Mad Carews Gaming Blog

Cowboy Country

2011-08-07T13:55:00.001+01:00

1/72nd scale cowboy shoot-out using modified Featherstone "Rules for Close Wars"

6mm river war

2010-04-03T17:34:00.000+01:00

A twin-engined Prussian ironclad closes in on a British paddle-steamer, somewhere in an alternaive 1890s colonial Africa.

Under the plastic palm trees (a skirmish using Featherstones Close Wars rules)

2009-12-27T11:02:00.000Z

Sudan, Late 19th Century: A patrol of Royal Marines has been sent to investigate reports of an insurgent leader who is thought to be hiding out in a small village. Wild pigs, content in the knowledge that they are not on the menu, wander the street. (Sorry the pics are rubbish - little natural light!)

Half the insurgent force about to take up position behind the low wall.

The rest of the insurgents including their leader lurk behind a building.

Patrol Group A take cover behind a wall as they come under fire. At maximum range these two groups fired unsuccessfully at each other for three turns - lucky saving throws were rolled on both sides.

Patrol Group B rush to outflank the insurgents not realizing that the other group are lying in wait.

A comic moment as the direction dice send the enemies into orbit around the paper shack.

Hand-to-hand fighting commences as they find each other. A marine falls to an insurgents blade.

Revenge! The marines gain the upper hand. The insurgent leader and his minion have been firing unsuccessfully at Group A...

... they now turn and rush the two remaining marines

Finally Group A get a lucky roll; three insurgents fall in one turn - prudently the last man turns and runs for the hills.

Patrol Group A rushes to the aid of their colleagues....

... and its all over. Victory for the Royal Marines who overwhelm and capture the insurgent leader.

Giant!

2009-11-30T18:29:00.009Z

Fresh from playing Second Trogledite in a game of PULP!, Urgh the caveman is about to take the lead (pun intended) in Giant!, a skirmish for 6mm medieval figures. (Urgh comes courtesy of the Honourable Lead Boiler Suits' lamented 28mm range).

I'm working on more scenery, but you'll get the idea from the pics below - idylic country village is invaded by a giant - local lord and peasants fight to save their houses etc

6mm buildings are by Irregular miniatures, figures are by Baccus 6mm and Irregular.

One of the alternatives to Giant! is Troll!, featuring this guy (also by Irregular)

Peasants

2009-11-29T09:04:00.008Z

Not new painting, but I dug out some older figures for fun, inspired by Bob, over at Bob's Miniature Wargaming Blog; he's has been posting some fine pics of 1/72nd medieval figures he's using for LotR Fantasy gaming.
The following are a mixture of Airfix, Strelets, Valdemar and Miniart. Zero natural light today so they had to be photographed under the harsh glare of the table lamp.

Thought I'd add a pic of the Peasants' Lord and master; The Eleventh Earl of Mar, and retinue. Anyone know where the Earls' name was stolen from?

The Green Eye of the Yellow God

2009-11-27T19:43:00.003Z

The Green Eye of the Yellow God
by John Milton Hayes

There's a one-eyed yellow idol
To the north of Kathmandu;
There's a little marble cross below the town;
And a brokenhearted woman
Tends the grave of 'Mad' Carew,
While the yellow god for ever gazes down.

He was known as 'Mad Carew
By the subs at Kathmandu,
He was hotter than they felt inclined to tell,
But, for all his foolish pranks,
He was worshipped in the ranks,
And the Colonel's daughter smiled on him as well.

He had loved her all along
With the passion of the strong,
And that she returned his love was plain to all.
She was nearly twenty-one,
And arrangements were begun
To celebrate her birthday with a ball.

He wrote to ask what present
She would like from 'Mad' Carew;
They met next day as he dismissed a squad:
And jestingly she made pretence
That nothing else would do
...But the green eye of the little yellow god.

On the night before the dance
'Mad' Carew seemed in a trance,
And they chaffed him
As they pulled at their cigars,
But for once he failed to smile,
And he sat alone awhile,
Then went out into the night.. beneath the stars

He returned, before the dawn,
With his shirt and tunic torn,
And a gash across his temples... dripping red.
He was patched up right away,
And he slept all through the day
While the Colonel's daughter
Watched beside his bed

He woke at last and asked her
If she'd send his tunic through.
She brought it and he thanked her with a nod.
He bade her search the pocket,
Saying, 'That's from "Mad" Carew,'
And she found ... the little green eye of the god

She upbraided poor Carew,
In the way that women do,
Although her eyes were strangely hot and wet,
But she would not take the stone,
And Carew was left alone
With the jewel that he'd chanced his life to get.

When the ball was at its height
On that still and tropic night,
She thought of him ... and hastened to his room.
As she crossed the barrack square
She could hear the dreamy air
Of a waltz tune softly stealing thro' the gloom.

