British Infantrymen, The 60th Infantry Regiment, the American Revolution

Today I have completed some additional miniatures for our Mayhem 1756 game. It's a big skirmish game that we have been working on. The game will cover the years 1754-1812. The main focus are the  battles in Noth America during this period. Thus far we have mainly been trying out this set of rules on the French Indian War, but we need to test them on later periods before we can say that the rules are completed. There is also a great deal of play testing to be done as well.

British Infantry from the 60th Infantry Regiment(Royal Americans)

In any case I have previously  painted up a comple of US continental army soldiers for this game( from the American Revolution). They do indeed need some opposition. Here comes the British Infantry. There are all outfited in what best can be described as a campaign uniform from the start of a campaign. They still carry laces on the button holes and the trim on their hats.

Light Infantry( The Colours are that of Royal Americans)

Then we have the light infantry. These guys have been around on the battlefield for some time. The uniform is striped down to the most essential. The light infantry were the elite Brittish infantry and probably had more of hands on approach when it came to uniforms. I guess I could done them even more gritted, but I think this is enough. The main detail that show their status as light infantry are the red waist coats. 

The minis are all Perry plastics.

Pulp Heroes

I have completed some miniatures that in some way or another will be used in the Pulp Campaign that is running at my gaming club. All but one of these miniatures are from Pulp Figures and sculpted by Bob Murch. The odd man out us the US State Trooper(second from the left). It's a miniature from Brigade miniatures. The gentleman with the dynamite will be used in the upcoming game. We are running the game Pulp Alley. The dynamite man will serve as reinforcement. If you want to read more about these Pulp Adventures you can check out the following webpage. It belongs to Jocke and he has been documenting the campaign thus far. My league is the Belgian one. The game is based on the Pulp Alley Campaign supplement Perilous Island.

The American Revolution, Continental Infantry 1776-1783

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Continental Infantry, The American Revolution 1776-1783

These are completed miniatures that will be used for big skirmish gaming. As mentioned previously in this blog we have been working on a rule system of our own called Mayhem 1756. The idea was to create a set of rules for the French Indian war, but now the scope has been expanded. The rules will include units from the American revolution. 

The entire unit - all are miniatures from Perry Plastics. However some bits have been taken from  a box of Victrix Napoleonics. The box lacked minitures with their muskets in a firing postion. That's not a big deal when putting together larger units(brigades, battalions etc), but might be a bit of a problem when together units that will be used for skirmish games. Fortunatly it's quite easy to use bits from Victrix Plastics and other Perry boxes. The pieces fots together surprisingly well. Extra buttons and other details can be removeable or added with the use of a stapel and some green stuff.

Hail Caesar 61AB and Mayhem 1756

Celtic Warbands on the move

Well to start with Pål and (who are two thirds of this blog project the last one is Ulf) are going to put together our own rules for the French Indian War. This project is well on it's way. We are currently playtesting it. We plan to post the rules on this blog . All I can say thus far is that we are tinkering with a big skirmish game, with roughly the same size as Donnybrook and Lion Rampant. Each unit will consist of somewhere around 4-12 miniatures. You need about 4 units to have full force. The project name for this game is Mayhem 1756.

Here are some pictures from our latest play test of Mayhem 1756.....  

The French led by the infamous Captain Castroulle attacks a Anglo-Amercan settlement

Rangers trying desperatly to stop stem tide of French invaders

The Rangers advances

Indians plunder the settlement and capture the locals

Captain Castroulle has fallen -the end of the French attack. Will the evil French menade return...has Castroulle really been killed? Stay turned on this blog and you will see...

The basic mechanism  will be based on the roll of a few dices in order to determine the number of actions available for the individual unit. One dice for each unit and a dice for the commander. So if a
unit fails to activate the commander can use his dice to get the unit going( if he is with range of course). 

The Rules will cover the French Indian war, the American Revolution and possible even the war of
1812. We will keep you updated on this project..



Hail Caesar - Romans vs Britons

A picture from our first Hail Caesar game this year 

Then we have something else running. We begun last week with a playlets to get our brains tuned into the rules. We will play Hail Ceasar, and if all goes according to plans we will stage the campaign outlined in the Hail Ceasar Britannia sourcebook. The pictures below shows a few scene from a scenario that I put together a few years ago. We used it once more for our first Hail Caesar game
session this year. Two feuding Celtic Warlords face each other. One of the Warlords have support
from the Romans who will enter the game at a later stage and tilt the balance. In our first test game
the Romans were a bit too late on the scene to have any impact. The Roman supported Warlord
managed to stop his foe on his own.


