Friday Quiz 16

I missed out the Friday Quiz last week, a mix of less time available and just plain not up to scratch having spent the day off work with a very painful foot. So I am happy to be able to supply this weeks quiz, now just need to get to work LOL.

1. Name the two main nations that fought the battle of Issus?

2. Name the famous battle in England that saw one sides troops take up positions on Senlac Hill?

3. Drogheda was the site of Cromwell's infamous storming but what is the name of the battle that was fought 41 years later close by?

4. The Battle of Malaplaquet (11th September 1709) saw the winning Alliance loose 21,000 troops but how many troops were lost by France and Bavaria in their defeat?

5. In WWII what was the Goliath?

It may help some of you to know that I tend to put all the questions in order of earliest to latest.

Remember it's OK to use Google or books to find out the answers.

OK answer time.

1. Macedonia and Persia.

2. Battle of Hastings in 1066.

3. Battle of the Boyne.

4. Just 11,000 but would have been much larger if the attackers were not so worn out from the actual attack.

5. The remote controlled tracked vehicle packed with explosives was the answer I was looking for.

Building of the Week - Mud Brick Huts

I have again started to paint up some of the backlog of buildings I have on hand and this week I started painting up the buildings that will be used in our 6mm Ancients games.  Leven have a range of fifteen models for their Middle East range, this being the first code MID01 and you get four buildings as shown below.

At first viewing before you start work on them they really look like rounded squares with almost no detail at all. However it's really only after you add the undercoat that you start to realise there is more to these models. Indeed it was with the ink wash followed by the drybrush that I actually really saw the actual level of detail and it's hard not to be impressed.

You get a set of four for £2.50 and they really are a quick paint. This suits the whole projects ethos of simpler paint job whilst still looking good. I have added a unit of Companions to the second picture for a size comparison. They are quite small which looks correct to me. I have three more buildings from the range and may buy a few more if it looks like we will need more, not really sure how prominent towns and villages were in ancient battles.

Desert Deluxe Sniper Reminders.

This time last week I was preparing to head off to London for the day to meet up with one of my long time ASL mates who was visiting the UK from Australia. It's the second time we have met up and it's great to have the opportunity to catch up face to face rather than via emails. I had prepared these Sniper Reminders about a year ago but had not quite finished them, you know the drill, almost done and then put away. Given that these were always planned for Rob I thought I had best get them finished.

Unfortunately the picture quality of some of these leaves much to be desired. The figures are  from the Blacktree Miniatures 28mm WWII Desert ranges. I also did a similar set for another great ASL pal but finished them ages ago. The basic design was the same though the figures used on both bases are different. I even chopped up a ASL mine counter to provide the mine sign, a touch that went down well.

This base was actually finished though I went back to it to add ink to the wire to make it look less new. 

Warbases provided the bases, these were based on their casualty markers that I use a lot but Martin custom built them to my specification. A top service that just can't be beaten.

Again the German base was close to finishing and just needed the rocks adding to act as the Sangar, which also needed dry brushing the stones to better match the base colours. 

Most of the Blacktree WWII figures in my opinion are great, only a few figures disappoint. The desert figures all work for me and this in particular lend themselves to the look I wanted to achieve.

Rob really liked them which at the end of the day was what I had hoped for and these are now safely in their new home. It was a great day and much ASL banter was had by both of us.

Commands & Colors Russians AAR

I took over to Lee's the Commands & Colors Napoleonic set allowing him to pick which we played. No surprise that he choose the Russian expansion and so out came the bits. The idea was to show how the game it self played out seeing as we were using some of the combat system in our rules.

I played as the French and had the advantage of having played this scenario already with The Boy, would this help though?

View from the Russian side. No matter which side I look at it from it looks grim for the Russians. The Russian mod allows the Russian player to roll dice in most scenarios before it starts that allow some units to be reinforced or possibly fortifications to be set up.

Lee quickly drove in my right flank but in doing so weakened his cavalry but for now at least made the town safe from my attack.

A couple of turns later though his cavalry was ruined and I had thrown the Russians out of the town. Unfortunately I was not really in position to support my success.

My left flank just sat most of the game watching the battle develop. It can be frustrating when your not getting the cards to get an attack going, worse though when you run out of cards mid attack. Planning is so important in this game.

In the end I was stripped of troops on my right and with the victory hexes safe in Russian hands as well as victory banners for French units removed Lee won a comfortable victory.

Lee enjoyed the game so we went with scenario two, but that's another story.

Chatter Behind The Bike Sheds - Options.

A few of you out there must be wondering if I have suffered burn out from Project Waterloo, or maybe just maybe I am doing all the prep for the marathon that is The Analogue Painting Challenge. The truth is far more down to earth. I have been working on a couple of projects that have supplied far too few photographs. Not least for my forgetting to take any of the British Command I painted up to finish off Steves commission for his Waterloo game. The second project has almost sent me nut's, not one but twenty regiments of 6mm Union Infantry, that's a lot of blue. The biggest issue for me has been the reduced time to paint married up with the time suck that was these little fellows has meant I have been putting off sessions or finishing a session and not having finished a step, that for me is quite a turn off so they have been a bit of a struggle. I am happy to say these are now finished and I can start to look at things I want to paint. I do have my Santa Clause to paint which turned up Thursday and I will start that soon but in the meantime..........

Even though the ACW was 6mm I REALLY want to get on with some Companion cavalry so they are next up on the prep table whilst I have a few 28mm started that also need my attention so they should get some time spent on them. Indeed when I cast my eye around both my table and to paint boxes I can't help but think I really could go a year maybe two without buying a single figure and still have options. 

