I played my first Napoleonic Wargame in years today... thank you Alumwell and WMMS.

I've been running this blog for ages but have not gamed for years.  That changed today :-) Hurrah 

My wargames partner died a few years ago and it took me at least two years to get painting again and I've felt odd about getting the figures out.

I know there is lots of ways to wargame but I really wanted a big Napoleonic game experience. If you look back on this site you'll find quite a few 28mm figures  I had - had painted but also sold.   I have lots of 188mm AB Figures that we used to game with.. and soon I'll use again.

But thank you WMMS and the Alumwell Show - and especially the Pheonix Wargames group for arriving with a 28mm Plancenoit participation game. 

It's why we do it.

I walked around for a while and then plucked up the courage to ask if I could play - I loved it - four turns on the Prussian side (always been a collector of Prussians)  - fast, simple and clear club rules - and a feel for the period, plus friendly people and wonderful figures. 

Hurrah - just what we do. I had that feeling of being absorbed and sucked into what's going to happen,... it's why we game. 

So it's the first time in years. Thank you.   Here are the few pictures I took... and further down some other photos and reflections from the first proper shows of the year in the Midlands...

20mm is the true scale for WW2

I know most of the modern trends are that you game in 15mm or 28mm - but I've always thiought 20mm the perfect balance... and today reinforced that for me... 

This is the battle for Bras - part of Operation Goodwood... Rapid Fire rules... sorry I didn't catch who but a brilliant game.

Shows are for anyone to get their toys (models) out... 

It was Fab to see personal games, not just clubs....

Two stuck out for me - the first this WW2 game from a one man show - he wasn't there but his son told me this was his Dad'd hobby, he painted at home, had loads of fads and this late WW2 colelction was just one of them.  This was his yearly sharing of his passion.... 

and I loved this game of Torgau - a battle I didn't know with an incredible flank march - and those old school Minifigs - complete with blacklining and yellowing polyurethane varnish. Thanks for gthe loveley chat too. 

Printed figure companies and cast companies are becoming alike....

I noticed this company Imperator Models  that does printed figures - selling just as the traditional cast companies do...

Loved the show - thank you all.

A new two volume history by John Hussey of the Waterloo Campaign and a PHD thesis on Hougomont

John Hussey has been working across four languages to pull together this two volume history of the 100 days and it's aftermath.  The first will be out in April.


Whilst something  you can read now is an intriguing PHD on Hougoumont - what it was like in June 1815.  It has also been informed by the fascinating work of the archaeology charity Waterloo Uncovered (they combine archaeology with current veterans to explore the battlefield).  A taste of their work

"Tony is confident that the lead musket shot found along that southern perimeter signaled the opening of this brutal and titanic confrontation.  

Metal detecting needn’t be limited to the ground.   Three ancient chestnut trees, standing just south of the main gatehouse of the farm, appear to be “riddled with lead shot”, if the detectors are to be believed.  Unsurprising, since the trees stand in the line of fire of the British guardsmen defending the south side of the gatehouse, who would have been pouring fire onto the attacking Frenchman."