Adventures on the Wargames Table

As you’ll no doubt have noticed, I’ve painted quite a lot of figures for ACW over the last few months, so I needed to paint something slightly different.  These two figures were a bit of a treat! Both figures are lovely Front Rank sculpts.  The lady on the left is a Non Player Character figure whilst the Caçadore is a test figure for a colour scheme I had in mind - the main uniform colour is Foundry Spearshaft, collar and cuffs are Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue. One of the many joys of SP2 is being able to include a variety of NPC figures (often with humorous names) be they bumbling civilians, mad scientists, ladies in need of rescue from foreign bounders, enemy spies, bounders in need of rescue from foreign ladies, friendly spies, exploring officers, minor royalty, politicians, traders, etc.  The list is potentially huge and adds an extra narrative element that really brings the game alive.  Plus, if you’re running a game it gives you as the GM something extra to...

I like my battlefields to look a little 'lived in' so adding a few items of scatter terrain is nice way to achieve this aim... and these items from Grand Manner are just the ticket! First is a kiln, so my Portuguese farmer is also quite handy as a potter. The kiln is actually from GM's Ancient Greek range but I reckon that the design of such things was probably fairly similar right around the Mediterranean and also didn't change that much between Greek times and the 1800s. Obviously I am now going to meet someone who has a PhD entitled " Kiln Construction & Pottery Manufacture in the Mediterranean from Antiquity to the Modern Day " :-D Painting - basically the same as the Church and Grain Store. Light brown spray to prime the resin, then a base of Americana Honey Brown, then highlights of Americana Fawn, VMC Dark Sand and then finally Foundry Boneyard Light. The base is Americana Honey brown followed by highlights of VMC Tan Yellow and VMC Dark S...

My first full group of painted figures for my Anlgo-Portuguese army! Six Portuguese Partisans armed to the teeth and ready to hunt the French. They're all from Front Rank's superb partisan/guerrilla range. Movement tray by Charlie Foxtrot . They're all painted in a range of mainly Foundry colours; the complimentary triads make it far easier than messing about mixing shades. I've painted each of them with an item (usually a sash around the waist) in Foundry Royal Purple as this is the colour of their partisan band. The basing is a mix of small stones and grit/sand given a base of Americana Honey Brown then highlighted with VMC 847 Dark Sand then Foundry Boneyard light. Colonel Bill's Winter Grass along with a few arid looking tufts of longer grass and some small pieces of Woodland Scenics clump foliage finish it off nicely. Next will be their leader, the infamous Açougueiro - "The Butcher" and an irascible little holy man on a do...

Funny thing is I wasn't going to post this as our collections are very much a "work in progress" in the sense that some of the scenery isn't finished and only a few of the models are painted, etc.  But it was so much fun, plus I want to keep a record of our developing campaign.  So here goes... look away now if lots of unpainted lead offends you! Top chums Paul and Colin have got me in to Sharp Practice in a big way, so Paul and I started with a straightforward encounter between his French and my Anglo-Portuguese.  It was a jolly good fun game and an ideal re-introduction to the rules for me.  Interestingly, just one moment from this first small-ish game led to the scenario for the game I'm blogging about below... right at the close of that first game the young Light Company Lieutenant Archie Carruthers was knocked out during a French attack and his men forced to retreat.  We decided that he'd been captured. After some discussion (and possibly a few beers) P...