The Wargame Shed

The Mutiny: 79th Highlanders

2012-01-22T13:42:00.001Z

Here is a photo of my latest addition to my Indian Mutiny collection which I just finished basing this morning (a little later than scheduled). Once again the figures are from Mutineer Miniatures:

The Mutiny: Sikhs

2012-01-08T11:59:00.000Z

The next unit for my Indian Mutiny project is some loyal Sikhs - once again these are from Mutineer Miniatures.

Next up will be some highlanders (as soon as they are finished!)

Plans for 2012

2012-01-05T17:27:00.000Z

With the New Year in full swing I thought it would be worth outlining my plans for 2012 - if for no other reason than to be able to look back at the end of the year and wonder what the hell I was thinking!

2011 saw quite a bit of progress on a couple of my major projects which creates some space to consider some new ones; however, the house move along with the current economic climate will necessitate a greater level of restraint this year, unfortunately.

28mm Mahdist War - with the last elements of this first phase (the Suakin Campaign) of this project well underway, I can start to think about the second phase - Khartoum. I already have some of the forces I need and so I will probably pick up some bazingers, baggara horse and a few more Nile arabs. Then there's the walls...

28mm Indian Mutiny - I am currently tidying and packing up the last of the figures for this stage (Mutineer light infantry and cavalry, artillery for both sides, some personalities and some civilians) ready to go for painting. I am likely to pause at this point and put my focus elsewhere now.

28mm WW3 - the Mongrel Soviets for this are part based - I just need to persuade Lenin to do some more BAOR to match my existing figures and this will be ready to go.

28mm Early War Polish - having managed to get a core of the Bolt Action figures at a discount from North Star, I am planning to pick up a few more infantry to make up a platoon and a couple of TK tankettes. Them I will need some German light armour to add to my existing early war German infantry. These are likely to find their way onto my Salute shopping list.

15mm Marlburian - these figures have taken a bit of a back seat with the focus on the Sudan, the Mutiny and WW2 last year so I am planning to dust them off and work out which units I want to have painted up. I will also be getting one of my reference books off the shelf to provide some inspiration.

28mm Montrose - these are ready for basing (and, to tell the truth, have been for some time) and so I am planning to get them done in the next couple of months - I just need to settle on a set of rules!

25mm French Revolution - the only thing holding the basing of these back is making a decision on the ground terrain (i.e. what colour). I need to bite the bullet here!

28mm RCW/WW1 Eastern Front - I am hanging back on these as I haven't been inspired to progress this project (although that could change any moment!) - I just need some Copplestone Bolsheviks and Musketeer figures in greatcoats to move this along.

I think that's it for "in progress" work. As to possible new projects, there are a few candidates running through my mind at the moment but I can't possibly do more than one of these this year I don't think and probably not until late in the year:

28mm Modern Afghanistan
28mm Maori Wars
28mm Carlist Wars

But, since no plan survives contact with reality, who knows how things may actually turn out!

Soviet Afghan War: More Mujahideen

2012-01-02T10:05:00.003Z

Here are a few more Afghan figures I actually managed to finish basing over Christmas:

U-Boat Leader

2011-12-29T14:00:00.000Z

I was lucky enough to receive a few games this Christmas, amongst these was my first solo boardgame from Dan Verssen Games - U-Boat Leader. Having long been fascinated by WW2 submarine warfare and Das Boot this was an excellent choice.

The game includes four campaigns covering different stages of the Battle of the Atlantic:

The Battle Begins: covering operations at the start of World War II to about mid-1940.
The Happy Time: covering the period from mid-1940 to mid-1941 when the U-boats and wolfpacks dominated the seas.
Operation Drumbeat: covering operations off the American coast and in the Caribbean in early 1942.
The Hunted: covering the time period when the tide starts to turn against the U-boats in mid 1942.

Each of these can be played as a short, medium of long game depending on the number of patrols you wish to play. It also includes the following U-Boats:

Type IIB/C coastal submarines
Type VII A/B/C Atlantic submarines
Type IX A/B/C long-range submarines
Type XXI Elektro-boat

Each of which can be selected from (or developed through) various experience levels (Green, Trained, Veteran and Ace).

The game is split between the campaign map, where you direct several U-Boats:

and the Tactical Display where the actual combat occurs:

Each campaign provides you with a pool of Special Option points which you can spend on your U-Boat flotilla and other special missions and actions. Movement across the campaign map triggers events (which can include contacts) and when the U-Boat reaches its patrol area it can check for contacts. If a contact is made then things transfer to the Tactical Display with the target vessels represented by generic counters until they are identified (which is managed through a card deck) - sometimes revealing some nasty surprises!

A U-Boat can try to form a Wolfpack by contacting other boats in the same patrol area but with the chance of alerting the target. The combat consists of relative movement, detection and combat phases with the U-Boat finally having to exit the display - which can be tricky if you have been detected.

I have only played the game once so far but really enjoyed the experience. I am sure this is not a game for everyone but I will be breaking this out plenty more times in the future.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T19:14:00.001Z

Here's wishing you a very merry Christmas! Thank you to all of you who have stopped by and a particularly big thank you to those who have taken the time to leave comments (thus proving I am not just talking to myself!). I hope that you're on the nice list and Santa (or the Hogfather) brings you lots of gaming goodness this Christmas (Hogswatch)!

Lardies Xmas Special - Out Now!

2011-12-23T16:07:00.005Z

After a little longer a wait than normal (but it looks like it was worth it!) the TooFatLardies have released their Christmas special.

The price has gone up slightly to £6 but with the pdf weighing in at 122 pages I think it's still pretty good value if you are into Lardies games. The run down this year is:

The sinking of the Konigsberg - A scenario for Bag the Hun
On Patrol- A complete pre-game patrol system for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum
A Brief Affair - An Australian attack on a German held Pacific Island in 1914 with Through the Mud and the Blood
An A to Z of Umpiring - The dos and don’ts of running games
One off Battles for Le Feu Sacre - Some pick up Napoleonics games
Green Hill Moonshine - A scenario for Terrible Sharp Sword ACW rules
Deadly Pairs - A Bag the Hun scenario for Normandy 1944.
Passchendaele, The Bitter Victory - Sidney Roundwood looks at this epic battle and how it shaped the face of warfare
In the Salient - Three Scenarios for gaming Passchendaele
6mm LOVES IABSM - Why 6mm is the perfect scale for IABSM?
Across the Nemen - A Barbarossa scenario
Messing Around with Boats - Rating ships for Kiss Me Hardy
Operation Charnwood - The background to this remarkably little gamed operation to capture Caen
A Fresh and Highly Trained Instrument - A complete Operation Charnwood mini-campaign for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum
The Capture of Akhalkalak Fortress - A scenario for Sharp Practice set on the borders of Russia and the Ottoman Empire
Sniper! - Some alternative sniper rules for IABSM
Bridge over the River Urk - A Partisan scenario for IABSM
The Roundwood Report - An interview with Richard Clarke on the future for TooFatLardies
Get Fondler - A gritty Sharp Practice scenario set in Gateshead?
May Madness - A scenario for Bag the Hun above the Dunkirk perimeter in 1940

Quite a packed issue as usual and certainly worth a look!

Extending the Gaming Table - Part 2

2011-12-20T17:57:00.001Z

I managed to get the second part of the extension completed this afternoon. After yesterday's experience I made sure I wore an extra pair of socks when working the garage as it was pretty cold again. This part of the table doubles as my workbench and so I will now be able to get back to my basing with better lighting.

Next up I need to unpack and sort the remaining boxes from the move as I now have somewhere to put the stuff! Of course if I am lucky next weekend I may have more things to have to think about storing!

The main challenge will be coming up with a managable labelling system so I can actually find things when I need them.

Extending the Gaming Table

2011-12-19T18:17:00.001Z

Today I have mostly been designing and building an additional 2 foot section for my gaming table. I have only completed the first of the two sections and am now feeling rather old as I'm completely knackered now!

The reason it's a little more complicated than the main table is this part needs to perform double duty - as a workbench and a storage unit. This allows me to keep some spare space in the games room when I don't need thr larger table - plus it allows me to put the workspace in the window alcove so I can get some proper daylight when I am working.

The design is basic and functional rather than pretty (largely due to my complete lack of woodworking skills - I did German at school instead - not much use when making basic furniture!). But once it's all finished I can finally get the last boxes unpacked and the games room organised.

Eastern Front Action

2011-12-17T18:13:00.000Z

In keeping with the season I thought I would post a few photos from a WW2 Eastern Front game I put on recently:

John and the Buttocks of Buddha

2011-12-17T18:00:00.000Z

I managed to get down to the club again last week and had an interesting game of Italian Wars using Impetus. I had some cavalry, mounted crossbow and some arquebusiers and my orders were to hold the left flank whilst Crazy Dave punched through on the right and rolled up their flank. It sounded like a good plan until Ben arrived and took command of the troops in the village right in Dave's way. Needless to say the attack got somewhat bogged down and, whilst I whittled away at the troops over the river, my cavalry took plenty of casualties and when the enemy reinforcements arrived things took a turn for the worse. It was at this point that John revealed that he has the buttocks of a god ...

... unfortunately they're Buddha's ...

no idea when he's going to let him have them back!

Mahdist War: RMLI

2011-12-04T16:32:00.001Z

And now some Royal Marine Light Infantry to add to my Sudan collection (Perry 28mm figures again):

Mahdist War: KRRC

2011-11-27T18:37:00.001Z

Here are some more of my 28mm Perry Sudan figures - this time from the 3rd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps - for the Suakin Campaign:

Quick Project Update

2011-11-22T20:15:00.001Z

What with the house move and a rather nasty surprise from HMRC I have had to revisit my project plans and do a little trimming and rescheduling. So here's a quick overview:

Indian Mutiny: With the Sikhs and Highlanders currently away for painting I am just sorting out the next batch of figures. These are some Mutineer cavalry, light infantry, artillery for both sides and the civilians and personalities from Mutineer miniatures. I suspect I will close this project after these have been done and I have found an appropriate source for some suitable flags.

Sudan: SELWG saw me purchase some more figures for my Sudan project. These represent the last I need to complete Phase 1 - the Suakin campaign - including the Yorks & Lancs, Black Watch, 10th Hussars and some Naval Brigade. I may get the additional figures I need for Phase 2 - Khartoum - at Salute next year.

WW2 NW Europe: I just need to base up my Foundry Paras and this can be counted as complete (always assuming any wargaming project ever reaches that stage!).

Cold War: Lenin has my additional BAOR and the additional Soviets I need are off with Roger so it is just down to me to assemble and paint the BTR (and possibly get a couple more vehicles - I've always fancied a Scorpion - but that will have to wait a while unfortunately).

Falklands: No real progress on this one since the last update - although it would be nice to have this progressed given next year is (believe it or not) the 30th anniversary.

Russian Civil War/WW1 Eastern Front: I keep get the figures out and then popping them back on the shelf as I don't have any desperate need to move this project along (which is handy as I'm not sure I can afford it with the other ones planned!).

Montrose: Still being rebased (or if you really want to know the truth - about to start being rebased - i.e. I haven't actually done anything yet...)

Scarlet Pimpernel: I still need to decide on what finish I am going to do on the bases for these and then assemble and paint the guillotine.

Marlburian: These are next on the list for cleaning up; however, I still need decide which units I want them to be and which rules to use in order to get this moving along.

Maximilian in Mexico: No actual progress here.

Vietnam: Lenin tells me these are on the workbench - so I am hoping to get a game to the table in the new year.

Greek Myth: This is still a bit on the back burner; however, the new figures from Foundry are rather nice ... (must resist!)

WW2 Polish: This was one project I had intended to reschedule but with North Star having some of the Bolt Action Poles on sale (and the sale coming to an end) I thought I'd better secure the saving! Not much of an excuse but I will be popping them on the shelf as I will need to supplement them with some figures that North Star didn't have on offer.

Everything Else: is being delayed/rescheduled as there is plenty to be getting on with without starting something new (always assuming I can get treatment for the "ooohhh shiny" syndrome I seem to have contracted!

Mahdist War: 19th Hussars

2011-11-20T20:22:00.001Z

I didn't get much time this weekend to devote to gaming stuff but did manage to base up a few more of my Perry Sudan figures. This time it's the 19th Hussars:

First Look: Cold War Gone Hot

2011-11-18T16:41:00.003Z

Hot on the heels of Ambush Valley comes the fourth source book for Force on Force but the first covering an conflict that never actually happened.

Unlike Ambush Valley, Cold War Gone Hot is focussed more on scenarios. In its case there are 22 of them. They are split into three groupings, Col War Fears, Cold War Realities and Cold War Fantasies to suit the approach you wish to take to this alternative history.

Cold War Fears is based on the views held at the time (irrespective of whether these were based on fact rather than speculation). So you get a Soviet and Warsaw Pact with significantly superior numbers of forces and worryingly similar capabilities to the West.

Cold War Realities is based in the real world following the release of hard facts after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet bloc. The scenarios in this section also focus on a somewhat more aggressive NATO in order to spice things up.

Cold War Fantasies is based more in the world of Holywood than the real one, taking its inspiration from films and fiction set in the period.

The balance of the 120 odd page book contains special rules, unit and vehicle information etc. It is a useful reference work if you are interested in a counter factual conflict in the 1980s that's for sure.

Currently at Amazon for only £9.71: Cold War Gone Hot: World War II 1986 (Force on Force)

First Look: Ambush Valley

2011-11-18T16:41:00.001Z

Ambush Valley is the third source book for the Force on Force rules and covers the Vietnam War. The book is over 180 pages packed with useful information on a wide variety of units which were involved in the conflict.

There are around 20 pages of the book taken up with new or modified rules for Force on Force (including special rules for civilians and for boats) but the remainder of the book is full of data which aren't FoF specific.

This is a great resource for anyone interested in information on the forces involved in Vietnam and given the volume of data is great value. It is much lighter on scenarios though, with only six being included, and so is more useful as a reference work rather than for game ideas.

Available from Amazon for only £9.71: Ambush Valley: Vietnam 1965-1975 (Force on Force)

Lest we forget

2011-11-11T15:32:00.001Z

Photo courtesy of dougbelshaw

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

First Look: I Ain't Been Shot Mum III

2011-11-05T16:55:00.001Z

I never thought it would happen but the Too Fat Lardies have actually produced a full colour professionally bound rule book! It's the new (3rd) edition of their I Ain't Been Shot Mum company size WW2 rules in fact. So I felt compelled to buy it.

The rules are now beautifully presented in over 100 pages interspersed with diagrams, examples and some nice photos. But what else has changed?

If you weren't familiar with the previous edition of the rules, you can find my overview here.

The core rules are pretty much unchanged but with lots of improvement in layout, explanation and the introduction of some concepts from some of the other Lardies rules (e.g. Command Initiative). Some of the terminology has been improved - particularly "wounds" (which was confusing) which have become shock. The main change for infantry has been with the Big Men who are no longer rated by dice but rather with a Command Initiative rating. This is supplemented by Command Initiative cards within the deck which may only be used by Big Men of that rating or above. The rating and the cards provide a number of actions that the Big Man may perform, activating a unit for example. The rating also determines the Big Man's command radius.

The armour rules have been overhauled too which was a rather weak area for the previous edition and the concept of "Aces" has been introduced to allow for those really exceptional individuals who crop up in various accounts.

There are six generic and four historical scenarios included along with a "handbook" section covering the organisation of forces for Normandy. This shows the model the Lardies will be using as they update their theatre specific supplements for the new edition. Fortunately the changes aren't substantial so the old supplements can still be used with some easy tweaks (as outlined in the Lard Island News blog).

In addition to the new rules the Lardies have also produced an official printed set of cards to use with them. There are 104 cards, which are larger than normal playing cards, which allow you to field two companies of infantry, five platoons of armour and eight Big Men per side along with three off-table support units and all the bonus characteristic cards you will need.

There is also an official set of tokens to accompany the rules which include low ammo, artillery aiming point, pinned/suppressed, reduced actions, AFV reduced movement, AFV immobilised, AFV main gun damaged and AFV main gun disabled markers as you can see below:

The rules are available in softback, pdf or tablet enabled pdf and also in bundles with the cards and tokens.

