Scott Pasha's Wargames Blog

Boots on the Ground-- a sort of review

2011-07-22T16:58:00.001-04:00

from Worthington's BotG page

Several months ago I received Boots on the Ground which I had pre-ordered from Worthington Games. It is a very rules-light game simulating small scale actions by elite US special forces in the Modern Middle East. Everything is very generic, even in the scenarios it is never stated whether you are controlling SEALs or Delta or any of those things or even what country you're in... but the map is apparently based on a satellite of Baghdad if that gives you any clue.

Any how, game play is very simple and ideally suited to solitaire play. Each round you activate one or more "team members" and either use one of their special abilities or make a group move and fire. All fire is resolved as an Opposed Roll, so anyone who exposes themselves to make a shot will risk taking one. The roll itself is simply 1d6 for each side modified by several factors (mostly effecting the US forces). The firing is heavily skewed in favor of the US, but time will tell and I have yet finished a game without losing several of my team and usually almost all are wounded by games end.

from Boardgame Geek

The game really ha that Blackhawk Down feel to it, Insurgents pop-up all over the place usually right where you don't want... and all you are trying to do is hold out or make it to the green zone. The insurgent actions are completely governed by card pulls. The game length is set by the number of cards you select for a deck and then each Insurgent activation you pull a card. Sometimes these cards are good for you (you could pick up a couple of GIs to help you out or the Insurgents could all take cover as a drone flies by overhead). Insurgents move only when the cards say so, appear when the cards say so, etc. The only exception to this is that any in range insurgent will automatically fire at US team members.

There are several scenarios included with the game. They all represent generic actions such as escaping from a "Hot LZ" to hostage rescures to building clearing. The scenarios have really high replay value because the Cards will vary a lot from game to game. One game you could be hit by wave upon wave of pop-up insurgents in another you could catch many breaks. There is a really high narrative feel to the games because of this.

Boots on the Ground is not for the rivet-counter or hardcore ASL player. It has been described as a video-game style wargame (which I suspect is as much due to it's looks as it's play). I really enjoy it though and right now it's my go to wargame even though I know next to nothing about post-WWII modern tactical warfare. The components are adequate though not "deeluxe" by any means and there could be a good deal more in the way of examples and rules clarifications in the rule book itself. Personally, I would have liked a bit more traditional look myself, but that's a matter of taste. The graphics make total sense if you think of yourself as someone who is monitoring and controlling the action from a remote location.

Buy it, you'll like it.

Side Project

2011-07-04T10:59:00.001-04:00

I've started yet another blog to document my current side project: Solitaire Arthurian RPG play. I know this won't appeal to most of the people who have read other stuff here but... it's what I'm working on now so...
But I'm also working on ACW units still and there may be some In the Heart of Africa action in the future!
My new blog is called The Giant's Moor.

Hone Heke! Empress announces Maori War range!

2011-03-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

Really this incredible figure speaks for itself. But in case you need to know more, click on the link below to go to the Lead Adventure Forum where the upcoming First Maori War range from Empress Miniatures is discussed. Hopefully this will give the Taua the respect they deserve from colonial gamers...http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=25144.150

Second Blog

2011-02-26T13:28:00.001-05:00

Please link to my second Blog which will document the experiences of Shiny O'Malley.
http://shinyomalley.blogspot.com/

More Conflict of Heroes news

2011-02-07T09:51:00.001-05:00

Word has been going around the Forums that Academy might be working on a Solo CoH project for some time.
This apparently is true. Called Before the Rhine it is apparently being designed by John Butterfield who designed a game called Ambush back in the 80s

A year ago Uwe wrote:

The first game will focus on battles on the German western frontier in late 1944 --"Before the Rhine". We will concentrate the firefights on battles such as Operation Market-Garden, Battle of The Bulge, Metz, and/or Hurtgen Forest.

Before the Rhine will be based on the CoH system. Each firefight will sport its own map and can be played solo either from the Allied or Axis side, with a two player option (but this is only an option, since the game is a solo gaming system). We tentatively plan on supplying 6 double sided maps with the game.

This week he wrote again:

Oh yes, very much so. We are play testing the first firefights and they are incredible. I think that we will be able to also back design the previous games with this system. I am checking on some unique options, which I cannot disclose at this time. If they are not cost prohibitive, I will announce them.

Sounds exciting.

Implied Coh: Guadalcanal release date

2011-02-03T18:06:00.001-05:00

On Boardgamegeek Uwe Eickert has implied that Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal will be released in July of this year. ARRGGGH! (Charlie Brown style kite eating tree reaction) So long... So very long... what can I do until then... water! water! (of course I don't mind things being done right, it's just... I think I was hoping for March or April)
I wonder if Academy will release anything else before then?

Official US WWII histories online

2011-02-03T12:25:00.002-05:00

I just randomly stubled across the Hyperwar site yesterday. It seems that they have all of the official US Army histories of WWII online including illustrations and (most importantly) maps.
This is a truly remarkable find. I've read all of Two of these volumes (Cartwheel and Victory in Papua) and much of another (Approach to the Philippines), am reading one now (Guadalcanal) and own two others (Fall of the Philippines, and Seizure of the Marshalls and Gilberts) but some of the editions I had did not include the Map inserts.
I include this link for your reading pleasure:
Hyperwar: US Army in WWII

Nerdlandia

2011-02-02T17:31:00.012-05:00

From Chris Ware's ACME Novelty Library (#16) I think (used w/o permission)

Lately I've been lapsing into my semi-annual fruitless RPG nostalgia. Reread MAR Barkers first two (and only readable) Tekumel novels Man of Gold and Flamesong. Also investigating the phenomenon of Retro-Clone and Nostalgia old school RPGs. Curious. Unfortunately it all seems to revolve around a worship of OD&D or Basic D&D, which I did like better than AD&D. But I was into other systems, namely TFT: In the Labyrinth, Basic Roleplaying: Worlds of Wonder: Magic World, Runequest II and EPT.

Mostly I'm waiting for CoH: Guadalcanal to come out. It certainly looks to be even better than I hoped. There's also talk of a late War Eastern Front expansion pack which will be interesting especially since it will add Partisan counters..

I played in a quick Napoleonics game last weekend and had a lot of fun. For me Napoleonics are weird in that I like to play games in that era, look at the figs, etc. but I don't read hardly anything about it. I'm this way with Western Front WWII also, love to game it, not to read about it. See Napoleon's HQ blog for a brief account of this game. I was defending the town that the rogue French commander attacked.

Been reading Bergerud's Touched with Fire again (slowly), along with John J. Miller's Guadalcanal: the First Offensive. The Bergerud book is one of my all time top History books (see sidebar). Also indulging in my love of old school adventure comics (such as Joe Kubert's Tarzan and Enemy Ace, Hal Foster's Prince Valiant plus newer loves such as Love & Rockets and Xenozoic Tales.

Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal teaser

2011-01-07T13:25:00.001-05:00

Box Cover, used without permission

CoH: Guadalcanal is slated to come out sometime early this year. I cannot wait. I have been waiting for something like this since the early nineties.
A cool teaser screen shot has been posted to boardgame geek you should check it out (click the link). From what I'm seeing it looks like you could probably use this to do many Munda Trail and Papua scenarios too.
I'm pre-ordering this the SECOND it is available to do so then I'll probably play it about a hundred times...
yours
SCOTT PASHA
I should note I just finished playing CoH:SoS right before seeing the teaser so I was definitely primed for more.

Harpy Holidays!

2010-12-24T12:57:00.000-05:00

Farewell to the King

Outside life has definitely intruded, so all has been quiet here on the blogging front.

As to gaming, I played in an Age of Reason (1st Edition) game set in the French & Indian War back after Thanksgiving. The game itself was pretty enjoyable and went quicker than I expected. I commanded a small brigade of Rangers and light infantry who mixed it up in the woods with French militia and allied Indians. A bit of trivia is that these rules were the first miniatures rules I ever bought, way back in 1991 or 1992. Picked 'em up at their place of manufacture, the Emperor's Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. Didn't use them for another 15 years though!

Mostly I have been soloing Conflict of Heroes some more. Which has cut into painting time for sure, though I did pick up the brush this month and move my SC Cadets along a bit. It looks like I may actually have a face to face game of CoH next weekend, but we'll see...

A week or so ago a little package arrived from the UK which contained the Indian Army special deal from Woodbine Design. Since I have a Sikh Platoon that needs completing, I got the figures with Sikh heads. The figures all look great, very clean and endearing. Great poses and lots of character (in the good sense). But I've been nagged by a need to do something different...
Why?
I have more than enough unpainted lead for two major ongoing projects (ACW & WWI). I need to really minimize spending. And board-gaming is, currently, just as big an interest. But who can deny the call of new lead...

Forthcoming addition to Pulp Figures Savage Seas Range (click for link)

Both these ideas are not new to me. One is to rebase many of my Maori Wars figs and try to move towards a more truly skirmish game. The other is this vague notion I have had for years to run a skirmish game based around Coast-watcher, Farewell to the King, Papua Constabulary type thing... Long ago I ran a series of games set in the interwar period that involved South Seas adventures, mostly fighting Sulu Seas Moro pirates. At that time I really wanted someone to put out a Melanesian range. Well, in the last year or so Pulp Figures has released a bunch of great figs that fit this bill, and with two more packs on the way, I think I cannot resist. Most are suitable for any time in the last 1000 years.

What I want is to be able to get back to games where I could paint less than 100 figs per side and have a good game. Unfortunately I think that the huge table at the club really mitigates against that. The pressure is definitely for thousands of figs rather than dozens. Also it is really difficult to fill up an 8 x 12 table with jungle terrain! If I do this I think I might use a homemade variant on In The Heart of Africa by Chris Peers.

Anyhow, merry Crassmass!

New Woodbine Indians, coming soon?

2010-11-22T09:51:00.000-05:00


Indian Bombers.

After seeing a post on Lead Adventure Forum by the incomparable Plynkes I checked out the Gripping Beast Headlines page. Apparently Woodbine Designs has three new packs of Indian WWI Infantry on the way. Here are the pics they had, lifted w/o permission.

Indian Command / NCOs?

Very exciting and yet another example of how Soapy's the man. If you're planning a WWI project support this guy. And since these are the figs I've been needing for years, some of my $$$ will be crossing the Atlantic as soon as they release these.

Indian Hotchkiss LMG teams. AMAZING!

Game Report-- "Fritzy" Frost Fails (but just barely)

2010-11-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

The goal: Secure the disabled Armored Car in the center of town

Game: Rolls Royce Down!

Setting: Somewhere on the Eastern edge of the Transjordan, October 1918

Rules: Price of Glory

Date & Location: Saturday 11-13-2010 at The Yankee Peddler Wargames Club (almost 40 years old)

Forces: British: ad hoc Platoon consisting of elements from the ANZACs and British Army (2 sections, both controlled by Mike), Indian Army (2 sections, Eddie) and Arab Northern Army (1 section, Mazz)all amply supplied with Lewis Guns and Bombs; assisted by local insurgents (eventually up to 6 or 7 groups, Mazz); 1 Se5 Biplane; 1 Indian Army Mountain Gun (Scott Pasha) and 1 Light Car (Scott Pasha)

Central Powers: 1 large Platoon of Ottoman Turks (5 sections, John and Jim); 1 small platoon of AsienKorps Germans (2 LMG teams and 1 rifle section, Gary); Albatross Biplane

Scenario: Scenario begins with a knocked out Rolls Royce Armored Car in the village and it's scout car retreated just outside the village. Lt. "Fritzy" Frost, a rather forward thinking Brit who champions adoption of Storm Trooper style tactics, has been chosen to enter the village secure it for recovery of said AC. He is taking a crack team of former ANZACS, Sikhs, Sharifian Regulars and British Regulars amply armed with Bombs and Lewis Guns into the village to hook up with local "friendlies" (who will be riled but by Political Officer Larry of the TransJordan). Meanwhile José Pasha and sympathetic German Captain Gunter von Prüsspantz commanding rogue elements of the dispersed Yildirim Army have decided to take the village, kill the women, "kiss the boys" and then take off across the desert to join up as mercenaries with ibn Saud (little suspecting the true fate that will await them if they make it).

Terrain: Almost all buildings scratch built by Mike.

Figures: Turks: Copplestone Castings, Woodbine Designs, Brigade Games; AsienKorps: Brigade Games, Battle Honors; ANZACS: Brigade Games, Woodbine Designs; Sikhs: Brigade Games; Sharifian Arabs: Artizan; Arab Insurgents: Battle Honors, Artizan, Brigade Games,

Vehicles: Aircraft: Corgi Aviation Archive; Rolls Royce Armoured Car: Matchbox; Light Car: Company B

Initial British and Australian set-up

With some prompting by Jim, I ran a Price of Glory game last weekend. It went over pretty well and may have resolved the most recent "theoretical problems" that I have been posing to myself about PoG, namely what are the unbalancing factors? There is a lot of grumbling about Machine Guns, and attacks on defended positions and armoured cars. So... the scenario involved two relatively evenly matched forces who both started in a village, with no HMGs or cavalry or active ACs.

An Indian Mountain gun dropped shells on the Turks in the center of the village through the entire game.

The Turks and Germans deployed across the width of the town and began an advance. At first the Turks came under some fairly intimidating shell fire while in some ruins but quickly moved up to occupy a strong, two roomed building at the central crossroads in town.

Sharifian Regulars move forward on the British right flank

The Frost's force in some ways mirrored the advance of the Ottomans and Germans. The focus here, though was a little more oriented on establishing effective crossfires and getting Larry's Sharifians into town. Once there they would foment an uprising against the insufferable Turk.

Initial Sikh positions

The Sikhs spent much of the game in an attempt to engage and take the Turkish strongpoint. British victory condition was to secure all four corners surrounding the Armoured Car at games end. Eddie's Sikhs were the most active British units in attempting to directly achieve this goal.

