My Horrible Historicon Experience

 

My Wargame table set up.

Well, it’s Saturday night and I’m driving back to Chicago from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  My wife has been in the ER since yesterday and it is a two day drive to return home. So I left Lancaster on the spur of the moment at 3PM after running my game that afternoon and hurriedly packing everything up to bolt out of town. I pulled into Elyria, Ohio for the evening at 9PM. I made the six hour drive without getting tired and Road punchy. The key was to stop once per hour and rest for 15 minutes or so.

My spouse has recently had some balance and vestibular issues and she had a nasty fall in our house. Fortunately one of the neighbors was able to drive her to the ER. I will see her tomorrow as I’m planning on hitting the road early and I should arrive home by early afternoon .

We had a power outage this morning, somewhat ironic because we are scheduled to have a power generator installed this week. I guess that The Gods decided to give us one last experience of a power outage.

Some pictures of my Historicon games.

My actual time at Historicon was a disaster in terms of the two games that I ran, one on Friday evening (which was cancelled by the staff without informing me), and the other on Saturday noon (only three players showed up for a ten player game). Both games had one room designated for my game in the program, but were assigned an entirely different room by the  computer system. Makes it hard to get any players for my games when show runner snafus are hitting me from every direction.

However, we made the best of it and we were able to cajol six passers by to play in the Friday game and I think the players had fun. I’m extremely grateful to these people for playing in the game.

Saturday’s game at 11AM only had three people signed up - this is in Prime Time for the convention when attendance is at its highest. I didn’t want to shut the game down so I became the fourth player and I scaled back the number of units in the game. Again, everyone seemed to have a good time and they all requested a copy of the rules which made me feel good.

Particular mention goes to Roger who played in both games. Thank you Roger. You are much appreciated by me. Also, my nephew Alex was a big help as he played in the Friday game and helped me take down the game and pack everything into my car so that I could bug out ASAP.

The good moments of the convention were really good and the bad moments were heartbreaking. I don’t know if I will ever want to return to Historicon. If this sounds like sour grapes, then yes, the grapes in my mouth are very, very sour. This all pales against my wife’s health. We have to get her back to her baseline of normal good health.

Getting Ready For Historicon - 2 Days To Go

 

Der Alte Fritz getting his troops ready for the journey to Historicon.
General and his servant vignette by John Ray. Other figures from Foundry and Front Rank.

I will be headed off to Historicon on Monday as I commence the two day drive from the Chicago area to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There I will meet my nephew Alex and we will visit Gettysburg the day before the convention begins. Historicon starts this coming Thursday July 21st and runs through Sunday July 24th. If you happen to be there then look me up while I'm running my games on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

My Historicon Games

I will be running my "Bread and Croats" skirmish game set during the Seven Years War. The Austrians and their Croat light infantry will be conducting a raid on a Prussian field bakery, which is defended by all sorts of second rate battalions such as Freikorps, Garrison, Militia and Jagers.

My games are as follows:

F19:301 at 7PM Friday - "Bread and Croats"

S11:29  at 11AM Saturday - "Bread and Croats"

I will be using my SYW variant of the "Woodland Wars" skirmish rules by Tom Kelly. The game accommodates 5 players per side. If the game is listed as sold out, then stop by my table anyway because sometimes a player or two doesn't show up and so a space opens up.

Alex will be hosting two ACW games on Thursday at 5PM (T17:271) and Friday at Noon (F12:147) called "Dunkers' Church". He will be using a variant of my one-page Der Alte Fritz rules with charts and troop types adjusted for the ACW era. I will probably be there table side to observe and if requested, offer any rules interpretation that might come up during the game. 

Working on Game Terrain for Historicon

While the game will be the same as the ones that I ran at this year's SYW Association and Little Wars conventions, I have made a few modifications to the scenario which should make it much better. I have also added some new terrain bits to the game.

First and foremost, I decided to add some hills as corner pieces on the edges of the table. The hill terrain pieces are "L-Shaped" so that they fit in the table corners and add a nice finishing touch to the table. They also act as a sort of photo backdrop that screens out the background.

Here are some pictures of the corner hill models that I made for this game:

This picture illustrates how the corner pieces "frame out" the game table.

I’m having a power outage so I will go ahead and post this. More later.

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Picture of the Week : SYW Russian Cossacks

 

Russian Cossacks (RSM figures on Minden horses) supported
 by Russian Hussars (Minden Miniatures).

Click photo enlarge

This is one of my favorite pictures in my SYW photo album. It depicts a vast hoard of 36 Russian Cossacks and a second line of Russian Hussars to back them up in the fight.

