Huzzah!

Ral Partha LotR 25mm

2010-09-29T17:36:00.001-04:00

Uruk Hai. All figures in the following posts are marked 'Ral Partha 1976' on the bottom.

Goblins!

Mordor orcs with axe.

Ral Partha LotR 25mm

2010-09-29T17:20:00.007-04:00

Wargs and rider. Unfortunately he's the last of his kind.

Mordor orcs w/ scimitar.

Another sculpt of Mordor orcs.

'Sea Elves'. Since I was the 'evil' player, I painted them in dark colors.

Ral Partha LotR 25mm

2010-09-29T17:09:00.002-04:00

Balrog.

Dwarves of Moria.

More dwarves.

Somehow I ended up with 1 unpainted 'wood elf'.

For scale.

Almost the Berezina, Part Une

2010-06-17T11:44:00.004-04:00

JM Seman, Jim Naughton and I played a game of DBN very loosely based on the crossing of the Berezina River. The OOB's were taken from Nafziger's Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia' just because I think it would be a great situation to wargame. I didn't have time to try to work out balance or VC; I just tried to put together forces of a similar point value. JM, not fully indoctrinated into the DBx life (yet), eschewed the typical 'felt' terrain and set up a very nice playing area using a map from Nafziger's book. JM, pictured here, took the French, while Jim and I divvied up the Russkies.

Looking from the Russian left. JM split his meager cavalry forces on each flank, while the bulk of the Russian cavalry set up on the Russian right where there was more maneuver room. Note the Guard artillery battery on the far side of the river. A seemingly good idea, but the battle soon took the forces out of range.

From behind the Russian lines. Before you comment, yes, we used some proxies for the troops! You may notice Polish Horse artillery standing in for Russian in this pic.

Ouviller's Polish Brigade and Kleingel's Saxons.

The Russians attempt to take the fight to the French. Control of the heights in the center would be crucial. If the Russians could unlimber their artillery atop the hill, the bridges would be in jeopardy! (If we had bridges and situational VC.)

Almost the Berezina, Part Dueauxeaux

2010-06-17T11:22:00.005-04:00

The Russian Hussars get lucky and the Hessian Chevaulegers are no more. The Russian infantry column is almost out of the woods. (Those woods are stinking with cossacks!)

Charge!!!!! The Russian Cuirassiers charge into Damas' Brigade of Berg infantry and some lowly Baden Hussars. However, even with the limited charge distance, the Berg infantry rolls well and forms square, ready to repulse the charge. In the foreground, swarms of cossacks wait to overwhelm the survivors.

The charge is repulsed with losses. The Russians have recoiled and taken at least one hit each. The Berg infantry has done their job.

So, here's a look at the final positions. Unfortunately time ran out (the store closed) before either side could claim satisfaction. In the foreground, Hochberger's Baden regiments, along with the Baden Jager battalion square off against the Russian Hussars. The Russians on this end were plagued with low CAP rolls and a stingy, greedy CinC who wouldn't give us any and left us to die. (Historically, the Russian commanders did not get along. Jim's CinC'c CAP die rolls were not great either.) In the middle, the Saxons continue their advance and the fight rages over the heights on the far end.

It's potentially a great situation for a well balanced scenario. Each side had about 7000 infantry with the Russians having a 4-1 advantage in cavalry and a 2-1 advantage in artillery, but most of the French forces were elite. With Jim's expertise in Napoleonic OOB's and combat mechanics and JM's acumen in balancing a situation, I think we may be able to put together something publishable. We'll see.

DBR: Scots Covenanters vs. Low Country Spanish Part I

2010-06-16T23:37:00.003-04:00

Jim Naughton and I sat down to play a 5oo point DBR game pitting my Scots Covenanters versus his Low Country Spanish. I won the terrain and put out a few hills on my side and a woods. Then Jim placed an even higher hill right in the center of the table and blocking the lines of sight from the other hills, so I was forced to set up on the tall center hill which meant I was already half way across the table. Not knowing what he had, and he getting to set up second, I was unsure how to proceed. What I finally decided was to put my small artillery command in the center flanked by the two halves of my main pike and shotte line. In this way, I could protect them and extend my line even further to the ends of the table. My attack wing would sweep up the end of his line and if he sent a counter attack that direction I had an ambush of some Highlander warbands in the woods. It was a great plan except that it was an illegal set-up. I could not place one command within the confines of another to start. I could have put the artillery on the hill and the main line behind it, then marched half to each side, but I was feeling bad for delaying the start

so I just moved the artillery to the flank and decided it would be a quick game as I essentially sacrificed one command out of three. (I was too tired to think straight, not that that excuses me much anyway. I had put together the army at about 2:30am when I couldn't sleep and did a piss poor job of it. I knew it but was too tired to care much.) The first pic is of Jim's army deployed for battle.

A shot of the bristling pike and shot line of the Scots! The figs are Museum Miniatures and I got most of them during their $.20 sale last summer. I should have bought more!

My attack wing, or so I thought. My second line of lancers and dragoons and half the shot will have to be redeployed to save my left flank.

As described, my artillery hangs in the open as the Spanish head for them like sprinters at some Renaissance Olympics.

DBR: Scots Covenanters vs. Low Country Spanish Part II

2010-06-16T15:08:00.004-04:00

Great Gadzooks! Highlanders with guns! For an army with 47 different words for 'drinking till you puke', is this really a good idea?

The cavalry to the rescue! Scots lancers and dragoons March Move to prevent a total rout of the Scots left. The Forlorn Hope can be seen dirtying their knickers as the Spanish column advances. At least their general has decided to fall on hos sword with them and moves out in the hopes his dead body will slow down Spanish horses.

Highlander pike flanked on both sides by lowlander shot.

Poor buggers. The shot assigned to help protect the artillery become unwittingly (unwillingly?) a Forlorn Hope and try to act as a speed bump for the Spanish cavalry. They did manage to hold on long enough, but made the ultimate sacrifice!

The Spanish line was broken somewhat by Scottish shot as they approached the hill. Eventually though, they would cause a headache on the extreme left of the Scots line as they had to repeatedly peel off shot to deal with the enemy. It could have compromised the entire Scottish position but luckily they held on long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.

DBR: Scots Covenanters vs. Low Country Spanish Part III

2010-06-16T13:29:00.003-04:00

The main Spanish battle line approach the Scots. A better shot of my set-up fuck up. The few shot and the command general of the artillery have peeled off the artillery park to act as a speed bump while the reinforcing lancers and dragoons get into position.

The second line of shot have also formed column to march to the idiot general's aid.

The highlander warbands emerge from their ambush in the woods. Woefully out of position, they try to haul ass and also support the crumbling left flank.

On the Scottish right, the pistols form up double rank for the support it provides even though it may not help them against the Spanish lancers. The Spanish light horse are breaking up and fleeing due to withering and relentless Scot shot.

The Scottish lancers and dragoons deploy in line to repel the inevitable cavalry charge after the artillery park gets overrun.

A look through the Scottish pike at the approaching Spanish.

DBR: Scots Covenanters vs. Low Country Spanish Part IV

2010-06-16T12:57:00.005-04:00

Another overview of the battle. On the Scottish right, the cavalry battle rages as my Pistols got really lucky against Jim's lancers and now need just one more element to break his command. I learned long ago, that it is OK to be lucky! The artillery park is miraculously still holding on. On the left of the hill you can see where an entire file of 4 pikes have had to retreat to avoid dying of the peeled off shot have to recoil into their flank. It further complicates where my reinforcing shot can get to. A classic example of starting to peel away the flanks of a pike and shot line and further proof of the shitty starting positions of my artillery. (But we knew that.) As it turned out, the situation stabilized and it didn't really end up hurting me too much.

The Scottish left as the battle reaches it's climactic moments. The Spanish cavalry has now formed for the charge as the Scottish artillery is finally gone. A terrible waste of points they were, because I squandered them, yet, this was by far the best luck I have ever had with artillery as they punched several holes in the Spanish lines.

The Scots Pistols on their right engage the Spanish general of that command by running through the lines and getting an element in his rear (how the Spanish like it), and another in the front (how the Scots like it). If they can kill him, the Spanish command will break and the game will be even. The fight on the hill rages and PIPS are spent to realign the shot and further disrupt the Spanish line. On the far left, 1 PIP is spent to back up the last Scottish lancer so he doesn't die when the shot inevitably recoils. Really high PIP scores helped me be mobile almost the entire game.

