Christmas greetings and bonus Review 2023

Well we have reached that time of year again, celebrations too much food and some more soldiers under the tree (this year I have ensured improved presents by being clear with my son what I wanted !) more of that later. Also a time to do a bit of reviewing.

First up and knowing a number of you enjoy some mental stimulation my Christmas card to my fellow bloggers and wargamers. There is no prize 🎁 but knowing the highly competitive nature of many of you, feel free to tell everybody how many of the tanks you were able to name without looking them up. All of these were seen during our summer holiday to the Netherlands.

Secondly some eye candy…..shared of course in the spirit our of blogging community. I have pulled together a shortish video of the majority of the games played in the dungeon this year. It really is just eye candy so if that isn’t your thing skip downwards. Both videos run about three and a half minutes so possibly just time for a cup of tea or coffee ?

Thirdly and I know I have mentioned this many times I don’t keep a tally or record of stuff I paint, which is purely for my own pleasure and to develop my ongoing projects. However, this year as I was sifting the photos for the above I thought I would drop into one folder all the pictures of the stuff I have painted and shared on the blog. This meant I could very quickly pull them into a video. Again shared hopefully in the spirit of our community, again feel free to skip…..and no I haven’t counted them 👍

Lastly then I hope you all have a very happy Holiday, Christmas or celebration, which ever is your want. I hope you get some more soldiers I know I am 😀 I will see you on the other side to discuss new projects for 2024 I’m already getting excited.

Thanks as always for your kind words, support and the pleasure this virtual community bring.

Matt

Bergen U-Boat base : Norway 1940

Probably the last battle in the dungeon before Christmas although possibly not  the last of the year. Nothing very historical but a chance to get the U-boat back on the table. This time the Norwegians will be attacking. The scenario was originally developed as a remote game but due to some last minute changes it was expanded to a slightly larger face to face battle.

The Norwegians have three objectives, the large bunker in the foreground, the Uboat of course and a second bunker by the gate in the distance. The Kreigsmarine start the game on the boat, whilst German reserves will arrive from two possible roads accessing the harbour area. The Norwegians will arrive from three of the corners as directed by their commander. All the squads are fairly small to ensure a quick moving battle.

A Norwegian sniper and a single squad get into the harbour

More arrive from the woods beyond the fence

German reserves also arrive

The Kreigsmarine after some initial shooting move off the boat to delay the attack, the Norwegians have a light Howitzer which manages to hit the machine gun on the top of the U boat with its first shell !

The bulk of the Norwegian infantry break through the fence, more Germans arrive behind them down the road through the woods and a firefight starts in the woods

Harbour guards run off across one of the bridges

Some of the sailors are cut down, but the Norwegians don’t want to break cover yet

But then suddenly they run out into combat, they are then cut down themselves before getting onto the boat

At the other end another unit makes a break from cover to try and make it onto the boat

They make it and knock out the machine gun set up on the deck

Again these Norwegians are themselves knocked out by German reinforcements.

The Germans are now clinging on ! As nearly all of their units have been knocked out, the Norwegian commander makes a bid to get onto the boat

At this point the German defence collapsed with pretty much all their forces knocked out, the Norwegians have blown the bunker by the gate, and have made it to the Uboat even if it hasn’t been blown up in time.

The end result which wasn’t really important was somewhere between a draw and a minor victory to the Norwegians, they certainly have the advantage  at this point. They were slightly slow to set off which cost them a stronger victory.

A fun time and a suitable game to finish up before Christmas. I will be posting a Christmas post with some reviews of 2023 in the next few days. But for now I hope you enjoyed the picture of the U boat at least it survived for another battle.

Thanks as always Matt

French Dragoons !

Well that is what it said on the tin so here they are…….

16th Dragoons

Perry miniatures and my second Regiment, not sure I can see me painting a third as I have lots of other cavalry to paint before then, including a second regiment of Chasseurs, Pink facings of course. No prizes but see if you can spot the two gaffs I have made 🫣🫣🫣 I spotted them both too late to change. Of course there may be more than two which is kind of a bad feeling ?

Hoping to get some more stuff painted before the end of the year.

Thanks as always….soon a Christmas post perhaps 

Matt

Shenandoah Campaign : Battle of Front Royal May 1862

Squeezing in the next of our Shenandoah Campaign before Christmas. Next up is the battle of Front Royal, May 23rd 1862,  quite a small battle and an interesting one to try and make a meaningful scenario. Stonewall Jackson is attempting to outflank the Union forces and cut them off from Winchester. Ewell is dispatched to Front Royal where a small Union force under Kenly is holding the Town and the vital crossings over the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River.

