Capture the ‘flag’ scenario : RCW : Bolt Action

As a change of pace from our Chain of Command campaign George came to the dungeon  for some ‘jolly’ gaming ? Well it had been a while since the RCW collection had been out on the table so I set up a capture the ‘flag’ scenario. Both sides would be seeking to defend their objective and capture the enemy objective represented by command figures and their transport vehicles.

The terrain includes a small village, a stream only crossable on foot some light woods. A sopwith carries out recon for the Reds, the two objectives would be at either ends of the battlefield forcing both sides to make lots of decisions on deployment and how to attack the enemy ?

The Whites (literally) advance on their right towards the lower bridge, their home objective is to the left of the village in the distance. 

Babooshka the Reds commissar (the Reds home objective) impatiently waves a unit of conscripts forward

In the village a the whites have a Tachanka by the white building the Reds are able to eliminate it quite quickly with fire from a maxim in the woods and their Lanchester armoured car.

A second armoured car is brought up while infantry try and force a way through the village

Whites are massing a big push across the bridge, there is an infantry unit in the truck as well ! But they have to get across the bridge

Both sides have air support which flies about attempting to machine gun the troops on the ground

Whilst the Reds waste time hunting one of the buildings for vodka ! Yes a very unfortunate special event, the white charge across the bridge , the small Cossack unit is deadly in close combat.

The attack gets pinned down, but some kind activation test rolling for the whites allows them to push up to the objective. The Reds fight back but are now struggling….to keep them back

Almost no Reds remain on the left flank, but the objective is only lightly held

Attention turns to the village where the Reds are desperately trying to force a way through, some incredibly stubborn village folk aligned with the whites are helping to hold the flank.

The Austin armoured car is rushed across the battlefield to try and save Babooshka, but it is too late and another unit is crossing the river to support the attack

With the villages finally eliminated the Reds make one final bid to the Whites objective, they throw everything forward but the Officer Corps Unit has been kept in the village for just such a purpose and the  Reds are easily held back in the last turn.

A fun game giving lots of tactical challenges for both sides.

Not a lot of painting this week but I have completed the first Highland unit for the ECW

These are Peter Pig figures and a mix of packs to add variety.

10 or 11 per base giving just enough sense of mass. I have no idea if they would have had a flag but I gave them one anyway.

The merest hint of some tartan on the cloaks which can be seen here from the rear of the unit, I kept this unit predominantly ‘green’ although some variations, I have a second unit to paint where I will swop to brown/reddish tartan cloaks. The base colour for both units is olive/hodden grey. Very happy with how they have come out.

That’s it for now, some more painting this holiday weekend and a remote game planned for next week before a holiday hiatus for a few days, a trip to Salute and a trip away.

Thanks as always

Matt ❤️

Battle of Nantwich 1644 : and other stuff…..

The run on battles continues, this time the Dungeon hosted a refight of the battle of Nantwich to introduce George to my ECW collection and rules we have been using.

The battle of Nantwich, the Kings forces had been besieging the town which had a substantial protective wall. It was I understand the last town in Cheshire holding out. Fairfax arrives to break the siege. But attacks across difficult ground which is broken up by hedges, ditches and fields.

Our set up the Church at Acton on the right with the Royalist artillery. The scenario is broadly historical, although from my brief reading on the battle the Royalist had no cavalry, this being stuck on the other side of the River Weaver which is in the line of trees in the distance. To give some balance we would allow some Royalist cavalry across the weaver on D6 roll.

The Parliamentarians begin their advance through the broken ground. The Royalists are slightly unsure what to do, they open fire where they can but the enemy use the cover to their advantage.

Quickly Fairfax sees the opportunity to out flank the enemy with his cavalry, the Royalist infantry begins to fold back to try and prevent this, in the distance a unit has also been detached to deal with the threat from Nantwich !

Arghhh if only they were Royalist cavalry ! But they are not the Royalist left flank has been turned ! It’s going to be a struggle now for Byron the Royalist commander

The Royalist cavalry make it cross the bridge, but the path is block , they charge in and a swirling melee ensues 

Quickly forming into a defensive position, in the middle distance the Royalists are on the attack hoping to link up to their cavalry ?

“We are undone” the cavalry charges the rear of a second unit and the artillery in the church yard

The royalists bravely fight on but it is really only a matter of time now, in the distance the Nantwich reinforcements have been thrown back into the town by accurate musket fire. But the main Royalist line is close to breaking 

In the far distance the Royalist cavalry has broken through literally wiping out the Parliamentry horse, but they are too far away to save their infantry. And instead spend time looting the Parliamentary baggage, this forces a morale check for the Parliamentarians but they pass easily

With all but one infantry block fleeing the field the Kings forces surrender the ground and the siege is lifted of Nantwich. A good job for the parliamentary army as their baggage has been looted and they will need supplies from the town.

