A sticky problem …

Posted: March 31, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: MIscellaneous musings | 10 Comments
Yesterday my wife and I bought some varnish with which to paint the wooden window sills in the conservatory. As the varnish had a drying time of eight hours, I decided to wait until late last evening before I applied it to the window sills. I reasoned that this would give the varnish to opportunity to dry overnight.

I was wrong.

When I woke up this morning I checked the varnish … and it was still very, very tacky. I had forgotten that overnight the temperature had dropped, and that I had removed the old wall heater from the conservatory when I decorated. As a result it was never warm enough overnight in the conservatory for the varnish to dry.

My solution was to put one of our very effective convector heaters into the conservatory to blast the temperature up to a level where the varnish would begin to dry … but four hours later I am still waiting for this solution to work.

In the meantime I decided to have a shower. (I am off this afternoon to a meeting of my London Lodge and needed to have a shave and a shower before going out.) At first nothing was wrong, although the water was a little on the tepid side. However, halfway through the shower the water went cold … very cold, indeed … and it did not warm up again. Still covered in lather and dripping water I walked downstairs to the kitchen and checked that there was nothing wrong with the combi boiler. On the face of it the boiler was functioning normally (the water came out of the hot tap in the kitchen as normal), but when I returned upstairs to continue my shower, the water remained cold.

I switched to the bathroom, where I managed to have a very quick – and hot – bath. I then went back down to the boiler and checked the pressure. It was a little low, so I re-pressurised the system, but this had no effect on the supply of hot water to the upstairs shower room. At this point my technical expertise ran out, and I have now booked an appointment for an engineer to visit tomorrow morning. Hopefully he will be able to fix whatever the problem with the boiler is.

I wonder if the varnish will be dry by the time he arrives.

Nugget 270

Posted: March 31, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: The Nugget, Wargame Developments, Wargames publications | Leave a comment
The editor of THE NUGGET sent the original of the next issue (N270) to me yesterday, and I intend to take it to the printer tomorrow. I hope to collect it from them on Friday and to post it out to members of Wargame Developments by the following Monday.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the sixth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2013-2014 subscription year. It is still possible to subscribe, and this can be done online via the Wargame Developments website. Please note that the subscription costs rose with effect from the beginning of the current subscription year.

Red Napoleonic uniforms … and the Salic Law of Succession

Posted: March 30, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Early 19th Century, MIscellaneous musings, Napoleonic Wars | 10 Comments
Probably the most memorable thing about the uniform worn by the infantry of the British Army from its formation until the end of the nineteenth century was its red coats.

But during the Napoleonic period the British infantry were not unique in wearing red coats. I knew that besides the British it was worn by the Danes and the Swiss … and I also knew that the King’s German Legion wore almost identical uniforms to those worn by their equivalent units in the British Army. What I had forgotten until I re-read Blandford’s UNIFORMS OF WATERLOO IN COLOUR was that a significant Hanoverian contingent took part in the campaign … and that they wore British uniforms.

That set me thinking. Could I use some of my British Napoleonic wargames figures to represent Hanoverian units? My researches seem to indicate that this would be quite feasible as long as I am satisfied that the uniforms will not be 100% accurate.

Ideas of campaigns set in Northern Europe during the early 1820s where the forces of Prussia, Brunswick, Hanover, and the Netherlands vie with each other for control of the region immediately sprang to mind … but for the moment that is what they must remain, ideas.

The linked histories of Britain and Hanover lasted from 1714 – when the Elector of Hanover (Georg Ludwig) became George I of Great Britain – until 1837, when – according to the Salic Law of Succession – the new Queen of Victoria of Great Britain was unable to ascend to the throne of Hanover and her uncle – the Duke of Cumberland – became King Ernest Augustus I, Elector of Hanover.

If the Salic Law of Succession had not pertained in this instance, Victoria would have become Queen and Elector of Hanover … and the subsequent history of Germany might have been somewhat different.

An interesting ‘what if …’ to think about, eh?

Spring forward

Posted: March 30, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: MIscellaneous musings | 4 Comments
Overnight the UK moved over to British Summer Time … and guess who forgot to adjust all the clocks before going to bed!

The cat woke me up at what I thought was 8.00am … but when I got up I realised that it was really 9.00am and that somehow I was already running late. The old adage ‘Spring forward, Fall back‘ is a great way to remind yourself when and how to adjust your clocks and watches … but how do you adjust your internal, biological clock? ‘Spring forward‘ is hardly an apt description of the way I feel this morning!

