Rules and more rules

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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