tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54866347972664444642024-03-13T12:23:17.808+00:00Itinerant WargamerThoughts of a Wargamer without portfolioChris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-76748661421195402602021-01-02T15:22:00.000+00:002021-01-02T15:22:09.631+00:002020 Good year, bad year<p> I thought I'd put together a few photos from the past year, some of it has already appeared here, most not, its mainly just pictures of figures I've painted in the past 12 months and I've used this opportunity to try and have a bit of a count up of what I've managed to paint in 2020. On that front, it has been a terrific year, but, as we all know, by pretty much all other metrics, it has not been good at all. </p><p>So... The final tally is quite large, I think it probably surpasses my previous best year when I was going full bore on the Austrians, although these have been a bit different, not just churning out unit after unit - I've really enjoyed this years painting</p><p>Swiss: 443 foot, 43 cavalry and generals- 3 camp scenes - call it 550 pieces</p><p>Landsknechts: 222 foot, 4 Command bases, 1 cannon- 245 pieces </p><p>Gendarmes and knights - 96 - 192 pieces</p><p>Mounted crossbows, stradiots, Jinetes 72 figures - 144 pieces</p><p>Italian foot - 72 pike, 25 swordsmen 32 arquebusiers, 1 cannon -134 pieces</p><p>Thats 1265 late15th early 16th century types</p><p> there were 180 pieces of WW2 German and US Paras.</p><p>So Painting wise that is 1445 28mm bits which is pretty good going- However.....On top of that, I think I've based about another 3,000 28mm figures, 100 odd movement trays, 300 (!) flags, plus about 200 1/35th figures, built a bunch of 1/35th terrain, I'm also about halfway through doing 20 AWI assault boats! </p><p>I've been busy! </p><p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qG-lEBkT5c/X_CA4F98bTI/AAAAAAAABjg/v0et4GIt7JMR9WTY79f7aTbNdjfXeE-cACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9qG-lEBkT5c/X_CA4F98bTI/AAAAAAAABjg/v0et4GIt7JMR9WTY79f7aTbNdjfXeE-cACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3216.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiss take on landsknechts</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlRlxD6CVes/X_B_1mmQGdI/AAAAAAAABjI/bAti-Ib9JgUdDV5Xvylo04Nc21l2nUO1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2904/IMG_3417%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="2904" height="238" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlRlxD6CVes/X_B_1mmQGdI/AAAAAAAABjI/bAti-Ib9JgUdDV5Xvylo04Nc21l2nUO1QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h238/IMG_3417%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiss crossbows- Perry plastics</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BU0jN6J2U_E/X_B_qYcffpI/AAAAAAAABjE/K5tmfFalfVcWXBCaz6pOobdkjg32RE9oQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3351%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1105" data-original-width="2048" height="346" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BU0jN6J2U_E/X_B_qYcffpI/AAAAAAAABjE/K5tmfFalfVcWXBCaz6pOobdkjg32RE9oQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h346/IMG_3351%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiss or Burgundian Heroes for To The Strongest! Steel Fist and Foundry figures</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLUDEscKDJU/X_CAmPKs1gI/AAAAAAAABjU/NvTFKTb9lbor9fuVQAz9V9O4FH4wV9reQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3629.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLUDEscKDJU/X_CAmPKs1gI/AAAAAAAABjU/NvTFKTb9lbor9fuVQAz9V9O4FH4wV9reQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3629.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Swiss in all their glory</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x_Wxpt83iI/X_B_WfbyyaI/AAAAAAAABi8/i3lZfs3k_1gZwcxdcGTIMvcod23OH96qACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3159%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1570" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x_Wxpt83iI/X_B_WfbyyaI/AAAAAAAABi8/i3lZfs3k_1gZwcxdcGTIMvcod23OH96qACLcBGAsYHQ/w490-h640/IMG_3159%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="490" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dog loving Landsknecht commander- Steel Fist and Foundry again </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEJ2GesvoGo/X_B-xWNBFnI/AAAAAAAABis/q5tEYXCmqnIezwUn3xCtBJ1tBj7ITdZagCLcBGAsYHQ/s3097/IMG_3001%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="3097" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WEJ2GesvoGo/X_B-xWNBFnI/AAAAAAAABis/q5tEYXCmqnIezwUn3xCtBJ1tBj7ITdZagCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h210/IMG_3001%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About half (!) The Gendarmes I painted this year</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MKfMG-Jn4E/X_B-r5VAcdI/AAAAAAAABik/vDex3BQtx_Ym-YQJxnkUSLz30PlC9ezXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3448%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1663" data-original-width="2048" height="520" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MKfMG-Jn4E/X_B-r5VAcdI/AAAAAAAABik/vDex3BQtx_Ym-YQJxnkUSLz30PlC9ezXQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h520/IMG_3448%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oldies but Goldies, Connoisseur Miniatures heroes/generals</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hOF4HCD_-FA/X_B-mwXSAsI/AAAAAAAABig/VOqACfxh8ewmoGDylOzGBLfHuLM6XzLrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1481/IMG_3475%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1481" height="624" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hOF4HCD_-FA/X_B-mwXSAsI/AAAAAAAABig/VOqACfxh8ewmoGDylOzGBLfHuLM6XzLrgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h624/IMG_3475%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This venerable Redoubt Miniatures figure was also kindly given to me by Mark Freeth, a new plume spiffed him up a bit </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1-sdDxi6ec/X_B-evGMkpI/AAAAAAAABic/EP7UJv6wYuwrvjGHDO0hzDFf_7lxx9l8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2943%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2048" height="340" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1-sdDxi6ec/X_B-evGMkpI/AAAAAAAABic/EP7UJv6wYuwrvjGHDO0hzDFf_7lxx9l8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h340/IMG_2943%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry Italian mounted crossbowmen, some plastic riders, some metal all on plastic horses</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MeRVuXBup2U/X_B931oMAnI/AAAAAAAABiQ/iWXUZDI3HfIrHB2jjEbv_m90OHCKvhNCACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3611%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="2048" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MeRVuXBup2U/X_B931oMAnI/AAAAAAAABiQ/iWXUZDI3HfIrHB2jjEbv_m90OHCKvhNCACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h424/IMG_3611%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry Plastics painted as German Knights, Steel Fist plumes added</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0qCNsxLxfc/X_B9nYAo2GI/AAAAAAAABiE/yitsE_6aH7oWEEhqYlO3hC6QomQ5_J2RgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3763.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0qCNsxLxfc/X_B9nYAo2GI/AAAAAAAABiE/yitsE_6aH7oWEEhqYlO3hC6QomQ5_J2RgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3763.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A terrific little Hinchcliffe organ gun - must be over 40 years old! with a Perry crew</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKnIEN2W-RQ/X_B9b-X9UfI/AAAAAAAABiA/rEDWnhnHXyoyZQ2XyXeiR1LKZxRP0W6fACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKnIEN2W-RQ/X_B9b-X9UfI/AAAAAAAABiA/rEDWnhnHXyoyZQ2XyXeiR1LKZxRP0W6fACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3762.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yet more mounted crossbows- This time Perry and Casting Room Miniatures</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vkxtrfgEYcA/X_B9NtjF7FI/AAAAAAAABh4/GzkrmKxARJ037Ltxt7Pt0722wkp5-7paQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3290%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="2048" height="356" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vkxtrfgEYcA/X_B9NtjF7FI/AAAAAAAABh4/GzkrmKxARJ037Ltxt7Pt0722wkp5-7paQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h356/IMG_3290%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bit of a change- Warlord Falschirmjager Pak 40 I did as part of a larger commission </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3tDf9Z-WqdM/X_B9Ei5B5iI/AAAAAAAABhw/NdpFaurFbC0AcCuO_tAmKzZ-l6LAvDgsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1787/IMG_3465%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1702" data-original-width="1787" height="610" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3tDf9Z-WqdM/X_B9Ei5B5iI/AAAAAAAABhw/NdpFaurFbC0AcCuO_tAmKzZ-l6LAvDgsgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h610/IMG_3465%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">camp scene, Perry figures, Magista Militum tents</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45SNUnyZQ8k/X_B88Ppr_AI/AAAAAAAABhs/owQTicIjYLoNLaj0Io_D04IQe8EEcFKcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3723%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45SNUnyZQ8k/X_B88Ppr_AI/AAAAAAAABhs/owQTicIjYLoNLaj0Io_D04IQe8EEcFKcgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3723%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some Smashing Perry Stradiots, I later added another 6 TAG figures which mixed in nicely</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvx0rfXWDnA/X_B8kuv8TcI/AAAAAAAABhg/bVctOKkP59Uky68-98wU7rsGV7bYUSX-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1787/IMG_3473%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1690" data-original-width="1787" height="606" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvx0rfXWDnA/X_B8kuv8TcI/AAAAAAAABhg/bVctOKkP59Uky68-98wU7rsGV7bYUSX-QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h606/IMG_3473%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fabulous 40 year old Connoisseur sculpts given a new lease of life with some Perry heads</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kBl4vmjnA9g/X_B8Yq15IuI/AAAAAAAABhY/IaE_5y_3rRcr9MrMfJmzOausY4PcjJ2egCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3602%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1195" data-original-width="2048" height="374" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kBl4vmjnA9g/X_B8Yq15IuI/AAAAAAAABhY/IaE_5y_3rRcr9MrMfJmzOausY4PcjJ2egCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h374/IMG_3602%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiss halberds, Steel Fist, Perry, Foundry and Connoisseur figures</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3JSDVYUZm8/X_B8M54IKOI/AAAAAAAABhQ/6JS81bUeoWoK7wD3bZJFwXUamfXdyhX9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3441%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="2048" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3JSDVYUZm8/X_B8M54IKOI/AAAAAAAABhQ/6JS81bUeoWoK7wD3bZJFwXUamfXdyhX9QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h464/IMG_3441%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry figures for the camp scene</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0_yJK0Ujgao/X_B8FB81ULI/AAAAAAAABhM/5R8FqmzH46Qvm96Lze6Aup9PGzMgH3lUQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3616%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1444" data-original-width="2048" height="452" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0_yJK0Ujgao/X_B8FB81ULI/AAAAAAAABhM/5R8FqmzH46Qvm96Lze6Aup9PGzMgH3lUQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h452/IMG_3616%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry Plastics with added Steel Fist plumes become Italian Knights</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zkpzG-b-Otw/X_B7dFsvJMI/AAAAAAAABhA/NOrRex4gLicEEBGDb0OU4QIqQzyupjF2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3686%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="2048" height="390" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zkpzG-b-Otw/X_B7dFsvJMI/AAAAAAAABhA/NOrRex4gLicEEBGDb0OU4QIqQzyupjF2wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h390/IMG_3686%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fourth Landsknecht pike block - number 5 is going to be the first unit for 2021 </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCOx0lAhCxo/X_B7O8E3n_I/AAAAAAAABg8/eAfQEtAEWKAWB0WHfqiX59ZsmSusFRnhACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3767.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCOx0lAhCxo/X_B7O8E3n_I/AAAAAAAABg8/eAfQEtAEWKAWB0WHfqiX59ZsmSusFRnhACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3767.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casting Room Miniatures Jinetes-with a couple of Perry plastics to make up the numbers </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vUOHJGCs5ro/X_B7GM_5IvI/AAAAAAAABg0/Ex46g9RmHoESJcg6NA2AFzlel4L2s9LzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1979/IMG_3776%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1979" data-original-width="1880" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vUOHJGCs5ro/X_B7GM_5IvI/AAAAAAAABg0/Ex46g9RmHoESJcg6NA2AFzlel4L2s9LzACLcBGAsYHQ/w608-h640/IMG_3776%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="608" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steel Fist commanders- with an Artizan miniatures advisor</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6mr3xfrrY2c/X_B6816voAI/AAAAAAAABgw/2HbL591qcAUgPWlVgoprBev9ugh_yI38wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2704/IMG_3794%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="2704" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6mr3xfrrY2c/X_B6816voAI/AAAAAAAABgw/2HbL591qcAUgPWlVgoprBev9ugh_yI38wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h276/IMG_3794%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Steel Fist miniatures Gendarmes- set of by Pete's Flags banners</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTTppjek9jI/X_B6xsYqhBI/AAAAAAAABgo/Hx_HRYBUHL0rYG7lH3v-LtQ54X4lm_PvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1923/IMG_3811%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1633" data-original-width="1923" height="544" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vTTppjek9jI/X_B6xsYqhBI/AAAAAAAABgo/Hx_HRYBUHL0rYG7lH3v-LtQ54X4lm_PvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h544/IMG_3811%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casting Room miniatures and Perry swordsmen</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXViPULjqA4/X_B6mHuxYfI/AAAAAAAABgk/M9pGxMHjjoE1LZabrxmw4L8b0b5UDOMzQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0370%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1535" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXViPULjqA4/X_B6mHuxYfI/AAAAAAAABgk/M9pGxMHjjoE1LZabrxmw4L8b0b5UDOMzQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_0370%2B%2528Edited%2529.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Italian mercenaries Perry and Connoisseur miniatures, with a lot of Italian and Tudor head-swaps </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M12VhLzctK4/X_B6OS_rNEI/AAAAAAAABgc/iFzpkm0YETQU2f9S1XnQqnb0sRvfw8q9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3815%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="2048" height="436" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M12VhLzctK4/X_B6OS_rNEI/AAAAAAAABgc/iFzpkm0YETQU2f9S1XnQqnb0sRvfw8q9wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h436/IMG_3815%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry and TAG figures make up these Florentine militia pike</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-12951284131147132882020-10-09T11:48:00.000+01:002020-10-09T11:48:15.044+01:00Swiss Army Complete<p> <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OX-o6TphptU/X4Ayw1jRR1I/AAAAAAAABfY/xPFYGncGWjYI_QbbzPCnrXYxkeXoS9UQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3634.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OX-o6TphptU/X4Ayw1jRR1I/AAAAAAAABfY/xPFYGncGWjYI_QbbzPCnrXYxkeXoS9UQwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_3634.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A couple of Steel Fist heroes, backed up by Perry German knights supported by Connoisseur coustilliers</i> <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Although I finished the Swiss pike way back in March, putting the finishing touches to the army seems to have taken ages.</p><p>Granted there have been other projects taking over, such as the Landsknechts, Gendarmes, a couple of WW2 commissions, not to mention a strange diversion into 1/35th WW2 plus a ton of basing for a regular client. All in all, its been a very busy year. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVS-cxfq-WM/X4AyDkWd_oI/AAAAAAAABew/X-jySJLafPAHyPlrRJRFBBBDUOKl8EXTACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="455" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVS-cxfq-WM/X4AyDkWd_oI/AAAAAAAABew/X-jySJLafPAHyPlrRJRFBBBDUOKl8EXTACLcBGAsYHQ/w607-h455/IMG_3629.jpg" width="607" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The pike line</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>So I'm thrilled to have finished this army. I've added a lot of little touches, which all add up in terms of time and the overall numbers. Extra stuff over the 6 pike blocks include 2 x 36 man units of halberdiers, crossbowmen, hand-gunners, German Knights, coustilliers to support them, mounted crossbowmen, a host of generals and individual hero figures for To The Strongest, plus 3 little camp scenes with associated tents, labourers, priests etc</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uuoF24Xz3h8/X4Ayphs8QHI/AAAAAAAABfQ/7m9nIlAj-uQ97QLE9j4ukG81DBRUZlrcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3650.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uuoF24Xz3h8/X4Ayphs8QHI/AAAAAAAABfQ/7m9nIlAj-uQ97QLE9j4ukG81DBRUZlrcgCLcBGAsYHQ/w642-h482/IMG_3650.HEIC" width="642" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Halberds and horse hang about the rear<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have really enjoyed painting and creating this army, its been a lot of fun, and I'm a bit sad to have finished it. In fact, I'd happily do it all over again, so if anyone wants to offer me a considerable wad of cash for this army I'll do another one! