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.

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The Latest Loot

Hello again.

Every show is something of a cornucopia for wargamers, and the WMMS is no exception, despite various "gaps" in the trader line up, but what exactly did I buy? Read on!

I went with a list of stuff I "needed" (henceforth "NEED") and had vague intentions of sticking to that list. A lot of stuff below was definitely "not on the list" (henceforth "NOL") however!

 



First up is a book I found on the always-useful and enlightening CALIVER BOOKS stand. For those who cannot read or understand German, the title translates as "Flags and standards from the time of the 30 Years' War, part 4". This is definitely "NOL", but could well have been a "NEED" had I known about parts 1 to 3!!! It is chock full of colour plates of artists' renditions of various flags, this volume covering Saxony - towns, areas within Saxony and individual colonel's regiments, including cavalry and dragoons. I have a paperback booklet covering this area in some detail, but this volume is more conclusive, covers far more options and is in lovely technicolour!!! I still have several regiments-worth of figures to paint towards my own 30 Years' War collection, so this purchase will certainly help that process when the time comes. Now I just have to find volumes 1, 2  and 3...

 

 

Pure indulgence and definitely "NOL". CALIVER BOOKS supplied the book, PENDRAKEN the figures. I blame watching "The Charge of the Light Brigade" twice over the past couple of months. I also blame my desire to fulfil my megalomania to get seriously into wargaming the mid-19th Century. Quite why I am not concentrating on Austrian 1859 or 1866 (I have figures for both!), Piedmontese-Sardinian for 1859 (again, I have figures), Prussian for 1866 or 1870 (yep, you guessed it...) or my 10mm ACW collection (which has grown in metal terms but has still not been started in painting terms) is something of a quandary. One to watch. I am unclear on rules for this era too. I have a set by Ray Lucas entitled "Voice of the Guns", I have "There Are Your Guns" by Dennis Williams, I have Principles of War", I have the set by Neil Thomas in his book on wargaming the 19th Century, I have "Regimental Fire & Fury" (which I will be using for ACW and 1859/ 66 when I finally get started on those) and no doubt one or two more options lying around somewhere. Perhaps RF&F will convert to the Crimea too? But can I be bothered with all those markers to go with it???

My usual visit to MAGNETIC DISPLAYS (very definitely on the "NEED" list) yielded the customary purchasing of steel paper and magnetic sheet. I also needed some brown Basetex, some more 25mm diameter round bases and some more grass to texture bases with, so tick, tick, tick and all on the "NEED" list. I also added a pack of 60mm round bases pending the creation of some 28mm command vignettes for one of my growing collections. Missing from the shot is the matt varnish I picked up from them, or, at least, paid for. It did not seem to make it to the bag they gave me and certainly has not come home with me...

More pure indulgence, but on the "NEED" list. My desire to wargame the Austrians in various eras was missing a biggie, namely the Seven Years' War. I still do not have any figures at all for this conflict, but thought buying this might spur me on in due course. CALIVER BOOKS were again kind enough to supply me with a copy.

And indulgence does not come any deeper than this! OAKBOUND STUDIO were making their debut at the WMMS show (at least, I had never seen or heard of them before), but chatting with the chap on the stall and seeing some of their product in the flesh convinced me this was a good buy, though certainly "NOL". I bought the "Secrets of Shandisholm" sourcebook, the "Barrow Ring Burning" campaign book, got a little tool for use with their house rules (the light brown thing that looks like a crown) and a box of Spriggans to start me off. Many years ago when I was but a teen and heavily into RPG's, I was getting away from the usual Vikings/ Medieval vibe and checking out Celtic folklore, reading the Tain etc. This is it. If only this had been around in my mid-teens, I could have died happy!!! I have been reading the sourcebook and my initial enthusiasm is still very high almost a week later!!! I heartily recommend you check the website out (www.oakbound.co.uk) and I cannot wait for their forthcoming post-apocalypse rules "Factious Waste". In addition to Spriggans, they do such worthies as Phooka, Wulven (werewolves to you and I), Fae Rades (nasty faerie-types who like to manipulate the world and its denizens) and the book is littered with pictures of Warlord Celts and Gripping Beast Irish. I have figures to use for this already!!! Bonus! And not only does the website have the house rules as a free download, but they also feature in the sourcebook, so you can start playing straight away! This game should be up there with "Frostgrave" if not higher.

Definitely not an indulgence and on the "NEED" list were some reinforcements for my FIW project. MAGNETIC| DISPLAYS furnished the Indian canoes and Redoubt the various figures. I bought more Rangers, some Colonial Militia, some Indian civilians and a French artillery piece with crew. Unfortunately, the man seems to have given me a mortar instead. However, that did at least spark interest in what I might do for a future show game, interest piqued by watching "The Last Of The Mohicans" again recently...

