GNW - 2 more games

Tuesday night is games night. After last weeks games at Oldmeldrum Wargames Club, we decided we'd have another game or two this week. As I'd finished painting and basing cavalry to go with my infantry I thought we'd have a cavalry only game - and so played the River Crossing Scenario from the Pikeman's Lament rulebooks. The Swedes had two units of Gallopers plus two units of Cossacks, which the Russians had Trotters and two Cossacks. The Russians should really have been dragoons but I wanted to see how the two different cavalry units would interact. 

The Russians sent their Cossacks galloping forward and across the central bridge whilst their horse aimed for either flank. The Swedes on the other hand sent the majority of their mounted men to the western side of the bridge, only to have to pull some back as the Russian Cossacks crossed swiftly. A swirling skirmish broke out with units circling and trying to wipe each other out, in the end the Swedes came off best and the surviving Russian Cossacks retreated off table.

However on the river itself things were interesting the caracoling Russian horse nibbled away at their Swedish opponents, wearing them down. Seeing no other option the Swedish leader challenged his Russian opponent to a duel which he won with a thrust of his sword. However poor activation dice on the Swedish part game the Russians a chance to retaliate and they overran the Swedish unit "capturing" said officer and leading him to the rear where his chances looked slim!

Leaderless and without the ability to drive away the Swedes the game was over for the Russians but we decided to play a second game. The Swedes would deploy their infantry up to the line of the river. The Russians would deploy theirs along the north edge of the table. The Swedes went first placing a field gun on the south east corner to fire along the Russian line and a veteran musketeer unit between the gun and the bridge, a unit on the bridge and a unit of horse and final musketeer unit on the north western length of the river. The Russians lined up along the table but stacked their forces on the right, they also deployed a gun, a lighter and mobile battalion piece. 

Driving forward the Russians were soon at the river and splashed across wearing down the Swedish units with good musketry and the supporting battalion gun. The swedes put in a cavalry charge but it was easily seen off and after several poor activation rolls and a blunder their flank was swept away. The Russians managed to lose a unit in trying to attach the bridge, but regained it when they score well following a double 6 allowing them to gain a 4pt reinforcement. As the Russians had now cleared the Swedish flank their position was untenable and the game was called. 

Two great games, very different, but fought over the same terrain. I think we'd do the same again, playing out different phases of scouting, approach and pitched battle. The all cavalry game was fun - first time I think I've had a game without any supporting foot. 

Next week we're going to take a look at using the Pax Baltica board game to give us a campaign and link it somehow with tabletop games.

GNW Game - Baggage Train

 Since I had finished my GNW Swedes and Cossacks it was time to put them on the table for a game. 

On Tuesday evening I ran the King's Warchest scenario from the Pikeman's Lament rules by Osprey at Oldmeldrum. 

In the scenario a group of wagons has been left somewhat unattended while their guards are at the edge of a lake or river. The attacker, the Russians in this instance, see an opportunity and pounce, hoping to snatch the wagons. 

In our game the Russians couldn't quite press their attack and get men close enough to steal a wagon and suffered the loss of both of their flanks as supporting Swedish troops arrived to thwart their efforts. 

As it was only 9 o'clock we decided to play a straight across table fight. This time the Russians came out on top, destroying the Swedish left although the Swedes achieved some honour by forcing the Russian Cossacks to rout. 

Two good games. The ebb and flow of battle is really well represented by the flip of initiative from side to side when an activation test or rally test is failed. It can be frustrating to lose at the beginning of your turn, but in these small games there's no long wait til it's back to you and an option for multi player games would be for each player to have an officer and a separate turn. 

It's was good to see the figures on the table too - nice bright colours, soon to be augmented by regular cavalry for both sides when I get round to finishing the bases for them too. 

The Sons of Taras Bulba!

 I have restored some of the classic Foundry Cossack Characters which I fell heir to last year. Originally in  my late friend Mike's collection these had been bumped around a bit and had some bashes and scrapes as well as a few missing lances. They were also based for a winter campaign. 

I gave the snowy bases a good dabbing in green poster paint and drybrushed that up a little then tidied up the figures and hoses where I could see bare metal poking through. Lastly I gave them a good coat of varnish since it's a fine sunny day up here. 

These will join my GNW Russians and Swedes as allies or enemies for either. 

But now I have no excuse to get some winged hussars! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Back to the 18th....again....!

The other week I had some time on my hands and started surfing the Amazon prime lists for a good film. Up popped The Emperor of Paris...period drama, European, Napoleonic, Vincent Cassell... hmm....oh but what's this..."The Conquest of Siberia" - 18thC, nice costumes, Russians...Swedes...oooh I'm in! 

A god awful film that seems to be hacked together rather than edited and whose plot meanders and twists more than the river they sail down, but which is based on two true events. One was the Russian expedition from Tobolsk up the river Irtysh towards the Tien Shan and the the Silk Road. They bumped into a Steppe Tribe - the Dzungar - and were promptly sent packing. 

But the Russians took with them Swedish prisoners who had been sent to Siberia following the Battle of Poltava and the people of Tobolsk included some Baltic Germans including women. One of the Swedes and one of the German women eventually made it back to Sweden. 

The film is awful and only worth watching (if that!) for the setting, the costumes and some of the battle scenes. But it did provide an inspiration. I've been discussing Kalmyk, Kazakh and other steppe tribes on a forum I'm a member of. I've also got some GNW Russians and Swedes but I've never gotten "into" them properly, probably because they are Wee Wolf Miniatures (ex Footsore, ex Musketeer) and now only available from the states. The are big robust figs, tall and chunky and so somewhat outsize compared to the excellent Ebor and Warfare ranges. Now however I didn't need lots of them (I have painted some myself, and have some painted by friends (Hi Paul) and some more from Ebay), and didn't even need more Swedes. 