After driving off British air cover, a German Albatross strafes Frost's force

I used the super simple Air Superiority rules from our previous game. It is mostly there as a counterbalance to one side having unrestricted aerial attacks. In this game though there were only two turns in which one side (German) ever had air superiority. The rest of the game was spent in dogfighting.

The Central Powers forces advance into the village. Note the ruins in which the Turks were shelled.

Little knowing what was awaiting them, the AsienKorps infantry moved up and then pretty much stayed static. After Larry entered the village he and his Arabs stirred up the natives and the Uprising began. Mazz accidentally (mostly due to my being unclear about the scenario rules) placed his first group of "pop-up" insurgents on the table before he could activate them. In other words the Germans fortuitously noticed a milling band of surly locals and dispatched an LMG team to deal with them.

The Insurgency begins. Armed local Arabs activate to the left of advancing AsienKorps infantrymen.

And deal with them they did. The LMG team you see in the foreground above moved to assault the offending Arabs and did them in by tossing some Grenades into the building and following it up with a determined melee. No Arabs survived.

A Turkish sniper, working in concert with a German spotter, looks for a target

Meanwhile... The Turkish command group surveyed the battlefield. José Pasha and his subordinates size up the situation. "This troublesome Frost must be dealt with". He orders the sniper team to shoot down any British officers seen on the field. Unfortunately for them the previously "beneath contempt" occupants of the house reveal unseen weapons and make an attack.

Arabs attack, and eventually kill, the sniper team

The sniper and his German spotter are killed. Wisely José turns chooses the better part of valor an d moves out of the building. "So as to be closer to the boys up front.." he says, the bullets flying after him. Sometime around this "advance so as to retreat" his favorite water-boy Achmed is grazed by an errant Arab bullet, an ill omen? Who is to say?

Frost's lads assault the Turkish right and engage in a protracted melee. Eventually the Turkish section is destroyed.

With the appearance of their Pasha, the "boys up front" make a determined stand against an attack by Fritzy's boys. The melee seems to go the ANZAC's way, then the Turks and back-again. Finally the Turks are defeated... and killed to a man. "In memory of Talal" grumbles the NCO as he bayonets the last remaining Turk.

The Turks seized this building and it became the key position in the game. The three sections suffered at least 50% casualties, including 2 NCOs, by games end. It was constantly being hit by small arms fire, mountain gun shells and grenades tossed by Sikhs in the buildings to the East and South-East

Meanwhile... the other half (well 3/5ths) of the Turkish Platoon advances to occupy their stronghold.

Another, later, strafing run. The buildings in the mid ground were teeming with insurgents.

The table, as seen from the Northeast corner. The seemingly endless dogfight continues above the village.

It should be noted that for almost the entire game the Germans occupied the same three buildings. They exchanged fire with Sharifian Regulars and Sikhs who occupied the buildings ahead of them and fought off several insurgent attacks from behind.

Where earlier the Turks were wiped out, now a Turkish counter-assault retakes the building and destroys the ANZAC defenders.

The Turks on the right flank were steadily pressured forward as their rear filled with new and larger Arab units each Turn. Eventually there were about 6 to 7 units of insurgents in the Turkish rear. The Turkish leadership moved forward and motivated the remaining Section to counterattack and eliminate the ANZACs.

In a desperate bid to take the Turkish stronghold, Fritzy leads his boys across the garden. They were met by numerous thrown grenades, but it's the rifles that begin to tell against the lads.

The Armoured Car stopped smoking (a hint by me that it was approachable). If anyone had attempted to enter it they would have found that the Vickers MG was operational and loaded. But no one did. While the Brits focused on the central Turkish stronghold (ssen in the mid-ground, far right), José Pasha led the remnants of the right flank Turks around behind the last ANZAC section.

In attempt to secure their hold on the crossroads, and deny the wreck to Frost's men, the Turks launch an assault across the street. It is doomed to fail under a British / Sikh crossfire.

John's attempt to secure the North East Corner of the crossroads failed, as was almost inevitable. By this point the constant blast attacks and small arms fire were beginning to tell against the main room of the stronghold (note the suppressed markers and lack of command figures). The situation here was more fragile than it seemed.

The failed, final, assault. Led by Frost, the exhausted men are not able to make themselves close with the enemy. Moments later belated lewis gun fire from the Sikhs suppresses the Turks, but it is too late as the game comes to an end.

If the Sikh and ANZAC players had co-ordinated this last assault better, there could have been a victory. The suppressions that resulted from the Sikh fire would have made it unnecessary for Frost's lads to pass a Courage check to close. It was still possible for the Brits to win this game in the last round...

Quick update

2010-11-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

1. The Bombers were found three days later with my daughter's help
2. I only finished painting 2 Anzac Bombers, an ANZAC NCO & a Turkish "sniper".All figs by Woodbine Design co. and All in a much messier style than I prefer.
3. We will be gaming WWI in the Near East this Saturday, in honor of Armistice Day. The scenario will not resemble any real battle I know of, but should be fun...
4. I've played (solo) Conflict of Heroes 3 more times since the last post on it. My opinion is, if anything, even more elevated than before... I've added Storms of Steel and Price of Honour since last I wrote on it.

I am going to attempt to take photos of the game so expect a game report some time in the near future...

Not so funny... a critter in the dark

2010-10-31T17:46:00.000-04:00

After a long day parenting I took some Woodbine ANZAC Bombers & an NCO outside and primed them (more on this later). It was dark and I put them, as I always do, on a scrap piece of cardboard on a low wall on my patio. It was dark and chilly. I left the figures to dry and went inside to finish the nighty-night rituals. What I did not do, that I usually do, was weight the cardboard with a rock.
The wind picked up and several hours later when I went out to fetch the Bombers I found that the cardboard had flipped over into a giant pile of Oak Leaves. I attempted to find the figs in the dark but then heard some scurrying across the yard. Looking up I saw an ugly villainous creature staring at me from about 6 yards away: The Opossum.
Luckily, being a southerner I knew just how to deal with him/her: I hissed. The 'Possum ran off into the dark.
Unfortunately I only found 3 of the 5 figures last night; none today thus far. It will be dark when I return home so there's no way I'll be facing off "Pogo" again.

I'm a Wargamer...

2010-10-19T17:01:00.001-04:00

A piece from the original COH game set. How beeyootiful!
In the new expansion they have replaced the pictures of minis
with counter illustrations, but they still look really good

Sorry that it's been so long since I posted, but it's been a busy month, and not in a good way.

My ACW painting is proceeding well. about halfway done with my Cape Fear Cadets. Haven't actually played a minis game in almost 2 months but I have played a few solo boardgames, namely the classic Frank Chadwick game A House Divided and the much newer but unbelievably great Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear.
As long time readers will remember I bought COH:AtB in December of 2008 but until this autumn it remained (inexplicably) unplayed. Now I realize what a mistake that was! This is the (board wargame) system of my dreams. I knew that but somehow convinced myself that it was too complex... wrong again!

I would urge you to go out... right now... and buy one of the COH games if you have any interest in WWII tactical combat. It's not my main period of interest but I have always had a soft spot for WWII tactical games since my days in the early 90s of playing Up Front, Panzer Leader and Squad Leader. This new game is much improved in my humble opinion. Played solo it is positively elegant in play, quick and thrilling. I'm sure as a two, three or four player game it is even more so. There is a new expansion coming out called Price of Honour which is set in Poland in the 1939 Blitzkrieg. I've pre-ordered it and hope to see it near the end of next week.
More soon.

Cape Fear Cadets, first volunteer

2010-09-14T12:37:00.001-04:00

I've finished painting my "guide" figure for my first unit of Rebels. They will be made up of figures from Perry Miniatures packs ACW30,31 & 36. Confederates in Frock Coats, mostly wearing Kepis. I am not happy with these figures since they have an unacceptably large amount of flash. Up to now I have been painting Renegade, Redoubt and Crusader ACW figures which, for the most part, had no flash at all. The uniform is painted in Testors (!) US Navy Blue-Gray [ed. corrected] since it was the only mid-shade blue-gray I can find. The color decision was made based upon several photos of better quality Early War uniforms.

First painted Rebel, From Perry Miniatures pack ACW31

I am envisioning this unit as an early 1862 unit made up primarily of the sons of well to do Low Country South Carolina families. They are still able to maintain their early blue-gray uniforms from the first blush of the war but now some pragmatic elements have made their way in. About every fourth infantryman will be wearing a slouch hat, every fourth or fifth will have non-issue trousers. When I order more flags they will be carrying a South Carolina State Flag into battle.

My intention is to paint this unit up initially as a four stand/ 15 figure unit suitable for use in solo games at home. I'll then add another stand to take it up to 19 figs for use in Guns at Gettysburg games.

Advance the Flag (part 2 of 3), a kind of overview

2010-09-09T16:26:00.000-04:00

Cover to Advance the Flag

I've been a sort of fan of Chris Peers' rules for some time. What does that mean? It means I buy lots of them, admire some, play few. As noted previously, I recently acquired his ruleset for big battle ACW games mainly just to see what they were like. I thought they would be a variation on Ever Victorious Armies which is, in it's turn, a variation on Contemptible Little Armies, they aren't. Below I'll attempt to run through the features of these rules, with some minor comparisons to the earlier rulesets I've mentioned.(In large part I'm writing in this kind of detail because I found exactly nothing on the internet when I was trying to find info on these rules.)

Format: First off, until recently all Chris Peers' rules were published by HLBS company, as were these, so there are no frills, at all. One sided pages with exactly zero illustrations. This doesn't cut the cost very much, I bought mine at Brigade Games for $21.95 US. Secondly, as with CLA & EVA the rules are constructed in a way that may be confusing to some gamers. They look much more complex than they are because, in essence, he starts the rules by establishing the setting and defining (in both historical and game terms) the necessary troop types, weapons, unit composition, etc. One page is used to describe four types of fire-arms, for example. There are seemingly no real rules until the last 1/3 of the book. Really that isn't true at all though. The rules themselves are super-simple, well presented and quickly read but are, of course, contingent on understanding all of what was laid out in the earlier parts of the rules. Effective, and perfectly simple when you understand his method for presenting rules, but different than the standard.

Scale: The game is at Corps level with units of 4 stands representing a Brigade. Stands may contain any number of figures, but the rules are oriented towards 28 mm figs. The rules suggest a stand size (60mm frontage) but frankly there is no need to re-base as long as your basing system is relatively consistent. Divisions are 3-8 Brigades and Corps are, of course, 2 or more divisions. Artillery is represented by 1 stand batteries that are under Corps control. Corps commanders may form larger grand batteries. There are no organizational tables in the book, but these are easily obtained from hundreds of printed and internet sources. One important point to know is that Brigades in this game are maneuvered and operate in formations like regiments in other games, so you don't lose the fun of maneuver warfare.

Command & Control: Unlike in previous games from Mr. Peers, there is no orders system, rather leaders will play an important role in motivating their subordinate units and must stay actively engaged with them. The loss of a leader is one of the biggest events in the game in terms of causing a moral crisis. Most leadership occurs at the Division and Corps level but, as you will see below, there are some important occasions when the quality of Brigade leadership will come into play. Players may buy a limited number of "Outstanding" leaders at all levels (which allows for the possibility of an outstanding Brigade leader). Players must take a randomly determined number of Incompetent leaders. Leaders motivate units to move and give bonuses in melee and may rally away disorder markers.

Units: Infantry may be Raw, Veteran, Elite and/or Dashing. Dashing is to some degree analogous to Ferocious in his earlier games, being most applicable to early war Confederate Brigades and Zouaves, etc. They may be equipped with the usual selection of smoothbores, rifle muskets, breechloaders or repeaters. Interestingly rifles and smoothbores are effective in the same range but rifles have a long range which is significantly longer but fire is at a serious reduction to accuracy. Smoothbores do not have a long range and Mr. Peers discounts the effect of "buck & ball"ammo (rightfully in my opinion). Fire mostly inflicts Disorder upon targeted units, but rolls of 19 or 20 (fire is rolled on a d20, all else is d6) is particularly effective and reduces the target by a stand. This is the only way that figures leave the table from fire, unless the cumulative effects of disorder cause the unit to rout or disperse. (see below).

Scenarios: There are three generic scenarios presented: attacking a fortified position, meeting engagement, pitched battle. The first is a 2:1 scenario, the latter two are at the same points value with the meeting engagement involving off-table divisions arriving at random times.

Terrain & Weather: There are sections for weather and terrain. Terrain is fairly standard and pretty simple.

The Turn: The turn is a fairly standard alternating activation (by division) with at least one "simultaneous" phase (firing). Confederate player moves first. Sequence is: Rally-Late Arrivals- Mandatory Retreats- Movement- Shooting- Close Combat Resolution- Morale Tests.

Movement: Movement is a curious variation on Mr. Peers' earlier systems. In past games there was a random and relatively modest movement rates assigned & rolled for each unit. Now in AtF a standard Divisional general rolls 1d6 and adds a set amount to the randomized number which is dependent on the unit's type (cavalry, infantry, artillery, etc.), formation (skirmish, line, column) and terrain. Outstanding leaders will motivate more movement (they may roll 2d6 and choose the best of the two rolls), Incompetent leaders less (an Incompetent leader who rolls a natural 6 confuses his unit, which then does not move this round). All movement which will travel through difficult terrain is done at the difficult rate. In short most Infantry units in line will move between 3 to 8 inches in a turn which is on par with most other games of this sort but might be a little slower.

Shooting: Simply said, a d20 is rolled for each stand and modified by a number of variables including whether the target is in effective or long range, if the firer moved, the firers weapon or ammunition (for example, canister). A modified roll of 14+ is needed to score a "hit"and thus inflict a disorder marker, as stated above a roll of 19+ kills a stand.

Close Combat: I have covered this in my previous post. One of the simple strong points of the system.

