Meandering in the right direction....

 

After the weekend I have had this is a most welcome restorative - and it is hugely inspirational.

For a variety of reasons this weekend has not been a great one. True enough the weather had broken – we now have a garden water butt that is three quarters full – and it is a little cooler but I was not able to venture into the man cave for any painting. I was however, able to make progress with some organisational tasks associated with my ongoing project list. To be honest this is itself has thrown up a number of unforeseen issues but nothing that a clear head cannot overcome. 

The more I read it the more I like the cut of Sam Mustafa’s WW2 rules: Rommel. There are some really neat ideas in these rules and I am looking forward to using them in conjunction with my 1/600^th scale Tumbling Dice 20^th century armies in due course. The great thing with using this scale is that the armies (and by that I mean the infantry and support weapons) can be really generic and used for a variety of periods. I intend producing forces in three colours – grey, brown and olive. These basic colours will suffice for both world wars and by adding the appropriate vehicles etc specific nationalities can be modelled. As I have mentioned before this idea is really and extension of what I did using the block armies. 

The Tumbling Dice infantry is available in both close and loose order and so for my purposes will mean the former for something late 19^th century and the latter will be used for the 20^th. I have a couple of ideas I am exploring with this lot and should anything crystallise from it I will post the details.The Peter Pig 1/600^th troop blocks will be used for something horse and musket based – looking over the models I am now convinced these would be ideal for use in a Napoleonic style set up – although this would be some way down the track given the other ideas I currently have in play.

Mention of Peter Pig of course raises the issue of the 1/600^th ACW ship models I have currently ‘swinging around the (painting) buoy’ so to speak. Well, one of the organisational tasks I alluded to was to work out base sizes for the models with a view to placing an order for the same. This has now been done – well apart from placing the order that is – and I hope to get this under way over the next few days if I can. One piece of welcome news though supporting this project is the recent acquisition of the book you see above. I have barely had a chance to skim through this so far but it looks very promising indeed, not only for the ACW but for a few other ideas I an flirting with.

 

The great thing about this book for me is the simple fact that gunboats, whilst lacking the glamour of their larger battleship and cruiser brethren, often saw more action and at a scale that is easily workable on the tabletop. My 1/600th adventures will feature gunboats where possible and that is something I am looking forward to.

The Look of the (ACW) Thing

 

The storming of Fort Wagner - note the monitors providing fire support



I have always enjoyed the series of chromolithographs produced covering battles of the American Civil War by Kurz and Allison. These pictures had a naïve simplicity about the subjects depicted and are stylised, almost comic-like in their depictions of battles. The figures are quite stiffly posed and every time I see one of their prints I have the words 'Spencer Smith' screaming in my head! As well as the ACW Kurz and Allison also produced pictures in a similar style covering the Spanish American war in 1898.

 

The Battle of San Juan Hill with the Roughriders leading the assault



I shall try and find a catalogue of their prints as it would be something nice to add to the library. My set of Battles and Leaders features four of their prints on the dust jackets and just seem so evocative.

You may recall that I mentioned I would soon be coming into some Spencer Smith ACW figures which, along with the small number I already have will be forming the nucleus of my Balkan project by the simple expedient of alternate paint jobs.

I am having second thoughts about this.

I am becoming more inclined to use the Spencer Smiths as intended and tackle the Balkans using another medium - as yet I am undecided as to how best to do this although I have an idea I am exploring.

Alongside Kurz and Allison being a source of inspiration I was recently reminded of the superb work of Jim Duncan using Spencer Smith figures. These look superb and I would recommend reading his full series of blog posts about the same - very inspirational!

 

Standard Union Infantry from the collection of Jim Duncan

 

Berdan's Sharpshooters - again from Jim's collection

 

The quantity of figures I will need to realise this project is very small and as previously mentioned would be organised as per Charge!

 

NOTE: The two pictures above are copyright to Jim Duncan and are included purely to illustrate his superb technique painting these figures - many thanks Jim!

