TYW progress.

 Bases arrived from Scotland, 2.75" wide for Infantry and 2" for cavalry. A few unites were based to give a better idea of how they will look. I used the basing from Tercios . I'm a bit on the fence about leaving them unflocked but think they look good as is and if used on a plain table with a grid.

Overview.

Swedish Yellow regiment.

Cavalry and gun.

Imperial infantry.

 

The grid will be a bit bigger than the one shown here. I'll need a few trees and houses which I have but can't seem to locate. 

This came in the mail last week. Scottish troops and some additional musketeers marching to go with the advancing pikemen that came in the army packs. 

More Pendraken 

AGW with Mark's Little Soldiers

 Matt suggested playing a game with Mark's Little Soldiers this week using the Twilight of A Gentleman's War rules. Always happy to get these figures on the table I said "Absolutely".

My Berganlander's got a lot of cards in the beginning allowing me to bring on troops but very few targets to fire at were available. Matt's Slobodians moved on to a target rich environment. I became concerned as I lost a cavalry unit and the main gun on a tank. Soon however things changed and the Slobodians started taking heavy casualties. They withdrew his forces to save them for another day.

Berganlander troops deployed.

An obstinate local denies entry into a potential strongpoint.

The shooting gets heavy.

The Slobodians control the hedge line.

Slobodian Royal Guard troops defending.

A flanking attack by the Slobodians

A lone anti tank rifle takes aim.

No more Slobodians on this hedge line.

The result of the Royal Guards close assault.

A fun game. Although it had been awhile since we played last the rules game back quickly.

Thanks to Matt for hosting.

  

Donnybrook GNW

 As part of trying rules and getting figures we own but haven't played with yet the last few game sessions have seen us playing Donnybrook and using my Great Northern War figures.

The first game was from the 4play scenario set #008: Poland & Ukraine 1708 / 1709. The Swedes tasked with getting their wounded General off the field. The Cossacks had to prevent this and eliminate as many Swedes s as possible.

The Swedes start moving.

The Cossacks prepare an attack.

The Master of hounds blocks the road.

After a loss of direction the Swedes carry their officer up along the river.

Swedish cavalry out flanks the Cossacks.

Our most recent outing was more of a straight up fight between a small force of Russians and similar sized force of Swedes. We played this twice, once with very open terrain and again with more terrain.

An officer directs his troops

Cavalry clash.

Russian cavalry intercept the Swedish Charge.

Firing before the advance.

The Swedish right flank.

With these games I've moved ahead with two goals set for this year. The first getting my GNW figures on the table and second playing some games of Donnybrook. I think we'll get more Donnybrook on the table.

Workbench update.

 Here's where I'm at.

Painted 10mm TYW waiting for bases to arrive.

More TYW getting painted.

S.A.E. Native Americans being painted. 

The TYW project is moving along. I had bought 2 Army packs from Pendraken they came with all the Musketeers standing but the Pikes were divided into half standing half advancing. Now I could have just gone with it and painted the 10 units I would get and then ordered more figures when I was ready,  stuck to the plan. There is a part of me who couldn't handle standing and advancing figures in the same unit so I hopped online and ordered enough advancing figures and pikemen standing to balance the forces properly. Pendraken let me split a pack of figures as I only needed that many.

The S.A.E. were more of a nostalgia purchase than anything I needed. They're rough castings but I do like the style. There's an interesting post on them over at Man of Tin blog. I spray primed these with a color primer and will do a basic paint job on them.

A couple of games this month.

 We started back up gaming. 

First was a game of Force on Force. US Marines were tasked with rescuing some contractors who had been ambushed. The opposition was late getting started but in the end it was close.

The objective in the foreground.

Birds eye view of the area.

1st squad move through the market

Intel didn't show this!

Objective reached.

2nd squad on over watch.

1st squad stars taking fire.

1st squad and contractors head back to the extraction site.

Good game. The mechanics were straight forward and easy to remember.

Next up was a Game of Donnybrook using a scenario from one of the 4Play scenario books.

4P006 Par la bouche de mes canon!. Invasion of Canada by Massachusetts 1690

The Canadians approach the fort.

