Monday 24 December 2018

Merry Christmas one and all

can I just take time out to wish you all Merry Christmas
at a time when we all seem hell bent on destroying what we have and to hell with the consequences then a little bit of schmaltz doesn't seem inappropriate.

Hopefully I will see you all next year and we can continue to enjoy the hobby that takes us away from the stupidity that surrounds us.!

( sorry if that sounds crass) have a wonderful time over this festive season.

Wednesday 5 December 2018

Battle of Leuthen

Today  saw me attend Colin Ashton's of
http://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2018/12/leuthen-tomorrow.html
For his annual refight of the Battle of Leuthen. This is the 261st Anniversary of the Battle and as you will see on Colin's blog current standings are Austrians 7 Prussians 3 so a tough nut for the Prussians and after arrival I joined Colin on the Prussians and was put in command of the right flank taking command of Zieten and the Prussian infantry advance Guard.

Rules used were Black Powder 2 - not my favourite set but Colin had made a few amendments and to be honest they played ok.

Colin will be putting a detailed report on his blog - suffice to say it was Prussian victory😀 Not through taking Leuthen but bringing  the Austrian army to its break point.

The Prussian cavalry on both flanks fought the Austrian cavalry to standstill with the brigades of both sides becoming spent  on the same bound.

Zieten had succeeded in riding down the majority of the Reichsarmee infantry early on and thus met the Austrian cavalry as they arrived thus negating their superior numbers.

A few miscellaneous pictures of the day.
A big s








A big thank you to Colin for hosting the event in his superb games room and for the excellent spirit in which the game was played.

Sunday 25 November 2018

Battleground Show

Well Saturday was a hectic day, but first can I compliment Leon (Pendraken Miniatures) for hosting what I thought was the  best Battleground to date.
Whilst he told me numbers were slightly down on last year ( can't believe that - free entry, talks from the Battlefields Trust, good games etc) it felt busy all day. The show closes at 3 thus minimising the afternoon lull and really I didn't see any noticeable fall off until around 2.30.

I did manage to take some pics early on before the show opened so I missed some very good games, in terms of sales my main objective of clearing plastic and lead mountains went very well with very little coming home. Also sales of books and magazines was excellent -I'm always surprised some of the items - in particular the magazines I've been carrying around the shows for a few years this year they flew out the boxes.!
Onto the pics and in no specific priority
Colin Ashton's Battle of Zurich game - impressive to say the least and as you can see always with a touch of humour




 

























Friday 23 November 2018

Busy weekend

This Saturday will see me take the Crann Tara stand to my local show at Stockton
https://www.battlegroundshow.co.uk/
Since Leon of Pendraken miniatures has taken over the show has gone from strength to strength plenty of traders and games, free admission and this year there's a number of short talks on the ECW engagements that took place in the area, so if you want to know how 'Stumps cross' at Guisborough got its name now's your chance.
I also use the show as an opportunity to do my annual clearance

There are a lot of books, magazines and 28mm plastic and metal Ancients and Dark Age figures to go at silly prices. The huge rationalisation project continues as I really want to get back to using what I have and game more instead of just painting and boxing. So we shall see what the day brings.

Can I also take the opportunity to recommend you visit my friend Stuart Inch's blog. http://stuartinschwargames.blogspot.com/

Stuart has just published a small book on Wargaming the Sugar Islands Campaign and follows the British invasions of Martinique and Guadeloupe with a guide for gaming and campaigning the engagements- at £8 excluding postage it's an excellent buy

  Mm

I did some figure conversions for Stuart but have decided to get some figures made so Richard Ansell has started on the Naval Landing Party and will follow up with some Maroons and militia. 

If anyone decides to attend the show then pop by and say hello.

Finally can I commend another blog worth of following 1642 and all that

http://1642andallthat.blogspot.com/

Run by 'The Jolly Broom Man' - Mark an Englishman in France writes an entertaining and informative blog with some great ideas on running campaigns and games in the ECW.

Wednesday 14 November 2018

Still Printing

As the arthritis in my fingers seems to have taken a grip early and I'm only getting about an hour a day painting then playing around with the capabilities of the printer continues.
I've done a 28mm test print of a Napoleonic British infantry for Ian Mountain (sculptor) and I thought I'd try printing some 10mm WWII vehicles that I got off thingiverse just to see.
How they turned out.





 

In addition Graham Hilditch painted the 40mm Prussian Officer I printed - very pleased and very tempted. Just waiting for the files of the other figures now.



Tuesday 6 November 2018

Go Large

I'm afraid I'm still playing with the printer 🤣 Anyway I thought I'd have a go at scaling up and make a 40mm figure
I don't think it turned out too bad.
Will take some better photos today but pics taken in poor light.
All very promising.


Thursday 1 November 2018

First print results

Well first print results are promising a lot of work is required in positioning and supporting the figure so the first figure is one made for me to go with my range. 
The 'orcs' are 18mm I downloaded off thingiverse to practice the support process etc. Exciting times.