Bringing a ‘faust to a tank fight……

“What a Tanker!” is a unashamedly tank vs tank game.
However, wargamers being wargamers,  can’t leave well enough alone and many have done much work to expand upon the original premise to include anti-tank guns and anti-armour infantry weapons.  While I have done so, I was surprised to discover that even the Two Fat Lardies authors have also done their own version!  [ LARD Magazine 2019 ]  Their rules had the panzerfausts/bazookas stationary while I have gone the 'more traditional ' route and play the mobile infantry carrying blasters of tanker hell more in tune with the original rules.

As a play test, WillB was given my 3D print Matilda II - a Lend-Lease provided by the British,  while I played the late war Germans. These are Warlord plastics painted by me recently and armed with the always popular panzerfausts for hunting the lost tank in a Russian village.

Because of the need of certain dice at certain times …and that not happening… it does mean the infantry don’t necessary have free reign and indeed at times became the hunted.  At one point the Matty rounded the corner of the church almost running down one of the Germans who was frightened stiff with fear (he did not get any ‘move’ or even ‘fire’ dice at the time).  The tank could not move any further unfortunately and the German finally turned and made his escape.

It gives me the opportunity to have the late war enemy tanks on the table without the need for me to build an additional tank model to face them ;))

a 20th C. Roman infantryman....

Inspired by a friend’s inventive mashup of Landsknecht armed with a MG34 WW2 machine gun (!) and images of modern soldiers with very Imperial Roman looking armour of which I have always wanted to create,  I have done my own plastics mashup of a Imperial Roman (c. 100 AD and an Imperial Japanese infantryman WW2 (c. 1940) both by Warlord Games.

Obviously the armour - the famous Lorica Segmentata must be shown - heck, not Imperial Roman without it - as would the helmet which I smoothed of details to get a slightly more modern look.  Steel colour was used but a more modern dull green could be effective for more current looking soldiers.  Two more quintessential Roman items are the ‘caligae’ [army sandals] and the ‘baltea’ [ the dangly straps in front of, well, the dangly bits ]. Both these were kept, but the main uniform is early 20th century.  The Japanese uniform has a long tunic covering the rump which was about the same length as the Roman one thus I painted in a dull red which is over the long sleeves and trousers painted a modern dull colour. As this uniform is from the 1930’s/WW2, I did not go for a baggier camouflaged version and so left the puttees which are painted in buff so giving a leather bound look instead (something picked up from the barbarians in the intervening years?).

Fun little project.

The large amount of plastic Romans I have might still be “amended”.  Looking toward making them the “Lost IX Legio”.  Lots of skeletons, mangled limbs, dead flesh and rusted armour. That could be an army.  Now to get some bits and parts.

I have cheated a bit and already created a ballista crew from the few skellie bits I had at the very bottom of a box for some reason….

AWI in plastic

My collection of AWI is in its third incarnation. The first was old Minifig true 25s.  The next was, and still but only with my AWI French,  Front Rank.  And finally now Perry metals - for the most part.

 But I finally broke down to buy a box of Perry plastic Continentals while I await a Perry metal order  delayed due to Covid.  I thought they would be compatible.  Surprisingly for Perrys they sort of aren't; at least to my old eyes.  The plastics are much thinner and a bit taller.  Really nice, Beautiful. Would have liked shooting poses but as marching, nice.  Now of course seeing the transformation of the Perry sculpting to this much better human proportions, better proportioned weapons particularly in plastics compared to their early lines which included their AWI range, I probably should have been patient and await them*.   I nevertheless painted 6 for a small Loyalist unit 'King's Loyal Americans' which accompanied Burgoyne into the Albany Valley to Saratoga .  The remainder must stay in the box for now.  Should I later get excited about a Southern campaign I might be led to create a large unit of South Carolinian continentals - the spare hats included in the box have that distinctive cap worn by those colonialist. Or more probable, get traded or sold....the usual.

I picked up a base of the unit and took this quick pic. I hate the macro lens as it shows off all the minor issues of the painting when a more steady hand, better eye (or use of the mag lens ) and certainly more patience would be useful. They are not "El Mercenario" standard ( examples of his painting ) however for about 21 minutes per, OK for the table.... but I really need a longer arm!

edit*  Funnily enough the day after composing this post --they came in the mail!

Saratoga, here I come!

Finally had the time…and mental momentum….to finish my American contingent for my certain portion of the American Revolutionary War Saratoga campaign.  The battles to come will be a contrast in tactics.  I have certainly taken the mythical view so thusly the Americans will have good-shooting small skirmish militia units, some as veterans, with (for now) only a small Continental regiment and with artillery support verses very large but timid Brunswick Germans units.  The latter formed a large portion of the British army descending the Hudson River Valley in 1777.

