New Tanks

There's a flea market near my work on a Monday and I always check a the stalls for useful stuff.  This time I go lucky and found a guy selling some pre-painted tanks for a fiver each.  I think they're from the  Altaya part-work available a couple of years back.  I could have got a Tiger and a Jagdpanther too but I already have two Altaya Tigers and a Matchbox Jagdpanther.  I don't think I'd use more of either in a skirmish game.

So, on the left we have a T-34/76 (not sure which exact model) and on the right an M4A3 Sherman. 

They strike me as perfectly acceptable wargames models and I'm pleased I don't have to paint them.  I may dry-brush a little dust onto them later.  The T-34 will go towards the number I'll need if I ever run Grossdeutschland at Kursk (ten I think) whilst the M4A3 is just potentially useful one day.

This final pic shows the new T-34 alongside one of my existing Dragon models.  The Dragons are clearly more finely modelled and the new one has a suspicious overhang on the front track guards but over all I can live with the differences.

Scenario - Action on the Coa, July 1810

This is a scenario I wrote some years ago and thought I'd share.  It's a Peninsular War skirmish but I ran it with the twentieth century rules Arc of Fire using the Colonial period amendments on the AoF site.  The game worked OK except for the failure of a French dragoon charge against disordered infantry which I adjudicated wrongly.  I were to do it again I think I'd use Sharp Practice but presented here are the AoF stats and player briefings.


The player briefings divide the forces up into differently sized chunks to allow for players with different arrival times and departure times.  If you reuse the scenario you should feel free to change the balance of these.


British Player 1 Briefing

Near the River Coa, Portugal, early morning 25th July 1810

Yesterday the French attacked General Crauford’s army near the fortified town of Almeida.  Crauford withdrew the Light Division across the steeply-banked and fast-flowing River Coa but not before a brief, fierce action that left hundreds dead on both sides.

Most of the British and Portuguese troops retreated across the only bridge for miles around but your force was cut off by the rapid French advance.  From a hidden vantage point among the rough surrounding hills you were able to see Crauford’s men give the French a bloody nose when they tried to pursue across the bridge.

Your force consists of a dozen men of the South Essex Regiment and a few Brunswicker stragglers you picked up during the night.  The South Essex are stout-hearted lads but you have doubts about the reliability of the Germans.

South Essex Regiment patrol, TAC 5

Sergeant Darwin	Musket	5L
11 Privates	Muskets	6

Black Brunswickers,  TAC 7

Sergeant Haeckel	Musket	5L
5 Privates	Muskets	7

British Player 2 Briefing

Near the River Coa, Portugal, early morning 25th July 1810

Yesterday the French attacked General Crauford’s army near the fortified town of Almeida.  Crauford withdrew the Light Division across the steeply-banked and fast-flowing River Coa but not before a brief, fierce action that left hundreds dead on both sides.

The army is now withdrawing further into Portugal.  Your four-man patrol of Riflemen is one of those detailed to patrol the riverbank as part of the rearguard.  The patrol is ordered not to attempt a crossing of the River Coa. They may engage enemy forces across the river at their discretion.

95th Rifles patrol, TAC 4 (self-activating unit)

4 Riflemen

Rifles

5

The 95th were trained to operate independently so this unit may change mode even though it has no leader.

French Player 1 Briefing

Near the River Coa, Portugal, early morning 25th July 1810

Yesterday, Marshall Ney’s army attacked a small British-Portuguese force near the enemy-fortified town of Almeida.  The enemy were swiftly pushed back across the steeply banked and swift-flowing river Coa but Ney’s forces took heavy casualties when they tried to carry the pursuit across the only nearby river bridge.

The army is now preparing to invest Almeida but must first clear the surrounding hills of enemy stragglers.  A Voltigeur company sends patrols into the rough hilly terrain.  

Voltigeurs,  TAC 6

Lieutenant Lamarck	Sword	5L
Drummer	Sword	6
Hornist	Musket	6L
7 Voltigeurs	Muskets	6

The patrol’s hornist is a natural leader; he will take over if Lt Lamarck is killed.

