Crafty Christmas Purchase

Hello again.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud,
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a shop
Called "Titan Games", in Lichfield..."
(Sorry Wordsworth...)

Actually, I was out Christmas shopping, largely to get things for my wife, and happened upon this emporium, the aforementioned Titan Games in Lichfield, Staffordshire, so in I went. What an Aladdin's Cave of riches greeted me in the small antechamber at the front of the shop. Stacked floor to ceiling with various goodies, and with a table festooned with Christmas orders being prepped for despatch, I did not know where to start looking.

Just like in the "Mr Benn" cartoon series I loved as a kid, "as if by magic, a shopkeeper appeared". A very jovial fellow allowed me to breeze around his shop, whilst busily answering my questions around what was stocked, when his games nights were, etc., but mostly around the new version of GW's "Necromunda" game I had heard was coming out.

"I have it in stock," says the jovial shopkeeper.
"Really?!" says excited browser, a little too excitedly perhaps.
"I'll go and fetch a copy," ripostes the now departing proprietor, as he heads into some further chamber, soon to return with a large, colourful box in his hands.

"Excellent!" I cry. "So what do you get in the box?"

The next few minutes are spent discussing the two gangs that come with the game, the fact that the initial game deals with subterranean action in a sewer-type complex (thoughts drift to Stalingrad, Verdun...hm, options!) but there is a supplement out to take you up to the multi-level affairs of yesteryear's version of the game (thoughts drift to those wonderful MDF kits I have seen so often at various shows and admired...) And there are specialist dice sets, some card packs to assist in playing and developing your games...

I bought the lot!!!

I also bought some of the paint I needed, so it was not all whimsy.

There are two gangs in the game, as I said above. The "Goliaths" are steroid-sucking meatheads with serious anger-management issues. The Escher are pseudo-punk radfems with a passion for poisons. All I have to do is convince someone else to play as girls! There are also a plethora of stout, card templates to play on, templates for use with the game, dice, instructions...the usual cornucopia of richness that comes with these GW boxed sets.

So, I am now the proud owner of the new "Necromunda" and, with 2018 fast approaching and a desire to get more than a handful of games in for this coming year, and an even bigger desire to get my 11 year old son involved in wargaming in some way that does not involve computing/ X Box/ other consoles are available, I hope to get this going soon.

Finally, I would hereby like to wish one and all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope 2108 brings you health, wealth and happiness.

G

The big box!

How do they get it all in? Figures to build, bulkheads to seal off passageways, game templates, literature...

And the other bits to enrich the game. The book covers taking your gangs upstage to the levels of yore, the dice are wholly unnecessary but wholly nice (!) and the card packs are there to help.

Big Men With Tall Hats

Hello again.

Another of the purchases I made from Ian at Eagle Figures back at the "Alumwell Show", aka, WMMS, in March, was a pack of his British Grenadiers, destined as with all my Seven Year' War purchases to date to feature in my burgeoning French & Indian Wars project.

Now, with 24 figures to a pack and four figures to a base (the way I am doing it, anyway!), that gives me six bases of Grenadiers to play with and, as an added bonus, I do not need to paint any flags!!! Using 24 figures also ties in neatly with my 24 figure line regiments.

So, with a plan to field six British line regiments for the aforementioned project, that neatly gives me six bases of grenadiers from six different regiments, each base representing a company. Job done!

Except, they all have to look slightly different, which is great to look at but a pain to do en masse...

I don't know if it is just me or something others find, but having to paint slightly different looking figures in a batch just doesn't work for me. I seem to spend ages doing the differences (blue facings instead of red, yellow lace instead of white, etc) and the whole thing becomes a chore.

To combat this, and with the limited time I have for anything at the moment, as well as limited daylight, I have been very slowly painting these up a base of four at a time. Although this is inefficient (I would normally work on 12 to 16 figures at a time), it does allow me to finish small stages at each short sitting so I can see some progress and do not feel like things are bogging down between increasingly rare and time-limited painting sessions.

So, for what I hope is your delight and delectation, I give you the first two bases of my Combined Grenadiers regiment (in fact, the only two bases I have done so far, though another two are underway!)

Both bases forming what would be a small regiment/ battalion in "Black Powder" terms.

