Language Warning!

REBASING. There. I've said it.

Told you I'd be using rude words and when it comes to my hobby time there's not much I find more offensive than rebasing to be honest. Still, I've had my interest in the WSS stuff reignited and looking to use The Portable Wargame (or another grid-based system hint hint Simon Miller!) that meant I needed to rebase all my existing French stuff.

A couple of hours of careful prising and I was able to remove all of the following from their original 25mm square bases and reorganise onto appropriate single base arrangements. The cavalry are in groups of two where only two squadrons are available, or in a single group of nine where three or more are present.

Having done that I was inspired to paint some more and enjoying the break from all things 28mm
I was able to knock out another four foot in the space of about the same number of hours. There is something incredibly satisfying in sitting down to paint and then walking away from the table with a unit absolutely completed including flags.

I've got some artillery and some staff prepped for painting now some more on those when complete.

Cheers,
Millsy

Updated FREE Fast Play Wargames Rules

I've been doing some work of late on our Ne Plus Ultra + set of fast play rules for early horse and musket gaming. These are mainly intended for large battles in the 1700-1750 period but you could easily adapt them for earlier or later use.

The original rules were written by Nate from NDC Wargames and he very kindly gave me permission to take them and adapt them as I saw fit.

My own version 1.0 was good start but I was never entirely happy with them, feeling some of my language was a bit inconsistent and ambiguous. There were also a few loopholes and unaccounted for situations which I wanted to correct. With version 2.0 I've had a good stab at those issues and I'm now much happier with them.

The rules are really tightly written (thanks largely to Nate!) and cover just five pages in total, with an extra page of optional / advanced rules. Even so, they cover all of what I consider the core features of an "evolved" set or rules. That's just my opinion of course. :-)

Please feel free to download the rules from our Free Stuff for Gamers page. Don't forget to leave a comment telling us what you think and how we might improve them even more.

Cheers,
Millsy

3rd Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge finale

The 3rd Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge over on Curt's wonderful blog has just finished up. Now that all my final entries have been published it means I can load them up here as well.

Overall I finished 13th on the points table out of 47. Not bad at all but that's not really what it was all about for me. I was just keen to be involved, share some great work and push myself to get some stuff completed. Here's the outstand miniatures that haven't appeared on the blog so far:

First up is 13 x Eureka Miniatures Prussians in 28mm from their Franco-Prussian War range. I’ve had these undercoated for so long I can’t put a date on when I bought them or why, which is both laughable and a sad indictment of the depths of my addiction.

Next up are three random 28mm miniatures from the lead pile which have been orphaned from their projects. I always seem to end up with a couple of these where painter’s block kicks in and they get put aside to await inspiration. The two clerics are Gripping Beast dark ages figs and the other chap is I think an Essex high medieval fig.

Following on we have some 10mm War of the Spanish Succession French cavalry. These are all Pendraken miniatures, painted up to represent the first and second cavalry lines of the Marquis du Bourg's Corps at Blenheim. All up there are 60 miniatures grouped into units of 12 and based in threes so they are riding nice and tight, boot to boot.

The first line consists of the regiments de Royal (4 squadrons), de La Ferronnaye (2 squadrons), de Levy (2 squadrons), de Prince Charles de Lorraine (2 squadrons) and de Choiseul (2 squadrons). The second line consists of the regiments d'Anlezy (2 squadrons), de Livry (2 squadrons), de Heudincourt (2 squadrons) and de Dauphin Etranger (2 squadrons). Every different unit has a flag even though most a just two squadrons. I figure they would all need rallying points and it looks great to what the hell.

Next there are a pile of 15mm Russian artillery from Flames of War - 79 crew and command plus 12 guns to be precise. These are all Battlefront miniatures. I was looking for something quick to bump me over the 1,000 point mark and I’ve managed to churn them out in roughly 12 hours for the lot. That works out to roughly one gun base plus one command base an hour. There is a bit of detail work to do like adding a map but that can wait til after the comp. I seem to have ended up with extra command but that’s fine – far better than being short which is what often happens with these guys.

 

And finally, this is my entry fee for the challenge, Ronin #7. I wanted to do some storytelling and also go a bit beyond my usual boundaries (it’s a challenge after all). I won't retype the whole longwinded enrty, just provde a link to the original blog post. There are plenty more pics over on Curt's blog along with the background, etc. I think it's some of the best work I've ever produced but you be the judge.

So that's it. I'm pretty burnt out but have had a total blast. Curt has worked his proverbials off posting close to 400 separate entries at 20 minutes each - do that math, that's an awesome committment by any standard and he deserves bucket loads of praise and thanks.

Cheers,
Millsy
 

Wars of the Spanish Succession French Infantry

This is the start of my Franco-Bavarian army for the 10mm Wars of the Spanish Succession. I’m intending to do a fair chunk of the Blenheim order of battle over time, starting with Prince d'Isenghein's Brigade in Marquis de Rosel's Corps. This formed part of the centre of the line of battle around Oberglauheim.

These are all Old Glory 10mm figures which I nabbed off eBay some time ago. Unfortunately I ran out with one battalion to paint in order to complete the brigade. Being me there will always be more orders for more tin so no real drama although it would have been nice to do the lot in one go. These come in strips of five, so I had to cut a single figure off each strip to fit in two rows of four on a 25mm square base. This gives me good sized units for Maurice at 32 figures each. When battles get really large we’ll use something simple rules-wise I think.

 

 

 

 

I painted these using the same method I use for 15mm figures and in truth there is next to nothing different in terms of effort required. Over a black undercoat I have two shades of grey for the coats and other bits, followed by another 8-10 colours depending on complexity of the uniform. I initially thought they would be quicker and was berating myself for mucking about but then another challenger on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (IanH) replied to my comment on his 6mm stuff saying the same thing – 10mm takes as much effort as 15mm for him too.

So to close a quick summary of regiments: 1st Poitou (red and blue colour), 1st Guyenne (pink and green colour) and 2 battalions of Regiment de Beauferme (red and gold colour). The second battalion doesn’t carry the white colonel’s colour I believe, hence the double up on the red and gold. Regiment d'Isenghein will be added in due course.

Next up for me is more 10mm WSS, starting with 10 squadrons on horse forming the first and second cavalry lines of Marquis du Bourg's Corps.

Cheers,
Millsy