Saturday 27 May 2017

The Army of Virginia creeps on 😀

For all sorts of reasons I have not been gaming last couple of weeks, the good news is the cold has nearly gone and we are away on holiday for the next week in SW Scotland quiet time as life has been very hectic. As I am still enjoying the 'Rebs' I have pushed on and completed the third regiment.

I am still experimenting a bit with colours, these are obviously a more 'regular' unit slightly better fitted out. I quite like this slightly lighter grey and I have used the light blue to add some sparing highlight colour.

Only four slouch hats in the whole unit. Pretty happy with these 😀

Keen observers will note none of them are wearing football scarves ! I am starting to formulate a slightly more structured direction going forward, working out what figures I have and what else I will need to get. With three units completed I even had to go and get them a box from town !

Thursday 25 May 2017

Feels just like Northern Virginia

Hot hot hot here in Penrith ......just like Northern Virginia. The second Rebel unit has marched off the production line. Theses were a bit quicker and the bases were definitely quicker to complete as I knew exactly what I was trying to achieve.
Obviously more Perry figures which I plan to use for the bulk of the project. The challenge is I tried to make this unit slightly more regular which didn't really happen ☹️ May have to change the red and white blanket which was an experiment. The third unit which is well on the way will definitely be a bit more of a 'regular' unit.

Monday 22 May 2017

Productive Cough 🤢

Following my excellent trip to Carronade a week ago I have been struck down with a nasty chesty cough. This combined with a challenging week at work meant I wasn't well enough to go to Partizan which was the plan. Very disappointed but I am strongly of the belief that we should all try to focus on the positive in our lives. A bit of enforced quiet time means (in small bites) I have been able to focus on some painting🙂

First up with time on my hands I have spent a lot of time thinking about projects and decided it was time to finally start the ACW project. I already have quite a few figures (unpainted) so I wanted to experiment with a faster approach to painting units. As I am looking at multi basing I needed to paint the Figures before basing which is normally the other way round for me.

 
Stage one figures (Perry Confederates) stuck together and fixed with double sided tape to three large pieces of wood. I deliberately cur the wood to accommodate 8 figures and still give just enough space to access details
Sprayed white primer and grey base coat
Picked out details mainly in mixed browns and some slightl darker grey
Figures basecoated....
As all my figures some stain/earth shade added
A quick process of highlighting, which was very quick on the wooden painting bases, the 40mm square bases were then covered in milliput, figures stuck on a bit of sand to cover the flat bit between the figures legs, brown paint, dry brush and a bit of grass.

The bases took slightly longer than I had hoped but I estimated the whole unit took about 6 or 7 hours work. Quite happy with the resulting unit. They are usable now but would benefit from a tiny bit more detail which I will add later when I have more units. The flag is photocopied direct form the ones which come in the box. I am going to keep each unit generic and provide them with state flags separately.

My second unit are the Numidian light cavalry which had been sat on my painting tray for ages.
Nothing massively special about these, lots of brown ! Shields are hand painted and made up generic patterns.
The victrix horses are some of the best sculpts ever and wonderfully dynamic, figures slightly more a pain as the cloth/skin boundary on each figure can be slightly in distinct.

Saturday 13 May 2017

Jungle drums from Carronade

I had a free train ticket (due to previous Virgin trains delays) which needed to be used, so I hopped on to travel upto Falkirk and Carronade today. Not a show I have been to before but will definitely try and get to again. Sadly I didn't take my camera so didn't take any photos of games although there were plenty to admire, a more traditional show with a wide range of games on display, historical with a smattering of sci-fi. Lots of different scales to admire. Lots of traders and an excellent bring and buy. Was also able to meet up with bloggers Phil and David and is was really nice to put faces to blogs, have a chat and catch up about future projects. With no delays a very pleasant day all round.

I did buy quite a bit to add to the mountain....but was trying to assuage my guilt on the basis that the ticket was free and the prices I paid at the flea market were ridiculous!
This guy is about 3" tall and is likely to appear as a statue in my blood in the Sand campaign £2
A Hittite King and Chariot £1
Belgium explorer..........
A dozen artizan Algerians £3
A couple of nice characters £3
Two units of gripping beast Norman warriors for SAGA and Crescent and Cross £2
Some more characters...rather splendidly David was able to identify a couple of them as his Sons sculpts £3
Redoubt FIW figures....mainly characters and  casualties  £10
Finally if you were wondering about the  jungle comment, loads of Foundry Darkest Africa native warriors 
for Cavendish and Congo games £3
A ridiculous number of foundry Belgium darkest Africa figures £6 !
Some more characters......£1
And a couple more characters from the bottom of the bag.....

