One-Hour Wargames 19: Blow From the Rear

Quite some time ago we started (and eventually finished) a five-game mini-campaign based on the scenarios presented in Neil Thomas' useful book One-Hour Wargames.  The campaign premise is set out here, but basically the idea was to create a sequence of more or less logically linked games drawing from a branching set of possible scenarios.

Württemberg Chasseurs à Cheval (Warrior Miniatures, 15mm)

The campaign was supposed to be a Napoleonic one, but other periods did creep in.  The four scenarios leading up to this one played (in sequence) were: 

• Scenario 16: Advance Guard (Napoleonic, 20mm, WRG 1685-1845)
• Scenario 14: Static Defence (Napoleonic, 15mm, WRG 1685-1845)
• Scenario 13: Escape (Ancients, 15mm, DBM)
• Scenario 07: Flank Attack (2) (Renaissance, 15mm, Furioso)

As I had lost Scenario 07, Geoff got to choose the last game (Scenario 19) and elected to be Red, possibly because, quoting the book's description of the situation, this is what Blue (me) would have to deal with: "The Blue general is defending two river crossings from what he thinks is a numerically inferior Red force.  His complacency will be shattered when an additional Red contingent arrives in the Blue rear area."  Shattered you say?  We'll see about that...

 

OHW 19 : Deployment and Manoeuvres

 

The scenrio required that the Blue army (my 15mm Württembergers, all by Warrior Miniatures) start with two units confined to the road in the south-east corner of the table until Move 7, with four units to be deployed within 6 inches of the river.  Red (Geoff's Austrians) would commence with no units on the table initially, but with three starting on the north side of the map on Move 1 and then three more units appearing from the west on Blue's side of the river at Move 6.

Initial deployment

You'll note from the map that we actually started with seven units each so that we could have some light infantry and artillery, and also that I had forgotten how to spell Württemberg.  The rules we used were WRG 1685-1845, still going strong after all these years.  Anyway, the game opened with the Austrians marching rapidly to take the bridge. 

 

The Austrians advance to the bridge

Meanwhile a regiment of Austrian infantry crossed the ford to the left of my position, intending to bloster the units that would inevitably 'surprise' me as they appeared from the west.

 

Austrians ford the river

 

Full of enthusiasm, the Austrians charged across the bridge crashing into the Württemberg 1st Line Regiment (with the yellow flag), as the other Württemberg regiments prepared to step in and support. 

 

Austrians charge across the bridge

The Austrian charge managed to push back the 1st Line Regiment but it was not broken.  Meanwhile, the Austrian flanking force had rapidly arrived, supported by the infantry that had crossed the ford.

 

The Austrian flank attacked develops

The Austrians continued to push forward agressively, probably hoping to shatter the Württembergers, as their infantry charged across the bridge into the halted 1st Line Regiment whilst the Austrian cavalry crashed into my artillery and my Chasseurs à Cheval.

The Austrians attack on all fronts

Mixed results for the Austrians however.  In the centre, the Austrian heavy cavalry easily swept away my artillery and pursued them off the table to the east.  However, the combined firepower from the Württemberg 1st and 4th Line Regiments completely destroyed the Austrian infantry that had managed to cross the bridge, leaving an Austrian general isolated on my side of the river.  Meanwhile the fighting continued between the Chasseurs à Cheval and the other Austrian heavy cavalry unit.

Mixed results

Unfortunately for the Austrian cavalry still on the table, they were forced to flee after being bested by the Chasseurs à Cheval, aided by some nifty flanking fire from approaching Jägers.

Austrian cavalry flee beyond the blue zone

It turned out that things were not going well for the Austrians, with all of their cavalry off the table (or about to be) and having lost a regiment of infantry already.  However, the Austrian infantry that had crossed at the ford was still active and needed to be dealt with.  So, having driven off the Austrian artillery on the other side of the river, the Württemberg 5th Line Regiment (Blue flag) turned to face this threat. 

Württemberers realign to the flank

Despite the 5th Line Regiment taking casualties, the Austrian infantry were being effectively boxed in by the Jägers, with nowhere to go, except to their rear, which is where the Chasseurs à Cheval had ended up, having pursued the Austrian cavalry off to the west.  Meanwhile, the other Austrian cavalry that had followed my artillery off the table earlier had reappeared, but were about to be fired on by two regiments of infantry. 