 





A Heatwave that is Too Hot to Handle....

 

Relentless and remorseless - readers of a certain vintage will recall the similar weather during 1976

 

This is the other Heatwave with their album Too Hot to Handle - coincidentally it was released in 1976....

 

 

 

I am probably not alone in suffering from what can best be described as heat-induced lethargy. The man cave is currently doing a passable impersonation of a blast furnace and so painting is proving very challenging. Even with the Velux windows open it gets very uncomfortable very quickly and so I have decided that discretion is the better part of valour and I am leaving the brushes well alone for now, at least until the weather eases off slightly. I should also throw in the mix the effects of the heat during the dubious delight of my daily commute on a crowded train....

So no painting and, to be frank, not a great deal of anything meaningful  but what I have managed to do though, is to sort ‘stuff’ out. 

Sorting ‘stuff’ out can mean different things to different people and in my experience can range from putting some backs in the correct space on the shelf to a major overhaul of one’s den. Usually though it tends fall between the two. In my case books certainly featured but I also moved some games around and well, found a few things that had slipped under the radar for a variety of reasons. 

I always find doing this kind of thing to be very therapeutic because after all, you are doing something.

For me, this time around meant rediscovering my box of 1/600^th scale figures and vehicles (mainly Tumbling Dice and Peter Pig but with a few packs of Magister Militum vehicles for the Great War included), together with a few items of terrain. 

The 1/600^th scale figures originally came about as an accompaniment to the Peter Pig ACW ship range with Tumbling Dice featuring on the back of having seen some painted example at a couple of shows. Whilst the Peter Pig troops are blocks the Tumbling Dice are individual figures (cast on strips), even infantry in close order. 

I have a number of plans for this collection with the Tumbling Dice models being primarily for 20^th century (at this stage I am thinking about Sam Mustafa’s Rommel for WW2) although the cavalry and close order infantry may well turn up for something 19^th century related. The Peter Pig blocks however will be for something more mainstream horse and musket – as a long distance project they may well see the light of day for something Napoleonic.

 

I suppose the point of this post is that even whilst the sun is playing havoc with people's attention spans and energy levels (it certainly is mine!) there is always something that can be done that is not too draining.

A Facebook Diversion

I would not describe myself as a massive social media user as such (gasps of disbelief at this point....). For sure I write this blog and comment on others occasionally. I use Facebook on a random basis – mainly big events or holidays with the occasional dash of topical whimsy, usually involving either the cats or something edible. I suppose that some may consider this a lot but I don’t feel that it is. However, I have just completed something which has given me a lot of pleasure but also a certain degree of vexation. I am of course referring to the 10 film challenge.

The idea is a simple one, select a film a day for 10 days that you would watch repeatedly, describe briefly why you would and then nominate someone else to do the same. I have now completed my 10 but the vexing thing for me was limiting my selection to just this amount! 

The whole challenge has given me much food for thought – not only picking 10 films but also why they have for me such repeat watchability.  

When I started the challenge I wanted to make sure that any films that already been featured by other people were not included so in a sense it was almost a kind of race. Even so, I still had plenty to choose from. 

The one thing struck me though whilst I was going through the list – and picking just 10 films was incredibly difficult, I could have easily made it a lot more! – is how much the visual spectacle has influenced my wargames. 

My list boiled down to the following and I should mention that these are not in any order and neither to represent my top ten – they are merely those that have an infinite degree of repeatability for me. I should also mention again that I left out films that had already been mentioned by others taking the challenge. 

The Seven Samurai

El Cid

The Adventures of Robin Hood

The Battle of Britain

Lawrence of Arabia

Blade Runner

Where Eagles Dare

Spartacus

Scaramouche

Heartbreak Ridge

Most wargamers I know are adept at picking historical holes in the films we watch – I am no exception to this – and yet we still watch them. As a classic example I have lost count of the number of times I have seen, for example, Zulu, yet I would watch it again. I know there are many inaccuracies in the film but that does not stop it from being a superb and stirring piece of entertainment.

