Nature has a way of making even colour it’s own magic
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Intermission 23h colour
Author: lorenzoseventh
Wargaming in an erratic style
Every year I get a smattering of castles in my house courtesy of GCN+ and pro cycling coverage of racing.
With helicopter views of the peleton weaving its way through the land the cameramen get bored and snap the odd castle.
These castles to my mind look different to those I visit and if nothing else, for the modeller in me, show the variety of designs that were built. Of course a lot of these differences are due to a few hundred years of subsequent occupancy but even so you can see that the location often dictated the floor plan and levels.
Here are some previous years efforts even including Hussars in Hungary!
2021 Giro in Tuscany – Bianchi Roads
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2610
2021 Le Tour – France north to south
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/3056
Hungary kicks off Giro 2022 Hussars and all
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/4860
Giro 2022 including Hawkwoods territory
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/5104
Basque Region Tour 2023
Now I have often missed this race and also its less castellated imagery.
Just one castle this year and an obligatory monument to modern design – a modern “castle” equivalent in its impact.
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Garibaldi live to fights another day!
The Garibaldi – Nottingham Forest have earned another season in the Association Football Premiership. So every home game next season the Garibaldi stand will rock to the cheers of Forest fans.
Nottingham Forest adopted red shirts and because at the time (1865) Garibaldi was still a star they chose a particular red as a tribute to the Italian Freedom Fighter.
A constant theme of my interest in art is the variety of techniques on show.
My Weekend Open Studios visits prompted me to dig out some wooden offcuts I had minded to fashion into buildings.
The idea for “woodtown” was to provide my grid gaming with appropriately sized buildings. And they would be in keeping with the abstract nature of grid boards. In terms of the art they are definitely inclined towards Paul Nash. Ferens Art Gallery can be found in Kingston Upon Hull and an interesting painting by Paul Nash can be seen there.
They make their first contribution in my recent Neil Thomas 1864 Minigame. Ironic that the game did not use grids…………
Having played out Neil Thomas’s minigame scenario I was left wondering if the unlikely Danish victory was just that.
In the first battle with this scenario the Austrians attacked straight up the road that was to be cleared yet they simply ran out of time.
This second battle was again run exactly as per the basic scenario suggestion by Neil Thomas.
- same board size
- same terrain
- same units
- units deployed at the start in the same way as the first battle except as below
At least the Danish Artillery put in an appearance.
The Austrian units arrived at the same point on the road but moved differently.
The Hussars charged up the road as before……..
You will have to settle for the Hungarian March instead and some Hungarian Hussars.
A close run to the end but this time the expected outcome.
The Skirmishers had more effect by circling the eastern flank of the Danish. The dice throwing favoured the Austrians at critical moments – triggering morale collapse amongst the danish. As the danes were mainly levy this was to be expected and again its was more a case of their saving morale throws that meant the action went to 9 of the 10 permitted moves.
Another enjoyable run through of this scenario.
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Supermarket Surprise
I don’t normally dwell on editorials when reading a wargames monthly – its all about the content itself for me.
Today I chanced upon a WI when looking for some other non wargaming publication in a rare trip to a supermarket magazine aisle. I guess it was the ship sampler on the cover the caught my attention.
Anyway having been hooked I was reeled in by the prospect of an article on the Perrys Franco Prussian War figures. I am not sure what all those painted Prussians have been doing for the past year waiting for the enemy?
Having bought the magazine – not one I regularly buy – I scanned the pages and found some promising material on Flags. I am always interested to read about cowboy games even though I don’t play them – don’t ask! And there was an interesting article on homespun fantasy figure creation resulting in a product launch – “imaginations gaming” in any genre normally piques my interest.
The Hammerhead painting competition results show that there are also plenty of artists at work producing tremendous pieces to inspire. On that last point it is questionable whether it really sells a print magazine though.
Actually the speedpaints article also shows the challenge for print magazines. I happened upon a blog post recently complete with video which compared all the recent companies who have piled into the “contrast” market. Having said that the article (which I read first) was well put together and had some useful ideas and perspective. I liked the mix of “newbie” and “professional” painters trialling the product.
Barry Hiltons Naval rules article has compelling models on display – Langtons – but I can resist despite the enjoyment they give. How about that sampler that caught my eye in the first place. Its just one ship so no risk of hobby drift – and it occurred to me I might just knock it up and pass it off as Danish ship. The thing about the Schlieswig Wars is the proximity of the sea and the Danish ability to use the sea as another front even if only for logistics. You never know when you might need a ship or two.
And what of Dan Faulconbridge and his editorial? It turns out my usual source of wargame magazines is charging Dan far too much and as he says markets are markets. So in this case it worked – I found WI where I did not expect it and bought it into the bargain. Also Dan is looking to broaden his customer base – I am not really sure the magazine aisle is being randomly browsed. If anything supermarkets are heading to be a glorified logistics warehouse where customers are spending the least amount of time they can, to get what they need.
