Tag Archives: wargaming

Hobby, Woolshed Wargamer

Remounts and Lead Mountains

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This morning while working on a unit of Spanish Line cavalry I wondered how many other regiments of cavalry I had sitting unpainted out in the cupboard in the Woolshed (not counting the one of Spanish Dragoons and Hussars in my study that I am doing over the next month).  Thought I would check out exactly what I had and start figuring out some sort of plan to get them painted. Then I began to wonder exactly how many unpainted Napoleonic miniatures I had. Turns out I have quite a lot. Probably only a lead molehill by comparison to some other gamers, but I don’t have to justify your lead mountain to SWMBO – just my own.

I started out looking at just the metals. Turns out I have quite a bit. Boxes and boxes.

I never actually knew that I had four French Cuirassier Regiments (two Front Rank, one Hinchliffe and one Connoisseur), two Carabineer regiments (Hinchliffe and Connoisseur), two Dragoon Regiments (mixture of Hinchliffe and Hinchliffe Foremost), another French Chasseur regiment, a Hussar regiment and two regiments of Polish lancers (mostly Hinchliffe).  I found six battalions of Front Rank Bavarians, some Hinchliffe Bavarian cavalry (2 regiments) and at least a couple more divisions of French infantry (various), at least three Guard battalions (Front Rank and Foundry),  a few artillery batteries and copious officer and general staff figures. I even found a unit of Scots Greys and a battalion of Foremost Highlanders in charging poses. I knew I had some Connoisseur Zastrow Cuirassiers somewhere and I found them too.

For some reason I have 24 Dutch Belgian Carabiniers. I have no idea how I came by them. I have never even wanted a Dutch-Belgian force. Likewise the dozen or so Dutch Belgians Chasseurs.  Maybe I got them second hand so I could use the horses.

Then there are War of 1812 British (Canadian Voltigeurs, Glengarry Light Infantry, three militia battalions, Light Dragoons and officers), Americans (Artillery batteries, Dragoons, Militia, a couple of regular battalions, officers and so forth) and a whole bunch of Indian allies for both sides.

I have not even started on the plastic stuff yet. Lots of Perry, Victrix and Warlord Games boxes. Or the Warhammer stuff (Fantasy Bretonnians, Dwarves, Orcs, High Elves and Space Marines), or the Dixon Samurai army, or finish off the boxes of Wild West/Apaches/7th Cavalry/Pirates, etc etc etc. Hell, I even found a box of Eureka Tekumel miniatures I got about seven years back and promptly forgot about and a box of GDW Traveller miniatures that I had not forgotten about – Imperial Marines, aliens and adventurers.

All I can say is that it is a good thing Winter is Coming.

Enough Scots to make an old school Hinchliffe battalion.
Icecream containers of Napoleonics – Infantry and Saxon Zastrows.
Remounts – a mix of Dixon, Essex, Front Rank, Connoiasseur and Hinhcliffe
Cuirassier and Cuirassier.
Boxes of Napoleonics
Plastics – lots of plastics. What the hell have I got two boxes of Warlord Games Russians for?
Conventions, Wargaming

Call to Arms 2014 Photo Review

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There was more to Call to Arms than our big Leipzig game and although pic heavy, I think that this post will show that wargaming is alive and well in New Zealand.  The variety of games, periods and general outlandishness on display was great. Once again the Warlords put on a superb little convention. My only complaint was that the mince and cheese pies from the cafeteria tasted bloody awful. Worst $4 I have spent on food in donkey’s years.