I am glad I bought them as I have now got my 15mm WW2 figures out of the boxes and am starting to plan a game with them!

Wargames Week - The Photos

2011-11-05T16:51:00.002Z

First Look: Tomorrow's War

2011-11-05T16:24:00.001Z

Having enjoyed reading Force on Force (FoF) and been in search of a set of rules suitable for my collection of 25mm Denizen and GZG figures I decided to take the plunge and picked up a copy of Tomorrow's War (TW) - the science fiction rules based on FoF.

TW is presented in a very similar way to FoF but at 260 pages is even thicker. The rules are clearly based on FoF but provide a series of additional concepts to allow to deal with different technology levels, robots and the like. As with FoF the rules concentrate on the capability of the troops rather than the individual weapon types.

It is clear that these rules are intended to be used for hard science fiction rather than science fantasy with little provision for alien races and the like (although there is some guidance as to how you might add them). Which suits me as hard SF is my preference.

In addition to the rules themselves, which are organised in almost exactly the same way as FoF, provides a backstory with a mix of Nation states and major Corporations vying for control of various colonies and resources.

Having recently played FoF and enjoyed them I am really looking forward to getting TW to the table.

First Play: Force on Force

2011-11-05T16:08:00.000Z

Our final tabletop miniatures game of the week was a chance to get the new edition of Force on Force to the table along with my Mongrel Soviets and Afghans. I decided to try a asymmetric engagement as I thought this suited the forces better so we still need to try a kinetic game in order to properly try the rules out.

The scenario was adapted from one kindly published by [insert] (the adaptations were largely due to the fact I didn't have the vehicles). Lenin, as Soviet commander, was required to identify, isolate and neutralise the Mujahideen forces in the compounds.

The basic concepts behind the rules are fairly straight forward; however, the way they have decided to cover all the aspects in each section of the rule book makes them a little daunting at first. We weren't phased by the reaction based approach as we are both very familiar with the Two Hour Wargames rules which use a similar approach.

The scenario did not start well for the Soviets. Their first fire team advanced cautiously from behind a field of crops into sight of a group of Mujahideen concealed within one of the compounds. This resulted in my group opening fire and causing enough casualties to effectively eliminate the Soviet fire team. The other half of the Soviet squad then advanced to try and extract the casualties and a similar thing happened. This rather gave us pause as, if this was going to be repeated each time the Soviets came into sight there was no way for them to get a team onto overwatch and hence be able to make any headway at all. In fact I had rolled rather well for all the tests and firing rolls on both occasions (which happens some times despite my reputation!) so we decided to reset the game and try it again.

The second time I rolled somewhat more normal dice which gave the Soviets the chance to fire first and get a team into position. This completely changed the situation and we both breathed a sigh of relief that it was simple chance and not any failure of the rules themselves (although it is something to bear in mind with small groups vs large ones when designing scenarios!).

With the Soviet left flank engaged they also began to advance on the right.

When they came into sight of the main compound another fire fight broke out, with the Soviets getting the drop on the Afghans again.

With things going well for the Soviets some Afghan reinforcements arrived. This gave the Soviets pause but didn't prevent them from rushing and taking the first compound on the left flank. The Afghans now concentrated in the larger central compound. The Soviets brought up some reinforcements for an assault.

The Soviet launched their attack and quickly secured a foothold in the buildings on the edge of the compound. A firefight broke out between the Afghans reinforcements and the Soviet ones but the Soviets quickly got the upper hand.

Even with more reinforcements arriving directly in the compound, the Soviets, now in position, make quick work of them and secured the entire compound.

The game was a lot of fun and so we will be giving the rules some outings in order to test the other aspects of them, particularly the kinetic (regular vs regular) engagements.

Wargames Week: Up the Arsenal

2011-11-05T10:38:00.002Z

Next up was a first outing for my Indian Mutiny figures from Mutineer Miniatures. For easy I decided to use the supplement and scenario for Sharp Practice from the Too Fat Lardies 2008 Christmas Special. The scenario adopts the usual Lardies Carry On style humour (as you can probably tell from the title) with Lenin playing the part of the ubiquitous Flashman and me as the Mutineer leader Ram Dittin. Flashman's mission was simply to raid the old arsenal and bring back much needed ammunition and supplies all under the noses of the Mutineers!

Flashman decided to split their forces with Lieutenants Jarce and St James leading the assault on the arsenal whilst he protected their rear. The attack didn't start too well with the allegedly stealthy Sepoy sent to take care of the gate house guard altered him instead. The British decided to try rushing the gate before the Mutineers reacted. This went rather better with the British quickly taking the yard and stables.

Unfortunately for Flashy the rear of the arsenal wasn't quite as safe as he was hoping as some Badmashes from the bazaar heard the firing and began rushing to reinforce the arsenal.

Flashman formed his men into a firing line and let loose a volley into the advancing Mutineers which gave them a little pause; however, another unit appeared on their right flank.

Meanwhile the arsenal garrison had eventually organised themselves and counter attacked. After some fierce and bloody fighting the tables were turned on the British and Lieutenant St James was forced to make a last stand against the arsenal wall where they paid the ultimate price.

Arriving too late to save St James, Lieutenant Jarce led his furious men in a vicious assault which put paid to the Mutineer garrison. With the arsenal secured, Jarce organised his men to load mules from the stables with supplies.

Behind the arsenal Flashman ordered a few more volleys and then had his men fall back in good order. Some Mutineers who slipped past Flashman managed to run to the front of the arsenal where they came under murderous fire from the remaining unit of the Madras Fusiliers and made a hasty retreat.

With the flanks covered the British made a organised withdrawal with the necessary supplies.

Wargames Week: War Against Japan

2011-10-26T19:13:00.001Z

Our next game was another outing for Nuts! - this time in the pacific using the War Against Japan supplement. This time out we decided to take a US squad each and have the game run the Japanese.

The terrain was set up using the random generation tables in the supplement and our objective was simply to land on the beach and then clear it of the enemy. We thought this might not be a simple as it sounds, particularly as the village just behind the beach counted as a potential contact!

Fortunately our landing went without a hitch. My squad hit the beach and immediately advanced to clear the village. It was all going well until one of my men tripped a booby trap in the doorway to one of the huts and blew himself up!

Lenin's squad was having a little more luck advancing through the jungle toward a gully; however, this was all about to change as when they spotted a couple of potential contacts they turned out to be almost a platoon of Japs between them! Lenin came under some heavy fire and so fell back into the jungle.

Having cleared the village I advanced on his flank and engaged one of the enemy squads to allow Lenin's squad to try an outflanking manoeuvre. The firefight was favouring the japanese as they had a better LMG than my BARs so I pulled back to regroup.

I pushed one team forward to try to outflank the japanese and then launched a co-ordinated assault with grenades. This effectively eliminated the japs and allowed me to advance on their position. This is when it gets a little tricky as they have a habit of just playing dead or trying to take you with them when they go! One of them took a shot at my men but fortunately wasn't successful.

Lenin tried a similar approach on the unit facing him and had similar initial success but when he advanced to investigate the japanese position he found one of them holding a grenade and lost most of his team.

Regrouping once again I decided to continue the advance. Almost immediately we spotted a potential enemy force which, unfortunately, turned out to be a tank!

The tank spotted us and opened fire and a rather vicious engagement began. My bazooka team were utterly useless and despite surviving the HE fire from the tank managed to miss it no less than three times! Clearly frustrated by this ineptitude one of the NCOs decided to have a go himself and charged the tank armed only with grenades and a bad attitude. It looked like a risky strategy but incredibly he managed to blow the tank up.

In the interim Lenin's men had come under fire from a sniper in a spider hole behind them and once dealt with we both had taken so many casualties that continuing with the mission was simply not an option and so we withdrew to the landing craft.

First Play: Saga

2011-10-25T19:10:00.000Z

Our second game of the week was our first chance to try out the new Dark Ages rules from Gripping Beast, Saga. We decided on the first scenario and Lenin took command of the Welsh with me taking the Vikings.

The rules suggest starting with a 4 point force rather than the typical 6, so that's what we did. We took slightly differing approaches to the construction of our warbands with Lenin deciding to include some levy, something I decided to avoid.

It took a little while to learn the different abilities on each of the faction battle boards and I am sure it will take a few games to really master any one faction. But we managed to get into the game fairly quickly nonetheless.

The Welsh decided to take the hill in the centre straight away and I, somewhat unwisely, decided to rush in a push them off it. The fatigue I gained from the multiple actions really gave the Welsh the edge in the fight and my Vikings were thrown back with some serious casualties.

I decided to regroup and attack again.

This time the combination of a couple of abilities and some lucky dice rolling carried the day.

The melding of modern boardgame mechanisms and traditional wargame rules might seem a little odd at first but we found it provided a fun game with the right feel for the period. As a result I can see these rules coming out again!

Wargames Week: Sicily 1943

2011-10-22T19:18:00.000Z

Our first tabletop miniatures game was an opportunity for me to get my new Artizan US figures to the table. This was a fictional scenario set against the historical background of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 using the Two Hour Wargames' Nuts! rules. Lenin took command of the two squads of American troops and their supporting Sherman whose objective was to clear the village of San Carlos.

Defending the village were five PEFs (Potential Enemy Forces) which would be determined when the GIs came into line of sight of them. The first couple turned out to be false alarms, from the Americans being a little jumpy, and so the Allies made their way into the outskirts of the village. Then the Sherman trundled down the road and it turned out that the Germans had, perhaps rather too stereotypically, posted an MG34 crew in the church tower.

The MG team promptly opened up on the Sherman and the tank commander slumped out of the turret. The tank's driver was clearly spooked and promptly threw the tank behind a nearby house to get out of the line of fire. Meanwhile one of the accompanying US squads had discovered that one of the village houses wasn't as unoccupied as it first appeared when they came under a hail of automatic weapons fire. However, their Sergeant's quick reactions resulted in his Thompson and the squad BAR returning fire, killing a couple of the German section and forcing them to keep their heads down.
A fire firefight ensued with the US squad eventually victorious which allowed them to advance.

With the Sherman crew having had a chance to recover their senses they once again began their advance down the main street. The MG34 once again opened fire but with the tank buttoned up this time it had little effect. An HE shell from the tank's main gun promptly ended the danger from the MG position.

Another US squad had discovered some more Germans occupying another dwelling and a short fire fight ensued resulting in most of the Germans being killed and the two survivors cowering behind the stonework.

With everything looking good for the Americans they heard a rather loud and disturbing noise approaching. This turned out to be a Tiger!

The Sherman, loaded with HE, opened fire on the Tiger but to little effect (the German tank commander having seen the remnants of the church tower and deciding that a cautious approach might be appropriate). The Tiger returned fire, promptly brewing up the Sherman.

Under cover of this fire the two German survivors decided to withdraw but, unfortunately, one was spotted and brought down by some US fire. One GI decided to see what had engaged the Sherman but ducked back as soon as he spotted the Tiger and just as they opened up with their MG!

The lone German sprinted through a hail of American bullets and reached the tank, which then decided to withdraw.

Week of Gaming

2011-10-22T16:57:00.002Z

After the house move and a fairly stressful time at work I decided I needed a week off. After discussing it with Lenin, who had been having a worse time at work, we decided to use the week as our next meet up.

We scheduled things to allow us to go to the SELWG show at Crystal Palace as well as having a relaxed week with plenty of gaming both tabletop and board and card games.

SELWG was worth a visit as I managed to pick up the next batch of Perry Sudan figures to finish phase 1 of that project. It was good meeting up with a few people but overall the show was a little disappointing. The range of traders seemed a little reduced and the revised layout didn't quite work for me (although that could just be me getting old and not liking change!). I had seen quite a few of the games before; however, a couple were worth seeing again and there were some nice ideas on show. Unfortunately due to a bit of a senior moment I forgot to take my camera and so haven't got any photos to post.

Over the rest of the week we played a mix of games. I'll be writing separate posts around the individual miniatures games but we also managed to give some of our new board and card game purchases a go.

World at War: Blood and Bridges is one of Lenin's latest acquisitions. It's a hex and counter game from Lock 'n' Load covering a Soviet invasion of West Germany. The system is pretty easy to grasp and the scenario was fun to play. We tried out the first scenario with me as the Soviets and Lenin taking the West Germans with our forces rather mixed up which mad things very interesting!

We have found it difficult to find a set of miniature rules which we both like for this period and so Lenin is seriously thinking of converting this to use his 3mm and/or 6mm micro armour.

Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon is the second in a series of D&D boardgames which Wizards of the Coast are releasing. I thought this might allow me to recapture a little of the feel of the D&D games I used to play all that time ago. Unlike some of the other games of this genre this one is fully co-operative with the game running the dungeon rather than needing a separate DM. The dungeon itself is built using interlocking tiles and the characters and monsters are represented by some nice plastic miniatures. Our first adventure proved to be a disaster, probably because we chose to split up! But it was an enjoyable experience overall.

Sentinels of the Multiverse is a super hero card game from newcomers Greater than Games. They have created 10 hero characters, 4 villains and 4 locations which can all be mixed to create quite a variety of different games. You can see some of the inspiration for the heros and villains but they are a lot more than slavish copies of well known comic book characters. The artwork is great and combined with the rule booklet and flavour text creates just the right atmosphere. The game system is simple enough for my daughter to play with some appropriate advice on card choices but is really challenging. With each hero and villain having their own separate deck and playing quite differently, this is a game which needs quite a few plays in order to learn how best to work them. Unfortunately there isn't any balancing mechanism for 2 player games and so these are extremely challenging and the correct selection of character combinations is crucial in any game. We played both 2 and 3 player games and had a lot of fun - so I can see this one getting a few more outings!

Imperial is another in the rondel series from designer Mac Gerdts (I also have Antike). In this game you play the financiers behind the major european powers at the start of the 20th Century. The player with the largest investment in a particular country gets to determine its actions. Despite using the rondel mechanism like Antike, this game has a very different feel (as I had hoped it would). We only played a two player game, and thought it would be a quite different experience with more players, but had plenty of fun with it.

We also managed to get in a game of Marvel Heroscape and quite a few two player card games too finishing off the week with a visit to Dover castle.

First Look: Saga

2011-10-08T19:16:00.000Z

I happened by Orcs Nest the other day and noticed that they had Saga the new Gripping Beast / Studio Tomahawk Dark Ages rules in stock. I was wondering whether to pick up a copy, and hesitating at the £25 price tag, but having heard good things about them I decided to take the plunge.

The rules are softback, in full colour and run to 75 pages. You also get four battle boards, one for each of the four factions within the rules - Vikings, Normans, Anglo-Danes and Welsh - which are single sided colour card. There are special sets of dice you can also buy for each of the factions which look nice but at £12 a set could make the total package a little pricey; however, you don't need the special dice to play the rules as they do provide a translation table for standard d6.

After a brief introduction there is an overview of the basics and then the rules are covered in sections. This is followed by a complete turn example which takes you to about 35 pages in total. The remainder of the book covers mustering your warband, an overview of each of the factions and abilities. Then there are 6 generic scenarios plus a section on how to play with four players as opposed to the usual two, often overlooked rules and sections for you to photocopy with the measuring sticks, fatigue markers and the QRS.

The rules are clear, explained well and accompanied by diagrams and summaries. There are a sprinkling of photos of some nicely painted miniatures and I only spotted a couple of typos and the inclusion of some designer's notes is always a nice touch.

Saga is clearly aimed more at the game rather than simulation end of the spectrum. The dice and battle boards provide what feels like a modern boardgame approach with combinations of dice allowing you to take various actions or gain certain advantages in the turn. Movement has been simplified with everything being referred to in Very Short, Short, Medium and Long terminology which allows easy conversion to different scales/table sizes if needs be.

Troops are of four types (although each faction refers to these by different thematic names) - the warlord, the hearthguards, the warriors and the levies or peasants. Obviously the warlord is your leader and the others represent the different levels of capability of the fighting men combined with their experience.

