Late On Parade

Saturday 21st January 2017

 In the morning - I was occupied elsewhere so couldn't attend WDW.   A pity as the only game was a 30YW Baroque scrap between the Swedes and the Spanish.  A close-run thing with a Pyrrhic (and posthumous) victory for Gustavus.

Late afternoon - in search of the lost shop - found it!  Normal resources didn't help but Yell.com showed a page and the hint that my target was down a slope.  Go down North Baileygate, after junction with Spink Lane but immediately before the turning to Pontefract (Monkhill) station and find "Major's Flooring" (on the left).  Between the 2 buildings there is a downwards slope.  M & L Models is to the right at the bottom.  A specialist in 28mm plastics.


This Week - some long awaited releases:

 
 Osprey's Renaissance rules are out at last.  Obtainable from the usual suppliers (e.g. Osprey or Amazon).

 I have been reading Bob Cordery's blog for some time now.   Decribed as "The Portable Wargame Rules for fast-play wargames on gridded tabletops".  Now published by Ellington Books  in three versions - hardback, paperback & Epub.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/bob-cordery/the-portable-wargame/hardcover/product-23021158.html
(scroll down - on right - links to paperback & epub versions)
Personally I don't like the Epub format so used one of the online file converters (http://www.zamzar.com/convert/epub-to-pdf/).

In spite of the tank on the front the rules cover a much wider time frame.  Looking forward to reading this document.

Seek and Ye Shall (Not) Find

Saturday 14th January 2017

I should have been helping Andrew out at our regular Horbury library session but I woke up feeling somewhat unwell. 

Whilst not straying too far from the bathroom I did manage to find my Renaissance (plastics) carton.  I also grabbed a file containing some of my based Aztecs.  All the 'native' figures are either 3 (skirmishers) or 5 (warriors) to a 40mm x 40mm mdf base.  There are no dedicated 'imperial' troops. 

Going back to the 'Steven's Balagan' blog I found a recent entry on using DBA big bases for 'Ancients'.  So why not for "DBA in the New World"?



Monday 16th January 2017 - WDW

I was absent again - still suffering.  I am reliably informed that the following games took place:

 ECW (Baroque - Impetus) in 15mm,
 7YW (Osprey rules) in 15mm,
 WW2 in the desert (Andrew's rules) in 6mm


Tuesday 17th January 2017

Tried to find a 'new' wargames shop in Pontefract (in the dark) and failed dismally.  Did some research to find that it is off North Baileygate.


Thursday 19th January 2017

Second attempt to find the shop.  No joy.  More research showed me that I had gone down Northgate then turned into Spink Lane (towards the castle).  I should have gone straight on.  Perhaps I should mount a safari - hmm...native bearers, elephant gun, howdah.......maybe not B & Q!

Plastics, Plastics, Plastics

Sunday 8th January 2017 - Calder Valley

At the Halifax model shop I purchased two boxes of soldiers:

1 x HaT 8128 Assyrian Army - a 'portmanteau' box containing a mixture of horse and foot.
     It will add to my collection of unpainted Assyrians.

1 x Red Box RB72024 German East Asia Brigade (Boxer Rebellion 1900) - the uniform pre-dates my WW1 in East Africa figures but is useable in SW Africa at a slightly earlier time.  All I need to do now is generate some 'natives'.

At the Sue Ryder charity shop in Todmorden I picked up a boardgame:

After doing some research I found a components list on Boardgamegeek.  Trouble is that it bore no relationship to the contents of my box.  Further work showed that I had v2 (why can't Games Workshop mark the box or rules?).  This time there was an almost complete match.  The only things missing were 1d6 and 4 character miniatures.  Well nothing vital then. 

In time I will no doubt try the game out.  The cost - £1.25


Monday 9th January 2017 - WDW

Austrians v French 7YW ('Honours of War')
Later Achaemenid Persian v Scythian (DBMM)
Sioux v US Army ('The Men Who Would Be Kings')


Tuesday 10th January 2017

 Finally got around to sorting out the displaced old suitcases within my loft.  A light bulb went off saying "Use them as subject dividers".  So starting at one end I have used them to separate my plastic collection.  I didn't take too long so I pulled out the 'AncMed' cardboard box to sort it out.

