Arrival of the Big Men

The Sharp Practice rules by the Too Far Lardies focus on the actions and impact of key leaders, referred to as Big Men. These are the officers and NCOs who take command in the heat of action and who are given personalities to add flavour and narrative to the games.

For Saturday’s upcoming game at Goat Major’s we are using a variety of figures to meet the requirements of the scenario. Most are in 18th century attire, but some are from a slightly later period. We’re not bothered, as it’s the game that’s going to be most important. One contingent I am providing is 40 ‘light infantry’ who will be on single bases to allow them to adopt skirmish order. For these I’m using my ‘post-Napoleonic to mid-19th century’ Medetians, in their distinctive Tyrolean hats (Victrix plastic Old Guard Chasseurs with Perry plastic Austrian heads). This meant that I needed a few ‘Big Men’ to lead them, something I had been meaning to get round to..

So, this week I have been busy painting these guys. They are on bigger bases than the rank and file (25mm vs 20mm) to help them stand out. Although I really only needed 4 for Saturday, I’ve managed to do 9 (4 officers and 5 sergeants) so I’ll have a variety to choose from for future games. I have a couple of Jager Big Men and a couple of mounted officers still to do which I’ll get round to sometime.

Here they are, Perry figures bar 2 from Front Rank. There are a couple of conversions; the officer waving the newly-added RSM sword and the one with 2 pistols, both of whom were originally pointing or designed to hold standards. They’ve also had head swaps. Hopefully they’ll make a decent showing in their first outing!

Officers:

Sergeants:

 

Rock it!

It started innocently enough. Goat Major suggested number 11 from the scenarios book, The Compleat Fondler, for our game of Sharp Practice he’s hosting next Saturday. ‘Sounds good’, I said, spotting, as GM had done, the need for a couple of rocket launchers. I offered to have a go at knocking something together. The Goat generously anticipated a lack of results and said we could always just use a couple of guns to represent them. The gauntlet was laid down then!

I knew I had a box of Victrix British Napoleonic artillery and thought I might use the gun carriages, at least temporarily. Then I spotted the limbers on the sprues and thought they might do even better. At this point I realised that I didn’t have much of a clue about what a period rocket launcher looked like, so I Googled Congreve and looked at some images. A ladder with some upright supports – not very inspiring (or mobile!)

However, the scenario mentioned that these rockets weren’t Congreve’s but were the invention of a competitor mad-scientist, so I decided that I had plenty of artistic licence to play with. I also remembered that I had a Warbases balcony set to plunder for bits, and I was good to go.

Assembling the limbers couldn’t have been easier. The main body, the axle and 2 wheels went together with plastic cement and I was then onto the rocket launcher frames, using the very handy balcony supports in the pack and some cut down railings. The pre-squared-off MDF meant everything was easy to glue together.

I also added a some bits to hold the rockets (which I wanted to be loose, not stuck on) in place – some thin metal modelling tube at the bottom and a couple of bits of card at the top. Next up were the rockets themselves. I was originally going for a very simple (lazy) approach – just pieces of brass rod, but I decided I could do better with a bit of effort. So, the brass rod had cut-down flags poles with pointy heads (from Huzzah! Miniatures) super glued to their tops, and I wrapped and glued some cotton thread round them to look the part – and to leave a length hanging down as the fuse. I made 4 so that my 2 launchers could be fully loaded.

The assembled battery, and showing the removable rockets:

 

The painting was pretty straight forward; black undercoat followed by Prussian blue main coat, and a lightened shade of the same as a drybrush/highlight. I picked out some metal fittings on the limbers with a metallic wash and then moved onto the rockets. These received brown shafts, black-grey heads (I was tempted to go with red and white but controlled myself) and pale ties and fuses.

So, here’s the finished battery, proudly paraded by Captain Bardolino and moved into position for a test firing (although if I was a member of the crew I’d be giving the rockets a much wider berth!):

 

 

I couldn’t resist the firing option, which simply involved some plastic tube as a sabot for one of the rockets, with cotton wool wrapped round it. A fun couple of hours all round, and watch out Major Goat!

Further 6mm arrivals

A few more regiments of Fleurians have arrived to swell the growing army of Medetia’s 17th century enemy.
Two units of infantry with pike and shot, and the Chevalier Garde Regiment of cavalry, on their grey horses. A sub-general completes this small contingent. This is already the best effort I’ve put in on my 6mm collections since 2011, so I’m determined to try to finish a few more units before my eyes plead for mercy and I have to revert to bigger figures! I have a further 2 cavalry and 4 infantry units plus a couple more generals I’d like to get done, which will bring the Fleurians up to par with the Medetians at 30 units each. Then for a nice big game 🙂

Figures are Heroics & Ros.