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtevhFNdkvU/X4Ay2HwBelI/AAAAAAAABfg/wkJUznQaonQbiP34hQoEg_6pR1T6ASmhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="484" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtevhFNdkvU/X4Ay2HwBelI/AAAAAAAABfg/wkJUznQaonQbiP34hQoEg_6pR1T6ASmhgCLcBGAsYHQ/w646-h484/IMG_3633.jpg" width="646" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Camp scene, manure and prayers<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The figures for this army were probably about 25% Perry plastic, backed up with similar quantities of Perry metals and Wargames Foundry figures, the rest being made up by Steel Fist and Connoisseur Miniatures. I used a lot of the Plastic mercenary set, which was mixed up with the Bill/Bow box, plus some Foot MAA, and both the WOTR cavalry boxes. All of those involved mixing up all the different heads and adding in quite a lot of the excellent metal Swiss heads from Perry and the amazing heads from Steel Fist, I also had a careful look at the SF landsknecht figures and used a few of the plainer models as Swiss once I'd changed the heads. Likewise the Connoisseur figures, once they had new Perry heads they scrubbed up very nicely, particularly the coustlliers. Steel Fist also do some lovely separate metal plumes which came in very handy. </div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj2i4sBQvRY/X4AykfkRuhI/AAAAAAAABfM/m3s_6cHKZ_kwOabgeCp3N6_icSQURdkVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj2i4sBQvRY/X4AykfkRuhI/AAAAAAAABfM/m3s_6cHKZ_kwOabgeCp3N6_icSQURdkVwCLcBGAsYHQ/w642-h482/IMG_3668.jpg" width="642" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Uri command and heroes</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The flags came from Pete's Flags on e-bay with the balance from Flags of War, both of whom I can't recommend highly enough. They really set an army like this off (I think I counted over 50 flags!). Wire pikes came from Northstar and tufts from all sorts of suppliers</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXR9OwMkqB4/X4Aya7JpXjI/AAAAAAAABfE/Mc4_R0VTdIcF1-kW3gRA4CFa3yRyrJc7gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3681.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pXR9OwMkqB4/X4Aya7JpXjI/AAAAAAAABfE/Mc4_R0VTdIcF1-kW3gRA4CFa3yRyrJc7gCLcBGAsYHQ/w642-h481/IMG_3681.HEIC" width="642" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Steel Fist miniatures lead the halberdiers</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The camp bits were fun to do. I made them up because I thought they would look nice, and because they are a requirement for To The Strongest! rules. The tents are resin models from Magista Militum, and most of the figures are from the various Perry metal camp follower sets set off with a couple of MDF kit wagons I had.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aido9nScUO8/X4AyU5n4vEI/AAAAAAAABe8/_kziSXxgKX4IXYW0fq8rOyAmf2eBZHFvQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Aido9nScUO8/X4AyU5n4vEI/AAAAAAAABe8/_kziSXxgKX4IXYW0fq8rOyAmf2eBZHFvQCLcBGAsYHQ/w639-h481/IMG_3673.jpg" width="639" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Perry foot captains<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table>Anyway, there's a Swiss army.<div> I've had a couple of games with it, and I was even going to enter a tournament with it for the first time in my life, but I'm pretty sure Covid is going to put paid to that I'm afraid. Not to worry, it will get plenty of use.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0QDUuA-TZXM/X4AyJEkZZSI/AAAAAAAABe0/LLAUW7b6TB0f5AHMerco6huqD7zEQa_SwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="487" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0QDUuA-TZXM/X4AyJEkZZSI/AAAAAAAABe0/LLAUW7b6TB0f5AHMerco6huqD7zEQa_SwCLcBGAsYHQ/w649-h487/IMG_3682.jpg" width="649" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Perry crossbows with Foundry handgunners</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-18488839401840157612020-05-23T14:03:00.000+01:002020-05-23T14:05:44.662+01:00Here come the Landsknechts <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, the late medieval/early Italian wars project now boasts about 300 Burgundian infantry, many of whom can double up as ropey Italians, about 80 Burgundian knights and coustillier, again, many of whom can fill many roles, about 70 later Gendarmes, 30 mounted crossbows, and 300 Swiss pike, with about 50 Swiss skirmishers.<br />
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Time for some meat and potatoes....The next thing I wanted were landsknechts, lots of landsknechts.<br />
I bought a bunch of Wargames Foundry figures that would fit the bill, but really the whole point of doing Landsknechts was to be able to use the jewel in the crown of the Steel Fist range, which is incredible., off the top of my head they do about 60 different figures....all with different separate heads....the combinations are enormous.<br />
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So far I’ve only managed 2 x 48 man blocks plus about 20 arquebussier, but it’s coming along. The original goal is for 6 blocks....but I might well do more<br />
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-14892681194222338052020-04-03T23:10:00.001+01:002020-04-04T10:01:18.412+01:00Gendarmes: a bit of a comparison.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Heavy French and Italian cavalry </b></td></tr>
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When I finished the Swiss pike, my original intention was to launch straight into a pile of 200 landsknechts to give them some more opponents, however, I also had quite a large lead pile of cavalry to do, first off was a couple of units of Swiss and Italian mounted crossbows (that don’t feature in this post) and having done them I decided to try some of the many Gendarmes and early 16th century knights that were also sitting in the box. I had figures from 3 different manufacturers which I had accumulated over the past 6 months, a dozen of the SteelFist Gendarmes, 6 charging and 6 with upright lances, 6 late 15th century knights from SteelFist, 8 Gendarmes and 8 archer types from Eureka, and finally 24 Foundry Gendarmes (only 12 of those finished so far).<br />
So, having painted all of the above in this last few weeks I thought I’d give you a brief comparison.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHr9KqS_zTA/Xod_R_VcnTI/AAAAAAAABZc/PVxwfxBnAaEzDVgABFoJ49r9bBTQoyT5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/C32AD1B0-1E11-40F0-9EE5-8BE584081569.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="1600" height="344" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHr9KqS_zTA/Xod_R_VcnTI/AAAAAAAABZc/PVxwfxBnAaEzDVgABFoJ49r9bBTQoyT5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/C32AD1B0-1E11-40F0-9EE5-8BE584081569.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Steel Fist Gendarmes</b> <br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">So first, the Steel Fist figures. I can find very little to say about this companies figures apart from unstinting praise, beautiful sculpts, great and enormously varied poses, high quality casting and metal, they are excellent figures. They produce 2 different sets of Gendarmes, one charging, one with lance upright. All the figures and horses are different, with separate heads and weapon arms, and sheathed swords. plumes are also separate, so the permutations are enormous. If you wanted to get super adventurous you could swap in some of their Landsknecht heads or maybe Perry ones. The horses are all individual barded mounts, if you want to find it, there is amazing detail on them.<br /> My only very small issue with these figures is that you might need to drill out the odd neck to get a better fit with whichever head you choose to place on whatever body. These are outstanding figures.The best way to buy them is as a set of 6, this way they come in at £5 a figure. Not cheap, but generally you get what you pay for in this life. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Steel Fist again, remarkable figures- side-show Bob leading the charge.</b></td></tr>
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Now the bad news. Currently the Gendarmes are out of stock and unavailable due to the current emergency. I will be getting another dozen as soon as life returns to normal. I urge you all to do the same (but not until I have my order in).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eqM4KjixPvA/XoeB3aSDJCI/AAAAAAAABZw/miaAFCVghp4i1ITOBEY0QX2iGmhZya6AwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/772026A3-85D6-4DE3-B169-789E869D859F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1600" height="382" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eqM4KjixPvA/XoeB3aSDJCI/AAAAAAAABZw/miaAFCVghp4i1ITOBEY0QX2iGmhZya6AwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/772026A3-85D6-4DE3-B169-789E869D859F.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Earlier Italian Knights from Steel Fist</b></td></tr>
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Somewhere along the way I bought 8 earlier knights on unarmoured horses. these tie in well with the Perry plastic set, I replaced one of the heads with a Perry one. Not as flamboyant as their later brethren, but similar in style and quality, separate heads and lance arms.<br />
All of the Steel Fist figures look BIG. Nothing wrong with that, and they are the same size as Perry medievals.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9gGEIgqfOw0/XoeCjpiAzsI/AAAAAAAABaA/6YS7aKZG9S8a4auBhWAhbbbx0G22hm4LwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/5EAA929F-CB47-453E-93A5-051D8FA276EC.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9gGEIgqfOw0/XoeCjpiAzsI/AAAAAAAABaA/6YS7aKZG9S8a4auBhWAhbbbx0G22hm4LwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/5EAA929F-CB47-453E-93A5-051D8FA276EC.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Eureka Miniatures Gendarmes, with heavy cavalry support</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Next up are the Eureka miniatures. Lovely figures, well cast, great, crisp detail, separate lance arms, alternative sword/hammer/mace arms and weapons, these are really well thought out figures, separate plumes, lovely Barded horses- you can create a lot of variation with these figures, price for these is £28.25 for a set of 8 which is very good value. I will be getting another 8 of the Gendarmes. They also produce Archer/coustillier types which are nice, although without the massive variations of the Gendarmes. Good figures. My only comment would be that are a little bit small,not a lot, but a little, certainly when compared to Perry and SteelFist. In their own units alongside each other they look absolutely fine, but I would be reluctant to mix them in the same units with the other manufacturers.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8607iC61L00/XoeDEZ2UqFI/AAAAAAAABaM/NGRRBvppdQc1KVCl4yUHodqi4W1KzNBNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/98FDF54F-6D28-48F0-ADA3-A02F969265FC.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="1600" height="376" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8607iC61L00/XoeDEZ2UqFI/AAAAAAAABaM/NGRRBvppdQc1KVCl4yUHodqi4W1KzNBNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/98FDF54F-6D28-48F0-ADA3-A02F969265FC.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Eureka again, very varied and clever designs</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxfvUhojjj4/XoeDlUSUFJI/AAAAAAAABac/oqZ4A3Fr23UMHBowUlb54FEgO9qDsInkACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/4A2CEE47-3207-4917-8060-0C2BCEF10D51.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1600" height="352" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxfvUhojjj4/XoeDlUSUFJI/AAAAAAAABac/oqZ4A3Fr23UMHBowUlb54FEgO9qDsInkACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/4A2CEE47-3207-4917-8060-0C2BCEF10D51.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Foundry Gendarmes</b></td></tr>
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Finally we have Wargames Foundry. Wargames Foundry are... well, Wargames Foundry. Consistent, high quality sculpts to good standard. They are sort of benchmark figures. Separate cast lances and sword scabbards, the latter of which fit really neatly into a lug on the figure. Cast on heads. The figures are fine, albeit a tad dull. All in a sitting lance upright pose, little animation, and I guess if you have read this blog you know I like a bit of animation.<br />
There are basically 3 or 4 head variations on 2 body types. Then the horses......I’ve never been a huge fan of Foundry horses, to much shaggy pit pony for my liking. I bought 7 different mounted packs of the Gendarmes....and there is only 1 barded horse type and 4 unarmoured horse. However, I can live with that, what was a bit of a shock was the casting quality. It was bloody awful. Massive lumps of flash, mould lines, the works. 24 figures and horses took me about 4 hours to clean up and assemble, which is a bit poor, and after all, Foundry are charging premium prices for 30 year old sculpts. I bought them on a deal which was great, but if I had paid full list price for them I would have been disappointed. Compared to the more modern figures their age is showing, but, they paint up as fine as they always have.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSLpRxA539k/XoeDkwA8shI/AAAAAAAABaU/1zweVu0LVrYEodlNA7rcLRLw-dr1y92tQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/4C4AAA27-5FB0-4A8C-A62A-83535C8A3241.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1600" height="452" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSLpRxA539k/XoeDkwA8shI/AAAAAAAABaU/1zweVu0LVrYEodlNA7rcLRLw-dr1y92tQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/4C4AAA27-5FB0-4A8C-A62A-83535C8A3241.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Another view of Wargames Foundry</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Foundry head on</b><br /></td></tr>
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All of these figures were a joy to paint, and I’m really pleased with them, I set them off with a bunch of Pete’s Flags, which, let’s be honest, always make average painted figures like mine look brilliant.<br />
Flags, faces and bases....that’s all you need.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFQcAe3wcYA/XoeF2EoURdI/AAAAAAAABbA/D3j5DpCP_mw096DB7S361xkSq4D8-1F0ACEwYBhgLKs0DAMBZVoBo3JpTDUFe32dzBhUFAFybrVVHKoiZGy_uqhfjdjFIq4-KgiJnOMj0YQOK95cstImS3P14qVdcyR5dQHzR7hU2d6CaM8IjD9LNNZFhpwOCu8QYmp0Xv7y93ganJ0tJ_Zzp9dKCPgWpNlt_4G3p7yLghmIAQe00osgUapCSSrVhn89ZZwix4z8it1-VmJDrMNrvwQUKabW0tSdKjGQAk4AWzpjxAm7IsNeNoS2cmDinz0jQAjayiezUnV1zDokbd9t21q1oToe7nm2_cEIdOAAS69dkGstaQTav-jeV7UbUc_0BJN8lcarI6seZGJ8Awad6wgClXYFBHgMkow8CjD1psFUkT1oKpaPMusx3JA56XtT0QuIeHxBRFA3Cdv8_W8n8vQ394d4HjOYL2J40BOeni9WK19zdrfzGls4A0IGPkyc4IvgIME203XjU8UKG3WlgOy5DGFFqun4xBEbGTBkx7St80MSrpSuJPB6J3VBkUdZVRrLO2Q-ISKLDNfvStme8oI7bzh7zVMvNPeftMwVnVy2iqG8BhtKSjeXMaED0AgItCcjcS95jdojI5KPbwCSNiW6aiUuD-KJlq9ug6xDMBC5kRWwCHqIwpZGe9AU/s1600/7D0E0AE3-87F3-4EA1-A04F-F52CD713F38E.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1099" data-original-width="1600" height="438" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dFQcAe3wcYA/XoeF2EoURdI/AAAAAAAABbA/D3j5DpCP_mw096DB7S361xkSq4D8-1F0ACEwYBhgLKs0DAMBZVoBo3JpTDUFe32dzBhUFAFybrVVHKoiZGy_uqhfjdjFIq4-KgiJnOMj0YQOK95cstImS3P14qVdcyR5dQHzR7hU2d6CaM8IjD9LNNZFhpwOCu8QYmp0Xv7y93ganJ0tJ_Zzp9dKCPgWpNlt_4G3p7yLghmIAQe00osgUapCSSrVhn89ZZwix4z8it1-VmJDrMNrvwQUKabW0tSdKjGQAk4AWzpjxAm7IsNeNoS2cmDinz0jQAjayiezUnV1zDokbd9t21q1oToe7nm2_cEIdOAAS69dkGstaQTav-jeV7UbUc_0BJN8lcarI6seZGJ8Awad6wgClXYFBHgMkow8CjD1psFUkT1oKpaPMusx3JA56XtT0QuIeHxBRFA3Cdv8_W8n8vQ394d4HjOYL2J40BOeni9WK19zdrfzGls4A0IGPkyc4IvgIME203XjU8UKG3WlgOy5DGFFqun4xBEbGTBkx7St80MSrpSuJPB6J3VBkUdZVRrLO2Q-ISKLDNfvStme8oI7bzh7zVMvNPeftMwVnVy2iqG8BhtKSjeXMaED0AgItCcjcS95jdojI5KPbwCSNiW6aiUuD-KJlq9ug6xDMBC5kRWwCHqIwpZGe9AU/s640/7D0E0AE3-87F3-4EA1-A04F-F52CD713F38E.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>All banners from Pete’s Flags.</b></td></tr>
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-39375732056880706412020-03-14T14:37:00.000+00:002020-03-14T23:43:38.371+00:00Swiss pike complete<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNG32y2kDBc/XmzuwMInrHI/AAAAAAAABY4/X1THoO9CeYMbVuT4DIwV7WwUoMBG8wy7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HNG32y2kDBc/XmzuwMInrHI/AAAAAAAABY4/X1THoO9CeYMbVuT4DIwV7WwUoMBG8wy7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2914.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">It is with considerable pleasure that I’ve finished the Swiss pike. I started this project a couple of days before Christmas so am very pleased to have them done by now. They have worked out exactly how I wanted, 6 chunky dynamic units that weren’t just blokes standing about with upright pikes</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nT02TlJXnA/XmqY8bs2nPI/AAAAAAAABYA/LW2J48N7w-AL58FuBaiyY8HWi2OJ0x0LQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/A465D36C-7D46-4DCE-BC9E-DB4B0C215BC0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1280" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nT02TlJXnA/XmqY8bs2nPI/AAAAAAAABYA/LW2J48N7w-AL58FuBaiyY8HWi2OJ0x0LQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/A465D36C-7D46-4DCE-BC9E-DB4B0C215BC0.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The 6 blocks together.</div>
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Still got a way to go with mounted crossbows, more handgunners and foot crossbows still to to do, plus maybe some German ally knights</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xNFc4SIxSH0/XmqZ2N615TI/AAAAAAAABYY/xxGR2TrBd8wx0J12ryw9S32oSPTdim5nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/A1EF5F91-E41A-4384-BA45-A89EDDF9DDD8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xNFc4SIxSH0/XmqZ2N615TI/AAAAAAAABYY/xxGR2TrBd8wx0J12ryw9S32oSPTdim5nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/A1EF5F91-E41A-4384-BA45-A89EDDF9DDD8.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up close to the charge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EZ3tOage-NE/XmztNdSsezI/AAAAAAAABYs/HuHFFoZ2WzUn4bpGzysFoAmVcmTPokwnACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2904%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="1600" height="154" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EZ3tOage-NE/XmztNdSsezI/AAAAAAAABYs/HuHFFoZ2WzUn4bpGzysFoAmVcmTPokwnACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2904%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">left to right: Schwyz/Basel, Glarus/Solothurn, Uri, Berne, Lucerne/Zurich, Basel-Stadt/Appenzell<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bW9umbt0hg0/Xmzv4Uqh4QI/AAAAAAAABZA/rt5_K16t4k8L1uc_dGnuCzN85ZE97AcgACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2874%2528Edited%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1600" height="510" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bW9umbt0hg0/Xmzv4Uqh4QI/AAAAAAAABZA/rt5_K16t4k8L1uc_dGnuCzN85ZE97AcgACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2874%2528Edited%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uri Handgunners to the fore</td></tr>
