Tag: Caliver Books

Categories
new additions Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

Stop Press – another ruleset

I do have a general idea about an order of postings, yet every now and again I get derailed. The usual suspect here was a wargame show – the other partizan. And that show found me browsing the extensive rulesets on offer at Dave Ryans Caliver Books stand.

I had seen this ruleset before, but moved on many a time. The cover was more Franco Prussian – I had kept avoiding this conflict simply because my interests were 10 – 20 years earlier and there seemed a gulf between these warring times: 1848 to 1870 was a transitional period especially for technology.

“There are you Guns” derives from the “General de Brigade” rules system

This time I looked through a bit more, no, I read the introduction. Somehow the words immediately offered something broader. Never judge a book by its cover they say.

Well the upshot was I parted with some “plastic” notes (I like to take a budget in my pocket – when its its gone, and it kind of adds to the immediacy of a decision) and this ruleset added to my burgeoning ruleset collection – yet again.

A few days later I set about reading the book cover to cover. Not usually my method – I often just get a few figures out and tinker with parts of a ruleset first off.

On this occasion I felt the ruleset could be read as a book. This was because the design philosophy as well as gaming examples are intervweaved amongst the rules chapter by chapeter.

Each chapter is self contained and includes contemporary illustrations and suitable military quotes of the day. It proved a good read.

When I had finished the book I put it to one side and got on with some figure painting. This was after a lay off, the usual “I was painting one day and the next – nothing”. I even had one unit just needing some base foliage adding – but no – production had ceased.

Then I suddenly decided I had to play a test game and yes I had to try for sufficient forces to look at the “divisional” set up. I felt anything smaller might not help me explore the rules sufficiently.

So “Blue on White” was born and I had one division per side comprising 2 brigades of infantry and artillery plus some divisional cavalry. I opted for most of the variables to match on both sides and also headcounts as well.

In effect I took out lots of variables regarding quality. I also discarded all the terrain rules by virtue of fighting the action across a plain.

The Battle of Gatehouse Road: Set on a small rise the road to the Gatehouse described a very low ridge.

The result was a long game where the game was left set up for several days – something I tend not to do. The reason was I felt compelled to find what the result would be by playing out the game.

The rules are not fast play and quick kills were not obvious where forces are very well balanced. At this point I should say that mostly smoothbore ruled the field. The exception was some muzzle loading riflemen. We are talking 1840’s not 1870’s.

I also suspect my use of the smallest size of units made the task of defeating an opponent harder. Although it should follow that units were eliminated quicker – which did not seem to happen.

I might just get a report out discussing the detail because I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the ruleset mechanisms.

So where do I reckon “there are your guns” (TAYG) comes out against the basket of rules I tested recently?

In short with an overall score of 25 its looking very promising.

“there are your guns” (TAYG 1848) ruleset scores

CriterionScore
Production4
Rule Philosophy8
Game Mechanisms4
Action Mechanisms9
Total25
At 25 this ruleset came in joint second

The best thing about the rules were their feel – having read quite a few books now around the mid 19th century – the rules seemed to reflect well the descriptions/opinions I have encountered. Now one test does not answer every question and crucially I had in effect boxed off 4 brigades against 4 others with some divisional command on top. No flanking and no variability in force quality. No terrain influencers either.

There are your Guns or TAYG1848 – I can never resist an abbreviation

Overall I will be using this ruleset but I am not yet sure how. They feel like they need a sizeable force on the table.

Blue (with a bit of Green) on White – who won? or in this case did the rules win me over?

Happy wargaming.

Categories
wargame shows wargaming

Partizan at the Double

Earlier this year I attended Partizan at Newark Showground. For the first time in many years I have made a second visit in one year – this time its the “other” Partizan.

Same location, same show – sort of.

The Autumn sun blazed through the south facing windows. I think that bright light helps – its uplifting. Except when your looking into the sun at the grasses selection on the Northumbrian Tin Soldier stand. You simply cannot please some people……

I enjoyed the Other Partizan. I almost feel Partizan in Spring was still all about what might be and was upbeat while the Other Partizan is no less upbeat but just maybe many gamers have now got stuff done and there is also an air of reflection maybe even planning thoughts for 2023…….

Here are some pics of things that caught my eye.

