New Models

Since my last post, which I believe was five years ago at least, a lot has happened in my war-gaming world.  I aim to post a few of the finished projects as well as some other new ones that I will be starting out with very soon. 

I have two methods of painting.  I either smash models out quick at a good standard or I spend an age painting everything to as high a standard as I can.  It is usually an indication of how invested in a period I actually am.  The armies I will be showing you over the next few weeks will be as follows: 10mm Napoleonics, 40mm Napoleonics, 28mm WW2, 28mm Carlist War, 40mm AWI, 28mm League of Augsburg, 28mm Back of Beyond and 28mm Romano British.  I will start with an update tomorrow on my 28mm Cape Frontier War army which I painted three years ago and now has a new home!

My New Business Venture

Hello chaps.  I seem to have abandoned this blog of late and I apologies to those who wish to see more of my work.  I will tell you briefly whats been going on.  The main reason is I have a new job and hardly any hours of personal time to do anything, let alone painting.  I hoping this will change soon as my role is changing again for the better.  Another reason is that I have been working on my own business venture with help from the talented ex GW miniature sculptor Bob Naismith.  The business is called Minion Miniatures and we are releasing a fantasy skirmish game and associated miniatures.  The real emphasis is not just on the game but the fact we releasing a huge range of plastic miniatures in 28mm to rival the quality of anything currently on the scene!  I wanted to share some work in progress pictures with you guys and a link to my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minion-Miniatures/232962863561340?ref=hl

There will be a kickstarter later this year for this project and I need as much support as possible.  If you guys could find it in your kind hearts to share the Facebook page on your own Facebook accounts or just give us a "LIKE", it would be eternally appreciated.  Ta for now.

Clear out time!!! Stuff for sale!!!

Believe it or not I am selling the 10mm AWI and my Red Scorpions.  Those with an interest in AWI will be pleased to know I have just invested in a load more Perry 28mm AWI again but this time with some plastics.  I really like 28mm and with the addition if the huge army of Naps I can't face painting any more 10mm.  I have the following:

2 x British 3pdr guns

3 x British 6pdr guns

5 x Leader bases (4 singularly based the other a double army commander stand)

1 x continental battalion in brown coats and red facings (40 figs)

8 x stands of militia (64 figs)

4 x Battalions of British (in roundabouts, 1 painted as De Lacey's battalion)- 160 figs

2 x Hessian Grenadier Battalions (8o figs)

1 x Rall Grenadier Regt (30 figs)

2 x British skirmishers stands (6 figs)

11 x Jaeger skirmisher stands (33 figs)

only some of this lot is based, including all the artillery, leaders, jaegers, and one or two units.

I also have a staggering (STAGGERING) amount of unpainted stuff. So here goes:

Each unit is sorted in a bag with command and contains 40 figures unless stated. I have mixed some Pendraken codes to better represent the unit appearance:

Mixed Continental battalions x 9 (hunting shirts, shirt sleeves and uniforms

unifromed continental battalions x 4

Continentals in hunting shirt battalions x 2

Continentals in shirt sleeves and hunting shirts x 4

Continentals/LI in caps x 2

Continentals in uniforms and hunting shirts x 2

Late continentals x 1

Continental skirmishers x 20 figs

Riflemen (roughly 30)

Commanders x 18 

Continental artil;lery 3 x 3pdr, 6 x 6pdr plus a pack of additional crew.

That totals 24 battalions (thats over 1000 figures overall!)

British:

British in saratoga dress marching x 180 figs

6 x Battalions 1768 warrant

7 x Battalions in Cut down coats

2 x Battalions of Grenadiers

1 x Battalion of LI

36 Figs x LI skirmishing

2 x Guards Battalions

1 x Queens rangers Battalion

2 x Hessian Grenadiers

1 x Brunswick Musketeers

3 x Hessian Musketeers

2 x Hessian Fusiliers

30 x figs Indians

2 x Highlanders in kilts battalion

2 x Battalion of Highlanders in trews

A shed load of wounded markers

3 or 4 more battalions of roundabout British (undercoated)

20 x Figs of British Light Dragoons – part painted and loads of additional odds and ends.

