Lincoln County War

High St, Lincoln City

Paul was visiting the club from Somerset this week - one of his regular visits, to combine a trip to the Tunbridge Wells Wargame Show and a visit to his old friends at the SAS Group!

Traditionally Mike N puts on a Wild West game for Paul's visit, this year the pair combine their assets to put on a fantastic Lincoln County War game.

Billy the Kid and Gorge Coe  were hole up with other Regulators in the McSween house and two nearby buildings whilst the opposing Dolan / Murphy / Seven Rivers faction were trying to kill them off.

In what became known as the Battle of Lincoln, the Regulators had to make their escape!

Detail form Lincoln City

On the night the McSween house burst into flames on turn one, forcing out the Regulators before they had a real plan and arguably before the opposing faction was quite ready.

Mike W controlled Billy the Kid, George Coe and the McSween household  based Regulators,who 

Lincoln City

skedaddled along the river tree line to escape chased by their opponents (controlled by Rupert) - maybe two turns of movement behind them.

To slow down the pursuers George Coe ducked back into the treeline and waited for the chaser to reach him,when he jumped out and instantly killed one and then engaged in a mammoth encounter with the remaining four characters in that group.

US Cavalry Faction

What started as a gunfight developed into a brawl and George eventually took out 3 of the 4 remaining enemy with his fists and boots only to finally fall to the bullets of the remaining chaser when
he was re-enforced by two of Dave's faction.

Another View

Meanwhile Steve, leading the Seven Rivers Gang and Dave with his faction chased the Regulators in parallel down the High Street flushing out Mike N's Regulators from their houses and taking down stragglers that found themselves stuck in the open at various times during the game.

Eventually the main body of the Regulators, including Billy the Kid,managed to exit the table, more or less intact!

Fun was had by all,next yer we're considering recreating the Magnificent Seven's final shoot out...

Finally apologies for the orientation of the photos, try as I might - I could not get the to display the correct way around!

AHPC IX - From MikeW: 28mm Bretons and 17th Century Spanish 20mm VBCW (181 Points)

Plastic frames awaiting assembly

I'm trying to concentrate on a couple of projects this week, however, somehow I doubt I'll be able to keep focused! First I have a pile of Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age figures - which I have had kicking around for some time. My aim is to build these as Bretons to fight alongside their Norman allies at the Battle of Hastings.


There are six frames of five figures on each and I was able to rummage through my spares box to find enough spare 'Norman heads', heads with helmets and kite shields to make 21 Bretons.

A number of the spare heads were from the Saxon Warrior box, sounds fiddly (and t was) but using a sharp modelling knife  - I cut off any mustaches from the Saxon heads as the Normans at the time were clean shaven...

Battle Fag Transfers

In my mind,the Bretons are the poorer cousins of the Normans, keen to follow Norman fashion but not quite at their level, not  sure about the historical accuracy of this assumption but I will have their men not quite so well equipped and so these generic Dark Age warrior types can make up their back ranks, giving the units a distinctive look and feel.

The figures are based on 2 pence pieces and so once glued on, I undercoated in white before painting the little guys in largely muted colours - although I have done one in red, a couple in maroon and a few in light or dark blue.

I used shield transfers on these figures and then painted over with matte varnish. Figures were based in my normal manner.

First Line of 7 Bretons

Second Line of Bretons

Third Line of Bretons

These photos taken just before I sprayed the figures with matt varnish, to remove the shine

Calculations: 21 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 Points ea = 105 Points

Next item are 4 x 28mm 17th Century Spanish Musicians from The Morados Viejos, or "Old Purples", this unit originated in 1632 as the Tercio de Sevilla, or Regiment of Seville, and was the oldest "standing" Tercio in service through to the early 1700s.

The figures are from Phoenix Miniatures, previously available from North Star but sadly these seem to have disappeared from sight about 18 months ago. I have a regiment of the 'Old Purples' already painted-up, I thought I'd add a small vignette of some musicians playing to add colour to the table top, not that colour was in short supply for Spanish armies of the period - each Tercio being uniformed in separate distinctive colours!

Spanish Musicians from the 'Old Purples' Tercio

So in the group is a drummer, 2 fifers and a piper - yes the Bagpipes were a reasonably common musical installment of the period and not limited to the Scottish Highlands!

Figures were undercoated in white and painted in my normal way, then based on an 80 x 40mm base. Job Done!

Calculations: 4 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 Points ea = 20 Points

Raw plastic figures

Next item are a group of WW1 British Infantry, heavy Weapons Squad, painted up for my VBCW project. Alsofound were a group of  4mounted figures, believe these were with the Artillery set and these are going to be pressed into service as VNCW Cavalrymen.
Again they represent the Liverpool Workers Council and again they are from a plastic HaT set.

