General Headquarters

The Battle of Gerrards Cross, 1460

2012-02-12T22:19:00.001-08:00

(Click to enlarge, if you wish - hopefully it should work!)

Warwick or bust!

2012-01-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Following the battle of Thoroton in the North, it's time now to look South for the latest of developments in the Wars of the Roses. The Queen's invasion is closing on London, with Warwick poised to defend both king and capital.

Good news for him at first is that his uncle Fauconberg arrives from Calais, bringing badly-needed reinforcements to meet the oncoming Lancastrian host. Marching out to meet the Queen's advance, he takes Henry VI with him as a rallying-point for his own troops and to add a good dose of legitimacy to his own claims that he's loyally defending the king from evil councillors.

Warwick bases himself north of the river Thames so he can monitor the crossing-points to hopefully engage the Lancastrian host piecemeal, cutting the numerical odds he faces.

Unknown to Warwick however, things were not about to go his way. First the Duke of Buckingham advanced with unexpected haste and rushed the outposts on the Thames before Warwick could react, ruining his plans to engage them while they were split. Warwick hurriedly retreats to his camp and begins to fortify it, in line with the conventional military thinking of the day. Little does he know, however, that treachery threatens within his ranks...

From the summary above, it's probably worth putting a little bit of game-based flesh on the bones of the narrative. Part of Warwick's army is made up of the Calais Garrison, the only body of troops that could even vaguely be compared to a permanent national army. These would be under the command of the talented Captain Andrew Trollope, a figure about whom it is worth saying a little bit of background info.

Historically, the real Trollope was the Master Porter of Calais under Warwick's captaincy there. When Warwick went to England in 1459 he took Trollope & the garrison with him, only for Trollope to reveal his pro-Lancastrian tendencies in the most dramatic manner possible by deserting to the enemy right before Ludford Bridge and compelling the Yorkists to flee. Trollope then played a major role in Lancastrian victories like 2nd St Albans and Wakefield, which he apparently helped to plan, before meeting his end on the field at Towton.

In my re-play of the Wars however, the Yorkists in 1459 triumphed before Warwick and Trollope could reach a battlefield - which means that it'a now 1460, Trollope is still in Yorkist ranks and awaiting his moment to switch, and now it's come to the day of battle! Trollope is marked as 'Treacherous' under the 'Coat of Steel' rules, which means he could well sit the whole thing out or switch sides mid-battle. This latter option is pretty close to the historical record as not only did Trollope himself switch sides historically, but in the same year as I'm now recreating (1460) Warwick won the battle of Northampton by means of an enemy force switching sides, and destroying a prepared defensive position. Now we shall see how Warwick fares when he finds himself on the receiving end of this move!

Warwick's CoS card allows 'Artifices' to be used, such as defensive works, so it seems only sensible to use this. I end up picking a London borough for the title of the battle, roughly equating to St Albans in the historic manner but for an advance from the south-west. I ended up going for Gerrard's Cross (as the name also slightly echoes Mortimer's Cross, so I quite liked it.) Wikipedia advises that Gerrard's Cross got its name in the following centuries, but I decided to overcome this by simply not caring - works a charm.

The last detail is the speed of Buckingham's advance. In the Richard III campaign game rules, the river Thames should force the Lancastrians to begin with only three of their four blocks/commands in play, making them introduce the fourth one in a later round. However, the Lancastrians played the 'Surprise' card which raised the limit to allow all of their force to engage immediately. Suited me, as I wanted to fight a battle over a fortified camp, and not a river-line.

Update on 2012

2012-01-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

Excuse the change in appearance, but I have only now gotten round to looking at the alternative designs on Blogger and discovered I can change my layout - the design may alter a little as I sort out my final preference, fix up photos for any background, etc.

Anyway, wargaming-wise, what's been going on? Over Xmas & New Year, I have gotten a copy of 'Hail Caesar' which I hope to try out soon. With this in mind, I have also launched my final push on completing all of my Wars of the Roses figures - around 50 to go, then a mass-varnishing & basing session remains!

Waterloo-plastics are progressing, and I have managed to get them all sprayed with the base-coat to prepare the plastic for painting.

In other plans, I have recently been toying with the plan to get into the WW2 rules 'I ain't been shot mum' for a company-scale WW2 fight, probably using the Plastic Soldier Company's cheap deals.

One bit of news in The Real World is that the plan for me and my wife to sell our flat and move to a house. While good news in itself (could I finally have a permanent spot to paint & game?) it does mean a lot of disruption as we tidy the flat for putting on the market and selling, so painting and gaming opportunities are likely to be scarce for a little while. I shall post whatever I can, however!

The Anglo-Allied Army List

2012-01-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

I have, at present, three different sources for Waterloo army lists. First is the original Horse Foot & Guns (DBA-style) rules by Phil Barker which give lists for all three armies; next is the Waterloo Companion book which is far more detailed and complete; and finally there is the Wikipedia page giving the lists for all troops in the campaign. In going through these three even in my own casual style, it's swiftly become clear that nobody quite agrees! Typical...

So, I have gone through it myself and adapted the HFG lists as I feel suitable, to fit with the Waterloo Companion lists which are far more detailed and therefore I suspect as being far more accurate. I imagine the original lists may have been compiled with a balanced 'points total' in mind, but I am not too big on points for wargaming.

Ignoring any historically accurate 'technical' nomenclature, and simply calling all bases 'Brigades':

The list for the Anglo-Allied Army:

The reserve was under Wellington's direct command, so he is listed as the corps command unit here as well as being the army commander. The divisional level has been skipped out here, and troops are generally grouped by nationality.

Brilliant CP - Wellington

Bay[short for Bayonets, i.e. Infantry] (British) - Kempt's Brigade

Bay (Highland) - Pack's Brigade

Bay (British) - Lambert's Brigade

Inferior Bay (Hanoverian Landwehr) - Vincke's Brigade

Inferior Bay (Hanoverian Landwehr) - Best's Brigade

Light Infantry (Brunswick) - Rauschenplatt's Brigade

Bay (Brunswickers) - Specht's Brigade

Bay (Nassauers) - Kruse's Brigade

British Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Drummond

Hanoverian Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Braun

British RHA Smoothbore Horse Artillery - Ross/Beane

Supply Base

Below is the list for the 1st corps - mostly pretty clear-cut, except that the Dutch brigades are in some cases so large they have to be split up. Large brigades with components of a different nationality have been split along these lines to give a chance for recognising the different countries and maintaining a bit of 'colour'.

CP - Orange

Superior Bay (British Guards) - Maitland's Brigade

Superior Bay (British Guards) - Byng's Brigade

Bay (British) - Halkett's Brigade

Bay (KGL) - Ompteda's Brigade

Bay (Hanoverian) - Kielmansegge's Brigade

Bay (Dutch) - Bijlandt's Brigade

Bay (Dutch) - Saxe-Weimar's Brigade (partial)

Bay (Dutch) - Detmers' Brigade

Bay (Dutch) - d'Aubreme's Brigade (partial)

Bay (Belgian) - d'Aubreme's Brigade (partial)

Bay (Nassauer) - Saxe-Weimar's Brigade (partial)

British Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Adye/Williamson

Dutch Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Opstal

Dutch Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Smissen

Next, 2nd Corps. There are some modifications here. The original list by Phil Barker gave two bases of KGL Bayonets while I could only identify one brigade, and seemed to skip Lyon's brigade out. The Waterloo companion listed Lyon as being a brigade of Hanoverian Landwehr, so I decided to switch the second KGL unit of Bayonets to Hanoverian Landwehr and use them to represent Lyon's Brigade. As done elsewhere, I listed the Landwehr as 'Inferior' quality.

Identifying the Light Infantry was also a bit awkward. I went in the end for Mitchell's brigade, which did at least contain a regiment listed as light infantry. The other one was pretty easy to

guess as Adam's Brigade as it contained the famous '95th Rifles' of the Sharpe novels. Adam also got represented by a second base of regular Brit Bayonets however, as it contained the 52nd Regiment - noted as the numerically strongest unit in the army, and therefore well worth

representing with another base.

CP - Hill

Superior Light Infantry (British Rifles) - Adam's Brigade (partial)

Superior Light Infsntry (British) - Mitchell's Brigade

Bay (KGL) - Du Platt's Brigade

Inferior Bay (Hanoverian Landwehr) - Lyon's Brigade

Inferior Bay (Hanoverian Landwehr) - Halkett's Brigade

Bay (British) - Johnstone's Brigade

Bay (British) - Adam's Brigade (partial)

Light Inf (Dutch) - Anthing's Brigade

Inferior Bay (Dutch Militia) - de Eerens' Brigade

Inferior Bay (Dutch Militia) - d'Hauw's Brigade

British Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Gold/Hawker

Dutch Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Wijnands

Dutch Smoothbore Foot Artillery - Riesz

The Cavalry Corps got listed by Phil Barker as having two fewer units of cavalry than I could find brigades listed. So, I simply added them in! Not sure exactly which ones got skipped, but the two British Light Cavalry bases I added got tentatively identified as Vivian's & Arendschildt's brigades.

CP - Uxbridge

Superior British Heavy Cav (Household) - Somerset

British Heavy Cav (Union Brigade) - Ponsonby

Inferior Dutch Heavy Cav (Carabiniers) - Trip

British Light Cav (Hussars) - Grant

KGL Light Cav (Hussars) - Dornberg

British Light Cav (Lt Dragoons) - Vandaleur

Hanoverian Light Cav (Hussars) - Estorff

Dutch Light Cav - Ghigny

Dutch Light Cav - Merlen

British Light Cav (Hussars) - Vivian

British Light Cav - Arentsschildt

British RHA Smoothbore Horse Artillery - Bull/Webber-Smith/Gardiner

British RHA Smoothbore Horse Artillery - Whinyates/Ramsay/Mercer

Dutch Smoothbore Horse Artillery - Petter/Pittius

So, no small amount of work there for 2012!

Thoroton Aftermath

2011-12-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

Before hastening south to continue the 'Wars of the Roses' clash of arms, it's worth having a quick review of the results in the last scrap at Thoroton. I've mentioned before about my great advocacy of using a board game for campaigns then resolving battles as tabletop games, so here's a little example of how I handle converting from one to the other.

Both sides went into Thoroton with a strength of 13cv's (where cv in the 'Richard III' game stands for 'combat value') which I happen to broadly take as about a thousand men each. On the tabletop, I placed out about 82 or 84 figures per side with my rather arbitrary efforts to field an 'A Coat of Steel' scenario, or almost exactly equal strength (each model being about 80-ish men.)

The outcome of the battle and ensuing rout was the loss of 12 out of 84 for the Yorkists and 34 out of 82 for the Lancastrians - put another way, a loss rate of 15% and 40% respectively.

Going by the percentages, the 13cv of the Yorkist army should be reduced to 11cv, with losses falling primarily among the Norwich Levies and Norfolk's personal retinue. These were both the largest counters/blocks in the game, so that seems entirely right.

The Lancastrian losses are a bit more awkward to assess, not least because Northumberland's command was wrecked and the man himself killed, but also Somerset completely missed the fighting - thus giving them 100% and 0% losses respectively.

Going by the global loss of 40% however, we can see the need to remove 5cv in total, leaving a remainder of 8cv (ouch!) With Northumberland's 4cv block removed, that just leaves 1cv more to come off, and we can apply that to the Newcastle Levies to reflect their shambolic and half-hearted efforts on the day.

The end results for casualties then are 4000 dead on the field itself (1000 Yorkists, 3000 Lancastrian) plus a further 3000 lost in the rout and pursuit (1000 Yorkist, 2000 Lancastrian.) This seems about right, proportionally.

It's up to personal opinion whether Somerset was lucky/unlucky to avoid getting swallowed up in this disaster, largely depending on whether you feel his presence would've changed the outcome, or if he simply would've swelled the casualty lists. As it is however, the fact he survived unscathed means the Northern rebellion is still a going concern for the Yorkist regime with 8000 men in the field and the potential for many more reinforcements to come, against

11000 Yorkists who are already urgently needed elsewhere.

The Anglo-Allied Army

2011-12-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

Good news! The Anglo-Allied Army is indeed adequately represented! Here is another photo, identical to the one above, showing the figures dealt out to each base.