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-83106858773727869232020-02-27T20:02:00.002+00:002020-03-14T23:44:35.940+00:00Burgundian candy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlQv3ZsBp6w/XlgcnbWn7RI/AAAAAAAABV0/FGsc6ohXny0UgF22-j6WJdsLu_Mw7HpVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/0BC71E77-C86B-4781-972D-AC0B4A770BA4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NlQv3ZsBp6w/XlgcnbWn7RI/AAAAAAAABV0/FGsc6ohXny0UgF22-j6WJdsLu_Mw7HpVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/0BC71E77-C86B-4781-972D-AC0B4A770BA4.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the 3 pike blocks </td></tr>
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This is partly what re-kindled my interest in the late 15th century. It’s become extremely popular over the last few years - in no small part to the fantastic plastic and complimentary metal ranges put out by the Perry twins. Trouble was, the wars of the Roses never quite did it for me. Seemed a bit dull, but what was going on in Europe at the same time always appeared much more exotic. So where to start? Burgundians were a logical choice, many, many years ago I spent 5 years living in modern day Burgundy, in the environs of Dijon, so I had a slight affinity with the area, and had spent plenty of happy hours clambering around castles and fortified chateau that still grace the area. So Burgundians it was. The vague and not terribly joined up plan, being that Burgundians meant Swiss, which could stretch into The wars of Burgundian succession, and then into the early Italian Wars. Like I said, not that joined up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_GWNzHb6J2Y/Xlgcmot0JEI/AAAAAAAABVs/0jwOhyP-sXg_rHyVsI_Ys6u1-cD7LwxDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/4C70462B-34B4-45BE-AE53-D1A00C2846EB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_GWNzHb6J2Y/Xlgcmot0JEI/AAAAAAAABVs/0jwOhyP-sXg_rHyVsI_Ys6u1-cD7LwxDgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/4C70462B-34B4-45BE-AE53-D1A00C2846EB.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry knights and coustillier </td></tr>
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Anyway, here are a few pictures of the Burgundians so far. Mostly Perry and Foundry, with a few Steel Fist<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_RTYg8_uphY/Xlgcr8xPjjI/AAAAAAAABWA/aqv2Jf-qLW4Ex--qqaJ_ayo5vd87cArGACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/93AC5969-49C8-462E-ACB3-D47B7BF5ABB0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_RTYg8_uphY/Xlgcr8xPjjI/AAAAAAAABWA/aqv2Jf-qLW4Ex--qqaJ_ayo5vd87cArGACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/93AC5969-49C8-462E-ACB3-D47B7BF5ABB0.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perry knights </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SHbdwdhU0MM/XlgcnJwbGFI/AAAAAAAABVw/fIihl-UTrzQ4MgLNJvHodrWITUTY2H1ZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/4822A841-7592-420E-B4D1-4362187770B9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SHbdwdhU0MM/XlgcnJwbGFI/AAAAAAAABVw/fIihl-UTrzQ4MgLNJvHodrWITUTY2H1ZwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/4822A841-7592-420E-B4D1-4362187770B9.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossbows and handgunners to the fore</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ce2-ZJGCQWs/Xlgcnsl7FAI/AAAAAAAABV4/tybcNU_Y9_kjYtR93Bsj-aKRy8bag_xLACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51042063-B9BA-408D-9595-4173A2F6C862.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ce2-ZJGCQWs/Xlgcnsl7FAI/AAAAAAAABV4/tybcNU_Y9_kjYtR93Bsj-aKRy8bag_xLACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/51042063-B9BA-408D-9595-4173A2F6C862.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These were a lot of fun to paint</td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1EQdBcZlUe4/XlgcrqjesbI/AAAAAAAABV8/zwX76o-DfzcubISeba_DCkWJXe_jpNF4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/C725A146-BC77-4DE3-B763-A05F882BC523.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1EQdBcZlUe4/XlgcrqjesbI/AAAAAAAABV8/zwX76o-DfzcubISeba_DCkWJXe_jpNF4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/C725A146-BC77-4DE3-B763-A05F882BC523.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Worms eye view</td></tr>
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-82099543595551183332020-01-27T19:01:00.000+00:002020-03-14T23:43:38.379+00:00A new direction on an old road<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bern front ranks</td></tr>
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In the early 1980s, I, like many others were enormously inspired by the pictures in the early editions of Miniature Wargames of Peter Gilder’s Italian Wars collection and the accompanying range of figures he did for Connoisseur. </div>
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I bought and painted them- a couple of Swiss pike blocks, a few Gendarmes and handgunners etc. Not a lot but enough for a few games with my mates Spanish using the great George Gush rules. Anyway, I think they were sold in the late 80s but I’ve always had a fondness for the armies. </div>
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So last year I thought I’d revisit the period, using the more modern and fabulous Perry metal and plastic ranges alongside some still really terrific Foundry figures (which date from the late 80s iirc).</div>
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I’ve even shoe-horned in a few of the better old Connoisseur figures for old times sake. </div>
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On top of this there are some superb figures available from Steel Fist miniatures and good old Front Rank has a few offerings.</div>
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So far I’ve accumulated a decent little Burgundian army and I’ll feature those in some later postings but to start with I’ll show a few pictures of the first 2 Swiss blocks I’ve completed.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uri and Bern</td></tr>
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The intention with these was to make some dynamic looking units. I get a bit bored with units of purely upright pike. Yes, I fully appreciate their practicality but I’m starting to reach an age where I’d sooner do stuff I really like and thinks looks good than feel constrained by practicality! Plus in the aforementioned ranges there are some great figures.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Uri:<br /><span style="font-size: small;">So, the nitty-gritty. I’ve gone for blocks of 48 - 6 wide, and 8 deep to give a beefy look. For the Swiss I’ll be doing 6 of these (although this might, might turn into 12!) to allow them to be used as 3 x96 figure units which should truly look the part.<br />They are based theoretically on 20mm x 20mm per figure in a minimum of 4s with some more larger multiples. I have ordered a few big movement trays but I’m not sure if I’ll use them, we’ll see. Obviously there is an overhang of 40mm at the front of the unit to accommodate the pikes, this also allows a bit of battlefield detritus and casualty figures to enhance the look. The bases are my tried and tested sand/glue oil paint style with lots of Army Painter tufts and bit of flock.<br />The figures are a real mix, and I’ve taken advantage of the Perry’s who do extra Swiss heads for their plastic ranges. Steel Fist also do a set of 4 amazing armoured front-rankers with beautiful separate heads, so these have been swapped in with the plastic stuff for more variation</span></td></tr>
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Uri and Bern </div>
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The flags are mostly from Pete’s Flags on e-bay and the lovely Flags of War range. I’m going with 4 flags per block so they really stand out.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bern<br /></td></tr>
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So, that’s the bare bones of how I’m approaching this project, I’ll put in more details as I add to this blog when I can give you more Swiss, the already completed Burgundians, before moving on to the Italians and Landsknechts.</div>
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Other Swiss blocks planned will be “red/white combination (Zurich and Schwyz) and a blue/white and black and white pair (Fribourg and Lucerne).<br />
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-4128351567140989832019-03-04T17:18:00.001+00:002019-03-04T17:18:02.095+00:00Barbarrossa pictures<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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A couple of weeks ago I ran a cracking weekend of 3 x 1941 Russian Front games for Big Chain of Command at the Wargames Holiday Centre for Mr Freeth - Here are a few pictures from the weekend, which was based around the German drive to Cherkassy in August 41<br />
A great time was had by all, many thanks for a great weekend played in an excellent spirit<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRG46Hc7jVk/XGg6AQNA-7I/AAAAAAAABOk/cx19A4gFHBkdAbNhIiPxfv9X_kI6jFBzQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1332%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRG46Hc7jVk/XGg6AQNA-7I/AAAAAAAABOk/cx19A4gFHBkdAbNhIiPxfv9X_kI6jFBzQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1332%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Rubicon T34 supported by Warlord and Crusader infantry</b> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ruined building from Charlie Foxtrot</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Germans chased out of the factory courtyard</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>T34 turns into a T26! (the wonders of photography)</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Warlord T26, wrecked Opel from Anyscale models </b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>T26's move up past a Things from the Basement house, re-worked 20mm 4Ground house on the right </b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The 2 rear buildings are from Scenic Store</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cat and mouse in the outskirts of Cherkassy</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Rubicon Panzer III supports the infantry</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Pioneer section moves along a ridge to clear the minefields</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Black Tree Design and Warlord infantry, </b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Soviets attempt to stop the pioneers clearing the minefields</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Warlord and Crusader Soviets</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>T26 comes off worse from an encounter with a Panzer IV</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>BTD ATR section waits for a target</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Building burns following a Stuka attack</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Grenadiers come under fire</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Soviets attempt to outflank the pioneers while they clear the mines</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Game 2: Patrol phase</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Outskirts of Cherkassy - ready for game 3</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The table for the weekend</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u6vwvJuVUJA/XGhBuKGN_DI/AAAAAAAABRg/ighyhtQhtx4Loeg2r-s8lZSh-a2HGcrGgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1386%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u6vwvJuVUJA/XGhBuKGN_DI/AAAAAAAABRg/ighyhtQhtx4Loeg2r-s8lZSh-a2HGcrGgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1386%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Anti- tank rifle section after scaring a Stug!</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v5m1qRme11M/XGhEw6eGB_I/AAAAAAAABSU/ljxgZvqgY6wvCQebrrQMUTP6glz5z-7RACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1400%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v5m1qRme11M/XGhEw6eGB_I/AAAAAAAABSU/ljxgZvqgY6wvCQebrrQMUTP6glz5z-7RACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1400%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Game 2 - Stuka hits a Charlie Foxtrot building in its first game....typical</b></td></tr>
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-10803299012028883422019-01-06T21:07:00.000+00:002019-01-06T21:07:57.583+00:00Double CoC Play-test for Barbarossa<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>4 new terrain boards for Mark, 12 feet of canal!</b></td></tr>
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Spent a terrific day in the company of Mr Freeth and Mr Waple playing a couple of games of Eastern Front CoC in preparation for Mark's forthcoming Barbarossa Big CoC weekends at the WHC later this year, although the first one is only a month away! I still have a few bits and bobs to finish before then (a bit more Soviet infantry and 4 x T26s) but all is in hand.<br />
One of the things we wanted for these games was a canal board - these will also do perfectly for planned France/Belgium/Holland 1940 games, not to mention Holland/Belgium 1944- Mr Waple is also keen to incorporate them into a Carentan scenario. They will also do fine for Mark's massive 20mm set-up.<br />
So, over Christmas I made 12' of canal...that's it really! They had to be on a 12mm ply base to match with the existing boards, so I routed out the channel and some ditches, then built up the towpaths with a further layer of 9mm MDF. The water was just painted brown and then resin poured- I'll have to do a further post really to give a bit more detail- suffice to say I have a little more fine tuning to do on them to match them to Mark's boards, but overall they have turned out ok. I'm well pleased.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oWlLDwq8KbM/XDIAkl29HzI/AAAAAAAABNA/z5Vcilwu1442gzjlVAOAXGQ5XYFcti3cgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1208%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oWlLDwq8KbM/XDIAkl29HzI/AAAAAAAABNA/z5Vcilwu1442gzjlVAOAXGQ5XYFcti3cgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1208%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></b></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Boards laid out for the game, some new-ish fields in the foreground</b></td></tr>
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We laid out terrain for a normal CoC scenario, a straightforward 1941 game with a 4 section German platoon with 2 Senior Leaders and a 50mm mortar attacking over the canal against a big 4 section early war Soviet platoon, with their massive sections and a senior leader and an inferior SL + a 50mm mortar. It was an attack /defend scenario, with the Germans having a generous 12 support points and the Soviets 7.<br />
The Germans took a Stug III A (6 points), an Ig18 (4 points) and a preliminary barrage (2 points). The Russian picks (I think) were a BT5 (4 points) and 3 entrenchments (1 point each). Given that the buildings, although numerous, were all flimsy wooden ones only giving light cover the trenches were a wise choice for the Russians. For the Germans, my logic was the Stug is a hefty beast, solid in all departments with both good defensive options and high offensive capability against both soft targets and any Soviet armour which might appear. The Ig18 gives another 75mm gun with which to hammer the Russians from range, this, in conjunction with the Stug should make it easy. The barrage was a nice bit of icing on the cake to hinder the Soviet deployment.<br />
We played on a 6' x 6' (although we set up a bit more to make the pictures pretty <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gcNrO8h4iv4/XDIArYQbRoI/AAAAAAAABNE/KHLpMVncXNkakszLiOlWjELmR4k6ogIGACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1209%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gcNrO8h4iv4/XDIArYQbRoI/AAAAAAAABNE/KHLpMVncXNkakszLiOlWjELmR4k6ogIGACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1209%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The patrol phase for game 1 from the German side. Fields by Hotz matts</b></td></tr>
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So, onto the 1st game-FM was German 10 - Russians 9. The patrol phase was straightforward enough, The Germans only got a single free move which was disappointing, so we ended up with 2 fairly uniform straight lines across the centre of the table,. It meant the Germans got 3 Jump off points, 2 about 2' in, 1 to the right of the road, behind the barn 1 to the left of the road back behind the rise, and 1 way off to the right. The Soviets dropped all 3 of theirs right back down to their baseline, spread out uniformly giving them access to the ditch and buildings on their side of the canal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zyBOw_q9Nr0/XDIAyfnqg5I/AAAAAAAABNM/2v2n-5jyfRoNnMpNv6E5gTz5xR_DRo7GwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zyBOw_q9Nr0/XDIAyfnqg5I/AAAAAAAABNM/2v2n-5jyfRoNnMpNv6E5gTz5xR_DRo7GwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1213.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Stug moves up the main road, buildings from Scenic Store pimped by my good self at CAC Terrain<br /></b></td></tr>
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So the German plan was simple enough, batter away with the Stug and the infantry gun from range, then strengthen with the infantry...Didn't quite work out like that.</div>
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Both sides were a bit cagey, I got the Stug on early and pushed up the road, the Soviets did very little, and both sides accumulated CoC dice points, as the Stug drew level with the barn, I deployed an infantry section to advance tactically with it, and perhaps draw some fire. They did. 2 Soviet sections deployed in the house by the bridge and in the ditches and opened fire...despite being tactical the big Soviet squads were putting out a lot of fire (more than a German squad) 17 dice iirc, and the german section took a few hits which mounted up fast. There was very little room to deploy another section to put down covering fire, and although the Stug hit back with HE because it lacked an mg it couldn't cover the infantry. Then a BT5 hove into view on the other side of the bridge. The Stug had to redeploy in order to get the BT in its sights (no turret...grrrr). The Russian infantry could carry on firing unmolested. A brief duel took place between the armour, with eventually the Stug coming off best - the BT's main armament getting Ko'd. It scuttled off and reversed behind the house.</div>
