Thursday, October 5, 2023

Painting, Hexing, and Gaming

Today's post is a bit of a mish-mash in a seemingly futile attempt to catch-up.

First, off the painting desk today is the first of the Hanoverian horse for the SYW/WAS project in 18mm.  Figures are from Eureka Miniatures and are part of the large tranche of figures purchased back in August.  Many more Hanoverian cavalry are in the pipeline.  These troopers trot out as the Breidenbach Dragoons.
Next up, a little work on terrain.  Having seen Ancients armies out on the table in a series of battles over flat ground, I figured it time to create a few hill hexes to break up the battlefield.  With that, 16 hill hexes and another 20 open hexes make it into the Terrain Pile.  Hexes are five inches on the flat; perfect for 120mm frontage units.
Finally, Peter and I fought the Battle of Lake Trasimene on Thursday, remotely, from his table (on Friday) in Melbourne.  Game utilized his adaptations to One Hour Wargames (OHW) and Peter's large collection of 1/72 figures.  In my mind, his amendments to OHW improve the game immensely.  I commanded the Carthaginians as Hannibal springs a trap on the Roman Army as it marches along the banks of Lake Trasimene.
Lake Trasimene
photo courtesy Gridbased wargaming
Which army was victorious?  I guess we wait until the battle report!

43 comments:

  1. Nice job on the unit, I like the tight shoulder to shoulder look.

    The good thing about OHW is their basic sturdiness, they absolutely invite house rules. I had his ‘Wargaming: An Introduction’ book out yesterday and was slightly amused to see that his into rules are slightly more beefed up that his OHW rules …. and the better for that.

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    1. Thanks! Interesting observation that "Intro" is more complex than OHW.

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  2. The SYW cavalry looks beautiful Jonathan. Light blue facings on a white coat is one of my favourite combinations. Where do you get the hex terrain from, do you purchase the basic hexes or make them yourself?

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    1. Thank you, Lawrence! The hexes are made from birch plywood by Wood & Shop in the USA.

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  3. Lovely new troops Jonathan…
    Lake Trasimene looks like a tricky scenario for the Romans… At what point in the game are they allowed to realise that this was a bad plan to begin with 😁

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you! Yes, Trasimene is a tricky situation from which the Romans must extract themselves. The Roman Army may begin to react on Turn 1 following the Carthaginian first turn.

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  4. Nice cavalry unit Jon and good to see you are keeping busy 👍

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  5. Those cavalry are a very fine addition to the collection. That looks to be a fun scenario, perhaps not for the Romans?

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    1. Thanks, Phil! I reckon that the Carthaginians look forward to fighting this battle more so than the Romans.

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  6. Nice work on Breidenbach DR. Good choice - at all the key battles including Fontenoy. Agree with Norm on them being boot to boot.
    Also interested in the source of the hexes. My units are 120mm wide.
    Chris/Nundanket

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    1. Thanks, Chris! More Hanoverians to come. Hexes are sourced from Wood & Shop in the USA.

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  7. Are your Hexes in MDF or cork?
    The Ancients battle looks very impressive - is that a river or the coast?

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    1. Hexes are birch plywood and the water is the shore of Lake Trasimene.

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  8. Some splendid troops and terrain, and eagerly looking forward to Peter's report.

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    1. Thank you! I look forward to Peter's battle account too as my screenshots did not come out very well.

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  9. I like the look of the Hanovarian horse. Looking forward to your battle report

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  10. Lovely looking cavalry regiment Jonathan!

    Christopher

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  11. Splendid looking figures

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  12. Well, Jonathan, as consistently as you manage to post, I can only aspire to be as "futile" as you are when it comes to being caught up (if that syntax isn't tortured enough to follow). And given the approach of All Hallows Eve, "Hexing" seems just the thing to do around about now.

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement, Ed! "Hexing" does seem an appropriate activity for the season.

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  13. Great looking cavalry unit and terrain, the right game to be the Cartheginian commander in!
    Best Iain

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  14. Lovely horse! I expect loads more in the pipeline?

    Seems hex-gaming is quickly becoming the standard about these bloggin' parts?

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    1. Thanks! Yes, more Hanoverian horse are in the pipeline. As for hex gaming, guilty as charged! I find that gaming on a grid makes hosting a remote game much easier.

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    2. Certainly makes a lot of sense. Ranges and so forth would be far more difficult to translate across a video stream I’m sure.

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    3. An open table using measuring devices makes the game little more complex but certainly doable. I have played in and hosted both methods. For me, hexes speed the game up and make translating orders from players a little bit easier on all involved.

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  15. Good to see that you are keeping yourself busy. Love the cavalry.

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    1. Thanks, Richard! You do your part in keeping me active.

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  16. A nice mix of stuff going on there Jon:).

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  17. Those Hanoverians look great, unusual mid-blue colour scheme. I will now read Peter's battle report...

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  18. You don't mess around with the painting, Jon! Great stuff all round

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    1. Thanks, Aaron! Great to see you leaving a comment!

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  19. Even without their flag these Hanoverian horse are looking excellent. I think that most of the Hanoverian cavalry and dragoons are somehow boring to paint with their red facings. But they are so important for the WAS and SYW. Great work as always.

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    1. Thanks, André! Boring to paint? I think they look elegant in their whites. I have the Spanish Lusitania Dragoons on the painting desk with their yellow uniforms and white horses. Now they are not boring!

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    2. Nice! I loved yellow uniforms.

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