Butterfly Moments... Henry VIII’s Wars.

 Greetings...

I thought that I would start doing the occasional post about my occasional fluttering...

So... Henry VIII’s Wars...

I was looking around for something that would have a similar size and scale as my Lion Rampant Roman project... its been so much fun and has definitely left me with a desire to play games and add more toys.

Now... I have always had a bit of a problem with Pike and Shot armies... I love the various period histories... I love the flags... I love the clothes... and I love the arms and armour... but when I start to paint the toys... I just grind to a halt and my enthusiasm evaporates.

Maybe it’s the long pointy sticks ( It is a thing... the fear of pointy objects... Aichmophobia) or maybe it’s the flashbacks to when I was in the Sealed Knot.

I had been reading about Henry’s 1544 invasion of France and I quite liked the look of the Assault Groups English Tudor range...

https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/renaissance/english-tudor/

Then I looked at the Landsknechts and French... I am afraid these are the kind of troops I like to see other people painting... The wars against Scotland looked a bit more doable...

Alas... No one appears to do any accurate mid 16th century Scots...(That I liked anyway).

I went ahead and bought a few samples with the idea that I might be able to modify some of the English to Scots... the miniatures are indeed very nice but the Bill/Pikemen are a bit to over armoured for what the Scottish troops would have worn at the likes of Pinkie Cleugh...

I decided to go ahead and paint up a couple of English and convert and paint a Scot based on the Uniformed Billman...

Here’s an Archer painted up as a man from Thomas Caverden’s contingent...

And here we have an English Billman in Tudor livery and the converted Scots Pikeman...

They have indeed come our rather well and I did enjoy painting them... but here is the rub... Quilted Jacks and possibly chains sewn onto the arms don’t make for a quick and easy project... I am not sure how many of these I could alter before I started looking at Landsknechts with kinder eyes...

I have decided to leave this one for a while (Hopefully The Assault Group will make some Tudor Scots) and flutter off to pastures new... 

I expect there will be more Butterfly Moments as I’ve been fluttering about quite a bit this month...

All the best...Flutter Flutter.   Aly

From my side of the table... La colline de la mort presque certaine.

 Greetings....

This is an account of a virtual game that Mharaid and I had before Xmas...

The objective of the game... apart from an excuse to use my Brunswickers... was to take control of a hill that dominated a number of roads through the woods.

As usual we used A Song of Drums and Shakos...

The game was played out over a few days and we used FaceTime and email for the game... Coloured counters and name tags also helped Mharaid to see what was happening... as well as being fun.

A black button means your gun is unloaded.

A red button means you are seriously wounded/dead.

A yellow button means running away.

The area around La colline de la mort presque certaine... showing the possible entry points for each side.

The two sides assemble... I have shamelessly used many of my friends names here... mostly because it was funny...

Mharaid (Von Rust) and I (Malchanceux) both went for similar plans...

Moving round either side of the hill in an effort to pin or eliminate the enemy and then make a move on the hill itself...

Von Rust’s men move off in and orderly and organised manner...

My men... not so much...

Von Rust’s men start to move round the base of the hill and even make a move onto the hill.

I also make a move on the hill... with unfortunate and possibly predictable results... sigh!

Fortunately Malchanceux was only knocked over...

The Brunswickers however don’t get it all their own way...

Had they been loaded... this would have been a perfect opportunity for a volley...

Just in case Malchanceux decides to move his command and control centre to a more suitable position.

As Von Rust orders his men to move on the hill Sergeant Baptiste and his men take advantage of some relatively easy targets... sadly Hugo takes one for the team.

This more or less gives an idea of where the game was at this point... the buttons and names start to make sense from this point of view... Mharaid had an overview of the table and could add her own notes etc.  between our sessions.

Here we see David and his friends moving steadily along the road (going for a very slow quiet stroll...possibly with breaks for bread, wine and a nice soft cheese)

The button letting continues as both sides try to gain a foothold on the hill... Malchanceux’s brave men may be getting the upper hand... I can’t imagine that lasting for long... It would be very out of character.

The crazed killer known as Oli reaches the top of the hill...

David... Friends... Stroll...Possibly a nap....sigh!

Another aerial view... The Brunswickers are definitely getting a bit buttoned...

Oli the crazed killer takes out Edgar and Dorian single handed... eeek!... the horror!

David eventually moves off the road to attack the enemy... but... doesn’t get very far... sigh!

Oli bowl’s over Antoine next... He can shoot as well as he can stab... 

