More 18th Century Civilians

Some additional Civilians from Bluemoon's F&I set.

 

Setting a few little scene using my fields and two of my previously painted JR Miniature houses.

 

The Manor house with the Squire his lady the amid and wet nurse and child.

The Squire in blue a good color for a country Gent of the 18th century. The ladies orange dress in inspired by a bridesmaid dress Ariana was stuck in at one point.

The maid in a skirt matching the color of the ladies dress, hand me downs were one of the perks of working as a servant. The wet-nurse holds a baby and is accompanied by an older daughter in a simple brown dress (hey the need to hid dirt on kids is as old as dirt)

Apologies for the seeming to double up on the couple with the small home.  The wife is taking a break from cleaning up to see her husband off as he heads in to town.  I was going for comfortable not wealthy with this couple and I think it works. As a side note its clear that someone at Bluemoon likes his ladies busty.

Close up on the Gent carrying his book with in, maybe it has important records or maybe is simply for reading at lunch time.

Father and son off to gather wood dad carries an axe while his boy has a small pile of sticks in his arms.

The farmer at his plow a quintessential agrarian image.  I think I may need to add some spots or something to the Ox.

A young lady scattering seeds or I really like this figure and don't think these photos really capture it. These were the best of many shots. This is a great set of figures if you want to add a little depth to your back battle field. OK at some point these folks would run from the troops they do add some thing to the appearance of the battle field.

Vineyard upgrade and Civilians

So I have had the Battle Front vineyard set for a while and well there is a problem with it, the paint job.

The banding just doesn't look right and that light green is simply to light.  Frankly they look a bit like a caterpillar or something. Well I have been meaning to do something about this for a while and at last I have.

I painted these vineyard in Russian Green and then dry brushed them with yellow green.  You'll also see some civilian figures from Bluemoon that I have been working on.

 I think the end result is far more natural looking.  I might add some wash to these. I kept the paint job below the leaves as is.

 Farmer in a round hat and smock.  This guy is from an 18th century set but he could be a farmer in almost any time period in this out fit.

 Far more 18th century looking in that Jackett and knee britches.

 I really like how this paint job cam out with natural linen for coat and britches, the green really pops by contrast.

Same pose as the guy in Red but more practically dressed for farm work

 A woman working in the field.  I tried to give her "blouse" a calico look by adding small dots of red paint

 another example of a farmer in the same pose this time with a brown scarf and breaches.

A close up of the woman I think the distant picture shows her better but I have included this because its also a close up on the now much improved Vineyard.

Template Armies for Maurice War of Austrian sucession

These are intended for pick up games with players you may not have the rules to build their own armies or who are not familiar enough with the period to feel comfortable with building an army on their own.  I use the War of Austrian Succession as my point in time for these armies so keep that in mind.

Prussian

The two Elite should be infantry, both for historical reasons and to take advantage of the national advantages.

Austrian
 
 The elite should be cavalry in the War of Austrian Succession the Austrian cavalry typically got the better of its Prussian equivalents.  This army will be hard to win with something the Austrian generals also experienced. (the seven years war version is a lot better)

 France




 A cavalry based army the Elite units should probably be one Infantry  and one cavalry though I could not blame a player for taking two cavalry and based on the Guard Infantries performance rating them regular is reasonable from a historic stand point.

Britain





British armies can march and shoot or at least that's what we think of them doing as war gamers. I would say two Elite infantry and one Elite Cavalry is the right balance form a historic stand point. Also make sure the Hessian, Brunswickers and Hanoverians are in your army.  The Irregulars could be highlanders, or more likely German Jagers. The conscript unit could be dutch in the WAS or simply a newly raised regiment from Britain or Germany

Firestorm Armada 1st game

 Tim and I met up at game castle for some Scifi war gaming his Directorate fleet against my Aquan fleet.

Be for we get to that I have finished paintng my frigates done in  back and dark gray color sceam with red highlights these look very much like Peace Keeper ships from Farscape (at least as far as the paint job goes).

 A Cruiser eye view of tehe directorate fleet as the enemy cruisers move forward. I got in a lucky hit on the battle ship on the right (by the planet) using these ships torpedoes. Aquan Torpedoes are deadly as they can fire though any arc up to 32 inches. 

 My Frigates maneuver though an astaroid field we took a hit on one ship doing this.

 War Moya opens fire on the Directorate battle ship scoring a few hits.

Tim will not let that go unanswered.

As Moya is hit in her turn fortunatly my shield limited some of the damage.

 But Tim's Cruisers and Frigates have crossed my T and inflict more damage it will all come down to the next imitative roll

 Which I win and Moya plows into the enemy formation firing starboard broad sides at the enemy battleship and destroying it. I front arch guns hit the cruiser on the right destroying it and my port broad side gets a lucky critical on the cruiser on the left causing it to explode doing damage to the frigates around it.

 Tim is not please with my good luck and I cannot blame him.

 I fully expect to see Moya go up but Tim has bad luck with the dice he does kill my frigates and then turn on my cruisers killing two of them. Then I finish off his last cruiser and two frigates and we decide to call it a game.

Historic games were not absent last night Rob commanding the Red Army punched through Teds US army tank force in a game of Cold War commander.

18th Century Wars Recomended Reading List (Part 1)

too keep this from being a complete wall of text here is an updated pictures of my Hobby nook.

