Back to Sharp Practice with 40mm Peninsular

 My turn to put a game on and I went with 40mm Peninsular Sharp Practice.

A scenario straight from the rules and forces only slightly altered from the book too.

The French have a 16 man formation of line with a level 3 and level 1 leader. Another 16 man line with a level 2 and 2 6 man skirmish screens with a level 2. I add another 6 man skirmish unit with a level 1.

The French have to escort a wagon with the pay chest from one side of the table to the other, there are two entry points. The French dice for which one they come on and then for how many moves on table they get.

I am French and I get the left entry point with 3 moves on.

Steve is British he has 4 entry points, he rolls a D6 and on a one to 4 gets the numbered entry point but a 5 or 6 he gets to choose. He rolls 5 and chooses entry 2 back left.

The Allies have a 3 unit formation of British foot with a level 3 leader, a 16 man Spanish unit with a level2 a 6 man skirmish unit with level 1 and I add a 6 man rifles unit with a level1.

The difference in the forces was quite marked initially but I may have diluted this in adding the extra skirmish units.

First on the rifles deploy and fire with no effect on my Voligeurs.

My return fire is a little more effective and inflicts 3 shock.

The British line is pretty much in place now, reckon I ma going to need to find a way around this block of quality troops rather than punch through.

The Spanish then turn up to complete the Allied line.

Everyone is now on table and I am hoping I can pin the Allies wiht my left and work around the flank with my right and the convoy.

The Rifles get the worst of an exchange with the French skirmishers. 

But the French line are already taking casualties which is not encouraging.

I start to pepper the Spanish but that block of British line is completely untouched.

The Rifles are driven back with multiple casualties. But the French lien are taking a pasting from two formations of Allies.

Hit again the French formation is split as group retreat with only 2 figures left, the other is not much better off.

The convoy and my right flank formation are making progress towards the table edge but the French left is in tatters and it depends on whether the British can redeploy to pick on the fresh French right. 

Again out of time, a cracking game and easy enough given its straight out of the rule book. Fair to say the British had the edge but it was far from over and the French still had marginally more force morale than the Brits.

Good fun, thanks Steve.

A Few More 40mm and Others

I am keeping busy with extra figures for different projects but trying to harness the butterfly a little towards the 40mm project.

Winter afternoons mean the lights not so great so bare with the pictures please .

I have been trying to get a few Mongolian Horse finished for Sternburgs forces, the left figure is Copplestone on a Plastic Wargames Atlantic horse, the other two are Gripping beast Muslim Crusades cavalry with appropriate heads and modern weapons, the middle figure having a Mauser pistol and rifle across his back. Both of their horses are 3D prints from Ebay.

A couple more 40mm Spanish for the latest regiment in red facings. Starting to feel like I have broken the back of this one now with 27 of 40 painted.

Lastly a ash and Sabre British gun and Crew in 40mm. I have a second of these to do which I may try to get completed next as it closes the gap between my French and much smaller Allied forces.

Slightly better lighting today with a few more to share, the Spanish officer is Battlehonours 3d printed at 36mm which seems to be the nearest match for Perry 40mm figures, as the musketeer is, not quite as characterful as Perrys but a nice addition to mix in. The Foundry Hun on a Copplestone horse will be an addition to my 1920's Mongols with the rifle on his back supplementing his bow.

Then we have some based and finished figures.

The Polish MG crew are Woodbine Designs from Gripping Beast, take some just over half way on this next Polish regiment.

This base of Red Cavalry adds another base to a new unit with a Copplestone on the left and STP on the right mixing together quite nicely.

This is my first 40mm Mounted British Officer and is another Battlehonours 3D figure and I think looks very nice indeed.

And my latest 40mm Spanish these take the red faced battalion to 24 figures, still small but big enough to go on table if needed. I will be adding a Grenadier company to this regiment so watch out for that. The hidden drummer is 3d printed Piano Wargames Hessian with a metal Spanish head, the rest are all Perry's.

Hopefully as few more to share soon.

Take it easy and thanks for stopping by.

