Persians Kardakes and a personal note...

Years ago, my good friend and gaming buddy played To the Strongest at one of the conventions and really enjoyed the experience. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a large lot of unpainted 10mm Punic Wars figures at the convention flea market. That began a project in which I ultimately completed Roman, Carthaginian and Macedonian armies. I still have Persians, Indians and Gauls unpainted. 

Shortly after Historicon, I had to say goodbye to my beloved dog after an unsuccessful fight with cancer. It has been devastating and I will miss her dearly. She and her sister helped me cope with the loss of my wife and for the last 11 years she was a massive part of my life. 

After her passing, I didn't really feel like painting much. My painting is a form of meditation for me and I feel like I'm a happier person when I get to indulge in this aspect of the hobby. In an effort to shake things up, I pulled some of the Persians out and decided to tackle them. 

In general, the figures from the 10mm  Old Glory ranges are pretty fun and easy to paint. I would describe them as "wargaming sculpts". They may not be the most beautiful figures out there but they paint up fast and they paint up easy and I think they look good when painted. 

I had previously painted one unit of levy horde and wasn't terribly pleased with the result. They aren't the This time I was a bit happier. 

Here are two completed units of Kardakes which some believe were the Persian response to Greek hoplites (although they also hired those as mercenaries and I have 3 bases of them that I need to paint). The figures are Old Glory 10mm like most of the figures from this project. 

I prefer to depict my Persians in the soft pastels displayed in the Mosaic of Alexander. I gave these fellas soft green, peach, blue and reddish brown. I look forward to painting more of these Persians, especially the scythed chariots. 

And lastly, here is a picture of my sweet little Bisou. She was beautiful little girl. She demanded to be the center of attention, she lived life at full speed and was non-stop until she collapsed from exhaustion every day. Incredibly intelligent and one of the toughest dogs I've ever known. She never once quit and refused to let anything stop her from living and loving life. Rest in peace Beezy.

It's been a while and getting old...

It has been a few weeks since I last posted here. Hobby took a bit of a back seat while I have been taking care of the home-front as one of my dogs had some surgery and required an extended recovery. It was  looking a bit bleak for her although things seem to be trending in the right direction for my little fur-covered family member.

After a few weeks from painting, I decided to ease back into things by tackling some of the 10mm Azincourt English longbowmen. I figured these would be easy enough to speed paint and get back into the flow of things. Painting seemed a bit disjointed but I ultimately got back into a rhythm of things and transitioned back into resumption of my 6mm Solferino project; I had four battalions of French infantry partially started and am nearing completion of these.

While painting all of the above, I am beginning to come to grips with something that has been happening for the past year or so...my eyesight is deteriorating. Some days and some times, I can see as sharp as ever and others not so much...I am more painting by assumption and intuition as to where things should be. I will probably never paint to the same quality as the past. I will have to accept that. Hopefully I can continue to chip away at my lead pile as there are many more projects I want to tackle sooner rather than later.

Anyway, enough of the depressing stuff...I hope to post some eye candy soon as I finish up these 1859 French infantry. I have also ordered some scenery (I have also come to the conclusion that I need more scatter terrain to block line of sight for various rules) and also some 15mm modern vehicles for Krapistan and some 10mm SCW and fantasy stuff.

WarGames: "Shall We Play a Game?"

The title is a reference to the 1983 movie WarGames when the computer program WOPR asked what kind of game a young Matthew Broderick wished to play. 

Recently, I saw an episode of LittleWarsTV in which the club used ChatGPT to craft a Peninsular War scenario between Spanish Guerrilas and a French force. The approach taken seemed unbelievably easy so I decided to take some practice runs at this AI-driven scenario generation. 

I started off by asking ChatGPT to craft a wargames scenario during the Russo-Swedish War that occurred between 1656-1658. Surprisingly, it provided me a scenario for the Battle of Nyen which I played a few years ago with my friend Alex. I was blown away so I asked for a hypothetical scenario and the AI program gave me a battle where the Swedes were defending a ford crossing  and even gave me the historical context. Simply incredible! Pushing the envelope, I asked the program to craft the scenario using Liber Militum: Tercios wargaming rules and it tailored the scenario, more or less, to what the AI could find regarding the rules. There were things that I would need to tweak but the whole experiment was really quite impressive.

