SELWG 2022 : A Good Day

The other Sunday I had the pleasure of attending SELWG 2022, at the Lea Valley Athletics Centre in Norrh-East London.

As you can see, it's rather a splendid venue, no shortage of space and quite an improvement on the old location at Crystal Palace.  I met up with my old buddy Dave ( St Cyr on Wheels ), and we followed our usual habit - toured the games first, then a spot of lunch, and finally a look at the trade stands, and a little retail therapy/essential purchasing.  I took a few photos of games that looked good, as follows :

SEEMS - Battle of Britain

South East Essex Military Society ( SEEMS ) put on a rather nice-looking Battle of Britain game entitled Attack of Eagles  - the aircraft were 1/144 scale ( Revell, I think they said ). Luftwaffe Ju-88s and Me109s crossed the British coast, as some of 'The Few' come to meet them.  

'Retired Wargamers Reloaded' had a splendid WW2 game Eagles and Lions at Carentan ( 15mm,  I think? ).  It looked lovely, and that church was quite something! The Germans were defending in depth, and as you surveyed the battlefield, more and more concealed A/T guns and other defensive positions became apparent - just as it should be!  

Carentan - allies advance on the splendid model town

German defenders: quite a few A/T guns lurking here  

Deal Wargames Society showed  Luxembourg 1940 - something of a walkover, one would imagine, Panzer Divisions vs. the 'home guard' of a medium-sized town, in effect!  

Deal wargamer's Luxembourg 1940

There was some help from the French Armee de l'Air, however.  I liked the bomber (below), but I am still  struggling to identify it, even  after spending far too long on Wikipedia looking at French bombers 1939-45..

I'm told it's a Potez 63-11...

The League of Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists - Ducrot's Day Out was a 'Sharpe Practise'  Napoleonic game with excellent figures and scenery 

Shepway Warganes Club's Cold War game   Hahausen 89 looked great too, I liked the typically Germanic wooded terrain ( we all need more trees, I reckon )  and a brilliant model of a Russian missile-launching AFV in action!

The Society of Ancients are always reliable, they had the Battle of Gaza 312BC, using Impetus rules. I must say I always liked those big pike blocks and elephants etc, if I ever venture into Ancients I think Alexander and his Successors would be my choice.  ( 'dipping a toe' into it with  DBA's small  armies is on the increasingly long wish-list ).  

Gaza 312 - phalanxes get stuck in

Prince Rupert's Bluecoats had The Storming of Bristol ( ECW ) using Donnybrook rules, they were very friendly and happy to chat and the layout  looked good. The players were in period costume ( I think perhaps they take their name from the Sealed Knot regiment that they are members of ? ) and I liked the 'old school' trope of leaving 'casualties' lying on the table, giving a sort of visual guide to how the fighting had ebbed and flowed. 

Storming Bristol  ( + player's hand, oops! )

 

Too Fat Lardies were out in force, running several games with their rules. One was Strength and Honour Spartacus revolt  in 2mm ( I'm sure that when recruiting players, they could not resist asking 'who is Spartacus...' )   

Now in principle the idea is great, the rules are very well-regarded, I think, and I did wonder about trying 2mm - but somehow, the look of it left me a bit cold, and I think it is due to the tiny figures. Of course it's great to represent whole Legions as units, but they are just a bit too minute for my taste. It may be a trivial thought, but I wondered if perhaps a bit more bright colours - flags, standards etc - would help, or if Napoleonics with their vibrant coloured uniforms might work better?  This is of course only personal taste. 

Close-up of 2mm Legions

Also from the 'Lardies, a 'Chain of Command' game - The Northern Perimeter at Oosterbeek 1944. Fantastic scenery and models! 

Too Fat Lardies 'Chain of Command'

 'And finally'..  Milton Hundred Wargames Club showed a Vietnam game, which had an interesting concept of fighting in 'The Delta' - US patrol boats on a search and destroy mission against the Vietnamese. It made for an intriguing combination of land and water-borne movement, and made it difficult for those on land to move around since they were forced to cross bridges to reach the next island, and were very vulnerable while doing so.  Sadly I forgot what the rules were...but it was really interesting. 

Milton Hundred - from the Swale 'Delta' to the Mekong

 

There were loads more games, of course, I just couldn't photograph them all ( I admit I have a blind spot with Fantasy/Sci Fi - sorry! ) . Of course other bloggers will have posted masses of pictures of the show - Tamsin at  Wargaming Girl especially has a comprehensive set, I think she managed to photograph every single game!   Special mention to one I forgot to photograph - Tunbridge Wells Wargames Club using 'Paperboys'  paper model Trafalgar-era ships for an 18th Century Naval Battle Spanish Gold.  A great alternative to what can be pretty expensive ship models in some proprietory rules systems/games. Dave has the Paperboys Trafalgar book and a taste for the age of sail, and it got him thinking.  

We broke for lunch - the one issue we had with the show was that I think  there were only three catering vans, one doing  Burgers, one Greek Souvlaki etc, one for teas and coffees. With a rumoured 700+ visitors, the queues for food got pretty long and slow-moving - although I'd concede that there might not have been much room for more caterers.  There was however, plenty of seating available, with the banks of spectator seats around the running track in the main hall as well as some tables outside.

After lunch, a selective  tour of the trade stands. My biggest purchase was not at all photogenic, being a pack of self-adhesive magnetic paper from Magnetic Displays. These should allow me to make unit bases for my Pike and Shot infantry, which are based in ones, twos and threes to allow flexibility of regiment/battalia/tercio size, but are a bit of a pain to move on the table with lots of small bases! The plan is to mount all the small groups of figures on magnetic paper, then use steel paper to make unit-size movement bases at whatever size is required. I could also line the storage boxes with steel paper, for safer storage. So, I was pleased with that purchase, saving the P&P.

I am still picking up odds and ends ( in a completely unplanned way ) for the 'D-Day Dodgers' ( WW2 in Italy ),  and I noticed that a couple of traders did 20mm Indian Army, so I bought a few samples - Sikh, Gurkha and Rajputan command groups ( 4 figures per pack ) from SHQ, and a pack of  6 Gurkha riflemen from the Combat Miniatures range sold by Stonewall Figures, whose proprietor had come all the way from Cornwall. Both traders very pleasant to deal with, and the figures look nice. More for the painting backlog.. 