Endgame (nearly)

At this point the Austrians conceded the game, realising that they were outnumbered on all fronts and that they could not achieve the victory condition of ensuring no Württemberg units remained within 6 inches of the river by the end of round 15.

Overall, this was quite an interesting encounter which probably could have gone either way.  The Austrians were aggressive and tried to coordinate their assaults but were unlucky and often flanked, which weakened their attacks.

A Century of Conifers

This month I decided I needed more trees, particularly conifers, and I thought I could make them.  After watching a couple of videos on how to construct pine trees suitable for model railways in the Rockies, I had a go.  My aim was to make trees that would suit 15mm scale down to 6mm.

Württembergers (15mm Warrior) emerge from the forest

This required a simple plan of taking pieces of kitchen scourer (from Poundland) and then impaling them onto cocktail sticks.  The original intent was to follow the videos and tear the scourers into sections, but this ended up being too much effort.

Basic ingredients

I had also intially tried to push the sections of scourer directly onto the sticks but quickly realised I'd need to make a hole in them, otherwise they wouldn't go on, hence the spike (from a biology dissecting kit).

T-55 (6mm Heroics and Ros) in the woods

Before adding each section of scourer I dipped the end of the cocktail stick into some thick PVA (wood) glue so that everything was secure.

Coniferous cubism

Tearing the scourers into sections proved to be tedious and time consuming, so for most of the trees I just cut squarish sections of scourer instead and slotted those on, trimming them into shape later.

A tin of unpainted trees

Finishing the trees required giving them a generous wash of dark brown arylic then spraying them dark green (Army Painter Angel Green).  Minimal highlighting was added using the scrapings from various pots of green paint I had on my workbench.

Brown before green

Basing involved cutting the cocktail sticks to shorten the tree trunks, then using my new hot glue gun to fix them to 30mm diameter mdf (from Warbases).  These were finished with my usual coarse shelly sand that was then given a wash of dark brown acylic paint (no dry-brushing requried).

A century of conifers

Overall I made exactly 100 of these, hence the reference to 'century', which also hints at how long it felt sometimes it was taking me to make them all.

Rebasing DBA

Just a brief post about some rebasing I did this week. I've had these armies since v1.0 of the rules, but since I got a copy of v3.0 recently I thought I'd update them to the new lists and freshen them up a bit.

Nebuchadezzar, or similiar

These armies are historical opponents from Book I, being Later Hebrews I/34c and Later Babylonians I/44b.

The Babylonian army

The figures are all Chariot Miniatures, until fairly recently available from Magister Militum.  But since MM closed down I have no idea who will now supply these again (if ever).

Later, Hebrews

I chose these opponents because I thought it would be interesting to pit spears and bowmen against a significant number of auxilia, which is what the Hebrews can field, as well as having a couple of heavy chariots for both sides.

Hebrew auxilia

Rebasing consisted of fixing the original thin cardboard stands to 2mm mdf from Warbases, and then adding my usual mix of coarse shelly sand painted in a sandy colour and dry brushed white.  I glued on some areas of 2mm dead grass from WWScenics and that was it. 

Serious congestion reported on the Jerusalem North Circular

I think these are very nice figures and I intend to give them an outing at some point, probably a solo game (as I slowly teach myself DBA v3.0) using the same solo rules used here.

Russians and French

I'm still expanding my 15mm Napoleonic Württemberg army, and intend to add more now that, at the time of writing, Warrior Minatures has commenced trading again (urrah!).

Russian Uhlans (Polish), Warrior Miniatures

In the meanwhile, here are some Polish and Tartar Uhlans in Russian service I finished recently.  

Russian Uhlans (Tartars), Warrior Miniatures

They can be difficult to distinguish, except that the shabraques are different and the Polish penant is blue above red, whilst the Tartar penant is the other way up, although the Tartars do also have red czapkas.

French Dragoons, Warrior Miniatures

The Württembergers also got some French allies, in the form of a regiment of dragoons.  These will eventually be supplemented by some French infantry, this time from Magister Militum, bought, sadly, in their closing down sale (whilst Warrior was offline).

