Game preview for Sunday 3rd July.

Knowing virtually nothing about WW2 wargaming,I was asked (?) to prepare some terrain,and a scenario,so Brian could field his newly painted Russians(winter uniforms) against Germans(winter uniforms!) provided by Dave and Brian himself!!! I have come up with the following,and hope it suits the "brief".

 Top photo shows the scenario,bottom shows the table as the "boys" will see it on arrival.

View of the village from the Russian side of the table.

View of the Farm from the Russian side of the table.

Top photo shows the view of the Pill-Box from the Russian side of the table,bottom shows the view from the Pill-box over the road and farm area.

The prime objective-the village,Eisenhuttenstadt(real name of a town on the Odra river)

The Bridge(too far??) one of the Russian's entry points.Well,all set out and awaiting millions of troops ,tanks,mortars,machine guns etc.etc.-roll on Sunday.

Epic ACW battle.

Last night we had a 100% turnout for this fascinating game.Presenting a solo concept into a club concept was always going to be difficult,in that when I play my rules I can easily and quickly make a decision as to what I want doing-in a club game you can't do that,and a couple of anomalies reared up,and I must say were solved to everyone's satisfaction and the game proceeded at a lively pace after that-well done to us all.

This is the table as the "boys" saw it on arrival-Union on the right,commanded by Dave,Graham and I,whilst the Confederate forces were commanded by Brian,Paul and Malcolm-the objective was just to beat the enemy!!

No Malcolm we don't believe you-it's not that big!!!!!

Battle plan writing before any movement-very important in our games-looks like they are taking it very seriously!

Top photo shows Malcolm's attack on my troops in the town-very impressive,bottom photo shows Dave's attack on Brian's position in the farm-even more impressive!!-notice lack of red"pom-poms" so far-this will change as casualties mount!!

In the centre,Graham is positioning his troops to protect our flanks,and trying to lure Paul's troops across the creek-one or two "pom-poms" appearing!

Top photo shows Malcolm's troops continuing their assault on the town,and on the left,he has broken into my position,causing a re-shifting of reserves to block the ugly hole!!-Bottom photo shows  Dave making in-roads into Brian's position-note an awful lot of the dreaded "pom-poms"-things were really hotting up at this stage,but neither side had an advantage-great stuff!!

Central position stabilised!Paul(well out of character) seems reluctant to cross the creek but is doing sterling work with his artillery batteries and inflicting alot of casualties(pom-poms!) on Graham's troops.

Dave's troops are victorious(although they were now being commanded by Graham,because Dave had to leave early due to having to go to somewhere called "WORK" early tomorrow morning!!!)

Malcolm is still "knocking at the door" to the town,but is facing an up-hill battle-although he is giving my trops a hard time of it!!-at this stage we counted up units lost,and we found that the Rebs had lost 19 against the Union's 18-too close to call so we said a draw was the right result!

A very good game,well fought by both sides-roll on next week,a WW2 game was mentioned(Poles,Russians and Germans) so we'll try and sort something out!

Sad News Update.

Charlie Wesencraft has phoned me with more details on the sad news of Mike Fisher's sudden death.Mike died at the age of 65(not 67 as first reported) as a result of a massive heart attack.He worked for the Civil Service at Longbenton,and retired when he was 60.The funeral arrangements have been made at the Tynemouth Crem. at 9.45am on Wednesday 29th June,and afterwards at the Spreadeagle(pub ?) for an informal gathering . I hope we can all attend as a group to show support to his family.

SAD NEWS.

Charlie Wesencraft phoned me last night to tell me that one of his small group,Mike Fisher, had died suddenly on Tuesday night,at the age of 67.I have no further details,but this is a sad loss to Charlie's group,and to wargaming as a whole-our group has known Mike for quite a number of years and feel the loss-more details will follow as we get them. 

Being "Humoured".

Being an "old fart" I like "old fart" wargaming,so a couple of years ago I tried to introduce a set of WW2/Modern rules to our club,using 54mm plastic figures and vehicles -it failed mainly because the "boys" thought the rules were too simplistic and lacked reality!!-I have been playing solo games with these figs. and have "tweaked" the rules a bit(not too much!) and now am ready to re-introduce them to the club(less Dave and Paul who are at Waterloo this weekend) on Sunday.I will place the emphasis on the fact that the rules are designed for a fun game,and do not necessarily reflect total reality!!!!-we will see.

Top is the table layout,bottom is a detail of one of the tanks-all figures were bought from the "pound Shop" many years ago.

Top photo shows an infantry squad,five figures plus either a machine gunner or a "bazooka" man,bottom photo shows part of the terrain they will be fighting over-scratch built (can you guess!) houses,river sections and woods,plus a couple of "bailey bridges".

More terrain shots-I've tried to give both sides enough cover to attack each other without getting wiped out too soon!!

Top shows anti-tank gun(red flag is unit identification) bottom is a mortar team(c/w ammo!)

Last,and most importantly, my "Old Fart" rules,including movement,ranges etc. and the only dice needed-let's hope it all goes well,if not,it's solo games with these figures from now on!!-all measurements are using our measuring sticks!

Thunder Around the Glen

 “And the gossip in the ranks did stop of a sudden as the army guns first fired like thunder around the glen.”

