The Weekly Sitrep....Number 50

This is a peach of a book with some quite remarkable looking uniforms on display

The Royal Navy represented by H.M.S. Shannon besting one of the big Yankee frigates, the U.S.S. Chesapeake, despite the Americans not being aware that it was a duel resulting from a written request! 

"As the Chesapeake appears now ready for sea, I request you will do me the favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortune of our respective flags. The Shannon mounts twenty-four guns upon her broadside and one light boat-gun; 18 pounders upon her maindeck, and 32-pounder carronades upon her quarterdeck and forecastle; and is manned with a complement of 300 men and boys, beside thirty seamen, boys, and passengers, who were taken out of recaptured vessels lately. I entreat you, sir, not to imagine that I am urged by mere personal vanity to the wish of meeting the Chesapeake, or that I depend only upon your personal ambition for your acceding to this invitation. We have both noble motives. You will feel it as a compliment if I say that the result of our meeting may be the most grateful service I can render to my country; and I doubt not that you, equally confident of success, will feel convinced that it is only by repeated triumphs in even combats that your little navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of that trade it can no longer protect. Favour me with a speedy reply. We are short of provisions and water, and cannot stay long here."

— Philip Broke, original message edited by James and Chamier 1837

Apologies for the delay in bringing this auspicious edition of the Sitrep to the blog - well it is number 50 in any event!

I have been rather caught up in a veritable smorgasbord of matters ACW, Spencer Smith and the age of sail - not to mention planning terrain and also the first game using the newly completed 30mm collection.

I have finalised what I will be acquiring for the ACW collection and the order will be going in over the weekend to that very nice man at Spencer Smith. I am also tinkering with left over figures from this collection with a view to seeing what they can be turned into with a little work - rather like gamers used to do back in their plastic heyday. You will have seen the very useful looking fez wearing gentleman from a couple of posts ago, well I am messing around with some other figures to see what I can come with as, needless to say, there are some cunning plans in the mix.

Thoughts of terrain for the 30mm collection are now front and centre as virtually all the pieces I own are really designed for use with much smaller figures. I am opting to use 2D/3D stylised buildings so I need to experiment with some ideas. The problem with using larger figures is of course that inevitably the table footprint of any scenery is larger. In many ways what I am planning will be almost 'cartoon' style and so will doubtless offend the purist. I have probably long since been denounced for modelling heresy so I will not worry too much about that!

The Age of Sail was originally going to be a winter project and indeed, it may well still be but I must get some terrain organised for the ACW first of all. In respect of the project I have in mind something that will also give me a good excuse to dabble in some associated land actions. Originally I was thinking about the Adriatic or the Mediterranean but instead I am looking to the war of 1812 against the US of A. The naval side will be quite low level in terms of numbers and is also very well supported in terms of the written word. I would not have to worry about building up great fleets of battleships for the war so the model count can be kept quite low - an important consideration when one considers rigging etc! Inevitably thoughts of the war of 1812 led me to looking at the land side and in truth, whilst it is a war I know very little about (aside from the war at sea and that is also rather limited) it does tick a lot of boxes in respect of the size and variety of forces in use. From what I have seen a number of troops could pass muster from a Napoleonic set up and indeed, paint conversions would cover a multitude of things if the above book I acquired is anything to go by.

There is also a number of figures produced by Spencer Smith that could be used quite readily....

I am now on the hunt for a good account of the war from the land side so if any readers have any recommendations please let me know.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 49

I am really disappointed with myself for running out of the above!

Last week was very nautically themed with the age of sail taking precedence, closely followed by the American Civil War. There was also a dash of Napoleonics thrown in for good measure - more of which in later post.

I was all set to varnish the 30mm ACW artillery last night when I made the startling discovery that  had exhausted my supply of superglue! This is really bad as I usually have half a dozen or so tubes in stock but no, none were to be found. I shall rectify this today and so the varnishing of the artillery can take place this evening. This means that I will be in a position to hold the much threatened photo shoot of the completed collection over the coming weekend.

From a practical standpoint I have been giving much thought to the subject of terrain for the ACW collection, starting with the need for a gridded playing surface. I am not going down the Hexon route as whilst it is very good I found it a royal pain setting it up and dismantling it when not in use. I would prefer a mat based option for the playing surface with terrain added as required. Using a mat with 4" hexes would allow me to make use of some of the rather nice Hexon pieces so my thoughts are very much heading in this direction. Having said that I am still pondering using squares rather than hexes - an option that would have a number of practical advantages, especially for the naval side.

As it stands I would need three such mats - one green, one desert and one for the sea. I have a couple of GW vinyl gaming mats - one green and one sand - that could readily be pressed into service if I wanted to grid them. To be honest I am loath to do this as they are perfectly fine as they are.

My mention of matters age of sail related of course is in reference to the forthcoming release of Black Seas by Warlord Games. I have had a rethink about this and so will now be looking to add some 74s to the mix - not many though - but the first order of business will be to tackle the smaller stuff. My plan is to make a tentaive start on these once the ACW collection is off the painting tray.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 48

Complete with nautical niceness - and actually not a bad read this month either! (Not that I buy this very often....)

Saturday just gone saw my 59th birthday arrive and herald what was a very busy weekend. SWMBO and I headed up to Norwich to celebrate my brother in laws's 70th birthday with a grand family Sunday lunch. I say grand intentionally as his four children and their partners (with the sole exception of the New Zealand contingent that were over for a couple of weeks and were represented by his daughter and one of her two children) and a number of grandchildren were also present, as well as a very well behaved dog! As we were also visiting other family the weekend seemed to consist of getting in and out of the car, drinking numberless cups of tea or coffee and saying hello and goodbye. Aside from driving through a part of the city itself we did not get a chance to do anything 'touristy'.

