Rabbitman on Parade!

Well I haven't posted anything in a while.
My brushes are untouched.
I've played one game since Hotlead, and only because Patrick had some armies completed (1/72nd scale Chinese Civil War forces) and wanted to give the World In Flames rules by Osprey a try.
Many of the loose ends from Hotlead are still untied.
What I have been doing is a lot of cadet stuff.
A week before Hotlead I got an email telling me I was loaded onto the Intermediate Officer's Training Course and the Distance Learning segment started pretty much that evening. This has been an amusing 6 week course with almost daily deadlines covering diverse subjects like policies and procedures, enforcement of regulations, supervision of subordinates (as a Lieutenant now it's assumed I will have 2nd Lieutenants and Officer Cadets to keep an eye on), more adolescent development and group dynamics, environmental impact assessments for training exercises, safety and emergency response plans, correspondence and warning orders. Fun stuff.
Good professional development, but pretty time consuming.
I was also preoccupied developing my magnum opus; a lesson for M420.02 The History of the Canadian Army. The official lesson plan had a lot of bureaucratic details like Militia Acts and the various reorganizations the Army went through. Do some 17 year olds really need to know how the CF was organized back in the 1980s? I threw that out and started with some First Nations warriors hiding in the bushes and worked my through the siege of Quebec, the War of 1812, the Fenian Raids and North West Rebellion of 1885, WW1, WW2, Korea and Afghanistan to try and tell a story. It also happened to be Vimy Ridge Day. I had 90 minutes, elaborated too much sometimes and ran out of time. But they were quiet and paid attention and they even learned about a few Militia Acts.
Another distraction was that my Cadet unit went through a change of command. My friend Chris took over as CO mid-year (and a couple of years early) due to our old CO having a change in her situation. So we had to step up the ceremonial review practice for the cadets.
Usually the cadets do the parades and we officers just watch from the edge of the parade square.
But this time the CIC officers had to fall in.
I hadn't been in command of a formation on a ceremonial parade for 30 plus years!

Lt. Rabbitman on parade!

 But it all went well. The muscle memory kicked in and I actually enjoyed myself.

Taking the Reviewing Officer through the inspection

 It was also good to meet my Boss, the Western Ontario Area Commander, Maj. Sainsbury.

March past

Above you have my friend Chris leading us in a March Past as the new CO. As the sr. subaltern I'm right behind him leading 1 Platoon. Chris and I have been friends since we were 10, joined cadets together and for our last two years he was the RSM and I was the Cdt Lt. Colonel (there were cadet officer ranks back then).


Advance in Review Order


Here we've just finished the Advance in Review Order, the climax of the parade. For a bunch of kids their dressing is really quite good (and they all halted at the same time!). The observant among you will notice the flight of Air Cadets in their sky blue on the left of our line. We've developed a pretty cordial relationship with the local Air Cadet Squadron, mostly based upon a standing invitation from their officers to join them for drinks at a local bar at the end of cadet nights. Their facility has more elbow room for march pasts, so they were our hosts for the evening. It would have been rude not to let them parade with us.
As soon as Chris was made acting CO he made me his Training Officer (TrgO). It will now be my responsibility to generate all the Warning Orders, Operations Orders, RSS, MOARs, Emergency Response Plans, Briefings and O Groups. Plus devise the training plan for the next training year.
I have also been stepping up my efforts to find better employment. So resumes, finding my footing with the TrgO position and my DL have been absorbing all of my spare time lately.
But the course is done this weekend, so I hope next week to find some time to pick up my paint brushes again.


Medieval artillery

I had these done before Hotlead, just haven't had time to blog about them.

So after last month's musing and list writing I put brush to figure and finished off these 12 Old Glory crew for my medieval field guns, and added a third Old Glory gun to the order of battle!

I decided to keep the liveries fairly generic. One crew in blue, one in red and one in yellow. Gunners, being highly paid specialists, could afford the bright colours. I had an ammunition box (from a RAFM ACW artillery limber) and a sponge in my bits box to dress one of the bases.

The gun in the middle is from Old Glory, the other two with the mantlets, I cannot remember who makes those now. I got them many years ago for Christmas when I still worked in the bookstore.

