MY WARGAMING CORNER

Burgundian artillery

2008-07-07T03:30:00.001-07:00

I have been finalising some artillery for the Burgundians and have just about done a light cannon and bombard

Another Beneath the Lilly Banners game

2008-06-09T00:54:00.000-07:00

Although I enjoy line ‘em up and play type games, I also enjoy creating testing scenarios, this one found a small force defending a bridge expecting reinforcements against a much larger force trying to take the river crossing. The above picture shows the initial Williamite deployment.

Defending the bridge were William’s forces with one elite infantry unit (Kirke’s Lambs) one drilled infantry unit and a militia unit, two squadrons of cavalry were posted on the opposite side of the bridge. The picture above shows the initial Jacobite deployment.

The remainder of the protestants, including Dutch, Danish and the Royal Regiment were to arrive on the roll of one D6 (on turn 1, roll a 1, on turn two roll a 1 or 2 etc). The die rolling was good but the roll for percentage of the total force that could move was bad and the reinforcements didn’t start arriving until turn 4.

The Jacobites were tasked with taking the bridge with three squadrons of Irish cavalry, two French infantry units and a Guard unit (all drilled) and three units of raw infantry.

The Jacobites got the ball rolling by moving in to the attack and their artillery up front caused terrible damage to the cavalry, causing them to turn tail and manoeuvre out of the way. Meanwhile, Kirke’s, out on the right, was positioned behind cover and bore the brunt of the Jacobite left wing with the small gun falling prey to the Jacobite artillery but managed to halt the Irish charge against them.

The Protestant Irish crossed the bridge and immediately fell prey to the Irish artillery and decided that enough was enough and routed. Hanmer’s regiment on the Protestant left fared no better, at the first sign of a charge by the Irish horse they turned tail and found themselves between a wall and the enemy cavalry. However a long volley from the Royal Regiment from the other side of the river caused a few casualties to the Irish horse but not enough to really make a difference.

The bridge caused quite a bottleneck with William’s forces coming to a standstill as routing units ran past them shaking the Danish and halting the Dutch.

All in all we had a fun game and although we didn’t come to a conclusion decided that the Protestants would actually be hard pressed to do anything other than withdraw in good (?) order.

Hanmer's regiment caught between a rock and a hard place

The Jacobite charge falters against the teadfast Kirke's lambs.

Burgundians

2008-05-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

These are the first of my Burgundian Gendarmes. The red I found are best using a Vallejo Gory Red then Red with highlighted by using a small amount of yellow added.

Yellow is another difficult colour. The base coat is dark flesh then Vallejo sunblast yellow followed by a coat d'armes brighter yellow then white added for the highlights.

latest sculpting

2008-04-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

I have recently been working on some 20mm WWII figures including a British para standing holding a mug of tea (or something stronger) and a tank crewman wearing a pixie suit, the latter just needs the arms finishing.

I also thought I'd have a go at a 28/30mm figure, here is the result, an alien hunter, 28mm to eye level. I wanted a fairly casual pose but holding a gun, so here is the result. He just needs a bit of cleaning up and a base.

Our first club AWI game

2008-04-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

Overview of the set up, British attacking from the left.

Ok, so last night we played our first AWI club game using British Grenadier and I think we all decided that the disruption point system in the rules really affected our enjoyment of the game, it played nothing like the Napoleonic or ACW rules from the same stable. The figures were a mix of Parkfield, Front Rank and Perry.

We decided that the rules may well run smoother without the disruption caused from firing and would then count as disorder markers rather than being the main rule mechanism which we felt was wrong, but then what do we know, we are only gamers?

Anyway, here are a few piccies of the game with the British attacking Americans behind the fences. Boy was our die rolling bad!! The initial set up (we do like lots of terrain) with the British on the left attacking the fence line along the road lined with militia.

The game commenced with the British attempting to dislodge the Americans from behind the fence line but the British right flank got bogged down with disruption points and one unit failed to charge home. Another unit managed to close to melee with a New Hampshire regiment but got pushed back during the second round of melee, both ending the combat with three disruption points and still in contact.

On the British left flank, they were being shot to pieces by militia and began to waiver, again due to a combination of disruption point accumulation and poor die rolling.

All in all a game which seemed slow and cumbersome, but we enjoyed the spectacle and decided that a few house rules should be in order. The first of these would be to cease using disruption points from firing, just from terrain and movement penalties in an attempt to speed things up a little.

Secondly to reduce the number of movement dice rolled when moving through disrupting terrain, thus a unit moving through a field would only have one movement die and would therefore not be able to fire as well.

Maybe a second game is in order with these amendments then we will see how the rules work and if they provide a game we can enjoy more.

