Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Finally...
I have been able to make time in my personal life for some wargames time which I havent been able to do for a while and I'm actually starting to enjoy painting and getting quicker and quicker with each unit I paint but it still takes me around 2-3 hours per 28 man unit! I know thats slow for most 6mm gamers but for me thats quick and whenever I have an evening free I strive to get one unit done. However, I'm on a rolling shift pattern with my job so having an evening free isnt as frequent as you might think! And I didnt get the lovely 9-5 office job that I had two interviews for last week even though I was the only short listed candidate at that time which sucks but never mind- these things happen for a reason so I have been reliably informed!
Anywho, there will be lots of pictures soon once I have finished the army and started to base it, so watch this space.
Rhys
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
The Science And The Fiction...
None now can remember what happened nearly 200 years ago, for none now are alive to recount the dark days of the breakup of the United Kingdom. A new dark age dawned and spread in this fair isle wreaking havoc, death and disease as it went. Anarchy reigned and with it all order completely collapsed and society as it was became extinct. At the time and since, very little information/history was recorded, for when a dark age dawns and anarchy reigns and people live on a day to day basis hoping to survive to see the next no one thinks to stop and write it all down. The breakup of the former United Kingdom and its causes are shrouded in mystery. However, folk tales of what may have happened to cause such a thing are now whispered round fires up and down the emergent states and three stories in particular are most commonly cited as the reasons for the dark days as they are known.
The first is that the last heir to the throne of the United Kingdom was assassinated causing a major constitutional rift and in this vacuum greedy, self serving men and women attempted to fill it causing civil unrest and an eventual breakdown of centralised government. The second story is that the growing poverty of the millions of working class, the extinction of the middle class through poor governance designed exactly to do that, and the wealth of the so called ruling elite became too much. The working classes rose in their millions and caused a total collapse of the economy aned local and centralised government as associated agencies lost control and fled such as the Police and then the army itself.
The third folk tale tells of widespread corruption within local and centralised government itself which resulted in poor governance which itself eventually led to the former United Kingdom becoming uncontrollably bankrupt and impotent. Unable to pay its workers such as the police and army, as well as millions others, mass unrest ensued to bring down the totally corrupt regime and its representative institutions.
The truth is that probably all three of these now folktales had their part to play in the total collapse of the former United Kingdom and somewhere each tale has a grain of truth running through it.
So in this power vacuum where anarchy reigned free and unchecked very little was recorded about these times. However, nearly 200 years on from this disaster, a number of states or factions if you prefer have arisenas regions slowly started to stabilise under these new fledgling states. These states have slowly become more and more powerful and are now hungry to further their control over the former United Kingdom. These new states all want to become the dominant contrlling power and once more unite this darkened isle. Each state have formed and evolved its own style of professional military force or at least a central military force. Otherwise these states would not have survived or grown in power.
Initially these emerging states formed fledgling forces of militias and home guard and defence forces. However, these soon evolved into offensive operations and then became semi permanent then permanent central military forces with their own distinct, individual units and forces.
As the states grew in size, power and stabilityeach state started to look to its neighbour for any potential weakness and examine how best to exploit any weaknesses found. The aim being to become more powerful than the next neighbour and so on.
Of around 100 of these fledgling states only 9 now exist and each very powerful in their own distinct way. It took 200 years of long, hard, bloody and costly fighting and now only 9 are left, each vying for total control and the extinction of its neighbours. Now each of the nine states are poised and ready for total war, a war to reunite the Disunited Kingdom. At the moment an uneasy peace exists but with units of all sorts poised at strategic border points up and down the landit is only a matter of time before the first steps are taken across the border and the first shots are fired. Units have their pre-planned cross border objectives and battle plans and remain on constant watch ready to defend or strike, whichever comes first in this torn and broken land.
The states are as follows:
New Fenland Republic (NFR)
MidGuard (MG)
United Scottish Kingdom (USK)
Kingdom of Wessex (KW)
Greater Cornwall (GC)
The Dragon Marches (TDM)
Northern Confederation (NC)
Tyranty of Northern Ireland (TNI)
Southern Irish League (SIL)
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
These models are perfect for my sci-fi air cavalry unit. So I have placed and order with GZG today and I will now patiently (yeah right) awairt my delivery. My order was for x4 of the troop transporter versions with x3 units of NAC riflemen plus a unit of NAC AT soldiers. On top of this I ordered a command vehicle and x2 of the gunship version. This will be the first bare bones squadron of what will hopefully become an air cavalry regiment. I will start to reveal backgrounds and histories for the various factions and units blog by blog as this will hopefully be part of a rather larger 15mm sci-fi project.
I have already decided on an overall unit colour scheme which will be a sky blue colour both for the vehicles and the troops uniforms etc as camouflage is not a necessity in this dark new world. Each different faction and strategic unit will have its own colour schemes. Much like the individual Space Marine Chapters do but without the hundreds of pounds required (well I say that- my initial order wasnt exactly a small one but hey ho- you know what I mean).
I have also revamped my wargames station ready to receive the order and got it reasonably organised in the spare bedroom.
So, first post in a while, but with like photos and everything, so a deviation from the meagre norm of my blogs. Lots to look forward to. In all honesty there have been personal reasons for not posting for a while but now those personal things are more or less sorted in a roundabout way so I can (thankfully) concentrate on wargames a bit more. So all to the good then.
I will post again once my order from GZG arrives and we'll take a look at the goodies together shall we.
So in the words of my friends 'The Chavs'- laters innit.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Baccus FPW Infantry Review. Part Deux.