Morale: Morale has several aspects in this game but all revolve around units becoming disordered. The first aspect is a number of conditions that will necessitate a morale check in the morale phase (at the end of the turn). A morale check is based on quality with Veterans being better than Raw (obviously). A failed Morale Check gives a unit (or in some cases all units in a Division or Corps) a disorder marker. Secondly there is Disorder itself which can be accrued from three main causes: fire, close combat and failed Morale Checks. A unit with one Disorder will go on as usual but at two or three the unit may not close with the enemy, at four Disorders the unit routs and at five the unit disperses. There are no Division or Corps break points. Rallying is done at the beginning of the turn and simply involves any unit which is disordered rolling 1d6, if a 6 is scored a Disorder is removed. Outstanding Brigade commanders may roll 3d6 and Incompetent ones none (so these Brigades will only be able to rally under the influence of a higher ranking commander). Divisional or Corps level generals may attempt to rally units that are within their personal influence.

"Color": What I've included above is the skeleton of how the system works. What I haven't always included is the various tangential rules that give the rules their color. The leadership rules, which I have discussed above, in and of themselves tend to add character to individual Brigades and Divisions. For example a Brigade could be Raw (and thus prone to failing Morale Checks) but Dashing (and thus likely to successfully Charge) and lead by an Outstanding Brigade officer who could really help remove disorder markers. Brigades will become very effective in certain circumstances and terrible in others (lets say a dashing Brigade led by an incompetent officer which would be good in it's initial Close Combat but would probably become ineffective rather quickly unless shepherded by a Division General). Other areas of "color" include rules for Supply Trains which are very useful to the owning army, but if captured by the enemy can cause Morale Checks throughout the entire owning force (this also gives a legitimate reason for both sides to field cavalry). There are rules for bursting guns, quaker guns, fortifications and field works, balloons and gunboats.

NEXT my (unplayed) conclusions and comparisons

Advance the Flag (Rules)

2010-09-02T22:22:00.002-04:00

Chris Peers 2009 ACW rules (available from Brigade Games)

I just received Chris Peers big battle ACW rules Advance the Flag in the mail today. I thought they would be a variant on his Ever-Victorious Armies which I've had since 2002, but never played. It's not, and so may not be usable for it's intended purpose (solo games at home). I'm still reading the rules but one thing I really liked was the close combat resolution system which may be as simple as three rolls, while still seeming to have good, thematic, flavor. Essentially the attacker rolls to move into close combat (based on morale class) then rolls again with next roll being heavily modified by many attacker and defender factors (the usual: morale class, formation, cover, etc.). The second roll then is read against a results table. I'll reprint one result to give you an example:

3 or less: The defenders stand firm and fire a devastating volley into the attackers faces. The attackers receive two disorder markers and fall back 2d6 inches, still facing the enemy. A friendly Corps or Division commander within 2 inches of any part of the retreating unit must dice. A score of 1 on a d6 means he is killed or captured.

That's what I like. All resolved quickly and appropriately, and often decisively. Think of the time saved in many Horse and Musket games if "melee" was resolved that simply. I can't see why it isn't? I, personally have no more desire to roll for each step of close combat than I do to keep track of ammo in skirmish games.

It reminds me of what I've done in our Price of Glory games. I completely ditched Iron Ivan's method of resolving fire against armored vehicles and replaced it with the Tables used in Chris Peers' WWI skirmish rules (To the Last Man).

I'll let you know what I think about the rest of the book, once I finish reading it.

The NEW Shiny O'Malley

2010-08-27T11:16:00.001-04:00

The new Shiny O'Malley. Figure from Sash & Saber. Not the greatest sculpt ever but it suits the man himself

I still haven't sprayed varnish on due to the high humidity, but soon he'll have a nice shine

I actually painted eyes. His nose has been given a little "redness". His uniform is a mixture of regulation and non-regulation items, well suited to a Brigade commander who leads on foot.

Model 1850 foot officer's sword. A respectable paunch and a gloriously white beard.

Stop Me before I...

2010-08-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

Stop me before I... buy Redoubt's ACW Naval landing party. I'd like to paint up a unit of sailors and a unit of Marines to use in games set on the coast.

I've been reading the excellent book Success Is All That Was Expected which details the naval operations of the South Atlantic Blockading schedule. It has given me a real taste for coastal ACW operations. Not really the ships, but the smaller scale actions that occurred throughout the war.

Stop me before I spend again!

Shiny's Charge "Game Report"

2010-08-19T22:30:00.002-04:00

Shiny urges two Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiments to charge home!

Date of Game: August 14, 2010
Era: American Civil War, 1863
Location: Wrightsville, Pennsylvania (fictional battle)
Rules: Guns at Gettysburg
Scale: 28mm
Players: Scott Pasha (Union Center), Jim (CSA left), Mike (CSA right), Eddie (CSA center), Gary (Union Right), Matt (Union Left)
Victory Conditions: Take and hold the town of Wrightsville
Played at: Yankee Peddler Wargames Club
Game Length: Approx 4.5 hours

My photos are even worse than usual and, again, I didn't take any photos of the general battlefield. As always, click on the photo for a painfully detailed close-up.

Jim ran this game last Saturday. It was a fictional meeting engagement that would have occurred at Wrightsville, PA just before the battle of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. I was finally able to attend (after missing an exciting colonials game and an 1814 Napoleonics game) with a complete Brigade of my own figures. Shiny was in attendance and was, in this instance, tasked taking the victory location: the town of Wrightsville.

A view from above as Shiny's Brigade takes the town early in the game

Initially the Confederates were slightly outnumbered by 1 brigade, though they received reinforcements late in the game. However the rebels began the game in control of the town, which turned out not to be anything beneficial. The Union forces deployed one under-strength Bde. East of town, Shiny's Bde. (including a 6 gun Battery of rifled Guns) immediately before it and a Division of 8 brigades to the West. We were opposed by one Bde (& a 6 gun mixed Battery) in the East and Center and 7 Brigades on the Confederate left (the West).

Two regiments in reserve and part of a battery of rifled guns

I can make this report simple, because the battle itself was simple. Matt's Bde. on the Union left deployed into Skirmish order over the course of the first 4 turns, but only after combining with Shiny's battery to drive off Mike's opposing rebel guns. From then on it was skirmisher against skirmisher until Matt's troops were forced back to hold their initial line. But that is what they were supposed to do and thus the Union left was kept secure while events played out elsewhere.

The rifled guns begin counter-battery fire against their rebel counterparts

The Shiny's Brigade, in the center, had very simple orders: Assault Wrightsville and hold it. Two Ohio Volunteer Infantry Units moved forward, took a small number of casualties and took the town in a short, sharp melee. They reformed in town and set-up an all around defense.

Once in the town, the Ohio regiments reform and organize an all-around defense

Once the rebel Napoleons were driven off, Shiny's rifled guns moved forward to rake the field

For most of the game Eddie, in the CSA center peppered the regiments in town with skirmisher fire, but right before launching his counter-attack he vollied Shiny's Boys and caused some heavy casualties. Both units pulled out of town (over the course of two turns) and were replaced by full strength reserves. Eddie then assaulted the town with 4 regiments and drove Shiny's regiments out.

Driven from the town, an Ohio regiment (seriously reduced) pulled back to allow the reserves to assault the town. In the background is the other Ohio regiment, also preparing for another Assault.

All the while the OTHER Union division (Gary, on the right) pushed slowly and steadily against the CSA left. I never paid a lot of attention to what was going on here,even though I was the CO, because I was constantly being dragged into rules debates on the Union left (ahem). I do know that after much fighting across the Pike, the CSA had a Brigade collapse and fall back where they regrouped. Gary was able to cross the Pike and slowly drive Jim's Rebels back.
A reserve CSA Brigade arrived in mid-game, but never made it into action.
Shiny helped his lads to rally and in the last turn of the game one of his regiments retook the town. A Union (technical) victory!

Good work lads! Whisky all around!
(You'll note the grainy finish on the command stand, a high heat induced side effect I was unaware of)

The game certainly could have gone either way. The Union left was pretty weak by games end and would have eventually collapsed if pressed, but Mike, CSA right, had taken some heavy losses as well and his reserves would have taken several more turns to really become a factor. Shiny was never shot, off the table or away from his troops, so that was good.

Anyhow, thanks Jim, for a good game! Huzzah for the Union!

More (Better) Random Thoughts on Gaming

2010-08-12T15:49:00.001-04:00

Thomas Sherman, certainly not Shiny but love that hair!

I wrote this a week or two ago and meant to attach a graphic, but I'd better post it now. As a note of (no) interest, Shiny will be going into battle this Saturday as long as my fookin' BACK holds out.

1. Officers and Soldiers of the American Civil War and ACW Uniform references

Having purchased the late war French uniform guide from H&C , I thought it'd be a great idea too buy vol.1 of the ACW uniforms book from the same series. It has been out of print (though maybe it's back in? see the link below)so I paid a little too much for it from a "collectible book dealer" (read shyster (this is a professional prejudice of mine)). Unfortunately I feel that though it is an admirable book in a certain way, it does not live up to my expectations. Bad points? The uniforms and flags completely lack context even though the book is presented (implicitly) as an entry level reference. I think a person using this could be badly misled into painting a lot of figures in a uniform that was extremely rare. Good Points? On the other hand if you know a little about the war, it does what it sets out to do and nicely illustrates a good sampling of representative uniforms for both sides. Personally I like these illustrations best as painting references because the colors used are BLOCK colors and you don't have to worry about interpreting how the artist is interpreting a given color.
http://livres.histoireetcollections.com/en/themes/9/uniforms.html
That being said, I still think if you were to buy just one reference for painting it's not coming from Osprey or H&C or anyone like that, what you need is Echoes of Glory by Time-Life Books (of all people) who have a volume each for all the relevant uniforms and equipment of the USA and CSA. It's all photographs and there's just enough text to explain things. This is what I actually go to while I'm painting. And in the US you can probably find these cheap at any decent Used bookstore.
2. Role-Playing?
No, not really. But I was thinking about my ACW project and it's context. My WWI project is made up almost entirely of figures from my own collection. So they are all precious to me. But in the ACW games I am only, currently, painting one Brigade of one side (the Union). And through a smart-ass remark by a by-stander at an early game I have also been given a "continuing personality" to lead them in the person of "Shiny" O'Malley. Well what does this do? It makes me love my little Brigade (and their be-sotted, much wounded leader). My paint job on these figs ain't the greatest but I'm doing it how I like, with only the figs that I want and it makes me invest myself just that much more in the games.
So what am I getting at? Well I like how "Shiny" is developing into a "character" over time. We know this about him: he likes his whiskey (and he likes your whiskey, he likes anyone's whiskey), he likes the ladies, he loves the old-country, he's a Fenian, he's a belligerent leader who'll stand in the face of an advancing enemy line and d**n them all to h*ll (and for that he's regularly off the table with a bullet in his arse[read: he's very unlucky in the "Risk to General" rolls]). I'd like to know what's happening to him between games. Has he ever been promoted, upbraided or given a good dressing down by his superiors? I do know that in my mind he goes on to be involved in the disastrous Fenian invasion of Canada, so he must make it through the war. As you know I am very fond of the Peter Pig / RFCM style off-table campaign & scenario generating systems found in such games as AK-47 Republic, Civil War Battles and Patrols in the Sudan and (more to the point) the experience system in Chris Peers' War in the Forest....In the latter you gain points after each game toward an advancement of the player through a system of ranks, which allow you (if I'm remembering this all correctly) to gain certain small advantages over time. What's that remind us of? RPGs of course. So I might just think up a little chart system to track Shiny's life... who knows..

Random gaming thoughts....

2010-07-26T17:48:00.000-04:00

A card from Legion of Honor (lifted from Boardgame Geek)

I wish I hadn't started paying attention to Boardgames again because there is way too much going on that I'm interested in. Problem? I currently only play Boardgames solo and not with any frequency. I have two games currently that I LOVE but hardly ever play (Kaiser's Pirates and Frontline: D-Day). I'd really like to own the recently released Fires of Midway, but can't justify it right now.

I did make my first ever pre-order a few weeks ago. An interesting Napoleonic Card Game/ Wargame/ RPG(?) named Legion of Honor by Clash of Arms Games which reminds me of GDW's En Garde from way back in the the Seventies (I ran it when I was 11 I think).

We have a Guns at Gettysburg game scheduled for August 14th which I plan on attending. I only have to paint 16 figs to complete my ACW goal. Will I be able to do it? No... I average 4 figs a week so not quite...

I am currently working on a command stand of Standing Frock Coat Union figs from Redoubt. I really like these figures and plan (when I recover from medical bill induced Broke-ass-edness) to buy a couple of units from Redoubt.

It seems as though my opportunities to do any gaming at all are rapidly shrinking...

Another Test Post

2010-07-15T22:57:00.000-04:00

I've updated my OS and thus the problems I've been having with Blogger have (seemingly) disappeared. In celebration I'm posting a previously UNPOSTED (I think) photo from my August 2009 solo Crossfire game. Enjoy (har har)

OOH much better... I'm using the NEW compose functions... very nice!

The figures you see in the photo are from Brigade Games

ACW Artillery figs

2010-07-08T22:16:00.010-04:00

Here is a photo of the Sash & Saber gun crews I painted up a little while ago. Also 2 Twenty Pounder Parrott Rifles. In the end I didn't particularly care for the S&S figs, so I have ordered some Redoubt figs to "replace" them. The photo seems a little dark; click on it to get an unnecessarily large view ("warts and all"). Also the photo was blurry so I sharpened it a little, to bad effect.

Test

2010-07-03T23:40:00.002-04:00

I believe I now actually may have internet at home. This post is the equivalent of a mic check....
tetsing 1 2 3

Since I took this photo I've repainted the NCO with KAR puttees

New project (tiny)

2010-06-27T10:41:00.005-04:00

Months ago I primed a section of Battle Honors WWI East Africa "British Askaris" (read KAR in pillbox hats) and painted 3 figs. They have since languished, gathering dust. Until now. This weekend I started to paint the rest of the section and I tested (successfully) a base treatment (red earth, stones and green static grass as per Tanzania).

