Wins (football) and Wins (OOP Ospreys)

I was downtown in Toronto today for a football (Canadian) game (we won) and afterwards hit the World's Biggest Bookstore ("it's just a name") and discovered they may have the World's Biggest Osprey collection. At least it left me in awe, and I've seen a couple pretty nice ones elsewhere.

However, as the WBB is now part of our national bookstore empire, the bricks and mortar prices are about 25% higher than what I can get online.

But...

I've been trying for six months to get the Campaigns: Assaye book. Our national bookstore empire (online edition) tried and gave up after a month, Amazon tried for 5 months, and then I gave up on them, because I found Osprey direct had it listed. Until I told Osprey's website that I lived in Canada, when it mysteriously became unavailable in North America ("but we're still part of the Commonweath - the Queen's on my money (well, most of the big bills, anyway)").

So my first walk through of Osprey heaven didn't turn it up. I wandered away, Osprey-less, and checked at a computer linked to their online store - still listed as unavailable. I went back to the Osprey aisles, mainly because of consternation around an issue I'll bring up below...when I saw Campaigns: Assaye!

So I am now stupidly proud of owning a copy. After my SYW in India project, I plan to roll along into Wellington in India, re-using what I can. Some of the units will get later period paint jobs, the only real new units will be EIC/British cavalry, although I'll probably eventually do two rank EIC infantry.

So why else was I consternated in the store? I found both volumes of Fighting Ships of the Far East, which I've long wanted. Problem: I've long had one of them...but couldn't remember which one! I spent 15 minutes walking around trying to remember which one I had...couldn't do it, and since I didn't want to make a return trip downtown (two hours or so) to return one, I skipped on them. But I now have an order in to the online empire, as they say they can get one, and cheaper.

I also got some VSF/steampunk inspiration: the Steampunk I anthology (I picked up Steampunk II a while ago, couldn't find #1 locally). I also completed Edgar Rice Burroughs' Venus series by finding Pirates of Venus. Now to find suitable miniatures...

I also picked up Russian Amerika, the first book in a series, of which I picked up the second last weekend (Alaskan Republik). It looks like a Crimson Skies sort of thing, with the Russians still owning Alaska, an independent California an Texas, USA and CSA. Mainly though it was the wicked paint jobs of Mustangs on the covers.

So now pictures again...but I'm doing a lot of gluing, basing, and gessoing (or is it gesso-ing?), so nothing sexy to look at. I did pick up some VSF figures from RAFM during their recent sale, once the stupid postal labour dispute is over, I should have them here.

I'm also being distracted thinking about Cold War Commander and Pulp Figures. Um, not at the same time, separate projects!

Rumi-nations

I'm entertaining myself with the cleverness of this post's title yet have the sneaking suspicion there was probably a better way to use it, as this post doesn't really have any tie-in with Imagi-nations. But since I'm up late unable to sleep after an unintentional 4 hour nap this evening, I thought I'd ruminate about a project idea I have had for a while that does at least cover many nations.

And for a change I don't have to buy anything or spend 100 years painting new stuff to undertake this project - I'll be able to do it as I finish my existing 100-year projects.

What my idea is, is to take an existing "most famous" battle and then refight it using its basic principles across multiple periods and genres. So an obvious couple are Waterloo and Gettysburg, but instead of Britain+Prussia vs. France, or North vs. South, it would be:

• Seven Years War - France and Indian allies vs. the East India Company (2mm)


• Seven Years War - Prussia vs. Austria and Russia (2mm)


• Seven Years War - France vs. Hanover/Britain (2mm)


• Victorian Science Fiction - say Germany vs. Britain (2mm)


• Union vs. Confederates - but at Waterloo! (2 or 6mm)


• Napoleonic France vs. Britain - but at Gettysburg! (6mm if the club goes for it)


• Any variety of ancients - Alexander vs. India, Mongols vs. Poles (6mm)


• English Civil War (2mm)


• WWII - company vs. company (6mm)


• WWII - division vs. division (3mm)


• Cold War - division vs. division (3mm)


• Vietnam (3mm)


• Star Wars! (2mm)


• Fantasy - Acheron vs. Valusia (2mm)


• Fantasy - Naama vs. Cush (2mm)


• Fantasy - traditional orcs vs. dwarves (6mm)

I've put the potential attackers (French, Confederates) first in the above list, where obvious. For some, it could go either way...e.g. the NVA assaulting a US ridgeline, or an American push to drive out the VC.

The "basic princples" would be the terrain layout, situation (attacker, defender), objectives, relative force strengths and proportion of arms (as best as can be done when translated over time), reinforcements, random events.

Anyone with forces ready to go should feel to steal this idea and let me know how it goes. Any other interesting battles to try this with?

