New Bunker Hill Battle Boxes at discount

 

Iconic painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull.
"The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill"

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775. It was the first large battle of the American Revolution (AWI) fought on the hills overlooking Boston harbor.

Battle of Bunker Hill

There is an excellent video from Little Wars TV that covers the history of the battle and follows along as the lads refight the battle at the US Army Heritage Education Center in Carlisle, PA. Click on the link below to view this highly entertaining video that lasts about 25 minutes.

Little Wars TV Battle of Bunker Hill

Fife and Drum Miniatures introduces discount "Bunker Hill Battle Boxes"

To celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill,  Fife and Drum Miniatures is adding  four new products to its line up for American Revolutionary War miniatures. These new products are called "Bunker Hill Battle Boxes" and they provide you with the miniatures at a discount off of our regular retail prices. The Battle Boxes provide you with the miniatures you need to refight this battle.

The Battle Box stock numbers are listed below. The pictures are representative of the contents in each box and may differ slightly from the actual box. The figures do not come painted, but rather they are in their raw metal casting state.

BHBB-01 American Militia (30 figures) for $50.00.

BHBB-02  American Militia (60 figures) for $100.00 A mounted officer is included.

BHBB-03  British Grenadiers (30 figures) for $50.00.

BHBB-04  British Center Company infantry (30) for $50.00.

BHBB-04 British army (60 figures)  30 grenadiers and 30 center company figures plus 1 officer.

BHBB-06  Grand battle of Bunker Hill box with 120 figures for $200. Four mounted officers and one British artillery set (crew, 6-pd gun, limber team) included.

The Bunker Hill Battle boxes provide your figures at a discount of 20% on the 30-figure boxes; 25% on the 60-figure boxes; and 30% on the Grand Battle Box.

The Grand Battle Box provides exceptional value to get you started in the AWI.

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These Bunker Hill Battle Boxes provide you with an affordable way to start building your AWI armies over the period of the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. There will be some additional battle boxes in the coming year as we celebrate the battles of the New York campaign in 1776 and the Trenton/Princeton campaign of 1776-1777.

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Some AWI Artillery

Continental artillery in action with Swedish 4-pounder

Wagon cart using the Austrian 2-wheel cart.

Today’s fox: some pictures of Continental artillery and equipment from Fife and Drum Miniatures.

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A Perry Miniatures supply wagon with Fide and Drum horse and driver.
The two ranges work nicely together.

A pair of Continental galloper guns in action.

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Small Roman Temple - A Brief Tutorial

 

The interior of the temple in the dark. I later placed a 
wood bead under the altar so that the gap was filled up.
A 60mm King & Country senator is shown for size comparison.

I wanted to add a small round Roman temple to my city, one that is small enough to not overwhelm all of the other buildings that I have made so far; yet I also wanted it to be large enough to make a statement.

I think that I may have achieved this with my new round Roman temple.

The nearly completed temple with a battery operated flame on the altar.

I have limited carpentry tools and talents so I needed some already-made round components to build the temple. A trip to Hobby Lobby secured a 7-inch diameter round wood base. I then found two different sizes of round bases that would comprise the roof of the temple. I also found a round ring that looks like it might be made from hard compressed card board. 

I used chalk paint French Linen for the base coat and Antique White
dry brushed over the surface of the wood. The plastic columns were first primed 
with grey primer and then painted with the same chalk paints that I used on the
base and roof of the temple. Finally, I painted the columns red with Reaper Blood Red paint.

This picture shows the various wood components that I found at Hobby Lobby.
The wedding cake plastic columns were found on eBay.

The interior of the temple needed a mosaic floor and an altar. I did an internet search for Roman mosaics and found this image of a round mosaic. I cut out the round part from the paper and discarded the rectangular components. For the altar, I used a kitchen cabinet door knob and a wood round bead.

A Roman floor mosaic image from the internet serves as the temple floor.

Finally, a visit to the cloth section produced some rolls of different gold bricbrac to use for gold trim around the roof. I got the latter idea from a 28mm round temple that Herb Gundt made for me many years ago.

The various parts of the floor were glued together with wood glue, and then clamped together with "C" Clamps over night. I did the same for the roof structure. I cut out the mosaic pattern and glued it to the floor using spray adhesive.

I had previously drilled a hole through the center of the round base and screwed in the door knob that would become the temple's altar. The base wasn't thick/deep enough for me to screw the entire threaded piece into the wood. There was a gap between the knob and the floor. I filled this with a wooden bead, painted with the Antique White chalk paint.

Now I am at the most difficult step in the assembly project: gluing the columns to the floor and the roof to the columns so that every piece is lined up true. Fortunately the mosaic floor has some rectangular patterns on the edge of the round and these served as perfect location guides for the placement of the columns.