I don't often have a lot of time to game and sometimes scenarios are a time-consuming stumbling block. Using AI to generate plausible scenarios (real or hypothetical) along with the historical context will be incredibly helpful to improve my gaming experience. 

The "Undiscovered Country"...

At the risk of sounding too morose, I titled this post with a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's a favored phrase of mine; I believe it's a reference to the afterlife however I use "undiscovered country" for anything that I (or others) have yet to explore. 

For the purposes of this post, I want to discuss what my next project will be. I still have some 10mm Macedonian cavalry to finish so that I can complete my Successors army for ato The Strongest. But what will be after that?

As I was putting some of my recently painted figures away in storage, I saw my 10mm forced of 1973 Egyptians, Korean War Chinese and 1940s Viet Minh. None of these "armies" have an opponent painted to game against. They were all initially painted up for the Pendraken painting competition but I never got around to painting their opponents. Those are all strong candidates for what will end up on the painting table next. There is also the Fenian Invasion project that is nearly finished and very much languishing. 

I'm also anticipating the purchase of the 10mm plastic Azincourt army sets whenever Wargames Atlantic decides to release them (if you can't tell I have been eagerly and impatiently waiting for their arrival). The plan there is to base them up for Test of Resolve's Hundred Years War variant. 

Only time will tell what I decide to slap some paint on next...

The Alchemist

As a hobbyist and wargamer, often times I'm not using products straight from the tin or bottle. Paints aren't always the exact hue that I want, inks and washes need to be diluted, etc. Improvisation and customization are commonplace. 

I've created many different formulas only to forget the exact ingredients and measurements once the initial batch is done...this leads me trying to recreate mysterious concoctions and makes me feel like some kind of alchemist searching for his recipe to make "gold".

Something as simple as variations in static grass or flocking turf for a basing project has caused me great headache. My WW1 1914 project has spanned several years. My original basing for my French and Germans featured a certain green flocking turf with ample amounts of shrubs (below). 

Years later, I tackled some Belgians for the project (above). I went with few shrubs (easier for gaming and markers) but I learned that I was out of the original flocking turf and went with an approximation that isn't quite a match. 

A similar incident happened with my Crimean War project. Some of my Turks have a vibrant green static grass while others have a dull and muted tone of grass. Not enough of an issue to rebase but enough of an issue to annoy me. 

I really need to start writing down these formulas for my various hobby "gold" recipes....

Some Scenery

I've had these scenery items painted for a month so now but I finally have snapped some photos of them. Scenery is something that I tend to neglect, I have a lot of unpainted items that desperately need to be painted. At any rate, let's showcase the progress I've made recently. 

These bases come from Total Battle Miniatures 3mm village and farm tile range. First up are some Western Europe farms and villages. These will make nice little objective and table scatter for 6mm battles from the 18th and 19th centuries. I have Baccus armies for the War of Spanish Succession and Wars of German Unification. 

Here are the Russian/Eastern European village and farm tiles. A bit drab in natural wood colors, I imagine I will use these for 17th century battles in the Baltic and surrounding areas. I have 6mm Danish and Swedes for the Scanian Wars and I plan to add Ottomans, Poles and Russians as well. 

Last up are some 15mm fuel and ammo caches for my AK-47 Republic Krapistan project. These will make nice game objectives for the various factions to try and capture. As I make more progress with my scenery I will continue to post my finished pieces. 

Most Welcome News...

As you may have guessed from my blog posts, I am a lover of 6mm and 10mm figures. Some of my favorite manufacturers over the years have been Baccus (6mm), Pendraken and Magister Militum (both 10mm). 

Not too long ago, I remember I was in a hotel room in McAllen, Texas when I learned that Magister Militum was closing up shop. This caused a panic as I had multiple projects involving MM figures that were half-complete or never started (WW1, Crimean War, Biblical, etc.). I placed several large orders but I knew that I hadn't ordered everything that I needed. 

Magister Militum closed and I waited for someone to purchase the 10mm historical ranges. A few months back I learned that this had happened but didn't know who the buy was. Today I was delighted to learn that Peter Berry and Baccus acquired the rights to the Magister Militum 10mm historical ranges. It is of great comfort to me to know that I can continue on finishing the various projects that I either never completed not ever started. 

