Italy takes to the sky……and more Christmas loot

The over indulgence of Christmas is finally settling down and I can share some more bits from over the festive period….

Firstly and the last item completed before Christmas some Italian airforce a C.R. 42 Falco for the Regia Aeronautica. A 1/48 kit as I prefer the larger models for 28mm gaming. A great model although I’m not really a very skilled model maker. The struts being quite a challenge, I went for an early colour scheme more colourful and ok upto sicily. The camo scheme is a very rough interpretation of an 1940’s scheme if you squint it is ok. Annoyingly the kit from Italiari didn’t come with a pilot , but I found one in another kit I had waiting in the pile. I do have quite a lot of plane kits in the pile ? 

Next up we did manage to play a couple of zombie games over the holiday, the games are fairly simple with the survivors/protagonists hunting for supplies whilst the zombies / walking dead gradually increase in number as the game progresses.

We at least has some fun and laughs, for those interested in computer games I made this model specially to represent a character in our current favourite game, and yes there are wolves in the forest !

Another shot of the same game with the undead horde arriving stage left as the survivors flee for their lives !

A few of the gifts I generously received as presents 

A game I ordered for myself with a view to some ECW campaigning during 2026, I have scanned through and it is more complex than I had anticipated but the map and game kit could be used in a simpler system if required. It does have a specific solo mode so I should persevere and try and get a solo campaign running

My son gave me these for Christmas picked up in a charity shop. The full set of 100 ! A great find and packed full of information and beautiful osprey illustrations.

Now looking forward to 2026 time for a new (extension) project pondering on this as we do, and having enjoyed collecting and painting my Italians I thought I would look for alternative opponents for them. This obviously leads to Greece which I had previously rejected for the Germans as the later Greek campaign was slightly one sided. However, now I have Italians I have plumbed for Greeks in 2026.

I’m sure we all often start with an osprey book …..this is a pretty good introduction

Some great illustrations as above, the Greeks having captured Italian tankettes…👍

Then scanning on the web I found Great Escape games were offering some excellent sale prices on some of their Greek range…job done so I ordered up a mixed starter force. The benefit of the Greco/italian campaigns are they had very limited armour so I don’t really need anymore, I already have the Italian stuff. Mainly infantry for the Greeks but with some older artillery and support. The GEG figures look excellent sculpts very like crusader figures (not at all like their horrible Norwegians!) so that is the first new project for 2026. One of the benefits is I don’t really need any terrain as between Sicily and Norway I can cover most of what I need.

Finally for this last ? Post of 2025 another shortish video really for my benefit to record all the painted stuff I have managed to finish in 2025. Do of course feel free to skip this alternatively enjoy 5 mins of Mozart 🙂

Thanks as always and I will likely see you on the other side of New year 

Matt❤️

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas to all of my loyal followers Matt ❤️

Almost Christmas post…..and that was 2025

Christmas is nearly upon us, the weather has improved which is good. The children are back making the house feel busy. I am managing some hobby time though between family stuff. A couple of things completed in the last few days.

This slightly silly terrain piece (planes don’t really crash like this !) but I picked up from the bring and buy at battleground. It is a single 3D print which had a small broken piece at the bottom of the box. Not wanting to make it too specific I have given it non-specific markings and will probably add some smoke when it is on the table.

Also from the secondhand haul at battleground these ECW cavalry. Not sure on the make but they are quite old softer metal figures. Possibly Essex ? Anyway the riders are very slightly bulky but the horses match quite well with the others I have.

Here they are on the left, Peter Pig in the middle and Warlord epic on the right. They match surprisingly well , indicating once again that the warlord figures are really closer to 15mm than most people think. There was only one unit and a couple of odd figures in the bag but they make a nice extra unit.

It does give me that age old problem, as when they were placed in the box, there is no more space and I have at least 3 more cavalry units in the pile ! It looks like the ECW collection is going to move into its fifth box.

Finally I had mention some Christmas zombie games, the table has already seen some action, so I thought I would share a couple of photos of the current setup.

All vehicles are charity shop buys and looking for them is quite an addiction.

Are slightly larger battle is planned….

But for now my daughter has enjoyed rolling some dice in the dungeon which will do for me 🙂

And finally for those loyal readers who have made it this far I pulled together a short 3 minute ‘eye candy’ video of the games (most I think) that we have played in the dungeon in 2025. As to be expected no stats from me and certainly no hint of how much I have spent on my hobbies………just in case my dear wife stumbled across my blog by accident.

Have a great Christmas I will return to my Italian airforce work while the kids are out shopping 🎅🏽

Matt❤️

Battle of Edgehill 23rd October 1642

Probably the last big game before Christmas and a run out for the ECW collection. I could also try out the xtra bits I had picked up at Battleground, wound markers, fire counters and camps. Our adaption of the Kings of War rules continues although they don’t need many tweaks really, I just need to firm up on a couple of the cavalry rules.

Anyway I took the majority of our scenario from this book which I had picked up about a year ago secondhand, a very useful starter for both ECW and TYW battles. Interestingly though I found a lot of variation in setups and maps for Edgehill on the web.

