One down and 11 to go.

 Like most wargamers I hit a painting wall these last few weeks. Between watching virtually every minute of the football World Cup, coupled  to the unseasonable tropical weather and general ennui painting has taken a back seat. Strangely I have felt guilty about the lack of actual painting especially as I have signed up to next years Waterloo event in Glasgow.

 I have managed to sneak up to my painting desk when I was between matches or when it was cooler late at night.It could explain the standard of painting as I struggled to do my figures a service they deserved.I have completed one battalion of Garde Voltigeurs for the Waterloo project which is already looking like a pressure project. Only? 11 battalions left to paint.

 One problem I have found these last few weeks due in the main to the heat is how quickly my paints were drying both in their bottles and on the palate. It isnt really a palate but is in fact a plastic dish filled with kitchen towel and covered by grease proof paper which I soak with clean water. In the weather even this was drying too quickly. Quite a challange.

 Still I have managed to complete a couple of ECW royalist regiments including the Kings Lifeguard [mounted] and a regiment of Newcastle's army which was made up of in the main of men from Northumberland and Durham. What I really need is a period of crap weather to get back into the groove, typical British, never satisfied with the weather.

My ACW armies are back!

 Last week John and I fought an ACW battle using my rebased armies. So technically it was a sort of inaugural affair. I would like to thank Shaun Bryant again for taking the trouble to rebase my armies, he did a wonderful job, and yes Tony, Shaun and John you were right, the figures look better on 40mm bases as opposed to my initial 50mm ones.

 John and I are totally won over by Dave Brown's Pickett Charge rules and although we hadn't fought a ACW game for several months it all came flooding back very quickly. We decided to fight with only five brigades of infantry and a brigade of cavalry. To spice things up we diced for each regiment to see what status they were classed as, ie Green, Regular, Old Lags, Veteran and Elite.

 As I had lost the choice of armies and had been given? the Union I opted to confuse John by making my feared Irish Brigade all Green. Actually what it shows is just how pants my dice throwing can be.The beauty of being a green regiment is that they are easier to initiate charges but poorer at changing formation or firing. It reflects their lack of experience of the war and their naivety [stupidity] in being willing to attack an entrenched enemy. My Irish didnt disappoint.

 Again in an effort to confuse John, one of my regiments of zoaves was also Green. It didnt matter when it came down to fighting as they were just poor anyway.

Seizing the bull by the horns I opted for a strong attack through the centre whilst ignoring the fact that John had placed his cavalry on my weaker flank. Big mistake. Normally cavalry are more of a nuisance than a battle winner except of course when they are facing me.

On the other flank I placed my cavalry who were thrown at a heavy skirmish line of two regiments.They cleared them and then were battered by the Tiger's who were a veteran unit, naturally and forced to retire after being 'whipped.'

I thought I was doing well in the centre as John struggled to get a brigade moving thus allowing my Irish to pile forward. John did however manage to place one regiment behind the fences and although repeatedly charged were able to turn back each successive wave. Realistic probably, galling definitely.

My Irish Brigade, ALL green eager chaps.

                                                        Rebel Headquarters.

The high point of the Union attacks, ONE battered regiment of Green troops finally drives off the rebels and is able to clamber over the fences. The rest of their brigade looks on in wonder and exhaustion.

These cornfields proved a pain all day for my troops. Not helped when a rebel rabble charged out of the fields into the flank of my zoaves.

Meanwhile the Rebel Cavalry stopped skirmishing and charged my right flank which buckled immediately simply because they couldn't shoot for toffee. Once the one regiment was 'whipped' the rebels piled into my artillery who somehow failed to empty any saddles!

It was a magnificent charge and I would have done exactly the same if I had been in John's position.

Union Headquarters where confusion reigned most of the day.

                                             A couple of over views of the battlefield.

New Rules Aren't All That Bad.

Over the last few years there has been an ever increasing number of wargaming rulebooks hitting the market which I have been critical about, simply because of the large number of releases and their repetitive nature, using similar mechanisms etc.
 Last week however I turned up at John's to witness a First World War landscape with early war German and British troops facing each other. I knew he had been painting up some 12mm? figures and had been very keen to use a set of rules he had bought from Great Escape Games.
This would be the second wargame I had ever fought based around the first World War and I looked at the scenario with some trepidation.
  Selecting the German's simply because there was more of them I set to battle. For the next four hours battle raged across Belgium where I began to fully appreciate the firing abilities of that Contemptible Little Army.
   It was a very close battle but at the end the British had captured two of the three objectives and the Kaiser's army was basically exhausted. What a cracking game. The rules were easy to understand but not simplistic. The whole battle was fast moving and very enjoyable. New rules aren't all that bad.