Ancients: The ARMY PAINTER way!

Hi All
I thought I'd share some pictures of some ancients I've just knocked over using the ARMY PAINTER System of "base colours, dip and spray".

The results might not be up there with the likes of my mate Gunner Dunbar, (though that wasn't going to happen any time soon anyway); but they do produce acceptable wargaming units that won't cause me to feel embarrased when I put them on a table.

First some Romans.

(Above and Below): An OLD GLORY 28mm miniatures Caesar, from their "Caesar's Gallic Wars" range

BELOW: ESSEX Miniatures LATE Roman Cavalry

BELOW: A Foundry Miniatures Celt:

BELOW: 1st Corps Miniatures SLAVE REVOLT figures

BELOW: Some more 1st Corps miniatures

FINALLY: BIG BILLY, (named in honour of Billy Connolly)! A giant of a man. This chap is a FOUNDRY MINIATURES figure. Not the kind of fellow you'd want to bump into in a dark Gallic or British forest,..

Feel free to leave a comment!
Cheers!

My "TOO FAT LARDIES" projects

Above: A Fenlon Miniatures Union Soldier. The Only 28mm ACW figure in my collection; until recently!
With the purchase of a copy of Too Fat Lardies: TERRIBLE SHARP SWORD and SHARP PRACTICE I've launched into gaming the War Between the States. The figure was painted using the ARMY PAINTER system of "Base colours, Dip, and Spray".

Hi All
Well, I've started mustering the troops for my two new projects, namely WW1 and the American Civil War.
I'll be using TOO FAT LARDIES rules for both; "Through The Mud And The Blood" for WW1 and the SHARP PRACTICE expansion "TERRIBLE SHARP SWORD" for the ACW (obviously).
First I whipped out my OLD GLORY Army Card (40% OFF! WooooHooo), and purchased about 300 15mm WW1 British and German Infantry and about 6 tanks each; plus a swag of Heavy and Light MGs.
(I'll purchase the Artillery from either Peter Pig or QRF Miniatures, as Old Glory doesn't have any Artillery ready to go yet).

Ever since I saw the movie "THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE" (the version with "John Boy Walton" in it), I've had an interest in the American Civil War. The Movies "GLORY", "GETTYSBURG" and "GODS AND GENERALS" really cemented in my mind I had to get some Rebs and Yanks and "have at it".
For my 28mm ACW project I purchased my Artillery Pieces and Cassions from OLD GLORY; 6 Guns and 6 Cassions for about $19.20 per pack was just to good an offer to pass up. I also purchased an Old Glory 2nd Edition "Boxed Set" of Confederate "Firing Line", (38 miniatures for $22.80!!!). Hopefully they will arrive within the next couple of weeks.
In addition to the OLD GLORY stuff I also purchased some Perry Plastics:
108 Infantry and 12 Cavalry, all from WARLORDS GAMES in the form of their special "Infantry Brigade Deal". They arrived today!
With FREE POSTAGE and no VAT I got them for less than $76.00! I also purchased from MIND GAMES in Melbourne a can of ARMY PAINTER "Navy Blue" to spray my "Billy Yanks".
BELOW: The Warlord Games Infantry Brigade Deal and a Can of ARMY PAINTER Navy Blue


But I still needed to get some Perry Metals, so I also ordered:

1 x ACW28 Confederate Infantry in 'shell jackets' skirmishing
1x ACW29 Union Infantry in sack coats skirmishing
1 x ACW37 Confederate Infantry command running
2 x ACW38 Confederate Infantry in ‘shell jackets’ running, right shoulder shift
1 x ACW39 Confederate Infantry command standing
1 x ACW40 Union infantry command in sack coats standing

So that gives me about 200 Infantry, 12 Cavalry and 6 Guns and Limbers / Cassions.

Now, I'm aiming to have per "side" about 150 infantry, 12 Cavalry and 3 Guns (and 12-15 Gunners) per side.
I also will need about 3 mounted Officers and Dismounted Cavalry at a 1:1 Ratio to mounted; (so that's 9 Dismounted Troopers "fighting" and 3 horse holders with 12 horses per side).

With that in mind my next order from the PERRY's will be :

1 x ACW3 Union Generals mounted
2 x ACW7 Dismounted Union cavalry skirmishing
1 x ACW8 Dismounted Confederate cavalry skirmishing
1 x ACW9 Union horse holder, plus 4 horses
1 x ACW10 Confederate horse holder, plus 4 horses

And just to add som e variety, and to provide the gunners for my OLD GLORY Artillery Peices I'll get the following miniatures from SASH AND SABER

1 x CS10 Horse Holder and 4 horses

1 x US10 Horse Holder and 4 horses

1 x US3 Federal Artillerists

1 x CS3 Confederate Artillerists

That should take care of my Dismounted Cavalry and Gunners!

