French Foreign Legionnaires

I could say I’m painting these up because I recently picked up In Her Majesty’s Name… but that wouldn’t be entirely true… I DID pick up IHMN recently, and I did just start reading it, but honestly I really picked out these to paint next because… well… it seemed like the most fun thing to paint at the moment - which is really my motivation for most things - hobby-wise... or otherwise...

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

French Foreign Legionnaires from Artizan Designs.

Only 13 of these are newly painted, two of them were painted previously... like a year (or so) ago!



A couple more pics of the colour bearer (as I'm rather pleased with how he turned out!)

Actually, as I was just finishing these up and considering getting another unit of them out to paint, it occurred to me that I don’t actually have any HISTORICAL opponents for these!? I have to admit I think I picked them up thinking I’d use them in a semi-historical/fantastical African setting/ campaign involving competing adjacent colonies of France, England, and possibly Germany…? Or Belgium…? It was a loose idea I had a long while back – using a campaign system similar to the original Mighty Empires. Each European Power would have a small six hex colony/trading region/area of influence on the coast and could explore inland adding territory and resources, building trading posts and forts and mines and possibly laying train tracks… raising local troops or vying for regulars from the homeland and, ultimately clashing with the neighboring colonies… Anyway, the idea – like so many before (and since) – fizzled and I moved on to other things.

Or I might have been thinking I could use them on Mars in a Space:1889 sort of setting. So not really all that far off from what I may end up using them for in the near future (In Her Majesty’s Name - if it turns out to look interesting enough to set up a game).

Since painting these and having a look at the stuff I’ve got I got to thinking I need to pick up a few more (Oh, not right now… like, maybe next year! But this is how it happens!). I have two units of guys in sun helmets, and two in kepis. Except one of the units of guys in sun helmets is short one… and I have about five spare chaps in kepis… Now I could just have a few guys in kepis join the units of guys in sunhelmets and leave it at that… but I got to thinking; if I ordered four more packs of guys in sun helmets (four packs of four would be 16 more) I would have THREE units of exactly 15 guys in Sun helmets! AND if I ordered three more packs of guys in kepis (which would be 12 more) I would have three units of guys in kepis plus only two left over – and if one of those three packs was a command pack I’d probably have a couple of spare officers I could use as higher command (a C-in-C and/or staff officer if I were using Ever Victorious Armies).

Of course the mad (or maddest) thing about this plan is that, as I have mentioned, I don’t really have any genuine historical OPPONENTS!?

Perhaps it’s time to start painting Martians again…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Maybe more of these Legionnaires (I have two more units of these…). Or maybe some 1914 Belgians… or WW2 Soviets… or 1889 Maritans!?  or a giant Movie Mummy… or… gosh, who knows!? I seem to be all over the place these days. 

Napoleonic Ever Victorious Armies

Our good friend Curt was in town, so John decided to host a game of Napoleonic Ever Victorious Armies. 

(click on the pictures to see a larger version) 

His Napoleonic armies are "old school" 30mm figures - some old Scruby figures, others he's modeled and cast himself. 

Curt and I played the French and Gary and John played the Russians. I know frightfully little about the era so I couldn't tell you where or when this action was supposed to take place. presumably some place east of Paris, sometime between 1800 and 1815... 

All I know is they wore very pretty uniforms. I mean, check out these french lads in the blue coats, don't they look fabulous! Fashion-wise, we had the Russians beat from the get-go! 

The Russians are all so boring. Green... green... green... touch of red... yawn.... 

And there was just so many of them.. and all dressed the same!? Seriously, do they go to balls dressed like that? 

Of course what am I thinking... They're a bunch of uneducated, uncivilized Russian peasants... Probably never heard of balls... 

Our host and impartial umpire and Russian commander: John Bertolini

Here the game is finally underway... Gary's boring Russian cavalry came charging up the flank, so my chaps (I think they might have been Polish...?) formed square and taunted them. 

In the middle my dashing French infantry marched up the center to storm the Russian guns. Funny how the Russians had great fields of fire from their initial set up locations. I guess Poland is shaped like that... or was it Lithuania... I don't know about these things... 

Down at the other end of the line the Bold and Courageous French Cavalry storm the Russian guns on hills conveniently located in the Russian Deployment Zone. 

Our Commander-in-Chief; the spry and dashing Marschall Curt!

