Action on the Frontier!

Mise en Scene:

It is 1759. The siege of Fort Niagara has begun. The British have sent our small ranging parties to scout for any French relief forces. They are small companies of Rangers, troops from the New York Regiment and light infantry from the line battalions in the area.

One has blundered into the path of the van of the force of Captain François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery and is now racing for the relative safety of the lines at La Belle Famille. A large party of militia, Compagnies Franches and Iroquois.

I'll be making the rules up as I go along.

The raiders appear on the table.

 They will move 4+d6" per move. -3" in difficult terrain.

The British Lines - formed regular troops fiore with added effect.

The objective for the British player - reach the British Lines.

The French mass

 The Freench task is to run the raiders down and destroy them before they reach their lines.

 There are a lot of them. The British Light infantry have elected to run down the portage road, whilst the Rangers have entered the woods. As a result they have the Iroquis hot on their heels.

French Regulars are just out of range.

 The pursued elect to keep on running. The Light infantry have widened their lead slightly and are just outside of the musket range of the French regulars. The Iroquis are gaining on the Rangers - indeed, they are within musket range, but having moved, cannot fire. What will the Rangers do? Try to out-run them? The Indians can run as fast as them. The Rangers are better shots, though.

Pincer Movement?

 The Indians win their initiative roll. Their front rank is within short musketry range. They need a 6 to inflict a casualty. Ten dice are rolled. A single six results. A ranger bites the dust whilst his pals scurry along. The Light Bobs roll well and wheel into the fringe of the forest. The Militia and CFdlM start to sweep around toward them.

The Indians suffer three casualties from return fire from the Rangers. The Militia, having moved in conformity with the CFdlM take two of their own from the British Lights.

 The French move up to the limit of long range. The CFdlM take three casualties at the hands of the Light Bobs. The Militia having moved up with them cannot return fire either. Unseen by the camera, the Indians have attempted to charge the Rangers but have just fallen short. The Rangers give a withering close range fire - needing 5s or 6s to kill at lose range they lay 5 of the Red Men low.

Indians bowled over by a volley.

The move started off with the English winning the initiative and electing to fire. Fifteen muskets spoke. Three Indians fell. oh dear me. Because...

The Militia promptly charged into the Light Infantry who had been depleted by very effective fire from the CFdlM.

Ouch!

Ample revenge for being shot up last move.

And so did the Indians likewise charge the Rangers.

Who fared extremely poorly in the ensuing Melee.

By this stage both the British units had fallen below fifty percent of their original strength and I thought it best to draw a merciful veil over the susequent proceedings. More tomorrow.

The All-Highest and his pals

Just a last few inclusions in the painting challenge: Stadden 1871-1914 "Germans". Ha! We know who they really are.

You know, all-Highest, I bet you're taller than even Blucher with that hat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, really?

 And some better pictures of the Hungarian Army.

Like my bedsheet camoflage?

 I've enough to do a battalion for Rapid Fire, now. Finns next.

Strelets Hungarian Infantry

 The Royal Hungarian Army at Stalingrad, figures by Strelets.

 I am loath to do this kind of photography. Flash photography done at night rarely looks terribly good and one has to fiddle the results so much in Photoshop afterwards that I myself doubt how accurate a reflection of reality they are. Nonetheless.

 They were all painted over a white undercoat. The basic colours - the flesh, the uniform colour - went on mostly as washed-on, thin coats of heavily diluted colour which I then ink-washed to pick up the detail. The black items (boots, gunmetal bits, balaclavas) were all painted a mid gray then given a thin wash of black. I find that this technique models the shapes nicely. I stumbled across it whilst painting my Alzheimer/Bavarians and Prussians.

 I used a little selective layering, mostly on the packs and a little dry-brushing to pull up the textures of the fur garments.

These prone infantry have yet to be varnished.

Best thing about these figures for me is the unusual subject and that you more or less get a battalion in a box. 

Thought Bubble

Wouldn't it be great, a really fun project to do this:

Only about 50 figures all up, and I do hear that the RSM French have recently been remastered, too. You'll need a stockade, two buildings a gun and a crew made from a couple of militia men. Maybe a few conversions - the French NCO, the walking officer in the rear, the pointing and loading Brits.

More crappy figures

Slovaks busily collaborating in Fascist aggression

On the topic of ropey-looking castings, I have been painting a few of my old Raventhorpe Slovaks these past few days.

They look pretty unpromising in the bare metal, but respond well to some washed on block colours followed by another wash of Gryphonne Sepia and a little lining-in with a dark brown.

I think the trick with them is that they are quite uncluttered with detail. Where there is some, it is sculpted in quite sharp relief which helps the washes get to where they need to go. The areas that are smooth are very smooth which with a good matt white undercoat also helps the painting along.

