Last Old Glory Order

Well, at least for this membership - ending in July. Here's what I received in the mail today (all 25/28mm):

OG Viking ship & crew.

OG 12th C. Infantry (from the Mongols in Europe range).

OG Teutonic Knights Command (mounted)

OG HYW Crecy/Poitiers English Personalities (very, very nice!)

OG Japanese Infantry (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Japanese Cavalry (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Japanese Artillery Crew (from the Boxer Rising range).

OG Mounted Turcopoles (First Crusades range).

OG 75mm Creusot Gun (Boer range).

Crusader Late Thracians w/Javelins & Spears.

Crusader Murmillo Gladiators.

Crusader Armored Norman Bowmen.

And I still have Victrix French, OG & 1st Corps Hoplites, Crusader Thracians, Great War Miniatures & OG WWI Germans, as well as various terrain projects still sitting in my cabinet! I should be very busy for the rest of the year - if not beyond.

Victrix French Line Infantry

I decided to work on the box of Victrix French Infantry. I thought it might be therapeutic - the gluing together of the parts, and all. They seemed to go together faster than the British set I worked on a few months before. Or, maybe it's that I now know what to expect.

I opted for using the bearskins for the grenadiers & the longer plumed shakos for the voltigeurs. As most know, Victrix sets have enough spare/extra heads & arms for swap outs.

From the several posts of completed figures by other folks, I had thought there would be a lot of marching poses - that is, arms for marching poses. As it turned out I had to purposefully remember to add a few marching poses to ensure I had a bit of variety. There are enough parts to make most of them in firing and advancing poses - which is what I wanted & why I chose Victrix for my Napoleonics. If I wanted purely marching poses, I would've just ordered Old Glory figures - they look nice enough on the website.

A couple of the figures were modified a little using a hot knife to alter leg & arms poses - just a couple of the officers. I used my Dremel to sand down the bases a bit - for a lower appearance on the 20mm (approx.) round washers.

Anyway, I next will give them a quick clean-up wash & add some caulking to blend in the bases. After that, an undercoat of while; and then on to painting. Not sure when I'll actually get around to that - as my mom will be visiting with us for a few weeks soon. Until then, Vive le Empereur!

15th C. Knights

Finally picked up a brush yesterday after over a month & finished my six remaining Old Glory WotR dismounted knights. I used known 15th C. arms for the tabards. A couple from period illustrations & the rest from known historical folk. In the photo below, left to right: Anonymous from period illus.; German knight; anonymous from period illus.; Lord Gruthnyse; Sir Thomas Montgomery; & Sir John Say.
And just to show that I also attempted the arms on the backs of the tabards.
Please don't judge me too harshly - these are for wargaming.

I hope to use these guys in some Siege & Conquest scenarios. I now have to decide what my next project will be from the following list (in no particular order):

- Victix Napoleonic French
- OG WWI German Trench Fighters, OG A7V tank, & Great War Minis Jaegers
- OG & 1st Corps Greek Hoplites, & 1st Corps Oxybeles
- Crusader Thracian Javelinmen
- Sash & Saber Napoleonic 12-pounders
- Town ruins (including a large one-piece terrain I picked up at Enfilade on the cheap)
- VFM WW2 Waffen SS
- Redoubt Trojan War chariot riders
- Battle Honors Feudal Knights (only four)

Additionally, I need to place a largish final order to OG before my membership expires next month.

Enfilade 2009 - WAB Game Hosting

Today, May 24, 2009 is historic, in that I managed to survive GMing my first-ever WAB game - at a Convention, no less. Actually, I had a lot of help from Bruce D. - a very experienced WAB gamer. Also, Adrian & Dan were on the next table running their large Punic Wars game. Indeed, I called over to Adrian several times when Bruce "disappeared" a couple of times. First off, I'd like to thank all of the aforementioned folks, and also Kevin Smyth for loaning me his English longbowmen. Not only for this game, but for the play-test games leading up to today. Also, thanks again to Adrian & Dan for the use of their game board & terrain - and of course, Adrian's English (some finished just days before).

Now on to the game itself. The 4 players for this game included Bryan Shein of Pacific Sky Games (& outgoing President of NHMGS), Damond Crump, author of "Patrol" - a great set of WW2 skirmish rules, and Kim Harris from Eastern Washington and board member of Tactical Solutions, a convention held in Spokane. So, with folks like these, you know I was under a lot of pressure; actually I couldn't have asked for better players. They not only had a lot of patience with me trying to get my GMing down, but also had everything to do with the game flowing so well. We actually finished 6 turns (the agreed upon finish) in well-under 3 hours. We were allotted 4 hours.

The English players were very intuitive & aggressive. They utilized all of their forces well & the end of turn 6 saw much of the French forces with heavy casualties. the French had good intentions, but consistently bad dice rolls. The battlefield itself was largely still contested, though - no side had a clear advantage over the other. It was somewhat of a draw. The interesting thing was that this was the closest finish in favor of the English for the four games this battle was gamed. The three earlier play-test games all ended with the French looking like they would end up winning. In large part to the arrival during turn 3 of Richemont's two forces of mounted knight - which was unknown to the players. During the actual battle, the arrival of these forces did in fact turn the battle in favor of the French.

