Wine, women, and...

Samurai!? Something completely different today for a change.

View of the moon rising from our hotel

Just came back from a few days along the gorgeous Izu peninsula, where we could relax with good food and lodgings, washed down with a few bottles of fine wine.  A really great place to chill out.

It is always a good idea to pamper the Finance Minister from time to time- preferably before the next credit card bill comes in.

On the way back, and most likely of much more interest to wargamers, we stopped off at Odawara to visit the castle there.   Odawara-jo (castle) is a reconstruction of the massive structure which existed there and which was the home of the Hojo clan, until they were defeated and absorbed into Hideyoshi Toyotomi's growing empire.  

The Hojo on the march.

The Hojo used to control the area where I currently live, and in fact I live a few minutes by train from the site of an engagement fought between the Hojo and the Nitta; the Battle of Bubaigawara, which was fought in 1333.

Although a 20th C. reconstruction, Odawara Castle really is impressive and enough of the original foundations exist to make it worth the visit for those interested in such things.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

close-up detail of roof ornamentation

 

Fortuitously there happened to an exhibition of samurai armour running at the time within the castle itself, so lots of great resources should I ever get that samurai army I keep thinking about.  

In Japanese of course, but loads of pictures in this museum guide!

Much of the armour was representative of the more "decadent" styles found from mid-to-late Edo times, but there was enough period armour and weaponry on display from the 16th Century, along with some interesting examples of "ammunition" armours for poorer samurai and ashigaru, to make it well worth an afternoon's browsing.

On the way back to the station, we also came across the tomb of two of the Hojo family, Hojo Ujimasa and Hojo Ujiteru, located in a small plot right in the middle of the bustle of Odawara city near the train station.  These gents paid the price for failure, and were forced to commit suicide after Toyotomi's victory.  As you can see, people still bring offerings of food and flowers, and light incense sticks in their memories.

My favourite castles in Japan (of those that I've had the chance to visit so far) remain Hirosaki-jo in Aomori prefecture, which is one of the few originals, and Shiroishi castle in Miyagi prefecture.  Shiroishi-jo is a reconstruction, but was built using original plans and building techniques.  

Still, I enjoyed our visit to Odawara, and on my return found myself taking a second and third look at David's excellent range of Kingsford Miniatures samurai!

click to enlarge

The above photo shows some really nice units of Kingsford's samurai in Vancouver wargamer Steve Knight's collection.  This was from a Korean War (1599) game I had in Vancouver earlier this month with the North Shore Gamers.  We were using an unpublished rule set called Daimyo, that have been used successfully for well over twenty years now.  David, the owner of Kingsford Miniatures, was there for the game but found himself commanding the Koreans that evening!

Samurai surge forward; the Korean commander is clearly not worried.  With me appointed as his Ming Chinese "Ally" general, you'd think he'd have cause to be!

Part of the Korean Horde: some excellently painted Perry Miniatures in the collection of  the other David there that evening; my old friend Dave Smith, who was hosting the game that night.  He also wrote the rules!

All the foregoing has absolutely nothing to do with Napoleonics,  but I hope that some people out there may find it interesting nevertheless.  Napoleonic diehards take heart- my next post is on that Black Powder Napoleonics game we played in Vancouver.  I just need to format the photos first.

Across the Pacific and Back

Back from the land of moose and Mounties, where I had three weeks to relax (more or less).  It was good to meet relatives and friends both old and new, to do some shopping, and even to get in some gaming!  

I was able to take part in three games with my old club (now the North Shore Gamers).  These included two games using Black Powder; an Austrians vs. French Napoleonic scenario and a scaled-down refight of the Battle of Rossbach in 1757.  There was also a Samurai vs. Korean game using our old Daimyo set of rules written by Dave Smith.  Lots of fun all round.

Foundry Napoleonic French about to be snotted by the Austrians.  The shame...

A mouth-watering unit of Samurai- Kingsford Miniatures.

1757, and the Prussians and French go toe-to-toe without any pesky skirmishers in the way.

The Vancouver area has always had a strong gaming community, and even has a very well-stocked source of models, miniatures, rules and accessories in the shape of Imperial Hobbies in Richmond.  Richmond is right next to Vancouver airport, and also happens to be where my family now lives.  So of course I dropped by the store a number of times to browse and to pick up a few items that caught my fancy.  

Francis Munroe, the owner, is into Napoleonics himself, as part of the White Rock Gamers (which includes Chris Leach who was closely involved in the development of the Shako rules).  So unsurprisingly, there were lots of things Napoleonic on the shelves.

I  snapped up a few boxes of the HäT 28mm hard plastic Napoleonic Bavarians.  Now these are not Perry quality, and are at the smaller/ more slender end of the scale, but they were inexpensively priced.  With a bit of care, they should make decent enough battalions which could see service with or against the French as numbers and gaming scenarios dictate.  Among some wargames magazines I bought was an issue of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy, which fortuitously included some very nice Napoleonic Bavarian and Russian flags in 28mm.  

