Hougomont and Nassau defenders

The chateau of Hougomont is one of the famous landmarks of the Battle of Waterloo with its distinctive red brick construction and profile.   I have gone the paper-building route and so bought the Pireme Publication building.  While in 15mm scale it is still a large complex and had too large a footprint on the tabletop for my purposes so I have heavily modified the structure but still hoping to keep the essence of its look.

A battalion of Nassau troops were deployed to occupy the woods facing the French lines.  These and some other small contingents of British Guard light companies and Hanoverian skirmishers still amounted to no more than 1,100 but I wanted for game purposes to make Hougomont a tough nut for the French to crack  -- historically it was never taken -- so I will be using a full element of these troops along with the occupying element of British Guards.

The Nassau boys - the similar other element I painted, will be deployed on the right wing with Prince Bernard - are built out of the Perry plastic French skirmishers appropriately scraping off all the Bardin lapel details. The Grenadier fur caps are French hussar caps.  I will say in sotto voce that the red bag hanging from each should be on the left side but, "button counters", let's over look that ....

Bombing Ploesti

Finally got to another club's GameNight and participated in Andrew's bomber raid game based on the famous Allied raid on the Ploesti Oil Fields in Romania.  Famous in part due to the 'pink' planes painted in a pale desert scheme.  Andrew did a great job in painting the planes and creating the oil refineries and holding tanks. While the modeling was simple; for example, using small paint tubs turned upside down and painted gray, it did not take away from the excellent effect.

All the players controlled flights of three bombers while Andrew did the calculations for the flak.  He had a couple of ME109s painted and threatened us with them but did not use them in the game so it was running the flak and line up on your targets for the players.

The flak proved to be not that effective as only one plane was knocked down -- mine of course !!    [  proving again that I cannot get through any air game without being shot down !  ]


Points were added up and Glenn quietly bombed the **** out of the oil fields gaining the most, to the surprise of us noisier players  <grin>

The game was a playtest for Andrew who will put it on for the local 'Trumpeter Salute' convention in a month's time, and a lengthy post game chat had suggestions to simplify the rules and add German fighters for more "excitement" for the bomber crews.

Lord of the Rings. A four way battle with Trolls!

The boys seemed surprised when I showed up.  "Yeah, you did say you would show and good you did!" Francis the host exclaimed as a couple of the regulars bailed and with me, this four way game was possible.

First things first.  I have not read any of the Middle Earth  books, nor do I know much about the story, nor have I watched any  of the movies   --  probably the only person in the world?   Certainly within the crowd I know in the hobby anyway......   However LotR rule system is well known to the guys and they helped me through it by basically telling me what roll was needed and how many dice to throw. 

What was really interesting was the scenario as it was a token grab, with the winner with the most tokens each having a different amount, but could only be taken by the leader and off the table before his particular Lord of the Rings army melted away.  HOWEVER, two of these desirables could awake a big-ass troll which apparently is not desirable to be around.  On top of that, were the many winding rivers which cut through the battlefield. While there were bridges -- no problem to cross -- and fords -- roll for those too but  a 1 in 3 to only go half speed -- but to cross a river tempts a 1 in 3 chance of dying !!   AND on top of all THAT, was the 'so who goes first ' roll off.  If any players tied on this, a random events chart is consulted with good, bad and ugly results.  With players - example:  the oldest or the tallest - meeting out the targets and the other player rolling for hits/kills.  So some idea of the random chaos of each turn.

part of the contingent of Dwarves under my control

a Troll!

"if I duck and weave..."

From their impressive LotR collective collection, my 'shorties' wandering around to collect tokens - one of which is the white square in the distance.

close-up of the warriors under my control.  What another 6?!  I must admit I had quite a few during the game.

This photo shows some of the dilemmas we all had through out the game.  The green blobs are deadly, impassible swamps which thus restrict movement options and fighting options.  Both Kev's Gondor -top- and Francis' Goblins -bottom- both want the token but know the second troll has not be awoken. Take?  Not take? Let the other guy look, and then if not the Troll, try to steal the darn thing??

Overhead shot demonstrating the terrain broken up by the deadly rivers.  Ask Dave how deadly! 

Dave's warriors still fighting the first Troll - it being under my control for the entire game. He did manage to kill it but he also had the second Troll to deal with!  <grin>

...not my usual wargaming thing, but great fun.