New Purchases and Norse Progess

Since Fall In, I've managed to keep the pedal to the metal and make good painting progress. I finished the painting on my Big Battle Ravenfeast Viking army, with the archers, scouts and Tostig's rebels finished this week. I still need to ink and base the recently painted figures, but once complete will be showcased in blog post of their own. I started working on the Saxon fyrd...my hope is that Rob and I can game these battles at Cold Wars (if there is a Cold Wars).

In other news, I made a few purchases this week. While surfing Tumbling Dice's website, I noticed Jim Jackaman's Corsairs and Cavaliers ruleset for Wings at War range was released. I had to get my hands on these as Jim has been such an inspiration for me. I added some ironclads for the 1879 War of the Pacific to my shopping cart (yest another project I really should tackle and complete).
I also placed a decent sized order from Pendraken, some Boers and Afghans to fight my 19th century colonial British. That reminds me that the Pendraken painting competition is around the 
corner in February although I'm not sure I will participate. 

 

Last but not least, here are some of the scenery pieces I purchased from Monster Fight Club, I plan to use those bushes for trees in smaller scale games like To The Strongest...which reminds me that I really need to start those 10mm Persian, Indian and Macedonian armies for To The Strongest once I finish the Normans and Saxons for Big Battle Ravenfeast.

On the topic of purchases, it seems that Magister Militum's 10mm historical ranges have been sold to a new (and unknown) owner. It was about 14 months ago that Magister Militum stopped taking orders (of things not in stock). I made several very large purchases before the deadline trying to get everything I could possibly need. It didn't take long for me to realize there were things that I wished I had ordered. And of course I recently acquired a large bundle of MM Mid/Late War WW1 Germans and British that I'd like eventually expand upon with some artillery and French ...

2024 Fall In Recap

 Sunday evening is here and another convention has come and gone, this weekend it was 2024 Fall In held in Lancaster, PA. 

I got to the convention early Friday afternoon and met up with my old friend and gaming buddy Rob. We walked around the vendor area and I managed to quickly unload some cash with scenery purchases from Monster Fight Club and a miniatures case from Dave's Baggage Train. 

A few hours later, Rob and I indulged in a tradition established many years ago, a Friday evening naval game hosted by our favorite GM Brian. Occasionally it's an ancient or renaissance galley action but our favorites are games of Brian's age of sail rules Form on the Admiral's Wake. 

The battle was a refight from the Four Days Battle during the Anglo Dutch Wars. I commanded the English center and managed to contribute to the smashing English victory. Rob was on the losing side with the Dutch van.

Lots of really nice looking games and I kick myself that I didn't take as many photos as I intended. The photos above are from a Mad Max game, a Viking raid and Munchkin Wars. 

Saturday I found some good deals in the flea market. I picked up a bag of 10mm WW1 figures from Magister Militum and Pendraken. I look forward to tackling these little fellas some time..I also picked up some decks of Aircraft and Aces cards for Aeronautica Imperialis (a game I own and have never played). 

I hosted two games for Rob, a refight of Killiecrankie and and Anglo Zulu War battle (which I had previously gamed with my friend Alex). 

I won't go into too much detail of the two games since they will be their own separate posts but suffice to say we had a blast. 

The only blemish on the weekend was me not seeing the raffle that was going on during the convention until it was too late to purchase tickets. I normally participate and have had some good luck winning prizes so I was but gutted to realize they just moved it from the normal location. 

As I unpack my things, I'm energized to hobby more and looking forward to the next convention in a few months time. 

Future plans and lots of lead...

As I approach the terminus of the Killiecrankie project (four more Williamite infantry units and some terrain is all that remains), my mind has already begun to figure out what is next. As my mind takes inventory of various projects, I begin to suffer paralysis by analysis and the options are overwhelming. 

Starting at 3mm, I have a collection of WW2 North African theater armies to use with Sam Mustafa's Rommel rules and 1980s SADF and Angolan armies for Tankwreck!

I could stay in 6mm and the 17th century: for Scotland, I still have the lead to flesh out forces for the Argyll Uprising of 1685, my Scanian armies are about 75% complete and I have unpainted figures for 17th century Ottomans, Muscovites and Poles. 

