ACW for Max

test picture

also a painting order WIP

Raise high the white flags.... hmmm, mebbe a diferent colour??

Greetings from General von Ramstein,
to his most excellent Count deMoney, Royal Treasury.

Well the recruiting Sergeants have been out again, even before the current batch of Skavenbergs finest men have even been given there uniforms for the coming years service. Although the first Battalion of infantry have been seen performing drill along the banks of the River Odour, still wearing their civilian garb!!! The organisation seems to be in companies of 120 men, with 4 such companies fielded under the Colour Party of the Colonel.

(first 48 Austrians are based waiting for an undercoat)
(next order has been sent off to RSM for 6 more bags of muskets)

The first of the mounted troops have also been active, although there mounts are too young for service yet, they have been designated at ‘Dragoons’.

(Still bagged n tagged)

The Artillery train are also lacking in essential equipment to construct their machines of war….. a Corps of Engineers might be required for Service.

(Still bagged n tagged)

Reports coming in from the Saxe-Nweilintz borders are that their recruiters are also active, our spies have found documents that state that grenadiers companies will be integral to a field Battalion…. Sheer madness from our Military advisors point of view. Recruits over 6’ are placed into these units, ‘all brawn and no brains’ was one of the dismissive comments made. Their Artillery seems to be ‘under construction’ also, but their Cavalry seems to outnumber ours 3 to 1, although of varying quality and use, again their mounts are too young for service.

(troops still bagged n tagged, along with Artillery and Cavalry)
(next order has been sent off to RSM for 3 bags of Muskets and another of Grenadiers)

I hope this message finds you in good health, and of better cheer, Please inform his Majesty that the first uniforms will be arriving in the next few weeks, we have been assured by the manufacturers.

In Service,

Ramstein

older and wiser?

well 38 now.... wrote one word in my diary for today, simply put 'bugger'

painting ACW cavalry now, 28mm order for Pat in Lincoln, ex North London wargames group, nice guy.

Reading, latest Battlegames, GW article so far, used to work for them in a store, nuff said.

PEWC and the latest 7yw playtest went well, had much MUCH more fun witht he Heroscape rules, still bigger battles than i wanted for the campaign, but was good fun. The cavalry aint as hard, stuff tends to break and disappear quickly, basically its bucket'o'dice rules, 50/50 to hit and 66/33 to save, introduced some special bits for abilties, but it was good.

Prepped the Naps for painting, and am working on the OOBs for 1815 campaign, its gone the way of WW2 for us again, early war.... that would be April 44?? start at the end and dont worry about the begginging....

so i think this is the 12th post for september, which means i have hit the Pledge .... same again next month..... hmmm a picture, bugger

keeping it real..... hmm, NO

cheers ox

Deep Fried Pretsels

or TEAM PRIDE, TEAM BLITZ......

Well the trip to Sheffield was good... London Blitz beat Coventry Jets 14 to 6

tight game that was equally won by the Defense as the Offence

Plus 4 can of Black spray from GW Leamington Spa, double result, as they closed down GW Enfield

and tonight is club night again, 7yw again this time with HEROSCAPE rules, just to make sure we are not missing out on summit with the Command N Colours card activation, bit more wargame than boardgame.

reports and pictures to follow

ok guys i know you all want pictures, but i aint a pc genius. its more luck than judgement.

Keep 'em peeled..... hmmm No

Cheers OX

Pledge points

well, just realised withthe finishing of the 7yw armies i am just shy of the 1000 figure mark

650 28mm figures

325 bases of 10mm (approx 5 figures per Base)

975 Pledge points Year to Date

ACW is now base and undercoated Black

hmmm, need a catchy sign off for these blogs i suppose... will try a few out

Thats all folks... hmm NO

Bringin Paint to a figure near you.... hmm NO

Keep the pointy brushes.... hmm NO

When will it end?? hmm NO

cheers OX

ends and beginnings

well for Tuesday club night i finished and based the 7yw, we played 2 more test games, then i realised i had overloaded the bonus' for cavalry..... quick rejig i think, but all is good

and the last bits arrived from old glory for the napoleonics.... 1815 british, with a polish artillery crew, methinks they sent a 607 instead 0f a 507, d'oh

have also got the waterloo oob from wikipedia, will play it as one base per battalion, so each hex is a brigade.... even then it is gonna be a big table and lots more figures, might just play stylised version of it with what we got, plus some dutch belgians and prussians, and double the french... hmm paint this lot first tho

back onto painting orders now too.... 28mm Dixon ACW cavalry have just snuck for quick turnaround for Rivermead in November, or mebbe SELWG.

