Russian Ahead

I was starting to worry. I've been focussed on the 19thC for 3 months now and with the first 6 Royal Scots on the table, there was no sign of a change in the air though I was over due for a dabble in ancients or maybe moderns which were missed altogether last year. Was I becoming one of those single period gamers??   However, with one eye on the mailbox I have been starting to do a little bit of reading on WWI & the RCW.   

Another great Christmas present from the 60's. Marx 30mm Hard plastic, factory painted figures from their Over the Top playset. The sandbag emplacement, a shell stuck in the mud and a square tank turret are the only accessories left. I'm surprised that there are any rifle barrels left. 

Then there was an alarming visit to Irregular Miniatures where they have some gorgeous shiny 40mm WWI pictures. It had previously occured to me that my old Crescent 18pdr is just the right size for my 1900 Zinnbrigade  homecast figures, and I was starting to wonder if I should be doing WWI with glossy 40mm toy soldiers?  It would make sense from a point of view of terrain, buildings, wagons, farm animals etc. But 40mm toy soldiers are by and large a solo thing for me.

  I really need to grab a few more of these while it is still possible.

But at last, there was a pick up notice in my mailbox. Could it be........

5 minutes from box to trimmed and glued. My kind of tank!

Yes! Michigan Toy Soldiers came through, Hoorah!

 Of course there are the usual issues, 3 companies, 3 humanoid races. Once painted and based in separate units, I'm sure they'll be fine.

My goal now is to assemble (hope the rest are easier than the 1st!) and paint up at least a few of  the Russian Infantry, make a gridded playing surface and try out Bob Cordery's latest game.

If I enjoy painting the 1/72nd Zvezda figures, their Germans may be next as I slide more towards WWI with the RCW as a side show. Time will tell.

2011 Fort Belmont White Paper on Defence

Every year or two, I try to review my wargame figure collections and plans. What do I want to add, what games do I want to play this year and do I need to make terrain or troops to do that? Is there anything that can/should go? The result is usually a White Paper on Defence.  Not a detailed action plan, just a casual over view.
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A. Gathering of Hosts. Semi-historical 25mm Ancient Persians and enemies, the subject of its own blog which has been lagging for some months now. Many of the figures have between 25 and 40 years of service so I'm not worried about an occasional quiet period. The major plan for this year is to stage a version of the Battle of Thymbra against the Lydians but what I really want to do is paint up some elephants and clibinari even though they just don't fit with the Western Front.

From my brief (5 year?) foray into 54mm ancients. Converions of Hat figures, sold a few years ago.

B.  Prince Valiant. 40mm Fall of Rome skirmishes inspired by the comic strip, several Elastolin ranges.and various novels ... and some history.  I have a couple of armoured cavalry converted and primed but not painted, and some 1/2 painted Romans. I want to finish them and add some more armoured cavalry plus some more mounted Picts but mostly I want to get them out at least twice this year.

Celebrating a past victory. The 1st version of my Prince Valiant collection, 54mm conversions using WHAB. Here my Hillmen surround and cut down Jerry's Black Duke who, using the Crusader General's stats, had terrorized my armies for years. These guys are still lurking in the cupboard.

C. Rough Wooing. 40mm 16th C. Again, I want to get these out more. I need to cast a few figures to bring my English and Scots up to strength but I have some cuirassiers that I want to turn into reiters and/or lancers for my Imperial army and even more I want to get back to sculpting a Turkish army.

D. ECW. 25mm. I have met my initial pledged contingent for a local campaign but may need to recruit a few more figures as the campaign progresses.

E. NQSYW.(Not Quite the Seven Years War)  40mm semi-flat Charge! The main goal is to design and cast some fortress guns and build saps, parallels and battery positions for a siege game at Historicon using the Charge! based rules from Duffy's work. I want to increase Rosmark's army though with a company of Grenadiers and a battalion of foot. The aim is to have enough forces for French vs Rosish actions. That said, this project is a shelf hog!

44mm F&IW figures painted to go with Rob Dean's troops for games at Cold Wars. Happily these and their comrades are taking up his cupboard space, not mine! 

F. The Acadian War of Independence 40mm  AWI. This will be my sole chunky 40mm collection. Mostly  AWI but are a few F&IW or 1812ish looking units hanging around. There is a mix of 4 figures per base line infantry units and single figure skirmish units.

54mm Brunswick Dragoons for Bennington at Cold Wars 2001.
Conversions of Prince August Prussians. Since sold off.

G. Redcoats and Savages.  40mm glossy toy soldiers. I have taken the mental plunge and decided to allow my self to restart the war of 1812 sharing figures with the 1837 Rebellion and Arroostock War. My goal for this year will be to raise troops for Chateauguay (including sedentary Quebec militia, aka patriotes) and Stony Creek.

Some of the sample 40mm figures painted for the 1st Schleswig War. A project which was halted. The remains haunt my shelf, trying to worm their way into other projects. Conversions of S&S and Zinnbrigade figures

H. Peccavi  40mm glossy toy soldiers in India. Rather oddly this will include not only Napier's Scinde campaign (the origin of the apocryphal pun chosen as a title), Gwalior and Afghanistan and the Sikh Wars but VSF and the never happened Oregon War.  Some troops from the Redcoats and Savages troops will do double duty. I won't be ready for an Indian game this year but hope to get at least a start on the Indian armies. I do expect to play some more Oregon games.

