Woodland Indians

In keeping with my intention to focus on painting up units from the Horse and Musket era in 2012, my latest completed unit is a war party of 18th century North American woodland indians. Almost all of the figures are from the superb range produced by Perry miniatures, apart from the two chiefs dressed in French military coats that are Front Rank figures. The Perry figures are slightly smaller than the Front Rank items but that doesn't seem to be an issue once they are painted. Both product ranges are highly detailed, making them easier to paint. I particularly like the poses created by the Perry twins which seem more life-like than some other manufacturers.

These proved fast to paint but I did have some difficulty in getting the right look in regard to war paint on the faces. In the end I kept it simple mainly due to my limited painting skills and left it up to a bit of dry brushing and washes to bring out the details of the figures.

I intend to use the war band for both the French & Indian War and the American War of Independence.

I'm currently working on Canadian militia and coureur de bois to accompany the indians, while I've just undercoated a unit of Front Rank FitzJames' Horse which will be my first SYW French cavalry regiment.     

Zombies

Geoff Martin of the Southern Strategists recently light-heartedly described me as a 'wargaming snob' in that I have only ever shown any interest in gaming historical periods. However, I prefer to consider myself a 'wargaming purist' as it is the history of war and the human experience of it that is reflected in the gaming I prefer. Needless to say I was somewhat sceptical of any enjoyment factor when Geoff proposed that we have a zombie game at the Mess last week. I had previously only experienced fighting against zombies once in a Victoriana African exploration game where they proved near impossible to kill....and of course to the purist fighting zombies is hysterical not historical!

Never the less, the zombie game was held and fun was had by all who played. Geoff and his mate Bradley have constructed a shopping mall model for their zombie project which includes a car park, a number of shops and cafes, as well as an escalator. While this model is yet to be completed, it proved an ideal layout for such a game where three of us played as humans, with three character figures each, while my 10-year-old son and his friend played the multitude of zombies that we had to combat.

The aim of the game was for the humans to enter the mall from the car park, search the shops within the mall for a number of packages and ammunition, and return to the car park with the items without losing any characters. Each character was armed with a variety of weapons, including swords, pistols, shotguns and a chainsaw (which came in very handy for cutting through walls).

The scenario proved to be challenging but the humans gained a minor victory by retrieving most of the loot and escaping while losing only two characters. Sadly, one of my characters ( the bald guy with the Samurai sword) drew a dud chance card that saw him being surrounded and killed by zombies only a few steps away from the finish line. I like to think he sacrificed himself so that the others could survive.

This proved a very enjoyable and simple game that was fast moving and held the interest of all the players. The kids thought the game was 'cool' and it certainly proved fun trying not to be killed by an every-increasing horde of undead. However, it's unlikely I will be dragged in to playing such a game very often as for this 'purist' it was certainly on the fringe of what I consider wargaming.

The Shopping Mall  and car park. Entry to the mall was through the glass doors at the front

The humans being attacked by zombies as they first enter the mall to begin their search.

The humans escaping and about to cross the finish line as the zombies close in on them.

My samurai sword character holding off the zombies so that the others could escape...well that's my version of events anyway.

My three characters at the start of the game approaching the mall. The shotgun-wielding cop and the samurai sword bloke proved very effective in disposing of zombies.

Rodger Wood took the photographs of the game and more of them will be able to be seen on the Southern Strategists blog once he uploads his report of the game....hopefully this week sometime.       

SYW Highland Foot Regiment

It's been a long while since my last post, which indicates the small amount of painting on my part and lack of games being held at the Mess. However, just prior to Christmas I finished painting and basing a unit of 25/28 mm Seven Years War Highlanders. The battalion mainly consists of 25mm Dixon figures, although it also includes some 28mm Front Rank troops as well as 'Big Wully' who arrived at the Mess with my copy of the 'The Last Argument of Kings' from Warlord Games. Actually, two 'Big Wully' figures are included in the unit as Warlord kindly supplied me a second figure after the original had arrived with a bent and broken sword. The Front Rank figures were included in the command stand as the Dixon standard bearers were too small to accommodate the favoured GMB flags that I use.

I originally intended this unit to portray the Black Watch for my '45 and SYW projects, hence the buff coloured facings. The regiment didn't get royal blue facings until 1758 so I figured I could get away with the facing colour for the early part of the French & Indian War. However, several other Highland regiments had buff or yellow facings during the period which allows me to make the unit fairly generic. GMB currently don't have the buff regimental flag for the 42nd Foot (Black Watch) so I've just used one that I already had from my AWI collection.