With Clive in India in 2mm

As mentioned in my "Hmmm" post, I've been working on a 2mm SYW in India project. Actually I think I've been mentioning it for a while! I have been processing my first batch of figures recently, and have most of them mounted. It's amazing how I'm managing to not order enough of so many things - battalion guns, organ guns, brigade and wing commanders, etc. but I'm happy with the progress so far:

Some of the native units - mobs of paiks (melee-only levies) in the front, Afghan mercenaries (mounted and foot) in the middle, and Arab camelry (dismounted and mounted) in the rear.

Native artillery in various varieties - platform guns (heavies) in the front left (see below), the princes' super-heavy guns ("Moghul Monsters") in the left-rear, backed up a heavy gun in a redoubt. In the front right, with two elephants for their limbers, are everyday heavy guns, and back-right are field guns, with a variety of limber combinations - elephants, elephant+caissons, elephant+2 caissons, elephant+field of rock

A close-up of the platform guns (heavies). The "horses" will be painted as oxen (as I will for most limbers), and the gun's base will be painted as a wooden platform. I imagine the guys at the back of one base are the official elephant pooper-scoopers... To make this, I put a standard artillery base on two uncovered wagons. Here's the inspiration, from a relatively local 25/28mm collection. I played in their Pondicherry game last March and my fellow commanders had to face this in the centre of our line.

Native organ guns are the three bases in the middle-ish, otherwise at the top/back of the photo are some caisson/supply trains, with English (with caisson) and French (limber only) guns in the foreground. The French artillery often had supply problems, so I've depicted that by not showing their ammo caissons on the limber's base.

A whole slew of bases, at front centre is my standard infantry battalion, with officers to the front and battalion gun on the line's left. The unit beside that is a specific one without a battalion gun (others to the rear are just missing theirs). Front right is the French (Compagnie des Indes) volunteer battalion. The square-ish bases with three-horse figures are wing, division, etc. commanders. Behind them are three units of hathnals - elephants with big guns - that may or may not have been at Plassey, but are too cool to ignore. Towards the far back, behind the infantry, is a unit of Rajput cavalry.

More stuff. CdI and EIC dragoons/mounted infantry are front left and centre, with more of the regular, company, and sepoy battalions behind them. Further back-centre are command stands, the native ones with elephants. A unit of native bodyguard cavalry are back-right.

As always, you can click on the pictures for a bigger version.

I have a few more to mount (mainly cavalry) with what I have on hand, then another big order goes in to Irregular. I figure this is about 1/3 of what I'll need in total for the project, which will include an Afghan army, variations of a native prince's army (Moghul, Mahratta, Mysore), and the French and British. I plan on later extending it into the "Wellington in India" and Sikh War eras.

Hmmm

So over six weeks have past since my last post, but it hasn't been an unproductive period, just a scattered one (and no real pics). My land VSF forces are now awaiting their Dullcoat protection, more 2mm terrain pieces are prepped for painting, another 40 aircraft are primed, another dozen (big 'uns) have been mounted, and a ton of SYW in India forces are about to get mounted tonight.

I also got some nice books on TYW, SYW and WSS uniforms, for another set of 2mm projects.

I even gamed Star Wars skirmishing over Easter with a brother and sister-in-law (their damn rebels won).

But it is April/May/June, my busiest and most tiring period for real life work, so pictures and more coherent posts will be scattered.

Hotlead and Empty Wallet

I'm back from Stratford and the 2011 Hotlead Convention, as mentioned my first. I had a great time, staying in nearby Kitchener at a brother's place, then making the short (30 min.) drive to the convention each morning.

I didn't take any photos, but other people did, and here's the first of the galleries available.

I played a game in all five timeslots, starting with "White Terror" Friday night, a 15mm Russian Civil War game using the TooFatLardies' Triumph of the Will rules. This is actually a picture of us early in the game, I'm the only one without a Justin Bieber haircut sitting at the table, looking pensive. Thanks to my heroic White Russian MVI tank, which pretty much single-handedly took out the Reds' armoured train, we won the game in memory of the Czar. My opponents and team-mates were all teens from the Warhammer/Warhammer 40K crowd, but they were nice kids and had a lot of fun. So much fun the Red players preferred shooting their buddies' infantry with the train's cannons, rather than my tank!

I spent Saturday morning losing the English Civil War for the Parliamentarians, using 28mm figures and Field of Glory-Renaissance rules. They were really nicely done up figures on both sides, with appropriate poodle-loving or poodle-hating banners.

Saturday afternoon I got into the Battle of Pondicherry in 28mm, using Warfare in the Age of Reason rules. No pics are up yet, but they will be (lots were taken). The figures were really popular at the 2010 convention, and I'd been aiming to play in this game since I saw those pics, as the SYW in India is a period I'm getting into. When the pictures are up, you'll be amazed at my generalship (well, colonel-ship, maybe major-ship) as I held the left flank for the British, saving India in the interest of tea profits.

