Wargaming At its Best

I thought I would do today's report first and leave yesterdays until later, mainly because it has been an exciting day and it is still fresh in my mind.

The game was a large one and we both fielded almost every unit we have, the Carolingians had three cavalry units one or two of which were elite and a large infantry force with several elite units in the line, two skirmish units and one of massed archers. I could not afford to bring my elite infantry so all the Roman units were average and one unarmoured, in support I took two Foederate Goth warbands, one of nobles. My plan was to strike with my elite cavalry so as well the generals Hunnic Bucellari I had Alan and Germanic nobles, I was hoping the nomads would pepper the enemy with arrows before having to charge in.

Romans left, Carolingians right.

As we deployed we had the infantry opposite each other as well as the cavalry all on the one flank, it was here I thought Stewart had made a mistake as he had had the opportunity to put his massed archers in support of his mounted troops but instead he put them in his line of battle. In fact it was a mistake but one he recovered from with some good generalship. My plan was to strike quickly with my cavalry and turn the Carolingian flank, I was hoping for a little time but the enemy cavalry came straight at me. At the first clash I found my cavalry on the back foot while my third unit was now being outmaneuvered as an infantry unit peeled off to approach them and the enemy cavalry started to pelt them with javelins, oh oh. I held my infantry back for the moment as did Stewart.

The cavalry clash.

 All the action was now on my left as my cavalry eventually stood and began to push back, however one combat all but destroyed my Alans, leaving them victorious but basically useless as a fighting force. My Bucellari eventually broke their foes but the pursuit took them away from the battlefield and they basically took no further useful part in the action. My last cavalry were now forced to charge the Carolingian infantry but died to a man in a very one sided affair. My left and Stewart's right were now both finished as far as the battle went, honours were probably even here although I had expected much more from my horsemen.

Break them, damn it!

What happened?

I now felt that I had to push my infantry forward or they could be outflanked by some marauding Carolingian skirmishers if they managed to reform. Again I was forced to charge the enemy although I was not yet ready, I expected to be beaten but the Lanciarii Gallicani fought like Trojans and began to push back their foes, an unexpected turn of events for me. Meanwhile just as I was ready to throw the Goths in Stewart won the initiative (again) and charged me, I cursed the Foederati as their javelin volleys fell short, this must have galvanised them as they stood their ground, no quarter was given. I now managed to get my remaining troops into action and the fight rippled along the battlefield, both sides gave as good as they got, albeit I thought my days were numbered.

Slight confusion on the Carolingian left.

The Goths advance.

Forward for Rome!

Hold, hold!

Slowly my boys began to gain the upperhand despite excellent Carolingian morale, and although my Goth nobles eventually ran they had stood their ground and gained the rest of the army valuable time, it was now that the enemy began to break. Desperately wounded with his army beginning to flee Charles Martel offered up his sword, my Tribune leading the Roman infantry breathed a sigh of relief.

Battle is joined.

Carolingian victory so close, yet ............

Quinta Macedonica defeat the enemy.

What a fantastic game, hard fought by both sides although I did my fair share of shouting and sighing at both my dice and my boys. I was very disappointed with my cavalry but my infantry more than made up for it albeit not until two thirds of the way through the battle, until then I was sure I was heading for defeat. My missile fire never got off the ground while Stewart had some success with his, his morale also held up until the end no matter what got thrown at him.

The end is nigh.

Steady.

Winwaed 655 AD

The missus left yesterday and due to the strikes and rail closures had a tiresome journey to London but got there eventually, I am hoping I do not run into the same problems next Friday. Not having had a wargame now since the middle of December I organised one with Kevin this afternoon, he has had his own problems with the great British workman so didn't get a chance to put his usual thoughts into his army. Therefore I decided to choose a Dark Age scenario from my booklet and went for Winwaed, this battle was the last battle of the great pagan Mercian king Penda, he had once again launched a large raid into Northumbrian territory but had accepted gold to go home. The man who paid Penda off, Oswiu king of Bernicia, now decided to follow him and bring him to battle, perhaps he just wanted his money back. The upshot was that as the two forces met one of Penda's allies kept marching and another, a relative of Oswiu may simply have not fought at all.

Mercians on the left, Bernicians on the right.

Oswiu attacks.

