Book Review: Foundry Compendium

Love them or hate them (or love to hate them), most miniature wargamers have a strong opinion about Wargames Foundry. For over 25 years, Bryan Ansell's company, in various forms, has been the powerhouse of the historical miniatures wargaming hobby, producing beautiful 28mm (and the odd 20- and 26mm) figures for nearly every historical period up to World War II. But there is a dark side to the Foundry as well. Always at the high end of price, the company justified its premium cost with the quality of its product, sculpted by some of the best artists in the historical hobby. However, regular price increases and other "adjustments" (like reducing pack size from eight models to six without a change in price) have infuriated customers. Likewise, the alienation and subsequent departure of talented sculptors like the Perry twins, Mark Copplestone, and Mark Sims, as well as a shift in focus to licensed ranges (2000AD) and fantasy subjects dimmed the Foundry's star with many hobbyists. Perhaps realizing this, the Foundry has brought back some long-dormant figure ranges and re-concentrated on its core business, and its star seems ascendant once more.

Part of the Foundry's diversification from strictly being an historical miniatures producer is its publishing arm, Foundry Publishing, which produces wargames rules (Napoleon, Rules with No Name, Medieval Warfare) and source books on topics ranging from how to paint the "Foundry Way", to colonial conflicts in Africa. The latest work to be published by Foundry is the volume under review, the "Foundry Miniatures Compendium".

The Compendium is a slim, handsome, perfect-bound A4-sized softback volume of 96 slick full-colour pages. Edited by Paul Sawyer (late of Games Workshop's house organ, White Dwarf, and boss of Warlord Games), the Compendium collects a number of articles previously published as broadsheets by Foundry or in magazines such as Wargames Illustrated.

The book's subtitle, "Pirates to Darkest Africa: Rules, Campaigns, Painting Guides and Terrain-making Ideas" handily summarizes the contents, but there is more to the book even than that. Personally, I'm not really that interested in Pirates or Darkest Africa in particular, but I do enjoy reading well-written, absorbing articles about wargaming. This, the Compendium has in spades. Chris Peers - one of my favourite gaming writers - contributes several pieces to the book, including rules for gaming with Pirates, Conquistadors, Darkest Africans, Roman Centurions, and Gladiators, plus flavour-filled companion pieces to accompany the rules. Howard Whitehouse, also a favourite of mine, contributes a piece on Victorian costume in Africa, and Mark Copplestone and Steve Saleh write beautifully illustrated painting guides for D.A. and Greek hoplites respectively. Gary Chalk, the well-known terrain maker, guides the reader through construction of Pirate ships and terrain boards. All of these articles are of course accompanies by vibrant full-colour photos and interesting layout.

It's easy to tell that I am enthusiastic about this book and would highly recommend it not only to Pirate and D.A. enthusiasts but also to any wargamer who enjoys a variety of period, likes entertaining writing, and loves looking at beautiful wargames models painted in "the Foundry style". Regular price on the Foundry site is a steep-ish US$31.50 but right now all Foundry books are on sale for 50% off... and at $15.75 this book is a bargain. Foundry even do free worldwide shipping on any order when a book is included, so take the opportunity to buy a few packs of models while you're there. http://foundryarchive.co.uk/books/wargames_rule_book/any/any/foundry_compendium_fp017/?sector_id=32

Cheers,
Dallas

Massive Update part two

Here's some more photos of our recent games.

First up, the excellent Battle of Hudson's Bay game put on by Conscript Sylvain using the "Trafalgar" rules. Dave V. played d'Iberville and I the British.

Above we have three different views of Sylvain's beautifully painted ships and impending disaster for me. In my haste to get a devastating broadside on Dave's ship I maneuvered my merchantmen soooo cleverly that my flagship ended up t-boning one of them, reducing it to so much matchwood (best view is the pic directly above).

Of course the other merchantman was sailing in squadron directly behind and could not avoid collision with the wreckage directly ahead. It sank too :-(

In any case, it's all good for the British commander since there were no survivors from the merchantmen to report his terrible seamanship. And we sank d'Iberville's ship... as Gav Thorpe would say "a definite moral victory."

And lastly, a couple of pics from the recent "Star Wars" fleet scale game. I painted some Nebulon B's, Corvettes, and an Imperial transport from Odyssey Slipways, nice models. The asteroids are lava rocks for the barbecue, painted black and drybrushed. Just make sure to wash them first to get all the red dust off!

Oh yeah, and Neb-B's are alot tougher than you would think, aren't they Greg!! (Well, when they go up against the "special needs" Star Destroyer, that is)

So now we're caught right up to date!

Massive Update part one

OK, figured it's time for a massive update on what we've been up to on Thursdays around here. Since I'm lazy, it will have to be in one or two large and chaotic posts.

First, Lord of the Rings skirmish on a fantastic purpose-built gaming table I picked up in the Spring from a young lad whose parents were moving. It's a very nice setup but unbelievably heavy - I think the frame is made of solid cast-iron or something. It's beautifully detailed with scrollwork on the solid wooden frame. Very LotR and as you will see, versatile ;-)

Orcs go over the wall...

And land in 1940s England???

Yes, this is the same table. The builder very cleverly made the city walls and buildings separate for easy storage and even easier "re-purposing" and flexibility. We used the table for a "Sea Lion" skirmish with Fallschirmjaeger, Commandos and Home Guard, and some of Foundry's excellent WW2 civilian types as objective markers.

