Fiasco, Sunday Oct 30th 2016

 Well, today was the Fiasco Wargames Show at the old Jimmy Saville Centre in Leeds, just opposite the Leeds Armories. I havent attended the show for several years, and wanted to see how things had progressed since the late Mr Saville was given the honour of naming the new centre, several fateful years ago. [They've changed the name by the way, naturally.]
  Please excuse the quality of my photographs, because the interior of the hall was decked out in black with pretty led lights twinkling to give an effect of a starlight night for some reason. So there was a problem with lighting overall.

 The show is a medium sized show, featuring about 30+ traders, and about 12 games of which four were what I class as traditional and in my eyes 'proper' wargames, ie lots of nicely painted figures based on a historical event. The remainder of the games featured the now customary small, quick games, usually involving well painted but usually fantasy based figures. Still each to their own, and they did seem well attended by the younger element, so fair do's for keeping them entertained.

 Anyway I digress. Personally I thought the show was fairly busy and had a decent buzz about the place whilst I was there. The two standout games were James Roach's SYW battle, which featured lovely painted figures, on very neat terrain. I have never seen James ever turn up at a show with an untidy game, I especially liked the way he recorded causalities, a pin with small beads added every time they received a causality. I know its been used before, but still a good way to record hits.

 The  company behind Frostgrave ran three small scenario based games with decent terrain that seemed very popular with younger gamers. It was a popular feature.

 I saw this little game being played by four young [ 13 ish] wargamers, yes it was basic, yes the figures weren't the best painted, but it was historical, and they were enjoying themselves so well done for getting into wargaming. Their figures were plastic1/72

 I tried to get some images of this WW2 wargame, and can only apologise for failing miserably, it was based in Holland I believe and was a nice looking game. Sorry also to Kallistra who staged a good looking game on their terrain which I failed to get photographs of, sorry again.

 Another skirmish game involving another new company with a new range of well sculptered figures and a 'new' set of rules, based in a mythological land, I think.

 The Legendary Wargamers put on a ACW game featuring the Connoisseur range of figures,, based and painted a la Peter Gilder. I know for a fact that the group actually have quite a number of the great mans painted regiments. My favourite game on show for so many reasons.

 John and I took a break from the show to amble across to the Armouries to see the Agincourt tableau created by the Perry twins. It was definitely worth the look, it is a beautiful looking set up with hundreds of figures. The Armouries has been totally revamped and has some great exhibits, and if you haven't been then go because to admire the Siborne tableau alone is worth the visit. So overall I enjoyed the show, what was not to like really, I did a spot of shopping,saw some wargamers I hadn't seen for a while, indulged in a bit of culture and came away a little bit more enthused.
The only downside was the lack of a Bring and Buy, a painting competition, cheaper parking and better signposting, but apart from that, give it a go.  

Something I learnt whilst in Sicily.

Sometimes I really don't understand the workings of Blogger, this post should have been before my last post, but the text didn't seem to work correctly.

Anyway I have nearly fixed the damn thing so here's the post that should have been released.

Well I'm back from my short sabbatical to Southern Italy and very nice it was too, although I must admit I was a struggling a tad by the middle of the week with whatever condition I seem to be waiting the results of. I think things are starting to fall off me like an old car.

 Anyway enough of that tripe.

 I am still attempting to rationalise my wargaming armies into a few periods, and one of the things I did before my short break was to put my nicely painted WW2 British Eighth Army on E Bay.

 I have noticed a trend over the last few months where the Flames of War 15mm units don't really sell too well, unless they are really top notch painted.Anyway after a few days of total inactivity I was finally able to agree a sale of the entire army at what seemed a fair price, included a discounted postal price. Basically unpainted casting price but heyho.

 Being a enterprising type I offered to sell my Royal Italian army to the same guy, in order that I got rid, and the new owner had a proper opponent. He seemed interested but we agreed to wait until I returned from my break to either complete the original sale by simply paying, and or adding the Italians into a much larger package.

