Terrain Tuesday: Terrain of Varying Dimensions

 As in two versus three dimensions.  

Currently set up in my cat-proof gaming room (well, unless I forget to close the door or accidentally lock one of the beasts inside at nighttime - that ended the Franco-Prussian war in a hurry!) is this monster, showing that you can have a LOT of terrain if you aren't too fussy about modelling it.  Recognize it?

Yes?  Good for you!   No?   OK, here's a hint.

I'll have more to say about this game in this week's Thursday Napoleonics feature.

How about somc conventional 3D terrain?  In the meantime, was up early this morning starting to work on these field fortifications from Paul's models, which I'm quite impressed with.   Painting plan is simple.  Black undercoat, Brown Umber (Folkart craft paint, cheap and cheerful) on the outer parts and then a bit of Yellow Ochre drybrushing and flocking the lower parts as it is mostly freshly dug and constructed.  Tan brown on the inside for the lumber, some Army Painter light tone washes, and then a bit of gray drybrushing.   Hoping to have this done soon so I can start Phase Two of  my ACW Seven Pines battle.

Blessings to your table dressings!  MP+

ADC/Staff Officer Tokens for Pickett's Charge ACW Rules

 

Hey friends:

My preferred rules of the moment for American Civil War battles are Pickett’s Charge, by Dave Brown, published by Reisswitz Press, a Too Fat Lardies imprint.   These rules give each side a varying number of ADCs or Staff Officers each turn, which help the player manage their force on the tabletop.  The same mechanic exists in Dave’s Napoleonic rules, General D’Armee, and as regular readers of this blog may recall, in April I created some ADC/SO tokens for the Austrian army.

Recently I sketched some Union ADCs/SOs for Pickett’s Charge and finished them the other day.

 

 My inspiration came from these photos of personnel from the 103rd Pennsylvania Regiment, from a digital copy of their regimental history.   The 103rd PA was roughy handled in the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862 as described here a while ago.  It gives me some pleasure to think that these old boys might approve of they likenesses and how they are being used.  Hopefully you can spot some of the inspirations for my tokens!

Making these tokens is a pleasant side project, and next up will be French Napoleonic and Confederate ADC tokens, as I ge to them.

Cheers and blessings to your gaming.

MP+

 

Toys For The Grandkids

Get them when they’re young,  as someone once said.   Encouraged by the interest that my grandchildren are showing in my model soldiers, I decided to get young Ollie (turns 5 on 1 July) some plastic Britains’ knights.   He’s very enamoured of a rather crap cardboard castle I built some years ago, so he needs some proper soldiers to defend it.  These figures are very much like the ones I had as a kid, 54mm, fairly hard plastic slotted into a tin base, and quite colourful.   There are a random mix of western and Moorish knights, so I’m ready to explain the crusades to Ollie if he wants, but I’ll let him decide who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.  We don’t need any clash of civilizations stuff here.

Of course, what one gets, the other must get, and as granddaughter Evie (Evleyn) is almost four and is a bit of an amazon in her own right, these plastic amazon figures from a company called Lod (??) are for her.  Maybe I’m setting things up for a clash of genders instead.

All these figures came from a US company called Hobby Bunker that has a vast range of plastic soldiers.  There’s also Michigan Toy Soldier as well, though there are stories about them.

Hope to have some pictures of happy young generals here soon.

Blessings to your childish games!

MP+

Episode Two of The Canadian Wargamer Podcast is Live

 

Hello Friends:

Not a lot of blogging here because I’ve been fair busy with work and on the hobby front, working with my mate James to put together the second issue of The Canadian Wargamer Podcast.   Give us a listen here:  https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-qgd8d-10703f1

Here are the notes for this edition:

In this second episode of The Canadian Wargamer Podcast, Mike and James speak with our very first (!) guest, Bob Murch, the dean of Canadian miniature sculptors and owner of Pulp Figures.   We talk about his early days at RAFM, his freelancing work, of course the pulp stuff, how Canada's indigenous peoples gave the Vikings the boot, and how Normans are cool.    It also gets really honest as we talk about the hobby and mental health and wellness.

Bob's book contribution to our virtual library:

Robert Mason, Chickenhawk (1983): https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/chickenhawk/9780143035718-item.html

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenhawk_%28book%29

Joseph Boyden, The Orenda (2013): https://www.amazon.ca/Orenda-Joseph-Boyden/dp/0143174169/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2SHCYWKTSXS9J&dchild=1&keywords=the+orenda+by+joseph+boyden&qid=1624458761&sprefix=boyden+orenda%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1

After we said goodbye to Bob, we have a natter about some Canadian events (KegsCON in Chatham, ON and AttackX in Kamloops, BC), both happening (maybe?) this September.  We also talked Canadian military history, including Dr. March Milner's work on 3d Can Div in Normandy, Dr. Sarah Glassford's work on Canadian women Red Cross volunteers in WW2, Canadian battlefield tourism (remember tourism and going places?  that was great!).  We also talked about why we think Vikings were dicks (don't be a dick), indoctrinating grandchildren, and of course we went on about projects, at which point it rather became the Canadian Napoleonic contest.  Oh well, at least James hasn't glued his fingers to anything this week.  Mike's mind is still undecided about the Foundry Triad Paint System.