After lots of snipping figures off sprues, I now have enough for each base. Looking at them all in one go, some things stand out. Specifically, the variation in Quality! Revell are good but a touch thin and elongated; Airfix are strangely mis-shapen; Mars appear to not use plastic at all, but rather some strange substance closer to old chewing-gum than anything else; HaT are good and generally more 'uniform' in pose than anything else. The two stand-out facts are a) Italeri are easily the best quality, and b) there really is no excuse these days to not mould a horse and its base as a single unit (you hear that Airfix, Mars and Esci? We all hate trying to fix some horse's leg into a tiny slot!)

Next up, the job of slowly glueing each set of figures to a strip of cardboard!

Anglo-Allied Stock-taking

2011-12-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd just write this up as I go, as I'll probably not get round to it at a later date. Here is, with photos, my attempt to sort out the entire Anglo-Allied Waterloo Campaign army with my plastic purchases!

The 'plastic mountain' in it's full horror/glory. The Anglo-Allied army, because of the variety of unit types it seems to have contained, required the most box-buying of plastics. Now I should be in a good situation to completely, or very nearly, model the whole thing!

Manufacturers are a mad combination of whatever I was able to get my hands on. As a rough rule of thumb, the ones for Italieri & Revell seem to be generally best quality, while Airfix are the most variable. Luck of the draw, really! However, there are sites available which you really can't do without.

On a similar note, what do they all look like? Well, there's another site which I have turned to and it has supplied me with ludicrous levels of information. Generally, for each base/brigade, I have looked up the largest or most notable unit contained within it, and used its uniform as representative. Now, to the plan:

These square bits of card are the 6cm x 6cm bases I intend to use. The four broad columns are, left to right, Orange's I Corps, then Hill's II Corps, Uxbridge's Cavalry Corps and Wellington's Reserve Corps. Roughly each base is a brigade, and it's broadly as per the Horse Foot & Guns army-list, but I have tinkered slightly based on reading through my book 'The Waterloo Companion'. You'll see that some bases have had some figures placed on them - these are the ones which I have taken off their sprues, & base-coat sprayed with plastikote as a test-attempt. Now I'm ready to go Industrial-Scale, and do as many of the rest as I can!

One point of interest, however, on plastic figures: I usually mount figures onto wooden ice-lolly sticks, but the smooth base of the plastics is not as rough as lead-cast figures' bases usually are. Figures I tried here to glue to wooden sticks simply snapped off with barely a touch, but strips of cardboard (from a cut-up cereal box) seem to be much more effective! Plus, you can be much more liberal with the glue - if you're fighting to get them off later, card can be cut away simply enough while a little wooden stick would probably be more resistant than your soft-plastic figures were!

More updates as I progress...

Update on Things

2011-12-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since I last posted, so I wanted to at least put up a little post to cover where my attention has been - outside of the real world, at any rate! Over the last little while, I have:

Been fooling around with WW2 games

I was at first pondering about a big WW2 Mediterranean game, mainly because although I like my WW2 Desert games, I have no way of linking them together beyond the basic campaign system that the 'KISS Rommel' rules suggested. With that system, I am now on my third game with no change in the campaign-level situation: hardly an exciting model of what was historically a highly mobile & dynamic campaign! I looked at making up my own and fooled about with some maps, then dug out the old board game 'Third Reich' from the loft and looked at using it - only to remember exactly why it was in the loft! (For the uninitiated, it's notorious for being extremely over-detailed and over-complicated.) The search goes on, however!

Planning a try at 2mm ACW with Black Powder

Nothing too dramatic, but I had a sudden urge to try an army-level game to the Black Powder rules. It dawned on me that at brigade-level things would be too finicky, but then I had the notion of making divisions into the basic units, and just varying them by size based on the number of brigades they possessed - simple and easy! BP has rules for differently-sized units, so it should (theoretically) work fine.

Bought 'Tremble Ye Tyrants'

I liked the rules produced by Chris Peers in the past, such as the ones for WW1 (Contemptible Little Armies) and also various things he did in magazines like Wargames Illustrated, many moons ago. When I heard that he was putting out a set of fast-play Napoleonic rules, I decided it was worth a try. It's triggered something of a basing crisis in my plans, but I think I'll stick with my original intention. Speaking of which:

Nearly finished assembling Wellington's Army in 1/72 Plastic

Yes, another binge on EBay and - surprisingly - Amazon saw me bag quite a few of the outstanding boxes of plastic figures for the Anglo-Allied Army (the most awkward, through the variety of troops, I believe.) I am planning to have a big sit-down organising session this weekend, largely because my wife's off out for the day and I can make a vast mess while I organise, without annoying her! :-)

The Battle of Thoroton, 1460

2011-11-19T03:20:00.000-08:00

Time to take to the field once again, to battle for the fate of the North of England, possibly even the crown itself!

Lancastrians deploy with Northumberland in the centre, Scots on the left and the Levies on the right. Opposite them up a shallow valley (the hills on each table-side aren't too visible) are the Yorkists - who have Norfolk in the centre, Salisbury on the right and Rutland on the left.

Some of Norfolk's boys awaiting the battle's start. (On a side-note, I'm aiming that this will be the last time any battle is fought with partially-painted figures. Things have now developed enough for me to field only finished ones from here onwards.) Anyway, enough of my modelling talk - let's see how the little plastic & lead men do!

Percy has brought some of this new-fangled "ordonnance" to the field. Now those Yorkist dogs can taste some pre-battle bombardment, yes?

...No. Looks like these gonnes are more hazardous to those behind, rather than to the fore (it'll never catch on.) The armies begin to approach, trading volleys in a more reliably destructive style.

Sir Ralph Grey of Heaton clearly has second thoughts about the whole deal, and the Newcastle levies remain strangely immobile during the advance. Percy presses on, no doubt with mounting concern & anger as his flank becomes exposed, before finally Heaton pulls himself together and commits for Lancaster. Such half-heartedness seems to infect the men however, as they swiftly see their courage dwindle against the superior archery of Rutland's retainers, and quit the field. Little loss, some would say!

Others have the guts to make a fight of it, at any rate - Northumberland's ward soon comes to blows with Norfolk's ward, producing a deadly struggle (and also - plenty of medieval swearing!)

The day could be decided elsewhere however, despite the furies of the central combat which sways back and forth inconclusively. Heaton's levies streaming off the field are an unwelcome greeting for the eventual arrival of Somerset, who comes onto the field to find the battle already far gone. He randomly enters in the right-rear of the Lancastrian army, just as Rutland on the Yorkist left wheels inwards to flank the Lancastrian battle-line. Typical: he's in perfect position to descend on Rutland's rear, but just too late to get there. Damn his caution - his fiery son must be spitting-mad at this!

Caught between the wards of Norfolk in front and increasingly Rutland on the flank, the central ward with Northumberland and Baron Greystoke begins to falter and break up. Lancastrian collapse!

Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland himself, is swept up in the rout and captured by the triumphant Yorkists. With the loss of their Vaward and Mainward, plus their main Commander lost, the Lancastrian army breaks and flees. All Somerset can do is cover the rout as best he can, while the Lancastrian fugitives are swept away.

One final deed remains however, on this bloody field. the Yorkists rejoice in their victory while Lancastrians languish, but it's time to settle some old scores: the Neville-Percy feud rears its head again, and Richard Neville (the Earl of Salisbury) ensures the captured Henry Percy (Earl of Northumberland) receives the reward of all traitors for defying the rule of King Henry VI. A short walk to: the headsman's block!

A grim day, indeed...

Prelude to Battle

2011-11-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

In the Midlands, the Yorkists head back north again upon the rendezvous between Salisbury & Norfolk, intending to defend the line of the river Trent. However, before they can reach the river the Lancastrians have crossed southwards! As part of the invasion, Somerset has taken his force to swing east and flank the river-line while Northumberland takes it head-on. A good plan, but one that rapidly comes unstuck when Northumberland probes the river-line and finds that he's pushing on an open door. Salisbury has gone, as part of his brief shift southwards to meet up with Norfolk, but of course Northumberland has no way of knowing this and sets off in pursuit. A messenger is sent to Somerset to update him that he's not a cunning flanking blow on a defended river-line any more, but is now badly out of position and needs to catch up with the main army as it heads south.

The Lancastrian advance comes to a halt shortly after it starts, as scouts come riding back with news of the new Yorkist force drawing close. Battle is at hand, and both forces come together near the village of Thoroton, close to Nottingham, for the reckoning. Can Northumberland win single-handedly? Will Somerset reach the field in time to make a contribution?

For the upcoming battle, I proved unable to resist the siren's call of Perfect Captain's rule-set 'A Coat of Steel.' Whatever its problems, I simply don't know of any alternative set that can match it for the 'flavour' of the period. Forces for ACoS are derived from the campaign game 'A Crown of Paper' (ACoP,) so I tweaked the numbers for companies to get an 'instant' army-list for each side that roughly matches the forces in the 'Richard III' campaign game. I did this after reading through some of the ACoS scenarios posted in the Perfect Captain's Yahoo group. A generic unit of 2Men-at-Arms, 4Billmen & 4Retinue Archers seemed to be in use in things like their Towton scenario for nobles' retinues, plus 4Billmen & 4Levy Bowmen units for levies, so I adopted this myself. Bam! Ready-made armies!

The Yorkist set-up is simple, with Norfolk making up the Main, Salisbury on the right, and Rutland on the Left. Norwich levies were dispersed throughout to bulk up the wards as required, and prevent Norfolk's ward from being disproportionately large compared to the other two. Lancastrian-wise, we have Northumberland in the Main, the Scots under Earl Douglas on the left, and the Newcastle Levies on the right under Sir Ralph Grey of Heaton.

A draw through some ACoP contingent-counters turned up a Gonne for Northumberland, so on a whim I adopted that and gave him one. I also used the draws of well-wisher counters to identify potential numbers of minor nobles who might turn up. I used the Minor Nobles list to select plausible backers and fill out Ward commands, adding a good bit more colour.

So, to a look at the Cards, to learn what characteristics will be on show: Gah! Right away, things look bad for the Lancastrians. While the Yorkists field a generally competent crew of old hands and loyalists, fortune has dealt the Red Rose a very worse fate. Somerset is Lethargic - hardly the characteristic you look for in a man meant to be riding to the rescue with reinforcements! Worse, Northumberland is impetuous, meaning he's unlikely to wait for him. Double-Worse, Grey of Heaton is a rank amateur, plus a trimmer who may well swap sides right there on the field. The man's a positive danger!

The Queen's Army Lands in England

2011-11-09T22:40:00.001-08:00

News arrives back in France of the recent events in England. The details are somewhat confused as news can only arrive covertly from sympathisers, but nonetheless the general shape of events in clear. Rebellion against the Yorkist regime, it's loss of control in the North, and rumour of battle: clearly it is time to move and make the second planned invasion of England, this time from the South and into the Yorkist rear while their eyes are fixed northwards!

Queen Margaret and the Duke of Buckingham will need a major port in the South to support them, which means the choice for a landing is between Bristol in the south-west, or Southampton on the south coast. Bristol is a big city, and also close to the lands of the Earl of Devon in Cornwall, which would be yet more reliable support; however, Southampton offers its own set of advantages: it's near the lands of Yorkist supporters which might persuade them to keep their heads down, but the major one is swift roads to London. If they take the capital by the back door, then Margaret will be reunited with her husband Henry VI and the Yorkist hold on power will be finished.

Margaret, along with her son Edward, Buckingham, the Earl of Wiltshire and a host of French 'supporters' (i.e. Mercenaries) make landfall and soon have the county of Sussex under their control, ready to take the London road.

Yorkists have not been idle while all this takes place, however. First, there's the northern invasion. Plenty of people in the South-East have been happily profiting from trade, now that the Yorkist faction has seen off the indolent and inefficient Pro-Beaufort Court faction and brought a bit of law and order to the sea-lanes. Warwick in particular has been laying waste to pirates, and many towns have grown rich in consequence. Now news of the Beauforts' return would have worried them at the best of times, but news he is marching south with a horde of unintelligible Northern savages (Northumbrians and Scots: the Southerners draw no distinction!) pillaging and despoiling their way towards them... well, let's just say that finding recruits for the force to go and stop them isn't much of a problem.

Salisbury and Rutland have marched away southwards after their little scrap at Duffield, and now they have linked up with their much-desired reinforcements. The Duke of Norfolk has marched north with his forces, and after issuing a Commission of Array on behalf of the king

he has a large mass of Arrayed troops, especially from the Norfolk and the trading cities like Norwich, with which he can bulk out the ranks. Finally, the Yorkists have an army of adequate size to challenge the Northern invasion.