 Readers, you know where this is going. 

 Since my return, nada, nothing, no replies no completion of the invoice request, nothing.

  This actually happened to me once before, with a very strange guy from Switzerland who in an attempt to get out of the sale pretended to be his sister, who e mailed me to say he was in hospital after a road accident and needed to delay paying. Except the injured guy then bid on some other stuff of mine without thinking it through.

 That time I just let it all go, but after checking the profile of the current E Bayer properly I saw that he had actually reneged on two other transactions, which somehow hadn't shown up as negatives, God knows why.

 Anyway I thought I would do a little bit of digging because frankly I am a bit peeved and it transpired that the current arse wipe appears to be a member of the New Zealand South Island Wargames scene, so I am naming and shaming him;

  So if I knew David Lloyd of Warden Street, Christchurch New Zealand and actually wargamed with him I would be a bit wary about his actual perceived good character and definitely wouldn't lend him anything, not even the shit off my shoe. 

Not that I am suggesting that David Lloyd of Christchurch New Zealand is not of good character, just that he appears well a bit suspect. 

  Funnily enough I am now an avid follower of several New Zealand wargames blogs and have already managed to drop a couple of comments into their respective baskets. I suppose my holiday to Naples taught me something else apart from some history.

Rebels and Fiasco 2016.

 Well, on a lighter note, I have completed my Louisiana Brigade, adding the fourth regiment, an artillery piece and a command figure. Unfortunately, I based my artillery crews before I had any pieces to go with the unit. I have found the pieces a tad big, and the bases a tad small. So I am painting some Perry plastic crews to replace the metal ones.

I have one more rebel regiment to complete before I start a few Union troops, although I dont seem to have the same enthusiasm to do them.I have always seen myself as an awkward rebel so that might have something to do with it. Anyway its Fiasco at the weekend, which I havent been to for some years, however I intend to take the trip South for a look. Hopefully I will pick up a few toys to paint. 

 I have also continued with my 54mm plastic medieval figures, for a potential Lion Rampant set to next year. The figures are Italeri which are as rare as hobby horse shit, but still nice. For the purists, the figures represent various historical periods, but the game I envisage is more Hollywood than historical. [well thats my excuse.] The collection is growing as I was able to source some more Airfix medieval foot.

A quick post.

 Well just when I had posted that I am unavailable for a week, I manage to finish the Alexandria Rifles and another Louisiana regiment.

 The Rifles are a 'small' unit for the purposes of the rules, so I thinned them out even further.

Being a cheapskate at times, I also deliberately thinned out the figures in this unit by simply adding a load of fencing, personally I dont mind the look, some wargamers will probably baulk at the idea.

                  Only one more regiment to complete to make up the Louisiana Brigade, obviously there will be a battery of guns and a brigadier..

Random thoughts and a couple of lists.

The image of these wonderfully painted Spencer Smith Bavarians actually has only a loose connection to the actual post but they are beautiful figures. Anyway I thought I should create a post before I take a weeks much needed break.
 It can be very stressful being retired honestly.
 Anyway on the Amateur Military Gentleman's forum there is a good couple of topic's that I think deserve a slightly wider audience.
 One was created by Graham Cummings of Crann Tara fame and is a bucket list for wargamers.
 Now like all nerdy types I do like a good list;
 So in no particular order, I would like to refight the Battle of Minden,
the Battle of Dettingen and the Battle of Fontenoy, all contain interesting tactical problems and I have never fought any of them.
 Another biggie is a refight of Leipzig using 6mm I actually have all the brigades for all the armies, but due to adopting Blucher, there is a need to rebase a lot of units, but if I could bestir myself that would be a real achievement.
 I have fought the battle in 28mm, but although it was a great weekend, I think using 6mm would make it a more intense affair and a sight worth savouring.
 I would also love to tackle Antietam again,this time using the Glory Hallelujah rules, it is a hard battle for the Confederates but would be a great test to try.
 I would also love a crack at Flodden, as this has been an interest of mine for years but I have never painted any units for the campaign, and probably never will.
 As regards the ancient period, I would love a crack at the Battle of Phillippi, which although a slogfest, would still be a test, and finally I would love to take a command at a refight of Cannae. So if there is any kind wargamer thinking about refighting any of these battles, then, yes I would be interested. I dont bite, honest.
 
