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

Sunday, 24 January 2021

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.








 


 



Tuesday, 19 January 2021

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





Saturday, 16 January 2021

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




Saturday, 9 January 2021

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

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 bases are as always...

All the best.   Aly






Thursday, 31 December 2020

New Year 2020

Drinky says “ A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all”

Greetings...

I must say I will be glad to see the back of this one...

It did not start well... My Mother passed away in January and it rapidly went down hill from there...

Lockdowns, restrictions and shielding ( Yes I’m one of those special people who have a very rare autoimmune condition that makes me interesting to doctors and the occasional nurse) have certainly given me time for thought as well as painting toy soldiers...

I have always believed that most politicians are self serving greedy liars, I can now add incompetent clowns to that description... Oh! how I wish I had been proven wrong...

Of course New Zealand has proven to be the exception that proves the rule...

On the good side I have definitely painted lots of toy soldiers and more importantly I have come into contact with some lovely generous people via blogging... this has been a splendid support group indeed.

I have also realised just how incredibly supportive and generous my friends and family really are... a lesson well learned that will not be forgotten....

Hopefully 2021 will open up the prospect for face to face gaming (and face to face drinking of course). I have WSS and 3rd Century Roman collections that really need to get off the shelf and do some fighting... I honestly don’t care whether I win or lose...mind you in my case it's lose or really lose...

There is also an American Civil War Campaign to finish...

My butterfly has been active as always but I have mostly stayed focussed... I may feature these flutterings next year...

As to plans... I am trying to avoid them.

However a couple of ideas seem to be ‘sticky’(That’s management hipster talk by the way)...

More Romans... Not just 3rd Century but possibly something late Roman or Arthurian.

Pike and Shot/30Years War... This surprised me... I’ve always been interested in the history but as a gaming period it has always left me a bit cold... I’m thinking Pikeman’s Lament and Assault Group miniatures.... I may order some samples in the new year.

20mm Shiny American Civil War... This has fluttered out from the fun I am having with my Napoleonics... if I did anything it would be similar in unit size and style, figure wise I originally thought Airfix but now I am drawn to RSM or Irregular Miniatures... the RSM are lovely but I have found Dayton Painting Consortium’s Mail order to be a bit vintage to say the least, then there is the ‘handling’ charge we get for the postal service doing what it is meant to do... it annoys me more than it should, which is weird because I can deal with the import duty. The Irregular Miniatures Range is quite nice and they have the bonus of being fairly local... samples will be ordered.

Whatever I do and wherever my butterfly takes me next year I aim to enjoy myself...

I’ve said it a few time this year I honestly don’t know how I would have coped without a creative and immersive hobby to see me through...

Okay... before I drift off into self analysis, bellybutton staring and negativity here are a couple of images that put a smile on my face this year

A little bit of appropriate dark humour...





And... well... The best parade uniforms ever...











OH! YES!... The Thai Royal Guard... Absolutely magnificent... I am smiling 😁😁😁

All the best... And have a Happy, Prosperous and Safe New Year... 

Aly