Is it really the end of August already? Where has the year gone? It was my birthday recently as well: 55 years old…how did that happen?
But enough of the negative vibes, man, time for some positives: it’s another Painting Challenge update…and there are some really nice pieces of work on show this time. Check out the individual galleries, but here’s a taster:
Just finishing off (as much as any wargames project can be declared “finished”) my ECW collection now with a few attached shot markers for my chosen ruleset For King & Parliament.
These are used to indicate when a horse or artillery unit has a body of musketeers attached to them to give them a bit more bite. They are the sort of thing you could use a counter for (as they disappear after one volley!) but look better represented by actual figures.
Figures are Peter Pig painted with GW Contrast Paint mounted on Warbases bases.
Dan Albrecht and friends played a great game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum the other day, using a scenario from the Sicilian Weekend pack: the Herman Goring Division attacks US Airborne and infantry forces on the Piano Lupo.
Click on the picture below to see all:
I played in a big Age of Eagles Napoleonics game this weekend just gone: a re-fight of Talavera. Most amusingly, given that I’d rarely played the rules or, indeed, any Napoleonics before, I was given the role of Wellesley i.e. in command of the allied British and Spanish team lined up against the evil French.
I’d like to be able to say that I emulated the soon-to-be Duke of Wellington and won a noble victory but, alas, the day did not go our way at all!
The Allies are lined up along a tributary of the river Tagus, Brits on the left, Spanish on the right, with the French coming at them across the stream.
The French planned to demonstrate towards the centre of the Allied line whilst attacking around the Allied left. If that didn’t work, the centre would turn into the main attack.
As the French came forward on our left, effortlessly brushing a single Spanish brigade aside, I moved some of our reserves (Mackenzie’s infantry Division) to counter the threat. With their advance there countered, the French changed their axis of attack and came forward strongly in the centre and on their left.
The Spanish held a fortified farm on our right, and the troops there performed brilliantly: their artillery slowing down the French advance and then a battalion of conscript infantry lurking just outside the farm holding off a charge by French heavy cavalry.
Unfortunately, the British in the centre performed less well. Firstly, closing up from extended line to line left several gaps in the British line. The French spotted this, massed their artillery and blew a British battalion away to widen one of the gaps into something they could move through…and move through the gap they did: French cavalry and infantry bursting through to totally disrupt the British line.
I had, as mentioned, already committed my infantry reserves elsewhere, and my heavy cavalry just didn’t get across the table fast enough to properly intervene.
As the British line began to crumble, the Spanish remembered they had an important appointment elsewhere (Cuesta was under orders to preserve the army) and the day was firmly to the French.
A great game, and all kudos to Mark and Bevan as the French commanders who, respectively, pinned and then dissected the Allies: great tactics. Thanks also to Dave for setting up and running the game; and to my unfortunate co-commander, John.
One last thing to mention, John had one Spanish battalion that despite initially recoiling from a combat then stubbornly refused to be broken no matter what the garlic-eaters threw at them. It seems like it was the Spanish that shone all day.
Here’s a gallery of the game (excuse the rather curly roads!):
Got to the game on Saturday and someone asked me if I’d seen the nice review of Marlowe to Maidenhythe ECW scenario pack for For King & Parliament that has just appeared on the Iron Mitten blog.
Well I hadn’t…but I have now, and they are right: it is very nice.
Here’s a link to the specific blog post: http://iron-mitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/marlowe-to-maidenhythe-review.html
I recommend that you all read it and immediately go out and buy a copy!
Here’s the last (for the moment!) of my shot-heavy battalia for my English Civil war collection.
With these, I can now field brigades of standard battalia, pike-only battalia, pike-heavy battalia and, of course, shot-heavy battalia.
The figures are from Peter Pig, painted with GW Contrast paints (the trousers are some kind of ork skin tone!), and mounted as a single battalia element on a large vehicle base from Warbases.
Not much else going on at the moment wargaming-wise (although I have a big game this weekend) so I thought I’d update the Painting Challenge after only a week rather than the usual two.
