Durham Wargames group Open Day

Yes I was there. Wearing my T.W.A.T.S   hat rather than my Old Glory hat. This year I was a mere player on a splendid demo game devised by Andrew the Tekkie and Theatrical Steve.
 Set in 1985 the Cold War had gone hot.  Warpact forces have crossed the inner German Border and have seized territory . However by Day 6 of the offensive they are beginning to run out of steam. Est German forces hold the town of Bratberg and have orders to deny the town and its Autobahn link to West German forces approaching at speed..
Jim the builder and I your gentle author command the forces of Freedom and Theatrical Steve and Mechanical Shaun those of the DDR . Andrew the tekkie is in the Umpire's chair and the table- 10 feet by 6  is laid out for a splendid encounter using Steve's excellent 20mm collection. For a chap used to 15mm these tanks are bloody Huge .

Around move 3 West German forces take possesion of a small hill and a wood as the jumping off point for the assault on Bratberg.

 Now a short break to discuss a few other matters .... Doubtless chaps have notice our groups name. The Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society.. Now as we were setting up some aged grey haired old bird stuck her oar in  to comment that it wasn't right as children might be present. Now as it happens we don't put up a banner or anything to  refer to the group by name so she must have read this blog or perhaps my  facebook announcement- she was part of a trade stand selling not much at all as far as I could see- still what is had to do with her is anyones guess. Nevertheless  ignoring her "New Puritan" stance we continued to set up, my only remark- in a loud "stage whisper" being "Don't forget lads, tleave the end 2 feet of the table clear- I need somewhere to put my beer and Fags !"  Well if you don't like it, tough. I do not and will not indulge in my hobby only for the edification of someone else's possibly present brats- especially if they are not there. Equally I do not go out of my way to offend either BUT I will not be browbeaten by narrow minded old  birds who should  mind their own bloody business. Even if as is likely in this instance they are younger than I. Since when pray tell has our many faceted hobby been all about children.

East German forces move into cover to counter .

 Moving on to the show. It felt a little less busy than last year- but I was told that the gate was exactly the same  but contrariwise it did not die as early as previously so may be the flow was better. Certainly there were more games as trader numbers were down by at least 3 on previous years. As regards the trade  Irregular, Colonel Bills  and Hoka Hey Wargames catered more or less for wargamers the rest seemed to be boardgames or fantasy dudes with the exception of Worley Books- who as usual saw some of my money. I did see some rather splendid SCI-Fi figures available and some lovely Conan style fantasy Barbarians - but the Prices Jeez! and I think they were resin too- so a tad fragile to boot. . At £2.50 (foot) each a Barbarian Horde is out of the question- tempted though I was for at least 3 seconds.

The Armoured Fist moves up,

A hind pops up but is engaged by Roland. missiles

Roland does the deed. 

 As for the game- well the forces of Freedom won- our plan was a fient on the left - with air support then a massive punch on the right and it worked(shocked surprise may also have occoured)  but it was a damned near run thing  and for once the odious cubes were not always so odious- though they did their share. Once or twice they were even kind as when Roland shot a Hind out of the sky .. A full battle report will appear on Andrew the Tekkies blog Tantobie Internet Tattler- which initials doubtless aforementioned Grandmama would not wish to sully here eyes with. We are thankful for small mercies.
 The Resistance Lives ON.

As usual at this show the conversations with fellow enthusiasts were many and varied. There was a good bit of interest in Steve's wonderful collection of 20mm models. Andrew runs a  good  modern game and he and Steve know their stuff. A good yime had by all - despite the Puritans.
 Next year it will be back to horses and muskets for this event- assuming we are invited- plans are already afoot.

Arrivals

Well finally my shipment arrived- surprisingly a whole day earlier than UPS told me it would. 12 boxes stuffed to the gunnels with little metal men - and a few ships some waggons and the oddbuilding.
 Nearly finished unpacking- 1 more box to go but the knees temporarily protesting so taking a very short break. Stuff I have found includes some excellent Raven Banner games 28mm ACW- all new 20 new codes. Need to sort out exactly what each one is before they go onto the site but they are seriously tasty - even though I've gone off the ACW .
 However my favourites of this shipment have to be the additions to the Blue Moon Italian Wars range- the Generals packs for each side are stupendous and I love the little Italian Infantry with their large oval shields almost Sforza- ing me to paint them ....

