Regimental and Brigade Commanders : ACW

I have had a few of these figures on the go for a while, so nice to get some finished.

Another Union Commander, in fact I now have three levels of commander in the ACW collection this guy (probably meant to be burnside I think) is on the larger 50 mm base, and with multiple figures he will likely play as a Corps commander in our largest battles.

This Rebel commander also on a 50 mm base would play as a Divisional commander as a single figure. I then have Brigade Commanders on 40 mm round bases (photo colour is poor and they look better in real life honest)

I also had the idea to make some mounted command figures which could fit into the normal Regimental units to add variety and give the option to split my 6 base Regs into two smaller units, again for larger battles. 

These are the two Union versions (Rebels in the queue) they all Perry figures I think

and here they are slotted into a unit.....

Very happy with these as they allow some nice visual variety 👍

Finally a start to the American War Independence

Followers will know I have been purchasing and planning a new project, finally I have something to share on this. I picked these up about a year ago they were half painted then languished on a shelf whilst I focussed on other stuff. Anyway AWI is officially a project now with my first unit completed.

 British Light Infantry a mixed battalion, hence I gave them no standard. These are Foundry figures lovely but a bit of a challenge for my painting skills with a lot of detail and variety of poses. Done now though 🤪

An officer, I purchased this guy with some more figures from a mate part painted so he just needed finishing off.

I have another unit completed just need to complete the bases. No games played in the dungeon as flooding and work seem to be wiping out my weekends☹️

Work Work Work : Russian Civil War Aircraft

Some of you will know that in my day job I deal with Flooding.....needless to say it has been a busy couple of weeks. Finally I have a couple of days off, but it does mean very little progress on the hobby front. However, snatched time between shifts, incident rooms and radio interviews I have managed to paint up the the two aircraft I had picked up from Amazon.

For the ‘whites’ a French Nieuport a very simple model to put together, cheap a good scale and came with suitable Imperial markings as an option

An in flight shot....the only problem I had was the transfer for the tail fin which was impossible to apply so I had to compromise 

For the Reds a captured Sopwith Camel, this was the revel kit....way to complex and fiddly struts were a nightmare !

But it is nice now it is finished, the markings are a bit of a botch from stuff I already had...but they will do for now

Finally a Red standard, some will spot this figure is a later Red Army standard which I have modified the flag, his gun may be slightly wrong but again I’m not going to count buttons, the flag was copied from an original photo and looks better in real life than this photo, obvious they have hurriedly painted on their RSFSR symbol.

Red Army Infantry : Russian Civil War

Seems ages since I completed any painted units, I have been a bit of a butterfly but there are several things I am working on. However, I have managed to complete these Russian Red Infantry.

They are all Copplestone figures, in their characteristic Budenovka hats. Depending on the scenario they will play as elites or normal revolutionary infantry. I now need to get one or two special figures sorted out as I am looking to have special rules for standards etc.....

Vapnartak hoard..........

Like any good Viking marauder we travelled across the mountains to make a raid on the annual York Wargame Show Vapnartak ! This was only hindered by the kind highways agency shutting the A66. Anyway the show is a big feature for many Wargamers from the north and was very well attended and busy. But it is a big venue. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of the games on offer but many were of a good quality. I met up with a number of friendly gamers and acquaintances which is nice to catch up on projects people are planning.

We also spent a lot of time checking out the very numerous traders and the ‘Bring and buy’ (reorganised this year to make it less crowded), and we came back with bags full of goodies.

It is so hard to walk past a bargain, but I can at least reassure myself that everything I bought was only my possible list of things to look out for or purchase.

This years bargain, I do seem to be lucky at these shows was a large collection of Perry AWI figures, not only the plastics above which were half price but a large box of metal figures, with the usual bargaining approach of “if I buy the whole box ?” And they were a bargain at about £3.50 a bag 

I hadn’t actually gone through each bag, but when I got home I opened the two bags labelled artillery and here are the contents 😀

I now definitely have enough to crack on with my planned AWI project.

Couldn’t Help myself: Russian Civil War takes to the air !

With the enthusiasm of the first game we spent some time discussing where I should develop the project.......bad idea as I then started looking on eBay and Amazon !

 I mustn’t get too many but the majority of Planes used by both Reds and Whites were from other European countries. British Sopwith’s and French Nieuport’s. The bad things is many of these are available in 1:48 scale, and if you hunt about they are about £10.🤭 these can fly above the battlefield or act as objectives and terrain.

Russian Civil War : Battle for the Bridge

My Russian Civil War project has finally reached the point where I have enough to field a reasonable battle. The focus for the project is the southern front mainly so I can model the colourful regiments which operated in that area and also the Don Cossacks. The focus has been getting enough units to get the project on the table and to give me the enthusiasm to flesh out the forces. It is likely battles will remain fairly small but will not be based on any real historical situation. Instead it gives me the option to play interesting little scenarios where armour and guns are not overly powerful. I am working on a number of special rules to give a feel for the period and nature of the conflict.

First up then to get things going the Red forces have captured a small but important river crossing they have also secured fuel supplies which the White forces are keen to take back.

 

The initial setup the Reds on the right. The three objectives are marked with the red dots

The White forces include a mixture of regular infantry in their army green and units from the 1st Gen Markov Officers Regiment. This are particularly strong unit as they consist entirely of officers amalgamated from other disbanded regiments (they play here as veterans)

They have with them the state of the art Austin armoured car !

One of the objectives a fuel tanker 

On the Whites left flank some irregular infantry and a unit of the 1st Gen Alexeyev Partisan Infantry (the guys in white uniforms)

The Reds have dug in along the road, a machine gun operated by the fanatical Russian Sailors, they have also captured a Rolls Royce which they can now turn against the Whites

The whites rush on they only have limited time to capture the objectives, they only need one for a draw two for a win

Another machine gun dug in, in the cornfield

The officers regiment full of enthusiasm rush forward towards the bridge

..........advancing both sides of the church

On the left the fuel dump is protected by not only infantry but a light Howitzer (technically the guns are larger calibre but we wanted to limit them with the size of the table and forces)

After two or three turns the focus of the battle moved to the right, mainly as the White advance had been annihilated in the open ground (photo of blank spaces !)

Things are going better at the bridge where the Officers have reached the objective they have taken casualties but are supported by the Austin and the White Commanding Officer this side of the river

Unfortunately this is a civil war and a group of Partizans hiding in the thatched cottage charge out to slaughter the despised officers, their dead bodies no doubt thrown in the nearby river

It is now getting tight only two objectives are up for grabs. The ‘Red’ sailors exchange fire across the small vegetable field but the whites are not out of the battle yet

Pinned down the officers regiment are holding on, there was some very fierce fighting at this stage as the battle was drawing close to its end

Still a stand off on the right the whites cant quite muster the courage to charge across the field

Still holding the bridge supported by the Austin

....and then they are hit by a mortar shell at least those black uniforms wont show the blood ! Only one objective left to be challenged now

Ha ha last turn and the whites also land a direct hit with a shell killing nearly all the defending sailors who are also heavily pinned down, they must make a morale check to stay and somehow roll a Double 1, humph!!!!!!!!!!

The White Infantry make a last dash for the objective...........

But cant quite make it as the light fades and the assault has to be halted. The Austin is ordered to return to their own lines

We had a lot of fun in this game, the photos dont quite show how the battle swung backwards and forwards towards the end, with both sides desperately pulling any available troops into the combat. But the Reds got it in the end ! I have immediately started working on some more Reds (Elite Infantry). The figures are nearly all Copplestone.