Triumph of the Will Russian Civil War AAR

Had a cracking game at Chris's barn wargames room today, pitching the Red hordes against the White counter revolutionaries.


We use the Two Fat Lardies Triumph of the Will rules, suitably watered down for large tables and large numbers of troops. The table was 14 x 6 and I had designed the game for either 4 or 6 players so 5 worked just fine.


I did promise not to mention that Steve Shann commanded the Red army so hopefully I will remember not to mention his name anywhere.

The premise of the game has a Red army in retreat, a small force of White Guards have blocked their retreat and the Reds must break through before the pursuing Whites catch and destroy them.

The Red forces were split into two Cavalry brigades and 4 foot brigades as follows.

2 X 9 Red Navy, aggressive regulars

2 x 8 Siberian Rifles, marksmen, regulars 

1 x MG

3 x 8 Red foot trained
2 x 7 Ex-POWS's trained

1 X MG

9 x 7 Red foot Militia (split into 2 brigades)


3 x 7 Red Cavalry trained

3 X 8 Red Cavalry trained

2 x Guns

1 x Aeroplane on the roll of a six.

1 x Armoured Car

The White Army had 3 foot and 2 Horse Brigades on table with a small Horse and foot brigade off table.

Blocking force

3 x 9 foot regulars aggressive

2 x 8 Polish Lancers

1 x MG

1 Gun

Pursuing Force

3 x 8 foot trained

3 x 8 foot trained

1 x Gun

1 x Tchanka

2 x 8 Cossacks Trained Aggressive

1 x 7 Cossacks Trained Aggressive

Off table

2 x 9 foot regulars aggressive

2 x 7 Mongol Horse Aggressive Militia

 

1 x armoured car

1 x aeroplane on roll of a six



 

 

 

  

 

 The Reds elected to leave their two Cavalry Brigades with both guns as rear guard with a Militia Brigade protecting their flanks as they took all their best Infantry bolstered by both MG's and the armoured car in an effort to bulldoze through the defending force.


As the White pursuers swept onto the Red rearguard the Red commander (Steve Shann) looks on pensively wondering if the rear guard has the fire power to slow the Whites.

 Move 2 and just as the Reds (Commanded by Steve!) think that things cant get any worse a flanking force of two Mongolian Cavalry units and two white officers units appear on their flank. Oh dear! was the cry.

At this point the Whites depress the reds further by rolling a 6 for their aircraft and a white plane (Yes I know I picked the wrong one up) sweeps into the red ranks, fortunately for the Reds ,Jerry promptly shot it down.

 Mean while as the Mongolians sweep onto the defending Militia, the hidden Polish lancers launch an attacked from behind their hill enveloping Chris's poor militia with unsurprising results.

 Whilst Jerrys two Brigades steamroller on knocking the odd casualty off the white defenders.

 The red left wing attack desolved into small bands of broken troops, however the charge of the various White cavalry sees them gradually shot down to small badly damaged units themselves so something of a stalemate.

 John's Polish lancers are reduced from 2 units of 8 to one of 2 and the other of 3, having destroyed three units of red infantry in the process.

 Meanwhile the red cavalry has charged into Richards pursuing Cossacks, but the quality of the Cossack Cavalry sees off the reds, the Whites at this point manage to roll for another aircraft and this one is not driven off, leaving the red Cavalry badly mauled.

 The patch of green above is the spot where the red cavalry was before the White biplane swooped, meanwhile the White cavalry finds itself sat in front of the red guns at pointblank range, again the results are fairly predictable.

 As the clock reaches 3.30 Jerry's Reds finally break through sweeping aside the remnants of Johns White Guards and is ready to march off table with the Whites far behind.


Chris's 2 brigades of Reds are almost annihilated but have held the left flank so that Jerry's troops break through almost untouched.


Johns defenders are reduced to one unit of almost untouched White guards whilst the rest of his cavalry is almost all destroyed.


The Red Cavalry is almost as badly off with only one units from 6 even vaguely capable of fighting, they have however put the pursuing Cossacks beyond the ability to carry the fight on.


Three almost untouched White foot brigades with their supporting Tchanks and Armoured car are still in pursuit but are a good 6 feet behind Jerry's Reds.


