On Parade! 17th century French crew

In my last On Parade! posting I showed off my Dutch crew for the pirate game Blood and Plunder. This time it is the turn of the French.

Boucaniers: The boucaniers were known for their deadly accuracy. These hunters of cattle and swine came from the western end of Hispaniola, and lived a rough backwoods life. It wasn’t long before these enterprising woodsmen began attacking passing Spanish ships, usually from small canoes or other small watercraft.

Flibustiers: These were only second only to the boucaniers in experience in raiding Spanish ships and settlement. Like most French fighting men of the time, they preferred to quickly move into close action where they could bring their braces of pistols to bear at point blank range.

Milices des Caraïbes: These militia formed the primary defence forces of the French Caribbean. They ranged from well-equipped companies manned by former buccaneers, free blacks, or planters to poorly equipped ones composed mainly of indentured servants, poor workers and slaves.

Marins: French sailors had great experience in naval combat from their many engagements in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Americas. Usually armed with fine French pistols, they excelled at boarding actions.

My commanders (on the right in the above pic) include a rather dandy-ish generic French captain, and the notorious buccaneer Francois L’Olonnais. The latter was an intrepid and inspiring leader, but also almost certainly a sociopath. Spaniards would choose rather to die or sink fighting than surrender to him, knowing they would have no mercy at his hands.

So that’s my French force. Next time we’ll look at pirates! And don’t forget to visit my other On Parade! postings, in which I’m gradually doing inspection parades of every army in my wargaming collection.

On parade! 17th century Dutch crew

Continuing my sporadic series of On Parade! postings, we come to my so-called Pirate collection – not all of whom are actually pirates! So let’s start with my newest Blood and Plunder faction, the Dutch. As per normal, click on the pictures to enlarge them. 

According to the Blood and Plunder rule book, the French were the first to singe the Spanish beard in the New World, the English were to set the beard aflame, but it was the Dutch who truly scourge the whiskered Spaniard from head to toe. Few indeed hated the Spanish as did the Dutch, as with a vengeance they followed their ‘Sea Beggar’ ancestors.

The 28mm figures that make up my Dutch force are all from Firelock Games. They are certainly beautifully sculpted, and really capture the look of the era.

To the right of the above picture are my two commanders. The flamboyant genetleman in yellow is a generic Dutch captain, whom I have painted to resemble Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch in Rembrandt’s famous Night Watch painting.

The figure in black is Piet Heyn, the ‘Delftshaven Terror of the Deep’. His most famous triumph was the capture of the Spanish Treasure Fleet in 1628, but that was simply just an exclamation mark to his long successful career.

Militie: The Dutch militia in the Caribbean and South America were largely a product of the Dutch West India Company. Enterprising settlers from the Netherlands made up just over half of the Dutch colonial militia. These citizens of the Republic fought shoulder to shoulder with the other national groups that augment their ranks, using traditional European tactics.

I based the green uniforms on the recent movie about Admiral de Ruyter, though I’ve no idea what they based their research on!

‘Zeelieden’ and ‘Enter Ploeg’: Progeny of the North Sea and heirs of the ‘Sea Beggars’, the Dutch sailors of the seventeenth century were uniquely equipped to be masters of the sea and sail. A great deal of romance is attached to mariners in the culture of the Netherlands. They are regarded as champions of Dutch liberty and the promise of empire. 

Some of this group are members of the ‘Enter Ploeg’. Victory in naval combat often rests on the most harrowing part of the engagement: a successful boarding action. Only the most battle-tested crew are trusted to transgress the gunwales of an enemy vessel and claim a foothold. Amidst a hail of musket fire, the boarding party thrusts headlong into hostile territory, breaching bulkheads with boarding axes and clearing decks with grenadoes and blunderbusses, breaking enemy defences and making way for the rest of their crew.

Kapers: The term sailor and soldier are interchangeable for Dutch privateers. Naval success for the Netherlands depends on every mariner being a master seaman and proficient in their martial skills. Even merchant sailors need to be ready to bear arms if their captain decides to turn privateer once he unloads his cargo.

In my next On Parade! article I will look at the French, and later my generic pirates.

Dutch force for Blood and Plunder *really* afloat

I’ve been working on some 28mm Dutch figures for my Blood and Plunder forces. These are exquisitely sculpted figures, which my fairly impressionistic style of painting doesn’t really do justice to.