Of course any leverage over WHSmith who still dominate over the counter print sales will help Dan’s cause.
That ship sprue just might land a few interested souls yet.
Will I switch from WHSmith to the Supermarket? Well no actually, I like still finding a shop on a high street thats open and sells something useful.
Published by Chatham Publishing in association with the National Maritime Museum this hard back book of 250 plus pages takes a highly selective trip through the Royal Naval presence in land war.
13 chapters – 3 about the Napoleonic era, 4 from mid 19th Century then 3 concerning the period 1896 – 1919 . Finally two from World War Two and one from 1999.
My interest was caught by two chapters. One about the 1840 Syrian campaign and then one about the 1855 action at Sweaborg in the Baltic. The Chapter on Walcheren 1944 then popped up.
£2 paid so worth a look.
Each chapter covers a specific event so this is not a history as such.
Also there is a limited bibliography – but clear use of archive documents instead.
And the episodes provide some political context as well. Not least why the Navy did not have this or that when set a task. Also you get some perspective in government “interference”.
In a way this book has served two purposes.
- providing insight on land oriented coastal naval actions.
- giving ideas about potential for “counterfactual” events – something that interests me for my mid 19th century wargaming.
The book has a decent selection of images most of which are new to me.
But none quite like this one from my copy of a Times Illustrated commemoration of the coronation of King Edward VII in August 1902.
Neil Thomas offered this battle as an example of a small action using his mini battle setting. His rules assumed a 2’x 2′ or 600mm square. So thats board game sized.
His rules say you do not need to rebase. Always a positive these days.
I have a mixture of units – a result of my lock down era painting activity tending to paint what I fancied than worrying about actual armies!
The action is straightforward – the Danes are retreating and use a bottleneck on the key route north towards Jutland. The Danish rearguard are buying time for their main forces to retreat to their last defence line in Schlieswig – the Duppel fortifications.
Their opponent was the geographic “Empire” effectively still the Holy Roman Empire but now really the German Confederation post Waterloo with Austrian and Prussian interference/support.
In this case the Austrians were attacking the rearguard.
The Danish Rearguard
- Infantry Unit A
- Infantry Unit B
- Infantry Unit C
- Infantry Unit D
- Artillery Battery E
The Artillery was Bronze Rifled while the Infantry were all Levy in loose order armed with rifled muskets.
The Danish troops are all deployed in the bottleneck.
The Austrians Attack starting at the river line comprise
- 9th Hussars – Average
- Artillery – 2 batteries both with bronze rifled cannon
Their main forces arrive from move 1 on the main road
- Jaeger Infantry unit – elite, rifled musket, loose order
- Skirmishers – elite, rifled musket
On moves 2 & 3 the following units arrive via the same southern road access
- Infantry Unit 6 – move 2 – average, rifled musket, loose order
- Infantry Unit 7 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order
- Infantry Unit 8 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order
Battle Narrative
With the objective to clear all danish forces from the road (at least 12cm from the road) essentially the Austrians simply went through the Front Door.
They had 10 moves to do it in with a win lose outcome and no draw.
Special Rules as suggested by Neil Thomas were used
- Colonel Muller personal leadership of the Danes means any one unit at the start of any turn can be elite.
- The Danish Artillery were quite ineffectual so get half the nortmal values in defence and attack
- The Austrians fresh from rough handling by the French in 1859 adopt bayonet charges in preference to distance firefights. They stay in column the whole game and can charge without restriction (no unit base quantity advantage required)
Some shots of the action
The stream has no effect on movement except Artillery must use the bridge. The town can be accessed only by Infantry. The lake is impassable to all troops while infantry can move through the wood.
The Danish front line are in line and not moving, supported by more mobile Column units behind. If infantry want to move in Neil Thomas’ rules they must be in column.
Note in this game I chose not to field the woeful Danish Artillery ( i.e. I forgot to place them on the board!)
An Austrian victory seemed to confirm Neil Thomas’ view that history repeats itself with his suggested set up. In his notes he offers several options to up the defence capability of the Danes.
In this case a very narrow Danish Victory suggests a well thought out scenario by Neil Thomas. Generally I have found Neil Thomas scenarios are fun to play because they tend to lead to a lot of action and no quick outcomes. So although asymmetrical in set up they seem to be well balanced games.
Footnote:
The Figures are Irregular Miniatures and Hat for the Danish
Elsewhere in the photographs the regular Austrian Infantry on show are Waterloo1815 1859 Austrians in their white coats – in 1864 it was bitter winter weather so soldiers actually fought in their greatcoats.