I will use two-part epoxy glue to attached the columns to the temple floor. Allowing for some time for the glue to set, say, a couple of hours. I will then glue the roof to the columns. This latter step makes me a little uneasy because once the glue is spread over the top of the column, I have to lower the roof section from above so that it sits "just right" and even on all sides of the temple.

The final touch is the battery powered flickering light bulb that I will place atop the altar when it is being used in a game. I don't want to run down the battery, of course, so the flickering flame is not turned on when it is stored away.

I am rather pleased with the results of this build. Nearly all of its components were sourced from Hobby Lobby and so I didn't need to cut out round pieces of wood with a jig saw. This model will truly stand out on the table top and catch the attention of passers by at the Historicon convention in July.

Yes, I Am an Influencer!

Prussian cavalry (foreground) clashes with Austrian cavalry at the Battle of Leuthen
Picture taken August 2020

I have noticed recently that there is a proliferation of "all cavalry battles" spreading across the blogosphere  and I think that I am right to take credit for creating this new trend. Yes, thank you very much my fellow bloggers. Whether it be in Yorkshire, Scotland or with Dogs or  Gentlemen of a military persuasion,  they are fighting cavalry only battles seemingly everywhere.

And to think, that I started this trend back in 2020 with my refight of the cavalry action at Leuthen, and then again last year in 2024 with my report on not one, but TWO all cavalry battles. One was with light cavalry and the other was with heavy cavalry. Both featured my Prussians against those brutes from Russia.

We can go back further in time to 2016 when we did one of our famous Big Battalion SYW games at the Battle of Weisenfels (see picture below). This was a disguised scenario based on Napoleon's Battle of Aspern-Essling and while it included one of the largest miniature cavalry battles that I have ever seen (outside of a couple that took place at the old Wargames Holiday Center), it was a combined arms battle of epic proportions.

Back in those days our group did everything in epic proportions, as shown below.

Battle of Weisenfels in 2016

Here are some links to some of my past all-cavalry battles. Click and enjoy:

Light cavalry battle Part 1    July 2024

Light cavalry battle, Part 2      August 2024

Heavy Cavalry Battle, Part 3       September 2024

Show down with some Cossacks  October 2020

The link to the battle below was particularly large

Cavalry battle at Sagschutz   December 2020

AWI Cavalry Skirmish   July 2017

 

Battle of Wiesenfels   May 2016 (one of our largest cavalry battles ever, but I lost)

As you can see, I have been doing all-cavalry battles for quite some time (even more than just those shown in the links above). I like to think that I have had a little bit of influence on the hobby, particularly in the 18th Century space.   :)

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My New Historicon Video

 

"The Furies" gang come storming down one of the narrow streets of the City.
You had best get out of their way.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE

I have just posted a copy on YouTube of my movie trailer for one of my games at this year's Historicon wargame convention. The game time is Saturday July 25, 2025 at 1PM (EST). The Event Number is 707. Click on the link below to watch the trailer (1 minute 30 seconds).

My Historicon Movie Trailer

Of course I am using this video to stir up interest in my game and get people to register and sign up to play in my game at Historicon. My game will allow up to 10 players and the game is designed to last approximately 2 hours.

Here is the link to this specific game on the HMGS Historicon game registration site. Just click the link and sign up for the game. Easy peasy. (or "facile peasy" in Latin)

Sign up link

The game is a skirmish level game that is inspired by the movie "The Warriors". A group of Roman warriors are trapped behind enemy lines and must reach the safety of their military encampment. There are numerous "Bad Guy" (and Gals) who are dead set on preventing the Warriors get away. After all, Hannibal himself has placed an attractive bounty of 100 gold ducats for whoever captures the Warriors.

A view of the City as it looks today. I have made 16 scratch-built buildings
and 6 feet of aqueduct for the game, so far...

A ground level view of daily life in the City.

Overhead view of a part of the City. I added a new Bakery this past week.
It is the building with the three windows with awnings in the upper left corner.

Life is hard in the City and living ain't an easy thing to do when you have seven or more urban gangs out to get you.

The Good Guys

The Warriors:

The Warriors, themselves

The Civilian Mob:

One of the Citizen Mobs. They might be Good Guys or they might be Bad Guys.
Money speaks volumes with the Mob.

The Vigiles:

The Urban Vigiles are the police force of ancient Rome. They don't like any
group that is creating trouble and we do not know if they will help the
Warriors or try to stop them.

The Bad Guys

These are some of the gangs that are hell-bent on capturing (or worse) the Warriors.

The Furies:

The Furies are the insane bad-ass gang in the City. They dye their hair white with
lime and wear no clothing or shoes. Ask them if they care, if you dare.

The Wolf Men:

The Wolf Men are a band of renegade deserters from the Roman army.
They harbor nothing but ill will towards the Warriors. They want loot and lots of it.

