wab-ramblings (click on photos for better view)

Brisbane Muster

2011-06-30T21:02:00.026+10:00

Here are some images of the game I put on over last weekend of June at the Brisbane Muster. I based the game on the invasion of Egypt by the Macedonian Royal army sent to punish Ptolemy for stealing the body of Alexander III. The game was set in the Nile Delta and saw over 1100 foot and cavalry on the table as well as 9 elephants. I felt that Impetus did a fantastic job of managing this huge game and Bob and I had a great two days and I as Ptolemy managed to pip him at the post once again.

The armies are split 50-50 from my and Nathan Vinson's collection, Nathan allowed my to borrow his massive collection and I have spent the last few weeks rebasing it for Impetus and ensuring that it has the same basing scheme as my collection. I have added a few dead elephants to some of his bases etc. which Impetus encourages. The figures are a mix of Foundry, 1st Corps, Vendel, BTD, Old Glory and some venerable Naismith figures. Cheers Scott

Impetus game: Pontic versus Late Republican Roman

2011-06-12T22:29:00.024+10:00

Had a very large game of Impetus today with my newly rebased figures. It was a 840 point a side game (9x5 foot table) with a Pontic army taking on a Late Republican army somewhere in Asia Minor (we used the Beta lists for the Pontics). Great game with the Roman cohorts easily grounding down my Pontic force and especially the pike blocks. Mark Piper (who led the Romans to victory) and I are really enjoying Impetus and we have had a load of fun using Basic Baroque to play ECW. I will post pictures of the Roman army in the next few days. Cheers Scott

28mm Norman WAB army for sale

2011-02-12T08:52:00.007+10:00

Hi guys I have my well painted WAB Norman army up for sale.
It consists of 159 foot and 40 cavalry. The foot are mostly Old Glory (OG) and the cavalry are Old Glory and Gripping beast (GB).
The foot are based on 25mm round GW bases and the cavalry on 50x25mm GW bases. The bases have been done with rocks and Silfor tufts. Breakdown of foot is: 24 archers (OG), 24 foot knights (Foundry), 15 crossbow (OG), 4x24 spearmen (OG). Cavalry is: 4x8 knights (OG), 8 knights (GB).
Asking $5 a foot figure and $8 a mounted figure, so $1295 NEG., buyer pays postage. Please email me here. Cheers Scott Robertson

Wargaming Ideas: WECW and WAB

2010-12-31T22:04:00.000+10:00

This Blog will be used to show some of the games, units and ideas that our group in Queensland Australia use to play WAB and WECW. The WECW lists our group has come up with enable players to game scenarios from the great Cossack rebellion in 1648 up until the defeat of the Ottomans at the second battle of Chocim. The lists are Polish Commonwealth; Lithuanian Rebels; Cossack Rebellion; Swedish; Danish; Austrian; Muscovite; Brandenburg; Ottomans and Transylvanian. I am also in the process of building GNW armies to use with the excellent and fun set of rules 'Under the Lilly Banners', many of the figures from the earlier period will be useful for this period as well. Cheers Scott Robertson

What have I been painting?

2009-12-17T14:23:00.002+10:00

I have been busy with the paintbrush over the last 6 months despite my lack of posts. The major project has been a slip to the dark side and a major investment in GW Lord of Rings figures, all bought from Maelstrom Games in the UK (post free worldwide and at least 10% off list prices). I have really gotten into the new WOTR (War of the Ring), and spent about $2500 over the last 6 months on figures. The rules have many similarities to Warmaster but it has a major input from character figures (Heroes). It is not for everyone but for someone who has been seriously hooked on Tolkien's world since I was 13 (27 years ago) I really rate it as a fun and gameable set of rules. I will post photos of what I have done if anyone is interested as I like to keep this a historical (hysterical?) site.

Aside from WOTR I have been very busy doing loads of figures for an upcoming campaign set during the early Italian Wars (1498-1525). Having been inspired by the website and campaign rules (Pike and Plunder) of James Roach, Robert Fletcher and myself will be doing this in style and a big way in 2010, stay tuned for photos of this in the New Year. This period and the Mutineer period are having a renaissance (bad joke) as ther seem to be lots of very nice figures coming out, the new stuff from TAG (very nice figures but slowwww service) and a new range from Artizan. I have loads of TAG, bought 40 of the new Artizan figures and 10 packs of the Old Glory range. Should be a good year to game in 2010.

Black Powder and a last Hurrah from the Sudan

2009-12-17T13:57:00.008+10:00

Had my last game with my Sudan collection last night as I have sold it to my good mate Nathan Vinson as I needed some ready cash for other project (but I have bought an even larger lot of Sudan metal to replace it). The game last night was against Mark Piper who palyed the British Imperialist and myself playing the poor and misunderstood Beja. The battle was el Teb using the new rules from Warlord Games 'Black Powder' and I must say we had a cracking game which was over in 4 full moves (about 3 and half hours). The rules are fast fun and seem to give the flavour of the colonial period, not sure how they will work for Napoleonics but I will try them with my Wellington in India project. Highlights of the game for me, the breaking of a Highlander line with a Beja unit and the capture of a Gardiner gun however despite these valiant efforts I got my butt kicked but and this is the most important for me it was fast, fun and furious (perhaps not for the more rule inclined lawyers). Cheers Scott

Indian Mutiny figures

2009-12-17T13:21:00.011+10:00

Finally, finally I have taken some photos of my Indian Mutiny figures that I have finished painting around 6 months ago. I will be getting back to this project with a vengance in the New Year as I have to have it ready for Gerry Webb's Muster in the first quarter of 2010. The figures are all Old Glory and paint up very nicely with the Army Painter (not the best I can do but 4 to 5 quicker). I see that period is having a renaissance at the moment with some very nice games on the web from the UK and the tasty new options from Mutineer Miniatures. One thing that is worrying me over the last few years are the very nice but over priced figures coming from small UK manufacturers, Musketeer and Mutineer come to mind. I know that it is hard to make a liveable profit from figure making companies (I had Elite Miniatures here in Australia) but charging 1.50 pounds for a figure is a bit rich. The Old Glory range of Mutineer figures are fantastic and only cost me $30 a pack Australian to my door with Old Glory Army discount. Some British and Sikh loyalist troops next. Cheers Scott

A good mate

2009-12-07T11:04:00.004+10:00

Hi guys finally getting around to doing some posting on the Blog. I know that I have been very slack but this last few months have been busy and emotional with the death of a very good friend and inspirational gaming buddy. Those Australian gamers who knew Kevin Jowett from 'Battleline Scenics' do not have to be told that he was a great guy who loved everything about the hobby and after a game (or during) a good beer or wine. Kev was a man who just grabbed hold of his hobby and pushed it the limits, I would talk to Kev about a period or range of figures and a few days later he would ring and tell me he had bought another painted army or got another range of figures in stock. Just last week I unpacked a load of Wargames Foundry blisters (SYW and FPW) which Kev had ordered for himself and other customers. Kev will be missed and it is a great pity that I only got to know the man 4 years ago because he was as they say just a good bloke. See ya mate and I hope you are still pushing the lead around the table.

Lack of Posts

2009-07-24T08:47:00.002+10:00

Hi guys, sorry for my slackness over the last couple of months but many things have ensured I have not had the time or inclination to post anything. Luckily this has passed as my 5 month old daughter is sleeping better and I will try and post every few weeks. I have been painting loads of Lord of the Rings figures for WOTR and lots and lots of Indian Mutiny stuff, so I will post photos ASAP. Cheers Scott

Easter Weekend game photos

2009-04-13T22:40:00.006+10:00

Well the Easter Muster has come and gone once again. This year I felt was very poorly attended compared to last year, it is a funny thing that wargamers are always complaining about a lack of events yet fail to turn up when these events are on. I had fun despite having to do a 3 hour round trip both days and run the game. Anyway Nathan and I enjoyed the game and it was good to catch up with other gamers I haven't seen for awhile. The photos below show the course of the British relief column over the 2 days, note the fantastic scratch built paddle steamer lent to me by Mark Temple for the game, I tried to talk him into selling it but no luck. The fort is a Hudson and Allen kit which I painted for Kevin Jowett who imports them into Australia. Enjoy, Scott

Easter Weekend game

2009-04-10T08:47:00.002+10:00

Nathan Vinson of Elite Miniatures Australia at the first Easter Muster 4 years ago

Haven't posted anything for the last month, combination of new baby, school and just being plain tired (a little baby is hard work). Today is Friday and I am putting the final touches to the terrain and some figures that I will be using over the weekend at the Easter Muster. I didn't finish all the figures that I wanted but there will be over 500 28mm figures on the board so it should look alright. I have finished a 12x2 foot section of river which will represent the Nile and Mark Temple has lent me a superb scratch built paddle steamer that will be protecting the flank of the British column and hopefully get to the fort before it falls to the Mahdi. The whole set is 12x7 foot and has loads of terrain for the Mahdi to hide in and suprise the British. We will be using 'Science versus Pluck' and I will be using a Freekriegspilling appraoch on both days. I will post loads of photos of the game and other demos from the weekend next week. Cheers Scott

1st Sudan game

2009-03-02T22:31:00.006+10:00

Finally got to have a game with my Sudan stuff last Sudnay and had a ball. We used Command Piquet for the game and really enjoyed the rule system except for the dice roll for turns. I like 90% of the package that is Piquet but the D20 Command dice roll off really leaves me cold, suffice to say that the British forces had verrrrry bad rolls and ended up reacting to everything the Fuzzies could throw at them. It was fun but sitting back and not doing anything except reacting to an opposing army gets a bit tedious, I will use the FOB rule next game as I feel it will give a much more enjoyable game.

Indian Mutiny painting has been going pretty well, I have finished 100 figures in the first month. I have yet to do the terrain details on the bases on these as I have had serious thoughts about the level I want to play at (Battalion or company). I have based them twice already and have finally decided to go for the original idea of companies on 40mm square bases, 4 bases a company much like the Sudan British. I was going to base these and photograph them this weekend but my better half decided to have a baby on Saturday, so I have had my hands a little full with our baby girl Sofie. Cheers Scott

January painting total

2009-02-02T19:52:00.003+10:00

Not much to report really except for my monthly painting total. I painted the following 28mm figures in January:

16 Swedish cavalry for the Deluge (about 100 to go).
60 Indian figures for the Indian Mutiny (40 Sepoys and 20 civilians, lots to go).
5 Swiss for my Italian Wars project.

Not bad but I aim to do 10-15 Indian Mutiny figures every 2 days for the next 3 months to get the project finished (our first baby arrives in 5 weeks which will upset the painting schedule somewhat I feel).

The Italian Wars figures look very effective with the Army Painter, I have undercoated them white, painted the base colours and then hit them with Strong tone, when dry Matt spray them and then highlight the uniform colours. The plastic GW figures look the part and I am not that picky about very little details. I look forward to getting a French army finished to use against Kevin's Imperialist force (I have around 200 foot, 28 cavalry, 2 guns and hopefully another 150 foot on their way by the end of this week). I will post photos of the finished figures this week as well as pictures of my first large Sudan game using the virgin collection, we will be using Command Piquet which I really like. Cheers Scott

They're here: or Indian Mutiny

2009-01-21T20:30:00.003+10:00

Got my 30 packs of Old Glory yesterday and sat down and organised them all into their respective units. I have cleaned up 40 Mutineers (enough for 16 bases) and have started to paint them already, I will post photos of the first unit on the weekend. I have used a white undercoat and block painted the colours, used a brush to apply Army Painter (Strong tone), Matt sprayed this after 12 hours drying and then highlighted belts, rifle slings, shoes and headgear. They are looking pretty swell and the Old Glory Mutiny range is a joy to paint. I know some Old Glory ranges are average but this range and the Eastern Renaissance range are some of their best work and 30 packs for 30 bucks Australian is not to be sneezed at. I still think that the cavalry need work though, I tend to add a saddle cloth of greenstuff to ensure the figure sits properly upon the back of the horse.