Liverpool Workers Council Heavy Weapons Team

There is a two man mortar team, a two man HMG team, a prone two mane Lewis Gun team and an officer, all painted in same manner as I did the Field Gun in a previous post.

BTW, I found another Field Gun team, which I will tackle in a future week...

Mounted Figures

Calculations: 5 x 20mm Foot figures @ 4 Points ea = 20 Points
                        2 x 20mm Prone Figures @ 2 Points ea =  4 Points
                        4 x 20mm Mounted Figures @ 8 Points ea = 32 Points
                        Total 56 Points

Next Batch of 17th Century Figures, 

incl Spanish Musicians

Final item I have started is another 28 man 17th century Saxon Infantry Unit, this time it will be representing Röbel's Regiment, and is basically a repeat of the previous regiment I painted up but this time with Green facings to the coat.

I mention it here to 'force' myself to do the painting! Even if it's in between other items I may decide to paint up, who knows if I'll get them finished this week!





Calculations: 21 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 Points ea = 105 Points
                          4 x 28mm Foot figures @ 5 Points ea = 20 Points
                          5 x 20mm Foot figures @ 4 Points ea = 20 Points
                          4 x 20mm Mounted Figures @ 8 Points ea = 32 Points
                          2 x 20mm Prone Figures @ 2 Points ea =  4 Points
                          TOTAL = 105 + 20 +20 +32 +4 = 181 Points

AHPC IX - From Mike W: 28mm 17th Century Saxon Infantry (140 Points)

Finally I got them done! A day late for submission last week but nonetheless they are completed - I forgot just how many buttons there are on each figure (20!), not to mention the 12 apostles on each of the 15 musketeers...

Raw figures from the 28th January!

The figures are form North Star's excellent 1672 range, originally Copplestone figures, and I have a mountain of these lead figures still waiting to be painted up. I decided that they would be painted to represent a regiment of Saxon infantry, dispatched to Vienna n 1683 with the Saxon / Polish & allied relief force, who were to attempt to lift the Ottoman siege of that city.

Although the figures are arguably a little 'early' fashion wise for the Siege of Vienna, the beauty of this period is that no-one is really 100% sure exactly what as worn by the fighting units. A combination of national uniforms being in their infancy and the rigours of campaign would have created many different looks within the armies, plus the fact that offices were generally able to dress themselves according to their whim, rather than uniform regulations, created some very colourful units in the field.

The finished Regiment, 28 figures. 4 x Command, 8 x Pike,15 x Musketeers & 1 x NCO

This Saxon unit is loosely based upon the Benkendorf Regiment that was raised in 1675, I have chosen to depict the unit in classic Saxon Red, although there area few references to some regiments at this early time dressed in grey. I have also used the known later facing colour of 'Isabel', a popular shade of the times. Again no-one is 100% sure exactly what this colour was but best guesses being a dark straw or ochre colour. Pants were leather, buttons were brass.

Left Musketeer Wing

Right Musketeer Wing

I used my regular method for painting these figures, with a lot of touching-up to cover the errors when laying down base coats of red, leather, 'Isabel' and white...

I like my Pike & Shot units to be big, with two wings of eight musketeers, a command base of four, including two standards and then a pike block of eight, around the command base.

Command & Pike Block

You may note that there is a mix of armoured and unarmoured pikemen,with armoured chaps in the front ranks and unarmoured colleagues to the rear, as per the period. Actually the role of the pike was being phased out at this time, but they did not finally leave the battlefield until the early 1700s.

Figures are based four figures o a 40mm x 40mm base, pikemen - two to a 40mm x 20mm base to allow positioning around the command base. Sometimes I also split the command base into two 40mm  20mm bases to allow flexibility in swapping standard bearers between units - many armies of the period having very similar uniforms and thus allowing the units to be multi-purposed in different games.

Flags are from Warfare Minatures and are purposely slightly over scale to add even more colour to the period!

Calculations: 28 x 28mm figures @ 5 points ea = 140 Points

AHPC IX - From Mike W: 28mm Roman, Fantasy and 17th Century figures (115 Points)

For this second post of the week, I am concentrating on a number of other figures I have been working on, separate to my efforts on the Saxon Infantry Regiment previously posted. As ever, somewhat a mash-up of periods...

First off a group of 12 x 28mm Roman Legionaries that have been kicking around in my 'lead mountain' for several years, I bought these on a whim but can't remember now, where they came from. Remember thinking that they would look cool painted-up but  have never had time or inclination to paint these once I got them home!

The raw figures with first steel, red & flesh layers added

I'm afraid that I have forgotten who the manufacture was for these figures, but having painted these, I was right! They do look cool!

Roman Legion Cohort of 12 x 28mm figures

Due to the large amount of metal work on these figures I undercoated them black and then dry-brushed on a suitable steel colour,I wanted the figures to have a strong presence on the wargame's table so used a lot of red for tunics, shields and helmet plumes.