Here are some photos I managed to take in between my not-so-perfect GMing. Which must not have been so bad, as all the players said they had a good time & forgave me for any mistakes.
Here are some pictures of the Punic Wars game run by Adrian & Dan - I apologize for not captioning or describing the action going on.
I was lucky enough to play a Roman Seas game hosted by Eric Hotz on Saturday - very enjoyable - definitely a game I would like to play again.

Old Glory War of the Roses Dismounted Knights

Here are 24 of 30 Old Glory WotR dismounted knights w/2-handed weapons. The other six still need their tabards done. I polished the armor using a combination of using a Dremel with a plastic bristle brush head & then the side of a needle - I think this is called burnishing. Select areas were given a black wash then buffed a bit with a Q-Tip. I'm sure painting the armor silver is faster, but I like this finish. The figures are given a final protective coat of Krylon Clear (gloss); appropriate parts have a flat finish using brush-on Vallejo matte.

Battle of Formigny - Play-Test Update

Here we are - only two weeks from Enfilade. Today, we had the third play-test for the Battle of Formigny. Bruce D. has graciously volunteered to assist in GMing this game at Enfilade. I'm really fortunate in this, as I'm still quite the novice WAB player & GMing at a convention is a big leap (probably a leap too far for me solo at this point in time). Anyway, we stopped at the middle of turn 4 - and both Bruce & Adrian thought the game can definitely be played out well. In fact, all three play-test games have gone differently. I played my French the first game; Adrian & I switch armies for the second; and Bruce D. played the French today. I'm pretty happy with the scenario. We hope to replace the larger river with a stream (hopefully Dan P. will let us use it - I'm sure he will since we're using his board too! :} )
Here's a pic of the basic layout of the units for the start of the game. Actually, some of the English forces aren't exactly in place, as we had just finished the game & were in the process of re-staging them again - hopefully for one more play-test game; for me to hone my GMing skills more than anything else.
The English have their backs to the stream.

Old Glory Stucco Spanish Church

I just finished this nice model from Old Glory. I actually finished the church & tower last week, but only finished the cross today - wasn't sure what color it should be, but settled on plain white. It is intended for Peninsular War scenarios; and possibly for WWI & 2 stuff in Southern France. Here it is with Victrix British.
Below is a shot of the side of the church adjacent the bell tower.
The shot below has a Victory Force US sniper in the bell tower.
Finally, a shot of with the roof & bell tower top removed.
It is a very nice model, and quite simple to paint. I primed it all in flat black; then dry-brushed successive coats of Ceramcoat Mudstone, Sandstone, & Sandstone mixed with White for the stucco. The stones were dry-brushed with a light grey mixture. The roof was dry-brushed with a pale red mixture, adding various amounts of Yellow, Sandstone, & White. For the wood, a mixture of yellow & red ochre was dry-brushed on. Pledge (formerly Future) floor finish was brushed over the entire model for a protective coat. Then it was given a final spray coat of Krylon Matte Finish. Next is an Old Glory bombed-out European 3-story building.

Play-Test Battle of Formigny

Adrian & I play-tested a game which we will be hosting at Enfilade next month. We based the game on the Hundred Years War battle of Formigny, using the scant information available online. We feel it will be an interesting game because it will showcase the famed English longbow against heavily armored French knights & MAA. There are also terrrain factors (a stream to the initial rear of the English), light cannon (French), & an unexpected flank attack. Here is a link to a brief overview of the battle: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/formigny.htm and a map from the same link:
This will be my first-time hosting (GMing) a WAB game - so I want to prepare for this as best possible. We plan to have at least one more play-test game. Hopefully, I will be able to post a review of a well-received game next month after Enfilade. Either way, I enjoyed learning more about my French army, as we well as Adrian's English. I particularly like my French late-Hundred Years War army - with its powerful mounted & dismounted knights, light cannon, crossbowmen & handgunners. The missle troops are like the anvil (keeping the enemy engaged) & the knights are like the hammer.

Shieldwall 4/18/09

Finally played a WAB game today after fairly long break - my Normans against Scott's Flemish army. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't set right - most of the photos are too blurry - this is the best one:
This is either turn 3 or 4; as in the distance some of Scott's Viking Dogs of War and Liberi bowmen have come on the table. For our scenario, he was allowed to bring these units and his mounted Milites on at the start of turn 3. My crossbowmen unit in the foreground did very well with long-range shooting. To their right front is the remnants of my Pueri unit, which I foolishly used to charge Liberi spearmen in shieldwall. This unit was later destroyed by my Norman Milites coming up to charge them. This same unit of Milites also destroyed the Flemish Milites in turn 6; which was the final turn. I must add that Scott was very surprised when his Flemish Milites had chased my other mounted Milite unit after beating them in a round of combat - he missed overtaking me by 1"!
Up to turn 5, it was looking as if the Flemish army would slowly destroy my army piecemeal. My Sergeant Dogs of War two-handed axemen, as well as Scott's dismounted Milites were not really factors in this game. The mounted units of both armies pretty much dealt most of the blows. Again, sorry I didn't have more (or better) pictures to post.
And last, but surely not least, many thanks to Dan & Adrian for hosting & providing expert game mastering.

