WELCOME BACK

After a long break I have decided to try and restart the Blog. Hopefully, it will attract some attention. Below are some of my Burgundians. These are Frontline minis.  

STERLING PRICE AND THE MISSOURI STATE GUARD 1861

 

28mm Sterling Price and the Missouri State Guard 1861. Price is a conversion of the Front Rank mounted Napoleonic civilian gentleman. The Missouri State Guard are a mix of figures, Cannon Fodder, Dixon. Empress. 

Come and Take It gun

 

The 1836 Texican 'Come and Take It' gun. 28mm. 

I sculpted the miniatures and a good friend made the gun. 

Refreshing Old 15mm Napoleonic Armies

Giving old figures new life... 

After posting my March Attack battle report, I received a few comments and messages about the figures that were in the photos.

They are mostly old Minifigs and Heritage 15s. Perhaps other makes that I don't recognise have found a place in the ranks. It is interesting to think about how many battles these veterans have fought.

This post is to show what goes into getting these pre-owned figures some love and making them table-ready for the modern gaming table. Nothing new or skilled about this - just a process. 

Getting the basing looking 'right' is always subjective. In smaller scales the basing is at least as important as the painting. It's a bit "meh" when I see people paint beautiful armies and base them using one type of static grass. It takes something away from the whole effect...just my opinion, of course.

I have been collecting these for a few years but acquired the bulk of the armies from eBay as large lots. It is more cost efficient to buy armies in lots rather than individual units or unpainted bits and pieces. I went for painted armies because the time and effort refreshing existing paint jobs is reduced compared to starting from scratch. Many were painted in the 1980's, some even earlier, so I wanted to include that legacy while making them more suitable for my gaming aesthetic.

I will go through the steps to get 18 small battalions (of 18 figures each) of French infantry completed.

After many hours of organising the various figures into units, removing them from bases and gluing onto new bases, I can now inspect them for painting.

Based on clear acrylic bases and organised into battalions. Sitting on their movement trays made of flexible plastic and matchsticks they seem a long way off being battle ready. A mix of uniforms and painting style make this challenging, but not difficult. Any broken bayonets, long lost, were replaced with little strips of plastic card.

The bases get some modelling paste, then dipped in sand left to dry overnight.

Next the bases get painted a dark brown using craft paints.

Once dry, the base brown gets a very rough dry brush with a tan colour.

A selection of 6 battalions just before painting begins. 

Hmmm... a bit to do.

Base colours added or touched up. Washes applied to blend the existing paint and add some depth. Looking a bit better now.

Highlights done and little touches added. These are not super neat, but it gives the effect I want.

First batch done - 12 more units to go...

All painted and outside for the first varnish spray.

The movement trays have had modelling paste thinly applied to hide the matchsticks and add strength. Then spray-painted a leather brown colour, only because that was what I had at hand.

Starting to look decent. Ready for flocking.

I always use three types of flocking to make them look more realistic and so they can blend with different wargame mats.

This is what I used. Two types of fine turf by Woodland Scenics and Noch Summer Grass. The latter is to blend in with my wargaming mats.

I recommend using at least one type of flock or static grass that matches your table.

First turf added with PVA glue. Random patches to begin with.

I am doing the movement trays at the same time.

Next, a green-er turf layer. Filling in most of the gaps. Looks OK at this point, but still not quite there.

I managed to knock the box everything was sitting on while doing the static grass stage and it got messed up...Fun times.

A furry creature came to inspect the damage, but was no help at all.

Next morning, everything has dried.

Flags added, unit labels added under the bases. I do this to keep them organised and, frankly, because I am bound to forget what each regiment is supposed to be.

Varnish spray once again to protect the paint, flags and seal in the flocking, at least a little bit.

You may notice almost none of the original brown of the bases is visible. This is because I fully expect the flock to wear off over the years and a bit of brown poking through will still look ok.

324 figures repainted, based and ready to go.

326 really - 2 Prussian Jaeger skirmishers were hanging around and joined the fun.

So that is the process. 

It takes time, but the result is a heap of units that I can proudly plonk on the table. Average paint job, average basing, but a pleasing and achievable affect that anyone can do.

Even if you don't like the end result, you may see things that are useful or kick start your own project!

Cheers,

Mick

15mm Napoleonic Battle - March Attack Redux rules

 15mm Napoleonic Battle - March Attack Redux rules

On Friday I rolled out my most recent edit of March Attack Redux and it was a game of firsts.

• First time I had played this as a multi-player game (6).
• First time I used my rebased and painted 15mm Minifigs armies.
• First time that one player with 40 years of wargaming experience had played a 15mm game.
• First time I used my home-made felt roads and tree bases. They looked pretty good!

The scenario is a slight adaption of the sample scenario in the original rules - Advance to Plancenoit, 18 June 1815. 

The battle involves a Prussian Corps advancing towards Waterloo while a slightly more weary French Corps attempts to hold them back. For this game I made the French-held crossroad the objective. The Prussians had to take it and the French had to hold it as long as possible.