I like to think that the films I watch work for me in many ways the same a wargame does – it is a medium to impart a sense of what the action could have been like. In short it works for me if it imparts the correct degree of flavour and the more it does so the better the sense of enjoyment.

 

 

Hammerin' Iron Revisited....Part 2

 

One to look out for methinks



It is funny how a throw away comment can spark a whole sequence of events. In this case we are not talking about something new - rather it is more a case of taking one's thoughts into different areas. You may recall from last post I was talking about ACW river operations and my plans around these since I had recently (re)acquired my Peter Pig Hammerin' Iron hexed cloth.

So lets see - ACW ships - check, ACW naval rules - check and ACW naval cloth - hang on, the cloth is not only ACW surely?

At this point along came that well known bon vivant, wit and raconteur - Geordie who commented on my last post and casually mentioned the Dardanelles.

Dardanelles? Now my interest in matters Ottoman Turkish is well known and after a quick look at the possibilities of using the cloth for this I was struck by a thought - which in turn led to several others.

I was thinking about gunboats and where they have fought. There are quite a few large rivers that have seen actions using gunboats - the Tigris, Yangtze, Nile and Danube spring to mind with the 'Great father of waters' the Mississippi naturally featuring for the ACW. It would be churlish to limit myself solely to the ACW when there are so many other opportunities to explore and with the added attraction of not needing very much in the way of material.

David Manley has produced a set of rules for fighting on the rivers of Europe during the Great War called River Wars which would be a good source of information for ship types etc as well as being a pretty good set of rules as well although sadly are not hexed. There is also a supplement that covers the Russian Civil War and the base set called Steamer Wars that tackles the Lake Tanganyika expedition.

I was browsing the net for further inspiration when I came across the following website that provided me with yet further inspiration although I doubt I would game gunboat action in 1/1200th as the ships would be a little on the small side but 1/600th would be perfect.

From the Peter Pig range there are a few ships that could be readily converted into other types and there is also the possibility of scratch building - a route that Bob Cordery has followed very successfully.

So what does all this mean for me in real terms? Well, the provision of naval support via gunboats and actions involving the same is something I will be tackling for the ACW for sure but I am very tempted to expand this into the Balkan project in some way if I can. Should this not work out I could easily look to tackle something on a standalone basis - the Tigris during WW1 would be an obvious choice (I have a couple of very good books on the subject) but for sheer variety of nationalities the Yangtze during the interwar period has much to commend it.

I suddenly have this compelling urge to watch Khartoum and the Sand Pebbles again....

Hammerin’ Iron Revisited

The Peter Pig Hammerin’ Iron cloth. Personally I think it is not ideal but will suffice for my immediate needs. Note the strategically placed Kiwi Fruit holding down the corners whilst Hovis the Hedgehog - our doorstop - looks on impassively.

Actually the title of this post should really read ‘Peter Pig 1/600th scale ACW Revisited’ as I am more concerned with the components rather than the rules of the same name! I mentioned a while ago that my collection of the aforementioned 1/600th models was now safely back at Maison Crook - including ships, terrain and troop blocks - but only yesterday did I take (re)delivery of the Peter Pig playing cloth designed to accompany their rules.

Hammerin’ Iron is party of the RFCM (Rules For the Common Man) stable and so are fun, easy to use and give a great game. They are not super detailed or realistic but have more than sufficient period flavour to make then a very popular set. I have fought a couple of games with these and they are hugely entertaining. I own the latest version of the rules and a copy of the land expansion for the earlier edition. For some reason Peter Pig did not include the land rules in the revised version - I am unsure why but it is in my opinion a great shame as they are also great fun and use the 1/600th scale troop blocks from their range of ships and terrain.