The Russian Cavalry halted by the fearsome and geometrically accurate Polish Squares

A fine day for a stroll through the meadows of Poland... or was it Lithuania...? Wherever it is, the wine is terrible and the women not much better. 

Why were we here again...? Ah, Napoleon. It was his idea. Clever lad. I'm sure there's a good reason for it. 

Opposing forces enter the village. It was rumoured there was a whorehouse within so some of the fiercest fighting of the day was here in the streets of this picturesque Polish village... or was it Lithuanian...?

More french lads marching about in a field.

the bold and fearless French charge the hill in the center of the field of battle and capture the guns! Huzzah! 

More guns being captured by the pretty boys in blue. 

Fierce fighting in the middle of the village. Fierce. There was hissing and scratching and slapping with gloves and I think someone's buttons even got torn off. 

The russians were so dumb they didn't even know when they were dead and just kept fighting... 

So fearsomely determined were the French in the village the Russians fled from it - leaving the whorehouse in possession of the truly better men. 

Russian cavalry can also be seen fleeing from our glorious Polish(?) allies. 

Hmmmm... I think we won. We certainly got higher points for presentation and technical performance. The Russians had all the finesse of a sledge hammer and the fashion sense of a mule. 

Big thanks to John for hosting the game and it was great to see Curt again. 

Coming soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

MORE game reports. It truly has been a week of mad gaming!? 

Imperial Russian Infantry Brigade

I’ve been painting up a storm this past week, trying to rack up a few more points for the Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge… and, while I won’t show you the individual pics of what I finished (lest I incur the wrath of CURT!) – a few of the things I painted, finished off my Great War Russian Infantry Brigade…

This force was finished at one point… Then I re-based it… then I re-based, and re-organized it and in the process realized I was about 20 figures short of two full regiments… and really only because they’d be quick and easy to paint, I decided to finish those off this week. So here’s what we’ve got…


(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This is the whole force. Two regiments of four battalions, plus a few machine-gun detachments, supporting artillery and attached cavalry…


The Tsar and family (and an orthodox priest)

The Tsar and his family are from West Wind Productions and the priest is from Brigade Games


The two Regimental Commanders. I think these were both from West Wind as well – part of the old “Cowboy Wars” line, if you can believer that – I think the pack was called Russian Hunting Party #2… or something like that…


1st Regiment.

The Regiment is made up of four battalions of fifteen figures each. Why fifteen? Well because the rules I’ll most often use are a mash up based on Contemptible Little Armies and Ever Victorious Armies (and a few others too) and the units in there are between 8 and 18… and originally I’d had units of 13... but the current storage drawers I have fit ten of these guys across. Three rows is 30 – two units of fifteen. Ten seemed too small… 20 seems a bit big… Fifteen..


2nd Regiment.

The rank anf file soldiers in these two Rifle Regiments were modeled by my friend John Bertolini


These are the officers of the battalions above. The four on the right are from Copplestone Castings. The next four are from the same Brigade Games pack as the Orthodox Priest above, and the last one is, I believe from Crusader Miniatures (stragely enough, once again, from a “Wild West” line – I think the pack was called “foreigners”!?)


A pair of “Snipers” for more Pulp Adventurey games… These were form the same West Wind/Cowboys Wars pack as the Regimental Commanders.


A standard bearer. Modified one of John’s castings. I have a second one with just the pole, if I ever get around to making a flag for it, each of the Regiments can have one - to follow their Regimental Commander around. For now This fellow will follow around whatever is acting as Brigade Commander…


The Machine-gun Detachments. The two on the outside are from Old Glory, and the one in the middle is from Coppelstone Castings.

I might like to get one more... That way I'd have a nice even two per regiment... maybe someday...


The Guns (one GUN, rather). I do have a second one to assemble and paint up some day… The model and crew are from Battle Honors.


The Cavalry. Could be fielded as two smaller forces of 8 or one big one of 16… painted up as Cossacks from two different hosts… don’t ask me which ones, I can’t remember… The men were modeled and cast (and painted, of course) by myself. The Horses were bought – Hinchifee, I think…?


Some dead and dying Russians for morale failure tokens. These are from Old Glory


Incase I ever decide to use the force as elements of the Asian Cavalry Division – this is Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg and a his bodyguard (figures from Coppelstone Castings)


Ungern-Sternberg on foot. A frightful sight, is he not?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Some pics of what I painted over the last week. You should probably be able to see most of them over at Analogue Hobbies by now.

