Finishing Spree

I am currently on what I can only describe as a "Finishing Spree"... 

Before moving onto anything fresh, I am tidying up some loose ends... This may take several months. Who knows?

Anyway, I have started with a regiment which has been half finished for something like a decade!

The Classic Collection is really just a shelf-parade these days for me, although that may change soon.

But the Constantinov Regt needed to be finished, just to tick a box on my hobby project planner... So here are a couple of snaps as they rolled off the workbench (figuratively) at the weekend:

 

There are a few more images and further details on my other blog  - Classic Wargaming.

Other items in the finishing pile range from Ancients to TYW, to Marlburian (Wars of the Vaubartian Succession), to many more.

I'm not sure what precipitated the desire to tidy up such loose ends... maybe it was the fact that I have been in hospital for a small procedure relating to my Prostate Cancer. It's been almost 5 years since my first diagnosis, and I'm still here... a couple of things from most recent surveillance (blood tests and MRI scan) were causing the medics some concern, so more prodding and poking was needed (I think they just want an excuse!). Nothing to report back yet, but perhaps that is what has put me in the mood to finish up some things.

Who knows... but to the many who have enquired about my well-being, thank you. The big message for me, and from me, is to just enjoy your hobby - it is the most glorious escape, especially when you do it your way!

A New Blog on the Block...

Over the years, I have admired the modelling work of John Boadle.

Many readers will be familiar with the brilliant buildings John creates.

Well... I have some great news!
John asked me if I thought he should have a blog. And if so, would I be willing to help him get it set up.

You can imagine how keen I was to do so...

And so, a new blog is born.

John Boadle - Hand-Built History. (click link)

Pop over and have a look.

Expect John to be adding images from his extensive back-catalogue of models, and also some new stuff over the weeks and months ahead.

A WABtastic weekend... and more!

The past few days have been a great weekend of gaming, comraderie, socialising, and generally being middle-aged bloke-ish, within the confines of our hobby.

Steve Gill came over for the weekend, and we were joined on the Saturday by Andy Moran and John Kersey for a game of WAB.

We decided to pack a 6x4 table with a doubles game (each of us fielding 1500 points worth). My Rise of Macedon army allied with Andy's Greeks, and we faced up to John (all round WAB Oriental guru) and Steve fielding a couple of armies from John's vast collection.

The banter, the spirit, and the desire to have a fun game shone through. Here are just a few pictures from the game. There were some crucial moments (not least my hard-pressed Hypaspists fighting an army general, army standard bearer, and sundry other chaps, needing to pass an Ld test on a 3, and getting snake-eyes!) I'm sure a fuller report will be forthcoming on Andy's blog (see previous post) as he tends to keep a more accurate eye on proceedings! John Kersey has provided an outline report on the Facebook WAB group, including mention of the flaming bull ruse that the Chinese Yin general (played by Steve) tried to unleash towards the end. A young Prince Alexander narrowly escaped being gored and flame-grilled!

A couple of people have asked why we are playing on such plain, featureless, terrain-less tables using WAB. Well, the simple explanation is that we are just getting used to the rules again, and want to keep things simple for the moment. However, that may change very soon...

And here are the gang. We're referring to ourselves as The Old Berks (a reference to Berkswell, the village where I live). In this picture, we are toasting my first grandchild with suitable refreshments!

l-r: Steve, John, Andy, myself.

After the WAB game, and the departure of Andy and John, Steve and I set up a quick game of... wait for it... Dragon Rampant, using figures I have had in boxes since the 1980s. 

Well, it was Halloween weekend, after all, and the end of what some people refer to as "Orctober".

I had picked up a few old plastic goblins on ebay and over the past week did a bit of converting and painted them up for the game. I decided not to do green-skin and go more for a Middle Earth look as I had imagined it when I first read The Hobbit back in 1973!

Anyway, that was the Action at Bumbleberry Bridge where Steve commanded the Dwarves to a victory against the Orc/ goblin/ Troll force. A suitable end to a great day's gaming.

Meanwhile, on the paint desk, I've been dabbling - here are a few Han Chinese figures I have been experimenting with. That Mr Kersey can be a bad influence!!

Right now, I'm starting to put together plans for a winter of 'finishing' where I plan to tidy up a few loose ends around certain projects. We'll see.

We are also looking at the diary and planning more Old Berks gatherings.

Hope all blog visitors are well in these challenging and uncertain times. May your hobby flourish!

All the best...

Looking for Inspiration?