For those who are wondering about the Deluge, fear not I have been busy painting Swedish cavalry and have finished 16 so far this week and have undercoated another 48 which are in various stages of painting, will post photos after I have finished the lot (including basing them. I use Bicorne, Renegade, TAG and Redoubt Miniatures in my collection as I love the larger figure, the first 3 ranges are all designed by Nick Collier who has just gotten better and better. The purpose of this ramble is to tell you all that Renegade UK are selling Nick Collier designed ECW (TYW) regiment packs of 24 infantry or 9 cavalry for the bargain price of 12 pounds (buy some). Back to painting

Deluge game: Victory without Quarter

2009-01-17T18:35:00.006+10:00

Finally had a game set in the Deluge period on Wednesday. Mark Temple came over with with 4 units of cavalry and a couple of guns. The rules used were Clarence Harrison's 'Victory without Quarter' (Quindia Studios), with a few extra modifications to cover some of the different Eastern troop types (bow, lance etc.). The Poles had 4 brigades and the Swedes had 3, so they were easier to control. I must say that they were very easy and enabled us to finish a large game in 4 hours (with chatting and coffee in between). I like these rules and will continue to play them when we all get together but I am looking at Piquet's 'Anchor of Faith' which need proper army lists for Eastern Europe. The new army lists are being done in the style of 'Band of Brothers' and I have taken the ideas from the 'Pike and Plunder'Blog (fantastic site on the Italian Wars). I will post some of these in the near future, so if you are interested leave a comment on the site. Cheers Scott

2009 Wargaming Plans

2009-01-11T22:57:00.007+10:00

The year has only just begun and I have changed my priorities with my gaming plans already. I had planned to start with the Wellington in India project but as I still need to gather figures from Redoubt Miniatures I thought that I would start with the Indian Mutiny. I did state that 2009 and would have a strong Colonial feel and the Indian Mutiny has long been a period I wanted to game, however I could not afford the Foundry range so I have let it slide for many years however Old Glory and their 40% discount have come to my rescue once again. Saturday I ordered 30 packs of British and Mutineers from Old Glory's 25mm range and with postage to Australia it has cost around 27 dollars Australian a pack, thanks to Teressa at Old Glory slipping it all into 2 boxes.

I have been reading the Flashman novels for Indian inspiration and these novels as well as the excellent book from Foundry on India have tipped me over the edge. The Foundry book is fantastic and it and another book are the first items I have gotten from Foundry since I recieved a Horde pack of Macedonian Companions as a Slingshot prize for a coiple of Successor articles 4 years ago.

The Mutiny project is to take me 6 months, I plan to paint at least 100 figures a month, which I know I can do using Army Painter. The Sudan figures have all been done with Strong tone Army Painter and I found that I could finish 10 British infantry in Khaki an hour. I plan to paint much of the British force in campaign dress, so khaki, white, light grey and scarlet will be the go, the Indian mutineers will be very similar. The Indian Mutiny special in the Spanish wargaming magazine is inspirational, not only in terms of figures but also in terrain, I feel the need for Indian fortress walls and many new buildings as well as new trees and river sections which can all be used for Wellington in India.

British
5 regiments of British infantry (30 figures each in 3 companies of 10 men, 4 bases to a company).
1 regiment of Highlanders (30 figures organised as above).
1 regiment of volunteers (20 figures organised as above).
2 regiments of loyals sepoys (30 figures each as above)
3 gun batteries (2 guns each with 4 crew per gun and 1 4 horse limber per battery).
3 cavalry regiments (2 British and 1 Indian each with 2 squadrons of 6 figures, 4 bases to a squadron).
6 command bases (2-3 figures a base).

Mutineers
6 regiments of Mutineer infantry (organised as per British infantry)
4 gun batteries (organised as per British guns but 2 batteries are drawn by oxen).
2 mutineer cavalry regiments (organised as per British horse).
4 irregular cavalry units (2-3 squadrons per unit).
9 units of irregulars (10 per units, 4 bases per unit).
6 command bases (2-3 figures per base).

Bits and pieces
4-5 elephant guns limbers (scratch build limbers, have elephants).
Baggage train (10 ox carts and numerous camels).
Indian civilians (20-30 on display bases from Eureka Miniatures).

Rules
Many of the battles during the Mutiny took place near or inside built up areas, therefore I wanted my uniits to be large and with several companies to fight in these areas but I also want them to be multiple bases (2-3 per base). I thought that Piquet FOB with the Zulu War/Sudan company suggestions will be the go but I might swing back to John Company by the Virtual Armchair General (worth getting just for campaign, uniform, battle, scenario and terrain details).

Thats the plan, so I will update the Indian Mutiny section every 30 days and show what I have painted. Cheers Scott

Sudan collection

2009-01-08T15:19:00.061+10:00

Finally got around to taking some photos of the Sudan collection after the El Cid game today. I have yet to play a game as no one seems to have the time for a little jaunt in the desert. The figures are based so that they are able to be used with numerous game systems. I have been looking again at Piquet Field of Battle (FOB), especially the rules for company actions as my collection is based on 10 figure companies (4 bases each). The British figures are all Black Tree Design, I know they are not that accurate for the early Sudan but they are close and they were also cheap. The well painted red companies have been done by Leroy Simpson (thanks mate) as I hate doing red units. The khaki companies have had green stuff trousers added, I have 2 companies to do yet which Nathan Vinson kindly gave me (he always gives me stuff, thanks mate). The lone cavalry base are Black Tree Design figures on Perry ACW plastic horses as the ones provided were s.......t. The Fuzzy Wuzzies and Ansar are mostly Old Glory except for 2 units of Castaway Art figures painted by Nathan. The kneeling camels are made by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts and are the best camels on the market (I feel). I have a couple of camel trains to paint yet and I need to buy some mounted camel corps figures to put on the camels I have from Gerry (I have 40 Reboubt figures on foot, 4 companies). I hope you enjoy the shots, I have loads of Ansar figures which I haven't taken shots of yet (104 50mm x 50mm bases done and 16 bases to go). Cheers Scott

WAB El Cid game

2009-01-08T15:01:00.004+10:00

Had a great little game today using the El Cid supplement for WAB. Mark Piper came over and we played a 2500 point aside raid scenario game. I played the Andalusians and it looked like I would lose my loot very quickly when 2 units of Jinetes ran of the board and everything panicked however within one turn Mark was on the ropes and I managed to win the game. It was Mark's first game of Wab in a few years and he had never tried El Cid before, he said he enjoyed it which was good. All figures are Old Glory (except for 15 Andalusian xbow) and painted by me when I was in Norway 2002-2004 studying Vikings. Cheers Scott

Italian Wars Figures

2009-01-05T11:40:00.018+10:00

I have been busy gluing the GW figures and Zvevda hard plastic late Medieval range together (Royal Infantry) and I feel that they look pretty good. Here are some examples for readers to judge for themselves. I have used spare heads, weapons, arms etc. to make the Zvevda figures suitable for the Italian Wars. The Zvevda Royal infantry have 36 figures per box and I have found a place in Australia that has them in stock for around 42 dollars a box. I was thinking of ordering the Royal Cavalry box (9 figures per box for 28 dollars), to see how they go with my other cavalry and provide variants.

Wargaming plans for 2009

2008-12-30T21:58:00.005+10:00

Several big wargaming plans for 2009, they mostly have a colonial slant. I blame Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts as he got me really interested in the period when I first met him in 1997 (I was a Sudan fan but Gerry opened my eyes to the gaming potential of the little wars of the 19th century). I will finish painting the rest of the Sudan stuff and actually have a game, this will be my big game at the Brisbane convention in 2009. The main painting project for 2009 will be (drum roll):

1. Wellington in India.

This will be a big project and probably take all year. For the British I plan to start of doing 2 British foot Regiments (6 stands or 18 figures each), 6 Indian Sepoy foot regiments (6 stands each), 1 British cavalry regiment (10 figures or 5 stands), 3 Sepoy cavalry Regiments (8 figures each or 4 stands) and 8-10 guns with British (galloper) and Sepoy (battalion) crew. Basically I am trying to start of with the orbat for the Battle of Assaye. The Maratha regular foot units will around 6stands each (15-18 figures) whilst irregular and Jezail units will be 6-8 stands each (12-16 figures). I had originally intended to use a mix of figures but as I got a huge number of figures from the US distributor of Redoubt at a 75% discount I have decided to stick with this whole range (plus the range towers over everything else, each figure is about 32mm tall). 75% figures already bought.

2. Italian Wars Renaissance

I had intended on doing this when I could actually feel comfortable with painting French Gendarmes but Andrew Parr (him again) has sold his large painted collection to Kevin Jowett (him again) which has forced my hand as I like to have some of my own figures on the table whe I play a game. I just love the period, nothing is prettier on the table and the battles are fantastic. This is a period that I do not have to spend any money on however as the infamous Andrew Parr sold me a load of older style GW plastic Empire figures a year ago at MOAB for a very good price (thanks mate). Before anyone starts to moan about the GW figures just have a look at Phil Olley's Italian Wars stuff using a lot of GW plastics (look at links and go to the Italian Wars showcase). Phil has done a great job and if mine look half as good I will be happy. I have been assembling plastic GW figures over the last week and I am impressed on how good they look but not impressed with all the extra work, however it will be a unique army as I am adding lots to each figure. I am basing my army on a German Imperialist force and have enough to do 2 pike blocks of 40 figures with 10 halberds and 8 musket per block (58 figures each), 1 pike block of 40 with 8 musket, 1 unit of 20 musket, 12 two handed swordsmen, 1 unit of 12 extra heavy cavalry (German knights), 1 unit of 16 heavy cavalry (German retainers) and 2 heavy guns with 4 crew each. I will be using Andrew Parr's excellent Italian Wars adaption of WAB which are really nice and have loads of extra stuff and get rid of the problem areas usually found in WAB for this period (i.e. Armies of Chivalry).

I will post more of my painting plans in the new year (colonial Mexico and Indian Mutiny). Have a good one, Scott

Last game of 2008

2008-12-30T21:24:00.016+10:00

Decided not to go to the beach with Ingrid and my mother in law today (she is over from Norway)which considering today reached 38 was a bit of a mistake but I did manage to get my first game of the holidays in. I rang Kevin (Battleline Scenics) to see if he wanted a game but he was at work, however James (his 16 year old son) had the day of and wanted to test his newly purchased Viking army against me. James' army has a very long history, I bought it in the UK in 1995 and much of it has been painted by myself, Nathan Vinson and Leroy Simpson. I took it to Norway when I was studying there (2002-2004) and it came back to Australia when we moved back, so it has like the real Vikings been around. A few years ago (3-4 years) I sold it to Nathan as he did not have a complete army to play with, so I gave it to him at a very decent price (he was to give me first offer on it if he ever sold it). James bought it from Nathan who had added some nicely painted units to it a bargain price at MOAB this year, so now it is once more near me and I can game against my old Vikings. Anyway the game was a good one using WAB which I think really suits the Medieval period, heroes play well or fit within this era, I think that the Classical period is less suited for the rules but they can be fun (just keep characters as leadership personalities and not combat killers). James had 6 units of 40 Vikings, 12Beserkers and 24 skirmishers against 7 units of 40 Anglo Saxons, 24 mounted Thegns and 24 skirmishers (I outnumbered him but he had 5100 points to my 4200 points). It was a fun game that went back and forward but I eventually had him, those Vikings are hard to kill (knew I should have never have sold them). Have a good New Years and I will doing a few different periods in 2009 with a Colonial slant. Cheers Scott

Mexican American War with Guns of Gettysburg

2008-12-15T11:07:00.011+10:00

Kevin and I played our first Mexican-American War game a few weeks ago using the large collection of figures that he bought of Andrew Parr at MOAB in October (Old Glory figures). The game was fun and we used the General de Brigade variant for the ACW 'Guns of Gettysburg' which worked well I thought. I have always wanted to do this period since I saw a large demo game at Leeds in 95 using 1st Corp figures (it was a fantastic setup). I got enough 1st Corps figures from Kevin to do 5 regiments of Americans and 5 Mexican regiments, I will add to the Mexicans and get about 5 more units of militia and peasants and some irregular cavalry. The peasants and irregular cavalry I can use in my Maximillian project (nothing bought yet). Hope everyone has a great Christmas and as I started my school holidays today I will try and ensure that I use the next 5 and half weeks off painting and gaming. All the best Scott

1st Corps Successors

2008-12-15T10:52:00.007+10:00

Hi guys here are some of the new Successor pikemen from 1st Corps (they have no photos, prices or lists on their site yet). Kevin Jowett who is their Australian distributor brought these over the other day, I am impressed and will be getting a fair few (these are eastern style in trouser and later Macedonian/Ptolemaic).

