Swiss Mercenary Arquebusiers of Saint Gall

Swiss Mercenary Arquebusiers 

Completed a unit of Swiss Mercenary Arquebusiers from the canton of Saint Gall for my French Army at the Battle of Saint Aubin du Cormier. Saint Galls colours were red so a majority of the unit are painted in the colour with the white cross. The miniatures are from the WOTR Perry miniatures plastics range. 

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

cheers

Matt

Republican Roman Command

I like to paint commands first when I start a new army, so I have some 28mm First Corps Republican Roman command to go with the upcoming Wargames Factory Caesarian Romans. A little small to match but ok until I pick up some Foundry or Warlord figures. One consul with lictor and standard and one foot tribune with standard.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

Cheers

Matt 

Luftwaffe AA and Fallschirmjager crews

 

Luftwaffe & fallschirmjager crews

One of my project list goals for 2021 was to add crews to my flak guns, AT guns, and mortars both Luftwaffe and fallschirmjägers for my 20mm Normandy collection.

Quite happy with the results, I think the splittertarn variants may need a little work but overall happy. Good to get back painting 20mm again. a wide mix of figures SHQ, AB and Simons Soldiers. I need to pick up some more flak 88mm, I have a project in mind......

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

Cheers

Matt Williamson  

Sassanid Horse Archers

Sassanid Horse Archers

Hot off the desk this week are some A&A Sassanid light cavalry. One of the Romans most consistent enemies  of late period. Another batch from the project drawer that have been staring at me for the best part of 6 years......now done and dusted.

Based for impetus and the familiar circle I like to base my light cavalry on.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

Cheers

Matt Williamson

Terrain Tuesday Church

 A completed resin Hovels piece I believe, I already have one of these, and received another in a job lot of 20mm buildings I purchased online. So it joined the terrain to do pile about three weeks ago. I decided to pick it up and paint it on the weekend. A easy and simple paint job. Quite happy with the result, I will de able to use this for both 20mm and 28nm games.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

Cheers

Matt

 The Great Escape 

Rolling out our Spring Offensive for 2021 please visit our website French Wargame Holidays for full details

Cheers

Matt

French Wargame Holidays Projects and Plans 2021

 2021 Plans and Goals

Today I have set time aside for planning 2021, even in these uncertain times we still need to shoot for something otherwise you end up in the wilderness of nowhere. It is also important to focus as it helps with mind activity during these strange times.

2020 has had some highs and lows and we have taken those lessons and have already started to adapt our business, looking at how we can take advantage of the change in Tourism in France and the world in fact. With this in mind we have tweaked a few changes to our business, hopefully making a difference until a vaccination program has rolled out and a recovery for the French tourism economy has occurred in the future.

We will be releasing a New Holiday Wargame Package for pre-purchase as discounted rates for couples or a small family looking for a week long or more getaway holiday over the next 24 months. 

Until the vaccinations occur broadly, it does look like large numbers of people gathering may be a problem so we will be limiting our number of guests to make it more private and safer for everybody. 

The view of "Salon de Guerre" wargames salon across to the 17th century chateau opposite

French Revolution cockades

 For the new year I am planning a continuation of my French Revolution project (along with many others) including a set of rules that works for a mid sized skirmish game (60-100 figs).

With that in mind I ordered for Christmas some more books on the subject, three in French and two in English, plusI put aside some cash to spend on some militaria from the period.

 I looked at a number of auctions in England and here in France, set my budget then watched live. One of the items that got away that I was interested in was a number of revolutionary cockades ....they become a little too rich for me very quickly, so I now present the images at least.

Hopefully somebody will find them useful like I will as a reference when painting their miniatures. Note a number of variations including green and double rings.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

cheers

Matt

100 years war Chevaliers and Écuyers Jean de Ouvroin V

 Jean de Ouvroin, chevalier du Maine

Jean de Ouvroin, seigneur de Chateau de Grazray, seigneur de Poligné. Captain of a company of Guy XIII de Laval and executor of his will. A Maine captain killed at the battle of Baugé. Another addition to my French army for the battles in the Anjou, Maine, Brittany and Normandy. 

