Basic Impetus Samurai bash

As we were unable to get accommodation in Goulburn for the November weekend of gaming, Richard, Ralph and I got together for the day at Richard's place and had a great game of Basic Impetus using their 15mm Samurai collections.

Ralph had taken delivery of a large number of new shiny lead castings which he very quickly turned into wonderfully painted figures and units and he was keen to get them onto the table. 

Ralph's figures on the left and Richard's on the right

My opposition

My guys on the left of the army

A close up of Ralph's baggage element

The baggage in Impetus allows wonderful little dioramas

Baroque Thirty Years War

The November game at the Cumberland Club saw a very large Baroque game using a range of figures but mainly Ottomans and lots of Poles with their Famous Winged Hussars.  We used the great Baroque rules and the figures were 15mm.

I was on the left flank with a mixed unit of Ottomans.  After some hard going initially, my cavalry saw of all comers and even managed to sweep around and attack the flank of the units to my right.

Looking over my Ottomans to the Poles

A close up of a number of his Poles - especially the winged hussars

The saga of photo storage

It has taken me a long time to find an alternative to Photobucket and in the end I have given up on all options that I have tried.  So tonight I am adding a few games played over the last few months by uploading photos directly to Blogger.

So hopefully over the next few hours you will see two or three of the very enjoyable games that we have played recently.

Photobucket Test

I'm testing whether Photobucket continues to work.  I have read in numerous places on the web that they have stopped allowing linking to stored photos unless you pay 399 per annum.  I am not paying that and never will.

So I thought I would give it a try and see how long this post works (if at all).

Back at work

It has been a long time since I sat at the desk and got serious painting done.  I spent an hour and a half last night and will get another hour done tonight.  So I thought I would celebrate my taking a photo and showing the variety of things that I want to finish before I move into something new.

So the photo below shows:
- 8 Numidian horsemen for 2 Impetus LC bases done awaiting varnish, basing and javelins
- 12 skirmishers for 2 Impetus S bases done awaiting varnish, basing and javelins
- 5 Gaul cavalry for 1 Impetus CM base with horses done and base coat on the riders
- half of a Saxon SYW 28mm infantry regiment that are using the wonderful Eureka figures.
- lastly a quick experiment with some Pendraken 10mm WWI British to see how they paint up and whether I can paint them to be happy with them.

New 20mm PanzerLehr figures

For a long time many who game in WWII 20mm have wanted a range of Panzer Lehr figures with their peculiar uniform.

There is a very nice range of skirmishing / fighting infantry section being produced by my friend Simon Ford and Wartime miniatures (Linked here)

But the other news around the past few months is that Adler miniatures have also started a move into 20mm WII and one of their first ranges is Panzer Lehr.   

I've got figures from both Wartime and Adler and they go very well together.  I also think they both work well with AB. I use them as variety in the units.

A link to the range is here and a few photos below.

I am not connected with either Wartime or Adler.  But I am a very happy customer of Adler's for over 20 years.

http://home.clara.net/adlermin/page57.html

 

Big Norman Sicilian v Viking Impetus game

Mid March I had a wonderful game of Impetus with the guys at the Cumberland Association.  The game was Vikings v Sicilian Normans - 3 commands and players per side.

Here are a few pictures from the action.

The table - we're on the right.  Two cavalry commands flanking the foot.

Three powerful lines of horse waiting to pounce on the advancing foot

My cavalry horde advances in waves

Lines clash



The end - a flank attach at top right that destroyed the foot unit

The end for another foot - caught in the rear by marauding cavalry

Battle of Bull Run

Well we picked the hottest day of the year (more on that later) to gather at Ralph's place for a game of Fire and Fury.  This was set at Bull Run on his handmade specific terrain using part of his great (huge) collection of 6mm H&R ACW troops.

I was the Confederate commander and faced Ralph, Ross and Nick.  The Rebs had a hard time of it for much of the game.



The Battlefield looking North with Bull Run on the right

 

Bee's Brigade sheltering Evans's reduced Brigade with the Union are on the ridge

Union opposite Bartow's Brigade behind the woods

Up comes another Union brigade while Evans moves to close the gap

Hampton's Brigade comes on - looks a little small doesn't it?

Hampton looks even smaller when you consider the Union forces coming on in the distance

 

While Hampton held them, Stonewall's Brigade had time to come up

 

Stonewall about to repulse Sherman's Brigade back across the river

On the other flank Evan's Brigade is about to be hammered

 

But too late for the Union, Stonewall, Hampton and Bartow have held the right flank

 





And yet more Confederates are coming onto the table



The Confederates hold Henry Hill and win the game

More troops arriving on Henry Hill to make sure it is held

Now I said that I would give you a bit more on the weather - below is a picture of the car about 5 minutes after getting in to it to go home - this was 5.45pm.  Aircon was keeping me sane inside the car while the outside was getting ready for the bacon and eggs.  I've never seen it get to that level before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The numbers won't lie

I have again followed the inspiration of Jonathan's six monthly reviews that I so look forward to reading on his Palouse Wargaming Journal.  Last year I copied the style and content of Jonathan's graphs and have again repeated the analysis. 

Painting

With the caveat expressed last year that my records only go back 7 years of the 30 I have been painting, I have shown how progress has gone.  I have used the point system from the Analogue Hobbies Paint site to allocate points per size of figure..

Firstly I have shown painting by year by period based on an actual figure count. 

 

Next up is actual figures adjusted using the Analogue points.

There is not too much to say other than I have focused quite heavily on 28mm armies for Impetus over the past three years - both Ancient and Renaissance.  As you may have seen from the blog this year almost all of my work went into the Carthaginian and allied armies with a little bit of work on others. 

I'm glad that the numbers have improved a little on last year - but they are not at the levels I was achieving a few years ago - mainly while the Guild painting challenges were being participated in. 

The next set of graphs show the same but by figure scale - again in raw figure count as well as adjusted for painting points.

 

 

Inventory

So it is left to show how the inventory has moved during the year. 

I surprised myself by keeping the inventory that I had prepared last year, up to date through the year as I purchased my "raw materials".

This information is slightly misleading currently as I do not yet have the ability in the database to record what has been painted and to remove it from the inventory.  But, while not giving away too many secrets on the size of the inventory in figures (the tax man may be watching), let me say that had I removed what I painted in 2016 from these inventory numbers the difference would not be statistically significant (as the scientists say).

Having the inventory has again saved me a reasonable amount of money this year as on a number of occasions I have been almost enticed by a sale or a second hand offer only to check the inventory and satisfy myself that I needed no more - or that I was about to duplicate a purchase.

So what follows are two graphs showing the percentages of my unpainted pile by period - one based on actual figures regardless of scale and one based on an adjusted count of 'painting points'.  Again for this purpose I am using the point system from the Analogue Hobbies Paint site.

 

The WWII will probably always be the core of my collections and effort.  But the Ancients, Renaissance and SYW are collections that I have started over the past three years.

I have again not managed to catalogue all of the collections - namely my 6mm and 28mm Napoleonic projects and some 1/1200 and 1/2400th scale naval projects.  Perhaps that is something that can be added through the year.