6mm Pony Wars - Shock and Casualty Markers

Just a quick update on the Pony Wars Project.

I manged to complete several shock and casualty markers over the past few days as I shall be fielding units on a single base, I wanted to ensure the table was not cluttered up with a number of loose dice. So these bases will double up as a way to record any killed or shock for the casualties.

With 3 dice frames to stand it should be enough for most games, the dead figures are from Baccus's ACW range with a couple of left over 7th Cavalry to add a little variety to each stand.

To my eye they look really good on mass, even though the pic's don't really do justice to the individual castings.

The prep for the main body of cavalry is almost complete, I am trying not to think about them as 80 individual cavalry figures more the fact that once complete I will in one cycle have completed 8 units and 4 big men, more than enough for most outings. But like most gamers already have a list of 'extras' before they have even landed on the table.

Meanwhile the holiday read lands. This is sure to put a dent in the painting time.

Until next time.......

6mm Pony Wars - First steps.

As it looks like we are finally coming out of Lockdown and the thought of face to face gaming draws ever closer, it gave me the impetus to kick start the Pony Wars Project.

My vision for the project and the choice of 6mm was to provide those sweeping plains as the cavalry struggle to pin the Indians and force them into battle but are ever conscious of the supports being left exposed to war parties.

My initial thoughts were to adapt Sharp Practice but base the figures in groups or sections, with a way to record shock and causalities. However I have one eye on the forthcoming Pony Wars Rules, resurrected from the 1980's.

The beauty of 6mm is you get so much bang for your buck.

First up the Indian Mounted Warbands, based in groups of 10 and their foot variants in groups of 6. Within Sharp Practice I am thinking about applying the Irregular Cavalry quality class, but that may change in play testing.

I envisage using the command base to double up as the shock and casualty markers and using the smaller Flames of War movement bases to make them easily recognisable on the table and minbits sabots to hold the dice.

The packs from Baccus contain enough to create 10 mounted groups and 12 foot groups, more than enough for a standard Sharp Practice game.

On to the US cavalry and enough to create 4 troops of cavalry from the initial single packs.

I wanted the Cavalry to have a long tail on the table top with ultimately wagons and wood cutting parties etc, which tie down the better armed troopers trying to cover too much ground.

The US cavalry will be in groups of 8 for the mounted sections, converting to 6 figures when dismounted. In the same way Big Men will be represented by an officer, guidon and bugler.

 

The difference for the US cavalry is I will have casualty bases to capture shock and kills.

Each troop will have on table an accompanying mule train, which I will be using to record low ammo and horse holders which will need to be protected.

I am not sure the right idea was to base them all in one go, the fumes from the super glue plays havoc with your eyesight after a while.... :-)

But good to get them out of the packs and on to the bases to see the size of the initial project.

I am hoping that it will be relatively easy to get them to the table top once the prep work is done with filler and sand, A few more 28's to finish first as I suspect the switch to their smaller cousins will take a few days to get my eye in on the paint table.

Dispatches from the front XI

It's been a couple of months since the last dispatches post.

Things seem to have slowed a little in recent weeks, hopefully this will change with the club re-opening albeit adopting social distancing measures, but it will be good to catch up with the guys about future projects and ideas for games to come....

After the recent commission for new terrain and the Wadi from Two Shed Fred, I thought I would carry on the theme with some new leader bases for Infamy Infamy and Sharp Practice.

Great service from Warbases, I asked them to create a single figure movement tray with space for a name and a dice slot to cover perhaps shock or wounds. A couple of e-mails chatting through the potential layout and a few days later the following arrive.

Really pleased with these and perfect for future games. The cut out block can be overlaid on to the base to represent figures unconscious or wounded or other similar in game markers.  

It would be a shame to not make use of the postal rates so I topped up the order with extra movement trays and shock templates, so now fully stocked up from Warbases and Minibits I just need to get paint on metal.

So coming soon more shock bases for the Egyptians for Infamy Infamy.

Having recently completed the Wargames, Solders and Strategy Great Wargaming  Survey, the discount voucher for Karwansaray prompted me to order a couple of extra's in the shape of Ancient Warfare Magazine. Each one is tailored towards a period or race. 

The magazines for the Hittites and Egyptians is full of interesting articles and plenty of eye candy to help keep the painting juices flowing.

Most of us wargamers are creatures of habit and today marks a significant change in my paint table layout... I have been using the same paint pots for around 20 years but have been restricted to batches of 10 to 12 figures. I have decided to switch to bottle tops which gives me more figures to paint at any one time.

However having been conditioned to paint in 10-12's doubling that to around 26 feels like a stretch to far, although it was pointed out to me by a good friend of mine that whilst it might be monotonous to paint 26 belts, spears, swords etc, etc. I would finish a regiment in one go rather than in three separate batches.

My question to the collective is how many is usual and how many is too many?

Staring at the mass of White in front of me it feels like I should be increasing in smaller numbers?

I guess the next couple of weeks will tell.

Meanwhile the planned Narnia campaign has been replaced by a switch to Middle Earth and an expansion of the Lord of the Rings games, I just hope my performance is better than the last game or the Orc's will be in Hobbiton before Christmas.

That's it for now. Those Hittites won't paint themselves...