Sunday 26 August 2012

Jacobite Flags - Lord Bellews and The Lord Grand Prior's

 4 flags plain and simple all made by my fair hand with a little help from the computer!
The first two are for Lord Bellew's regt and the two below are for
The Lord Grand Prior's regt. 
Both units fought in King James' Army against the Williamites.


Friday 24 August 2012

RP No 85 NYW/Jacobite - The Lord Grand Prior's regt



The Lord Grand Prior’s regt fought at the battles of Dublin Garrison 1689, Boyne 1690, Limerick 1690, Althone 1691, Aughrim , Limerick 1691.
They were commanded by Henry Fitzjames (6 August 1673 – 16 December 1702), second son
and youngest of the five illegitimate children of King James II & VII by Arabella Churchill, Colonel (at the age of 16) of the Regiment of Infantry The Grand Prior's Regiment . He was the Grand Prior of the revived Priory of the English Commandery (Langue) of the Sovereign Military Order of St.John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, known as the Knights of Malta He was created by his father Duke of Albemarle (the title previously bestowed on General George Monck, 1660), Earl of Rochford and Baron Romney.
The figures are from Essex once again, the flags are by myself and I'll post them soon!







Thursday 23 August 2012

The Battle of Viewpoint 1777 a Fictional AWI Batrep



What the hell were we thinking, it was 180 degrees and there were 7 of us stuck in Posties shed at 10 o'clock in the morning! I should have been down the beach with the Mrs and the kids, but no, we were there for a days gaming, now that's what I call dedication!
I tried to keep the post to a reasonable size, but failed epically!!!

The British have landed in Delaware on the east coast to set up a fort to guard the mouth of the Delaware River, to stop the American's re-enforcing Philadelphia by sea.
The Americans have come up with a cunning plan to try and catch the British off guard. Thus the scene is set as the Americans make their way through the woods as quickly and quietly as possible. Speed and surprise could give the Americans a vital victory over the Redcoats.
It is now early morning as the Americans arrive, some British troops are starting to stir from their beds others are still fast asleep while some are already starting breakfast.
The Redcoats have to throw a D6 to see if they've heard the Americans in the woods.
1-2 British hear nothing
3-4 British roll 1 D6
5-6 British roll 2 D6
On any 6 rolled the Americans will be discovered

The game started well for the American's myself, Fran and John, the Brits Surj and Dave only threw a 2, meaning the Brits didn't hear a thing!! Good!

The Brunswick camp

The Viewpoint Harbour 
The Governors Mansion.
The British fort, Fort David, garrisoned by British combined Grenadiers.
 English Frigate HMS Stuart
The American's starting point. All units are in skirmish order.
The 1st and 5th Pennsylvanian regts
The 2nd and 7th Pennsylvanian regts
The 2nd Conneticut and the 3rd New York.
The American advance still in skirmish order.
The right flan of the American army consisted of 4 Militia units, from Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The Brit Grenadiers leave Fort David , was this a wise decision?
The American Militia advance to the bridge, while a unit of combined Light Infantry man
 the river bank and a mysterious wagon heads toward the bridge???
Nice!!! re-enforcements already!!!!!
I had to throw a 1 or 2 to get them on, which I did he he!
The arrived in column behind the Militia brigade on our right flank.
Whisper, whisper????
Postie gives the Brits a helping hand!
The American centre, my troops the 1st Brigade
The Militia moved away from the bridge to allow the newly arrived better quality troops to
try and attack the bridge. We now realised the wagon at the bridge contained explosives.
The Brits were trying to blow the bridge!!!
The Pennsylvania Militia fire on the flank of the Grenadiers. 
Fran races to get to the fence line.
The  Brunswicker's trying to move into a better position.
Fire!!
The 2nd Maryland charge the wagon and kill all the would-be bombers , who
have failed to fire the bridge for 3 turns on a 50/50 roll.
A fire fight ensues in the centre.
And Fran's 1st Pennsylvania Rifles get their first fire. At last!!
The New Hampshire Militia race to the bridge, while the rest flank the 8th Foot.
It's not looking good for the American centre. The 4th New York and the
 2nd Connecticut both rout due to musket fire!!
Fran moved the  7th Pennsylvania to flank the 55th foot.
The 8th foot turn and move toward the Militia showing their rear to the American's.
What a mess! The combined British lights look a little worried after being surrounded.
The 8th hit the Maryland Militia in the flank, after the Rhode Island
had evaded to the bridge.
The 7th Pennsylvania wonder where the 55th foot have gone???
They failed a morale check and fled back.
Surj spent the entire game trying to get the Brunswicker's into position
What a pretty line!
At this point me and Fran both had near death experiences, we couldn't go on anymore. It was toooooo hot!! I took the last three shots of the game and went to stand in the kids paddling pool for the 10th time that day! It was bliss.