Artillery limbers, Warrior Miniatures

Finally I have some artillery limbers.  These are actually Warrior ACW limbers, normally with two horses, which I modded slighly and then added more horses.  I painted them as Russian artillery, but they could be used for anything really.

Next up will be some more Württemberg cavalry and probably the French infantry, but I need to get around to painting them first.

Walls in Ruins

Further to my earlier post about some 15mm ancient city walls and buildings I'd made, I thought some evidence of violent siege would be in order.  So I made these.

Mind the gap

The idea was to have damaged sections that would match lengths of unbroken wall, so that these could be substituted in as necessary.

Rear view

The centre bit of wooden wall could also be removed to leave a gaping hole, if that was needed.

Something appears to be missing

The walls were made from cardboard and polystyrene fixed together with PVA glue.  Fine sand was then glued to the walls and painted.  The piles of masonry were made from polystyrene offcuts and were intended to hold the wooden wall in place.

Time to get the decorators in

Liberated wooden coffee stirrers were used to make the planking, undercoated in black then painted with a dark earth colour.  A couple of black washes were applied and then the wood was drybrushed with a beige or buff colour.

What, no crenellations?

Overall, I think they've worked quite well.  Just need a siege to try them out...

To be honest, the damage is barely noticable

 

Return of the Warrior

I was at the SESWC Claymore show yesterday in Edinburgh with Geoff (I may post some pictures of the show later on).and it reminded me again that I had intended to try to up my article rate on this blog (circa one post a year doesn't really cut it).   It also reminded me that one of the things I was going to write about was the apparent demise of many of my favourite miniatures (I hate the term 'minis') manufacturers in recent years.

15mm Cossacks, by Warrior Miniatures

Age, economic circumstances, global pandemics, ill health and whoever happens to be American President at the time have all taken their toll on manufacturers I have used and liked, and there have been a few whose loss I have been really quite sad about.  However, the good news is that this list isn't quite as long as I had thought it would be...

The first of these was the 'disappearance' of Roundway and Naismith, after their departure from Navwar.  I had always liked the Roundway 15 Napoleonic Russians and French (Naismith had their uses) but sadly they seem to have gone forever.  Then recently there has been Magister Militum and in particular their range of Chariot 15mm ancient figures.  It took me 15 years to collect and paint my DBM Lydian army but there are still a few small gaps (noting that by the time I'd finished, DBM had gone out of fashion).

Some indifferently painted Lydian auxiliaries, by Chariot Miniatures

Nevertheless, the good news is that there have been a couple of manufacturers that I thought had gone, but are now back (or rather they never went away).  The first of these is Navwar, which has an unparalleled range of 1:3000 warships amongst other things.  Sadly Tony Anderson died a year or so ago, but the operation is still carrying on, although there was a brief period when their website was down which made me fear the worst.

Navwar SMS Scharnhorst and squadron on homemade sea mat

However, the main thing that has prompted me to write this are the very glad tidings that Warrior Miniatures appears to be back in action, after quite a few years of nothing but a sign on their website saying they weren't taking orders due to ill health.  I'm so glad they are fit and well again, not to mention my gladness at the thought of those Russians and French I'm about to order from them.  Hallelujah.

The Württembergers are Coming

Having painted quite enough 15mm Napoleonic Russians for the time being (see various previous posts, plus this glorious AAR representing their first outing), I decided that having an opposing army of my own on hand might be useful.  I suppose I could have gone for the obvious one, the French, but decided that something from the Confederation of the Rhine might be more interesting.  Enter Württemberg.

Warrior Austrian infantry painted as Württembergers

Then there was the question of what figures to use.  As my Russian army is pre-1812, I decided Württembergers in helmets rather than shakos would be more appropriate.  Not easy to find in 15mm, but then I realised that early Austrians would do just as well if painted up properly, and the simple yet very effective range from Warrior Miniatures would be just the job.

Württemberg 1st and 2nd Regiments

From what research I managed, I discovered that at that time there were nine line regiments in the Württemberg army, with distinct facings and flags.

Württemberg 4th and 5th Regiments

I therefore decided to paint just the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Regiments because that matched the number of figures I'd bought and also the 3rd Regiment had dark blue facings which I knew would turn out the same as the tunic colour.  However, for the typical size of wargame I would be likely to run (e.g. using scenarios from One Hour Wargames, where six units in total is usually the maximum) I considered this enough to be getting on with.