Exert from Sheridan’s “History of the Great Scotch Rising”.

A small painting update.

Half inspired by a French Indian War game this week and the second half of the inspiration provided by Paul’s comment on my Glenshiel blog post, I’ve finished my Royal Artillery for the 1745 (and beyond). It’s always great to channel inspiration into painting. Similar to prepping for a game, it makes the paint flow easier!

The collection I’m putting together for the ‘45 is designed with Sharp Practice in mind. So 2 guns are ample. Probably more than ample. The Front Rank figures were picked up secondhand so I only had 2 lots of figures in the same poses. No biggie. I’ve altered their position slightly on the bases so they aren’t exactly the same. The guns are leftovers from my Sedgemoor/Killiecrankie collection (not many guns required there!). I tend not to stick my guns on the bases. So…

Option of a Coehorn mortar battery. I have everything I need to recreate Glenshiel. I’m not fussed that they’re not 1719 uniforms. And obviously both sides used Coehorn mortars during the ‘45.

The artillery will serve me well for FIW too. 

Royal Artillery command base. Not essential as I already have more Hanoverian command bases than I need for Sharp Practice, but since I had these 2 figures seemed a nice addition to this painting batch.  

 As I had this fun piece and the Hessian’s uniform would let me see how the blue Contrast Paint looks, I painted this vignette before I started the RA. The Contrast worked well on the white undercoat.

Flags of War’s charity piece “Hessian Kids”. Lovely sculpts and for a great cause. Still available so check out Flags of War. I’ve tried to make it look like the grenadier is standing in the verge as the kids parade along the road. I imagine that the genial grenadier is amused by their parody. 

Based on some contemporary sketches of boys playing at being Hessians whilst the Hessian contingent was posted in Scotland during the ‘45.

Thanks for reading. 

Cheers

Chris

Reasons for not playing-and solutions!

Because of the reasons below,we can't play any club games for a while,but I have been having solo games instead......................

 Access to garage/club house is somewhat limited,due to roof work(soon to be commenced!

Once inside the garage/club house-insulation boards cover the table!!! so what to do??

Revert back to my solo set-up in the back bedroom-ECW.................

All action,using my simple "red pom-pom" rules!

This first game took about 2 hours(with breaks for coffee and biscuits!) and was an emphatic win for the Parliamentarians.

This is the second game set up and ready to play-in about half an hour's time!Hopefully my Roofer will get on with the job(weather is playing a big part in the delay!) and we can get back to normal soon.

Bish Bash Bosh 1719

Recently I discovered an article in Wargames Illustrated (issue 262) covering the Battle of Glenshiel 1719. Yet another failed Jacobite rebellion. 

I had thought that the battle wasn’t really tabletop worthy. The Jacobite army didn’t put up much of a fight! However the article changed my opinion as it’s unusual. Here was a Jacobite army defending - no highland charge - with regular Spanish troops in their midst. The government army used Coehorn mortars in the field for the first time, the only artillery they were able to bring along, and it included a battalion and a half of Dutch foot. Interesting…

I could press some of my Killiecrankie/Sedgemoor collection into service and maybe some pieces from my 1745 collection. Uniforms and kit might not be spot on, but it could be a passable representation of the battle. 

How to represent those Spanish regulars…?

You may remember that I upcyled figures from my pirates collection to create Clanrickarde’s regiment for 1690s Ireland.

Nobody is sure of the Spanish uniform facing. I’ve seen them represented with blue facings and with red facings…

Bish bash bosh! More pirate collection figures and a spare Spanish flag used to create a new command base yay!

And there you have Don Pedro de Castro’s pickets for Glenshiel. I’m willing to overlook the general lack of tricorns which were the norm for ‘hatmen’ by then. Scottish weather and all that (I’m thinking of the effect of rain on felt, thought it was so hot in the glens one poor Spanish soldier dropped dead from the heat!)

I then found an account from an eyewitness that the Spanish were in “white lin’d with yellow”. Tosh I thought! There is a near contemporary painting of the battle which shows the Dutch in white and the WI article  says they’re in yellow? Could the eyewitness have mistaken some Dutch troops for the Spaniards?

Yes they could! (I decided) Having more ‘pirate’ collection figures pretty much kicking their heels it was time for more upcycling. 

More bish bash bosh!

A dozen figures which had been generic French/Spanish regulars, painted yonks ago to  fight pirates, placed on bases just to see how they look. 

I’ve repainted the facings a very nice yellow, turned a white cockade black and added an orange sash, being a colour strongly associated with the Dutch. I didn’t have a suitable flag so printed one from warflag.com (a free site that has been around forever!). I’m leaving them in grey rather than painting the coats white as I have found reference to the Dutch wearing grey (they only need to look the part rather than be an accurate miniature reproduction of the troops present on that hot June day).

The painting took me no time at all. Pretty much the time it took me to also make dinner! Sometimes it’s nice to have that quick fix in between major painting projects. Basing completed that evening and the next day. 

And there you have “Huffel’s Regiment and four Companys of ameronce”, the Dutch foot at Glenshiel. Together there may have been only 210 men engaged so I’m happy to represent them with one unit.

Thanks for reading.   

Chris