There And Back Again

After a recent wonderful holiday in Upper Austria, I thought I'd share some images and thoughts that might be of interest to us as wargamers. 

Vyssi Brod Monastery

This monastery is located just across the Czech border, right on the banks of the Moldau. A bit more info can be found about it here. What struck me was that the Cistercian monasterys are enclosed be very thick walls, making them very strong defensive positions. Secondly was the exterior painted decoration, something that we came to see an awful lot of on our trips out and about.

All the buildings are in the process of restoration, which is taking time as this is still a fully functioning monastery. Post WWII neglect has taken its toll on the buildings as can be seen here.

The restored decoration on the inside of the main entrance, which feel like passing through as castle gateway.

Painted decoration around windows and indeed 'fake' ones are quite common.

Freistadt

A delightful old town that we'd visited before, but one that is remarkable well preserved and, once again, more details can be found here. So many old buildings to enjoy, as well as much of the original defensive walls, towers etc.

The entrance to the Schloss.

A very tall tower that is really hard to get in one shot!

The inner courtyard of the Schloss.

The hauptplatz and the town church. Many of the churches we saw had very decorative tops to them, as in this one.

Painted decoration once again.

Almost every other building had a niche containing and image of Christ or some other Saint, the Virgin Mary etc.

The WWI War Memorial at the church. The plaques top left and right contain the names of the fallen as well, which is quite sobering when you see so many names in one place.

Floral decorations are a constant, with more painted decoration on view.

The old blacksmith's shop on the right, leading to a defensive tower.

Said tower and the small walkway over the dry moat.

A view of the moat, which I think may have been a dry one, as there is only a small stream running nearby the walls.

The inside view of the Bohemian Gate, one of the two main entrances to the town.

The outside view of the Bohemian Gate.

The inside view leading to the Linz Gate.

The outside view of the Linz Gate. Quite a difference in the style and structure of the two gates.

Some of the original walls and the semi-circular tower on the left is for the City Militia, that have a rather cool uniform.

A view of the bridge into the town.

Kefermarkt

We visited so many churches whilst out and about, with all of them having fabulous interiors and, compared to Britain, all being open! This is just one that I was amazed by as, given part of my career involved working with wood, I just stoof in awe of the craftsmenship on display in this altarpiece.

All the main figures are life sized and made by one unknown local craftsman.

Linz

A rarely visited city in Austria, but one that we love as it's so un-touristy, but full of lovely architecture, cafe's, restaurants etc and a great base to explore.

A large model of Linz c.1800, with the Schloss bottom right and the Danube bottom left.

The small bridge leading to the Hauptplatz.

Nice to see how the City's defences were still in existense then and how they were laid out. 

A model of the Pferdebahn, which was a horse drawn railway which ran from Budwies in the Czech Republic, through Freistadt, Linz and ending up in Gmunden.

Loads including beer, salt and people. Part of this ran very close to where we stayed with friends and much of it is still walkable.

A nice display of how a rifle was made.

From memory this was from c. 1895.

A photo of the substantial farm buildings you see everywhere you go. Made from brick or stone and then plastered, if they had the money. One wing was for the family, the other three for animals, hay or whatever wine or juice they were making, depedent upon which area they were located in.

The very wide variety of the traditional costumes right across Austria.

The War Memorial in Linz. Interesting to note it includes action from the SYW, Napoleonic Wars and others.

Another memorial on the City Church, listing those lost in 1848 & 1849.

1859, 1864, 1866 & 1882.

So that's it. A small selection as frankly most of the time I was just enjoying being out and about in beautiful countryside, towns and villages. The trouble was I kept thinking that this terrain is simply impassable or not suitable for military operations, even for Grenzers, or this has good space and room to manouevre etc! You can begin to appreciate this especially as you move into Bohemia or South of the Danube, where to former is more tricky to move in, the latter much, much easier.

What Next?