Do you have any stories to tell about a Rugged Adventures game with Bob that you played in?  Let us know.

Do you have a Canadian wargames event that you want to talk to us about?  Get in touch!

Know what Celer Paratus Callidus means?  Even better, do you know where we can find an .MP3 version of it?  Let us know!

Links to cool things mentioned in the podcast:

Bob Murch on Twitter: @PulpFigures

https://pulpfigures.com

Flint and Feather range of figures: https://pulpfigures.com/huron_iroquois_war/

AttackX Tabletop Wargaming Expo, Kamloops, BC - Sept 10-12, 2021 (to be confirmed): https://www.facebook.com/AttackXexpo

Kent-Essex Gaming Society (KEGS), hosts of KEGSCon - KEGSCON IX Sep 18, 2021  https://www.facebook.com/KEGSCON/

Hotlead - 18, 19 & 20 March 2022 - https://hotlead.ca

Maple Leaf Route Webinar Series - https://canadianmilitaryhistory.ca/webinar/

Dr. Marc Milner, Stopping the Panzers: Canada's Forgotten Overlord Role

https://canadianmilitaryhistory.ca/now-available-on-youtube-stopping-the-panzers-canadas-forgotten-overlord-mission-with-marc-milner/

The Old Front Line Podcast: Canadian Remembrance Tourism with Samantha Cowan https://oldfrontline.co.uk/2021/06/12/canadian-remembrance-tourism-with-samantha-cowan/

Mike on Twitter: @MarshalLuigi

Mike's Blog: http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.com

James on Twitter: @JamesManto4

James' Blog: http://rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com

 

 

Terrain Tuesday: Making Terrain Tiles with Timecast 6mm Buildings

 

Hello friends and I hope this finds you well.

Recently finished these 6mm European buildings from Timecast and starting to mount them for my 6mm Napoleonic gaming.    For some reason which I can no longer recall, I chose to mount my buildings on 10cm square MDF bases, with the idea of integrating them into whatever road network the table required.  There are two completed tiles in this photo, metal buildings of unknown manufacture that I acquired at a Bring and Buy some years ago.

Sadly, my new Timecast buildings are a little chunky, and don't gracefully sit on the same base, which I wanted to be a four way road.

My solution was to climb my lead mountain and locate these two unpainted buildings from the same Bring and Buy.  A quick paint job and they should complement the Timecast model nicely and suggest a small town or village.

The other Timecast model will look fine on a second, T-intersection base.

I've also received some more trees from Timecast so I can pretty these bases up a bit.  So nothing very exciting for this Terrain Tuesday post, but the work in progress is promising.   We'll see if I can finish it off by next week.

Blessings to your worldbuilding!

MP+

Thursday Napoleonics: 6mm Baccus Austrian Uhlans

Good day friends:

Brief post today to report that the three regiments of Austrian Uhlans I’ve been working on are now mustered into the Kaiser’s service.  

 

My source for the uniforms is the Osprey title, Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (2) Cavalry by Haythornthwaite and Fosten.  As I understand it, there were four Uhlan regiments in Austrian service, each distinguished by the cloth top of their Polish-style czapka headdress.    I had enough figures in the Baccus pack to do three regiments according to my practice (2-3 command and 12 troopers on a single base).

So, in the lead we have No. 1 Regt (Merveldt, later G. de C. Herzog zu Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld) in their Emperor yellow.

In the middle is No. 2 Regt (Furst Schwarzenburg) in dark green.

Bringing up the rear is No. 3 Regt (Ersherzog Carl Ludwig) in their scarlet.

Fortunately, all Uhlan regiments seemed to wear the same green uniforms with red cuffs and trim, and use the same lance pennons (black over yellow).

I had some left over figures from the Baccus pack, and so based these singly as scouts or skirmishers.

With the Austrian light cavalry in good shape, I think my next 6mm Napoleonic project will be Bavarians.  All the cool kids are doing Bavarians, it seems.

Many thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!   

MP+

 

 

 

 

Terrain Tuesday: Resin ACW Field Fortifications from Paul's Models

 Good day and welcome to Terrain Tuesday, which seems to have taken root as a regular blog feature.   

Today's feature is a box of resin field fortifications from a UK company called Paul's Modelling Workshop.   I needed some field defenses for the next stage in my refight of the ACW Seven Pines Battle.  You may recall that Phase One of the battle ended with the Confederates about to advance on the the Federal defenses known as Casey's Redoubt.  I needed some models to represent these field fortifications and not being a talented scratch builder and not having a lot of time on my hands, I decided that I would throw some money at the problem.

 I discovered Paul on the web and found him a responsive and friendly guy to deal with.   After looking at his extensive webstore, I purchased the Field Fortifications Set 1 and the Large Gun Bastion.

The gun bastion:

The field fortification set:

Almost five linear feet of defenses!   These should give the rebs something to think about.

This purchase gives me a manageable project to prepare and paint for my Seven Pines project.   Paul has a wide range of fortifications, some buildings, and other accessories that would look good on your tabletop.  His product was meticulously packed and promptly shipped. He gets the Mad Padre's blessing,

Cheers,

MP+