EWG Club Night October 2

We had 10 guys out at the club last night and two games ran. My camera battery died within minutes of arriving so I only got one good pick of Dave's WAB game. The gist was that Romans had sacked a German village and were carting off the good when the Germans came back and were very upset. Quite a game that was still going on when I left. Bruce and Terry made a very slick little redeployment as I was leaving, basically pursuing their way out of a really unpleasant flanking maneuver by Dave, Chen and Justin.

Guy, Andy and Eric played my 1/72 War of 1812 Bladenburg game. I wish I had a photo as it was quite a game. The table was 4 feet (east-west) by 3 feet (north-south) with the British force of 14 bases entering in the NE corner. It was immediate confronted by a fordable river running NW-SE. The goal for the British was to cross this river and parallel river midboard to bag some hills in the SW corner and open the way to Washington. We used DHBx and Guy rolled 1d6+1 for pips, losing the +1 bonus the first time he lost a unit.

Erik and Andy played the Americans. There were 23 bases (mostly militia, with a few regulars, dragoons and cannon) and each player rolled 1d4 for pips. I made a few changes to set-up to reflect the confused American command. Each player rolled 1d6 alternately and selected that many bases to comprise their "army" for the game. I thought this would create unbalanced flanks and indeed it did with Erik grabbing all of the regulars and a cannon on his first roll and Andy grabbing all of the dragoons and the rest of the cannon on his roll.

I then had Erik (with 13 bases) set up first with the proviso that there could only be 12 bases between the rivers and the remainder had to be behind the second river. Again, I was trying to exploit the glory-hound nature of gamers and most of Eric's forces were deployed forward while Andy had to deploy back meaning he had to cross the river. Finally, I ruled that any time the Americans both rolled a 1 for pips, they would need to switch commands immediately. This was designed to mimic the political foolishness on the American side and just generally be disruptive.

The game was tense with the Americans being forced to switch commands immediately. Guy moved the British across the river and then ran into the vanguard of both sides, losing six units almost immediately (I thought this was going to be a 15-minute game!). But he dug in despite Andy rolling 18 6's out of 40 rolls for combat. Then the superior British units started to beat back the Americans. There was virtually no cooperation between American players which helped--as did Erik's terrible attack dice.

Guy slowly evened the score and then both sides reached their break point on the same turn. So we played one more round and the British managed to bag the American unit they needed. The outcome was consistent with history but the aggressive American play saw the British bottled up and marching onto Washington over the bodies of the defeated American army. Thanks to everyone who played.

Up next: Some 15mm cavalry are being based, some 28mm skirmishers are being painted then likely back to 15mm cavalry. Next week is round two of the EDBAG HoTT campaign.

More 28mm renaissance

I finally managed to work my way through five bases of 28mm renaissance halberders . These are GW Empire troops that I got in a job lot. For some reason I only took pictures of four of the bases. Oh well!

I was happier with how these guys turned out than the last batch of renaissance. I spent more time varying the colours and patterns, although there are a lot of stripes (nature of the sculpts).

I think GW did a very nice job putting character into these faces. As a job lot of bits, there was a lot of mix-and-matching here. Not sure where the pirate head came from--perhaps it is standard GW issue?

I have a couple more boxes of renaissance foot to work my way through. I will likely do them up in a more uniform manner as if they were the troops of a particular noble or city.

Up next: I have a bunch of 28mm Malifaux that I am working through and quite enjoying. I hope to have the hill-billy goblins done by this weekend and then onto the second group.

1/72 War of 1812 odds and ends

Moving some dusty figure boxes about to locate unpainted figures, I ran across six War of 1812 figures that I'd previously painted but then based on 120mm frontages. Perhaps I was dabbling with a War of 1812 version of Impetus?

Anyhow I peeled them off the old base and put them on 60mm frontage for DHBx. These are old Airfix ACW figures (sculpted in the 1960s) which are fine for US militia in 1812.

Up next: There is club night on Tuesday. I finished painting about 10 28mm renaissance archers yesterday--just need to touch up and base. I have some 1/72 AWI dragoon half painted and some more 28mm renaissance (halbred and sword) primered and ready to start.

1/72 AWI odds and ends

I finished up what I thought were the last of the 1/72 AWI this weekend (although I just discovered a few more that had fallen off the tray prior to priming). These are (I think) Imex figures that I got from Justin.

I've based them from DBHx on 60mm frontages but they would also work for Clash for a Continent. The painting shelf is starting to look nicely barren!

