"Come hither, you that would be combatants."

 As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, next up on the painting desk to suffer under the ministrations of the Brush of Doom are a base of MAA on foot. The base represents the Household of Sir John Neville, Marquis of Montagu, with his heraldic banner provided by Pete's Flags via Ebay.  The base consists of six Perry Miniatures from the MAA Attacking set, one from their set of Standard Bearers, and one which was a Partizan Freebie back in the mists of time. ☆See if you can spot him and say who he represents!

Phil has finished painting the remaining nine horse for me and so the next target for me will be to paint the mounted MAA to finish that aspect of the project. There will remain then a base of Scottish spearmen and another of Scottish rabble with big choppers and such, the latter using the Kern figures. I do have enough figures remaining for a further base of Billmen and for a Retinue Command stand, so just a base of Archers would be needed to complete yet another Retinue!!!!!! I may just bite the bullet and pick some up at The Other Partizan on Sunday.

☆Oh, just in case you didn't recognise the Freebie I included on the base it was representing Lambert Simnell of course, sporting a cooking pot helmet from his days in the Royal kitchens as a scullion!

Once more unto the breech?

We are back home from our sojourn 'Oop North with Phil and Di, so I'm once more back in action wielding the Brush of Doom over some new figures for the Wars of the Roses project. In this instance its my fourth light artillery gun and crew, from Perry Miniatures this time. Not a great deal to say about the set really, other than it depicts a breech loading piece being readied to fire ~

Next up will be a base of MAA on foot, but boasting an unusual figure amongst the more expected offerings. I'll leave that there for now until they are finished off...

I put in a small order to Perry Miniatures while we were away to bring the project to its planned conclusion, and to avoid the unwelcome declared price rise! I expect that I was not alone in putting in an order so unsurprisingly they were not delivered until this morning! Unusually for me I do think that will be that when the new figures are processed to completion...unless I see something that takes my fancy at The Other Partizan on Sunday that is!

The Dawn Patrol!

As you might recall Sue and I have been away enjoying some R&R in the South Lakes area with Phil and Di. Showing more forethought than yours truly Phil brought along his Wings of War game complete with two splendid models, after all we had to have something to while away the hours while the ladies took in Strictly Come Dancing. Cue Saturday evening and the first encounter on The Dawn Patrol, a duel between the dastardly Hun Ace Baron von Röbensahn in his Focker triplane and that clean cut hero Flying Officer Bicclesworth of the RFC in his trusty Sopwith Camel! We settled on a best of three games to determine the Ace of Aces!

Baron von Röbensahn takes to the early morning skies somewhere over the front line. He is confident he will make short work of his upstart opponent.

Our clean cut hero in his trusty Sopwith Camel is up for the challenge ahead! Dakka Dakka Dakka...

After much pointless manoeuvre on both sides and some passing damage to both planes a lucky shot sees von Röbensahn's Focker explode in a ball of flame! 1-0 to the good guys!

On to Monday evening and the second iteration of The Dawn Patrol. Somehow von Röbensahn has survived the explosion at altitude and claiming a new plane has sworn revenge on the upstart Biccles!

Sadly from the off Biccles has the drop on the Hun! Despite the Baron's twisting and turning he cannot shake off our hero. Dakka Dakka Dakka...the guns roar out shredding wood, fabric and flesh alike!

It's all up for the gallant Hun as he breathes his last in a wreck of a plane plunging inexorably towards an abrupt encounter with No Man'sLand! Its 2-0 to the clean cut hero of the RFC! Biccles triumphs once again!

Wings of War really is a cracking little game to fill the odd hour. If you don't know it [ Wings of Glory in its more recent variation] I'd recommend giving it a go!

"Buckingham, and all the crew of them..."

Somehow I omitted to pass all of the mounted Knights/MAA over to Phil for horse painting! {It must be due to old age and memory loss Sue says to cheer me up!} Nothing daunted I have tackled these three figures entirely myself rather than wait until Phil can fit them in. The figures are from Perry Miniatures but in this instance the Standard was made for me by my friend George Anderson. They will represent Buckingham and his mounted Household element in our games. Like all the other bases of mounted figures they can also double as Command Stands in our games using Midgard or Hail Caesar, or even as Champions in Midgard ~

Buckingham take post in command of the Lancastrians' right.