Most of my battalions for this period consist of 6 stands of 4 figures, but in this case I have gone for 8 stands of 3 figures (apart from the command stand). I did this so that I could portray the regiment as skirmishers as well as making it a bigger unit numerically. The Highland battalions were historically larger than normal foot battalions in the British Army as many Highlanders flocked to the colours to avoid starvation and poverty in the mid 18th century. There are also more officers in this unit than I would normally include, but again this was historically correct.

I've also painted an individual dismounted senior officer. The Front Rank figure is of Lord Loudon but could be used as a generic commander.

I'm currently working on finishing a warband of Perry Woodland indians, as well as Canadian militia and Coureur du bois. Despite friendly pressure from other Southern Strategists, this year I'm determined not to be side-tracked into other projects until I have finally complete my own projects.....this could take a while!              

Napoleonic naval game at Conquest 2011

For the past few years I promised myself that I wouldn't get caught in the trap of having to paint up units at the last minute for demo games at the annual 'Conquest' convention held in Christchurch during October. Sadly, yet a gain I set a low standard and failed to achieve it in this regard.

This year the Southern Strategists decided to have a Napoleonic naval battle using the superbly detailed 1/700 ships from the Skytrex range. The bulk of the fleets had been painted by Dave Houston who had introduced the group to naval wargaming last year. As a sign of 'solidarity' (a socialist term frowned upon by Dave who is our resident law firm partner and card-carrying member of the ultra-conservative 'Act' Party here in NZ), we all decided to buy and paint up at least one ship each to provide a sizable game. Several months out from the event another member of the group pushed for the demo game to be a 28mm Victoriana Dark Africa skirmish game. 'Great' I thought as that meant I didn't have to supply any newly painted troops. However, the gaming gods were against me as three weeks out from the convention our Victoriana specialist panicked at the thought of transporting all the required terrain to the show and suggested we revert back to the naval game. 'Bugger' I cried as I that meant I now had to rush to paint up two 3rd Rate ships that were languishing in my lead pile. So, yet again I was still finishing off the ships in the wee hours of the morning before the game, cursing at fingers glued together while try to add rat-lines and rigging. As it turned out my ships entered the fray without any 'colours' and banners due to frustration and tiredness getting the better of me.

Fortunately the effort was worth it as our game received plenty of public attention throughout the day and was a novelty for those use to gaming tables covered with armies instead of model ships. Although not based on any specific battle, the game played using Warhammer Trafalgar rules proved somewhat historical in that both fleets (Franco-Spanish alliance against the Royal Navy) fought until they were near exhaustion, with wind direction determining manoeuvring.

Sadly, my two ships, the 'Berwick ( a French 74-gunner) and the HMS Defiance (another 74-gunner that was seconded to the Franco-Spanish fleet for the game) came to a sticky end on their first outing; the 'Berwick' blew up after leading the vanguard of the Allied fleet, with the 'Defiance' having to strike it's colours after losing all it's cannons and crew. Still, a very enjoyable wargaming genre that provided some variety to the convention and hours of satisfying gaming and convivial banter.

The Southern Strategists table at Conquest...only a few paces from the bar as usual!

Rodger Wood took some images of the game and convention which he will put on his blog 'Rebel Barracks' and the Southern Strategist blog in due course. The convention and swap-meet was well supported as usual, but the most striking image he took records the only female gamer at the convention fully engaged in the 'Flames of War' competition. This sparked some light-hearted suggestion amongst our group that she had an unfair advantage over her opponents in that most male gamers would feel distracted by her womanly qualities and fail to ruthlessly attack her forces, giving her victory. It was certainly unusual but refreshing to see a woman getting involved in such a male dominated hobby.

The valiant but hapless "Berwick" - blown to pieces in it's first engagement

The Berwick before sinking

The fleets collide...the Berwick about to take on three British ships (top centre)

Is that the rule book or a Womens Weekly that she's reading?

HMS Defiance firing a broadside

The Defiance in action before losing her cannon and crew

Now that these ships are done I can get back to my French & Indian War/ Seven Years War project that I have struggled to finish.....    

1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot -Seven Years War

It's been a while since I placed a post of the blog, which is mainly due to my slow painting of figures. I've got a few projects on the go, but watching the rugby World Cup, which is being played here in New Zealand, has been a bit of a distraction as well.

