BIG ADDITION to the Napoleonics Collection

Because of the incredible generosity of my friend and club mate Ed M., my 28mm Napoleonic collection has grown by leaps and bounds recently!  Ed gave me over 190 French and Polish infantry, 20 Cavalry and six guns with 12 Gunners.  He also gave me 10 French and Polish Commanders.  Now I have the opponents for my Peninsula Campaign British troops!  I can't wait to get them on the table for the first time.

As the photos below show, these are not dregs of his collection by any measure.  These are all nicely painted figures.  I do have a couple of conversions to do and a couple of standards to add to the units, but that is a matter of one weekend and they will be ready to go!

You can see that I have already gotten the majority of them on stands and ready for flocking.  Only a couple of battalions (five) more to base up and they will be ready to add to the force.  I even have some figures that will be Young/Middle Guard battalions.

Here are some initial photos:

The Commanders First.

The new division commander and his aide.

One of the brigade commanders.

Here are the infantry.

All of the new battalions.  In front (l to r) two 2-battalion ligne regiments, one 3-battalion ligne regiment and one 1-battalion legere regiment.  In the second line are two 2-battalion Polish line regiments.  I haven't numbered any of the units yet.

Two battalion ligne regiment.

Close-up of the Eagle of one of the ligne regiments.

Three battalion ligne regiment.  Still need to add the Eagle to the command stand.

One of the Polish Line regiments of two battalions.  Note the Sapper in the left hand command stand.

And the artillery.

The two batteries of Foot Artillery.

The Horse Artillery battery being directed by the cavalry brigade commander.

I think I will wait before posting pics of the cavalry until I get them touched up.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this great gift from Ed!  He will not be paying for lunch anytime soon when I am around!

Game Night at the Club

The Northern Conspiracy held its monthly game night last night and we had a great time!  I played in John's excellent ACW game using Regimental Fire and Fury (RFF) and his fantastic 60mm figures!  The game was visually stunning and it was a truly entertaining time.

I must admit that Kevin and Bob kicked my butt, even so it was a great time.  Here are a few photos from the evening.

As you can see from the photos - the figures and terrain were just a sight to behold!

Some of the Rebels we tried to subdue.  They were just too good.

More of them Rebels! 

Part of one of our brigades.  Even the Black Hats of the Iron Brigade were not enough to save the Union on this night!

The section of the field from behind Greg's Command.  The object of the game was to capture the road in the middle of the table.  The Confederates got the memo - our side did not!

Some of my brigade - a unit of Zouaves.  They were classified as Crack Troops in the scenario.  They fought more like Crackheads!

One of our artillery batteries.  They did actually wipe out one Confederate regiment, but it was not enough to save the day. And the other three regiments facing them wiped this battery out to a man!

HUZZAH! Shopping Results

My shopping at Huzzah! this year was not spectacular.  I got a book on modern uniforms, a book on French Foreign uniforms from the 1880's up to the present day and the Bolt Action game book - Battleground Europe.  I needed the latter as I wanted the official rules on minefields so I can incorporate them into my modern games.

Here are the books that I purchased:

I also got a bridge for my War of 1812 games from Wargamers' Terrain and some Vallejo paints.  The bridge is pretty cool as it is built up on either end with small abutment pieces.  Should be a nice addition to the terrain collection.

Here is a photo of the bridge:

I will get photos up as soon as I can get the camera operational.  Not as much as usual, but there just didn't seem to be anything that really caught my fancy - no "I have to buy that" moments.  Really pretty scary for the Sammy Sanguine in me!

Huzzah! 2015

Just got home from Huzzah!  I went up for Friday night and the day today. It was a really enjoyable time to get out of town and spend time with friends doing the hobby. Played in a couple of games, one last night and another this morning. There was a definite theme - Paratroopers!!

The game last night was a very large Bolt Action game. I got to play some units of 82nd Airborne troops involved in an attack on a German bridge.  Today I got to play in a "British Wars" skirmish game of Pegasus Bridge. I commanded a couple of Sappers helping Den Brotheridge and MAJ Howard take the key bridge just before the invasion force hit the beaches.

I really enjoyed both games. They were very different, but they had some interesting tactical situations and the rules gave a completely different feel for airborne operations. Overall this was one of the better convention gaming experiences I have had in quite awhile.

Here are some photos:

The Bridge from the Cafe end of the bridge.

Another pre-battle photo from behind the Cafe.

 Here are some photos of the first battle that I participated in on Friday evening.  We were the 82nd Airborne Division attacking a train bridge so reinforcements and materials couldn't reach the Germans fighting against the beaches:

A destroyed Sdkfz-222 Armored Car.  The last thing the crew of this vehicle saw was the 90mm gun of an American Pershing Tank!

Another charge set on a bridge section supported by a Chaffee Light Tank.

My Sappers destroying the first section of the railroad bridge.  I had suffered four out of six in the section as casualties, but the remaining two troops hung in against serious German efforts to kill them (HMG, AT Gun firing HE, Infantry fire, etc.) until they had the charge set-off.

Results of a German artillery strike - Three pins on a HMG and ATG.  A destroyed Stug III.  And a killed Major commander. Thank you to the Forward Observer who was holding his map upside down when he sent his call for fire!  Couldn't have done it without him!

P-47 on a strafing run.  The results were a destroyed '88' and several dead infantrymen.