The colour of the bare figures was an eye-searing red (as I assume for out-of-the-box play for kids against the blue American troops). Despite spraying with a good primer, I see that the red was not full covered and I'll need to go back and touch up. I so much prefer grey or buff coloured plastic!

Up next: I have some 1/72 War of 1812 militia that I rebased. And some 1/72 British Dragoons underway. And I've just started on a batch of 40 28mm renaissance guys. I also have a commission incoming (Malifaux?) that I'm looking forward to seeing.

More 1/72 AWI Americans

I'm slowly working my way through my boxes of extras. These are the last of my 1/72 AWI Americans. There are some sprues of British left and perhaps some extras for a camp. Beyond that, I'm done!

Nothing special here. Mostly some Imex extras that didn't necessarily make neat units while I was painting the bulk of the troops.

I ended up tossing out a fair number (40?) troops where the poses or scaling were just too awful to bother with. I don't normally do that but life is too short to paint crappy sculpts.

Up next: I have a bunch of 1/76 WW1 British on the go and have my first two units nearing completion. The rest of the forces have the flesh done and I will block in the colours over the course of the week. After that--who knows.

Lundy's Lane Redux

I replayed the Lundy's Lane scenario from the club a few weeks back using DBHx. Bruce dropped by and I was keen to see how DBHx handled things differently than For Honor and Glory.

American "General Hilfiger" opened the game by throwing out a flanking probe on his right to see if he could unhinge the British grip on the hill. A nasty firefight ensued that stalled things for him.

Eventually his reinforcements came on and marched forward. At this point, things were looking bad for the British, whose own reinforcements were still several turn away.

A lucky shot, decapitated the reinforcement's command structure and also caused them to test on the optional morale chart we were using and they stalled. Had I risked a long-odds shot at Bruce's other general, I could have completely crippled his command structure but instead I popped a militia unit.

Undeterred, Bruce surged forward onto the hill as my reinforcements appeared and night fell (no more shooting attacks). My original command held out just long enough for the reinforcements to get to the hill before failing their morale roll and beating a retreat. But the weight of the reinforcements was too much, pushing back and breaking the intact American command before wheeling right to dispatch the leaderless American reinforcements.

An almost historical result that would have been better had the British reinforcements been forced to come in from various points on the board. Comparing DBHX and For Honor and Glory, I'd say DBHx emphasized the war while For Honour and Glory emphasized the game. Neither was superior--just a different feel.

Up next: A WW1 tank is based and drying. Some 15mm Greeks are done and more are underway. And I need to pull out Pandemic and read the rules for the club next week.

EWG Club Night August 2

We had eight guys out at the club tonight with three games running.

Dave hosted Jonathan, Chen and Andy in a game of WW2 FUBAR. As I left, the French were pressing home their counter attack, although there was a lot of French armour burning.

Elliot and Kevin played a game of Warmachine; here is one of Elliot's Warjacks. Amazing painting.

Scott played a game of DBHx in which we took a go at Crysler's Farm. I played the Americans and Scott played the British. Had we had average dice, the game likely would have swung in favour of the British. Alas, Scott rolled a lot of 1s and I rolled a lot of 5s and 6s.

Here you can see the Americans moving onto the board, with one command moving forward as a screening force and the other marching tightly formed behind.

I managed to screen Scott's Indians and light troops on my right and mask his cannon and gunboat on my left and push on up the middle.

Suddenly, Scott's luck started to turn and he eventually took apart my leading command, although the price was heavy. I was able, however, to bring the second command into play and push him back off two victory points and eventually we called it as he had no chance to contest any of them.

Overall a pretty good game. The gunboat was rated as a cannon (range of 1000 paces but could move 500 paces at a cost of two pips) and proved an important part of the British game. Not a bad way to incorporate naval assets.

Up next: Some 28mm Skaven are just about finished for HoTT. I have some 28mm metal medievals primed as my next project. Then onto some 1/72 WW1 figures for HoTT. I hope to see the bottom of the paint pile by Xmas!

War of 1812 American Dragoons and Militia

With these figures. my War of 1812 project is largely complete, with plenty of time to prep terrain and scenarios.

First off the production line are these two bases of American dragoons. These are Imex AWI Americans and perhaps Italeri AWI horses. I thought about doing proper cavalry figures (and I may yet) but I like to think of American dragoons as a bit rough and ready.

These three bases are loosely painted based on Pennsylvania militia. They are Imex Alamo figures--I love the top hats!

This is a generic militia unit with summer green jackets. And below we have two bases of skirmishers with a woodsie theme (Imex AWI, I think).