I've just finished painting and basing the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot for my Seven Years War project. These are the superb 28mm Front Rank figures that I love due to the detail that makes them easy to paint. This is only the second British regiment that I have painted so far and this time I changed the painting style; previously when painting faces I left black shading from the under-coat and painted in the eyes. However, this time I just gave the faces and hands a wash using Citadel's Gryphonne Sepia wash. This certainly cut down on painting time but the jury is still out on the final result....my 10-year-old son is my greatest critic of my painting and he prefers my previous painting style.

These units should prove very versatile as I intend to use them in my '45 project, along with gaming the French & Indian War and the Seven Years War in Europe. I'm currently in the process of finishing off some 25mm Dixon Seven Year War Highlanders that I'm painting up as the 42nd Foot (The Black Watch). I have these troops wearing buff facings so that I can use them for the '45 project, as well as for the French & Indian War. The only problem that I have struck with them is that the Dixon standard bearers come with the flag pole attached and are too small for the GMB flags that I use. To remedy this I had to order a couple of Front Rank standard bearers so that the regiment could proudly display their colours. I'm not too worried about the size difference as I have also included in the unit the 'Wee Wully' Highland officer that was free with the Last Argument of Kings supplement for the Black Powder rules; this figure is larger than the Dixon figures but should fit well with the Front Rank standard bearers on the same stand. The blue facing of this unit is much darker than the photos portray, using Vallejo Imperial Blue to get the right dark shade required. 

I've also included in this post my newly re-based British Legion cavalry from my American War of Independence British Army. I've had this unit for some time but they suffered casualties in the September 2010 earthquake that struck Christchurch. Hence, they have received a fresh coat of paint and have had their balsa wood bases replaced with mdf ones....and nicer flocking.

Another long term project has been the building of an 18th century brigantine from the plans Gary Chalk published in Wargames Illustrated in the 1990s. Again, this has been a slow process but I thought I should provide a photo of the progress made so far. At this stage I have the 'bones' of the ship together but with plenty of work still to come. Originally I intended this to be a pirate ship but will ensure I have a number of different flags to attach to it to provide some versatility in what I can use it for. I've already decided to call it the 'King James' in honour of my Irish Jacobite ancestors, so I suppose that prevents it from being part of the Royal Navy....meaning I'll have to produce a second ship to fight against it.

1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot

Royal regiments had dark blue facings and, in the case of the 1st Foot the officers & drummers, had Royal gold/ yellow lace

Tarleton leads his British Legion cavalry

Front Rank British Legion cavalry 'refitted' & ready for action

The brigantine 'King James' under construction- fortunately I haven't glued the masts and bowsprit in yet as it appears the bowsprit is too long and I need to swap the masts around....still a work in progress!

Oh, I just about forgot to mention that the book I recently wrote for Osprey, 'The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War 1,' is due to be released on 18 October. The artwork by Mike Chappell is simply superb and I'm thrilled that he has agreed to be part of the second project covering 2NZEF in World War 2, which won't be released until late 2012/ early 2013.            

25mm North American buildings

Christchurch is in the grips of a polar snow storm today, with businesses and schools closed. This meant that there was little chance of me getting any writing done with my wife and kids home for the day as well. The silver lining was that it gave me an opportunity to introduce my 9-year-old son to painting terrain. He has been keen to start painting paint figures but I thought he could start by undercoating some stone walls that have been languishing unpainted for a number of years. A wargaming colleague from Wellington has a teenage son who does the basic painting of his figures, and if I'm ever to see the end of my lead mountain then I will eventually follow the same path.
This afternoon I also photographed some 25mm North American building that I finished painting in the last couple of weeks. I 'rescued' them second-hand from one of my fellow Southern Strategists who had them for sale in the annual wargaming swap-meet here in the 'garden city.' I think they were originally purchased from Military Miniatures in Auckland and designed by Mark Strachan. When I received them they were in a semi-painted state and gave the appearance of being from a long-forgotten project that had died through lack in interest. So, one man's junk became another man's treasure.

After a new black under-coat, a top coat and then some dry brushing...plus some basic flocking...they were ready to make an appearance in any future AWI or ACW games. The general store, log cabin and barn are smaller than the Hovels buildings that I have for the same periods but should be ok if placed together as a small hamlet or farm.    

Napoleonic French Vivandiere