   With the demise of the Battlegames aspect of Miniature Wargames, I got to thinking about the disappearence of Old School Wargaming from the wargamers radar. Now before everyone jumps in, I know that we are all Old School wargamers, but I am talking about the actual ethos behind the interest that was around about seven years ago. Is it really that long?
 The creation of this blog was motivated by my interest in returning to my original wargaming ideas, and the start of collecting 30mm RSM figures.
 So is the fad over and has everyone moved on to newer and shinier wargames projects, was the concept just a few old wargamers wanting to immerse themselves in  nostalgia, hankering after an age that never actually existed, well maybe for a privileged few.
 I think it was a cornacopia of a few things, nostalgia, wargamers wanting to have fun with some simple rule concepts, and an aversion to the way wargaming was heading, or more accurately has gone.
 I personally blame the release of Charles Grants excellent SYW war books, Harry Pearson's brilliant Achtung Schwienhund and of course Battlegames, which to start with was a great magazine.
 I think its a great shame that Old School wargaming has retreated into the background because for me it was a wonderful experience in so many ways and a great way to introduce would be historical wargamers to the hobby.

My final observation is again courtesy of the AMG site where one of the topics was, the best and worst decision you made as regards wargaming.
 For me it was a no brainer, my best was taking from the library for the first time, Charles Grants, The Wargame which fired my imagination and enthusiasm about what wargaming could be, whenever I feel a bit down I still reach for this well thumbed book and immerse myself in the pages.
 As regards the worst decision, I have made a few false starts in various periods and scales and have ended up wasting time and money on projects that I didnt really fire me up, but the worst was probably attempting to change scales to 15mm and buying massive painted Napoleonic armies. I was never able to find the heart to paint more of the 15mm ranges and eventually sold the lot for a large loss.
 I just could never find a love for 15mm, its very strange because I am happy to use Johns wonderful armies. So a bit of a mish mash, but hopefully something that you might find worth thinking about. See you in a week.

The Alexandria Rifles.

 In each brigade in Glory Hallelujah, you are allowed one sharpshooter, that is attached to a regiment. Its a nice fun feature to have included. These are my sharpshooters for the Confederates, and are from the Alexandria Rifles. I have exaggerated the green uniform colour , just to pretty them up. I know its more a Hollywood type of uniform, but I do like the effect.
 I have completed a small regiment of rifles to accompany the sharpshooters.I must admit the Perry twins did a fine job of sculpting these miniatures, they were a pleasure to paint.

 Just in case I get an ACW expert comment regarding the rifles, the unit was in Blandford, they were unusual and pretty, and I therefore felt the need to have them, probably not too accurate for the actual war, but they were too good to ignore. Wait until I start the Union regiments, because I hope to paint up some eclectic and unusual regiments.

Louisiana Zouaves.

 Well its been a little while since I last posted. This was due to personal matters and family commitments. As a consequence I was unable to attend the Derby show which was a shame in that it looked a good show with some quality large games on show. I would have particularly like to have seen the Thirty Years War game, and the James Morris  SYW one. Still perhaps next time.

 Anyway I have managed to paint up some more ACW figures, this time the 1st Louisiana Zouaves, which was a very pretty unit. I have actually a full brigade of units from Louisiana but havent completed the bases on the other two units yet. I have realised that the units I seem to select are determined by the prettiness of their flags or their dress.

 One will notice that this unit does not contain a full 24 figures, this is down to my cheapness, by sticking the odd piece of Rendra fencing on the bases just to add some randomness.I also padded out the unit with some Perry plastic zouaves, which look pretty good.

 All in all a nice regiment I think.