His door was open wide,
With silver moonlight shining through;
The place was wet and slippery where she trod;
An ugly knife lay buried
In the heart of 'Mad' Carew ...
'Twas the vengeance of the little yellow god.

There's a one-eyed yellow idol
To the north of Kathmandu;
There's a little marble cross below the town;
And a brokenhearted woman
Tends the grave of 'Mad' Carew,
While the yellow god for ever gazes down.

More fantasy

2009-11-21T15:56:00.005Z

I've always liked the idea of the Army of the Dead in LotR, so I took a glance at the GW site - sadly in this economic climate such a steep investment is out of the question - instead a scratch around in the bits box resulted in a small group of Esci's old Romans seeing the light of day again. This is my sort of painting! Slap it on and see what happens. I think they look ok?! No?

Dark Alliance Orcs set 2

2009-11-06T15:49:00.005Z

The set consists of 5 identical sprues of 10 figures. The figures are approx 18-20mm tall. There is some flash to remove, though not too much.

The box art is a less than subtle nod to Peter Jackson's LotR, though the figures are, to me anyway, a bit more original than I was expecting. The "musician" top-left is rather nice though 5 of him seems a bit excessive. There's no standard bearer, which is a shame, though I guess there could be in Set 1!! Although they're a little bit shorter than I imagined, DA's orcs are suitably brutish and look like they'll be fun to paint.

Airfix's Little Soldiers

2009-10-30T13:05:00.002Z

I just received my copy of this today and it was worth waiting for. There is a good review at PSR, here . From a personal perspective, I really like this book for the many full-colour illustrations of the figures and iconic art-work that sold Airfix to me in the 1960s and 70s. There is also a nice section on the other companies who were competitors to Airfix. Beautiful nostalgia!

Website link

2009-10-17T09:28:00.001+01:00

It case, like me, you didn't already know this site, here's a link to Ross Macfarlane's superb War Games site. http://www.lochsloy.ca/macduff.htm

Chasseurs a cheval August 1914

2009-10-10T15:15:00.003+01:00

A few more figures for my Early WW1 Belgian army. 20mm Chasseurs a cheval from Irregular Miniatures, scouting for German forces...

Esci 1/72nd figures

2009-09-05T15:21:00.005+01:00

For anyone interested in these things, I recently managed to acquire the following boxed figures, and very nice they are too - even the boxes are pleasing!

The label reads $2.50, though I had to pay a bit more than that!!
The sets can be seen here and here.

Dervishes

2009-08-17T14:51:00.002+01:00

20mm Jihadia figures (F4 - F7) from Jacklex Colonial Wars range, now produced and sold by Spencer Smith miniatures. Thought I'd get a pic of them before I daubed paint everywhere.
I'll put a link to Spencer Smith minis in the Links column - well worth a look if you like the old fashioned figures as much as I do.

Oliphaunt aka Mumakil

2009-08-17T09:11:00.003+01:00

In the Third Age of the Sun the men of Harad came north to assail the land of Gondor, at the call of the Dark Lord...

6mm scale figure CR16 from Irregular Miniatures

WIP - musket solo

2009-07-26T09:27:00.001+01:00

Early WW1 Belgian Soldiers

2009-07-18T16:50:00.008+01:00

A work in progress pic for my WW1 Belgian troops. Carabiniers in August 1914 with a dog-drawn machine gun cart.

20mm scale figures by Irregular Miniatures.

And a couple of line infantry

Some of the real men and animals who fought so valiantly to defend their country.

Pyromaniacal Peasant

2009-07-12T09:24:00.002+01:00

There's always someone with a burning torch: It's an unwritten rule for mobs. This particular character is a plastic 1/72nd scale figure from Zvezda's Medieval Peasant Army

Again, this was purchased from my favourite Ebay shop, Drum & Flag

Exchange of Prisoners

2009-07-12T08:11:00.016+01:00

Exchange of Prisoners - being a very short, sharp Scenario played out in a Fantastical version of Medieval Europe, using rules based loosely on Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay

The scenario is, as suggested by the title, a simple prisoner exchange between a party of Elves and a local Bishop, trading an Elven Lady for some nuns.

The Elves appear from the woods with their hostages;

Bishop Roderick and some of his military brotherhood escort the Elven Lady from the village;

There is a tense moment as the prisoners are exchanged. The Bishop springs his cunning trap - hunger-crazed, blood-thirsty peasants rush from behind some shacks to attack the "Godless" Elves with righteous farm implements.

Regretably for Bishop Roderick, the Elven Lord Ghaldir is equally full of gile. Elves spring from the trees to pepper the happless peasantry with arrows.

