In an idle moment(which are few and far between!) I decided that for my Plains Indians wars period,I might just have a need for some covered waggons for the Indians to attack!! but I didn't have any-another project is born!!!
I "surfed" the internet for images of covered waggons to see if I could come up with something,but to my surprise,there was a detailed plan for a waggon,so I downloaded the image/plan,enlarged it by 25%,and the project was underway.
Top photo is the plan,as seen on the computer,bottom photo is a couple cut out c/w wheels,front and back-however I decided to make both front and back wheels the same,as I couldn't find any washers/coins that fitted the smaller front wheels!
This shows the waggon cut out,and the wheels ready to be stuck onto penny coins(which were the exact fit!!)
This is the part that made me weep-I had to go out and buy(with real money) a piece of timber to make the body rigid,because the paper would be too flimsy without it!-I cut the timber to size,luckily the timber I bought was 25mm wide by 12mm deep,as was the waggon!!
The paper body has been stuck onto the timber,the wheels have been stuck onto the pennies,and I have measured and "rolled" a piece of paper to act as the cover.
Top photo shows the body and cover,bottom photo shows the wheels stuck onto the body.
Almost finished-I had to drill a hole in the front and stick a cocktail stick into it to act as the boom.
No boring old white canvas waggon train for me!!!
As they say in the best Westerns "Waggons Ho",and the're off to a better life,unless they encounter the odd Grizzly,pack of Wolves,or,God forbid, Indians!!!!
What would the Indians have to fight,if it wasn't for these pioneers??
Just keeping an eye out for hostiles!!
This lot took me approx. 4 hours to complete,and I enjoyed the challenge,now I just have to convince the rest of the"boys" that this period will be fun to play!!
Last night we had a "rip-roaring,rollicking" Colonial game,which lacked nothing of excitement,colour,banter and a bit of bad language!!
This is the scenario,Paul and I were in charge of the Dervish/Haddendowah troops,whilst Brian commanded the British and Graham commanded the Egyptians.
A look-out on top of the hill could alert Paul and I when the enemy crossed the river,with a throw of 3 or 4 for Paul,and a 5 for me!!!-needless to say,I didn't move until move number 4,which allowed Brian to get most of his troops into position!!!
Under the ever watchful eye of Brian,the British are lining up to give Paul's advancing Dervish contingent a volley in the flank,as well as waiting for my inevitable attack(eventually??)
Paul's advance against the Egyptians-Graham managed to get half of his troops across the river to meet the attack frontally,and half onto the hill on Paul's right flank!!-I need to move and give assistance!!
As Graham looks on (top photo) Brian opens up with volleys galore on Poor,old Paul's troops-but we all know of Paul's dice throwing,and we all know that he will survive(Gloria Gaynor!) and give those Egyptians a right old "pasting"
Hurrah!! I have eventually charged into Brian's Lancers,and despite him having the advantage of the lance,I beat them and forced them to retire(it's good being retired!),my infantry are also making moves towards the British line-another hurrah!-but what of the Egyptians??
Well,due to some "in league with the devil" dice throwing,Paul has managed to get into hand-to-hand combat,and is giving them hell!!!
Look at Brian's body language!!-I am attacking his whole line,in over-whelming numbers,and he has no reply-caught in line,and a flank attack on his far left hill,leave the issue in no doubt!
One final shot(!!) showing the demise of the British-the Egyptians had long since been sent running for Cairo-so the Dervish/Haddendowah were declared the obvious winners-Brian didn't even ask for a draw!!
A good game,nothing more can be said!
Roll on next Sunday,a Greek game has been requested by Brian-we'll see!
We are putting on a Colonial game,based in the Sudan,on Sunday,and I thought a couple of photo's might get us in the mood!!
Top photo is the scenario,and bottom photo is the table from the Anglo/Egyptian side.
The table from the Dervish/Haddendowah side-we will pick sides on the night,hopefully there will be 5 of us-3 Dervish/Haddendowah, and 2 Anglo/Egyptian commanders.
The "hapless" look-out,upon whom the playability of the game depends!!!!
Roll on Sunday.
On Saturday we packed our passports and headed south to Stockton to take in the ever-green Battleground show presented by Pendraken ( Leon and his family). As usual this was a great show,very well organised,friendly and full of good games and masses of traders-what more could wargamers possibly want??
