Travel Reading Pt 1

I picked this up at the Canterbury Cathedral shop.  Excellent read and food for thought with lots of gaming possibilities.  Ok knights hacking down un armed clergy doesn't make a great war-game, but the back story sure has possibilities!

The cast of characters is larger than life St Thomas, Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine.  It really calls out for Hollywood epics staring Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn (oh wait, they did that).  The author gives really good coverage of the 12th century - the reign of Henry I, the tragedy of the White Ship, the civil wars of Stephen and Matilda and then the Angevin empire.  The Cliff Notes histories focus on Becket the Archbishop and Martyr but he was much more before that.  Plus there's lots of potential for medieval warfare on both small and large scales.

Back From the UK and Back on The Blog

Gallo The Chicken Headed Man mosaic from Brading Villa

I hadn't realized until this morning but I'd been silent on the blogosphere since the end of April.  It's been a busy summer but in a good way.  Ive been traveling a lot - Halifax NS, Portland OR, Toronto and then the UK- and am looking forward to a few weeks at home before the start of the fall semester.

Our most recent travels were to the UK for three weeks.  We joke about this trip being the world's most expensive cheap beach vacation.  Every year my dad, step mother and step siblings plus kids and hangers on spend a week in caravans at the Isle of Wight in August - an inexpensive week away for a Briton.  But throw in three transatlantic flights at high season, a stay in London (because if we're going to the UK...), meals out and a rental car - ouch!  My wife, daughter and I used to go every second year but it had been 8 years since the last trip - looking at the credit card statements and I know why!

The trip was family centred so little of gaming note to report.  I think about trying to link up with British blogging/gaming contacts but didn't get my act in gear this year.  Highlights of the trip include.

• Surviving the Trump protests in London.  We didn't see the Baby Blimp 😂but crossed Regent Street just in front of the crowds.  This was a particularly hot day in the City and the crowds plus Trump 'copter made it hotter.  Fortunately we found a friendly pub for lunch and a very nice Italian place before the theatre that night.
• The Monet exhibit at the National Gallery - plus other cool stuff like Canalettos and the like.
• Really, really good theatre.  The Book of Mormon in the West End - very funny, very off colour, done by the Southwark creators.  A play about English Quakers in the Georgian age at the Chichester Festival.  
• Best theatre of all - Sir Ian (Gandalf) McKellan in King Lear in the West End.  Amazing stuff!  This was our last night in the UK before flying out - really nice dinner, great play then back to the restaurant for desert.  Best way to end off a trip.
• A trip to Margate to visit my sister in law.  The train trip was really interesting taking us past the Medway, Chatham and Rochester Castle (which fell to the French in King John's day - stuff you don't often read in British history books).  Plus an ex-Soviet submarine in the Medway - yes I googled it it's ex-Soviet!  WTF?
• Really really good food (yes in the UK!).  Best of all was the allergy knowledge and labelling.  I am coeliac and my wife has a dairy allergy so this was key.  We went three weeks without a food reaction and ate damn well the whole time.  Well done to the EU for proper food awareness.
• Swimming in the ocean.  Three swims in the North Sea in Margate's retro tidal pool and three on the beaches on the Isle of Wight.  I did think about swimming in the Serpentine in Hyde Park - the facilities looked really good, but it opened late and there were too may waterfowl sharing the waters for my tastes.
• A visit to Canterbury Cathedral - a first for both Lynne and I.  We didn't get to see the alter where Beckett was hacked down because they were using it for Convocations that week.  But the sound of the brass quartet and choir echoing through the Cathedral was wonderful.  Plus Dad had warned us not to be too disappointed that Beckett's blood had been washed up since the 12th century!
• Driving on the wrong side of the road!  This was the first time I'd rented a car east of the pond in nearly 30 years and the last time was to drive around Ireland.  No damage done to vehicle of family mental states!
• A visit to Brading Roman Villa on the Isle.  Out of the way unless your on the Isle but well worth a visit.  Had me think about Dux Brittanarium, the Barbarian Conspiracy and ogling the MDF Roman villas available via Sarissa, War Wases etc.

AHPC Wrap Up

As part of the Challenge wrap up Curt asks us to post a group shot of everything completed.  Here's mine.

Ok I am very, very late in posting this.  I don't even have a good excuse like Paul, although many claim that I am at sea most of the time.  However, all my Uni exams are marked and recorded and it's all over but the crying so I finally got round to posting these photos that were taken a month ago.