 

The blue mitre caps and facings are the 60th Foot (Royal Americans), the white the 43rd Foot. I sourced details for the 60th from Osprey's campaign volume on Ticonderoga, which has a couple of decent colour plates in it depicting this regiment. I sourced details of the 43rd from Opsrey's "Combat" series volume entitled "British Redcoat versus French Fusilier", which again has colour pictures of both line and grenadiers for this regiment. NOTE: this volume also has some erroneous detail in it, so be wary of sources!

 

Grenadier Company, 60th Foot.

Grenadier Company, 43rd Foot.


What both source volumes also have is orbats for Ticonderoga in the case of the former and three separate actions in the case of the "Combat" series volume, as well as other colour details for a couple of regiments. As a result, you can expect to see both line infantry and grenadiers in the near (-ish) future for both 46th and 58th regiments of foot.

G

HM 60th Regt. of Foot (Royal Americans)

Hello again.

This regiment has been months in the making.

I first bought the figures from Eagle Figures at the WMMS Show at Aldersley Leisure Centre back in March, when the "big push" started to get our proposed FIW game up and running for this year's "season". To date, given the length of time this regiment took me, they remain the ONLY British regiment I have completed so far. That project is still looking some way off...

Anyway, why the Royal Americans?

Well, I bought the "Ticonderoga" campaign book published by Osprey from Dave Lanchester at the Barrage Show in Stafford back in July and, within its pages, are numerous colour images of troops from both sides. However, not only was there a depiction of a soldier from this regiment, in colour, but there was also one of a grenadier too, albeit an officer rather than rank and file. I knew what the flags looked like from other research and the lack of lace on the uniforms of the rank and file would make the painting job a little easier, so there you go.

What really took the time, however, was not the figures but the flags. There are some very good looking examples available to buy from different sources, but I like to make my own from brass wire and calico. The experience was an intense one...Suffice to say, it took me ages! The figures emerged faster than the flags!!! Couple that with my general dislike of painting red and that pretty much sums up the mild discomfort that was finishing this unit.

The French represent a lot easier proposition with their pale grey coats over a black undercoat and the flags are simpler designs too but do look effective. Yet, you cannot fight battles in the FIW without Redcoats, so I will crack on with the Dragon Red spray can from Army Painter for undercoating and get on with the British.

Only around half a dozen more units to go and I will have the force I want for the planned show game...

I had better get on with it!

G

The entire regiment of 24 figures. The grenadiers will feature in a separate unit of Combined Grenadiers.
 

A closer view of the all-important but massively time-consuming flags.

"Right wheel!"

"Left wheel!" The viewpoint of a Huron scout or Coureur de Bois deployed in a nearby tree.

Wargamer, 2017

Hello again.

B62 8PJ.

I do not usually start with code and, to those who might be a tad confused, I have not done this time either. Well, not quite.

B62 8PJ is the post code for the venue of this weekend's Wargamer Show, to be held at the Leasowes Leisure Centre, Kent Road, Halesowen, Birmingham, UK, B62 8PJ.

The Wyrley Retinue normally debuts it's following year demo game outing at this show, but we cannot appear this year unfortunately. However, there will be a number of traders and gamers at the show, the former category including such luminaries as Warlord Games, Ainsty, Dave Lanchester, Eagle Figures and many others, the latter category including Alumwell, Kinver, Martin Hackett and the Border Warlords (great name for a folk rock band methinks!) and, again, many others.

Drop along if you can. Any purchases you make can always be passed off as Christmas presents to yourself on the grounds that no one knows what you want so you chose for them!!!

G

The big bang

Hello again.

As I have complained before, life, work and the changing seasons have all conspired to limit my painting and modelling time to, well, "very limited"...

The FIW project is crawling along at a pace a snail would baulk at, but here are a couple more photos of something I have managed to finish, in the form of a battery of two French 8lbrs.

The figures are, as is now usual with my efforts for this project, Eagle Figures, and this little set up constitutes the whole contents of one of their packs, namely two guns with eight crew figures. I also have a pack of 4lbrs, but I have got nowhere near those as yet.

The crew are painted as French Royal Artillerie as, although few of them made it to North America, I still have visions of using this entire French army in Europe at some stage and the alternative of painting them as Cannoniers-Bombardiers was not viable as a result as far as I am aware. So, the massive distinction of yellow instead of white hat lace was duly made!

