New Additions in GHQ

Sue and I were away in Shropshire for a couple of days last week. One stop we made was in Church Stretton, for tea and cake in Berry's and a mooch in the Antique Centre. In one cabinet were some painted 28mm Napoleonic figures, mostly Generals and such, but including these shown below. Only a couple of pounds, probably reflecting the unusual paint job. The pictures are in monochrome so the colours don't distract the eye ~

This chap has "Fed up" engraved on the underside of his base.

These bandsmen carrying a wounded comrade are a two piece set. Nothing on their bases to reveal their origins.

Any ideas of their origins gentle reader would be of interest. Once they are stripped I expect to repaint them for my FRW project. 

Then on Sunday I made the very short trip to WV Active, at Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton, the site of the late lamented WMMS these past few years, to cast my eye over the tabletop sale! Arriving 45 minutes after the doors opened the queue was still Partizanesque! Once inside there were acres of trader tables, buying and selling, mostly for the gnome botherer fraternity I must say. There were however a pleasing number of historical wargames focused sellers, including job lots of boxed Hincliffe figures sold by the crate! I spent £27.50 on these items ~

Two painted Hovels resin ACW buildings @ £5.00 each; three handmade corn fields @ £5.00 each for the smaller ones and £7.50 for the larger one; and 50p on a resin print minefield for William, which I didn't photograph. The admission was £4.00 before 12.00, but free thereafter. Folk were still going in when I left about 12.15pm. 

One feature worthy of comment I thought on reflection was the number of 3D printed terrain and building items being sold on 3 or 4 tables. Again mostly Fantasy oriented but enough to interest the Historical gamer too. I discussed explosion markers with one such trader, Gatehouse Gaming UK from Yorkshire, and was informed they'd be on his site on Tuesday ~

www.gatehousegamingukshop.co.uk

Besides scatter terrain of all shapes and sizes they offered pots of myriad basing materials, paints, Gamers' Grass products and more. Their flyer gives a run down if you are interested. Afterwards I regretted not buying the pack of scruffy dogs that had taken my eye!

If there is another such tabletop sale held there in future I shall make sure it is on my calendar and that I attend if possible.

The Triumph of Typoo Bhyka...

...and celebrating Paul's new phone to boot. The second game set in the Subcontinent, the Jewel in the Crown, last week saw Paul, as Major General Watson, leading the forces of the Honourable East India Company, assisted by a smattering of Regular units, against the rebellious ruler of Pendawar, Typoo Bhyka, the Tyger of Pendawar. 

Rather than the usual anotated photomontage I thought I'd weave the pictures Paul sent me into this blog post as they do show this collection in a strong light. The table layout you will recognise as substantially that of the previous Mutiny game fought earlier with Phil, some of the units even straying across time if not space! 

Paul won the initiative at the onset of activities and from the off the battle was intense and involved. So much so that we only managed two Turns before lunch and after the break only a further two before Major General Watson's force was broken by a combination of poor luck on his part and aggressive action on Typoo's, accompanied I must say by more than decent dice when it mattered most. A more conventional view of the action for those readers who enjoy seeing how the battle developed ~

Typoo Bhyka's Regular Infantry supported by artillery and hordes of horsemen.

Fanatical swordsmen supported by artillery and rockets!

The inexorable advance of the forces of the H.E.I.C. bear down on Typoo's centre while the Horsemen await developments on the left.

Almost mirroring Phil's earlier dilemma, the H.E.I.C. right wing just cannot get into position.

The centres clash as Typoo's war elephants lumber forward in support.

On the right of his line the hordes of mounted warriors get into action. The H.E.I.C. artillery is ridden down in an heroic charge!

Fanatics driven off and the rocket battery destroyed by an explosion on firing! Typoo's left is looking weaker suddenly. The Voluntaires de Bykli and the Raja's Household Guard press forward to stem the tide!

Buoyed by success Typoo's forces surge forward across the battlefield restricting Watson's ability to manoeuvre effectively to make the best of his superior infantry firepower.

Where his forces can deploy their devastating volley fire sees off Typoo's lightly armed infantry.

Typoo's guns are silenced but still he drives his men forward, determined that he shall prevail at all hazards!

The hordes of mounted warriors sweep away Watsons left wing putting both Regulars, Sepoys and Volunteers to the sword. 

Turn 4 sees Watson's forces crumble as the H.E.I.C. army reaches Break Point. Paul graciously concedes defeat to a modestly jubilant Typoo Bhyka. A cracking game from the off and another example of the strengths of the Black Powder system. No game here for a while now S both Phil and Paul are away on R&R and Jon continues to be AWOL...

A F&IW terrain piece

I have need of a break from tricorns, from the SYW, and from Hanoverian figures; in fact from figures of any description. Of course having a second chest infection hot on the heels of the first is not really helping my disposition much. A while back now I took advantage of Grand Manner's periodic sale of raw resin casts to buy a couple of pieces for my North American game settings. I bought a large Colonial covered well and a First Nations' wigwam. 

The latter has been washed, dried and undercoated, languishing amongst the Lead Pimple for what seems like eons. So it was a prime candidate for some brush work on a larger item! I fixed it to a Warbases 100mm x 100mm terrain base, having first painted the inside and the base black. Next I painted the whole thing with Foundry Rawhide Shade. When that was dry I washed the wigwam with Foundry Black Wash. Leaving that to harden off overnight I could then dry brush the wigwam: firstly, with Foundry Rawhide Mid; and secondly, with Foundry Arctic Grey Shade. This is to match the two other Grand Manner pieces I have for my village setting.