My first impression of these is they look like they should give a good, thematic game. I am hoping to try them on the table next week and will report back.

A quick update

2011-09-25T18:30:00.000Z

Things have been very quiet on the gaming front as all my spare time is being spent decorating and the like. I now have most of my gaming kit in the new room in the attic but I am now waiting for some shelving to get it all organised - at which time I will be able to make some more progress.

Lenin is due to visit next month which provides a target date to get everything in order. I am hoping to get Force on Force to the table (using my Mongrel Soviets and Afghans) along with some Indian Mutiny and my WW2 US figures. With any luck I should also be able to get some boardgames tried out - so that should provide plenty of material for some future posts...

Back Online!

2011-09-08T18:48:00.002Z

Following a rather stressful house move and despite the best efforts of BT I am now back on-line. I'm not sure there will be too many posts until I actually have everything unboxed though. The new games room is much larger and a larger table is in the offing although I do need to sort out lots of shelving for all my stuff. More soon...

First Play: Wars of the Roses

2011-08-14T10:44:00.001Z

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of the Z-Man Games Wars of the Roses: Lancaster vs York boardgame for my birthday and thought I would report back on my first game.

Wars of the Roses, designed by Peter Hawes, is a 2-4 player game lasting around 3 hours. The first thing that struck me was the weight of the box. Not only is it stuffed with components, they are all really nice quality. There is a large board depicting England divided into six regions each with their own royal castle, large and small towns and port. There are four thick player screens with castle artwork to conceal the players' planning charts each with useful historical and game related information printed on the inside. There are an assortment of wooden cylinders and cubes in each of the player colours and some black and white cubes (for bribing the nobles). Then there are the thick tokens and cards representing troops, money, nobles and the like. Finally there are the cards representing the locations, nobles etc. The boards, screens, tokens and cards are pretty clearly laid out and very nicely illustrated.

At its core this is an area control game played out over five turns, each representing a number of years. The objective of the game is to amass victory points through controlling the various regions. Each turn is broken down into eight phases:

Determine Turn Order
Draw Cards
Collect Income
Planning
Deployment
Bribery
Combat
Parliament

Turn order is determined by reversing the players' positions on the victory point track, thus the player with the least points will go first. Then a number of cards are drawn and placed face up next to the board, These represent the castles, towns, ports, bishops, nobles, ship captains and mercenaries. The players take it in turn to choose a card which will become theirs to control. Income is determined by totalling up the income generated by the cards that the player controls. Play then moves on to the planning phase which is the meat of the game.

Players need to determine whether to move their nobles and ships, raise troops, bribe their own nobles to stay loyal or opposing noble to swap sides and spend money to influence the King to make them the Captain of Calais. Other than movement these actions all cost money! Once all the players have finished planning then the screens are removed and the remaining phases are played out based on what they have planned to do.

Attacks on castles, towns and ports can only be made when a player has a presence in the relevant region, which is where the nobles become important. Combat is based on a simple majority approach but does deplete your forces dramatically, which is where player order becomes important as locations can change hands more than once in a turn. Parliament is dependent on the balance of control in each of the areas influencing which house is in the ascendancy.

I have only had a single two player game so far but really enjoyed it. I suspect that the addition of further players will only make the game more interesting and I am looking forward to getting this back to the table as soon as I can.

First Look: The Devil's Wind

2011-08-07T10:15:00.000Z

The Devil's Wind are a new set of Indian Mutiny wargames rules by David Bickley. The rules a 43 pages long in full colour and have photographs on almost every page of figures in action on the tabletop.

They are intended for multi-figure bases and can be used with a variety of figure scales. Suggested base sizes are 40 x 50mm for infantry and 80 x 50mm for cavalry and artillery. Units are typically 4-5 bases each and the number of figures per bases is suggested but each takes 4 hits before removal (which will mean either using trays and removing figures, marking the bases or some other form of bookkeeping).

The rules do not have a figure, time or terrain scale and take up the majority of the booklet with only a single sample scenario. They use a mix of d6 and d10 and follow a pretty traditional movement, firing and melee sequence. The Imperial troops move and fire first and in various situations troops will have to take "pluck" (morale) tests.

I haven't had a chance to play the rules themselves as yet so I can't comment on how they feel but I was rather disappointed with the general layout and editing. The text is generally black on a biege texture background interspersed with brown and uses a variety of fonts and point sizes. The photographs could have done with either better selection or editing as some are dark or poorly focussed. Whilst all the elements seem to be present the explanations could be clearer and could have done with a good proof read and edit (for example the pluck rules are duplicated in two places entirely word for word). I can understand the desire for a glossy look but the quality needs to be more than skin deep and a little more time on the layout could have made a huge difference here.

So, in summary, my first impression was that these are a little disappointing for their £12.50 cover price. I am hoping they will change that initial impression when I get a chance to have a couple games with them.

WW2 Med: GIs

2011-07-24T17:59:00.000Z

Here are a couple of photos of my Artizan US troops for my WW2 Mediterranean project:

The Mutiny: Badmashes

2011-07-18T19:38:00.000Z

And now some figures from Mutineer Miniatures:

The Munity: The Men of the Empire

2011-07-17T10:36:00.000Z

And now some personalities from Wargames Foundry:

The Mutiny: Civilians

2011-07-17T10:32:00.001Z

Here are some more figures to add to my Indian Mutiny collection - this time some civilians from Wargames Foundry:

Soviet Afghan War: The Soviets

2011-06-26T20:18:00.000Z

Next up, some opposition for my Mudjahideen:

Soviet Afghan War: The Mujahideen

2011-06-19T16:49:00.000Z

Switching to another current project, here are the first batch of figures for the Soviet Afghan War - the Mujahideen. These are Mongrel Miniatures figures (available in the UK via Newline Designs).

The Mutiny: Uniformed Mutineers

2011-06-17T09:35:00.000Z

The next unit for my Indian Mutiny project is some uniformed mutineers (with some slightly less regulation command!) - once again these are from Mutineer Miniatures.

Next I'll be basing up some in dhotis and then some irregulars and badmashes.

Broadside 2011

2011-06-12T18:36:00.001Z

I went along to the new wargames show at Sittingbourne today and met up with a couple of friends. For a first show I thought they had put together a pretty decent selection of traders and games. There were a smattering of better known names and some smaller traders but it was difficult to tell what type of business the were doing - which will be crucial for the future of the show.

There were a few nice looking games on show and I picked up a few bits and pieces (but was pretty restrained due to our impending move).

I will certainly be adding the show to my calendar if they decide to make it a regular feature.

TooFatLardies Summer Special

2011-06-11T06:02:00.000Z

The Lardies have released their Summer Special for this year and it has lots of interesting stuff in it as usual. I don't propose to give a full list here as they have the contents listed on their website but rather pick out a couple of items which caught my eye.

First up they have a supplement for Sharp Practice (their Napoleonic skirmish rules) which covers the French & Indian War along with a scenario. Given the nature of that war I think there is some real potential for more moderate sized games as the traditional large Seven Years War battles simply don't feature in the theatre. I'm trying to avoid being inspired to start yet another project on this!

Then there's a supplement for If the Lord Spares Us (their WW1 Middle East rules) allowing them to be used for the Western Front along with a scenario and also one for Gallipoli. I have been wondering both about doing something with ITLSU in it's original setting and also, separately, about higher level WW1 in a smaller scale - so this will be an interesting read.

As you can see from the front cover, there's also a riverine supplement for Charlie Don't Surf along with a couple of scenarios. I really don't know too much about this aspect of the conflict so that'll be interesting too.

A couple of early WW2 I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! scenarios are also very interesting, particularly as there hasn't been as much focus on these rules in the recent specials.

I know that Lenin will be interested in the scenarios for Through the Mud & the Blood covering 1920s Mesopotamia (interesting to contrast that with the current conflict too).

With a whole number of scenarios for their other rule sets and a terrain building article I think there's plenty here to interest anyone who likes the Lardies stuff and it's still at the old £5 price too which is nice.

Project Update: Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

2011-05-30T14:00:00.002Z

The idea for this project came from seeing the Mongrel Miniatures Soviet and Mujahideen ranges some years ago. Then Mongrel disappeared and it wasn't until Newline Designs started to import the figures again from their new owner that it resurfaced as a potential project. I was just about to put an order in when I spotted some of the figures on eBay in their original 8 figure packs. Never one to ignore a bargain, I put a bid in and was lucky enough to get them for a really decent price. I then picked up a few other bits and pieces from Newline to fill in a couple of gaps.

The first batch of figures are now back from the painter and I have just started basing them up. I've got a platoon plus a couple of support weapons for the Soviets and about the same for the Mujahideen. The packs I bought also had some figures in winter uniforms and it's these I will be using for my Cold War Gone Hot project (although I had quite a few more to get to bring these up to platoon strength).

In the interim I have picked up a BTR70 from Copplestone (which I believe is the old HLBS range) and am considering getting a BMP or two but at £25 each I suspect that may be a little while off! Other than that I already have pretty much everything else I need in the way of terrain from other projects.

I plan to use this as my first real outing with the new Force on Force rules and I have managed to find a copy of The Bear Went Over the Mountain to provide some inspiration for scenarios.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I have the figure basing completed.

The Mutiny: 53rd Foot

2011-05-30T10:22:00.001Z

Despite having to pack up my room to put the house on the market, I have still been managing to make a little progress with my various projects. I just finished basing my second unit for the Indian Mutiny - the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot - who took part in the relief of Lucknow and earned some 5 VCs during the Mutiny. The figures are from Mutineer Miniatures. Apologies for the photos - they were taken in a bit of a rush!

The One of Our Satellites is Missing Affair - Episode 1 - Access Denied

2011-05-28T16:23:00.000Z

Our last game of the weekend was a first outing for 7TV, the new cult TV rules which Lenin had picked up at Salute. He picked one of the scenarios from the rule book to start us off:

Satellites are going missing. Clues lead our heroes to investigate a private factory, but attempts to enter are blocked by heavy-handed security. Unwilling to wait for their bureaucratic superiors to get official access, the heroes disable the security systems and sneak in. Can they find further evidence of their enemy’s plans?

With two male heroes at my disposal I named them, rolled up their stats and decided on the gadgets - and so Wellington Duo and Vasya Pupkin were born...

Initially our infiltration of the compound went well. Despite the awkward routes that the seven guards adopted the two agents managed to get to the lab. Vasya broke out his lock picking kit and opened the main door and they were inside.

After some extensive searching around, the key information was found and a swift exit was made. It was at this point that things started to go a little awry. Whilst they were hiding under one of the walkways to avoid the guards above one of the other ground level guards spotted them and opened fire!

Unfortunately neither Duo nor Pupkin were armed with anything more than pistols and so the guard out ranged them; however his aim was a little off so they managed to slip round to the other side of the supporting column.

At this point the guards above spotted them and they came under a hail of fire from the walkway and one of the chemical tanks. The two agents split up with Wellington rushing around the chemical tank and Vasya fixing a device to the column. Once attached Vasya sprinted away and there was an enormous explosion as the micro explosive detonated. The walkway collapsed eliminating the guard on it and blocking the way of the ground level guard; leaving the one on top of the chemical tank as the only immediate problem (the other four guards rushing to the scene were a future issue!).

Meanwhile Wellington donned his climbing suckers and ascended the side of the tank away from the ladder and behind the guard. Reaching the top he fired his automatic and the guard tumbled dramatically off the tank.

Pupkin had taken refuge behind some barrels but he was discovered by another guard, who had be sent to investigate by the chief henchman. He easily dispatched the guard but then had to engage in a deadly game of hide and seek to avoid the main heavy. Slipping away he managed to sprint out of sight and find cover behind some pipes. Meanwhile Wellington was making his way undetected via a rather circuitous path to join up with him.

The chief henchman wasn't fooled for long and accompanied by another guard started a to search for Vasya. With discovery imminent Vasya used his miniature laser to cut through one of the pipes near the guards and the contents burst out and almost immediately caught fire. The guard caught the full force of the blast but the chief henchman was only thrown to the ground.

Under cover of the explosion Duo and Pupkin moved position to nearer the perimeter fence close to where they had originally cut their way in. But the henchman had only been winded and after picking himself up and dusting himself down he advanced on their position. Turning the corner he spotted them and took a swing at Pupkin. Fortunately it missed and Vasya leapt to defend himself. The two evenly matched opponents circled each other punching and blocking with Vasya using his knowledge of pressure points to try to land a knock out blow. The henchman was fighting with less finesse but his brute strength was impressive. Finally Wellington took an opportunity and landed a crippling blow and the two agents were able to escape not only with the information but also with the film from Vasya's miniature camera.

All in all a really fun game and 7TV are likely to return to the table in the not too distant future.

Drama in Dahomey

2011-05-23T20:28:00.000Z

Following the reunion games Lenin and I decided to extend the weekend and put on another couple of games just for ourselves. The first was a chance for me to get my Dixon Dahomey figures to the table for the first time using Two Hour Wargames' Colonial Adventures rules. Once again Lenin took command of the colonial forces.

The games was set in September 1892, some time after the main French column has begun to advance through the jungle towards the capital Abomey. The column had already fought and defeated the Fon army at Dogba but as a result they need resupply and the objective was to escort an element of the supply column part of the way from Porto-Novo to the main column.

Despite being relatively inexperienced Captain Clouseau was well advised by Sergeant Frakov and put scouts ahead and to the flanks of the supply column. He took command of half the Legionnaires in the van with the remainder under Lieutenant Le Pice at the rear.

With the jungle being somewhat different to their usual postings in North Africa the scouts were understandably jumpy but after a couple of false alarms the column made good progress towards the river crossing. It was here that a sharp eyed Legion scout spotted the Fon waiting in ambush for them.

Shots rang out from the Fon and they had barely been returned by the Legion when the ferocious Amazons rushed headlong into a bloody melee with them. The Captain went down in that first volley but Sergeant Frakov held the men together in the fight.

The superior training of the Legion meant they were able to maintain the initiative and step back and fire at the Amazons between the bouts of vicious hand to hand fighting but the sheer weight of numbers began to take its toll.

Meanwhile the Lieutenant on hearing the firing began to bring the rear guard up to assist; however by the time he got there the advance guard were forming a brave last stand with the Sergeant. Some of the Fon had broken off to loot the supply column but with the Amazons lying dead or dying, the intervention of the rearguard saw them take a number of the mules and flee into the jungle.

With many of the column bearers having fled too the Lieutenant had a difficult job reorganising the column and was forced to use some of the remaining Legionnaires to carry the supplies. And with their diminished number they began the advance once more.

A couple more false alarms unnerved the troops a little but a genuine attacking force was spotted advancing toward them in sufficient time for a firing line to be organised. The firefight was terribly unevenly balanced. After suffering many casualties and inflicting only a few the attackers melted away.

The column then picked up their loads and marched on...

Moving House?

2011-05-22T09:49:00.000Z

The powers that be have decided that we need more space and it was either give up my games room (obviously not an acceptable option!) or move. So I have now had to pack up the games room and return it to it's former life as a bedroom or limit our potential buyers to gamers...

The upshot is that I will be a little constrained on progressing my projects but will try to keep them moving along with some accompanying posts - so please bear with me.

Wargames Reunion: Retimo Airfield

2011-05-17T19:18:00.002Z

Our second reunion game was one Lenin and I had been thinking about for a while - the German assault on Crete - in 28mm using our combined figure collections. We chose to use the Two Fat Lardies' I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! rules as the game was rather too large for Nuts!

The Germans had an ad hoc formation from the 2nd Fallschimjäger Regiment based around the remnants of the 2nd Company, I Battalion and supported by elements of the Headquarters Company, I Battalion, 9th Company, III Battalion and 13th Company. Their objective was to take Hill 'A' which dominated the airfield. Whilst they were facing remnants of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Australian Infantry Regiment supported by elements of 1st Platoon, 1st Australian Machine Gun Company.

Both Lenin and I were playing in the game (largely to take advantage of playing on a larger table than normal - 8 x 6') but decided to let the other players take the lead as we had set the game up. As usualy I played on the German side with Lenin taking the Aussies.

