The 2014 Campaign Year.

Just been re-reading what I wrote about this time last year , some of it has been achieved and some not. The casting up and painting - and playing with my 40mm SYW  armies has continued apace and I have been looking through my 'lead mountain' and have a box of unused figures that will be melted down and cast as more 40mm figures. The Allied army will have more artillery / limbers and another British unit - 18th Foot (Royal Irish) , the French/Saxons some more cavalry, I also fancy doing some Engineers and wagons for both armies which would be useful in many scenarios . My 40mm Imagination (Balkans) have not had much of an outing, but I plan to slightly enlarge the cavalry units and provide more dismounted cavalry figures - and play with them more ! . The Napoleonic collection has been mostly rebased but has NOT  been used this year - sigh !, I MUST  get to grips with this period and start using them. The 54mm Armies have not been used as I lack scenery for them and a puppy and the weather have made playing outside with them impractical . I am looking forward to the next years gaming and will continue to report on my progress (hopefully) Here's to 2014 ! 

Merry Christmas To You All !.

 

 

Wishing all of you out there in 'Blogland' a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and thanking all of you for your support over the last year - here's to the next , Cheers Tony.

Early Christmas Present.

 

'A' alerted me to the above book on EBay - 'Shambattles - for boys of all ages' , it was on sale with a American bookseller and I got it for a very reasonable price . I have been aware of these rules for a while and was interested to see them 'in the flesh' , they are very simple rules which involve drawing maps and then manoeuvring toy soldiers about to capture the opponents city . It comes in three levels of complexity - Lieutenant, Captain and General , it was published in the U.S.A. in 1929 and seems to be a half way house between H.G. Wells and Featherstone , it uses a six sided spinner instead of D6  and artillery templates for firing guns , combat is based on scores on the spinner . The rules are I believed reprinted in one of John Currys 'History of Wargaming' Project books.

Tools Of The Trade.

 

I was passing a Charity shop today and happened to notice in the window a 'Dice Tray', I've been after on of these for ages and at £5 (with dice) I thought a snip !. We've all done it - rolled the dice and one always rolls on the floor and disappears from sight and requires about 10 minutes on your knees trying to find it ! - no more !, all dice will now be rolled in the official house dice tray !. Also in this photo are my leather dice cup - which I believe was designed to hold a wine bottle (!?) and an ancient ruler which I got given free at a Northern Militaire Wargaming Show about 20 + years ago (It's 15 years at least since it's demise as a show ) and has outlasted several extendable tapes.

Revenge Of The Saxons (Parte Two)

 

The Armies deploy , the Allied Jaegers threaten the French right but the French Hussars drive off the Allied Carbineers ( I forgot to photo this triumph).

 

 

But here's the result ! by the time they had reorganised the game had ended .

 

 

The Hanoverian Legion Britannique forms a line .

 

 

The French/Saxons move up , the Saxon Garde are covered by the French Chasseurs De Sombreuil .

 

 

A closer view of the Chasseurs.

 

 

The Legion opens fire at long range on the deploying Saxons .

 

 

The Chasseurs charge the Jaegers and the Hussars charge the right flank company of the Legion. - both melees are won by the Allies !.

 

 

A closer view of the action on the left flank.

 

 

The Leib Garde Grenadiers form up under heavy fire .

 

 

With the threats to their flanks seen off the Allies turn their attention onto the Saxons .

 

 

Although they gallantly return fire the Saxon Garde suffer heavy casualties and are forced to retire as the other units of their force are scattered . A victory once again for the Allies ! . The French High Command are now thinking that the Saxon LeibGarde are one of those unfortunate units that will never triumph on the gaming table ! - we will have to see !?.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenge Of The Saxons (Parte One)

 

The title of this episode sounds like a 1960's 'B' movie ! . To celebrate the completion up to strength of the Legion Britannique Col. Scheither has decided to use them on a raid into French territory assisted by his Carbineers and Jaegers .

 

 

Col. Blunnte  watches as the newly varnished regiment advances .

 

 

The French informed of this raid hurry a force forward to intercept them .

 

 

Thirsting for revenge are 2 companies of the Saxon Liebgarde grenadiers who were roughly handled by the Allies in their last battle !.

 

 

Col. Blunnte (left) and Col. Scheither urge their force onwards !.

 

 

The Allies start to deploy ! . Parte 2 to follow soon !........

 

 

 

 

 

Warfare 2013

 

We went down to Reading on the Friday night and as 'S' and 'L' had gone down earlier they had got the stands set up and so Saturday morning was a bit more leisurely . However I forgot to take my camera with me and left it in the hotel . This is Sunday morning as we arrive at the combined S&A Scenics - Lancashire Games stand 'A' sits thoughtfully as 'B' prepares to unveil the goodies .

 

 

Open for business !, I had my "Doctor Livingstone I presume" moment when fellow blogger Springinsfeld came and introduced himself - interesting to put a face to a name !.

 

 

I always make a beeline for the FOW competition games as the scenery is usually nice and the painting of the armies inspiring . Here we have "levitating tank" syndrome these cut up mats look good for wheat crops but I prefer 'teddy bear' fur for this purpose.

