Surely the sky must be falling down...

... when I've stopped painting eyes on my miniatures.

Case in point is this miniature, and the ones before it in my [Flickr photostream](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes):



As noted in the comments on one of my earlier pictures, I've finally crossed a final frontier in painting. Over the years, I've always tried to paint each and every miniature as if it was going to end up in a painting competition (and most of them eventually did), but as many a wargamer knows, if you want to actually play with your painted toy soldiers, that standard of painting is not compatible with getting lots of figures on the tabletop.

So, in order to change this, I have gradually lowered the standard of painting for my figures, starting with 15 mils, then 20 mm figures and now, finally, I have crossed the final frontier and started painting the big boys to a tabletop standard as opposed to a competition standard. This evolution is inevitable if you want to actually play with your toy soldiers, and I still think of myself more as a wargamer than as a figure painter.

First indication of this was when I, after ten years, did not enter a figure in the Crisis painting competition -- a trend that seems to be general as the organisers complained about a lack of historical subjects in the competition. This is normal, as the competition [has moved](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000134.html) towards a competition for painters, no longer for wargamers.

Now what is different about the 'tabletop' painting standard? For one, I don't paint eyes anymore. It's only a few minutes gained, but every minute counts. I also lower the number of layers to the minimum I can get a way with. On large areas, such as the above figure's cloak, I still do three layers, but the vast majority of areas get only two (e.g. the skin and trousers of the figure). Detail stuff, such as the belt get only a single layer, and I often don't even bother painting the shoes (they just get a drybrush of the color of the base over the undercoat).

Another 'trick' I use, which is nothing new of course, is to have number of figures on the go. That way, whenever I take a color, I apply it to various figures, e.g. this figure's cloak is blue, that one's trouses will be blue, and that one's tunic. This way, you get some of the benefit from an assembly line painting system without some of the disadvantages.

And does it work? Well, over the last three weeks or so, I painted over 10 figures, which is not much by some standards, but is significantly more than my previous output.

Battle of The Angle (ACW)

Yesterday we played another 'back to basics' ACW game, using floppy plastic figures and hexified Brother against Brother. The game was based on scenario n° 2 _Threat to the Flank_ from _Scenarios for all ages_ (Grant & Asquith), with the Union troops being the attacking troops in the face of Confederate resistance.

The Union troops needed to throw the Confederate forces off a hill on the way south 'before nightfall'. Said hill lay behind a river, the part of which immediately in front of the hill was fordable, while the rest was uncrossable, except by a bridge off towards the edge of the table. To accomplish their goal, the Union had sent a sizable force (2 infantry units, two cavalry squadrons and a gun battery) on a flanking march towards the bridge with the intent of outflanking the main Confederate position. Unlucky for them, a Confederate scout had detected the flanking movement and the Confederate commander had responded by sending his own detachment of 1 infantry unit, 2 cavalry squadrons and a gun battery towards the same bridge. That was the starting point of the scenario.

In our game, the Union side was played by Eddy and Phil, while Koen and Bart played the Confederates. As one of the Confederate players, I'll describe the battle from that viewpoint.

The plan

Our plan was fairly straight forward. We wanted to defend the hill slightly forward of it, behind an angled row of hedges (soon to become a Bloody Angle of our own) with an artillery battery on the hill behind it. The flanking force was to deploy its battery well forward to a spot where it was covered by woods on the flank and with a clear field of fire to the bridge. The infantry unit (the 7th Georgia) was to provide fire support on the flank of the battery, while the cavalry squadrons would charge anything crossing the bridge.

Phase 1: Union approach

The initial turns of the game saw our planned deployments developing satisfactorily: the infantry units moving up to the hedge at 'The Angle' received some long range musketry but reached the hedge more or less intact while the artillery battery on the hill inflicted some casualties on the opposing Union troops. On the flank, the artillery and infantry quickly reached their appointed positions, while the cavalry cautiously moved up to a stream on the way to the bridge.

The Union advanced fairly cautiously, making good use of intervening hedges for cover on the way to the central hill. On the flank, two Union cavalry squadrons rushed over the bridge, while their infantry attempted to infiltrate in the woods across the river from our artillery battery.