You'll also notice I'm also experimenting with some Army Painter meadow flower tufts to dress things up a bit. I rather like them. They add some nice variety to the ground work.

The bases are bit bigger to give the crew some elbow room; 50mm x 75mm. The guns aren't glued down in case they need to be abandoned.

Of course, now my armies will be unevenly matched in artillery, so to balance things out I will just have to get one of the Perry Wars of the Roses guns.

Next up are 5 stands each of some Old Glory levy bills and levy bows.

The Hormones...

I haven't said much about my bunnies in a while.
Of course it's not like their daily adventures in sniffing, eating, sleeping and chewing on their boxes aren't extremely important to them. But they are much the same day to day.
Now our bunnies are 7 years old, which is pretty old for a bunny. The boys have been fixed since they were about 6 months old, and to avoid fights no one gets out at the same time anyway (except the mother and daughter who are room-mates).
So there is no worry about little bunnies.
But every once in a while, the hormones strike and one of the does will get all broody and make a nest and sit in it all day until the mood passes.
Mrs. Rabbitman came down stairs just before Hotlead to find this, with our caramel coloured doe happily nesting in it.

She may have been pleased with herself for getting most of the fur from her grey furred mother. Although Nigella didn't seem to mind (or be missing much of anything).
The hormones, they are not your friends.

Hotlead 2013: Initial AAR

Well, Mrs. Rabbitman and I are home and mostly unpacked and settled after another weekend managing the chaos at Hotlead. My lips are a bit cracked and my throat is sore, but that's from too much talking with everyone and then some very loud shouting and laughing last night with my friends, a beer and some dice, playing Peter and Keith's very nice Battle of Ridgeway game.

I've been quite busy this past month, feeling like one of those chaps spinning the plates in a Chinese circus, (or maybe juggling flaming alligators and chainsaws) so Hotlead wasn't quite as organized this year as usual. I almost had a hair ripping melt down on Thursday as I discovered a major SNAFU, but my lovely helpmate calmly got it all sorted and kept the wheels on the wagon and the ducks back in a row. Fortunately the Game Masters were all very good natured and understanding and rolled with my field improvisations.

My partner Martin was also able to get back to Canada in time to run a booth for J&M Miniatures, so Thursday night (and Friday after leaving the convention!) I was busily packing stuff into boxes and trying to make some paper price lists (with an online store you get used to not price tagging everything and not needing paper lists to refer too). What to bring? What to bring? A little of everything just in case. We sold a lot of 4Ground and PSC and Renedra as I thought we would, but even managed to shift some of the older Wargmes Factory and Warlord Pike and Shotte stuff too. The Maurice line did well too (we're now the Canadian distributor for Sam Mustafa rules). Too bad my big order (mostly Renedra, 4Ground and PSC of course!) for the show got hung up in customs.... But there are some satisfyingly empty spots on the shelves now and some cash to order some new things with. I only needed one lift in the car to get it home instead of the two to get it there (you can pack a surprising amount in an Echo).

The convention however, rolled along quite well. I booked more space for Friday night and that was successful with more games and gamers. Plus Saturday night was quite busy too with more games and gamers than last year as well. The spirit of generosity was present as a Waterloo area gamer loaned out his hex map to a GM from Michigan, with a "I'm going home, just give it to James when you're done and he can mail it back to me."

I haven't counted the tallies yet but we had more than 50 games and around 300 people there. The 10% cut we take from the Bring and Buy which we give to charity came to $830+. Mrs. Rabbitman and I noticed a lot more junior gamers getting to come for the first time with dad this year. So a THIRD generation of Hotlead attendees has begun (since some of the Jr. Gamers we had at the first Hotlead's are now adults and GMing for us!).

All very gratifying.

I also got a bit of a deal on a nice 1/72nd scale resin redoubt from Imex which I can see being occupied by some 15mm Prussian heavy guns and picked up some Osprey's in the Bring and Buy for a paltry $20; Campaign # 107 "Poland 1939" and one of their compendium books "Into the Reich, Battles on Germany's Western Frontier 1944-45".