Full details on our website about our battlefield tour, click for the HYW Tours 

Another Perry plastic figure

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

Cheers

Matt

 The Final Countdown 2020

2020 is done and dusted, and as we all know a very strange year. French Wargame Holidays had by February 75% of our target budget in pre-bookings, with some still on the edge it looked like a fabulous prosperous year was on the way, however as we all know this come crashing down in March, we completed the year fulfilling 8% of our budget with Wargame Holidays and regular B & B, thankfully the Macron Government helped keep us afloat............we are still here, and looking forward and currently planning for a prosperous 2021. 

A big thank you to our customers that did manage to attend and play a wargame this year. A big thank you for  your continued support here on my blog, on Facebook, Instagram and the various Forums I haunt.

We have a few new battlefield and cultural tours being planned to add to our wide list already which is here. We are taking Bookings for holidays from now, commencing in March please contact us via the website to discuss your needs for a tailor made holiday for you and your partner or with your friends. 

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Totals

Summing up my Wargame painting and terrain progress this year on my goals I achieved about 75% with a few minimal diversions. I may of completed more looking back, but motivation was up and down depending upon the external stresses of this strange year. On the positive side a lot of my stash completed with very few purchases of new lead or plastic. Medievals were my main focus as I added to my collections to fill them out to match our "Walk the Battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tour and wargames.

2020 Goals achieved

Salon de Guerre redecoration

95% complete, curtains still being made....lets just say this is not me......

Construction of the wargames table

16 ft Completed

28mm miniatures painting goal 2020

Gaulois 260 figs

59 painted roman auxilia

16 auxilia cavalry 

9 Sassanid cavalry

50 early medieval cavalry

168 early medieval  infantry

31 Medieval cavalry completed 

528 Medieval Infantry completed

18 Napoleonic cavalry 

12 Napoleonic infantry

1 Santa!

24 ACW union 28mm infantry (commission)

8 union 28mm cavalry (commission)

24 Napoleonic 28mm artillery guns (Commission)

16 Vikings 28mm (commission)

40 WW2 british 28mm (commission)

18 Pulp figures (commission)

48 7YW infantry (commission) 

24 7YW cavalry (commission)

Completed 28mm Infantry 1174 

Completed 28mm Cavalry 186

Completed Artillery 24 

WW2 1944 20mm 

160 infantry 

32 tanks completed

6 x Armoured cars built

9 trucks completed

6 AA guns and crews

4 AT guns mixed 6pdr & 17pdr completed

5 gliders built

2 buses built

16 trucks and jeeps built

8 x AT guns kit built 

8 x Armoured cars built

Bunkers 4 completed

16 landing craft built 

8 aircraft built 

20mm Infantry 160

20mm vehicles 56

Miniatures rebased and touched up

54 ACW rebased and touched up

8 cavalry rebased and touched up

34 Gauls rebased, touched up and hand painted shields

Other Science Fiction

1 Jedi Starfighter 

Total Terrain System For Now (TTSFN) Goals achieved

Château board (1500x1200), includes Gaulois fort, dark ages Motte and bailey, and 100 YW castle under construction ATM 40% complete

Standard boards x 6 

Ploughed fields 

Maize /corn Crop fields 

Harvested crop fields 

20mm buildings x 8 

Dark Age Buildings x 6 

Medieval buildings x 10

20mm ww2 buildings x 6

Bocage mark V 12m

Stone walls (master completed)

22 trees

Board game played

3 games

Wargames played

Ancient games x 3

Medieval games x5

Renaissance games

French Revolution games

Napoleonic games

Ww1 games x2

WW2 games x6

Modern games x1

Naval games x1

Fantasy

Science fiction x2

So quite happy with my results, although I am way behind on posting due to running out of my basing paint colour....I did complete a further 18 bases of mostly medieval Infantry in the Christmas to New year including a lot of cavalry. I will post these over the coming week or so.

I think I will do a parade of the Medievals and the Gauls as they really were a big task. I think I have around 30 Gallic warriors remaining to do to complete the 300 figure starting goal so no spares in the drawers of doom. The medievals will continue this year, but WW2 will become the main focus as it makes up 75% of our main Wargames Holiday Business.

Completing bits from my project drawers and the focus on terrain has helped me a lot this year, as now I have space to plan 2021 which is well underway. I will continue to to post every week as it helps me keep track of what has been completed. 

Let us all hope this pandemic can be over so we can socialise and share all of our new painted goodies, and watch our recently painted units flee off the table once again!

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two

cheers

Matt