Blood and thunder in the valleys.

Jemima Nichols

ready to take on Marianne any day.

One of the joys of taking a computer for a walk on the internet coming is the enormous variety of projects that people are toiling away on.

Take for example, the French invasion of Wales in 1797. This was the last invasion of Britain by the France until the next one. One third of a planned three pronged assault on Britain and Ireland and the only one to go ahead, it consisted of a rather half hearted assault by "the black legion". These gentry, most of whom were deserters and other sweepings of the Paris gaols, surrendered upon seeing groups of Welsh women coming to watch the battle. At least that's the legend. Apparently Mrs Jones traditional habit of red cloak and tall black hat was taken at a distance for the uniform of redcoat reinforcements.

You can find out a little more about the invasion here.

You can find a delightfully bats rendering of the invasion in 28mm here.

Pay particular attention to heroine of the hour, Jeminina Nichols, who rounded up twelve Frenchmen with a pitchfork.

Painted Chasseurs

Amongst the figures that arrived yesterday were some French Chasseurs, which I think you'll agree Mark did a good job on in such a short space of time. I particularly like the Pioneer, though I will have to think of some way of using him in C&C Napoleonics. I foresee a special card.

These chaps are of the 1st Legere, who were like my Swiss were at Maida. Hitherto fore, the French lights were represented by the Irish in the shape of the 3ieme Legione Etranger. They looked rather fetching, but it was probably a little odd to have the entire light arm of my French army hail from Mayo.

It would probably have been more appropriate to use figures in skirmishing poses for lights, but I thought the HAT marching figures were so splendid that I plumped for them instead. Pleasing oneself is one of the satisfactions of wargaming. Napoleonic infantry look right marching along.

The arrival of the French Light Infantry and British Heavy Cavalry broadens the number of Command & Colours: Napoleonics scenarios I'll be able to play with my new setup.

Two gentlemen who have been giving it a try on a similar scale are Clive (of the Old Metal Detector) and Foy (Prometheus in Aspic) - they used some lovely old Hinton Hunts to play a version of Rolica. I recommend the slideshow on Clive's blog, a sparse table with simply painted figures. Evocative of Charge!

Great news!

In an astonishing turn up for the books - I have news. It is good news and for a change it doesn't involve toy soldiers.

Mrs. Kinch and I moved our first load of furniture into the new Chez Kinch yesterday. We should be getting our own keys very shortly. On occasion, I disbelieve it, but it looks like its actually happening - a mere six months and four days since our offer was accepted.

And as if my cup was not running over before hand, a new box arrived from Mark. I haven't had a chance to go through it as we're packing furiously and I am enjoying a relatively heavy week at work, but it did manage to nip out and take some pictures in the back garden before going back to my domestic duties.

These chaps are Newline Designs British Heavy Dragoons painted as Fourth Dragoon Guards. Yet another Irish regiment to add to my Peninsular British, though not one that exactly covered itself in glory if I recall correctly.

And as if my day couldn't get any better, this happened.

Leprecon II: Lessons learned

An aerial view of the battle of Corunna,

British forces holding the hills overlooking Elvina

I have been giving the games that were played over the weekend some thought and there is a great deal to be pleased about. The ever fickle convention going public were willing to give a strange game a try, though the Memoir '44 factor helped immensely. While there are significant differances between the two games, people who had played Memoir '44 knew the rough outlines of the game immediately and that it was short.

The great unwashed were far more likely to play a short game sight unseen than a long one.

Foy over at Prometheus in Aspic has spoken of the crispness of the turn sequence, which I think it one of the games major strengths. I wrote to Richard Borg, the creator of the game, some years ago to thank him for his work on Battle Cry and Memoir '44. I told him that there were games that one talks about and games that one plays. I own over a dozen rules systems, several which I believe are fine games. I have in the last six weeks played more Command & Colours: Napoleonics than any of those combined - the speed at which the game is played is probably the key factor in this.

But where was I?

Behold the offending bases

There were problems however, setting the battlefield up took far too long. This was nothing to do with terrain, which was relatively simple and rather a lot more to do with how I base my figures. A rebasing experiment some years ago left deep scars in my pysche and I vowed that I would never do such a thing again. As a result, I base my Napoleonics singly and place them on sabot bases as necessary. This has worked out rather well - I've used figures singly for Savage Worlds and then placed them on bases for En Avant! and Command&Colours: Napoleonics.

However, I store them in boxes without their sabot bases and the business of laboriously transfering single figures their sabot bases ate up valuable gaming time. Also because I was using En Avant! bases, infantry battalions were exactly inch too wide. This wasn't really an issue until players began to form lines whereupon it began to be a little unsightly.