The Bishop wisely withdraws, his nuns safely back in the fold, leaving the peasants to chose between fight or flight.

Having lost two of their number, the peasants run for cover. The Elves make a strategic withdrawl. The scenario has proven once again that a good reaction test makes for a sensible, if short, game.

Both sides regained their prisoners, however a minor victory was awarded to the Elves as the Bishop is now going to have more peasant problems after showing what a coward he is.

Figures: Elves by Caesar miniatures. Humans are a mixture of Strelets, Valdemar and Zvezda.
All are plastic 1/72nd scale apart from the white metal nuns which are 20mm and from Elheim and Sgts Mess.

Elves by Caesar Miniatures

2009-07-11T11:20:00.002+01:00

1/72nd scale plastic Elves by Caesar miniatures. These were purchased from Drum & Flag the Ebay Toy Soldier store. To see the set of figures unpainted, visit Plastic Soldier Review .

Gotha Bomber

2009-06-28T12:19:00.003+01:00

Another Prussian "wonder weapon" for 6mm VSF - this time its a fixed wing aircraft, and whats more they've painted it British Summertime Grey to be more stealthy! Typical Prussian trick.

Model by Irregular Miniatures, Maltesse Crosses by Doms Decals.

Toy Soldier

2009-06-27T09:37:00.003+01:00

British Officer figure from Irregular (NCIA13) painted as mounted infantry from the Sudan Campaign 1884-5.

Fantasy in small scale

2009-06-24T19:19:00.004+01:00

Tinkering with many periods and scales, as I do, I have recently been messing with Fantasy games again, after a 30 year break! Pictured here is a 6mm scale Ent (I expect GW own the rights to the name but I don't care! Tolkein is for all people!!) making him about 35mm root to top of his highest branch. He is by Irregular Miniatures (CR4), as is the tree next to him.

For a look at loads more 6mm fantasy figures that are beautifully painted, visit 6mm War Games Page

Brown Water Fleet

2009-06-21T15:25:00.004+01:00

Part of Her Majesty's Brown Water fleet, the Gunboat SS Thunderchild 2, steams up an African river to impose colonial rule, or possibly is on a Martian Canal..

Irregular Miniatures 6mm scale Gun boat (BO5)

"Toy Soldiers"

2009-06-20T09:02:00.005+01:00

Irregular Miniatures have an amazing range of 42mm scale figures, some of which are in the style of W Britains Toy Soldiers. Here's an example:

The Colonial range have been designed by Ian Kay and Andy Partridge and are, to me anyway, irresistable - I have a nasty feeling I may have to get a copy of H G Well's "Little Wars" and colonize the back garden. Here's another:

Prussian Wunder Waffe (6mm VSF)

2009-06-13T10:45:00.005+01:00

The Prussians have unveiled their latest weapon of micro destruction.
The SPG (steam propelled gun-carriage) is capable of moving a heavy siege gun at an impressive 4 miles per hour!

Here is an example of an SPG steaming passed a copse of unrealistic foam trees.
The landship was built using an Irregular Miniatures 6mm scale Sci-Fi Tank (NSF16) with the radar dish replaced by a plastic tube.

WW1 Turk - latest painting

2009-05-31T12:26:00.006+01:00

Here is a WW1 Turkish infantryman (early war I think judging by the Fez) I was persuaded to paint as a tester for GMG. Its a Tumbling Dice UK figure. I quite like him and may well get some more.... I have visions of them fighting The French Foreign Legion, Model T Ford transport, early armoured cars..

Sorry about the quality of the image.

Vietnam Game

2009-05-30T12:07:00.004+01:00

Last night was my first game with the Green Machine Gamers - for a full report go here (http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=206&p=89429#p89429)

"MEDIC!!!"

"I want my men out of there and in the hospital in 10 minutes"

Sand and Gravel for Basing

2009-05-12T18:19:00.008+01:00

The four Grades of Fine Gravel /Sand that are supplied - blends of these can also be prepared.

The figure is 28mm from base to eye level

(In geotechnical terms Gravel is made up of particles between 2mm and 60mm

Sand is made up of particles between 2mm and 63 microns)

Fine Sand 300-75 microns. Perfect for 6mm figures

Medium sand 1mm to 300 microns

Coarse sand - 2mm - 1mm

Fine Gravel 5mm - 2mm

1926: A very British Class War?

2009-05-06T12:57:00.000+01:00

Yet another new project? Yes, this time an alternative history. What if the General Strike of 1926 hadn't been a damp squib but in fact had turned into the revolution/class war that many people apparently feared it would? Just toying with this idea at the moment, but here are the first figures - some British Army regulars from RH Models accompanied by a Rolls Royce Armoured Car (1920 version) from Milicast. Sorry the pics aren't great.