Mortem et Gloriam Rules Unboxing and Flipthrough

I've been looking a long time for a set of Ancient Rules and Mortem et Gloriam is the current contender for the lofty prize of being the go to set for the YG games. We do tend to stick with rule sets once we settle on one (Johnny Reb II being the prime example), I like to collect figures, not rule sets 😂

Above is a Utube vid of the rules opening, I've not gone too deeply into mechanisms etc, that can wait till we get gaming again but it's a good run through what's in the box for your brass and a guide to the basics. No written run through with this, I think the video is by far the best medium for this.

It was also a nice excuse to dig out my 28mm Ancient stuff, a lot of it is 15 years old or more and has only seen the light of day with failed attempts at Hail Caesar (spoiler it's the same as all the other Warlord Rules) and writing our own rules (time beat me). 

I've even started putting together some Italian Allied Legion figures so the rules have definitely un plugged the Ancients blockage.

Hopefully we will be looking at actual games rather than set up for photography armies soon.

28mm WW1 Mesopotamia Cavalry - British Unit Done

I've been detailing my search for suitable figures for my WW1 Mesopotamia collection and Cavalry have proved to be a particular challenge. Well there has actually been some progress and I've (shock) finished a unit !

These figures are Great War Miniatures with head swaps from Gripping Beast. The head swaps were done by my gaming chum Harry (cheers !) as my modelling skills are not the best. I have left some figures with the general service cap just to mix the look up a bit.

The unit is 24 figures strong which will operate as 4 squadrons of 6 figures each.

The unit is painted up to represent the Cheshire Yeomanry who fought in the later 1917 Palestine Campaign. The flags are hand painted copies of the mid war Yeomanry Standard, I have no evidence of these being carried in action but it adds something visually to the unit.

In the days when most people do Cavalry units in 12s, it's easy to forget how big 28mm Cavalry units are in line.

Currently on the paint table are some Arab Spearmen for the Crusades, next up will be my Kingdom of Jerusalem Knights before I go back to another WW1 unit.

June Yarkshire Gamer Video Update

Things remain locked down at Yarkshire Gamer but units have been rolling off the paint table, so here is a second video review of the goings on here last month.

A group of 7tv Scientists.

Purple Bob's Hobbies Card Buildings.

 

7tv Baddies

28mm Crusades Mounted Sergeants 

Fingers crossed there might be some gaming going on towards the end of the month, thanks for watching.

Bad Guys, Blaggers and Slaaaaggggs 28mm 7tv

A while back I completed my Sweeney stuff so it was time to get some blaggers to add to the collection to act as the other side in the Cops and Robbers mini Project.

All the figures are from Crooked Dice 7tv range and are a large 28mm scale, highly recommended they have great detail and character. The guys above are the Foot soldiers, all wearing balaclavas and ready for the next Blag.

In front of my new O Gauge buildings they look the biz, I certainly wouldn't want to meet any of them in a dark alley !

I've also been adding to the 1:43 scale vehicles, here's a lovely Mk I Transit van as daily transport to and from the bank.

Above are some more vehicles, a Mk III Cortina and two vans, an Ambulance and a Police Van.

A closer shot of the Bad Guy bosses along with a Yarkshire TV camera.

Everyone's down the boozer to plan the next job !

Probably my favourite figure of this batch is this Cameraman and Camera all done up ready to film the next feature documentary for Yarkshire TV.

The one good guy in the batch was this Tough Detective figure that I've painted up to look like Jack Reagan from The Sweeney.

A bit of dodgy dealing going on outside The Red Lion.

Now this is a Crime Fighting duo I'd want to see, Gene Hunt and Jack Reagan, that would clean the streets !

Hopefully you have enjoyed that journey through the bad guys, I hope to have some scenarios worked up some, just waiting on some terrain from Sally Forth that I ordered about 3 weeks ago.

28mm WW1 Mesopotamia Cavalry - The Irregular Option

A few weeks ago I posted on a few of the wargames sites asking for suggestions for options to cover Cavalry options for the Mesopotamia Campaign of WW1. I have some Great War Miniatures with head swaps for the British and some figures from the Minifigs East Ablaze for the Turkish but wanted some more options especially for Indian Cavalry.

A number of options were suggested, sadly Brigade Games aren't avaliable direct in the UK and importing from the US at the moment is just massively prohibitive. 

One company that was suggested was Irregular Miniatures who to be honest I wasn't aware did WW1 figures. I visited the website and ordered 6 figures of three different types as a sample. I've painted them up and now it's time to compare them to my existing collections.

First up are the British Cavalry these have the 1903 ammo bandoliers that prevent the use of earlier figures (like Afgan War) but have Colonial Helmets rather than the Wolesley style more common in Mesopotamia. I do have some pics of troops in theatre with them but these figs look more Boer War to me.