Perhaps things will get better as the day progresses.

I hope so. I really do hope so.

You win some …

Posted: March 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Early 19th Century, MIscellaneous musings, Napoleonic Wars | Leave a comment
I have been waiting for some eBay auctions to end … and I have been lucky enough to win a number of items including enough figures to add a further French Line Infantry Regiment, a French Artillery Battery, and two British Line Infantry Regiments to my collection of Napoleonic wargames figures.

I hope to win some further items over the next week or so, and then I can start the process of basing the figures and writing some draft rules. After that, the battles can begin!

4 – 3 – 2 – 1

Posted: March 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Early 19th Century, MIscellaneous musings, Napoleonic Wars, Wargame Design | 4 Comments
With all the decorating I have been doing over the past few days, I have had plenty of time to do some thinking about how I want to organise my collection of Napoleonic wargames figures into units. When coupled with my thinking about a grid-based set of early nineteenth century wargame rules that I want to write, I have come to the following conclusions:

  • The units will be organised into four, three, two, and single figure-strong units. (Four figures per infantry unit, three figures per cavalry unit, two figures per artillery unit, and one figure per commander and their staff.)
  • I will use the nomenclature of ‘regiment’ for infantry and cavalry units and ‘battery’ for artillery units.
  • Units will comprise figures that are in the same pose (e.g. standing firing, kneeling firing, advancing, re-loading … with the figures in less active poses being used to form second-line/reserve units [see units marked with * below]).
  • Each figure will be individually based so that it can be removed from the unit to show unit degradation due to combat.
  • I will use supernumerary figures (e.g. musicians and/or officers) to indicate elite units. (These will be the first figures removed when the elite unit suffers casualties.)
  • My rules will use the Combat Dice from the COMMANDS AND COLORS: NAPOLEONIC game to resolve combat.
  • My rules will have some command restrictions built into them. (Either I will use the cards from the COMMANDS AND COLORS: NAPOLEONIC game or the dice from RISK EXPRESS or the ‘Pips’ system from DBA/HoTT … or something that resembles one of these systems.)

With these ideas in mind – and with the additional figures that arrived recently in the post – I have reorganised my collection of Napoleonic wargame figures into the following four ‘armies’:

  • French:
    • Infantry: 13 Regiments (1 x Guard Grenadiers; 5 x Line Infantry; 6 x Light Infantry; 1 x Militia Infantry*)
    • Cavalry: 11 Regiments (5 x Cuirassiers; 2 x Carabiniers: 2 x Hussars; 2 x Lancers)
    • Artillery: 6 Batteries (2 x Horse Artillery; 4 x Foot Artillery)
  • British:
    • Infantry: 11 Regiments (4 x Foot Guards; 2 x Highland Infantry; 2 x Line Infantry; 2 x Rifles, 1 x Highland Fencibles*)
    • Cavalry: 4 Regiments (1 x Life Guards, 1 x Dragoon Guards, 2 x Light Dragoons/Hussars)
    • Artillery: 4 Batteries (1 x Horse Artillery, 3 x Foot Artillery)
  • Prussian:
    • Infantry: 7 Regiments (6 x Line Infantry; 1 x Landwehr Infantry*)
    • Cavalry: 5 Regiments (3 x Dragoons; 2 x Hussars)
    • Artillery: 1 Battery (1 x Foot Artillery)
  • Allies:
    • Infantry: 4 Regiments (2 x Belgian Infantry; 2 x Brunswick Infantry)
    • Cavalry: 1 Regiment (1 x Dutch Carabiniers)
    • Artillery: –

I have quite a few ‘spare’ figures that will be used to form additional units as and when I can purchase more Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic wargames figures via the Internet.

Some more Blandford colour series books

Posted: March 28, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Book Review, Early 20th Century, Interbellum, MIscellaneous musings, World War II | 4 Comments
Whilst writing my earlier blog entry, I looked along my bookshelves and noticed several other non-uniform books from the Blandford colour series. These included:

  • FIGHTERS, ATTACK AND TRAINING AIRCRAFT 1914-19
  • BOMBERS, PATROL AND RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT 1914-19
  • FIGHTERS BETWEEN THE WARS 1919-39
  • BOMBERS BETWEEN THE WARS 1919-39
  • FIGHTERS, ATTACK AND TRAINING AIRCRAFT 1939-45
  • BOMBERS, PATROL AND TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT 1939-45
  • MERCHANT SHIPS OF THE WORLD IN COLOUR 1910-29
  • RAILWAYS AND WAR BEFORE 1918
  • RAILWAYS AND WAR SINCE 1917 FEATURING WORLD WAR II

Over the years these have all proved to be very useful and they – along with my Ian Allen and Osprey books – form the very important core of my collection of reference books.

