2mm Madness - Naseby

I can't believe how long it is since I last posted, life does get in the way sometimes.  I've still been painting, mainly 28mm Napoleonics for Sharp Practice 2 with a slight diversion into the French and Indian Wars. I've even managed to play a couple of games which I'll get round to posing later.

 I do love the Napoleonic period, however, I'll freely admit that I find the painting a bit of a chore, particularly in 28mm.  This has led to a slight diversion into a completely new scale for another favourite period, the English Civil War.  I've already begun armies in 28mm and 15mm but, inspired by Roundwood's World Blog among others, I've ventured into 2mm supplied by Irregular Miniatures with the aim of recreating a copy of the Streater engraving of the Battle of Naseby.

A small sample order has provided enough pike blocks for the infantry of both sides and some of the cavalry.  I'm still undecided how to represent the cavalry, I've purchased enough blocks to cover approximately half the represented units but I understand that some of these, particularly on the Royalist side, were tiny and brigaded together.  I also need to purchase some commanders, artillery, Okey's dragoons and the commanded shot but that can wait for another day.

I've made a start on the New Model Army and am pleasantly surprised by the results.  I've gone more for impression rather than detail but from a distance they seem to work.

I'm veering towards using a variant of Neil Thomas rules and will probably expand the playing area although I imagine it doesn't need to be much larger than 2 x 2 feet at this stage.

The Fugitive - Lion Rampant Second Game

I decided to have a second game of Lion Rampant and opted for the Fugitive Scenario where the defender must search certain areas of the table in order to locate a friend who has escaped the dastardly Normans.

Norman Deployment

Turn 1.  The Norman were able to advance all their units across the board.  The Saxons were not so lucky with Huscarls and Fyrd refusing to advance.

Turn 2.  The Normans attempted to continue but the left wing infantry refused.  Meanwhile, Robin and his chums reached the first hiding place but found nothing. This clearly demoralised the rest as nobody else moved.

Turn 3.  Was a repeat of Turn 2 for the Normans as the cavalry continued to close while the left wing remained firm, as they preferred to term it.  Robin raced to the second possible hiding place but again found nothing.  The Huscarls finally began to advance while the right wing unit of the Great Fyrd formed a shieldwall in the face of the approaching cavalry.

Turn 4.  The Norman advance continued, combat could not be far off now.  The Saxon’s prepared to receive the inevitable charge while Robin fired on the advancing cavalry with no effect.

Turn 5.  The Norman general crashed into the Great Fyrd on the left wing with both sides inflicting one casualty.  Both sides passed the courage test and the Normans were first to retreat.  On the other flank, the cavalry again charged and, despite losing two figures to the Saxon’s one, forced their opponents to retreat in a battered state.  The Saxons were clearly stunned by this as their first attempt to move failed.

Turn 6.  The left wing cavalry pressed their advantage and charged again inflicting two casualties on the disordered Saxons but losing a further figure themselves.  This time the Saxons held firm and the Normans failed their courage test.  On the left flank the cavalry again charged but lost two figures to the Saxon’s one with both sides failing their courage tests.  The Saxons returned to hunting for their friend.

Turn 7.  The Norman cavalry recovered and a general advance resumed with the right wing archers firing on the advancing Huscarls without success.  Robin moved into the third possible hiding place.  Success, Marian emerged, now to escape.

Turn 8.  The Normans were in disarray and failed their first activation while the Saxon right moved to protect the escape.

Turn 9.  Disaster for the Normans.  Desperate to prevent an escape the Norman general charged the Saxon Huscarls and saw his unit destroyed.  The majority of his men passed the subsequent courage test apart from the other cavalry unit.

Turns 10 & 11 saw both sides fail their activation tests.

Turn 12.  The pursuit got underway with the Norman Infantry charging the Great Fyrd, inflicting two casualties to one of their own and the Great Fyrd retreated in disarray.  The other unit of Norman Infantry also attacked but were repulsed suffering two figures lost.  The Saxon retreat continued and it was clear that Robin would take Marian to safety so I decided to end the game.

