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!

Scanian Progress

I've been making steady progress on the 6mm Scanian War "diversion"...while I've temporarily abandoned all of the other partially completed projects (Thirty Years War, Fenian Invasion and Big Battle Raven Feast). 

I've been focusing on Swedish infantry and I can report I have five infantry units complete, I will wait to complete the remaining Swedish foot when I get some figures with karpus and matchlock. 

A review of the Hoglund book indicates these colorful little canaries are the Sodermanlands Regiment. One of my favorite so far they are very bright.

The fellows in grey coats and yellow cuffs are the Vastgotadals regiment. I think they look rather sharp in this color combination. 

Next up are some Swedish artillery wearing grey with blue trim and wearing karpus. I left the gun carriages in natural wood because I saw some 28mm League of Augsburg artillery painted up in this manner. If you are going to copy someone, copy someone good!

Here is a group picture of the completed Swedish bases. If you read my previous post post on this project, you may be wondering where the Swedish cavalry unit wandered off to...the answer is that I am in the process of rebasing them. 

I thought they were a bit too sparsely populated (as seen above) on the base so I decided to cram 2 more figures on the base. Only problem is that I only had one spare painted figure. They are a work in progress as you can see below. 

Next up was my initial first into the Danish army. I went with a cavalry unit. Apparently some of the Danish cavalry wore pot helmets so I used this opportunity to paint up some of those sculpts. I gave them buff coats and blackened cuirass but apparently these (cuirass) weren't all that common with Danish horse. I think one unit may have worn them so this inaccuracy won't really bother me.

I like the red of the uniform trim. I think the color pops. Next up will be some more cavalry (maybe Danish horse in hats and the green-coated Fynske infantry Regiment).  I placed a rather large order with Baccus for my trip to Scotland and my visit to the Claymore Convention in Edinburgh.

 

Yet more Catholic League Reinforcements

Despite my 6mm Scanian War diversion, I continue to grind away on my 10mm Thirty Years War armies. As previously mentioned, my armies are based on those present at the battle of Fleurus so all of my Catholic infantry are in large tercio field squares. 

To allow my armies to fight other battles of the Bohemian campaigns, I needed some Catholic League infantry in smaller units. My plan was to add 5 regiments from for the Catholics and paint them up as Bavarians and other German cities. I opted for dark red and cornflower blue as dominant colors. With three of the five complete, I like the look this far. Once the Catholic League units are done, I will paint up some more cavalry, artillery and baggage and add one all-shot Protestant unit then call the project done! 

Here is a blue regiment with a flag indicating they are either from Bavaria or Cologne. I suspect Catholic League armies used blue sashes but for my armies all Catholics wear red and all Protestants wear blue. 

The next unit is in dark red and their front rank of shot are getting ready to deliver a volley of lead. The flag is a yellow cross on a dark red field. 

 

6mm Scanian War

A few years back, I was really tempted by Baccus' 6mm Sun King/Scanian War range. To satisfy that temptation I purchased a few starter armies and then they just sat in a box waiting until the came to forefront of my painting queue. 

Recently I've been playing Liber Militum Tercios for the Thirty Years War in 10mm and recently I played a game of Tercios with my buddy Alex using his 15mm By Fire and Sword figures for the period of The Deluge wars. The idea popped into my mind to paint up my 6mm Scanian War stuff for Tercios. This would allow me to put my units on big bases (which I love) and give me the opportunity to revisit 6mm (which I also love). 

The plan is to collect and paint small armies for the Danes and Swedes and also armies if Poland-Lithuania, Russia and Ottomans. These armies can cover anything from the Deluge to Scanian Wars. I managed to paint up my first three Swedish infantry units and here they are.

First up is a unit in red/white and with the karpus headwear. Using the excellent Lars Eric Hoglund book on Swedish army of the Scanian War as a reference, this unit was painted up to represent the Skane-Blekinge regiment. After I painted them up, I realized the Baccus flag sheet doesn't have their flag so I had to use another unit's colonel flag. I presume the Skane-Blekinge Colonel's flag was similar to this one. 