Now between two of us at our club we have nearly enough figs to play a WWI in Africa game but I had intended to paint a "platoon" of King's African Rifles (because I think they're cool). I have some BH figs and some more Brigade figs. I think we will be focusing on 1915 so no lewis guns or Armored Cars (big cheer from the players). Now I just need to paint these figs (while continuing my ACW project) and get an African village bought and painted.

I'll post pics when I'm done (so some months from now)....

I do game... sometimes

2010-06-13T10:53:00.007-04:00

Just to show you I do play occasionally here's a little phone-photo of a General de Brigade game I played in this weekend at the club. It was a Peninsular War battle between Brits & Allies (mostly Portugese and KGL) on the one side and French & Friends (Poles, which I commanded one whole Brigade of) on the other. Classic meeting engagement. My little Polish Bde. was on the French Left and I merely tried to delay the British Right which was a little less than twice as numerous as I was. I guess I succeeded at my task though it seemed a close run thing, standing firm in the face of sustained British Musketry and Artillery fire was hard to do . I took lots of casualties but managed to obey my orders and stave off a Brigade morale failure.

Meanwhile the real blood was spilled in the center, where the Portugese attempted a head on assault of a very large French Battery, and on the French right where a seemingly endless series of Cavalry Charges and Counter-Charges and Pursuits were resolved.

The game was resolved by means of a point system after 6 hours or so with a marginal French Victory.

Probably about 1100-1200 figs on the table (I think there were 6 Brigades per side, most infantry Brigades averaging right near 100 figures). None of the figures were mine, shown in the pic to above are Mike's Brits (Hinchcliffe & Connoiseur) facing Jim's Poles (unknown manufacturer, maybe Old Glory). The shot is from the Poles last stand on a hill to the rear of the stream that they were initially defending.
Quite fun.

Oh yes... and there's that von Tempsky fellow

2010-05-24T10:23:00.015-04:00

Also last weekend I thought I was going to get in a solo game, but for various reasons it didn't happen. What it did do was make me realize that I need to decide how to re-base my Maori Wars figures. And that, my friends, makes me have to decide what rules I want to use.

I wrote (and finished the core of) a Brother Against Brother adaptation some years ago (which you can find posted on the Maori Wars Yahoo Group). But since my group uses Iron Ivan rules, it probably will be best to use the This Very Ground French & Indian rules with some simple house rules governing Breech Loaders. I think the key to this era is to approach it not like a "colonial war" but more like an "Indian War" (as in U.S. Frontier Wars). To stay thematic you need to really try and play out the differing goals of the three factions (Government, Kupapa & Hau-Hau)involved. In my opinion this makes using a scenario-generation system or a mini-campiagn system (both ala RFCM rules ) the way to go. I tried in some way to do this in my B-A-B adaption, BUT also a certain minimum literacy in the conflicts by the players might be necessary and that is probably asking too much.

(the above photo shows the death of von Tempsky)

In some ways an adaptation of Patrols in the Sudan would work well because of the terrain placement and hidden placement mechanics. The Patrolling mechanics used by P-i-t-S would simulate the kind of actions which made up most of Te Kootis War and much of the action in the later part of the East Coast Wars which preceeded it.

My ideal would be to be able to comfortably use a small number of stands (around 30 per side) for short solo-games. I'm not sure that I'll run this at the club again since I just don't think that using a giant (8x12) table is in any way helpful in simulating this conflict. But I am still very much interested in these wars and also in the inter-tribal "Musket Wars" of the earlier 19th century which are much more bloody and epic in nature.

progress... of a sort

2010-05-23T10:33:00.007-04:00

(photo is from Crusader Miniatures website)
I have finished another stand (= 2 coys.) of Union Frock Coat Crusader figs and started the last stand of Sash & Saber Union gun crews for my battery. My goal was to finish one 4 regiment infantry brigade (80 figs) plus one 3 stand battery with a selection of guns (currently I've 2 20 lb. Parrotts painted and 3 3" rifles unassembled). Technically speaking I've finished 3 regiments plus 4 figs, but really that's with one regiment of mixed manufacturers (Renegade & Crusader) & mixed poses (at ease & marching with right shoulder shift). I don't want this so I will finish the last two regiments as manufacturer & pose specific which adds up to about 16 figs to go.

On top of that I just received a regiment's worth of Perry Confederate's in Frock Coats. I was a little disappointed with them, but I think that was because everyone speaks of Perry sculpts as THE Standard. A little more flash than I like (and these days I expect basically none) and the bayonets are a little more delicate than I care for (a la Woodbine). My CSA brigade will probably be 4 regiments strong made up of a mix of 16 fig and 20 fig regiments plus a 2 stand battery. Currently I plan on using mostly Crusader figs. The big problem will be how to paint them. It's amazing how accustomed we've all become to the all butternut, all hat wearing armies to the point where I'm afraid that if I paint a regiment in early war regulation uniforms or late war Cadet Grey they will look "inaccurate". Also, as with WWI and WWII German uniforms, the various Confederate greys are a little difficult to find "straight out of the bottle". I think I have a couple of colors that will work (Vallejo Stone Grey, P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight). More boring details later.

Update, May 2010

2010-05-09T15:09:00.005-04:00

I am now 2/3 of the way done with my Union battery. 2 crews and 2 guns finished. The figures are Sash & Saber, which I am of very mixed minds about. But that's what I have and that's what I'm painting. Currently doing a stand (2 coys.) of Crusader Frock Coat infantry which will, when done give me 2/3 of a Regiment of those figs. I bought some Frock Coat Union Renegade figs a while back to go with the 2 stands that are painted. What will I do for the Command stand? Maybe some Sash & Saber command figs I have, which aren't 100% compatible (they have packs on and are in Sack coats) .

As to WWI I'm definitely going to get some of the new Woodbine Design Indian figs (when I have some surplus $$). Woodbine is best for releasing all the figs you actually need to build units. So I am eagerly awaiting the Officers, NCOs, grenadiers and Lewis gunners. Also I plan to buy a "starter army" of Arabs in Ottoman service and possibly paint them as Sharifian Regulars.

The Affair at Balad al Bustan: an Arab Revolt game

2010-04-25T10:45:00.048-04:00

(above)
The initial Turkish set-up in the East side of the village. The building furthest away (& nearest the palms, later called the Market) took a lot of fire and shelling and was, late in the game, the scene of intense grenade attacks and melees. These Turks here were facing the advance of the Indian Platoon.

Game Date & Location: April 24, 2010 at the Yankee Peddler Wargames Club
Setting and Era: The Trans-Jordan, Early 1918; Arab Revolt
Rules: Price of Glory (with some house rules governing Air Superiority and the rules from Chris Peers' To the Last Man governing fire at armored vehicles.)
Attackers: Elements of the Arab Northern army (4 "sections" of Tribal askaris with mixed small arms, 1 section of Sharifian Regulars + a British Lewis gun team, 2 sections Agayl mixed small arms + an Agayl Lewis gun team, 1 small band of Agayl cavalry and camelry, Lawrence [of Arabia], 1 section of 2 Rolls Royce ACs, 1 Se-5a in a ground attack role); Attached Indian Army support units (1 Sikh HMG team, 3 Sections Sikh infantry + Lewis gun team, 1 Section Gurkha rifles, 2 Indian Army mountain guns)
Defenders: Elements of the Railway Protection contingent (5 Turkish sections + a small number of grenadiers, 2 Turkish Maxim gun teams, 1 Turkish field gun); an understrength platoon of Asienkorps infantry, isolated in Balad al Bustan by railway sabotage (2 rifle groups, 2 LMG groups); 1 Albatross D V in support, about 6 3" sections of barbed wire (used to block the main street)
Players: Jim (Ottoman Turks), Todd (Asienkorps and Turks), Mike (Arab Tribal infantry, Agayl Arabs and Sharifian Regulars) and Jeff (Indian Army and support assets). Scott Pasha allegedly GMed even though Jim really did at least as much.
Figures: Arab Tribals: Jim's mix of Redoubt North Africans and Old Glory North Africans; Agayl: Battlehonors Arabs (foot and mounted) and Artizan / Brigade Games Arab Revolt range, Sharifian Regulars: Artizan, the British LMG team was Copplestone; Indian Army: Infantry & HMG: Copplestone and Brigade games Mountain Guns: 1 section Brigade Games 2.75", 1 section Battle Honors 3.7"; Ottoman Turks: Mostly Copplestone, some Brigade and some Woodbine Design Co.; Asienkorps: about half Brigade Games and half Pulp Figures German See-Battalion, which stood in for AK in helmets, a couple of NCOs were Battle Honors.
Terrain & Scenics: from club collection, Buildings mostly built by Mike, little "olive trees" courtesy of Jim (who also lent me his camera, thanks Jim)

Please click on any photo to see a larger view

(above)
Balad al Bustan as seen from the North West, the Asienkorps initially were covering the North and West parts of the village.

(above)
A section of Sikh Rifles (Brigade Games) and a 1:48 Rolls Royce Armored Car (Matchbox). They arrived from the South-East. The RR AC section was divided between the two allied players, but activated at the same time as each other (and the Se-5a).

(above)
A dogfight underway between the two aircraft (early in the game). The Ottoman player rolled the higher roll, but not enough to establish air superiority that turn. The arrival of D V was a surprise to the Arab players. Both planes were eventually driven from the table by ground fire (first the German and then the British).

(above)
The left wing of the Arab contingent in Turn one. The closest troops are irregulars those in or near the palms were Agayl or Sharifian regulars.

(above)
Late in Turn two native insurgents rose up against the Turks inside Balad al Bustan. Initially they tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress an Ottoman HMG team, then they charged an Asienkorps rifle group that was moving through the village. A protracted melee took place and eventually the Germans were slaughtered (here is the last man). These insurgents were promptly shot to pieces over the next two turns.

(above)
Some time in turn two, just as the real carnage began. In the foreground the Sharifian regulars advance through the village palm grove, flanked by the Agayl mercenaries. These troops all met their ends assaulting the so-called "charnel house" that was defended by AsienKorps regulars. (you can see this key locale just above the Se-5a's right wing-tip in the photo below.)

(above)
The Se-5a achieved air-superiority after the Albatross was damaged by ground fire. Here it engages in strafing run against Turks defending the Olive groves just to the West of the "Charnel House". You can see the Battle Honors arab figures to the left of the plane, in Black over White.

(above)
The "Charnel House" so-called because three different Arab units expended themselves against it (over the course of turns four, five and six). These were the two Agayl foot units and the Sharifian regulars. This position really commanded the Western end of the village and was instrumental in repulsing the Arab assault on the Western olive groves. In the photo you can see the remnants of the Agayli cavalry, inside the olive grove where they ended up after the Turks defending the stone wall there broke and ran. An Asienkorps unit moved into the ruins to the North of this grove and decimated (with the help of other units) the Agayli riders. This marked the high water mark of the Arab attack on the Ottoman right. The irregulars broke against the walls of the olive groves where they were done in by MG and rifle fire from within the village. The table between South edge and Western olive groves were littered with around 25 dead tribal Arabs by games end. They were constantly being forced to check Morale, failing and losing their activations, and thus subject to a murderous fire without cover.

(above)
This building (we'll call it the Market) was the key to the Eastern side of the village. It was flanked by a small orchard (in the foreground) which held a Turkish section for much of the game, but they were eventually wiped out by fire from the Rolls Royce. In the late middle part of the game (probably around turn four or five) Jeff charged this building with a section of Sikhs and took it from the defending Turks. He was promptly hit with an artillery strike and counter-charged by a grenade tossing section of Turks. A complex series of melees occurred with at one point the Gurkhas entering the fray and relieving some Turkish askaris of their heads, the building went back and forth finally ending up in the hands of the Indian contingent, but only after the loss of two complete sections (1 Sikh and 1 Gurkha). By this point the Turks in the Eastern sector of the village were completely wiped out, with only the Krupps field-gun remaining. In the background you can just see the last assaults by the Sharifian regulars against the Charnel House, amongst the bodies of the Agayl infantry.

(above)
The last turn. By this point the Indians had effective control of all the village East of the main road (seen above). The Rolls Royce that had accompanied the Indians moved into the village and began to hose the "Charnel House". They were accompanied by a unit of Sikhs that had moved around the village to flank the remnants of the Ottomans, who had been hit hard by a strafing attack and the RR's mg. These Sikhs easily cleared a way into town while the fighting in the Market occupied the attention of the Turks. All the while the whistle of a train full of Turkish reinforcements could be heard, just off table. The game ended at 3 pm after around 7 turns. The Northern Arab Army was unable to meet it's victory condition of controlling the town before the train arrived. Most of the survivors were German.