Outside of this Northern conflict, the head of the Yorkist cause, Edward Plantagenet (erstwhile Earl of March but now the Duke of York on inheriting his dead dad's claim to the throne) is in Wales. The Welsh are potentially a source of pro-Lancastrian support, so he's keeping a lid on things in the west with the aid of his supportive Hereford nobles along the Welsh Marches.

To increase his strength he has also linked up with support from Ireland, where memory of his father's rule there has led to it being highly pro-Yorkist.

This leaves Warwick in charge of London itself, keeping close watch on the king and capital. Effectively he's in reserve for the time being, although this changes with alarming speed on news from Southampton. The Queen and Buckingham have returned, seeking to capture Henry VI and London, and now with one Yorkist army in the north and Edward off in the west, only

Warwick is in their path! It's a moment of supreme crisis, and he acts fast. His uncle, Baron Fauconberg, is the Captain of Calais and Warwick sends word begging him to come with the garrison troops with all haste. Meanwhile Warwick turns out the London Levies and experiences a nerve-racking wait while he prays for his uncle to reach him before the Queen does!

He is saved from immediate and total destruction by the pause in the Lancastrian advance. The Queen issues Commissions of Array across Wiltshire, Dorset & Kent. Her powerful nobles quickly gather loyal Lancastrian followers to her banners, while pro-Yorkist nobles in the south try to keep as low a profile as possible while the army grows in size. But assembling the disparate troops takes time, which brings Fauconberg ever nearer to London...

The Battle of Duffield, 1460

2011-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Lancastrian foot trudge southwards, but upon approaching the bridge at Duffield they find the Yorkists, Salisbury & Rutland, waiting for them!

The levies of the vanguard try to deploy, and are rapidly showered with arrows while they try to form for battle.

The levies are having a grim time of it. Where is the rest of the army?

The numbers gathered finally rises to the stage where an assault is made. The Lancastrian horde batters its way over the bridge and attacks Salisbury's ward.

The wily old Salisbury breaks contact and falls back, content that he has done enough damage and the odds are tilting ever further away from him.

He remains defiant through the withdrawal, however. "Neville!"

The crossing at Duffield was a small but bloody affair...

The Earl of Northumberland surveys the scene and counts the cost. No matter: The Lancastrian march southwards continues.

[A quick little knockabout skirmish which, for no reason other than personal nostalgia, I played out with an old copy of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Actually works quite well, when you filter out all the Orcs & Elves!]

Return of the Scottish Lords, 1460

2011-10-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Lancastrian invasion is on!

Getting whole-hearted Scottish backing, the Earl of Northumberland and the Duke of Somerset cross the border from Scotland into England. They swiftly descend on Newcastle, where they raise the Queen's banner and quickly gather much enthusiastic support. The city levies turn out for them, plus the Percy family's extensive holdings across the north mean that the supporters flock in with alarming speed. In the seeming blink of an eye, a large Lancastrian army has seized Northumbria and is set to march southwards.

Salisbury is of course in North Yorkshire, tasked with stopping this sort of thing. However, he has a few thousand men which is perfectly adequate for putting the metaphorical (usually!) thumb-screws on recalcitrant local nobles, but not for taking on an invasion and mass-rising by the most powerful lords of the north! Having looked over the situation, the canny Salisbury reflects that his number one priority is not dying pointlessly.

He heads south, aiming to link up with Rutland in Derby and draw on more of the support summoned up from the pro-Yorkist southern nobles, in order to have enough strength to make a fight of it.

Somerset and Northumberland have no intention of letting this come to pass, however. The agressive Henry Beaufort leads the Lancastrian host on a pounding forced-march, desperately chasing after the Yorkists as they move southwards, hoping to chew them up before they can be reinforced. After many long days of exhausting marches, the distance between the forces dwindles away and the Yorkists realise that they are going to have to turn and fight in order to buy themselves time to escape, against a force over double the size of their own.

Where, then? And how, so it isn't a walkover?

I should explain my reasoning process that took this from game-board to tabletop scenario. First of all, I looked over the places named on the map-board for a bit of inspiration. I check on Google Maps to see if there's a small town or village somewhere in the area that could plausibly have been a site (and usually Wikipedia it to see if it actually existed back in the Middle Ages.) This provides a name, sometimes even a map idea, then the general situation in the game can supply a scenario.

For this one, the map had the name 'Duffield' written on it slightly to the north of Derby - perfect spot for a stand to be taken north of a prominent town. On googling it, I saw it sits on the river Ecclesbourne just where it joins the larger river Derwent. It also forms (at least on modern maps) a little salient between the two rivers on the northern bank. This made a good potential scenario for a stand, in any case. The canny Salisbury turns a few miles before Derby and makes his stand on the riverbank, knowing that the force-marching Lancastrians will arrive piecemeal and exhausted. When they try to cross at Duffield, then he can surprise them on the banks, plus the narrow approach up to the crossing would prevent them using their numbers to good effect. There's certainly enough here to offset the numerical mismatch, which would normally rule out playing this game out normally!

The Barbarossa Campaign - all of it!

2011-10-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, on a random browse through Boardgamegeek, I noticed a pop-up for a company called Victory Point Games. I followed it for a look, and wound up finding the whole thing quite intriguing. It was a company doing small micro-budget games, but they appeared interesting and so, feeling flush for once, I decided to give one a go. I opted for 'The Barbarossa Campaign' because of two reasons: first, it was the Eastern Front in WW2, which is one of the classic wargame settings and typically only ever played out in hugely complicated games. Second,

the game was apaprently a solitaire one, which is a pretty interesting concept.

Basically, you play the role of the invading Axis powers trying to topple the USSR. By capturing cities, encircling Soviet armies and generally displaying good luck, you should be able to win the game before the growing Red Army annihilates you. I've had it arrive in the post, and have had some experimental goes with it, and thought I'd just come straight out and post this: the entire narrative of the Eastern Front from 1941-1945, in a single blog post!

Summer 1941

I decided right from the off that the chief aim would be Moscow, basically because most histories of the war tend to criticize the Germans for not doing so. I was curious: were they right?

The first turn unfolded with spectacular advances, as the German spearheads plunged with alarming speed into the heartland of the Soviet Union. Riga, Minsk, Brest-Litovsk, Kiev, Odessa: all of them were swept aside in the initial torrent. A ludicrous total of nine Soviet fronts/armies were bagged in huge encirclements and wiped out, and by the end of summer the bulk of White Russia and the Ukraine were taken. I had expected more of an advance in the north, but spectacular combat results in the south meant that the Luftwaffe-supported Axis plunged deep even on this 'secondary' front. The Red army even held a thin strip of coastline into the Baltic states, for the time being, at least.

Kapow!

Autumn 1941

German industry seemed to play a blinder in the opening stages of the war, as events like 'Luftwaffe Surge' and 'Panzer Production' handed all sorts of good industrial advantages to the invaders - only the loss of armour superiority (with the appearance of the T-34) spoiled the trend. In Autumn the thrust to Moscow was renewed, taking Smolensk (while encircling two more armies) and pressed the Panzers right up to the outskirts of the city. In the south, the remainder of the Ukraine changed hands with the advance bagging Rostov. The Crimea was also cut off, with Sevastopol having all its fortifications reduced but stubbornly holding out. Soviet counter-attacks fell flat everywhere, being fatally compromised by the shortage of tanks & equipment. This was good stuff for the Germans, but critically their luck just fell short of getting a high enough score to gain another victory point.

Winter 1941

Snow! The German line largely stabilised over the winter as blitzkrieg attacks couldn't be carried out in the harsh conditions. More small-scale assaults took place however, with Sevastopol finally succumbing in the south and the offensive progressing on Moscow. Unable to take the city in the snows, the Axis attempted to establish jumping-off points to take the city early the following year and sent Panzers northeast to try and increase pressure on the capital. This resulted in disaster however, when the winter began and a massive Soviet counter-attack erupted in the faces of the ill-prepared Germans. The Pz spearheads collapsed and were driven back in with heavy losses against the new Soviet shock-armies that emerged. A full five hexes had to be given up in front of Moscow before the line stabilised, which was a high price to pay for neglecting to dig in with prepared 'hedgehog' positions.

Things were also bad up in the far north, as the

Finns agreed to commit fully to warfare against the Soviets. They advanced, over-extended, and then suffered a spectacular collapse back to their starting borders as Soviet troops broke through. No gains right now, although at least Finnish commitment did threaten Leningrad's ability to resist in the following year.

Spring 1942

With the first year over, the springtime mud forced a pause on both sides. The industrial advantage of good production in the early days had to be spent on replacing the winter losses, rather than building up the Panzer force in the east. Where, once the mud cleared, were the Germans to go now? Clearly Moscow was in the sights, but the other critical city of Leningrad was also exposed, while Stalingrad could be reached before long. It was entirely plausible that all three cities could be taken in 1942, triggering an all-out Soviet collapse.

Generally sluggish advances saw Moscow and Voronezh approached, while in the north Talinn and Leningrad were cut off. Soviet counter-attacks quickly re-opened a route to Leningrad however, and a similar offensive at Voronezh pushed the Axis away. The mud badly hampered moves this round, preventing any large encirclements. An attempt to close a pocket around Kharkov proved too ambitious. The city had to be taken by direct assault with the salient falling in like a collapsing bag, as opposed to an encirclement. A disappointing start to the year.

Summer 1942

The Soviets make the last of the spring with orders given to fortify Stalingrad, and the beginnings of a partisan war behind enemy lines. However, with the return of good weather, the German offensive resumes with new vigour. The southern front races eastwards, another Soviet pocket is encircled, and Army Group Centre manages to storm both Moscow and Voronezh! The Soviet capital has fallen! Soviet counter-attacks quickly regain Voronezh, but Moscow remains in the Axis grip. With this boost, the fate of Leningrad (almost cut off) and Stalingrad, both of which now have German corps closing in on them, hangs in the balance.

Autumn 1942

The loss of Moscow is also combined with the 'STAVKA Turmoil' random event, essentially leaving the USSR leaderless while Stalin's regime relocates eastwards. German advances in the south are minor, but Voronezh is retaken and the front pushes all the way to the Volga river East of Moscow. In the north, the rugged terrain still prevents the Leningrad corridor from being closed.

Winter 1942

Yet another grim winter descends. German infantry dig in with defensive hedge-hogs to protect Moscow, and the jump-off points before Stalingrad. The Soviet leadership stabilises and oversees a Production Surge, and the economic scales tip ever more heavily in the USSR's favour. The line in front of Moscow holds steady, but the defences in the south before Stalingrad collapse in the face of counter-attacks. The Axis units East of the Don have to rapidly retreat to the river-line to stabilise the front. The initiative record is still held by the Axis, but just barely. Unless further success follows, it will become contested, and Soviet actions will gather pace.

Spring 1943

The Soviets fortify a Guards Tank Army east of Voronezh, seeking to stabilise their centre. The Germans attack and destroy it in a local encirclement, but only with great difficulty. In the north the Leningrad corridor finally collapses and encircles the city, plus the city of Vologda changed hands twice in fierce fighting. In the south however, an advance over the Don was pushed back yet again - the Soviet army is now fielding ever more Guards and Tank Armies, making it a tougher proposition. Now the mud has gone, the initiative is still tenuously Axis - how much more can they do, as 1943 is clearly going to be the year the Soviets either break or prevail?

Summer 1943

News from the West, as Italy surrenders and their 8th Army withdraws from the Eastern front. To replace this loss however, the Germans get an SS Army to send to the front - more than adequate compensation! As Soviet Industry reaches it's maximum potential, the Germans strike out to encircle Stalingrad with offensives to the north and south of it. Panzers even penetrate East of the city, over the Volga, before the inevitable counter-attacks push them back. Advances in the south even probe to the edges of the Caucasus Mountains. Assaults are launched on both Leningrad and Stalingrad, but each holds out. Axis losses in Armour are painfully high at the fortified Stalingrad, but the city just can't be taken. The city is saved from encirclement and now merely sits at the tip of a salient. The SS are sent to the front and arrive in the North, the aim being to cut Archangel supplies from reaching the USSR, as this is the one part of the Soviet industrial build-up to be lagging behind. At the end of it all, initiative becomes contested - now the Soviets can actually launch offensives of their own creation!

