20mm WW2 Russian Infantry.

From what I gather most of the Russian Infantry I bought from Colonel Bill's were Britannia Miniatures figures. Only a few quid for a bag of infantry and a mortar section, they were too good to turn down and will certainly feature again in our Bolt Action games next year. I particularly liked the wounded officer, so decided to stick him on a base with a map reading infantryman as though he were down but still shouting his orders. I painted a mix of Vallejo Russian Uniform, Khaki and some camo pattern smocks, to display the variation in supply that the Russians experienced in real life. I must say I really love painting 20mm Britannia stuff and can't help picking a few infantry and vehicles up when the opportunity arises.

Napoleonic Game 28mm

Last Sunday's Napoleonic game was a simple encounter scenario, which made a change from the usual 'attacker, defender' types we've been doing recently. Basically French vs Austrians rushing to control a hill and road in the centre of the board. Both sides began with advanced units, with French having slight superiority in cannon but the Austrians advantage in infantry and cavalry. Using the Republic to Empire rules we'd rolled for commander ratings, in which the French (mine and Ian's side) appeared to come off worse with a lot of 'plodders' and few skilful officers.

The Austrians started well, pushing quickly toward the objectives and getting their jaegers on the heights. Added to this was a large force of their cavalry rather intimidatingly advancing on the left. Ian took quick control of the situation on the hill by meeting the first units of Austrians with two regiments of French. Knowing full well that the further back he could push the Austrians, the further the main army would have to go in order to secure its target. Bracing ourselves with some chancy dice rolls and trusting the abilities of our unenthusiastic commanders we expected the worst, but surprisingly rolled high enough to give the Austrians pause for thought. This gave the French time enough to concentrate some of their own cavalry in countering the Austrian cavalry threat pounding down the road. Again some surprising results. Although the French cavalry were finally defeated it left the Austrians in a state from which they couldn't recover. Reminding us that Napoleonic cavalry is very much a "one shot deal". Thus the hill was secure in French hands as their primary force came onto the table unopposed. The same unfortunately couldn't be said of the Austrians, whose main army were only able to take one move before having to tangle with remains of the French advance who were still making a nuisance of themselves.

In conclusion, a good game which was fast moving and fun to play. It also gave me chance to photograph some of Simon's excellently painted Austrians again!

10mm British Sherman Tanks and Bren Carriers.

Here's some photos of my new Pendraken 10mm Late British. I've finished painting all the armour and now just have the infantry to complete. They were really satisfying to paint, and I took most of the tips from the Flames of War painting guide on their website. I undercoated in black, then did a base colour of Vallejo Russian Uniform Green. After that I did a brown ink wash and then highlighted with another layer of Russian Uniform plus a mix of 30% or so White. The tracks were left black and then spotted with Vallejo Gunmetal. The camo on the Scout car and Bren Carriers was a base colour of Reflective Green, another Brown wash and then a highlight mix of Reflective Green and (again) 30% white. They were pretty quick and easy to do and I managed to finish nine vehicles in one short afternoon.

Something that inspired me with the choice of figures was reading Robert Kershaw's book "Tank Men". I'd really enjoyed his work on Arnhem ("It Never Snows in September") and was pleased to get this one through the post from Amazon. The personal experiences recounted within it's pages are just stunning and I'd suggest it to anyone who wants to get a sense of what it's like to see war from a Tank crew's point of view. In fact the Kershaw one then led me onto ordering the classic Keith Douglas book "Alamein to Zem Zem". If you haven't got any of these I'd put them on the Xmas list right now.

15mm Zulu War Game Report

A couple of Sundays back, Dave G decided to put on one of his famously epic colonial games using the 'Battles for Empire' Rules. This was a Zulu War scenario involving an British Advance army consisting of 'disgruntled' Zulus followed by a main body of British regulars. The opposition force was a fair sized group of Zulu tribal allies...and of course the Zulu Royal Army itself. The British objective was to disperse or steal the tribal group's cattle situated on the hill, drive off their force, and then bring the British Regulars to establish camp around the hill. The main Zulu Army was off board as the British Advance began towards the tribal settlement, and (as we cautiously expected) could appear just about anywhere...and fast.

