Who do you think...

... you are kidding Mr Hitler?
Yep, the Dad's Army figures are finished and I thought I should post them because they are some of the finest sculpts I have ever put a brush to. I often say that there are figures that just poaint themselves - once you get started everything just falls into place without difficulty. That is what happened wit hthese figures, which capture the likenesses of the cast so perfectly. Just to clarify, these are the Wargames Foundry figures as opposed to the more recent Warlord Games offerings.
Anyway, onot the figures:

'Don't Panic! Stupid Boy! They don't like it up 'em! (if you don'tunderstand this caption then you are missing out on one of the greatest TV sitcoms ever written!)

Godfrey, Walker and Fraser with some extras.

The Verger, the Vicar and the Warden.

These will be on their way to Geoff tomorrow, and for me it is onto some English Civil War figures for a bit.

Nate

Mid Year Musings

As June careens to an end, it is once more a good time for a wargames butterfly to take stock, review what has been and announce plans that have very little chance of being fulfilled and every chance of being abandoned by this time next year.

First of all, the projects line-up. In no particular order I have:
15mm Seven Years War - Austrian, Prussian and Russian.
15mm World War I (1914) - German, French, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and British
15mm World War III (Team Yankee) - Soviets and West Germans
28mm Gallic Wars - Romans and Gauls
28mm English Civil War - Royalists and Parliamentarians
28mm French and Indian Wars - British and French
28mm Star Wars - Clone Wars and Rebellion periods
28mm Marlburian - Allies and Bourbons.
28mm Peninsular War - French and British
28mm Dark Ages - Anglo-Saxons and Vikings

Alongside these are the Superheroes and the 'Song of Broken Legions' figures, plus a few DBA armies, all of which I am not really counting as major projects. In each case painting a force will take 1-2 weeks. Of the above list, the Marlburian Pikeman's Lament project is close to complete and the Star Wars collection only needs some decent rules. I'm about halfway towards completing the painting on basic 24 point forces for Gallic Wars Lion Rampant. The Seven Years War Austrians and Prussians are finished (although I'm looking at adding to the Prussians), and most of the Russians have been bought and are awaiting my birthday to be opened. Everything else is in various states of unfinished/barely begun.

The English Civil War in particular is turning into something of an obsession. The plan is to wargame this in the Grand Manner, with forty strong infantry regiments and plenty of squadrons of cavalry. The project itself is designed to have an 'old school' feel, and although I'm using Warlord Games' range of plastics, they are being coated in gloss varnish and the horses are being painted with the oil wipe technique. I have also experimented with the old school basing of using a sand-glue mixture for texture, painting them green and then drybrushing with yellow paint. But I can't make it look good, so I have reverted to using static grass and tufts. Nevertheless, it is succeeding in fulfilling its premise of being 'an army given to me by an elderly uncle whose painting techniques have not moved on from the 1970s'. That is the aesthetic that I am looking for.

Cornet and companions. The banner is completely fictitious. The two forces are destined for an imagi-nations style campaign in a fictional English county.

And from the other side it really shows off the oil wipe technique on the horses. These test figures were put together by John a while back and he forgot to put the pistol holsters on them. I'll fix that at some point.

As to rules, I considered getting the George Gush Renaissance rules, but with my penchant for keeping it simple, I am going back to Warhammer English Civil War. Figure removal, an easy system to use and plenty of dice throwing (that might not be necessary if the rules were streamlined, but doesn't actually bother me at all) as well as being familiar are all positives for me.

I've been picking up a few books to add to my collection on the ECW, and I'm developing quite a library. I've also been reading Michael Arnold's 'Stryker' series of novels for a bit of inspiration.

ECW collection so far. Any must-haves that I'm missing?

So my current priorities are going to be completing the Marlburians, the Gallic Wars, the Seven Years War and the English Civil War. Let's see if I can stick to that list.

Secondly, I started the year in a great burst of wargaming activity, spurred on by the 6 x 6 challenge. I then managed to maintain some momentum, playing out some DBA and Seven years War games, but June has seen no further progress. I did play a game, but it wasn't on my list of six games to play. Hopefully the holidays coming up will see things pick up in July.

Third - painting for others. I've finished Craig's painting and have moved on to Geoff's which is just about all done. I still need to paint some Napoleonics for John, Samurai for Dan and German grenadiers for Craig in the second half of the year, so I'll be working through these as well as my own collections.

Sitting on my painting table right now, these are the last dozen figures for Geoff, nearing completion

It will be interesting to revisit this post in December and see what has changed.

