Yankee Doodle - gearing up for Sharpe Practice 2 Part 1

I'm a bit of a fan of the Two Fat Lardies at the moment. I got hooked on Chain of Command, loved Dux Brit and am now gleefully reading through the newly released Sharp Practice 2.

In the usual way we say down and discussed which period we would play, as SP2 covers just about everything in the black powder era, and we chose American War of Independence (AWI). Actually when I say we, what really happened is we let John pick as he has always valiantly gone along with our other choices so it seemed fair to let him choose.

I was pretty happy with AWI anyway as I figured I already had a fair chunk of toys painted for the French Indian Wars in 28mm that could do double duty. Thus emboldened I took the unusual step of choosing \ volunteering to do the Yankee side. I don't do Americans usually - nothing personal but their style never really appealed to me, but in this case I can always use the excuse that this is just the second English Civil War anyway :-)

Sharp Practice  takes a "literary" view of action, being based on the type of battles represented in popular fiction, so I charged into my research by "box-setting" my way through "Turn - Washington's Spies" on Amazon, which has the advantage of being quite entertaining, good for scenario ideas but also full of nicely uniformed Rebels, Loyalists, Continentals and Redcoats - plus the added bonus of Billy Elliot playing the main character and a Welshman playing Benedict Arnold.

I bolstered this with a reading of Bernard Cornwell's "The Fort" - which I have to admit I liked a lot too - he writes a good historical yarn does old Bernie :-)  

This emboldened I bought a box of Continental Infantry from Warlord Games and so it begins.....

Ladies Night - or "Martha pass me another loaded musket"

One of the reasons I like playing Muskets & Tomahawks is the game involves side missions and quests that mean it is unlikely you will play the same game twice. One scenario will have you trying to protect the Colonels Daughter while the next you are tasked with defending a civilian outpost. The flip side is you need to have some less mainstream models - ie the said lady and a certain number of armed civilians to be threatened by Philip Madoc and his band of roaming Hurons (from the Welsh Valleys)

Don't tell them your name!

So we shopped around a bit and I picked up a few different female figures to fill the roles of supporting the men fighting, and swooning on cue. This also gives me a shameless excuse to watch the new series of Poldark on the BBC - just to see what the BBC costume dept have come up with that I can copy for 18th C dress colours I can copy - it's research!

First up is a nice rather well to do young lady who is going to represent the high class love interest. She is from Redoubt Enterprises "Bodys Bits" range. I had a bit of an issue cleaning the flash from the figure, and I cant work out what she has in her hand - I assumed a fan but it could be a flower? Anyway here she is - looking a little paler in the pic than in the flesh.

 Next is a more working class lady - actually the other half of the "posh totty" set from Redoubt - this is the ladies maid, but she will do as any female civilian.

More from Redoubt. Unlike the Lady & her Maid set these are armed - in fact they are busy loading muskets either for themselves or their menfolk. They're part of the French Indian Wars range - pack F&I 25 which has some interesting poses including loading and passing muskets around - useful for armed civilians defending their homes. The male parts of this pack will make an appearance later I'm sure.

Last is this older lady, again handing out muskets. This one is from Conquest Miniatures , available in the UK from Warlord Games. Pity that for some reason the Conquest pack has 8 figures in there but the Warlord one only has 7 - no idea why.

Here's the group shot - as you can see the Redoubt ladies are certainly more "robust" than the Conquest one, but a bit of variation is no bad thing in skirmish games.

So that's it for the Ladies. I'm still looking for some more female settlers, armed or not, so if anyone has any suggestions please shout out

Civilising the Natives (well that's one point of view)

One of the earlier posts mentioned my efforts at painting Wargames Factory Militia for Muskets and Tomahawks.

That unit was supposed to be the more "backwoods" types in hunting shirts to represent Canadian Militia. As I mentioned, the box is split 50\50 with troops in buckskin and others in civilian dress. I've finally got a unit of civvies painted, but it was a bit of a slog.

That is not to say there was a problem with the figures - far from it, they were fairly easy to assemble and the detail is good as previously stated. The problem was me, and my kitten Roxy.

