More Shiny Men.

Now it has been some time since my last blog post. What with one thing and another 2 months have slipped away almost unnoticed so it is well past time for another post.

 I am currently giving India a bit of a rest  and putting most of my currently limited painting time into assorted shiny fellas. This not least because they will be having a public outing in November at the Battleground wargames show in Middlesbrough- at least that is the plan.

Frecbh Carabiniers in the later 'posh cuirassier' uniform. Mostly Hinchliffe Foremost. 

 The 'Shinyloo' Napoleonic collection currently stands at something over 400 models which is not huge but does- even though I say so myself, look pretty tasty. The game at the show will be well... 'a bit like Waterloo- only shinier! - and of course a lot smaller. Not trying for a refight in any shape or form but only pinching the basic scenario for the game. Rule will be, as always for 'Shinyloo' games, the venerable 'Charge- or How To Play Wargames' by Young and Lawford- though I shall be grafting on some better morlae rules probably pinched for Charles Grant's 'The Napoleonic Wargame.

Some offiers- The Artillery officer is Connoisseur Infantry Colonel the same but on a Willie Horse. The Eagelbearer is a converted Stadden.

A Highland Charge- a right nixture of a unit this with Stadden, Connoisseur, Minot ,Willie and Hinchliffe Foremost. More to do here. I am waiting for a small order from Bicorne which will include a colour party . Wirdly I have had an email from them saying they HAVE NOT  shipped it. Still trying to work out the point of that 1 

Regular readers will know that the whole 'Shinyloo' project started as an Homage to and a pastiche of wargaming in the 1970s  using models I could never afford back then  but it has grown over the years rather more than somewhat. The basis is still 30mm models by Stadden Suren and Minot but I also have some hard to find Minifigs 30mm and I have bulked up some units with Hinchliffe Foremost and Connoisseur. Al ranges that were around before 1985- most before 1980.

So here are a few pictures of recently finished units and additions- still plenty more to do. 

Frenc Voltigeurs all Stadden 30mm the two NCOs have had plumes added. 

TLC for Old Lead Dudes.

 Now I admit that I am a slow painter. Not for me the drugery of starting att one end of an army and slaving away for hours on same old same old, no I paint what I like when I like.  I paint for relaxation from work and as a brain break from writing Currently I'm on a bit of a shiny kick as a rest from India. So its old lead dudes time once again. The models below all bought second hand mostly off ebay and all needing varying amounts of TLC.

 One for the shiny AWI collection. An old Willie- ie Suren 30mm
Conneticut Light Horse. The horse was tailess  so a tail from a broken old Gee-gee
 was  pinned in place.

 British artillery again the AWI collection. Figurese 30mm Stadden.
 Part of a large job lot I bought at auction. The gun is a modernn piece,
a 6 pdr from t Sash and Saber FIW range.

French Napoleonic now, this time soe Carabiniers lgere unit.
30mm Stadden again but with head swaps.
These models arrived with Old Guard heads
which had been added at some stage in 
their lives.
 I replaced them with shako heads from a mass of Stadden spare parts I bought on ebay. 

 Four old Willies in a line! Part of another ebay purchase.
 These arrived already  primed along wth a bundle of other Napoleonics .
These are the fist on a KGL unit.

...And Finally. A Colonel for the Gordon Highlanders,
A Hinchliffe Foremost model, This one bought new.

If all goes to plan then 'Shinyloo' will hopefully appear at a show later this year  in all of its aged glossy glory - assuming I get enought painted of course. 

Shinyloo5 BadDay at the Blue Bell.

 So for our second outing at the new venue I was in the chair and chose a 'Shinyloo' game since it had been about 2 or perhaps 3 years since the shiny dudes had been out on the table. In the interim I had added a few figures here and there as other posts on this blog will attest but to be truthful I had not realised quite how much I had added to the forces- especially the French. What with all the scenery there was a good bit to go into the back of Shaun's motor for the 5 minute run to the pub.

