After last night,I'm getting a little worried about Brian-it's nothing I can really put my finger on,but he sort of looks at me in a strange,almost "lustful" way-see if you can spot what I mean..........
Well,last night we had a Napoleonic game set in Spain,pitting an Allied army,against a French army,this is the scenario....
Brian and Graham were the French commanders,whilst Paul and I were the Allied commanders.
This shows the table before any movement-note the "Teddy Bear Fur" corn fields-Brian spent a lot of time "stroking" the Fur!!-cause for concern or what?????
Brian begins the first of many attacks on the Spanish-held hill/convent,with the hill being defended by infantry and a gun,all of his attacks were doomed to failure!!
O.M.G!! now can you see what I mean by a "Lustful" look??-as Paul begins to shoot his infantry and I begin to attack with my Spanish cavalry,Brian advances against the village and open ground-this is going to be tight!
As the battle rages in the centre,Brian and Graham put in another attack against the hill and village-you're all doomed,laddy,you're all doomed!!!!
Paul has sent reinforcements to the hill,as Brian puts in yet another attack!!!
Yet another one!!!-will they never learn??-In the background,to the right,Graham is moving ever closer to my Portuguese troops,who have retired(it's good being retired!!) behind the stream,he did well to manoeuvre his troops into a position where his gun and infantry shot my troops to pieces-but they still hung on-hurrah!!
In this shot Graham is looking for heavenly inspiration!!(or hair on Brian's head!) whilst "Lusty" is looking grim!-however back at the table,the whole battle is raging,and Graham's troops are driving mine backwards-that gun is particularly well placed!!
My flank is lost,but the hill is still in allied hands,the village is being held by a handful of French who can not stand a determined assault,and Brian's cavalry are being "swamped" by Spanish and British cavalry-the battle is ours(I think!)
This was an interesting and complex game,both sides facing problems,but very well played by all.
Roll on Thursday-Paul wants a Carthaginian game,but I need to get my new Saxon army(probably disguised as a Spanish 11th century army) onto the table-we'll see!!
Being a P.O.P.(poor old pensioner) I have to watch how I spend my money,so when I decided to build up a Viking Army to match my Warrior Miniatures Saxon army,My thoughts turned to some old Prince August moulds which I had stored in my loft for ages!
I got my wife to go up into the loft(far too dangerous for me to go up!) and find the moulds-of which she found 8!! so tonight I will cast a few figures from each mould to see what is suitable,but in the mean time I thought I would show the method used for casting.................
I first numbered the moulds for easy identification,and made some "clapper boards" to hold them,and keep them tight shut whilst pouring the metal.
This is the equipment I use-camping cooker,ladles,clamps and cutters,plus a dish of talcum powder to dry the mould and ease release.Goggles and gloves would be recommended too!!
Here the mould is clamped between the "clapper boards" prior to pouring the metal-it's a case of trial and error as to how tight you clamp the mould,to get the best results.
The metal is being heated in this shot-care must be taken when transferring the full ladle over to the mould-hot metal hurts-I know through years of casting figures!!
The metal has been poured into the mould,right up to the top,followed by "tapping" the mould to get rid of any trapped air bubbles.
After a minute or so,the mould can be opened-it's at this stage that you can see if the figures have cast ok or not-if not,simply start the procedure again!!
The figures,of a spearman,swordsman and axeman have been prised out of the mould(mould number 1) and look good-I just have to cut of the pouring sprue,which of course will be put back into the melting pot,so no waste of metal at all!!
Job done,only another 197 to go!!!!!-these figures are "true" 25mm,but Prince August do 28mm,32mm,40mm and 54mm moulds-have a look at their web site,you might just be inspired to try casting your own figures.
Last night saw Graham,Brian,Paul and I in ancient Greece,fighting a Hoplite army against a Persian army.
This is the scenario-to be fair,the Persians(Paul and Brian) were not given all the facts,ie the hidden stakes!!-oh how they laughed when they discovered them!!!(not)
This is the table before any movement-Graham was in charge of the Spartans and Corinthians,whilst I took charge of the Athenians on the Greek left.Paul was facing me,Brian was facing Graham on the Persian left(including a hill full of "Immortals")
Move number one,and Paul charged my heavy cavalry(who were "masking" the stakes) I retired them revealing a line of wooden stakes and a unit of Hoplites!!-the language was nothing short of disgusting!!!!!-however,the way we play,is to make a battle plan which must be adhered to,so Paul had no option but to do his best until a further order could be written,so in consequence he had to stand for 2 moves until the new orders reached him!!-this meant that my plan,to shoot his immobile cavalry with arrows,worked a treat-hurrah!!
On the other flank,Graham has begun his out-flanking march with the Corinthians against the "Immortal" hill,whilst his over-enthusiastic advance by his Spartans is leaving a huge gap between my Athenians and the Spartans-oh dear!!!
Brian's Persians and Graham's Spartans clash into each other-the Spartans have such a good Fighting ability that the Persians couldn't possibly win the ensuing melee(can anyone see where this is going?)
Meanwhile,on the other flank Paul has re-organised his cavalry and is shooting my Hoplites,behind the stakes,with his horse archers!-his infantry are strolling forward,taking their time-no rush!!