A map of the battle, the ground covered was quite large as the battle developed and the Confederates pushed the Union forces back

Having looked at a few versions on the internet I have squeezed the section from the edge of Front Royal upto the two river crossings. Our battle will cover this section with the Confederate objective to capture the bridges. We had a couple of special rules, any confederates getting too close to the Union camp will have to test to avoid spending a turn looting. Any Confederate cavalry sent off the table to the left can return beyond the first fork of the river on a delayed roll as they did historically.

Ewell’s Louisian troops advance out from Front Royal, they include the infamous Wheat’s Tigers, lucky I have this regiment. Half of the Virginia cavalry is sent off on a wide left flanking attack but we have no idea when they will return !

The confederates spread out but come under fire from Richardson Hill, Union forces are thinly spread and must decide whether to stand and delay or pull back immediately ?

Giving fire Kenly pulls back from the Hill the 1st Maryland (confederates) are sent to the right

The 6th Louisiana approach the crest of the hill and come under fire

This is returned in kind ! The Tigers are sent across the road

The Union artillery has been pulled back to the first bridge and the small group of pioneers line the bank as the Tigers prepare to assault

They are supported by the rest of the Confederate cavalry

Having pulled back and reorganised the Union (1st Maryland) catch Wheats Tigers in the flank, despite their veteran rating they fail their morale check and flee taking them into the Union camp ! So instead in a slightly ambitious attack the confederate cavalry charge the bridge…. a whiff of grape shot and they are no more a mess of dying horses and men 

The battle will no be decided by the infantry as the remaining Confederate cavalry still hasn’t shown up beyond the river. The Union Pennsylvanian boys decide rather than retreat across the bridge to charge forward

After a tough fight the 6th Louisiana is pushed back, in the distance the Cavalry have finally arrived and the Tigers have finished looting the Union camp

One final push required to take the bridge, Kenly pulls back the artillery to the second bridge as the Tigers build up to charge the bridge

lol suddenly the pioneers rush to the bridge, and manage to set it on fire (this required a very low roll which they achieved with a double 1!)

The battle is really over but the Tigers in heroic fashion charge the burning bridge, picking up a couple of extra casualties in the fire and a volley from the tiny remnants of the 1st Maryland this is just enough to stagger them and the charge fails.

A very enjoyable battle played in excellent spirit, it really looked all over for the Union who in one turn failed to activate both infantry regiments, but the Rebels couldn’t capitalise  on this and the Union held out. They weren’t helped by the late arrival of the flanking cavalry who would have been significant if they had arrived a few turns earlier. For those of a record keeping nature the tally so far is not looking good for Jackson 😀 (Port Republic may need to be double or quits!)

The next battle is Winchester so I need to do a bit of prep for this and work out how much of the battle I can cover ?

Thanks as always Matt🩷

An Al Andalusian Skirmish and French Army command

Back at battleground I was introduced (and played through the Uboat scenario) to a Wargamer from Canada visiting the UK. Turns out Jon from Edmonton was staying close to Penrith sorting out family stuff. So before he returned we sorted out a visit to the dungeon mainly for a chat but also to roll some dice. I called up some Arab forces for a small Lion Rampant skirmish (ideal for a lighthearted game and a chat).

I didn’t take too many photos (as we were chatting away) but it was a fun game😀

Two different but equal forces, Jon’s mercenary Christian cavalry come charging across the battlefield (this already feels worryingly familiar)

My infantry take a battering, in the distance my right wing has started to collapse so we go in with the ‘duel’ this first occasion ends in a draw

A couple of turns later and the Mercenary cavalry are still causing me problems, my infantry is battered back the only answer is to offer up another duel and try and squeeze an undeserved win ?

No such luck my commander goes down in the duel as the enemy begins to surround my remaining forces. Good fun and hopefully Jon will return for a rematch sometime in the new year.

Not too much painting this week although I am working on some more French Dragoons, I did manage to finish off my French Corps/Army command base. For use in SoN or larger Napoleonic battles. A random mix of Perry figures from my box painted in suitably flamboyant colours. As you can’t see all the figures from any angle I took the liberty of taking shots from different angles.

This is the largest command base I now have in any collection I think !

and you don’t get to use pink very often 🙂 the uniforms/colours are ‘pretty’ much authentic 

I now need to do some more British command stands !

Thanks as usual I hope to complete the dragoons this week and then might try and start on some limbers unless I get distracted.

