WWI - 1914 REINFORCEMENTS

Here are some photos of  troops for my early WWI armies for the war of maneuvre.  The 75 and crews are new this month whilst I have also been working on rebasing some of my Renegade infantry figures.  Sadly Renegade have gone out of production and the figures are no longer available.

Soixante-Quinze and crews from Great War Miniatures

Front view of artillery section

MMG and crew by Renegade Miniatures



En Avant! - Line infantry by Renegade Miniatures

28MM BOLT ACTION WWI: BATTLE OF THE FRONTIERS 1914

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for our big game which was a 1914 Bolt Action game.   Colin Jack came up with the scenario which was a French attack during the Battle of the Frontiers.  Colin, Dave O’Brien and I supplied the figures whilst Hugh Wilson provided all the terrain.

My French force prepares to attack the factory - Renegade figures

The French objective was to capture 5 objectives spread across the table.  We had five players on both sides.  The German defenders each commanded 3 squads and a MG.  The French players each had 5 infantry squads and a MG.  In addition the French had the support of a battery of 3 75mm guns and both sides had 2 cavalry regiments in reserve of table.

The French artillery acted like a death ray at first but was then hit by an off table bombardment which effected them for several moves.  The aggressive French attack at the northern end of the table went well but at my southern end my force was cut to pieces by the German defenders losing 80% of my infantry.

French artillery under off-table fire - Great War Miniatures

By the end of the game the French had taken 3 of the objectives.  We decided the game was a French victory.   It proved to be a very enjoyable game.    We need to look at improving the rules for WWI especially the rules for cavalry.

For more photos see flickr at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157645258728196/

Bart Zynda has written a fuller action account on his blog at
http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/alsace-1914-alzacja-1914.html

French troops finally get to the bridge - but not enough for control

NAPOLEONIC REINFORCEMENTS

I have continued to work away on my Napoleonic collection.  I bought some very nicely painted Russian staff figures on Ebay and this has allowed me to complete 2 more multi-figure command vignettes.  They comprise 7 of the 8 figure Perry Russian command set minus the British representative General Wilson.  I use 60mm circular 3mm MDF bases from Warbases with Silfor tufts and Javis static grass.
 

Kutuzov, Kutaisov and Col Toll

Barclay de Tolly, Uvarov, Ermolov and Osterman Tolstoy (in the cape)

I sold my previous Bavarian Napoleonic Army and have replaced them with a single 4 battalion Black Powder Brigade of 3 line battalions and a light battalion.  I have also added 2 battalions of Berg infantry to my French/Allied army.  I bought the figures ready painted from South Africa and I added some more shading, rebased them and added flags from Warflags.

Bavarian Line infantry
 

Bavarian Light infantry

Berg 1st/1st Line Battalion

Next some new WWI units.

28MM MUSKETS AND TOMAHAWKS: FRENCH INDIAN WAR - BIG GAME 2

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for our big game which was originally going to be an AWI M&T game as a follow up to our FIW game.   Having looked at the figures in our AWI collections I decided that they are to formally based for M&T and the terrain setup so we  played a slightly revised FIW game.

French allied Indians attack a storehouse

Hugh had revised the terrain reducing the amount of river and adding some more settlements and replaced the log fort with a Vauban fort.  The figures came from the collections of Angus Konstam and Colin Jack neither of whom were present.   Hugh supplied all the terrain except for the indian village and the Vauban fort which Colin Jack and I supplied.  The table is 15ft long and 6ft wide.

View from the east cliff

Bart Zynda, Tim Watson, and Ray Neal commanded the French forces – 2 regular units, 3 irregular units, 7 allied Indians and 6 savage Indians.  Campbell Hardie, Dave O’Brien and Hugh Wilson commanded the British forces - 3 regular units, 3 ranger units, 6 militia units, 3 savage Indians, 3 allied Indians plus 5 civilians in each settlement.  All the players had changed sides since our previous game.  I umpired and commanded some of the civilians.

The fortress and it's militia garrison - protecting the vital rum rations

The French objective was to destroy the settlements, fortress, and once again generally instil terror into their enemy.  The British were all deployed on the table and the French entered from the north side.  The British players concentrated the rangers on their right flank, with 3 companies of militia holding the fort.   Their Indians, regulars and the other militia were scattered along their front.

Highlanders defending a settlement - sadly later suffered heavy casualties fording the river

On their left the French regulars under Ray and the Irregulars under Tim both supported by 3 bands of Indians engaged the Rangers under Dave and  some of Campbell’s Indians supported  eventually by a firing line of Elite British Grenadiers under Hugh who formed up on the open ground in front of the fortress.  In the British centre it seemed mainly to be a battle of indian versus indian in svage close combats between Bart,  Hugh and Campbell.  Bart and Hugh both had an Indian chief killed in hand to hand combat.  Whenever Campbell’s militia got into action they were quickly swept away by Bart’s indian warriors.

Rangers engage the French from their cliff top eyrie

By the end of the game the French had lost 1 less unit than the British and also destroyed 4 settlements so we declared the game a French victory again.  As before it proved to be a very enjoyable game. 

For more photos see flickr at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157644640692558/

Next objective is to come up with a game in which we can make use of all the Vauban fortifications that we have.