The German plan was to advance up the road on the left flank and secure the farm buildings then move into the woods and secure the other farm at the other end of the table before assaulting the hill itself. Things started to go wrong for them pretty much straight away. They hadn't read the brief fully and so didn't take advantage of the initial bombardment available and then they were spotted whilst still advancing in the open on the road. The Austrailians were dug in on the hill so the ensuing fire fight was somewhat uneven with the Germans pinned in the open gradually taking more and more casualties.

Eventually we managed to take advantage of the limited cover at the base of the hill but our fire was relatively ineffective agaist their position. With no smoke for thr light mortars and assault under heavy fire was going to the very costly and so the attack was stalled pretty much straight away.

Due to some rather poor communication on the German side the blinds advancing down the side of the hill to outflank the Australian position were simply dummies whilst the one behind us in the farm yard turned out to be the third platoon!

Fortunately we were reinforced by a medium mortar and an infantry gun and with their support we started to advance up the hill but it was terribly slow going.

Our plan had been for the morning (real time) to be the evening (game time) and for the afternoon to be the following day. So when lunch (real time) came around the Germans still had not taken the hill. Fortunately for the Germans, the Australians received an order to withdraw (higher command thought they had better intelligence and wanted to consolidate their forces) which allowed the Germans to occupy the hill unopposed. When the Australians realised their mistake the organised a counter attack for the next morning.

During the night the Germans had been reinforced with two medium MGs and an anti-tank rifle team but had run out of ammo for the mortar and had been unable to manhandle the infantry gun up the hill. They reorganised their force into two full strength platoons and started to dig in. The Australians had four understrength platoons with medium MG support and two light tanks for the attack. (At this point I had swapped sides to help with the numbers too)

Unfortnately for the Aussies their troops and armour were almost immediately spotted and came under fire. Even with smoke from the light mortars the attack became heavy going and things began to slow down. One of the light tanks threw a track when crossing the ditch at the edge of the road and the MGs were held up for some reason.

The attack devolved into a rather unequal fire fight and when the second light tanks attempted to move into support it was assaulted by the Germans and caught fire. The only close assault was thrown back by the Germans for little loss on their side and the attack stalled.

The attack then turned into making an orderly withdrawal for the Australians, which proved difficult under the heavy German fire but over half the force managed it.

Wargames Reunion: Battalion Assault

2011-05-16T08:52:00.001Z

After some time in the planning we managed to arrange a reunion with a few gaming buddies. We all used to be part of the same club but over time have moved to different parts of the country and so only usually catch up individually or at Salute. We decided it would be nice to actually have a couple of games together; however the logistics proved a little challenging but this weekend we managed it.

Our first game was a 20mm WW2 battalion level assault on a French village. Our first task was to actually plan the logistics of the approach to the start line, the preliminary artillery and then the assault itself.

Initally we struggled to sort out travel orders and timings but eventually spotted that it was actually impossible for us to move our troops and attached tanks up to the start line in time for our scheduled kick off. We eventually sorted out the order of march to the debussing point and the final approach to the start line along with the timings in order to scheudle the artillery bombardment. We plumped for a long but possibly rather slow rolling barrage to cover our advance.

With planning completed we moved into the next phase of the game. Almost immediately the plan started to go awry as the road we were planning to use wasn't cleared on time so we were 30 minutes late getting to our debussing area. We then started to move the troops up onto the actual table. Moving through the hedge lined fields proved quite problematic and the units moving up the road found it partly blocked by thre Recce unit holding the start line. Fortunately the MPs attached to the Battalion HQ were able to sort out the jam fairly quickly.

At this point the enemy, who had heard the tanks approaching, started dropping artillery blindly on our moving troops. Luckily we suffered very few casualties and were at our start positions pretty much on time (we had allowed a little time for problems forming up). Then the artillery barrage started and we moved off. Whilst the attack was starting the various MP, medical and other units formed up in the appropriate positions.

Our plan for the assault was relatively uncomplicated. We had deployed our recce and MGs to cover the right flank and the four infantry companies each with tanks attached were advancing two up, two down on the left. A and B companies were intended to push through the hedge line to the left of the village. C and D companies were then to swing right into the village itself and, if necessary, push through to clear the right flank whilst A and B started preparing defensive positions for the anticipated counter attack.

The barrage managed to keep the enemy's heads down and we advanced across the open ground and stream with out too much difficulty. Unfortunately the tanks accompanying D company bogged down in the stream but otherwise things were going well. As the barrage moved on we started to take flanking fire from the village and a minefield was encountered covering the front of the village itself. A and B company started to take defensive fire as we approached the hedge line but a determined advance with the tanks soon put paid to that. Trapped between us and our barrage to the rear their morale cracked and we captured quite a few of the enemy.

Then things started to go a little more awry. With D company without its armour taking heavy fire B company's flank was exposed to the village and it started to take heavy fire and suffered quite a few casualties. Also our force covering the right flank had been spotted and was taking quite a bit of fire too. A combination of mortar and machine gun fire sorted out some of the problem but we took more losses.

Eventually we organised ourselves and C company started to clear the village as planned and the Germans withdrew their remaining troops.

Our next problem was organising thr defence with our now depleted forces and also clearing the minefield to allow the resupply column to reach us.

Fortunately the enemy took some time to reorganise themselves which gave us just the breathing space we needed (although only just!).

The enemy attack consisted of a large infantry force to the right and front supported by Stugs to the left. Fortnately the infantry to the front advanced straight into one of our preplanned defensive boxes and we could drop artiller on them which put paid to that. However, we also lost most of the rest of B compan to enemy artillery fire and some of our tank support to some well placed German anti-tank guns.

Their armour didn't are too well either as our 17 pounders tooke out every Stug that came into sight. Things were looking a little more difficult on the right flank but with the combined fire of C company, our remaining MGs and the anti-tank crews adding their small arms we managed to do enough for the Germans to have second thoughts. This combined with their failure in the centre and on the left meant they began to withdraw.

It was a really fun game especially with the initial planning element. In hindsight there are quite a few things we could have done better - like read the briefing papers more thoroughly and ask a few more questions! But ultimately the barrage was the key, had that been different I think the whole game would have taken on a completely different complexion.

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-05-08T13:13:00.000Z

My friend Geordie from Geordie's Big Battles has nominated me for a Stylish Blogger Award on the basis that I started him blogging and, apparently, am also to blame for his insanity (according to his post!)!

I would like to thank Geordie for the nomination and for singling me out as the person responsible not only for his mental state but also for inflicting it on the internet! Seriously though, it was good of Geordie to nominate me; however, this award seems to have become something of an epidemic across the gaming blogosphere and so I am not proposing to fulfil all the conditions attached to it. I am supposed to:

thank and link back to the blogger who nominated me for this award;
share seven things about myself;
nominate 10-15 other blogs for the award; and
contact the bloggers and tell them about the award.

I have already thanked Geordie and below I will outline seven things about myself (for those who are even remotely interested!) but I don't propose to nominate any other blogs. It's not that there aren't lots of blogs I follow that deserve nomination, indeed a high proportion of these have already been nominated, but rather it's the feel that the stipulation of numbers of nominations makes this rather like a chain letter (which is something I detest).

I would also like to thank anyone who reads the ramblings I post here and most particularly those who comment - it's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself!

Anyway, here are the 7 things about me:

I was introduced to gaming through AD&D when I was a student but I only found wargaming some time afterwards;
I still have some of the AD&D miniatures that I painted which I bought at the shop which used to be in the basement in Oxford Street about where the Virgin Megastore came and went;
for several years I ran a BBS on Fidonet (before the internet came along);
I don't like points systems - battles are very rarely balanced like that;
I love rule sets which mean the troops don't always do what you tell them - for me that's part of the challenge as a commander;
I haven't bought a boardgame for over a year (because I don't have any space to store any more) but seem to always find space for more figures; and
Wargaming helped me learn how not to be a sore loser (and believe me I used to be)!

The Mutiny: 32nd Foot

2011-05-01T16:33:00.000Z

I have just finished basing the first of my Indian Mutiny units - the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot from the siege of Lucknow. The 32nd figures are from Mutineer Miniatures and the civilians from Foundry (the latter are a little smaller - but OK if not mixed in the same unit).

The men of the 32nd

Varied reactions to news of the mutiny

Project Update

2011-04-29T08:54:00.001Z

I thought it was about time I got my various projects straight in my own mind and so this post can kill two birds with one stone.

Work in Progress

Dahomey 1892: as you may have seen from my last post, I have just finished basing the figures for this project and so I can take this straight from stage 3 (construction) to 5 (complete). I may expand this one in the future to allow bigger games but that's only in the idea stage.

Indian Mutiny: This is currently at stage 3 with the first batch of figures painted (British 32nd and 53rd; 2 units of Mutineers and some Badmashes) and currently on the workbench being based. I picked up the Sikhs, Highlanders, some artillery and cavalry at Salute for the next phase. My next challenge is to add some more suitable buildings to my adobe scenery.

Sudan: Salute saw me purchase some more figures for the phased expansion of my existing Sudan project (which I could have argued was stage 5 until I had these bright ideas!). The first expansion is to allow me to field the appropriate units for the Suakin campaign. So I picked up some more British infantry and some 19th Hussars. Part of the infantry will be painted up to match my existing unit and the balance as RMLI (no not the lifeboat people!) which are quite similar but with white webbing and helmets rather than the khaki. The last part of this phase will be to get the Yorks & Lancs (which will be a nice contrast in their Indian khaki uniforms) and some Black Watch. Then the next phase will be Khartoum - I plan to add some basingers and cavalry to my existing Egyptian troops plus get some Mahdist cavalry/camelry. The final phase (which will be some way off) is to do the Camel Corps.

WW2 Med: Arguably this project is really an expansion of my existing WW2 North Africa project but I decided to cover a larger scope in order to get more use out of the figures. So I could technically argue this is already at stage 4 (pilot) since I have had the DAK and Goumiers on the table. The Artizan US have just come back from the painter and are stuck to bases and I picked up a Corgi Sherman with a suitable colour scheme for Sicily. The GIs have a pretty generic look to enable them to be used for US or US equipped French for the Med and also for Normandy.

WW2 NW Europe: I had already classes this as a stage 5 project but Foundry had a nice offer on and so I picked up their Paras. As with all their Perry sculpted WW2, these are lovely figures and are now painted and stuck to bases. I also picked up some stens and PIATs from Crusader to add to my existing Brits so that I can use them for a little later in the war than I originally intended.

Afghanistan 1979: Having got lucky with some bids on eBay, I have managed to collect a decent range of figures for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Some of these figures will also see service in my Cold War project (see next) and the Mujahideen can also be used for later conflicts too (see Planned Projects below). I intend to try out Force on Force with these when they're ready. The figures are currently off being painted and I have also picked up a Copplestone BTR70 which I will do myself. My Colonial Steamboat adobe buildings will be brought into service for this one too.

Cold War: Having played a game against Lenin's Soviet paras recently it became apparent that I didn't have enough BAOR (not really a surprise as I originally bought these to do Northern Ireland) so I picked up a few more Mongrel packs from Newline Designs - enough to give me a platoon or so. Lenin now has the unenviable job of trying to match the excellent DPM he did on the previous figures! As I mentioned above the appropriate figures from the Soviet packs will be seeing service here too. The upcoming supplement to Force on Force is likely to provide some useful inspiration for this project.

Falklands: Having bought some Royal Marines from Lenin (who bought them back from a friend when he decided he didn't need them as UNIT troopers - after a change in beret colour) I decided that these really should have some historical opposition (as well as being available for the Cold War project) and so added a few Argentinians (also from MoFo). These are also with Lenin for matching to his previous paintwork and since I don't have any painted opposition as yet this s technically a stage 3 project.

Russian Civil War: Having bought the former HLBS interventionist British when I thought they were being discontinued (Tiger Miniatures eventually picked them up) I have not really done any more for this one (basically allowing it to languish at stage 2). I do plan to get some Copplestone Reds in greatcoats but I have been waiting (for quite a while) for Musketeer to release their WW1 Russians in greatcoats (to use as Whites and also for WW1 Eastern Front) to give the project a bit more scope. If these come out or if I get reinspired by something else then this one could easily come back to life.

WW1 Eastern Front: Another stalled stage 2 project (having already got some Musketeer Russians not in greatcoats) awaiting the next Musketeer release.

Montrose: I am currently in the process of rebasing these Redoubt figures individually onto 25mm circular bases to use wit my Warbases movement trays (thus making storage - always a problem with pike - much easier). I still need to find a set of rules I am happy with for these, which is likely to be the key to getting this to the table (although I do have a couple of interesting prospects).

Scarlet Pimpernel: Those old Foundry figures I bought are now painted and stuck to bases. I just need to decide on what finish I am going to do on the bases and assemble and paint the guillotine. I plan to use Gloire for this project and have picked up the Richard E Grant TV shows for inspiration.

Marlburian: Having picked up the first batch of figures from Black Hat I found these had quite a bit of flash on them which has slowed this one down a bit. I need to clean these up, decide which units I want them to be and get them off for painting and then I can work out how best to base them given that I have yet to decide which rules to use (and two of them have quite different basing approaches).

Maximilian in Mexico: Once again I have failed to make any progress at all on this one. The key issue is deciding which rules to use so that I know how many more of which figures I need. I have actually been toying with the idea of movng this one to Sharp Practice but that needs a little more thought.

Vietnam: Technically I bought this at stage 4 but I would like to get a few more figures done before bringing this one to the table. The extra figures are currently with Lenin as he did the originals.

Greek Myth: This has taken a bit of a back seat - largely because Lenin hasn't been inspired to do his Greek figures and he is doing mine too. i know he has been working on some of the Amazons but large areas of flesh are often tricky and I suspect a lot of "research" may have been required!

Planned Projects

First Maori War: The recent release from Empress certanly caught my eye; they're Paul Hicks sculpts and I really like his style. I took the opportunity to pick up the Maori fortification book from the Osprey fortress series (as it was available for quite a discount) and this really looks like it has some potential. I need to get some more reference material as I knew precious little about this one. The Maoris certainly seem to have been formidable opponents and were quite a different proposition from some of the more traditional colonial foes. They were ferocious, well armed and well versed in tactics and military engineering all of which combined gave the British forces a bit of a headache. There certainly seems to me to be enough here for some interesting games.

Modern Afghanistan: Once again Empress are partly to blame for this one (although not Mr Hicks this time) combined with Force on Force. Their modern figures are excellent and are crying out to me to buy them! Of course the key question is whether to go with the US or the new British releases. Both are lovely figures and I am certainly leaning towards the Brits but the selection of weapons in the packs is less ideal - of course this may be sorted in future releases (and I am not planning to get any of these just yet - see the above as to why not!). My existing Mujahideen can easily be morphed into Taliban and the addition of a few more modern weapons would make this quite distinct. The Afghanistan supplement for FoF is likely to tip me over the edge here...

WW2 Poles: I have been keeping my eye on the Bolt Action Polish troops for a while. I really like the figures and early war has always interested me. People seem to think that the Poles just collapsed in the face of the German invasion but this is far from the case. They put up one hell of a fight particularly when you consider that Stalin was invading them from the ther direction as well. But I have held off as thry didn't have any anti-tank support (a slim excuse I know but one I was hanging onto for the sake of the budget!) and then Warlord decided to re-release them with the ATRs and ATGs! Bang goes my excuse - so these may well be being added to the WIP list sometime in the not too distant future!

Blimey, now I have written that all down I am quite surprised as to how much I have in progress. Better stop writing and get on with some of it then!

Dahomey 1892

2011-04-28T10:19:00.000Z

HAving just finished basing my Dixon 28mm figures for the Second Franco-Dahomean War, I thought I would post a couple of pictures:

The French Foreign Legion

The Amazons

The Regular Fon

Salute 2011

2011-04-24T16:50:00.000Z

Like a very large number of other gamers I visited Salute again this year. Initially I had thought that arriving very early (due to the trains I wanted not being run on a Saturday - thanks Southeastern!) was going to be a bit of a nuisance; however, judging from some of the comments I have seen from others much further back in the Q-Buster queue I think I was actually quite lucky.

