Start of the new terrain

Just to let you know that I'm going off on my holiday soon so there will be very few posts in August.
And, just to show you how 'French' I have become, I am taking the whole month off. Actually, the French, bless them, are beginning to work in August and it is becoming increasingly rare to find a business that closes for the whole month.

We have been tiring of the terrain as well. Countless photographs of boring green and the same backdrop! So here is the first of the 4' x 2' new tiles and there will be a total of nine by the time I have finished. Not only are the woods all moveable but that backdrop can also be moved to any part as well. When I return I will bring some new titbits - teddy-bear fur, new trees and possibly a new backdrop. Oh, and new buildings.

So meanwhile, see three squadrons of the 40mm SYW Prussian Hussars Regiment 6 - the Fleischhackers. There will be one more post in a few days time.

New table and backdrop

I've finally sorted out my basement and my wargames table. It is smaller than I've had before but I'm satisfied as it's about as big as I can fit into the space - 15' x 6'.
I've bought a splendid backdrop from Dave Burgess at www.backdropjunction.com. This particular one came in three parts (each 17" x 4') so all three strung together cover 12' of the 15' of the table.
It was self-adhesive so I had a few tricky minutes getting the three parts to join up correctly but I hope you agree it looks great. Plus I can slide it along as it is trapped between the table edging and the terrain squares.
Note the rather outsized ACW 12pdr Napoleon - it was made by my father who enjoyed assembling kits like this.
Lastly, I finally got to lay out my collection of figures properly too, with, you will note, extra shelves for expansion!

New Farm and Légion Britannique 1st Btn

This is the latest farm - larger than the previous one, with two buildings, apple barrels, fences and water trough, all from Hovels.

Lurking in the farm is the Légion Britannique 1st Btn, with light blue coats and buff facings. I've used the Army painter on these fellows to give them a campaign look as befitting their busy role. You might call them the scum of the earth as they are made up, largely, of deserters and they enjoy a good pillage. The bottom picture shows an unusual Foundry vignette of a wounded officer being dragged by a drummer ( the drummer's uniform for this unit is unknown so I have speculated) whilst being guarded by a fierce looking sergeant with bunderbuss.

First Farm-Hasenpfeffer Bauernhof

I’ve finished the first of a number of farms, villages and towns I plan to make for my SYW/WAS armies to fight over. They are card buildings and the idea is to make up as good terrain as I can to compliment the fact that I have been painting figures for this project for over two years now.
Like all first attempts, there are errors – most notably, I don’t think the fence is high enough and, although I can live with this, the next ones will have chunkier circumscription!
I’ve put the 1st battalion of the Brunswick Regiment Mansberg in to garrison the place.
The second picture shows the vegetable plot! Yes, I know, I can hear you say that I’m losing the plot here, but, hey, anybody who knows me, knows that I am a fanatic for those realistic touches. I was thinking of having laundry out to dry and the good farmer’s wife out weeding but, first, I decided she would go indoors if there was a likelihood of a battle raging around her house and, secondly, there are no weeds in her garden as I did not put any there.
Back in the real world, I’m currently painting a couple of Hessian guard battalions and they should be up by the weekend.

PS I forgot to ask any German speakers to kindly give me a name for this farm and, if possible, a translation of what it means. Everywhere has a name!

The suggestion, kindly received from one of my readers (thanks Stokes) is
Hasenpfeffer Bauernhof or Rabbit Stew Farm.

More pictures and would someone get me another Bloody Mary

I said I'd grab a few minutes to post these pictures and, as I write, the turkey is in the oven (great smells are wafting in my direction) and my Bloody Mary needs refilling but here goes:

Top picture: Red or 1st Division on a hill. Two British brigades in the foreground with a 6pdr battery in between. In the rear, two battalions of the Hanoverian guards.

2nd picture: 2nd Division. Hanoverian brigade in the left foreground and Brunswick brigade on the right. Held in the rear is the Hessian Brigade.

3rd picture. British cavalry brigade looking very lonely. The project for February and March is to add two more cavalry brigades.

4th and 5th pictures: the town inhabited only by vagrants as all 'sensible' people have left fearing the effects of war on their neighbourhoods!

6th picture: the line of infantry stretching into the distance.

7th picture: The Hessian brigade in the foreground, the Brunswickers in the background, and the C-in-C all in place close to the Fat Chicken Inn.

8th picture: The Red (or 1st) Division from the rear.

Have a great holiday and pass the port!

Terrain etc

The top picture shows a special I made from three hexes glued together - a farm complex with outbuildings and fruit orchard. All buildings from Hovels.

The 2nd, 4th and 5th pictures show another one of my specials - three hexes glued together with card buildings, streets, back gardens etc. This 'town' covers a small footprint and is strictly speaking about 20mm scale but I think it looks great although the hexes have warped a bit and I will need to correct this. All the buildings come from a terrific German company (http://www.schreiber-bogen.de/) and I'd like to do my bit to encourage German exports by recommending them highly.

The third picture is taken from near the town and looks down the length of the table.
Its quite difficult to see contours of hills but they are all there. I pin all hills in place to stop them moving and all my trees (mostly from Heki) have pins in their bases as well. Thats why it takes about 5 hours to set up all the terrain.

I've taken some more pictures will soldiers 'en-place' and I'll post them over the next couple of days.

The new table.........

The top picture is a taster of the finished result. There will be more pictures soon.

I've been without a wargames table for 5 years now and you can perhaps
imagine my pleasure at building a new one. All my hex terrain, trees, buildings and other bits have sat in cardboard boxes all that time and, so far, having opening over twenty boxes, nothing is irretrievably damaged.

The next three pictures show the table under construction using 18 Ikea legs (cheap and just the job). Thanks guys for your help. The bottom two pictures show the edging being put on the table top - a not uncomplicated procedure! Although this table is large (24' x 7') its about two thirds of the size of the two tables I had in Normandie so I have lots of spare hexes. By the way, all the terrain is 25mm. The attic of my house is 140 square metres in size so this table sort of 'sits in a corner'.

Over the next few days (Christmas festivities allowing) I'll post some pictures of the first layout and put some of the Pragmatic/SYW Allied forces in place.

Happy Holidays.