they waited for their siege train to come up. He wondered how long that might take.

Still, he had a little time yet in which to gather his strength, and he was determined to make the most of it.

*I hope I got my French right..!

Solo *sigh* Seige

It looks to me as though I may have a little time to myself over the Xmas/New Year period, and naturally enough, a young mans’ fancy turns to war-gaming.

I’ve just taken delivery of a half dozen Eureka Pirate ship guns which I intend to press into use with my fortress (they really are a much quicker and more sturdy build than the Hinchcliffe garrison Artillery I own already); I painted the first pair last night and they look pretty good to me.

I have some simple siege rules I want to try out, but as I’ll be playing this one out as a solo game, I am wanting to make things a little less predictable by:

a) assigning the general of the “attacking” side a personality* that I have to keep in mind whilst making my decisions. I think I can use the rules in the Tony Bath book on campaigns to do this. Then again, I could go cheap and easy by doing a “Seinfeld” and no matter my instinctive inclination might be in a situation, do the opposite! And;

b) that old favourite of mine, using chance cards.

I’ll probably use the Charge! Basic rules for fighting our any table-top actions that arise, or perhaps even Featherstone’s “Close Wars” if there is anything I need to play out as a skirmish.

I’ll need to fake up a map, keeping in mind that the terrain had better be suitable for a fortification and I’ll need to decide on Orders of Battle. I think the attacker will need to outnumber the defender on the tabletop by about 2:1, keeping in mind that the rest of his forces are maintaining the circumvallation and contravallation lines “off the table” as it were.

UPDATE: Ahem, a little experimantation leads me to the conclusion that my fortress may be a little small...

I am thinking seriously of increasing the size of the bastions and ravelin qite considerably; perhaps by 50%.

Megalomania? Take a look at how much room the two guns take in the picture of my Ravelin.

*What is your wargaming personality? I think I'm best suited as an infantryman fighting on the defensive.

Fusilieer Regiment 35

This is some of my weeks' work, a few more figures for FR35. I've another 9 on the workbench which is next weeks' labour.

It never ends.

Once I've done these, I intend to make a proper start on my Staddens. Once these are sone, well, I've another unopened bag of Musketeers that I can make a start on - I'll probably use these to round out IR13 and begin another line regiment.

Minis for Swap or Sale

I have the following samples I've bought at odd times available for swap or sale:

RSM Miniatures 7YW Freikorps Lacy - 16 figs (perhaps a few more than that). Don't forget to check out the Template on the "Not By Appointment" Blog - see my links section for the address.

Eagle Miniatures 7YW Prussian Infantry and Cavalry - unknown number of foot foot and 2 mounted figures, reviewed here: http://mavisming.blogspot.com/search?q=Eagle+miniatures There are a few French as well. Drop me a line if interested and I'll sort out just exactly what I do have.

Elite Miniatures 7YW French Infantry - 18 foot figs plus one mounted.

Please email me at bloggerator@gmail.com if you're interested in any of my tawdry wares.

Regimental round-outs

It's strange to say this: for someone who has a minor Everest for a lead mountain, I am running short of certain categories of unpainted figures.

I am out of Croats, there is not a spare dragoon in the house and I have only a bare handfull of French left. Rather than buy anything more just at the moment, I've been painting the remaining French as Gardes Francaises. Once upon a time I had a standard infantry organisation set at five companies of eight figures (each included seven privates and either an Officer or a musician), and a pair of ensigns and a mounted colonel for a regimental staff.

Ah, the days of youth.

Now that I am older and wiser, I find it much more appealing to equip my line regiments with four companies of fifteen figures (three of musketeers, one of Grenadiers, each with twelve privates an officer, an NCO and a Musician) as well as the staff. Thus it has been necessary to go back over my units and increase their numbers somewhat; a slow process, but a rewarding one.

The Gardes Francaises are the current beneficiaries of this scheme. I finished off a little batch of four last night and I will have sufficient time this evening to have a good crack at another five as well as a musketeer for the Austrian Regiment "Arberg".

This latter figure is part of a process of prototyping a new regiment where I paint one or two of each of the major types of figure that a regiment will need just to work out what details I'll need to include on the figure (and which can safely be left out or fudged...) - co-incidentally this leaves me with about a companys' worth of figures and a feeling of getting a little head start on the project.

I think I want to paint more Staddens

Yes, I do. If only all wargames figures were thus clean and elegant and easy to paint. It is not often that you come across a figure that was such a pleasure to paint.

I'll try for a better photo tonight.

*Thinks to himself* You know, if you tossed away the hand-spontoon part, you could put together a nice standard-bearer...

Mucking about with Paintbrush and Camera

This week more than anything else, I'm doing the toy soldier equivalent of doodling and painting little bits of this and that. I'm really enjoying painting a couple of Austrian Grenadiers from some descriptions on a Morier painting or two in the Osprey on Maria Theresa's Infantry for the 1740-48 period. This could be the start of something.

He's also a bit of an homage to Stokes Schwartz's outstanding work on his own 80-figure infantry batallion. Phew!

French Ouvrier. I intend to equip him with a mattock or pick to make the most of the pose. He may even find himself engaged in heaving on a rope or rolling something. The pose seems quite versatile to me. I also like the idea of using him as an infantrymen drafted into assisting with a regiments' batallion guns. The possibilities are quite appealing.

This is my own choice for best wargaming figure ever. He's a lovely little 30mm Stadden Prussian. Can't you just see him urging the men on as they storm the Churchyard at Leuthen?

What's your favourite?

The Week That Was

I spent most of this week painting a half dozen gunners for my artillery arm. They are by RSM, the gun is a bit of a lovely monster by Suren that has been in my collection for a few years now, and looking for a role. I think it just became part of my seige train. Looking at the size of the beast, I'd guess it's an eighteen-pounder - I think if I get another few, that will see me right to be able to set up a heavy battery for some hard pounding as well as a ricochet battery to keep the enemies' heads down!