The Second game was called "We won't Pay"

Apraxus the tax collector  and his escort

Essentially its a scenario dealing with advanced tax evasion. The Cilician Apraxus has taken the job as Roman tax collector. Apraxus is supposed to pick up taxes among the Celtic population somewhere in the Roman provinces in Britain. Unfortunately a Celtic rebellion has just started headed by Queen Boudicca. .....and she hates Romans and she is set upon stopping the flow of taxes
coming to the Roman authorities.

Queen Boudicca attacks with her war wagons

In this scenario Apraxus has a military escort when collecting the taxes. The escort consist of both infantry(Legions and auxiliary) and cavalry. Apraxus has an ox cart in which he carries the collected taxes. The aim of the scenario is for the Romans to protect the cart and lead it out of harms way( of the table in game terms). For the Britons it is matter of capturining the ox cart. It is in other words a classical " wagon train scenario". The scenario has 10 rounds before reaching it's conclusion

                                                      The Road fork clearly visible 

The Romans start at the village and then move along the road that leads off the table. In the middle of the gaming table there is a road fork that will lead the road in three different directions. The Britons are fielded in a hidden position. The player has to mark his position on a map prior to the game. Once the Briton decide to move his units they become visible. They also become visible if the Romans comes within one move from the Hidden units. The Roman cavalry can thus be quite useful to scout ahead of the main train. 

Britons vs Britons - the cavalry serves as Roman auxiliary 

The Britons must be concentrated in their deployment otherwise the order radius will make difficult to make them move. One could take a chance and hope that the Romans will move into initiative radius( units within initiative radius do not have to be ordered to attack a unit). However since the
road split in three forks that is quite a bit of gambling for the Britons. The Briton players choose to concentrate the forces in two different position and within ordering radius of one of the two commanders present.

The road ahead is blocked for the Romans

The ambush was triggered just when the first Roman unit reached the road fork. 

The path was blocked ahead. The Romans had only two units leading the way and the main force was in the rear. The Britons on the other hand committed a sizable proportion of it's war bands to wild goose chase when trying to hunt down the Roman Cavalry. Thus the fight that actually mattered was kind of balanced and the game came was decided in the last round. Queen Boudicca managed to steer her war wagons straight into poor Apraxus tax cart. So no taxes for the Roman oppressors this time....

The end of the game - Boudicca captures the ox cart with all the taxes collected

Everyone's going to Breitenfeld......

Here are some more figs for my 30 Years War Project. As mentioned in other posts, several club members are involved in playtesting the upcoming Pikeman's Lament rules. And as I've always had a soft spot for the 30YW, I just couldn't resist doing some figs for that period.

First there are some more musketeers, completing the foot figures I've planned for my Pikeman's Lament company.


Commanded Shot

The foot are all from Warlord Games' box of 30 YW Swedish Infantry that I got at the local hobby shop.
Pikeman's Lament is a skirmish game, so a unit of Commanded Shot skirmishers seems appropriate....

The Swedish army term at the time was 'kommenderade musketerare', so that's what I'll be calling them in the game of course....

And I also received the Swedish Cavalry I ordered from Bohemian Miniatures. I had never used any of their figs before, so was not sure what they were like.
But they are really quite nice, with good animated postures and very little mould lines or flash.

I will depict the cavalry as part of the Västgöta Ryttare regiment. This was a very good unit which served in virtually all major battles and campaigns all the way through the 30YW.
And my family is from Västergötland, making this unit sort of irresistable....

Västgöta Ryttare - the company commander is brandishing his favourite war hammer



Another view of Västgöta Ryttare on the road to Breitenfeld

One thing that appeals to me with the Pikeman's Lament rules is that it is a skirmish game, so I don't have to paint an awful lot of 28mm figs. 
To get a Company playable under these rules I've painted:

• 6 Cavalry
• 12 Pikemen
• 6 Forlorn Hope
• 18 Musketeers

And that's actually achievable, even for a slow painter like me.

30 Years War, Imperials with a light cannon

Ulf(Tabletop gamer)posted an article on this blog with the heading "  A funny happned on the way to Breitenfeld - well here is the funny thing....a bunch of Imperials with a light cannon ready to fire straight into the Nordic Horde. The cannon has a five man crew( yes five!). At least  that is stipulated by the upcoming Pikeman's Lament rules(We are currently playtesting them at the club). Five men and rather small gun felt a bit too much, thus I replaced one crewman with some buckets and barrels.