Another Saxon victory and a complete disaster for the Norman cavalry with only one figure surviving.  I’m beginning to wonder if they’re slightly underpowered although charging a shieldwall is never a good idea.  I remain unconvinced by the activation system but it is, at least, fair to both sides.

That said, I’m really enjoying these rules and look forward to the next game.  Hopefully I’ll have finished off the trees and some more scenery by then. Painting has also been continuing with the first diversion of the year...

2015 In Review

The traditional end of year review.  I have to say I'm pleased that this one is over, it's not been the best on a number of levels but thankfully they're mostly outside the scope of this blog.

The main aims for this year were threefold:

1.  Normans and Saxons for Basic Impetus.  This one was completed and even extended with the purchase of Lion Rampant and I've now started painting up a further generic medieval retinue.

2.  Napoleonics.  I managed a couple of units earlier in the year but there has been little progress.

3.  Nineteenth Century Europe.  Another slow one, I painted a few units of Danes but then moved on.

Other units painted are a bit of a mix including ECW infantry and artillery, Japanese and British for Burma, Mahdist cavalry for the Sudan and some Napoleonic naval units.  The past few months have seen a real slowdown in painting, however, I have been busy with scenery in a variety of scales.

I don't currently have any plans for new projects this year and the intention is to consolidate, particularly 28mm Zulu War in anticipation of the release of Sharp Practice II but also Matakishi's Horns of the Bull rules.  I've also ordered some more Napoleonics from Campaign Games Miniatures and will continue to work through the existing pile together with additional scenery.  No doubt something new will crop up before too long.

Gamewise, I've managed three games of Chain of Command, one of Neil Thomas' Napoleonic rules, one Basic Impetus, one Bag the Hun and one of Lion Rampant.  This is a major improvement over previous years and the aim for this year is to play one per month.   I'll also try and document them here.

Outside of wargaming, the trip to Ypres was a great success.  I've posted the pictures of Waterloo bit not the Salient, I must get around to that.  Progress with this year's trip is somewhat slow and there is no agreement as to the destination, Normandy, Verdun and Arras have all been suggested.  At least a date in early May has been provisionally agreed.

All in, not too bad.  Hopefully the focus on actually playing games will inspire me to keep on track a bit more.  We shall see.  Happy wargaming for 2016.

Scenery

Painting has taken a bit of a back seat of late, I'm hoping to be able to find some time over the Christmas Holidays but I have been building a few of the excellent Dave Graffam models which have been on sale at Wargames Vault.  For a mere £0.63 I think these represent excellent value.

So far I've built:  a church

A longhouse

And the pub.

Some earlier work making wattle fences.  I could do with some more of these and I'll post a quick step by step guide next time.

Lion Rampant - First Game

I purchased the Lion Rampant over the summer as a possible alternative for my Normans and Saxons and had been looking forward to giving them a try.  I'd found some draft lists on the forum suggesting three units of mounted sergeants, one of foot sergeants and two of archers for the Normans with two foot men at arms, one foot sergeants, two foot yeomen and one bidowers for the Saxons.  I was just about able to make up the units although some were slightly out of period... 

Turn 1

The Normans won the dice off to start and were able to activate all three of their mounted units who began the advance.  Similarly the Saxon left wing was able to advance before the second unit of Huscarls failed.

Turn 2

All the Normans were able to continue the advance aside from one unit of archers who clearly had something better to do.  On the Saxon side Robin and his chums raced into the spinney while the adjacent yeaman formed a shield wall (schiltron) the remaining units all advanced.

Turn 3

The Norman leader unit charged the Saxon leader and scored nine hits which means the Saxons lost two men although they subsequently failed the leader check.  In response the Huscarls scored seven hits also leading to two casualties although the leader survived.  All courage tests were passed and the Normans were forced to retreat.

Turn 4

The unit of cavalry on the Norman left were able to advance before the next unit failed its activation test.  The Saxon Huscarls, infuriated at the loss of their leader charged the Norman cavalry although this time the Normans failed their courage test and retreated battered.  The two units on the Saxon right formed into shieldwall while the other Huscarls advanced towards the Church.

