Camp Italians!

As my regular reader will recall, I lighted on several old Battleground hard foam tents and marquees at the recent Penkridge Table Top Sale. These are part of the late Ian Weekley’s catalogue and I’ve been hoping to find some ever since the Italian Wars project got underway. I’ve repainted and based three of them now, adding some figures and scenic scatter items to give a bit of life. I hope you like them ~

The three figures are from TAG and I’m sure you can work out who they are based on. If not, well, “I have a cunning plan, my Lord.” The Other scenic additions came from my boxes of individually based items: the cooking fire from Irregular Miniatures, but I’ve no idea where the other items originated! A close look at Baldricco hard at work ~

I’ll probably add other free standing items in due course, but I’ve other things on the go for this project which I need to finish this month, including a piece for Wargames Illustrated on how it all evolved.

Back to work then! No slacking, as Jon tells me!

Some SYW Additions

I’ve recently completed the first of my additional infantry units for our SYW games here in GHQ, in the shape of the 23rd Foot, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. As with all the collection to date the figures are from Foundry, a range which embodies the phrase ‘Marmite for Wargamers’ probably more than any other I’ve come across. I used the Grenadier figures to proxy Fusileers and the British Infantry Command set to make up the unit, together with a mounted Officer from the Generals set as the Colonel ~

This is a considerable compromise in terms of accuracy, but that doesn’t worry me overmuch, these being toys in a game after all! With hindsight for the mitres I might have been better to fill in the Royal cypher rather than simply overpaint the Prince of Wales feathers, but on the table I’d be surprised if anyone noticed. Alternatively I might have used the Crusader Grenadiers as I’ve seen elsewhere on the net, but I stuck with Foundry for the sake of the look of the game ~

Clearly the decorative embellishments on the mitres are beyond my skills and patience, so they are best viewed from the usual gaming distance, for instance I omitted the greenery flanking the central motif as well as just suggesting the white horse at the mitre’s base. Not for purists and lace counters, but they will do for me, and I hope for my chums who command them.
I’ve also added a cavalry regiment to the British in the shape of the 6th or Inniskilling Dragoons ~

For the French part of the project I’ve added a second Irish Regiment in the shape of regiment 93, Clare. Again these are Foundry figures with flags by GMB and MDF bases from Warbases, who else ~

I use the same red foundation and old Games Workshop red ink wash as for all the other red coated units, though in this case Foundry Bright Red mid tone rather than their British Redcoat mid tone for my British figures, then highlighted with the same colour. My Wild Goose element is now Wild Geese! I’m planning to add a command base for the Wild Geese next, but I’m short of some undercoated  Officers on foot, so that awaits completion in due course ~

Originally I aimed at 12 figure cavalry regiments, but found things a bit crowded on our table here in GHQ at times, so in the expansion phase I’ve reduced this to 8 figures in a Regiment. There will be another British regiment in the form of the 2nd Horse, despite them serving in Ireland for the duration, and a further French regiment, Orleans, merely because I liked the white faced red uniform coats! I should probably stop there before I upset SYW enthusiasts further...

Visit Rhanzlistan!

Just a brief advert for a new post on the parallel blog, Tales from Rhanzlistan, with an account of the latest exploits of Colonel Corbinski and Captain Hardly-Standin ~

A full photomontage account of their epic struggle can be found at ~

www.talesfromrhanzlistan.blogspot.co.uk

So pop on over for another ripping yarn and tales of daring-do...

“I likes a bargain, I does!”

