Monday, 3 February 2025

Sharp Practice: Il ponte verso il nulla...

My first game of 2025 last month was fought down a very busy Bristol Independent Gaming with Andy and Phil taking on the role of the dastardly Austrians against my brave men of the Kingdom of Italy in a Napoleonic bash with the Italians trying to capture a bridge before the Austrians blew it up!


The Italians soon came under fire from the pesky Austrian Grenzers!


And before the main Italian force could turn up, a column of Austrian Fusiliers arrived saying "Arbeitet härter, ihr nutzlosen Narren!" to the pioneers fixing explosive charges to the bridge.


The infantry were followed by some cavalry, Chevaulegers I think..


The Austrian side of the field was beginning to look very crowded with Landwehr appearing as well. It was going to be something of a task for the Italians to get through that, especially the the force commander and his Fucilieri were nowhere to be seen...


Whilst I still awaited the rest of the Fucilieri to arrive, I was able to deploy the Volteggiatori of the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera who moved swiftly through the trees attempting to outflank the Austrian columns...


...who marched resolutely forward...


Their way barred by two groups of line Volteggiatori who were screening two advance groups of Fucilieri.


The Grenzers to the right of the Austrian column started firing at the Line Volteggiatori...


Whilst the light infantry Volteggiatori tried to stop the Austrian cavalry from seizing their secondary deployment point - and failing, one dead Austrian short of causing the Chevauleger to fall back. This meant that when (if) the main Italian unit arrived, they would have a long walk to the battle.


Fortune favours the brave - well sometimes! Having flanked the Austrian Fusilier column, the Italian Line Volteggiatori charged into the side of the Austrians! And were beaten off, despite causing a number of casualties...


The Italian Cacciatore a Cavallo charged into the Austrian cavalry and broke them - one turn too late.

Unfortunately I didn't take any more photos of the battle and so you will have to take my word for it that the light infantry Volteggiatori caught the Austrian mina column in the flank, breaking them and routing the Austrian force commander, last seen running into the forest! However it was too little too late and when the bulk of the Fucilieri turned up, the Austrians had the bridge ready for destruction and the Italian Force Morale on the ropes.

Not the best start to 2025!

Sunday, 5 January 2025

French & Indian Wars: Gorham's Rangers

The other day Lance at Galloping Major kindly asked for permission to include one of my photos of my Gorham's Rangers unit in an updated Rangers Guide he is preparing for his website. I offered to take some 'clean' non-game photos for him, which I did, subsequently realising I had not posted pictures of the unit here when I painted them (nor the 1st Virginia which I'll dig out).

The main reason I went with Gorham's Rangers rather than Rogers' more famous compatriots was mainly because everyone and their Aunt Nelly seems to have Rogers Rangers in their French & Indian Wars armies, but also because I liked the uniform colour (green is soooo 1758 you know...)

The miniatures are Galloping Major and are an absolute joy to paint. I recently picked up some more following a recent sale with a view to adding some Native Americans to my force, and to convert some to North Carolina provincials who on the Forbes Expedition of 1758 were noted to be wearing native dress.

Saturday, 4 January 2025

Panzerfäuste: Orc Infantry Command

Following on from the Orc Infantry Sections I've painted up for Panzerfäuste, I thought they needed some command so painted up the Command set...



Rupert (officer) and Buzzhead (radio operator)


Cha Wallah (bringing tea to the frontline) and Senior NCO.



Sawbones (medic).


Cracker (sniper team).


Orc Boffins with Enigma Machine.

Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Panzerfäuste: Orc Infantry sections

With Big Jim Prints making the Panzerfäuste line available once more, and being roped into running a participation game late last year at the Bristol Independent Gaming Open Day, I painted up a section of the  Orc infantry (which as you can see wear WW2 British kit...)



Having enjoyed getting back in the Panzerfäuste vibe painting them up, I wondered how easy it would be to mix and match the arms and bodies to create variants - the answer was very easy with minimal Green Stuff filling needed on just a couple of figures...


I have now converted a third section to give me a full platoon of Orcs, just need to grab some painting time!