Are we the baddies? A late ramble about Midwinter Minis "The big problem with Historical Wargames" a bit of a rant.

Not sure if you caught this, but a while ago (many months in fact) Midwinter Minis YouTube channel posted a piece on the problem they perceived with historical gaming and why it was less popular than Warhammer.

The video is here just in case you want to watch it. Midwinter  

It started quite a lot of responses - what some have described as a "circle jerk". Cynically I suspect the original video was actually just an attempt to generate clicks, I'm pretty sure that has succeeded , and I'm just encouraging that I suppose. Ah well.    

What they say in case you can't be bothered to watch it (WARNING - the guy in particular is a bit annoying - he freely admits he didn't know where to put the decals on his Pz IV, so rather than, you know, looking at the box art or spending 30 seconds on Google he just stuck them where he thought they would look good) where was I ? Oh yes what they say, is, are historical wargames, particularly Bolt Action,  less popular than Sci Fi or Fantasy because someone has to play the Nazis? Though he went to some length to say he wasn't suggesting it, the tone and delivery, at least to me, suggest that he thought historical players in some way were associating with the armies they collected and played. He actually said "weird", "yukki" or "strange". He does phrase this as a question, but the message was pretty clearly there, play as Nazis, you're a (closet or otherwise) Nazi. 

They totally blow any credibility by advertising a game (World of Warships) where you err, you know, can play as the Kriegsmarine - you know, the Nazis, and he claims to only advertise games he actually plays so.... but to be honest the irony was initially lost on me as I was still fuming over the decal thing...........

But.   

I do sometimes wonder. There's a guy who gets in the pub who is part of a re-enactment group that does Gross Deutschland . For the uninitiated this is a very prominent and famous German Army Division from WW2. Army not SS btw - more on that later. I couldn't get why anyone would want to re-enact a German unit so I asked, and his response was that they were interested in living history and someone had to be the Germans for it to work so..... and I get that. He seems a thoroughly nice chap and well informed, and in no way even slightly Nazi. Even so, it felt a bit strange (and possibly weird and yucky??). How is this different to playing as the Nazi's in our games? 

I do play as the Nazis btw. I have Bolt Action \ Chain of Command forces for 1940, Afrika Korps and Eastern Front. I have an embarrassingly large collection of Luftwaffe aircraft for Blood Red Skies too. Hand on heart - err ok just in case that gives the wrong message hands in pockets, I don't associate my gaming pieces with Nazi ideology. I'm also not deluding myself by pretending that those formations are somehow any less Nazi. That's a post war fig leaf to excuse the "rehabilitation" of West Germany. Let's be clear, the German forces of WW2 were part of the Nazi state. This is particularly true of the Luftwaffe which was ideologically steeped in Nazi culture and second only to the SS in this regard. I know there is a trend to excuse individuals, particularly people like Galland as not really being a Nazi, but you don't climb the ladder to high command in the Luftwaffe without a Party Card if you see what I mean? 

Where do you draw the line, or should you draw the line at all? Is it ok when there has been a reasonable passage of time or what? I have to admit I have switched allegiance in my ACW game preferences from Confederate to Union, mostly because, to put it simply, the Confederates WERE the bad guys. Then again, as my "Gott Mitt Uns" friend from the pub said, "someone has to be the baddies". 

What do folks think?

Sharp Practice Napoleonic French

Not the best picture but here we go 

Not sure how this has happened but I've followed up the Austrians by buying a small French Napoleonic force. This does make some sense I think as it gives me an opponent for the Austrians but also for my Royal Navy Landing Party - whenever that gets done.

So the core force is a unit of a dozen Voltigeurs and two units of sixteen line infantry. I'll chuck in an artillery piece and some Dragoons. I'm going all Perry's again except this time I'm going for a Victrix gun and crew to keep everything plastic.

There's no particular completion date on these thankfully, but hopefully by the summer (not saying which!)

Once theyre done I'm hoping to go back to BRS and finish those damned Condors

Cheers

Austrian Update - Core force done !

So following a spurt of painting I can declare the Austrian core force done!

The main force is two units of "German" Line Infantry as below, including their Officers and NCOs

Plus their "Third Rank" deployed as Skirmishers

That completes the "core" force.

I've also painted some supports - a gun and a group of Jagers will suffice for now and I can fill any holes from the generic support list. Looking forward if I want to expand I have some cavalry and a group of Grenadiers to do, but they can wait til I try the rest out.

It's been a bit of a grind, but not a terrible one. I felt I was losing my mojo with a dozen or so Line infantry to do, but then I got my second wind and got through the last couple of batches pretty quickly.

The artillery were no problem but for some reason I really struggled with the Jagers, to the point where I chucked the towel on and declared them "good enough". 

Not certain if I need a mounted officer or not? Will probably add one later. I'm also short of a Deployment Point but looking at them in the cabinet they are missing a Colour Party so I think I will paint one up just to make everything look "right" and also use as a Deployment Point.

Not too shabby for eight weeks on and off.