My 1st venture to India. Sepoys converted from 54mm Airfix figures under the temporary command of a Soldierpac recast of a Britain's Fort Henry Guard officer. They were going to serve as sepoys vs Gwalior and the like or as mutineers alongside some to be sculpted and homecast figures but I was not yet up to the task and bailed. The Sepoys and Fort Henry Guard followed Charley home to New York and appear to have done sterling service so no regrets there. 

 I. ACW. 20mm plastic.  2 small forces ready but since I changed basing 1/2 way through, I need to spend an hour to rebase about 50 guys. Need to paint up 2 more guns and pull another 50 or so Yankees out of the pile to meet commitments. Hopefully the Jerry and I will get in the first game of a semi-campaign will kick off when the snow lets up. Black Powder is the plan (but I have HofT in reserve)

J. RCW/WWI.20mm plastic.  2 very small forces ready with more on the way and 3 potential opponents with forces. Hopefully will get some games going this year. The intend is to use BKC but I am thinking of also using them for a version of Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame.

For a while I dabbled in 54mm WWII games. Only a handful of figures and equipment are left, mostly because they need touch  up before being offered for sale.

K. ROSCIA 20mm fictional 1960's. Cold War Commander. Last year I built 2 Centurians, this year I need to paint them!  Should add more infantry and some trucks  and ambush Jerry's Centralians or at least get my  Naryatrian's out for some exercise. "Should."

Not bad, that's down to 11 active projects. I still need to figure out what to do with my 8 remaining 54mm collections which don't get out much and my 25mm Arthurian & Medieval Scots armies, 30mm WAS,  the 20mm plastic DBA samplers, and the last of my 15mm armies, my ACW Rebs.

The last battle of a 54mm Ancients campaign, Tom, Ron, Jerry & my forces clash before Tom is posted to the other coast in 2001.

Colours Blazing Like the Sun

A troll through the spares cupboard turned up 2 each of Scruby's 40mm 1814 US Infantry advancing (lt looks like an all out, "I'll try sir"  bayonet charge to me but that's ok) and a figure wearing 1814 British uniform but listed as US Infantry on guard. Breaking out the paints I decided that samplers were in order.

Choosing a regiment that fought on the Lake Champlain front as well as Niagara, I went for the 9th US.

Scruby 40mm painted as 9th US.  Did I mention the great HE did some sculpting for Jack Scruby?

Turning to the Brits, I had to push down the urge to do the Royal Scots (I will be doing them in 1837 
uniform and don't want to duplicate any regiments) and selected the 8th or King's Regiment which saw much service.

Scruby 40's painted as 8th or King's Regiment in 1814

This particular figure, for some unknown reason, is one of my favorite wargame/toy soldier figures , any scale, any period. Odd really, its not my favorite uniform although I like the shako cords on the Belgic shako. When I was in my late teens I HATED the grey flannels that went with the blue blazer and would rather have worn my No 4 blues when off duty and I think some of that has carried over, not to mention the fiddliness of 1812 British lace.  But a slightly darker grey looks not bad  (and the latest research indicates the grey may have been much darker than once thought, the pale watercoulours that abound do not match the swathes of dark grey cloth that have come to light) and on these smooth figures, and in toy soldier mode, the lace was a snap (no trying to figure out what colour to paint the SIDE of a piece of heavily sculpted lace as thick at 1/43rd as the original at 1:1.).

1837 1st Foot on left, converted from a Zinnbrigade homecast French Napoleonic figure, one of my other al time favorites. Scruby 1814 8th Foot on the right

Anyway, the deed was quickly done and the result is a treat. I am mightly chuffed and glad that I've decided not to allow the chunky fellows to stop me from proceding. Its a pity I'm just not on with the single figure, big battalion game as a main course. These guys just call out for it but they'll look and feel just fine in their 18 man battalions whipping through 2 and 3 hour games.

Scruby, Perry, Sash & Saber, You pays your money and takes your pick.

Not using those big battalions does raise some issues though. One of the stickiest for me has long been the stand of colours issued to every battalion or to put in another way, there should be a flag for roughly every 200 to 300 men.

If you are using 48 man battalions, its simple  paint up a pair for each unit and it looks right. With 20 man units, a pair with each battalion means 1 man in 10 is  carrying a flag. Add in sergeants, drummers, officers and soon there are hardly any privates left and the army becomes a mere parade of colour guards. On the other hand, if you go with a realistic proportion of flags to men, your only army might only get one stand of colours.

In my 15mm, 12 man battalion days, I originally gave 1 flag to each battalion but then tried giving 1 battalion in each brigade its full stand of 2 colours and left the rest out. I'm still up in the air on this. My current 1812 units were designed as 36 man units including a pair of colours. The chunky 41st are being retired and the Fencibles have lost a  colour, well not lost, but the staff is broken and the King's Colour has been laid up. The much reduced battalion now marches under 1 flag but these are unruly Canadian volunteers anyway and shouldn't be regarded as a precedent.  I should confess that while I like flags well enough once they are done, I hate making 'em whether painting them, printing them or mounting ones that I wasted scant resources to buy. Maybe if.I liked making them, I'd be more inclined to turning my army into colour guards.

One option I am considering is mounting ensigns and drummer as single figures  and using them as either window dressing or some kind of markers. I seem to recall Bluebear Jeff using ensigns to mark the morale status of units for example.

Hmm, perhaps its time for a flag poll ?

A Loch Sloy original, the 3rd Ohio "Potsdam Giant" Volunteers amidst 2 Scrubies.