Test-purchases: Indian Army from SHQ ( left ) and Stonewall

On the same theme, the 1:72 Model Figures stand usually produces something, and this time it was Italians - a must for an Italian campaign, and they can fight on both sides!  This set from Strelets are probably more suited to the North African campaign, I admit ( those with sun helmets and feathers might not be so useful to me ! )  but I'm glad to have them, they will fit in somewhere. The box art is interesting - I wonder if the makers have pasted-in the faces of friends/colleagues onto the picture?  

 

Last but not least, a visit to Helion's stall and a nice chat with the guys there, who I had spoken to before at their 'Festschrift' for Christopher Duffy, and I came away with a copy of Barry Hilton's new book about wargaming the late 17th Century,  Every Bullet Has Its Billet.   Not sure I will ever actually game this period, but having seen some reviews it just looked to be a good read! The author pays tribute to Charles S Grant's From Pike to Shot which covered a similar period,  and which I have a treasured copy of - but I think Barry covers a wider range of armies, and gives quite a lot of space to Naval affairs too, of which he is an afficianado.  Lots of really nice pictures of figures and ships etc, and it looks to be a good introduction to a lot of different armies and conflicts. It feels like a similar concept to George Gush's lovely old Renaissance Armies from the 1970s, and I think it will be a worthwhile piece of reading. I will try not to get tempted by figures for the Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth just yet, though..

 

And that was about that.  having arrived about 10:30 am, I said my goodbyes to Dave as we left at about 3:30 pm - the time had positively flown. Having arrived quite early, I had wondered if I might give a participation game a go, but there just wasn't time ( probably too much time on shopping! ) . So that will have to wait for another time. Having got the show 'bug' again, I am wondering about 'Warfare' at Farnborough next month...

I hope you've enjoyed reading about SELWG 2022, I certainly enjoyed visiting it, and many thanks to all involved with the organisation of the day.  Next time,  some thoughts on In Deo Veritas rules, and a look at Twilight of the Divine Right, which cover a similar period and format of game, so comparisons will be interesting. Meanwhile keep well, everyone.

In Deo Veritas : battle of 'Kirchendorf'

 A couple of posts ago I set out the likely forces and terrain for a Thirty Years' War battle, trying out Philip Garton's In Deo Veritas rules and using my 70s/80s vintage 15mm figures.  This week I played out the game, and there follows a sort of battle report, and some reflections on the rules. 

So, the inital setup:  having discovered the 'selfie screen' on my camera allows a birds-eye view of the battlefield,  here are the armies in their starting positions. The French are in the  North ( top ), Imperialists to the South.

Let battle commence...

A quick review of the armies in keeping with the period, the units in each army are grouped into 'Wings' - in this case each has left and right wings of  Cavalry, and left and right wings of  Infantry. 

The French have 4 brigades (each of 6 figures)  of cavalry on each wing. Their left wing of infantry has 2 brigades (each of 16 figures) of foot, plus 3 companies (each 3 figures)  of detached musketeers in the woods, and their right wing infantry has 3 brigades of foot and a battery of field artillery.  This gives a  total of 14  brigades plus artillery. All units are designated 'Trained',  except the commanded musketeers who are 'Veteran' and one of the right-wing foot brigades is 'Raw'. 

The Imperialists have 5 brigades of cavalry and one company of dragoons on each wing,  Their left wing of foot has 3 infantry brigades and one battery of field artillery, and the right wing of foot has 2 brigades of infantry and one battery, plus 3 companies of detached musketeers in the woods.   Hence a total of 16 brigades plus the dragoons and guns.  All units are 'Trained' except the dragoons and the commanded musketeers, who are 'Raw'. 

Now the kicker - although the French have a slightly weaker force, the scenario ( actually the ECW Battle of Cheriton, 1644 ) specifies that the objective for both sides is 'To control the road off the table to the South'  So the French ( playing the part of the Royalists ) simply must attack, attack, attack!  They are going to have to do very well to win - but at least it gives a strong incentive to 'get stuck in', and should result in a proper scrap. 

 The rules specify that for each turn,first  each 'Wing' is given an order, which can be 'Hold', 'Attack' or 'Withdraw'.  Then the wings are moved one at a time, and this is determined by a card draw, where each wing has a card - I used 8 cards from a normal pack of playing cards, each card representing one cavalry or infantry wing. So there is no 'player turn', rather the various wings of both sides move in a random sequence decided by the card draw. Once all moves have been made, the resulting combats are resolved - shooting first, then melees - with the order of resolving combats decided by the winner of a die roll between the players. I liked this method, as the random sequence of moving brigades injects some nice uncertainty - will my cavalry wing be able to extend its front before the opposing cavalry can charge? 

Given the scenario objectives, the French pretty much had to issue 'Attack' orders to all wings from the start, while the Imperialists could simply order 'Hold',  but the Imperial Commander gave his left wing of cavalry 'Attack' orders, sending them forward to meet their French opposite numbers. Thus on turn 1, battle was joined as the opposing cavalry met on the West side of the field.  

French(top) suffer congestion on the right; opposing cavalry engage on the left 

 

The combat system is relatively simple - for each melee combat  'player 1'  rolls a number of 'to hit' dice for his unit ( a cavalry brigade gets 3 dice, for example ) - advantage or disavantage factors cause the number of dice to be increased or reduced - and 4,5 or 6 is a 'hit'.  Then the opposing unit rolls 'to save' dice ( a cavalry brigade gets 2 saving dice ) , with modifiers again affecting the number of dice rolled, and a 'save' requiring a 4,5 or 6.  Subtract any 'saves'  from the 'hits' suffered - and then in turn  'player 2' rolls his 'to hit' dice for his unit, and 'player 1' rolls 'saves'.   The final numbers of hits on each unit are compared, and the result of the combat depends on the difference between them.  Equal hits means 'stand-off' and the melee continues; a difference of one hit causes 'Recoil' with the loser forced back,  a difference of two causes 'Rout', and three or more is 'Destruction' of the losing unit.   There is no recording of casualties - rather the level of disorder of each unit determines their fate, going from 'Sound' to 'Disordered', Disrupted', 'Routed' and finally 'Destroyed'. I used my trusty 1p and 2p coins placed next to units to show disorder levels ( 1p = 'Disordered', 2p = 'Disrupted' etc ).  Shooting uses a similar method of 'to hit' and 'to save' dice, indeed using the same charts of modifiers, with the 'hits minus saves' result potentially causing different levels of disorder in the target.

