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Thursday 30 January 2020

My Napoleonic collection: The British Army

The British Army is the second largest in my collection, and at present numbers 220 figures.


As can be seen, it is a predominately infantry force, with cavalry figures forming slightly less than 11% and artillery figures being 10% of the total.

Simple but very effective model landing craft

I am always on the lookout for new modelling techniques, and recently I’ve been very impressed by the model landing craft built by Peter, who writes the GRID BASED WARGAMING - BUT NOT ALWAYS blog.

As the following photographs show, Peter’s landing craft are made from four pieces of wood and MDF.


Even without the application of Peter’s pastel chalk finish, the landing craft look very effective ...


... but once they have been treated, they look amazing.


Peter recently staged a wargame about the attack on St Nazaire, for which he built the docks, a number of buildings, and some more simple and effective model warships. The following links show how he prepared for his wargame.
It is well worth reading these blog entries in order to see how Peter took this project from start to finish.

Please note that the photographs featured above are © Peter/Grid Based Wargaming - But Not Always.

Wednesday 29 January 2020

My Napoleonic collection: The German and Allied armies

Now that I have transferred the renovated figures in my Napoleonic collection to their new 'formation in a box' storage, I have done a full inventory for each of the armies in the collection, starting with the four German and Allied armies. These are:
  • The Dutch-Belgian Army
  • The Hanoverian Army
  • The Brunswick Army
  • The Prussian Army
The first three are relatively small, and one (the Brunswick Army) currently has no artillery or cavalry whilst another (the Hanoverian Army) has no cavalry. I hope to rectify this situation at some point in the future.





In total, these four armies have 274 figures.

Tuesday 28 January 2020

Setting some priorities

Over the past few months I’ve been vacillating between several projects. After a break of over two years, I’ve finally organised my renovated 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic collection into ‘formations in a box’, and these have recently been featured on my blog. I’ve also been making progress with my 20mm-scale Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War project, and have reached the point where I can begin organising some of the German figures into ‘formations in a box’. The one project I haven’t made much progress with is writing my PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME book.

I think that it is now time to get a grip, put my other projects to one side, and to do some work on my book. Before I do so, I want to properly record the number of renovated figures in my Napoleonic collection, and I intend to do that over the next few days. I also want to make sure that the vehicles I need to complete two or three German 20mm-scale ‘formations in a box’ are renovated so that I can draw a (temporary) line under the project. Once those tasks are complete, work on my book can recommence.

Monday 27 January 2020

Some more 'formations in boxes': French Napoleonic figures

The last figures of my renovated collection of pre-painted Napoleonic 25/28mm-scale figures to be rehoused in their new 'formation in a box' homes are the French. I have shown the French Guard in an earlier blog entry, but for completeness, I have included them again.

French 1st Imperial Guard Division (The Old Guard). It includes two regiments of Guard Foot Grenadiers, two regiments of Guard Foot Chasseurs, a regiment of Horse Grenadiers, and a battery of Horse artillery.
French 2nd Imperial Guard Division (The Young Guard). It includes two regiments of Guard Tirailleurs Grenadiers, two regiments of Guard Tirailleurs Chasseurs, a regiment of Lancers, and a battery of Horse artillery.
French 1st Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Hussars, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 2nd Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Horse Carabiniers, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 3rd Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Cuirassiers, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 4th Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Cuirassiers, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 5th Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Hussars, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 6th Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Horse Carabiniers, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 7th Division includes two regiments of Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, a regiment of Cuirassiers, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French 8th Division includes one regiment of Line infantry, four regiments of Light infantry, and a battery of Foot artillery.
French infantry Reserve includes two regiments of  Line infantry, two regiments of Light infantry, and two regiments of Veteran infantry. These troops are intended to be used to garrison fortifications and to guard the army's lines of communication.
Part of the French artillery Reserve includes six batteries of Foot artillery.
Part of the French artillery Reserve includes four batteries of Foot artillery, a battery of Horse artillery, the personnel for three batteries of Horse artillery, and the personnel for three batteries of Veteran artillery .
French General Staff and escort. The escort includes a regiment of Guard Foot Grenadiers and a regiment of Mamelukes.

Sunday 26 January 2020

It's that book again!

During the week, the committee organising the special centenary meeting of the Hertfordshire Masters' Lodge No.4090 met and discussed my history of the Lodge. I then received several emails that contained a number of things that they wanted changed. I responded by saying that the deadline for getting the proof print done was fast approaching, and that I would wait until today to see if any other changes needed to be made before I finalised the text of the book.