After totting up the points it was decided the game was a draw! Me and Fran both thought we'd done enough for the win, as we'd took two bridges and the port, but it wasn't to be.................did I mention it was hot????


Friday 17 August 2012

20 Questions for Reject Ray

Me and Fran were chewing the fat the other day, trying to get figures painted but having absolutely no inclination what-so-ever to pick up the brush, TV was rubbish, and were missing the Olympics. You know its bad when your highlight of the day is to watch re-runs of The Professionals and then having a 30 minute conversation about the plot-line and which actors in it are still alive!  We spotted the caretaker bloke from the Harry Potter films the other day in an episode, it was exhilarating!?! So to relieve the boredom we decided to try out an interview post and wrote out 20 questions, for each other to answer, some are about wargaming some are about us and our views. Pulitzer prize winning writing its not, but here goes!
If you feel the need to answer the questions yourself on your blog, go for it! 
Here's a link to Fran the Git's post


1.      Favourite Wargaming period and why?
      Got to be the 7YW, it was the first period I owned, I painted up a massive British army, for a campaign involving all the early Rejects, way before Fran was on the scene.

2.      Next period, money no object?
      Oooo that’s a hard one?? I’d buy either The Mexican-American War or the Early Dark Ages, Romano-British and Saxons.

3.      Favourite 5 films?
       In no particular order......
      1.       12 Monkeys
2.       Saving Private Ryan
3.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
4.       Kingdom of Heaven (the Directors cut only!)
5.       Any Laurel & Hardy film or short.


4.   Favourite 5 TV series?
      1. Dexter
2. Justified
3. Battlestar Galactica (the newer series)
4. Walking Dead
5. The Big Bang Theory
6 I know we said 5, but I’ve got to add “24” to the list as well!!

5.      Favourite book and author?
       Easy, the 3 books by Bernard Cornwell “The Warlord Chronicles” I’ve read them loads of times, in              fact I’m due a re-read about now!    

6.      Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
       Napoleon, no question.

7.      Favourite Wargames rules?
       I’ve always loved Age of Reason, 7YW rules, we haven’t played them now for a couple of years, but fingers crossed after a lot of badgering that’s what we’re playing on Saturday!

8.      Favourite Sport and team?
       Football and the Mighty Whites, Yorshire's pride LEEDS UNITED!!!!!!!

9.     If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
      I'm not going back in time to kill Hitler or anything like that, I'm going for something purely selfish, I'd go back in time to the last time no bugger won the  129 Euro Millions jackpot and buy a ticket with the winning numbers on, then I'd buy another ticket just to make sure! 
      Another thing I could do is go back to the day of The Battle of the Boyne, with my camera and take some pics of the units and their flags, then I'd know who actually wore what and what the damn flags really looked like, geeky I know!

10. Last Meal on Death Row?
      I like a bit of Spice in my food, Mexican Chillies and such, my favourite at the moment is a starter at our local Chinese restaurant, battered Chilli Squid. Mmmmmmm!!! And to wash it down I'll have a bottle of Jack Daniels.

