Official Start of Project Part Two

No update for a while now. I have lingered for much too long. Not good.

Being one of those persons that need dates and dead lines to get things done, I have contacted the organizers of the gaming convention LinCon (May 13-16) with the intent of setting up the next part of this 6mm project, namely 1st Newbury.

Time flies, but I think I should be able to do all the terrain that is needed in the two months before the convention. So, in my ongoing and doomed-to-fail quest to become more organized, here is a checklist of things to finish:

• Order another game mat from Hotz. I did this today and that settled my dilemma on how to solve the hill issue that I have been struggling with. I will cut up the new mat and glue it to foamboard or something to make the hill I need for 1st Newbury
  
• Find a way how to and then make many, many hedge-lined roads.
• Paint the last remaining units I need. This includes six or seven cavalry units and two units of single hex heavy infantry. My last order from Baccus included limbers for guns so that has to be painted and based as well.
  

There are more things but this is enough for now. Feels good to be on track again! I hope someone out there is following me, feel free to comment, thereby raising my morale :-)

New Units for 1st Newbury

I´ve finished some new Royalist cavalry and musketeers for the upcoming battle of 1st Newbury.

That means I got all the Light infantry I will need, and just seven units of cavalry left (70 figures).

This means the difficult task of doing all that terrain is moving inexorably closer and can not be avoided much longer.

But that´s what I like, laying wake at night thinking on how to build a hill or a better way of making hedges and roads. The preparation is more than half the fun.

Houses Painted

Pictures of all the finished houses. The first four or five are meant to be village dwellings or farm houses. The last two are humbler barns or sheds.

Little House on the English Moor

Painted the first house this evening. Very fun to do. Here are two shots, one without flash and one with.

First Houses Complete

Today I walked to the hobby store and got some balsa wood for the houses I have planned to do.

A couple of hours later and here´s the result. Together with the building parts from Irregular the houses came out very nice, at least I think so. Building them was surprisingly fun!

Choosing the windows and doors, chimneys and balconies and adding some detail like the spare gun wheel I had saved: all very satisfying. Next step is to paint them, which should also be fun.

These houses are very cheap, I got all the balsa I will ever need plus a can of spray paint for 80 crowns (that´s 7 £ or 11 $).

When I run out of metal building parts I´ll just keep making simple houses and barns. I need houses to play 1st Newbury, the battle features a two hex village and some other scattered farms and houses.

Some more pictures, showing also my new siege guns and a new unit of light infantry, plus a close up of one of the little houses:

Music?

Music is an important part of the gaming experience. In our gaming group the soundtrack to the movie Last of the Mohicans is the most played. Also, there are some good 17th century albums available on Spotify, such as Jordi Savall's La Folia.

But I´d like something with a more "battle" feel to it. Music with sounds of guns, horses and muskets. See the video clip, this is what I am talking about. The fun starts at 02.35.

So do you have any tips on good music or soundtracks?

Edgehill Played Again

A couple of days ago we played another game of Edgehill. It was fun and a new player learned the rules.

Actually the whole day was full of Musket and Pike gaming for me. From 12 to 7 we played the battle of Alerheim, from the Under the Lily Banners box, then switched players and place for a 6mm game of Edgehill in the evening.

The Edgehill game opened with quick Royal advances on both flanks. My dragoons on the Parliament right wing did very well and shot the attacking Royalist dragoons to ribbons. This stalled the Royal attack for many turns, and the flank felt safe throughout the game.

In the center not much happened. Parliament pushed forward the left and rightmost brigades, so we had a crescent shaped deployment that I liked a lot.

On the other flank, in the hedges seen on the picture, Rupert's elite cavalry slowly wore down the Parliament cavalry, but our defense there was as good as it can be. The commanded muskets suffered heavy losses as always.