I'm Back !!!

To quote Freddie that is.  As well as taking a month-long break from Country Dancing I also did little on the wargaming front.  So this post is just a round-up of what I have done.

Another Target book courtesy of Al's cast offs.  Although this features UNIT it is not really suitable for a skirmish game.  The enemy outguns and out-classes the PBI and the Brig.  A good yarn but the famous lines are missing..."Chap with the wings, five rounds rapid".

Whilst scanning other blogs recently I came across this little gem:

"Day of the Daleks"

https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/2019/08/doctor-who-day-of-daleks-cangames-2016.html?fbclid=IwAR3MBEFTUcQ2hpLOp1S2St2voyoWjkNL9cMRKDTGf-Al4RLEm1tbA6wtreA#more

DBM...ing on a Monday has proven to be a bit of a failure.  I tried two versions of 3.71 Georgian (one with Cumans and one without).  Both ended up in defeat.

Painting.....well I was planning to chip away at the lead and plastic mountain over the break. Looking around I found a mass of partly painted figures so decided to try to finish them off.  Progress was made with the first project - Sea Peoples / Philistines.  The second - Dark Ages - was going well until I stretched too far and dropped a tray full of metal soldiers.  Retrieving the wet soldiers meant moving a load of boxes.  This somewhat disheartened me and production stopped.

The action of having to re-apply for my driving license has concentrated my mind somewhat so  I am looking at all my unfinished projects.  Many will have to face madame guillotine.  So many dreams that have come to naught! Oh well!

Halifax or Bust

Thursday 25th July 2019 - Halifax Modeller's World

Three purchases:

PSR has yet to review this box.  There are too many 'modern' weapons on display to use them in the colonial period but WW1 in Mesopotamia is a definite maybe.  Can't help feeling that they must have dismounted to shoot, unlike the Hollywood depictions.  Still....they may come into use at some later date.

 Napoleonic Early-Mid French Marching - HaT 8296
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2089

Although these troops are only in a marching pose I can see them being of use fighting skirmishes in Egypt or Haiti. 

English Pirates - Orion 72001
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=283

 DBA-RRR 1.42 Buccaneer - a short, limited and generic list
 In the Files section of  Yahoo Group DBRlist (not DBR_List) is a much more comprehensive (Alternative) Buccaneer list covering English, Dutch & French privateers.
 It should be easy enough to convert.

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Saturday 27th July 2019 - Gt. Houghton

(1)  We started off playing the colonial version of DBN.  This time it was Mahdists v British/Egyptian.  In a game of pure skill I annihilated the imperialist scum.

Three games of DBA v3 followed:

(2)  3.53 East Franks v 3.76 Konstantinian Byzantine - a 4:2 win
(3)  2.66 Early Vandal v 2.64a Middle Imperial Roman - a 5:1 win
(4)  2.11 Gallic v 2.33 Polybian Roman - a 6:2 win

In each of these games my fat was in the fire at one point or another but my superb skills got me out of trouble every time.  These victories had nothing to do with Ian's uncanny ability to throw ones at vital times; the charmed life of certain surrounded elements (including a general) or my, far more than average, 6:1 results.

Sometimes life is just like that!

Monsters! Monsters!

In my search for behemoths and creatures for my 20mm HotT armies I happened to look in the kids section of Asda.  For the princely sum of £3......

 .....you get 6 dinosaurs of a suitable size.

For comparison I provided some Caesar Orcs:

Now I have to check what colours these dinos should be.  "Walking With Dinosaurs" put forward the idea that these creatures were far more colourful than previously thought.  Alas yet more research to do!

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On another matter......I was sorting out the unpainted pile within my Khmer/Cham 15mm box when I discover these:

The Khmer are all Irregular - these are clearly not.  Does anyone have any idea what these strays are?

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Round-Up

Saturday 22nd June 2019 - Gt. Houghton

4 games of DBA v3.0:

(1)  2.3a Classical Indian v 2.10b Tamil Indian - 4:1 win
(2)  2.23a Pre-Islamic Arab v 2.22c Parthian - 4:1 win
(3)  2.64b Middle Imperial Roman v 2.22c Arabo-Aramaean - 4:3 win
(4)  2.2 Mountain Indian v 1.43c Massagetae - 5:2 loss

Monday 25th June 2019 - WDW

Sparse attendance today with only 2 games going on:

Rapid Fire (WW2) - Germans v Americans
DBM - Patrician Roman v Early Ostrogoth - a close run thing.  The Roman right broke first followed by their opponents on the same flank.  Roman losses mounted until half the army was gone. 

Maipo 1818

On Saturday 8th June I played out Maipo 1818 using "Liberated Hordes".


The rules have been recently updated to match DBA v3.0 so, not surprisingly, they very much have that vibe.  They also have much in common with DBN.

The battle went pretty much according to historical precedent with the Patriots winning 7:6 after a sharp left hook by their superior horse.

Liberated Hordes:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7jivXekpX0LaWxWQV9YWm9FNVU/edit

This post has the OOB reduced to Hott/DBA proportions: 

http://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2012/02/maipo-in-miniature.html

Maybe next time I will try the "Libertadores" rules for more flavor!

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We continued with 3 games of DBA v3:

3.52 West Franks v 3.65 Nikephorian Byzantine - a 4:2 win
2.58 Alan v 4.50 Paleogian Byzantine - 5:0 loss
1.43a Kimmerian v 1.52h Aitolian Greek - 4:3 loss

Not a shining example of generalship on my part  with only one win from 4 games - Oh Well!

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Finished a couple of Dr Who books.

(1) "The Christmas Invasion" - an adaptation of an xmas special that I never saw.  Although UNIT troops are present there is no scope for skirmish play.  Wallpaper really.

(2) "The Taking of Chelsea 426" - a better yarn about two alien races fighting regardless of collateral damage - sounds familiar!  Some skirmishing but horribly one-sided.