Some More 6mm Napoleonic Scenery and the Monastery of Silence

It's not quite time to pack up the painting table yet.  Movers won't be here for another month.  I've been cracking on with a few more terrain projects for 6mm Napoleonics.

Here's a GHQ house which I thought might work as a manor for the country gentry, seeing as it looks rather genteel.

The manor ground's walls are balsa, painted, I hope, to look like stone.

One minor goof was to have the main door with the little roof over it at the back.   I only realized that after I had glued it to the base.

Like my other 6mm scale bases, this is designed to hold a stand of infantry to show a village being garrisoned.  I hope these chaps don't pilfer the gentry's silverware.

Here's another terrain project finished.  This monastery is included in the micro-scale Mediterranean village kit produced by Scott Washburn's Paper Terrain company.

I wanted a hilltop for the base, and cut a series of terraces out of foam board.  My friend Mike B recommended that I take a little red paint and touch up the white marks left from scoring the roofs with a knife before folding them.  That was good advice, they look much better.

Of course, a monastery requires a vineyard for the Abbot's table.

A difficult place to capture, especially when held by grenadiers!

Like all Paper Terrain kits, it comes with ruined versions of each building. Useful to have.  Ruined monasteries are always good for inspiring poets and romantic composers.

This reminds me of my favourite monastery joke.   There was a monastery of an order with a strict rule of silence.  It was the custom that each monk was allowed to say two words to the Abbot each year.
After his first year, a novice was brought to the Abbot.
"Brother Johan, what would you say to me?"
"Bad food."

The second year, Brother Johan again appeared before the Abbot.
This time he said, "Hard beds."

The third year, Brother Johan stood before the Abbot and said, "I quit."
The Abbot replied, "It's just as well.  All you've done is bitch and complain since you got here."

These figures bring my 2015 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 19; Mounted Figures: 10

20mm 

15mm: Armour/Vehicles: 5

6mm:  Scenic pieces:  7

Kilometres Run: 240

Simplify, simplify.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous words have been much on my mind as I go through my possessions.   An impending move is a great way to focus the mind, as Doctor Johnson said of a hanging in the morning.   I have the opportunity to look at the things I've collected and decide whether I really need them going forward.  I suppose it will continue this way until one day I am living out of a suitcase in a nursing home, an arrangement which suited my dad well in his final days.

Take these gadgets, for example.  I bought a Wii system about five years ago, thinking that Madame Padre would enjoy it, especially the fitness board.  Sadly, I overestimated her enthusiasm for technology.   The idea of playing Wii together in the evening was also appealing, but we soon found that watching films together or playing Scrabble was more entertaining and less irritating than trying to remember all the motions to the various Wii games.

Or this.   In my last posting, I would have junior officers over quite often, and video game sessions over beer were quite a lot of fun, especially as they enjoyed shooting me repeatedly in Call of Duty games.  I never really got the hang of first person shooters, and would blunder around all confused and vulnerable.  I had thought I might stay in touch with those guys by playing video games with them online, but we were all too busy for that.  I did enjoy playing through the PS3 version of XCom a few years back, but never felt the need to revisit it.  

So all this lot is going.  I have a nephew with a young family, and my hope is that he will want it as a gift.  If not, I'll try to flog it online or bequeath it to the church rummage sale if they promise not to give it away for a fiver and try instead for at least $100 per set.

One of the benefits of middle age is that I now realize that there is a finite amount of time left to me to pursue things.  I could paint more, game more, read more novels, spend time with my wife, rather than sit in front of a screen.   So out it goes.  Simplify, simplify.

Not that getting rid of this lot will mean less clutter in my life.  I have a line on a friend's 15mm WW2 Soviet army, fairly cheap, which will mean even more toys to pack for the move.  But at least those toys won't need power cords and batteries.

Blessings,
MP+

Alas, Poor Hobby Store!

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that.

It's been a tough time for hobby stores around here, and I've felt a bit like the Melancholy Dane, wandering around examining their remains.

