A Sequel to Hastings?

BBC News:

Read about it HERE!

Bye for now.

1st Madras Fusiliers/Neill's Blue Caps Close Ups

I mean't to take these photo's a few days ago to accompany the more scenic pics but real life intervened and it wasn't until this early morning that I was able to find the time to take the pics and edit them. On the subject of editing; please accept my apologies for the discrepancy in size of some of the pics. As my Photoshop won't download onto my now year old laptop I'm stuck using Picassa, where it is not possible to be as accurate in the final sizing of the pics. An inferior program but free so I shouldn't really complain.

Getting the uniforms right was quite difficult. I'd been in conversation with chap who commissioned the Iron Duke Miniatures Indian Mutiny range, Col. Mike Snook via email and he had described to me the types of uniform and the effects of wear and tear in the hot Indian sun. After quite a lot of experimentation I came up with the simple expedient of using the Andrea White boxed set which proved to be just about perfect for the job, giving a 'white' that was 'dirty' enough to show that these soldiers had suffered the ravages of being in the field and fought a few battles. For the rest of the equipment I simply followed Mike's uniform guide lines for 1st Madras Fusliers/Neill's Blue Caps on the following link HERE with my own take on the colours.

        

                                                 

Bye for now.

1st Madras Fusiliers/Neill's Blue Caps

Hi Folks,

Some of my Indian Mutiny Brits; 1st Madras Fusiliers or Neill's Blue Caps as they were known for their striking blue forage cap  covers.

The 1st Madras, being the only European regiment fully armed with the Enfield at the outbreak of the Mutiny, were involved in much of the early fighting as part of the Allahabad Moveable Column (under Maj-Gen. Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore and Brig-Gen. Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow) ultimately to be under the command of the now somewhat famous Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock arguably the first effective commander of an army in the Indian Mutiny.

Anyway, please forgive the paucity of miniatures in the pics, it was originally mean't for the LAF league which is about to start but I misread the rules and after being informed that I had to present three teams I decided just to post the progress of my Indian Mutiny stuff here.

Hope you enjoy the pic, I'll certainly be adding more images and some close ups of the miniatures will follow hard on the heals on this pic of Col. James Neill's Blue Caps :)

There will of course be many more pics to come of both the Blue Caps, more European and Indian army units and of course the Mutiny regiments/bands

Perry NWF Plastic Brits Preview

No doubt those of you who were on the net yesterday noticed the preview of the Perry Miniatures North West Frontier British Plastic Three Ups and the lovely Peter Denis artwork? Apparently the next plastic set to be released so I'm wondering if there will be any Afghans, regular and/or irregular to follow? A big question if you're into wargaming the NWF.

First on to the cover art which is by Peter Dennis and depicts the 66th Berkshire's last stand at the Battle of Maiwand during the Second Afghan War. The 66th were decimated in this struggle and it's fitting that the box art be dedicated to them, It's nice to see Bobby the dog, regimental mascot of the 66th, making it not only onto the front cover but also into what I'm guessing will be the command sprue.

Pics of the WIP Three Ups:

And from a while back:

Bye for now.

Hastings Demo; Bad News!

It is with a great deal of regret that I've got to announce that the Hastings demo that I had planned for Salute this year is not going to go ahead. The reasons are many but the two foremost are that i/ I've been struggling with a lot of stress for a while now and it basically isn't wise to proceed in terms of health. ii/ I wouldn't be able to get the painting done in time to the standard that I would want to present. It doesn't seem worthwhile to just slap on the paint and spoil a good looking game with shoddy workmanship.

I have to pass on my apologies to the organisers of Salute, to Dave Lancaster and the members of the Lance and Longbow Society et al. It is just not possible to do it this year.

Bye for now.

Haggis Rampant; It's War! Part One.

With many raids etc under our belt in the Haggis Rampant campaign we could feel the tensions rise as we moved inexorably towards a state of war! This in practical terms meant getting (almost) all our toys on the table and fighting it out with no aim other then to destroy the enemy, in our case the English! Our umpire decided that we had to roll 3+ on a D6 for a unit to make it to the battlefield. On the Scottish side most of us managed to get the majority of our troops onto the table, not so for the English! Hurrah! It was also decided that we were only able to take one unit of Bidowers per retinue as they were a troop type, whilst typical in raids, they were a scarcity on the battlefield. A good move in the authors opinion as I can see them being very disruptive in a mass retinue game and would probably have had an effect out of all proportion to their points value. This is one of the strengths of the Lion Rampant rules, they are very easily adaptable to any situation/scenario as they are a Hollywood as opposed to deadly accurate simulation of Late Medieval warfare in style.

I was getting a little jaded with my Fierce Foot as they seem to be a one shot wonder when it comes to combat so I decided to replace two of these units with Foot Serjeants as this would give them an extra armour point and the Schiltron special rule for tactical purposes. Re Tactical purposes; this can loosely be translated as they now stand a chance against the numerous English mounted troops! 

My retinue had in fact taken a remarkable transformation and now consisted of the following:

Foot Men at Arms (Ferocious plus Vulnerable leader)

Foot Men at Arms (Ferocious)

Foot Serjeants (Schiltron)

Foot Serjeants (Schiltron)

Scots Archers (Pooh!)

I should also apologise for not getting many pics of the English army in action. with so many retinues involved the game was fast and furious and it wasn't possible to run around the table taking pics as much as I would normally have done.

The game thus far: The Scots.....

Mikes lighter Islemen 'dig in' on the heavily wooded area of the Scots flank. A great area for him to defend as Mike had stuck with his Islemen  (kudos) and they are ideal for such terrain.

As the Scots could deploy up to half way up the table I opted for  a simpler plan and deployed my troops behind a big hill in the centre of the table ready to pop up and invite charges from our English protagonists, hopefully to repel them in a glorious manner!

On the Scots right flank Dave and Richard, having an abundance of cavalry types including two units of Mounted Men at Arms were able to deploy in a more aggressive stance with their Mounted Men at Arms and Serjeants (Hobilars) screened by their Serjeants in Schiltron. 

My troops awaiting for their opportunity for glory (some might say they were hiding from the English Archery!)

A great pic of Dave and Richard's deployment.

Over all view as the English attempt to cope with much of their force not turning up to do the job and a few activation rolls going pear shaped.

Mike holds off Jim's English by using the hit and run tactics so typical of the Islemen.

Dave and Richard move their Mounted troops forward to face the English

My Foot Men at Arms march to the crest of the hill sustaining withering fire from a couple of units of English archers but hold their ground. They even see off a charge from some Mounted Serjeants! 

Dave and Richard's Schitron's hold- well, just about hold!

My Men at Arms wave their pointy instruments of death at the English archers!

And push back the English Mounted Men at Arms!! (This was fist for me and gave me much joy!). Unfortunately my Vulnerable leader was injured and [sadly!] survived the battle! 

My Men at Arms boldly fight on as they are charged by the English foot Men at Arms. Then collapse into ignominious defeat!

The Scots hold grimly on on the right flank..... 

As it neared 10:30 (ie Pub time!) that was the end of week one of our first massed retinue game. It was left on a bit of a knifes edge so will be a lot of fun to come back to this Thursday. 

Bye for now.