On the ‘first Sunday after soap and backa’ issue I found myself in the company of Phil and Jon at the biannual Penkridge Table Top Sale. Penkridge, a village in South Staffordshire, is about 8 miles north of Wolverhampton where I live so it’s a very short journey up the A449 to the venue in the Peace Memorial Hall. Admission is free and there’s usually ample parking on a Sunday, except around the immediate area. It’s a real scrum inside and superficially looks full of Games Workshop plastic tatt, but saying that I’ve never failed to get a bargain or three. Mind you, you have to be prepared to hunt around a bit! Past scores have included Redoubt F&IW painted figures at metal prices, obscure early Napoleonic medical figures, the GW Historical Waterloo and most recently four Ian Weekly Battleground hard foam Medieval/Renaissance tents and marquees for £10. I’ve already repainted two and glued them to a Warbases Terrain base I had left over ~

I need to assemble suitable detritus and figures next, a b*gger of a task since Irregular no longer do shows and their website is Steam Powered! I shall gird up my loins and manfully struggle through to get the bits and pieces I want for the task, though it may take a while...

The two remaining tents I’ve put on individual MDF bases, which size I had already in stock, so that the whole becomes more versatile on the tabletop. I need to process this in the next few weeks as Dan is coming over next month to take photos to accompany a piece I’m working on about our Italian Wars project, which may appear sometime in the late Spring I’d guess given lead in times at Wargames Illustrated ~

For those interested, the next Table Top Sale is usually in June, just before Barrage in Stafford last year for example. In truth, would I travel any distance to it? Well, no if I’m honest with you. But at a few miles up the road it’s doable in a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. If you are one of the saddos though who does fantasy games and likes GW plastic tatt it’s probably an excellent event.

By Air to...bottle it!

As promised for the start of the new campaigning year a second WWII Rapid Fire2 set too. I kept the table layout largely the same, but switched the forces around. This scenario saw a British glider borne assault holding Le Grand Bains against a German counter attack from Kampfgruppe Whytt. The Airborne had no armour support but did have a battery of howitzers, another of 17lbers and a 6lb antitank gun. They also enjoyed air support after Turn 3 in the form of a Typhoon with 2 Medium Bombs and one straffing run. As usual now a days, a series of captioned pictures to give a sense of the unfolding action ~

A game changing error: deploying my 17lb anti tank battery in

the only position the German spotter could see it!

Amongst the ruins Brigadier General Bykleigh considers his

options.

Artillery fire was to be the Airborne's only hope against the

German armour. The 6lb antitank gun is already retiring!

The Stugs are out of sight of the Airborne's spotter and the

infantry dug in around Rumfordeville.

Herr Whytt considers his next move while anti aircraft gunners

nervously scan the skies!

Airborne hopes are raised when one Panzer IV is knocked out

and a second heavily damaged by HE. A false dawn sadly as

it turned out!

A cautious advance by Infantry supported by Stugs on the

Airborne's extreme left flank is worrying!

In the German centre infantry go into action supported by their

battalion artillery.

Jabo! No cause for alarm though...

The bombing run fails to destroy the advancing Stugs!

As the Typhoon readies itself for its second straffing attack it

proves too little too late and its all up for the Airborne, failing

their second consecutive Morale Test at the start of Turn 6!

"For you, Herr Bykleigh, the war IS over!"

 I can’t really claim it was a ‘game’ in the sense of an event in which each did their very best to win though. I made a fundamental error in my first two turns from which I miserably failed to recover, though Jon’s subtle play kept me on the ropes I have to say and I was thrashed in six turns! On reflection I think that ‘Personal Morale’ as out lined by Robbie Roddis on his Blog last year played a big part in my defeat ~
https://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.com/2018/12/on-personal-morale.html
I realised my error but was paralysed by what I could do in response and bottled it frankly! Not my finest hour!

The Allied version of the Field Hospital as the German one in

the last post proved popular! Once more though, the busiest

chaps on the Airborne side!

Next up in GHQ will see a long overdue return to Rhanzlistan where another scion of the military incompetents who are the Bykleighs will pit his wits against Robinski and his S.P.I.F.F. Meanwhile, its back to painting SYW figures!

Rapid Fire resurgent!