The final positions. The Scots are still firmly entrenched on the center hill and the Scottish attempt to whack the Spanish general on the right has failed, dooming the Blue Bonnets to a narrow defeat. Had they been able to finish off the Spanish general it would have been a draw. I feel the left was going to be OK, especially with the Shot and Highlander Warbands coming to the rescue, and the hill was going to be a tough nut to crack. From this point on it was going to be a fight of attrition.

All in all, I really liked the army and how it worked. Next time, I won't organize it at 2:30am when I can't sleep and spread out the cavalry and artillery as it should be. I am looking forward to trying it again.

Fure & Fury: Rodes' Attack 1:30pm July 1, 1863 Part 1

2010-04-25T00:08:00.004-04:00

Today, the incomparable John Brock came to my place for a game of Fire & Fury ACW game. We chose a scenario based on Rodes' Attack towards Gettysburg on July 1st, the first day of the battle. The attack was launched around 1:30pm after a lull in the fighting that had started that morning when Heth and Pender first met Federal troops to the northwest of the town. Rodes' division of Ewell's Corps was ordered to push the Federals back and take the high ground south of town. In this scenario, the Confederates are trying to take the first part of their objective by clearing out Will's Woods on McPherson's Ridge. The Union forces are trying to maintain some sort of battle line north of town. Each side could earn a possible 5VP's for control of the woods in addition to the normal VP's for causing brigades to become 'Worn' or 'Spent'.

Rodes' view from behing Willoughby Run looking toward Will's Woods in the distance.

Meredith's brigade atop McPherson's Ridge.

Overall Federal commander Doubleday. Do you think it days like this that made him think about baseball?

Fure & Fury: Rodes' Attack 1:30pm July 1, 1863 Part 2

2010-04-24T23:46:00.003-04:00

The view from Gettysburg down the unfinished railroad cut. McPehrson's Ridge and Will's Woods in center right. The northern mosr spur of Seminary Ridge is center left with the RR cut separating them. What's that noise? Is Jenny Wade 'baking bread' again?

A view looking towards the northeast and the Federal positions. Along the southern portion of McPherson's Ridge are Meredith and Stones'

brigades. They would play little part in today's battle as thier orders kept them focusing on the east and the rest of the Confederate army.

Another look at Meredith and Stone.

1:30pm. A view from behind Rodes' position on Oak Hill. The attack is launched!

1:30pm. Doles and O'Neal move toward Amsberg's brigade west of the Mummasberg Road. If they can drive the Federals in front of them off they can enfilade the bluecoats in the woods.

Fure & Fury: Rodes' Attack 1:30pm July 1, 1863 Part 3

2010-04-24T23:13:00.004-04:00

2:00 pm. Doles' and O'Neal's brigades crash into the remnants of Amsberg's Federal brigade and 2 batteries (Digler's and Wheeler's). Federal fire as they approached was desultory at best, even with miscalculated cannister, they failed to eliminate even one stand while they themselves were Disordered.

The aftermath as Amsberg had fled the field. However, apparently due to being giddy at the ease of their success, both brigades were mishandled and refused to move from the spot. This allowed the Federals to turn their remaining three batteries on O'Neal and, along with the newly repositioned Paul's brigade, began to pour fire into their position. They were eventually reduced to 3 stands and retreated out of range, Spent and out of the game for all intents and purposes. (One of the Federal Batteries, Cooper's, was made from volunteers from nearby New Castle and Shenango Pennsylvania. In a remarkably similar circumstance, on July 1st, Cooper's battery also was originally deployed facing east and was forced to turn and bring fire to bear on Rodes' attack from the north.)

2:30pm. Iverson and Daniel launch an assault on Will's Woods. Daniel's brigade is Low Ammo and are better off giving them the pointy end. The Federals, Baxter and Cutler are both Exceptional leaders and they are advantaged with good defensive terrain in the form of stone walls.

Daniel's Brigade swarms over the wall and into the sparse woods on McPherson's Ridge in an effort to drive the blue bellies back into town.

Daniel's did indeed push back Cutler and carried the position but Iverson is repulsed! They have retreated through Ramseur and will hopefully provide support when the next attack is launched!

Fure & Fury: Rodes' Attack 1:30pm July 1, 1863 Part 4

2010-04-24T22:34:00.004-04:00

3:00 pm, the second assault on Will's Woods begins. Led by Ramseur's, Daniel's and Davis' brigades, the Federals are hard pressed under the crush of Confederate numbers. Daniel's brigade is Disordered and Low Ammo and Davis' is worn but so are Cutler and Baxter for the boys in blue.

Over the wall and at 'em. After a Tardy start, Davis' brigade joins the fray.

The sheer crush of numbers and the added insult of a second 'Breakthrough' charge clears the woods of Fedreal troops. Off they skedaddle to the higher ground south of Gettysburg.

Ramseur's and Iverson's Brigades sweep past the former Federal positions.

The view from Gettysburg as Cutler's brigade as fled the field and Baxter's is Spent, Disordered and Low Ammo. Rebels pour out of the woods. At this point we decided there was not much use in continuing. The Federals still had 3 brigades that were Fresh but VP's were too much in the Rebs' favor. Even had they managed to contest the woods again it was a done deal.

It was a fun scenario even if it seemed to favor the CSA. We had a good time and discussed combining this scenario with the one for Barlow's (Blocher's) Knoll. It would extend the map by 2 feet to the Northeast of Gettysburg and may make for an entertaining afternoon. Thanks John for a great afternoon.

2010-04-11T10:32:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I was invited to participate in Paul Olszanski's massive Leipzig game (Day 1). The system was Age of Eagles, an Napoleonic adaptation of Fire & Fury in which the players control a certain number of brigades and have to roll every turn for every brigade to see how they handle. It is a simple way to simulate command and control difficulties on the battlefield; you may see what the enemy is doing but be unable to react in time to it or at all.
The game was played on a table that was about 20x10 feet and at the apex, we had 17 players. Despite the size, Paul kept the game going at a decent pace. The players who were there were there to play as well and not waste time, so after some initial delays, we got down to business. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so these few pics are from my phone. In the above picture, my Austrians are preparing to support the Russian cavalry in the assault on the strategic hill to the south of Leipzig. I have unlimbered a few guns on the hill and my lead brigade is a turn away from taking the hill. That cavalry charge you can see almost got Old Boney himself. Luckily the French brigade missed totally routing by the narrowest of margins. (1 pip on the die or else the charge would have carried into the Emperor!) To the right, the Russian Grand Battery decimated two entire units of cavalry that charged them and their infantry is moving to take the other small hill in the right center of the picture. You can see the hole in the French line, but that is the Old Guard in reserve! In the backround you can see the French columns moving into town to support Poniatowski and the Poles on the other side of Leipzig. It was at this point I had to leave. They were planning on another 8 hours or so (and it was already 5pm!). I doubt even then they would get near a conclusion.

A view from the south. Two French corps march toward Leipzig while another hold off the Prussians in the upper right corner. Right behind the French on the roads are two more Russian corps in pursuit! (Not yet on table) The Austrians in the top center facing the Poles weren't historically placed but even on a table this size, Paul had to make some concessions.

This a view of my Austrians from their starting positions moving to cross the bridge to their right and link up with the Russians to assault the hill where Napoleon himself was commanding the battle. Besides, we didn't like the thought of assaulting the fortress to our direct front and realized there weren't enough troops in there to sally forth and cause us much problems. What *was* a problem were the Polish Cavalry that was on the same road to our left. I had two small but elite brigades of Lichtenstein Cavalry and two skirmishing light brigades and several horse artillery units, but the Poles were massed! I doubt I could have held. Fortunately (for me), the went the other direction and tried to turn the Austrian flank on the very north of the board instead of mine.

This a view from my perspective south of the town of Leipzig. The Emperor is sitting on the center hill with Murat and some of his staff. The Allies have just begun to move toward the French positions.

A view from the other side of the board trying to encompass the whole thing. Hopefully everyone will get to see better pics as there was a photographer from Wargames Illustrated who came from England to take photographs. When he landed his rent-a-car broke down and then the tow truck sent to get him broke down! That is why we were so delayed in getting started. Eventually Paul just had us start and when the guy arrived we stopped for a bit so he could take a bunch of pics, then he kept snapping as we played. It was a massively good time as befit the game. My thanks to Paul and everyone for a rip-roaring good time.