As of now, I have had no further requests for changes, and I am just about to make what I hope will be the final adjustments to the text before I send it off for final approval. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to make any changes ... and I can then draw a line under what has been a project that has consumed a considerable amount of my non-wargaming time over the past two years.

Saturday 25 January 2020

Some more 'formations in boxes': British Napoleonic figures

Now that the rest of the renovated figures in my Napoleonic collection have been transferred to their new homes (A5-sized WestonBoxes), I thought that I would review the British figures. They are now split into the following of 'formations in boxes'.

British 1st Division, which includes the Guards Brigade (two regiments of Foot Guards), two Line infantry regiments, a regiment of the Life Guards, a detachment of The Rifles, and a battery of Foot artillery.
British 2nd Division, which includes four Line infantry regiments, a regiment of Hussars, a detachment of The Rifles, and a battery of Foot artillery.
British 3rd Division, which includes four Line infantry regiments, a regiment of Hussars, a detachment of The Rifles, and a battery of Foot artillery.
British 4th (Scottish) Division, which includes four Highland infantry regiments, the Scots Greys, a detachment of The Rifles, and a battery of Foot artillery.
British 5th Division (known as 'The Orphans'), which includes a regiment of Foot Guards, a Highland infantry regiment, two Line infantry regiments, a regiment of Hussars, and a battery of Foot artillery.
Part of the Reserve, which includes five regiments of Militia infantry (three Scottish and two English), and three artillery batteries (two Foot batteries and one Horse battery).
Three more batteries of Horse artillery of the Reserve, a second regiment of Life Guards, and the General Staff.

It is worth noting that approximately one-third of the figures shown above were originally in the collection of the late Stuart Asquith.

Friday 24 January 2020

A bit of a reorganisation

Yesterday I managed to move all of the renovated figures in my Napoleonic collection into A5-sized ‘formation in a box’ WestonBoxes. They are now stored inside some of my IKEA six-drawer storage units, with each draw holding two A5-sized boxes.

(I still have quite a substantial number of un-renovated Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic figures, including a small Russian army and quite a few British and French cavalry.)

The former contents of the drawers have been moved into 4-litre Really Useful Boxes. This has made it easier to see what is in my storage system ... and I have found quite a few things that I’d forgotten that I had or had thought that I had lost.

Thursday 23 January 2020

Nugget 323

I shall be collecting the latest issue of THE NUGGET from the printer later today, and I hope to post it out to members of Wargame Developments at some point tomorrow. As a result, it should be with them by early next week.


I have already uploaded the PDF version of this issue to the Wargame Developments website, and it can be opened using the password that was sent out to all members when they re-subscribed.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the fifth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2019-2020 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you some time ago. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

Wednesday 22 January 2020

'Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfast.'

The Battle of Isandlwana and the subsequent fighting at Rorke's Drift took place 141 years ago today ... and if time permits, I hope to watch ZULU later today.

Although not the most accurate of war films (the list of 'errors' is well-known!), it does have some great lines of dialogue which regular watchers of ZULU (such as myself) tend to quote whenever a suitable situation arises.

Lieutenant Chard: The army doesn’t like more than one disaster in a day.
Lieutenant Bromhead: Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfast.

Colour Sergeant Bourne: A prayer's as good as bayonet on a day like this.
Reverend Otto Witt: Have you prayed?
Colour Sergeant Bourne: There'll be a time for it, sir.
Reverend Otto Witt: What will you say?
Colour Sergeant Bourne: Pick it up. Bit of the Psalms, I suppose. My father was a lay preacher. A great one for the Psalms, he was. There was one that might have been written for a soldier.
Reverend Otto Witt: Say it, man. Lift your voice to God.
Colour Sergeant Bourne: Now, sir?
Reverend Otto Witt: Yes. Let them hear your voice.
Colour Sergeant Bourne: They know my voice.
Reverend Otto Witt: Let them hear it now in praise of the Lord. Call upon him. Call upon him, man, for your salvation.
Colour Sergeant Bourne: As far as I can remember, sir, it goes something like this. "He maketh wars to cease in all the world; he breaketh the bow and snappeth the spear in sunder." D'you know it, sir?
Reverend Otto Witt: "I shall be exalted among the heathen; I shall be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us."
Colour Sergeant Bourne: That's it, sir. Nobody told you to stop working.

Colour Sergeant Bourne: The sentries report Zulus to the southwest. Thousands of them.

Private Cole: Why us? Why does it have to be us?
Colour Sergeant Bourne: Because we’re here lad. Nobody else. Just us.

Colour Sergeant Bourne: I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us.
Corporal William Allen: I hope so. As I live and die, I hope so.

