More loot and a late Christmas present

Hello again.

I have finally taken delivery of a present I bought myself, ostensibly for Christmas last year, on the basis that it might have been published by then. Five months later (about a month or so ago now), I finally took delivery!

 

 



 I have been a fan of these "Wargaming in History" books since the first one came out a few years back and have bought most of them to date. This is the second covering the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 and, on first browse, seems to be every bit as good as the first volume, which dealt with the early battles. Perhaps I will review it properly once I have actually read it!

This era is one I am seriously looking to get into, being the owner of several hundred Austrian figures in 15mm, roughly 30% of the relevant infantry being in the Kittel tunic (more 1859) and the rest in the greatcoat so synonymous with 1866. I also have a couple of hundred Prussians too. On top of that, I made a serious investment in 10mm ACW last year and treated myself to some 10mm Crimean War Russians earlier this. Why the small scale? Well, my table size for games has shrunk by half as changes in the family home have eaten into space, so smaller figures is the way to go for me at the moment. I WILL do this at some time...

A small snapshot of just one of the fine photo/ map pages.

The book is chock-full of great photos (hence the high cost of these books) and good maps clearly showing table layouts for playing games. These layouts are also used to show the movement of the troops during the game recreations covered in the book.

 

 

Finally, as I reach the "end" of my French & Indian Wars project (famous last words, as I do have plans to buy a few units of regulars for both sides as I have something in mind...), I thought I would add some terrain to my sundry collections. All the above was bought at a model railway show for less than £20. I have also been collecting lollipop sticks of a particular type for a while now, namely round ones rather than the usual flat variety, to use as log cabin walls. A recent article by Diane Sutherland in Miniature Wargames showed how to do it, so a few settler cabins for the FIW are not far away(I hope).

 

And that is about it for now. Painting time is very limited at present due to a change in my work hours to straight days whilst work undergoes some major changes, but I have at last managed to finish more Rangers and some Militia for the FIW, so will show them soon.

 

I have also just undercoated some Viking archers, which I hope to have ready for the Wyrley Retinue outing to the Barrage Show in Stafford on 9th July - just four weeks today! We will be showing our "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan" game again, but always change something between outings to try and freshen things up and give the paying public something else to see should they have seen the game in a previous incarnation.

 

G

Santa's been!!!

Hello again.

As 2016 wends its way towards conclusion, I thought it time to recap on what this month of gifts and goodies has brought me, starting with my purchases at "Wargamer" back on 4th and working my way through to the destruction of various sheets of coloured paper as I eagerly unveiled my presents on 25th!

For a small show, I managed to spend WAAAAAYYYY too much at "Wargamer". I bought myself a copy of "Escape from Colditz", now published by Osprey, and backed that up on the gaming front with a Fantasy Flight Games offering called "Age of War", which is a dice game and a sort of cross between Yahtzee, Risk and Happy Families. It is set in the classic age of the samurai and the object is to win control of various cards, representing castles, by rolling appropriate combinations of dice, each of which has various icons which may or may not be of use. The castles can form a set, which grants more points to their holder and the person with the most points wins. That person has so far mainly been daughter Eleanor...

I bought some stuff from Ainsty, who are carrying the SAGA ranges from Gripping Beast nowadays, so my fledgling Anglo-Saxons/ Anglo-Danes acquired Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, some huscarls, Hereward the Wake, some "Sons of Death" to add to my Irish excursion and William the (insert your epithet of choice) to add to my Normans, who are eagerly awaiting their turn on the painting table, along with Saracen and Military Orders forces for "The Crescent and The Cross". I also bought some Highlander reinforcements and a starter set of Compagnies Franches de la Marine for my "Sharp Practice 2/ Muskets & Tomahawks" foray into the French and Indian Wars.

Dave Lanchester furnished me with a copy of Neil Thomas' "Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815 to 1878", which I have read with gusto, and, last but not least, Tiger Miniatures very kindly sold me some of their Renaissance figures, including artillery, some arquebusiers and some cavalry, who have joined the ranks of my proposed French Wars of Religion project. Daughter Eleanor conned me into buying her her own set of dice (soft touch that I am) and I think that is about it.

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of some basing sheets from the ever-helpful Coritani/ Magnetic Displays (fantastic service as usual and highly recommended to all who would buy from them - Trevor even sent me a nice Christmas good wishes message, which only goes to show how good their service is!). To that I added a package from Pendraken consisting of some reinforcements/ alternatives for both my proposed 10mm American Civil War project and my "Warband" fantasy project that I spent most of last spring working on. They too deserve a lot of credit for their service quality, as I missed the posting deadline for Christmas quoted on the website but still got my order well before Christmas. Many thanks!