Westbury offered a more unusual amphibious demonstration……
Dark Ages featured on a few demonstration games
An expansive demonstration of the Anglo Danish shieldwall in its strong position at Hastings
a very effective winter demonstration of the Battle of the Bulge winter 1944.
A less popular era and also uncommon scale for shows.
A neat game with a thoughtful display – quite a few displays chose to use background screens to good effect
I like the period and find Phil Olleys armies rather compelling.
Its not just the details that attract. The choice of colours, textures – its complimentary
The castellated gate further adds to the effect.
From within – the town offers some delightful vignettes
Now a corner backdrop would have capped off this excellent display
Everything here is available to other gamers and yet in combination the game “viewing” was a step above the rest of the demonstrations for me.

Participation Games

Never mind the billhooks was present in the particpation area – 2 games I think. This one (with Andy Callan? – the Billhook brothers) had some nice renaissance figures in play
I still cannot make up my mind about printed mats, do they compliment or distract from the figures? I think it depends.
I spotted only one balloon – on the “The Bunker PG18” table where Martians? were about to rout human mankind
This was a participation, with it seemed, plenty of participation

Back to Demo Land

I liked this table in the demonstration zone but the photo picks up the sky “lines” which is unfortunate.
Probably the most striking demonstration scenery was Boondock Sayntes with their Turkish assault on this city comprising a variety of architectural styles but no less impressive for that. Maybe it is a modern eye to look for similarity. consistency and repetition.
Peter Pigs Bloody Barons was the chosen ruleset for this demonstration game
Rather traditional coloured lichen seemed effective to me
Lots of Perry miniatures on the table – rule of three figures per base shows you can extend your figures per base without any real loss of unit density.
These units felt good – a nice size and the three figures to a base means you can still enjoy all your artwork.
also the rule of three somehow makes the soldiers look less ordered – something to be welcomed in medieval armies.
The forces close to decide the latest historical findings about this most defining battle in english history.
The League of Extraordinary KreigSpeilers put on an excellent display of accurately proportioned 18th century era figures. They were very impressive yet somehow I think my vote remains with Phil Olley’s well fed troops and scenery on this occasion.

Materiel

I turned up in time to get a free figure: The Empress Matilda.

I might paint one one day!

I did buy a few items – nothing like some retail therapy.

I seem to be quite taken with autumnal or dry summer shades at the moment – Nothumbrian Tin Soldier no less.
These chaps are not what they seem (from HSLBCo) – you see british while I see Pickelhaubed Prussian types!

https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/5079

2022 The Other Partizan: Another excellent show advertising next years dates as well……………
Under one roof – 114 tables/stands offering a massive range of choice in games, demos, societies and traders
I was quite taken with the role playing ranges shown by Nothumbrian Tinsoldier but I must draw the line somewhere………anyway I do have some really ancient RPG kit that I can always drag into the light……….

https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/3388

In that last link nestling at the end of a post about RPG was a 1970’s era Minifig ECW regiment. A very failed project I think. Yet ECW remains an aspiration – I have the armies, copious rulesets and now even more scenarios, but for now the C19th remains a very interesting and compelling period – so unsurprising that I came away with something of that ilk.
Vintage already? 2007 era and I have numerous rulesets in use – yet I will enjoy this authors take on a transitional period that effectively sees Napoleonics rubbing shoulders with machine guns

Happy Gaming!

Categories
Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

Prelude to Wargames Rules tested II*

Which rules are best for mid 19th century warfare. Of course it helps to know which continent your on because apparently the North America Civil Wars were nothing like those happening in Europe…..

My current preoccupations are with the Italian Wars of Unification that, depending on your viewpoint, ran from 1820-1871 or 1848-1870 or even just 1859-1861!

Whichever timeline you choose the events threw up numerous conflicts across the Italian peninsula.

My previous rules shortlist included

  • Neil Thomas 19th Century European Wars – reviewed here previously
  • Table Top Battles by Mike Smith – reviewed here previously and here
  • Gentlemans War by Howard Whitehouse
  • Practical Wargaming by Charles Wesencraft
  • Piquet by Brent Oman
  • These last three were considered here and here for my Kloster Arens Encounter

I guess I had settled on the Neil Thomas set with Mike Smith’s Table Top Battles offering a solution for larger battles generated by my mythical campaigns.

The thing is I had not actually tested Piquet for this period so that was still an unknown. And so was A Gentlemans War for that matter.

And then at Hammerhead 2022 I played Fire and Fury. It reminded me that this ruleset had caught my eye the odd decade ago (!) only to fade away.

