Send Three-and-Fourpence...

The last couple of weeks has been a blur, and with the wedding now only three weeks away, i'm not expecting much more out of the next few. Nonetheless, while preparations may be proceeding apace, I have managed to snatch a little time for gaming related things.

So, accordingly this update is a little brief, but hopefully does still hold some interest. Most of my painting time has been taken up by commission work, but i have managed to take some photos of a few odds and sods for my Sharp Practice project. For this year, i'm planning on painting up another three 10 man french groups of Line Infantry (incidentally making a 1:10-ish scale Line battalion), along with some Leger voltigeurs and chasseurs, and a limber set. Up against them, I'd like to finish off a few more Austrian 12 man groups, an artillery piece and limber, and perhaps some of the new Perry chevauxlegers. Add in some Bavarians and Wurttembergers, and I've set myself quite an ambitious target. 

Alongside the 1809 guys, i've also got the first of my Peninsular War British, an xmas pressie from Laura. In the metal (and plastic) mountain i've got a box of the perry Line infantry and some metal rifles, all to be painted up and organised into 8 man groups with accompanying Big Men. Laura also got me an excellent 28mm sloop, along with a load of the superb Paul Hicks sculpted Brigade Games Royal Navy jacktars. 

The French reinforcements

So them's the plans for Sharp Practice in 2013. I've also recently become the owner of a plethora of 1/300 scale WW2 aircraft (1939-40 RAF, Armee de l'Air and Luftwaffe mostly), a copy of both Check Your Six! and Bag The Hun 2, and an excellent european fields Hotz Mat. More on my BTH2 plans in future posts though, for now, on to the latest Sharp Practice French reinforcements.

First off, I've painted up the tete de colonne (the battalion command) of the 3e Regiment de Ligne. Comprising 1e and 2e portes-aigles (the eagle bearer and the halberd armed eagle guard), a drummer and grizzled sapper, this base is a complete redux. The first version went on eBay to help fund the purchase of Laura's engagement ring, so it's perhaps fitting to post these guys up a few weeks before the wedding. The uniforms for these guys are supposed to be for the 3e Regiment de Ligne, which served in St. Hilaire's  division of Marshal Davout's III Corps in 1809.

Next up, the first of four planned line infantry fusilier companies. After what was most likely far too much research into something so trivial, I've ended up not painting the 1st company pompoms in the usual vert fonce, but rather in the bleu-de-roi. The 2nd company will be the infamous orangey-brown aurore, 3rd violette, and 4th cramoisie, which i'm reliably informed is a purplish red. At the head of this company is a new big man, the dastardly Lt. Montalban. 

Lt. Montalban

Final lot for this update is another addition to the French leading cast, Lt. Lemoine along with his 4 pound cannon and crew. The gun and bits and pieces are all from Nic at Eureka, and are fabulous, crisp castings with excellent detail. I find the front rank cannon a bit clunky.


  

All these figures are Front Rank, which I know are often disparaged but I find quite charming. You might also notice the bridge, river sections and ford, all recent additions to my gaming terrain made with the excellent 'Magic Water' resin which, while having a steep learning curve, comes out a lot better than white glue or gloss varnish.

 

So that's it for now, next update will undoubtedly be regarding all Spitfires, Hurricanes and Messerschmitts as I embark on my first foray into aerial wargaming with Bag the Hun 2, so stay tuned!

2013, Onwards and Upwards!

The gallant Premierlieutnant Istvan Nagy.

It's hard to believe it's been so long since my last posting. Since then, I've had a month long practicum teaching French at a local high school, which was quite an experience. That led into the silly season, when besides a rather impressive haul of Christmas and Birthday presents, I also got a dose of shingles which knocked me out for a few weeks. Add in some planning for a wedding which is VERY rapidly approaching, and the year simply flew past. It feels like I had blinked and then it was 2013! 

Sidney Roundwood, the man behind the superb Roundwood's World blog, recently posted a post which was a round up of 2012, which has prompted me (albeit belatedly) to do the same. 

On the whole, 2012 was a rather spectacular year for me. From January to July Laura and I were on our exchange to the University of Leeds. I had the opportunity to take some fascinating classes,  and managed to come through with a couple of 'firsts' (as fr as i can gather the equivalent of a High Distinction). I travelled down to Triples at Sheffield, where I met up with people i'd chatted to via email and forums but had not met in person. I even managed to get in a game of Dux Britanniarum run by Rich Clarke and Sid Roundwood. Besides visiting the excellent Royal Armouries at Leeds, I headed down to the RAF Muesum in the North of London, where wandering around the Spitfires, Hurricane, Messerschmitts and a plethora of other aircraft I felt like a kid again.

