Messing about with sprues.

 

As a change from the intensive painting of O.S. figures , I decided to glue up some figures from some sprues that have been around for ages .One of the problems with the RCW era 'Back of Beyond' is that Copplestone do very nice mounted Mongolian Cavalry BUT no dismounted figures for them ! .I suppose the argument is that they rarely dismounted but even so to have some would be handy .

I read somewhere that somebody had suggested combining Fireforge 28mm Steppe Warriors Infantry and Wargames Atlantic WWI Russian Infantry , using the bodies and heads from the Steppe Warriors and the arms with rifles from the Atlantic box . 

Rather than ordering a box of each I purchased a couple of the Fireforge sprues (4 figures per sprue) and one of the Atlantic Russians (7 figures (?) BUT lots of rifle carrying arms) . The figures match up quite well - some of the poses are a bit strange as you often get with these separate arms figures and the hats look a bit Medieval , but overall I'm quite pleased with the results .

I also found in my clearing up the above WW2 German sniper (in resin) which I think was a free give - away promotional figure , so I've glued him up as well.

I've even got them undercoated - for some strange reason the undercoat has come out glossy ?! . I hope to get them painted up after my holidays .

 

Back to the painting table .

 

Just got back to figure painting and decided to crack on these Russian infantry for the Revolution , they are 28mm Copplestone and being mainly khaki a good way to get back to painting.

These have been undercoated . washed and awaiting painting for a few months now ! and their time has arrived . The chap standing at the front is Garibaldi which I think was a sample figure from an Italian firm - very nice but with postage - expensive , so he's a one off I'm afraid. 

Recently on the tabletop.

A recent rather undocumented battle from the 'Back of Beyond' involving the Chinese Warlord Fung Shui and his quest for the 'Jade Buddha' in which his forces attack and try to cut the railway line thus depriving the Russians supplies and reinforcements - it did not go well for him.

The Chinese have Artillery !!!

That didn't shoot all game ! 

A strategically place White Russian HMG ., this proved the undoing of the Chinese left wing attack.

The Chinese Infantry move out of the cover of woods into the hailstorm of Russian fire .

The Chinese Mongolian Cavalry charge into the village and having driven off one Russian unit are shot to pieces in the deadly crossfire ! - Oh dear things are not going well for Fung Shui !

The White Russian Priest (with the look of Rasputin) encourages his parishioners in defence of the village and the impetuously charge across the battlefield and capture the Chinese Artillery piece ! at this point Fung Shui thought it was time to call it off and retire . Sorry for not recording more of the action but in the heat and excitment of the game I forgot !

 

The Quest for the Jade Buddha (part 2)

 

The 'Dare to Die' unit discover the body in the cabin ! 

And are attacked by the Russians - who they promptly slaughter - almost to a man ! 

The Mongolians spotted the Russian Commander all alone and charged him - he had to flee off the table and didn't return for the game ! (horse bolted !?) , not good leaeership at all !

Things get worse for the Russians the Cossacks find it hard to rally (absence of the General did not help !) and flee the table !

In the centre the Russians charge into the village to try and capture the centeral objective .

The Officer unit trys to help but are caught in a crossfire and are whittled down to below 50% and have to retreat .

TheMongolian cavalry drive the White infantry back and the infantry is driven out of the village - things are not looking good for the Whites !

The Chinese Warlord Fung Shui enters the Temple and comes across the Buddhist Monk . That is all three objectives controlled by the Chinese forces .

With the Commander absent , the enemy holding all three objectives and having lost half it's units the Russians retreat off the table - a resounding victory for the Warlord Fung Shui , what this means will become apparent in the next episode ! 

The Quest for the Jade Buddha (part 1)

 

I dice for the position of the arrival of units as they move onto the board , the Chinese got an even spread of units acrss th table on the first move.

However they drew this chance card which delayed the arrival of a unit.

The 'Dare to Die' unit dashes towards the ruined log cabin .

The Russians came onto the board mainly on the right . Note the Cossacks dashing forward towards the village still in column - risky !

Unfortunately the Russian Commander arrived on the far left miles away from his troops - this does not bode well !

Unfortunately the column of Cossacks came under fire from two units of Chinese troops and took heavy casualties .

Luckily the Chinese Commander drew a chance card that cancelled out the previous card and allowed the unit to come onto the table ..... 

Part two to follow 

The Quest for the Jade Buddha (prologue)

 

The first action of this series of games takes place on the above table , the White Russian force appear on the table edge nearest the camera and the Chinese on the far edge .

I will be using this set of rules which a quick to plat and simple enough to remember and the chance cards and command dice make it easy to play solo.

The Russian Commander 

The White Russian forces three units of Militia , one Line unit and one 'Officer' unit which count as Elite , in the background is a unit of Cossacks 

The Chinese Warlord 

Again six units made up of three Militia , an SMG armed Assault unit and a Fanatic 'Dare to Die' unit , the Cavalry are provided by Mongolian tribesmen

There are three objectives to capture the first on the left is represented by an enigmatic Monk in a ruined Temple .

In the centre a lurking stranger .

And on the right the body of a Messenger in the ruined cabin in the woods .To capture these the units will have to move onto the objective and hold it for two moves ....

PS unfortunately I managed to delete the original of this post whilst fiddling with Blogger and don't seem able to retrieve it , luckily I still had the photos and have been able to rewrite it , but all the original comments have been lost - Oops sorry about that ! 

Coming to a Wargaming Table near you soon ............

 

Caucasus Cossacks for the Back of Beyond.

Another bunch of Russians that have been painted for a while and never yet seen the tabletop yet . I must have had them for about 15 years so it was about time the had paint applied . 

 

White Generals from the painting tray.

 

Got these painted quite a while ago and forgot I hadn't posted a picture of them . They are Empress Miniatures 28mm and their Standard bearer is a Copplestone figure.

Whats up next for painting.

 

These Figures have been based and undercoated for weeks, so feeling guilty I have decided to make a start on them . The mounted figures on the paint holders are a couple of Russian mounted Officers made by Empress Miniatures from their First World War range (?). they will be General Officers for my 'White' forces. The ones on the silver washers are the first of a dozen  Copplestones Miniatures Cossacks . I haven't been doing any miniature games on the tabletop recently as I've been playing a series of Command & Colors games which I find play very well solo and are addictive - having played one scenario you think "Hmm I'll play the next one seeing I've got the board out!".Great fun but doesn't blog very well .

I have played most of the scenarios in this box.

And all the scenarios in this box !

The Back of Beyond (part2)

 

The game didn't last long once the Russians got their artillery bombarding the buildings , this combined with the HMG fire caused heavy casualties in the Chinese garrisons and they fled before the Sailors charged in taking the station .

The Chinese did recieve reinforcements in the shape of a unit of Mongolian cavalry - BUT they rolled a 'blunder' on the 'command' dice and promptly quit the field - 'Oh dear' ! .

With the red flag flying over the captured station the game was won by the Bolshevik forces .

Feng Shui beats a hasty retreat and starts to plan his revenge !. The game played well and the rules being simple enough I was able to remember most of them in my head (always an advantage) . I think these will be my 'go too' set for this period in the future .