Renewed shall be the chariots that were broken…

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog
Quite a number of years ago, my freind, Ken Baggaley gave me a bunch of old figures, mostly ancients. These became the bulk of my Canaanite Army. In with the assorted figures were a couple of rather battered chariots and a surplus of Sea Peoples crew figures. I have no idea of the manufacturer. 

With the Sea Peoples due back on the table for Hstoricon 2025, I decided to try to resurrect them for service. Unfortunately, when I epoxied the Pole to the cab, I put in on backwards. After I realized my error, I was loathe to risk cutting it of and reattaching it, so I just went with it (green). The second chariot had no remaining pole at all, so I fashioned one from soft wire and a spare  white metal piece from a different chariot set (orange).   
The cabs and horses pretty much needed a full repaint as well, and the crew were unpainted. 
As I have done with my other chariots, I made “reins” out of dental tape painted the appropriate color(s), and glued them in place.
With most chariot models fitting the crew into the cab can be challenging. These smallish figures made it easier than usual.
The chariots got my “desert” basing with fine sand, fine talus, and tufts. 



Historicon Games planned for 2025

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog
Here’s the listings for the four games I will be running at Historicon this year, followed by events run by a group of good wargaming friends from across the US: 

Battle of Bosworth Field, August 22, 1485

Henry Tudor has landed in England, with support from his French Allies. Can Richard II defeat the invaders, or fail, effectively ending the Wars of the Roses, and have his body discovered under a parking lot centuries later? Rules are easily learned.

Event Number 141
Where & When(local to convention) Wednesday from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm
CW-12 in Commonwealth Ballroom
Period Medieval Warfare
Scale 25/28 mm
Rules Test of Resolve – Wars of the Roses

Sea Peoples in de Nile,1274 BC

Pharoah Mereptah, son of Ramses II, faces an attack on the heart of Egypt by the invading Sea Peoples, who are supported by their Libyan allies. Fast p[lying rules that are easily learned

Event Number 575
Where & When(local to convention) Thursday from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm
CF-6 in Commonwealth Foyer
Period Ancients
Scale 25/28 mm
Rules To the Strongest! 
Theme Game No

At the gates of Nineveh

The strength of the Hittite Empire is waning, but its last King, Suppiluliuma II, attempts to take advantage of a moment of weakness on the part of the rising Assyrian Empire,. launching a surprise attack on Nineveh and the forces of King Ashur-nirari III

Event Number 565
Where & When(local to convention) Friday from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
CW-32 in Commonwealth Ballroom
Period Ancients
Scale 25/28 mm
Rules To the Strongest!
Theme Game No

Wellington Attacks! The Battle of Salamanca, July 22, 1812

Known for his defensive battles, Wellington observes Marshal Marmont’s army becoming separated as they march along parallel routes, and attacks!

Event Number 440
Where & When(local to convention) Saturday from 6:00 pm to 10:30 pm
FF-05 Games in Freedom Foyer
Period Napoleonic Wars/War of 1812
Scale 25/28 mm
Rules Field of Battle, 3rd edition, modified

The first three games filled up within 36 hours; Due to space crunch this year, the Salamanca game was not allotted table space until yesterday, and has plenty of open spots.  Preliminary maps for the  game:

Other Games run by friends from the Piquet/Field of Battle/To the Strongest camp


Eric Burgess:

Battle of Sabis River – 57 BC

The Battle was a dramatic clash between Julius Caesar’s Roman legions and the fierce Nervii tribe, part of the Belgae confederation. The Nervii had allied with neighboring Atrebates and Veromandui tribes and they devised a cunning plan to ambush the Romans.

Event Number 726
Where & When(local to convention) Thursday from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
HF-2 in Heritage Ballroom Foyer
Period Ancients
Scale 15/18 mm
Rules To the Strongest

Vauban’s Wars

This game will be an introductory siege game using Vauban’s Wars rules. If will be loosely based on a siege from the SYW pitting the French(garrison) vs the besieging Allies (British, Hanover, Brunswickers, and Hesse-Kasel). Can you reduce the fortress or can you hold out as the garrison commander?

Event Number 646
Where & When(local to convention) Saturday from 1:00 pm to 6:30 pm
HF-2 in Heritage Ballroom Foyer
Period 18th Century
Scale 15/18 mm
Rules Vauban’s Wars

Jim  Mauro

**Clash of Titans: The Battle of Grunwald 1410**

Refight one of the largest battles of medieval Europe. The Teutonic Order, under Grand Master Ulrich v. Jungingen, face off against the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, under the Polish King Jagiello and the Lithuanian Grand Prince Vytautus.

Event Number 542
Where & When(local to convention) Friday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am
CW-32 in Commonwealth Ballroom
G
Period Medieval Warfare
Scale 15/18 mm
Rules To The Strongest!