The Wings:

The Wings are a collective of disgraced Gallic chieftains who need to curry the 
favor of Hannibal to regain their honor and positions. Capturing the Warriors
would help them resurrect their careers.

The Celtic Riffs:

Grizzled Vets of Gaul who have an extreme dislike for Romans. In fact, they really
don't like anyone so they would just as soon see the other gangs fail instead of capturing the Warriors.

The Spanish Flies:

Spanish light infantry warriors who are very quick and agile, almost as if they could fly.
Get it?

The Black Shield Gang:

No, the Black Shields are not from Falworth, but rather, they are a fierce 
group of Iberians who work for whomever pays the most. Nah, they don't
like the Warriors either so they would kill them for nothing.

The Lizzies:

I just found some 54mm Amazon warriors that I can use in the game as The Lizzies, a notorious all-female gang in the City. I will be painting these figures this week and I will post pictures soon.

Summary of Forces:

So that is up to seven urban gangs that are out to nab The Warriors, two groups of "maybe" friendlies and then The Warriors themselves. I am really looking forward to hosting this game and with ten different groups having their own, and sometimes conflicting, agendas there is no telling of how this game will end.

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George Washington Returns

 

George Washington and Friends.
Fife and Drum Miniatures

Several weeks ago I was running a Battle of Princeton game and I realized that my George Washington personality figure was missing. Where's George? I wondered. After a futile search for the Father of Our Country I conceded that I was not likely to find him (unless I painted another one) so I painted a new George Washington and added a mounted soldier carrying Washington's headquarters flag. I add a Continental officer in hunting shirt who seemed natural in looking off into the distance. I also used one of the Fife and Drum Hessian jaeger officers with telescope to round out the vignette.

Here's Nathaniel Greene:

Nathaniel Greene

More to come.

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Roman Bakery: Bread & Circuses Anyone?

 

Roman Bakery model (1/32 scale) that I built for my Hannibal games.

Click on the pictures to enlarge the view

Yesterday I finished the building of a Roman bakery model in 1/32 scale to use with my 54mm Hannibal Project. Unlike previous models of retail and commercial buildings, I opened this building up quite a bit so that you can view the inside of the bakery. I also added an oven, preparation table, and retail sales table. I am still working on a small model of a flour milling machine.

The bakery takes up the full 12-inch frontage of the building and has large open doorways (2 on the front and one on the side). My previous retail stores were 6-inches wide with two stores within one building model. The problem was that I couldn't see inside of the stores, but the double wide store fixes that problem. The new structure also allows for the creation and placement of interior furniture/work station store fixtures which add some details to the model. Models are all about the details.

Interior view showing the flour mill (work in progress).

The front of the store. The baking oven is visible in the background.

Work in progress picture that shows the roof trusses detail.

The bakery is located in the upper left corner of this picture.

The bakery's placement on the forum square made me move the existing two-store building to a new side street behind the bakery.

The existing two store building has been moved to a narrow side street. It is the home
of the carpenter and the cobbler.

A woman walks out of the bakery with her purchase of today's bread.
The forum square looks rather busy today.

I now have made 16 buildings and 6 feet of aqueduct for the Hannibal Project since the start of February 2025. I want to add a couple of work sheds for my farm buildings, but other than that, I now have everything that I need for my Historicon games.

The town's population has grown too. I now have over 80 civilian figures populating the town.

This terrain will be featured in my Hannibal games at this year's Historicon convention. 

Historicon Game Sign Up Period is Now Open

There will be one game ("Romans, Come Out to Play-yay" that is a skirmish level game that will play out in the town. If you are interested in signing up for this game, then visit the Historicon Tabletop Events web site and look for this game listed on Saturday at 1PM. I have one player signed up for the game (9 tickets still available) as of this posting,  so if you plan on attending the convention then please give some consideration to signing up for my game.

I am offering something for everyone's' taste. If you like large set-piece game then there are two of those, but if you prefer smaller skirmish style games that play fast, then I have one of those too.

Here is the link to the HMGS Historicon game sign up using the Tabletop Events system. It is really easy to sign up for games.

Historicon Events Sign Up

Here is a link to my specific game (game number 707) on Saturday at 1PM - 9 tickets available

Romans, Come Out to Play-yah

I know that it is still early in the game registrations, but July is coming up fast and if you wait too long then you might find yourself locked out of any game that interests you.

Here are links to my other two games, which are traditional set-piece Ancients battles:

Thursday 11AM Game  ("Hannibal, The War Game" Event number 603) - 9 tickets available

Hannibal! The Battle of Zama (Friday 11AM Game; Event Number 708) - 4 tickets available

A view of the Roman town. The new bakery is adjacent to the triumphal arch.
The existing commercial building was moved behind the bakery with its 
back side positioned up against the town walls.