The gear- ready for loading

Once there we joined an already presnt Andrew and a few minutes later Andrew turned up ! Confused? well not really as only 3 of the 4 people present were Andrew with one using the diminutive when at 'work' - see the front of either of my 2 published books!

So after a quick pint to fortify the inner man we began to set up and play. It was at this point that I realised that I had painted a good few more French than Brits over the last couple of years and that consquently the British were in for a bit of a kicking and so it proved. 

The Frebch Right  as viewd from the British lines 

The table was a long thin one  12 feet by only 4  so I halved the usual long move distances in Charge! but it didn't make much difference as it turned out. Shaun took the British and the two Andrews the French. To begin with honours were about even. The rifles giving some French Voligeurs a bit of stick but not enogh to send them home. French artillery doing the same to the Royal Scots Greys and the Royal Horse artillery beating up some French infantry.

The Scot Greys - in 2 squadrons, backed by a few Royal Dragoons before their encounter with the French Cuirassiers.

The British left Flank.

The French Centre advances.

The fateful moment when the British realised it was not their day. 

 However the French cavalry- seriously out numbering the British now took a hand and launched a charge  of Cuirassiers against the Greys and a secondary move by the Dragoons against the troop of Hussars watching the British left flank./Despite being outnumbered the Hussars held their own in the first turn of melee (actually no casualties on either side)  but the Greys were not so lucky losing casualties in the melee to add to those suffered from the artillery. This however was not the end of British woes. Over on the British right the Rifles had been successfully fighting off the voltigeurs but had not been watching their right flank.This had allowed the Polish Lancers time to get through an unoccupied village and smash into the Rifles flank.  Virtually wiping out the  first company. Added to this a second French cavalry unit- more Dragoons  made their way   behind the British right. With French infantry pressing his centre there was little for the Britisdh commander ot do put  pull out .

Die hard gamers might have wanted to carry on with the dice rolling but it really would have been pointless as once the British flanks had gone it was all over bar the shouting Now I need to paint more British before these fellas come out again later this year. 

As for the rest of the day  all went well. The food at the Blue Bell is rather good with an eastern mediterranean bent. We shall - all being well- be back there next month when it shall be time for some tanks. 

A Big Shiny One.

  It has been some time since I did anything of any comsequence to my 'Shinyloo' project though I have been adding a figure or two here and tthere and even aquiring  a few lots of 'pre-loved' items- in some cases very pre and not very loved. Best of the lot - and in good nick was a lot containing 10 Minifigs 30mm French Guard Chasseur a Cheval on Minifigs 30mm horses.  This little lot, when finished will double the size of Napoleon Shinyparte's Chasseur regiment- and unlike those I already have will be on the correct horses. 

A bunch of recently finished shiny additions Left to right 30mm Minifig, Connoisseur Mameluke on Willie horse Connoisseur Mamluke  on Stadden horse, Minifig 30mm Chasseur on the correct horse and Minifg Chassuer on Stadden Horse..
 Comedy caption - 'You can't shoot at us - we have posher trousers than you!'



Next a short video clip showing the 44th Foot. Mostly Stadden 30mm with a couple of Minot 30mm in there as well. Still a tiny bit to do. Another drummer and perhaps a fifer and Drum Major. Most urgent being to make all the sabot bases the same colour- the paler green, and add a new phinial to the Kings Colour. These have been in their boxes for a few years.

Hoping to get the whole collection out for a game or two this year- maybe even at a show. We shall see. 

Retro English Civil War.

  A recent FB post on that  splendid  'Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Group' group  once again mentioned the almost legendary TV series 'Battleground ' of the late 1970s.So far the only TV series featuring  Historical MINIATURES Wargaming. There have been others doing it with computers and one rather poor effort with maps , sandtables and coloured counters but this is still the only show with toy soldiers at its heart. It is ublikely that we will ever see its like again. For the record there were 6 episodes made by Tyne-Tees TV four of these can be found on YouTube. Take a look.

Mixed unit of Hichliffe and Garrison. The Garrison Pikemen have had the cast pikes replaced. 