Autumn 1943

Salvation seems to arrive for Germany! The special event 'Axis counter-offensive' is drawn, meaning a boost to initiative if a Soviet city can be taken this turn. It comes when the Panzers that survived the inferno at Stalingrad strike eastwards and reach across the Steppes to take Astrakhan, thus cutting the link between the Caucasus and the main Soviet front-line. The cities of Leningrad and Stalingrad continue to hold out, but the narrow strip of ground held to Astrakhan is too brittle to hodl out - Soviet counter-attacks slice through it, cutting off a large pocket of German Panzers and Infantry. The Soviets also attack the Axis main line in the south, forcing them back to the Don river line. All of which means that the initiative tips precariously back into Axis territory - but at what a cost in lost Panzers!

Winter 1943

Soviet Armour technical levels reach the maximum, meaning that the counter-attacks will be even more dangerous from now on. The axis have the initiative again, but what to do with it in the dead of winter, and with the Panzer formations ruined? With all the losses of the south, the SS Corps is the only special unit that the Germans can field in the East as a good offensive unit! The winter counter-attacks hit hard, with Vologda lost and Voronezh approached, but there is one belated piece of good news - Leningrad finally falls. Too late in the day however, as the initiative becomes contested yet again, and only just fails to become outrightly Soviet. Unless German industry somehow manages to pull some Panzer production out of the hat, things look bad.

Spring 1944

Increasing partisan activity, Soviet initiative, counter-attacks - the list of problems grows alarmingly! The SS and the Luftwaffe counterattack the Soviet bridge-head over the Don, but the line swiftly gets puched westwards. Voronezh falls, and the line closes in once more on Moscow, creating an alarming Salient around the captured capital. Even the approaches to Leningrad seem risky. Initiative plunges ever-deeper into Soviet hands. For god's sake, get Albert Speer to sort out armaments, fast!

Summer 1944

Moscow is fortified with hedge-hogs to try and hold it, but the sheer scale of the crisis quickly becomes clear. Rostov is lost, the Crimea is lost (cutting off Rumanians in the Kuban bridge-head,) and then the great disaster - fortified Moscow is lost! Hot on the heels of this, the Soviets launch themselves westwards both north and south. Smolensk is lost, Kharvov falls, and Sevastopol vanishes also. The front-line now sits on the Dniepr river in the south, up to Leningrad in the north. Initiative drops yet further into 'Axis Collapse' territory - now the Soviet advances will be even more spectacular.

Autumn 1944

The list of cities lost to the Red army continues to grow. Leningrad, Kiev, Tallinn... Things are very nearly back to pre-war borders, and Germany itself is in danger.

Winter 1944

Riga and Minsk are fortified, to no use - Odessa falls, leading to a Soviet plunge into Rumania which loses Bucharest and the Ploesti oil wells (not such a loss, as there's no large Panzer formations to need the oil!) Brest-litovsk falls too, and we're back on the German frontier - minus Romania of course, who collapse with the occupation of their country.

Spring 1945

Can Berlin hold out? The fallen include Warsaw, Budapest, Konigsberg, Belgrade, Prague, Vienna... It's like an A-Z of Axis cities! Hungary is destroyed, Yugoslavia is now a battleground.

Summer 1945

It is over. The long retreat has finished, and the Axis war-machine collapses into defeat at Berlin. A clean sweep of the board, despite larger-than-historical advances. I don't think I handled the retreat very well, but as I had burned up all my Armour in an all-or-nothing advance, there was pretty much nothing I could do to even slow the incoming tide. The Capture of Moscow probably gave me an extra years' grace, making 1943 the turning point rather than the historical 1942. Those objective cities really are tough nuts to crack, even when not fortified! Overall, the game was excellent fun - and although I 'lost' against the solitaire mechanism (it came out as a 'Minor Soviet Victory' I can't help but feel happy that the Nazis lost. :-)

France, 1460

2011-09-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I did a little 'Alternate Wars of the Roses' historical update and covered the Yorkist regime's tenuous position. They are, however, at least in power in England. What of the Lancastrian court in exile, the pro-Beaufort faction around the Duke of Somerset and the Queen Margaret of Anjou?

Over in France, the exiled queen and her supporters have their court in Koeur-la-Petite, courtesy of the French King. (This is Charles VII - currently down sick with a leg sore, a fever, and the host of other ailments that shall soon see him dead.) What are the French doing sheltering the Queen and the under-age heir to the throne on England? After all, not so long ago little Prince Edward and his nobles would've been at war with the French to conquer the place. Well, there's actually some very good reasons for the French to do all they can to help the Lancastrians.

The chief Lancastrian magnate is the Duke of Somerset Edmund Beaufort, who lost against the French at the tail-end of the Hundred Years' War. Given the choice between the able and belligerent Edward Plantagenet running England, or Edmund Beaufort - the man whose one indisputable military skill is the ability to lose wars against the French - it's pretty clear who they'd choose.

To the forlorn and cash-strapped court in exile of little Prince Edward then, who is currently 6 years' old and in the care of his mother the Queen plus the Lancastrian nobles like Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire. We shall turn our ears from the widespread rumours that either of these two might be the actual father of Prince Edward - such talk is merely vile Yorkist propaganda!

Edmund Beaufort is now 53 or 54 - pretty old to still be galloping off to war. Luckily his son Henry is 24, and in his prime to carry on the Beaufort cause. Also filling up the overcrowded court is the aforementioned Earl of Wiltshire, plus a list of the other minor & major nobles that fled following the defeat at Lawford Heath. The notables are the Duke of Buckingham & the Earl of Devon, plus the powerful Percy Earl of Northumberland.

Not all Lancastrians are abroad, however. The Earl of Pembroke & Viscount Beaumont also fled in 1459, but these two lords have returned to take advantage of the Yorkist amnesty that tried to patch up the rupture after York's death, giving some legitimacy to Henry VI's rule under Yorkist 'guidance'. Not that it'll do the Yorkists any good, as both are die-hard Lancastrians and will rise as soon as 'the French Lords' return to England.

The Lancastrian plan to retake the throne is simple. Northumberland and Somerset will head north to Scotland, and cut a deal with the Scots - military support in exchange for the city of Berwick being handed over to the Scottish crown. Once they invade and the Yorkist clique are distracted northwards, the French Lords with the Queen and the Duke of Buckingham shall land in the south to liberate Henry VI in London. With that, the Yorkists shall be crushed between the northern and southern invasions, delivering England back into the hands of Henry VI, Prince Edward, Queen Margaret and Edmund Beaufort.

New WOTR Figures!

2011-09-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

The final (as it is now visualised) part of my Wars of the Roses armies have been ordered, and arrived! Perry have sent the latest of their figures, pictured above. Chief among them are three boxes of archers' stakes, to allow some field defences to be built (they were particularly popular according to the military thinking of the day.) Some, however, allow new units to be fielded.

I now have two bases of Currours (or Scourers, depending on your inclination) to give the armies a little bit of a mounted element. Everybody would usually fight on foot, but having some light horsemen is handy as they seem to have been used primarily for scouting, and also the odd ambush.

Lastly, I have also gotten myself some lead men at arms. These add some variety to the plastic ones, but mainly they replace the six figures I modelled as banner-bearers to follow the leaders about. The six I removed for that needed replacing to give me the desired number of bases, as otherwise I was slightly short on potential command-bases. One final, major, painting push could see me there!

Updates

2011-09-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted, and there are also various projects on the go. So, I thought a round-up to update everything would be a pretty good idea:

Wars Of The Roses

I've found the 'mass-painting' method of progressing things is excellent, and so I have proceeded further down this road. I can now report that all weapons have been painted an appropriate wood-colour. I don't know why it should be so, but for some reason the thought that my WOTR project has no longbows or bills to paint any more really does make it feel like it is almost over!

Seven Years' War

On my other blog primarily, but I have a new campaign up and running at long last. It's being done along DBA lines, to make it a bit more 'zippy' and quick, which I think is what's needed most.

Waterloo in Plastic

The first batch of figures in the Anglo-Allied army is undercoat-sprayed and painting is now underway (although secondary to WOTR, for now.) Also need another batch of Ebay reinforcements to do the entire Anglo-Allied army, as I seem to have gravitated to this first. I'm also now thinking of 'Black Powder' as my main choice of ruleset.

Board Games

My game of Barbarossa to Berlin (B2B) is finished successfully, but lots of notes now need to be sorted out. I'm going to try and do a game (possible Paths of Glory) as an 'in progress' report to show how it might be done. I'll need to get some maps drawn up for noting progress of the game, so this should hopefully come shortly.

Desert War

The next battle between the Afrika Korps and the Eighth Army has been fought - and is a rather dull draw. I was going to post an account, but it turned out to be lots of head-on pounding which makes for very poor game after-action reports. Still, I made use of some modelled defences, in the form of minefields and entrenched units. I'll put up the pics to show these, shortly.

That's it, for now at least!

The Day of Paint

2011-08-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Yesterday (Monday) was a very successful day off to 'work' all day at hobby painting. I spent the day doing nothing but working on my Perry Miniatures 'Wars of the Roses' figures, and by virtue of concentrating all efforts on this, I've managed to make some strides forward!

To recap, I have a massive 'to do' pile of 32 bases (10 figures a base, so 320 figures - just for the regular bow-and-bill units.) I have 11 bases done already, which I showed off earlier as my Basic Impetus Yorkist army. So, 21 bases to go!

There's two approached to painting a large project, I find: break it up into small nibbles and fully complete a section at a time; or do the whole thing as a mammoth one-off and try to do the whole thing in one batch. I find the first method is best at the early stages, just to avoid getting discouraged. Towards the middle stage of a project, I find that it can actually get worse as one completed 'chunk' goes away and gets replaced by yet another identical 'chunk'. After a while, it's good to switch to a huge pile, so you can see the entire thing and think 'yes, it's a lot to do, but once this is done, that's it!' My WOTR project is now at that stage, thankfully!

I have been painting away at all the un-showy, laborious and off-putting jobs, which have now been swept out of the way. Specifically:

Green bases - never again shall a paintbrush undercoat the lush grasses of Medieval England for these guys!

Steel - all arrowheads, sword hilts, bills, sallets and plate armour are done. Blacksmiths across England have filed for bankruptcy!

Flesh - the hands and faces are done, meaning that when the police investigate the aftermath of a battle, the photofit people will at least have somewhere to start. (Assuming the 15th century had the photofit. Or the police.)

This metaphor is getting even weirder.

The end result of this dull-but-worthy painting is that I'm now on the downhill - only materials like liveries, leggings, etc. remain, plus some detailing on belts, etc. Then it's all done, save for the dip/varnish finish!

There's a plan in place...

2011-08-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

Just a brief post here, to say I'm underway with a quick-fix bit of gaming (board game, as it happens - I'll post the narrative sometime soon.) However the main update is that I have arranged for the next Monday to be a day off work, and I intend to spend it on a massive painting binge for my Wars of the Roses figures. Hopefully I can get a big bound forward with them by devoting an entire day to it!

Gaming Quick-Fix Options

2011-08-21T22:15:00.001-07:00

Thinks have been a bit quiet here on the wargaming front. I've been dividing my attentions between the Wars of the Roses figures and the growing Waterloo Plastics project. I need something that's a bit more of a 'quick hit' for a gaming fix. I've done a little towards this with my old stand-by option of my Seven Years' War collection, which I've launched into a little mini-campaign with (I'll spare you the full details as they're on my other blog) In any case, it's proven a nice refresher.

So, what else is there? As ever, I'm long on ideas but short on resources (money, and particularly time.) So I have to fall back on what I already have or something I can do with only counters or something similar I can make easily enough.

I aim to continue with the other two, and root around for something else. I was wondering though if any other wargamers have come up with an ingenious solution to this sort of quick-fix problem, where every project threatens to be a monster-sized epic, and nothing can get done in the here-and-now?

Prussian Guns

2011-08-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

The final outstanding arrival has turned up - two boxes of HaT Napoleonic Prussian Artillery. These ones were quite difficult to find, and I wound up ordering from America through ebay International. Fine service, although shipping took quite a time (obviously) and also the box was battered & squashed (thanks, postman!) Thankfully the packing the sender used, plus the soft & flexible plastic fo the figures themselves, meant these guys were practically indestructible. Only the boxes got a bit crumpled!

Now I can get on with some serious painting - there's not been too much model-painting recently, sadly, as I had a bit of a DIY disaster here and most brush-wielding efforts have been directed at the walls of the flat! Still, I'm hoping to get some work done this coming weekend - and possibly even a game!

