Boothill Miniatures Mexicans

Ouch, It has been over two months now and finally I found the energy for another post. I returned from Salute with bags full of superb figures and many great ideas but somehow the whole thing lost me. Probably an overkill and I needed to recharge the battery...So I switched off the computer and cleaned the desk from all paints and miniatures. 
Anyway, I'm being more and more inspired lately. Played a great Carlist game last week (report soon) and in two weeks time I'm hosting a mini SAGA tournament. Also managed to get a couple of painting sessions last week.

These 28mm Mexicans are from Boothill Miniatures and IMO fantastic sculps. Great quality and easy to paint. Did a minor conversion replacing the musket for a standard on the now standard bearer.

Added a Mexican Gallery with some more pictures for the Alamo fans.

Salute and two new periods

Yes! it's that time of the year again. Next friday we drive off to London for our yearly visit to Salute. I think it's the13th time I go. Always with the same two good friends Jacco and Rob, always the same simple schedule. Friday we get lost in a bar in London, Saturday we get lost at the traders stands at Salute and have few drinks at the Fox after. At that stage we are starting to realize what we bought and forgot to buy and things settle in. Time to recover and go for good food. Sunday morning we drive back and have breakfast at the same old road restaurant which name I alway forget. It's terrible but..it's tradition...
The only thing that is subject to change over these years is the Hotel. We can't get any closer than we are this year so that saves me some footsteps carrying stuff back to the Hotel during the day.

I will also be attending (if I'm not buying myself in another period at the time) and say hello to the rejects and fellow bloggers at around one o' clock. Details are here. I'm not sure if the Dutch chapter looks that smart though.

On to the new beginnings...

First on the list is a skirmish Mexican army. I've had an eye on these great miniatures from Boot Hill Miniatures for a while but with the group now moving to Mexico finally an opportunity to buy and paint them. I will collect a bunch of them @Salute but in the meantime I could paint the figures I already owned. I figured you can't get enough Mexican commanders. Not based yet as I'm not sure if I will use them in Vignettes or add some other characters to the base. I look forward to paint more of these. These are great, great sculpts.

Second one is an Early French army. I wanted to do this for ages but finally had the courage to buy the minis and make the master plan. I will start with 4 to 5 generic battalions (Marc, you do 2 as well:) who will serve as a base covering the late revolutionary period until 1806. I only need to make sure I can change the flags on the unit. Artillery is covered and I only need to find some suitable cavalry figures. With the base done I will expand to Egypt and other specific theatres. This will keep me busy for years to come presumably but the good news is I'm not in a hurry..

Last week I did some test figures and figured out the paints and tried every shortcut I could think of. I settled for this look (only need some more dirt) which I can do pretty quick for my doings. Now I need hundreds. Wish me luck.
Figures by Eureka, fantastic range and unmatched quality.

First games of SAGA

OK, i believe the hype now...
Last week Rene (his report is here) visited and we played two bloody games of SAGA . We picked the first scenario and settled for 4 points each to get familiar with the rules.
We kept thing very simple for these games so I played a Viking war band with Warlord, 2 groups of Hearthguard, 1 group of Warriors and my favorite unit of Berserkers. Rene brought his Anglo Danish with Warlord, 2 Hearthguard and 2 Warriors.

The clashing Warlords:

The two games were very close with a win for both. It passed the most important and maybe only test from turn on going forward: having fun. It's not a wargame as I know it and at times it felt we were playing a board game with miniatures. That's just fine. I's a game and a very clever one.

You immediately notice the difference in the factions and the possibilities on the different battleboards provided with the rules.  In no time you start to plan your cunning tactics to find out the dice gods are betraying you or your opponent was just a step ahead of you.  Getting an Anglo Danish Warlord out of action for example is no simple task. He is so resilient the second game he survived 3 ferocious attacks by clever use of the Battleboard, sacrificing Hearthguard and defensive play. Until the Berserkers got their chance and finished it with a combined attack with the Warlord. No time for a nap in this game, you need to be aware and plan your actions continuously.

It's all over now for the poor guy... Berserkers!!!

The other thing I liked about the rules is that they are easy to learn and well explained. We both had read the book once but during the game we only had to pick up the rules in the beginning to find out we did the right thing. No rule discussion during the day and after the games we did not have any open rules questions which is remarkable for me.

The first scenario is good to learn the game but I'm eager to play the other scenarios and get more points on the table. I was bit worried once you know your battle board well enough it becomes much of the same but I'm sure the scenarios, using more points, unit composition and bad dice rolling will prove me wrong. I'm really trying to find anything I disliked but apart from the fact that from the 4 different battle boards they sent me 2 of the same, wich leaves me without a Norman board, I have nothing to complain. Game deserves a good review..