Fortunately Louis steps forward and with a single shot solves the problem that was ‘Oli’.

Taking an example from Oli, Johannes charges forward to attack Malchanceux’s headquarters.

Only to be shot down by Xavier and then stabbed by ‘Brave Malchanceux’... Hurrah!.. He says.

Much to my surprise these acts bring the Brunswickers down to below their breaking point and they now have to take moral throws...

Shockingly the men vote to go... Leaving Von Rust and Feldwebel Herman on their own...

After careful consideration they too decide to head to that nice little bar with the pretty girls back in Brussels...

Well would you believe it... a victory...

Tactically speaking we did nothing special and it all came down to hard fighting (and good dice).

When Oli started his slaughter fest I honestly thought Mharaid was going to win the game so it came as a bit of a surprise when it all ended my way... for a change.

It of course still feels weird... I even had to check to see if I was somehow cheating.

It was Indeed a hard fought fight and a very enjoyable game...

All the best.  Aly...

To the best of my knowledge none of my actual friends were knocked over or covered in red buttons during the making of this game... And Oli is a very nice man.

 

 

A Bit More Family History...

 Greetings...

Way back in 2020 I posted about my Great Great Grandfather... Edward Bolton...

http://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-little-bit-of-family-history-my-great.html

Since then I have found out a little more about him...

Once more with the help of the lovely Trish we found him in the 1851 census in the town of Cumbernauld in Dunbartonshire... he is listed here as a coal miner... aged 18.

He may well have joined the army soon after this...

I get the feeling that most of my ancestors who joined the military did so because it was safer than working down a Mine or in a Foundry...

This is a photo of  ‘I’ Troop Royal Horse Artillery ... Edward Bolton’s Troop... 

My Great Great Grandfather could be one of the men in this image... I think I may have said Gosh! when I found this...

One of the first actions he could have been at was at the Bulganak River crossing on the 19th of September 1854...

He would have been one of these dashing figures on the right of the painting...

His next adventure would have been at the Battle of the Alma...

Edward would have been with the Light Brigade in the bottom left of this map...

In December 2019 I posted about my friend Aidan’s Great Great Great Grandfather William Stone who served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the Crimean War...

http://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-family-history-my-friend-aidans-great.html

We always wondered if they ever came close to each other...

Okay they didn’t shake hands... but... you know... there was a battle going on.

All well and good Edward would have carried on and been with his troop at Balaclava...

Edward would have been with his comrades in the North Valley near the 4th Redoubt...where he would have witnessed the Charge of the Light Brigade at much closer quarters that most of us would like to have been.

Well... This is all quite incredible...

When I started my interest in the Crimean War I never thought that I would find out that I would have had a family member who had been there...

I do hope we can find out more...

Many thanks again to Trish and Linda for their help with this.

All the best    Aly

New Toys and Books...

 Greetings...

The first of my Xmas presents to myself have started to arrive...

First up are two more volumes on the Uniforms of the French Armies...

These are again from Soldiershop Publishing and are everything I have come to expect... lots and lots of pretty pictures.

https://soldiershop.com/collane/libri/s-weapons-uniforms/

Next up are some more uniform plates from Brigade/Peter Bunde...

A lot of Prussian units in this lot... I particularly like the look of the Thuringer Battalion...

https://www.brigade-uniform-tafeln.de/

My miniature samples have started to arrive as well... I think I shall get some painted before I post them...

All the best   Aly

Shiny Napoleonics... Prussian Fusiliers.

 Greetings...

So... The first post of the year.

Here we have the Fusilier Battalion of The 1st West Prussian Regiment No.6

I am really pleased with the way they have turned out, I have based them, so that depending on what rules I use, they can be deployed in open order.

The command base has been left the same as my normal line infantry as I wanted it to look more like a rallying/support point.

They have been painted in the same way as the other two battalions, with the exception that I have made the trousers and greatcoat a bit lighter to counteract the additional darkness of black leather belts

http://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2020/07/shiny-napoleonics-prussian-infantry.html

I suppose I should really do a couple of stands of  Freiwilliger Jäger to round the whole regiment off.

Here is a shot of all the Prussian Infantry I have painted so far...

I would like to add another couple of infantry battalions and of course some cavalry and artillery...

The next unit I am working on for this project is also German... but this time they are in French pay.

The paints are Citadel and Vallejo...
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Painting-Modelling 
https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/categoria/hobby/model-color-en/

The bases are as always...

https://warbases.co.uk/

All the best.   Aly