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.
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.
Since AHPC finished in March like last year my wargames activity has declined. I didn’t even make it to partisan. So VAP and Hammerhead proved to be the two shows attended in the first half of 2025.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Last year the war gaming fell away due to a month long road trip round the southern Rockies. It recovered to be very productive during Dave Stones season of scenery challenge.
Well this year I am away this summer but the real stinger has been two glorious months of a dry uk spring complete with sun and warmth. What more could you ask for?
Well my garden seedlings and plants needed rain – so I had to substitute that for lots of watering can events.
Really it’s been fantastic weather and no complaints given how our normal maritime climate often delivers wet and windy and cool temperatures. – sometimes all at once.
The fine weather also meant the garden railway got an early run out. And this meant some long overdue building work started.
So modelling but “not as we know the scale of it JIM!”
And yes I have managed a little bit of figure painting in the end.
So this is a long post to say, not much miniatures painting this spring and zero wargames done!
Mind you I have been reading quite a bit which is always ominous for my plans.
“News from the front sir, the April breakthrough failed………………for gods sake why?…………. ……………………………………..Apparently a lot of kit just wasn’t ready sir……………………..}#%^*^<~|~\{}{]}#$$ ………..ranted General MukerZpreeeder.
Kits are not conducive to wargames painting targets………. And then I got to the bit where you source your own windows aaaaaargh. Repeat – always read all the instructions first, Repeat – always……..
Oh well, it was worth a try.
Sadly the very fine weather meant all manner of outdoor activities took hold this month.
Maybe there will be an afv August – don’t hold your breath though.
Still there is always John and Zauberwurfs mighty works to appreciate.
I just missed the end of AHPC15 with some 1848 era artillery.
Rather than park them like last year I decided to get these Properly finished.
Three types of artillery on showI have added to my Danish artillery Irregular miniatures bell shako British do good service as Dane’s of the 1840’sGuns were different to the Russian 1850’s version.Full complement with earlier model to fore.These are 1848 Duchy of ParmaSame manufacturer as the Dane’s Same guns as the Dane’s B and B Miniatures provided these chaps posing as 1848 Schleswig Holstein rebels. They are actually 1870 Prussians One 4 pounder horse gun and one 6 pounder field gun both rifled breechloaders But it’s hard work getting pickelhaubes for the 1840’s and the figures come with the guns – waste not want not. At three feet I can live with the difference.
Jumping on the back of John at just needs varnish and Zauberwurfs duel over some mechanised models I determined to follow up my AHPC15 logistics Lorries.
Well it seems experimentation is the order of the day. Instead of just painting some vehicles in plain military colours I seem to have drifted into a look at contrast colours, and it’s a right mess. I had no plan – just paint a lighter base colour and let the contrasts do the rest.
A case of too dark base coat for the contrast- this model had a dark green undercoat first.
Not the best outcome since I undercoated in grey or white then the Vallejo olive green seems to be quite translucent. End result is the shading is just highlighting my poor main colour work.
This contrast looks promising even if my lazy base coat work is a disasterThe nuln oil looks well oily while skeleton horde would be ok on the right base colour! Black undercoat was fine though…..
The Wargaming Erratic 
