Arnhem Day 

It being the 75th Anniversary of the battle, and not being able to head up the road from Leopoldsburg this year I> did the next best thing and attended an event at the local games store/hub/thingy, Entoyment in Poole.

It took some finding as the Post Code given in the site is not that of the Business Park on which it is established.  When I got there several games were in full swing and there was no doubting the general enthusiasm of the attendees.

The shop itself carries a good range of paints and brushes plus a lot of board games. The current trend in boxed wargames is well represented and so are the usual suspects from the manufacturers.  Warlord, Perry, PSC, as well as Fireforge and a good few others including Battlefront.  Overall I am quite heartened by the fact that a short drive will get me a table and a top up on any necessary items.

So to the games and there were a goodly selection.

These were from a group called Pikeys Wargames who put on the Osterbeek map using the Rapid Fire rules . I was most impressed with the terrain but did feel that the forces were a little lost in it. But it was being played for the whole day and got much attention.

There was another game set near the Son Bridge put on by the local guys. Again it looked very spectacular and was being played using the Battlegroup rules. It was very intense and all were getting stuck in. The only complaint I overheard was when someone's Panther Zug was shot up whilst they were away getting a coffee.

I took part in a game using the RF rules with one or two tweaks that may or may not be coming in the forecast revised set. Not sure about the rules for multi basing with regards to casualties.  i.e. only full bases can be removed from a unit. Since command bases tend to have three figures ... 

Any way it was an enjoyable experience and I got to know a couple more of the local gamers.  The game was based upon the actions of the Poles at Driel.  It was very bloody and effectively ended in a draw - although I doubt if the poles couple have fought on much more. It had that feeling of last man standing.  Bullying the German armour for once was fun. They only had a half track and a Panzer II. Our troop of Shermans therefore got to do a lot of HE work in support of the infantry.

There were acouple of PBI games. For some reason I rather took to this tank in a game run I think by the Levellers

And Peter Pig reprised their Arnhem Bridge game.

IA view of the whole table; it all works on 6 inch squares

I thought the sunken barge particularly effectve

All in all a most enjoyable day!

At last we have moved

It has taken all of the Summer; well almost all of it but we are now installed in our new house in picturesque Dorset.  There are still boxes to be unpacked but survival level has been reached. There are one or two items that still need to be addressed - like the water bill from the last house but we are getting there.

It is also rather nice to have wheels again. In Brussels a car would have been nice, but not essential and most of the time it would have been parked outside our house whilst we used the bus or the tram. I suspect that we will still use the train a lot. But, when one is servicing the loan on a car it seems silly not to use it.   On the other hand it does give us the chance to do a lot of country walks and stuff.

2019 and All Change.

A quiet start to the year and a decision has been made. After several months of umming and ahhing I have decided to retire. This means closing down the house in Brussels at the end of the summer and for the moment at least, moving back to our house in South Dorset.  I have stopped putting any new projects on the painting table, but am concentrating upon finishing those things that I have started.

With one exception. I bought copy of the new Men of Bronze rules from Osprey. An interesting set in that the focus purely upon Greek Hoplite warfare and its interaction with the nations and civilisations that were on the periphery of the Greek world. Alas no naval action is included but that is probably easily managed.

So I went into the garage and dug out the greeks that i started nearly 20 years ago - even then these were Foundry figures bought to replace an earlier collection of a mixture of Minifig and Garrison figures that I had owned since the mid to late 70s.  For some reason, and I probaly blame Roger Lancyn Green for this, along with Mary Renault and other historical novelists, the ancient Greek world always seemed to me the epitome of ancient warfare. And accessible too with the rivalry of the city states, and the impact of the Persians and to an extent the celts. Rome seemed than so passé. :)

Any way the rules allow for about 60 to 80 figures to represent the Phalanx of a city state and its supporting arms. The writer uses 10 figures to represent a unit. for seem reason I think it more greek to use a base 8 organisation. Well for the moment. The rules do not need casualyt removal, They do need a way of indicating if the unit is in Open or Closed order ( phalanxes only) so I reckon to use a single base and a marker in the future. This will cut the painting time for sure, will allow a greater variety of armies from the xisting collection and deeper formations can be "sorted".  Macedonian phalanxes will be 16 figures and pike armed where needed, the Thebans 3 deep, or perhaps double depth. I have not got there yet. Whatever it should yield an easily transported game and one that is quick to set up and take down. Pictures when I have something more to show.