2016 in Review

Happy New Year! 2016 started out pretty strong in the hobby but some unexpected changes occurred in mid-September that ground my war to a virtual halt. My painting numbers more than tripled from 2015 but the amount of battles fought dropped to less than half of that year.

I don't expect a big hobby rebound in 2017 but will aim for a steady progression of my war effort.I am still feeling a strong pull to microscales and may begin to push further in that direction.

2016 Painting

3mm: 220

6mm: 7

10mm:

15mm: 3
1/72: 14

25mm: 4
54mm: 1

Terrain/Acc: 7

Total: 256

 2016 Battles

Ancients: 1

Risk: 1

Colonial: 3

Fantasy: 5

World War II: 4

Total: 14

3mm Royal Marines Light Infantry Regiment

Here is the RMLI Regiment which together with a battery or two will serve as the Naval Brigade to my colonial forces.

More 3mm ACW Union Army Regiments

This weekend I painted up 76 3mm models. One Union Infantry Regiment and one Zouave Regiment. It's hard to make out but I painted the regulars with light blue trousers this time around. The Zouaves have red pants, blue coats and red caps. Please note the flags. Next time I will experiment with taking pictures of each regiment separately.

More 3mm Colonial Sudan War Elements

Yesterday I painted up another British infantry regiment and another Madhi warband. This time I gave the British red coats. I really like how they came out. The temptation to go with red from here out will be strong, especially since these soldiers will one day serve the Queen on Mars.

First 3mm Mahdists Warband Unit

Along with the British soldiers from my previous post I also painted up these ruffians.

 I hope you can see the green Mahdi flag with the white circle near the center.

These fuzzy's are led by the chieftan with the red turban and sword.

First 3mm Colonial British Units

Forced myself to sit down paint tonight and I am glad I did. While painting I listened and occasionally watched a documentary on the Yom-Kippur War. I painted 34 soldiers total with the mounted officers counting as one each. I am happy with the result.

 

I painted the British with khaki uniforms. I will use red for the next regiment to see which I prefer. I don't mind using red or khaki as these troops will see multiple actions.

Note the officers. Aren't they splendid. A gentleman should look smart in front of the men. Wouldn't you agree? Yes I love ZULU!

Note the white equipment belts and satchels.

3mm Union Army - First Regiments

Sunday night I painted up an infantry regiment and artillery battery for my 3mm Union Army, Irish Brigade. I used a blue spray primer from Army Painter and based the models on cut vinyl floor tile 50mm x 40mm. Tonight I sat down to paint and flock the bases. I am not overly happy with how they turned out. The flock/paint had trouble adhering to the base. I've not encountered this before. Perhaps next time I should use a glue/paint mixture. Also it seems using the blue primer was a mistake. I think and others have posted that for this scale priming in black handles your highlighting.For now though they stand ready to serve their adopted country. The next regiment I paint will be primed black.

First 3mm Models for Colonial British Brigade/Division

Micro-scale wargaming continues to draw me in. Here are the first units for a British Colonial Army Brigade. Like the 3mm ACW regiment in my previous post these models too will see double service. On Earth and Mars. These particular models are WW1 French Infantry & WW2 Polish Cavalry. These models too will be primed and painted up either Saturday or Sunday evening. These soldiers are based on a 40mm x 30mm base.

First 3mm Regiment for the American Civil War

These models are from a sample pack of O8 minis from PicoArmor. I have several models left over but there were enough models in the pack to make this regiment. Either Saturday night or Sunday evening I will prime the models and paint them up as a Union regiment. This regiment will also see service in a fictitious campaign "Clockwork Civil War" inspired by Ken van Pelt's game that I played in at Recruits several years ago.

I have another sample pack I bought last year but have misplaced it. I am very happy with how the models turned out on the base, which by the way is 50mm frontage with a 40mm depth. My next order from PicoArmor I will try to include some more civil war models.

Reinforements from PicoArmor

The picture didn't turn out very well but here are my latest 3mm purchases from PicoArmor. These models will serve as both colonial warfare and steampunk forces. There is however one pack alone that will solely be used for historical American Civil War battles and Steampunk Clockwork Civil War battles. I am looking forward to basing and painting them up. I find as time goes on that I am more and more drawn to micro-scale wargaming.