The minatures are conversions based on warlord minatures from the Thirty years war range. The heads have been replaced anda few more details have been added. The gun is of unknown manufacture. I have had it in my bit box for quite some team.

A funny thing happened on the way to Breitenfeld

At the club we are currently playtesting a new set of rules for the pike & shot period, Pikeman's Lament.
The rules are not yet published, but will be a skirmish game based on the Lion Rampant rules for the medieval period, but modified and updated to fit this later period.
We have played some games set in the Scanian War between Sweden and Denmark in the 1670s, but I have elected to do an army (well, a Company really) based on the Swedish Västgöta Infantry Regiment in the 30 Years War.
Mainly because I am from Västergötland, and the Regiment had a flag that was easy to paint.....

A unit of pikemen with some musketeers in support.

I will add some more musketeers and a unit of Swedish cavalry from the Västgöta Ryttare cavalry Regiment.



'Anyone know the way to Breitenfeld?'

All the figs visible here are from Warlord Games and a mix of plastic and metal.
The cavalry will be from Bohemian Miniatures, but I haven't received them yet.

Summer in Karelia - A Setback for the Revolution

Earlier this week Jeppan and me played another game of Big Chain of Command set in Karelia during WWII. As usual, Jeppan commanded the the Finns and I ran the Soviets.
This game was a departure from our early war winter gaming in that we used our new summer figs and also set the scenario to July 1943. This not only allowed us to use our new figs and tanks, but also meant we could use different bits of terrain.


Red tanks on the move in Karelia.

Scenario & Mission

We decided to do a pretty basic encounter scenario with both sides simply having the mission to force the enemy to withdraw. There were no terrain objectives.

Terrain

The table contained a sprawling Karelian village with some surrounding fields, low hills, bits of woodlands and the occasional patch of rough going.

Forces

We used two platoons per side. Since this scenario is set in later part of the war, the forces available are a little different to what we're used to.
Jeppan used a standard Infantry platoon with a PAK40 AT gun and an HMG added.  tank platoon had a captured KV-1E and two of the quirky BT-42 assault guns.
I used the army list included in the rule book for my rifle platoon, and added a T-34/76 obr 42 to provide direct tank support.
The tank platoon consisted of 3 T-34/76 obr 42 and I added an Elite squad of SMG-equipped Razvedki scouts in support.

Deployment

The Soviets gained initiative and managed to deploy most of their smallish Rifle platoon in the village centre and on the left flank with the attached tank.


Soviet rifle squad deploys on the left

Only a single squad deployed slightly to the right side of the table. The Soviet tank platoon did not fare as well and only managed to enter two tanks sector in the first phase. Not great, but no disaster either.


The Soviet tank platoon enters on the right flank supported by a Rifle squad

The Finns brought on their infantry platoon opposite the Russian infantry and both sides advanced cautiously. The Finn tank platoon then had a remarkable mix of both good and bad luck; it managed to get several double moves but could only enter the Commander's KV-1E tank (!). None of the BT-42s managed to make it onto the table for several phases.

Early Game

Finn infantry rushed forward onto the village as the Soviet tanks all entered the table. Long range infantry fire did not really accomplish much for either side.
The KV-1E trundled on up the centre using all those double moves (in spite it being a Slow tank) and parked opposite the Soviet T-34s.



The Finn KV-1E faces the Red tanks single-handedly. Thick armour really does help.....

It managed to shrug off a large number of hits from the Red T-34s, proving that all that extra armour does more than just weigh the thing down.


The Soviet T-34s blasting away at the Finn KV-1E.

Mid-Game

On the Soviet left flank the Finn infantry advanced a bit and the largely inconclusive fire fight continued.
Then the Finn infantry platoon got a double-move and cunningly used it to deploy their PAK40 in LOS of a lone Soviet T-34 and then fire before the poor T-34 could react, knocking it out. And at roughly the same time one of the BT-42 finally struggled onto the table and rolled up to Soviet left flank where it started firing that howitzer at some Red infantry in a patch of woods, killing a couple of my heroes before the Soviet squad fell back out of LOS. Darn.
But revenge was not long in coming. The Soviet tank platoon also got a double move and quickly redeployed a couple of T-34s to  blast that nasty PAK40. The KV-1E just continued to absorb the 76mm rounds that kept hitting it, but eventually acquired a couple of Shock Points. it quickly withdrew and recovered.

Taking advantage of this the T-34 supporting the Soviet infantry platoon advanced slightly and engaged the Finn BT-42 that kept the Red infantry from engaging their Finn counterparts. A single round dispatched the BT-42 and allowed the Soviet infantry to advance into firing positions again.


