1/1,200 Dutch 76 gun Eendracht (Unity)

I like to keep this Anglo Dutch wars project ticking over or else it will get left behind and forgotten so two more 1,200 scale Langton ships done to oppose the two English finished already. In this case the Eendracht and the Zeelandia.

Eeendracht was built from 1665 to 1666 for the Maas Admiralty, one of the five naval forces of the Dutch Republic, as a replacement for the earlier ship of the same name that had been sunk in June 1665 at the Battle of Lowestoft. The new ship was the flagship of Lieutenant-Admiraal Aert van Nes at the Four Days' Battle of 1666 and at the subsequent St James' Day Battle.

Zeelandia was a fourth rate 58 gun warship built in 1683 and captured in 1690 by the French.

Again both ships painted to a wargames standard as anything more is really too much for my limited skills but they look fine. Oh by the way I have added the small pins set into the base of all of the models so that any markers may be added while gaming with them, no idea what but I will decide when I find a set of rules I like.

Need to assemble and paint the ships first of course!

Dave.

Napoleonic/French Rev naval longboat 28mm

 Always fancied a couple of these naval long boats to enable a shore or river landing, probably with Sharp Practice but any French Revolution or Napoleonic game using a river will do so I bought two (though I have only photographed one) British Longboats and crew from Britannia Miniatures. It is a great set and though they both took a lot of cleaning to remove substantial amounts of flash it was worth it.

Now of course I have to buy a sailor and Marine landing party, it never ends!

Having looked at the pictures a little touching up is required after painting in the river.

Dave.

Otterburn additions.

 As our club Boarder Reiver Wargames Society is putting on a display game at the Elsdon Fete in Northumberland later this month the collection I had to contribute never had any civilian figures to show in particular the two Scottish camps present during the encounter in 1388, (scroll down from this post for further info on the battle).

So here are a very nice collection of 1st Corps 28mm figures that will do perfectly.

The village is within a few miles of the site of the battle and in itself is worth a visit, very pretty.

Dave.

15mm 1859/66 Austrians.

 I don't seem to post quite as often as I used to, certainly not recently, however on reason is that I have been heading towards completion of this 1859/66 Austrian army which given my ability to turn a blind eye to uniform specifics for the period allows this army to fight Italians, French and Prussians during this period in history. I know, Austrians in 1866 predominantly wore the greatcoat but if anyone thinks I'm painting up two separate armies for each war then they are living on a different planet to me!

On a sadder note many of these figures were swapped/given to me by my dear friend Mr Tom Nutt. Tom passed away recently and I consider my addition to and completion of this force my own small tribute to a good friend and wargame enthusiast. Tom was ex army, absolutely knew his stuff and was a mine of detailed information about all aspects of military history but particularly known for his three volume books Franco Prussian War (1870-1871) Uniform Painting Guides covering all of the weapons, organisation and uniforms for that conflict. You won't find a better more comprehensive aid to this period than this. I'm not sure who carries it now but try Rob Anderson at Northumbrian Painting Services he may know.

I could tell so many tales of Tom but suffice to say he will be missed by all.

Tom Nutt.

In total there are three Austrian corps, III, IX and XI organised for the Age of Valor rules, basically Fire and Fury but can of course be used for the excellent Bloody Big Battles set. I placed a good number on my 7' by 4' table but many more are still in the box. This little lot has taken quite some time to paint up hence not posting as often as usual. Most figures are Lancaster Games.

Dave.

1/1,200 HMS Mary, English 3rd rate.

 A second Anglo Dutch War ship completed, in this case HMS Mary an English 3rd rate. Originally commissioned as Speaker and built in Woolwich by Christopher Pett in 1650, re-named in 1660 she was a 50 gun frigate, re-built in 1688 and wrecked in 1703.

Langton as usual.

Dave.

1,1200 HMS Prince 1670, Anglo Dutch wars

 While since I last posted folks but what with holidays (good), work (bad) and life in general (meh) these things happen. I am soon to complete a huge 15mm Austrian 1859/66 army but more of that in another post.

In the meantime I have finally bitten the bullet and have begun constructing and painting both sides of the Anglo Dutch wars sailing ships purchased from Langton Miniatures about three years ago which have lain neglected in a box since then. There are about twenty of these beautiful models to do and I must admit to being somewhat daunted about beginning this particular project. If I say so I can paint figures to a good standard, I'm not immodest that way but hey there you go, but I'm a crap modeler, no two ways about it I hate making houses, terrain and bloody ships! I have done some in the past and did a reasonable job but I must say that I didn't really enjoy it. The end result was fine, love the end result but man the process of fiddling on doing sails, shrouds, ratlines etc does my head in. So there I sat looking at twenty fantastic Langton models knowing what must be done, well here is the first.

