Sunday 12 November 2017

Bellona Manuals of Military Field Works of the 18th & 19th Centuries and of the 20th Century






I posted about Bill Holmes here back in 2010. You may remember the Deltorama adverts from Wargamer's Newsletter, or his Journal (pre-blogs) which was featured in Don Featherstone's Solo Wargaming.

I have had the first of these two booklets for some time but just bought the second from eBay, so I thought they were worth a post. His drawing style was very distinctive and I thought they also deserved a post as an example of Bellona publications. If you want to see three examples of 19th Century military bridging or three types of 20th Century latrines these are the books for you. Cost on publication was 5/-.

Monday 30 October 2017

Sunday 17 September 2017

Grove and Benoy Highlanders





Something of a surprise -  I recently spotted four lots of unidentified Highlanders on ebay. as sole bidder on all four lots I was glad when they arrived and confirmed my conviction that these were in fact more Grove & Benoy figures. I wasn't aware of there being any Highlanders before and they include sergeants, officers, ensigns (missing flags), a band (some missing instruments), drummers and pipers, and masses of marching rank and file. I will try to get better photos when the light improves.

You can access earlier posts on Grove and Benoy here.

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Sunday 18 June 2017

Eugene's IV Corps in Minifigs S Range figures







As no stranger to grand statement projects myself, I was delighted to receive Alan M's photographs of his Eugene's IV Corps using S Range miniatures. Particularly pleasing not to see wall to wall Old Guard and good honest Chasseurs a Cheval of the Line.

These are just taster hotos - the full 40 (yes forty) can be seen here on the Lone S Ranger blog.

Monday 12 June 2017

Hinton Hunt Original Painting Instructions Transcribed



Over on my Hinton Hunter blog I have posted on my project to transcribe all the original Hinton Hunt painting instructions I could find for their 20mm Napoleonic range.

Following the link to the blog post will provide more information and how to get hold of the transcripts if you want them.

Monday 5 June 2017

WANTED: Minifigs 15mm SYW strips

15mm are really not my thing so I was unable to help when I was asked by someone looking for 1st generation Minifigs 15mm tricorn SYW cavalry. I did however say I would post his request here. If anyone may have some of these figures available, please contact me through the comments section and I will put you in touch with each other.

Wednesday 10 May 2017

Battle of the Coral Sea Competition -- no prize!

Can anyone say what is unusual about these pictures of the Battle of the Coral Sea from Life magazine May 25th 1942?

More photos when someone comes up with the answer.


Tuesday 4 April 2017

New scans of Wargaming in the Twin Cities

 As this is the second most popular post on Vintage Wargaming, I thought it was about time I posted better scans of this rather tatty newspaper article frrom the Minneapolis Tribune Picture Supplement 17th April 1966.



I shall also be adding the new scans to the original post.

Saturday 1 April 2017

Not Vintage, more Old School

A press release has landed at Vintage Towers announcing the release of a new suite of “Old School” rules today.

Please see below:


The Society of Soggy Bottomed Wargamers are pleased to announce the release of a new set of generic rules and the first two period related supplements to enable you to refight the little know Cake Wars of the late nineteenth century and earlier.

The generic rules set, Baking Powder, have been written by JB Priestly.



The first two supplements are now available:

  • Victorian Sponge, for the second the battles of d half of the 1800s, covering the golden age of baking and the Swiss role in them; scenarios include Pavlova and Baklava
  • The World Turned Upside Down Cake, for the 17th Century (ECW – English Cake Wars)


Watch out for the forthcoming AWI (Awesome White Icing) variant by Eclairer, and the Medieval and Dark Ages supplements Simnel and Scandi Toskvig Godwinson.

Other periods in the pipeline for supplements include the ACW (American Cake Wars) and RCW (Russian Cake Wars).

We are pleased also to announce a new associated range of 6mm figures by Mary berry od Bakeus Miniatures, but the rules will of course also work with 10mm, 15mm, 20mm and 28mm. Add a little Hollywood to your Wargaming.

The rules feature:
  1. Special rules including for Baker rifle armed units; the rolling pinning of opponents; and individual acts of heroism contributing to the brownie points required for victory
  2. Different troop types
  3. Morale classes – raw, half baked, professional, overcooked
  4. Generals – fruit cake, fat rascal,
  5. Limited supply – when they’re scone they’re scone



Should be a cake walk.