Russian foot - Ex Musketeer

A Casting Room Miniatures Grenadier joins them.

But what about the Dzungar? These were a remnant of one of the Mongol Hordes and dominated the central steppe covering north eastern Kazakhstan down into the Tarim basin. They are portrayed in the film as very mongol looking horse archers and heavy armoured lancers. This seems to be borne out by some cursory research I've done into the backstory to the film - The Bukhholtz Expedition. So which figs do I get to represent them? 

Dzungar Tribesmen

Fireforge Mongol Cavalry! 

Relatively inexpensive, well sculpted and similarly sized to those chunky Russians...perfect.

This will be a skirmish game pitching some Russians and some Swedish foot with Cossack Allies against the Dzungar. I will use Pikeman's Lament or possibly Donnybrook, keeping it small and playable solo on the kitchen table. 

And so another lockdown project is born....hopefully the last. 

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Oh...and I bought more Swedes...🤣

GNW Russian Gun... and IPod and some Sugar Island Garrison!

Just finished painting some rather nice Casting Room Miniatures, (i.e. Foundry). These are from the Marlburian range but are a nice little set.

 

I'm really not sure what the officer is looking at....it's a strange looking book....more like iPod ! He must be googling battalion gun ranges !!

Looks like I forgot some buttons on the gunner with the ball...grrrr!

Also managed to base my Crann Tara Regiment Hallwyl and Compagnie Franches figures. The latter are some new figures Graham has been working on and are part of a small range which he is putting together which will compliment my Sugar Islands project perfectly. 

 

 

More Russians??!?!?!

Finished off the last of my SYW Russian foot regiments (for now!) and since the green paint was out I decided I would have a bash at painting up some Russian Great Northern War figs, the stuff I bought from Grimsby gamer Paul Robinson last year at AMG. 

Last of....

 

I'm going to make up a company for The Pikemans Lament as there is enough bare metal to get what I need out of the Russians. The swedes don't have enough figs and anyway the company who made them seems to have unlisted them....most helpfully. So they'll have to come from another source, probablyWarfare. Russian cavalry might have to be Foundry stand ins. I don't know what it is about this period and ranges, they pop up, never get finished and die out just as folk get ready to move onto another stage! 

TPL foot units are 12 figures and as I already have 12 shot and 8 pike painted I have no excuse not to get started. I also picked up the excellent, but rather expensive, GNW Compendium last year and with the old Osprey Peter the Great and Poltava books and the Peter Englund book I've got plenty source material. Keeping this in the 18thC means no period creep too - I had thought about going rennaissance but managed to reign that in. (Er....but not until I bought some pistoliers, seen lurking in the above shot!). 

First of....

 

AMG 16 - a great weekends wargaming

I spent last weekend playing some fantastic games with some great people from the AMG forum. The games were amongst the best I've taken part in and the company really couldn't have been better. It looks like this is set to become an annual event and I've landed myself right in it as I'm organising the next one!

The first game up was a refight of the battle of Soor, from the War of Austrian succession in 1745. We used the Honours of War rules from Osprey for this. 

The Prussian right wing, facing the Austrians up the hill.

The Saxons advancing in column toward the town and Prussian center.

The Prussian left, with their camp.

Facing them the Austrian left.

Frederick's cavalry charge up the hill

The Austrians advance on the left. Cresting the hill they become exposed to the Prussian guns. 

The Saxons creep closer.

The Prussian left flank is threatened. The guns wheel to fire at the cavalry.

Battle rages in the center

The Austrians close, but has anyone in camp spotted the danger?

Doesn't look like it!

The Prussians didn't quite have the numbers or the dice to punch thru the Austrians. It was getting close though and there were only a few units difference. Great set of rules for big games - this one was  larger than the scenarios in the book, and everyone picked it up quite quickly. 

Thanks to Colin and Robbie for running and umpiring the game!

After that we retired for a while and had a few drinks and then a nice dinner followed by much more drinks til late in the night....

Day Two was more 18thC, this time Great Northern War - a fictional scenario based on a river crossing in Finland. The Russians were to cross the river and surprise the Swedes, who were forced to bring up their forces to hold them back.

The Russian right crosses the Saari

As does the left, oh and here come the Swedes!

Time to get out of there!

The line will advance!

On the right the Russians drive forward....

But it's all over on the left......except for the "Russians Who Would Not Die!"

Another cracking game, run by Paul with some home made rules which seemed to capture the spirit of the antagonists really well. He must have done a good job as I bought a load of Musketeer Russians from him!

And that was only lunchtime !

So.....time for one more game?? Oh yes I think so!

The time, The Sudan!

I'd managed to get myself cut off from by mahdist troops and had to hold out until rescued. That collumn seemed a long long way up the table!

They came on thick n fast and my Egyptians blazed away with their rifles to hold them back, but they burst through the zariba. 

Help is at hand!

However I managed to take out a fair few the Arabs and fuzzies attacking my position and destroy their captured gun. My brave fellah's advanced and escorted her ladyship to the collumn which by now had battled it's way through every clump of bush, dune and rocky outcrop full of the chosen one's tribesmen, lost and found the path, helped the war correspondents who'd wondered off and even bought some dirty postcards! 

Another great game, this time using The Sands of The Sudan rules and some very very very nice classic Hinchcliffe and new Perry figures from Dave. A special mention also goes to his hand made terrain mat - looked almost as deserty as the real thing.

Thanks very much to Graham of Crann Tara for organising the event and to everyone I gamed with. It was a real pleasure and I'm looking forward very much to doing it again next year.