Only a third of the Reds will escape, but the remaining Whites are too far away to stop them, a great game thoroughly enjoyed by all, thanks gents.

So there you have it, a very bloody affair and whilst the Reds escaped, for a win I think a couple more units would have needed to escape.  A draw? I will leave it to Chris, Jerry, Richard, John and Steve Shann to argue it out.


thanks for reading as ever, next up will be a couple of GNW command bases.

Russian Horse Grenadiers

So the latest unit back from the basing department is a unit of Russian Horse Grenadiers.


Only finished painting them last week but they jumped the queue as the basing department prefers basing Cavalry!


So these are all Ebor miniatures, the command pack is the same as the standard Dragoon one, the troopers are 2 different figures in a 3 figure pack.


They are based on Kropatov's horse Grenadier regiment from the Osprey and is a simple but bright uniform.

 

I also have 2 command bases back which I will add to the blog soon and an upcoming Russian Civil War Game on Sunday that I hope too have an After Action Report for early next week.


Thanks for reading look forward to sharing some more with you soon.

Workbench update

Hi all, as I don't have anything back finished from the basing department (although I am assured some command bases are complete) I thought a quick update on the figures I have been finished off over the last couple of weeks would be in order.


The first nit is Saxon foot regiment Pistoris first battalion. When based this will take me to 4 battalions. I am hoping that the pair of casualty figures on the right will look particularly effective.

 Next is the first battalion of Russian foot completed. These are all Ebor figures. The flags from Reiver Castings.

 I also have the Russian horse grenadiers ready. The basing department is home for the weekend so these might jump the basing que.

 Slightly randomly a Swedish Dragoon Drummer.  Thinking f using this fella with the Livdragoner regiment.

 A Cossack of unknown manufacturer. I still have another two units of Russian Cossacks to paint plus some foot Cossacks.

 And just so you all know I have not forsaken them, the Swedes are still making it through.

 These will be the second battalion of Life Guards, the first battalion being at York on the basing bench for the basing department. These six are the Ebor command pack. The photography not so great on these, I snapped them tonight without the benefit of natural light, but they were finished and I thought why not.........

 Then 2 of the old foundry range which stands the test of time quite well.

 Surprisingly the Foundry figures don't lookout of place with the Ebor figures.

Hopefully have an update with the the Russian Horse Grenadiers soon.


Thanks for reading.

Basing Great Northern War Saxons

So I promised a post on how I approach basing.


Now I know most of you are aware that I have a basing department working away in the cellar here, but I did teach her all I know. When I finished this unit of Saxon Cavalry I decided that I couldn't wait for the basing department to come home from University in York and add these to the waiting list so it seemed two birds with one stone was the way forward.


So Beusts Curassier finished, I glue the figures to laser cut MDF bases. for my Great Northern War collection I am using 50mm by 800mm deep for all units. It can be a bit tight on width but gives that densely packed formation look I wanted. The depth allows you to shift position of troops and to some extent makes up for the lack of width. It also means that all the models are inside the base and protected from my fat figures and those of my fellow wargamers.

 I use black grout as the basic media for my basing, Black means if it chips its not as visible, I do find however that a new pot of this can be a bit too sloppy, I like it when it is a bit drier and so gives some grain when it dries, this is important for the finish as you will see.

 I then add fine fish tank gravel. I have lots of this from all the tropical fish I have kept over the years but cat litter (ideally unused!) is a good substitute if you dont happen to have any gravel.

 I scatter it on and press it in slightly with my basing knife. No need for glue it will set in the grout. The best knife I have found for tis was an old penknife blade which snapped off. Its short narrow and pointed so gets into all those awkward places. However as this has been nicked by the basing department and currently resides in York I used a butter knife on this occasion. Shh don't tell the wife!

 Over the radiator it took about 2 hours to dry. At this point I am painting the base coat which is Saddle brown by colour party. Making sure I get in all the nooks and crannies.

 I then add a wet brush skimmed over the top using ECW Buff. I use a flat brush which is pretty bristly and get plenty on. It doesn't want to be too wet, ideally the base coat will still come through quite well.

