What can we expect in 2015

Well January flew by in a flash. I thought I would have a brief review of 2014 already posted up by now. Needless to say, 2014 turned out different to plans. Lots of things didn't get off the ground, blogging slowed to a halt, and painting virtually evaporated. Though there were a few positives, such as Chain of Command, which proved to be a great discovery, along with getting a British and (soon to be) Soviet platoons painted up late in the day.

The Analogue Painting challenge was entered, with a less ambitious target, though even that may prove elusive, given the hours I'm putting in at work. A few entries have gone in already with more on the way.

The good news though is that I now have another large batch of figures for Orinoco miniatures ready for release (peasant militia, and more Gran Colombians). With these and a few ancillary packs soon to be completed, I hope to have all the figures to put on a key battle from the Wars of Liberation (below you can see the very first preview of some of the new figures).

Putting on the Battle of Ayacucho is the ultimate aim, but for this year it will probably be one of the smaller battles in the north for the liberation of either Venezuela, or New Granada/Colombia.

In regard to battlefields visits, I did manage one very interesting walk during a short working holiday to Crete in September (that is, the family were on the beach, while I sat in the apartment and worked). I'll get round to writing it up, along with several overdue posts on other battlefields I've visited (including Vimeiro, Bussaco, Rolica, as well as the Italian front battlefields from WW1).

I also paid a visit to the Hussite's main town of Tabor, and actually got to bump into a bunch of them celebrating their 600th anniversary in Prague! (Indeed the Hussites are alive and well in Bohemia. Thankfully time has mellowed them a tad, so all we saw was some small Hussite jazz ensemble, which was a very absurd moment.)

On the up side, the stalwarts that are the Prague Wargames Club, proved to be as reliable as ever, and a constant source of new ideas and hobby inspiration. From a humble start back in 2003 when myself and a friend (Nick Dorell) tried to kick off a few games at a small table in a local hobby shop, we now have nearly 30 members, and a permanent clubhouse.
Plenty of games were held during the year, my personal favourites being some Mud and Blood battles from 1914 (the "Race to the Sea" scenario). 

Also, it was great fun getting to grips with Chain of Command; really and excellent set of rules.

The large summer Napoleonic game was also a winner. The good news is that we will attempt most of the Waterloo battle in 15mm using the "General de Brigade" rules in the summer.

So plans for what's left of 2015, well a house move is still on the cards, as are more figures for my Orinoco range. The Auterlitz/Slavkov battle may yet see the light of day in a smaller format, as with the South American Liberation Wars battle. Certainly more games would be welcome, especially Chain of Command. I'm also intrigued by the recent WW1 adaptation of these rules, and scenarios for the Kaiserschlacht campaign of 1918. As for more blogging, let's hope.

As usual, we'll be going on our annual pilgrimage to Salute again this year with other from the Prague Club. Salute 2014 was excellent, and the bloggers meet up as enjoyable as ever. So obviously I'm looking forward meeting some of you again this year at Salute.

Merry Christmas / Vesele Vanoce a PF 2015

I'd just like to wish all those who stumble across the blog an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas, and good luck in 2015. The blog has been a bit silent in recent months (well most of the year actually). I took up a new senior role at the start of 2014, which has reduced time for painting, gaming, battlefield walks and blogging to virtually nil. I'll try to throw up some posts over the festive holiday on a few battlefields I managed to visit, images of new shiny toys and games, first efforts in the new Analogue painting challenge, and other musings.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - Bonus Round: 'Favourite Character'

I thought I would post up my next entry for the "Favourite Character" bonus in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, as Curt already has the images up on his blog. The Challenge is now entering the final leg, as entrants furiously try to reach their targets before 20th March Deadline.

The small vignette I put together represents  General Humbert during his expedition to Ireland in 1798, surrounded by his "Grognards" on the way to the "Races of Castlebar" (so-called due to the very fast retreat of the local British Garrison). He landed in County Mayo with about 1500 men, including many Irish troops and officers serving in the French Army, and then proceeded to tie down almost the whole British garrison in Ireland for 17 days, as he outmanoeuvred and out fought superior local militias and fencibles with a small group of hardened veterans from the Army of Italy.

After several engagements he was eventually intercepted by Cornwallis (of Yorktown fame) and his army of 15,000 infantry. This developed into the Battle of Ballinamuck, where Humbert's force was defeated, and his force surrendered. Many of the French prisoners were paroled back to France, while Humbert was held prisoner for several years before being sent back to France during a prisoner exchange. The fate of the Irish emigre troops who were captured was far grimmer, with most being hanged out of hand.