Plus enough French to make three or four battalions inc Grenadiers.

I will sell seperately. I will also swap figure for figure for some Austrian 1809 or French 1809 from Pendrakens new range. I would prefer one offer for the whole lot but im not too fussy.  I would like £475 for the lot!

Please also have a look on eBay as I am selling the three Red Scorpion models seen below.

Italian Wars 28mm Work in Progress

Well it makes a change to have some reasonable weather for once.  I am off down the Thames at Henley today on my in laws boat to have a bite to eat and a few beers. Can't wait.  Whilst I sun my self I thought I'd post a few pictures of my very long term Italian Wars project (I must have had the figures 15 years or so).  I am collecting mainly for a Pavia project and love the Perry's old Foundry Landsknechtes range.  Anyway, some basic landsknechtes, a gun and some gendarmes are done and just waiting to be based.

Some More AWI 10mm...

This army has been on the back burner for a while, possibly because I invested over 10 years in creating my huge 28mm force.  however, the bug periodically rears its ugly head for a few weeks here and there, enabling me to add a few more units to my ever growing force.  I have much more painted now than appears on this blog but I really need a basing purge before I even think about putting it on.

Anyways I have added some pictures of some British 3lb guns, some British Commanders and some jager.  The Jager now number about 15 stands but the rest are not based yet!  On the painting desk for the AWI at the moment are some continentals, British in Roundabouts, more Hessians and a shed load of militia.

I hope you like these.

British 3lb Guns

Commander and Highland Aide

Another roguish British Commander

Hessian Jagers

And even more British Commanders...

In regard to rules I was using a simple set I designed myself as British Grenadier does not lend itself well to large 40 model units.  I have tried several sets now including Fire and Fury Regimental, a Johnny Reb AWI conversion and even Black Powder but none have so far pleased me as much as good 'ol British Grenadier.  However, I was recently invited to play a friends AWI game using his stonking 40mm figures and using The Perfect Captains set of rues called John Bull.  Although the game is meant to be a company level game, with a few tweaks we have played several engagements now at Battalion level with great success.  I like the rules as they have elements of British Grenadier within them.  We have changed the rules slightly to cater for the disruption mechanic I like so much from BG and Loose Files and American Scramble but the unit cards are a wonderful addition with John Bull that give excellent period flavour.

I am always on the lookout for other great sets so any further advice from my fellow gamers would be appreciated.

10mm Napoleonics

My new big project (along with my 10mm AWI, Red Scorpion Space Marines and 28mm Italian Wars) is my 10mm Napoleonics.  Since the Perry's have released their plastic range of 28mm Napoleonics I have been frothing to do more Napoleonic Wargaming.  The period is one that I have a huge interest in and gamed intensively ten or fifteen years ago.  however it has been left on the sidelines for many a year due to my interest in other areas, namely the AWI.  I wanted to get back into it in a big way but one of the main reasons I have been so reticent to do so has been rules (and of course the huge amount of painting time to do big battles in 28mm).  I was lucky enough last year to be invited by one of my friends to play a re-fight of Quatre Bras and even luckier to be given Picton's Division.  I was not so over joyed when I was told we were going to be using Napoleonic Principles of War.  I have had this rule set on my shelf for fifteen years and did not have a high opinion of them.

However, this was a Napoleonic game, a rare and exciting prospect and I thought I would give them a chance.  The main reason I did not like them initially is that I hate brigade level games where the brigade is the tactical unit and I hate lots of paperwork during games.  NPOW uses both of these mechanisms (well actually its tactical unit is the regiment).  The game was in fact awesome.  Apart from the crossing off of boxes on well organised force sheet I didn't have a bad word to say about them.  The rules are slick, fun and more important feel right.  I love the fact that it takes into account the different fighting and command styles of each army and represents beautifully national characteristics in way that isn't just +1 if your British in line.