Laurel's stepfather whom we visited on Saturday has at long last realised an lifelong intention to assemble a HO:OO model railway. Needless to say this was of interest and so I passed an hour or so looking at his progress thus far and comparing notes about terrain. He had some quite wonderful card terrain pieces that I was very taken with and I came away with a spare catalogue of the same and plenty of inspiration for scenic ideas. Undeterred by the fact that he and his culinary expert of a wife live in a converted cowshed with but a single bedroom he has set up his railway in a rather ingenious way. The whole thing - about the size of a double bed - is suspended from the bedroom ceiling and can be lowered or raised by the use of a ropes and pulleys on either side. Quite what his wife makes of having the Flying Scotsman and assorted other engines over her head I never did find out....

We arrived home around 5pm yesterday and after the inevitable unpacking and a much needed cup of tea I was able to get back to the 30mm ACW guns. I have taken a slight step back with these although it has not impacted on progress. I was not happy with some of the odd pieces of metal present here and there so I took an emery board and knife to them - not in a massive way - to complete the clean up. They now look far tidier and I was able to repaint the offending areas as well as the wheels. All I need to do now are the wheel rims, some carriage fittings and the gun barrels and they will be ready to varnish. I am torn between drilling out the muzzles and then painting the inside black or just putting a black spot there instead. I will get the carriages finished first and then decide. In any event I am looking to have these completely finished by the weekend when I shall carry out the grand photoshoot.

Wargames Illustrated October 2019 (number 384) is now out and contains a warship sprue from their forthcoming game of Napoleonic naval combat: Black Seas. This is due to be released this month and if the models I have in my possession are anything to go by they alone would justify buying the game. I purchased two copies of the magazine which gave me a sprue with a single frigate and one with  two smaller vessels. They look very nice indeed and the modellers amongst us could really produce something special looking with them.

Now here is a plea. If any readers of this blog routinely buy Wargames Illustrated and have no use for the model please let me know and I would certainly take it off your hands!

Many thanks in advance.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 47

Not a great picture for sure but you can see the overall style. An earlier post on the blog explained the story in more detail.

The 30mm ACW collection infantry, cavalry and gun crews are finished! This has been a wonderful project to run and it would not have been possible but for the generosity of Old Painter Bob - Bob Kett of 20mm Crimean War Wargaming & Other Stuff fame. If you have a passion for what I call 'new old school' wargaming then his blog is a great place to spend a few hours browsing.

I first became acquainted with Bob via my ongoing disposal of Eric's collection - particularly the Minifigs element, of which he is a fan. During our various email exchanges (as well parcels flying backwards and forwards) I mentioned about my 30mm Spencer Smith ACW Kurz and Allison project, for which I had acquired the figures. At this point he mentioned that he had started an ACW collection using both metal and plastic Spencer Smith figures - some painted and some still in the raw plastic - that was now surplus to requirements so would I be interested in them?

The parcel duly arrived and I was frankly gobsmacked by the contents. I quickly decided that the plastic element would be surplus to requirements and so these were passed on to a gentleman in Wales. The metal element was painted exactly in  the style I was planning although not strictly in the Kurz and Allison fashion. they were however, close enough as makes no difference. The collection would need completing - at least to bring up to the strength I initially planned - and I had for the most part sufficient figures already to do so but there was a minor problem. The figures that Bob had used for the Confederates were not the same as I had planned to use so a small order was sent to Spencer Smith for the correct versions. Picky I know but bear in mind I was after a stylised and wooden look for the two armies.

Then came the moment of magic.

As a throwaway comment I nonchalantly asked Bob if would not mind painting up the extra figures I needed so that I could replicate the contents of the board game Battle Cry. To my delight, surprise and eternal gratitude he agreed to do so and so now my painted collection stands at 44 infantry, 6 gunners, 9 cavalry and three guns a side.

The figures needed rebasing as Bob used multiple bases and I wanted the figures individually based using MDF. This has now been completed and a few bits and pieces of touching up have been undertaken - nothing serious, just the inevitable wear and tear of the odd paint chip.

I have gone for 25mm circular bases for the foot and 'pill' shaped 25mm by 50mm bases for the mounted troops. These were sealed in matt varnish, given two cots of Humbrol Satin 131 and then matt varnished. When I post the pictures you will see what I mean.

On the subject of pictures I apologise that there are no pictures of the refurbished models yet. This is simply because by the time I get home in the evening the light is really poor and taking indoor shots under artificial light makes for horrible images. I really need natural daylight to show the figures in their best light. I may be able to get some pictures this weekend but I am going away for a family do first thing Saturday morning so it may be a little rushed. In any event I need to finish the guns for the crews to man. The picture above is of the figures that Bob had painted in their original guise so you can see what I mean by the technique. All I have done is to rebase and freshen them up.

In closing I would like add a couple of things. I am sure that most readers of this blog have been the either the recipient or benefactor of a fellow gamers abandoned project. This can be large or small and may or not involve goods or monies changing hands. This in itself is one of the great things about our hobby in that for most part we are generous souls. An extension of this is when a gamer uses their own time to assist in another gamer's project - often to the detriment of their own pursuits. This is altogether a different order of generosity and so these two reasons - material goods and time I would like to extend my most grateful thanks and appreciation to Bob.

Well done that man!

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 46

September of course means the Skirmish show and whilst I did not take many pictures I was rather taken with this 54mm Mexican Revolution game organised by Skirmish Wargames. The information sheet said 'please take one' so naturally I did!

The rules are homegrown and the figures are from various sources and feature a number of very nice conversions. The buildings have appeared on many a stricken field over the year!

Apologies for the quality of  the pictures but I hope they give you a good feel for what was happening.

Now I am embarrassed to admit that whilst I have seen this club on numerous occasions at Skirmish (usually fighting games on a grid) I cannot for the life of me remember who they are! This time it was the Spanish Civil War using Peter Pig's Bayonet and Ideology rules and 15mm models. I really liked the way that the square grid was marked out using flocked dots to mark the corners. 

Messing about on the river (well watching it anyway) - dinghys, canoes, kayaks and paddle boards doing what they do best. Also available was the cheapest cream tea I have ever seen at £1.20 each!

A busy week for sure and a lot happened!

