I have decided to do something practical and get some painting done. This might give me a bit of a break from the rules shenanigans and also a bit of a break from thinking! First up, a nice water colour painting. Not by me but my eldest daughter. Something to celebrate and inspire me to get my finger out.
Next up, can you tell what it is yet? I'm not sure we are allowed to say that anymore but....
Well, here are some 1990s US troops, some M113s (Airfix) and some HMVWWs (from Toys R Us). Possibly something dodgy will be occurring somewhere in Africa. My interest has been generated by some real world stuff, check out this Huffington Post article on US involvement in Africa. Lots of hyperbole but then also check out this great US Army Africa website. Anyone might think its pure fantasy, well what do I know. Rules? Well I'm not doing them from scratch. AK47 (original) always springs to mind for this sort of stuff but then I also really fancy FiveCore Company Command. Lets see what happens!
After visiting the county of Midsomer (the real life Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire), I wondered about Borsetshire (Warwickshire and Worcestershire) which, in real life, is contiguous with Midsomer. The BBC website offers up a couple of nice maps.
Then there is this one which reveals a little known battle in 1642 near Ambridge.
Ambridge, a good target for a Royalist Chevauche!Stuff the Archers I say. Update 22 September: Kaptain Kobold has kindly pointed me in the direction of the following really interesting blog which covers scenarios from the ECW in Borsetshire. Here is the true story of the battle at Ambridge in 1642. Anyone would think that its a real place!
I have been following Kaptain Kobold's adventures with the OHW rules. In particular, I was very taken by his GNW rules modifications. He is now at it again with a similar exercise with the ECW using paper soldiers from Junior General. I have to say I think this is great. When I was younger (so much younger than today...) I remember buying 1644. These were interesting rules, well illustrated (by the Perry's I think), and they had a nice campaign map featuring the county of Scruttockshire. This has featured in my thoughts over the years and I'd love to have a go at a campaign in this sort of fictional area. Max Foy's recent campaign also filled me with enthusiasm. What is interesting is that Kaptain Kobold has set his one of battles in the very fictional county of Midsomer. Home to that bloke who used to be on Bergerac! Very nice idea which I will pursue further, especially when the Kaptain publishes his revised version of the rules. In the meantime I have been hunting down a map of Midsomer and found this, which I also think is great!