Gaugamela

2008-11-08T06:33:00.015+10:00

Played a 4500 point aside Gaugamela game last weekend using WAB. I used my Macedonians (who haven't seen an outing for a lomg time) and Russ and Bob used later Persians. It was a good game with my left flank some how managing to hold on and my phalanx in the centre finally breaking through. I want to play this game using the Crusader rules as I feel they give a better game for classical type battles, there is more command and control and characters are not overly powerful. WAB is better suited to Dark Age (early Medieval) and Medieval games, the El Cid supplement being my all time favourite. The Successor supplement for WAB seems to somewhere in the dim future going on the discussion on the SAD WAB forum. Enjoy the photos. Cheers Scott

WAB Sulla versus Mithradates

2008-09-13T17:57:00.020+10:00

I played one of my first WAB games for 12 months a couple of weeks ago against Kevin Jowett and his son James. We played a game pitting Kevin's new Marian Roman army (previously mine) against my large Mithradatic army. We used the unpublished Successor Supplement written by Jeff Jonas. Rob Broom on his Warhammer Blog maintains this will be published in the future despite a very long wait already. I am sure if the writers and contributors lived in Nottingham it would have been published years ago. Rob maintains that there are not enough ranges available in 28mm or even painted armies to photograph and put in the book (he wanted everyone to send their figures to the UK to photograph as we cannot do a proper job it seems). Rant over but this has put me off WAB in the last 2 years, Warhammer Historical seems to think that the UK is the centre of the wargaming world. Back to the game, Kevin and James commanding a large Roman army of 13 cohorts and numerous skirmishers and cavalry gave the huge army of Mithradates (commanded by me) a good kicking. It was a good day with a very relaxed playing of the game, long lunch and a few too many drinks (white wine always gives me a headache). Enjoy the photos.

Murphy's law

2008-08-31T13:27:00.010+10:00

I haven't posted for ages so when I finally decided to pull my finger out and get some photos up on the Blog the damn computer crashes. It has taken me a week to get it sorted so I hope everything goes well (so Steve if you are reading this I am very interested in Gilder's rules, email me at aydenrobert@hotmail.com). Here are some photos of the Sudan figures I am busy basing for our first game in 3 weeks. I have taken over the dining room table this last week but the missus has given them their marching orders before they have all been finished. Enjoy

Very naughty boy

2008-08-20T16:30:00.002+10:00

Hi guys I have realised that I have been neglecting the Blog lately, it has been over 2 months since I last updated it. The main reason being I haven't painted or gamed much in the way of the Deluge period in this time. I am still trying to find a ruleset that can handle big games, is fun, quick and provides a semblance of reality (whatever that may be). I have been tweaking (only slightly) the free ruleset for the ECW done by Quidia Studios (Victory without Quarter). These rules are fun and certainly give one a good game without being bogged down. They are a card driven system, the additions I have made are a Brigade card which will really help them flow, rules for bows, lances to help represent the Tartar, Polish, Muscovite, Turkish and other armies of the period. I will play a game soon and post the results and some pictures.

Painting for the Deluge period has fallen off seriously as I have been painting lots of figures for the early Sudan which I hope to play for the first time in 5 weeks over the school holidays. This has been a long term dream of mine, inspired by Peter Gilder in the old wargaming magazines of the 80's and 90's and more recently by Alt Fritz using Peter Gilder's still superb collection. I have also finished loads of desert terrain and heavily adapted a 11 x 6 foot terrain tile set lent to me by Robert Fletcher (cheers mate). I will post some phots of figures, terrain and buildings over the next few weeks. So until the next post (next week I promise), bye. Cheers Scott

BLB second try

2008-06-18T14:34:00.012+10:00

We had a second game of BLB last weekend, I had fun and enjoyed the rules but Kevin is not convinced. I think that they are an excellent set and I will be using them for WSS and GNW but they do not give me a feel for the Deluge. The Polish and Eastern sections seem to just be tacked onto the main rules and could have done with more detail and rules for the east. The free set of ECW rules by Clarence at Quindia Studios might be the set that fulfill most of our criteria and is easily adapted, wwatch this space. Meanwhile enjoy the photos the game at Kevin's place, Austrians and some Danes (Kevin) take on the Swedes and the forces of the Brandenburg Elector (Kevin's son James and I). Cheers Scott

New layout and rules

2008-05-18T09:01:00.009+10:00

Sorry guys I have been very slack in posting on the site in the 6 weeks, to tell you the truth I have had nothing really interesting to say or show. I have been working on 2 sets of terrain (1 European and 1 desert) so I can actually have a game at my place instead of using the 12 x 6 set ups that Mark and Kevin each have at their place. I have however had the oppurtunity to use 2 really interesting set of rules in the last 6 weeks, the first of these is designed for small to medium sized battles of the ECW. The rules are available from the site of Clarence Harrison of Chesapeake whose website Quindia Studios is a inspiration for painting and terrain building. I sent Clarence an email and he sent me his ECW ruleset in a PDF file for free and I highly recommend it for ECW. The system is card driven and each unit has a card that needs to be drawn before they can move, fire etc. I will be using it for ECW but I feel for the bigger battles of the TYW and Deluge the second set I tried will be the one I am sticking to. Yesterday we tried the newly released 'Beneath the Lilly Banners' and despite them being a new set we quickly got hold of the simple rule mechanics. We played a cut down version of the rearguard scenario from the rulebook (halved everything), the new setting was Lithuania 1658 and saw a small Swedish rearguard take on a very large Muscovite force. We used the rules for the Swedes and Muscovites from the GNW section and additions from the Eastern rules section. The rules are subtle and brutal and I like to see my cavalry melees quickly settles as we tend to play with very large armies and everything else has seemed to bog down in detail, give them a try for the Deluge onward (I think the TYW would be easily handled as well). I leave you with some photos of the game and my new table, it was 7 1/2 feet by 6 feet with my new latex roads; steel wool trees and hedges and hills of foam. Until next time, I promise to write more about the rules with troop classifications and unit organisation for those who may wish to give them a try (all infantry and cavalry bases are 50mm x 50mm which is very close to the stated base sizes). Cheers Scott

P.S If you are in Australia Eureka Miniatures are carrying these for 40 dollars Aus. which is cheaper than buying from the UK (I payed 19.50 Stirling including postage). Cheers

Easter Weekend pictures

2008-03-31T18:49:00.004+10:00

Hey guys here are some pictures of the two days of wargaming that took place in Brisbane over the Easter weekend. On the table where 250+ cavalry and 450+ infantry, of course after all of this preperation I managed to leave my camera at home. These photos were taken by Andrew Parr (thanks mate) who flew from Sydney for the weekend.

Brisbane Easter Weekend (week late)

2008-03-31T18:49:00.003+10:00

Finally here are some pictures of the two days of Deluge gaming that took place in Brisbane over the Easter weekend. The weekend was organised and payed for by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts (thanks mate for the last 3 years). There was a reasonable turnout over the 2 days and I hope for more next year. I managed to spend over 1200 dollars on the weekend so I kept some of the retailers happy (good to see so many up here in Queensland). The game was played using the 'Fury' rules from the Ambler gamers site and managed 250 + cavalry and 450 + infantry in 2 games over the weekend. They are not perfect but they are fun and I enjoyed them. The units are organised into 20 figures for infantry and 8 for cavalry. After dragging everything down to Brisbane (100 km) I realised I had forgotten my camera, so these photos have been taken by a wargaming friend (Andrew Parr) who flew up from Sydney (cheers mate). So enjoy and I will see you at Easter next year for a very large early Sudan game. Cheers Scott

Easter Weekend

2008-03-09T19:50:00.004+10:00

I have made a major change to the game being played over the Easter weekend at Gerry's great and fun convention, I have had to cancel the Sudan game as I just didn't get everything done that I was happy with. I like to see games with all the trimmings, personalities, vignetes, great scenary pieces and the all important civilians but these are the things that I have not yet completed so it will have you have to wait until next year to don the pithe helmet or red fez. I am now going to do a 12x6 foot Deluge period game set in the Ukraine in 1660, with Muscovites and Cossacks besieging a small Polish force in a fortified town. The Muscovites and Cossacks are unaware of a strong relief force of Polish and German (mercenary) regulars and Tartars coming to their rescue and have to fight on two fronts (lucky they have lots of troops), should be fun.

The game will look similar to the one illustrated above that we played over a year ago but with more troops, scenary and terrain. I will be using 'Winged Fury' as the rules with infantry units of 20 men and cavalry units of 8 men, I will use a D10 for command rolls for the better trained Polish units whilst the Muscovite and Cossacks will use a D6. Come along and have a game if you are in Brisbane over the Easter Weekend, I will post lots of photos after the weekend. Cheers Scott

Painting update

2008-03-02T19:35:00.004+10:00

Little to report these last few weeks as I have been busy trying to get loads of figures done for the Easter Weekend convention here in Brisbane put on by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts. I have been painting Fuzzy Wuzzy figures for the Sudan game that I will be running but I will have to recycle them as they die. Leroy Simpson has been kind enough to do a British regiment in red for me as well as a Egyptian battalion (he will do a much better job than I would). I will be using the rules 'Science versus Pluck' where everyone plays on the side of the Imperial forces and I as the umpire run the Dervish forces (and try my hardest to kill them off). The emphasis is on fun and I have been waiting 15 years to finally get the early Sudan up and running ever since I saw the campaigns of Peter Gilder (great to see his old collection having an outing on the Der Alt Fritz blog site, seriously recommended). So come have a look and join in over the Saturday and Sunday of the Easter weekend if you are in Brisbane. Finally I leave you a photo of some of my Muscovite figures as Muscovites seem to be getting popular (see the fantastic link by Nigel http://nigbilpainter.blogspot.com/

Cheers Scott

Winged Fury Test

2008-02-11T21:41:00.001+10:00

Hey guys I played my first game of Winged Fury (free set of rules from the Ambler Gamers Yahoo group) at a club in Brisbane on Sunday and had great fun. It was a Polish versus Imperial/Austrian battle with 116 points aside (only had a 8x6 foot table). The infantry units had 4x50mm bases each (20 figures) and the cavlary were mostly 3x50mm bases (6 figures) except for the cuirassier units which were 4x50mm bases (8 figures). The only modifications that I made were to unit morale status which I think was a mistake as it did lengthen combat/melee times and units stayed around too long when they should have run or routed. My reading of the rules before play made me agree with Pan Mark's statement on his Yahoo Renaissance gaming group in one of his previous posts about the brittleness of unit morale and hits from firing but after playing I feel they are probably right. I played against James who is a regular opponent (he is 16 this year), he loves the period and usually fields a very large Brandenburg army but he used his dad's Imperial one for the battle. The game rules were easily picked up by both of us, there is some problems with the language but a repeated reading of the sections helped to understand. I took a few photos but the lighting in the hall was not the best and they did not come out very clearly, sorry for that. All I can say is that we both enjoyed the game and I did not come away from it feeling that something was not right which I have felt after my last few games of 1644 (or just exhausted from all the dice rolling and working out attacks in WECW). Try them out, they are not perfect (what is) but they are fun, free and give you a good feel for the period, what else can ask for. Cheers Scott

Cossack wagon tabor and Easter Weekend

2008-02-03T13:41:00.001+10:00

Here are some photos of my Cossack wagon tabor that I finish a few weeks ago. I meant to put these up a few weeks ago but the batteries in my camera were dead so this post has had to wait until I got new ones. In the next 2 months I will only be painting bits and pieces for my Deluge collection as I am busy painting several hundred figures for an early Sudan participation game Nathan Vinson and I will be putting on at the Brisbane Easter convention. The convention is a great and relaxed 2 days of gaming in the heart of the CBD in Brisbane organised by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts. If you are in Queensland come along and join in the games and sample the growing range of figures and terrain now available from Queensland companies. Gerry will have his large range of 25mm figues (Castaway Arts), Matthew will have his 15, 20 and 25mm ranges (Battlescape), Nathan Vinson will have a sample of his extensive 25mm range (Elite Miniatures), Kevin Jowett will have his new 25mm ACW range and extensive and excellent range of painted and unpainted building in 15mm, 20mm and 25mm from Hudson and Allen, Scenic Effects and Historical Building Authority. Check the Castaway Arts site for more details of the weekend. Come along and have great day of gaming in the airconditioned rooms of Chiffley of the Mall. See you all there, Scott.