Württemberg Light Infantry in open order

In addition to the line regiments I also painted up some Austrian infantry in shakos (each with its green 'turban') as Württemberg light infantry.  As you can see I had them deploying through an area of cleared woodland, the tree stumps being made from cloves liberated from the kitchen spice cupboard.

Württemberg Chasseurs a Cheval (Regiment Herzog Louis)

For cavalry I used Warrior's Austrian Cheval Leger and finished some as mounted Chasseurs a Cheval (green uniforms with yellow facings) and others as Württemberg Chevau-leger (blue uniforms with yellow facings).

Württemberg Chevau-leger (1st Regiment)

I also painted some of Warrior's Bavarian foot artillery as Württemberg artillery.  The helmets are probably not quite right but at 15mm who will notice.

Württemberg foot artillery

Finally, there was a general or two to paint.  I think these were Warrior Prussians but again who would be able to tell the difference.

A Württemberg general

Having completed all these I felt inspired to maybe add to the collection, such as getting some French allies for my compact Württemberg army.  However, sadly Warrior Miniatures is not currently active, although I have heard rumours that it will be coming back on-line sometime in 2025, which I really hope happens.

The Walled City

Before our pocket money increased to the level where we could buy such wonderous things as those plastic Airfix forts that aren't available anymore, we used to make our own battlements on which we would line up our soldiers. In those days, my dad had a preference for Van Heusen shirts and at that time these came in cardboard boxes, usually with an illustration on the front.

I have a very clear memory of cutting out the drawing of a castle from one of those boxes and then using the rest of it to make the other walls, flimsy battlements and the wobbly walkways between them, all held together with sticky-tape.  It used to take ages to put the soldiers up there (Airfix Ancient Britons, French Foreign Legion and Guards Colour Party mainly) and only one well-placed hit by a nail fired from a Britains 25 pdr gun to knock them all off again.  Those were the days.

Some battlements, yesterday

However, since then there have been some slight improvements.  For one of our early DBM campaigns (my 15mm Lydians vs Geoff's Persians) I made some simple city walls for my troops to man.  Actually that battle was an exercise in my troops trying to get off the table as quickly as possible as I was outnumbered three to one, not to mention being attacked from two directions at once (those pesky Persians).

I remember when this was all fields (of fire)

Subsequently the extent of walls expanded and so did the various buildings I've made to put inside them.  The construction of all walls and buildings uses thin polystyrene sheets and cardboard, coated in fine sand then painted with a mixture of household emulsion and various acrylics.  The buildings are generic enough to also be used for locations such as Mexico (e.g. Mexican Revolution) or arid Africa (e.g. AK47).  They are simple to put together and I keep adding to the pile when I feel like making something (regularly).

Early Hebrews man the walls

Just to add that the figures in these photos are 15mm Chariot miniatures sold by Magister Militum, comprising a DBA 3e Early Hebrew army (that's I/34c for those of you paying attention at the back).

Airfix Gun Emplacement

This is a post about the famous Airfix Gun Emplacement, or at least what's left of the one I had many years ago.

Actually, there isn't much left at all, just the two bunkers, with the base and match-firing gun long gone.  Furthermore, the octagonal bunker was at some point converted into a pillbox by cutting some rough holes in the sides, but this was never very satisfactory.  Consquently I thought it was time for an upgrade.  And here it is.

For this small project I decided to have the pillbox sitting in a base, which is made of a couple of layers of polystyrene foam.  Once shaped, the base was covered in rough sand, painted in earth tones and textured with flock, adding cloves from the kitchen spice-rack cut down to look like tree stumps.

In addition, I constructed some 'concrete' walls around the entrance, textured to look as though wooden shuttering had been used to form them; a technique I believe the brutalist French architect Corbusier was very fond of, as were the German occupiers.  In my case, this effect was done by gluing wooden coffee stirrers to a thin foam core and then painting them to look like concrete to match the repainted pillbox.

The pillbox actually lifts off so figures can be put inside.  Furthermore, considering the gun emplacment set is not being made any more (at least at the time of writing), I may yet construct my own scratch-built version of the entire model, built around this remaining element.