Last week, during our House Hunting Trip to Barrie, I revisited some I knew.   One was called The Dragoon, in a small village called Cookstown.  A friend took me there in 2010.  It was a in a small cottage, run by an older fellow, and it was full of nice stuff, a lot of larger scale pre-painted models from companies like King and Country and Forces of Valour.  He had some nice dioramas, and a lot of model kits, ESCI and the like.  It was a brilliant little place.  Drove around Cookstown for ten minutes, couldn't see it.  Finally found the building I thought it was in, and it was a business for people who want to learn to really  communicate with their pets.  The Dragoon still has a ghostly presence on Facebook, but it seems to have gone under around 2014.  Here is the only tangible sign of it I have left, a fridge magnet.

Alas, poor Dragoon!

Mme. Padre was very kind about letting me search for The Dragoon, and allowed me to look for another store I remembered.   Gamers' Lair was in a storefront in a small retail plaza at the south end of Barrie.   I recalled it well because the last time I was there, also around 2010, I bought a few items and before I started my car to drive off, I realized that the owner had undercharged me.  Went back in, paid the difference, and he very kindly gave me a box of micro dice as a sign of thanks.   I always think of him as I use those dice.  It was a pretty mainstream store, stocking GW, Flames of War, and the like, with a gaming space in the back of the shop.   I wasn't expecting much, but I thought it would be a useful place to buy paint and such.  Gone.  Empty.  Sign still there, but darkness and emptiness in the windows.   Alas, poor Gamers Lair!

The next one isn't quite a skull scene, but it's close.  My chum James announced last week that he was  getting out of the miniatures business as well.   J&M Miniatures was a joint venture between James and his friend Martin, and I've plugged it several times here in the past.   J&M was a webstore and a mail-order business, but in a way it was also a storefront.  James maintained the business' stock in his house, and it was not unknown for his friends to drop over and "fondle the toys".  I have gone over to his place for a game several times with some money in my pocket, knowing that I would come home with something.   James and Martin wanted to take the business in different directions, and so James graciously bowed out and let Martin, who had made the initial capital investment, take over.  I wish Martin luck and will no doubt be a customer in future.

James and I have talked many times about the frustrations of running a wargaming hobby business.  In North America the hobby market is dominated by one major distributor, and so there wasn't a lot of room or margin to make a go of things, even without a bricks and mortar and payroll costs to maintain.  It was difficult to anticipate demand for new product launches, or to anticipate the trends that rapidly blow through the hobby.  Would the WW2 market be sufficient to stock a lot of Plastic Soldier Co and Warlord stock?  Would he have enough Perry Brothers product, and the right mix of that product, to satisfy the Napoleonics gamers?  And what about stocking enough product to catch the latest trends?  Pirates?  Zombies?  Wild West?  Samurai?  Laser cut MDF buildings? What happens when those trends have done and people have moved on to the next one?  I didn't envy James and Martin having their money tied up in products that weren't moving as quickly as they needed it to move.  James also remarked on the difficult customers, people who would demand discounts or home delivery of product since James lived a few towns over.

Perhaps the day of the bricks and mortar hobby store is done, like the video store.   In nearby London, Ontario, a family-run model store is closing after decades in the business.   McCormick's Hobbies stocked a wide variety of paints, particularly Vallejo, and mostly catered to larger scale modellers rather than wargames, but for years it was my paint shop of choice.   I'm hoping that the one gaming store still operating in Barrie will carry paints, otherwise I'll have to order them online.  Which, I suppose, is the reason that the hobby store seems to be dying, because of online ordering.

When I think about it, other than buying consumables like paint, flock, and the like, very few of my hobby purchases (other than the stuff I bought from James when visiting his house) have been from physically located stores.   Almost all of my miniatures purchases (figures, rules, model buildings) have been made via online purchases direct from manufacturers.  Very few of my miniatures purchases are spontaneous.  I know what I want, I know who makes it, and the manufacturers all accept orders over the internet.  Shipping prices to Canada are seldom cheap. since most of the manufacturers are in the UK, but I accept that as the cost of a hobby.  Disposable income is disposable income, and I'm usually willing to pay the shipping to get what I want.

