For England, for home, and for the prize!

Well folks here we are back again. Presenting our projects for the 2014 installment of the Guns of April ! As you all have seen we are covering skirmish sized warbands for Napoleon in Egypt. Unlike last year where I posted numerous photos of the ACW project over many months, I decided to just make one post due to the smaller scope of this project.

For this years project I have the privalge to present you with my take on a British Royal Navy landing party with a detachment of  Royal Marines. Below are some shots of the landing parties and Marines. The miniatures I used this year were from a few manufacturers. The Royal Navy officers and Jack Tars are from Brigade Games. The Royal Marines are a combo of Perry Miniatures plastic British Line Infantry with white metal Royal Marine heads from Victrix LTD. 

I hope you enjoy the photos and until next time. Keep the paint flying!

French Infantry Warband

Even though we've been a bit quiet lately, I know that all the members of the Guns Of April have been preparing for the "Napoleon in Egypt" game at AdeptiCon 2014. Here are the French Infantry models I've been working on over the last couple of months.

Above are a pair of grenadiers flanking a sergeant from the 69me Demi-Brigade de Ligne. The grenadiers are from Victrix, the sergeant is the dismounted Dromedary standard bearer from Brigade Games.

Here are three fusiliers from the 69me Demi-Brigade de Ligne, from Brigade Games' range of excellent  Napoleonic miniatures.

Here are three chasseurs from the 22me Demi--Brigade de Legere

Three of the four French savants from Brigade. Excellent miniatures that will be very handy in our games. The fourth savant will end up on a vignette I'm planning to give away on the night : )

And six French sailors. Four of these are from Brigade's Napoleonic range, and the other two (rear center and rear right) are from a Victorian range by Brigade, but they certainly fit in.

And here's a look at all of the French Infantry I've painted up so far. These will be good for at least two Infantry warbands in our AdeptiCon gaming.

I hope you like them : )

Cheers
Dave

Let's try this again...

Yesterday I tried to post up these photos of my Dromedary Corps, along with their warband list for use with Legends of The High Seas. Sadly, Blogger saw fit to completely mess with the formatting of my "copy and paste" on the warband list and wouldn't let me correct it, no matter how hard I tried.

So, until I work it all out, you'll just get the pretty pictures.

Above is my Dromedary Corps warband (minus the Savant that will accompany them). These models are sculpted by Paul Hicks, and sold by Brigade Games as part of their excellent Napoleon In Egypt range.

For each of the mounted models, I painted up a matching model on foot (just in case their camel gets shot from underneath them). From left to right: The Captain (is his local attire), the ADC (in a dashing red, Hussar pelise), and two Dromedary Corps troopers.

Should they all end up on foot, they'll look something like this. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed painting the models, they were a real treat!

Merry Christmas, and see you all next year!

Cheers
Dave

French Troops in Egypt

Hello everyone. Its seems the Guns of April crew is off to a slow start for the 2014 event but behind the scenes we are working diligently towards our goal. When we completed our 2013 event portraying the first day actions at Gettysburg we all voted on what we would like to do for 2014. As previously mentioned we are going to run a skirmish level game of small warbands fighting it out in Egypt.

I took this opportunity to try a few new painting techniques after experiencing the time consuming painting process I used during our first project of the Battle of Salamanca. I primed my miniatures white rather than black which goes against everything I stand for when painting miniatures but since I was only painting 12 miniatures what the worse that could happen, right? :)

I tried another first by purchasing a bottle of the new Vallejo Model Wash Light Grey to see if it would make a nice wash for the white clothing and leather. After a few experimentations using the wash right out of the bottle wasn't giving me the right look so I added some Vallejo Gloss Varnish, water, and white glue for the desired result.

The miniatures are ready for some clean up but the wash allowed me to shade the white areas and it also showed me all the details on the miniature which was an added benefit. The next steps will be to begin basing all the colors to prepare the miniature for the Army Painter Dark Shade 'wash'.

Until next time.....

My goodness, it's hot in here!

