Tonight, I played my first game of The Men Who Would be Kings (TMWWK) using their solo game rules, "Playing against Mr. Babbage" and the optional rule of Skirmish Kings a.k.a. half sized units. Sergeant Spurgeon Burress was ordered to take a squad of men and patrol the area to the south of the main camp. Sergeant Burress has the reputation of being somewhat aggressive in his tactics often throwing his men out of perfectly good defensive positions and assaulting the enemy in hand to hand (I rolled a result of up & at em for the good Sergeant's personality which means given the opportunity he will always charge the enemy.)

"My God it's a barren wasteland here private."

Imad Majid was not known for his tactical skills or leadership but had never been so much as scratched in the many battles in which he had fought.(I rolled a result of Bulletproof Bumbler) With a viscous cry the tribesmen rise from cover nearly upon the patrol. (Arrived within one (1) native move range)

"Steady fire boys!"

Sergeant Burress orders his men to fire inflicting two (2) casualties on the enemy, one by Burress himself, pinning the enemy. Imad tries to rally his men but his men begin to retreat. The patrol continues firing with little effect but it is enough to drive the enemy away. 

The Enemy retire from the field. 

 Having driven off the tribesmen, Sergeant Burress orders his men to begin the march back to camp. Little do they know that the enemy had worked its way around and cut off the way back to camp. A new group of tribesmen led by the marksman, Tut Obeid, arrive in the flank at short range.

"Enemy to the rear Sergeant."

The patrol pours fire into this new threat, killing Tut in the process. The men rally seeking revenge for their fallen leader. The patrol fires again inflicting two (2) more casualties, again Sergeant Burress hits his target. However, another group of tribesmen arrives to the front within charge range.

"More enemy close, Sergeant!"

 The patrol pours fire into this new threat, killing Tut in the process. The men rally seeking revenge for their fallen leader. The patrol fires again inflicting two (2) more casualties, again Sergeant Burress hits his target. However, another group of tribesmen arrives to the front within charge range. The patrol fires on the new threat to no effect and the tribesmen attempt to charge. 

This is his opportunity, This is his destiny. Sergeant Burress orders his men to charge the enemy not noticing that more tribesmen have arrived behind the patrol. The men obey his orders but their spirit is not in the fight. Burress underestimated the fighting ability of these tribesmen as half of his patrol is cut down. The remainder of the patrol is forced back but are now aware of the fresh unit of tribesmen barreling towards their rear. 

More tribesmen advance on the patrol. 

Burress and his men fight for their lives and drive off the depleted native unit each side receiving one more casualty. 

The patrol prepares for another assault.

As the enemy close the final meters, Burress turned to the only soldier left, he did not even know his name and uttered, "Hubris! my boy! Hubris!" The two soldiers brace for the impact but due to the heat and their exhaustion meet a quick end. 

"Hubris! my boy! Hubris!"

The end of Sergeant Burress.

 Miraculously, Private Elvin Ming survived crawling back to the camp and reporting the fate of his patrol and Sergeant Burress' final words. 

This was a fun game. Initially the British did quite well firing into the tribesmen and pinning them repeatedly, however one (1) turn of not pinning the enemy combined with Burress personal trait spelled doom for the patrol. 

Figures are Hat Industries from Michigan Toy Soldier Company. Looking forward to getting them painted up and trying the rules again. 

Captain Verbeek in Hindustan

 It has been ages since I have blogged. Recently my friends and I have been playing Black Powder and having a great time. This has inspired me to revisit the Adventurous Captain. This time he is in the service of the Honorable East India Company (HEIC) during the Sepoy Mutiny. I have started painting and basing up the new Pendraken Miniatures Indian Mutiny line.

Above: Indian Sepoy officer on horse with a mixed unit of Sepoy in standard and native dress.

Pendraken does  good job keeping good detail at 10mm. The Sepoy in native dress will be mostly white with the occasional saffron or maroon turban. 

Close up of some of the Sepoy in HEIC uniforms. 

Finally, some HEIC Bengal Fusiliers in campaign dress. Could just as easily by British regulars in campaign dress. I hope to start posting again. See you soon. 

A bit about Bizercca and History

I have been thinking about Captain Verbeek, Cavenderia and Bizercca quite a bit recently and here are my thoughts.  Captain Verbeek has been seen in the Sudan (see Steve the Wargamer's Blog in my list), India (see General Pedigree's Blog in my list), he will eventually be dispatched to Afristan (my apologies to Bluebear Jeff, model is painted but never sent will try to get him in the mail this week) and now it is my design to see him campaign with Cavenderian troops in Bizercca. 