As usual there was plenty of interest (photos of a couple of the games that caught my eye are below) and I managed to pick up the additions to my Indian Mutiny and Sudan projects that I was looking for - which was nice. I'm not sure whether there were as many people there this year - it felt a little less crowded but that by itself can be a little misleading. In any event I met up with quite a few friends I hadn't seen in a while which certainly made the trip worthwhile.

Eric's Soul Exchange (or Probability is Only a Theory)

2011-04-08T09:35:00.000Z

After a rather patchy attendance record of late I've managed to get down to the club two weeks running. Last week was a 15mm Spanish Civil War game using the TooFatLardies' Triumph of the Will rules and Bronze Mike's lovely figures and this week was a 15mm Ancients outing which is part of an ongoing campaign (the first game of which I played which is an indication of my infrequent visits).

Anyway one of the chaps, Eric the Spy, has a bit of a reputation with the dice. So much so, in fact, it has been widely suggested that he sold his soul to Satan in exchange for this gift. Well, last week Eric was on the Nationalist side with me and Jonathan defending a village against a Republican counter attack. Eric and Jonathan were nicely emplaced in the substantial village buildings and were being frontally assaulted across the open by Crazy Dave. We all thought this was simply a diversion to take our attention away from their flanking attack, fronted by the redoubtable Iron Mike. But then Crazy started to exhibit dice skills that made Eric's pale into insignificance. Of course it was immediately suggested that Eric has franchised his arrangement with Beelzebub and that Crazy was the first applicant!

In any case, Crazy stormed across the open ground and kicked poor Jonathan clear out of his buildings and secured the front of the village. It was then a battle between the satanically influence dice as Eric was determined to throw Crazy back out again.

Meanwhile I had moved from my reserve position, nice and safe behind the village (ideal for any self respecting Nationalist commander) to cover the flank facing Iron Mike's onslaught. Things looked touch and go for a little while but then reinforcements arrived in Iron's flank and gave him something to think about! In the end the Republican assault faltered and we were victorious but looking at the probability of some of Crazy and Eric's rolls was an object lesson that each time you roll the probability is exactly the same irrespective of how many previous good or bad rolls you've had!

Given that both Crazy and Eric were in evidence this week and on opposing sides once again (this time I was a Carthaginian - actually Italian and Spanish mercenaries fighting for them - alongside Crazy) I expected a real rematch. Whilst there was some evidence of some pretty amazing rolling but nothing compared to the previous week (maybe the Dark Lord was otherwise occupied?). Yet again I was facing a flank attack from Iron though and things went a little differently this time (probably because Jonathan had sent all our light troops off to support the siege) - fun nonetheless.

Wargames Weekend: The Photos

2011-03-19T13:19:00.001Z

If you would like to see larger versions please visit my Picasa album.

Wargames Weekend: The Relief of Fort Kosheh

2011-03-19T13:19:00.000Z

The final game of the weekend saw a return to the Sudan with an opportunity for me to use my recent Perry purchases and yet another outing for the Colonial Adventures rules. Lenin took command of the plucky Brits and I commanded the Mahdists.

A detachment from 1st Battalion The Queenʼs Own Cameron Highlanders and the 9th (Soudanese Battalion) supported by an artillery battery have been posted to Fort Kosheh.

The Mahdists have been attacking the fort sporadically for some weeks but their activity has now increased and the fort has come under an major assault. Messages have been dispatched requesting a relieving force, which needs to arrive soon...

Captain Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps, the officer commanding the fort, deployed his forces in defence despite sporadic rifle fire from some buildings overlooking the fort to the rear. The first Mahdist attack came toward the front wall. The egyptian artillery crew struggled to redeploy the gun to face the attack and the highlanders began a steady volume of fire into the approaching mob. The Mahdists took many casualties but came on and reached the wall where they set their ladders and began to climb. Despite his earlier exclamation that they were "all doomed!" Sergeant Jock Frazer steadied his men and ensured continued volleys into the enemy.

However, despite the steady British fire their numbers of wounded was rising and the Mahdists reached the top of the wall where a vicious melee ensued. The Mahdist numbers won out and they took a section of wall. Captain Fotheringay-Phipps kept a cool head and ordered the sudanese defending the other walls to about face and loosed a devastating volley into the Mahdists. This combined the rising casualties from the continuing fire from the tower was too much for the Mahdists who broke and fled.

With the attack repulsed Barmy redeployed his men again; this time to deal with the riflemen on the overlooking buildings. Concentrated British rifle fire combined with the egyptian cannon gradually took its toll and the rifle fire became more sporadic. Counting his losses Barmy was considering his next move when another threat appeared. This time a large mob of Fuzzy Wuzzys emerged from the scrub beyond the town, hell bent on charging the walls of the fort.

Another reshuffling of their steadily diminishing numbers saw the garrison ready to face this latest assault. This time their fire was properly co-ordinated and after a couple of particularly effective volleys the Mahdist attack faltered and they fled.

Meanwhile a relief column from Suakin was approaching commanded by Captain Hildebrand "Tuppy" Glossop with troops from the 1st Berkshires, some more Egyptian troops and a Royal Artillery screw gun.

The column advanced steadily towards the town but as they thought they would reach it unmolested an enormous horde of Mahdists appeared from a wadi to the flank of the leading Egyptians and charged!

The Egyptians hurriedly formed line but could not get off enough fire to stop the charge before it reached them. The Mahdist number soon began to tell and the Egyptians were losing men left, right and centre.

Tuppy kept his head and deployed the Berkshires in a line to the left rear of the Egyptians and poured fire into the Madhists. Eventually the Egyptians could hold no longer and their few remaining men withdrew behind the British line leaving the Berkshires to face the full force of Mahdists. The Berkshires remained steady and continued to fire into the Mahdist horde until it reached their line and a bloody melee began. The superior Mahdist numbers were grinding down the British defence but eventually the British discipline showed through and the attack was broken.

However, it was a much depleted column which arrived to relieve the fort...

Wargames Weekend: The Point, Peleliu 1944

2011-03-19T08:50:00.001Z

Our penultimate game was yet another outing for Nuts!, this time in the PTO. This game was planned largely to allow us to try out the War Against Japan (WAJ) supplement and get some of Lenin's lovely TAG Japanese and US Marines to the table.

WAJ is really intended for US troops to be player controlled and for the system to run the Japanese but since Lenin is only part way through this project we decided that it would be better if I controlled the Japs. WAJ also uses different reaction tables for the US and Japanese troops which we were hoping would add to the period feel.

I was given a platoon of two rifle squads, an MMG squad and their HQ along with a Type 97 Te-Ke tankette. The infantry were all Rep 4 with Rep 5 officers and NCOs but I had to roll for the tankette crew and got a rather uninspiring Rep 3 for the commander/gunner.

I didn't have high hopes for the tankette as I knew the Japanese tendancy to miniaturisation wasn't idea for armour but even so I was surprised at the thing's size - frankly it looked like it was the right scale. But Lenin assured me that not only was it the right scale the US troops had actually put one onto the read deck of a Sherman at one point! Given that Lenin had asked me whether my Sherman was handy I was a little nervous...

The table was laid out with a beach at the east end, jungle to the west, the rocky point to the south and rough ground to the north, where the US troops were dug in. The centre was pretty open (unfortunately).

I decided to have one section advance from the point across the open ground and the balance of the force advance through the jungle to try to outflank the US troops with the tankette moving along a small path in between the point and the jungle. Given that it was a night attack visibility was limited.

My first squad split into two teams with one advancing with the other covering and things started well. But when we moved within sight of the first US troops a fire fight began. The Japs hit the deck with one man down. As soon as we got the initiative I got the men up, threw some grenades and rushed the US slip trench. Another man went down in the charge but after some bloody hand to hand fighting the trench was taken. It transpired that the US had been hampered as we had encountered their bazooka team and so they were a little undergunned against infantry. Probably a good thing as my men had the squad knee mortar and lunge mine!

The other half of the squad advanced and triggered fire from another US slip trench and again hit the deck. Fortunately the tankette could advance in support but with no MG and a rather poor gunner it turned out to be rather less helpful than I was hoping. Whilst this was going on I had the other squad rush out of the US position they had captured to assault the next in the flank. The combination of more firepower on the US side and more bloody hand to hand meant that, whilst I took the position, that group were decimated.

It turned out that the other US position also contained their officer (who Lenin decided was in the John Wayne mould) who decided to deal with my tankette. He prepared a grenade and charged the tank single handed. Whilst the grenade didn't penetrate the tank crew took fright and withdrew!

Whilst this was going on the remainder of the Japanese force had been making their way through the jungle. When they reached the edge they came under US fire from a couple of positions and were force back briefly. I decided on the same approach and, grenades prepared, threw then and rushed the trenches bayonets fixed.

It was at this point that the Sherman made its appearance! So I had the remainder of the men charge the tank. The melee was terrible with the Japanese officer slashing right and left with his sword and small arms and bayonets being used with bloody efficiency at close range. Finally the Japanese took the main US position on this side.

Things went rather differently with the assault on the tank. The US crew used their hull, turret and hatch machine guns to great effect and cut down many of the Japs including the man with the lunge mine! But a couple still got through, slipping under the machine guns and used their grenades. The US tank commander was killed in the blasts and the tank crew then began sweeping their turret machine gun around to try to deal with the danger clinging to the hull of their tank.

With the Japanese having more than achieved their objective in US troop casualties and having lost a large part of their force we decided to call the game. I have to say that I am now not looking forward to having to face the Japanese when we play the next game in the campaign!

Wargames Weekend: Trouble in Tunisia

2011-03-14T07:47:00.002Z

For our fourth game we returned to Nuts! but for the war they were originally written for - WW2. In this case a scenario in North Africa using my newly acquired 28mm Artizan figures.

Following the failure of the push towards the important road junction of Pont du Fahs, after the sudden appearance of German tanks, General Maurice Mathenet's Division de Marche du Maroc) have withdrawn into the Eastern Dorsale mountains. You have been ordered to hold your positions there, avoid pitched battles and wage a guerilla war to tie down German resources.

The French unit, from the 3rd Tabor of Lt. Col. Leblanc's 1st Groupe de Tabors Marocains, was given the objective of attacking a DAK supply dump. Lenin took command of the Goumiers and decided to attack at night.

The Goum decided to split their force in two and attack with a section each from two directions, the first from the ridge behind the fuel dump and the second from the south west across some open ground towards the main supply dump.

The attack began well with the DAK sentries happy to remain in their fixed positions and so the Goum were able to sneak up to the wire and cut it without being spotted. Each section then sent a group through the wire covered by another fire group. The group, led by the Lieutenant, nearest the fuel dump nearly tripped over an alarm wire (with the traditional tin cans) but spotted it at the last minute. Whilst the group attacking from the south west swiftly and stealthily approached the first building.

The Lieutenant's group moved down the side of the sandbag wall at the side of the fuel dump, concealed from the DAK sentries in the nearby two storey building but were then in a quandary - to advance further risked being spotted by the Germans and the game would be up but to remain where they were would limit the damage they could achieve.

The other Goum group successfully entered and cleared the ground floor of the first building and decided to ascend to the roof to deal with the two sentries there. Two Goums managed to sneak up the stairs and rush the two sentries but one must have stumbled because in the ensuing melee one sentry was killed but the other bested his Goum. The two remaining men faced each other but the DAK sentry decided he needed to escape to raise the alarm. As he turned, the Goum was on him and it was all over in a few seconds. With the building completely secured the Goums called in their second group. The Lieutenant decided to do the same to chance rushing their DAK sentries.

With the attack advancing well and to plan things were looking good for the French force; however, unbeknownst to them, the DAK Feldwebel had decided that now was a good time to conduct a check on the sentries and the wire. He and another man began moving around the wire just at the time the second south western Goum group was moving through the break in it. The Goums spotted the Germans first but decided just to cover them, hoping to avoid raising the alarm. Unfortunately, the Germans spotted the Goumiers but as they raised their weapons to engage them they came under fire from the French. One DAK solider fell in a hail of automatic weapon fire but the Feldwebel was unscathed and ran back to the safety of the machine gun post guarding the main entrance. The Goums kept the initiative and rushed the guard post but the MG34 team spotted them as they emerged from the dark and opened fire. One Goum was killed but the second hit the deck and returned fire killing the MG gunner and making the loader duck back behind the sandbags. The remaining Goums then rushed forward to the sandbag position. Unfortunately the Feldwebel must have heard them as he readied and dropped a grenade over the top of the sandbags. The grenade exploded taking out several of the Goums but when the MG loader grabbed the MG34 to look over the side he was shot by one of the survivors. The Feldwebel prepared a second grenade but fumbled when throwing it and was forced to dive for cover as it exploded on his side of the sandbags. The Goums seized the opportunity and stormed the position killing the cowering German.

With small arms fire having given the game away the Lieutenant decided now was a good time to deal with the sentries overlooking his position. His men popped up and were spotted by the sentries, who opened fire, but the French won the ensuing firefight.

The firing had alerted the remainder of the German garrison who struggled into their boots and to find their weapons in order to respond. Meanwhile the Goums continued to advance and also to set some of the explosive charges they had brought with them in the fuel dump.

The Germans mustered in the courtyard of the headquarters building and some were sent to the second floor positions to assist with the defence. The first men peered over the parapet to see the French advancing down the road, mostly using the shadows at the base of the building's walls. The Goums who were covering the parapet opened fire but lost the firefight and the remaining DAK soldier readied and dropped a grenade into the midst of the Goum force to devastating effect. With their advance hampered by another German sentry position the Lieutenant's group were trapped under the wall and yet another DAK grenade caused more casualties.

The other Group were fairing a little better having forced the sentry overlooking the main supply dump to keep his head down, they leapt over the packing crates to set their charges.

The rest of the German garrison then began to emerge from the HQ building to go to their ready positions. The first team, whose ready position was the MG34 post, were in for a surprise when they came under machine gun fire as they approached the position but neither were hurt as they took cover behind the wheels and engine block of a parked kubelwagen. They managed to ready some grenades and, in a co-ordinated throw, lobbed them into the MG pit taking out the Goums there.

At this point the remaining Goums withdrew gutted at having to leave their wounded comrades but had the satisfaction of hearing both the fuel and supply dumps go up in a massive explosion.

Wargames Weekend: Quebec 1759

2011-03-13T22:41:00.000Z

Both Lenin and I have picked up the Black Powder rules and wanted to know whether they were actually any good under the excellent presentation. So I decided to pull out my 15mm Essex French & Indian Wars figures and developed a scenario based on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec in 1759. I chose to make the scenario a conjectural one with some additional French turning up on the British flank (which they were concerned about at the time) to avoid it being a bit of a walkover for the British.

Lenin took the role of General Wolfe and I took Montcalm. We both deployed our forces pretty close to history and then the playtest began.

Pretty much straight away we realised the command and control mechanic could make things pretty difficult if the dice weren't with you. This wasn't the only area where the dice made a huge difference.

Initially the British brigades advanced in a pretty co-ordinated way with only a minor problem keeping the brigade on the flank in contact; however things were a little more challenging for the French. With a historical deployment the French had two units in column in the centre of their line and in trying to redeploy to allow them to expand things didn't quite go to plan.
The Chevalier de Levis seemed incapable of getting his brigade to respond to his orders effectively and, as a result, a hole opened up in the French line. Fortunately the British advance was being held up by the French artillery and both the Louisbourg grenadiers and the Highlanders were taking a bit of a pasting.

The slowing of the British advance allowed the French to redress their line and then musket fire started to be exchanged. It was at this stage that the effect of some unlucky dice rolling became quite apparent. Lenin was spectacularly unlucky with some key throws when Break Tests were needed and some of his units fell apart.