The Union artillery deserves special mention in this phase. Both batteries were virtually wiped out without firing a shot by turn 3. The battery on the Union left side (opposite the main hill and The Angle) was devestated by Confederate musketry causing 80% casualties with one volley of one infantry unit (go 1st Maryland!), while the flanking artillery attempted to set up on a hill opposite the Confederate 7th Georgia, which wiped it out of existence with two volleys. Some of the loudest cheers in the game thereafter were heard when the two remaining gunners of the hill battery managed to load their gun and let of a shot :).

Also deserving special mention was the 2nd New Jersey Infantry which, in a mad display of inspiredness, charged out of cover, across the river and up to the hedge at The Angle while the rest of the Union troops were still moves away. Amazingly, the 2nd New Jersey would survive till just before the end of the game, always being the furthest advanced northern unit in the game.

Phase 2: The crunch

All of this preparatory maneuvring led up to the crunch a few turns later. On the flank the Confederate artillery and infantry eventually redeployed to help their beleaguered colleagues near The Angle, but the real fight there was between gentlemen: the four cavalry squadrons (two on each side) got into a big swirling cavalry melee lasting a few turns. When the dust had settled, only two horsemen on each side were left standing, being out of command or retreating.

In the center, The Angle became the Bloody Angle. Union infantry moved up close and started reducing the Confederate infantry behind the hedge by fire (although they also took casualties proportionally from the return fire). When the line was weakened enough, a Union cavalry squadron charged in to break the line. It succeeded, destroying the last remaining Confederate infantry, but was itself promptly counter charged by the Confederate cavalry squadron that had been deployed behind the infantry line all game patiently waiting for this opportunity to counterattack. Add in another Union cavalry squadron and after a few turns the space behind the hedges resembles nothing less than an abattoir. Bloody Angle indeed.

Unlucky for the Union troops however, the various cavalry charges and musketry exchanges going on had knocked out all three of their officers, leading to the entire army being out of command and having to take a forced pause.

At this point, it was near midnight real time, so we decided to call it a day.

Analysis

As to the result of the game, the consensus was that the Union would probably have succeeded in getting over the hill (there was by then only one full Confederate infantry unit left on the hill -- the redoubtable 1st Maryland), although given the fact that they had some reorganising to do and they were currently leaderless, they would not have succeeded 'before nightfall'. The exact definition of 'before nightfall' is not mentioned in the scenario, however, so there is some room for discussion there :)

It was a very enjoyable game, with particularly the swirling cavalry melee on the flank and the bloody fighting around the Angle 'feeling right'. I think everyone had great fun (of course, Phil's bottle of champagne before the game might have helped there). The BaB rules have proven their worth again, and with a small bit of tweaking in the cavalry hex conversion rules and a rather larger bit of tweaking in the melee rules (which can be cumbersome), they'll serve us well for many games to come.

Dude, where's my sand?

Whilst idly browsing [Ebay](http://www.ebay.co.uk) (as one does), I came across this auction:



That's right: you can buy a handful of sand. The same stuff that's outside everyone's door, in every backyard and every gutter, or that -- if you live in Alaska and it's minus seventy or so -- you can buy from your local DIY store by the 50kg bag for the same price as this auction's meagre 100 grams.

Anyway, if you're looking for sand, [look no further](http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SALE-BASING-SAND-Wargames-Figures-Scenery-15mm-28mm-DBA_W0QQitemZ180068966955QQihZ008QQcategoryZ123863QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). I really don't know where to start here. There is the use of a number of totally irrelevant (28mm sand, anyone?) but high scoring keywords in the auction title -- certain to be appreciated by the discerning bidder. Or the fact that one of the first lines in the description mentions 'over inflated prices' at hobby stores -- probably as opposed to merely inflated on this offer. Or the implication that just by buying this sand (not any other, mind you) will lead you to the ultimate in figure basing.

