Winged Fury Test

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the second Polish Haiduk unit.

Polish army at the present

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

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

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.