At the same time a patrol of Grenadiers sets out to forage for food for their unit.

Grenadiers,  TAC 7

Sergeant Pasteur	Sword	5L
9 Grenadiers	Muskets	6

French Player 2 Briefing

Near the River Coa, Portugal, early morning 25th July 1810

Yesterday, Marshall Ney’s army attacked a small British-Portuguese force near the enemy-fortified town of Almeida.  The enemy were swiftly pushed back across the steeply banked and swift-flowing river Coa but Ney’s forces took heavy casualties when they tried to carry the pursuit across the only nearby river bridge.

The army is now preparing to invest Almeida but must first clear the surrounding hills of enemy stragglers.  Among the French army are troops of the small Duchy of Nassau.  Some of your men were badly wounded in yesterday’s fighting.  A French ambulance is available to return them to the camp.  Sergeant de Vries knows where the wounded can be found and will direct the ambulance to the nearest point from which the wounded can be recovered. 

Nassauers,  TAC 7

Sergeant De Vries	Musket	6L
5 Grenadiers	Muskets	6
3 Fusiliers	Muskets	7

Nassauer Wounded,  TAC 8

2 Casualties

8

The casualties are immobile without assistance.  Accompanied by an unwounded figure they move on their first card of the turn only.

The Nassauer force may be split any way the player wishes between troops guarding the wounded and troops leading the rescue party.  Sergeant De Vries must accompany the rescue party.  

Any troops left with the wounded have no leader and cannot change mode unless forced to do so by a Morale result.  The may not start in Advance Mode.

French Light Ambulance, TAC 8

Driver

Sword

8

French Player 3 Briefing

Near the River Coa, Portugal, early morning 25th July 1810

Yesterday, Marshall Ney’s army attacked a small British-Portuguese force near the enemy-fortified town of Almeida.  The enemy were swiftly pushed back across the steeply banked and swift-flowing river Coa but Ney’s forces took heavy casualties when they tried to carry the pursuit across the only nearby river bridge.

The army is now preparing to invest Almeida but must first clear the surrounding hills of enemy stragglers.  Various units send patrols into the rough hilly terrain.  

15eme Dragons de Ligne patrol,  TAC 6

Lieutenant	Sword	5L
Dragoons	Swords	6
Dragoons	Carbines, swords	6

Note:  French light cavalry units were often short of firearms - only the figures actually shown carrying carbines are so armed in this game.

Terrain

I ran the game on a 6'x4' (180cm x 120cm) table.  The terrain should feature the river along one side (I had it along part of one of the long edges), a bridge and a road crossing it, and lots of hills which should be bad going for infantry and impassible to cavalry.  I also added cluster of houses to give the Grenadiers something to loot.

Fighting the Action

I didn't set a duration for the game; we just played on until we reached an obvious conclusion.  The briefings are such that all players should be able to work out if they have "won" at the and of the game. 

I used all plastic models - Zvezda Voltigeurs, Italieri Dragoons, a HaT light ambulance and various Airfix and Airfix conversions for the rest.  Obviously you should tweak to fit what you have available.

  

SOBH Warbands - The Samurai

These guys have appeared before but I'm quite pleased with these photographs so I thought I'd share them here.

These guys were painted many years ago by Alan Slater.  They will also serve as Vormaini pirates, in which guise I believe they'll be appearing in Issue 14 of Rule One Magazine.  As usual you can click to embiggen.

Baccus Gaming Day, Sheffield

Sunday saw the Baccus Gaming Day event at The Workstation; a chance to see some excellent 6mm scale games and, or me, a chance to have a go at Polemos: Great Northern War.  Polemos: GNW is a set of rules I've owned for a while but really struggled to get my head around.   Author Nick Dorrell was there with a Swedish friend (Per) who had done a marvellous job on the armies and terrain for Fraustadt, 1706.

There was also a very nice game depicting the battle of Vimiero that used small infantry bases that could be used to form columns or squares or slotted into line movement trays with skirmishers attached.

