Tuesday, August 13, 2019

28mm Dark Age Breton Coloni I

Breton Coloni

Off the desk this week some Breton Coloni (colonizers from Britain) peons, adding to my Dark Age Domnonée army, this base could also be used as Carolingian Franks Anjou-Maine, saxon pirates or early Normans.

28mm Gripping beast plastics with some Victrix heads and hands, plus some metal shields, several more units not to far away from completion.


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


Cheers
Matt

Monday, August 12, 2019

28mm Royal Catholic Armee Vendee/Chouans part two

Second small skirmish screen of Vendee/Chouan troops added to the collection. I am waiting for the Revolutionary Armies Vendee troops to arrive to start my formed units. Off to another Chouan chateau and museum on Tuesday, I will post some pictures later in the week.





Cheers
Matt

Sunday, August 11, 2019

28mm Dark Age Goth-Alani cavalry I

Gothic Alani Cavalry I

Next unit to join my Breton army are some Alani-Goth cavalry from the Footsore range. These. Will be for my later 5th century Armorican army, but I will possibly also use them for Goths, Visigoths or Burgundians.

The Vandals, Alani (including Sarmation confederation tribes) and other confederate Germans crossed the Rhine in 406AD pushing far into western Roman territory. Alan tribes settled along the Loire and up the Sarthe river beyond Le Mans and west to the Mayenne river. Many place names in the Pays de la Loire region still relate to this period of 40 odd years of occupation. This I believe also lead to the unique horse breeds in western Pays de la Loire

The Alani leader Goar agreed with the romans to ally with them and in 440 the Alan's were gifted Orleans and the lower And Upper Loire to act as a buffer in the west with the Bucaudae of Armorica, and to the south the Visigoths and Burgundians. The Alani also played in the internal politics of the western empire supporting Jovinus as emperor 411-13. The Alani had contingents in the Roman army at Chalons against the Huns and again at at Orleans against the Visigoths. Contingents were still with the Roman army at Soissons, and retreated to Armorica after the defeat, coming to terms with Clovis and the Franks, becoming part of the Merovingian and Carolingian empires.

Ammianus Marcellinus writes their military customs resemble the Huns "they enter battle drawn up in a wedge shaped masses, while their medley of voices make a savage noise". The Alans like the Huns disliked fighting on foot, and unlike the Huns they seemed to have utilised armour for themselves and their horses.





References
Alans in Gaul Bernard S Bachrach.
The History of the Alans in the West Bernard S Bachrach 
Long Haired Kings JM Wallac-Hadrill
Rerum Gestartum libri qui supersunt XXXI 2,21. Ammianus Marcellinus. 

Cheers
Matt

Sunday, August 4, 2019

TTSFN part five and six

Total Terrain System For Now 


Part 5 added tree stumps and drybrushed some more, then taped the edges of the board



Part six
Sacrificed several teddy bears, clipped, cut and hot glued down the fur, more clippings, then some airbrushing, quite happy with my results so far, loads more to do yet though 


Cheers
Matt

Saturday, August 3, 2019

TTSFN part two modular terrain

Total Terrain System For Now 

Modular Normandy Table part two

More work today on the table, of my Normandy Bocage modular table, lots more to complete before I finish. 




Cheers
Matt


Thursday, August 1, 2019

TTSFN modular wargames table

Total Terrain System For Now.

Building a modular wargames table. 

We are having a rest break at the moment as we have had back to back visitors at the B and B for the last two weeks. I decided to finally get myself sorted out and add some more terrain tiles to my collection, these are specifically built for Normandy and Mayenne Bocage for 20mm and 28mm games, but more suited for 20mm. I have a table just over 5 meters in length and 1.8m wide to complete over the next month or two. So to begin with I am doing four 1200mm x 600mm tiles of ww2 specific + a number of 600 x 600 ww2 specific before I move onto adding a few pieces for medieval and ancients specific table.

All of the tiles were made on mdf board with timber edging, polystyrene centre and hills, then paper plaster mix to smooth out the hills. I will be adding magnets and door strips to make the joints more seamless. On top of the table tile grout was used as the road base, which I will paint and add roadside bits. The bocage edge is permanent on these four tables but the hedges and fences will be removable. My 20mm and 28mm buildings were laid out to achieve maximum flexibility.

Hopefully all going well be playing on them this weekend



Cheers
Matt

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

28mm Royal Catholic Army Chouan skirmishers

While I wait for the Revolutionary Armies Vendee range to release I dived into my figure stash and pulled some Perry AWI skirmishing southern militia figures, sculpted feathers and cockades and the odd Vendee heart badge. Then painted them in two batchs, and based them. I have completed the first 12 with a further 12 on the table at the moment. These will act as a stand alone skirmish line  for British Grenadier rules until I complete mine.

The Mayenne (old Maine) Department of Pays de la Loire was the hotbed of the Chouan revolt against the Revolutionary government. We have 63 skirmishes and battles within a hour of the Maison. After the defeat of the Vendee the Chouan kept up the fight against the revolutionary government and then Napoleon tying down several divisions in western France.

We conduct tours of a number of the battlefield sites and visit the museums and a private collection as part of our "walk the battlefield in the morning and wargame it in the afternoon"© our French tour and wargame holiday packages.