Brian is looking worried,but he needn't be,he is doing well against the Spartans,even though his hill is under attack!!-My heavy cavalry is desperately trying to get onto Graham's left flank to help him out-will they get there in time????
Yeah!!!!!-with the centre stabilised,this just left the bloody hill and the left flank to deal with!!
Graham is just about to begin his magnificent assault on Brian's hill,but attacking uphill against the cream of the Persian army is not going to be easy!!
Mixed results!! a win and two losses,meant that the hill was still in Persian hands,however(much to Brain's chagrine,because he didn't realise that he was defending a hill and not a cliff!!) Graham is sending his cavalry into the fray-hurrah!!!
Meanwhile,as Brian was moaning and groaning about "Pegasus" cavalry climbing up the hill using ropes and tackle,Paul's Infantry have charged into my Hoplites-I did ok here,but you can see he has moved his cavalry into a good threatening position -where's my cavalry to counter this move??-oh yes,I selflessly sent it help Graham and his Spartans!!!!-fool!!
Look,that's them there,getting chewed up by the mercenary Hoplites in the Persian army!!
Graham is gaining ground against the Persian infantry,but things are not going well on the hill,even though the "flying cavalry",as Brian has called them,have done a bit of damage to the defenders!
Paul's clever use of his infantry and cavalry combined, have done for me!!-my flank is on the point of collapse-woe is me!!
With the hill still in the balance,but the Spartans facing fresh troops in the form of Greek mercenaries,we called it a day-who won?-who cares?-we had a good game,including quite a few laughs,all in all a good result for everyone!!-roll on Sunday,probably a Peninsular Napoleonic game.
If only we'd listened to Brian,we would have got to the venue much quicker,and easier,however we listened to Paul (who,I'm sure couldn't even find Nemo!!) and got slightly lost!! however on arriving at the College Campus,we were met by Leon,shown to our table,and got the game set up in record time-5 bodies(Dave,Brian,Paul, Graham and I) certainly helps!!
The hall was well lit,although a little cold(!!!) and very spacious,with most of the traders(and there was plenty to choose from) on the outside,leaving lots of room for the games and Bring and Buy in the central area.
A time limit had been set for the games to be set up(9.30am) and the "punters" were let in at 10.00am-great organisation and planning-all very efficient and it worked a treat.
Within the first hour or so the hall was filled with eager to spend wargamers,who also spent a bit of time chatting to us about our game,and those around us-we met some old and some new friends,all eager to ask about rules,figures etc.
The only critical thing I heard all day was that it took a long time to get served with food!-this didn't effect Brian and I,because,being old farts,we'd brought along enough food to feed the 5 thousand!!!
At the end of the day,having spent all of our money,and having had a great day's wargaming,we went home(with Graham navigating!!) with Leon's words echoing in our ears"See you next year,lads"-you certainly will-a great show,thanks to the organisers and everyone who took the time to talk to us.
Our table,all set up,and time to have a wander around the traders-look at the space around us!!
More of the games being set up-quite a range,from Napoleonics to Western shoot outs,WW2,7YW and Fantasy-every taste was catered for.....................
Even this!!-Bizarre. You had to try and hit the Cup Cakes using a Tank(on the left of picture) and if you hit it you won the cake!!!-a bit like an old fashioned Coconut Shy,I suppose!
The spending frenzy has begun-you could almost smell the money!!!-old and young,male and female-an excellent mix!!
This gorgeous young woman,obviously attracted by our club members who reminded her of film stars and models,spent a bit of time chatting to us and photographing our game-she was the official photographer for the organisers!!
Charlie Wesencraft,looking like a rose between two thorns, stopped and chatted for a while.
In this shot of our game,the Hadendowah are just about to charge Dave's finger!-well, it's rude to point!!!-we actually played the game through to a conclusion(each side claiming a victory!!-but the British won really!)
This is the Bring and Buy area,which seemed to do very well,and some of the prices being charged for figures and terrain pieces was "realistic"-I have found a good way of getting people out of the way,when you want to see something,- is to say,in a loud voice,"excuse me but I'm going to be sick"-it works every time!!
Oh and there was a "Spot the Loony" competition too!!!!-I wonder who it is????
A few of the games put on by various local,and not so local,groups-well done to everyone who put on a game-high standards indeed.
Our mates,John and Neil put on a separate game to Robbie(see spot the Loony competition)
This was a fine Napoleonics game using "Blucher" rules-don't worry Neil,you hair looks fine!!
Re-enactors allowing someone to shoot one of the traders for not giving him "discount"-by the way,if you don't ask for discount,you won't get it-so always ask!!!!
One final shot of our game before we packed up and headed home-roll on next year!!
Having finished,based and "flocked" my Saxons,I thought a few photo's would show how they look........
A shot from the front-6 units in both lines,plus "Leader" figures,with 16 figures per unit.
A shot from the side,I wanted to depict a sort of shield wall,but not too regular,so I've "staggered" the figures slightly.
They look formidable(well,to me anyway!) let's see how they perform........
A couple of units of Norman Knights(from my "El Cid" armies) attack the front line,will they hold?
Of course they will!!
Brian was going to paint a full Norman army,but unfortunately,due to on-going problems with his hands(but not his dice throwing!!) he can't,so I might give them a go,as well as painting a Viking army!!-busy little chap,eh?-it's just as well that I'm retired(I don't know if anyone knew that!)
