Wargaming plans for 2009

Several big wargaming plans for 2009, they mostly have a colonial slant. I blame Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts as he got me really interested in the period when I first met him in 1997 (I was a Sudan fan but Gerry opened my eyes to the gaming potential of the little wars of the 19th century). I will finish painting the rest of the Sudan stuff and actually have a game, this will be my big game at the Brisbane convention in 2009. The main painting project for 2009 will be (drum roll):

1. Wellington in India.

This will be a big project and probably take all year. For the British I plan to start of doing 2 British foot Regiments (6 stands or 18 figures each), 6 Indian Sepoy foot regiments (6 stands each), 1 British cavalry regiment (10 figures or 5 stands), 3 Sepoy cavalry Regiments (8 figures each or 4 stands) and 8-10 guns with British (galloper) and Sepoy (battalion) crew. Basically I am trying to start of with the orbat for the Battle of Assaye. The Maratha regular foot units will around 6stands each (15-18 figures) whilst irregular and Jezail units will be 6-8 stands each (12-16 figures). I had originally intended to use a mix of figures but as I got a huge number of figures from the US distributor of Redoubt at a 75% discount I have decided to stick with this whole range (plus the range towers over everything else, each figure is about 32mm tall). 75% figures already bought.



2. Italian Wars Renaissance

I had intended on doing this when I could actually feel comfortable with painting French Gendarmes but Andrew Parr (him again) has sold his large painted collection to Kevin Jowett (him again) which has forced my hand as I like to have some of my own figures on the table whe I play a game. I just love the period, nothing is prettier on the table and the battles are fantastic. This is a period that I do not have to spend any money on however as the infamous Andrew Parr sold me a load of older style GW plastic Empire figures a year ago at MOAB for a very good price (thanks mate). Before anyone starts to moan about the GW figures just have a look at Phil Olley's Italian Wars stuff using a lot of GW plastics (look at links and go to the Italian Wars showcase). Phil has done a great job and if mine look half as good I will be happy. I have been assembling plastic GW figures over the last week and I am impressed on how good they look but not impressed with all the extra work, however it will be a unique army as I am adding lots to each figure. I am basing my army on a German Imperialist force and have enough to do 2 pike blocks of 40 figures with 10 halberds and 8 musket per block (58 figures each), 1 pike block of 40 with 8 musket, 1 unit of 20 musket, 12 two handed swordsmen, 1 unit of 12 extra heavy cavalry (German knights), 1 unit of 16 heavy cavalry (German retainers) and 2 heavy guns with 4 crew each. I will be using Andrew Parr's excellent Italian Wars adaption of WAB which are really nice and have loads of extra stuff and get rid of the problem areas usually found in WAB for this period (i.e. Armies of Chivalry).



I will post more of my painting plans in the new year (colonial Mexico and Indian Mutiny). Have a good one, Scott

Last game of 2008

Decided not to go to the beach with Ingrid and my mother in law today (she is over from Norway)which considering today reached 38 was a bit of a mistake but I did manage to get my first game of the holidays in. I rang Kevin (Battleline Scenics) to see if he wanted a game but he was at work, however James (his 16 year old son) had the day of and wanted to test his newly purchased Viking army against me. James' army has a very long history, I bought it in the UK in 1995 and much of it has been painted by myself, Nathan Vinson and Leroy Simpson. I took it to Norway when I was studying there (2002-2004) and it came back to Australia when we moved back, so it has like the real Vikings been around. A few years ago (3-4 years) I sold it to Nathan as he did not have a complete army to play with, so I gave it to him at a very decent price (he was to give me first offer on it if he ever sold it). James bought it from Nathan who had added some nicely painted units to it a bargain price at MOAB this year, so now it is once more near me and I can game against my old Vikings. Anyway the game was a good one using WAB which I think really suits the Medieval period, heroes play well or fit within this era, I think that the Classical period is less suited for the rules but they can be fun (just keep characters as leadership personalities and not combat killers). James had 6 units of 40 Vikings, 12Beserkers and 24 skirmishers against 7 units of 40 Anglo Saxons, 24 mounted Thegns and 24 skirmishers (I outnumbered him but he had 5100 points to my 4200 points). It was a fun game that went back and forward but I eventually had him, those Vikings are hard to kill (knew I should have never have sold them). Have a good New Years and I will doing a few different periods in 2009 with a Colonial slant. Cheers Scott

Mexican American War with Guns of Gettysburg

Kevin and I played our first Mexican-American War game a few weeks ago using the large collection of figures that he bought of Andrew Parr at MOAB in October (Old Glory figures). The game was fun and we used the General de Brigade variant for the ACW 'Guns of Gettysburg' which worked well I thought. I have always wanted to do this period since I saw a large demo game at Leeds in 95 using 1st Corp figures (it was a fantastic setup). I got enough 1st Corps figures from Kevin to do 5 regiments of Americans and 5 Mexican regiments, I will add to the Mexicans and get about 5 more units of militia and peasants and some irregular cavalry. The peasants and irregular cavalry I can use in my Maximillian project (nothing bought yet). Hope everyone has a great Christmas and as I started my school holidays today I will try and ensure that I use the next 5 and half weeks off painting and gaming. All the best Scott

1st Corps Successors

Hi guys here are some of the new Successor pikemen from 1st Corps (they have no photos, prices or lists on their site yet). Kevin Jowett who is their Australian distributor brought these over the other day, I am impressed and will be getting a fair few (these are eastern style in trouser and later Macedonian/Ptolemaic).

Gaugamela

Played a 4500 point aside Gaugamela game last weekend using WAB. I used my Macedonians (who haven't seen an outing for a lomg time) and Russ and Bob used later Persians. It was a good game with my left flank some how managing to hold on and my phalanx in the centre finally breaking through. I want to play this game using the Crusader rules as I feel they give a better game for classical type battles, there is more command and control and characters are not overly powerful. WAB is better suited to Dark Age (early Medieval) and Medieval games, the El Cid supplement being my all time favourite. The Successor supplement for WAB seems to somewhere in the dim future going on the discussion on the SAD WAB forum. Enjoy the photos. Cheers Scott

WAB Sulla versus Mithradates

I played one of my first WAB games for 12 months a couple of weeks ago against Kevin Jowett and his son James. We played a game pitting Kevin's new Marian Roman army (previously mine) against my large Mithradatic army. We used the unpublished Successor Supplement written by Jeff Jonas. Rob Broom on his Warhammer Blog maintains this will be published in the future despite a very long wait already. I am sure if the writers and contributors lived in Nottingham it would have been published years ago. Rob maintains that there are not enough ranges available in 28mm or even painted armies to photograph and put in the book (he wanted everyone to send their figures to the UK to photograph as we cannot do a proper job it seems). Rant over but this has put me off WAB in the last 2 years, Warhammer Historical seems to think that the UK is the centre of the wargaming world. Back to the game, Kevin and James commanding a large Roman army of 13 cohorts and numerous skirmishers and cavalry gave the huge army of Mithradates (commanded by me) a good kicking. It was a good day with a very relaxed playing of the game, long lunch and a few too many drinks (white wine always gives me a headache). Enjoy the photos.