Historex - the completed figures

Short supplementary post - I have unpacked the completed Historex figures, made a quick inventory and photographed them, and now propose to wrap them up carefully and put them back in the box. These things are frighteningly delicate. Since I do not intend to unpack them again before they go to auction, I thought I should put the pictures up here. Some of the paperwork suggests that there may also be some completed French gun teams, but they must be in the loft. I don't have them, anyway. There are a few Airfix figures included, which look very good too.

I only once attempted a Historex kit - it took me weeks to put together a model of Marshal Massena, on horseback, and I became irritated when it became obvious that the figure had a ridiculously small head. I did finish it, and it sat for years in the back of the display case before it got broken when I was moving house. Whatever, the experience certainly heightened my appreciation of people who are good at this stuff. I remember (with some unease) reading an instruction which advised scraping the back of the (fabric) webbing straps with a knife edge, to encourage them to curl in the correct direction. Far too intricate for me - I am in the Klutz league when it comes to model making.

Oh Crikey - In at the Deep End

A little apprehensively, I went today to see if I could help with getting a handle on a private collection of military models and books. The collection belonged to a friend of a friend of a friend, a poor chap who recently died after a lengthy battle with cancer. His wife wishes to raise money from his collection to go to cancer-related charities, so I'm happy to help with that. My reluctance is only that I can hardly claim to be much of an expert. Still, all hands to the pump.

Astonishing - the late Alastair was an expert on military planes and vehicles - especially of WW2 and later. I have never seen so many books in one house - also boxes and files of all sorts of aviation and scale modelling monthlies. I attach a couple of snapshots to give an idea - this is only the smallest tip of a very large iceberg indeed. He also was an enthusiastic plastic kit builder - again, mostly planes and vehicles, and most of those I think are stored in the loft and haven't been brought out yet.

I also saw a sizeable collection of Historex Napoleonics. An important factor here is that Alastair stopped building models some years ago, but forgot to stop buying the kits in - intending to get around to building them all some day, I guess. Sadly, the day never came. There are - quite literally - cubic yards of boxed, unbuilt plastic kits.

The sheer impossibility of making any impression on this astounding pile of stuff became apparent very quickly. The family lawyer is speaking to a couple of auction houses about putting the books for sale at an appropriate event. Similarly the vehicle kits will require a specialist dealer to move them.

My small effort today consisted of taking the Historex stuff away to attempt to shift it on eBay. Again, there is a mass of unbuilt kits which he was getting around to, and it is clear from the price stickers and the long-defunct model shops which they advertise that some of these have been around since the early 80s at least.

The completed Historex Naps are nice enough - built to a decent standard - though there is evidence of their having been on display for a while. They need a little dusting and a little touch-up, and a couple of plumes and stirrup irons have come adrift, but this was a very thorough and very organised collector - basically they are beautiful, if you like Historex, and as far as I can see all the detached pieces (and there are very few) are carefully kept with the correct models. Certainly if I attempt to glue any bits back on they will not be improved, so I'll leave them as they are.

The unmade Historex kits are mostly straightforward and still sealed, but one or two, at first glance, look a bit sparse - it looks to me as if a few of the bags contain the parts left over for an alternative pose - particularlly for personality generals - I'll try and check this out.

Today has been a fantastic experience, if a little sad because of the circumstances, but my head is definitely spinning. I need to set out all the built Historex models to see what is there, and attempt to match them up with the things which I suspect are spares packs. If/when I put these on eBay, I'm going to do it in a small number of big lots, simply because I don't have time to do it any other way. Interesting, but an intensive exposure to a world which is unfamiliar to me. If I find a model which I really can't identify, there may be the odd squeal for help here.

Hooptedoodle #49a - Leaving Home

Magnus has to take drastic steps when his parents fail to take the world banana situation sufficiently seriously.

If anyone is offended by the distressing context or the strong language, I hope you will take comfort from knowing that this story is not true and is, in fact, made up.

Hooptedoodle #49 - The Return of the Bananas

A while ago, I did a Hooptedoodle about bananas, which was prompted by my discovery that the Italians still eat bananas that taste like what I remember bananas used to taste like, rather than the bland, disease-resistant Cavendish strain which has largely replaced them in our supermarkets.

I never did come to any worthwhile conclusions, and the post raised a few eyebrows at the time, though those of you who have kindly stuck with the programme since then will have come to understand that bananas may be about as sensible as it gets.