A fun battle and a good introduction for George, the rules worked well, the disrupted terrain didn’t help the Royalists enough to hold back the tide. The flank being turned so early was devastating and rightly so. Seeing off the Nantwich contingent was a bonus but it had tied up an infantry unit which was needed elsewhere. The Parliamentarians didn’t quite have it all their own way……..just most of it ! I’m really enjoying the ECW setup and the scale is giving the mobility which I was looking for plenty more mid scale battles to stage, but I would play this one again…….

A change of scale ….

Some painting this week so SYW artillery horses, rather than have full limbers I have gone for horses and a spare artillery figure to hold them. Simple but nice to add to the collection

Look what the postman (well Evri delivery driver) brought, I had been pondering these for a while, not my favourite but they came up at a bargain price on eBay. We’ll see what we can do with them

With the rugby on TV (Ireland/wales) not that enthralling I set to to paint the HYW infantry from Wargames Atlantic. They took about 3 hours start to finish.

I chose simple colours and painted them the same way I do the ECW. The only difference being a grey undercoat rather than brown, given the armour on show. I then picked three colours to see what they would look like and mixed them up. Some Agrax stain and then pick out some details/highlights.

I think I have missed a bit on some figures as I have now referred to some pictures which show all the figures in surcoats a few of mine don’t have them painted, hey at this scale it makes little difference. I think the bases are a 30x40 which bunches them up a bit, I tried various different bases but this seemed to give the most attractive result. Not too regimented and with another set you could have quite a lot of variation brining the individual figures to the front rank. Quite happy with the overall effect. What takes the time is the variation in coat colours, the more variation the longer they would take.

Scale wise here they are compared to a unit of Pendraken SYW infantry and some Epic scale ECW. I guess the photo shows they are much closer to 10mm, but as previously shown the ECW are really small 15mm. Food for thought anyway, we’ll see how the cavalry turn out when I get a chance.

Another game planned for today and then I need a rest 😂

Thanks as always for checking in

Matt ❤️

Battle of Roundway Down 1643 : ECW

A couple of weeks of Radio silence as I recover from a winter illness. A couple of games postponed due to the real world. However, plenty has been going on in the Dungeon.

First up we managed another ECW battle this time the battle of Roundway Down July 1643. A really interesting battle with the Royalists split, their Cornish Infantry in Devizes, their Cavalry attacking the main Parliamentary force under Sir General Waller.

There are lots of different maps of the battle on the internet, this one perhaps the most useful depending on the scale of the battle to be played. 

My 8x5 foot table allows plenty of space. The Royalist cavalry on the left. Regular readers will know almost every battle we play is a bespoke scenario and I always try and blend some elements of the historical battle to create further interest. In this case the accounts of the battle seem to indicate that the Royalist infantry held up in Devizes thought the ‘battle’ was a Parliamentary ruse to draw them out of the town. So they only left the town after the gun fire and noise made it clear a real battle was under way. This means the Parliamentary force has a limited time advantage to tackle the Royalist cavalry. Spoiler alert : I goofed in this battle with the timings of the Royalist infantry arrival !

The parliamentary force look out towards the Royalist cavalry

As the Royalist cannons open up the Parliamentary force decides to take decisive action and they carry out  a full assault, seeking to wipe the Kings cavalry from the field before any reserves can support them.

The Royalist cavalry have some slight advantage in numbers and on both flanks close range pistol shooting begins the engagement

Cavalry supported by dragoons

After the initial pistol shots the cavalry engage in hand to hand combat

The Royalist cavalry are holding their own but they are gradually being pinned down

Finally Horton and his infantry arrive on the battlefield marching to the sound of the guns

Despite their robust defence the Royalist cavalry is struggling to hold and the Parliamentary infantry is now breaking through in the centre

All is not lost for the Royalists who have effectively won the cavalry battle on both wings…..

Unfortunately it has taken too long and they are pretty much blown themselves, added to this their infantry reserves have arrived too late to influence the outcome of the battle. It was a well fought battle, and fun even if the scenario didn’t quite work out as planned. We need to run this one again sometime and amend the arrival time for the Royalist infantry to give Waller some real challenges.

Some painting I have managed to complete….

French light infantry, this are Fronk Rank figures, mainly bought secondhand but bulked out with a couple of new purchases to fill the unit.

Completed one of my Christmas presents a Carden Loyd carrier, this probably sits alongside the Beaverette as fun but slightly under powered British armour to defend against the German sea lion invasion.

I have also been painting up some shaken markers, these for my Napoleonics

In our AWI campaign we have reached the battle of Germantown. As a large battle we have decided to break it down. Famously this involved the fight for the Chew House

I realised I didn’t really have a suitable stone house

Whilst I didn’t want an exact model, so I could use the house for other scenarios and periods, I thought this war bases house would be a good start

All the bits painted before construction

Then I set to with milliliput modelling clay and some extra cardboard, I also found I had some pillars from a previous project. A slow process but as I wasn’t doing much else it was fine.

Then onto painting with plenty of dry brushing

Happy with the result 😀

Well that’s it for now, my health is not ideal but I managed to build my Tirpitz model over the last couple of days.

Thanks as always for popping by 

Matt ❤️