Further Adventures in the Nine Years War

     Both Joe and I had an evening available so I once more imposed on his good will for further testing of my rules. The scenario was a follow-up to the previous one; with the success in the last battle the French were able to force the Allies to turn and fight a major action. Unbeknownst to the Allies the wily French had dispatched a force to turn the Allied flank. Discovering this threat at the last moment the Allied commander sent a brigade of foot and a couple of guns with the intention of slowing the French enough that they would arrive too late to affect the outcome of the main battle.

 

a quiet looking bit of north-east France

A Little Side Project...UPDATED, YET AGAIN !!

     I was growing tired of painting minis so I began to think of starting a little side project, you know, just a little something to stay busy until painting seemed interesting once more. I had seen a video on how to cut circles using the Proxxon Hot Wire cutter so I figured "What the heck, I'll give it a try". An hour or so later I had it down to the point where I could make decent circles.  But what to do with them, I asked myself.........then this happened.

 

I really have to start making a plan before I get the tools out

Blue Board Sabot bases completed

      Following on from my earlier post on scratchbuilding base from blue board
   I spent a couple of hours texturing, painting and flocking the irregularly shaped sabot bases that I had made. To my eyes they turned out well, maybe a little more color in the greenery is needed....

 

first, I rounded off the edges with a little 60 grit sandpaper

D.I.Y. Sabot bases using the Proxxon hotwire cutter

     I have never been a patient man, waiting is what I do worst.

     While working on my War of the League of Augsburg rules it was apparent that handling the loose figures was not going to work and I needed to base them as groups rather than individuals. But I didn't want to base them all only to find out that a change was needed or, worse yet, that I was scrapping the project and going back to just using them in skirmish games.

     Then it struck me that all I really needed was sabot bases that would fit the pennies that the figures were mounted on. A quick search on the internet revealed several sources that would happily make the bases for me; but I would have to wait until they were made and shipped! This wouldn't do.

Further testing of League of Augsburg rules

   So, I dragooned Joe into a test game of the rules I have recently updated . Despite the fact that he had worked for ten hours in the sweltering heat (95+ degrees Fahrenheit) he got the gist of things within a couple of turns and we finished the game in about two hours of playing time.

 

never one for subtly, Joe planned a massive left-hook punch 

a view from the French left rear

Best Laid Plans ...

Here is the Story, as those of you who read these construction reports know I am working on a Roman Tenement using TT Combat buildings to create a row of 4-5 story buildings snugged up against each other for Gangs of Rome games.  One particular kit I liked was called "Small Store A".  In reading over the company's building measurements I thought I had figured out how to add on to this one as well and get it scraping the sky.  Unfortunately those plans failed miserably leading to a need to adjust and adapt.  More on those gyrations in future posts, but in the mean time I decided to go ahead with the basic building.  Then it dawned on me that while I have walked through construction of these building many times I do not recall ever walking through the prep to get things ready to build. So I decided to make this post all about the prep steps of sorting cleaning and painting everything before the actual assembly. 


Be warned this is a photo heavy post.  So proceed only if you (and your band width) dare!!

Strelets-R Confederate Troops Standing - Posted

     Strelets-R has moved into the US Civil War in a big way having recently released nine different boxes of figures in the "semi-hard" plastic that is becoming the standard in 1/72 (20mm) scale.

A Naval Incident

     R.U.P. brought by some of his lovely toys and taught J&R and myself a new Naval Wargaming rule set called Close Action. These play with a similar level of granularity as Wooden Ships and Iron Men but emphasize different aspects of sailing and combat. I enjoyed them very much even though I had a slow pig of a ship and an hilariously incompetent crew. We played using R.U.P.'s beautiful collection of GHQ Micronauts on a Deep Cut Studios sea mat, the boats are mounted on Langton Miniatures bases.

     The scenario is a simple one, on 20 April 1776 the Spanish 70 gun ship of the line, the San Augustin, is fleeing from two Portuguese ships the 64 gun Prazeres and the 32 gun Pilar. The San Augustin is trying to get to safety under the guns of the fortress on Santa Catarina island. The San Augustin has one huge problem; she has been at sea for far too long and her bottom is badly fouled rendering her very slow. And, by the way, the crew of pressed farmhands and shop clerks have very little training and very poor morale.

 

this is my Spanish ship, the San Augustin, 70 guns, captained by Don Jose Techain

R.U.P. always goes all-in on his projects, 

he is currently completing another forty or so of these GHQ beauties

A Great Deal on another great book!

The Swedish Army of the Great Northern War is available from the Book Depository for $18.44US (free shipping worldwide). While you are on that page check out the other great Helion titles in the scroll at the bottom of the page......I might just have to take out a loan! It is also available through the League of Augsburg site at 15GBP. Whichever way you buiy it this is a great book at a great price!