A brief flight of fantasy……

As a brief interlude from historical gaming we decided to throw my Tallarn force into the deepest jungle on a planet far far away……. Sadly the jungle was infested with all manner of lizard creatures !

Although there were technically five objectives the lizards and their thralls appeared more intent on killing  the fine human warriors who had inadvertently entered their jungle. The scene was set could the fire power of the Tallarn kill enough lizards before they got into combat !

Multi coloured lizards race across the table

They appear to have dinosaurs as well 

The men folk dig in and let lose with their supporting artillery

We were using xeno rampant as an easy ruleset, the Tallarn as light infantry get quite a lot of free movement and some free shooting, the lizards foolishly haven’t invented long range weapons other than a few rudimentary blowpipes. 

The Tallarn have tanks too. I thought I had taken more photos than I did, anyway, anybody who deployed on the left of the river got eaten pretty quickly, but the Lizards really struggled to break into the tank. The heavy support weapons in the centre killed lizards in their droves.

On the right a titanic struggle took place which in the first phase went to the dino, who knew they were so tough ! luckily the warriors were able to call in support weapons who drove the dinosaur back and then eventually brought it down.

A lot of blood was split in the jungle but in the end a Tallarn victory, firepower winning out, but it looked pretty sketchy for a while. Those warriors that fell in battle will be mourned, this small portion of the jungle is at least clear for now. 🙂 (no actual lizards were hurt during this battle)

As the weather has been rubbish I have contented myself with painting 

Commanded shot for the ECW

Finished off some penal colony imperial guard to support my Tallarn, these are Wargames Atlantic figures with some kit basing using GW stuff

And just this morning I finished off some smaller ECW cannons…..nearly there for the ECW

Another game planned for Friday which will hopefully get the Naps back on the table.

Thanks as always for checking by Matt ♥️

Cruel Seas and a painting update

Another mixed bag this post. First up I had painted up a number of Warlord Cruel Seas 1/300 WW2 boats about a year ago, with a short game planned for Saturday afternoon a chance to get them out for a first time. After reading the basic rules through I needed a few bits to help run the game mainly the stat cards required for each boat, these I was able to find on the web suitable for our purpose.

Our scenario had the British Navy attacking the Kreigsmarine somewhere off Northern France to knock out a U boat, 4 MTB’s against 2 German E boats supported by a shore battery.

The MTbs split around the small island, and you can see some of the stat cards to the right

The Germans move out of their harbour

One of the things we discovered during the game was the ineffectiveness of torpedos and most gun firing at long range and with the boats moving at high speeds both sides needed to get in close. The cotton wool represents plumes of water where larger caliber guns have missed their target.

After several turns the British Navy manage to knock out one of the e boats 

The British are then able to target the U boat and with some lucking rolling they were able to knock it out. A fun run out with the boats which gave us a good idea of how the game works. Hopefully we’ll get another chance to play it again sometime.

I mentioned in the last post I would do a parade of my ECW mainly to check what else I might need to get the collection ready for a battle. The photo above shows it all set out, six infantry and six cavalry regiments for each side. A couple of things are now needed….so here they are hot off the painting table

Some more generic command figures 

And some artillery 

I have now completed pretty much all the plastic cavalry I had so I decided to try some Peter Pig figures to complement the collection these arrived and are being moved into the painting queue. Together with some more command figures.

I have also finished another infantry unit which didn’t make the parade

A few Warlord American command figures have also been painted while I waited for other figures to dry etc…. These are mainly resin although the General Patton is metal. All these for Sicily battles.

Finally on the painting I finished this sleeping/dead Spartan who strangely sat on the painting desk for ages

..and yet more secondhand books, I just can’t help myself at the moment.

The battles book is basically fantastic with maps of numerous famous battles with appropriate details I wasn’t going to miss this one.

Even I am nearly worn out by this post, lots going on more battles next week and no doubt some more painting to come.

Thanks of course for taking the time to check through this post Matt ♥️

A mixed bag of painting……

 As my cold very gradually improves I’ve managed to get some more painting done between the coughing. As this morning saw a return to gaming and a trip to George’s. First up the painting, I had a short break from ECW as I awaited some more bases.

This fine metal standard is I think a warlord figure possibly the one who comes with the rule book ? Anyway I put him with a couple of spare figures to create an extra command stand for the peninsular

This bad boy has been sitting waiting to be constructed for ages, again a warlord model the standing crew can all be removed if needed, I guess the Germans need an 88 but I’m not sure how often it will get onto the table ?

I guess all British Napoleonic Peninsular armies need a Rocket or two, again a metal warlord model, they do a second version which I might pick up one day ?

Then back to ECW here are two units of dragoons

And hot off the painting table this evening another Royalist unit marches out of the depot, I think a parade is needed in the next few days

Due to my cold last week I had to cancel George coming to the dungeon but we managed to rearrange our next early war campaign for this morning. A tough scenario for the French (George) who have to try and demolish the two culverts to delay the German advance. This is tough with the Germans getting additional support points.

Looking to delay the Germans brought along a Stuka bomber which wasn’t very successful last time. However, on this occasion the bomber proved very effective, hitting a key building close to the french objective, it turned out this left an unexploded bomb in the building which might blow at an end of turn ?

Some good dice rolling from the Germans, and the french were struggling from the start getting pinned down as they deployed.

German firepower drove the french back from the objective and then to cap it off the UXB exploded. As always a pleasure to play with George’s lovely collection and a fun game greatly enhanced by my win 🙂

Finally for this post I found this rather splendid book in a secondhand book shop for a couple of quid.

Thats it for this post, hopefully another game later this week and if I can cope some more painting.

