Japanese Embassy to the Viet Court in Hue

After losing their colony to the Moro, the Japanese player in our Colonial Adventure, went seeking another location. Settling along the border of what turned out to be SE Asia, he sent a small group to open contact with the Nguyen Dynasty at their capital of Hue

Unknown to the Japanese, a representative form the Middle Kingdom (China) has also arrived with an escort of the Black Flag. He is adamantly opposed to any outside contact for the Nguyen

The Japanese will be attacked by the Black Flag, despite the Nguyen promise of safe passage. (The Chinese ambassador is actually in command of the Black Flag(!) and wants the strangers destroyed. However the Japanese fight their way clear

Forbidden city

I love building things if you hadn't noticed. One project which hasn't been gamed with yet (The Convention fell apart the year I prepared this) is this rendition of the Tartar and Forbidden City around 1900 to about 1925. Those 3d puzzles I mentioned earlier were purchased with this in mind, along with scratch-built walls and other provided by Curtey's.

We are looking past the main gate in the Tartar City Wall towards the main (Meridian gate) permitting entrance into the Forbidden City. to the right of center you may recognized the Temple of Heaven (blue roof) which is actually located further away in Peking, but the model was so gorgeous, I had to place it here

Looking over Hall of Supreme Harmony towards the Meridian Gate

The West Glorious Gate to the Forbidden City. Since I took the previous photo, I've since added the Gate of Supreme Harmony with the statues in front

Outside the Forbidden City I've been adding the various 3-d Puzzles mentioned earlier to make a very believable Tartar City

A Qin Military Parade

Officials overlooking the gate to the Tartar City

The Troops look so 'pretty', too bad they will fight so badly for the Qin

Even added a metal model of a Korean Turtle ship...not very historical...but it looked cool

As earlier stated, was hoping to unveil this at TactiCon 2015 but perhaps this year if they can get the Con off the ground

TactiCon 2015

You may have seen photos taken of my Crossing of the Meuse, 1940 that I have posted on this blog earlier. The following is a series of photos taken TactiCon, held in Denver, Colorado in September of 2015. I recreated the area of Dinant Belgium and the land to the north at Houx, crossed by Erwin Rommel's 7Pz Division in May of 1940.

The first is looking west across the Meuse at Bouvignes. This is located just north of Dinant (off photo to left):

Next is a view taken over the Citadel at Dinant (which is to right of and on the other side)

Looking north along the Meuse and Dinant. The Cathedral I scratch-built to match photos

Now we have flipped the view and we are looking east back towards Dinant and the Citadel

Again, looking east from the French-held heights over Bouvignes with Dinant seen upper right

Wiht Dinant in the left background and Bouvignes in the right foreground, you can note the two blown bridges the French had dropped into the river just before Rommel's arrival

The remaining shots were all taken during the Convention with the various 'generals' pondering their next moves (with photographic assistance of course!). 

The French looking to bring up their reserves!

Look beyond the first table and you will just make out the second containing the Houx portion of the battlefield, where Germans crossed as early as May 13th! French plans believed the Germans wouldn't even reach the Meuse until about the 17th!

Here is the reverse view with Houx and the fishing weir and lock (mid-photo) used by the German motorcyclists to cross over unopposed! The French were too busy occupying the high ground overlooking the area and not the riverbanks!

Sadly for the French players, history repeated itself, although the Germans did suffer more casualties. 

All in all  a great time shared by everyone. 

C'est la guerre!

Spanish Assault on Oran

Its been a very long time since my last posting, as I'm had serious problems with my computer. Unfortunately, that is where the majority of photos were stored. Now the problem has finally been settled, I'm posting one of my groups colonial conflicts involving the Portuguese and Spanish (allies in our campaign) and their combined attack on the Arabic city of Oran. The Pashaw there had resisted all attempts to defuse the violence taking place between the two sides and even the appearance of an official delegation from the Ottoman Empire has failed. The assault begins with a group of Arabs in the employ of the Spanish making an attempt on a gate just before dawn:

The pro-Spanish Arabs creeping up on the gate guards

Two guards at the gate are dispatched! Unfortunately a cry goes out

Support for the assault takes position on a nearby rooftop

But before the Pashaw's men can react and close the gate, the Spanish begin to pour in 

After driving off supporting troops, the Spanish have their entry into Oran!

Never imagined it would go so well for the Spanish. At a future date, the story of the combined Spanish/Portuguese fight for Oran will be presented

Chinese 3d Wood Puzzles

if you are looking for buildings for your Chinese centered games, have you found these. Amazon and Alibaba (especially, at very low prices if you look carefully), carry these. Some I payed as little as 6-7 dollars!

Don't even need glue in most cases!

Great for ships as well:

And if you decide to paint:

Historical Temples:

Which paint up very nicely:

Initially very tricky to assemble as there are virtually no instructions, only a one-page chart showing the numbered pieces. You put in together in numbered sequence. They fit well with 28mm best. I have completed over two dozen now and I've used them to make a Forbidden City setup I will be adding to this blog soon. Enjoy

Europeans retake Tamil

After the Moro destroyed the Japanese garrison, they enslaved the Indian natives. But soon a large multi-national force (US/Russian/Belgian) bore down on them. The small Moro force was destroyed but the last remaining juramentado (Moslem fanatic that historically caused the US all kinds of difficulty in the Philippines). took down more than his share of enemies:

Japanese lose Tamil

Back in May, the Moro attacked the small Japanese settlement at Tamil but were defeated. They returned with a much larger force and the weakened Japanese were overwhelmed. Unfortunately I only have the setup photos as I got to caught up in the vicious fight! There were only 12 surviving Japanese to fight off scores of fanatical Moro bent on their destruction!