A Blast from the Past !

Myself and my dear wife called in at the local  'Antiques and Collectors Fair' last weekend and I purchased some old 54mm lead hollow cast Britains figures for £1 each - a good deal I think !. Will repaint them (real collectors will be screaming at this sacrilege !) and then they will join the ranks of my 'Funny Little Armies' . More pictures to follow.

Fetaland Strikes Back !. (1)

Dawn and the small Treborian border town of Selenci awakes.

The crossroads North of the town is guarded by a small unit of Reserve Infantry .

 At the nearby shrine of Saint Agatha peasants start to go about their business.

As the morning mists lifts it reveals a Fetaland raiding force bent on revenge !.

To the North a Infantry force under Major Kaffca .

Too the East a mixed force under General Stravros Flatterly.

The forces converge on the crossroads , the Elite Evazones lead the way !.

The Evazones attack under heavy fire and suffer casualties - but overrun the the defences slaughtering the Reservists.

The Treborians get their revenge, as the Fetaland Green Hussars charge the village they are met with crushing rifle fire and a counter attack by the remaining Reservists under Major Balzak destroys them.

Too be continued.....

Wild West Buildings

I have been playing Wild West games for years, starting about 40 years ago using plastic Timpo 54mm . The great problem was always buildings for the town where all the shoot outs seemed to happen .

I tried over the years to build saloons/stores from card , plastic sheeting and latterly MDF all sadly not very good , my inability to saw or cut a straight line was always a problem and my Cow Towns look like they had been built by Cowboy Builder .

Sadly these building all were disposed of as storage and wear and tear took their tole , I tried Resin which was expensive , brittle , heavy and most of the ranges limited and not very good.

My Western collection was boxed up and pushed under the wargaming table to gather dust.

Then - just before I went on holiday I came across http://www.sarissa-precision.co.uk/ I  sent off a order for 4 of their buildings , 3 stores and a cabin . When I returned the package had arrived . They come in 'flat pack' and are laser cut out of 3mm MDF , all you have to do is slot them together you do not have to glue them if you don't want to and disassemble them for easy storage , I decided to use wood glue to hold them together permanently although I left the roofs removable so to place figures inside them as needed.

I assembled the 4 above buildings in under half an hour and plan to add plastic sheeting to the inside of the windows to look like glass . Will also be adding signs and posters to the outsides of the buildings . I am really pleased with them and they cost very little compaired with the quality. I am planning to order some more buildings , they also do modern city blocks and WW2  European houses .  The figures are 28mm Foundry and Copplestone Hillbillys .

The Wargaming Butterfly .

One of my greatest faults in my wargaming is that I flutter from project to project , I like painting and find it relaxing, but at times I have to much on the go .I find I am influenced by many things - what I am reading ,what I come across on the Internet , articles in magazines , new ranges of figures - the list is endless !. At the moment I have on the go  42mm Balkans Wars Imaginations , 28mm ACW, 28mm Aztecs/Conquistadors , 54mm Toy Soldiers, 28mm Napoleonics and a few 28mm Gladiators as well as re basing my 15mm Crimean figures. Once a period is up and running and has enough figures painted to game with  I tend to ease off the painting a bit and move to something else. I TRY not to have to many unpainted figure for a period waiting - with mixed success , my 42mm Imagination has been bought in and painted as it arrived so has no outstanding unpainted lead ( this is due to the cost of 42mm figures I think - I only bought smallish amounts at a time). However my 28 mm Napoleonics has a lead mountain due to the fact that I bought it in en mass using one of the Foundry deals ( cheapest way of purchasing them). What I'm gaming at the moment also influences what I paint and a successful set of rules that encourage play also is crucial. Well having got that of my chest I am no nearer solving my butterfly wargaming and is it really a problem - in the great scheme of thing - no , but at times I feel a bit guilty and have great respect for gamers that can concentrate  on only one project till its completed .

I finish with a couple of ACW photos that I  found on my computer that have nowhere else to go .

Having posted these photos I get the sudden urge to paint some more ACW  figures - oh dear !..........

Slovenian Interlude.

Been on a weeks holiday to Slovenia in Kranjska Gora . Mainly a walking-sight seeing trip with beautiful weather and very warm  (30+ temperatures). I had not realised the area around was the scene of heavy fighting during the First World War , between the Austrians and the Italians and  Kranjska Gora was an important staging and transport centre. Sadly none of this is still visible and the village is mainly modern redesigned housing with only the church and centre of the village being of any age. On a day trip out to the Julian Alps ( named after Julius Cesar - who campaigned there and built many roads ) I was excited to find that we where to stop at Fort Kluze in the Koritnica Valley . Typically when we arrived the Fort was closed for maintenance work , but I managed to take a few photos - just as my cameras batteries failed !