The American left refusing the British right
The American militia line the fence

Beneath the Lilly Banners Wargame rules

2008-04-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

I received my rule set yesterday and what an impressive work it is. It comes across as a work of love and the book lives up to expectations. The cover art (available for purchase separately from http://www.quindia.com/) really sets the scene.

Inside the full colour rules are well laid out and take the reader from initial troop types and their classification in the rules to basing, again with colour pictures of based units to indicate the method of basing, to starting the game. The rules have been tried and tested for many years by Barry and provide for a fairly fast playing game.

There are a few mechanics that might seem odd to start with, such as the number of units that may move in a turn depending upon the commander's rating which does provide an interesting game and takes that god like ability away from the players without distracting from the game.

The turn sequence is well laid out with the main rules providing more detailed explanations again with plenty of colour photos of Barry's collection of figures dotted around.

After the main section of rules are additional rules for the Great Northern War and Eastern European warfare during this period covered (1660-1715) and a brief rundown of the main conflicts during the period in question.

The reference sheet, which is separate, is laminated and agin all in colour. There are no army lists, but then again this is not a competion rule set, so a little research is needed although three scenarios are included in the rules to get you started.

I have played the rules previously when they were available as a free download so already know how they play, but the new published version is even better and at £15 compares favourably with other rule sets released recently in terms of playability and presentation.

The rules are introduced as a fast play set covering the period, but how fast is fast? The games I have played so far have been fun and played in an evening, so well suited for club games. The mechanisms are easy to understand and although at first play some seem a little obscure, the rules work without excessive book keeping, which has got to be a bonus, and the results are realistic.

All in all a nicely presented set of wargaming rules for the late renaissance period that allow you to play small or large actions without the need for lots of paperwork. If you have an interest in this period then I would recommend these rules as a good place to start. Also Barry is a nice chap and will normally respond to any queries fairly quickly on his web forum.

They are available from Barry's League of Augsberg website(http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/index.php)

First game of British Grenadier

2008-04-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

As the title says, I tried out British Grenadier yesterday for the first time. Although I haven't got all my figures painted yet I decided to have a go with one British Brigade attacking a couple of American brigades in a defensive position. I played the British against my son playing the Americans.

The game started with the British advancing, my dice rolling was rubbish and my son seemed to get most initiative rolls.

The British advance into trouble

The initiative was almost always won by my
son who also managed to roll better dice than me
and soon started causing more casualties than
I would have liked.

The British right flank soon started to reduce in numbers and the indian skirmishers failed to make it into contact with the Americans esconsed behind their defences.

Meanwhile on the American's right the militia brigade came under attack and soon started to wonder why they had advanced so far forward, but at least they were behind a wall in the field.

The game ground to a halt as we both came to the conclusion that neither of us had the upper hand and during a cup of tea decided that it was an honourable draw.

I felt the game could have gone smoother,
but then this was my first play of the rules
and a lot things seem to be glossed over in the
rules where they could have been explained better especially the use of disruption points and their effects.

Generally the rules seem to be overcomplicated in some areas and over simplified in others, but maybe the GdB forum will clear some of these things up.

I will continue using the rules and hopefully will eventually get to grips with them although they seem to be well written a lot of things could have been included to make game play easier such as describing melee better as I got lost on a number of occasions trying to decypher the written word especially when working out the results of melee.

Another thing that needs clearing up is how disruption points work specifically those caused through firing and moving as there seem to be only obscure references to this rule and the means of removing them appears to have been an afterthought.

Generally they seem to be well written, although they could have been explained better with more examples of play.

All in all a bit of a chore playing these rules and will need quite a lot of playing to get to grips with the subleties of them. I'll post further thoughts on the rules as I play them more, but I think I will stick to them for the time being as I don't really want to discount them out of hand after just one game.

Rear Guard map and scenario

2008-03-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

The table is about 5' square.

The Williamite force consisted of five infantry battalions, two squadrons of cavalry and one field gun. Two of the infantry battalions are elite, the rest are drilled.

The Jacobites had two drilled Irish battalions and two light guns deployed with two drilled French battalions and three squadrons of cavalry behind the hill and thus out of sight at the beginning of the game.

The two wagons were just to the left of the hill heading along the road to the bridge. The remainder of the table is strewn with rough ground, fields and hedges to create, what we call, traffic management problems.

Rear Guard action

2008-03-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I would tell you about my latest game. The scenario was lifted from Table Top Teasers(http://steve-the-wargamer-teasers.blogspot.com/)
entitled Rear Guard, which I found on the web and is a fantastic resource for scenarios for those that can remember the originals in such wonderful publications as Battle for Wargamers.