In this opening cavalry fight, 2 brigades of Imperial Harquebusiers met 2 brigades of French horse, and the dice favoured the Imperials. On the first fight the Imperial 'Blue' brigade scored 2 hits and the French 'Conde' brigade 1 hit, resulting in Conde having to recoil - in the second fight the Imperialist 'Red' brigade scored 1 hit to the French 'Turenne' brigade's none, and Turenne were forced to recoil. So, an early setback for the French cavalry.  I learned quickly that I needed to leave a decent space between the lines of units in each wing - if a unit is forced to 'Recoil' and contacts its comrades behind, they too suffer an increase in disorder.  That seems entirely right for the period - indeed for any grouping of units in multiple supporting  lines, in any period ( It makes the characterisitc 'chequer board' formation of infantry brigades in 30YW armies entirely sensible - a good example of rules making the players use correct period tactics ).

On turn 2, that cavalry melee continued, with the French die-rolling improving and achieving 'stand-off' results, while the rest of the French army simply advanced, their infantry incoming into range of the Imperial artillery, who concentrated fire on the leading red-coated brigade in the French Right wing, and 'Disrupted' it - good shooting. 

Turn 3, the French were now suffering a bit of congestion, as the available space narrowed - their left-hand infantry had to close up to allow the left wing cavalry to expand  their first line to a two-brigade frontage.  The Imperial right wing of cavalry could have taken advantage of this to sweep forward in a massed charge - but their orders were to 'Hold' -  'Scheisse', muttered their commander.   

On the other flank, the Imperial cavalry did better - in the  continuing  melee, the Conde brigade suffered 2 hits to nil, gained two levels of Disorder,  and were the first unit to be Routed, while Turenne was again 'Recoiled'. When a brigade is Routed, its parent Wing must test for Fatigue, and the French right wing cavalry failed this test and became 'Fatigued', which meaning it must be issued 'Hold' or 'Withdraw' orders - so the French Right wing attack was stalled.  

But the French must press on - on Turn Four, their right wing Infantry charged, reaching the Imperial guns. However,  with the Imperialist cavalry having the advantage on that flank, a brigade of  black-armoured Cuirassiers from their second line were able to turn and attack the French right wing's 'Bleu' infantry brigade ( a 'Raw' unit )  in the flank. Meanwhile on the other side of the field,  French left and Imperial right wing cavalry met, the Imperials having remembered to order 'Attack' this time! So there was combat nearly all along the lines - good stuff! Or so I thought, but the Dice Gods disagreed with me - after a lot of 'to hit' and 'save' rolls, every single melee combat was inconclusive,  with even the Raw infantry brigade attacked in the flank managing to hold on.  I guess it just happens sometimes - once close combat is joined, it can be a slow grinding, attritional business. 

The French infantry attack stalled rather  -  the rules specified that the attacking infantry moved to 'close range' and exchanged fire with the defending guns before charging home, but the concentrated fire of both Imperial batteries told, the attacking infantry were 'Disrupted', and thus when they reached the guns, their melee rolls were ineffective. The guns only suffered  a lesser 'Disorder' result from French musketry.Hardly a smashing impact on the Imperial centre. 

Turn 4: contact all along the line. Centre-left French Bluecoats flanked by Cuirassiers! 

 Turn 5 - on the Imperial left, the cavalry melee continued, with the French 2nd line ( of mercenary 'English' horse now facing  the victorious Imperial Harquebusiers. The French infantry wings continued their attack - the left wing of foot now contacted their  opposing Imperial Guns, while the right wing foot tried to press forward while also dealing with cuirassiers on the their flanks ( the Red-coated brigade which had been Disrupted by the early artillery fire gamely charged against the black cuirassiers ). On the Imperial right, those brigades of horse already in contact continued fighting, while both sides tried to extend their frontage to the East,  by wheeling out units from their 2nd lines.

Now for shooting - and what shooting. The lone  Imperialist dragoon company on their left wing having swung inwards, gave a volley into the flank of the leading French 'Redcoat' foot, and scored 2 hits - and there were no saves. Two hits on an already Disrupted unit - the Redcoats broke and fled, 'Routed'. What's more, they crashed through the frst-line Green-coated brigade to their right - inflicting 'Disorder'. That would not help the Greencoats' melee rolls, though to their credit, their musketry drove off the gunners in front of them with a 'Disrupted and Recoil'  result - 3 hits! All the same, those plucky dragoons had inflicted complete chaos to the French infantry attack. 

Melee - the Imperial right-wing Harquebusiers were not to be denied - both 'English' horse brigades were forced to recoil and Disrupted, their entire wing now being in a parlous state.  The black Cuirassiers fighting both red- and blue-coated French foot dealt a smashing blow - 2 hits to none on the redcoats, who promptly routed but also faced a further Disorder test, and failed, resulting in their destruction.  To make matters yet worse, on the Imperial right the French Chevaux Legers were forced to recoil in melee by Imperial 'Green' cuirassiers, and they recoiled straight into the other Red-coated French foot which had been routed by Dragoon fire. It was all too much for those redcoats, the extra level of disorder inflicted causing them to disintegrate. Disaster!   The French right wing of foot now had only one brigade in fighting condition, and that brigade was being attacked in flank by cavalry. It was the French commander's turn to mutter -  'Merde' , or perhaps stronger words.  Some consolation was however given by the King's Musketeers on his left wing,  who won their melee against Imperial 'Blue' Cuirassiers, who were routed off the table and thus out of the fight. 

After all that trauma, the French right-wing infantry amazingly passed their 'fatigue' test and remained sound, but the Imperial right wing cavalry, having lost a cuirassier brigade, rolled badly and became Fatigued - so no more 'attack' orders for them. Some relief  for the French, then, but their situation still looked pretty bad!  

