Horrible Histories - Witchfinders Direct

Pilgrims, Puritans, Witchfinders...  They all wear the same sort of hats right?  :-)

Just a little teaser.  Hopefully I'll have the overdue "Encounter at Grimminhagen Graveyard." batrep up by Monday.  Hopefully...
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Happy Thanksgiving!

Making your guests sit on the ground?...jeez, that's kinda lame.

Wishing everyone an enjoyable and safe Turkey Day and holiday weekend!  Be sure to save room for the pumpkin pie, but eat enough to fall asleep by half-time.  ;-)

I also thank the Lord for all his blessings on me and my family in the last year.  Amen!

 Root Beer and Popcorn... a Thanksgiving classic!

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Witchfinder General: Days of Revelation

“Prime your pan- for there is evil abroad this night”

From the manufacturer's website:

Witchfinder General: Days of Revelation is set during the period of the 17th Century leading up to the English Civil Wars  Courageous Witchfinders battle against the many vile abominations that plague a once green and pleasant land.  Clandestine vampire factions, aided by their loyal Guardsmen  of Blind Obedience, secretly strive to gain ultimate power over a deceived nation. Cruel  barguests create fear and mayhem across town and country. Evil witchcraft is rife; vicious werewolves savage the innocent and crazed noctelinger hunt in the shadows.

This exciting new  wargame rule book contains 108 A4 sized pages of furious wargaming fun.  The game is inspired by folklore, myth and the propaganda pamphlets produced by all sides involved in the English Civil Wars. Witchfinder General: Days of Revelation provides background and rules for using: Witchfinders; Angry Villagers; Clubmen; Pikemen; Musketeers; Dragoons; Cavalry; Vampires; Werewolves; Witches; Noctelinger and Barguests.

I initially found this new set of rules on the Warlord Games website.  It was released on the 31st of October.  Perhaps a little late for spooky Halloween games, but with Thanksgiving right around the corner, not too late for Puritans in funny hats.

According to Warlord Games, the rules are designed for two players (or sides) using bands of 28mm models and are inspired by myth, legend, historical events and classic horror movies.  They obviously fit in well with their extensive English Civil War range of miniatures.  Might provide an excuse to paint up a box or blister without diving into a whole ECW army project.

Although a good amount of info about the game can be found on the manufacturer's site, pics of a few sample pages would be nice.  Honestly it would be nice to flip though the book first instead of blindly ordering it from across the pond.  Sadly that's not possible with many rulesets these days as the local shops seem to want to avoid taking the chance on stocking new books when there already tons of older ones collecting dust on their shelves.

I haven't had to chance to post a battle report yet from my Halloween game this year, but the skirmish rules I mentioned earlier from GW's Lord of the Rings game worked out very well and have tons of potential to explore as well as pulling ideas from the historical versions of the game: Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas  Still, I'm interested in hearing more about Witchfinder General and everything it has to offer.  Definitely something to check out!

Oh yeah,...   Bonus video!

Enjoy!  :-)
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Amazing Dioramas - Recreaciones Históricas en miniatura

Unfortunately due to a couple computer virus attacks, migraine headaches, and other fun stuff my time posting and commenting on the blogosphere has been quite limited lately.  I did however want to share some amazing Napoleonic era diorama photos and links from the guys at Recreaciones Históricas en miniatura (A company specializing in building dioramas and models with absolute historical accuracy for museum exhibition halls, cultural associations, corporations, etc.., Also for individuals.)

 Group shot of the masters at RHm.

The Recreaciones Históricas en miniatura is the newest of the three blog sites I wish to feature in this post.  It is perhaps the more "official" site of the group, and it presently  showcases the four dioramas built to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the Battle of Albuera (May 16, 1811).

 The exhibition at Albuera.

These four dioramas of Albuera were done in a 14 month period, over 3000 hours of work, and include over 1500 hand painted (and many converted) 28mm miniatures.  My photos here are really just an introduction to these awesome displays.  Many more pics (including close-ups) and details including the history, units involved, and description of what's exactly is happening in each of the displays can be found on the site as well.

The "Center of the Battle" diorama.

"Action at the Bridge of Albuera" diorama.

"The Battle of the People of Albuera 1811" diorama.

"Attack of the French Cavalry" diorama.

The second site I would like to share  is the Blog de Curro.  This site is definitely a more work in progress blog featuring not only the workshop and the Albuera dioramas, but some other works and the current "Siege of Badajoz" project.

The third and by far the oldest site is Diorama de Trafalgar.  This features the ongoing personal project of a scene from the Naval Battle of Trafalgar centered around the harassment of the Spanish flagship Santísima Trinidad.  Although a few of the ships have been displayed as vignettes, the final diorama calls for no less than 8 1/56 scale ships.  Amazing stuff!

Although it would take hours to check out all the great stuff packed into these three blog sites, there's also an album of tons more pictures found here.  If that isn't enough there's always a...

Bonus video!



Enjoy!
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Learn history the easy way, watch it on DocuWatch!

That's no way to learn about poison gas used at Ypres!!

A quick glance at my "War Room" picture album in the left-hand margin tells I'm no stranger to books and reading, but like a number of gamers I know, I enjoy having something on while I'm hobbying.  Sometimes music is not enough to kept the old noggin occupied while I labor on my miniature legions.

Having the game on the radio or the handy audio book are very good options, but if you can avoid the "Goldfish" effect, so are movies (old war movies for me) or even documentaries.  The visual stuff is probably better for the assembly part of the hobby when you can afford a glance every so often as opposed to strictly painting.

For most veteran wargamers and miniature hobbyists, the information given so far in this post isn't anything new, but what might be is a website I discovered over at Anatoli's Game Room.  So for some my local gaming friends and others on the blogosphere that aren't aware, there's a great site called DocuWatch that has tons of documentaries steaming about history, war, art, science, and more!

I've only scratched the surface myself, but it's definitely worth checking out, and maybe you might even learn a thing or two.  :-)

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Remembering Veterans Day

You never make friends like the ones you served with.

Wishing all my fellow US military veterans an enjoyable Veterans Day!  I was proud to serve my country and I salute others who have done the same.

For my part to make the day a little more 'enjoyable' for everyone, I thought I'd throw in a pic from my days as a cadet on the ROTC Ranger Challenge Team in 1993. (First row, center)  Back when I still dreamed of being a future Patton or Rommel, and before the Army deemed me too smart to lead panzer legions and made me Military Intelligence. ;-)

OK, maybe a few more...

Yeah, the guy on the end closest to the camera wasn't from our unit

nor was he posing for this pic, but he was a good sport all the same.

Update:  Throwing in this quote my Mom send to me today from General Omar Bradley:

"Veterans are God's gift to us.  Freedom is their gift to the world."

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