Christmas itself saw the opening of a parcel from Caliver Books containing a copy of "The Italian Campaign of 1859", edited by Dr. Stephen Summerfield, which I have again eagerly devoured. I also got a turntable, so I can play my old, vinyl records, many of which I do not have on CD, which has nothing to do with wargaming or the blog as a whole but just shows how much my lady wife loves me!!! I still wait with anticipation for the latest "Wargaming in History" offering on Koniggraetz, but Dave Ryan has my order and warned me it was unlikely to arrive pre-Christmas as it has not been published yet!

After all that, it is again time to decide on where my focus lies for 2017.

1. I still have a passion for anything involving the Austrians, so 1859 and 1866 feature a lot in my thoughts.
2. I want to get some ACW actions going to take advantage of all those readily-available battle reports and orbats, in my chosen 10mm scale.
3. I want to fill out my Dark Ages pretensions and have now built an entire Anglo-Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force for SAGA which I need to paint.
4. I want to add the extras to my 10mm "Warband" fantasy forces.
5. I want to thresh out my FIW stuff and get some games of "Sharp Practice 2" and "Muskets & Tomahawks" in.
6. I eagerly await Nephew Nick's commitment to the Marlburian Wars so I can kick-start my 1690 project and take him on! It will be just the excuse I need to add some more French and Irish units to my existing stock...
7. I am torn between Germans vs Hottentots in what is now Namibia, Maori Wars or Sudan Wars for "The Men Who Would Be Kings", but seriously want to get something up and running soon for that era and rules set.

And then there is the large scale WW2 skirmish figures I bought last year, the Arthurians that have been lying around for ages, a large Macedonian army I have had for upwards of ten years that I still have stowed away, the Peninsular War stuff I bought back in July for "SP2", 15mm WW2 Ostfront c. Kursk, Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians/ "Whites" and, of course, the French Wars of Religion project I want to get off the ground, ideally for 2019 and the 450th anniversary of the likes of Moncontour and Jarnac. I suppose I could stretch out that last option to 2022 and the 450th anniversary of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but I prefer battles to massacres...

The good news is that my interest in this massively absorbing hobby has not waned one iota and I do not have a project to focus on specifically for 2017, as 2018's show game is decided upon already and I have the armies already too! (I could always rustle up an extra unit or two though, or perhaps a terrain piece or feature piece or...)

I love this hobby of ours!

G

Crud 1: The Sorry Segbans

Hello again.

Last time out, I raised the subject of the rubbish some at least of us like to include in our armies. So, continuing that fledgling theme, I present here a sure-fire contender for the honour of being one of history's...hm...least successful military forces - the Segbans.

With a stat line that makes an unarmed, octogenarian goblin with a severe cold fancy his chances in a straight fight, the Segbans have never let me down on the crud front.

They featured initially in the "By Fire & Sword" tournament, and the few preparatory games I had for it, last year. In about six games to date, I think they have scored one, solitary casualty and have run away I would say two-thirds of the time. They are so poor, they require two command points to give them a different order to the one they start with in games of "BF&S", compared with just one for the ropey, but not as ropey as the Segbans, Feudal Spahis etc. In fact, just about anything else.

They count as having "poor quality firearms", "poor tactical discipline".....

Let's just go with "Crud".

But where else do you get cheap infantry to fill out your Turkish forces of the late 17th Century? Where else can you get someone almost willing to hold a strategic village for you for a turn or two before their inevitable flight? Janissaries are better (just by this late stage), Tufengchis better too, but both are rare and not allowed in skirmish level forces, just in grand armies. So, the Segbans are here to stay.

The figures are by the "Wargamer" company from Poland, who produce the "By Fire & Sword" rules and produce several little boxed sets of figures, as well as blisters, to support their game.

G

I don't know why I bothered with the flag. A map of the route back to Istanbul would have been better. I think they have managed to rally just once in their half a dozen outings to date.

I like a bit of variety and the Segban blister does not disappoint, with different poses, different clothing, etc.

Standing on the side of a snowy hill won't help either (another quality photo! [sic])

That ignominious defeat...

OK.

I did the photo feature on the 1st UK "By Fire & Sword" Championships, but posted no photos of the final game against those Poles.

Here goes the good bit - it all started so well...

G

It all started so promisingly as I smashed the Polish left, smashed the Polish right and broke through the centre. Then the Pancerni at the far side of the Polish square wheeled about...That's your lot!

1st UK "By Fire & Sword" Championships

Hello again.