 

Battle rages in the centre - both French 'red' units were doomed

On Turn 6, the Imperial commander went for the coup de grace, with the three brigades of his left wing of infantry given 'Attack' orders, aiming to sweep away the one surviving  French brigade opposite. His right wing of foot, however were told to 'Hold', and be prepared in case the 'Fatigued' cavalry wing to their right gave way. On the French side, right wing horse and foot were both given  'Hold' , but on their left, both horse and foot kept up the 'Attack' in hopes of breaking through to the Southern road - this might be seen as a 'brave'  choice.. The French foot duly charged into contact with their opponents, and the opposing cavalry  extended frontage such that both sides had all four remaining brigades in melee with each other. But it all fell apart - the charging French green-coated foot were stopped in their tracks by Imperialist musketry and 'Disrupted', so could not charge home, and their left wing cavalry lost badly, with Chevaux Legers routed and two Curiassier brigades recoiled, only the Kings Musketeers hanging on. Over on the French Right, their cavalry was finally defeated, with both 'English' brigades routed - so 3 out of 4 brigades gone.  The brave bluecoat infantry were finally routed too, by the flanking black cuirassiers, so the entire  French right wing of both horse and foot were out of the fight. Surely, the end? 

how it ended - badly for the French

 

And so it proved, as 'Fatigue'  tests left the French right wing of cavalry 'Exhausted'  ( must withdraw ) and both right wing infantry and left wing cavalry  'Fatigued'. There followed a 'General Will' test on the whole army - duly failed by the French, having no less than 7 out of 14 brigades routed or destroyed. Failing this test meant defeat for them.

A nice touch is that the rules have a post-battle 'pursuit' phase whereby disordered, disrupted and routed units in the losing army must dice for whether they are destroyed, and commanders of 'fatigued' or 'exhausted' wings dice for being captured - this might be quite useful in a campaign, I think. for once the French rolled well, losing only the Blue-coated foot, no doubt ridden down by those nasty cuirassiers, and the unlucky commander of their right wing of horse. With 9 brigades and 3 generals to test, it could have been a lot worse! 

Finally, you may be wondering what had been occurring in the woods? No teddy bears picnic, but essentially the Veteran French commanded musketeers advanced, and overpowered their Imperial counterparts ( a detachement of MacFarlane's Scots ) who were rated 'Raw'. But this was entirely separate from the main battle, and there was no chance to exploit any advantage gained before the main French army collapsed.  

I have rambled on far too long, so I will save my thoughts on how the rules and scenario worked,  and what I liked or didn't like, for another post.  I hope you've enjoyed reading this account anyway, and maybe picked up an idea of how the rules worked in general. It was a good game, and the rules mostly seemed to go pretty well  - the scenario was always going to be a tough one for the French!  

Next time, a bit of chat about the SELWG show, which I attended last Sunday ( and enjoyed, of course!).  Meanwhile, keep well, everyone.  

Fnurban #17 : Free Rules and well-stocked Magazines

This week I picked up the latest issue ( no. 418, October 2022 ) of Wargames Illustrated magazine, and found an interesting suprise: it features a complete set of rules for Napoleonic wargames. These are Valour and Fortitude  by Jervis Johnson and the Perry Twins, which have been specially commissioned by the magazine.  This issue  naturally goes big on the whole concept, including a feature and Q&A article on Jervis Johnson,  a scenario suggestion and  battle report of the same scenario played by the authors, and army lists and  'special rules' for French and Prussian armies. 

 

As the magazine says, 'everything you need to play intriguingly simple Napoleonic big battles'.  Of course I'm not strictly a Napoleonic gamer, but this is an interesting concept, so I am reading the rules and the articles.  Jervis says in his introduction to the rules 'I said it might be interesting to come up with a shorter set of rules designed to fit onto just four sides of A4'.   Well, technically he does just that - the core rules are on just four A4 pages, though they are pretty closely printed! No room for pretty pictures here, it's all in the tightly-written text. 

don't try to read this, buy the mag - or there's a free download!

Actually there's a bit of cheating here, as there are quite a lot of 'special rules' which are included in the separate  Army Lists articles  - given that the 'special rules'  include those for artillery firing canister and infantry skirmishing or forming square, you could argue they should really be in the core rules! But of course this doesn't really mattter, you get everything one way or another if you buy the magazine.

I read the rules, and  I can report that they passed the important test of  'finished before the bath water got cold' (!) , and that they read perfectly well. They use a brigade structure for the armies - units are grouped into brigades and activations ( and morale )  apply at brigade level, which I like as it seems the right for the period and 'bigger' battles. And the mechanisms are simple; both firing and melee are 'attacks' with similar procedures, simple D6 die rolls.   The more powerful the attack, the more dice rolled - but not 'buckets of dice'- which may inflict losses. After a certain number of losses the target unit becomes 'shaken',  and the parent brigade in turn suffers a 'setback' , after a number of which the brigade too may become shaken. Commanders can then attempt to rally shaken units/brigades -  I won't go into more details, you can get the rules yourself easily enough.

For an idea of how a basic  mechanism works I looked at a French Line Infantry ( 1812-1815 ) unit firing at a Prussian counterpart - essentially the French get 3 dice, with a 'hit' on a roll of 4,5 or 6, so I suppose they should expect to get one hit, maybe  two, for their volley. A Prussian Line Infantry unit has 'Tenacity' factor of 4, meaning that they would become 'shaken' after 4 hits. So, two or three decent  volleys from the French unit should do it - seems fairly reasonable? The Prussians' musketry ratings are the same, so an exchange of fire between these two should be evenly-matched. 

There's no specified base sizes, but unit sizes are specified in the army lists, e.g. that French Line Infantry unit is 24 to 36 figures, and the possible unit formations are defined very simply but effectively. Move distances and ranges are given in inches and I assume for 28mm figures,  but it's suggested that for smaller figures and/or smaller tables, you can halve the distances ( or use cm for inches ), and/or halve the strength of units.  This all seems very flexible and straightforward, and I think that's pretty much the same throughout the rules.

Of course I have not actually played them : but Norm has, over at Battlefields and Warriors ( which may of course have rendered my comments redundant! ) , with a positive verdict - well worth a read, as ever. I couldn't help noticing that the magazine provides army lists and a scenario for French vs. Prussians c.1813, and the magazine's recent issues have included sample sprues of Warlord Games 'Epic' French and Prussian Waterloo figures - indeed, Norm used his collection of the same figures for his game. I have a feeling that the combination of these rules with the Epic figures range might be a winner - though that is perhaps  not so helpful  for sales of Perry figures or Warlord rules! 

You can download the rules, army sheets ( also Austrians and Russians, I think ) and scenarios from perry-miniatures.com for free,  but I think it would also be polite to buy this issue of the magazine if available,  to reward the work they have done - and get a nice glossy-printed copy of the rules booklet, plus the other articles I mentioned above.  About £6 for a decent set of rules and background ( and the usual selection of other  articles too ) is not too painful, is it?

 

top  piece from Brian Cameron in MW473..

