Library clear-out

I've decided to slim down the library.
First to go will be books, some of which I have had a long time. Re-read and cherished I hope they will be appreciated as much as I have appreciated them.
They are classics of the wargame literature.
Books by Grant, Heath and Barker.
More books and rules will follow. Perhaps most.
These are the books I've just posted on eBay:-

I'm sure those who have been in the hobby for a while will know of these three books.
Wargame Tactics by Grant has been one of my favourite books. The battle of Behistun castle being a favourite read over the time. Even if the Sassanian's did lose.

A wargamers' guide to the Crusades never took off with me. I had a one time two small armies of 13th century English armies, Simon de Montfort and the Earl de Warrene. I had planned to paint a Saracen army but it never took off. Hence, probably the least read book on my shelf. The armies were sold to a wargame shop in Aylesbury along with a 15mm Macedonian Successor army. They were much better painted than my 25mm armies at the time, even if they were with Humbrol!

Alexanders the Greats' Campaigns was a boon when it came out. The campaign aspect is possibly too detailed for many nowadays. But plenty of good reference material for those wanting to know about ancient logistics and probable costings.

'Till next time

2019 painting challenge

Hi!
I was wondering what my painting schedule for this year should look like.

Firstly, finish the Frostgrave soldiers, the old school Persians  (foot and cavalry -riders only, the horse have been done months ago), the Sumerian buildings and a few pieces of the 6mm Napoleonics artillery left over from previously. It doesn't sound much but I'll expect to close these off by the end of March. Really, hoping to finish by the end of February.

Next will be the 6mm Heroics and Ros English Civil War armies. There are a lot. I have to break them down into two armies. I'd partly done this before they were stored away. Whenever that was!
I will need to look again. The problem will be basing. I'm inclined to put each battalion/regiment of foot on the same base. But 80mm seems too large so I will look at 60mm basing.
DBA/DBR recommend 3 bases of 40mm wide which is rather a lot of space to take up on the table for a unit IMHO, where 2 bases of shot and 1 of pike would be the norm. Where as 40mm seems too small. I'll experiment.
Further to this, unit and army frontages were never so conforming as DBX makes out.
Incidentally, I will be having variable unit sizes, as happened in reality. I'm not sure if any rules cater for this but a factor can be subtracted when shooting or in melee should the need arise. Or added.
I will set a start and end date of March through to the end of September. Rather long, granted. Fortune or mishap could easily arise to alter this.

Having written the above, the next day I got then out to check!

As can be seen, quite a few to do.
There are a few irregular miniature figures here, but not many. Mostly they are the artillery train, crews and guns. I think they are more appealing models then H&R.
Arrayed with the pile are some bases I will try out.

This is the pile mostly sorted.
I have an abundance of cavalry but not as many pike and shot as I thought. I have 6 regiments divided previously with a pack or two of pike and shot to separate.
As can be seen, a nice artillery park. Nine canon of various sizes.

So having looked at what is to do I have tried a few base sizes already and come to my preferred size.
It will tend to be 80 x 40 mm.  The number of figures will be 45, 30 shot and 15 pike. Some units may contain less to give the visual appeal I am looking for
If I do some London Trained Bands I will base them on 3, 40 x 40 mm bases with the increase in figure count accordingly. Possibly.
All, of course, subject to change on whim!

The horse, I am not sure the base size I prefer yet.

A few figures are partially painted as I bought them from eBay years ago. A bit rough but I can smarten them up a bit.

I expect I will start with the horse. It seems my default position if I have them.


This will leave October through to the end of the year to paint the French and Indian Wars figures. Hopefully I will be ahead by then to give some extra time.