Wednesday 21 September 2011

The Nyudrev building society

And now for that terrible secret concerning the first batch of balsa buildings...(see previous post)

I'm loath to confess...yes...it really hurts to say that...
they were made by my lovely wife. And to make matters even worse, she's better at it than me. Please enjoy the work of Sabrina Nyudrev - Von Wunderheim.

-Buildings in several states of finish. As you can see, the top lifts of to reveal ruins. The miniatures in the pictures give you an idea of scale.-

-ooh, and hedges and fences and trees...-

In the "how to" section on the left you can find a link to the Leadgardens blog, where all is explained to make these splendid "classic wargaming buildings". As if there is any other way to make wargame buildings, in any scale...
 
I feel a bit silly now, having tricked the love of my life -after all her hard work- into a goblin green sitting room.
Happy gaming
Pjotr


Tuesday 20 September 2011

Pictures

I know it's been a while...but there is so much to tell,  I won't even bother trying.

Instead enjoy these pictures of the Grenadiers de Franlysse. They featured here and they are a unit ready for battle know. I haven't got around to painting the wargames table yet, I'll explain later why this is...
But I wanted to see if everything would come together and look right to me.

-Note linen flags, NCO with soldered spontoons, and balsa house in the background.

-ooh, and the hedges and fences...and trees...

And have a look at the biggest Old School or Classic (what's in a name? ah yes, copyright and stuff) wargaming table ever painted...

-How about some 9 by 15 feet of goblin greenish surface...?


-Just a pity it's vertical...but then,  who else can say they tricked their spouse in having a goblin green feature wall in the sitting room.-

It did cost me 1745 pots of paint...GW shares went up last month. But, this job is the reason why the games table hasn't been painted...I ran out of green...

So now that all the have to's have been seen to, it's play time.
Oh, and there's a terrible secret shrouding the balsa buildings...but that's for later.
And there's books I picked up, and miniatures arrived from the USA...and...and...

Happy gaming
Pjotr

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Update

First of all you've noticed that it has been really quiet on the Chronicles, which is exactly what I intended. The Chronicles are not the main hobby effort and with less available hobby time last couple of months they where on the bottom of the priority list. So what has been keeping me busy, you wonder?

Most of my available hobby time was spent sorting through thousands of 1/72 plastic soldiers of all makes and ages. The aim was to organise two Napoleonic armies for my local "De Witte Ridder" games club. Basing was to be generic, but primarily for use with the Black Powder (BP) rule set at 2/3 scale. Several stands of miniatures are easily reconfigured to play any rule set possible. In the end it should help the club discover historical gaming for minimum cost and effort and maximum effect. Ludo, a club member also interested in historical gaming, was a big help in sorting the little soldiers.

The "unpainted" miniatures were then glued  to bases -six to a base- with three bases giving standard units, four for large, two for small (and as a bonus: the number of bases also being a reminder for the units Stamina value as described in BP) .  For cavalry I counted three four horse bases as a standard regiment. I based the scaling down on roughly 1/30 miniature to men ratio.
In the end I managed to put together some 45 infantry  battalions, 12cavalry regiments and 14 guns, casualty markers, Brigadiers and CinC. I guess that means I salvaged some 1500 Napoleonic soldiers for some good sized Napoleonic games.

Those of you served with good memory, will recall that one of the projects announced at the very beginning of the Chronicles was Old School (or Classic) ancients war gaming à la Tony Bath. This project has taken a flying start in Phil Olley's Classic Wargaming Journal (CWJ). You will not see much of that project on the Chronicles, maybe some surplus pictures or some such. It is my intention to keep this a long term and  exclusive "hard copy" project, as long as CWJ exists anyway. I did discover this "The Rules of Tony Bath" forum, which I intend to join.

I've also been thinking (that's new, Pjotr, be serious now...) and I've come to the conclusion that I wanted to serve to many masters, as they say (don't they?). I wanted my 7YW imagination armies based for classic wargaming, with optional use for gaming with figure tray based game engines (BP, Rank and File, ...). I would be able to split Classic units in two and game with twice the number of units...I'd been working on basing combinations...to find it doesn't work for me. So I've decided to start Napoleonic armies with the delightful "Classic" Warrior Miniatures  range of models. I've acquired a reasonable number of French infantry at a recent bring and buy and things will go on from there. No rush, no hurry. The good news is that in the end the imagi-history battles fought by imagi-nation units will solely be resolved using The Wargame or Charge as rules engines and basing matters are simplified. Good thinking, Pjotr...

"So what about all that imagi-thingy stuff?", I hear you cry. Calm down, hold your horses...The DDU is very much alive and might even appear in the Napoleonic wars. In the mean time, units have been listed, paint schemes sorted and  several hundreds of miniatures have been ordered. This week restoration of the old SSM's will resume. Also terrain has been defined, trees ordered, paint brought in, buildings planned...and as al my projects will be classic and of comparable scale, that terrain will be usable for all my wargaming needs.

Am I still following my time line? Well considering I want all projects at cruising speed (i.e. fully playable) by the time I retire...I still have nine years to go. So yes, everything is going as planned. I promise that when something I deem interesting pops up, more posts will follow, ...

Happy gaming
Pjotr

Monday 10 January 2011

A New Year

Belatedly, but nonetheless a Happy New Year to all readers of the Chronicles. I wish all of you and all those dear to you a wonderful 2011, with lots of love, good health and piles of lead.
(Funny this, somebody I know thought that "piles of lead" were a bodily affliction...he was thinking of..., well you can guess, can't you? Something like this is bound to happen when English is ones third or fourth language.)
I've been flying below the radars the past couple of weeks. Of course there are good reasons for this. Let's just say that due to a few unfortunate events (or rather mishaps), I had little available hobby time. And what I could do in that time was hampered physically (with me hanging together with hooks and threads so to speak) and this has nothing to do with the piles of lead mentioned above, thank you.
Anyway, I decided that I best first fulfilled my hobby commitments I had made to others. In the end, some of you will certainly (or hopefully) enjoy the fruits of that work by mid January.
In the mean time...

Happy gaming
Pjotr