I based my militia on the marines/soldiers in the recent movie about Admiral de Ruyter, who wear green coats. I’ve no idea what they based their research on … but it is good enough for me!

I loosely based my two commander figures on Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Night Watch.

For these pics, I posed my miniatures on a 3D-printed ship from Printable Scenery … afloat in my spa. She only sunk with all hands once!

A Kiwi at Partizan

As I mentioned in my last posting, during my recent trip with my wife to the UK and Europe, I was able to fit in a day at the Partizan Wargames Show in Newark.

This was actually the second British wargaming show I’ve visited, as back in 2013  I was lucky enough to attend SELWG in London. Based on that previous experience, I had some idea of what to expect. But despite this fore-knowledge, the sight of so many incredibly impressive games at Partizan was a real eye-opener to this colonial boy!

The show was held in a very roomy and light venue at the Newark Showgrounds. I arrived just before opening time, and there was already a queue at the door. At 10.00 exactly the doors opened and the line moved quickly as the entry formalities were carried our efficiently by the organisers (including giving the first 500 visitors – including yours truly – a specially commissioned 28mm figure of the famous inter-war revolutionary, Rosa Luxembourg).

I spent the next six hours happily wandering round the hall, feasting my eyes on loads of beautiful games, and occasionally taking out my wallet to add to a burgeoning carrier bag full of purchases.

I was asked several times how Partizan compared to wargaming shows in New Zealand. Now, truth to tell I have only attended a few shows in New Zealand, mainly Wellington’s Call To Arms. Therefore my answer to this question could only be based on my relatively small experience of the New Zealand show scene.

The main difference I noted was that the New Zealand shows I’ve attended have mainly revolved around competition tournaments, in which players fight a series of bouts throughout the day. This means that the main emphasis of these shows are on game-play. Almost all the show attendees are there to play in the competition games, and very few people attend purely as spectators. 

There are also usually a few demonstration games, but these tend to play second fiddle to the competition games. And because most of the competition gamers have to play to a strict timetable, they can usually snatch only a few brief moments between bouts to look at the demonstration games.

At Partizan, however, there were no competitions. Instead, the show was split into two main groups – demonstration games and participation games. And there were spectators aplenty. A large portion of the crowd of over 1,000 attendees weren’t there to play at all, but had come to look at some top-notch games, buy from the many traders, and network with other gamers. With so many non-playing spectators, and without the constraint of  a busy competition timetable, every demonstration table was always crowded with viewers. 

All in all, Partizan was an entirely different show to what I was used to back home. And as someone for whom the look of the game is far more important than the game-play, Partizan suited my tastes very well!

The games

Now, on to the games. There were so many games that I never got to photograph them all. I’ll only show some of the tables that particularly impressed me. But there were many other fabulous games too. From looking at other people’s photos of Partizan, I think I might have actually missed seeing some tables altogether … so many great games, so little time!

There’ a lot to see in some of these photos, so don’t forget that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them.

Siege of Oosterbeek, 1944

I had several favourite games, but this one particularly rocked my boat. The Old Pikeys gaming group had chosen to depict the siege of Oosterbeek during the Arnhem operation.

What initially struck me, having just come from spending eight days with my relatives in the Netherlands, was how the terrain actually looked Dutch, in particular the architectural style of the buildings. So often Arnhem games use generic European buildings, but in this case the players had spent a lot of effort to replicate the typical Dutch style of buildings.

Another eye-catching feature of this game was the use of well-modelled aircraft flying overhead. There were even paratroopers jumping out of the Dakotas (unfortunately my camera overlooked capturing them, as I took no photos of the door side of the planes!).

Now, I know someone is going to ask me what rules they were using. Well, you’ll recall I mentioned above that I am more a ‘look of the game’ guy than a game-player. So I never thought to ask the presenters about the rules – and, truth to tell, I didn’t even notice if it was a game being played, or a static display!

The Old Pikeys deservedly won the best demo award.

Battle of Assaye, 1803

This ‘Wellington in India’ game really took my fancy, not only for the colourful period, the lovely Indian castle, the beautifully rendered smoke-trails from the rockets – but also for the stylish way that the Boondock Sayntes gaming group played their game, complete with uniforms and wine.