Next up is the Halsinge regiment in their grey and green scheme. At this point I should mention the unit bases are 65mm x 35mm which allows me to fit 6 strips of shot, 2 strips of pike and a command stand to the base. 

The final unit was supposed to be Vastmanlands but I realized that the Baccus flag sheet doesn't have this unit. Since the command strips in hat have two flag bearers, I couldn't just steal someone else's Colonel's flag so I referred to the Hoglund book and learned that the Dalregiment wore a similar blue/red uniform and hat previously so I used their flags instead. 

When I ordered the armies from Baccus, all of the figures had firelocks. I wish that I had ordered matchlocks instead. I prefer the slightly bulkier look of the figures and it would be more appropriate if I'm using them for the earlier Deluge conflict. I plan to visit the Baccus booth at Claymore so I will be purchasing quite a few more figures then...

UPDATE: I managed to finish the first Swedish cavalry unit. Not sure which unit they are. According to Hoglund, most didn't have uniforms other than a buff coat. I have decided to match the saddle blankets and and rolls to the colors of the standards and give them all buff coats. Anyway here they are:

I gave the impression of a blackened cuirass for these guys as you can see in this rear image. 

I'm reasonably happy with the results. Looking forward to painting more. 

TMWWBK: Run for the Hills!

Tonight, Alex and I met up over at Huzzah Hobbies for our scheduled game. This time we would be playing some The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK) in 10mm. I chose Scenario E "Run for the Hills", where our 22 points British force was tasked with making it to the other side of the table. A 24 point Zulu forces would be coming from both sides to stop them. 

(The Leopard's Lair regiment...they would cover themselves in glory and blood this battle)

I was commanding the British and had "A", "B" and "C" companies of the 24th along with a contingent of Natal Native Horse (NNH) starting out on the right side of the table. Alex's Zulus had 3 regiments on each side (top and bottom) of the table. 

I began the game with the horse in the lead and the 3 infantry columns in March behind them (top to bottom: "A", "B" and "C"). Since the British have to roll leadership to move (shooting is their free action), there was some sputtering about. 

Alex inched his closest regiments forward as they (ineffectively) tried to skulk behind cover. Meanwhile, the Horse decided to run the gauntlet, make for the hills and leave their redcoat friends in the dust. This turned out to be a mistake. 

(The Sharp Points regiment looking for an opening to strike...they wouldn't find it)

The unmarried regiment "The Leopard's Lair" lurched forward and released a disorganized blast of muskets dropping some of the horsemen to include their commander Burt Lancaster Colonel Durnford. Leaderless and pinned, The Leopard's Lair closed in for the kill and wiped out the NNH to a man. 

Wishing to strike back, "C" company stopped moving and starting unloading hot lead into the Black Mamba regiment. After a few turns, the Black Mamba were no more. 

A company was attempting to follow suit against the Sharp Points (an unmarried regiment). "A" company didn't find quite the same success although they did drop some of their enemy . 

The other Zulu regiments closed in on the front of the British force and it was the Leopard's Lair who managed to shrug off the Martini-Henry rounds and crash into the thin red line of "B" company. The Leopard's Lair washed their blades in blood and drove back "B" company. C company attempted to come to their rescue and moved forward to cover "B" company's withdrawal. 

"C" company fought valiantly but were ultimately cut down to a man. The Zulu hordes would be cut down and pinned from rifle fire but would ultimately rally against the odds to surge forward. Soon "B" company was also wiped out, leaving just "A" company to continue the fight against the decimated Zulu regiments. 

Ultimately, :A" company managed to fend off the last desperate attacks of the Zulus and wipe them out to a man but they were left with just two bases of the original 12 from their company. As the remnants of "A" company marched off into the sunset, a tally of victory points showed the Zulus won 6 VPs to 1VP. 

(Remnants of  "A" company dispatching the last of the Zulus..or the other way around?)

The rules were incredibly simple and easy to play, especially with the various game aids (unit cards, QRS, etc). With units fighting to last man, it certainly felt cinematic. I think both Alex and I enjoyed the baskets of dice and the resulting carnage.

People passing by remarked that they liked how the 10mm made the tabletop feel like a real battle. I agree, the 10mm with TMWWBK really changed the look of the game and made it feel much more "grand". All in all, a fun time.