Work on the ACW 30mm collection is moving along nicely and the bases for the Union and Confederate infantry, gun crews and mounted command are now at the varnishing stage. The cavalry of both sides has had the first coat on their bases and so I am expecting to have them ready for varnishing alongside the rest of the collection in the next couple of days. There is a degree of minor touching up on some of the figures - mainly just some exposed metal here and there - which will need to be done before the gloss varnish can be applied. I have had a change of heart and am now going with matt varnish for the bases rather than the shinier alternative. Once all this has been done I can finish off the artillery pieces. All they need is some gloss varnish, 'blacking' of the muzzles (I was going to drill these out but am now not going to bother) and painting of the wheel rims to be ready. I am quite pleased with the progress so far although it has taken me longer than I anticipated.

Something for a little later and worthy of a Portable Wargame set up or even a Memoir '44 variant

Yesterday saw my second visit of the year to the Skirmish show held at the Sidcup and Chislehurst Grammar School. It is always a good way to spend half a day and I was able to catch up with the core of Postie's Rejects - Ray, Lee and of course Postie himself. the pictures tell most of the story and my only purchase was a copy of Antony Beevor's The Battle for Spain in hardback for £6 which I was very pleased with.

The afternoon saw SWMBO and I attending the local Hullbridge Regatta. Now Henley it is not so no straw boaters or jugs of Pimms in evidence but it was a nice afternoon by the river and with the pleasure of listening to a really good local blues band belting out some very good Santana covers.

All in all a productive week and weekend.

The Weekly Sitrep....Numbers 44 and 45

The bridge at Clyst St Mary - scene of a battle and the subsequent slaughter of some 900 Devon and Cornwall rebel prisoners

An oversight on my part for sure - I managed to forget to write this last week following on from my ACW collection post so apologies for the delay!

From Wednesday of last week SWMBO and I headed west to stay near our friends place just outside of Exeter. For a variety of reasons we did not get out and about very much other than the daily six minute drive from the b and b we were staying at to their house although a couple of walks with the family dog did take place. We stayed at small Devon village called Clyst St Mary and the significance of this is that there was not only a battle fought there but also a subsequent massacre in 1549 during the Prayer Book Rebellion. The whole area of the rebellion is within that locale and being Devon is still relatively untouched or developed although Exeter itself seems to be getting bigger.

Whilst I have not explored the area of the campaign, nor indeed the campaign itself, in any great detail (I have driven though or arond the area many times) it is something I would like to do in due course as it took place over a fairly compact area amongst some wonderful Devon countryside. Even the place names that featured in the Rebellion sound evocative and, well, country like: Fenny Bridges, Ottery St Mary, Clyst St Mary, Sampford Courtenay, Crediton and Woodbury Common - all solid rural sounding place names.

From a gaming perspective I recall a number of years ago my old friend Chris Hardman et al were involved in running a game based on the rebellion with the royal army consisting of Italian Arquebusiers, Landschneckts and German troops against bluff and hearty Cornish and Devon yeoman featuring longbows and bills etc. I will have to ask Chris about the game as it was a while ago.

I discovered, after some trawling of the net, that an article by Andy Callan appeared in Miniature Wargames Number 13 and featured a solo campaign game for the rebellion and this was used to very good effect on the following blog: Heretical Gaming written by JWH.

As an aside the other rebellion from the same year - that of Robert Kett in Norfolk - also has a personal connection in hat my sister in law and her family live walking distance from the rebel camp at Mousehold Heath near Norwich. 1549 was a busy year on the rebellion front!

Work will resume on the 30mm ACW collection this evening and I am aiming to have the whole lot finished, photographed and blogged over the course of next weekend. When this is done I will need to think about the accompanying naval elements but I have a couple of plans in mind for this - more of which later.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 43

 I remember the TV series of Michael Wood's book and I have been in search of a hardback version for ages. The paperback is of a subject I am hugely fond of - both the island itself and of the WW2 story. I had not seen this book and so have immediately started a trawl for a hardback version!

What a weekend! Aside from the blistering heat there was an epic test match with a stunning victory over the Aussies, Chelsea secured their first win in the Premier League under Frank Lampard, we had a family day out with my grandson by the sea catching crabs (11 in total) with a hand line, my son knocked up a barbecue extravaganza and SWMBO and I even managed to sneak in a boot sale visit!

Dare I say it? PHEW!!

On the gaming front I managed to get a lot of sorting out attended to and the disposal of Eric's 20mm WW2 collection has begun. I also managed to get rather a lot of packing finally taken care of although there was some issues with the courier which continue to delay matters slightly. Nothing serious, just a combination of a WiFi handset and poor broadband being the likely offender.

The decks have been cleared for when the ACW 30mm collection arrives and in truth, the fourth quarter of this year will be something of an ACW fest as I am really keen to get some games in and to make a start on the ship models I am planning.

The two purchases you see above came from our preferred local boot sale and meant spending £1.50 for the two. My recent acquisition of Command and Colours: Medieval is set in the same time frame as Michael Wood's book although of course the warfare was very different. The Ariadne Objective features the personalities of the underground resistance to the German occupation on Crete during WW2. It looks good in an 'Ill Met by Moonlight' or 'Guns of Naverone' kind of way.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 42

A Russian machine gun in action. I always liked the Airfix version of this.

Slightly later this week due to a couple of domestic commitments - nothing serious, just 'life' stuff.

I have sorted out the unpainted 20mm WW2 Germans and Russians from Eric's collection and will try and get some pictures up over the bank holiday weekend. As mentioned previously the Germans are in winter garb and the models have been organised into an Atlantic Wall Fortress formation. Based on Rapid Fire there is an infantry battalion with artillery and anti tank support (crews only) and a brace of ground mounted 20mm cannons.

The Russians have what Eric described as a Scout platoon of around hundred or so figures and around 150 infantry of various sorts including two calibres of mortar and that wonderful looking Maxim machine gun complete with a shield and wheels.

All of the WW2 figures are unpainted and I shall be looking to list these on eBay over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend. In the meantime though, should anyone have any questions about them or be interested in acquiring any of the models let me know.