Pics:

 

 

 

Some small scale scenery

While I’m taking some time off from bigger painting projects I’ve been enjoying the opportunity to dabble a bit here and there, and finish off some things I’ve been meaning to do for ages. Most recently this has involved painting (or in some cases just basing) some 6mm scenery items that I’ve had for a while but not gotten around to.

First up are some poplar trees I bought from Timecast a while back. I’ve used a few on the bases of buildings but I decided to use up the remaining ones by adding a few more strips of trees to the collection – useful for lining roads in sunny Medetia. I cut some strips of platicard and stuck strips of card on top to drill holes into for the wire trunks. As these come as twisted wire I decided to add a little plaster to them to hide the pattern when painted. The bases got a layer of plaster, with sand on top.

When finished they look OK – here they are with a new wheat field.

The field is made from some scourer material torn from a sponge, based on card and surrounded by some Timecast fences. The shack is just 4 bits of thin card which I hacked about to give a dilapidated look.

Next were some fields and hedges which I must have made about 10 years ago, but which got a black spray for an intended re-paint before being put away unfinished (common theme emerging!). They’re simple pan scourer hedges with the odd bit of extra lichen-type stuff, on plasticard strips or field bases. I have some already to add these to, and I think they give a decent effect, especially on a brown board like this one.

 

Finally in this batch there’s a small watchtower, scratchbuilt in card and based on a piece of slate from the garden. I had mostly completed the model a few months ago but put it away unpainted at some point. I decided it needed finishing off so now it’s done. All it needs is a couple of flags (one Medetian and one Fleurian) to fly from the top of the tower to denote who’s occupying it during games.The piece is about 60mm tall and is basically intended as table dressing to go on a hill and look pretty.

 

Everything together from this small batch of bits and pieces..

The Medetian-Fleurian borderlands are a pleasant and picturesque place, no wonder they fight each other so hard to possess them!

I have more items to get through, and am enjoying completing these little unfinished projects. When I checked back through some records of old orders to traders I found a few shocks. The Timecast stuff here was ordered in July.. wait for it… 2002! Twelve years to get round to using and painting it. I have 6mm figures to paint that I bought before that, and I’m sure I really ‘needed’ them at the time! So my new mission is to get through as much old stuff as possible, while I’m in the mood to potter. It’s not the wasted money, it’s the principle. Also, unpainted items and random modelling materials take up at least as much storage space as the finished product, so I might as well get the maximum benefit from them. After that I may decide to depress myself with a review of the lead mountain, and the age of some of it..

Messing about on the water

Seeing as my order to Ainsty Castings finally arrived last week, I decided to get stuck in and paint everything rather than have it sit around for a few weeks before being filed away under the heading ‘stuff I bought but now I’m not sure why’.

So, 2 boats from Games of War (as posted about previously) were now joined by a rowing boat and jetty set from Ainsty. The latter are traditional resin, nice and heavy and with lots of good wood grain effect. They took a black undercoat very easily and I was good to go. The same can’t be said for the more plastic-based Games of War boats which, although very nice models, utterly rejected any water-based paint despite me giving them a wash beforehand. After my third effort with a different paint I was tempted to look over my shoulder to see if there was a Candid Camera crew filming me. In the end I resorted to a solid blast with some matt black spray paint, and all was well.

Although I’d considered painting one of the boats in white to look a bit smarter, in the end everything, jetties included, got a 3 tone layered drybrush of Colour Party earth brown, Crown matchpot mid-grey and Vallejo Iraqi Sand. I like the weathered wood look this combo gives, and it’s incredibly quick – even to the point of no brush cleaning between shades and no real need to wait for anything to dry fully before going in with the next colour.

After about an hour or so’s painting I now have a few modest scenery pieces for messing about on the water in 28mm. They’ll serve for river and lake-side features and give me some transport for skirmish games. Who knows, I might even get something a little bigger to go with them, there are several nice schooners and cutters out there to choose from..

Ainsty boat on the left in the first pic, the other 2 are from Games of War:

 

 

 

Slow progress but a few recent additions

What with a busy social schedule and a general lack of effort, I’ve not achieved much in July. Not feeling particularly big project-motivated, I’ve dabbled with a few bits and pieces instead. I’ve prepared a few items of scenery and some random figures for painting at some point in the future, and tried to press on with finishing the GW Fortified Manor, which has presented a bit of a painting desk blockage while it remains part-done.

I have managed to complete a few small items though. One 6mm cavalry unit for my 17th century Fleurians (Heroics & Ros figures as always) and a couple of 28mm figures for the same period but in skirmish size. These are a replacement for the regularly-skewered Lieutenant St Denis, one Capitan Sancerre, a Redoubt figure brandishing a sword. I’ve also painted a Warlord Games armed priest which might be useful for general use across a number of periods.

Hopefully August will be more productive!

