Dark Age Additions

I am suffering the usual ennui in respect to posting photos on my blog, have been quite busy at work and it has been very hot, but I have been working away on things and have got quite a lot accomplished over the last month or two.

All Gripping Beast figures except the Oxen

Chronica Iohannes: April 550 AD

Chronica Iohannes

Memorial Day 2013

Back to Dux

Saxons to the left and British to the right

I have been really slow to photograph figures, mostly I think because I find it a real challenge to take good photos. I have a new camera, but you have to know how to use it. I have learned to recognise what some of the problems are, but am still working on it. I would love to get to a point where I just have to crop the photos and do nothing else. I did buy some daylight bulbs and usually use two swan neck lamps with as much ambient light as possible. My gaming table is just under 3 skylights so ambient light is usually not a problem. I actually had to increase the contrast in these photos as they were too light. I always appreciate any comments on how to improve. A few months ago Curt of Analogue Hobbies explained to me the problems I was having with the temperature, it was just an enormous help.

A New Wargaming Period

About 6 months ago Iannick got me in a weak moment and convinced me to build an army for a new period: Ancients. He had even ordered the War and Conquest rulebook for me! I try to be a man of my word, so after a bit of research and one false start, I settled on the New Kingdom Egyptians. I knew that Iannick was building a Canaanite army, and was focussed on the period of 1800-1500 BC (the start of the NKE era)

A New Scale

I really have been quite excited by the new set of rules coming this summer from Too Fat Lardies: Chain of Command. This is a platoon based skirmish game where the smallest tactical unit is the infantry team. It really looks like an exciting game which takes 1-2 hours to play. Richard Clarke has done a series of 3 videos which outline the gameplay, well worth watching, it certainly hooked me. There are also another 3 videos which act as an introduction to the game.

IR18, the 3rd West Prussian Regiment

Well the basing is all done and finally I can move on.

I have had 2 battalions of Prussian Fusiliers on the table for almost 2 months, so I will present them first.

The F/IR18 completes my second complete Prussian regiment for the 1815 OB, the 3rd West Prussian or IR18. These are Perry figures, mostly plastics, but with the metal Prussian Fusilier set of command figures as well as knapsacks with the correct sword. I must of learned how to glue plastic to metal as this was a bit smoother then the Hanoverians.

Update and the Joys of Basing

I just realized that I had not put a single post up in the month of May, so I thought maybe to keep people interested (and to assure them that I was not dead), that I should throw something together.

I have been actually quite busy with soldiering (my wife's term) over the last month, I have just not been able to get any photos done as I paint..paint..paint, but for some reason refuse to terrain the bases or apply matt!

Battle of Gefrees AAR: Rank and File Rules

Last weekend, I got to be a gamesmaster for the first time. It was an interesting experience, not all went to plan, but I did enjoy myself though and it was fun. It was also the first outing for  our small group of a new set of rules, Rank and File from Crusader Publishing.

Although myself and Iannick have a considerable number of 28mm Napoleonic figures available to put on the table, I have found that less is better, so I decided to go with a small division aside game. I wanted to field both my newly painted Brunswickers as well as a brigade of Austrians that I had painted a couple of years ago, which had yet to see the light of battle. I usually try to find a historical battle to recreate, this was a little difficult with these two forces, but some googling revealed that there was a two month period in the early summer of 1809 when a combined Brunswick-Austrian force existed in the XI Corps of the Austrian Empire. I had settled on recreating the Battle of Gefrees, fought on July 8, when I came across an article in Wargames Soldiers and Strategy Issue 63 with a wargaming scenario for this battle. A few modifications in the order of battle, I did not want to use cavalry in this first outing with this ruleset.