Partizan

So I've just got back from Partizan hosted by the Newark Irregulars and my first thoughts are that it felt quieter in terms of numbers of punters than previous shows, that there seemed more space for the traders which probably means that there were fewer or that they had smaller stands, and that the games were overall better than last year.
Having said that about the games there were only a few that took my fancy.
Firstly the Perry Wars of the Rose Game. Excellent in terms of numbers and layout. The game had the look that you might expect a medieval battle to have. I like the teddy bear fur terrain as well. Of course would we expect anything else from the Perrys?

Secondly a rather unusual choice for me - the Sino Japanese war from the South East Scotland Wargames Society. Attractive look little game with muddy water rivers, small islands and some really neat paddy fields (uncultivated, part planted, ready for harvest and part harvested - very nice). Figures were good and provided with plenty of vehicles, boats and planes. Excellent presentation.

Lastly the Battle of Aughrim from the Ilkley Wargames Society. Well modelled terrain with excellent figures and a group of guys who were willing to talk to you, special thanks to Barry for being prepared to put aside the game and spend a quarter of an hour talking to me.

The guys were using there own rules - Wildgeese - and these had some attractive ideas and proposals. I liked the morale system and that I think could be adapted to other rules . They were simple but they had a certain flair that came across as being fair and representative. Not sure about the firing but that might bear more scrutiny.

Overall I enjoyed the show and as ever played in the Blue Bears game. Always fun and entertaining.

So, for me, this year the show was better than last and was actually an enjoyable experience for not being so crowded.

As for purchases?

Nothing special - GNW Russian command. Okay that is something special because I've waiting for these from Musketter for a while and now that I actually have them I can get the foot finished. Yippee!!

Spartacus Blood & Sand

Having watched the first part last night I can safely say that the title does not mislead you. Never before have I seen so much gratuitous blood in a TV series. In fact towards the end it was getting quite boring watching blood spray across the screen in slow motion (and I find it disturbing that you can become immune to that so quickly).
This is not a Kirk Douglas tribute.
Instead it is much more "300" meets "Rome" with "Troy" whilst managing to be not quite as good as any of them. And that's a shame because some of the characters and the subplots established in this first episode have a lot of potential which I hope will be explored in subsequent programmes.
The fight scenes were well choreographed and well presented. I particularly liked the gladiatorial scene at the end of the episode - very Brad Pitt. The style and presentation of the show I liked with the way it panned in and out of the maps to live action. The acting in the main was good - British actors of course for the main so not quite what that tells you about the acting styles on the two sides of the pond.
So I'm hoping that the opener was designed to be sensational and cause a lot of interest for being so explicit whilst following programmes tone it down and concentrate on the stories to be told.

Answers

And so for the answers.

Errol Flynn in "The Adventures of Robin Hood". The horse that Olivia de Havilland rode in the movie was called Golden Cloud but was later renamed Trigger and became famous for being the mount of Roy Rodgers.



Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves". Originally the role of Robin was offered to Cary Elwes who turned it down.



Cary Elwes in "Robin Hood Men in Tights". The movie parodies just about every other Robin Hood movie that you can think of.



Sean Connery in "Robin & Marian". Connery was originally offered the role of Little John with albert Finney lined up for Robin.



Brian Bedford in Disney's animated "Robin Hood". Little John is voiced by Phil Harris the same actor as Baloo the Bear in the earlier "Jungle Book" and they look exactly the same apart from the colour of their fur.


All too easy wasn't it although I was hoping that the Disney question might have made you think a little.

Movie Quiz

To mark the arrival of the big budget "Robin Hood" in our cinemas try these questions on previous versions.
I'll give you an actor and his part along with a year all you need to do is give the film title and the actor playing Robin.

Easy enough?

1. Claude Rains as Prince John in 1938.

2. Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991.

