Mongolians Completed

After the recent big game I decided I need to finish off my Mongolians for the Mad Baron.

As part of this I have rebased two leaders, one of which is the Mad Baron himself and then added a third leader on foot. All three are Copplestone Castings.

With the below you can see the outer two figures are Fireforge Mongolians and the inner two rebased Copplestone. The right hand figure has a modern rifle slung over his back to add some modern context.

With the next six 4 are Copplestone and the 4th and 5th from left are Fireforge plastic, they mix in reasonably well.

The figure with his bow raised is my favourite of the Plastic Mongolians.

These will all come in handy in finishing off the civil war collection.

More to come Im sure.

Defence in Depth Peninsular 40mm AAR

 Chris Charlton invited me to the East Leeds club for a game and we decided 40mm Peninsular using Sharp Practice would be the way forward.

Both Chris Charlton and Chris Flowers would be playing and as Umpire I would join in in a limited way.

I decided to play the defence in depth scenario from the rulebook, the Spanish would deploy forward with the British deployment point about 18 inches behind, the French have to capture the Spanish deployment point with the British needing to get forward and support he Spanish to stop it being over run.

Chris Flowers commanded a 40 man company of Irish in Spanish service in a single formation with 3 units of Guerilla skirmishers supporting.

The Supporting British led by me had one group of 8 line and 3 groups of 6 Rifle skirmishers.

The French had a formation of 32 line, another of 16 Grenadiers and a further of 24 Paris Municipal Guard Grenadiers, supported by 5 groups of voltiguers. 

So the French have 102 foot and the Allies 84, but the Allies can stand fire rather than move whilst the French need to get themselves forward to take the objective and the rifles definately make up for a number of troops.

The French Ligne come out first and march straight for the Irish, for the Allies the Guerillas deploy forward into the trees on either flank whilst the Irish march two moves forward and halt to await the French.

French Skirmishers deploy ahead of the Ligne formations and begin a firefight with the Guerillas, an uneven firefight as the Guerillas have cover whilst the French do not.

Behind the Spanish the British Rifles press forward as quickly as they can to support the Guerillas on the flanks, only French Grenadiers are left behind as the troops close with each other.

The French Legere skirmishers press forward giving cover to the Paris Municipal Guard Grenadiers and firing into the Guerillas as they go.

The French Ligne and Paris MG press forward with the Grenadiers still left behind as they fail to activate. With skirmishers covering most of their front the Parisians are taking very little fire whilst the French Ligne and being nibbled away at by the Guerillas and the Spanish line with the Rifles soon to join in as they close the range.

The Guerilla's start to inflict casualties on the French Ligne who press on into the storm of lead. Major Dupont leading from the front.

The Grenadiers finally get moving, they are the best of Chris C's troops and he can now feed them in where they are needed most. He pushes them to his left where two Guerilla skirmisher bands and annoying the Ligne.

The rifles press forward looking to cover the flanks of the Hibernia Regiment, they move quickly with their skirmisher movement bonus.

The two units of Guerillas are bit harder to get rid of than Chris expected, they lasted no time at all in our last game, but being in woods they are two harder to hit than line troops and are taking some winkling out.

The rifles reach the flanks of the Hibernia regiment and fire a volley into the French Ligne adding to their woes as shock mounts and they havnt fired a shot.

The French Ligne finally open fire at long range and the Spanish formation starts to take casualties. The Spanish respond and hit both the Ligne and Paris Municipal Guard. They also manage to knock the French Commander off his horse and the French loose a morale point.

Further firing and all the Allied troops are concentrating on the line and casualties mount, their commander Major Dupont is hit again and this time looses a point of command and a force morale point alongside his light wound. 

The Grenadiers finally get into action and a close range volley drives off one Guerilla band, forcing a  test which Chris F passes.

The French Ligne are now in real trouble, despite the loss of one band of Guerillas they are still under fire from the remaining unit, the rifles and the Hibernia regiment. The commander being out of action twice has not helped as he has been unable to remove shock for at least 3 turns.

The Spanish take another Volley from the Grenadiers but survive to fight on., the last of the rifles has joined the other Guerilla unit on the left flank and is keeping the French skirmishers busy. Whilst Chris C has covered the advance of his Paris Muncipal guard with skirmishers meaning the casualties were low, they are now unable to join in the firefight as they are blocked by their own troops.