All being well the next element to pass under the brush of doom will be a further light artillery piece and crew, though not for a week or so now as Sue and I are enjoying some overdue R&R in the South Lakes area in the company of Phil and Di. So by way of a bonus here is the complete collection to date drawn up on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ ~

And that's it, for the present at least,  time for some R&R is calling ~

"Have with thee, Pole!"

As I mentioned at the conclusion of my previous blog entry, the next figures to pass across the painting desk and muster into GHQ comprised a base of Billmen and MAA to complete the Retinue for John de la Pole. The figures for this Retinue are from the small Eureka Miniatures range and from Perry Miniatures' European Armies range stiffened by a couple of MAA from their War of the Roses range, one of whom bears a de la Pole Banner from Pete's Flags via Ebay. 

Figures on the Retinue command base are from Eureka Miniatures supplemented by a MAA from Perry Miniatures' War of the Roses range and a drummer from their European Armies range.

The base of Bowmen are from the small Eureka Miniatures Medieval/C15th range. They are at the pricier end of the available figure ranges but for my money are worth it. Both the sculpting and the casting are superior to the metal figures from Perry Miniatures, in fact if the range were ever expanded I'd certainly add more.

The base of Billmen are from Perry Miniatures,  the bills from their European Armies range and the two MAA from their Wars of the Roses range. The banner is from Pete's Flags and the base from Warbases as ever. 

As I had completed the last of the nine mounted Knights/MAA where Phil had painted the horses and I had the Standard of John de la Pole still unused it seemed only proper that he should join his Retinue.

So here they all are joining the Yorkist ranks just in time hopefully for our first run through in mid October, once Sue and I are home from our jaunt 'Oop North' with Phil and Di. Meanwhile, I see that Perry Miniatures are hiking their prices from the beginning of October. Time to stock up I think while I can afford it...

"Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood!"

Phil has very efficiently processed the first group of horses I passed over to him for painting. So far then I have managed to complete six mounted Knights/MAA as a result alongside another Retinue I've been working on - more on that in due course. There are two groups of three figures representing respectively Warwick and Edward, Prince of Wales ~

'Warwick The Kingmaker' figures from Perry Miniatures, Banner by Pete's Flags and the base from Warbases of course.

Edward, Prince of Wales, with figures from Perry Miniatures,  Standard and Banner from Pete's Flags and base from Warbases once again.

Next up under the Brush of Doom will be a base of billmen to complete the Retinue of John de la Pole. There is also a base of Knights/MAA bearing his Standard waiting patiently in the queue.

That leaves about a dozen mounted figures which are currently with Phil, who is painting the horses you may recall. In addition I have a base of MAA on foot to join Warwick's forces I think, a further light artillery piece and crew, and lastly a partly staffed base of Scots spearman, the rest of which I'll hopefully pick up from Dave Thomas at The Other Partizan🤞I've an order in with Flags of War for some suitable banners for the Scots, then we are done I think.

A Desirable Residential Property!

A home-from-home for Bicca Biccasson,  or any other Viking if you like. This is an addition spanning three generations of our family: Matt picked the Renedra Viking House at Salute earlier this year and gifted it to me; William made and painted it for me; and I did the basing of the finished article. A few pictures now ~

I'm really pleased with how it turned out as a group effort. I might look for another next year, when finances permit - we've just bought a new car you see. It's a good job the Lead Pimple is pretty rammed already in readiness for the winter...

Progress Report

I thought it might encourage me to keep my brush 'n paint on the remaining figures lurking in the Lead Pimple if I posted a few pictures of most of the figures I have completed up to today. I also hoped that my loyal reader might enjoy seeing my modest efforts arayed as if for battle on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ ~

Starting with a general shot of the whole lot framed by two Conflix buildings in the foreground and a Hudson & Allen Castle in the distance.

Warwick's Retinues lending their support to the Yorkist faction in our version of The Cousins' War.

Burgundian handgonnes and pikes, Fauconberg and Zouch, De La Pole's archers and Edward IV's Household.

Wenlock, Clifford and Touchet favouring the Lancastrian cause in the foreground of this shot. 

Savage supporting Henry VI's MAA, Giffard and Talbot with Henry VI's Household nearest the castle.

Still lurking in the Lead Pimple are the Command element and Bills for De La Pole's Retinue, an as yet unnamed unit of MAA, another Light Artiller piece and six bases of mounted Knights and MAA. Figures to date have been sourced from Perry Miniatures,  Wargames Foundry, Eureka Miniatures, Athena Miniatures, Crusader Miniatures, two Partizan Free Figures, and Grenadier Miniatures. There's not a single Front Rank figure in the collection as yet though...

