And now for something completely…err…

Soz, I’m  a bit of a one trick pony at the moment aren’t I? 

I’ve finally completed what passes for 2 x 128pt HYW armies. I shall naturally continue to add to them over time, but for now I think they’re good enough for a quick Billhooks test game. 

The English troops are the rearguard of a larger force currently retreating off board behind them. They are positioned across a gap between two thickly wooded areas through which any enemy intent on catching the baggage train will have to travel. 

The English force consists of two wards. One under a mounted commander is composed of a company of archers and a company of “spears” (a catch all name for hand to hand combat weapons of mixed types in this period). The second ward is commanded by a dismounted leader and consists of two archer company’s and a dismounted men.at arms unit  “en herce” as billhooks defines it. Both wards have deployed a limited frontage of stakes to protect themselves. If this all looks a bit “Azincourt” it’s because I want to test out the efficacy of the longbow under these rules. 

The French who’ve been in a fairly languid “pursuit” anre also composed of two wards. The first ward includes three companies of knights (one of whom is actually English but donated to the French to give them a greater chance, numerically, against the archers) while the second includes companies of crossbowmen, spears and men at arms.   

Our last bunch of family guests left behind a ruddy nasty bug (Covid?) that the wife and I are still struggling to recover from so despite setting this game up on the table it might be a couple of days before I get to play it. (Note to self - put all new rivals through a ruddy sheep dip). Still, lying in bed feeling sorry for myself will at least give me time to decide how the French should approach this I suppose. 

In lieu of anything else of note, the Lanchester has progressed beyond being a bag of parts…

…and this old timey lorry arrived from Sarissa. Choo choos next possibly. 

And finally… I’ve worked out how to add text to photos…

Toodleooh mes amis.

Wasted

This was going to be a post about my ongoing painting progress, but I’m feeling a little worse for wear and to be honest you’ve seen it all before anyway. We’ve had a succession of post school holiday visitors during September which put a dent in my hobby time and culminated in my brother in law beating me 4 wargames in a row. Jerk. He has a serious heart condition, so I told the wife I let him win in case he snuffed it. 

Desperate to catch a break from this continual drubbing I seized on the opportunity to help my neighbour Marie Theresa with her problematic ride on lawnmower. The machine in question is kept in her barn of mystery, into which étranger such as I are not normally allowed. Marie Theresa by the way is either seventy eight, eighty five or eighty seven - depending on the current phase of the moon. She remains married to the infamous Pradeix strangler (who she hates with a passion only a French women can muster) and who I was about to say is as mad as a box of frogs, which would of course be racially insensitive, so I won’t.

I actually never made it as far as the tondeuse auto portée because my access was blocked by an old hot water tank with a coil of copper pipe poking out of the top. My suspicions were quickly confirmed by the rows of bottles under an adjacent tarp. Seems my geriatric neighbour makes her own booze. Who knew? Well apparently not the gendarmerie. Perhaps in a bid to secure my silence I woke up this morning to several bottles of something disturbingly clear on the back doorstep. It smelled like drain cleaner. Hell it could be drain cleaner for all I know… but I’m always game for a laugh so when she came around at lunch time I shared a glass with her. 

An hour later I still can’t feel my lower jaw which is totally numb…and I have a splitting headache. Instead of the planned post you’ll have to make do with a series of loosely connected photos and some brief captions. Soz. Had a piccy of us raising a glass together but it’s on my phone and I’m buggered if I can port it across to my iPad. Not in this state anyway. 

Oh look it appeared anyway!

Cheers. 

Temu scatter terrain for 28mm urban VBCW battles. Hat tip to Keith for the heads up on this one.

Part of my birthday haul. Some lovely urban / factory type buildings for VBCW

Yet more urban gaming stuff from Sarissa 

How the hell did that get in here? Me getting my perm done. Confucius he say never post under the affluence of inkerhol.

This shouldn’t be here either. lol. Saw this 1948 Sonora 302 when I was getting my perm done. Decided to collect old French radios. Like you do. Ain’t she a beauty! This piccy is off the interweb - cos I was trying to identify it.

Ahh….back on track. 2 sections of VBCW anti fascists primed and ready for painting

Two HYW command stands - part finished. There’s another three knights to go on each of them to fill in the gaps.

Right, I think that’ll have to do me hearties. I’m going for a lie down. 

Toodleooh.