The Kent Militia

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

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

The Long Arms of the Law

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

Musketeer VBCW Standard Bearers

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.

Wargames Weekend: Ashford Ambush

Our first game on Monday was another excursion into the alternative history world which is A Very British Civil War.  This time I decided to try the Too Fat Lardies' WW1 rules Through the Mud & the Blood with the additional rules from the Triumphant Standards supplement.  It was also a chance for me to get my new militia figures to the table along with my Musketeer BEF.

With the Government and Mosleyite forces cracking down on any democratic protest various groups in Kent have decided to take matters into their own hands.

The working class Cinque Ports T&GWU Militia has formed an uneasy alliance with the, mainly upper and middle class, Kent Militia to strike back against the oppressive forces of fascism.  Their first objective is to secure more ammunition for their motley collection of weapons.  To this end they intend to ambush a convoy transporting weapons and ammunition to the Territorial Army barracks in Ashford.

With Lenin, appropriately I think, commanding the Kent and Union militias, I took command of the Territorials and their convoy.  The militia had set up a roadblock and put themselves in some excellent ambush positions.  Unfortunately, someone in the first militia unit was a little over eager and some poor fire discipline led to shots just as the convoy came onto the table!

Fortunately for the militia Captain Darling, in the lead armoured truck, decided that this was likely to be a chance incident rather than a major ambush and decided to drive on whilst returning fire.  He soon discovered his mistake as not only did the Union Lewis gun open up but also the first Kent militia unit under the command of "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps.

The armoured truck carried on until it came under more fire from the second Kent militia unit directed by Mr Chomondley-Warner accompanied by the energetic Oliver Mellors.  Casualties in the truck were high and when the roadblock was spotted the remaining men decided discretion was the better part of valour and ran for it.

Meanwhile Sergeant Jones had deployed his unit behind the hedgerow facing the first Union militia but without a light machine gun was not faring well.  Fortunately the Union militia were having an ideological debate with the Commissar who was accompanying them and so fire from them lessened.

Despite coming under fire itself the convoy had carried on after the armoured truck believing, quite incorrectly, it was the right thing to do.

With the truck having moved past them Barmy's chaps turned their attention to Sergeant Jones and his unit also decided to retire.  Fortunately for the Territorials, Lt. George then arrived with their third contingent and deployed his men and their Lewis gun behind a stone wall on the other side of the road.

Having disposed of the armoured truck, and possibly to keep Mellors busy lest he get up to any mischief, Mr Chomondley-Warner ordered him to advance and capture the ammunition trucks.  Having taken the first truck easily he then came under fire from Lt. George's men, who had by this time been joined by Capt. Darling, and so he returned fire.

The fire now coming in from three separate directions was taking its toll on the remaining Territorials and despite the best efforts of the officers this last group was forced to withdraw.  Although it did give the last truck sufficient time to back away out of trouble.

Overall, the rules gave a fun game and coped with the larger than normal number of figures on the table; however, the smaller Territorial units did suffer badly due to the impact of shock on their lower numbers.  In future I think I would ensure most units were around 10 men if possible.

More VBCW from Musketeer

Musketeer Miniatures have announced some more figures for their Inter-war range which should be released soon:

Civilians (planned for Triples apparently):

I suspect I'll be picking these sets up if I can as they will be useful for Sealion too.

Plus BCW standard bearers (no date as yet):

Workbench Update

Just finished some 28mm Perry Mahdists for my Sudan game:

along with some 28mm Musketeer VBCW Militia (although you may spot some Anglian/Empress figures thrown in too):

More BCW Coming Soon...

Musketeer Miniatures have posted some pictures of some of the new BCW figures which should be coming early next year:

A BUF HMG team:
and a Militia anti-tank rifle team:As usual both sculpted by the inestimable talents of Paul Hicks.

More British Civil War from Musketeer

Musketeer have shown some previews of their next 1938 figures, this time it's brigands and they look very interesting:

Wargames Weekend: 1938 The Spirit of Dr Syn Lives On

Last weekend Lenin came over for another visit. We managed to get six tabletop games into the three days and had plenty of variety of periods and rules. Our first game was a chance for me to get my new Musketeer Miniatures figures onto the table for A Very British Civil War.

