Looking back and forward ?

As the children have now returned to their normal lives and our Christmas gradually comes to a close a time for reflection (They have left both me and my wife with nasty colds which doesn’t help).

Regular followers will know I don’t keep any specific data, games played or figures painted as I prefer not to be target driving. So first up just a selection of photos of some of the games played in the dungeon in 2022 it’s only a short video 😀

My thoughts on 2022…….

I think I have played about an average number of battles , one a week being about right for me these have been across a pretty good range of my collections. The development of the Norway 1944 project has been new and we have had a welcome return to 15mm Normandy. We have seen the first ‘hex’ based games played all of which have been really enjoyable and are ideal for remote gaming. We have started the Smolensk campaign which I am really looking forward to in 2023 is inevitably leading me down lots of different rabbit holes. Looking across the battles my gaming has gradually leaned more to historical settings and battles. What is missing ?  Perhaps the only significant collections which hasn’t seen any action is the 6mm Eastern Front, this is a shame but as we all know there is only so much time, and although the RCW merges into the Back of Beyond battles we haven’t gamed that much this year if at all. Hopefully we will see some of these in 2023.

Next up a couple of Christmas gifts

Well this can only lead to more fun 👍

My wife bought me this from a charity shop, a rather splendid bronze of Lord Kitchener, of course a slightly controversial character, but then I also have a General Lee and Stonewall Jackson. This led to an interesting discussion with my son about which military figures are acceptable or not ? I did purchase another thing but decided I just had too much, so I didn’t open it, it can wait a while.

Looking forward to 2023….

I’m sorry if my quiz caused any headaches it was only a bit of fun. Anyway ‘one’ of the new projects for 2023 developed out of one of our 15mm post-game conversations was the North African Campaigns in WW2. After a relatively short period of time considering scales etc we set on 15mm and jointly bought the Flames of War Tobruk starter set.

Steve will be playing Italians, myself the British. I have been relentlessly listening and watching videos of the campaigns some of which has thrown up a few issues with the starter set, for example why they have included Sherman’s ! However, I have been seeking out bargains and purchasing stuff to build what will initially be a tank based British army. Focussing initially on the earliest parts of the campaigns.

Not part of the set but these arrived before Christmas so got done first

Three Grants from the starter set

The six Crusaders from the set, all armed with the earlier 2lbr guns, we are giving the Italians a chance.

I also came across some barbed wire so sorted a bit of terrain.

Next up I have more tanks to build and paint although at this scale they don’t take too long. I also have some anti-tank guns. No infantry at this stage but I am sure it will arrive at some point. The hardest thing is stopping myself from thinking about a German force ! Although this may happen if I see the starter army really cheap 🙁

What else for 2023….

So many thoughts and ideas, here is a random selection from my head this morning

Smolensk Campaign

I have also started building an American Infantry force in 28mm with an idea to play battles in Sicily and Italy.

Some larger battles I would like to game Plataea and Marathon

The Eastern Front in 6mm

Progressing our AWI campaign

Gettysburg

Seven Years War French

I have some Poles for Norway 1944 and do NEED to get some French Alpine troops.

……the list goes on and the next finished unit is actually going to be British Napoleonics 😅

I would like to attend more shows and perhaps get back to more demonstration games, but I need to start buying a little less is some genres, for example the Dark Ages where I have quite a lead mountain needing attention and dare I say have enough figures.

Thanks to all of you who regularly visited my blog in 2022 your encouragement is most welcome. Happy gaming in 2023

Matt

Just three words

The children (grown up !) have opened their stockings and we wait for the feast which is Christmas dinner. Who knows I might even get some presents later too ?

Anyway a few hardy folk have attempted my impenetrable quiz and requested some additional clues so here we are….rest assured I do not believe people are that interested in my future projects so hope nobody has wasted too much time on the quiz. In fact in a classic wargamer butterfly moment I have even started a second mini project in the last week but more of that in another post.