Ah, Ebay :)

A new 'painting tray'

Those of you who follow me less than regular [workbench photos](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes/sets/72057594098116252/), have seen that I put figures on champagne type corks (lots of those around these days), using a bit of blue tack (which is white in Belgium) while painting them. The corks are hefty enough to handle comfortably and keep me from handling the possibly freshly painted figures.

On the [painting station](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000006.html), the corks are held down using blue tack again. This is a workable system, except that during painting sessions, I set the corks on the table next to the painting station. As that very same table is used by my wife when she is working on her laptop or correcting papers and exams (she teaches chemistry), it tends to wobble unpredictably on occasion. This has predictably led to several of the figure and cork stacks tumbling down to a messy end on the floor. Not ideal.

The solution is, of course simple:



The box is a simple shoebox (albeit of children's shoes), while the dividers are 5mm balsa wood. I had built this box originally to accomodate a type of 'matrix painting' but it only recently dawned on me (I'm slow sometimes) that it can be used to hold the corks and figures for normal painting sessions too.

So there you have it, a [Hyun](http://www.weetoysoldiers.com) style contraption to ease a wargamer's life :).

The Bridge at Springfield, ACW

The december game played in Phil's Attic in the series Schild en Vriend Revival Games was set up in back-to-basics philosophy, and this because of 2 reasons:

1. We used unpainted, plastic 20mm ACW figures. This is a throwback to our old days when we just started with miniature wargaming. But in some way, I do feel there is something very attractive playing with these figures -- as long as there is a nice terrain setup.

2. The scenario came out of BattleGames issue #2, a magazine that regularly prides itself on its 'Old School Wargaming Spirit'.

For the ruleset, Brother Against Brother was used, but hexified of course, since we use the Kallistra terrain as our terrain of choice. The rules can be used as-is, dividing all ranges given in inches by 4 to get a range in hexes.

The scenario saw a force of Confederate rebels against an army of Union soldiers. The Union's mission was to capture a bridge, whilst the Confederacy had to defend it. Eddy and Frank played the Union, while Phil and Bart took the roles of the Confederate commanders.

After the initial deployment of the defenders, the Union had to divide their force in three attack columns. Each force has an officer, able to give orders to squads belonging to that company.

The game started pretty smoothly. The first Union troops where shot at by a Southern artillery battery placed on the centre hill near Devil's Rock. On the Union left flank, progress was smooth, with a Confederate cavalry squad wiped out after a gallant charge by the latter. The central artillery battery near Devil's Rock was routed by return fire, and the Union right flank exchanged shots with Southern troops cleverly hidden in woods on the Southern left flank.

This was all without the involvement of the defense line of Confederate infantry near the Springfield Bridge, which Engineers were busy preparing for demolition.

Alas, near turn 10 a morale card had to be drawn by a squad on the Union left flank, indicating their Officer was shot by a sniper. THWACK. This meant all squads could only load and fire, as long as no replacement officer was found (30% each turn). Unfortunately, all the Union squads were in cover and unable to exchange shots with the Confederate troops, which led to much frustration on and near the battlefield. In the mean time, the central Cavalry of the Southern Rebels, led by Jubal Early, wanted to charge over the central hill. After some initial hesitation, they were unable to reach their intended target, an out-of-command Union Cavalry squad, so they took out their carabines, effectively causing their opponents to skeedaddle.

This was the final straw, and the Union conceded -- sort of -- since it was late already in real time.

Everyone agreed it was a fun game, and the BaB rules are really working well, but in hindsight, the Officer Thwack morale card was the wrong card at the wrong time, and probably too devastating as a random effect.

You can't start young enough...

... as this here picture proves:



Of course, she destroyed the plane five seconds later, so perhaps I'll keep her away from toy soldiers for a little while longer :)

Celtic figures

The other day, a gaming friend interested in getting some Celtic figures asked me about what manufacturer my Celts are from. Here's my answer:

Well, for Celtic figures, you're spoilt for choice if nothing else.
Because Celts are the figures featured in the WAB book, just about
everyone and his dog do a Celtic range.

