Happy New Year!

Aside from my five year hiatus from blogging, I thought I'd start it up again with documenting some miniature wargaming. I am experimenting with adopting Keith Flint's wonderful set of Seven Years War centric rules 'Honours Of War' and using it with my Napoleonic collection.

With a little tweaking,  it worked out OK. Not for me however...My son and I used a scenario from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames rules set. The scenario was inspired by number 30,  "Last Stand". My son played the Russians who occupied two fortified hills with his back to the river. His force consisted of 5 infantry units, one artillery battery and three cavalry units. I played the French with equal amount of units.

Since I was designated as the "Attacker", I  moved first. Starting with a cavalry action on the French left. It didn't take long for a the French to drive off the Russian two cavalry units. Thankfully, I picked one unit as 'Superior' before the game stared. That played a decisive move along with some good dice rolling. After that, it went down hill for the French. It war far from a "last stand" for the Russians. I was about to get my butt wooped.

Yeah,  attacking fortified positions, no matter what rule set you use, is never a good idea. The French payed a hefty price for this maneuver. They persisted however. But after a few volleys of musketry and blast of cannister at close range, it was a done deal. Even when rallying, the French could not overcome the Russian's strong positions. 

The French carabiniers were poised to exploit a potential French breakthrough, but alas, the infantry were driven back and broken.  The battle was too one-sided at that point and lost for the French.

The game lasted about an hour and a half. Since it was my third game with this set, there were some moments of page flipping for rules clarification. Despite the loss, it was a fun game.  Any time I get to roll some dice with my son, it's a bonus. As for the rules, I think with some tweaking, it can be adopted to other "horse and musket" periods. If your looking for an easy, quick playing ruleset, you can't go wrong with Honours Of War. I have to say, this rules QRS is one of the better layouts out of all of the other Osprey blue book series titles I own. 

Day 12 of the self-imposed art, model and crafting challenge.

All kinds of work going on. Besides basecoating a ton of 1/72 ACW's, I've been plugging away at more wargame scatter terrain. Some river/stream and road sections. Those are made of plastic "FOR SALE" signs with acrylic caulking for the banks. The stream is painted a dark brown color with Liquitex gloss medium for the water. A modular section for  Islandlwana  mountain. Even on top of an existing hill, its way out of scale. Experimented with Fall type trees. Still not sure about those, maybe mixed with bare trees it will work or have several in a group?

Breaking out books for reference and inspiration for various subjects. Lots of time on my hands makes a mess of the "library". Having blast doing it all.

More wargame command stands. Anglo-Zulu War Colonel's Durnford and Pulleine.

Having some small scale fun. This fella is a pikeman from the Thirty Years Wars. I experimented with a satin varnish to give it some protection, in case some day I find motivation to build a wargames army.

Two for the road.

I love leaving for a show and having the workbenches CLEAN of projects. Here are two that I managed to finish over the past few weeks. The Swedish kettle-drummer is a Historex conversion and the small vignette are 28mm AWI British soldiers from Perry Miniatures. The Perry figures are very nice with lots of detail, however they would look much better in a larger vignette or diorama. Rumor has it, that their Continentals have just been released. I better get more practice with this scale.

Small Scale Goodness

I've been eye-balling these pup's for a long time. Not sure when and what I'll do with them. I guess that's the collector in me, and a craving has to be satisfied.

Good Times

My little homage to Airfix. As a kid in the late 70's to early 80's, hundreds of hours were spent playing and painting these wonderful models. Esci 1/72 scale figures comes to a close second but Airfix will always be a first love. Particularly the American Civil War range. Though hideously inaccurate, along with some crazy strange poses, there is something about them...Maybe it's nostalgia. Donno, whenever I see that round red, white and black Airfix logo, it brings back some very fond memories. I played with other toy soldier/playsets but these "little men" from the UK will always be number one.