Monday 30 September 2013

Over and Under the River Wye – an AAR of sorts

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Foy and environs

Baby-sitting duties meant that I was unable to play at the latest Herefordshire Big Game, but I did manage to pop in to say hi, and see how the scenario Giles and I had come up with held up (and take some blurry camera phone shots of the players’ groins).

 

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Strangford Cutting

The action was split between two tables. Table 1 represented the main railway crossing over the Wye at Strangford. The Anglican League had to blow up the bridge, which was being repaired and widened by the dastardly Baron Foy in preparation for an attack on the AL stronghold at Ross-on-Wye. Obviously the Royalist/BUF force had to defend against this.

 

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Foy

Table 2 represented the environs around Foy village, where the Royalist/BUF were tasked with defending against a possible flank attack over the footbridge that connects Foy with the village of Hole-in-the-Wall. The AL had to keep this force occupied and if possible see them off before pouncing upon the Royalists/BUF at the rear at table 1.

 

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Anglicans on the railway bridge

During my research on the area, I came across a reference of a tunnel which under the Wye in antiquity linked Hole-in-the-Wall with a farm just outside Foy – a fact that I had to factor into the scenario! Therefore the AL were given the option of secreting a force in the farm (Giles’ recently purchased and rather stunning pre-painted farm from EM-4) at the Royalist/BUF flank near Foy.

 

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Explosive milk churns on the bridge

By the time I had arrived, the AL had managed to place explosive milk churns on the railway bridge but were suffering from heavy fire from the defenders. I personally witnessed a section of AL militia being run over by two Royalist steam wagons. An Anglo-Welsh platoon of dodgy looking characters was meanwhile advancing along the road to Strangford at the Royalist/BUF flank.

 

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Anglicans at the footbridge

Meanwhile on table 2 an AL cavalry section had valiantly surged over the footbridge, only to be cut down by enemy fire. The rest of that platoon now hung around on the safe side of the river, their tankettes being too large to cross the footbridge. However the Royalist/BUF defenders weren't resting on their laurels for long, as another AL platoon burst out of the tunnel entrance at the farm and advanced on their flank, capturing the BUF armoured car that had been parked there!

 

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Emerging from the tunnel

Eventually the Anglican League managed to blow up the railway bridge and occupy half of Strangford, but only after suffering a severe mauling on table 1. Table 2 saw the AL unable to advance very far with the small amount of support weaponry they could get onto the other side of the river, and a stalemate ensued.

And so the battle ended with the forces of Baron Foy stranded on their fortified island, cut off from the outside world by the destroyed railway bridge and surrounded by battered, but victorious rebels. Both sides must now pause for breath as we consider what happens next – will Foy manage to break out? Will his rival the Interim Governor of the Marches intervene to save him? Will the Anglicans be able to capitalise on their success? How will the population of Herefordshire react to the news?

Full AARs can be found on Rob’s (playing the BUF on table 2) blog here, while Giles’ series of AARs can be found here, here, here, here and here.

 

 

Thursday 26 September 2013

Hedge Fund

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A little more homemade scenery now : some big unkempt hedges - the kind you see whilst driving around the Herefordshire countryside. Tall, thick and full of brambles, these hedges will form an interesting obstacle on my scratchbuilt battlefield.

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These were made from green scouring pads, cut into strips and folded in half. They were then rubbed together to rough them up a bit, glued on to plastic bases with epoxy resin glue (boy that stuff stinks!) and then splattered with PVA.

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They were then sprinkled with my green basing stuff and when dry, sprayed with Halfords matt lacquer to seal it in. This last step was something of an experiment, and unfortunately has caused a frosting effect on the scouring pads (which doesn't show up on my ailing camera). Time will tell if it actually stops the flock from flocking off!

Big Game Prelude - Bashed Bishop!


One of the chaps the Wargames Association of South Pembrokeshire was due to come to Saturday's big game, bringing the Anglican League forces of the Bishop of St. David's through Welsh nationalist territory to the aid of his Herefordian colleague.