The French line.

The Abenakis get over the wall.

The Quebec Militia start to batter the gate.

The English garrison defending.

We didn't get all the chrome right in this game as it was the first time we played but still it was fun and basically a draw although with a few more turns the French may have won.

Did you know they were that small?

 The Pendraken figures arrived. I'm so not used to tiny figures. My real glasses had to be used to see them and reveal their amazing detail. They're very nice figures most only needed a bit clipped off the the bottom of the base and a quick run over the file. Some of the cavalry had a support under the body and the tail which was quickly removed. The clean up process was easy but 450+ figures still takes some time.

The 2 Army packs less the artillery after a quick rinse.

I searched a few YouTube videos on painting 10mm figures and opted for a black prime and white dry brush. Just a dozen or so figures were done as a test. 

The first few stands.

I'm still pondering base sizes. I had thought 60mm frontage but although that would keep the figure count down doesn't give the mass. 80mm seems to give a good look. 9 Pikeman and 12 Musketeers. Any thing larger will drive the table size up to one I can't accommodate. 

80x35 in the foreground. The rear most stand is 60x35. Cavalry is on a 60x40/

A closer look at the 80x35. I think I'll go a little deeper.

So that's where I'm at so far. Still a bit on the fence with basing but I think trying it out with painted figures should give a better sense to how it will be.

Here's a couple of photos of what's been painted so far this. They've not yet been sorted to their proper homes.

Samurai, WSS, Warring States Chinese.

More Warring States Chinese.

Counting down 54,40,28,15,10,6 mm

 So one of the first things of a new project is the figures. Lately I been buying mostly 28mm figures. There are lot's of fantastic lines available in 28mm. I have some Swashbuckler figures already and feel 28's can be used in skirmish games and with movement trays bigger battles. From a cost perspective they're expensive for metal but the Warlord plastics ease the burden a little. I've painted some Warlord and felt they were easy to paint and looked good. The thing is I want the look of masses battalions and my normal twelve figure unit won't do that so I would have to build bigger units which then incur a bigger foot print requiring a larger table. I've rules these out as a choice. Here are a few of the brands I looked at, tough not to go with them.

Captain General Games 

Bloody Miniatures

1898 Miniatures, Tercios.

Warlord Games Pike & Shotte

Avanpost Thirty Years War

I have several periods in 15mm. Although I've mostly moved to 28's I'm still painting the 15's to complete the armies I have. Using a few of these I explored basing to see how things would look. I really like the figures from Viking Forge, Romans and Carthaginians are in my DBA collection. The price is better than the 28's but the foot print seemed bigger than what I wanted. A few of the available 15mm ranges.

Viking Forge 

Miniature Figurines

FrieKorps15 (QRF)

Next down the options is 10mm. These would have been dismissed out of hand had I not played a few games with some. Wargames Illustrated offered some Warlord Games Epic figures as part of their magazine. These came in strips much like Old Glory's range. Playing around with the Epic figures I felt this scale would give the balance of affordability, footprint, and the look I wanted. Several companies make these. Old Glory and Warlord both come in strips. Pendraken and Irregular are individual. 

Old Glory

Pendraken

Irregular Miniatures

Warlord Games

As for the other scales, 54mm I didn't even look down that street. 40mm Several good ranges but for already stated reasons were ruled out but how cool would an army of those be? Sash and Saber, Irregular Miniatures.6mm, having tried these several times in the past I knew better but had to check them out Irregular Miniatures of makes them and Baccus6mm makes great looking figures which come in strips of files, very tempting. Heroics and Ros also a well known company in this scale. 2mm wasn't on my radar but I recently saw this post that makes a convincing argument for them. Roundwood's World. 

Although I'm writing about this in February all this thinking went on during November and December of last year. In the final week of December I saw Pendraken was raising prices 12% in the New Year. I considered holding off making a purchase but decided to go ahead and commit. 

I think 10mm gives me all the things I'm looking for, Figures I can see to paint and play with, the look in the game I want and although the bases may end up being larger than I wanted it will still be acceptable. 

The Pendraken order all 438 figures.