A Junk post

My pirates have languished on dry land for far too long. This Junk was purchased at Derby in October but has only left dry dock today.
Cast in resin from Minimi models (www.minimi.co.uk) with wooden masts it is a lovely piece of work.

Crisply cast with no obvious flaws and pieces that fit together well it is just about perfect. The fact that I also bought two resin dragon canon with it makes it even better.

I haven't yet decided whether to mount the masts permanently or to leave them loose for easier storage. I have decided though no bother with sails as these make it far too cumbersome.

Soi what could be better for a female pirate crew then something a little exotic?

Last Units to be Finished in 2010

Whilst it hasn't been a complete break from work the reduced hours have meant that I have had more time to devote to trying to get the WSS revamp moving again.
Above is the revamped German regiment La Marck (or Mark or Marcke depending on your reading material). Not much to do to them apart from repainting the waistcoat from yellow to the more correct blue, providing them with a new flag and finials and, rebasing them on a 20mm frontage along with the rest of the units.

Alsace got similar treatment with new colours and finials to their standards.

Finally Regiment Bourbonnais - the last French battalion that I intend to raise.

I might have said this before but it is strange that as I've being revamping these units I've wondered where I got my original source information. Either there is more out there now then there was 15 years ago or I've lost some vital pieces of paper and had to go back to scratch. Uniforms colours are not as I remember them or the information I used related to either pre 170 or post 1720. Either way many units have benefited from a new uniform being issued to them.

Now all that is left are the last regiment of horse, three Swiss battalions and the artillery and train.

As yet I'm still waiting for the plastic WSS figures to arrive from Wargames Factory. Not heard a word since they took my money in October for the pre-order. This despite several emails and attempts to find out what is going on.

Has anyone on this side of the pond received these yet? Indeed has anyone on either side of the pond got any and made them?

In the meantime let me wish all my readers a Very Happy New Year!

Christmas Cheers

Especially when Harris intercepted Sanchez with less then a minute to go to seal the win over the Jets.
What a weird weekend of football.
A defensive face off was predicted between the Jets & Bears and it turned into a QB contest.
The Giants were stunned by the Packers, San Diego, the seasons sure thing for the playoffs prior to week one, are out and, it's possible that a team with losing record will be in the playoffs.
Still, for me what matters is that the Bears offense looks good and a maligned bunch of receivers are showing their potential.

That's that then for Another Year

Slight hangover this morning but then I suspect that I'm not the only one. A very nice bottle of Glenmorangie was among the presents and gifts and of course there can be no better reason not to try it then to toast the wishes of Goodwill that go with the season.

As for wargame related items I received three books - The Battle of Barnet by David Clark and published by Pen & Sword, Stoke Field by David Baldwin also from Pen & Sword, and finally A Histroy of Charles XII of Sweden by Voltaire (a lovely bound volume in box sleeve).

The day was more about being with family and friends though. Good food all day long, plenty to drink whether you wanted something hot or cold, long or short, flat or fizzy. Fun and games as well.

So I trust that you had as much enjoyment of the day as I did and let's hope that 2011 is better and brighter than 2010.

Christmas Cheer

To you all.
May the man in the red suit provide you with all you asked for and maybe a little bit more.

Champions

The Bears are division champions for the first time since 2006 with a rout of the Vikings.
Add in that the NFL has a new record holder in Devin Hester with his 14th return for a TD breaking Mitchells previous record (Hester has taken 74 games to reach this mark - Mitchell took 223).
So now two weeks to take on the Jets & Packers for home field advantage.

Time to Think

With the enforced closure of the loft and thereby preventing access to the painting table, there has been time to think about the hobby and what the future holds.

Most of these thoughts have been along the lines of "what next?" since I can see the end of the WSS project approaching. And this time it really is the end (gosh how many times have I said that?). I have some infantry to rebase, one more regiment of horse, the artillery and then the baggage train. Of course there are the plastic figures to arrive but after that - no more (well perhaps a few limbers and such but no more fighting troops).

Bill should have the GNW horse soon. With their purchase that will be that aside from the artillery of course.
Talking of the GNW, I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I made the decision to put all the figures on single bases and then into movement trays. Done all that but I'm not happy with the end look. The recent revamp of the WSS range has caused me to question whether to adopt a similar approach to the GNW.
Replace the single basing with multiple figure bases and to reduce the size of the battalions to get bigger games. Bigger in the sense of units not numbers of figures that is. My thoughts so far are to reduce the battalions from 48 men to 27 men equivalent without buying any extras. The difference being achieved by improving the scenic quality of the bases and judicious placement of the figures. Indeed I could even adapt the terrain to have a winter feel since the fighting carried on in the snow.
The other benefit that I can see is that the smaller units would probably work better with the Black Powder rule set then a few large units.

