Painting inspiration: Don Troiani

As you know, I've been bit by the ACW bug. I now know which brigade I'll paint. Since I wanted to start the long campaign from Longstreet, I decided to play units which actually fought in 1861. I won't tell you which ones, but it should be colourful, hopefully.

So, in order to get motivated, and have some information about them, I had ordered some books, and chosen the ones illustrated by the paintings from Don Troiani. Browsing through the net, I found the 5 I was interested in, and managed to get them for less the £5 each. Very good bargain to be honest. Don Troiani is really talented, and his paintings can be qualified as wargamers porn. If you like ACW obviously.

I'm still waiting for the last 2

Comme vous le savez, j'ai fini par succomber au virus guerre de secession, grace a Longstreet, et surtout a cause de Fred et Denis. je ne vous remercie pas les gars. J'ai fait mon choix parmi les differentes brigades ayant combattu des 1861, car voulant faire la grande campagne, je voulais partir sur quelque chose d'historique. Je ne vous en dirai pas plus pour le moment car il me faut maintenant commander les figs. Tout ce que je peux vous reveler, c'est que cela sera colore. J'aime la couleur et les habits seyants, avec eventuellement des frous-frous, de la dentelle (oups je m'egare).

Donc, pour entretenir la motivation, tout en recuperant des infos sur ces unites, j;ai commande des bouquins, tous illustres par les oeuvres de Don Troiani. Apres quelques recherches sur le net, j'avais trouve mes futurs livres de chevet, desormais recus, pour la modique somme de £5 livres chacun, ce qui fait, quoi, moins de 6 euros chacun. Ce fut vraiment une bonne affaire. Don Troiani est vraiment un peintre de talent, et, si vous aimez la guerre de secession, ses oeuvres font vraiment saliver. Bref, notre porno a nous, quoi.

A new convention, and a good book

First of all, James, the exiles painter, has managed to transform one of his ideas, a convention of wargaming bloggers, into reality. In November, if you happen to go to Nottigham, you'll be available to attend what could be a new kind of event, hosted by the guys from Wargames Foundry. He set-up a new blog to give some info about it, but I asked him if I could design a website for it, and James kindly agreed. Cool. Now it's time to work!

I also have an idea for a game: this could be the opportunity to host a demo of Art de la guerre, whose English version will be published-it's now official- between September and October, Of course, I would bring my 28mm army.

Bows and Thirty Years war... again?

The Mirlitom unit has been varnished and is now almost finished. So I've just finished prepping my new unit. Yes, I know, more longbowmen, but this time, they all come from Corvus Belli. I also did the brown and flesh bases. More on that tomorrow,  if I'm motivated enough because I'll be out gibing a lesson until 9PM...

I also learned that the new copy of the French wargaming magazine, Vae Victis, had an expansion module for Art de la guerre, to play The Thirty Years War. I immediately ordered it and I'll give you a review asap. Cheers.

Tandis que le vernis seche sur mes Mirlitons, j'ai commence la peinture apres preparation d'une nouvelle unite d'archers, Corvus Belli cette fois. J'ai passe le marron et la chair de base. La suite va arriver rapidement si je suis motive car je commence une serie de cours le soir... Et j'ai egalement commande le numero de Vae Victis, car le module guerre de trente ans pour ADG me faisait de l'oeil.

When Cold becomes Hot...

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a used, but in a very good condition, copy of Cold War commander. The rules are sold out, so I consider myself lucky to get hold of one set. 

I've always been interested by cold war potential conflicts, especially since I read one book... Red Storm rising, by Tom Clancy. Now out of date (the war is over), it is still very interesting, because of the starting point of the novel, an islamist attack in USSR, but I won't say where. Then you have a lot of chapters about air raids, night attacks, tank battles, navy battles... I really enjoyed the chapters about the war undersea. Full of action, only the end is disappointing.

Serais-je chanceux? J'ai réussi à mettre la main sur un exemplaire d'occasion de Cold War Commander, alors qu'il est maintenant épuisé. Les conflits de la guerre froide m'ont toujours plus ou moins tentés, et surtout depuis ma lecture de Red Storm rising, de Tom Clancy (Tempête rouge en Français). A partir d'une situation initiale malheureusement plausible (attentat islamiste en Union soviétique, le bouquin date d'avant 1991), la guerre froide devient chaude, très rapidement. On est facilement pris par le rythme de l'action, les batailles aériennes, sous-marines, terrestres, mais aussi spatiales, pour la quête du renseignement. Franchement un bon bouquin, mais vous pouvez zapper la fin un peu trop décevante.