Turn 5

The left hand Norman cavalry charged the Yeomen in shieldwall inflicting one casualty but suffering two in return and failing the subsequent Courage test.  They were then charged by the Foot Sergeants who inflicted a further casualty while Robin & Co fired at the right hand unit of cavalry who suffered one loss.

Turn 6

Disaster, the Norman leader failed his rally test and fled the field causing the right archers also to flee off the table.  Both remaining cavalry units failed their respective tests and suffered further casualties as a consequence.  The Saxons resumed their advance.

Turn 7

Things didn't get any better for the Normans as both remaining cavalry units failed their rally tests and were eliminated.  The foot sergeants in the centre managed to charge the Huscarls and force them back.  The Saxons failed their first activation.

Turn 8

The Norman sergeants charged again although this time they were repulsed suffering a casualty and a further two when the Saxons returned the favour.

Turn 9

The ding dong in the centre continued with both sides suffering two casualties although this time the Normans failed their courage test and retreated battered.  The Saxon foot sergeants attacked the last remaining unit of archers and forced them to retreat.

Turn 10

Both Norman units failed their rally tests and it became obvious, at this point, that any further resistance was useless and I decided to end the game.  This was a decisive victory for the Saxons, their Huscarls had suffered heavily and they had lost their leader but, otherwise, they were virtually untouched.

A very enjoyable game taking around two hours which, I felt, was reasonable a first attempt.  The rules seemed very clear although I'm sure I made mistakes.  I'm looking forward to giving them another go as written although there are some areas I'd consider fiddling with, particularly unit activation which can see your phase over without anything happening.  I like the randomness but wonder if some sort of card system would work better. 

The Civil War Trilogy - Shelby Foote

Well, I've finally finished Shelby Foote's three volume history of the American Civil War.  This is a wonderful narrative history of almost 3,000 pages which I was first introduced to while studying the ACW at university more years ago than I care to remember.  I'd previously read much of the first two volumes researching my dissertation on the Army of Northern Virginia but had concentrated on the Eastern Theatre and never really touched on the third volume.

This oversight has now been rectified and I've now, slowly, worked my way through it over the past year with the aid of an atlas to assist my somewhat sketchy knowledge of US geography although it should be said that plenty of maps are included.

I have to say that I'm very pleased to have made the effort. Foote's writing is magnificent and really makes the conflict come alive with colourful portraits of many of the participants both great and small.  He's not afraid to say that a general was not up to the task and rightly castigates many for their incompetence while praising the efforts of the more successful.  

I'm aware of many of the criticisms of his work, including deriding abolitionists and downplaying the role of ex slaves, together with a complete absence of footnotes, however, as a work of narrative, military history it has to be among the most enjoyable series of books I've ever read, comparable with Gibbon or Oman.

All in, a serious commitment but one that more than repays the effort.  Maybe it's time to revive the slumbering ACW project...

Thunder on the Danube

Thunder on the Danube Vol I - John H Gill

I recently picked up the first volume of John H Gill's trilogy on the 1809 campaign for a mere £1.19 on the Kindle.  Now I will admit that I have a weakness for multi volume histories. Having a job that involves a considerable amount of train travel certainly gives me the opportunity.  I'm particularly looking forward to the paperback of volume iv of Jonathan Sumption's Hundred Years War, I managed a couple of units of archers for Basic Impetus after the last one.

This didn't disappoint.  A brief build up to the campaign is followed by a detailed description of Charles' initial moves and Berthier's blunders before Napoleon arrives and takes a firm hold.  The details of unit movements are very detailed, down to individual companies at some points.  I dug out the road atlas but sadly this was too small scale for events and my knowledge of Bavaria isn't that good.  I may have to invest in some larger scale maps for the next volumes.

All in all, thoroughly recommended if you have an interest in Napoleonic warfare and makes a pleasant change from the Peninsular or Russia.  Now I really must get around to finishing Napier.  So far I've managed to resist buying a few packs of Austrians but with SELWG just around the corner the temptation is still there.  I look forward to the next installment.