Border Reivers Show 2015

Well I attended the Gateshead show yesterday, which I was really looking forward to. I don't know if its me, but I've felt there wasn't as many shows around as usual. Its probably me.John and I shared a bring and buy table early in the show, just to get rid of some stuff. I think it is the best way to sell wargaming ephemera, certainly its a very effective way to have a bring and buy without the organisers having to find some staff to run it.
 Anyway, we got rid of quite a bit of stuff, although for some reason 15mm painted figures, at knock down prices weren't selling?
 I always get a buzz attending wargames shows, I know I should be used to them after all these years, but somehow I still cant wait to stroll around a show.
 On the AMG forum, there is currently a discussion about the announcement that Front Rank will no longer attend any shows, and whether this is a good or bad thing, some posters agree, some dont. Personally I think its a mistake by the company, but what do I know, but what better way than to keep your company in the public's eye, and please dont give me the guff about the internet.
  Physically seeing the products, talking to the dealer, and then comparing opinions with other wargamers must promote the range you are trying to sell. I always think of Hinchliffe, and Essex who dont seem to attend any shows now, some wargamers aren't aware that Hinchliffe still produce their ranges, and pay inflated prices for secondhand metal due to this.As for Essex, 20 years ago, their 25mm ranges were the figures to buy, now one rarely sees them on a table.The figure ranges are still out there. Wargaming is about inter action between like minded people, and that includes solo wargamers. What can be better than to chat about some figure, rulebook or paint technique to another wargamer. Who wants to be a miserable sod.
 Leading on from that, I do know that there are a lot of wargamers that never attend shows and rarely buy magazines. The great Donald Featherstone would always bemoan the wargamer that didnt buy his magazine, and I always thought he had a point. Wargames magazines, love them or hate them, are a showcase for the hobby, again the internet has its place, but magazines still have an important role in the hobby. So if you can afford it, buy them, even if its to cut out the pretty pictures.
 Anyway, back to the Border Reivers show.
 I thought the show was pretty busy, most of the day, and certainly up to 1.00pm. The venue has plenty of parking, a decent canteen, and I understand is reasonable to hire. The only downside is the crap lighting, but that is a common complaint across the country.
 I seemed to spend more time chatting to other wargamers, so much so that I didnt take any photographs! A first for me. Game wise, the stand outs for me, were the cheeky chappies from the Westerhope club, with a Zulu  game, and what appeared to be an Oldhammer game with some nice figures and terrain. Sorry again that I didn't take any images.
 As regards the traders, of which there were many, Leven Miniatures www.levenminiatures.co.uk had some beautiful 6mm buildings at very reasonable prices. I had to buy some of their Napoleonic ranges for the Blucher games.
 Due to gabbing on, I missed out on buying the new Ottoman turks from Warlord games, although I managed to buy one commander, and very nice they are to.I still managed to end up buying quite a bit of stuff, including more paint, and bases.
 So Border Reivers as a show was for me a success, great crack, something to look at, and a nice buzz at the show. Support your local wargames show.
  The poster at the top is for my next local show, where I promised I would put on a game.A nice venue, full of trains, free to enter, free car parking, and now wargamers. What more could you want?

Davout's Third Corps 1809.

Re basing as most experienced wargamers know, is a pain in the bum. So when I decided to re base ALL my 6mm Napoleonic armies for the new Blucher rules, I forgot to factor in the sheer tedium that re basing is.
 As I have started re basing, I realised that some of my armies are now being re based for the third time. Initially they were based as battalions for a set of rules that John had put together which worked really well. Then came Volley and Bayonet which were brigade based, and were an excellent set of rules, and now of course the Blucher rules. Still that's only three sets in well over 25 years, so I don't think I can be accused of jumping on the latest trend.
 I've started with Davout's Third Corps for 1809, which is probably my favourite. Certainly it was the best trained and led.

 In the original armies, Volley and Bayonet needed a lot of Divisional Commanders, which I represented by using the larger 6mm? Adler figures on separate bases. Adler are beautiful figures, but too detailed and large for my taste, however I thought that placing the original commanders in the brigades was a nice piece of artistic licence. The corps weighs in at 180 points for a Blucher game. But that includes Davout who is given a Vigourous classification. Most Blucher games are 300 points per side by the way.

 Because I am a bit anal, I also painted up the First Corps led by Davout in the 1812 campaign. Now this was an army in itself as Napoleon rightly recognised that Davout was his most able commander. I wouldn't like to think how many points that would total for Blucher.

Traversing fire and the vagaries of Blackpowder.

 Eagl eyed viewers will spot the Tardis in the grounds of the churchyard, unfortunately it didn't help Charles fight any better.


 Its a funny old game,...wargaming. One minute you're up there, the second its dragging you down, buts that's enough of cliches. Blackpowder as a set of rules certainly knows how to kick one in the cods, as witnessed in the refight of the Battle of Leuthen, yesterday. Again I will leave the account to Colin who organised the whole affair, and should take credit for a first class battle.

 I actually volunteered for command of the Austrian's, realising that their commanders did not perform very well on the day, especially the Commander in Chief, Charles of Lorraine, who really should have been shot after the real battle, but titles have their privileges.