Commissary James Dalton: Careful! Pot that chap somebody! Good fellow, good fellow!

Colour Sergeant Bourne: It’s a miracle..
Lieutenant Chard: If it’s a miracle Colour Sergeant, it’s a short chamber Boxer Henry, point four five calibre miracle.
Colour Sergeant Bourne: And a bayonet sir, with some guts behind.

Tuesday 21 January 2020

Some artillery for my French Napoleonic army

I have renovated the remaining Del Prado French artillery pieces in my collection.


When added to the three guns I had already renovated, I now have twenty-two artillery pieces to allocate to my Napoleonic French army.

As was the case with the British artillery I recently renovated, I certainly have more than enough guns to equip my French Napoleonic field army. The surplus guns will be used to equip French reserve and fortress batteries as well as the armies of any French allies (or former allies) that need artillery.

Monday 20 January 2020

I've finished my latest book ... I hope!

I began work on researching and writing the centenary history of the Hertfordshire Masters' Lodge No.4090 over two years ago, and yesterday I reached the stage where I think that I have finally finished it!

The draft text was written quite some time ago, and it has already been proof read twice, once by my wife and once by a fellow Freemason. Any errors that were spotted during this process were corrected, and additional information that became available was added.

A fortnight ago I submitted what I thought was the final draft to the Provincial Archivist for him to go through with a fine-toothed comb, and on Friday he returned the manuscript with quite a few corrections that need to be addressed as well as several suggested improvements.

Loath though I am to admit it*, the corrections were (with one exception) things that needed to be changed, and the suggestions were all very valid and helpful. I therefore spent yesterday going through the manuscript almost word by word ... and by the afternoon I had made the necessary changes. I will now submit it for final approval, and I hope that I will get the whole project signed off well before the end of the month ... and then I can turn my attention to one or two other writing projects that I have been planning to do for some time.

* I'm not sure if all writers are quite as possessive of their work as I am, or as resentful of any criticism that is made of it, but over the years, one thing that I have learnt is that I am not infallible, and that constructive criticism is an essential part of getting something right. Once the corrections had been made and suggestions acted upon, the text was a lot, lot better. It was more succinct, easier to read, and overall it was a much sharper document. I am proud of the end result ... and extremely grateful to everyone whose input has made it so.

Sunday 19 January 2020

Nugget 323

The editor of THE NUGGET sent me the latest issue last night, and I plan to take it to the printer on a Monday or Tuesday. As a result, it should be ready for me to collect by the end of the week to post out to members.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the fifth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2019-2020 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you some time ago. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

Saturday 18 January 2020

Some artillery for my British Napoleonic army

I have renovated the remaining Del Prado British artillery pieces in my collection.


When added to the three guns I had already renovated, I now have twelve artillery pieces to allocate to my Napoleonic British army.

I certainly have more than enough guns to equip my British Napoleonic field army, and the surplus will be used to equip British reserve and fortress batteries, as well as those armies (such as the Hanoverian Army) that are allied with the British and which need artillery.

Thursday 16 January 2020

Some artillery for my Prussian Napoleonic army

The first batch of renovated artillery pieces I have completed will be allocated to my Prussian Napoleonic army.


I have repainted them so that the gun carriages are Cerulean Blue, which is the closest colour I could find to the colours featured in the reference pictures that I had.

These guns will replace the existing mixture of Del Prado British and French artillery pieces in my Napoleonic Prussian army, which will now be allocated to other formations within my collection.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

It’s Getting a Bit Chile ... is now available in PDF format

I understand the IT’S GETTING A BIT CHILE is now available in PDF format from Wargame Vault.

The cost is $19.95 for a watermarked copy, which makes it comparable in price to the printed edition. This also means that Australian and New Zealand wargamers, who cannot buy the printed edition from Amazon, can now buy a copy of the rules.

Monday 13 January 2020

J M Thornton's illustrated books about warships

Almost five years ago I wrote a blog entry entitled INSPIRING ILLUSTRATIONS in which I mentioned several books, including the following:
  • WARSHIPS 1986-1970 (published in 1973 by David & Charles Limited [ISBN 0 7153 5998 3])

  • MEN-OF-WAR 1770-1970 (published in 1978 by Argus Books Ltd. [ISBN 0 85242 610 0])


A few days ago, J M Thornton's daughter contacted me via a comment on this particular blog entry. It appears that her father died in 2012, but that she still has copies of his books available for sale for $20.00 (Canadian) plus postage.