Anyway, Sarah kindly got in touch with me, since I am obviously concerned about the state of the world's bananas, and directed me to a website which raises our awareness of the fact that the Cavendish, in its turn, may be on the way out. You may well wish to follow this link to see what the outlook is. This is not a paid advert, by the way, just a seamless part of MSFoy's Prometheus Hooptedoodle Service. Of course, I am concerned about anything which threatens the state of the World as we know it, and I would not like to see any developing nations damaged by the failure of their banana harvest, but I would be interested to see what might succeed the pathetic Cavendish on the shelves of Tesco and elsewhere. I never did find out where the Italians got theirs...

Nationality Transplants

Yesterday I got a package from Art Miniaturen - always a pleasant experience. There were various items in the pack, including some of Herr Schmaeling's excellent French Line Artillery limber horses and drivers, which I have finally got around to ordering and which will no doubt make an appearance here in the fullness of days.

The things I was most anxious to get hold of were a couple of packets of set no JS 72/0224, the (Waterloo period) Dutch-Belgian Command set - five officers on foot plus two mounted. I've used these before, with head or hat transplants, to provide 1812-style Spanish infantry officers. Conversions are a strange area of activity for me - I do not rate my talents very highly in this area, and yet I've had surprisingly few disasters over the years. There is something very pleasing about creating a unique figure - especially if it is something which I could not have got elsewhere. It feels, admittedly, like something of a cheat - superglueing together bits of someone else's art is an easy way to get good results, and Schmaeling's figures are particularly fine. Now that I have a little more confidence I find it a little easier, but it still requires a very deep breath to bring a razor saw into contact with one of these little jewels.

The picture shows the contents of one of the Dutch-Belgian packs, ready for the surgeon. On the right you see a Minifigs S-Range SN1s (top), whch figures provide all my Spanish rank-&-file, and a Les Higgins British light infantryman (bottom), which makes an excellent hat/head donor with appropriate mods. When the bandages come off - assuming the results are presentable - the world will hear of these guys again.

A Bit of Previous - here's one I did earlier (1st Sevilla) - colonel is one of these same Art Miniaturen Belgians, with a Les Higgins head

ECW - VwQ Rules - Pt 3

Here's the last part of the Victory without Quarter rules, as published by Quindia Studios.

Also, offered in all humility and with no disrespect at all to the original, here are my current thoughts on a number of aspects of the rules which seem to me to need a little more detail. In my recent VwQ game with John, we found that dragoons - as we interpreted the rules - caused us a few problems. To be more accurate, they caused John problems, since my dragoons' fire effect was fearsome - ridiculous, you could say! - and was one of the few encouraging aspects of my army's performance.

The way artillery become involved in melees also seemed a little vague, so we identified a need to add some house rules to clarify that a little. Subsequently I found a few other odd things I thought would improve/clarify the game as it stands. If you find they are unnecessary, or don't actually improve anything, then no problem - don't use them, or else just regard them as my imperfect understanding of what was intended. I wish to emphasise once again that no criticism of the author (Clarence Harrison) is intended - if I didn't think the game was worth the trouble, I would not have gone into this amount of detail.

Here goes - these are all suggested changes for my use of the rules:

Dragoons. The main issue I have with dragoons is that when mounted they consitute a stand of 3 figures, so it seems most logical to keep that arrangement when they dismount. Thus a unit of 12 (say) organised as 4 stands of 3 mounted figures - one stand being command. The command stand remains mounted to represent horses and holders when the unit dismounts - the other 3 stands are replaced by open order stands of 3 standing figures. Dragoons can move 1/2 distance and mount/dismount, or mount/dismount and move 1/2 distance in a move (and still fire).

They are not allowed to fire when mounted, but otherwise will behave exactly the same as ordinary horse (ncluding charges and countercharges), but do not pursue if they win a melee. Mounted dragoons get 2D6 per stand in a melee (which is miserable), and also get the "horse" saving throw of 6+ against hits from long-range muskets.

On foot, they always count as open-order, and they fire like normal musketeers (but only get 2D6 per stand). Since 2D6 is quite generous for a half-strength stand (normal musket-armed infantry are based in sixes, and get 3D6 per stand), they do not benefit from a "volley fire" bonus, and thus do not get RELOAD markers. In melees on foot they may not charge or pursue, and count 1D6 per stand. They may Stand & Fire or Evade if charged - the firing range is calculated as for foot units, but if they Evade they are assumed to have jumped on their horses, so will have Evade and Rout distances calculated as though they are horse.

Small arms fire - additional adjustments to dice throw table: -1 if raw troops firing, +1 if veterans seems appropriate. I would expect the level of training to be particularly telling in musket fire.

Artillery – may Stand and Fire if charged (like infantry), and can be charged - if they are contacted they are eliminated without fighting back (same as Evaders and Routers).