So now looking for an opponent to do the traditional hammering on their first trip to the table.

For those interested, particularly as a comparison to GW models and a good reason to look into historicals, this lot, 71 figures and a gun, cost about £70 and theres plenty left if I want to expand.  

 

Three is a crowd

This photo sums up my current problem. 

On the left are some Austrian Jagers and artillery. My Napoleonic Austrian force for Sharp Practice is coming along nicely. I'm half way through the core force but need to paint another 20 or so line infantry and some Leaders. I seem to have run into the sand on that one, partly because......

In the centre are some AWI Continental Light Dragoons - again for Sharp Practice. These are not part of any core force - in fact the whole project is almost wrapped up practically - just nine cavalrymen and a Deployment Point and I will have just about everything I need or even want. Having these guys around seems to be distracting me from the Austrians because theyre so close to getting the army "done". Should I just bite the bullet and get on with them, get them finished and out of the way?

And on the right are some Napoleonic Royal Navy and Marine Officers - again Sharp Practice. As I've mentioned before Andy Parkes is doing most of the heavy lifting on this one, leaving me with just some touching up, basing, and the Leaders to paint. The bulk of the landing party is now done - I'll post some pics later, I'm just waiting on the Marines. I've maybe eight figures and a Deployment point to paint. I do think I will enjoy these as theyre all nice dynamic poses as befits our Hearts of Oaks but again they're distracting me from the Austrians.

Dave Lambert has organised a Sharp Practice day at Pendraken Miniatures next month (the gaming room there is great btw) and I've committed to having the Austrians ready for that. It should not be a problem, at least as far as the core force goes, as long as I do not get too distracted.

So basically I need to come up with a "Cunning Plan". Do I park the Navy and AWI and grind the Austrians, or do I get the others "out of the way" first, with the endorphin buzz associated with getting a project done?

answers in the comments please!   

Sharp Practice Napoleonic Naval Landing Party - Progress report

It's been a while but here we go.

Andy Parkes has agreed to paint the Marines (Cheers!) and I'm working on getting the sailors etc based up.

I've got the bases textured and painted, I'm not sure if I'm going to use tufts or flock \ static grass but they will need something.

Midshipman Frederickson

The landing party

Speaking of bases I have decided to rebase the naval gun party to match the rest of the force.

That leaves a need for some Leaders painting up, and a deployment point or two and then I think I can call them done - at least until the Marines arrive. I still need to get the movement trays sorted out - order has gone in to Warbases, and some 3mm magnets. 

So some progress :-)

Dawns and Departures AWI Campaign

The redoubtable Andrew Parkes has volunteered to umpire a Sharp Practice campaign using the Dawns and Departures campaign rules. This is very welcome. Coincidentally the equally redoubtable David Lambert had organised a Sharp Practice day at Pendraken Miniatures on the outskirts of Middlesbrough, so it seemed a good idea to combine the two and get some campaign turns in 

Three (I think) days in and the Tyrannical British have attacked the brave freedom loving Americans at Hymer's Farm. There was a small force of Continentals there, augmented on the day by some irregular skirmishers. 

Initially the Continentals, with support from locals harassing from a nearby orchard caused some casualties to the British Light Infantry that were covering the main advance.

The Yankees made the Redcoats fight hard for the farm, but were eventually forced to withdraw by overwhelming numbers back along the road, leaving the farm to the depravations of the Brits. 

A good little fight and got us back into the rules. Thanks to Andy for umpiring, David for organising, and Paul for opposition. 

A theoretical two thirds.............followed by a very real and nice three and a half

So today I finished (almost) the group of "third Rank" skirmishers. That means, if you squint, I've completed two of the three units in my Sharp Practice Austro-Hungarians. The catch is the final third is another big unit of fusiliers, 24 foot plus two officers.

Here are the skirmishers - as you can see they still need the basing doing but I think I'll do the whole force at once to keep some visual homogeneity. 

This doesn't mean the project is getting to an end. Once the core force is complete I'll need another 16 points of supports to use depending on scenarios. "Luckily" the core force is about 64 points, meaning I'll normally not need much extra if facing the French forces which tend to be quite low on base force points. I figure a unit of artillery and maybe some Jager is 14 of those 16 points, leaving a few spare for the odd or scenario supports.

As an aside I had three and a half pints of Elland 1872 Porter, Champion Beer of Britain five times and one of the nicest \ strongest beers I've had in a long time. Sadly the brewery closed it's doors this month so that will most likely be the last I ever get. Sad really.

Before the beer hit me I did manage to stick together the last of the fusiliers so I will hopefully not have too many halts once the production line restarts.

I stuck together 24 Fusiliers (only 16 in this pic) plus a drummer (Musician), NCO , Colour bearer and Pioneer. They will all come in useful as support options.

Tomorrow I'm attending a Sharp Practice day at Pendraken Miniatures, hopefully my Rebellious Colonists will throw off the oppressive yolk of Perfidious Albion! 

Cheers