I have decided to put my forces together differently to my friend who used one battalion to represent the two or three battalions within Pictons Division.  Instead my units will represent each battalion historically within one unit.  This shown below with the French Line Regiment.  As you can see the three stands make up one unit on the table, but each battalion is represented within the one unit.  The two Cuirassier units will also be three stands each and each stand will represent one cavalry regiment to make one unit represent a cavalry brigade.  I hope I'm not being too confusing.  Anyways, these figures are Pendrakens fantastic new Danube 1809 range of figures.  They are every bit as good as the new AWI range and I love them.  I am not a fan of the rest of Pendrakens Napoleonic ranges and I hope soon they will release more figures to fill in the gaps (PRUSSIANS AND RUSSIANS PLEASE DAVE!!!)

A single French Line unit for NPOW of three French battalions (or a Regiment)

A single Battalion stand

...and from the back.

The unit in battle line.

French Cuirassier Regt,

Austrian Cuirassier Regt.  It will soon be two bases bigger to represent a Heavy Cavalry Brigade in game.

Sorry I've been away - But lots of new models to show for it!

First of all let me apologise for being away so long.  Life has definitely got in the way.  I have changed job a couple of times and moved house but now i'm settled I can hopefully begin to start showing you some projects that have been on my painting desk for some time.  I will be posting multiple photos over the coming days but I'm going to start with some of my fantasy/sci fi offerings.  These are generally from my 40k and Warhammer collections with one or two bits of experimental technique work (like more NNM or non metallic metals).

The first stuff I am going to show you is from my Red Scorpions space marine chapter.  I chose these guys after doing a commission for someone else.  They loved the paint job on a commander figure I completed for them and I so enjoyed the result I decided to do some for myself.  The army is only small at the moment and is fitting itself in between my other projects.  Below are pictures of my heavily converted Terminator Captain, my Venerable Dreadnaught, my Land Speeder with badly wounded passenger and some other work in progress bits.  I would love to hear what you think.  Coming later will be more work on my 10mm AWI, 10mm Napoleonics and 28mm Italian Wars.

Grenadier Battalion von Minnegerode Completed

The first battalion is complete the Grenadier Battalion von Minnegerode. The rest of the details are in the post below. I hope you like them.

Hessian Grenadiers

Right. I have been hard at work with my new 10mm Hessians and I have the first stand completed. The whole regiment will be posted soon and I am hoping to get my new camera to function better than this so please see this as a taster only. Obviously I cannot get as much detail on these as the 28mm but I think the models are excellent, without doubt the finest 10mm models I have ever seen. The variation in poses and detail is unbelievable. hat I particularly like is the effect of seeing 40 figures to a battalion as this unit will be. The unit represents the Grenadier Battalion von Minnigerode. The unit is made up of four companies from the Fusilier regiments Erbprinz, von Dittfurth, von Lossberg, and von Knyphausen. Each company has been painted to represent the parent unit. This particular company is from the von Dittfurth Fusiliers. I have gone away from using British Grenadier (which is a shame because I think they are excellent) as I don't see casualty removal working with bases like this and recording casualties will be a mess. I have instead written my own rules utilising several sets of rules I like (including BG as I have kept the disruption points system) and also a fantastic and amazingly original Throne of Bayonets (available here: http://guildford-wargames.org.uk/info/?page_id=27). ToB is a Napoleonic set of rules but elements of it will work for any horse and musket period game with a few tweaks.

The Army is no more... Well at least not in the UK

Hi peeps....sorry its been a while between blog entries but there has been a reason for this. I have sold my huge 28mm to a chap in California! However, I have replaced the army with a Pendraken 10mm army which I shall be reporting on unit by unit. I am concentrating on the Germans first so I will be posting the first completed Hessian Grenadier regiment soon. I have 5 units of Grenadiers to post, 2 Fusilier Battalions and six Battalions of Hessian Musketeers as well as Guns and Jagers. So please keep your eyes peeled.

