Jim Walkley sent me a few pictures of his home-built kit for siege wargames. I like them a lot because Jim actually plays sieges, using the Vauban's Wars rules very effectively, and doesn't waste time (as I do) collecting and painting unnecessary quantities of toys, and fiddling endlessly with rules which never seem to be finished.
He is, in fact, a hero, as further evidenced by the fact that he kindly sent me a parcel of spare figures recently for my WSS siege forces, and (best of all) he is renowned for having been present at the Waterloo commemorative wargame at the Duke of York's HQ in 1965.
Jim is circled on the following two photos. Own up, chaps - show me a photo of yourself in the same frame as Tony Bath and Neville Dickinson, and you can be a legend too.
I have the house to myself this afternoon, so I can spread out and make a bit of a mess. Good opportunity to play around with trenches and glacis slopes [flat glacis slopes...].
First off, I did an audit of my trenches and battery emplacements. There are some cast resin pieces in there, but most of the stock is hand-made by Fat Frank, of whose work I am very fond.
Here's the full stock - the straight trench pieces are 150mm (6 inches in old money). It becomes obvious why real besieging armies dug their earthworks on-site, rather than arriving with them ready-made...
Fat Frank must have made many thousands of these, but the general build quality is very nice - I ordered mine without modern sandbags
Then I played around with my Vauban fort, to see what could be done with glacis "plates"
This is the basic fort, as supplied by Terrain Warehouse (years ago) - all this is made in expanded resin foam - see how pleasingly the glacis slope fits with the walls and bastions. This is all fine, but attempting to vary the layout (add a gate, for example) is complicated by the implications for the glacis, and digging trenches across the glacis is always a bit of a balancing act. Bear in mind that the vertical scale (15mm, or 1/100, for my buildings) is about 10 times the horizontal scale (1mm represents a metre), so the slope of the glacis is very much exaggerated
Here's a drone shot of this same basic fort - note that the brown areas are the terreplein, behind the parapet, and covered way, not the moat/ditch - the ditch is green
So I removed the moulded glacis pieces, nudged the ravelins out a little, and laid out some hex tiles for the glacis, just to see what happens. I've used unpainted mdf tiles for the moment, just for visibility; the idea is that a working version would have the glacis painted a grass green shade which would contrast a little with the baseboard colour. The glacis slope is about 200 paces deep, which is sensible
And here is the adjustment if we remove the ravelins - it's still looking all right. In fact it could be used like this, but there are some things to remember: (1) however it may look, the wall behind is sheltered by the glacis; (2) the edge of the glacis nearest the fort is the covered way, with a firing platform. Troops behind the edge of the glacis are hidden/protected. It would please me to add a simple trench element at the edge of the glacis, to remind me of these properties, but I would have to remember that any trench pieces in this position would not be a valid target, since they don't really stand above the glacis...
I'm having a think about the paint colour, and also about possible terrain pieces to represent the covered way. Some numbers: my hexes are 7 inches across the flats, which is near enough 180mm. A 7 inch hex has sides which are 4 inches long (close enough for jazz), so I'm considering getting some custom trench-type pieces 90mm long, with rounded ends and a pretty low, flat profile to represent the covered way. I've sounded out Adrian at Fat Frank, to see if he would consider doing some made-to-order trench pieces; that's as far as I've got today, but nothing is scary yet.
This is definitely going to be a post of rather specialist appeal, but if you like this sort of thing then you may like it.
Here is my enhanced collection of gabions, now painted, and ready for - well, whatever it is that I might need gabions to do...
Some of these are bit oversize, but that's OK, and they will be harder to lose in the field. The small objects on the right look rather like Minifigs 5mm troop blocks, but are officially wooden chevaux de frises [I mention these with some trepidation, since last time 5mm troop blocks came up here some idiot had a conniption, for reasons which still mystify me]. Now that I have some chevaux de frises, I need to think how they might feature in the game - Chris Duffy doesn't mention them in the Sandhurst rules...
Next job is to start experimenting with designs for flat glacis plates - a future post may feature some of this.
The title, of course, is a joke. This is just going to be the usual self-indulgent stuff about me, me, me, but let's sustain the pretence for a minute, and start with the motorbikes.
Most of you will recognise this as the iconic Zündapp KS750 sidecar unit, of which the Wehrmacht bought some 18,000 during WW2. Zündapp were the most successful German maker of motorcycles; it is less well known that they were also the sponsors of the experimental Porsche 12 of 1931, which was one of the forerunners of Hitler's People's Car. The Zündapp effort was very advanced, having a flat-5 watercooled engine, and it may have been dropped on the grounds of cost. Here's a postwar reconstruction of the Porsche 12, which never made it into production; I understand that there were 3 running prototypes, of which the last was destroyed in a bombing raid on Stuttgart in 1945.
After the war, Zündapp moved their operation to Munich, and production was restricted to small, 2-stroke engined motorcycles. They produced a range of what became known as "mo-peds", and also introduced the excellent Bella scooter, which in the 1960s should by rights have been a very serious challenger to the Vespa and the Lambretta - maybe it was too ugly?
