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Thursday 18 February 2021

An example of one of my existing Portable Wargame armies ... plus a warship!

Before my order of MDF bases arrives from Warbases, I wanted to review one of my existing PORTABLE WARGAME armies. I chose the British Colonial one that I have been using for some years.

These figures were purchased ready-painted many years ago from Miliart, and were originally based to be used with SCWaRes (Simple Colonial Wargames Rules) and then WHEN EMPIRES CLASH! Since then, they’ve been used to develop my PORTABLE WARGAME rules, and are featured in my PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME books.

The are enough figures for two small PORTABLE WARGAME armies (or even one large one) ... although the addition of some cavalry would make the collection slightly more rounded. Luckily, during my recent review of my collections, I found some unbased cavalry figures which will fill that gap very nicely.

In the background is one of the ship models I built to provide fire support for my nineteenth century armies. She has had several names and featured in numerous wargames, including one one in GRIDDED NAVAL WARGAMES that was also featured on the book's cover.

14 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Geordie an Exile FoG,

      Once I’ve got a couple more armies organised, I hope to fight a short campaign.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Well - they look very nicely based already!!

    Simon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simon,

      Although it isn’t obvious from the photograph, the bases need a bit of attention due to wear-and-tear. As I’ve found some additional figures to add to the collection, I’m going to use this opportunity to renovate the existing bases so that they will match the new ones.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. What Simon said! What’s the thinking behind rebasing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nundanket,

      The bases have suffered some damage due to normal wear-and-tear, and I’m going to do some remedial renovation work on them.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. Hello there Bob,

    It is really good to see these figures out and about again - along with that rather spiffy looking battleship! It would be good to get some cavalry to add a lot tone to what would otherwise a vulgar brawl....

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David Crook,

      I found enough figures to add at least seven bases of cavalry, three of infantry, and a supply/pack horse base. Almost enough to create a third small PW force.

      I hope to add some similar warships to my collection’s ‘fleet’ as and when I can.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  5. Excellent rebasing work and some really useful findings to add to the collection. The warship looks good beside them. Lots of enjoyable gaming ahead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tradgardmastare,

      This is the style of basing I hope to adopt for all my 15mm figures, although I do intend to paint the edges of the bases in order to seal them. It also ‘disguises’ the fact that some of the newer bases that I will be using are laser cut.

      The warship was specially designed to go with this scale of figures, and is one of my so-called ‘cartoon’ models.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  6. A fine review, Bob. The wear and tear is not obvious from the pictures! Having recently bought a couple of boxes of Gardiner/Nordenfelt machine guns 9to equip my Azuran, Turcowaz and even Izumrud-Zeleniya Army will get one, methought to mount one on a gunboat.

    In my search for riverine gunboats, I found this interesting item:
    https://arteis.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/ironclad-gunboats-on-the-river-waikato-in-1863/
    Thought it might interest you...
    Cheers,
    Ion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Archduke Piccolo (Ion),

      The extremities of some of the figures are showing signs of wear and tear, and it will not take much just to touch up the damaged bits.

      I can see why you’d want to include some machine gun units in your armies, and the Gardiner/Nordenfelt guns are ideal secondary armament for gunboats.

      I’ve seen the pictures of the extemporised gunboats used during the campaign, and they look like the sort of design almost any wargamer could put together from the bits and pieces they have to hand.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  7. How do you decide how many figures or stands make up an “army”?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael Taylor,

      I usually opt for an army of between eight and twelve bases, with a total of 30 to 40 SPs.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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