Plenty to see even after only seven days, so do make sure you visit people’s individual galleries, but here’s a taster:
With the first battle only taking 90 minutes or so, we had time to re-play Stour Road.
Bevan offered to swap sides but, despite the fact that I had lost the first game quite heavily, I was sure that I now had the key to victory!
So, once again the Roundheads are digging ramparts around Royalist-held Norchester when the Cavaliers launch an attack to disrupt their work…
…but this causes an almighty traffic jam that generally slows the Royalist advance.
They see off the Royalist infantry battalia that saw off the pikemen, but then charge uncontrollable forward towards a battalia of commanded shot. Gulp!
The Roundheads digging the ramparts look on as the Royalist horse comes forward. Time to stop digging and use the picks and shovels for something more offensive!
More Royalist horse (bottom left) need to be driven back.
Even better, the Royalist horse that broke through pursue the fleeing diggers off the table. Byeeee!
The first Royalist battalia encountered will soon give way.
…but I can’t remember what!
But this is really too little, too late!
A glorious victory for the Parliamentarians.
Another great game of For King & Parliament and, unusually, a win for me!
It’s now off to Plumleigh Common, where the Royalists will try a lightning raid on the Parliamentarian lines again, but this time the Roundheads are ready for them…
The sun is finally shining, August actually now looks like August, and it’s time for another update to the TFL Painting Challenge.
Do please visit the individual galleries (you can do so from the NavBar, above) but here’s a taster to get you reaching for the paintbrushes yourselves:
As the Parliamentarians begin to surround Royalist-held Norchester with a ring of trenches, the Cavaliers send out Sir Edmund Dexter and his cavalry to disrupt their work…
Norchester is top left (by the multi-coloured towels that are drying!) and the Parliamentarian works, only part completed, are top right.
View from behind the Royalist horse. They also have infantry coming through the hedgerows to the left.
The Roundheads must fight in two directions at once!
Same situation from the other angle.
One poor battalia of Borders foot becomes the cornerstone of the Parliamentarian position: hit by Royalist horse and foot from two directions.
They form hedgehog: here represented by the horse Meeple as my little model hedgehogs hadn’t arrived yet!
But there’s still the enemy infantry to do deal with.
The double assault proves too much and the 1st Borders Foot flee the field.
All is not lost, however, as Puritan Horse reinforcements (bottom right) have arrived.
The left flank of the Parliamentarian position is attacked.
But the Royalist horse is fairly easily repelled.
The Puritan Horse meet the charge, but things are not looking good!
At this point I forgot to take any more picture as the action reached its climax.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the Puritan Horse gave way, leaving the flanks of my infantry battalia facing the Royalist horse utterly exposed. These were overwhelmed one by one, and the chaps digging the trenches who had come to help (counting as Rabble) were shot down by the rest of the Royalist infantry.
A major defeat for the Parliamentarians!
Here’s the second of my planned three English Civil War shot-heavy battalia: painted in a rather fetching shade of yellow!
The main body are from Peter Pig, the command figures from Hallmark via Magister Militum. The figures are mostly painted with GW Contrast paints and based on a Warbases large vehicle base. The flag is from Maverick.
What is happening with the weather at the moment? One moment it’s sunshine so hot that you can’t go out, the next it’s raining hard enough to drown an elephant!
Whatever it is, it’s excellent weather for painting minis, and that’s what many of you have been doing. Some lovely entries into the Challenge this week, so make sure you visit all the individual galleries to check them out.
In the meantime, here’s a selection to whet the whistle:
Another absolute treat for you today: it’s another of Alan Curtis and friends’ I Ain’t Been Shot Mum games taken from the IABSM Facebook Group.
This is another truly stunning set up and well worth a browse.
Click on the picture below to see all:.
Anoher play-test battle: this time a Parliamentarian column escorting siege guns is almost ambushed by a Royalist force, but the trap is sprung a little too soon…
The Parliamentarian column is marching along the road to the left, the Royalists are coming from the right.
But the trap is sprung too soon and the Roundheads get to act now.
General Kill-Sin Rhapsody’s horse will have to hold the front of the column whilst I win the battle elsewhere.