Myself and Mark (who kindly provided the photos) were the Brits, whilst Dave, Paul and Chris were the Zulus and Lawrence commanded the Zulu tribal allies. I decided to use the British advance units to head straight for the hill and tackle Lawrence's guys before the Zulus might react. My mistake was not having a clue about using my Native cavalry units to scout around, and instead trying to use them to protect my flanks and keep everything together. Hence the Zulu allies were spotted easily and I began to deal with them as I approached the hill, forcing them backwards and away from their cattle. But I messed up by (as Dave mentioned) failing to throw my scouts out in a wider arc which may have revealed the whereabouts of the main Zulu force. This meant that when Mark's British Regulars came on behind me they effectively had to proceed blind.

It quickly became obvious that both the advance force and the main British body would have problems supporting each other. My own predicament became acute when I realized I'd got around 2,000 Zulus moving against my backside, whilst I was still trumpeting a short lived victory after capturing a few cows. Mark probably had to deal with about three times that number from two different directions, and did the typically British thing of "forming square". Unfortunately this only gave a false sense of security, especially when Mark's artillery began to produce less than pleasing results. So it wasn't long before the Headquarters Staff themselves were casting aside the lace doilies and turning over the dining furniture in panic as Zulus ("thousands of them") started brisk work with their Assegai.

So in conclusion, the Brits came away with few survivors and having been taught a serious lesson (again). Maybe we'll remember to bring along a few Gatling guns next time.....

Derby World Wargames 2013

These are some photos of just a few of the outstanding demo games at this weekend's Derby Wargames show. The first group include the Warlord Games demo of Pegasus Bridge. A really amazing set-up as you can see. Second in the set is an alternative history game taking the 1984 Miners strike and developing it into a full blown civil war. Called 'The Battle for Trafalgar Square', the detail was fantastic - right down to small led lights placed amongst the explosions. I particularly loved the firefight erupting in front of the National Portrait Gallery - I guess there weren't the usual trail of tourists spilling out the doors on that day! The next up was a rather nice Arab-Israeli game (28mm?) with probably the most tanks I've ever seen fielded on a gaming table. Finally there was a lovely 6mm Maurice game placed in a Marquee with the participants in period costume. Great to see so much effort gone into the presentation of these games.

The show as a whole seemed like a roaring success. There were visible far more people in attendance last year, plus the canteen area had been expanded to afford more seating etc. Traders were also on the increase, so definitely lots of choice for the punters.

On the personal front I managed to pick up my preorders from Pendraken (Austro-Prussian and Franco Prussian army packs) and also got chance to buy some 10mm WW2 armour. The book stalls such as Paul Meekins etc were just an absolute feast for the eyes, and I came away with some coffee table books on Normandy '44 and some tasty Axis uniform and equipment books. A special mention has to go to 'Treefellas' who did me a nice deal on an Orange Grove (with tiny oranges no less!) and some bocage hedgerows.

The Painted Hall, Old Naval College, Greenwich. London.

Just back from a fantastic weekend in London. Having been to the Imperial War Museum several times I guessed it was the turn of the Naval College and National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Having almost passed straight by it, we happened to notice The Painted Hall a few yards away. It's an incredibly impressive structure with a beautifully decorated interior. I had no idea that it was the place the bodies of both Nelson and Collingwood were left in state before being interred at St. Paul's Cathedral. Very fitting surroundings for two extremely brave men. Underneath is a long tunnel that connects both ends of the building, and at the bottom of a set of stairs is a truly lovely scale model of the Japanese warship 'Yashima'. If like us, you were passing through the area to get to the Maritime Museum, you could do yourself a favour and drop by The Painted Hall. The panorama photo included above was taken by my girlfriend (who had a better technological grasp of the camera than I had!) and shows the buildings of the Old Naval College in all their glory.

1866 Saxon Infantry - 10mm Pendraken.

The second of the Pendraken Army packs is almost complete. This time it's the 1866 Saxon Army, which during the campaign fought with great distinction. Again I had to spend a few nights trawling the internet for information on uniforms etc. It was suggested that the Saxon's wore a sort of Cornflour Blue, and whereas some collectors had satisfied themselves with (as I recall) the Foundry paint system which produces something akin to the Bavarian colour of uniform, I'd also heard some folks opting for a Vallejo middle blue. This seemed fine although with a highlight on top I was afraid of it appearing too much like sky blue. Hence I went for the Vallejo dark blue and highlighted from there. The photo only shows the infantry minus their command stands because I forgot to include any in my online basket when ordering (Pendraken Army packs usually come without them) - so I'll probably have to grab some from their stand at the Derby show in a few weeks.
On another note I've just had the other Douglas Fermer book come through the door from Amazon called 'France at Bay' about the Siege of Paris and other events towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. If it's anything like his Sedan book, it'll be a stormer.