I am not entirely happy with the bases, which are 100x80mm Games Workshop movement trays in-filled with two layers of artists' mounting board to avoid warping. Not only do they look a little thick but they have also warped slightly anyway! Oh well...

G

I had to fabricate the rammers myself as the pack was missing them. I used brass wire with a strip of sticky label wound around the foot end and a piece of sprue, scribed and hacked to represent sheepskin, at the top.

Aeons in the making

Hello again.

When I start a project, and whilst wending my excited way towards its ultimate conclusion, I do a sort of project management thing, one of the aspects of which is timing the duration of various tasks involved. In this way, I can plan in activities and track their actual completion against when I thought they should have been done and amend things accordingly as necessary.

Every so often I get it wrong, but never so wrong as I did with these two worthies.

I painted the rank and file for my 60th Regiment of Foot several weeks ago. In fact, they were the first regiment of troops I painted for the French & Indian Wars that were not part of the original "Muskets & Tomahawks" set up. I set the command figures aside because a) I had to do some work on the ensigns to remove the cast on standard poles and b) I wanted to set the flags aside as a separate project as they needed their own special time window to complete properly without distractions.

That time window opened. That time window stayed open. That time window grew to such an extent that season passed into new season, birthdays were passed and all the while the light started getting shorter and worse as Winter hove into view.

So, after what has felt like aeons, I have finally finished painting the two standards for the 60th Regiment of Foot.

The figures are Eagle Figures and, as I said above, I chopped away the cast on poles and replaced them with brass wire. The flags themselves are calico. Since taking these pictures, I have at least managed to get the whole unit stuck down on the requisite bases but, as yet, none has seen the advent of any texture or terrain work. By the end of November, perhaps.

It is at times like this that I realise exactly why I concentrated my efforts on the French initially...

On another note, given the amount of time this single regiment has taken me to get thus far, it really does call into question my ambition to have the FIW game ready for the WMMS show in March 2018. A postponement of a year is unheard of for me, but it may well have to happen. Fortunately, I have other things I can largely drop into place with which to attend shows next year, so the "Wyrley Retinue" will see you somewhere!

G

I am not sure about the pose given what must be a truly hefty piece of drapery, but I am happy with the flag.

Possibly my favourite union flag, the 1707 to 1798 version. I just think it looks better without the red diagonals.

Not quite what I asked for...

Hello again.

Picture the scene.

You are at a wargames show. The shekel in your pocket is burrowing furtively through your trouser pocket cloth t find its way in the world, eager to make the acquaintance of a trader. You know what you want to buy, but there are just so many goodies on display form so many purveyors of fine wargames materials. But you know what you want and, there, just to the left of the guy with the shiny books, rests the emporium of one whom you know has "the business".

You sidle over, you act as calm as your frantically beating heart allows, you casually enquire of their ranges and they proffer you the show catalogue.

"Hmm," you think to yourself, desperate not to betray the fact that they could sell you anything and you would happily part with your coin.

"I think I'll have half a dozen of code X," you announce, looking at the floor lest the purveyor of fine wares catches the gleam in your eye for his leaden offerings. "A code Y, two code Z and..."

Your eyes flick from side to side, your breath bursting from your heaving chest with too much gusto for one who is neither exhausted nor having a cardiac arrest.

"And one of those cannons with crew."

Job done.

You get home later that day, broke financially, but elated at the offerings, trinkets and baubles of yet another wargames show, high on the elixir of expenditure and safe in the satisfaction that you have, with professional-level deviousness, managed to sneak a backpack full of a hundredweight of lead figures, a half ton of books, sundry sheets of magnetic materials and scenic matter and the odd board game past the love of your life.

Some time later, perhaps days later, when the emotions have cooled again, you trawl back through your purchases and sift through in a more diligent and leisurely manner than is afforded by the mad press of the wargames show, salivating and delighting at your delightful new toys.

And then you come to the cannon and crew.

It's a mortar.

"And one of those cannons and crew," you said to the imp who knoweth not his catalogue.

It's a mortar.

You want to fire roundshot straight down the necks of those scoundrels the Redcoats...

It's a mortar.

"I don't (insert your favourite expletive here) need a mortar!"

You secrete it away in a fury of realisation that you have been duped and dismayed by the bounder. You forget about it. You put it down to experience.

Then you decide you are going to do a show game featuring a FIW siege...

"How foresightful of me to buy that mortar," you muse to yourself.