Duffy, Christopher: Military Experience in the Age of Reason.  If you can only read one book on this subject this is the one to read. it touches on every subject of importance, Tactics, equipment, logistics, personal and leadership.

Duffy, Christopher: Friedrick the Great a Military Life an excellent military biography of one of the centuries most influential generals and kings. If you can also read Duffy's books on the Prussian and Austrian Armies.

Duffy, Christopher: Fire and Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660-1860 Battles are not the only aspect of war in the 18th Century often Sieges were as or more important. 

OK before you think I am getting Paid by the Duffy fellow... (he can make me an offer if he likes)

Browning, Reed: The War of the Austrian Succession This is without question the definitive English language work on this War.  Browning captures the scope of the war and you can really see the competing grand strategies of the waring powers. Battle descriptions are a bit spare unfortunately but its a great book to get you thinking about a campaign rather than an battle. 

Lynn, John: The Wars of Louis XIV  Give a good perspective on the early wars of late 17th and early 18th century. The section on the War of the Spanish Succession provides a good counter point to the Anglo-centric coverage of this war.

Chandler, David: Warfare in the Age of Marlboro   An excellent look at war in the early 18th century. While somewhat Anglo centric it provides a good place to start with understanding the composition of armies in this period.  

Wilson, Peter H. German Armies War and German Politics 1648 to 1806  A must read for the image-Nation crowed and the pure historical gamer a like. The book covers the little aremies of the Holy Roman Empire.  No details on uniforms but a lot of details about numbers of troops, organization and how a decentralized group of states tries to organize collective defense.  It show the Reich as a living political organism not a doomed and dead feudal hold over as its detractors would classify it. 

Simms, Brendan, Three Victories and a defeat: The rise and fall of the first British Empire  A very large and involved book but one that sheds a lot of light on the continental side of British politics.  While I don't fully agree with the author on all points he fully demonstrates how Britain viewed itself as a European Nation and was deeply concerned with the balance of power in Europe. 

Dull, Jonathan R. The French Navy and the Seven Years War One of the best single volume histories of the seven years war available in English.  Dull does a great job of showing the connection between European and colonial conflict and how one supported the other for both France and Britain.  Dull also partly redeems Louis XV who is so often maligned by historians. 

City Block

I have a good collection of houses that work well as a rural village but I wanted some more urban looking buildings so I got these JR Miniature pieces from Noble Knight.

 These are all from the Italian collection.  They also work for French I think, especially southern French. They would not look terribly out of place in northern Europe.

 As I look at the colors they bring beach houses to mind though I think that impression is more the case when they are alone then when viewed together. This is a three story building possibly a small hotel or apartment building. 

 The silver gray color really works nicely for houses and makes the trim stand out.

 Slant roof house "front"

 Slant roof house "back"

 I had mixed feelings about this one but on more consideration it may be my favorite of the group.

 I have started building some bases to work with these houses.  I am not sure what I will do with the center area.  I feel like a fountain or stature should be there.

 Some alternative basing I want to get some more of these too bad JR miniatures buildings are already getting scarce.

Double wide template (Plug for a friend)

OK so some folks have asked me about this lovely gaming piece made by AJ of AJ Wargaming

I have tld people in the past to contact AJ directly but he has told me recently he would prefer to have people contact Gordon at Adler Hobby Gordon apparently has these in stock and ready to go. He is happy to take orders by phone or though the web/email. These are a nice alternative to Battle fronts product which are too dark and hard to see through for my taste.

Early War at the Whiz

Jerry is still getting ready for a the early war tournament at Adapticon so I brought my Mittler Panzer company from Hellfire and Back to provide opposition to his French armored company.

 We were playing encounter so I had my Panzer IV(D)s on the board and my Kradschutzen the first time I have been able to sue them.  .

 I took advantage of the recon move to advance into the town.  The numbers did not favor me but I figured they could only get worse.  Jerry also advanced into the village with is deadly Somua tanks.

 My Panzer IVs got one hit killing the most advanced french tank.

 My Motorcycle MG troops tried to pin the French infantry but failed and got cut down by the counter fire the next turn.

 Jerry advanced on the objective and I had no choice but  bring my men in for a close rang Melee.

 Jerry got the first of his reserves looks like the are advancing at dawn here. They Double timed it to get within two moves of my other objective.

 To may matters worse Jerry got another platoon of Hochtkiss tanks advancing up through the village.

 While my platoon of Panzer IVs shot up Jerry's Somua my HQ moved back to cover the objective and got on bail and a kill on the double timing Hotchkiss tanks.

 Jerry go on the objective by I got my Lietch Panzer platoon on his flank and between there fire and that of the HQ Tanks I broke that platoon.

 Finally the Somua are down but more French tanks are closing in.

Jerry got his artillery in play for the second time but I got off lucky avoiding any hits.

My Panzer IV platoon won a multiple turn shoot out at close range with three platoons for French tanks two Hotchkiss platoons and a Somua platoon.  Jerry got a number of hits and had at least one tank bailed for most of the game.  Suddenly Jerry's Company was below half strength and his CO as dead giving me  the win. The event snuck up on both of us.  In a tournament I would have won 5-2 and we had a good 15 minutes left on Jerry's tournament timer.