Monday 18 March 2013
The Reds are Coming
last week I ran a Russian Civil War game using the Red Actions rules. In preparation for this I took time off from painting Napoleonic French to finish a couple of extra units for this battle. These figures, some Red Army cavalry and some tchankas have been hanging around in a half finished state for the past four to five years. The figures are shown in the attached pictures still need to be flocked, but now that they are almost completed I am quite pleased with the result.
Monday 4 February 2013
More Matchsticks
I have just finished the Saxon contingent of my French Seven Years War army.
Captured by the Prussians at Pirna and forcibly enlisted into Prussian service, soldiers from these regiments deserted on mass to fight for the Allies. For most of the war the Saxon Auxiliary Corps fought with distinction as part of the French Army in Germany.
I also have finished a batch of casualty markers.
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Review of my wargaming year 2012
When the year started I was engaged in painting a 28 mm British Peninsular War army. A friend was painting the French, but as he has all but disappeared from active wargaming, I now have to paint both armies. I am hoping to fight battles using either the Lasalle or Black Powder rules, but am open to suggestions on other rule sets.
Thus far, for the British I have finished 6 infantry battalions, a regiment of Light Dragoons and a battery of foot artillery. For the French I have completed a battalion and a half of infantry and an under strength hussar regiment. As my painting speed works out at around a unit every month or two this is going to be a very long term project.
About halfway through the year Sam Mustafa released his "Maurice" rules for Eighteenth Century warfare. These are a fantastic set of rules which are really fun to play. As I didn't have any figures for this period I needed some new armies to allow me to play some games. Looking at the figures for my Napoleonics, getting two 28 mm armies together would probably take me around two years and could cost the better part of a thousand pounds to buy the figures. I wanted something that would be up and running within a month!
I then considered 6mm figures, but to get the figure density that I wanted vast numbers of figures would have been required. Finally after making a few test units I decided to make the armies from matchsticks and card. This proved to be an inspired decision. Cut in 6mm lengths the matchstick figures looked good in mass. In addition the figures are surprisingly easy to paint.
Back in the late 1970s some friends began collecting Seven Years War armies. I started to paint some British infantry, intending to model the regiments present at the Battle of Minden. Unfortunately I never got very far with this project. Now some 30 years later I have used the Battle of Minden as the blueprint for my Seven Years War armies. With an intensive burst of painting I managed to get two serviceable armies on the field in around five weeks. Over the following months I have expanded these forces, to include virtually every regiment present at the battle. Between them the two armies contain around 6000 figures, all for a total cost of around £10!
Thus far, for the British I have finished 6 infantry battalions, a regiment of Light Dragoons and a battery of foot artillery. For the French I have completed a battalion and a half of infantry and an under strength hussar regiment. As my painting speed works out at around a unit every month or two this is going to be a very long term project.
About halfway through the year Sam Mustafa released his "Maurice" rules for Eighteenth Century warfare. These are a fantastic set of rules which are really fun to play. As I didn't have any figures for this period I needed some new armies to allow me to play some games. Looking at the figures for my Napoleonics, getting two 28 mm armies together would probably take me around two years and could cost the better part of a thousand pounds to buy the figures. I wanted something that would be up and running within a month!
I then considered 6mm figures, but to get the figure density that I wanted vast numbers of figures would have been required. Finally after making a few test units I decided to make the armies from matchsticks and card. This proved to be an inspired decision. Cut in 6mm lengths the matchstick figures looked good in mass. In addition the figures are surprisingly easy to paint.
Back in the late 1970s some friends began collecting Seven Years War armies. I started to paint some British infantry, intending to model the regiments present at the Battle of Minden. Unfortunately I never got very far with this project. Now some 30 years later I have used the Battle of Minden as the blueprint for my Seven Years War armies. With an intensive burst of painting I managed to get two serviceable armies on the field in around five weeks. Over the following months I have expanded these forces, to include virtually every regiment present at the battle. Between them the two armies contain around 6000 figures, all for a total cost of around £10!
Sunday 6 January 2013
First Post
I have been thinking about staring a wargaming blog for some time. Finally after a year of procrastination, here it is, my first attempt at writing a blog.
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