Still getting back into the swing of things here and with the schools back next week, things should start to pick up on the gaming front. But some rough thoughts as follows:

• Colours wargames show is in the diary.
• Finish off the last action of my Greco-Italian 1940 mini-campaign.
• Make an enclosed farmhouse inspired by the one show above, as it would make a very tough defensive position to game over. I fancy a monastery too, for similar reasons
• To make an Italian hill town, something that I've been wanting to do for years. 
• Maybe to make a small corner piece with defensive walls, representing a larger area of a town, purely for visual effect.

I thinks that's it for now and maybe some of the above might have been of interest to you. As always thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

It's All Greek To Me

As the current heat remains largely unabated here in large parts of the UK, pretty much all gaming related activity has come to a halt. Free time has been spent trying to keep my plants alive, to the point that watering them has become rather onerous to say the least. It is a rare thing to wish for cloud and rain here in the UK! I have also been having fun with my woodturning, but you can have too much of a good thing, and so I needed a break from this. As painting is off the table at present, I decided to try and get a game or two in.

Initially my plan was to do a sort of continuation of an AVBCW campaign that I've dabbled in on and off over the years, but for that to happen, some painting needs to be done first. But more on that later. Instead I plumped for the Greco-Italian War 1940, which I've been wanting to do for sometime, but never quite got around to it. In the past I've done the odd one off game, but the chance to do a mini-campaign never quite materialised, until now.

Naturally I needed to re-fresh my memory on the opening stages of the conflict, so picked up these two excellent books from my small library.

The Osprey gives a very good overview of the campaign, along with some useful maps, as one would expect, but it is the 'Hollow Legions' one that really gives lots of useful info for the wargamer. Having mulled over whether to go with the Littorale group along the coast and the possibility of some amphibious landings of some sort, in the end I went with the 23rd Infantry Division (Ferrara) and the 131st Armoured Division (Centauro) and their advance towards the Kalpaki crossroads. This gives me three scenarios, which is just about right for this sort of mini-campaign. This will be very much inspired by rather than a strictly historical one as, if I used the latter approach, it would be a rather dull affair I feel. Famous last words of course!

The table is set up ready for the game, but more on that in another post.

Wars of the Roses

I have managed to carry on playing some simple trial games with my wooden blocks to get more au fait with the 'Test of Resolve' rules. I've learnt a lot, which is good, which will help me as and when I get around to painting some figures at some point in the future. I did treat myself to two of the scenario books and one on standards and liveries etc, as I know sod all about the latter. Again this will be a very useful reference when I do get around to the painting of the units.

Painting

I did manage to get some base colours on a unit for my AVBCW forces in between heatwaves, but since then it really hasn't been the right temperature to try and paint at all. Also with the windows constantly open, everywhere is covered in a fine layer of dust, rather reminiscent of the Harmattan when I live in Nigeria!

What Next?

The plan is to kick off the Greco-Italian campaign later today, so hopefully an AAR will be up in the next day or so. The Waterloo game is still on for the first week in August, so I'm rather looking forward to that and meeting up with some old friends. Colours wargames show is only about 6 weeks away, which is rather scary as to me that sort of marks the end of Summer and the move away from gardening and back towards wargaming and painting. No details yet on what games are on this year, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled.

Well with Blogger still playing silly buggers, who knows if and when this post might appear. So if it does, any comments are greatly appreciated as always!

TTFN.

A Test Of My Resolve

This year I had no plans to buy any new rules, given that I was pretty happy with everything that I had and used regularly. Afterall my bookshelf has plenty of rules that were bought, glanced at and never really did what I hoped they would. Maybe one day I'll get around to selling them or sending them to a charity shop.

But my resolve was sorely tested when I read Norm Smith's excellent review of the 'Test of Resolve' rules on his Blog. For once these rules intrigued me and, after a bit of deliberation, I decided to treat myself to a bit of retail therapy, as life had been rather hectic on the parent carer front.