Tuesday, July 23, 2019

28mm Royal Catholic Armee Vendee rebellion

Another current project is to increase the size of my Royal Catholic Armee for the French Revolution.  My current Vendee/Chouan collection is quite small, mostly because of the lack of suitable figures, I have all of the Foundry sculpts but they are quite limited and small true 25mm compared to current 28mm miniatures. I have been helping the guys at Revolutionary Armies range to complete a better and wider range of miniatures for the Vendee war. Excited to say that the initial sculpts are completed and at Griffin moulds being mastered at the moment a total of 72 individual miniatures, armed with muskets, swords, assorted pikes and farm implements will be produced for the Revolutionary mob and the Royal Catholic Army.

The 28mm Revolutionary Armies range is now available from the Skytrex and includes a wide and complete range of armies from early Revolution through to 1806.

Firing line 





28mm Breton Armorican Domnonée skirmishers II

Breton Skirmishers II


Off the table this week some more 28mm Foootsore miniatures for my Armorican Domnonée Breton army. These figures represent the wild forest valleys and mountains around Saint James and Mortain in South western Normandy. The language today is still very different in this area of ​​France. They held onto their old religious beliefs the longest and resisted the Christian church until well into the 7th century according to Abbot Angot. They raided along the Frankish border of Maine (Mayenne, Orne and Sartre) troubling the Marcher Lords of Maine, perhaps even the famous Roland (chanson Roland fame) Lord of Maine and the Breton border marches.



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


Cheers
Matt

Gaulois Aulerci Diablintes Noble Cavalry 28mm Victrix

Off the table this week more additions to the Aulerci Diablintes, this time Noble heavy cavalry, I have four more bases to complete to finish the cavalry. The Victrix cavalry are quite nice with lots of movement, my only complaint are the ears of the horse which are facing sideways, not forward or back. I used LBM transfers for the shields which are a little difficult but worth the effort. The checked fabric worked out quite well, a lot more to go, based for Impetus, I do need to add some tufts when they arrive.

Enjoy the pics




Cheers
Matt

Saturday, July 13, 2019

28mm Armorican/Breton skirmishers

Breton Skirmishers

I recently purchased a collection of dark age figures and a number were Footsore miniatures Welsh and Irish, while the remainder were gripping beast plastics.

Recently I have read some interesting articles about some of the early kings after the departure of the Romans, the spread of Christianity, the arrival of the Alans, then the Franks, the coming of the Viking invaders, then the Normans.

I had planned to build a Breton army so with a little thought I could build something to represent Breton Dark age army from the 5th century through to the 10th by swapping out a few units it could fight Alan's, Late Romans, Franks, Vikings and Normans. We have six major battlefield sites within a hours drive from late Roman through to the Norman conquest, and a further 11 battlefields within two hours. I plan to develop some tours and wargame events around these sites.

First off the desk some Domnomée skirmishers. The kingdom of Domnonée seemed to have major ties with Britain, even sharing the same king at one time settled by Dumonians in the 5th century. These figures represent the marshland people around current Mont Saint Michel to Dol de Bretagne.  11 bases to complete of heavy infantry and two bases of skirmishers, and possibly four heavy cav and five light cavalry will give me a good start. I have two more bases almost complete and two heavy infantry should be completed this weekend.



cheers
Matt

Monday, July 8, 2019

28mm Aulerci Diablintes tribesmen II

Also off the table this week finallly after my tufts arrived some more Victrix Gauls, I have another 5 units of naked medium Infantry to complete this month, before I start the slog of tartan heavy foot, 90 odd figures to complete the army. Happy how these guys came out



Cheers
Matt

28mm French Revolution mob

Hot off the desk today some French Revolution miniatures from Revolutionary wars miniatures. A pleasure and really easy paintjob with good detail. I am looking forward to receiving more to add to my rabble mob!



Cheers
Matt

Monday, June 24, 2019

French Napoleonic 9th Cuirassiers

Another unit off the table this week, shelf queens again being completed, the third squadron of the 9th Cuirassiers for my 1805-09 French Napoleonic army. I really enjoy painting Elite miniatures, maybe because they are quite charismatic and have ver you good poses. The new Elite horses will fit out the next regiment of French dragoons. They will line up behind my Russians, and Baden cavalry I think.





Cheers
Matt

Slings and stones! Funditores

Off the desk some Greek slingers that have been shelf queens for some time, decided to complete them and get them into the display cabinet before I started my Russian Napoleonics that have been glaring at me. 28mm Foundry figures, one face was miscast so I done the best I could without trying to rebuild it.
These guys are quite universal and will fit in any ancient army, Greek, Roman or Carthaginian



Cheers
Matt

Monday, June 17, 2019

WIP Ardenne Abbey Normandy

I have commenced a big project, the Ardenne Abbey and its surrounding buildings, after visiting during DDay week with our Canadian guests. The Abbey and grounds are quite huge, around 400m square, with two entrances, surrounded by a 12ft stone wall, extensive gardens surround the main church, and trench positions or the mortar sections still exist at the rear of the Abbey church. It was the defended by the 12SS who used it as a observation post and HQ almost to the end of June. The 12SS executed 20 Canadian POWs and buried them in the garden, most were not found until after the war.
I plan to make the buildings removable, but leave the gardens etc so I can use the board for a chateau and outbuildings also.


Cheers
Matt