 While talking about magazines, I have continued to buy most issues of the three mainstream wargaming magazines in recent months, when I see them, and am quite glad to support them. In particular  I think John Treadaway is doing pretty well  at Miniature Wargames. He has a regular squad of excellent writers like  Conrad Kinch ( whose  Send Three and Fourpence in particular is always interesting ) , Arthur Harman, Dave Tuck and Jon Sutherland ( it was interesting that Jon's Command Decision, usually historically-set column recently used a fantasy setting, I liked the 'cross-over' effect ).  And then in September's MW473 there was a really, really good piece by Brian Cameron on Wellington in India, called Sepoys and Soldiers. This was inspired by Brian's rules for the 'Maharatta' game at Salute last year - now I am not going to rush out and start gaming this period, but the piece is actually a bit of a masterclass in rules/game design and how to think about the subject. How about the bullet points below, for example  ( if the publishers object to my reproducing  their text here, I will of course remove it ) : 

 

Those should be in every rule-writer's mind, shouldn't they? Brian's piece runs to 8 pages, and I thought it was worth the price of the mag on its own, pretty much! 

 

 

has anyone seen this mag?

Having covered the other two, I'd better mention Wargames Soldiers and Strategy too - but oh dear, where is it these days?   I bought WSS 120 ( June/July 2022 ) as normal in my local WH Smith,  but what happened  then? There are still a couple of copies of issue 120 in the shop, but no sign of WSS121, and the same applies in a couple of other branches I've tried - and by now, shouldn't we be seeing Issue 122  for Oct/Nov ?  On the WSS Website,   WS121 'Warfare in the Age of Arthur' only fairly  recently seemed to appear as 'out now' ( with no dates on the cover image ), and the 'where to buy' button for the magazine gives no details of stockists.  I wonder if there has been a falling-out with distributors who supply the retailers like WHS ( other retailers are available, as they say ).   Has anyone else had this, ahem,  'issue'?  I hope WSS is doing OK.. Meanwhile, The Arthurian issue looks quite interesting, even if 'not my period' - I may have to  put in an online order, and we'll see what happens. 

I know I promised last time to report on my experience with In Deo Veritas rules and a 30YW transplant of Cheriton, but I'm afraid 'time and space, dear boy' has intervened rather - including a vey nice week in Shropshire, I admit. But the game will go ahead - I am hoping to play it ( hmm..start it ) tomorrow. So I do hope to bring you a report soon, honest.... In the meantime keep well, eveyone - and maybe even  buy a magazine?

Trailing the Pike, at last

Before I was so easily distracted by the Eighteenth Century,  I had always meant to resume wargaming with the 'Pike and Shot' era,  and in particular the English Civil War / Thirty Years War period, of  around 1620 to 1650. 

Like most British gamers I suspect, my first contact with the period would have been from reading about the ECW,   which is of course the wrong name, given extensive Scottish and Irish involvement.  'The Wars of the Three Kingdoms'  is a bit of a mouthful,  but more appropriate. By the way, does anyone have a better suggestion?   King Charles' Wars, perhaps?  He was at the centre of most of them, and conveniently his successor after he lost his head was also Charles ('King Charles'- now where have I heard that recently?). I remember Stuart Asquith's series of articles in 'Battle for Wargamers' circa 1978 were quite inspiring.   But for me, there was a turning point when I chanced upon C.V. Wedgewood's The Thirty Years War,  when I was about 18.  I had no idea of that war's  existence beforehand,  I had no knowledge of the political structure of Europe (especially Germany) at the time, and I was rather entranced by what seemed a ruritanian fantasy forerunner of the present polity. As Wedgewood described the multitude of city-states and principalities that made up the Holy Roman Empire, I couldn't quite believe it wasn't all just an invented story, and really happened - and  it was fascinating. Sweden as a super-power?  A fairy story, surely?   And the characters - Gustavus Adolphus, Wallenstein, Tilly, Richelieu, poor Frederick Palatine  'The Winter King' of Bohemia  and his plucky ( English ) wife , crafty old Maximilian of Bavaria, the  Emperors Ferdinand  father and son, dashing French Generals Conde and Turenne - I'm afraid Charles, Rupert, Fairfax and even Cromwell couldn't compete, I was always  going to 'do' 30YW from then on.

I collected Pike and Shot forces in 15mm, which was quite new back then - I have some early Minifigs and a few Peter Laing figures, and quite a few chunky 'Mikes Models' ( predecessors of Essex Miniatures, I think? ).  More recently I've added some modern Essex and Peter Pig figures - many of which still await painting.  An Imperialist army seemed an obvious choice, but I managed to avoid picking Swedes as their opponent - with their salvo-firing foot and hard-charging cavalry, they seemed a bit too 'super-hero'ish.  I plumped for the French - I think I liked the idea that they were perhaps  rather showily-dressed,  and of the elan that won their stunning victory at Rocroi. 

So, now I'm ready to give pike and shot another go, and see how I get on. From the many rule sets accumulated over the years ( see my previous post ) I am going to give Philip Garton's  In Deo Veritas a try. As stated before, it is heavily influenced by Frank Chadwick's classic Volley and Bayonet, and it allows 'big' battles to be fought - my current collection looks to be just about big enough to start playing. Helpfully, the rules have four suggested scenarios of historical battles to recreate, so why not use one of those?  I think I have sufficient forces for the ECW battle of Cheriton - but of course, my troops are supposed to be Imperial and French. So, with a little help from Google Translate,  welcome to Kirchendorf, somewhere in the Rhineland.. The (somewhat dour?)  Imperialists will take the part of Parliament, while the Royalists become the (more flamboyant)  French - that seems fairly appropriate.

To give an idea, here is a slightly wobbly photo of the page from the In Deo Veritas rulebook showing the suggested terrain ( I hope this is not violating any copyrights, if requested I will happily remove the picture ).  Note the large wooded area, and that the Southern part of the table is higher ground. 

Imperialists/Parliament deploy in the South , and  French/Royalists in the North

The basic tactical unit in the rules is the Brigade ( smaller units designated 'companies' ), and  for this scenario the  opposing forces are as follows: 

Imperialist ( Parliament )  : 10 brigades cavalry, 6 brigades infantry,  2 companies Dragoons, 2 batteries Field Artillery.

French ( Royalist ) :  8 brigades cavalry,  6 brigades infantry,  1 battery Field Artillery. 

Each side has one of their foot brigades deployed as 3 'companies' of detached Musketeers, in the wooded area. 