Neil Thomas offers the mini game as a quick affair and it certainly was. Lots of enjoyment from a two foot square, scenery, dice and some figures.
This month I picked up Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine mainly because it contained an article on the Battle of Dorking. This late 19th century event has passed many a historian by. Of course it happened in someones imagination and they wrote about it.
At the the time people were concerned about the neglect of the army. Nothing new but despite the Crimean War the British probably still marched to war on the back of their Waterloo success. Perhaps they preferred sailing to the echoes of Trafalgar though.
It was a nervous time and if anything British politicians made the wrong calls.
Lord Palmerston is famed for framing the Schlieswig Holstein Question – the issue he should have dealt with in hindsight. British interests elsewhere meant they simply ignored the inexorable rise of their Waterloo allies, the Prussians.
Instead Palmerston oversaw millions of pounds of military budget squandered on his follies. The biggest coastal defence spending made to ensure we could see off the real enemy – France.
It was the 1860’s
Plymouth was of strategic importance to British Defence and its Global Naval reach.
Today you can still visit these Palmerston follies although only Maker Heights itself can really be inspected. There is an excellent cafe at the top of the heights.
Wargame Scenario Possibilities?
Possible scenarios could be the original 18th century concerns prior to any effective defences being in place – with a landing force fighting its way up the valley while defenders are rushed in piecemeal.
19th century options might be harder to conceive for a game: Although quite how the Prussians sidestepped the whole British Navy to reach Dorking is intriguing. One option then is that the cost of the defences and end of the French threat caused the defences to be semi abandoned by 1875 – making it easier for a Prussian assault this far west to be gamed with some more balanced possibilities.
One other possible scenario is around a WW2 imaginations/Sealion scenario of the “guns of navarone” style sabotage as a prelude to a naval landing? Parachute troops even – securing Maker heights as a prelude to taking Plymouth?
Categories
Artists & Makers
If you strip it down making a car or a piece of art is the same thing. I am stretching a point here regarding quantity.
It is a creative process that ends in something tangible which may also be useful. And “use” can result in different things.
The piece of art that is still in use 200 years later because its action is to be seen. Or that car which was mercilessly driven in all weathers every day with every component exercised till its early demise on a scrap heap a few years later.
Wargamers are often gamers but as opposed to say Board gamers they are often model makers and nearly always painters.
And some Wargamers are collectors as well.
Add to this that some wargamers are what one would call artists – their work is exemplary, out of the ordinary, admired and copied.
And you can visit thousands of sites on the net to learn how they did this or that.
In a world that has rapidly replaced the physical world with the online world (both are real but different), it is interesting to meet real humans, who are artists and be able to connect their creations with their working area, their tools and discuss their processes right there – one to one.
No rewind – you have to listen and concentrate. It is an experience.
So York Open Studios offers you a hundred artists and makers to chose from. A useful booklet shows you where each artist/maker is located and a thumbnail picture and a few words provide the introduction.
My experience is that I select on image – it is disconcerting. I force myself to read the useful words – collage, etching, printing, digital, sculpture, carving…..
This time we wanted to walk between sites within a specific time frame – we chose an area with many locations and it meant we visited some locations where the brochure image was not compelling and the words uncertain.
At least one artist whose work I like had used an unfamiliar image and I could never remember their name. it was a surprise to find them in my list of maybe/so so sites to visit in the area we had chosen.
And the lesson about “reinforcing what you like means you might miss out” continued as I found my less preferred visits yielded very interesting discussions on process – how, why, what, where, when etc.
What is overwhelming?
- Individuality – they may use fairly common materials, and even processes yet what they add is crucial. That is the most important ingredient
- Commitment – despite the throngs of people in kitchens, conservatories, the garden shed, part of a living room – these people must spend a lot of time on their own to achieve what they do.
- Enjoyment – to open your “studio/space” to strangers and be cross examined (politely of course) on how you did that or why did you do this – is an act of bravery – most of all I think it reflects their enjoyment of their work and the pleasure it gives them.
In a way wargame shows are those open studios when artists and makers show their work on the wargames table – the difference tending to be that you don’t buy (except at the nearest trader), you just look and maybe discuss. You might go home and copy their work – inspired by their enthusiasm – which includes the game as well – rules, scenery and figures.
Then there are the traders – many of whom are still small businesses in effect our hobbies most obvious artists and makers.
There is also a place for all those useful internet sources*.
And there is the irreplaceable act of human contact discussing a shared interest.
So whether it is a local arts and crafts show or that wargames show – “go see” – I am betting that seeing what others do will inspire you to paint more, make more and be more creative.
*That includes the American Railroad Modeller preoccupied with homemade Italian Cypress Trees which I might need one day!
The Wargaming Erratic 