Those of you that collect plastic figures will know that the biggest problem is, probably, supply.  As a consequence you tend to buy when you see it and horde until you have sufficient numbers for a given project. 

I sat in my warm living room sorting out the figures, identifying those where the labels had fallen out and amalgamating into 'period' or 'theatre' larger bags.  So now I have:      "Crusaders & Arabs" including an unopened box of "The Knights" Italeri 6009.
     "Rome & Enemies" - mainly Romans & Ancient Brits
     "Biblicals" - but 2 boxes of Sumerians are missing
     "Easterners" (mainly Chinese).

There was a last surprise - hidden under one of the flaps was a small bag containing 3 figures and a load of weapons.  I had found the 'safe place' where I had put my Incas! 

Sorting out my 'Renaissance' box will be next.  Re-uniting weapons with soldiers will revive my 'DBA in the New World' project.  Perhaps sleeping dogs...............

Fantasy Today, Diary Yesterday

As promised....part 2 of this week's posting:


Wednesday 4th January 2017

Managed to put together the last 2 Orcs, undercoated them and photographed all the remaining fantasy figures:

 Mounted Cimmerians - Dark Alliance ALL72029

10 mounted figures plus one 'make-weight'.  Some nice poses.

 

10 horses in 5 poses (one sprue was slightly darker than the other).  Some of the bases were warped and the flash hard to remove.

Orc Warriors (set 2) - Caesar F109

1                    3                    2                    2

3 'clubmen' poses plus a standard-bearer.  A1 & A3 only differ in right foot position.

 1                      4                      2                     3

3 'axemen' poses plus an archer.  The third figure is hard to stand up without a lot of bending.

 3                    3                     2                     3

4 'swordsmen' poses - the first one is prone to falling over.

3                                     3

These are the two poses that come with separate arms - in fact both arms are connected by the axe haft.  I had to do quite a bit of work or them to get them to fit.  They have not been glued nor the sockets filled up with 'liquid greenstuff' - that will come later.

I thought that some of the hooded / helmeted figures could be re-painted as Undead or Barbarians!  The Stone Green undercoating certainly brings out the detail.  I'm sure that the purists will want to undercoat in black but my old eyes cannot cope with that.

35 figures in all.

Now that I have both Goblins and Orcs in my possession the basis of an army is there.  Need to look around for some 'exotica' though.

Hope you liked the extra posting!

Diary Today, Fantasy Tomorrow

 [It's 01.09 hrs GMT]


Decided to split this week's posting into two sections (so an extra missive tomorrow).


Sunday 1st January 2017

Managed to undercoat most of the Orcs with a watered-down "Stone Green". 

The 2 exception are the 'armless' pair whose limbs don't fit very well at all.  They will need some work with knife and drill, undercoating, then assembly.


Monday 2nd January 2017 - WDW

"Honours of War" - first try-out for these 7YW rules - Brits v French & Austrians - seemed OK but, naturally, we spent a lot of time pondering the rules.  Plan to play again next week (so no DBM yet again).
"Honshu" - card game (x2) with John Smith winning both times
"Baroque Impetus" - ECW squabble between Cornish Royalists and some nameless Parliamentarians.
"Command & Colours Ancients" - Greeks v Persians (boardgame)
"DBA v3.0" (x2) - medievals


Wednesday 4th January 2017 - new magazine out

According to the 'Wargaming Miscellany' blog entry "Wargamer's Notes Quarterly" issue 1 has just come out.

I tried the following email link:

http://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/the-wargamers-notes-quarterly.html

The authors quickly replied with a pdf attachment.

In this issue...
Wargaming the Ninth Cape Frontier War
Call It Macaroni!
Converting Plastic 20mm WW2 German Paratroopers, Part 1
Boer War Blockhouses
Simplicity and Brevity in Game Design – Part 1
About the Editors
The Costs of War: Wargaming on a Budget
Hexagonal Terrain: A How To
Setting the Scene for Russo-Japanese Naval Armageddon
Little Lead Men
Tales from a Bedfordshire Village
Afterword

Very much 'old school' and no worse for that!  Will get around to a proper review sometime!  In the meantime I wish them luck.  Do give it a try!



From the net:

From another blog:  "Wargames Soldiers & Strategies issue No.88 is out" - no more details!

Index for 'Vae Victis' magazine:

https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Vae_Victis_Index



See you tomorrow ......................