For those that haven't heard of March Attack, they are from Crusader Publishing and are designed for players to control a Corps per side. Units being infantry battalions, cavalry regiments and artillery batteries. 

Being the first game, everyone had 1 or 2 divisions each.

Opening moves. Prussians pushing cavalry on the flanks and the infantry intending to punch the left of centre. Room was left in the centre for the artillery reserve to deploy once they arrive.

The French anchored their left flank on the town with the 20th division. Guns in the centre to deter a direct attack and the 19th division slightly held back to react to the direction of attack. The 2 light cavalry divisions were placed back on their centre-right.

Landwehr cavalry approaching the town defended by a French infantry division.

The Prussian Corps artillery arrives with an escort of Prussian grenadiers.

The 2 Prussian infantry divisions advancing to the designated focal point - one division supporting the other. Lots of landwehr infantry amongst the formations.

Prussian regular cavalry division anchoring and threatening the French flank.

French batteries cover the crossroad and assess target options; ready to deliver first blood.

Contact along the battlefield as the units become engaged.

The French 19th infantry division checks the Prussian 15th brigade as heavy skirmishing breaks out. The Prussian 16th brigade changes facing and the angle of attack to the crossroad.

Prussian regulars soak up the damage of the French skirmishing.

The French position is resolute to this point.

The French orders get confused/lost and a light cavalry division gets committed to attacking the landwehr cavalry. 

Situation at the end of game.

Fast forward several turns and we can see the Prussians have turned the French right flank. Cavalry in the rear is not good.

The Prussian light cavalry defeated a French light cavalry division and are now free to harass the rear of the position.

The French infantry division has broken after charges by the Prussian infantry. They exchanged musketry for a couple of turns which weakened both lines.

The French batteries have suffered badly from the Prussian Corps artillery and now break as the Prussian infantry hit them. Crossroads secured and a rare Prussian victory!

Remnants of a French cavalry division that could not be rallied.

The second French cavalry division took heavy casualties and retired to the reform area. They can now at least cover the infantry retreat.

French 20th infantry division hold their position, virtually unscathed. However the position is now untenable and they withdraw in good order.

French artillery are battered and limber up to save the guns.

The landwehr cavalry division has taken damage, but can't do much except watch the French pull back.

The Prussian Corps artillery enjoyed their dominant position and suffered little.

The rules played well and they have a great Napoleonic feel. Really interesting decisions have to be made and timing was an important component. It might take 2 turns to react to an event and commanders have to decide whether to kick on with the plan or make significant adjustments.

The game itself took a lot longer to complete being the first time we had played them as a group. Lots of good questions and they wanted to have an understanding of options before going too far ahead. Players were generally cautious before really committing to a fight.

The points that held up the play were, order selection (and what can/can't be done), artillery unlimbering and firing, the difference between strategic and tactical movement and what can happen in those phases, and the charge sequence.

Those points were all eventually resolved and we progressed well as each were clarified. Towards the end we were getting through the turns more efficiently. Everyone looks forward to trying them out again. The rules give a really good mix of playability and period feel.

Main concepts:

• These are Corps/Army level scale - Each player will usually have a corps. However, we started with a division or two each.
• Each unit is a battalion/battery/cavalry regiment but are organised into 'Major Formations', known as MF (brigades to divisions).
• Each unit has a Combat Value (CV). The combat value determines how much punishment a unit will take before breaking. High CV is better than low CV.
• CVs get eroded through firing, melee and skirmishing. They break once they reach 0.
• If the Major Formations lose too many units, they too will break. So managing your weaker units is important.
• There are two levels of Disorder. D1 and D2
• There are two main phases: 
• Strategic - stuff happens at the macro scale (outside 9" of the enemy)
• Tactical - stuff happens at Engagement range (within 9" of the enemy)

• Each MF has a set of orders they have to follow. Change of orders is required to do different actions.
• Skirmish ability is rated by nation and date. Post 1808, most nations have improved their skirmish doctrines

Summary of main changes to original rules:

• Turn sequence updated to reflect newer rules.
• Skirmishing - this was originally an abstracted phase that involves maths and was boring and did not, in my opinion, reflect the point of skirmishing. Now the skirmishing can be seen and each commander must make decisions on how many skirmishers to commit and for how long. This can be a wasteful drain on resources and achieve nothing (as quoted by an Austrian General) or be a real PITA if left unchecked.
• Infantry base sizes have been halved to allow for more realistic formations and skirmishing options.
• Cavalry and artillery bases have been doubled to better reflect actual frontages - and it looks great...
• Added rally points for retiring units. Broken units have predetermined areas to rally where officers run around reorganising units at the rally point.
• Using historical formations and benefits from using those formations. They were used for a reason, but many rules ignore this and allow "wandering battalions" that all flit around doing their own thing.

Some things I may have borrowed from other rules.

Cheers,

Mick

PLAINS WARS 20mm MINIATURES

Here are some minis I have painted recently. These are 20mm miniatures depicting the American Plains Wars, both Native American and US Cavalry. Very nicely detailed figures. These are from Slave2gaming.com. They are brand new and not yet on their website but of you contact them you can arrange to purchase them if you want to.