Bash Day 2020 - 13 June - NOW POSTPONED :-(

It is with deep sadness that I've decided to postpone the BBB Bash Day, 13 June 2020.  I was really looking forward to a fun day of gaming and banter!

My hope is that I can run it in September, or later, once the summer holidays are over and life returns to "normal".

More news can be found here, or on Chris Pringle's website Bloody Big Battles

Thank you to all of you who have supported this event by promising to come or host games.

I trust that you all keep well.

Warm regards

Colin

Aspern Essling BBB refight 02 Mar 2020 (21 & 22 May 1809)

Some of my war-games buddies have, in the past, mentioned that I don't post as much about gaming as I do about modelling.

So here, to redress the lack of gaming posts, is last night's epic Aspern Essling game, using the BBB (Bloody Big Battles) ruleset.

The players were:

Mark S - scenario writer & umpire

The French ~
Mark J - The Emperor Napoleon
Dave W
Crispin M

The Austrians ~
Bruce M - The Archduke Charles (& the other two Austrian Generals deemed worthy to have figures on the table)
John M
Chris P - the creator of BBB - see his blog here - Bloody Big Battles blog
Colin W

We set up in about half an hour and got playing around 6.30 pm.  There were 9 turns, 3 on 21st & 6 on 22nd May, with a night interval inbetween.  We finished around 9 pm, with enough time to head to the local for refreshment and more banter.

The following photos will give a flavour of the game.  I took these as play took place and in the infrequent times when I wasn't doing anything!

Firstly, above, one of my half timbered houses (see previous posts) in situ as an objective.

Below, the Austrians, on the right, move towards Aspern (on the left, near the stream).  The French wait for them to get in range....

My command is in the foreground, lined up behind the marker that tells me not to move till turn 2.  More of this later.

Slightly later the French, holding Aspern, begin to feel the pressure, whilst Napoleon wonders how to get his bridges across the Danube operational again (as the French failed their rolls to keep the bridges open, thus delaying the build up of their troops).  

To the left of the picture, my troops close in on Essling and its Granary.

A little later - in the foreground the Austrian reserves and 1.5 of my 2 forces pressure Essling.

Here is the other 0.5 of Dedovich's IV Korps.  All Austrians were passive, there were also almost no Generals represented, so getting troops to move was.......... slow.  These troops formed a column and spent most of the game taking their time to stroll towards Essling.  Never fired their guns.  Never got shot at.  Possibly got a little dusty.....

The fight for Essling - foreground.  Bruce (Charles & the reserves) and I teamed up to take on Essling and it's Granary.  Here the IV Korps, reserve Cavalry & the Grenadiers all pile in.  

At the other end of the table John M & Chris, as the Austrians, have taken Aspern and the woods, now heading for the bridgehead.

Turn 8 - the END.  Napoleon, pushed out of Aspern and it's woods, decides that he will withdraw from Essling and retire to Lobau Island to think again.  

All in all, a most enjoyable game - nice to get the buildings into use as well!

I hope that this has given you a flavour of BBB Napoleonics and how you can play some of the biggest battles in history on a 6x4 foot table in an evening.  Then go to the pub! 

Figures - French - Mark S, Austrian - me

Half Timbered Buildings - 2

The next two half timbered buildings are done.

The left hand building (in the front shot) is slightly higher as it is raised on a plinth.

These four shots are of fully painted but not weathered buildings.

The next photos are of these two buildings once they have been very lightly dry-brushed with white.  A tiny bit of dry brushing makes the detail pop out, gives a slightly weathered & toned down look and ties the colours together....

Still alive, 1/300 Buildings for NE Europe - half timbered

Firstly, I am still alive.  I've been quite busy making things and gaming, never quite getting round to a blog.

So, here's some pictures of a recent project:

My friend Mark and I are recreating 16 battles from 1805 - 1815.  We need some "NE European Buildings".  A search of the Internet found lots of reference material, so having got the style of building determined, I set to work.  I also had a series of photos from central Germany taken in a village whilst at a friend's wedding - lots of reference material as well.

The houses were a simple carcase, with half timbering to be added on the top floor.  I made the overhangs quite thick, cutting very thin card strips for the timbering.  The end walls were faced with more strips pasted onto a piece of ex-greetings card.

They looked like this, with the right hand ones almost completed:

The roof took a bit of working out.  I had looked (on the internet) at 28, 15 & 10mm buildings, all of these were using model railway roof plastic in OO & N gauge.  I could not find a Z gauge roof that I thought would work, I was also on holiday in France so options for looking at roofs were limited!  After a bit of experimentation I devised a way of creating my own roof tiles in a speedy fashion.

Here is what they look like finished - roofs & chimneys added:

Here's the first one painted - it went to Mark yesterday, but I thought I'd record what it looked like....  The paint pot gives some idea of scale.  It will be "christened" ?  "blooded"? tomorrow at the OWS Aspern Essling game.

Finally, my work bench with the making mess over and the painting mess about to begin.  Table, models, paint, light, brushes and freshly brewed coffee!  Let the painting commence!  It won't look this neat from now on....