The Battle of Assaye in 1803 pitted a standard Napoleonic period army (albeit with sepoys) against the wildly exotic Maratha army, a juxtaposition that makes this period one I’ve always fancied doing (though I probably never will, as I am no longer keen to start two large armies from scratch!).

You can see that the Sayntes included some playful touches in the castle interior, including a multi-armed deity and a magic rope climber.

If I recall correctly, the Sayntes were using ‘The Men Who Would be Kings’ rules.

The Battle of Mandara, 1801

My pals the Perry twins never disappoint,and this wonderful recreation of a battle in Egypt was no exception. Like the above Indian game, Napoleon’s Egyptian adventure provides an opportunity to add a touch of the mystical East to your more standard Napoleonic game.

This game featured some of the latest offerings from the Perry Miniatures range, and beautiful they are too. I especially loved the cameleers, and of course those impressive British landing craft.

The terrain looked suitably hot and dusty. The ruined temple really set the scene. It was cleverly made from wine bottle corks!

Invasion of the Sugar Islands, 1759

Graham Cummings of Crann Tara Miniatures put on this game based on Stuart Insch’s booklet  ‘A Guide to the British Expedition to Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1759’.

Most of the figures are from the exquisite Crann Tara range, or conversions of these figures. Graham and his friends used the ‘Musket and Tomahawks’ rules.

As a side note, I got excited speaking to Graham when he told me that he is finally going to produce some Gardes Françaises officers wearing stockings, something I’ve long tried to convince him to produce. At last I’ll be able to do a unit of Gardes Françaises exactly as per the famous painting by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.

Attack on the Abbey, 1918

This World War One game put on by the Earlswood Wargames Group was the overall winner of the ‘best of show’ award, and you can see why.

The terrain is what made this game. And it went to show that modelling an effective trench system doesn’t necessarily mean having to cut trenches into a custom board. Instead, this group used individual bases with the trench system raised above the tabletop. They then simply scattered a large amount of flock (homemade, I think) between the individual bases to merge them together. A simple but very effective approach to represent the trench-scarred and crater-spotted earth.

Each of the individual terrain features was a work of art in itself, with puddled craters, duckboards, bits of ravaged trenches, shattered trees, shell bursts, and of course the ruined abbey. There was even a dogfight taking place overhead.

I believe that the trenches were made using Kallistra’s modular Hexon trench system.

The rules being used were Chain of Command.

Russo-Turkish battle, late 17th century

I’ve admired the work of the League of Augsburg from the very first days I began following wargaming pages on the internet. This was the first time I had seen one of their games in real life, and boy did it live up to my expectations!

The modelling work on the wagons, buildings, figures and flags was fantastic. And the teddy-bear terrain was beautifully done.

One feature that caught everyone’s eye was the mortar being fired from inside the encircled wagons, with the shell visible flying out of the plume of smoke – you can see it in all three of my photos below.

Malaya, 1942

During the course of day I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to several well-known faces of the wargaming hobby. Most I had never met in real life before, knowing them only through our online contact via blogs and forums. It was great to finally meet Richard Clarke from Too Fat Lardies in real life rather than ‘virtually’, and for him to treat me like a long-lost friend!

Richard and his team were doing a WW2 participation game set in Malaya. This was another fantastic-looking game, with some great buildings and very effective jungle.

I was so entranced at meeting Richard that I unfortunately neglected my photo-taking duties, and only ended up with these few photos! There was just so much more to this terrain that I should’ve captured. But from these photos, you can at least get an impression of the quality that you’re not seeing!

Blood and Plunder

The Leicester Phat Cats hosted a large ‘Blood and Plunder’ game. The model ships really caught my eye, as this was the first time I had seen these beauties in real life. Although some concessions have been made to make these models workable with wargaming figures, the producers have done their homework and they really look like actual ships.

I didn’t catch the gaming action, but it appears that battles were taking place both on land and sea.

Test of Honour

This was the first game I spotted when I entered the venue, and it immediately attracted my attention because I too am into the Samurai period.

Terry Broomhal had some very impressive buildings and colourful vignettes on his board, as you can see from the pictures.

Discworld Witch Racing

Having travelled halfway round the world to visit Partizan, but with only six hours to take it all in, I didn’t want to lock myself into participating in any games. But as a lover of the Discworld series of books, I just couldn’t resist this ‘witch broomstick racing’ game put on by the Grantham Strategy Club. Luckily it took only about half an hour to complete. Needless to say, I lost the race!