 I set up both forces opposite each other, some of the Bernician units were slightly larger than the Mercians also they had two units in reserve, the Mercians had one. Across the Cock Beck, a stream in flood due to a rainstorm, stood Aethelwald Oswiu's relative and dubious ally of Penda, a die throw each turn from turn three would show Aethelwald's intentions, 1-3 he would remain loyal to Penda, 8-10 he would throw his lot in with Oswiu, anything else showed he was still unsure.

Kevin chose to take Penda's forces so I was left with Oswiu, I decided to take the battle to Penda as quick as possible in case Aethelwald became a threat later, I left my cavalry reserve in the rear for just such a possibility, I also had an extra infantry unit which I brought up behind the battle line hopefully ready to deploy where needed. Kevin moved his cavalry to threaten my right flank which caused me to slow this attack down, however I pushed forward with the rest of the army. Very quickly I lost my rightmost unit while another on that flank went charging ahead into the enemy line, this left one unit standing (my Franks, and we know their reputation) not really what I wanted, Oswiu looked around in despair. I was forced to commit the Franks before the Mercian cavalry could flank them while at the same time Kevin threw in several charges on my left, things looked decidedly fragile. It was at this juncture that Aethelwald decided to indeed stick by his promise and began to move his troops across the Cock Beck to Penda's aid.

Oswiu's right in trouble.

Penda is dead and his men ready to run.

Wait, the Franks are fighting and quickly defeat and disperse their foes, at the same time the Red Dog troops, despite being slaughtered stood their ground, things began to look better. The Mercian counterattack turned into a disaster as Penda's bodyguard died around the body of their king unable to defeat Oswiu's household troops, as the king fell more Mercians fled the field. Aethelwald, still struggling across the raging stream took all this in through the murk and advanced no further. The Bernicians controlled the field.

Aethelwald is too late and thinks twice about joining the battle.

A good game and typical Dark Age struggle with no quarter given. Lady Luck had deserted Penda after his first small victories, despite being uphill of the enemy and getting their charges in first his men failed to turn these into more victories while the Bernicians fought far better and managed to disperse most of the enemy army. Aethelwald could have made a difference but took time to make his mind up and by then the Bernicians had troops to spare to meet him as he crossed the Beck.

HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1971 20

New Year 1971 found me at the cocktail bar of some posh hotel in Singapore after the obligatory pint at the Armada Club, a pint in Sembawang, more in the Victoria Club and then being homesick for about ten minutes in a fancy bar with fancy prices, no doubt the night ended in Boogie Street.

Singapore really was the frontier for most of us, some times when a certain Jack Dusty (storeman), begged a lift back with us we had to make a detour to a house of ill repute where he would leave his watch as surety for his return with real money the next day, the stop did not take long and we would be on our way again tout suite. We were also accosted by youngsters with small white envelopes with about half a dozen dodgy photographs in them whenever we alighted from the local bars One of my delights was the street food available, usually Nasi Goreng, from little stalls which came alive as the taxi pulled up, minutes later we were tucking in sitting on old rickety planks and eating off whatever passed as a table before we weaved to and fro back to the ship. The street food back then was not poncy and it didn't kill you or come with a health warning.

All good things come to an end though and we left our paradise behind and headed west just after New Year. We were to stop off in Gan, an island in the Maldive group but right on the edge and 400 miles from the capital, a short stop but our repairs had not been great and we had a problem once again with the gas turbine so we stayed long enough to get ashore. Gan was basically a runway in the sea, the RAF used it as a stopover for refuelling and had a small detachment there, 600 crabfats (RAF personnel) and one woman on the island. Legend had it she was a beauty, needless to say this was blatantly untrue, she was more like a Sunday School teacher from what I saw, albeit from a great distance. A couple of us did manage to go ashore for some sun time, I remember lying on the pristine beach as large, very large birds swooped and played amongst the palms, these turned out to have been bats!

 The repairs are now estimated to be far more serous than at first thought, we are not expected to sail again until the 13th, the stokers and the engineering officers etc. are having a hard time and working constantly. As usual sports were organised for those so inclined, which always seemed to be quite a few, we RO's of course just lay on the beaches when off watch with the bats. We are doing another Beira Patrol on the way back, before this however we should have a run ashore in Diego Suarez (Madagascar).