Up next: I have some 28mm lions (?) that need to be based and I've made some progress on my 28mm Normans (including a cool war wagon). After than some fantasy figures and perhaps some superheroes--I've rethought their basing some and have ordered some cobblestone bases.

War of 1812 British Camp

I needed a camp for my British War of 1812 troops. I thought about doing something military (e.g., redoubt, officer's tent) so I started rooting through my box of extras and ran across a bunch of pigs. And then I thought "imperialist pigs!" (I'd had a fair bit of caffeine at that point). And then I thought, "hey, I know".

And thus was borne my British camp, wherein two poor privates are forced to pull sentry duty, guarding dinner from bears, tigers and hill-billies.

The fence is an old railway model that I won as part of a job lot at the EWG auction this spring. The pigs are from an Imex pioneer set. And the soldiers are Revell Napoleonic British Riflemen.

Up next: American militia and dragoons are drying. I have started to block in colours on some 28mm Normans. And I built me a bunch of ratmen yesterday for a HoTT army so I will prime them today if the weather cooperates and berry picking doe snot take too long!

War of 1812 British Regulars

I'm basically finished the figures I need for gaming the War of 1812 over the next three years. So now I'm just painting up various surplus 1/72 plastics that I picked up to give me some options to have multiple player games.

These are some Revell British rifles. I think I bought them for a specific purpose that now eludes me so I simply painted them as British regulars to flesh out the forces of his majesty.

These were nice enough figures. The soft plastic took primer and paint quite nicely and nothing flaked off during basing.

There was quite a lot of detail in the sculpt but it was shalow, so picking out straps was not as easy as with, say, HaT or Imex figures I have done.

I also raided an Imex pioneers set for some cattle. This base could be used as an objective in a game or, in a pinch, as a camp.

Up next: The remainder of the 1812 US troops, including some dragoons and militia. Also I have have done a nice little British camp. All of this is just being based up now. Then onto some 28mm Normans and then maybe some skaven for a HoTT army?

War of 1812 British Mounted

These 12 fellows are HaT Prussians that I have painted up to represent British cavalry during the War of 1812.

I did two bases of cavalry (3 models each). These were nice figures--well sculpted, the riders fit the horses snugly, and the detail was accessible.

I also did three bases of dragoons. You can see the carbine (or whatever they carried) below their right arm.

Up next: Some gaming with Bruce tonight (War of 1812, as it happens) and then some superheroes later this week. Then back to some more 1812 figures--this time more British regulars and then some American irregulars. And perhaps a British camp and a cattle drive base.

War of 1812 British Foot

I'm on a bit of a roll with 1/72 figures so I'm going to keep this going as long as I can. Today I pushed some more 1/72 "British" troops through the painting process.

First up are as bunch that I'm going to term Upper Canadian militia. These are extra Imex Alamo troops I had. This unit (from what I can tell) was issued with red jackets but uniforms were pretty dodgy their first year. So red jackets with yellow trim but some are cut short and there is a lot of variety in head gear and pants.

The second group are loosely painted as Lower Canadian militia--something of coureur des bois meets bon homme. I think they would do for almost any militia unit.

This last group I painted up to look (roughly) like Caldwell's rangers, with green coats and black trim with grey pants. I'd field these as irregulars. Again not a perfect uniform match, but definitive source material is a bit tricky to find on some of these units.

Up next: Some British cavalry/dragoons are drying. Then onto some superheroes. And then back to some more 1/72 British line troops and perhaps a camp. Somewhere in there I'll ben playing some For Honour and Glory with Bruce.

War of 1812 US Regulars

Some US troops for the War of 1812 finished up last night. These are 1/72 Imex Alamo Mexicans (I think) and are painted up as regulars.

Four bases in a shooting pose made a nice grouping. I'm not sure how accurate the kneeling pose is (hard to reload that way!) but the visual is nice enough.

There were also several in marching poses.



And finally our friend the colonel, who appears to have recently ducked for some cover. How undignified. I'll see what I can do about getting that stray flock off of him.

Up next: Some British War of 1812 cavalry and irregulars are underway, although they will take some time--maybe the end of the weekend?

1812 camp

Last night I based up a camp for my War of 1812 armies. These are various 1/72 Imex figures from their Pioneers set along with a prairie schooner wagon.

I was reasonably happy with the composition of the camp. It looks a bit Little House on the Prairie, but I added in some trees to try and make it more Great Lakes-ish.

I quite like the guy who is fiddling.

I presume these are either camp followers or civilians the armies were (notionally!) charged with protecting.

Up next: Some more 1/72 US troops for the War of 1812 followed by a mix of British and American irregulars, dragoons and cavalry. These figures should finish out this project.