Here's the group shot of most of what I did this winter - all of my SYW figures.  Touraine and Diesbach regiments on the left, Royal Welsh Fusiliers behind the musicians in the middle and Fischer's chasseurs to the right.  Missing are my 1;1200 planes which wouldn't show up well in this wide a shot (ok I forgot about them), and my Curtgeld which has been delivered in tribute.

I'd been in the modelling doldrums since mid-March as end of semester came on me.  However, lately I've been picking up the brush and glue.  Here I am with three pieces of terrain I put together last week - three very enjoyable evenings spent in from of the TV building Sarissa Productions kits.  There are two bridges (with three additional spans) and a windmill.

WW2 Naval Game

A few weeks ago I ran a WW2 Naval Game at Curt's house for our local group.  It had been nearly 3 years since I did a naval game and 3 1/2 since my last WW2 Naval, so it was good to get the ships out.  It was a night encounter off the coast of Libya with 4 players and no-one knowing who the other parties were.

The Italians had a convoy with a close escort of 3 destroyers who entered at the northwest corner (between A and B) and had to exit via the southeast corner (between H and G).  They were slow and zig-zagging so took a long time to get anywhere.  There was also a long range escort of 3 cruisers plus 3 more destroyers who would enter later on the western board edge and who had lost touch with the convoy, but had the mission to provide escort.  There was also Fort Corleone near point A with shore batteries (battery Sonny and battery Fredo).

Stacy had HMS Manxman, a fast minelayer plus an escort of 2 destroyers would enter from the North East (H:I) with a mission to lay mines between B and D.  They also had a covering force of 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers.  The cover had not contacted the Manxman as yet but would enter between H and I and bombard the shore between E and F to provide a distraction.

Each side pre-plotted their moves in advance and sat in another room while I maneuvered the ships and provided sighting and/or radar info as needed.  It all worked well with the Minelaying force getting a radar fix on the convoy but ignoring it to get onto their own business.  The two british groups also correctly identified themselves early on.  The Italians also correctly ID'd themselves but it took longer.

Early on in the action, minelayer plus escort close in plus Curt's cover steaming for the snack bowl

As is common with night games things got hot and confusing once firing started.  Curt's british cover group opened up on the shore and took return fire from the shore batteries.  Sylvain's Italian escort met the British minelaying group, but shooting honours were even and Manxman laid a lot of eggs.  Once the firing got going, Curt ran west and opened up on Sylvain sinking two cruisers while taking damage on his flagship.  Meanwhile Jeremy's convoy tried to avoid the whole mess and was on the whole successful at this.

Same time, from the other end of the board.  The Italian convoy inches across table while Sylvain's cover enters.

Manxman plus escort meet Sylvain's cruisers.

Curt steams west to help Stacy out

Sylvain's lead ship and Jeremy's convoy with escorts steaming to provide cover

The Italians had more and bigger guns but the Brits had better shooting and radar - an Italian cruiser blows up.

Arygle Gargoyles

i am over a month late posting this, which appear on the AHPCVIII blog back when even my calendar said it was winter (before the Spring Equinox)

Well I had a gigantic challenge fade at the end and so there are several projects in various states of completion that will be finished afterwards.  Included in the mix is my Curtgeld, all done but the bases.  However IIRC, the Challenge rules state that I can leave the bases unfinished for Curt so that's where we'll leave things.

I am a historical gamer so I don't do monsters as a rule, but I picked up theses 28mm D&D plastic gargoyles from the local game shop and I reckon they'll do as Curtgeld.  I tried to do them to match the greyscale effects that Curt gets, which I figured would suit the gargoyles.

The challenge fade mostly had to do with the final 8 Royal Welsh Fusiliers which include two standard bearers and two musicians.  These gave me many headaches - false starts, dropped paint sticks, do overs the whole shooting match.  I've finally broken the back on them but they'll have to wait till after the challenge.  Also in the background is the start of a Hessian unit, which I began after much frustration on the Fusiliers.

As for the title, I know Curt is a fan of the Muppets and this is one of my favourite Muppet Shticks - Angus McGonagle the Argyle Gargoyle Gargling Gershwin!  With the Snowlord being a traitorous, murdering, scheming bastard who sold his country out for Dutch and German kings Campbell, it seemed appropriate.   Plus it includes Mark Hamill in an argyle sweater.

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Diesbach Regiment Completed

Ok this will be my second take on this post.  I had a post all ready to go on Tuesday the 6th, but it disappeared into the ether while under final edit from my Minion.  Murphy's law of backups applied.  I typically copy the draft post over to my own blog before it goes live, but schedule it to appear 2 days later than my Challenge day.  But, oh course this week I figured that I could catch that up in the evening after Ray made it go live.....

