First Model

Well it had to happen. I have finished my first model a battlefront T-34. Only seven more to paint and three more to get. This does lead to the though that I should track the growth of my plans.

No that may be a bit to depressing. There is just not enough time to paint everything that i want to paint. Now while I believe that one cannot die until one has finished all of their lead mountain. I think that there should also be a light at the end of the tunnel so as to encourage more painting. You don't want to many nor to few.

Models purchased 1
Models completed 1

Scores are even

First purchase

One thing that is happening out in the wider world is that people are keeping track of the number of figures purchased and or painted. I suppose the idea is maintain some control over the lead mountain by showing that you are painting more than you are buying.

I suspect that like many others there is a gap between the theory and practice. It also has the significant disadvantage that people opposed to wasting money may discover this list. Leading questions in the house about waste and extravagance.

Though I do like the idea of a having a challenge. So here we go with the first purchase. A flames of war 88L71 antitank guns.

Models purchased 1
Models completed 0

Black Powder Cold Steel

You might have noticed one thing about me is that I have a fondness for Command Decision. Included in the second edition was this little variation that took the basic mechanic and transposed them into the horse and musket period.

Now I have never played these rules but they have had some interesting ideas that have always intrigued me. The most interesting of these was the basing and figure system which allows for a more detailed representation of a unit but without necessarily increasing the complexity. The traditional game uses a fixed ratio of representing figures to men such as 1;20 1:60 and so on. In this case you have a fixed representation of a units frontage of 50 men while the depth varies according to the number of ranks you have. So a battalion in two ranks has three time the frontage of one in six. It is such an elegant solution that I am surprised it has not re-appeared in any other set of rules.

But such is the fate of many ideas. But here I am again thinking that I want a good set of rules that will enable to play the War of 1812 as well as the the Latin American Wars of Independence. So maybe it is time to start again with looking at all these rules and seeing if they work. First looking at creating some lists for the War of 1812. Secondly some consideration should be made into updating them to the CDIV standard. But first I'll present the original rules as published for your information.

Enjoy

Not dead just resting

Feeling the urge to write again. So a little of cross promotion of a little campaign that I ran last year. It was a lot of fun while it lasted  Unfortunately the Soviets were unable to get off the beach leading to their defeat.

http://blackseablackdeath.blogspot.com.au/

Hopefully more sooner rather than later.

I'm back

So just when you had though you had almost forgotten me I return. Alas real life does get in the way of the important things such as gaming but for the moment I have some free time to both game and to update this blog.
Now in the many months since the last update there has been changes of interest as new toys are released and distract those of us with small attention spans and an attraction to shiny metal objects onto to new and wonderful toys. Perhaps the biggest is addition of plastics to the pile of unpainted figures that threatens to bury me. The first to attract my attention were the Victrix announcement of their intention to produce some plastic Greek Hoplites. So here was a chance to launch my long thought about Peloponnesian wars project though I still need some naval rules and boats before I get to carried away.. Alas they seemed to be stuck in development hell and were delayed for a long time. To console myself a purchase of some Warlord games ECW plastics was organised as a friend was playing Very Civile Actions by the Perfect Captain which was providing many entertaining games. But like many fads it came and went quickly. Though there is a hope of them returning to the paint desk sooner or later as there is talk of trying out Pike & Shotte.

Firelock storming party

Finally the hoplites are released and a box procured, so they are now awaiting a slot in the painting queue. But they have been bumped down the list by some plastic Vikings as I discovered SAGA. Still have not played a game yet but I do love its core mechanism with the dice. So hopefully by the end of the year I will have a small Viking and Anglo-Saxon army to try it out.
The plastics are all 25mm which is a lot of fun but there are still 15mm to be painted, I am still collecting and painting WWII for command decision. I was going to stop in the desert but I did some Americans for Tunisia and they are suitable for late war actions with only a few additions. They naturally need an opponent and before I new it a Soviet Rifle Regiment has magically appeared. So my 5mm microarmour collection is becoming a 15mm one as well.

Panthers on the prowl

Painting for the Renaissance continues with more Italian wars troops being procured. I have being using a combination of Venexia and Mitliton for new units, Now I had heard that Venexia had been sold to another company and that the moulds were therefore being remastered. Panic at this threat to my supply lines I contacted the local distributor with the hope of acquiring just a few packets of figures to keep me going in the interim. Alas they had more than a few packets, they had almost everything that I wanted. They don't now, I do, so 2013 will see more gendarmes and landsheckts appearing.

Ginetes on patrol

So now we get to the end of my travels and what of the future especially of this blog. I still intend to keep to writing the blog and chronicling my solo games and campaigns. Now the War of 1812 will continue but I need to get the booms out and do some reading for the Detroit sector. Plans for the Turkish invasion of Italy are on hold as I need to do some works on converting my Arabs into a Turkish army. With the Americans for WW2 done, I am interested in doing something with them. My first though was the first battle if Aachen but I still need to do some vehicles. The Bulge is a bit to obvious and too big. But Nordwind isn't and looks well documented so it looks I have a winner. So stay tuned for more excitement in the future.

First unit/post of the year

Well first post of the new year, to show off my first new unit of the year.

Yes I know its cheesy to provide photographic evidence of your painting progress but I feel the urge celebrate the return of painting mojo. It will also hopefully prompt me to keep up the painting during the  course of the year and by default the blog updates. Though hopefully I will have more to say than just flash pictures of my new toys.

Now for the dull bit, some information. The figures are 15mm sword and bucklermen from Venexia. They are part of the expansion of my old Burgundian Ordonnance army into Italian Condotta both for FoG & FoG:R. Hence the earlier post about the Renaissance, so there will ve more of those to come, not just at the moment. More painting is requirred.

As for the photo. The wife got a new camera for Christmas and they are truly idiot proof as witnessed by my photo above.

Fort Mackinac - July 1812

Now that naval operations for the year are over it is time to begin the land campaign. So we will go as far from the sea as possible to Fort Mackinac.
Now historically the British commander, Captain Charles Roberts received news that war had been declared. Promptly taking advantage of threat advantage he gathered his forces to quickly deliver the news of the outbreak of hostilities to the American commander a Lieutenant Porter Hanks.
If only it was so simple, there would be point in recreating it. There are a number of points in the narrative of this story that give us the chance to play with history.
The first are British intentions. Captain Roberts immediate superior, General Isaac Brock wrote three letters dated the 26th, 27th and 28th of June ordering him to attack, not attack and attack the Americans. General Sir George Prevost also wrote ordering Roberts to defend his Post. Finally Brock wrote to Roberts authorizing him to use his discretion. So there is a chance that Roberts is a little confused over what his commanders expect of him. So, there will a 1 in 6 chance of command confusion but throwing a five means that I don't have to figure it out.
Second is British mobilization. Fortunately Roberts was kept well informed about the approach of war if not the plans of his commanders. There is a chance that all the confusion will adversely affect mobilization in the area but with a 1 in 6 chance of having a smaller force and throwing a 5 means that the British are fully mobilized.
Third is the Americans tell Hanks that war has been declared and giving him a chance to be prepared. Another 1 in 6 chance of this happening but another five means that this does not happen.
The end result is that Fort Mackinac surrenders to Captain Roberts on schedule.