Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes & Horse and Musket Rules

I got these two sets of rules in the mail today, purchased them at OSHIRO Models in the UK.

Galactic Heroes is destined to form the basis for some small scale skirmishes in the Star Wars and Retro Raygun universes, and Horse And Musket I got mainly for Napoleonics.

I do not think that I shall find time for getting either on the table before the summer holidays, but at least I now have them readily at hand, and they may help me find motivation for painting some models.

2018-05-04: Black Powder Game Cancelled

Sadly, my appointment with Kevin this evening fell through, as something came up forcing him to cancel.

I have made Black Powder army lists for France, Bavaria, Austria, and almost Russia, so I am prepared for the scrap with Archduke Michael's Austrians Sunday afternoon. I shall have to make a list for Prussia as well, as Kevin has purchased some Italeri late Prussians.

I also tidied up parts of the garage attic earlier today, and put some gaming boards on a table in preparation for this evening, but they will probably soon see other uses.

I now have to get my SS&SS appointment with Ulolkish time framed, so I know when to be ready for tomorrow...

Black Powder: Italeri French Hussars WIP

I think my French army needs some hussars - and thus I have started working on some models to represent 1er Hussards.

Obviously, I should not take photos without my reading glasses, but I guess it is reasonably clear what I am doing here, after all.

It is the first time I use steel washers for 1:72, and it is actually an experiment - how these fare will determine whether or not I shall do this with future units, or go back to using cardboard bases.

1:72 Napoleonics - My Russians

This Russian army is an attempt to model something around 1800. The bicorne-wearing infantry are the Prussian Guard Jägers from the ESCI 'Prussian and Austrian Infantry' box.

For some reason lost in the mists of time, I painted one light battalion with bicornes, and one with the later shakos.

More infantry, and two Dragoon Regiments. I have no idea, why I chose such a light green for the tunics. They also have the 1805-style helmets - for 1800 I think the Dragoons wore bicornes as well, but, well...

This Corps is somewhat stronger than my Bavarian Division, so I may have to leave some of them out, or take some French allies for the Bavarians, if they are to square off.

All in all, I am all set for some Black Powder action - I just need an opponent (or, alternatively, play solo).

1:72 Napoleonics - My Bavarians

This Bavarian 'Division' (all HäT Industries minis) is ready to field (although I shall probably double the Cavalry regiments.

I think this force has a perfect size for trying out the Black Powder rules. I don't know, yet, if it will be against Archduke Michael's Austrians, or maybe my own 'inter-war' Russians under command of Grand Prince Kevin.

1:72 Napoleonics - My French

With Black Powder added to my rules collection, I thought it was about time that I dusted off my 1:72 plastic Napoleonic armies.

Back in the seventies, with wargames not nearly as readily available as they are now, I wrote a set of rules for playing with some of my friends, using quite large(ish) battalions of about 20-25 miniatures.

Later, I adopted Warmaster for playng this era, and we started out with units of 12 models, but later reduced the battalions/cavalry regiments to eight soldiers.

I think we can easily adapt those small battalions for Black Powder, counting the shown formations as 'Attack Columns', and forming a single rank for 'Lines' (and two files for 'March Columns').

Eight models is the minimum required for forming a 'Square', so that should work fine. Of course, we can later enlarge infantry unit size by doubling the models, or even more - but we shall have to see about that.

I know Michael has a sizeable Austrian force, and I have  nicely sized French army (although some of the paintjobs are WIP, as it shows in the photos).

French Line and Light Infantry. I shall have to pull out some red and blue, at least.

Fench Line and Old Guard Infantry.
Again, some units are not quite finished...

French Dragoon Regiment, some Line Chasseurs in early (Hussar-style) uniforms,
and a single Italian Infantry Regiment

French Cuirassiers, the Chevaux-Légers de Berg (too many models - I painted them back in the 'big unit' days,
and the Lanciers Hollandais of the Guard

Some Artillery and Staff

I intend to invite Kevin for a scrap, and see if I can get him interested in this scale for Black Powder (honestly, I don't feel like painting an entire Nappie army in 28mm).

Black Powder, Second Hand

I got these two books in the mail this afternoon, purchased from Britain second hand in a Facebook group.

I wanted to mow my frontyard lawn right now, but the battery is flat again, so while it charges, I shall start looking at the Black Powder rules.

I do not expect to play this game in 28 mm (I am not sure if I am going to play it at all, but now I am giving it a chance), expecting to pull out my 1/72 French army for a scrum with the Austrians of an old friend and gaming buddy of mine.

I know, Kevin has the rules, so he might be a possible convert into 1/72 gaming, if Michael and I are having fun with the rules (I am also having some thoughts about getting Swordpoint from Gripping Beast and dig out my 1/72 Polybian Roman project).

