A month or so ago my wife and I went shopping at the Metrocentre in Gateshead. I steered us into WH Smith which has a modest range of models from which I impulse bought a Revell 1/72nd Spitfire Vb. I bought a starter kit as I haven't got the proper paints.
I really enjoyed making it and painting it although there were some problems to deal with such as misaligned decals and my own mistakes. It was of course made as a wargames model with no internals and a painted canopy.
I enjoyed it so much that I bought an Airfix Focke Wulf for a good price on E-bay and built and painted it today using some of the paints from the Revell kit.
Here's the Spitfire, I built the clipped wing version.
And todays little project.
Another view of the Spit.
The spiral on the prop was done with very shaky hands but it's as good as I could ever manage.
A dogfight double.
Some of my older 1/72nd planes painted with blue canopies.
Bf 109 and a MiG 3.
Typhoon.
It's the old Airfix Typhoon kit.
And a Revell ex Hasegawa Mitchell bomber.
I got it very cheap several years ago.
I didn't realise that this version served in the Pacific till after I built it and I have no ground forces for that theatre. Ah well, someday maybe but it has on occasion strafed and bombed the Germans.
Not quite a dogfight double.
I might treat myself to another sometime...
Today I used Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames to play an English Civil War battle. I played Scenario 4 : Take the High Ground, and made some amendments to the rules.
I replaced the Swordsmen troop type with Artillery and made them less mobile with a move of three inches, I also gave them a range of 36 inches. I played on a four foot by four foot table with 28mm figures and amended the random army list tables to reflect the differences between the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. I only allowed Reiters in the Parliamentarian army and Cavalry ( cavaliers?) in the Royalist.
The Royalists have 15 turns to capture and hold the hill.
An overview of the board shows the Royalist advance and the Roundheads defending the hill with reinforcements on the way. (top right)
Fierce fighting round the hill. For clarity all the Royalist units are wearing blue.
Roundhead horse and Old Robins Foot give fire.
The Cavaliers charge home.
But fall back and receive more fire, the Parliamentarian commander is also steadying his men.
This Royalist foot unit runs out of ammunition denoted by the red counter.
As does the Royalist cannon. It's useless now.
The cavalry battle rages back and forth.
And the Royalists are at breaking point.
The Roundhead cannon runs out now.
And Lord Brookes foot are grimly holding on to the hill.
The Royalist foot charge the out of ammunition guns so I deemed that the gunners would flee, I had not anticipated this when I introduced Artillery to this period.
The cavalry battle is very close.
With both sides on 14 hits.
The Royalist commander hastens to rally his cavaliers.
Too late, the cavaliers break!.
The other unit of Royalist horse charge in.
But roll a one and fail to break the Roundhead horse.
The Royalist commander joins Prince Ruperts foot.
Out of ammo and charged in the flank Lord Brookes men give up the hill.
The cavaliers charge again.
After enduring volleys from two regiments Ruperts foot are close to breaking now.
The commander manages to hold them.
But his cavaliers are broken.
Shortly followed by Prince Ruperts foot, the commander falls to a musket ball.
This brave Royalist regiment charges the Roundhead line.
But the situation is looking grim with only two Royalist units trying to defend the hill.
They fend off a cavalry charge.
And bravely fight on.
The hill is surrounded now, can they hold out till nightfall ?(turn 15).
The Royalists break this red coated regiment.
But Old Robins foot charge them in the flank and roll a six to break them too!.
The remaining Royalist regiment with eleven hits held on to the hill but was broken on turn fourteen after successive attacks.
Another great game, I'm very glad that I bought this book.
Today I started a mini campaign using Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames rules.
As I chose to use my 18th Century imaginary armies the details will be posted on the dedicated blog.
Here is a link
Here is a taster...
