Tiger 1E Normandy 1944

Now then,

Here is another of the big cats that operated in Normandy. This time its a Tiger 1E.

And here are both the Tigers together.

Thanks for looking!
Steve

An update!

Now then,

Its been a while since i updated my blog, however I have been very busy painting and gaming!

So whats new?

WW2

I have finished off my first 1000 points for my late war German list for Flames of War.

Here is a few pics of what ive been doing.

 This was my first game of FOW for years, German Grenadiers vs the 51st highland division in Normandy 1944.

I think the Brits won quite convincingly!

More terrain needed to hide behind!

Also for my WW2 FOW stuff I went back to the mid war period in Russia and added a lorried Pz Grenadier platoon for my SS forces.

And for another option I have added an armoured car patrol, with a 223 command variant and 2x 222's.

Lion Rampant in 15mm

I have started a new (very small) project, the wars of the roses in 15mm for the skirmish game lion Rampant, nice and quick and only costing a few quid.

Here's what ive got done so far -

Viscount Lovell and his band of retainers.

Miniatures are peter Pig

 Lord Dacre of the South, and his retainers.

To the Strongest

I have been playing to the strongest a fair bit as well, its such a fun, easy game to play. No brain ache.. Which can only be good!

Heres a few dodgy pics of my last game using 6mm WOTR, on a small gaming board. It worked really well, however I must replace all the little beads with proper ammo markers and victory medals/coins etc....

Anyway, thats about it for now, Ill try a bit harder to keep the blog updated in future...

Cheers,
Steve

The Wars of the Roses in 6mm. Hail Caesar

Now then,

Life has been busy recently, hobby time has been pretty good though, although I havent been blogging much....

I decided a while ago now that I wasn't particularly happy with how my 6mm WOTR was organised. The base size was (is) ok, but having separate retinue bills and MAA stands charging about the place like highly trained Roman cohorts just seemed wrong.

The vast majority of troops in the WOTR would have had very limited training, and certainly wouldn't have been capable of anything more complex than forming a battle line and moving forward with their fellows. Strong leadership was essential when leading the troops of the period, I believe that is why the great lords and nobles, even the kings themselves dismounted on fought on foot, often in the front rank. There were no real great commanders, but a great many outstanding leaders, who led from the front.


So, I have changed the composition of my Fighting bases. No longer do I have stands of bills and separate stands of knights and men at arms in full plate armour. Now they are mixed together on the same stand, the more heavily armoured chaps to the front, and around the standard. The retinue bills making up the numbers and filling the rear ranks.

An example retinue, 1 base of fighting troops, and 1 base of longbowmen.


So, to play Hail Caesar, I have decided on a 6 base standard sized unit. Made up of 3 retinues, the senior noble in the centre, and hence the leader model ( for rules purposes). Fighting bases to the front and the rear bases are longbowmen.

Small units are 2 bases wide. Id normally reserve this for small cavalry units, but occasionally smaller retinue units and possibly levies.

the small cavalry units will only be 1 base deep though!

Tiny units will be just a single base, maybe foragers and the like....

large units will be 5 bases wide, 2 deep (10 bases)

So now that im happy with how im going to go forward with this army, I thought a few games would be in order!

Game 1

Blore Heath (sort of...ish...)

The armies face off. (there should be a river, and the yorkists should be protected by a line of stakes and a ditch!. I didnt want to over complicate our first game so left them off).

 I did however fortify the Yorkist flanks.

The Yorkist camp, complete with wagon laager and fortifications, guarded by some cannon.

 The Lancastrian forces, with the cavalry to the front ready to charge in and cause havoc!

Behind the cavalry come the masses of levies!

Here is a view along the Lancastrian lines.

Hopefully you can see the 6 stand blocks, and the 2 stand (small) cavalry units.

The Yorkists await the onslaught! Longbows at the ready.

A good learning game.

the cavalry (knights) proved to be far to rock hard and easily smashed through the Yorkist lines. 1 small unit managed to rout 2 retinue foot units in a single turn!

The Yorkists were doomed, due to a lack of good command rolls and poor shooting.


Good game though and fun was had.





Game 2

Battle of Catterick heath...

No report as such, but here are a few pics of the carnage!