 Anyway two things were thrown up during the refight using Blackpowder, both were very important to the battle from both sides point of view. One was traversing fire by artillery and the second was the ability of Prussian field guns being able to manhandle forward and fire in the same move. Neither are items mentioned in the rules as being no no's, however neither sat well the the Austrian commanders, probably because we were getting shot to pieces by the said guns. Personally I dont think you can do either, but I am biased. Still the game fought out well, albeit the Austrians and especially my commands collapsed like a deck of cards. I wait in anticipation for the decision by Sepp Blatter as to an official ruling on the Warlord website. In the meantime its fair to say that the Prussian army and Blackpowder are not flavour of the month. Now where are those Frostgrave plastic figures?

Blucher re basing.

Before I returned to 28mm figures I built up a very large collection of 6mm armies. My main collection being the Napoleonic wars. In the 1990's I realised that 6mm was the only scale to refight the battles of the Napoleonic Wars. At that time after a couple of false starts John and I discovered the Volley and Bayonet rules, which offered brigade sized units and the chance to re fight all the big battles. I still think these rules are amongst the best for providing simple rules with a good historical feel to them.
 When I decided to start collecting 28mm figures again [ and I still haven't worked out why exactly] my 6mm collections have just sat in boxes. Some I have sold, but I just couldnt bring myself to get rid of my Napoleonics. Anyway the new Blucher rules have given me a reason to take my 6mm armies out of their boxes, and re base them.

These are a few rebased units that I have done for the Blucher rules. At the present time they are just samples because I want to add some visual appeal to the bases, ie, unit markers and of course a bit of colour to show which nationality etc they are. Still I do like them, for the simple reason they look like a brigade of troops for the Napoleonic Wars.

Re basing can be a chore, and I've already chopped a couple of fingers and ruined some figures by taking them off their old bases, but hopefully it will be worth it. One thing I had forgotten about, was just how many 6mm figures I have for the period. My goal, and one battle that I had never refought was the slug fest Liepzig.I had painted all the troops, but never completed the terrain for it, so perhaps this time.

 Napoleon looking a bit dazed after being brought back into the sunlight after some years.

Black Hussar.

 There is an awful lot of quality wargaming figures coming out of Germany at the moment. I suppose its not that surprising given the history of German miniature making over the years.
 Anyway I have just received some more metal from Black Hussar of Berlin. I hope to complete a few? Prussian units painted up as Saxons in the next few months, but I also obtained the new Black Hussar civilians in the order. One can never have enough little figure bases scattered over your battlefield.Anyway here are a couple of the figures based up. They are fine figures to paint and I would definitely recommend a purchase or two from Black Hussar, especially with the Euro not being too strong.

Black Powder and the Battle of Rossbach.

I know there are a lot of detractors for the Blackpowder wargames rules, and as I have said before, they are like Marmite, but after our very recent refight of the Battle of Rossbach at Colin's house, I'm convinced that they are more good points than bad ones.
 To read an account of the actual re fight I would refer any readers to Colin's Carry on up the Dale blogsite, but certainly during this game, the rules with some amendments taken from the supplement Last Argument of Kings worked really well, even though the French lost on the day.
 It is to the credit of the authors that the rules which on the face of it appear a very generic set, actually in my opinion gave a very good historic feel to the actual refight.
 Classifying the various French commanders as Timid, Insubordinate, Rash and just downright pants certainly added some extra friction to the game.

Dave Jarvis, painter extraordinaire, looking pensive at the start of the game. I put Dave in charge of the French/Imperialist cavalry. Not a good place to be.

                                      The French army strung out along the table.

                         French heavy cavalry attempting to come to the aid of their allies. Their commander was a Timid chap, and managed to lead them ineffectually all the game, before being shot from his horse during a desperate charge against Prussian Grenadiers. The charge failed.I was pretty desperate by then.

  The French Imperialists struggling to cross the battlefield and form a decent battle line.

                                 The Prussian juggernaut pops up at the edge of the table.

  Von Seylditz leading his charge into the Imperial cavalry caught in march formations. Not a recommended position to start the game, but not as decisive as it could have been.

  The Austrian hussars, quite rightly didnt fancy hanging around and attempted to get out of the way.

 Unfortunately it didn't work, and more Prussian Cuirassiers caught up with them, surprisingly the melee didnt prove decisive for the Prussians.

   The Wild Geese, masquerading as Swiss managed to gain the main hill, before being comprehensively beaten in melee by the Prussians, thus ending the game with the loss of four French brigades.

Family Commitments 2.

 As I stated in my last post, I have been very busy with my family which caused me to halt anything wargame related. Anyway my house is now quiet again, so hopefully I can catch up on things.A while ago I was given some unpainted Willie Horses by a AMG member called John Duggan. It was a very kind gesture, but I knew that one would need a very large figure to fit them. Anyway, Front Rank supply a large French Garde Gendarme which I have now finished. The figures still needed a bit of work to actually fit, but I do like the overall effect. No doubt when they are seen in the flesh, someone will point out that the Garde rode dark chestnut horses. However I have found that the Willie horses paint up well as greys.

 In what little time I have had, I have been experimenting with the artists acrylic, Davys Gray, as recommended by master painter Tony Runkee. The effect is very good for a shade of white, but I think Im going to have to experiment more to achieve what I am trying for.Still I've made a start. From little acorns etc. Anyway its good to be back.