Plans for 2023

As the new year approaches it is time to think about what I shall do over the next 12 months. Although I have had mixed results in sticking to previous years plans, I do tend to find it helps in focussing my attention rather than bursting off in all directions which I have been known to do!

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

So without further ado, onto the plans:

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 2nd Augusta Legion v Ancient British Durotriges tribe in the west country.

ECW:

Edgehill - Almost ready to play this and will be a priority in the new year.

NAPOLEONIC:

Peninsular War project - Battle of Busaco 27th September 1810. There are a fair number of figures to paint before this game will be ready so probably 50:50 if this will be on the table in 2023.

Napoleonic Campaign - At the time of writing this I am still completing campaign map moves. There will certainly be at least one battle played out this coming year.

ACW:

Gettysburg Day 2 - I have been intending for several years to play this game but for a variety of reasons has fallen by the wayside. There is no excuse though as my available gaming area is now sufficient for a battle of this size. There are terrain pieces that have yet to be painted but I simply have to get this up on the tabletop this coming year.

COLONIAL:

Rorkes Drift - Most of the figures have now been painted with just the terrain to be completed.

PONY WARS:

A priority to get the figures painted followed by terrain. I intend to make this one of the targets this year but unsure as to whether I will complete all the collection required. Hopefully though I will get something on the table even if only a test game.

WW2:

Cristot (Normandy 1944) - Already on the board with an AAR due to be posted within the next few weeks.

Battle south of Nibeiwa - Operation Compass campaign and another priority for the year.

Groesbeek Heights - Op Market Garden. Another target but dependant on being able to get the figures painted in time.

Continued -

Review of 2022

My wargaming has slowed to a crawl since my last blog posting. A host of reasons intruded on my available time not least a downturn in my wargaming mojo! Over a month ago I set up a WW2 game, the battle of Cristot, and so far have only completed a half dozen turns. I did though manage to keep up a reasonably steady amounting of painting, more of that below.

So with the end of year approaching, it is time to review what I have completed over the past 12 months. As in previous years I will republish my plans for the year and update them as to what has been accomplished. Text in italics are taken from those plans.

BATTLES

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 2nd Augusta Legion v Ancient British Durotriges tribe in the west country.

Unfortunately, no further forward. It was my intention to construct an iron age hillfort, and although tempted to forsake that just to get the game done, decided I really should complete the construction given the location of the action. I have completed the base and some test palisade and hope to progress this early in the new year.

ECW:

Stoke Lane 1st July 1643.

Completed - https://grymauch.blogspot.com/2022/09/ecw-battle-of-stoke-lane-1st-july-1643.html

Edgehill - a considerable number of figures need to be painted. I have included this battle as a possible although probably a long-shot for this year.

Definitely on course to be played next year. 

Continued - 

Nap Campaign: Battle of Holbrook 3rd April 1808 - Turns 25 to Conclusion

 Turn 25

Squares are formed as the great mass of Guard cavalry swarm over the river. The lancers temporarily halt to form up. The only allied cavalry in a position to intercept them is a lone troop of Brunswick lancers (lower middle left).

The view from behind the allied lines. One square is caught between the cavalry and an approaching Young Guard battalion column. They open fire on both but fail to make much of an impact. The green micro-dice indicate which units will need to test morale the next turn as a result of a dispersing 33rd Line and an artillery battery. 

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Holbrook 3rd April 1808 - Turns 19 to 24

 Turn 19

Dornberg lead his light cavalry brigade on a desperate charge against the Cuirassiers while they were still unformed. The French advantage of heavy cavalry was cancelled out by their inability to counter charge together with the superior mounts of the British and KGL cavalry.

On the left of the photo the elite 1st KGL Light Dragoons lead by Dornberg charged the veteran 4th Cuirassiers. The latter rolled a double '6' but fortunately for the KGL troopers they also rolled high reducing their defeat to a push back. Dornberg received a light wound and the Cuirassiers would pursue the next turn.

To the right the British 23rd Light Dragoons charged the 1st Cuirassiers lead by Dubois. The had more success pushing back the Cuirassiers. 

Another attempt on the bridge was made by Villiers' Brigade, this time with the 2/11th Light battalion leading the charge against the 2/1st Foot Guards. The French took fire from nearby Hanoverian battalions but only suffered 1 casualty and successfully charged home against the Guards. They were narrowly defeated again and are pushed back.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Holbrook 3rd April 1808 - Turns 13 to 18

 Turn 13

On the allied left flank, their artillery firing canister into Piat's brigade were taking a heavy toll.

