Read All Abaht It! Read All Abaht It! Engerland Invaded! Read All Abaht It... (And Other Weird Shit...)

 It's the 5th of April and I'm only just sitting down to update this blog, because I've been so absorbed and occupied by, work for the last week.

Add to this that I am chasing a £2000 refund from a well known company for a cancelled order, which, is not going well, and I suspect I am being 'slow timed'. But no matter, it's a mere fly on the milk skin of life. The longer it takes, the more likely I am to be sympathetic in my reportage.... But, it does grind to have to be chasing this up when I am also so busy.

And, the world seems to be going mad, so having wargaming to fall back on is a wonderful thing. We thankfully, have a pastime without international governing bodies, and should resist such things at all costs, as well as shunning 'big box' companies which seek to dominate the market and destroy the very variety and individuality, so essential to gaming.

But, that's another blog post.

I have, for a few years now had a real itch for the Perry Miniatures 'British Intervention Force' range, which are lovely, being post-Crimean and to my eyes the epitome of the 'toy soldier' look of uniform.

I have previously almost had my finger on the button to pitch a British division against a Union division, but I got cold feet.

However... Then along comes the Perry Franco Prussian War range, and I remember both a club game where the venerable John Armatys - may his pipe never go out - fielded two splendid 15mm British and Prussian armies using wonderfully painted in toy soldier style, Peter Laing 15mm figures.

These days, if you mention Peter Laing figures, people look at you askance. What kind of world is it when such hobby pioneers as the wonderful Peter, are consigned to the memories of a few Grognards? But I digress...

This game looked charming, with John even having the regimental mascot for one of his British regiments. Thus, when I remembered this, teary-eyed, I reckoned that if such a confrontation was good enough for Mr Armatys, then it was good enough for me.

I mooted my mad idea on the Yarkshire Gamer Facebook group, and was pointed towards a novella by Sir George Chesney, which considers a supposed Germanic invasion of England.

Well, that did it...

So, it was off to Perry Miniatures (of course) and some planning for two forces with which to defile the English countryside.

As you will know by now, I have a great selection of stone built English buildings from Grand Manner, including farms, barns and that lovely English churchyard, together with walled lanes from Hudson & Allen amongst much more. Thus, I can do some really nice battlefields to fight over.

 

For the British I have gone with:

3 battalions of Guards (2 Grenadier and 1 Scots Fusilier)

A Guards skirmish line

12 battalions of line

4 artillery pieces

2 regiments of Hussars

2 regiments of Lancers

1 regiment Yeomanry

Command

For the Prussians, I have opted for:

15 battalions of foot

4 artillery pieces

 2 regiments of Cuirassiers

2 regimennts of Hussars

1 regiment of Ulhans

1 regiment of Dragoons

Command

I'll be adding some Jager too at some stage...

 

So that will, I hope, make for some fun multi-player games which are also very attractively staged and coloured, with those wonderful 'cigarette card' uniforms of the era.

Beyond that, I'll add French forces, thus giving me the option for a change of invader, or the more mundane straigh FPW scenario. The French are possibly a more realistic option, following the Orsini Affair, but for me, having seen the excellent game on the Perry Miniatures Facebook page, that heady mix of stalwart Redcoats and blue-clad Teutonic Sausage Eaters is where I want to start.

I would like to thank those member of the Yarkshire Gamer FB group who weighed in over the last week, when I announced this seemingly insane idea, for pointing me in the direction of various books and possibilities, such as the opportunities for naval punch-ups , which of course, Navwar be able to cater for.

Now, I know some gamers will baulk at my plans, but let's face it, it's no worse than the old 'club games' where we would use an army list to buy and build 'in-period' forces and test them against each other. Yes, like most gamers I enjoy a full on historical battle, but testing contemporary armies against each other is also fun and in many cases, allows you to get more mileage from your toys.

A 28mm army of divisional sixe of higher is not cheap these days, and we have come to accept that paying as much for a plastic miniature as we did for metal is now the norm and acceptable. It isn't really.

Thus, being able to put away your sniffiness and bluster, and pit historically accurate formations from a given era against each other using correct tactical doctrines, is great fun.  After all, most games we play, unless we are refighting an actual battle are nothing more than'what if' scenarios.

Remember, the Barbary Corsairs did 'invade' England in the 17th century, (And yes, I am working on a game based on those slave raids) something you would not believe possible. 

Other than that, I am thankfully at a stage where I have all my fantasy based up, so far, but my painter sent me some pictures of the Beastmen he is working on as part of my old school Chaos forces, in the shape of 160 Broo - a mix of the multi-part set and mono-pose models:

I am dreading having to stick all the fragile metal weapons on them, so I may simply use steel spears where possible. After all, who doesn't like a goat-headed man, with a spear?

He's also working on some classic Harpies:

I think I have a dozen of these, then there are the 160 or so Chaos Warriors and about 36 of the excellent Asgard Miniatures 'Creatures Of Chaos' along with numerous demons. All in all, a lovely battle group, which is going to take several weekends to base up, on arrival.

Well, that's about it for now, so I shall leave you to your Sunday...

TTFN