WIP: Volley and Bayonet BUA

On Thursday night I had the pleasure of playing a game of ACW V&B that had been organized by Robin - from over at Wargamingnz - and his friend Adrian. I got to use some of Robin's very nice 15mm Union forces, and get drubbed by Adrian using Robin's equally nice 15mm Confederate forces. It was a very enjoyable and fun game which I learnt a great deal about the finer points of V&B. I also saw the way Robin had made some of his BUAs for B&V - and I was very impressed - so impressed that I decided to steal the idea!

Brand New V&B supplement - 20 years old and still has the new book smell.

Earlier this week I also had my order from Old Glory Miniatures arrive. They still have in stock a number of  issues of  the 'Command Post Quarterly" and quite a good range of the various supplements for V&B. Their shipping system to non US destinations is to charge a flat US$50 rate at the point of sale, and then charge, or refund, the difference between the flat rate and the actual rate. It is an interesting system, which does have the merit of eventually charging the actual cost of shipping. The downside is that after making the sale, they are not proactive in giving out information compared to other companies - I had to email them after two weeks to find out if the package had been mailed, had a tracking number, and to find out if the refund on my credit card was just for shipping, or that one of the CPQs that I had ordered was out of stock (which would be reasonable given that they have been out of print for around 20 years now) On the upside, the books were in perfect condition, were well packaged in a sturdy box, and arrived within a reasonable time frame. I will most likely buy from them again as despite not being proactive in communications they did answer my queries quickly and promptly.

What impressed me about Robin's ACW terrain was that it was designed to have a removable section that once removed allowed the placement of  a 3" by 3" Brigade stand - the maximum capacity for a single BUA under the rules.

A log cabin and a schoolhouse.

Now I had some small period cardstock buildings - from the back of Billy V packets of 1/72 scale figures- plus a small number of BUM old west buildings, that I could use to make my own BUA with detachable buildings.

Lewis and Clark's wooden house makes a functional storage building.

The 3" by 3" gap was made by carving and gouging out a space in the upper part of two glued together scrap 3mm MDF   board pieces.

The Saloon (sans roof) and the hotel are glued onto the removable section.

Katherine came up with the idea of using two buildings back to back. I think it looks much better than using a single building.

So I just have to paint and wash the BUM buildings, and then flock the BUA and I will have finished my first purpose made V&B BUA! I have already planned out the next two - one will use the cardstock  school house and the BUM church/chapel, while the other one will make use of the BUM railway office and some spare track and some other HO bits.

Barcelona Universal Models Far West Town

 While I was in Pennsylvania, I purchased a number of wargaming and modelling items. Part of the haul was these sets produced by Barcelona Universal Models, or BUM, as they are better known - which is a rather unfortunate acronym for a variety of reasons.

The haul of of BUM sets.

BUM produces or markets a variety of sets, and a number of them are essentially copies of Airfix figures with accessories thrown in, some of which I believe to be originally produced by Giant.

Close up of some of the Far West boxes.

The box art is bold and colourful

The Far West town range is one that I have been interested in for some time, as I believe that they could be used on templates for BUAs for games set in 19th and possibly 18th century North America.

The three most usable buildings. L. to R. Saloon, Railway Station, and Hotel.

The attraction of using these building are that they are largely only the 'storefront' and lack any real depth - generally only being 20-30mm deep (3/4" to 1 1/4" deep in wargaming measure) which allows plenty of room on a V&B BUA template.

Two small wagons with an Imex AWI British soldier for scale.

 The problem is that the best buildings are definitely not suitable for 18th century use. Fortunately they are fine for !9th Century use! The wagons that come with the ranches (each ranch got a wagon in a similar colour) can be converted to use as 18th century wagons, and some of the figures could also be adapted, so the 18th Century does get a look in!

One of the two Ranches.

The two ranches, with soldier for scale.

 The ranches themselves will require much work to be usable, but could be used for parts, particularly fencing.

A small engine and a smaller church, possibly a chapel.

The locomotive will require some further work, and the church will need have a larger doorway cut and the bell tower tweaked. So both of these will also be of use.