50mm x 50mm basing

2008-01-17T11:22:00.005+10:00

Some guys have been asking why and how I base my figures on 50mm x 50mm GW bases. The main reason was because I felt they looked good and the larger base gave me more room to add terrain and other bits to the base. Another important factor is transport, these figures are protected on the larger base and as a gamer who has brought back to Australia large collections by sea and air from several years in the UK and Norway they do work. The 50mm base with 5 foot figures does upset some because the frontage is not right (20mm per figure), as we started off playing WECW. However the photo here shows how a unit of 20, 40 or 60 would have a frontage of 20mm each and keeps the Warhammer crowd happy. Basically you alternate 2,3,2,3 on you base (1st and second rank), couldn't be easier.

Austrian and Brandenburg Command stands

2008-01-17T11:22:00.004+10:00

I thought I might post photos of two command stands that I painted as Christmas presents for Kevin and James Jowett as I didn't have time to photograph them before they came over for Christmas dinner (Austrian stand with yellow and orange flag). Kevin has a very large Austrian army for the TYW and Deluge period (Old Glory which you will see later) so I thought a command stand would be a good present (bit more personal). The figures for the Austrian stand are all Essex Miniatures and the flag was a black and white printout/photocopy which I then outlined with a good black pen and then painted. The outline with a good soft point pen helps the paint stay within the lines and is much easier than the handdrawn masterpieces of the League of Augsburg (they draw and paint on cloth which is beyond my skills).

James who is Kevin's 15 year old son (and also an ex history student of mine) is a very keen historical gamer who has a large painted Brandenburg army (mostly Renegade and Bicorne). The Brandenburg stand used Essex Miniatures for the cavalry escort but the Brandenburg Elector is a Redoubt figure. The figures all have had head swops and the head of the Elector was modelled with green stuff to look like engravings and paintings from the period.

1644 Game

2008-01-17T11:22:00.003+10:00

Had a 1644 game yesterday against Kevin's Austrians that was fun but left me a bit flat in regards the rules, especially the outcomes of cavalry and infantry melees which I felt lasted way too long and were not very decisive. Here are some photos of the game, I finally got to use my newly painted Muscovite army (more to paint) and as usual the favourite unit (Jiltsi lancers) was destroyed the very first game. The game was 1500 points a side with a free general and 2 wing commanders. I had 100 infantry (5 regiments of 20), 144 cavalry and 4 guns whilst Kevin from memory had 120 infantry (3 regiments of 40), 20 dismounted dragoons, 12 grenzers, 5 guns and around 100 cavalry (around 60 cuirrassiers). Kevin used the lAustrian/Imperial list from the new 1644 rulebook and I used the 1644 Muscovite list that I wrote and are on this site (might need tweaking). Hope you enjoy the photos, Kevin's Austrian look very impressive (he has painted them all in the last year or so).

More Polish units

2008-01-09T13:49:00.006+10:00

Here is the second Polish Haiduk unit.

Polish army at the present

2008-01-09T13:49:00.005+10:00

Here are all of the Polish units that I have to managed to finish so far. I have loads more units waiting in the cupboard to do, Old Glory mounted Dragoons (24), TAG Pancerni (24), Redoubt Pancerni (12), Redoubt unarmoured Hussars (12), Old Glory Haiduks (20), TAG Noble Levy (32).

Muscovites

2008-01-09T13:49:00.004+10:00

Just to ensure people that I am still working on finishing the Muscovites here is a photo of some of the cavalry.

New post for the New Year

2008-01-09T13:49:00.000+10:00

Hey guys here is the first post of the New Year and only 2 days late from my promised weekly updates. I had to wait to base up and photograph my 2 new Polish infantry regiments painted by my good friend Leroy Simpson in Townsville (Perry figures coming mate). Leroy painted up 2 x 20 man Haiduk units for my ongoing Polish army, I like doing the cavalry and only need a few infantry for this army set in the Deluge period. The figures are from the Old Glory 25mm range and the flags are drawn and painted by me, I also did the basing to go with the rest of my collection.

Muscovite and Ottoman 1644 lists

2007-12-30T18:41:00.001+10:00

Muscovite Cavalry brigade (Boyars and followers)

Hey guys hope everone had a great Christmas and got some good figures to paint, I got none but I do have a full cupboard of bare metal to paint. I will post some pictures of games in the New Year but if you go to the Esnips link you will find the new Muscovite and Ottoman 1644 lists. They have yet to be played tested so if you fiind something you disagree with just change them. Have a Happy New Year and I my first New Years promise is to post at least every week in 2008. Cheers Scott

P.S I have reloaded the lists to enable them to be read by Microsoft Word 97 (I had used 2007 and people had a problem reading them).

FINAL DELUGE LISTS

2007-12-14T09:27:00.001+10:00

Hey guys here is the link to the final lists and army background that I will be posting here.
I have also posted a series of ruses (18) that you can use in your battles, they have been adapted from the WAB Art of War supplement and are lots of fun.
The lists and additional rules all seem to work together and our group seems to be happy with them. Like always I have left them in WORD format so that you can change anything I have missed or you don't agree with. The lists have been published as seperate folders so that you don't have to wait an age for them to download (sorry about the first volume).
I will now concentrate upon painting and translating and posting information about the armies and regiments involved with the Deluge period. Please remember that Dan Schorr's excellent website (link on the right) has some fantastic information on the period and he is adding more and more every week.
http://www.esnips.com/web/wab-ramblingssBusinessFiles

Muscovites

2007-11-25T19:37:00.003+10:00

New Reiter Regiment and Muscovite cavalry brigade

2007-11-25T19:37:00.002+10:00

New unit of Muscovite Reiters in green with the rest of the new regiments I have painted so far. I still have 3 more units of reiters to do and then the Muscovite cavalry are done, remember to have a look at the 5 units of 12 Muscovite Boyar cavalry that I have already done. The unit in green was finished nearly 3 weeks ago but as I had just bought a new house I had to move everything etc. and have had little time for anything else. Those people out there who have spotted the later GNW style flag I apologise but as there is little available information in English I wanted to make them usable for both periods (early GNW). I didn't feel like handpainting the flags from Dan Schoor's excellent site but I might do later after I have had a few games (keep those people happy). For those with more information on Muscovite uniforms, flags and organisation during the Deluge period I say "please share it". There is nothing more frustrating then getting corrected on uniform points etc. (best guess many times) when nothing else is offered up. I read Swedish and some German but no Polish or Russian so would really appreciate some information from those better informed, please. Anyway for those after the 1644 Muscovite army lists I will post them and the Ottoman list some time in the near future, somehow they got left off the last last but there is nothing stopping people from creating their own using my WECW or own research. Until next time when I will talk about how the free ruleset "Father Tilly 3" plays (I am rather excited by these and have been reading them carefully). Cheers Scott

Muscovite Reiters

2007-11-04T09:30:00.001+10:00

I finally finished the first of my five Reiter units for my Muscovite armies. The uniform style and equipment are based upon the painting from the Russian historical magazine Zeughus and the Osprey book on the cavalry of Peter of Great. See older posts for the illustration of the Reiter in green. I have used Old Glory Cossack miniatures to represent the units, the figures are great and have seperate hands with pistols, swords, carbines and lance. I intend to paint the units in Brown, Green, Blue, Grey and Dark Red.

heavy Hussars new pictures

2007-10-18T21:54:00.010+10:00

Here are more of the new hussars that I have painted. The figures are the new Polish Winged Hussar figures from Essex Miniatures which have had the wings removed and green stuff added to represent the fur cape worn by the hussars. The figures are on Elite Miniature horses with saddle cloth and saddle added with green stuff and pistol holsters from Redoubt miniatures. The photos are not the best because I took them at night and did not have enough life but I hope you get the idea.

Muscovite Heavy Hussars

2007-10-18T21:54:00.009+10:00

Here are some pictures that I took the other night after I had finally finished painting them. They had been on my painting desk for a few months now and their continued presence had started to irk me so I feel they are not what I was really aiming for but I won't be painting a new lot.

Muscovite Heavy Hussars

2007-10-18T21:54:00.008+10:00

The hussars are based upon the painting and descriptions of the unit from Dan Schoor's fantastic site. The passage below comes from this site and explains the formation of the corps and its tactical uses:
http://www.northernwars.com/RusArm17.html#anchor28800

Besides the Reiters, another type of regular cavalry was the Lancers. Lancers appear by 1662 in the Belgorod Corps (on the southern border of Russia). Two regiments were converted from Reiters to Lancers. These regiments consisted of 5 companies, each of about 100 men. One company in each lancer regiment was Reiter.

In contrast to southern units, in the Novgorod Corps (Northwest) a separate Hussar regiment was formed. It had different history from the lancers. The hussars were formed as a close combat unit in Reiter regiments. Russian hussars were a copy of Polish Hussars, but without "wings" and shields (I'm not sure in it, but I have not found any mention of wings and shields in this regiment). In 1662 a separate Hussar regiment was formed under Colonel Nikifor Karaulov. In consisted of 20 officers and 350 hussars in five companies. In 1673 this regiment numbered 417 men, and 465 men in 1679.

Hussars were armed with a lance (not spear) and pistols. They were protected by a light cuirass and Naruchnik (an armour protecting the hands). In the middle of 1670's Lancer companies were added to Reiters regiments in Novgorod corps too, but a separate Hussar regiment was retained.

Essex Miniatures Polish for Muscovite hussars

2007-10-18T21:54:00.007+10:00

These are the single winged and double winged Polish hussar figures from Essex Miniatures that I used to make my Muscovite Hussars. I actually preferred the older model but this is what is available today. I used green stuff to fill the hole in the back of the model and create a fur cape, the head of the single winged hussar was replaced with a suitable one from Redoubt Miniatures (many different variants) and the hands were also replaced with ones from Old Glory which needed to be drilled (so lance would not fall out). Figures were mounted on Elite Miniatures horses with saddle cloth and saddle added with green stuff. I love these horses which are nice and large but Essex produce a very nice one for their Muscovite range which I highly recommend for your own Hussars (I get mine for free from Nathan Vinson who owns Elite Miniatures Australia, thanks mate). Nathan has a totally awesome Blog called "Lonely Gamers" which you can access in the links pages, check it out. Finally those of you who have gone through the totally bizarre process of posting a comment here I say thanks, I have tried everything I can to make it easier to post but it just gets worse whatever I do. Cheers Scott

1644 army lists

2007-10-18T21:54:00.006+10:00

Hey guys I had forgotten that I have written up a few new army lists for the 1644 rules. The Polish, Cossack and Muscovite lists can be found here :
http://www.esnips.com/web/wab-ramblingssBusinessFiles
I have yet to finish the Ottoman and other lists but this is a start. I really like the rules but there are parts that leave our group just scratching our heads. The owner of the Yahoo Eastern Renaissance discussion group (Pan Mark) has an excellent list of small additions which will help you enjoy the game and rule system even more (I use about half of his suggestions).

Finally Back

2007-10-18T21:54:00.000+10:00

It has been awhile since I last posted on this site, no real reason apart from a slow painting schedule. Thanks to those who have waited because I have some photos of my new Muscovite heavy hussar unit for them to check out. The figures are based upon this recreation from the Russian military history magazine.

Muscovites

2007-08-02T19:34:00.009+10:00

Essex Miniature Jiltsi lancers (from their Cossack range) mounted on Old Glory horses with Redoubt Miniature pistol holsters. These guys have large swan wings on their back and look almost (but not quite) as cool as Polish Hussars. The flags are from LBM Studios Byzantine range and really suit the Muscovites of the later 17 the century.

