A foray into 15mm

I have some self-imposed rules to prevent my getting sidetracked into projects that take up too much space and effort. One of these is that I avoid adding new scales beyond the 6mm, 20mm and 28mm that I'm already heavily invested in. The only exception to this is that I have some legacy Hordes of the Things armies in 15mm scale.

A few years ago I acquired some 15mm English Civil War / Thirty Years War figures. Not sure where they came from, I suspect in a box of various figures that passed through several hands before and after mine. For a while these guys sat in a drawer but after a bit I decided they were poor quality and unlikely to get used so I consigned them to the bits-of-white-metal-to-get-melted-down-one-day bag.

Last week I came across them whilst looking for some scraps of metal to weight down the nose of a jet aircraft kit. I decided to paint a few of them.

I decided to paint them in colours roughly inspired by a plate in the Osprey book on Gustavus Adolphus's infantry - men of an English or Scottish mercenary regiment.

In line with the advice of Dex (who suggested they may be old Peter Laing models) I've based them in 40mm wide elements.

They'll be going on eBay shortly as I don't have any use for them. A few more may follow if I feel the urge to keep painting these little guys.

ACW Sharp Practice gold

A trip to a local antiques centre yesterday threw up this book, Spies, Scouts and Raiders, potentially marvellous source of American Civil War skirmish scenarios.

It's part of a series of 27 books published in 1985 by Time-Life Books. Apparently the series is quite well-known among ACW enthusiasts but I hadn't come across it before.

This book covers intelligence work, codes and signals, guerrilla operations, the damage and repair of railways, and finishes with some notes on some of the more bizarre technological developments during the war.

There are plenty of contemporary photographs that just cry out to be reflected on the wargames table...

There were lots of these books on sale but at £7.50 each I didn't want to blow my budget. I did, however, sneak a photograph of this plate from First Blood: Fort Sumter to Bull Run. 

It depicts a scene during the Union retreat from first Manassas, a situation I've thought for some time could make for a fascinating Sharp Practice game. Now should I start sourcing mule-pulled supply wagons?

First Puebla playtest pics

This weekend Andy, Ron, Mark and Dex came over and we had a first run-through of the Puebla game. 

I don't want to reveal too many details here because chunks of the scenario need to be kept confidential but it was a very valuable experience.

A siege is very much in danger of producing a static firefight. It was my intention to design the scenario such that this doesn't happen. Unfortunately on this occasion by best-laid plans went awry. Mark's in ability to roll more than three on 2D6 delayed. matters considerably and led to a long period of ineffective firing between the two sides.

Mexican defenders of the penitentiary

The Renowned Hero of France Capt Lacharde's
men threaten a front-line Mexican position

The Turcos defend a front-line trench

A Mexican conservative gun crew. Their
commander has been lightly wounded by a 
French marksman

Mobility was brought to the battle by the Mexicans, with Captain Victor Vectra leading his men towards a ruined house on the French siege-lines. Unfortunately, just before they got there, Sergeant Ben-Hammim arrived (unaccountably late) with his group of Turco skirmishers.

Ben-Hammim's men let out a deafening blast of musketry that.... had no effect whatsoever! 

The Mexicans (of the Puebla State Militia) charged into the Turco position and fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. The Mexicans were marginally beaten but being classed as 'Stubborn' they fought on but and were soundly defeated not least because we forgot to add on 3D6 for a second supporting group.

At this point the historical narrative becomes unclear. That is to say I will reveal no more other than to say that a fortunately timed chapter end brought us to a convenient place to stop the action with the French having made some progress in clearing the Mexicans from the first row of buildings within the city.

I've since, in discussions with Mark in particular, decided on some tweaks to the scenario and the special rules bringing it. In particular I'm planning on some night fighting rules derived from Arc of Fire.

I'd like to get in another test game before Steel lard but it'll depend on finding volunteers and finding a weekend when the kitchen isn't full of family-related junk!

Puebla ready(-ish)

I've reached the point where I'm happy to run a first playtest of the Puebla scenario for Steel Lard. Hopefully I'll get a game in this coming weekend.

The terrain looks like this at the start of the game:

In the foreground are the French siege-lines. To the right is the penitentiary. The rest of the built-up area is divided in blocks or manzana in Mexican Spanish.

I want to add some rubble to the board before it sees action at Steel Lard but it'll do for now.

Back from Scotland

I'm now back from a family holiday in southern Scotland with some pictures of a couple of peel towers.

The first is Hallbar Tower (aka Braidwood Castle) where we stayed for the week.

Then we have a few pictures of the tower within the RSPB reserve at Loch Winnoch. This is only accessible on one side but it has a helpful interpretation board.

I still need to build a peel tower to act as a stronghold for one of my Border Reiver HOTT armies.