 

 

Some beautifully painted Russian T34's .

 

 

Brrrr! it even looks cold !

 

 

A 10mm Romans versus Celts game with hex scenery - like the hills !

 

 

The Romans besiege the Celts .

 

 

A 54mm Wild West rustler's game - very impressive !

 

 

A lot of work had gone into figure conversions.

 

 

A WW1 German East Africa game with simple but effective scenery .

 

 

They used some sort of Hessian curtaining as a base cloth .

 

 

A small but interesting 54mm ECW game.

 

 

Nicely painted figures as well !

 

 

Even had cavalry - not sure who the figures are by ?

 

 

A rather nice Pirate demo game in the main hall.

 

 

The latest offering from Peter Pig - is it just me but have the last few rule sets they have produced got more complicated ?

 

 

A large ACW game with lots of trees - at this point my camera batteries failed !. A good show but I think the traders found it a lot slower especially on the Sunday when the hall almost emptied when the completion games were on . Warfare is one of the few 2 day shows still running and I think most of the spending was done on the Saturday . My own purchases were very modest a couple of Perry ACW  limbers and teams, some more dice (you can NEVER have enough) and Super Glue Gel  as the last lot of cheapo stuff I got was rubbish . As a Old School Wargamer I find  there is at times little to entice spending at most shows .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off To Warfare !.

This weekend we will be making our annual pilgrimage to the Warfare show in Reading , if  I remember to take my camera I will immortalise the event.

 

Here is a embarrassing photo of the author playing DBA on a hotel bed with 'A's "travelling DBA set" on a similar outing - the things people get up to in hotel rooms !!!! (and I believe I lost the game !)

The 3rd Battalion Legion Britannique .

 

Sorry for the delay in posting this article but we have been having problems with the internet - its alarming how you miss it and how much our lives now depend on it - the whole wargaming industry is dependent on it ! , was going to buy some figures - but now of course I don't have any catalogues and not even the firms phone number - I would have course used their website and PayPal , but Huzzah ! it returns and so I can post images of my completed Hanoverian Legion Britannique .

 

 

This unit started as a way of employing all those little used moulds I have amassed in various Ebay buys to create a unit that looks a bit disorganised , the historical unit was made up of deserters and ner-do-wells . The flags are I'm afraid fictitious - Project SYW ( 

 http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page ) says they were of British pattern but details not known .

 

 

They look a right ragged bunch now I have them on the table and I think will count as militia under 'Charge' rules.

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements .

 

I have been busy with other gaming projects plus repairs to the door of the foundry (the dog had managed to enlarge a small hole in the bottom of the door into a puppy sized one and a excitable small dog and hot metal don't mix !). I have decided to enlarge the two companies of the Hanoverian Legion Britannique  into the full 3rd Battalion , when reviewing my Allied army I realised that I only had at present 1 full sized battalion so I cast up the extra company above plus battalion command . The Legion also had individual cavalry squadrons per battalion so they may be introduced as well , The flags were of British pattern - but no real details I think hence the standard bearers with folded Colours so I can botch the design a bit !.

P.S. yes I managed to damage the mounted officers sword cleaning the casting up - so it will have to be replaced with a flattened pin .

French Artillery Battery .

 

After much behind the scenes casting and painting I have got my French Artillery battery completed . This has taken quite a while as the limbers and wheels are particularly hard to cast right .

 

 

 

I will have to start on a rival Allied one soon to redress the arms race .

 

Saxon Debacle .

 

To try out my new Saxon force I set up a game using 'Charge'. The Saxon force is marching to link up with the French when they are intercepted by a Allied raiding party of 2 units of light cavalry and 3 infantry companies .

 

 

They Saxons march down the road lead by the Von Schill  Hussars .

 

 

The Saxon CinC  Hans Von Dunnerdorf cheers his men on as a farmer watches in awe of the newly painted figures .

 

 

The Allied commander Von Scheither with 2 companies of the Hanoverian Legion Britannique . The count as militia .

 

 

The Saxon Hussars deploy as the Allied cavalry move forward.

 

 

The Liebgrenadiergardes deploy .

 

 

The Hussars clash - the Saxon's had the advantage here as the Prussian 'Black' Hussars had not had time to deploy but a series of very poor dice rolls meant that the melee went into a second turn.

 

 

The melee escalates as more cavalry reinforce the clash - and the Saxon's lose and retreat ! - Oh dear the first of a series of disappointments for the Saxons . The old wargaming theory that newly painted units always do poorly in their first battle was coming true !

 

 

Von Scheither's cavalry charge a company of Saxons deploying before they can shoot and scatter them ! - Opps !.

 

 

With half their force in retreat the Saxons try to redeploy .

 

 

The dastardly Legion Britannique move forward to attack.

 

 

Carnage ! a series of close range volleys cut the Saxon right company to pieces and force them to retreat ! . The Allied  forces rolled double 6's !. The Saxon's on the other flank took revenge on The Allied cavalry driving them off with a volley and winning the melee.

 

 

With his force in disorder and casualties mounting Von Dunnerdorf decides to retire from the field . Not the most auspicious start to the Saxon war effort and proving once again that newly painted units ALWAYS  do badly in their first action!.