Tunnies Terrain Trees

Hello There! I have recently been asked about the Trees that I supply from my business. These include various sizes of items intended for a number of scales. However the question, 'How big shold a tree be?' means that they could be used equally well for a number of figure sizes.

Here are the largest trees in the range. As with all in the range they are made using Woodland Scenics products. Clump foliage is soaked in PVA and water then glued to armatures which have a larger base. When dry the clump foliage is airbrushed a lighter yellow/green shade to represent reflected sunlight.

For scale some Perry's mounted and dismounted Confederate cavalry are shown. I have used similar for wargaming purposes over a number of years now and am happy to say these items are much more 'wargamer proof' than many of the other items on the market. 

I have found by painful experience that the only part of clump foliage that will stay glued to a tree is the part that is physically touching the adhesive. Over a period of time that clump foliage just ends up in the bottom of the box that you are using to store said trees!

The materials from our Railway modelling brothers use the same materials but their hobby is set up in a loft space or a club and does not need to be transported from home to club and back again or repeatedly set up then put away again. this means that wargaming products need to be much more harder wearing.

The above are priced between £14 and £16 plus postage.

These are the next part of the range. Again, using Woodland Scenics products, these conifer trees can be used for 10mm sized figures upwards. Based on two pence pieces this provides a bit of weight to stop them toppling over.

They are priced Small - £2.75 each, Medium - £3.25 each and Large - £3.75

Here are the deciduous versions made in the same way. The prices are the same as for the conifers.

Please contact me through this blog if you are interested in making a purchase.

A New DVD for me! 'The Duellists'

Hello again. In line with the eclectic style of this blog I have a recommendation for any Napoleonic wargamer.

After a comment off the cuff with a wargaming colleague at my wargaming club I mentioned the above film. It occurred to me that I had not seen this film on the television for years, probably decades even. I remember as a young child seeing this film and it fuelled an already growing interest in military history which was living through constant loans from the local library.

Please excuse the poor picture as the reflective cover on this DVD box was a major challenge for my poor photography skills!

I took the opportunity to purchase this film on DVD and the first chance to watch it. For the first time in years I was able to just sit and watch this film without a tablefull of figures calling to me to paint them! I must have been looking forward to watching it?

Directed by Ridley Scott the film maintains a true 'Napoleonic' flavour. Wonderful uniforms and dramatic action, although I wish it had included a cavalry charge.

However the atmospheric scenes from the Retreat from Moscow makes up for this and you feel cold too!

Filled with accomplished British actors it also includes a number of metaphors for the period.

The last shot of a defeated and brooding Harvey Keitel looking over the French countryside wearing a bicorn hat in the style of Napoleon himself easily transferred to the 'great' man himself.

I can highly recommend this film to anyone interested in the Napoleonic wars with the caveat that the resulting interest in wargaming may seriously damage your wealth! 

Refight of Waterloo

This refight recently took place at the New Buckenham Historical Wargames Club. Here are a few pictures from the games preperations.

Here is a picture of the clubs version of Hougoumont. The buildings are from Hovels while the garden and the trees to the right are made by me. I searched the internet for some illustrations of the garden here and on a visit to the battlefield had a close look at the area covered. I took a pen drawing of the garden made just after the battle. I hoped it was a true representation!

I also had to keep the overall size to a minimum as the footprint of the total model could be overwhelming for the table.

Here are two further close ups of the garden manned by Nassauers.

On the other side of the building defenders made the most of the walled cover. The garden patch in the top picture is also an addition by myself. It consists of rows of cabbages and other crops.

On the far side of this bastion the French advanced around the far flank with a combined cavalry and artillery force.

In front of these advancing troops the British  awaited their fate.

In the middle of the battle field the British defenders had blockaded the main road next to the clubs representation of La Haie Sante and Pictons troops look at the oncoming attack by D'Erlon. The French Grande Battery can just be seen. Having visited the battlefield and seen the crest that the French sited their guns this is a fair view.

The British commander and staff look on at the preparations and positions.

Here are some pictures of the 'Fluff', as people at the club say. These are all behind the French lines and are various manufacturers.

An impressive view of the Guard waiting for the order to advance.

A closer view of part of D'Erlons Corps arrayed behind the Grande Battery.

The Emperors Coach awaits its owners.

The final picture is the start of the British artillery.

Further pictures can be viewed here

Southwold Visit

On a visit to Southwold I found this plaque on one of the buildings in the town. The building was the headquarters for the British forces during the period of the Dutch war 1665 - 1672.

The Battle of Sole Bay took place off Southwold. There is a 'Sailors Museum' further down the street, overlooking the sea, which also has a number of naval exhibits. Although set in a small room it is packed with naval and nautical memorabelia.

The building itself has a small memorial to the event.

From the outside it is a very unassuming building but has a great history.

Table Top Teaser, The Bridge at Kronstadt

Hello Again! Here is a game Adrian and I played in January. With a mutually free day between us Adrian arranged a scenario and put on a 'Sun King' game.

The scenario came from issue two of Battlegames magazine. The table top teaser, 'The Bridge at Kronstadt' is a bridge demolition scenario where one side was to hold off a larger advancing force from a bridge while the defenders retired over the bridge before destroying it.

Without this prior knowledge I took the attacking side, the far side of the table on the above picture, and wanted to try and advance as quickly as possible as the attacking forces were very large and they needed the space to deploy.