My problem was I just couldn't seem to make progress or get a them painted to the point I was happy with the result - in the end I decided I had wasted enough time and declared them "done" 

The other problem was Roxy. She's five months old or so and seems fascinated with toy soldiers. When I say fascinated, what I mean is she likes to pick them up in her mouth and run away with them - but so far just these Militia. She has stolen several - one officer discovered intact on the bed, a second rifleman found behind the sofa with one arm missing, and another on the stairs minus his gun. Much repairing was called for.

Having said all that, I was rather surprised that they did look ok when they got on the table at last.

Here is that officer, who seems to have survived his encounter with Roxy with only minor injuries and no doubt some recurring nightmares

As I mentioned before, these are very versatile figures and will be called into service as civilians, British, Canadian or American Militia. There are a few more to paint, but as far as the Muskets & Tomahawks project goes, it looks like I'm getting close to declaring "job done"

Sometimes I think if there is any value in the narcissistic process we call blogging, it may be that it gives you an opportunity to vent to the anonymous and amorphous "internet".

Here's the thing - why do we (wargamers) accept and do things that are in "the rules" when they are patently counter to history?

A couple of weeks ago I was playing my second game of Muskets and Tomahawks, this time against a player who plays regularly at another club. M&T is a skirmish game set in the French Indian Wars. They're a fun set of rules with a healthy dose of flavour.

Line of sight and line of fire are blocked by other models unless it is a friend from the same unit in base to base contact pretty standard fare so far. They also have a formation rule for the trained troops that fought in firing lines - basically they are easier to hit but get some morale bonus. Anyway we set up and I was somewhat surprised to see my opponent and his Woodland Indian troops formed into units two ranks deep. When I queried this he said the rules allow it, and its a good formation that maximises firepower while at the same time keeping the unit compact and easy to control - which of course it is.  In fact it exactly replicated the firing line formation of the formed regulars, but with none of the restrictions or disadvantages. It is also not disallowed in "the rules". This is true, but the end result is a game that bears no visual resemblance to the historical record or even the pop culture impression of the war in the woods and forests of North America - in fact it looked much more like a bad 1:60 ratio Napoleonic game. It has been bugging me since.

So whats the solution?

"Its only a game" - sure, but its a game about something real. Not sure what the solution is, probably just need to be less uptight :-)

I think I'm going to have a bit of a tinker with that in our games to discourage Indians and irregulars forming ranks. If it works I'll let you know,

Back from Vappa - York Wargames Show

No pics this time, just a bit of a report on my visit to the Vapnartak show in York last weekend.

Since "Vappa" moved out of the atmospheric, but poorly lit Medieval Merchant Adventurers Hall to the vast glass and chrome racecourse, the show has been constantly on the up and up.

I liked the Merchant Adventurers Hall as a building and a concept - we hear so much about "Guilds" if you play any of the fantasy\medieval role playing games, or even Medieval wargames, but to actually visit a guild hall helps put it into perspective. As a venue for a trade show it was far from ideal because the lighting inside was limited, and space was at a premium.

The new racecourse venue is much better. Lots of space, and well lit. Actually when I say lots of space, it is still a bit too crowded for my liking, but that may be because it is so popular :-)

This year was the first year for a while that I had not been in any of the competitions, so I had the experience of having to queue to get in with the rest of the unwashed, but on the plus side it did mean we set out at the more civilised time of 8:30am rather than the usual 6:30. Vappa is split over a number of floors - the racecourse building is unsurprisingly long and narrow, with most of the traders and demo tables on the ground and first floors, and the competitions higher up. There was a good selection of traders and the demos were also of high quality, and I would safely say Vappa is now the best show in the North East of England by quite a margin.

Now to the crucial question - what did I buy :0)???

Surprisingly little. Partly because finances had taken an unexpected hit over the run up when our hot water system needed some urgent repairs, but mostly I would like to say due to a most uncharacteristic attack of self restraint. I did pick up a box of Wargames Factory Woodland Indians to add to the expanding Muskets & Tomahawks collection, a canoe from Coritani to move them around, and some civilians to run away screaming on first sight of them. Other than that I bought an X-Wing Miniatures starter set - I've been sharing one with my "oppo" Paul but it was a bit of a faff so we now have 2 between us. And thats it! I managed to dodge any number of potential impulse purchases, D&D Attack Wing (and Star Trek), Malifaux, even some modern 28mm that was calling seductively from Empress Miniatures. This last one is mopt so much a dodge as a postponement - as soon as Two Fat Lardies bring out their modern version of Chain of Command I will be there like a shot. Other than that I tried to buy some cabin furniture from 1st Corps but they had sold out.

