A Piratical Excursion

After a week of ‘garden painting’ in the blazing sunshine it’s back to work on Monday. Hence, I was determined to get one last game in before I go back – it also p***ed it down all day, so no garden painting this weekend anyway. The last game in turn one of my Blood and Plunder solo campaign was still to be played, so this was an opportunity to test the layout of my prospective Blood and Plunder table. The next game was to be Dutch versus Scots and both required a quantity of European Militia and Musketeers. A quick order to Irregular Miniatures provided me with a small pile of 15mm League of Augsburg figures, which were painted up over a couple of evenings. After painting 28mm Napoleonics these were a doddle – 57 figures in 2 evenings was not to be sniffed at. I really like these figures and they painted up quite nicely. The basing is my system for Sharp Practice / Blood and Plunder but put on sabots they give me 2 more regiments for my Maurice ImagiNations armies.

Irregular Miniatures, 15mm League of Augsburg

Whisky Galore!

 This was to be my first go at an amphibious scenario and saw militia of the Scottish Carolina Company attacking the Dutch. For terrain I scrounged up some thirty year old scratch built Spanish buildings and my 15 year old jungle. Both needed some updating and TLC but hey needs must.

The Dutch Colonies

The scenario was to be the ‘Rescue’ scenario from the ‘No Peace Beyond the Line’ supplement. HM Sloop ‘The Chancellor’, carrying vital supplies of Whisky to South Carolina, has foundered in Dutch territory. The Dutch are in possession of the only survivor; Brother Belcher, a monk of the Holy Order of Glenfiddich. The Scots intend to rescue Brother Belcher and thereby ascertain the location of the wreck.

The Scots as seen through a whisky haze – ahem.

The Scots, under Ebeneezer Balfour, consisted of two groups of 6 Militia, one group of 7 Musketeers and one group of 4 Sea Dogs. (For 15mm scale I use bases and not individual figures). Half the force would begin on land whilst the other half arrived in two longboats.

The Dutch

Opposing them, the Dutch under Rip Van Dam consisted of two groups of 6 Soldaten and a group of 7 Zeelieden.

The Dutch, along with Brother Belcher, would deploy near the centre of the table. The Scots have 6 moves to rescue the prisoner.

Dutch deployment

The Scots plan involved a pincer movement with Ebeneezer Balfour leading the Militia from the western table edge, whilst the Musketeers and Sea Dogs landed in the east.

The landing. Militia infiltrate the jungle in the far distance.

The advance of the Militia was largely unopposed and by mid game they had surprised and destroyed a group of Soldaten.

Unfortunately, the advance from the beach was a disaster. Being caught in the open is very bad news in this game and as I has so little terrain to use ‘the beach’ was rather open. The Sea Dogs were instantly destroyed by musketry from Van Dam’s unit and the Musketeers fared no better. Severely hit by musket fire, they were finished off by pistol fire from the Zeelieden.

Musketeers come under fire after the demise of the Sea Dogs

 

Zeelieden break Musketteers with pistol fire

By turn four the Dutch had one Strike Point due to casualties but the Scots had two. However, by the scenario rules, the attacker gains a Strike Point if the prisoner is still in the hands of the defenders in turn four. That gave the Scots an extra Strike Point and the difference of two was enough to trigger a Strike Test – which they failed.

So a convincing win for the Dutch and Rip Van Dam goes into the lead in campaign terms.

Conclusions

Firstly, the land game really does need decent terrain and scenery. Not only will it look better but having a reasonable amount of cover is vital.

Secondly, the land game can be very quick indeed. This took much longer to set up and take down than it did to play.

Thirdly, while 15mm works well solo it would look much better in 28mm. With that in mind I took a quick snap of the Firelock Games miniatures against my jungle terrain. Scale wise I might just get away with it.

Better get painting then……..

Bring on the big boys

Saxon Chronicle, Part the Second.

Saxon Eorl Odda still faces the heathen Viking invader... Harald the Barrel.  The Vikings have been spanking us, but the Eorl has proved himself mighty in battle.

Driving the enemy before him he destroys a second unit of Vikings..

And quickly he's into a third unit, all with aggressive charges.

The Saxons and Egil, their Viking ally battle for the centre.  Honours are even.

The Eorl tries to drive the Vikings back to enable him to return to the main battle.

On the hills it is a nerve biting time.  Both sides are driven back and forth.

But for the third time the Eorl destroys an entire Viking unit.

And on the hills Harold the Barrel is faced with an enemy that just won't die.

The Vikings end their attack, but the Saxon Eorl has crippled them.  

Thus ended the campaign  season for Harald the Barrel... or so we thought.  Turns out that the very next game in the campaign is Harald having another go at Eorl Odda.   This time it's personal...

Pepin the Fat, King of Franks

Longships!  It's all my own fault.  "Let's have a look," they said.  "I'll buy the rules and get some Vikings in," I said.
"Ah, but..."  They said, "we have loads of old, really old, true 25mm figures."  "No problem, 25mm it is," I nod...

