The Games are back on !! Starting next week

 Good Morning All

With the UK government announcing that restrictions are to be lifted next week on meeting inside I can report that the Shed will be open for gaming once again on Monday 17th May. Its been far too long since I have been able to host games and I cannot wait.

On the basis that this was going to be the case I have been busy planning, structuring and writing all of the battle set ups for the Wars of the Roses engagements from Wakefield through to Towton, and starting from Monday we will be refighting the battle of Wakefield. With a bit of luck we are going to try and make up for lost time and try to get two shed games in per week.

I'll be setting up the game over the weekend so watch out for a post. In the meantime please stay safe

Eric the Shed

 

 

Revisiting Khartoum - the project is almost complete

Back in October 2017 when I started my Sudan project and it was always my intention to attempt to build a ficticious desert city in 28mm (aka Kghartoum). This city could double up as Cairo, cities in Afghanistan, India etc. Almost four years later that ambition has almost been realised.

I give you my Desert city...

Most of the buildings have now been finished. I have added 'flower pots' with greenery to provide a more organic feel. The pots themselves are beads to make necklaces.

All the buildngs sit on 30 x 30cm plywood bases. Many of these are of a courtyard arrangement.

The buildings are all predominantly mdf buildings covered in filler and sand. The domes are polystyrene half spheres sourced from ebay.

The shot below shows the untreated groundwork for the marketplace. The tiles are eva foam glued in place using pva foam.

The finished buildings

The mosque towers are cardboard tubes with tea light lanterns. Still need to paint these.

I have also started on a couple of breached wall sections - work in progress below

Almost finished

A few more shots of the city

The shot above shows a more open city sitting on my desert mat whereas the shot below shows a more condensed set up.

The Governors mansion...

The locals investigate their new town...

With a bit of luck we will be out of lockdown soon and the games can begin...

The Plain Wars - 28mm part 2

 Good Morning Folks

Finally managed to get round to finishing the US Cavalry for my Plains war project. All the figures shown in the pictures are either from Foundry or Artisan Designs. They are virtually identical size wise.

If you missed the first post in this series head HERE

At the moment I am still deliberating on (and writing my own) ruleset for this period but I envisage both one to one skirmish and company level games. With that in mind and the fact I ended up with a surplus of standard bearers my US cavalry takes to the field in four companies each thirteen men strong . Each company can be fielded both on horse and dismounted.

 

Compared to my Indians (native americans these were a joy to paint) - I even managed to paint in the yellow trouser stripe !

The flags are home made and they are probably too large but they do stand out on the table.

'A' company ready for action

That's it for now - more soon

A new project - the Plain Wars in 28mm part1

Good Afternoon Folks

First up I am still alive ;-) ....and better still I have now had my first jab !

I must apologise for the dreadful lack of posts in the last three months. For a variety of reasons (chiefly no gaming) I have not really been motivated to post up on the blog , however that does not mean I have been idle since Christmas. 

From March 29th we will be returning to the historic refights of the War of the Roses games shortly  - from this date six people can mix socially outside. Games will of course be alfresco. 

To keep myself busy I embarked on a new project in January. The decision to start the plains wars project (think Cavalry versus Indians) was perhaps made rather hastily made when I won a surprise bid on ebay for a large amount of foundry Red Indians. With the purchase made I scoured ebay for more figures and eventually I have ended up with over 100 mounted chaps and around 70 foot. These are all predominately Foundry 28mm but there are a few Conquest miniatures thrown in. Simultaneously I have been building the US Cavalry and these will be shared in the next post.

The initial pile of lead below.

Inspiration for uniforms etc drawn from these two excellent books

Horses all mounted on 25x50mm oval bases (Warbases) - ready for priming

Primed with Halfords grey paint

Painted and dipped before varnishing

Riders mounted on sticks...

Block painted before being painted with Army painters strong tone dip

Starting on the foot...

Cavalry take to the field - this is the single largest block of cavalry I have painted for one side. Previously it was my 80+ Norman cavalry - the board for reference is 2ft x 4ft 

Horse bases made up out of hexes - I am working on some homebrew rules and if they work I will share on the blog

Slots for oval bases cut from eva foam - sand and grit added

Painted and flocked

Enough bases made for around 160 figures

Indian riders take to the field on their new movement trays

These chaps look rather fierce

Each movement tray holds hour horses

Foot mounted on 25mm washers - they will eventually be on hex bases as well

A tribal war party

I have also started on some home brew wigwams !!

Come back soon to see the cavalry coming over the hill

All the best and stay safe

Part 2 the US Cavalry can now be found HERE

War of the Roses - Forces complete

 Happy New Year Folks

Finally got round to setting out all my WOTR forces on my new homemade snowy battle mat. Dont think I need any more at the moment.

Reverse view

 6 units of men at arms

cannons, handgunners and crossbows

Pikes & cavalry

Cavalry - light and heavy

Pikes

25 units of longbows

21 units of bills

assorted infantry command

Bills

Ranked bowmen

More soon