Must try harder ?

Since my trip down south I have been inordinately busy mainly with some household maintenance activities, whilst the hobby activity has continued blogging has take a back seat. So a bumper post to catch up on three games and some painting.

Not quite in order ….. first up we played a small French Indian War skirmish, using Rebels and Patriots 

The  British would attempt to get across the table from the left along the track through the woods. The French would ambush from the two further corners.

The french supported by a sizeable Native contingent

For the British, the Rangers lead the way, these fan out to open the road. Whilst the French infantry looks to cut the road behind the barn.

The Natives swarm around the church

The British infantry face off but somehow the Natives fail their activation to charge leaving them in a vulnerable position.

Not surprisingly despite charging the British they don’t last long.

The British skirmishers and rangers push on down the road as quickly as they can

After a double 6 activation the French receive some Native reinforcements these are able to charge just in time

Where they catch the British Militia by the Barn

These are butchered to a man including the British commander who is unfortunately with them. With the time limit now up for the battle this final assault by the french has levelled things up leaving the battle a tight draw. A lot of fun and a welcome return to the FiW which hasn’t seen much love for. Long time

Next up on the advice of Steve J I have been looking for this book finally it came up at a respectable price ! Looking forward to reading it and it is on the list…..

A bit of painting over the last couple of weeks

Some 3D printed windmills, these are 10mm scale for the SYW/ECW/TYW

Some ECW markers for units which are waivering 

Martin recently gifted me some spare FiW/AWI figures all are woodsmen or irregular militia figures. So rather than hide them away I pushed them to the front of the painting queue, they took a bit longer than expected as there isn’t much uniformity in the figures. But they are done and fought well in the FiW battle above.

Last week saw a trip down to George’s he has already blogged the result so no surprises here just some photos of his beautiful early war collection.

The Germans prepare for battle

I made a few mistakes in the setup allowing the British to get the advantage

The British are able to bring greater numbers into the battle and the Germans are outgunned

Eventually the Germans are driven back into the woods, a good win for the British and on to the second scenario

This week I visited Erik to play another historical ECW this time Ripple Field, just a few photos here of the battle

William Waller (my command) is holding the high ground outside of Tewkesbury they are outnumbered by the Royalist army but the slope is difficult ground so this might enable them to hold their position

This was Erik’s play of the scenario each trying slightly different approach, here the Royalist attempt to assault directly up the hill with their cavalry supported by their limited infantry. On the Royalist left their cavalry decide to pull back, this gave the numerical advantage to Waller.

When the cavalry attempts to assault back up the hill a very lucky volley from the Parliamentary dragoons sends them feeling back down the hill

The other side of the battle is much closer but again the Parliamentary forces win out including killing Maurice the Royalist commander. So a tough battle but in the end a decisive win for Parliament. A fun battle and the detail Erik puts into recreating the battle is impressive.

Thats is for now, another battle planned over with Martin tomorrow and then I’m heading down south again for a week or so, visiting some ECW Battlefields a trip to Oxford and finally heading to PARTIZAN wargame show. So if you are heading to Newark on the 17th it would be great to catch up.

Matt ❤️

What a Tanker in Sicily : back in the North

After a week or so travelling I’m back in the North, and back to some hobby activity. Having been to Salute and seen some impressive ‘What a Tanker’ games it got me thinking about my Sicily collection. This coincided with me purchasing some extra American armour.

The table setup plenty of cover and blocking terrain, the Americans would advance from the this end the Germans from the far end.

The Americans arrive, 2 Sherman’s, an M10 (new) and a M5 Stuart 

The Germans have a PzIII a STug F8 and of course Tiger, 

Both sides jockey into position, the damaged buildings count as heavy cover but don’t block line of sight

The Stug starts firing at long range against the American M10 which finds itself slightly out of position by the far bridge

The M10 takes some damage reducing its speed slightly

Forced to turn to try and get out of the firing line the M10 takes another direct hit and is the first casualty

The Tiger advances but is struggling with poor command dice. It takes a couple of hits which bounce off its front armour…….

Until rolling 6 dice the Sherman gets a crazy 5 strike hits ! The Tiger fails to save a single strike causing it to immediate explode 😥

It was lunchtime and we allowed both sides to bring on some reserves. Both sides slug it out 

Eventually the Americans get the upper hand as they drive the PzIII back causing considerable damage. A fun game which we return to again in the future.

Some recent purchases saw their first action in this game.

I had been looking at getting an M10 for the Americans, but I found a hard to resist deal on eBay and ended up purchasing 3 these were painted quickly so they could take to the field immediately

I’ve also painted up some more 10mm Austrian Dragoons for the SYW

Also completed a couple of rather fancy heavy cannons for the ECW although I see these perhaps getting used in a future Thirty Years War battle ?

As mentioned I have been away for a few days. First in London……

British museum to see the Samurai exhibition

A lot of interesting history, plenty of armour so worth a visit

I visited the Household Cavalry Museum, quite small but really interesting with just a few lovely artefacts,  the stuff in this case from the Napoleonic era, the eagle is a replica, but the small bugle was one that sounded the charge of the heavy cavalry brigade at Waterloo !

A trip to the portrait gallery mainly looking at the historical portraits !

A trip to the Wallace museum, after a suggestion from Iain a fine collection of Armour 

I did like this one, my only criticism is the labelling is generally poor

After London I was out in the Home Counties. Belvoir Castle, spectacular but too heavily rebuilt for my liking

Berkhamstead Castle closer to London, the other extreme, although a fine fine example of a Motte and Bailey design

We had a trip to Bletchley Park which was pleasant but I gave up at the display which actually tried to explain how the codes were broken, way above my brain level

They do have a lot of enigma type machine and lots of interesting stories

Our final trip was a real surprise in a good way ! the Shuttleworth collection. An absolutely fantastic collection of early aircraft, all in working order, although we weren’t there on one of the special flying days the planes were still really impressive.

I am guessing but this may be the largest such collection in the World ?

As well as bi planes several working WW2 planes as well.

So many planes, they also do flying days which I might consider in the future ?

So some hobby time and a few busy days, somewhere in here I also visited Salute, a fun day, catching up with a few people, but I bought very little and took very few photos.

That’s it for now I have been painting some more stuff and more games planned for this week.

Thanks for checking in

Matt ❤️