Who’s a lucky lad?

Well I am, as it happens.

As a miserable grumpy old cynic I have constantly been amazed by the support, wit, and camaraderie of our gaming / hobby community. 

One particularly good egg, who is far to modest to want a specific mention, but whose name happens to rhyme with Aly Morrison, recently and completely unbidden, sent me this bunch of lads by way of encouragement for my Indian Mutiny project. 

How bloody wonderful was that?! 

Obviously I don’t want to name the cove in question - but thanks mate they’re hugely appreciated. 

Merry Christmas to one and all

Merry Christmas from Maison Broom to one and all.

The Current Mrs Broom loves Christmas and insists I take part in it even though I’ve got miniatures to paint!

May all the battles you face in 2025 be little wargaming ones.

Unexpected progress

Okay, so the Indian Mutiny project is going well at the moment and I’ve been “knocking out” a whole 2 figures a day. 

Yeah I know. Faster than a thousand greased gazelles.

Also I took the decision to start on the none standard uniformed figures with the largest unit figure count (16 - for The Men Who Would Be Kings). Get the hard stuff out of the way first, eh!

These chaps are the sweepings of the bazaar. Demobilised soldiers, religious fanatics, cutpurses, cutthroats and badmashes - stirred into a hate filled frenzy by that ex havildar still wearing his red uniform. They’re armed with an assortment of swords, spears and a fair few Brown Bess muskets, though they’re going to be outranged by my regulars and their Indian pattern Enfield rifles. No doubt they’ll be swarming over the lads of the 64th foot (next in the painting queue) pretty soon.

The sweepings of the bazaar.

The sculpts are wonderful but I am always struggling against my limited painting skills and the realisation that first and foremost they’re for gaming with. As an example, and despite all the YouTube tutorials I’ve watched, I avoid doing “eyes” not only because they’re fiddly but because they inevitably end up looking like this.

 

The late (great?) Marty Feldman

I suppose on a play balance level it does disadvantage the British who can no longer “fire when they see the whites of their eyes”. lol. 

Anywhoo apologies for the slightly pointless show and tell post, that I promised myself I’d never do, but it’s either write this post or cut up a load of logs - so no contest really.

Once again have a great Xmas!

[insert blog post title here]

Yeah I couldn’t decide on a title for this post since it’ll be covering a lot of bases (wargaming joke?). My first instinct, given the season was to go with…

Ho Ho Ho

But then this is a family friendly blog so mention of three American prostitutes is probably not appropriate.

Lead Tsunami

Would be a good reference to the enormous pile of Empress figures that arrived in the post as part of my Christmas prezzie from the wife… but it does sound a bit like a 1980’s metal band so I’ll leave that be. Note - Lead Tsunami would make a great support act for my equally imaginary 70’s prog rock group Pyroclastic Flow. 

Be careful what you wish for

Was exactly how I felt when I realised how much painting and basing now lies ahead of me.

And that’s before the cavalry, civilians, elephants, and more artillery arrive. 

Glug glug

In reference to my French / Austro Hungarian naval campaign which came crashing to an early and as yet undocumented end after a major convoy was intercepted and the pride of the Austro Hungarian navy was sent to rest on the sea bed.

The protected cruiser Friant was the only French casualty. I’d show you the Austro Hungarian ships but they’re all at the bottom of my plastic hexagonal sea.

Spruegoo 

It’s not often that I’m confronted with something new in the hobby, but too much free internet time led me to something that the cool kids are currently messing around with and which after 50 years of dicking around with models I’d never come across before.

Just take all your old ready to discard plastic sprue drop it in a jar of acetone and leave it overnight. The next day you’ll have a putty like substance that can be molded at will and which will return to spruce plastic hardness in 24hrs. 

While gooey it struggles a bit to retain its shape so I suspect I will be pressing it into molds to produce walls, window frames etc for my Indian mutiny terrain. 