Lastly I'm seriously considering a spending freeze on new figures, the above excepted, for 2011 and to concentrate on reducing the contents of the big blue box and to getting all those half finished projects completed. How many of us have said that in the past and then failed to deliver?

Not just me then.

Aren't Bears Supposed to do the Mauling?

First the good news - Packers lose and Bears remain on top of the division.
Other good news - Bears beat the Patriots 7-3 in the second half. Of course this is said tongue firmly in cheek because the game was over at the end of the first half with the Bears down 33-0.

There was far too much of the above photograph. No pressure on Brady and plenty of time for him to pick us apart. Cutler never had that luxury.

This game wasn't lost by Cutler who at times showed what he can do. this game was lost by the entire team in all three phases. The secondary was awful and I'm afraid Tillman will be hearing a lot of that for his performance last night.

If this was a Superbowl preview, as some in the media had touted, then I don't want to go to the Big Show and be embarrassed again.

Grinding to a halt

Not much has been over the last week or two with the revamp of my WSS project. Several reasons not least being the weather. Far too cold after walking home to get much done other than a hot bubble bath, hot chocolate and a good book before falling asleep in the armchair.

Of course a "good book" isn't necessarily an easy read. Right now I'm reading "A Great & Terrible King - a biography of Edward I" by Marc Morris.

Well written and full of information it is, like many medieval biographies, not a smooth flowing book. Numerous gaps in the chronicles means some inevitable filling and padding. which makes the book hard to read in places.

Add in the need to move piles of books from the bedroom onto the landing in anticipation of the new bed arriving (last one collapsed - no jokes please believe me I've heard them all!!), has meant that access to the loft is restricted. Hopefully back up there on Tuesday.

On the painting desk are the second half of the Royal Carabiniers who only need the bases texturing and painting. As well as those is the last French battalion I'm going to do - Tallard. That makes fourteen French battalions out of the thirty in my collection. Five are Bavarian, two Spanish and three German. That leaves four battalions - all Old Glory figures. These were French but are going to become Swiss in French service.

I've also received news that the plastic WSS figures pre-ordered from Wargames Factory are being shipped. So that leaves the question who will they become?

Spanish? German? Cologne? Italian? Irish (Wild Geese)? All possibilities and I like all their uniform variations but which is best (in your best Harry Hill voice do I hear "FIGHT!"

Bears Sweep Lions - just

A TD reversed in the first game and now a penalty call that probably shouldn't have been called (and would have been challenged if that was allowed), the umpires at Lions games seem to be Chicago fans.
Neither team showed much defence and of the two QB's it was Stanford that came away looking the better I thought. Still it's a win that keeps us top of the NFC North but on this showing and with our remaining schedule I don't expect to stay there.

WSS Game Monday 29th November

The rejuvenated French army took to the field on Monday to tackle the English again. A river protected the French right wing of nine squadrons of horse and three line battalions, the left faced some woods and was twelve squadrons and four battalions, whilst the centre had five battalions supported by a battalion of guards.
The English brought ten battalions to the field and twelve squadrons but five field guns.
The French horse moved forward quickly to tackle the enemy horse. At the same time the French foot advanced into some fearsome artillery fire from Captain Blood.

The horse quickly engaged on both flanks and the French had mixed success. On the left they lost one regiment very quickly but held on and frustrated the English with the other regiments. On the right the French overwhelmed their opponents and routed the enemy. Unfortunately the French flushed with success pursued the enemy beyond the point of reason and lost one unit in pursuit whilst the other tow rallied in full view of the enemy and promptly paid for their enthusiasm.

In the center the French had some problems deploying in face of the superior musketry from the English. The consequence of this being that the French attacks went in piecemeal and failed to make any impact on the enemy first line.

A close up of Normandie in their new (white) livery as they advance in the first line. The new uniforms must have been worth it because despite being severely shot over they performed stirringly and led the advance for most of the day only retiring once below half strength but not routing from the field.

A view from the enemy side of the field as the French lines advance.

The disorganised manner of the French lines is seen here with no continuous front line to defeat the enemy.

The French had some success but overall failed to create any significant pressure on the enemy lines when it mattered and did not generate any gaps in the lines to exploit. The enemy guns performed well and allowed the English infantry to gain the upper hand quickly.

My thanks to Mark for fielding the English and to Step & Will for joining in. The latter being two new members who have recently discovered the joys of historical wargaming rather than the GW versions. Hopefully the colour and ease of play made it as much of an enjoyable game for them as it was for me.