Something even more Different.

 I have now played three games of Glory Halleluia the new Black Powder supplement and have enjoyed all the games. Although I'm no expert on the American Civil War, I do have a bit of an idea about the period. I have found the rules really enjoyable with some nice detailed touches to complement the period. So between fighting a few games, walking the Gettysburg battleground and now re reading the Rebel series of books by Bernard Cornwell, I now view myself as an expert on the period.

 Well what I am is actually enjoying something a little bit different from my norm, so John kindly gave me a large bunch? of Foundry ACW rebels, and away I went. This is the first unit completed. My aim? Just paint up some units and see where it goes. I dont intend to pick historical brigades etc, but just pick out the units that I find either colourful or interesting. So expect Wheat's Zouaves amongst others.

 I must admit I have enjoyed painting these figures, they are a lovely set of castings, and now I have been given some good advice by Tony Runkee on how to paint butternut and rebels in general I hope to improve their look.

And Now for Something a Little bit Different.

I came away from Muster on the Parade Ground at Middlesbrough feeling that I should have a participation game for any future shows that I might want to stage a game at. So during my painting hiatus I decided to buy a few 1/32 plastic medieval figures and paint them up to see how effective they looked. Basically I wanted to put together a set of figures for a Lion Rampant game [ although Ive never actually played the rules]
Anyway I have finally based some of them up;

 I must admit I have enjoyed painting them up. I do have quite a few more to paint so hopefully there will be enough to put together a decent sized game. The figures are in the main Airfix 1/32 foot figures, with some Italieri cavalry and knights. Both are no longer available, so cost more than I should have paid for them.
  Dont ask me why I didn't use the Plastic Perry's, Warlord, Victrix etc, I always seem to make things a tad difficult, but the intention is for the figures to be used by young people, so bigger is better,

 If I can stay focused then I hope to have enough to put on a game at the Shildon Show in November, but then best laid plans etc....

The refight of the Battle of Ramilles, Grimsby, August 27th 2016.

 Not known for my retiring nature, I was able to illicit an invite from Paul Robinson of the Grimsby Wargames Club to hold a command at their refight of the Battle of Ramilles over the bank holiday weekend.
   This was my second appearance at the Grimsby club's very large scale Malburian refights, and this second battle did not disappoint, albeit I finally tasted defeat for the first time this year.
 The Grimsby wargames club is a first rate set up, and a very friendly group of wargamers who love wargaming. I cannot recommend their 'big' games enough to any wargamer who wants to basically enjoy a brilliant day out, although because I wanted a night out in Cleethorpes I made Paul and Andy take me out for a beer and a curry the night before, again this is recommended, especially as there are some very good B+B'S to be had at a cheap price.

Looking down the table, showing the Allied initial setup. This unfortunately was only about half of what actually appeared during the day, mainly on my flank.

 
   The French/Spanish/ Bavarian initial deployment, showing my Bavarian foot, and French horse.

    I wont report a blow by blow account of the refight, as I know Paul has covered the event on the clubs blogsite. But what I would like to say what a pleasure it was to wargame with a group of like minded wargamers intent on enjoying their game whilst attempting to refight a battle historically.
  As a spectacle it was very very impressive with thousands of 25/28mm figures on a table. As a weekend event it was even better, with decent beer, fish and chips and loads of banter.
 Okay so I suffered a lesson in how to fight two massive cavalry battles, managing to lose both and okay, I managed to throw double 1 three times in a row, to enable a lovely Spanish unit to disappear off the table, but I did get to see off two English foot regiments for my troubles.
 Paul and the group have written their own rules specifically for the period, and I picked them up very quickly, although I found the cavalry melees to be very brutal affairs, well when you lose anyway.
They work well, and capture the period perfectly.
 I hope Paul stages another game next year, because if I can I will attend, this is the way wargaming was intended to be played, with historically researched figures, easy to play rules and good banter.