She is HMS Prince, built in 1670 a one hundred gun 1st rate and during the Third Anglo Dutch War served as the flagship of The Lord High Admiral The Duke of York.

Still learning as I go so a few mistakes but not too bad. The rigging is kept to a minimum as it is a wargaming model plus I haven't the skill or patience to do more. I had asked Rob Anderson of Northumbrian Painting Services to rig the ships when I finished just to piss him off cause I know he hates it but as I seem to have drilled the holes for the rat lines just behind the shrouds I have modelled the ratlines with brass wire myself. Got out of that one mate! Flags hand painted by myself as usual.

Dave.

15mm Wurttemberg 1870

 It has been quite some time since I painted up any 15mm Franco Prussian War stuff, I really had done with those two armies though as you dear reader will see the period itself is most certainly ongoing.

The drive for adding the Wurttemberg contingent was that after testing out and loving Bloody Big Battles while gaming the battle of Froeschwiller (Worth) I decided to re-try the battle using Age of Valour rules which require considerably more figures per unit. This is well doable given that I have hundreds of the chaps painted up but not of course Wurttemberg figures, plenty not painted but, hey I've gone this far so why not!

So here is the Wurttemberg Field Division with some of the artillery required, a few more batteries still to do. Outpost infantry and cavalry, Old Glory 15's guns.

Dave.

Crecy period French mounted Knights

 Dug these Old Glory 28mm figures out of the box last week and painted them up. I will add a few foot , crossbows etc at some point. Other than the command figure the Duke of Orleans the rest (unlike my Otterburn Knights) are generic though I did use bought transfers for the shields and painted over them so they must all be somebody!

Probably should have done more with the basing, it looks a little bare.

Dave.

Bloody Big Battles.

 

Now I don't consider myself to be a dinosaur regarding new developments in the hobby but of course what dinosaur would admit or even maybe realise that a dinosaur is what they are. I, like everyone have their own preferences related to wargaming, I like well painted figures but am not so snobby as to being bothered by what others can manage to paint up (draw the line at unpainted however). I will give most rules a fair go but period feel and ease of play are preferable to adding up columns of plusses and negatives. I do love good looking terrain, having a realistic table top to shove those well painted figures around comes pretty high on my should have list. What floats some peoples boats doesn't necessarily float mine and of course vice versa, priorities in gaming are rightly different for each of us and so it should be. It would be a boring old life if that weren't the case.

For some people the historical feel of the game, the flow of the rules and the end result is everything but the look doesn't matter. For others lining up thousands of 28mm Napoleonic figures from one side of the table to the other has them squealing with delight. It takes them three hours to set it all up, the ten people invited roll dice to no tactical purpose what so ever and they spend the rest of the day packing it all away again. Really?

Now to my point, I have looked at the Bloody Big Battles rules set for a number of years now. I have plenty of 15mm Franco Prussian War figures, more Austrians half painted up and I love the period. I have not really settled on a set of rules that I love. I tried the adapted version of Fire and Fury years ago and still want to try Age of Valour which is Fire and Fury based, I even attempted to adapt General de Armee/Pickets Charge to the FPW period see here and found quickly that rule writing isn't my forte!

So back to Bloody Big Battles. I checked out the internet, forums, blogs and of course the page dedicated to the rules, enthusiasm abounded regarding the playing and feel of the rule set but here is the nub, every photograph of games being played looked crap! bits of felt, rivers and roads that didn't connect. I know, I know Dave you snob I can here you all saying and well maybe yes but only to my own preferences as stated above, the people likely had a great time and good for them.

So I got over my own prejudice, finally bought the rules and boy am I glad that I did. Neal and I have only played them for one scenario Froeschwiller 1870 but they are great. Again based on the Fire and Fury system the rules are historically accurate, flow well and just, well, feel right. I won't go into too much detail but for instance, you look at a potential 12" move for infantry and initially think that's a long way in this scale but terrain slows you, your movement die roll may affect you and then if your opponent decides to fire at you he/she can pick any point during your advance at which to commence fire. If you don't reduce the enemies fire power then there is a high likelihood that your unit will at best be pinned in situ getting the proverbial s***e kicked out of it. Cleaver stuff.

Excellent rules, particularly for large encounters, hence the name!

Here's a few photographs:

Enjoyed this so much that I'm looking seriously at completing the Austrian 1859 army I have.

Dave.