On the tabletop at the present.

 

Having a small Wofun 28mm SYW game at the moment , late Prussians versus Russians using Honours of War rules , been busy doing 'real life' stuff - cutting back the hedge etc so no painting or hobby at the present.

The Russian Dragoon move through the village ready to deploy onto the tabletop.

Ault Fritz directs some Frei Korp to take the bridge and Objective marker.

The Prussian Cavalry move slowly through the narrow streets to try and capture the Objective marker on the crossroads.

The Cavalry clash in the center of the battlefield , Russian Dragoons versus Prussian Hussars .

Russian Cossacks make a break across the bridge to capture the Objective marker and being fired upon by the Frei Korps . Hopefully I will be able to catch up with developments of this battle and post here soon . 

Pimping my Artillery .

 

There was a posting on the Wofun Facebook group about adding 3D barrels to the Wofun MDF artillery which are avaiable from www.cornwallmodelboats.co.who do various gun barrels for model ship models . Here we see the original madel and one of the new metal barrels.

I carefully removed the old barrels and glued into place the new ones . 

A comparison shot between the old and the new ones . I think they look much better , I was impressed that the barrels which seem to be made of a brass coloured metal where only about 80p each and may consider replacing more of my artillery barrels with them.

End game.

Well I've managed to finish off my SYW game that has been delayed by various real life issues . The Prussian Cavalry drive off the remaining Russian Cavalry but due to the replacement lack lustre Brigadier they stall.

On the other flank the Russian Infantry manage to rally themselves and start to move forward. Yes we have got sunshine - nice weatherwise but not for photography .

The Russians get their act together and move forward to the attack - they are being harrassed by the Frei Korp .

And after - The leading Battalion breaks and flees crashing into the next one and that flees as well , a third one has to retire to try and rally it's casualties off. . Oh dear ! 

That ended the battle in favour of the Prussians , the Russians having lost half their units, the army morale broke and they are forced to retire . On the far left the Prussian Cavalry and Grenadiers are stalled, the forces in the centre took little part in the battle and on the near right the Russians were defeated by a combination of the constant snipping of the Frei Korp , effective Prussian Artillery cannister fire and the blundering control of their Generals . A great game which took longer to play than I expected , but the rules worked well and the fact that I didn't have to paint any of the figures was a bonus ! .

 

Well that didn't go as planned.

 

Well this weekend was going to be devoted to wargaming - it didn't go to planned !.My wife dropped me off to walk the dog and said - "don't do anything silly !" . Whilst walking the dog I slipped on a muddy patch and painfully pulled a muscle in my leg ! , OUCH ! - for a while I thought it was going to be a "go for help Lassie/Charlie" however I managed to right myself and mud bismerched managed to hobble home . I spent the rest of the weekend with my leg elevated and only got back to the game today.The Prussians Cuirrassiers crossed the stream, chased off some Cossacks and clashed with the Russians Dragoons.

On the other flank the Russian Infantry advanced but came under cannister fire as well as flanking fire from the Frei Korps which drove the first line back - when a unit recoils it disrupts the units behind it so this had a detrimental effect on the morale of the following units.

The leading Prussian Grenadier was broken by the Russian artillery and fled , The Cuirrassier broke a Russian Dragoon regiment but had to retire across the stream to reform , the Prussian Brigadier was also a casualty (his replacement is one ability worse - hence the green counter)

On the other flank the Russians got into a right pickle retreating through each other and driving down their own morale - Oh dear ! they need to get a grip ! , to be continued ....

*I did not tell my wife of my accident till she returned - she didn't say anything - but her look confirmed her opinion of my antics.

Whilst the Cat is away !

 

My wife is away this weekend , so I thought it was the ideal time to set up a Seven Years War game using my Wofun 2D plastic figures . Nearest the camera the Prussians and in the distance the Russians - a new army that I have been slowly building up over the last few months .I will be using the Honours of War ruleset .

Frederick consults with his Cavalry Brigadier . I have yet to win against the Russians - they have inferior Cavalry but the Infantry is as good as the Prussians - but their Command system is slow and rather antiquated.

Behind the Prussian Artillery looking towards the Russian lines.

The Prussian Grenadier Brigade who (hopefully)will be supporting the Cavalry with an attack on the Russian right.

Prussian Frei Korp who will be annoying the Russian left flank , the coin is to remind me if they have been activated - they are a small independent unit.

The Russian General Staff - facing the wrong way (for the sake of the photo) and getting very enthusiastic ! - the Green counter denotes this Brigadier is 'Dithering' (Oh dear)

On the Russian left a unit of Cossacks - an independent unit of 'Inferior' cavalry.

