Bag The Hun 3...or just 2.5?

After some interesting discussion on the Bag the Hun FB group about an updating and revision of Bag the Hun 2, adding missing things and rewriting some of the more clunky bits, there seems to be some momentum to develop an improved edition. This might not be Bag the Hun 3, which I'd like to see incorporating some of the more recent TFL mechanisms, but more like a 2.5 version, taking the best bits and rejigging or clarifying the stuff that doesn't really work so well. I'm thinking here of the convoluted ground attack and bombing rules, the over complex rules for flak and the air gunner rules which have a few holes, for example. It would also be an opportunity to integrate Bag the MiG within the main rule book and potentially Finest Hour as a campaign system. It's a big project but I'm interested in having a go, perhaps in a year or two when I actual retire! 

Nam '68

I'm thinking about getting hold of a copy of these new skirmish level rules for Vietnam, having read some positive online reviews. I'm intrigued by the use of an umpire to control the VC / NVA and to run the scenarios, my only question being how this might work as a solo system? I also like the campaign focus of the rules and the set up requirements, which look manageable and fit well with my 15mm Bohica project, which didn't quite make it onto the workbench this year. It's not cheap even as a print on demand book, so I'm going to dig a bit deeper before I order a copy. 

Magasin de Presse

Not a lot of choice this time in the French magazine selection but the current issue of Los! does include some interesting articles with relevant information for naval wargaming. 

Peter Pig Pirate Ship Stocking Fillers

Stocking Fillers

The assembled fleet from 2015

Ten years ago (!) I embarked on a pirate project using the 1/450th scale ships from Peter Pig and the fast play 'beer and pretzels' Galleys and Galleons rules. I assembled a load of models and ran a couple of well-received playtest games at the club but, as is so often the case, drifted off into other things and didn't get round to painting the models. A friend later gifted me a whole lot more of the ships, some built and others in their packs, so I have a pretty large lead pile already, 

Yesterday, I spotted a stocking filler bargain on eBay of two ship packs, some guns and crew, so I now have a few more to balance on top. So, to cut a long sea shanty short, I'm thinking of rebooting this project for 2025, having already decided that next year I will not start any new projects. I wonder how long that will last? It will be a nice change to paint something bigger than 1/2400th for starters!

I'm probably going to go back and undercoat the assembled models in black or dark brown, as my initial plan to paint them over a white base coat didn't quite work. I'm also thinking of disassembling them by removing the masts, so that painting is less fiddly, although I'm used to that now having painted all sorts of fiddly things over the intervening years.

Vintage Bag the Hun?

I noticed today that several of the original, pre-Chain of Command era Toofatlardies rules have now been shunted off into a sideline section of the webshop, aptly yet ominously titled Vintage Lard. I'm wondering how long it will be before Bag the Hun 2 gets pigeonholed as a set of rules that are long in the tooth, if not actually obsolete? As the Vintage Lard section includes classics such as Kiss Me Hardy and Through the Mud and Blood, I'm less than optimistic about Bag the Hun retaining its position on the centre stage. 

Lard Mag 2024

The Lard Mag is out and I'm very pleased to see my Bag the Hun Continuation War scenarios made the final cut. As always, there's plenty more to peruse in this year's edition, with a Jurguthine War campaign for Strength and Honour and scenarios for the Siege of Plymouth using Sharp Practise catching my eye, amongst the usual Chain of Command stuff. Well worth splashing out on as a stocking filler! 

Holiday Reading

A bit of light reading for the holidays, with the siege of Plymouth and Bristol being the focus. Although the different rules I'm using for the 2mm English Civil War project don't include siege warfare, I do have some nice Brigade Models terrain I can use for just this sort of thing. There is a Portable Pike and Shot siege warfare set of rules but it is more strategic than tactical, so I might have to work something out myself. 

Irregular Miniatures Rules in a Box

I needed to order some more pike and shot blocks for my Parliamentarian army the other day, so took the opportunity to bundle in a copy of the Irregular Miniatures Rules in a Box, which include two decent sized armies, my choice being Thirty Years War Dutch and French. 