Oh how I lead with my chin when I've been drinking!

Warrior Miniatures 25mm Vikings were the answer.  Great figures, and proper old school 25mm scale.  I bought three boat crews, just for a look you understand.  Job done!

"Ah, but let's expand this and do a campaign," they said.

Irish, Welsh Scots Saxons and Vikings, we had the lot.  Nobody had the Franks though.  Well,  I've always liked the Carolingian figures from Minifigs.  It's that wacky helmet.  "I'll do it!" I pledged.

Mind you on second thoughts that helmet always looked like a souwester to me. 

I never learn it seems.

Caliver, the current Minifigs producer couldn't supply the Carolingians, for complicated reasons I still don't quite understand.  So I went back to Warrior, with a cunning plan.  That Carolingian helmet is more than dodgy, and plain nasal helms far more likely.   The Ottonian Gospels show mounted Warriors in mail on horses with round shields (as well as kite shields but the date is 983 AD so that would be late for our campaign.)  

An Ottonian illustration.

So... Mounted in mail with nasal helms, round shields, swords and spears.  Most Dark Age cavalry would do at a pinch, but I went for Spanish from Warrior's El Cid range.  Technically these are a century out of time, but they look fine as Ottonian Cavalry.  The Spanish have a mix of unarmoured and mailed cavalry, and I gave them plain round shields.  

As for the Moorish influence on some of the figures... well the Carolingians fought the Moors for a century or more, Roncevales Pass comes to mind.  With those plain round German shields they look perfectly acceptable as Franks.

The first part of the plan was to base them up individually.  To use them as pseudo Bretons with my Lion Rampant armies they need a matching base pattern.  The army of Conan the Vegetarian has much the same composition as the Franks.  

My Normans are of course Conquest Miniatures, big modern sculpts, but the Normans would consider themselves superior to the Bretons anyway, being that much bigger figures in terms of medieval iconography... sometimes my head operates its own logic! 

I also wanted these Franks based individually to allow me to explore Outremer Faith and Blood, the Osprey Wargames skirmish rules for the Crusades.  Using the figures in their actual period, fighting Ben Yusef's invasion of Spain is quite tempting.

With that in mind I ordered a few Moorish figures from the same range.  I have a vague notion for a Campaign on the History of El Sid, Count of Benidorm, and his Conquest of the resort.

The Franks will be a formidable enemy for any stray Vikings in our Longships  campaign, with the ability to charge in Swineshead and sweep away the enemy, and with 30 more points than everyone else!  This is the army of the paladins; Roland, Oliver and Charles Martel.  Expect them to charge like the crazy guys they are!

The Army of Pepin the Fat, King of the Franks

General, King Pepin the Rotund
Unit 1. Lord Roland (6 bases). Leader 3x Armoured Cavalry 3x Unarmoured Cavalry  20, 45, 27 = 92  
Unit 2. Lord Oliver (6 bases). Leader 3x Armoured Cavalry 3x Unarmoured Cavalry  20, 45, 27 = 92   
Unit 3. Captain Martel (8 bases). Leader 3x armoured  
3x Unarmoured 1x Champion 20 24 39 10 = 93
Unit 3. Captain Namon (8 bases). Leader 3x armoured  
4x unarmoured 20 32 39 = 91
Unit 5.  Archbishop Turpin. (8 bases). Leader 4 x unarmoured 3 Levy 20 32 9 = 61
Total 429 

The figures were easily cleaned, and mounted on plasticard or 20mm metal discs for the foot.  I tend to undercoat in a mix of brown and beige for medievals. 

The day before they are due to appear on table... well getting there...

King Pepin  really is a fatter figure than his lads. Looking a little rough here without any dip....     

The Foot get magnetic basing, to adhere to a 40mm square template.  The horse are on narrower bases, but under Longships it doesn't really matter since its not the size of the base that counts so much as the unit itself.  I want these horsemen for skirmish gaming too, so a smaller base is preferable.

The last phases are the easiest.  A wash with Vallejo highlighter, and some texturing on those bases, followed by some varnish to seal the figures.  But this is not Cyprus, where textured bases dry in an hour.  The Vikings took two days, so that might be a little delayed.

Up the Bulge with Five Men at Kursk

It's no secret that the 990th  Pz Grenadiers have been having a torrid time of late.  The Yanks have beaten them twice in succession.   But in reponse Johannes Weissmueller, one time Tarzan actor now a Gefreiter in the Wehrmact has been promoted to Obergefreiter (must be the muscles) and a new Feldwebel, Heinz Schoup, has been appointed.

Heinz is from an old army family, smokes a pipe and is a father figure to his men.  Tarzan can of course be relied upon to have the big voice to keep the boys in line.
Wacht am Rhine is just getting started, and the Grenadiers are leading the way.  Its the last gamble for the Reich, and the Americans don't stand a chance.

The new mission is to advance to secure woodland on the left of the road, allowing the Panzers to pass the choke point.   American bazooka teams are operating against the tanks from here.  A limited Artillery strike has been made but it needs the 990th Grenadiers to go in and take the ground.