I have taken the narrative of the historical campaign battles and thus will have fictional scenarios involving the Brunswickers attacking across open fields with the Americans firing into their ranks (an aggressive commander [Gen. B. Arnold?] leading);  the Germans attacking American defences well defended by artillery (allowing for American commander ‘Granny’ Gates’ “let ‘em come to us” plan if came to pass);  or reversing the latter scenario and having the Germans defend their built defenses against the American assault per the Breymann’s Redoubt engagement

'Benedict' encouraging the troops

In any case, the rules will be Osprey’s Rebels and Patriots [thus the mixed basing styles].  Speaking of which, the reader will have noted that the Germans (mostly Brunswick but there was attached a unit of Hessian infantry with accompanying artillery unit -  as those figures were slightly different posed and I had knowledge of that unit's flag!) have a ranked look while the Americans are on round bases either in group or larger singles.  This was deliberate as to convey the difference in fighting style (using the traditional view).

The militia form up behind the log emplacements 

One of the 'heavy' guns and another unit of militia skirmishers holding the right of the camp

The American figures are mostly Perry “Southern Militia” re-purposed [ obviously MY battles will be fought on exceptionally pleasant October days for the boys to be in shirts only! ] The Germans are old Foundry SYW Prussians (the 1777 German uniform continued to be virtually a copy or close enough….)  The Americans happen also to be artillery heavy but they did have a fair amount of guns in their encampments historically so.  Guns are points expensive in RaP so it might be fun to play out a scenario in which the American camp is defended primarily only by artillery and see if the firepower is enough to stop the German advance.

Part of the much more numerous German force

For once, I actually had a plan for the collection before ( ! ) painting/basing - not before having the  figures but 2 of 3 in the planning is good for me!  Other than perhaps another Continental unit to make it a bit more historical in composition, I have enough in size to conduct the battles I wish to run and the historical context to provide the scenario inspirations I will enjoy.

The "Cattle" Expedition

Up to now I have always had plenty of time to engage in my favourite hobby, but with the recent employment at a 9-5 job, my wargaming time has significantly decreased.  As my dearth of posts recently can attest, it is certainly a time killer.  “Try to do any with that AND three kids!” was the retort from a couple of my wargamer friends!

Anyway, as a last, before Christmas game, I hosted a colonial British Afghan expedition to supply cattle to a far outpost.  Using my “veteran” (painted c.1987) Ral Partha ‘true 25s’,   I had all six of the players play on the same side, while I would control the natives via “auto-pilot” chart and hidden deployment.

In a rare cooperative method the gents allocated troops and deployment sharing an overall plan.  Sort of countering this, I also added my patented card sequence which uses a sequencing hierarchy to have the players move, should they choose, before others.  Some used this, others just flipped over the next card they had, but this together with the rules (The Men Who Would Be Kings - TMWWBK) ensured a lack of foreknowledge of who-moves-next.

The Imperial force marches

The terrain was largely unknown to the players - but of course they had the 2,000+ feet of elevation advantage standing around the table,  the normal “does this give me cover?” was necessarily indicated.

The logistical centre of the column advances

My collection is a bit on the small side, but with no way of adding to, I went with dividing all the units into six figures (8 for the natives) using the half-size option and increasing the speed and decreasing the shooting hits to offset.  So with that, and the usual poor shooting of the warriors under my diced control, the overall casualties were light (perhaps more realistic than the normal for most wargaming huge casualty numbers?)

The Gordon Highlanders having covered the left bank of the waterway, crosses to join the column

We still employed the rule’s activation which had the effect of the metal soldiers acting more prudently than their erst while commanders who might wish them to advance across open ground to “check out the unoccupied village” but the unit quite unwilling to move from their cover….

It came as no surprise to the colonials that as they neared their destination, the inviting British Regimental flag (they could not have seen the blood smears) was taken down and replaced by a horde of tribal warriors.  These were largely dealt with by rifle fire from the near by rocky knoll (and my usual very poor dice rolling for the apparently inept locals).  Throughout the affair I would regularly roll low - a string of four 1s at one point - so the tribal warriors seemed to have little heart in fighting and would rather withdraw than to engage, but much to the relief of the Colonial players.

The fort with one of the tribal units having charged outside the gates

The Highlanders, having gained the top of the knoll, exchange shots with the unit in the tower.

The mountain gun, at the right, sets up for the final shots of the battle.

 The mule-borne mountain gun was however finally set up and after fighting off three (!) separate attacks of the half-hearted natives (my dice rolling in full evidence here) to finally put in two blasts to knock down the gate.  With the fort retaken and the cattle still safe, the players rejoiced in their victory.
….then put on their coats and went out into the rain for home…..

Hussar Rampant action post Waterloo-ish

Hussar Rampant fictional action somewhere in southern Belgium, post Waterloo?