These forces represent armies of about 10,000 and 8,500 respectively, so we have a not-too-big  'big' battle, which should be a good introduction.  I have just about enough figures to make up these forces, where a 'brigade' stand measures 75 by 40mm. I can get about 6 cavalry and 16 infantry figures to represent a brigade , with 3 dragoon or 4 infantry figures per 'company'.  Fortunately my troops are based mainly in threes and fours rather than whole units  for other rules, so my previous regiments and squadrons could be broken down into the  multiple 'brigades'  represented in these rules.

Having worked all that out, now here are the Imperialists : 

Painters of a sensitive disposition may wish to look away now.  Please excuse the dubious painting, (especially the flags) - I was very young, and it was a long time ago, before highlights and washes were invented.. But I am going to keep them just as they are, as they are a connection with times long past.  A little test of figure identification: I think the majority are Mikes Models, but the sky blue coated foot unit at the back is mainly early Minifigs ( the standard-bearer may be Peter Laing? ), the red-coated unit are later Minifigs, and the dark blue coated unit from Frei Korps, all late 1970s/early 1980s vintage.  Not sure about the guns and gunners!  I'm pleased to say that MacFarlane's Scottish  Foot and Horse will make their debut too, the Scots having obviously agreed a good price for their services from the Emperor.

And their French opponents:  

Another mixed bag of figures - I think the foot are mostly Mikes Models ( with a few more recent Essex among them ), this time it's the cavalry that are varied. The left wing horse units (nearest camera) include Peter Pig, Essex, and two generations of Minifigs.  Over on the other wing, Cuirassiers are backed-up by the King's Musketeers, and some (perhaps anachronistic)  Chevaux Leger lancers.  

I think we can sum up the opposing forces as - a right old mixture!

Having sorted out the rules and figures, next we need the battlefield. The rules assume a 6 ft by 4ft table, but I have only 3ft by 3ft, so some adjustment is necessary. I propose to simply halve the movement and shooting distances, so I have the equivalent of 6ft by 6ft.  I've kept the the unit 'footprints' unchanged ( Brigades 75mm by 40mm ) , so in effect they are double the expected size. I thought that making them half-size too would make a 'brigade' into a single rank  of 4 infantry, which wouldn't look (half)  so good.  So, I just have to hope that doesn't cause any rules issues. We'll see.. 

I had a first go at setting a table based on the scenario map, and it looks ( with a somewhat creased terrain cloth, that will need sorting out! )  something like this: 

Hopefully you can just about see that the Southern part of the battlefield is slightly higher ground, by dint of the good old-school 'books under the cloth' method. Having looked at it, I am wondering if the woods are a bit large, given the number of units each side has to deploy - and only the three detached musketeer units  for each side will deploy in the woods. I may decide to shuffle the woodland  to the East,  shrinking it  to give the main forces a bit more elbow room. 

So there we are, the basics of a battle, I hope. A few variables that may or may not cause problems, but there's only one way to find out - give it a try! 

If all goes well, my next post will be the battle report - though I'm afraid a lot of 'events, dear boy, events' may get in the way, as they have been doing for the past few weeks. So  I apologise in advance if there is a bit of a pause before that next post appears. But I'm certainly looking forward to giving thse rules a try, and giving my polyglot vintage armies their first proper 'go' in a long time! Until then, keep safe, and well, everyone. 

 

100 Up, and Where Next?

As The Ragged Soldier marches onward, a small milestone has appeared by the roadside : this is my 100th blog post. I'm rather pleasantly surprised to have come this far, and have thoroughly enjoyed both the process of creating the blog posts and the results. Thanks to all who have dropped by, and in particular I'd like to say a big 'thank you' to the elite club of 39  who have signed up to follow the blog,  and especially to all who have left ( unanimously ) friendly and supportive comments.It's fantastic that so many of you have spared some of your time and contributed your always informative and often amusing thoughts. 

 As is ( I think ) traditional, I will take the opportunity for a short break from the forward march, have a sit down on the roadside, lean back on the convenient milestone,  open up the kitbag and take stock of the contents, and ponder where the march might  take us next.

Most of  my effort so far has been devoted to the  Seven Years War period, with the troops acquired from the late Eric Knowles collection.  The campaign based loosely on the 'Soldier King' boardgame  worked out really well, and generated some interesting battles at a variety of different levels, from a small cavalry raid on an isolated outpost to the grand culminating engagement at Zouache. That's the advantage of running a campaign, I'm sure - the unpredicatability and challenges of the different  games that come up.  The campaign has reached 'winter quarters' with Prussia most certainly in the ascendant, and I think perhaps the Austrians will be seeking terms for a peace agreement, or at least some sort of truce.  I think I will continue with this setting for my 7YW games; the question I am debating is whether to resume the campaign as a simple continuation into the new campaigning season,  or re-join the story after a period of peace and recovery.   

Meanwhile some good news  I have ( finally! ) completed painting the first two units of Prussian 9th Infantry 'Jung Kleist'  regiment,  from my 40+ years old Minifigs,  and  here they are: 

  

Button counters and posh painters look away now, I'm afraid, but they will 'do' for The Ragged Soldier - though I think they need to work on dressing their ranks a bit better in any future pictures! Also I need to colour in the edge of that standard ( bought at the  'Broadside' show  from Flags of War ) before they go on campaign. Very simple block painting is my 'style' and the limit of my abilities -  if I tried anything more complicated I'd never get any finished! The Osprey book I used for guidance had fantastic detail of the different arrangements  of 'lace loops' on the lapels, cuffs, coat-tails etc for every regiment, and I initially thought I might try to apply that - and then realised 'with my eyesight and co-ordination- no way'!  So they got a dab of white at the cuffs and that will do..  they won't fight any worse! 

There are more of those Prussians, and plenty more unpainted figures waiting their turn - including the contingent generously gifted by Neil Patterson of  Aufklarungsabteilung  fame, who I hope will become the army of Saxony, some interesting Austrian border troops, and some nice French Dragoons in their distinctive 'nightcap' headgear. If I can keep up a 'little and often' painting routine, more of these chaps should be available for mobilisation and use in future campaigns.  So, with 7YW it's a case of just keep painting and carry on..