Different setups etc. so in the end I simple took the key elements of the majority for our battle

The setup on the table. Kings forces on the right having come down from Edgehill and keen to engage with the Parliamentary (Rebellious) forces. We had a few special rules, the Royalist setup is slightly closer to the European Tercio style, the parliamentary forces have extra shooting ability to reflect the poor provision of weapons at this stage in the Royalist army. We used the ‘fire fire’ figures to represent this effectively giving the parliamentary forces two rounds of first fire, whilst the Royalist didn’t get any. However the Parliamentary morale is already a little shaky especially in Essex’s brigade, and a couple of the cavalry regiments and they start the battle already carrying a couple of wounds. Some debate about the Royalists having some heavy guns at the battle, but as I have them I put them in but we only gave them a limited number of rounds of firing to reduce their impact. The royalist cavalry would be impetuous but most of the time they were looking to charge anyway.

And so to battle….

The King advances his forces mindful that the Rebels have better weapons

Essex keen to utilise his better firing also moves forward to get into range. (You can see the markers in place two for each block)

Rupert of course pushes forward on the right

On the left , as historically the ground is more broken preventing effective charging ? For now

The slow advance of the Pike blocks across the stream, in the early stages the Kings artillery has a good impact upon the Parliamentary infantry

On the right a large cavalry melee kicks off, but with the rules fairly balanced one round of combat is unlikely to be decisive (much improved wound markers on show)

On the left the cavalry stops to fire pistols at each other with some effect, but again Not decisive 

In The middle distance Meldrum’s brigade has crossed the stream and pushes into Wentworth.

After several rounds of fighting some parliamentary cavalry manages to break through threatening the Royalist flank, who quickly form a defensive Hedgehog formation.

Everywhere else Pike blocks are crashing into each other ‘push of Pike’ ensues, but the leading Royalist regiment gets slightly too far ahead and is worryingly outnumbered and hit on the flank !

Gradually the Royalist cavalry is gaining the upper hand but it is taking too long against the stubborn Parliamentary horse, who hold their ground

You can see across the battlefield the majority of troops are now engaged in fierce hand to hand fighting, Royalist initially have the upper hand but then their luck changes and suddenly the Royalist centre starts to break and run !

The royalists start to lose heart and despite both sides still fighting it is a clear Parliamentary victory. The king will withdraw to Oxford rather than stamp out the civil war in 1642 :(

A fine battle which as often is the case could have gone the other way, the leading Royalist blocks just got drawn too far out of position in their haste and lost the support they needed, the tweaks seems to work quite well. The Parliamentary horse was much more stubborn than historically but it’s a game and if the civil war ended here what would I do with all the figures ? I may get a chance to play a smaller battle over Christmas to see if the rules work at a slightly smaller scale, we’ll see.

I also managed to get a game in with Jon over the internet, giving his Zallaqah battle a run out. It took a little bit to remember the rules as I’ve not played one of his excellent hex games for a while. Playing as the  Moors they have a challenge being faced by masses of heavy Christian knights, can they weather the initial charge and then attempt to push back ?

A fine battle but I think I’ll let Jon tell the story :)

Finally as we settle into the holiday season and rubbish on the TV I plan to tempt the Kids (28&30) into the dungeon to play some zombie games, dad gets to be the zombies hoorah !

Some more painting on the cards in the next few days and hoping to do a short summary of 2025 and some fun planning for 2026 as well.

However if blogger fails have a good Christmas or Holiday season if appropriate I will see you soon

Matt 🎅🏽

Battle of Iuka September 1862 ACW

Monday I travelled across to play an ACW battle at Martins. He had set up the Battle of Iuka not one I was aware of but a good sized battle with three brigades per side as he had enough figures the soldiers and terrain are all his.

I’m going to leave it to you to read the background. But essentially both sides have sent a smallish force of three or so brigades to push the enemy out of the way. The terrain is very wooded and they basically bumped into each other. Historically the Confederates took the lead and were the more aggressive, but as I was playing the Union forces we thought we would get stuck in ! Just a couple of shots to show the action.

Battle field setup, both sides have a brigade in reserve to be brought in on a D6 roll. As it happened the Union side were much more successful in bringing their reserves on 

The main assault is focussed in the centre/right. Whilst the left wing of the Union force simply looks to hold their ground

Hoorah Union reserves arrive almost immediately giving them the advantage of numbers

Tough fighting but the Union drive the confederate centre back, but their forces are close to breaking beyond the small road in the distance

Eventually the Confederates bring on their reserves, much of the leading Union units are close to breaking a red ‘ring’ means the unit is shaken and close to breaking 

The Union reserves stabilise the position

And despite their own fatigue they are able to drive the confederates back who start to break and run back to Iuka. Good fun and a good sized and balanced battle which I will look to play again sometime.

A bit more painting time this week and I have managed to finish up some stuff

These were a Christmas gift from last year so I was determined to get them finished before next week, warlord figures which come with alternate heads, I put them on square bases as I have an idea that I might squeeze them into Spanish units in the Peninsular when I’m short of a base ? Obviously they can also be baggage or simple eye candy vignettes.