A group of like minded Men of Kent (or possibly Kentish Men - I didn't make the brief particular on that point) decided to emulate that infamous resident of Dymchurch, Dr Syn, and smuggle some weapons into the country in order to give that awful upstart Mosley a damned good thrashing. The driving force behind this plan were two ex army types, Captain Jack "Bulldog" Dunbar DSO MC and Major Sir Alfred Ayes-Waughter. Accompanied by the Major's faithful gamekeeper Harry Johnson they intended to load a consignment of arms purchased from some friendly chaps in the colonies onto a lorry and head back to the Major's manor.

Unfortunately some cad had given the game away and, acting on information received, Inspector Hugh "Snapper" Jorgan decided to visit the coast accompanied by three armed constables. To make matters worse one of the constables had told his brother, a shining light in the local BUF, who have decided to turn out and assist the boys in blue.
The inspector and the constables were proceeding in a southerly direction when they came under a hail of bullets from two different directions and were pinned down. Fortunately an element of the BUF arrived and distracted the gunmen allowing the police to advance but not before one of the constables had thought better of the whole adventure and taken to his heels.

A pitched battle ensued between the BUF and the gunmen, ably commanded by the Major, and casualties were suffered on both sides. Unfortunately the rebel's lewis gun ran out of ammunition at a critical moment and let the BUF supported by their sergeant, who was carrying a sub-machine gun, to close. A desperate melee was joined but the Major, with his extensive experience of hand to hand fighting, managed to end up the last man standing after polishing of at least four of the BUF blighters but, unfortunately, not before the rest of his group had been rendered insensible.

Meanwhile the remainder of the BUF contingent, ineptly commanded by Frederick Spode, were advancing on the other side of the road whilst Bulldog and his men loaded the lorry and started to move up the road. After a little cat and mouse more gunfire was exchanged and the BUF took the worst of it. The rebels managed to get their wounded onto the lorry with their contraband and escaped (albeit at a leisurely pace - since steam was the motive power) leaving the BUF and police to lick their wounds.

The figures used were a combination of the Musketeer IRA and BUF along with a couple of Copplestone personalities and we used the Two Hour Wargames Nuts! rules.

Musketeer BEF and BUF

With a few minutes spare this afternoon I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of my 28mm Musketeer Miniatures BEF and BUF figures:I am intending to use both for A Very British Civil War but the BEF will also be useful for the Irish War of Independence too. Both sets of figures are sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks.

Mr Hicks is at it again!

This time it's armed clergy for 1938:

and very nice (or nasty, depending on your perspective!) they look too - coming soon to Musketeer Miniatures.

Workers Militia

Paul Hicks and Musketeer Miniatures have been at it again. Here are some pics of their upcoming workers militia for 1938:

Lancia Armoured Truck (the parts)

Here's a quick picture of the Musketeer Lancia armoured truck straight out of the bag:

Quite a few parts as you can see.

Lancia Armoured Truck

It looks like Musketeer Miniatures are about to release their Lancia armoured truck for IWI shortly:


I'm hoping to pick one up at Salute. It is likely to also see some service in 1938!

Blimey, more 1938 figures...

Musketeer Miniatures have just revealed their Militia Command, Militia riflemen and a Toff and his Gentleman's Gentleman figures:

These super figures should be ready for Salute - so I'll be adding them to my shopping list!

Musketeer BUF

My order from Musketeer Miniatures cam through today and it had their new BUF figures:

Now all I need to do is make up my mind what colour scheme to use. Given that they are in a hypothetical uniform anyway it does give a little latitude though. I was thinking of going with caps and jackets with dark grey trousers but am not sure whether to go with grey, black or khaki puttees...

My 1938 Project - Update

Having bought the 1938: A Very British Civil War Source Book and discussed it with Lenin last weekend it not only looks like this project is a real goer but I've also got him hooked (he ordered the Source Book when he got home!).

As with most other projects I always try to justify my "investment" by trying to ensure I get multiple uses for the figures, vehicles, terrain and the like. So my first thought was to look at the stuff I already have to see what might be suitable for 1938.