Muscovite Streltsi 7th Regiment

2007-08-02T19:34:00.008+10:00

These figures are from the great Old Glory renaissance Eastern European range. The unt flag is handpainted but the flag with Mary and the baby Jesus is from LBM Studios limited Christmas Byzantine range.

Old Glory Streltsi

2007-08-02T19:34:00.007+10:00

Old Glory Streltsi

2007-08-02T19:34:00.006+10:00

Unfortunately when I painted the Streltsi unit flags I used the infromation in the old George Gush book and should have used the infromation from Erich Palmquist's work from 1674. I have to redo the unit flags and shorten the staffs but that is in the future as I want to give them a few battles first. My friend Leroy Simpson painted the foot but I did the flags and the basing. The cavalry are mine of course as I just love doing the mounted arm of any army.

WAB pictures of GAZA

2007-08-02T19:34:00.005+10:00

Hey guys please use this link to have look at the game that my friend Nathan Vinson put on last year using my figures and his own large collection to do the battle of Gaza. The game was played using the draft Successor rules that Jeff Jonas has written and will hopefully be published soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10851464@N07/

Trilogy Paintings and 1644

2007-07-03T10:38:00.001+10:00

Hey guys not much this week in the way of figures until I take some photos of a game on Sunday using the 1644 rules. I have ordered the newly reprinted and improved 1644 rules from Foundry and eagerly await their arrival. The add on the Foundry site says that they have added TYW, Polish and Mulburian army lists and rules and photos seem to show a very slick and colourfull rule set. It is funny how things come about as I had the old set out a few weeks ago and I was working on adding army lists for the Deluge period and how to simulate light cavalry such as Cossacks and Tartars. So a few days after this the new rules are released and look very good and in addition one of my friends had a game of them last week when I was away on holidays, so it must be fate to try them out again. I actually preferred these rules to parts of WECW, the lesser firing casualties and pike rules seem to be something that WECW lacked. I will post photos and my thoughts after the game on Sunday.

On another note I came across some great drawings and paintings of the Triology (Fire and Sword, Deluge etc.) by a Polish painter that I had heard of and used his before. I was however not aware that he done a series of around 24 works based on Sienkiewicz's works. Please, please have a look at this link http://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Kossak_Jul/Kossak_Jul_6.htm if you are only slightly interested as they just give me more and more inspiration to paint and game the Cossack wars, Deluge period and Ottoman wars. I give you some of his better known paintings to inspire you. Scott

Army Lists

2007-06-22T17:20:00.001+10:00

Thought I might post a quick note before I go away on a much anticipated break about the lists I have posted, as some people have been less than happy how I have rated such and such unit (especially Winged Hussars). These lists and additional rules developed from an interest that my friends and I had in the period and because there wasn't any rules around that we really liked we decided to try WECW as the system (new 1644 rules look interesting). Our group loves the period and I especially love the books of Sienkiewicz and the subsequent movies by Jerzy Hoffman and so from the very start I have wanted some type of character identification within the rules and lists. I decided to structure the rules and lists with this mentality from the start because at the end of the day I wanted to use the figures and terrain we had all spent a lot of money and time creating. It is after all just a game to me and I wanted to have some fun with friends and there is no way in anyones stretch of imagination that WECW could be classified as a historical rule set anyway (if you think so than good luck with that one).

I have had emails from one or two people that have corrected or disagreed with the rating or placement of such and such unit in a certain list (because they have more knowledge than do I or they have read a source in some other language). I have no problem with this because at the very begining I stated that if you disagreed with something than change it, that is why I left everything in Word form anyway, so this could be easily done. I have no connection with Warhammer Historical and have done everything on this site in my own free time and let anyone and everyone have access to the lists and the rules so they can at least start and get gaming with their figures. Finally for those that dislike what I have done then just change them but don't come back and say that they are not completly historic because I have used Sienkiewicz as a influence or have left out such and such unit because the WECW system could never in a month of Sundays ever achieve that (just look at the firing of muskets and cannons as an example or the confused pike rules). These lists are my interpretation and my hard work so if you don't like them change them or do your own work and write up your mega hard and invincible Winged Hussars (but don't expect anyone to game you). I game for fun and the spectacle of well painted figures and terrain on the table and make no claim at being the font of all knowledge on the period. Hopefully that has cleared up my view on the lists etc. so until next time (when I hopefully will have some new Muscovites up for viewing). Cheers Scott

Croatian Military

2007-06-01T18:19:00.004+10:00

Just discovered a site of some fantastic Croatian Military art at http://pubwww.srce.hr/husar/

I have some of the artist's other works but this site has most of his pieces in one collection and are an inspiration for painting that Transylvanian army that I wrote the lists for and have yet to play myself. The heavy Hussar (1600) pictured above is interesting and is very easy to model with existing 25-28mm figure ranges. The figure has many similarities to the Polish and Muscovite Hussars of the same period and just shows how many of the military techniques and ideas were shared by those living close to each other. There are several other images of heavy hussars from around the 1650's which are very similar apart from the boots and some more plate, so I feel a mix of old and new style figures would look great and not be too out of place?

To start with Old Glory has a specific pack in their Eastern Renaissance range which is well detailed but way too small for my liking, then their are the unarmoured Hussars models from Redoubt miniatures which look great and are large (28mm), see my attempt above (painted as Lithuanians). The new Polish Hussars from TAG would also fit the bill and you could use the wing to represent Tartar nobles as pictured trying to captrue Karl X by several contemporary artists. However I am going to use a combination of the new Essex Miniature Polish Hussars without wings to make this unit. They are being painted at the moment as Muscovite heavy hussars but the addition of a seperate flag will enable them to fight in the 1656 Transylvanian invasion of Poland with their Swedish and Cossack allies.

Broadband and scenario idea

2007-06-01T18:19:00.002+10:00

Finally got my Broadband connection so I can actually post more photos and not have to wait for ages to do so anymore. I have been reading the Generals Compendium published by GW USA (2003)and even though it is designed for Warhammer Fantasy the book has some great ideas for campaigns, terrain building, sieges, scenarios and ship combat rules that are easily adapted to WECW and WAB. There is one scenario that is easily adapted to the Deluge period and that is the raid scenario (pp. 166-7).

Raid 1656

Objectives

The attacking players objective is to loot and then burn as many structures as possible and also slay as many defenders as is possible.

The defender has to try and stop the looting and destruction of his buildings and kill as many attackers as is possible.

The Battlefield

The most important features on the battlefield are the 6 structures. These can be houses in a small village a church or a windmill for grinding grain (whatever you have but please ensure they fit into a Eastern context). These buildings each contain 1 loot point and should be spread across the table outside each sides deployment zone (centre of the table looks and feels right).

The Forces

Both sides choose from the respective lists to an agreed points value. The defender has only 75% of the attackers points. For instance 1500 points of defenders against 2000 points of attackers.

To give a period feel of this type of raid which was common throughout the Deluge, each army are only allowed to take cavalry and dragoon units (dragoons may start dismounted).

Deployment

The defender sets up his entire army in his normal deployment zone (as per rules) and then the attacker sets up in his normal deployment zone.

1st Turn

The attacker moves his army first.

Special Rules

The structures are classed as timber, brick or log buildings and therefore have T7 and 5 damage points. Attacking units have to spend 1 turn near a building to loot it and all attacking units are equipped with torches and will take one turn of base to base contact to ensure that the building is on fire.

Scenario Length

The scenario will last a minimum of 6 turns or until agreed.

Who has won

The players receive 1 point for each loot point have taken or saved and 1 point for each building they have destroyed or saved (attacker and defender).

I will play this game ASAP and publish an illustrated report here. The game will see an attacking force of Cossacks and Muscovites raiding the fringes of the Lithuanian Duchy in 1656 (Lithuanian rebels and Swedes).

Where have you been?

2007-06-01T18:19:00.000+10:00

Sorry to have made everyone wait so long for this post (5 weeks) but I had thought that when I signed up for Optus broadband I would only have to wait the maximum 10 days and not over 4 weeks. The modem only arrived yesterday and I have yet to pick it up, so I this post is still the so slowwwww dial up (which means only a few photos).

I have been a little busy with games over the last few weeks and have been able to play both WECW and WAB. Last week I actually got to use some figures that haven't seen the wargaming table for around 4-5 years. We played a nice and relaxed game of WAB at Mark's place using the the final (I hope) draft of Jeff Jonas' Successor supplement. The game was set circa 260 BC and saw a large force of Seleucid troops launch a suprise attack against a Ptolemaic force and their newly established camp. In total there was 10 large phalanxes of Pikemen and mercenary hoplites as well as 7 elephants, 100 plus light infantry and around 140 cavalry. Good fun was had by all and it was the first game that Kevin's young son James (15) actually went on the offensive (some advice added from myself and Kevin of course). To be honest Mark and Jeff had a difficult task but their lack of knowledge of the WAB rules probably aided their downfail (don't care still beat you Mark).

To finish of until I get my modem and broadband hooked up here are a couple of pictures from a game that saw 2000 points of my Cossacks ally with 2000 points of Swedish mercenaries against a 4000 point force of Austrians and Brandenburgers. The battle was a difficullt one with the terrain breaking up any combined attack by both sides but James' lack of aggression allowed Kenny and I to create a massive hole in one wing of the combined army (that's why Kevin and I pushed James so hard in the next game). Until next time.

2007-04-22T10:08:00.000+10:00

Bit of an of mixed post this one with varied topics, as I have been very busy with the new term at school (little painting done). First I would to start with some new figures for Poles from the 17th century. The photo here is from the website of a little known company called 'Bears Den Miniatures' in the UK. The company has just released a large range of Poles to fight their very nice Ottoman range. The figures may well not be to everyone's taste but these winged Hussars in plate armour fill a gap that is still there in the market. The new Essex Miniature ones are unispiring (and mine have already been converted to Muscovite Hussars) whilst the Old Glory heavy cavalry are way too small and no one in his right mind could afford Foundry Miniatures (and they are small as well). TAG said they may do some Hussars in plate later on but as they are about to start a large TYW project I don't see this happening for awhile, if ever (there is also talk of an Italian Wars range after the TYW).

Anyway see this link for the new company http://www.bearsdenminiatures.com/28mm%20products.html I really like the Mounted command, Hussars, Tartars and small gun and crew whilst the Ottoman range has some very tasty Spahis and command on armoured horses, the foot figures are not really to my taste but the cavalry are very good and only cost 2 pounds each. I will be ordering some Hussars very soon and will post a review if anyone is interested. It is good to see a sudden surge in interest in Eastern renaissance wargaming and especially new and excellent ranges of figures.

Those who might be interested in the Transylvanian lists that I have posted for the Deluge period (very very pretty army), I obtained a great link from the Ottoman Wars Yahoo site posted by Rick Orli on the Hungarian and Ottoman cohabitation during the period 1500-1700. The link is http://mek.oszk.hu/01900/01911/html/index.html and contains some good images and information on the ill-fated Transylavanian incursion into Poland during the Deluge period as allies of Karl X and the Cossacks.

On a completly different note I offer up a fantastic primary online source for the battles, uniforms and sieges of Karl X's wars in Poland and Denmark. During the Deluge period the Swedish king always had with him a very interesting character called Erik Dahlberg, whose writtings and drawings showed first hand all aspects of the campaigns of his King. Many of these drawings were used by Samuel Pufendorf to make a fantastic record (i.e. book) of the short reign of Karl X. These images always appear in the books that deal with Karl X and I thought I might see how much one of these would cost as it would be a fantastic resource. Anyway a quick search showed the cheapest copy going for 6000 Euros, so perhaps I might have to put it of awhile (Christmas present perhaps)? Here is the link online at a Polish University http://kpbc.umk.pl/dlibra/doccontent2?from=rss&id=3242 Have fun investigating the pictures, they have loads of uniform, battle and modelling inspiration.