The Jacobites were tasked with holding off the enemy advance until nightfall (12 turns) as well as getting the straggling supplies to safety, the Williamites were to advance and take the bridge as well as capturing the supplies if at all possible.

Jacobite infantry on the hill with their brigadier cowering amongst the rocks in percieved safety

We used Under the Lilly Banners rules and it was a couple of turns before the Williamites managed to get everything on the board, the cavalry managed to get on first turn and began to move towards the Jacobite right flank causing some confusion in the ranks as the cavalry and the French infantry behind the hill to start off to refuse the right flank.

The Jacobite Line across the hill and protecting the wagons on the road

Meanwhile the Williamite infantry advanced on the Jacobite left with Kirke's and Hanmer's regiments taking casualties from the Jacobite guns on the hill causing them to stagger until their cavalry decided it was time to charge the guns resulting in the gunners running away.

Williamite cavalry advance by squadron supported by Danish and Dutch infantry

Meanwhile the supply wagons had worked their way behind the hill and across the bridge bringing much needed supplies to the main Jacobite army.

Supplies cross the bridge with Jacobite cavalry forming up in the background

The Jacobite cavalry waited in the rear, moving to left and right having obviously only undergone basic manoeuvre training prior to the battle and ended up in line awaiting the Williamite breakthrough on their left flank.

Jacobite cavalry waiting, and waiting, and waiting

In the end, by turn 12 (nightfall) the Jacobites had succeeded in holding off the Williamite vanguard and got their supplies off the table with the loss of two guns and a regiment of infantry who were broken in melee by a combined Dutch and Danish brigade.

Turn 12 came all too quickly and signified nightfall at which point the two armies would make camp and await the dawn. The Jacobites at this point were to withdraw under cover of darkness to join their main army on the other side of the river having done their job and delayed the enemy as ordered. Mind you, the French started to retire before nightfall as they wanted to ensure they got the best seats in the local hostelry.

All in all a fun game with plenty of laughs, beers and discussion. The rules worked well with a specific scenario and I, along with many others, are awaiting the imminent publication of Beneath the Lilly Banners.

The Williamite artillery

Sudan game

2008-01-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

Last week at my local gaming club I organised a game using the Sword and the Flame rules set in the Sudan around 1899 with one Sudanese platoon and a half squadron of lancers in camp awaiting the river boat with reinforcements.

The Sudanese platoon was split in two with one half in the camp and the other half returning from a reconnaissance expedition. The game started with the Recce platoon entering one table edge and lots of dervishes entering from another corner trying to catch up with the returning troops.

Whilst this was happening the camp was awoken by shouts from the pickets and slowly the sleepy troops came to and prepared to defend the zariba against the dervish hordes.

The picture shows the dervish cavalry charging the zariba and their infantry charging towards the retreating Sudanese and have managed to overrun one wounded figure who eventually succumbed to the onslaught from two of the dervishes.

Meanwhile on the dervish right the fuzzy wuzzies were approaching the zariba with the intention of catching the Sudanese inside in a pincer movement. The cavalry managed to get across the obstacle and force the troops inside to retreat and attempt to regroup between the camp and the river. meanwhile the lancers formed up and charged towards the dervish cavalry who also turned and charged towards the oncoming lancers.

In the nick of time the riverboat arrived with a platoon of British infantry and a maxim gun on board which forced the fuzzies to abandon their first target and attack the newcomers who put ashore a half platoon which was defeated by the native onslaught. The captain decided to cast off and attempt to rescue the remaining Sudanese infantry which had now formed a rough square and was holding its own against the dervish onslaught.

The native cavalry had run away after defeating the lancers but was now returning to the fray when the call went up for the dervish force to withdraw having bloodied the imperial nose somewhat and managed to kill the senior British officer present, who went down without a murmer.

All in all an interesting game and I guess the players all enjoyed the experience as we talked and laughed about it afterwards over a pint.

Pirates

2007-10-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

I have now painted the new Parkfield pirate gun crew and naval cannon. The cannon is from the French-indian war range, the barrel and bucket are from the artillery accessories pack from the AWI range.

I decided that I wanted to base these together and modelled the planking from milliput.

New stuff

2007-10-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have not been idle, in fact I have been busy making some artillery for the Parkfield Miniatures Peninsular War range of 25mm figures. Next to do some crews for these and I'm hoping to get these out for the end of the year.

The two guns above are British 6pdr and a howitzer, those below are French 8pdr and howitzer.

The Buffs

2007-10-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Regiment of Foot landed in Charleston, South Carolina in 1781. The 3rd was one of the last British Regiments in the south, leaving America in December 1782.

