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!