Sunday 8 January 2017

The Weigle has landed

I've had time for a quick first look at the Bruce Weigle 1870 booklet - not so much the rules as the historical information, aems and tactics stuff. This is excellent and all that I had hoped. Its flagged up a number of things I had thought would be significant but it was good to have them confirmed:


  • the long range fire zone of French Chassepots
  • the superiority in materiel, training, and handling of the German artillery
  • cavalry's real value limited to scouting, pursuit, and cavalry v cavalry action
  • superior command and control enjoyed by the Germans


While this helps me with thoughts for FPW rules it leaves me considering Georland rules in a slightly different light. Though George Keef uses FPW figures Georland was more like Britain so the specific advantages of eiiher the French or the germans probably should not appear. For example, the British Army rifle of the period was the Snider Enfield, which did not enjoy the long range of the Chassepot.

Therefore I am thinking I might need two versions of any rules, one with the FPW factors and another "vanilla" one for Georland use, which is more generic.

I also want to take a look at a few other sets of rules to see if there is anything else I should take into account/borrow. next stop here is going to be the late nineteenth century rules in George Gush and Andrew Finch's A Guide to Wargaming.



Friday 6 January 2017

Looking forward to this...


... which arrived yesterday: Bruce Weigle's 1870 ruleset. It is for my twin tracked Franco Prussian War and Georland plans for this year. I have bought this for the historical information,OOBbs, scenarios etc it contains rather then the rules themselves.

I know what I want from my Georland rules (and I hope they will work just fine for FPW as well). I want something that will give a quick game and a reasonable period feel. For this reason I am looking to amend Command and Colors Napoleonics. I want to use this as the basis rather than Battle Cry as I think it will reflect European Warfare better. I will look to develop some simple amendments - I hope relatively few tweaks will be necessary, possibly infantry firing ranges and affect, French have more effective rifles, Germans have better artillery - can't believe it will only need that, so I have an interest at looking at other FPW rules to see if there are particular things to take into account. However, it seems unlikely to be that simple...

Ultimately I am after something stylised to fit in with the hex terrain, buildings, figures and basing I am intending to use.

Tuesday 3 January 2017

Georland's enemies - Command



Prussian generals


Prussian and Bavarian standard bearers

I still have to decide what to do about flags. I want to be able to use the figures for Franco Prussian War as well as Georland. It is not so much an issue for the German troops but I need to decide whether to simply use French flags for Georland, or design a Georland flag  and work out a way of alternating these - possibly by converting officer figures which can accommodate different flags and poles by drilling out a hand to receive them.

Georland's enemies - the cavalry



The S Range Franco Prussian War list included a number of German cavalry troop types which all can be used for the enemies of Georland. The various units available to me are:



Prussian Cuirassiers


Prussian Dragoons


Prussian Uhlans




Prussian Hussars


Bavarian Chevauleger

Georland's enemies - the infantry




Prussian Line Infantry




Silesian Riflemen




Bavarian Infantry






Saxon Infantry (apologies for the blurred photographs)


Wurttemberg Infantry


One of the good things about the Miniature Figurines Franco Prussian War Range was the presence of figures for various of the German States allied to Prussia, mainly for infantry but also including Bavarain cavalry and Wurttemberg artillery. These national contingents give some flexibility when representing the enmies of Georland.

Georland's enemies - the artillery


Artillery pieces are by B&B and RAFM. The B&B Krupp gins have split trails, which I don't think are accurate, but I haven't been able to confirm this.

I acquired an Ebay lot of about 25 Wurttemberg gunners hence the over representation of their artillery arm - the first two rows of guns (and first four rows of gunners) in the picture above. In fact the Wurttembergers were the only German in the FPW range.


Prussian and Bavarian gun crews (Bavarians the middle of the three crews). These figures are conversions now available from John Cunningham. Most of the guns in this photo are RAFM. They have single trail carriages but the moulds are obviously well past their prime, with parts missing.

Sunday 1 January 2017

The Georland Army - High Command


Army Commander - so this will be the famous General Mercury. I am still thinking what to do His Imperial Majesty - possibly the same figure with a fancier paint job, and a larger oval base including escort and ADC.


Mercury with Divisional and Brigade Commanders

The Georland Army - Cavalry


I have been painting up and organising my various S Range Franco Prussian War figures, along with some Crimean figures which jointly form my Second Empire/Red Trouser French forces.

These are partly for FPW gaming but also for my intention to refight some of George Keef's campaigns from the 1870s and 80s as detailed in the History of Georland blog.

Figures are individually based on MDF (20x20mm for foot and 20x40mm for mounted) and then placed in movement trays accommodating six infantry in two ranks or three cavalrymen abreast. An infantry battalion is four companies of six figures and a squadron of cavalry two troops of three figures each.

Cpmmanders and some infantry unit command stands us circular bases of different sizes, showing different levels of command.

I'm going to photograph and post these over the next few days but here are the French (and Georland) cavalry for starters.


Spahis



Chasseurs d'Afrique





Dragoons



Cuirassiers



Commanders (including the famous General Mercury)