Battle of "Kurhunne"

The "Battle of Kurhunne" was the last stand by the Prussian general Mohr to save his army and defend it's evacuation by the British Royal Navy to the North Sea. 
Only months earlier, Mohr, in an effort to support the resistance of the German people against the French made a bold move into French held territory but Napoleon brought even some of the Guard to bear down on him ultimately forcing him to retreat.  Although Napoleon was forced to deal with events elsewhere, the French under Soult, forced him to the sea.

This was the scenario background and based on an actual Napoleonic battle albeit not in Germany and did not involve the Prussians . If you have not already guessed, based on my use of homophones, more clues to come!

David came over and I created this rather smaller battle than the much larger one we did last time! See:link

The deployments looking north with the French in the foreground. --the ruler is used for future reference should I want to play this one again--

French advance toward the village of Elvina. Clue!

The clash on the ridge as the French assault the Prussian brigades

...but are forced to retire behind their reserves. Note that each combat creates fatigue as well as possible combat loss and the nearest Landwehr brigade effectiveness is down to 2 from 3 as they were in the previous photo.

The '2nd Foreign Regiment' of 1815 aka 'the Swiss' reaches the ridge. Yes, earlier Swiss did participate in the historical battle. Clue!

Oh my, the 1st Silesian Landwehr about to be routed. French cannons to the fore, flanked by a powerful French light infantry brigade and having shaky confidence - the black die showing .............but a 1.

As you might have gathered, the Prussian under my rather dubious command, held to the ridge too long hoping for a repeat of the real battle and force the French into a stalemate. Clue But in the game were ultimately crushed.

Oh, the historical battle? Corunna in Spain early 1809 with the British (nee Prussians) vs, well, the French. Also known as the Battle of Elvina.

Each element representing ~1500 infantry or 800 cavalry 

You can read David's report here: link

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Battle No.2

 The same with roles reversed. Even with much discussion about the rules and working out measuring systems, we concluded the game in very good time and so could have another go at it.
 You can read David's report here: link

Now playing the French, we can see my deployment with guns up front to gain direct fire advantage ...not trusting my dice luck and needing all the help I can get ! The green stick next to the village module is a movement stick. We don't employ rulers but use painted doweling for the different distances. They, and the dice are green and any markers are designed to blend into the game as not to distract the eye too much.

Close up of the Swiss in red. Perry 1815 design flag from their plastics box.

Prussian regulars advance to meet the French attack.

The French cavalry sent into rough ground. In the actual battle they could very little, here they were outside effective command control.

 

David, playing the role of Mohr/Moore and the Prussians/British was much more skillful than I to disengaged his forces and escape to Kurunne/Corunna.

A small battle of only 12 elements to 9, it proved to be an interesting affair with two battles played to conclusion in an afternoon – with much rule discussion and amendments. Hopefully now much more streamlined, it proves the adage that sometimes you have to destroy to build up stronger and larger battles await.

Netherland Heavy Cavalry

Representing Tripp's Dutch-Belgian Heavy Cavalry Brigade during the 100 Days Campaign, I completed 2 of the 3 historical regiments, both in plastic. 

While the Perrys metals are outstanding, I decided I had the extra parts to build these unique units from bits.  The basics of horse, rider and arms are French Dragoon.  The Belgian helmet is a French Carabinier with a plume added and I put on modelling putty to approximate the splendid brass lion badge on the front. The often depicted shoulder roll of the Dutch-Belgian horse I added to one of the riders.  The others did not allow a realistic modelling of roll and I did not think I could quite get the sizing the same in any case.

The Dutch regiment has a similar base but uses Austrian officer bicornes, with plumes glued on. I dropped the stand after painting and while all were OK, the one plume went missing. I looked for 10 minutes for the bloody thing and it is still unfound! Never bothered to replace it.  The orange cockade of the Netherlanders was added green stuff.

Story of red tails: modeling with plastics

Overheard between two miniatures wargamers: "Those are very nice figures." "Thank you",says the second wargamer, "the new plastics are beautiful aren't they"  "Oh", says the first,"well, for plastics, anyway"

Wargamers seem to have a liking for, or contempt of plastics. Frankly, once sitting on the table, can the difference be seen other than perhaps the better proportions.  While I am not a great fan of the 1:72 scale boys, the hard plastics coming out now by Victrix, Warlord and certainly the current Perry productions offer good value and a great opportunity for the modeler to have, um, fun.

While all the units I have been creating are offered in metal, I want the light weight for transport.  OK I must admit that I have fun creating different units from the bits at hand.  For example the 6th Dutch Hussars I decided to make from the Perry British Hussars. No problem all hussars look the same.  Yeah, OK the equipment is a bit off, but no one will care. I will not have the elegant saddle cloth but hey, this is campaigning is it not?  The covered shako which is often portrayed for this unit, can be from the French bits box, so no worries there.  So as I am gluing the horses together, I notice the 'docked' horse tails!  I forgot the British cavalry still cut off half the tails of their horses.  But the Dutch did not. Oh, darn.  However I remembered I had some plastic fantasy horses and so the cutting and gluing continued.