I was inspired by the 2mm Colonial models over on Paul James' Steel On Sand blog and by Ken Van Pelt's 5mm Clockwork Armies on his Penny Whistle blog. Which if you check my history here you will see I've actually commanded his models in battle.

Isandlwa Terrain Tiles

I changed up the Isandlwana battlefield board into 1' square terrain tiles. I will post more pictures of them after they're done.

5 New Terrain Tiles

I've been stocking up on 1' square foam tiles from Hobby Lobby. This weekend I had the opportunity to craft 5 of them out. The roads didn't quite come out the way I had pictured in my mind but I still like them. My goal is to have an assortment to mix and match for a battlefield. More to come...

54mm Confederate Artillery Colonel

I sat down to paint tonight for the first time in 4 months. I bought a bag of plastic soldiers at a thrift shop and this 54mm plastic ACW soldier was part of the mix. So I decided to paint him up as an artillery colonel. I will have to re-hone my painting skills.

First Game of RISK

Today I played the classic boardgame RISK for the first time. It was a blast! My son, a RISK strategist, came to visit me for Father's Day. We setup with him taking gray and I took red. Divided up the globe between us and a green neutral.

Then the mayhem commenced. He focused his early attacks on Australia and Asia. I already controlled most of Europe so I set about to conquer Africa and South America. Within a few turns both continents were under RED control. He took Australia and almost completed a sweep of Asia but we (the royal we) couldn't allow that. So I ordered the RED General Staff to take the Middle East. We did, and we lost it the next go. However we quickly took it back and promptly lost it again. This seesaw in the Middle East began to look like Armageddon. Eventually RED triumphed as was our destiny and we finished that by sweeping up the rest of Europe. After that the frontlines of the war switched to the new world in North America.

Finally with the world painted RED with only Japan and Australia left to him, Lord Gray surrendered. He was allowed to swear fealty as our vassal and awarded Australia as his dominion to provide for his income and oathbound to provide military arms to assist the RED Crown when called upon.

It was at this time that I knew we had lost the war, Alexsandr Gevs, Gray General.

Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Kafrudum - British Army Suffers Horrible Loss

What a beautiful day today. I wanted to go for a ride on my goldwing but I had to watch my granddaughter this morning. So while she frolicked and played in the backyard I set up a small scale colonial battle on the patio. 

For this battle I used One Hour Wargame rules modified as I deem the Anglo-Zulu War should go. I gave the Zulus a +2 in melee combat. The British +2 in shooting but a 0 in melee. I reduced the hits a unit can suffer from 15 to 10. I use white beads to indicate single hits and a red bead to indicate 5 hits. I used movement in base depth vice inches or paces. Also I wanted to adhere to my wargaming advise that I have posted on the left side of the blog so the armies are based on 1" squares and are small. However in my mind there were 3 Zulu regiments vs. a British column under a colonel; in this case Colonel Reynauld Chester Higginsworth. 

The hill of Kafrudum with it's Zulu Kraal on top.

Colonel Higginsworth's plan was to use his artillery to either force the Zulus out of their kraal or soften them up enough for his cavalry troop under Captain Wortheall to capture the hill.

The artillery bombards the kraal.

The artillery battery continues to pound the hill.

Two Zulu regiments swiftly close the gap on the red line.

British rifle & maxim fire inflict severe losses on the Zulu.

Finally hitting the British line the Zulu regiments make quick work of their enemy. 

A bugle cry brings the cavalry back around but can they make it in time?

One lone British unit withstood attacks from their front
and rear long enough to destroy their frontal enemy contact.
 They received the Victoria Cross posthumously. 

Seeing that all hope is lost Captain Wortheall and his men flee the field.

Overall I am satisfied with how fast the battle played. I like the suspense/thrill of watching the hits mount up on each unit. Though small in appearance this was the largest battle of OHW I have fought so far with 16 units (British 6, Zulus 10) on the battlefield. I'm firmly in the camp of OHW now. These are the best ease of use rules for a solo-wargamer that I've encountered thus far. The bases were bare because I'm not sure if I will continue with the 1" basing or move to a larger base to allow diorama style basing. Cheers from Northwest Arkansas.