Big Battle DBA, Yuan Chinese vs. Persians, Part I

2010-03-02T23:46:00.002-05:00

Played a game of Big Battle DBA Monday night. There were 4 of us with 3 armies, and after much discussion, crying, swearing and gnashing of teeth, it was decided Jim and Rich would general Yuan Chinese and take on Alan and I with Alan's Persians. It was a pleasure to see so many nicely painted elements on the table. Alan's Persians are simply beautiful. Here Rich (l) and Jim prepare to take us like Turkish merchant marines on their maiden voyage!

Jim's beautiful Chinese. Their evil plan was to contact us, then roll dice! Bastards!

My pussyfoots enter the woods on our far left. Their objective was to disrupt Rich's attack as much as possible and help save our center. With only 9 elements and 6 of them Ps, we had our work cut out for us. The guy with the red ring is the famous Persian general, Leadsfrombehind.

Big Battle DBA, Yuan Chinese vs. Persians, Part II

2010-03-02T23:19:00.004-05:00

The lines close. The bad guys had a few aux in the center woods who wreaked havoc on Alan on both sides of the wood. I believe it was here that we realized we were Fucked, with a capital 'F'. No, I lie, we knew long before this.

My light troops are somehow doing their job; that is, they are breaking up the Chinese attack as they peel off element after element to deal with the Persian Pains in the Asses. I have gotten so bold as to move my auxilia into the open. I was also about here that our PIP dice dried up like George Hamilton's face. At the same time Jim rolled 6-6-4, 6-5-4, 6-6-4, in consecutive bounds for PIPs.

This was a shot I took to demonstrate the SuperMacro on my camera to Alan and ended being a cool shot of his camp and camp followers. Nice pants dude.

There's a whole bunch of Chinese, but isn't there always? Alan has kinked his line in an effort to be as big a prick as possible. (Alright, I told him to do so; the very first time anyone has ever used 'big' and 'prick' in the same sentence about me.)

Big Battle DBA, Yuan Chinese vs. Persians, Part III

2010-03-02T22:55:00.004-05:00

The best shot of the night: Alan's chariots and cavalry look just as good, if not better in person.

The Chinese cavalry ready themselves to join the fray. Meanwhile my auxilia are about to make holes in the Bw and send them to the sidelines. Alan has kinked the end of his spear line to meet up with my idiots...err, brave light troops.

The Yuan charge home. Believe it or not, those Ps whacked those Cav! I am pretty sure that is the first time I have ever done that! I know the odds are not that high, especially with the overlap, but you actually have to roll higher than your opponent! What an odd feeling to do so.

The final positions, except Jim started cleaning up a bit. At least this was how it ended on my end. You can see the 4 dead elements in front of Rich and how our forces are winning this end of the battle. While we knew there was no way to beat the dynamic duo of Rich and Jim, one thought kept us going: at least we didn't have to play Larry.

DBR Papal Condotta vs. Imperial Spanish, the beginning.

2010-03-01T23:42:00.004-05:00

I met the inestimable Jim Naughton at Legions Hobby and Games for a 500 point game of DBR, March 1. 2010. Jim is a great opponent who beats my ass like I owe him money, but always does so with a smile and keeps me coming back for more. Tonight's battle pitted Jim's Imperial Spanish vs. my Papal Italian Condotta circa the first quarter of the 16th century. Here's a shot of Jim before his impressive forces. His armies are always meticulously researched and nicely painted and always a pleasure to see on the tabletop. (Even when they are crushing me.)

A look down the Spanish line.

A look down the Papist line.

The initial set-up, or most of it, an aerial view. Jim has his forces anchored on a gentle hill with his shot and pike extending to his center and his one artillery piece anchoring the line. His mobile command is in column to the top left. He has another smaller mobile command with mostly light horse in the center and some skirmishers and peasant rabble on the right. I suspect there is an ambush in the olive groves to the left and set up a little toward the center and place a few bow and blade to counter it. My heavy cavalry (lancers) make up the bulk of my attack wing and intend to hit his foot and blow through them, my own foot, in the center, will hit what is left while they themselves are still fresh. My right will give ground, but essentially stay alive and not initiate combat. I should have started my lancers closer to the center as this set-up proved to be badly flawed as the inevitable ambush materialized and his mobile command threatened to take me in the flank. I had to wheel away and then back to get into postion to launch the charge.

DBR Papal Condotta vs. Imperial Spanish, the middle.

2010-03-01T23:22:00.003-05:00

A shot of Jim's Spanish foot, pike and shot.

I try to wheel away from the ambush that Jim springs from the olive groves on my left. I knew he would probably do so but the troops I sent to deal with it were far too few and they were quickly dispatched. My lancers' charge is delayed, but no fear because when they charge home, the Spanish will turn tail like the cur they are! My light horse in the center are positioned to go either way and to hold some of Jim's troops in place, especially his other cavalry in his center rear. My foot in the center is intended to mop up what the lancers leave behind.

A view over the shoulder of my strike force at the Spanish.

The right side of my line. Here is where I made yet another large mistake. As this was the most fragile command, they were initially meant to only delay Jim's left and avoid combat if possible. However it became clear to me too late that a) Jim didn't want a fight on this flank either, and b) I had the advantage in numbers and quality of troops. I wasted blades and pike and bow here. I started them moving forward but they never got there...

I finally hold off the ambush (albeit temporarily) and line up for the kill! Look out, this game is all but over. Charge!!!!!

DBR Papal Condotta vs. Imperial Spanish, the end

2010-03-01T22:53:00.006-05:00

Finally, the lancers crash into the Spanish lines! You can see the Papal foot forces slogging towards the Spanish to support the charge.

Another view of the melee as the Papists crash into the heretics. Soon there will be nothing left of the Spanish as God himself gives us the strength to hew them down where they stand.
Uh... maybe not. I forgot that this game requires rolling dice. Here is a shot of the lone lancer that won combat. The Spanish stood strong and the Pope's troops melted away.

The result of the big charge I played the whole game to set up and execute. 9 dead stands of lancers. Hoo boy.

The final positions of the end of the board that mattered. If you look closely, you may be able to pick out one or two stands of Papal troops. As usual, it was a pleasure to be beaten like a rented mule by Jim, who does so with a friendly smile and plenty of good advice on how to counter what he is doing. Never let it be said he isn't a great sport! Seriously, Jim is an old grognard who can beat your ass in any strategy you choose to use. He's seen and beat them all. Kudo's to him once again. A fun game that was close until we actually started.

New painting technique

2010-01-20T08:56:00.003-05:00

Hey Group - I tried a new painting technique the other day involving minimalist painting covered with Citadel Ink Washes. After a few experiments, I discovered I liked the Ogryn Flesh color the best, but used Badab Black for the armor. The first pic shows the difference and how the two look on the same figure. Essentially the technique involves a white primer, and in my case, a quick dab of color on clothes and accoutrements, then the wash. On these guys I painted the hair after, and viola, done! I ususally spend an hour per stand to paint and an hour per mounted figure, or 3 hours per stand for cavalry. Using this method I painted *and* based 16 elements (64 dudes) in 3.5 hours!!! I am extremely happy with the results, if not the photos. They look much better in person. Now all those armies I didn't want to paint have suddenly jumped into the queue!

Chinese crossbowmen, painted in about 10 minutes from start to finish.

More.

Normans vs. Italian Lombards Part Une

2009-12-09T23:00:00.004-05:00

Kevin Serafini and I met at Legions Hobby and Games for a 400 point DBM battle pitting his Normans vs. my Italian Lombards in Sicily circa 1000AD. Here is the initial set-up. Kevin has three Norman commands and an allied Arab command on his left. I have the typical 3 commands; a large and mobile attack force on my left and two largely defensive commands made up of militia spear. My line is refused right and anchored in a marsh.

A look from behind my extreme right over the shoulders of my mobile strike force stationed there to exploit any holes.

The center of my left wing, my attack force looks across the field towards the nasty Normans.

A similar shot from behind the Lombard lines! By the White Christ, there is a lot of the enemy!

A look at Kevin's knights. It is an impressive army, both in numbers and appearance. Kevin's armies always look good on the table top which really adds to the experience!

Normans vs. Italian Lombards Part Deux

2009-12-09T22:12:00.005-05:00

A Look at Kevin's Arab allies. They were Reliable, damn them! Damn them all to hell! Wait, wrong Chuck Heston movie, this is The Warlord, not Planet of the Apes.