Entrance to the fort , the stout American lady is for scale . ( my wife said I had to point out it was NOT her !)

Firing slits covering the entrance.

The entrance.

The entrance to the interior buildings.

Looking from the courtyard towards the entry , it was built by the Austrians in 1882 to defend the Koritnica valley which borders with Italy.

A machine gun position in the cliff face covering the entrance and rear face of the fort. At this point I walked round to the front to photograph the 'business' side of the fort only to find my camera batteries had exhausted themselves ! ( I leave it to the imagination my language at this point).

I found these photos of the fort from a Slovenian Tourist site . The side of the fort , the entrance being on the rear left of this photo.

The front of the fort in its dramatic setting ( it would have taken me a week to climb up to this position to take this photo ). The fort was never attacked during the war although one further up the valley - Fort Herman was heavily shelled and partially destroyed by the Italians. This of course raises the question - how to wargame this campaign - you would need to base the figures on Velcro to get them to stand up on the precipitous terrain !

PS. Forgot to mention an earlier fort had been captured by French troops in Napoleon's Italian campaign .

What your figures get up too when your not there No. 7

High level planing conference at Yalta.

A secret meeting between the President of Fetaland and King Paul II  has taken place to discuss joint military action against Treboria . Held in the remote village of Yalta this conference has lead to stronger bonds between the two countries and a common stand point in pursueing a favorable outcome .

What figures get up too when your not there No. 49

54mm Game -Edwardian Splendour.

Played this game using a set of rules I got off the Internet called 'Edwardian Splendour' , I  diced for the entry positions of the opposing armies - the object of the game being the capture of the house in the centre of the table.

The 'Red' army set off across a broad front , with the cavalry making a flank attack.

The Highlanders moved swiftly down the road but took casualties from the 'Black' army unit deployed across the road.

The 'Black' army moves forward toward the objective.

The Highlanders deploy into open order and deliver heavy casualties to the 'Black' unit opposing it - who fail their morale test and are removed from play.

The 'Red' army race for the house and the Rifle Volunteers open fire on the enemy.

Its neck and neck as the 'Red and 'Black' units race for the objective.

The 'Black' infantry unit charge the 'Red' infantry and loose the melee disasterously ! - fail their morale test and break . With their 2nd infantry unit gone and 'Red' armies cavalry bearing down on the flank the 'Black' army General signals the army to retire . 'Red' army are victorious ! and hold the objective. The 'Black' army had problems from the start and sent their gun on a flank march around 'Red' armies left - when it finaly got into position - there where no targets ! ( the Highlanders having moved swiftly forward ) , so this valuable unit was wasted . With so few units on the table it was always going to be a quick game and unfortunatly 'Black' army had to take and failed 2 morale tests , which sealed their fate . Although a small game it was exciting and the rules worked well . So I now need to get casting up more figures for the next game.

54mm Archetecture

One of the problems using 54mm figures for gaming is you suddenly find your buildings/scenery are to small !, using 40mm  it isn't noticeable but by the time you get to 54mm it is !.

I tried making a house myself - using foamboard , its the new wonder product for the gamer to make things from - I've read the articles by talented modelers making wonderful things using it . Its a creation of Beelzebub to tempt the unwary , I tryed , I used a lot of bad language and failed miserably , there are not photos of my effort - I spare you that . My inability to cut it squarely didn't help, getting it to glue didn't help either . I threw it on the fire and rejoiced !. Then I turned to TVAG, he does PDF  printable 54mm buildings in the 'Funny Little War' range . I bought and downloaded it - the result is to be seen in the accompaning photos .

The only problem is getting it printed onto suitably thick card , my printer (a willful machine - a distant cousin to foamboard I believe !) dosn't do thick card , however I am pleased with the results .

Here it is seen in action as it were , you see how big it is and this is only one of the smaller buildings .

I've decided to set up a small 54mm battle to play with my toy soldiers . I will be using a set of free downloadable rules called ' Edwardian Splendour' , Tilley the cat is a keen student of all things wargaming and is seen inspecting the opposing armies deployment. I will report on the battle as it unfolds.