Napoleonic Game

Yesterday, Sunday, we played a Napoleonic game. Three players a side, French vs an allied force of Poles, Bavarians and Confederation of the Rhine. There were about 30 battalions and six or seven batteries on each side. The French had only three regiments of cavalry, the allies six.

The French were attempting to capture a town that was the convergence of  several roads that were vital for further allied operations.

Although we had some local successes, we failed to form a cohesive attack in some very disruptive terrain and were eventually driven off.

It was a fun day...even if we French could couldn't roll high dice to save our lives!!!

Here are a number of images taken during the game, not in any particular sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

East African Plantation House - Part 2

I finally managed to get to a model shop and buy some more corrugated iron sheeting, so that I can finish the model of the Plantation House.

 

 

   

To give the finished model some life I added some climbing plant on the verandah.

And then thee are these fellows. 

 

You will see more of them in the next week or so. 

East African Plantation House - Part 1

With the lead pile exhausted I have spent the last week working on items for the East African WWI project.

First up is another eleven pieces of jungle/bush. These have varied in size and height, with some of them being made from 10mm foam board, stacked four levels high. Large rock formations have been been constructed using pine bark that is painted with a thick black undercoat and then drybrushed various tones of grey.

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There are now 36 pieces of jungle/bush made, with about an equal number to go.

The main focus of the week, however, has been the construction of the plantation house.

My plan for this building was to be a square two storey structure with a broad verandah on three sides. So first up was to cut the base from foamboard and the walls of the main structure from a heavy cardboard, with windows and doors removed.

 

 

The main strucure and its roof  was then roughly assembled. 

 

The verandah sides were then cut from foamboard and fixed to the base.

 

The two components dry assembled.

 

The next task was to contruct the windows from plasticard and fix them in place.

 

 

The whole model then had to be painted because once the verandah roof goes on I won't be able get at parts of the structure. The basic model is painted white, with the deck of the verandah grey. This isn't the finished paint job and there will be quite a few final touches that will be applied when the roof is completed.

 

 

Then the verandah roof is fitted.

 

 

The basic shape is now complete, it just needs the corrugated iron roof, a final brush of paint and the final dressing pieces to be added. But somehow the back of the building is...well...boring.

The answer was to add a kitchen as an extension on the back, with a chimney.

 

 

And so the bulk of the model is finished. Some finishing around the lower part of the base is in place and the steps are fixed, but I have run out of corrugated iron plasticard so here development stops for a while. 

Russian Opolchenie

Over the weekend I finished another battalion of Opolchenie for my Russian Napoleonic armies. 

This battalion I have done in brown coats of varying tones.

 

 

I particularly like the officer nonchalantly leaning on his sword. 

Below are all three battalions - the new brown coated unit to the rear, with the green/brown coats on the left and the grey coats on the right.

 

Another First Carlist War Game

Today's game was a First Carlist War battle.

Because this needed to be a morning game only, so that a different game could be played in the afternoon, I kept the scenario simple. A combined British Auxiliary Legion (BAL) and French Foreign Legion (FFL) force is charged with clearing a Carlist force out of the monastery of Juan de la Carretera that dominates the road to Bilboa. 

The BAL and FFL force consisted of:

   2 battalions BAL infantry (Raw)

   1 battalion Royal Marines (trained)

   1 field battery (raw)

   1 rocket battery (trained)

   1 squadron of BAL lancers (raw)

   4 battalions FFL infantry (trained)

   1 mountain battery (trained)

   1 squadron of Polish lancers (trained)

   2 battalions of Spanish line infantry (raw)

   2 battalions of  provincial militia (raw)

The Carlists occupied the Monastery with:

   4 battalions of infantry (trained)

   1 field battery (trained)

A Carlist Relief force was approaching, consisting of:

   2 battalions of infantry (one trained and one raw)

   1 mountain gun (raw) 

   1 squadron of Ontorio Hussars (trained)

   3 squadrons of lancers (raw)

The monastery stood on a low hill while another higher hill rose to the east. A rough sketch of the terrain (North up) is below.

The Carlists Deploy in the Monastery

The BAL and FFL deploy

The fight was pretty straight forward. The Spanish moved to intercept the relief force while the BAL and FFL move to take the monastary. But the Carlists got the jump on their opponents and the Carlist cavalry dashed across the Spanish front. 

The FFL was forced to turn two battalions  and the Polish lancers to face right. The relief force infantry was getting the better of the Spanish infantry, but a charge by the Polish lancers turned the tide and drove off first off a battalion of Carlist infantry then broke through onto a Carlist cavalry unit, driving that off too.

The Polish Lancers Charge

But it all got too much for the French cavalry and they soon decided that they had had enough and quit the field, as did two of the Spanish battalions.

Two Spanish battalions face the Carlists relief infantry and artillery

Meantime a determined attack by two battalions of the FFL stormed the church yard, but a second attack failed to drive off the Carlist gun (although after continued round of fighting the gunners were driven off).

The FFL form up...

...advance...

...and attack the churchyard

An attempt by the Marines to take the western face of the monastery ended badly, as did all other attempts to to drive the FFL from the churchyard. 

The BAL attacks.

Then, with a need to end at lunch time, we called the result...as a draw, since neither side fully controlled the monastery.

The second game was ancient galleys. This was a bit of fun, but we struggled with a lack of knowledge of the rules. 

We had a fun time while parts of Auckland - not too far away from where we were playing - suffered from flash flooding after a sudden downpour.