And, last but not least, and another definite "NEED", are a couple of reinforcements for my Mordor Orcs. I have been looking to add Trolls to their ranks for some time and toured the usual suppliers of secondhand figures, as well as firsthand ones, to no avail over the course of several shows. Then I saw the drummer on such a secondhand figure stand (whose name sadly escapes me) and, duly bought, I asked the chap if he had any more, as none were on show. Returning five minutes later, he had found me a metal figure representing a Mordor Troll Captain, we agreed a price and away I went, happy and joyful! I knew those 60mm bases from MAGNETIC DISPLAYS would come in handy!!! And I got both figures for less than I would have got a brand new one from the GW webstore! To top it all, Nephew Paul insists he has another one going free, so I could be breeding trolls for a while yet. All I have to do now is find some ancient article on how to paint them...

And so concludes the tale of the WEST MIDLANDS MILITARY SHOW, 2017. I by no means got everything I was looking for (I was desperately looking to add Reiter to my fledgling French Wars of Religion collection, but TIGER MINIATURES brought none to the show and FOUNDRY were not there at all), which probably explains why I came away with Crimean War Russians and a book to boot on that conflict. I had to spend the money on something! Smoking pockets syndrome...

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Barrage Show, Stafford, 10th July, 2016

Sunday, 10th July saw the latest outing for the "Wyrley Retinue", the occasion being the annual Barrage Show in Stafford. We took a 10x6ft version of our "Battle of Canny, c.1476" demo game and we all had a good time (I think), with the Swiss earning another win, but a more hard-fought one than previously, but the Burgundian left had pretty much beaten the Swiss right (another dodgy showing from "Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev" with the Bernese contingent!). Still, I got to beat up Nephew Ben with the Lorrainers and a mixed Swiss contingent and the Zurichers broke through the Burgundian centre right, so it was all going well by closing time!

It was not all entirely good though.

The weather was alternately (very) wet and dry, which made emptying the car amusing! The venue was stiflingly hot and there was arguably too much crammed into the main hall which made it feel hotter and more claustrophobic than perhaps was necessary. Several traders were also a bit peeved that people did not know they were there in a second hall.

Note to organisers: put the tourney games in the small hall and move the trade presence to the main one, which would also probably free up some space there too.

However, there were numerous good bits too.

1. £150 was raised for a local hospice from raffle ticket sales.
2. James Morris (and friends') Verdun game. Take a look at this game if you see it offered at a show. It is a very simply but excellently staged rendition of a small section of a fort on the Verdun front (Fort Vaux, I think), beautifully modelled and with a novel game played over, in and around it.
3. The Athlone game from Derby (I think). Colourful, well-modelled and with some very nice touches. I almost broke out my stalled 1690 figure project...
4. Some very decent trade offerings for a small show.
5. Many other, smaller games from Telford and others, which I did not get much chance to see in detail.

Overall, a well done to the organisers and I am looking forward to seeing this show get bigger and better again for next year.

I would show you photos of the best bits, but my camera died without taking a shot in anger and then my phone refused to yield its contents!

So the only pictures you get are of my customarily too frequent purchases! I only went to the show with the intention of buying two things - "Sharp Practice 2" and, if I could get an early copy, Dan Mersey's latest offering via Osprey Publishing, for colonial games, namely "The Men Who Would Be Kings".

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Eagle Figures are a company I have seen at loads of shows, but not bought from before, as I do not really "do" the periods they offer figures for. However, the opportunity to add a few more figures for my Thirty Years' War collection was too good to miss, so a unit pack of musketeers with rest was duly purchased. Spanish guerrillas, Austrian Pandours....and "Sharp Practice 2" newly released could change all that though...

The "Wyrley Retinue" AGM decision (OK, a small gathering of three of us at my house a few months ago) was that next year's demo game would be something we already had and Nephew Nick was most keen to do a "Vikings in Ireland" game. We all agreed so there we are. Thus, I thought I would buy myself some Irish cavalry from Ainsty. I added in a few Welsh cavalry for variety...They will all be speaking Gaelic when they take to the table though. 

And who would not have a stone circle in their Irish/ Ancient British games?

Three boxes of Perry plastics and I hope to have a Peninsular War set up for Sharp Practice. Infantry, Hussars and Dragoons pretty much covers all I will need for the first few units. Then back to Eagle Figures in the near future for some Spanish?

One ruleset to rule them all, one ruleset to find them...What I ACTUALLY went to the show with the intention of buying! I thought I would buy both the cards and chips in case I lose one or the other...

And now for something COMPLETELY different!

