Facing the Music

For a while, I was worried about having to repaint details on the Afghan tribesmen near their shoulders.

National Army Museum: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1997-11-107-17 A sketch in the Bolan Pass, 1879

There are bigger problems at hand now.

Do you see those white bits on the redcoat's cuffs and collars? Those are facings. And I have forgotten to paint them.

My initial sources for painting were threefold, two from the site British Battles and one from an Osprey book, The British Army on Campaign 1856-81.

The collars I can take full responsibility for, but in each of these images the soldiers in question have no cuff facing colours whatsoever. What does this mean? The one on the left was made many years after the events in question by a man who was not an eyewitness. The image on the right is a potential recolour, as I have not been able to find a non-greyscale version anywhere else, except on the Instagram page of a company selling reproduction 19th century campaign furniture! Now there's something unexpected, yet delightful. The middle image, from Osprey, is based on the initial sketch at the start of this post by Lieutenant John Frederick Irwin.

It was largely by flailing about with random keywords that I came across a solution on the British Empire site.

To quote: "The tunic is an undress frock that replaced the shell jacket in 1870. It was worn at home as well as for foreign service, made of serge, having five buttons down the front. There were no pockets, and the blue facings were confined to the collar."

So, there we have it. I need not paint on cuffs for each of my figures, but I should get around to collars. White was the most frequent facing of the Second Anglo Afghan war, and also the primary English facing after the 1881 reforms. I figured I would try that for a start with a figure I was just finishing, and give the cuffs a shot too, to see how it looked:

I normally basecoat and wash in assemblies, with the arms separate from the body. This is a good example of why, the neck being devilishly hard to reach otherwise. I think the cuffs came out decently well, but the collar will need to be done neater in the future. I find myself torn as to if I should repaint cuffs on the previous figures or not. Collars are a must, but the cuffs are optional. This is not a decision to be taken lightly, although it does seem feasible if nothing else. A good first step will be to incorporate collar painting into future Redcoats, to see how a white, or black, collar looks without any corresponding cuffs.

It has been often said that you should "measure twice, cut once". When it comes to painting historical figures, "research twice, paint once" corresponds rather well. Still, I do enjoy research, even if it means I have to repaint some areas in the end.

Afghan Vernacular Architecture

How does the saying go? "Have garage, will terrain"?

For as long as I have access to a workspace like this I intend to take full advantage. And to start I have created that most humble of abodes, the mud hut.

The dimensions and instructions were taken from the Major General's page, a holy site for colonial wargaming. The walls are a little taller to account for the GW bases I have repurposed for this project. I sketched them out myself but had a bit of trouble with cutting the top corner details. In the future I might follow the style of the Mad Guru, another giant in the field. His have a uniform lip around the roof, or else much larger crenelations added on after the initial cut. The materials are the same as on the Major General's guide, but I coated the entire building in spackle. I was overeager and it somewhat melted the top sections. The effect is not entirely undesirable, but I should reign it in a little next time.

The painting was eyeballed using a mix of craft store acrylics. In the future I will try to get better-defined ratios to keep consistent. I worked from the shades of the bases you can see on my Afghan and British figures. The Major General's advice on how to create a gradient was like magic, normally it takes an attempt or two for me to get the hang of a new painting technique, but I am not afraid to say I got it in one this time!

This wall came out the best in my opinion. It scales well enough to provide cover while not taking up too much table space, which is perfect for my needs. Even better, this took three days of mild effort from scratch. Now that I have experience, I should be able to assemble and paint these much faster, and while trying more advanced techniques. Did I hear someone say "awnings"?

Only ten or so Brits left now. My failed attempts from last year will need to be either disassembled and stripped or abandoned, so the total number will likely be 30 rather than the full 36 of the box. Luckily, TSATF allows for half-sized units with some minor modifications.

If you cannot tell, I am very pleased with this little hut.

Twilight Imperium Experiences

 Playing three games of Twilight Imperium in less than a month is as good as an excuse as any for not posting here.

The playtime on this game is really quite mad. The shortest game was 13 hours, and also the only game our group ever played to completion without everyone throwing their 1 VP support for the throne cards at a single player. Still, I would highly recommend it if you and your group are able to pick up rules. This goes doubly for any groups with experienced players who can teach the others, as was the case in ours.

