One-Hour Wargames 11: Surprise Attack

Following on from the successful and (more or less) decisive game we had last month, we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone by trying out another of Neil Thomas' scenarios from his book One-Hour Wargames, but again not actually using his rules...

Austrian Line (Roundway Miniatures 15mm)

Scenario 11 'Surprise Attack' is supposed to represent Quatre Bras where Ney encountered the Anglo-Dutch army two days before Waterloo at the strategically important crossroads.  The original 3' x 3' layout described in the book has a lake where we put the (impassable) hill instead, which was substituted as we didn't have a piece of lake scenery to put there.  

Initial dispositions - Austrians in white, French in blue.

However, stung by my comments on our last battle, Geoff had conjured up a bit of road from a strip of painted lino, which did the job perfectly, at least for one of the roads (the crossroad being defined by buildings with the lateral roads depicted by hedges).  You can see I've been experimenting with MappingBoard to try to produce some better maps.

Initial positions viewed from Austrian right

The scenario required that a third of the defending forces (the Austrians) be deployed in the centre of the table, with the remaining two thirds coming on in two waves subsequently; the objective being to deny the French control of the crossroads.  The French could bring on all their forces at once, but had to deploy from the road.  As noted we were not using the Horse and Musket rules included in Neil Thomas' book but instead were play-testing Field of Battle 2 for the first time, which we started with high hopes and the excitment of the novelty of the 'sequence cards', the like of which we had never used before...

Austrian infantry brigade and grand battery (Roundway & Warrior 15mm)

Anyway, the Austrians (me) elected to start with an infantry brigade and an artillery brigade on the table blocking the road between the wood and the hill.  The French (Geoff) started the game with a cavalry brigade and the lead elements of an infantry brigade.

French advance (Hinchliffe & Naismith Curassiers; Naismith Dragoons)

Sadly, as is often the way when we are pressed for time and are trying new rules, things did not go according to plan.  At all.  The first thing was that because of the system of rolling for initiative and then turning sequence cards to enable various activities (any activities), it took an inordinately long time for anything to actually happen.  Not to mention the oddly frequent occurrence of 'Lull' cards.

Austrian Brigade (Warrior figs in the centre, flanked by Roundway minatures)

This, coupled with our unfamiliarity with the rules (not improved it has to be said by my having read through them at least three times beforehand in the preceding weeks and still being none the wiser) meant that we really didn't get very far before we had to pack up for the night.

The Austrian grand battery produces smoke, but very little fire

The first activity permitted was that the Austrian grand battery could fire at the (Hinchfliffe) curassiers lined up in front of it, but through (I think) using the incorrect factors and making numerous abysmal die throws this had very little effect on them (we realised later they could well have been blown away).  The curassiers having got off lightly, and after a bit more hanging around, eventually (after a few rounds of initiative, lulls and waiting for a Movement card) they closed to contact whilst the battery was not able to fire again.  Hmmm.

Curassiers try to contact Austrian infantry

Meanwhile, the other regiment of curassiers attacked the infantry regiment closest to the artillery but was caught by close-range opportunity fire (as they had been out of range earlier) which pushed them back.

However, having contacted the artillery in one go it was proving difficult for us to work out how to resolve the melee.  Basically FOB2 has rules and examples on what to do if more than one unit attacks a single unit, but not what to do if one unit attacks multiple units simultaneously (i.e. the artillery units making up the grand battery, which had different combat dice).  And that is where we got stuck.

Curassiers try to charge home (reverse view)

This actually, gets to the nub of our issues with the rules - the dispersed and semi-sequential way in which they have been written.  I write and review a lot of academic and technical reports in my professional life and one thing I can pick up on very quickly is where it seems that the writer is so close to the content that he or she seems unable to imagine what it is like not to have the knowledge and presuppositions that they have, i.e. to be able to step back completely from the detail and assumptions and lead someone through it who is not familiar with whatever the report (or rule set) is about.

Austrian line repulse the curassiers back to the starting line, apparently

And this is what we have in these rules (as is often the case with wargame rules, it has to be said): the writer is clearly so close to them that unless you have played earlier versions and/or have an experienced player to explain them to you, then you are not going to have much hope in working out what to do, particularly when it is late on a Friday night, you've had one too many herbal teas and the clock is ticking.

I'll give another example of the perplexities of these rules: firing.  Everthing in FOB2 is driven by sequence cards and, for example, to be able to fire (at least after the first time) you need to be able to play an Infantry or Artillery Firepower card.   Why therefore are the firing rules not all in one place where the Firepower card is described, instead of dispersed in various locations within the rules?

