Quarterly Review 2019 Q3 (On time even!)

     Well, I am happy to report that it has been a productive summer. The sweltering heat has kept me in my basement workshop and I have been enjoying wargaming again. For starters I think that I have hit an all-time high of having played 28 games in the last quarter, exceeding (barely) an average of two a week. I published a set of rules for French and Indian Wars, a heavily modified set of  One Hour Wargames rules for Napoleonics (along with army lists for the campaign in Spain) and have discovered (hat -tip to Joe) a fast and fun set of rules for the Pike and Shot era (something that I have been searching for over the last thirty years!).  

      These new rules, Tercio (free set here), caused me to do something that I have never done in the forty-five years that I have been wargaming; rebase an army. So far I have rebased over 220 figures and will, by the time I'm finished, have rebased over 1200. The discovery of these rules has caused me to re-invent an old Pike and Shot era campaign but having lost the maps and notes I had to reconstruct it from memory. This brought about a brand new continent and map along with the four great empires that will be squabbling across it. I have had jolly fun creating the countries and erratic personalities that rule them.

      In the workshop I have built four 28mm bridges, a base for a Playmobil Colesium, and a 28mm Dark Ages tower complete with base and interior. This last item lead to another first; tiling a roof with individual tiles in the manner of Ian Weekly of Battlements fame, a project that wasn't nearly as traumatic as I feared it might be.

       I posted three book reviews, three more fort walk-arounds, four after action reports and attended (and reviewed) one convention; Pro or Con 2019.  Overall I made 56 posts to the blog and took in over 150 comments (which are always welcome)

       Finally, but far from least important, I got my painting mojo back and managed to paint a dozen 28mm St Petersburg Dragoons over the course of a couple of days.

      All in all a most satisfactory summer.

Convention Review Pro Or Con 2019

         I had the great pleasure of attending this year's Pro or Con wargaming convention. As has proved in the past this was a laid-back and fun show with some really attractive games on display. I was without my usual assistant and roving reporter J&R so I am sure that a few games got missed (I was also running a game in the second session). The flea market was up to its usual standards and I walked away with a few new (to me) gems.

Horns of Hattin

 

Rod Cain returned with his Triumph rules and an absolutely gorgeous Horns of Hattin game

St. Petersburg Dragoons 28mm Lace Wars

 

not bad for one day's work

      After almost a year since I last painted any Lace Wars figures I picked up my paintbrush and got to work. These fine fellows, the Saint Petersburg Dragoons, have been waiting patiently in a box since I finished the Lifgarden til Hest back in October of 2018. It seems that re-basing my 15mm Renaissance Scots has awakened my desire to paint. At last!

The Royal Army of the House of Bon-Bon, Order of Battle

the "Five Ancient Ones" parade with some of the cavalry

      Louis The Ravenous is proud of his army and navy and lavishes them with attention and funding. Perhaps the best equipped troops on the continent the army of Freedonia lacks for nothing. Pride of place is taken by the Royal Guards but the Ancient Regiments are just behind in honor and reputation. Even the lowly freshly-recruited battalions are fully accoutered. This vast and powerful force has many tasks; guarding the frontiers, suppressing the perennially rebellious northwestern provinces and manning the colonies as well as internal security.

       Please note that the troop descriptions are for Tercio rules by  Liber Militum

Book Review, Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1)

MAA512

Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1)

Piedmont and the Two Sicilies

Author, Gabriele Esposito

Illustrator Giuseppe Rava

ISBN 978-1-4728-1949-9

      I have to confess that I was excited when I saw this title. The Italian Wars have always been fascinating to me; the interplay of politics, royal conservatism, royal progressivism, outside occupation and influence, and outright revolution all occurring on the Italian Peninsula over the space of a few years would make an incredible backdrop for a Diplomacy style game. This slim volume puts a face on two of the armies involved in this epic conflict, Peidmont and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Delightfully lacking the usual horrible maps, this volume also dispenses with the multi-page chronology that afflicts too many Men at Arms volumes and concentrates on describing the organization and dress of the listed armies. This it does handsomely!

        Gabriele Esposito details the state of constant flux that the armies of both nations struggled with are evident in the near yearly reorganization and uniform changes. All of this information is conveyed in a concise and easily understood manner. Both nations battled with internal divisions, financial restraints as well as manpower issues and shifting alliances. Along the way they produced some of the most stylish military dress ever seen (I am left to wonder where they found the time). These uniforms are superbly illustrated with period artwork and photographs and brought to vibrant life by the brilliant drawings of Guiseppe Rava. 

      I have the second edition on order and am avidly looking forward to reading it.

      If your are interested in the wars of the "Long Peace" this is an excellent addition. If you enjoy  beautifully executed artwork this is a volume to own for that reason alone.