With things beginning to look up for the French the British struggled to reform their line but managed to inflict enough hits on a couple of key French units to require some more Break Tests. With these tests passed the two French brigade commanders issued Rally to Me orders but in joining the units they exposed themselves to danger. More musket fire was exchanged and it was at this point that luck deserted the French. With more Break Tests initiated for the two units with the commanders attached they both failed spectacularly and fled taking the commanders with them. This put paid to the French advantage and, at this point, it became clear that, with the third British brigade occupied defending the rear of the British line from the newly arrived third French brigade the British didn't have the superiority in numbers to follow up their newly found advantage. We had also run out of time so we called the game a draw.

Wargames Weekend: A Bridge in Time

2011-03-12T23:25:00.001Z

Next up we turned to an old favourite - Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames - but this time with a more modern subject, 1986 West Germany, for a conjectural World War 3 scenario.

Elements of the Soviet 103rd Guards Airbourne Division have dropped on the NATO nuclear storage dump at Niedermarsburg, seven days after the commencement of general hostilities. The Soviets have resorted to chemical warfare to restore the impetus of their flagging offensive and wish to eliminate any NATO nuclear response. The British 5th (Volunteer) Battalion of The Queen's Regiment, acting as rear area security for BAOR is rushed to eliminate the threat. On the outskirts of Aro.sen they bump into the first Soviet outpost guarding an important bridge.

Having only a single section and a Saxon APC I was a little wary advancing towards the enemy threat. I dismounted the men and advanced them through a wood to clear the way before bringing the vehicle forward.

We managed to set up the GMPG covering the bridge without the Soviets spotting us and I sent the rifle group to secure the farmhouse to the left of the road. With the other men covering, the Lieutenant and another man rushed across the side road, over the wall into a field and took up a position covering the rear of the farm house from behind the garden wall. The remainder of the group then advanced to their position. Once in place the Lieutenant took the lead again and rushed to the rear of the house with another man and checked whether it appeared occupied. It seemed as if the occupants had left in a hurry but that the place was empty to the team entered and cleared the building. This done they took up positions at the front and rear of the house.

With the farmhouse secured I sent the Corporal and two other men across the main road to clear the barn. Unfortunately their rush across the road was spotted by the bridge guards and they moved to their LMG. My GMPG team opened up on them and the gunner was killed and the loader fell back to the house behind their position.

I thought things were going pretty well and was preparing to advance toward the bridge, so I called the APC forward. It was at this point that we spotted that the Soviets were supported by a BMD-1 which had a clear view of the road.

It was too late to call off the Saxon but fortunately the BMD didn't spot it and I got it into a concealed position behind the barn.

It was at this point things started to come seriously unravelled. One man, trying to get a bead on the BMD from the loft of the barn attracted the attention of another group of Soviet paratroops and came under heavy fire.

The Lieutenant took one man out of the rear of the farmhouse to try to get into a position where the could open up on this new paratroops group but was spotted. Heavy AK74 and coaxial machine gun fire from the BMD saw both the Lieutenant and the the other man killed.

I now found both of my main teams trapped in their respective buildings and the GMPG team unable to get line of sight on any of the enemy. So I tried to get a couple of men out to lay down some covering fire so we could move. Unfortunately both men were spotted and the ensuing fire put both of the out of the fight.

At this point the Corporal thought discretion to be the better part of valour and ordered the remainder of the section to withdraw under the cover of smoke taking the wounded with them.

Wargames Weekend: Breakthrough - Connaught 1599

2011-03-12T22:29:00.001Z

Time for yet another wargames weekend with Lenin. We have a couple of new rule sets to test out this time so we started off with Tudor Ireland using the To the Banners rules by Stephen Danes. It was also a chance to get my Vendel and Graven Images figures to the table again along with the Warbases movement trays which I picked up to do just this sort of larger game.

The scenario was taken from the rules and involved the English troops advancing up a valley through some woods in an attempt to break through to relieve another English force. The Irish had laid an ambush having blocked the road at the most difficult point for the English to pass.

Things started fairly slowly with the English pike advancing in column up the road flanked on both sides with units of shot. The Irish faced them with four units of Kern with their Gallowglas held in reserve further up the valley.

The English advanced slowly toward the Irish barricade and opened fire on the Irish troops. Eventually the English pike summoned up the courage to charge the Irish who stood their ground. It was not an even match and the pike pushed the kern back again and again until having taken as much punishment as they could they turned and fled. The English pike pushed on into the next unit of Kern with similar results whilst the Gallowglas looked on unable to respond.

With the English pike advancing but their shot stalled at the edge of the wood the pike now came into contact with the lead Gallowglas unit which was a more even match. The charged and the Gallowglas, probably seeking revenge for the Kern, counter charged. A bitter struggle ensued with the units evenly matched. Then suddenly the tables turned and the Gallowglas managed to get the upper hand pushing the pike back until eventually they routed.

With the English pike streaming back through their ranks the English troops were disordered and back to fall back. With the English attack faltering the Irish took to their heels to set up another ambush further along the path of their advance.

After the game we spent a little while reviewing the rules. We liked the innovative approach to the initiative mechanic which provided some real command and control issues for both sides. Although the rules had some significant omissions which did call into question how thoroughly they had been playtested and could have been laid out in a more accessible manner. We plan to give them another go with a more conventional set of forces to see how they perform.

Project Update

2011-02-21T22:03:00.001Z

With the year rushing by I thought it would be a good opportunity to pause and consider progress with my various projects.

28mm Sudan
This is progressing nicely and I am really liking the Perry figures. I am planning to keep expanding the collection slowly with my next purchases at Salute. I am thinking Yorks & Lancs and Hussars as the next phase but I'm not sure which way to go after that. The Perry's have such a wide range it is difficult to stay focussed. Mahdist cavalry are a real possibility but I would like to get some Naval Brigade or some Bashi Bazouks...

28mm Indian Mutiny
My first batch should be back from the painter shortly which will give me some more basng to do (I need to work out which foliage to pop on these!). Next I would like to add some more of the lovely Mutineer figures. Cavalry a real possibility but I would also like some Sikhs though. Then I really need to find some suitable walls for a larger siege.

28mm North Africa/Med
With the Afrika Korps and Goumiers hitting the table shortly, I have managed to pick up some more Artizan US infantry figures nicely priced on eBay. I plan to use these as US equipped French but I can also use them for more mainstream American troops both for the Med and for North West Europe (including The Big Hurt)

15mm Marlburian
After a lot of thinking I have finally plumped on some figures which I will be picking up at the Tonbridge show. These are, however, only a start and this projec is likely to run for a while. The next main decision is which rules to use, I have a few candidates but need to try them out before deciding.

28mm Montrose
After having had these figures around for quite a while but couldn't decide on which rules to use and then got distracted. I have a couple of candidates to try out and I've found some nice flags which I hope will finish the figures off. I was a little concerned about storage, especially with the pikes. With my Tudor Ireland having grown out of my Border Reiver skirmish project the figures were all individually based, making storing straightforward. The Warbases movement trays enable me to have the best of both worlds and I plan to use the same approach for the Montrose figures.

28mm Moderns
I was extremely fortunate to pick up some Mongrel Soviets and Afghans on eBay recently (handy as I understand Newline may be having problems with supply). These will allow me to do the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan but also allows me to use some of the Russians against my BAOR figures for what if WW3 scenarios in Europe.

Obviously with all these progressing I have decided to put a hold on my other ideas for the moment.

Wargames Weekend Planning

2011-02-21T21:31:00.001Z

With another visit from Lenin coming up in a couple of weeks I have been trying to put together a few games. I've got three planned which are a mix between getting new toys to the table and trying out new sets of rules. In both cases I am using the term "new" in a fairly lose way as in couple of cases I have had them a while but haven't used them! Currently on the agenda are:

28mm Sudan - a chance to try out my Perry Highlanders, Egyptians and Mahdists

28mm WW2 North Africa - new figures again, this time the Artizan Afrika Korps and Goumiers but also trying out "vanilla" Nuts! 2.0

28mm Tudor Ireland - whilst some of these figures have had an outing before, this is a bigger scenario and so will get most of my collection tabled. It's also a chance to try out the To the Banners rules and use my Warbases movement trays I have just finshed.

15mm French & Indian Wars - this is really a chance to give the Warlord Black Powder rules a go to see whether they are something we want to add to our regular rulesets. They're so nicely produced I really hope we're going to like them!

More Mahdist War

2011-02-12T14:13:00.002Z

I thought I would post a few pictures of the figures I have just finished for my Mahdist War project. First the British officers:

Then the highlanders:

And finally the opposition:

They are all 28mm figures from the Perrys.

Stalingrad: Heroes All

2011-01-23T10:18:00.002Z

The latest supplement for Nuts! Second Edition has just been released by Two Hour Wargames. Based around Stalingrad (obviously!) it provides 22 linked scenarios intended to be played from the German side. The scenarios are broken down into three main phases of the action around Stalingrad, Fall Blau, Rattenkrieg and Operation Uranus.

The supplement comes in at 50 pages overall and is, as usual, available in both PDF and printed formats. The first few pages are taken up with an introduction, background, some historical characters you can introduce and a couple of new character attributes. The necessary tables for the units involved and those for reinforcements and vehicle lists follow. This all takes up the first dozen or so pages and the balance is taken up with the scenarios themselves and their maps.

The various scenarios are of differing sizes from small to medium sized actions and the three phase split provides some quite differing settings including the mandatory factory fighting!

The supplement is intended to be used with the second edition of Nuts! and the previous Eastern Front supplement Clash of Titans; however, it would probably not take much to adapt them to other sets of rules or fill in the blanks.

Mahdist War Project Update

2011-01-06T18:07:00.001Z

Next up in my basing schedule were some additions to my Egyptian army for the Mahdist War:

North Africa Project Update

2011-01-06T10:55:00.001Z

I finally finished basing the first figures for my North Africa / Mediterranean project. The figures are all 28mm from Artizan Designs but, as you can see I have decided to take a slightly different approach and focus on the French.

First up the opposition - a selection from my Afrika Korps:

And now some Goumiers:

These chaps had a pretty fearsome reputation but ended up with quite a mix of equipment (some of it obtained through slightly dubious means!)

I plan to get these to the table soon and follow up with some more traditional infantry. I will be using Artizan US figures to represent the American equipped French (which will also allow me to use them in their more traditional role too).

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T08:50:00.001Z

Just a quick note to wish all of you the very best for a happy and prosperous 2011.

I have yet to make my New Year's gaming resolutions but I suspect some of them may well be influenced by my increasng storage space problems.

In any case 2011 should certainly see more Sudan, my new Dahomey, Indian Mutiny and WW2 North Africa projects hitting the table and, hopefully, me actually making a start on figures for my 15mm Marlburian outing. I am going to try to avoid starting too many new projects (although that's never worked in the past!) since I still have unpainted metal for WW1 Eastern Front, RCW, modern Afghanistan, WW2 Paras and Maximillian in Mexico to progress.

Christmas Haul

2010-12-28T10:44:00.001Z

I was fortunate enough to get a few gaming related books this Christmas starting with the Black Powder rules from Warlord.

The rules cover the horse and musket period but have been extended a little to include colonials. The rules are certainly beautifully presented with acres of eye candy. They are based on a core set of mechanics which apply to all the periods with additional special rules for individual periods. The mechanics themselves are fairly traditional but appear to be for those gamers who have large collections of figures and want to get them out and use them without having to learn a completely different set of rules for each period.

The authors have used an entertaining style and have made it clear that they have written the rules for large quantities of 28mm figures on large tables but have provided enough information to enable the rules to be used with smaller scales and tables.

I have played in a couple of games using the rules but I am looking forward to playing one now I actually have the rules themselves!

Next up was a copy of Infantry Attacks written by Erwin Rommel himself.

Originally published in 1937 the book covers his experiences in the first world war (which were extensive) and should provide a real insight to the legendary military leader.

I am really looking forward to reading this one!

And finally I got a copy of The Great Mutiny: India 1857 by Christopher Hibbert which is ideal for my new period.

Now off to do some more basing...

Happy Christmas

2010-12-25T15:40:00.002Z

Here's wishing you all a very merry (although you may regret too merry) Christmas and hoping that Santa brought you something fun!

Thank you for taking the time to read my various ramblings and particularly to those of you who were kind enough to provide some useful feedback.

I have been lucky enough to get some useful gaming inspiration so far and, due to our particular approach to the day still have a couple more things to come so fingers crossed for some gaming goodness...

Wargames Weekend: The Photos

2010-12-04T17:28:00.000Z

First Look: The Big Hurt

2010-12-04T14:01:00.002Z

With Two Hour Wargames offering a discount on their second edition Nuts! Rules I thought I would pick up a copy (we've been using a mix of the original, CR3.0 and our own interpretations). Whilst I was looking I spotted another scenario book - The Big Hurt - and thought it was worth a look.

The Big Hurt (TBH) is a scenario book for Nuts! Second edition by Darby Eckles that covers the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest from September 1944 to February 1945. The secenarios are intended to be played from the US side with the system runnng the German forces and they link together to make a campaign. You are intended to develop a single detailed infantry squad which may be reinforced in any individual scenario and follow the squad through their various encounters.

TBH is 47 pages long and contains 21 scenarios along with some background, a few additional rules and all the necessary stats and tables. There are some sections from the main rules reproduced for ease, for example those on the Non-Player forces mechanics but access to the main ruleset is a necessity.

The scenarios are designed to be played on a 5' x 3' table and each scenario map is appropriately covered by a 6" grid to make layout easy. Each scenario covers approximately 1 page (in the usual THW two column format) and is split into Situation, Objective, Forces, Terrain, Deployment and Special Instructions sections.

The whole thing looks pretty well put together and I am looking foward to playong through it once I have the appropriate toys procured!

Wargames Weekend: Operation Cauldron - Part 2

2010-12-03T16:57:00.001Z

With the landing a success the Commandos moved on to their main objective. With their approach covered by two MG34s the attack needed some careful co-ordination but they managed it and the MGs were soon silenced but the alarm had been raised.

Swift action by the Commandos saw them storm the wire and take the German MG positions and engage both the other German infantry position to their flank and their approaching reinforcements.

The next rush into the German infantry produced mixed results with the Germans initially fighting back with serious results but eventually being overwhelmed.

The German reinforcements tooks cover behind the hedgerow but then became trapped between two groups of Commandos and were slowly eliminated.

The German flak tower then came under fire and before it could return fire with devastating effect they took enough casualties to ensure the kept their heads down.

With the Commandos moving towards the artillery positions more German renforcements appeared; however, these weren't the garrison troops they had previously been facing but some more experienced troops.

These reinforcements took up a position between the Commandos and their objective and laid down some punishing fire. This meant each side truing to outflank each other. Initially the Germans had some success but a brave rush combined with an effective grenade throw devistated one of their positions and thngs started to come unravelled for them.

The Commandos began to mop up the last resistance and, with the artillery crews running for their lives, finally reachd their objective and disabled the guns with their satchel charges.

Wargames Weekend: Operation Cauldron - Part 1

2010-12-01T19:46:00.001Z

At our last gaming weekend we had discussed the fact that we didn't often play "big" or linked games very much and our attempts at putting together anything approaching a campaign had been a bit of a failure. So to remedy this I decided to put together two linked WW2 games based around the August 1942 Dieppe operation. In this case I went for the attack on Hess Battery to the flank of the main assault - mainly because I wanted to use my Foundry Commandos and a few other bits I have picked up over the year. Obviously we couldn't model the entire Commando raid at 28mm on my 6x4 table so I scaled things down a little.

Objective
Assault the Hess Battery, prevent it from engaging the main landings at Dieppe and successfully withdraw with minimal casualties.

The Plan
Orange Beach is to the right flank of the main assault on Dieppe and comprises two separate landings by 4 Commando. C Troop with a section of A Troop under the Command of Major Mills-Roberts are to land on Orange Beach I near Vasterival and proceed to secure the headland and advance to provide covering fire for the main assault on the battery. B and F Troops with a section of A Troop under the Command of Lt. Col. Lord Lovat are to land at Orange Beach II, between St. Marguerite and Quiberville, disrupt enemy communications and advance up the Saane valley and assault the battery from the flank/rear.

Once the order is received all units are to withdraw to their embarkation points.