Tradition magazine

Tradition Magazine ran for about 10 years from 1964-74 and in that time published a total of 76 issues. I know this as I have a full bound set. It was advertised as the International Society of Military Collectors and for its time was very expensive at 15 shillings - 75p an issue- when Mil -Mod was 15p . It gave a lot of military artists/historians their start- such as Embleton and Fosten as well as publishing articles by the foremost writers of the day such as Young and JBR Nicholson . Also artists include JOB and Jack Ghirbal whose Napoleonic plates are superb It is absolutely stuffed with Uniform details and military history and later writers have frequently used it as a source. . There are even wargaming articles in it - most notably and early version of Grent's - The War Game.
 It has come to my notice that Tradition of London are selling off copies at a HUGE price of £16.00 an issue now I have some extras to sell but would not dream of asking that price- no I think about half that  is a fair price for such quality  with those I have without plates going for half again and a few where some of the plates are missing  counting with those that have none
 Prices for multiple purchases are negotiable any shipping will be charged at cost .
The complete list of those 88 spare magazines I have is below.

Tradition magazine spares list There are multiples of a few issues as noted

Complete magazines including all colour plates

 10 11 22 25 27 32 33 34x2 35x2 37 38x2 39 40 41x2 42 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 54x2 55x2 58 59 61x2 62x3 63x2 65x2 66 67 68x3 73 75x3

Issues that only have some plates enclosed

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Issues without plates- note that early issues did not include plates but colour photos of Tradition model soldiers

 1 x2 2x2 3 4 5x2 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14  26 29 32  33 36 40 44 x2 48 49 51 58  66 67

A total of 88 magazines

Could this be the start of something big?

With the success- at least in our eyes of the first "Shinyloo" game I wondered idly where to go from there. Obviously the next game will be bigger longer and shinier as I get more figures painted. Some of that is already done with more British Infantry added and a few more French too.
But then I thought how about something else in the same style. ?

Voltigeurs of a French Legere unit. Old Glory  figures

The same in Skirmish order. 

 As perspicacious readers will be aware Old Glory do a HUGE range of 25.28mm Napoleonics- actually pretty close in size to 30mm  at least as far as the infantry are concerned.Now with around 5000 different packs of figures it is hard to recall them all so I needed to have a look at what was actually available in the Old Glory range. This re-kindled my long dormant interest in the 1809 campaign in Austria. You know Aspern, Essling and Wagram . Now refighting those battles as a whole is out of the question - at least for me. They are too large and impersonal but as a hook to hang some games on and a generator for scenarios ? Well that is another story.

Old Glory French Infantry in Greatcoats- Painted as Chasseurs of a Legere unit 

Officer in a surtout.

 So here are the first small fruits of this idea. I wonder where it will go ?

Old Glry French A.D.C. 

Day -glo Dog of many pieces>>

I've had the latest Miniature Wargames magazine for almost a week now  but it has taken me quite some time to get over the shock.
Let me explain
 Taped to the front cover was a FREE GIFT apparently  WORTH £17.00 WOW!!  in Day- Glo visi -vest orange no less enough to  spike the eyeballs at 20 yards.
 What I hear you ask was this colourful wonder. Who was giving away the £17.00.
Needless to say the hyperbole did not in any shape of form match the actuality .
 What was actually on the cover was some kind of plastic thingy for yet another of those seemingly endless skirmish -a -likes. Thos one called Wild West Exodus. Which I've only previously noticed due to the loud screaming childishness of it magazine adverts- more  overpriced crap for the kiddies  thought I moving swiftly on.