While travelling around Europe, I visited museums, castles and historical sites in Budapest, Andalucia, Tuscany, Stockholm, Berlin and Paris.

The consummate professional, Major Driant

I returned home inspired to get gaming and to crack on with some projects. I got back into gaming with the lads at the local gaming club, and my 20mm WW2 British army has now seen a lot of action. I also began digging out my 28mm Napoleonic figures and organising them into a force for Sharp Practice. Alongside this, I was pottering along with the commission work. 

University for the second half of the year seemed to swallow almost all of my time. I particularly struggled with French, as i'd missed a semester of a sequential course while I was in Leeds, so was forced to play catch-up. I ended up scraping through that course with a pass, which thankfully was balanced out by the HDs I got in the other subjects. 

Then prac, christmas, shingles and here we are. 

As I see it, 2012 has been a very successful year for gaming, but an absolute failure for this blog (three posts in 12 months!!) and for painting (it's not even worth mentioning the pitiful number of figures i've completed). However, I managed to get in more gaming than I have previously, met a bunch of people in the UK, visited a plethora of historical sights, museums etc, and even managed to get in a few games of Sharp Practice with the guys at the club. 

So, some New Years resolutions seem to be in order. 

1. More blog posts! I'm hoping to get at least two per month. These will track the process of projects i'm working on, as well as giving some AARs from solo and club games. Who knows, i might even throw in some book reviews and finally get around to posting some updates about the museums and sites i visited in Europe.

2. Paint more figures. I've set myself a few projects for this year, and want to limit myself to these as much as practicable. More on what these projects are next update. 

3. Keep up with the gaming. I've really enjoyed actually getting some gaming in, and am determined to keep on with this. 

So, pretty simple right? Lets see if I can stick to it!

And just because I want to keep this update pretty, and inspired by Alte Fritz (of Der Alte Fritz Blog i've included some pictures of my Sharp Practice troops on a New Years Parade.

Chat Soon!
Ben

The Kaiserliks on parade.  My gradually growing K.u.K Austrian force has now seen some action.

And the forces of l'Empreur. As with the Austrians, i've plans to expand these forces considerably.

The leading cast, Austrian Big Men.

And Les Grandes Hommes, the Emperor's finest. 

The elite companies of the first battalion, 3e Regiment de Ligne. 

Battle for the Farm - Sharp Practice AAR

First off, an apology for the paucity of blog updates in the last few months, but between travelling and then getting back into the swing of uni back in Australia, it's been difficult to find the time. What time i have had has been devoted to terrain making (trees, terrain boards, buildings, fields and more trees seen in the below pictures) and painting and basing up the remainder of my French and Austrian Napoleonic figures.

So, to get the ball rolling again, here is a quick after action report for a solo game I recently played of the Toofatlardies set Sharp Practice. I've now got enough figures painted up for a decent game, and so have been playing through the rules a few times before introducing them at the local club. Even solo, the rules are great fun and play through quickly as well. The ability to generate random personalities for the Big Men who control the action infuses the game with elements of role play, which adds a lot to the fun and flavour.

Triples 2012

First off, thanks for the feedback on the museums blog, the post on the Swedish army museum will be coming up in the next few days.

But first, a brief intermission. This Saturday just gone, I caught the early coach from Leeds down to the Sheffield, the city of steel, for the Triples war-games show, hosted by the Sheffield Wargames Club. This is the first games show i've managed to get to, and I must say it was a great day out. After a quick and easy trip on the Sheffield Supertram, I wandered down to the English Institute of Sport. The entry to the exhibition hall was flanked by two groups of reenactors, some Napoleonic fusiliers of the 21e Regiment de Ligne, and a couple of Great War Tommies from the 18th battalion, Durham Light Infantry. I had a chat to both groups, and they were all really friendly and knowledgeable guys. I grabbed my ticket and squeezed past the daleks which were making the rounds, and ventured into the hall. The exhibition space was great, well lit and, to me at least, huge (Rich from Toofatlardies later told me that Salute is around 8 times as large. My antipodean mind boggles.)