A base of (very) Large Ordnance completed.

Back in early January I went to the Penkridge Table Top Sale. While the majority of stuff on view is for Fantasy and Sci-Fi gamers I’ve had one or two real bargains there over the years. This year I got some Front Rank handgunners, which have already featured on the blog, and a Warlord Games/Pro Gloria Landsknecht Light Gun and crew, which is primed and nearing the head of the painting queue. But I also got this monstrosity, a large gun and Empire crew from Games Workshop for just £7.00 I recall. Now, I know it’s strictly not historical at all, but it was fun to paint and it makes a talking point in games and perhaps even here on the blog, you never know. Here it is ~

I hope to be at WMMS with Phil on Sunday, at least for a little while. I wasn’t expecting to go as you will know, but I shall make the most of my opportunity and look to buy some scenic stuff for the Italian Wars project, perhaps from Charlie Foxtrot for instance. If you see me on Sunday don’t hesitate to say hello.

Some better pictures of the Italian Wars collection

I've been messing around with taking photos of my progress so far on the Italian Wars collection. I think these pictures are better than the earlier ones I posted and you may agree ~

Light Ordnance base completed.

I’ve managed to complete the groundwork and vegetation on my base of light ordnance for my Italian Wars project. The gun is the TAG light ordnance piece and the crew is from the Neapolitan/Spanish listing. The mantlets are from Wargames Foundry and the base from Warbases. I thought the mantlets should be a bit of a feature, hence the red and yellow colour scheme. For the bare wood I used Foundry Spearshaft with a wash of their Brown Ink. I am really enjoying painting for this project, the figures are really paint friendly and the riot of colour is fun to work with. Anyhow, you can make up your own mind I’m sure ~

I’m working on three mounted TAG figures now as a command base for the whole Papal States army.  I’ll hope to finish them next week. Why so long, you ask? Well, we have the plasterer and decorators in over the next fortnight so things are a bit disrupted. Not least GHQ, which is now a furniture and picture store!

The Pontifical Guard

The latest base of figures to join my part of our joint Italian Wars project is a unit representing the Pontifical Guard. The figures are by TAG and the flags by Pete’s Flags, via eBay. I chose a colour scheme for the figures loosely based on images of near contemporary members of the Guard, Robbie Rodiss’s rendition on his Aut Cesare blog, and the day to day wear of the modern iteration of the Guard ~

Next to be completed should be a more vignette style base depicting some field artillery. I just have the basework to do on that and it’s finished. More later in the week on this I expect.

Intermission

Well, the Pre~Operation appointment didn’t go to plan, throwing up something unexpected. As a result I’m off to see a further specialist in due course and the hip replacement is postponed for now at least. In a way it’s a convenient outcome as we are having some replastering done this week following on from last year’s water leaks. That would have meant the painter was here while I was in hospital, putting a double strain on Sue. That’s not the case now of course. However, there will still be a break in games in GHQ as it’s now a store for furniture and so on from the living room and landing. I’ll try to post a few updates and news as and when I have some. In the meantime, you may take your ease...

In the meantime you can always browse older posts and leave new comments to keep me on my toes!













See you soon!

On The Road To Manderlay...

...well, no flying fishes playing I’m afraid, nor is dawn coming up like thunder from Rangoon across the bay, just Phil and I playing our latest Monday game here in GHQ: a WWII game set in Burma 1943 game using Bolt Action 2 to give my Imperial Japanese and British Commonwealth force’s a bit of an airing. The sharpest amongst you may notice that the terrain looks oddly familiar. I’ll tell you why later, but you’ll wish you hadn’t asked. Meanwhile, on with the game which sees the Commonweath forces trying to oust the Japanese from a defensive position guarding a strategic river bridge ~

The bridge in the foreground is the Commonwealth objective.

The bridge is heavily defended by the Japanese with infantry

and an anti-tank gun.

The British infantry advance cautiously wary of the Japanese

snipers' presence.

On the right the Ghurkas have flushed out and neutralised the

snipers.

The bridge defenders are under heavy and sustained attack

but are hanging on grimly.

Turn 4 and the Japanese reinforcements arrive on time! They

head straight for the bridge to reinforce the defenders.

Banzai! A squad of Ghurkas are surprised by th Japanese,

who take advantage of the 'Double Action' dice we introduced

to charge home!

The Japanese defeat the Ghurkas! They go on later to charge

the Commonwealth HQ but are wiped out!

Another Ghurka squad occupies the ruins of a temple and from

there fire of the bridge defenders' flank.

The defenders are having a very hard time by Turn 6.

The Japanese infantry gun fires on the Ghurkas occupying

the temple ruins.

The Commonwealth tank is knocked out by the anti-tank gun,

but the Japanese reinforcements are caught on the bridge and

heavily punished by concentrated fire.

The Japanese are hanging on when they come under heavy

aerial attack. The defence looks very frail by now!

At the end of Turn 9 smoke conceals the gathering final

assault from the Commonwealth forces.

The game ended in an inconclusive draw after nine turns as we ran out of time! The Japanese were hanging on grimly to their positions around the bridge while the Commonwealth forces would need a further two or three turns to see if they could wrest control away from the Emperor ‘s sons. That's it from GHQ now as far as games go until after my hip replacement operation and the inevitable convalescence, though I shall hope to continue to post from time to time.

Pavise or Pavises?

As you may have seen in an earlier post I started work on a base of crossbow armed infantry from my TAG Papal States Starter Army. As the figures come in both firing and advancing poses I’ve been able to make up two bases by the addition of some figures from various command packs. I wanted to have the firing figures sheltering behind their pavise and the advancing ones carrying theirs on their backs, so I ordered a set of pavise from Perry Miniatures. When they arrived I looked around for suitable transfers for my Papal States’ figures to utilise. Nothing I found was suitable to buy so I started looking for period designs I might use as inspiration for painting my own. I found several really lovely examples, all way beyond my meagre skills with the brush, even if I simplified the design. In fact the designs I’ve chosen come from details on the wonderful Pete’s Flags which I’ve used for inspiration. I understand the pavise in the plastic sets are flat, but the metal ones are in 3D which really stretched my painting skills... Anyway, here are the finished base of figures for you to see for yourself and make up your own mind ~

I’ve started now on the Pontifical Guard, again taking my inspiration from Robby Roddis’ rendition of the unit on his Borgias blog (See link in earlier post). If I can finish those then next up will be a vignette style base for a light gun. We will have to wait and see where we go. Meanwhile, here’s the first of the Pontifical Guard to pique your interest ~

Now it’s off to Burma in 1943 for a Bolt Action 2 WWII game with Phil, unless he’s snowed in of course in Darkest Rawnsley...