Morale - The universal progression Steady > Shaken > Rout seems too predictable - you always know the worst that can happen. Change made such that morale tests when taking artillery hits, having a Casualty Marker allocated and losing a melee will allow a Steady Unit to go straight to Rout if the morale test result is bad enough - in these situations, a morale test total of 2D6 + adjustments < 7 will Shake a Steady unit and Rout a Shaken one (as at present) but a total of < 4 will take a Steady unit straight to Rout.

I'm not a big fan of morale tests, but I propose to add an extra one to the rules - if a unit being charged elects to "Stand & Fire" (or even just to Stand, if they are unable to fire), then it seems appropriate to test their ability to face the charge first. This becomes especially critical if the charge is coming from flank or rear.

Linear obstacles - deduct 3" from move for each, rather than "half move" penalty, which is awkward if there are 2 in a move. Artillery have to use gates.

Flank/Rear attacks in melee – Any unit allowed to charge (i.e. not dragoons on foot) may attack a steady unit in flank or rear without testing morale first - adjustments to melee combat dice throw to be +1 attacking flank, +2 attacking rear, -1 attacked in flank, -2 attacked in rear. Morale: -1 for flank, -2 for rear in morale tests for Stand & Fire (against a charge), Countercharge and Form Stand of Pikes, and also for defender who loses melee; attacker who loses a melee in which he was making a flank or rear attack (fools!) gets +1, +2 adjustment respectively in the morale test following the melee.

Cover in melees: -1 adjustment to dice if attacking troops behind soft cover, -2 if attacking hard cover. Since the rules specifically allow foot to charge foot who are defending a barricade or obstacle, it seems correct for the rules to cover that kind of melee.

Hooptedoodle #48 - Charles and Norman – today’s pointless tale

I was thinking about this last night. It is a true story, and – since almost everyone involved in it is dead – none of it really matters now. It’s a little bleak, but it is not particularly intended to be sad. There must be many stories like this – you probably have some of your own. I have never written it down or talked much about it, so the main point of setting it down here is to scratch at it a little and see how I feel about it. To maintain the appropriate measure of delicacy, of course, names and places are amended slightly.

I never had a brother. The nearest approximation to a brother I had was a boy named Norman I grew up with. We used to see a lot of each other from a very early age, since my mother used to look after him often when his own mother was at work. So Norman and I were close friends for many years.

Norman’s mum had been in the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) towards the end of WW2, and she was posted to an admin job in the South of England, where she met – and became friendly with – a very handsome young GI named Charles, who was involved in the supply arrangements for D-Day.

Almost immediately after VE Day, the couple married (I’ve seen the wedding photograph) and the young bride soon returned to live with her mother in a rather dismal industrial town in Lancashire, while Charles (who was required to remain for a while at his posting in the South) visited them when he could get leave. It seems it didn’t go very well. There are sad descriptions of Charles (who was from Missouri) sitting on the step of the little back yard to watch the sun setting, terminally homesick, and by the time Norman was born the next year, after one of the hardest winters on record, Charles had already gone back to the States.

Norman grew up without a father, and he and I never mentioned the fact. Elsewhere I heard disapproving mention of this terrible disappearing act, but it was not the sort of thing that got talked about in front of children, so Norman’s lack of a dad just became one more tiny human tragedy in the vast human awfulness which is the legacy of war. In adult life, prompted by greater self-assurance and beer, I once asked him if he had ever made contact with his father, and got a good-humoured but dismissive reference to “Vanishing Charlie”, so I never approached the subject again. Charles was a bad person, a loser and a betrayer, and was not talked about.

Many years passed, and Norman – who never had an awful lot of luck, come to think of it – died in very early middle age of cancer. His mother survived him by a number of years, for most of which she was in a state of dementia. When she, too, passed away, Norman’s widow went to help the Executors to sort out the mother’s estate and go through her papers.

There was a mass of stuff – mostly rubbish – but there was a sealed parcel of letters from America. It seems that for a couple of years after 1946 Charles wrote frequently to his wife of his wish to see his new son, pleading with her to come to join him in Missouri – as they “had agreed” – so that they could be a “real family”. Included in the letters were the immigration papers appropriate to a GI’s family, and forms which could be exchanged for boat tickets.

So appears The Alternative Plot, dear reader. Norman and his mum were not deserted by his father after all. The truth is that Norman’s mother had unilaterally decided not to go to join him. Maybe her decision was the correct one – who knows? – but it means that Norman lived his entire life without ever knowing the truth. In Ending B of the theoretical movie, Norman would have gone to meet his father in the New World, and they would have rushed into each other’s arms while the sun shone on the golden wheat fields and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the big theme. Well, no – the reality is not like that. Norman never knew any of this. Perhaps it’s just as well he didn’t, but sometimes – mostly at 2am when I can’t sleep – it plays on my mind a bit.

But, eventually, none of it matters now.