28mm Carthaginian Veteran Spearmen

I've been posting a lot of figures lately that I've purchased already painted. This is another unit of Carthaginians for our upcoming campaign that I painted myself. These are veteran Lybian spearmen. I've painted them with a few odd shields as they equipped themselves with captured Roman shields and equipment as they could. This unit is 'mostly' re-equipped with Roman gear with a few older shields mixed in. I think it gives it the right look that way.

The figures are Old Glory with some of the shields from my bits box. They're block painted and 'dipped' with Army Painter quick shade.
 

28mm Ancient Gaul Cavalry (2)

This is another battle group of 28mm Gaul cavalry for our upcoming Punic War campaign. The figures are Old Glory, but I didn't paint them myself. I bought these from the 'bring and buy' table at 'The Weekend'. I did re-base them and touch up the figures as they suffered some wear and tear either during the previous owner's use or while traveling home in the back of my RV. They painting style matches my painted figures quite nicely. I was very happy to be able to purchase them.

The Weekend - 2013

The last stop on my recent RV vacation in Pennsylvania was in Lancaster, PA where I spent a day and a half participating in "The Weekend". This event is more like spending the weekend gaming with 80 of your best friends than a standard convention. The event is run by Otto Schmidt with help from his wife Dot and some of his friends. The Weekend has a lot going for it: friendly atmosphere, relaxed environment, flexible game start times and GREAT games. In order to estimate space needs and costs Otto requires that you contact him if you're planning to attend. I found the easiest way to do this was to email him (sigurd@eclipse.net). The event features a bring and buy space, a snack sharing table and visitors can pre-order beer and soda prior to registering. Games are set up and when enough players are ready to play the game starts. There were mainly miniatures games, but a few board games were also played.  I was only able to attend Friday and the first half of Saturday, but the event runs through Saturday evening. I'm hoping to attend next year for the full two days. If a weekend of fun, casual wargaming in early July in Lancaster PA sounds fun to you, drop Otto an email.

Below are photos of a massive French & Indian war battle that was very beautiful and from the sounds coming from the players, a lot of fun.

Friday morning I played in a Roman civil war game hosted by Mark Zalasky (pictured left). The rules were "Classical Hack" - Ancient Rome variant. This battle featured many nicely painted figures in a head to head struggle for control of Rome. I played one of Pompey's sub-commanders and had a lot of fun. This rule system features lots of good old fashioned head to head smashing wearing down each other's units. Since I'm currently painting 28mm ancients I couldn't resist. I'd like to thank Mark for hosting a very enjoyable game.

 

Saturday afternoon and early evening I played in a MASSIVE Seven Year's war game hosted by Mike Lorenzo that used Black Powder rules. This was a close fought battle of Prussians against Austrians. I commanded a brigade that included two artillery pieces and two regiments of grenadiers. I was semi-successful in holding my flank, but at the end of the battle a decisive Austrian massed cavalry charge put the success of the Prussian efforts in question. Result was a minor Prussian victory...and another very enjoyable game.

Saturday morning I helped my friend and club mate Ed run his very fun 30 Years War game using his battlefield management rules "Armies at Lutzen". While Ed ran the game I helped players with rules questions on one end of the table while Ed did the same on his end. The more I get exposed to this system the more I like it. I may consider even trying it for Napoleonics using my 15mm Volley & Bayonet stands. The system features troop types unique to the 30 Years War, but with some small adjustments could be made to work with Napoleonics.

 

The photos below are of other games that were being played Saturday morning or set up to run Saturday afternoon. The close up photos of the Ancients game were of particular interest. Unfortunately I had to leave before the game was run. I believe it was called "A Pyrrhic Victory" and featured Roman and Pyrrhic armies that were very nicely painted.

Gettysburg Visit 2013

Sorry for the delay between posts without notice, but things got very hectic right before leaving for a ten day RV trip to Pennsylvania. Included in the trip was another visit to one of my favorite destinations, Gettysburg Battlefield National Park.  My wife Lori and I love to visit Battlefield parks. I count myself very fortunate that Lori shares my interest in history. This visit to Gettysburg was HER idea.