A look from behind Kevin's Norman knight line across the field at the massed Lombard militia.

Here is a good look at the swirling melee between the Norman and Lombard Irregular Knights (F), all impetuous, all the time! You can see backs and fronts of guys as they see-sawed back and forth. My dice were better.

Here my Lombards double overlap some Frenchies while they themselves are overlapped. It happens that way when knights fight knights.

What's left of a once great melee. Most of my boys had run past the action to crash into the hapless bowmen and Norman hordes who were protecting the baggage. (Didn't they ever watch Henry V?) It was a Lombard victory by the slightest of margins, due to good luck. I am learning not to feel guilty when I have good luck. Sister Marsha is rolling in her grave but I won't go to confession over it!

It was just a 'learning' game anyway as we are new to the rules. We each made and forgave some errors as we tried to grapple with some of the more intricate manifestations of 'impetuous' troops and 'spontaneous advances'. Deemed a success by this reporter, I anticipate playing it again.

Samurai vs. the Fu Manchu 5. Part 1

2009-12-09T21:14:00.004-05:00

Got together with Jim Naughton to play a 500 point DBR game pitting my Samurai vs, his Manchu Chinese. This shot shows his CinC anchoring the far left of his line. Interestingly enough *my* CinC was leading my left as well and the two never laid eyes on each other.

A look at the advancing Samurai from behind the right of the Chinese line. His guns are in the center-right which caused major problems for my attack wing.

Some skirmishing light horse attempt to slow the Japanese advance.

Samurai blades and bows eye the Chinese CinC. He did come off the hill and barely escaped with his life as the rest of the cavalry in his command was slaughtered or fled! Luckily his foot contingent kept the whole command from demoralizing.

A view of the Japanese as they sweep towards their Chinese counterparts!

Samurai vs. the Fu Manchu 5. Part 2

2009-12-09T21:04:00.002-05:00

The samurai cavalry finally prepares to charge after multiple recoils caused by the Chinese gun line visible upper right center.

The same Samurai, but this shot shows yet another Chinese cavalry command to their left. These guys breed like... well, Chinese!

The lines clash! This view is from behind Japanese lines.

Same fight from behind Chinese lines. It was a last ditch effort as the Chinese spanked the samurai. The samurai had the most success on their right, the flank they were not supposed to attack with, while their large left attack flank was constantly harrassed by the Chinese guns and fragmented to the point of impotence before contact! (Sounds like marraige.) No way Jim was going to let me get two wins in a row with this army. Lots of fun and very visually appealing as his armies always look good.

DBN at Fall-In Part 1

2009-11-30T21:51:00.003-05:00

This Fall-In in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, I ran the annual game for DBN crowd. This year it was Napoleons Russian campaign and Borodino and his right flank in particular, as the Poles and Westphalians try to capture the mound south of Utitza village to enfilade the main Russian line and/or exit troops off the Old Smolensk Rd to turn the Russian flank.
Here's a shot of 'the gang' getting ready to start.

Initial set-ups. On the right, the Russians have cossacks on their left flank and an entire Grenadier division supporting the artillery and a few grenadiers and Moscow militia (Opolchenie) on the mound. 2 Russian divisions straddle the village of Utitza while a third enters as reinforcements sent by Baggavout. Facing them, in the foreground is the Polish cavalry division, including Polish Lancers, some Chassuers and the famous 13th Polish (Silver) Hussars. In the center are two Polish divisions led by Pronce Poniatowski. On their far left Tom finishes setting up the Westphalian infantry.

Looking from behind the Russian right, the Westphailians choose to attack through the woods! Interesting, and alarming to me as this had not happened in any playtesting and I was afraid something unforeseen would happen. It didn't. The Russians were staunch in defense and the Jagers did their job admirably. Tutchkov sits just under Ted's measuring stick with his fancy pants ADC. Poniatowski is across the way just on the edge of the woods.

DBN at Fall-In Part 2

2009-11-30T21:24:00.003-05:00

Spencer moves the Westphalian Guard Cheveaux-legere up the Old Smolensk Road toward Utitza. The Westphalian Infantry move through the woods as Ted watches.

The Westphalians push back the Russian Jagers. The artillery of both sides set up for a dual while the 1st and 2nd Hussars prepare to charge in the background.

A similar shot from behind the Westphalian lines. Sorry for the blur.

The final push is about to begin. In the foreground, Ron's Polish Lancers prepare to finish off the Guard Cossacks south of the mound as Terry's (Terry37) Poles finally get in the action as they close the doors on the last of the Moscow militia. Chris has brought uo the 1st Grenadier Division to hold themound as Frank's command continues to bludgeon their way forward to take the mound after successfully routing the Russian artillery. What's left of Ted's command between the mound and the village peck away at the flank of Frank's command, doing thier job remarkably well. Both ADC's are supporting the struggle on the mound. In the back, the Russians still hold the village and the Westphalian infantry are still mired in the woods as the Russian reinforcements plug all the holes.

This is essentially the way it ended. Utitza firmly in Russian hands while the mound is disputed but the Russians had more stands on it than the Poles. Casulaties were high, especially for Frank on the French side and Ted and Bob on the Russian, but the Russians hold on for a 10-9 win!

Scots and shots

2009-08-31T16:24:00.005-04:00

These are the Scots from Museum Minatures painted for the Bishop's War/ECW period, including Montrose's boys.

Their bums. Tartans were not official at his time but there still was a bit o' plaid.

Landesknecht shot. More Museum Miniatures.

A rear shot of the same dudes. Gots lot more to do.

Samurai Part 1

2009-08-31T16:15:00.005-04:00

I just finished about 600 DBR points worth of Samurai, which will also give me several DBA-RRR armies as well. The figures are almost all Two Dragon but there are a few Peter Pig thrown in. The C-in-C, Takeda Shingen, I think, is Essex.

Another general element.

Samurai cavalry. I did not paint the dudes with the banners, I bought them from a private seller.

Another angle.

Close up of the banners. I am told they are family names.

Samurai Part 2

2009-08-31T16:02:00.004-04:00

Cavalry.

Close up of same.

Ashigaru spearmen.

Ashigaru shot.

Ashigaru bum shot.

Samurai Part 3

2009-08-31T15:52:00.002-04:00

Blades. The pose insures that they will never line up correctly.

Warbands and Hordes. Beware the peasant with a mallet and a bad attitude.

Finally, the Taiko camp.

Camp, other angle.

A bit of the old DBA.

2009-08-18T14:05:00.004-04:00

Played 3 games of DBA, Dark Ages style, last night with Joe Dragovich, the winner of our Stooge -Con Open tourney. Joe had some beautifully painted Scots-Irish and Viking armies, so I brought Vikings, Wends and my new Sub-Roman Brits. We ended up playing three game with 2 out of the three being real nail-biters which we split. The other game was a disastrous littoral landing where his entire landing force was wiped out. The game Joe did win, he won without his general for the last 4 bounds and won 4G-3G!
His armies are beautifully painted and he was selling them as he is leaving for Durham University this fall. I say 'was' because the Scots-Irish are already taken and I had to jump on those beautiful vikings.
Anyway, all I had was my phone, so these aren't the greatest pictures and there's no putting together a meaningful AAR with the few I took. Hope you enjoy anyway. Here Joe contemplates my doom!

A close-up of the gorgeous Scots-Irish chariot wing.

The ill-fated auxilia landing on a lovely Norse beach. A lesson learned. Aux vs. Blade = Bad. (We played 2 out of 3 games with littoral armies and both times the sea was directly in my backfield and those were the two games I won. Goofy game.)

Some DBA 8-17-09

2009-08-18T13:57:00.003-04:00

Wendish Cavalry look across the field at the Scots-Irish charioteers. The Wend archers have their toe in bad going thus hindering the Sots-Irish advance.

Scots-Irish auxilia scale the steep hills. You can always tell an Irishman. (You just can't tell him much!)

A better shot of the action as the chariots try to close with the Wends and they, in turn, are happy to have them run the gauntlet.

These are actually the backs of the Sub-Roman Brits so you can see the job the Sri-Lankans did. More of them later. (SRB, not Sri Lankans.)