 

The D-Day Dodgers ( World War 2 in Italy ) has stalled a bit, only one game played so far, but I have ideas - I've been  reading 'The Tiger Triumphs',  which is the official British Army account of the progress of 4th, 8th and 10th Indian Divisions in Italy from 1943 to 1945, and it's been splendid stuff. Admittedly this isn't an objective and balanced account - indeed, 'gung ho' seems appropriate -but it does convey a lot of atmosphere, and the mindset of those who were actually there. I've read it with a modern map of Italy  ( 1 cm to 4km ) close at hand so as to follow progress, and that has helped no end. Describing fighting near San Marino in September 1944, we have 'of this battle, as of nearly every battle in Italy, the story is really of two battles  -  the storming of the high ground by the infantry, and the equally grim fight against time by the sappers and armour to construct crossings and to get support weapons forward before the enemy could throw his reserves at the newly won positions'. The Germans certainly did not simply stand on the defensive - there are challenges for  both sides. It strikes me that the Italian campaign involves markedly different terrain to  North-West Europe, including quite a lot of mountains! And not just wheel-to-wheel tanks, either.  I think that will make it more interesting, certainly 'different'.  

It might be fun to feature the Indian troops quite prominently - given that in  the Indian divisions, each brigade always contained one British battalion, I think I may be able to place my fictional 'West Suffolks' infantry into an equally imaginary Indian Brigade  battling though Italy. Obviously I will need to get some Indian troops mustered  - I have some figures , and am now researching a bit about the various Indian regiments, and which can be portrayed using the dress  (especially headwear) of the available figures.   Unit organisations are going to be inspired by the Rapid Fire rulesets, and Rapid Fire Reloaded looks like it might be a good choice for rules for the games, perhaps alongside  'The Portable Wargame'.  See the picture below for a Rapid Fire organisation - British infantry battalion with attached armour and artillery. 

 

I may need more Bren Carriers..

So, the next steps with this are simply to get some Indian troops organised and painted, and get them into some sort of action - also think a bit more about terrain. I may need more hills, too.. 

The third mainstay will I hope be the 'Pike and Shot' period, and I am deterimined to get this going pretty soon. 'Back in the day' this was my main interest,  hence the title and quotation at the top of this blog, so I feel the need to live up to the billing! 

Having been interested in the period all these years, I knew I had picked up a few sets of rules - so I thought 'let's get them all together and see what we've got'.  Well, here's the collection: 

what several decades of  impulse buying can achieve..

 

I had not realised just how bad my rules-buying habit had been... Fifteen in all, do you recognse them? The bottom row is proper vintage, along with the original Forlorn Hope, which I think I rather liked  ( the green cover, top centre with sadly decapitated title is Renaissance Principles of War by T.M. Penn of Leominster, Herefordshire, c.2000 - I have no memory of acquiring, let alone playing, those ! ). George Gush's and Terry Wise's rules ( bottom right ) go right back to the start, late 70s/early 80s, happy days indeed! It would be great to eventually try every set, but I suspect that is a long shot - but I wonder about  little experiment to compare and contrast certain basic mechanisms. It might be quite interesting to just have a couple of foot regiments opposing each other, and play out the 'advance, give fire, charge!' sequence under each of a selection of rulesets, to see how they work. That could be instructive.. 

 But that's not all - there are two more recently-acquired sets waiting in the wings:

I like the look of both In Deo Veritas and Twilight of the Divine Right , especially as they both aim to play 'big battle' games, and that seems eminently possible given the relatively small armies of the period. In Deo Veritas acknowledges the inspiration of good ol' Volley and Bayonet, so they can't be all bad.   I mean to get a game set up with at least one of these quite soon, Until now I have told myself I will review my available figures, sort out the basing so it's all standardised  ( and magnetic )  , and give them proper professional flags and standards in place of the terrible teenage efforts  they are currently lumbered with, and then put on a game.  I think that's not the right approach - I need to get them out, stick them to temporary cardboard bases if necessary, and get them on the table! They've waited long enough. 

So far, perhaps all too similar to the thoughts expressed in my 50th Post in early 2021, which just shows how time flies with too little achieved. But I do have a secret weapon this time, in the form of ( I hope) a bit  more time to devote to all this nonsense. Such are the joys of redundancy  (  I'm not necessarily calling it 'retirement' just yet - that seems, well, so final... but who am I kidding? ) and once all the related admin is sorted out, I do plan to devote more time to the stuff featured on this blog.

As with every other wargamer, there are many, many more 'projects' that take one's fancy for a while and may or may not go anywhere - for example Alan Tradgardmastare mentioned the other week that Lamming miniatures were available again, and I was leafing through a vintage copy of Phil  Barker's DBA, and thinking 'just a small number of figures - Greeks and Persians?'  Hmmm... And what about 19th Century Europe? I wouldn't mind uniting Italy in 1859, and I have a copy of Bloody Big Battles and Neil Thomas' excellent book on the period - how about 6mm or 10mm scale? I just re-joined the Continental Wars Society, too.    Marlborough period?  Slightly intrigued by the other theatres of war, especially Spain.  Italian wars of the 15th/16th Century? Certainly colourful.  Then there's air combat - always had a soft spot for that, since Mike Spick and his genius idea of bisected model aircraft kits back in the day.. and so it goes on.  Not sure how many of those will ever see the light of day, but one can dream!   

For the moment, probably best stick to the three main axes of advance described above, and see how we get on in my new circumstances.  So,  time to stand up, shoulder that pack, and resume the march, by the left... Let's see where the road takes us, and here's to the next 100!  Keep well, and safe, everyone.    

Fnurban #16 : The Airfix Guide to.. Serendipity

Serendipity is 'an unplanned fortunate discovery';  I experienced a small moment of serendipity the other day.  Walking near home, I chanced upon a few books which had been left out on a front garden wall, for anyone to take. Amongst them, this:   

 

Airfix magazine guide no.7 ,  Warship Modelling by Peter Hodges, published by Patrick Stephens Limited, 1975.   Well, I could hardly leave that unclaimed, could I?  Especially given that the weather forecast was for thundery showers, which duly arrived later in the day and might  have meant a soggy doom for this nice little volume.

So I picked it up and took it home. It's  a little 'spotty' and yellowed on the first few pages, but otherwise in pretty decent condition and thankfully looks to be mostly acid-free paper. The back-cover 'blurb' sums it up : 

"Now anyone can build accurate models of famous warships! This invaluable book provides detailed, easy-to-follow instructions on assembling, converting, painting and displaying models from the Airfix 1:600 scale range. It includes practical conversion examples as well as guidelines on such diverse subjects as flags and when they should be flown, altering full hull to waterline models, and creating 'sea' dioramas."