The opposition held a screen of defence across the bridge extending out to either flank. The defenders had their cavalry force on their left which they used to great effect to prevent the attackers deployment.

Ahead of the defenders line stood an artillery unit behind gabions. This also  caused problems on the day!

As the attackers filed onto the table they began to be threatened by the enemies cavalry which deployed well forward.

The defenders unit, screening the bridge approach looked on at the deployment problems of the enemy.

A large cavalry battle ensued which slowed any further attacking deployment. The battle swung to and fro. Eventually the defenders were driven back and the attackers neared the defence line.

As the cavalry battle progressed the defence line masking the bridge came into sight.

A small contingent of cavalry managed to reach the defensive screen but to no avail as they soon bounced off the defenders.

The attackers passed the forward artillery battery and continued forward.

The attackers forward line continued advancing but as per the original scenario the defending forces had plenty of time to withdraw and demolish the bridge.

This was an exciting scenario and I feel it is well worth flicking through old editions of Battlegames magazine for further Table Top Teasers. In this case this provided an absorbing game with both sides able to claim honours well divided and enjoyable.

 

Plans for 2019

After realising that six weeks of 2019 had galloped by I thought I would try to start some painting plans for the year. Here I will start with the American Civil War.

Here are the proposed targets. Here is a Union wagon, a two wheeled ambulance, a field forge, surgeons, prisoner escort, horse holders, further dismounted cavalry and already on the painting table more mounted and dismounted Confederate and Union cavalry.

This is all to explore the possibility of putting on an ACW cavalry raiding game. The great majority of the games I play are simple confrontation games. Either based on an actual battle or generated from a scenario. Our scenarios are either from a magazine article or from 'Programmed Wargames Scenarios' by Charles Stewart Grant.

After reading about a few raids by Confederate cavalry during the American Civil War I decided to look further into the possibilities of organising a game using this idea.

Many figure manufacturers have products which could be helpful and as this idea grew legs so did my unpainted figure collection! The above is from Wargames Foundry, Perrys, Redoubt and Hinds Miniatures, (Hinds have been very helpful and sent me some miscast artillery pieces).

I have also seen advertised from Raven Banner Games a Confederate camp fire set and some Confederate sharp shooters. These will/are available from Old Glory UK.

The other things I may need are tentage. This is available from Rendra but I intend to make my own.  This may also be the subject of a future feature for WSS.

I recently bought a set of four books entitled, 'From Sumpter to Shiloh', 'North of Antietam', 'Retreat from Gettysburg', and 'The Way to Appomattox' These books are a reprint of magazine articles published in 'Century' magazine starting twenty years after the War finished and includes features written by a number of Generals and eye witnesses. The original illustrations are also included which as well as copies of photographs of the main contenders from both sides but also a number of pictures of camp life, armies on the march, units and individuals in action and the scenery and buildings present.

These books are rather hefty but as all four volumes were only £15 I did not pass them up. This has also been cheaper than purchasing a number of unit histories which may all say the same thing!

Some of the illustrations show clear line drawings of camps and bivouacs of armies of both sides with plenty of ideas for tents and camp layout. Well worth the money and the text includes a lot of ideas for scenarios.

Although some of the text may be a little inaccurate, (as some of the contributors had their own respective axe to grind), it is still useful to see their perspectives and opinions.

Looking forward to progressing with this project! 

Battle of Torrington 16/02/1646

This game was played yesterday at the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Club. The figures were 28mm and the rules used were Warlord Games 'To Kill a King'

 The board consisted of a line of barricades at the edge of the town of Torrington, blocking two roads which enter the town. The defenders were entrenched with a number of cavalry units in the rear. The defensive line terminated in a large redoubt manned by artillery and infantry.

This was the last battle of the English Civil War with the last Royalist remnants holding out in the village. The New Model Army were to attack from the end of the table.

Here is the left of centre of the defences. The musketeers are manning the entrenchments with the Pike in the rear ready to support the frontline in the event of a heavy attack in their area.

Here is a close up of a musketeer line. As you can see the standard of painting from Stuart and Peter helped the visual appeal of the game.

The large redoubt was heavily defended and flanked either side with further infantry.

Here is a close up. With the large amount of open ground in front of this position the Parliamentarians had the opportunity to deploy onto the table.

Part of the attack in the centre of the table stalled at first but did eventually continue.

 The fighting for the redoubt was fierce and continuous. During the real battle the redoubt fell due to the use of pikes by the New Model Army, but only after two hours of fighting. Also once the redoubt fell as the Royalists fell back the church was destroyed by an explosion as an amount of gun powder ignited.

Here are some of the Parliamentarian cavalry. These deployed to the left of the defenders and had a difficult time deploying in front of the defenders trenches. Unfortunately these troops did not budge for a long while despite a lot of encouragement! The rules used try to add uncertainty to the movement rates by determining the amount and types of movement a unit can make by a dice throw. Throwing over this initiative rate means that nothing happens. This can be infuriating for the player commanding those figures. I personally can see why this has been done in the rules but feel a morale based system rather than something more abstract would be more suitable. Using these rules I have seen units stubbornly refuse to do anything for most if not all of the game which is not strictly accurate.

If you look closely at the figures above you can see the roots growing out of the bases of these figures into the board!

The game went to history and after the redoubt fell the game came to an end.

Many thanks to Paul, Stuart and Paul for organising this game and supplying the figures. Further pictures can be found here