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - Ready for a Lick of Paint!

In between writing an AAR for my first game of Sellswords & Spellslingers, I have been fiddling about with, among others, Sharpe and his Chosen Men of the 95th.

Today I got them primed, and glued to cork handles, so they are now ready for my brushes!

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - Working on the Bases

Got my almost empty, partly dried, filler out and put some on the bases of this group. Only three more rounds of work to do before I can prime them: Fill the holes in the washers, remove excess filler, and final filler build-up of the base tops.

I think I shall have to get some more black primer tomorrow, my last can is nearly empty, and it would nag me to have to prime them over more than one day.

Sharpe's Rifles WIP - All Cleaned Up!

After a couple of weeks with FAR too many real life complications and chores, today I was able to sit down and finish cleaning Sharpe and his Chosen Men.

Later today I may start working on the bases, but I am not sure if that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I still hope to be able to paint at least one of these up for the Big Battalions painting club at the LAF, which seem to have ground to a standstill at the moment, but we shall see...

Sharpe's Rifles Revisited

Another post about this starting with 'Finally'...

Finally, I started prepping my Sharpe and companions minis from Brigade Games:

Kevin, my hitherto newest gaming buddy has expressed interest in playing some Napoleonic skirmish (he even purchased the Black Powder Waterloo Starter Box from Warlord Games, so I assume he is meaning business).

I have also talked to my oldest friend and gaming buddy Michael (with whom I have spent endless hours gaming 1/72 Naps) about it, and he seems interested, too.

We are going to start out with only a handful minis each, playing Song of Drums and Shakos from Ganesha Games, then probably add the odd couple of reinforcements then and again, until our patrols grow too big for SDS and we have to move on to some other rules, like, for instance, Sharp Practice.

The reason I have only gotten three of the minis cleaned and glued onto washes is that I am working on another project parallel to this (talk about going from complete hiatus to overdrive...), and I shall post about it a bit later this evening.

Sharpe's Rifles

Finally, a post about gaming stuff!

I recently purchased two sets of metal minis depicting Sharpe and his chosen men of the 95th from Brigade Games. I plan to get at least one of them painted for the Alliance of the Big Battalions Painting Club at the Lead Adventure Forum (if I can find the time for it, that is...)

Unfortunately, these sculpts are quite tiny, and I wonder how they will scale up against other contemporary 28 mm napoleonics (I fear they may be closer to 25 mm). As I intend to use them for skirmish games, it may not be that big a an issue, but it is a shame if they stick out too much against other minis.

Renedra American Church, Part 1.

The fever mists are slowly beginning to clear from my brain, and I've decided to do something about some of the many terrain projects I have bought stuff for over the years.

First up, my plastic Renedra Church. I wanted to use it for Von unaussprechlichen Kulten and Strange Aeons, back when I had finished painting 2 cults, but as I went through the parts on the sprues, one vital piece was missing.

Renedra sent me a replacement PLUS a sprue full of headstones, which I think is VERY good customer service - but the delay meant that I got my butterfly mind set on other subjects.

Now I've finally started assembling the kit!

It is a bit fiddly to get the side walls and gables aligned at 90 degrees right angles - I used one of the roof sides to align them against.

When I dryfitted the roof plates, I couldn't get a good fit. There are two of these 'tabs' on each side wall, meant to support corresponding tabs on the underside of the roofs, but in my case they prevented the roofs from sitting correctly on the building - so had to be removed.

Below is the same wall with tab(s) removed.



There are a few peculiarities to the kit - nothing that can't be overcome by the seasoned modeller, but I wouldn't recommend this kit for kids.

Example:

Renedra has opted to do the church bell in two halves.

Nothing wrong with that - BUT, why havent they made it a 'real' bell, then, instead of this pearshaped lump that results from assembling the 2 halves?

Another example:

The bell tower is made of four side pieces and a floor.

Nothing wrong with that, per se, but I had to put the roof/spire base in place and twirl a rubber band around the construction for the glue to cure, otherwise I could not be sure that the roof would fit after the glue had settled.

And, no, I couldn't glue the roof/spire base in place at the same time, as the bell has to hang from a rod inside the bell tower.

The plastic used for the kit seems the same as used for GW's building sets; it's prone to warping, and as you can see below, I had to put some weight on the front of the tower to make it connect with the roof pieces while the glue settles.

Conclusion so far:

It's a nice kit, with good texture and details, and I'm sure the  end result will be very good. The kit, although simple, is not for absolute beginners in the art of model building, but I think it will be worth the extra effort to get things to fit right.

I shall continue, and probably finish, the build tomorrow, and I shall, of course, round it off with part 2 of this little installment.