On the Workbench: AWI

A new project! I have Assassin's Creed III to blame for this. Playing the game reawakened my previous interest in this period which had ceased when I disposed of my 10mm collection. 

This originates back to my school days when I found a book in the school library covering the battles of Lexington and Concord. It fired my imagination which I attempted to recreate on the tabletop with Airfix WW1 Americans standing in for the militia and Napoleonic Highlanders representing the redcoat juggernaut.

The inevitable happened and a batch of 6mm figures was acquired from Baccus with the intention of playing through Lexington and Concord once again. You will find a previous game on the blog using those 10mm figures. The original orders of battle for that game are being used but doubling up on the figures. 

In between reorganising the Napoleonic French infantry into standard 36 figure battalions I have commenced painting the AWI forces involved.

The grenadier battalion drawn from various regiments. It can be broken down to 2 or 3 units for the battle.

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Britannia Campaign: Turn 8 - 9th Legion Invasion of Mona

 Turning now to what could be the final action of the campaign, the Roman invasion of Mona (Anglesey).

The 9th Legion have crossed the Menai Strait and landed on Mona. The scenario book gives the option of a beach landing but as I will be trying out another set of rules I have decided to keep this more simple. The Romans have just landed when the warbands turn up with one command still on the beach.

For this game I will be using 'Hail Caesar' rules. The original, not the 2nd edition. It's hard to believe now but it is over 10 years since I trialled them using 15mm figures. They did not grab me at the time and they have languished on my bookshelves ever since. 

Using this campaign as a testbed for various rules and given that they were designed for Hail Caesar it seemed silly to not at least give them a try. 

Few changes are needed for conversion to 6mm. I will be using cms instead of inches. The unit sizes are as follows: Small = 1 base, Standard = 2 bases, Large = 4 bases. Each base has a 40mm width.

The orders of battle are a combination of those contained within the book, my own and what I have available.

Board size is 5'3" x 3'9".

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Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 17 - Conclusion

 

The situation at the end of turn 16.

JUNOT'S ASSAULT

Turn 17

Junot's Corps begins to climb the ridge and several charges were made. 

I should add here for those not familiar with the rules, each average brigade commander can order up to 2 battalion charges (an exceptional commander 3, poor 1). It is possible to add further charges on battalion initiative. They must roll a 5 or 6 on a D6 dice.

Volleys of musketry opened up across the entire ridge. The allies took the decision not to wait to see the "whites of their eyes" but blaze away intending to inflict the maximum damage on the slow moving columns.

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Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 9 - 16

JUNOT'S ASSAULT

Turn 9

Massena decides it is now time to commit Junot's Corps to the assault. As much of the allied army remains out of view on the reverse slope, a dice roll determined where Junot commits his assault. The result was the northern end of the ridge to the right of Ney. All orders are passed successfully and the Corps begins its move.

Turn 10

As Junot's Corps closes the gap they begin to come under fire from 2 allied batteries on the ridge.

Turn 11

Junot's mass of skirmishers begin to engage with their opposite numbers with neither side coming out on top. 

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Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 1 - 8

NEY'S ASSAULT

 Turn 1

Ney's advance begins with Marchand's Division ascending 'The Spur' and Loison's heading towards Sula. A swarm of Voltigeurs engage primarily the rifles of the 60th and 95th regiments along with Cacadores deployed as skirmishers. Both sides take early losses but an early stroke of luck lands with the British when a double '6' is rolled upon Lawson's 6pdr foot battery (far lower right) engaging in counter-battery fire with a newly deployed French foot battery (just below the advancing columns).

The French lose one of its 4 guns and will have to withdraw.

Mermet's Division is in a supporting role as the entire corps advances towards the ridge. At the bottom of the photo, Junot's Corps is held in reserve.

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Busaco 27th September 1810 - Introduction

The next game in my Peninsular War project is Busaco. Napoleon ordered Massena to drive the British from Portugal and during his move south he met Wellington positioned on the 9 mile long ridge at Busaco. It was Wellington's aim to delay the French advance long enough for the defensive Lines of Torres Vedras to be completed to the north of Lisbon.

My game represents the area where the main action occurred. That is the central and northern end of the ridge.

Table Size: 6'9" x 4'6"
Figures: Baccus 6mm
Rules: General de Brigade

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On The Workbench: Italian & German WW2 Ships

 Refurbishment of 1/3000 scale ships painted eons ago continues. All here are Navwar.