I had the most forward BEIC position to start the game, marines and sailors and one gun in a rebout, and the French and allies decided to try to flank us rather than overrun us, and I was able to get the rest of my command up there in a perfect L shape, eventually joined by the rest of the BEIC (except for our unfortunate Indian allies, who alternated between stalling and running away). When the French allies finally got through the jungle onto my flank, my two battalions there sent them reeling back. The redoubt with the gun and marines survived 3 charges by Mysorean mobs, either the cannon or musket fire driving them back before they could get into melee range.

In the evening I saved Rome from Hannibal and his elephants, with help from the two Daves. Actually the two Daves did most of the work on the flanks, while sending negative reports about me back to the senate! I had the good troops in the middle, and once we had one unit of elephants rout, my legions were already closing the trap as time ran out on the game (still a late Roman victory). The rules were Might of Arms, which I also want to get into, so this was a chance to learn them in the heat of battle.

Sunday morning I was into another TooFatLardies ruleset, Sharp Practice. The scenario was Ottomans vs. Hungarians, and I was the right flank of the Ottoman attack. These pics are from earlier games (it was run 3-4 times over the weekend), but you can get the gist of it. The figures were awesome, the terrain nice, and the three other players great to play with, as was Steve the umpire. A good fun game, even though the Ottomans got spanked! I had a chance for a last minute heroic charge, but my charge was negated by the Hungarians having the one counter-charge card!

In terms of shopping, I bought some nice Artizan pulp figures, including the all important Casablanca, Kelly's Heroes, and Dirty Dozen packs, as well as two Blue Moon pulp cars. At the Bring-and-Buy I got four Ospreys for $20 - two on modern Soviet forces, one on US mech. inf., and one on Alexander's Army. Later I got two other Ospreys for $10 apiece from one of the dealers, Queen Victoria's Southern African enemies (useful for Imaro) AND Fortresses of India. I'd been looking for the later for the last several months, it's OOP and all the online dealers were just teasing me about its availability. Suckers, I don't need you now!

I also bought some Reaper Chronoscope figures, for 28mm VSF, and a Mk. IV (female) tank for WWI and pulp gaming, and some 1/72 terrain bits for Vietnam skirmish. I could have spent more if I wasn't trying to play in every game session, there wasn't much time to shop. Maybe next time I'll pace myself better.

The 6mm club I play in in Toronto had a game Saturday morning, I was there before the games began and didn't make it back, but it sounds like it was well-received. Most of the club guys I play with regularly were there, and I met some new people as well, there weren't any negative experiences (other than the one vendor who kept wandering by the RCW game to offer suggestions on tactics!).

So thanks to all the game masters and convention organizers, as a newbie I had a great time and looking to come back next year, and maybe hit one or both of the fall conventions (MIGS and Council Fires). Cangames in Ottawa is close too, but May is a terrible time for real-life workload, and I usually prefer sleep on the long weekend.

Off To My First Convention

Well I hope to escape work this afternoon and head to Kitchener/Waterloo (site of my bed for the weekend) and then Stratford for Hotlead 2011. I want to get in a game tonight, then plan on being there for the whole weekend, through to noon Sunday.

I hope to get my first taste of some rule systems that I have, but have yet to play - "Might of Arms" and "Triumph of the Will" by TooFatLardies; the latter will be my first foray into any TFL rule system.

I also want to get in a game of Impetus, and there's a Pondicherry game Saturday and given my SYW India project, it's a must see for me!

I'm also looking forward to the Bring-and-Buy and venders, it'll be a chance to fondle miniatures in person, rather than always ordering online.

Mostly VSF

I'm out of town for a few days, so here are some shots of things that have progressed over the last couple of days.

The Ottoman and Imperial Chinese land ironclads have progressed to the touch up phase, with some muddy tracks added to liven up the bases a bit. The bases need the most work at the moment.

The French fort-house has also gotten to the touch-up phase, although the main door needs some work. I was trying for a massive timber beam door look, and instead I got a Caramilk bar gone wrong. The windows also need their frames.

Two of the French Victorian SPG's are done except for windows and doors on the cab, and touching up.
The 2mm Hoth ion cannon piece is also at the clean-up stage. I went with some metallic pipes and wiring, not exactly well-camouflaged, but it breaks up the white, and I can see the piece being needed for double duty at some point.
And finally, for fun, I started painting up some of the 3mm Microform Models cars I got back in the summer. These are for 3mm Vietnam, but will be for other eras as well. On the left is a hatchback, in my mind it's a Pinto, the middle two are VW Beetles, painted up as my parent's first two cars. The overexposed one on the left is a baby blue colour. And on the far right is what I'm calling a '57 Chevy Convertible, in a turquise base colour. I have another couple on hand, one for a AK-47 dictator's personal ride.