I also got to sit down and talk to Martin Goddard from Peter Pig about his new version of the PBI rules that was due for release this week, and played a turn or two. They seemed quite interesting, and I would recommend having a look it you want something a bit less full on than FoW. I dont think I will be heading off to play them yet, but maybe once the lead & plastic mountain is back under control I may give them a try.

All the best
 

If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone - 'cos theyre full of Rangers

Just a quick update - I realised when posting the earlier piece about the Canadian Militia that I hadn't shown the completed Rangers.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I bought a "British Wilderness" starter force from North Star Miniatures. It consisted of 16 Rangers, 6 Indians, and an Officer, supposedly enough to build a 200 pt force.

I was pleasantly surprised at the figures which had a lot of character and painted up well - at least by my standards.

Here is the finished product - advancing out of the forest with the Indians scouting ahead

and a closer shot of the Rangers.

I'm quite pleased with them - more so when I discovered that by upgrading the Rangers I can actually stretch a supposed 200pt force to 300pts. Another positive is that although technically a French & Indian Wars unit, they can also double up as Queens Rangers for the American War of Independence, another bonus.

I'm enjoying building a force and playing Muskets and Tomahawks - just completed our third game now and all have been fun, which is a very good sign. Recommended

I didn't want to be a barber anyway........................

I'm still treating Muskets & Tomahawks as a "side project" for 2015, something to get completed quickly then ready to play in the gaps between "real" projects.

I've completed the British Rangers force (pics to follow) and I need something to use against them - step forward Wargames Factory American War of Independence Militia!

I ordered a box of these after getting a look at the sprue my regular opponent Paul had picked up. I was rather impressed, or at least impressed enough to part with £20 of my hard earned cash. They duly arrived and I remained impressed, in fact if anything my enthusiasm stepped up a notch. These are very versatile figures. OK technically, they're the wrong war, but I'm guessing styles of civilian dress out in the woods of North America didn't change too much between the 1750s and 1770s.

The box has three figure sprues plus a sprue of bases. Each figure sprue has 10 figures on it, 5 in fringed hunting shirt, 2 in long jackets, and 3 in shirts, along with a wide selection of arms, plenty of muskets, rifles and tomahawks, and three head types, a tricorn, round hat, and a Liberty cap - basically a woolen bobble hat. It was this last head that caught my attention because I had recently been flicking through the Blandford book on the Seven Years War and in there is a plate showing Canadian Militia. The text associated with it says the only piece of uniform issued to the Canadian Militia in French service was a woolen hat - pretty much identical to the "Liberty Cap" in the Wargames Factory set. The colour indicated which Militia the troops belonged, white for Trios Riviere, red for Quebec, or blue for Montreal. That will do nicely. Canadian Militia in M&T are quite effective troops, being recruited from the local population of Woodsmen, Trappers, Traders and err Lumberjacks :-) . They will make a nice opponent for my British Rangers.

I stuck the figures together - not as easy as it first would seem as the arms had to be different for the fringed hunting shirts so there is not as much variation available as first impression. The main "miss" in this set also became obvious - no pistols, just one per sprue would have been nice. Heres 20 given a quick undercoat.

I tried to make sure there were a fair few "Liberty Caps" in there, mainly on the figures with fringed shirts.

I then looked up pics of buckskin shirts on the net - and was rather surprised to discover they were a lot brighter colours than I imagined. I was in a bit of a rush so I quickly painted up a group of 8 (the Militia unit size) using a selection of tan and sand colours on the buckskins, plus the ubiquitous blue bobble hats - basically they're Smurfs! I gave them a coat of GW wash and touched them up a bit to highlight - I'm not the greatest painter and I'm happy enough with the result, particularly at "table distance".