Three PS's:

One - I like the two artillerymen playing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in the centre there, don't you?

Two - I painted my 100th and 101st Spencer Smith Franco-Prussian War figures last night. My Painting challenge targets are bang on time for once!

Three - It was Erin's 4th birthday yesterday.



Erin's new scooter. She looks rather pleased with it, doesn't she?



I should have known this would happen!



Recent Painting - Off to the Russian Front

BT-7 Light Tanks - Pegasus

 This is what happens when I read the wrong book at the wrong time - in this case Anthony Beevor's "Stalingrad".

BA-6 Armoured Car by Ostmodels

 The BA-6 had been floating about in a box for years, slowly shedding bits as it got knocked around. One quick refurb later...

M30 122mm Howitzer - Zvezda

 I kept the little pegs under the wheels as I'm still thinking about mounting it on the base it came with.

T-70 Light Tank - Plastic Soldier Company

 Not just looking at Stalingrad - I like the Richard Marsh scenario for Kohlm, a winter 1941-2 scenario where a German defensive "hedgehog" must hold out against powerful, but uncoordinated Soviet attacks.

StuIG 33 - Armourfast

 Nice model, shame about the tracks! Great fun to paint though. I'll try to source some stowage as I think this kit really needs some. Decals, too.

Praga Trucks - Ready to Roll

I really like the RTR products. I need another seven of these for my Slovak Rapid Brigade for Rapid Fire and look forward to painting them.

In the short term, I'm looking forward to obtaining and painting some T-26 tanks and some PSC StuG III assault guns.

Don't worry though, I'm still working my way through my Alzheimers and Germans. Oh, and the Fort is now finished! Not totally distracted.

Strelets 1/72 Plastics - not that bad are they?

My go-to place, my number one bible for plastic figures is of course the Plastic Soldier Review website. And why not? they have uniquely broad coverage, thoughtful reviews and their opinions are at the very least well-backed up by solid sources.

I do part ways with them a little on aesthetics, though. Seems to me that they have a very fixed view of what's acceptable in terms of figure scales and sculpting standards. Revell, Esci, Zvezda are at the one end and LW, Odemars and Strelets are at the other. And then there's their opinion on Valiant Miniatures!

I think this is a bit unfair on poor old Strelets at least. To me they look more like some brands of metal miniature and I think they have a degree of charm, and even a certain elan, especially when set against say Raventhorpe.

I am looking at them in the context of doing some Eastern Front gaming in the future and have to say that their ranges of "Winter War" Russians and Finns are pretty attractive. I think it would be possible to do worse than their ranges of "Stalingrad" Hungarians, Romanians and Italians too. This is especially so for me in the light of their having a German set coming soon as well.

A Butterfly flaps a lazy wing

I don't know if this is a butterfly or the mere revival of a very old project.

I became interested a long time ago (1986?-93?) in "Case Green", Nazi Germany's plan to invade Czechoslovakia at the time of the so-called Munich Crisis.
I involved myself in ridiculous amounts of ferreting for details on German war plans, orbats for both sides, the Czech fortification systems and so on. I made the happy acquaintance of the Fujimi 38t and Esci 35t tank kits.
I ran across Richard Marsh's Slovak Rapid Brigade in an old copy of Wargames Illustrated and started to track down this company called "Raventhorpe" with their inelegantly sculpted, seperate head Slovaks who I intended with all cunning to paint as Czechs per the plate in the Funcken on WW2.
Happy days. Eventually though it all fell apart due to a lack of readily accessible information.
Times though have now changed and I have been doodling with some Barbarossa modelling brought about by Pegasus Minis fast builds and am quietly working away on my Slovak Fast brigade.

However it does occour to me that Alzheim is not unlike Bohemia-Moravia geographically and that way back then, I really enjoyed building my old Czech aircraft from those KP kits (which I still have a few of and are fairly cheap and abundant on eBay). I am also struck by the amount of Aero, Avia and Letov aircraft Alzheim bought from 1934 on. Her use of LT vz 35 tanks and OA vz 30 armoured cars is documented only in a few extremely grainy photos from the period, but the information is there. A little bird also tells me that Alzheimer troops wore uniforms very like those of the Hungarian or perhaps the Romanian armies of the time as well. Internet searches have given me a better understanding of the types of light and heavy "objects" which made up the Czech Alzheimer fortifications.

It may well be that Alzheim was not absorbed into Germany in 1866 after all.

Which brings me in my roundabout way to my purpose. Does anyone own a copy of Command Magazine #24? It's main feature is a hypothetical scenario on Case Green. I used to own it, but seem only to have retained the hex map and the tokens.