On the Russian right - a Battery of Artillery Hopefully I will be able to report back on how the game progresses over the next few days .

A Christmas game

 

Here we see 'A' pondering his next move in our Christmas game . We used my Wofun 2D SYW collection and the Honours of War rules, and I was soundly beaten using my Cavalry too aggressively , sadly as normal I forgot to take some more photos as the action grew hot .

I got these two books for Christmas , I've only dipped into them so far , but both look jolly interesting .

The Clash at Kutzdorf - redux

 

About 3 weeks ago I had to cancel and take down the  next battle in my ongoing 'Snakes & Ladders' 7YW campaign and having returned from holiday I've reset it  and have played it through to a conclusion.

The Prussians have to drive the Austrians from the ridge (nearest the camera) and having the advantage of appearing on the flank .

The Prussian advance was slowed by the Austrians being able to play a Strategy Card .

The Austrians moved the left flank Infantry Brigade to block the Prussian advance .

The Austrian Cavalry fared badly under heavy Artillery fire and had to withdraw - luckily the Austrian C-in C was able to play another Strategy Card to rally them .

Rather surprisingly the Prussian Frei-Korps managed to rout the right hand Austrian unit , however they where counterattacked and driven back into the woods and by the time they had rallied the game was over.

The Prussians tried to bring their Cavalry up to turn the Austrian left but they where thwarted by a Austrian Battalion who managed to turn to the flank and drive them off.

Apologies for the poor picture quality of the later photos - they were taken in the evening and my lighting in the room is not brilliant . I play my games over 12 moves and then evening falls - this is the end positions of the armies , both sides had taken similar casualties but the Austrian still held the ridge and another Prussian attack I think would have failed - so victory was given to the Austrians . We will have to see how this affects the overall campaign in the next posting.

A home game against 'S' and a mystery solved.

After somewhat of a pause I welcomed my wargaming colleague 'S' back to my tabletop for a rousing game of 'Honours of War' .

For once I displayed tactical genius and beat him - well okay I rolled the dice well and 'S' rolled very poorly and him having never played the rules probably helped as well !, but the game was played to finish within 2 hours which is what you want.

'S' recognised the mystery figure I rescued from the grasp of the dog as one he painted many years ago (?) - Robert Broughton's Royalist Regt. of Horse - what a good memory he has !

 

A postponement and a rescue .

 Due to minor repairs in the wargaming room I've had to take down the 2D SYW  battle and will replay it after my holidays . 

In my workshop (a rather grand name for the shed) I have my casting equipment for my homecasting , I also have several boxes of old figures which I metal down for the castings . These have been gifted to me from various wargaming colleagues , whilst I was in there today getting something from the deep freeze for tea I was unaware that the dog had followed me in - he's not allowed in there because he gets up to mischief ! ! . I returned to the house and became aware he had something he shouldn't have in his mouth - so I bribed him with a treat to relinquish it and low and behold it was the above figure ! 

It must have dropped onto the floor from a casting session . It old , I would say it's a 15mm Minifigs ECW figure, one of the early types that were cast in strips, mounted on a piece of card - as one did before the advent of MDF . Whoever owned it had converted it into a standard bearer as you can see where the flag staff was glued to the hand and saddle - I trust the hound has not eaten the flag !?. Call me a bit sentimental but it reminded me of my early wargaming years and so I will save it and it will sit on my painting tray from now on.

The culprit, looking suitably demonic !

The Clash at Kutzdorf.

 

So I have just set up the next battle from the 'Snakes & Ladders' Campaign .The Prussians are the attackers.

The Austrians are are surprised by the Prussians appearing on their flank and will have to adjust their position to counter this . The Cavalry on the left flank is 'Dithering' as is the left Infantry Brigade , however the Hungarian General on the right is 'Dependable'.

The Prussians have 'Dependable' Brigadiers , however the couple of Frei-Korps Light Infantry on left have a Dashing leader! .

Alt Fritz - now with new improved basing !

Field Marshal Browne again with new impressive base . I hope to get the game played over the weekend and will report on the action next week.

2D SYW Campaign - the next moves.

As the Austrians had lost the last battle they had to remain in place and loose a move , the Prussians move onto 'Card re-shuffle' and so the hands of cards were added to the Fortune deck and shuffled with each side drawing a fresh hand of 2 cards .

The Prussians drew the above cards which will be used in the next campaign turn.

The Austrians drew these which will be of use on the tabletop battles .

The Prussians played this card to move the Austrians back 2 spaces.

Then this card for themselves to increase their move by 3.

This brought the Prussians onto the next 'Battle' square !

They rolled a 2 and get 'Kutzdorf' so they will be the attacker in this battle , which will hopefully be appearing soon .