I can think of a few stores that will likely survive.  When I lived in Alberta, Sentry Box West in Calgary was always worth a visit while in the big city.  I recall the owner telling me that he owned the building free and clear, and that the bulk of the business from teen gamers (RPG, GW, and the like) underwrote a fine selection of historical miniatures and boardgames for people like me.   Sentry Box was also in a large metropolitan market, and augments that market with sales over the internet.   Even so, it's a small market, and being in an urban centre (Chicago) didn't save Emperor's Headquarters, which I recall fondly from one visit in the late 1990s. Alas, poor Emperor's Headquarters!

I am sure it is different in smaller geographies, like the UK.   A lot of the blog posts I see from visits to Salute, Triples, and the like seem to mention the shopping as much as the gaming.   In a larger country, like Canada or the US, there are fewer shows and smaller customer bases.  I don't attend many shows, but the one I attend regularly in my region, Hot Lead in Stratford, isn't really a shopping destination for me.   For the last few years I've gone, the number of vendors seems to be shrinking and what's offered is very trendy, so if one isn't into Steampunk, for example ....

Perhaps the owner of The Dragoon didn't go out of business.  He may have gotten sick, or decided he was too old and wanted to go on cruises instead of minding the store, but the fact that his Facebook feed ends abruptly doesn't sound like a planned exit.   I once wanted to do something similar in retirement.  I had a daydream of going to a tourist town somewhere, one popular with older couples, and set up a wargames/militaria store with a license to serve alcohol.   Chaps could drop in for a pint and a look at the toy soldiers, even learn to war-game while their wives looked at antiques and yearn stores.  However, that was just a fantasy.   In real life, I couldn't think of anything more dangerous to do with my retirement nest egg.  Betting it all on the horses would seem sane by comparison.   I hope it's not premature to sound the death knell for the wargaming hobby store, but these days, it sure seems like it.

Blessings,
MP+

Found - A Wargaming Room (And a House)

The Canadian military offers its members a ritual known as the HHT, our House Hunting Trip.  Once upon a time the HHT wasn’t necessary.   You simply reported to Base Housing, and if married they found you a suitable PMQ (Permanent Married Quarter) depending on your entitlement by rank.   The Housing Sergeant walked you in for an inspection, and the movers arrived thereafter.   When you left, the Sergeant showed up for a white glove inspection to find dust (he always did, it was a game).   I have this from the old timers, this era was long before my time.   Today most of the PMQs are gone, and the remaining ones are administered by a civilian agency charged with showing a profit, so they rent at market rate.   Most military members, if they can afford it, buy their accommodations on the local economy, and each receives a package of benefits (a paid trip with so many days to find a house, assistance with realty costs, home inspections, and the like).   Some HHTs are arduous slogs, walking through an endless sequence of houses and hoping the missus can find one she likes before the time allowed for the trip runs out).  This trip was easy by comparison.

It took us a day to find a new house.  Madame Padre and I arrived in Barrie on Monday night and spent all of Tuesday with Hugh, our realtor (I believe he would be called an Estates Agent on the other side of the ocean).  Hugh was a splendid chap with 25 years of local knowledge.  Some realtors can be pushy, self-interested, and lazy, but we didn’t get that from Hugh.   We looked at ten houses on Tuesday and settled on this one, a lovely bungalow near the freeway and easy commuting distance to the base.

We both like to cook and bake, and the kitchen was quite seductive.

The backyard offers a lot of gardening prospects for Madame P, and a large garage/shed which has possibilities for painting and gaming in the warm months.  But what about the interior wargaming room?  This middle room in the basement offered some interesting possibilities.

I liked these shelves, but the lighting was a bit weak and as it was in the centre of the house, there was no natural light.

But what about this room at the back?

Hmmm.  Exterior light through a window on to the driveway, and three sets of fluorescent lights in the ceiling.  Room for two tables, if a bit cramped, and space for some shelving at the back.  There's additional storage in an adjoining workroom for boxes of figures and scenery.