A further volley into the French Ligne causes more mayhem and the leader is hit a third time. His luck however has run out and Major Dupont rises to heaven on a cloud with a postumous Order Pour le merit medal. Oh and further force morale depleted from the French.

As the night closes the French have lost half their force morale and the Ligne formation has all 4 groups on the verge of breaking, the Spanish on the other hand despite some losses are still in pretty good shape. The French stand little chance of taking their objective and retire in relative good order.

A fabulous game with most of my troops getting on table. My thanks to Chris and Chris.

British 40mm Peninsular Additions

 Our recent game inspired me to paint up a few more British for this project.

The British troops are the ones I have most left to do with so will be nice to have enough to add to the game. These guys are the 88th Connaught Rangers, also know as the Devils Own.

The Perrys only made the one marching figure for the line which is a shame as I do like variety in a unit.

So its one figure with 4 head variants. Variety only provided by command figures.

Different coloured trousers are about all I can do to give them a slightly different look plus hair colour too I suppose.

The Sash and Sabre figures have a lot more variety but dont mix with these guys, a different build but also a different cut of uniform so not a good mix in the same company.

A lot more of these to come, I expect to have 40 for the line companies and maybe 3 groups of 6 skirmishers for the light company.

As I already have the base with the colours, I need another 4 figures to give me a formation of 2 groups, these chaps are just the ticket with the drummer providing much needed variety of pose.

As I am making progress with the units its also time to start thinking about what else can add some fun to the games, farm animals to steal and baggage to loot will be really useful, so here is the first one in the form of a pack pony.

This is an irregular miniatures casting and is very nice, The figures from their 40mm range are not a good match for Perry's being much much more toy soldiers but the animals provide a welcome addition.

Hopefully have a few more in due course.

The Barons Last Chance, RCW AAR

With the re-write of Triumph of The Will almost complete we decided to put on a big game to test out all the changes. Went pretty well all told.

There would be 4 players per side, only 2 have played the updated version, on a 16 foot table. Foot, Horse, Armoured Cars, Plains and an armoured Train all feature, so a good test of the rules and visually quite the spectacle.

I have played fast and loose with history here hopefully the purists will fogive me. 

Baron Von Ungern Sternberg and his Asiatic Cossack Division, having "liberated" Mongolia have decided to march to link up with the remnant of Ataman Semyenov's White Army on the Manchurian border. In our game the two approach from different sides of the table planning to link up, the Reds must stop them to gain a draw and destroy at least one formation to get a win.

Originally we planned that all White players would be called Richard but we only had three so Si had to be an honorary Richard for the day. Rich H, Rich C and Rich L accompanied Simon with their counter-revolutionary, reactionary Gangsters.

The White Order of Battle was:

Baron Von Ungern Sternburg’s Asiatic Cavalry Division.

Mongolian Brigade

Regiment of 3 Sotnias of  7 Tribal Irregulars  Militia Aggressive

Regiment of 2 Sotnias of 8 Chahar Mongols Drilled Aggressive

Cossack Brigade

2 Regiments of 3 Sotnias of 8 Cossacks Regular Aggressive

1 Tchanka

Infantry Brigade

Chinese Regiment of 4 companies of 8                                    Militia

2 Russian Regiments of 4 Companies of 8                                   Drilled

1 field gun

2 MG

 

Ataman Semenov’s “Army”

Cavalry Brigade

 Regiment of 3 Cossack Sotnias of 8 Regular Aggressive

Infantry Division

Infantry Regiment 4 Companies of 9 regulars

Infantry Regiment 4 companies of 8 Drilled

Infantry Regiment 4 Companies of 8 Militia

2 mg

1 field gun

1 armoured car

Armoured Train with 1 field gun

 

White Fighter roll of a 6 only, stays on 5 or 6

The Bolsheviki Red Revolutionaries had Chris F, Chris C, Jerry and Dave, their force consisted of ;

Cavalry Brigade

3 Regiments each 3 Sotnias of 8 Drilled

1 Feild Gun

2 Tchanka MG Carts

 

1^st Infantry Brigade

4 Regiments each of 4 Companies of 8 men Drilled

2 MGs

1 Field Gun

2 Supporting companies of 10 Naval Infantry Regulars

 

2^nd Infantry Brigade

3 Regiments each of 4 companies of 8 men Drilled

1 Field Gun

2 Supporting companies of 10 Naval Infantry Regulars

1 Armoured car

 

1 Red Fighter plane arrives on a 6 on D6 then 5 and so on. Stays on 4,5,6.

In terms of deployment then the Semyenov troops deploy from one end of the table with their train already at the edge of the village. Both the Barons forces and the reds come on at the other end of the table , deployed across the first 6 feet or so, with the armies separated by an extensive forest.