Officer and shield detail

The rest was simple - flesh and leather with a few details picked out in brass. I gave the chap's skin a flesh wash to add tone and the sprayed with matte varnish before basing.

It's my personal view that for most ancient armies, the key to a spectacular army, is getting the shields right, in the case of Romans  these have to be uniform and that is something I struggle to do! For these figures I used the original paper shields that I think came with the first Warlord Games plastic box set. I attached to the painted shield with PVA glue and then varnished with Army Painter matte varnish to seal them in place, job done!

Calculations; 12 x 28mm Infantry Figures @ 5 Points ea. = 60 Points.

Unpainted figure

Completed!

Next up, is an old plastic Games Workshop fantasy figure,believe this came in a small boxed set of magicians, this guy is a Egyptian type Necromancer - if I remember correctly!


I glued it to a 2 pence piece and undercoated with white paint and  layered on the colours in my usual way. I initially did his under robe in a crimson colour, but then decided I didn't like it and want to go for a classic ochre and jade blue look and feel. I think I have some old Games Workshop skeletons  up in the loft or out in the garage in those colours, this chap can join them.

Anyway, I used a thick mix of ochre paint to block out the crimson that I'd previously used and then dry brushed with Citadel Bone paint, I also highlighted his flesh with the same bone colour to make him look less healthy!

The snake on the staff was deliberately painted in bright colours, to contract the figure and the base was left largely sand, with a couple of dry grass tufts to show a more arid environment.

Calculations; 1 x 28mm Infantry Figures @ 5 Points ea. = 5 Points.

Raw figures, prior to undercoat

Next are 4 x 28mm 17th Century mounted officers, believe that three of these are a Front Rank and one a Riever Castings piece, I base these on 40mm round MDF bases and as usual undercoated with white.

I like painting up officers and commanders of this period as it offers a little scope to give these little fellows a slightly different take on the uniforms of the period.

Firstly - I have to say my main area of interest is the Franco-Dutch Wars in the 1670s, so pushing out to Siege of Vienna is a bit of  a stretch for these figures. Additionally a couple of these figures are actually Marlburian from the early 1700s. As such I often change the tricorns on these figures to more relaxed floppy hats of the earlier period.

However, I decided to go with tricorns on three of these figures as there is no real hard evidence as to when the fashion for pushing up three sides of the slouch hats started. I did change one figure to have a highland bonnet after cutting off it's original hat.

The figures were painted a variety of colours, the Scots officer in Government Red,whilst the other three were deliberately kept more generic to allow deployment in any army of the period.

The results are as below...

Reiver Castings Officer

Converted Scots Officer

Another Front Rank Officer

Probably my favourite of the group!

Calculations; 4 x 28mm Mounted Figures @ 10 Points ea. = 40 Points.

Rear side view of Caisson

Front side view of Caisson

Next is a second Ottoman artillery limber and horse, this time painted in a base red with metal fittings. I include two photos to give a better look at the fancy caisson / limber, once gain liberated form an old Games Workshop Galloper Gun set.


Calculations; 1 x 28mm Horse @ 5 Points ea. = 5 Points.
                        1 x 28mm Limber @ 5 Points ea. = 5 Points.
                        TOTAL 10 Points

TOTAL Points - 60 + 40 + 10 +5 =115 Points

One Hour Skirmish Wargames

On Friday night we played a couple of the scenarios in John Lambshead's book - One Hour Skirmish Wargames, and great fun they were too.

Rupert had picked up and read the book and explained the rules in a couple of minutes, simple but interesting concepts, using a deck of playing cards instead of dice.

We were able to run two simultaneous games and we fitted in two games each on the night, both were 28mm,  WW2 British Commandos versus Germans scenarios.

Results table as follows:

Player     Games     Wins  Loss  Draw    %
Nigel        1        1     0     0   100%
Steve        1        1     0     0   100%
Dave         2        1     1     0    50%
Mike W       2        1     1     0    50%
John         2        0     1     1    00%

* Steve arrived late and Nigel gave up his slot to allow Steve to play in second game!     

Evening's winner - Nigel & Steve with a 100% record!

AHPC IX - From Mike W: 28mm and 20mm Various Figures and Vehicles (109 Points)

Well I hang my head in shame again, I missed Week 5 deadline, no excuses - I just didn't get enough done in time and I allowed my self to get distracted by other projects and life in general!

However for my post this week I will cover the mix of one-off figures and challenge eligible items that I did get done, hopefully by Sunday, I will have completed my main,current task of painting 28 x 28mm Saxon Infantry Men for the Siege of Vienna collection, in which case look out for a second post.

Converted Arab Artillery Crew

 So first off on this post we have two 28mm Arab artillerymen converted from Gripping Beasts's plastic Arab Infantry set and mashed-up with artillery arms from the Warlord Games, Marlbourian Artillery set. Very simple conversions here and a paint job applied,! These guys will be used as part of the Ottoman army besieging Vienna.