Another issue I struggled with was the very basic concept of moving, i.e. if you draw a Movement card does that mean all your units can move or only one?  The rules are not explicit.

Austrians: Hungarian regiment (15mm Warrior Miniatures)

I know a lot of people don't like WRG rules because of their prescriptive and sometimes didactic delivery (step forward DBM and DBR) but at least everything is laid out logically and sequentially and you don't have to go hunting back and forward through the rule books to piece together what one does in order to fire some muskets.  Perhaps I am old school (wait, what? I am old school), but I do like things being laid out as clearly and simply as possible, preferably matching the actual sequence of play and in locations that you are likely to need that information all in one place.

Anyway, rant over.  To this end, for the next Napoleonic game we are going back to basics (not as far back as Bruce Quarrie though) and will be using WRG's 1685-1845 rules.  Some people seem to have problems with the cleverly meshed turn sequence they use but I seem to remember never having any issues with that at all.  And if these don't turn out well, there are a lot of other rules to choose from, Napoleonic POW2, and the free Fast Play Grand Armee and Pro Patria being a few that spring to mind...

WSS Danish - Regiment Livgarde til Fods

I've caught the painting bug again and managed to finish the second of my War of the Spanish Succession (WSS) Danish regiments this week.  This is the Livgarde til Fods regiment with their distinctive straw-yellow coats and carmine facings and breeches.

Figures are from Blue Moon (15mm/18mm) and my painting guide was a combination of CS Grant's books (The Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars Vols I & II) and the booklet by CA Sapherson (the Danish Army 1699-1715), both from Caliver.  I like these figures in the march attack pose, particularly as there are about three variants of each type.

My plan is to paint the six Danish infantry regiments present at Blenheim, comprising Scholten's command and I have started with Bielke's Brigade, completing the Regiment Prince George previously (which now has flags, incidentally).

For the guard regiment I tried to make the shading a bit more pronounced than my first effort with Prince George and, after undercoating in black, I used ochre as the coat shade colour and brick red for the facings and breeches.  These were then completed in yellow (Revell acrylic 15) and Carmine (Revell acrylic 36) leaving plenty of the shade layer showing through.  I think that the coats are meant to have red lace up the front but I tried that and it didn't look right so I just stuck with the simple yellow coats and red cuffs.  I'm quite pleased with the results overall.

Flags came from this site which I just printed out and glued on.  The Blue Moon standard bearers have cast flag poles and I did consider drilling them out and replacing with brass rod, but with the flags glued on they seem a bit more robust so we shall see how that goes.  Anyway, next up is Prince Carl's regiment which is back to the basic Danish light grey coat with yellow facings, which I hope to finish in the next few weeks.  We shall see...

Boxes

One of the things I like most about this hobby is making and painting things, particularly if you use scrap to do it.  To this day, when I see an empty cereal packet or some polystyrene in a skip, my first thought is always "what can I make out of that?" 

"Digestive biscuits, Sir!  Faahsands of 'em."

So this is what I created this week: boxes (plus a few rolled up carpets).  All very simple really.  The wooden crates are just balsa offcuts bound with thin card, and the ones with the tarpaulins over them are the really scraggy balsa offcuts and/or bits of polystyrene, with tissue paper glued over them.

"The party of the first part..."

The carpets started off as some pieces of T-shirt material, rolled up and tied off with thread, with some PVA glue to hold them together.  The idea was to make some more accessories for my 28mm Copplestone figures and here they are, on one of my scratch built cardboard and balsa river boats (note use of IKEA pencil for the funnel).

"Just keep schtumm Carruthers and the customs officers won't notice a thing."

I've been toying with running some skirmish games so these will come in handy for that.  We did play some Indian Mutiny skirmish games quite a long time ago and I still have some of the items that Geoff made at the time, including a welsh dresser and, my personal favourite, a war-weary billiard table.

This is what happens when you play billiards with a shotgun.

I did consider making an upright piano (or a pianolla?) this time round, but thought that might be taking it a bit far.  Maybe next week.

The Other Armourfast Su85

Having completed one of the Su85s, I went and finished off the other.  I thought I'd go further with this one though and add a bit more clutter.

Working it out with a pencil

This included a barrel made from a bit cut off a pencil, with some strips of paper glued round it, and a roll of material made from a a piece of old T-shirt rolled up and tied off with thread.  There is also a piece of spare track on the front.  It's not quite right as T34/Su85 track section but it was the best I had to hand (made from some old Airfix Tiger tracks, cut down a bit).

This Su85 has been depicted a lot more beat up and muddy than than the first one I painted.  I also left the commander's hatch open, until I can find a figure to go in it.  I had wanted to leave the driver's hatch ajar too, but that would have been a bit more fiddly.

