David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Saturday 3 December 2022

The First Shall Be Last...

 ...And The Last Shall Be First, as the Good Book tells us. As this is the 1000th blog post I've made I thought I would treat myself to some of my very favourite pictures from games here in GHQ. So, just over eleven years ago the first picture on my new blog was an ACW vignette of Bobbie Lee and his entourage gathered around a map laden table, planning his next master stroke ~

I think my loyal reader will know that the ACW remains my one Tue love amongst the myriad of periods we dabble with here in GHQ, so selecting a few images from those games is both difficult and a joy for me.
General John C. Robinson, Phil's alter ego in our games, often described by his contemporaries as "...in a well bearded army, the hairiest general I ever saw!"







Of course he is sometimes aided by that scion of the family of military incompetents, ol' Useless S Bykleigh hisself ~












Such is the stain this family's military incompetence has left on the sweep of history his brother, Jubal E Bykleigh can often be seen leading the Rebs to their doom~












It's little secret then that I enjoy creating vignettes for my ACW collection, possessing as I do more regiments than I can reasonably fit on the available playing area here in GHQ. So I thought that I'd show a few of my favourites once more ~


Confederate generals deep in thought, or conversation. A Redoubt Enterprises' vignette bought in error due to incorrect labelling!

🎼🎵🎶 Tenting Tonight...one of the many appearances in games of my Union campsite, complete with regimental band!

Scratch built scenery which predates the blog by very many years, Rawnsley Farm and it's various ephemeral buildings. All more 25mm than 28mm in size you'll notice...
Union Generals plotting their latest move pore over period maps downloaded and reduced for verisimilitude. Or because I was bored and had too much time on my hands? 
Possibly less than half the collection out on the table! The same image appearing in a piece I penned for Wargames Illustrated not long ago ~

The last vignettes I've produced for the ACW collection are rather more mundane pieces, but nevertheless adds something in my opinion to the look of the games here in GHQ ~
Two bases using spare figures, with limbers painted back in the mists of time, to place behind a deployed Rebel artillery battery. All from Dixon Miniatures bar the lone 1st Corps figure on the far right. 
Well, that's all folks, hope you have enjoyed my walk through some of my ACW memories and don't resent a little nostalgia for my 1000th post. Thanks for looking, following and commenting over the years. It would be rash to promise another 1000 posts to come, but you can be sure that I'll be doing my best...



24 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your rash but keep up the good work.

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  2. Wonderful tour of your projects. To the next thousand then.

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  3. A fine set of photos to mark your landmark post, look forward to the many more to come.

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    1. Well you will feature In very many I hope!

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  4. I enjoyed them very much, I must get a command base that includes the staff looking over a map. The base with the commanders sitting on a bench with their map is a gem.

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  5. David, a look back through time at some of your vignette efforts is a fine way to commemorate your 1,000 post milestone.

    Great job and please keep at it!

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    1. I shall keep on keeping on as long as I'm able!

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  6. Very good, possibly my own favourite period.

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  7. Congratulations great to have seen how your projects have grown over the past 10 years.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  8. What a fine selection of vignettes there day and a fine way to celebrate your 1,000th post. Personally WWII is my favourite period, based upon all those films we used to watch, the availability of Airfix figures alongside the excellent World at War tv series.

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  9. Congratulations on a significant milestone. I enjoy seeing vignettes and these are great though of course those with Confederates in them are best -"and when their Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar....."
    Stephen

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  10. Pleased you enjoyed at least some of the vignettes😉

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  11. Congratulations on your thousandth post David…
    Classy pictures of a classic collection… proving that you can never have too much of a good thing…

    Here’s to the next thousand.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you Aly! I shall be doing my best to oblige, I can do no more.

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  12. Quite a milestone David and lovely to see some of your ACW pictures again. Many more to come hopefully 👍

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  13. I'm literally painting a unit of Dixon Seven Years War Prussians as i read this. Dixons were the first historical miniatures I ever purchased over 40 years ago. They have great character. Congratulations on reaching 1000 posts!l

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  14. A wonderful collection and great pictures to mark a landmark post! Congratulations, and well done sir! Long may it continue....

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    1. Thank you Paul. Sorry our game is postponed, c'est le guerre!

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