Monday 29 March 2021

Britannia Campaign: 16th Legion v Trinovantes Part 2 of 4 - Turns 1 to 5

Turn 1

The chariots, light horse and skirmishers on the Britons right flank surge forward eager to engage the approaching Roman line.

On the Roman left, they steadily advance and observe the rapidly approaching barbarians.
Continued -

Friday 26 March 2021

Britannia Campaign: 16th Legion v Trinovantes Part 1 of 4 - Introduction

The second battle of the campaign involves the 16th Gemima Legion advancing into what is present day Suffolk. They hoped to persuade the local Trinovantes tribe to ally with Rome but as they approached a village at the mouth of an estuary there appeared to be little prospect of that.

A reminder of the present situation -

As the Roman Legions begin their advance into England the Atrebates tribe have now been pacified (see previous battle) and the Cantii allied. 

The task for the 16th Legion is to seize and hold the East, Midlands and North. 

Continued -

Monday 22 March 2021

God's Own Scale Podcast

After all this typing and photographing you can now hear me wax lyrical about wargaming on the latest episode of Gods Own Scale Podcast. Sean very kindly invited me on his excellent podcast and with it being a first for me, just hope I did it justice! Have to say I had a great time and Sean is a superb interviewer.

You can find the podcast here and also available on itunes etc. https://godsownscale6mm.podbean.com/ 

Sunday 21 March 2021

Nap Campaign: 2nd Battle of Youngsport - Part 5 of 5, Turns 13 to Conclusion

Soult was dumbfounded on seeing his precious infantry columns disintegrate on contact with the thin Portuguese line. With just one hour of daylight left (4 moves) there was absolutely no prospect now of breaking through the allied lines to unleash his cavalry. Even with more time his infantry was now in no state to carry on.

A priority now was to prevent his army falling apart and withdrawing in good order. He therefore issued orders to all infantry brigades to retire. His artillery and cavalry would cover the withdrawal.

Turn 13

The 2nd Cavalry Corps began redeploying to cover the withdrawal. A routing and a retreating battalion both rallied to great relief of their commanders.
Continued -

Friday 19 March 2021

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Friday 12 March 2021

Nap Campaign: 2nd Battle of Youngsport - Part 2 of 5, Turns 1 to 5

 

A reminder of initial deployments.
Turns 1 to 2

The first two turns consisted of artillery bombardments. The French targeted the redoubt with the British and Portuguese concentrating on the infantry columns.
Continued -

Thursday 11 March 2021

Nap Campaign: 2nd Battle of Youngsport - Part 1 of 5 Introduction

This first part will cover the initial deployments of both sides before battle is joined.

Firstly a reminder of the circumstances leading to this battle:

Marshall Soult (blue 5) with the French Army of the South has advanced into Portugal with the aim of driving the British back to their ships and capturing the Portuguese capital of Youngsport (beneath the cluster of tiles topped by red N11). This is the main disembarkation port for the British in supporting Portugal. 

Wellington with an Anglo-Portuguese force (red 10 and brown 1) have deployed across high ground blocking Soult's route of march. 

A significant British transport fleet has docked but there is insufficient time for their embarked troops to take part in the battle. Morillo with his small Spanish army (grey 1) is likewise too far away to arrive in time. Only Picton with the 92nd Highlanders will arrive in the early afternoon during the action.

The scene is set for a rerun of the earlier battle where Lobau and the 6th Corps failed to break through to Youngsport.

Continued -

Tuesday 9 March 2021

Sunday 7 March 2021

ACW Warplan Campaign: Cavalry Skirmish at Isserlohn

With the camera now back in operation normal service is resumed -

The opening moves of the campaign brought two cavalry skirmishes, this being the second. A reminder of the opening moves:

Buford's cavalry division are moving ahead of the main Union army scouting Confederate positions. Confederate cavalry outposts have partially pulled back but a couple decided to engage with the Union troops. This action involves Devin's brigade.

Most of Devin's brigade advanced unopposed with the exception of the 6th New York (bottom right). As they advanced towards Isserlohn they became aware of movement up ahead. The Confederate Hampton with Cobb's Cavalry Legion intended on giving them a bloody nose! 

Continued -

Wednesday 3 March 2021

On The Workbench: ECW Bluecoat Regt

I finally received my repaired lens back today for the camera. That damned Covid has a lot to answer for! Tomorrow I will start the ACW campaign battle of Isserlohn but in the meantime a taster of what I have been up to in the absence of gaming. And also to try out my repaired lens!

This is one of a number of ECW units completed and the largest. A Parliamentarian bluecoat regiment. Although a generic unit it will represent Chomley's regiment at Edgehill.




There are 104 figures on the regiment, 40 Pike and 64 Musketeers. I will cover how I arrived at various sizes and quality of units in more detail when posting an AAR of Edgehill in due course. But briefly I used the army list guides contained within the Forlorn Hope rules dicing to determine the size, pike to musket ratio and troop quality of each regiment.