A CTA 1
Views of the St Pats School Hall.
Views of the St pats School Hall
Views of the St pats School Hall
A CTA X-Wing 1
X-Wing Game. Either a Rebel Civil War or perhaps just a training exercise.
A CTA X-Wing 2
Where would a Star Wars game be without a Corellian YT-class Light Freighter popping up/
A CTA WFB 4
A W40K Tyrranid Army – I think. I quite liked the display board and the colours of the critters.
A CTA WFB 3
WFB – Pirate Ogre rats and things.
A CTA WFB 2
Pirate Ogre Ship’s Cook. I think this guy made the meat pies that the cafeteria sold.
A CTA WFB 1
WFB – Pirate Ogre mobile artillery. Cannons on Giant Crocodiles. How awesome is that?
A CTA Skirmish Sangin 5
Skirmish Sangin – entering a compound through a hole blown in the wall.
A CTA Skirmish Sangin 4
Skirmish Sangin – Insurgents I think – having a roof party.
A CTA Skirmish Sangin 3
Skirmish Sangin – Things get technical.
A CTA Skirmish Sangin 2
Skirmish Sangin – Humvee
A CTA Skirmish Sangin 1
Skirmish Sangin – a patrol approaches a village in the late afternoon sun.
A CTA Ronin 4
Ronin – Land of the Rising Sun. Dawns breaks over a Japanese village.
A CTA Ronin 3
Ronin- Ashigaru advance across the vege garden.
A CTA Ronin 2
Ronin – Two groups of enemy samurai come to grips in the village.
A CTA Ronin 1
Ronin – Japanese villagers go about their business.
A CTA Pulp 5
Pulp Alley – somewhere up the Nile.
A CTA Pulp 4
Pulp Alley – Inside the Temple of Doom, or something similar. Lava flowing around the alter. Love it.
A CTA Pulp 3
Pulp Alley – An intrepid explorer (or tomb robber) explores the passageways.
A CTA Pulp 2
Pulp Alley – Inside the Pyramid of Terror (I made that up because it sounded Pulpy). Scarab swarms and mummies abound.
A CTA Pulp 1
Pulp Alley – Ready, and Action!
A CTA Maori 6
New Zealand Wars – A British Supply column makes it way north from Wellington to Boulcott Farm.
A CTA Maori 5
New Zealand Wars – Maori defend their pa against attacking red coats.
A CTA Maori 4
New Zealand Wars – table overview
A CTA Maori 3
New Zealand Wars – Northland Chief Hone Heke directs his troops to fire their carronade.
A CTA Maori 2
New Zealand Wars – a settler cabin under attack.
A CTA Maori 1
New Zealand Wars – Maori Warriors attack the British settlement.
A CTA FoW 4
Flames of War – A 25pdr battery in action.
A CTA FoW 3
Flames of War – Game in progress
A CTA FoW 2
Flames of War – Polish motorcycle troops. Loved these guys. Great painting and base-work.
A CTA FoW 1
Flames of War – more games in progress.
A CTA Dystopia 3
Dystopian Wars – A fleet action of some sort.
A CTA Dystopia 2
Dystopian Wars – A big land walker thingy.
A CTA Dystopia 1
Dystopian Wars – the superb table that these guys had set up.
A CTA DBM 4
DBM – The Road to, well, Damascus.
A CTA DBM 3
DBM – Viking Cavalry
A CTA DBM 2
DBM – 25mm game in progress.
A CTA DBM 1
DBM – game in progress. This is quite popular at the moment. Great to see 25mm ancients being played.
A CTA Bushido 1
Bushido – Fantasy Oriental game.

Wargaming

A night (well a few weeks) at the Museum

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The Whanganui Regional Museum is a top rate museum – a gem for a small provincial town like Wanganui.  If you are ever holidaying in New Zealand and go to the picturesque riverside town of  Wanganui, please visit the Regional Museum. My favourite exhibit is the great Maori War canoe “Te Mata o Hoturoa“.  This vessel was used in combat and still has bullet holes along it’s hull.  Empress Miniatures needs to make one of these in resin for the Maori War’s Range of minis that they make.

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Anyways, I was asked to put on a display of miniatures as part of a retro-gaming themed display that was run during the last school holidays. They had a lot of old school video games (like Donkey Kong and Spacies) and while I am not sure that wargaming is completely ‘retro’, I think it added a little something to the week.  I also put on a participation games of Wild West Skirmish using The Rules With No Name – but to be honest, I mostly fudged and made stuff up. I met a few guys who are local wargamers and entertained a bunch of kids for a few hours. It was fun.

I apologise for the quality of the photos but I took them with my cell phone just before I packed up and took all my toys home.

The display case was quite neat – and try as I might I could not fit it in the back of the 4×4. I tried to throw in a bit of everything that I have. There was a lot of interest and there is the distinct possibility of a Wanganui Wargaming Club being resurrected.  There is also the possibility that the museum may be interested in providing a space.

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In this picture you can see my Kapiti Fusiliers badge. Although the Fusiliers are now in hiatus, I am very proud of my Fusilier name badge.  Here you can see some 15mm WWII and Napoleonic 1200th Naval vessels (made from balsa).

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Some Wild West up top and my 15mm New Zealand forces for Flames of War (or other games as required).

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A Wild West hotel (and that is Al Swearengen up there).

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Warhammer 40K Models (Space Marines and old school metal Necrons). Some Bretonnian knights top left.

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