So you build it, you base it, you paint the crew, you paint the officer it comes with also and you offer it up on the altar of the blog post.

Cue one Redoubt Miniatures French mortar with colonial Cannoniers-Bombardiers crew figures, together with said officer.

G

One mortar, which I obviously meant to buy really (!), duly mounted on a base made with coffee stirrer planks and my usual ground cover around the edges. I intend to build a little firing position in which to house it, with gabions, planking and built up soil banks, but that is a while away yet. I need to get the figures done first!





"I said lob it over there!" One officer of the colonial Cannoniers-Bombardiers in siege armour.

Rallying call for the Volontaires Etrangers

Hello again.

A new job and the demands of that and other factors have left little actual hobby time of late, but I have managed to scratch together and complete a couple of projects recently, the first of which I present for you here. Now the clocks have gone back, however, there will be even less time to paint with it getting dark earlier, so I had better get cracking with what time there is!

As you may know, I started my Seven Years' War In America (i.e. French & Indian War) units recently and decided to do them as 20 figures each for the French (historically smaller in practice than we Anglo's and less likely to receive help from the homeland due to the Royal Navy's control of the seas), which left me a few spares from the 24 figure packs of Eagle Figures I chose to build the regiments with. I will actually build them up to 24 anyway for aesthetic reasons, but the packs come as 24 figures and two of those figures are Ensigns. I only need one ensign per regiment for the FIW, so I was always going to have at least one figure spare.

"Not to worry", I thought to myself. "I can use the spare ensigns for command vignettes, give them spades and whatever and make them into engineers/ sappers and I can use one of them for my Volontaires Etrangers unit, which is all singly based for games of "Muskets & Tomahawks"/ "Sharp Practice 2".

It went something like that, at any rate...

So here is that rallying cry to those Germans (and probably a few other nationalities too) in French service in the Volontaires Etrangers, in the form of an Eagle Figures ensign with home-made flag from calico hung on a brass wire pole.

With most French metropolitan (i.e. grey-coated) units having either red or blue facings, the green is a nice change! The flag is also simple enough to be easy to paint but distinct enough to be both recognisable and something slightly different.

If I ever get around to expanding my Seven Years' War French to the European theatre, then I will not be rushing to provide Swiss units, as their flags were anything but simple (!), but Auvergne will be an early addition with the lovely purple facings and simple purple and black flag!

G

One Volontaires Etrangers Ensign, showing the obverse side of the standard

And the reverse, of both flag and figure

Derby Loot

Hello again.

After my belated post on the Derby Show, held on the weekend of 7th and 8th October, I thought I would muse on the things I went for, what I missed and what I bought from the show.

Perhaps unusual for me, I had actually made a definitive list of what I wanted. I reckoned I wanted two further regiments of French foot for the Seven Years' War in America/ French & Indian War. I also wanted another three British regiments for the same conflict. All five regiments, along with some half a dozen individual French figures, would come from Eagle Figures. I then planned on visiting Redoubt for some Highlanders and Light Infantry, together with a British gun or two. That would see me right for my FIW needs, I felt.

I also went with the express intention of boosting my 10mm Crimean War project, mostly with Russians, but I also wanted to check out Magister Militum's offerings in this arena, so that too was a definite. Most importantly in this project, I wanted the uniform book by Laurence Spring on the Russian Army, which Caliver Books had stocked at previous shows but I had not so far purchased a copy of.

I had planned to get the new "Ghost Archipelago" book, and possibly a few figures, new in from the "Frostgrave" people, but learned that it was not yet out (at the time of the show). Also, I wanted some Chinese Pulp-style characters for something I had in mind for the reasonably near future.

Anything else would be ad hoc.

So, what caused me to part with my money on the day?

A large selection of Eagle Figures SYW castings, which will bolster my FIW ranks considerably. I managed to get a whole single pack of British command from Redoubt too - their stocks were rather low, so I missed out on Highlanders, etc. The book looked interesting, so I picked it up from Paul Meekin Books.

A host of the desired Crimean War figures from both Pendraken and Magister Militum, along with a range of bargain books from Paul Meekin again. Almost £80 worth of books for less than half that! I now have a miniature British Light Brigade, the Heavy Brigade, the Guards Brigade, a Russian Light Cavalry Brigade, two brigades of Russian infantry and whatever the Pendraken packs hold. Quips that I want to host Balaklava in one-to-one scale are wholly unwarranted!