On the French left, the 3/13th Light battalion of Schmitz' brigade were blown away by a British battery losing 6 casualties to canister fire plus 1 from a blast of musketry. Having lost over 50% of their number they failed their subsequent morale test and fled the field. The fence line to the right of the tree has now been swept clean of French infantry.

The rest of Schmitz' brigade, now joined by Aulard's battalions (middle right), had the better of the firefight with the Bremen Hanoverian battalion suffering particularly badly forcing it to retreat.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Holbrook 3rd April 1808 - Turns 1 to 12

 Turns 1 - 4

The preliminary bombardment begins. The French have formed most of their artillery into 3 grand batteries.

By the 2nd turn the French artillery were getting the better of the artillery exchange. In the lower left of the photo the 2/30th Line suffer heavy casualties from the central grand battery and retreat in disorder. General C Halkett rode over to rally them but failed!

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Holbrook 3rd April 1808 - Introduction

Back from the hols (and a bout of Covid!) and now back to the real stuff. The next battle in the Napoleonic Campaign involves a French v Allied force with Grouchy seeking to capture Holland and expel the British.

A reminder of the strategic situation:

The battle is located at the top of the map with Blue 7 representing Grouchy's command. Red 3 are the British contingent of the allied force with General Hill in overall command. Grouchy is attempting to push through to capture the port of Gorizia.

Beneath Red N4 is the port of Gorizia and the primary location for the disembarkation of British reinforcements. 

Black 1 is Buttlar's Brunswick brigade responding to the Duke of Brunswick's call for reinforcements.

Yellow 4 is Col Best's Hanoverian Brigade who are now hurrying to join the allied army,

Blue 6 is D'Erlon with two divisions of infantry and one cavalry division who had been detached to eliminate a Dutch threat their flank. They are now moving to rejoin Grouchy.

Continued -

ECW - The Battle of Stoke Lane, 1st July 1643

This is the next scenario in the "English Civil War Campaign Scenarios - The 1643 Campaign for the South-West" book.

It is more of a large skirmish than a fully-fledged battle with around 450 involved in total. 

Sir William Waller planned a raid (known as Beating up Quarters) on the Royalists occupying the village of Stoke Lane. The Royalist commander, Sgt-Maj General Sir James Hamilton quartered his cavalry in this village with his dragoons farther to the east.

The Parliamentarian force was commanded by Major Francis Dowet of Waller's regiment of horse. Originally intended to attack just before dawn they were delayed arriving as daylight broke. Luckily for them there was an early morning mist allowing them to approach the village undetected. This is where the game starts.

Rules: Forlorn Hope by Pete Berry

Scale: 6mm Baccus

Table size: 3'9" x 3'0"

Figure Ratio: 1:2

Orbats:

Parliament

CinC Maj Francis Dowet  LV:2
Dowet's Troop                    27 in 2 sections
Capt Pickering's Troop      24 in 2 sections
Capt Richard's Troop        24 in 2 sections
Troop of Dragoons - Maj Edward Carr LV:1
5 sections                          51 in total

Royalist

CinC Sgt-Maj General Sir James Hamilton  LV:2
Hamilton's Troop             24 in 2 sections
Lt Col Carre's Troop        24 in 2 sections
Maj Blunt's Troop            18 in 2 sections
Capt Colt's Troop             18 in 2 sections
Capt Walsh's Troop          18 in 2 sections
Troop of Dragoons - Reynolds LV:1
3 sections                          30 in total

Walsh's troop are dismounted and acting as sentinels with each section covering the opposite ends of the village. The other 4 troops occupy 4 buildings, 3 at random with one in the inn. Historically, the royalist dragoons did not come to their comrades' aid when they learnt of the raid. I have decided to use the optional reinforcements rule and they will dice for arrival along Stoke Lane from turn 6.

The Parliamentarians will be strung out along the road running to the north east corner of the map and initially confined to the roads. 

