Salute 2015

My very first Salute Day started with finishing a night-shift and then only getting two and a half hours sleep before jumping on the train with club members Chris and Rich. Somehow I managed to stay awake for the journey and Chris' navigational skills helped in getting us across London to the Excel Centre fifteen minutes before opening time.

Dan and the guys from Wargames Illustrated had kindly offered to transport all our figures along with their terrain down from Nottingham the day before, so it was nice to see everything waiting for us raring to go on the  "De Montfort Must Die!" board. Ron Ringrose had done a lovely job on it, complete with 'Battle Well' and the incline leading up from Evesham onto the crest where the Royalist Army had been assembled. I won't go too far into the games we had with different people who came over to give it a try, but the highlight that stood out was one small kid (who could hardly see over the table) rolling sixes like a pro and making his Dad proud as his Assassin character cut a fine swathe through the throng. A big thank you has to go out not only to Wargames Illustrated for providing us with figures, food and inspiration but also those who spent time to simply come over and chat.

The one problematic thing about doing a participation game is that you don't have time to leisurely stroll around and see what everyone else has to offer. Nevertheless, we did try and take it in turns going for a wander. Combined here are some photos of those impressive games I managed to come across, and apologies to those I missed out! (it certainly wasn't intentional). I did notice a huge percentage of Fantasy games on display. Although not particularly into that side of things, it was impossible not to be amazed at the detail and dedication people put into some of them.

On the buying front I did go slightly overboard. I'd already pre-ordered a 15mm Sudan 1880's Mahdist Army from Peter Pig, and after collecting those I jumped straight over to the Timecast stand for some Old Glory Punjabi Native Infantry and British Highlanders (well those Mahdists need someone to fight don't they?). Then...surprise. A few stalls along Paul Meekin Books had a copy of The Colonial Wars Source Book for only £10 (RRP £30).

An honourable mention has to be made of "The Continental Wars Society" who had a nice stall with a display of Pickelhaube's and Kepis plus a selection of their home produced handbooks on the wars of 1866 and 1870 which I came away with.

Towards the end of the day we met up with fellow club member Mark then went to join the line outside one of the food stands in the Excel hallway. A long discussion ensued about spending habits (do you focus on one period at a time and work through it to completion? or do you take the scattergun approach, of collecting different periods all at once?). I'm trying to hone my lead addiction to only one or two periods. Primarily so I can put on some larger games at the club and be able to provide most of the figures that others don't have. Then again I do have a magpie tendency where the slightest thing (such as a good book, TV documentary or magazine article) can inspire me into collecting something else at the drop of a hat.

My day finally wound up with me humping a backpack stuffed with purchases over to St Pancras, and then falling asleep on the 19.29 with the new copy of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy on my lap until I woke up just ten minutes from my stop. All in all a great day :)

10mm Pendraken Arab-Israeli

I've just completed a painting commission for my mate Chris, a member of our local club who's been putting on most of our modern games. I was daunted at first because I've never considered my painting abilities sufficient for anyone to actually pay for it. Although my confidence received a boost after Wargames Illustrated asked me to do some of their medieval figures a while back.

For Chris' job he wanted all the Jordanian Infantry painted in British Uniforms (primarily because Britain provided them with much of their kit and vehicles). The armour painting was taken from various Osprey books and also W.I magazine articles covering the Six Day War.

You may also see a line of 10mm WW2 German 105mm and 75mm SPG's in the picture too (and a 15mm Napoleonic Command stand!). These were in amongst the painting pile along with the rest.

Pendraken is always great to paint. Nice detail and doesn't take long to complete. The whole lot here took around 3 and half weeks in total.

 

International Living History Fair, Bruntingthorpe 2015

Yesterday, myself and the partner went along to the International Living History Fair at Bruntingthorpe Proving Grounds near Lutterworth, Leicestershire. It's organised by 'Skirmish' Magazine (which is always worth picking up for the excellent articles - even if you're not a re-enactor).