As I remember that several people were interested in these books, I thought that I would pass on her kind offer. If any of my regular blog readers is interested in buying a copy of either or both these books, please could they contact her directly via email.

Sunday 12 January 2020

My latest book sales figures

This month, for the first time, I was able to differentiate between eBook sales for devices like Kindle and those that were just in PDF format. The results look like this:


The effort involved to make books available in PDF format seems to have paid off, and I shall definitely choose to do this in future, especially for the larger format books that do not easily convert to eBook format.

It is interesting to note how some books sell well in paperback format (for example, HEXBLITZ and WHEN EMPIRES CLASH!), whilst others (e.g. THE PORTABLE WARGAME) have sold well in eBook format. It is also interesting to compare the sales of the two larger, US Letter-size books (A WINTER-ISH WAR and TROUBLE IN ZUBIA) across the three formats in which they are available, especially as I am thinking of publishing my next wargame book in this larger size because it will enable me to present my rules in a somewhat less cramped way.

Saturday 11 January 2020

Guns, guns, guns ...

One thing that became very obvious as I began the process of moving my collection of Napoleonic figures into their new 'formation in a box' storage, was the general shortage of renovated artillery pieces that I had to hand. I have therefore decided to rectify that situation, and I am currently in the process of restoring some ancient pieces of artillery that I recently rediscovered (they date back to the late 1960s/early 1970s, and I think that I bought them from a shop in Hornchurch, Essex) as well as the rest of the yet-to-be-renovated Del Prado British guns that I have in my collection.

I expect that this will take me three to four days, after which I hope to begin work on renovating the Del Prado French artillery pieces in my collection. Once that is completed, I hope to begin moving the remainder of my Napoleonic figure collection into their new homes.

Friday 10 January 2020

It's Getting a Bit Chile ... is more than just a book of rules

My copy of IT'S GETTING A BIT CHILE: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-1884 arrived in Monday's post, and although I had read the draft rules, this is the first time I've seen the complete text, including the illustrations.


This is an excellent book in so many ways. Not only does it give a brief but very informative history of the war (including a chronology) but also includes a uniform painting guide (written by Alan Curtis) and a short bibliography of English language books that deal with the events of the war. (It is interesting to note that one of the books in the bibliography was written by Clements R Markham, the cousin of Admiral Sir Albert Markham, whose biography I recently reviewed.)

The rules are designed to be used on a gridded playing surface. The author uses 15mm-scale figures on 30mm wide bases on a 3-inch squared grid for his battles, but the rules can be used with large or smaller scale figures just as long as the size of the grid squares is adjusted to match any changes to the size of the base frontage.

The book is 76 pages long and is split into the following sections:
  • Introduction
  • A Brief History of the War
  • The Basics
  • Figures, Scales & Formations
  • Unit Quality and Equipment
  • Turn Sequence
  • Movement
  • Charges
  • Disorder
  • Firing
  • Hand to Hand Combat
  • Routing, Retreating, Retiring and Rallying
  • Commanders
  • Winning and Losing
  • The battle of Dolores/San Francisco
  • Playing "It's Getting a Bit Chile" without squares
  • Resources
  • And Finally
As an aid to readers, the author has included simple and easy to understand diagrams in the relevant sections of the books (e.g. permissible Infantry Formations).

The book also contains 15mm-scale colour representations of the battalion/regimental and national colours carried by the combatants, and purchasers have permission to copy these and the Disorder Markers for their own personal use. The back cover of the book has a very helpful Quick Reference Sheet (QRS) on it, and once players have fought through a couple of moves, this is probably the only playing aid that they will need during the rest of their wargame.

One particular aspect of the rules that I like was the way that the personal attributes of the actual commanders has been integrated into the rules. For example:


I understand the Graham Evans is hoping to publish his TAIPING ERA rules later this year, and I hope that sales of this book are sufficient to encourage him to do so.

IT'S GETTING A BIT CHILE: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-1884 was written by Graham Evans and published in 2020 by Wargaming for Grown Ups Publications (ISBN 978 1 797 56040 3). It is currently available in printed format from Amazon.

Thursday 9 January 2020

Other people’s Portable Wargame battle reports: World War II-era

One of my loyal followers and users of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules - Stephen Briddon - has started his own blog - NARRATIVE SOLO WARGAMING - and his first blog entries are a couple of World War II-era battle reports.

Pitched Battle 1




Pitched Battle 2




Please note that the photographs featured above are © Stephen Briddon.

Wednesday 8 January 2020

The demise of the Blackheath Tea Hut?

Today's blog entry is nothing to do with wargaming. Instead, I am going to mention a local south-east London landmarks that was demolished yesterday as a result of an accident.