The rules look rather interesting but I suspect are a bit 'old school' which isn't always a bad thing. They are specifically designed for the 2mm models produced by Irregular although my basing is different to the methods described in the introductory sheet. 

I like the use of cards to set out the main rules, reminding me of games I used to play as a kid using the Tank Battles in Miniature rules copied out by hand onto postcards. I'll see what I can do to adapt them for my units and basing, as they may well be another approach to take. 

Colonel William Ruthven's Regiment

In October 1642 a contingent of Scots mercenaries on the way from campaigning in Ireland to service on the continent, was diverted into Plymouth by stormy weather. The commander of the contingent, Colonel William Ruthven, was an experienced soldier and offered his services to the Parliamentarian defenders of the town, no doubt to make the most of the situation. He was made military governor of Plymouth but subsequently made a right pigs breakfast of it at Braddock Down in January 1643.

I've wanted to have a unit based on Ruthven's Scots for ages but was stuck on how to represent them as a regiment. In different accounts I've read the Scots mercenaries numbered between a measly 200 and an indeterminate 'regiment' in size, so clearly on the small size. I decided in the end to use some leftover pike and shot blocks with a 1:2 pike to musket ratio, which would reflect the better equipment and experience of the regiment, compared to the high pike to shot ratio of early civil war regiments. I'm not sure I like the end result but it will do for the moment. 

Portable Pike and Shot Bookkeeping

These are the rather splendid unit cards used in The Perfect Captain's Very Civile Actions ECW rules but I am going to do something very similar for the regiments in my 2mm Portable Pike and Shot armies. You need to track Strength Points in each game and, as my units will have different ratings for this, I think some individual record cards would be a great idea. I really like these ones and especially the use of contemporary language. I have some time over the holidays to see what I can come up with. 

Random Events in Portable Pike and Shot

In one of the two sets of Portable Pike and Shot rules I'm going to use, there is a system for generating random events when a double is rolled for initiative. I'm a big fan of random things but this system is a bit vanilla, compared to AK47, for example. 

So, I'm going to twiddle the system to give it a bit more period flavour, perhaps with a bit of tounge in cheek humour in an AK47 political flowchart style. I'm thinking here of Ralph Lord Hopton being almost blown up at the Battle of Stratton or the Cornish Trained Bands having a wobble, amongst other things.

The focus will be on things that might add a bonus or penalty to strength, movement or firing, but other things might well pop up that might be either a help or a hindrance to each side. I'm also thinking of changing the mechanism so that a roll of 1 for initiative results in the random roll, making it specific to the side concerned.

It's a bit sketchy at the moment but I have some time over the holidays to work it out. 

Brigade Models Fortifications

I ordered some of the excellent Brigade Models Small Scale Scenery resin fortifications the other day, to use with my 2mm English Civil War project. They match up perfectly with the Irregular Miniatures figure blocks, being roughly 1/1000th scale. My favourite is the model of Star Castle from St. Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, which is where I spent many family holidays back in the 1970's, staying in the police house as my uncle was the police sergeant there for several years. 

Unit Strength in Portable Pike and Shot

I'm the Portable Pike and Shot rules, units are given Strength Points which are lost through enemy fire and close combat. These vary according to the type of unit with Tercios having 6 SP, Battalia 4 SP and so on. These are standardised ratings but I'm thinking about using different SP ratings for different units, specifically the named regiments of the Cornish Royalist and Devonian Parliamentarian armies.  

The size of these regiments varied with the largest like Sir Bevil Grenville's regiment of foot being 1200 strong, while other regiments like Sir John Trevanion's were smaller, in his case only 700 strong. The approach I'm going to take is to divide the total number by 100 then divide the result by 2, rounding up, to give an SP of between 1 and 6. For example, Trevanion's regiment of foot would work out as 700 ÷ 100 = 7 / 7 ÷ 2 = 3.5 / rounded up = 4 SP.

I will keep the other ratings the same but I think this variation in SP ratings will make it more realistic, especially as the Cornish Royalist regiments were often out numbered by smaller Parliamentarian regiments, at least before the end of the 1643 campaigns when casualties and desertion took a toll. It will be very interesting to see if it works and doesn't unbalance the system. 

