"Dominion of the Spear" Game

     I mainly use Facebook to follow my hobby interests. Of course one I follow is " The Portable Wargame". One posting mentioned using  "Dominion of the Spear" rules. It's a set of rules I never heard of before. What interested me is it is a solo game that you can just use a paper and pen to play. The rules make for a quick game; the two games I played lasted three turns, and took about ten minutes. Each army has between 3 to 6 units. 

    The rules are available on Wargame Vault for around $5.50. Besides the rules you get 196 army lists, which, to me, is worth the price alone. Each army is made up of units that cost at least 2 points. However, units can be armored, elite, or ferocious that add points to the unit cost.

 This started me thinking of using my Peter Laing ancients to form different armies. Below is a photo of a Peter Laing Pict army that I made. I can see using the army lists for The Portable Wargame Ancients game.

"Dominion  of the Spear" rules, by Ork Publishing.

The Peter  Laing  Pict  army.

Dueling Les Higgins Figures

   In one of my earlier posts I gave a couple of my thoughts on the recent discussion on "wargames in a matchbox". One idea I mentioned was using Peter Laing figures for a game on dueling.

  Ian Dury in the comments mentioned some dueling figures from the old line of Les Higgins. I did look and found some pictures of Les Higgins figures.  They are very nice figures and after a quick search, couldn't find any so I decided not to get distracted from other projects.

 Fast forward to a couple of days ago. After walking the dog, I checked the mail and there was a small package from Ian Dury.

   Every year Ian sends me a Christmas card. To be honest the "Black Dog" starts nipping at my heels around the holidays. Ian's cards always brightens the day for me. Besides his usual Christmas card, he sent me 3 of the Les Higgins dueling figures. They are beautiful figures. What's more, when I first saw them I thought of the old Vincent Price movie " Mathew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General" , as one figures has a "lobster" helmet and another has a Capotain hat (looks like a top hat) and cape, like Vincent Price wore in the movie. I  woke up in the middle of the night and started thinking of possible rules to use with the figures. Last night I based the figures for painting. Perhaps this project will get me gaming again.

The backs of the Les Higgins figures. I have been using my phone to do my posting. I still haven't figured how to put the photographs in the order I want them in.

The "Vincent Price" figure.

The front of the figures.

The "Hero" ww2dragoon figure.

The third figure. If I use "The Witchfinder General" for these figures, I see him as Hopkins evil henchman.

New Wagon for 30mm Semi flats

 I found yet another wagon for my semi flat armies.  It is painted red, like the last caisson I bought.

Frying Pan and Blanket Amalgamated Catalog

 I am still busy cleaning my basement. In my "wargame room" I am boxing up most of my toy soldiers and other hobby supplies, with the idea of going through them later to decide what stays and what goes. 

While sorting through a tote, I found another FP&BA painting guide for The Battle of New Orleans, along with an old catalog of their figures, which I thought might interest people.

The King's Soldiers of Fort George

 While I haven't  done much with wargaming, I still do look at other blogs and look for figures  to buy. I did find some more Frying Pan and Blanket Amalgamated War of 1812 figures. I believe  that they were sold in the Fort George gift shop.  I have gotten several sets that contain 12 figures that were sold at museum gift shops ( FP&BA sold their infantry sets with 24 figures). I have thought of trying to contact the gift shop to see if they still had more of these sets.

The 12 figures that came in the set. 1 officer, 1 color bearer, and 10 privates.

A little information page comes the set, with painting instructions  

Matchbox Challenge Ideas

 On the Duchy of Tradgardland and Man of Tin blogs, there has been an ongoing challenge to fit a wargame into a matchbox. It made me think of what I would do. Man of Tin mentioned Peter Laing knights as one option. I thought that Peter Laing WSS artillerymen with linstocks would make good dueling swordsmen. 

However, if one wants a large battle, I think Irregular miniatures 2mm blocks would be a good option. Ideally I think that the user would have to know the rules so it wouldn't be necessary to have a copy of the rules in the box.  I could see using a roster system to keep track of losses and maybe a drawn map for a battlefield.

I have used small containers to carry miniatures and dice to use with Mike Lambos solitaire wargame books.duelist. I believe this is about as small as I could go. I do believe a game in such a small box would be best as a skirmish game.

The matchbox I used is 1/2" thick.

It is 1 &1/2 x 2 inches.

The matchbox with some Irregular 2mm blocks and a couple of scenery pieces.

the small container I used for Mike Lambos solitaire wargame compared to the matchbox.

Miniature dice would work well for this size game.

The mentioned Peter Laing artillerymen that could double as duelists.

Wollner Band

 I came across a nice set of Wollner semiflat marching band. I have been avoiding purchases until I get my first retirement check. However, I have a weakness when it comes to Wollner miniatures, and the seller offered a decent discount so I purchased them. They were marked as being 30mm: comparing them to other 30mm Wollners I believe the are 35mm. However, we are playing with toy soldiers so what's a little size difference?

The Austrian marching band.

The bandsmen compared to my first Wollners. The greys are smaller, but who cares? They are great figures.

I will admit, the bass drummer with the miniature horse. Pulling the bass drum was a major reason I wanted these figures. 

Got in a Wargame..Finally!

 One Halloween night I finally got a wargame in. I dug out my Peter Laing Arabs and got a "No Brain Wargame" in. It's not much, but it's a start.

The "Sudanese" on top, the Arabs on bottom.

The Sudanese dominated  the Arabs from the start.

The Arab army is having their left flank turned. They decide to retreat while they still have an army.

Retired

 October 3 was my last day working. I decided to take an early retirement to spend more time with my wife. One would think with all the extra time I would get more gaming in; but no such luck. I have been busy doing work around the house that has been building up for awhile. This week I started cleaning the ceiler, and trying to get rid of 30 years of collecting clutter. I did decide to enlarge my "wargame room". I plan to get rid of my existing wargame table and set up a larger dining table for my new wargame table.

I also have decided to unbox all my books and put them back into bookcases, with the goal for going through them and getting rid of books I no longer need.

The current state of my wargame room.

Frontier 15mm Mexican War Miniatures Part 2

 Last night I opened the Mexican cavalry. There were 15 figures that represent the 1st cavalry, with lances and leather crested helmets. There were also 15 figures with shakos and carbines representing the Mexican line cavalry.

The cavalry figures with shakos.

The 1st Mexican cavalry figures