Royal Navy crew

I finally managed to get back to some painting work, and have finished my first starting crew figures for my Legends of The High Seas, Royal Navy Crew.

Here you can see them defending the Governors Mansion

Here the Captain and First officer.

And the remaining crew.

The figures are from Brigadegames Caribbean Empires range. I found them very nice figures, that match well with my Foundry pirates. They are perhaps ever so slightly smaller than the Foundry figs but its hardly noticeable.

One thing did trouble me a little. The captain wears a bicorne style hat, which really puts him in the more Napoleonic period, - late 1700s early 1800s. I considered doing a hat or head swap with a tricorne hat more appropriate for the period. But then good mate Roly pointed out the figure also has a turned back lower part to his jacket, which again puts him in this later period. In the end I decided to leave him as is. Its not as if I am being terribly bothered about true historic representation about this Pirate skirmish gaming, so on balance I think he'll look the part well enough.

The only other slight fly in the ointment, is that 2 of the regular crew carry muskets, which for a Navy crew (in LotHS) should really only be carried by Marines. I'll just have to use them 'counts as Marines' for the game.

So that's a start to the Navy. I know Foundry do a set of RN Boarding party that I hope to get that will flesh out my small navy crew.

[update 21/10/11 - its just been brought to my attention by Cap'n Blood over on the Lead Adventure forum that crew packs II & III have just been released by Brigadegames, so looks like I'll be placing another order there soon!]

Waterloo - Warhammer Historical

I give you here a brief first impression review of this book.

When Roly suggested we grab a copy of this since it was on 50% off sale I thought yeah why not.

It didn’t take long for the book to arrive, only a few days which is a pretty good turn around time for UK to NZ delivery.

But what was an even better surprise is the book itself. I have got most of the Warhammer Historical supplements and whilst nice they have all been of the soft cover variety.

This book is a glorious A4 sized Hardcover, and about twice the thickness of the prior offerings.

It really is eye candy at its best for the period. The production quality appears very high, and goes to show what can be achieved with a little time and effort. OK, perhaps a lot of effort - no-one said painting up a whole Napoleonic army was easy! ;-)

The figure scale featured (although others can be used), is 28mm which is my favourite, and again shows what is now possible, and financially attainable for most us with the high quality plastic ranges that are now coming on to the market from the Perrys, Victrix et al .

What this book is screaming from cover to cover is “if you’re gonna do it right, do it like this”, and quite magnificent it all looks.

There is also a wealth of colour plates and artwork throughout adding to the look and feel of the book.

The book is 288 pages long, with the first approx. 80 pages giving the Intro and Rules. The rules themselves have some similarities in look and feel to the Core Warhammer game. They have used some similar diagrammatic representations to show how units move and manoeuvre and interact on the table top, and this I like as its always easier to see what is intended from a picture than solely ploughing through text.

The rest of the book covers Scenarios including siege ideas, Army lists with points values in a similar way to Warhammer, Campaign ideas and notes, and also a decent section on the history of the period, so the novice can quickly get to grips with what the period is all about. There is also good hobby advice and instructions in terms of assembling an army and how to paint it up, with sample colour schemes and uniform guides. Enough to wet the appetite to search for more…

Again this I like, as it is very encouraging to new and experienced players alike.

In short this is the entire hobby of wargaming this period in one book, and I feel for that reason alone well worth the investment, at its current sale price.

I must admit I have not read the core rules as yet, nor played the game. So I cannot comment further there as yet. Time will tell.

I realise this style of book will not appeal to all, and some of the ol' grumbling grognards may whinge that there are pictures at all, and shock horror, colour too! It could have been much cheaper without, and would have then only cost 3 shillings and 6 pence, and you'd still have had change for a cinema ticket and a bucket of 'ot gravel for tea, from your nine-bob-note... ;-)

But for the rest of us, its a visual treat, and at its current sale price, a bargain, even if the rules are not your cup of tea...

More can be read on the Warhammer historical website.

Napoleonic Wargaming with Black Powder

Today I hosted a game of Napoleonic war-gaming using the Black Powder rules by Rick Priestley.