All I will need then to finish my mounted arm is 12 "Mounted" Cavalry, (either another box of Perry Plastics or maybe some SASH AND SABER metals)

That leaves me to russel up the last of the infantry and 3 more Mounted Officers.
Hmmmmm,.... do I go with the OLD GLORY 2nd Edition Box sets ( about 3 boxes ought to do it), or a mix of Perry Plastics and Metals?

Maybe a mix of Perry Metals and OG2nd Ed!?
Or, maybe some Sash and Saber metals,....
This isn't going to be easy.
Cheers

What's Next

Hi!

Well, I've not had time to scratch my butt let alone add anything to my blogs of late. That should change soon. In two weeks time I begin a two and a half month break from work. Tons of stuff to do around the house, but also more time for painting and (solo?) gaming.

So what's next?

Well, I've got plans to paint up the last of my 18mm AB miniatures! I say "last", and by that I mean "for now".

French Curassiers and Dragoons, Brunswick Infantry, and 1806 Saxons.

Also, more (lots more) of 28mm Eureka, Victrix and Perry Napoleonics and OLD GLORY, Perry and Eureka "Age Of Reason / American Revolution" figs. OH, and some Minden Miniatures French Artillery.

Then of course there is a swag of 15mm BLUE MOON World War One (WWI) Germans and Brits on their way from the god 'ol US of A to paint up. Then I can start playing "THROUGH THE MUD & THE BLOOD", (MaD).

Which leads nicely into a rave about TOO FAT LARDIES and their awesome rules.

Their rules, such as MaD, "SHARP PRACTICE" (SP), "I AINT BEEN SHOT MUM" (IABSM) and "KISS ME HARDY" (KmH) really are fantastic. I'll be downloading their latest offering, "TERRIBLE SHARP SWORD" (TSS) tonight.

Consequently the PERRY's can expect a HUGE order for some of their cracking good ACW figures.

Check out their BLOG : LARD ISLAND NEWS! (Highly recommended regardless if you have a hankering for all things "Lardy" or not).

Anyway, enough for now, I must go undercoat some 28mm Foundry TROJANS for my TROJAN WAR Project,...

Now for something completely different,..

Hi
Just so you can see I'm not all "Napoleonic", here is some other recently completed work.
Below: Two recently completed battalions for my Imagi-Nation.

Miniatures are from the EUREKA MINIATURES "Age Of Reason" 28mm range.
Flags are by MAVERICK MODELS, and designed by me.

BELOW: Another Giant I've just finished for my daughter's Warhammer Fantasy Collection. I got him 2nd hand, did a bit of a re-paint and replaced his hands / weapons. A good result I think,..

"AAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!, me crush little man,.."!!!

Cheers

AAR: Final Push at La Santa Haya!

Hi All
Long time between blogs, but finally got something to share. Last week a mate of mine and I played a scenario straight out of the Lasalle rule book: "FINAL PUSH AT LA HAIE SAINTE". Obviously the scenario is based on the closing moments of the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunatly for me, my British are based on the Peninsular Campaign, NOT The 100 Days. Consequently Mark and I fought "The Final Push at La Santa Haya".
The ORBATs were as follows:
The Brit OOB was:
1 x Battalion 95th Rifles
2 x "English" Battalions (32nd Foot and 52nd "Light")
2 x KGL Battalions
2 x Dragoons (should be KGL Lt Dragoons, but we used Heavies)
1 x Med RA Battery (should have been Rockets, but I only have Guns)
FRENCH OOB was:
4 x Line Battalions of the 8th Ligne Regt
3 x Light Battalions of the 13th Legere Regt
1 x MED Horse Battery
2 x Cuirassiers (large). One Regt was a Carabinier Regt. The Scenario has these as NORMAL sized units. For some reason I made them LARGE,.... (oooops)


ABOVE: The French 8th Ligne Battalions Advance
BELOW:The French 13th Legere Battalions step off, with the Horse Artillery deploying in the background.

BELOW: The KGL Battalions deploy behind the sunken road, with the Royal Artillery Battery between the two Infantry unis. Behind them are the two Dragoon Regiments.

BELOW: The 95th Rifles deployed in the tree lined sunken road.

BELOW: A British 52nd Light Infantry Battalion deployed beside the lads from the 95th.

BELOW: The KGL and RA Battery await the advancing French Ligne Battalions.

