Too Fat Lardies Summer Special

It must be summer, the Special from Too Fat Lardies has arrived.  I've downloaded my copy and had a quick look through.  A couple of interesting articles/scenarios for Chain of Command and Bag the Hun but, thankfully, it looks like there's nothing to divert me for a change although Garibaldi for Sharp Practice looks interesting.

Well worth the £6.00 asking price.

Waterloo - Belgium Trip

Today being the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo and I thought I'd take the opportunity of posting some of the photos from our trip to Belgium in April.  The original aim of the trip, following our visit to the Somme last year, was to take in as many of the sites around Ypres as possible, however, the lure of Waterloo was too great and, after much discussion, we decided to include it.  This was actually Day 2 but let's not let chronological order get in the way.

The weather was not the best with a, virtually constant, drizzle so unfortunately many of my landscape photos aren't really that good.  The fact that I'd only remembered to pack the compact is neither here nor there.

Lion Mound, it's certainly a trek up there, shame about the weather.

Hougoumont - still undergoing restoration, it looks a lot better in the news broadcasts.

La Belle Alliance

Hulot Memorial

La Haie Sainte 

Durutte Division Memorial

Hanoverian Memorial

Inniskilling Memorial

Picton Memorial

A very interesting experience, it's always helpful to walk across the actual field as it provides an additional perspective that is not always obvious from reading the books.  The ridge lined by Wellington's troops is clearly visible as you walk across to La Belle Alliance and the field itself is very confined.  Frightening to think of the number of men killed or wounded in such a small space.

Sadly, it has not, as yet, provided a spur to get on with painting any more Napoleonics although I'm tempted to try a small game next time the opportunity arises.

I'll get around to posting the remaining photos from the trip in the, hopefully not too distant future.  Plans for Normandy next year are already being made.

One-Hour Wargames

I've had this sitting on the shelf for a while and only just got around to reading through it.  The book contains nine rule sets for most of the major periods from Ancient to WWII which are designed to be played on a small table in around an hour.

The rules themselves are necessarily simplistic, consisting of only two or three pages each but should give a quick game on a three foot square table.  This is something I find increasingly important as the amount of time to set up a larger table can be considerable.  Troop types are limited to four per period, for example there are no dragoons or artillery in the Pike and Shot era and some alterations may be required for English Civil War games.

Of potentially more interest are the 30 scenarios which can obviously be used with any rule set and again save time when looking for a quick game.

All in it looks like a very useful little book very much in the style of Donald Featherstone et al and I look forward to trying them out in the not too distant future.

Bag The Hun

An unexpected hour or so of free time today allowed me to get in a quick couple of games of Bag the Hun, Too Fat Lardies WWII air combat game.  

I've not played this for a while and decided to start with a basic scenario pitting two Spitfires against Bf109s.  The Spitfires soon managed to get on the tail of the 109s.

 Some terrible flying, dice throwing, meant the 109s failed their evasive maneuver allowing the Spit leader to put in a long burst and the lead 109 exploded.

A lucky run of cards then allowed the Spits to circle round and get on the tail of the second 109 who again failed to evade the result that a second long burst sent it down with a dead pilot.

The Spits headed home.

With a few minutes left until it was time to leave for the school run, I thought I'd try the Bag the Doodlebug mini game.  I was slightly annoyed to find that both my Raiden Typhoons had managed to lose their magnets but not to worry as Mustangs were available.  In the first game, the chasing plane managed to get in a quick shot at the Doodlebug but missed.

The pilot then attempted to tip it over but again was unsuccessful and the bug headed on towards London.

The chasing plane failed to get anywhere near the bugs in the next two games and it was time to pack up.

I'd forgotten how much fun these rules are and the beauty of them allows for some very quick games.  I'm looking forward to having another go soon and may even get round to digging out the WWI version, Algy.

Burma British

I've now had a chance to quickly paint up a few opponents for the Japanese.  Again nothing special, simple block painting, a quick wash and then highlights.

I also quickly painted the Sherman.

Unfortunately, the tracks appear to have suffered in storage and it has developed a lean.  Never mind, it will suffice for now.

Next batch have received a watered down PVA wash in preparation for priming tomorrow.

I quick look on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo Group has revealed two lists for the Japanese, with Type B apparently being suitable for Burma.  This is going to stretch my plastic resources as the rifle squads consist of a corporal, a LMG squad with three crew and a nine man rifle section each.  I may simple reduce numbers as I'm planning actions based on George MacDonald Fraser's memoirs, Quartered Safe out Here which relates his involvement in the 1945 campaign.

Burma Japanese

Well, it couldn't last.  I've managed to be relatively good so far this year and stay focused, however, I recently reread Field Marshall Slim's memoir of the war in Burma, Defeat into Victory, and had a bright idea.  There's a large box of old Airfix plastic figures in the loft.  Further investigation revealed a box of both  Matchbox Japanese and ANZACs so I decided to quickly, to be fair very quickly, slap some paint on a few and give them a quick wash.  They're not going to win any prizes but applying the three foot rule give a wargames standard I'm prepared to live with.

Lists for Chain of Command have yet to be finalised but I'm reasonably confident that I should have most of the figures required.  I can always buy a few metal figures to round things off but the Japanese in particular shouldn't require much in the way of support.   I did find a plastic Sherman which I'll paint up though for the Brits.

I'm trying to convince myself that this isn't a new period but an extension of an ongoing project and it's not that I had to buy any new figures either.  Anybody convinced?

The downside is that I have no jungle scenery and of course this could also be used for Indo-China which I've been thinking about for ages.  I'm sure I'll submit in the event the CoC amendments are released. 

Danes - Second Schleswig War

Painting continues at its normal snail's pace but I've at last completed some Danes for my Nineteenth Century project based on Neil Thomas' book.  This represents the infantry, minus command stands, for the Battle of Oeversee as described in Chapter 11.  Figures are by Pendraken although to speed things along I've gone with 15mm basing rather than that suggested for 10mm.  Just simple block painting with a brown ink wash to blend things together.

Uniforms are very similar to Union troops during the American Civil War and I'm wondering if I can get away with using them for both.

This is one of those little remembered European conflicts with obscure origins, Palmerston's famous quote about only three people knowing the origins springs to mind, although the recent BBC series may go some way to changing that.  I've recorded the first two episodes but not had a chance to watch them yet.

I've now based up the rest of the Danes and the Austrian contingent, however, I'm waiting for a dry day to prime them.  The aim is to paint up Prussians for Rackebull after and then move to the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and finally to the 1870 Franco-Prussian.