What really struck me was just how versatile these Wargames Factory figures are. You can use them as Militia for both sides in the FIW, or as intended in the War of Independance. I intend to paint a second unit of Canadian Militia , then form up another generic Militia unit out of the rest of the box - or rather I suspect I will pick up another box just to give me the options - so much for a side project :-)

CentreParcs it's not - FIW Buildings

Still tooling up for Muskets & Tomahawks.

In addition to the normal troops the game requires a number of buildings to defend or burn down, and sometimes some civilians to get in the way.

We have been checking out the buildings options. As usual nowadays there is a plethora of laser cut mdf buildings. I don't like laser cut mdf. With a few exceptions you seem to get buildings that look like square boxes, and no end of dressing them up helps. If you want to get a really good result you have to do what Richard Clarke of Lardie fame does, and use the mdf as a shell to be detailed. I appreciate they are fairly quick and easy to build, but they seem to me to be disproportionally expensive for what you eventually get - unless you do a TFL special on them, in which case you would probably be better off starting from scratch. Compare the Perrys plastic buildings with similarly priced mdf options and you would have to be a very big fan of the omnipresent smell of scorched mdf to choose anything other than the Perrys.

Then we stumbles across a rather nice, if a bit esoteric choice for early American Colonial architecture - 1:72 Russian log houses from Pegasus Hobbies.

Ok I had to admit being a bit sceptical when I first read on line about their suitability, however we have bought some and they're really good. Although supposedly 1:72 they fit well enough with 28mm figures. The detail is good and the plastic is a nice and sturdy, no nonsense thickness. Here's the contents laid out for inspection.

This is the largest of the Pegasus options - a 2 storey "Ibza". The kit went together very smoothly and without incident - I've left the roof unattached so you can place figures at the windows. I'm considering adding an internal floor to the upstairs. The walls are well detailed outside, with some rendering on the inside too rather than your usual blanks.

Here's the kit complete, with a Wargames Factory Militiaman for scale.

Cost including p&p through ebay was less than £13. Hopefully I will get this painted up soon. The only issue I have is the little flourish on the roof ridge beam, but I think that will not be noticed or will be easy to fix.

So I'm looking at the other two sets in the range, plus the Perrys buildings, and they should see us through.

If You Go Down To The Woods Today....

My weakness of mind was again highlighted last Saturday at the Battlefront Show in Stockton. I was helping out doing demos on the Hawk stand, when I was suddenly taken by a stupid and irrational urge to start a new period.

Typically the seeds had been sown by an old gaming friend Mark Hadman as we talked about gaming trends, and generally bemoaned the state of the gaming world. High on our agenda was the problem of finding opponents and opportunities to play games we wanted. Both of us had come to the same conclusion by different routes - that we had to diversify and play games that are popular, even if we don't particularly have a lot of enthusiasm for them. In passing Mark mentioned he had played Muskets & Tomahawks, and that it was a good, fun and easy to play game.

I never held a lot of enthusiasm for the black powder period. To me, Napoleonics may as well be a funny sort of three coloured ice-cream. the American War of Independance & French Indian Wars also were low on my hit list, although I did enjoy playing Andy Callan's superb "Loose Files & American Scramble" rules. However, Mark's comments also happened to coincide with another club member (John) wanting to play AWI. John has been trying to whip up interest for a year  or so without success. It seemed like maybe I could tie both these threads together, so after some cajoling I also roped my regular opponent Paul in, and we set of to see Dave Thomas to do "a deal". After the usual horse trading cash changed hands and we walked away with a couple of boxes of Perrys AWI ,  some Wargames Factory AWI Militia, and a North Star British Wilderness Starter Force for the FIW. Clearly our planning and coordination were not what they should be as when we finally sat down to assess our haul of plastic and lead we discovered we had forgotten the French!

Part of the plan is to get these painted and on the table fast, so I immediately got to work on some Indians, assisted by loaning a copy of the BBC series "Last of the Mohicans" with Phillip "Dont tell him your name Pike!" Madoc playing Magua, and here they are ! Not the greatest paint jobs but they'll do for me

Six down - still need basing etc bit not a bad start. That leaves me with 16 more British Rangers and an Officer to paint, so watch this space