Gun and Crew

For anyone who's interested I have previously posted on 'Who Cares Who Wins' blog conversions of the Arab infantry to musket armed Azabs in Ottoman service.

To go with the artillerymen I've done a Light Gun and Limber. The Gun carriage & limber, some readers, may recognise these models as being from the old Games Workshop Empire Galloper Gun, this set has been kicking around my spares box for years, after loosing the horse and barrel for the gun!

I added a barrel from the Warlord Games 17th Marlburian Artillery plastic set and a Carthorse I also found in my spares box. The slightly old fashioned style of the carriage and limber gives the model a slightly Ottoman feel - I think!

Bases have been suitably modeled, using fine sand scatted and electrostatic grass with appropriate grass tufts added. Didn't know how to score the limber but went for a '5', hope that OK.

Limber & Horse,with Gun attached

Points Calculation: 2 x 28mm figures @ 5 points ea= 10 points.
                                  1 x 28mm Artillery piece @10 Points ea =10 points
                                  1 x 28mm Limber @5 Points ea =5 points
                                  1 x 28mm Carthorse @5 Points ea =5 points
                                  TOTAL = 30 Points

Plastic Confederate

Next is an other experiment, this time with a 28mm Perry Miniatures a Confederate infantryman. The experiment here being to see if I could get away with leaving the grey plastic unpainted, concentrating on the detail on the equipment. it seems to have worked pretty well, once the detail had been painted on, to my eye the end result is pretty good.

Key here was to apply the matte varnish before applying a Dark tone wash, allowing the wash something to 'key' on to over the previously unpainted grey plastic,.Without the varnish the wash pools unrealistically and the results are poor.

Points Calculation: 1 x 28mm figures @ 5 points ea= 5 points.

28mm Dutch NCO

Next up is a 28mm Front Rank, late 17th century  infantry NCO. I have him painted up as part of a Dutch regiment and on a single base (UK 2 pence piece) to be used as a marker for 'enthusiastic' regiments under the rules that I use....

Painting was quite straight forward, in the way that I have previously described.

Points Calculation: 1 x 28mm figures @ 5 points ea= 5 points.

Not the greatest picture! Two fallen Norman Knights

Two fallen Norman Knights, from the Conquest Games plastic boxed set. for another of my 'wish list' projects,this time a re-fight of the Battle of Hastings, using the SAGA rules set! I found these chaps in my spare box, just shouting out to be painted, again this was straight forward, in my usual manner.

Believe I read somewhere that prone figures count half as there is not so much to paint! So points as follows...

Points Calculation: 2 x 28mm prone cavalry figures @ 5 points ea= 10 points.

Raw Frames

Next a change of scale, and a move to a potential VBCW (Very British Civil War) game that I'm tinkering with! I won't go into the whole VBCW ethos - it can be found elsewhere on the web, but in my view of the forces involved we will be having late WWI equipment and troop types with a few inter-war and early war vehicle types. Basically an excuse to re-purpose old models in new scenarios!

Anyway, I found an old set of Hat 20mm WW1 US Artillery,
 seems they used French 75mm Field Guns and the uniform style was at the time reminiscent of the British style. so in a VBCW scenario - they can be used quite nicely. The set is really nice as the plastic is not too soft,it takes superglue, and allows the guns and a nice caisson model,to be made up.

Limber and caisson, built but waiting paint job

I crewed the gun with 7 figures, plus an eighth injured comrade resting behind the caisson, I like adding little vignette scenes like this to wargames bases where possible...

Finished Gun Crew

I have not painted up these figures to represent any particular VBCW faction,with the view that they can be used where-ever needed in any faction's army list. Figures were painted British khaki, webbing, puttees and helmets picked out in appropriate colours and a wash of Nuln Oil applied to all over.

Injured crewman resting behind caisson

Gun and caisson were painted in an olive drab, with shell casings picked out in brass and wheel rims in steel with Nuln Oil applied again to add shading before matte varnish being applied. Didn't know how to score the caisson so went for a '5', as per limber above,  feel free to change if that inappropriate!









Points Calculation: 8 x 20mm figures @ 4 points ea= 32 points.
                                  1 x 20mm Gun @ 8 Points ea = 8 Points
                                  1 x 20mm Caisson @ 4 Points ea = 4 Points
                                  TOTAL = 44 Points

HaT Renault FT Tank

Finally  a 20mm Renault FT tank,painted up again for the VBCW game. The model is a Hat hard plastic model, I bough a couple years ago and used one model as part of my WW2 Polish army..

It is painted in pretty drab standard colours, with Markings for the 'Liverpool Worker's Council' added.




Points Calculation: 1 x 20mm vehicle @ 15 points ea= 15 points.