Some of my 28mm Old Glory Jacobite Highlander- The Stewarts of Appin

 So here we have a collection of plastic bits which supposedly make up into "gun-dog" - that is neither pointer ,setter or Labrador and indeed is not a dog at all but some kind of model robotic quadruped in about 20 bits- the sprue has 31 parts but there seems to be some alternative builds to judge by the 3 pages of the mag devoted to the assembly and painting of this"little gem" . £17.00 - bugger off perhaps 17p maybe even a quid at the price of some of this fantasy plastikrap but do not pull my plonker I did not fall out of the idiot tree yesterday ....

Jacobite High Command.

The Royal Eccossois

However once past this screaming dross and its other assorted infomercials(an exclusive interview(who cares) and and exclusive new scenario {bore-o-meter already on 11})we don't actually have a bad magazine. Of actual articles there are several including Jon Sutherland refighting Agincourt, Alex Webster on the Jacobite rising of 1745 (always interesting to me)  and Dave Tuck and Malc Johnston on the Boers battles against the Zulu. Add to that Robert Piepenbrinks WW2
article- Ardennes both 1940 and more famously 1944 and Diane Sutherland on using railways on the table and there is actually reading matter here for people who don't normally use their fingers for the long words. The usual review colums are as always useful and only my constant request to drop the pointless club guide in the internet age needs to be repeated yet again to complete  a review of a magazine which should not under any circumstances be judged by its cover.

Carronade this coming Saturday.

 This coming Saturday May 12 will see OGUK at Carronade . This is a splendid club show in Falkirk- Scotland that is ! At its usual venue of the
 GREAME HIGH SCHOOL CALLANDER ROAD FALKIRK FK1 1SY.

28mm Ottoman Turks 

More Turks- Spahi or Suvallieri.

 We will be taking all of our usual show stock in 10mm 15mm 18mm and 28mm  including ranges from
 Old Glory
 Blue Moon
Sash and Saber 28mm ACW
 Raven Banner Games 28mm ACW
and Drabant.
 as always the"6 for5" deal will be in operation and although it is a bit late you can still get a pre-order in if you are quick

28mm Wars of Religion.

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 Deadline will be 3.00 pm tomorrow afternoon as after that the van will be getting loade up for a very early start on Saturday morning

18mm Colonials from the HUGE Blue Moon range.

10mm Napoleonic.

18mm Napoleonic- Blue Moon''s Huge range - of course you might prefer to call them 15mm 

Drabant 28mm Dark Ages 

Old Glory Second Edition AWI regiment packs

Old Glory 25/8 mm Colonials 

Another shot of the Wars of Religion range, 

28mm Medieval- these are Wars of the Roses but there will be Hundred Years War too.

 Command Decision. 15mm WW2

1/600th Pre-dreadnaught naval

Raven Banner 28mm ACW

 The photos show ranges we will definitely have at the show. Of course there will be loads of other ranges too.  Including every pack of Blue Moon  15/18mm we have and every pack of 15mm Command Decision WW2 and Moderns as well. After all we will be bringing a ton of little  metal men and equipment.  to the show.
 See you in Scotland
 Andy OGUK

The Importance of Being Shiny

One of the things I have re discovered whilst engaged in my "Shinyloo" project is how much nicer certain figures look in a shiny gloss varnish. The colours stand out and the contrasts are sharper.  Now I do not think shinyness is a universal constant but more a fashion choice. Like choosing Yves Saint Laurent over Chanel or Janet Raeger over Rigby and Peller. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not.and in each case the choice it usually an individual one.

Shiny AWI - all 30mm Stadden figures

More shiny AWWI- again Stadden.

 For instance  my WW1, WW2 and Modern collections are all matt varnished . Indeed overall- although I like the shiny dudes by far the majority of my collections are matt finish.

This lot of 15mm irregualrs simply would not look right all shiny 

and you can't be shiny whilst carrying on up the Khyber. 

 As a general- and oft- broken rule  it is older figures that look better shiny I think  but equally period comes into it too. I can't imagine my NW frontier blokes being shiny.

Yet I could not conceive of these  shiny dudes being matt.. 

Yet having laid down that "rule" my ECW collections break it have both shiny and matt armies for that period.
 None of my 40mm collections are shiny so possibly it is a retro thing .
 Ah well  Not to worry after all shiny is as shiny does- except when it doesn't//////