I keep threatening Phil and Jon with a WWII Rapid Fire game, but somehow always put it off at the last minute! So, as one year ends and another begins not one but two games of Rapid Fire here in GHQ in the same week! Although the tabletop battlefield remains substantially the same for both games, the battles themselves are quite different. It means that, with the exception of my D Day  landings specific items and one of two planes, the whole of my 20mm WWII collection has been out on the table! Anyhow, enough blathering from me, here are some photos of the action from the first game played with Phil on New Year's eve starting with the rival commanders ~

General Lord Rawnsley organises the plan of attack!

Von Bikkel considers his increasingly limited options!

Germans dig in around Le Grand Bain

German 120m mortar battery awaits the call to fire!

The Germans reinforce their left acting on intelligence from

the 120mm Artillery Battery spotters in Le Ferme Blanc.

What the spotter saw! The Irish Guards supported by Churchill

tanks on the Allied right and Cromwells with a Sherman Firefly

driving for the centre.

While laying down smoke on the Allied centre, the artillery

spotter missed the dash on the Allied left by the Rifles

An Allied Cromwell is halted by German anti tank fire! But

elements of the Irish Guards flush the German spotters out of the

farm ruins!

I really should have paid more attention to these chaps!

With the action hotting up on the German left, a Company of

Panzer IVs drive forward to engage the enemy armour!

Meanwhile, the Firefly trades shots with the emplaced 88mm

Battery and emerges the winner. A serious loss in the German

centre!

To make matters worse, an Allied bombing raid succeeds in

halting the Panzers in their tracks!

Two tanks destroyed and the third routed! Ominous signs for

von Bikkel!

However, its not all bleak news for the Germans, as the Stugs

knock out two Churchills!

And at last the German Reserves enter the battle, although 

not where they are most needed I have to say!

The commander of the Tigers immediately attacks the Allied

Firefly, trading shots to little effect. He really should have paid

more attention to the PIAT group on his left!

The Stugs and the remaining Tiger all fail the Morale Test and

rout! That takes German losses over the Army Morale

threshold and the whole army is 'Pinned'!

With that result, von Bikkel's attempt to shore up his right

flank is thwarted...

...allowing the Rifles to get one company behind the German

defenders!

Its all coming unstitched for von Bikkel now as a Typhoon

attack ads to the Germans' woe!

A shot from the rear of the 25lb Battery. Phil rolled so many

1's for failed radio contact that they hardly fired a shot in anger

for eleven turns!

With the German's pinned for two turns the Allies are free to

rush more of the Irish Guards into action against the weakened

enemy centre!

Allied infantry begin to roll up the German right flank. Its all

up for them now, with four consecutive Morale Tests and a 

dice roll of 1! The army routes or surrenders at the end of

Turn 11.

The busiest man in the German army that day!

A splendid game we both felt in the end. Before the Germans' first Army Morale test the Alies just scrapped through one of their own with a Pinned result. Another day they might have routed then! What we did realise though was how rusty we were with the rule nuances! A natural combination of aging memory and playing too many periods on my part I fear! Still, the second runout tomorrow hopefully when Brigadier Bykleigh's Glider borne coup de main will be assaulted by Kampfgruppe Whytt. Pop back at the end of the week to see how it went...

Onward, Ever Onward!

As time like an ever rolling stream flows ever onwards it’s an opportunity as the year's close approaches to look back on past hobby activity and look forward to what hopefully 2019 may bring. As ever I’ve kept an old fashioned desk diary in which I record my hobby related activities under the general headings of ‘Games’, ‘Painting’, ‘Purchases’, and ‘Visits’. Although I sometimes feel this might be a tad OCD I genuinely find it helpful in seeing the balance over time of where my hobby interests are taking me. Straight away I can see that compared to previous years I have made fewer hobby related visits, to Shows or to Stores, than in any of the most recent years. Mainly this was due of course to my hip replacement operation in early May and the enforced travel ban during the immediate recovery period of several weeks. In fact since The Other Partizan in late August it will probably be WMMS in early March before I attend a wargames show again, that's assuming we don't count the Penkridge Table Top Sale in January. While age and disposition might partly be the cause, I have to say I find wargames shows increasingly disappointing, though it’s hard to say why that is. I should probably return to this theme later and give it proper thought and consideration. We’ll have to see...
Back to the review of 2018 though for now. I see from the aforementioned diary that in the year I played 50 games, mostly against my friends and steadfast opponents Phil and Jon I should say, winning 22, drawing 14 and loosing14. Overall a pretty average performance, as ever of course. What was new though was a conscious decision on our part to consolidate the rules we played, rather than dip into numerous sets. This meant sadly leaving several sets I had written and published in favour of Black Powder as I found I simply could not cope with remembering what went where in each game. Age brings wisdom they say, but not improved memory I’ve found, so it’s simpler to use one core set for several genres we play. When we branch out into Ancients, ECW, Italian Wars and WWII I find I lean heavily on Phil especially as he’s far more into rules than I am now a days. Hardly fair to him perhaps but it seems to work for us.

