Battle of Mona, 60AD

Hello there! A weekend game of the Battle of Mona, saw a handful of club members turn out for this Impetus game.

The game was set on an amphibious landing by the Romans and a later outflanking move by them, on the Ancient Britons left flank.

One club member had spent a lot of time building and painting a Sarissa Models Roman Navy!

The Romans had their auxiliary units on their right flank and they spent much of the time trying to fight their way out of the surf!

The initial charge of the Ancient Briton chariots came to nought as the Romans absorbed the shock and drove them off.

The hoards of Ancient Britons was very impressive!

As the edges of the board were heavily wooded plenty of the clubs trees were used. I noticed the use of polyfibre here, something I have yet to try.

Reinforcements were steadily added to the fray over the course of the game.

Here are some closer views of the Roman Navy.

This is the view from the Roman side of the beach and you can see the enemy seem formidable.

Eventually the Ancient Britons reached their break point tests and failed. They fled the field despite keeping the Romans fighting in the surf for most of the game. 

Further photos are on the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Facebook page here.

Torc Bookshop, Snettersham

Hello There! During my visit to Snettersham in North Norfolk I came across a small second hand bookshop called Torc Books. They are here, in the Bookshop Guide website.

It is a small terraced house packed full in every room with many different subjects, including a couple of areas holding military subjects.

The main thing that caught my eye was a drawer of prints which obviously came from a number of damaged books but the prints were kept.

Some were battle scenes such as there. I apologise for the poor quality photograph but the prints are individually wrapped in polythene so do not stand up well to bright light.

This was also there, 1814, by Meissonier.

Also some technical drawings of various artillery pieces and ancient artillery,

After a quick trawl through Facebook market Place I picked up some cheap wooden picture frames and a sand down and paint and here is the result.

A worthy and cheap addition to the painting and military workspace!

Battle of Falkirk, 17th January 1746

 Hello There! As work arrangements have changed recently I have been able to make the Club night at the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers.

The latest game was the Battle of Falkirk. This was using 28mm figures from a couple of club members collections.

The table was large for this game so it was set up in the auditorium, while a second game was also played that evening.

With a larger number of club members present for the Friday evening, it was an enjoyable time with plenty of commands also available.

The second game that evening was a 15mm game of part of first Bull Run. This was a smaller game to allow some club members to become more familiar with the rules used, Fire & Fury.

Further photos can be seen here.

The Other Partizan 08.10.2023

Hello There! I have found these photos on my camera which have been there far too long! I visit the two Partizan shows regularly as they always provide a head turning display of display games and the last four shows have especially not disappointed!

First up this wonderful 'Battle of Laswari, 1803'. The main centre piece was a rocky hill top fort which was outstanding.

There were also a number of small vignettes to catch  the eye.

I have tried to use 'seafoam' plants for trees in the past, but found the material too fragile for the continuous movement that wargames scenery goes through.

The opposing forces were extremely colourful!

The units were based in larger groups and looked great with plenty of work done on the scenic basing.

Another point was a still water decorative pool completed with Lilli pads.

More colourful units to please the eye!

This cold war gone hot scenario was set in 1987 after a coup by Soviet Generals who want to push NATO out of Europe before America can intervene.

This was in 20mm and there were many aircraft used in the display.

The board was full of modern vehicles and aircraft and a good effort in using many different media for the scenery.

The trees used 'Good Old Rubberised Horsehair' but the tree trunks and basing was not a type I had seen before.

This was impressive and a different use of Woodland Scenics clump foliage.

There were a number of obscure vehicles on the board, mainly obscure because of my lack of knowledge of such vehicles!

Here is a close up of the damaged building which look like they had individual damaged tiles on the roof!

This game has done the round for a couple of years now and was again at Partizan in May 2024.

The water appears to be represented by resin but there did appear to be plenty of air bubbles trapped in the resin. I have used warm air or breathing on the surface of the resin which can cause the bubbles to rise to the surface. I have also known others to use a hairdryer as well.

This colonial game set in South Africa, during the Zulu War was in 28mm and included a number of Zulu buildings and a good representation of the gully and rocks typical of the area.

Some nice little vignettes covered the board.

The game was based on the Death of the Prince Imperial. 

A Crimean War Games. You do not see them that often!, (or was it the Turks on the other side?). A well presented board with again plenty to please the eye.

Now this was some fantasy, not really my area of interest, but I took photographs for the snow effects and the castle as the centre piece.

What appeared to be Woodland Scenics tree armatures used as bear Winter trees

Now, 20mm WW II set in Russia, with some nice Russian style buildings. It reminded me of the Russian Izba feature in WSS.

A flickering explosion from a battery powered 'candle' smothered in packing.

Something the Wehrmacht had lots of but you hardly ever see on the board. Horse drawn transport was massively used through the war but you hardly ever see it represented on the wargames table.

A showcase of Perrys range of Franco Prussian War figures which have been growing over the last few years.

I vaguely remember that this was a 28mm Russo-Chinese conflict game. One of the hazards of being so long after visiting the show!

A wonderful view of this game complete with a castle, lots of carts and supplies and a small galleon! Lots to look at! Sometimes the games have so much details that you do not know to photograph and so miss some of the game or just take in the spectacle.

This game was in a very small scale and the buildings came from Total Battle Scenics. The table was well marked out and orientated and was a visual feast! Very reminiscent of the 1/300th terrain seen in a copy of Miniature Wargames many years ago.

The Newark Irregulars had a 28mm ECW game which had some very well painted figures on show.

Now I believe that this game was using 28mm figures. Set in the desert, many of the vehicles more famous in this theatre are present. 

Now on to WWI. Due to the usually specialist terrain, (ie trenches), you do not see this period on display often as it requires a large amount of work to produce terrain which cannot easily be used elsewhere.

This was a very large board, as you can see.

As it is set in the last few months of the war the German A7V is present.

Here a similar period of time, but in a different part of the World.

The game based on the French village of St Mere Eglise, on 6th June 1944.

The Shrewsbury Wargames Society are regular attenders at Partizan.

A number of the civilians and peasants remind me that they would be fit for the Ketts Rebellion game that the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers put on for the Diceni show.

In 28mm and using their range of figures, Ist Corps had a very fine game on show.

I noticed a good representation of a poplar tree. Something I do find difficult to accurately make. 

Overall this was exactly what you expect from the Partizan show. Plenty of space, relevant Historical games which where of a high quality and well presented.