Mention of Eric's collection (the 18th century this time) has reminded me that I can now happily report that all except for the smattering of Napoleonics are packed and ready to go to their new homes. I amusing a courier for these and the only time I can drop them off is at the weekends which makes for a minor delay but against the scale of the projects being planned would probably be small beer! It will be a relief to clear a big chunk of the loft floor, albeit temporarily!

"If you go down to the woods today!" - watch out for the hordes of native Americans and their budget price haircuts! 

My copy of the French and Indian War expansion for Hold the Line by Worthington Games arrived and so completes the 18th century American set up. The expansion includes additional rules and scenarios - including some more for the American Revolution featuring the French - as well as more terrain tiles. there are a hundred plastic 20mm figures including a complete French army, some more militia, woodland Indians and some Roger's Rangers. As mentioned previously it is possible to buy some Hessian Grenadiers and Highlanders from the Plastic Soldier Company so I may add these at some point.

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow.. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilisation gone with the wind..."

The biggest news of the week though concerns my 30mm ACW Spencer Smith Kurz and Allison inspired toy soldier collection. The remaining figures have been completed and all being well will be in my hands over the next week or so. I am really excited about this and so the decks are being cleared to undertake the basing required and then I can get them into action. With this in mind I suspect that the forth quarter of the year will be very ACW facing so I had best get on with making some ships.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 41

20mm WW2 German cavalry and artillery support from the collection of Eric Knowles

The great sort out of Eric's collection continues with the recently delivered 20mm WW2 collection taking centre stage although the 18th century has not been forgotten.

Both the Germans and the Russians contained a portion of painted figures - you may recall my mentioning that this has been a feature of Eric's WW2 collection - with have been separated out and will be heading to their new home in due course. Eric seemed to used units as 'works in progress' so it appears to be quite common for him to have a box of figures or vehicles etc with painted and unpainted elements housed together. The opposite was true for the 18th century kit as all the unpainted stuff was kept away from what was ready to use. Thinking about it there is a kind of logic in this in that most WW2 units tend to be smaller and more sub unit focused than the regiments of the 18th century. Adding a platoon here or there for a WW2 set up - especially in the Rapid Fire world - is usually a darned sight easier that whole companies or battalions!

In this part of the collection (bearing in mind this is probably only quarter of the whole thing) Eric had organised a late war German Fortress formation, complete with support, a German cavalry unit that could operate throughout the war, a horde of Russians (including Partisans) that could serve at either end of the war including support, an American late war armoured infantry unit with support and finally a late war Japanese infantry formation. In each case there are no model guns or vehicles as these were organised separately by Eric and are probably in with the models I have yet to receive.

A rather portly German NCO....

....and the 'real' thing portrayed by Gert Frobe in the D Day epic, the Longest Day.

The painted cavalry you see in the picture above has roughly the same again unpainted and still in unit sized bags. As mentioned they will be heading off to their new home in due course. Coincidentally, at least as far as the figure you above is concerned, I had been watching The Longest Day over the course of last week in which Gert 'Goldfinger' Frobe appeared and upon whom the rather portly NCO is modelled on. Bob Cordery also mentioned that this figure was based on the German actor and that it had been used in numerous games of Megablitz as a supply marker.

I rather like the infantry guns Eric used as well for the supporting artillery.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 40

A less than inspiring looking cover (the boards are slightly warped as well as the water staining) but what can it be? Read on to find out....

A rather more productive week than of late - and a couple of boot sale bargains as well!

The Minifigs 25mm Marlburian collection is now listed on eBay on a 'but it now' basis but I will be amending the listing to separate out the individual units. I have seen similar styles of listing elsewhere and as soon as I have found out how to do it I will amend the same. I will be happy to sell off individual units so if you see anything of interest or have any questions let me know.

The listing can be found as follows:

Minifigs 25mm Marlburian Figures

I will be taking delivery of Eric's unpainted 20mm WW2 collection this evening - around some eight crates worth - so will be busy over the next few weeks sorting it all out. Once I have a handle on the scope and scale of the collection I will of course post to the blog. Bill reckons that a large portion f the infantry is Wargames Foundry which makes a degree of sense as they launched their 20mm range around the time that Eric ventured into WW2 in an Eric way i.e., substantially! As well as infantry there are vehicles (mostly metal with some resin types) and artillery so it will be interesting to see what he has. If the thoroughness of his late 17th and 18th century collections are anything to go by then this will be a pretty comprehensive set up.

Research for the pirate project continues and I think I am pretty close to finalising the land side. I intend using the figures for what I like to think are 'narrative skirmish' games. I envisage using around 40 to 50 figures a game although on occasion it will scale upwards depending on the scenario I am gaming. The plan is to have character figures operating individually whilst the rank and file typically run around in units. I shall be attending SELWG and hope that Foundry will be there as I should be able to get the extra figures I need to complete the collection.

We visited our local boot sale yesterday and I managed to come away with a couple of bargains. To be honest pickings have been very slim this year so I was very pleased to pick up a brand new leather case for my Kindle for £1 and a copy of the book you see above. To be honest the book itself is in what would be called at best a reading copy or else acceptable as it is a little ragged around the edges. However that is a minor consideration as not only is it possible to obtain a digital copy but it is in print courtesy of the Folio Society.

The opening pages - note the very serious looking Frenchman....

The Buccaneers of America by Alexandre Exquemelin is one of the most important sources for the activities of pirates in the 17th century. This is something that will be really useful for my project and so the 50p I paid for it is certainly money well spent. I have seen far better Folio Society editions on eBay for quite modest amounts so will look to replace this copy in due course.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 39

The Minifigs Sitrep

Not quite "Eleven miles in this disastrous heat" (you can a point if you know what film that is from) but after a week of stifling temperatures and the associated lethargy it was a relief to finally be able to get back to the much cooler man cave at the weekend.

I had a number of things to tend to and am happy to say that I made a reasonable amount of progress.

To begin with the 30mm Spencer Smith ACW figures are now off their multiple bases and as soon as the remainder are available I will be able to rebase them all ready for action. I also had a check on my scratch building supplies in readiness for making the ships to accompany them and have identified a couple of shortfalls which I need to address - nothing major but I am glad I spotted it sooner rather than later.

