The road to Palermo Part 2 (a strange little game)

 

The 'Thousand' finally came onto the table , both sides where rather tardy bringing up reinforcements 

The Piccollotti did sterling service holding up the rather lacklustre Neapolitan Light Infantry who rolled a couple of 'blunder' rolls and failed to close with the enemy. 

Garibaldi finally deployed his forces as time was running out .

The Neapolitan High Command who dithered through out the game and where slow to react.

I had allowed 12 moves for the game and with both sides reacting slowly neither came to grips as time ran out - a victory for the poorly lead Neapolitans as Garibaldi failed to break through . A poor performance by both sides - a strange little game but nice to get the figures on the table again . Garibaldi needs to buck up if he is to conquer Sicily and oust the Neapolitans .

The road to Palermo.

 

It occurred to me that I haven't put up a battle report for a long while and also it's ages since I fielded my Garibaldi collection on the tabletop .. Here we see the man himself leading his 'Thousand' inland after landing at Marsala and moving inland towards Palermo  .

The locals rally to his banner and the 'Piccolotti' lead by Friar Pantaleo skirmish before his advancing force .

The local Neapolitan General hearing of the enemies advance  rushes his force to intercept them.(the Brigadier has a tactical rating of only 6 - so perhaps not much rushing)

The leading Battalions of Light Infantry march through the village in the Sicilian sunshine .

The table set up , the Garibaldini arrive on the road on the left and the Neapolitans through the village on the left . I will be using 'Black Powder' rules for the game and will report back soon. 

 

A frustrating task !

 

I thought it was time that I did some more figures for my 54mm ECW project. Now I have been putting off gluing up some of the pikemen as it is very difficult to glue the pikes into the figures hands . As the figures are a rather stiff plastic and the pikes a very bendy one I ended up using super glue as the polystyrene glue doesn't seem to work. Well after a very frustrating hour and a half I've got them done , my finger ends are covered in glue as is my cutting board - what a b****y faff !- I remember why I put off doing them , anyway they are done and I will get them undercoated tomorrow .

Bringing up the BIG guns .

 

I bought this Britains 18" Howitzer just before we went on holiday and have just got around to checking it out . I've been after one for years and with the shells etc they can be quite expensive , however this one didn't have the ammo and the barrel was lose so it was going cheap . Here we see Charlie inspecting it - having found it isn't food he loses interest .

Here we see the Gunners of Army'Red' manning it with General Crawley and of all people H.G. Wells in attendence . I rather played up it's damaged state and got a bit knocked off the price but with a bit of TLC I managed to get the barrel remounted and the elevating screw to work .

Here we see the General inspecting the breach mechanism , I must keep an eye open for some of the shells and casings on eBay.

A view down the impressive breach and barrel of the Howitzer , it just needs a bit of a clean up and it will be ready for tabletop action. Just done a bit of research and I believe this model was produced from 1955 and was discontinued in 1980..

Toy soldiers in art No.27

 

Found this on the interweb , French WW1 era I would say, I think I've seen the child as a model in another similar card . Google translate gives me  - "to give the artillery" ? and the blue stamp across the card seems to say - "56th Regiment Territorial"? , I wonder that is something to do who posted it ? . The figures are interesting  large scale ones, I think I've seen something like them before , they could be Bon-Dufour composite about 5" tall (thanks Brad DeSantis for the info in a previous post) . I wonder if it was hand coloured ? and lke the use of real earth for the trenches - don't think the young chap is going to miss at that range!

A visit to an old friend's table.

 

Whilst we were on holiday in the Peak District,  I popped in to see my old wargaming  colleague 'B' . I've been trying to remember how long we go back and think it must be over 35 years (maybe going on to 40?) , since he and his family moved down south we don't get to play many games nowadays  .

He has his table set up in his shed and was mid-game refighting a battle in German East Africa (using 'Comtemptable Little Armies I think ?) With 28mm figures.

Some of his extensive WW1 figure collection and a smattering of 10th century Saxons on the box for 'Dux Brittaniorum' 

'B's sanctuary from a household of womenfolk,  it was nice to see his new set up as over the last few years he hasn't been able to have a permanent table. When we lived in the same town  we used to game very regularly and we do still have the odd game now and then when he's up North visiting family.I do find seeing other people's wargaming set ups interesting and it was great to catch up with him and his family again.

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Another mysterious figure .

 

I bought this figure from eBay , bit of a strange one and I haven't had time to do any research on it but it is hollow cast and the rider is separate (held on with blue tack at the moment) I'm not convinced the horse is the original as it has a different paint job (repaint?) , the rider has the look of Buffalo Bill and his left had has a hole in it that could hold a lasso or whip ? . As they are not well painted I'll probably strip the horse and repaint it and perhaps touch up the man's paint job But as we are going on holiday soon this will have to wait.

Two sides of the same coin.

 

I wish I could carry off a collar and tie and a smoking jacket whilst modeling - the state of my apron shows the reason why !

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 . 