Pull Your Socks Up Man!

Well I missed the big nosh up last night, I had harboured a slight hope that despite everything I would still limp along, but it was not to be, after opening the shop and dealing with at least a dozen customers and coughing constantly I had lost the will to live.

I couldn't really speak yesterday and just as I hit my low point two old biddies came in, nice people but not if I am firing on only one cylinder. Margaret talks for about five minutes before noticing I am smiling but silent, an interrogation begins on my health as I nod or shake my head. After trying her bus pass, Nectar and National Insurance cards she eventually finds her pension card, two failed tries later she realises she has the number written down, ta dah! Then her husband cannot find the slot for his card, I cannot tell him as I am speechless, several tries later we have lift off, NO! don't pull the card out yet Les! Weary smile, pop your card in again Les, no, plenty of time mate. Margaret berating but not helping to the side. I have a lot of time for these two, which is just as well as it took maybe twenty minutes to give out two pensions.

I finish up with the news at 1800, I sink further into my chair, we really are doomed.

Anyway, socks pulled up, I had intended to game today but Kevin has last minute visitors, which to be honest suits me as I am only at 95% efficiency, so we have decided Thursday will be our first game of the new year come what may. I have got back to painting and perhaps with a  good run at it this weekend that third phalanx will be ready for varnishing and basing at the start of next week.

The missus is away on Wednesday for about five days or so so Stewart is coming through for some games, the first will be Bolt Action, the first in a long time, I intend to get quite a bit of equipment on the table which normally doesn't manage it. If I keep doing this I might have to add a couple more infantry squads to each side at some point. On the Sunday we have a large War and Conquest game lined up, 3,500 points each, normally I fight Stewart's Carolingians with my Saxons, I had planned to use the Romano-British this time but at those points he will have quite a bit of cavalry so I will match that with my Patrician Romans. Stewart always moans about 'Roman Tanks' forgetting his own army is quite a tough proposition and certainly superior to the Saxons.

The earlier Roman armies are not tanks but well balanced forces, unless you are barbarians of course, but the later armies do not have this flexibility while still being fairly well armoured according to the sources, certainly better armed than most of their opposition. The real strength of the Patricians is their choice of cavalry, they have some superb if expensive options, but if you lose that you have had it, you get Adrianopled. Mind you one of the guys put forward a list for a Mid-Imperial army of the 3rd C. and that is tough in anyone's books, there may be room for discussion with some of the troop types but overall I liked it, I think he captured the flavour of the next big transition from the early army to the work horse of the middle period, it only needs suitable figures to come alive (yes I know A&A do such but ....).

Roll on next week.

Man Flu II: It's Back!

I should have known better than to tease the Gods, my first bout of cold (I exaggerated a tad) left before Christmas but this sod hit me just after Boxing Day just to show me the difference between cold and flu. I have obviously not had real flu before because this takes the biscuit, every time I feel I see light at the end of the tunnel I get pulled back in again. I blame my own laziness as I couldn't be a***d going for my flu jab which I have had for the past three years and never had flu, I will not miss it again.

I have closed the shop this morning for a break, and am trying to decide whether to bother opening after lunch, this is the first time since taking over in 2000 the shop has been closed for illness, not the first time either of us have been ill though, I am old school and believe I have a duty to the ....... screech! Maybe I am just daft.

I have now lost a week of painting just as I had got my third phalanx started on, I think it would have been at the basing stage by now. I still don't feel like picking up a brush so it could be next week before I get back on track. I did manage to finish my very last figure of 2017 just before the lurgy hit, a Seleucid infantry officer, now this time I used the Tamiya Smoke wash on the armour once the figure had been varnished. I may still do things the usual way for the bulk of the figures and leave this shiny effect for the officers and generals, any thoughts?

Last figure of 2017.

My forlorn painting queue.

 The club have organised their first annual big nosh up at a local restaurant on Friday and it is looking decidedly dodgy whether I shall be able to attend, a real bummer if this is the case.

HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1970 19

We were moved ashore to HMS Terror for some time and given leave as the ship was put through repairs in the dockyard, at that time Singapore dockyard still looked like a proper fleet dockyard, it had several large ships alongside to support repairs, large aircraft carriers beyond their useful life at sea now depot ships. I remember being quite awed by crossing the deck of one to get ashore, a hive of activity.