The Cossacks are RSM Miniatures that I have place on the more dynamic Minden light cavalry horse and there are probably a few Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI horses in the mix. I really like the way that the Cossacks turned out after painting them. The figures aren't encumbered with much equipment so they paint rather quickly. About the only thing that I had to do to prepare them was to cut lances (from North Star) and attach them to the hands. I place a tiny ball of green stuff putty in the hand prior to gluing the lance to the hand.

I separated the Cossacks into smaller groups of about 9 figures and paint each batch with similar colors. For example, all 9 might get blue caftans and another 9 will get brown caftans, etc. Then I go back and paint the trousers in random colors across all batches of painted figures. When I am finished, then it is a simple matter of mixing the different colored figures onto two figure stands which produces an irregular appearance to the unit. For example, a tan caftan and maroon caftan dressed pair of figures are placed on the same stand. Theoretically, no two stands should look the same.

There are plans in the works to add Cossacks to the Minden range of Russian cavalry figures. Stay tuned for more information.

The Russian Hussars are actually Austrian Hussars that I've "converted with paint" which amounts to nothing more than not painting edging and insignia on the horse furniture. Sometimes the uniform differences between one nation and another is indecipherable so your paint brush will make the distinction fo you.

The rest of this week will see me making preparations for my trip to Historicon next week. I will be running my "Bread and Croats" SYW skirmish game on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

So far I have just layed out the terrain mats on my table. I will add all of the buildings and terrain, next,
and then figure out how to pack all of the terrain into the minimum number of boxes
so that I can maximize cargo space in my car.

New Pix: Prussian Red Hussars

 

Minden Miniatures Prussian "Red Hussars".

Click On All Pictures To Enlarge

I finished and based eight Prussian Red Hussars last week. This is but a fraction of the number of figures that the regiment will have in my wargaming army, but I wanted to see how the figures would look. The regiment will eventually have 24 horsemen organized into two "squadrons" of 12 figures.

Prussian Red Hussars in mirliton hats (left) and the Green Hussars in busbies (right).
A squadron of Bosniaken lancers hovers in the background.
The three units make a nice light cavalry brigade in a wargame army.

My inspiration for painting the Red Hussars comes from John Ray's blog. As many of you know, John sculpts his own exquisite SYW figures and Dave Jarvis brings them to life with his well honed painting skills. I liked John's Red Hussars so much that I just had to add them to my Prussian army.

You can find the history of the regiment by clicking on the link to Kronoskaf;

Kronoskaf - Red Hussars

The regiment's inhaber was Alexander Gottlieb von Seydlitz from 1747 through 1759. Thereafter, a gentleman named von Gersdorff assumed command of the regiment. The regiment was numbered 8th in the Prussian cavalry establishment so it was also known as HR8 (hussar regiment 8). They had the misfortune of being captured at Maxen in 1759 and thus assumed the bad distinction of being "one of those Maxen regiments" that King Frederick did not like. The regiment was not re-raised, but if I recall correctly, HR9 moved up to the HR8 designation.

One notable distinction of my painted regiment is that the hussars in an at rest pose with their swords resting on their shoulder. One could mount them on walking horses or depict them as being in a regiment that is held back as a reserve cavalry unit. While I like the energetic charging pose that Richard Ansell first sculpted, I had him make some Prussian hussars wearing mirlitons and busbies in the shouldered sword pose. This pose is my favorite cavalry pose.

Here is a link to the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store. The link takes you directly to the Minden Miniatures Prussian section of the web store:

Minden Web Store - Prussians

Here are the product codes for the new hussars at rest and the Bosniaken cavalry:

MPC-010  Bosniaken Command

MPC-011  Bosniaken Lancers

MPC-012  Prussian Hussars in Mirliton Command

MPC-013  Prussian Hussars in Mirlitons

MPC-014  Prussian Hussars in Busbies Command

MPC-015  Prussian Hussars in Busbies

On a side note, I want to thank everyone who participated in the Fife and Drum Miniatures July Fourth sale. Your business is much appreciated and the funds generated from the sale will be used to add new Minden sculpts to the product range. Russian Cuirassiers will be the next new figures.

Another side note, I will be attending Historicon in Lancaster, Pennsylvania this year. I will be running my "Bread and Croats" SYW skirmish game on Friday and Saturday. If you are at Historicon, drop on by and say hello. Better yet, sign up for one of the games.

Final note: the US Postal Service is resuming shipments to Australia and New Zealand so our customers down under can now order figures and expect to receive them in a timely manner. The several orders on hold are also on their way to Oz.