Continued -

On The Workbench: ECW Cuirassiers

The recent heatwave brought my wargaming to a crawl! Painting figures was reduced to 30 minutes at most per day and the gaming of Sanlucar in my Napoleonic campaign no different. That has thrown out my plans somewhat, it being my intention to get the large Napoleonic campaign battle of Holbrook on the tabletop before starting my 2 week holiday in early September. It would not be finished in time and I would not be happy leaving everything out for the duration. 

Therefore, I have decided to play out one or possibly two smaller actions and returning to Holbrook after the holiday. The first of these is 'Stoke Lane', an ECW cavalry raid. 

Returning to the workbench, although the paint rate slowed considerably, I managed to make headway into my Edgehill project. These are the latest nearing completion:

These are 3 troops of Roundheads and one of Royalist Cuirassiers. The Roundheads are the troops of Bedford, Balfour and Stapleton. The royalists are the Gentlemen Pensioners.

All the artillery has been completed and I am now well over 75% of the way there.

Nap Campaign: Battle of Sanlucar 3rd April 1808

The village of Sanlucar is located to the north of the action in 15A1. Grey 3 is the Spanish 2nd Division lead by Iglesias. He took it upon himself to ignore orders to withdraw towards Spain should the French approach and believed he will gain glory by defeating any French advance. Blue 2 is Lobau with an infantry and a cavalry division from the 6th Corps. It is his job to neuter any flanking threat to the main French force.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 2nd April 1808

 

An overview at the end of the day on 2nd April. While Napoleon and Blucher were slugging it out other forces were on the move. As before I will cover each theatre in more detail below.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Conclusion

We leave Grazzbenn with Napoleon and his battered force withdrawing under cover of darkness. This was his first defeat of the campaign, and aside from setbacks in the south, the French had enjoyed almost universal success. 

Although the French withdrew in good order I awarded the Prussians a decisive victory which impacts returning casualties. The French were resoundingly defeated with almost universal underperformance in stark contrast to the Prussian cavalry in particular who occasionally excelled themselves.

I will detail casualties shortly but first will highlight the performance of one individual unit. The Prussian 6th Uhlans. They had arrived as part of von Ziethen's 1st Corps reinforcements in Lutzow II's 2nd Cavalry Brigade. It was turn 27 when they first made their presence felt. Having negotiated their way through the great mass of advancing Prussian columns they were joined by Lutzow who lead a charge on an unprepared French infantry battalion still in line formation. 

Having almost wiped out that battalion they routed or forced to retreat 3 more infantry battalions in quick succession adding to the mayhem among the 2nd Corps as the panicked troops piled into the various tightly packed units in an attempt to escape. Their attention was then drawn to the approaching French cavalry of Pire's Division. Lutzow lead the 6th Uhlans in immediate charges against that division successfully causing 3 of the 4 French cavalry regiments to flee the field. The last Chasseur regiment also fled but successfully rallied later. This removed any possibility of the French holding the line or counter-attacking in any meaningful way. 

The total cost to the 6th Uhlans? Just 3 of their initial 13 figures, one of which returned post battle. This is one of the most outstanding performances of any unit in the campaign so far. They did not fail a single morale check. Normally when any unit goes above and beyond they are awarded an upgrade in their quality. In this particular instance I have for the first time given a unit a double upgrade taking it from line to elite! Lutzow will also be upgraded to excellent from average.

The 6th Uhlans at the start of their rampage.

Continued - 

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Turns 29 - 32

 Turn 29

The turn began with success for the French south of Grazzbenn. They have temporarily at least stalled the Prussian cavalry threat to their retreating infantry. The 1st Carabiniers and 3rd Dragoons defeated Watzdorf's 3rd and 5th Hussars in melee. Unfortunately for the French, both of their regiments will pursue the defeated Prussian Hussars. Clearly the humiliating defeats so far has generated a desire for revenge!

All the Imperial Guard infantry and artillery are now withdrawing south.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Turns 25 - 28

 

A reminder of the situation at the end of turn 24.

Turn 25

An early success came for the French when the combined Guard horse artillery batteries firing from the high ground onto the Prussian cavalry decimated what was left of Sydow's brigade. A double 6 was rolled killing Sydow and wiping out more than half of the 2nd Pomeranian Landwehr cavalry (losing 6 out of 11). The survivors fled the field and with the loss of Sydow the subsequent brigade morale test failed leading to the dispersal of the last unit in the brigade, the 1st Pomeranian Landwehr cavalry.

