Nap Campaign: Map Moves 13th March - nightfall 15th March

Nightfall 13th March

WW2 in N.Africa: Jock Column v Supply Convoy Nov 1940

This was the second action I played in my project to work through the WW2 in North Africa from The First Battle of Solum. Whether I will ever get to complete it is another matter but it will be fun trying!

After the Battle of Sollum on 15 September 1940 the Italians pressed into Egypt, advancing 60 miles in 3 days. Halting at Sidi Barrani, the Italians dug in to await supplies and reinforcements. The British are planning to exploit the Italian's lack of mobility and preparations are underway for an attack. 

In the meantime the British harass the Italians with a new tactic of using mixed formations called Jock columns, named after the officer who was an exponent of the tactic and may have conceived it originally, Lt Col "Jock" Campbell. A Jock column normally consisted of a single motorised company of infantry, a battery of field guns, support weapons and some armour or armoured cars.

This action represents one Jock column attacking an Italian supply convoy.

Nap Campaign: The Battle of Croxley-Valle (Spain)

The night before the battle:

Morillo has chosen a defensive position across a ridge of rocky hills with the village of Croxley-Valle in the centre of his position. He has calculated that the broken terrain will cancel out the French advantage in cavalry and the commanding position will be difficult to overcome by French infantry.

WW2 Heroics & Ros British Paras

I have now completed the first battalion of Heroics & Ros 6mm British Paras. Although for BKC the orbat from the Rapid Fire Army list has been used. 

From front, Battalion HQ company with 2 x piats and 1 x 2" mortar, 3 rifle companies, and at the rear the support company with a Vickers MMG and a 3" mortar.

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 11th - nightfall 12th March

When I move on to the regional maps I will also include the moves on 10th March as a refresher. You will then be able to scroll through 3 days of moves to see more clearly what is happening.

The overall situation by nightfall 11th March 1808:

Kingmaker Campaign: Prelude to the Battle of Milford Haven

I have now completed painting the Wars of the Roses figures (6mm) for the first battle in the Kingmaker campaign, the Battle of Milford Haven. As soon as Jack (my son) is free the battle will be fought but in the meantime here are the forces involved:

Stafford Duke of Buckingham (Jack) with Hasting Earl of Worcester gathers the troops:

Buckingham's Battle (right), Worcester's Battle (left)

Nap Campaign: Naval Battle of Watervall Bay

I apologise for the lack of photos. Unfortunately I took very few at the time. This will therefore, be mainly a text based AAR.

THE BATTLE OF WATERVALL BAY (NAVAL)

British v French

Royal Navy: 1 x Ship of the Line (74); 2 x Cutters (8)

French: 1 Ship of the Line (74); 1 x Frigate (36)

Model Scale = 1/2400

11th March 1808

The Location of the Battle N3 v N3

Nap Campaign: The Battle of Appleace Part 2

As and aid to identifying units in the photos I am experimenting providing captions to explain what is being seen. I would appreciate any comments as to whether this is helping or not. I do not want to get bogged down in too much text so will keep it as brief as possible. On to the battle:

Middle top between house and hill, Bruno's Brigade. bottom middle, Gobrecht's Brigade. Ghigny's Dutch/Belgian light cavalry brigade middle left with 8th Belgian Hussars in melee with 7th Hussars.

Nap Campaign: The Battle of Appleace (Holland) Part 1

You may have noticed there has been changes to the Orbats. I had been playing around with the Command and Control system and eventually settled on a version of that contained within Sam Mustafa's Grande Armee rules. More details here Command & Control. The Orbats no longer contain 'Orders' and have been replace with CD's (Command Dice or Pips). On to the battle -

The night before the battle:

To the west, Marcognet continues to follow Col Best as he retreats along the coast road. Ahead of Grouchy, the Prince of Orange has made a stand at he village of Appleace. The Dutch/Belgians and Hanoverians are in position with the Duke of Brunswick advancing onto the battlefield at the rear. Although the allies have the numerical advantage the French have the edge in quality.

Heroics & Ros WW2

Yesterday I received a delivery from Heroics & Ros of their new WW2 British Airborne range. Very fast delivery which is a big thumbs up.

Now I have to say I have soft spot for H&R having first purchased from them in the early 70's. Originally it was WW2 stuff and then throughout the 80's I amassed a sizeable collection of their Napoleonics (sadly since sold). The fact that they are still going strong is in itself a reason to be cheerful, especially for fans of the smaller scales.

My concern over the years being that they seemed to be falling behind in the quality stakes especially with new arrivals such as Baccus and Rapier. I recognised many of their vehicles and figures being the same that I purchased 40 years ago. Which brings me on to this latest collection.

When I first laid out my new purchases the first thought that came into my mind was 'bloody hell, this is quality'. I cannot explain adequately how pleased I am that H&R have not only matched the best that is around now but in many ways have exceeded it. 

I apologise for the poor quality photo but hopefully this will give you an idea. From left to right, Adler Italians, Baccus Brit Paras, H&R Brit Paras, GHQ 8th Army. Firstly size. They are marginally smaller than Adler and Baccus, and although they look much bigger than GHQ in the photo, in reality they are only very marginally larger in height. They are though much beefier figures. It appears H&R have gravitated towards the 1/285 scale which is no bad thing. Their jeeps are compatible with the GHQ vehicles I have. The figures though do appear to be slightly on the large size compared to the vehicles. Unfortunately the photo does not do justice to the quality. They are superior to GHQ and Adler (or at least the Adler figures I have). They are very similar to Baccus in quality but I believe they have the edge. They are cleaner sculps with little or no mould lines and virtually zero flash. 

The jeeps that I purchased are within a whisker of the quality of GHQ and much cheaper. H&R have increased their prices, no doubt to reflect the higher quality of these figures. e.g. it now costs £4.50 for a pack of 50 paras. More expensive than Baccus but cheaper than GHQ. For this quality though I have absolutely no objection. A clear advantage of H&R is that for the most part you only buy what you need. All vehicles are individual and there is a significant number of small packs of figures covering numerous types.

If this is an example of where they are going with WW2 then I believe H&R will be around for many years to come. And I for one will be making many long overdue purchases for WW2.

Over the next few weeks I will paint up a battalion of British Paras and put them on the blog. Hopefully I will do them justice!

Nap Campaign: Map Moves to Nightfall 10th March

The overall situation by nightfall 10th March 1808:

Nap Campaign: The Battle of Glade (Prussia)

The Prussian 15th Brigade commander, Maj Gen von Losthin, having avoided encirclement, falls back on what he considers to be another good defensive position. Having passed through the village of Glade he locates two river crossings which are the only route into central Prussia unless a significant detour is made. The rivers are too deep to be forded so he sets about deploying his Brigade to maximise the defensive qualities of his chosen defensive line. 

The night before the battle:

Bachelu's 5th Division with Pire's Cavalry Brigade follow Losthin's line of retreat while Durutte's Brigade from 1st Corps converges on Losthin from the west (blue 15). The scene is set for:

Waterloo Update

With new year out of the way and some painful dieting started it is time to think about my Waterloo project. By the time I get to play this it will be almost 3 years overdue so must crack on! 

As you may have seen from previous posts, all figures and buildings are now complete. Add to this trees, streams and roads which just leaves hedgerows and hill sections. As soon as I complete the painting of 6mm Wars of the Roses figures for the first battle in the 'Kingmaker' campaign I intend to do a stock check of all hills and hedgerows that I possess. I am cautiously optimistic that I have all that I need or at least close to it. Once that is done it is good to go.