The 'new' print of the rules, with a contents page and definitions section which really helps when looking for or reading through the rules.

Not the cheapest rules, but being self-published and with an admittedly limited audience compared to the 'Big Boys' of the industry, I was very happy with what I received. After a couple of read throughs, these really seemed to be perfect for the solo players and as one would expect, they are very much full of period flavour.

Now whilst I do not have any figures based up for this period, I have some that cold at a squeeze, pass muster, but given these will be mainly used for solo play, it's only me I need to keep happy! If I was to do two 'Starter Forces', I worked out that I would need at least several hundred figures, possibly up to five hundred, which was a daunting prospect painting wise, aside from the financial implications.

So instead, for the moment, I went down the route of using my wooden blocks to allow me to get to grips with the rules, the size of games like to play etc. Luckily these blocks are a perfect fit for what I would most likely use base wise, namely 25mm square ones, with unit frontages of 50mm or 100mm if in 'wide' formation.

Said blocks all set up to run through the basic scenario, on a 2' x 2' board. This is a tad small, but currently works well as I can put it down anywhere with minimal fuss and roll the dice.

From my trial games so far, which have been VERY basic, I'm really taken with these rules, as not only do I feel like I'm playing a WotR game, but the inherent friction within the system makes for really good solo play. As Norm mentioned on his Blog, the run of the cards and the actions that arise from them, prevent one from going about the game in the same old fashion, something that I've been very conscious of when I tried pre-Black Powder period games.

To help me with some inspiration and a bit of background reading, I pulled the following fodwn from the bookshelf.

I remember when these came out, as at our local show, these were incradibly popular and certainly breathed new life into a period that wasn't gamed that much, or so it seemed to me.

Suddenly every 'Tom, Dick & Harry' seemed to be jumping on the band wagon, with Lion Rampant II containing some sample warbands, and then HCII having a section on the WotR, before this supplement came out. This is a great book and I'd forgotten it has a nice and simple campaign section in the back, which I hope to use in due course.

A superb book that highlights to me at least about how little we actually know about the battles, how the armies fought etc. In the end I think it will be down to personal preference whether you have 'Bow & Bill' units as per HCII, or go with seperate Archers & Foot as per Test of Resolve.

Another cracking book and one that again highlights how little we really know.

As we are in the 3rd heatwave of the year and once again breaking records on multiple fronts, I hope to give these rules a good run out in the next few days, as frankly it's too hot to do anything else after about 10.00am!

WWII

I had planned on doing some more painting on my AVBCW forces, alongside sorting out a possible Greek campaign again, but a mix of the heat, 'real life' and these new rules has put all of this on hold. I did look through the very good Osprey book on the first part of the Greek campaign, just to refresh my understanding of things, so progress in that respect.

I also bought Max Hasting's book on Sword Beach, which Norm Smith had highlighted as being very heavily discounted at a supermarket, so I was happy to find that Amazon had price matched it as it were. I do like his writing style so this is most likely my next read, aside from perusing some WotR texts.

Woodworking

In between the heatwaves, I was able to pop into the garage and have some more fun doing some woodturning, which I find is a nice and therapeutic break from my life as a parent carer. Wargaming hits the same spot too, but I was in the mood to do some turning, which can be seen below:

Some small Yew bowls and bud vase, all about 4" diameter. A joy to turn and they come up to a smooth finish and should develop a lovely patina as they age.

What Next?

Well with the heat not breaking for at least another 5-6 days, trying to stay cool and get a good sleep will be the number one priority! I do have Waterloo game scheduled for 4th August at Shrivenham, which should be good. Being an all day affair this should be a real treat and a good chance to meet up with some old gaming friends and some new ones to boot. 

As Blogger has been up to its very annoying tricks of late, whether anyone gets to see this is a mute point. However, if you have received this, then I'm happy and as always, any comments greatly received!

TTFN.

Throwing In The Towel...