Carry on Sweetheart

I have no idea if my Bag The Hun article will make it into this year's Lard Mag but I'm still going to crack on with my 1/600th scale Finnish aircraft for the Continuation War. I had another look at these today, in a break from my domestic duties (my day off is never really a day off!) and have decided to add some more aircraft to the line up, which is based on the scenarios that I've written for the Lard Mag. I can also use them for Lacquered Coffins, which will kill two birds with one stone. Fingers crossed! 

2mm ECW Modular Terrain

I was thinking about terrain for my 2mm English Civil War project today. This requires a grid pattern on a board or cloth between two and three feet square, assuming I use the Portable Pike and Shot rules. One possibility I hadn't previously considered is to make a set of modular terrain tiles designed to be put together in different layouts, modelled to include roads, rivers, hills and woodland, rather than using templates plonked on top of a cloth. To speed this up I was wondering about the Sarissa Precision Terrain Tile System, which has 200mm x 200mm tiles that divide neatly into a 50mm grid. The basic set isn't too expensive and even includes half tiles that could be used for rivers or similar linear features such as fortifications or earthworks. I think this might be a really neat solution. 

2mm ECW using Portable Pike and Shot

I'm enthused by the Portable Pike and Shot rules for my 2mm English Civil War in the West Country project, with two variants of the system provided in the book for me to try out. Both versions use a grid for movement, firing and close combat, the default or mimimun size being eight by eight squares. This is a bit small for my plans so I'm going to try a ten by ten grid with 60mm squares, giving enough room for manoeuvre but keeping the total area down to about two foot square or thereabouts. Ideally I'd like to use my Hexon terrain but I think it would be difficult to deploy my regiments in any sort of battle line, unless it is staggered in some way? 

'What If?' Wargaming Facebook Group

I've been thinking about setting up a new Facebook group dedicated to counter factual, historically plausible miniature wargaming, having not been able to find anything like this online. This would not be alternate geopolitical history as such, in other words not 'What if the Nazis won WW2 by use of wonder weapons?' but would focus on specific turning points in known history, when events might have had potential outcomes different from reality. 

I'm thinking here of the wargaming chestnuts like Operation Sealion, the Schlieffen Plan, War Plan Orange, the Cold War, Hot War genre or even famous historical flashpoints like the Fashoda Incident. This is bread and butter stuff for naval wagamers, myself included, so I have played quite a few mini-campaigns in this vein, including the Indonesian Confrontation of the mid 1960's and Anglo-French naval clashes in the 1870's. Perhaps the classic example of the sort of thing I'm thinking of is the late Victorian 'invasion' scare of the 1880-90's which spawned the famous Battle of Dorking counterfactual book by Sir George Timkyns Chesney.

Obviously, there would be no room for Victorian sci-fi, Nazi werewolves, Martian invasions or other weird stuff, as the premise is historical not fantasy. There are lots of other groups for this sort of craziness, so the focus would definitely be on historically possible or even probable events, with the caveat that they must be based on real situations that could have occurred in a plausible or at least believable way. There would be no other limitations, so naval, air and land based wargaming in various scales would be allowed, as long as miniatures were involved. 

If this is of interest or if you have any thoughts drop me a line and I'd be very happy to take your ideas on board. 

Precursors of Nelson

A rare trip into town today and the Oxfam bookshop. The result is a pristine hardback copy of this book, which looks excellent as reading material for the upcoming holidays. At least one of the projects for next year is to complete my 1/2400th Age of Sail Napoleonic fleets, but in the longer term I could definitely extend my focus back to the American War of Independence. 

1/200th Lacquered Coffins?

I'm still farting about with different scale options for Lacquered Coffins, with club games firmly in my sights. The default is 1/300th scale using my pretty extensive collection of aircraft, but I've also been considering 1/144th scale as an alternative. Today I remembered that I had a box of Blood Red Skies Yak-1 models that I bought after playing a game at the club. I really didn't like the rules but the models aren't bad, if a bit plasticy. The scale is 1/200th so mid range between my other options, with the advantage of visual fit on the 40mm bases and a good range of 3D printed or injection moulded models. They are, however, much more expensive than 1/300th scale models. Swings and Roundabouts! 