I enjoyed the participation game and to cut a long story short, tracked down a 1990 1st Edition courtesy of Dave Ryan at Caliver Books. It included some photocopy extracts of post publication comments which suggested a lot of improvements! There were a lot of complaints at the time it would seem. Nice touch from Dave Ryan to include these contemporary articles with this ruleset.

With so much negative noise why bother with them though? Well they have continued to be published. And it seems they have been morphed into other era’s. My Hammerhead participation game was for the Renaissance: Perhaps this endurance shows the core mechanics work for lots of gamers.

I thought, just maybe an ACW (American Civil War) ruleset might suit my 19th century European wars in Italy after all.

The Italian Wars of Unification fit between the Crimean Wars and the Franco Prussian War while they also bracket the American Civil Wars.

Next up will be some simple tests of Fire & Fury to start with.

*In 2020 I was all Anglo Saxon and shieldwalls and tested a few rulesets to see which might work for me.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battaglia_di_Curtatone_e_Montanara.jpg

This image is to be found in an excellent Wikipedia page about the Italian Wars of Unification.

Categories
new additions wargame shows wargaming

Supply Chain 2021

My hobby has again been sustained by a supply chain. In my case 2021 has seen my ebay activity trail off while I have increased my buying with a few hobby companies.

Thank you to everyone (in no particular order!)

  • Cronwallis – ebay supplier from Oz who provided some rare 1/72 plastic figures for my Fauxterre Napoleonic Mythical Realm. Also I secured a supply of Russian Napoleonics who will see life as my Milan Guard – one day!
  • Model Hobbies supplied a lot of Napoleonic 1/72 figures and many Waterloo 1815 figures for my Wars of the Italian Unification project
  • Black Forest Hobby were a source of some hard to get figures and rulessets
  • Other ebay suppliers included ms-plueth (dutch/belgians), model148 (for peninsular war types) and rasweetrampwp who provided some WW1 belgians which I morphed into Neapolitan Chasseurs circa 1860.
  • buchunversum supplied a very valued book – Funcken 19th century army uniforms with german text – britain/prussia/france 1815 to 1850. Crucially it shows the evolution of french and german uniforms from shakoes and breechs to pickelhaubes, kepis and trousers.
  • SHQ provided 20mm metal napoleonics
  • Hannants provided numerous 1/72 plastic figures mainly for my mythical napoleonic armies
  • Caliver books provided invaluable titles for my new interests in european wars between 1848 and 1866. The Schleswig War of 1848 was probably my most satisfying buy – I just did not expect such a gem of a book. (see lead image for details). America in Algiers circa 1820 was a complete surprise!
  • Irregular Miniatures have supplied some very useful 20mm figures for my Italian and French forces fighting over Rome in 1848 and all Italy in 1859
  • Warrior Miniatures have provided 25mm troops for what will be my Fauxterre post Napoleonic forces
  • Wargame Vault supplied me with “A Gentlemans War” skirmish rules in pdf format.
  • Perry Miniatures provided their Carlist Wars ruleset
  • Paul Meekins Books supplied a 100 year old copy of a trilogy on Garibaldi’s wars
  • Games Lore supplied 5 Parsecs from Home sci fi rules

On the high street I bought figures and kits from Antics in Plymouth and Monk Bar models in York while Wonderland of Edinburgh supplied many sets of 1/72 figures including Crimean era

I managed just two shows where the following traders provided some excellent material.

  • Pendraken for bases
  • Colonel Bills for 20mm WW2 metals
  • Dave Lanchester Books who have provided some really excellent source books most recently on 19th century sea warfare and Vichy France at War
  • I have written up about Fiasco 2021 traders here and Recon 2021 show traders here.

Operation Hight Street

For some extra fun I have tried where possible to run my sideshow WW2 wargame project by buying in person at shops/traders. It has not been easy. Yet I have bought quite a bit of material from those few trips I did manage.

So I hope our hobby suppliers continue to prosper and provide us with figures, scenery, rules and other materials to enable us all to enjoy a hobby that lets you escape into your imagination.

Thank you

Categories
wargame shows wargaming

Virtual VAP2021

I thought I might console myself with a virtual VAP this year via this site. So first up is something about traders.

Vapnartak is run by York Wargames Society volunteers and has a sizeable trader attendance. The York Racecourse site allows plenty of space although the organisers always ensure we all just about fit in!