We quickly established a small bar in Sembawang village as our first stop for a night on the town, as soon as you entered the dim light, it was always dark no matter what time you strolled through the door, you found a 'hostess' at your elbow, their job was to butter you up so you would buy them a drink. They never actually got a drink they instead sipped some kind of green liquid which became knows as 'sticky greens', it cost as much as a proper drink of course which was the point.

Ship Inn, Sembawang New Years Eve, 1970

Sembawang Village, the bars at least.

One of the main attractions here was that you could get everything hand made, from shoes to shirts and it didn't take forever or cost you a fortune, you could get kitted our from head to toe in a matter of days. I got a suit and a couple of shirts, one of which was so well made and comfortable it turned into my 'thousand miler' which is a garment you wear almost as default. Electrical goods were also a great buy, I got a portable Sanyo tape recorder/player which was state of the art at the time as despite being almost the size of a shoebox you could carry it, this would become an object of envy once I was back in the UK.

It wasn't all fun and I had to go on a Naval Gunfire Support course in nearby Nee Soon village where the army had a base, it was more of a jolly than anything and I loved it, I was very good at communicating with spotters, you could not afford to make a mistake when giving orders out to guns, later I would be asked to become a spotter but turned it down, life expectancy was 24 hours at best and the regime was Spartan. A friend of mine did join and he turned into a humourless machine. Apart from this however our time here was very leisurely.

The big attraction for sailors in Singapore was Boogie (Bugis) Street, it had flocks of those women who were in fact men, Kai Tai's as they were called back then, again many were there for you to buy them drinks, but most of these offered more than drinks. They also tended to hang about the only toilet in the area, a horrible, dilapilated building green with mold, most bars spilled out onto the street with basic chairs and tables and it helped navigation if you were sober, which, if you were in Boogie Street you would not be. If you managed to stay on your feet all night and see sunrise on Boogie Street you became an instant legend, I cannot recall meeting any legends. It was also a dangerous place, my mentor Lofty, a hefty lad at six feet plus did not want to leave one night and had several too many, he stood up swaying in the road and called out "I'm not leaving here without a fight!" Unfortunately for Lofty, tied up in the dockyard was the HMNZS Otago, which, true or false had been strafed by the Americans off the coast of Vietnam, and they were in a foul mood, the last I saw of Lofty was him disappearing under a heap of Moaris, he ended up in hospital and missed the ship when we sailed in early January.

The infamous toilet with a traditional dance taking place on top.

Kai Tai's

Another legend of Singapore was the large scale Scalextric type racing track at the top of the Victoria Club opposite Raffles Hotel, I ventured up there to see this marvel and sure enough there it was, it had seen better days as the 'drivers' were in the main drunken British servicemen and crashes were the order of the day, by the time I saw it is was showing its age and although it still worked it was a shadow of its former self.

Then there was the Peanut Vendor in HMS Terror, he would turn up as the bar opened, a withered old man with a small tray shouting at the top of his voice "Tiger Balm, Peeeeeanut" he kept this up until the lights went out. It was the first time I had enountered Tiger Balm, a cure for every ailment on the planet I believe. Not made from real Tigers.

The Armada Club, HMS Terror, haunt of the Peanut Vendor.

I was the instigator in the second ruckus in Singapore, on the way back from Boogie Street to the ship I fell in with two Greenies (electricians), one very drunk and ready to pass out and the other a Scouser on the same level of intake as myself. The taxi pulled up at the gate in Sembawang village which looked deserted and the driver asked for ex amount of klebies, I got out my share and asked Scouse for his, no way was he paying was the reply. A heated argument ensued with the driver shouting for his money and me shouting at Scouse for his share. I eventually got fed up, threw two thirds of the money at the driver and said this is for me and the drunk, you will have to see him for the rest, pointing at Scouse, I dragged the drunk out of the car and headed for the gate, as I looked back the street had come alive with people emerging from the shadows and I watched as Scouse run back down the road towards Singapore with about twenty enraged locals after him. He survived as I saw him the next morning in the mess, I think all he lost was his jacket in the end, lucky man. I was briefly in touch with him decades later and he still remembered the incident.