Zulu Attack at Braun’s Drift

Another Battle over another ford. I now have a third unit of Zulu warriors, so it’s time for the Zulus to take the offensive!

We were also trying out a few more tweaks to the rules… mostly concerning movement distances and special rules concerning the movement of mounted troops.

Braun’s Drift, March 1879

SITUATION

After the debacle of the first invasion Lord Chelmsford is biding his time waiting for reinforcements to arrive so he can launch a second invasion into Zululand. In the meantime raids and patrols are being sent across the border to harass the Zulus and scout potential invasion routes.

A company infantry is stationed at Braun’s Drift along with a troop of mounted infantry. Nearby is a staging area for supplies to be moved north. Just across the Thukela river in Zululand is the Kraal of the feared Zulu cheiftan; mTi kaRbonw.


SCENARIO

The British must prevent the Zulus from crossing the river. The Zulus must attempt to cross the river. The River is only crossable at the ford/drift.

FORCES

The British

Major Burton-Linny - C-in-C
1 company British Infantry (15) Breach Loading Rifle
1 troop British Mounted Infantry (10) Breach Loading Carbine

The Zulus

mTi kaRbonwe - C-in-C
3 warbands Zulus Warriors (15-16 ea) Ferocious
2 units Zulu Skirmishers (10 ea) Rifled Musket, Skirmishers


THE GAME

John decided to play the British and I (along with a special helper) played the Zulus.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Braun’s Drift with the British encampment on the Natal side of the Thukela River.


Another shot of the British and their camp on the Natal side of the river.


John set up his British infantry on the Natal side of the river and his mounted infantry across the river – from the start the mounted infantry galloped off to the flank to harass the advancing Zulus.


The Zulus advance.

In the background can be seen my dice rolling assistant who was exceedingly happy to get to stay up past his regular bedtime to play games with his dad’s friends and toys! He takes defeat a little hard and after the first volley from the British wanted to switch sides and roll dice for John… He was, however, convinced to stick it out with the Zulus!


That aforementioned first volley from the British – devastating! Almost half the Zulu unit was knocked out!


One unit of Zulus peeled off to try and deal with the mounted infantry. The British stuck around for one turn and tried to shoot up the approaching Zulus – The tall grass apparently offered better concealment that we imagined as only minor casualties were sustained…


The Junior Subaltern discussing the finer points of Zulu War Tactics with his rival…


The second volley from the British infantry at the drift did that first unit of Zulus in.. all but one were lost – the remaining one failed a number of morale tests and scarpered. The Skirmsihing Zulus with muskets were in position however and started pinking away at the British themselves.


The sniping from the Zulus with muskets compelled the British to retire from the ford – but they kept up their fire knocking off a number of the Zulus in the next unit that were about to cross the drift.


The mounted infantry decided to try and close with the skirmishing Zulus. Later we realized that they technically shouldn’t have been able to… but I may change that rule – I think rather than simply arbitrarily stating that they cannot do so – simply make it so there is really no benefit for them to do so… Anyway, they lost two in the charge in and the fight wasn’t very conclusive both sides lost d6-2 – unfortunately Zulus lost FOUR(!) and the British NONE! The Zulus failed a morale test and were obliged to retire back to the cover of the tall grass.


The Zulus finally rush the British!


Another view of things around the same time.


The Zulus lost SIX(!) to closing fire as they rushed in, but the shock and violence of the ferocious Zulus unsettled the British who lost five of their own in close combat and were required to retire the next turn.


The same unit moved in and again pressed the British back. There were more British losses and they were required to retire into the woods behind them!


On the final turn the third unit of Zulus passed through to press the attack! They darn near whipped out the British and at that point John conceded the game. I can’t remember if we bothered to roll for morale for the British that turn to see if they would have broke…?

The mounted infantry made it back across the river and galloped away back to the staging area to warn of the Zulus approach!

We had tweaked some movement rates from the last game and were trying out some new rules concerning the movement of mounted troops – which I think worked out well enough with rational players… we’ll see how well they work with (or how they can be abused by) rules lawyers – I’m just not clever enough to foresee these sorts of things.

I think I might also adjust the ranges of the firearms slightly…

John seems to think I need to paint more British. I think I’ll get to work on some artillery… or maybe the Gatling Gun… just to try something new. I think I’ll also work on some earthworkd to give the British something else to defend.

What I really need is a shedload of wagons and oxen to make a lager to defend!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Zulus (or British… or Martians) and GLADIATORS!!?