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Meantime the Soviets got a couple of double turns, and the German section took more hits, including the Junior leader! he took a round right between the eyes. The German FM took a hit, and the firepower of the Stug just wasn't proving enough to do major damage to the dug in Russians. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Stug is given support in the assault on the Bridge. Really excellent rubber cobbled road sections from EWM</b></td></tr>
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Time for the Germans to up the ante, there now was room for the ig18 to come into play alongside the Stug, 2 x 75mm guns should do a bit more damage, they pounded away for a few phases, but it meant the concentrated fire of 2 sections now went against the little infantry gun...The Russians were simply rolling a lot more dice than the Germans, the casualties began to mount...the gun became pinned, then the JL commanding the gun was wounded- more FM loss, then he's hit again and killed- the gun breaks and the Russians sneakily end the turn with a judicious CoC dice. German FM at this point is 3....not great.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U2ojD-9IC8o/XDIBwYhzDmI/AAAAAAAABN8/iuC1vNGW7UQZ9amyoKNrAM4BUdCH778zgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1223%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U2ojD-9IC8o/XDIBwYhzDmI/AAAAAAAABN8/iuC1vNGW7UQZ9amyoKNrAM4BUdCH778zgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1223%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A 75mm Ig18 gives additional fire support. What could go wrong? All models by Warlord, Painted by me!<br /></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">At this point I decided to call it. The Germans were not going to get over that bridge. Yes, they could plink away with the Stug but it was frankly going to take an age for anything much to happen, and if I deployed any infantry to up the firepower, any BTH roll could be fatal. It was still early in the day and we could get another game in.<br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-056HCcOPfpo/XDIBNsn2wYI/AAAAAAAABNw/iM1SVY7uzR89P5n5-uBcbrJHHx-_7_nYACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1220%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-056HCcOPfpo/XDIBNsn2wYI/AAAAAAAABNw/iM1SVY7uzR89P5n5-uBcbrJHHx-_7_nYACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_1220%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Soviet infantry hunker down in the ditch and pour fire into the advancing Germans</b></td></tr>
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For speed, and rather than re-set terrain we decided to simply re-play the scenario, this time gifting the Germans an extra 2 support points, for a total of 14.<br />
And this is where it all got interesting.<br />
In many rule-sets simply replaying the same scenario with essentially the same forces would result in pretty much the same game, particularly in a scenario like an attack on clearly defined defence line. This is not what happened at all.<br />
FM rolls went German 11 Russian 9- In the patrol phase the Germans got 2 free moves, but it played out fairly similarly however, this time the Germans got a bit further forward, getting a JOP behind the bomb-damaged building on the left.<br />
For the Germans the support picks were very different.I took 2 x Pzr II's at 5 points each and an observer for a mortar battery. The Russians, it transpired swapped it about a bit - A BT (4) and an ATR (2) and a trench.<br />
No hanging about this time, I quickly got on both Pzr II's and they advanced up the road, leapfrogging with one on over-watch as the other advanced, I got a section way out on the right which advanced in the lee of a rise, heading for some hedges. The FO got into the barn next to the road with a good view of the Russian left- any of them popping up to attack the German section there would get pounded by the 81mm battery.<br />
It more or less (ok, less) went like clockwork. The Russians deployed the BT in a cunning spot where it could fire down the road but couldn't be spotted by the second Pzr II which by now was crunching through the gardens on the German left. A little duel ensued with both tanks dealing shock, with little result. As the second Pzr II advanced in order to get a view of the BT5 up popped the ATR in the ditch! it fired! CLANG! the Pzr II ground to a halt- immobilised<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Game 2: A different approach, armour heavy, 2 x panzer II's leapfrog up route 1. An infantry section swings right in the distance</b></td></tr>
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I quickly deployed a German section who could put fire down on the ATR, This combined with fire from the Pzr upset the ATR but couldn't get a decisive hit- the ATR fired again- this time disorientating the Pzr's gunner- no activation next phase- it was getting very tense- the BT kept firing at the other Panzer, and scores a winning hit- the Panzer is knocked out but the crew escape- things are looking bad for the Germans yet again.<div>
Finally, the Germans get some hits...a Soviet section has deployed along the river to fire on the Germans hitting the ATR, A firefight ensues, the Germans lose an entire LMG team, The ATR goes down in a hail of cannon fire from the stranded panzer, both FM's are starting to trickle down. The Russians have opened up on their left and are duly met with a brutal mortar barrage, the Russians end the turn, but hadn't realised the Germans held a dice to continue the barrage- The Russians play a second CoC dice and the turn ends but not before the barrage gets a a couple of lucky kills on the Russians.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Infantry attempt to build a base of fire on the left flank. </b></td></tr>
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The Germans are trading fire on both flanks,using a mix of covering fire and LMG fire<br />
on the Russians, the ability of the Germans to use individual teams paying off in the face of the sledgehammer Russian sections. A couple of Soviet leaders get wounded, the little panzer pouring in cannon fire onto the infantry- finally with yet another Coc dice the BT advances, interrupts and fires on the PanzerII- it misses!<br />
The little German mortar keeps chipping in with the odd hit on the guys in the ditch. The Germans are winning the firefight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The lead Panzer II dukes it out with the BT5 over the canal while the mortar barrage pounds the Soviet infantry on the right. Bridge is a Sarissa kit.</b></td></tr>
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<br />The Panzer now has a shot at the BT...gets 3 hits- zero saves from the Russians- BOOM! the Russian tank is burning, their FM plummeting. This leaves the panzer free to keep firing at the dwindling section to its front, The FO manages to call in the mortars for a second time which again start to hit the left flank Russians...A brutal lucky hit clobbers a couple more Russians including the JL. and the Russians break- BTH and the suddenly their FM is at zero.....the Germans have done it!<br />
Great fun, a fine time was had by all.<br />
BUT...what really got me thinking was how different the 2 games were. They were both exciting, they both had their moments of tension, but both sides employed similar forces and tactics for both games..yet they were totally different.<br />
It could have been the first game where the power of the Stug prevailed, it could have been that the German mortars had no effect, The BT might have one-shotted the second Panzer...there were a lot of possibilities, and it shows why CoC is such an intriguing game.<br />
Can't wait for the Barborrossa big CoC campaign week-end where the canal will double up as the Kharkov river at some point. In my crystal ball I foresee T34's...and a Soviet counter-attack!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Game 1:Whats left of the first German section cower behind a house, letting the Stug do the work</b></td></tr>
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Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-31794701340514019742018-06-26T22:35:00.000+01:002018-06-26T22:35:27.781+01:00Stonne 1940 Big CoC weekend Part 1<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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This has been in the pipeline for a few months now, the first public Big CoC public weekend at the WHC. In this first post I'll give some idea of the thought process (sic) behind the game and then I'll give you the scenarios and how the game played out...oh, and there will be a few pics.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Warlord and Crusader French</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Mark Freeth was very keen to get an early war 1940 scenario together, initially we toyed with the idea of running a weekend with 2 games running side by side, one containing French and the other BEF taking on the invading Germans. While this was certainly achievable, it involved a few more logistical headaches concerning turning the games around, plus simply having to focus on 2 games at once rather than one. So, in the end we plumped for a single set of scenarios with just the French and Germans.</span><span style="text-align: center;"><br />A small problem with running Big CoC games is that the scenarios are somewhat dependant on the number of players attending, and given the nature of the WHC the numbers can vary, Some players book months in advance, but often people will book relatively late so the scenario needed to be capable of being tweaked to fit this in. The <span style="font-family: inherit;">nuts and bolts of the game don't alter that much, the idea being that each player will command an infantry (or armour) platoon, then the force as a whole has a degree of support which is then dished out. On the whole this is not a problem<span style="font-family: inherit;">, but for quite a while we were looking at having six players (fine, 3 on 3) then suddenly the numbers went up to seven. My initial reaction was one of mild horror because it meant balancing the game for a three versus four. However, when I started looking at the way the Stonne game might play out, the imbalance of 3 platoons against 4 became more and more attractive.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">A little Panhard 178. It bogged in the ditch......</span></i></b></td></tr>
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The battle at Stonne took place over 4 days commencing on 15th May 1940, with the Germans having the Grossdeutschland motorised infantry regiment, and elements of the 10.PzD (Panzer-Regiment 8)<br />
They were encountering in these scenarios the 3e DIM (Division d'Infanterie Motorisée), supported by 3e DCr (Division Cuirassée) <br />
Looking at the platoon lists for CoC the 1940 German infantry platoons are enormous. Each platoon contains 2 senior leaders and a 50mm mortar team plus 4 x 10 man sections, for a total of 44 men.<br />
The French platoons are a similar size, with 2 platoon leaders (1 senior, 1 junior) a VB rifle grenade team of a junior leader with 4 men. plus 3 sections of 11 for a total of 40 men. </div>
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So if we had seven players, with 3 on the German side and 4 for the French it wouldn't be too bad. 1 player a side would be playing a tank platoon anyway, so it would be 2 German infantry platoons against 3 French, however that is actually 8 German sections opposed to 9 French, making it less unbalanced than first appears. A little extra tweaking by making the Germans "superior regulars" meaning they treat rolls on their command dice of a single six also as a 5, giving them more CoC dice pips during the game, plus increasing the size of their panzer II platoon to a whopping 5 vehicles would compensate for the additional French numbers. Additionally, each German platoon would start with a full Chain of Command Dice. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Poilus advance, CharB in support </b><br />So I worked on that basis, and prepared everything with 7 players in mind, Then of course Mark called and said " I've got an 8th player"......So the superior regular, and the extra CoC dice went out of the window, and the Panzer platoon was cut from 5 down to 4, and the Germans went up to 3 infantry platoons to make it 4 a side. Also the Germans would not have a significant advantage in support points when they were attacking, while the french would.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Even after this we had another couple of guys wanting to sign up, but at that late stage we sadly had to say no, and stick with 8, as I think a single game with 5 a side is really stretching it for this rule set - not saying its not possible, but I think the game might suffer.<br />So that is the format we ended up going with, having said that I'm pretty sure the scenarios will work fine with seven (or 5 for that matter) players if the Germans are bumped up a bit to cater for uneven forces.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><img height="371" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XfC6e_N0Uao/WzDY1yQmRaI/AAAAAAAABKY/tqDxCYCoK8Y57g2sGXuZoNxKrCtYychrQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0879%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><b><i>Panzerjeager I supports Black Tree and Warlord infantry</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The other aspect of the games that numbers have an impact on is the size of the table used for each scenario. The recommendation for Big CoC is that the table size should be the same as for normal CoC (6' x 4') with an additional foot width per additional infantry platoon added - you add nothing for the armour.<br />Well, The main table at the WHC is 24' long by 6' deep, and so we already play on a depth of 6' which I prefer over 4'. The patrol phase gets forces into action quickly enough anyway, and having the extra depth gives players a bit more room without slowing things down.<br />Just adding 2 feet per platoon gives us a width of 8' x 6 " which is fine, but the centres' terrain boards are 3' each so it is convenient to go for a slightly larger width of 9'. a bit more room both on the table and for player comfort. That meant that it wasn't too tricky to divide up the table into 3 sections - 9' at each end and then utilise the central 6' and 3' of one of the other sections to give us 3 x 6' x 9' areas.<br /><br />The point of all this meant I could set up the entire table beforehand, and players go from game to game with no great interruptions in order to maximise playing time. Also I think it looks good!</span></td></tr>
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<b><i><span style="background-color: #ecf3f7; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span>Stonne from west to east: Game 1 at the far end, game 2 in the foreground, game 3 in the centre. The Germans are advancing from the north, the French, the south.</i></b><span style="background-color: #ecf3f7; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
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I also planned to have a 4th scenario, which would have meant re-setting the terrain at one end of the table- it would have been that which was fought over in game 2 so we could do it while game 3 was in progress giving plenty of time. As it turned out, we didn't get in 4 games over the weekend, a bit of a shame but, sometimes CoC games can be like that, some go faster than others.</div>
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The table was made up simply from having a look at Google Earth, backed up with some excellent maps in Prieser's "Blitzkrieg Legend"- to get the overall topography. Generally the village hasn't changed enormously since 1940, although it was rebuilt there has been no development sprawl, The critical points haven't changed, in terms of the woods, the road layout, and the extent of the village.Being able to get down at street view is an amazing resource, it shows just how winding and steep the only road the Germans had to approach the village from the north was, as it approaches the Butte De Stonne at the Eastern end of the village, and how despite it appearing very flat on the map, the countryside to the west and south actually has quite a lot of small undulations, the view south from the village is somewhat restricted. At the eastern end of the village the countryside is more wooded and broken, with the road becoming sunken before it winds down back on itself down the steep wooded slope to the north of the village (off- table)<br />
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<b><i>Map showing the initial German attack on Stonne, May 15 at 0800. Influenced by Eric Denis' work. (wikipedia)</i></b></div>
Given the nature of playing 3 or possibly 4 games over a weekend in a campaign format with 8 CoC novices I thought that the first scenario should probably be a bit gentle in order to ease them into it, and allow them to possibly make a few mistakes without getting horribly punished. I also wanted to keep it relatively simple.<br />
Given the nature of the fighting in Stonne (the village apparently changed hands 17 times in 3 days), it lent itself to a relatively straightforward narrative: i.e. Attack and counterattack- So I decided to make the first game an attack/defence scenario with the Germans on the offensive at the eastern end of the table, the second game was to be another attack/defence with the French on the offensive at the western end of the table. Game 3 was to be in the central area of the table with the Germans attacking in an "attack on an objective" scenario.<br />
I planned a 4th scenario which was to be played out on new terrain to the east of Stonne and that would have been the French conducting a flank attack. However, time sadly ran out. I'm sure we will do it one day.<br />
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<b style="color: #54595d;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The View from east to west, the broken ground of the Butte De Stonne in the foreground</span></i></b><br />