Forces
F Troop HQ
Two sections of F Troop

The initial landing was a bit of a mixed affair. The German sentries and MG teams didn't spot the landing craft until they were almost at the beach but once they did the LCAs came under some heavy fire. The land craft crews tried to keep the German's heads down with their lewis guns but this only silenced the rifle fire and the MG34s kept blazing away. The Commandos added their brens to the firefight and things went onto a slightly more even footing.

With the ramps down the Commandos started to rush ashore. This was when the encountered their first casualty. Leading one of the files of men onto thr beach the TSM was caught by a burst of German MG fire and was killed instantly. This slowed the disembarkation from one LCA but the other went a little more smoothly.

With the combined Bren and SMG fire from the Commandos keeping the German MGs quiet the assault on the wire began. Whilst a few of the Men got hung up on the wire enough got through to begin the climb to the heights to attack the MG position there. A quick rush with a grenade put paid to one of the German MG34s.

On the other side of the beach things had stalled with the death of the TSM but eventually got going again and with the wire crossed the last German resistance at the beach was dealt with.

With the prisoners secured the advance continued but the remainder of the German section was advancing on the beach from their billet so the Commandos took up covering positions and quickly dealt with them. They then advanced towards the buildings but as they approached they could hear vehicles approaching down the road.

The Commando teams split up to secure the buildings and to deal with the approaching threat. The team on the high ground spotted a German truck and motorcycle team coming down the road. A hail of automatic fire saw the the motorcycle combination crash into a wall and the truck almost do the same. The toss of a grenade from the other team put paid to the German reinforcements whilst the others secured the buildings.

With the beachhead secured the Commandos could move on to their main objective - the battery.

Wargames Weekend: The Battle of Te-li-ssu

2010-11-28T20:21:00.001Z

For our afternoon game we moved to Manchuria and down a scale to 15mm for a Russo-Japanese War game which was a trial run for the Bloody Picnic rules.

The Japanese 2nd Army under General Baron Oku had orders to capture the hamlet of Te-li-ssu, which lies to the north of the Fu-chou Ho river valley.

I took on the role of Lieutenant-General Baron Oshima, commander of the 3rd Division which was on the right of the Japanese advance. The 5th Division was to our left attacking the centre of the Russian positions, whilst the 4th Division is attempting to outflank the Russians on the far left.

On the previous day our artillery, supported by guns from the 1st Artillery Brigade, fought and won an artillery duel that forced the Russians to withdraw their guns from the forward slopes of the hills on the other side of the valley.

Our infantry also contacted the Russian infantry on our right flank, but though they initially fared well, the Russians bought up reinforcements, which halted our attack.

Under the cover of the early morning fog we planned to launch an attack at dawn to take the heights this time.

Initially things went well and our advance across the valley was uncontested, concealed as it was by the slowly lifting fog.

However, as we approached the steep slopes on the other side we came under fire from the entrenched Russians and were unable to use our artillery as visibility was still too poor.

One of my infantry commanders was a little over zealous and started to advance up the slope toward the enemy trenches but this smply resulted in an entire battalion being eliminated. So we spread out on the valley floor and began a a prolonged firefight with the enemy.

Eventally our superior numbers began to tell and the Russians' fire lessened. With their command and control in chaos their reinforcements failed to arrive and we managed to secure the heights.

Bloody Picnic are a pretty traditional ruleset based on General de Brigade. but neither of us were sure whether the scenario properly tested the rules and so another outing may well be in order.

Wargames Weekend: Carson Smith and the Tomb of the Prophet

2010-11-28T19:42:00.001Z

Our first game of day two was an adaptation of a Pulp scenario for the Too Fat Lardies' Through the Mud & the Blood. Lenin made a few alterations to the original to reflect the figures he had available and so whilst I played to type taking the part of Doctor Zyklon and the forces of EFLUENT, the Evil Forces League for a United Empire of Nepotism and Terror; Lenin took the part of Carson Smith, the famous archeologist, and FLANGE the Forces of the League of Associated Nations for Government by Enlightenment. In this instance FLANGE was represented by Commander Tom Collins and the brave sailors from the USS Sangria. Their mission was to shadow Dr. Zyklonʼs expedition through the bush and establish just what it was he is seeking in Darkest Africa.

Of course as Dr. Zyklon, I knew exactly what I was seeking - an ancient stone of power revealed in the ancient scripts that I had recently ʻacquiredʼ from the Moscow Imperial Institute in the last days of 1917.

Only having vague guidance from the ancient scripts I first ventured into a nearby native village to see if I could extract any help from the locals.

Meanwhile Carson Smith tried to locate the tomb before us. As we surrounded the village Sturm-Leutnant Anatolya and his men spotted a group from the Sangria. One of the advantages of playing the baddies is the ability to shoot first and ask questions (using the appropriate tools) later. So it was first blood to EFLUENT.

Dr. Zyklon and Sturm-Major Werner von Blott quickly established the location of the tomb but with more sailors from the Sangria coming into view a more defensive strategy seemed prudent. Of course I ordered Sturm-Leiter Bulgarov and his men to secure our flank. Unfortunately he ran into yet more of the Sangria crew and another firefight ensued in the jungle.

Whilst we were dealing with the US sailors, Carson Smith was taking his native allies to locate the tomb.

Taking care of the opposition took a little while and that gave Dr. Smith the chance to excavate the tomb and decypher the inscriptions. Of course having dealt with most of the opposition I had one of my teams keep him under observation and once he had entered the tomb and retrieved the stone we moved in and surrounded him. Dr. Smith had little choice but to hand over the artifact but swore revenge!

Wargames Weekend: Follow that Camel!

2010-11-28T08:58:00.002Z

Next up was another outing for Two Hour Wargames' Colonial Adventures - mainly so I could use my Redoubt French Foreign Legion and my new desert fort.

Legion Brief
There have been signs of a major uprising coming (and not as a result of the poor food). The local Tuareg leaders Sheikh Yerbouti and Sheikh Yermahni have been gathering their forces and the Legion garrison at Fort Zuassantneuf is now under attack. Supplies and ammunition is running low. Their only hope is the arrival of a supply column...

I made Lenin roll for his officers' Reps which produced some interesting results.

With the fort under attack and supplies running low Captain Clouseau was keen to ensure the supply column reached the fort. So he took a patrol out to meet it, leaving Sergeant Frakov in command of the fort.

No sooner had Clouseau left the fort than some hidden Tuareg cavalry charged from behind the oasis; but some quick thinking from the Captain and the iron discipline of the Legion saw them fight off the Tuaregs who were forced to flee having taken significant casualties.

Meanwhile the supply column under the inept Lieutenant Le Pice and the charismatic Sergeant "Beau" Nydell had a brief false alarm when they thought they had spotted a possible enemy force but it turned out to be a mirage. Their relief was short lived as they had only advanced a short way when they spotted some of the enemy for real and came under rifle fire.

The Lieutenant decided to hunker down and shoot it out with the Tuaregs. Meanwhile Captain Clouseau and his patrol were slogging their way through the desert to the sound of the rifle fire. On their way the patrol spotted the main Tuareg force under Sheikh Yerbouti on their way to seize the supplies.

Unfortunately the greater speed of the Tuareg camelry meant they reached the column first and after a desperate struggle the column were all killed or captured.

On his way Clouseau came across the group of enemy riflemen and engaged them. His men were holding their own until Sheikh Yerbouti and his men - fresh from seizing the supplies arrived. After initially seeing them off the Legion began to withdraw to the fort. But the Sheikh rallied his men and ran the Legion patrol down.

After yet another desperate last stand the patrol were killed and Captain Clouseau left to the tender mercies of the Tuareg.

Wargames Weekend: Blunte's Battery

2010-11-27T18:33:00.002Z

After having to reschedule our last weekend, Lenin once again popped over for a few games. We started with a 28mm Napoleonic game set in the Peninsular campaign using the Too Fat Lardies' Sharp Practice rules and Front Rank figures. The British brief was as follows:

Background
The French army has taken up positions on a ridge directly in the path of the British advance. Ahead of your position they have occupied the village of Villar Formoso and set up an artillery battery on the edge of the village. If it is brought into action this battery will command the entire flank of the British assault on the ridge.

Objective
Your orders are to take part of the light company of the North Essex and seize the French battery at dawn in a coup de main thus allowing the main British assault on the ridge to proceed.

Forces
Captain Richard Blunte, Status III
A jolly good chap an average stamp but no looker. He has never done anyone harm and started life as an urchin from the Orphanage. He is a fair hand with a sword but a novice in the saddle. An honourable and lion hearted man he is nevertheless somewhat lecherous and know as a ladies man.

Lieutenant Harry Pryce-Waterhouse, Status II
Sergeants Smith and Jones, both Status I
Forty men of the light company who are good troops

Sergeant O'Leary, Status II
Ten riflemen who are good troops and include two Chosen Men

The Game
The British assaulted the ridge at dawn but the French sentries managed to spot the riflemen as they started to cross the river at the base of the ridge. fortunately the redcoats fared better and managed to get somewhat closer to the French position before being spotted.

The French took some time to respond to the alarm and Blunte seized the initiative taking on one French group whilst they were still in their billet. The French artillery crews initially rushed out of their billet but quickly had second thoughts as their comrades came under volley fire.

An assault on the the building with the first French group caused several casualties and forced them to withdraw pursued by the British.

The remaining British troops under Lieutenant Pryce-Waterhouse discovered the French Captain Camembert ensconced in the church and immediately attacked. After an initial firefight the British assaulted the French position and eventually pushed the French out of the church; however, after a couple of counterattacks the French recaptured it but suffered heavy casualties in the process.

In the meantime the French artillery crews had regained their nerve and tried to reach their guns but came under heavy fire and were forced to withdraw.

Captain Camembert decided it was time to drive the British from the ridge. He regrouped his men and made a last ditch charge. The attack started well but under the coordinated fire from the various British groups it faltered and the day went to Blunte and his men.

Why I Don't Like Rules with Saving Throws

2010-11-13T07:58:00.001Z

What the hell is he on about? - you may ask, but I just don't like rules with saving throws. My main gripe is that they usually don't tell you why they included a saving throw mechanism in the rule mechanics. Now I can come up with post event rationalisations for most things, and there are reasons why saving throws might be appropriate, but I often think they've just been included due to the limitations of using the d6.

So you can probably justif saving throws where they represent armour or cover, you could also include them as a way of representing defending in a melee combat but including them in 18th or 19th Century rules as part of a fire combat mechanism just mystifies me. I suppose you could argue it does give the inactive player something to do but the net result is pretty damned frustrating for the active player and that's not a good result (paeticularly when the inactive player doesn't know why he's actually rolling any dice!)

However, being a deeply flawed and cynical individual I think it's probably more to do with the fact that the people writing the rules are used to the saving throw mechanic as opposed to there being any actual logic behind it. Or if it was really thought about it was just to address the way probability works when modifying d6 results - if that's the reason then use a die with more sides would be a better option IMHO!

Anyway, there it is and so now you know why (a) none of the rules I write has a saving throw mechanic (although if I did ever use one I would tell people what it was intended to represent!) and (b) why none of my favourite rules has it either. Alternatively I could just be too damn picky or just p,ain old bonkers - I'll leave you to figure that out...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wargames Weekend: The Photos

2010-09-25T10:14:00.002Z

Wargames Weekend: West Germany 1979

2010-09-11T18:14:00.001Z

Our last tabletop game was a playtest of the Cold War Commander rules using Lenin's new 1/600 Oddzial Osmy kit.

I took the US forces facing Lenin's Soviet onslaught.

Fortunately for me the Soviet advance didn't start too well with their right flank immediately rolling a Command Blunder and began to withdraw. On the following turn they rolled another Blunder and opened fire on their own command.

Unfortunately these problems for the Russians didn't last long and their advance soon began to gain momentum. As soon as they came into view of my tanks on my right they opened fire and we began to properly test the rules.

With their superior numbers and artillery support the Soviet forces, whilst taking some significant losses especially for the infantry, overwhelmed my US troops and the game ended with what was left of my forces reaching their breakpoint and withdrawing.

The rules were not all that clearly laid out or comprehensive as some obvious issues which came up in our game were difficult to resolve. The mechanics were a little too clunky for my taste (I've never been much of a fan of saving throws) but they produced a reasonable game. My overall impression of the rules were that were OK but didn't contain any particularly special ideas or mechanics and so whilst we may well use them again (probably in their 2nd edition Blitzkreig guise) I doubt they will make it into our preferred category.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wargames Weekend: Jariban

2010-09-06T20:30:00.002Z

Our second Two Hour Wargames outing was a 28mm modern game using an adaptation of FNG to cover a GIGN operation in Somalia. Lenin had designed the game to enable us to both to play the French against the system.

Initially we landed by helicopter in some rough ground near the habitation where the Somali pirates had been located. Unfortunately the pirates spotted the landing and we soon came under fire - fortunately not too accurate as it included an RPG7!

My group put down some covering fire to keep their heads down and to allow one fire team to advance on their position. Meanwhile Lenin's group advanced to search the first building on his side of the road.

I managed to deal with the two Somalis I had initially encountered but didn't discover anything else in my building, most particularly no sign of the ransom we had come looking to recover.

As we began to advance building by building we discovered more of the pirates and some gave us some trouble, not least those with the RPGs.

Unfortunately, we lost a couple of men whilst clearing the buildings but we either killed or captured all the pirates and recovered a small part of the ransom.

Wargames Weekend: Arctic Assault

2010-09-06T11:15:00.001Z

Having spent the first day of gaming using the Lardies' rules we decided to have the second as a Two Hour Wargames' day. The first game was a 28mm WW2 scenario designed to allow me to field a few toys which had not seen the table before including my Bolt Action Soviets (which are all Lenin's work BTW).

As part of the Petsumo Offensive the Soviets were an advance force which had been pushed through the German defensive lines under cover of the poor weather to assault and, if possible, capture the Luostari/Pechenga Airfield to hamper German air operations in the area.

The Soviets initially began with a Leitenant and two squads of Razvedchiki (Rep 4 Scouts) with the possibility to being joined by parts of the main attack force. The Germans had an Obergefreiter commanding a single squad and the flank crew in defence.

The initial fog lifted but it continued to snow reducing visibility (to 16") and hampering movement (-25%). With the conditions and the Razvedchiki's camouflage and training (stealthy) they were hard to spot initially; however when one of their snipers moved forward to engage the German gate guards he was spotted! The Germans tried to open fire with their MG42 but found the mechanism had frozen and were forced to take cover. The Soviets took advantage of the gate guards' predicament and rushed forward to the perimeter fence.

With the alarm having been raised the German forces let into action; however the troops in the buildings near to the gate had something of a shock when they came under fire when leaving their barracks!

Fortunately the flak crew were not within sight of the Soviets and reached their position unscathed. After a couple of near misses one small group of German troops reached the gate position but under fire and having to leap for cover. A Soviet grenade quickly followed but fortunately casualties were light for the Germans.

The other German group, who had been trapped in their barrack block by the advancing Soviets used a rear window to escape, disappear into the falling snow and take up a covering position behind some trucks near the ammunition store and fuel dump.

Meanwhile a Soviet sniper trying to get a bead in the Flakvierling was spotted and regretted it! The German unit at the gate decided to return the favour to the Soviets and tried dropping a grenade over the sandbags onto them. Unfortunately he fumbled the grenade and it landed back in amongst them! One of the Germans managed to leap out over the sandbags but the others were caught in the blast.

More Soviets had now joined the attack but reluctant to move forward on the left flank in the face of the flak unit they used the masking of the falling snow to move to the right flank where a hole had now been cut in the perimeter wire.

With the Soviets through the fence there was a last desperate fire fight between them and the German unit by the trucks. The Germans gave a good account of themselves but were overwhelmed by the Soviet numbers.

With clear access to the ammunition and fuel and with no reinforcements appearing for the Germans (so much for 7 being the most common number rolled on 2d6!) the Soviets achieved their objective.

Wargames Weekend: Firebase

2010-09-06T06:54:00.002Z

Our next game was our first chance to try out the published version of Charlie Don't Surf! The new Vietnam rules by the Too Fat Lardies. We had tried a playtest version of CDS some time ago and it was interesting to see how they had changed.