I must first admit that when I say hosted, that really I just provided the room, table and terrain, as my quantity of owned and painted ready troops is rather small compared to the awesome quantity and quality of figures shown on these pictures, as provided my gaming partners:

Reg Newell travelled over from Upper Hutt, Brian Smaller and his son Alex, came down from Wanganui, Brett Mudgeway from Te Horo, Terry Swain from Wellington and myself and Roly Hermans from Paraparaumu.

The battlefield as seen from the British left flank, with from L to R : Terry, Alex and Brian

We played the game on my 12' x 6' table and deployed each side 18" in.

We had a large French force from Terry and Brian, assisted by Italian allies from Brett, facing off against Russians from Reg, and British with allied Spanish and Portugese from Roly and in a very small way, myself.

The British cavalry on the left flank charge towards the Italian infantry who had the temerity to form squares!

On the French side, Brett with his Italians was on their right flank, Terry their centre and Brian on their left flank.

On the 'good guys' side ;-), Reg and his Russians were on our right flank, with Roly commanding the centre with a mixture of British, Portuguese and Spanish, and myself on our left flank.

The Allied centre trying to hold off the French columns

It has to be said that a couple of newbies to the rules plus a couple of not very experienced and a couple of 'rusties' meant that initially play was not too quick, with much flicking back and forth through the rules, but we got there in the end, and were making reasonably rapid progress towards the end of play. Its a fairly straight forward and easy to play rule-set, but as with anything if you are new to it, or haven't played for a while, and have become confused with rules from other rules sets, things can get a little muddled.

But I think on the whole we did admirably.

Russian hordes advance on the French in their field enclosures

Brian and Reg soon squared off and their cavalry were rampaging back and forth across their flank. Brett and I squared off, and his dang Italians managed to steal the village and its public house from under my nose, and proceded to be just about impossible to dig out! Lets just say I think the Italians like their vino too much to give up the pub without a damn good fight.

Meanwhile my cavalry managed to advance into the face of infantry forming squares and cannon fire, which eventually caught them with nowhere to go and they eventually retired the field after suffering sufficient casualties. The village remained in Italian hands.

A view from the Allied right, showing hordes of Russian cavalry and infantry

The French columns ground forward in centre in the face of cannon fire and British rocketry. Although suffering a few set backs, their pressure began to tell and the British and their Hispanic allies began to fall back.

The French Centre advances

The Russian hordes piled on the pressure, but the French infantry managed to hold on in their field enclosures...

British cannons and rockets try to stall the French advance

All in all, I think by the time we called it a day, the tide was definitely in the French favour, and another turn or two would have seen it become decisive

The French hold off the Russians

A great game with an enjoyable rule-set, and wonderful compatriots to enjoy the game with.

The British try to hold off the French

Looking forward to the next game..

Russian and French cavalry clash

I must start painting up more Napoleonic troops!

A view from the Allied left flank looking down the battle line

A successful showing from the Kapiti Fusiliers.

and another

Black Powder & Perry Miniatures

Many moons ago it now seems, I began collecting a Napoleonic British army, to enjoy some gaming with a local gaming circle. The rule set of choice at the time was General de Brigade. At this time I managed to collect and paint one battalion of British Line infantry, 3 pieces of foot artillery, and a General with a couple of Brigade commanders. Unfortunately the level of gaming did not amount to much, and I found the rules a little "clunky". It seemed you needed to pass a morale test to just about do anything in the game...
I typically noted that a great deal of time would be spent setting up the game, and then the slow slog across the board commenced... Usually after several hours, the two opposing forces were just about to get to grips with each other, when we ran out of time and it was time to pack up. Not good.
My interest in the period fizzled out, and I went other ways.

Now, after some time, another rule set has been released, that has its roots in Warmaster, which I enjoyed for many years. If you hadn't guessed, it is Black Powder.
I have to say, after a couple of games, I am quite thrilled with it.

The first game gave me an idea of it, the second I got it, and got to grips with the differences and similarities to Warmaster, and the third I am fully up an running :-)

It is a tremendously fast moving and fun game, designed ideally for large armies of 28mm figs, on a big board. Normally within a turn or two, you can be right into the action, and fast and furious it can be.

It has plenty of period flavour and doesn't get bogged down in pedantic movements, or endless morale issues.

Here's a link to more about the game.

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=136

It has opened up Napoleonics for me again, and the whole Horse and Musket period.

Now the problem is for a pretty much newbie to Horse & Musket, is getting those big armies ready. Thankfully, thanks in part to new advances in hard plastic figures over the last few years, a large army need not cost you an arm and a leg ;-)

Thanks to folks like the Perry's with their sets of plastic figures, and brigade deals from Warlord games, a sizable army is within reach for most gamers I feel. The only downside, may be the time to get it all painted!

Still, I have firmly dipped my toe again and ordered a box each of Perry's Napoleonic British Line and of ACW infantry and cavalry. It was only after placing this first tentative order, that I found the brigades deals available from Warlord, so I then ordered a brigade of Napoleonic British Line and ACW Infantry.

(The box of Brits says 14 figures! Must be a misprint as there's 36 in there!)

Well there's commitment if every I saw it!

I only need to juggle some painting space and time, from the masses of Lord of the Rings figures I am still painting; more Perry plastics in part ! ;-)

I think I may try and alternate a box from each period in turn. Its not going to be quick, but my forces will slowly grow and I'll be able to add them to allied players forces for multi-player games. I can't wait.

When's the next stoush!?

Napoleonic War-gaming with General de Brigade - British Army of 1815

Well its been a long time coming, but I have finally started on my Napoleonic Odyssey, venturing into what some see as the pinnacle of war-gaming; 28mm Napoleonics.

It had to happen eventually, as my local gaming club, the Kapiti Fusiliers are, as you can imagine from the name, rather keen on this war-gaming era. However, for myself having come from a fantasy and ancients background it has, and still is, been quite a steep learning curve.

My initial knowledge being somewhat limited to there having been a battle at Waterloo, where the Duke of Wellington defeated the Emperor Napoleon, aided by the timely arrival of Blucher's Prussians.

So with this initial basis of understanding, and being a Brit myself, I decided to theme my army on the British army at this battle.

With this in mind, some time ago I ordered some figures from Front Rank, a favorite figure manufacturer amongst the Fusiliers. Sadly the figures languished in their box untouched for many months while other projects distracted me.

But I am pleased to say April 08, has seen the first application of paint, and the following test paint figure completed.





Please forgive the painting prop, but this was just to get an idea of how the figure would paint up. I used my usual Foundry and GW acrylics, black undercoat, then dark base tone followed my mid tone, and extra skin highlight.

What had partly delayed my getting to grips with this period, was the plethora of rule sets available, and the various basing conventions. In the end, the more popular set of rules that is played locally, at present, at this scale is "General de Brigade". However even with this choice made, basing was still a little bit of a contentious issue, in a very gentlemanly fashion.

Local players had previous adopted a local house rule whereby battalions would be set at 24 figures. This allowed conformity, but went against main guidelines in core rules. After much thought and pondering, I finally decided to try and follow rule book guidelines, in the hope that with some further gentlemanly agreement, my based units will be compatible to play against the local Kapiti Fusilier players, and yet also against players further afield who may "go by the book".

I can see this being a very lengthy project (a year at the very least I would say) before completion. If you average 30 infantry figure per battalion, 4 battalion to a brigade, and maybe 3 brigades to a division... well, as the yanks say, you can do the math..... And then of course theres the cavalry regiments and artillery batteries. OK, so to be fair, I can see this project keeping me involved off and on for many years to come!

The nice thing is there are many local players with whom I will be able to join forces and get a game with my fledgling battalions, bolstering their armies :-)

I hope maintaining this blog post will keep me focussed on completing this undertaking. Wish me luck!

Blog update (30/4/8). I have completed the first 16 (of a planned 32) foot figures of my first Battalion. Still on their painting props and yet to be varnished or based, but thats still not bad going for me; 16 figures in 19 days!
I have decided to set the battalion sizes as 32 as this seems to match quite well with typical battalion sizes for the British at this point in the campaign. Typical Battalion strengths would be roughly 600-650 according to the sources I have read. Using G de B's infantry ratio of 20:1, this fits quite comfortably with 32 figures per battalion.
This first battalion is going to be modeled on the 69th South Lincolnshire Regiment, who fought at Waterloo.
When I decide to do a Guards regiment, I may increase the battalion size, as guards regiments frequently had higher numbers of troopers as these units were maintained at full strength where possible. A full strength battalion would be ideally 1000 men, but this was rarely achieved. So again based on ratio 20:1, this would mean a battalion of up to 50 figures!