Napoleonic Progress

2011-07-31T06:16:00.001-07:00

Good News on the painting front, as I have my first shot at painting a unit completed - I've painted up a base of British Infantry, just to try things out and get my eye back in (last time I painted plastic Napoleonics would have been probably in the very early 1990s, and that was quite a while ago! Still, it's good fun and I liked the end result. The figures here are painted and washed with Devlan Mud, giving them a bit of shadowing. I plan to matt-varnish them and then base them. The learning curve is also continuing, as I have been reminded that glueing the plastic figures onto lolly sticks to paint them is not exactly like doing so with lead figures. The plastic figures' bases are too perfectly smooth, so the clue doesn't hold them - most of the ones shown here simply popped off when I tried to paint them! I shall score the underside of the figures before I try and fix them to a permanent base.

Ah yes, the bases. I got a good comment from Jim on my last post, when I trotted out my first guess at base sizes. Sensibly, Jim suggested using 60mm x 60mm square bases for everything, and I quickly realised this was an excellent notion. (You see, I don't do this blog to share all my efforts: I just do it so the wargaming community at large can save me from my own blunders!) :-)

Anyway, the photo above shows a 60mm square infantry base with some figures arranged on it. Taking advantage of the larger base, I can even depict the infantry in varying formations! Shown above (with some Highlander figures, but we'll just skip that for now) is a possible 'Column' formation of a 4-man row at the front, backed by a second and third rank of three men in each. This still leaves loads of room around for safety's sake to prevent figure-bumping, and lets those troops who habitually fought with 'columnar tactics' get a better showing. Likewise, I'll place formed Light Infantry further back on their bases, and put a big skirmisher screen to the front for them.

There's also been a bit of card base-cutting going on. This monster-stack above represents all the bases needed to represent the Anglo-Allied army, in its entirety. 53-odd bases in total, I believe, excluding Supply Camps and Command Parties. (Flippin' heck, this really is a big project I seem to have somehow blundered into...)

Bases for the New Napoleonic Plastics

2011-07-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a few basic experiments with basing, and my initial thoughts. I've taken some of the Airfix figures to try with this, as they seem to have the greatest variance in base-size. Plus, it also lets me take a break from posting endless lists of boxes, and put some pictures up for a change!

I am basically sticking with the 'Horse, Foot & Guns' ruleset for basing, and I have plumped for a 60mm frontage. A single Base-width in HFG is scaled as about 300 metres in the 'real world', so this means a manageable tabletop distance of slightly over a foot (32cm) being equivalent to a mile (roughly 1600m.) Nice! It also proves handy as a decent size to fit 4 horsemen onto a base, which is a nice number - 3 looks too sparse, while 5 is a bit of a crush!

The above pic is of some of the French Heavy Cavalry, and I've used some spare bits of card to frame-out a base 6cm wide by 4.5cm deep - keeping base-depth in scale with width, as per the usual DBA norms. Airfux cavalry seem to have unusually big bases, like a big splodge of chewing-gum. I may have to clip a few when I glue them down to a base, but overall, the riders themselves look decently spaced out.

Next up, some artillery. These fit very nicely onto a 6cm by 6cm square base, giving room for a single cannon and a crew to stand around it without looking too cramped for room. With these two, the next question was about Infantry - could I get 8 or 10 figures to a base?

The answer, it turns out, is ten - even with the random footprints of Airfix. This base is 6cm by 3cm in size, which takes a nice double-rank of ten figures, two ranks of five. Airfix also seem to have no real uniformity in poses in a figure set - others appear to standardise a lot more but I've been certain from the word go that I'd need to have mixed poses on a base, so it's not a problem!

Relating to the difference between 8-figure and 10-figure bases, or even the possible double-base option in future for Black Powder, I think I'm safe plumping for 10 figures a base as the cost difference is negligible and availability of infantry boxes appears good. Plus, frankly, I think it looks good!

Plastics begin to Arrive

2011-07-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

At this early stage of gathering plastic 1/72 figures, the list of required boxes is such that frankly, at the moment I can start gathering however I like - all milestones are too far off to achieve in one swift leap! I had pondered doing all the combined Artillery, or maybe just the Prussian army, etc. but I decided against it. I'm just nabbing things here and there for the time being, letting the stockpile grow organically. The long delivery times required for ebay items also acts as a bit of a brake on things, which is probably just as well.

Following on from my Waterloo Airfix diorama box, the first ebay purchases have turned up. First and foremost, I have received a bulk-lot of a dozen boxes of Revell Napoleonic miniatures that some nice guy was selling on ebay. I now have:

2 boxes of French Grenadiers (in greatcoats, somewhat unfortunately)

2 boxes of French Mounted Guard Chasseurs (natty cavalry, with big bearskins)

3 boxes of British Line Infantry (Belgic shako, the 'classic' Brit redcoats!)

1 box of Prussian Infantry (Line Prussians, with the shako)

2 boxes of British Life Guards Cavalry (plumed Grecian-style helmets, so hopefully useful 'heavy cavalry' for some other nations - Dutch Carabiniers, perhaps?)

2 boxes of British Foot Artillery

Overall, the Revell figure quality seems to be noticeably superior to the Airfix versions, as plasticsoldierreview.com predicted. In addition to this I have received another ebay order:

3 boxes of Prussian Infantry from Italieri. These seem to also be of high detail quality, although the Italieri figures are an infantry mix - no distinction between Line and Landwehr, so I'll need to go through them and sort them.

A good couple of bases' worth are already in hand, and more are due to arrive soon (in the form of Prussian Artillery by HaT, I believe). I can begin painting a few in a short while, so I have started looking over the arrived miniatures and assessing what base-scale I want.

Rules-wise, I am pretty keen on giving the DBA-esque 'Horse, Foot & Guns' a try. It has the classic DBA virtues of speedy play, meaning the Waterloo campaign could conceivably be knocked off in a weekend's worth of play, preventing a long bogged-down campaign.

Another option is of course to use the 'Black Powder' rules I typically use in my Seven Years' War games. They include a lot of Napoleonic 'colour' through their special rules, although the single-base-per-unit situation is a bit more awkward with them.

For basing flexibility, ideally, I should have two bases per infantry unit so I can represent formations. Side by side would give a Line formation, one behind the other for a Column, and back-to-back for a Square. Only march columns and skirmish screens would require more detailed basing if I really felt compelled to represent them, so it's a pretty decent option for future expansion. Initial checks quickly reveal the difficulty with this, however - great variability of manufacturers' footprints for the figures. Where do you literally draw the line for splitting a base, when it's practically guaranteed that some bases won't fit the measurement?

For now I've decided, following much pondering in my bunker, to stick with a single-base stuffed with figures. I will be fixing them to a card base so that future remounting is at least a possibility, which MDF rather rules out in my experience. I also have the minor matter of keeping costs down, and buying a huge board of good-quality card to chop up is still far better than lots of differently-sized pre-cut MDF bases.

Next up: basing sizes!

Waterloo Box

2011-07-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

The first bits of the Waterloo plastic armies have arrived! The Airfix box was indeed a good starter-set as I have bagged a bunch of odd-figures such as Highland infantry, Royal Horse Artillery, and British Hussars in dandy bearskins. The quality on some is a little variable, with the French Foot artillery in particular looking a little cartoonish in their proportions, but this is something I had been tipped to expect by plasticsoldierreview.

I'll list The full contents of the box, incidentally, as I couldn't find details online anywhere else. They are as follows:

1 Model farmhouse

1 diorama base, in two separate sheets

1 sprue of 48 Highlander Infantry

1 sprue of 48 British Line Infantry (Belgic Shakos)

1 sprue of Royal Horse Artillery, consisting of 2 cannon and a limber.

1 sprue of British Cavalry (Hussars, with bearskins)

1 sprue of French Grenadiers

1 sprue of French Line Infantry

1 sprue of French Cavalry (wearing Grecian helmets, who look like Dragoons or similar medium-ish cavalry)

1 sprue of French Foot Artillery consisting of 3 guns

1 sprue of Prussian Infantry (Landwehr, by the looks of 'em)

1 sprue of Farmyard equipment such as a farmer's wagon, timber barricades, sacks of equipment, etc.

As you'll see, you only ever get 1 sprue of each, so it's a bit of a taster box rather than anything else. A Good all-round starting point, as far as I'm concerned! The farm will also be handy for my gaming in general, as a mid-European farm can be used in a couple of the periods I game. The diorama base is pretty much useless to my plans, however. Shame, as it would probably look quite nice if painted and grassed. The farm equipment is a bit of a random addition, but I'll make good use of it to create an army's Supply base for its rear (basically doing the same job as the 'Camp' stand in DBA.)

Columbia Games' Richard III

2011-07-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

Previously I've been doing my Wars of the Roses campaign with 'A Crown of Paper', the free campaign system from The Perfect Captain (free on-line, by the way!) Now however, I have shifted on to a new system that lets me do one of my favourite tricks: combining a strategic board game with a tactical set of tabletop battle rules. By way of introduction however, I thought I should do some 'public service' stuff and post a little mini-review of the game in case anyone is interested.

Game system

First, the basics: RIII is a block-game, played on an area map of England in the middle ages. Actions are powered by drawing a hand of cards (with action points of them) from a small deck. on meeting the enemy in an area, the combat is settled by a series of dice-rolls on a regular d6.

The game is split into three 'campaigns' of seven turns each, and these campaigns roughly correspond with the historical campaigns from 1460-1461 Yorkist takeover (Northampton to Towton); The 1470-1471 fight between Edward IV and Warwick (Barnet & Tewkesbury campaign) and the final fight in 1483-1485 between Richard III and Henry Tudor (The Bosworth campaign.) A full hand of cards is dealt out for each campaign and gets used up

through its course, and between each campaign there is a 'reset' political phase where the holder of the crown is decided and the losing side needs to flee into exile. Each campaign therefore takes the form of one side trying to hold onto England and defend against uprisings by enemy-sympathising nobles, while at the same time the pretender is trying to arrive back from exile abroad in sufficient strength to seize the crown. The cards that allow actions can be spent on either moving active armies or recruiting new nobles, forcing players to constantly balance between either waiting passively and gathering their strength, or striking out to fight the enemy and win battles.

Each faction has five blocks which represent a noble with a claim of royal blood and a right to the

throne. The ultimate objective is to win the crown by either eliminating the five claimants your opponent has, or by holding the crown at the end of the final campaign.

Seq of Play

Each campaign turn goes in sequence where each player reveals a card they wish to use for action points, and initiative is determined by whoever plays the highest. The cards can vary from 2 to 4 APs, or a special event to add a bit of random period-detail. An AP allows a player to move an army one or two areas, or to recruit another block counter from his 'pool' of available supporters.

Blocks

Blocks represent various types of units throughout the era. Most of them are for a powerful magnate, representing his personal retinue and following which he can raise and bring to a battle. Various others represent forces like city levies, foreign mercenaries, rebels, bombards, etc.

Each block has a combat rating, to reflect it's effectiveness in combat. This comes in two parts, being a letter that decides initiative (high for aggressive lords like Fauconberg/Clifford; low for levies) and a number to represent power (the roll needed to score a hit, again varied by the competence of the magnate.) Numerical strength is represented by a series of points between 1 and 4, each one marked on one edge of the block. Cleverly, hits are taken by rotating the block so the uppermost side shows how strong the force is and the strength dwindles away as hits are taken through a campaign (there's no recruiting in a campaign, and once raised the magnates merely grow weaker, until the campaign ends and they fully recover their strength before the next one.)

Another value on the blocks, and which has not been on any previous block-game I've personally seen, is the loyalty value. This is a very Wars-of-the-Roses thing, as it means some nobles can change sides mid-battle with predictably upsetting effects for the betrayed side. Each faction has a core of die-hard followers who can be relied on come what may, and then there are others whose loyalties are more, shall we say, elastic? The block rating value tells you how many dice need to be rolled in an attempt to lure them into a betrayal, which dictates the odds of it happening.

Movement

Movement is a straight area-to-area affair on the map, with each activated group able to travel up to 2 areas. Area boundaries vary the number of counters able to cross, with rivers and mountains reducing the amount that can travel. When counters arrive in an area a battle takes place, which (combined with the stacking limits) means careful moves to 'pin' potential enemy reinforcements in place are a good idea, producing more small-scale battles and preventing the whole thing turning into a single stack-of-doom event decided by one critical battle.

Sea moves are also possible to keep defending regimes on their toes with surprise landings from off-map overseas areas such as Calais, France & Ireland.

That is, at any rate, a rough info-review of the game. I hope that by using it to progress the campaigns, its qualities will come out in due course to act as a further recommendation!