I won't say this was the deciding factor, but it helped.  Possession date is 6 July, and move in date may be a bit later, depending on when a mover is available.  Now, a month left to finish packing, sorting, downsizing, and of course, embarking the little men.

Blessings,  

MP+

Embarking the Troops

For the last few months I’ve been haunting thrift stores, looking for empty biscuit tins among other things (a $1 Armani Collezione tie was a nice bonus).   The biscuit tins are to start loading my figures for the upcoming move in July.   Thanks to a kind friend I have a goodly supply of adhesive magnetic sheets that I can use either to line the pans for those figures based on metal washers (below left), or to put on the bottoms of figures based on rounds of wood cut with a circular saw (my previous practice before I discovered laser-cut MDF bases).   Here are all my individually based American Civil War figures in one biscuit tin.

Once the tins are filled, I’ll fill them with packing peanuts, generously supplied by another friend, and load them into boxes for the trip.  We’re close enough to our new posting that I can load the most sensitive of my toys and drive them in my car, which will be far better than entrusting them to the packers and movers for a long trip across Canada.  When we moved to Alberta from Nova Scotia (almost clear across Canada), I had all my figures packed in boxes with This Side Up marked on them.  I gave strict instructions to the packers to make sure they were properly loaded.  The young lads nodded and smiled.  When I unpacked the shipping boxes, the little boxes with my toys had been crammed in any which way.  I am sure I cried for a bit that day.

I have to say that this method of loading troops is probably much easier and more orderly than what it must have been like in the ACW, if this period photo (Baldy Smith's IX Corps loading for transport to Fortress Monroe) is anything to go on.

In a few minutes Kay and I will meet up with our realtor and we are off to look at houses in the area of Barrie, Ontario, which is about an hour north of Toronto.   We have certain things will be looking for.  Price, foremost, since we are close enough to Toronto to feel the effects of its insanely priced housing market.  Gardening potential, for Madame Padre.  Commuting distance to the base for me, and somewhere down the list of priorities, a suitable gaming room with (one hopes) natural light.

Wish us luck.

Blessings,

MP+

Another Longstreet Game: Holding the High Ground

On Saturday last, my chum James invited me over to an afternoon of ACW gaming and a delicious dinner of pulled pork courtesy of his lovely wife, Elizabeth.   A very pleasant day.  We revisited the brigades we had fought with in our previous game.   All figures are 28mm from my own collection.

James had two regiments of Seasoned Veteran infantry (4 and 6 stands strength), a regiment of Eager Recruits (5 stands) from his first fight, and a new regiment of Seasoned Veterans (6 stands) that he had gained between battles.   He also had 6 stands of Eager Recruit cavalry and two light (6pdr) cannon (he had lost a light howitzer in our previous fight).  You can read his account of the battle here, but I assure you that my account is more truthful.

My command, under Archibald Eustace Glossop, a renowned cavalry commander from the Mexican War, had two regiments of Eager Veteran infantry: the 21st Mississippi (6 stands), the 9th Texas (5 stands), and one of Eager Recruit infantry (14th Mississippi, 7 stands),  I also had 7 bases of Eager Recruit cavalry (the 9th Kentucky). I was well set with artillery.  Besides my three bases of light artillery from my first battle (2 cannon and 1 howitzer), I had also picked up another base after my first battle, a section of Napoleons.  One thing we had both forgotten to do after our first battle was to “top up” our brigades with green replacements to get us to the minimum strengths for brigades in the campaign game, so we could have had more figures on the table.  

We rolled a random scenario, in which one side has to defend two hills separated by some nasty terrain.  Each hill was an objective marker.   Since James’ commanding persona is some kind of crafty Indian fighter, I was badly out scouted, and had to place my units in defence.  I had a few terrain choices, so I opted for a wall on the right hand hill, and a ford in the stream between the two hills, so I would have some sort of interior lines.

I placed all my light artillery on the left hand hill, with the 21st MS.  The 9th TX was in support, but also near enough to the ford that they could move to the right if James put his weight there.  On the right I gave my eager but still green boys from the 14th MS behind the stone wall, with the Napoleon, and assigned the 9th KY horse to support that flank. 

