Toy Soldiers in Art No. 31

 

Another seasonal postcard with Toy Soldiers . I admire the hats worn by the participants , perhaps I need to start wearing a hat whilst gaming ? . The serried ranks are about to be mown down by grapeshot , if I was the other chap I'd be getting out of the way to avoid getting shot !, again a sailor suit is in evidence .  

A little bit of enlightenment on the previous post .

 

In the previous post there were musings on the uniforms and accoutrements of the Bavarian soldiers with a table full of toy soldier castings . I have been and done a bit of 'googling' and found these couple of photos of Landwehr whose bayonets and caps match the original photo  .

Toy Soldiers in Art No.30

 

Another photo from my folder of possibilities , I not sure where I got this one from, but it shows a group of soldiers casting (?) toy soldiers . I was initially going to say they were French  but I did a 'picture search' and came up with the following,   -  Infanterist Reinhard Bosch and colleagues from Bayer. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 8 pose around a table bedecked with tin soldiers. According to his service record, Bosch would receive the Iron Cross second-class in August 1917.. I'm not sure which is Reinhard and why they are casting toy soldiers, but they seem to be wearing some sort of fatigue uniform (?) , I think the original was a postcard as the picture search mentions divided back (of photo as in a postcard)

Toy Soldiers in Art No.29

 

Had this in my folder of possibilities for a while and finally it's that time of year .He isn't going to miss at that range is he ! . The number of children playing with Toy Soldiers whilst wearing Sailor suits is remarkable - not sure I could carry it off myself - especially nowadays . 

Lord Bygones Triumph ! (being Part 2 of the battle report)

 

The unit of DagTufekcileri come under fire from the Helenyka irregulars hiding in the village.

The Sublime Porte Lancers charge is met by a counter charge from the Green Hussars !

Which ends in total disaster for the Lancers ! , Oh dear ! 

The Sublime Porte Regulars have to deploy as as the Heroine Tringe Smajli and her warband threaten the column .

Flushed with success the Green Hussars capture one of the mule trains of ammunition and the corespondent of the New Tribune (this later caused a diplomatic incident with the American Government)

Meanwhile Lord Bygone and the Regulars charge the redoubt and kill and scatter the garrison ! (Lord Bygone poses heroically on the parapet )

The Green Hussar escort the mule train and War Correspondent Mustafa Drage  to safety .

With things going badly for them the leading unit of the column has to fight it's way back to the bridge .

The Border Guards (in white uniforms) move up (very slowly) to help cover the retreat . It must be said that the Regulars fought well taking heavy casualties but their morale held (the red heart donates that a unit has past it's morale check) .

To add insult to injury the Border Guard are ambushed by Tringe Smalji and promptly flee ! At this point I decided to draw a veil over the sad proceedings and the remnants of the Sublime Porte retreated over the bridge to safety having lost half of the ammunition and suffered heavy casualties . A stunning victory for Lord Bygone  which I am sure his publicity department will make the most of !

 

 

The Action in the Hizli Nehir Valley ( Lord Bygone strikes once more against the Sublime Porte!)

 

When I am in a quandary on what to play next I tend to come back to my old favourite set of rules - A Gentleman's War . Here we see a column of The Sublime Porte escorting some mule loads of ammunition . unfortunately a spy has informed the Helenyka government and the have dispatched a scratch force of local troops under the British patriot Lord Bygone to capture it .

I gave both sides a Special Cameo Character card , The Helenykan's got a 'Sergeant Major' a British mercenary employed to train the Republican Army .

The Sublime Porte got a 'War Correspondent' The New Tribune correspondent Mustapha Dragge .

The Helenyka forces are helped by the famed Heroine Tringe Smajli and her force of freedom fighters !

The village has a small detachment of Dag Tufekcileri to guard the route for the Sublime Porte .

The Sublime Porte under Kemul Attaturk Pasha have drawn a good hand of cards which should assist in their motivation ! 

The tail end of the column moves slowly up the road and over the River Hizli Nehir blissfully unawares of the oncoming ambush , Too be continued ..........

Wargaming Humour No. 42

 

Found on the Interweb , doubt it would sell , they would have to be rather more rotund and a lot greyer , however the rules dispute that seems to be brewing is probably accurate.