Not sure what's up next, although I expect that it will be these KV-1 babies.  Looking forward to these as they seem a bit more detailed and for the first time ever (after being brought up on Airfix and Matchbox tanks), gravity seems to to be having an effect on the tracks in a realistic manner.

After this, it seems I've run out of Soviet tanks to make, although the Pegasus early KV-1/KV-2 combo, plus their T34/85 and even their T26, are beckoning.

Armourfast Su85

Following on from the Armourfast T34/76 models I made and painted earlier this year, here is the Su85 tank destroyer.  I'd actually painted another T34/76 this week as well, but you've seen one of those already.

It is rather a spiffing model with nice details such as separate handrails and four fuel tanks.  I put another one of my bespoke hawsers on this one.

Paint scheme was the usual Tamiya XF-13 J.A.Green with a black wash, followed by some light dry-brush highlighting with buff paint.  Decals came from ebay after I decided that my hand wasn't steady enough to paint the numbers.

I didn't make this one as weathered as my T34/76 as they are the 1941 versions so I reckoned that this one hadn't been in the field as long as they had.  I have another Su85 to make and paint (Armourfast kindly put two in a box) and then I can move on to the Pegasus KV-1, or perhaps another project...

One-Hour Wargames 8: Melee

It's been a while but finally I have a wargame to report.  I got a copy of Neil Thomas's "One-Hour Wargames" (published by Pen & Sword) last year and and we had talked about trying out the rules and scenarios it contains.

15mm Hinchcliffe French Curassiers

Basically, the book is meant to be the antidote to (allegedly) 'billiard-table game' rules like Black Powder.  It therefore a) contains very simple rules tailored for each historical period, b) assumes you will play on a table 3' by 3' and c) that you will generally field six units each.  To facilitate this it includes 30 scenarios and associated maps that are meant to be suitable for any period.

One-Hour Wargames Scenario 8: Melee

The one we went with was Scenario 8: Melee, which features a hill, some woods and a road (see my sketchmap).  And as we were trying to do this in an hour, we even dispensed with any fancy frippery, like a basecloth, so it was quickly laid out on the bare kitchen table as you can see.  That's the road marked out with ...er... bluetack: Geoff has made a lot of scenery over the years but doesn't seem to have gotten around to roads yet.

Cue rendition of Walton's "March Past of the Kitchen Utensils"

For this scenario the game objective is control of the hill.  Red force (in this case, the French) starts with two units on the hill facing south and reinforcements come on in groups of two thereafter at preordained intervals.  Blue force (in this case, the Austrians) has to capture the hill but can only bring its units on three at a time, again at move numbers defined by the scenario rules.

Austrians deploy

The French (me) started with a "brigade" of line (3 bases) with artillery and light infantry on the hill.  Sensing the importance of the woods in front of the hill the light infantry were moved from their position on the right, across the front of the line brigade, whilst the Austrians advanced dragoons to threaten the objective, as well as pushing grenze up to contest the woods.  Other Austrian troops continued quickly up the main road intent on outflanking the initial French position.

View from behind French lines

Meanwhile (and probably too quickly) the first French reinforcements started to arrive (curassiers and more line, in bicorns), which were already making the Austrian attack look untenable.

French reinforcements arriving already

Still, the Austrians pressed on, the dragoons attacking the hill but being thrown back.  The grenze trying to get through the woods faired no better.

Austrian dragoons get a bloody nose

In quick succession the rest of the Austrians entered the field (all via the road) and the last of the French also came on, this time comprising the Old Guard and some hussars.  Meanwhile the Austrians were still persisting with their weak attack on the hill, as well as advancing curassiers and infantry up the road to try to outflank it and cut off the reinforcements.

View from French lines.  All troops on the table.

However, things did not go well for the Austrians (do they ever?).  The dragoons were pushed back down the hill by fire from the artillery and line infantry and then the curassiers thundered down on them as they stood in a disorganised state.

Austrian dragoons about to cop it.  Old Guard now on the hill as well.

Meanwhile on the French left the advancing Austrians were checked by a sharp and frankly suicidal attack by hussars on the Austrian curassiers.  It did the trick and contained them, whilst the Old Guard was able to invest the hill.

French hussars disordered in front of Austrian curassiers

And at that point after about ten moves, and two and a half hours of play, we had to end it, although it was clear that the Austrians were never going to budge the French.

Austrian dragoons really about to cop it.  Again.