Unfortunately real life has intervened, but that didn't stop the guys at Pembroke Dock holding a WTDW? try-out game to see how the Bishop fared in his journey across Wales.An AAR of this bash can be found here - please take a look, it's rather good!

 

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Is Loyalty a Thing of the Past?

Simon 'Ook' Purdue, author of the 'Went the Day Well?' Wargames rules and one of my virtual VBCW chums is currently in a spot of bother.

His local council, despite many years of faithful service on his part, is trying to make him homeless.

Simon is recording his efforts to keep a roof over his head in a blog: namely Is Loyalty a Thing of the Past?

Please take a look and, if you can, give him your support!

 

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Giles' Stiles

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Last week, for my birthday, VBCW gaming chum and fellow big game setter upperer Giles very kindly bought me a pressie during his visit to Colours - namely a bunch of stiles and gates from Warbases.

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As I was out when he dropped them off, I emailed him my thanks, to which he responded: No problem - I have an ulterior motive ! ;-)

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What could this motive be? The mystery was soon cleared up by reading his blog, which recently contains lots of posts about sorting scenery for the Herefordshire Big Game next weekend.

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In other words 'pull your finger out and get these done!'

No problem, for luckily Warbases have made these so that they can be used pretty much from out of the packet. The only slight issue I had with them was that, while the bars were etched on one side, the other side was blank. Five minutes with a pen and a ruler quickly solved this issue and the bars/struts were soon drawn on.

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For the stiles I decided not to use the bases provided, as they were wider than the stiles and would have to be built up with greenery or somesuch, plus I opted to use only one step, as opposed to the two they come with - personally they looked to 'busy' with both steps.

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After glueing the stiles and gates to some strips of thin plastic, I dirtied them up with a bit of drybrushing, added some basing stuff and a couple of signs for a couple of the gates (small squares cut from a used cardboard coffee cup) and there you have it!

I must say I was rather impressed by these little kits, and must check Warbases' products out for myself sometime...

 

 

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Bridge Over The River Wye - Herefordshire Big Game Sept. 2013

The time has come again for another Herefordshire Big Game!

Alas I will be unable to attend this one (though I hope to pop in for a short while), but I have had a hand in designing the scenario.

In order to whet your appetite, I've cut out some more newspaper clippings for your perusal...

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Friday 13 September 2013

Rough Roads

Boring post alert!

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In my continuing drive to save money and scratchbuild my own scenery, I cadged an off-cut of roofing felt from my neighbour and cut it up to make some road sections.

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I drybrushed the roofing felt with grey paint (left over from an old tester pot) and them drybrushed down the middle of each strip with the brown paint I do my bases with (tub courtesy of Giles).

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While the paint was still damp I then rubbed in a little green scatter from my basing pot and will try to seal it on with my trusty Matt varnish spray in the near future.

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The felt didn't go as far as I thought it would, only producing two long strips, a T-junction and a couple of bends, but it'll do for now, and at any rate it's better than the strips of grey felt I hurriedly cut up for the last Brink of Battle skirmishing session I put on!

 

 

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Let's Hear It For The Boys!

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One of the annoying things about playing the 'Went The Day Well?' rules is how difficult it is to deal with armoured vehicles - for example HMG fire is useless against armoured cars, let alone the thinly armoured tanks of the period.

Time then to give some anti tank capability to some of my factions in the form of a Boys anti tank rifle team.

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First off the BUF, built from the Perry Miniatures plastic 8th Army sprue I obtained for my Blackshort artillery.

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Secondly the Anglican League - the Boys rifle team from Musketeer Miniatures, bought second hand.

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Finally the Welsh Nationalists - again bought second hand and I am not sure of the manufacturer (possibly BEF / Warlord?). The kneeling figure has had a head swap, while the prone figure has had his helmet filed into a rough oval shape and had a Greenstuff crest added to make it look more like an Adrian helmet.