COlours..... ouch

ok, dont tell the bank manager

went to colours, picked up some more ridge bits for the HEXON11 terrain and some trees and some lay on roads.....

then picked up the 3 units of Hussars from Pendraken.... wish i had ordered the Cuirrasiers too

Then it all went wrong.... looking at the 10mm Napoleonics at Old Glory, tried to make a call to make sure i DIDNT NEED them.... call failed to connect... walked away... walked back.... walked away, called again.... no answer.... walked back.... oh bugger..... 1815 Napoleonics, Infantry, aRtillery and Cavalry.... put it on the plastic, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me

then i left the show, so now i play Napoleonics again i guess, still at least this time i got a painting buddy for this project

nearly finished the 7yw Light infantyr now.... dismounted dragoons to go, plus the new hussars and a couple of more cuirrasier for the White army - Skavenbergers (Austrians)

MUST paint some 28mm Naps for the Bring N Buy at Warfare in NOvember, and then do the PAinting Orders


cheers OX

CALvaree get a lick

Well, i have just had a half day off to dog-sit...... indeed

on the up side i have painted the following units of Cavalry.

Bosniak Lancers unit
DeathsHead Hussars unit
3 units of Light Blue Dragoon
3 units of White Cuirrasier

3 units of Green Dragoon
Bearskin Mtd Grenadiers unit
2 units of Flashy Hussars

all 10mm figures, 12 figures units - or 168 cavalry, 336 figures.... or 84 points towards the Pledge

just the Pandours, Jagers and Milita to go then.... plus this weekends shopping...

dont tell Graham.... must paint some Naps next

PEWC and a Game of 7YW

Well Tuesday came and so did the club meet, 7 oclock armed with the 2 armies and the new HExonII terrain, rich and I set off for a battle.

Rich has played most periods but looked at the funny Napoleonics figures and decided to just charge with his Cuirrasiers and Dragoons.... we adjusted the musket fire to a better in game range and feel, The charges came in and did some damage, then got shot off.... then my white army infantry advanced, with my cavalry into the Garde Korps of the blue army and fell apart, final score was 10 points to the blues and 7 to the whites, the game had 10 infantry, 3 skirmisher and 3 artillery per side, and 8 cavalry per side, took around 2 hours to fight and felt good, whether it was historical i dont know..... Rich now wants to buy some Scots Greys and Imperial Guard to start building up a waterloo game in 10mm....

MUST look up how battle actually evolved and if this could fit into the mould.

Painting the 10mm White and BLue army cavalry

ignoring the 28mm painting orders

going to Colours at Newbury Saturday...... Old Glory will be there as well as Pendraken, bugger

Blue army should be called Saxe-Nweilints or Lintzers
White army should be called Skavenberg or Burgers

pictures i know, but that is cos i a lame and th GF is at college this week...... always excuses, did i mention i work 9 til 5..... i know its another excuse.... new laptop.... erm, cant find camera.....

cheers OX

Unit Statistics and Gridiron UK

well not much painted since Wednesday, the Austrian Line units are now completed as are the Artillery stands, nothing new started despite all the best intentions last night, watched 'Hells Kitchen' trying to work out who they were, decided Rosie Boycott was voted off... Kelly is that Kelly LeBrock of 'WeirdScience' fame, dunno??