Overall we found the scenario very simple and easy to set up.  Perhaps next time the arrival of French reinforcements should be determined by die throw, because they came on too quickly and too predictably for the Austrians to be able to even be able to develop the attack.

I should also add that we didn't actually use the rules in the One-Hour Games book, which we'd looked at and thought were a bit too simple even for us.  In fact we play-tested David Manley's Fast Play Napoleonic Rules (descibed as "DBA-esque via Fire & Fury"), which did the job but which we'd probably tweak if we were going to use them again.

15mm Roundway hussars

Footnote: troops used were Geoff's and a mixture of very old Hinchcliffe, Roundway, Naismith and Warrior miniatures, which all looked fairly compatible to me.

ACW Adventures in Basing No.8

Just a quick post to prove that, contrary to popular opinion, I am capable of multi-tasking.  By way of illustration, last weekend, whilst building, painting and modding a couple of Armourfast T34/76, I also found time to base the last of my 20mm ACW artillery.

Most of the figures and all of the guns come from the Airfix Napoleonic Royal Horse Artillery set.  I had converted and painted the figures (quite) some years ago but the guns were completely overhauled this weekend.  At one point I was considering getting some metal guns to go with the crew as I thought that the Napoleonic guns looked a bit odd, but after a bit of research on The Miniatures Page (TMP) forums I found the solution to using the original guns.

The main bit of advice was that if I cut off the axletree boxes (i.e. the boxes mounted between each cheek and the wheel) then the result would be passable for an ACW artillery piece.  And they were right.  The next thing was colour.  Again the TMP forums came to the rescue as apparently Union and most Confederate artillery were painted an olive colour (technically "liquid olive"), for which most people seemed to think that the standard US "olive drab" would work.

Finally, the guns.  Again the sages on TMP advised that brass guns (like the 12pdr Napoleon) would have been highly polished affairs, whilst the various iron guns would have been painted black.  The guns here should probably by rights be brass Napoleons, but I wanted a bit of contrast from the other pieces I had so I painted them as iron guns.  I also drilled out the bore which is something I've never bothered with before.  I must be maturing.

Pimp my Tank, or, More Armourfast T34/76

Happy New Year guys.  So this is the Wishful Wargamer's "new year, new you" pledge: to do more wargaming this year.  Therefore, to start the year off as I'll probably continue, let's cut straight to this week's displacement activity, i.e. a couple of 1/72 Armourfast T34/76.

The first one is actually a model I completed previously, which I thought was a bit boring at the time so I've now upgraded it with a bit of clutter.  This clutter inlcudes some fuel tanks, basically made from some 5mm plastic tubing sealed up with filler, that this rather simple model didn't even include in the box (this being the older and discontinued T34/76 Armourfast tooling).

"Totally tubular"

I also added one of my patent hawsers I describe making in a previous post.  I took the opportunity to touch up the paint job a bit and slap on even more weathering, particularly around the exhausts area, inspired generally I have to say by the fantastic work on the Plastic Warriors website.

As well as this old T34/76 (actually there were two of them, No.2 not shown here) I also constructed and painted the 'new tooling' T34/76, which is quite a different and in my opinion a far superior model.  The whole thing is lower and far better proportioned than the previous tooling - and the parts fit together better which helps: when you compare the models the earlier one seems really weird and hgh.  The new one also has better detailing, for example on the engine covers and wheels.  Plus it has fuel tanks.  However, I think I will be able to get away with both types on the battlefield when the time comes, as long as they aren't sitting side by side.

For this model I added an extra fuel tank for some real-world randomness, as well as sticking on a roll of tarpaulin (made from some tissue paper rolled up with woodglue and tied off with thread).  And there's another one of my hawsers.  The crewman is an officer from the Revell Soviet infantry pack, with his map and legs cut off.

Finally, a note on how I painted these.  The base colour for my soviet tanks is Tamiya XF-13 J.A.Green, which goes all over.  I then give the tank a black wash to bring out the detail and add rust marks (I use thinned Revell acrylic 37, reddish brown).  For mud, dust and general weathering I employ a combination of 'flicking' thinned Revell 17, Africa brown with a stiff brush to get a mud splash effect on the front of the tank (mind your wallpaper), and then finish off with extensive dry-brushing using the same pale brown colour.

Not sure what's next but I do have another T34/76 to make plus a couple of Su-85s and KV-1s (Pegasus) which I'm looking forward to.  Once they're done I will be going through the wargames box and refurbishing all the old, clapped out and randomly donated tanks in there (must be a couple of dozen at least).  Plus, I found a tangle of brass picture hanging wire in the toolbox yesterday and of course I'm now wondering if I can make even more hawsers out of that...

