Time for a parade - Bravance

 By way of an experiment, I'm playing around with updating the blog via PC rather than tablet.

Partly this is so I can use the camera on a phone which gives much higher quality images. I was conscious that Bravance as the first of the SK armies I painted and finished had rather indifferent photos. As the pioneer I'm seeing if I can upload the better quality photos on to the blog and give a long overdue parade to Bravance....

First King Leonardo

 

Son and heir, Prinz Louis

Army/Wing Commanders L to R: Landgraf von Bernsdorf, Markgraf von Traben and the Seneschal Chevlier de Buchheim

Corps commanders L to R: Von Eitelsbach,  Graf Von Wernhe, Freiherr von Wernhe

Division / Column commanders

The army

Guard cavalry

Line cavalry

East Bravance Infantry

West Bravance Infantry

Combined standing Grenadiers

Artillery

Emigre Infantry

Bravancian Freikorps Cavalry

Bravancian Freikorps Infantry

T'Other Partizan 2023

Just back from my second show of the year, the Other Partizan.

It was very busy but had tailed off by the time I'd had enough around 2.30. Failed to meet up with anyone from the virtual wargames club or David from Sussex (I did ask someone who looked very like him from his pictures but his response was "oh no absolutely not..." as he rushed away from Col Bills and the strange man who had accosted him, so apologies to David and the man who looks very like him.......☺)

I did speak to Chris Kemp of NQM fame (https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/ and Martin Rapier (https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/) and had a brief chat with Ken the Yarkshire gamer who helpfully was wearing a shirt identifying himself (http://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/). I also said "hello" to Aly Morrison (https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/) who said I should when I indicated in comments I had failed to do so at Britcon. Aly and I were following each other taking pictures of games and at one stage a game had Aly, me and Henry Hyde all trying to get a photo.

So (unusually for me) here are the photos I took before juggling tablet and iPhone (don't ask it's a long story) became too much and I gave up.

I think this was the Iron Brigade Dragon Rampant Winter is here

Boondock Sayntes Laslot 1785 Mughal India and de Boigne

Old Pikey's Operation Resolve 20mm Cold War

League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers ? Setting the East ablaze Back of Beyond

The Bunker? Retreat to Allepo? WW1

Chesterfield Old Boys Western Desert

Nick Hindley Giant Risk

Like a Stonewall? Battle Graus Spanish Reconcista?

League Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists Garibaldi in Sicily Biscotti Wars

Newark Irregulars ECW Battle Gainsborough

Eclectic loot - not including some Ironclad log scenery.

Impressions - busy, very, very noisy. Only Derby at Donnington rivaled the assault on the ears! Could easily have spent more and would not have been that upset if I had not gone at all - my back hurt, the noise was hurting my ears and there were too many people! Yes I have become a grumpy old man!

The Games were very nice to look at and confirm my theory that these days have to have large eye-catching buildings, boats, castles, trains on sculpted terrain. The problem is, the more "normal" games don't get a look in.......and the figures are almost secondary. There was an ECW game I didn't photograph that had a town and a castle under siege and may have had a boat as well! None of these resemble what I have ever encountered at a club or game played at friends or mine. Unless you have some sort of dedicated wargames room, probably not that practical either for storage or unless you play games set in the same theatre.

While personally I think it's a bit of a parallel hobby (wargames "showcasing"?) and more akin to model railway layouts, I think the real pity is you become jaded very quickly; there were many games I passed by as (such as the Newark Irregulars) which just had figures with perhaps some buildings on the edge (like a real battle) as they were not as eye-catching as those with a centrepiece dominating the eye. While some appeared to be played, I got the impression this was secondary.

Before the mobs appear with flaming torches, I think the modelling is superb and must have taken hours, the effort to put the game on and cart it around shows enormous. They were spectacular and will feature in the wargames mags. Credit to these people and all the preceding should be applauded and celebrated. But.....

You will need to argue long and hard to convince me this represents wargaming. It represents what you can do, but not what most of us do. Most people's efforts are on the figures, terrain comes way down the list for most, certainly after figures and rules. I think it represents a minority in wargaming that no doubt some lucky individuals experience, but not us mere mortals with feet of clay......

Expedition to lead mountain......

In an email conversation and comments on this blog, I mentioned to Andy McMaster of "Another Slight Diversion" blog https://blog.belisarius.org.uk/ that I thought I had some RSM Hanovarians "somewhere" .

As I spent Saturday cleaning up officers, drummers and ensigns for the British line, as well as repairing 8 who had lost bayonets while listening to the last disc in the audio book of Last of the Mohicans, I thought I should perhaps try to find them......

The reason was I wasn't sure whether they were Hanovarians......there was an inkling they may be British, in which case I needed to find them to work out if there were enough officers.

Now expeditions to my particular "lead mountain" are not to be undertaken lightly , not I hasten to add due to the risk of wild animals or tropical diseases or even cannibals or lack of oxygen, rather it can be a most frustrating experience.......

The "garage" (which it's clear was never intended to be used as one) is crammed full of junk, not all of it mine. Most of the older toys are under what I hoped one day would be a wargames table again. So I roughly knew where the SYW box was. However, I remembered that when purchased many moons ago for a bargain price from a certain online auction site, they had originally resided under the other end of the table, but I was certain I had reorganised them (the foam they came in being visible).

Torch in hand I delved under the table where I thought they may be after moving some boxes and found a box which I thought was mostly Russians and Prussians. Extracting it, I looked inside and there were the RSM figures!

Instead of Hanovarians, I found 36 British including command, 28 Prussian grenadiers and various command, plus some generals with horses and around 3 artillery limbers plus guns and gunners! A rich haul! What is more, digging around in the main SYW box I found more officers and another French line unit (which I had completely forgotten about) as well as what looks like a Soubise conversion!

I had bought some surplus RSM bits from Andy, so with my discoveries I have more than enough for British as well as expending the French and can use up various command figures for other armies.

It's amazing what you can find.......this is despite having a reasonable mental inventory of what miniatures I have lurking in the garage!