While they look a bit odd now , once primered and painted, they will certainly play the part.

Other particularly interesting mixes are:

Dutch Jagers who have Perry British bodies suitably shaved of the button lace, with added French packs but British canteens ,an Austrian shako with all the big cockade and stuff removed and with a British shako plume added.  As you can see from the white limbs of the photo Victrix French arms were used as they have the necessary cuff flaps.  Being ex-French, the Dutch might still have a stock of Charville muskets, right?.....

The entire British 52nd regiment had all shoulder 'wings' of the flanker companies.  I so happened to have the large box of Victrix Highland Flank Company with lots of extra bits and so made the unit "in waiting". The arm position of this particular figure suggested holding something so I gave him a spare canteen -- from his own back of course! -- and added cut strip of plasticard for the strap.  The shako, extras included in the box by the Perrys for Peninsular use, had their plate scraped off awaiting perhaps the horn badge of the Light Regiments. Also note the far lad holding his shako in hand -- try modeling THAT in metal....

Burgundian fantasy...

Scary how time kinda just moves along.

Looking through my boxes, I again came across my "Burgundian" army but this time I stopped and took the time to pull it out for a "review".   I have never played with this army,  sigh,  but do remember painting it over the Christmas holidays back in...umm... that would be at the new rental apartment, so 1994.  WHAT?! That is nigh 20 years ago!

Toys-R-Us, of all places, was having a massive sell-off of the Hasbro 'BattleMasters' game, which had good vs evil fantasy with these 28mm pieces (GW size) which could be placed on large slotta bases on a thin plastic sheet, hexed and printed with landscape and roads. I was told the figures were designed by the Perrys under contract.  Don't know if that is true but they are nice, a little 'stocky' by todays standards however they were designed for kids but still very compatible for today's 28mm scale.

The fantasy elements were sold off or traded, and while not entirely historical, the 'good' side is a blend of late medieval and renaissance which I made into a "Burgundian" force and based for Armati using 12cm wide stands for the heavy infantry and cavalry.

The paint job is a very simple base and heavy highlight technique over which is heavily glossed for that very 'old school' look.  But sometimes simple is good and the army glows on the tabletop.

The original game was slotta based.  I removed the slots and used super glue to mount these plastic figures onto wood hardboard bases giving each baseWoodland Scenics flocking (a bit more green than the photos would suggest).  I have been tempted to remove and rebase but nothing or new rules has come along to excite me enough to do that.  It would be simple enough as soaking the wood bases in water would loosen the hold and I would think the figures would come
                                                                   off quite easily.

All the army is plastic and so very transportable. Only the large cannon is metal and as you can see very compatible.

                                                8 cavalry elements, 8 heavy infantry, 4 bow elements, 5 cannon, and 2 Generals make up this force

But like I have mentioned they have been sitting around for years without use.  Other than the emotional side - that wargamer thing - it might be time to trade it or sell it.

American militia commanders

I finally got around to paint Knuckleduster mounted officers I will use as militia commanders for my ever growing War of 1812 collection.

I particularly like this pose.  It suggests the officer is saying something like: "Oh, this is going to be a long day...."

More pics of the game

Close up of a new building complex made from Pireme Publishing's "La Haie Sainte" card building set which I cut down to make a smaller footprint to keep more in scale with the element size.

A view from the Austrian/Bavarian left rear.  Their left wing as you can see from this photo, is refused knowing the Prussians would be attacking off-table from the flank, but they eventually advanced only then to have the Prussians come on the table behind them. Very similar situation to the actual 1866 battle! [albeit on their other flank]

Ziethen's Corps which had to do the initial attacks until Pirch's reserve corps arrived on the battlefield.

Whole limber teams would be out of scale with our game, so we use wagon wheel markers to denote

in Seth's Austrian army- from top to bottom - Old Glory, Victrix, Perry - all playing well together

Love the angle as it makes only 10 figures look to have more mass.

the '200 foot high General' view

the Prussian Landwehr (militia) make up almost half their army!

Part of Seth's "white avalanche" of Austrians

Showing the different element sizing--all done, not scientifically but rather but good looks alone!  However the 120mm frontage of the infantry and cavalry does align with some other major rule sets suggested basing sizing.