Much Occurring

 No, not a village vin middle England, but a description of my hobby activities.

First up is a refresh of my Sudan figures for Patrols in the Sudan. These figures first featured around 13 years ago on this blog, so truly veterans of my hobby! First though is a new army - The Ansar or Dervish. All sprayed white and here you can see I've started to add the flesh tones. You might just be able to make out in the top right a couple of casualty figures that I've used as test bases. One is using the new Agrax Earthshade wash which I quite like. The lighter toned one is Soft Tone from the Army Painter. Not sure which I'll use yet. 

As I'm home alone this week, the plan is to get these done this week and then hopefully a game as soon as possible at the club.

This picture shows my refreshed British. They were originally in khaki, but I've always thought they looked too drab and so I have now given them red coats. Maybe slightly anachronisitc but I'm happy and they are my toys. The artillery crew to the right of the picture have a gun, but it must have fallne into the box when I took them out for the picture!

We played out the rest if the inagural battle for the ECW campaign on Friday. From a strong position, the Royalists fell apart very quickly, pushing probably too hard against the enclosures in which the Parliamentarians were ensconced. Hancock fell within the first half hour of play (;-) ) in a cavalry fight on the Royalist right wing. Rupert ended up seeking parley which was accepted and in fact saved the field army from probable destruction. 

We calculated overall losses and translated them back into the boardgame nechanics using a very simple system. It did mean that Rupert retired into Oxford, surrounded by Roundhead forces, and releif from the King some distance away.

The picture here wasn't the actual end of play for the evening unfortunately. We played out the rest of 1642. The King moved further north to the safety of Yorkshire and the Royalist strongholds there. The south and east is very much in the grip of the Roundheads. Rupert has now actually lost Oxford and finds his forces scattered around the Thames Valley region. The King will need to make a bold move south to rescue the situation. 

Winter recruitment has been carried out and the Royalist forces in the north have strengthened and a march south is likely to be attempted in early spring of 1643.

The Parliamentarian forces have consolidated their position in the south, east and West Midlands, winning several small skirmishes to eject local Royalist sympathisers.

This picture is from behind the Royalist lines, just prior to their collapse and reitrement from the field.

I am missing from the club this week as we are down in Somerset for the weekend. However, Ade has invited me over to his house for a game using his newly painted 6mm Ancient armies using Impetus which should be interesting!

More soon...