We were supposed to drop in at Hong Kong and then spend Christmas in Australia, next to America another first class run ashore for Jack Tars, but our repairs put an end to that as they are going to take a lot longer than anticipated. I am not too bothered as Singapore held enough interest for me, hundreds of bars, posh hotels, great weather and a lazy attitude had overcome us as we enjoyed ourselves to the hilt. Sadly however we will be back at sea just after New Year on our way back to Blighty having kept the Russian Bear and Yellow Peril at bay, the good news is that it seems we will be deploying to the West Indies as Guardship for six months after a quick turnaround, bring it on!

2017

Well here we are, another year gone and me a pensioner, something which I used to think only happened to old people, and me still looking good although the inside is a train wreck. Not a bad year for me, a good holiday in the North of Scotland at the beginning with superb weather and finishing with the fabulous China trip.

I finished off my Patrician Roman army and finally settled on the Seleucids which will I suspect be my last War and Conquest army which I began in early November, it will be Spring 2018 before it will deploy in all its glory. I am hedging my bets here as I do enjoy collecting troops and painting them for these armies but despite what will no doubt be a howl of protest you do have to take stock at some point. Getting in touch with Kevin has allowed me to fight more games of WAC than I had anticipated, I hope this continues in 2018. I did not go to any WAC weekends this year and next year I am unsure, Rob Broom is planning one for March and there is another possibly in February. I do enjoy these and it is a chance to meet up with friends from the other end of the country so they are pencilled in, or will be when we get round to getting a calendar for 2018.

I managed to play some boardgames this year, which is a first for me in a long time, I eventually bought Hammer of the Scots and although it is a fine game and sexier than Robert The Bruce, the latter is still the better game in my opinion albeit needs a map update.

I have not managed to do much with Bolt Action this year despite doing some work on my terrain, the main problem for me is that I like larger games than you can have on a club evening, where you turn up with about thirty men and a motorbike, I have tanks, trucks and guns and want them on the table, a big table, but I have not managed to entice anyone interested in BA to Casa Anderson so far. I did try Chain of Command once again and once again was left disappointed, so much so I will not touch it again.

I only managed one or two games of X-Wing and slightly more of Dead Man's Hand, I would like to get a few more figures for this once Black Scorpion release their Tombstone Kickstarter range, not that I need any but I do like their style. They will not be available until April which suits me perfect.

That about wraps up 2017, what about 2018, well I have already noted that the Seleucids will be finished around Spring, I do not intend at this time to plan any further armies or forces for the year, although rebasing my skirmishers onto bigger bases is a given
. I do still have an itch for the French and Indian Wars or something involving the Jacobites, the latter has crept in since I drew maps for the battle of Sheriffmuir. I also want to do a few ACW battles and am toying with the idea of setting up a small campaign for four players. I have now fought two battles from my Dark Ages booklet so would like to do at least a couple more at some point. Kevin has several naval games and these might prove interesting. None of us know what a new year will bring but this is a kind of plan for me to work with.

Map projects are already building up for 2018, the Atlas I have mentioned, the Spanish-American War, Belgrade during WWI and Stony Point (AWI), the Franco-Prussian War and back to WWI for at least two books.

The Guard

I have just rushed on and completed my last unit for 2017, the Seleucid Royal Guard phalanx, I think I have managed this one better than the first, especially my work on the linen armour. The main colour had to be purple as we all know it was particularly Royal/Imperial during this period, also the shield pattern I chose was also purple so it all blends. I was tempted to do a bronze edge to the shields but settled on a colour, perhaps the next phalanx will have a bronze edge to the shields, we'll see.

I even managed to do the pteruges better, this time I gave them a dark wash then drybrushed with white, I had to do this a couple of times but it was far quicker than painting them individually, although I do this with the officers. I normally use Tamiya Smoke over the armour as soon as I paint it, but this time I left it until after the varnishing, I thought this would prevent me having to give the bronze a last touch up for a shine after the matt spray as the Smoke leaves a shine as well as giving depth. To be perfectly honest either way is fine as they both look good at wargaming range.

