This Blog is Taking a Break While We Move, But...

La Famille Rosbif Have New Digs!

Chateau de Rosbif
I'll be using one of the turrets as my wargames room!

The Rosbif household is on the move! I've been spending a lot of my weekends over the last month and a bit house-hunting in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. After a lot of angst and heartache, we've finally bought a house after making an offer on one that was due for auction. Luckily the vendors were keen to sell and we came to an agreement before the auction date. While the picture above is a little exaggerated, we feel that it's not too far from the truth. After all, an Englishman's home is his Castle!

I've still been able to keep my hand in with my Neapolitan project in the meantime. This is the 1/1° Reggimento. They've been on the workbench for a while and had the finishing touches applied last weekend.

Up Guards, and At 'Em

Lesson 1: Don't f*&k with the Household Guard

Lesson 2: Don't forget Lesson 1.

Waterloo 200th Anniversary

I didn't know it was 200 years old!

I thought it was the Eurovision winner for 1974. Maybe it's a traditional folksong that ABBA re-intepreted. Who knows?

Fnar!

But seriously, folks, I just found out today that there was an Australian on the Duke of Wellington's staff at the Great Battle. How about that?

Holiday Update

Here's another Waterloo teaser!

Sorry for leaving you on a cliff-hanger with my Waterloo appetiser! I've been a bit lax in following up as we've just been on a week's break up in Yackandandah. 

"Yackin'-where?" I here you ask. Well, it's just to the west of Tangambalanga, south of Baranduda and north of Mt.Tawonga! Actually, it's up in the North-East of Victoria in the foothills of the Victorian Alps, in the old Ovens Valley goldfields. Very picture-skew (or picturesque) and relaxing with the rolling hills, vineyards and orchards all around and so many historical gold-rush townships and buildings (mid-19th C = historical in Australia!) to visit.

Anyway, back to Waterloo 2015; I shall write up a proper batrep with a LOT more pictures and description, but let me share with you an anecdote and a couple of pictures which really summed up my weekend.

Amongst my command were the infamous Cumberland Hussars, a Hanoverian cavalry unit comprising of wealthy dandies who really felt that this war business cut into their time better spent chatting up the ladies. In the real battle they were kept in the rear, but bottled it once the French started lobbing artillery projectiles over the Mont St. Jean ridge, and high-tailed it to Brussels and beyond screaming "The French are coming!". 

In our game they had special rules. To whit, if they were given an order a roll of the d10 determined their action; on an even roll they obeyed, an odd they stood still and on a 0 they fled screaming for the rear. After the Duke waved his hat for the general advance, I tempted fate by ordering them forward along with all the other cavalry. With baited breath, I rolled the die...

...and this was the result

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Run away!!!!!"

So you can see that this was not my finest hour and that as an indication of my success, it was lucky that the Anglo-Allies were as successful as they were. Indeed, you could say they succeeded in spite of me!

My Analogue Hobbies Challenge progress has suffered, too. My last entry was a couple of weeks ago and I still haven't posted them on my blog! So here they are; The Württemberg Jäger-Regiment zu Pferd Nr. 3 Herzog Louis, using my favoured 1/72nd HaT figures, and a 28mm Gripping Beast Welsh Warlord from my Christmas haul of a 4 point Welsh Warband for SAGA.

The cavalry officer has a plume made from tissue paper and white glue, just to make him a little more obvious from the other ranks.

I'm not overly happy with the results after varnishing the Welsh Warlord. The varnish is getting a little thick and I feel I ruined the cape, even though I tried to salvage it with a bit of dry brushing. Still, not the result I was hoping for.

I'm happy with the free hand shield, though. Sticking with his Romanesque leather muscled cuirass, officer's belt and Spangenhelm, I gave him a Roman style Christian motif for the shield. Also, as the Welsh warlord is allowed thrown missile weapons, I gave him a javelin and a hand axe. The pose is a curious one, but I felt he was winding up to throw his javelin under-arm like a plumbata. He had no sword or scabbard, so I glued on a spare plastic one from my Anglo-Saxons.

The Great Martian War 1913-1917

How come we weren't taught this at school? It's a conspiracy, I tells ya!

These are a Few of My Favourite Things...

This is a picture La Petite Rosbif #1 made for me for my recent birthday using her mad photoshop skills. Ain't it purty? Isn't she clever?

You can see HMS Brangelina about to be cast on a lee shore attacked by the giant purple lightning shooting sea-monster (otherwise known as the family cat) while Daryl Dixon, from The Walking Dead, negotiates the rocky shore on Merle's chopper, and the TARDIS buzzes overhead.

Poor mog looks disgruntled rather than angry!

Man Flu Alert!

I'm dying!

I'm manfully trying to survive a terrible affliction, but in a family where I am the only one with the XY chromosome combination, I can tell you it's not easy!

Forget ebola, cancer or any of those other headline-grabbing disesases which the WHO, CDC, CSIRO and all those other alphabet soups are throwing money at. What about that real and present danger to mankind (and yes, I mean MAN-kind)? It's real; there's even a website for gorrsake!

