ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Friday, 5 June 2026

From My Side of the Table… Shiny Napoleonics… The first Game.

Greetings…

While my old friend David was visiting over the Partizan Weekend we had game to christen my Shiny Napoleonic Collection/New Wargames Table/New Wargames Room…

We were joined by Alan Perry…

Alan and I commanded the beautiful French while David took command of the workmanlike Prussians/Hanoverians/British…

Believing the Allies to be outnumbered they went on the Defensive (It turns out that we were wrong about this, much to the frustration of the beautiful French)

The Allies were to defend the three villages across their half of the table and the beautiful French were to Attack/Capture them…

The beautiful French threw themselves at the Allies defences but after fighting until both sides were effectively broken as dictated by our rules … Black Powder…we actually decided to play beyond this as we were having so much fun. 😁

So we decided that we had fought ourselves to a very bloody draw…

Later in the weekend David and I decided to set up both sides and just charge at each other to see what happened… this was when we discovered that the Allies actually outnumbered the beautiful French by three battalions…

We were mystified… 

Clearly the French were so overwhelmingly beautiful that it looked liked there were far more of them 🤣.

So here are some pictures… Hopefully Blogger with put them in the correct order 🤞




The very beautiful French…

Every Shiny French figure I own was out on the table… All of them in danger of suffering’New figure syndrome’ 😳






The Allies in there defensive positions…
Once again… All the toys out on the table… Including The Glasgow Wellington.





As the Central Brigade ( Encouraged by Napoleon himself) makes a push for the centre… my Light Brigade attempts a flanking move on the right of the line.
Alan throws his troops at the village on the left flank of our line…






The French ( Very beautiful French) Cavalry mass in the centre…
As the Prussian Guard and the Russo- German Legion brace themselves my Hussars break out and chase the Prussian Fusiliers of their hill… Hurrah!


A Blunder…
I did a few of these 🙀





Fortunately this blunder sent me forwards…As the Centre Column pushed on supported by the Hussars.
Alan’s men break into the village and start clearing it of defenders…Hurrah! Hurrah!




The Glorious and Beautiful French push forward crashing into the Russo- German Legion…



Beautiful French Hussars… Looking beautiful 😁.



Workmanlike Prussians and… Well… I suppose I have to admit Hanoverians looking beautiful 😁


Napoleon eyes up Glasgow Wellington… Or maybe just his hat.


Wellingtons falls back as the Beautiful French push into the Allies flank…


Just one more look at the lovely Beautiful, Glorious French Hussars…😆


Although the Beautiful French Light troops have defeated this Allied flank and look to taking the village the rest of the army is in no fit state to carry on… The Allies are in the same state…
So a draw is declared…

What a fun game…
As I said we set everything up later and had a straight stand up fight… It was quick and dirty and David won… Those extra battalions made a difference.
Here are a few pictures… Chosen because they are pretty.








Time for some painting I think…

All the best.  Aly

Saturday, 30 May 2026

Shiny Napoleonics… Command stand for the 5th Westphalian…

 Greetings…

I finally got round to finishing off the fourth (Command) stand for my 5th Westphalian Landwehr…

There is no official Standard for them but I liked the look of this one…

Okay… I suppose I should get on with that battle report 🤔



All the best.   Aly

Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Partizan 2026… The Loot.

Greetings…

I almost forgot to post about what Loot I picked up at the show…

By my standards I don’t think it was too much…🤔

A couple of interesting looking books..

And some MDF buildings… The Dark Age Roman Villa should be useful for my Late Roman Project.


Islamic Archers and a Rus Warband…
These are to add to the Khazars v’s Kievan Rus project that is ticking away in the background…
I’ve already assembled most of what I need but I thought a few more won’t do any harm… And they are such lovely toys…


Bad Squiddo Games… Women of WW2…
These are delightful figures and will fit nicely into my Dads Army Project.
Annie’s range is full of so many tempting toys… I had a lovely chat with her about the Female Resistance Fighters range she is having made… I suspect I will be adding some of them to my collection.

I have to admit I am finding it hard to resist getting some out and painting them right away.

I had a fun game at the weekend using my Shiny Napoleonics for the first time…so next up I should get some pictures posted ….

All the best.  Aly





Thursday, 21 May 2026

Partizan… 2026.

Greetings…

At the weekend, I made my way to Newark in the company of my old (old) friend David O’ Brien.

What a fine day out we had with lots of lovely games to look at…

So here are some pictures…



A lovely American Civil War game from The Bodkins…

This table became a rendezvous point for many of us throughout the day… At one point there were five Daves in attendance… surely this must be a record 😁.



A nice participation game from Here’s the Ruckus…



Samurai action from The Shrewsbury Wargames Society…




Operation Bagration from The Derby Wargames Society…



Chesterfield Old Boys… Bemis Heights.



Glasgow Tradeston Wargames Club…White Mountain.







The Iron Brigade’s… Assault on Kawajima Castle 1564.
A lovely game full of lovely details.



The Westbury Wargamers… The Battle of Minden.



Wild Geese from The Bunker…
Lots of entertaining details on this…


Like a Stone Wall… Cape Finisterre.







War of Spanish Succession from The League of Augsburg.
One of my favourite periods.







The God of War from The League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers.
Always filled with lovely things…


Operation Nimrod ( The Iranian Embassy Siege 1980) from Veteran Voices.
A really unique portrayal of the events of the day from some very informative people .






An impressive Seven Years War game from… Friends of a Military Gentleman.

Midgard Heroic Battles 

Mighty Empires.




Boondock Sayntes…

Full of splendid details…

Well that’s all the decent pictures I managed to take.. I apologise for those lovely games I missed.

My excuse of course is that I was busy judging the Vignette Competition…

The Winner was this lovely group from The Iron Brigade 


What’s not to love about Koi Carp 😁
A terrific day in grand company meeting up with loads of good friends… Mostly called Dave 🤣🤣🤣

All the best.  Aly