Another campaign year

Wow.....was it really May 2009 whenI last posted something on this blog? Another year already and what has happened since my last posting? A lot to keep me busy but not much on the wargaming front.

There was another WWII game with four players some time last June but due to trying to take part in the game and be an impartial umpire it didn't get recorded. One of the new guys that joined us that evening has a vast collection of figures and he has put on a few games but due to work and social commitments I have only been able to make it to a couple of games.

On the painting front I finished the WWII German Infantry Division Anti Tank Company and started painting two Artillery batteries for the Infantry Division. On the Napoleonic front the Austrian army is coming on well with a few battalions ready to base and then only a couple of cavalry regiments, a couple of horse, a couple of brigade batteries along with a few command figures to paint, then it's finished. Pictures will follow under suitable headings.

But overall it's been a very poor year on the wargaming front........ As such I am proposing again to multiply my efforts to cut back considerably on the amount of lead I own and I'm also going to focus my efforts on painted lead. Easier said than done but what is the point in having numerous armies if they haven't seen light of days for years........Up until now each time I opened the drawers I couldn't bring myself to part with any...... I seem to have a different mind set this year so let's see how I get on...................'Small is beautiful' has to be my motto for this year.

Last breath of Napoleon Bonaparte

6:00 pm 5th May 1821.

A horse a horse my paintbrush and a horse

Someone thinks I enjoy painting horses. Hmmm well I have had these horse for several weeks if not months waiting to be finished. Painted on the undercoats but then ...... each time I pick them up I got painters block, could not not see how they should look. Am I alone in getting these blocks? I've kept try to tell myself that they are only horses but to no avail. I think part of this block is that someone has asked me to paint them, as in his opinion I can paint good horses. That immediately puts pressure on, and I want them to look good.

Anyway forced myself to slap a little more paint on them the other night. The starting point was as below with basic undercoats applied.

One problem I find with Minifig horses is that there is minimal releaf in the castings. The owner seems to like the big round rumps of these horses, (not sure if that is sexual or not :-) ), but to me they seem plain and stiff. I've no enthusiasm to paint them.

After a while and a few more slaps of paint and I think they're ready for stabling.

Not too sure about the grey but I hope they're acceptable.

Kriegsspiel

I've been trying to keep an eye out for a supplier of Kriegsspeil rules for some time. Have good memories of a game played in the early days of the "gang of four". When we became just two, the Kriegsspeil rules were lost to us.

If Kriegsspeil is new to you, these are rules devised by the Prussian military in 1824 as a training device for officers. They are regarded as the birth of wargaming rules so all wargaming rules owe there existence to Kreigsspeil. They concentrate on tactics at battalion level and below. Coloured blocks are used to represent units on maps at a scale of 1:7500. These maps may well cover 100 A3 sheets for the campaign tactics, down to 9 - 12 A3 sheets for the engagements.

Three sites of interest:

Too Fat Lardies to purchase rules and maps.

Irregular Miniatures to purchase Kreigsspeil blocks.

Kreigsspeil News a support site for the rules.

I don't know why I hadn't found these guys sooner but I feel another purchase coming on. At least it's not lead so will not add to the mountain.

The start of it all (a little background info)

After a little reminiscing I thought I'd put some background info on the blog to how I started wargaming.

It all started some 10-12 years ago. Life had taken a drastic turn and I seemed to have time on my hands in the evenings. A couple of lads at work were into wargaming and met with one other to be the gang of three. They kept asking me to join them for an evening. After a few put offs (too busy washing my hair etc.) I eventually turned up to a gaming night, armed with a few cans, to be impressed by a large section of Waterloo terrain. One of the guys own the complete Waterloo battlefield in Hex terrain. (More of this later in another blog). They were creating forces to campaign "what ifs" during the years after 1815. Nations fighting over the scraps of German states after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. With French, Dutch Belgium and Bavarian being the main armies and ideas to collect others. Their idea being to build armies for all the German states and surrounding nations. I was impressed the the game enough to ask what I could collect and paint. The first suggestion was an Austrian force "...dead easy their uniforms are all white...." was something like the comment made. I think that that was what put me off, the thought of painting a major nation in all white. (With hindsight I now know better). The 1815 Brunswick force was another suggestion for variation I could add British and other minor nations later. The black uniform also seemed to me to be an easy uniform as an introduction. So I stared to build a force based on the Brunswick 1815 contingent.

At this point can I say that railway modelling has always been a hobby that has a great pull for me. Why I didn't rekindle my interest at this point I don't fully know. The only reason I can think of is that I had found three guys with a passion. With railway modelling I would have been a lonesome modeller. So it was probably as much social aspect to get me out of the house as much as the historical and modelling aspect that interested me with wargaming.

After a few years of, once every 2 - 4 weeks, gaming and campaigning with many different rules, re-basing figures, painting new units etc. The gang of four became three then quickly two. At this point the two of us decided that we had had enough of using different rule sets each week, and never really understanding any rule set fully. We decided on Shako as our preferred Napoleonic set of rules. Not sure why apart from they were a set that my opponent had a preference for or at least owned a full copy. Another round of re-basing but this time down from 24+ figure battalions to 12. I also decided that I would continue to occasionally use the computer rules "Hard Pounding" so based figures to suit both rule sets.