Back to Mexico and Spain mainly

With Partizan done I can take a break from 1920 and have a re-visit to Ol Mexico and other projects. Plenty still to paint for the wider Russian Civil War projects so will back to them soon.

I wanted a unit of the Imperial lancers in green jackets, there is a picture of them in the Osprey, but of course nobody does them.

However they are wearing simple uniforms, stable jackets and boot trousers so there are plenty of troops I can use if I am prepared to do a little surgery on the heads

This British Intervention force lancer from Perrys is ideal.

The advice I had with heads was to twist them off with plyers rather than cutting them off, this worked great and the pin vice added a small hole for the numb of the head.

I had already picked up a  couple of packs of ACW havelock heads which are ideal from Steve Barbers range.

The end result is spot on.

First bunch of new figures and I still of course have the odd figure to finish off for RCW.

Here is the conservative Mexican green lancer painted up. the quality of photo is not great but I am happy with the outcome.

Five more of these to paint and I will decide if thats enough for a tiny unit.

40mm Spanish Perry miniature. aiming to get a good 16 over the line fairly quickly.

I have quite a few Mongolian cavalry for Ungern Sternberg and the extended Russian Civil War, this chap makes in roads into a new company, another Copplestoen casting.

Copplestone red cavalryman, that 2 of the next unit of 8 done.

In other news I have a few bits and pieces coming off the workbench, still a little shiny here as they need another layer of Matt varnish.

Finishing off bits I had planned to do for Partizan, this Red Cossack will sit in a box until I can get around to the rets of his Sotnia. STP casting from Russia.

Polish MG for my partially completed regiment of Hallers Blue Army. Woodbine Miniatures.

This Battlehonours 3d figure is printed at 40mm, they have very full range for Peninsular so a good way to fill all the gaps left by Perrys. This is an officer of the 88th Connaught Rangers.

This guys will all go to fill the ranks of my third Spanish Regiment with red facings. With far more French than Allies, important I get stuck into the Spanish and British troops.

Thats it for now, some decent progress.

Thanks for stopping by.

40mm Peninsular Painting Update

Re-basing the French and Cavalry got me inspired to crack back into the 40mm Lead Mountain.

My French currently outnumber the Allies significantly, with 7 battalions to 1 British and 2 Spanish. Clearly this needs to be my focus. Whilst most of the French are in 32's and the Spanish in 40's my British unit only has 24 so first thing was to boost them.

I am however keeping up to my next Spanish regiment. I am happy to have it uniformed in more of a ragged uniform than a full uniform , a very campaigny look, lots of waistcoats and civilian kit but the larger number of troops mainly in uniform. Here are two of the same figure believe it or not in waistcoat from Perrys supported by a Piano miniatures Hessian with head swap which fits quite nicely.

I had these two Frenchies part painted so finishing them off, Paris Municipal Guard, Perrys figures.

Then seven British line, same figure different heads and trouser colours. These, along with another figure, will bring my British up to 32.

Cracking on mainly with more Spanish and the odd Spanish Municipal Guard Fusilier.

So whilst I have plenty of French I have started the PMG Fusiliers so I will get the odd one completed to keep this growing until I make a few bases up. For now not painting pompoms so I pick the troops for particular bases/companies when I have a load finished. Both Perrys of course.

I may have added too many in the red cap, but as a white faced red unit they should mix in reasonably well. Just enough variation in these figures for them to each look a bit unique.

Keeping up the theme of Spanish 40mm, here is a bunch more mainly Perry's.

These first three are French in sleeved waistcoats and their equipment will do equally well as Spanish so two have Spanish Bicornes and will mix in with my next Spanish regiment.

This next is a 3d printed Piano Wargames Hessian with the head not printed and replaced with a Spanish bonnet de police. I think it came out quite nice.

And three more Spanish in coatees, this will take me to 20 so 4 more and I can base them up and use them as a small battalion until I have some more done.

And a couple of British Light Dragoons, these are the Perry figures as they come, the rest of the troop will need some conversions for variety.

Once based up these will bring me a bit closer to trying some new rules for smaller battles/larger skirmishes.

Thanks for stopping by.