Sheffield Games Day 2015

As is customary, the post-Christmas meeting of Sheffield Wargames Society ran from midday until...well whenever everyone went home I suppose.

My own little group played two Command & Colours Ancients games and a couple of card games, with pauses for pie & peas and cake. I thoroughly enjoyed the day - a great combination of convivial company, good food and entertaining games.  And I was home by 8.15pm.

Pasargadae, 550BC

Ticinus River, 218BC

Full reports on the C&C games will follow but here are a few photos of the other games.

 Harvey and Frank doing their level best to look festive.  Their game was a Bishops' Wars affair using 6mm toys and a variant of the Neil Thomas 'One Hour' rules.

 Also present was this large Waterloo game.

It all looked very energetic!

Christmas Fairey part 2

A quick sitrep on the Fairey Battle.  The build is largely complete and there are only a couple of small gaps requiring filler.  For such an old kit (originally released in 1968) the parts fit is really quite impressive.  But there's still time to mess it all up...

The train now approaching platform one...

This followed on from the game a few weeks ago and saw the train, now it will be remembered, under Confederate control, approaching a US-held town.

The town was something of a backwater and the garrison was confidently expecting further supplies to arrive on the train.  Consequently, and despite appearances, guns were unmanned and only a few sentries were on duty.

Enter the train!

John again led the CS forces - wearing my hat - while Jerry assisted, having opted for a more homespun late war 'butternut' look...  The Yankees were played by Martin and Tim C.

The sneaky Rebs had made sure to dress the mortar crew in captured US uniforms...

...but by the time the train rolled by the US sentries had smelled a rat.

The Reb plan saw the train run into town at some speed...

...stopping bang in the centre - near the POW cage.

US gunners rushed to their cannon as musketry fire cracked from the train.

CS troops soon de-trained and engaged the gunners.

The surviving artillerymen took to their heels

Meanwhile the Reb prisoners had - at some cost - overpowered their guards

The situation at half time.

US cavalry galloping around and not doing very much.

Digging in

Like last week's gun emplacement, this used to be a bit of packaging destined for the bin.

Some days later, and after the application of a breadknife, paint and Tamiya sandbags, I now have a 2-foot trench section to entertain some of my 54mm toy soldiers.

The Christmas Fairey

This year's festive build is a kit I've had knocking about for a while.  I have always had a soft spot for the Battle - due to it's attractive looks and possibly it's appalling reputation.

 The Airfix kit was originally released in 1968 and seems a typical product of the age.  Last night I spent about 40 minutes on some initial assembly.

As always mine will be built as a wargame toy rather then a display piece.  Possibly more work will follow post-turkey...

Emplacement activity

While clearing some junk* out of the garage a few weeks back I found this useful looking bit of packaging.

To my eyes it had 'gun emplacement with trench section' written all over it.  A liberal application of brown and green paint soon rendered it fit for service.

The French were the first Great War figures which fell to hand, the gun is one of my more disreputable looking Britains pieces.

* - fear not, there still seems to be plenty of junk left...

Focusing on the Deetails

You'll have noticed a fair few of the old Britains 'Deetail' series figures in some recent posts.  My WW2 playtest game highlighted the lack of an LMG in the US infantry range.  Fortunately I had a few CTS and Airfix BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) gunners left over from another project.  But would I be able to  match the rather garish green plastic Britains had used?
After some experiments the answer was a resounding (I think) 'yes!'  The colour I used was Vallejo 857 Golden Olive.  To show what a good match it is, the chap in the middle of the photos above and below is a 'real' Deetail figure.

During this process it struck me that the level of detail painted on the original Deetail figures was about right.  So in future I'll be aiming for Deetail rather then detail.  Still with me?

Early experiments - I had a box of bits of Airfix 'Multipose' figures which I used to knock together two BAR gunners and a pair of NCO types with M3 'Grease Gun' SMGs.

CTS artillery crewmen - complete with the gun captain fielding a telephone call.

CTS sniper and BAR gunner with an Airfix Multipose bazooka gunner.

Coming next - the Germans and a rather trickier paint matching project.

a little more painting

Here are a few more brave chaps from 2 centuries ago, but painted - as an experiment - rather more recently.  They are from the Call to Arms AWI Maryland Infantry set but painted as Brits.  After all, one bloke in a tricorne hat looks very much like another.  I think the experiment is a success so you may expect more of this in the future.

Paltry painting progress

A post on the Mercurius Atticus blog the other day reminded me that I had a few of the same figures (Peter The Great era figures by Tehnolog) part painted.  I hurried to finish them and reveal them here for the first time.

I opted for a fairly generic appearance and the pale grey coats will enable them to pass for French or Austrians of the early 18th Century.  Now I wish I'd bought a load more of them!