THE book I had set out to get, covering all aspects (I hoped) of the Russian army. A flick through showed just how much I did not know, such as Russian cavalry regiments having identically coloured horses within each regiment. I have started my first regiment of dragoons with their horses and had painted around half of them chestnut, with a view to doing the rest bay with the odd grey. NO!!! All chestnut now, which makes them either the Tsarevitch dragoons, Prince Emil of Hesse's dragoons...there are a few options! Flags are described too, so I can hopefully get them right as  well.

Related to my Crimean War interests, these two books were nice to have. The very new Osprey offering covers the Piedmontese but also other Italian forces in the unification struggles. Gringo 40's were at the show with some wonderful-looking troops for this conflict...The large, hardback book features loads of uniforms in colour for conflicts ranging from the Crimea to the Boer War (the 2nd one, featuring Spion Kop, etc). Ideal I felt not just for my Crimean interests, but also my latent ACW, 1859 and 1866 collections, all of which are awaiting their turn in the spotlight.

I have a passion for the Wargamers' Annual series, so this was a must-have. My currently dormant interest in the Thirty Years' War also meant I had to have the book on the Bavarian army too. Returning my 30YW figures to the tabletop is long overdue!

A hefty dose of whimsy! All looked interesting and "Bolt Action" may well see the light of day with my First World War figures, although I do have a 28mm Japanese army in the "To Do" pile...

And finally, more whimsy and necessity. I always need bases, but the Goblin Spider Rider and the two LOTR trolls were just "shiny".
 

So, I got a lot of what I went for, bought a lot of stuff on top of that, and still missed out on a few things.

1. No Highlanders or Light Infantry for the FIW.
2. No FIW British artillery.
3. No Fu Manchu or similar for Pulp games.
4. No "Ghost Archipelago".
5. Rather stupidly, I did not stock up on magnetic sheet and steel paper. I used the last of my supply of the latter yesterday! D'oh!

But, that was what I call a successful show overall. Whilst I felt there was too much crammed into the hall, some games not really "on the money" in my opinion and it was a bit of a pig to get to from where Nephew Nick and I live, the trade was lively, the money well spent and the Winter reading and projects well stacked up.

I really should take stock of the mass and bulk of my "To Do" list, however, and curtail my expenses going forwards. That may well mean I curtail one or two show visits for the next twelve months and Derby may well be one I miss next year. We shall see.

G

Derby Show, 2017

Hello again.

Last weekend saw the annual Derby World Wargames Show. I would query both the "Derby" bit (it was held several miles away in Leicestershire) and the "World" bit (in the same way the World Series is American baseball and seems to have nothing  at all to do with anyone or anywhere else), but it was a wargames show of some magnitude and Nephew Nick and I were going !

The venue, at Hangar 42 of Bruntingthorpe aerodrome, was a bit of a jaunt and not the easiest in the world to find (for us anyway - locals would have had no real problem of course), was a decent size, well lit and with decent facilities...but it was far too cramped.

Around a third of the venue was given over to tournaments of various descriptions, whilst the poor old demo and participation games, not to mention the traders, were left with too little room to move in my opinion. Coupled with the usual souls who think standing in the middle of the path chatting away oblivious to any spatial awareness concerns, it made for a sometimes fraught, often sticky and humid and sometimes unpleasant experience. I almost felt I was competing for oxygen at some points!

One solution would have been to have moved more to the entrance lobby, but this was curiously left rather short of clutter, but did feature two very good-looking sizeable games, a smaller affair and a couple of smaller traders. I reckon a couple more of both games and traders located in this very light and airy space would have helped a fair way to ease the issues in the main hall and, as you had to both enter and exit the same way, no one would have lost out.

It was quite pleasant being greeted by some Imperial Stormtroopers in full gear at the door and, playing to type, the chap with the Rebel Alliance hat badge was grilled before entry! I thought a good game could have been to see who could do the best Alec Guinness ("These aren't the punters you're looking for") for a free entry pass or something, but that's just because I'm a bit strange...

