My Next Unfinished Project is ... ... ECW

My gaming room looks like this:

Underneath and behind the towering boxes I have 12 x 4 gaming table just screaming out to be played upon. Why not you say? I'll tell you why not!

My best friend died last month, my gaming buddy and all that entails. One thing I have decided to do is to help the family do something sensible with his wargaming collections. Forty years in the making or certainly the best part thereof and I now have most of it in my wargames room.

Going through the various bits and pieces brings back great memories of times and games gone bye and one particular selection jumped up and poked me in the eye, almost literally.

I came across these:

Polish Winged Hussars, Pancerni and Lithuanian Cavalry amongst others, all in 15mm.

And these:

Swiss and Spanish Infantry

Some of these:

ECW Cavalry, Roundheads mostly.

And these:

A few guns, medium sized and small.

Lots of these:

Loads of ECW infantry, 6 regiments, loyalties to be confirmed.

And an unpainted selection:

Now, just what can I do with this lot!

Well, there is this set of rules I wrote in 1975.

And there is this more recent set:

And there is this tome for reference.

First task is to clean up the figures and rebase them. The flock on them is (being polite here) biodegrading, it'll have to go. The bases are different sizes so they'll have to be rationalised.

Biggest problem is that my 1975 rules are geared up for infantry units to be at least 90 figures strong, 30 pikes in a block with a sleeve on either flank of 30 muskets as well as a few officers, standard bearers and drummers. Single figure casualty removal is a requirement for my rules.

The unit strengths pictured above are about half that with no drummers. I'll have to compromise somewhere. I would also want the rules to be useable with the Swiss and Spanish units.

The Warlord ruleset will have its own suggested unit sizes, I have yet to read them but I expect them to be similar to other Black Powder rules with small, standard and large units. I would want the units to be useable in both rulesets as I may decide to sell the collection on.

There is then an Unfinished Project to be converted into a Finished project, wish me luck.

Royal Mail Gone to Pot

My good friend Leon at Pendraken brought this to my attention.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/royal-mail-lift-the-restrictions-on-shipping-water-based-paints?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

Ridiculous if you are a wargamer or a modeller and buy pots of paint over the internet.

I've signed up, can you?




Iain Holt RIP 1955-2013

Apologies to anyone expecting a post about Crisis and whatever else.

My wargaming life has been brought to a sudden halt by the death of my best friend Iain Holt, my wargaming partner and lifelong buddy. I am deeply saddened at his passing and my priorities for the time being are to pay the appropriate level of respect to a favourite fellow of mine.

Wargaming, like football, can be more important than life or death but in this case it will take a back seat while I ensure that my best friend sets off on the next part of his journey through time and space in the best manner because that is exactly what he deserves.

RIP Iain Holt 1955-2013

Absence (Crisis)

I've been away at Crisis.

Here's the proof.

I hope to post a fuller report once I have recovered. (Yes I am wearing a kilt).

Dux Britanniarum - Britons - Finished

Despite a number of distractions I have finally completed the painting and basing of my British force to use with Dux Britanniarum.

I will let the figures speak for themselves in a series of pictures.

The Leadership

The Elites

The Warriors

The Levy

A selection of skirmishers

Light Cavalry

Shock Cavalry

And a peasant with his cart, cost me a fiver at a bring&buy, make and painter unknown.

Now all I need to do is to find some Saxons to battle against.

Previous chapters of this story are at:

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/dux-britanniarum-plastic-cavalry-build.html

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/dux-britanniarum-britons-work-in.html

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/my-day-at-claymore-2013.html

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/all-quiet-on-saxon-shore.html

SKELP - For Those Who Missed it

SKELP is a small but perfectly formed wargames show held in Forfar every autumn by the Angus Wargames Club.

http://www.anguswargamesclub.co.uk/

I travelled up with a couple of wargaming chums through an increasingly damp patch of weather which culminated in a heavy shower just as we parked the car across the road from the Reid Hall. A brief sprint through gaps in the traffic led us to the admission desk 15 minutes before the scheduled opening time but we were let in regardless.

The small hall was already filled with traders and demonstration games.

My short shopping list was quickly exhausted with visits to:

http://www.warbases.co.uk/

and

http://www.figuresincomfort.net/

I got some more round MDF bases from Martin to make more smoke markers and patrol markers for Chain of Command and some PINNED markers from Eric. (name dropping completed)

I was disappointed in that no-one was selling lots of rules sets and subsequently I couldn't browse through a copy of Dead Man's Hand which I was hoping to buy to make use of the extensive collection of gunfighters and cowboys I have stashed away in the hut. Still, there is CRISIS in a couple of weeks.

http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/dead-mans-hand

My club chums were demonstrating the Chaco War 1928-35, yes I had heard of it!

The game itself is best described by my old chum Bill.

http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/skelp-2013-forfar-19th-october.html

Most of the rest of the time was spent chatting to a good few friends who I normally only meet at shows and patrolling the bring&buy for any bargains. Nothing caught my eye although one of my chums seemed pleased with himself after bagging a boxed game full of plastic sci-fi figures for £20. These go for £80-£100 on eBay he boasted.

Here's a couple of my chums discussing the next move in their game while another chum gives Dave of Pendraken fame a not-so-hard time discussing flock no doubt.

Finally our journey home was as non-descript as the weather, however it brightened up considerably as we approached home.

A pleasant day out.

