Man Flu

Down with the dreaded lurgy meaning I can barely get out of bed at the minute. I have had to take time off work for the first time in years which I feel very guilty about. spent today under the duvet watching 'The Man who Would be King' and 'Apocalypse Now redux'.

Cant sleep hence the late post. Thinking of trying to put some paint on metal tomorrow or finish off some basing. So many ideas not enough time. I have plans and ambitions beyond my ability to manage.

A rough buying plan formulated today. I am getting some scenary and a PBI army from Alumwell. Maybe a couple of other bits but nothing major. Likely get a tin of Army Painter Strong tone. Then Triples in April. Peter Pig dont attend this show so other than maybe a book or two, and bits that catch my eye nothing major here. Partizan in May will be a mjor purchase of Samurai, enough to complete two armies adding to the stuff I already have. Maybe the figures for one of the larger scenarios. June is Phalanx but again no Peter Pig so nothing major other than the usual. July and August is a dry month for shows, but September will see 2nd Partizan and possibly a purchase of Hey You in the Jail figures and buildings and maybe Dervish for my PITS stuff.

If there is a PBI or CWB day in Bournemouth this year I will attend come hell or high water. With no AK47 day I will need my annual fix of gaming. If Portbury do a PBI day too I may try and get there as well. Not sure if Peter Pig will hold one of their comps in August (there wasn't one last year). If they do I will do my best to get there as well.

I am thinking of having a mass clear out of fantasy/sc fi stuff that has been lying around for ever. If I can ever get around to getting my backside into gear I will photograph the stuff for ebay and keep the blog updated with progress.

Reading several books at the moment as usual. 'Terrible Swift Sword' by Bruce Catton is my ACW fix. I love his style. The words flow off the page with ease. Also I have 'We were soldiers Once...and Young'. Vietnam action in the Ia Drang valley. Good stuff. Constantly reading my collection of RFCM titles to get to grips. New AK47 is the current favourite , although I dug out Pieces of Eight earlier today for another seed of a plan.

Missed the club again tonight due to the lurgy. Not attended since early December now. The less I go the less motivation I have to make the effort. Going to try and go to bed now without waking my wife who is on earlies in the morning (5.30 alarm).

End of an era

When I first started wargaming Wargames Illustrates was the magazine of choice with Miniature Wargames and Practical Wargaming a nice to have rather than need. Of course this was pre internet making the monthly fix my only connection with the wider world of the hobby outside of my local club.

I wont say that I enjoyed every article (Ever Victorious Army/Darkest Africa/Pirates), but in the main news of upcoming shows, new releases and the photographs grabbed me every time.

Of late I have only picked up the odd copy here and there, Battlegames being my choice read. I do feel there is still a place for the printed magazine, but it is rare that a piece of news hits me first from a magazine rather than TMP or one of the many YahooGroups I follow.

News that Battlefront have bought WI has shocked me. Ok so the halcyon days may have gone but I have grave doubts about the future of the magazine. Hopefully BF will resist the temptation to make WI the historical White Dwarf and still accept articles for rival products. We will have to wait and see. I predict more WW2 articles featuring Flames of War. It will be interesting to see if they were to accept a submission based on PBI. Time will tell.

Game and more painting

Had an excellent game of Regiment of Foote last night with Martyn my long time wargames opponent. It was his first game of Regiment of Foote but we managed to play to a conclusion within 3 hours or so (taking into account I was a bit rusty too!)

Here we see the field of battle at dawn. This little piece of England is the border of the counties of Barpshire and Scruttockshire where those two rivals for the heart of Lady Geraldine, The Earl of Trent, Benton Smythe and Sir Marmaduke Evans MP are heading for a clash of arms. The crossroads is known locally as Bayleighs Cross. The date is 4th April 1642....


The two armies deployed, Sir Marmaduke (me) with his Roundheads to the left and the Earl of Trent (Martyn) to the right.

Martyn was defending after the campaign section of the rules, but after four marches each, he lost only one unit at the deployment . This meant it was going to be a hard game for the attacker (me!) to win. Still, Marmaduke girded his loins and after an early morning prayer session, he stood in his stirrups and ordered the advance. This shot shows the slow advance of the foote in the centre. In the background the Royalist horse were getting the better of things which gave them free reign later in the battle.

A clash between Deverells Roundhead Cuirassiers having the worst of it against a veteran unit of Royalist horse led by the dashing Prince Eugene.

More Royalist horse deploying to the field behind the a conscript Bluecoat regiment, shaking in their boots as facing them was a horde of Puritanical roundheads about to trample all over them.

A general shot of the field showing essential wargaming impedimentia, Peter Pig dice, beer, biscuits and a nice cup of tea.

A dramatic shot of some Roundhead dragoons on foote, creeping around the hedgerows on their left flank. They had a tough game skirimishing with their Royalist counterparts but did their job preventing the Royalist horse getting around to the rear.

It was a great game that ended in a winning draw for the Royalists with their veteran cavalry having practically free reign by games end. Although I had control of the centre with my foote, they were feeling exposed as all but one of my Regiments of horse (and a conscript unit at that!) had routed from the field.

Marmaduke had no option but to retire from the field to reorganise his forces muttering "Odds tis a small thing that you have! The Earl of Trent quaffed on ale in the local. An aide of his was heard to say "zooks sir,we have but fought lightly today!"

We used the proposed modifications from the RFCM Yahoogroup that Peter Pig put up in November. The main changes being to the assault phase. A greatly reduced number of dice are now used, with a result that infantry fights in particular can be less decisive. I thought they worked very well, but as ever a couple of questions came up.