There was a good selection of traders and some decent games, but I felt the overall standard was rather lower than previous Derby shows and other shows in general. It was difficult to engage with show-goers given the limited space I dare say, and too few people gave any thought to trying to do so anyway. We went on the Saturday and got there early, so fatigue could not really have been a factor. It must have been lack of desire to engage with Joe Public for me, which I do not like. Like certain political parties who preach to the converted, and thereby claim extra popularity, I gall at the gamers showing other gamers what is on offer - surely WE KNOW ALREADY what wargaming is!!! There may not be much in the way of a passing, casual observer at most wargames shows, but surely the variety and scope of our hobby precludes any of us from knowing everything and, therefore, engaging with us on subjects which may not be our particular subject area is a vital mission and should be a gimme?!

Anyway, I did enjoy my day, despite the claustrophobic conditions and mild annoyance at the awareness-challenged (they crop up a lot in supermarkets too, I find, which is even worse because they are also usually armed with an errant trolley!!!) I also spent a small fortune, even though I did not get everything I was looking for.

I will debut the purchases one day soon, but do not tell my wife how much I spent!

But enough rambling, grumbling and pontificating. Time for some photos of some of the games that caught my eye.

G

The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers put on this "Back of Beyond" game, featuring some nice figures, good, functional terrain with some highlights and featuring a "period" I have some interest in, albeit more in the Russian Civil War context than specifically Central Asia as here. Probably my favourite game of the show.

Two Tachankas and some Red cavalry cross the railway line.

The whole table, with a very nice looking Asiatic city as a backdrop. They were using the "Setting the East Ablaze" rules I think, version 2 which is newly published. Very nice and one I would have been proud to have put on. WELL DONE FELLAS!

The Leicester Phatt Cats put on this pirate game entitled "Blood and Plunder". I am not sure if they were using the new rules of the same name.

And another shot of the same game.

A post-apocalypse game, which I think was "Not a Test" from the Yorkshire Renegades club.

I took a photo of this game by Leeds Wargames Club depicting the Battle of Jutland. It's scale was impressive, but I have reservations about its value as a game at a show for anyone who is not actually playing. It just doesn't show well for me, but I admire the club's desire to put on something of such magnitude and historical importance.

This Battle of Port Arthur, whilst still a naval game, showed rather better than Jutland I felt. The scale of ship was larger and the inclusion of the harbour at the top of shot gave it that bit extra to warrant attention. Thanks to the Derby Wargames Society for this one.

Port Arthur itself.

The "Last of the Mohicans" by the Boondock Sayntes depicted the scenes towards the end of that film when the British column left Fort William Henry and were ambushed by the Indians loyal to the French. The rules used were "Sharp Practice 2". A winner for me given my current painting schedule!

Fort William Henry itself (sort of).

The command stand for Royal-Roussillon, complete with Colonel's flag. One of the team behind the game said this regiment took the first battalion to North America hence the Colonel's flag being present. I do not know if this is true or not, but my reading so far states that no first battalions went. Who cares anyway!?!?

"Buford's Last Stand" from day 1 of Gettysburg was on offer from York Wargames Society.

The Battle of Cerignola, 1503,put on by someone or other. As the game does not feature in my show guide, I am at a loss to say who demo'ed this, but the figures looked good, the terrain looked effective and it was probably my second favourite. This shot shows the Imperialist lines judging by the flags.

Montcalm's opening offer

Hello again.

Well, after a brief (but to be continued) fling with the Crimean War with 10mm figures, the latter part of the summer has been taken up with my n-going fling with the Seven Years' War in North America, aka the French & Indian War (henceforth FIW).

Whilst the "Wyrley Retinue" were debating what to do for a game at shows next year, the original idea of something First World War-themed gave way to using the FIW forces I had built up for Muskets & Tomahawks/ Sharp Practice 2. However, not especially keen to do another skirmish with individually-based figures (see our Dark Ages Vikings in Ireland stuff), something else was required. This basically meant adding some formed line infantry and perhaps some artillery to represent something along the lines of Ticonderoga or Quebec.

Now, we have not so far depicted an actual battle in any of our demo games, preferring to use a scenario or three, mix them together and show a feel for the period in question as a sort of "what if", so do not expect Ticonderoga or Quebec to see the light of day, at least not from us. But, always keen on a strong basis of fact for our games, you will at least see regiments that actually made it to North America, two of which I give you here. The game should debut at the WMMS show in March next year.