Questions

1. British ground forces commander in Norway May 1940

2. First major battle in the Anglo-Zulu war

3. The last English king to die in battle

4. The victory which cost Sir John Moore his life

5. First name of the Major General who lost his life leading the assault at Ciudad Rodrigo

6. American General who captured fort Ticonderoga 1775

7. Battle which saw Burnsides futile frontal assault on Confederates in 1862

8. Nelsons most famous victory

9. Greek Persian battle 490BC

10. Battle where English longbows rules the day 1415

11. Bravest of the Brave

12. Fredericks inconclusive victory may 1757

13. The most hotly contested American landing beach Normandy1944

14. Muslim rules area of Iberian Peninsular upto to 1492 (two word answer)

15. Major and very bloody Union defeat in Georgia

16. British commanding officer at Bunker Hill

17. Crimean battle 14 September 1854

18. Famous Parliamentarian victory in Northamptonshire 1645

19. Anglo-Saxon king January 1066

CLUES

The letters to the answers are spell the words  AIRCRAFTMAN POACHING

There are three words in the answer

The following tank will form part of the project

Please don’t take this too seriously but have a great Christmas 👍

Matt

Seasonal wishes and optional Quiz……….

That time of the year when we wish everybody a Happy Holiday season apparently only about 45% of the worlds population celebrate Christmas. Anyway I alluded to a new project in the offing for 2023, I should say painting is already in progress, but rather than just tell everybody I thought I would run a Festive quiz. 

Now I am far too humble (realistic) to think that many people are interested in what I am doing in my next Wargaming project, however, I think there are at least a couple of you. So for those with some spare time over the holiday season and a tremendous knowledge of military history I have a set a quiz.

The answers are all one word (except one which I have noted), the first letters of each of the answers form a two word anagram which can then be converted into my new project, (the anagram isn’t really related but should help you get the letters correct) Feel free to simply huff and pass this post by or spend ages trying to work out the answer. There is no prize other than the sweet knowledge if you answer all the questions without looking them up that you have a far better and broader knowledge of Military history than I do 😀

Questions

1. British ground forces commander in Norway May 1940

2. First major battle in the Anglo-Zulu war

3. The last English king to die in battle

4. The victory which cost Sir John Moore his life

5. First name of the Major General who lost his life leading the assault at Ciudad Rodrigo

6. American General who captured fort Ticonderoga 1775

7. Battle which saw Burnsides futile frontal assault on Confederates in 1862

8. Nelsons most famous victory

9. Greek Persian battle 490BC

10. Battle where English longbows rules the day 1415

11. Bravest of the Brave

12. Fredericks inconclusive victory may 1757

13. The most hotly contested American landing beach Normandy1944

14. Muslim rules area of Iberian Peninsular upto to 1492 (two word answer)

15. Major and very bloody Union defeat in Georgia

16. British commanding officer at Bunker Hill

17. Crimean battle 14 September 1854

18. Famous Parliamentarian victory in Northamptonshire 1645

19. Anglo-Saxon king January 1066

Good luck Matt

Dungeon Wargaming table

I am hoping this will be of interest to some people, we perhaps don’t blog enough about our respective setups and gaming spaces, anyway as part of the ongoing tidy up in the dungeon I have been thinking about my gaming table configuration and how to make it easier to flex the table to different setups Part of this was brought on by a large game last Friday where it took ages to set the table up.

Anyway after some thought and the purchase of a couple of extra boards…..here are the main options.

This is the standard 6 x 4 table. Storage is tight so the end of the table is the normal storage location for terrain/ mainly buildings in big plastic boxes , which in the above picture is behind the back board

I still have and occasionally use my 2 x 2 terrain boards here they are setup as a 6x4 battlefield

By simply moving the storage boxes the basic table is 8 x 4, please be kind about the mess as this is actually the tidied up state of the dungeon 😀

It is then very simple and quick to widen the table giving a slightly more aesthetic table 4’8” wide.