Splintered Light Sub-Roman Brits

2009-08-18T13:45:00.004-04:00

I recently bought the much acclaimed Sub-Roman Brits from Splintered Light Miniatures. Unfortunately there just wasn't enough time to paint the 32 spears so I had them done in Sri Lanka, except I told them I wanted to do the shields. (THey did a good job as usual.) I wanted them to look decidedly late Roman and used the Notitia Dignitatum as a basis for many of the shields. I don't care that some were used in Africa, Italy and Gaul, I just wanted ones I liked and wanted to portray the army as trying to keep the Roman traditions alive. I added some Christian symbols and purposely tried to make some look like the soldiers themselves had added it over existing Roman patterns.

I did paint all the cavalry myself, including King Arthur's Madonna and Child shield. The figs are awesome as you can see. Sorry, the photos are from my camera and not the best.

Here's King Arthur and his famous heavy cavalry.

The shield wall.

Command Decision: Mortain Part 1

2009-06-02T15:13:00.004-04:00

This past Saturday we were hosted by the inestimable Kevin Serafini at his new digs and tried out Command Decision, a battalion level WW2 game. In attendance were Kevin and John Brock as Americans and Roy Bartoo and myself as the Chermans. Kevin and John had both played the game at cons before. I am not sure if Roy had played, I had not.
The game has a lot of rules, but they are well written and easy to assimilate. Orders in the form of chits, or counters, are assigned to each company each turn and kept hidden from your opponent. Some orders include Hasty Move, Normal Move or Overwatch (among others) which allows elements to defensive/opportunity fire at moving targets or fire first if not moving. Initiative determines who moves first. Each element, or stand of dudes, has a fixed amount of firepower and ROF; terrain and other circumstances can affect this. The first photo is of the battlefield of Mortain France as two reinforced battalions on each side clash in a meeting engagement. The Americans must hold the chateau and take the village and vice-versa for the Germans. Many bocage edged fields and woods lie between.

The German heavies roll through Mortain. Two Panthers with a Recon HT out front race to claim the high ground dominating the center. The battalion commander sits (stands) in his kubelwagon and directs traffic like a bad George C. Scott movie.

The Americans enter. The Shermans are in for a nasty surprise and they are fresh out of mine dogs!

Roy's battalion schlepps along the road. His STuG III 75L's engage a few M-10's. I didn't get any pictures of that for some reason but it ended with alot of smoking olive drab vehicles.

Command Decison: Mortain Part 2

2009-06-02T14:58:00.005-04:00

The command Panther with his wing man on the hill. From that vantage point the Panther was able to dominate the battlefield, being able to see over all the intervening bocage. He turned the American bowels liquid.

The view of the King of the Hill. Some Americans made the mistake of 'being seen'. The system is unforgiving, so many lessons were learned today.

German PanzerGrenadier coys move through the fields to eventually pour fire into the American center and left. Note the significantly less American elements in the field that the Panther had a LOS into. Big Brother is watching (and has a big gun!)

It's on! Close combat in the woods. The German element with grass that is in contact with the Americans was KIA'd. The good news is that when they were killed, it opened up a LOS to the two stands in back, one of which sports a MG. The fight wasn't concluded but both sides had bloody noses to be sure.

Command Decision: Mortain Part 3

2009-06-02T14:16:00.008-04:00

A German PanzerGrenadier company takes position behind the bocage to ready for the final assault on the chateau while the finger of God Almighty personally snuffs out the mortal coil for a few Americans. That's something you don't want to see coming at you on the battlefield!

Aerial view of the American held German objectives. (One Ami coy bravely led by the battalion commander can be seen streaking away from the enemy and into the safety of the woods.)

The American mortar battery behind the chateau outbuildings. MG's have taken position upstairs and the Shermans try to cross France to get away from the Panthers.

Final positions. 2 German companies have taken the bocage while a third is engaged with the Amis in Close Combat in the woods. The remnants of another American coy struggles the hold the bocage against the next inevitable onslaught of massed German firepower. The Panther continues to be King of the Hill and the command Panther now has a bead on the troops in the chateau. The Shermans run like bitches from the Panther, as they should. Some Americans still hold the far bocage as the Germans on that side were pinned down by raking MG fire. The big white Disk O' Death in the center is the blast radius of my 81mm mtr, supressing any hope of American recovery in the center.

It was a good game and a good system. None of us were overly concerned with the results as it was a test game to see how the rules worked and we threw in a smattering of troop types. The Germans essentially only used one Panther and just it's presence erased an entire Sherman platoon as they fired 0 shots while hiding behind a hill. But we weren't after balance after all. The system is rules heavy but not cumbersome, at least not with the assortment we used. The results were reasonable, which is all I ask for. I like the orders and initiative system, it neatly removes a certain amount of omniscience from the table top general. I wouldn't want to play it exclusively, but that is a statement I can make about every game I've played. It's definitely on the list to do again.

Polish and Russian artillery

2009-05-18T14:17:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since there was anything new to post here and I've been busy doing the lacrosse blog, but I have managed to make some progress on my Poles, Russians and Westphalians.

Here's a few shots of some artillery. The 'apple green' limbers are Russian and the olive green are Poles. The guys in the busbys are Polish Horse Artillery, in particular the 2nd Horse Artillery of the 5th Corps in the invasion of Russia 1812.

DBR Part I

2009-04-17T09:01:00.004-04:00

I played my first game of DBR (De Bellis Renationis) last week against good friend Jim Naughton. Jim is an old grognard and was teaching me the finer points of the game (and absolutely kicking my ass.) I played English Civil War Royalists and Jim played Neoplitan Spanish. Rich Baier ran my cavalry wings. This is a shot of the inital set-up. We are cramped within the set-up areas and have to spread out with our opening PIPs. I have a solid pike and shot center with 2 cavalry wings. It turns out I should have added some foot sloggers to the wings to bolster their ME equivalant.

Here's a shot of the Spanish center, a massive gun line supported by plenty of pike and shot and even some wild blades and warbands.

A look at the English.

From behind the English lines. There's a lot of Spanish out there.

DBR Part II

2009-04-17T08:51:00.002-04:00

The wings extend and advance towards the Spanish. he center moves doggedly forward.

From behind the English center. The Dragoons wait for the PIPS to deploy. (They never got them.)

Prince Rupert leads the Cavaliers towards the Spanish forlorn hope.

An ambush! Spanish skirmishers appear in the woods on the English left.

DBR Part III

2009-04-17T08:37:00.004-04:00

Prince Rupert makes contact with the enemy.

The English left and parts of the center. The Spanish have sprung an ambush form the woods.

You can see how the center is in shreds from advancing towards the Spanish gun line.

A close-up of some of the action. The English never did really engage the Spanish infantry as they were consistently recoiled by heavy artillery fire. The game was a massive Spanish win. Jim is a fine opponent and a finer man. Thanks for the 'lesson'.

Somewhere in Belgium, 1815, part 1

2009-03-24T16:29:00.004-04:00

Last night, the Diceman and myself sat down to a 24 point DBN game pitting the 1815 French against the English with some German allies. Here you see the inital set-up with Rich's Thin Red Line on the right. You may notice the English leaders look decidedly Prussian.

A close up of the English left cavalry wing. You can see some KGL and Hussars, and also some heavy dragoons and Horse Artillery.

After some initial French success on their far left, (artillery taking out the Brunswick Uhlans), the English move doggedly forward to get the high ground on their left.

The French legere get there first and pour fire into the Nassauers and Hannoverian allies. Rich brings up the vaunted 95th Rifles to their support, and things look good for the French.

The Guard Chasseur a Cheval charge into the fray in support of the light infantry. The 95th is surprised and cannot form square and are therefore Unprepared! Unable to flee they are run down and the Chasseurs elect not to pursue. The Nassauers are whacked also and the French seem to be controlling the high ground and the tempo!

Somewhere in Belgium, 1815, part 2

2009-03-24T16:13:00.005-04:00

The French right wing, emboldened by the success of the legere ready themselves for the charge. But it was no Kellerman who lead them this night and they are trapped against the wood.

The French right wing. The Light Infantry has taken the hill top and closed the door on the Hannoverians. It looks like the French will easily take the hill and the victory! The French skirmishing cavalry ready themselves for the breakout of the French cavalry.

Uh, oh. The light infantry rolled two 1's in combat and lost the hilltop and all three stands to superior British/German musketry and allows the KGL light cavalry to make easy work of the skirmishing French Hussars. Never trust the infantry. (Or dice!)

The Hannoverians polished off the French leger and engage the French artillery. The right wing becomes a broken command. The only chance left is a human wave against the English center. Hey, that sounds kinda familiar.