We found that by sticking to one set of rules allowed us to get to grips with them. Once learnt Shako rules can give us a game we can complete within a short weekday evening. Even though some gripping games finish in the early hours. (Or is it due too much merry banter across the table). As yet we have not purchased the new rules Shako v.2 but this no doubt will happen soon.

After a time we both discovered that our interests in WWII was mutual. We thought that it would be a small distraction to Napoleonics. Before I joined them the gang of three had briefly used the Rapid Fire rules with a small collection of 15mm figures. At that time they had decided that a 6 x 4 table was too small for WWII and dropped the rules and era. This briefly put us both off for a while but thought that this could not be correct as there seemed to be many WWII games played on a 6 x 4 table. With thoughts that this could have been another case of the rules being quickly read and some critical elements being misinterpreted. We promptly dug out these rules and figures and had a couple of very satisfying games. One thing lead to another and we now have a good selection of British, German and American forces between us, which are still expanding.

What I enjoy about this hobby is the research, the history, the collecting and painting of units as much if not more than the gaming. Without the gaming there would be no incentive to do either the research or collecting and painting. Some times I do spend too much time researching when time would be better spent painting but any hobby should be enjoyed in what ever fashion and pace any individual wishes.

My gaming partner has the skill and patience to paint units up to an excellent standard in a short space of time. Where as I paint in short stints and take long to finish units. After a while I personally found that painting two periods and interleaving games in both was having a negative effect on my painting and moral. Units were not being finished before having to change era's and try to finish another unit for the next game. So a decision was made that we would focus on one period for 12 months. A dice was thrown and WWII became the chosen period.

WWII projects on the go at the moment include:

1) A German Infantry Division.

2) A small German Fallshirmjager Regiment/Kampfgruppe.

3) Building a Panzer Kampfgruppe based on the 21st Panzer Division in Normandy.

Not sure that all the above will be completed within the year but I'm making good progress.

My current Napoleonic projects that are on hold:
1) Completing an Austrian Army of 5 divisions.
2) Finishing KGL Division.

So that's how it started and were I am at the moment. The German Infantry Regiment is very near to completion along with some of its supporting units. Photos will follow.

On the bench (1)

I'm currently trying to finish off my WW2 German Infantry force. So underway are the final few (14) figures for the 2nd battalion and engineer platoons. Thought I would also add to this batch the (20) figures and four guns for two artillery batteries. Need to find some artillery command figures from somewhere and just realised that I'm one panzerfaust figure short for the engineer platoon. How did I miss that.

You may also make out 10 minifig horses. These are being painted for someone who is under the mistaken illusion that I can paint horses. I seem to be having a mental block on these as they have been there for a couple of months. Really do need to clear them of the bench in the next week. If you read this Mark.....I will get them finished....honest.

More photos will follow.

Bergepanther SdKfz 179

Give us a wave mate.....smile for the camera.

A couple of shots of my first attempt at Ambush Camouflage. I'm reasonably happy with the outcome. In time I may do a little more with dirt and dust for that used worn finish, and I'm not fully sure about which unit markings to apply. Just for now it's finished and ready for the table.


The Bergepanther is an old Flames of War resin model with added bits and Peter Pig tank crew/mechanics.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to anyone that might be interested in this little blog. I hope 2009 will bring success with your wargaming interests as I am hoping it will with mine.

Resolution:
I have always been doing "a bit of this and a bit of that" and never actually finishing anything. Over the last 10 years this has caused my wargaming collection to developed "arms and legs". I am going to make 2009 the year I lighten the load of unpainted lead and take time to focus on projects one at a time and see each project though to completion. This will take some discipline but should lighten that depressing feeling of all the unpainted lead and unfinished projects give me.

"Don't let the little buggers grind you down"

To start

This blog will hopefully chart my wargaming progress from this point onwards. The posting will cover projects and their progress along with games and any gaming related ideas. But first a little about myself.

I've been wargaming for approximately 10 years and possibly like many gamers been meandering though scales, eras and rules sets. Started off meeting with three other guys locally. This has now diminished to just two which has helped in narrowing down interests and which rule sets to use. When it was the four of us there would not seem to be a month go by when "...I've found this excellent new rule set for ....era.... it will mean re-basing but lets give it a go....." would not ring out. I cannot get my head around any rule set in one play. Any rule set is some ones interpretation of gaming mechanics and it takes many plays to fully understand how the author has arrived these rules.

Now it is just the two of us, even though we do not game as often as we would like, we we have settled on two main rule sets and the rules come back to use reasonably easily. Finally settled on 15mm scale for all figures in two eras, Naploeonic and WWII. The two rule sets we mainly use are Shako for Napoleonic and Rapid Fire for WWII. You may say that Rapid Fire are for 20mm figures but they do work just as well for 15mm figures.

Additionally I do like the computer rules Hard Pounding for Napoleonics. These do give an element of random uncontrol to your units which does add an extra dimension when issuing commands. We only get to game with these once or twice a year at a weekend as these games tend to last longer than and evening. But as they are computer driven all the mechanics/casualties/movement are calculated for you leaving you, the gamer, to command.

Also we have recently come across the DBN rule set. Though we have not gamed with these rule extensively they are and excellent set of rules to enable us to fit in one or even two quick Napoleonic games in a short evening.

I think that briefly covers it for now, hope to put a few more posts up soon covering at least one of my current projects.