We turned up just after 12 o'clock and it there seemed to be a steady crowd of people already milling about. Unfortunately the re-enactors were due to stage their events on the field over Saturday and Sunday (11th-12th April), so most traders were using Friday to set out their stalls. The advantage for us was that we managed to get first dibs on some absolute bargains, that would've been snapped up had we arrived much later! It also meant that most of the re-enactors present could take their time chatting instead of having to dash off to do the display. One of the highlights was getting to talk at length to a couple of the ACW guys who'd turned up with their artillery.

There were some great book stalls there, and my first purchases were David Chandler's "Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars", The National Army Museum Book "The Road to Waterloo", David Hamilton Williams "Waterloo: New Perspectives" and "A Good Dusting: Sudan Campaigns" by Henry Keown Brown. All for a bargain at just £2.50 each!!!!

It was a real eye-opener wandering around some of the artisan/craft stalls. The effort and research people put into creating their costumes and weapons is fantastic. I had a long discussion with a guy from the Brunswicker group (photo below) about the construction of his uniform. The 'American Civil War Sutler' had a stall there too, and I couldn't help but purchase a confederate cavalryman's kepi with badge (bit of a childhood dream fulfilled there!). Again, the quality was really superb.

On the wargaming front I came across a guy who had a few boxes of 28mm Napoleonics (Foundry) that he was flogging for a friend. £2 and £3 a bag for around 8-12 figures in each. I picked up about 3 regiments and a bag of mounted officers. Lovely!

A special mention has to go to the Derby Wargames Group who had put on a game of Blucher. I was very impressed by their home made terrain mat, which was a rug coloured with watered down acrylics.

If you're in the vicinity this weekend, it's well worth the detour. Only £4.50 entrance. Plus you'll get to see all the re-enactors in their full glory (which we missed). More details here:

http://www.livinghistoryfairs.co.uk/

15mm Battle of Talana Boer War Game

Last Sunday's Boer war game, using 'Battles for Empire' Rules. Below is Dave's write up which definitely reflects the fun and comic frustrations of this early clash between the disciplined Brits and doughty Boers!

"Morning dawned and the Boer artillery on Talana and Lennox Hills opened fire on the confused Brits in their encampment and town of Dundee. the Boers commanded by Chris, karl, and Paul solidly held the hills and hit back, the Brits Barry, Gary, and Matt attacked and after a heroic resistance by karl, Barry swept on to the hill having suffered horrendous casualties from Boer marksmen and artillery (and Karl throwing huge number of 6’s). but by that time Paul led another force of Boers on to a flank and fought their way into the town. All agreed the Brits had lost although would have got most of their surviving forces away south to Ladysmith.

All said they thoroughly enjoyed the game and that it was well balanced with both sides attacking and defending on different parts of the field.

I greatly enjoyed setting up the game and seeing the stresses and strains as the game progressed with curses in Afrikaans and plenty of ‘I say’s’ .

Key points in the game. 

 Barrys heroic attack and capture of Talana hill.

Karls heroic defence of Talana Hill

 Pauls aggressive attack into Dundee 

 Garys charge with the 18th Hussars onto the slag heap. 

 Karls dice rolling.

 Karl moving a pom pom artillery piece which had been set up in a good dominating position on to the hill so it could be blown to bits by the massed British artillery leaving a hole in the defensive line, a masterstroke!! (He said he had listened to Chris advice on this, eh!!!)"

28mm Napoleonic - Republic to Empire

British Cavalry Approach the Field

Today at the local club we put on a game of 28mm Nepoleonics using the Republic to Empire rules. R2E are our most used ruleset along with General De Brigade. I particularly like them because they're fast moving, and give a realistic element of uncertainty to each turn. Those familiar with them will know that it works on points allocation from rolling a number of average dice, with the number and quality of troops and commanders determining the outcome. 

