The itinerant gamer

The painting continues. I've finished the BUF and Welsh Nationalists for VBCW. Although I enjoy the setting, I can't agree with the way the Welsh are portrayed. It is really unlikely that people would switch from non-conformist chapel to Catholicism. I can see them seeking aid from the Irish nationalists but that would be union of convenience rather than bound by religion. 

For my birthday I was given some vouchers for my local game store, which were used to get a box of the PSC 15mm Cromwells. This together with some half tracks and infantry will form the basis of XXX Corps. I've already got the paras and will move onto the German forces soon. The plan is to do market garden as a summer project once the shed is built.

If anyone remembers the shed is to be the gaming zone for my boys and I. I've decided that it needs to be a little smaller so have gone with a 16x10 area. This will still allow a 6x6 or 6x8 table, plus a good area for storage. It's being delivered today and assembled tomorrow so hopefully soon I can post some pictures. It's all coming together at the right time as the planning application has gone in for the rest of the building works.

The secret of great wargaming

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been to the Wagames Holiday Centre with amongst others Henry Hyde and Charlie Wesencraft.  The game was regimental fire and fury refighting Gettysberg. I had several divisions and although I didn't know the rules , by the end of the second turn I had a good grasp if what was going on. I liked the d10 mechanics as the role of a natural 10 had many consequences such as leaving your troops out of ammo, or your commander being killed. The main drawback is that the results of fire are such that it mainly acts to disrupt your opponent so frustrating their plans. To kill a stand you need either to concentrate the fire of several regiments and batteries or charge several regiments into the same combat. The removal of the disruption is normally a matter of course so tends to be a temporary hindrance at best. What I did like about the rules was the way defensive fire went before offensive and have you the chance to stop that charge going in due to disruption.

Nevertheless I've ordered the rules from the company and intend to have a go at them with my new 15/18mm armies when their done. One idea I'm going to steal from Mark is the idea if generic stands with seperate command and the use of little labels on the stands with most of the stats needed on. This really sped up play and wasn't as obtrusive as I'd feared.

Now that I've played some ACW I'm on a painting drive and hope to have some Union brigades painted soon. I need to get some command figures, but will wait to see if my current eBay sales go before denting the paypal balance again.

As a backer of their new Russo-Finnish war I got a 10%discount from Baker Street and used it to pad out my VC force for Vietnam. 90 28mm Castings arrived the other day and they're up I the usual standard. I think that I'll probably have a unit of 15 and 28mm on the painting table at the same time for now and hope to crack through quite a lot, well, enough to beat last years painting stats anyway

The Featherstone Weekend

This weekend I've been at the Wargames Holiday Centre in Basingstoke for the Don Featherstone weekend. 12 gamers including Charles Wesencraft and Ron Miles re fought the Battle of Gettysburg. I had the honour of commanding Heth, Pender and Pickett's divisions. I fought 13 turns and al mostanaged to break through to the Emmersburh Pike, and indeed the Corps next to me managed to breach the Federal line, so the game was declared a confederate victory! The other ahistorical fact was that Jeb Stuart arrived around turn 9 of the 13 we played. 

Old School Wargaming rules ok

I'm in Basingstoke for the Don Featherstone Memeorial weekend and a have just had the pleasure of spending the last 2-3 hours in the company of Henry Hyde and Charles Wesencraft.

More 15mm

The great 15mm change continues. I've painted and based the Boxers, finally going for 3 castings to a 40x20mm base. This gives a good compromise between an unruly mob and regulars merely by the position on the base.

I've also put together 4 Tigers and 5 Panthers from the Plastic Soldier Company for my mid war German army which I'll use with the battleground Kursk rules, having sold all my flames of war books after realising that despite investing heavily in army books and rules I had never played it! I've also realised that I didn't like the codex creep or the Rock Paper Scissors approach to army lists. 

I think next onto the paint table after the tanks will be some VBCW figures before I go back to the Spencer Smiths.

The eBay clear out continues. Next to go are my Crimean and 1866 armies. The FPW armies have a reprieve as I've got enough to run some small scale battles. I'm toying with the idea of rejigging the force on force rules or perhaps looking at the tfl rules for the ACW based on sharp practice.

15-18mm the new hotness ?

Having nailed my colours to the 28mm mast I've realised that most of my recent purchases have been 15-18mm! I've broken up the ongoing spencer smith saga with some 15mm Boxers from Lancashire Games. They are really easy to paint and I'm happy with the results, especially as it gives me a chance to use the more exotic colours that have been lurking in the paint tray for some years.

I've also done a unit of foundry 28mm home guard, which can be used either as designed or will form part of a VBCW force I'm building. I've got some workers militia from Musketeer and will probably get some BUF soon, to go with the blitzkrieg Germans I've already got.

I've also finished the 2 squads of 20mm early war British and Germans my youngest son bought at Crusade.

Speaking of crusade, I have to say that I'm sad to report that the show is getting worse. The number of traders is around the same, but none of the "big" boys are there anymore. When I started going 12 or so years ago, people like old glory were coming, but now even the local store (Firestorm Games) is reducing their commitment. I'm not sure what has changed except the economic climate. The venue is small and perhaps suffers from the lack of facilities ( it's held in the main hall of a local leisure centre), especially the lack of catering options. It's very disappointing as I don't get to go to Salute and with Colours off the next show near me is Warfare but that's not till November and the Rugby season will be on again then! Still it might allow me to make a dent in the lead pile.....

Hello, my name is Melvyn and I'm a wargamer

You may wonder why there's been a sudden increase in the amount of posts, but I've downloaded the blogger app to the iPhone and am away on a course for work at the moment. As there are coffee breaks programmed in and I don't drink coffee, ( the tea is awful as well), so I've been using the free time to ruminate on the wargaming life. 

The more I think about it there more I'm feel that I've chosen the wrong scale for the late nineteenth century warfare. I managed to get a lot (nearly 500), of castings of 1866 Austrians, which have sat in the lead mountain for a few years. They are beautiful but even if I do them justice I'm only going to have enough for a few brigades so I might keep some for skirmishing but the rest might find their way to eBay. The same can be said for the 28mm FPW figures. Then again I might change my mind and get 15/18mm armies as well knowing me!