Created some statistics for the 7YW game next week in a BattleLore/Memoirs style

Line Units
Bases: 4, commanded
Moves: advance 2 hex and Battle or advance 1 hex and give Reduced Fire or stand and give Fire
Stationary Fire:4 3 2 1 causing hits on Colour and Bonus Shields
Reduced Fire: 3 2 1 causing hits on Colour and Bonus Shields
(range is the 4 3 2 1 bit - so that at range 1 hex you get 3 dice, then at
range 2 hex 3 dice, ect)
Battle (Melee); 4 dice

Grenadier Units
Bases: 4, Commanded, Bold, Stubborn, Aggressive*
Moves: advance 2 hex and Battle or advance 1 hex and give Reduced Fire or Stand and give Fire
Stationary Fire: 4 3 2 1 causing hits on Colour and Bonus Shields
Reduced Fire: 3 2 1 causing hits on colour and shields
Battle (Melee): 4 (+2 at full Strength, +1 at half Strength)* plus shields vrs Foot
Bold = Auto fight back ( no support required)
Stubborn = Ignor all push backs from FLAG dice rolls
Aggressive = adds shields to hits in melee vrs Foot

more units cards exist for Artillery, Line units with Grenadiers company, Light units, Legion units (mixed Cavalry and Infantry), Lancers, Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirrasier

The rules will work as per the cards activation system, but where the units are all commanded, an attached or adjacent command figure may be ordered to move all the units, but only the number of units on the activation card may Fire or Battle...... it makes sense if you play any 'Command and Colors' system.

Well the weekend means summit is happening, Sunday is the Playoffs for the BritBowl, so we are off to Finsbury Park to see the London Blitz, who should win thru to BritBowl at Sheffield on the 23rd. My mate has signed us up for the pre-season rookie traingin, me a 38yo GridIron Rookie, only shadowed by Rich, a 43yo Rookie.... well sort off, i played it 20 years ago befor i played Rugby and Rich played it til 8 years ago for various teams around the world, from Liverpool to Tasmania, but 8 years off havent been kind to either of us, hmmm how much weight can i loose in 2 months?? not as much as i have put on in 8 years of Lard abuse.

laters ox

Newark and PEWC

Well, Sunday we (me n Rich) went to Newark for Partizan II, a nice show we tend to try and travel to at least once year, i had been avoiding Kallistra all year but to no avail, i fell of the 'no spending wagon' in a big way..... and now i own a 6'x4' table of HexonII terrain, with the new slopes, a hill pack and some very new 'sea' tiles.... and some bases for the last of the 10mm 7YW to completed the sticking together of the last units of OLD GLORY Austrian Hussar.

Painting up the cannons for the 12 artillery bases and finishing the last few colours of the Austrian Infantry.

PReparing the Cavalry and Light Infantry for painting this week

Ignoring the 28mm NApoleonics i should be painting (sorry Graham)

Tuesday night, is games night ( http://www.pewc.co.uk/ ) played two massive games of Battlelore using the warmaster figures, much fun and enjoyment, won one and lost one... lost is an understatement, it was a massacre, still i did send a boy to do a mans job, says I 'charge the cavalry on that flank....' meaning all the cavalry into as many units as possible, smashing up formations and causing mayhem.... so he sends off one unit of weak cavalry (not the heavy Knights) to attack the enemies hardest unit, when he bounces he then refuses to attack anymore... two moves later when he is smeared across the battlefield he turns and says to me ' I wish i had attacked earlier... ' who knew..... actually I DID..

Mebbe i should start 2 new blogs for the 7yw stuff....maybe later

cheers ox

September Pledge

One Blog - Two Pledges

The Yearly Painting Pledge - 850 figures completed (650 x28mm and 200 Bases of 10mm)

Septembers Pledge, Post at least 3 times a week and get some Pictures up of the Painted 10mm 7YW

Oh yeah, and have a 38th Birthday on the 27th of September..... yay, sort of

Football Season Starts

Yeah i know its called soccer.... but i dont mean the Premiership

We were sent a copy of THW (Two Hour Wargames) GridIron rules, its unpublished and will probably stay so, but it is what the guys wrote first of all and then developed all the rest from (5150, ect) . So we obviously combined it with all the lovely new hex terrain from the HeroScape boxes that keep appearing in the boot of my car... WOW we gamed for 10 hours on Thursday, came up with a Campaign system which basically breaks the game down into 3 hour sessions, with 4 sessions to a complete game.... 2 games to the Season... so it would appear we know have a Thursday night Football session planned for a couple of months, first tho we have to draft our teams from the pool of players generated. Much fun is being had here so far, a real 'Old School' feel of fun, players already have nicknames, stolen from history 'the fridge' 'jellyfish'.