Greatest apologies for this

Sorry guys....but I cant resist putting one or two of my fantsay and sci-fi based projects on here for people to see just so I can give examples of other styles of painting I sometimes indulge in. I do play the odd fantasy game, although historical gaming is my real passion. Below is a picture of one of my Space Marines I sold on ebay a few months back. I will be posting other off topic bits and bobs intermingled with the AWI stuff so don't be put off :) I am currently working on some ACW stuff too so now doubt that will be on here soon as well. I am afraid that I have given up on my Napoleonics at the moment, I just don't have the time to invest in another huge scale collection particularly one where I will need five times the troops I currently have for the AWI. I am now waffling.... so a space marine...what do you think?

Battle of Englishtown

This was a smallish battle played out as part of the Germantown game we played a few weeks previous. With the British narrowly defeated at Germantown the Americans were on offensive trying to pin the remains of Howes army as it evacuated Philadelphia. The next engagement occured at Englishtown with the Americans in hot pursuit. As at Monmouth Howe turned retreat into a re-offensive luring the advance guard of the Americans to commit against his apparently numerically inferior rearguard. The Americans discovered the ruse too late. The militia Brigade sent to pin the British rearguard whilst the continentals manoevered into position for the killing blow, was utterly defeated by a strong force of British regulars. The elite companies of the lights and Grenadiers then bursts from the trees to the north to assail the two brigades of continentals who luckily managed to hold a strong position on the edge of English town behind some snake rail fencing. However this time the British proved nigh on invincible, fired by the need for revenge after Germantown. The Grenadiers and light infantry followed by other British regulars charged the strong American position. Despite some disruption to their lines the British surged forward and smashed into their counterparts routing the Maryland battalions causing crippling losses. What actually happened here was some amazing rolling by the British players rolling two lots of double six for the close combats! This effective broke all resistance and the Brigades disintegrated leading to an exceptionally heavy American defeat. In campaign terms the Americans withdrew back to Philadelphia as the British Cavalry caused havoc during the pursuit. The ascendancy after Germantown for the Americans had been lost.

Some British Generals too

Not too much to say here apart form the fact that these are a selection of my British command. once again a mix of Foundry and Perry with some Foundry models on Perry horse and vice versa! I do promise to get the Continentals on asap..... sorry for the delay!

52nd Foot

Right, I know I said more Continentals next but these have been sitting on my painting table for a while. I am not going to attach the Grenadier battalions that I paint to go with each unit and instead I will display these separately as several huge battalions of converged grenadiers, hence this regt is only currently 16 figures strong. I have painted each regt as a 20 man unit so I can attach or un-attach the grenadiers at will. If a scenario dictates I need a 20 strong unit I simply place the grenadiers on the table with them. Some may argue this is not historically accurate but I frankly don't give a monkey's!

I also do the same with my light infantry regts, which are generally 20 strong and quite frankly very vanilla ( they are sometimes loyalists as well). These are simple roundabout and slouch hat infantry. I sometimes portion these out amongst my other units to to bulk them out in times of need. This unit portrays the 52nd Line in their buff small cloths and facings. I have to say most of my British regts, say 60% were bought before the Perry brothers extended their range with their own company. these are Foundry figures and as expected are excellent. I intermix freely foundry and Perry miniatures and also the odd Eureka miniature for some flavour here and there. I like the standard regulation uniform and as I don't collect for on particular theatre I like a mix in uniform variations. The only theatre I have no dedicated British for at the moment is Saratoga, but that is currently being remedied. I am not completely convinced about the uniform changes in the Americas as none are particularly well documented (apart from Burgoynes amendments). I have seen sketches of troops at Yorktown quite clearly showing British foot in Tricornes so I think it was very variable. Most units garrisoned in New York and not actively campaigning would have worn the regulation uniform I think. As many of the units at Yorktown were also fairly new to the Theatre it would seem fitting for them to be in regulation dress. Overall, I don't think it matters too much, the mix of uniforms is something I prefer, although in the future I am going to add some more roundabout and shortend coat units to represent some more loyalist battalions and the odd British on campaign unit. Enough ranting now!