Valour & Fortitude in the Valley

Having sampled the Valour & Fortitude rules last week at Phil's with his War of the Triple Alliance collection we decided to give them a further run out in GHQ with a part of my ACW collection. Rather than try to recreate the action in detail I offer a sequence of pictures I managed to take during the game with a few observations on the rules in play. We diced for both Attacker/Defender and for Initiative. Phil was the attacker with the Rebs leaving me as defender. I won the initiative and got to move first. The game would last for up to 12 Turns. Here we go then ~

The by now almost obligatory Union camp scenes providing interest in one corner of the table. 

Using the 'free' first brigade activation the Union moves a battery of 3" rifled artillery into position, supported by infantry moving briskly towards the fence line.

All my brigades successfully activated in Turn 1 ~ the Iron Brigade moves to hold the centre of the Union defensive lines.

On the Union left the Brigade has further to move in order to get into position. I should have 'Doubled' with them of course, but forgot!

The Rebs move boldly forward in their turn, Phil not forgetting the 'Doubling' option!

Looking along the Rebel lines towards  towards their right flank more infantry pour forward towards the Union lines.

By Turn 2 the advantage of 'Doubling' was becoming obvious, as the leading regiments crossed the road and advanced on the still deploying Union lines.

Rebel artillery takes up position on their left and commences a galling fire on the Union Zouaves opposite.

Progress on the Rebel right is not developing so well. Action on this flank will lag behind the rest of the assault throughout the game.

The Union right is slow to come into place in support of the artillery, taking casualties before fully deployed. I confess a nostalgia at this point for Saving Throws!

At last the Union right flank gets into position and can engage the advancing Rebel infantry. Five firing dice, being three and two Supports, sadly producing only two hits. I had a Fate Card for rerolling 1's but forgot to use it! A bit of a theme developing there...

The Rebels return fire with rather more success unfortunately. Casualties are already mounting on the most forward defenders.

The Iron Brigade holding the Union centre pours it on into the closing Rebel infantry! As you can see to little effect!

Taking full advantage of the desoltary Union fire the Rebs crash into the Union lines inflicting numerous losses on the boys in blue! Facing six Valor tests there is no chance of passing and Rout is inevitable. Oh for Closing Fire...

At last though I can play a Fate Card to help. One routing unit Rallies and Returns as Reinforcements! Hurrah!

On the Union right the defenders are holding off the Rebel attack for now, losses to fire from 5 dice are just detering the attack as Phil orchestrated Movement with Rallying.

This clever combination has brought the assault to fruition on the right. Meanwhile in the centre, despite heavy losses to their Tenacity, the Union defenders Rout the Rebs in Melee.

Sadly though the Rebs Rout the Zouaves, but are halted by a sharp volley from a second line regiment...for now at least.

Another Union Rout, this time due to mounting losses from Artillery fire! Counter Battery fire would have helped silence the Reb guns but Union fire was needed desperately to support the infantry in holding off the Reb assault!

The fire from the second line Union infantry fails to halt the Rebs whose dander is definitely up now! They crash into the defenders for another melee!

Away on the Union right the Rebs finally reach the Union line. The ensuing Melee takes on an all too familiar pattern as the Union fail another Valor test. 

The Iron Brigade sees another Union Rout! The Rebs have secured four Objectives by now and its looking grim for Ol' Useless S Bykleigh once again.

Turn 9 sees a valiant counter attack mounted by the Bucktails, but to no avail as they suffered terrible losses and, you guessed it...

...Rout! It's all up for the Union with flank turned and centre pierced! Ol' Useless concedes the game after a hugely enjoyable three hours and Ten Turns.

Leaving Phil 'Old Reliable' Robinson to celebrate with a little band music...

Clearly Valour & Fortitude are designed for large table/army multi-player games, all beyond our more modest facilities here in GHQ. Notwithstanding those reservations they played out pretty well, though I think we came out slightly in favour of Black Powder rules in the post game debrief. As Phil said though, that could be due to more familiarity with those rules. I have downloaded the Army Sheets for the AWI and the ECW, so these may figure here later in the Autumn. Meanwhile, its back to painting archers for my Wars of the Roses project...