The Portable Pike and Shot Wargame

I've continued my search for a set of fast play rules to use with my 2mm English Civil War armies, as a step up from One Hour Wargames. I had overlooked the Portable Pike and Shot wargame in its different configurations. After a quick look through of my digital copy it looks absolutely perfect for my 2mm regimental basing, as well as having options for both siege warfare and campaigns. I've now ordered a hard copy to read over the holidays, the aim being to work out how to use the rules for my solo campaign games next year. 

2mm Royalist Cornish Army Progress

I've been off work today with a bad back, so only managed to add a couple of regiments to the 2mm Royalist Cornish Army. This was done standing up as sitting down hurts! Nevertheless, this completes the order of battle for the Cornish army of the 1643 campaign, with nine pike and shot regiments, three horse regiments, a detachment of dragoons and two artillery batteries. I've even included a command base for Lord Hopton. The next thing to do will be to texture the bases with a mix of filler, sand, PVA and acrylic paste, which I'll leave to set solid over the holidays, ready for painting in the new year. 

Flame Out Above the Falklands

I was supposed to be playing a game of Flames Above the Falklands at the club tonight but I've had to postpone it until next week, as I've done my back in over the weekend. It's been giving me grief all day so I asked if I could shift the game along so that I can take part without having to stand up all evening. The car is also still stuck in the garage for repairs, so I'd have to ask the other half to pick me up, even though she's feeling unwell herself, so not really a good idea. I'm hoping the car and the back will be sorted by next week, as I'm keen to have another crack at Wings at War over the Falklands. 

DIY Flight Stands for Lacquered Coffins

I've been away in West Cornwall for a family reunion over the weekend, so got back very early today to find a package of bits from Warbases waiting for me. These are the components for some prototype flight bases to use with 1/300th or possibly 1/144th scale aircraft. 

The basic design uses a sandwich of two 40mm square, 3mm thick mdf bases, a double frame for 7mm mini-dice and a 50mm steel nail. The nail is upside down in the photo but will have the tip cut off and glued into a pre-drilled hole on the upper square, the flat nail head being the surface to which a magnetised model can be attached. It's all very simple and also cheap to put together, making it possible to supply multiple stands to match different terrain cloths without breaking the bank.

I'll glue this lot together during the week and will probably finish them off with a snow or tundra finish, to use with my 1/300th scale early war Soviet models, which I'm going to continue painting next year for both Arctic Eagles and the Contuation War. I also have some plans for Western Desert themed bases to use with 1/144th scale plastic models, assuming I don't go down a Russian Front rabbit hole with those as well? 

2mm ECW Reinforcements

I had an email from Irregular Miniatures this morning to let me know that the rest of my order of 2mm ECW figure blocks is now on the way. This is great news as it means I can complete the Cornish Royalist army and move forwards with the Parliamentarian army as well. I've always been impressed by Irregular's customer service and it is still second to none, despite the longer than expected delay. Excellent! 

Biting the Bag the Hun Re-basing Bullet

I've been thinking of re-basing my hex based 1/300th scale aircraft with magnets, both for storage reasons and to make them flexible enough to use hex and square bases. I magnet based my 1/300th scale Soviet aircraft for the Continuation War project and was really pleased with the result, so I'm going to remove the Raiden Miniatures stands from my other models to match. This will be a bit hair raising as they're glued on tight but I think I can do it without damaging the models. It's a big job so will be one of my new projects for 2025. 

Lacquered Coffins Conundrum

I've had a positive response from some of the club to my Lacquered Coffins proposal, so it's definitely worth pursuing further if only in a planning sense.  I have located my stash of 1/144th scale models and have ordered some 40mm square, 3mm thick bases from Warbases, the suggested base dimensions in the rules being 1 1/2 inches. 