Toy Soldiers in Art No.26

 

Found on the interweb , a 'Military Game' - shooting a BB gun at hollowcast figures - in an era when there was no Heath and Safety ("careful you could have someones eye out with that") I'm not sure about having a window as a backstop ! - probably responsible for some of the damaged figures that appear on eBay nowadays. (click on photo to enlarge) 

Toy Soldiers in Art No.25

Another postcard with some toy soldiers and a young lady (?) brandishing a sword . Obviously French by the uniform and the writing and probably from the early 20th century (?) , the figures seem quite large scale - 60mm plus ???  and the cannon is of a type I've not seen before . According to Google translate - Children's vocations,  Reve (?) medals, Soldiers-Batalions, Cannon-Horse,  This one will be General ! . The photographer was A. Ber?eret & co Nancy

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The Action at Cidade Ferroviaria.

 

I decided to play the game when 'S' came around for our regular Friday gaming session. 'S' took the forces of Nuevo Rico and I the defenders . The Nuevo Riccion forces motored down the road towards the railway .

The Armoured Car was hit by rifle fire and driven off and also the leading truck was damaged forcing the infantry to debus .

On the right the Republican HMG had to redeploy to counter a flanking movement - the token donates that the unit has activated ( a suitable S. American postal stamp)

The Workers are outshot by the Regulars and driven back as the enemy capture the barricades and one end of the village.

At this point as the action grew hot I forgot to take photos ! , the Militia tried to do a flanking attack on the enemy but where driven off by well placed artillery fire and fled back across the Montanha de Ouro - the Llama donates that they are disordered and in flight. .

Another unit of 'La Cigarros' try to recapture the village but again were out gunned by the regulars (Regulars count as being open order but the Workers or the Militia due to there lack of training cannot) , at this point the forces of the Republic decided to retire having suffered heavy casualties . A good game with the adaptions to the rules seemed to work well . What will happen now ?! to be continued ..........

 

  

Nuevo Rico Invades !

 

The scene of the action, the town of Cidade Ferroviaria which sits on the important railway line which runs along the border between Nuevo Rico and the Republic of Cocos . The road runs from Nuevo Rico on the left and the Republic on the right .

The Iron Road stretches into the mountainous distance .

Intelligence has alerted the town that a mechanised force from Nuevo Rico is moving rapidly down the road to capture the village and sever the railway line and the workers have armed themselves ready to repel the invaders.

The workers block the road and fortify the houses .

A flanking force occupies the wood and await in ambush .

The only Republican force is a HMG which has been set up in a commanding position on the Montanha de Ouro to cover the railway junction. The Commander has sent a message to bring the local Militia (La Cigarros) to aid them 

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A return to Nacho Wars .

 

Toy Soldiers in art No.24

 

No not me trying to explain wargaming to the long suffering Mrs K , a rather mawkish postcard (to modern eyes) of the aged parents looking at their son's toy soldiers collection - the child having grown up and enlisted in the army for the World War (?), very much a period piece .

More Evzones and a bit of a mystery

 

In my previous post I was talking about the repairs and repainting of the 5 Britains Greek Evzones I bought , the problem of course was that I needed at least one more figure to make up a 'small' unit for AGW rule (6figures). I did a search on eBay and found that 'bigboycollctibles' had some for sale , so I kept an eye on them and as nobody was really interested I managed to get them for under £3 a figure which was a bargin and they where in better shape than the original ones I got and so didn't need repairs or a repaint - 'Happy Bunny' !!!

The strange thing was they came with an Officer type figure (well brandishing a sword which in my book = Officer), now Britains  didn't do an Officer figure for their set - he's a hollowcast figure - the paint job looks moderner/repaint ?  and he has no markings on the base ? - VERY puzzling indeed !. I must try and find out who made him , going to glue them onto bases to match my others , update to follow .....

PS I asked for info on a Toy Soldier Facebook group and am told it is by a French maker called George Munkel (GM) 

The rejuvenated Evzones .

 

Well I've got the figures repaired , painted over the 'milliput' and gave the paint a slight varnish to try and match the original finish . I decided not to repaint anymore of the figures and leave scuffed paint as it is as a tribute to their past services .

The face of a veteran 

To repair or not to repair ? - that is the question.

 

I bought these off eBay (rather cheaply I think) they are Britains Greek Evzones from Set No.196 and the where produced from 1916 to 1966 - BUT these must be pre 1946 as they are red jackets - after this date they where painted in blue jackets . So that makes them at least 79 years old ! 

As you can see they have been in the wars , as well as the inevitable paint loss they have holes in the stomach area .

And a couple have holes in the back as well , I investigated and this seem to be dues to a very thin layer of metal (being hollow cast of course) 

One has a missing rifle as well . The dilemma is to repair or not ? , 'Proper Collectors' would say "No !" you devalue the figures ! , however I would like to use them on the tabletop- so I'm going to have a go at repairing them !

So I've packed the holes with tissue paper and filled them with 'milliput' , I repaired the rifle with a pared down cocktail stick coated in super glue . I will repaint the damaged bits but I think I will not touch up the original paint - leaving their battle scars as testament to their service over the years . Too be continued ......