The League of Augsburg
Easter Parade Day 2
I have always preferred to base irregular cavalry, particularly horse archers, on hexagonal bases. I started doing this way back around 1996 or 1997 when collecting large numbers of Huns. An American visitor to Claymore around about the turn of the century made me an offer I couldn't refuse and all of my Huns literally, went west.
Since then I have reprised the basing style for irregular infantry,...
Easter Parade Day 1
The enforced home stay has been fantastic news for my projects and here is day 1 of a four day run of Ottoman cavalry in their full tabletop glory.
I knew I was going to be pleased with these even before arranging...
His wonders to perform... God and the Medway Estuary
I actually wrote this piece last year and made a conscious decision to give up flying about two weeks later. I have am pleased to say I have only been in a plane eight times since. Of course, the current situation makes flying almost impossible anyway. Good, we're saving the planet.
I do a lot of flying....
 |
| The terrain as it stands |
 |
| Upper middle of shot - Isle of Sheppey and beyond - The Medway Estuary. |
I do a lot of flying....
Naval campaign part 2 preview
 |
| A nice day out at Ardnamurchan.... maybe not for some of these ships |
With a little help from my friends.....
Dave and Colin came over last week to keep the campaign going. We played three cracking games with me going to pick up the fourth and fifth when I get a chance.
 |
| Make ready your guns! Tocht challenges Rochefoucauld at Duinkirk 1672 |
Scenario number 1 entitled 'King Louis's ships'takes place off...
Painting a 1/2400 scale ship model for the Anglo Dutch War period (1650-1700)
Quite a few people have been asking for a how to guide for painting, rigging and basing the 1/2400 scale Dutch Wars ships. So, here we are..
I have chosen a 4th rate model which costs £2.40.
The contents of a pack are laid out above. The 2mm thick, 20 x 40mm pill base does not come with the model I buy these from Warbasesin packs of 20. The price I don't recall but, it is less than £2 for that...
I found it in a box....
I obviously bought this for my 28mm projects about the time I was making merchant ships and pinnaces however it was long overlooked in a box, buried under other non started projects. During a recent wargaming colonic irrigation I cleared out much accumulated clutter. Purchases which never got off the stocks or even out of the bubble wrap.
I came across this. I remember buying it at Claymore two or...
Sea, what I mean..
 |
| Some 1/2400 scale ships on the finished boards |
Sea mats have been very useful so far in my naval adventures and some of them are actually pretty nice. I would however, feel a bit of a phoney if I used one in a demo game at a show. This piece is a short insight into an experiment in making sea boards as opposed to the river boards I am pretty comfortable in producing.
 |
| A Nine Years War battle in... |
Medway Project: the second board
Completion of the first (and most complex) board for my Medway Campaign fired me up to attack the second. I managed to get it from plain MDF to finished product sans the varnish in less than a week.
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
 |
| Unadorned Board 1 with unpainted board 2 - just sizing it up and getting motivated to begin the paint job. |
This section, downriver from the Royal Dockyard stretches from Upnor Castle, an Elizebethan era...
Medway stage 2
 |
| A dressed shot of the dockyard looking east from White Wall Creek. |
When I started the project I knew where I wanted it to go but it seemed somewhat of a tall order. Several months down the track and I believe the most difficult bits are behind me. Most of the ships are done. The dockyard board which is the most involved, is done bar the shouting - one minor road change plus the appearance of a...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 2 - Hail Mary!
 |
| What will happen to the unlucky Eendraght? |
The walk through of my evolving naval rules for the 1640-1700 period continues where we pick the action up at the beginning of Turn 4 with the Allies once more winning the initiative which allows them to move first or, compel the French to move.
By the firing step in T4 the Allies had manouevred ships into two opportunities. The first involves Eendraght,...
Walking through 17th century naval rules Part 1
Let me start by saying thanks to Neil Fox for helping me get onto this path in the first instance. He sent his Solebay Fast play sheets to me and I played many games with them to get a feel for the issues around naval gaming and in particular the period 1650-1700.
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
 |
| The Allied squadron in line astern |
The more I played, the more I enjoyed, the more I tinkered. The new situations offered additional...
I bet you thought I'd abandoned this..
On the contrary my friends, or should that be Integendeel, mijn vrienden! It takes focus to get a substantial project finished and I had run out of gas with changing short term priorities after completing three of the four corners of this table during the late summer.
 |
| Aerial view of layout to get a feel for how it might build. I completed various buildings before attempting the gorundwork. |
The most...