Pics:

 

 

 

 

 

Once you have rivers, you need boats

I have plans for lots of Sharp Practice games set in the post-Napoleonic period, with Medetia and Fleurie again going at each other, and I fancy having the option for some riverine and amphibious actions. Now that the river bank sections are done, which can also serve as coastline or lake shores, I need a few boats for the men to use to get themselves into all sorts of trouble dealing with currents, contrary winds and the like.

I have scratch-built one in the past as a test piece, and was reasonably happy with it. However, boat building is time-consuming and I decided I’d rather see what was on offer to buy. So far I have liked the look of the Small Row Boat that Ainsty produce, and also fancy two that are available from Games of War.

I decided to order a sample of each, and the Games of War ones have arrived first (very speedy service). These are the Jolly Boat and Tender from their pirate equipment range, and lovely models they are too. They are very detailed and produced in a very light resin-type material, to a high quality. I’m very pleased with them and may order a few more. The added bonus is their price: £5 each, with free postage. The £2.80 postage the package was marked with therefore brings these excellent models down to the equivalent of £3.60 each. That’s a bargain in my book.

Each will hokd about half a dozen 28mm figures on 1 inch bases (such as those below), or a couple more of the 19mm round bases I use for my 19th century forces. That’s fine for my purposes and will pretty much allow a Sharp Practice ‘group’ of about 8-10 figures to be carried in each boat. Handy.

Once the Ainsty order arrives I’ll post a picture of their boat, and the other related item I bought..

St Angelo’s Ghosts

The last figures I painted for the May multi-player extravaganza at Ayton were a unit of Hussars. Having done exactly the same in 2013, I knew what I was letting myself in for – Hussars are not the ideal troop type to have to finish to a deadline, there’s always more detail to find just when you think you’re nearly finished! Still, despite the stress and fatigue of again finishing them on the Friday morning (the day I was travelling..) I now have another unit of Hussars in the collection.

I suspect that if I didn’t paint them to a deadline I would put off doing them indefinitely. Guess what I’ll be painting at the start of next May?!

I didn’t have an opportunity to post about the new unit at the time, but they galloped onto the table after the smoke from the recent battle at Spurlacco had cleared and posed for a few shots.

This unit is part of the Medetian army and was raised by the Cavaliere di St Angelo, a noble from the northern uplands of the country. St Angelo chose to dress his regiment in white and other pale shades and mount them all on greys (a common horse colour in the region) – hence their nickname, ‘The Ghosts’.

The figures are Perry plastic Napoleonic French Hussars, using the mirliton head option, the presence of which in the box is a real boon to people wanting to use them for the 18th century.

 

 

The flag is just a bit of clipart from the web, printed as a design onto paper and painted. As with my other Hussars, I want these to be available both for 18th century games (where standard base sizes are needed, hence the sabots) and for early 19th century games (where I need them on single bases for Sharp Practice).

This unit balances out the Fleurian Legion Hussars (Minden Miniatures) and I plan to add another similar sized unit of the same figures respectively to each side in due course (in time for the next two Ayton deadlines I guess!)

Battle honours have yet to be earned by this new regiment, although they didn’t lack for courage at Ayton. They were in the first line of cavalry that dashed itself to pieces against Iain Burt’s guns and infantry (fortunately his cavalry wasn’t on form that day or I’d have been thrashed) in front of Pescadrix. Our war correspondent’s mid-action sketch below..

Ponte di Spurlacco – Final round up

A few days after fighting the battle, I thought I’d jot down some final details and my reflections on the game while it’s still pretty fresh in my mind.

The casualty returns were as follows:

Medetian Army

Braganza Infantry Regiment          7 figures
Sebastiani’s Grenadiers                1 figure
Weissach Grenz                           2 figures
Montanelli’s Cuirassiers                9 figures (unit retired)

Total                                             19 figures (380 men, of whom about half could be expected to return to the colours during the campaign)

Fleurian Army


Bravence Infantry Regiment          18 figures (unit dispersed)
Friant’s Jagers                                2 figures (unit dispersed)
Wurttemberg Jager                        2 figures
Legion de Fleurie Hussars             1 figure

Total                                              23 figures (460 men, of whom about a third could be expected to return to the colours during the campaign)

Not too bloody, all things considered. However, with the Medetians holding the ground at the end of the battle (and therefore capturing some of the Fleurian wounded) and with two Fleurian units dispersing (with inevitable further losses to desertion), the actual result was probably more in the favour of Medetia than the close tactical victory would suggest. Certainly the Medetian main army would now be able to capitalise on its advanced guard’s hard work and gain an early advantage in the campaign.

The next clash would take place on Fleurian soil then. I need to look through other scenarios I have kept over the years (many of them Charles Grant’s Tabletop Teasers) and decide what will offer the most interest and fun next time round.