And I did get to play a game this year! Keith and Peter had been working on a refight of the small, but significant Battle of Ridgeway (2 June 1866). The Canadian Militia fought their first battle against an invasion by the Fenian Brotherhood; a group of Irish-American Civil War veterans, who being drunk and having nothing better to do, decided to take a punch at the hated British by invading Canada. The Canadians, being inexperienced militia performed rather embarrassingly against the veteran Fenians.

Our game, using the Black Powder rules went true to history. Despite really appalling command rolls, we were pressing the Fenians hard and had almost turned their flank when some mounted Fenian scouts appeared and half of my command formed square and it all went pear-shaped. Still, loads of fun and some lovely figures and terrain.

Once I get some links to other folk's pictures I'll post some more.

A Muster of Hosts pt.2

More musing out loud here.....

I've dug out my box of unpainted Old Glory (and some Citadel) Wars of the Roses (and some Swiss) figures to make another list and see where I can go.

Partially Painted
20x levy billmen (5 stands w/cmdr and flag)
15x levy longbow (5 stands w/cmdr)
12x crossbow (4 stands)
12x gunners (the 2 guns I have need more and nicer crew than the three Essex chaps I got to man siege engines)
1x field gun
10x casualty figures

All useful figures that I need more of.

Unpainted
18x mtd Men-at-Arms (9 stands incl'd cmd)
8x hobilars (4 stands incl'd cmd)
19x mtd archers (Citadel figures, 9 stands)
16x dismounted knights w/ 2handed wpns (4 stands incl'd cmd)
24x armoured pike (Citadel figures, 6 stands)
12x handgunners (6 stands if skirmishers or 4 stands if medium inf)
20x more crossbow
6 extra cmd groups of 2 or 3 figures (cmdr, standard and some musicians)
30x Swiss Medium pike (8 stands if I only 3 figures on a couple in the back rank or add some suitable command figures)

The cavalry will come in handy. I could replace some of my second hand knights with the cocktail skewer lances, or my not-so-well painted 100 Yrs War cavalry with the cloth caparisons (they're listed among the "German" troops in yesterday's post). More command stands always come in handy; more opportunities for banners at least!
I'd like to add all the extra crossbowmen to my Swiss but they're in kettle hats and gambesons, which I don't think Swiss schutzen wore. The Citadel pikemen would be nice in that I could backbench my fragile Italian pike (lead pikes; I'm always worried one will snap off in a game), and they would look Swiss enough too, especially with a fairly generic cantonal colour, which would help bulk out the Swiss if I want them for fighting the Burgundians.
Finishing these up means I could actually field two not-that-bad Wars of the Roses armies or a pair of small, but decent Swiss-Burgundian War armies.

A Muster of Hosts

So being an obsessive list maker, I took an inventory of my painted late medieval figures. This has helped me sort them into Battles and Armies that make some (?) logical sense.

Keeping in mind that I've got my troops based on 40mm x 40mm (50mm deep for mounted) stands, with 4 heavy infantry, or 3 archers (massed longbows or crossbows), or 3 medium infantry types (Welsh), or 2 skirmishers or 2 mounted per stand. A 4 stand unit of cavalry, heavy infantry or archers would be a 'standard' unit. A 3 or 4 stand unit of skirmishers is 'small'.

Here's what I've come up with:
Wars of the Roses troops
Men-at-Arms on foot w/asst'd 2-handed cutlery 4 stands incl'd Royal banner (asst'd figures)
Mounted Men-at-Arms 4 stands incl'd cmd (mostly Citadel)
Mounted Men-at-Arms 4 stands incl'd cmd (mostly Citadel)
Retinue longbows (red/purple livery) 4 stands (Old Glory figures)
Retinue longbows (red livery) 4 stands (Old Glory figures)
Retinue billmen (red/blue livery) 5 stands incl'd flag (Old Glory figures)
Retinue longbowmen (motley) 3 stands incl'd flag (Minifigs and some GW)
Retinue longbowmen (motley) 3 stands incl'd flag (Minifigs and some GW)
Retinue billmen (red livery) 4 stands (Citadel figures)
Welsh light javelinmen 4 stands (Old Glory figures)
Welsh light javelinmen 3 stands (Old Glory figures)
Welsh light javelinmen 3 stands (Old Glory figures)

