Little Battles.

My wargaming colleague 'A' called round the other night and we got to try out my 10mm American War of Independence figures , the lack of suitable terrain will be have to improved in the future.

The British battle line , regulars in the front line and Provincial Loyalists in the rear one . As usual I forgot to record the action once things heated up .

The view from the rear of the American lines . I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as after early successes my army moral crumbled .We used 'A's adaptions for Black Powder - which worked well.(click on photos to enlarge)

After a Short Delay .........

Real life in the form of my wife's broken leg has curtailed any blogging of late , but things have been going on in the background . At the moment I'm fighting a solo FIW game using the excellent 'Muskets and Tomahawks' rules .

This has been encouraged by me finishing painting the latest batch of militia figures from 'Galloping Major' , I really like these figures - full of character and easy to paint.

Some more of the militia , they fit well size wise with my other figures which are mainly Redoubt.

French militia lurking behind a log cabin , again 'Galloping Major ' figures and a '4Ground 'building .

Something entirely different - a radio station for my 'Bolt Action' WW2 , its by 'Sarrissa 'and doesn't come pre-painted like the '4Ground' buildings - but easier to put together !.

And I'm having a clear out ! - it's amazing the amount of rules you amass over 40 odd years (well if your me anyway !) . I'm being ruthless anything I haven't used for years or don't think I'll use again is going - first I'm letting my wargaming colleagues pick through them, then any hard back books will go to a charity shop and what's left to recycling !. 

Bronze Age Warfare rules test (Part2)

Reinforcements in the form of cavalry arrive . I think Bronze Age cavalry would be used in a light role - here we see them circling to bombard the enemy warriors , casualties from missile fire was quite high - thinking for giving them limited ammunition .

The command and control seem to work not to badly , am thinking of limiting it even more by making Leaders/Heroes actually having to be in contact with units to affect them . In Command = roll movement dice and re-roll lowest dice (cannot roll worse), Out of Command = roll movement dice and re-roll best dice (cannot roll better) . Example - Skirmish unit In Command distance rolls 3D6 - say 3-4-6 , re-roll worse dice 3 (ignore lower roll) , gets a 5 = 15"move. Same unit Out of Command distance rolls 3D6 say 2-5-5 , re-roll best dice 5 (ignore higher roll) , gets a 2 = 9"move.

The warband charges the cavalry , I allowed the cavalry and skirmishers to make an evade move if they had not already moved that turn (using ordinary movement dice) - they would be wise not to get to close to the enemy. 

The Clan of the Red Pig's Warband charges the enemy . I used the system from Featherstone's book to fight the melee , 2 ranks can fight - 1 point per figure - roll a dice per 5 points , Example 20 figures = 4 D6 - which roll say 2-5-4-3 = 14 , half the result = 7 casualties - these can make saving throws .

The result of the combat , each side rolls a D6 X remaining number of figures , looser must retreat 1 move (drawn combats continue next move).

The skirmishers are pushed back to the Shrine and Clan Broc is near victory - they have not noticed the newly arrived reinforcements on their flank.

The overview of the battlefield .

Clan Broc's warband on the right has been pushed back again , so the Leader/Hero dismounts from his Chariot to rally them . Units that drop below 50% will not advance and retire if out of command radius .

On the next move a red token is drawn first and the warband charges into the flank of the Clan Broc warband ! . Under the Featherstone system Flank and Rear attacks can be devastating , you roll a D6 = 5,6 - fight as usual , 4 -half unit fight half flees (5 or 6 to save fleeing figures) , 3 whole unit flees (5 or 6 to save fleeing figures) , 2 or 1 whole unit is cut down and lost. This brought Clan Broc's army to below 50 % and so they loose the game . I've been scribbling notes as I played the game so there will be modifications , I will be playing another game to try them out soon. 

Bronze Age Warfare rules test game(part1)

Been thinking hard about the Bronze Age Warfare (BAW) rules whilst walking dog and have come up with the following ideas. There are the following troop types - Infantry , Cavalry, Skirmishers and Leaders/Heroes . Movement is as follows- Cavalry/Chariots move 4xD6 , Infantry 2xD6 and Skirmishers 3xD6 . Chariots are used as transport for Leaders, who have a command radius of 6". Units who are not in command radius have to re-roll their highest dice - this reflects their lack of motivation . Moving through bad terrain halves the movement .