 So I've got the remaining 16 members of the Diesbach Regiment from the Seven Years War, one of several Swiss regiments in the French army.  I didn't split out the new figures from the 8 I did earlier, so I've got the full battalion of 24.  Figures are mostly Crusader with some Front Rank thrown in.

The sergeant pointing is Front Rank figure.  His unpinned coat is more WAS than SYW, but he was too nice not to include.

The officer is another Front Rank figure, the rest Crusader.  One of the standard bearers was an NCO with half pike  but I trimmed off the pike and added a standard pole.  Flags were downloaded from the web and printed at home.  There was contradictory info on drummers, but I liked this livery and tried to add an impression of the Diesbach family crest on the drum barrel.

The grenadiers and their officer are Front Rank.  More contradictory info on the bags for the grenadier caps, which blue in a contemporary image and descriptions of red.  I tried both but liked the red better, not that you can see in this shot.

From the left flank.  I've added unit labels on the back of the bases complete with an image of a flag.  Once again the flags are a major attraction of this army.

Now you can see the red bags on the Grenadier caps.

I really like the Front Rank officer with his hat off.  He looks like he'd invite Messrs. les Anglais to tirez le premier.

Like the UK, Regina had a major dump of snow this week - 35-40cms from Sunday to Tuesday.  I took advantage of the heavy snow to ski to work on Tuesday.  I only get to do this rarely since it requires a heavy snow fall without the deep freeze. Most importantly I need to get out before people shovel the selves out as I skiing on the streets and sidewalks.

Finally, I thought I would share this rare footage of Ray following a hard days work at the Minion keyboard and totalling up terrain scores.

To make it easy on Ray's brain I'll do the heavy lifting for him.  That's 16 newly painted 28mm figures for a total of 80 points.

AHPC Royal Welsh Fuisliers for the SYW

Royal Welsh advance!

A slight change in direction from French SYW to their Anglo-Allied opponents.  I had planned to submit the last members of the Diesbach regiment, but these guys were closer to being ready so decided to focus on them to keep the ball rolling.  So we have 16 members of HM 23rd Foot, better known as the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.  These are all Front Rank figures and mighty fine figures they are indeed, I just wish they did more variation in poses like the Perry's variations on a common theme.

The term Fusilier was used differently by various nations in the Black Powder era.  In the French army, a fusilier is a regular GI Jean while in the Prussian army and minor German states a fusilier regiment was a second rate infantry regiment later converted to a light infantry role.  But it the British Army it was used as a mark of distinction, originally used to denote the three regiments used to guard the artillery train.  Back in the matchlock era they were armed with flintlocks or fusils as waving lit slow match around loose powder was unsafe even by 17th century OHS standards.  The also got to wear spiffy fusilier caps instead of the bog standard tricorn.

The quality of British Infantry was iffy during the WAS and '45, with some good regiments and some poor freshly raised units.  But during the SYW, most of the units that saw action were first rate (except a couple sent off to New England early in the FIW).  And they made a mark for them selves in their first big battle on the Continent - Minden in 1759.  

To me Minden is the start of the thin red line.  Six British battalions (including the 23rd) and the Hanoverian foot guards plus some supporting artillery ended up advancing on the main French cavalry formation due to a misunderstanding.  It was a classic case of an "Unauthorised advance" or blunder roll.  A few battalions of redcoats facing the mass of the French cavalry - who charged them in 3 waves (kind of like Agincourt) and got shot down by close ranged musketry for their pains.  None of this namby pamby hide behind a ridge in square like their grand kids at Waterloo either.  This was advance in line with drums beating and flags flying proudly.  Stirring stuff.

I quite the officer with the fusil on the left and the sergeant on the right.

Oh yes and they did it with roses in their hair - the tradition has it that the redcoats picked wild roses from the hedgerows and put them in their hair before battle.  This is still commemorated in regimental Minden Days by the successor units to the regiments involved.  I tried to add autumn foliage to represent the roses but this turned into an epic fail.

Painting wise this was pretty much a standard 18th C paint by numbers job- scarlet coat, blue facings, white lace etc.  The Front Rank figures were very nice to paint, with the lace and belts standing out well.  The fusilier caps had a the Welsh trio of Ostrich feathers surrounded by golden branches - I applied a two foot standard to get a reasonable on table facsimile of this.  There are another 8 fusiliers to come but these include command figures which are a little more involved.

  So that is 16 28mm figures for a total of 80 points this week.