Baccus FPW Infantry Review
The proportions and detail mean that even my amateurish painting techniques can make these infantry look half decent on a 60x30 base and there is nothing better than painting up some figures and feeling satisfied that you have achieved what you set out to. Obviously there is nothing more frustrating or off putting for a new project than if the opposite occurs and the likelihood of completion of said project is negligible if this occurs. Anywho without further ado's, behold some more pictures (Rhysius, with these photos you are really spoiling us, no (to be said in a German/Swiss accent)). Above is a picture of uncoated Prussian infantry.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
The Not Yet Demoralised French Are Here
Monday, 14 March 2011
At Last- Pictures
So here are the pictures that I promised. This is my first Prussian line infantry battalion painted and based. Now starting work on a French battalion. It took a bit longer than expected to do the first unit but hopefully the French battalion wont! Fingers crossed. Once I have done a unit of each I will do a more comprehensive blog.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Tell Me Why- I dont Like Mondays
So we then drove 70 miles home- although i am effectively being paid for today as well as mileage, for, effectively what is a day off- every cloud and all that. But on a brighter note, my FPW French and Prussian armies arrived from Baccus on Saturday but i was at work until 19.30 so the wait at work to open my parcel was a little frustrating. However, i got home and there they were, ahh.
Unfortunately my girlfriend had been complaining recently that i wasnt spending enough time with her so my day off on Sunday was lost to "us time" and all i wanted to do was get to grips with my new Baccus minis. Nevermind, sacrifices have to be made and compromises drawn up. So I got the Sunday evening to myself after kicking my girlfriend out using the line " I need my rest before the course begins babe, otherwise im gonna be knackered". So at last i got to grips with my new miniatures.
And wow! What wonderful miniatures they are, the detail, the proportions- they were totally worth the wait and i cant praise Peter @ Baccus enough for his superb sculpting and figures and i will never complain about rising costs again, honest guv!
So I am now going to get a unit of each painted and take a photo along with the rest of the stuff- there will be photos soon i promise. Despite the 1870 rules recommendations for the sizes of the battalion bases infantry are 1 1/2" x 1/2") Im going to use the 60x30mm base sizes that Baccus recommends as it looks much better and the armie compositions from Baccus are purposefully designed for this. It just works so much better all things considered.
So, on with the painting and then photos will be posted i promise.
Kind Regards
Rhysius
Friday, 4 March 2011
TFI Friday
However, what is bad is that i still have no figures having ordered them on Monday afternoon. I know, Im impatient- i hate waiting for things so this is a heartfelt plea to Peter at Baccus:- please get my mega micro minis to me as soon as possible, i hate waiting for things in the post- i dont sleep properly if im expecting a package imminently.
Anywho on a lighter note my Osprey campaign book no. 21 Gravelotte- St. Privat arrived on Thursday with the 1870 rules which i cant wait to play test, after which i will do a proper review. However on first inspection i really like the overall feel of the rules and for once (this happens extremely rarely for me) i feel entirely confident and happy with how these rules will work. I am very much looking forward to using them. Im even contemplating purchasing the 1859/1864 rules and the 1866 rules thanks to the wealth of information and historical backgroumd contained in these rules. Not only that but there are scenarios with full orbats for each of the major engagements, of the 1870-71 war between France and Prussia. In a nutshell, at first glance- fantastic!!! I have already read the Osprey book cover to cover and although it is extremely well written, and laid out the colour depictions/plates of various infantryman, artillerists and cavalryman is poor, which is disappointing. Despite this a very good read and an excellent source of information.
I will do another update with photos once my figures arrive and i can get painting. Please stay tuned.
For the future i plan to collect an Austrian army as well for the battle of Koniggratz between Austria and Prussia and use the 1866 rules.
Thanks also to Caliver books for their help and expediency.
Kind Regards
Rhysius
Monday, 28 February 2011
Back To The Future
But, good news as i am fully on the road to recovery and placed my first Baccus order of the year today. My brand new project for my brand new year is (drum roll) the Franco-Prussian war. I have never gamed this period but have always found it fascinating to read about (yes, i am that sad). So i have placed an order with Caliver books for the 1870 rules which come highly recommended and look superb and i cant wait to get to grips with them as Baccus' own rules, Polemos, are not an option for me- dont ask!
I also placed an order with Baccus for both Prussian and French forces which should be here by the end of the week so i will get some photos up then and i cant wait to get painting!
This blog will not be anywhere near as pretentious, ambitious or erratic as it was in the past, which i have deleted and will concentrate on one project at a time and this FPW project will go on for some time as very large forces were involved during this short but fascinating conflict. The ultimate aim will hopefully to be able to run a full scale complete FPW campaign but that is a long long long way down the line. I hope to initially build the forces around the battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat.
I am really looking forward to my return to gaming and in particular this project after an indescribably unpleasant and uncertain time and i hope you will bear with me. I will hope to update the blog once a week, although the next update will be when i receive my goodies. The rules will probably be here first from those wonderful people at Caliver Books who are always very helpful. I will do a brief overview of the rules and first impressions and then update when my Baccus stuff arrives. But, Peter did say that it may take a bit longer than usual as he has staff on holiday and on the sick so hes manning the fort all by himself which is a shame as i havea couple days off on Thursday, Friday and Sunday and could have got them undercoated and started painting them. Alas, however, i am happy enough as i know Baccus' figures are worth the wait.
Stay tuned for the next update, probably on Thursday.
Kind Regards
Rhysius