11. Fantasy relationship and why?
      Actress Zooey Deschanel and I think you can probably work out why! 


12.  If your life were a movie, who would play you?
       I'd like to think it was some handsome rugged type of chap like Bruce Willis or George Clooney, but it'd more likely be John Goodman!

13.  Favourite Comic  Superhero?
      When I were a lad, me Dad used to buy me and my brother loads of comics, I always loved the usual Batman and Superman, but my favourite was Billy Batson otherwise known as Shazam!


14.  Favourite Military quote?
       "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake" Napoleon Bonaparte

15. Historical destination to visit?
      Either the Pyramids of Gisa or the Colosseum in Rome.

16.Biggest Wargaming regret?
      Selling my 15mm Mexican-American Armies to Postie for £150, then seeing them unchanged on a bring and buy stand a couple of years latter for £350. Gutted!

17. Favourite Fantasy job?
      The No 11 Centre Forward for Leeds United!

18. Favourite Song Top 5
      You may guess that I like a bit of 50's Rock'n'Roll!
      1. Buddy Holly - Not Fade Away
      2. Eddie Cochran - Somethin' Else
      3 .Elvis - Trying to get to You
      4. Buddy Holly - Loves Made a Fool of You
      5. Eddie Cochran - Jeannie, Jeanie, Jeanie
   

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
       During an Ancient Greek campaign, I was allied to Sparta, who in turn were allied to the Cretans. The main Spartan army moved up country to attack our enemy, leaving the Cretans in Sparta. The Cretans went over to the other side and and attacked the Spartan garrison, me and Smiffy the Spartan leader were both a little miffed with Richard because his betrayal had ruined our plans. Smiffy asked me to help out and throw a few dice in the game. On the first turn, the Cretans crept out and killed nearly all the guards leaving the rest of the Spartans asleep. Turn 2 the garrison was woken, I was in charge of a miserable bunch of useless slingers, who just managed to get 1 figure to shoot at a unit of Cretans. Extremely luckily I managed to kill a figure, as the Cretan General was within 2 inches of the unit Richard had to take a test on his leader. Richard had to throw a D20, Postie said them famous words "Don't throw a 1", which Richard duly threw. The leader was killed which ended the attack and the Cretan's were forced to surrender and made to join the Spartans for the rest of the Campaign. Serves you right Richard!!!!

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you? Top 10
      What doesn't upset me!!!  We had to linit this list to 10 or we'd have gone on forever.........
      1. Stupid adverts on the tele.
      2. Them prats who keep ringing me at home to sell me something i don't want.
      3. The Robot who rings me up and puts the phone down straight away.
      4. The seemingly idiotic obsession with Celebrities and their lives.
      5. The Conservative Party!
      6. PPI adverts or phone calls....ggrrrr!
      7. Texting, For Gods sake just speak to the person e.g My daughter text her friend about going out, her mate didn't answer for hours. She got really annoyed at this, "Why don't you phone her?" I asked "because I'm waiting for her to text back" she huffed. So she waited in all day with a face like a smacked arse!!
      8. Rap Music! nuf said!
      9. When the kids have eaten all the Cheese and Onion crisps!
     10. Having to type in the stupid bloody password CAPTCHA crap on other peoples blogs!!!!!!
     11. Fran the Lurker!!!!!! The Shitbag Extraordinaire!


And here's the questions if you choose to answer them yourself.

1.        Favourite Wargaming period and why?
2.       Next period, money no object?
3.       Favourite 5 films?
4.       Favourite 5 TV series?
5.       Favourite book and author?
6.       Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
7.       Favourite Wargames rules?
8.       Favourite Sport and team?
9.       If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
10.   Last meal on Death Row?
11.    Fantasy relationship and why?
12.   If your life were a movie, who would play you?
13.   Favourite Comic  Superhero?
14.   Favourite Military quote?
15.   Historical destination to visit?
16.   Biggest Wargaming regret?
17.   Favourite Fantasy job?
18.   Favourite Song Top 5?
19.   Favourite Wargaming Moment?
20.   The miserable Git question, what upsets you?