The 14th Mississippi and their supporting Napoleon watches the Yankee brigade massing in front of them.  James leaves his cavalry to threaten my left flank, and he’s evidently determined to mass his force to take my right.  

Trickiness!   James acquired this card in the post-battle stage of our last game, and plays it on me know.  I lose the top four cards from my action deck for all of this game, reducing my deck and potentially depriving me of some nasty tricks of my own.

 

I immediately start to move my Texans to the ford to bolster the right flank, and have one my light guns on the left hill limber up to follow.   James plays a card which has the effect of halting the Texans for a turn, which was quite clever as it blocked up the ford and delayed the transfer of my artillery as well.

Fortunately the Kentucky cavalry aren’t likewise delayed, and they gallop behind the hill to take up position on the right of my line.  They will prove useful in the fight to come.

Artillery plays its part.   My Napoleon crew pours canister fire into the advancing bluecoats, while James bombards the Mississipians behind their stone well.  The cover advantage helps them enormously (James could only hit the on a 6 on a d6) and while they would lose two stands, the Mississippians hold firm.

Cannister fire from the Napoleon tears gaps in the Irish line, but they still advance.

The reinforcement of my Texans on the right was further delayed when James played a Confusion card on them and they got mired in the swamp between the two hills.  My light artillery section did arrive and took up position on the left of the 14th MS, and frantically began to unlimber.  Meanwhile the 9th KY formed line and dismounted.  I had considered leaving them mounted, until realizing that Longstreet penalizes mounted cavalry in melee with formed infantry facing to their front, on the grounds that such engagements were rare in the ACW and usually ended badly for the cavalry.  Better to have the KY boys in a firing line, I thought, and their weight of fire would prove valuable.

James had a very sound plan of attack, which was to assault my position with as much strength as he could muster.  Alas for him, I played the Pinkerton Intelligence card, which invokes hesitation and prevents one unit from charging or attacking in a given turn.  I don’t think I get to play that card in scenarios after 1862, but it is helpful until then, and this meant that half of James’ brigade did not charge.  He had some success, capturing my light artillery before it could unlimber, but the 14th MS held firm and threw the Yanks back from the wall in confusion.

My boys pour it into the Yanks while the Texans finally emerge from the swamp and threaten the Yanks’ flanks.

In a scene very reminiscent of Fredericksburg, the Yanks fall back from the deadly wall, leaving the field strewn with their dead and wounded.  James has had two of his four infantry regiments wrecked, and lost his chance to storm the objective.   He preserves his force for another day.

In the post-battle phase, I get my second victory of the campaign, (2 for 2) but neither James or I get promoted (nothing really but a Longstreet mechanism for bragging rights).  He picked up an Epic Point for capturing my gun, but I got two Eps for holding both the objectives.   In the after battle reckoning, none of my regiments lost any Elan for tacking casualties, so all four are still rated as Eager.  However, sadly, both my Eager Veteran infantry, both untouched during the battle, lost two stands each from disease.  Poor camp discipline, I fear.  On the positive side, I was able to raise the 14th MS to Veteran status and did receive a second Napleon to bring my artillery to four bases.  I also received two green units to bring me up to full strength for a CSA brigade in 1862 (less than the Union max strength).

Glossop’s Brigade now consists of:

Infantry:  21st Miss (Eager Veteran) 4 stands,  9th Texas (Eager Veteran) 4 stands, 14th Mississippi (Eager Veteran) 5 stands, 31 Tennessee (Eager Recruit) 7 stands, 25th Mississippi (Eager Recruit) 7 stands.

Cavalry: 9th Kentuck (Eager Recruit) 5 stands.

Artillery: 1 6pr smoothbore, 1 6pd Howitzer, 2 Napoleon smoothbores.

Our impressions of Longstreet continue to be positive.  We like the card system as a way of simulating friction and command and control, and enjoy the fun of putting a stick in the other’s spokes at a key moment in the fight.  We also like the way Longstreet plays to a fairly quick conclusion once we have the basics mastered.   The campaign game calls for two battles in 1862, so we look forward to another 1862 punch up with our regrouped and reinforced commands.