My first game saw me playing the Empyrean. I wanted to try the Mentak Coalition out of the gate, but a running joke about my fascination with pirate characters in tabletop and my own desire to be less than confrontational in my first game won out. I chose the Empyrean because I also quite like the idea of a spaceborne species, and they reminded me of the Masters of the Bazaar from Fallen London. This game saw me rush down and hold the strategy card for tech for two turns in a row, which ended up doing more harm than good. I was starved for command counters to move my units with and resources to build the newly upgraded units. By the end of the game I could produce independent fighters that could move vast distances, but the game concluded before I could use them to any great effect. Most of the other players were also new, meaning there was a general reluctance to pass around each other's borders which limited the usefulness of my Aetherpassage ability. Still, I ended in first after grubbing several support for the throne cards when the group decided to wrap up.

For the next game I gave into the urges of my soul and played the pirate faction. This game saw the University player find themself with several support for the throne cards and possession of Mecatol Rex at about the midpoint of the game, ready to win handily. This resulted in a gang-up for the ages, which I felt rather bad for as one of those support for the throne cards had been mine. For what it is worth, I did offer to help defend them in exchange for the card back, but the deal was not taken. Seeing this done to someone was a good lesson to learn about not giving out support for the throne in the early game, and especially about not jumping on a bandwagon of handing them out. The University player was fully removed from the game after only a turn as a result of this mistake on my part. Ironically, they had such a lead from objectives and Mecatol Rex that they still ended up winning two turns and several hours later.

As for myself, I had a splendid time playing the Mentak Coalition. Being able to skim off the top of any adjacent transaction in the game was delicious, and as long as I kept a single happy neighbor I was relatively secure. At least, I thought so. Eventually one player was fed up with my constant thievery and sent a massive fleet through a wormhole to threaten my homeworld. Only some farcical negotiations on my part saved the day, which I will now relay in full:

>Myself: "Please don't wipe me, I'll give you the promissory note that prevents me from stealing anything else and a political secret."

>Other player: "I don't know."

>Myself: "Do you really want to waste all this effort on me? You've left your own home system entirely undefended with hostile neighbors. Let me go and I can help you!"

>Other player: "Alright, I suppose"

>Myself: "So you'll give me a ceasefire in exchange for a political secret?"

>Other player: "Here you go"

>Myself: "You forgot to ask for the card that stops me from pirating you. This was a transaction, so I'll just take a little off the top."

Then I took my rightful trade good token and made a noise befitting Hector Barbossa himself.

A merry life and a short one mates! Yarr harr!

The ceasefire bought me a turn, but by the end of the game I was hurting for lost territory as the onslaught continued. Better to have died a pirate than lived as a coward, I say.

The most recent game was played as Embers of Muaat. They were picked for being space-dwarves with Death Stars, which should be more than enough justification. This game I won cleanly with 10 VP and only one support for the throne card. However, much of that came from a glorious start. While assembling the map I managed to get four tech-skip planets, one of each type. For a faction with excellent units locked behind tech this was a Godsend. But even more unbelievably, the first level two objective revealed was to own five tech-skip planets. I managed to hire the Trade Emirates to conquer and then sell one to me, which was then taken by a fourth party to stop me before I could score the objective. Fortunately, I was able to bargain my way into getting another of the Emirate's tech planets for free since they had failed to bring me the one I originally paid for. I believe it was equal parts negotiation and pity which saved me there. At the same time I was in control of Mecatol Rex, but only because the faction which had smashed my level two war sun and escorts had forgotten to bring any infantry with them, rendering the planet technically mine as I scored the imperial strategy card for another victory point. So many little things added up to push me far ahead, but for each stroke of luck there was another due to desperate bargaining and fourth-dimensional thought, and no small manner of adaptation. The Embers themselves were fun, but limited in their outside interactions. I should have used their agent ability to give units to other factions for money, but it was too tempting to get two free dreadnoughts every turn instead. Playing a galactic blacksmith will have to be saved for a future game.

You might be able to guess that my favorite faction is the one that involves misdirection and constant piracy. There is such a thing as playing to type, but at the same time I loved always being in on the action even outside of my own turn, able to butt in on other trade deals to skim a little off the top. Keeping any sort of anti-piracy force from forming was a game all in its own too. The next time we play, perhaps November, I hope to try them again and see if I can get away with another golden age or if the other players have grown wise.

Yo-ho, yo-ho...