Changes in regulations and international trading agreements meant that Germany's protected motor cycle industry was suddenly thrown open to competition from Japan, and Zündapp eventually went bankrupt.
Right, back to my own history.
My family moved to a more suburban district of Liverpool when I was 10, and my dad got a better job, at English Electric, in Aintree. This was too far to cycle, and he detested public transport, which he always considered to be primarily an uncomfortable way to spread infection. So he bought himself a 50cc moped - a Zündapp, in fact - for his commute. This would do something amazing like 150mpg on 2-stroke fuel. The build quality was exceptional, and the device was very strong (and heavy, of course). Officially it would do 35mph, but my dad fitted his with steel leg guards, and with a mighty perspex windscreen, which had a clear apron hanging down to the leg guards, so it had the aerodynamic properties of a garden shed. He also fitted it with an improvised pillion seat. With me on the back, 25mph was about the limit, and up anything like a significant slope I would often have to get off and jog up the hill behind him. It was not a huge amount of fun, as I recall.
Since I have given the general impression that this was no kind of sophisticated or comfortable means of transport, it makes obvious sense that the first serious run my dad took me on with his noisy, stinking, wheezing moped should be a 3-day jaunt to the Lake District "and beyond" (which I think meant "whatever we can manage"). I spent a lot of this trip jogging up steep hills, as you might imagine, thinking silent, dark thoughts. We went on the old A6 road over Shap Fell; we got as far as the Scottish border (just about); neither of us had been to Scotland before, so never mind the physical torture and the driving rain. Then we came back via the Pennines (he wanted to take a photo of the waterfall, High Force, near Middleton in Teesdale, with his ridiculous little Ensign box camera), cut back into the Lakes for our second night, and dawdled our way home the following day. How we survived, and why no-one ever murdered him, remain topics of wonder to this day.
During that trip, apart from my first sight of Scotland, I recall that we also spent a night's bed and breakfast upstairs in a pub in Stainton, Penrith - I had never been in a pub before!
This all comes to mind now because I recently rescued some of my mother's old family photo albums from her care home, and I now have some evidence. Here am I, with the moped, on the shore at Coniston Water, in the Lake District, on that very trip. Note short trousers, school socks and non-aerodynamic hairstyle.
And here, just to prove we got there, is the ritual photo of Gretna Green. I think that the wretch in the plastic mac in the middle is me.
A year or so later the Zündapp was replaced by a Lambretta scooter (by this time we are getting into the age of crash helmets), but serious upgrades to the transport situation waited until I had gone away to university, after which my mum and dad owned motor cars, and started going on nice continental holidays. [I've always wondered about that...].
It was interesting for me (if not for you) to find these old snapshots, which I haven't seen for 60 years at least. I should keep them handy, in case I am ever guilty of thinking that life gets a little tough some days.
Tonight I propose to work on touching up my growing collection of gabions. I may also paint some chevaux de frises. I have some excellent CDs of the Danish String Quartet playing folk music to keep me entertained, of which I may say more on another occasion.
***** Late Edit *****
I mentioned the Danish String Quartet briefly above - here's one of my favourite tracks from the painting session - the DSQ reinforced with a couple of friends:
For the last two days I've been working on rescuing figures from the Painted Spares boxes to assemble some of the 3-man infantry companies I need for my WSS siege games.
Apart from their much-envied ability to stand on a narrow walkway behind the walls or in a trench, these fellows are needed to carry out trench raids, to perform guard duties for sapper teams and (in the case of the garrison) for policing duties, to control the excesses of a hostile civilian population.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the emphasis here is on retouching pre-painted figures, mounting them on slimline 50mm x 20mm bases (a new size for me), and trying to make them as versatile as possible.
I have now knocked together 5 "battalions" of 4 companies each thus far - I'm pleased with them - I might need a couple more. They aren't going to win many prizes, but they will only get out to play every now and then, and it beats the bejesus out of leaving them to fester away in the spares boxes.
Here's what I've finished off this afternoon. The figures are all Les Higgins castings of considerable age, and they were all owned and painted by other collectors before they came to me!