I was also able to start the packing exercise for the Minifigs Seven Years War collection before it heads off to its new home. This is a big undertaking even allowing for the fact that half of it has already gone. I was also able to list and photograph all of the Minifigs Marlburians and so I thought it might be of interest to share the list with you.

Eric routinely mixed figures in his units and also used horses from other manufacturers on occasion. He was also fond of command groups and often converted junior officers and NCOs to the extent that a typical infantry unit (averaging anything from twelve to forty eight figures) would often field a command group comprising a quarter of the units overall strength. Cavalry units were not quite so bad and he often used three or four figures with a total strength of anything between twelve or twenty four figures. Very early on in the process I agreed with Bill that units were not to be broken up although this has proven necessary with things like gun crews. Eric liked large gun crews and so these would range from three figures at the battalion gun level through to twelve or even more figures for siege artillery.

The list of Marlburian figures uses the unit identifications that Eric employed although for convenience I have lumped gun crews together. It is worth pointing out that this list is probably around half the size of the Seven Years War collection and I hope it will give you some idea of the scale of the undertaking. I have often spoken about x number of crates but this list will show a part of what I have been dealing with.

France

1. Hussar Regiment Rattsky - 18 mounted
2. Hussar Regiment Versailles - 18 mounted
3. Infantry Regiment Soissonais - 28 foot
4. Infantry Regiment Touraine - 28 foot
5. Engineers - 13 foot

Holland

6. Gunners - 53 foot
7. Engineers - 12 foot

Denmark

8. Infantry Regiment Prins Georgs - 37 foot
9. Infantry Regiment Prins Karls - 37 foot
10. Greandiers - 34 foot
11. Gunners - 27 foot
12. Grenadiers (British) - 44 foot
13. Garde du Corps - 16 mounted

Austria

14. Infantry Regiment Moltke - 35 foot
15. Infantry Regiment Hech und Deutschmeister - 35 foot
16. Infantry Regiment Arenberg - 35 foot
17. Infantry Regiment Merci - 35 foot
18. Grenadiers - 24 foot
19. Infantry in Greatcoats - 38 foot
20. Gunners - 28 foot

Spain

21. Grenadiers - 35 foot

Brandenburg Prussia

22 Garde du Corps - 18 mounted

Bavaria

23. Cuirassiers Haraucourt - 18 mounted
24. Cuirassiers Beavau - 18 mounted

Turkey

25. Sipahis of the Porte - 36 mounted
26. Tartar Horse Archers - 18 mounted
27. Janissary Shot - 25 foot
28. Janissary Command and Pike - 53 foot
29. Gunners - 32 foot
30. Command - 21 foot
31. Engineers - 32 foot
32. Tartar light horse - 14 mounted
33. Tartar light horse - 15 mounted
34. Jezzailachies (line Infantry) - 52 foot

Poland

35. Cuirassiers - 14 mounted
36. Cuirassiers - 15 mounted
37. Ukrainian Cossacks - 14 mounted, 11 foot
38. Lisowski Cossacks - 14 mounted
39. Militia - 33 foot
40. Gunners - 18 foot
41. Frontier Irregulars - 22 foot

It is perhaps worth pointing out that what is listed above is merely the Minifigs component of the respective forces mentioned. The additional units making up the respective forces consisted of Foundry, Essex, Dixon, Hinchliffe and even the odd Higgins/Hinton Hunt. With the possible exception of the Turks (even they would need artillery) all of the above would need to have additional units added to get them up to fighting strength if one was going down the historical route but as the basis for an imagi-nation set up this little lot would form a cracking starting point.

To save you reaching for the calculator the above adds up to the following:

Foot: 877
Mounted: 246

There is around another 100 or so foot and 10 or so mounted so you may as well say 1,000 foot and 260 mounted.

However you dress it up it there is a lot of metal there!

The above collection is currently being reviewed by a potential buyer but in the meantime should anyone be interested in any of the above please contact me.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 38

Holly, our daughter, Laurel and I on the occasion of Holly's graduation. Pimms for the ladies  whilst yours truly supped on a very nice summer ale, the name of which escapes me.

It has been a busy and eventful week for a number of reasons. The main news was the graduation of our daughter, Holly. he has just completed a four year combined honours degree in art and psychology at the University of Reading, gaining a 2:1 (and a vast amount of student loan as well....) as reward for her efforts. For a variety of reasons (other than being her dad of course!) I am properly proud of her and what she has overcome along the way and achieved and am not ashamed to admit it was a teary eyed and proud dad that watched her take part in the graduation ceremony! It was a wonderful day and even the best efforts of the M25 (over three hours each way - it normally takes just under two) and the morning rain could not dampen our spirits.

The last of the Minifigs Seven Years War figures have found a new home and so will be heading off during the course of this week. The Marlburians are hopefully next but I need to finish sorting these out for listing and photographing. Then I can think about Eric's WW2 collection which should be arriving soon.

I have landed myself with a rather delicious dilemma. To cut a long story short I shall be taking delivery of a collection (unpainted naturally) of Foundry 28mm pirates and also some of their old El Dorado range of Conquistador types. The pirates are most welcome although it does mean that tackling the same in 15mm as originally intended will not now take place. I shall still be using the Peter Pig ships and possibly even the Pieces of Eight rules using a single 28mm figures in place of a base.

The El Dorado range would normally be associated with the Spanish (visions of painting hordes of Aztecs has been giving me sleepless nights!) but, being the typically unfashionable gamer that I am I have decided that if I ever get around to doing something with them they will instead be Portuguese. The main reason for this is that they went South and East whilst the Spanish went West meaning that the variety of opposition is rather more interesting. I am thinking something along the lines of Lion Rampant or the Pikeman's Lament for the rules but lets see where my thoughts and research take me.

As part of my piratical research I was able to acquire a modest selection of books from the all round good egg that is Tamsin Piper. Rather embarrassingly these books were the same ones I had disposed of in the other direction a few years ago - we had a chuckle about this when we met and put it down to the cyclical nature of gaming projects! Many thanks once again Tamsin for taking the time out to meet up.

