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Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Sumerian Skirmishers and a Raging River

In a change of pace from mustering out SYW French cavalry, a dozen Sumerian interlopers crash the painting queue to mix things up.  Actually, after painting a number of French cavalry regiments, I was ready to tackle something different.

To keep painting interest, well, interesting, twelve Wargames Foundry Sumerian javelin-wielding skirmishers push their way into the production line.  I still have another dozen javelinmen to paint and field but first, painting returns to more SYW French cavalry.  French mounted staff command stands are in work too.  After the command elements are finished, I think it time to put my small French army out on maneuvers.

As mentioned in recent posts, Spokane has seen unseasonably wet and cool weather.  Rivers are high with some at flood stage.  Given these conditions and under heavy skies, Nancy and I strolled around downtown to assess the falls and the volume of water passing through the gorge.

Lower Spokane Falls
Upper Spokane Falls

The photos show that a raging torrent of water races through the center of the city.  Out on the bike Monday morning (yes, I did get a bit wet), I saw many areas of the river at flood stage as I rode upriver to the east.  Having lived in Spokane for more than 25 years, rarely have I seen the river this high with so much water passing over the falls.

Later this morning, the third refight of Battle of San Martino gets underway.  Hopefully, I can produce a fun and interesting game for the participants.

47 comments:

  1. Great looking Sumerian skirmishers and that's one big river!
    Best Iain

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    1. Glad you like the skirmishers. More to come on that front. The river is quite an impressive beast.

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  2. Nice skirmishers as always Jon. That river does look in full spate which I imagine is very unusual given the time of year. Looking forward to round 3 at San Martino:).

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    1. Thank you! I am looking forward to Round #3 as San Martino too. The river always swells during spring run-off but this year is unusual.

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  3. Those Sumerians look great. Always beneficial I feel to mix up the painting queue now and again

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    1. Thanks! Mixing up the composition at the painting desk provides needed variety to keep it fresh.

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  4. Great looking skirmishers Jonathan!

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  5. Ahhh, the old, river becomes an impassible torrent gambit! There's a wargame scenario there somewhere.

    ps interesting mix of shaggy and shaved skirmishers,

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    1. Yes, indeed. The old impassable torrent gambit is on full display.

      Interesting point about the mix of hair styles. Perhaps all shaggy should be on one stand and all bald on another?

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  6. Great looking Foundry Ancients and Spokane scenes too!

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  7. Both the unit and the falls look great!

    Christopher

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  8. Fine looking additions there Jonathan, looking forward to seeing if the Austrians fare a tad better in round three. The river is still in full flow, must have been an awful lot of rainfall.

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    1. Thanks, Phil! The Austrians seem to improve their lot with each playing. The area experienced a lot of rain and a lot of run-off from the quickly melting snowpack.

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  9. A nice looking batch of Sumerians Jon, and your river continues to impress! Looking forward to the next game report too.

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    1. Thanks, Keith. OK. Maybe enough of the falls photos.

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  10. Beautiful Sumerians Jonathan. You really had some rainfall if the river is anything to go by.

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    1. Thanks, Richard! Rainfall plus a heavy snowpack this winter that is now melting.

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  11. More beautiful Sumerians Jonathan. Always a joy to behold. From the title post I thought the raging river was going to be a new terrain piece. It puts me in mind of the February floods here in Brisbane where our local brook, which is normally only half a meter deep by a meter wide, swelled to around thirty times that and was carrying off cars and shipping containers from further upstream.

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    1. Glad you like them, Lawrence! As for the raging river, I prefer photography to building terrain. I know. I know. Have you seen videos of houses falling into the river and floating away in Yellowstone NP?

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    2. We get regular updates about many bad US weather events, but I can't recall that one. The sad thing about floods like that and I suppose any natural disaster is the effect it can have on people for years afterwards.

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  12. Nice unit there Jon and, wow!, that’s one fierce river!

    Very curious to see how episode 3 pans out.

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    1. Thank you, Mike! The first turns of the game have just concluded. I have yet to make a body count. We plan to have a second session next week to wrap it up. The Sardinians very nearly lost the King in the first session. It was a close call.

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  13. Excellent skirmishers Jonathan, Foundry are still the best! Impressive falls there.

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    1. Thanks, Mike! Yes, the Foundry figures are still the best for Biblicals.

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  14. Nice job on the spearmen. Maybe I used to know but I forget; what’s the brown flat object on the side? Is that for a label? Are these 3 bases ?

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    1. Thanks! The raised cleat on the trailing edge is, indeed, for labels. These twelve figures field three bases just as you guessed. You are two-for-two today, Stew!

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  15. The Sumerians look good, must have been a good switch from lace!
    The water level compared to your earlier photos is impressive.

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    1. Thanks, Joe! Compared to typical water flows in summer, this is really impressive.

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  16. It's been cool and wet over here on the other side of the continent as well, though I've not seen flooding as yet. Sumerians are ace, love the kilt details and faces.

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    1. There is a saying in the Pacific NW that summer does not begin until July 4. Withe temperatures heating up this week, summer may be arriving a couple of weeks early. Glad you like the javelinmen. Another dozen coming up soon.

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  17. Not sure what's more impressive? Those wonderful looking figures or the raging river!

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  18. Excellent light infantry. The very long spears are looking exciting.

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  19. Nice looking skirmishers, Jonathan. The water flow looks impressive! Is that a cable car running under the bridge, over the falls?

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    1. Thanks! Yes, those are cable car gondolas passing over the river and under the bridge. These were put in for the World’s Fair in 1974.

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  20. Variety is good for sure, and French 7YW Cavalry to these fine Sumerians is quite a change up!
    I wouldn't want to get swept up in that river! June here has been much cooler and wetter than usual as well, but no flooding etc!

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    1. Variety helps keep painting mojo up. Summer appears to be on its way in the PNW with Spokane hitting 80F for the first time this year with warm temps and sunny skies on the way.

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  21. Nice additions to your Sumerian’s Jonathan…
    That is an impressive bit of river…it would make for an interesting game of Pooh Sticks…


    All the best. Aly

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    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poohsticks

      I of course got the spelling wrong 🙄

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    2. Thanks! I guess my childhood was lacking this fine game.

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