On the painting table are the 10mm Austrians still, less than 200 to finish now, the Pendraken stuff arrived and is mostly based for painting, lots of Pandours, Jagers, Cavalry and unit of Jacobite Highlanders, along with some militia unit from the packets of trrops i accidentally ordered instead of Hussars, D'oh... still need to buy 3 packets of Pendraken Hussar and the commands for the Old GLory Cavalry...

Graham collected the latest batch of 28mm Napoleonics i have painted for him, just anoth 350 to go by Christmas then he will drop off some more.... all praise the Pledge.

The Pledge is going well... end of month7 and 750 28mm figures (or equivalents) are painted and finished, 5 months to go.... 1000 is almost certain to be reach by the end of September at this rate... could i really make 1500 for end of the year.... the bank manager would be pleased if i did.

oh, pictures.... well we had a to buy a new laptop (screen failed on the old one.... so throw it away as a new one is cheaper to buy than the old one is to repair, go figure) and all the pictures are on the old one.... so the pictures will come along soon.

cheers Shaun

ok, quick update

Finished .... 350 10mm Prussians
Started....... 350 10mm Austrians

Finished the Country and Army builder charts
Started the Character generation charts

NOT started the 30mm RSM figures
or the painting orders
HAVE started the hex rules

Played 2 games, went well... changed it now tho

Played mostly Hersoscape at club, want new Marvelscape from the US, specially in Walmart dollar prices.... not UK import prices

Also want my pendraken 10mm order to arrive in post to finish building up the little armies....

PROMISE to take pictures...... create pretty 'how to...' files for the creator stuff and post in SOCDAISY files....

cheers Ox

PS the picture is of my LARP character, he is called Ook McFook, he is in the Loren Trust system and in the Bears Faction, he wears a kilt...... drinks cider and mead, fights with a two handed axe or a sword an sheild..... all round good chap

RSM95 Order arrives

Ok I know, I dont post as much as you would like, especial if your initials are JP....

Well, work progresses on the 10mm Old Glory

and the RSM95 figures have arrived, with a final payment to HMGovt of £30.91, bringing the grand total in at £166.10, or 57pence a figure, for what are really nice castes, next order will be for 10 bags of infantry and some mounted officers.

So now some reading has happened and the figures are infront of me.... i need to finalise my choice of Unit size and how i am gonna be basing the little fellows. The problem is when ever you ask an OSWargamer they only say "there is wrong way...... " which is al very liberating and also frustrating.

Overall Unit size is 48 troops and mounted Colonel with the Standards on a seperate Base
The Blue army will be 3 companys of 12 musketeers and a forth of 12 Grenadiers
The White army will be 3 companys of 16 musketeers
Cavalry will be in 4 figure squadrons
Artillery a single gun with 6 crew

Infantry 20mm square dividual bases Or 3 figures on a 50mmx25mm
Cavalry 50mmx25mm individual or multiple
Artillery 100mmx 100mm when deployed..... oh, Limbered..hmmm there is a thought

I like to use GW plastic Bases usually.... but i have doubts for this project

Ihavent written the rules yet, so that wont help

and i have just picked up Heroscape from Argos (£7.99) and the mechanichs are so simple they are almost Old School.....

So comment please, espcially if you can help.... my gut raction is to go for singles on the Infantry and pairs on the Cavalry

ox

baby steps

Hi all,

Well it’s been a while so I thought a quick update was in order.

The work to create my Imagi-Nations has taken a few faltering steps forward, firstly they are named as Saxe-Nweilintz, a Prussian based force and Skavenburg, an Austrian based force. The second step has been the nearly completed Nation Generator which will provide the map, terrain and forces available to each of the Countries created.

Still to do are the National characteristics of the nations and then the Character generator, to provide Officers and officials for the governing and ruling of the Nation.