Great fun - what I would call a 'Sunday afternoon' film

Although slightly earlier than the pirate period I am looking at I finally got around to watching the two classic Errol Flynn films: Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk. It is hard to believe that I have never seen these - at least I do not remember having done so - but at long last I now have. Alongside of watching these I am also reading the complete works of Rafael Sabatini as both of the films were based on his novels of the same name - the latter very loosely - this was real a shame in my opinion as the novel The Sea Hawk would make a great film in its own right. Sabatini of course also penned Scaramouche - "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad" - which is one of my favourite films starring Stewart Granger as Andre Moreau and featuring a quite thrilling sword fight ast its climax.

Work on the Last Crusade scenarios has moved along slowly but I am getting there. I am hoping to run the first action at some point next month so will keep you posted.

The Weekly Sitrep....Numbers 36 and 37

With apologies to any New Zealand readers....

First of all apologies for the delay in the last Sitrep - I was kind of caught up with the aftermath of COW as well as the ongoing sort out in the man cave and other 'stuff'.

First of all congratulations to both the England Cricket Team on their World Cup victory and also Lewis Hamilton for the British Grand Prix. The cricket was incredibly tense at the end and New Zealand were desperately unlucky to lose. I am sure I am not alone in wondering why watching any England  team in a final or a championship of some kind is so painful!

The final phases of the disposal of Eric's unpainted 25 mm late 17th and 18th century collection are well underway. The portion that will be listed on eBay has been crated up (there are four in all) and the rest of the Minifigs are set to one side. The Marlburians are in the process of being photographed and listed and the remaining Seven Years War figures are currently under consideration. I shall be tying up with Bill the arrangements for taking delivery of the 20 mm WW2 kit over the next week or so and so will also be drawing up lists and taking pictures in due course.

Work on the Last Crusade scenarios has begun and has thrown up a gentle reminder of two things I need to do. The first is to get the new command blocks ready - these are the quarter size blocks with a flag and a number for identification - and also to draft a play sheet for the appropriate set of Portable Wargame rules. On the subject of these I will be using those from Bob's original book and I want to use the rules as far as possible as they were written.

Whilst this is going on I have also been revisiting my Memoir '44 collection. I have a couple of mini campaigns downloaded from the net (actually more like a series of themed scenarios than a campaign per se) that are rather tempting and of course have the priceless advantage of being able to be set up easily enough.

The Pirates have been modified slightly in that I shall be looking at the naval side first of all and I will look to tackle the land aspects in a different way to how I intended originally. No details for the time being but I will post about this in due course.

Funnily enough the last three paragraphs in this post are all linked in quite a surprising and overlooked fashion. Some time ago I acquired a selection of 1:600th scale figures from Tumbling Dice - originally to use for generic 20th century armies with the troop uniforms being wither khaki, olive green or grey. I also purchased some of the vehicle that Tumbling Dice produce and supplemented these with some bits and pieces from Magister Militum - mainly WW1 tanks. The plan was to use these for Memoir '44, The Great War, the Portable Wargame and Sam Mustafa's Rommel.

The figures are quite large and are around 4 mm all which fits in rather nicely with the Peter Pig Pirate ships - certainly for the land side if needed. I have not decided on this as I would still prefer to use 15 mm for land actions but they do offer a nice alternative.

As ever, much to ponder....

The Weekly Sitrep....Numbers 33, 34 and 35

Seen at our local car boot sale and described by the insignia on the side as belonging to the 'Zombie Apocalypse Response Team'. Something for Gaslands methinks!

Just to keep the sequence in order this week features a combined Sitrep covering the weeks I was away. It will not be any larger but it helps to keep things in what passes for a semblance of order!

With what can only be described as a swift move I have settled on my choice for the Cuba project and there are already moves afoot to realise this. I suppose in many ways the impact of my first visit to the Caribbean has played a significant part in the decision but my excuse is that well, its me and that's how I roll!

Pirates.

15mm pirates.

1:450th scale ships - all of which can mean only one (or in my case, two) thing, namely Peter Pig and the Pieces of Eight system. This has been around for a few years now but has recently been revamped. I have always had a soft spot for pirates and the whole privateering thing along the Spanish Main. The idea of small scale naval games and combined operations is really appealing and the Peter Pig range is perfect for this. My order for the figures is in and I am hoping to get the land part ready by the end of the year. Naturally the Portable Wargame will feature and one of the big attractions for me of this whole genre is the ease with which one can add a really good and inventive back story and create all manner of outlandish personalities because the reality is that is what actually took place! More on this in due course.

The ACW 30mm Spencer Smith project - at least the land element there of - is progressing very nicely indeed although I will need to get busy with basing in due course. I have roughly half of the figures on multiple bases so these will need to be removed and placed on the individual MDF bases I have acquired for the purpose. There is also the naval side to think about.

Whilst the above are simmering nicely there will also be part two of the disposal of Eric's collection. I have a few loose late 17th and 18th century ends to tie up as well as a big eBay listing to tackle but at least I will be able to store the remaining figures in a rather more compact fashion than the original 18 crates worth. Next up will be the 20mm WW2 metal collection and so i will post more details when I have them.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 32

One lover Ray and Dave from the legendary Postie's Rejects with their quite superb Battle of Killiecrankie 1689 game in 15mm. Ray produced the figures (by Essex) for both sides and they looked quite superb.

Rather a large Sitrep this week for a couple of reasons. To begin with there is a lot to tell and also because I am going to away for a couple of weeks as SWMBO and I are heading to Cuba.

Yesterday, the 9th of June, saw yours truly in attendance at Broadside in Sittingbourne in Kent. Regular readers of the blog will no doubt recall my usual modus operandi at the shows I attend - I tend to arrive early to help Dave Lanchester set up his secondhand book stall (he usually takes money off me as well - and yesterday was no exception!) and am usually heading for home early afternoon. Yesterday was a little different in that I had a lot of 'business' to attend to so my visit ended around 11:30. For business read 'selling and passing on bits and pieces and collecting a couple of pre-orders'.