Update 9/5/8 - just a quick picture to show how first centre company based stand has come together. Only 4 more to go!


Further update note 29/5/8: Completed paint job of battalion (although still awaiting arrival of GMB flags before I can finish the two standard bearers) . Just have to varnish and base figures. Also casualty marker to paint too.
30/5/8 - painted the casualty marker. I did notice as I started to paint it that it actually has a slight miscast to the shako making it look a bit crumpled at the top. I may consider it "battle damage", or try and conceal it with a clump of foliage flocking. I also made a start on first mounted command figure to represent first Brigade General. (the Robert Craufurd model from Front Rank). I am supposed to be working in the garden today (long weekend of queens birthday), but I have been battling a slight cold recently, and its a bit of a breezy cool autumnal day outside, wonder if its a good excuse to find some time to paint instead? ;-)

12/6/8 - Still awaiting arrival of GMB flags :-( In the meantime I have been busy working through my foot artillery battery, comprising two 9 pdr guns. However the pack I got only had 7 crew for the two guns and as the rules suggest 4 crew per gun, I need another crew man! I have also decided to up the battery to three guns, so will need to place a little order to Front Rank anyway, for the extra gun and crew. I have finished the crew and will start the guns over the weekend if I get a chance. I have also finished the Robert Craufurd model and Duke Of Wellington mounted figure (although not 100% happy with the colour his overcoat has turned out, I may change it?).
13/6/8 - Just checked the mail and my GMB flags have arrived - yippee! Wow, they are indeed nice and well worth the price I would say.
21/6/8 - Finally finished to completion my first British foot battalion, despite my best attempts today to cut off my hand with an angle grinder!;-) I would have had the battalion finished a little sooner, but for the delay in the arrival of the flags from GMB. However, that delay, has allowed me to get a good start with the artillery battery with 7 crew painted and varnished to date and 2 guns undercoated. Also completing the two characters as mentioned above. I left the colour of Wellington's overcoat as it was - I have come across a few variations in the depiction of the colour and decided mine was good enough. I have ordered the 3rd gun and crew for the artillery battery, and a few more mounted officers to complete the command stands, from Front Rank. I'll post some pics of the battalion shortly.

Here follow pictures (taken 22/6/8) of my first battalion of foot; The 69th South Lincolnshires.







The battalion comprises 32 figures, which at a ratio of 20:1 represents 640 soldiers. I decided to base the command base and the two other centre companies on bases of 8 figures, with a base size of 60mm x 50mm. The Grenadiers, as defined by their all white plumes, are on a base of 4 figures, 30mm x 50mm, and positioned in the place of honour to the battalions right side. The Light company as defined by their green plumes, are individually based on 15mm x 25mm, and mounted on a magnetised "sabot" 30mm x 50mm, and positioned to the battalions left side.







The Light company can be deployed as skirmishers, by moving the individuals from their close order battalion sabot, and then transferred to their skirmish magnetised sabots 50mm x 30mm. This gives the skirmish screen a figure frontage of 25mm.







Finally the command base, which comprises the front rank with officer, the two colour bearers with the Kings colour again in place of honour to battalions right side, and regiments colour to left. The NCO with seargent's stripes and pike completes the front rank. The rear rank has two drummers in centre of rear rank behind colours, and flanked by two regular centre company troopers. The standards themselves are made from Foundry 80mm steel pikes, trimmed to size. The colours are from GMB, and glued together and onto the pole with regular "Pritt-stick" type glue, and the flags gently folded before glues dries. The white cut edges of the flags are then touched up with matching paint. The flag top finnials are again from Front Rank, and glued to pole with Araldite. I actually painted the standard bearers to completion then added poles afterwards as this made painting the figure easier. I left the insides of the hands bare metal to ensure metal to metal bond with glue, then painted the poles, varnished and added banner.

I am pleased to have this first battalion completed. I may add a little more scenic clump flock to the bases to give them a little more "glitz", when I get a moment! Now to finish off the Foot artillery battery. Garden work is rained off today, so I may get some time to paint :-).