The model figures accurately captured various of Terry Pratchett’s well-loved characters. And the model of Unseen University (made from a cut-out book) was very impressive.

Riot: the Brexit Years

Finally, I’ve got to mention this timely little game put on by the Doncaster Wargames Society. Everyone was talking about Brexit during our trip, so it was interesting to see it represented as a game.

I don’t really know the details of how the game was played, other than I think the vehicles had to negotiate their way from the Houses of Parliament (right) to deliver a message to Buckingham Palace (left), all the time being beset by angry mobs along the the way.

I wish I’d returned to this table to watch the game being played, as I’m sure there would’ve been some very interesting discussions between the players, depending what their views on Brexit were!

 

 

 

 

‘Blood and Plunder’ French faction

I’ve finally finished painting my French faction for the pirate game Blood and Plunder.  Despite the undoubted beauty of these sculpts, this project has been a long one by even my usual slow painting standards. My initial enthusiasm wore off mid-project for some reason, so getting the mojo to finish painting them has taken quite some doing.

I’ve divided the Milice des Caraibes and the Flibustiers figures into two similar units of eight men each (on the right in the above picture). I painted the Milice in off-white coats, which was the most common French uniform colour at that time. The Flibustiers are in blue and red.

Trying out Army Painter Quickshade for the first time helped quicken my pace towards the end. Whilst the Milice and Flibustiers were painted in my normal three-shade style, the Marins and Boucanniers (on the left in the above pic) were simply block-painted and then shaded with brushed-on Quickshade to give depth. I was quite pleased with the final result of this short-cut method.

Another thing that helped rebuild my enthusiasm for painting these figures over the last couple of weeks is a very hush-hush related project I’ve been helping with. Sorry, I wish I could show you, but I can’t for now! So keep watching this space …

The slowest pirates in the world

This has got to be one of the longest paint-jobs I’ve ever done.  A measly eighteen French flibustiers and militia from the Blood and Plunder range by Firelock Games have taken me months and months to paint.

There’s nothing wrong with the figures. In fact, as you can see, they are absolutely exquisite sculpts. But for some reason my heart wasn’t into painting them. Maybe because it is that I have already painted pirates before? Or maybe it is just my whole painting mojo needs a refresh? I’m not sure.

But, anyway, here they are at last. I still have eight boucaniers and seamen to paint (and, again, seem to be continually putting off starting them). And I have a Dutch faction ordered from their Kickstarter – I hope my mojo comes back before they’re due to arrive next  year.

Above: My French captain orders his men into the fight.

Above: The flibustiers in their snazzy blue coats and red breeches.

Above: French ‘special character, Francois L’Olonnais.

Above: The Milice de Caraibes (militia), which I painted in Bourbon pearl-grey uniforms.

‘Blood & Plunder’ pirate game on exquisite terrain

Last night I played my first game of Blood & Plunder by American company, Firelock Games. Blood & Plunder is a 28 mm historical miniatures wargame set in the 17th century during the golden age of piracy.

When Alix Barclay showed me his exquisite Blood & Plunder figures a few weeks ago, I was instantly hooked, even though I already own a Foundry pirate force.

I quickly bought a small French force, which I am currently painting (to be the subject of a future posting), and I have also ordered a Dutch force from Firelock Games’ latest ‘No Peace Beyond the Line’ Kickstarter project.

Last night was a first go at the rules, so Alix and I kept things pretty basic.  We just played a small skirmish on the shore at one end of the table, with everything else just providing a suitably luscious scenic backdrop.

Anyone familiar with me knows that I am not really a rules person, what with my really bad head for numbers, so that I never remember what dice I am supposed to be rolling. throwing. But the basics of this game seem relatively straight forward.

We were hosted by Matt Barker of Printable Scenery, who put together an amazing Caribbean scene featuring a lot of his company’s products. The buildings, bridges, a galleon, wharves, a crane, even a mangrove swamp, were all designed by Printable Scenery and run off on Matt’s 3D printer.

The only non-Printable Scenery items on the table were my own Disney ‘Black Pearl’ toy converted into a Dutch ship, and a couple of my toy longboats.

Whilst this was just a small test game, the terrain we played on was of the highest quality, and would have done any wargames show proud! Here are just a few photos to give a general impression of this beautiful first game of Blood & Plunder.

These last three photos were taken by Alix Barclay.