Matt 🫣

Peninsular War : Soldiers of Napoleon Take Two

Seem to have a lot of battles booked in at the moment as we slip towards Christmas. Yesterday saw a second run out for the Peninsular using Soldiers of Napoleon. Learning from last weekend it was a more modest setup with two infantry Brigades each side with a supporting cavalry brigade. We randomised the arrival of reserves as per the rule book. With lots going on I didn’t take too many photos.

The first British infantry brigade arrives in March column, seeing the french in the distance !

Nearly all the reserves arrived quite quickly, this shot shows the position after several turns (in fact lunchtime) the British have formed out into line, skirmishers are trading shots together with artillery from both sides

The french begin an advance down their left, in attack column again supported by artillery

Both sides have sent cavalry down the road and for some time they stand off against each other.

After lunch we made a few changes to the rules see thoughts below. The British guards are ordered forward to open up a volley on the french supported by skirmishers from their Portuguese colleagues they break the leading regiment. 

Cavalry on the British left continue to spar with each other but the British light dragoons fail to charge in on three occasions leaving the Hussars to fight on their own. 

The British are now pushing forward on the right as well, shrouded by skirmishers

I didn’t take many photos until we called the battle to an end. The British are winning on their right, but their central Brigade has been completely broken

The cavalry fight remains a stand off.

A fun battle and once again a real joy to get my Peninsular collection back into battle. We kept a record of VP’s really just to see how this worked out 32 vs 11 if favour of the french ! 

So some thoughts on the rules as we played them. Firstly the rules clearly work well for this scale of battle rather than the larger affair last week. I like the card activation and the fact that each card has three potential uses/activities works well giving lots of options. The mechanics of game seem pretty straight forward and easy to master, you won’t be rolling more than a few dice with perhaps 2 or three modifications which increase or reduce the number of dice you roll rather than the target so simple. The gradual collection of disruption seems to work until units break and flee the field, we do need to get to some form of conclusion after all. Stats for units are pretty easy which again makes picking up the rules easy. The cards would definitely allow interesting solo play if you were that way inclined.

What didn’t quite click for us….the ability to only order each unit once per card seems to create a slightly stilted game. No moving and shooting no sweeping advances etc… and this is what we amended for our afternoon session which seemed very sensible and created a more dynamic feel to the battle. The only limitation we placed being no more than two shots. Secondly the cavalry formations whilst probably historical don’t feel right, so we would in future swop the lines column of attack bonus around for cavalry. This may be an issue with the size of my units which are six bases but it makes cavalry totally unwieldy when you want to make the most of a charge to order them out into line. Victory points don’t really work in this sort of battle for me, obviously if you like that sort of competition that’s fine, but there is a slight danger of becoming ‘competitive’ as can be seen from the result we had the British were thrashed on VP’s the bulk of these came from an objective card being played gaining 6 points and the demise of the British infantry as the french rolled very high whilst the British rolled very low when french units were removed. Finally issue was the ability to roll off hits on a simple discipline test for most units this is a 4+ so effectively 50% chance. Our feeling was to give a little more dynamism to only allow units for ‘save’ excess hits over 1. Ie when you take one hit you take it when you take 2 or more you might be able to save one. We found units just stayed around too long saving skirmish hits rather than these potentially building up slowly, forcing the unit to either withdraw or get stuck in.

There are a few clarifications I need on the rules, and things which feel a little odd for example cavalry still being able to charge when they are disordered but it kind of works both ways. All in all we enjoyed the battle and the rules and they work as a set of rules for smaller battles, giving a good feel for the period, we will certainly use them again, but it will be something else for those larger battles.

Thanks as always for popping by more than happy to answer questions on the rules. We didn’t use the terrain generator or tactical position stuff.

If nothing else the pictures are ok 👍

Scots Covenanters : Epic scale English Civil War

These didn’t quite make the post yesterday but were finished off this morning.

I think I prefer the upright pike position and the Covenanter sprue doesn’t have the ‘Porte’ versions. I’ve tried to create a little variation from the Hodden grey. But you can only really tell that from close up, so I’m not sure it is worth it ? I tried the bonnets slightly darker blue but it was lost, so went lighter shade (early UN i would call it 🙂) again I might do some variations in the future. The good thing is the flags were in the box set I won last week so I can cover off the freebie units. The flag bearers are better positioned on these newer sprues enabling the two flags to be seen.

Head swops seem way over the top in this scale but I was wondering if with careful cutting some could have bonnets removed and go bareheaded ? Or perhaps add a few helmets into the front rank.

Time wise they take about the same time as the other ECW figures.

Thanks for looking in Matt 😀