The next two pics show them against a base of my existing Great War Miniatures Cavalry, the GWM are bigger by a visible amount, but the two aren't incompatible on the same table. They have painted up quite well but I'm just not sure about the hat. Undecided.

Next up are some Indian Cavalry with Lance, these are probably the best of the three types of figures I bought. Other than the faces being a bit awkward from some angles I like these. For purists I improvised on the lance pennants, as far as I can tell they weren't used in the field so I guessed 👍

Here they are size wise against the GWM British, these look a lot closer than the Brits do, smaller yes, but only a bit. I like these and may end up getting at least one unit. My alternative to these are some Artizan Afgan War Indian Cavalry, I am looking at the possibility of someone 3d printing the bandoliers but I've no idea if it will work. 

Finally are a couple of Turkish Lancers, these are more toy soldier like in their appearance but once painted up they look pretty good.

Finally the size comparison, these are next to the Minifigs East Ablaze figures (The horses for which are huge !). There is a big difference in size here, although the figures themselves are pretty similar the Irregular horses look like pit ponies. Again I'm undecided on these, they are fine as figures but the size comparison makes it difficult to justify them in the same unit.

They are well priced at £2.64 each or 8 for £17.60  (2.20 each) compared to around £3.50 a figure for the other two. Website link for the figures below.

http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk

O Gauge Model Buildings for Modern 28mm Wargames

I've been tinkering around with a 28mm Cops and Robbers mini Project during the lock down and got the vast majority of the figures done. Let's face it for a historical gamer 30 figures a side doesn't really count as a Project.

So this got me to looking into terrain and vehicles, both vital to getting a game like this, often played on a small table, to look good.

Vehicles are sorted and as they appear on eBay I pick them up. The 1/43 scale cars and vans are the best scale for the figures and when you leave the immaculate boxes collectors stuff alone, you can pick up some rite bargains.

So that brings me to the buildings. Just by random I came across  O Gauge Cardstock buildings for Model Railway layouts. Now that as it turns out was a good idea. Video below, text and photo explanation underneath that.

I found a company called Purple Bob's Hobbies, liked the look of the photos and ordered the Factory you see in the picture above, the rest is history and a tube of PVA. Link to purchase the kits below,

https://purplebob.co.uk

Above is a picture of the contents of one of the models, this is for a double fronted terrace. The printing is high quality and very realistic, also included is a detailed set of instructions and some clear perspex for Windows.

Above shows the finished Pub model, I think they look brilliant. They are quite time consuming to put together but very rewarding. Here are my top tips to get them looking something like,

1) Follow the instructions, they are quite long but very detailed and getting things out of order can be difficult to put right.

2) When you cut parts out of the card, it will leave a white edge, always paint that edge before you put the pieces together. One great thing about being a gamer is that you will have shed loads of paint lying around.

3) Some parts are very fragile when cut, the 3d parts on the doors and windows especially and I ended leaving them off (best explained in the video) but the model still looks great without them.

4) When complete they are quite sturdy for a card building but these are designed for sitting at the back of a Model Railway layout not for gaming where they will get a bit more handling so I recommend a MDF base.

The above model is the Pub named after the one in my home village, I can still visit the Pub (in normal times) and sit at the table my Grandad used to do his A Level homework. I still need to sort some curtains out for the upstairs windows. The downstairs rooms are a fully fitted bar and snug, I couldn't get a decent photo of it but if you watch the video the detail is on there.

The Factory model (about 17 quid, the Pub is the same price) is huge, 20 inch frontage in the photos above and below are some 28mm figures for scale.

The bottom picture shows the MDF base, cut from an old bit I had lying around, I'm not sure I'd like to try and move the building without it ! I've ordered some roads from Sally Forth which I've been waiting on for a couple of weeks, once I have those I can decide what I am going to do with the pavements on the Pub and Terrace house models.

The buildings aren't the normal 360 buildings we as gamers are used to, they are made in what's called half relief. Not something that all gamers would want but I plan to use them as a background to the game and boy do they look good for that.

These are the backs of the models, just for your information, I will probably put an Artist Mounting board backing on them to give a little more strength.

Price wise they compare well with MDF models and if you are looking at covering a big area with buildings they are ideal. A factory the same size for Sarrisa or similar would be at least 50 quid. On the down side these have taken me a day each to make, they are not quick but you have to remember that other than a bit of edging they are already painted, they are also quite flimsy compared to the MDF alternatives.

So there you go. I don't think card Model Railway buildings are a replacement for traditional gaming buildings but they are very useful tool to have in the box.