If you need an english version it’s not too much to foto the five text sections which are conveniently sized and then select scan and translate options in your smart phone.
Also Chariobaude has an excellent WordPress blog which I discovered way back in 2017 covering fantastic painting of late Roman miniatures.
Fortunately John over at “just needs varnish” reminded me that Dave Stone’s challenge started at the beginning of July.
Last year I had a very fruitful time in fact my challenge ran into the end of September! It did not do my figure painting any favours though.
Yet I had so much scenery waiting to be done it proved to be a rich vein.
Well this particular ore vein is still rich.
Loads of possible scenery opportunities accumulating 😆Always read the instructions!I nearly chucked away the ridge tile – look carefully Some nice detail on my first mdf building Some clever design made construction easyI found this mdf model easier than the italeri church
So far that is two churches and a railway station finally out of their boxes and just about built.
Painting may be a stumbling block – I get quite hesitant about colours. Cold north or warm south…..
* Could be I have drawn loads of early pacers who then fade away……..
I wonder what else will come from the pit of scenery?
The thing about one hour wargames is it’s genuinely “pick up” attraction. If you want to throw dice, move figures and get that war game with a purpose feeling for minimal preparation, then I find it’s a winner.
Yes, the mechanisms are abstract but you have to compromise somewhere and Neil Thomas rules generally offer that blend of compromises I like.
In the first game the Royalists held the hill with some rookie blues and grays in actionThe royalists divide their forces to hold both enemy objectives The royalists include this new blue unitRoyalist artillery hold the town road The royalists are none other than DanesDanish volunteer horse make up the royalist cavalryMore Dane’s this time by HatStrelets Danish Royalist GuardsEverything hung on the defence of the town
Rebel forces enter the fray
A mixed brigade of cavalry The rebels mass their infantry before the town The royalists are caught outThe rebels quickly assault the town The royalists seek to outflank the rebel attackThe rebel cavalry attack the rookie blues royalists
Rebel victory
The rebel attack on the town is overwhelmingThe rebel cavalry destroy the royalist right wing infantry The rebel cavalry move on the second objective – the hillThe royalist defence stiffens around the town The rebel cavalry are destroyed Rebel infantry struggle in the townThe royalist cavalry rush to aid their compatriots in the town but it is too late
So the second battle ends in Royalist defeat. It’s all square and all to play for…..
The royalists needed to escape through the town and up the great road……
Rebels held the river line woods The rebel cavalry brigade – lucky toys and hat miniatures Irregular miniatures garibaldeansMore irregular miniatures garibaldeansStrelets rebel sharpshooters hold the town roadThe royalists pour forwards The royalists choose the remote river crossings on their left wing to make progress The royalists are peppered by the rebel skirmishers The royalists attack the townThe royalist left wing cavalry lead the way The rebels abandon the river line The royalists begin to make progress The rebel cavalry are swept awayThe rebels are fleeing pell mell Some royalists race up the great road The royalist cavalry take a beating getting to close to formed infantry The royalist cavalry break The last few royalist units must make good their escape up the great roadAgain the rebel infantry shoot well The last royalist infantry are driven away
And so victory to the rebels in the action and also the short campaign.
Today of course saw the end of 3 days of fighting at Gettysburg – the great Union victory which along with the capture of Vicksburg saw the war finally turn against the Confederate Southern States.
My latest fragment concerns books. Books figure strongly in my wargaming interests and tend to drive what I do more than say the internet in terms of projects. That’s mainly due to my pursuit of decent historical narrative.
In spite of my distracting magazine interests and recently significant book disposals, I am still book reading – it’s a key part of my hobby.
Last year I took several months to read “An Army at Dawn”. It is about the US Army written by an American exploring the impact of Operation Torch – the North Africa landings in 1942. Often overlooked because of its proximity to El Alamein, Stalingrad or Pearl Harbour this (rehearsal) campaign in my view meant that the Normandy landings went a lot smoother? And it enabled the Italian campaign which knocked Italy out of the war.
The author Rick Atkinson, is very readable and frankly for me the subject is very engaging: The ambiguity of the French, the Germans still confident, the Americans with endless resources yet lacking experience and the wily Brits trying to spin the events their way. And of course the Italians now perhaps feeling things were getting too close to home. All the while the native population were caught in the crossfire.
So the very first amphibious landings and combined operations by allied forces – s0me sailing directly across the atlantic ocean to attack the beaches: What could possibly go wrong? Pretty much everything. Fortunately the defenders were at sixes and sevens – Vichy French and later the Germans and Italians.
Mind you the Americans had been here before – about 125 years previously……
In parallel with all this my other book of interest is set in the nineteenth century and deals with the French crown between 1815 and 1850 – nothing happens I hear the cry! It was the long peace after all.