The shelves and surface on the right was specifically built to be the same height as the table allowing me to again quickly expand the table into an interesting L shape

Finally with a little more faff, I can extend the table further length ways, upto 9’ or 10’ or even slightly longer. The important thing is with a bit more space I can set up these configurations quite quickly, and although space is tight these are all reasonably accessible.

I have also managed some painting

Some additional Panzergrenadiers, who saw action last Friday.

I also found some spare Persian shields so painted them and made them into protection for any independent archers.

I now have at least two games to post up, which I will try to do during the week.

Thanks for checking by 👍

The rescue of Maximus Flatulus : blood in the sand

Whilst the many smaller territories and kingdoms of the wider Ancient world have squabbled amongst themselves, a new power has started to arise in the West. In Magna Greeca the Romani have absorbed many of the local tribes. Starting from a small muddy swamp they have now become a power to be reckoned with. As such they have developed trade links across the Mediterranean. Running a strange system of Consul based centralised control they send diplomatic envoys to build their developing trade. Most successful and renowned of these is Maximus Flatulus, brother in law to consul Martinus Gaius Cookus.

Maximus Flatulus

Unfortunately spring storms frequently effect shipping in the eastern Mediterranean and only two months ago Maximus's ship had run aground on the unfriendly shores of Lycia ruled by the tyrant Darianus. The small force of soldiers who attended each diplomatic mission had been butchered and a sizeable ransom of the envoy's weight in gold demanded.

Whilst considering his options and attempting to console his sister and wife Martinus received the following parchment delivered by a dusty looking foreign fellow.

Thumping his fist on the table Martinus shouted for his generals he must get the army ready immediately, they would set sail at once.....Maximus Flatulus would not be left to die alone.

You will have to wait a week to find out what happens 😀This is the kind of madness you get stuck on a train to Birmingham!

Invasion 1940 and Solway Moss ?

The last day of the Easter Holidays here in Cumbria so a day off work looking after my daughter. Another trip to Carlisle with limited expectation and yet I found some more stuff ! A slightly better 1 : 50 scale jaguar SS100' the one I got last time really was too big. It needs a bit of work but will look splendid in racing green.

Second yet another interesting book, focussed on Sealion....I have amassed so many books on Sealion now I am almost struggling to remember what I have but this is a new one to the collection.

Has just a few nice photos...one I particularly like showing german infantry attempting to unload horses during an invasion exercise. This reminds me german cavalry is on the list to purchase sometime later in the year.

Finally after an aborted attempt a couple of weeks ago we stopped in at longtown to visit the Battlefield at Solway Moss. 24th November 1542. One of the lesser known battles of the Scottish Wars. I really only found out about its existence as it is covered in an aerial photo battlefield book I picked up second hand a couple of years ago. The maps are really useful when you are on the ground.

Not surprisingly there isnt masses to see on the ground but it got us out of the car for 20 minutes walking 😀

A view to the SE where the English were drawn up

Looking North to Longtown the advance direction of the scots.

According to the map and other bits I have read on the web this is the direction the Scots took when they retreated/fled the field, the ground is very flat and drained now but would have been very difficult going at the time.

One Year Older 🤓 How lucky am I !

Another year older today and still not back at work 😀
I got to open the presents I had ordered ages ago, even for me this was a bit too much after Saturday but I hadn't really intended going to the Reivers Show. I have also managed to finish putting some transfers on a couple of US and RAF planes which Steve had very kindly painted for me, and been for a lovely walk on Hadrians Wall.

First up a shiny new copy of CONGO. Have played SAGA and Muskets and Tomahawks and found them both excellent so looking forward to this.......benefit is I already have nearly enough figures to play. A flick through and the book is beautifully produced....Colonel Cavendish is already on a steamer to Africa as I write.

Bumped into this book on Amazon and couldn't really say no for 1p plus postage !

Hawker Typhoons loaded with rockets to ground attack German troops heading for the Normandy coast.