Great War Update - 3 "Poilus Fini"

I finally finished my Frenchmen. This is about a company's worth. There are four platoons, each with a couple of Chauchat LMGs. These are all Old Glory figures, and quite nice actually. There are two sets of their infantry, one set of their Trench Fighters, and one set of Chauchat machine gunners. I think these guys are better sculpted than the Germans - at least the "Reservist in Pickelhaube" guys.
I also have a pair of 37mm Infantry Guns; sort of a light cannon. I plan to only use these if, and when, the German A7V tank enters the fray.
Next up are the German Trench Fighter set that were my first order of WWI guys - along with the French Trench Fighters. I also have some Great War Miniatures German Jaegers ordered which I will pick up at Enfilade next month.

Great War Update - 2

I managed to finish two platoons-worth of early-War German infantry this weekend. These are Old Glory figures. Not the most beautiful sculpts, but not bad at all for $0.87 a figure. Several are actually pretty nice, the officer, NCO, and a couple of others look okay. There are 10 figures per bag, all in different poses, so the variety is good for skirmish gaming. I opted not to go the "dip" route - yet again. I was afraid the red-piping would be lost. I used Vallejo Field Gray, mixed with white for their uniforms. To help ID the two platoons, I chose to paint their helmet covers in different colors. One in Vallejo Green Ochre, the other Field Gray. Regimental numbers on the covers were initially in red, then green, and finally left off entirely. The jackets on the figures didn't have their Bavarian cuffs sculpted, so I just painted them like they were. There were at least three different versions of the jacket throughout the war, this is the earlier version which was still worn until the end of the war. The weapons are okay, but the bayonets look stubby next the French ones. I believe this is based somewhat historically, as the French bayonets were longer & supposedly reflected their fighting spirit - at least in the first few months of the war. For the flesh, I tried a flesh wash called "Formula P3" which I picked up at the corner Games Workshop; I wasn't happy with it - ended up having to drybrush over it, as it ended up a dark pinkish-brown stain. Vallejo Ink/Stain has a nicer tone IMO.
I noticed in the pictures above, that the red numerals on the Green Ochre helmet covers look green. Here's a picture to show that the numbers are actually red - don't know why they came out looking green.
Below is a period illustration of various arms of service early in the war. There are Jagers and infantry in the foreground, with cavalry and staff in the background.
I plan to order some Great War Miniatures Jagers & MG team - especially since shipping should be free if I indicate they'll be picked up at Enfilade, courtesy of Bruce Meyers. I also have some late-War German Trench Fighters. These are the figures that actually got me into this period. The WHH Great War rulebook is a nice match.
Now, I need to get back to the French Poilus. I'm not going to use the "Dip" on them either. Maybe this weekend; after I replace our kitchen faucet; oh, and rake out the moss in the backyard.

Great War Update

Finally got around to slapping some paint on these guys. So far, only the flesh & Horizon Bleu uniforms on the French. I plan to give them the Mini Wax Tudor stain treatment. I've only tried the "dip" method once; and it was with a homebrew mixture of Future floor wax and some added "stain" - I was not impressed with the results. It may be that my mixture was flawed, so I will give the Mini Wax a shot.
Since I understand the stain will darken the finish, I have tried to use colors that are slightly lighter than what I actually want as an end finish. I added white to the Vallejo Medium Flesh. The Horizon Bleu is a mix of the colors you see in the background of the photo. Americana True Blue & Neutral Grey, with Ceramcoat White. I used these colors as they are what I already have; you could probably use any blue-grey mix for this blue. I read that the uniform quickly faded to a light bluish-grey. Although I thought I started out with a light shade, I ended up dry-brushing a lighter second coat with more white added. They are actually a bit more of a baby-blue in-person; the picture is a bit washed out with the lighting. I hope the stain doesn't darken the finish too much - I'm hoping it'll just highlight stuff like belt straps & the puttees (the cloth bands on their lower legs).

Here are some reference images for the Poilu's uniform - Poilu - "The Hairy Ones" - not sure if this nom de guerre enhanced their reputation at the time or not. I also have a great WWI uniform reference book, "Heraldry & Regalia of War" - I had a copy of this book as a kid, but gave it to my Brigade Sergeant Major, of all people, when I was stationed in Korea over 20-years ago. He had borrowed the book from me a couple of times, and I knew he liked it so I gave it him as I wasn't so interested in it at the time. I recently managed to get one off of eBay for less than $5 including shipping. Ha - timing is everything.
I'll probably paint the Germans the same way (Feld Grau for the uniforms) next, before I paint the webbing & weapons. I have a bottle of Vallejo Fieldgrey from the WW2 German paint set I bought awhile back. Ha, it's nice of them for using the same color for both wars. I'm not painting eyes or anything like that for these guys. I want to be able to get these guys ready for gaming - not close-up photos.