  I have supplied some images I took of the day, just to show how big and lovely the game was.
My French household cavalry, which never got to fight due to the aggression of the Dutch Gardes who drove away their infantry cover.

                                      
I took on the role of Maximilian of Bavaria, and whilst managing to do a little better than the real person, I still led his troops into oblivion.

  My Spanish who were expected to hold the left flank of my command, and also to protect the French Household cavalry. Guess what, they lasted four moves.

The Spanish infantry nemesis, the mighty Dutch Garde, protecting the flank of the first of two wings of allied cavalry.

   Never, ever take on two to one odds at a Grimsby cavalry battle, the result is not an edifying sight.

 Some of the French Foot Guard, who watched? as my lovely Bavarians were led to destruction. As per the plan, by the way.

 Some of Andy's wonderful Spanish cavalry, the image is poor and really doesnt show just how good they are.

  Running out of infantry, I rashly removed the French garrison from the town of Ramilles, in order to stop the advance of the allies, probably not my best decision, although they tipped the balance against the vile English..

                From the allied viewpoint, no dragoons amongst their command.

                                         Austrian cuirassiers, one of four regiments!

If there was ever an incentive to 'half inch something', it was this beautiful unit of Spanish that Andy of Grimsby had painted. Eventually I managed to get them to rout, but they had fought well.

The Other Partizan 2016.

Well I decided to take the trip South to visit Partizan Part Two near Newark, on what turned out to be a very warm Summer's day, especially in the hall.
 So that's twice I've been this year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both times.
 I am probably wrong, but I thought this show was slightly quieter than the earlier show, probably Summer holidays impinging there, but there was still a very strong turnout by various wargamers from  all parts of the United Kingdom.
 Traditionally Newark was the show to have the best eye catching games at, as every exhibitor hoped that there game would feature in Wargames Illustrated courtesy of Duncan Macfarlane and I must admit I used to be tempted to drag our small group South in the hope of getting published, those urges have now gone as it would be a very tiring thing to do.
 Anyway, I can report that there were some very nice games on show, and some were of really good quality. I was also surprisingly impressed by some of the participation games which had made a real effort to prettify their games.
 I have only shown images from a small number of the games on show, just to give a flavour of the day. The best way to enjoy anything is to be a part of the day, I recommend a trip to the show, it is worth the trouble. Being of an age, I seemed to spend quite a bit of the day bumping into wargamers I have come to know, and it was great to talk to them all. I had a long chat to Duncan Macfarlane of Trent Miniatures, who regaled me with some of the background to how Miniature Wargames actually came about. I hope to sit down with him early next year for a proper talk about him and Peter Gilder.

 I was extremely impressed by the North Hull Wargames Club, who put on a very large 15mm battle from the Italian War of Independence, lovely figures and terrain, from a colourful period.

 Its fair to say, I love a war elephant and Simon Miller, had some on show for his showcasing of his 'To The Strongest' Ancient rules. Another really attractive game by Simon, who knows how to catch a wargamers eye, well done.

   Bramley Barn, put on a neat colonial 28mm wargame with a couple of great naval models.

 Teddy Bear fur was popular with a few displays this year, and Mansfield Wargames Group used a nice example in their 28mm Napoleonic battle, based in Russia.

Like a Stonewall wargames group put together an atmospheric, Ardennes? 25mm game with some great models on display.,

 Steve Jones gave us a display of the Battle of Echmul in 6mm which I thought was excellently done, I was particularly impressed by the Baccus figures, which looked really well sculptured. The bases are similar to mine with similar information contained on the backs, a great looking game.

 I can only apologise for not recording the details of whoever put on this great looking desert war game using the Perry range of figures and models. It was a lovely game.

 Grimsby Wargames Club go from strength to strength, and again displayed a lovely looking naval battle. The ships were beautifully modeled and painted. A great game Paul, naturally.

I seem to be drawn to model pachyderms, [ maybe I need help] so when the reprobates from the Durham Wargames club turned up with some 54mm plastic versions, I had to take some photographs of their battle.