This was speedily concluded and so I was able to chat to a few people - gamers, traders and bloggers - and also to conduct a brisk tour of the trade stands.

Courtesy of the Foundry stand - one of two sets of rules I purchsed from them for £5 a volume with the other being....

....specifically devoted to the Greek Myths.

I have been after this edition of Paddy Griffith's book for an age and that very nice Mr Lanchester duly obliged with a copy.

A 1:1200th scale Russian Village produced by Brigade Models and the redoubtable Tony Francis (who also prints my flags for me!).

The two rules sets were acquired for some ideas I have had kicking around and I suspect that of the two it is the only the Greek version that will be used at intended. For £5 each though it hardly caused the wallet to wince! The Griffith title has come at a very opportune time in respect of my ACW project so is a very welcome addition indeed. The Russian village has been earmarked for something Rommel/Memoir 44/Portable Wargame related.

As far as the games on show were concerned I can only apologise for not taking more pictures that the one of Killiecrankie - that was before the show opened - but I simply did not have the time. The show got very crowded quite early on which would have made it tricky (at least for me with a phone). I was disappointed not to get any shots of Messrs. Fox and Harbron of SEEMS running a Zulu Wars 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' game with everything being provided by the aforementioned Mr. Fox. The game was being set up when I embarked on my travels and when I returned the first Zulu Impi had taken a devastating volley judging by the number of empty spaces on the unit base!

As is usually the way at wargames shows I was lucky enough to be able to meet with and speak to a number of the 'Blogeratti' with a special mention to both Bob Cordery And Ray Rousell for the lengthy chats we had and also to Big Lee and Tamsin. Lee was telling me all about his plans for his 6mm armies and so i shall be following these with great interest.

It was a flying visit to be sure but I am very pleased I went. the show seemed to have a lot more visitors than previously although I have not been for the last three or four years due to usually being on holiday. It is hoped that the success of the day will encourage the organisers to repeat the show in future years.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 31

Indeed it does....

A productive week for sure. The grand sort out of the man cave is underway and the crates of Eric's figures have been condensed down into 8 from the original 18. This has been a massive piece of work and though I say so myself I am quite pleased with the results to date. Full half of what is left is Minifigs with the remainder being a mix of Essex, Dixon, Hinchliffe and others. Eric's WW2 and other collections will be up next but that will not be until the middle of July.

Not what you would usually find on this blog but never say never....(and at £1 for the hardback version to good to turn down!)

Yesterday SWMBO and I, accompanied by my daughter, headed out to our local boot sale where I acquired a pristine hardback copy of the above. If I am honest the pickings at out local boot sale have been slim recently as more and more traders seem to be appearing there. This is a common phenomena as when a boot sale becomes more and more popular so more and more traders move in which in turn squeezes out the private sellers. Eventually what was a great boot sale turns into a rather poor quality market.

I have little interest in the above which seems like a kind of cross between Warhammer and Battletech but I know that the local Wayland games supports it and there is also at least one gamer I know of from the club. As is usual with these things I tend to offer it up for sale at the club for what I paid for it and if there are no takers then eBay it is.

The Spencer Smith 30mm ACW Kurz and Allison project has had a major shot in the arm which will feature in a later post. Suffice it to say I have had a lot of time saved for me which means I can move on to the naval part of the proceedings. You may recall I am planning on making around a dozen or so ships which will be larger than the previous models. I am also making some of these dual purpose so they can be readily used by either side by the simple expedient of changing the flag.

I am going to invest in a hexed battle mat rather than Hexon although with the hexes a similar size (4" across the flat sides). I plan to get three in total - one for sea games, one for desert and one for a generic farmland set up. Expensive but easier to set up and set down.

The only other thing that happened this week was of course preparing for Broadside in Sittingbourne, Kent next weekend. I shall be making my usual flying visit with books and figures in tow and am looking forward to catching up with friends old and new.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 30

I have often started the Sitrep with the phrase 'It has been a busy week/weekend (delete as applicable)' but the last seven days have been exceptionally so! To begin with I have finally packed and posted the last of the Front Rank/Foundry 25mm late 17th and 18th century figures from Eric's collection as well as some of the Minifigs Seven Years War and ECW figures. A large number of Essex, Dixon and Hinchliffe Turkish and Polish figures are also heading out the door - some 18 Kg of unpainted metal! I reckon I have accounted for just under half the figures which is pretty good going and, as mentioned previously, I am now looking forward to having a tidy up in the man cave and to be able to catch up on some of my own bits and pieces.

On Sunday SWMBO and I undertook our annual boot sale which was reasonably successful although it seemed like a lot of hard work this year as we were both feeling it the next day, as well as getting a light dusting of sunburn!

Broadside, the wargames show organised by the Milton Hundred Wargames Club and held at Sittingbourne in Kent, is in a couple of weeks (09/06 to be exact) and I am looking forward to going this. I enjoy this show but have missed it in recent years as it has coincided with my holiday. This year we are going after the show - two days to be exact - so it is a win, win as far as I can see! I do not have a shopping list for the show but I will have a modest war chest to use. I suspect that Dave Lanchester and his marvellous book stall will see some of it as he usually does!

Without a doubt the biggest news of my week was taking delivery of some painted Spencer Smith ACW figures from Bob the Old Painter and so making plans involving these wonderful figures has assumed a far more prominent place in the project list. I even went so far as to buy a pack of large sized craft sticks to jig some figures up with - painting figures? Me? Whatever next....?

In the interests of getting a gaming played I have been looking long and hard at my Memoir 44 collection to achieve this. I would not use the Memoir 44 rules for this although I would certainly make use of the scenarios. I suspect that the Portable Wargame will feature and the plan is to tackle something at the weekend. I rather fancy taking a look at the 1941 Crete campaign file I have downloaded. Then of course there is also the Vercours Campaign of 1944 as another option.

I noticed that Dan Mersey of the hugely popular 'Rampant' series of rules is working on a Sci-Fi set which is great news and will give me a chance to dust off some suitable bits and pieces I have lurking around - more of which in a future post.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 29

The classic Command and Colours game of WW2 combat....

