Its official, I am plain unlucky.

 Well its now official I am the Unluckiest General, and that has finally been recognised by my peers following the Amateur Military Gentleman weekend. I look on it as a positive achievement especially as I was awarded a wonderful trophy very kindly donated by Aly Morrison, who again shows why he is a top wargamer.

   The Unluckiest General Trophy, won by well, the acknowledged unluckiest general..... Me.

   To be honest I feel I didnt deserve the award simply because my dice throwing was pretty average, for me anyway. Commanding the Austrians twice in Colin's refight of the Battle of Leuthen we won one and lost one. I found it interesting how different wargamers fight and the AMG weekend was a great opportunity to watch this in action. Not just how they view and tackle a battle, but also how they react to interaction between individuals.
   The weekend is now in its second year, and hopefully will continue given its undoubted success. Initially it was a means to get members of the AMG forum to come together face too face for a wargaming extravaganza, but given the various upheavals in the said forum it has morphed into something which I view as what is best about wargamers.
 Over the wargaming years you normally get to know various individuals after meeting at the shows, through other wargamers introducing someone and of course through the internet.
 But normally you are like ships passing in the night.
So a wargames weekend where one can play in a number of large games with a number of generals per side is wonderful. Stopping in a decent hotel, eating and drinking, and discussing wargames issues, and generally talking history is something a little bit special. I hasten to add its not about showing off one's knowledge about some obscure period, its more about enjoying the company of people who love the hobby, beer and food. Now that the AMG connection is firmly left behind, the weekend has the potential of growing into an even better wargames weekend.
 Fellow attenders have posted far better images than me of the weekend, but there were four large 28mm wargames to fight over.
  A wonderful Malburian affair which rightly won the best hosted game, created by Paul Robinson of Grimsby [ the club not the film  ] fame. There were some wonderful painted units and the rules written by Paul made the game run very smoothly.

 The prize, for the best wargame host held over the weekend. Again donated by the most excellent Mr Morrison. I really would like to have won that.

                   Sorry about the image of Paul's Malburian set up, it really doesn't do it justice.

Graham Cummings, of Crann Tara, hosted a Jacobite War battle, using his lovely figures and the Honours of War Rules. Sorry about the images, it was very hot in the room. Again a top quality game.

 Two dodgy cockney types hosted a wonderful Sudan game, with some brilliantly painted 28mm figures. Des Darkin and Martin Gane, of South London Warlords fame were convivial hosts and also great to take the michael out of. A pair of good sports.  Its fair to say that wargamers came from the four corners of the kingdom and one from our former colony of the Americas. God knows what Jim Purkey made of us [ well me actually] but for such a diverse group, the mix worked.

                          I loved the look of these buildings and really wanted to snaffle them.

 Colin staged Leuthen twice over the weekend, with me as the Austrian adviser. Both battles were tense affairs, with interesting ideas by the Prussians on how to tackle to problems of the terrain. Both days I took 'control' of the Reicharmee contingent, and to be honest for really poor troops they did alright. We won one, and got absolutely hammered in the second game, by the use of some heartless and cowardly Teutonic tactics.

 I could wax lyrical about the whole weekend, but all I will say is that if one likes to take part in some great games, of a very high standard, and like shooting the breeze with other wargamers while drinking and eating then this is the weekend for you. One comes away with new ideas, a bit tired but most certainly enthused. One tip though, never ever drink with Angus Konstam the guy is a legend.

The Reports of my Death have been Greatly Exaggerated.

Just to prove I'm not hanging from some tree, I have just completed two more regiments in my ACW project. The Union chaps have come out rather well, and are my interpretation of the Mozart Regiment, a New York unit sponsored by a theatre! I had to include them in my eclectic collection.

The rebel regiment is the final unit for the Mississippian brigade. These were bought from Peter, a close friend of Jim Sweeney who kindly let me have them. I touched them up to make them compatible with my own troops. In the background of both units is the expanded Headquarters for both armies. I 'had' to paint up some more accessories for the camp scenes.

My 'observations' about what happens after a wargamer shifts his mortal coil brought some interesting! comments, but it also brought a great post on Jonathan Freitag's excellent blog, Palouse Wargaming Journal. He was also able to articulate far better than me about when does a wargamer stop collecting, and instead simply just use their toys in games instead. And there's the rub for me, I think it was the late great Peter Young that mentioned a wargamer who collects armies from many periods is mad [ paraphrased by me] it is a madness, but an enjoyable type of insanity. So SYW battles this weekend.

Durham Wargames Show, makes one depressed.