New Year...New Blog Priorities

Again a massive apology to those who want me to post more stuff. I have had a hell of a year but this one will hopefully bring a bit more in the way of stability. So...I will post all of my units on my Blog, starting with my representation of a Virginia Continental Regiment (probably the 10th). I am very much in Gile's camp when it comes to painting units to represent what they were as opposed to the generic method and because of this I have spent a great deal of my time researching uniforms and generally copying Gile's regiments I like the look of! (SORRY GILES).

I like the individual appearance of the different uniforms which often gives a rag tag appearance to the American forces which I like. I also mix many civilian and un-uniformed chaps in each unit to enhance this look further. So there we go...the first unit to show you with many more on the way I hope.

I hope you like them.

So Irregular....

I know and I am sorry ok.... my blogging is poor as ever. I am currently painting up a load of French Napoleonics from Perry and these should be on soon but first of all I thought I had update you on the next big project...Brandywine. Brandywine as you may or not know was the largest single engagement of the AWI and I have big plans to run the game over two tables sometime in July. I promise to add my Hessian contingent (once they are finished) along with other updates along the way. This will be my biggest project to date and the photo's will be much, much better....

Battle of Germantown - 4th October 1777

Sorry for the delay regarding new posts but I have recently moved house and have been preparing for the Germantown battle. I have scrath built nearly all of the terrain and trees for the fight and painted all the miniatures myself. Due to the size of the engagement there are one or two units masquerading as something else in the photos but my collection wasnt quite big enough to compensate for everything.

As you may or may not know, I have been playing AWI games for quite a few years now and my preferred set of rules is Eclaireu's fantastic British Grenadier! We have played some smaller and mid sized battles with the rules and found little irregularity and we thought a larger game would allow us to see how the rules played for bigger engagements. We had some reservations with the scenario as depicted in the American War of Independence Scenario's 2 book (also by Eclaireur) but we decided to play it as written.

Below is a brief battle report that suprised us greatly in outcome but was immensely enjoyble.

The battle began, as the scenario dictates with Musgrave and the 40th and Light Infantry battalions reeling backwards after a brief slap with american forces. The fog meant order changes and firefights were at the bare minimum but as the Americans advanced the British formed a semblance of a line and began to pour on the fire. In the confusion a flurry of friendly fire saw one Continental battalion break to the rear and despite some casualties from the elite infantry to their front the remainder stood firm and traded volleys with the light infantry as the 40th dallied on their left flank trying to form a firing line of their own. In the thick fog the continentals poured down the road towards Chew House. A company of detahced skimishers raced ahead of the enemy desperately trying to reach the safety of the stone structure but the fog and enemy harrassment meant that by the time they got there they were heavily disrupted (three DP's). Some have even mentioned that looting might have been in eveidence.

As the Continentals continued to advance through the fog the 1st Light infantry seemed stoic in their defence of the fence line until out of the mist to their right a continental regiment unleashed a furious volley into their flank. This coupled with the firing to their front was too much for them to take and Light Infantry followed closely by the 40th began their retreat. The guns also limbered up and moved on. At Chew house a single battalion peeled off to deal with the threat of the 6 figures firing at them from the windows. This is one area I find the rules a little confusing. Fighting in BUA's (Built Up Areas) is an after thought both in the rules and in scenario. I think the rules for figting in fortifications stand up to scrutiny but it was difficult to see how 6 figures could hold out in Chew house when the rules dictate that normally BUA's can hold one battalion or two battalions dependent on size. We played the rules to the letter and Musgraves men were sent packing out the back (with candleabra's in hand no doubt). Greene's forces now started to emerge on the battlefield and the British line assembled near the camp began to move. agnew moved his forces towards Musgraves retreating men and Howe lead Mathews Guards, Grants men and Greys Brigade towards Greenes attempt to turn their flank. The British formed two lines and advanced straight at McDougals forces but the fog limited actual combat.