The photo shows the aftermath with just two Prussian cavalry regiments remaining to hold the line east of Grazzbenn.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Turns 21 - 24

 Turn 21

The Imperial Guards have now defeated the whole of the Prussian left flank and are beginning to concentrate on their next phase of assisting Vandamme defeat the centre.

In the Prussian centre, the Grenadiers a' Cheval continue their devastating attack. Having maintained superb discipline they press on to charge the 1st Dragoons. Thurmen leads the Dragoons into a counter-charge. The Prussians put up a spirited charge but are no match for the Grenadiers who inflict heavy losses on them (8 figures). This forces the Dragoons to retreat but some respite is awarded to the Prussians when the Grenadiers become unformed.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Turns 17 - 20

 Turn 17

The start of the turn saw the Imperial Guard continue their assault on the heights occupied by the Prussian left flank. Here the 1/2nd Chasseurs of the Old Guard (left column) and the 2/3rd Grenadiers of the Middle Guard charged the 2/2nd Silesia Landwehr accompanied by Blandowski. The Landwehr morale broke leading to a "Mass Panic" Brigade morale result. This would see the Silesians flee the field.

With more Prussian units routing from the field the Prussian left flank all but ceased to exist. The Imperial Guard were on the verge of completing their initial task albeit with some battalions having received higher than anticipated casualties.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808: Turns 11 - 16

 Turn 11

The Imperial Guard marches relentlessly on, their progress slowed as they enter broken terrain (half speed). Although the Prussian cavalry are light in numbers they are sufficient to prevent the French deploying their skirmishers. 

Napoleon decides he can wait no longer and orders Vandamme to begin his attack on the Prussian centre. The first columns move through the artillery line, several becoming unformed in doing so. 

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808 : Turns 1 - 10

 Turn 1

The Prussians gained the initiative in turn 1 and had the privilege of firing the first artillery salvoes at the French. A single 6pdr scored a double 6 on an Old Guard 6pdr battery knocking out one of its guns and forcing the battery to retire. Otherwise it was rather uneventful with a sprinkling of French casualties along its front line.

The French response was rather underwhelming given their numbers. Casualties were inflicted on many Prussian units but mostly singles.

Turn 2

Scouts report to Napoleon that a Prussian force is moving towards their rear and expected to arrive early afternoon on their left flank. He therefore does not have the luxury of pounding the Prussians relentlessly utilising their advantage in artillery. 

Having won the initiative this turn, the French artillery open up again on the Prussians but with a repeat of turn 1 (poor dice rolls) Prussian casualties are relatively light. Earlier than he would have liked, the Imperial Guards were ordered to form attack columns ready to move out. The French plan being to deliver a right hook with the guards to be followed up by a blow to the centre with Vandamme's Corps.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808 - Introduction

Battle of Grazzbenn

Table Size = 6'9" x 4'6"

Figures = Baccus 6mm

Rules = General de Brigade

Start time 0900 hours = 32 turns

The Battlefield

                                      13A10                   13A9                                 13A8

                                      13A5                     13A4                                 13A3

Note: Each square = 3' square on the table top.

Terrain:

13A10 – Firm grazing land, hedgerows, fences, river deep.

13A9 – Town of Grazzbenn, extensive army barracks, training area around Grazzbenn Castle on hill. The town contains many workshops. River to north bordering square is deep with stone bridge.

13A8 – Bleak rocky terrain around hill (difficult terrain), softening off towards town.

13A5 – Firm grazing land, hedgerows, fences, river deep, stone bridge.

13A4 – Broken rocky terrain with many gullies. Craggy hills. (Difficult terrain - steep slopes).

13A3 – Firm open scrubland. Sunken roads (cover - 8' deep).

Rule Amendments:

For difficult rocky terrain, movement half speed but artillery may deploy. Cavalry formed when standing but unformed when moving. May charge but unformed.

Sunken road - represented by hedgerows. Equivalent to in buildings for receiving artillery fire. Cannot be fired at by muskets or fire out of unless adjacent to them or on the road with clear line of sight.

Army breakpoint being discarded for this battle. 

Note:

The castle on the tabletop is rather larger than that on the map. This is primarily due to the fact that I currently have no smaller option and I wanted to make use of Total Battle Miniatures walled town set. 

Prussian 1st Corps reinforcements:

They are scheduled to arrive on turn 17. However, to introduce a little uncertainty, they will dice for arrival beginning turn 15 and will arrive no later than turn 19. 