However this post is a bit more personal. Some years ago now  my wife Carole bought an ECW collection  for me one Christmas. This collection contained some of the units which had featured in the 'Edgehill' episode of that series  and further in the Ospey 'Naseby' book by Peter Gilder and Stuart Asquith.

A couple of the guns hiding behind some more modern gabions. 

Prince Ruperts Charge- some later additions here by my hand. 

 

A Green Regiment - again Hinchliffe and some Garrison. I think these were originally Duncan Macfarlane's 

Recently changing my computer to a much needed newer model I fear I have lost some of the pictures I took of the collection . However here are  some I found. More will appear  even if I have to take new ones . 

Some of the cavalry- Hichliffe Foremost 'Prince Ruperts Charge' 

 A few more of the cavalry - placed upon the issue of battle wherethey form part of the front cover

I do have more to take picture of. A unit of Cuirassiers - all on rather small identical horses- as well as more infantry.

And Finally... The photo in the Naseby book with the Kings Lifeguard of Foot and the actual models .

Shinyloo- Cavalry

  I thought I'd take a few pics of some of the still growing 'Shinyloo' collection. Since I had recently restored a couple of rather battered Minot 30mm French Cuirassiers as well as a couple more Stadden Scots Greys, then some pics of those two units having a bit of a barney seemed apparopriate. 

Frecnh Cuirassiers .Minot with the extravagant movements Stadden next to them and 3 Willies on Stadden horses behing. The Trumpeter is also a Willie. 

A'Helicopter' shot with a few Hincliffe /Foremost Carabinieirs added. 

Now  Napoleonic purists might wail and gnash their teeth and I would not blame them but this will not be as bad as  Ridlyscottaloo after all this is not Waterloo but Shinyloo- like Waterloo only shinier!

Enter the Scots Greys !

 For those unfamiliar with my 'Shinyloo' project it is rather more a pastiche of how my wargaming might have been in the 1970s if I could have afforded it back then. So now it is pure self indulgeance. 

 Scotland Forever perhaps? 

The vast majority of the models are 30mm Stadden ,Willie, Minot or Minifigs with a few Hincliffe and Connoiseur becasue they look good.  Almost all bought second hand and some in shocking condition so the poor chaps often need more than a little TLC. Shiny because back in the 1970s a decent properly matt varnish was almost unobtainable and shiny gloss varish protected the models much better than dodgy matt and gave them a rather nice porcelain look and feel.

Also somehow these older models with their distinctive individual styles look better shiny. 

Bitsa this and Bitsa that.

 Over the last few weeks I have been trying to  progress on three different projects. Now those of you who don't get bored when organising their socks in colour and numerical order may thing this a little odd. Well maybe it is but single minded concentration on 1 wargaming project to the exclusion of all others would simply bore me witless and the quality would therefore suffer.

 So Gentle Reader  my painting table always has more than one lot of partly painted figures on it. 

 Currently the projects in hand are- 

 1/. Anglo -Sikh Wars. This is progressing nicely. I now have forces for both sides that are bigger than the game shown in the Sikh and Ye Shall Find post a few months back. Currently working on the 1st Bengal European Light Infantry. This is the most pressing of the projects as I need to add sufficient to the two armies for a demo game at The  Battle Ground Wargames show in late November - by which time my book on wargaming  the Anglo- Sikh wars should be imminent if not actually published. Once 1 BELI are done then it is on to 2nd Bengal Native Infantry Grenadiers. Assorted Sikh Irregulars will fill in any gaps on the painting table.

Bengal or Bombay  Field battery- with a 9 pdr. In front 
of a British camp. Bengal Native Infantry in the background.

The same Foot battery with the first of the  First Bengal European Light Infantry.
 More of these on the painting table.
Old Glory  28mm figures . Gun by Eagle Figures

2/. Shinyloo!.  I always have a few  retro style models on the table as a sort of light relief. Most recently finished are some French Foot artillery and a few French Dragoons. Both arrived here in a 'sort of painted' state so didn't need everything doing to them hence they were quite quick to finish and add to the growing collection of old shiny dudes. 

