A Pleasant Mornings Work.

I usually have batches of figures  based and undercoated ready for painting and I found I have finally got the last lot done so I had to consider what to get ready next . I have several project on the go but I thought I would get some more plastic ACW figures done for my 'Sharp Practise' games , I had bought two boxes of Perry plastic infantry and set to gluing the next two units up. A lot of wargamers are not keen on plastics but I like them , they're cheap and I find putting them together very therapeutic - takes me back to making model aircraft in my youth .

The Confederate unit done , I have completed a Union group as well , I'm going to undercoat them with black spray when it stops raining outside and will start painting them next week giving myself a break from all the re-basing I've been doing.

Deployment Point Markers.

One of the main things about 'Sharp Practise' is the use of Deployment Points from whence your force comes onto the table and if captured by the enemy  prevents further reinforcements and is detrimental to your armies morale . It seems la rigueur to have army / period  markers so I thought I would make some for my Tex-Mex games . I noticed some plastic cacti for cake decorations in a shop that does wedding cakes etc. so I bought their entire stock (much to the amazement of the lady behind the counter - I didn't enlighten her to my true purpose) . I glued these to some round MDF bases and textured then I also added a couple of Mexican peasant figures to them so they are ready for the next game.

Sunday Afternoon .

Well it is a beautiful sunny day but I'm bothered by hay fever so I'm inside watching England play in the World Cup and gluing Perry ACW plastic figures together . A lot of people don't like plastic figures because of having to glue the arms , weapons etc together - I find it very therapeutic (I did a lot of plastic kit building in my youth) , I got the boxes off Amazon with some birthday vouchers I was given and they will be used for 'Sharp Practise' . The metal ones are some that have been in storage for a couple of years and are finally seeing the light of day - England have just scored ! . The boxes are very good value having 40+ figures in them each of them and will provide two forces for 'Sharp Practise' - England have just scored again from a penalty ! . I must have painted hundreds of ACW figures over the last 40+ years (and probably sold half of them on) and I never tire of them , looking forward to starting on them and yes I know I should be really painting some of my other projects but what can I say - I'm a wargaming butterfly ! 

The Battle Of Mission Concepcion.(Part Two).

The second move started very well for the Texians two of their leaders and their four units came onto the table using the secondary deployment point and so were ideally placed to hold up the Mexican advance .

More Mexicans arrive but move somewhat tardily - you dice for movement .

Two units of New Orleans Grey arrive via the primary deployment point accompanied by the Texian General .

At this point I cocked it up for the Mexicans by allowing their cavalry to get shot up by the Texians in the buildings , they have 6 disruption point each - these slow movement and combat effectiveness . It took the rest of the game to get them out of the way and rally both units back to effectiveness .

The Mexican infantry failed to close with the rebel militia and their attack bogged down , if a unit has more disruption points than figures they have to retire which drags the army morale down .

The other column drove the Texians back on the left flank but in doing so suffered high casualties and disruption points and had to withdraw . 

The state of morale towards the end of the game , the Mexicans have got down to 2 points which removes some of their command cards making it harder to control them . Shortly after this they dropped to nil and lost the game . A quick game and a decisive win to the Texians , my handling of the Mexican cavalry was to blame (hangs head in shame) and they never got into action . I think I'm getting the hang of the rules and they play well for solo .

The Battle Of Mission Concepcion.(Part One)

This is a game played using 'Sharp Practise'  , the Mexican army under Colonel Ugartechea has surprised a Texian force based at the Mission Concepcion and their task is to drive the rebels from the table and capture their deployment zone . Here we see the Mexican initial deployment markers (discs with blue flags) where they will appear on the table .

The Texian end of the table with their deployment markers , the one nearest the table edge on the left is the one the Mexicans must capture to win , the other in the centre is a secondary one where Texians can deploy but has no tactical significance .

When a Leaders card is drawn he and the units under his command can deploy . Here they can deploy at 18" - 12" for being cavalry plus another 6" for being out of sight of the enemy deployment marker.

The Texians get lucky and draw two leader cards, each leader has two units of militia under them . I decided to deploy them on the secondary point to hold up the Mexican advance . Being infantry they  have to deploy within 6" of the marker.