In more recent times breakout space has improved yet I get the impression the number of traders remains unchanged? Maybe some of the games space has reduced. I am not sure on that.

The traders I have most often shopped with over the years have included

Caliver Books have always given me a steady supply of books and especially rule books.

Currently preoccupied with mid 19th century warfare, I plan to use Brent Omans Piquet bought from Caliver Books.

I have also dipped into their figures occasionally plus the odd terrain purchase. At the show Caliver are the nearest thing to a street general wargames store before they became gaming cafes or just cafes and now just empty buildings!

These cast and painted buildings from Caliver Books have proved their worth in 2020 in my Saxon, Norman, Viking and Roman Britain outings.

Dave Lanchesters books have been a great source of the older Ospreys and I have often picked up Pen & Sword or Helion publications at great prices.

Many of these Ospreys have been bought at Dave’s store at various shows, all sadly missed.

And Dave has some really excellent condition out of print books.

Irregular Miniatures provide simply a vast range of figures and items that is staggering. Always something tempting to buy.

No pic, I hope to have some news in another post in Irregular.

Magister Militum, Westwind/Forged in Battle and Museum Miniatures have been my preferred 15mm suppliers – mainly ancients.

Forged in Battle command pack, detail is excellent.

All their figures have character despite their small size. I owned some 6mm Naploeonics back in the day but never got the bug so 15mm is as small as I go.

Museum Miniatures “Red Guard” drive off some pesky out of production Corvus Belli Cathaginians. Museum Miniatures got me into 15mm.

Funnily enough Peter Pig is another 15mm supplier yet it is his rules I have loved over the years – RFCM (Rules for the Common Man) remain the only other ruleset for pick up games I automatically think of for WW2 outings aside from my house rules based on the venerable Don Featherstone offerings. OK I do own Too Fat Lardies rules which really are the most engaging game rules in my view. However I have to be in the mood to play them!

Peter Pigs Bloody Barons have also found out my interest in the past although the figure scale has been 28mm or even Mike Tittensor’s SOA Bronze Age deriviative that saw 1/72 plastics take the field.

Peter Pig gave excellent pre game rules in their Wars of the Roses ruleset.

S&A Scenics have given me some excellent scenery of the “precise” kind and which give a nice “gamey” feel to a table top.

That clipped grass and trees from S&A Scenics just cries out for some shiney victorian era soldiers
S&A Scenics do offer some nice crossover trees as well

In stark contrast Last Valley offer you trees and hedgerows which do feel very realistic to me. I like both – and yes use both together on occasion!

Last Valley make some nice pieces that often appear in my games.
Many a time this last valley copse has held a unit or some piece of armour

Sally 4th have offered various companies products and I have often bought the Foreground pre coloured laser cut wood kits along with original citadel paints.

The detail on these buildings is so fine it is wasted in the gaming context at 3 feet or 1 metre. Mind you Foregrounds view on chiminies just does not chime with the rest of these exquisite models!

Dice are always in demand even if I don’t need them. The Dice Shop does what it says!

Pendraken Miniatures have also yielded some nice dice and I invariably get my bases from them. Alas their delightful figure ranges are just too small for me.

you can never have too many Pendraken bases in store!

I have a soft spot for 1/72 or small 25mm or large 20mm (take your pick). So Tumbling Dice have supplied some nice Dark Age figures.

Scale has always been a problem – Lamming 1970’s 20/25mm norman/saxons bookend 4 Tumbling Dice 1/72 true scale Saxon/Norman foot command figures

Last but not least are Magnetic Displays although I always remember them as Coritani. I buy their paintbrushes and occasionally paints. While their range of terrain features are always compelling and Renedra plastics have often figured in my purchasing, I always obtain spear reinforcements from Trevor & Paula who I just find are simply the most helpful and engaging of traders.

You always need a store of gabions and versatile bridges! Yes this is very old stock I rediscovered – which means I have too much stuff.

And of course there was the “infamous?” bring & buy scrum alley where pitches were offered on a time restricted basis. I could never make up my mind if it was any better than an ordinary bring and buy, except it crucially saved the wargames club members acting as intermediaries – double handling cash and items.

I managed to make some purchases. I never bought bad due to the selling mechanism so thats a good thing.

Whatever your wargaming activity I hope you are able to support your favorite traders despite the pandemic and the decimation it has caused to so many people in so many ways.

Happy Wargaming.