I have the figures to make up two more phalanxes of 28 men each, I think they should be finished by the end of February if not before, when I will be looking to get the rest of the army. Aventine have put back the release of their new cavalry and some foot but I am hoping they will be in the shop by February. If not I shall get the second elephant and my generals along with some civilians for Strategy Points and complete my Rally Point, by then surely I shall be able to get the cavalry. Even without these I should have 2,000 points ready for a club game by mid March at the latest.

The Christmas Game

Club game last night and we had a large turnout, almost a full complement, our leader Matt gave a small talk on how the year has gone, the club is healthy, Dan the treasurer showed how buoyant we are and asked for ideas to spend money in 2018. We were treated not only to Julian's excellent mince pies, but cheese and biscuits, sausage rolls and a big box of Quality Street courtesy of Andy, a great start to the night.

The game was a huge Lord of the Rings skirmish, I think we had nine Good players and nine Evil players, I was reluctantly forced into being a goodie which goes against the grain, we were then told to go and collect our forces, I chose three mounted Rohan, they just looked good to me. We then headed for our deployment areas which were interspersed between Good and Evil, I had an Assassin on my right and a Mordor Troll on my left, points were given out for kills and capturing booty, which just happened to be some of the Cadburys Roses spread around the table.

Before the mayhem.

My beautiful but useless riders.

There was one of those large purple favourites just in front of my cavalry so off I went for a quick capture, this proved a two edged sword as it was high in points (60) but immensely heavy to carry, this would cut my movement down to that of a foot soldier. Sadly the treasure did not become lighter after I had eaten the sweet so I decided to drop it and go join the large fight which was developing on my left between some foot Rohrimm(?) and two trolls. As Dan's Troll hid behind a large rock we turned on Julian's, it suffered an arrow shot and my hero also managed to get a decent hack at it, in howling pain it made off towards its friend, I could see 50 easy points coming up. All of a sudden the pitter patter of tiny feet could be heard as a swarm of dwarves jumped on the monster and brought him to the ground, I howled in rage to no good, cheaters!

Our battleground.

The Trolls turn.

Rob, the Keeper of the Mince Pies, got his revenge on me as he gave our Evil foes a bit of a hand by dropping a Barrow Wight into the fray, this foul creature then froze my leader and one of my men, basically putting them out of the game as it was nearly impossible to wake them up. The Mordor Troll had come back into the game and was slaughtering our men left, right and centre, two brave souls, who had been protecting a large orange sweetie decided to leap from their fastness on to the Trolls back and kill him. One chickened out and stayed with the plunder while the other landed on the Troll but also impaled himself on one of his armoured spikes.

I had lost my first contingent and pulled more cavalry for my second, all this time the original plunder I had dropped had been fought around and ignored, as time was slowing slipping by I detached a couple of riders to pick it up, I couldn't end the game with a minus score. My new hero was as useless as my first one and took forever to kill a couple of dim witted Orcs.

You two get that 60 points!

The game ended and I had managed to glean 75 points, the winner had over 200, but I had the consolation that he was Good, so I had done my bit. There was all sorts happening around the table and laughter and banter throughout, a great evening. I even managed to get a couple of the mince pies to take home, I also got my revenge on Rob as my little group got to place a bunch of rabid Orcs or some such foul monsters right next to his last man standing, job done.

Revenge.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

HMS Tartar 4th Commission 1970 18

Exercise Midlink was hard work for us, we were in company with the Americans and Iranians, our repairs before we left Bahrain had got us back to sea but we now found our air conditioning had to be turned off and our fresh water rationed as mechanical breakdowns still plagued us. During one night exercise an ever watchful seaman spotted a periscope which was determined to be HMS Orpheus pretending to be a Russian submarine, in fact it turned out to be a Russian submarine keeping an eye on the exercise, he was awarded two guineas, a small fortune to spend in the Naafi.

The watches had been changed for the exercise and we are doing watch on, watch off, each of six hours, we are all disgruntled to say the least. The Iranians have been less than brilliant during the exercise, the only high point with them was an attack by their hovercraft, we on the other hand have been pretty sharp, especially as we were trying to do better than HMS Eskimo who had turned up for the exercise and when it is complete will take over from us a Persian Gulf Guardship.

Exercise and handover done we say farewell to the Gulf and head east, the Gulf has never actually been boring but we have had enough of it and look forward to the fleshpots of Singapore, legendary tales abound in the messes, old salts relive dodgy memories.