Later in life, after emigrating to America, Humbert fought again in the Battle of New Orleans in 1812 against the British. He ended his days as a school teacher in America. Anyway, an excellent character who fought a hard campaign against overwhelming odds.

The General Humbert figure is from Trent Miniatures, the marching infantry are from Front Rank. I hope you like them.

British AWI Casualties for the Analogue Challenge

So here are a few pictures of my recent entry into the bonus round of the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge. These are all from the Perry Miniatures plastic box set of British Infantry for the American War of Independence.

 

 These were figures which I wasn't sure how to use, until I saw a number of different blogs where people had used figures as casualty counters (usually with an insert for some dice). This always seemed a bit fiddly to me, so rather just paint the tally onto the base and turn the base according to the total. All figures are 4 to a base, so it's a very easy way to keep track, and when to remove bases. I do hope you like them.

My Analogue Hobbies Challenge heroes Theme entry

 So the two-week theme came around again in the Analogue Hobbies Challenge. I was really glad to get this one in as it was touch-an-go whether I would succeed due to a very busy month at work.  The two figures in question are from Gripping Beast's 28mm Romano-British/Arthurian range. They are painted up to represent Artorius himself, plus hero/sidekick Lancelot (he of the mask).

I did enjoy painting them, and even had a go at painting the shield design on the masked figure. The shield pattern is from LBM with a bit of paint to blend it into the shield.  I have to say that I much prefer the cast on shields. I really find that the separate shield you have to glue on for the other Gripping beast figures are poor on detail and do not paint up that well. As with all glue on weapons and shields on wargames figures, they seem to pop off with a certain regularity.

I had intended to do more figures for this round, but as said, time was in short supply. I hope to put up the additional figures over the next week.

Analogue Hobbies Challenge Entry - Mexican Revolution, and Chaco War

I've been a tad busy the last few weeks with a new job/project, so posting have been amiss. I've now fired in entries to two of the bi-weekly themes in the Analogue Painting challenge.

The first was a pair of figures inspired by the Wild Bunch film (a Peckinpah classic).

Both figures came from the excellent Mexican Revolution range brought out by Gringo 40's. I must say they were a real pleasure to paint and are full of character. I do hope Jed fills out the range more as it would be a great period to wargame (certainly as exciting as any Russian Civil War or Back of Beyond wargame).

Anyway the chap above is supposed to be the evil Mexican General Mapache from the film. Though judging from pictures he's probably based on Pancho Villa when he was briefly in Mexican Army uniform. I'll have to order another one from Gringo 40's as this lad is now winging his way to Canada as my entry fee to the Painting challenge.

 

The second chap is another "Federales" officer ("boo" I hear you shout). Another lovely sculpt, and he bears a striking resemblance to another character from the Wild Bunch film.

As this is two posts in one, my second entry were a pair of Chaco War inspired tankettes.

These two lovelies are Carden-Lloyds from Warlord Games. While not exactly the same as the versions deployed during the Chaco War, they come close enough for wargaming purposes (actual Bolivian Carden-Lloyd below with shorter cabin, sloping armour and sheet metal plate protection for the HMG).

As only a handful were ever used in the war, and nearly all were destroyed early on they'll do just fine. I lopped off the heads of a few of my Bolivian Chaco War figures to make the crew.

 

During the Battle of Nanawa (1933), these had been sent as part of a frontal; assault by the Bolivians, along with some light Vickers tanks and flamethrower teams against deeply entrenched Paraguayans. 

 

The battle was a bloodbath for the Bolivians who could not penetrate the deep defense, mines and barbed-wire erected by the Paraguayans (under the instructions of two Russian White Army officers who had extensive experience of the trench warfare on the Eastern Front). Hench why the battle is often referred to as the South American "Verdun."

First submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

So I finally managed to get my first entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This was a quick effort as for most of the week I was down in Moravia on work related training (spending Sunday on the train instead of painting at home).

My entry was a dark age priest and his "flock". This chap will actually represent a Saxon Pagan Priest for my Dux Britanniarum army. Really a fun set of rules that I can't recommend enough.

 

The figure is the Merlin character from Gripping Beast, his flock, all from Redoubt Miniatures. This little entry gained me 73 points. Now only another 927 points to go... :-(