Tuesday 29 September 2015

Supreme figures?

To bulk out my forces for the recent Waterloo game I bought a load of these 'Supreme' figures from Gary at Tiger Hobbies.  While they could never be accused of being the world's finest 54mm figures they were startlingly cheap, already painted and actually rather nice.  The French all sport bicorne hats - save for some guards with bearskins - while the (slightly taller) Brits have shakos.

 



The cavalry are much like the foot in terms of colouring and headgear.  They take paint quite well - as can be seen from this quartet of French troopers repainted as officers.  I have also repainted some of the British cavalry as Prussians and KGL - more on them soon.

Monday 28 September 2015

Find the Lady

This was a role-playing game run by John Armatys using his streamlined version of Tom Mouat's Challenges and Adventures system (think basic old D&D only a lot slicker).  Our party was dispatched to the provincial governor's lady friend from the castle in a town quarantined die to plague.
Above is the castle itself - the scruffiest of my trio of Elastolin-style structures.
The prov gov and hangers-on.  The nuns were there as they had the inside track on happenings in the town.
The map of the town.  Actually it looked a lot like Scarborough...
We sneaked along the beach by night, prior to scaling the cliffs...
...and arriving at the castle.
Our resident sneaky type then nipped over the wall and passed down a rope.
The garrison had destroyed the drawbridge to stop the disease-ridden locals from gaining entry.
The first chamber we tried was, of course, the wrong one.  Having woken the garrison commander a certain amount of magic was employed to shut him up.
The next set of rooms was more promising, though our cleric was set upon by the lady's maid.
Ouch!  With that sort of dice roll I think we can guess where she hit him!
Eventually we were able to extract ourselves, along with lady, maid and lady's large dog!  Thence it was off back to the prov gov for thanks and rewards.
The CaA system uses cards rather than the much-scribbled on character sheets of old.
The cleric tries for a quiet moment alone with the maid - but there's that bloody dog again!

Thursday 24 September 2015

Waterloo 200 game - part 5 (the last - phew!)

The game had been laid out in such a way that the players at Mont St. Jean had no idea what was happening over at Wavre.  So the first clue came when....
The Prussians hove into view.
On the Allied right a huge cavalry encounter was in the offing
The defenders of LHS and the sandpit prepare to repel boarders

Hougoumont  - with more French cavalry having a look
A closeup of the Guinness-swilling Irishmen.  No stereotyping here then.

The mighty rocket troop in action.
Here come the Prussians!

Any similarity to my Russian 1914 reservists is entirely coincidental.  After all, the figures are actually Landwehr!

French cavalry attach British squares...
...in a rather cinematic fashion!

It's a bloody business




The big cavalry battle nears.  Basically a big line of Allied cavalry versus two big lines of Frenchies, the latter including lancers,
Dragoons, Cuirassiers
and Chasseurs
13 Legre had a bit of a pasting as they approached LHS
Blucher does some world-class pipe pointing

What a sight!


More flawless pointing as my lancers get stuck in.  Literally in some cases - the lances are very sharp!




Just as LHS looked threatened a load of hairy Highlanders appeared.
Guess who.  The flag is a clue...
While LHS held out...
...the sandpit was under threat...
... and soon fell to a horde of French cavalry.
LHS shrouded in smoke.  How did we achieve such special effects?
Twas none other than our very own Conrad Kinch!
After the battle it was off for tea and cake.  It was agreed that the battle was a draw.  With the arrival of the Prussians the French couldn't win, but on the other hand the French Army was still rampaging round Belgium!

All in all a thoroughly splendid day.  Lots of toys, a great group of players fine victuals and even decent weather!

So now to plan the next such extravaganza.....