Serious temptation... Shiny

Greetings...


I have now gloss varnished my colour tests...

It makes a difference... doesn't it.


I think as these are from my Shiny Toy soldiers range... it would appear that they demand to be 'SHINY!'....


I am up for this... but it will probably be next year before I get started... I have to do a bit of sculpting and casting and such...


And I want to get my WSS collection to a point of gaming...


And all the other stuff...


All the best  Aly

Serious temptation... Colour tests

Greetings...


So letting myself be tempted even more I have painted a couple of colour/style tests using some 42mm castings I had at hand...

First up...  An Austrian Infantry...


Really not a lot of difference from what was worn in the Napoleonic wars... The shako in the 1830's appears to be a lot more extreme than the one I have here... I will make a few new ones if I go ahead with this project.

Next up...  A Bavarian Landwehr...


This is a lovely uniform... again the shako could be a bit more extreme.

  Finally... A Prussian Cuirassier...


I have gone for a matt finish with gloss leather work and metallics...
This is pretty much what I do now, but with a much lighter wash...the effect is reminiscent of Greenwood and Ball miniatures from  the late 60's and early 70's... though without the black lining.


I have also experimented with thicker bases... these are 6mm... I will probably go for slightly thinner.


I am now tempted to see what they look like with a gloss varnish.


All the best   Aly

The War of Spanish Succession... Danish Artillery

Greetings...


My first artillery piece... Boom!


When I first bought this 'unit' I had no idea who it would belong to...


Then I read Charles Grants description of the Danish artillery in The Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars...


"The Danish artillery regiment wore a violet coat lined green"


I am in...

Finding a suitable violet not as simple as had thought it would be...
I tried a number of colours before I settled on Vallejo Model Colour 960 Violeta...
Whether this reflects the true colour of cloth that would have been used I don't know... but the colour looks just right on the miniatures as far as I am concerned.


Of course to balance the vibrant uniform... the guns... I found out were also a nice quiet combination...
Red with yellow fittings...


I chose a fairly subdued set of colours for the gun... and the facings.


The overall effect is a lot more sombre than I would have expected and very pleasing...


The Coats... Vallejo... 960 Violeta.
The Facings... Citadel... Loren Forest.
The Gun Carriage... Citadel... Khorne Red.
The Fittings... Foundry... Ochre 4B.


The miniatures are as always Front Rank...
https://www.frontrank.com/product-category/18th-century/spanish-succession/
The paints are Citadel...
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Painting-Modelling
And Wargames Foundry
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/paint
Bases from Warbases...
https://warbases.co.uk/?product_cat=premier-bases-metric


There are many suppliers for Vallejo... a web search should help you find a source easy enough.


After a little research I have found a French dragoon regiment that fits the colour scheme I have..
Dragoon Regiment Pereux..They have a rather nice Guidon.


I also had to add some white piping around the edge of the cap and paint the tassel the same...

All the best  Aly

Some rather nice Little Britons...

Greetings...


This weekend I was sent some lovely pictures all the way from Wellington in New Zealand of Murray Nash's collection of Little Britons.
It is such a nice collection that I asked him if it was okay to post them on the blog... he said it was..

Its nice to see some familiar units here but there are also some that maybe I should add to my own collection...
I particularly like the Highland Light Infantry and the Russian Cuirassiers...


They were all painted by Nigel Fun-Nel who is from Hastings in New Zealand...


Wonderful toys...


And of course here is the cheap commercial plug...


http://www.spencersmithminiatures.co.uk/html/little_britons.html


All the best and a big thank you to Murray...Aly

From my side of the table... The Cockup at Blunderness Creek.

Greetings...


Last week Alan (Perry) decided to have an impromptu American Civil War game...


The scenario was that the Confederacy had to dash in and capture some supplies from the Union.


We used Black Powder... with some Black Powder Two additions...


 Michael(Perry) and our friends Nick and Chris took the part of the Union... And friends Rob, Steve and myself were the Rebels...


An additional twist was that Rob and Steve had to crawl into the games room and make a map using a periscope to view the table...

This was the end result... sigh!
We were to enter from the west...


We made our plans...
I would attack down the road...Hopefully pinning the enemy.. Rob would swing round to the north threatening their flank and Steve would do the same ... with the cavalry... to the south.

Hmmm!
So much for scouting...
So much for cartography...
So much for plans...

Regardless we rush on... and hope our battle plan will work...

The Union had to dice where and when they came on...
First on ...Chris's infantry and Michael's cavalry...

I follow the plan and move rapidly forwards...

As do the Union forces...

They also do some Shooty Shooty... which isn't very nice...

Rob makes a drive for the Watchtower... For reasons that will become apparent I have christened this Fort Obsession...

I blunder...

But for once in a good way... forwards one move.. Hurrah!

I do Shooty Shooty...
Maybe not...

The Union do Shooty Shooty... sigh!

Some of my troops continue to advance... some like standing in a field...

Rob continues on to Fort Obsession...

Steve brings his cavalry on ... and dismounts on my flank... in a place that should have been called ...The Pimple of Death...

Nick dices for where his troops should come on...
In the wrong place as far as we were concerned...

This was just a nice picture...

I do some remarkable Shooty Shooty...  could my luck be changing?

Things are looking... good!

Steve does an impression of fish in a barrel...

Rob continues his assault on Fort obsession...While Michaels cavalry decide that they are not needed anymore...

Steve does some rather dashing... running away... sorry... tactical withdrawing...

Frustrated by this brigade breaking under enemy fire ...

I order this brigade to move as far forward as possible and shoot the crap out of the enemy in front..
I rolled a 3 which gave me three moves...
Unfortunately I forgot that under the new rules you can only move one move if you want to fire...
So in fact I tactically presented myself as a target of opportunity...

I continue a fire fight with what feels like the whole Union army... collecting more bullets than I give...

My second brigade finds something important to do back in Texas...

Rob... Fort... Obsession...

Steve bravely rushes back in and retakes his position...  as fish in a barrel.

 

I also play at fish in a barrel...

 My first brigade decides it needs to help my second brigade with that important thing in Texas...

Rob... Fort... Yup!

Steve's men decide to see what is so interesting in Texas...

I decide to move my last brigade over to join Rob .. who has got bored with Fort Obsession...

They also decide... Texas...

Leaving Rob to defend Fort Obsession against the whole Union Army...


Well things didn't really go as we planned... even with their random deployment the Union seemed a lot more organised we did... well they had better dice...


The trouble with trying out the new rules was that we/I kept forgetting... much to my cost.


This was a great and fun game with lovely friends... we did seem to cockup what seemed like a simple task...
My luck got better for a bit... but only for a bit... maybe things will improve next time...


All the best  Aly