SKELP - Forfar 19th October

Weather permitting I hope to travel a bit further north than most UK wargamers normally manage.

SKELP is a nice little show and well inside a 2 hour drive for me. I would hope to travel up with a few wargaming chums.

http://www.anguswargamesclub.co.uk/#!page4/cfvg

Since I already have a substantial lead, plastic and resin mountain I am not in need of anything in particular but you never know what will catch my eye on the day.

For me this is a show to catch up on a few friends and also see what my club are up to.

Anyone else planning to go?

Chain of Command - Jump Off Points

In preparation for playing Chain of Command by Two Fat Lardies I have built a small collection of terrain items to use as Jump Off Points which these rules require.

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25&zenid=9efeaab95da663d2976a26f146810de1

I had already purchased 60mm MDF circles from Martin at Warbases in anticipation of this little diversion from re-organising the hut and painting my Britons for Dux Britanniarum.

http://www.warbases.co.uk/

I used a few plastic oil drums I had rummaged for in the bits box.

This one used a stack of oil drums cast in resin I picked up at a railway modelling show and a couple of pebbles from my garden.

This is also resin, a one piece casting. I cannot remember where I got it!

A minimalist form of plastic oil drums. I'm hoping to find a nice small bush or tree to add to this one.

This is the First Aid shelter from the Italeri Battlefield Buildings box although I have not used the red cross decal. I don't think the medics would operate this close to the front line so they have scuttled away taking their flag with them.

The chair is from the Perry North American Building kit and the barrel is by Renedra.

Plastic sand bags and ammo boxes from the Italeri Battlefield Buildings set.

An angular pebble from my garden picketed by a bit of plastic fence.

Yes, I had two of the one piece resin castings.

The terrain is household wall filler and the static grass is Noch Flock (Spring Meadow) purchased from Kallistra.

http://www.kallistra.co.uk/index.php

The Wargames Hut - Re-organised

You may remember that some time ago I blogged about my Wargames Hut.

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/wargames-hut.html

and

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/inside-hut.html

More recently I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the internal layout of the Hut. Part of the problem is that two of my regular wargaming chums are well in excess of 6 feet in height. It would have been easier if they were 6 foot in diameter but they are not!

In addition to that I have a very extensive range of figure collections, thousands and thousands of 'em and they have to be stored somewhere. My original table layout was a pair of 6 x 4's side by side just 2 foot apart and 2 foot away from the end wall of the Hut. I had two 6 x 2 additional boards which fitted in between the two tables and the end wall giving me a possible 12 x 6 foot table.

My storage was underneath the two tables, adequate you may have thought but no. I had to add extra storage in the form of six wheeled bins which can be moved around the hut as access was required. You can see them on the left hand side in the above photograph. On top of that I also had to store stuff on top of the second table as there was no more space anywhere else precluding its use as a game area. The second table has never been played upon.

I still have a substantial amount stored in the house, mostly unpainted plastic and some lead.

I eventually came around to doing something about all this. I gave all my Necromunda terrain (great big box worth) and a gang away to a wargaming chum. I cleared out as much non-wargaming stuff as possible, mostly tools and sand and cement. I sold most of my boxed games (over £300 worth) at a recent show as well as some painted figures that I will probably never use or play with again.

I rotated both tables 90 degrees and lined them up end to end. I now have a maximum table size of 12 foot by 4, but it is now completely clear of clutter. I cut the two 6 x 2 foot additional boards in half lengthways and turned them into a shelving unit which has a 6 x 1 foot footprint but can accommodate 80 Really Useful Boxes of the 4 litre kind or 40 of the 9 litre variety. I have emptied four of the six wheeled bins and placed their contents into the under table storage. My goodness, I do have a lot of unpainted lead, plastic and resin. (That's another project).

The increase of space around the table edges will make more of the higher than 6 feet head space available for my two excessively tall chums. (They keep telling me they are normal).

The end result is a much cleaner and leaner setup and will hopefully allow more enjoyable games to take place. There is still some clutter which is hidden away and all those items in the 'mountain' to deal with, their days are numbered.

What does everyone think?

Just in case anyone thinks I was slacking during this re-organisation which has taken about 2 weeks I have also lifted and re-laid over a dozen concrete slabs on my patio, filled some holes in my garden wall, and laid several kilo's of gravel.

Trunk Call - Connected

Half a day later and some Miliput!

Now all I need is some crew (probably Greek), a base, and a paintjob.

Since this is for my 'Old School' ancient collection I'll probably take inspiration from this book.

And this picture in particular!

If I'm really lucky I'll be able to find separate Greek and Persian crews which will allow me to use the elephant in more games.

Unfortunately the painting queue is rather long at the moment, Dux Britanniarum Britons have priority and then the Saxons and then there is Chain of Command to consider and possibly Longstreet.

Phew!

Trunk Call

While I am waiting on the varnish drying on my Dux Britanniarum British Warriors I am working on some bits and pieces I picked up cheap on eBay.

This is a Minifigs S Range elephant. Can anyone spot the problem?

Yes, you spotted it! There is a very bad join line between the two halves of the body.

Oh, and there's no trunk!

The back end is fairly bad too but at least the tail is there.

I have added an armature made from a piece of copper wire.

The profile is fine. Now where did I put my Miliput?

Donald Featherstone 1918 - 2013 RIP

His spirit lives on!

Words fail me but everyone who reads this will know what I mean to say.

Photos extracted from Google Images, I will add credit information if requested.