Summation:
The rules worked well, but I think they worked best in situations that are more WWIIish such as urban fighting. We really got to try out things that hadn't occured so much in past games such as snap firing, aircraft rules (from the Iron Ivan Yahoo group [see below]), fire & movement tactics, and lots of melees.
I didn't really manage the initial set-up well, and thus made things a little harder for the Arab players, and I think the player who has played these rules least (Mike) probably suffered because of an unfamiliarity with the nuances of them. Todd and Jim (defending) both know these rules well and understood how important it was to suppress and involuntarily activate enemy troops. It was noted that the Arabs should have had more modern rifles.
P-o-G Air Rules
from the Iron Ivan Yahoo Group:

"Ha ha. No, there is no need to buy the main WWII rules just for that. Its been asked before for WWI aircraft, really I should just put together something for it. I have tried to decide how to make WWI aircraft a little different..... the following would be a WWI synopsis, somewhat modified from the WWII....
Basically, the WWI plane comes on the board, makes an attack, then exits before the start of every turn (or how many turns you nominate, or every other turn, whatever works for the scenario).
Onboard, the plane moves in a straight line and may attack any unit along that line, but only using each weapon group once. All MGs are a single group, bombs would be another group. Figure RoF 2 for each MG (yes, they should be 3 or 4, but this is how they work for aircraft).
Now then, the MGs have an ACC 4, and are modified by cover as normal. Bombs are ACC 3, except they are not affected by the cover modifier of buildings.... if you hit you instead have to penetrate the roof.
Target must save vs Guts as normal with -2 for every MG fired, -1 per casualty.... the MM of the class of bomb (Light, Medium, Heavy....) that is used. Figure light bombs for most WWI aircraft 50 lbs (25 kg or so)... maybe Medium bombs 100 lbs (50kg or so).
Pins also activate the target unit into the following turn.
However, ground units can shoot at the aircraft. Any unpinned unit may try to shoot the plane as it passes, it must be in LOS. It is activated (which counts into the following turn!) by trying to shoot the plane regardless of whether or not they hit it. Only units with at least 4 rifles, or 1 MG are allowed to try this. If you have artillery that you think was deployed in the AA role (most were not) they you may also fire this.
You need 1's to hit... the unit of riflemen get a single d10, the MG would get a single d10, and the artillery would get a single d10, it is not for every model or for the RoF of the weapons.
If the plane is hit once, it may make no further attacks and must exit the board never to return. If hit twice or more, it is destroyed. If hit by artillery it is considered destroyed automatically.
If hit by rifle fire, the plane gets a saving throw vs the attack, on a 5 or less it ignores the hit. If hit by MG fire, on a 4 or less it ignores the hit. It may not attempt a save from an artillery hit.
On a standard board, a destroyed plane will crash off board.
Effectively for our purposes, the only differences from one plane to another are the number of MGs and what/how many/if bombs are carried.
Once you use planes once, it becomes pretty clear how they work, they are very simple to employ. Just keep track of the bombs dropped, and how many turns you allow them to operate. Assume MGs have enough ammo for the entire game.

I might tweak this concept later on, but should work for you for now.

Chalfant"

House Rules for Air Superiority:

Air Superiority: Each Turn the players will make a contested roll, each player will roll 1d6 with the following results:

+ 0,1,2

Dogfight, no air superiority, place both planes on the table, higher roller may be placed behind lower roller, in the case of a tie place the planes apart

+3,4,5

Air Superiority, remove the losing plane for this turn

+6 or more

Kill! Enemy plane crashes on the table.

Roll 1d3: 1: Pilot survives unhurt 2: Pilot immobilized at scene of crash, but able to defend himself 3: Pilot killed in crash

Shiny Holds the Line, 1862-- Sort of a game report

2010-04-11T12:42:00.032-04:00

Rules: Guns at Gettysburg

Era: American Civil War

Scale: 1:20 / regimental

Figures: 28mm various (Dixon, Perry, Sash & Saber, Foundry, Lots of Old Glory 2d edition) my figs were Crusader (all the right shoulder shift poses) and Renegade (all the at-ease poses)

Scenario: minor encounter before the battle of Chancellorsville, US defending

Players: Jim (GM) CSA left , GaryUSA left C&C, Mike CSA right C&C, Scott Pasha USA right

Most of the Union figures pictured are mine (dark blue coats), as usual the bases aren't done. My photos are extra flash washed out; some how I forgot everything I know about photographing miniatures this game.

At the top is the famous "Shiny" O'Malley. You recognize him as a Renegade ACW figure. I painted him 5 years ago (or so) and he is Extra-Shiny and "unsubtle" in his painting style. I'm thinking of painting a new figure as Shiny.

The pictures below are not intended (for the most part) to show the game but merely to show what I've been painting.

scroll down to see more photos

On April 10 Jim ran another Guns at Gettysburg game. Luckily I was able to get away and participate. As is usual I brought “Shiny’s Brigade” with me who represented one of the two Brigades I commanded. There were 4 Union Brigades in total, but my command was set-up in a thin line to take the initial brunt of the rebel advance.

Both sides had approximately similar numbers of total regiments (15 US/ 16 CSA if I remember correctly.) But the Rebs were trying to gain control of the road and US reinforcements were uncertain (one of Gary’s brigades [plus the one and only US battery] advanced onto the table in turn one, the other had a [10% x turn number] chance of arrival each turn.) As it turned out these last reinforcements did not arrive until nearly game’s end.

Photos to the right show Shiny's Bde. at set-up (from the right flank.

The CSA forces before Shiny initially seemed to be deployed in Brigade Column but quickly redeployed several regiments as skirmishers. To make a long story short, we both advanced

skirmish screens against each other and much of the action, particularly on the right wing, consisted of sharp skirmishing between those regiments. Jim’s skirmishers whittled away at both my skirmishers and at the Ohio Light Artillery Battery which I took control of in the second turn. For my part, I concentrated on reducing Jim's skirmishers in a similar manner.

In the mean time Mike (who I was not facing and thus have only a vague notion of what he did) moved around the Union Left and set up an artillery enfilade against forces I had in a small farm on. Gary moved his Brigade up and engaged Mike, while my regiment that had been holding the left flank was forced to retreat and did not rally until game's end.

Eventually Jim's skirmishers succeeded in scoring a double six on my battery (which had already taken two hits) inflicting another 3 hits (2 for the sixes and a bonus hit for the double). My boys failed their Morale check and skeedaddled, in Rout, for the rear they stopped (literally) at the table's edge. They actually rallied from this precarious situation but had not moved fast enough to return to the battle line at game's end.

Shiny shouts orders

This game did not have nearly as many double six results, though both Jim and I had our respective batteries go “Low Ammo” for several turns each. I also think that there wasn't a single charge in the entire game which probably explains why the Union was the winner when the end came.

A View of the line of battle

This regiment moved back in column and then refused the right of my battle line (see the picture below it). They were in a brief firefight at the end of the game.

Update 04042010

2010-04-04T09:57:00.006-04:00

Just a little note:

1. Painting: I've been painting. Of course my "plans" have been for nought, I've only painted two Battle Honors Arabs and worked on a Brigade Games Sikh Mountain Gun crew. I have also finished a Sash & Saber Union artillery team and 20 pound Parrott rifle.

2. Gaming: I bought (and played one solo game) a new card-based wargame called Frontline: D-Day. Really liked it, but I knew I would as I used to play (20 years ago) Avalon Hill's Up Front fairly regularly. This new game is a simpler more streamlined game with more modern mechanics that allow more Fire & Movement tactics. I will be running a game on the 24th and, as of this moment, am leaning towards doing a variant on the last game.

Now We are Two

2010-03-18T12:12:00.007-04:00

Yesterday this blog turned two! I know, I know... I've thrown everyone for a loop with the ACW stuff but last night I started painting Bedouin again. Unfortunately for me I still want to read and paint ACW also, but I'll put the painting part off until after our ANZAC day game (if it actually happens). Until then more WWI figs will be churned out. Anyway... I'll try to post some more actual pictures of newly painted figs but until then... here's a blast from the past....
The futile charge of an Iraqi Arab cavalry unit against British regulars who are assaulting their town. From our last Price of Glory game (see the Game Reports label in the sidebar)

Shiny Stands Defiant-- A sort of game report

2010-03-15T15:16:00.007-04:00

GETTYSBURG, DAY 1, THE FIGHT FOR OAK RIDGE

a kind of game report (currently no photos)

For a good map representing the real battle:

http://civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/maps/oakridgemap.html

Last Saturday (March 13^th) Jim hosted a game of Guns at Gettysburg at the local club. For me it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and probably my favorite G-a-G scenario so far. I can’t write a proper battle report because I was too caught up in commanding my beleaguered brigade, which barely survived to the end of the game. To be frank I really am not quite sure what was occurring on the Union left other than it was nearly the opposite of the steady Confederate advance I was suffering from.

The flag to the right is a Flank Marker for the 45th NY state Volunteer Infantry-- commanded by von Amsberg in the real battle

The scenario was a historical re-fight of the struggle for the Oak Ridge, North-East of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Rode’s Division (Daniel, Iverson [Mike], Ramseur, O’Neal [Jim] & Doles [Todd]) was advancing from the North and ran up against elements of both the Union I Corps(Cutler[Jeff], Baxter & Paul [Gary]) and XI Corps (Schimmelfennig/ von Amsberg [Me]). I commanded a portion of Schimmelfennig’s / von Amsberg’s [O’Malley’s] brigade (4 regiments and one battery of 3” rifles) on the far Union Right which was opposed by Doles brigade, commanded by Todd. In this game “Shiny” O’Malley, my recurring, feckless, much wounded and often besotted, Union brigadier, took the place of Schimmelfennig and we will hence forth refer to his Brigade as O’Malley’s Brigade (“The Shinys”).

Todd obviously was under Engage orders, trying to keep O’Malley occupied and unavailable to support the Union center on Oak Ridge. He did this well, first engaging and then driving back a Brigade Skirmisher screen I had thrown out to my front and right. Confederate artillery pounded the center of O’Malley’s Brigade which was deployed in an extended line inside some light woods. He also threw several regiments forward as skirmishers and began to whittle away at my Artillery and the Regiment which anchored my Brigade’s left. I wheeled my Brigade’s right wing forward so that all the regiments were in line and engaged in a firefight with several regiment’s in the center of Todd’s Brigade. At some point Todd and Jim both scored double sixes while skirmishing with my artillery this killed a total of 6 gunners and resulted in the battery’s eventual dispersion; in the course of the game two other double sixes were scored against “The Shinys” and O’Malley himself was lightly wounded twice causing his absence from the field at two critical junctures when he would have been able to rally units that were retreating or in danger of dispersing. My brigade broke and fell back for a turn, then regrouped and waited for Dole’s Brigade to advance. At that point it was only O’Malleys strength of will (read: use of two “Rally Once Again” cards) that kept the Brigade together. At this point, probably one turn from O’Malley’s command breaking again, the game was called: a Union victory.

Now all this only represents the action on the Union right, which was the most dispersed sector of the table. All the while I think that Paul’s Brigade [Jeff] drove his attackers back as he repulsed a series of futile Confederate charges. Two full brigades of Confederates (I believe it was Iverson and Ramseur) attempted to assault the Union center on Oak Ridge but again were driven back in a hail of musketry and canister.Hopefully Jim can elaborate. It's amazing how narrow your focus can get when playing a multi-player game (esp. on an 8x12 table.)

My feelings for Guns At Gettysburg are now warm and loving. The more I play these rules, the more I like them(and I have tended to liked them from the start). They play a little more quickly than the General de Brigade rules they are based on on have just enough "chrome" to liven up the game. In fact in my part of the game it was these elements that really gave the action it's character. Critical moments were created by the double sixes which wounded O'Malley and led to the weakening morale of the whole Brigad. Double sixes also took my battery out of action (I believe three total double sixes were rolled against this battery, 2 sets in one turn). The counter-balance was that as a result of some of those very double six rolls O'Malley was awarded 2 "Rally Once Again" cards, which allowed him to hold the brigade together until victory was achieved on ther parts of the field. Thanks, Jim for a great scenario and I hope these rules will become a regular feature at the club.

Progress and plans

2010-03-07T15:58:00.006-05:00

1. Regiment 3 finished:
I had an extra 8 hours to myself this weekend and so I actually finished my third regiment of US Volunteer Infantry. The figures painted were a mixed bag of Renegade figs that are not compatible with each other in terms of uniforms or poses (half are in shell jackets and are advancing with bayonets forward, the other half are at-ease in Sack Coats). They are also not compatible with the other figs in the regt. (which are smaller Crusader figs in Frock Coats, right shoulder shift). Why this disjunct? Well 5 years ago I painted about 24 Renegade figs in the at-ease pose. I then started a smaller batch of figs (6 figs) which were all advancing or loading percussion caps. These were about 80% complete when I left off. Since time seemed to be at a premium( and I needed to get these figs done by March 13th) I finished those figs and fully painted the rest of my primed Renegade figures.
2. Plans:
Since there's a WWI game scheduled for late April I think I'll finish my Sikh 2.75" gun & crew and try to complete one section of Sikhs and some more Arabs. We'll see if it happens that way...

Finished Book, Bought Book

2010-02-28T15:02:00.008-05:00

1. I finally finished Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 by Albert Castel. Great book. Probably one of the best campaign studies I've ever read and certainly one of the best ACW books I've ever read. That perfect balance between a high level study of command and a more detailed study of the many battles in the campaign. As I've noted before almost all of my Civil War reading has been about the Western campaigns and this book fills in one of the notable gaps. The Atlanta campaign was, arguably, the campaign that won the war. Not because the armies of Johnson and Hood were decimated (that was Thomas's (sp?) job in late 1864) but because Sherman had the responsibility to politically castrate the defeatists in the Union (and thus end the sole remaining hope of Confederate victory) by first pinning Johnson's armies in the South and then maneuvering himself into a position that would cause Atlanta to fall. That done the fighting spirit of the North would be reinvigorated. This he did, imperfectly, but did nonetheless and with Lincoln's reelection in November the fate of the secessionist was sealed. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a great read.
2. Old news to most of you, but I picked up the H&C French Army of 1918 book. Worth every penny and exactly what I need. Colors are clear and unambiguous, all kit and insignia shown. For the miniatures painter this is what you need as a guide. Not much organizational info but enough and way superior to some uniform guides in terms of usable images. I will begin to paint my French figs this summer, maybe...

Yet another update...

2010-02-25T14:36:00.003-05:00

1. Currently I'm painting another regiment of Union ACW Infantry. I've finished 2 of 5 stands including the command stand. Trying to get this unit done by March 13th which seems unlikely.

2. We have tentatively scheduled a WWI in the Middle-East game for late April. This means I will probably return, briefly, to painting WWI figs once I finish this ACW unit. Probably I will run either Iraq 1916 or Arab Revolt 1917. Any minute now the Woodbine Design Company should be releasing new Brits or Indians that will work for me... so I'll need those. They've got new heads that are perfect now just for the bodies in shorts.

3. I feel overwhelmed by the number of unpainted figs I have even though by most peoples standards it's not a lot. Makes me feel bad about ordering any more lead, even though I have definitely cut back. Right now game activity consists of 80% reading, 15% painting, 5% playing. Not ideal.

Crusader Minis-- US Volunteer Infantry

2010-02-17T09:39:00.007-05:00

Did you think I would ever ACTUALLY post any photos? I wasn't sure myself... (there are 4 total, scroll down; click on photos for larger view).