At some point we arrive in Columbo, Ceylon to take on fuel, as we enter the harbour masts and funnels from at least two sunken ships litter the way in, a breakwater perhaps. We managed a run ashore in Columbo but it was as if the place was asleep, the two bars we managed to find served us in a haphazard way as if we were an annoyance rather than a chance to fleece some matelots, even the local floozies were uninterested. So after a fairly bland time we got back onboard and thankfully waved goodbye to Ceylon.

We arrived in Singapore on November 28th, we had to anchor out at first then the next morning had to de-ammunition ship, a job I hated as even being a Radio Operator you were not exempt. I was in the line at the top of a hatch just inside what was the hanger for the Wasp helicopter, 4.5 inch shells were being passed up and passed on. Now, I was 17, all skin and bone and fumbled one shell, they were heavy sods, I don't think I have ever moved so fast in my life, I caught the thing as the point hovered an inch above the steel deck. Now there was no fuse in it and I am sure it would not have went boom, but this was not what went through my mind when I dropped it. I never dropped another one.

The next thing for the crew before making our way into the naval part of the harbour was a meeting with Special Branch. The point of this exercise was to let us know how different things were here in the East and that there were all sorts of temptations waiting for we green sailors, being an RO we were especially warned against Russian agents who wanted our secret codes. I had been warned about this since joining up and had never been the victim of a honey trap yet, let alone offered money, and I never would be. The last thing I remember the speaker saying was that while frequenting some of the more popular bars "if it looked like a woman it was a man".

Three days ago I became 18, my good friends and I got drunk, which is very easy in Singapore (not now I believe), and I could now stay out all night long should I feel the need as long as I was back for 0800 to start another day fighting for freedom.

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever you are..............

As you know I didn't make it to the club last week so Rob kindly put off his Muskets and Tomahawks game until this week, he didn't make it either, we had a lot of members AWOL last week it would seem.

Anyway I dragged myself from my sick bed and found myself in charge of a blood curdling mob of Woodland Indians, all beautifully painted by Rob and Stuart, I still feel like jumping into this period every time I see them. The premise was I had just completed a raid on a village and burned it to the ground, those who had survived my depredations had fled into the nearby woods, I now had to scour said woods to find them. Simon on the other hand with a hastily put together rescue party also had to make his way through the woods but this time to find and succour the fugitives.

The whole table was covered in trees and difficult ground, scattered around were lots of little markers, these markers once approached were diced for and may be nothing, or one or two of the fugitives. I had the choice of butchering them or taking them prisoner, Simon of course had to protect them and get them safely back to a holding area, game on.

I came upon several fleeing women, servant types and duly killed them, I then ran into two who could obviously handle themselves as they shot one of my braves and caused the others in his party to run. I picked up from some of the things Rob said that these two were the women from 'Last of the Mohicans' and if I killed or captured them I would have Hawkeye and his mates after me so I reluctantly let them go on their merry way. The Gods next rewarded me with a high ranking British officer, he was not going under the knife and he was led to the rear.

It was now that both sides were fairly close to each other and most of the civilians had been killed, captured or rescued, a stand of Colours had been spied but had got away only to be shot down, this looked like a high value target to both of us. I tried to get into a position to make an assault but the terrain was against me as was my shooting, after some time I had to give up and the flag disappeared back through the forest. I did manage in the last minutes of the game to bag a small party by killing the two soldiers protecting it. Simon also did not have things all his own way, he rescued a senior officer who immediately demanded to be in charge and for a time confused his men (I was given charge of this character if I beat a die roll). He also found a child who slowed his men down and a fight broke out when a drunken lout was flushed out of hiding and set about his rescuers.

At the end the scores on the doors showed a win for Simon, I could have done much better if I had not killed so many of the fugitives and merely captured them, but hey, I was in character. It was a great idea and once again showed how flexible these rules can be and how you can let your imagination run riot, with this and other scenarios I think Rob should get them published.

My next set of figures are being primed in the outhouse as we speak, I used the recommended super-superglue by someone on Facebook only to find it works no better than other super glues, he obviously has not tried to glue Aventine figures. I went back to using Bicarb as a setting agent and hey presto, job done.

