Last night's club game saw the first trial of my new Thirty Years War rules, 'Tercio Viejo!'
I have been fascinated by this period for a long time: it combines a wealth of wargames possibilities with captivating personalities and contrasting tactical systems, but I lacked the figures to do it justice. The war always seemed a bit overwhelming from a wargames perspective, until I came up with the concept of the 'Universal Block System'.
I have been waylaid a bit on this project painting WW2 1:3000 scale ships for a future Guadalcanal Campaign with Richard along with hundreds of 1;600 scale planes. In addition I have also been adding to my Dearth in Dark Continent ranges by painting lots of Foundry 28mm Colonial African figures. However I am now completely focused on getting this project ready for next June. I have started to layout the terrain to work out what I need to complete the table. I want to create an additional 200mm deep beach section to add to the water sections I have, some of which will have sea walls.
Painting has started on the landing craft see attached pictures of some LCTs and LCMs.(all from Britannia miniatures). In addition I have added to the German artillery of 1716th artillery regiment, a Skoda 100mm Gun and a French 155mm gun (Early War Miniatures) for strong points Morris and Daimler respectively. Also acquired some Heavy British AA, a 3.7 inch gun (SHQ) for the beach group and Valentine Bridge-layer (Armourfast vehicle with conversion set from S and S models) which was attached to HQ of Staffordshire Yeomanry 27th Armoured Brigade. These have been made and primed, ready for painting.
Working on the LCIs and a Rocket Support Ship. I have run out of RN Light Grey B5 paint from colourcoats who are out of stock so the LCAs are on hold at the moment.I have started to paint Wave 1 the 13/18th Hussars with their DD Sherman tanks
Napoleon Bonaparte was born 250 years ago on 15.8.1769. One version says On Assumption Day his mother gave birth on a threadbare rug on which were woven heroic scenes and figures from the Iliad. Letizia Bonaparte dismissed the story with a laugh and said there home contained nothing as luxurious as rugs and even if it had they certainly would have been taken up.
The next pictures are from another Waterloo refight played a month later. This game was played using Napoleon's Battles rules and scenario. The short scenario was used ending before the Prussians arrive lasting 12 turns between 1130 and 1700 hours. The French army was represented in full but substitutions had to be made for the British a mix of British, Austrian, bits of card and some traitorous French were used. To win the French had to break the Anglo- Allied army’s morale by games end otherwise the British win. It was a great game and went down the line. The French army employed a pincer attack Reille’s II Corp supported by cavalry attacked the British right flank bypassing Hougmont , Whilst D’ Erlon’s I Corp supported by cavalry attacked the British left flank, The French Guard artillery pounded the British centre until 4 brigades of Imperial Guard passed through it to attack the British centre. The time limitation mean the French could not hang around. Time was running out, the British were close to breaking, their flanks were buckling when Divisional General Friant was shot of his horse whilst leading two Brigades of old Guard forward in the Centre, and his demise stalled their advance as they were out of command. On the last turn of the game Wellington had a great round rallying enough of his routing troops to secure victory. If Friant had not gone down the Old Guard could have pressed their attack to break Allied morale but there was not enough time left to get his brigades back under command. The Napoleon Figure is an old Minfigs 15mm figure. Tony Played Napoleon, I supported him and John played Wellington.
Please note a Napoleon figure did appear in all the pictures before I uploaded them but cropping of the pictures when uploaded may make him disappear from some pictures.
The Final batch of pictures come from 2017 when I took part in an 1813 Campaign. Napoleon played by John attacked Berlin. The Imperial Guard were marching to the Battle but arrived too late to play an effective part as they had got delayed crossing a bridge. One Prussian Corp and a Russian Corp were defending Berlin (Berlin was represented by 3 adjacent built up areas) another Prussian Corp arrived on the table during the course of the game. I commanded the Russians who were placed in and around Berlin. We played the game using Blucher rules. The French could win by breaking the Allied armies’ morale as per Blucher rules or achieve an instant win by taking Berlin itself. The French player concentrated all his efforts on taking Berlin making repeated attacks which the Russians held off. As Allied players we were worried he would attack the Troops around Berlin breaking the Allied Armies Morale.
Napoleon failed to take Berlin or break the Allied Armies Morale which meant the French had to fall back. As Allied players we felt if the Imperial Guard had arrived on time these fresh troops may have taken Berlin giving him an instant win. In the pictures Napoleon is watching over the attack on Berlin. The Napoleon figure is I believe a Minfigs figure but I am not 100% on this. The other figures are a mix of 25mm Minifig, Garrison and Hinchcliffe
Sunday 26 May 2019 saw five armies fight it out on the Ukrainian steppes at Rob's war room. The game simulated the strategic situation on the Polish-Lithuanian military frontier in the early 17th century, with different factions vying for power. We watched Taras Bulba and Ogniem i Mieczem on the war-room DVD, which proved quite atmospheric. Yours truly was umpiring, using my Sobieski! rules.
Over a weekend we re fought this famous battle in the American Civil War using the new edition of the Fire & Fury brigade rules. The new rules in the main were judged to be much better than the first set although a bit slower to play. Recreating the terrain was a challenge as was creating new labels for the troops involved. We used in the main historical deployments. The Confederate thanks to a qualitative advantage, lady luck and I am sure the players skill won quite a decisive victory with the game ending with 4 out of the 5 union Corps all with heavy casualties.
