Return to ACW

Chris re-joined us after a few weeks off  so we decided a nice little ACW game was in order.

I had the Federals, 2 Brigades of 4 and 3 regiments supported by a  3 gun Battery.

Chris has the Rebs with 3 brigades each of 3 regiments supported by a 2 gun battery

Chris starts with a brigade left of centre facing my Brigade of 4 regiments, His next brigade comes on left of centre and heads for the hill being occupied by my second brigade.

I manage to get my artillery into the centre of the line with a couple of casualties and open up with 9 firing dice on the lead regiment of the third brigades of rebs coming straight up the middle at it.

My veteran Zouaves pass through the trained line in front of them and open fire into the front of the advancing brigade whilst two more regiments start to advance to envelope their left flank.

As the next set of Rebs advance out of the woods they are hit by another volley and disordered.

Meanwhile the centre brigade has lined out in front of the guns and foot and with a further volley is broken forcing a morale check with everything within 12 inches.

The next battalion in line lines out ready to charge the guns. My artillery fire is effective but they pass their morale.

The Brigadier marches to the front to lead his men in person.

With a rebel yell the Rebs charge recklessly at the guns and despite heroic resistance the gun crew are broken.

The charging unit has lost another base and is disordered so my flanking trained unit fires with half its strength inflicting more casualties.

On my left the Rebel veteran brigade closes with my trained and green troops, despite some effective firing they are closing fast and charge my extreme left hand unit which is forced to retire..

The Rebs are now formed up on my flank but despite the precarious situation I still outnumber them here so hopeful of holding them.

In the centre I get another volley into the Regiment that broke my guns and they eventually break.

We then hit the last regiment of the centre brigade lined out and leave them disordered by fire.

A further volley from my right hand three regiments decimates the two remaining Reb regiments on their left and they break, the remaining centre regiment is forced to test and also breaks.

With only their right hand veteran brigade intact to face my 7 regiments Chris concedes and we pack up.

Another fun game, bit smaller meaning we could get a result to the game and still paly through the rules.

I think these are pretty much done now. Only the Cavalry remain to eb tested once Steve has painted  a few.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mexicans sir, Faasands of em

Well maybe not thousands....

I am starting off with finished troops for a change as I make progress with this project.

Three bases of Peons with Machete (One guy with an Axe and another with a mattock), many Militia units did not have enough muskets for all and some had none at all, so these will come in very handy, whether I mix them with bases with muskets or keep them in discreet units.

Four bases of musket armed Peons sees another battalion almost complete.

I think the Wargames Atlantic 3d prints mix in here quite well.

Here are the latest lot painted, again happy with the continued progress.

Four more Imperial Mexicans leaves this battalion 4 figures short of complete. Second from left is a 3d print, the other three Perrys Bombay infantry with head swaps.

Wargames Atlantic 3d printed Mexicans, a bit more variety and the outer two have come out quite nice I think.

Eight Foundry Peons, getting well progressed with the third battalion of these now and still trying to ensure different patterns of Poncho. I have been using different base coats and primers to to try get a mix of different off whites in these units. Seems to be working.

And a few more coming off the painting table.

These three are all Perrys, the two at the back are Triple Alliance Argentinians painted as Imperial Mexican foot, this is a version of the front figure with Havelock who is a converted Bombay infantry bugler from the Second Afghan War range.

These two are 3d prints, the first one in the broad brimmed hat will be part of a second battalion of Imperial Mexicans, the other will be the last of the figures needed to finish this battalion.

Two poncho wearing Peons add a slightly different colour scheme to the Militia battalions.

And a few more.......

Two Perry Triple Alliance command figures, the left hand figure will be a Belgian Officer, the right will command my French Cavalry.

These three are the other half of a unit of Mexican Lancers, be nice to get these on table the first was painted months ago and one of the first figures I completed.

Another Peon........

These three are the start of a Zouave Battalion, I bought 16 of these already painted, very basic paint job initially, with lots of chips and some flash still on and painted over which needed removing but they have given me a head start, I like the end result so this will be another colourful unit. 

I reckon this is now well over one third complete so happy with the progress. More to share soon I hope.

Thanks for stopping by.

