Good old fashioned model making...

A couple of weeks ago I blogged on the fantastic model galleon that my Father had built (the Golden Hind). Here are a few more of my Father's models, all constructed from plans that came with his magazine subscription 'Hobbies Weekly'.

The first is a lighthouse table lamp stand. The bulb sits in the top (exactly where you'd expect the light to be in a light house I guess). The ocean waves were formed using modeling putty, then hand painted.

This next model is of a small church.

 The roof lifted up to reveal a spray on velvet coated box for storing trinkets of various kinds, the opening of which would start a music box hidden beneath the box. This was very much a 'style of the day'. I recall as a child being enthralled by the plastic bottle 'puffer' used to apply the fine velvet over a surface of wet glue. Fascinating what captures our imaginations and cements into our memory from our childhood.

The detailing was interesting, the stained glass windows were hand painted on heavy 'cellophane', while the climbing plants were shaped using modeling putty (it was called DAP as I recall), and then painted.

Finally is this 'Swiss Chalet', again a music box activated when the roof is lifted back. The music boxes are clockwork mechanical movements, wound up to play.

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"Fusiliers"

I've just finished reading 'Fusiliers' by Mark Urban (Faber and faber, 2007). Subtitled 'How the British army lost America but learned how to fight', this is an account of the American War of Independence written from many previously unpublished primary sources, focussed mainly (but not exclusively) on the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Urban manages to write a well paced and engaging piece of history, developing within it the story of the revolution in British tactics that developed on the North American continent, and the subsequent battle to have these adopted by the British Army in the early days of the French revolutionary wars.

His chronicling of Cornwallis' campaign through the southern states, and his accounts of the battles in which the protagonists engaged (Camden and Guildford Courthouse stand out), are engaging and memorable.

Most profound for me is his account in his last two chapters of the regression of British tactics in the 1890s  (as the Duke of York pushed the emulation of the Prussian linear tactics that he saw on show at the 1785 Prussian maneuvers) and the work of Calvert and Cornwallis to re-introduce the 'light infantry' tactics that Cornwallis had developed with the British Army in North America 25 years before, with line infantry fighting in 2 ranks, with larger spaces between files, and dedicated light infantry.

The book is compelling reading, and ought to be on the reading list of any 'gamer (or scholar for that matter) with an interest in 18th and 19th century warfare.

Here is the Independent's review of the book.

The VSF army expands...

I blogged a wee while ago about the Privateer Press Warmachine range, having seen some of their figures in a 'Warmachine' game. Now I haven't played Warmachine, but their range looked to be exactly what I was after for use as a Victorian Steam Powered robot for my VSF army.

So I recently bought a Cygnar Heavy Warjack to use as a Behemoth in the VSF HotT army, and here it is. I've used a bronze colour to promote that baroque feel, and red to tie the figure in to the rest of the British theme ("the sun never sets" etc).


I think I'm going to have fun with this army. Big question now is what to use as mechanical steeds. Or maybe a couple of HaT Gardner guns as artillery? Or.. hmmm

A HotT Winter's day 2010

I recently promulgated a possible date for 'A HotT Winter's Day 2010', our mid winter HotT tournament. I've had no correspondence to the contrary, and no indication of any tournaments that will clash, so... 

'A HotT Winter's Day 2010' will be held on Sunday 4 July, Woolston Club, Christchurch. I'll post more details soon, so mark your calendar and get ready to battle with the Gods themselves for the 'Emperor Dragon' Trophy. IN the meantime I'll continue working on those British VSF boys.. they should look good!!

Tip and Run

I bought this book just after Christmas, and finished reading it a few weeks ago. 'Tip and Run' is Edward Paice's account of the Great war in East Africa between 1914 and 1918.

The account is well written, and filled with fascinating detail. Two understandings that it generated for me were:

1. The war stood or fell on the basis of the Africans who were most often conscripted as porters carrying the essential supplies without which the war could not have been fought. The death rate amongst porters was horrific, for porters working for both sides.

2. This was not the 'gentleman's war' that it has for so long been portrayed. German and allied commanders were equally ruthless in the exploitation of the African population.

3. From 1916 the war was one of hide and seek as German forces moved around the continent, pursued by allied forces.

The book offers little for Great War Spearhead war gamers, as the scale of the actions was generally too small. Major actions involved battalions and brigades at most.

This is  a well written and engaging book, well worth the money and the time.

A little progress on the VSF HotT

I bought a box of figures for the planned Victorian Science Fiction HotT army probably about two years ago ... yes, I have the same disease that most other 'gamers have: plans far bigger than the time available. I finally started on a few of them a few weeks ago: figures for a stand of Blade (charging with bayonet) and three stands of shooters. Here is the result. These will form the core of the army. I am still contemplating what else, and how to construct it. 

Thoughts: 

1. Riders on bicycles, or unicycles, or mechanical steads. 

2. Airboats: dirigibles.

3. Behemoths: team tanks.

4. Artillery.

This army will be different from the other five in that I had planned it to be shooter heavy. I'm always fascinated by how plans change from conception to reality.

Keep watching. In the meantime, here are the first units.

HotT Magic ....

Time for another HotT game, this time the Undead necromancers and their undead hordes are attacking the peoples of the Lost Worlds.

The Necromancers raise their Undead minions: shooters and blades (a veritable swag of grim reapers).

The Undead advance against the Lost Worlds warriors,

The Lost Worlds forces advance to attack the Undead left, but the shooters soon show the beasts of the Lost Worlds who's who, with a shot at 6 vs 1 .. aha, only one outcome there - ouch!!

The Lost Worlds stronghold, the prize that the Undead Hordes seek.

Without their beasts in support, the LWs warband are looking a little less sold than they did.

Magic bolts arc through the air, energy crackling as magic bolts flash between the two armies.

The Undead sneaker Vampiress awaits the opportunity to emerge from behind the skeleton legions.

Once more magic bolts crackle across the Battlefield, and a LW flyer plummets to the ground .. yes, DEAD!!

Meanwhile the LWs own magician begins to make his own presence felt.

The Undead Hero disappears in a puff of magic and smoke, ensorcelled (on a 1 to 6, about the only bright spot in the entire game for the poor LWs army). We realise that you don't mark the position of ensorcelled Heros with a marker, but the photo opportunity seemed to good to miss, especially since I had only recently found the frog.

Finally the LWs' great Ape God appears, but it's already too late, the day is lost. The heart has been ripped from the Lost Worlds army, their warriors now joining the legions of the Undead, as the Necromancers weave their magic on the still warm corpses that litter the battlefield.

This was another great game with the deceptively simple HotT fantasy rules. We really must try some Big Battle HotT for even more HotT goodness.