On Bloody Ground - Cover art for a new rules series

 

I've been a bit excited the last couple of weeks as, for the first time, I have one of my paintings as the cover of a glossy book.

Some may be aware that I painted this oil commission of "King Harold at Hastings, 1066" a few years ago for an esteemed senior wargamer who lives not far from me, and it was spotted on my website about 5 months ago by the authors of these rules.  David and Dan Toone are a father and son team from Essex who have big plans to make an impression on the world of Ancient and Medieval wargaming with something a bit different. In these days of fashionable small scale skirmish games with sword, spear  and armour warbands they are offering a "big battle" game. Still designed for a basic 6 foot x 4 foot table and armies manageable by most gamers' resources, they can be ranged up as big as you like.

At this stage it is important to me to point out that the "The Norman Conquest" is merely the first of many in the pipeline and I will say more towards the end of this post - please read on.

In the words of the authors 

"OBG - The Norman Conquest is a 64 page, perfect bound rulebook, with common sense core rules, including brutal combat and a system of orders that makes the game dynamic, exciting, fun and challenging.

The rules are designed for use with individually based 28mm miniatures, but can easily be adapted for use with any scale or basing.

This first book in the series covers the Dark Ages in Britain between the 8th and the 11th centuries and includes army lists for Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Irish, Scottish and Welsh.

If you have any questions regarding the game and it's mechanics, or more specifics on how the game plays, don't hesitate to contact us.

We will be creating more videos on the mechanics of the game, as well as battle reports and information of our newest releases.

On Bloody Ground can be found and bought on our website here:

www.wipgamesandminiatures.com

Also check out or new Facebook group dedicated to WiP Games and Miniatures and everything to do with On Bloody Ground:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2739106046226902/"

That says it all really.

My readers know me as a keen "horse and musket" wargamer with a strong bent towards World War Two as well. Although I've played a lot of Ancient, and a fair bit of Medieval in my time, in no way do I pretend to be any expert in the history and mechanics of the warfare of those eras. So I can't give an opinion on how "good" the rules are, but I can say that if I was not already up to my eyes in a big project (see some forthcoming posts on my Napoleonic 1809 campaign progress) I would be highly stimulated by this book to get some boxes of plastic Saxons  and say, Vikings, and have a go.  Suffice for now for me to present you with photographs of some pages from the book which I hope will be enough to help you to decide to buy a copy at the very reasonable price of £15.  It is A4 size, easy to read text with lots of diagrams, and feels like a durable volume that is good to handle. As you see above it is backed up by lots of information and free downloads elsewhere on the internet. There is also a blog On Bloody Ground

A very comprehensive and useful contents list, and there is also an index
at the back

Your existing base sizes are not a problem, evidently as long as you
can fit figures into a unit footprint base, which remains constant
throughout the game. Not a bad idea to represent the fluid
formations of the period thinning out with losses and exhaustion.
Skirmishers operate as individual figures though.

There are 8 pages of really useful photos of actual units and game-specific vignettes - not just eye candy but a real aid in understanding how to form armies, plus useful stimulation on "uniforms" for beginners

The six nationalities represented in this volume each have three pages
 packed with useful examples of unit types

I'm proud of another little contribution of mine -There are a number of black and
white vignettes of details of the cover painting which have been used as chapter
 endings etc. Hopefully they give a little added stimulation to get on with the wargaming

The Future

David and Dan are being naturally pragmatic in these difficult economic times and future volumes depend to some extent on sales of Part One. But each period has its own devotees so, personally, I am optimistic that they will be successful in more than just "The Norman Conquest" era. They have plans for releases in the following order:

The Reconquista

Rome's Gallic Wars

The Persian Wars

Alexander the Great  (a favourite of mine which I am looking forward to)

They are already working on a series of 28mm white metal figures but the only info I have on those is that it will be  Greeks and Achaemenid Persians first

And in answer to my basic question David said:

<<Each book we produce will have the same core rules, with variations in special rules, arms and armour as necessary for the period. So players can buy one book and play to their hearts content with no need for anything else.>>

To finish here is sneak peek of the Cover for Book Two which I have completed, and the expectation is there will be more paintings to come for the following titles.  If you are not already aware of my art work please take a look at my website Chris Gregg Art. If you are already one of my art patrons then I think you might like to start collecting this series as a little sideline to your investment in my art - Thank you. 

