Work in progress

I had thought to get some more GNW stuff done, but couldn't quite get the time to finish some more.  Here are some photos of current progress. The Swedish infantry at the back are done, but still to be based, and the artillery need the bases finished.  Hopefully, I'll get both done in the next few days. 

Part of the reason for the delay on the GNW figures was I started basing and re-basing the Seven Years war stuff.  Most of these have been unbased in boxes for years. Here are some quick views of the current state of play.    

First some Austrians. Cavalry will be 3 figures on a 40mm square base.  Here, I've put the 2 outer figures on a base and put the the centre figure on a temporary base.  This is just to allow me to start the texturing on the main base and allow me the space to paint the figures.  The chaps at the top right are the light infantry chasseurs, grenzer and pandours in 16 figure units.   

And some Austrian infantry.  A similar basing principle here with 3 figures mounted at the front of a 40mm wide base, with the rear rank on a temporary base to allow me the space to paint the figures.  These will make 8 battalions of 23 figures  (the mounted infantry officer takes the space of 2 infantry).  

And some Prussians.  Same principle on basing here.  I've still to base fusiliers, grenadiers, cavalry, artillery and generals.        

And waiting in the wings are the British (getting  these was all a good idea at the time).    

And the French. These were originally based to Age of Reason, then rebased for a DBA, Volley and Bayonet or a Shako variant, but now I'm going to base them for Maurice.     

And some close shots of some French units. They must be blinking in the light as they've been in boxes for 15 years and more.   

Some current reading

Here's some current reading.   All of it to support my work on the Great Northern War figures.    

For anyone that's interested, do note that Peter Englund's books, Poltava; the birth of the Russian Empire and The Battle that shook Europe; Poltava and the birth of the Russian Empire are the same text. The battle that shook Europe is just a more recent printing.  

  

I knew little other of the era than the battles of Narva and Poltava, but was surprised and a little shocked to read of the behaviour of the Swedes in Poland, Ukraine and Russia where they burned villages and killed civilians and prisoners of war; things that we've heard about in WW2, some 230-plus years latter.    

For years I had the view promoted by most 18th century rules that this was an era of gentlemanly and 'civilised' war between professionals.  But not so.  

And will this new knowledge stop me playing horse and musket games? I doubt it, though it will temper my view of some characters and armies.  And I've still to read most of Massie's book on Peter the Great.

Now, back to painting colourful uniforms.   

Thursday nights at the club

Missed a couple of posts on club nights again.  And sadly no photos.   

Three weeks back, our planned Dystopian Wars 2-a-side game got slightly reshuffled through illness and we played a 1-on-1 game.  My Americans took on the fleet of Antarctica.  A good game, with me losing a complete squadron and many other ships damaged against the loss of a few Antarctic ships and submarines, but no complete sqadrons lost. 

Two weeks back I played a game of Impetus with the 6mm Normans and Saxons I painted for a friend.  He had them on 40mm wide elements, nicely flocked and finished. I must get some photos on a future date.  
I had the Normans and faced the Saxon centre lined up on a hilltop. I tried 2 wide flanking moves with the cavalry while holding the centre with Norman spear and bows. My flank moves took time and the Saxon player took the opportunity to advance and smash my centre. Then I started to do some damage on the flank, but not before losing some cavalry which tipped the Norman morale.  Both armies had a morale total of 18, and I reached 19 which the Saxon was on 14 or 15.  A very good game.  

Last Thursday we played the boardgame Ankh-Morpork as a tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett and a homage to the joy his books have given us over the years.  

Next week it's back to ADG in 15mm.  There may well be 3 or 4 games on the night as a few people want to play.   

Some Great Northern War stuff at last

I finally got some of my Great Northern War stuff based and finished.  Here's what they look like now with 16 figure infantry units and 8 figure mounted units.  

First up are the Russians; the Ingermanland regiment in yellow and the Belograd in green. 

A couple of dragoon regiments. I can't remember the regiments, but I think the yellow uniforms are the Archangel regiment.  

And the Swedish.  It's infantry only at this stage, but not too bad overall.  I think the first unit is the Skaraborg, the red facings are the Jonkoping with that colourful flag, and the third unit is the Uppland regiment.   

And some group shots.  

  
More to come. There's only about another dozen Russian infantry, 7 Swedish infantry, 10 Russian cavalry and 9 Swedish cavalry to go, along with generals and artillery.   

Here's some of the work in progress. Artillery and Swedish infantry.   

 

 

Last Thursday at the club

I missed a couple of Thursdays, but last week 6 of us were back to the ADG ancient rules.  This time, three separate games were in action; Medieval Germans vs Knights of St John, Umayaad Arabs vs Romans of some flavour, and Burgundians vs my Medieval French.  All players had very good games.  

I didn't take photos on the night, but here is what my French looked like.  First, the whole lot.  200 points worth.  We didn't bother double basing the infantry and it looked OK.  (And please just ignore the 2 flank generals with Wars of Roses flags - in the right lighting they can look French from a distance.)     

The left flank command of 4 knights and a couple of Genoese crossbows, plus the general at the back.  

The centre command of 6 knights and a couple of scruffy horde, plus the CiC at the back.  

The right command of 2 mounted serjeants and 6 mediocre French crossbows, plus the general at the back.  

And the game - well, I'll blame the dice gods for my misfortune.  The crossbows were outshot by Burgundian longbow, my serjeants could not ride down other bow, my knights failed against cavalry and mediocre spears.  And, OK, it wasn't a smart idea to charge pike frontally, but when everything seems to go wrong, it just seemed something to try.  

The only thing I'll change is to do some single figure general stands for my armies so that the generals are more easily distinguished from other troops.  Also, another little work in progress is to remove all the green highlighted basetex and replace it with flock.        

And finally, just for a laugh, this was what was left in this medieval box - more French plus some Wars of Roses.  ADG doesn't need so many figures.      

This Thursday is Dystopian Wars again. Four of us with 750 points each playing a two-a-side game.  

progress on the great northern war

Work on the Great Northern War figures stalled a bit, but here is where I am.  Most figures are finished and I've just got to add flags and finish the basing for the infantry.  

I almost went back to the start when painting these.  I found when viewed from a distance, there wasn't a lot of differentiation between the yellow of the Russian uniforms and the buff belts, and with the red breeches and stockings.  It was similar for the Swedes with yellow facings and stockings and buff waistcoat and breeches.  So I did a bit of black lining - or very dark brown lining to put an accent on the borders.  Not too bad.  I'll probably continue with this for these armies to keep them consistent.    

And the Swedes. The chaps in red facings and stockings will be the Jonkopings regiment because they have a nice colourful flag.  

And the nearly finished first two of the Russian cavalry units.  Just got the flags to add.  Cavalry are 8 figures units, mounted 4 on 60mm front x 40mm bases.   

I'll get some better pictures when I get more units finished.  

more messing about with basing for SYW

I missed the club for the last couple of weeks, but was able to mess about with some basing for the SYW figures.  I also saw what Tamsin (Wargaming Girl) did with 15mm Essex Russians over the past couple of months and that was an inspiration.  

So it's about time I put on a tricorne again and got the Austrians, Prussians, French and British sorted.  The French last saw action many years ago in an Age of Reason campaign but the others have remained in boxes.  Basing is intended to be used with the Maurice rules, though I might also experiment with the new DBA 3 variant on the Fanaticus site.    

Here is where I started. 12 infantry figures in a battalion, on 4 stands of 30mm front.   

 Cavalry figures in 8 figure regiments on 4 stands of 30mm front.  

Here is the stuff with the sand on the bases. Chaps at the front are the grenzer, and the other picture is chasseurs. 

But then comes the first of the brain melts and I try 12 infantry on 4 x 40mm bases. I start to like the idea of a longer thin line. (At the back are the command artillery stands on a 30mm frontage).   

And then the idea extends to go to 2 ranks of infantry and I get the idea I could use the mounted officers.  So now I have an infantry battalion on 4 x 40 x 30mm bases. The mounted officer replaces 2 infantry.  Quite a nice mass effect.  At the back are French cuirassiers, partly rebased from Age of Reason on 40 x 30 bases, but the intention would be to base cavalry on 40mm square bases.     

I quite link this mass effect, and I reckon I have enough figures to do 8-10 infantry and 6 or so cavalry for each nation.  I may do some more basing experiments, but this may be the one to go for.