In terms of the rules, although I still have some reservations about certain bits (generally the ‘weightiness’ of them rather than the quality),  they did play well and give me believable outcomes. Where there were surprises and dramatic events they all felt plausible for the period and unit types involved, and (assuming I interpreted them correctly) coped well with the ‘tricky’ bits such as split units, fighting over bridges and in built up areas, etc. The Ayton games had given me some familiarity with Henry’s rules, although I think they work better for smaller games with fewer units, where you have more time to appreciate the details of the fighting they’re designed to evoke.

I was pleased with the look of the game itself, and although I still think the rivers are a little ‘bright blue’, the gloss paint does offer different depths of colour and levels of reflection depending on the light, which I like. I wasn’t sure about leaving so much of the table empty of scenery and had been tempted to place more trees, walls, rocks, etc, but having manoeuvered fairly large units all over the place, I’m glad I didn’t!

Ponte di Spurlacco Part 4 – The Main Action

With the Medetian heavy cavalry having shrugged off the enemy Hussars’ opportunistic attack, and their infantry driving on the village and bridge, General Amore was feeling confident that the battle was going his way. His men were doing their duty well and his artillery had the Fleurian infantry in its sights.

The action was not decided yet, however.

General Bevue watched anxiously from the other side of the river as his Jager bore the brunt of the Medetian assault. Although they blasted away at the approaching enemy, too few Grenadiers and Grenzers fell to slow the advance.

Closer to the river the Wurttemberg Jager were trying to hold their own against the serried ranks of the Braganza Regiment, who traded a powerful first volley against the constant skirmishing fire of the Jager.

A general view of the battlefield at this time, with the infantry coming to grips, the artillery in place and the cavalry yet to fully engage:

Both sides’ infantry regiments were manoeuvring for control of the bridge but neither seemed keen to storm across it until things were settled in their favour elsewhere.

With the cavalry on the other flank yet to really get stuck into each other, the Fleurian artillery decided to intervene first. With an enfilading volley of prodigious dice throwing, 7 hits were scored on the hapless Medetian Cuirassiers (only 2 were saved) as they struggled to form up on dry ground. This was to be a decisive point in the battle.

The Medetians were tough fighters though. The Grenadiers went in with bayonets fixed and the hard-hit Cuirassiers turned to face the Fleurian Dragoons as though they were unwilling to admit the presence of the guns that were busy re-loading..

 

The infantry fight continued meanwhile..

 

The reason everyone has Grenadiers in their army – one turn of fighting and the village was theirs, with the Friant Jager taking to their heels.

 

The Medetians were about to receive a blow to their chances however, when a second artillery hammer blow was delivered on the Cuirassiers. Reduced to half strength, they were forced to retire, leaving the entire flank open and with only the river to protect the artillery, the Medetian line of communication and, basically, their whole position.

General Amore faced a moment of truth; should he accept that his cavalry’s departure had rendered his position untenable or ignore all that and push on with his attack? From fighting stock going back generations, he wasn’t going to give up now! Over the bridge went the 1st company of the Braganzas. Nearby the opposing lines blazed away at each other, with casualties mounting on both sides.

After suffering some casualties, and being outflanked due to the loss the village, the Wurttemberg Jager splashed back over the river and took up new firing positions. Fearing a collapse, Bevue’s ADC waded into the fray and directed the Bravence regiment into positions to repel attacks from two directions.

 

Seeing the backs of the Cuirassiers as an opportunity, the Fleurian Hussars benefited from a very good command roll by Bevue and thundered forward at an outstanding pace. The Rutowsky Dragoons left their position on the Medina di Spurlacco and followed the Hussars to threaten the flank of the Medetian artillery..

 

.. which frantically turned a gun to oppose them.

The Weissach Grenz, having helped the Grenadiers take the village, quickly about-turned and dashed back to protect their precious guns. Would their effort be in vain?

Everything was about to turn on a single moment – the Medetian infantry stormed over the bridge into the Fleurian line. Who would prevail?

The dice favoured the bold – and the defenders routed. The impact of the charge, combined with the losses to musketry from across the river, was too much for them.

For General de Bevue this was the end. Although he had dominance on the left where his cavalry were unopposed, without his infantry and with the loss of the village, the Fleurians could not hold their ground against such an aggressive enemy. He ordered the cavalry to pull back to protect the rest of the force, and his artillery to retire in sections, offering covering fire as they went. There were few orders for his infantry, they weren’t stopping to listen!

A few final pictures as the game came an end and the Medetians consolidated their possession of the vital bridge.

 

 

 

Thank you for staying with my battle account, there were a lot of pictures in the end!

So, I’ve blooded my 18th century armies in the Medetian campaign, had a good time with the rules, and enjoyed a superbly fun wargame – hopefully in the spirit of many of those who’ve inspired me in the hobby.

A final word on the scenario: well done Phil, Spurlash Down is a brilliant introductory game and offers a fascinating tactical challenge – even if you’re controlling both sides!