Special Guest Blogger: They called me mad, but I did it!

I, Daniel Hoyt, have once again hijacked this blog for my own devilish purposes. This time I am here to display the much awaited results of my four month mega terrain project monstrosity. They took many man-hours to finish, but they are finally complete. I present to the world, my 28mm First World War western front modular trench system. I apologize for the poor quality of the pics, they were taken with my iPhone.

Relief at last!

Whew! I've got that familiar feeling of relief again. I've slogged my way through the last 10 figures of les Grenadiers à Cheval Boursin, bringing this cavalry unit up to 28 figures. While it looks very cool as a massed unit on the table, it has been a bit of a struggle for me to finish it. Besides my general lack of painting time and energy lately, I frankly just became tired of painting the same figure over and over. Not sure why this was the case with this unit. I was able to crank out 40+ of the same figure for my first ImagiNation infantry unit in record time without the same painting ennui. I think I'll take a break from cavalry for a while and concentrate on more infantry and guns. Next up, in fact, are some limbers for the battalion guns of Régiment d'Infanterie Roquefort and an ammunition wagon to supply them. After that, more Grenadiers de Camembert (in their sweet violet uniforms), then for something completely different, the WWI Russian Baltic fleet (not in 28mm, of course...though that would be mighty impressive).

 

Two views of the premier cavalry regiment of Le Grand-Duché de Gourmandie, les Grenadiers à Cheval Boursin (28 figures strong). 

This unit consists of three squadrons, each with its own distinctive facing colour. The newest addition is 3e Escadron on the right of the regimental line (left side of the photo) in the violet facings. Out front is the command party led by Colonel Georges LeRoque, Comte de Villenveulle in his distinctive bronzed cuirass. His stand-off nature does little to endear him to his men, down upon whom he looks with disdain. This is is in stark contrast to the commander of 1er Escadron, Chef d'Escadron Phillipe Langeron (in the front rank, to the farthest right in the picture), a charismatic and popular man (except with his fellow high-born officers).

WWII: adding to the collection

I know that sometime in the distant past I was happy to have finished my WWII 1940 "project in a box" but surprise of surprises...I'm moving onto a second box. Thus, it is soon to become a "project in two boxes." Damn, but I have no self-control. "Oooh, shiny! Must have 'em!"

And I put the blame for this squarely on the shoulders of Vidal and Martin. Perhaps blame is not quite the right word here. In the case of Vidal, he needs only show me a new toy or expose me to a new rule set or gaming genre and I inevitably get hooked. Martin Jensen (he of WGG Distribution), on the other hand has had a more direct and focused effect on my ability to withstand the "must buy the shiny new toy" syndrome. At Hotlead last weekend, his silky sales technique forced (yes, forced) me to purchase (entirely against my will) an entire Polish infantry platoon of Warlord Games figures. And then what does he do? He comes with Vidal on Monday to the Bramptonia Gaming Palace with his bright wit and easy smile to play what? WWII, of course! Oh, I see their evil and cunning plan. Don't think that I can't see what's going on here. Laugh and joke while we play and all the time planting the seed of WWII collecting firmly again in my psyche! (OK, I won't mention that two weeks earlier at Cold Wars I  bought an entire British 1940 platoon from Crusader Miniatures)

And so, on to the Monday WWII game. Vidal commanded a reinforced platoon of German motorized infantry tasked with capturing and holding a key bridge from Martin's French force. Martin commanded a standard French infantry platoon with some armour support (assuming you categorize FT-17s as armour support). Rather than bore anyone with a lengthy AAR, I've included a couple of photos from the game below. 

  

German infantry and armour advance in the face of fierce French resistance. 

Crusader figures and AGNM Pz 38(t).

 

A French S-35 faces down a German Pz 38(t) and a StugIIIC in the distance. Surprisingly, despite quite a few armour hits, not a single AFV was destroyed in this game.

Vehicles from AGNM.

The game ended in a French victory since they still held the bridge as night approached (actually, the doorbell rang and the pizza arrived, thus ending the game). Highlights of the game? German pioneers  completely clearing two houses filled with French troops in a single turn! That flammenwerfer is a nasty piece of equipment. And Martins' skillful use of terrain and resources to conduct a true defence in depth. He was able to disengage a portion of his first line (that part that hadn't been fired by the flammenwerfer) and withdraw to a second defensive line while the Germans were reorganizing after their initial attacks. It's not often I see a true defence in depth on the gaming table. Gamers tend to hold pieces of ground stubbornly without much thought to multiple lines of defence. 

Thanks Vidal and Martin for great game! Martin is off home to Saudi Arabia later this month. Stay safe!

