Half-Year Wrap Up and a New Book

Well it is that time again, time to look back on the year and review what has been achieved.

It has been a busy six months for me. Using the Analog Painting Challenge method of allocating points for each piece completed (5 for a foot figure, 10 for a mounted figure or piece of equipment and then adding my own factor of 10 for every hour spent scratch building) my points count for the six months stands at 10,700, my fifth biggest year since I started keeping records in 2014 - and the year is only half finished.

The lion's share of the work has been in scratch building where a total of 78 pieces have been completed - some small, some large, some very large. Three other projects have been undertaken - Austrian and Duchy of Warsaw Napoleonics, and the French Franco-Prussian War cavalry and generals. Two projects are waiting to be started - the Bavarian Franco-Prussian artillery (on order) and cavalry, and the French Revolutionary War plastic infantry that are waiting release form the Perrys.  

The weight that the scratch building component has on the statistics can be clearly seen below.

The game count is a little down on last year, largely because we haven't been able to make our weekday games work too well this year and I haven't been able to make any time for solo gaming either. The frequency of games is something to be corrected in the next six months.

What is next? Obviously the Bavarian FPW sinceartilkery  the order has already been placed, along with a few Duchy of Warsaw bits and six FPW lancers that are also enroute. The Revolutionary French will probably be released by year's end so they may make it into this annual count. I do have some plans for some more scratch building. While plans for these haven't quite settled yet, they are leaning strongly toward some structures suitable for the Franco-Prussian War which would be useful in a Franco-Prussian War campaign that I have an idea for. I also have a significant scenics painting project for a friend.

Will I beat my all time record of 13,060 points? Maybe, but I not making it a target, I would much rather beat my number of games played record.

Received today was the newly published 1866: At the End was the Battle of Königgrätz, Battle Tactics of the Austro-Prussian War, published by Zeughaus Verlag (available in both German and English editions).

Well researched and presented, it is a fabulous 220+ page book in a glossy A4 format, with many black & white and colour images. It is a scholarly work that covers in good detail the Army structures, the campaign, battles, battlefields, uniforms and detailed descriptions of the tactics and the way they contributed to the successes and failures of the war. The following are screenshots from the publisher.

A

It is rare to find a study on this conflict that actually considers that the Austrian defeat was not solely attributable to the Prussian use of breach loading weapons, so for anyone with an interest in this era, this book is a must have. 

First Battalion, Regiment Number 16 Marquis Lusignan

And so to the next unit in the Austrian expansion, the first battalion of Regiment Number 16, Marquis Lusignan, with its pale yellow facings. Astute readers might have realised that the grenadiers from this regiment formed a part of the combined Grenadier Battalion Welsberg that was presented last week.

The regiment was raised in Styria in 1766. Between 1778 and 1799 it was known as Freiherr Terzi after Feldmarschalleutnent Ludwig Terzi. Renamed Erzherzog Rudolph in 1802 and then Marquis Lusignan in 1806, it was engaged at Raab then spent the rest of the Napoleonic wars in Italy. It was disbanded in 1832.

Something a Little Different...

I have been playing wargames with my friend Barry for 51 years and for the past twenty years his basement has been the defacto home for our group. Not only does he supply the space, but provides tea and coffee and heats the space in winter. So when he asked me to make some pieces for use in his adaption of Wings of War it was a pleasure to do so, and even more of a pleasure will be to present them to him tomorrow (Sunday) on his 89th birthday.

The first item is a bridge, that he wants to use as an objective in his game. It is made to fit in with his existing rivers. The intact bridge is placed over top of the destroyed version - when it is destroyed just lift it off...

Intact...

...destroyed!

Then there are two home airfields - a grass landing strip, a few tents and a place to park aircraft.

Finally there are eight anti-aircraft gun positions scratch built from various left over plastic parts and placed within sandbags, earthworks and similar.

They were all a bit of fun to make.

Grenadier Battalion Welsberg

Today sees the completion of the fourth battalion in my Austrian expansion - Battalion Welsberg. - made from Victrix miniatures

The battalion was made up of two companies each of Regiment Number 16 Erzherzog Rudolf (pale yellow facings), Regiment Number 26 Hohenlohe-Bartenstein (green facings) and Regiment Number 27 Chasteler (yellow facings).

It will be brigaded with my two other grenadier battalions.

Second Battalion, Erzherzog Karl Regiment No 3

I actually completed this 36 figure unit two weeks ago, but it has sat with its bases half completed ever since. Now with birthdays, anniversaries and other complications out of the way it is time to complete them.

This, with the first and Landwehr battalions, completes the regiment.

Next on the painting table is a grenadier battalion.

Travelling Again

Another month, another birthday (mine this time...number 68) and a wedding anniversary to boot. To celebrate we headed south again.

Although the main even is not actually until the weekend, we decided to take advantage of the weekday rates. In my years in the aviation industry I used to flinch when comments were made about airlines gouging prices at holiday times, but airlines have got nothing on car rental companies and hotels! I mean, $212 for three day car rental during the week, but nearly $450 over the weekend. Hotels can be much the same. It's amazing how we just accept that. In my earlier years I used to work for a wholesale stationery company and there was a standing joke in that trade that people would complain about spending $30 on a present, but would think nothing spending another $20 on the wrapping paper and a card.

Anyway, early Tuesday afternoon we boarded our flight to Christchurch then, after picking up our rental car, drove north for an hour and a half to Hanmer Springs. 

 

Now we've been to Hanmer before, during a trip through the South Island in March 2021, but we only spent one night there - a stop-off point between places. We 'took the waters' in the hot springs and really liked the place. We fully intended to return and in fact had booked another trip until another Covid lockdown intervened and we had to cancel. So we decided that now it was time to go back,  this time for a little longer - three days in fact.

Despite the MetService predicting gale force winds and rain for our arrival, the weather was calm and dry, although a little cool. Arriving a little before 5:00 we topped up supplies at the local supermarket and settled in for the night.

MetService told us to expect stronger winds and more rain in the morning, but they didn’t get it quite right … as you can see from this image from the hotel room porch just after 9:00AM.:

Still it was a little cool, at a degree or two above freezing, not that that is a problem for us as the morning was to be spent in the hot pools. This is an excellent place and not too many visitors in the morning.

However, by noon the weather had closed in, not the stormy forecast, but a drizzly rain. A late lunch and a couple of drinks helped to pass the afternoon.

The grey skies of Wednesday cleared overnight to beautifully sunny, albeit frosty, Thursday. We returned to the pools in the morning. It was much more popular on this day, particularly amongst the grey population - so much that as we approached one fairly full pool her indoors muttered ..."my God, its's pensioner soup!", even though we had entered complex on an aged concession!

After lunch we climbed to Conical Hill, for view from north of the town.

A little retail therapy and a drink or two in a local pub followed.

Dinner at an Indian restaurant finished the day and ended our Hanmer Springs break. Tomorrow it's back to Christchurch, then home. We should be turning the key at home before the rush hour starts...Friday rush hour starts at 2:30 and ends at 6:00.

Austrian 12-Pound Gun

This is the final gun set in my Austrian expansion and gives me five guns in total for the Army.

I wanted this to be a 12-pound position gun. Strictly speaking it is not. I did not have a 12-pound model and the Perrys don't make one. I did, however, have a 12-pound barrel to spare, so with a bit of cutting and filing I got it to fit onto the trail. Possibly the trail should be larger, but I think it looks the part all the same.