I did not get to play the demo game on show by Questing Knight games of Wellington, Shropshire, and have not even seen the latest "Mad Max" film even though I have the DVD, but this was a must-buy when I saw it. Four double-sided road boards, some cars and bikes, game aids and artwork...What is not to like???

Storming The River, 1632

A most enjoyable game was had by all at the Wargamer Show last Sunday, as the Wyrler Retinue demo'ed another Thirty Years' War bash, with the Swedes attempting to force a river crossing in the face of a growing Imperialist presence.

Both sides were hampered by poor command rolls, the Imperialists by some poor morale as time wore on, but the Swedish cavalry (eventually!!!) got across the river at the marsh and began rolling up the Catholic forces, helped in no small part by the infantry who had finally got across the ford.

Men of the Match??? A close run thing between the Swedish Yellow Regiment, who stormed the ford under heavy musket and artillery fire and destroyed the Munich-Ebersberg Regiment, and the Swedish Blue Regiment, who stormed the heavy artillery battery on the hill opposite the ford and then, though shaken by their casualties and totally unsupported, took on and beat Jung-Tilly.

The Swedish Blues take it, as they refused to break, but the Yellows finally suffered for their losses and broke.

A resounding Protestant victory.

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The Swedish Brigade stacks up ready to storm the ford

The Foreign Brigade of Hepburn's and Schlammersdorf's Regiment ready to storm the plank bridge

One of the new cavalry regiments painted for this game, Schaffmann's Bohemian cavalry -  Warlord figures in the main, with a couple of Redoubt thrown in

The two contenders for men of the match

Hepburn's struggle across the plank bridge - those bad command rolls again!

Imperialist reinforcements arrive, but those command rolls are causing trouble again

The crucial fight that saw the shaken Blue beat the Jung-Tilly

Having finally ploughed through the marsh, the Upplands cavalry plough into the Imperialist commanded shot 

And the majority of the Swedish Brigade is now across the river, having held up the  cavalry for most of the morning!

Hepburn's was beaten on the bridge, but Schlammersdorf's took up the fray. A desperate Imperialist general kept throwing in his cavalry, with predictable results against pikes, even in march column.

The other new regiment for this game, which I shall call the Kaiser Arquebusiers. They are Warlord figures, the flag simply called "after de Waggky" on the leaflet in the box.

Schaffmann's again

Holtzmuller's dragoons storm through the Imperialist artillery camp on their right flank 

More chiefs

As I posted a couple of days ago, I have not done much other than Frances for the past few weeks, but two of my projects of that time are presented here, Messrs Tilly and Saxe-Weimar.

As I try out a few more games of "Pike & Shotte" (I played my third on 23rd September), I was keen to get a few more brigadier options under my belt. For the uninitiated, regiments under those rules are placed into brigades or "battalia", each with its own commander, with a C-in-C overall.

I have had Oliver Cromwell (sorry, Saxe-Weimar) for a while, but bought Tilly at the Phalanx show in June (or possibly WMMMS in March......)

Both are now done, as you can see below.

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Johann Tserclaes von Tilly, long time Imperialist commander. This is the Warlord Games figure. I love the religious symbolism built into him - the bible held aloft, the crucifix around his neck - every bit the champion of his faith until his death in 1632.

To add to the symbolism, I tried my hand at a small, rural shrine to adorn his base. The statue of the Virgin is a Heroics & Ros 1870 Prussian artilleryman, padded out with a little green stuff. I would have mounted it higher on a bigger plinth, but I felt it detracted from the figure and its purpose. So, small rural, wayside shrine it is.

This shot shows how tiny (too small probably) the finished article is when staged next to the Count.

Oliver Cromwell. Hmm, I mean, Bernard of Saxe-Weimar. This is again a Warlord figure, the sergeant a Renegade figure with a Redoubt head swap.

Facial close up.

Final shot, the sergeant calming the horse a little - I see them both in the thick of the action under a "hot fyre".

More 30 Years' War

Some more shots from the demo game at Wargamer.

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First turn, first arrivals - the Swedish Yellow regiment and, further back, the Red




The Red regiment




Hepburn's Scots may just feel at home advancing through the wet, marshy ground




Gustavus Adolphus jumping a random fence (shame about the shadow...)




Schlammersdorf's moving up



Turn 2 - the first wave and first reinforcements move forwards



The first defence - Munich-Ebersberg and Nuremberg leave camp




The Swedish Blue regiment marches down the road, flanked by Baner's Lifeguard




Holtzmuller's dragoons arrive belatedly




Baner's Lifeguard, led by Baner himself




The Imperialist Aldringen regiment were early arrivals but were doomed to face the Yellow regiment later on...