Burgundian Ordonnance Troops
Mounted Men-at-Arms 4 stands inl'd Ducal cmd stand (asst'd mfrs)
Mounted Men-at-Arms 4 stands incl'd company ensign (mostly Citadel)
Coustilliers 3 stands (Citadel figures)
Coustilliers 3 stands (Citadel figures)
Ordonnance longbowmen (blue jackets) 4 stands (Essex figures)
Ordonnance longbowmen (mostly blue jackets) 4 stands (Essex figures)
Ordonnance crossbow 4 stands (Hotspur figures)
Ordonnance pikemen (blue jackets) 4 stands incl'd banner (Citadel figures)
Ordonnance handgun armed skirmishers (blue jackets) 3 stands (Essex figures)
Ordonnance handgun armed skirmishers (blue jackets) 3 stands (Essex figures)
Field gun
Field gun (needs more crew)

Italian Mercenaries
Heavy armoured pike (half armour) 5 stands incl'd banner (Naismith figures)
Medium pike 4 stands incl'd banner (Naismith figures)
Crossbowm armed skirmishers 5 stands (Naismith figures)
Mounted crossbow light cavalry 4 stands (Naismith figures)

German Troops
Imperial Cmd stand
Mtd Men-at-Arms 4 stands (various mfrs)
Mtd Men-at-Arms 4 stands (various mfrs)
Dismounted Men-at-Arms asst'd 2handed mother-in-law pokers 4 stands incl'd banners (various)
Dismounted Men-at-Arms asst'd 2handed mother-in-law pokers 4 stands incl'd banners (various)
Pavised crossbow  (blue pavises) 4 stands (Citadel figures)
Pavised crossbow (asst'd pavises) 5 stands (Citadel figures)

Swiss Troops
Handgun armed skirmishers 4 stands
Crossbow armed skirmishers 3 stands
Armoured pike 8 stands
Medium mixed pike and halberd kiel 8 stands
Halberdiers 8 stands

Of course, (and this is where it gets confused) much of the Burgundian troops can jump into the Wars of the Roses with ease, and the WotR troops can reinforce the Burgundians or Germans as well. The Italian Mercenaries are really just a division of my German army, and both Germans and Italians frequently form up with the Burgundians. The Swiss just glower at me and wonder when I'm going to paint up that bag of Old Glory Swiss troops I have to reinforce them.

If we go with the 'Rule of Four' (four units to a player/command and four commands to an army) then I'm not too badly off.

A Dalliaunce Perhaps

What is it with our gaming ADD?
I was over on the Lead Adventures Forum this morning and came upon this thread with loads of lovely pictures of gorgeous (mostly Perry) Wars of the Roses figures fighting over equally sumptuous terrain.
I found myself once again at the Perry section of shelves, contemplating how many boxes and blisters I'd need to make a nice little division. Then I remembered that I already have more than a few rather nice Old Glory Wars of the Roses figures still to paint. This of course had me down in the basement poking through my plastic totes of figures to see what I've got actually done and what I still have unpainted. I'm pleased to say that much of my late medieval stuff is actually painted.
Although much of it I painted many years ago before I learned things like dark undercoats to give shading or using highlights. Many also show their age and the scars of many a miniature hurly-burly and dice storm, not to  mention road trips to put on games at conventions. There's a few stands of Gens d'Armes which probably couldn't be given away.
And what to do with them? My mix of troops is really all wrong for the Wars of the Roses; too many pikes and crossbows and not nearly enough bows and bills. The obvious answer is of course, to just do the Burgundian Wars themselves, but I'd need far too many Swiss for that.
Of course many gamers (at least the ones I've met) take a decidedly non-historical approach to Medieval gaming anyway. It's all just impetuous knights, oppressed peasants, robber barons and double dealing mercenaries to them.
So perhaps I should go with an Imagination? I already have Count Raymond of Mantovia battling in the 11th century. Perhaps his 15th century descendants should do battle as well in something like Game of Thrones meets The Chronicles of Bern? Then I could excuse all the pikemen being on the same field as the longbowmen and stop worrying about it.
If I can just get past all the obviously English banners that is.