Happy Easter and 97 years ago.....The Easter Rising 1916.

"The passage of the National Service Act in January 1916 which threatened conscription in Ireland was one of the causes of The Easter Rising. The 1916 Rising represented the first major demonstration of force since the United Irishman rising of 1798. The insurrections of  1803, 1848 and 1867 had been small in comparison. (The Cambridge History of the British Empire 1959)

"Ireland  is too great to be unconnected to us, and too near to us to be dependant on a foreign state, and too little to be independent" (C.T. Grenville to the Duke of Rutland, December 3, 1784)

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Feeling a little Irish today, it's a common complaint of the Irish!!

An introduction to the Reject Ian.

Now Ian is our resident tantrum expert, famous for a few words and prophecies and recently not liking any period before 1800!

More shenanigans because of the megalomaniac Phil

I introduce Ian..........


What his wife thinks he does.........

Asked his his better half for some idea but couldn't actually quote her or keep listening to the torrent of abusive language.....

What he likes us to think he does at work........

He thinks he's a flaming lift engineer.......

What he really does at work........

I believe that's him on the right..........he once pooped in his helmet in the back of a van on the motorway but the doors swung open and he caused quite a panic to other people on the motorway.

A day in Ian's life.........

IBS, the gift that keeps on giving!

How he sees himself....

Do not get him started on Napoleonic warfare or French elan........

How we usually see him........

This is quite similar to how he looks and walks, those years of American Football were hard on him....

if he was in the movie Kelly's Heroes, he'd be.........

General Colt but worse......... 

Ray is doing another Reject Smiffy!

28mm Wild West Poker Tables and Players,.....

.......Aces and Eights or a Dead Man's Hand wins, I wasn't aware that Texas Hold Em wasn't invented/created until the early 1900's but didn't gain wider recognition until 1967 but had been seen in 1959 or that would have been my reference.

Nice set of figures from Dixon Miniatures.

The dead man's hand is credited to James Butler Hickok (Wild Bill) when he was murdered in 1876 by Jack McCall playing poker and this hand (black aces and eights, although there have many other hands stated until this one was finally credited) was retrieved later from the floor.

A quieter game........

World War Z poster, Pimping some Blog Giveaways,bad Blogger Cosplay and even more Boobs!

Look at this excellent poster I saw over at HOLLYWOODSPY (nice guy Dez) and really looking forward to the movie, there's a new trailer over at his blog also...........

Several excellent blogs are giving stuff away, Michael over at 28mm Victorian Warfare is giving away some very nice stuff and has just added more........

Ian over at The Blog with No Name is giving away even more stuff and has added £20.00 to spend madness...........

Anne over at Anne's Atticis giving away good stuff as well and is looking for as many entries as she can get, so head over and enter people..........

Zombie Goodness!

Speaking of bad cosplay....Ray Pancho Villa said it was for a party but I don't believe him!

....but speaking of real boobs!

28mm Foundry Painted "Ladies of Negotiable Virtue"........

....or as they call them "Ladies of the Night" from their Victorian range. May contain nudity!

They can be used for the Wild West or maybe some Victorian sci-fi shenanigans, I can hear Curt sighing from here!

28mm Eureka Earp Sisters and Doc Holly Daye.....

....and some well armed wild west ladies from Tombstone and the now finished painting challenge were I finished 5th.

The figures are from Eureka Minis, not bad sculpts..............

An introduction to the Reject John!

Now John is one of our newest converts, he works as a teacher in an all girls school along with the other Reject Richard that Ray is highlighting today.

We have been told by a reliable source (Richard) that John looks at my blog in the teachers lounge and has been known to swear like an Irishman.

More shenanigans because of Phil.

I introduce John..........


What his loved ones think he does.......

He does make his own scenery!

What he likes us to think he does at work......

Can you smell Geography??????

What he really does at work.......

A day in John's life.....

How he sees himself.......

Stiff upper lip!