My coffee jar Spruegoo experiment. The fluid on top of the goo is acetone…not a urine sample. The base for the tree (just visible) is as hard as a rock and can be carved / painted etc now that it’s set. 

Next year will see more in the way of painting progress reports than gaming so apologies in advance. Here’s four of my bazar rabble (sans proper basing) to kick things off.

Good job I’ve enjoyed painting these cos there’s another 150 to go! lol. 

Here’s hoping you all have a great Kwanza, Festivus, Christmas, Yule, whatever… and as Dave Allen used to say… May your [insert deity(s) of choice] go with you. 

Hwæt

Okay so this post is not intended in anyway as a review of Age of Penda…but it sort of is.

I bought the Age of Penda Rules by Daniel Mersey because they went along with a lovely range of Copplestone sculpted 18mm miniatures (available from Northstar) and the rules didn’t cost a lot extra. In for a penny and all that.

Now I’ve never had a bad set of rules from Mr Mersey but these looked VERY different and the first time I saw the pre plotted actions section I thought oh God no it’s going to be some sort of SAGA knock off. 

Let me assure you the Age of Penda rules are very far from that. 

For average commanders you get to pick 4 actions for your force per turn, each player taking it in turns to choose one from a suite of options. Once chosen you can use them in any order you want and one unit could perform all of the actions you chose in one turn if that’s your fancy. There is a subtle degree of strategy involved since once an action has been marked by a player it is blocked to his opponent. Reckon you’re about to get pelted by skirmishers? Choose the “shoot” action if you can and deny it to the enemy! I would go so far as to say there’s even a faint whiff of chess about it. 

I’m not going to laboriously go through a game turn by turn, but here are a few sample pictures taken from a recent testing sesh which might help illuminate a couple of points. 

Gratuitous eye candy shot of the 18mm lads in action.

The tactics chart. Both commanders were average so get to place 4 counters each, one at a time. Initially the red player rolled highest on a 1D6 so got to choose a tactic first. They chose “seize the initiative” which means they get to choose a tactic first in the next turn with no die roll off  - the down side being that only leaves three actions to use for their force. The “special tactics” box has a suite of associated actions to pick from (the paper on the left), but you don’t have to commit to what the chosen action will be until the moment you play it. 

For his first turn the red player selects “special tactics” and chooses “rush” which allows him to move mounted or skirmish units up to two hexes rather than the usual one. Red’s skirmish units move into the trees.

The green player uses “move” to hustle forward two units of armoured warriors to contest the woods. A chosen tactic is applied to all friendly units in an area, but only three units of any type from either side may occupy an area at one time.

The results of the warrior / skirmishers clash were that the attacking warriors took one hit and the skirmishers two. The dice strengths do not directly relate to the number of men killed but are rather a reflection of the units fighting ability - which can, handily, be rallied back if you’re lucky. 

About a turn or so later the skirmishers have retired and rallied back their strength. The red players three big blocks of armoured warriors advance far enough to potentially move into green’s square so their special tactic was used to form a shieldwall. A shieldwall only lasts for the turn but I made a crappy marker out of unused mdf bases and green stuff as you can see as an aide mémoire.

Ignoring the shieldwall red’s units enter the green leaders square and a huge old bucket of dice is rolled - needing 4, 5 or 6’s for a hit. I won’t bore you with the outcome. 

If you’ve limited space a moderate budget and an interest in gaming this period I would highly recommend these rules. Take it from me as an early medieval / dark age nerd. 

If you want to know how much of a nerd, here are some period related books in my library. 

Proof of nerdiness - should proof be needed.

Two tomes that are highly recommended for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of fighting in this period.

Lair of the uber nerd. Learning to read and speak olde englisc is not necessary - but I went there anyway. The devil finds work for idle hands to do. lol. 

Till next time gesithas!

Finished!