The figures are all Eagle Figures, which I purchased from the ever-helpful Ian McCulloch of Eagle (I think he is "Eagle" actually) at the Barrage Show in Stafford back in July. The bulk packs have 24 figures for £28, which is good value IMO. The slight fly in my particular ointment is the provision of two ensigns per pack. As the French regiments did not have their colonel's battalions present in America, I only need one ensign per unit, but Eagle do sell individual figures too, so I simply need to purchase a few of those to make up the numbers vacated by the extra ensigns in each pack.

The flags are my usual (in 28mm anyway) painted calico affairs, oversized, which shows them off better but makes storage harder (!), and hung around a brass wire staff. I still need to add ribbons and cords to the flags when I can either:

a) find a good way to do it, or;
b) find a suitable product I like.

So, the first two French regiments are here, La Reine and Royal-Roussillon.

Eagle will be at the Derby Worlds show next weekend, where I intend to purchase more, but, if other commitments get in the way or whatever, they will also be at "Wargamer" in December in Birmingham, so I can also add extras there if required.

(As a side note, I also like the idea of some European SYW action after re-reading the first couple of volumes of the "Wargaming in History" series by Charles Grant. I'll add this notion to the Arthurians, Napoleonic skirmish, Operation Enduring Freedom, WW2, 10mm ACW, 10mm Crimean War, etc on the "To Do" list...)

G

La REINE

La Reine. I originally decided to do 20-figure units for the French as they were historically smaller in actuality than their British opposition, who were to be 24-figures strong. I like the bigger unit size however, so will increase all units to 24 figures with the addition of a couple of two-figure wings.

The reverse of the La Reine flag, just about showing some of the fleur-de-lys on the cross. Officionadoes of the SYW French will know that La Reine's official uniform was different to the one shown, but also that they wore this one in North America due to supply constraints.

 

 ROYAL-ROUSSILLON

Royal-Roussillon. Again, they will be increased in size to twenty-four figures.

Even more fleur-de-lys than La Reine meant I thought this one would be tedious to do, but it was actually quite therapeutic! I know. I am strange!

Old, new, borrowed and...bilious green

Hello again.

Way back on 2nd July, I proudly posted about my latest purchase, which was the latest incarnation of Warhammer 40K, together with the Chaos Space Marine Codex.

I drank deeply of the putrid filth that is the Death Guard, waxed lyrical about new options allowed by the new rules to make this doyen of disease and decay even more palatable and bemoaned the fact that I could no longer have Terminators in my Death Guard forces as the new Codex omitted them from the relevant list.

Well, on September 16th I hurried down to my nearest Games Workshop store to purchase the newly-released, specifically "Death Guard" Codex. I also managed to get some cards to use with them, showing tactical gubbins of one sort or another for use with 40K, but I was unable to get the special dice also released at the same time because they had already sold out when I got there.

I had a flick through on arriving home and, lo and behold, not none, not one, but TWO TYPES OF TERMINATOR IN THE DEATH GUARD LISTS!!!



Had they relented at GWHQ? Had they been bombarded with bile by those of us who were old enough to remember the last century at the omission of the Tactical Dreadnought armour types from the Chaos Codex? Had I read that part of the Codex wrongly and confused myself (not too uncommon a thing, unfortunately...)

Who cares?!

My entries into the genre are more of the "Blightlord" category than the "Deathshroud" variety (see pages above), but I am sure I can field both with some thought and coercion of my opponent, when I get a game in that is. I knew there was a reason I originally built eight of these though."Blightlord" units are five+ strong and "Deathshroud" ones 3+ strong!

So, what better way to celebrate than to post a few more retro picks of what younger G used to get up to in his gaming time.

G



These Terminators were originally built mainly from parts from the plastic Imperial Terminators available a couple of decades ago. By mixing parts from other sets, adding some Greenstuff rotten flesh, patches of textured paint scoriasis, etc, I got what I was looking for and made them into something Nurgle-esque. This is the leader figure.



Three ordinarily-equipped figures, with Storm Bolter and Powerfist. A judicious mix of Greenstuff, protruding worms, rust and other detritus all adds to what I was trying to achieve all those years ago.

And the effects are both back and front on various figures.

 

The "Specialist Weapons" types - heavy flamer for smoking out troops in buildings, the Reaper Autocannon for rapid, heavy firepower, a combi-weapon for mixing effects vs various targets and a good old chainfist to rip through tanks.

And a close up of a few of the disease effects I was after, namely mottled, diseased skin, boils and scoriasis, together with rust, rot and patched-up armour.