Recently added shiny dudes.
 Hinchliffe 30mm French Foot Artillery.
Connoisseur French Dragoons.

3/. 40mm Thirty Year War.  This project has languished for quite a while. Mostly because I simply could not decide which way I wanted to go with it. However two excellent books  recently published by Helion have helped me on the way. So French and Imperialists it shall be, with perhaps a slight accent towards the Spanish of the 1640s-50s.  But then again I might change my mind .... 

40mm TYW
 incongruously appearing in the Punjab!
Models on their sabots are a mixture of my own Romanoff Miniatures some ex-Jacdaw 
 and some with Sash and Saber heads

After reading a line in the recent Helion book on
Rocroi where a Spanish commander takes up a buckler
 I rather thought I'd make such a figure from various Romanoff parts. 
The result is the chap in the middle. 

 The 18 Musketeers no 2 exactly alike . Rebased on round 25mm diameter bases.

Units will be largish so not too many actual units on the table - accent will be on 'minor tactics' and  battalion command, at least that is currently the plan. Rules will be somewhat retro as many modern rules simply 'abstract out'  many of the interesting bits of 17th century warfare in favour of game simplicity for the hard of thinking but the role of a colonel or captain was very different from that of a general and rules should reflect this- you can't refight Lutzen using Pikeman's Lament-  and it is not meant for such  but I'll not use them for this project as they have many other historical and organisational problems despite being supposedly set at the command level I am looking for.. I have found a Featherstone set which may do the deed if I can graft on some command rules.  We shall see. 

Catching up on my Reading 19 . A Blast from the Past.

  Donald Featherstone's Lost Tales .Edited by John Curry.

I've had this volume for a while and never thought of reviewing it until recently. However as a book by one of the 'originators'  of the wargaming hobby as it stands today it deserves a second and even a third look. Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for 'retro' wargaming, often preferring it to some of the gamesey  history free twaddle that masquerades as 'historical wargaming' in this 'modern era'. Now that is not the same as saying that ALL modern 'games' are tripe  - they are not-  but like the curates egg- the modern era of historical wargaming is only good in parts.

In some ways it is a strange book, combining as it does real history and wargaming.

 The real history consists of Featherstone's 'War Memoirs' and a short history of the Army Tank battalion he served with . This last has  several gameable scenarios   within its narrative as well as the rather unusual organisational quirks of 51st Battalion Royal Tank Regiment with its mixture of Sherman  and Churchill tanks while in Italy. There is also an essay on 'The Birth of Modern Wargaming'  which should set the record straight concerning how what we have today began in the late 50s /early 60s which 'Millenial wargamers' should read . The picture of wargamers of yesteryear in Jackets and ties will raise a smile or three! 

As for the 'Wargaming' bit well the main body of the book is a block of Featherstone rules actually a total of  12 sets by either Featherstone himself or Tony Bath covering most of the popular and a couple of more obscure periods. Some a very simple, even simplistic, and many are also rather skeletal in terms of the actual amount of rules given. These are not 'games' in the sense many expect today. They assume some pre-knowledge of period and some suspension of belief- especially with regard to Command and Control and  formations This does not mean they are useless. A decent Umpire can use their vey simplicity and skeletal nature as a toolrack to hang his scenarios upon adding scenario specific rules as required. Games using these rules will be fast and bloody- especially in the Horse and musket era. There are no set unit sizes here  although there are some suggestions.

 Arthur Harman's useful  introduction to the rules section of the book points out many of the possible pitfalls and inconsistencies and his point about the suitability of these rules for small actions is well made and to the point and the lack of period detail is also mentioned. However I would opine that such lack may at times be advantageous to the well read Umpire, and as a fan of 'Active Umpiring' the very simplicity has its uses.

 To be honest it is unlikely that I'd  umpire a game using these rules without some amendments more than once or twice ,as usual I treat rules as a toolbox and feel free to amend as alter as needed in much the same way  Donald Featherstone  advocated.

So  yes I recommend this book to chaps who have an interest in the development of our hobby. Don was after all one of the pioneers.

More TLC for old lead dudes.