Andria Doria

Fiume (Zara class cruiser)

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Defending the Malay Barrier: End of Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942.

 

A summary of movements and actions at the end of turn 4.

The final possible actions at the end of the turn are the possibility of air attacks on crippled and disabled ships.

3 attacks are launched. WAF and EAF Land Based Air and a Carrier based attack from Ryojo.

Only the WAF are successful in locating their target, and not a particularly impressive one at that! The crippled Dutch destroyer Kortenaer escorted by another destroyer, Van Nes, are attacked by bombers. Aircraft availability proved to be poor with only 8 x Nell and 3 x Betty bombers available for the strike using medium bombs on a high level bombing run.

4 x bombers targeted the lead vessel, Van Nes, with 7 on the Kortenaer.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942. EastGroup intercepts Jintsu Convoy

Turning now to the final surface v surface action on turn 4, the US EastGroup reinforced by two New Zealand light cruisers successfully intercepts a very small Japanese invasion convoy heading for Banjermasin in Borneo. 

EastGroup had come through an air attack unscathed and now had a chance to interrupt Japanese invasion plans.

EastGroup consisted of 1 x heavy cruiser, 2 x light cruisers and 8 destroyers. The Jintsu convoy had 1 x elderly light cruiser and 4 destroyers escorting 1 x troop ship.

The Japanese convoy under the command of a veteran Admiral Tanaka on the flagship Jintsu.

EastGroup under the command of Admiral Glassford on the Boise.

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On The Workbench: River Sections

A long overdue task, now underway, was to complete the refurbishment of my original Purbeck Terrain river boards. The river banks have previously been improved which had been painted to a basic standard. This was done by adding texture including random rocks etc.

An example of a 9" x 9" board with textured river banks. The task now is to repaint the river to make it look a little more realistic.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942. EAF Japanese Patrol intercepts Australian Sweep

Turning now to the east, the Australian Darwin group escaped unscathed from a torpedo bomber attack and now make a dash for an invasion convoy heading for Kendari. Enroute they are intercepted by the Japanese EAF patrol.

This will be yet another night time engagement. The Australians are in line astern with the Australia leading heading due north. The Japanese patrol is approaching from the west at a distance of 15,000 yards (75cm) being the maximum visibility at present.

The weather is a very calm force 2 with clear skies. A new moon limits visibility.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942. EAF Japanese Patrol intercepts Australian Sweep- Prematurely Published!

Please note for all those who have clicked on links in other blogs to my latest Defending the Malay Barrier post to be met with "The page does not exist". 

It was always going to happen sooner or later, but I inadvertently published the update when incomplete. A combination of doing too many things at the same time, my aging brain, not concentrating etc. As soon as I had published it I realised what I had done and immediately cancelled it. Unfortunately it remained in links on other blogs which I had not anticipated.

My apologies for any confusion and I hope to have the finished article published in the next few days.

On the Workbench: 1/3000 WW2 Royal Navy Ships

More progress has been made refurbishing my collection of models painted decades ago. Hence the rather random nature of the ships completed. British ships have now received their refit and the Italians and Germans are next in line.

All are 1/3000th scale Navwar models.

Left to Right: Mauritius (this was a new model and may make an appearance in the "Defending the Malay Barrier" campaign), Newcastle and Belfast.

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On the Workbench: Punic Wars - Trebia Completed

The Carthaginians have been completed and with the Republican Romans finished all figures are ready for muster. All are the usual Baccus figures.

Punic Cavalry and Generals.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942. Japanese Patrol intercepts Dutch Sweep

Focussing on the Dutch CenGroup, their flagship has pulled out due to damage sustained in a bombing attack. The flag has been transferred to the light cruiser Java and the group has continued north with the intention of disrupting a Japanese convoy headed for the Malay peninsular.

Before they have any chance of engaging the convoy, they in turn are intercepted by the Japanese Distant Cover Group under the command of Admiral Kondo in the heavy cruiser Atago. 

Nearest the camera are the Dutch consisting of 2 light cruisers and 8 destroyers sailing north west. At the top of the photo is the Atago group consisting of 1 heavy cruiser and 10 destroyers approaching from the north.

The action starts during the 0400 - 0800 watch and therefore during the dark hours at this stage. No ships have yet been spotted by either side. After 10 turns dawn will break.