We were much clearer with leaders orders , a slip of paper has the order on it tucked under the leader so we dont forget, if they want to do something different they will need to roll against their command rating to change their forces orders.

Most of the below Bolsheviki are from Daves collection painted by chum Si.

Both sides had planes but both sides managed to roll dismally to bring them on.

The Semyonov troops decide to march out of the town and confront the Red forces, the reds meanwhile dispatch most of their infantry to slow down the Baron whilst the cavalry hurtle off to deal with the Semyonovski.  The Baron initially sticks to plan to link up and marches on.

A regiment of Mongolian Tribal Cavalry scout ahead of the Barons main army.

Daves Red infantry Brigade certainly gives the impression of hordes of khaki clad troops marching to destroy the White Terror, led by Veteran Naval Troops.

The Reds are not messing about and close the gap on the Baron quickly supported by their armoured car.

The White armoured car is also leading from the front as the Semyonov troops march out of their trenches to confront the hated Bolsheviks.Clearly they are confident.

The Baron decides that his tribal Cavalry should take the forest to his front right and hold it against any flank attacks. Sound tactical decision by Rich C but it does slow down the potential link up between white forces. I was low on commanders for these guys so Chris C kindly lent me a Mongolian Princess, why not?

Jerry is looking at the stretch of forest his troops will have to march through to reach the Barons forces with a glum resignation. It may be some time before the first shots are fired that end of the table.

A large portion of the red army turns and marches to confront the Semyenovski whilst the rest push on to tackle the Baron.

Rich H is sticking to his orders, a few troops turn to cover his flank but the rest march on undaunted by the horde of Red troops marching towards them.

The shape of the game is pretty much decided now with two almost seperate battles begining to form as the Reds hope to destroy the two White forces in succession..

Probably the most interesting dice throw of the day. Three hits with the gun on Daves Red armoured Car.

Not surprisingly the armoured car did not cope well with three direct hits.

Its clear now that the Baron wont reach Semyonov without his flank being caved in, he rolls to change the orders for his troops, passes and turns his army to face the encroaching Reds.

The Mongolian Tribal cavalry pile into the forest just as Red infantry reach the other side of it.

The Barons army has completely reformed and is now advancing upon the Reds, a pretty large punch up is on the way in the middle of the table.

As the Reds march past the end line of forest the three units of Mongolian cavalry erupt into their flank. The result is pretty devastating and three companies of Red foot are wiped out.

The next two units of foot are able to form line so they are not hit in the flank but are non the less still steam rollered by the cavalry.

However the Mongols have taken casualties and the Red Cavalry is in position to counter charge.

The remaining Mongols are seen off by the Red cavalry having almost wiped out a whole regiment of Red infantry.

Un-photographed by your correspondant, the Semyonov troops exchange close quarter fire with the Reds, on the left the results are fairly even but on the White right a regiment of Militia face Red veteran Siberian Rifles and quickly fold. With their right flank in the air and exultant red cavalry advancing the Semyonovski retreat to the safety of their trenches and the supporting armoured train.

The planned link up now looks unlikely.

Meanwhile hordes of red infantry close with the Barons forces who advance to meet them.

Richard Hs White Cossack and foot regiments drive in to Daves reds as they reach the edge of the treeline.

The White foot charge into the Reds before they can line to forest edge and fire into them. The results are devastating and the best part of a regiment of Reds are destroyed or forced to retreat.

The Cavalry are, un surprisingly, even more successful a full regiment charges two companies of Reds and wipes them out.

At this point we run out of time, with the Semyovski retreating and the Barons forces unable to advance further the Whites will not be able to link up, however the reds are not in a position to exploit their success and destroy either White faction leaving the end result a hard fought draw.

Overall then a really fun game and the rules held up well to a wider audience. The very large game with lots of elements was a real stress test that went better than might be expected.

Some Tweaks needed and gremlins to iron out. Frontage for different basing styles is important so needs to be defined pre game. Observation in woods needs to be more than 3 inches or troops can't support and end up closing when their order don't allow them to.

Overall a great game which I hope everyone enjoyed and showed the rules are very nearly where we want them.

Thanks everyone.