National characteristics – was thinking of the different ways that each nation fought in this period, but without a huge amount of period knowledge this is proving a little difficult

Prussian – had the ability to MANUEVRE better than most nations
Austrians – not sure – some sort of larger units
British – some sort of firing bonus – but not sure
Russian – usually some sort of Morale bonus

That covers most aspects of rules… Movement, Firing, Morale and unit sizes

Character Statistics – these are used in game but also to provide some role-play aspects to the army…

Leadership – this will be battlefield prowess
Political/Power – this can be used for campaign moves??
Appearance – this could influence the Political test, but also it could detract too
Intelligence – not sure here, but I am sure it has a use
Wealth – definitely caused more problems in this period
Health/Age – could influence much, also for assassination attempts

Each factor could give a modifier for different tests in the game.

Figures –
The 10mms are coming along nicely and will be ideal for CnC based hex game.
The RSM95’s have been sent and the payment taken in GBP’s, with each figure working out at 50p for foot, 1£ for cavalry and 1£ per gun….. So this hits the VFM button, so just need to see the figures in the metal to see if I am happy on style.

Rules –
Horse n Musket 10mm Command and Colours based rules, coming along fine so far
OSW – maybe WAB style rules……. With some Magic…

Birth of a Nation.... not quite

The brain works in mysterious ways, the wargamers one even more so.....

So to creat a fictional country sounds simple, i got these figures and they are this.... these figures are these.... i want this and i want that...... but then i started thinking....

Why are the armies similar but not the same?
Why do some countries ally with others?
Does topography build the army? or a countries wealth? or its politics?
and is this relavent to the period?

So I sat down and looked how countries of this time are made up. What troop types were available from the countres area's, what supplies are needed to keep an army in the field. Then i started to make up a chart with dice rolls to determine what a country could provide in men and material. Then i provided education, which led to stats for command figures.... each extra factor leading to another idea for inclusion.... it all sort of logically flowed together... then a points system unrolled for a rule set i have yet to adapt....

so i sat down with a pen and paper and rolled up a Duchy, a Grand Duchy no less... with 6 States of various sizes... lots of towns and a couple of Fortresses, followed by an education system unsurpassed in the known world, and over half covered in mountains, which when i began recruiting troops led to an army of well led Pandours, Hussars and Artillery, with mainly Mercenary Infantry units....... all seems feasable, just didnt think i would be Count Dracula

Better get those dice rolling again....

The Plan

Hi all, after much thought i have come up withg a plan...
I game primarily in 10mm and 28mm, and as such all my scenery is
geared towards these figure sizes, so while veiwing all the blogs for
inspiration i was drawn to the RSM95 figures for both style and price
(hopefully, after import duties and shipping).
I wanted to create 2 armies, as i appear to be quite some distance
from any fellow Imagi-nation players, based around Prussian and
Austrian figures, each of 12 Infantry unit, 6-8 Cavalry units and 3
Artillery units. So i placed my order via the web for 4 bags of
infantry, 4 bags of cavalry and 2 bags of artillery and sat back to
wait and work out the painting plan, at my current rate the 2 armies
would be completed by 2010, i realised this wasnt very NOW
generation...
So after a quick phone call to Andy at Old Glory 10mm on Monday and a delivery on Wednesday, i now have the figures for 10 units of
infantry and 4 cavalry and 3 artillery per side in 10mm. Following a
quick paint around I will play with these using a variantion of
BattleCry (Command and Colors rules, played on a Hex Grid), while i
paint up the 30mms to my usual standard and try to recruit someone in the area for some Old School Gaming with CHARGE! type rules.
So the decision of scale was eventually not to decide, so just need
to create 2 countries, pick a colour, a flag and a symbol, base up
the strips and get em on the field.....
also after all the blog talk i thought i would also attempt to start
one of these too, so that not only will i post up the progress of my
Imagi-nation but also the progress on the TMP PLEDGE that i started
in January.... 650 25mm figures so this year, shame they arnt mine
but it does mean i can buy in some more RSM95's.....
cheers Shaun