Saturday, May 29, 2010

This and That

Hill tribesmen are starting to gather...



under one of their banners.

Some dismounted horses. I added the saddle on the gray horse, using greenstuff.

Colonel Finlayson of Grand Thidwick.

And Colonel Chagrin, one day to be promoted to General Chagrin?

After the current campaign is concluded it looks like the Soweiter League is going to break up. The Germanic states will go their own way. As will Santa Sofia and probably Mayeux. I haven't fully decided, but I want to concentrate on Ballyfoole, Grand Thidwick, and Gunderland (the original name of Saxe-Urquhart, which that state will revert to.). I am thinking I will have those 3 states band together and pursue some adventures in far-off lands. Still trying to think up a name for the combined 3 states (I considered Freedonia, but I think that's been done a bit).

I'm feeling a bit like I hit the jackpot or something - I finally found a local source for 1/8 inch mdf board (a local plywood and paneling store, not a chain or big box store - one of those kinds of places that's a bit rough around the edges, but where the people know their business because they specialize in it.). Probably bought more than I will ever use, but I didn't want to run short again! ha ha
Now I can make some more mountains, river sections, buildings, etc. (funny how something this simple can make one so happy, eh?)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Battle of Delbrucke

(Based on Scenario 7, Hot Pursuit, from Scenarios For All Ages, by Grant and Asquith.)


 
The Soweiter League forces:
  • The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers
  • The Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders
  • The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry
  • The Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars
  • The Hesse-Offenbach Artillery Battery
 
The Batrachian forces:
Main force under General de Siecle:
  • The King's Musketeers 1
  • The Queen's Musketeers 1
  • The Pandours du Pinque
  • The Poupon Dragoons
  • Artillery Royale Battery 1
  • Artillery Royale Battery 2

Force under General Soleau:
  • The Musketeers de Limbourg
  • The Cuirassiers Royale
  • The Wild Goose Chasseurs
A small Soweiter League force, under the command of General von Blunder, is marching along the main road near the village of Delbrucke. The area has 2 small rivers or streams running through it. These are fordable all along their lengths, but will slow movement down. They are crossed by bridges where the main road intersects the rivers. There are numerous hills, woods, patches of marshy ground and other rough ground that makes cross-country movement more difficult. Movement along the road will be the quickest way to proceed. 

 
A much larger Batrachian force, split into 2 columns, has hastened along the roads from the east in an attempt to catch the Soweiter force while they are strung along the road. The main column, heading along the northern branch of the main road, is commanded by General de Siecle. While a smaller force, heavy on cavalry, and commanded by General Soleau, proceeds along the southern branch of the road.

 
The opening scene:




The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Muskeeters halt on the eastern bridge to block the Batrachian forces from moving swiftly along the road and give the rest of the Soweiter forces time to get away. The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry pulls off the road to retreat across country.
As the King's Musketeers approach the bridge the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers fire off a volley, inflicting 2 casualties. The King's Musketeers charge, but the result is inconclusive, no casualties.
Meanwhile the Batrachian cavalry spread out to pursue the Soweiter forces across country.. The Cuirassiers Royale catch the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry at the river and charge in, inflicting 1 casualty.

Overview as battle commences:

Bottleneck at the bridge:

While the rest of the Soweiter forces contiune to hot-foot it down the road the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers pull off of the eastern bridge to make a second stand at the western bridge.

The retreating Soweiter forces:

As the Soweiter withdrawal continues the Wild Goose Chasseurs charge the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry, inflicting heavy casualties. A quick melee and the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Cavalry are eliminated. At the same time the Cuirassiers Royale charge the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars and also inflict heavy casualties.

The King's Musketeers charge the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers on the western bridge before thay have time to fire.

By this time the balance of the Soweiter forces, the Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders, the Hesse-Offenbach Battery, a much-reduced Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars and General von Blunder make it to safety. And the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers, finding themselves cut off and surrounded, are forced to surrender.

The finale:

The battle ends and the Batrachians hold the field, having damaged the Soweiter forces, but is it enough? By the scenario conditions this is on the edge between a draw and a victory for the Batrachians.

The battle went quicker than I expected at the start. Given the terrain it was hard for the Batrachians to bring all of their forces into play in time to catch the Soweiter forces. Several units on both sides never saw any combat (firing or melee). But I guess that's the way it goes sometimes, especially in this type of scenario.

I used very small units, but they still took up a lot of space on the road. If I had spread them out in a battle line they could easily have taken up most of the width of the table. Granted, my table is no more than 6 feet long and only 40 inches wide I still wonder what size of table people use for larger units sizes. If I doubled the size of my units I think I would need at minimum a 5 by 7 foot table; maybe even 6 by 9 feet. For large battalions of 48 or 60 figure infantry units I can't even imagine what sort of table you would use. So I'm curious, what size units and what size table do you use? How many units per side would also be a consideration, of course. in this battle I used the number of units given in the scenario.
I know I could get more figures in a smaller space if I used smaller figures (such as 15mm), but I can't see the smaller figures as well (to paint or to play with).

Monday, May 10, 2010

Some Day...

It was a hot and dusty day as the column moved up the valley, interrupting a flock of vultures feeding on a carcass.
Meanwhile, distant figures on a mountain shadow the column.
A closer look at the tribesmen.
And, on another continent, a new acquisition for the zoo. These brown zebras, known as Quaggas, are fairly common in Africa. Maybe some day we will acquire another one so we can have a mating pair.

All figures are from Foundry. The mountain is made from some of my last scraps of 1/8 inch thick mdf board, inspired by Major-General Rederring's cardboard mountains. See http://www.zeitcom.com/majgen/index.html for more. If you've never visited and you're doing Colonial gaming it's well worth stopping by, even though it's been years since it's been updated. I have no affiliation with the site or the group.
The mountain was my first attempt, as a sort of proof of concept. After I put it all together I realize the pieces I used between are a little narrower than my mini bases. Fortunately because of the shapes I can still fit minis on most of the spots. I'm not sure about the paint job. I wanted to keep it simple and a bit abstract/toy-like.
Comments appreciated. Thanks!