First Maximillian Adventure Game

As I have enough figures painted we can have a first run out with the Mexican Adventure figures, Chris already has a bunch of Republicans so we only really needed Imperial and French troops from me.

For our game a village sits off centre of the table held by an Imperial force, the Republicans have a force attacking the village and the French have sent a relief column

Steve has two groups of Imperial Mexicans with a level 2 leader in the village supported by a 6 man unit of Belgian Skirmishers and their level 1 leader.

Attacking the Village Chris has a 24 man formation Republican Line infantry with a level 2 and level 1 leader, two groups of National Guard with their level 1 leaders, a unit of Town Militia led by their Alcalde and his dog, also level 1,  2 units of dismounted cavalry skirmishers and a light gun.

Coming to rescue the Imperials are a unit of Chasseurs D'Afrique, a formation of 24 Legionnaires with their level 2 and level 1 leaders and a skirmish unit of Legionnaires led by Sergeant Knocker.

First on are the dismounted cavalry skirmishers who currently have no target.

The first objective for both sides are the chocolate biscuits which have already nearly gone (I finish

these off to avoid any conflict)

  

The Republican Rurales deploy and fire an ineffective volley at the Belgians, as three command cards come out next one after the other this triggers a response, Chris rolls 9 and charges 3 moves towards the Belgians leaving the Rurales dangerously exposed.

The Republican gun deploys in effective range and fires, it causes little damage initially but it has the range.

As the rest of the Republicans deploy Steve starts to wonder if we have lost the cards for the French, tiffin is drawn before any French manage to deploy on table.

The Belgians however do get to fire at the Rurales causing two casualties and 4 shock.

Next the Imperial foot fire at the Rurales, another casualty and 4 more shock cause them to break and Chris loses 1 force morale as the Rurales leg it to the table edge.

Finally the French relief starts to appear with Sgt Knocker leading his Legion skirmishers followed by the Chasseurs D'Afrique.

The Republican regulars open their first volley onto the village and the Imperials start to take casualties.

The Belgians have now taken 4 casualties and have 3 shock forcing them to fall back.

However the French get 4 command cards and this allows the Chasseurs to get two consecutive moves sweeping around the flank of the Republicans. 

The regulars unleash another 25 dice volley.

One unit of Imperial Mexicans takes 3 casualties and multiple shock forcing it to retreat from the village along with its commander.

Meanwhile the Cavalry card is out again and they charge the Republicans, by bad luck (or good if your French) the troops in their way are the poorest on table, Militia led by the Alcalde and his dog.

Net result is 5 Mexican Militia and their commander casualties and a broken unit with another 2 force morale removed for Chris, they do ok though and take two Chasseurs D'Afrique with them.

The Republican left is not looking too good with the cavalry poised, however if the Republican guns card comes out first all may yet be saved.

To slow the cavalry down Chris pushed a unit of dismounted cavalry skirmishers through the long grass and volleys them, unfortunately the firing is ineffective and you have to wonder if they can run away in time.

The Legion formation at last turns up, perhaps someone found some Tequila on the march and they stopped to finish it off?

The Chasseurs card is drawn first and they charge the dismounted cavalry. f

The Cavalry take another casualty but the skirmishers lose 5 troopers and their leader. This leads to three tests for loss of leader, loss of melee and breaking, Chris rolls badly and loses 5 more force morale reducing him to just one and losing all the red command cards from the deck.

Not surprising next turn the Cavalry come out first and they bounce on to the gun and wipe them out removing the last force morale. Its a French/Imperial win but we play through the deck.

The Legion advance again, two turns with no red cards coming out at all.

Knockers Legion skirmishers get their first shot away at the Republican regulars with minimal effect.

The triumphant cavalry pull back to regroup.

The Legion formation volley the Republican regulars inflicting the first casualties of the game on them.

The last card sees the National Guard step from behind the regulars and volley the Imperials, the casualties and shock rack up forcing them out of the village, unfortunately too little too late for the Liberals.

A resounding victory for the French in the end, the Chasseurs D'Afrique earning their soubriquet of the Blue Butchers. As often happens the French managing to snatch victory from the Jaws of defeat as the second half of the game turned on its head despite the Imperial Garrison almost being wiped out.

Fun game and great to get the beginnings of the collection on table for a first time.

Thanks Chris and Steve and as always thank you for stopping by.