The Church and the Hotel with soldier for scale.

Locomotive and Station with soldier for scale.

The figures from the combined sets. All the figures are copies from various Airfix sets. The horses I believe are copies of horses from Giant.

 The figures are all reduced size copies of Airfix figures and are nearly perfect HO scale. Some of these figures are quite usable, but most will probably prove to be too small when put near 1/72 scale figures.

Sprue number one: copies of Airfix Cowboys and Airfix Indians.

Sprue number two: Copies of figures from the Airfix Wagon Train set, and the Airfix Civilians set.

Sprues of horses - that look very much like horses by Giant.

By and large I am quite happy with these sets, and if worse comes to worse I could always use them for playing games of Boothill.

Back in NZ

I am now back in sunny Christchurch after spending January in Pennsylvania. Despite the best attempts of winter to stop my sight seeing, I was lucky enough to see a few places of historic and gaming interest in between my shopping trips.

 So I am placing a few snaps here as they may be of interest to others. Some of these sites are best viewed in seasons other than Winter....

First up, Fort Necessity, a bad day for Washington.

Ft Necessity: A hasty fortification build by Washington to hold off French colonial forces.

A swivel gun, as part of the reconstructed fort.

Glove for scale.

 Next up, and just now the road is the site of General Braddock's grave. The Braddock campaign was another ill fated move against the French.

The story of Braddock's burial.

A section of Braddock's road - a pathway on the original lay of the road.

The marker at the original grave site.

The present monument.

The Braddock campaign is one that has fascinated me for a number of years, so I was very pleased to be able to visit his grave.

I also managed a trip to Valley Forge - winter being a suitable time to visit, but unfortunately not the right time of year to visit the Brandywine battlefield museum.

 And of course, another site with a link to George Washington!

I can relate to this - I am currently making an AWI force.

Bayonets - a useful weapon in the AWI. Not having one was a major disadvantage.

A reconstruction of one of the Valley Forge cabins.

And of course, I went to Gettysburg again, and took lots of photos, and bought lots of plastic soldiers .....

How could this plan possibly fail?

So I had fun, and will have to visit again during warmer weather. Next post I have some AARs and some WIPs of things actually being made!

Maps and Stuff

A nine piece foam tile set bought by Kat for me!

As Archduke Piccolo noted in his comment on my last post, the photos were indeed taken on a map of Gettysburg.

It works out at being around a metre square.

I have regretted not getting one since seeing it the Gettysburg visitors center in 2008.  I was worried that it would be too bulky to take back home, given the other stuff I was carrying back.

No scale is given however.

 I plan to run a very simple game of the Battle of Gettysburg on it, using a simplified version of Volley and Bayonet.

The township itself. Unfortunately the location of the best toy soldier shops are not marked.

To continue the theme from my last post of items I purchased and had waiting for me in PA, I purchased some more Star Wars Micro Machines figures, and two Forces of Valor German trucks.

In and out of the packaging.

 The trucks are very sturdy diecast models of German Bussing-Nag 4500As, and make a nice change for my German transport park that consists of a collection of Esci and Airfix Opel Blitzs. From memory these two trucks are rated as being medium trucks under CD.

Side by side. Each truck comes with a canvas tilt and two passengers.

 I also decided to grab some cheap Imperial Naval Troopers to bulk up my Galactic Navy forces.

Imperial Naval Troopers.

More recruits for the Galactic Navy.

The final picture shows some toy soldiers my Mother in law found for me. The big grey cowboy is around 80mm high, and is a hollow cast metal figure. Some time spent researching on the internet revealed that he is a Barclay cowboy - No: 752 Cowboy with Lasso.(This link gives more information, scroll halfway down the page for a picture, and return to the main page for detailed information)

New additions to my figure collection - a Barclay Cowboy and two Bonnie Bilt GIs.

The two semi round GIs appear to be figures from a US company called Bonnie Bilt. I managed to find a blog with some information on them, but apart from that I wasn't able to find much about them. The figures are hard plastic, and are quite visually pleasing. I am sure that they will look good on one of my bookshelves.