I’ve been slaving away at the work bench for a couple of weeks now (in between getting my ass handed to me in a couple of remote zoom games) but project Wiglaf is now finally complete. 

Well as finished as any project ever is…

All the miniatures I need for two opposing forces (the curse of the solo gamer) are painted and based…and the unusual off set square playing area has been cobbled together from foam board and off cuts of old battle mat (waste not want not). 

The figures are part of a range created by Daniel Mersey in 18mm and they depict warriors from the warring factions in 7th century Britain. I’ve gone with Christian Northumbrians versus Pagan Mercians. 

The rules that go with them seem like a cross between Dux Belorum and Saga, (but without the quirky special attributes or funky dice of Saga) and they are novel enough to have really caught my interest.

Something that I threw together over the weekend. Like you do. Shame I couldn’t be arsed to move the sea cloth from under it. Lazy is as lazy does.

I suspect that I’ll have a quick go at playing this next week, so a batrep will be forthcoming shortly. Ironically I seem to recall giving up on this project because I felt I wouldn’t have enough room to play it, though it transpires that with 12cm squares it would fit nicely on anyone’s kitchen table. lol. 

« All your base are belong to us » Apologies to readers over 65 or younger than 50 who won’t get the reference, but for those with an inquiring mind it’s an early internet meme. As you can see I might be 61 but I’m still down with the kidz. Apparently the internet is on computers now!

The next post will be the second battle in my naval campaign - but the planning and research for an Indian mutiny collection in 28mm have now begun in earnest - since The Current Mrs Broom claims to have spent a large chunk of my grandchildren’s inheritance on a metric ton of Empress Miniatures as an Xmas prezzie. 

Woo hoo! 

Miles better than some socks and a bottle of Old Spice I reckon. 

I hope Santa doesn’t bend their bayonets coming down the chimney.

Anywhoo…

Tarrarabit arr kid - as they used to say in Brum.

Further goings on at Maison Broom.

Bugger me it’s November already. Where the hell did October go? All the leaves are off the fruit trees and we are down to 1 egg a day so it’s definitely autumn despite the sunshine.

Although I’ve another naval game in the pipeline I thought I’d take the opportunity to bring you up to speed with matters military here at La Maison Broom. 

First off, my recent dive into the depths of the lead pile unearthed a little treasure trove of Wiglaf miniatures 18mm Saxons.  I’ve been painting away like a busy little squirrel ever since and this is where we are so far.

7th century Saxons in 18mm - discovered hiding in the lead pile.

The plusses are that I already have the terrain and the rules to use with these chaps, so apart from a few more packs of personality figures I should be good to go. The minuses are that I discovered Kalistra 10mm Romans lurking in the lead pile while digging as well. I had hoped to order some of the 3d printed ones recently showcased by Keith on his Bydand blog - but the Kalistra lads are already here so it makes more sense to persevere with them I suppose.

This latest scouring of the lead pile has made me realise how fixated on a project I can become, and also how quickly this  then seems to turn into a form of burnout and disinterest. 

What I need to do (and I’m sure the Current Mrs Broom was referring to my wargaming when I went up to bed the other night) is to spice things up a bit ;-). You know the drill, different scales, different periods, go where angels fear to tread and all that. Maybe try and have more than one project on the go that I can flip back and forth to.

Maybe, oh I don’t know, something like…this…

Or this…

Empress Miniatures 28mm Indian Mutiny range

Oh my God they look so good…

Of course it’d mean all new terrain and the figures are ruddy expensive but I’ve got a set of rules to use, so there’s that. I mean okay so I’ve been trying to cut costs, but for gods sake I could be run over by the bus tomorrow and have never even tried these. 

It’d mean a move towards skirmish gaming with The Men Who Would Be Kings and no hexes but it’d snap me out of my “I’ve got no room for gaming so I’ll only buy small minis,” rut.

Nah. 

Cmon. It makes no sense at all. What am I thinking?

But they do look soooooo good…don’t they?