That as we all know won't stop me buying more lead though, just making me do a spot more thinking before I do so. I don't see any new projects coming up either this year or next, a quick list of what I have in the fire and it's progress should be enough.

1. 6mm Borodino, yet more French needed but not that much, it's more about the allies, Neapolitans and Polish for me. Happily this is at least two years away.

2. Sticking with 6mm the Ancient Army needs more, much more, especially as I want to also start work on the Persians next year. I think any Christmas money may well be going the way of Peter at Baccus.

3. Our 6mm ECW project is shambling along and should see some more work before the year ends as we get closer to actually having enough units painted to have a game.

4. Last for the 6mm on the active list should be the WWI planes, OK it's not really active but I need to get back to this.

5. 15mm Ancients, I bought a load of Greek Hoplites and Persian Cavalry, add this to the Companion cavalry waiting in the wings and I have something to get me going, plus the old 15mm I still have should see work done during the challenge.

6. Been too long since we played a 28mm gunfight game, I need to get on with the buildings and the rest of the figures I have on hand. My intention to buy and paint up a Mexican band around my Santa Clause present did not happen but remains a definite to do. I just need to think about it, sort the figures and then I bet we play more gunfight games.

7. SAGA, got plenty of figures painted, got loads unpainted, just need to get them out and play some more. Lee has started his army again so maybe we will finally get round to playing. Defiantly continue to paint up more figures though. Another challenge opportunity.

8. Fantasy, our Friday group will be starting again soon and the kids love it, expect plenty more figures turning up on the blog, especially the ones given to me by Anne recently(ish)

9. 20mm Ancients, these will remain a bit of a slow cooker but I am planning a unit every month or so to get these painted up reasonably quickly (for me). Then I can see me buying an army not taken by the rest at Kev's Cabin, indeed it's going to be a driving force in getting more of the Celts painted up.

10. 32mm Arena Rex, I really enjoyed painting up the first figure and have a second under way, expect this project to pick up speed as I get more and more finished, these are great looking figures and I can see me continuing to buy them once I have these finished.

As you see I can really save myself the bother of buying anything, still I do NEED more 6mm Phalanx's to go against those Persians I have yet to buy.....................

Secret Santa Update

Long time no update but with Chris having kicked off The Santa Clause I thought I had best get my act in gear. First I have found what I think will be some excellent figures for my target in The Santa Clause and now I have a list compiled of all the peeps that have contacted me or Cath direct for this years Secret Santa Details here). So far we have a cracking twenty seven entrants so that's great news.

Plenty of time to still get involved as the deadline is 1st November so if you are interested in joining in then just leave a comment to that effect or send me an email via the contact me on the right of the top post.

It's great to see so many old hands back again this year and seeing so many first timers adds to the excitement of the event. Already this is the most Santa's we have had and continues with the year on year rise that I honestly thought may have come to an end this year but no it continues to grow. Cath loves to do this and is really chuffed to have so many wargamers to herd :-)

Building of the Week - Total Battle Miniatures

Total Battle Miniatures made a rather big splash when they released their 6mm Small Footprint range for the Waterloo Campaign, a nice smaller scale set of buildings that would suit those downsizing the battle to a smaller table or those wanting to scale down the buildings similar to the way we scale down unit sizes. However that's not the subject of today's post :-)

I bought these buildings a few years ago now in a sale with a bunch of others but never quite got round to painting the last three. These are the Villa with Arched Veranda (6SPBB08U) and costs £3 each.

Many houses in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars would have been just rendered and not painted white as we tend to see them today. Indeed if it was painted white it was seen as a well off occupant. I have to admit most of my buildings do have the white exterior though I do have a reasonable amount that are plain.

Trying to even up the numbers is another plain rendered offering, in this case Villa with Yard (6SPBB07U) also £3.00 each.  If you go back a few years you will see that I was quite a fan of these buildings, time has not really changed this view and as a range it's fairly wide has some excellent tile sets (I painted and posted about the Hill Town Set).

Given the general lack of detail in this type of building TBM's have managed to squeeze a fair amount out of these buildings and the rest of the range. Their other ranges tend to have a fair bit more detail as there is more to go at. 

I am not really a fan of the added vegetation though I think it's better done than the Timecast ones (I still prefer the Timecast buildings overall). I would normally cover it with clump foliage or other scenic's and may yet go back to that. 

Back when I first started painting TBM buildings I thought the texture was really good, not just this range but all the buildings I have painted of theirs. However whilst I still like it it feels a bit clumsy compared with the likes of Leven. I am very much aware that this is not really the case so much as style and I still enjoyed working on these buildings I kind of feel they are more in my past than future. That's not to say I would not buy more TBM buildings as they do produce some good buildings, they are somewhat bigger than the Leven models and like Timecast not the best fit when mixed together within the same cluster of buildings but separated over the table still work well together. Lee has also bought and painted some of these Spanish buildings and I have to say has done a better job than me. 

In summery the range has eleven buildings and three tile sets for your Iberian pursuits. Prices range from £3 for a 30x30mm footprint building to £35 for the Hill Town Set. The buildings are well designed and feel right for the period and with the buildings you get with the two farm tiles can make up a varied looking town. For me the range comes first for variety but last for desirability when compared with Timecast and Leven. From the point of personal numbers I have more TBM Iberian buildings than either Timecast or Leven and have almost all the buildings from all three suppliers.