As the guns seem safe (for the moment) some of the Musketeers can be re-deployed to polish off the enemy cavalry threatening the Pioneers.
The Fly-Fornication Horse punch through the enemy centre; two battalia of Borders foot prepare to engage the enemy from the flank.
…so must be held off by the Fight-the-Good-Fight Horse.
Must hurry up and win the battle in the centre!
The Performe-Thy-Vows Horse are charged by the Staplehurst Horse: ungodly fops, the lot of them!
The Fight-The-Good-Fight Horse did not fight a good fight and are off the table flying for their lives.
Having dealt with the enemy cavalry fops, the Performe-Thy-Vows Horse get a bit enthusiastic and charge uncontrollably into the enemy foot.
The perils of the uncontrollable pursuit!
Here we made a mistake. The enemy horse (the Mitford Horse IIRC) should have been pursuing off the table, not right into my flank. Ah well, let’s assume they had a good series of cards, so rallied and then charged!
The two enemy flank charges cost me ten victory medals and therefore the game!
And it had been going so well!
Another superb looking game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum! from Alan Curtis and friends.
Lead units of 7th Panzer supported by elements of Tottenkopf Division bump into a BEF company with attached anti-tank guns deployed to contest a river crossing somewhere in Flanders.
An amazing set-up that is well worth a browse. Click on the picture below to see all:
As it hadn’t taken Bevan very long to beat me in the last game we played, we swapped sides and gave battle again.
In the last play-through, Bevan had withdrawn his Clubmen and given up the centre of the table. I decided to do the opposite and support them, moving my infantry forward to form a line half way towards the enemy edge.
On the left flank, my Swedish horse moved forward cautiously: I was waiting to see what the enemy Dutch horse (that you can see moving across the table towards me from left to right in the left hand picture, above) would do before committing them.
On the right flank I used two squadrons of horse and a battalia of foot (Shaw’s Horse Brigade supported by the Westferry foot) to hold off a brigade of enemy horse. Points-wise, a stalemate here would be in my favour.
A general melee broke out in the centre of the field. Incredibly, given my luck in recent games, I quickly gained an advantage, with a squadron of horse and a battalia of foot (the ones in dark pink: the Wickborough foot) breaking through the enemy troops in front of them!
Then I made a mistake.: a stupid schoolboy error that would haunt me for the rest of the game!
Bevan had sent a unit of commanded shot (a smallish group of musketeers) forward through the wood (Munces Wood, in fact) towards my cautiously-advancing squadrons of Swedish horse. I failed to resist the temptation and charged the blighters as they came up to the edge of the trees.
Yes, that’s right: I charged musket-armed infantry in woods with close formation horsemen!
My foolish horsemen (the Cranston horse) were soon eliminated, leaving that flank open for the Musketeers to threaten my victorious infantry in the centre and for Bevan’s “spare” squadron of Dutch horse (the Stand-Fast-On-High Puritan horse) to advance up that flank as well…and adjusting to counter those threats prevented my infantry in delivering what should have been the coup de grace!
With some brilliant tactical play, Bevan then used the breathing space I had given him to regroup his centre. I still had the advantage, but now would need to break him again.
My pursuing cavalry (the ones that had broken through the line earlier: the Staplehurst horse IIRC) went off the table and then came back on to hit a squadron of enemy horse. I should have broken them, but didn’t, leaving them free to rejoin Bevan’s troops in the centre of the field (what we had started calling “the arena” due to the way the hedges were laid out) and again forcing me to deploy to face them.
Meanwhile, a melee had finally broken out on the right flank as Bevan could see that he had no choice but to try and win there before his centre finally collapsed. This didn’t work for him, however, and I was soon able to punch through on that flank.
The battle was now all but mine. I just need to destroy one more unit of Bevan’s and the rest of his men would lose heart and flee the field. Okay, so it was true that I would lose the game if I lost one of my foot battalia or two squadrons of horse, but all my remaining units were still pretty robust versus Bevan’s shaky-looking troops!
Bevan, however, had one final card to play.