 

 I then add a dry brush of light stone, you can use any ivory or plain linen type colour though. For this its a much lighter touch. The brush is lightly dipped in the paint and the paint wiped off. Then just the lightest of brushes over, perhaps slightly heavier on the gravel to bring the rocks out. I find that the three colours adds some depth to the basing.

 

 We are now ready to add the grass tufts and bushes. I personally like to use lots of different colours and the odd flower bush to add a dash of colour. Others prefer a limited pallet of colours, each to their own. I use lots of different tufts but most are purchased from ebay and are fairly cheap. I find using tweezers or similar to get into awkward places works for me, the basing department has smaller fingers than mine so doesn't need them. The tufts are already self adhesive so no need for any glue.

 And there you have it. The tufts cover a multitude of sins where the wet and dry brush might have been too heavy. Some people prefer a grey brown earth, the process though could be exactly the same with different base coat colours to kick off.

And there you have it, the finished article. I am pretty happy with how these came out and hope this is in some way useful to one or two out there.


The next Saxon foot and my first Russian foot are nearly ready so hopefully have a workbench update with these very soon.


Thanks for reading.

GNW Saxon Cavalry Regiment

Hi, having painted the last of the Saxon Curassier's for Beast's regiment, I decided I would get them based up and also photo the basing process. I will do a separate Post on how I base but for now I have some images of the finished unit. I will almost certainly do another 9 man unit of these to follow.


Many of the Curassier units that fought in the major engagements had yellow or buff facings and I was keen to add a unit with a contrast to the buff gloves and red coats. Beaust's fought at Fraustadt so I am happy that they fought in at least some of the major engagements in the earlier part of the war. Their Black facings are an ideal contrast and the saddle cloths also set them off quite nicely.


Wargaming chum and fellow Great Northern War enthusiast Truls has also recently painted this unit and has a post on his blog here http://apartmentofwar.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/beust-regiment.html
initially I had planned to try a different unit, but the colour scheme for this one was too tempting so sorry Truls!

 The figures, flag and flag pole are all Warfare Miniatures and are very dynamic. I bought this as an 18 man regiment and the price was pretty good too. You can only tell on some figures but they do all have a breastplate under their coats.


I specifically chose to add a pack each of bareheaded and floppy hats to the regiment (Warfare allow you to pick and choose codes within the deal) to give them a slightly more irregular look. The arms are all separate you get enough to do nine with pistols and nine with Swords. I intend to do both lots with Pistols ideally, so hopefully I can figure this out when I get a load of Swedish Cavalry soon as they may come with extra Pistol arms I can swap.

 Below gives you a view of how the figures sit on the bases.  I wanted the unit to have the feel of a solid wall of horseflesh pounding down but not be as structured as the Swedish Wedge.

So exceptionally pleased with this unit and I am looking forward to the release of the Swedish Cavalry.


I hope to have a further post soon showing my process for basing using how I based this unit for the pictures.


For now thanks for reading.

Workbench

So, lots of posts but not much around painting progress. I have managed to get a few things over the line so thought I would share the latest.


I have 5 more Ebor Russians completed. I reckon that's 4 more to do and the first battalion is complete

Two Saxon standard bearers for Pistoris's regiment.  Intending to do 2 battalions of these. Each Brigade then being two Regiments each of two battalions.

 Then a further three Saxons for the same unit. These are a Warfare Casualty, an Ebor seargent and a Wargames Factory private. Again 4 more figures and this battalion is complete.

 The 5 more Cavalry for Beusts regiment. These are all Warfare and are the troopers with Cuirass under their coats. Really enjoyed doing these. They are also the rest of the unit for the 4 I painted as part of my post on how I paint.

 And here are all 9 of the first unit of Beusts. I intend to use these  to show how I approach basing. Part way through already so keep an eye out for that real soon.

 Lastly a couple of Foundry foot Cossacks. My plan is to have a regiment of Cossacks on foot, mainly in grey coats. These guys are a cheat. I picked them up painted from Ebay. The colours and style of painting are very similar to mine and I decided that they would help kick start my unit of Cossacks with some minor additions, I added highlights to the paining then dry brushed the hair, moustaches and caps.

So two more posts to follow shortly. The first will be the Basing post using the Saxon cavalry and then I will do a separate post with the finished unit and some background on these Cavalry.


That's it for now, thanks for reading, see you soon.