As to my Celts - they're mostly Foundry, with a few Renegade and Old
Glory chariots and Old Glory infantry. The vast majority is Foundry
however, bought way back when they were just putting their stock into
packs and selling off the non-pack-packaged stock at ridicilously low
prices. They're good figures, and I would recommend them, except for the
price of course. However, it is rare you can not get any sort of
discount on Foundry stuff, and I believe they're doing their usual horde
deals for Christmas again, although that would mean buying *a lot* of
figures to get a good price per figure.

The Old Glory figures I have for infantry are the older Caesar's War in
Gaul (CGW or CWG) range, not the newer Celtic range (Update: it turns out these figures are now the PPC range). The figures are on
the good side of the Old Glory spectrum, but still suffer from the
typical Old Glory 'awkwardness'.

The Renegade stuff is truly chunky: they outmass just about any other
figure on the table, and the swords are indeed as massive as they look
on the website. I've only got a few of their chariots, so that doesn't
matter that much, but I would not combine Renegade infantry in a unit
with another manufacturer's figures. They're good figures though, on a
par or even better as Foundry's, except for the chunkiness.

All that aside, would I want to start over, I'd have a good look at
Gripping Beast. They suffer from a few flaws (typical poses, impossible
poses to stick spears on with a few of the spearmen), but they look
gorgeous on the website.

As a bit of gratuitous self promotion (hey, it's my blog after all), you can ogle my Celts [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes/sets/72057594075245680/).

TT tags: miniatures wargaming

Another Colonial Game

After the exploits of the FFL in the Desert (see post below), we had another Colonial game this week, this time in the Congo. Report by Eddy, pictures here.

The setup : King Leopold II is on a personal inspection tour of his little piece of personal property in Africa, visiting a diamond mine. Taking a coffee break at the local fort a scout comes running in with news : Zanzibarians see his presence as an opportunity to enlarge their trading empire and have instigated a revolt amongst the natives who need not much motivation to kick some white butt anyway. A messenger is immediatly send to the main encampment demanding quick rescue but for the moment King Leo, his retinue, a company of Belgian troops and 2 companies of Askari will need to hold the fort until the rescue party arrives. The size of the native force is considerable - at least 12 companies worth of warriors. Can the fort hold ? Will the rescue party arrive in time ?

Bart & Eddy playing the brave natives. Phil, Koen (later replaced by Frank) playing the "Force Publique"

Pre-game native tactical talks decided that taking the fort should have precedence over trying to slow down the reinforcements so only a minimum of 3 companies are going to be used to try to buy time for the others to take the fortress. Such a suicide mission is tailor made for Eddy while Bart would use his tactical finesse (read : mini-maxing) to take the fort. The ambush was set. Let them come and don't throw those spears until you can see the white of their eyes.

Koen/Frank played the fort CO while Phil would lead the rescue party. Well, it's always said you need 3 things to win a card-driven game : a good plan, good cards and good dice. The plan was good : those 3 delaying action companies did their duty, holding until the last man, even managing to wipe-out one of the rescue companies so that in the end only 2 companies got through to the fort. Too little and too late because the combination of attacking the fort only from one side, hereby halving the return fire, good cards and good dice had steadily eroded the fortress defenders. One company of the valiant relief party was still able to make it onto the walls, but sheer numbers prevailed, resulting in a vacancy add in Vacature : Job : King, degrees : none required, previous experience : women preferably.

Le Roi est mort - Vive le Roi.

The Legion in the Desert

This month, our SnV revival game was set in the North-African desert. Using the newly acquired Desert terrain from Kallistra, along with the Wooden figures from Windcatcher Graphics, and the Afriboria rules, we had an excellent game.

Full reports will no doubt follow ...

Crisis 2006

Last weekend we attended with the 'Schild and Vriend Demo Team' they annual Crisis convention in Antwerp, hosted by Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.

As usual, this convention is the highlight of the year for wargamers in the Low Countries and surroundings. The large hall was filled with traders and clubs. The SnV participation game was using a hexified version of the Wings of War boardgame. Dogfights in WW1 have a certain romantic feel, and we had quite some succes attracting players for short 10-15 minutes duels in the air.

Anyway, just go and see the pictures at http://www.tsoa.be/ .