We all enjoyed the show,and the traders I talked to had all done well,the demo games were of a very high quality,so well done to them(and us!!)-I will let the photographs do the talking(well,most of it!)
Our game.Chris and Paul discuss tactics as the "punters" start to come in-the Bring and Buy was just behind us and was kept busy all day.
In the bottom photo the Russians have just broken through the German lines-we make it a rule that we always talk to anyone who comes near our table,and we talked alot on Saturday!!
Bring and Buy table's doing well-spend,spend,spend-and we did!!!
Interesting games galore-lots of hand-outs available,which is always good to see,and most(but not all!) gamers took time to explain their games and rules to interested people.
A very well presented game -Battle of the Bulge-HOWEVER,out of courtesy,I asked if they minded me taking a photo of their game-and the guy turned his back on me,and looked the other way-this game was the only one I photographed that this happened though!!!
Great games featuring an awful lot of thought and work.I think every taste was catered for-Napoleonic,ships,WW2, ancients etc.etc.-marvellous stuff-if you haven't been to this show,it really is worth a visit.
This shows the Last Valley stall-we spent quite a bit with him at Fiasco and probably the same at Battleground-note the "denuded" shelves!!-come on Andy!!!
Love the hats guys-it all adds to the flavour,and entertainment of their game,and shows what a good demo game should be.
Roll on next year!
One word could describe last night's game_MARVELLOUS!!-it fell to the "fab four" of Graham,Brian,Paul and myself to fight this tense,nail-biting cracking game,as Dave couldn't make it.
Map,scenario and table before any movement-I was Hopton,Brian was Forth for the Royalists,whilst Graham was Balfour and Paul was Haselrigg for the Parliamentarians.
We're off!! despite the threat of my battery on their flank,Graham's cavalry advance through the open woods!!
With my two batteries causing lots of casualties against Graham's cavalry and advancing infantry,things were looking good!!!(too good?)
Meanwhile,Brian and Paul were standing in their original positions-observing each other-although Paul's battery on the centre ridge was doing a bit of damage to Brian's infantry.
In this shot,I have advanced my cavalry against Graham's,and a ferocious battle developed over the next few moves-thrilling stuff!!
Paul and Brian were still content to let their infantry "observe" each other,but Paul is moving a regiment of cavalry over the river-sneaky devil!!-Brian moved a regiment to cover that move,but probably,in hindsight,(always a great thing!) it would have been better to use his ,now, numerical advantage and attack Paul's remaining cavalry!!
The two cavalry units facing each other across the river-who will react first??
Back on my flank,Graham is "ramping up" the pressure and is sending more and more troops through the woods,and is even moving an infantry regiment to capture my battery in"gunners Castle"-this is wargaming at its best!!
At last!! both infantries are now taking part-Paul's earlier success against Brian's with his guns would tell when "push" came to "shove"-in the foreground you can see Graham has sent a regiment against my other gun position and has carried it,but I am counter-attacking him-bloody marvellous gaming!!
My battery in "Gunners Castle" has been taken,and,even though my cavalry are giving Graham's cavalry a lesson in fighting(!) my hold on the flank is tenuous to say the least!
Brian's cavalry are beating Paul's cavalry on the ridge and across the river,but his infantry are taking a right old beating in the centre-perhaps it's time for an ordered withdrawal???
It was decided that the Parliamentarians had won the day,but that,with the troops we had left,we could withdraw,to fight another day!
This was a great game,with highs and lows for both sides,but wargaming was the real victor-well done to us all.
Roll on Saturday,when we will be at Stockton "Battleground" show.
I consider myself to be "mean" but "enterprising"-so when I decided that I needed a cavalry out-post for my new Plains Indians War US cavalry,and I certainly couldn't afford to buy one,I had to go into "make do and mend" mode.
I had bought a walled field at Falkirk a couple of years ago,and thought that it was the right size for my project-it turned out to be perfect..........................
This is it-two openings,so one would be used for the gateway,but what of the other one??
Well,the hut I built a couple of weeks ago,had a chimney which fitted exactly into the opening!
What next?
A palisade made from lengths of bamboo table mat,stuck onto cardboard!(and carefully measured)
On to the next thing-duck boards or firing platforms....................
No sooner said than done!-card measured carefully,and reinforced in the corners and middle,in case any figures put on them bent the card(who's a clever boy then??)
"F" troop,defending the finished out-post(although I might "brown wash" the duck boards tonight!)
A "bird's eye view" of the finished article,any comments???