Recon at Cosnes; Goblins in the Woods

This month we managed to get in a Saturday Afternoon Wargame (TM) at Stately Crawley Manor.  In fact we got in two!

Carl and I played Recon at Cosnes, the first scenario in Scott Fisher and Nathan Forney's Skirmish Campaigns book Rommel's Route to Verdun.  Meanwhile Jamie and George played a Lord of the Rings skirmish scenario designed by Jamie and using the Games Workshop rules.

Recon at Cosnes is a small scenario; only eight turns on a 3'x2' table using 20mm figures.  My Frenchies had one infantry squad whilst Carl had two small recon teams, one of them led by Erwin Rommel (the future Desert Fox).

The battlefield - top left, the field through which Rommel will advance.
Top right, the woods through which Lt Kirl will advance.
Middle left, the hill with oat bundles behind which shelter elements of
the French 101st Infantry Regiment.

The game play we pretty fast moving and as a result I didn't take very many photos.  We started at one o'clock with a brief run through of the rules and by three we were finished!

Lt Rommel's reconnaissance team advances though the ripening crops.

I'd chosen to deploy the French behind my newly completed oat bundles because the Variable Attachments section of the scenario allowed me to do so and because I thought it would be a shame not to use them.

Carl's approach was to advance astride the road.  As I'd deployed all of my troops on the hill to the east,  Lt Rommel was walking straight at twice his number of French infantry.  

The French - that marker on the right is one of the locations from which the
Germans could have observed the village of Bleid.

Carl could probably have won the game if he had left Rommel to his fate and sent Lt Kirn to observe the village from the viewpoint at the far end of "his" woods.  However, perhaps concerned to ensure that the future hero didn't bite the dust prematurely, Kirn emerged from the woods and began to maneuver towards the French.

Rommel's men (left) have spread out and are taking casualties.  Meanwhile, in the
background, Lt Kirn's men are emerging from the woods.

I reminded Carl of the need to move Kirn towards the observation point but moments later rolled the volley of fire from the French that was to prove decisive.  Kirn and two of his men died instantly whilst three more were badly injured.

Lt Kirn's patrol is hit by a wickedly accurate volley of fire from the French.

Carl was no longer able to achieve his victory conditions and I began to withdraw off table to the east. Sadly, a complete victory was snatched from me when my squad leader and a couple of men fell dead to the last straggling volley from the Germans.

We ended up with a 12:3 victory points score in favour of the French.  This gives the French two attachments credits to spend on the forces for the next scenario Contact at Hill 325.

Meanwhile, Jamie and George had been playing a scenario in which George's Dwarves were split into two groups.  Balin and some guards had to hold out in some rubble against a goblin attack reinforced by a cave troll, whilst a bunch a Dwarf rangers raced to reinforce them.

I didn't get many pics of that game but here they are:

Somewhere in the rubble Balin's about to meet a bloody fate...

... while the Dwarven Rangers are delayed in the dense woods.

The final moments of Balin.

WIP: Oat bundles part 2

I've finished sculpting the oat bundles for Saturdays Arc of Fire game and I've given them a quick base coat.

Another thing I needed for the game was a squad of French infantry.  I'd originally planned to use some  WW1 Belgian infantry I picked up on a bring and buy years ago but then I remembered the 5th New York Zouaves.  These are the converted Airfix Foreign Legion types I'd failed to sell at Gauntlet.

A quick repaint gave me the figures I needed:

Most of the figures are wearing blue cloth covers on their kepis. Their coats are now dark blue and they're wearing black anklets rather than white.  I've added rank stripes to the corporal (far right) and left his kepi uncovered to help distinguish him.

SOBH Warbands - The Dwarves

I needed some pics of SOBH warbands to illustrate and article I've written for Rule One Magazine so I had a quick photo session on the garden steps.  Having done so I thought I'd share some pics of the Dwarves.

Three on the left by Alan Slater, two on the right by yours truly.  I rebased
them all to give the feel of a coherent warband.

Mostali Musketeer 1

Mostali Musketeer 2