Just before I picked up all the EVW stuff at Battleground I had ordered some 15mm tents off eBay so I made a couple more ‘camp’ bases for the ECW. I’m not sure what to do with the other tents as I have too many now ? I guess if I painted them green they could be WW2 command tents. Otherwise I don’t have any 15mm stuff. I might even put a couple on the railway somewhere ? If anybody wanted a couple let me know.

Finally a proper unit painted for the AWI these were the last metal figures picked up ages ago at the York wargame show as part of a big job lot. Hence the unit has three musicians, two standards and an unarmed officer. But they work (just) as a unit. I think I might have one more plastic American unit in the box although I’m not really looking to expand the collection too much as I have enough figures to fill the table. I might just get some French though at some point.

We have another battle planned for tomorrow Edgehill ECW and I have been playing with the stats to give some historical feel to the battle. After that one more remote game before Christmas hits, when I am hoping to get some Zombie games played ?

In the words of a famous cartoon, ‘thats all folks’ thanks for looking

Matt ❤️

Sicily 1943 : Taking the Initiative Part 1

For a while now I have been pondering the long and conflicted history of Sicily and more specifically how I have three collections/periods who all fought for Sicily through the ages. The Greeks Athenians and Spartans, the Norman’s and Arabs and then WW2 Allies and Axis powers. I thought it would be kind of fun to try and find a scenario that we could play the same battle but over the three different periods ?

I found a scenario which I think might work in this little book I have had for ages

The scenario is described as taking the initiative a small force is holding out against a much larger attacker while reserves are brought up to try and hold the river crossings. As is my want I tweaked things a bit, the Italians would be defending in this battle the Americans assaulting. The river would be crossable for infantry. I added in the potential for both American and German paratroopers to arrive. Basically a D6 would be pulled from the bag each turn and rolled, this gave an increasing likely hood as time went on that more American Paratroopers would arrive but a fairly unlikely chance of Fallschirmjager arriving ! The American objective was to get to and capture the two nearest bridges.

The terrain setup for 1943, the small Italian force is dug in the far village with some artillery and mortar support near their baseline.

They have also sent two small tankettes forward to help the defence ?

Turn one starts and the allied commander rolls a ‘one’ bringing on a unit of Fallschirmjager 😂 the Americans start their advance to the first bridge crossing armour and infantry in trucks

Second turn and the Allies manage to call in some American paratroopers as well who immediately assault an Italian sniper position on the hill

The battle is just starting to hot up and the Italians bring on some reserve infantry to guard one of the second bridges

A British Hurricane flying over from Malta supports the assault

The American armour make it into the village but foolishly pause at the junction to fire, the Italians have positioned an antitank rifle in the olive grove and a lucky shot knocks the track of the leading Sherman, it is immobilised for the whole battle and completely block the road, everything else will now have to skirt around the village wasting time !

After this success the Americans counter and manage to land a mortar round directly on the Fallschirmjager squad they are wiped out

The American log jam is kicking in and slowing their progress down. To add to this the small Italian flame tank melts the tyres on the M8 Greyhound, it too is no immobilised in the village.

General Patton rushes across the bridge to find out what the hold up is (at this point I put all my efforts into the Fallschirmjager capturing the General but sadly this was just a dream), the Second Sherman starts to move around the village to progress.

Some Italians were hiding in the village which is targeted setting one of the buildings on fire

The Hurricane sweeps about trying to pin down the defenders

Whilst the Henschel attempts to shoot down the Hurricane. The Italians in the forward village hold on as along as possible

Chaos in the village with burning vehicles

View from the church

Italians strategically pull back from the village to create a second defence line. Sadly and but perhaps not before time the flame tank takes a hit and whoosh !🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Americans are now starting to outflank the village

But at this point they are still some way from the two objective bridges

A shot from behind the American lines

Unlikely as it seems second and then a third unit of Fallschirmjager are activated on the table, but these are then attacked by American paratroopers who also arrive on the table

The Americans advance slowly but relentlessly towards their objectives, much of their infantry has been thrown back but the Americans push forward with their armour. Claiming both bridges

The bridge on the left is still contested but the Italians have made the Americans pay dearly for the victory.

Once again a fun game played out over the day. Bolt action giving quick and flexible rules. The plan is to reset the table at some point to play broadly the same scenario but in the two earlier periods, this will probably be in 2026 now.

We had a trip to Manchester on Saturday, a bit of shopping a splendid Model Railway show and an Art gallery where we saw this lovely Lady Butler picture of the Crimea. I would definitely put this on the wall if I had it.

Finally have been been painting some units are only partly completed but these WW2 German zombies are the only unit to get finished so far ……..not sure when they will get some action if ever ? But I did have some good ideas about how I would use them…..we’ll see.

Once again thanks for popping by and reading my progress

A few more games and things before Christmas, I have no real intention of stopping over Christmas anyway

Thanks Matt❤️