Somewhere in Belgium, 1815, part 3

2009-03-24T16:02:00.005-04:00

An overview of the French center and left wing. The Old Guard is trying desperately to come to grips with the enemy but their artillery keeps pushing them back.

A closer view of the same area. A French column has pushed back the Redcoats, only to follow up and put themselves in a precarious position.

The damned English have closed the doors on both ends of the French last ditch effort to break the enemy center.

Ummm... in case you're keeping score, we just got our asses kicked, Game over, man. The French right wing destroyed and the center collapsing, it was a foot race back to France.

Merde.

DBA 3/2/09 Part 1

2009-03-03T18:18:00.005-05:00

The man himself. Diceman Rich Baier, DBAer extraordinairre and all around good guy. We played the often overlooked Viking/Samurai wars.

The vikings emerge from the hills.

Blades o' plenty.

Ashigaru backing up the dai-kyu. Nice pajamas, guys.

DBA 3/2/09 Part 2

2009-03-03T18:00:00.003-05:00

The ashigaru take to the woods in the hopes of turning a flank.

The Samurai general and his daimyo's scoff at the peepee viking bows.

The two battle lines face each other; the Samurai bows aren't liking this too much.

No plan survives contact with the enemy!

DBA 3/2/09 Part 3

2009-03-03T08:33:00.005-05:00

Here you see I've double overlapped some blades. Still only 2-3, but better than 5-2!

Guess it doesn't matter when you roll a one!

The ashigaru mess it up in the Bad Going.

The summer grasses,

For many brave warriors,

Aftermath of dreams.

Russians vs Hungarians or That's MY Goulash! Pt.1

2009-01-14T16:10:00.002-05:00

This Monday, January 12th, 2009, Rich Baier and Larry Chaban met me at Legions Hobby and Games for a few games of DBA. Rich brought his newly arrived (from Sri Lanka) Hungarians. Beautiful looking army. I faced him with my Post-Mongol Russians. It was a slugfest as neither one of us could roll over a two for about half the game. At one point I had a 2-0 advantage, with the door closed, for two bounds and couldn't kill the element! But Rich always plays well and as the dice turned, so did the Russians fortunes.
Next, I played Larry with borrowed Greek armies. I think I was Athens. I'm not sure who he was and the game didn't last long enough for pictures as the two spear walls clashed I rolled 5 consecutive 6's!!!!! Gloating never tasted so good. Then we played a game of ECW DBA with the Extension rules. My Royalists again bested Chaban's Roundheads in a learning game. Still, I will be hard pressed not to let Larry forget I beat him twice in one night. Of course he was vey gracious as you see in the last photograph. Here you see a picture of my Russians.

The Hungarians come to Pittsburgh via Sri Lanka.

The battle line approach each other. I think I surprised Rich when I went staright in.

My left who must have been fighting with fungo bats vs. Hungarian steel. (Check out the die rolls.) Double overlap, opponent rolls a 1. So do I. Must have been a major prick in a previous life.

Battle is joined! Looks cool, huh?

Hungarians vs. Russians or That's MY Goulash! Pt. 2

2009-01-14T15:55:00.008-05:00

The Russians push in the center as the Hungarian general surges forward!

From the Russian left. A double overlap on some Hungarian blades. Geuss who won? The fight in the center rages.

From above, no one in contact!

The Russian right. War wagon vs. war wagon! The Hungarinas would claim the goulash this day as the Russians insisted that 1's were better than 6's.

ECW 1/12/09 Part 1

2009-01-14T15:37:00.005-05:00

Parliament's forces. Here you can see some Lobsters with dragoons in support, Essex's orange flank the artillery.

Royalist cavaliers with dragoons on their right prepare scatter the Rounhead left.

The King's left flank, with his own Kn element of the King's Lifeguard.

The flanks commit to battle! The brave Parliamentarian musketeers face the Lifeguard.

Oxford regiments hold strong in the center. Always for King and country! (Chosen by God!)

ECW 1/12/09 Part 2

2009-01-14T15:20:00.003-05:00

Parliament's Pistols expose their backs to the Royalist artillery. Buh-bye.

A look down the lines as the Royalists defend along the Wash Hill Rd.

What the Rounheads saw! The King's forces mopped up and took possession of the field.

Why I paint all those little guys. It is so worth it for moments like these. Thanks Larry.

English Civil War Part 1

2009-01-06T19:29:00.004-05:00

This was our first attempt to adapt the Humberside Extension for DBA into the ECW. We decided to keep the terrain simple and placed a gentle hill in the center with a road running through it, so we could concentrate on getting the mechanics right. Here you see the set-up from behind the Royalist lines. Rupert's horse with the Lifeguard on the left, an artillery piece in the center with pike and shot to storm the hill, then dragoons and another unit of horse on the far right. Across the field lie the rebels. Their lobsters on their right, pike and shot in the center then a culvern, some dragoons and skirmishers.

The Royalists got the first bound and raced for the hill, using the road to get that saker in position. The rebels advanced, leaving an alley for their artillery to fire upon those who hadn't broke faith with the King. (Annointed by God, no less.

A look at the crew sighting in their gun. Not surprising, it never fired a shot as the rebels were to craven to top the crest of the hill.

Here you see Parliament's best bravely waiting at the bottom of the hill.

The King's Lifeguard and Rupert's own survey the field. Heselrige and his antiquated pony-boys hover out of sight. (To the sound of chicken noises.)

English Civil War Part 2

2009-01-06T19:12:00.005-05:00

The unit that turned out to be the heroes: my Royalist Dragoons. They were the catalyst in taking out three of the four Parliamentarian elements. One by forcing it to recoil into friends and two others by closing the door.

The Royalist forces have seized the high ground in the center of the field. Parliament's horse prepares to face off against the cavaliers of the King!

Here you can see my indominatable dragoons in action. They fired on the opposing dragoons who couldn't recoil, then came in to close the door on the skirmishers. Next turn they wheeled and took that element of shot in the flank while the pikes hit them in front. 3 elements down and 3 awards for the dragoons' colors!

Here you can see how those dragoons emptied the field of rebels! The last element of Essex's shot on the hill is not long for this world.

English Civil War Part 3

2009-01-06T11:23:00.005-05:00

Struggle for the hill continues! A look from behind the rebels' lines at Oxford and Appleyards troops.

Those mighty dragoons close in for the kill on the Parliamentarian skirmishers.
The deed is done and may all rebels go straight to hell for their efforts!

The final position on the Royalist left. Prince Rupert's cavaliers have pushed back the Lobsters; may they run all the way back to London with their tails between their legs like the cur that they are!

Invasion: Normandy Fall-In 2008

2008-11-21T00:05:00.002-05:00

Allied paratroops crack Fortress Europa. (Is that kid serious about that snack or what?)

Looking down the French street as their rescuers come from the sky.

If I could photoshop the sky in where the ceiling is this would be a great shot!

The Sudan or 'Gorden Gets His!' Fall-In 2008

2008-11-20T23:55:00.003-05:00

These are photographs of a game based in 1885 in the Sudan. I can't tell you what rules set,but the gentleman running it was also the guy who made and sold the flags. The game itself was beautiful as you can see and was right across from my Somme game.

Enjoy the pictures!

Regimental Fire & Fury at Fall-In 2008 pt 1

2008-11-12T12:05:00.004-05:00

Federal troops approach an abatis.

Billy Yank defends his vittles.

The pride of the Confederacy gives 'em hell.

Looking down the Union lines.

Regimental Fire & Fury at Fall-In 2008 pt 2

2008-11-12T11:50:00.007-05:00

Johnny Reb defends the trenches of New Market Heights as the 'colored' troops prepare to assault the position. In real life they swept the barricades of Hood's elite troops!

The left of the Confederate line. The open ammo chests in the foreground marks that regiment as Low Ammo.

Across the abatis, Federal troops charge home!

The Federals emerge from the forest into the swath that had been cleared by Rebels. A perfect killing ground for the good ol' boys.

Nieuw Spel Spiel Giant DBN Game Fall-In 2008

2008-11-10T10:46:00.008-05:00

The Emperor himself, Bob Beattie, wearing the uniform of his beloved Red Lancers makes fun of the length of *our* most beloved members with co-generals Frank and Colin, in an effort to make us feel inferior. Ha Ha! The joke's on him as he's tripling my attributes!