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The scene was set:</div>
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8 players, hopefully 4 games, Germans versus French at Stonne, one of the iconic battles of the campaign.</div>
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What were the salient features of the battle? The Germans had crossed the Meuse a couple of days earlier and were trying to exploit that relatively fragile bridgehead, the French had rapidly managed to assemble a counter attack force. The massif of which Stonne is a small part doesn't readily show up on a map, but have a look at Google Earth and you can see just how important it was for both sides. The village itself is rather innocuous, just a farming village with two roads entering from the south, however, it is the terrain to the north which both sides were focused on. There is a single road which leads out of Stonne to the north, this snakes down the hillside along a steep wooded slope before reaching the more gentle plain. The entire northern side of Stonne is covered in thick fir trees which extend down the steep slope- there is nowhere in the village itself (other than the "Butte de Stonne") which has a view to the north. However, if you hold the town and can establish OP's in this wooded hillside you have a magnificent vista stretching out 4 or 5 kilometres and more to the north, the German bridgeheads, and the routes they will take as they expand. Subsequently this tiny Ardennes village became vitally important. </div>
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<b style="color: #54595d;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">French section enters central Stonne</span></i></b><br />
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Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-33117821244272645052018-04-08T23:30:00.000+01:002018-04-08T23:30:32.932+01:0028mm Village sections<b>New Russian Villages:</b><br />
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I've made up a few Russian village sections for WWII (although they'd do fine for Napoleonic too) These are mostly MDF kits from "Things From The Basement" in the USA with a few more extra bits from the excellent Charlie Foxtrot models here in the UK</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AyzdHuR_lyc/WsqUVeJ780I/AAAAAAAABJE/oDZl1tyriyUCfpYN-X3hMoXU3hWtBauwgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AyzdHuR_lyc/WsqUVeJ780I/AAAAAAAABJE/oDZl1tyriyUCfpYN-X3hMoXU3hWtBauwgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0371.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love these...2 cabins, and high fences<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">All lovely models, easy to construct, and fun to paint. One of the things which attracted me to them was how there are very few lugs on display - most MDF kits have these rather unsightly points where the various bits fit together- These don't- makes them look so much better- I thought it would be more fun to put these together as based village units, to allow a little bit more detailing and customisation. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q5l84Xgkyls/WsqUQR3TqtI/AAAAAAAABI4/xfgvPSMPNaA9NiRfHjjNmUw_JIwgoObUgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q5l84Xgkyls/WsqUQR3TqtI/AAAAAAAABI4/xfgvPSMPNaA9NiRfHjjNmUw_JIwgoObUgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0376.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simple Russian barn, but will do for pretty much anywhere</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Hctgs42Kp8/WsqUaIHW3cI/AAAAAAAABJI/hEv2Cwe1pIsLmY4PVZTGWV6s4Q3FpOFRACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--Hctgs42Kp8/WsqUaIHW3cI/AAAAAAAABJI/hEv2Cwe1pIsLmY4PVZTGWV6s4Q3FpOFRACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0361.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pigs.....<br />
C<span style="font-size: small;">ouldn't resist this...the little pigsty base is from TFTB, pigs from Pegasus</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-twL5gREoMIc/WsqT25NApsI/AAAAAAAABI0/Va4Qp4Hi2TMRWPaDDW_JCkExKdiwKcy_wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-twL5gREoMIc/WsqT25NApsI/AAAAAAAABI0/Va4Qp4Hi2TMRWPaDDW_JCkExKdiwKcy_wCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0384.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small cabin, rough fencing- Warlord Russians! <br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The bases are all slightly different sizes, but generally about 10' square, big enough to make an impact on the wargames table and to allow the addition of more "stuff" to pretty them up</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0yw4LepYoE/WsqTdy55uFI/AAAAAAAABIw/iuoI9Rbok-wUol_uj22LqZKRN36AhdZdQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k0yw4LepYoE/WsqTdy55uFI/AAAAAAAABIw/iuoI9Rbok-wUol_uj22LqZKRN36AhdZdQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0383.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larger Villa with small garden<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">These are for sale....feel free to contact me if you wish for prices etc- I'm going to be making a lot more terrain and buildings over the next few months, if you have a specific request just ask, or keep an eye out here or look for CAC terrain on facebook</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G91AZpe6NjI/WsqRevf8vUI/AAAAAAAABIk/Kyv0HQRAxMcuGGd42NEMn-MJ2koAq9QeQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0391.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G91AZpe6NjI/WsqRevf8vUI/AAAAAAAABIk/Kyv0HQRAxMcuGGd42NEMn-MJ2koAq9QeQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0391.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaller cabin and woodshed by Charlie Foxtrot, Everything else from TFTB. Love the well.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-44325332087456930482018-03-01T17:23:00.000+00:002018-03-01T17:25:16.845+00:0020mm Big CoC at the WHC Gavrus: Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dfe5Neyu54o/WpgvRp3KgEI/AAAAAAAABH0/OkTiN5rH2EI91FjV24bQLLrer_sK2ToHQCLcBGAs/s1600/slate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dfe5Neyu54o/WpgvRp3KgEI/AAAAAAAABH0/OkTiN5rH2EI91FjV24bQLLrer_sK2ToHQCLcBGAs/s640/slate.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
I've been badgering Mark Freeth about CoC for about a year now, first of all to do it in 20mm, then of course its turned into 28mm. Meanwhile, The group of lads from Huntingdon who do an annual game to remember their sadly missed old friend Carlo were coming to Basingstoke.<br />
Now I knew they had played CoC, and I also recall Carlo being partial to the game, so I thought it ideal to use them as guinea pigs for trying out Big CoC! They were more than happy to go along with it, so a format was put together. As the 28mm stuff is still being painted (nearly done though!) this weekend would have to be in 20mm<br />
I thought that for 8 players, a Big CoC campaign of 4 games over the weekend from Friday night through to Sunday afternoon would work fine. I allowed for an extra scenario just in case things went a bit quick.<br />
What to do?<br />
An obvious choice was Normandy, I had all the kit required, and of course, Mark has his amazing collection of Mick Sewell buildings which were aching for a run out.<br />
I only needed a reinforced company for both British and Germans, plus various AFV options, all of which we had.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UJZAq88y4R0/WpgvVgv4_dI/AAAAAAAABH4/6_T93lPWI3k4GSESAK1IRTrgGsfsrN2xgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0112%2Bslate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UJZAq88y4R0/WpgvVgv4_dI/AAAAAAAABH4/6_T93lPWI3k4GSESAK1IRTrgGsfsrN2xgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0112%2Bslate.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The scenario was to be the action at Gavrus on 29/30th June 1944, when the 2nd battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders came under ferocious attack by the 10th SS 'Frundsberg' division.<br />
The battle is reasonably well documented, particularly in Iain Dalglish's book "Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield" which includes some fantastic aerial photographs of the area taken just days after the battle, these would substitute perfectly for maps.<br />
I came up with 4/5 scenarios with games running into each other to replicate the fighting:<br />
The first was a bit of a "what if" with infantry companies from each side recce-ing the village of Bougy about a mile South of Gavrus, the Germans supported by an armoured infantry platoon in half-tracks and the jocks by their carrier platoon. Both sides did recce Bougy, but I doubt they did it in such strength or necessarily at the same time, but I thought it would give a good introduction for the players, and set the tone for the weekend.<br />
This was to be a fairly standard Patrol scenario as per the CoC rules, with each side receiving an additional 8 points of support to be drawn from a fairly limited selection<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iJVSN-k6zuw/WpgvbxZsUzI/AAAAAAAABH8/5oDb-_tQ2HgocgoU6QvN4UYxqbxRkG4WACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0160%2Bslate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iJVSN-k6zuw/WpgvbxZsUzI/AAAAAAAABH8/5oDb-_tQ2HgocgoU6QvN4UYxqbxRkG4WACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0160%2Bslate.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<b><i>Main road at Gavrus</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
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<b> The British briefing: </b></div>
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<b> <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b> Scenario 1: BOUGY- BRITISH<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This depicts the action between The 2<sup>nd</sup> Argylls
and the 10<sup>th</sup> SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29<sup>th</sup>
June 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main
CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective
baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points. Vehicles will enter via the Gavrus
road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader
for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to
their deployment rolls<o:p></o:p></div>
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Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>British Infantry</b>:
3 platoons, C Company 2<sup>nd</sup> Argylls, Regular, 5 command dice<o:p></o:p></div>
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Each as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>HQ:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Lieutenant: <i>Senior
Leader</i> armed with a pistol. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Platoon Sargent: <i>Senior
Leader</i> armed with SMG<o:p></o:p></div>
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PIAT <i>Team</i>: 2 men<o:p></o:p></div>
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2” Mortar <i>Team</i>: 2
men.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sections 1 to 3:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Corporal: <i>Junior
Leader</i> armed with SMG <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bren <i>Team</i>: Bren
LMG 3 crew<o:p></o:p></div>
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Rifle <i>Team</i>: 6
riflemen<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>SUPPORT OPTIONS:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 1: </b>Medic, Adjutant(max 1),, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 2: </b>PIAT <i>Team</i>:
2 men, 2” Mortar <i>Team</i>: 2 men.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 3: </b>Sniper<b><i> </i></b><i>Team, </i>Universal carrier<i> Bren
Team </i>with<i> Junior Leader.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
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<b>List 4: </b>6 pdr Anti-tank gun with 5 crew and <i>Junior Leader </i>(max 1)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>ELEMENTS, CARRIER
PLATOON, 2<sup>ND</sup> ARGYLLS: </b>, Regular, 5 command dice.<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren <i>team</i>, and <i>Senior Leader </i>with pistol<o:p></o:p></div>
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Section 1:<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren <i>team</i>, and <i>Junior Leader </i>with SMG<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2” mortar <i>team</i>, and 1 rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
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Section 2:<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren <i>team</i>, and <i>Junior Leader </i>with SMG<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man PIAT <i>team</i>, and 1 rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
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Section 3:<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren <i>team</i>, and <i>Junior Leader </i>with SMG<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2” mortar <i>team</i>, and 1 rifleman, OR 2 man PIAT <i>team,</i> and 1 rifleman<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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No Support may be allocated to the Carrier Platoon<o:p></o:p></div>
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Total support points.<b>8</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon
for the duration of scenario 1<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Recce half-tracks move up( die-cast vehicles, AB crew)</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i> </i>The German briefing:</b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b> Scenario 1: BOUGY -GERMAN<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This depicts the action between The 2<sup>nd</sup> Argylls
and The 10<sup>th</sup> SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29<sup>th</sup>
June 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main CoC
rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective
baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vehicles will enter via the western road<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader
for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to
their deployment rolls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Senior Leaders must be allocated to a specific platoon<o:p></o:p></div>
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Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>German Infantry</b>:
3 platoons of the 1<sup>st</sup> Company 22<sup>nd</sup> Pzrgrenadier Regt,
Regular, 5 command dice<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>HQ:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obersharfurher: <i>Senior
Leader</i> armed with a SMG. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 Panzerfaust 30.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sections 1 to 3:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scarfurher: <i>Junior
Leader</i> armed with SMG <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
M42 <i>Team</i>: MG42 LMG
3 crew, 1 Rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
M42 <i>Team</i>: MG42 LMG
3 crew, 1 Rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>SUPPORT OPTIONS:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 1: </b>Medic, Adjutant (max 1), Panzerfaust 30<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 2: </b><i>Senior Leader</i> armed with a SMG. Panzerschreck <i>team</i> with 2 crew<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 3: </b>Sniper<b><i> </i></b><i>Team, </i>Panzergrenadier<i> team: Junior
Leader</i> armed with SMG, 5 riflemen.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>List 4: </b>Mg 42 MMG <i>team</i> and 5 crew<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>List 5: Sdkfz </b>250/8
with <i>junior leader</i>, 250/9 with <i>junior leader</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>3rd Kompanie, 10<sup>th</sup>
SS Panzer Aufklarungs-Abteilung: </b>Superior Regular *, 5 command dice<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 x Sdkfz 251/10 + Obersharfurher: <i>Senior Leader</i> armed with a SMG. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Panzerschreck <i>team</i> with 2 crew <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 x Infantry <i>sections</i>
each:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 x Sdkfz 251/1 Scarfurher: <i>Junior Leader</i> armed with SMG<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
M42 <i>Team</i>: MG42 LMG
3 crew, 1 Rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
M42 <i>Team</i>: MG42 LMG
3 crew, 1 Rifleman<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*Superior regulars treat a single 6 on their command dice as
a 5. Other rolls are unchanged.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No Support may be allocated to the Recce platoon<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total support points.<b>8</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each asset picked
must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i> Cautious grenadiers (Elhiem and Adler figures)</i></b>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-40119341031311578692018-01-06T00:04:00.000+00:002018-01-06T01:02:03.633+00:00Barbarrossa Chain of Command try out at the WHC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just spent a thoroughly enjoyable day with Mark at the WHC. We wanted to continue exploring Chain of Command, after originally thinking that when Mark puts on a weekend there it would be in 20mm. Many advantages to this,Mark has a vast 20mm collection and a huge array of beautiful bespoke buildings..but, 20mm is very small. Less of an issue maybe when you are fielding 30 or 40+ AFVs and several hundred infantry, but even for BiG Chain of Command you are only looking at having perhaps half a dozen tanks and a hundred infantry a side. It needs to be impressive in order to attract players, and the 28mm stuff is pretty awesome....Well, we thought about this, and talked long and hard...thought some more...ummed and ahhed...and have decided to go with 28mm.</div>
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Bigger.</div>
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Trouble is of course that we don't have that much stuff.</div>
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YET.</div>
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That will change very soon!</div>