19/7/8 Further update. I have finished the painting of the 9pdr foot artillery battery, and have gloss varnished and cut the bases. However my usual GW satin spray, has given poor results (as it does intermittently). After chatting with a fellow Kapiti Fusilier, I have been recommended Derivan Matisse Final Varnish Matt Finish (MM15). This is a brush-on matt varnish which gives a very flat finish evident from his work. I have ordered a tub from local art store and will hopefully collect it next week, after which I will get varnishing and basing completed. In the meantime, I have been working through completing the various command figures I have.
If I like the effect this matt varnish gives, I will have all my other whole armies (Medievals / ECW / Barbarians / FOW / pirates) to give a coating to as well!

Blog Update 24/10/8:-



Commander In Chief base featuring Wellington, Uxbridge, and an Officer with ADC.



Brigade General Base,...



...and another.



9pdr Foot Artillery Battery, from the side...



...and from the front.

Rules preference update - This force is now scheduled to play Black Powder by Warlord Games, rather than General de Brigade.

Kapiti Fusiliers Napoleonic Battalion

Our local gaming club, the Kapiti Fusiliers, are very keen on their historical wargaming, and in particular, the Napoleonic era. They also have a high reputation for the standard of their painting and the quality of their terrain and display games, and have won prizes at local wargames conventions over the years.

At the time, a lot of recent gaming had involved a number of Napoleonic battles, as part of a greater campaign, using the General De Brigade rule-set. This had seen several exciting games.

During this time our "General" of the club; Roly Hermans, put into action the idea of having a club battalion as initially proposed by Fusilier Mike McGillivray, which would be painted up by volunteer members of the club. Then when games were played, the club battalion could also participate and win some battle honours.

A poll was conducted to choose a scale, figure manufacturer, and paint scheme for the battalion. This resulted in a choice of 28mm figures from Front Rank, with an appropriate historical french uniform, for our battalion of Napoleonic French fusiliers.

The nice thing about this idea was that not only could local club members take part, but so could the many "virtual" club members who join us online from around the world.

I volunteered to paint some figures and was designated 4 voltigeurs and their command figure. For those not "in the know", the voltigeurs are a type of light troop type that would protect the flank of a battalion. The idea also of doing a command figure would allow those who wished, to do a little conversion work, and add their own character (portrait-wise) to the miniature figure!

I must confess at this point I am an absolute "newbie" to this period of wargaming, and other than knowing that Wellington won at Waterloo, I do not know a lot about the period.

This resulted in a great many pleading emails to Roly, for accurate information of the correct colour scheme and uniform details for these figures. Those "in the know" would be able to tell if a collar or cuff were the wrong colour, and I didn't want to make a mistake. For this information, and help, I am most grateful to Roly.

The figures were all painted up and varnished by the individual painters, then sent to Roly, from around the world, to be based in a uniform manner so the battalion would look right on the table top.

The figures I painted were done using GW & Foundry acrylic paints, starting from a black undercoat. Varnish was brushed-on polyurethane gloss, followed by a spray coat of GW satin spray.

The pictures below show the figures I finished before being submitted for basing. So I hope you will forgive the fact that they are still perched on their painting stands.








First up, the command figure. This guy is supposed to look like me. OK so he's got brown hair, and if you look closely a slighty malformed lip, which I left on the model, as I always seemed plagued by dry lips despite almost eating lipsalves! That was enough "characterisation" for me





Next up was the cornet, or musician. This chap caused a bit of difficulty, as they typically have a more flamboyant tunic top than the regular soldiers, I guess to make them stand out on the battlefield. However, checking this model closely, the tunic seemed fairly normal, apart from large epaullettes. After a couple of paint schemes, the model was finished as you see him.


The remainder of the figures are presented in various types of dress, as I wished to present them in a "on-campaign" appearance rather than a dress parade uniform. Consequently there are mixtures of colours for trousers and greatcoats being worn, and also Shakos (hats) both covered and uncovered, and of course, scuffed and dirty shoes and trousers.













After I had completed these figures, a second batch of figures were sent for my attention. These would represent the "Tete de Colonne" (head of the column, or command group) of the second regiment. Unfortunately I didn't get round to photographing these figures before hand, but more can be seen following the link below.

You can see more of the Kapiti Fusiliers Battalion here.