SYW Association Convention

Well, here I am at South Bend, Indiana attending the annual Seven Years War Association convention. It has been a hectic week getting prepared for the event, but that work is happily behind me and I can enjoy the socializing, the comraderie, and the games.

I spent most of this week getting my SYW British brigade ready for the convention. I had painted most of these figures a year or two ago, but I had never bothered to base them. Note to self, base every unit once you have finished painting it. The brigade consists of four infantry regiments and 3 squadrons of cavalry. The notable regiments are the 3rd (Buffs) Foot, the 8th (King's ) Regiment, the 11th (Sowell's) Regiment, and the 42nd (Black Watch) doing temporary service as Kieth's Highlanders (the 87th Regt in the SYW). The regiments are comprised of figures from Front Rank, Stadden, Stadden and Suren, respectively, in that order. No artillery yet, although I have a 6-pounder from Elite Miniatures and 6 crew from Stadden that are sitting at home on the painting table.

The cavalry consists of two squadrons of the 1st Horse (the Royals) circa 1745 and one squadron (2 troops) of horse grenadiers from the Household Cavalry. Eventually the Royals will have 3 squadrons and the Household Cavalry will add a squadron of horse troopers (sans mitres). I will probably add regular dragoons and dragoon guards in the future. On that score, Randy F. showed me some Front Rank Scot's Greys that had been painted by Dragon Painting Service in Hong Kong. They were absolutely beautiful! I must have some of these. However, since Randy already has the Greys, I will probably have to order some Dragoon Guards or something like that, just to be different. The figures are on the upper end of the price scale, but they are well worth it. DPS provides the castings if you use Foundry or Front Rank, so that is included in the price, but their work is really something to behold. I don't normally allow pro-painted stuff in my armies, but I will have to make an exception in the future.

I have two Suren mounted generals and a Stadden brigadier general to command my forces. Another brigade of four battalions would be nice to add to my army, along with 6 to 9 more squadrons of cavalry and several 6-pounders.

On the Colonial front, I completed the fourth company of the Seaforth Highlanders, so they are now up to 48 rank and file plus the regimental piper and one mounted officer. I think that with one more company of 12 figures, that the Seaforths will be ready to embark to Tranjipour.

The convention is going well so far. I hosted a skirmish game this afternoon to resolve the fate of the Duchess of Sachen-Vindow. She was rescued by her loyal nobles and is safely ensconsed in Stagonia (as if anyone can be safe in Stagonia, vile place that it is).

I borrowed some huge stands of trees from Herb Gundt to use in my game. I liked them so much that I bought seven stands (2 per stand) of what look like giant oaks. They really enhance the table layout and you will see the pix on Sunday night. A fellow named Jude Becker hosted a SYW skirmish game with 54mm Tradition and Imrie-Risley figures that he had painted. He had several companies of Prussian musketeers, one cannon and a squadron of Bayreuth Dragoons. They faced off against a similar grouping of French infantry, artillery and Bercheny Hussars. Gorgeous stuff. Imagine 60 figure units of those. Imagine the cost. Imagine how heavy they would be to carry around to conventions. Still, they really caught my eye.

Christopher Duffy gave a short talk about the making of the 1964 BBC film on Culloden and then we watched it on someone's laptop. Really interesting stuff. It makes me want to go back and reread his book on the Forty Five. That reminds me -- we are going to finish the Jacobite Rebellion attack on Carmudgeon Castle on Saturday May 9th at Randy's house in DeKalb. (Note to Stokes - you should attend as this is closer to your house. I will not take no for an answer, so plan ahead). This will give me enough time to add a couple more 30 figure Jacobite units to my army. I will probably paint a Lowlander unit (the second Atholl battalion) and one Highland unit (McDonnells). According to Duffy, the Lowland units made up half the Jacobite army and they were the back bone of this army. so I need to have more of these types of units.

Well, that is all for tonight. Off to bed as there is much to do tomorrow. We will fight our annual BAR game in the afternoon with British versus French for a change.