Now here is the thing. My plan for the models is very simple as I shall be focussing on the river battles leading up to the fall of Vicksburg and later. I shall be using a version of the rules that Bob Cordery has written in his latest book - Gridded Naval Wargames. I say version as the redoubtable Mr Fox has tweaked them very slightly to add some extra depth. I have a few ideas around this myself so will probably tweak the tweaks to bring them into line with my own ideas on the subject - primarily around ship classifications.

The cloth that Peter Pig sells to support their rules is hexed and covers a playing area of 7 x 13 hexes. As you can see there is a shoreline along both sides  meaning that the blue of the water represents a river. The hexes themselves are 12cms across the flat hex sides. There is sufficient room onshore to deploy the odd fort or field works but the land is not hexed as such, only where it is contact with the water.

In my opinion this is probably not the best way to have done this as I believe it may have been better to have had just one side representing the shore so that their would be a little more ‘sea room’ so to speak. Having said that it does make for a potentially cramped playing area which probably captures the essence of river fighting better. The purist may be offended by the inland waterways of the US being blue in colour but at least there can be no doubt where the wet stuff is!

Once I have some ships ready to use with this (when the WW2 models are finished) I will iron the cloth to flatten out the creases and can then store it flat.

As I say, it is not perfect but will serve for the immediate future or at least until I can come up with something a little more tailored.

Revisiting Risk: Europe and Hollywood Medieval Gaming

 

The box art - this is not like a 'normal' Risk game, in fact I think it is closer of Axis and Allies in many ways.

 

The rear of the box showing the components.

 

 

The map board - very useful as the basis of some stylised campaigns.

 

 

The figures - and they are very nice indeed!

 

Finally, a game in progress with what looks like Scandinavians and Arab/Turkic types fighting over France....

 

There are many periods of military history that I have an interest in – there are also many periods of military history that I am unlikely to raise armies for. The Medieval era for me very much falls into the latter category. Of course systems like Saga, Lion Rampant, DBA/HOTT and the Portable Wargame mean that smaller armies are required with the obvious advantage of needing less figures and are therefore much quicker to get into action. That is the theory anyway…. 

If I am honest I have a strange relationship with the Medieval period. I cannot say I am well read on the subject as the only things I have studied at any great length have been the Mongol Conquests or the Crusades and even then only intermittently. I have fought a few games in the period but not for some time. I have come to the conclusion that my ‘interest’ in the period is largely what I would call a Hollywood one in that my ideas of warfare in the period have been firmly influenced by the films I have seen. With this somewhat lackadaisical approach to historical accuracy it is fairly safe to assume that any armies I undertake will probably be of the ‘based on’ variety rather than being super accurate.

That is why I was so pleased to have  acquired a couple of copies of Risk: Europe way back in November of last year.

As mentioned in a previous post this version of Risk is unlike any other and in fact is more like an Axis and Allies style of game. The troop types have various strengths and weaknesses – for example you are not able to attack a castle unless you have a siege weapon – and although the armies are made up of the same types of figures (missile troops, hand to hand fighters, cavalry and the aforementioned siege weapon) the game uses different models for each army. The figures are pretty generic and represent eastern and western European forces, Scandinavia and Arabic/Turkic. They are small 20mm scale moulded in a kind of soft plastic. 

A single copy of the game will net you four armies each of 12 foot, a dozen missile troops and 35 hand to hand fighters with around 4 siege engines – of differing types. Having two sets of the game gives a little extra flexibility.  

Much as I am intrigued by the game in its original form the likelihood of getting sufficient people in the same space-time continuum to actually play it is unlikely. However, as a low cost option for some Medieval mayhem you could do a lot worse. The two sets cost me £20 so there is a lot of figures there and all the other material  - the stylised map of Europe for example - would come in useful for campaign purposes.

 

These are not on the radar for anytime soon so no decisions really need to be as such in respect of painting or basing, even which rules to use with them. In a moment of weakness I may cobble up a couple of DBA/HOTT forces - these would be great to use for a fantasy set up methinks - as a side hustle so to speak.

 

Something to think about then.