How we usually see him.......

He's a jammy git!

If he was in "Allo Allo" he'd be Officer Crabtree.......

Who will be next, maybe even honorary Rejects?

Ray is doing Richard here.

15mm Napoleonic "The Battle of Uccle", 20th June 1815...the what if Napoleonic wargame heads into day 2!

This is the follow up game to 15mm "The Battle of Hal" Napoleonic wargame we had last November.......

This is one of those games that there wasn't much for me to do but when you're in a room with 7 other good wargamers and Ray having a laugh and enjoying the good atmosphere...it doesn't matter, it helps when you win as well!

Following the defeat yesterday at "The Battle of Hal" the French forces have withdrawn but Napoleon has reinforced them and drives forward again only to find Prince Frederick has withdrawn his army to the Belguim town of Uccle, he also has been reinforced but awaits more reinforcements from Wellington in Brussels.

Prince Jerome Bonaparte (Smithy) is in overall charge again and with the French 6th Division, the unlucky with cavalry Kellerman's 3rd Cavalry Corps (BigLee) but we have experience with Gen Baron Bachelu and his 5th Division (Ian) and I again (Comte Foy) with my 9th Division, the French forces are still heavily reduced with most regiments only at three quarter strength.

Reinforcements were decided by answering questions on the Napoleonic period which no one answered correctly, it explains the late arrival of said troops!!!!!! There were messages being handed out by our umpire which were real fog of war and very unhelpful and that was the obvious point of them.

My role was to pin the allies on their left flank (which had their best troops) and stop them from being used to strengthen their middle and the small town of Uccle, facing me was the L/General Colville (4th British Division). The battle for me and Brian (4th British Division) was a strange and quiet affair with mostly sniping at each other with artillery and manoeuvring for position and looking for a mistake to exploit, I tried to send 3 light regiments through the woods to flank him but by then we had won in the centre with the fall of Uccle to a barrage and the loss of of a brigade commander which caused an allied brigade (1st Dutch) to retire from the battlefield and another allied brigade through melee losses was required to test morale and looked to be failing as well, Prince Frederick (Ray) decided to concede defeat and wished to save the remnants of the allied army for a possible third battle outside of Brussels itself!

A good game again with a win for the French and with most of the army intact, maybe next time we'll see Napoleon himself and maybe the Prussians as well!

Initial set up......

Some new blood and fingers in the shed with Clint and Brian, fellow bloggers as well and Surjit and blog whore Ray.....

French goodness........

Allied resistance.......

More cavalry for Kellerman to lose, he did a lot better this game but emptied a lot of French saddles in the process....

The assault begins.......

A little pic of the figures that represent the Comte Foy and staff........

Some much Legere move through teddy bear fur fields (looked and felt great).....

Brian gets a bit emotional when I shoot at his troops..........

A good view until I spotted the fecking digestives in front of Ray......

One British artillery shot and I've got troops retreating and disordering everything in their path......

A contractual shot of our benevolent tyrant.......

You would think they had never eaten before........

Ray upsets Postie and brings the wrath on himself.......

Clint looks on with bewilderment at the wargamer equivalent of a smackdown continues.......

The Dutch come off the hill to buy time for Allied reinforcements arriving to their rear.......

I ended up with some of Kellerman's cavalry, waiting to be let loose........

The assault on the centre comes to a conclusion where French numbers and aggression count.....

My Legere regiments flanking through the woods......

The British are in for a nasty surprise.......

Most of the 9th division await the order to advance.......

British cavalry arrive too late to change the outcome of the encounter....

An allied view of the French assault on their centre.....

Brunswicker reinforcements arrive at the end........

The small town of Uccle received a barrage from some French heavy artillery and in the fire the brigade commander was killed by some falling masonry.......

....and caused this, the town of Uccle deserted and French troops ready to enter......

Clint and Brian discuss the disaster Ray led them in to......

....and two more honorary Rejects join the ranks!