Thanks as always for taking the time to check in

Matt ♥️

An update on lots of stuff……

Quiet on the gaming front at the moment with a couple of games postponed due to seasonal colds and illness. I’m just back from another week helping to decorate my son’s house in London. But I have kept busy on a number of hobby fronts.

I’ve managed to maintain the enthusiasm for painting the ECW project. A couple more infantry units 

A first unit of dragoons, mounted in a slightly more open formation

A couple of brigade commanders just to try them out on their round bases

I decided to blitz some cavalry

The second infantry unit completed this morning.

The hobby fund had a small financial windfall a few weeks ago  so I was encouraged to spend it before it was lost to the taxman.

I picked these up off eBay, they are hand made but to a very high standard and match extremely well my current Mediterranean buildings so provide a nice little extension to the building collection.

I have also been pondering updating my ‘roads’ for a while and after lots of consideration I ordered a large amount of flexible roads off eBay (fatfranks) which I’m sure a number of you already have. Specifically this allows me to run roads over my hills and create more interesting roads networks, they are pretty generic so will work in a wide range of periods and scales. I should have enough for bigger games in the shed as well.

Finally before I picked up my current cold ! I managed a walk out into the Fells, we were treated to a lovely days walking

The  beauty of the Lakes in Autumn 

Thats it for now not sure when the next game is planned as I need to get over this cold,  but I well enough to paint so will carry on…..

Thanks for getting this far 🤧♥️ Matt

A painting update…….Italian Armour upgrade

Despite some challenges with my daughter’s health this week (she is fine now) I have managed some painting. First up after the Sicily battle last week I decided the Italians needed some extra heavy support !

Italian super heavy tank CV33

I managed to pick up both of these from eBay at a reasonable price the second is a flame Tank which will no doubt terrify the Americans ?

Ok I probably wasn’t fooling anybody the new armour are Italian CV33 tankettes and here they are compared to my German Tiger they may not be quite so scary but should at least be hard to hit ? And will provide some fun

Another ECW unit has rolled of the painting table

I also painted up these Commanded Foot effectively musketeers detached as a skirmish unit.

Well that’s it for now I will hopefully get some more painting done soon

Thanks for looking Matt ❤️

Battle of Fox’s Gap 1862 ACW

Another battle at the start of this week, myself and Martin have managed one a month so far this year,so we only just managed to squeeze this in following my long holiday in early September. This time back to ACW and a version of Fox’s Gap from 1862. Many of you will know the back ground to this battle which was all engagement preceding the much larger battle of Antietam. The confederate forces under Lee tried to block the movement of McClellans Federals across the mountains at both Fox’s Gap and Turner’s gap. Eventually although they were forced to retreat the Union army was too slow to capitalise on the Ada vantage and this allowed Lee to regroup and led to Antietam a few days later.

This scenario of which there are lots on the internet is based on a JReb scenario but I have adapted it for my collection, space and V&F. It gives a sense of the battle rather than a truly accurate refight.

The table setup. To make things fun Garlands brigade who are initially holding the high ground behind the  stone wall are in hidden deployment, the Union commander not knowing which or how many Regiments are on the table. Scammon’s brigade arrives for the Union turn one with the next brigades arriving on successive turns. The Confederate reserves are similarly phased but must all enter the battlefield from the North (this end of the table) the Union player also didn’t know this. We had a special rule where potentially Garland or Reno could be killed in action but I completely forgot about this during the battle and we didn’t roll for it ! To simplify the setup we made the stones wall as cover whilst the wooden fences aren’t they just slow movement.

Scammon’s Brigade advances towards the higher ground with the attached West Virginia cavalry occupying the farm buildings at the base of the hill. In the distance Crook’s brigade arrives and come under fire immediately from the angle of the stone wall on the hill. (The hidden deployment will end when trooos are within 12” or they start to fire)

Anderson’s brigade marches onto the table in column 

Garlands brigade is spread thin but they open up a ferocious fire  on the advancing Union troops knowing that any damage will help if it comes to melee

Crook’s brigade starts to deploy and seek to outflank the hill at this southern end of the battlefield the Union has significant numerical advantage 

Dayton’s Brigade arrives from the north as well ! But the Rebels are still outnumbered

The flanking move in the South

Rather than attempt to move right across the table Drayton deploys his troops into open formation and starts to move through the woods hoping to outflank the Union at this end of the battle

The Union make a first push for the gap but are driven back ….yeehaa

The confederate flanking movement seems to be working drawing Christ’s brigade from on the road to protect the Union flank

The battle was very tense here and could have gone either way, the Union prepare a second attack on the gap and again hand to hand fighting on the slopes

But eventually the rebels hold and drive the Union forces back, you can see by the gold rings which denote shaken units that the Union assault has been blunted at least for now.

Although it felt like a slight side show and I didn’t take many photo’s Garland’s brigade has continued to hold the angle against a much superior force, trading volleys at long range they plug away at each other but the Rebels hold on eventually driving the Federals back on this flank. The last photo show the Confederate horse artillery chasing the withdrawing Union forces into the woods to the south.

What a fun battle the scenario worked out really well, the hidden deployment working, with out this we might need to randomise the location of reserves or the Union forces would know the rebels are weak on their right flank ? One thing we noticed was the need to get troops into open order which or ACW is a real advantage especially when defending. A win for the Rebels as they held the ground against the superior Union force.

We has a trip out to Ulverston (south lakes) and came across a couple of nice books

I really only bought this as I was at the battlefield a few weeks ago and wanted to run through the battle again.

This is also a useful little book with a lot of smaller battles listed

 And a spot of painting…….before family stuff took over the second half of the week requiring me to cancel a planned battle for Friday 🙁

Another ECW infantry unit completed and ready to go.

I have several more on the go but may only get to them in a couple of days

As always thanks for popping by

Matt ♥️