All told about 120 figures and next week we are off to Partizan 😱😱😱

Carronade 2017

Heading even further north today curtesy of a free train ticket so going to Carronade today...if anybody is around at the show who follows my blog let me know...more than happy to meet up 😀

Monday 8 May 2017

The Battle for Greenhead : VBCW

After the recent debacle to West Aukland, Lt Caulfield had been lucky to keep his commission. The Colonel had been less than pleased when the recon mission had returned empty handed from across the Pennines. But after a short spell cleaning toilets at the castle barracks Caulfield had resumed his command. The Colonel had little choice as he had limited senior officers at hand and he had been called away to an important meeting with other Royalist leaders in the midlands. This left Caulfield in charge, and under strict instructions not to do anything rash !

But he was determined to redeem his reputation so when unlikely reports of possible troops movements to the east reached him in the officers' mess he was quick to despatch a force to investigate....as like as not it would be another false report, but at least it would serve as a good training mission for the mixed bag of units at his disposal.

Moving East along the A69 Lt Caulfield at the head of the main Royalist forces approached the small village of Greenhead. At least if it was a false alarm he would be back in time for last orders. As he looked through his binoculars he could see little across the valley....it was only when the first shell whizzed over his head that he saw them "bloody hell...those Northumbrian bastards are back" with a shout to his driver his motorcycle charged down the road towards the action.
Caulfield at the head of his force !
And so to the battle ...........This felt like quite a photogenic battle so I took too many photos do skip if you feel the need 🙂if not enjoy