The solution? Bespoke bases five inches wide by two deep.

There are two possibilities here, steel bases with magnetic material attached to the bottom or unadorned steel bases. One of the players, a phyicist who works with magnets has assured by that the magnetic material attached to the figures will hold the bases in place. He is however, an oaf, notorious for his drunken buffonery, so I haven't committed myself just yet.

Either way, I shall cut down setup time and get more time around the table.

Leprecon - Lessons learned

1. Casual players will play C&C: Napoleonics if you convince them that it is "...like Memoir '44". This is key to ensuring that there is a pool of players available, dearth of players is the death of many a game.

2. Set-up for my large scale C&C: Napoleonics set is too long, changes to basing will solve this.

3. Five inch hexes simply will not fit guns and gun teams, I will need to square this particular circle in order to field Horse Artillery.

4. Marking the sections of the battlefield with string is effective, but it isn't attractive. I am reluctant to permanently mark my mats, but it may have to come to that.

Leprecon

The Battle of Maida 20mm figures on a Hotz mat with 5 inch hexes

I enjoyed Leprecon - it was a good chance to chance up and play some games. Numbers were badly down, something I think the committee will have to ask themselves some hard questions about. That said, the organisation of everything barring promotion and advertising was top notch and things ran very smoothly.

My proposed Tank Duel game didn't go ahead, due to lack of players, but Command & Colours: Napoleonics got a thorough working over, with ten games being played over the two days. I had Donogh as a next door neighbour. I was unable to find his zeppelin in time, so he ran some Ambush Alley scenarios instead, getting four games in over the weekend, which pleased him no end.

You can see some pictures of Donogh's work, here.

My "Yes Minister" LARP went rather well - the players negotiating the first two years of Margaret Thatchers administration without any major screwups. Though they did precipitate a a run on the Peso after the assassination of the Spanish premier by ETA. There was also that thing with the hunger strikers, a sex scandal or two and a bit of a bust up with some bin-men. But all good clean fun.

No one mention the brief shooting war with Spain over Gibraltar.

It was interesting to run a game set during the Thatcher administration where the Miners Strike was not the major policy disaster.

My Margaret Thatcher (ably played by Ms. Tootsie Royale) was splendid and really kept the players on their toes.

Hats at conventions are so passe - glue on moustaches are the new new thing
(Marshall Vincenzo modelling La Guarda Imperiale)

Command & Colours: Napoleonics was a success - we got ten games in over two days. Eight games of Maida and two games of Corunna. Honours were about equal and a good time was had by all. Most of the players hadn't played Napoleonics before and there were four players that hadn't played a C&C game before. If I had any doubts, this weekend put them to rest, Napoleonics is an excellant game - we just haven't really grasped its subtleties yet.

Some of them are laughably unconvincing...

(General Fatzington attempts to carry off an Ambrose Burnside)

A good weekend, more pictures to follow...

Packing

...and unpacking, but no sign of Donogh's zeppelin.

I began operation prepare for Leprecon today after my post-work nap. This mainly involved finding all the bits I'll need for C&C Napoleonics, "Tank Duel" and Donogh's zeppelin. It was irksome as it meant that I had to unpack a box or two I had packed in the expectation of having moved long before Leprecon.

On the plus side, the mortgage provider appear to have run up a white flag and surrendered unconditionally. The circumstances behind this are complex, but suffice to say, despite a long and often trying process, the outcome appears to be the right one. It certainly wasn't over by Christmas and I will only really believe it when the keys are in my hand.

I discovered a few more boxes with mould on them and cleaned them, but despite that there were two bits of good toy soldier related news today - I received an email from Mark that he had posted a box of figures to me on Monday and the vagaries of An Post permitting, I should have them before Leprecon. Secondly, I received a box of Liberation Miniatures Irish Civil War figures from a seller in the US. I intend to use them for Very British Civil War or Sea Lion scenarios, not a main project of mine, but they were a bargain and I'll get around to it sometime.

Fiddlers Green

While searching for the Fiddlers Green website yesterday, I came across some interesting pieces of trivia about the name.

Fiddlers Green was a sort of happy hunting ground for 18th century sailors, where the dancing was constant, though the dancers never tired, rum and tobacco were plentiful and the ladies accommodating.

At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true
When here they’ve done their duty
The bowl of grog shall still renew
And pledge to love and beauty.

I remember vaguely the term being used in one of the Patrick O'Brian novels, but had never given it much thought.

What I had never heard of was the adoption of the term in a poem by the US Army, which you can hear above. Lyric below.

Halfway down the trail to Hell,
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

Grim stuff and reminiscent of Kipling's "Young British Soldier".