In praise of Plastics

I've given myself a couple of weeks off the 1866 Duchy of Alzheim project as I could sense a little burn-out starting to leak in around the edges.

In the meantime I decided to scratch an itch and do some fast-build plastic kits from Pegasus and PSC for a hoot.

I have to say i'm really impressed by the price and quality of these little beauties. I thre together four BT 7s from pegasus in the space of an evening and then spent the next 3-4 days paintng them up. Wow, were they nice. They compare very favourably with the old Ostmodels ones I'd been considering rehabilitating. I'm looking forward to their BA armoured car. I think thy will be very superior to the Ostmods one I refurbished whilst painting the BAs...

Pics to follow.

Not Quite the Dambusters

I and a colleague are hoping to put on a demo game a couple of times this year based on "Operation Chastise", the attacks on the German Ruhr Dams by 617 Squadron.

I've come up with the following draft of the rules which may be viewed here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8bTJzn9BJDfcTJlWGpiazZnNU0/edit?usp=sharing

I've not made it entirely clear in them, but it's a public participation game where three members of the public can fly one of three Lancaster models at a dam whilst under attack from German night-fighters.

You'll sit in a little cockpit arrangement where are recorded your dynamically-changing speed and height as the jerries knock the tripe out of your crate.

Any feedback would be most welcome.

Yes, I'll be using 1/72 Airfix kits.

No, we won't be using that codeword.

The story so far...

A nice little force, just the thing.

 Happy Easter - I hope everyone has enjoyed the break. Easter Sunday was an unexpected bonus for me in terms of free time, so I made best use of it to finish my third Prussian unit.

 So here they are, posed next to the artillery as they are reviewed by their Brigadier and Prince Bismarck (no less!).

What next - more Infantry or... some Uhlans?

 I believe that the dismal Silesian tavern they are marching past is called "The Electors Arms" or some such.

That way - over yonder.

Werke XXXVII

I had the day off yesterday and it seemed a good opportunity to try and make some progress on my Alzheimer fort.

The la Rosee Regiment line the firing parapet.

 It's still needing a little work done. The gate in the wall that encloses the gorge of the work needs painting, as does some of the brick-work on the interior face of that same wall. The firing ports of the caponiers need painting on as well. I need to make a little foot-bridge to go across the ditch.

I can't help but feel the need for a little toy flag.

The next part of the painting that I envisage is where I am starting to quake a little, jelly that I am. I am thinking of taking the same green, darkening it a little and using it thinned to an almost-wash do define the shapes of the fort a little. For example, I'm thinking of running a line down the counterscarp where it meets the caponier.  A line along the base of tyhe scarps and counterscarps where they meet the floor of the ditch.  Putting a line in at the rear base of the parapets.  All that.

I'm also thinking of giving all the green areas the lightest drybrush with a yellow-ochrey-caramel colour and an additional going-over with a cool brown to add a little more visual interest. Too much with the lining in? Dry-brushing will tend to have the effect of emphasising the base materials from which the fort was built.

Nearly time to start thinking abut rules.

I Love a Parade

 Some little while ago I made an eBay purchase of 21 Prussian bandsmen. They arrived yesterday in the mail. Lovely figures they are, although at 40mm tall they won't be appearing next to my Spencer Smiths on the battlefield.

Can anyone make a guess as to the manufacturer? I'd like to try to track a few more down to flesh out the band. The lone cymbalier looks a little folorn.

Now all I need is a little bandstand.

Happy Birthday To Me

Alzheims first and only (?) gunboat.

 Well, it's my bithday and what better way to clebrate than with a little modelling? Herewith I present a start made on Alzheims riverine gunboat. Potent she is with her twin Cowper-Cole turrets, each mounting a pair of 64PR MLRs. Yes, she's smaller than the paddlesteamer, Ross. Lesson learned!

Our almost completed fortlet - Werke XXXVII

 Needing only a lick of paint and a rear wall across the gorge as well as a bridge for the moat is Werke XXXVII

Exercising in the ditch of Werke XXXVII - Regiments la Rosee and von Prittwitz

 Speak of the devil, the part-painted rear wall. It needs some work on the pillars and door as well as a light wash over the bricks to tome down the white of the mortar. Getting there. The bricks were stamped on with a balsa rod trimmed at one end to the correct cross-section.

The von Prittwitz  Regiment

And of course, the piece de la resistance, Alzheim's newest infantry regiment, von Prittwitz's. With a history going back at least to the Turkish Wars, she remains one of Alzheims oldest and most famous units.

Progress Chart

Here's a little chart that lets me measure my progress and status of my various orders for the "Alzheim and the German Unification" fuss. I think when everythig is nice and green it will be time to kick the campaign off.