The problem with having sick days is that it's wasted being sick! I don't have the ability to concentrate on painting and I'm only barely able to sit here typing. Shortly, I'll have exhausted myself and have to crawl back to bed and moan about how I'm dying to a cruel, heartless, indifferent world.

I have done a bit of painting over the last week, so with my last dying breath I'll upload some photos of my Württembergers. It may very well be the last you'll hear from me..... Koff, sniff, splutter...HAAA-Choooooooo!!

Soldiers' Inventories

Coldstream Guardsman's equipment as carried at Waterloo, 1815 (http://thomatkinson.com/)

I found this via Slate Magazine. It's a series of photographs by the photographer Thom Atkinson of soldiers' equipent from 1066 to 2014. His website is http://thomatkinson.com/ and the pictures can be seen by clicking the last link in the right hand column.

The website is very sparse on commentary beyond the photo labels. There's more comment from this slideshow from the Telegraph, including annotation of every item in the pictures.

Fascinating stuff!

Vale Rik Mayall

I know it's last week's news, but I thought it appropriate to mention here the passing of comedy great Rik Mayall, may he rest in peace, the utter, utter, utter bastard! WOOF!

Editor's note: I have no shares in Bombardier, or have even tasted it! These ads just feature one of my favourite comedians in Napoleonic get-up. Bang on!

My Introduction to SAGA!

I bet you didn't think you'd see this on my blog! :)

I had my SAGA cherry popped last weekend after the Waterloo 2015 planning committee finished our initial meeting at the Croydon venue last Saturday (I put my hand up to be Wellington. What was I thinking?!). Darren suggested a game of SAGA after the meeting. He has only a 4 point Viking army, so Pete brought along his 15mm Dark Ages troops. We were going to use a stand of them as equivalent to a single 28mm figure, instead of the 28mm figures, but it was looking more and more complicated. Leith happened to be passing and Darren's 28mm Gripping Beast figures caught his eye. When he realised we didn't have enough 28mm figures he generously offered to lend us his. Well, we couldn't take his figures without inviting him to play, so we duly set up a 4 points a side Vikings vs Anglo-Danes game. Darren and Pete were the Vikings and Leith and I were Anglo-Dane.

There was no scenario, just a up and at 'em fight to get to know the rules, which are simple enough once you get a grip on the mechanics. I'm not sure I'd call them historically accurate, more a glorified rock, paper, scissors with dice, but whatever; I had a blast!

I ended up with my whole command completely wiped out, except for my warlord. I took a fair few of Pete's Vikings with me, but the single warlord accounted for ALL the rest of Pete's command! He was a one man killing machine! He must have been a little pooped after all that killing, because he couldn't lay a finger on Pete's last figure, which allowed the Vikings that extra dice, dammit! My warlord was chasing Pete's last Viking around like a scene from Benny Hill (cue saxophone theme).

Darren and Leith had hardly come to blows before Pete and I had virtually wiped each other out. They contacted and similarly entered into a particularly bloody affray with Leith coming off decidedly second best, leaving Darren and Pete the victors.

It was a really fun game with simple, easy to learn rules. Pete was worried he was going to have a hernia at one stage we were laughing so much! Who needs a warband when you've got a one-man killing machine for a warlord! RAAAAAHHHH!

I enjoyed myself so much, I'm going to build my own Anglo-Saxon force using Gripping Beast 28mm plastic figures (yes, you read right; 28mm figures!)

My command; closest to furthest - levy archers, warriors, huscarls

Some of Darren's lovely Gripping Beast Vikings

And another lot

Pete took command of Darren's figures including the Wolfkin-clad berserkers and mail-clad fyrd

Leith's Huscarl's (including one dropping his trousers!) and warriors

Another warrior band

Another view of Leiths Huscarl band

Pete took the initiative and took a double move to get stuck into my levy before they started launching arrow volleys. Not a good start for the Anglo-Danes!

Half the levy are destroyed in first contact! The rest follow soon after.

My warriors, accompanied by the warlord, exact revenge on the Vikings...

...and destroy the lot! They took a few casualties in the process, while the berserkers loom in the background!

In the centre, the two warrior bands clash, with the Anglo-Danes virtually destroyed!

Next turn, they are!

The berserkers attack like a swarm of buzz-saw armed kamikazes!

The warlord is left as sole survivor of the combat!

The Viking warriors sense an easy kill and gang up on the warlord.

Bad mistake! He kills 2 Vikings and forces them back...

...and then goes for the throat in the next turn!

RAAAAAHHH!

Only one left! He runs...

...but the warlord chases...

...and misses!

The chase is on! Cue Benny Hill:

On the other side Darren's fyrd attack Leith's warriors. In a meat-grinder, Leith survives...

...but Darren brings up reinforcements accompanied by the warlord!

The Anglo-Danes are doomed!

Leith's HUscarls then get whacked by Darren's remaining group of warriors; Game over!