 

Game preparation: TMWWBK

This coming Wednesday Thursday, my gaming buddy Alex and I will be playing a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings. The armies will my my 10mm Anglo-Zulu War stuff that I painted up several years ago for this very ruleset. This will be the first time playing the rules for both Alex or myself.  

 

To make things a bit smoother (hopefully), I watched a few YouTube videos on gameplay and I have printed up some game aids: quick reference sheets and unit profile cards. The cards are from the Shed Wars blog site, I ended up making one in the same style for the Natal Native Horse that will be on the table. I will probably make some game counters to reflect when units are pinned, close order, volley fire, or gone to ground. 

I have read some battle reports and reviews that mention native forces can really get bogged down when they are pinned. To help motivate this potential issue, I will add some terrain to break up the lines of sight for the Martini-Henry rifles and offer both cover and concealment for the Zulu forces. 

Here are some representative stands of the six Zulu regiments that will be on the tabletop (L-R): 

inDlondlo aka “Black Mamba” (Married)

InGobamakhosi aka “Bender of Kings” (Unmarried)

amaPhela aka “Cockroaches” (Married)

uThulwana aka “The Dust Raisers” (Married)

iNdluyengwe aka “The Leopard’s Lair” (Unmarried)

UmCijo aka “Sharp Points” (Unmarried)

The six Zulu regiments total up to a 24 point force. Our plucky British will field 3 companies from the 24th Regiment of Foot, the South Wales Borderers and a small unit of Natal Native Horse totalling up 22 points. The majority of the figures are Old Glory with a few Pendraken mixed in. All of the Native Horse with the exception of the English officer (Colonel Durnford perhaps?) are Pendraken. 

When I was initially planning this out, I thought I would paint up a small Zulu kraal and play out Scenario B: "Seek and Destroy" where my British would need to raze the native village to the ground. Real life intervened and that kraal was never built. Instead, I think either Scenario A: "Just Passing By" or Scenario E: "Run to the Hills"  might be a better option. In both of these, the British will have to be moving, so they will be less likely to deploy in close order firing lines. If it is the latter scenario, I will have to ditch the Native Horse to get down to the 18 points for the defender. 

Regardless of what scenario, I'm looking forward to getting some lead on the tabletop and rolling buckets of dice! 

10mm Belgians 1914

Years ago, I embarked on a early WW1 project and painted up decent sized French and German armies for the opening weeks of the Great War. Nearly all of the figures were from the Magister Militum range (I had to use Kallistra dismounted cavalry and also opted for Pendraken artillery pieces). I always wanted to add some Belgians into the mix and found some on eBay some time ago. The unpainted figures languished in my collection and so I decided to finally tackle them. Here are the results. 

Here we have 4 battalions (each comprising of 4 infantry companies and a command base), a brigade MG company base and a regimental commander. I plan to add two more infantry battalions, perhaps a chasseur battalion and some other brigade assets. 

Close up of a battalion. Each base represents a company. The blue greatcoats are a bit darker in person. I have read they were a blue/black and attempted to recreate that with these guys (perhaps a bit more blue than actuality). 

A different angle of the same battalion. I will probably paint a battalion in black/green greatcoats and yellow shako pompoms to depict some chasseurs a pied. Unfortunately there aren't any Carabiniers in the Magister Militum range (although oddly they do have Carabinier machine gun crews). 

In an attempt to match the basing of the German and French armies, I went with a fine green turf flocking material. I prefer static grass these days but I wasn't displeased with the result. 

Closeup of the maxim machine gun. I use a homebrew, 2 page quick play ruleset I obtained from a friend over at the HAWKs wargaming group. 

Another angle of the machine gun base. I ordered a 3D print Minerva armored car that will provide some firepower that those plucky, outmanned and outgunned Belgians. 

 

Lastly, here is a picture of the regimental commander which is a French general from Magister Militum's Crimean War range. Unfortunately, there are quite a few gaps in the MM WW1 range (no senior command, no dismounted cavalry, no Russians, etc.) and I don't expect that to be rectified since the company has shut up shop.