Old Faithful

I'm going to this tomorrow.

I am quite excited but also a bit fearful.

I go every year, and the day usually passes in a haze of poor London beer, static-electricity generating replica kit and amusing shouting in Northern accents.

However this year the mighty Hull are in the final.

And we (in)famously never win at Wembley.

The Cardiff 2005 final, where we did win, was a horrendous rollercoaster that left me emotionally drained.

And of course this year is a replay of the greatest Challenge Cup final ever (tm) (which we lost).

So all things considered I'm not looking forward to it as much as you might expect...

But, you never know....

 COME ON YOU HULL!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you wondering about the title of this post. The song the Black and White Faithful sing is the following Gene Autry classic. Though we'll be belting it out a good bit louder and more upbeat around 3 o'clock (and hopefully around five o'clock too)

Booty!

I have returned from meolidiz as we say in Hull.
Had a splendid time in Northumbria and then in East Yorkshire and managed to get a small amount of broadly toy soldier stuff squeezed in which will ideally feature here in the next week or so. I also managed to get sunburned while surfing on Tynemouth beach - in your face Bondi!
I returned to some good news about work with my contract being extended for another year, and so decided to treat myself.

Goodies

I picked this little lot up from the ever helpful Nick at Northstar while on my way to collect the offspring from holiday club.
It's a copy of the new Ronin rules which I've been after for a while (I did call on Nick just before departing on holiday in the hope of it being holiday reading but he was still awaiting delivery). Together with a few Crusader and Artizan blisters.

I've been looking for an excuse to buy some of the Perry Korean range since they first came out and Ronin features a list for Koreans. Add to that the fact that one of my regular opponents has a pile of Samurai he's been looking for an excuse to paint and it was a bit of a no-brainer. And cheap too at £11.99 - buy it at that price from Nick, don't support tax dodging onliners for the sake of a few quid.
A quick look through and it seems to be just what I'm after. I'll only need 10 or so models to get started (ideal, should be ready by Easter*) and the rules seem pretty straightforward and clear- certainly compared with Dux Britaniarum that I've really struggled to get my head around.
Nice pictures of models too (mostly of the new ones from Northstar to support the game but also some of the poor WF plastics - albeit with very good Kev Dallimore paintjobs) and some colour plates from the Ospreys as you might expect.
I even realised last night that my LotR Khand and Easterlings could make some stand in models to practice with - though I'm hoping to pick up the Koreans at Partizan next week!

The blisters were an assortment of US Infantry models to expand my Bolt Action force to three squads. Two of riflemen (one Crusader and one Artizan) and a pack of bazookas (my opponent has acquired a Stug) and a mortar (both Crusader). I really enjoyed quickly dipping some of these earlier in the year and think three squads makes for a decent enough game of BA. I've based and undercoated them already and with the kids away next week hope to make speedy progress.
I've also got a plastic Hobby Boss Sherman that I picked up at Salute awaiting assembly, but as I took it on holiday with me and never even got it out of the box I'm beginning to think it was a false economy and I should just have bought a resin model that I don't have to assemble.

*You'll notice I didn't say Easter of which year

King Arthur

Last week I came home to find a package waiting for me. Although Mrs Tom's Toy Soldiers was suspicious. my conscience remained clear - I hadn't ordered anything.

In fact it turned out to be a gift. 

A copy, from the author himself, of Dan Mersey's new book King Arthur.

It was a thank-you from Dan for playing in the large games of Dux Bellorum at Salute earlier this year.

I've had a quick skim through and it looks lovely with plenty to interest me.

I should point out its not a wargaming rule per se it's the stories of the various Arthurs from mythology along with a little historical speculation.

I'm saving a proper read for when I'm away on holiday - though I fear I may have to fight my eight year old for it.

If you'd like to get your own copy it's available from Osprey and local bookshops. And probably from nasty online, tax dodging bookshops too - but you should try and avoid using them.

All in all a splendid gift from top chap Dan - who really didn't need to, playing the big game was reward enough in itself.

Why not go and read Dan's Blog?

The Loss of the Bruschetta Column

Colonel Silvio Bruschetta hummed lightly to himself as his column snaked through the tall elephant grass, a light comic operetta song that reminded him of home and mama. Despite the heat and the relentless attention of the files he was enjoying the march through the lush landscape.
Suddenly and without warning the column ground to a halt.
"Wassa da matter" he demanded of Ravioli the banner bearer "Why we a stop"
He soon had his answer. Sergeant Limoncello, leader of the Bersaglieri, came running up.
"There's a tree a Colonel. A tree filled a with a skulls. The Askari, they say its a bad juju to go further"
"We go on Sergeant" roared the Colonel" Skull tree or no Skull a tree we go on!"