3. Patrick Stewart as Kign Richard in 1993.

4. Ian Holm as King John in 1976.

5. Peter Ustinov as Prince John in 1973.

Imperial forces Defeat the Sun King

But it was a close run thing and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory through ill fortune alone. Both sides had roughly equal forces. The french twelve battalions and four regiments of horse, the imperial forces ten battalions and four regiments of horse although for the Imperial forces some of their infantry formations were larger as were all their horse. As ever the French horse were massed together and started the day in fine style. galloping forward they clashed with the Imperial kuirassiers and initially held their own against greater numbers. Unfortunately Noilles regiment gave way first and fled the table taking their pursuers with them. The remaining horse tired of the fight and both sides withdrew to redress their ranks. In the center the French advanced receiving great support from their superior artillery (not in numbers but the French were far better trained having great effect on the enemy). In a bold flanking move the two Spanish battalions serving in the French army had been posted on the extreme left but with the massed horse melee in front of them they moved obliquely across the flank and tried to turn the enemy center. Despite showing their ability with the musket the Spanish alone were not going to be enough. accordingly the French moved the German brigade forward to engage the enemy. These in turn were supported by Bretagne who could do no wrong and pushed the enemy back.
Unfortunately the German Brigade were not as prepared for the fight as their French colleagues. Firing one volley the bold advance was halted as all confusion rained in their ranks when the enemy had the audacity to return fire. Seeing their evident distress the French general pulled his men back, losing the ground they had gained but trying to reestablish superiority elsewhere.

The French right advanced then into the face of a determined if untested Imperial line. Again the day started well for the French, their first volley crashing into the enemy and creating large gaps. Sensing some doubt in the enemy the French commander closed to point blank range and fired again.
The General in command will have to report that the powder used was of an inferior quality and fouled the barrels of the troops far too quickly. the effect of this subsequent volley was not what was expected and the return fire was far heavier. consequently the French again were forced to retire and reform their line.
As the French retired the Imperial forces advanced and leading the way were the new Walloon regiment raised just in time for this engagement.
Issued with new muskets their first volley made large gaps in the French line. Stoically Navarre and Champagne returned fire. It was instantly clear that the Walloons were new to the field and were immediately thrown into disarray.
Fortunately for them it was just at this crucial stage where both sides showed signs of wavering that the Spanish decided that they had done enough and were not going to stay on the field for any longer. As they left the field the remains of the German brigade retired with them and that effectively ended any hopes of a French victory.
Another great game and many thanks to the Imperial commander, Andy, for giving such a fun evening.

Rules were as ever our own and the only addition for the night was an early attempt at creating an army level morale test. Taken whenever a regiment leaves the table the side rolls 1D6 per three units and has to beat a total of routing troops @ 2 points + each disordered unit @1 point.

I think it needs a bit of tweaking but it does show some promise I feel.

I leave you with some pictures of Andy's new Walloons. Words cannot quite capture how splendid these troops look (as indeed do all of his Imperial forces).
Figures are all Front Rank.

Ronnie James Dio

The little man with the big voice passed away on Sunday. Having worked with Black Sabbath (and later as their reincarnation Heaven and Hell), Rainbow and of course his own band, Dio showed his talent across a genre of music that mourns his passing.

I've seen him on stage several times but the result was always the same. A great show with Dio giving the audience exactly what they wanted - good music, spectacle and performance. I always left more excited then before and never disappointed. His albums figure heavily in my library and there's always one of his tracks on my playlist.

He'll be missed.

Thanks to Dio "we Rock".

http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/

The Weekend

Saturday saw us at the cinema to watch the above. Was it worth my £15 to see it on the big screen?
Yes.
Was it a good film?
Define good.
The director asks you to check your intelligence at the door and not question some of the extremely dubious science in this movie. At various points we are meant to beleive that, just like in the first movie, highly intricate and complex science can be completed quickly in your basement. This includes developing a brand new non-radioactive element - bearing in mind we still can't get the hadron collider to work effeciently and that with some of the worlds leading scientists working on it.
Other than that the story rocks along at a fair pace and the baddy in the form of Micky Rourke is excellent. Much better than Jeff Bridges in the first movie. The action scenes are for the most part very well done and highly charged.
The acting overall is okay with only Downey being a let down. I for one got quite bored with his performance and could have done without his over the top style.
Not the best superhero movie by a long way but good enough.

Yesterday we all went to the last day of the Lincoln Book Festival. This is an annual event and is attracting a lot of authors and writers to come along and give talks and presentations.
Yesterday was Manga day, something my daughter is very keen on. For those not in the know Manga is Japanese comic book (anime is the same on film). The festival had an exhibition of artwork and books on show along with a workshop on how to create manga. Add in a Manga artist doing portraits and we had a good time.

Napoleonics - In the Grand Manner

Last night saw my 1809 French take on an Austrian force ably led by Mark.
The battlefield offered a variety of possibilities and options. For my part I decided to attack the enemy center left with two full brigades of infantry whilst pinning the enemy right with the remaining half brigade of infantry and dragoon brigade. The job of delaying the enemy advance so that the brigade of infantry furthest from the attack got there at the right time was given to a brigade of chasseurs with an attached horse artillery battery.