Then there is 10mm, I really do need to finish my Ravenfeast Big Battle armies for the 1066 campaign. I also want to expand my Dux Bellorum armies at some point as well..

There are many other options in 10mm...I am near completion of my Thirty Years War armies. Just a few more Catholic infantry units, some cavalry and baggage would allow me to game the various battles of the Bohemian campaign. 

The Fenian project has stalled somewhere midway through and I do have those pretty War of the Pacific Armies that I could paint up in honor of my Santiago trip. How could I forget the abandoned Crimean War armies or the Risorgimento and there are a few units left to paint for my Mexican American War project. 

I also have various forces for the 20th century conflicts using Five Core Company Commander (Spanish Civil War, Korean War, French Indo China, Yom Kippur,  and some leftover Falklands War stuff). 

I shouldn't even mention 15mm with the South American Wars of Liberation, Carlist Wars and also slews of unpainted 16th century warbands for Irregular Wars. I could add to my 15mm Krapistan armies...I really should do that. 

Since I already mentioned 15mm, I might as well mention 28mm. I don't do too much of this although I have a few In Her Majesty's Name companies that haven't ever left the shrinkwrap of their boxes. Equally shameful is the fact that my Test of Honour Japanese have never been released from their packaging. I wont bring up the 28mm fantasy stuff...

Naval wargaming is also a possibility. I have 1/2400 modern fast craft and missile boats, 1/2400 ironclads for the  War of the Pacific, or tackle my 1/3000 Battle of Copenhagen fleets. 

We've addressed land and sea so I'd be negligent if I didn't bring up the various 1/700 Tumbling Dice aircraft that desperately need paint and the scenery that goes with it. There are aircraft for WW1, Arab Israeli War of 1948, Korean War, Vietnam, Indo Pakistan, Ogaden War and the Falklands. 

For the remainder of 2024, I think I will probably try to finish up one of the above-mentioned projects that is near completion and I really want to tackle my 10mm Macedonian, Persian and Indian armies for To The Strongest! I should really try to address my lead like. 

A Chilean Detour...

I don't often travel for work, although the opportunity is always there I try to avoid it as much as possible. Sometimes, I can not avoid it....as I was making significant progress with my 6mm Killiecrankie project, an unavoidable work trip would require me to Santiago, Chile for 3 days. It would be a whirlwind of meetings but I wanted to make it worth my while in terms of my hobby and passion of wargaming miniatures and military history. 

Prior to the trip, I targeted two museums I would try to visit: Museo Histórico y Militar de Chile (Chilean Military History Museum) and Fundación Museo Guerra del Pacífico (Museum of the War of the Pacific). 

On the second day of the trip, I made a rather difficult trip to the Chilean Military History Museum. 

The museum was in a barracks style building and had displays beginning with the indigenous populations and their contact with conquistadors and covering up to 1970s or 1980s. 

My primary interests were the Wars of Independence (I have partially painted armies in 15mm) and the War of the Pacific (partially painted armies in 10mm and babies navies in 1/2400). 

Throughout the museum there were awesome dioramas of battle scenes. The figures ranged between something similar to HO scale all the way up to 54mm or so. In the picture above, the diorama is a clash between conquistadors and the indigenous tribes. 

The museum also had displays of mannequins in uniforms which were quite interesting. These two fellows are from the War of Independence wearimg various fatigue caps. 

I believe this is a diorama of the battle of Chacubuco (1817). In this battle the Patriot forces of San Martin defeated a Royalist army. 

This is a diorama of the Battle of Rancagua during the early years of the war of independence (1814 perhaps), in this battle the Royalist forces were victorious. 

This rather interesting diorama is the battle of Yungay in 1839 from the wars of confederation. I have to admit I don't know much about this period of conflict. 

There were some nice exhibits of the War of the Pacific which showcased weapons and uniforms. On display were a helmet and cuirass from the Bolivian cuirassiers which was interesting to see. 

The museum had a video presentation for the War of the Pacific but I didn't have time to watch it. Since it was quickly approaching the closing time for the museum, I walked through the later sections a little more quickly and snapped photos. 