The French needed to get the wagons pack and moving. They also needed the squadrons active to counter the Allies horse attacking them.  They could not do both at the same time.

French wagons quickly (too quickly for the Allies) packing up and moving.  Perry metal horses (team separated) with Warbases MDF wagons.

….However, both Allies players (myself and ChrisP) failed our first activations even though Chris had accurately predicted his starting position (closer to the bridge to the French’s rear but harder the roll to do so but of which he was successful)  Because of the wagons/non-activation problem for the French, I gave them quite the points advantage which they used the numbers and tough cuirassiers to counter each of our attacks.

My badly handled 4th Dutch-Belgian Light Dragoons showing the new 'blown' markers - hussar pelisse left on the ground

Jim's cuirassiers verses my British Light Dragoons (left) and my converted Dutch-Belgian 5th Light Dragoons (right).  The fight to cross or defend the bridge lasted the entire game.

Though much of the discussion of the rules could be clarified if I could remember them (!) or remember to look them up (!) I guess they survived.  But combat over the wooden bridge was controversial to such a point that I exclaimed, “Note to self - no more bridges in scenarios!!”

"Illegal" formations made by ChrisP due to my rather poor instructions about river crossings and requirements for combat .
This was corrected but poor ChrisP never did cross the river to assault the retreating wagons due to the attentions of JimF.  

SteveA came over to have the rules a go and give them a tough 'tug'.  His very young step-son was given the command of the two squadrons of French Chasseurs light horse.  While the kid's rolling for all of dad's combat was quite good, he failed ALL of his own activations so thus these horse remained inactive for the game.  The good thing for the French were that they were really not needed! In the background, the cuirassiers were doing yeomen service forcing off my D-B attacks.

You may note in the photos the use of a new version of our “blown” marker - a discarded hussar’s pelisse in light blue with some of the units during the game.  With the number of Perry plastic hussar boxes I have used in the past while, I have a lot of them left over which I decided to put to good use.  These can be used in conjunction with our normal ‘horse-head’ markers. Any marker would do, but these have a nice aesthetic look.

My Dutch-Belgian Carabinier heavy horse.  Perry plastics converted from dragoons and modified.  The two pelisse markers does suggest the front squadron is in trouble!

Humorous event from the game:  poor JimF was lamenting about the lances he manages to knock off his metal figures each game.  Well, surprisingly he did not knock off a single lance this affair - it was instead the eagle standard off the cuirassiers to much amusement of the other players.

...at least the broken piece was not a lance!  (Jim's French 13th Cuirassiers in 'Spanish brown' and the broken piece)

Plunder, sir!

I love the movie "Waterloo" (1970) I was very young seeing it for the first time but already I was a confirmed military history buff.  I still think it a very good movie for the accuracy of the uniforms, history and even the acting portrayals of the characters. (Having read some of Napoleon's letters, his 'ranting' on screen is not far off the mark!) Alright, the terrain of the Ukraine is not correct for the battle site but can't have everything! The famous building important to the battle were good however.

One of the humorous scenes is when Wellington questions a soldier of the Inniskilling Regiment about the contents of his pack. The soldier had just plundered a pig and sought to defend his hopeless position to the commander-in-chief.

Wargaming mate, WillB, won, as the club door prize, the Warlord figure done for the Historicon 2015 convention and was kind enough to present him to me.  I just HAD to do it up quickly!

I put it in behind my element of the Inniskilling which represents Lambert's Brigade.  'Wellington' is a Essex French officer of which I heavily carved the bicorne to more represent the distinctive curvature of the headdress.

"I knew something queer wa' scratching me back..."

The Inniskillings is my representative unit for Lambert's Brigade at Waterloo

here is the scene from the movie:
link to Youtube movie scene

"Frankensteins" painted

....my new "Frankenstein" militia Grenzers painted.  Made from various extra parts -see previous post for details.

on the painting stick

and on the table ready to engage the French dismounted dragoons

advancing 

Perry plastic dismounted dragoons move along a road unaware they now have opposition on the tabletop

My little frankensteins

OK, Mary Shelley I am not.   However, I do feel similar to her character, Dr. Frankenstein.   He of the famous fictional novel created life and horrified by what he has made ( the low-key button-counter in me). And like in Frankenstein, this monster was a composite of parts grafted together from cadavers of various abandoned plastic sprues.  It is with these that I have created these... ahem….Napoleonic Hungarian Militia.

my original prototype

They are, of course, an abomination from the historical but perhaps close enough to act the role.