On the American right Washingtons men continued in road column to flood on to the battlefield and Greenes forces massed for their first attack with McDougal and Muhlenberg attacking in two waves. As the battlions advanced the British musket line fired and Greenes first casualties ocurred but the Americans weathered the storm and Mcdougal took the 1st Connecticut directly to the 49th. With shrill scream the Continentals charged, the British stood, fired and met the charge, but the sheer ferocity of the Americans bowled the british back and Grant was wounded in the fighting.

Seeing the victory in the centre morale surged through McDougals men and the Continentals vaulted the fences to bear down on the enemy. Casulaties were now mounting up on both sides as the fog began to clear. On the right flank the light infantry fleeing from the tide of Americans broke under the strain and dispersed the gun was abandoned and the 40th and Musgrave with the remnants of his command holed up in one of the small town houses on the main street. The huge battery on the hill now had some targets and began to disrupt the American line as they broke through the trees. On the right the American breakthrough floundered as the British found some backbone and began to fight back. The 1st Connecticut began to take heavy casulaties and was soon reeling. The Britsh recaptured the fence line and a fierce firefight ensued with both sides taking casualties. Charges from both sides had limited success but on the whole while the British stood firm, they took extremely heavy casualties whilst the Americans fled consistently but their preponderence of Brigadiers meant that many rejoined the fight non the worse for wear.

The right flank saw the Guards charge and cause several units to flee. The American guns were taken, but once again the returning units first isolated and then destroyed each British successful counter attack. The Guards, although effectively stopping the American breakthrough, bled to death and eventually retired to the rear with on of two units dispersing and the second well below half strength. The fighting was so fierce on the British right that several British battalions were nearing half strength and Agnew had been shot from the saddle. Muhlenberg men sttod firm and acted as a pivot point fpor Washington as he advanced and eventually the Americans formeda line of troops across the table. Agnew went to aid Musgrave with Grey and again the British formed line. And again the American numbers proved too much and line began to retire. Mclanes cavalry led by Washington himself charged the fleeing british and cut 44th infantry down, dispersing them in the process. He returned to his lines with huge cheers filling his ears. If the left was broken the right was still contested. Weedon's Brigade broke and fled the field and the British began to advance. The Queens Rangers and the Light Infantry With other regiments in support began to slowly push the Americans back as they reverted to a defensive stance. But the casulaties were still mounting. The British were now beginning to think twice when it came to charging the enemy and two or three charges failed to hit home. The previously retreating Americans on the British right had now rallied and returned to the fray almost completely fresh and in good order and Washington had also sent reinforcements across to quell the lack lustre British counter attack. When the battery unlimbered and began to fire Howe ordered the retreat.

Overall the battle was absolute fun. The problem with the scenario is the fact that the fog is not as demoralising for the Yanks as perhaps it should be and the huge amount of brigadiers means that rallying was fairly easy. After discussion we felt a better alternative would be to make the sub divisions of Sullivan etc that was ommitted from the scenario into the command level for the game and to ommit the brigadiers entirely from the game. This makes DP's harder for the Americans to lose adn also limits the amount of leaders around to rally. Having Chew House fall early probably made the game more entertaining in a way but I think that rules for fights in buildings need to be clarified. Finally we found a problem in Brigade morale as their is little distinction in quality in brigade morale when it comes to dispersing. We have now ammended this rule to include a Retire order implementation and also for retreating units to rout instead of disperse. We have said that all militia or levy will disperse if the brigade roll is failed whilst Elite Brigagdes will only retreat or retire. We have also added that Line units and above can self rally and do not need a leader present to do so.

I hope you enjoy the photo's (sorry about the quality).