Hotlead 2011 & Cold Wars 2011

I notice it's been almost three weeks since my last posting and judging from comments at Hotlead yesterday, I need to get caught up. Vidal and I attended Hotlead yesterday with our posse (thanks Shane and Andrew, but I think dark glasses would have served better) and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who told me they enjoyed the blog and were wondering about my recent dearth of posts. Thanks to all who expressed interest and all I can say is that my new job has very annoyingly jumped in the way of my hobby life. Surprisingly, it's not been a lack of time for hobby stuff (such as this blog) but a lack of brain power. The first four or five weeks of working again saw me brain dead in the evenings with little enough initiative to eat and find the TV remote let alone pick up a paint brush. Over the last couple of weeks I've started to get my brain power back to normal (no comments...Sean, I'm looking at you). 

So, what's been up? Starting with the most recent, as I said we drove down to Stratford for Hotlead yesterday. This convention never disappoints. James and his crew put on a first-rate show that seems to be very well-attended. I'll make some more comments about Hotlead on the Council Fires blog but in short, kudos to James and the Hotlead staff for all their hard work.

Two weeks ago I took the low road down to Lancaster, PA for Cold Wars to help Ken at the ATKM booth. From the moment I walked into the lobby of the Lancaster Host and smelled the musty carpets (the same carpets, I suspect, I trod on 15-20 years ago), experienced the re-modeled rooms (yeah, that's funny), and tasted the heinous coffee served in the dealer hall,  I realized that while it wasn't quite like the metaphorical "coming home," it was at least more like visiting a poor elderly aunt  in her dimly lit and musty Victorian home: oddly comforting and yet disquieting at the same time. 

Cold Wars proved to be a typically exhausting but highly pleasurable experience. Ken and I have the HMGS convention experience down to a fine art. Building and tearing down the booth has become a finely-tuned exercise and balancing sleep, work and cigars is often a challenge but always fun. Highlights of the show? Meeting up again with Bob and Matt Lehman from Ohio and co-hosting a huge 54mm War of 1812 game on Saturday night. I've included a couple of photos of the game here that I skimmed of off the ATKM site (thanks Ken!).

I received word yesterday that Bob and Matt will be bringing their 54mm goodness to Council Fires 2011!

 

Bob's terrain, as always, was superb. I believe we had a total of 48 units on the table, all in glorious 54mm! This battle was far larger than any historical 1812 battle, save perhaps New Orleans. Bob and Ken already have plans to host a massive 54mm Battle of Waterloo game in 2015 for the battle's anniversary and to showcase Ken's new Napoleonic figure range. I don't doubt for a moment Bob's enthusiasm for this project and especially his ability to pull it off. He's a painting machine! Thanks Bob and Matt for a great weekend!

Other points of note about Cold Wars? I thought their was marked decrease in attendance, at least from a dealer's perspective (note: I spent very little time in the games rooms during the peak hours). When I wandered the dealer hall, I never had to wait to get to a dealer's booth, I was never elbowed inadvertently, and the aisles were often empty enough to fire a cannon ball down.

This, of course, facilitated my shopping and I was able to fill my list (and more). I walked away with a bucket load of Crusader SYW figures from Old Glory to bolster my growing ImagiNation forces. From OG I also scooped up an entire British platoon for my WWII 1940 project (yeah, I know I said that project was finished but more of that anon). I also found a few GHQ 1:2400 WWI ships to fill in some holes in my squadron OBs (I'll say little about the new Russian fleet I also bought...).

Back to Hotlead for a moment to mention that this year saw the first appearance of WGG Distribution, a new distributor and vendor in Canada operated by Martin Jensen. It took very, very little convincing for Martin to talk me into buying an entire Warlord Games 1939 Polish platoon (I guess I'll need another box for this collection after all). Martin and Vidal are visiting the gaming palace here in Bramptonia this week for some gaming and Martin has promised to bring along some support teams and tankettes to bolster the Polish infantry. Can we see Polish lancers on the horizon? Look for a game report from this impending visit.

Last but not least for this posting, I haven't been completely idle at the painting desk of late (just slowed down). Today I finished the basing on the second squadron of the Grenadiers a Cheval Boursin, seen below.

 

2e Escadron, Grenadiers à Cheval Boursin 

backed up by 1er Escadron and led by Chef d'Escadron Phillipe Langeron and his newly-arrived trumpeter. Front Rank figures.

A closer look at Chef d'Escadron Phillipe Langeron and the regimental trumpeter.

3e Escadron will be arriving soon from the depot, resplendent in their violet facings.

Council Fires Returns!

It's time to reveal  the mystery project to which I alluded in my last posting. I said then there was something on the horizon. Well, the ship has been stocked with supplies and has set sail to reach that horizon! The observant among you will have noticed a recent advertisement on TMP about a new gaming convention in Southern Ontario. 