Well Blogger is really playing such silly buggers at present for me (and others too), to the point that I'm seriously considering giving up Blogging. Two of my three recent posts have simply not appeared in people's Feeds or Reading lists. Why some are and others are not is beyond the ken of man! Given all the effort often involved, why bother if nobody can see it, unless they check the Blog domain.

So this is a bit of a test to see if this post appears and, if so, I'd greatly appreciate other Bloggers letting me know.

Also, could you let me know if you've seen the following in your Feeds:

https://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-summer-of-76.html

https://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/2026/06/brenda-from-bristol-avbcw-aar.html

This was posted at 22.06 BST in the UK.

Very, very miffed from Bristol.

TTFN.

The Summer of '76

As I'm having real issues with a couple of posts, these are being re-published to see if that helps...

As we've just broken the June temperature record that was set in the legendary 'Summer of '76' (and will probably do so again today), my addled brain due to the heat couldn't come up with a better post title, so just went with this! The last time I felt this hot was when I lived in Nigeria, but I was in my late 20's then, was lean and fit and would play cricket, football etc in hotter temperatures than this, but barely notice it, due to being acclimatised to the conditions. So unable to do anything other than survive the heat at present, I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post to try and keep my mind off the heat. 

The AVBCW

The recent small game I played featuring 'Brenda From Bristol' rekindled some painting enthusiasm for the 'conflict', as I really fancy do another mini-Campaign set in and around Bristol. To this end I selected my pseudo-Home Guard Company to paint, as well as a sort of Naval Company that was intended to operate alongside my Armoured Canal Boat. As with so many of my projects, they've sat there in their box for years, only to see the light of day and then the current heatwave heat, which has stopped play as it were. I did try some painting yesterday, but aside from the paint drying on the brush, it was too hard to summon up the energy to concentrate, so gave up after some block colours. Hopefully with the weather due to break in the next day or so to more bearable temperatures, I can get back to these and finish them next week.

I also dug out some SCW figures in foul weather gear, after having the idea to clad them in bright orange Kagoules (shades of the '70's again) or a sort of Sou'wester cape, to make them stand out on the table top, for something a bit different. They will be in a mainly Mounted Infantry role, or that's the current thinking. I'm also tempted by some Indian Lancers, again for something a bit different and exotic. As always plenty of ideas!

It's All Greek To Me

In the past I've really enjoyed dabbling in some Greece 1940/41 games, but having seen Matt's Greek Game , I really fancy cobbling together a small Greek Battalion. Now whilst Pendraken don't do WWII Greeks, in 10mm their WWII Italians and WWI British could easily pass as Greek troops once at arms length. The former will be used for the elite Evzones and the latter for standard troops that were equipped with British helmets and uniforms.

A bit of background reading to refresh my memory is required, hence my taking this out from the bookcase yesterday. Previous games have focused on the Littoral part of the Italian invasion, so I imagine this will continue forward. However for later games of course they can be used in more mountainous terrain, alongside the British and ANZAC troops. 

1945

My knowledge of the Far East campaign is limited compared to that of NWE or the Eastern Front, especially when it comes to the end of the War. So when I saw this book last year, I ear marked it to get once it came out in paperback, which I was able to do as a Father's Day present. A cracking read so far and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in WWII and the Far East.

Zulu

With the heat stopping play across the board, I settled down to wallow in pure cinematic entertainment watching this film, which I never tire of seeing. An absolute classic!

What Next?

Once the heat breaks, I do hope to get the units mentioned above painted if at all possible, as I have a rather busy week coming up. Once done then I might sit down an flesh out ideas I have for a narrative AVBCW campaign, featuring either 'Brenda' or the 'Bristol Bocage', if I can get that painted in time.

A possible wargame at the MoD Defence Academy, Shrivenham is on the cards, which should be fun, with a tour of the site included. Dates and diaries are still being checked, but i'm hopeful we can meet up in the next few weeks.

As always, thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated! Right off to have a choc ice...

TTFN.