A quick update

No posts for the past few days as I've been busy (and out of town) with work stuff. In fact as I type this I'm on the train at Kings Cross waiting for it to set off to Newark. The main purpose of my trip to London has been to attend the annual meeting of the company with which I work in partnership, but I did manage some Wargames-related activities:

1. A visit to the Tradition shop. Regular readers will recall that this splendid emporium was the source of King Boris of Forbodia and his (considerably cheaper!) staff officers. This time I emerged with five new figures - three from the discounted rummage box - who will no doubt grace these pages in the fullness of time.

2. Lunch with David Crook, which included a certain amount of 'military aid' flowing in both directions. At least I think that's what is in the bag he gave me....    Although we have corresponded electronically for a while this was our first meeting. Given that I have buggered up his wargaming plans for the year by giving him a gentle shove down the slippery slope that is Funny Little Wars, he may not want to do it again....

3. A visit to Chateau Cordery where I benefitted from not only a jolly chat with Bob and his other - no, make that 'better' half, Sue but also a pleasant dinner and two quick games! These used the Colonial and Interwar versions of Bob's Portable Wargame Rules. As my forces were victorious both times it's clearly an excellent game!  I have a few photos of the games which I'll post soon.

Website of the week - Replica tanks

I arrived at the Filmpanzer site by following a link from Steve Weston's site link . 

There is much to see - my first port of call was this splendid replica A7V
The site index is here
Another clip which manages to be both entertaining and rather disturbing features some East German children practising to defend socialism against the capitalist imperialist onslaught: link

Assassin strikes in Vulgaria!

News just in from Vulgaria (Martin's new name for his comedy-Prussian country) where a staff officer has been assassinated by 'Big Willi', a suspected member of the 'Black Bowler Gang'.  This shadowy organisation is widely believed to have links to Forbodia, and it is perhaps no surprise that the deceased officer, Colonel von Knickerbocker, had recently led calls for the persecution of Vulgaria's small Forbodian expat community.  It is understood that the late Colonel's anti-Forbidian sentiments stemmed from his embarrassing loss of an entire artillery battery in a recent border clash with Forbodian defence forces.

In this reconstruction of events, von Knickerbocker is gunned down in broad daylight.

von K is a plastic Italeri figure, the assassin a metal western gunfighter I picked up at the London Toy Soldier Show in December.

Exit pursued by the Vulgarian Army (Armies in Plastic Prussians).  Big Willi makes good his escape. 

  My thanks again to Martin for being sporting enough to bring along figures to be photographed.

Ligny, 1815

This game was put together and run by John Armatys as a test for his recently written Brown Bess rules.  John also provided all the 15mm toys.  Martin was the homme in the grand chapeau, while I played the portly Prussian.  I have played Blucher in several games over the years and become rather adept at shouting 'attack' while pretending to fall off a horse.

The initial setup as seen from the Prussian lines.  Ligny is in the centre of the table.

That's me on the hill next to one of John's many windmills.

The brave defenders of Ligny prepare to sell their lives dearly.  As it turned out they were having a January sale...

Rather a lot of Frenchies close in on the Prussian right.

Ligny is on the left.  There really were lots of Frenchies.

Prussian reserves are sent forward as Blucher calmly directs operations.

The defenders of Ligny are a bit outnumbered.

The French columns get stuck in.  The pile of counters indicates that all is not going well for the garrison.

The Prussian left makes ready.

The Prussian right is heavily engaged by the garlic munching hordes.

Blucher prepares a second line of defence as the French overrun Ligny.

A long distance shot of the Frenchies on their hill south of Ligny.

One of my sneakier moves - a Prussian brigade recaptures the village on the right from under the noses of the French.

Blucher continues to oversee events.

The French advance continues - but their nice formations have broken up.

Another hour and Blucher would have been in the front line!

Endgame.  The overall result was broadly historical, with bitter urban fighting and villages changing hands more than once.  Overnight the Prussians would be able to disengage - just in case there's another battle in a couple of days!