Click on the image below to find out more!

A couple of obviously demented hobby enthusiasts have decided to resurrect what seemed to be a long-dead convention experience. Last seen in 2000 (or was it 1999?), Council Fires was a cozy and friendly one-day event held in Paris, Ontario. The current iteration is slated for October 1, 2011 at the Cambridge Newfoundland Club. Unfortunately, there is no accompanying 18-hole golf course but the new venue has many more amenable features. In addition to 5,000+ square feet of gaming and vendor space, Council Fires sports a full-service bar, close proximity to restaurants and shopping (2 minutes away on foot), and the best hobby vendors in Ontario. 

Why Cambridge? It was felt that a location somewhat equidistant from the vibrant gaming community in the London/Stratford area and the larger populated areas in the Hamilton-Toronto corridor would be best. The Cambridge Newfoundland Club is a couple km south of the Highway 401/Highway 24 junction in Cambridge and is easily accessible from anywhere along the 401 and 403 corridors.

Although it's only a one day convention, there will be a lot included in this seemingly limited time. There will be four gaming sessions, each four hours in length. How is this possible in one day? There will be two streams of gaming, running concurrently. Stream One will have a 0900-1300 and 1400-1800 game slots and Stream Two will see 1200-1600 and 1700-2100 slots.

You can follow the "comings and goings" of the convention organizers on the Council Fires blog or on Facebook (click images):

Council Fires is, as the banner says, an attempt to bring back the joy and nostalgia of playing with toy soldiers! So, bring your sense of humour, your camaraderie, and your joy of the hobby to Cambridge this fall!

And don't forget the other premier gaming event in southern Ontario, happening later this month, HotLead. Hope to see you there!

Carlist Wars scrap...and something on the horizon!

I've been a little quiet on the painting front the last couple of weeks after a rather productive January. Starting a new job, I'm sure, has something to do with my declining output (sucks how a need to make a living gets in the way of one's hobbies). I've also been working on another hobby-related project of which I can say nothing as yet (sworn to secrecy and all). Look to TMP over the next few days to see what I'm talking about. Despite my slowed painting pace, I've been able to get in a few games while still puttering away at my painting desk.

One of these took place a couple of Fridays ago when Darek Choroszewski came by for a game of Sharp Practice with my Carlist Wars collection. Darek has purchased some figures to join in the recent ImagiNation craze and wanted to try Sharp Practice as an option to game with his soon-to-be army. We had a fun little scrap that hopefully inspired Darek to try more.

9th "Irish" BAL begin taking hits and shock points as they advance. My new attempt at magnetic Big Man labels can be seen in this photo.

Carlist cavalry hits BAL cavalry in the flank.

More Carlist cavalry bears down on a BAL rocket section.

Artillery and Grenadiers

January and February have seen productive days at my painting desk, most likely because I'm trying to get as much finished as possible before starting my new job on Monday. I've been puttering away at my new ImagiNation project and you can see the net result below. Regiment Roquefort has been increased to five groups of eight figures each for a total of 40 figures (plus 8 command figures). I have also added this week the two 4lb battalion guns and crews and eight grenadier figures. Originally, the sixth group (or division) for Regiment Roquefort was to be made up of grenadiers but plans have changed. Crusader has no grenadier figures to even remotely match the "French with unfastened coats" I'm using for the musketeers. I had purchased eight Austrian grenadiers with bearskins and turnbacks with the idea of using them as the grenadier division of the regiment (note: these are small "d" divisions, tactical sub-groups of a battalion). Unfortunately, once I had them in my hands I realized how much different they would look beside the musketeers and decided instead to finish the regiment off with a sixth division of musketeers (currently on order). 

What then to do with the grenadiers? My original plan was for the army of Gourmandie to have grenadier battalions made up of the combined divisions from the line regiments. Because the plan has changed, Gourmandie will have permanent grenadier battalions and I painted the first eight figures to represent the Grenadiers de Camembert.

 

Two battalions of Regiment Roquefort, two battalion guns,

All figures from Crusader and flags by GMB.

Grenadiers de Camembert, 1er Division.

Artillerie de Regiment Roquefort. 

Each of the two battalions of the regiment will field one of these guns to bolster its firepower. Winging their way from Front Rank are limbers and ammunition caissons to accompany these.

As is my wont with new projects, I have already begun planning an opposing army for Gourmandie. These will take the shape of Das Kaiserreich (The Empire), a loosely organized group of independent Germanic principalities and duchies, based vaguely on the Holy Roman Empire. I have ordered some infantry and cavalry to start this ImagiNation and hope in the next few months to host a game or two with the opposing armies.

Up next, more Grenadiers a Cheval Boursin...