Other items I ended up with included a pair of 20mm Rafm M5 light tanks to complete my WW2 US tank battalion, and a copy of Mongoose Publishing's Age of Dreadnoughts.   I wanted a quick set of rules for use with my collection of 1/2400 WW1 Austrian, French and Italian fleets, and this set looks likely to fit the bill.  While I was at it I picked up a blue Hotz felt mat to replace my rather tatty piece of mauvish-blue cloth which I currently use for our naval games.

Aside from new purchases, I went through my own collection of books and figures which has been languishing in a storage cupboard since I left Canada for Japan some twenty years ago, and took the opportunity to sort through the lot.  This meant trading off or discarding unwanted items and sending others back to Japan. Among those about to get a new lease of life on my side of the pond is a sizable Indian Mutiny collection, some more 20mm WW2 models, some old Citadel Vikings, and a number of resin and plastic buildings.

One surprising find was a battalion of 25mm Connoisseur late Napoleonic Saxons, which I can't even remember buying!  I'd even painted them, although they need some touching up and proper basing.  Although very "long in the tooth", these look a lot better than I would have expected for such old models.  They have a undeniable charm, and while an individual figure can in itself look rather "gawky", I find that they actually look very effective as a unit- a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  Certainly not "State of the Art" miniatures but I will have no hesitation in placing them on the gaming table.  

At present they are buried deep inside one of three big boxes that are on the long voyage to the Far East, and when they get here I'll post a few photos.  Back then we were gaming with units of 16 to 20, so I need to order some more in order to have a full battalion for Black Powder.  They will be a nice little addition to our games, and maybe I'll later get myself a few battalions of the Calpe Saxons in order to make up a full brigade.

Next up I'll post more about the games we played, including some neat ideas that were floated about and tried out for Black Powder.  But first I need to get over some vicious jet-lag.

Stand down & fall out...

Off for three weeks home leave back in Vancouver starting this week, so no posts for a while.  

Aside from the usual R&R activities, I may get some gaming in with some old friends, and a trip to Imperial Hobbies for some more plastics is on the cards too.  I'll be bringing back some more books from my (fairly extensive) collection as well, including that old favourite, Bruce Quarrie's Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature and the Osprey books on the Prussian Army just to name a few. 

First Shots from my new Canon!

And no, that's not a spelling mistake! 

Lots to juggle these past few weeks.  I'm off to Vancouver for three weeks home leave starting next Monday, and the amount of things that have to be taken care of before I go would have taxed all of Berthier's powers of organization, let alone mine!  

No time for much painting, but we did have a rollicking game of Black Powder on Sunday, and I was able to try out my new digital camera.  A Canon S95, and I'm really happy with it so far, even though I'm still learning the ropes as to all its features.  It has a great macro function, and I also bought a tripod to go with it so hopefully I can pull my cellphone camera into reserve, and post better pictures.  

For this game, though, I simply made use of the zoom function for close ups, and didn't play around much with the white balance. Still, I was very happy with the way they turned out, especially given the generally crappy lighting on the day of the game.

Here are a whole bunch of them, to make up for a lack of recent posts.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

Rod made some great disorder markers, using printed out paper flags and toothpicks.  They really added to the game.

Johnny Crapaud et cie. arrayed in serried ranks.  Rodney and Matt were the Allies, Achilleas and myself were the French.  You can see Achilleas' version of events here, although I wouldn't put it past him to "doctor" the reports to deflect some of the emperors' wrath when he finds out the butchers' bill!

 

 General Tallon harangues his staff.

Position of Shame on the left flank, my unfinished cavalry.  Units that are not fully painted receive a morale penalty in our games.  That way we get the numbers we need, but also have an incentive to get them painted!

The Allies consisted of British, Brunswickers, and Russians.  My formidable horse artillery licorne is now joined by a battalion of infantry as well.

Achilleas did a great job on his first unit of Russkis.  Of course, the Church Militant (eastern branch) was there in support.

 GdB Bouillon-Cantinat sends his command forward.

Achilleas laughing maniacally at the sight of the imposing Gallic Horde.  Matt, as usual, lounges unimpressed at the notion of even more potential fodder for the prison hulks.

Matt's British.  He recently increased the size of his units, and they look very nice indeed.

En avant!! Sound the "old trousers"!

This is one of Achilleas' nicest units.  Perry metals, here going off on their merry own way after another one of Gen. Tallon's trademark command blunders.

Gen. Tallon has always been a very aggressive cavalry commander, and this game was no exception.  In fact, the rumour among the cavalry is that he really hates their guts.  Here are Achilleas' beautifully painted hussars. in their all-too-brief battlefield debut. 

New unit syndrome, of course, and his Swiss also fell victim again to the cruelty of fate and Brown Bess.

Things heat up!  The scenario was childishly simple.  The side who has the most troops in good order and left on the opponents side of the table by the end of the day wins.  The chateau and the woods created a funnel which didn't help the French, although they considerably outnumbered the allies.

  "Alphonse, do you smell borscht?"

The 28e legere scored well on their command roll, and pushed the 60th Rifles into the woods, passing alongside the Russian licorne battery in the process.