The museum touched upon some civil wars or revolts and WW1 and WW2. There was a full-size replica of a German trench and also of cross-cut M3 Stuart tank. 

The museum appeared to finish up with military equipment from the 1970s and 80s as well as an expedition to Antarctica. 

On the way back to my hotel, I stopped off at Palacio de la Moneda which is the presidential palace. A coworker and I discussed the 1973 coup which ousted Salvador Allende from power and saw a siege of the Chilean Presidential Palace. We had both saw the movie Civil War on the 9 hour flight to Chile and we remarked on the irony of seeing that movie and it's final scene and walking by Palacio de la Moneda. 

Time wouldn't permit a visit to Fundación Museo Guerra del Pacífico which is a shame..much like Southeast Texas and the battlefield site of Palo Alto, I don't anticipate coming back to this part of the world again. However, my mind has gone to my unfinished projects for the South American Wars of Independence and The War of the Pacific. While I may never revisit this corner of the world again, I can at least revisit these projects.

Claymore 2024

As mentioned in previous posts, I had scheduled a vacation to Scotland centered around attending the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. The other big event I planned to attend would be the Claymore Convention held at Edinburgh College. 

I had a wonderful time, it was very interesting to see the difference between the UK shows and the American conventions. I was really blown away by the friendliness of all the vendors and fellows I chatted with at the flea market and around the games. 

I also had an opportunity to meet some people behind the miniatures and rules I have loved for decades. 

Beautiful displays of Baccus' 6mm offerings in the image above. I ended up placing three orders for pickup from Peter Berry, but the real prize was to finally have a chat with the friendly man I have been ordering from for the past quarter century or so! Peter was as much of a gentleman in person as he has been over email. 

Another notable I was able to meet was Leon from Pendraken (figures seen above). If you follow this blog, you are probably aware that I participate in the Pendraken painting competition most years. I have been a fan of the Pendraken ranges for decades and it was an absolute honor to discuss the hobby and other topics with Leon. I have never really had an interest in the Korean War but I ended up purchasing Chinese and Americans in winter gear...perhaps I can base them with a wintry snow effect...

These are some of Barry Hilton's 1/4800 gems for WW1 naval gaming. While I didn't pick up any of these, Barry was nice enough to sell me a sample pack of his 1/2400 Anglo Dutch Wars ships. These are absolute gems with so many unique and distinctive designs for specific ships of the war. 

Conrad Cairns is subject matter expert when it comes to the Carlist Wars. I am a proud owner of his wargaming guides from both Perry and Helion. In the picture above, you can see some of his brilliant 28mm Carlist figures. It was a real treat to chat with Conrad. After the convention, I realized Conrad also wrote "African Knights" which dealt with the militaries of African kingdoms like Sokoto and Bornu...I wish I had asked him about that..

I spent quite a bit of money and was happy to do so.  Here are some photos of other games I saw in the few hours spent at the convention.

I believe this warship was part of game involving 28mm figures and the siege of Havana or something. Absolutely brilliant stuff.  UPDATE: I was mistaken in my description, this beautiful setup was titled "Descent on the French Coast" and was a Seven Years War display game set up by some gentlemen to honor the memory of their friend and fellow gamer who passed away. I can think of no better way to honor a friend than this. Stunning tribute. My thoughts and prayers to Stuart, his friends and loved ones. 

10mm demo game of Test of Resolve...really neat stuff! The fellows responsible for these rules have recently released a Hundred Years War variant. Since I have already purchased their original War of the Roses set, I decided to purchase this new release. As appealing as the 10mm stuff is, I do have quite a bit of 15mm HYW lead sitting around from an abandoned project.

A really nice looking 15mm refight of the battle of Breitenfield. The use of flooring mats for a game mat was really neat idea.

Early WW1 grand tactical game using 10mm figures (Pendraken I believe). I think it was the battle of the Marne.

Flags of War was showing off a new rules and range called Border Wars that looked like a skirmish style game to fight border reiver actions on a 4x4 gaming area. Similar to Grey for Now games Test of Honour, units were prepackaged with unit cards and such. The ruleset looked to be impressive as well. 

Anyway, I look forward to visiting other UK/European wargaming shows in the future...Peter Berry did say I should attend Joy of Six sometime!