The Soldiers of Islam gather to make Holy War c. 1082 
(original acrylic painting by Chris Gregg - COPYRIGHT)

Another painting for Ukraine: One Year On

 It's with mixed feelings I faced the one year anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Sadness, that it is still going on and the people of Ukraine (and also so many families in Russia too) are suffering so much. But also satisfaction and admiration too. Admiration for the fortitude of the Ukrainians to send all their menfolk to fight and not flee like in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Admiration for the Ukrainian women and children, many have stayed to help or just carry on to show the Russians they can't be cowed, and many have gone to friendly countries to support their fighters to manage the best they can till things are better.  Not least I admire many of the young women still in Ukraine, we have seen many on our TV screens over the last 12 months - from Government Ministers and MPs, fighters in the armed forces along with the men, to medical staff and civilians using their skills to help keep the fight going.

I was incredibly heartened by the support my art for Ukraine received  a year ago. I ended up painting not one but two, thanks to the generosity of my patrons; and with some small prints sold at a wargames event and to friends have raised nearly £500 by my efforts. Those families still need our support. Personally I need no convincing that the Ukrainians are fighting for us too.  If they crumble Putin will be emboldened and he won't stop there. The parallels with Hitler and 1938 - 40 are too powerful to be ignored. He tries to tell the Russian people that the West is out to get them. No we are not, but we have to be out to get him, and anyone that fights at his bidding. The only way I have to do that is to paint, and ask you to have faith in my work and raise as much as we can to support those who are fighting and dying for our values of freedom. Before I get too emotional let's get onto the art. 

Here is the second painting which I don't think I ever showed on the blog. The patron has a great sense of humour and he asked that the Russian look a bit like Putin, and the Saxon Cuirassier a bit like Zelenzky

The Saxon Zastrow Cuirassiers fight Russian Artillery in 1812.
Acrylic on canvas 12" x 10"

This year my thoughts turned to trying to honour the women of Ukraine. I recalled that a young Ukrainian lady, who I've called Ella, modelled for me way back in late 2012.  I looked back at the photoshoot, which was of course before the Russian incursions into Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in 2014, and found some useful source material.

I'm bound to offend someone as the history of Ukraine is so diverse how can I,  a poor Englishman, expect to get it right? Apologies in advance but my 2023 "Cossack Girl " is neither historically or ethnically representative - she and her setting are entirely symbolic. I'm trying to say something like the following:

• Cossack men have a reputation for toughness. The 12 months 2022-23 have shown the Ukrainian women are tough too
• Yet Ukrainian females are world renowned for their beauty, feminine charm and tenderness
• The Cossack sabre and pistol stuffed in the sash show she means business
• The highly decorated fur pelisse and fur hat are symbolic of the richness of the country but harsh nature of Ukraine's climate and the war.  However, the flowered blouse shows that underneath is a kinder future
• Her expression is neither angry, happy nor self satisfied, yet is hopeful as she kneels among the burned wheat that is regrowing anew around her and embodied in the Ukrainian flag.

I give you "Hope for Ukraine - Cossack Girl". Details of my online auction are given below the pictures

"Hope for Ukraine - Cossack Girl"
Acrylic on canvas 11.5" x 8" , UK A4 size

Cossack Girl - detail

The canvas sides are painted but it could be framed.
The painting comes varnished, strung and ready to hang.

Once again I will be giving to what I believe to be a reliable charity - the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, Ukraine One Year On

I usually sell paintings at this size for between £75 and £100. This one took me about 12 hours work. So please start the bidding at £80 and let's see how far we get....... I will give 100% of the result to the charity minus the cost for insured postage to your location.

Please email me your bids to Chris Gregg. 

The Auction closes at 1pm UK time on Thursday 2nd March 2023. I will be giving updates on this blog and my Instagram account.

If you are unfamiliar with my art work, or have not looked for some time please visit my website https://chrisgregg-art.co.uk/. You can ask me questions through the "contact" page there or via the email link above.

Thank you.

Chris

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UPDATE 2000 HOURS MONDAY 27th FEB

I'm delighted to be able to say that after the first 24 hours the bidding has reached £120.. While I would be disapointed to have to turn away the current leader please keep the bids coming to get more money to the cause. Thanks to all who have emailed me and commented in any way.

CG

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UPDATE AT 1020 ON THURSDAY 2nd MARCH

Just few hours to go and the bidding is now at £140.  Thanks so much to those who have expressed support.