The 5 battalions of siege companies; from the rear, there are 2 rows of French, 1 of Austrian grenadiers and 2 of British grenadiers
Some of the British grenadiers; synchronised throwing of grenades always reminds me of Dad's Army, and such an activity might be a bit old-fashioned anyway by the time of the WSS, but in a siege a grenade might be just the thing to chuck over a wall or into a trench. Very shiny fellows indeed
Some very nicely painted Austrian grenadiers I picked up on eBay when I was still an occasional shopper there. It really doesn't matter, but I challenge anyone to come up with an Imperial infantry unit with green facings in this period. It's OK - sleepless nights reading and searching online have turned up a suitable identity, which I find quite gratifying. In fact there were two such - both from the Fränkische Kreis (Würzburg area) - one of which wasn't raised until 1711, which is a bit late, but one is right on the money; the 3rd Franconian Circle regiment was present at 1st Höchstädt, Donauworth, and the siege of Landau, green facings and everything. It's original commander resigned when he inherited the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1703 (as one would, of course). He was replaced by one Johann Friedrich Mohr von Wald, who sadly only lasted a year before he was mortally wounded at the Schellenberg in 1704, so the colonelcy then passed to Georg Philipp von Boyneburg (you must remember Georg Philipp? - his mother used to wash our stairs...). Anyway, you've been introduced
These are from the more faded end of Eric Knowles' French army - I've used most of the good ones already for line regiments, but these guys cleaned up well enough for this siege job. They are especially useful, since they can also stand in very nicely for Dutch, Austrian, Danish, and a whole stack of German principalities, many of which I haven't even heard of
I've still to put the magnetic sheet under all these; oh yes - may I please give an appreciative shout-out to the lads at Warbases, who got the new 50x20 bases to me in 24 hours.
Yesterday I picked up my brushes for the first time since May; very easy session, enjoyed it.
I completed some more of the siege-bits pile for WSS, right through to varnishing and basing. I also sorted out more of the "cast of hundreds" figures destined to play the part of assorted siege-gunners and engineering types. These figures are all previously painted, some came with the odds and ends from Eric Knowles' WSS hoard (very usefully, Eric specialised in odds and ends), some came as loose change in various eBay hits, and in historic purchases from Soldiers of Rye, some were kindly donated by friends - thanks to Jim Walkley, to Benjamin, to Albannach, to Serious Michael (in Derbyshire), to Old John, to Clive and to Goya (for hunting things down for me at bring'n'buy stalls in various countries). Thanks also to anyone I've forgotten to mention.
WSS Siege Bits box - what's been did: thus far we have 3 brass siege cannons (the one with dolphins is Minifigs, the others Hinchliffe), 3 iron 24pdrs (Hinchliffe), 4 heavy "fortress" guns on garrison carriages (also Hinchliffe), mortars in 2 sizes (Lancer Miniatures) and a crowd of crewmen and helpers (Les Higgins). For any keen types who identify that some of the iron ordnance pieces look a bit like Blomefields, and might be happier in a slightly later war, I can only plead that they are near enough for me, and that this little park also is to provide the siege equipment for my Napoleonic Spanish army!
These little fellows are from my pool of Eric Knowles conversions which have been called back to service after retirement. The source figure for each is the "fat officer" from the Les Higgins Malburian range - one has been altered to be doffing his hat, appropriate to the Age of Elegance, while the other is struggling with a tin-foil map. The paintwork is Eric's, preserved as far as possible. What the uniforms represent I neither know nor care - I like them, and these guys look senior enough to wear what they want!
The "cast of hundreds" approach is useful; thus far I have gone for the easy stuff - figures which only really needed some chip-repair - if they also looked a bit faded then a quick exposure to Army Painter's "Quickshade" is a big help - then fresh varnish and new bases. If they look a little pre-owned then that is just what they are - they are working antiques, so appropriate respect will be welcome. If there seems to be a lack of direction in the uniforms, that's OK - some of these chaps might well be British, or a bit French, but if they are not then they are probably Dutch, or a garrison battalion, or Walloons, or from assorted German states - they may even be in civilian dress - who knows?
I still have some more figures to add to this army of extras - the next lot will require more touch-up work. At the moment I have run out of 20mm bases, and to be honest I am not yet sure just how many more I will need. I'll come back to this.
On the weapons front, I have another 3 bronze-barrelled siege cannons to finish off, one extra-large mortar and a few little Coehorns. Getting there.
Beyond that, I need to paint up a lot more gabions, get started on some decent chevaux de frises, and sort out some separate (3-man) companies of troops to carry out trench raids, and to stand guard duty for sapper teams. This last exercise offers a chance to use up a small supply of pre-painted British grenadiers who will not get a gig otherwise.
One proposed terrain breakthrough has been a bit of a wrench; for Vauban-period warfare, I do have proper 3D (sloped) glacis pieces to go with the walls and bastions. The nicely-made glacis pieces can also be something of a nuisance, since they limit the fortress designs I can use unless I spend money and/or effort getting extra moulded pieces. I have decided to use flatglacis plates - just hex tiles painted in a special shade of green so they stand out, and use Fat Frank's standard "trench" pieces to represent the covered way at the top edge. I'll try some mock-ups with this idea in the next few weeks. What could possibly go wrong?
Always delighted to feature samples from Steve's collections.
Steve very kindly sent me this photo; the description is his:
Nothing to do on a wet dismal September day...so spent a few hours digging through the old figure boxes and found these (attached ). They represent the ECW Parliamentarian Command Group , mounted Oliver
Cromwell , Thomas Fairfax and the Earl of Essex with Drummer and
Commonwealth Standard Bearer on foot .
All are smartened up Hinton Hunt or Les Higgins 20mm figures I converted way back. Thought they might be worth an airing!