Blessings to your die rolls,

MP+

Catching Up: A Miscellaneous Sort of Post

Hello!

It’s been a good week since my last post and I don’t really have a reason for that, just a reflection of a somewhat unsettled state on the home front as we get ready to move in a month or so.  Time for a bit of a catchup.

A week ago I had the chance to play with our friend MikeyB’s (aka Weirdy Beardy) 15mm Western Desert toys.   Mikey’s been collecting WD stuff for some years and we persuaded him to haul it all outout.   James and I took the Italians (I’m a noted Italophile) and Barry and Mikey played the Brits.   We used I Ain’t Been Shot Mum v. 3 as the rules.

Here my fearless Italians advance on the British left flank, after taking out an unfortunate pair of 2pdr ATGs with a barrage of HE tank fire.   Everyone’s had their double espresso and almond biscotti and are feeling molto avanti.

Doesn’t he have some nice kit?

Autoblinda armoured cars race at the village, but are driven off by a platoon of Vickers guns.   Driving an up-engined tin can into a hail of .303 lead proves too much for the heroes of Italy.

James sends his force at the British centre, unlimbering his AT guns to hold the flank against the British armour we suspect is lurking in the sand dunes.

Surprise!   There’s a battery of 25pdrs in the British centre.   Having uncloaked this Death Star, the British proceeded to smash two of my poor little tanks and drive off the third in a somewhat less than functional state of repair.

Another surprise!  Barry’s infantry come charging out of the village to rip into my advancing platoon.   The melee goes for badly for my latter day legionaires and the survivors are sent packing.  Nice offensive spirit by Barry.

Andiamo!  Let’s get out of here!

In other gaming, I’ve been enjoying a chance courtesy of tireless painter and blogger Jonathan Freitag to play in a Play by Blog version of the Battle of Raab, an epic Austrian-French punch up in Italy.   I’m playing the part of Prince Eugene.   I give my orders to my divisional commanders via emails to Jonathan who compares my orders with those of my Austrian counterpart and then plays out the tactical consequences on his tabletop.   If you have some time, it’s worth checking out the ebb and flow of the battle here.   Feel free to give me some advice.   I’m trying very hard to punch a way through the Austrian lines on the far side of the Raab, but it’s proving a tough go.

Mayhem along the Pancza courtesy of Jonathan F.

This is the second such game I’ve played lately.   Conrad Kinch ran a very exciting game along similar lines, emailed orders from myself and the other player which he worked out on his tabletop, a very interesting combination of kriegspiel and roleplaying set in the Peninsula War, in which my gallant redcoats fought off a dastardly column of Frenchers to secure a vital bridge and village.   CK’s emailed updates and quick videos of the tab;e, with the terse “Your orders, sir?" came once every few weeks and kept me sane while I was ploughing away on my thesis this winter.   Both these experiences have given me much food for thought on how I might improve on an ACW game, the Bluffsburg campaign, which I ran here several years ago.

Speaking of young Kinch, I was also pleased in the last week to have played a small role in inspiring his “Victorian Volunteer Regimental Name Generator”, a useful sort of tool for naming fictitious units in Her Majesty’s far flung dominions.

The Kars Light Industrial Volunteers, useful chaps for skirmishing or for making decorative biscuit tins, as required. 

Finally I’ve been slogging away on getting more 6mm Napoleonic scenery finished.  Here are the finished bases for the Timecast bridges I showed in progress in my last post.

A quiet stream flows under a rustic bridge somewhere in central Europe.

Goes well with my Baccus rubber river sections, I think.

I’ve also been working on some 6mm buildings suitable for Italy from Paper Terrain, including a rather spiffing monastery on top of a small hill, which will be a useful terrain piece as an objective maker (seize the wine cellars!), an army HQ, or just a decorative bit on the side of the table.  It’s almost done so I’ll save that for another post.  Likewise, James and I had another go at Longstreet last night, and I’ll save that for another post as well.

Hope you’ve all had a good week and that I can catch up with your blogs in the week to come.

Blessings to your brushes and die rolls!

MP