Command Stands #1

In my opinion all armies need at least one general, even if some rules assume the great man's presence I feel he should be represented on the tabletop, and not just by one figure but by a whole group of figures! Recognising that many gamers' war chests or available impermanent table tops make vignettes such as I've been exhibiting on this blog of late difficult, we can all at least I think give our commanders a little TLC in our representation of them. Anyway, some of my efforts arranged in chronological order, more or less ~

Coronus Cunctator, overall commander of my Republican Roman army. Figures from Aventine Miniatures

Of course I didn't stop at one command stand! A sub-general for the Allied contingent, again from Aventine Miniatures.

Once I'd started it seemed futile to stop, so a command element for my Celtiberian warbands, again from Aventine Miniatures...

And a general mounted on an elephant for the Carthaginian army! The nellie is from A&A Miniatures as is the javelin armed warrior, while the general is from Crusader Miniatures.

Of course, different elements of an army can also enjoy a command presence represented here by a single mounted figure from Aventine Miniatures.

And here is in action leading the Allied Italian cavalry!

Staying with the Roman theme, but moving forward in time, my Late Roman armies are commanded by Pompus Maximus...

...Albinus, a mercenary commander who features in whichever army pays the most!

And of course, the would be usurper of the imperial purple,  Baldinus! All figures from Wargames Foundry and banners from Little Big Man.

I have a small collection of Normans and Saxons from Wargames Foundry, sculpted for them by my son Matt. You can just see Harold here behind his Huscarls.

Moving forward in time again and back to Italy with the Landscnecht general's base for my Italian Wars Papal States games with Phil's Florentines. The figures are from Warlord Games of course.

While these sub-general bases are from TAG with banners from Pete's Flags.

Cesare Borgia, the commander of my Papal army of Alexander VI, Borgia is represented by three TAG figures.

Finally reaching the C17th and home territory in the English Civil Wars we have that stout parliamentary general, Obadiah Bykleigh represented by a Warlord Games figure with my bespoke head by Matt.

More conventionally though we have Royalist general's from Wargames Foundry.

And of course, wart and all, Oliver Cromwell and staff all from Wargames Foundry once again.

I hope you found something of interest here and perhaps feel you might leave a short comment to encourage my future efforts.

Medical, Spiritual and Logistical

There are thankfully no little lead widows after our games...

Nor are our morticians overwhelmed by demand...

Our carpenters can rest easy after each tabletop conflict plays out!

There are no dead to be buried...

Nor maimed to need emergency surgery...

Nevertheless there is a role on the tabletop battlefield in representing medical services, even if just as a vignette filler adding to the authentic look of a game...

Some rule sets even have a specific role for Medics to fulfill...

These ACW Union casualty figures here can be used to mark Morale status for example, from Foundry and Dixon Miniatures...

A field ambulance is an addition to the baggage train in several periods, here in 1920's Rhanslistan...

From the depths of the Burmese jungle...

...to the heat and flies of the Sudan, the Medical services can play a vital role in games...

Adding an Ambulance or two to the scenario can sometimes bring an element of chaos and blocked roads...

Or just simply break up the monotony of painting...

At a basic level the Spiritual element might boost morale...

As Brother Bykleigh might be here in a Wars of the Roses game...

Or Cardinal Bicclione here in the Italian Wars...

Nor should the morale effect of a good tune be underestimated...

The Pope though might just be a spiritual asset too far...

An army marches on its stomach it's said, so bakers are a useful addition to a camp scene...

Baggage can not only bring period flavour to our games...

...but make a useful objective too at times.

Not forgetting all the other support services our little lead armies take for granted...

If you look hard enough you can find most items in your chosen period...

And if not it can always be codged up with a bit of imagination...

Some vignettes from my and others' collections which just might provide an idea for adding to your own collections?
 

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.

Maps!

Well, as you’ll know only too well I don’t rate highly in the modelling stakes to be brutally honest. Notwithstanding my lack of any recognisable talent I do enjoy creating small vignettes for my various armies. None of them generally stray very far from making use of commercially available figures and terrain dressing items but generally add to the look of the game which here in GHQ is a major consideration I find. Anyway, as my Ephemera blog post went down well I thought I'd post some other projects under the general theme of 'maps'. You never know, there might be something that you can use to generate your own, much better, vignette...

1914, Belgium: the BEF commanders in this sector consult the maps to plan their next move. The maps are downloaded and reduced from actual period maps I found online, as is the newspaper you can just see being read by the officer in the back of the staff car. The car itself was £1 from a seafront antique shop in Scarborough, with a driver from Empress Miniatures.

