Very Handy Reference Material

Hello again.

Perusing a local newsagents recently in search of my usual monthly reading matter, I happened across something that immediately grabbed my attention.

This was just sitting there, crying softly at me with those immortal words, "Buy me! Buy me!"
So, after a few seconds of content checking, to ensure it was not a part work but was actually the real deal, and not chockfull of stats rather than nice piccies, I duly bought it. I was not disappointed!

Just look at the sort of thing you get for your £7.99!!!

A random opening of the book for photographic purposes and I got this spread of Merlin-engine Spitfires.

Now, it has been a very long time since I put together a good, old Airfix kit, and even longer since I did a plane, so my memory of colours and markings is not quite what it was. I do not intend to build any kits anytime soon either, so why bother?

Well, just think of the uses this book can be put to.

1. The book covers EVERY propeller-engine fighter class of the Second Word War the RAF used, even down to the Bell Airacobra. There are numerous Spitfires (both engine types, Merlin and Griffon), Hurricanes, Warhawk/ Tomahawk/ Kitty Hawk, Typhoons and Tempests, Gladiators, Blenheims, Beaufighters, Whirlwinds, Mosquitoes, Boulton Paul Defiants...even Mustangs and Airacobras!
2. Even if you are not an aeroplane modeller, the number of games you can use this for to fill out your forces is enviable. "Blood Red Skies" is an obvious one. I have just bought "Cruel Seas" and note that Beaufighters are available to the British forces in that game. The Desert War players can have their Hurricanes, Hawks and others. Those who prefer Normandy can go tank-busting with the Typhoons. Etc.
3. Who could go wrong with those colour spreads covering every single featured aircraft type? The header proclaims "More than 280 highly detailed colour profiles" and it is not wrong!
4. You even get a colour chart in the back of the book!
5. Most handily of all, perhaps, is the advert on the inner rear cover showing other titles in the series, with "Luftwaffe Fighters", "Pacific War" and "Allied Fighters" all covered to tempt you further.

"Absolute bargain" is what I call it. I would also throw in "essential purchase" and "eminently usable".

Published by Mortons Media Group Ltd, check out WHSmith and other newsagents or go to www.classicmagazines.co.uk/thebookshelf if you want to look at the whole range of stuff.

G

"I love the smell of loot in the morning!"

Hello again.

On the basis that you cannot go to a wargames show or shop without spending some money, I thought I would again show what an acquisitive, little wargamer I really am.

Recent weeks have seen me take delivery of a couple of parcels, visit a tabletop sale, attend last weekend's Barrage Show in Stafford and visit "Questing Knight" games in Wellington, Shropshire, for the first time ever. Six weeks or so of inspiration, acquisition and contemplation, all inspired by the magnificent hobby we engage in with its plethora of figures, rules, games, kits and other paraphernalia.

So here goes the pictorial evidence of my customary purchasing excess. As I am utterly convinced I will live to be as old as Methusela, I have every confidence I will not only paint my loot as necessary but also play the various games and periods too!!!

My most expensive purchase, courtesy of Questing Knight in Wellington, Shropshire, was "GKR Heavy Hitters", a fun version of the ancient Battletech genre of giant, killer robots (hence GKR). Battletech was always too slow for my tastes, with players spending way too long calculating heat gain and not fighting, but this quick-fire affair showed a lot of promise when I played a gam at Barrage that I promptly went and bought it the following day! The fact that it can be played solo is a major plus! £100 from Questing Knight, not the £150 I have heard it is going for.

I hope you can see just how much you get for your money. I am looking forward to getting in a few sessions with this.

Going "all in" like all the best poker players, I also picked up the first expansion set, which adds extra options to the core game.

Again, I hope you can see what you get for your £75, again courtesy of Questing Knight.

A few weeks ago, I bought "Burrows & Badgers" from Asgard Games in Walsall, intrigued by the animals with swords vibe. Suitably inspired, I ordered vsome sample figures from Oathsworn and, lo and behold, was overjoyed to find them at Barrage, where I soon purchased a load more, especially those out of stock when I made my preliminary order. Check out the Oathsworn Miniatures website for something that bit different. A maximum purchase of 10 figures and the rules will see you home and hosed!

Roland Hynd, formerly Mr Stafford Games, has a new venture entitled Firepower Games. Keen on "By Fire & Sword", as well as military matters Austrian, I settled on a dainty rulebook (the original was HUGE!) and a boxed set of Imperialist cavalry and dragoons.

A little reading matter for the FIW and my growing Crimean War interests.

And the Penkridge Tabletop Sale yielded this little skirmish set, to add to "Muskets & Tomahawks" and "Sharp Practice 2" for my FIW fun. Worth a try at £5.99!

Another purchase from "Questing Knight" was this tome that took my eye in the wargames media when first advertised. I don't know why I didn't just get it from Warlord at Barrage...

Furthering my interest on Celtic myths, I bought a small warband lists booklet, a Myeri Clan box and a Fae Rade box to accompany the Spriggans I bought a while back. If you don't want the fantasy figures, just turn up with a dozen Ancient British/ Irish and you're away. This is all form Oakbound Studios.