If you have seen my other neglected blog http://www.cavenderia.blogspot.com/ you will know that Cavenderia is located in what we in the real world call Croatia and her 18th Century enemy is Bizercca (Tunisia).  My plan is to create a fiction based upon Cavenderian, Venetian and Espanola political envolvement with Tunisia starting in approximately 1866.  This fiction will borrow from the history of French invasion of Tunisia and the British conflicts with Egypt and the Sudan.  I have painted the Captain in various scales and have planned to dispatch him soon. 

My goal is to start blogging, painting and gaming the Captain's memoirs again.  So with out further ado my plan for blogging:  I am going to try and balance fictional acounts, painting updates, rules review and battle reps publishing at least every two weeks starting today.  I will start next post with some background information on the political climate of the region.

Viv La Capitain...

Blogging down.

Have not blogged in a while on any of my blogs so today thought I would jot down some quick notes. I recently met Mark Severin of Scale Creep miniatures (first rate fellow) in Cincinnati, Ohio and picked up some First Corp Mexican American War miniatures. I have been reading several books on the Mexican American War and am looking to do some skirimish 28mm stuff soon. Pendraken has anounced the release of some new Mahdi cavalry that I am looking forward to and I believe I will be able to get some Sudan painting done this holiday. Just a quick blog this morning hopefully more to follow soon. I am toying with the idea of combining my two (2) blogs Cavenderia and Capt Verbeek into one non-genre specific wargaming blog but am still thinking on that for now.

Captain in 28mm

Captain Lucien Verbeek rides again. This time as Perry Brothers' English Command on Egyptian Horse. I painted this lovely figure during 6 lunch hours at work. I really love the animation in the figure and couldn't resist having the first photo in sepia as a old time photo.


Here is the Captain and Teufel in technacolor. While looking at some Belgium 19th century uniforms I found that the Grenadiers wore black trousers with a red stripe and decided that the Captain had once been a member of this illustrious group. I am particularly pleased with this version of his faithful steed. I have watched Hidalgo a few times and looked at several pictures of Mustangs and Pintos before deciding on this color scheme. I am quite proud of my efforts.

I painted Teufel's nose a flesh color and gave the captain a red bandanna for a pop of color. I felt of all the 28mm colonial figures I have seen on-line this one captures the spirit and reckless abandon I dream the captain would have had. The miniature only has a mustache so I painted in the captain's goatee. The blister came with three commanders so I plan to paint up the other two as a start for some skirmishing, maybe the Sword and the Flame.

I still need to add some flocking to the base but had put off posting for some time and wanted to post some pictures. As I do not currently play 28mm, starting to paint 10mm again for the big game. I would like to send this figure to Monsieur Prost as a military observer of the campaigns of General Pedigree if he would have him. The 15mm of Captain Verbeek was introduced by Steve the Wargamer in a captives scenario and Monsieur Prost has had a few of his number captured also perhaps the Captain is a fellow prisoner. I am painting up Pendraken 10mm Colonials this week and hope to post a few pics next week. I am in a group painting project and I hope to complete 3 brigades of Imperial Cavenderi troops by the end of September based for Battles of Empire. See you soon.

Battles for Empire Playtest Teaser

Played my first game of Battles for Empire 1870-1902 and really enjoyed it. I will have a review soon and a link to my friend Ray's web-site that hosts some photos. I have not been gaming or painting much this summer as there is many outdoor activities to conduct but I did paint up a little something this week that I am quite pleased with and will post some pictures tonight or tomorrow. Here's a hint: brown and white and belgium all over.

First Naval Brigade

Today at lunch I banged out the first stand of my naval brigade. Miniatures are Pendraken 10mm.

Not a great amount of commentary. It is a bit frustrating that in person these figs really pop but the camera zooms in so tight it makes them appear poorly painted, I must improve my picture technique. The pictures as seen in the blog windows are probably a better representation of how they will look on the table than clicking on them which makes the pictures huge. But go ahead and click on them you can see some of the technique that way.


I varied the pants and shirt on two (2) of the figures to add a little variety. The figs are well sculpted but are only offered in one (1) pose with the straw hat instead of a sailor's hat. However, they will serve me just fine.


A little better lighting on this picture. I am intentionally using more muted tones on the Sudan figures as I thought the feel would be warmer, however to get them to pop I might brighten them up some.
Final picture showing the kerchief in a lighter blue and scabbard. Still have not decided on my basing must work on that next as many Hadendawa are ready to be based.