BELOW: The French Horse Artillery Open Fire on the British left flank. Their fire was rather telling all game! BON! Most of their fire fell on the 32nd Foot, but some roundshot bounced through onto the Dragoons redeploying.

BELOW: Mark moves one of his Dragoon Regiments to support his left flank. The fact they were out of command for much of the game hampered their ability to rally off disruption they suffered from bounce through fire sustained as the carried out this redeployment from the British Right Flank to their Left flank. Notice the DISR markers on the 32nd,...

BELOW: The British CinC positioned behind the 95th. "I say, those Frog guns are doing some harm,.."!

BELOW: The KGL Battalions and RA Battery let loose on the French Line Battalions. The RA Battery fired poorly, (must have been the gauling fire from the French skirmish screen,..). The "German" Infanrty did some execution however.

BELOW: Volley's smash into the flower of French youth, as seen from the French side.

BELOW: The far right KGL Battalion CHARGES one of the French Ligne Battalions. The Germans were repelled, but rallied and fired a devastating volley that broke the Frogs.

BELOW: The decisive moment of the game. The Dragoons CHARGE the 1st Battalion of the French 8th Ligne Regt. The Battalion formed square,and the nearby Carabiniers counter-charged the Dragoons! Thanks to some spectacular dice rolling the French heavies broke the British Dragoons!

BELOW: CHARGE!!!

BELOW: As the Cavalry clash, the infantry blaze away!

BELOW: The 1st Battalion (with Tricolour and Eagle), 8th Ligne form Line from Square as the Carabiniers head for the Brit Artillery!. The remnants of the far left French battalion are seen staggering about,... ("sob")

BELOW: As seen from above.

BELOW: The Carabiniers crash over the RA Battery.

BELOW: The French Cuirassiers threaten the British 32nd Foot (now in Square) as the KGL Battalion on thier right try and hold off two battalions from the 8th Ligne.

BELOW: The 95th facing the French "lights".

ABOVE: Last photo from the game. 32nd in Square. Not long after the two French Battalions swept away the KGL battalion. Game over for the Brits who failed their moral test.

Game time: 2.5 hours.

Result: Lots of Fun!

Feel free to leave a comment!

Cheers.

AAR Battle at SEPÚLVEDA, 1808

Hi All

I thought I’d share an After Action Report (AAR) of a recent LASALLE Game I and my good mate Mark played today.

The Scenario we played was based on a LASALLE Scenario plucked from the HONOUR SCENARIOS WIKI. The engagement was based on the Battle at SEPÚLVEDA, 1808, (prelude to Somosierra)

http://sites.google.com/site/honourscenarios/scenario-somosierra-30-november-1808/scenario-sepulveda

Now, I hate to sound like a prat, but for me, the scenario wasn’t terribly well written. It was unclear to me what parts of the river were fordable (based on the diagram provided), and the ORBATs seemed incomplete as there was what appears to be reference to Artillery in the text:

“Only a few gunfires are the farewell of the French forces that are obliged to retire”.

Yet there is no mention of Artillery in either force!

I think part of the problem might stem from the author of the scenario not having English as his (her?) first language.

Consequently Mark and I decided to give each side a Battery of Artillery (4 x Medium Guns for the Spanish, and 3 Medium Guns and a Howitzer for the French).

We also decided that the river along the front of the high ground would be fordable, and the Spanish would initially be compelled to stay 20cm back from the edge of the hills until the French started to cross the river.

Another modification to the scenario was the fact i didn’t have 4 Battalions of Fusilier Grenadiers at hand. Consequently we used one Battalion of Young Guard and 3 battalions of grizzled Veterans, (all were Valiant/Experienced/SK2)

The only other difference was that we allowed the French to have ENGINEER support.

So, here is the MODIFIED ORBATS:

French order of battle:

Imperial Young Guard Infantry Brigade (Vigor +1/ Tactics -1)- General Savary.

1eme Young Guard, (1 batalions/unit) Valiant/Experienced/SK2

57eme Line, (3 batalions/units) Valiant/Experienced/SK2

Lasalle´s cavalry Brigade. (Vigor +1/ Tactics +1) - General Lasalle

10eme Chasseurs a Cheval ,. Valiant/Experienced/Pursuit

9eme Dragoons, Valiant/Experienced/Pursuit

1 Line Artillery a Pied, 3 x Med Gun, 1 x How.

(BELOW) General Lasalle!

Spanish order of battle:

Brigada mixta de infantería y caballería.(*)

Commander in chief General Serdaigne. (Vigor -1 Tactics – 0)

Infantry.

Combined Grenadier, (1 batallón/unit) . Reliable/Experienced/SK1

Regimiento de infantería de línea Jaen, (2 batallones/units) Reliable/Amateur/SK 1.