Finally it has been inspiring to see a Yahoo group set up to talk about wargaming and the military history of Eastern Europe. There has been a lot of great discussion yet one thread has interested me a great deal and that is the one on wargaming the Deluge period. Daniel Staberg, a keen Swedish gamer who has studied the period closely at University maintains that because of the superiority of the Swedish army and the ad hoc basis of the Polish armies the battles will always be a one sided affair. This got me thinking because whilst this is true on paper the fact remains that the Swedes did lose the war and many major battles. The largest defeat being one of the last ones in Denmark during the war, Nyborg which saw a large Danish, Polish and Dutch force smash a smaller but experienced Swedish army. Daniel has made several very interesting statements but I think that he has approached gaming the period in a very different way to myself. I am a gamer who is interested in researching, collecting and painting my armies but it is a game that I play at the end of the day not a simulation. Daniel I believe is a simulator who tries to recreate the many different variables present in an army and a battlefield. I too once liked this style of gaming and would like to take it back up sometime (Empire and Ancient Empires), but and it is big but, the rules take ages to learn and a good sized game takes forever to play (2 days). Many people like to get their gaming over in a 4-5 hour period as family, jobs and the pressures of the modern world interfere in our day to day world and gaming time.

I would be the first to admit that WECW is not the perfect answer and that is why our group has taken ages to try and get it right. I think we have reached a happy medium for games under 6000 points and the mechanisms of the game can handle it in a reasonable manner. If you don't like a rule etc. change it so that all your gamers in the group feel happy. Gamers are a funny lot and we all have a different perspective on all aspects of the hobby but what has attracted me to the Deluge period is the huge variety of the armies and the personalities. The personality and career of Karl X just gets more and more interesting the more I read about him. Having spent several hundred dollars over the last few months on Swedish books I must say that the interest will coninue to grow.

To finish off my ramblings I would just like to check if people would be interested in a basic introductionary work on the Deluge period? I have been working on collating wargaming information (regiments, uniforms etc.), on the Swedish, Danish, Brandenburg, Muscovite, Cossack and Transylvanian armies and a basic overview of the campaigns. I would simply post it on this site as a link, but it is a fair way off as I am only half finished. Until next time, keep painting and I hope to have those damn Muscovite lancers posted next time.

Thursday Game

2007-04-13T11:03:00.001+10:00

Played my first game with a Muscovite army proper yesterday and had a very good win over Robert's Ottomans. It did help that I had Kevin on my side and his dice rolling was inspiring but 5000 points allows a player to put a lot of troops on the board which can cover some lost combats. I used my 2 Cossack pike and 2 Cossack cavalry as Muscovite new regiments, as I have yet to paint them up (got them Wednesday from Old Glory). I also recieved two cavalry unit packs from TAG yesterday for my Ottoman and Polish armies. I will start painting Ottomans when the Muscovites are finished but the next unit on the painting desk after the Jiltsi lancers are a 12 man Hussar unit using Polish Winged Lancer figures from Essex miniatures. These figures only need a bit of work with green stuff and of course no wings to pass muster as Muscovite heavy Hussars.

The Muscovite army used on Thursday had a German mercenary pike unit and cavalry regiment that Kevin had just finished painting, so this battle was the first blooding of his troops and they went well. Kevin is building an Austrian/Imperial army for the Deluge period whilst his brother Kenny has started a Mercenary army with 2 units of Scots which he will add German troops to later on. Karl X enlisted 3 regiments of Scottish foot totalling 3000 men for the Polish invasion in 1655 and a lot of German regiments (foot and horse). I am in the process of translating and listing a brief regimental history of these units from my newly purchased books from Sweden (Carlbom and Stade). Kevin's 15 year old son James is also building up a Brandenburg force that can be used as allies for the Swedes and then later on for the Poles, Austrians and Danes. The new gaming recruits and Russ (with Swedes) makes our group now number 6 very keen players, so I hope to start the campaign anew in the next few months and even sooner if Robert sells his very large collection of ECW figures to Kevin (come on mate I know you want to). Anyway will post the seperate lists over the weekend but now I am going to the movies to see 300 and see how dire the film really is. Cheers Scott

Muscovites and Easter weekend

2007-04-11T21:13:00.001+10:00

Hey guys had a great Easter weekend of gaming at the Brisbane Muster put on by friend Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts (thanks mate). My friend Nathan and I put on a very large game of WAB using the draft rules from the yet to be released "Successor Supplement", that I have been lucky enough to be a part of (hope these get published one day). We played the battle of Gabiene between Antigonus and Eumenes in 317/16 BC (see my Slingshot articles issues 233-34 if interested), and had a ball. This period has always been my favourite period and one that I hope to finish a PHD in one day, however my gaming enthusiasm has been tested by the long wait Jeff Jonas has had to endure to get this published (WAB headquarters seem to be interested in publishing supplements about little known periods from UK based authors or so it seems to non based UK gamers). Anyway anti WAB rant over, we used 12 x 6 foot desert terrain built by Robert Fletcher for the Sudan (the battle was in Iran and thanks again BOB), to recreate the battle and it looked and played very well with nearly 1000 28mm figures on the board. The battle was lots of fun and flowed backwards and forwards as a Macedonian civil war game should. I should have posted a taster picture of the game but as this is Blog is really about the Deluge period I will ask those who are interested to use the links page to visit Nathan's 'Lonely Gamers' page to see loads of pictures of the great game (he also has Broadband compared to my very slooooow dial up). I would also like to thank Kenny for taking loads of great pictures as my poor digital could not handle the poor light.

Anyway back to the Deluge period and my lists especially those concerning the Muscovite army which I have been busily painting. I recieved my Old Glory order today and am now able to build 5 x 8 units of New cavalry regiments (Reiter regiments) and finally have the pike components for the infantry units. I have added a Hussar unit to the lists that I somehow left out. I know the first unit was raised in 1662 but one squadron of each of the new reiter regiments were equipped in this fashion from the beginning. I don't really don't know how to simulate this in WECW, so the ability to field a seperate unit seems to be the best option in a Muscovite army of the Deluge period and very historical after 1662. Anyway it gives me the excuse to paint a very different unit which I can use the newly purchased Essex Miniatures to represent (without wings of course and Redoubt Miniatures heavy cavalry head conversions). The spare wings from the Polish Hussars that I now have can be used to represent Tartar nobles who nearly captured Karl X whilst fighting with the Poles. I have my first game with my Muscovites tommorrow versus the Ottomans (5000 points) and look forward to seeing how they play and I will post the photos ASAP. On the weekend I will post all of the improved and hopefully streamlined army lists by themselves on this site on the weekend so they can be quickly downloaded. Cheers Scott

Muscovite Army Progress

2007-03-17T10:37:00.001+10:00

Haven't posted in nearly two weeks so I thought I might just talk about what I have to do to complete my Muscovite army for WECW and Picquet 'Anchor of Faith'. On the painting table are a unit of 10 Essex Jiltsi lancers which are very nice figures and will look great on the table (nearly finished these). I willl then start on 3x20 man of Streltsi in yellow, orange and light blue and then 3x40 man new soldier regiments (one unit done already in blue). The new soldier regiments were modelled on the Western style but soldiers wore Muscovite costume, so musket and pike regiments in differing kaftan colours (should look great). I have just ordered another 30 Cossack cavalry who will be converted into the new regiments of Muscovite cavalry, the picture shows how these looked. The picture comes from a Russian magazine (Zeughus?) and I would like to thank a much better informed and friendly enthusiast for supplying this. When the Old Glory figures arrive I will add pistol holsters from Redoubt miniatures and ensure that they have headgear that is more appropriate for Muscovite soldiers. There will be 4x8 man units (2 figures added from the Essex Ottoman range), and will be classed as gallopers in WECW (mostly raw and average) but they will only fight in single line (no rank bonus). After I paint the cavalry I will add one German mercenary unit of cavalry of 10 men (Essex Miniatures Polish Rajtars and Arqubeusiers with Redoubt head swops), and that will be all I need to paint. I have enough Cossacks (foot and cavalry) that can used in the army and also Tartar light cavalry but I need to finish two more guns and crew. That will be the army and then onto completing my Poles, Swedes and starting my Ottomans.

I have been busy using the credit card in the last two weeks (don't tell Ingrid) and suprise, suprise everything has arrived on time. I recieved the second and fantastic volume on the GNW from Dan Schorr in the US (Acedia press book on Russians, Saxons, Danes and Prussians), lots of great detail on flags, uniforms and unit organisation. Russian flag details will be used on some of my Muscovite units. I also recieved another two cavalry unit builder packs from TAG (11 days to Australia), I got another unit of Polish Pancerni (2 TAG units now) and a unit of Ottoman Dellis as well as a Jannisary cooking pot and a nice little free Ottoman Jannissary commander. What can I say guys, these are just wonderfull figures that are very good value in unit packs especially with free postage to Australia (order before the offer stops). I also recieved the first of three books that I ordered from Sweden on Karl X, this book on Carlbom is 97 years old and has soooo much detail on the Swedish and Finnish regiments in Karl's army but more interesting I finally have information about the foreign infantry and cavalry regiments (German, English etc). Great buy and I would like to thank Dan for really recommending this great book (probably take the rest of the year to read but so what). Any way waiting for the other two books with extreme enthusiasm. I also ordered 7 packs of Old Glory from the US using my Old Glory Army discount (40% off), even with postage they only cost me 30 dollars Australian each. I ordered 3 packs of Cossacks (as Muscovites), 2 packs of Polish mounted Dragoons (with 4 Essex figures to make 3x8 man units), 1 pack of Polish Haiduks and 1 of Muscovite pike. Lots of painting to come, I think that this year is still to be devoted to the wars of Karl X and next year has to be the GNW. Till next time.

Rules and more rules

2007-03-04T16:04:00.001+10:00

I have been searching for a set of rules to play the bigger Deluge games that our collections seem to push us towards. I and the play testers have put loads of thought and work into making our Eastern adaptions to WECW, and they work pretty well up to a point. I have found that over 6000 points the games become clumsy and very longwinded. There is no real command and control and the bigger games just don't seem to come together. I know this is a problem with several of the others ,so I have been searching for that other mythical rule set that may solve our problems with the larger games and I think I have found something we can use, "Piquet and the Anchor of Faith" supplement . Now I am not saying that these rules are for everyone but they seem to hit the nail on the head for me and I really like how they have based and created units. I have yet to play them but having just also purchased the FOB (Field of Battle) set I think I am into a Piquet frame of mind. I will keep you posted on these when I get time to sit down with someone and play a small game.

I leave you with a picture of a Swedish camp sometime during the period of Karl X (lots of modelling inspiration here).

Figure Musings part 2

2007-03-04T15:41:00.001+10:00

The last week and half has been a good one for me with all of my overseas orders coming one after the other. I finally recieved the two unit packs from TAG after nearly 5 weeks. I had ordered them nearly a month before but I became worried as I had not recieved them, I then emailed Pete who said that that was way too long and he quickly resent the package no questions asked. So great service from TAG and I have already ordered another two cavalry unitg packs. The figures are fantastic and the detail on the Ottoman Spahis makes me want to start painting my Ottomans straight away. They have finally redone thier website and it is great and easy to use, see it at http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/

I also recieved a package from Essex Miniatures with some of their redesigned Poles and Cossacks. The Hussars are nice but not that exciting, I got enough to do two units of 8 figures, one with two wings and the other with one. The very exciting thing for me was the Jiltsi lancers that are for some reason listed in the Cossack range. These lancers were an elite unit in the Muscovite army and are a painters dream. They are in a deep red kaftan edged in gold with two white swan wings attached to their back and carrying blue and yellow lance (which should have a small dragon on the end of it). The photos above show the Essex figure on an Old Glory horse with Redoubt pistol holsters.

I also recieved the flags from LBM studios, which are fantastic and I have managed to track down an Australian distributor who sells these for a very decent price. The distributor is in Melbourne and his name is Michael Cope, if anyone is interested I can probably put his email here if he doesn't object? I also recieved some Swedish and Russian flags from Vaubner studios in Canada, these are for my next planned project the GNW but I can use some of them for the Deluge period at a pinch.

Muscovite cavalry Brigade

2007-03-03T15:04:00.001+10:00

The Muscovite cavalry brigade in all its force, 5 units of 12 cavalry ready to invade the Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth or take on the Swedes.

Old Glory Muscovite cavalry

2007-03-03T14:11:00.005+10:00

Here is a 12 man Muscovite cavalry unit that I have just finished. The figures are mostly Old Glory except for 2 Essex miniatures figures, they are mounted on plastic GW horses that I had in the spare box. The flag is from the Byzantine sheet by LBM studios and are fantastic if a little fiddly to fit.