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Grazzbenn 2nd April 1808 - Prequel

With lighting installed in the garage its time to return to wargaming on the tabletop. In advance I provide a recap of the events leading up to the next game to be played in the Napoleonic campaign - the critical battle of Grazzbenn:

On 24th March, Napoleon decisively captured the Prussian capital Grissburg. 

Grissburg

Grissburg

Continued -

Wargaming - The Return!

With the finishing touches all that remains in the new home, wargaming is on the verge of resumption. Moving house certainly gets no easier as age takes its toll! 

The first to complete towards the hobby was my new painting/study room. This enabled figure painting to resume but it has been far too long since the last wargame leading to serious withdrawal symptoms!

At the time of writing this, the garage modifications have mostly been completed with just new lighting to be installed. There are restrictions where I live on garage conversions. It must be capable of parking a car within and therefore the main garage door must remain. I therefore sealed it as much as possible with draught excluder and gaffer tape around the mechanism. An insulated ceiling was added with a rubberised tile floor. The breeze block walls and ceiling were painted white. 

The garage is left open plan with the half nearest the main door given over to household storage and the rest becoming a wargaming area. The lighting immediately above the wargames section are 5 spots on a single bar housing adjustable daylight bulbs. It will allow me to have a playing area of 4'6" in width and up to 10' in length although I doubt if I will ever exceed 9'. More table supports would be needed! 

All being well, the lighting will be installed within a few days and wargaming can resume. I will shortly be introducing the first game in my new retreat!

 

On the Workbench: ECW Foot Regiments and WW2 Ships

This will almost certainly be the last blog post before my house move. If all goes according to plan, in a little over 4 weeks I will have a new wargames room enabling the resumption of tabletop action.

In the meantime more units have been completed:

Two Royalist regiments have been added to the inventory. These are Salisbury's redcoats and Molyneux's bluecoats, both of Wentworth's brigade. 

Continued -

On the Workbench: HMS Repulse and Japanese Destroyers

Several 1/3000 scale ships have been completed for the "Defending the Malay Barrier" scenario.

Firstly, HMS Repulse:

This is a refurbished Navwar model. It is one of several in my collection that had been given a very basic paint job many years (in fact decades!) ago. I should have taken a 'before' photo to show the comparison but to give you some idea, this is HMS Malaya in pretty much the same state as Repulse before the make-over:

To remove the old paint I use nail polish remover. Normally one bathe in the stuff with scrubbing by a stiff brush does the job. But on Repulse some paint had collected very thickly in some of the recesses. It required a second bathe and even that did not remove it completely.

I shied away from the 1941 camo scheme and decided on how she would look in 1940. I have found painting camo in this scale a little hit-or-miss. In fact mostly 'miss'. So for the most part I avoid camo schemes adopting the more basic battleship grey.

Continued -

On the Workbench: Two Foot Regiments for Edgehill

 More units for Edgehill roll off the production line!

For Parliament, Brooke's Purplecoat regiment. Part of Thomas Ballard's brigade and a pike/musket ratio of 1:1. I have reduced several bases to 4 figures to allow for the formation to look right. I have minimised this as much as possible as in this scale it can be fiddly!

Dutton's whitecoat regiment for the Royalists. This was part of Charles Gerard's Brigade. In time, as the collection expands, more musketeers will be added to this and other pike heavy regiments for future games. 

Defending the Malay Barrier

Over 10 years ago I bought a job lot of wargames figures from a local auction. The principle reason being that the lot consisted of a large number of reasonably well painted 28mm figures and I saw it as a money-making opportunity sprucing them up and selling them on ebay. That side of it went well but this is not what this blog post is about.

Included in that collection were over 100 1/3000 scale unpainted Japanese warships still in their manufacturer's bags - mostly Navwar with some Davco. I already had a collection of such ships which included a handful of Japanese. I retained these believing them to be useful addition and they have sat in a box ever since!

Fast forward to a few days ago and something on one of Storm of Steel's youtube videos caught my eye. He had a pdf file printed by a company called Doxdirect which got me thinking about all the pdf files stored on my laptop which rarely, if ever, get read. I am quite simply poor at reading rules and scenarios (unless very brief) in pdf format preferring the printed variety.