Straight from Perry Miniatures French Napoleonic range but adapted for my FRW French army with tricolour sashes.

Three Trent Miniatures Austrian officers, a table, bench and chairs from Irregular Miniatures and more downloaded and reduced period maps for my small FRW Austrian army.

WWII German staff group from AB with command vehicle and staff car. (Maps must be inside!)

ACW Union staff group using Dixon Miniatures' figures, a Redoubt Enterprises resin tented cabin; table, chairs, benches etc from Irregular Miniatures and another downloaded map!

WWII British O Group from AB with Dorchester ACV from Ready to Roll/RapidFire! In the foreground the AB RAF officer coordinating air support.

Back to 1914 Belgium for a better view of the maps!

Another ACW Union Staff grouping using Dixon Miniatures' figures. The two seated figures are from the train passenger set I recall and the table and chairs from the Wild West range also. The tent is an old Ian Weekley foam/resin cast. More downloaded and reduced maps of course!

Another Perry Miniatures French Napoleonic set of Staff Officers and ADCs. The tent in the left background is the Grand Manner single Command Tent. The map chest is from Irregular Miniatures!

A Parliamentary Council of War for my ECW army. Figures from Wargames Foundry and Redoubt Enterprises; table, bench and chair from Irregular Miniatures; downloaded map a real find,  a C17th map of the area I live in and where we set our games!

Finally another ACW Staff Group, Robert E Lee and J.E.B.Stuart with their staff plan the next move for the ANV. As I recall Matt hand painted the map and orders. Figures from Dixon Miniatures of course and tent from Ian Weekley's range back in the day. HQ flagpole base is from Redoubt Enterprises but no idea who made the axe and woodpile, sorry.

Well, there you are. I hope you have found something of interest or to inspire your own much better efforts. Me? Presently I'm painting Grand Manner resin pieces for my Italian settings of Renaissance and FRW games. They had a sale of unpainted resin so I could just afford the pieces I wanted to add to the terrain bank! Otherwise they are right out of my price league sadly!

One in the Eye?

 A run out for my  C11th Normans and Saxons in GHQ for today's game with Phil, as ever using Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval rules with our in-house additions. Phil took command of the Saxons for a change leaving me to lead the Normans. As usual, an annotated photomontage of the game to give a sense of how it played out ~

Harald Rawnslisson, Earl of Rawnsley, has drawn up his Saxons along the low ridge line with his archers covering his flanks.

Duke Bicca has his Normans in an extended line, with his heavy infantry in the centre flanked by his mounted knights and then his archers. It doesn't look as if this will be a tactically complex attack, more a bloody frontal assault on the Saxon position.

The Norman knights are soon surging ahead of both the heavy infantry and the archer support in a frontal assault on the Huscarls. Time for the famed Saxon shieldwall to form?

It seems in the confusion of battle Harald has forgotten to issue the order! The Norman knights crash into the Saxons, driving off their archers and slowly pushing back the end of their line.

Away on the far flank the two groups of archers exchange fire with no immediate advantage to either side. Ignoring the nuisance fire the Norman knights attack the other end of the Saxon line, while on the near flank the Norman knights have cleared that part of the ridge of Saxons!

The Huscarls form an ever tighter group around their Earl, while arrows rain into their position and the heavy Norman infantry close for the final struggle.

Suddenly though the final Saxon stand collapses though heavy losses from repeated charges in flank and rear by the jubilant Norman knights! Earl Harald is slain, though perhaps not by an arrow in the eye after all...

Phil's neglect in forming a Shieldwall cost him the game we thought. In the combat outcomes there was often little to choose between the two forces, so the advantage in dice deriving from forming the shieldwall might have been decisive for the Saxons. As it was the Norman knights took full advantage and wrecked havoc on the individual bases of Saxon infantry, winning the battle without their infantry getting into the fight.

Alter Martens Bauernhof

A couple of shots of my Warbases' 15mm German Rural Buildings by way of a preview. 

From left to right the buildings are the German Rural house and the two farm outbuildings. I didn't buy the fourth building, the barn, as it was too large for my taste, so I will utilise the barn I featured in an earlier post from Empires At War. I shall have a base cut to size I hope to collect at Partizan in May.

A view from the other side of the table showing the nicely cut timber frame effect for one gable end and upper storey side face of the farmhouse. Perhaps an alternative kit with timber framing for all the upper sides might provide the gamer with a second choice?

As you'd expect from Warbases these are lovely little kits which assemble very easily, although in my kits there were two minor cutting errors. I got around both with a little fix, neither of which shows in the finished buildings. I've alerted Martin to these and no doubt they will be rectified by now.