The first BT-42 is knocked out

The infantry fire fight heated up and one of the Soviet squads was badly hit, but managed to eliminate the Finn HMG. Still, the Finn infantry was closing in on the left flank.

End-game

The final part of the game saw lots of action all along the front. On the Soviet left, the Finn infantry advance continued and the Finns succeeded in gradually wearing down the Soviet infantry. One Red infantry squad routed and the other got locked into inconclusive long range fire against the the advancing Finns. The Soviet squad inflicted some casualties, but also suffered itself, accumulating more and more Shock points.
And the Finns managed to capture one of the Jump-Off Points on the Soviet left.



The Finn infantry has taken a Soviet Jump-Off Point. They take losses, but just keep on coming

At the same time the Finn KV-1E had managed to remove the Shock Points just as a Soviet T-34 engaged it from the rear while a second kept firing from the front.


A Red T-34 outflanks the KV-1E, but not even that is enough to take the beast down....

The KV-1E managed to knock out the T-34 behind it with a single round, but itself finally fell victim to another volley of 76mm from the remaining T-34s.
At about the same time a Soviet infantry squad in the village centre managed to rush forward and capture a Finn Jump-Off Point. Things looked good for our revolutionary heroes.
The second BT-42 had now entered the table but was quickly destroyed by the Soviet tank platoon commander's T-34.
This eliminated the Finn tank platoon, but the infantry was still in decent shape.


The Soviet tank platoon commander knocks out the last BT-42 and is about to take out the Finn squad by the house.

On the Soviet right, the lone Finn squad was decimated and routed by the Soviet tank platoon commander's vehicle, and the T-34 supporting the infantry inflicted casualties on one of the Finn squads in a house. But the Soviet infantry platoon kept suffering casualties at an alarming rate. Very tense.
On the Soviet side, the infantry platoon was losing rapidly with one squad routed, another heavily engaged and the third too far away from the decisive action. On the positive side, the Soviet infantry platoon still had their supporting T-34 in action.
The Soviet tank platoon had just one tank left along with the Razvedki squad.
Would the Finns be able to knock out the Soviet infantry before the remaining Soviet tanks could save the day?
A first attempt by the Finns to rush another Soviet Jump-Off Point was repulsed with losses, but another shortly after succeeded in reducing the Soviet infantry platoon's morale to a point where it ran for home. Darn.
At this point we decided to call it a day with a very closely fought victory for Finland. The remaining Soviet tank platoon only had one tank and a reduced squad of Razvedki still in action.

At his Field HQ, Marshal Mannerheim celebrates with a nice cup of tea and a cigar before sending a well-earned thanks to the Finn troops involved in this fight.

As night falls over the the Kremlin, Comrade Stalin glares at his apprehensive entourage and  mutters darkly about traitors, saboteurs, gulags and revenge......

Great Northen War, A New Russian infantry unit and Danish Cuirassiers

 

I have two new units to add to my Great Northen War collection. First we have a new Russian unit.
The colours of this unit is a bit unusual, however it could be either one of the unit Kievski or
Ingermanlandski. Both units had the same uniform colours. The flags are speculative. It's not regiment colours, rather it is flags that denote a particular company, if I am not mistaken. The two units fought the Swedes at Poltava 1709.

 

The minatures are a mix of Reiver Castings and Warefare miniatures. The flags are from Warfare miniatures.

The Cuirassiers below are Danes from the 1st Jyske cavalry regiment. The unit started as an ordinary cavalry unit, but was turned into a Cuirassier regiment during the early 18th century( a rather odd move). They were present with body armour and all of that at Helsingborg 1710.

The miniatures are a mix of Warfare miniatures and Wargames factory. The flag is a fabric flag bought from Maverick Models

Heroes of the Revolution Don't Surf - But They Do Like Heavy Metal....

Hi Guys,
I have just completed another set of Soviets for our Karelian and East Front gaming using the Chain of Command rules. This project started with me and Jeppan doing some gaming set in the Finnish Winter War. Then it just sort of grew....
So now I find myself with Soviet figs in both winter and summer gear along with some tanks, guns, etc. Here's the latest batch of stuff.

For my winter guys there's a sniper for those times you want to remove a particular counter-revolutionary individual in a precise manner.
And then there's a super-heavy KV-2 tank for those other times when you don't need to be subtle about enforcing Marxist-Leninist ideology and don't mind sending over 15 cm HE shells to remove the enemies of the Revolution (and incidentally re-arranging the landscape).