Well I attended Durham Wargames Show after a sabbatical of some three years. Billed as The Friendliest Show in the North I found myself at a loose end, so braved the rain and the students at Durham Regatta to see what was appertaining.
 I could so easily knock the show, as it fails on so many levels, but I will attempt to avoid that. The Durham Wargames Group have been around since the late 1960's early 1970's and to be honest always had a decent setup club wise. Some of the former members were pretty innovative wargamers and very keen to boot, now I think they just seem happy to turn up weekly and play a game, which I suppose is acceptable.
 What struck me yesterday was at the Bring and Buy sale where one of the members was selling off a load of wargames books, unpainted figures and ephemera on behalf of a wargames widow.
 He was doing a good turn to help a woman out, whose husband had clearly been a long serving wargamer judging by some of the books for sale.
 It must be the mood I was in, after the Election and a day on the drink waiting to hear Rod Stewart on the night, but I found the sale depressing. Mortality and all that I suppose.
 One spends years usually building a collection of figures, books, magazines, and God knows what, and then suddenly someone is left with the responsibility of clearing it all out.
 Sorry if I'm sounding maudlin.
 To an untrained eye, boxes of wargaming magazines from the 1960's and 1970's suddenly look like a bonfire waiting to happen. Oh and all those fusty smelling books containing blurred black and white photographs of toy soldiers just crying out to be dumped at the Council tip, and dont get me started on my painted armies.
 I came home after the show feeling I should compile a ledger for my next of kin, in which I would record the worth of my life in wargaming. Except it would be a very time consuming task and too much to hope they would be sold to someone who would appreciate the wonderful legacy they have inherited.
 Sorry about sounding really depressed, its hardly a great endorsement for a wargames show. One should feel invigorated after such an event. Maybe it was the weather and to much JD.

The Texan Brigade.

Well I've completed the units for my Texan Brigade, all five regiments. They're not my best work, but they still look presentable. The figures are a mix of First Corps and old Foundry figures. So the project is nearing completion, although my priority has to be the Union artillery batteries as I am very short of guns. The problem is that I want to complete the 79th New York Volunteers [ Highland] regiment, and the Virginia Military Cadet regiment before I return to the more mundane stuff.

 This is my Command base for the Union, ready for my inaugural 28mm Picketts Charge game.The figures are a couple of excellent FGZ figures with some plastic ephemera scattered around to make up a scene. So I am still making progress, albeit a bit slower than I would like, hopefully I will apply myself a bit better over the next couple of weeks. Except next weekend is the AMG wargames weekender, although I'm not certain if that is still the title that we can use. But whats in a name, I just hope it is a great success with some great games fought and a lot of wargames chat, chatted.

 On a final note; a few weeks ago I made the mistake of wanting to expand my blog readership, and thinking that joining Facebook would help, I blithely joined against my better judgement. I think I have touched on this organisation before, concerning a murder inquiry I was file officer for, and just how obstructive and arrogant they were, bearing in mind this was a child murder.

 I now realise just what a bad move joining was, as I am continually bombarded with some very worrying views attached to various posts. One concerned how Hitler  had ONLY killed six million Jews and wasnt as bad as the Tories! and that was quite a mild comment. Others concerned how it was the fault of successive British governments who were responsible for the murders in the last three terrorist attacks. Its pretty clear that Facebook was not a good idea, and I have opened a Pandora's Box filled with some very very troubled people.  And of course the Founder has now set himself on a course to stand in the next Presidential Elections, posing as a young Bernie Sanders, God Help America if that should happen, what a vile thing it is.  Now if I can find out how to leave the damned thing. But on a happier note, wargamers seem more grounded and in the main sensible, except where buying more toys is concerned.

A Short Break.

The last week in May is a time to put away my toys and celebrate my Wedding anniversary. This year was no different so I was off to Northern Italy for a week, which is a great way to stop me painting and playing with my toys. Usually I try to find somewhere that has at least some connection to military history.
However Lake Garda was my wife's choice, so I didn't expect to find any history to poke around. I was wrong as the Garda area was the final retreat of Mussolini and his fascists after he was rescued by Szrkorsky. It was the headquarters of the SS, and a lot of undesirable types attempting to halt the advance of the allies from the South of Italy.
 We were lucky enough to have a guide who was able to point out a lot buildings and areas where Mussolini and his Germans protectors took shelter from the partisans. Also if our guide was to be believed it was an area where a lot of Germans settled in after the war, when they couldnt return home, ie hardened Nazis.
 It probably explained why the whole lake area, all 54km. was inundated by Germans and Austrians who seemed to be settled in every hamlet and nice house around the lake. But then the Austrain border is also only a few miles away. I can understand why they settled there as it is very very beautiful, and I assume looks a bit like Bavaria and Austria.
 Anyway, I tried to stick to a safer subject and pottered around the four renaissance castles, and two Austrian forts built in the early 1700's. Oh and not forgetting the Venetians who grabbed the area, and the city of Verona, which was very beautiful, and very hot. So to be honest I still managed to get in some research regarding the hobby and enjoy some great food and drink. Recommended.
 So a win win situation.