Lost Property (Parte the First)

( In which our Hero's try and recover their stolen Campaign Equipment from the Enemy )

I must admit I pinched this idea from the excellent blog -http://tidders-kingdomofwittenberg.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-irregulars-on-mission.html , who uses 28mm figures for his big battles and 40mm ones for skirmishes - and even provides a download for the rules he uses for it . So I maintain that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery .

 

A messenger arrives at the Allied camp - with bad news !.

 

 

Uncle Toby is enraged by this underhanded trick and is keen to retrieve his belongings !

 

 

 

The French loaded down with booty plan to spend the night in the next village they pass through .

 

 

Aha ! behind this underhanded trick there is the dastardly Comte de Fru-Fru ! , as they rest they little think that vengeance is on its way !. Too be continued.......

 

 

 

Salute 2013

Went down to Salute again this year to help 'S' of S&A Scenics with his stand . Had a good journey down with 'A' on the Friday afternoon - 'S'  drove the hired van down earlier to pick up the Lancashire Games figures from Alan at Oldham . We were up horribly early (05.30ish) on the Saturday morning and travelled to the Excel venue and got lost again trying to find the entrance and car park   - this is the third year and we get lost every year ! . Unloading was a piece of cake - however setting up the stand was harder - it morphs every year into something different and even 'S' does not know its finished shape - sort of free style !.

 

'A' sorting boxes.

 

 

Looks like a bomb has gone off !.

 

 

'S' and his son 'O' try to figure out what goes were !.

 

 

Getting there !, we finally got the stand up and ready for the onslaught of customers , as always the day was very busy so the photos I took are a bit disjointed as I rushed around the show shopping in between helping on the stand .I unfortunately did not get who had put on some of the games and missed out on many of them . Salute is only on for one day and there was so much to see even a visitor has a problem seeing it all !

 

A WW1 skirmish game 'Bashing the Kaiser' , nice terrain and the explosions had lighting effects - sadly not picked up on my photo.

 

 

Victorian 'Steam Punk' game with marvellous pre cut MDF buildings.

 

 

An ACW game using 'Regimental Fire & Fury' rules.

 

 

A wonderful Waterloo display rather than game - lots and lots of figures .

 

 

VERY impressive !.

 

 

Another shot - evidently 'Napoleon gave a talk about the display during the day but I missed it .

 

 

As you can tell I liked this !.

 

 

Nice buildings too !

 

 

I even remembered to record who created it !.

 

 

One of the participation games - I was impressed by the city of Troy.

 

 

A fantasy cavern with mood lighting !

 

 

I managed to find my way into a overlooking gallery to try and capture the scale of Salute - and this was when things were going quiet.

 

 

People were thinning out .

 

 

The show finished at 5pm , but it was 6pm when we got loaded up and started home . The traffic getting out of London was bad so it was about 11.45 pm when 'A' dropped me off at home - a long day but successful .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Father of Wargaming.

 

To celebrate the centenary of the publication of 'Little Wars'- Black Hat have produced a 54mm figure of the great man himself - H.G. Wells . Got mine and painted him up in 'Wellsian' style - 'Toy Soldier and high gloss' . he comes with 3 toy soldiers and a house on a wooden base , I added the cannon myself (think its a Peter Pig ships gun).  Off to Salute with S&A Scenics this weekend so a report and pics hopefully when I return.

Hessian Leibgarde du Fuss

 

Have finally got around to finishing off painting the Nurnberger Meisterzinn figures I got off EBay , these have been painted as the combined grenadier companies of the Hesse-Kassel 'Liebgarde zu Fuss'. To tell the two companies apart I reversed the pom-pom colours - not historical but a handy way to tell them apart.

 

 

They are not as crisp a casting as Prince August ones and are swine's to cast up , it took about 6 attempts to get the 2 drummers cast up - the metal moulds don't seem to allow the casting metal to flow through them as easy as the rubber compound ones . The 2 Officers are Prince August Prussians - the Officers did not seem to wear the mitre cap. I also converted a couple of the infantry into Sergeants by cutting the musket away and gluing pole arms to them.

 

 

 

40mm Gabions Finished.

 

Have got the 40mm (Hair curler) gabions finished and painted , I sprayed them black and then dry-brushed them and painted the base . I then gave them a coat of  high gloss varnish as the paint seemed to want to come off the curlers and then a matt varnish (similar to the problem with plastic soldiers ?) , maybe I should have soaked them in detergent first ?. Here we see Voltaire and Count De Fru-Fru waited on by 'Wee Jocky' inspecting the finished product . I am going to make some more bases of them suitable for artillery .

 

 

This Is What I'm Going To With Them !

 

Uncle Toby explains to Corporal Trim how you make gabions out of hair curlers . I was wanting  some gabions  and the ones cast from metal are horridly expensive as they do take a lot of it. So I thought I would look around for a cheaper alternative . In the distant past I can remember my mother and sister doing home perms with vile liquid that made your eyes smart and using hair curlers , these I thought might be suitable. A EBay search revealed you can still get them - very cheaply, so to my wife's alarm I  ordered some (I  believe she thinks I'm at a funny age for men !)('a funny age for men- between 9 and 90' , my father used to say !) . They arrived promptly and I set to work !.

 

 

The Mark 1 fortification - having glued them to a piece of MDF  I wondered what to fill them with ? and decided on paper mache - this took ages to set ! luckily the weather was warm at the weekend and I put it in the sun to dry . Corporal Trim had thought of this problem but failed to alert the Engineers to the fact !

 

 

 

The gabions with a mortar and crewman behind it ready for spraying with black undercoat . Uncle Toby is impressed by the results so far and eagerly awaits the next step .

 

 

 

Now What Is He Going To Do With These ?

 

Any guess what I have planned for the above item ? and it does not include transvestism ! , more photos to follow !

Easter Game Finale.

 

The French try to recover the village but in a fierce melee Scheither's Grenadiers drive them back.

 

 

The Swiss are confronted by the 20th and the Jaegers .

 

 

The Swiss take heavy casualties !.

 

 

On the other flank the French Hussars defeat the Carbineers.

 

 

The Hessians 'die hard!' but a combination of musketry and grapeshot remove them from the game ! - they being a newly painted unit this was to be expected !.

 

 

End game ! - the Swiss retire and the Jaegers see them off !. The 20th redeploy to confront the enemy cavalry.

 

 

On the other flank the French retire having suffered heavy losses from the Hessians .

 

 

With the French army in retreat Voltaire seeks an explanation from the French General Comte Du Fru-Fru  and is told that it is a tactical redeployment to fool the Allies ! - he is NOT convinced with this story !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Game.

 

 

Found some time to continue the 40mm SYW game this weekend , the Allies move up the road as the French Chasseurs move into the houses and open fire on the advancing 20th Foote.

 

 

They cause some casualties and the British fire back .

 

 

The French Regt. Castellas makes a flanking march as more French move onto the table.

 

 

Voltaire's observations are disturbed  by the arrival of a company of the Swiss - he offers the officer refreshments - and advice - one is received better than the other !.

 

 

The Swiss deploy , this is their first battle as a complete regiment .

 

 

The Jaegers from Scheither's Frei Korp deploy in skirmish order to counter the French attack.

 

 

The French Hussars have worked their way around the Allied left flank (after driving off the Allied cavalry) . The Allied Carabineers reform and prepare to engage them again.

 

 

Hodge (who has grown a bit since last appearing on this blog) tours the battlefield , rumours that he displays more generalmanship than the author are totally refuted !. Too be continued -if I can decat the table !