1. There are no factors in the new 'Fight' table for charger cavalry or to take account of the quality of the units fighting. On the quality issue, the saving rolls may account for this but maybe there should be something for having a better class of troops in a fight (+2d6 for using better class troops than opponent....maybe +1 for trained v conscript and 2D6 for veteran v conscript). I appreciate the new table is designed to reduce the number of dice rolled, but I do feel charger cavalry need a plus as well.

2.The cavalry who rout cavalry opponents table perhaps should be for cavalry verses infantry too as in the main rules victorious cavalry pursue off table similar to when fighting cavalry.

Thumbs up from me for the changes. Looking forward to the next clash between Marmaduke and the Earl of Trent as the Earl follows up on his minor victory. Next game in a couple of weeks, not sure what yet!

If you look to the right you will see my painting points are creeping up. 164 now. Thats more point than I have brought so far this year. The latest editions are Viet Cong with RPGS and LMGs, US Marines with LAWs, a Reb unit for CWB along with some officers and markers. Only a couple of bits left for CWB now and then a game hopefully!

On a completely different note myself and Lisa saw 'Slumdog Millionaire' the other night and we both thought it was one of the best films we have seen in a long time. Uplifting stuff in these times of fiscal hardship!

Sean

Pictures 2

I am shopping around for a new camera so hope to be able to put up some better (and larger!)pictures soon.

Painted 12 ECW dragoons today and finished some basing on dismounted dragoons and a Reb artillery crew. Also started another building this time for Vietnam.

Off to work now!

Pictures

As I dont have a camera at the minute I am having to make do with my phone.

Here is the new American Civil War church and a big house from Peter Pig.

This is the small house.

Finally the unit of English Civil War Cuirassier.

A few thoughts before work

I am on a real Peter Pig kick at the minute and just cant find enough time to do all I want to. I have had a slow start to the year painting wise, but January is always a bit slow on the gaming front due to work, birthdays and other social events that keep me away from my brushes.

I have just finished the new Peter Pig ACW buildings, using my new philosophy of slap the paint on and wash it with Games Workshops Devlan Mud, Ogryn Flesh or Army Painter (APd). They wont win any prizes but look nice for the amount of work put in. I have also APd'd a unit of Rebs and a unit of Union that I painted last year in my old style of black undercoat and two highlights. I wasn't going to bother but they fit in better now with my armies.

Just finished some AK47 civilians too that look nice with minimal effort as well as a camera crew. I have looking at me a giraffe, a rhino, some pigs and cattle as well as a couple of crocodiles. Funny the things we wargamers collect isn't it?

Plans for this month are to get the ACW figures on table, finish up a couple of ECW bits along with my PBI armies. March should see me starting my Wars of the Roses armies for Bloody Barons. I have enough figures for the Towton scenario but will paint the forces for Blore Heath (just down the road from me) to get me going. Then its Samurai for the Battles in the Age of War. Somewhere in there will be new bits for AK47 as they come out to promote the new version of AK47 Republic. I would love to fit in some Hey You in the Jail and also some bits and bobs for Patrols in the Sudan. Last but not least maybe, just maybe, some Spanish Civil War. Oh and of course Men of Company B.

Too ambitious? Moi? With my reputation? This year will be a record breaking year for me painting wise. Last year I didn't really get going unitl Partizan in May wher I bought my first tin of Army Painter. That tin is still going though I do have a second tin waiting in the wings. I have been using the Dark Tone which is basically black. I may try the Strong tone which is dark brown when I go ot Alumwell in March.

Any way time to get ready for work. More later!

York show

After spending the evening at a Charity Ball, I was slightly under the weather on the drive upto York this morning. Two and a bit hours I arrived just after 10.30am where I met Keith Martin and Tonk from the Stoke club.

As usual I wondered around checking out where everything was and scanning the demo games. York is one of the largest one day shows with an excellent mix of traders and games in a light and airy venue. Some very nice games on display with the award for top game going to (I think) the Ilkley Lads with a large WW2 Desert game in 28mm. They took my vote for the scenary really which was TSS tiles with a excellent desert effect painted on top. There was a massive 28mm Shiloh by the Like a Stonewall group which was nice, but somehow 'too big', with not enough trees and ugly yellow card unit markers.

As the first show for me of the year, I couldnt resist adding to the lead pile, buying the balance of the figures for the Bloody Barons Towton scenario. As well as these I got a few paints and brushes, the charming 'Tusk I, II and III' rules from Irregular Miniatures with the 'Sir Harry and his hunting party' figure pack and the new ACW buildings from Peter PigI also played Battles in the Age of War with Stuart (Meecham?) from Peter Pig. Very enjoyable. Had a nice chat with Stuart about all things Piggie as well as a chat with Nigel about the new AK47 which I am quite excited about. Nigel also kindly took an order for some scenary to collect at the Alumwell show. Overall a very enjoyable day, catching up with the lads, wandering aimlessly around the various games and stands and of course spending some money.

A big plus was arranging a game or two with Martin and Keith. Hopefully a game of Regiment of Foote followed by a trail of the new AK47. Mrs Clark is out shopping all day tomorrow so I plan a day of painting which is a good job really because a lot of snow is on the way! Not decided what to tackle yet, possibly to finish the basing of my ACW which I spent alot of yesterday doing, and maybe crack on with Vietnam bits. Maybe a couple of scenary bits for ECW too.

Apologies for no pictures but I lost my digital camera a few weeks ago and although my phone has a good camera, I always forget to use it!

More next week.