Fanaticus' very own Imperator surveys his creation with his usual calm demeanor which belies his ferocity in battle.

Colin and Spencer have their French columns ready to enter this little section of Belgium. They came for the waffles but stayed for the beer.

Initial positions. John Manning's Austrians are poised for the race into Nieuw Spel, while my Brits with German allies make ready to defend the walled farms to his right. Ted Galaci's British and Chris Brantley's Brunswickers ready to enter the board on bound one. Frank's French, along with the Grand Battery are in the French center and itchin' for a fight.

2008-11-10T10:20:00.004-05:00

The Austrians have seized the village just ahead of the French! (On the most important roll of the game, the Allies got to move first.) Herr Manning, luck is the most important attribute of any good general, now get those Grenadiers into position!

Our spyglasses see troops in the distance. But are they friend or foe?

Tally ho! The damnable French are sending 2 columns towards Wellington's finest! Now, now. Stiff upper lip lads, what?

Spencer's French are spied by advance scouts moving towards the Allied right.

2008-11-10T10:08:00.008-05:00

My Dragoons and Hussars lead a column of Nassauers and Hanoverians into the fray. The Hanoverians would bravely defend the farm on the left for a victory point. Um... it helped that no one fired on them.

Most of my foot deployed. The 92nd Gordon's wouldn't even fire a shot this day. The Brunswickers weren't all that bummed about that.

Ted's Brits head off to defend Nieuw Spel.

Spencer's batteries in action.

2008-11-10T09:22:00.007-05:00

An overview of the battle, looking from behind the Allied positions. On the far right, you can see mt Birts w/ German allies deploying against the massed might of Colin's and Spencer's French columns. Spencer's French are the closer of the two columns. Center left sees Ted Galaci's Brits racing to intercept Frank's right elements and Chris' Brunswickers crossing the bridge. The Old Guard trudges unwaveringly to meet whatever the allies throw at them. John and Frank continue the 'knife fight in a phone booth' that Nieuw Spel has become.

Spenser's and Colin's columns continue to advance through the walled farms to meet my Brit's /Germans. Notice the Grand Battery in operation on the hill and the French concubines grazing in the fields.

Spencer's cavalry forms up to meet the expected charge. We hope to catch the infantry unawares in egress from the farm.

My Hussars finally charge home! Spencer's infantry were able to form square and easily repulse my charge. To make matters worse, his batteries cut down my Dragoons, so his Carabinier were able to close the door on my beloved Hussars and beat them all the way to death!

2008-11-10T08:55:00.007-05:00

Spencer Ginder's "Heroes of the Revolution'. These two batteries took out my skirmish cavalry, who was screening the the rest of the cav, then took out my beautiful dragoons before they even drew cold steel.

John Manning's Austrians guard the flanks of Nieuw Spel.

Colin's cavalry (my figures) deploys with the Chassuers flanked by Hussar Skirmishers and Carabinier Heavy cav. His artillery continues along the road behind them and further back is the baggage train.

Here's a shot looking over Chris' Brunswickers at the Old Guard/Brunswick cavalry melee. Those Grenadiers look imposing!

Final positions on the Allied left. The Old Guard have been fully commited and Ted's Brits race to support Chris' Brunswickers. Frank's French still hold the upper left quadrant of Nieuw Spel. Unfortunately time ran out on all of us.

What a great game and thanks to Chris for putting it on for us, although it took everyone to make it such a success. I think some thoughts for next time are to increase the time to 4 hours instead of three to do this type of 'giant' battle, or do a Matched Pair format for a regular tournament. If I had my druthers though, I would opt for the Giant version. There is already talk of Penninsular action at Cold Wars. I wanna be Sharpe as he always gets the hot Spanish chick.

DBA Battle, Part 1

2008-10-03T19:31:00.003-04:00

Last night saw a DBA game between myself and a friend John Brock. John has only played a few games of DBA but likes it and we gave it a go last night.
The game pitted the unhistorical match-up of Papal Italians vs. Ghaznavids somewhere in Italy around 1150AD. The Papists had 3 knights, one of which was the general, 3 spears, 2 xbows and 3 psiloi and 1 horde. The Ghazis had 3 jumbos, one the general, 3 cav, 2 spears, 2 bows, 1 psiloi and 1 light horse. Real men take elephants.
John defended and set up pretty symmetrical terrain with a road bisecting the map and a wood on either side. I set up with my ellies and cav on the right and hoped to smash into his knights and end the game quickly but was seduced by his movements on my left and started playing 'his' game. I finally broke his spell and went to work in the center.
It was about this time that I remembered I have a camera and the following is a few pictures of what transpired in the middle to end of the game.

DBA Battle, Part 2

2008-10-03T19:17:00.007-04:00

The venerable, inestimable, and all around good guy, John Brock smiles impishly as he plots my DOOM!Here you can see the bad position in which I put myself. My Spear and Bow caught with nary a PIP as I have to use them all to control my center. You can see John's Knightly contingent in the center ready to pounce. To the left is his Psiloi supported Spear wall, and between are the brave volunteer Bows who did muck things up quite a bit until my general had had enough and charged them and trampled them to minced meat. Note also how I fouled up my line further by getting a cavalry stuck behind the Bows. So much for my left maneuver element! At this point I was down 0-2 after bad things happened when elephants recoil!The usually unperturbable Mr. Brock does his best Captain Queeg as he frantically searches for answers to the dilemma facing him.

DBA Game, Part 3

2008-10-03T14:48:00.003-04:00

The opposing lines, mid-game. To the far left you can see my Light Horse dancing with his Psiloi and an element of his bows harrassing one of my elephants. This is just before our centers charged each other; he with 1 Bow and 3 knights, 1 his General, and me with 2 elephants, including my general, and 2 Cavalry. The end result was his loss of 2 Knights and the Bow as my jumbos quick kill everything he had there; and my loss of 1 cav. Unfortunately I was too excited to remember to take pictures! I was really in trouble but John rolled a 1, then a 2 for PIPs and I was able to come out ahead. My Bow are still sitting on the road being too PIP-shy to advance.The Popemobile, 11th century style! Hordes of faithful pilgrims prepare to sell their lives to protect it, while priests pray for their souls.After the clash in the center, wherein one element of knights were destroyed, the Papist General leaves the other Sicilian Volunteers to their own fate; namely to be smashed into jelly under the feet of Ghazi jumbos!

DBA Battle, Part 4

2008-10-03T14:30:00.005-04:00

What we're fighting for! A view out of the Ghaznavid camp and the precious water supply. At center right you can see my elephantry about to dispatch some Sicilian Norman volunteers.Set up for the final battle, mano a mano, as the two generals stare across the field at each other. Just out of the picture on the left, I maneuvered my Bow (finally) to take a pot shot at his extreme right to maybe disrupt his line, until I had enough PIPS to smash home with my El (Gen).The Anti-Climax! After all the maneuvering, posturing, and all-around setting up for the end-game, it all ended on a 'What the hell, I might as well take it" shot, when some lonely Psiloi forgot the rule about Not Being Seen! (Note: the PS was -1 due to my 'helper' for a total of 7-3.) Final score Ghaznavids 4, Papal Italians 3, in a very exciting game.

2008-09-09T18:05:00.003-04:00

A repost.

The heroes of Quatre Bras, the 92nd foot, Gordon Highlanders.

More Gordon's.
A shot from a recent solo game. Marshal Ney surveys the battlefield. Brunswick militia occupy the farm house ahead.
British Guards

2008-09-07T18:33:00.004-04:00

Some German Guns.
The Big Kahuna, the 88mm, the most feared gun in WW2. Behind it is the tractor which towed it, the SdKfz 7

From left to right:
3.7cm PaK 35/36,
15cm (that's big!) sIG33,
7.5cm leIG 18

Staff car behind.

2008-09-07T18:08:00.003-04:00

Here's some German Wermacht. Again there's lots of these guys, these are just a few examples of a few guys. Really, there's lots.
One thing that annoys me is that when I first started down the slippery slope into WW2 mini's, someone at the local game store asked me what army I was building. When I replied 'Germans', he rolled his eyes, like I was another Naziphile or something. The fact is, you can't really fight WW2 without the Germans. I got the same reaction when I started building a French Napoleonic army. "Everyone wants to be the French", not exactly. It would be pretty hard to wargame the NAPOLEONIC period without NAPOLEON. Thank you.
Back to the future: Here's some German MG42's. I enjoy being able to make a little diorama out of each base. If you look closely, you'll see the 'logs' some of these Germans are hiding behind are tiny sticks fom my backyard.
Here's a shot of some Fallshirmjeager. These guys look really cool on the tabletop.
Gurkhas!
Here's a shot of various IJA soldiers. In the foreground is the ubiquitous 70mm battalion gun and though you can't see it very well there's a 75mm mountain gun in the back next to the Type 95 Ha Go. I'll have to get better pictures of both. The rest are PBI. As with the Indians, I have HMG and 81mm mortar groups that are still only primered or still in the package. Got too much to do, but I'll get it all done.