Anyway, here they are: 20 Crusader Miniatures Union in Frock Coat & Hardee Hats figs painted up in my own "special" way. There is definitely some variance in the stands regarding the hat cord color and the way I chose to paint the flesh areas. Probably the pants aren't bright enough but the coats are (in my opinion) the best shade of blue.

They are shown in Assault Column at top, Close Order Line in the middle, and with 4 coys deployed in skirmish line in front of their regiment (which is in extended order).

The last photo is of the Command base for my next regiment (Crusader minis Union in Frock Coat and Kepi), the glue wasn't even dry when I took the photo...

Still trying to get the flag thing down. Not my best work...

Now to finish at least 2 more regiments... sigh... and a battery....

Mutterings...

2010-02-01T11:47:00.020-05:00

1. Technique: I've never used a paint pen before. I have used a flexible tip marker to try and draw Moko on my Maori figs, which sort of worked, but using a gold paint pen for buttons really works well. We'll see if there's any problems with "materials compatibility"...
2. Books: I've read many Civil War books in my time but I, for one, will never feel like an expert on the subject. As you may or may not know I work in a huge, super high-volume used bookstore and one thing I can tell you is that I see at least 2 ACW books to every 1 WWII book and probably 10:1 (at least) ACW books to books about any other conflict. My problem right now is I have three books in line on the ACW that I really want to read: Brent Nosworthy's newest book Roll Call to Destiny which looks very interesting, How the North Won by Hattaway & Jones, which is apparently a classic strategic study, and In the Trenches at Petersburg by Earl Hess a locally based academic. Why is that a problem? Because while my kids are young my reading time is severely curtailed...
3. Miniatures: I've started the command base of my next Union ACW regiment. Painting a unit in "Kepis" will save me a step or two as compared the Hardee Hats. This unit will be a base-by-base project as I will probably break away to work on WWI or maori-war colonials depending on what I decide to run this spring.
4. Boardgames: Really wish I could find a good naval ACW boardgame, but none seems to be in print now. I do not want to start dropping $hundreds$ of dollars on another miniatures project, so ACW is naval is out of the question right now. Eagerly awaiting the release of many Boardgames (most of which I might play once) I wish I could play the Kaiser's Pirates some more as it's a truly great game. VPG is apparently working on a solo fall of the Ottoman Empire game for their Sate of Siege system, probably a ways off, but Tattered Flags (see image at right, of playtest game, stolen from ConSim World) is playtesting so hopefully I'll be able to get that soon!

New Osprey Book

2010-01-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

I just noticed this upcoming book from Osprey: Ottoman Infantryman 1914-1918

Hopefully it will contain some useful information and answer some questions we probably all still have. I believe it is due out in February.

Update...

2010-01-24T10:54:00.009-05:00

So I have now finished (other than sealing the last 4 figs and flocking the bases) my 20 figure regiment of U.S. Volunteer Infantry. They even have flags attached! It's my first time mounting banners so things didn't go perfectly, but all in all (with some advice from members of the club) they look good. I'll take a photo and post it soon. But what to do next? I've got another command stand ready to be primed for my next regiment. Should I take that on? It took me just over two months to paint this regiment and I have other projects waiting...
I'll probably at least start the next regiment (Crusader Miniatures ACW Frock Coat figures).

I'm planning on running a WWI game in March or April, so this will probably effect what I choose to paint. I have a lot of "half painted" WWI figures waiting: a Sikh 2.75" Mountain Gun crew (the gun is painted), a section of Sharifian Regulars, a section of KAR, some Asienkorps are all in various states of being painted. The Sikhs are probably the most likely to get painted. Now the real question becomes what to run? Arab revolt? 1917 Palestine? 1914-1915 Mesopotamia?
We will see...

Flag furrows, etc...

2010-01-17T18:29:00.009-05:00

This weekend I participated in a 15mm Johnny Reb II game. I usually don't show up for these games since they are usually very well attended but since I'm on a little ACW kick I went anyway. I had a good time and initially did very well, driving the confederates before me by breaking their left flank. The rebels then shifted many units to support this flank, and though, at games end, I still held my objectives, almost all my regiments were in rout. I'm not sure who the winner was officially, but it's strange how one bad deployment at set up (allowing a limbered btty of napoleons to be wiped out by enemy artillery fire) , probably put me in this position.

JRII is fun, and of the rules I've read or played thus far, it has the most "authentic" feel on a tactical level. But it is overly detailed (as befits a 1980s era rule-set) and not the fastest. I also feel that it's age really shows when it comes to Command and Control rules (and let's face it, in the Civil War poor generalship was probably the most important single factor in many battles) . I still would choose to play Guns at Gettysburg in 28mm if I was playing a regimental scale game. I feel that RFCM's Civil War Battles (which I have not actually played) probably sets the stage best and implements the various external factors that are critical in properly simulating any "political war". I know I am in the minority, but I think that players are best served by having to try and fulfill conditions imposed by some unseen "higher level commander". It often makes play more unpredictable and bloody.

I got some really beautiful GMB 28mm ACW flags from Jim this weekend, and found that the flagpoles I had already mounted my flag bearers with are too short. I used an existing set of Body's Banners to set the proportions, but these are noticably smaller than the GMB flags. Now I will have to dismount the flagpoles, from painted figures and start over, probably necessitating some touch=up paint work. Oh well. The ACW regiment is within a couple hours painting time of being completely painted. We'll see when I can squeeze that time in.

Update: Early January 2010

2010-01-05T09:35:00.003-05:00

Almost there with my Regiment of Hardee Hat wearin' Union boys. Painted the command stand over the New Years Holiday which leaves one stand of Infantry left to do. The flags we ordered at the club were all "back-ordered" so I guess when I finish painting the unit I'll post a photo sans-banners.

Just received the U.S. Army War College guide to the Atlanta Campaign (Rocky Face Ridge to Kenesaw) yesterday. It will supplement my reading of Decision in the West (though I'm just finishing the Kenesaw Mountain part so...) I have read the Chickamauga guide before and have the Shiloh Guide. Very interesting because the text is all orders and dispatches written during the battles by commanders from Army to Brigade level.

I am very excited about two forthcoming Boardgame releases from Victory Point Games: the Trenches of Valor expansion, which will include a new map, new scenarios as well as leaders and new support units. Also they are developing a miniatures-style boardgame called the Tattered Flags (Regimental scale, Wheatfield at Gettysburg) which I can't wait for.

ACW is what I'm doing

2009-12-20T10:55:00.005-05:00

So I've been slogging away at some Crusader "Rank & File" ACW figs and will continue to do so until I can't stand the sight of Blue...
These figs are really well done. They are true 28mm and maybe a bit on the slim side (which I like). Currently this range is very much unfinished and all packs are essentially variations on the the right shoulder shift pose.
I am choosing to not shadow or highlight any parts of the figures except for the fleshy bits since I do not want to mess up the shades of Blue I am using.(tangentially I had to return to Testors to get the right shade of Blue for my Frock Coats, though I may try some of the Foundry Napoleonic colors).

I have been reading the excellent book Decision in the West which is about the North Georgia and Atlanta campaign. For whatever reason I have read much more about the Western campaigns than the Eastern (in particular Bragg's invasion of Kentucky through Atlanta) and it looks like that will probably continue. Problem is (and it's not really a problem) our 28mm ACW armies at the club are based more around 1862-1863 Eastern forces. Actual gaming Effect? None. Especially since we are using "generic" regiments of 20 figs. I am going to base three bases (command stand + 4 coys of infantry) on a 4 figs per stand system and then base the other 4 coys on half stands so they can be deployed as skirmishers.

100th Post

2009-11-22T10:36:00.002-05:00

I have been off in left-field, where I will be for a while it seems. After an October Guns at Gettysburg game I decided to take a break from the WWI project and attempt to finish up an ACW Brigade for GaG. Unfortunately units are between 16 and 24 figures which for me is a long time. But I'm taking the plunge and starting on some Crusader figs, I've finished the first two coys. (1 Stand) as seen in the startlingly bad phone photo above (I've lost my camera temporarily. I already have 1 regiment of Renegade figs that I painted 4 years ago, they tower over the Crusader figures, but that's okay.
In my usual manner, gaming and reading go hand and hand so I have shifted to reading some ACW titles.
This Blog was created to specifically deal with WWI and Colonials, should I post off-topic stuff if it looks like it will be the main focus for me for a while?
Let me know if you care...

Boardgame: Trenches of Valor

2009-10-09T14:18:00.006-04:00

Trenches of Valor

Boardgame 2009 Victory Point Games
Designed by Pelle Nilsson

I’ve now played three scenarios of this game (1, 2, & 4) and thoroughly enjoyed each one. It is a super-fast, simple and fun game that brings tactics to the front while managing to neatly preserve the concerns of trench raiding.

Components
The game plays in around 15 to 30 minutes with a small number of components on a small (11x17) game map. The game is Definitely in the micro-game tradition but with better components. The game uses nicely sized ¾” pieces that have good graphics representing Hand-to-hand, grenadier, rifle, LMG and MG units. Each of these units represents anything from a team of 2 men to a squad of 10 depending on the scenario and the quality of the men. All information is conveyed very well and I did not feel like I had any real confusion about any rules. The counters are mounted and die-cut but aren’t coated. The map is printed on heavy card-stock in full color. Most information you need to play the game is reproduced on the Map itself. The design of the map and its functionality as a component in a wargame is perfect. Personally I am not a fan of obviously computer-generated graphics and I’d love to see a hand drawn version of the same map. For that matter, I’d pay a lot to have “euro-game” quality components.

Play
What I like is how I am focusing on tactics the whole time. In my first game the Germans are raiding and attempting to eliminate two Lewis Gun posts. The raiders chose a very straightforward tactic, using one unit of grenadiers to block reinforcements to the isolated LMG post. This worked but the Germans didn’t win because they were still on the board at games end. In ToV you get many of your VP (usually around ½) from exiting raider units back in to No Man’s Land (before the box barrage lifts). I have found that this aspect of the game needs to be given as much attention as any other tactical consideration. When in the third game the Canadians quickly eliminated a German Maxim position, focused the remaining German units’ efforts on denying an easy exit to the raiders who quickly ran out of options for gaining the VPs they needed to win. They could only attempt to kill the last Maxim, which was too well protected in its fortified position and survived repeated grenade attacks.

So, based on the three solo-games I’ve played so far, I would give this game a glowing recommendation. Play is quick so you may wish to play multiple scenarios in a session.

The game designer writes that there should be a expansion kit out in the near future. It will feature leaders, Engineers, flamethrowers and more scenarios. I will buy it the minute it is released. My wish is for a myriad of counter-sheets to be released to allow for scenarios in other theaters and also for some additional types of maps that would allow scenarios in No Man’s land and against other fortifications (concrete emplacements, fortified shell-hole complexes, underground French forts).

Painted Figures from August and September

2009-10-07T09:36:00.007-04:00

If you ever doubt the slowness of my painting, this is proof. What I painted in August and September, of course the bases aren't done:

A Battle Honors KAR officer & a Battle Honors British NCO painted as a South African

Another view of the KAR officer and the first two BH "British Askaris" which means KAR in pill-box hats

The Backs of my BH Arabs and a stand of Brigade Games Arabs, my daughter is helping you to notice these figs

My BH Arabs, blurry, with some BG Arabs. The Arab leader with the sword is a figure converted by Helen and painted by me.

A unit of the new Artizan / Brigade Games Arab Revolt Irregulars

A Lewis gun team of Arab irregulars

Now I'm working on Sharifian Regulars and Irregular Cavalry. I'll propbably do a solo game on the 17th.

Link to article on the 1920 revolt

2009-09-13T15:16:00.005-04:00

Here is a link that might be useful:
It's an article entitled "Story of the Siege of Samawah" from Blackwood's Magazine no. 211 (1922)
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA100&dq=blackwoods+siege+of+samawah&client=firefox-a&id=ZuYCAAAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Absolutely thrilling read in the finest colonial style and chock full of scenario ideas. Print it out because you'll want to keep it.
The still is from "The Lost Patrol" which is vaguely set in Mesopotamia in either the 1920 revolt or the Great War. (I lifted it from some random internet site. BUY the movie because you must have it.)

Mesopotamia WWI Price of Glory Game Report

2009-09-06T13:14:00.038-04:00

Game Date: Saturday Sept 3, 2009
Rules Run: Price of Glory (but i used the vehicle hit charts from "To the Last Man)
Players: 4 + GM (me)
Played at:Yankee Peddler Wargames Club, almost all terrain Club terrain
Setting: Mesopotamia, October 1916 somewhere north of Kut al Amra
Scenario: A British detail, lead by a Lieutenant Frost, is cut-off in an Arab village where they had been attempting to woo the locals. Instead the local tribe sold him out to a nearby force of retreating Turks. As dawn breaks the Turks are besieging Lt. Frost inside the village while a small patrol of British infantry, Indian infantry and a section of Armored Cars comes to the aid of the beleagured detail.

Defenders: Ottoman Turks and local Arabs
John:
1 Platoon Ottoman Infantry (5 sections with a total of 42 OR, 5 NCOs and an HQ group of 1 junior officer with a senior NCO and water-boy; Conscript Courage)
2 Maxim Gun teams

Jim:
1 ad-hoc Arab Band (53 figures, divided into 5 units; armed with obsolete rifles; conscript courage; disband instead of route on third morale failure)
1 Arab Cavalry unit (12 figures cavalry & camelry; obsolete rifles; conscript) [many arab figs painted by Jim]
1 Turkish Cavalry Unit (12 figures; conscript)

Attackers: Indian Army
Todd:
1 Platoon British Regulars (2 Rifle sections 8 figs + NCO each;2 Lewis gun sections, 4 figs + NCO each; 1 HQ group: Lt. + 2 man escort)
1 British Vickers MG
1 3.7" Mountain Gun
1 Section Light Armored Motor Battery (2 Rolls Royce Armored Cars,1 Model T scout Car)
1 Bi-Plane in a ground attack role (played by a Se-5)

Eddie:
1 Platoon Sikhs (3 Rifle sections 8 sepoys+ NCO each, 1 section had a lewis gun; 1 HQ : 1 Lt. + 2 sepoy escort)+ 1 Section Gurkhas (1 Rifle section of 8 sepoys + NCO)
1 Sikh Vickers MG
Lt. Frost's Detail (10 Riflemen, 1 Lewis Gun team, Lt. Frost)

The Game:

1. The British started with the initiative and moved towards the village. The Turks and Arabs exchanged fire with Lt. Frost's detail. Arab cavalry rode into the village, while the Turkish cavalry swung wide around the north end. The LAMB Section rolled up and began to hose the Turks in the orchard and fields on the Western flank of the village. The Mountain gun lobbed a shell in town. The Se-5 made a strafing run and suppressed several arab units; unknown to Todd, he had taken minor damage from ground fire...