One last photo:

The guy kneeling in  the center of the photo is one of my sappers from the Pegasus Bridge game checking for demolition charges and fuze wires.  The British successfully prevented the Germans from blowing-up the bridge.

 Both games were excellent.  The whole convention was a great time!

Regimental Fire & Fury Game Report

I had an opportunity to host a Regimental Fire & Fury war of 1812 game yesterday at the club.  The game went very well. Here are some photos of the game. My thanks to Bob, Paul, Mike and Matt for playing in the game!

The Stalwart Warriors! (l to r) Paul, Bob, Mike and Matt.

Americans defending Farmer White's Fields.  The photo shows American artillery supported by the 3rd US Volunteers behind them, Pennsylvania Volunteers on their flank and further to the left, the NY Greens Volunteer Regiment.

A close-up of the NY Greens under fierce attack by the Voltigeurs Canadiens ably supported by the 100th Regiment of Foot.  The Voltiguers' attack was very successful as they swept the NY Greens from the field.

Not seen very often in the War of 1812 - British and Canadian cavalry charging the 9th US Infantry.  The 9th successfully held off the attack.

The British and American battlelines face-off.  The Voltiguers have taken the position from the NY Greens and they continue to advance.  The 103rd Regiment of Foot moves up behind them in support.  On the right the 100th Regiment of Foot with 3/1st Foot on their right prepare to engage the Americans.  The American lines include (from l to r) a NY Militia Battalion, a composite Rifle Battalion, the 2nd US Artillery (serving as infantry) and the 1st US Infantry.

I wanted to include this picture to highlight the great terrain from my friend Andrew.  These are his fields and the buildings in the upper right-hand corner are just really beautiful!  They make a perfect farm for old-man White!

I had a great time putting on this game.  I have run the scenario on four occasions using Volley & Bayonet Wing scale.  The games turned out fine, but I really enjoyed changing over to the F&F rules for a change of pace.  I am thinking that this will also make a great scenario for the new computer moderated rules that my friend AJ is working on.

The battle ended up being larger than I anticipated and so we did not get to a complete conclusion.  I hope to run it again this summer here at the house so we can hopefully fight the whole game.  As it was the Americans held onto the farm and could have pretty easily held the small bridge which was a tertiary victory condition.  The British caused more casualties then they took, and I think given a few more turns, they would have given the Americans a run for their money in the fight to control the farm.

The players also provided me with some great feedback on the victory conditions which I will incorporate into my next game.

Overall I would say that this was a very successful game which I hope players enjoyed participating in.

Bolt Action Game

Had an opportunity to play in a great Bolt Action game on Friday hosted by my friend Ralph.  The  scenario was not only a great wargame - it had the additional special attraction as it was based on an actual action where Ralph's father was the American company commander!  The game went very well.  It was a large game in terms of Bolt Action, but it played very well and everyone had a great time.

In this scenario an American infantry company was attacking across a river to secure a small German town as a flank support attack for the main effort in another part of the Regimental sector.  All of the artillery and armor support was with the main attack so the Americans were on their own. 

Fortunately, the Germans opposite the attack were mostly Volkgrenadiers.  The Germans, as always, had substantial firepower in the form of light and medium machine guns and Sturmgewehr 44's.  Unfortunately, the Germans could not compete with the pins and losses inflicted by the much larger American squads with their Garands and BAR's. 

In the end the Germans ran out of troops and the Americans ended up crossing the bridge and securing the road in several places.

Here are a few photos of the truly outstanding terrain and figures in Ralph's collection.

An American squad crests a hill in an effort to overwhelm the German VG on the far side of the stream.

One of my medium machine gun teams providing covering fire.

German troops come out of the buildings and attempt to establish a defensive line along the stream they were defending.  The American flamethrower team in the foreground did not get to fire (unfortunately) as they took a substantial amount of fire from the Germans before they could act.

An American forward observer for the medium mortar attached to the company.

Two American infantry squads overwhelm a German VG squad opposite them.

2014 - The Insurgency

Here are some photos of the insurgents and one of their vehicles.  I have three insurgent armies: The White Sheiks, the Black Terror and the Red Martyrs.  The armies have their own strengths and weaknesses - but all are ready to try and overthrow the Moan government!

A Unimog truck being used as a gun platform for a 14.5mm Heavy Machine Gun.  The truck is a Matchbox.  The gun and crew is from the excellent Liberation Miniatures range.

More from Liberation Miniatures - This time they are "insurgents" who are from the White Shieks terror cell.

The White Shieks commander and some support units.  All of the figures, as well as the Motorcycle, are from Liberation Miniatures.  The heavy machine gun is from the Stan Johansson range.

The Black Terror insurgent cell has occupied a small town in the northern part of DR Moa.  Figures from Liberation Miniatures.  The buildings are paper models from the excellent Paper Terrain line.  The buildings are available in 6mm, 15mm, 20mm and 28mm.  They go together very easily and I think they look fine on the table.  They have the added benefit of coming with partially destroyed copies of each building.  This adds greatly to the versatility of the buildings and fills virtually every building need you could have.

More Black Terror fighters in another building.

The buildings not only come with destroyed versions, there are also walls and out buildings as part of the set.  The walls are glued to foam core board and mounted on a cardboard base.

The Red Martyrs terror cell.  These figures are OOP (Heroes?)