2008-09-07T17:38:00.007-04:00

Tally Ho lads! We'll be behind shedyule!

The astute observer may recognize the fellow on the left, even though he is out of focus: he's the vicar who was diving for his communion set in the movie 'The Longest Day'. The chap on the right is leading the charge with his umbrella, you know, stiff upper lip, there's a good gentleman. What?

Obviously these are my British Airborne whom I have been fascinated with for quite some time. I have lots, these are but a few, I will get more of them on here sometime.

British Airborne: a 6pdr and jeep, a Vickers HMG in the foreground and a few of the Red Devils
German Pioniers make their way through rubble strewn streets. There's a Goliath and a Flame Thrower and a few MG34's.
Close up of the Pioniers. Maybe I'm learning to use the damn camera after all.
And who doesn't like bikers?
Soviets in the rear and Fallschirmjeager up front.

2008-09-07T17:10:00.003-04:00

For a little change of pace, here's some WW2 vehicles. Most of these mini's were purchased for
the Flames of War system. However I soon realized two things about that game. 1. It's a very good and clean system that works very well. 2. It has nothing to do with WW2 or WW2 combat. It's unfortunate for me because I need a game to 'feel' right. I need to be faced with the same decisions as a commander from the period I am playing or I lose interest in the game real, real fast. Let's face it, while the system works very well, FoW is still Warhammer 40K with WW2 equipment.

It still serves it's purpose though as I believe it draws people into historical wargaming from the fantasy side/science fiction side.

Since I stopped playing FoW, I started with Rapid Fire. IMO, a great tactical game that is simple but not simplistic, and the big kicker for me; provides reasonable results. No more lining up my tanks fender to fender, and having to buy 6 guns to be able to field a unit. The game has realistic scenarios based on history so if one side had *one* tank, then that player gets *one* tank.

Just about everything is taken into consideration so there are rules for everything from dogfights over the battlefield to naval bombardments and everything in between.

Look for a few more posts featuring my WW2 minis.
The picture above is of a British Sherman ad Firefly with D-Day markings.
On the left 2 German Wespes and Soviet SU76's on the right. Always had a soft spot for SPG's.
Soviet SU85, cool, huh?
Soviet T-34, along with the German MkIV, the two AFV's that just say 'tank' to me.

The big cat, the German MkVI Tiger.

2008-09-01T15:30:00.005-04:00

Here's my Post Mongol Russian army for DBA, army list #IV/44b, 1381AD-1533AD

Here's the general, 5th from left, surveying his boyars.
Here's some shots of the Russian cavalry.

Born and bred on the steppe, these Light Horse now fight for the Third Rome.
The war wagon.

An overview of the Russian camp.
Every day, feed the damn pig. That's OK because he's gonna feed me all winter!

Home sweet home has no back door.
"Now what do those guys want? Uh oh, quick, hide the pig!"

Nappy Pics

2008-09-01T11:42:00.006-04:00

The Grand Battery
Garde Chassuer

Chasseur

Hussars

7th Reg Hussar Skirmish Cavalry

Marshal Ney giving somebody the business.

2nd Chevauex Legers

Lately I have been trying my hand at Napoleonics mini's. Now this is kind of a long story. I have been fascinated with Napoleonic warfare since as a kid my older brother received a book titled something like 'The World's Greatest Battles'. There was a chapter on Borodino that caught my attention and never let go. For years I have enjoyed everything about Napoleonic warfare from the uniforms to the tactics and have board gamed it a few times (mostly due to lack of opponents), but not nearly enough. I always wanted to do it in miniature but frankly was scared to go that route and have to worry if the turnbacks were the right color for 1809 and these guys changed buttons after 1806 and that isn't the right color stripe on that cossak's underwear. (eew) Also was the need to paint thousands of mini's to get the right feel for the sweeping battles of the period, and to be honest, I have too many other interests to paint that many guys. After all when you think about it, after you paint a thousand French, then paint a thousand Russians, then all you can play is French vs. Russians! What about the Austrians, English, Spanish, Portugeuse, Brunswickers, Hannoverians, Bavarians...? You get the point. Simply put, that way lies madness.

Enter DBN and Ebay.

I purchased a few painted French an Prussian infantry and found De Bellis Napoleonicis, a Napoleonic version of DBA. The game is played with only 12-18 stands of dudes for each army. Perfect for the ADD gamer/painter like me. I have already completed a French and Prussian army and am 2 stands away from an English army with German allies. (All 1815) I wanted to paint some Brunswicker Uhlans and I did; 3 of them, not 30. Some may argue that the game does not match the granduer of more sweeping game systems with thousands of mini's but it looks pretty damn good to me. I won't argue that there is nothing like seeing those huge games at cons, but DBN allows me to play a few games at a sitting and still provide reasonable enough results and require reasonable amounts of Napoleonic tactics to leave me more than satisfied.

The one thing I want to mention is that I take pride in my painting skills. I know there are thousands of others out there who are better and that's cool with me because I get to see their stuff on the internet and conventions all the time. But I like my style and I like to do things well. As a rule, I always use at least two colors per surface, even if it's the face of a 15mm dude. (Bronze flesh base coat, elf flesh highlights) Anyway, the guys I bought off ebay were not painted that well and I had a decision to make: paint them all again or simply paint what I would need to a lesser standard. Well, I bought the damn things because they were painted, so I decided not to do highlights on what I would do to complete the armies because I wanted some symmetry on the tabletop. Anyway, this is kind of an apology for how these guys look. I mean, I know they look OK, but they are not up to what I consider my ususal standard. I will be posting some other photos soon that hopefully will confirm what I mean.

Why this blog?

2008-08-26T20:55:00.003-04:00

I've created this blog to share my interest in wargaming in general and miniature wargaming in particular. I grew up in the 60's with 4 brothers and a father who played 'wargames'; waiting impatiently for the new Avalon Hill games to be released. Back in those days they were $2.50 or $3.00 each. I still have some of those titles, including Stalingrad, D-Day and the original Gettysburg.As I grew older I drifted away from board games and in 1975 bought my first miniature; a 25mm wizard from RalPartha. Soon I was knee deep in orcs and goblins and playing Chainmail by the weekend. This lead into D&D and by the late 70's it seemed like that's all we played.About 1990 or 91, while visiting my older brother I mentioned I had a hankering to get back into wargaming. My brother lent me his old Squad Leader stuff and within a few months I was already buying all the ASL stuff I could get my grubby little hands on. Enter the internet and game forums and soon I had helped to establish a local ASL group with about 6 or 7 other guys. Our first meeting was March 25th, 1995. I am happy to say that most of us still meet every Wednesday night at my house to play. We no longer play ASL exclusively but we still go back to our 'old faithful' often enough.Several years ago, I again got that 'hankerin'. I was really missing the fun that I had from mini's. After looking around a bit, I decided to give WHFB a try, even though, once again, I knew noone who played the game. Quickly most of our 'group' was sucked in and soon we all had multiple armies and played at least once a month, taking turns hosting. I quickly tired of the game however and moved into what I really wanted to do, and that was historical mini's. To make a long story short (too late, I know), I now have about 10,000 painted miniatures ranging from Ancients to WW2 and just about everything in between.I like DBA and BBDBA, as well as DBMM, Warmaster Ancients, DBN, Rapid Fire and Fire & Fury, just to name a few. For every rules set I have listed I have 10 more waiting to be tried.
So, this blog is very new. I hope to fill it with photos of stuff I've done and projects in progress. Like I said I've a lot of mini's to photograph and upload here so check back every now and then and see what's been added.
I dedicate this little piece of the internet to my father, who was a Marine in WW2 and scheduled to be part of the invading force of mainland Japan. Luckily they were diverted to China. My father taught all of us that history is as alive as we make it. I intend to keep it that way. Thanks dad.