2. Lt. Frost and his men continued to fire at the turks across the alley from them. The Brits and Indians moved up to the edge of the palm groves and began to exchange fire with Arabs and Turks (respectively) in town. Eddie's Sikh HMG got into an outlying building and set-up. Todd's scout car moved forward but took fire from the village, killing a crewman and suppressing the vehicle. The rest of the LAMB stayed in place and continued to hose the Turks who, in turn, spattered the RR ACs with Maxim fire, unfortunately to no effect. In the town, Jim's Arabs began to move into better positions for the defense. Todd's Biplane starts another strafing run but experiences an engine fire and crashes just past the building in which Lt. Frost and his men are occupying. The crewman bails out with a lewis gun... (and is promptly killed by Turkish fire from the Cavalry unit in the next turn)

3. Some of Todd's Brits moved into contact with a heavily defended building in the town. At the same time he wheeled one RR AC in front of the village. Jim moved his A rab Cavalry out of the village and ineffectively fired at Todd's assaulting British. The Arabs then took heavy fire (from a whom I cannot remember) and were forced to fall-back into the village. All the while the Indian troops were successfully whittling away at the Turks in the village and in the orchards. Unfortunately for him though, the Turk Maxim in the orchard continued to remain unbowed. The 3.7" gun continues to shell the town, to little effect.

4. The British Regulars lob grenades into the Arab building to their front and make a charge, the Arabs take casualties and fall back before a melee ensues. Todd follows this up with a second assault on another part of the building. Again, grenades are thrown but this time a melee follows and though the Brits have the initiative they are repulsed. The Turks begin a determined assault on Lt. Frost's position that is loosely coordinated with an Arab assault by Jim, both are driven back by Suppressions caused by Frost's Snap Fire. Frosts detail is down to the Lewis Gun team, two rifle men and himself at this point. An Armored Car whips forward and begins to fire at the Turkish cavalry, they wheel and charge the vehicle, hoping for an "improvised close assault", but fail their pre-charge courage check and thus are stopped in the olive grove they have been occupying. All the while the Indian troops are still attempting to force the front of the village while receiving a withering Maxim fire and Turkish volleys; they find they are unable to assault the village.

5. At this point the pre-arranged end time arrived at the same time as the Arab forces decided to skedaddle due to heavy casualties; this in turn led to a loss of nerve in the now greatly outnumbered Turkish forces. I called the game as a pyrrhic British victory since Lt. Frost was still alive

The Table around the beginning of turn three:

Conclusions: I think was the most fun we've had with the P-O-G rule so far. We play on a 8x12 table so the most common problem seems to be setting up infantry to far from their objectives. In retrospect I would have started the Imperial forces about 12" further on to the table. Comments were made that the Ottoman side should have had some kind of vehicle killing weapons, but I'm not sure this was really necessary. The Turkish HMGs scored at least 4 potentailally effective hits, but just happened to roll bad on the hit location chart from "To the Last Man". Maybe I should have given the HMGs some K ammo (the German AP rounds) but I'm sure these weren't available at this point in the war and may have never been available in Mesopotamia (though the AC instructional manual from this time and theater specifically mentions it.) I'm not sure if a field gun would have been of much use, since they are so immobile.

I really think the Imperial players could have gotten further with more aggressive play, especially the L.A.M.B. which could have been more effectively utilized in the first couple of turns. The game would have been lost by the Brits if Lt. Frost's snap fire against the two groups that assaulted him had not been so unusually effective.

Figure Photos

2009-08-24T12:05:00.006-04:00

Here are some photos of my arabs (almost all Battle Honors) and the Indian Army figs that I have completed recently.The Sikh Infantry and MG team are Copplestone. The kneeling Sikh NCO with the MG is Brigade Games and the 3.7" Mountain Gun and team are Battle Honors.
I will be taking some better photos on my new camera soon, I promise.

Crossfire Colonial WWI Thoughts

2009-08-16T10:43:00.008-04:00

Before I began to play in a club I gamed Crossfire quite often. It was, by far, my favorite set of rules (though WWII is not my favorite period to game). But my opponent moved away and I have never thought that I would be able to pull off a club game using these rules; so a number of years have gone by since I have thought to play it. What I forgot is that Crossfire plays as well as a solo game as it does a two-player game. So when the opportunity arose to put on a little game at home, I decided (after much worrying) to set up a small game on my small dining room table.

I used the standard Crossfire rules in my game with the following exceptions:

Armoured Cars: I allowed the Armoured Car 3 actions per initiative. Armor was 1/1. If you wanted to limit the aggression of ACs allow rifle fire to blow out tires on a “kill” roll (3 x 5 or 6). The firing player would lose the initiative (or fail to seize it) if he failed to blow out the tires. Tires may be changed as an action, which can draw Reaction Fire.

Command & Control: Infantry Platoons were required to stay in “formation”: column or extended line except when under fire. By 1918 the lessons of warfare on the Western Front so you should allow any infantry unit rated Regular or Veteran morale to operate by standard Crossfire c&c rules.

Barrages: In this game I allowed 6 missions of SOS Barrages. These were pre-plotted against specific Terrain Pieces and the FO could call in the missions as normal as long as his field telephone had an uninterrupted line of communication to a specific point at the Northern end of the table. The opposing force could cut this line, but in this game that was a moot point. All fire was considered to be Shrapnel and would have been ineffective against units INSIDE buildings.

LMGs: Lewis Gun Sections are assumed to be armed with 2 Lewis guns. I have stolen an idea from someone else and decided that if the Lewis Gun’s previous action was movement then it will fire at 3d. If this action is this stand’s first of this initiative, or the last action was a fire action, the Lewis Guns will fire with 4d.

* AP Ammo: Both HMGs were assumed to have been issued some AP ammunition. This allowed them the opportunity to try and knock out the AC. I upped the Penetration to account for the very thin armor of the era. ACC/Pen -1/-4. You might consider limiting the number of fire actions available with AP ammo.

Bombers: Bomber Sections are +1 in Close Combat. They may also make a 4d direct fire attack against targets within 2 stands range or in the same terrain piece. If this attack is made against buildings that the bomber section is in contact with the target receives no protective cover modifier.

Untested variants:

Close Combat: Grenade equipped vs non-grenade equipped +1 (in terrain piece only) (eg Gurkhas vs Arabs in 1920; South Africans vs Ruga-Ruga in East Africa1916); Cavalry vs. Infantry +1 (in open or fields)

Cavalry: Cavalry may be treated with the following options: a. allow a free pivot as part of any move; b. Treat as Japanese when initiating Close Combat, that is any pin caused by reaction fire is ignored, any Suppression is treated as a Kill; mount/dismount is a move action; cavalry is +1 against infantry in the open during CC; lancers are +1 vs non-lancer cavalry in CC; British Cavalry units should have attached HMGs at the Company level, after 1916 they may have one LMG stand per Company (per Troop in 1918).

All that being said, I do believe the closer you stick to the rules as written, the more Crossfire shines. Leave the nitpicking to others.

Crossfire Game (Solo)

2009-08-14T10:04:00.018-04:00

The Affair at Balad Chanaq, near the left bank of the Euphrates, Mesopotamia
Late September 1916
Gamed: August 13, 2009
Rules: Crossfire
Scale: 1 stand=1 section
Table: 3x5

Yes, the photos are terrible. I borrowed a camera and it looks worse than I thought.

The Board: South is Bottom photo (including Wadi Gharbiye at top), North (including Balad Chanaq) is Top photo
Shown at set-up

Ottoman Forces (defender)
3 under strength Platoons (3 rifle stands each, Regular morale) each with a +1 PC [39 points]
2 Maxim Sections (unattached) (Regular) [12 points]
1 Arab Band (4 rifle stands, Green) with a +1 Arab leader [12]
1 detail of Bombers (2 stands, Veteran) & +1 PC [10]
1 Company Command stand +1 [4]
1 German FO with 6 SOS Barrages (4 dice each)[3]
Reinforcements:
1 Turkish Platoon (4 stands, Regular) & +1 PC [14]
Total Points: 80 initial / 94 reinforced

British Forces (attacker)
1 Company Sikh Infantry (reduced)
3 Platoons (4 stands rifles each; fourth stand is Lewis Guns in First Platoon) & a +1 PC each [62 points]
1 Company Command Stand +2 & 1 Stand Rifles (Escort, Veteran) [9]
1 Rolls Royce Armoured Car [12?]
Total Points: 83

This game was a variation on the Bridgehead Scenario in the Crossfire rulebook. The British must take 4 pieces of Ottoman terrain and hold them for 5 consecutive initiatives. The Ottomans receive their reinforcements when the British take the fourth terrain piece.

In real-world terms the Sikh company was seeking to clear Turkish pickets away from the left flank of a British advance and also “show the flag” to local Arabs.

The Ottoman set-up was as follows:
The Arab band in occupied two of the buildings in the village of Balad Chanaq. A Turkish MG and the FO were in the third (and Southernmost) building that overlooked the Sikh Company’s approach. The Eastern Wadi (Wadi Sharqiya) was defended by a Platoon of Turks, another Platoon set-up in the fields just to the North of the West Wadi (Wadi Gharbiye). The remainder of the Turkish company (an MG and the remaining Platoon) defended the wall on the Southern edge of an orchard, just East of Balad.
British Set-up:
The Sikhs deployed in a loose line with the Company A on the Right Flank (East, facing Wadi Sharqiya), Coy. B the Left flank (facing Wadi Gharbiye), and Coy. C in reserve, in some brush near the center. The Armoured Car started at the center as well.

The British had the initiative and moved forward with Coys A & B into the scrub north of both of them. This brought some reaction fire, resulting merely in a pinned section in either company. The AC charged forward and began “hosing” Wadi Sharqiya but did not suppress any Turkish stands; the initiative then shifted as a result. Some desultory return fire occurred, to no result. The initiative returned to the Sikhs.

Action shifted to the Ottoman Right Flank for several initiatives. Sikh Company B fired at the Turks in front of them, suppressing one stand. They then launched a forward assault on the Wadi Gharbiye. One Sikh stand was pinned by reaction fire from the Turks but this was not enough to halt the charge. They struggled to take the position (there were two tied rolls) but the Turkish defenders were doomed since the Sikhs had bonuses for being Veteran and for their opponents having a suppressed stand.

Company B kept up the momentum by moving into the fields to the West of Balad Chanaq. There they came under 6 initiatives worth of SOS Barrages and HMG fire, all being coordinated from the southern-most building in Balad. The Sikhs eventually suffered one eliminated stand and several suppressions (all of which were handily rallied by their PC) they were also effectively held in place.

Unfortunately for the Turks, the British CC mobilized Sikh company C to continue the push on the Western flank. They pushed forward through the fire that was being brought to bear on coy. B. Then when moving into a more Northerly field Company C was hit by a coordinated crossfire from both Turkish HMGs. Two Sections were suppressed but the other half of the Platoon eventually occupied a palm grove just north of the Northern building of Balad Chanaq.

The Turks kept up desultory fire against their opponents in the West, losing the initiative many times due to a failure to Suppress (despite inflicting many Pins, which the Sikhs quickly rallied from) or failure to rally. The unpinned remains of Sikh Company C launch an assault against the Arabs in the northernmost building in Balad. There is a brief struggle but the Arabs are defeated and the building occupied.

As the SOS barrage lifts an assault is made by Sikh coy B against the HMG that has been tormenting it. Victory is quick. One section of Sikhs go to ground outside the building, the others move in to occupy thus occupying the fourth Turkish terrain piece. At the same time the AC has rushed forward and suppressed the Turkish HMG and a rifle section in the orchard. The Turkish platoon has turned to face the north but are now effectively held in place by the threat of fire from the Sikhs in Balad or the AC.

A full strength Turkish rifle section comes on board and assaults the Sikhs in the northern part of the village but they are handily defeated. This is followed by a Sikh assault on Wadi Sharqiya which wipes away the Turkish defenders. At this point the victory conditions have been met and also the situation is clearly hopeless for the Ottoman. Later Ottoman prisoners are escorted back into British lines. The local Sheikhs promise to be docile, though many British sentries still die in the night and rifles disappear by the dozen. The war moves by Balad Chanaq…

More trivia (painting, rules, etc.)

2009-08-09T15:10:00.002-04:00

I spent the weekend painting up those Battle Honors Arabs on Foot (4 of them) plus a Brigade Arab leader. (I noticed that OldGlory15s now has photos of the Battle Honors WWI figs on their website.)

Mostly, though I put sand and stuff on the bases on some of the many of my WWI figs that have plain bases. All in preparation for my big (read 3 foot by 5 foot) solo game of later this week. I'd like to do a Mesopotamia Insurrection 1920 game using Crossfire or Price of Glory, but I only own three building models and I only have one unit of painted Arabs! (That just wouldn't do.)

Still haven't settled on rules to use. They have to work with small forces on a small table. Crossfire will probably do, with some mods.