Painting continues to be a solitary pleasure, though developing arthritis in my right hand allied to early stage cataracts in both eyes has sometimes made for difficulties. I see from the record I added 536 figures to the stock of resources in GHQ, though the Lead Pimple remained resolutely of the same sort of size. Must be some sort of magic thingy at work there! I only paint 28mm figures now of course, still in a range of periods and genres, but mostly in the late C18th to the early C20th. I’ve never thought of myself as more than an average standard of painter but I’m still generally really chuffed by the look of my armies on the tabletop, if not so much close up! I put this down to some advice I was given years ago now: ‘Faces, Flags, and Bases’! Well, Flags I can buy for almost any period now; faces I'm less good at now, having largely given up on eyes for example; bases I do work a little harder at now, though the benefits of laser cut MDF can’t be underestimated in the overall finished look of a unit or individual base. As the Lead Pimple has recently expanded significantly I hope 2019 will prove to be equally productive and satisfying as 2018 was!

I’ve already alluded to a significantly reduced frequency of visits to wargames shows and hobby stores and explained partly the reasons behind that. I’d like you to humour me a little though as I share my thoughts on this important aspect of our hobby for a while. I always used to look forward to the opening of the Show Circuit each Spring, usually back then at WMMS, and would often chalk up 20 plus Shows in the year, several in company with Phil and our Demo Game for that year. I really enjoyed showing our games to fellow enthusiasts, even those of the Trappist persuasion, but advancing years and the onset of hearing issues lead to that aspect fading away. Now in the role of just another punter I have to admit I find many shows a bit samey. I find them a bit like Medieval markets really, moving on from place to place over the year, but still featuring the same faces in the Trade and Gaming aspects. I realise that’s not the fault of either organisers or featured gamers, rather
perhaps it’s me in a new phase of my hobby life. This is one reason I enjoy the Scottish shows of Carronade and Claymore, featuring some traders and gamers who don't venture down south as well as the chance to meet my many Scots friends. I no longer buy much at shows, thanks to the net of course, and while I can admire a grand game I can often see it later and better on Blogs and Forum Boards. I still enjoy chatting with old chums of course, but the buzz of shows has largely evaporated for me.

Finally in the review of the year I ought to mention purchases. Well, far too many if I’m honest would be my initial thought. But then what fellow hobbyist wouldn’t say the same I wonder? Certainly if you look at Bring & Buys, eBay and the like a lot must be bought and never painted or used! On the other hand I did part with three collections this year: my 20mm Vietnam War game; my Samurai skirmish game; and lastly, my C19th Great Detective game all exited GHQ for good. In truth the first two were played out without unlikely investment in new components while the latter simply never worked for us as a game for two players. I’ve found that my penchant for Pulp type games more than sated by the VBCW genre, so next year should see my Pulp Adventures collection also departing GHQ, with the resulting cash being reinvested in more popular and enduring games here in GHQ.

Where do I hope to be going then in 2019 in our wonderful hobby? Well, judging from a recent inventory of the aforementioned Lead Pimple the answer is the Black Powder era with additions to the AWI, the ACW and the SYW.

That ought to keep me occupied for a fair chunk of next year {DV}...