Figures

Obviously I'm keen to get some 1938 specific figures but it would be useful if at least some of them had alternate uses or were sourced from my existing collection or other developing projects.

Police and Auxiliary Constabulary
The most obvious choice for these would be to source them from my IWI Musketeer Miniatures collection; however, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) wore a rifle green uniform that I really can't see an easy way of justifying on the mainland several years later. I am considering getting some more of the RIC figures but getting them done in the traditional blue uniform rather than the green. I think the uniforms and equipment should work.

Picture from the Musketeer Miniatures website

The Musketeer RIC Auxiliaries figures, whilst a nice mix of police and army uniforms, are again based on the RIC green and so I am reluctant to use them in this role; however, I can see them be useful elsewhere (see below). So as to Auxiliary Constabulary I am wondering whether I might use some of the Anglian Assault Guards I already have for Spanish Civil War:

As you can see these still need to be finished

Regular Army, Territorials and Yeomanry
For the regular army I can see an opportunity to utilise some of the Crusader Miniatures figures I have just bought for my early WW2/Operation Sealion project:

It is, of course arguable as to whether the new uniform patterns etc. would have been available in 1938 but since it is an alternative history project in any event I don't have too much trouble stretching it a little. Of course I would only be using these figures for only a small number of the key units.

For the others and also for any Territorials I plan to use some of the excellent Musketeer WW1 BEF figures:I do have some Renegade WW1 figures but they are significantly larger than the other figures I am planning to use and, in any case despite what I said above, these are so nice I must have some!

I am also wondering whether this might be an area where I could usefully make use of my Musketeer RIC Auxiliaries:


The BUF Legion and Fascist Militias
For the BUF (although I think this should be British Union or BUF&NS by this time) I think I need some very distinctive figures and the upcoming Musketeer ones seem just the job.

Of course this is another area where the Anglian Assault Guard might be used as an alternative to using them as Auxiliary Constabulary.

Local Defence Forces and Militias
With Wargames Foundry having a sale over the Christmas period I decided to pick up some packs to expand my early WW2 project and, in particular, figures suitable for Operation Sealion. So some of the Foundry Home Guard were an obvious choice. I avoided the traditional Dad's Army figures and opted instead for the ones in steel helmets which can then be used for 1938 as part of the Local Defence Forces.

Obviously these can be supplemented with the upcoming Musketeer militia figures for example.

The less well equipped militias provide an obvious opportunity to utilise my existing Musketeer IRA figures:The key gap with these figures is, of course, in the area of standard bearers which, as with the Spanish Civil War, is likely to be a major differentiator for the various factions. I am hoping that I may be able to utilise some of the Anglian SCW standard bearer figures but, unfortunately, a few of them are simply too SCW to work. This will need a bit of thought and possibly some head swaps!

Others
This is obviously an area for a fertile imagination and Lenin and I have already discussed the idea of some US forces appearing either as volunteers (a la SCW) or as a more official but covert intervention for some reason to be determined.

Clearly there will be advisors from the various interested foreign powers as was the case in the SCW. It is likely that the Anglian range is going to be where most of those will be sourced, although I do have some early WW2 German figures which might be appropriate.

I also have several of my Pulp collection which might see service including the various seafaring types.

Vehicles

As with the figures there are some obvious overlaps with the vehicles I currently have, or am planning to get for, Spanish Civil War, early WW2 and Operation Sealion.

For later in the conflict, once Soviet supplies have started arriving I can see a use for my Anglian T26:

From Workbench

Most of the other Anglian vehicles are a little too obviously SCW to be ideal although their Panzer I (which I was already considering purchasing) might be appropriate.

Force of Arms are another potential source with several possible vehicles in their range (which are cast in a fine resin and very easy to assemble) including their FT17 (which, if the paint scheme is selected carefully might also be usable for WW1, the Soviet-Polish War and SCW):

Picture from the Great Hall Miniatures website

They also have a Citroen truck which is relatively generic:

Picture from the Great Hall Miniatures website

along with their Gaz truck which I picked up for use in the Winter War:

From Workbench

And then there is the Bedford 30cwt in two variants:

Pictures from the Great Hall Miniatures website

Adding the Matchbox Models of Yesteryear die cast conversions I already have for SCW this should provide enough variety.