 The Italian Column approaches the Skull Tree

 Hidden in the elephant grass are signs of habitation

 Nervously the colonial troops press on

 Despite their fears the Askari lead the way

 A sudden commotion at the rear of the column as spear throwing natives burst from cover

 The raw recruits of the Stracciatella Regiment are suddenly assailed by musket fire

 As natives burst forth from all around Colonel Bruschetta begins to realise he has blundered into a trap

Fumbling with nervous fingers the young troops fresh from home struggle to load as the warriors bear down on them

 But too slow! The fierce tribesmen are upon them and casualties begin to mount

 Bafuko the tribal leader springs from the grasses to urge on his men (and fire his shiny new gun)

 As desperate bearers push the mules onward the jaws of the trap begin to close

 Frantic now Bruschetta urges his men to form a defensive cordon. But all too late as the Bersaglieri are caught in the open

 Briefly the Colonel himself is caught by the savages (which makes his eyes water), but cold Italian steel sees them off

Rallying his men around the flag Bruschetta begins to sing a sad mournful song of home.

 Undaunted by the racket Bafuko urges his men on

The final minutes now for the struggling column as whooping tribesmen descend on them

I was lucky enough to play a splendid game of Death in the Dark Continent with James last night. He provided all the lovely models, scenery and the rules. All I did was roll some dice and shout "Mama-mia!" as I led the ill fated column to its doom.

The scenario is an ambush one from the rule book but we agreed the odds were rather stacked in favour of the Azande.

The rules themselves seemed to work well, I liked the way morale slowly crumbled affecting all elements of the troops until they broke and fled the field. The difference between the warriors of the Azande and the more drilled European troops also seemed to work well (albeit based on my very limited knowledge of the period.

The only downside of the whole splendid evening was the fluttering awakening of interest in a new gaming period. I've been toying with the idea of some form of Colonial behaviour for a while and James, like some sort of lead crack pusher began to talk of having some "spare" Africans... 

Warhammer Orcs v High Elves

Gruzzkup sniffed the air. It smelled clear and crisp but there was something else too, the scent of flesh. Perfumed flesh. Elf flesh.

The Warlord hefted his chopper and narrowed his eyes.

Around him stood his biggest and best boys. To the left the witless shapes of the Trollz drooled and pawed the ground whilst beyond them Da Red Arrurz twanged their bowstrings and the menacing figures of Iggzi’s Stoojiz waited in disciplined ranks over toward the swamp.

“OK ladz, we ain’t got time to mess around. We need to meet up wiv da uvverz and den burn dis place to da ground” he paused for the cheering to subside “So lets run over dere, duff ‘em up good and proppa and den da fun startz!”

With that he pointed his mighty chopper at the thin white figures on the horizon and led the lads to meet their destiny.

The second battle in our campaign saw Gruzzkup lead an Orc (mostly) force against a foot High Elf force led by a level 4 mage and with a solid core of Phoenix guard.

 'ere we go, 'ere we go, ere we...

 Steady, girls, don't shoot till you can smell their breath

 Drool, stumble, drool

Waaaagh!

Again not many pictures, sorry...

At first all seemed to be going well for the greenskins as they rapidly closed on the thin white line, although some shooting – especially the flaming variety – whittled the trolls down a fair bit.

Unfortunately some short charges meant the attack went in a bit piecemeal and the new Phoenix Guard character is clearly designed wit the sole purpose of exterminating trolls. As a result the attack was swiftly blunted and the Phoenix guard wreaked havoc amongst the rest of my force whilst Gruzzkup was off killing some Sea Guard on one flank.

So far the invasion is not quite going to plan…

Warbases Dark Ages Watchtower Finished

I'm afraid I rather abandoned the step-by-step approach for this last one and just got the tower finished.

The walls were washed with Gryphonne sepia then drybrushed back with Deneb stone and then white.

It was at this point the difficulties presented by having both roof and balcony in place really became apparent - but if you're going to render the walls I can't see a way around it - smarter modelers than me can doubtless find a way.

The wooden bits were largely drybrushed with an assortment of grays and browns and then washed with Devlan mud.

Finally the thatch was further drybrushed with Graveyard Earth and Bleached Bone.

What every Saxon Shore needs

The colour balance is a little out of whack on a couple of the pictures making parts of it look more orange than in reality.

Overall I'm very pleased with it. Yes the balcony is a little out of scale (it needs to be to fit a 20mm base on it) and yes it's not actually that tall and I'm not sure of its historical accuracy.

But for my purposes its just about perfect, cheap, gives effective results, doesn't take up too much space on the battlefield and most importantly says "late Roman Watchtower" to me. Scenery is representative for me and this one does that to a tee.

 Border Guard Duty

Keep those eyes peeled for Saxons...

Now to burn it to the ground!

Warbases Dark Ages Watchtower (4)

And so I set to with brush and vim and vigour.
First step was to spray all over with Plastikote Chocolate Brown to seal it in and give a good base colour.

Following this I painted the walls with Deneb Stone and overbrushed the thatch with Khemri Brown

On the home stretch now...