I took the role of the Free World player whose objective was to clear the area of hostile forces to allow the construction of a new firebase. I was given an infantry company and a mechanised platoon in M113s for the task.

The VC began the game on blinds in the jungle - something which made the APCs rather redundant as the jungle was impassable to vehicles! Despite several attempts I entirely failed to spot the first two blinds and allowed one of them to ambush me, which resulted in one squad being eliminated and a second withdrawing after suffering heavy casualties.

I continued to press forward and managed to engage one of the enemy units in the front and flank but my flank was exposed in a clearing which didn't do much for that squad!

I managed to get some co-ordinated fire in from two platoons plus one squad of the one who got the pasting earlier and it began to take its toll on the VC (not least due to their lack of Big Men). Eventually the VC decided they managed as much of their objective as possible and fell back.

In the end the game was a draw militarily but a political victory for the VC.

Wargames Weekend: Furia Francese

2010-09-05T07:19:00.001Z

Our latest weekend of wargaming was a little later than intended but once again Lenin was kind enough to pop over and gaming commenced.

The first game was Great War and so gave a chance for me to use my new trench along with my Brigade and Scarab late WW1 figures. Lenin took the Germans and the trench with me on the attack with Les Poilus. Through the Mud & the Blood are our rules of choice for this scale and period.

The game started with a French artillery barrage, first on the German wire and then moving onto their trench line. Meanwhile the French advanced up the table, trying to make best use of the cover available from earlier shelling.

Initially the I had difficulty spotting the Germans, probably not surprising after the barrage but they soon recovered and we came under fire. Unfortunately for Lenin the Germans didn't have the benefit of a heavy machine gun and, whilst their Maxims gave the French a few problems, they were still able to advance.

Having specially picked up some VB grenade launchers from Scarab (Brigade only release their's after I had bought the Scarab ones) I was somewhat less than impressed by their performance. With a decent range and treating cover at one level lower than normal, if they hit, they do have some advantages; however, losing half the dice for acquiring a target and only having three in the section hampered their effectiveness. The Chauchats proved a little more reliable than usual, actually laying down some fire rather than simply jamming each time they were fired.

The French slowly advanced across the table, mainly due to the card turns rather than any special ability on my part. The Germans, who had sensibly taken cover in their dugout, eventually plucked up the courage to move up to the fighting step.

However, a squad advancing up the communication trench had to cope with one of their original units deciding they had had enough of shelling and French fire and were attempting a withdrawal. The resultant confusion gave the French a chance to move up with only limited return fire.

The French platoon sergeant was hit which slowed the advance on the left flank but the Lieutenant kept things going in the centre with the Grenadier section.

Eventually the French reached the wire, which hadn't been cut by the barrage but was crossable. Fortunately the Germans had taken a bit of a pasting and weren't able to take advantage of the French being hung on the wire. The Lieutenant and his men made the German trench and despite a heroic counter attack by the German Feldwebel and a couple of men the French held on.

With more French crossing the wire the Germans decided to withdraw and make ready for a more serious counter attack - which will have to wait until another weekend (not least because I need to build the rest of the trench network!

The Kent Militia

2010-08-31T19:29:00.000Z

Having already fielded my Kent Militia I felt they desperately needed a standard to rally to so prior to buying the official Musketeer standard bearers, I converted one of my Militia riflemen whose rifle barrel had broken. Here he is with the rest of the command group:

The Anglican League Arrives

2010-08-31T19:28:00.001Z

I have now expanded my VBCW collection further with a completely new faction - the Anglican League. Here is the Musketeer Miniatures command pack:

The General

2010-08-30T18:05:00.000Z

Another addition is "General Clearwell" from the Artizan Designs Thrilling Tales range:

The Long Arms of the Law

2010-08-30T18:02:00.001Z

I have just added a few Artizan armed police to my Musketeer force for VBCW:

Another Project Update

2010-08-21T13:49:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of posting recently; however, it has been a fair reflection of the amount of gaming related stuff I have been doing!

Fortunately I have had a little more time this weekend and so I have started to make some more progress with a couple of projects whilst being distracted by yet more ideas. First the progress:

Dahomey 1892
I am just in the process of basing up my Dixon French Foreign Legion figures and some opposition for Dahomey. The figures are a little bit of a mixed bag, with some being lovely sculpts but a couple of the others do look a little odd. I have about a platoon of French with mules and bearers and around 40 or so Amazons and other Dahomeans (I plan to have some casualty recycling).

I am a little uncertain as to which rules to use. Colonial Adventures is an obvious one but I would like to have a different feel for this game to some of my other Colonial outings.

Dieppe 1942
The Foundry Commandos I picked up on eBay have been added to the two sections I already had and are now ready for basing. I managed to pick up a couple of LCAs from Grand Manner before their recent price rise too. This should allow me to cover the Orange Beach operation. Next on the list are beach defences and then the assembly and painting of the artillery for the main objective.

VBCW
A few more Artizan armed police are about to join my existing Musketeer force and with a few Anglian League figures also to be based I can see a game in the offing. I am just wondering about flags now...

WW1
Having been reasonably pleased with my first attempt at a trench, I decided I might like to expand that project to include communication and support trenches. So far I have just laid them out but I am currently wondering about the balance between aesthetics and usability regarding the sections between the trenches - shall I keep them relatively flat (with the option for separate shell craters) or build more in? Decisions, decisions...

Pictures will be following.

As to potential new projects, I have been distracted (as usual) by more figures prompted by a couple of the half price Foundry books I picked up. Mutineer's 28mm Indian Mutiny and Pontoonier's 3rd Anglo-Burmese War ranges both have potential so I am currently reading up on both to see which might get bumped up the project list.

Clash of the Titans: First Impressions

2010-07-26T07:53:00.001Z

Two Hour Wargames recently released their Eastern Front supplement for Nuts! entitled Clash of the Titans. Given my growing interest in winter warfare and the eastern front I decided to pick up a copy.

Clash of the Titans (CotT) comes in at 98 pages and so, since I bought the PDF download, it came as two separate 8.2MB files. The supplement is intended to cover warfare on the eastern front from 1941 to 1945; however, elements can also be used for the earlier Winter War too (another reason I picked this up!)

CotT starts with a short introduction and then moves swiftly into 9 pages of background on the eastern front broken down into the various major periods and campaigns of the theatre. Whilst obviously not in a great level of detail this background provides a pretty good overview and enough context for the supplement as a whole.

The next section provides lists for the various armies involved which, whilst covering some of those detailed in the main rules, provides plenty of additional forces. It includes Soviet, German, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian and Finnish army lists.

There are also additional units covered including airborne (sic), assault troops & stosstruppen, cavalry, engineers, militia, naval infantry, NKVD, penal units and also rule modifications covering women in combat. Each has a short section and some have special equipment, attributes or tests in addition to being included in the army lists - which are laid out pretty much as in the main rules.

Next is a new character attribute "Ruthless" which has been specifically included for Komissars. This is followed by new morale advantages "Plucky" and "Fanatic". Following this there are rules for new Soviet equipment specifically dealing with the SN-42 assault vest and the anti-tank dog teams.

Having covered the infantry combatants CotT then turns its attention to the vehicles. This section covers all the main vehicles and guns used in the theatre by each of the same armies as are covered in the infantry section, but also some of the more specialised ones including multi-turret tanks, aerosans and tchanka. The lists are, again, laid out pretty much as per the main rules and are pretty comprehensive and, I found, rather useful for earlier period equipment than Nuts! itself. The following section covers rules for boats including types, movement, combat and swimming. It also includes some sample generic boat stats.

Next up are some reinforcement tables for each army which replace those which appear in the main rules. Vehicle availability for each country is split into the various main periods. This is followed by special rules for cavalry, ski troops, bicycles, airborne landings and then the effects of the weather & environment. The latter covers the obvious snow and freezing conditions but then goes on to address privation and out of supply effects.

Additional vehicle rules are also included if you want more detail and these cover track damage, top armor (sic), mines & explosives and booby traps. Artillery and air support is then addressed.

There are then several pages devoted to terrain including rachels (sudden folds or gullies), barbed wire, building damage, rubble and ruins, sewers and fortified structures. Perhaps unsurprisingly this is followed by a section covering campaigns in urban combat areas which contains all the mechanics and supplementary rules for setting such campaigns, support levels, missions, encounters and the resupply and replacements.

Finally there are six scenarios each covering a different type of eastern front warfare; however, it should be noted that some of these are rather large encounters with one requiring around 20 vehicles (so probably not for 28mm on a 6x4 table!). I have to say that, whilst interesting, the scale of some of the scenarios and specific nature of some of the forces meant that these were the least interesting part of the supplement for me, although it did inspire some ideas!

I have certainly found plenty of useful information in Clash of the Titans and, given the effort clearly put in, I thought it was worth the $17 price for the PDF (a hardcopy is $20) but obviously your mileage may vary.

Trench Project Update

2010-07-04T13:22:00.000Z

Here are a quick couple of photos after the main drybrushing:

From Workbench

More Inter War Armour from Copplestone

2010-06-27T18:23:00.001Z

Copplestone Castings have just released the latest model in their 28mm Inter War range of armoured vehicles. This time it's a Lanchester 6x4 MkII armoured car:

Grand Manner - Metal Shuttered Shop

2010-06-19T14:12:00.000Z

I was lucky enough to get an order into Grand Manner when they had their free shipping offer and also before the recent price rises (which is pushing their stuff almost out of reach).

I picked up one of the WWII 28mm Carentan-05 metal shuttered shops:

I am planning to use this for both WW1 and WW2 so I should get a decent amount of use out of it. As you can see from the slideshow it is nicely detailed with removable roofs and floor (in the two storey section).

Yet Another Project Update

2010-05-08T14:20:00.000Z

By now you will probably have realised that I mostly do these updates for my own benefit! They help me to think through what I am working on and also keep a record of what progress (if any) I am making.

New Projects
15mm Marlburian - I have been thinking about doing this period for a while. I have now done a bit of reading up (and a lot more to go!) and I have picked up a couple of rule sets which I would like to try (Beneath the Lily Banners and Lace Wars). At the moment I am trying to figure out which figures to go with and how many to buy as an initial batch. Of course there is a bit of a relationship here between the number of figures required and the rules as, rather inconveniently the two sets have differing approaches. I think I will probably be constrained by my wallet and go with the smaller option and make the appropriate adjustments.

15mm/28mm AWI - I am currently reading Fusiliers by Mark Urban which has got me thinking about this period again. It's one I have had a desire to do for quite some time but have been held back by not having fulfilled the core requirements of figures/terrain/rules/scenario(s). As you can see by the title I am still undecided as to which scale to go with but am definitely leaning toward 28mm (Perry) which would allow me to use some of the American buildings I already have potentially supplemented by Grand Manner perhaps. As to the rules I suspect I'm going to plump for an adaptation of Sharp Practice.

Existing Projects
28mm Sudan - I picked up a unit of Highlanders and another unit of Egyptians plus quite a few more Mahdists (all Perry of course) when I was at Salute (the postage saving justified the trip). I'm in the process of cleaning up the figures - not much in the way of flash but lots of run offs, ready for painting. I have another scenario in mind which will not only allow me to use these but also my desert fort that I got at Cavalier earlier this year.

28mm WW2 Mediterranean - I decided to start this project from a slightly unusual angle - the French. So I bought some Artizan Goumiers and Afrika Korps to kick me off, which should allow both North Africa and Sicily/Italy scenarios to be played (using Nuts! of course).

28mm WW2 Dieppe - Having got a small number of Foundry Commando figures already I managed to pick up a few more for a pretty decent price on eBay and intend to run a couple of scenarios around the unfortunate landings at Dieppe in 1942. I do have quite a few other bits and pieces to get for the scenarios to work though. I may even expand this to the main landings over time (budget permitting!)

28mm Late WW1 - I am currently in the process of building a trench to allow me to use my Germans and French for a more traditional WW1 set of scenarios using Through the Mud & the Blood.

It's taking sometime to put it together but the result isn't looking too bad so far, although there's certainly plenty of time to muck it up!

Others - My two French Foreign Legion projects (Dahomey and Beau Geste) are both off for painting along with the Scarlet Pimpernel and a few top up figures for a Very British Civil War. So I will have plenty to keep me busy with basing when they return. I am also pondering basing my 28mm Redoubt Montrose figures for a game although I am currently trying to figure out which rules I want to try using.

Musketeer VBCW Standard Bearers

2010-04-28T19:12:00.000Z

In the end I did pick up the newly released pack of three VBCW standard bearers from Musketeer at Salute. So I thought I would post a couple of pictures including the, previously unrevealed, third figure:

As always they are nice sculpts but the hands do need drilling to accept the standards.

Salute 2010

2010-04-24T19:52:00.002Z

Here are some photos from a few of the games at the show:

Salute 2010

2010-04-22T18:39:00.000Z

I have my advance ticket and my trimmed down shopping list (the original one would have bankrupted me!) so I will be off to Salute on Saturday.

I know the show has got rather expensive but I am mainly going to meet up with friends and the shopping is just to justify the entry fee in saved postage. I've noted that there are a number of traders that I would like to have visited (and have been present in previous years) who are not there this year. I wonder if they're finding it a little pricey too. After all, as a punter, £10 gets you a reasonable amount of postage!

I am planning to get some more of those lovely Perry Sudan figures and the new civilians from Musketeer plus a couple of other bits and pieces (including some terrain). I doubt I will be inspired by anything there, something I have found at a number of previous shows, I wonder if that's the influence of the internet with nothing being new. But there should be a few stands worth a look and I do plan to spend a little more time this year having a look at the games.

There are likely to be a few tweets from the show floor but I'm afraid I can't post any photos from there (mainly because my phone hasn't got a camera!). I will be posting my thoughts and pictures (assuming I remember my camera) after I get home and have rested my feet!

Wargames Weekend: The Photos

2010-04-18T17:06:00.001Z

Wargames Weekend: Operation Palliser

2010-04-18T17:06:00.000Z

Our final game for the weekend was a chance for Lenin to get some of his excellent modern figures, in this case from The Assault Group, onto the table. It was also a chance to try out some tweaks to the Two Hour Wargames' FNG rules using the PEF mechanics to allow us to both play on the same side.

On 7 May 2000, B, C and D Companies of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para) were deployed from Senegal to Sierra Leone to assist in the evacuation of non combatants from that war-torn country.

Several days into their deployment, two sections from D (Patrols) Company of 1 Para have been detailed to locate and evacuate a four person NGO team known to be operating a clinic and school in Kalima village. The United Nations are concerned for their safety as an armed group calling itself the North East Dudes has taken control of the area around Kalima.

Intelligence reports that the North East Dudes are more akin to a heavily armed street gang than a real rebel movement and that they are proliﬁc users of narcotics. The group is armed with the usual selection of Eastern Bloc weapons, including a number of RPGs.

Each of us took a Land Rover and a section of Paras and, with Lenin on point, advanced up the road towards the village. We very quickly discovered that the North East Dudes were in the village and none too pleased to see us.

After an RPG round narrowly missed our leading vehicle we quickly pulled off the road and de-bussed. Each section quickly split into two fire teams and laid down quite a bit of fire on the Dude's first position. Quickly suppressing them we were about to advance when two more groups of Dudes appeared.

Fortunately most of the Dudes were high (hence the rule amendments) and so their firing was a little erratic, which was lucky since a properly aimed RPG round could have been very nasty.

After having suppressed the Dudes on our right flank I was advancing across the road when I cam under fire from their original position. With one of my men down we poured fire into the Dude's position and quickly suppressed them. I managed to get my casualty back into safety behind the Land Rover and then cautiously advanced another team across the road - safely this time.

The main fire fight with the Group to the left of the village was going our way and Lenin was able to push a team forward. I followed up and we discovered that they had the hostages with them.

Meanwhile my team advancing on the left encountered another group of Dudes who had been trying to outflank us and quickly put paid to that idea.

With the hostages secured and some prisoners taken we withdrew with only the single casualty.