The 6th and 7th September saw a dozen gamers from all over the place meet at Stafford Games to participate in the first ever UK "By Fire & Sword" Championships. When I say all over, we had players from Wessex (Dorset, I think, to be specific), Yorkshire (as in Halifax, centre of the universe), Sweden (via Nottingham), Poland (via nowhere in particular...) and Australia! (Anyone else fancy a weekend of wargaming whilst visiting the "Old Country"?)

Up for grabs were three rather splendid trophies and sundry goodies for all participants, as well as food laid on for both days.

Now, I need just one hand to count the number of touries in which I have participated in 30+ years of "proper" wargaming and, with just three games under my belt, trepidation was the word as I entered the hall on Saturday morning. I need not have bothered, as complete strangers came up and shook my hand, introducing themselves in the process. What did I hope to get from it all? Well, just one win would have been nice, four good games would be great and a top half placing would be a visit to hospital with shock...

Game 1:
My Ottoman Turks vs Swedish "Invincibles" played by Anders, the Swede from Nottingham. The scenario was patrol, I vastly outnumbered him, but his quality level was much higher. I had three distinct pieces of good luck that helped me here. One: I rolled five saves exactly when I needed to to win a combat. Two: Anders failed some saves and promptly got his commander killed in a crucial melee, routing a very tough Swedish cavalry unit in the process. Three: I shot at a Swedish cavalry unit that had broken through my lines and threatened serious pain, caused it t take a morale check and it promptly failed, despite having a 70% chance of success!!! A massacre ensued and I won handsomely!!! The best bit of the game, however, was my decision to have some Spahis charge a unit in the flank. Great idea you might say, but this unit was BEHIND me, so the Spahis could not see it! A classic case of the omniscient wargamer...the unit promptly charged right across the table to my left flank, through some rough terrain and were murdered by Anders' sole remaining unit!!!!!

Game 2:
Me vs Prussians played by Big John (once of Yorkshire, now of Stafford). The scenario was "Capture the Crossing", which John was stoutly defending. I forged my way across the bridge I had to capture, only to be forced back again. I forced my way across the ford at the other end of the river, only to be forced back again, but then my flank-marching Delis came on table, routed the unit of Prussian cavalry near the ford and I made it across, though could not quite bring pressure to bear at the bridge with my flank units before the three hour window was reached. A draw.

At the end of Day One, I was scoring 7 Large Points and 5 Small Points. I was in the top half!!!

Game 3:
Me vs current tournament leader, Steve Hymas from Halifax, a blue on blue clash as Steve's light cavalry based Turks took on my Spahi based Turks. Steve outnumbered me slightly and the sceario was again "Patrol". This was one tight affar throughout. Steve's typical shabby Yorkshire trick of about-facing when I charged him in the second turn came to nought as I managed to keep hold of my army, despite the failed charge, and I managed to break open his centre and left flank. However, he held three objectives and me just two, so casualties would be the making or breaking of my cause. The end result was 3 large and 1 Small Point to Steve and 3 and 0 to me - a draw.

Game 4:
Me vs co-leader Mike Webb and his Poles. I was heavily outpointed, so chose the scenario (Ambush) and got a free reinforcement unit, basically the first to flee would come back on. It started well (except for my best unit of Spahis who suddenly could not hit a barn door and were routed by Cossacks), but then the Pancerni got involved...
I had used up my dice luck against Anders, I think, so could not really grumble as the Poles promptly wasted me. Two units did all the damage and, even though most of the Polish army was dead or had fled, I was left with one disorganised unit of light cavalry hiding behind a hill at the end. I scored 2 Large and 0 Small Points though, and the result was merely a "Tactical Defeat" and not the Massacre I thought it would be...

So who won overall?

There was just one small point between first and second and the final analysis was...

1st - Steve from Halifax
2nd - Mike Webb with those infernal Pancerni
3rd - Piotr from Poland with his Tartars

I came 6th!!!! RESULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all involved for a great couple of days and playing the top two players meant I had been in the top few for at least a couple of rounds!

G

Game 1 in motion, as the horde of Turks advances on the small but elite Swedish troops.

A section from Anders' Swedes advance bravely to confront the men from the Porte.

Death of a general? No, as this Swede saw another day, but this is the unit that failed its morale check after a couple of paltry bowshots.

Set up for Game 2, with John defending his bridgehead.

Set up for the titanic Game 3. In order to combat Steve's superiority in light cavalry, I obliqued my right flank, with a view to smashing his centre and swinging right to claim that far wod, the third objective. Just one more turn would have seen me there, but a draw was a good result against the eventual winner.

Two big units of Spahis with which I planned to steamroller Steve's centre.

A view down the line from my left flank.

ht

The First Place Trophy, a wonderful Winged Hussar figurine.

Third Place Trophy - a Streltsi, I think. I did photograph the Second Place Trophy too, but the camera does not want to share it with me now...