new bridges - old river

Sorry for the washed out image, I wasn't happy with my existing bridges for the Peking 1900 so I created a couple of simple stand alone bridges that could be used.

The road surface is from a sample of textured wallpaper and the basic framework is foamcore.

Looking again at my old river, it's up for sale, I started wondering if I could just upgrade it by anding down the edges and then using sand/grit to texture it. Hmm.... something to ponder.

Bautzen 1813

Following on from Phalanx the Gentlemen Pensioners had their annual game in Manchester. This year it was Bautzen 1813 played using Shako large battle system.

I had the role of Ney and together with Lauriston's corps I had to roll up the Russo-Prussian Army from the north. Of course it didn't go according to Napoleon's plan. Most of the flank was covered by two corps; Barclay and Kleist with loads of artillery

Lauriston made no progress with virtually all his corps destroyed by the end of the game. Ney's own corps managed to wipe out Kleist's corps at heavy cost and was poised to breakthrough at the point I had to leave.

An unbiased report from one of the umpire's should appear shortly on the Wargame Amateur blog

Phalanx - Cerignola 1503

The Lance and Longbow game this time was Cerignola 1503 another action from the Italian wars.

The Spanish were ready and waiting and entrenched in their camp



Meanwhile the French prepared to launch a surprise attack the main thrust of which would be the Swiss commanded my myself


Nearing the high point of the Swiss assault, just before it all went horribly wrong trying to cross the entrenchments


A very nice Indian Hill Fort used in the East Lancs Mutiny game


Keeping to the Indian theme a nice idea for smoke signals

Forts gone but not forgotten

Just left these on the blog as a reminder of a couple of useful terrain items sold at Phalanx 2011

Afghan Hill Fort (it has featured in quite a number of games and periods over the years)


Roman Fort (the Airfix one with ditches added so it can be used as a standalone fort)

Peking 1900 final playtest

The final playtest for the Boxer rebellion game prior to Gauntlet was held at Deeside Defenders last night with a host of willing volunteers.

The briefing

The British show that they learned something in the Zulu War and construct a wagon laager in the Imperial carriage park.

The US and Russians await the onslaught

All seems calm on the other flank, until you see that the Italian legation has been abondoned

The last stand of the Austro-Hungarian legation before they too pulled out.

Just for my records the almost completed Fort Halliday covering the entrance to the British legation.

Over all the game was great fun and only a few minor tweaks need to be made, so roll on Gauntlet (2nd & 3rd of July)

More Legation buildings

The eagle eyed observers may have notice a couple of thatched roofed legations in the play test game. I decided to create a couple of Mediterranean style buildings to replace them as they will fit in well with the existing Italian ones used for the SOTCW game two years ago. (link)

In the background is one of the original set.

I'm ruined

Well not quite, I've knocked up a numbr of extra ruin bits for use in the boxer game from some old thick foamcore I found. All the pieces are 120mm x 60mm.

I also created a couple of temporary tartar wall sections from some timber I had in the garage, so the wall will now extend the lenth of the table.