 Lancastrian forces advance into a hail of arrows and cannon balls!

The Yorkist "battle" under the earl of Salisbury hold their ground and fill the sky with arrows.

 Both sides start to take casualties.

 The Yorkists maintain a solid battleline, all the while pouring on the bow and cannon fire.

Some Lancastrians are driven back by the constant hail of arrows.

The Yorkists dont have it all their own way though, Lancastrian cannon line up their victims!

Massed levy spearmen about to get the good news!

When the lines finally meet, there is much slaughter, after a prolonged combat, both armies are fought to a standstill, but with the Lancastrian army breaking, the Yorkists are in no fit state to pursue.


A bloody day indeed.

A great game, We had 4 players, each commanding their own "battle", the cavalry formed a separate command and could only be activated after an enemy command had been routed! (An attempt to show the nobles bringing up their horses and pursuing!)

Meanwhile, whilst battle raged in the dining room....... the fembots have their own hobby.......

 Thanks for looking,
Steve

Wars of the Roses Livery colours.

Now then,




Here is a list of livery colours for the Wars of the Roses that has been knocking about on the internet for a few years now. Its not by me, but is very useful so I have copied it here.






Edward Neville, Lord Abergavenny [d.1476] – green and white

William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel [d.1487] – red and white

John Touchet, Lord Audley [d.1490] – yellow and red

John, Viscount Beaumont [d.1460] – white

William, 7th Lord Berkeley [active until at least 1483] – red

John Bouchier, Lord Berners [d.1474] – yellow and green

Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham [d.1460] – black and red (also Henry Stafford d. of Buckingham, d.1483).

Sir Thomas Burgh/Borough of Gainsborough [d.1496] – blue

George, Duke of Clarence [d.1478] – murrey and blue

Thomas, Lord Clifford [d.1455] – white

Brooke, Lord Cobham [Edward d. 1464, John d. 1515] – black and red

Sir Marmaduke Constable [d. 1518] – red

Sir John Conyers [d.1490?] – white

Sir Richard Croft [d.1509] – white and blue

Randolf/Ranulph Lord Dacre of Gilsland [d.1461] – four stripes barry yellow and blue

Sir Richard Fiennes, Lord Dacre of the South [d.1483] – white

Thomas Courtney, Earl of Devon [1st, d.1458, 2nd d.1461] – red

Digby family – blue

Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset [d.1501] – white and dark red [murrey] (also known as 3rd Lord Grey, 8th Lord Ferrers, Earl of Huntingdon in 1471, Marquis of Dorset in 1475)

Edward, Earl of March/Edward IV [d.1483] – murrey and blue

Edward, Prince of Wales [d.1471] – red and black

Henry Bouchier, Earl of Essex [1st d.1483, 2nd d.1529] – black and green

Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter [d.1475] – white and red

William Neville, Lord Fauconberg, Earl of Kent [d.1463] – white and blue

Walter Devereaux, 7th Baron Ferrers [d.1485] – white and red

Sir Edward Grey, 2nd Lord Grey, 7th Lord Ferrers of Groby [d.1461] – green

Sir John Radcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter [d.1461] – blue

William Bourchier, Lord Fitzwaurin or Fitz-Warine [still active 1469] – white and red [?]

Henry Lord Grey of Codnor [d.1496] – red and green

Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthin and Earl of Kent in 1465 [d.1490] – red

Sir James Harrington [d.after 1497] – black [?]

William, Lord Hastings [d.1483] – dark red [or purple] and blue

Henry VI [d.1471] – white and blue

Henry VII – white and green

William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke [d.1469] – blue and red

John Howard, Duke of Norfolk [d.1485] – red

Thomas Howard [d.1524] – red and white

Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle or L’Isle [d.1470] – blue

Robert, 3rd Lord Hungerford and Lord Molynes [d.1464] – red and green

Francis, Viscount Lovell [died after 1487?] – blue and yellow

Thomas Fitzalan, Lord Maltravers, 12th Earl of Arundel in 1487 [d.1524] – black

John Neville, Lord Montague, earl of Northumberland 1464-1470 [d.1471] – red and black