Once again the weekend was a busy one but I have managed to get rather a lot done. As expected most of the time was spent with the ongoing disposal of the collection of Eric’s collection but even in that I had a couple of satisfying successes. To begin with the last of the Seven Years War Front Rank figures are going to be heading for a new home and I have also found buyers for the Minifigs ECW component. Eric routinely used the ECW to bolster his late 17^th century armies so floppy hatted pikemen were the order of the day. I also have a potential buyer for the Essex, Dixon and Hinchliffe Ottoman Turks and Poles. This will enable me to free up a couple of crates so I will be able to head of my holiday in three weeks safe in the knowledge that the the disposal of this part of the collection is well in hand.

Upon my return from my travels Eric's WW2 and Marlburian painted armies will be next on the list, followed by his library and collection of 1:1200^th scale ships.

....and its Great War cousin 

For my own part the need to get a game in is becoming more and more pressing and so I have taken the decision to fall back on that old standby of Memoir 44 and its first world war cousin, The Great War. I came across a very useful files section on the Memoir 44 Facebook group. Essentially there are some potted campaign PDFs that include a brief overview of the campaign itself and then a list of scenarios from all sources that can be found on the official Memoir 44 website (you have to register a copy of the base game to access the full content). The campaign specific PDF found in the files section of the Facebook group lists all the scenarios available in historical order so players merely download the scenarios as per the list and then fight the battles. Simple for sure but a very handy resource for those of us where time is at a premium.

Naturally both of the above would lead me quite seamlessly into Portable Wargame territory in due course. For the moment though, just opening the box and setting up a game has a an attraction all of its own although my long term plan is to '3D' the above with both terrain and models.

One more project then....

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 28

I have never seen a copy of this and nor do I intend buying one but it certainly looks like the kind of book I would really enjoy!

This weekend saw some fairly significant moves in the man cave. I managed to package up nearly 50 Kg of unpainted metal across 7 parcels - all heading to the same place I hasten to add - which is now winging its way to its new home. I also filled up half a large recycling bin with old Hinchliffe, Greenwood and Ball and Alberken figure boxes - all of which carried the dust of ages and scribbled notes - so at last I can see the floor in the man cave! With a couple of exceptions everything else can be re-crated and stored far less intrusively under my gaming table. Once this is done I can then hoover, dust and polish - a fact of which SWMBO has, ahem, encouraged me to do although to be fair she has a point as the entire loft looked liked something out of Steptoe's Yard!

There was thing I had overlooked. Whilst moving crates around and repacking some of the remaining units I rediscovered the Seven Years War Hanoverian army Eric had acquired. Judging by the figures used  - the customary multiple manufacturers Eric routinely employed - I am of the opinion that this is one of his earlier armies as there are a number of Minifigs S Range types present. Some are even partially painted. I shall be taking a closer look this evening and will post to the blog if there is anything interesting.

Flags for the memory (there are two sheets of the above). Rather than regimental standards I opted to use national flags. In many cases this means two or even three variants. The eagle eyed will not the use of the revolutionary war flag for the US of A with the circular 13 stars. I have the more usual version already.

Around the middle of last week a small order from Tony at Brigade Models arrived in the shape of a couple of flag sheets he kindly prepared for me. These are going to be used for the command blocks with my block armies (not the WW1 German Naval Ensign though - this the normal size I use for my ship models) in conjunction with a number for identification purposes. If you recall my plan was to use a quarter size block (roughly 15mm wide x 12mm high x 20mm deep) as a command block complete with a flag to show the orientation of the unit. Having the unit number will help with identification when using a roster to record casualties. Now that I have the flags I can press on with this stage which will mean I can use the blocks 'off the grid' so to speak although Tony has made such a good job of them I am thinking they will be used on grid as well.

This will be a simple job but it is one that I can tackle easily enough. Having the unit flags with numbers will make the battle reports far more easy to follow and will also add to the personality of the armies represented. This in turn will enhance the gaming experience. There are slightly more flags than I have blocks for but I have more than sufficient for my current needs and can get extras cut should the need arise.

The one standard I will be sticking to though is that block number 1 will always be the army commander.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 27

Hawker Hunter ground attack FGA.9 as deployed to the Middle East during the Aden Emergency

Later than usual this week but for a very good reason! The Canadian branch of the family consisting of my brother in law and his wife are in the UK on a visit and so we were entertaining them over the bank holiday weekend.

I have mentioned previously but my brother in law, Gordie, is an ex paratrooper that initially served with 3 Para before transferring to the pathfinder unit of 1 Para. During his 11 years under arms he served during the Radfan campaign as a GPMG gunner and is always willing to talk about his experiences. He freely admits to enjoying his time with the colours and maintains contact with many of his ex comrades in arms. Time and the rigours of service have left their physical mark on him and so back, knee and ankle problems are the common lot of the ex paratrooper! As a pathfinder - incidentally serving alongside the S.A.S - Gordie was involved with HALO drops from around 20,000 feet. He has a professional respect for the RAF and regaled me with tales of when he undertaking parachute training at an RAF base - apparently the standard of RAF cuisine was far higher than that within the Parachute regiment! He also told me about the air support received from RAF ground attack Hawker Hunter FGA.9s during the campaign and how effective it was - especially the nose full of 30mm Aden!

Naturally the three days we spent with Gordie and Diane were not entirely given over to matters military and so we went out on a couple of trips, dined out and had a really good time. The invitation to visit them in Vancouver is something we will have to seriously consider!

The great packaging of the figures winging their way to their new owners continues with the plan to ship on Saturday. It is not difficult to do but it is time consuming. The good news though is that I will at last be able to see the floor of the man cave!

My order to Spencer Smith will be on its way today for the last of the ACW figures and I have also taken the opportunity to sort out the 1:2400 scale ships I have from Tumbling Dice. I am itching to get a game in at some point so all this sorting out has served to heighten my enthusiasm so I may well be rolling some dice over the coming weekend.

I am not sure what with though!