If you remember, my folly of attacking infantry in a wood with horse meant that I had had to defend my left flank against a squadron of Dutch horse. I had succeeded in keeping them from getting over the hedge, using a battalia of infantry to do so. Now Bevan would have one last go at breaking through here. Failure would allow me to deliver the final blow that I needed to win the day.
His horse were double-disordered, my foot were disordered…so he had to get over the hedge to get me and then do two hits with me saving neither.
You guessed it: the cards fell his way and, with a roar of triumph, the Performe-Thy-Vows Horse swept over the foliage and dashed my pike-and-shot battalia from the field!
And that, as they say, was that!
Well that will teach me not to charge infantry in a wood!
All my hard work in the initial stages in the centre destroyed by a need to watch my left flank: a flank that I had effectively exposed myself. Much kudos to Bevan for staying cool and conducting an excellent fighting reorganisation of his collapsing centre, and then for taking full advantage of my mistake and holding his nerve until the end.
Another great game of For King & Parliament that came down to the last moment!
Here’s a complete gallery of the game.
Things have slowed down a bit on the Painting Challenge front, with only six entries in the last week or so. Must be a combination of the summer weather and coming out of lockdown.
No matter, those who have submitted have been uploaded. Check out the individual galleries, but here’s a taster:
Another great 6mm game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum from Mark Luther, this time featuring his annual pilgrimage to Kursk.
Click on the pic below to see all:
Time for another game of For King & Parliament: a fictional encounter battle near Munces Wood.
I would play the Parliamentarians, with a force consisting of a strong contingent of mostly Dutch horse, three decent foot battalia, two pike-only foot battalia, and a couple of units of commanded shot escorting some guns.
Up against me were some Royalist rabble (the units out in front of the main Cavalier line), lots of Swedish horse, and six battalia, half of which were pike-heavy.
Neither side started the game happy with their deployment, and the arena-like nature of the terrain would make things interesting as well.
Horrible picture: apologies for the over exposure!
The battle quickly divided into three segments. On the left, the cavalry clashed, with my Dutch horse unable to get over the hedge and into contact with the opposition. Not so for his men, who succeeded in clearing the foliage and headed for my poorly-mounted Pistoliers.
In the centre, the Royalist Clubmen retreated back to the hedgerow behind them, with his more battalia then coming forward to face mine.
On the right, some of his horsemen charged forward ferociously, routed one of my units of commanded shot, then ended up under the guns of the other and were blown away in turn.
I had expected to win the cavalry action on the left and then bring my horsemen around into his flank and rear, but that hedge stymied all my plans. The main cavalry clash would grind on without a clear result for the whole battle.
Both sides reinforced their centres with some cavalry but a run of bad luck as the two lines first came into musket range dogged me for the rest of the game. Although honours were even in terms of units lost, my remaining troops were all disordered or double-disordered, and that pooping Royalist Rabble then made a reappearance!
The game, however, was ultimately decided on the right flank, where my commanded shot and guns faced another cavalry assault.
My commanded shot were not able to stop the enemy horse from running them down, the guns acted as effectively against charges as usual (!) and my right flank evaporated.
With his horsemen curling around my right flank, and my cavalry still engaged in the grinding melee on my left, my centre gradually and unspectacularly collapsed.
Victory to the Royalists!
A challenging scenario which my opponent coped with much better than I did. If I had committed just enough horse to bottle up his men on the left, then I could have properly reinforced my centre and won the battle there before my right was defeated. I was a bit unlucky on my right, as I never had the chance to get my commanded shot into the trees, but plaudits to the Royalists for coming forward so speedily.
A great game, and one that only took about 90 minutes to complete. So we set it up again and played it the other way round but that, as they say, is another story…
I’m still working on filling in any gaps I might have in my ECW forces, so here’s a first battalia of shot-heavy foot:
The chaps with the muskets and the two officers are from Peter Pig, the pikemen and drummer boy are from Hallmark via Magister Militum.
On reflection, I should have mixed up the poses a bit, or at least had the back rank re-loading or similar, but one unit with the figures all giving fire isn’t a tragedy.
The figures are painted with GW Contrast Paints and mounted on a vehicle base from Warbases.
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
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