Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Siege Mortars by Old Glory


As previously related, when browsing the Old Glory on-line catalog at the time of my last order, I discovered the listing for Siege Mortars, in ECW listing of all places! The description said they came 3 to pack, but in fact there were 4 mortars in each pack. 


They were certainly easy enough to assemble and paint up; I went for generic red/iron oxide paint for the woodwork. 

These will be used for Vauban's Wars, Eric Burgess' new siege rules, which should be released this quarter. I still have a write up to do of mt last solo playtest of the rules. 


For some reason, I have always rather liked these old black powder monstrosities, which look rather like giant flower pots. There are quite a few of them on the grounds of the Yorktown battlefield national park in Virginia. 


I didn't see any need to paint any additional crew figures for them. As all of my guns are separate from the crew bases, the mortars can just be set on an exiting crew base... seen here with some Prussian crews I had out for the last siege game. 


This way of course they can be  served by any nation I have existing crew bases for. There would be very little change in appearance of these from the mid 17th century up until almost the American Civil War, and the models could probably still be used as late as then.


    With the damned Covid-19 epidemic I am foremeost lucky to still have employment (and to NOT be working for myself any longer!). I have done a lot of painting the past month or so between some planned time off, being less  busy in the office, etc. For the next month I am working almost entirely as a Hospitalist, 4 12 hour days on, then off for 4 days.  Aside from the Covid exposure risk (I wound up already being exposed the first day, but the person was already on isolation anyway) , having 4 days off with minimal work responsibilities is like a vacation to me, and I usually work 12+ hour days anyway. Hopefully I'll get in at least one solo game when I am off the end of this week

32 comments:

  1. Nice mortars, your mounting scheme works well!
    Sometime this next few months for the Vauban rules? That would be convenient.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. Eric has VW completed, just needs additional photos and few minor items to be 100% done and ready.

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    2. Trying to assemble my PaperTerrain Vauban fortress so that I can take some killer photos for the rules. So excited.

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    3. That should look awesome and really enhance the rules presentation.

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  2. I nice collection Peter, and I love the way your existing basing and crew figures can be used. It really underlines the value of the way you have done them.

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    1. I was very please to stumble across them, Ray!

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  4. A very good idea is to use a cantilever gun! And I firmly stuck all the guns to the bases and now I can’t change the guns. It is a pity that I had not guessed before.

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    1. Thanks, Dimitri. I have done it this way for decades. It also allows me to use my howitzer models to increase or decrease the number of 12# (vs 6/8#) batteries I field for a game, buy swapping them in or out for the long guns.

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  5. Great work Peter,

    Old glory do some great pieces for a good price

    I done the same for my early French Napoleonic and 7YW

    Cheers
    Matt

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  6. A shower of projectiles is brewing! Very impressive...and surely effective, nice collection Peter!

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    1. Merci, Phil! rs are probably more impressive thane effective (Vauban himself wasn't a fan of them), but it was unusual to see a siege without some!

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  7. That's a lot of firepower, Peter! I woudn't want to be on the receiving end of those. They do look great painted up. Having them on separate bases like that is a very good idea indeed.

    I hope you stay safe, especially doing your very valuable work.

    With best wishes,

    Jason

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    1. Thank you Jason. The hospital I am working at uis deliberately kept as Covid free as possible (our sister hospital has nearly 100 Covid patients, with 30+ on ventilators!), but inevitably some cases are going to slip through, and have. We're trying to keep them as free as we can of non Covid patients so that they can better care for them while exposing fewer patients to it there. As a whole, we've certainly lost more than a few, but have discharged many more. Now whenever they discharge a Covid patient, the hospital speaker system plays the first few notes of "Here comes the Sun" as a sort of patient and staff morale builder. It serves as a reminder that for every one we lose, we save far more.

      May all of you and yours be safe and well until we vanquish this plague; we are ALL under siege these days!

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  8. Quite an arsenal, Peter! Your basing is practical and flexible.

    Good to see that you are not being overworked during this pandemic.

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    1. Thanks, Jon. I am busy enough when I am working, but much more "off" than usual when I am, not!

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  9. Look great OG stuff is very nice.

    Good to hear 'good news' story from a hospital :-)

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    1. Thanks, Gary. Our network has 7 hospitals, all along the CT - NY border, and two in F airfield Country, which is very close to NY City and has been by far the hardest hit in the state. I have to stay the Network leadership has done an excellent job of preparing for and coping with the crisis. On the other hand, the nursing staff are my real heroes!

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    2. Every Thursday evening at 2000hrs we in the UK stand on our doorsteps and clap/cheer for our NHS and other essential services. A small token of our esteem and gratitude. Will be thinking of you and colleagues as well.

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    3. It is a lovely token of appreciation. Many in NY City have started doing something similar. The support for us in our local community has been exceptional. We will get through this, but the battle is far from over!

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  10. Very nice mortars and crew, Peter. I love how the initial pictures just showed the mortars and then the ones with the crew pop up - just like magic! :)

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    1. Thanks, Dean! Almost like mushrooms after a rainy spell!

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  11. Great looking mortars and smart forward planning to have separate crews! Good luck with your hospital role!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Ian. I am now functioning as the lead physician for the hospital team when I am working. I'm comfortable with that never having stopped working on the inpatient side, and I love my hospital and its personnel, where I have taken care of patients since 1984.

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  12. Interesting, siege warfare is a rarer thing for wargamers! Glad to hear you're not at the Covid hospital too.

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    1. Considering how common sieges were in history, perhaps we should see a few more of them on the table?
      Hopefully I will stay where I am; that's the down side of working for someone else; they could reassign me (although technically my contract has a clause requiring my approval to do so).

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  13. That siege train is looking GREAT Peter! I picked the same colors for my recent mortar painting. :-)

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    1. red iron oxide, like the color of barn siding, was fairly ubiquitous and doesn't limit them by nationality.

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  14. Nice work Peter and sensible idea re the crew...I have my guns loose too, that way I don't have to buy so many of them(I prefer men to equipment!)

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