A few more Spanish.

 One thing about retirement is that as a wargamer I do seem to have some time for painting without causing too much domestic discord. As a consequence I am able to crack on with my projects, so here are the skirmishers for my Colunella, as a cheat I have slipped in a couple of gabions to save using extra figures.

 I also managed to do a couple of generals for the Spanish. I'm afraid my photography sometimes leaves a lot to be desired,but one gets the general idea.All the standards are by Adolfo Ramos, who is very reasonable and does a good range of flags, for several periods.

Spanish Colounella

Well I'm about two thirds through my first Spanish Colounella, and they're a bugger to complete. I forgot just how big the Spanish units could be, bearing in mind these were the forerunners to the later Tercios, which totaled about 4000ish men in a unit. I have to add a sword a nd buckler sub unit, and some skirmishers, which I have actually painted, but not completed basing yet.
 This regiment is made up of in the main TAG figures, definitely not the cheapest, but probably the best researched. I know that the Spanish infantry tended to deck themselves out in as much armour as they could grab, and TAG have tried to detail this.I have thrown in a couple of Foundry figures and a Perry commander for good measure. The flags a mixture of Adolfo Ramos and Pete's flags. Both very good, and great value.
 I have started building my next Colunella, which is made up of the old Connoisseur range. Peter Gilder wrongly decked them out in morions, but whose to say any different, and they are still very good figures although a little samey. So I have to admit I am a little off course by painting some Spanish, but I'm certain if Cesare had survived the death of his father he would have ended up encountering them one way or another. Personally, and with hindsight if Id been Cesare I would have been emphasising my Spanish background and ratting on his French allies asap.

 Colin, one of our group, gave me a TAG Turkish commander, so I had to paint him up as a Janissary officer. I gave him a guard of two of the old Campaign Miniatures Janissary range painted by John back in the 1980's. Still great figures though.

Real Time Morale.

 In the last two weeks I have fought two battles against Colin's 30 year War Swedes, one was a complete and crushing defeat, the second was a losing draw, just. In both battles, we used the Black Powder rules, and in the last one we also added the new amendments from their latest offering.Its well documented on this blog and my main blog that I have a love/hate relationship with Black Powder, mainly because I usually manage to scupper a well laid plan by bollocks dice throwing.

 In order to counter this, I have even gone to the extreme of buying new dice when I was at Salute. Did this make a difference? Not really. I still manage to 'blunder' very regularly. I usually manage to lose a couple of commanders along the way, and if I foolishly put together a battery of guns, I will lose them by throwing a double one.
  One thing I have noticed in my dice throwing is that if I am preoccupied with problems outside of the wargame, or if I'm stressed, worried or confused I invariably end up throwing dice that reflect this state of mind. Now clearly over  the last two weeks I have had a lot on my mind,[ Its to do with retirement. See my other blog] and I have felt not up to par. So effectively I suffer from real time morale syndrome.  

So whats the answer to this conundrum. Do I refuse to play until I feel more upbeat and less stressed? Do I carry on regardless? Or do I buy mind changing drugs to bring my psyche up to a level where I couldnt give a rats about any problems and recklessly throw my dice about the table. Working on this theory I have always thought that Keith Richard of Rolling Stones fame would make a damn fine wargamer. It was just a thought really.

 Anyway, on from this pondering. These chaps are the beginning of my Spanish troops. These arquebusiers are part of a colunella that I am painting. The figures are TAG, definitely not the cheapest, but certainly a well researched set of figures.

Link to Salute 2015, courtesy of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy.

Thought this link would be of interest regarding the games at Salute 2015, ignore the crap music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hISTtVapYeQ

Tabletop World Cottage.

 Well I completed another of my buildings bought for me for my birthday and obtained from Tabletop World who are based in Croatia. They are very good models, and easy to deal with as a company.Well recommended.

Janissary's couldn't hit barn door. Official!

 Last night was my inaugural outing for my Ottoman Turkish Army. Their opponents were Colin's Polish army circa 1650-80.
First mistake, by the 1650's the Turkish Army was no longer a very effective army, and military science had passed it by, the army was still using out dated muskets, and artillery and their commanders whilst brave, were very cautious.

 So fielding no less than five guns, and a good proportion of musket armed Janissaries I set up facing a very mobile Polish army, with a fair amount of winged lancers.It is over 25 years since the Turkish army has deployed on a table, and my recollections of how to use them was pretty poor.

 I do remember, as I had a Polish army once, was that the winged lancers were very good, and very hard to kill. More so in the Pike and Shotte rules.

 Tactically I set up very ineptly, dice wise I was pants, and also the Turks couldnt hit a barn door if they were sat on the lock.Pike and Shotte is very unkind to the later Turks, and the number of dice allocated for firing is less than other more ordinary European troop types. Well that's my excuses sorted then.

Colin, on his blog Carry on up the Dale has a more detailed account, so I will concentrate on the eye candy. The Poles fielded quality light cavalry, ie the Cossacks, whilst I fielded Akinji who really are very poor, and more of a nuisance than anything else. I know that historically they were used to wear out the higher quality enemy cavalry, but mine just seemed to die very quickly.

Another mistake I made in the deployment was I set the Turks to close to the edge of the table, so that if they were forced to retire they simply disappeared forever. This army needs space to maneuver
[sorry American spell check] and I didnt give the Turks enough space.

 This image shows Feudal Spahis facing Winged Hussars, thats 10 dice against 6 dice, and a save of 2+ for the knights.

How NOT to kill Polish Winged Hussars.

The Polish right wing commander even had the temerity to stand in front of one of my heavy guns, showing the contempt he felt for the Turkish artillery.

Following on from his success on his right wing, Colin decided to charge against my guns in the cente.Luckily he failed to charge home, and pulled up short of my medium guns. I managed to hit one hussar! in the subsequent volley. Luckily for me we ran out of time. I was heading off to Salute the next morning. For all my gripes the game was still very enjoyable, and once I've worked out how best to use my Turks I shall return.

Turks, thousands of them [ well actually a couple of dozen]

 Well I've finally finished re basing the Ottoman Turks that I was able to buy back  that had been originally the collection of my long suffering wargaming partner, John Reidy. I still think that these figures by Hinchliffe and Mini Figs are pretty damn good, and I look forward to fighting with them. First battle will be against Colin's Polish army, so a walkover in sight I think.

 I just need to add to the units now and pad out the army with more Jannisaries  and some extra cavalry. Still its a decent start for this Renaissance army. I played a Renaissance game the other night against John using the Impetus rules, and had forgotten just how good they are. I ended up with a bad head from thinking too much, but it was a very tense game, closely fought against the Imperialists. The upshot is I now want some Spanish adding to my collection. The Colunellas which were a precursar to the Tercios are a hard nut to crack, but they look very effective.More expense I fear.

 The Jannisaries in the green are my attempt to add to the army, they are meant to represent a unit of Scout Jannisaries. It appears that certain of the regiments had specific roles and could have been dressed accordingly.

                                      

  Italian Arquebusiers, I appear to have acquired from somewhere a large number of TAG figures, so it would be a shame not to paint them.