The Americans have a new commander, Maj. "Dutch" Parker, and it seems he is ready to hold up the advance of the Glorious Reich.

The Germans hold back the centre and advance on the flanks.  Dice luck is abominable as several of my men flee!

The damn Yanks come at me both sides, and I lose both my Lmgs on the right.  My boys are bailing out.

One after another my Germans break and run for it...  a partial compensation is that the American Sergeant runs off table terrified. 

The ultimate ignominy.  Feldwebel Heinz Shop flees as a rifle grenade lands at his feet.  Uninjured but with a desperate need for clean pants...

Germans, two men killed Becker and Klum.
Several, if not most, retired to the rear precipitously. 

Americans,  One man fled the battle.  Sgt Rock Hudson sent back to HQ on the orders of Maj Parker, under guard.
Little Audie wounded, recovered, awarded the purple heart.

Caribbean Ponderings

Now our long awaited Longships campaign has finally kicked off, I can now stop preparing for the campaign and return to projects that had been set aside in the mammoth six month painting frenzy. Mind you most of these figures have been in the painting queue for about 36 years so I guess their time was due!
Next in the paint queue are figures for a 28mm Napoleonic Sharp Practice set up that should be hitting the table soon - hopefully I'll have more details in the not too distant future. After that it may well be the turn of the Blood and Plunder pirates that I received for my birthday. I have a moderate size collection of these; certainly enough for a few games but I will need some terrain.
In fact I have already started a Blood and Plunder solo campaign  but in 15mm until I get the larger figures painted. The first 2 games were sea battles, so no great terrain requirements there, although afterwards I decided that my 30 year old sea boards no longer cut the mustard. Hence, I have added a nice sea mat from Deep Cut that has yet to see action.
Unfortunately, the next campaign battle will be a bit more challenging as this one will be an amphibious scenario. My usual modus operandi when faced with a terrain project is to see what crap I have lying around the garage - and this was to be no different. After half an hour's rooting around the darkest recesses of said garage I emerged with a stack of old green carpet tiles. I figured I could cut these into the shape of various land forms that could then be placed on top of my sea mat.
A prime consideration for this is that any terrain should be light weight and easily stored - these would seem to be ideal in that respect.
After attacking the aforementioned tiles with a Stanley knife I was left with the following prototype.

Configuration 1 - the headland

I had originally intended the carpet tile to span the full width of the sea mat but unfortunately the tiles are something like 18 inches square and the mat is 4 foot wide. However, by trimming off the corner of the tile I was able to create the suggestion of a headland.
It also occurred to me that, if I added a couple of smaller bits, I could also create a river mouth,as shown below.

Configuration 2 - the river mouth

Now there may be other configurations possible and I still have a spare tile left but these will do for now.
My conundrum now is what to do next? My current options are:

1) Leave them as they are - a bit naff but workable.
2) Paint them
3) Add sand and flock

At the moment I'm favouring option three but my concern is the possibility of warping if I use sand and pva. On the other hand the tiles are quite flexible and could probably just be bent back into shape. Hmmm, one to ponder. I think it will be option 1 as a stop gap until I make my mind up how best to proceed.

The Saxon Chronicle, part the first

God is punishing Christendom.  The Northmen are descending upon us...

The Vikings set sail, well most of them do...

Harald the Barrel and his crews establish a stronghold.  They raid and succeed.  They raid again and are caught by Earl Odda...

The naughty doings of the Church have caused this catastrophe...  Oh I implore the Saxons, go back to godly flagellation and women riding naked through the streets!

The  terrain goes down, establishing a tricksome business all defenders will now follow.

The lines are drawn up

Egil the Grumpy hires out to the Saxons.

Roll out Harald the Barrel and his men.

The mad Earl charges from his excellent hilltop position, keen to get on with killing Vikings.

The Earl kills Sigurd, and his entire warband, beginning a blood feud

Sigurd's head is on display at a Cathedral nearby...

Leif Yellowbreeks...breaks.  the coward is one of Bluetooth's boys.
Harald brings on reinforcements but Earl Odda is straight on them.  An even fight ensues.

The Raven's Reckoning... so far.

The Saga of Ase Red Faced.

From "Commentaries on the Sagas, Ase's Saga what's with the Red Face?" by Professor James Moriarty Catchmole, University of North Durham.

"Basically... What can I say?  It's a fake!"

Ase, Red Faced with strain
Constipated hero of Norway
Sold his services to the Unready Saxons
Stood in shield wall, atop a hill.

Forward they came, flaming hundreds of them.
Ignoring the terrain with the luck of fate.

Storming forward, Ase's men,
Killed rather a lot of them.
(A rhyme!)

But the victory was at a price.
Basically... We had crap dice.

The Viking mercenaries broken,
The Saxon King comments,
"Won't have to pay them now!

But the Vikings close in.
Things are looking grim.
(And that bit rhymed too)

Chrisendom destroyed.
A walk over, Ase on his ass

And afterwards...

Still Ase strained,
Unable to produce,
The turtle's head.