**Hussite Wars: The Battle of Kutna Hora 1421**

At Kutná Hora in the early winter of 1421, the Hussites are encircled by the superior forces of the Holy Roman Empire under King Sigismund. Sigismund’s elite heavy cavalry face off against the Hussite Wagenberg led by the indominable Jan Žižka.

Event Number 543
Where & When(local to convention) Saturday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am
CW-14 in Commonwealth Ballroom
Period Medieval Warfare
Scale 15/18 mm
Rules To The Strongest!
Theme Game No

Milton Soong:

To the Strongest! – Battle of Cannae

Come try out the popular fast play ancient rules: To the Strongest! There will be many TTS events in this convention, and this is a good chance to come learn the rules via the most famous battle in ancient time! Beginners welcome, All ages welcome, but under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Event Number 662
Where & When(local to convention) Thursday from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
CF-6 in Commonwealth Foyer
Period Ancients
Scale 15/18 mm
Rules To the Strongest!
Theme Game No

Jeff Grein:

Raphia – 217 BC

The Wars of the Successors led to the establishment of three Hellenistic Kingdoms: the Antigonids, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Antiochus III looking to restore his crumbling empire marched on Egypt looking to defeat Ptolemy IV. They met at Raphia on the Egyptian frontier.

Event Number 672
Where & When(local to convention) Friday from 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm
CW-35 in Commonwealth Ballroom
Period Ancients
Scale 25/28 mm
Rules To the Strongest

Historicon should be a great show again  this year!

Acquisitions, part 3

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

Last of these for a while, I promise! 

A couple more Birthday Ospreys from our freind, Bob Hopkins.

The reason for these titles was our visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico in February. This included a visit to one of the two famous Colonial era fortresses there – El Moro (depicted on the cover above). “Film on that at eleven”! Curiously, there are multiple large Blood and Plunder games based upon the Dutch assault on San Juan of 1525 at Historicon this year. I signed up for the “Friday Night at the Fights” event. Rum optional…

I needed enough books to keep the postage from the UK reasonable, and this one looked interesting!
Background reading – I am running Bosworth Field at Historicon Wednesday evening. About halfway through the book, which is about 75% background on the WotR and the succession, and the personality and acts of Richard II and Henry Tudor; enjoying it!

One of my patients of 40 years is of Maltese descent, and has been spending a lot of time there in his retirement. He’s aware of my interest in history, and brought me this lavishly illustrated book on the islands; definitely on my “to visit” list! 
Finally, my Danube Campaign, part 2 Kickstarter arrived from Lucas and Piano Wargames. Figures include those for a new unit each of Cuirassiers and Hussars, an Old Guard unit (will become the 3rd “Dutch” Grenadiers), any many command figures. The next KS from Lucas will be the army of Baden!

Acquisitions, Part 2: American Revolutionary War

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Knowing of my coming American Revolutionary War project, our good freind Bob Hopkins gifted me with some appropriate Osprey titles for my birthday earlier this year. 

Useful stuff; I already have a copy of Lefferts from decades ago, but it lacks the color illustrations.
More food for (Revolutionary) thought!
This one I ordered myself (along with some other titles), getting to the more practical nitty gritty!
I also received the first instalment of miniatures for the period, courtesy of the Perrys – enough figures for probably all of the cavalry, artillery, and Native American forces I will likely ever need (hah!), plus a few infantry and command for both sides. I am still debating using Brigade Games figures for the bulk of my infantry. I think I have settled on small units for this period, 12 foot, 6 horse, 1 gun with crew per unit, given the small size of forces during this era, and also allowing a wide variety of “uniforms”. That (should) also help to keep cost and storage requirements down… famous last words, right?!

I accidentally left this one out of my last post.

This is the “flat pack bridge” from Simon and his Big Red Bat shop.

Assembly was a snap… literally. I’m debating whether to paint the black ends of the pegs grey to make them less conspicuous; as usual, they are much less noticeable firsthand than in the photos!

 

Acquisitions, part 1 – Big Red bat Store/ TtS!

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

 With projects planned for Historicon and well beyond, and the uncertainty of the tariff situation, there have been a number of new acquisitions here on the virtual Danube. Tghe first lot are courtesy of Simon Miller’s “Big Red Bat Shop”, home of all tings To the Strongest and For King and Parliament. Simon had a pre tariff sale this weekend, and in addition to 2 Iberian Plains 6″ gridded mats, I got a number of other items:

Food for thought for my ECW Scots Covenanter army…

More ECW in Scotland materials!

With the postage reasonable, I finally decided I should get a physical copy of TtS! to  support Simon. My trusty e-book of the rules serves well most of the time, but can be awkward at conventions. I still think these rules were the first where the electronic version is superior to the print one!

Simon threw in a bevy of his laser cut mdf markers as part of the Tariff promotion; I took full advantage, and have spruced them up with a bit of paint!