Morning Constitutional

Willie Prince Bismarck

 I've not yet quite decided who this is in my reality. One of the Willie franco-Prussian War range, I painted him per the relevant Osprey plate of Prince Bismarck.

A nice figure and very easy to paint. With the addition of some binoculars or a telescope or whatever, and with a little arm-bending, he might serve both sides of our little conflict. Heavens, I could even see him painted as Redvers Buller in 1899.

The Royal Artillery

Siege mortar on firing platform

 The Royal Prussian Artillery, that is!

Krupp Field Gun

 And, yes, rather obviously I just painted five new gunners and only have the one backdrop!

Positional Artillery

I call this last gun, Long Prince Bismarck Otto. Really snappy. Maybe the chappie with the rammer needs a box to stand on.

Free Beer!!!

No, not really.

So, what's going on in the dear old Duchy of Alzheim I hear you ask?

Well, let me settle down in my creaking 1960s Parker Lounge Chair (ah, the Danish design school) and expound. It's what I do best.

First item: I know you are just fizzing with excitement over the fort-building project that I have on the go. The basic earthwork has been glued with some thoroughness to a large base board and a polystyrene glacis has been impatiently jigsawed together from fissiparous lumps of the accursed material and likewise glued in place.

A VERY long time was spent in picking up the assorted scraps created by the application of bread-knife, hot wire cutter and sanding block as I surformed it into the gentle slope we expect from such a piece of military engineering.

After the whole thing was looking at least fairly uniform, I then splodged "Polyfilla" from my trusty Polyfilla Gun over the whole surface, smoothed the whole off with a spatula and then my wet hands. It was glorious fun. Even more so since it was done out of sight of the children who I am sure would have wanted to get in on the act.

That first coat has spent the past couple of days drying thoroughly and I hope it will get another tonight when I get home from work. Tomorrow is a day off for me, so I will be running to ye olde hardware shoppe to purchase a new bottle of PVA/White Glue so as to be able to stick down the ramparts and hollow traverses.

State Secret: Werke XXXVII

Awaiting a 2nd coat of splodge.

Second item: Excellent fun as I find building fortifications, earthworks and additional sundries, we do need troops to fight in, among around and over them. I now am the proud posessor of one completed Alzheimer and one Prussian unit of infantry. A second unit of prussians are on the workbench as I write with a third in plastic bags as well. I have also started assembling and priming a gun and crew for them as well.

Prussians occupy a small, inoffensive tabac.

The new boys are at the faces-collar-and-tunic stage at the moment. Lots of gray next. Will I dazzle you with a painting article soon? If you want me to, I shall. I could even do pictures

A popular spot for a march-past

I am making steady progress, which always feels nice. Remember, an hour a day. Every day.

Third item: ohh, pretty.

http://www.indiegogo.com/28mmprussian

I have a stash of the 28mm hard plastic HaT Napoleonic Bavarians, too. Quite a big stash. Take them, throw in some Stadden Napoleonic mounted officer types and ADCs &c... Is it becoming time to think about Alzheims' role in the Napoleonic Wars? Say yes. Go on.

Fourth item: Little Wars will be held on Saturday May the 25th at the Mornington Secondary College. I am hoping do put on a demonstration game, hopefully out of pre-existing materials for the greatest part to speed development along. We are looking at a fictional Russian attempt on Melbourne in about 1885 and will be defending Fort Gellibrand against sundry cossacks, marine infantry and grunt infantry and the Vladimir Monomakh with the cream of Melbourne Society, the HMVS Cerberus, HMVS Albert and various torpedo boats.

Come along if you can. There will be forts, disappearing artillery, a monitor, redcoats and Russians. All in a setting not so far from the forts designed to defend melbourne in the 19th Century. Good fun for all boys aged from 8 to 80 and even for the more intelligent sort of girl, just to coin a phrase.

Alzheim's Girdle forts 1867

Ballonists' eye view of Werke XXXVII

 Loosely based on the Friedrichsau work of the federal Fortress of Ulm in the 1850s, is this engineers model of one of Alzheim's several outer works for the defence of the city of Alz.

A simple polygonal work with a wall capable of being swept by rifle fire both from an infantry firing step on the parapet frontally and in enfilade from the caponiers (flankenturms to the Germans) projecting into the ditch. Currently missing from this model is the brick wall enclosing the gorge of the work. It was made deliberately thin to allow it to be easily breached by artillery in the main fortress should this outwork be taken.

Prussian infantry about to suffer a dreadful fate in the assault

Some interpretations of this kind of work in the Alzheimer context also incorporate a keep capable of dominating the interior of the work and a square, detatched caponier standing in the ditch to defend the gorge wall.