Regimiento de infantería de Royal Fusiliers, (2 batallones/units) Unpredictable/Amateur/SK 1

Voluntarios de Sevilla, 1 batallón/unit. Shaky/Amateur/SK 1

Cavalry: Reales Carabineros, (150 troopers aprox.) and Regimiento de línea Alcántara y Montesa, (400 troopers aprox) (1 unit)(**) Shaky/Amateur

1 x Artillery Battery 4 x Med Guns

So how did the game play out?

The deployments can be seen in the photo below:

The Spanish (Me), deployed with the bulk of the infantry to the left of the Battery. Only one Battalion of Regimiento de infantería de Royal Fusiliers was to the right of the Battery. The Combined Grenadiers were held in reserve and the Cavalry was posted behind the Battery.

The Volunteers of Sevilla would move off to garrison the town as soon as the French crossed the river.

(BELOW) The Spanish Deployment.

Marks plan saw all his Cavalry massed on his left, with his infantry aimed at my left.

The first few turns saw the French move across the river and head up the slopes with drums beating. One battalion of the 57^th peeled of to my left looking to storm the town whilst the rest of the French host pinned the Spanish on the high ground.

The most dramatic event saw both French cavalry units charge up the hills. The 9^th Dragoons heading for the 1^st Royal Fusiliers, 1^st Battalion, and the Chasseurs charged the Battery!

The Fusiliers formed Square, but were cut down and sent fleeing to the rear, but the gunners stood to their guns and blasted the 10^th Chasseurs a Cheval.

The French light cavalry bounced back, only to be blasted a second time and sent fleeing. General Lasalle himself, at the head of the 10^th Chasseurs a Cheval was wounded, and saw no further action in the battle.

The 9^th Dragoons, flushed with success over the Spanish Square now charged on towards the shaky Spanish horsemen’s flank. Amazingly the Spanish cavalry calmly changed facing and met the dragoons head on. The Spanish cavalry repulsed the Dragoons and then charged after them, routing them!

In two turns the entire French cavalry force had been put to flight!

Meanwhile the French infantry continued their advance up the slope. Both Battalions of the Spanish Regimiento de infantería de línea Jaen advanced to meet them.

The initial fire fight went badly for the Spanish, (that extra die for skirmish advantage for the French does tell). Consequently I decided cold steal was a better option than hot lead and ordered both battalions to charge.

One battalion was routed, (first being reppeled then finished off with a follow up charge by the French); however the 2^nd Battalion faired better. Although their charge was repelled, they reformed and delivered a devastating volley that broke the Frenchmen opposite them.

At the same time the Young Guard was taking withering fire from the Battery, who was plastering them with canister fire. Try as the Young Guard might, they couldn’t rally off all the disruption that was being inflicted upon them.

(BELOW): General savary orders the withdrawal while a relieved General Serdaigne and his escort call it a day.

Sensing victory would not be possible, General Savary reluctantly ordered a withdrawal,..

This was the second time I played this scenario. The first time I played it against another mate of mine, the French went much closer to winning, but still had to retire. Both games played differently, but in the end, (just like in the real battle), it was just too much of an ask for the French.

I enjoyed the game, and i think Mark did also. The game was knocked over in a little over two hours.

Below are photos from the game.
The Early part of the game. As the French start to cross the river, the Spanish battery opens up.

BELOW: The Spanish Battery continues to fire as the Spanish 1t Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers forms square
BELOW: The two Battalions of the Regimiento de infantería de línea Jaen await the French!

BELOW: The same situation, but from the fiew of the French 57th Line (1st and 2nd battalions)

BELOW: The Spanish Battery and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (in square) receive the French Cavalry

BELOW: Crunch time approaches for the Spanish on the left!

BELOW: The Spanish infantry in square have been swept away, and now the 9th Dragoons are sweeping towards the Spanish Cav. The Spanish Guns make ready to deliver a final blast of canister into the wavering 10th Chasseurs a Cheval.

BELOW: The Militia garrison the town, as the 3rd Battalion of the French 57th approach.

BELOW: The 2nd Battalion of the 57th advance through the hole where the 2nd Spanish Linea Jaen was. The Combined Grenadiers ready to plug the gap,..

BELOW: The 2nd Battalion Linea Jaen delivers a crashing volley into the 1st Battalion of the 57th,... (they are no more). The Young Guard continue to take withering fire from the Battery and the 2nd battalion of the Royal Fusiliers

BELOW: The French 3rd Battalion of the 57th Line halt just short of the town, "Mon Du, is that the re-call I hear"?

BELOW: The end!

Feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers