More Maurice

Bruce put on a game of Maurice last night, using the updated card deck in the light rules. I believe the battle was Fontenoy (?) which was one of the Wars of Succession (Austrian?). I was the British/Saxons and was attacking a much larger force in a good position.

In retrospect, I should have split my forces and attacked in strength along the river. But I didn't and instead tried to go straight through a bottleneck. Bruce played a card that drew out the centre of my line and then they got greased in a charge.

This allowed a cavalry charge which took out five units of cannon. After some mulling, I decided to retreat my cavalry back. Not exactly the bravest choice but I preserved the units.

Bruce noted this was the first time he'd ever seen the lines open (or be opened...), cavalry come forward, make a decisive strike and then retreat. I think that speaks well of the rules that it allows historical tactics.

There was some more grinding and then we eventually ran out of cards before I could lose decisively. But clearly I did! Overall, a very fun game. I also think this is about as large a game as two players could manage. Bruce plans to run a four-player, two-deck game at the club next week to show off his incredible rebasing-what a trooper he was!

Up next: I have some 1/72 AWI underway but likely they will take until the weekend to complete. I also built 40 28mm renaissance foot which are my next project.

1/72 WW1 British HiTT army for sale

I have for sale a 1/72-scale HiTT (Hordes in the Trenches) WW1 British army. It comprises 26 bases on 60mm frontages plus a “camp” element.

There are 11 bases of infantry. There are 6 six-man bases and 5 four-man bases, with the latter reflecting attrition (so more veteran troops).

I’ve taken a closer shot to show the washing and detailing on the figures.

There is 1 mortar base and 3 MG bases. Sorry the picture is a bit blurry.

There are 4 bases that could be used as snipers or forward observers.

There is 1 base of biplanes. These are 6mm metal biplanes with decals.

There is 1 base with a tank. This is a 1/72 plastic kit and is nicely painted.

There are 3 bases of artillery.

There are 2 bases of poison gas.

And there is one camp (using 6mm elements). The over-exposed white blobs are actually sheep grazing in the meadow. Looks like Tommy will be having lamb for dinner!

I will individually bubble wrap these bases for shipping. I’d like $85 OBO, including shipping to Canada or the US. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca .

Terrain for superheroes

I was so taken with Andy's terrain at the club this week that I decided to look into railway buildings again. I used to have a small collection for WW2 gaming. But my modeling skills were modest (at best) and the cost vs. look never really worked out for me.

I took a trip to the Hobby Warehouse and picked up a tire factory. This came as two pieces plus extras and took me about 90 minutes to assemble. I then hand-painted the primer, drybrushed, detailed and washed. Then I added the rub on decals.

It is a bit small for the 28mm heroes I'll be using but I can live with that. The detail is fairly awesome. and it will be a lot easier to make a small Gotham layout with these kinds of buildings rather than hand-make buildings with cork tile (my original plan).

Up next: Some 1/72 AWI British are my next project. Then perhaps some more super hero scenery.

25mm Carthaginians Part 4

Today I finished off a 25mm Carthaginian army that I have been working on. These four mounted stands are Old Glory and were the only parts I had to purchase (when I was at the Sentry Box last weekend). It is kind of fun to be able to purchase something and then immediately paint it! Yet another benefit of the diminishing lead mountain.

The first two bases are 3Cv bases. The figures are actually Roman gladiators but they will do (no Carthaginian packs in stock). Nice animated poses and I used pins for the spears.

The fellow above in the middle is sporting a tunic in the new cinnamon colour Dave suggested. I couldn't find the one he mentioned so I ended up at the local art store and picked up a pricey artists acrylic.

There are also two bases of 2LH. These could be used in a variety of armies as generic light cavalry. I kind of lamed out on the shields, going with metal-clad shields. I just didn't have the gas to do designs.

Up next: I have a bunch of 1/72-scale AWI British foot and dragoons glued to paint sticks but the weather has turned so they will need to wait for priming. I also picked up some scenery for my super heroes game and spent some time last night building it. It too founders on priming. So I will likely do a quick camp for my WW1 HiTT British army and post that up to sell tomorrow. And I will start going through my collection to put aside some auction items for MayDay.

Extra 28mm Roman Skirmishers

I finished off a couple of Old Glory skirmishers I got in trade a few months back. These fellows will be for my Roman armies, where I find myself always short on light troops.

Looking at the pictures, I see these fellows were supposed to have spears in their hands. They did not come with any and, when I looked at the figures prior to painting, it just didn't occur to me. And yet it is so obvious in there pictures. Huh. Oh well!

Below I've tried to snap these guys against some Wargames factory Republican Romans. I think they are, size-wise, pretty compatible. I also see I have a few facial details to clean up. Not my finest hour!

Up next: Four bases of 28mm Carthaginian cavalry are based and need to be flocked (maybe tonight). And I have cut and cleaned about 40 1/72 AWI British foot and dragoons that were sitting around the shelves. Not sure what comes after them--perhaps a camp for my 1/72 HiTT WW1 army that I will be selling shortly.

25mm Carthaginians Part 3

I've finished the third (of four) batches of 25mm Carthaginians for DBA, HoTT and CCA. These are all RAFM figures I picked up in a trade last year. It is nice to have them moved off my painting shelf.

I did two bases of heavy foot (fellows with body armour) which will be spear in DBA/HoTT.

I think they turned out okay given the level of detail and limited effort I made with them. The spears are plastic from a wargames factory set. I see I have some glue and grass to scape off the shield here!

I also did four bases of spear without armour. I mixed up the clothing and crests as much as I could but decided on a common shield pattern. The figures have detail consistent with when they were sculpted and a bit of paint on the hems helps.

Up next: Some 28mm skirmisher reinforcements for the Romans and then the last of the Carthaginians--several bases of mounted troops.

EWG Club Night, February 21

We had 13 guys out at the club last night and three games ran. Carl and Dave hosted Will, Neal, Guy and Craig in a two-table Command and Colors Ancients smack down.

The guys used 1/72 figures from Dave and Carl's collection. I'm not sure what the scenario was but they all appeared to have a good time.

Scott hosted Mark, Terry and Chen in a game of War Rocket (or Rocketeers or something like that). Very slick set up with really nicely painted space ships. More pictures on Terry's blog.

Andy hosted his first game, with Bruce, Jonathan and I reliving a 1970s UK cop drama (something about Sweeney and the flying squad).

These were rules Andy modified from the web and they worked really well. You can see Husky and Starch hanging out behind their car watching the bad guys shake down a bookie operation before trying to get off the board with the loot.

As the photo above indicates, there was a bit of cultural miscommunication as the Brit-players (raised on BBC socialist pablum) emphasized fisticuffs while Bruce and I (raised on American cop shows) thought there was no sound prettier than a chambered shotgun round and were rather liberal with the gun fire.

We played the game twice with an even outcome over the two games (although I think I lost both times...) and we quite enjoyed running each other down, roaring around in cars and generally aerating the scenery.

Up next: I have a bunch of Carthaginian foot that are drying. I also have a few skirmishers to supplement my republican Romans. And I have some Carthaginian mounted underway to finish out the army.

25mm Carthaginians Part 2

And these are the second batch of finished Carthaginians. They are Celts (my army will be heavy with allied forces!) and are older 25mm, mono-pose sculpts. Maybe RAFM?

First up are four bases of psilio. I replaced the crappy metal spears with some plastic ones I had left over.

I also did five bases of warband/auxilia. A bit repetitive but they painted up super quick!

I think the figures are reasonably good. Not as nice as Old Glory but reasonably serviceable.

Up next: I have some 25mm spearmen (definitely RAFM) which are nicer than these Celts. The block painting is done so now I am detailing them. I hope to have them finished late Monday. There is club on Tuesday and then I'll be working on some cavalry to bolster the Carthaginian ranks if I can swing by the Sentry Box on Saturday.

25mm Carthaginians Part 1

Things have been a bit slow this week as work has distracted me, but I do have some stuff rolling off the painting table. First up are some mounted units for a Carthaginian DBA/CCA army. I've had most of this army on my shelf for about a year and I hope to finish it up in the next week or so.

These elephants are old Ral Partha 25m guys, although they are much closer to 20mm judging from the rider. I've never been really happy with how my elephants have turned out but these guys are okay. A base coat of territorial beige then a dry brush of beige with some grey cut in. Then a wash.

I also did one base of light horse. Now idea of the manufacturer but the horses are likely different from the riders. They look okay. I need to pick up some extra cavalry this weekend if I get the chance while I'm passing through Calgary.

Up next: I have a bunch of Celtic warband, auxilia and psiloi drying and I will post them tonight. I also have a bunch of spear that I have finished the base coat on plus a few skirmishers for my republican Romans. I hope to have them done for Monday or Tuesday.

More 25mm Star Wars odds and ends

With a sigh of relief, I give you the last of the Star Wars fellows from my painting pile! These are 25mm West End Games figures from the 1980s that I (mostly) got in crazy eBay auction a year or two back.

First up are some command bases, including some imperial droids. I quite like the admiral figure on the right.

And now some bountyhunters. Boba Fett was a gift from a fellow on TMP (who also supplied me with yesterday's R2D2) and he even came painted! The rest are my approximations (from memory) of what these fellows looked like. In HoTT these guys might be warband.

Up next: I have 30 or so 25mm Celts, 3 elephants and a couple of light horse spray primed as the start of my Carthaginian army. I also assembled another 30 or so foot to represent the heavier foot as well as give the Romans some additional light troops. Still need to run down some cavalry but these will keep me busy painting for awhile!

25mm Star Wars odds and ends

I have almost worked my way down to the end of my pile of 25mm Star Wars figures. I have a few more stands of bad guys drying (will post tomorrow) and a small sack of extras to pass onto Tim in Saskatoon.

First up are Yoda, C3PO, R2D2 and Obi-wan. I based these on washers, thinking they would use useful as command stands moreso than as single figures HoTT bases (although they could be saboted on in an emergency).

I also painted some Ewoks. I think they will be lurkers. I went all Yasser Arafat on the one fellow's head-dress but it seems to be lost at this scale.

There are two extra bases of rebel troopers to add some numbers to the rebellion. These will hopefully offset the heavily mechanized imperials. And below we have a blurry photo of Lando, Lobot and the fellow who co-piloted the Falcon in RotJ. Sorry Lando is so blurry!

Up next: Some Imperials are drying and I will be spray priming some 25mm metal RAFM Celts, elephants and light horse for a Carthaginian army. I will do the spear troops separately. It is exciting to watching lingering projects move along!

EWG Club Night, February 7

We had 14 guys out at the club last night and three games ran. In an unusual situation, we actually had more guys than games!

Carl hosted Chris, Chen and Guy in a War of 1812 game. My understanding is that the British won. I'm not sure what rules Carl used, although I did see some Piquet cards in the box as he was setting up, so perhaps a variant? Nice to see his 1/72 Naps get a work out.

Dave hosted Alan, Scott, Terry and Kevin in a game of Kampfgruppe Normandy. This recreated Wittman's shooting up of a British column using Dave's 1/72 troops. There was time to play the game twice as Scott had his usual trouble with the dice while playing the Germans (how can you lose three Tigers to a bunch of Cromwells?!?). The second game looked a lot more historical in terms of what was burning!

Bruce hosted Mike, Andy and myself in a game of Maurice using 15mm SYW troops. This was an encounter game on a 60x36BW board. Things started out well as Andy charged his cavalry at my militia and it was shot to pieces with some lucky card play and Mike's hot dice. At this point, I turned to Mike, said "We're up three--this is the point where I usually get cocky and lose the game."

And then we managed to do just that. We swung our own cavalry out on the left (not the fickle hand of fate in the photo) and got the stuck and eventually picked to pieces. In the meantime, Bruce and Andy came across the middle and managed to bag our cannon and a couple of extra units, pushing us past our break point. Arrrgh! Andy had some pretty amazing rallying dice and rolled four sixes at one point (about 1 in 1300 chance...).

Up next: I have some Star Wars fellows on the paint table. Then perhaps onto some Carthaginians.