Essex Muscovite cavalry

2007-03-03T14:11:00.004+10:00

Muscovite cavalry from the Essex Muscovite and Ottoman range (Boyar with head swap). The horses are all 1st Corps, whilst they can seem small they portray realistically the smaller breeds prevelant in the East (my story and I'm sticking to it). The flag is once again LBM with excellent tassels from Front Rank Miniatures with pistols and holsters from Redoubt.

Three other Essex Muscovite units

2007-03-03T14:11:00.003+10:00

Three views of the 3 remaining Essex Muscovite units, I only have to paint one more Old Glory unit and the Muscovite noble cavalry are done. I have just undercoated a Jiltsi unit and will be painting them very soon. Looks like I have will finally get to use my Muscovite army in a game, perhaps against Robert's Ottomans or Russ' Swedes?

Saturday Game

2007-02-19T19:43:00.001+10:00

Here are just a few more images of the game we played on Saturday. The top left one shows just one of the very strong Polish columns. Each column had five cavalry regiments of 12 and a 40 man mercenary pike and musket unit. The fort held 30 dismounted dragoons, a 12 man heavy cavalry unit and 2 very lucky mortars. If you hadn't guessed, I went down in a screaming heap with my 4 newly painted Muscovite units being utterly destroyed (I put it down to not having any flags on these units as I am awaiting their arrival).

Cossacks and Muscovites versus Poles game

2007-02-18T09:44:00.001+10:00

Had my first game in over a month on Saturday. We played a relief game where two columns of Poles had to advance and relieve a fort that was being besieged by a large Cossack and Muscovite force (circa 1656). I played the Cossacks and Muscovites whilst Kevin and his son James (15) led each of the Polish columns, Kevin's brother was in charge of the small force holding the fort but they did have 2 mortars that did soooooo much damage to my forces.

The fort is a heavily modified 20mm plastic kit from the Russian company Zvelda (something like that). I placed the fort on a MDF base and built up the earth parapets with foam. The walls were widened with scribed balsa so that 40mm bases can be placed on them. The fort cost 30 dollars Australian when I bought it about 18 months ago but since then I have seen them for a lot more, which is a great pity as I want 1 more to make it large enough for a great siege game.

The picture on the left shows the view from the fort as the 2 columns advance but are seperated by an impassable section of forest. The table is 12x6 feet and if you look closely you can see that Kevin has added a small section around the edge which he has painted to look like hills, forests and the sky, which is pretty cool and it means that your figures will never get knocked off the table.

Figure musings

2007-02-12T17:12:00.000+10:00

Haven't posted in nearly a week, I was hoping to review the two cavalry unit packs that I ordered from TAG nearly a month ago. I know the UK is on the other side of the world but other figure and book companies always seem to get my order to me very quickly and Caliver Books even has postage free on miniatures over 16 pounds. I won't email TAG yet as I know they have my order but it is annoying and I do plan to spend around 400 pounds or even more with them this year if they can ever get their site fixed. Anyway, better news is that Essex Miniatures have redesigned their Polish and Cossack range over the last year and I have sent for some samples which I will post here when I receive them. I have ordered a load of Hussars (with single and double wings), dragoons, rajtars and personalities from the Polish range and characters and Jiltsi lancers from the Cossack range as well as some Tartars. The Jiltsi lancers should have been in the Muscovite range as they were an elite formation using gilded dragon lances and swan wings, I hope they are modelled like that. I have spent a little bit more than normal these last weeks after getting a full time position yet I am still waiting for everything which is a little frustrating, flags from Caliver (LBM Studios), flags from Vaubeneer (just ordered these though), figures from TAG and Essex Miniatures. Hope these all arrive very soon, as 4 units of Muscovite cavalry need some standards for the game on Saturday where I get to use my fort for the first time. Picture is a Turkish Spahi waiting to charge those infidel Poles. Cheers Scott

Delis and Jannissaries arrive

2007-02-06T20:19:00.000+10:00

Here are some more of the fantastic water colours from Germany, Delis and some great looking Jannissaries. I have been slow during the last few weeks in putting up new pictures of painted stuff but please stay with me as I have just started my brand new career as a high school teacher and have found it takes up more time than everyone thinks (but looking forward to those long holidays). I have however finished the last of 4x12 man Muscovite cavalry regiments and I will post photos when I recieve the flags from Caliver Books (LBM Studios). I have used the Byzantine flags because after seeing many of the Muscovite/Russian flags at the Swedish Army museum I feel that they are very close and ideal for the Noble levy regiments of cavalry. I have 2x12 Old Glory cavalry regiments on the table and I am also waiting for TAG to release their large Muscovite range which has been waiting for moulding/release for over a year (will buy 2x12 man cavalry units). Talking about TAG, I ordered 2x12 man cavalry unit packs about 3 weeks ago and have yet to recieve them, from talk on the TMP site this seems to be the norm. They are postage free worldwide and I will only start to panic after another week of waiting. They are updating their site once again (third time in the last few years), and promise to have all the many problems sorted out. I for one plan to be ordering lots of unit packs this year, so I hope the site update is a great improvement. Finally Maximillian from Germany has come up with the idea and example of a specific mercenary list that most of the armies can access. This is a great idea, much like the one in Shieldwall and when I have time I will tweek these a little more, which will also help make the lists more managable. I think in the next month I will post everything that I have done so far without pictures so that it is easier to download. To finish for those that are interested in the period I recommend joining the American Renaissance society run by Rich Knapton(Yahoo site as well). Richard produces a great magazine roughly 4 times a year, the last one concentrates upon the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (some stuff there by yours truly). Cheers Scott

More Poles and Ottomans

2007-01-30T22:09:00.000+10:00

Water Colours: Polish Hussars

2007-01-28T19:06:00.000+10:00

These are a series of Polish and Ottoman watercolours that I bought over 20 years ago and started my interest in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The watercolours are still available by on the internet from a site in Germany, if anyone is interested I will post their site (they are well woth the money).

Friday Game

2007-01-22T09:40:00.000+10:00

Had a 5500 a side game on Friday, my Cossacks versus Michael and Robert using Bob's Ottomans. Apart from the game I was interested in how the lists and new/additional rules played, especially as Michael always seems to have a very good perspective on rule systems (methodical). I won't say much about the game except it was very close and my Cossack's went down to the Ottoman assualt, losing the army commander and standard bearer as well as numerous other units (all my best ones). Bob was pretty excited as it was his first victory over me in any system since 2002, I blame my damned Brotherhood unit who went chasing after a fleeing unit and then were smashed by 3 Ottoman cavalry units, live and learn I should have taken more infantry. Anyway the rule corrections/additions that came out of the game for us were the following:

1. Toughness, I have always hated how veteran units are a toughness of 4, it changes the of the whole feel and fairness of the game. We agreed that the only unts to have a toughness of 4 will be Elites, rare and expensive (Winged Hussars etc.).

2. Rash, this rule is a bit harsh as units have to charge any unit be it foot ot horse in charge range, we changed this to a D6 roll, a 1-2 means they have to advance (instead of a D6 roll of 1) and if any enemy are in charge range they have to charge on this roll (a 33% chance of charging off out of complete control instead of the 100% chance previuosly).

3. Artillery, need to be able to cause some damage to buildings, earthworks and tabors. We have never been able to find how many wounds a cannon makes so our group decided to use the following template; a light gun will cause D3 wounds, a medium gun will cause D3 plus 1 and a heavy gun will cause D3 plus 2. Now a gun especially a heavy piece has the potential to destroy a wagon in a tabor with one hit.

I gave the others the new army lists to peruse and provide suggestions but the initial opinions seem to be very positive. I will post these if there is any interest, as I have been away there doesn't seem to be much action on the site, so if you want them posted leave a comment or email me. So far there are a total of 15 lists that will enable players to fight armies from 1623 up until 1673; they are 5 Polish, 1 Cossack, 2 Swedish, 1 Brandenburg, 2 Austrian, 1 Danish, 1 Transylvanian, 1 Muscovite and 1 Ottoman. Each of the lists has varients built into it, such as different allies etc. for different periods. It is now much easier for a novice to actually pick an army, one that seems to be historical (seems as many of us have different views upon what is right etc.).

Any way guys I leave you with a picture of a fantastic and very large statue of Karl X that stands on the street about 150 metres from the entrance to the Wasa museum in Stockholm. The staue has many of the major battles inscribed on the base and I was a very happy chap when I finally found it. Cheers Scott

Deluge WECW changes

2007-01-16T23:07:00.001+10:00

Thought I might post a bit of a taster from one of the Polish lists to show how I am approaching the revised book.

Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth army: The Deluge 1655-1660

Characters: King, Polish and or Lithuanian Grand Hetman, Army Standard Bearer, Catholic Bishop, Rotmistrz and Master gunner.
Core Units: Pancerni, Rajtar, Noble levy cavalry (must have at least 2 units of Noble levy) and Dragoons.
Special Units: Polish Hussars (must have 2 Pancerni units for every hussar unit), Drabant Guards (1 unit only in army) and Lithuanian Tartars.
Rare Units: Lithuanian Hussars, Regimented Cossack cavalry and light artillery.
Mercenaries: 10% of the total points may be used to purchase the following mercenaries;
Reiters and German Harquebusiers, German Mercenary foot and Wallachians.

Special Rules: Noble commanders must lead units of Winged Hussars and Pancerni if no characters are present in the unit. Noble Commanders cost (16 pts); see ‘Armies of Chivalry’ (p. 44), they are not considered to be characters for unit selection purposes. Noble commander has two attacks and can issue or accept challenges from characters.

Allies: 25% of the total points may be used on one only of the following Allied forces;
Reliable Allies:
Austrian- Oberst, 1-2 Cuirassiers, 1-3 Trotters, 0-1 Croat regiment and 0-2 Austrian infantry regiments*.
Denmark – Colonel, 1-2 Danish Cavalry, 0-2 Danish Militia units and 0-1 Garrison units*.

Reluctant Allies:
Tartars – Amir, 1-3 Light cavalry (from the Cossack list).
Brandenburg- Colonel, 1-2 Cuirassiers, 0-1 Dragoons, 1-3 City regiments and 0-2 light cannon*.

*Allied units are listed under respective national lists.

Reliable Allies: If reliable allies are chosen, there must be at least one allied character to lead these contingents, they can use the army general and battle standard bonus.

Reluctant Allies: If reluctant allies are chosen, there must be at least one allied character to lead these contingents, they cannot use the army general and battle standard bonus.

Mercenaries: Mercenaries get no benefit from the general’s leadership or the battle standard bonus.

The Army of Karl XII

2007-01-16T23:07:00.000+10:00

Fantastic trio of Swedish cavalary from the period of Karl XII at the Swedish Armee Museum at Stockholm. Notice the small size of the horses and just how close they are to each other to help with the delivery of the famous Swedish cavalry charge. I plan to do the Great Northern War later this year when I get through this pile of lead for the Deluge period. Musketeer Miniatures are bringing out some fantastic figures for the period and these combined with the great War of the Spanish Succession range from Front Rank will fulfill all my needs, except for Ottomans and Poles of course.

TYW Diorama

2007-01-11T17:45:00.000+10:00

Hey guys thought I might post a couple of reasonable pictures of the fantastic 30mm TYW diorama from the Swedish Armee museum in Stockholm. The figures used are from the old Tradition range, which still look good and of course they are also a Swedish company. The diorama has 5800 painted figures, including cavalry, infantry and artillery, what a great wargaming army that would make! The first picture shows part of the right flank of cavalry, the diorama is in two parts and stretches around 12-14 feet in length. The second pictures shows a close up of one of the infantry regiments on the left flank, picture is not that great but you get the feel of how many miniat

ures there are on the board.