The Wetherall Hunt have been sent forward to reconnoiter the way ahead, arriving on the battlefield behind the railway cottages
The main force arriving from Carlisle down the A69 two units of regular infantry, Lanchester armoured cars supported by the Carlisle WI
As the Royalists' advance down the main road Lord Percy's forces begin to appear in the distance, Lt Caulfield orders the armoured cars forward and other units including the Stanwix Militia off the road to the south.
The Stanwix Militia move forward through the small farm to the south of the A69 their orders to holding the railway cutting
The clink of hobnail boots on the cobbled road ! As the Cumberland Borderers run down the road
The Hunt have ridden upto the bridge over the railway and met the advance units of the main Royalist forces. Asking a solitary lady where the enemy are  ? she replies in a strong Russian accent "zee fascists are coming down zee road" little did they know this is Svetlana a communist spy attempting to gather intelligence for the Alston Workers Brigade....if only they had known they could have captured her. 
To the East, Military style Police, known locally in the NE as the Alnwick Vampires, are rushing forward a number of other trucks push forward, each one full of troops. The number 39 bus has been forced to park up abandoned by its driver.
Caulfield orders the Constabulary Mortar team to deploy on the hill, it is unlikely they will hit anything so they are best kept at the back out of the way !
The Royalist second wave begins to arrive on the battlefield, more armed police and Facist units from Penrith, unfortunately communication has not been  good and units arrive from random directions
This must be madness ! The Wetherall Hunt gallop over the bridge in a 'Charge of the light brigade' re-enactment, not surprisingly a burst of machine gun fire from ahead makes them think again and they soon dismount and dive into the buildings by the bridge 
The 'Vampires' move forward in armoured trucks then take cover in the long grass
The Northumbrian forces are still moving onto the battlefield...including, an armoured car and an old Renault tank
More Penrith facists arrive in their van from the north, together with a 13lb artillery piece being manned by Carlisle Constabulary reserves.
The Police Mortar team have little experience with such a weapon, so sighting by eye they blast a shell into the distance ! Kabooom a direct hit on one of the enemies armoured cars looking at each other is disbelief they start to reload.
To the south the Militia can now see the enemy forces over the railway cutting and move upto the hedge, unsure what to do next ?
Black smoke billowing from the knocked out AC, leading the charge the Vampires have drawn a lot of fire and soon get pinned down in the long grass
The bulk of Percy's force is now advancing, Northumberland Rangers moving swiftly across country, they are used to fighting in this sort of terrain.
Royalist forces moving into defensive positions behind the railway cottages
The police artillery piece has now deployed but doesn't have a target, the AC's pull up short of the bridge and open fire at anything they can see over the bridge
Suddenly to their consternation the Royalist forces come under fire from their own troops in the railway cottages ! Unbelievably some of the fascists have received communication from some of Percy's right wing forces and have changed their allegiance!!!!!! (we had some special Blue on Blue random events the chance of a unit actually changing sides was very unlikely ! So at least we knew it wouldn't happen again 🤔)
In the skies above the village a Hawker Fury had been doing its best to pin the Northumbrian's down but eventually it flew too close and was hit by machine gun fire as oil leaked underneath the plane it banked away and headed back to Carlisle airport.
On the main road the Vampires charge into the building to finish off the remaining Hunt members, the AC unlikely as it seemed, was also hit by the Mortar (very loud cheers from the Royalist forces....dejected crying from Percy) although not destroyed it was immobilised and wouldn't be able to come over the bridge !
Royalist forces fire multiple volleys into the traitorous facists in the cottages ahead, it is clear they must be dislodged before the enemy proper can be handled, but it isn't going to be an easy task. Eventually the men of the Carlisle Golf Club in conjunction with the Regular Borderers wipe them out but at heavy cost to themselves.
A second unit of Penrith facists unaware of their comrades defection advance to the south, luckily for Svetlana they don't recognise her
Northumbrian troops have pretty much taken hold in the village, but seem reluctant to charge the bridge ? Even with the artillery support they have brought up, instead the Tank pushes forward first...luckily they know the Royalists have little which can trouble it..........!
The Rangers rush forward on mass through the village and the industrial buildings by the railway
A shot down the railway cutting, the Royalist facists look like they are going to make a dash for it ?
The vampires in the foreground are still pinned down, UNBELIEVABLY UNBELIEVABLE the Tank which had moved up under cover of the bridge has also been hit and knocked out by the Police Mortar....three hits and three destroyed vehicles. (Anyone close to Lord Percy at the time of the third mortar strike would have heard language not printable on this blog or ever to be repeated in the dungeon again 😀)
In a scary homage to WW1 the Stanwix Militia and the Remainig Royalist Facists jump over the wire into the railway cutting looking to cleverly outflank the Northumbrians
In desperation Lord Percy orders one of the remaining Armoured Carriers to charge over the bridge, in disbelief the Royalists fail to shoot at it as it speeds past but now they have enemy troops behind them as well.
Unaware of the crisis behind them and under cover of the cutting the two units of infantry push on........
And the Militia are able to charge out of the cutting knocking out the remaining enemy in the area and leaping for cover in the gardens, the second unit starts to move along the cutting to the north.
Behind their lines the Northumbrian infantry have jumped out near the farm but immediately have to take cover from the Lanchester which has circled back to harass them with its Vickers gun..
The Northumbrian's now well established in the village preparing to charge across the cutting, they come under fire from across the cutting in the railway cottages where the fascists have paid with their lives for their treacherous behaviour.
A kind of angry stalemate now occurs where neither side is able to take control or capitalise on gains made.
Coming under fire the heroic Mortar team roll a Fubar and run from the battlefield. Their incredible shooting, knocking out three enemy vehicles is without precedent and would have clearly won them a distinguished medal....however now fleeing the field at the merest sight of the enemy has blown it they are likely to end up on a charge and cleaning toilets for a good while !
The leading unit of Northumbrian Rangers have now climbed into the cutting but are surprised to find the enemy already there, what ensues is a deadly long range shooting battle with no cover for either side !
NO NO NO it cannot be happening, another coded message passes across the lines and the unit of Carlisle Constabulary change sides arrrghhhhhhh ! They immediately swamp the remaining loyal troops in the cottages and move to capture Lt Smythers, refusing to be bowed he fires back with his pistol and shouts a warning to the other Royalist troops that treachery is at hand again.
LT Caulfield close to the action is able to regroup his forces bringing the remaining WI and regular troops back towards the bridge which must be held at all cost.
The fearce battle continues in the cutting, let's hope the five thirty train doesn't arrive on time 
"Blimey Johnson they have cut the road" on the A69 the only remaining vampire carrier now realises the folly of thier heroic drive and wonder how they are going to get away ?
At this point with darkness drawing in both sides decided to call off hostilities, Lt Caulfield soon rounded up the Police he could capture and led them away for interrogation back in Carlisle, just why he wanted to know had so many troops defected during the battle. The Northumbrian's however had complete control of the village and soon set up a road block. Their lines of communication and supply would be very long but Lord Percy would now consider this small village the front line and the boundary of his growing territory. He couldn't quite be sure of the loyalty of some of the defectors but they would form a useful front line Border force if he could support them with his remaining rangers.
Lord Percy inspecting his newly acquired territory

What he can't see behind him is Svetlana on her motorbike heading south into the hills where she can inform her comrades in the Alston Socialist Alliance and Workers Brigade the result of the battle. Knowing that the best time to attack is before an enemy has been able to dig in they immediately start to prepare an assault....after all which ever side of the Pennines they live the only good facists are dead ones and she is sure the workers engineers will be able to get that tank working again if they can capture it 😀

It goes without saying we had a fun time, a really tough battle for both sides but you couldn't have scripted it.........