 

Happy Fourth of July - Independence Day

 

Happy Fourth of July Day to everyone. I hope that everyone is enjoying the watching of a parade, the grilling of meat on the barbecue grill, surrounded by family and friends, and finishing off the day with the watching of spectacular fireworks shows across the country. This is how we celebrate our independence from Great Britain, although I would imagine that many Americans do not understand the back story to our national holiday.

Be that as it may, for one day, at least, we are all Americans and there are no Red states or Blue states, just red/white/and/blue states. We may go to sporting events, such as baseball games, and when the home team hits a grand slam home run, we high-five our neighboring seat mate and pay no heed to the politics of the people sitting in the grandstands with us.

I started Fife and Drum Miniatures back in 2011 and focused on offering miniatures for the American Revolution. So it stands to reason that one of my favorite miniatures in the figure range is the iconic  Spirit of ‘76 vignette, which happens to also be part of the logo in my company.

Later I added personality figures for American heroes George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, Francis Marion and Daniel Morgan. For those customers who stand with The Crown, we later added Lord Howe, Lord Cornwallis (do you see a common theme here) and finally, Banastre Tarleton’s (boo, hisssss, boo!).

Nathaniel Greene

George Washington (left) and Nathaniel Greene (right).

Take advantage of the Fife and Drum / Minden Miniatures Fourth of July Summer Sale. We are offering a 20% discount on all items (except regimental packs which are already discounted). Visit our web store and when you check out with your shopping cart then enter the coupon code Spirit76 and the discount will be automatically applied to your order. The sale continues on through July 6, 2022.

Fife & Drum web store

The discount is available to all customers, even those who support the Crown Forces. 😆 

So enjoy your Fourth of July holiday, don’t overcook the hamburgers, and have a jolly good time celebrating the day with family and friends.

Fourth of July Sale - 20% Discount

Fife and Drum Miniatures and Minden Miniatures is holding its first ever Fourth of July Summer Sale starting June 30, 2022 and running through July 6, 2022.

The Spirit of '76 Vignette

When you check out your shopping cart in our web store, enter the coupon code Spirit76 and the 20% discount will be automatically applied to your order.

Fife and Drum Miniatures web store link

George Washington (left) and Nathaniel Green (right)

General Nathaniel Green and 1st Continental Dragoon Standard Bearer

Mounted American Militia
Fife and Drum Miniatures

AWI Hessian Musketeers
Fife and Drum Miniatures

SYW Minden Personality Figures.
French Marshall Broglie (left) and Lt. General Chevert (right)

Minden Austrian Cuirassiers

French Marshall Maurice de Saxe

Minden Miniatures Prussian Musketeers

Minden Miniatures French Fusiliers

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Prussian Guard Grenadiers (painted unit)

 

Third battalion of the Prussian Guards (IR15/III) - Minden Miniatures

CLICK ON ALL PICTURES TO ENLARGE

I finished, finally, the painting and basing of the third battalion of the Prussian Guard infantry during the Seven Years War. It's numeral designation was IR15/III meaning that it was the third battalion of the regiment numbered "15" in the Prussian establishment.

The first battalion was the ceremonial battalion with all of the fancy and expensive uniform lace. They appeared in only one SYW battle (Kolin), spending the rest of the war stationed at the royal residence at Potsdam.

The second battalion (IR15/II) wore tricorn hats and the third battalion (IR15/III) wore grenadier miters. Regardless of the type of headgear that they wore, all guards were considered to be grenadiers.

Here is a link to the Kronoskaf site for more information on the Guards Regiment. IR15 Prussian Guards

Here are two views of the battalion from the rear ( I have removed two of the stands from the unit so that it would be easier to take a photograph).

As per my new basing system, the figures are mounted on 3mm thick MDF bases that measure 60mm frontage and 80mm depth. The stands hold either 8 or 9 figures. The officers, NCOs and musicians form a third rank. Flags are from GMB Designs.

Here are pictures of the full battalion with five stands of figures. My recollection is that there are 44 figures in this one battalion compared to my line regiments' strength of 32-34 figures.

Both the Guard musketeers and grenadiers are available from Minden Miniatures as distinct castings (these are not line regiment figures converted with paint). The main distinction between the line and guard units is that the Guards wore an aigulette on their right shoulder.

Here is a link to the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store Prussian figures section of the catalog.

Minden Prussian figures

The relevant product codes are:

MP-020 Prussian Guard Command in Tricorn Hats  

MP-021 Prussian Guards in Tricorn Hats

MP-022 Prussian Guard Command in Grenadier Miters

MP-023 Prussian Guards in Grenadier Miters