More later

Updates

2009-08-06T10:10:00.006-04:00

By way of proving I'm still around, here's what I've been doing:

1. Finished painting Indian Mountain Gun & gunners; finished Sikh Vickers Team; nearly finished with four Battle Honors Arabs (more about this later); assembled and mounted for painting Artizan Arab irregular Lewis Gun team; mounted 8 Brigade / Artizan Arab Irregulars; basecoated and applied a wash to a Sikh 2.75" mountain gun team (the gun is painted).

2. Bought 27 old minifig painted Sikhs off e-bay; bought painted Asienkorp figures and artillery from Helen.

3. I've been reading: an article from Blackwood's Magazine (1921) called "The Rifle Thieves of Iraq"; the official history of the East Africa campaign (1914-1916); some old Chris Peers articles in WI on East Africa; a book of military despatches from T.E. Lawrence.

4. My family will be out of town for a week so I'm planning at least one solo game at home. Not sure what rules I'll use, maybe CRossfire, maybe Square Bashing.

Painting Table... Rules... Battle Honors Figs....

2009-07-13T17:32:00.018-04:00

What's on the painting table? Well... I just finished a BG Assistant Lewis Gunner to go with a Copplestone gunner that I painted 2 years ago; I have nearly finished a BH British Regular Non-Com in South African gear (read "all in Khaki") who will be teamed with a BH bugler; I am about to move to a Copplestone Sikh MG team. Then it's probably on to some BG KAR Askaris in pill-boxes, which should be in the mail.

I just received the Skirmish Campaigns scenario book for Tanga. It is really good (though a little primitive in the graphics department.) The scenarios will work perfectly for the forces we have / will have, though they might need to be "beefed up" for larger numbers of players. I particularly look forward to playing the scenarios which involve fighting in the outskirts of Tanga proper.

I also got the army lists book for Chris Peers' In the Heart of Africa many years after getting the rules proper. As with his WWI army lists these lists are worth having in and of themselves. I like the rules because you don't have to use 1000 miniatures to have a game and because I think they handle the vast differences between Regular European Troops, Local Askaris and scared local archers better than most systems do, without getting needlessly complex. I used these rules years ago in a couple of German Colonials games.

As mentioned above I have been painting some Battle Honors figures lately (my Indian 3.7" mountain gun + crew and the British NCO command group that's currently in progress) and I want to vent a little. I have bought a fair number of figures for WWI from BH and have had mostly been pleased but I do have some gripes. So let me present this as a Grading system graded from 0 to 10 with 10 being the best figures I ever painted (anything Copplestone), 8 being really good (Artizan and Brigade games, for the most part, Woodbine Designs), 6 being acceptable (Redoubt) and 5 or less being various Old Glory ranges or many "old-school" ranges.
All BH horses are small and on bad bases, I often use Old Glory horses instead. The BH horse poses look better, and they look more like real horses. I plan on getting packs of Askaris and Indian Army infantry. BH figures are compatible with Woodbine Designs and Brigade figures, though "slimmer".

Asienkorps Artillery 6
Asienkorps Company Command 7
Indian Mountain Gun 7
Indian MG and crew 6
British Company Command 5 (molding not crisp and thus some problems painting)
British Field Gun 6
Mounted SA Cavalry 6
Dismounted SA Cavalry 5 (molding not crisp and thus some problems painting)
Turkish Company Command 6
Turkish Cavalry 7
Arabs on foot 7
Arab Cavalry 7+
Arab Camelry 5 (but paint up nice, camels are sort of strange, riders are 3 of the same pose)

Great War in Africa

2009-07-02T14:37:00.010-04:00

It looks like we may be headed towards some Great War in East Africa games in the (not so near) future. This theater is not (currently) my main interest, but I have read several books on the subject and it seems very "game-able". Since it looks as though one of my opponents may be acquiring a pre-painted force of Schutztruppe Askaris I've been looking at what figures I have that we could use in a game. I have been using Chris Peers' Africa and Middle East army lists for Contemptible Little Armies to determine suitability. It looks as though I can reuse many of my Darkest Africa figures which I used years ago for a couple of Maji Maji Uprising games.

Here is what I have painted (and now mostly re-based) that can be used in East Africa:

GERMAN
2 sections German SeeBattalion marines (Pulp Figures)
1 Maxim team of German SeeBattalion marines (Pulp Figures)
2 units mixed Ruga-Ruga and irregular Askaris (Foundry)
1 unit Ngoni warriors (Copplestone)

BRITISH
1 full Platoon British Regulars, with or without Lewis Guns (mix of Copplestone and Brigade)
2 Vickers MG teams (Regulars) (Copplestone)
1 3-section Platoon Sikhs (mix of Copplestone and Brigade)
1 section Gurkhas (Copplestone) (apparently there were some at Tanga in the Kashmir Rifles Battalion)
1 Vickers MG team (Sikh) (Copplestone)
1 3.7" Mountain Gun (Punjabi) (Battle Honors)
1 unit Indian Lancers (ancient Minifigs)
2 Rolls Royce AC

We'll see what happens. I would assume we will use P-o-G, though as usual I will be thinking about how I can use these figures in Square Bashing and PitS.

The image is lifted from a great site on German Colonial Uniforms that everyone should see.

On the Painting Table

2009-06-28T18:39:00.007-04:00

I just finished a 4 man Battle Honors Indian Mountain Gun team this weekend. An amazing thing since they were finished in around 24 hours, which for me is an unbelievable speed, probably never to be repeated. I got a new camera for Bapu's Day so expect more and better pictures in the future, but not quite yet. These figures go with a 3.7" gun that BH provide with both spoked wheels and tires (since the gun was in use through WWII). Using a newer, faster technique, which will never win any competitions but still gets the figures on the table. The only difference is that I'm essentially using spray paint and a wash as the primary uniform color.
The gun in the photo is a 2.5" RML mountain gun which according to Wiki was only in use in the Nyasaland campaign during WWI. I have bought these from Old Glory to stand in for the 10 pounders that were very common until the 2.75" guns were phased in. Unfortunately no one (that I know of) makes a 10 pounder, so my choices are an anachronistic 2.5" gun (almost completely phased out by 1914) or an anachronistic 2.75" gun (not common at all until 1917), or the 3.7" gun (not in use until 1918, and then mostly in East Africa.)

Also being painted are my continuing BH Arabs on foot. I need to finish my Sikhs (1 section of Infantry, a mountain gun team and an MG team still waiting.)

I have great hopes that soon I will be adding some "used" painted figures to the collection and thus relieve myself of some of the worry. I have two conflicting goals: First, to build up about 4 Platoons worth of figures for each side for use in Price of Glory games at the club. Second I would like to be able to field at least 1000 point armies for each side for Square Bashing games since I have a strange love for that system.

Digitized Book

2009-06-25T10:21:00.002-04:00

In one of my last posts I talked about actions by the British against Arabs in Mesopotamia. Well if you want more detail (of a kind) visit the digital preview of the book Alarms and Excursions in Arabia which is(in part) a first hand accunt of that as well as the 1920 uprising.

Colonials Game- June 20

2009-06-21T12:40:00.003-04:00

I used some of my figures in another of Mike's brilliant, GIANT, colonial games this last Saturday. There were probably at least 500 figures on the table. To the right you can see a unit my Arab cavalry / camelry figs in amongst the palms and native scrum. I commanded a German raiding party (on the opposite side of the table) which was made up of about 60 of my figures (Pulp Figures German SeeBattalion, BG Asienkorps, Foundry Ruga-Ruga) -plus a Maxim gun team , plus 20 of Mike's Sikhs standing in for Askari and an ersatz German cannon.

My efforts were sluggish and mostly consisted of lobbing shells into town from the top of a paddle wheeler. When I did land my units they were effectively contested by a unit of Egyptians who had gone berserk as a result of fire they had received from my troops earlier. By the time my boys dealt with the enraged fez wearers, a unit of Sepoys had moved in to contest the ruins we landed in. My Marines and Ruga Ruga charged the Sepoys, the Ruga Ruga being thrown back, the Marines moving forward. At this point the game ended and I had accomplished none of my victory conditions.
I may buy some Copplestone , BH or BG Askari for future Colonial games.

The AAA essentials

2009-06-09T13:13:00.017-04:00

That is Arabs, Armoured Cars and Aircraft. These are some of the things that take an apparently routine game and give it flavor.

Arabs They give us color and camels and a wily opponent who can play on either side of the fence. Arabs in Mesopotamia both aided the British and fought against them all the way through the war. They were also notorious for preying on weakened units and stragglers of either side. I know that in the Basra vilayet in 1915 there were tribe against tribe actions and I would suppose that this continued throughout the war. In Muscat in 1915 local tribes rose against Indian Army troops that had been stationed to aid the local Sultan. In 1915 and 1916 a largish campaign was waged in North Africa against the Sennusi who had "risen" in support of the Turks and "invaded" Egypt. In 1916 the ALH, Yeomanry and Camel Corps are constantly engaged in small scale skirmishes against Bedouin in the Sinai and southern Palestine. And of course there was that Arab Revolt thing...
Arab miniatures are currently available from Battle Honors and Artizan / Brigade Games. Hopefully Woodbine Design might kick some in eventually.

Armoured Cars One of the two vital elements of 20th century small wars. Of course there were the Light Armoured Motor Batteries (LAMBs) in Mesopotamia, the Light Car Patrols (LCPs) in Egypt and Palestine, and Rolls Royce AC support of the Northern Arab Army in the Hejaz and Syria. The picture to the right is a post war photo of a Rolls Royce in action in Iraq.
Company B provides Model T, Rolls Royce and Crossley (post-war) models.

Aircraft The second half of the old one-two punch against insurrectionists and, well... Arabs! In Mesopotamia (1914-1918) the primary role of allied aircraft was aerial reconnaissance and artillery spotting but during the 1920 rising aircraft were heavily involved in a Ground Attack role as well. In Palestine there was an active air between the Ottoman and British aircraft all the way through the end of 1918, though after mid year of 1918 air control was effectively in the hands of the Brits. In WWI the Brits mostly used Be 2c, Bristol F2b and Se 5 aircraft with some Martinsydes and larger bombers thrown in as well. After the war the DH 9a came to dominate (see picture, below DH 9 aircraft in Iraq).

Warlords of Oman

2009-06-04T11:54:00.002-04:00

I've been reading P.S. Allfree's Warlords of Oman and really loving it. It's mostly about the authors experiences leading troops in the Jebel Akhdar War in Oman in the 1950s. So, yes, it's a little out of the time frame I usually read about, but it's good sceanario building source material if nothing else.

How did you get into wargaming?

2009-05-31T18:28:00.005-04:00

When I was 10, soon after reading Tolkien through the first time, I saw a Metagaming ad in one of my dad's Analog magazines. I scraped together some cash and sent off for the game Melee. I got the edition shown at right and my like minded friends and I began to play. Believe me, I got more than alittle hell about that anatomically correct gargoyle when I took the game to school! After that there followed an exposure to RPGs (TFT, Empire of the Petal Throne, MSPE, Runequest 2 ed.), Avalon Hill wargames (Panzer Blitz, Squad Leader) and some Miniatures Wargaming (I watched some games of Pas de Charge, Empire II). Later in life (meaning post high-school) it becomes much more complicated...

So, let me know, if you'd like, in the comments what got you started in gaming, I'm curious to know!

Circassians in Arabia (Local Color, part 1)

2009-05-28T14:02:00.009-04:00

In a recent comment on Chris' Itty Bitty Battlefields blog I suggested that he might add some Circassian Cavalry to his Ottoman troops to add more "color". After thinking this over I thought I'd back this up a little more. The photos on this page are from French Lebanon in the interwar period (above bottom, lifted from Wikipedia), and from a meeting of Bedouin and Circassian leaders with T.E. Lawrence (above top, date unknown, lifted from a NY Sun Blog). I think they clearly demonstrate that you can use, without any modification, the Caucasian Cossack figures available from both Copplestone Castings (below) and Old Glory to represent the Circassian cavalry that the Ottomans used in both Palestine and the Hejaz. My plan is to eventually paint a small unit of these and include them in my "Ottoman Cavalry" Squadron (which will sometimes be joined by an allied Arab Cavalry force).

New Camelry

2009-05-27T11:03:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I received most of my pre-order of Arab Irregulars on Camels from Brigade Games. There were some casting problems (apparently involving the reins) and thus the models' release was delayed by a couple of months, but let me tell you, it was worth the wait! Beautiful figures, with nice clean castings. Best camels I've ever seen, with very accurate Saddles, blankets, etc. I highly recommend these figs. Plus the Arab Lewis gunners are great too. Lets hope the Sharifian Regulars on camels are coming soon.

Pride of the Marines

2009-05-25T15:44:00.002-04:00

I just stumbled across the battle scene in the film Pride of the Marines the other day and was nearly floored. One of the best Pacific War combat sequences I've ever seen and super intense to boot. I didn't see most of the movie (which is a true story about a marine who is blinded during the above mentioned action) but I would heartily recommend at least watching the combat sequences.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=2382

Whoops! Lost Patrol, TCM 4:30am 5/26 TUESDAY EST

2009-05-24T12:23:00.003-04:00

Lost Patrol

I forgot that TCM's braoadcast day is 5am to 5am so this is all still right , it's just on 5/26:

Tomorrow Morning TCM show John Ford's film The Lost Patrol. It's one of my very favorites, and sometime in the future will serve as the basis for a scenario. See my Movie entrys for an earlier posting on this film.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=794

Return of the bad phone photo #3

2009-05-17T17:52:00.003-04:00

I took this photo last week. Since then the Sikhs have become mostly completed (rifles need painting) and I sprayed and sepia-washed some Punjabi Mountain gunners. Some primed BH Arabs in the background (these are worth getting) and 2 kinds of British Mountain Guns in the background (the only things in focus I believe.)

Thinking of getting some Copplestone Somalis as partially historic Turkish allies (they were actually in Yemen, not the Hejaz) and maybe painting my Copplestone Caucasian Cossacks since they look exactly like the Circassian Cavalry the Turks used in Palestine and the Hejaz.

The Ottoman Arab officer in the middle I affectionately (if rather boorishly) call Saddam.