The 3rd Regiment of Foot, Royal East Kent Regiment, raised in 1663, known by the ancient title of the "Old Buffs".

2nd New Hampshire Regiment

2007-10-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

Second New Hampshire Regiment of Infantry, 1777 Continental Line

This regiment was organized May 20, 1775, under the command of Colonel Enoch Poor. In 1777, we find it under command of Colonel Nathan Hale, who was taken prisoner with the entire regiment at Hubbardton, Vermont, July 7, 1777.

Captain Caleb Robinson's company wore sky blue coats faced with red and lined with white, which was probably the uniform of the regiment at that time.

Their waistcoats and breeches were of buckskin, and their stockings of white or gray wool and crossbelts of buff leather, which the Americans adopted before they were authorized for the regular British Army. The buttons were of pewter stamped, as were the buttons of the Continental Army at this period, with the state and the number of the regiment.

The 2nd NH would see action at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, Battle of Hubbardton, Battle of Saratoga, Battle of Monmouth, the Sullivan Expedition and the Battle of Yorktown.

The colors of this regiment, one a light gray-blue and the other buff, were taken by the British at Fort Anne two months before the battle of Saratoga.

Victorian artillery

2007-10-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, so whilst I finish off a couple more units for the AWI, here are some pictures of a 6pdr taken at Pendennis Castle in Falmouth a couple of years ago.

Latest project

2007-09-21T10:48:00.001-07:00

I have been considering the American Revolution as a wargame for a long time now and have at last decided to give it a go.

With the publication of British Grenadier, and having played with general de Brigade and Guns of Gettysburg, I decided now was as good a time as any to get into the period. I like larger units and the scale in these rules seems to suit me with units between 16 and 24 figures strong.

Using Parkfield Miniatures 25mm figures I started with the Royal Highland Emigrants (84th Foot) in highland dress.

The "Royal Highland Emigrants" were raised in 1775 and was one of the few Provincial Regiments to become a Regular Army Regiment.

The 1st Battalion were recruited mainly from the "Mohawk Valley," trained in Quebec
And fought at Ft. St. Johns PQ 1775, Quebec City PQ 1775-76, Upper New York Raid 1777, Lake Champlain Raids 1778, Mohawk Valley Raids of 1780-82.

The Uniform of the Royal Highland Emigrants was initially the Green of the Royal Provincials, but when they became the 84th Regiment of Foot the uniform become similar to that of the Black Watch and was the only Highland Regiment to keep its Highland Kit throughout the Revolutionary War.

I also painted a couple of American militia units, because I wanted to, and it allowed me to try out a few different painting techniques, especially on the faces. I find faces are the most difficult part of painting the figures, except whites, and if the faces look ok then it leads me on to the rest of the figure.

I have now almost completed another British regiment, the 3rd, and found that red is probably one of the most difficult colours to paint, especially on a black undercoat, so am still experimenting but these were painted using Miniature Paints Plum Red as a base then painting Coat d’Arms Russett Red over with highlights of Coat d’Arms British Scarlett. I have just to finish the basing and then I will be moving on to an American unit.

At the moment I am painting up what I want to in terms of units but will aim to have enough to at least have a go at some of the smaller scenarios in the rules and am initially aiming at Bunker Hill as a starter game.

League of Augsburg figures size comparison

2007-09-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

I have been asked whether the Parkfield Miniatures Glorious Revolution figures are compatible with Dixon and Foundry and have kindly been sent some photos showing the three manufacturers' figures side by side.

In the first photo the second and fifth figures are parkfield, the first, I believe, is Foundry.

The second photoshows Parkfield fourth and fifth, the second, I believe, is Foundry.

Under the Lilly banners

2007-09-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

At present the rules are free from Barry Hilton’s League of Augsburg website but I understand that he is soon to be publishing the rules in full colour and with many amendments.

I have wanted to try these rules for a while now. On first reading they appear well laid out and easy to follow with each section easily identifiable. The rules have no formal army lists, so a bit of common sense is needed to create armies and set up games.

The fighting is by base, rather than numbers of figures with an infantry base having six figures, a cavalry base having three and artillery having numbers of crew depending upon whether it is light, medium or heavy.

Line infantry have four bases of figures, three musketeer bases and one base of pikes placed behind the others to indicate that pikes are present and militia have just three bases with the central one including pikes. Cavalry are based in threes with six figure representing a squadron. Guns are based individually.

The rules include an interesting section which is dependent on the quality of the commander and limits the number of units that may move in a given turn, thus providing some of the fog of war. There is also a long list of events which are randomly diced for but I would suggest these are only used once you are familiar with the rules.