England, 1460

2011-07-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

My replaying of the Wars of the Roses has been on hiatus for a while, as my massive expansion and re-organising plan for my miniatures progresses. Following lots of brushwork and swearing, I think it's high time to nudge things on. First though, a recap is probably a good idea.

The initial period of 1455 to 1459 has been played, and already history has gone out of the window. The opening 1st Battle of St Albans took place as the Battle of Lutterworth, where animosity between the ambitious Duke of York and the corrupt 'court faction' led by the Duke of Somerset exploded from metaphorical into literal warfare. Poor Henry VI found his royal procession brutally attacked and his entourage slaughtered by a pack of outlaws (or loyal subjects, depending on inclination) led by the Duke of York and his Neville Family co-conspirators. Several of the court faction big-knobs were brutally murdered (or righteously slain, depending on what end of the sword you're on.) Old Northumberland and Clifford both perished, but the head bad-guy himself (Somerset) managed to slip away from the scene. Henry VI, on account of being mentally unhinged, pardoned York for attacking him and accepted that he really didn't mean it and anyway, it was all going to be all right from now on.

The exiled Somerset didn't agree, and frankly neither did Queen Margaret of Anjou. Steadily working to limit York's powers, Margaret set up the king in a new court in the Midlands, and gathered her supporters. Likewise, York lurked off to his strongholds in the Welsh Marches and his chief ally Warwick took over the Calais garrison. It soom came to a fight once again and the country turned briefly into an armed camp in 1459 where the Lancastrian faction rallied round Henry VI in the midlands while York stayed put in his bolt-hole at Ludlow. Finally, with it looking like the combining Lancastrian hosts were about to flatten either York in the west or Warwick in the East, York struck out in a desperate all-or-nothing attack against the main Lancastrian army and caught it unawares.

At the battle of Lawford Heath, the Yorkists routed the Lancastrian army and captured the king. The cost was high, however - York himself fell in the desperate struggle and only much heroic derring-do from his son Edward, the Earl of March, stopped the whole thing from ending in catastrophic defeat. With Henry once more in the hands of the Yorkists and once more proclaiming that they didn't really mean it and it was going to be all right from now on, Margaret & Somerset fled to France along with many of the most senior peers of the realm. Edward, Earl of March (now also Duke of York, inheriting his father's title) swiftly took over the reins of his father's faction & cause.

All thinks considered, it's a pretty dicey situation. Most of the country is decidedly cool on this whole 'feuding nobles' thing and is either actively Anti-Yorkist or pretty uncommitted to the new regime. Only a small core of pro-Yorkist nobles, such as the powerful Neville family, are active backers. Now it's 1460 and time for the exiled 'French Lords' to make their return to oust the last Yorkist remnants, leaving Somerset & Queen Margaret once more calling the shots.

The small number of active pro-Yorkist nobles have to watch all areas of England against invasion. Edward himself sticks to his power-base in the Welsh Marches. Warwick, his effective 'number two' in the regime, is in London along with King Henry VI, making sure his majesty is nice and snug in the Tower. For his own safety, obviously. John de Mowbray, the pro-Yorkist Duke of Norfolk, is in charge of the East Anglia coast. Richard Neville, the Earl of Salisbury, is up in North Yorkshire to keep the North of England secure. Edward's younger brother & Earl of Rutland, the 17-year old Edmund Plantagenet, is based at Derby to act as a central reserve.

This is the Yorkist regime's strength in England, at any rate. If they hold out long enough however, there's two sources of overseas assistance which can be coutned on. One is William Neville, 'Little Fauconberg' himself - the stone-cold veteran of the Hundred Years' War (no, not all of it) who holds the Captaincy of Calais. He's got good Yorkist credentials, what with Warwick being his nephew and the deceased York being his Brother-in-Law, so he's got the plum position controlling both the Calais garrison and also the option to bring all manner of desperado European Mercenaries into England. The other source is the Yorkist stronghold of Ireland, where Edward's young brother George Plantagenet is being kept out of harm's way. He's only ten years' old, so it's not exactly likely he'll be called upon for his experience. However, in a pinch he could be a figurehead to gather support through dynastic obligations. Some more level-headed captains will have to be used to baby-sit him and lead the troops if it actually comes to a fight.

(The lovely Map above is from Columbia Games' marvellous 'Richard III' board game - of which more shortly!)

First Plastic Steps

2011-07-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

My usual method of ordering an army is to work it out in full, prepare an order, then place it in one bulk order (broken into 2 or 3 if it's a large project.) I always end up using a single manufacturer, rarely mix in other odds & ends, and generally keep the whole business as quick & clean as possible. The new 'Plastic Waterloo' project has broken new ground already, as I'm not doing this at all.

Instead of buying the lot from one place I'm picking up odd boxes here and there, wherever I can find them. I'm actually discovering the "collectors' side" of the hobby, which I've never bothered with before now - the challenge of hunting down the desired models and picking them up from obscure online shops, internet ebay auctions, and so on. The whole thing feels like a breath of fresh air - a mad hunt high and low to obtain that crucial last box of Zvezda French Napoleonic Line Artillery, where online listings need to be prowled every day. Strangely exciting, in an admittedly very nerdy way.

The master-plan is in place, at least. I've become best friends with the website Plasticsoldierreview.com for it's (splendid) catalogue of online photos & reviews about what each box contains. Frequently they're better than the manufacturers' own website!

The first steps have already been taken, and frankly I've already been convinced of the financial sense of the move. My first purchase was the Airfix Waterloo Diorama Box Set, which seems to contain four-hundred-odd figures of great use, plus a model farm-house - all a spectacular bag for just £20! I had spotted it in the Glasgow branch of Hamleys, but it is also available at this sale price from the Airfix website direct (oddly, other sites such as Amazon are still selling it at the full £35 price, so searching around has already paid benefits.)

Next up, I had a look on ebay and discovered that as well as individual boxes, folk also put up collections of several boxes at once. One I found a day or two ago which was coming to a halt for a pile of twelve Revell boxes, all Waterloo-relevant figures like British/Prussian/French Foot, Cavalry, Artillery, etc. I reasoned that this would be cheaper than buying individually, so plonked in a bid. While wandering around in the supermarket in my lunch-break yesterday, I got the email on my phone telling me I had won the lot! Although the exact number of figures is a little vague (do you count Artillery guns as one model? several? None?) but there's no denying the fact I seem to have gotten a real bargain. From my initial calculations, I believe I have gotten practically all my British Infantry for the price of roughly 10p per figure! Try that in lead at the closest scale (20mm to 25mm?) and you're probably talking ten times that price.

Once these packages are delivered, the next big challenge will be to track down some of the more awkward customers - things like Artillery, and some of the more obscure infantry. Once the Airfix Waterloo box arrives, I'll also be able to finalise my 'Target List' of what's required.

Plastic Fantastic

2011-07-11T22:23:00.001-07:00

My last post brought two nice comments from Ray and Jim, so I thought I'd start by saying a big "Thanks!" to them both. Normally I just add a comment of my own to say ta, but I'm in such a positive mood I thought I'd start by just saying hi in the next post. More WotR stuff is coming shortly, including the next stage of my refight of the Wars (yes, I finally have enough figures painted to launch into that again!) For now though, something totally different...

Further progress from the usual chin-stroking about what big project to pick up next, and an unexpected one has turned up (isn't it always the way?) I had been pondering an attempt to make the Waterloo Campaign in miniature, largely inspired from reading over the old 'Horse Foot & Guns' rules (by Richard Bodley Scott) that I used to use, based on the DBA system but extending them into the horse & Musket period. The Army lists he produced are actually very precise for the 100-days' campaign, listing the entirety of the French, Prussian and Anglo-Allied armies. As ever with some project with a definite 'maximum size' feature, I found myself drawn to it.

Next up was the purchase off Amazon at knock-down price of the massive hardback book 'The Waterloo Companion' by Mark Adkin. This proved to have even more interest and info (although just of the titular battle, not the entire 4-day campaign) which worsened things. I began to plan out how I could buy the miniatures.

They're not small armies, and quite varied & eclectic in the case of Wellington's lot. As the only thing more involving than painting an army is organising your purchases to start painting an army, I found myself sinking into an ever-increasingly complicated pile of spreadsheets, price lists, packaging systems, manufacturers, and scales.

Ah, scales. What a headache that is in itself! I could do it in 2mm, and be super-realistic. I could do it in 6mm and get scale and detail, or I could go into 15mm and get a bit more abstracted, going for the DBA 4-figures-representing-a-brigade style of basing. I pondered. A lot.

I don't know if other gamers out there have the same experience, but if I spend ages examining and planning something, there can come a point where you hit a wall. Then, if some new idea occurs, it can blow the whole thing up into the air again and make you look at the whole thing afresh. I was very nearly settled on 6mm as the scale of choice, giving the best balance between visually pleasing end-results and not bankrupting myself along the way. Then, another dark-horse option turned up. In my case, it turned out to be plastic figures.

I remember these 1:72 cheap, flexible plastic figures with some personal nostalgia, as they were my very first wargame models. From the local toy shop I would get boxes of figures (Italieri/Esci/ERTL as I recall) and I bought pretty much one of each, as back then I saw no point in wasting pocket money buying two of the same thing, and balanced force-composition wasn't my thing. I had various mixes of them, such as a box of Romans and a box of barbarians (lots of red paint on the axe-blades, I believe!); Colonial British and the Zulus , who I recall also had spears & shields which were maddeningly easy to knock off (gluing them never occurred, surprisingly!) Centre of the whole collection however were the Napoleonic figures, probably mostly through availability. Like no other set, I could get an entire all-arms army as they sold Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery.

My first proper 'Army' for wargames was Waterloo British infantry who would form square to face off against the French Grenadiers in Column (no, I didn't understand the tactical formations either) and probably amounted in total to:

British Infantry, which was about 2/3rds English and 1/3rd Highlander dress

Cavalry - Scots Greys, all of it. (The shop never stocked another type, so I thought the cavalry was 100% uniformed like this)

Artillery - All Royal Horse Artillery, with the natty little Tarleton helmet. No Foot Artillery, of course.

French Grenadiers - No common 'Line' troops here, which probably meant Napoleon had to annihilate the bear-population of Europe to equip his armies with headgear.

Cavalry - roughly 50% Cuirassiers and 50% Lancers. In a rare example of branching out, I bought two boxes of French Cavalry, probably because I judged Lancers as sufficiently 'different' to matter.

Artillery - All Old Guard bearskins yet again, and annoyingly through a packaging decision two guns were 12lb 'proper' cannons while the other two were 'broken' cannon with short howitzer barrels (I had no idea what they were.)

From this in auspicious and long-gone beginning, can I build something like a decent army to take to the wargames field? There's no arguing with the beast in question as all the pros and cons have been rehearsed at great length elsewhere. They're soft plastic, paint flakes off, they mould poorly, the poses are all over the shop (and sometimes ludicrously weird), etc. etc. etc. However, there's no arguing with the fact that you get 50 a box, and a box can cost around a fiver. There's just no arguing with that! The only question is where the hell to buy them so I am currently searching in to the weirder corners of the web on Ebay and so on, trying to track down anywhere that deals in them these days. A far cry from my normal one-stop shop method where the list is definitively worked out before I place the order!

Yorkist Army, Impetus

2011-06-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Something of a mini-milestone today, as I have finally completed enough of my Wars of the Roses figures to build a 300-point army for Impetus! This is the recommended size in the Impetus rulebook for the dining-room table I have, so I thought I'd whip them out for a photoshoot.

The full host of 12 bases, or roughly a third of the eventual total.

The Vanguard leader, Lord Fauconberg. When I searched for pics of him, lots of people seem to prefer his livery coat with the white cross on a red background, but I decided I liked the simple 'blue & white' colours. (The arrows base next to him will be used in Impetus as a disorder marker.)

Edward IV leading the Main, along with his personal standard-bearer. The standard was made from scanning the Freezywater book, duplicating & flipping the image, then painting up the printed-out version to replace back-to-front text. No masterpiece perhaps, but it works quite well!

The Earl of Warwick again, with his livery. He, like all the figures here, has had a powdering of Citadel grass glued to his base. It's the first time I've tried that, and despite my crude learning-curve efforts it seems to have added a lot. I've usually under-appreciated basing on my models in the past, so this is a real increase in effort for me.

The battle line in full array for a fight - enough to give any Lancastrian (or even just some poor unfortunate with red roses in his garden) pause for thought.