New Year

2007-01-09T16:10:00.000+10:00

Hey guys, it has been nearly 2 months since I last posted on the site. We finally got back from our 7 week trip, we both had a ball and enjoyed many highlights. The highlights for me regards gaming and history have to be the Pergamon museum in Berlin and the great Swedish Armee Museum in Stockholm. I got lots of good stuff for the period of Karl X from my trip to Stockholm; books, photos and information on flags captured in Poland during 1655/60. I have been busy looking over the army lists as well in the last 2 days and I have attempted to come up with a better model for choosing an army. Maximillian in Germany has come up with some very good ideas which I have attempted to include, such as different rules for Mercenaries, Reliable and reluctant allies etc. So far I have 5 different Polish lists; 1623-47, 1648-54, 1655-60, Rebels 1656-57 and 1661-73, I think this way the different armies can be presented in a way that reflects what was actually present. I will need help to play test these lists, so if you are interested and have access to armies drop me a line. To finish today I post 2 pictures of a Swedish pike formation from the TYW period at the Swedish Armee museum (scale is 1\5th).

WAB El Cid Game Saturday 11-11-06

2006-11-13T18:55:00.001+10:00

Mark and I played a really fun and hard fought El Cid game on Saturday, I finally got to use my church model that I finished a few months ago. Both armies were 3700 points and we used the raid scenario, Mark and his Christian army had the loot and my Andulusian army had recapture it all. I managed to regain my loot but both sides suffered heavy casualties and the Christian King reminds me of when I used to play WHFB, he is a Demon/Dragon rider in disguise (way too over the top much like the Norman King).

WECW changes for the New Year

2006-11-12T23:22:00.000+10:00

I have played tested most of the Deluge WECW army lists and I feel that all (I hope) special rules and changes have been ironed out. In the New Year (mid to late January) I will put up the new and I hope final draft for everyone to enjoy but I have changed one major point that I feel is lacking in WAB and WECW. This point is that many armies I have seen used, whilst fitting into the army list percentages do not really show how the armies were organised in the real world. I have therefore decided to follow the WHFB model and one used in an early draft of the WAB Shieldwall supplement, armies will have a set access to Characters, Core units, Rare units and Special Units. This will be represented like this:

Army Size Characters Core Units Rare Units Special Units
below 1000pts 1 1 1 0
1000-1999pts 2 2 3 1
2000-2999pts 3 3 3 2
3000-3999pts 4 4 4 3
4000-4999pts 5 5 5 4
5000-5999pts 6 6 6 5

Over 6000 points the armies become too unwieldy and lack any real command and control, for the larger games I am thinking of adapting and using Warmaster Ancients.

Characters: The figures listed are the maximum of models drawn from this category.
Core Units: The figures listed are the minimum number of units drawn from this category.
Rare and Special Units: The figure listed are the maximum number of units drawn from this category.

Unit sizes: The minimum number of figures in a unit are 5 cavalry and 10 infantry.

What do you all think, as there are nealry 300 downloads of the lists I am sure that there are a lot of ideas we could all use in these lists and rules, so Please, Please if you have any ideas, recomendations etc. please e-mail at aydenrobert@hotmail.com so that I can get them included in the new and I hope final draft.

Haven't posted for awhile

2006-11-10T22:37:00.000+10:00

Polish right flank advances against the Swedes. Mark and I played this game a few weeks ago but because I am still on a soooo slow dial up conection I haven't had the time to post it. Mark and I are playing a 4000 point aside El Cid game Saturday 11-11 and I will finally get to use my new Monastary model. Some photos and I will update to broadband and a website in the new year. For those that have downloaded the WECW army lists, the Haiduks for the Poles are actually under Polish foot. I will be releasing all modifications and play tested adaptions in the New Year as well, so give me any feedback/changes etc. that you feel need to be there. Cheers Scott

WECW

2006-10-30T21:30:00.000+10:00

Marks very nicely painted heavy cavalry advance, in the background you can just glimpse his small 6 man cuirassier unit moving away when they failed a morale test.

Gun Line

2006-10-17T16:26:00.002+10:00

The view from both sides as a Pancerni unit attempts to get to grips with the gunline (Tartars did but lost). I however decided to attack the only steady unit in the Swedish combined army and because his pike didn't have room to counter my cavalry I actually forced this Scottish mercenary unit to flee after 2 rounds of combat (I caught and destroyed him).

Swedes and Brandenburg allies

2006-10-17T16:26:00.001+10:00

Mark deploys his Swedes on the right and holds the centre with a very very scary 4 medium and 2 heavy guns. One of the heavy guns was deployed behind gabions, which was a hell of a target to attack. Coach and religous support deploy behind the many guns.

Mark's Gaming table christening

2006-10-17T16:26:00.000+10:00

Mark Temple (Realistic Miniatures Blog) and I played a great WECW game on the weekend, getting to use his new terrain for the first time. Mark used his very nicely painted ECW army as a Brandenburg ally for my Swedes fighting the Poles. The two armies looked like this:

Swedes 2x40 man foot regiments (20 pike and 20 shot).
2x12 man heavy cavalry regiments with 10 attached shot, 15 mercenary cuirassiers and 12 Polish cossacks.
4 medium and 2 heavy guns with 4 crew each.

Brandenburg 2x32 man foot regiments (16pike and 16 shot). 1x12 man and 1x15 cavalry regiments and 6 cuirassiers.

Poles 2x36 man foot regiments (20 shot and 16 pike) and 2x15 foot Dragoons. 3x12 Pancerni units (1 with light lance), 1x12 man Heavy Hussar unit and 1x12 man Hussar unit in light armour (Redoubt unarmoured figures), 4x12 man Noble levy units, 12 regimented cossacks horse and 3x10 Tartar light cavalry. 2 light and 2 medium guns.

Poles block the Cossacks

2006-10-09T12:23:00.000+10:00

Coach escapes from the Cossacks

2006-10-09T11:56:00.000+10:00

Polish Pancerni regiment led by the Polish commander leds the coach away from the Cossack threat.

4th Turn

2006-10-09T10:07:00.003+10:00

Cossacks and Poles are about to clash.

3rd Turn

2006-10-09T10:07:00.002+10:00

The open terrain on the Cossack side (which I played) allowed them to get to the town quickly, however the buildings and the much heavier Polish cavalry blocked any easy access to the coach. I should have looked at the terrain much more closely than I did, the open table side would have allowed my Cossacks to harass the heavier Poles. I want to play this game again but changing the ends.

1st Move

2006-10-09T10:07:00.001+10:00

Poles and Cossacks race towards the town and the coach.

WECW Rescue Game: Poles versus Cossacks

2006-10-09T10:07:00.000+10:00

Three views of the game I had 1 week ago with Kevin Jowlett and his son James. Kevin has a great place in the Glass House Mtns and has just finished his 12 x 6 foot table, so we finally got to test my rescue scenario on a great looking table. The game was a roughly 2500 points aside game, the Cossacks and their Tartar allies deployed on the left and the Poles on the right. The Polish wagon with 2 dignataries and a guard of 30 Dragoons was deployed near the Catholic church. The Polish force needs to rescue them whilst the Cossacks want them for Ransom, the game was a free for all with game going to whatever side could get the coach away.

Projects for next year

2006-09-27T19:25:00.000+10:00

I know that we still have 3 months left of this year but with my last 4 week teacher prac. quickly approaching and then a 6 1/2 week world wide trip (Vietnam, Thailand, Holland, UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong and then home to sunny Australia), I have finished planning what I will be painting and gaming next year.

First finish painting my Swedish army of Karl X: 90 foot (Renegade and Bicorne), 3 guns and 12 crew (Redoubt), 71 cavalry (39 Redoubt, 24 Bicorne and Renegade and 8 Essex Miniatures).

Second paint the rest of my Muscovite army: 150 foot (Old Glory), 2 guns and 8 crew (Old Glory), 60 Russian cavalry (20 Old Glory and 40 Essex Miniatures) and 36 German style cavalry (36 Renegade and Bicorne Miniatures).

Thirdly finish painting Polish Cavalry (24 Redoubt Miniatures) and 60 infantry (Old Glory). I will buy the rest of the army, made up of 4 x 12 TAG cavalry regiments next year (write to them and they will sell you a unit of 12 cavalry for 24.95 pounds post free and 24 infantry for 20 pounds).

Start my Ottomans: 190 foot (Old Glory), 5 command types including camel drummer (Redoubt), 48 heavy cavalry and 12 Delli Light cavalry (Redoubt Miniatures), the rest of the cavalry have already been painted for other armies (46 Tartars and 28 Arab light types). The only thing I need to buy for this army are 2 very very nice armoured wagons with light cannon and 3 crew by Redoubt Miniatures and a pack of High command (Old Glory).

NEW PERIOD using the fantastic free rules by Barry of The League of Augsburg fame 'UNDER THE LILLY BANNERS', Mulburian of course with a twist (GNW and Eastern armies of course).
I will at first concentrate on the Swedish and Russian armies, the infantry will be made up of Reiver Castings which are available from Old Glory and thus cheap with the 40% discount (I have 3 units each of Foundry to paint already) . The cavalry with some adaptians will be from Front Rank mounted on Elite Miniatures horses (Nathan gives these to me very very cheap). I plan to paint 11 units of infantry (15-18 figures each) and 10 units of cavalry (11-12 figures) and 5 guns and 20 crew for the Swedish army. The Russian will be made up of 18 units of infantry, 16 units of cavalry and 5 guns and 20 crew. I was going to paint some Austrians (cavalry and infantry from Front Rank and irregulars from Old Glory) but I think that I have enough on my plate already. I will be able to use all my Ottomans, Cossacks, Tartars, Polish and many of the Muscovite figures for the period as well.

If I have time I plan to either do some Sudan figures and Russian Civil War all using Old GLory and their great discount of course. The numbers planned for next year do look daunting but I have managed to paint around 400 cavalry and 400 infantry as well as painting and basing many buildings this year (whilst studying and working as many of us all do). Will post photos of Saturdays game ASAP. Cheers Scott

Final assualt

2006-09-25T19:33:00.000+10:00

Spanish Church and WAB Italian Wars

2006-09-24T12:06:00.001+10:00

Finally got around to completing the Spanish church I bought from the Essex Miniatures factory in 1996 (Hovels Ltd resin). I had painted the church and steeple straight away but it has taken me 10 years to paint the walls and make a hill to put it on. I can use it as a great centre piece for my El Cid and Andalusian armies, Napoleonic Spain (when I paint them again), Mexico (Mexican American war and Maximiliian) and Italy (Italian Wars, Napoleonics and the war of 1859). The church and steeple are removable so that I can place a small Greeco/Roman style temple in its place when I play ancients (when I finish it of course). Not exactly accurate for those purist but close enough for me and thats the important thing.

Talking about Italy, Andrew Parr whose very nice Republican army you see here has sent me his Italian Wars adaptions for WAB 'Armies of Chivalry'. I have always been interested in the Swiss, French, Spanish, Italian and Landsknecht troop types but I have felt that until I can paint and do those French Gendarmes justice I would steer clear of the period. Andrew's adaptions have gotten me very interested as he has added lots of campaign, battle and period strategms that seem to give the period something special that it deserves. I might have start this sooner that I thought, for those who need wargaming inspiration have a look at the Spanish Wargaming magizine 'Soldiers and Strategy' which had a special on Pavia (issue 8 I think). The magazine had some very very nicely painted Redoubt Miniatures, which still makes me think I need a few more years painting experience. When the Miniature Wargames magazine first started they would always have some great pictures of Peter Gilder's immense Italian Wars collection, so I blame Peter for this interest wargaming interest as well as the Sudan and Napoleonics in the Grand Manner (bless him). Andrew has also prompted me to have a more detailed look at some of these things that I feel needed to be added to the WECW lists that I have written.

I believe that WAB and especially WECW have a real potential to have an added roleplay element in the games, perhaps not roleplay exactly but something very close to it. Many do not like the systems because they believe that they lack command and control and they are too simplistic, but after all it is a game to be enjoyed. I feel the need for command and control issue but only in larger games, these can be added by wing commander characters with a limited command radius. I have been thinking of using adapted Warmaster Ancients to play larger games, (has any others tried this), the Warmaster Yahoo group has an ECW variant that would be good for the Polish Commonwealth. I will post more when I have had a chance to play this, I haven't had a game in 6 weeks. Next week (touch wood) I will be playing a 2000 point aside cavalry rescue (scenario on this blog) for WECW, Poles versus Cossacks and Tartars. Promise and report and photos. Cheers Scott