OUR FIRST GAME

Jacobite deployment

Our first game started off with each side having two brigades of foot, one of cavalry and some guns. The game was a meeting engagement to see how the rules worked.

This was a fictional engagement between the forces of William of Orange and that of King James, set somewhere in Ireland.

Both sides began to edge forwards but due to the command and control, not all units were able to move so the initial moves were a bit slow but we managed to get to grips with the move order.

Williamite deployment
The Jacobites lost a gun early on due to some nifty shooting by the Williamite gunners (lucky die rolls) but this left a gap for the cavalry to move into and threaten the Williamite right flank.

Meanwhile on the Jacobite right, the Guards were under fire from a Dutch regiment and a raw Irish regiment, the Guards eventually gave way but the Jacobites were fairing somewhat better on their left as their cavalry decided to charge Kirke’s lambs. The first squadron bounced off having taken some well aimed fire as they approached (more lucky die rolling) but in the next turn another squadron managed to get into melee with Kirke’s regiment and another closed with Hanmer’s regiment in the centre.The Williamite left flank

Hanmer’s took a pasting and turned tail but Kirke’s stood firm, at least for the moment.

Unfortunately we ran out of time, but for anyone interested in the later 1600’s, Under the Lilly Banners makes for a good game. There are a few areas where more explanation is required, especially cavalry versus infantry melees as the infantry seem unable to fight back after the first turn making the outcome fairly obvious, however if infantry stand and fire and inflict enough casualties then the cavalry are likely to run away.

All in all a good set of rules and an interesting game and now I am waiting for Barry to publish the rules.

The figures are all from the Parkfield Miniatures 25mm Glorious Revolution range and the rules are available from barry at The league of Augsburg web site (but you have to register first) the link is on the list to the right of this page.

First game of Gloire with smugglers.

2007-09-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

My first game of Gloire at my wargaming club was between a small gang of smugglers attempting to get a wagon of contraband through to safety. The Revenue men were aware of the arrangements and laid in wait for.

The smuggler gang, under the command ofThe Scarecrow were to get a wagon of booty across the board and over the bridge to safety preferably whilst allowing the Scarecrow to escape into the misty marshes to fight another day.The revenue men laid in wait and after a warning shot was fired all hell broke loose with smugglers falling and the revenue men chasing the wagon which one failed twice to grab hold of the horse and reinit in.

We had a great time playing, although i don't think I managed to use all the rules, and much merryment was had, it was even suggested that we could play again sometime so it can't have been bad.

Anyway, we all seemed to enjoy the rules and I am now preparing some pirates for further adventures.

The figures are all from the parkfield Miniatures Rogues and vagabonds range and the scenery was all scratch built. Some years ago I made up some terrain boards but they are too bulky to use too often, but for this game only one was required.

Gloire is available from Rattrap Productions (http://www.rattrap-productions.com/Gloire/Index.html), who also publish .45 Adventure and Under the Black Flag, the new pirate supplement for Gloire.

Sculpting

2007-09-09T02:29:00.001-07:00

I have now finished my next few pirate figures for Parkfield Miniatures including a Colonial Island Governor and a ships cook.

These figures are a lot of fun for me to sculpt as there are very few uniform details to worry about. also I like to try to make some figures that can be used for other ranges, thus the Governor could also be used as a ranking officer for the Glorious Revolution range of figures, a lord of the manor with the smugglers or even a pirate captain himself.

One of the other figures is of a ships cook, complete with cleaver and bottle (for use in the cooking).

The figures are now released and can be seen at http://www.parkfieldminiatures.freeservers.com/

For the bases I decided to try something different to the norm and modelled the deck planks and the stone paving using milliput with a scalpel used to mark out the detail.

Glorious Revolution

2007-09-09T02:29:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I have been wanting to game The Glorious Revolution. Don't ask me why, I just thought it would be different.

Recently I found the League of Augsburg website and obtained a copy of Under The Lilly Banners so set to rebasing my figures and adding to them. The basing seems to suit what I am after and the rules are simple to read. I haven't tried them yet but will try to write a report once I have played a game.

The period interests me because it pitted English against English and both sides included in their ranks Irish and French, although William also had with him Dutch and Danish contingents. Thus far I have English and Irish regiments painted up, with a token Dutch unit.

King William of Orange landed in Torbay on 5th November 1688 and thus the revolution began between Catholics loyal to King James and Protestants who sided with William. The main battles took place in Ireland and included many better known battles such as The Boyne and Aughrim.

2007-02-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hi, I have now decided to have a go at blogging and here is my first attempt.