Just a short post:

If you are looking for inspiration, allow me to draw your attention to a new blog by my regular WAB opponent, Andy Moran.

https://ancientgreekgeek.blogspot.com/

It's full of ancient goodness, and I really like some of the graphics he uses in the battle reports.

Looking forward to seeing more.

On the theme of inspiration, I will be at Partizan this weekend... I get the feeling this is going to be a very busy show. Personally, I can't wait.

Hope to see you there.

Another Hellenistic WAB bash

First, a bit of news... I have become a Grandad. My first grandchild, Elijah, arrived last Wednesday... I am thrilled. Of course, he will now be prime heir to my wargaming collection, if he ever becomes interested! I have time to 'groom' him for that.

Back to the tabletop...

Once again Andy came over for a game of WAB yesterday, bringing with him a Phokian Greek army to face my Rise of Macedon army.

I had Philip of Macedon in command, and the young Alexander as a Hipparch leading the Companions.

What I hadn't prepared for was the appearance of three Phokian stone throwers... or as they became known the phlippin' Phokian ph*****g stone phrowers!

They did a lot of damage to my phalanxes as the latter moved across the table. My Agrianians also managed to throw a 1 on their fire and flee move, got caught by pursuers and were wiped out, and it all went from bad to worse. I manasged some minor 'victories' during the game, but the day couldn't be saved! In the end it was a 'losing draw' for me. Back to the drawing board for next time I face the war machines... it was a good learning process.

As we are coming to expect from these WAB games, it was great fun, the afternoon very enjoyable, and we have more games planned.

Here are just a few snaps of the game which will give you a flavour of the action. I have included some close up photos of some of the units in Andy's very nice army too.

In a couple of weeks time, I'll be at Partizan. Hope to see many of you there.

Alexander and Companions

The continuing story of the Rise of Macedon army...

Here is the newly painted Prince Alexander, and his Companion Cavalry...

I have added a new page to the blog devoted entirely to this army (see pages list to the right hand side).

The army will be getting an outing next weekend when Andy will be bringing his Greeks to do battle. My Oracle is already practicing his dice rolling, watched carefully by Philip of Macedon!

I notice an upsurge in ancients amongst fellow bloggers who are normally firmly in the Horse and Musket era. It's all great stuff...people like Jim (Der Alte Fritz) and Graham (Scotia Albion) and others too are engaged on interesting projects. Pay them a visit. It is always worth popping over to their blogs for the inspiration...

The Rise of Macedon

One of the attractions of doing my Successor armies is that once you've got a core of Phalangites (the guys with big pointy pikes) that form the centre of the army, you can easily morph the force into many different variations on the theme.

That also means that my Macedonian Successors can, with a little adjustment, become an Alexandrian army, or (as in this case) go a little further back and be a Philippian army. I decided that for future WAB games, especially against Andy's Greeks, a more appropriate army might be that of The Rise of Macedon - headed up by Philip of Macedon, with Prince Alexander in the early part of his career, before he started to believe his own PR too much and became all megalomaniac and god-like (although many would say that he was always like that, but that's another discussion).

The core phalanx troops remain the same, but what of the likes of the  particularly elusive Hypaspists? There are so many options for these troops with reports of them performing many roles.

I decided to depict them as an elite peltast unit, taking on a role supporting the Companion cavalry, rather than being formed up with the phalanx.

I also decided to have their shields with a simple Macedonian star, rather than fancy parade-ground shield designs, or even the image of AtG himself on as is so often shown. 

For Philip of Macedon, I used the Foundry figure (the Hypaspists are also from the Foundry range). Philip was keen to fight at the head of his phalangites, in the thick of the action, wielding a pike. It was all 'butch and manly and stuff' (If you're getting an image of Brian Blessed, or King Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones series 1, that's about right)

So... here are Philip and the Hypaspists (sounds like some sort of Macedonian punk rock band... or maybe it's true Classic Rock!):

Next up, young Alexander, and his Companion Cavalry...

And there's another game booked in the diary, providing a valuable deadline for getting this army table-ready.

I hope all readers and visitors to the blog are well... and thank you to those who continually comment on this stuff. I know many readers are dyed-in-the-wool 18C wargamers, but having a 'side interest' in all things ancient is a lovely distraction sometimes. And I'm finding that, just now, the promise of the odd game, for a few hours, on a 6x4 table, with a hundred or so figures per side, using some fun rules (WAB 1.5), is a massive tonic.