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I've got enough Germans and Soviets for a decent 1 on 1 but for a multi-player weekend with up to 12 players, with 2 x 3 a side campaign games going on simultaneously we are going to need a lot more...a lot more.</div>
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Not an issue of course, any day now a MASSIVE box of kit is expected to land on Mark's doormat! </div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Meanwhile, the game;we just wanted an excuse for a duff-up really, get a look at terrain, have a think about size, time, space etc. Big Coc is going to be different but we can still learn quite a bit just from 1 on 1 games.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">So we wanted to see how my 28mm kit looked on Mark's table (well, a little bit of Mark's table), and the answer we thought was pretty good!</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">When it comes to doing a full weekend the plan is to run 2 games of Big CoC side by side, each on a 12' x 6' table, but for today we were just using a mere 6'x 6'</span></div>
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Above is the view of the battlefield from the Soviet side. The bombed out sewing machine factory complex dominates the surrounding countryside of fields. We were playing a pick up 1941 attack/defend scenario with a 4 section German infantry platoon on the attack, supported by a Panzer 38T, an MG34 MMG, and the Germans benefited from a preliminary artillery bombardment which severely hampered the deployment of the Soviets, who were defending with a big 4 section rifle platoon, supported by a 45mm ATG. Force morales were equal on a 9. There followed a tense patrol phase<br />
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The view from the southern edge, the farm and woodland was a priority for the Germans during the patrol phase, the fields were deemed to be light cover for infantry in them if observed from the flat, but no cover from troops at higher elevations in the factory or on the rises in the NW and NE corners of the table. The fences were light cover but didn't block LOS (unless you looked through 3 of them). Mark ended with JOP tucked behind the wall in the very top of the picture, one behind the little house next to the wood, and another in the farmyard. I managed to constrict him so was fairly pleased<br />
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a view from the German side, good approaches and JOP positions, but difficult open countryside to negotiate in order to get into the factory area<br />
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another view from the Soviet side, 2 of my JOP's are visible 1 bottom left in the bombed out roof and another in the field next to the road and the factory. A third was just out of shot on the left in amongst the fields, but with a somewhat obscured view of the road running back to the German side<br />
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Above is the 3rd Soviet JOP with my first deployment, a section hunkering down in the wheat behind the fence line.<br />
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The second Soviet deployment, a section tucked in with views over the fields. Why I put it there, I've no idea....should have deployed into the factory, not the field. I think my original intention was to push forwards into the trees, but I never even got started. A heavy crossfire from the front and an MMG in the farm whittled them down, eventually I pulled them into the factory but they were still exposed and took terrible fire.<br />
By having a good look at Mark's 20mm buildings,there are plenty that are perfectly good for 28mm games. Personally I've always found that a lot of 28mm WWII buildings look enormous when they get on the table, but these factory buildings are a really good size even for 28mm, as are the 20mm farm buildings in the picture below.<br />
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This MG 34 put down a heavy fire onto the section on the Soviet right<br />
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Joined by a German section in a deep ditch over-looking the fields, the 2 together put down a crossfire on the hapless Soviet section.<br />
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A 38T moves up. Ahead of it is the German section in the ditch which is on the other side of the wall.<br />
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Way off in the distance, the 38T is spotted! A 45mm ATG deploys in the southern field alongside the first rifle section plus the platoon mortar. It opened up, missed and continued pumping shells at the tank. On the 3rd attempt it immobilised it, but the tank kept firing. Finally the 45mm fired and rolled a double 6 to hit! Weak spot! resulting in a KO. The tank didn't explode but it was silenced permanently.<br />
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The other section is being whittled down by fire from the ditch and the MMG<br />
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eventually it gets the message and retires into the adjacent building.....where it should have been in the first place!<br />
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German section moves up through the wood to engage the section in the southern field.<br />
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Behind the section, is the JOP and the platoon mortar giving occasional supporting fire<br />
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The 38T burns in the road after its exchange with the ATG<br />
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Having reached the edge of the woods the German section trades fire with the Russians, and starts to come off worst. Another section is sent out to reinforce..eventually this gives the Germans the upper hand.<br />
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The section in the ditch continues to lay down fire on the section the factory, which ended the game with a single LMG gunner and its corporal!<br />
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Casualties mount in the wood, but the Germans hold firm<br />
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A third Russian section is deployed out on the right and attempts to flank right, but it is too late...<br />
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In the field the mortar and the ATG have been shot down, and the section has lost a few men..I think its time to scuttle back into the factory, by this time my FM was down to 3, and was going to get worse - the Germans were still on 5 or 6. I threw in the towel.<br />
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A fun game, even though it degenerated into a firefight which the Soviets lost. They gave a lot back, but the Germans were more flexible, took the lumps on their core sections rather than having a lot of support teams completely wiped out which hurt the Soviet FM.<br />
The big problem was that my plan was utter rubbish. I just shouldn't have done what I did. I had a fabulous defensive position, high buildings overlooking open fields! So what do I do? try and push out of them....(FFS!) Idiocy!<br />
My reasoning (poor as it was) was influenced by falling into the CoC "psychological tank trap". I became obsessed by the idea of getting the ATG out where it could cover the road any German armour would need to approach from. Subsequently I had to commit to protect it, more and more kit gets sucked in....etc.<br />
There was absolutely no need fro me to do this! I Should have just hunkered down in the factory. Not bought much on at all, rattled through the phases (which would speed up the turn end and finish the barrage), and I could have got some CoC die. Meanwhile the Germans would have to come on and eventually get caught in the open in the fields. But no....Really stupid play on my part. Meanwhile Mark cheerfully shot me to bits! (but he did it very nicely, and, most important of all, we had a great time! Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-6949922213552391102017-12-31T10:47:00.000+00:002017-12-31T10:48:31.621+00:00Roman Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Roman count has now reached 4 cohorts, and this batch are ready to go off to their new home<br />
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Cohort number 4- Foundry figures -<br />
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-28407516296540046142017-12-28T01:12:00.000+00:002017-12-28T01:12:24.935+00:00Not mine, but nice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These rather fabulous Warlord Dacians have appeared on my painting table. First off, I didn't paint them. They are the work of those clever folk from Reinforcements By Post run by that nice man Neil Kenneally in Bangladesh. They did all the excellent paintwork and they have just come to me in order to be based up so they match the Romans. Enjoy; lovely painting, my usual crappy photos don't even begin to do them justice.<br />
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Fairly mad poses from these, I based them with a mixture of 2 and 3 figures to a 40mm x 40mm base. Some figures were difficult to get 3 on a base, 4 was absolutely impossible. Nonetheless, I think they work just fine as they are.<br />
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Sheilds are transfers from Warlord/littleBig man Studios- they make so much difference.<br />
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Done a great job on the flesh, just as well, there are a lot of bare chested fellows on show, and their little tartan trousers are terrific- Rupert The Bear would happily wear them!<br />
I think these are basically just the Gallic Warriors set with some different heads plus some of the Dacian nobles set. No Falxmen in this lot.<br />
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-32228555750226963122017-12-18T13:16:00.003+00:002017-12-18T13:19:19.867+00:00Something a little different....The first of the RomansOne on-going project I have at the moment (and one which is going to go on for quite a long time!), is painting up a lot of Warlord Early Imperial Romans. Not for me, I might add, but fun nonetheless. Here are the first 2 cohorts- eventually I'll have a couple of Legions worth + all the Auxilia to do. So, quite a bit.<br />
I'm not doing this alone, thank God, but as part of a team of painters in order to accomplish this massive task.<br />
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I've always wanted to do an Early Imperial army, but have never actually got round to it, one of those situations common to just about every wargamer, we all have "those projects" I guess, so having the opportunity to paint one for someone else will hopefully get it out of my system.<br />
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Early Imperials have always been the "classic" Romans for me, Square Scutem, Lorica Segmentata, I suspect my like of them goes back to a bunch of Timpo figures I had when I was a youngster.<br />
The Warlord figures have been around for while, go together fairly easily, choices of sword-arm or pilum, a few different head choices. The ones in the pictures are a mixture of the basic set and the set sold as "veterans" - these give you a few extra choices - different heads and helmets, and battered shields. All the veterans have the additional magnia sword- arm armour a few legionaires adopted for the Dacian wars. Fortunately these are indeed for the Dacian campaigns so they will fit right in.<br />
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There are a few extra metal command figures mixed in- manufacturer unknown.<br />
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Anyway, I'm enjoying doing these, which is probably just as well, seeing as there are a few to paint! It makes for a good diversion from the WWII projects which I'm also doing for myself.<br />
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So thats a few Romans, Next up, I'll be showing some rather lovely Dacian tribesmen to oppose them<br />
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<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-70778733692145483112017-12-15T16:20:00.001+00:002017-12-15T21:29:46.122+00:00Reasons why this Chain of Command malarky must be pretty good<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you are reading this then you might have noticed that I have started to re-invigorate this erstwhile dormant blog, one of the main reasons for this has been my (rather late) discovery of these rules. A set of rules that has managed to achieve that after a seven year lay off is in itself no mean feat given my natural indolence.</div>
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Last night is a good micro example of why for me Chain of Command is a great set of rules and lives up to its recent accolade from WI of "Best game of 2017"; for me, that is literally so.</div>
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We had a game planned at the CLWS, just a vague pick up game of "medium" CoC, 2 German infantry platoons versus 1 BEF and 1 French infantry Platoon. Nothing special, but even as a simple game it was extremely tense, tough on both sides, and with neither really having any great advantage until the very end.</div>
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We plumped for a Delaying Action scenario, with the Allies deploying in a small village protected by a small wooded rise to the south of it, with an open flank to the west and the eastern side protected by walls and hedges</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>The view from the southern German approach</i><br />The forces were a slightly weird mix, 1 full strength early war German outfit, plus 1 German platoon with only 3 sections rather than 4. This meant the Germans were giving away a total of +3 support points.<br />The Allies had a full strength BEF platoon, on a minus 5 support points, plus a weakened (2 section) French platoon at minus 3 points. The net result was a massive 11 support point adjustment for the Allies.<br />Then the fun begins: Will, for the Germans rolls a 3 (three....) for the German side. So the net result was indeed 3 support points for the German and 12 for the defending Allies....ewwwww.<br />It actually turned out, in my opinion, to make for a really good game. What on earth could we take with our puny 3 points? We were sure to be up against armour of some sort...A flamethrower? decent choice but we'd be attacking so it would be tricky to use in an ambush role...an ATR plus perhaps a satchel charge? ...In the end we opted for 3 satchel charges, in order to spread some sort of AT ability around.<br />The only problem with 2 on 2 games of CoC is that they inevitably turn into 2 x 1 on 1 games, and this was no exception, doesn't really matter, and still worked out ok for us. However, it does mean that my knowledge of what went on on my right flank is a bit sketchy as I had my hands full to my front trying to winkle out the BEF from a collection of buildings. To be honest, I found it sort of added to the experience and emphasised how this truly is a platoon commanders game. Yes, bits of news and sounds of fighting filtered through to me, but generally I was concerned with doing my own job and not worrying too much about someone elses.<br />The plan was fairly simple, I was to fix the defenders by approaching and occupying the wooded rise while Will with the 3 section platoon swung right and went for the nearest (French) JOP which was tantalisingly close to our right flank.</span><br />
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<i>Early deployment: 1st section gets into defilade south of the village</i><br />And so it begun, this was going to be quite tough. The buildings facing south (me) had a decent field of fire, and the defenders in the upper storeys would be able to pop away from hard cover as soon as I crested the little rise, so I wasn't in too much of a hurry, I thought I'd get a couple of sections on, go tactical and advance up the rise, which is indeed what I did....meanwhile from my right I could hear a lot of firing (and quite a lot of swearing) from Will. I don't think things were going to well over there.</span><br />
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<br /><i>About to crest the rise</i>A few British had indeed deployed into the buildings to my front as I readied to "go over the top", off we went. I was indeed met by a hail of rifle and Bren fire, plus (horror) a Vickers gun opened up from one of the rear buildings on my right hand section. I took the odd casualty, and bit of shock, nothing too terrible, but I kept rolling 1's for my movement. I was going nowhere fast, taking a steady dribble of hits, and, by staying tactical, not putting any fire back on the enemy (Dave). Not good.<br />I dropped a couple of totally ineffective mortar rounds on the Vickers, came out of tactical with 1 section and traded fire with the section in the house but this simply wasn't working.<br />Most of the British fire was on my right hand section, the left hand one was safe from the murderous Vickers by virtue of a building blocking his LOS. What to do?<br />Sod it.<br />Pull back, rally up. Do it properly.<br />Meanwhile on the right things were not going well. 1 German section had been almost eliminated and some French armour had showed up. Questions such as "How do these satchel charges work?" were being asked. I hadn't inflicted any damage at all on the British and had 3 men dead for my trouble,Oh, and my mortar rolled a double 1....out of ammo. So I pulled back down the little rise.<br />Meanwhile, a Bren carrier had appeared on my left flank, and was trundling up the road to come and cause trouble.<br />A couple of rather indecisive phases passed, I ended up deploying all of my force now behind the riseand had racked up 3 CoC dice...there were some 40 odd German infantry milling about there, Jerry and Dave were rightly bemoaning the fact they hadn't taken a mortar in their support!<br />All the while the Bren carrier advanced, I'd pulled 2 of my sections to the left of the rise, which would allow them to get over it out of sight of the Vickers which would be blocked by the occupied house in front of them, but, the Bren carrier would also spot them. A third section moved tactically to the left to distract the carrier.<br />Then suddenly I had a brainwave..Smoke! doh! why hadn't I used this?<br />My senior leader expertly lobbed a smoke grenade to cover my left flank and the 2 sections on the rise tactically moved over, steeling themselves from the fire about to come their way from the occupied house to their front.</span><br />