The new conservatory floor is down!

Posted: March 28, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: MIscellaneous musings | 10 Comments
The floorer laid the latex foundation for the new conservatory floor yesterday, and this morning he returned to lay the new vinyl flooring we chose. He finished at 1.30pm, and the results were even better than we had hoped.

We should be able to begin moving some of the furniture back into the conservatory tomorrow … once the glue has properly ‘cured’.

An oldie but goldie …

Posted: March 28, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 18th Century, American Civil War, Book Review, Early 19th Century, Early 20th Century, Late 19th Century, Late 20th Century, MIscellaneous musings, Napoleonic Wars, World War II | 14 Comments
I am old enough to remember when the number of uniform reference books available for wargamers to use was extremely limited … and then Blandford began publishing their very useful colour series books.

The first one I bought was MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE WORLD IN COLOUR (Written and illustrated by Preben Kannik, translated from the original Danish by John Hewish, edited by William Y Carman, and published in 1968) …

… and over the years I bought many more of their books, including:

  • WARRIORS & WEAPONS 3000BC-1700AD
  • INFANTRY UNIFORMS BOOK 2 INCLUDING ARTILLERY AND OTHER SUPPORTING CORPS OF BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH 1855-1939
  • CAVALRY UNIFORMS OF BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH INCLUDING OTHER MOUNTED TROOPS
  • UNIFORMS OF THE SEVEN YEARS WAR 1756-63
  • UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
  • UNIFORMS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS IN COLOUR 1796-1814
  • UNIFORMS OF THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 1812
  • UNIFORMS OF THE PENINSULAR WAR 1807-14
  • UNIFORMS OF WATERLOO IN COLOUR
  • WORLD UNIFORMS AND BATTLES 1815-50
  • UNIFORMS OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ARMY
  • UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
  • ARMY UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR 1
  • GERMAN UNIFORMS OF THE THIRD REICH 1933-1945
  • ARMY UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR 2
  • NAVAL, MARINE AND AIR FORCE UNIFORMS OF WORLD WAR 2
  • ARMY BADGES AND INSIGNIA OF WORLD WAR 2 (GREAT BRITAIN, POLAND, BELGIUM ITALY, USSR, USA, GERMANY)
  • ARMY BADGES AND INSIGNIA OF WORLD WAR 2 BOOK 2 (CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA, INDIA, BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES, FINLAND, FRANCE, JAPAN, NETHERLANDS, YUGOSLAVIA, CHINA, DENMARK, CZECHOSLOVAKIA)
  • AIR FORCE BADGES AND INSIGNIA OF WORLD WAR 2
  • ARMY UNIFORMS SINCE 1945
  • UNIFORMS OF THE SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
  • ARMY BADGES AND INSIGNIA SINCE 1945 BOOK ONE (GREAT BRITAIN, POLAND, USA, ITALY, GERMAN FEDERAL AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICS, USSR, BELGIUM)
  • MILITARY FLAGS OF THE WORLD 1618-1900

Of these WORLD UNIFORMS AND BATTLES 1815-50 is proving very helpful at the moment.

It is a source of inspiration with regard to the possible uses to which I can put my expanding collection of Napoleonic wargames figures.

Some more thinking about my collection of Napoleonic wargames figures

Posted: March 27, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Early 19th Century, MIscellaneous musings, Napoleonic Wars | 8 Comments
The recent arrival of the parcel of Del Prado 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic wargames figures has given me the opportunity to reorganise some of the ‘units’ in my collection so that the figures that make up each one are in the same pose.

This may sound a little odd, but I have always had a preference for single-pose wargame units whenever it has been possible. I like the uniform look that results from this approach … and I find that it helps me to identify individual units on the tabletop.

I also like the figures I use to have an ‘active’ pose. For example I prefer to use figures that are advancing or firing, and to avoid ones that are marching or reloading. I tend to use these latter poses for units that are assigned less active roles such as garrison or reserve troops.

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