Succumbed

I succumbed to buying  Bolt action rules tonight for vbcw and Seelowe gaming. Anyone used them?

The pike fitter's lamentations

My pikes arrived last weekend from North Star and they look  the business. My figures need to hold them vertically. I cannot find storage for such "tall" figures yet,a cardboard box isn't strong enough and I don't want to lay the figures on their sides as the pikes knock off easily. Superglue doesn't seem to hold the pikes without them pinging off if touched. What do others do- Araldite? Answers here please to help me restart this project!
P.S Congrats to Dan and Michael on the official publication day of their rules.I know lots of gamers who are going to really have fun with these and hopefully a renaissance of renaissance gaming in 2017.

A portable wargame circa 1898

I have set up a wee game. The Spanish are defending a village and the Americans are trying to take it. I am using the rules from the book mentioned in the previous post.

The figures are 15mm Frei Korps,the board is a hand gridded cereal packet, the river/road from a dba terrain set of many years ago and the buildings are of unknown origin. I will play a few moves tonight and carry on tomorrow...

Bob Cordery "The Portable Wargame"

Last night, feeling a tad under the weather, I returned from work frozen. Waiting for me was a copy of Bob Cordery's new book "The Portable Wargame". I really enjoyed reading it last night- through a  brief history of gridded wargames, first principles and then onto the rules themselves.He also includes two example games to set us on the right track.
 He has done us all proud- something for the busy gamer with limited time or space. A chance to play periods one has always dreamed of but not had the wherewithal to game them. Later in the week I am intending to set up two solo games- a WW2 game based on Denmark 1940 and another involving Spain and America in 1898. Here's what a fellow gamer has to say-
http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/the-portable-wargame-brief-review.html

I see no point in repeating his excellent comments other than to say that this book's value is well beyond the price and will give you hours of gaming fun alone or with others. Go on give it a try you won't regret it!

1940 Danish Bicycle Troops

Having watched a splendid film  about the invasion of Denmark in 1940 see- http://tradgardland.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/9-april.html and having bought the figures I finally got some finished today-

Here they are set up on my portable wargames gridded cloth and terrain.I hope to play the game later this week where my Danish Bicycle troops will attempt to thwart a German invasion.

Saturday

Walking uptown today I met a fellow blogger who I had not seen in ages. I really enjoyed chatting with him about current projects and enthusiasms.
Earlier in the morning I took this photo of the hobby corner in my bedroom-

  Needing work to return it to some semblance of order quickly. Instead of doing this I spent much of the afternoon finishing off painting,basing and movement trays for my Dragon Rampant Scandinavian Late Bronze Age.

Now for opponents - more of the same,Mycenaean sailors/explorers? All thoughts or suggestions welcome! 

Great minds think...

Only the other day I had been musing about using Scandinavian Bronze age chaps for Lion Rampant, I had even left a comment on " I live with cats" regarding the matter. Now I discovered ( happily over coffee  at my daily blog review this morning) that Dan Mersey has just published a list for Dragon Rampant for this period
merseybooks: Dragon Rampant: Hyperborean Northern European Bron...: Dragon Rampant, my big skirmish fantasy wargame, allows you to take to the battlefield at t he head of a warband of around  50–70  models...

Yet another distraction to follow,can't wait...

A blast from the past

Much of the day has been spent sorting forces for "The Pikeman's Lament" and using current figures I should have  three smallish forces- A ECW Scottish Covenanter one which will be opposed by either Montrose's Scottish Royalist or an English one of the Bishop's Wars for different scenarios. Whilst sorting things out I came upon this chap-

 The flag was drawn by Jan in the early days of our marriage for a display game to be put on at Claymore of the battle of Winwick Pass. It goes without saying he will be pressed into service once more. She also painted this for the same display game-

which I found in a drawer after some searching. It hung on the wall behind our game.

Flags of the 1st and 2nd Bishop's wars- can you help?

Can anyone help me with what flags did the English Militia/Trained Bands carry in 1638? Any info on coat colours would be very useful too.
Thanks
Alan

Upon my return...

When I got home from work today a pleasant surprise awaited me-

They read very well and the layout is excellent. The rules look straight forward and great fun. The sample companies are a most interesting mix and include some conflicts that may well be less well known to readers. The authors are to be congratulated on their hard work which will help broaden the appeal of Pike and Shot wargaming. Do not hesitate to buy them they will give you some great games I am sure.

One of my targets for 2017 is to spend less upon the hobby both in terms of lead and books. For this reason I am going out to the shed  (unlit unfortunately) to see what figures can be pressed into service- probably ECW in Scotland or maybe the  Bishop's Wars but we will see. I wish to carry on a separate Old School Minifigs ECW/TYW grid based project. Taking this into account and my new blog it looks like 2017 will have a 17th Century flavour to it.

A whole new world

Readers are invited to follow this link-https://newtradgardstadt.blogspot.co.uk/ and follow the adventures of settlers in the New World from the Duchy of Tradgardland in the mid 17th century.

12th Night

As the Christmas decorations go away once more a newish Old School chum takes their place upon the book shelves-