One such file is a General Quarters 3.3 campaign "Defending the Malay Barrier". I have glanced through it several times intending one day to do something with it and of course using those Japanese warships festering away unloved in a box somewhere!

'Time to get it printed' I thought and duly checked out Doxdirect's website. It was simplicity itself to send the pdf file for printing including selecting the type of paper required. I went for the basic 80gsm matt double sided print with 300gsm card outer covers. I also selected to have it spiral bound which I find by far the most useful for gaming purposes. This is the result:

There was a glitch in the original print with 2 maps only partially reproduced. It was explained to me by Doxdirect that the pdf file needed to be 'flattened' to prevent this problem occurring again. The necessary software would need to be purchased from Adobe which I had no intention of doing as I would be using it so rarely. Doxdirect kindly performed that operation for me and reprinted the file for no extra cost and in quick time. 

The overall quality is excellent and all 74 pages for approximately £12.50 including postage. There is just one small glitch in a couple of symbols on one of the maps has printed in a different colour for some reason. It is not a major issue and something I can live with. Next time I will probably go with the 120gsm satin finish paper which does not cost that much more. 80gsm is fine for this scenario book however.

This has spurred me on to diving into that Japanese collection with the first 3 destroyers on the workbench. I am conscious of the fact that I cannot keep adding to my projects list so this will probably sit in the background to be dabbled with as the urge takes me. I tend to find with Naval wargaming that the painting and collecting of the various ships has more fascination than the actual playing! The majority of my ships in various scales have never seen the tabletop.

I have a softspot for ships probably stemming back to my brief time in the Merchant Navy in the 1970's. Researching the different ship classes and painting them up, even in such a small scale, is very satisfying. 

As an aside, and with what is going on in Ukraine, that time in the Merchant Navy included a visit to Odessa. We had an all-British crew on a British registered ship which made for an interesting experience at the height of the cold war. We were guests of honour at the Opera House with front row seats to watch the Battle of Stalingrad enacted on stage! I gingerly turned around to see that the entire audience consisted of Soviet soldiers and I swear that they were all sat to attention - and appeared to be staring at us! In the Soviet era Odessa was pretty austere but even then still had some very attractive areas. I am keeping my fingers crossed it does not suffer the utter devastation inflicted on Meriupol. 

I will post the painted Japanese destroyers on the blog when completed. They are currently sat at one end of the workbench providing a useful break from painting countless ECW figures!

If anybody is interested in trying out Doxdirect you will find them here https://www.doxdirect.com/. 

 

On the Workbench: Lord General's Regiment.

 A quick update on the Edgehill project. The Lord General's orangecoat regiment of Grand Division 1 and Grand Division 2 have been completed.

These two units were part of the Roundhead Thomas Ballard's brigade. I have given Division 2 a more irregular appearance with Division 1 having armoured pikemen and the former unarmoured. 

As with most of my 6mm, these are all Baccus figures. 

On the Workbench: Prince Rupert's Horse

Since my last blog post I have completed 100 French infantry for Bussaco and now back to figures for Edgehill.

Continued -

On the Workbench: SS Units for the Battle of Cristot

Preparation for the house move has necessitated packing away most of my terrain tiles meaning my wargaming will be on hold until after the move. The latest from the builder was another slight delay so at least a month away yet before that gets completed. Then there is the small matter of converting the garage!

My workbench is still active though and will continue to be so soon after the move. I am therefore concentrating on painting figures for future battles in my projects list.

Referring to a previous post I had intended to play Cristot, a WW2 Normandy game using 'O' Group rules but lost interest. Cristot was always on my 'to do' list but a larger version taken from a Rapid Fire scenario book and using Blitzkrieg Commander rules. The failed attempt at the 'O' Group game gave me the impetus to progress the BKC version.

On checking the orders of battle I found several German units needed to be completed along with a couple of British recce platoons. These were all painted in one lot and, apart from the British, are detailed here:

An overview of the German collection. Consisting of 5 x PzIVH, Sdkfz 231 8 rad armoured car, Sdkfz 10 and 11 halftracks, 5 x motor cycle combos, a SiG33 15cm infantry gun, 2 x MG42 on tripod sections, and 2 x Panzerschrek platoons.  

Continued -

Battle of Tamames - 18th October 1809

Following on from Talavera, this is the next battle in my Peninsular War project which roughly plays through actions in a chronological order.