Very Highly Recommended

The Thirty Course War, The nations align for war

     Apologies to all for not posting recently, I was out of town for a bit. The characters have been posted but not the models for the armies they are about to lead (aside from Boozonia, that is). All of the forces will be built upon my collection of 30YW/ECW figures that I collected and painted MANY years ago. This force is almost exclusively Minifigs, back in the day when a 15mm figure WAS 15mm and Minifigs was cutting edge (yes, I'm really that old). It is a rather large collection and allows me to field a fairly huge force without too many compromises.

     All that aside I have decided that each of the four major powers in Epicurea will be modeled after an historical army. The Boozonians, as already explained, are based on the Scots. The Ferndalians will be based on the Swedes of Gustavus Adolphus and the Freedonians on the army of a very young Louis XIV. The splintered realm of Gluttonia will be split between the Proper Meal faction who will be represented by Spanish and the Small Platers will have the Hapsburg Imperialists carrying their banners.

       The Mindorans were Japanese Samurai in the first iteration of the campaign but I loaned some of the figures out and never got them back so some amendments will have to be made. The Nylians are new; I'm thinking that Ottomans would be a good fit and a nice difference from the Western style armies that have been included so far, I will have to see. The Frozonians (if they fail to stay loyal to Ferndalia) will be Petrine Russians while the Nordlanders will be ECW era British

Meet the Army of Boozonia

     The force is built upon the idea of a combined Lowland and highland force from about 1650AD. Using the army lists provided in Tercio rule and the Kingdoms supplement I constructed a force that blends the different nature of both forces into a (hopefully) coherent whole. The Lowlanders provide the fire base of artillery and steady musketry while the Highland forces are the shock element.

recruiting is still under way

Meet the Rulers; Clauz IV of Framboise, "The Unfortunate"

     The fifth child and third son of Ferdinand III de Flamboise, Clauz was an unattractive baby and grew uglier with age. Oddly his personality is the exact inverse of his visage; he was quiet, thoughtful, industrious, polite, kind, intelligent, perceptive, strong-minded, ethical, honest, decent, energetic, obedient, tidy, generous, healthy, wise and overall a rather nice fellow. As a fifth child among eight he was sometimes overlooked by his mother and his nannies. Of Ferdinand's four sons he is the only clearly sane one (the youngest, Mikail XII, being but three it is too early to guess) and it has been whispered in hallways that the Emperor wished to have his two oldest sons declared unfit so that he could elevate Clauz to the Imperial Throne only to be dissuaded by his wife at the last moment before he went off to war.

Rebasing Woes

 

the army of the Lord High Constable of Boozonia

it would also equally serve as a Scots army from the ECW period

     

  This is turning into a year of Firsts.

      This is the first year in forty that I haven't painted a single figure (so far, but I still have hopes!), the first year that I tiled a roof using individual hand-cut tiles and now, for the first time EVER in my wargaming life I rebased an army, or any portion thereof. I find painting tedious, basing is worse. Rebasing means undoing the work only to repeat it, madness!

Meet the Rulers (almost) Hanz and Franz of the House Flamboise

     The Troublesome Twins, it is an unusual thing that the king of a land having three sons could cause a crisis in the line of succession but the presence of Franz and Hanz de Flamboise has brought about just that situation. Truth be told Ferdinand had doubts about his two oldest sons from early in their lives. The constant lying and deception that they practiced, paired with their very unusual view of how the world works, caused poor Ferdinand many a sleepless night. At his wife's insistence he refrained from having their names tattooed onto to them to prevent their endless shenanigans.

Hanz de Flamboise

 

Franz de Flamboise (I think)

      Hanz always displayed a casual disdain for the thoughts and feeling of others that seemed to have no limits, while Franz was slavishly deferential to the opinions and feelings of everyone about him. Hanz would break a glass to see it shatter and Franz would buy a set to replace it.

Meet the Ruler; Gordon Ramsey, Lord High Constable of Boozonia

 

the right honorable Lord High Constable of Boozonia, Gordon Ramsey

      Alone among the leaders of nations in Epicurea Gordon Ramsey did not inherit his position. Boozonia developed a national consciousness six centuries ago. Four hundred years of intermittent conflict continued until the House of Flamboise finally gave up and granted Boozonia its independence. The lengthy struggle against the Imperial power sharpened the already intense feeling of individual freedoms and God-given rights. The Boozonians have enshrined these rights in The Covenant which forms the basis for their form of government.

Meet the Ruler; Peter II "The Famished" of King of Ferndalia

 

His Most Esteemed Royal Majesty Peter II

      The Whey dynasty has ruled Ferndalia off and on (mostly on) since time immemorial. It is only since shedding their pagan ways that they began to enumerate their kings, whom they name in strict alphabetical order. Peter has ruled for the past fifteen years succeeding his very long-lived grandfather Nathan II. Widely respected, if little loved, Peter holds sway over the largest kingdom in Epicurea running the realm with the attention to detail normally found only in the finest of chefs. His cold demeanor and excessive devotion to his cause have not engendered any love from his citizens but they do appreciate the order that he has brought to the realm following the chaos of Nathan's too-lengthy rule.