The base is textured with my usual mixture of Woodlands Scenics buff railway ballast and washed in Games Workshop's Steel Legion Drab/Graveyard Earth to match my F&IW bases. Static grass and assorted Tufts were added finally to help it all blend together on the tabletop here in GHQ. So, see what you think of it after all the preamble ~

As I have mentioned the Lead Pimple earlier in this post I thought you'd appreciate an up date of sorts. After some reorganisation post Hanoverians it now comprises just two 4L RUBs of figures, mostly undercoated and fixed to MDF bases with whitetack ready to deploy to the painting desk when called. Mind you, that was before WMMS...

I blame the genes!

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I've been playing around with the table top here in GHQ in preparation for a forthcoming Wargames Illustrated photoshoot in support of a piece I've written about my SYW project. One area of terrain enhancement I've been working on is a small German style farm which I think suits the north European theatre more in keeping with local architecture than the venerable Conflix buildings I've used in the past.

The buildings are from Warbases, three of four they offer under the label German rural buildings. These three comprise: the large barn, in the front left; the farm outbuildings, to the right of the barm; and lastly, the farmhouse, to the rear of those two. The resin wooden fence pieces are a set I got from Coritani. 

For fun I've populated the farmyard scene with pretty much everything suitable to the SYW from my terrain bits 'n bobs accumulation! I really like the buildings Warbases produce, indeed I've already assembled three of the four buildings in 15mm for my Cold War Gone Hot collection, whereas these are their 20mm buildings, the 28mm being to my eye too large for anything other than skirmish game buildings ~ see an earlier entry for more on this.

One area of these MDF kit buildings though which does benefit from a little effort is the roofs. Here I've used roofing slates/shingles sheets from Oshiro Games on the Farmhouse and Outbuilding. For the large barn I've used a section of teddy bear fur fabric which Phil trimmed down and fitted for me. When it's firmly stuck down then it's coated in PVA glue and combed flat. That took a day or two to dry I have to say, but when hardened it could be washed in Games Workshop's Agrax Earth wash to give the worn in look I wanted.

A little 'scene dressing' with the haycart and dog kennel, from Warbases again, and figures from Foundry and Front Rank.

Again, chicken coop and chickens from Warbases, figures from Foundry's SYW Civilians range. The water pump is a resin piece I bought one December Wargamer show back in the mists of time, no idea who it's by though now. All far too crowded for a practical wargame if course, but just right for a few characterful photos I'd hope. No doubt you'll have your own views on this.

Now, the title you might like to ask about. Well, I spent a few years early on in my retirement researching my family tree. I found out so much I had not even an inkling about of course, but mostly I discovered that I came from honest, solid peasant stock. Mostly agricultural labourers and miners on both sides of my family, though yeoman farmers aplenty before the post Napoleonic Wars agricultural crash I discovered. So, are farmyard scenes and pastoral idyll in my genes I wonder?

Finally then, the three farm buildings in 15mm scale/size just for interest. I didn't buy the large barn though, so this set is slightly different.

Ticking Over Gently

 The Lead Pimple is still bare of any figures that are cleaned up and spray undercoated, a deliberate decision on my part as I'm trying to work through the accumulation of buildings and terrain bits. This last week though I did squeeze in two figures I found in one of my spares boxes ~

They are a Perry Miniatures' mounted Colonel and an Aly Morrison Sergeant Major from Foundry's War of 1812-15 range. They'll make an additional Command stand for the Anglo-Canadian army in future games. In the meantime they are the only entrants in the 'Awaiting Varnishing Pimple'!

As I mentioned previously my main painting focus, if you can call it that, has been on buildings and other terrain items. In that area over the last week I've been working on three pieces I bought from Grand Manner in their last sale: viz a roadside Icon; an old Olive Press; and lastly, a Bread Oven. They should see service in forthcoming Italian Wars and Wars of the French Revolution games here in GHQ ~

I'm pleased with the way they turned out I must admit. I painted them with Foundry paints, washing the wooden bits with Foundry's Brown Wash. The bits of basing are Country Maple from Crafter's Acrylics. Now, I'm not given to overmuch moaning, at least here on my Blog, but I do find Dave's approach to marketing his resin ranges a bit strange. I do like the things he sells, but then the insistence on usually only offering painted samples puts the already absurdly high prices totally beyond my limits! These three I purchased in his last unpainted resin pieces sale, and were therefore just this side of what I'm prepared to fork out for from my warchest. To balance this though, I will say his service and communication are first rate, the order arriving promptly and so well packed. I'd like to buy more pieces, so I suppose I must await the next sale now...we poor pensioners must count our groats after all.

There is a Bit of a Buzz...

 ...about Christmas here in GHQ! 

First up, using the set of four hives from Midlam Miniatures and a spare bench from the Redoubt Enterprises' Confederate seated generals vignette, a little bit of scenic whimsy that I'd use in any period on the tabletop. Sadly though I've  not located any 28mm scale bees, yet...

Next, a Command base for my Austrian Light Cavalry Brigade in our Wars of the French Revolution games. These three figures are from Eureka Miniatures, via their UK stockist, whose service was exemplary in my opinion. After painting all those Casting Room Miniatures' SYW French figures of late I found these quite a challenge to both hand and eye, the sculpting style being far more delicate, and making frequent touching up in the next session almost inevitable. But, they are finished and will do for me! Of course you are free to differ, so without more ado, here they are ~

After the pleasant distraction of the Christmas period has run its course the next unit to emerge into the light of the painting desk will be from Dixon Miniatures' ACW range in the shape of the Sussex Light Dragoons. Back to a style of sculpting I know and love in the best range of figures for the period by a country mile, and then some!