The King, in close-up. And no, it's not the "Blue Suede Shoes" King either, but the "Slaughter all those who oppose me" King... (The first one sounds nicer, doesn't he?)

A little close-up on Fauconberg, who I even gave a bit of face-detailing to, with eyes and mouth giving a bit of 'pop' to the figure, plus the neat black edge of the base making it a bit more hey-look-at-me! appeal.

Next up, a Lancastrian Impetus army!

First Battle near Tobruk, 1941

2011-06-10T23:03:00.001-07:00

News at last of the first battle with my 'Desert War' figures. With surprising speed, I was able to bash out the painting and prepping of the Afrika Korps. Here's a picture of the completed 21st Panzer Division:

3 Tanks, 4 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 1 88mm, 2 Recon, 1 HQ (and a half-track just for the hell of it!)

Time to get the first battle onto the tabletop, and the marked-up pic below gives you an idea of the deployments.

The Axis plan is for a big, bold strike hooking around the open south flank. Consequently the Italians are left holding the north in a thin-stretched line, the more infantry-heavy 90th Light will act as the hinge on which the two panzer divisions turn to complete their move northwards and roll up the Brits.

British Army plans are slightly more cautious, given the Axis draw of so many Panzer unit cards. The two infantry divisions are deployed along the line of all those minefields, with the South Africans in the north and the Indians in the south. The 7th Armoured division stays back away to the south in open desert, lurking where it can do some damage to flanks. The Free-French brigade is left on the southern end of the main line for a bit more protection, while the tanks of the 8th Armoured brigade are kept in reserve behind the 4th Indian Division.

"Cup of tea, anyone?"

The battle started with the Germans roaring forward at full pelt, and 90th Light Division struck the Free French brigade full-on, aided by the efforts of the Luftwaffe who blew up it's artillery and HQ, meaning most of it's losses were permanently lost for this battle.

"Sacre Bleu! Voila les Boches!"

Thankfully the 4th Indian division quickly weighed into the struggle, and before long the battered French were pulling back to safety and it was the 90th Light who looked the more beleaguered. Southwards, the two Panzer divisions swept on and the 7th Armoured Division soon found that rather than picking on a flank it was being hit head-on by the 21st Panzer.

The fighting between these two divisions see-sawed back and forth for a while, with an attempt by the Luftwaffe to intervene brought spectacularly to grief by the Anti-Aircraft guns of the Desert Rats.

"Crikey, that was a close one!"

With the other units to its north and south engaged, 15th Panzer found itself advancing into a gap - would it turn north as planned, or south to outnumber the isolated 7th Armoured? It's grizzled lead-figure commander stood his full 10mm tall, and ordered his staff to keep moving northwards. However, he wasn't about to entirely leave 7th Armoured alone, and he ordered a recon battalion to go south and spot for his 8.8Flak guns, which he also detailed off south to form a little mini-detachment.

it wasn't long before the 88s proved a spectacular success, and 7th Armoured began to struggle against a foe they couldn't even hit back at!

"Krak!......Boom!"

The battle began to hot up, and as the scale of the Axis swing south became obvious, the British General ordered the South Africans in the north to attack out and hit the Italians, hoping to force a German unit to break off and rush to their aid. The Ariete Armoured division, far smaller in size and badly overstretched, soon found itself fighting a desperate retreat against the rampaging South Africans. Elsewhere on the field, the 90th Light and 15th Panzer attacked north together and slowly forced the 4th Indian to give up ground. It got a lot of good support from the armoured brigade and the remaining Frenchmen, but the numbers were definitely turning against it. Worst of all, the 7th Armoured division was nearly destroyed and retreated off-table, now freeing the 21st Panzer to join the fray!

It was all coming down to the supply depots in each army's rear - would the South Africans' raid blow them up first as the Italians collapsed, or would the heavy swing of the Germans land first? The Germans seemed to be doing better, as the British line weakened, the supply dumps came into range and the Panzers blew them up one after the other

Ka-Boom! "No more of ze bully beef for you tonight, Tommy!"

The South Africans similarly rampaged through the Axis rear, driving the Axis tanks back onto their last dump and forcing Rommel to rush the 21st Panzer back to try and hold them off!

Finally, neither side managed it (although the Brits did fail only because the Axis rolled a 6 on a saving throw!) Night fell on the desert, and both sides had to back off, realising they'd scored a draw - but with the Axis ahead by 1 point, thus claiming a technical win.

"Bad show, Timpkins!"

"Wunderbar!"

List of Projects

2011-06-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Disaster strikes in the wargames world! After ages with no dedicated space to play a game, I have finally managed to clear out an area of the loft for myself - only for the damn light to stop working the moment I try to play the first Desert War battle!

Pictured: the loft.

Most annoying, and also a real problem - what do I do in my evenings now? The WW2 Desert figures are all done; the Wars of the Roses figures are still there, but must be done in small doses to prevent madness. So, what else? I wound up buying a copy of Wargames Illustrated for some inspiration, and it turns out their issue (#283) is themed largely around the Gallipoli campaign.

Interesting stuff, and something which - despite knowing about it and being interested by it for a long time, I'd never considered it as a wargames project. Still, I'm wary about throwing myself into a new project after only about 2 seconds' thought! I decided to make a list of possible things I could do to fill the evenings until I could get the loft light fixed.

Gallipoli campaign. Possibly in 10mm Pendraken figures? The magazine is naturally filled with the highly expensive 28mm figs, which look great but would be a hell of a thing to take on. Maybe a fair bit of terrain to make, too. Also, the old classic: how do you model trenches being dug and destroyed?!
Medieval Campaign for DBA. Classic DBA campaign for a roughly Hundred Years' War, Burgundian Wars, late-medieval-esque thing. Time to use the 6mm Baccus figures I have, although a bit of awkward rebasing might be required? Armies would be English, French, Free Companies, Burgundians, Flemish, Swiss, etc. Does have the definite advantage that I own most of the figures - I'm just not that keen on chiselling a bunch of them off the bases I first glued them to!
Play and record a full game of 'Barbarossa to Berlin', the GMT boardgame I own covering WW2 in Europe. It's a good game, but actually playing it through and recording it could give me a nice narrative to post on the blog by the end.
Seven Years' War - not so much a painting exercise but more of a paper one. Use Tony Bath's 'Setting up a Wargames Campaign' to create a large fictional continent of countries to then fight out wars with my Austrian & Prussian 15mm armies.
Do the Great Italian Wars for Impetus in 28mm. Expensive, but for Basic Impetus at least manageable, and also a period I've wanted to do for a while.
Sudan Campaign, as inspired by reading 'The River War' and the 'Fire and Sword in the Sudan' website. They supply a full campaign, which is something I'm always a sucker for.
The Boer War. Yet another period I've always had a quirky interest in, and I see that 'Too Fat Lardies' are currently developing a set of rules for it (their 'Lard Island News' blog has a few articles & photos.)
Buy a boardgame, so I can play something straight away and not muck about with all that painting nonsense!

Too many options, not enough time & money! What to do? Ah, the dilemmas of the hobby...

Desert War Top Trumps

2011-05-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

The desert war is set to begin shortly, as my second army for it goes into the final stages of painting and basing. In the meantime, I've turned my attention to cards for selecting the sides. For those who have been following this blog but perhaps haven't looked up the 'KISS Rommel' rules I'm using, I should explain - each side has a hand of eight cards and they draw five for each battle, which is a nice way of adding a bit of 'randomness' to it all. Most cards equate to a division for whatever country you're playing, possibly armoured, or motorised, or infantry. Some are only smaller Brigades which can be attached to other divisions, or may even just be a 'blank' with nothing at all!

I decided to make up some proper cards for this, properly printed out from a Word doc with nicely printed text and a symbol thrown in for a bit of colour. Here's an example of what I made up with a little bit of bashing around:

I found most divisions' symbols with a simple dig around on Wikipedia and typing the name into Google Images. Then, for easy reference, I listed the bases that each division consisted of on the card as well. With that, I printed them off, glued them to some thin card, then laminated them. Job done!

Here's the full British/Commonwealth/Multinational hand for the Eighth Army:

The Brits get 2 Armoured Divisions, 3 Infantry Divisions, a Free French Infantry Brigade, an Armoured Brigade, and one Blank Card (troops diverted to Greece or Malaya!)

Here's the German/Italian line-up:

There's actually nine here, as I wound up including an extra card for the optional Tiger Tank battalion I might use at some stage in the future. The basic hand of cards is 2 Panzer Divisions, 1 Motorized Infantry Division (the 90th Light,) An Italian Armoured Division, an Italian Motorized Infantry Division, 2 Infantry Divisions and 1 Blank Card (Planes from Malta sink a convoy!)

So, not long until the off! The Campaign begins at Tobruk, which is the midpoint on a track running from Tripoli to Cairo - victories move you up it, defeats move you back down, until one side loses their 'HQ Space' for total defeat. No timescale is given, but I'm taking things as set around the time of Operation Battleaxe, just after Rommel has arrived and when he and Wavell were first battling around the besieged Tobruk. In fact, with the cards ready, I couldn't resist at least drawing a hand for each side to see who'll fight in the first game. One card can be chosen, but the rest are randomly drawn. The results:

EIGHTH ARMY

7th Armoured Division (the Desert Rats)

4th (Indian) British Infantry Division

1st (South African) British Infantry Division

(Free French) British Infantry Brigade

Two British Armoured Brigades

AFRIKA KORPS

German 21st Panzer Division

Italian 132nd 'Ariete' Tank Division

German 90th Light Division

German 15th Panzer Division

Blank! - Planes From Malta Sink Convoy!

Well, quite the decent force for the British - Infantry & Armour divisions, although two cards are smaller brigades. The Axis are really looking for trouble, however - every German card turns up, plus the only Italian unit to show is an armoured one! Shame the other card was a blank, but it does mean that the Axis side, although small, is made up of highly mobile & armoured units. Now I really need to finish the painting and get them onto a tabletop - which I also don't quite have sorted, yet. One light-brown throw-rug or bed-sheet, coming up!

Afrika Korps Underway

2011-05-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Good gaming news arrives from the Tripoli dockside of 1941 - the Afrika Korps miniatures have arrived! One good piece of news from having previously done the British Eighth Army is that I knew what to expect in terms of model sizes, basing, etc. As such, I had the bases ready-cut from plastic 2mm sheets and glued the models down in super-fast time. Below is an overhead shot of the storage box:

The whole thing is about 83 or 84 bases' worth of German and Italian troops, who will soon be contesting the Western Desert of Egypt against the international Commonwealth troops of the British Empire and its allies.

Here's a close-up to try and show a bit more of some of the units. When ordering models, I didn't want to get drawn into large amounts of research about what models & variants of tank were available over the historical campaign period in question - the whole idea is to play a very impressionistic, simplified game of the WW2 desert. As such, I did most of my 'research' by reading up Wikipedia articles and mainly using Google Images to search for pictures of the vehicles. If they turned up in a picture in desert camouflage, that was good enough for me! Shown above are a Panzer Division's tank units. I plumped for two Panzer III models and a single Panzer IV with the little 'stubby' short-barrelled gun.

Above shows some of the rear-echelon support units for the Afrika veterans. Pendraken don't seem to do Italian field guns, so I used the German artillery for them too. (Incredibly fiddly to assemble, I have to admit!) There is also that famous feature of the Desert War, the 88mm gun in its anti-tank role. In the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Rommel rules I'm going to use, even Italian divisions get an 88. This represents mostly German guns attached to them temporarily, or possibly their own equivalent of the 88mm gun (The 90mm, also lacking in Pendraken's lists - although to be fair I would've probably preferred the famous 88 models.)

I have even got a single Tiger tank model, to give me the option of putting the earliest prototype of that tank into the game (the rules suggest that it can be finally granted in defending Tunis, mainly because Hitler seemed to like only reinforcing disasters, thankfully!) Also in the background, you can see bags containing the one part where I have bought models that also link to the Allied side - air power! I have bought a model Bf109 and a Stuka, to give the Axis a pair of models to show airstrikes (not strictly necessary, but I liked the notion of adding them) and correspondingly I got a Spitfire and a Hurricane for the Desert Air Force (two fighters, I know, but I thought a Blenheim would be bigger and cost more!)

A Speedy paint-job is underway, then 'dipping' and spraying, then finally a bit of sand on the base. Then: next stop Cairo!