ACW Adventures in Basing No.7

Well, I finally got around to basing the (mainly) Airfix ACW artillery to go along with all the other Airfix figures I'd based last year, ostensibly for use with Regimental Fire and Fury, but could work for Black Powder, etc., (of course it turns out it was 2012 that I did most of it...how time flies).   First, however, I thought I'd show you a conversion that Geoff did from some Esci Crimean War Russians.

Clint Eastwood thoughtfully keeps a cannon ball warm under his poncho

As you can see this group is replete with a model of "The Man with No Name", although you'd be sure to remember the name of a guy loading up your artillery piece if he was wearing a poncho and sombrero.

Here are some before and after shots from basing up the Union artillery.  I decided that I wanted them on 40mm x 60mm bases, and to avoid having to send off for more pre-cut mdf, I just glued two 40mm x 30mm bases together, edge on, and put some thin card on top to strengthen them.

Once fixed together I gave the bases an undercoat of basic earth colour and then glued the figures on.  And here is the same treatment with the Confederate artillery.

As usual, I decorated the bases by covering them in PVA glue and then dipping them into this big tub of shelly sand I collected from a local beach a few years ago.  A few stones and other bits and pieces were added for effect.

Once dry I just added some more patches of PVA and finished off with Javis flock.  Sometimes I paint the sand earth colour and dry brush before flocking, but considered this time that it would be too awkward to try that with so many figures on the bases.

So, not sure what's next up, although I did find a box of Union artillerymen that I had converted from Airfix Napoleonic Royal Horse Artillery some time ago, so I expect they'll be next, once I get some suitable guns ordered (or converted).

Claymore 2014

Well, yet again it's been some considerable time since I posted on my neglected but definately not forgotten wargames blog.  I've been away a lot, see.  In fact, since my last post I've spent two weeks in Spain, two weeks in northern Uganda, a week in the Netherlands and to top it all a few days in Dumfries and Galloway.  I've forgotten where I actually live.

Still, I did manage to get to Claymore last month, as is our solid tradition, although there is a lot going on in Scotland at the moment but no doubt normal service will be resumed after 18 September (or not, as the case may be).  However, overall it was as well attended as ever, although I did think that the traders were particularly out in force, at least in the atrium area.  Anyway, here are some pictures and impressions from the show (apologies for the poor quality of some photos as I had forgotten my proper camera)

Forcing the Dardanelles - looking North towards the Sea of Marmara

Games that caught my eye included this impressive WW1 Dardanelles game using 1/3000 Navwar ships and General Quarters 3. This was put on by (I think) the Gourock Wargames Club and was of particular interest to me because a) I've got quite a few WW1 ships that need an airing and b) I am currently working on a (real world) project involving a new bridge across the Bosphorus, up near the Black Sea, at the diametrically opposite end of this vital and historic sea route.

Things start going wrong early - but hey, that's WW1 for you

Anyway, even from the wargame you could see that it was never going to work - what were the Admiralty and Churchill thinking?  (Under-estimating foreigners as per usual I shouldn't wonder).

F&DWC Indian Mutiny game

Then there was this excellent Indian Mutiny game from Falkirk & District Wargames Club.  I was told that the figures were mainly Mutineer Minatures (who also had a stall nearby).

F&DWC Indian Mutiny - mainly Mutineer Minatures

A particularly colourful action was a Macedonians vs Thracians game put on by Kirriemuir Wargames Club, using the Crusader rules.

'Heads I Win, Heads You Lose' was the intriguing title of this game

Figures were Foundry and Old Glory and had all been professionally painted by 'Fernando of Sri Lanka'.  I was embarassed to mentioned that it had taken my 15 years to paint my DBM 500pt Lydian Army and by the time I'd finished DBM had gone out of fashion (but I digress).

A ruined temple - those Thracians were right philistines

Other games included a sprawling divisional level early WW1 game put on by the Tyneside Wargames Club using a variation of their Great Captain rules.

Look, most of Belgium and western France on one table

I also liked the ACW game by the Iron Brigade.  Not sure what rules they were using.

ACW Iron Brigade game

And there was something I'd not seen before which was a Black Powder refight of the Battle of Waterloo using 54mm figures, including Timpo, Airfix and other manufacturers.  I think it was scaled down a bit.  The erratic Congreve Rocket was fun though.

RPG! RPG! RPG!

So there you have it.  Another year gone and another Claymore attended.  It is always inspiring and I have decided that, now I'm not travelling so much, I am going to get a lot more wargaming done this year.  I should admit that I make that resolution every year after Claymore but I think that this year it will be different because it's certainly time for a radical change in how we do things around here...