  Puleez, let the Russians fail their next command roll!  Puleeeeeez?!? Pretty please?

No chance, pal: ka-boom!  What goes around in Black Powder, comes around.   This wasn't pretty; seven hits and the unit breaks in a puff of smoke.  Howitzers normally have a minimum range of 6". but the Licorne had a direct fire capability too.  Merde...

Russians and French going toe-to-toe.  We opted to give the Russians an automatic pass on their first break test, as a way of reflecting their legendary tenacity.  This made them a very tough proposition indeed, and the French were repulsed- taking their supports with them!  Grrrr!!!

Clergy and rifles rejoice...

The game ended in a technical French victory, but things were clearly going the Allies' way and had nightfall not come it would have been a real debacle for the French.  So honour was satisfied for both parties, and the game was a real hoot.

As I said I had nothing new painted for the game, but that was in part because I got distracted making putting together plastics!  Warlord Landwehr and Perry French.  During the game Matt gave me a box of Perry Prussians that he had ordered for me in exchange for me giving him a bunch of Baccus 6mm Austrians, part of a stillborn project that I just couldn't get into.  

The Prussians are exquisite, and are a little larger than the French.  Which is fine, as they will go very well with my Landwehr and Front Rank Russians. 

Black Powder Roster

The day before the game, and I'm painting my fingertips off trying to get the cavalry and artillery finished! 

I did manage to find the time to put together a unit roster for the Black Powder rules, which I heavily adopted from one that was posted in the Black Powder Yahoo! Group files.

 click to enlarge

I just have the two more units to finish, and this brigade is complete.  

A few evenings ago I starting putting together my first plastic units- Perry French infantry and Warlord Games' Prussian Landwehr.  While the Perry offering is the best of the two, I've been enjoying working on both.  The Warlord models will be very simple to paint, and I'm getting to the point where getting units painted and on the table quickly is a much, much more important consideration that any amount of detail on the individual figure.  

I also realize that less is more, in that this time I'm not going crazy with different shades of greatcoats on the French.  Less variety "works" better visually, and the eye has enough to take in what with the elite company frippery, facings, and all that kind of thing.  Keeping things simple also speeds up painting time!

Over the Hill.

I finished a trio of hills and rough ground to go with the trees for this Sunday's game.  I wanted them to be quite rocky, as it makes them more interesting visually.  That, and I was running out of (pricey) flocking so I didn't want to cover them completely in "grass".  

They are simply carved pieces of foamboard, covered with a sand and PVA mix, with cork chips and small pebbles added as boulders and rocky outcrops.  They were then sealed with a final coat of brushed-on undiluted PVA, and then painted using artists tube acrylics.  Static grass was again glued on using- you guessed it- PVA. 

I tried to make them generic enough to pass muster in battles ranging from the Peninsula to Russia, but also with an eye for a future project we are thinking of where something along the lines of Gettysburg's Devil's Den may prove very handy.

I had fun doing these, but I'm ready to get back to working on miniatures again after a refreshing break. God knows where I'll store all these, but I'll find a way.

Out of the dark woods at last!

It has been spring vacation time here, and I spent a few days in Sendai with family and friends.  Sendai city itself is very much on the mend, and while a few buildings remain damaged or shuttered up due to the earthquake, things are otherwise getting back to normal, with well-stocked shops again.    

However, to the east of the city- the port side and the areas all along the Pacific coast- they are still dealing with the huge task of cleaning up from the tsunami.   

 

Natori, a suburb of Sendai, a photo taken by a reporter not long after the tsunami. Much of the area still looks like that now. The desolated landscape reminded me of one of those bleak pictures you see taken during the Passchendaele battles in 1917, but with wrecked and abandoned Toyotas and Hondas instead of tanks. 

 

Very, very sobering.

So when I got back, it took a while to get into a hobby frame of mind, but I really wanted to finish those trees- if for no other reason than to clear my painting table!  And finish them I did.  Here they are.

The bases were textured, with cork chips and small pebbles added for variety.  I then "fleshed out" some of the trees with more hobby flocking, and sealed it all with a clear matte lacquer spray.  

After that, I took a can of matte black acrylic spray and sprayed some of the interior areas for depth.  Then I gave them all a few passes of Armour Yellow spray paint, from one direction only.  

 

After looking at some trees in the sunshine, I realized that the sun and sky can make them appear many shades of green, yellow, and even white.  So I decided on an impressionistic approach, and using the side of a fairly broad brush I just "tapped" on successive layers of light green,  mustard yellow and finally (and sparingly) bright yellow.  I'm very pleased with the way they turned out.  

The bases were painted with artists acrylics, raw umber drybrushed with some raw sienna.  I picked out the rocks with various shades of grey, and ran a brown ink wash over them for depth.  Finally, I just added some static grass and that was it.  In a few days I'll seal the flocking with another spray of matte lacquer spray.

So they are all set to go for our Black Powder game this coming weekend.  No doubt they will be used by Matt's riflemen as cover from which to shoot up my Frenchies.