SAGA will be a great addition for our group. Easy quick setup, not 100's minis to paint to get involved, colourful period and games can be played and finished in an evening. I know the others here will like it as well and maybe this will be something for a campaign later on. I've been following the excellent blogs of
Dalauppror and Lokis Great Hall and they have some great campaign material for inspiration.

Some pictures, I've uploaded all pictures of the day here

Battle for Pohlman Hill

I've been a bit quit recently, lost the painting motivation but doing research for the next proper army I'm about to start. More detail on that later but I'm about to make an attempt to built a 1800-1806 French army after I finish some Mexican/American skirmish units.

Anyway, we had a good ACW game recently using Guns at Gettysburg. We decided a while ago that for every game someone of the group would create a scenario and be the game master for the day. I must say this is really paying off adding a lot of fun and making the games much more interesting (as the discussions before and after). And if you wonder, couple of years  ago we usually showed up, looked at the troops we brought, put everything on the table and played a couple of turns before we packed and went for refreshments.
We are getting better at this each game and my thinking is that preparation is key for an interesting game.

This time it's Jacco's (Jake) show. The following is the information I got after the game. Before I only received my OOB and some background for the day. He created the map in Powerpoint.

POHLMAN HILL

March 10 1863

Background

In a period of relative inactivity following the Battle of Stones River, a reinforced Union infantry division, under General James S. Wadsworth reconnoiter south toward Columbia. Four miles from Pohlman Hill, Coburn attacked with his right wing, a Confederate divison under General John Bell Hood; he was repelled. Then, General John Bell Hood seized the initiative.

Mission

The winner is the side that has possession of Pohlman Hill.

Deployment

Union: deploy 5 US Battery D and Vincent’s brigade anywhere within three inches of the western short edge of the table.

Reinforcements are diced for at the end of the to arrive in the move phase of the following at the western short edge of the table.

Brigade	2D6
Meredith (with Wadsworth)	2-5
Robinson	6-7
Ward	8-10
Stewart	11-12

Confederate: deploy the 15^th Arkansas Volunteers anywhere on Pohlman Hill. The rest of Wofford’s brigade anywhere within 3 inches of the eastern short edge of the table. Reinforcements are diced for at the end of the to arrive in in the move phase of the following at the eastern short edge of the table.

Brigade	2D6
Anderson (with Hood)	2-5
Benning & Henry	6-7
Hampton	8-10
Perry & Haskell	11-12

On the 6^th turn all reinforcements that are still of table will arrive in the move phase.

Terrain

The hill lightly wooded and the hill does not otherwise impede movement. The Creek can be forded at any point on a throw of 4+ (D6)

As said it was good fun and in the end the Rebels could secure the hill helped by the terrain and better artillery positioning (canister works:). I only took some pictures at the start and near the end of the game unfortunately. We never learn.

GameMaster Jake (who also played Union)is  looking to see if he can change the scenario to secure a blue win.

Battle for the light woods

Reb cav about to charge and get slaughtered

Rebs taking the south flank

Pohlman Hill secured

Jakes freshly painted Brigade

All the pictures of the day: link

SAGA extras, baggage train and fatigue markers

Painted this baggage cart for SAGA's escort scenario which requires three bases of baggage or anything that deserves to be protected. Enough finished so it's time to get a couple of games and depending on how much fun we have I will do some more points or another Warband. First game end of the Month where I will be trashing Rene from Paint-In.

Models from Gripping Beast with the except for the Viking dragging the poor woman with him. I gave the celebrating drunk a small treasure chest I found in the lead mountain.

Fatigue Markers, with decals from Little Big Men Studios

Experiment with a different background, easy to do once you know the trick but I'm not sure I like it?

Vikings for SAGA point 6: Archers

Not overexcited with the idea of having to paint the archers I got the job done. While I have collected hundreds of Vikings over the years I had a hard time finding twelve archers I could use. This is a mix of 5 manufacturers and I ended up doing a very simple conversion on a Foundry Bondi figure giving him bow, arrow and a quiver to get to twelve.

Warband is done now and I'm currently painting a baggage train for one of the scenarios. At least one game of SAGA and an ACW battle this Month and I'm looking forward to that. Last week we had a WWI game using Mud & Blood which was great but unfortunately the pictures are unusable.

In the meantime the group decided to start yet another project so I'm currently in research mode for figs and history. This time we found another nice niche: Mexican American War in 28mm. We are fully aware of some great 18mm and 40mm ranges out there but because we have a lot of  unused scenery in 28 we decided to use what we have and stay with 28mm. We will use So Far From God by TooFatLardies as our ruleset for the period. Now let me see if I can find some cool figures I can use...

Viking Gallery

Vikings for SAGA point 5: More hirdmen

Another group of Hirdmen, this time led by a retired Berserker who likes his parties. I guess his well fed belly more than makes up for the extra armour point he gets leading these guys.
The Hirdmen are from Crusader, retired berserker from the Foundry Viking range. Shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios.

I've created a gallery with all Vikings here...