Walter Blount, Lord Mountjoy – blue

John Neville 2nd Earl of Westmoreland [d.1461] – black and red

John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk [Ist d.1461, 2nd d.1476] – blue and red

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland [2nd earl d.1455, 3rd earl d.1461, 4th earl d.1489] – red and black

John De Vere, Earl of Oxford [Ist d. 1462, 2nd d. 1512] – orange or orange tawney

John Paston [d.1479] – red

Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke [d.1495] – white and green

Edward Poynings [active in 1485] – red

Richard of Gloucester/Richard III [d.1485] – murrey and blue

Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers and Lord Scales [d.1483] – green [but noted as blue and tawney at a tournament of 1478]

Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers [d.1491] – green

Thomas, Lord Roos [d.1464] – blue and yellow

Edmund, Earl of Rutland [d.1460] – murrey and blue

Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, 2nd Earl of Westmoreland, [d.1460] – red and black

John, Lord Scrope of Bolton [d. 1498] – white

John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury [1st d. 1460, 2nd d. 1473] – red and black

Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset [d.1464] – white and blue

Thomas, Lord Stanley later Earl of Derby [d.1504] – orange tawney and green

William Stanley [d.1495] – red

John De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk [d.1491] – blue and yellow

Humphrey Talbot [active until at least 1483] – black and white

Rhys Ap Thomas ‘The Raven’ [active until at least 1485] – white

Richard Tunstall [d.1491] – black and white [?]

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick [d.1471] – red

Lionel, 6th Lord Welles [d.1461] – black and red?

John, Lord Wenlock [d.1471] – white Henry Willoughby – blue

Robert, Lord Willoughby [d.1501] – red and white

Richard, Duke of York [d.1460]- blue and white

John, Lord Zouche [d.1526] – black and murrey [murrey and purple were often confused]

Thats it for now!

Steve

The Wars of the Roses

Now then,

I have a long standing interest in the Wars of the Roses, and already have 2 pretty big armies based up for Impetus. I have stated in the past that this project is finished. A bit of an ambitious statement on my behalf I think.

I have recently read the first 2 books by Conn Iggulden, set during the WOTR. All I can say is that they are awesome. See below!


Book 1

Book 2

For more info on these books have a look here - Conn Iggulden, WOTR

Well, all this reading has re-inspired me, and I have ordered the Bloody Barons rulebook by Peter Pig, as well as downloading the Perfect Captain rules "a Coat of steel". If anyone has any links to good reviews of Bloody Barons that would be great.

I think to do the WOTR justice, the games need some very specific rules, and the generic "ancients or medieval" rules out there just dont get to the heart of what it was all about. Im thinking treachery, half starved levy's, cowardice and more treachery! Anyway, ill probably end up doubling the size of my armies.... No point in living in denial!

Cheers,

Steve

Cant see the wood for the trees?

Now then,

This weekend has seen me in a frenzy of terrain making (or just making a mess, if my wife is to be believed). To be fair I did drop my flock tub no less than 3 times, once spectacularly covering myself and everything else in the stuff....

Being clumsy aside, I managed to get this lot done:

First of all, I reinforced the edges of the boards with Green tape to protect them.

6mm Scale Trees

These are cheap trees bought via Amazon from China, a few quid for 50... Cant go wrong really. I should have toned down the green a bit, but they are done now.

15mm Scale trees

These are homemade trees, made out of wire and clump foliage, then dunked in watered down PVA and then the (for some reason hard to keep hold of) Flock.

The end result here is that I reckon both sets of trees, now that they are done will work fine for both scales, what do you think?

Hedges.

These are homemade, out of scouring pads, cut to shape then dunked in the PVA and then flocked. They work really quite well for 6mm, and at a push 15mm too. Thats good because I just don't have the space to store loads of terrain in different scales.... I'm pushing my luck already...

Here is my Terrain setup so far.

Whats next?

Well, for my 6mm I have these that need painting up.

Models - Total Battle Miniatures

For my 15mm, i'm going to order some pre-painted MDF buildings from 4Ground. I'm thinking the timber village set, and maybe a few fences and walls.

The inspiration for this board comes from my favorite Osprey book, Aspern and Wagram 1809. These pictures here....

Cheers for looking,

Steve