This seemed a bit big for 1/600th scale aircraft, which is what is recommended in the rules, so I'm going to use 1/144th scale models instead, the Zvezda I-16 being pictured next to a 40mm base from my MiG Alley B-29 set up. I'm also obviously considering using my 1/300th scale stuff, as it is quite an extensive collection and just needs re-basing with magnets in order to be deployed. 

It also looks good on a 40mm base, as shown by an unfinished Scotia I-16 model once again mounted on a 40mm square. The actual stands will be higher on the Lacquered Coffins bases and there will be a double dice frame instead of a single one. I think the 1/300th scale option looks very promising, so I now need to decide which scale to use for the project, or even if I could do both?!

Peyk-i Şevket Class Torpedo Cruisers

These are 1/2400th scale Tumbling Dice models of the Chilean Almirante Lynch class torpedo gunboat, which I've repurposed as the two Peyk-i Şevket class torpedo cruisers. These were both obsolete in 1914 but carried on in service during WWI as convoy escorts, both suffering damage from mines and torpedoes as a result. I added fore and aft gun mountings, as well as simplified masts from wire, but otherwise there was very little to do. While not identical to the loan model, they are close enough to do the job.

Lacquered Coffins in 1/144th

I was doing some googling for after action reports of Lacquered Coffins games today, having printed out and read through the rules, when I bumped into this article from Miniature Wargames back in March 2024. I haven't read the whole thing but I noticed that the author decided to use 1/144th scale aircraft models for his games, which reminded me of my plans ages ago to convert Knights of the Sky for WWII air combat. This plan didn't happen in the end but I did amass quite a lot of 1/144th scale kits from Zvezda, Revell and Minicraft for the Russian Front, as well as a couple of pre-painted diecast bombers. The article also rings some bells when it comes to the scope and focus of the games, the aim being to encourage club players to take up aerial wargaming without complicating things with complex rules, hexes, maths or book keeping (or turn cards...the big issue I've had with Bag the Hun as a club set of rules). I am now having some interesting ideas for my own project for next year, using the model kits I have already stockpiled and the Lacquered Coffin rules for club multiplayer games....Tally Ho!

2mm ECW Royalist Army Roadblock

I've had a partial delivery of my 2mm Renaissance order from Irregular Miniatures, some baggage and artillery, but none of the pike blocks I need to start on the Devon Parliamentary forces or to finish the last couple of Cornish Royalist regiments. 

I have managed to make a base of pike and shot from some leftover blocks, representing Sir Thomas Bassett's regiment of foot, but Lord Hopton's regiment will have to wait a while longer. In the meanwhile, I've made a command base so that he can make a personal appearance, together with another artillery base, this time of two sakers or drakes as deployed at Braddock Down.

It's a shame about the Irregular Miniatures delay, as I am almost in a position to field the Royalist forces for the Battle of Stratton, at least in a simplified format. I'm hoping the rest of the order will arrive sooner rather than later?

Air War:C21 2025

In my thus far futile attempt to find a set of air wargaming rules that doesn't either confuse or frustrate club gamers, while simultaneously not ending up too gamey or ahistorical, I've decided to give AirWar:C21 a spin. I've had a copy of these modern air combat rules for years but have never tried them out. After reading some excellent after action reports on Facebook recently, I think it will be worth taking another look, with the Alto Cenepa war offering an option for play testing the system in 1/600th scale, followed by the Angolan Border War as a direction of travel. This will be for next year, as one of my potential projects, so plenty of time to plan ahead 

Ground Loops

It's been a frustrating weekend, partly due to the terrible weather but also as my car has broken down and is now waiting to be repaired, no doubt at an extortionate cost to the wallet. This means that I'm going to miss the Knights of the Sky club game tomorrow, as the other car is being used by the wife all evening and I'm not insured on it anyway. Fortunately, I was able to fore warn the umpire and some replacement pilots have been recruited to fill the ranks. On top of that, I'm now having to get up at 5am to get a lift into work, so I'll be knackered as well. To top if off I have a new mobile phone that's driving me nuts and refuses to let me access my blog, so it's all going a bit tits up at the moment. It could be a lot worse  but it's a bit of a pain in the arse all round!