Looking at the scene being enacted, it seems to me that one of the men is sponging the piece out whilst the others train it on a new target under the beady eye of their officer. I have been painting a test figure as an ouvrier to help the gunners build their battery positions. If he works out well, then there will be more added; I expect fellows like him to be useful in future seiges.

I've finally succumbed to the temptation that began with seeing some of the figures on Jim Purkys' excellent blog. I have gone on a small spending spree on the Tradition website and bought a few command figures which I'll be taking a little time over as I paint in the next few weeks as little rewards for me as I start to gear up again to full painting speed.

Considering that at the moment my Prussian Army is no more than IR 13 (with FR35 in production), a Squadron of Dragoons and some assorted von Kleist Freikorps, it is a little like having Napoleon leading the 33rd Light Infantry but, so be it.

I'm painting Seydlitz next, using the Willie Cuirassier Officer figure. Yummy!

Fort George - Image Miscellany

Salient Place of Arms; an enlargement of the Covered Way, here protected by a traverse. Troops might be assembled here for a sortie against the beseigers or to make a stubborn defense of the Covered Way.

Inside the left-hand bastion. It was such a bitter, windy day I was almost blown off my feet. At the salient point of the bastion, you can make out the little stone sentry box called a guerite.

On the bridge looking toward the rear right of the ravelin. The raised area was the artillery platform that is reached by a long ramp leading from the centre of the "terre pleine" which was the main interior space of the ravelin up to it's salient (or forward) point.

Inside one of the forts' casemates. It was meant to hold 40 soldiers in bomb-proof accomodation. The structure at the rear is a mean little fire-place.

Salient point of a bastion looking into a guerite. Note how the length of the walkway into the guerite illustrates how deep the ramparts of these kinds of fortifications were.

A nice view along the ditch to the sluice gate at the very rear that was to enable the ditch to be flooded. It only worked at high tide! The main gate is on the right, with a bastion standing in the ditch. The ravelin begins at the left of the picture.

A traverse - used to stop shot being fired in enfilade down the covered way. Note the narrow stair set in the counterscarp revetment called a Pas de Souris. It was so narrow as it is to prevent more than one soldier at a time descending into the ditch.

The Bridge at Strudelberg

Following some very kind advice from the Old School Wargamers* on running a participation game, I've been thinking rather on scenario design.

My preliminary thoughts (dreamt up while lying insomniac abed whilst trying to get over my jet-lag!) are these:

One idea I have found really helpful in approaching the scenario is to use Victory Points. I'm working toward the idea that the first side to hit a certain number of VPs wins the game. It seems to be a useful way of allowing me to introduce some tension for the players - a tension between means and goals.

To illustrate, I am thinking that one party, the defender, is going to have one main goal and that is to retreat over a bridge, blow it and sail off happily into the sunset. That's his main goal; if he manages that he wins the game... provided he also picks up a subsidiary goal as well that I need to think about as evilly as I may.

Anyway, to this end he's going to have to hold out against roughly 2:1 odds (that's very roughly) whilst a party of pioneers prepares the bridge for demolition. They'll be successful from move "x" on on either the roll of a value on a d6 or the draw of an event card. The spanner in the works for him may well be that as a random event, the Colonels' daughter Miffy may well decide that it's a lovely day for a trip into the countryside. Naturally Miffy's capture will be a major (say 40-60%) flow of VPs to the attacking side.

Likewise, his position will be open to a flanking movement that might put enemies in a position where they can attack the defenders' pioneers and make the destruction of the bridge difficult/impossible. This will also present the difficulty to the defender of having to detatch a sufficiently large force to defend the pioneers. Perhaps the destruction of part of the pioneers will delay the happy moment when the bridge might be blown.

As to the attackers, I want a tension between having to recklessly attack on the one hand and the knowlege that each figure lost gives the defender VPs. I think this will be created by the knowlege that any move after move "X" could yield the event card that says that "Yes, the bridge is ready for demolition". I like event cards!

Likewise, Miffy is a rich source of VPs, but is the risk of snatching her worth the expenditure of soldiers when a determined attack on the defenders at the bridge might end the game at a stroke?

That's about where I am at the moment.

*You know who you are!

Europe Wrap Up

Oh well, home again. The house is now mostly back in order and the jet-lag is mostly overcome, thanks be to Allah.

So, what were the highlights?

For me there were the museums - The Vienna Military History Museum, The National Army Museum in Chelsea, the Imperial War Museum to name a few. I was fascinated by all that I saw in these places, especially by the Prussian trophies in the Vienna Military History Museum. Seeing Frederick the Great's suit of clothes in the German History Museum nearly knocked me flat on my backside, too.

The downside to these museums is that you are generally not allowed to take photographs of the artefacts, but I got past that in most cases simply by buying the guide-books. I'm still waiting to take delivery of a number of these as I did a very big couple of mail-homes of books when Amy and I were in Hay on Wye, so they are still bobbing homewards via surface mail!

I was very interested in the Neolithic remains (although as to whether they had any wargaming potential...) in the Orkneys; especially Skara Brae on Orkney and the Broch I saw on one of the other islands. Couple this with the Housesteads and Vindolanda sites (and the inevitable purchases of guide-books) and I was pretty happy overall.

Unexpectedly for me though, I found that the museums and "sites" did not hold my interest in the way I thought they would. I'd look at an item, go to myself "Oh, 4oo-year-old armour, how interesting" and then move on. It's strange, but I was really finding that I'd rather read a book! I need to think a bit about this.

I'll put up some photos in the next few days as I get them sorted out.