I blame Dave for this latest project!!-on Sunday he brought up his "Custom-made" bridges,which were 80mm wide.I have had three bridges for about 100 years,and have always found them far too narrow for my bases,so decided to do something about them..................
Top photo shows one of my bridges,in a beautiful scenic setting,just ready for me to march an infantry regiment across it-bottom photo shows the regiment balancing and teetering on the too narrow balustrades!!-big problem,but in my world there are no such things as problems-only solutions!!
So what could I do??
Using only these tools,and a bit of ingenuity, I would widen the bridge(made of resin) to fit my bases.
Having first drawn a line up the middle of the bridge,I got to work with my trusty hacksaw,as shown in top photo-bottom photo shows the two halves,after about ten minutes of sawing.
What these photo's don't show is the range of safety equipment I was wearing,ie. hard hat,goggles,gauntlets and steel-capped safety boots!!!!!!!(liar)
After measuring a piece of cardboard(80mm wide,naturally!) I placed it onto the bridge,ready for sticking with UHU glue(other makes of glue are available!!)
Stuck and ready to be tested................................
Now that looks better!!
I applied the same method to the other two bridges,gave them a "lick" of paint,and hey presto,wide bridges!!
All three ready to go-guess what will feature in Sunday's game???
Any comments?
Last night,instead of putting on a game,we play tested and agreed some alterations to my suggested game for Carronade,in May.
I had hinted last week what the game would be,and can now reveal that the consensus of opinion is that my proposed game would be ideal!!-hurrah('cos I have put alot of work into it!!)
This is the info. sheet,which is part of a bigger display,which will be on the end of the table....
This shows the whole display,including authentic,antique, Zulu weapons and shield.
The more observant will also have noticed a cassette player!!!!!!!!!
In the background is Rorke's Drift,manned by "B" company 2/24th foot.
Two shots of the RD model-no Zulus on the board,you'll have to wait until we play the game to see the massed Impis-spectacular!!
Top photo is a bit gruesome!,bottom photo is supposed to be Chard with bugler!
What we didn't know,until last night,was that Dave can play the Bugle,and treated us to "The Last Post",and he will be practicing "The Retreat" for the actual game!!!!
Dave brought along a couple of pieces he had received from "Last Valley"-custom made for him,to let us see-he had asked for the bridges to made to 80mm,to accomodate our bases,and the results are great.....................
Stone bridge(80mm wide)-will easily take our tanks and figures,without balancing them on the parapets of the bridge.
A "clever" wooden bridge-how is it "clever"??-well.................................
The bridge can be removed to show a "ford" or a straight river section-we are impressed!
Finally,Dave painted this lovely "vignette" for Paul-a piece of battlefield ephemera-Napoleonic.
Marvellous!!
We will be playing a 7YW game next Sunday-looking forward to that.
2019 got off to a cracking start last night,with a 100% turnout and a great game involving Spanish and Norman armies fighting to decide who would rule Spain!!
Top photo is the scenario,middle photo shows the Norman army commanded by Paul(on the right flank) and me(on the left flank),whilst the bottom photo shows the Spanish commanded by Brian(right) and Graham(left)-Dave had just come from work,so sat this one out!
In this shot I am moving forward against Brian's defensive position on the river bank-we were evenly matched,so this was always going to be a hard fight.On the other flank,Paul has crossed the river,and as Graham advanced ..............................
A resounding CRUNCH!! as two lines of heavily armoured cavalry charged into each other.
Our plan had been to involve the cavalry,hold up the Spanish,then move the infantry onto Graham's flank-this was working nicely!!
My light infantry are still moving forward,but my cavalry are now heading towards the bridge area,where,it was hoped, the final fight would be-Paul's heavy infantry are making a nuisance of themselves on Graham's flank-so far,hurrah!!-Brian looks grim(so what's new?)- and Dave is looking relaxed-get your hands out of your pockets,where do you think you are man!!!!
Paul's infantry are now in position,on Graham's flank,however the cavalry fight is not going too well!!-come on Paul,what's happened to your usual "in league with the devil" dice throwing????
This photo is taken from Brian's side of the table,and shows my infantry driving his back-is this the breakthrough we need??
On the other flank,Graham launched a counter attack on Paul's infantry,and drove him back-oh dear!!However the Paul "magic" kicked in and high dice score after high dice score followed,completely destroying the morale of the Spanish cavalry-hurrah!!-Victory is within our grasp.
As the infantry slog it out,Paul's cavalry ride rampant over Graham's cavalry-the flank is won!!
Brian's lights are beaten and are retiring,so he threw his heavies into the fray,as did I!!-my cavalry have crossed the river and are beating the Spanish cavalry,whilst my other cavalry unit is out-flanking Brian's line-all is lost, I fear, for the Spanish!!