Over the last couple of years I have become quite enamoured of the old Minifigs 30mm ranges. They went out of production in the UK sometime in the early 1970s though I have been told that some are still in production in the USA, but, so far, I have not been able to track them down.

 Now I don't have a huge number of these chaps as - currently- as I understand it at the moment, they seem to fall into 2 groups which, for now, I shall call 'Early' and 'Late' .

Minifigs 30mm Scots Greys. These will be joining the 'Shinyloo' collection..

 The early chaps seem to have had separate arms but still the minifigs look I have some Chasseurs of the Guard  which I pit on Stadden horses as I didn't have any minifigs horses when I painted them. A bundle of highlanders - again with separate arms and all flank companies complete with sporrans, a couple of British light infantry in the tapered shako- separate arms and about a dozen  funny looking blokes in British style kit who may perhaps be Rifles  but seen to be supplied with muskets and don't have a rifles waistbelt.

Another view of the Greys - considering these fellas are some half a century old they stand up rather well.

 The 'later' blokes don't seem to have separate arms I have both British and French  gun crews and some rather nice limber horses  and a single British limber. Some very sturdy British guns. The bulk of this group are cavalry, including the newly restored Scots Greys in the photos. I have Prussian Hussars and French Cuirassiers still to restore as well as some of the aforementioned gunners.

The Officer model-. I had to file up a new sword blade when I broke the original.

By today's standards these are  by no means perfect  (on these chaps facial details is pretty basic) but then 'perfection' is overrated, not to say boring, at least when it comes to toy soldiers/ wargames figures/model soldiers (take your pick) 'Perfection' tends to lack character and difference. I like to be able to tell one maker from another thanks  rather than have to deal with  collections of perfect clones. One of the reasons I like some older ranges is simply that they have some differences from each other. There is no 'tedium of 'perfection' here. 

A trooper. I rather like the horse. .

Shinyloo 4- Shinymanca !

Now ensconced in our new venue a band of 4 stout members convened for a game  this month.

 I was in the chair and decided to get the shinies out since it has been more than a few months indeed years since this collection of retro models has seen the light of day. Indeed I checked back and it has been  Three YEARS since thse fellas were last on the table. 

The scenario would be based very very loosely upon the battle of Salamanca - or so I thought when I laid out the terrain  but well - as you shall see it wasn't.

Part of the British force.

So the scene was set the beer was pulled - well lager actually but Moretti is very drinkable on a warm June day and Young and Lawford's Charge was to be used for the fighting - with no amendments simply because I wanted to re-familiarise myself with the rules as they were written before I started fiddling about. So very retro old chap. 

Some of the French.

 The forces were somewhat larger than earlier games because I had been adding to the collection over the last 3 years. The French especially were stronger in cavalry but this would in Napoleonic terms still be a small action rather than a battle. In round numbers the French had about 140 foot 40 cavalry and 3 guns. The British 150 foot 20 cavalry and 3 guns. All retro 30mm figures mostly Stadden but with a few Willies rather more Minot and a small number of Minifigs 30mm. There were a few Hinchliffe gunners too and a sprinkling of Connoisseur which while being a tad small fitted in in terms of style  and movement which is far more important than mere millimetres.

Andrew the Tekkie took the French and Theatrical Steve the British. Mechanical Shaun arrived late  having been unavoidably detained but would later join the French.

More of the French- from their rear. Note the very retro Merit trees from the 1960s

The fight opened with artillery fire which didn't actually do any damage at first but then first blood went to the British when they killed a couple of the newly painted Lancers . The Brits then advanced a rifles company on their left to counter a wood full of voltigeurs and a little popping fight began which again did little harm to either side.

British Artillery. A mix of Hincliffe and Stadden Horse artillery and Minifigs 30mm foot artillery.

 Now at last the French began to move. They massed their cavalry in an attempt to smash through the British centre. Very Marshall Ney- especially as they didn't see fit to support the attack with any of their infantry who simply stood about looking pretty.

Don't fire till you see the shine of their varnish !