Over Canada Day we replayed the "Moreuil Wood" Great War game we first played last year, with superb cavalry models from Blaze Away! miniatures, seen here about to skewer some Hun machinegunners...

Stay tuned for Massive Update part two...

Slowly but surely...

I love long weekends! Great time to make some painting progress while sitting outside in the gazebo with a cold beer.

Here is a progress photo for my first unit of Austrians for Curt's Napoleonic Challenge.



Each of my infantry battalions will have 38 foot models and one mounted model (which takes of up two slots on the bases) for a total of 40 models per unit. They will be impressive displays of Hapsburg might, and will look great on the table while the Austrian commanders gnaw their fingernails off wondering whether they should actually be committed...

The standard bearers and musician are under the brush right now. After that, another officer and a pioneer are the last models to be finished for this unit. They can be seen above in the very front, with their black primer and basic shadow grey drybrush, waiting for their turn on the assembly line...

Battle report - rumble at Tarvis

Archduke John, Commander of the Austrian army in Italy, 1809 - artist's rendition

Last week Conscript Bill was kind enough to host a game of Shako. The scenario was an Austrian rear-guard action near the town of Tarvis during the 1809 campaign. The French army was racing with its usual aggression, and the Austrians under Archduke John were countering with their usual decisive indecision, retreating through the mountains toward Austria proper (at least, I think Austria proper - I'm pretty bad with Imperial geography).

Brian, Dallas and Mike F. took command for Napoleon's lackeys, while Dave V. and myself played the Austrian side. Here are some pictures from the game - the models are 15mm scale.



The Austrian forces were not that impressive, but they had the benefit of terrain and many redoubts to choose from. On the downside for the sausage-riders, the French outnumbered them to a significant extent, and even with the potential of reinforcements. Some of the French troops were of lower quality, but so were many of the Austrian defenders.

Scenario designer Mike H. was on hand to share some insight into the previous games, and Dave and I pretty much figured the way to go was to avoid the tempting line of fortifications for the most part and let the huge French army get stuck in a traffic jam while we flayed them with artillery.



Without low-balling it, I can safely declare with 100% subjective-free bias that the Austrian plan was a huge success. Although you could tell hanging back and waiting was a challenge to Dave V's normally aggressive gaming preferences (and he did contemplate attack orders pretty much every turn), we were able to dish out serious abuse with artillery while the French columns ground forward.

Mike F's cavalry brigade saw my Hussars off in the early going, but after that they were stuck near the town. I would claim that this is exactly what I wanted to happen, but even I know that is BS...

What happens in Shako when you roll "1" for your couriers...

A definite highlight of the night had to be when Brian tried to change their orders, and sent TWO couriers, but rolled snake-eyes, indicating the hapless ADCs had been abducted by roving Hungarians. Thankfully, details of their true fates were abstracted. But needless to say, faced with Austrian units hunkered down in fortifications, the French cavalry could only wait for the infantry to sweep the defenders.



Lucky for us, the Austrian defenders had laser-sighted, rifled muskets! Charge after charge was halted with musketry, giving our cannons yet another turn to hammer the tightly packed columns.



By the time we had to call the time, one French brigade was wavering, while the Austrians were loving it. No doubt that a few more turns would probably have swung things to the French as fresh brigades came up, but we held on for the Gav-Thorpe-certified-moral-victory(TM).

Many thanks to Bill for hosting, and thanks to all of the gamers who came out!

Beware the Hungarian light infantry...

....or not, more than likely. Tonight we will be playing Shako, hosted by Bill, and my 15mm Austrian lads will be marching to battle once again with Napoleon's lackeys. I don't have quite the right mix of units to meet the OB for the scenario, but I figured the least I could do was get them a bit closer by finishing of a unit of skirmishers.



I love the mix of colour in the Austrian army of the horse and musket era. Certainly there is a lot of white, but I find that makes the facings jump out. The white also lets some other cavalry and infantry units really stand out. In my well-worn Osprey book on the Austrian army of the Napoleonic era, there is a reference to a unit of Hungarian light infantry, with the requisite blue pants, but grey coats and bright orange facings. Looks perfect for a wedding, and a nice splash of colour to go with the white. So I painted up a brace of 15mm troops with this scheme and based them as skirmishers.



Skirmishers are the quickest units to paint in Shako, but for some reason this is only the second skirmish unit I have done for my 15mm Austrians. No doubt the Archduke would spin it as a major increase in support...

Anyway, we all know what happens to newly painted figures. Let's see how long these guys last tonight.

Sinister forces spotted....

What possible force on Earth could be more evil and sinister than Gordon Brown, Tony Hayward, Sepp Blatter and Glenn Beck put together? Why, the Dutch, of course...



We like to tease fellow Conscript Brian about his views on the Dutch, which are quite entertaining (Note - our enjoyment aside, he might be on to something. After all, who finds a way to lose a World Cup championship in a way that makes one of the most boring games in the world even sleepier - but I digress). I thought that we could capitalize on this by having the Dutch make an appearance in a 6mm WW3 game, so I threw together a couple of units that could be part of a NATO brigade.



The Dutch will have enough to make up a mechanized infantry battalion as well as a battalion of Leopard IIs. The Leos are some of the best tanks in Spearhead, so watch for the Dutch to dish out some serious abuse to the Soviets (or Putin's lackeys, depending on what era we go with) in our next WW3 game...