One final shot,showing Paul's cavalry dominating the flank,and my cavalry about to administer the "coup de grace" on Brian's line.
This was a fitting start to the 2019 wargaming season-a good game,lots of banter,colour and excitement-long may it continue.
At the end of the game,we discussed what we intended doing at Carronade(Falkirk) this May,and I revealed to the "boys" that I had been planning,painting and making a project based on the most famous battle in the history of the British army,which took place 140 years ago,and that I would be putting it on,just as I envisaged it,next week!!-any Guesses????
We had a fitting end to 2018 last night with a nail-biting game featuring Romans against Carthaginians.As only three of us turned out,Paul elected to be in charge of the Carthaginians,whilst Graham and I took a Legion each.
Top photo is the scenario,bottom is the table before any movement-Romans on the left,Carthaginians on the right.
This is the Carthaginian right flank,showing the dreaded Numidian light cavalry,which Paul uses so well-advancing against my legion,showering them with javelins,retiring(it's good being retired!) then another wave is sent in-bloody frustrating,but historically correct!!!
Graham's archers did a grand job of driving off two of the four elephant units before they could make contact with my legion-However...............................
SQUELCH!!!!-it took two cohorts to shift this beast,and the other remaining elephant scattered the archers and disordered my central cavalry!!! giving Paul time to manoeuvre his troops into their final positions.
Paul has unleashed his Celts against my left hand cohorts,but my jolly old pila,gave the jolly old Celts a jolly old "seeing to"-hurrah!-but at the same time he unleashed his first line of Spaniards against Grahams legion.........................
What a tussle ensued!-Graham is also moving two cohorts around the back of the "mountain" in the background,trying to out-flank Paul-but he is too "wily" a wargamer to fall for that,and countered with his cavalry-wonderful stuff!!-I also used my left flank cavalry to drive away the dreaded Numidians-but look what happened.............................
I think the technical,military term is STUFFED!!!!-Paul can now move his Numidians(the dreaded type) around my flank and rear-oh dear(that rhymes!)
This is a general view of the table about move number 8 or 9-neither side has a clear advantage-this is hot work!!
With my cavalry and Paul's fighting it out,on the wing,my cohorts have finally charged the Africans in the centre-again what a tusssle!!
But what of Graham's legion?
The top photo shows the "impasse" in the pass!! but Graham is holding up 4 Spanish units with two cohorts,who are relatively fresh compared with Paul's units.
The bottom photo shows the second lines of Romans and Spaniards clashing,with Graham throwing wonderful dice to secure his flank-this is not looking too good for the Carthaginians!
A general view of the table at move number 14(!!)-my line has not been broken,and the Spaniards are well beaten,so the consensus of opinion was that the Carthaginians were the losers,but in this fantastic game there were no losers-well done to us all.
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year,and please keep reading our blog and passing your comments on to us.
The "fab four" had a fab game last night,with added banter,rude jokes and lots and lots of laughs-this is how the night started.............................
Ho,Ho,Ho, this is Brian's way of saying "have yourselves a merry little Christmas"-there must be something we can do about him!!!
Scenario and table layout-Graham and I were the French,Brian was the British and Paul was the Dutch.
I opened the battle with a most ferocious attack on the Hamlet-my attacks lasted the whole game,and Brian responded wonderfully,by beating every attack and "eating up" all of my 6 regiments!!
Brian has launched an audacious attack against my French-held centre,with his British,whilst the "chuckle brothers" stood and looked at each other in the background!!
At last! the Provincials and Dutch have decided to join the battle,however both sides have decided to not get their cavalry involved-8 squadrons each,going to waste!!!
As Brian,minus antlers! writes his orders,my attacks are still going in-but not successfully!
I am notorious for throwing "bad" dice,but last night was the worst it's been,ever!!!!
To my left,my bad dice throwing was being matched by Graham's!!-we were taking a right old "bashing"-send in the cavalry(oh that could be a good line for a Christmas song!)-but they didn't,WHY,WHY,WHY???????-I think that hat's gone to Paul's head.
Meanwhile,back at the Hamlet,I am done for-all attacks failed,and no more troops left-but what of the other flank(the one with all the cavalry on it!)
Well,this overall shot of the table shows Graham's troops in a bad way,so we called it a night and the "Allies" were declared the winners!
This was,by any standards a great and spectacular game-well done to us all!
I received this Christmas card yesterday........................
This is a photograph of the front of the card-very nice.
This is a photograph of the back of the card-even nicer!!
Happy Christmas to you all,we hope you have a peaceful,wonderful time,with lots of wargaming "goodies" in your stockings!!