CG

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FINAL UPDATE:

The auction is now closed and the painting went for £140. Very pleased to say it went to one of my oldest friends who I studied art with at school. He is an active supporter of the Ukrainian cause and lives in Southeast England. Even better he is planning to auction it to try to raise yet more money!

A heartfelt thank you also to everyone who has emailed me with good wishes and support even though I know many could not bid for various reasons. Let's hope the war is "solved" enough by next March so I don't have to do this again!!

CG

German buildings for 18th/19th Century 3D printed

 In the last blog post I showed briefly that I was getting more "plastic" 3D printed terrain models on my table. I'm known as a great exponent of downloadable self printed card model buildings as being a more environmentally friendly and much cheaper alternative to lots of thick and heavy resin, and nothing has changed that. Except that now I'm on a new project and with Christmas coming up my kids asked me what old Dad wanted as a treat. So I realised it was now or never to go for some of the beautiful and authentic models I'd seen via Ebay and elsewhere. To be honest I'm a DIY modeller and cheapskate so they seemed too expensive to me just to buy for myself.  As a present though, and after convincing myself that with many years ahead they are hardly "single use plastic", I could indulge in a large village or mini-town.

This post is not so much a How-to-do it as just showing how I spent my spare time over the last week of 2022 and the first of 2023 and what it created.

I already had, unmade, a beautiful little Tyrol Chapel from warfayre on Ebay. Although 15mm it passes as a reasonable Austrian church along with the 12mm models my family got me from their Leipzig buildings series.  I was lucky to get a nice collection in one go. Since I am working on Bavaria and Austria in 1809 and not Leipzig 1813 I  was not too worried about historical accuracy in assembly or paintwork but they looked reasonably authentic to me.

Not shown but I did a lot of work first taking out floors or ceilings with a sharp modelling knife and small saw. This was so that I could get figures inside - the measurements were just right to get my 25-28mm wide infantry bases in.

For two buildings I fitted them on bases big enough to take the
 supplied walls, gates and fences, with enough room for a
few figure bases too

Ready for spray undercoat

I made a large base for the farm with recesses so that the buildings could be placed in the right configuration, or different buildings used later when I have more.

If you wanted to stick the roofs on as fixed models they are fine. But I wanted mine removable for figure insertion or when on fire, so I made some small cardboard lugs to stick under the roofs for easy location. Some I left with the tiny plastic corner nipples but they are not a great fit.

Generally undercoating everything with a dark grey spray paint

This is a "church" or large meeting house in 15mm
 not from the Leipzig series

These buildings are mainly plaster walls so I sprayed gently with
a light yellow/buff colour, not covering all the grey,
to create a weathered look

Keeping the roofs separate I sprayed them with a kind of terra cotta brown - Army Painter sprays are the most reliable in my opinion. They call this one Fur.

When dry it's time to move indoors and I'm using matchpots of acrylic/emulsion type paint to dry brush
a cream highlight on all the upper surfaces

That has the effect of creating unity across the buildings and will help them blend more naturally into the model landscape than if left just basic stark plain colours

I gave the chapel personal treatment with white not yellow
 and it's come out a little gem I think

More highlighting if necessary and working on the courtyard walls.
The one at left foreground has scratch built walls with "red' tiled top

That meeting house had lots of brick within a timbered
frame so was hard work with smaller brushes

PVA and sprinkled with generous coatings of my sawdust
 mixtures to make dirt farm yards, courtyards and roadways
 through the hamlets

Testing an arrangement on my table (where followers will recognise La Haye Sainte and Althorp buildings were placed in earlier games.) Still not finished.

They all needed the colour variations "lifting" with weeds and grass
 growing round the lower edges and baseboards

Happy with that now and a couple of matt varnish sprays to fix as much as possible

The next set of photos shows a selection of AB 18mm figures on location. Since mine is a representational game at one figure = 50 men then this is a large village in 12mm and I find it perfectly acceptable that it can be occupied by up to a couple of large brigades of infantry.

As I said some roofs do not fit as easily as others. Also, despite applying liquid plastic filler I could not completely get rid of the horizontal joins between wall sections.

I'm very satisfied with this. To my eye it's a good looking 18th century German village/farm set up, and practical for wargaming. I've made them versatile for lots of different configurations in the future.

I did not place the 15mm meeting house with them
 but it still looks good elsewhere 

As with so many 3D printed products these days you can buy these in about 4 different sizes. For some beautiful versions of the Leipzig buildings head over to Colin Ashton's great blog Carryings on up the Dale

And, lucky me, I'm getting more for my birthday very soon!