The Mexicans draw another leader card and three units of infantry appear . Then the 'Tiffin' card was drawn and the move ends,  the cards are re-shuffled ready for move two. 

The two forces have an initial morale which diminishes as bad thing happen . The Texians are on 8 (militia) , the Mexicans 10 (regulars) . Too be continued …….

I Knew It Would Come In Handy Sometime.

I found this box on a skip at work about ten years ago and thought 'that could be useful' , so I brought it home and put it in the spare bedroom (the depository for all useful things) and there it sat . It has been threatened with the dustbin several times but I've managed to save it . It originally housed teabags I think and had the faint smell of tea . For 'Sharp Practise' you need markers for disruption points which when accumulated prevents the units from functioning properly , I got some off EBay which are marked 1-10 and I have them in blue and red . However finding the relevant ones where a problem - then I remembered my 'useful box' - there are segments so that they can be sorted from 1 to 10 , a space for other markers and the cards fit in the last one ! - I KNEW it would come in handy ! (still probs with the Internet, an engineer has been dispatched and arrives on Tuesday - we await with anticipation !)

A Rules Test .

So having re-commissioned my Tex-Mex collection I cast about for a set of rules , I bought these off EBay breaking a rule I have that rules MUST have a play sheet , 'Sharp Practise' don't because the author says you don't need one - I beg to differ and found a fan published one on a forum and printed then out. .

From this somewhat rocky start I set up a game and played a test game . It's not that the rules are complicated - the mechanisms in themselves are fairly simple based on D6's , it's just that there are quite a few rules and the complications start with the command and control . Cards are drawn to activate leaders of various qualities and these are enhanced by command cards . The turn can end at any turn of the cards when the 'Tiffin' card is drawn , this I find makes it easy for solo play .

The forces morale is tracked and drops as nasty things happen . These rules seemed to be very popular with people who like them and I can see where they are coming from , it's just getting used to the rules and their various quirks . 

The objective of the game was for the Mexicans to capture the gun from the Texan 'rebels' , this was based on a early skirmish when the Mexicans tried to reclaim a gun that had been given to the settlers to protect them from raiding Indians.

A closer look at the 'Gonzales Come And Take It Gun' (by Boot Hill Miniature) the figures are 'Old Glory' 28mm .

The games afoot ! The cabin has been set on fire by a random dice throw , the red markers are 'disruption points' (DP) , the cotton wool marks if units have reloaded or not . At first I was a little cool towards these rules as I don't like learning new systems - BUT I am coming around to them as they will handle I think the small skirmishes which made up the majority of actions in this war . With most wargaming rules you have to cause casualties and remove figures to win but with these the DP's start to make your forces unusable without loosing lots of figures which seems right with this conflict when casualties were not great (Alamo and Goliad excepted) . I'm going to set up another game and try again with a better grasp of the rules . I've also got most of the figure revamped which I'll illustrate next.

A Return From Obscurity .

Nothing personal dear reader - but an introduction to a collection of figures that have not made an appearance on this blog as yet .

About ten years ago (?) Warhammer Historical published the above rules and I started collecting figures for them , mainly 25mm Old Glory (they did some rather good deals at that time on big purchases) and really got into system and the era . 

A quartet of Davy Crockett's (l to r Boot hill Miniatures , Old Glory , ? can't remember and Dixon). The problem with the Texan War of Independence is everybody concentrates on the Alamo forgetting the other actions which are probably more interesting and don't mention to a Texan that Crockett died anything but a hero's death (A La John Wayne) as they get VERY annoyed !. 

Generalissimo Santa Anna and staff (in period type photo) . I played it a lot at the time but being a 'wargaming butterfly' I moved on and the figures got pushed under the wargaming table and got forgotten . I was having a clear out of books and rules I wasn't going to use/read again when I came across the rules and was overcome by waves of nostalgia , so I sat down with a cup of tea (and biscuits) and re-read them , they are simple enough but lack a robust morale system maybe . So I thought I should give them another go . The figures could do with sprucing up and there are a fair few needing painting (isn't there always!?) I don't think I need to buy any new figures for this project (Huzza !). So I will chart my progress in this old/new period over the coming weeks .