A new project for 2015...

Which will be the Invasion of Japan!

After visiting Hakodate on Hokaido (the home of the five pointed 'Vauban' fort, Goryokaku) I've had a bubbling in the back of my mind to do some Edo period games, this has now developed into the idea of a full blown invasion of Japan by the British.

With the Perrys recent BIF releases and the ever (slowly) expanding range from Bac Ninh figures it would seem daft not to explore this rather interesting period in history.

Just so we are clear, the British never really invaded Japan with any great force, just a few minor actions here and there so why not expand this into something a little more exciting :-)

I only have a few figures painted and a nearly complete shop for it at the moment but I am drawing up the British consolate in Hakodate and have plans for steamships, part of Goryokaku and various other period specific terrain items.

Having plenty of Japanese terrain helps but something from the time is certainly in need of building (more on which later).

For now I'll leave you with some pictures of the figures that are painted so far and the wip of the shop

.

 ttfn

Attack on Kahano

Time for a battle report :-)

I've got oodles of Japanese terrain but I very rarely get to play on it. This changed the other week (some of you might have seen this on the LAF but there's no harm in a second outing ).

The small village of Kahano lays peacefully near the coast on the Kanto plain, unaware that a small raiding party of Wako and Ronin are on their way to steal and pillage.

The Murakami Wako start to make their way across the river

But the Ronin cross by the bridge and seem to be unaware that a small Sanada force is coming down the main street to see them off

More units of Sanada troops enter the village

The Murakami cross the river in force and dramtically see of a small unit of Sanada teppo

Meanwhile, the Ronin cross the bridge into the village proper and are met by the main Sanada unit, fierce fighting ensues in the narrow street

The Ronin are seen off and chased out of the village, loosing many men as they go

Seeing the threat from the unscathed Murakami, the victorious Sanada unit moves from the bridge to confront them

But they are beaten and the victorious Murakami have the village... I felt the images from the destruction of the village were too distressing for the gentle folk reading this  so I'll  leave it to your imagination...


Actually, there weren't any photos from the end as I forgot to take any ;-)

Hopefully more in the coming months.

ttfn

Early WWI trenches

A long time ago I got asked by a very good friend to make him some early WWI trenches. In the early stages of the war the massive building works that people recognise weren't really in effect yet and what was done instead were a series of reinforced lines using whatever terrain as to hand along with barricades and strong points.

Needless to say they look completely different to the normal trenches we consider to be an integral part of WWI but they were there nonetheless.

No making of pictures as these were done before I started to do that in earnest but hopefully the completed pictures will make up for it.

ttfn

A bit of a mix

For today's little diversion I've got a small selection of things found in my photos folder and continuing projects that will hopefully see more of the light of day.

First off are a couple of the Victorian terrace buildings that I do together with a backyard and pavements. My goal in 2015 is to promote thee buildings and get more types and variations done along with various additions that can be used in a Victorian or Georgian setting. This is still a it of a wip but some of you might have seen it at last years Salute and it will be there this year (yes, I am trading there, more on which in a later post) but in a complete state.

The next one is a little Bronze age hut I made for a chap on the LAF. Fairly simple in it's construction and most of the time spent was in the painting, trying to get as many shades as possible. The roof is the dreaded teddy bear fur that's had a lot of work on it to try and make it look not like teddy bear fur... Almost got it...

This building made an appearance on my Salute 2014 VSF table and will be there again this year but with a complete walled garden. It's all acrylic apart from the rof which is a styrene pantile sheet.There were many calls for this to be made into a kit, which I might still do but it needs some thinking as I made it on the fly about two weeks before Salute :-/

And lastly we have some Georgian terraces that will make it into the catalogue once I have finished designing the roof. Out little gaming group have been talking about some Gothic horror gaming in ol London and these, along with the Victorian buildings would be most suitable.

An idea for a gaming table with the front lightwells including has been thought about along with some basement action for all those creepy ne'er do well to hide in...

Hope to have more on the Victorian/Gerogian buildings in the coming weeks and months so watch this space :-)

ttfn