54mm Turks

Hi,

I have a new phone - a Samsung S5 and with it comes a decent camera, so I am slowly learning this new device for its god intended purpose - taking pictures of wargame figures.

I have just finished and packaged up Turkish figures 26 to 45 for the Museum display. My first 25 were 10 casualties Turks, 14 charging Turks and an officer. The officer figure was the best figure I have seen and my paint job was probably the best on him too. My moral compass only flinched slightly as the casualties I had were Turks being used as sandbags (That's what I assumed) and its not often you remember what occurred in real life.

These final lot are all Turks charging. I picked them up Thursday and tracked my time

Thu - Clean up, glue (A job and a half as they had separate arms AND rifles (With hands on rifles))and fill gaps once glued. spray paint - 2.5 hours.
Fri - Undercoat uniform and skin - 2 hours
Sat - Block painting everything else (Rifles,steel,leather)- 3 hours
Sun - Some tidy up and washes.- 2 hours.
Mon - First Highlights - 3 hours
Tues - touchups, final super-highlight, and packing - 2 hours

My first photo using phone - terrible !.

As my family are not kiwis I dont have any connection to Gallipoli myself, my family fought the British in 1916 during the Easter Uprising in Ireland. I'm proud of them, as I am those that fought in WW2 for the British Army. War is such a stupid "thing" - often seems like politicians just want to play Risk with real people - such a waste. Anyhow that's my social commentary for the evening done !

So whats up next - the small affair of finishing my French for the Waterloo Re-fight on June 18th. I have 100 French to finish.

Tamames 1809

My Spanish army has had another outing and another victory for Spain.

Below - The First division fires its volley and then runs away.

Last month we fought the fictitious sequel to this action San Cristobel in which the Spanish army fought a glorious fighting retreat against the French. So we decided to give the actual battle a go despite how difficult it would be for the French. Historically Marchand thought he could defeat a large Spanish army with a Division but found his skills were lacking for the task. The french players had a hard task, Marchand really was out of his depth and severely outnumbered but he went in anyway.


Details are over at Colin's blog Tamames

In this re-fight Jim and Ross went for a right hook against the Spanish lines. The Spanish Division was overrun, the regular infantry and artillery firing to the last while the raw units around them ran for the hills at the slightest large noise.

My plan was simple, let the French take the first line but make them pay dearly for it. Then suck them into the poor terrain where hopefully they would run out of steam on the Second line and then the Spanish would surge forward.  The french attack was strong but once again at the crucial time vital units were milling around out of action and then french ran out of men. As those missing units finally got involved it was too late.  If those extra 4 or 5 units had of been in the strike point the Spanish would have been in big big trouble.

A wave of French infantry surged over the 1st Division - the gunners died at their feet,  the raw troops ran for the hills, French cavalry crushed a militia square and the Spanish second line looked on nervously.


However in the midst of the french storm stood the Principe Infantry Regiment.

A brief interlude -   In my history of wargaming I have had two units that have become the stuff of legend. The first was the 33rd Foot who 20 years ago earned themselves an unsavory reputation. In every action they routed, not in the thick of battle of course but in extreme circumstances (oh look its raining - ROUT, French artillery killed 1 figure - ROUT). The 33rd was the worst performing unit of my British army, in fact any army with the dubious honour that it never finished a battle still on the table in any fit state.

The next Regiment started earning its reputation 6 years ago - A Spanish Guard unit that proved itself to be an irresistible and unstoppable force in any battle.  It always ended up at the critical point, holding back masses of the enemy with a sheer arrogance of will and luck that still astound me. In the previous battle it held Ventosa against 6 times its number, and then marched out in good order.

At Tamames wave after wave of french troops attacked and were repulsed. Luck was on their side as it always is with the Regiment holding out against all. It was the this point the the French morale started to fail, a steady stream of units routing to the rear and at this point the French abandoned the attack.

Above - Principe Shaken but not stirred - The pink beads on the French means they are broken, a lot of pink was used this day !

The game was concluded here. The very next turn I was going to unleash the Spanish army in counter attack but it was not needed. 

Sci Fi Scenery

I managed to sprain my ankle last week and after some xrays and hobbling around I am now getting back into the swing of things.

Still waiting on my work phone grrrrrrrr - I should just walk down and buy one.

I have another 20 54mm Turks to prep and I have been busily gluing away over the last two nights using a mix of epoxy, superglue and blue tack (Thanks for all the tips). I got  a bit bored last night with Turks so made up my 15mm sci-fi scenery that is made from laser cut .MDF

Very weak photos below.

The scenery is from Mad mecha and consist of some two story apartments, some solar panels and a series of one story shops. When I first got them some time ago I could not work out how they went together (I don't know how I could not work out how to do it when I first got them). Now that epic moment of stupidity is over I made them up last night. I have enough now to fill a table and I can also mix them into my modern games hopefully.

Below a pic of the kitchen table press-ganged into my workshop. Buildings pretty much everywhere and the Turks on the left having a rest.

 Two floors of the shops.

I'm going to spray them with flat white and then paint each section to make them a little more real.