Winter sniper and KV-2 tank

And even in summer someone has to bring the troops more ammo and, more importantly, vodka and borstj. For that you do need some transport as provided by GAZ trucks and lend-lease Jeeps.

Jeeps and GAZ trucks

I also added a few more SMG-toting avtomatchiki in summer gear along with another sniper.

SMG-equipped Heroes of the Revolution and a sniper.

And I found I really liked the look of the KV-2 behemoth, so I did one for summer use as well.

KV-2 and Avtomatchiki advancing



The whole gang's off to find some enemies to chastise, led by Mr Collateral Damage in the KV-2......

The Forlorn Hope - perhaps not the smartest thing

I thought I had completed the Imperialist force last weekend. (The force was supposed to be used in playtesting the upcoming game "Pikemans's Lament") . That provet not being the case. I lacked 6 points. Like in Lion Rampant 24 points is kind of a standard size for a basic army( or whatever is supposed to call this). Supposedly a force of Musket armed Forlorn Hope would cost 6 points. 

Forlorn Hope is the kind of guys that indeed are forlorn. They are the ones that are supposed to rush forth in front of their unit and do something bord....think the guys with a ladder during a siege. They are usually the ones that die first. However leaders are boring and siege warfare is not the main scope of this game. So I figured that Guy with a serious bomb surrounded by Musket armed  protecting compatriots would do the trick. When talking bombs during the Thirty years war I suppose one have to do with a powder leg and a fuse. Ones at the right place it's a matter of lighting the fuse and dropping the keg. With a bit of a luck one might survive the blast.  

The poor follow with the 17th century bomb, he is goner for sure....

Imperialists from the Thirty Years's War

I was somehow drafted into a playtesting project by a friend of mine, Michael(Dalauppror).  You can read more about this upcoming gamed called Pikeman's Lament on his blog. In this project he cooperates with the author of Lion Rampant, Daniel Mersey. In short it is a big skirmish game, much as in the same manner as Daniel Mersey's previous game Lion Rampant.  If you find the basing a bit odd then blame it on Michael, he made me do it. ;)

The Officer with the flag is from Warlord minatures. I am usually not a fan of casted flags, but somehow this one worked out fine. 

In any case I was supposed to paint up an Imperialist force from the Thirty Year's War. So I bought some straight out of the Box Warlord minitures and added some odd bits and pieces. That would do for the infantry, but I needed cavalry. Why then settle for ordinary cavalry when there are Curassiers- the very last fully armoured warriors in history. Sören another friend at the club informed me about a fairly new brand that was turning out miniatures - Bohemian Minatures. The brand is Czech, but the sculpts have been made by Paul Hicks. In short they are among the best you can find for this period. I can recommend them. The delivery was swift and efficient. I got then miniatures within a week of ordering.

The Pikemen - a must in this conflict. 

Unfortunatly Bohemian miniatures do not make any horses. Thus one have to buy these beasts seperatly . Front Rank horses are supposed to be the best match, but I found some Old Glory horses that was gathering dust in my drawers, and they fitted perfectly.

The unit I painted got a rather uniformed look. Maybe I was a bit influenced by the cover if the Warlord Box. During the Thirty Year's War the concentrated of uniforms were not really invented as such. However one numerous paintings regimenets from the time could have some kind of uniform semblance. This probably had to do with the fact that cloth for the soldiers' clothing were often issued in bulk when the unit was raised. If so then a unit would have a certain uniform look at the start of a campaign. Certain armies, notably the Swedish army as well as the Imperial army of Wallenstein had at times centralized systems of cloth production. When issued cloth I doubt the soldiers would have recieve an ample selection of colours to chose from.

Alt Piccolomini Curassiers 

The flag from the other side

The flags in this force( I could hardly call it an army) are more or less copied from historical sources. The Infantry have been given the colours of a unit that lost it colours at the very last staged of the war, captured at Prague in 1648. The name of the unit remains unknown. The flag is currently a  part of the Swedish State Trophy Collection. So is also the flag of the Curassiers. It was lost at Jankow in 1645. The name of this unit is Alt Piccolomini, named after the Imperial General Octavio Piccolomini (1599-1656).  Most of details I got from the book " In Hoc Signo Vinces - A presentation of The Swedish State Trophy Collection". It a very useful source when it comes to flags. You can find all kinds of flags taken from the enemies of the Swedes( Danes, Russians, Imperials and a few more). It also writen in English, which would make it bit easier for those that doesn't speak Swedish( I can Imagine there are a few out there). I picked up the book at fleamarket, so I have no idea what to pay for it in full price.

The book I used as main source for my flags