We love attending the park ranger walks and presentations. This year we attended three: Little Round Top, First Day's Battle and a new program, "Sunset at Gettysburg" which is held at sunset on Cemetary Ridge and covers the final moments of the battle and many topical moments of the aftermath including burial of the dead, damage to local farms, and the evolution of the battlefield after the battle. Very interesting! I highly recommend if you visit any of the national parks that you take full advantage of the excellent programs the park rangers offer for free.

Also in our visit, a quick stop to one of Lori's favorite parts of the battlefield, the Wheatfield, and my favorite monument, the "Fighting" 5th NH monument which is located where Colonel Cross was killed.

I'll be posting a second update from our trip in a few days.

Royal Deux-Ponts Infantry Regiment (2)

Long-time followers of this blog will probably note that I posted my first Royal Deux-Ponts Infantry regiment way back in September of 2008.  When I saw this unit for sale on Ebay it was so beautifully painted I couldn't resist. Also the officer was an added temptation since I need more French officers badly for my Gloucester Point scenario. That scenario also features a very large French regiment that in wing scale requires that  I represent it using two separate regiments. Obtaining this second unit of Royal Deux-Ponts figures will allow me to field that large regiment using these figures. Yes, they'll be pretending they're another regiment, but at least they'll all be wearing the same uniform. This will also free up the non-matching unit for use elsewhere in the scenario.

I'm unsure of the manufacturer of the figures, but the person whom I purchased them from did a splendid job of painting them. They've been re-based using my standard Volley & Bayonet basing methods.

The Battle of Icosium

Today we got together for another Field of Glory game in our 15mm Second Punic War campaign. This one is the battle of Icosium. Below left you can see Charlie (Hannibal) pointing out the strategic situation to the players there. Two rows down on the right you can see Bob (gray shirt) and Ralph the other Roman players. Mike (below left with Charlie) sat in as a Carthaginian general today and just after we started Phil (not photographed) showed up to command the Gauls and Spanish scutari. 

The Romans took some early losses to some local Numidian skirmishers and a unit of Numidian elephants. After that Ralph and Bob plugged the holes and with the loss of one average legion were able to send a unit of Hannibal's veteran spear and a unit of Campagnian hoplites running. I the center some very lucky shooting by my Velites and some Numidian skirmishers sent the Scutari heading for home. As the game wore on Hannibal decided to yield the field to the Romans. Good game, good fun.

We also spent some time after the game discussing the upcoming 28mm first Punic War campaign which it looks like might use Ralph's new home brew ancients rules.They're fast play and fun and a campaign with them should give us a bunch of fun games.

28mm Gaul Infantry

This is a unit of Gaul infantry for our upcoming 28mm Punic War campaign. The figures are Gripping Beast castings that were painted by another person. I bought them on Ebay. I wouldn't normally include Gaul infantry in a 'tournament' Carthaginian list, but we're playing this Punic war campaign more for fun than for competition, and these figures were too beautifully painted to pass up.

Luftwaffe 1946 (2)

My friend Phil and I traveled up to Adler to visit Gordon and Russ. Russ hosted another game of Luftwaffe 1946. The more I play this game the more I like it. Tonight Gordon and I played the Germans and exacted some revenge on Russ for previous deaths in the sky and revenge against Phil for previous deaths in the 30 Years War.  I have to admit some very hot dice this game. I got some devastating shots from my Bf110's belly gunner on Phil and then was able to drop a nice turn on Russ for another kill.

Scenarios seem to be something that will require some tweaking to get balanced, but the game is fun, fast and has just the right amount of historical detail and accuracy. Balancing scenarios in air games is always tough with aircraft differences coming into play. I'm sure once we get a few more games in Russ will have a good amount of data points to be able to dial in nicely balanced scenarios. Until then I'll be a willing data point generator no matter what side I'm on.