You could certainly be forgiven for thinking that we've all been on an extended summer vacation. Some of us did manage to escape for a bit, while others have been reveling in the joy that is new parenthood. Anyway, as the weather starts to turn cooler, we're about to turn our efforts back to preparations for Adepticon 2014!

Next year, the Guns of April efforts will be split (or doubled, depending on how you look at it) between two projects. The first is one that is led by Joe Krone, a man working on his first set of published rules for fighting in Eighteenth-Century North America. When Joe is ready, he'll jump in with what the project is all about.

The second project (led by yours truly) is all about skirmish battles in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, in 1800 (or thereabouts). Inspired by a great article by Steve Dake on the Rosetta Stone published in WI294, I've conned Steve into writing even more for us, and worked with him on creating warbands (or "parties") for the turbulent time surrounding the discovery of the Rosetta Stone (and countless other antiquities).

Above you can see the start of my French Dromedary Corp party. Soon, very soon, they'll have camels too!

We've worked up eight party lists to be used with the Legends of the High Seas rules (from Warhammer Historical, and based on the Lord of The Rings rules). These lists are:

French:
• Dromedary Corp
• Infantry
• Cavalry
British:
• Royal Navy
• Army
Locals:
• Egyptians
• Ottoman Turks
• Mamelukes

I'm thinking that as we progress through this project I should post the lists to solicit feedback for you guys. What do you think?

Cheers
Dave

Gettysburg: The True Account......

On the anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg, I thought it was fitting to review a recently published book on the battle by a good friend, fellow gamer and avid historian, Iain C. Martin.  The book is titled "Gettysburg: The True Account Of Two Young Heroes In The Greatest Battle Of The Civil War."  The book is a 172 page hardcover book intended for the young adult reader and those new to the period and the battle.  Iain has published a number of other books on various periods and you can find a more complete list of those at the following link.

Although intended for a young adult audience I found the book a fantastic reference on the battle.  For those like myself who have a very general idea of the battle, I found the book gave a very readable analysis of the battle and the major players and avoided being bogged down by excessive details and analysis.  So although a "general history" I found it contained exactly what the initiate to The Battle of Gettysburg needed to comprehend the scope and importance of the battle.

The book is filled with quotes from many sources, from the legendary such as Robert E. Lee to the relatively unknown.  This later group includes two young adults who, as civilians living in Gettysburg, published first hand accounts of the battle many years later.  Iain has a real knack for weaving the stories and words of those involved into the narrative, which brings the story to life in a real way.  Rather than an academic treatment of the regiments, charges, and skirmishes of the battle, the book puts a human face to the battle and allows the reader to feel a emotional connection to the events.

Beyond the well detailed chronicling of those three days, the book gives a brief analysis of the importance of the conflict and it's impact on our country even today.  By no means is this a detailed historical treatment and debate but it simply attempts to highlight other historians have argued is the lasting impact on our country.

In addition to wonderful coverage of the battle itself, the book is packed full of period photographs, beautiful artwork and military maps.  The book is a wonderful reference for any miniature gamer looking to recreate the units of this period in miniature.  It is the sort of book you could sit and page through, stopping to analyze pictures from the period or to admire the dynamic and beautiful artwork by Don Troiani.

Although marketed as a young adult book I think most fans of civil war history and especially novice historical gamers like me will find this book thoroughly readable and a wonderful visual and historical reference.  I know this book will become a permanent part of my historical wargaming reference collection and see use for many years to come.

Gettysburg, 1 July 1863. The Game Report

Finally, after a year of planning, modeling, painting, and cursing the size of the project, the 2013 Guns Of April Gettysburg game has been played out. Last Friday night at Adepticon, most of the GOA team gathered and threw down on our table that had traveled all the way from Maryland on the Battlefront Miniatures truck. As is always the way with big, collaborative projects, there were a few hiccups along the way. These hiccups included:

• One team member unable to deliver his four regiments of Confederates to Rob before he left for the show. Thankfully Merle had thought to bring some spares and after a frenzied hour of flocking, we had enough modes to cover the shortfall.