Spitfires lent to the Americans

Two fantastic looking Thunderbolts.......I wouldn't want to be a German Panzer driver !

 

Northumberland this morning

Hadrian's Wall always reminds me I should collect some Romans....but not yet , not yet.

Well it is my birthday.........hopefully blog the Normandy battle we played a couple of evenings ago.

WW2 in Penrith ?

We were looking for a trip to take the aged mother in law out and discovered not so very far from where we live a WW2 weekend......it was a hot day at Brougham Hall near Penrith but there was some nice stuff on display.

Although I only took a couple of photos, there were plenty more jeeps, and a couple of nice guys with  a wide range of British and American militaria. Interesting nearly all of them had Bren guns ? Nice cake and a cup of tea as well. Back to the painting now.........

SALUTE 2016

......... a couple of us are making the annual pilgrimage to Excel next weekend, looking forward to it having bought quite a bit this year already I'm not looking for loads of stuff so not feeling pressurised and can enjoy the displays.

Just thought I would let people know, if you are down there and interested in catching up let me know  MATT

Battleground : the lead Haul

Had a great time at Battleground yesterday, I think this is my third show of the year so I am not quite a junkie. It is only a medium sized show but plenty going on and good parking. I had a list but it wouldn't be fun if I was too strict and with 4 weeks to Christmas a couple of things will be put under the tree. Some really nice games on show although as the show is only 10 to 3 it didn't look to me like many were going to finish, chatted to a lot of people and hopefully made some new friends.

Lots of stuff here which given time will appear on the blog. Quite a bit for VBCW including some Firemen from Ironclad, and some artillery. Warbases took quite a bit of my money and they were very nice giving me the pre-order deal even though I hadn't pre-ordered. Always worth asking ...... From the bring and buy I picked up some Front Rank Medieval knights to build a later medieval lion rampant retinue, some greek archers (Essex Minatures) from Colonel Bills who also purchased from me unwanted (only due to scale) Greeks and persians. A grand day out as they say......

Soldiers in Silloth

Few days off work so had a trip out to the West Coast amongst other things we visited Soldiers in Silloth. I had picked up the leaflet ages ago and it was about time we popped in. It was great and even my daughter enjoyed it. Huge collection of 54mm figures which many of us will have played with in our youth some rare some not. Quite a nostalgic experience ! I recommend a visit but check the opening times on their web site.

To round off the nostalgic trip down memory lane they were selling a few old magazines for 50p each and I picked up some old copies of Battle from the 1970's. Great fun reading these and May blog some further snippets sometime.

Something different : Kings of War

We have played lots of WHFB in the dungeon over the years but there is much talk about the systems demise (In fact I am quite looking forward to seeing the new skirmish rules when they come out) anyway I digress......sometimes we forget there are lots of different rule sets out there. The other evening John one of the regular dungeon visitors brought along a couple of copies of Kings of War the Mantic fantasy battles by Alessio Cavatore.

John also has huge numbers of fantasy figures which because they are based differently and not painted don't get out of the box very often , so we broke the normal blog rules ! Just got the on the table and played a couple of battles.

The rules themselves are pretty easy to pick up and the bulk are covered in 20 pages of the little booklet in the picture. We had fun rolling some dice so that is the first box ticked, they are simple and on a couple of occasions large units just disappeared in one go. Magic is cut down to the very basic minimum they are probably most like Dux Britanium and are well suited to armies which are based up in groups.

My thoughts were it would work really well on armies say 10 or even 6 mm where you could fight battles on a really epic scale. But I was thinking of collecting any more fantasy at this stage. We had fun playing two scenarios the second trying to capture objectives. If you get a chance give them a look.

Gravestones, Oxen and Ranulf de Gernon...

Have been finishing a few things off this week in a fairly random way. Gravestones for IHMN and other similar skirmish games, Oxen and cart which which I will be using for anything from dark ages to WHFB. Finally a foot version of Ranulf de Gernon my lion rampant general.

Gravestones

Ranulf de Gernon

Oxen cart