Normandy anniversary game. Breakout:Normandy.

Every year in June, an old friend and I play a Normandy game. This year was more poignant as we played the game in the evening of June 6th. 

This year we played Breakout:Normandy, an old favourite from Avalon Hill. This year I played the Allies. 

This particular game is my home-made double sized version. I scanned the map and counters and doubled the size. The map fits on a 6ft x 4ft table.

1. American airborne assault, capturing bridges. Forces off Utah and Omaha ready for the main assault. The counters flip to their white 'spent' side after they take an action. They recover at the end of the day. 

2. The British airborne have landed and seized the bridge to Sword. The remaining British forces are ready to land.

3. After the initial bombardments and landings. All this action taking place on June 6th.  

4. A wider view.

5. The US landings. Per history, forces make it ashore in Utah but stall at Omaha.

6. A wider view. Sorry for shaky picture.

7. June 7th was a short turn due to my poor Allied die rolls, but did allow me to resupply and reorganise the forces. The following pictures show the situation after the June 8th turn with the Allies more established on the beaches. We called a halt at this point, at the end of June 8th. 

Here at Omaha the US forces are in a strong position to resupply and move inland. 

8. The British beaches linked up. Only at Merville have the British stalled at bit. The main forces are ready to push forward though the Germans have managed to blow some of the bridges. 

9. Utah beach with the US forces again poised to push forward. 

We called a halt at this point, judging it an Allied victory so far. 

In previous years we have taken a note of the positions at the end of a game night in order to carry on playing the following week. This time however, the German player thought he'd left too many gaps in front of the US forces and was likely to lose. 

But a great game. Roll on our anniversary Arnhem/Market-Garden and Battle of the Bulge games later in the rear. 

More adventures in 3D and other projects

I have been busy I with game stuff but lazy with pictures and posting. Here is some recent activity. 

First some 3d 28mm bronze age infantry. The figures are from Red Copper miniatures. Chaps at the club gave me the money to buy the files and print stuff for them, with them then paying for the cost of the resin. As a side project I started a Canaanite army for myself. 

The "28mm" prints are actually 32mm heroic, so I scaled them down to match the 25mm-28mm bronze age armies chaps at the club already have. 

And grouped together. The effect I'm after here is a kind of huddled mob or organised rabble.  

And some other 3D stuff. These are 10mm fantasy from Forest Dragon. Dark Elves cold ones - essentially heavy cavalry. 

Yet another side project. Northern Barbarians from Francesca Muscemi (once of Artisan Guild). They are 32mm heroic so are about 35mm tall. I liked the riders on the sabre tooth tigers. I've a bit more work to finish them.  

More 10mm fantasy, this time Tomb Kings from Greenskin Miniatures. It's a project that was a nice idea at the time, but after some games of Warmaster Revolution I realised they were not for me. They'll be heading to an ebay soon. 

Some tests of a batch of Vallejo Xpress paints on some Lord of the Rings style figures. It was just to see what the paints were like straight from the bottle. 

And finally, an ongoing side project to refresh the basing on a lot of my 15mm Napoleonics. These are Essex figures. The idea was to add a lot more greenery to the bases and touch up the paint where the wee chaps had got a bit chipped and bashed marching over tabletops for many years. 

This coming Thursday is June 6th so an old friend and myself will be playing the boardgame Breakout:Normandy. We'll play on June 6th and then pick up and carry on on June 13th. 

Hopefully more soon. 

New Perth Musuem opening

Perth is my hometown. I went along to the new Museum on the opening weekend. The new Museum used to be the City Hall and in addition to museum exhibits, the building now houses the Stone of Destiny (aka the Stone of Scone, the wee magic stane, etc.). 

Cannot help but recall Terry Pratchett here and his homage, The Scone of Stone. 

Entrance is free, though you do have to book a time-slot to see the stone. If there are temporary 'side' exhibitions in some rooms, you may have to pay to see them. 

Here are some more pictures that caught my eye. 

First, bronze age swords recovered from the river Tay. The accompanying text mentioned a  possible religious significance of placing swords in water, which made me thing of tales of the Lady of the Lake and Excalibur and if there's a folk memory of such things. 

Also couldn't help but think of "Listen, strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government".

A standing stone inscribed with Celtic designs. There is a light display that highlights each element of the designs in different colours over a period of a few seconds.

A picture of the basic standing stone. 

Sword remnants from the Viking era. 

                            

A buff coat and armour from 1650-ish. From the time when Cromwell visited. It's interesting to see these things for real.  

Some French Revolution and Napoleonic stuff. This is a barrel of a ships cannon, set on a display carriage. The text says a small battery of similar guns was set up on a hill outside Perth at the time, no doubt to deter the French from sailing up the river Tay. 

This is a militia sergeant's uniform c. 1810. The sabre and sword are of the time but the shako is post-1815. The red of the uniform is quite bright and I can only assume it was kept inside and not exposed to the elements. Also noteworthy here is how dark the blue facings are. 

And the militia standard. As with official standards, it is about 6 foot square, though material seems quite thin. 

Some pieces from the Great War. The rifle is German and the gas mask and face protector look very uncomfortable. 

Last bit. The picture is of Mary Cathcart, wife of Sir Thomas Graham of Balgowan, later Lord Lyndoch. She died while they were on a grand tour in the 1790s. 

The accompanying text is a bit too brief, for me. I wish that they had added that after French Revolutionary customs officials broke open her coffin, an angry Thomas Graham went home to Perth and raised a regiment of foot at his own expense and from men he could recruit locally. This regiment became the 90th (Perthshire) regiment of foot and served in the Mediterranean during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. 

Thomas Graham himself served in the Peninsula under Wellington and commanded the army in the victory at Barossa. That's why we have a Barossa Street and Barossa Place in Perth and a statue to Graham on the north inch.   

Note: the inches is the name for the open parklands on the north and south sides of Perth. North Inch and South Inch. 

Anyway, I'll visit the museum again and a bit more slowly to see other exhibits more closely. There is more on ancient bronze age items, a colonial section and more modern displays. 

A bit of a refresh of some 15mm ECW figures

 These 15mm Essex chaps have been in a box for a bit. Some were painted and others half-painted, so I decided to give them a finish and refresh the flock on the bases. 

This is what they look like. 

Cavalry next, though I have been slightly distracted by some Seven Years War figures again.  

More for Star Wars Legion

 A few more squads for Star Wars Legion. Pride of place in any Republic force will be Captain Rex and Ahsoka's commandos (at back left with orange / white helmet markings).  

Cowgirls painted for a friend.

One of things I do is sometimes paint figures for friends at the club. I don't paint on demand and I have to want to do the topic, but when the interest is there, I quite enjoy painting something different. 

In return, friends agree to make a donation to charity.

Here were some fairly recent figures. These are plastic cowgirl figures for Dead Man's Hand. 

As with a lot of figures, I like to choose a theme, or a colour idea for figures. Originally I thought, the Pink Ladies, the Deadly Vipers or perhaps Country and Western singers for these. I settles on the Pink Ladies, with the idea that every figure has pink on her somewhere, even if only pistol handles. My usual painting is what I call, basic but tidy. 

And then with flock added to bases.