Nate

Once upon a time in Spain

I haven't managed to paint all of the figures for this yet, but I thought I'd do a little set up to see how the Marlburians in Spain would perform. This scenario sees the Allies vigorously pursuing some Bourbon troops of the Toledo Regiment, and a few of the latter, under the able leadership of the grenadier officer Luis Alejandro de Jamon-Empanada, have garrisoned a farmhouse, hoping to hold out.

The Allied commander, cavalry officer Charles Utterlea-Barking, is determined to flush them out with his polyglot force of Dutch, British and Miquelets.

Utterlea-Barking leads forward his cavalry troop, as the British Grenadiers deploy in the background.

Bird's-eye view of the layout. Toledo regiment in the buildings, most of the allies advancing along the road, Miquelets preparing to enter the orchard on the left.

Jamon-Empanada's garrison uses the walls to boost morale.

The Allied column.

The Miquelets

Close up of the defenders.

And so to the game, my first of Pikeman's Lament, and I was interested to see how it would play, having been a  fan of Lion Rampant.

The British grenadiers advanced towards the farm, only to be hit with the first salvo at short range from the Toledo regiment.

The Miquelets advance through the orchard to strike at the flank.

The initial plan was for the cavalry to circle around behind the buildings, jump the wall and attack from the rear, but it took some casualties and I also found it crippling to have my commanding officer too far away from the rest of the troops de to the +1 he affords their activation when within 12".

The grenadiers were hit with a hail of lead and failed their morale roll - admittedly they did roll a 3 on 2d6. The English line infantry moved up in their place.

Between the crossfire generated by the miquelets and the English line, the Toledo regiment began to falter.

And was forced back, wavering. The next unit moved sideways to take its place in the frontline. The Toledo grenadiers also move into position.

Activating on a double 6 the Toledo troops unleash a new 'first salvo'. This is enough to cause the English infantry to rout. Now the Dutch come forward.

They too are forced back by the Bourbon fire.

But they manage to rally and get off a volley. The British horse now stake everything on a death or glory charge into the grenadiers, who have seen off the Miquelets in the orchard.

The grenadiers survive, but only just. Meanwhile the rest of the line infantry are falling back, unable to rally.

Reduced to just himself and a number of broken troops, Jamon-Empanada surrenders. But the Allies don't look like they are in the best shape either!

So an Allied victory, but a close game. In terms of points, the Allies had 24 points to the 14 of the Bourbons, but the activation system meant that the Allied attacks went in piecemeal. The walls gave the Bourbon troops a lot of advantage - especially the Grenadiers who needed to suffer 4 hits at once in order to lose a single figure compared to the Allies in the open only needing to take 2 hits.
I refrained from charging the walls with the cavalry until the Bourbon troops were weakened, but that move still failed. In total, I think the system works well for the period, and I certainly had an enjoyable game, but the unequal points for this scenario are a must.

It will be interesting to see how the rules work for the English Civil War. Those armies won't be ready until next year, so I won't get to find out for a while, but I've been thinking about how to turn them into a large battle ruleset by grouping 2 shot and a pike unit into a regiment that activates on a single roll. Plenty of time to think about it, but it appeals to me as I've yet to find any English Civil War rules that I'm actually happy with.

Nate

Paintbrushes have been busy

The last couple of weeks have been a bit quiet on the gaming front, but I've been beavering away, painting for other people. Here are the results:

A dozen cavalry for Geoff - these are the Schomberg regiment

And another view with more of the figures in shot.

Some figures for zombie games

Foundry Swashbucklers for use in Border Reiver games

This last one is for me - the Tobolskiy Dragoons. These guys are actually made from some spare Austrian dragoons, but they are the only Dragoon regiment in my forthcoming 15mm Russian SYW army. More on that later.

 Still a dozen figures left to paint for Geoff, which I'll hopefully get finished very soon, and then a week of marking and writing reports before I go near the paints again.

Nate

More shiny experimentation

Relatively happy with my test figures for the French and Indian Wars I decided to see how some of the other units would look. This included a French soldier from the Guyenne regiment, a Black Watch Highlander and a Coureur de Bois.

 I've now decided to paint in the eyes. It livens up the faces quite considerably.

 The Coureur got a little bit of drybrushing for his hat and a wash with army painter strong tone ink (as opposed to the dip). The green on the black watch tartan is quite bright but I wanted a strong contrast with the blue.

 And another shot of the updated 43rd Regiment figures with the undergrowth on their bases and eyes.

 And just in case you thought that I had forsaken my black undercoat and traded in my 3 layer technique, here are the latest figures that I've painted for Geoff, some Mutton Chop British infantry from the opening of the Great War.

The shiny toy soldiers are only going to be for the French and Indian War and the English Civil War projects. I haven't retired the matt varnish permanently.

Currently I'm still painting for Geoff, and for my own collection I will leave the experiment until later and return to completing the 28mm Marlburian project.

Nate