Asgard Games of Walsall also sold me this starter set for the very interesting looking "Wold West Exodus" game. It was a purchase I made after getting a free Robodog on the cover of a recent "Miniature Wargames" issue which, together with an article inside said magazine really caught my eye.

Again, using the poker players' "all in" mantra, I took delivery of another parcel, this time from "PE2 Collectables", to widen my options somewhat.

And that is that.

I only went to Barrage to lay on a game and buy some Seven Years' War French and British cavalry!

I have a couple more units to do to expand my FIW range for the next outing of "The Relief of Fort Nummanmason", then it is skirmishes all the way I think, with some more 10mm Crimean War thrown in and no doubt a few other things (10mm Sassanids, some Dark Age skirmish action that is not SAGA, finally get my Anglo-Danes done for SAGA, etc...)

So, 36 French infantry - underway!
24 British infantry - ready and waiting.
A couple of themed warbands for "B&B" - ideas aplenty, figures bought!
Some Celtic stuff. Hm. Mists, mood and mischief!
The south will rise again with the "Confederate Rebellion". Yeehaw!!!
And some Giant Killer Robot carnage! And I do not even have to paint them, because they are already dome for me in the box!!!

Yeehaw some more!

G

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

More loot and a late Christmas present

Hello again.

I have finally taken delivery of a present I bought myself, ostensibly for Christmas last year, on the basis that it might have been published by then. Five months later (about a month or so ago now), I finally took delivery!

 

 



 I have been a fan of these "Wargaming in History" books since the first one came out a few years back and have bought most of them to date. This is the second covering the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 and, on first browse, seems to be every bit as good as the first volume, which dealt with the early battles. Perhaps I will review it properly once I have actually read it!

This era is one I am seriously looking to get into, being the owner of several hundred Austrian figures in 15mm, roughly 30% of the relevant infantry being in the Kittel tunic (more 1859) and the rest in the greatcoat so synonymous with 1866. I also have a couple of hundred Prussians too. On top of that, I made a serious investment in 10mm ACW last year and treated myself to some 10mm Crimean War Russians earlier this. Why the small scale? Well, my table size for games has shrunk by half as changes in the family home have eaten into space, so smaller figures is the way to go for me at the moment. I WILL do this at some time...

A small snapshot of just one of the fine photo/ map pages.

The book is chock-full of great photos (hence the high cost of these books) and good maps clearly showing table layouts for playing games. These layouts are also used to show the movement of the troops during the game recreations covered in the book.

 

 

Finally, as I reach the "end" of my French & Indian Wars project (famous last words, as I do have plans to buy a few units of regulars for both sides as I have something in mind...), I thought I would add some terrain to my sundry collections. All the above was bought at a model railway show for less than £20. I have also been collecting lollipop sticks of a particular type for a while now, namely round ones rather than the usual flat variety, to use as log cabin walls. A recent article by Diane Sutherland in Miniature Wargames showed how to do it, so a few settler cabins for the FIW are not far away(I hope).

 

And that is about it for now. Painting time is very limited at present due to a change in my work hours to straight days whilst work undergoes some major changes, but I have at last managed to finish more Rangers and some Militia for the FIW, so will show them soon.

 

I have also just undercoated some Viking archers, which I hope to have ready for the Wyrley Retinue outing to the Barrage Show in Stafford on 9th July - just four weeks today! We will be showing our "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan" game again, but always change something between outings to try and freshen things up and give the paying public something else to see should they have seen the game in a previous incarnation.

 

G

Magazine

Just a quick suggestion to you all to pop down to your local chain of newsagents or, if you are very lucky, your local wargames shop (because there are not too many around, after all).

With luck, on the relevant shelf, you will spy a copy of the publication featured in the photos below. It can be yours for a paltry £5.95 in Britain/ $9.95 in the USA.

Now, I am not averse to painting a few figures and have won the odd award for said practice, but I do not profess to be an "expert" or anything and like what I think this type of publication brings to the hobby party, alongside terrain books, modelling books and the like.

This one has a range of sections, including preparation, faces and skin, metal, basing, etc., with a section on conversions to round things off. You will not find the sort of detailed, specific project article beloved of other magazines, but there is enough detail to get anyone going should inspiration fail or fear strike. The examples given are also pretty comprehensive, with everything from varied skin tones to different metals to painting wood covered.

You will not find much on weathering for those interested in such, but for anything pre-vehicle age, you should not go far wrong with just this single publication.

I do not believe any of this is new, having seen much of it over the years in the magazine which published this tome, but it is good to see it brought together in one package. Of course, you can also find such stuff on line, but I like something to hold (psychologists' thesis subject as I am...)

Recommended for new painters and old lags alike.

G

P.S. - I am not connected to the publishers in any way. This is simply my view on this publication. Other publications exist.

The WI publication in question.

IMHO, it does exactly what it says on the back cover.