The forces arrayed today were French against British and Prussians. The Prussian units were defending a ridge on their left, whilst the British were rushing up the centre and right in order to prevent the French from outflanking or destroying the position. Myself and Simon using the French pushed our artillery forwards and then moved the infantry up in columns of attack (with a view to using the limited space without having to rearrange our formations). This started well, especially when a heavy thunderstorm intruded on the scene and the infantry couldn't use their muskets for two turns - cue several mad charges by the French using cold steel to drive the Prussians from the ridge! It also opened up enough gaps in our middle to throw our deadly Polish Lancers at the newly arrived British. So...the moment arrives and as the Lancers bash into them, and I roll probably the worst dice of the day. What should have been fleeing British redcoats instead resulted in my Lancers losing half their number in nasty hand-to-hand and legging it. Luckily we had a couple of units of infantry that were up for the job, and despite the stormy weather clearing, gunpowder drying out and the British redcoats taking out TWO Brigade commanders with lucky fire it was a case of taking our revenge. It was about this time that morale tests started taking their toll on the allied forces. The Prussians had thrown in the towel and the Brits started to worry about the French Tricolours flowing over the hill where they'd once stood.

In conclusion it was a fun game, with lots of tense moments. The one thing I did notice today most of all, was that setting up the larger 28mm games takes huge effort. Transporting this amount of figures to the Club isn't something I would like to do every week.

The Gruffalo sees All

6mm Baccus Britsh Napoleonic Infantry

These are my first attempts at painting 6mm. I jumped in at the deep-end by purchasing a Baccus Napoleonic Wars Boxed set at the Hammerhead Show last week. For those unfamiliar with their Army Boxes you get a huge amount of stuff for the £95 cost. Two complete armies (I chose the French and British) totalling almost 800 figures in all, several 6mm resin buildings, two flag sets, bases and the Polemos Rules. When you work it out you get roughly the ruleset and some other bits for free.

There's a few of my friends who recoil from 6mm, feeling that they're just "painting blobs of metal", but the detail on these Baccus casts are really phenomenal for their size. Also, having painted a lot of 10mm stuff it's not such a big deal.

Other than the obvious money saving (800 28mm figures would be?...a fortune I imagine), I like the way they give the perception of 'mass' on the tabletop. I'm likewise looking forward to putting on a few games where I can cover a good section of the battlefield.

Despite the continuing aesthetic appeal of 28mm, I'm glad I picked these little chaps up and I'm sure I'll be collecting more of them in the future.

Hammerhead Show, Newark 2015

On Saturday 28th February, our local Wargames Club (The Sons of Simon De Montfort) organised two participation games at the Hammerhead Show in Newark. We decided on the 'Skirmish at Northleach 1265' scenario using Lion Rampant rules. Whilst other guys from the club put on a WW1 Aerial Combat game.

Folks trying out our Lion Rampant Game

It was an early start, and we arrived at the Newark Showground just after 8am to set up. The weather looked a bit grey and wet so I was hoping this wouldn't dampen the spirits of anyone wishing to attend. After getting the table sorted, arranging the terrain and putting the figures out the next step was to down a few teas to keep me alive for the next few hours.

Thankfully once the doors opened the place became quite busy and we had our first punters enquiring about a run-through of the game. It was a guy and his girlfriend, the former of which had just started his first foray into historical wargaming. His partner made me laugh, as she kept closing her eyes before throwing the dice (as if expecting the worst!).

After this, myself and club member Rich got our items ready for the tabletop sale. This was going to be my annual clear-out so I'd taken a large boxful of painted units along with some unused plastic sets. I was quite surprised at the reaction - people were pulling the stuff out of my hands before I'd even set it down on the stall! As it turned out I'd sold out almost completely after 10-15 minutes, so a good result there.

I got back to our participation game and there was a fair crowd around it seemingly having plenty of fun. This was a relief because looking at some of the other games on offer I began to worry that we may seem a bit overshadowed. For instance the 'Oldhammer' game was just stunning in its size and detail. It was cool that people were seemingly happy to try a bit of everything though (including the smaller games like ours).

An Undead Elephant in the 'Oldhammer' Game

Mad Max

A bit later I decide it was time to go shopping. The result of this was a Baccus Napoleonic Wars Boxed Set (French and British) plus some additional buildings and artillery. Also, I picked up the new Blucher Rules by Sam Mustafa and the 'Hundred Days' Campaign card set.

Overall I thought the day was pretty successful. Agreed there wasn't too many traders there, but the emphasis was placed on game play and checking out new rules or periods. The tabletop sale seemed to be a big draw. I remember looking over to where it was situated and seeing the area still heaving with people. The venue was very airy and well-lit, whilst the cafe section was more than adequate. I'll definitely go again next year.