In September 1809, the Spanish Duke del Parque assumed command of the old army of Galicia, his native force, which had been recruiting and training in Leon. By 25th September, del Parque had concentrated 25,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry and was awaiting the arrival of the other formation of the Army of the West under Ballesteros. It was his job to pull the French reserves away from Madrid with the expectation that the Army of La Mancha would take advantage of this and advance on the capital.

Facing him were the French 6th Corps commanded by Marchand, centred on Salamanca and numbering just over 14,000. The division of Kellerman added another 5,000. By 5th October, del Parque had advanced from Ciudad Rodrigo to Tamames. As soon as news of this Spanish advance reached Marchand he resolved to attack. On 17th October Marchand departed Salamanca with his entire Corps except for 2 battalions of the 50th Line who were left to hold the city. 

He arrived north of Tamames the following day where he was delighted to see the Spanish deployed to his front and ready for battle.

The initial deployments and first few moves will follow those along historical lines. Thereafter I shall seek to restore French pride or confirm Marchand's over-confidence.

 4'6" x 3' board

General de Brigade rules
All figures Baccus 6mm.

Terrain -
Open wood
Hill - difficult terrain across the whole of the raised area. Amendments to rules - Cavalry formed when stood but unformed as soon as moves. May charge unformed. Artillery may deploy. 

Tamames capacity 120
Chapel (to south of Tamames) capacity 40
Church (to east) capacity 25.

Continued -

On the Workbench: More Pony Wars

There I was, table laid and all ready to go with the 'O' Group scenario 'Cristot'. Deployment phase completed and........ nothing! Equivalent to a screen freeze. I put it down to the wargamers version of the 'writers block'. A combination of interruptions, mostly real life, but partially the desire to get more figures painted stalled the game. 

Normally this would not be a problem but my aging brain was also wrestling with learning new rules and 'O' Group has plenty in there to get your head around. Gradually my motivation to play the game drained up to the point I finally surrendered and packed it away. This is not normally something I would do and at least have a go but with all enthusiasm gone I felt the need to get some Napoleonics on the tabletop with rules that I was familiar with.

As I write this the table is almost ready for the next game in my Peninsular War project, Tamames. An unusual battle in that the Spanish beat the French.

It is my intention to return to Cristot but the larger BKC4 version. I have a few figures and vehicles to paint first.

Now to the point of this blog post, the source of my distraction from the tabletop:

Another batch of 60 mounted braves completed and here is the collection to date, 360 of them. Just 240 to go!

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On the Workbench: More use for Rubber Steel sheets and Dirt Roads update.

Casting my eye around other uses for the recently purchased Rubber Steel sheets (see previous posting) my attention was drawn to my collection of 6mm rail tracks. I always intended to base these at some point but had not settled on what sort of base.

As with the dirt tracks they proved to be simple and quick to produce, in fact even more so. Cutting them in 15mm widths the track was merely pushed onto the adhesive side of the material. 

I did not trust the adhesive to adequately hold the Woodland Scenics blend turf so painted PVA glue along each side before application.

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On the Workbench: Dirt Roads

Over the Christmas holidays I noticed an interesting Facebook posting on how to make roads. The poster cut his roads from a thin rubber steel sheet. He attached felt to the self-adhesive surface which he then painted. The result was impressive and not something I had come across before.

I am in need of dirt tracks/roads and had it in mind to make them from decorators caulk as I had done for my existing roads. The downside with caulk is maintaining a consistency in thickness and can be messy. My thicker pieces are less flexible and therefore more difficult to bend over terrain. Some have also frustratingly developed a camber.

This method looked tempting so a couple of 'Self Adhesive Rubber Steel Ferrite Ferrous A4 Sheets' were purchased from Amazon. They are 0.5mm thick and magnetically-receptive (magnetised versions are available but thicker).

 The reverse side is adhesive and the material is easy to cut.

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On the Workbench: Pony Wars Dismounted US Cavalry

The first batch of figures have been completed this year which consists of all I need of the dismounted US Cavalry for the Pony Wars project.

This is the entire pack supplied by Baccus and consists of 80 dismounted cavalry in 4 troops of 20 each and 20 horse holders with 60 horses.

The dismounted cavalry are based in a mix of pairs and plenty of singles to allow for casualty removal, a breakdown into sections of 5 figures each, and ease of placement within terrain features.

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