Okay, enough with the levity and the ho ho ho’s. 

As you may recall I had the summer off from blogging in order to recharge the old batteries. It involved a fair amount of time with chickens (anytime spent with chickens is time well spent, trust me) but I also went for a wander or two around the outskirts of my hamlets parent village (St Dizier Leyrenne - yeah you can google earth it if you like, it’s not like I’m going to know, now is it?). 

It was July 19th and I was nearing the end of a pleasant stroll through the woods when I came across this.

And just like that I fell down the local history research rabbit hole that I referred to a couple of posts ago.

By mid 1944 the German army had been bled white. The units left “occupying” France were by and large a hodgepodge of signal troops, SD, Gestapo, recuperating units from the eastern front and so on. You get the drift. 

Just after the invasion, orders were received to begin an anti partisan sweep in my department. Despite the supply and man power problems experienced by the Wehrmacht, 2500 troops, 110 vehicles and 7 “cannon” were formed into Brigade Jesser, and this caravan of retribution then burned and looted its way through my local area for about 2 months

On  16th July 1944 they arrived at the entrance to Bourganeuf, which is my nearest town. Here they were confronted by Capitaine Jaques Chapou and elements of his CFI partisan group. 

According to locals Capitaine Chapou was shot here on the approach to the town while preparing an ambush, and a number of his  men were duly captured. Zee Germans would have been approaching from the top of the picture.

Given the numbers involved the partisans were soon overwhelmed with the Capitaine going down in a hail of fire. 12 resistance fighters were captured and imprisoned in the Zizim tower until the follow up SD units could arrive. The official version is that these men were deported to Germany - though none were ever seen again. 

The tower of Zizim in the town square - left of picture. Built in the 15th century to house a captive Ottoman prince. You know… like you do. 

The Rue de Verdun was sealed off at both ends and families dragged out into the street to be searched and generally roughed up. My neighbour Solange was only 9 at the time and she still remembers it well. I guess you would.  

Rue de Verdun - then

And now…

On the 19th July Brigade Jesser arrived in my little hamlets parent village (St Dizier Leyrenne) with over 40 trucks parking on the village green pictured below. 

The 1944 Saint Dizier Leyrenne truck stop.

The accompanying SD detachment set themselves up in front of the monument slightly to the left of the picture and began their interrogations. There were less than 500 people resident in the village and surrounding farms. 61 people (apparently selected at random) were arrested and deported to the Reich for further investigation. Only 2 returned after the war. 

I can only assume that the interrogators from the SD were fairly efficient because somehow later that evening a company of soldiers surrounded 8 of Capitaine Chapou’s partisans who’d avoided the roundup in Bourganeuf and were attempting to escape the area through the woods to the north of my house. 

The soldiers involved were Crimean Tartar “volunteers” in the Russian legion and they brought with them all the excesses and barbarism of the Eastern Front. The 8 partisans were captured, tortured for information and then executed on the spot. 

Crimean Tartars of the Russian Volunteer LegIon in France 1944]

So yeah, it was exactly 80 years later to the day, on the 19th July 2024 that I was wandering through the nearby woods and I discovered the memorial. I was alone and the woods were silent. It all felt very sad. Apparently there are flowers left each year. Next year I shall add to them. 

Some of the Tartars responsible for this outrage mutinied on the 29th July and actually, while out of my area, volunteered to join a resistance group in the Corrèze region. Their fate after this point remains unknown. The rest of the unit eventually met their end in the Colmar pocket. 

Kurt Jesser was captured in October 1945 and held in a camp to be charged for war crimes. He was released in 1947 and all charges were dropped. A further investigation was launched in 1949 (perhaps when further information came to light?) but again the charges were dropped. He died at home in 1950.

Now, if you want “grim” on a larger and even more barbaric scale try googling Oradour Sur Glane which is also not too far away and well worth a visit. 

Toodleooh.