Well I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. Admittedly there are no major European wars between the Napoleonic and Crimean. And perhaps even then the Franco Prussian war is seen as the next big european event after the demise of Napoleon I, given what then followed.
What is fascinating is the continual story of French rule that throws up moments of high tension when events could have turned in different directions. Having read the book it feels like France was really permanently in revolution mode during this period as well.
Perilous Crown is an excellently written story of the events surrounding the successive reigns of Charles X last of the bourbon line then Louis Phillipe and it is his story of somehow surviving the ever volatile French realm that is the primary focus.
Author: Munro Price
Published: MacMillan
A couple of books appeared in a family clear out – not sure how they got there.
John Ahern’s railway modelling was inspiring in its day – I tried as a kid and failed to build realistic scenery for my model railway – wargaming was a much easier compromiseI bought and read this when it was published nearly twenty years ago – long enough for a reread I guessed, it didn’t take long as the text is an easy read and fairly romps along.
And the last book has proved a lucky charity shop find as well.
Great little read and 50p charity bargain, again it was quick read and the text was great – well put together yet the maps were awful.
Spring started with the leftovers of Analogue Hobbies Challenge 15
I was gifted this seaplane in a poor state. It was found in a clearance box at a car boot sale.
Some minor repairs to the floats struts plus my first ever plane support – magnet and all, then my current favourite background thrown in for good measure.
Fauxterre 1930 is my “nearly mechanised” campaign – long in the planning with little progress on the armies.
Essentially Rugia is under attack and their coastal command have had to draw in naval resources to cover potential invasion activity by their arch enemy Gombardia.
No idea about the kit or the plane modelled. I thought about a repaint but for now it’s fine for my solo campaigning – only my eye is offended if at all.
Who knows I might even actually build another plane after last year’s (2023/24) inaugural camomint 1939 reconnaissance spitfire in AHPC14.
When I think about it this first half of 2025 has like 2024 been dominated by AHPC – analogue hobbies painting challenge. By contrast I managed only two shows yet one yielded one of the few games I have played.
That was a cowboy shootout using homemade rules…..
It’s was fun – quick and lethalSparse yet effective as were the rules!
Not surprisingly it was Hammerhead at Newark.
Then I had a game of “what a cowboy”. My opponent loved “what a tanker” and reasoned WAC should be as enjoyable. Well that proved not quite the case. We will play again but it has slipped down the list.
Actually there is no list and until today my gaming had been quite limited.
Then I had a spur of the moment, moment no doubt brought on by quite a bit of reading about battles fought.
In this case ACW – I am reading western theatre actions at the moment.
I also have been reading my Colorado purchase – a soft cover book of maps showing the whole ACW war.
In the book are some contemporary maps by a certain Robert Knox Sneeden. He was a Union mapmaker who not only spent time as a confederate prisoner but was also a watercolour artist. Clearly he had a good eye! And by good fortune his maps and diaries have survived.
The other night a cloudy sunset caught my eye simply because I had not seen one in a while.
Spring has been delightfully dry, sunny with low humidity. It has meant the watering can has been doing overtime at a point when seedlings and young growth can die in days if not watered.
Nature has offered some interest.
A bracket fungus Once upon a time cows were commonly seen on York strays – they are still there if you know where to look. Walmgate stray looking towards the iconic York Cemetery complete with those angel statues – think doctor who.The strays typically are wet – the taller grasses indicate water courses still damp despite the drought
It was a great season for tulips – no wind or rain to batter them down
Last year I took a road trip round the southern Rockies. I nipped into the Walmart next to Fort Carson as you do to get some victuals.
A sunny day at Fort Carson
Standing in the queue which happened to be very very very slow (me and another queuer learned some guys life story on his hip replacement which he amazingly got quite quickly without private insurance or having to mortgage his home) so it meant this booklet spent a lot of time calling to me.
I travelled thousands of miles across oceans and lands inevitably to buy a book in a supermarket…….
I bought it – my first new book purchase (ever) about the American Civil War. As I love maps it was really a shoe in.
The trouble is this is very dangerous territory – that is mid 19th century wars, as it happens to be my rich wargaming vein at the moment, albeit in Europe.
Frank over at tankrants asked for some pics of the railway.
Here are a couple.
Seen in better days – Putting batteries in the wrong way does no good for these trains – this one has gone to the scrap heap for now. And as it happens the tracks have been abandoned and lifted-that’s gardeners for you 😂 Leaves on the line – as usual and straight tracks are never straight- yep this track gets trodden on and kicked about regularly.Ok so this is not my back garden but it is a real loco sat near the route of the Union Pacific as it crosses the Rockies west of Denver.
The Wargaming Erratic 