It is Birthday Eve here in the Anderson household, a new holiday I have instigated as King of the Andersons and High Heid Yin of the Clan, it only pertains to the leader of course and means that I should be shown due deference as befits my position and upcoming big day.

We have our club Christmas Game next week, I am not sure what it is yet as it is under wraps, Julian, our star baker will once again be spoiling us with his mince pies. I have already let it be known that this year there should be a more equitable sharing of the goods as last year I only managed to grab one, I think my pleas have fell on deaf ears.

With no games on and suffering from manflu for the best part of a week and a half, still not over it, things have been fairly dismal recently, much like the weather. We came back from my grandson's birthday tea on Saturday having managed to travel to Northumberland and back fairly safely despite the dire warnings, with his birthday so close to Christmas this is the beginning of a few weeks of indulgence for him, with my birthday so close to Christmas I used to get a stick.

I have managed to finish my first phalanx for the Seleucids, it hasn't taken as long as I thought but I am not 100% happy with it. The shield transfers I chose were a red star on white, well not quite white, so I mixed up something to blend it in with the outer rim of the shield, then once varnish was applied this stood out so I had to go over it again with a light wash of white. I don't like painting the linen armour and the pteruges and nearly every figure has them, I have tried giving them a wash then a drybrush over the top, it works to a certain degree. I also possibly made a mistake using so much white with this unit, white is a swine to paint, it always seems to need two or three coats.

Next up is the Guard phalanx, I intend to use far more colour with this one, especially purple, this should be easier to wash than the white. I have also taken delivery of super-superglue as used in model ship building and, according to a gent on FB, should stick instantly even the awkward Aventine Miniatures metal, we shall see.

I swallowed the hype for "Six Minutes in May" which is supposed to be about the bungled Norway Campaign and Churchill's part in it at the beginning of WWII, it is in fact more a political book than a military one but I wanted the latter not the former. I also ended up with two pristine, hardback copies, I tried to send one back but the seller has ignored me, so if anyone wants to send me the postage you can have a copy.

On my return from China, where the Opium War was mentioned more than a couple of times, I bought a book on it, but again it is mainly from the political view, and interesting as it is now that I have put it down I cannot pick it up again.

I jumped in once more last week and to cheer myself up I bought "Rome: A history in seven sackings" I had no sooner read the first page than I knew I had a winner, about time.
 

 I have just finished another few map projects and have been contacted to work on The Spanish-American War for the beginning of 2018 and the the Franco-Prussian War later in the year, both with an author I have already worked with, there is also some work to do on a tome about the Saxon army 1721-1815 and perhaps a start on the AWI Atlas. I have two which I hope to finish the year off with in the next week or so, Gallipoli and Iran-Iraq, the former awaits the authors OK and the other is 50% done. Looking good.

Man Flu

No club this week, I am suffering from the mother of all flu's, I am like a bear with a sore head. It would seem a few of us have fallen by the wayside this week and I made the decision earlier not to go, for starters I felt lousy and secondly I did not want to spread this horror. Rob has kindly put the Muskets and Tomahawks game back until next week, hopefully I will be back to normal by then, I didn't even manage to get any maps drawn today either, I only just managed to put a smile on for my customers.

Anyway I have bravely sat through some TV and managed to finish the Skythian horse archers and get a bit further with my first pike phalanx. I have not got to grips yet with the long pikes and keep catching them and knocking figures over or on to the floor, I can forsee problems on the battlefield and fingers like pin cushions coming up. The missus has bought the other three phalanxes for me, one I have now and the other two I shall get at Christmas, I don't see me finishing this one before Christmas as I have quite a few map projects in the wings.

I got Netflix recently and so far have enjoyed what I see, I am almost finished the second season of Stranger Things, finished Narcos and the superb Godless (which I highly recommend) and have now started on Mindhunter. I bought John Douglas' book when it first came out years ago, he was one of the first profilers for the FBI, and the book was a great read if obviously horrendous in parts as it deals with serial killers. The jury is out on the show at the moment, I like it but am not yet willing to give it my seal of approval, I do wonder, again, why they have introduced a pointless gay relationship when the woman being portrayed thus is actually happily married with a family. After the success of Godless I tried Frontier, about the Hudson Bay Company, it really is at the other end of the scale, dreadful, bad acting, bad accents and an unbelievably ridiculous story.