Mark had a similar plan, delay on his right opposite the farm in the open whilst attacking my weak right flank.
The photograph below shows how difficult a job it was for the Chasseurs to slow the enemy. Deployed between an open wood on the right and a close wood on the left, facing folds and dips in the ground that hid the enemy and with a farm blocking any move to the right, the Chassuers were in the wrong place.
Marching boldly towards them were some six battalions of foot with another two moving round their right. All this screened by jaegers who proved to be a darned nuisance.
The French galloped the battery to the nearest ridge, deployed and fired at the enemy screen. Unfortunately the Jaegers returned fire and were far more effective and drove the artillery back. The Chasseurs advanced cautiously and despite several attempts failed to make any breakthroughs into the massed columns. They did delay the advance but the enemy had already moved forward sufficiently far to make the difference in the center.

On the right the opposing forces of horse fought a series of melees with no conclusive outcome. Inevitably my dragoons lived upto their reputation and failed to make an impression on the enemy light horse. Indeed one regiment fled the field in disgrace (not for the first time I might add).

In the center the French advanced into a withering hail of shot and ball from the enemy artillery and a Jaeger company in support. The return fire from the French was less effective and failed to make an impression on the enemy columns.

So intense was the fire from the enemy batteries that the lead French battalion was forced to retreat whilst it's flanking column stalled before reaching breaking point.

As the two centers clashed it looked to be going the way of the French. Massed columns fighting at close quarters for control of the center of the field. Initially the French had the upper hand. But despite severe losses the Austrians held on and in the end their superior numbers told forcing the French back and with heavy losses.

As the two center brigades retired there was nothing to prevent the Austrians from clearing the right and moving down the line. Reluctantly Massena had to call the retreat and withdrew from the field.

"In The Grand Manner" may not be the perfect set of rules and is certainly not to everyones taste, but for me they offer a good game with lots of figures. My only gripes are over the cavalry which tend to be fire and forget weapon with having only one chance of rallying from a rout. The other being that the French never seem to be able to afford enough skirmishers and rarely outnumber the enemy in this department without sacrificing the support that they need.

Morales work well with officer casualties being an important part of that. Firing and fighting generally play very well and although there is an amount of number crunching it is not that onerous I've found.

Another good game and a worthwhile opportunity to blow the dust of the French. Perhaps another couple of battalions to make three full brigades might be in order?

My French are nearly all Elite Figures and are amongst some of my favourites in my collection.

Curse of the Black Scorpion?

Probably the best work that I've ever done.
Twenty two figures from Black Scorpion - a mix of pirate girls and Royal Marines led by a suitably attired Naval officer. The marines are very reminiscent of the troops from the Disney movies. The girls on the other hand are more burlesque in their approach to a life on the ocean ways. The officer though is straight from a Hornblower story and is an excellent sculpt.

For the first time I've used a white undercoat to make the colours brighter, particularly since I was keen to have the girls dressed in common linen shifts and wanted these to be a brighter show than would have been possible with black base coat. Additionally I've also used several of the GW washes - Devlan mud on the trousers and waistcoat, Ogryn Flesh on the flesh and wood work, Badab Black for the metal work and hair and, Baal Red for the Marine coats.

The flesh areas had a base of GW Bronzed flesh and then Ogryn wash. Once dry several layers of Dwarf & Elf flesh to highlight the features which are so clear on these figures.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed painting these and am only disappointed in that the photographs don't do them justice.

Highlanders II

All the Highlanders have now received the paint and dip treatment - in fact I've been doing these since I completed the Gendarmes so that's about four weeks now.
Tonight I based the first four clan regiments on 40mm square MDF.

I found the figures took the dip treatment quite well ans although they look a little dark in actuality they are quite nice. At least now they all look the same.

Highlanders

The next troops to receive new uniforms and to be reorganised are my Jacobite forces.
Collected over several years many years ago these are painted in a variety of styles, based in different mediums and generally not very cohesive. The vast majority of the figures are from Stratagem and are lovely sculpts with character and flair if lacking in definition in places.
My plan is to repaint all the flesh areas into a single style; renew the belts, pouches and sporrans in a single colour; give them all a common bonnet colour and to use the Army Painter dip to unify the variety of colour schemes.
Once done I'll rebase them all to my current method and then hopefully get them back onto the tabletop.
So how many?

At the last count 320.