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<i>About to go over a second time. Bren carrier threatens.Where's that smoke genade?</i><br />
Over I went. British turn.He opened up at close range with a Bren and a couple of rifles, and....I got away with it...He only managed to hit 1 rifleman and inflict a couple of points of shock.<br />
Then my turn: A double 6 plus a 4 and a couple of 3's..perfect! I returned the British fire with some 25 fire dice, got 17 hits, killed 3 or 4 British and inflicted a similar amount of shock, he was wobbly but not quite pinned, I also continued moving my left flank section up to distract the carrier. With my second turn from the double six I fired again...hitting the BEF section with another 25 dice...too much for him- the entire section was wiped out including the corporal. Much better.<br />
A loud bang and and a shout went up from my right flank. The lone surviving rifleman from Will's section had got forward, flanked the Souma and detonated his satchel charge! Things were looking up. I despatched my 4th section round to reinforce the right now that Will was making headway.<br />
Then the British turn, he rolled 3 sixes so the turn ended....my smoke evaporated....Gulp...The bren carrier and a section in the rear house started peppering my left hand section, The Bren carrier continued forward firing.. I took a couple of hits and several shock, I needed to get forward. In my phase the sergeant readied another smoke grenade and promptly rolled double 1! dropping it at his feet and enveloping himself in smoke. Nothing for it, The platoon sergeant ordered forward a rifleman with my only satchel charge, he ran to the Bren carrier, planted the charge and retired to safety. It was even the right figure to do it, he had a gold close assault badge on his little plastic arm! The charge went off and did absolutely nothing, didn't even scratch the carrier.<br />
I pushed forward with the left hand section despite taking fire from the carrier, I didn't really know what to do to be honest, but at that point the game was won on the right, the last French section broke, the German force morale was hanging on by a thread (Will was down to FM 1!)but in the ensuing tests I used a CoC dice or 2 and survived and the British morale gave way. I ended on FM 7<br />
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It was a thoroughly enjoyable game, so thanks to Will, Dave and Jerry for a good evening. I don't think I've managed to convey much of the tension that was in this game. The lack of support options for the Germans meant they had to do it the hard way. I don't think it would have been as much fun if the Germans had brought along a Stug or 2. I took 12 casualties but if this had been a campaign my losses wouldn't have been too bad after adjustment.<br />
Thinking about it, if we had been playing a game of say, Spearhead, or Command Decision, this entire game would have been about 3 or 4 die rolls between 4 stands.....<br />
So, it looks like I'm sold on Chain of Command.<br />
(Apologies for the lack of photos for this game, but I was having too much fun to remember to take many)Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-61798003925359441092017-11-30T11:37:00.001+00:002017-12-16T16:48:40.687+00:00Warlord Blitzkrieg infantry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0qtjhVSDUI/Wh_s4VWQ4pI/AAAAAAAABAI/6uigweziAzsRrU_XHLaGyuwI0an439MvACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1600" height="430" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0qtjhVSDUI/Wh_s4VWQ4pI/AAAAAAAABAI/6uigweziAzsRrU_XHLaGyuwI0an439MvACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1155.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Warlord Pioneers romping through the bunny fur<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-51mIULrybNA/Wh_tJKMk1CI/AAAAAAAABAM/rzMGniqA8VYWPcpAyQOwET2l4xdM7uEQQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-51mIULrybNA/Wh_tJKMk1CI/AAAAAAAABAM/rzMGniqA8VYWPcpAyQOwET2l4xdM7uEQQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1163.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fE5fiMp-bAI/Wh_tMn1dJ4I/AAAAAAAABAQ/t4UenUdFMGQ0fmaLah1qe2IK2PfHL0E1wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fE5fiMp-bAI/Wh_tMn1dJ4I/AAAAAAAABAQ/t4UenUdFMGQ0fmaLah1qe2IK2PfHL0E1wCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1161.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-59316248065425421742017-11-29T12:50:00.000+00:002017-12-16T16:48:00.521+00:00Warlord Germans...I had no idea....<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hp74HcVxj74/WjVNeAghSjI/AAAAAAAABBg/Y3mEzIV0bXMPJMqvkcs-w4bYMNfsT9mzACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1389" data-original-width="1600" height="554" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hp74HcVxj74/WjVNeAghSjI/AAAAAAAABBg/Y3mEzIV0bXMPJMqvkcs-w4bYMNfsT9mzACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1168.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/" target="_top">Warlord Stug III D</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1T78auq0PAE/WjVN36-v3JI/AAAAAAAABBk/CWWJWXpWU1crRpcbPN2TuNK0qDhMsvOOwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1600" height="322" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1T78auq0PAE/WjVN36-v3JI/AAAAAAAABBk/CWWJWXpWU1crRpcbPN2TuNK0qDhMsvOOwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1139.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Warlord infantry section</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">After years of slagging off 28mm WWII figures a combination of circumstances have led me to dip my toe in the water. To put it simply, I was pleasantly surprised, a lot of the figures I'd seen have been the late war, overly "heroic" (read: Fugly) style, which remain pretty horrible. Then I discovered these early war Warlord plastics, much different, presumably a different designer, nicely proportioned, and as with so many plastics these days, really cleverly designed in terms of pose compatibility within the sprues. I enjoyed putting together the plastics, took me back to the old Airfix multi-pose kits (remember them?) they fit together well, and have some cracking pose combinations.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Then the painting, great fun...a lot more to work with obviously than 20mm, and the overall design lends it to gaining a decent result with only moderate skill with modern paints and techniques.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">These I did with Vallejo block painting, then slopping GW Nuln oil all over, then a 2 layer highlight, before doing the flesh last (Vallejo sunny skin with a Lavado skin wash), my usual old lazy basing of PVA and sand +Army Painter Autumn tufts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">I'll talk about the Stugs a bit later.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">All this is for Chain of Command, I've found a group in London who play these terrific rules, so this lot will get their first outing next week. However, I have far grander plans for this lot in the future. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">More to come! </span></div>
Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-57436877206455125732017-05-30T23:00:00.001+01:002017-05-30T23:00:59.105+01:00Back? Well, I never actually went away.<br />
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Blimey, been a long time since I looked at this, lots has happened, both in life and in wargaming.<br />
Anyway, I will be re-visiting this blog. Maybe not as much as I did seven (7!!) years ago, but I feel now it would be fun to do a bit from time to time.<br />
The main reason for not keeping this blog up was that I'd pretty much run out of puff, so, hopefully now I should be able to capitalise on having had a long break to come up with a few things that some folk might be interested in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBbyo6AAsns/WS3qgQZqvZI/AAAAAAAAA9w/u9L24elslawA85MC7qZ0N7j8EzhiN2C8QCLcB/s1600/IMG_0663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OBbyo6AAsns/WS3qgQZqvZI/AAAAAAAAA9w/u9L24elslawA85MC7qZ0N7j8EzhiN2C8QCLcB/s400/IMG_0663.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nazis for Big COC currently on the workbench</td></tr>
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Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-42838865856345107372010-12-28T10:50:00.000+00:002010-12-28T10:50:15.959+00:00Chassuer pics and update<script src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/script.php?u=christot">
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4e-Gz6gI/AAAAAAAAAsA/bJ8NhqAaytI/s1600/WHC+last+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" n4="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4e-Gz6gI/AAAAAAAAAsA/bJ8NhqAaytI/s640/WHC+last+006.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> At the beginning of the month I made the trip up to the WHC for Gerry's birthday game, as I said before, a bit sad, as everything is going to close there and move to Basingstoke for next year. The event itself was however as much fun as it always is, thanks to all the players and of course Gerry for putting it on and Anne for putting up with 10 hungry gamers all week.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We played 3 games, an Eylau scenario which saw me playing Davout with a flank attack being faced off by Gerry who led me a merry dance fending off my infantry with repeated cavalry charges and lots of his pesky light infantry units ....I wasn't a huge fan of his new light infantry rules before and I'm less of one now!...to be honest, I don't mind the rules themselves but its the quantity of the units he is employing that I feel is colouring the game. The odd btn here and there would be fine, but with some formations having 3 or 4 of these each they can dominate. I don't think the staggered bases add much to the visuals either.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">That said, we had a great time, so who cares?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4tfsig1I/AAAAAAAAAsE/99J4Hppn3B4/s1600/WHC+last+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4tfsig1I/AAAAAAAAAsE/99J4Hppn3B4/s640/WHC+last+008.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Game 2, Friedland, saw me battering away at Herbert, quite a relaxed game. He wasn't coming forwards into my massed Russian gunline and I wasn't going to far forwards into the minefield defence he'd set up around a village. He had to wait until my flank was threatened and the position unhinged by (wait for it) copius quantities of Light btns romping through a wood on my right. Then I had to fall back slowly but he didn't have the strength to press his attack. The French weight was elsewhere on the other side of the river.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The final game was an 1813 "what if" - Spremberg, a normal game without the light btn rules etc, to be honest I enjoyed this the most despite the fact that we cocked up our deployment and had too much cavalry in the wrong place (in front of a redoubt, - although we didn't know it was there). Nonetheless we had a fine game.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm41vwckMI/AAAAAAAAAsI/mmuPDQfUQVE/s1600/WHC+last+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm41vwckMI/AAAAAAAAAsI/mmuPDQfUQVE/s640/WHC+last+018.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> A biggish project prior to Christmas was going down to the new WHC at Basingstoke to see Mark Freeth's new set-up..well, at the moment its a big, airy, empty unit! Not strictly true after me visit as I dropped of a very full van load of timber in order to help mark build the all important tables. I've volunteered my rudimentary carpentry skills to help him and we are going to start building in the new year. Should be pretty straightforwards but blimey, do you need a lot of wood!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">He finally has his website up and running so I said I'd pass it on here to any of you avid readers who hadn't seen it </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.wargameshc.co.uk/">http://www.wargameshc.co.uk/</a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">All sorts of stuff in there, lots of pics (some taken by me!) and info on the fairly packed programme he has prepared for 2011. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, if any of you fancy a big game weekend he deserves your support, I shall certainly be able to get over there more often in future. I timed the drive, door to door is less than an hour from West London! Big difference to the five hours each way to Scarborough.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4-m_DXqI/AAAAAAAAAsM/5ECmUqF4U2E/s1600/WHC+last+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TRm4-m_DXqI/AAAAAAAAAsM/5ECmUqF4U2E/s640/WHC+last+019.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Last, but not least a quick word about the photos, I realised I have no pics of Napoleon on this site....Now I thought that was a bit remiss considering the majority of stuff here is "Napoleonic". So a pic of him and his staff and naturally the accompanying regt of Chassuers to go with him. Mostly Connoissuer figures with a few Surens I think- all painted by Doug Mason and now all about to move from Yorkshire down South.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Anyway, Happy New Year to you all.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/stats.php?site=christot" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_top"><img align="middle" alt="Free Web Site Counter" border="0" hspace="4" src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/index.php?u=christot&s=bluesky" vspace="2" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/" target="_top"><span style="color: #666666;">Free Counter</span></a></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-57167228982681141982010-11-26T13:04:00.001+00:002010-11-26T13:11:11.824+00:00Austrian Dragoons by Doug Mason, and a bit of news<script src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/script.php?u=christot">
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-WIAom2fI/AAAAAAAAArs/JigzoZ2WHc8/s1600/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-WIAom2fI/AAAAAAAAArs/JigzoZ2WHc8/s640/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+020.JPG" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">I can't help but notice its been 7 weeks since I last posted here, I wish I could say that a lots happened wargames-wise in that time, but I'm afraid thats not the case. I've had little time for games or painting. My output has been insignificant; I've STILL got 4 lancers to finish for that regt, although all the horses are done and the rest are based and finished. On a positive note I am coming up to my annual quiet period in terms of work which is normally a productive painting period, so lets hope so. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">One thing I did manage was to get Mike Ingham to part with these dragoon figures painted by Doug Mason. I did nothing to them other than touch up the bases, they are the Elite figures. This gives me 2 regts of Dragoons now, plus the 2 hussar regts, and 1 lancer. I have one regt of 36 Chevaux legere (why give Austrian cavalry a French name?) still to paint- this will give 6 regts and a total of 240 cavalry.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">There are stiil the Cuiraissiers to consider,but they can wait.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-WWZ3Pb4I/AAAAAAAAArw/K2cAO6WKDig/s1600/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="626" ox="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-WWZ3Pb4I/AAAAAAAAArw/K2cAO6WKDig/s640/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+021.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>In 2 weeks time I will be heading up to Scarborough for Gerry's birthday bash which he has kindly invited me to. While I'm obviously looking forwards to this, it's also a bit sad as it will be the last time I will get to play 25mm napoleonics up there. Its not been any great secret that ill-health is forcing Mike to shut down the holdiday centre. Gerry is now well underway embarking on his own enormous - and I mean enormous!-10mm project (He already has erected a brand new, purpose-built "bunker" with about the same amount of table space as the current centre!). He is looking to replicate what they had in 25mm in 10mm in a couple of years- should be fascinating, and is going to be upping the figure scale so what was a 36 man btn now has a mental 108 figures. The man is nuts.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-Wqy2yN6I/AAAAAAAAAr0/pS9NtEeKuII/s1600/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TO-Wqy2yN6I/AAAAAAAAAr0/pS9NtEeKuII/s640/Austrian+dragoons+by+Doug+Mason+023.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Although some figures have been sold, the rest of the collection (which is still massive), including all the buildings and terrain is moving down to the Basingstoke area under the stewardship of Mark Freeth. I spoke to him this morning and he has new premises sorted, and is hoping to put his first game on in February! He said he should have a website up next week. He is going to be doing Napoleonics, plus ACW and Malburian, and has already rebased all the WWII stuff (!) for Flames of War. He has some new ideas and will hopefully breathe a bit of new life into the WHC. I wish him all the best, and am looking forwards to playing there (and its only an hour up the road!).<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/stats.php?site=christot" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_top"><img align="middle" alt="Free Web Site Counter" border="0" hspace="4" src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/index.php?u=christot&s=bluesky" vspace="2" /></a><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/" target="_top"><span style="color: #666666;">Free Counter</span></a></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-83150035760309022722010-09-26T13:23:00.002+01:002010-10-03T22:30:33.895+01:00WIP: Lancers<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><script src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/script.php?u=christot">