It packs a surprising amount of detail into 64 pages!  I'm afraid this is not my subject area, though, so I hoped I could find it a good home.  Quite surprisingly, that only took one email, and it will soon be making its way to a new and appreciative owner. 

Just before it goes, though, I thought I would take a picture of it, temporarily united with my own collection of these splendid little books, all acquired 'back in the day' when they were originally published.   And of course, I had a browse through them, for old times' sake..

 

I am pretty sure I will have acquired Bruce Quarrie's 'Napoleonic Wargaming' first - it was the earliest in the series ( 1974, price £1.20 )  and I suspect it was ideal for junior wargamers looking for something 'grown-up' and sophisticated. Maybe it also  found a gap in the market, as I think earlier introductory wargaming books by Don Featherstone and Terry Wise tended to use the ACW as their 'Horse and Musket' period - perhaps due to the earlier availability of Airfix ACW figures? 

Bruce's Napoleonic game, and one of many rules charts

Looking at it now, there is a lot of information in it, for example about the varying  organisation of units in the main armies of the time - he suggests different battalion strengths and structures  for different nations to reflect that. I rather like the use of 1:33 'men to figure' scale  ( each figure representing 3 ranks of 11 men? ),  3 figures for 100 men seemed quite easy to grasp, and battalions were a bit smaller than the monster 'Grant-size' units of 48-plus figures in 'The War Game', for example - and thus affordable!  But the rules were pretty complicated - loads of charts and tables ( different movement rates for Old Guard, Young Guard, Fusilier, Grenadier, Chasseur - blimey!), detailed 'national characteristics' which seemed to advantage the French (Pas de merde, Monsieur Sherlock!), and recording individual casualties and removing a figure once 33 'men'  were hit.  Too much book-keeping! But of course, complication meant 'realism'...  Still quite fondly remembered, though. 

Phil Barker's 'Ancient Wargaming' (1975)  I liked, though I didn't actually get as far as doing much Ancient Wargaming.  No rules here, as of course you were meant to buy the WRG Ancients rules which pretty much  held a monopoly at the time. That allowed Phil to use the book as more of a primer on the subject, and he certainly knew his stuff - quoting from Ancient military manuals from page one!   It's a great introduction, it has a nice chapter on how WRG got started, and really useful wargaming advice and tips -  how not to deploy your army on a given battlefield, for instance, and how to deploy effectively on the same ground. There's a pictorial battle report where the much-vaunted Macedonian Successors get thoroughly trounced by a bunch of hairy Celts - a great lesson. That sort of stuff should be relevant regardless of rules, and Phil certainly knew what he was talking about. I've spent an enjoyable hour on a sunny afternoon this week leafing through this one, I think it may be the best of the bunch. 

Macedonians getting drubbed by Celts - and tactical advice

Bruce Quarrie's 'WW2 Wargaming' (1976) - well, again it seemed a step forward in 'accuracy' from Charles Grant's 'Battle: Practical Wargaming' and again, it had masses  of information, this time on a huge range of armoured vehicles, so that kit of a Jadgtiger that you'd bought and hurriedly built could be fielded, alongside all the Airfix Tigers you had  ( and hardly any Panzer III or IVs, I suspect! ). The Tiger I movement rate is 168mm per turn, that's very Bruce Quarrie  ('you  moved it 170mm - you cheat!')   Tank guns could fire more than once per turn - the 88mm could fire 4 times, ouch!  I think that made for pretty bloody battles; and I suspect the Germans usually won - 'national characteristcs' again.  Overall, I don't think I got on too well with these  ( and in contrast, I think Charles Grant's elegantly simple rules probably stand up pretty well today ). 

Bruce Quarrie WW2 move rates - to the mm !

Terry Wise 'ACW Wargaming' (1977) - I had loved his 'Introduction to Battlegaming' ( another book I still have ) which had featured simple ACW rules and a great game report - this was another case of a step up in detail and seriousness, though encouragingly Terry was still happy to use the Airfix ACW figures ( and I suppose Airfix didn't mind that!).  Again lots of useful information on the armies, tactics and campaigns, and a full set of rules, which introduced the concept of the differing firearms carried by various units in  the opposing armies at different times, quite an important 'period' feature.  But I admit some features of those rules put me off - for example he dispensed with dice-rolls for firing.  Maybe the number of casualties could be just calculated based on averages, and that seemed more 'scientific' and accurate,  but it just seemed a lot less fun with no dice to roll! And how to allow for the randomness of damp powder, smoke in the eyes, stressed officers, panicky troops etc?  I had a few boxes of the Airfix figures, still have a few ( on beer-mat bases, very 1970s! ), but it never quite  took off with me. 

Terry Wise 'no dice' firing tables - quite bloody, too

George Gush's 'The English Civil War' (1978) was my favourite  back then, I think - partly just becuase I liked the period so much, having been introduced to it by Stuart Asquith's series of articles in 'Battle' and 'Military Modelling', and George's brilliant 'Renaissance Armies'. Like the Ancients book, there was no rule set included -because again, you were pointed to the WRG set for the period, which had also been written ( of course ) by George.  It's a straightforward introduction with chapters on  The Course of the War, Weapons and Equipment, Organisation and Tactics etc, and of course George really was the expert in the period.  Actual wargaming gets just one chapter, but I loved the account of a  game, an exciting convoy ambush  between 'Puddleby' and 'Little Pottering'  which I still mean to actually play someday.  I  just need to get some wagons.. ( says he, 40 years later ).

Puddleby and Little Pottering immortalised

So there we are - serendipity indeed!  A chance find has led to several happy ( or wasted - should be painting !)  hours browsing through these nice little books and invoking fond memories. I'm sure some of them still have quite a lot to offer, even if the rules systems they propose are no longer in favour.  I am quite tempted to get the George Gush  ECW rules out and try that convoy ambush sometime!   Overall, I think Phil Barker's 'Ancient Wargaming' is the pick of the bunch, for his depth of learning and his fund of good  advice, which has not aged - I bet current gamers  getting into 'Strength and Honour' or 'Mortem et Gloriam'  could learn just as much from it. 

Right, I must get  'Warship Modelling' packed up and posted to its new owner, who I'm sure will thoroughly enjoy it.  After that, I should be doing some painting.. Prussian 9th Infantry 'Jung Kleist' are tantalisingly close to completion at last!   Keep well, and safe, everyone.