The tea hut on Blackheath has been there for over one hundred years, and was built to serve the needs of the growing number of motor car drivers and motorcycle riders using the old Roman road (Watling Street) that connects London to Dover. The section of road upon which it is located is now called Shooters Hill Road, and the hut was located at the junction with Goffers Road.

(Goffers is the eighteenth-century word from which the modern word golfers is derived. Golf was played on Blackheath from the time of the accession of James IV of Scotland to the English throne as James I. He set up his court at the Royal Palace of Greenwich, whose grounds (now Greenwich Park) abut the heath.)

Over the years, the Blackheath Tea Hut has become a local landmark, and until yesterday it continued to supply thirsty and hungry drivers (including a large number of police officers) with hot and cold drinks and food. It was not, however, popular with the Blackheath Society, which was set up in 1937, 'to preserve and improve Blackheath'. They have regarded the hut as an eyesore for years, and no doubt hope that it will not be rebuilt.

It would appear that at about 8.00pm last night a Mercedes car driving eastwards up Blackheath Hill left the road just after it becomes Shooters Hill Road ... and hit the tea hut. The impact was so great that the hut was turned through ninety degrees, and the member of staff inside was trapped and injured. She was rescued by a number of bikers who happened to have stopped at the hut for a drink, and was admitted to hospital with broken ribs and injury to her sternum. At present there is no information about the fate of the car's driver or whether or not they had any passengers in the car at the time of the accident.



Both images © @dougiedickson/Twitter

At least three ambulances and several fire appliances attended the scene as well as numerous police cars. Local roads were closed until late into the night, and bus services across Blackheath were diverted.

According to a statement made this morning by the hut's owner, the remains of the building had to be removed overnight as it was almost completely demolished. Emergency work had to be carried out at the site as the hut had both mains gas and electricity supplies which were severed, and were therefore dangerous.

For three years I drove past the hut almost every morning and evening going to and from my place of work in Brockley. I also had a car accident nearby when my old Mazda Tribute 4x4 was driven into by a builder's truck whose driver had not realised that I had stopped because the traffic ahead of me had come to a halt. His claim that he had been blinded by the sun was laughable, as we were both travelling eastwards (in the same direction as the Mercedes car that hit the tea hut) at about 5.00pm ... when the sun was behind us! Needless to say, his insurance company agreed that he was liable, and my car was repaired at no cost to me or my insurers.

I do hope that the hut is rebuilt, and that the Blackheath Society do not manage to block its rebuilding. Over the years, too many of these old local landmarks have gone (usually in the name of 'progress'), and it would be a shame if this one was not reinstated.

Tuesday 7 January 2020

Formations in boxes: Some Napoleonic examples

Having experimented with a couple of World War II 'formations in boxes', I decided to see if it would work with figures from my Napoleonic collection ... and it does!

The A5-sized WestonBoxes will hold:
  • 8 x Infantry bases (i.e. 4 infantry units)
  • 1 x Artillery base
  • 1 x Artillery crew base
  • 2 x Cavalry bases (i.e. 1 cavalry unit)
  • 1 x Commander base
As these are ideal-sized formations for use with my PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME rules, I hope to move the entire collection from the A4-sized Really Useful Boxes they are currently in into A5-sized WestonBoxes.

The following are examples of formations I have already moved over into A5-sized WestonBoxes.

French Imperial Guard (Old Guard)

The French Imperial Guard (The Old Guard).
French Imperial Guard (Young Guard)

The French Imperial Guard (The Young Guard).
Dutch-Belgian Army

The Dutch-Belgian Infantry Division. The artillery has yet to receive its equipment.
The Dutch-Belgian Cavalry Brigade, the Infantry Reserve, and the General Staff.
Prussian Army

The Prussian 1st (Regular) Infantry Division.
The 2nd (Landwehr) Infantry Division.
The Prussian 3rd (Landwehr) Infantry Division.
The Prussian 4th (Landwehr) Infantry Division. It has yet to be allocated its integral Cavalry Regiment, and its artillery is currently equipped with a French gun.
The Prussian Landwehr Infantry Reserve, Garrison Infantry, Reserve Artillery, and the General Staff. The artillery has yet to receive its equipment.
Hanoverian Army

The Hanoverian Army (which includes an Infantry Division, Infantry Reserves, and the General Staff). The army lacks any cavalry and the artillery has yet to receive its equipment.
Brunswick Army

The Brunswick Army (which includes an Infantry Division and the General Staff). The army lacks any cavalry and artillery.