</script></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ83o4kaVVI/AAAAAAAAArg/581i_D6ZGbg/s1600/Austrian+lancers+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" px="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ83o4kaVVI/AAAAAAAAArg/581i_D6ZGbg/s640/Austrian+lancers+002.JPG" width="548" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">September has been a fairly hopeless month in terms of gaming, painting, and blogging I'm afraid. So, just in case you thought I'd jacked it all in I'll put up some pics of the Austrian lancers I don't seem to be able to finish. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Elite figures and horses with a few mounts from elsewhere (Connoisseur, Alban, Firing Line). </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ83vF2TG7I/AAAAAAAAArk/iWu0w_GM8b0/s1600/Austrian+lancers+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" px="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ83vF2TG7I/AAAAAAAAArk/iWu0w_GM8b0/s640/Austrian+lancers+001.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Bases obviously not done yet, still awaiting painting, brushing and grass bits. So far I've just done 32 out of what will be a massive 48 man regt - 8 squadrons of 6 figures. I picked the the third regt as I liked the red Czapka, plus the trumpeters apparently wore white ( though I've had trouble confirming this). Plenty of conversions and head twists, plus a few replacement heads from Firing Line. Lance pennons by GMB. There will be a standard bearer, although I'm not sure if Austrian light cavalry actually carried them in action. All the lances were soldered, and the officers sabres replaced. I also played about with some of the horses, teasing out manes and tails with the soldering iron to give them more movement. In the end, however, I decided life was too short. I might do this again for officers and the odd special, but otherwise.No. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ830hFoMXI/AAAAAAAAAro/FmifHPOKylQ/s1600/Austrian+lancers+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" px="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TJ830hFoMXI/AAAAAAAAAro/FmifHPOKylQ/s640/Austrian+lancers+003.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">I hope to get these finished this week, I guess I've had a bit of mid-project blues with the old Austrians. It will pass.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">I have also decided to give these chaps their own staff officer - seeing as they are such a big unit. I found a lovely Bicorne Uhlan officer, and I've tweaked him a bit- changed his sword arm, added a steel sabre and soldered a "flying" scabard onto him, again to impart a little movement. I'll post him when he is done. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/" target="_top"><span style="color: #666666;">Free Counter</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/stats.php?site=christot" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_top"><img align="middle" alt="Free Web Site Counter" border="0" hspace="4" src="http://beta.easyhitcounters.com/counter/index.php?u=christot&s=bluesky" vspace="2" /></a></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-84299948729005327702010-08-11T01:28:00.001+01:002010-08-11T01:30:07.027+01:00Duff-up in John's shed: The Austrian's first outing<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAV6gnZ45I/AAAAAAAAArI/mRUP0-t6CpY/s1600/johns+shed+5+049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAV6gnZ45I/AAAAAAAAArI/mRUP0-t6CpY/s640/johns+shed+5+049.JPG" width="640" /></a> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Things start to go wrong on the Austrian right- the line is in the process of being shot to bits</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I slipped up to Cambridge to John's shed for the day in order to get the Austrians actually on a table for the first time. There wasn't a massive amount of thought put into the game, it was just a bit of an excuse for a duff-up. John is easing his way back into Napoleonics after a lengthy lay-off so we wanted just a quick, low intensity game that wasn't going to tax the brain an awful lot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUmhRU7_I/AAAAAAAAAqo/4Ezwwh2GmG0/s1600/johns+shed+5+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="460" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUmhRU7_I/AAAAAAAAAqo/4Ezwwh2GmG0/s640/johns+shed+5+019.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Close up of the attack columns on the left. Everything fine at present (sausage roll in support)</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">It was a pretty straightforwards set-up, a village complex on the (Austrian) right, some skirmish buildings and walls on the left, a few woods in the centre. No big artillery platforms anywhere, French defending. We didn't have a huge amount of time so the French deployed quite far forwards,which didn't help the Austrian cause much. In retrospect we probably could have been a bit cleverer with the terrain, </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAT6TPm8iI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/XdD0Pfx9V2E/s1600/johns+shed+5+008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAT6TPm8iI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/XdD0Pfx9V2E/s640/johns+shed+5+008.JPG" width="592" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Panorama of the early stages</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The only decent area for cavalry was in the centre which unbalanced things somewhat. I concentrated the Austrian's new shiny hussar brigade there and the French had a regt each of Chassuers, dragoons and cuirraisier plus a horse btty. Each flank had an infantry division to take the respective village areas. The one on the right had a dragoon regt attached.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We used a variable morale system for the infantry, all btns were treated as 1st class line until they took their first morale test,where-upon they rolled to discover their true class: Austrians: 1 to 3- 2nd class line. 4 to 10 1st class line.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">French: 1 to 4 -2nd class line 5 to 7 1st class line, 8 to 10, veteran.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">French young guard: 1 to 5, veteran. 6 to 10 Elite.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">All cavalry was line and all artillery was 1st class. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Austrians fielded 1 infantry division of 2 Grenzer, 5 line btns with a 6lb btty and 18 skirmishers, these took the left flank. In the centre was a hussar brigade with 14 squadrons of hussars each of 6 figures.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">On the right was an infantry division of 6 line btns with a dragroon rgt of 6 x 6 man squadrons plus a 6lb btty and 12 skirmishers. All btns were 48 man strong. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUJP7zKGI/AAAAAAAAAqY/kS6vkLPEQgE/s1600/johns+shed+5+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="326" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUJP7zKGI/AAAAAAAAAqY/kS6vkLPEQgE/s640/johns+shed+5+010.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>5 battalions: should be enough to take a village, surely?</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUXSvftxI/AAAAAAAAAqg/-dq7RvTDnng/s1600/johns+shed+5+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="454" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAUXSvftxI/AAAAAAAAAqg/-dq7RvTDnng/s640/johns+shed+5+017.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Connoissuer French attempt to outflank the Austrian left</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The French had a 2 infantry divisions each of 6 x 36 supported by a 6lb btty, 24 chassuers and 18 skirmishers. One of each occupied each flank. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In addition they had a young guard division of 4 x32's plus a heavy cavalry outfit with 1 x 32 of dragoons and 32 cuirraisier with a 3 gun horse btty.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">All in all, I think the French were too tough for the poor old milkshakes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAU_QkoMBI/AAAAAAAAAqw/XveewoepczI/s1600/johns+shed+5+024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAU_QkoMBI/AAAAAAAAAqw/XveewoepczI/s640/johns+shed+5+024.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>The Austrian right develops</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Austrians trundled forwards, because of the speed of our set-up it meant the Austrians couldn't really get any artillery preparation, however they manfully pitched into the attack against each village. They actually did ok, they got forwards,got the guns into position and started to work towards their objectives.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In the centre the massed hussars nullified the french cavalry, a typical ding-dong Grand Manner cavalry scrap continued through the whole game. A lot of folk can't cope with the cavalry system in ITGM but the more I read of historical accounts the more they turn out like ITGM battles. Units go forwards, battle it out, retire, new ones go in, the original ones rally, go back. Its all about having local reserves. Both sides (typicaly) won the combats they should have lost, and lost the ones they "were certain" to win. The rest of the cavalry was squeezed on the extreme Austrian right, and this went a bit more to the script, with the Austrian dragoons making short work of a chassuer regt, which forced a couple of French btns into square and took them out of the fight for the village. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAVTDTathI/AAAAAAAAAq4/cnXh8Rft1UQ/s1600/johns+shed+5+037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAVTDTathI/AAAAAAAAAq4/cnXh8Rft1UQ/s640/johns+shed+5+037.JPG" width="598" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>A recent new acquisition: Classic Connoissuer infantry painted by Doug Mason, skulking in square.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">On the left a grenzer btn waddled in line through a wood on the the extreme flank, it never got anywhere for the whole game but it did tie down 2 French btns (a bit) so it wasn't a total waste of time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Meanwhile the asault against the skirmisher buildings and the walled compound went in. John concentrated a lot of fire on one unit (always a mistake in my book) but the size of the Austrian units allowed it to be shrugged off. I had some success at first and things were looking rosy.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAVqX6dDVI/AAAAAAAAArA/9PVMa51KSAo/s1600/johns+shed+5+046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="386" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAVqX6dDVI/AAAAAAAAArA/9PVMa51KSAo/s640/johns+shed+5+046.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>6lb battery supporting the Austrian right</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The French artillery btty retreated when charged and the lead 2 Austrian units crunched into a lone French btn manning the wall. In fact I had a bit too much success. The French btn routed after the first round of combat, with relatively light casualties. I would have much preferred for it to have stuck around for at least a second round of combat as I had 2 more btns to re-inforce with and the French had one. This would have allowed me to ruin 2 French units, as it was it meant the French just pulled back a bit, I couldn't exploit, and the 2 units I had in the front line were badly shot up. They took more and more fire from the flanks and that was about it for my attack on the left village.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGATtaDI34I/AAAAAAAAAqI/qbnAG4AMmL0/s1600/johns+shed+5+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGATtaDI34I/AAAAAAAAAqI/qbnAG4AMmL0/s640/johns+shed+5+006.JPG" width="558" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Hussars and Grenzer demonstrate in the centre</em></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">The right hand flank told a similar story, despite the dragoon's success I couldn't get sufficient force to bear on the village, I was reasonably successful at clearing the walls but couldn't find room to deploy those big Austrian firing lines. When I finally did, it being Austrian, it took so long to deploy that it was shot down before it could do much damage. Again, the Austrians after initial successes just couldn't finish off those Frenchies.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAWMJRbUgI/AAAAAAAAArQ/PB9jVo1i17E/s1600/johns+shed+5+053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TGAWMJRbUgI/AAAAAAAAArQ/PB9jVo1i17E/s640/johns+shed+5+053.JPG" width="612" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>High point for the left. The Austrians couldn't get over that wall.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Things were coming to close, dinnertime was approaching, and the Austrians had run out of steam. We called it a day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So in the end it was a suitably inauspicious start for the Austrian army, but then, as we all know, all troops get beat the first time out!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Good Lord!! I've just noticed...60,000 hits!!- does that mean I can have drink?) </div><br />
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</script> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://easyhitcounters.com/" target="_top"><span style="color: #666666;">Free Counter</span></a></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486634797266444464.post-20082718652850083842010-08-05T17:27:00.003+01:002010-08-05T17:44:26.442+01:00Hussar problem solved<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFra0S1EGdI/AAAAAAAAApY/gsEy-JjBsqs/s1600/Hussars+plus+storage+032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFra0S1EGdI/AAAAAAAAApY/gsEy-JjBsqs/s640/Hussars+plus+storage+032.JPG" width="480" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">I mentioned that while I was up at the Wargames Holiday Centre I was hoping to make a few purchases. Well,I did indeed, and here are a few pics of some of them. Mike has been selling off quite a few units this year in order to "slim down" the collection (for example, having nearly 180 x 36 man French btns seemed a bit OTT), and I hoped to buy a few units I'd always really liked. High on the list were these 2 regts of Austrian Hussars, 1 of 36 men and another of 48 (Wish they were both 48's).</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbLX5ROQI/AAAAAAAAApg/fQj4LfO-t2U/s1600/Hussars+plus+storage+028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbLX5ROQI/AAAAAAAAApg/fQj4LfO-t2U/s640/Hussars+plus+storage+028.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the problems I've always had with the Austrian army is the hussar uniform. Now I know they invented the things, but I've always thought the Austrian hussar uniform looked more at home in Billy Smart's Circus than on a battlefield. All that purulent bright green, stupid red trousers, and yellow plumes...Give them some long, floppy shoes rather than hussar boots and they would have looked better.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: small;">Subsequently I've never had any great desire to paint any. </span><span style="font-size: small;">So from years ago when I first saw these rather more subdued paint jobs they always appealed. </span><span style="font-size: small;">They are all wearing overalls and the green is (a more realistic) darker shade. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Despite this they are still suitably gaudy enough for hussars, with their red shabraques with yellow piping and either bright or dark blue dolmans.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbapi7SVI/AAAAAAAAApo/ixCIYjvNWnw/s1600/Hussars+plus+storage+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="412" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbapi7SVI/AAAAAAAAApo/ixCIYjvNWnw/s640/Hussars+plus+storage+020.JPG" width="640" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">They are (naturally) the Elite miniatures castings, painted and converted by Doug Mason. All the sabres are pins soldered into the hand and are very tough. Even after many years of service up in Scarborough I only had to replace 3 swords out of 84. Doug has done plenty of bends and twists to these figures. There are only 4 basic figures here, officer, trumpeter and 2 trooper figures, and he really has imparted an incredible sense of movement to the models which really look the part of hussars at full tilt</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbogKgmhI/AAAAAAAAApw/6Y7IhBvX4nQ/s1600/Hussars+plus+storage+024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrbogKgmhI/AAAAAAAAApw/6Y7IhBvX4nQ/s640/Hussars+plus+storage+024.JPG" width="548" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just did a minimal amount of work on the bases to blend them with my standard basing. Just an oilwash and highlight then some grass clumps added. I also gave them a quick new coat of gloss. I had contemplated giving them a matt coat, but they look infinitely better in their original gloss glory. I'm developing a bit of a theory about gloss V matt: Gloss varnish isn't terribly fashionable these days which is actually a bit wierd. There is no debate about it bringing out the colour and establishing a visual contrast between the figure and its base, this is simply optical fact. Nonetheless, a lot of folk "prefer" matt these days. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, my theory is, that gloss varnish makes well painted figures look even better and badly painted figures look even worse, while matt varnish just dulls everything down to a more median uniformity (no pun inteneded). So for Mr Average painter (like me, and most of you) we think our stuff looks better when we matt varnish it, because gloss just shows up all the cock-ups, while matt is more....forgiving.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, thats my theory. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">These figures were painted by someone who really knew what he was doing, and it shows up even better in the flesh than through the lens of my rather inadequate camera.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrb1nXwJDI/AAAAAAAAAp4/gTSwscQybb4/s1600/Hussars+plus+storage+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="374" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5tGkVNh8Eb8/TFrb1nXwJDI/AAAAAAAAAp4/gTSwscQybb4/s640/Hussars+plus+storage+027.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">These weren't the only figures I bought from Mike, there are more (I just kept peeling off the tenners until he said stop) but the rest will have to wait for another time.</span></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Chris Cornwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00266210916076524044noreply@blogger.com8