The Battle of Dogger Bank

On Sunday we attempted a refight of Dogger Bank 1915. This battle was somewhat of a phyrric victory for the RN, hampered as they were by the commanding Admiral, Beatty.


The German Squadrons were fleeing to the SE followed by the British, with the slower Blucher at the rear of the line inevitably falling into the clutches of the leading vessels, Lion (Beattys flagship) and Tiger.
Although in the actual battle Blucher was sunk, Lion was badly knocked about and barely made it back to port, while the bulk of the German fleet escaped.


On Sunday things went even more badly for the British fleet when with her 2nd salvo Blucher, the only German ship in range, hit the Lion with a single shell that detonated in her magazine, blowing her apart!




Later in the battle, the Germans altered course to the West in an attempt to cross the British T. Unfortunately time did not allow us to bring this battle to a conclusion, but the day was adjudged a limited German victory.

The Battle of Manila Bay

The Battle of Manila Bay took place on 1 May 1898, during the Spanish-American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and destroyed the Spanish squadron. The engagement took place in Manila Bay, the Philippines, and was the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War.

USS Baltimore 2nd in line

Dewey leads the line in USS Olympia

Skirmish line.

Queens Own 1st Hussars

Queen Boudica's that is...........

Warrior Queen!

In the legacy of Red Sonja, my warrior Queen will soon be leading her ferocious warriors against the perfidious Roman invaders..............and throwing them back into the sea!

I have dabbled with many periods, Ancients of course, Medieval, Pike and Shot, ACW and as seen above, Fantasy. I have also gamed most of these periods with a Naval bent.......did I say bent....oh those far off Navy days.

I had better mention Napoleonics, my mentor would never forgive me, else. For more years than I care to remember I have had a love/hate relationship with the genre.

For many years I would take my holidays at the Wargame Holiday Centre in Yorkshire although of late failing health has meant being unable to attend as much as I might like. If you are reading this, are an avid wargamer and Napoleonic fan, dont know me and have never been to the WHC, I URGE you to go, at least once. Yes, its expensive but believe you me, once tried you'll want to keep going back....even if it means re-mortgaging your house.

Back to Napoleonics and me.......give me some Infantry and a Battery and I'll hold until relieved.....give me Cavalry and a red mist descends................some people will never trust me with Cavalry ever again.

My greatest problem as many of my friends will attest, is my tendency to argue loudly over some minor point of the rules. Although I can hear the voice in the back of my head trying desperately to get me to stop, my inborn stupidity wont be subborned and on it goes, louder and longer, steamrollering over that hopeless protest. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to my long suffering friends for my many years of yelling and sulking.

Opening salvo's

At the urging of a 'friend' who I'm sure believes I have too much time on my hands I have created this blog.
I began wargaming at the late age of 27, using as many of us older veterans did I'm sure, Airfix plastic figures. My first armies were of the WWII variety preferring German equipment to that of the Allies of course, using too many Tigers, a common mistake.
Soon however, growing in age and experience I began to specialise, in Ancients and in particular in Ancient Britons, gotta love those chariots. Many armies, sadly painted and sold on many Bring and Buys, and many sets of rules later, I am once more setting out upon a recruitment drive to bring a British army to artistic completion.
Hopefully I will be posting pictures of my efforts here as and when they become available.



Okay, its taken a couple of days but here are the first 30 Brits based and awaiting undercoat. Still full of enthusiasm, having been unable to procure a Paintspray of brown I returned home and began undercoating the troops in Vermin Brown by hand. A job that would normally take 3 minutes with a spraycan, took me 3 hours with a paintbrush. Not to worry, they look okay. Took the time also to undercoat the shields.















Ok, have 'fleshed' out the figures over some days of painting in spurts and also attempted a check trouser effect on one of them which has'nt come out too bad, time consuming though.
Going to be a long job this........5 out of 60 nearly finished and placed here for your comment.
Okay, they're not finished but I'm getting there. In this next picture they are up on their fighting bases only half painted, most with no shields. Should'nt take me more than 3 or 4 months to finish them off.





























Of course, no A.British army would be truly representative of the period without chariots and this is the first of many. I have to admit that I copied the colours of this piece straight from the box. Usually when painting horses I use the Peter Gilder method, a base colour of orange or yellow followed with a liberal dose of Burnt Umber oil paint mixed with Thinners, wiped off and left to dry.
This time however I started with a grey undercoat and built up the off-white colour with a combination of Bleached Bone, Mid Grey and White.






can only get better.
Okay, nearly there. Basing, my bugbear. It makes or breaks the model, hope Ive not broken em too much. Still have to drybrush the bases of course, stick on and paint a lot of shields, do the final touch-ups and varnish all over, but for now, here is one, nearly finished warband.




Last picture, for now. Its been a long haul, but here is 1 Warband based, painted, shielded and varnished. Now if I could only get a decent photographer to depict them properly.



A few more shots, taken outside this morning.............unfortunately, the close ups show up my shaky hand painting rather badly in the chequered shirts and trousers