To activate a unit a token is drawn red for one side blue the other . Would like to say I used Reindeer blood and Woad to mark the stones but Vallejo was easier . One token per unit and one token marked with Black, when this is drawn the turn stops and all the tokens are returned to the box . 

Tilly thinks the 'Staines o' Destiny' are a little strange !, I think they add period feel !.Missile shooting have 3 range bands , 0-6" - 456 to hit , 6"- 12" - 56 to hit , 12"- 18" - 6 to hit , each figure shoots individually . When hit a casualty throws a saving dice - saving on a 56 adding 1 if in cover, cavalry/chariots and skirmishers . Heroes/Leaders have 2 wounds before being removed . I must stress these are 'work in progress' rules.

I decided the best way to try out these rules was to play a test game through and see how they go . The invading army of Clan Broc are going to try and despoil their rivals sacred site and move onto the table - 3 units of Infantry/Warriors , 1 of Skirmishers and 2 Leaders/Heroes. 

The battlefield set out (the cat was removed before combat started) nearest the camera is the sacred site of the Clan of the Red Pig . Caught by surprise the can only muster 1 Hero/Leader and 2 units of Skirmishers (which represent the local villagers ) to start with , reinforcements will arrive on a dice throw every move .

The Shaman of the Clan of the Red Pig calls on the Gods for help !. The Warrior/Infantry units are 20 figures strong and the Skirmishers 10 figures , as moral will be rudimentary I don't think actual numbers will matter  - ie Units having taken 50 % casualties will not advance and if out of command radius will retire . If an Army suffers 50% casualties it has lost the game .

The Warriors of Clan Broc advance, but then the 'Sable Staine' is drawn and the move comes to an end ! . Well so far I've pinch rules from Featherstone (for shooting) and TSATF (for movement) , the command idea is my own . Well I'll return to the table to continue the game and report on it soon .

  

Bronze Age Warfare .

Things have been a bit topsy turvy here at the moment as my wife has managed to break her ankle , so yours truly is now chief cook and bottle washer as she hobbles around on crutches with her leg in plaster . This means I have to walk the dog twice a day , not that I mind as I do my best thinking whilst doing this sort of thing . I was contemplating my present wargaming situation and trying to decide which way it should go - which periods to enlarge on and which to get rid of as I don't play them , or see myself playing them in the future . 

I have a large collection of Foundry European Bronze Age figures , bought when Foundry did some very tempting deals . I've always been interested in the Bronze Age and Prehistory in general - in my youth I took part in many archaeological excavations . These figures are 90 % finished and I was wondering what to do with them .

I feel very attached to these figures and didn't want to dispose of the collection - but what to do with them ?, I'm not drawn to any of the modern sets of Ancients rules and I thought - why not write my own set !?.

This sounds rather grand ! but what it really means is that I'm going to pinch bits from other sets of rules I like . Featherstone's set of Ancient rule would be a good  starting point , but I like variable movement distances  so the movement system from TSATF  would be a likely candidate . I want to keep things simple - using D6 and individual casualty removal .

Troop types would be Cavalry , Chariots , Infantry and Skirmishers and Hero figures would command the unit and help motivate them . I've got some ideas in my head which I will get down on paper and try out , I will report my finding in the next post .

Silk Purses from Sows Ears Part 2.

Several weeks ago I posted that I was going to paint up some plastic Spencer Smith ACW figures for my Old School project and having reach the front of my painting queue I now present the 4th Michigan for my Union force . (see  

http://tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/O.S.%20ACW )

                                   

For the Confederate force I have painted them up as the Charleston Zouave Cadets , historically I don't think this unit got bigger than an odd company or so and its doubtful if they wore this uniform in action - however this being Old School I do not feel constrained by history - and they look very pretty and brighten up my otherwise rather dull Rebel force. 

In homage to my wargaming past the 2 units have been displayed on this book , published in 1970 I bought it with one of my first pay cheques when I started work that year - it was and still is a brilliant book as a starter for the ACW and it opened the world of ACW Zouaves etc to me . As you can see it's taken its fair share of paint over the years - a veteran in every sense !. 

I could not afford the hard backed edition as my starting wage was £5 before stoppages and paying my mother board and lodgings . A piece of my wargaming history - I get a bit misty eyed over it - 'sniff !'