The list of body parts:
Legs: Warlord ancient Celtic warriors (c.1st century BC)*
Torso: Warlord War of Spanish Succession (c 1700 AD)**
Arms: Perry French Dismounted Dragoons (c 1809 AD)***
Hat: extras from Perry box

Cartridge Box: cut from discarded sprues

Canteen: cut off from previously altered Austrian infantry (c 1809 AD)

author notes:
*I had picked up a bunch of these half-built ancients from the B&B but were left with lots of legs remaining.  Very odd posing due to excessively bent knees and the top of the hips at a 45 degree angle - or more!  The creations certainly have a Games Workshop Orc-ish pose look to them.  Monsters indeed!
** These torsos are offered as a few alternatives within the Warlord WSS boxes. Luckily a group of us collected enough to allow me to have sufficient amount of one type to make 24 of these in total.
*** These Perry arms are one-part with both arms/hands attached to the weapon so specific to their dismounted dragoon body.  I happened to try these onto the extra Warlord WSS torsos and they fit surprisingly well and thus unexpectedly launching this whole project.


I loosely describe them as Hungarian to justify the ankle-tight trousers of the Celts. The Hungarians were known for similar attire.   Unlike official or parade ground proper uniforms, reality would be a different story with unfulfilled supply especially to the lower rungs of the military establishment.  It is my thinking that Hungarian militia would be very low indeed on the priority list and so liberties in their equipment could be made.    Yes, the corsehut hat was probably not worn by any Hungarians but so very definitively Austro-Hungarian as not to use!  As fashionistas say: the headdress makes the outfit!

I think I will go the 'traditional' red-brown tunics, light blue tight trousers of the Hungarians, and black belts to have them "blend in with true Napoleonics". The heavy cavalry gloves (too much of a pain to modify) will be painted as red cuffs and flesh coloured hands.  As the saying goes: a layer of paint hides all sort of imperfections!

So my existing French Dismounted Dragoons ( link ) will eventually have an opposition in my little frankensteins

a French unit of the AWI

Left over plastic bits and bobs can be useful, even for the ‘metal’ crowd.  I this case I had years ago built an American Revolution French force for the siege of Savannah in 1779.  I had moved away from that project but had one last unit primed and ready to paint.  But with sprue full of extra Zulu (read: negro) plastic heads available I was now able to create the rarely seen Chasseurs-Voluntaires de Saint-Domingue which played a role covering the French re-embarkment.

Clipping off the metal hats, then heads, of the Front Rank figures, I inserted the plastic heads. I wanted some variety from the identical heads so did not try to be too exact in the cuts.  In hindsight I probably should have done a more identical approach as the other Front Rank French have a straight ahead, ‘no-neck’ look to them.  I guess I have been influenced by the more recent ‘realistically proportioned’ renderings than the style of the decades old “thick and squat” sculpting style epitomized by old Front Rank poses.

As you can see, I took the photo shortly after gluing but before adding a black undercoat so the work can be better seen.  I will eventually get to them but no real rush as they have currently no opponent to battle with!

Saxon forces of the GNW

During the holidays I finally finished my Saxony contingent for the Great Northern War for which two of the local boys independently started the same project.  They twisted my ‘rather rubber wargame arm’ to have me create some reinforcements for WillB’s Russians to face the fury of KevinA’s elite Swedish foe.

For the most part the other two have used Warlord’s (ex-Wargames Factory) plastic WSS figures and I have followed in that path and also altered my usual painting style to give them a very basic paint coat then cover the lot with Army Painters ‘Soft Tone’ (from the small bottle)  While it certainly darkens the tones, it provides a similar effect as the other collectors forces.

It might be noted that they were rebased from individual stands to square multiples (40mm) given the more formal lines of battle.   I have large enough force of line infantry and cavalry and contingents of dragoons and grenadiers along with artillery support to satisfy most of our scenario requirements.

Fun minor project and interesting to gather the campaign and indeed uniform information as it is one of the few major wars I was not really familiar with.  I like the colour red so this would be the army for me, it would appear!

Saxon cuirassier without their red overcoats!

newly painted dragoons

My red coated mass of the Electorate of Saxony c 1706

Cavalry for Waterloo

Once on roll, I continue to gather figures until…. well I was going to say “until it gets ridiculous”,…. but I often even go beyond that.

With plastics and all the conversion possibilities which I enjoy creating,  I have now have a sizeable force of Napoleonic cavalry to do battle with each other and to fill in when necessary for our bring-what-you-can games.

Newly created British 16th Light Dragoons.  Selected as they were the among the first of the Allies to come to the rescue of the British Union Brigade after their famous and foolish charge early in the Waterloo battle. 

All my units on 'parade' (except for the tardy Belgian Light Dragoons to be painted)

French Chasseurs (Perry plastics)

French cuirassiers

Dutch Light Dragoons made from various plastic bits (early British bodies, Russian shakos, French plumes and medieval horses....)

a single unit of French Hussars.  

Another view of the whole lot with the Allies to the left and French on the right.  All plastics.  I might blow out a back disc if I were to carry it all if metals!