D-Day bash at the Redwood Redoubt

In recognition of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, fellow Southern Strategist, Gavin 'Reginald Ogilvie VC' Bowden, hosted a Normandy 1944 bash at the Redwood Redoubt on Labour Weekend (NZ time). Gav played the role of umpire, while the fighting was conducted by two other Southern Strategists (Chris Packer and Dave 'Three Pies' Houston) and Gav's two young sons-in-law. Apparently it was a prerequisite that they had to become wargamers before Gav would allow them to marry his daughters. My role was to act as military photographer. This was a day-long event and I left before the conclusion, but things weren't going too well for the defending Germans, who I suspect ran out of heavy fire-power by the end of the game. Congratulations must go to Gav for hosting such a well-presented game and the photos provide proof of this.

Gav explaining the finer rule details to the combatants...probably more like adjudicating.

A bit of sole searching going on here. The young son-in-law strategically remaining some distance from Gav. 

The beers are out, so the two sons-in-law (extreme left and extreme right) will be fine now.

A British Sherman on attack. Note the New Zealand 'Lemon Squeezer' worn by the tank commander. Quite surprising really, as the NZ Division were fighting in Italy at this time.

Dave 'Three Pies" Houston digging into his rations after losing a couple of armoured vehicles while defending the town. Note he is wearing the standard issue black German Armoured jersey. 

Gav was either recovering from a late night here, or saying 'Oh, F..K!' at seeing some poor dice throwing.

Hope you have enjoyed viewing the game.

Until next time! 

   

SYW French Bercheny Hussars

After four and half months I've finally finished my SYW Bercheny Hussars project! I started this unit way back in the Christmas holidays, but for some reason I procrastinated with then and was enticed away to other small side projects. I think it was the thought of painting all that white lace type stuff that put me off. I got the Front Rank figures for this unit in a second-hand bulk buy of some poorly painted troops (minus horses) at the local wargaming swap-meet a couple of years ago. After a soak in some nappy cleaning solution I was able to discard with the old enamel paint and prepare them for re-painting, but I needed to purchase some new Front Rank horses to go with them.
Although the figures are actually SYW Prussian Hussars, I decided that with the Mirleton felt cap that they could pass for a French hussars unit if you don't look too hard. The bugler is not in the historical regular dress of the Bercheny Hussars, but I can live with that.

The bulk buy of poorly painted figures from the local swap-meet from which the troops from the new unit originally come from. The rest will probably end as Hessian and Hanoverian hussars.

The newly painted, but not totally historically correct, French Bercheny Hussars.

The officers of this unit were distinguishable from the troops by wearing red trousers

Although not quite fitting the historical dress of the buglers of this unit, I think this bloke fits in nicely with his feathered hackle on his Mirleton cap.

The flag may not be historically correct either, but it was the closest I could get from the GMB flag French SYW cavalry range. It is marketed as a dragoon guidon, but I think it looks the part. 

I'm quite happy with the look obtained by using shading washes on the faces, followed by touching up the highlights afterwards. To be honest, at my age I'm just happy to be able to see such detail.

Until next time!

         

'Bring out ya dead!'

Something that I've never had enough of in my miniature forces are casualty markers. I know that some choose to use dice in calculating the 'wastage' from combat in their units, but I reckon that distracts from the aesthetics of a well-presented wargame. To rectify this, I've recently purchased a bunch of War Bases MDF casualty counting-bases which are perfect for mounting 28 mm figures. These circular bases cater for up to 12 casualties per unit and look great on the table next to engaged troops. At this point I intend to have one of these casualty bases for each individual unit in all my 'Horse and Musket' armies. I highly recommend them. All the figures are from Front Rank.

SYW/ FIW British casualty markers

British and French casualty markers for my Peninsula armies

42nd Highlanders (Black Watch) casualty for the mid 1740s period. Note the buff sleeve facings which changed to Royal Blue in the late 1750s

French SYW/ FIW casualties. The blue coated figure is for the Royal Ecossois, while the red coated figure is for Lally's regiment of the famed Irish Brigade. I'm currently painting up this regiment, which has a special significance for me as one of my ancestors led a picquet from this unit at Culloden...and survived!   

Another recent purchase is a couple of Teddy bear fur terrain mats from Killing Fields in the US. Previously I wasn't sure whether I liked the Teddy Bear fur effect until one of the other Southern Strategist hosted a 28 mm game that changed my mind. They even come with complementary combs to gain the desired effect. The standard size is 7ft x 5ft  size and they weren't cheap to post to NZ, but I'm sure I will get years of use out of them.

Until next time!    

         

Minor Projects in the Mess

It's been a while since my last post and that's mainly because my painting output has been on a 'go slow' of late. That's not say that I haven't been plodding along on my projects. I started painting a unit of French SYW hussars during the Christmas holidays and, sadly, they still have not been finished as the amount of white lace required has created a small psychological hurdle that I'm yet to get over...maybe this week will see them completed. However, I have managed to finish a couple of minor projects along the way. I've put together a couple of 4Ground American Frontier two-storey cabins that will see plenty of action in my FIW, AWI and ACW campaigns. I've also painted up a couple of single-based characters as quick-to-paint side projects as a distraction from painting big units. These include a mounted Hessian general and a Jacobite artillery stand for my '45 project.

The completed 4Ground cabins with added mdf bases

This represents a French (Canadian) style cabin with the planks mounted vertically

This cabin is built in the style used by British colonial settlers with horizontal planking

A freshly painted Front Rank Hessian general. I must remind myself to brush away all the loose grass fibres that collected on the model before applying the protective varnish next time.

Front Rank Jacobite artillery ready for action. The cannon is a re-cycled second hand item, very much like the artillery the Jacobites used in the early actions of the '45. 

The cabins under construction with other projects in the background

Another wee side project that I've nearly finished is working on increasing the number of tree stands for my games. The cheapest and most practical trees I've found have come from our local Christmas Shop here in Christchurch. The tree on the right is how they are when first purchased, while the one on the left looks more realistic after it has been dipped in a solution of  watered down PVA and then sprinkled with grass flock. All I have to do now is paint the bases and mount them.

Until next time!