• Yours truly forgetting to bring his Guns Of April shirt. Not much that could be done about it, but rest assured I did not play sans shirt.

• The rental truck containing our tables and terrain leaked as it traveled through the wild storms that lashed the Midwest on their journey out to the show. The boards suffered the worst of it, with the surface buckling in a number of places, and the PVA glue being "reactivated" - creating large patches of white on the tables. Fortunately we were able to move a couple of tree bases around to cover the most glaring of these spots. As you can see in the table shot above, the overall effect wasn't diminished as the eye was drawn to the details, filling in "the gaps" as it were.

We had six team members playing: Dave P, Joe, Merle, and myself for the Union - Rob and Jamie for the Confederates. Fortunately Merle's buddies Chris and Jay volunteered to fill the command shoes for the Rebels, and we set off with four players aside.

The Confederates fielded four Infantry Brigades, two of them supported by attached artillery.
The Union fielded three Infantry Brigades, one Cavalry Brigade, and one Artillery Brigade.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention we had over 1,000 models on the table at one point, not too shabby ; )

Anyway, on to the photos!

Looking west along the Chambersburg Pike, the famous Seminary in the foreground (graciously supplied by Jim Ferich) and flanked by Buford's Cavalry Brigade (commanded by Dave P).

The view from the southeast, the Iron Brigade (commanded by me) in column advancing along McPherson's Ridge and Willoughby Run.

Archer's Confederate Infantry Brigade (commanded by Rob) appear from the west, ready to advance on Gettysburg. All other Confederate brigades were off table and would enter play randomly.

Rob (left), Chris (center), and Jay (right) begin to plan their assault.

A great command roll saw the Iron Brigade barrel down the pike towards Archer's Brigade (their historical counterparts in the battle).

At the start of the second turn, two of the Confederate Brigades appeared to the north. It was with no small amount of consternation that the Union realized, with some good rolling, that the rebels could break the back of the North early on. We also had plenty of onlookers for the game, anywhere from 5-25 at a time. Not too bad for a convention founded on sci-fi and fantasy gaming.

Here you can see the Confederates advancing onto the table, starting to close in on the Iron Brigade on the right, and traversing the Railway Cut on the left.

The Iron Brigade hunker down behind the fences on the Chambersburg Pike.

By now the Union Artillery Brigade had entered play but unfortunately, due to some miscalculations, found itself up against a fence, still limbered up. The following turn saw the gunners handily beaten in combat by the boys from the South. Without a single shot being fired, the Union's much-valued support was removed from the table.

Looking north we can see the Buford's Cavalry and a Union Infantry Brigade (commanded by Merele) building a solid defensive line across the Railway Cut, hoping to prevent a breakout by Jamie's Confederates.

About two thirds of the way through the battle, you can see (roughly) the state of affairs. The Union right is pretty solid, while it's left is seriously strung out and under attack from two sides. Also, most of the cookies have been eaten ; )

On the western end of the Union line the 2nd Wisconsin are under assault from rebels to the left and front. Thanks to some surprising dice rolling I was able to bust out a paraphrase of the quote that lead to the Iron Brigade's nickname (McClellan to Hooker: "What troops are those fighting in the Pike?" Hooker replied, "[Brigadier] General Gibbon's brigade of Western men." McClellan stated, "They must be made of iron."). After three combat phases, however, the 2nd Wisconsin finally failed their break test and were forced to retire.

And finally, Joe's Irish Brigade (after four turns of nothing but one move per turn) were able to create a new defensive line, just as the Iron Brigade were broken and started to fall back.

In the end, we all agreed that it had been an excellent game and that the result was a minor Union victory, but not so strong as to cause the Confederates to buy us beers. There was a little bit of backslapping and a few huzzahs, before we launched straight into discussions about next year's project. But more on that later...

Thanks to everyone who has been following this blog for your comments and support along the way : )

Cheers
Dave