Neither side has the benefit of radar.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 4, 1st - 14th February, 1942

A reminder of the situation at the end of turn 3. Japanese objectives captured are circled.

WAF has completed 2 tiers and the EAF 1.

 

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 3, 16th - 31st January 1942

 

A reminder of the situation at the end of turn 2 with objectives captured by the Japanese circled.

For this turn it will be a priority for the Japanese to complete tier 2.

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On the Workbench: Punic Wars, WW2 Naval.

 More additions to the Carthaginians for Trebia have been completed along with several more refurbished 1/3000 scale ships.

Only 2 bases will be required for Trebia but with an extra pack in the unpainted pile it needed to be done. A little more uniform in appearance than I originally intended! As with nearly all my 6mm figures they are from the Baccus range.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: End of Turn 2, 1st - 15th January 1942

The final actions of campaign turn 2 are potential air attacks on crippled or disabled ships underway for repair.

The first phase is a carrier strike group from the Ryojo attempting and failing to locate the crippled Houston and its destroyer escort.

The final phase are the Land Based Aircraft attempts. The WAF fail to locate the crippled HMS Dragon in poor weather. The EAF however, are blessed with clear skies and good weather and do find HMAS Canberra escorted by HMAS Hobart.

I used the Campaign Air Ops in GQ3 rather than Tactical Air Ops to speed things along.  

The first attacking wave consisted of 9 flights of 'Nell' bombers. 4 targeted Hobart and 5 Canberra. Medium bombs were dropped keeping the aircraft out of short range AA fire. Neither Australian ship scored any hits using their long range AA armament only.

The Canberra was faced with a heart-stopping moment with a near miss. They only had one hull box left and the near miss reduced that to a half!

The second Japanese wave consisted of 7 flights of 'Betty' bombers. 2 targeted the Hobart and 5 Canberra. On this occasion the Australian AA fire proved far more accurate. Hobart damaged one bomber and Canberra shot one down. 

As the medium bombs rained down Canberra held its breath. Even a near miss would sink her. Fortune favoured the Australians with all bombs falling wide. This signalled the end of turn 2.

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Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 2, 1st - 15th January 1942, Allied Forces intercept Japanese Convoys.

Two allied naval groups have succeeded in thwarting any Japanese attempts to prevent them intercepting convoys.

EASGROUP v JINTSU CONVOY

EastGroup (USN) having defeated the Nachi patrol now approach the Jintsu invasion convoy. The USN flag is transferred to the cruiser Boise who leads 7 Clemson class destroyers north. 3 of those destroyers have sustained hull damage limiting their speed to 30 knots. 

Success! The Japanese convoy is contacted by the American sweep. 8 merchant ships/transports escorted by the cruiser Jintsu and 2 Kagero class destroyers make up the convoy.

 

The USN Boise Steaming north leading the destroyers in line astern. It is now nighttime.

In the foreground, the Boise sights a Japanese ship heading directly towards them from the east at a distance of 20,000 yards (100cm).

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On the Workbench: Ancient Spanish Cavalry, Japanese Floatplanes, Royal Navy Ships

Time for an update on what I have been painting this year so far. Starting with figures for the Trebia project:

4 bases of Spanish Heavy Cavalry. All figures are 6mm Baccus, 10 figures to a 40mm x 30mm base. A base of Italian allied cavalry was also completed having discovered I was one base short!

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Plans for 2025

 It is time to plan the year ahead, or at least have an idea of what I intend to do!

As in previous years I will break down my plans into Battles, Campaigns, Painting/Modelling.

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman: 9th Legion v Ancient British Mona.

Punic Wars: Battle of Trebia.

ECW:

TBC. Braddock Down is a possibility but I have yet to settle on a particular battle. It is possible that ECW will be a period not covered this year.

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. 

ACW:

Cross Keys 8th June 1862. 

PONY WARS:

A priority this year now that all figures and terrain have been completed.

COLONIAL:

Zulu Wars - Rorkes Drift

WW2:

Market Garden: Battle in the Woods from the Rapid Fire scenario book involving the UK Paras.

Operation Compass: Attack on the Maletti Group. This is a scenario from a mini-campaign acquired from Wargames Vault. 

It is unlikely I will have time to play both WW2 games but hopefully one will see the tabletop.

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