 The resultant carnage was definitely a case of Magnificence  rather than war. Cuirassiers and Lancers fell to British artillery and musketry and although the Chasseurs of the Guard made contact and caused casualties amongst the 44th Foot they didn't do enough harm to cause the British more than a slight inconvenience.

 The rebuff of the cavalry charge seemed to unnerve the French who simply repaired to the bar after calling the game over, which whilst a bit premature perhaps was almost certainly the correct decision as will almost no cavalry left they would have been at the mercy of a British counter attack had Steve got around to it.

Other points. I should have used a bigger table but since we are still finding our feet at our new venue I underestimated the number we would need- more are available- and the next time this lot come out the table will be twice the size. Also although I like Charge  I may try other retro rules here such as Grant or maybe Featherstone . I even have a set of the very old London Wargames Section Napoleonic rules which are at least 50 years old. Of course I could also use In the Grnad Manner of General De Brigade if I so choose. That is the advantage of non  rules specific armies.

 Thanks must go to Andrew the Tekkie's Dad Norman for  allowing the use of the venue.

 We'll be back .

In the Shine again ....

 I've been up to my armpits in India recently - well as far as figure painting goes anyway  so I feel as if I have rather neglected 'shinyloo' and indeed other retro-wargaming projects.. I've done the odd figure or two but no new actual finished units. But I simply can't leave the shiny dudes alone ! 

When I look at my 'shiny' collection it covers three periods 

 ECW which is probably the largest of the three and  is still - very slowly- growing or at least is intended to grow as I have some Hinchliffe cavalry  to finish as well as about a regiments worth of foot- some to be added to units I received in the big bundle of shiny ECW my wife bought me for Crimbo some years ago and to which I have added quite a few bits to since, more cavalry for both sides mostly . Still some reconditioning to do  and 'painting in the style of'  to finish units. About 500 figures and far far too many guns.

A pair of very aged 30mm Minifigs after a bit of TLC. These are the only examples of these particular models that I have  but then I do rather like them. 

Napoleonic. Shinyloo' of course which is mostly a 30mm collection  and has posts of its own. Still being added to. At some point in the future I would love to do a 'shiny-demo' at a show . A pastiche of wargaming in the 1970s .... wonder if I still have a kipper tie ! This collection is now knocking on the door of about 350 finished figures and still growing Loads more to do at least 3 and a bit shoeboxes full oh and a veggie box full of limbers and guns and well ; stuff. ..

Two Stadden 30mm  Mamelukes. These will join the Chasseurs A al of the Guard. 

Old Glory Bavarians  for 'Shinynine' when it gets properly off the ground. 

I also have some more modern Napoleonics - Old Glory of course  for 'shinynine' an 1809 project in the same vein as 'shinyloo' , This hasn't really got off the ground yet as I have only done a few French and Bavarians and a single Austrian Uhlan unit.

Napoleon Shinyparte ! Boney is a Willie  but on a Stadden Horse

Finally 'shinyrev' The AWI in 30mm using mostly Stadden models with a few Willies. Still less than 100 models rebased and shined up  but more to do. including a good number that  are already painted, some by Dave Jarvis when he was much younger than he is now ! Most need a bit of TLC and rebasing as they fought through the 80s and 90s and even into this century and nice new shiny coats. These were the first 30mm I ever bought back in the 80s. I've added numbers since . I've 2 shoeboxes full of unpainted castings

An Finally a few Stadden  30mm AWI

Oh ... and just to be clear I have plenty of armies that are not shiny. Shiny does not suit everything. 

Shinyloo quickie.

A few more shiny dudes finished means that this is now a four company French "regiment". Still some way to go- the rest of the Tete de Colonne for a start and for the look of the thing I want 5three centre companies at least. then with those and the Grenadier company the regiment will form an attack coloumn 2 companies wide and 2 deep. This should be pretty meaty under "Charge!"- which have become my go-to rules for gaming with this collection. Actual models are a mixture of Stadden  Hinchliffe/ Foremost and a few Connoisseur which last I have a bundle to paint.... when  I get the time .