Down at the Workbench

2011-04-25T22:21:00.001-07:00

A brief interlude to mention what I'm up to at the moment on my workbench - not that I actually have a permanent place like a 'workbench' or anything, but well, you get the idea.

The first thing driving me to madness is the ongoing painting epic with the Perry Wars of the Roses figures. I decided that painting en masse was the only way to avoid a complete nervous breakdown, so what you see snapped above is a full half (yes, just half - I need to do this all over again!) of the miniatures. Specifically, this is my 'Retinue' box, where all figures contained are getting a liveried coat. I am painting the figures step by step, and uniformly bringing them up to the same condition. First it was shoes, for about 80 figures (160 bloody boots!) and then it was skin-tone on the face & hands; then steel on helmets, mail & blades; now livery colours, as per the plan I had worked out. Hard going, for the time being at least, but there is undeniable progress to compensate for the present tedium. Once this is done, it's legs, then belts & equipment, then grass highlights on the bases.

So, what else? Well, the state of the other army at the moment is:

Well, let's be honest about it: it's awful. This is the embryonic stage of the army coming up shortly. It's the other half of my WW2 Desert Army pair: the Afrika Korps! The models are on order from Pendraken, but I have made a start by cutting the plastic bases for them all in advance. Here they are, stacked up, and pretty much all I have to look at until the postman does his thing!

"A Warwick!"

2011-03-22T23:05:00.001-07:00

Painting progress with my Wars of the Roses figures, so I thought I'd supply an update.

I have completed one box-load of miniatures, and produced what is effectively a little 'Affinity' for the Earl of Warwick. 40 figures are done in total, partially previously painted ones and rounded out with newly sprayed & painted additions.

The force is split between two bases of Retinue (one each of Longbows and Billmen) and two other bases of Arrayed Levy troops (also one each of Longbows and Bills.) The Retinue troops are wearing Red livery coats, and although my red-liveried figures have to stand in for the Earl of Oxford as well as Warwick's boys, I have added quite a few of Warwick's 'ragged staff' badges. This is mainly because I expect to use them for Warwick far more than Oxford, basically, but from a distance you can't even really tell!

The painting itself was a bit different, as I base-coated the figures with the Army Painter 'Bleached Bone' spray-effect, which works for linen materials nicely but is far lighter than the black basecoat I used on my first batch. Also, I have discovered the Games Workshop wash 'Devlan Mud' after hearing it recommended on the 'Meeples & Miniatures' podcast and found myself very impressed. For those who don't know, it's effectively like a thinner version of the Army Painter 'Dip' in that it makes a basically painted model look shadowed, weathered, etc. For me it has the advantage of not requiring trips up to the loft to set up dipping batches and leaving them to dry with the weird smell of the dip, plus white spirits for the brushes, etc. Much more convenient, and it also ensures a much more bright & colourful medieval army for me - the first batch had black basecoats and were liberally dipped, so they came out a little murky & gloomy by the end. Perhaps realistic, but not quite as pleasant on the tabletop! The only thing remaining now is to varnish the new-paints, then give them a Matt-Finish Spray to kill the shine (even Humbrol's Matt-Varnish has a bit of a sheen to it, I've learned.) The final touch will be some grass-flocking on the bases.

Finally the man himself - Kingmaker Warwick, proud setter-up and puller-down of kings. By way of comparison, Warwick here was done with Devlan Mud and some varnish, while the standard-bearer behind him was (badly, I'll confess) 'dipped' and varnished - quite the difference! No banners yet I must report, mainly because I have ordered the guide from Freezywater on livery colours & banners, so until it arrives our noble standard-bearer is just some lunatic running around the battlefield with a stick.

Painting continues, and I shall try to update you more regularly with my flailing efforts!

Wars Of The Roses New Figures

2011-02-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since I had anything to post about here, but with good reason! The last few weeks have been largely taken up with a blizzard of clipped bits of plastic flying everywhere, then being glued together and prepped. I have assembled my monster-sized order for the Wars of the Roses, and based them. I thought a photo-review would be deserved reward for my efforts with the little men!

Above is the full host of the unpainted new arrivals. Upon assembly, I have glued each one to a 1p coin for a base (exactly 20mm across and a useful weight to keep them upright) and have glued some sand to each model at it's feet, fully prepared for spray-painting the basecoats.

Here are some close-up snaps of the billmen. My army was previously very heavily slanted in favour of longbows, at around 2:1. I found this limited my use of a lot of army lists, which seemed to go more for a 1:1 ratio in some cases. In any event, I have made a good number of billmen to slightly rebalance things, although the longbow is still easily the most common troop type.

Speaking of which: the longbows! The most numerous of the lot, and quite a prickly little hedge they make.

As my experience grows, I have actually done more detailing than before. Take this little figure, where I have added some of the grounded arrows to his coin base, so they are ready for him to snatch up. When I did my first batch of WotR figures a year ago, I never thought of this addition, so I'm glad to have added it now to a couple.

The Nobility - the men at arms in full plate armour. I made many of them with standards the last time, so I wanted to avoid any more this time around. These figures tend to be the most limited in the Perry boxes for poses, so I did try to vary them a little by clipping off standards to leave figures with only a clenched fist, or trim off a pointing finger to create a hand hanging down by a side, etc. Very small stuff by 'pro' modelling standards, but a bit creative for me, anyway.

On a more practical note, some bases! I thought of cutting MDF bases myself, but then realised this would be maddeningly hard to do. Instead I found places on the internet that sell them - specifically 'Warbases' and 'East Riding Miniatures' both did them to the 12cm x 6cm size. I ended up ordering from the latter, as they were fractionally cheaper.

Here are some of the mercenaries I got, in the form of a unit of crossbowmen. They are very nice, as are the pikemen (which I photographed but it came out impossibly blurry!) As a point of curiosity, I believe the 'bodies' and 'heads' of the mercenary figures are unchanged from the original WOTR infantry boxes - only new arms & equipment mark them out, plus some very good commander figures (nicely ornate armour, new head selections, etc.)

This shows the handgunners from the mercenaries set. I'll probably deploy them as skirmishers, as they don't seem too likely as a formed unit. (After all, the figure with the drum can probably produce the most "booms" per minute out of the lot of them!)

Yorkist commanders - I got these from Perry themselves, and they are going to be the ward commanders for the battlefield. I mounted these guys on 2p coins, which gives them a larger 'footprint' to make them distinct. No risk of these guys getting lost in the ranks!

Same again, as the Lancastrian option for commanders. Much less plate-armour on show, and a bit more dandified medieval fashion. Possibly unwise on the battlefield, but a nice idea for the more 'courtly' faction during 1455-1461.

That, largely, is it! In the background of the photo above you can see some of my practical 'extras' in the form of some coloured (plastic coated) paperclips I have straightened out to make some standard flagpoles with (just the right height!) and also a bunch of the grounded arrows I have glued to small 5p coins which shall be useful as disorder markers for my units.

Next, into the loft for spray-painting!

Retinue Liveries

2011-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

Continuing my Wars of the Roses revision, I have decided to overhaul the painting-scheme and make it far more organised. Research into the different colours used for various nobles' retinues has been awkward, as I've only found isolated snippets of data here and there. The only book I think is of potential use is the Osprey guide to the wars, but it is currently listed as out of stock on their website. The whole thing is complicated a little more by the fact that records are incomplete and far from reliable, so it may just be wrong to start with! No matter, I suppose - I am going to press on as best as I'm able.

I have been pondering my basing system, and for a bit I was tempted to mix up the bases a little, with the figures displaying a more 'mixed' set-up within a base. I pondered putting an armoured Captain in the middle to represent the relevant Noble in charge, surround him with about 2 or 3 figures in livery to represent his retinue, and then complete the base with around six or seven local levies surrounding them, as the men the noble had brought along through his Commission of Array. I'm not entirely decided however, and may opt for a straight interpretation and just have ten archers on a base for a force of longbowmen, for example. As I am keeping the individual basing system, I suppose I can pick and choose as I want.

For all the attention, the liveried retainers will be making up only around half of the force I paint. They seem to have made up potentially far more of a historical force, but nobody seems really sure of just how much or what they would've looked like. As the retinues are the focal points of the armies I shall be giving them increased prominence for gaming and practical reasons. Leaders shall be individually based, and I have the notion of attaching the leader figures (possibly with an accompanying man holding their personal standard) to whichever base I want to mark as containing a Ward Commander.

So, who to do? The campaign game I'm planning on using (Columbia Games' Richard III) has counters for a grand total of 32 magnates of various rank, so it is impossible for me to represent each one with a dedicated stand! However, 32 nobles doesn't mean 32 different liveries, thankfully. Colour-combinations were limited, and a few well-chosen livery colours seem able to represent several nobles - once fielded and given a banner, the plastic figures should be able to represent everybody with passable accuracy. After researching about on the internet and plundering the books on the period I do own, I have managed to get colours for many of the nobles and made an educated guess for the remainder (basically I usually go for the two most prominent colours on their personal heraldry, and this seems to be a generally accepted 'guesstimate' in use by others, as well!) My resulting break-down of colours is as follows:

Blue & Red (or Blue & Murrey) can represent March, Gloucester, Clarence, Rutland, Hastings, & Herbert. It is also handy through most of the period as the default 'Yorkist' colour-scheme.

Blue & White can represent Henry VI, York, Somerset, Stanley & Fauconberg. It can also serve as the default 'Lancastrian' colour-scheme as it covers both Somerset and the king himself.

Black & Red can represent Buckingham, Northumberland, Shrewsbury, and Prince Edward. A good one for the Percy family, should a bit of the Percy-Neville feud turn up on the field.

Green & White can represent Richmond, Rivers & Pembroke. (Henry VII's colours, basically.)

Blue & Yellow can represent Norfolk, Suffolk, Beaumont & Wiltshire.

Red can represent Warwick & Oxford (Kingmaker Warwick himself.)

Red & Yellow can represent Devon, Salisbury, Arundel, Worcester & Clifford (quite a popular colour-scheme on coats of arms, it appears! Correspondingly, it turns up a lot on liveries when I indulge in guess-work.)

Red & White can represent Exeter, Essex & Westmoreland.

Through the number of nobles that could use the colours, plus the general usefulness of each, I have weighted the number of bases I will paint with each. The initial plan from my calculation is:

4 Blue & Red/Murrey bases

3 Blue & White bases

2 Black & Red bases

1 Green & White base

2 Blue & Yellow bases

2 Red bases

2 Red & Yellow bases

1 Red & White base

15 un-liveried bases. Mostly Commission of Array Levy bases, but also includes 4 'Dismounted Nobles' bases (in the typical 'white armour' of the day, with no specific markings, and therefore interchangeable with no difficulty.)

I'm sure I've got some errors and false assumptions in there, but I believe the plan is a good starting point. I hope the explanation of how I've worked out the markings for maximum flexibility is of interest to other gamers out there struggling with the same problems as me!

Wars of the Roses Recruiting

2011-01-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and all that! With the rumours all confirmed and 2011 now starting after 2010 (as was planned, I imagine) I have found myself taking stock of the hobby landscape from my perspective. Although I never expected it when starting out, my activity seems to have ended up focussed on two main areas: The Wars of the Roses (WOTR,) and WW2 in the Desert. Following my recent completion of the Eighth Army, I have decided to give it a breather before tackling the DAK & Italians. For a bit of variety, I have swung back to my WOTR campaign and I have decided to give the army a bit of a revamp.

It was actually this time last year I started out with it, getting a 'Retinue Deal' of four boxes of Perry Plastic Miniatures off the Warlord Games website. It's done good service, and I have decided to once more throw some of my Xmas cash at swelling the ranks of Merrie Olde England's finest nobility (and nobility-killing commoners.) With perfect timing, the Perrys have also produced a new plastic box set for Mercenaries, bringing the variety of Pikemen, Crossbowmen and Handgunners to the fray.

I've splashed out and bought yet another Retinue Deal to double my numbers at a stroke, also got a Mercenaries box to add some variety, and I have also sent off to the Perrys direct for some Foot Command personalities for each side. Combined with my existing figures of the retinues (plus the Cannon and 4 crew I got last summer,) this takes my total collection size from an initial 160 figures to a fearsome total of 376!

With all this re-stocking, I wanted to bring some revamping efforts to the rules in use. Previously I have been using the Perfect Captain's excellent set A Coat of Steel (ACOS) but the token-heavy setup plus the large numbers of card-draws and table-consulting for combat proved a serious handicap for me personally - with my limited time and space available at present, I found I was spending far longer preparing to play a game than actually playing one! I need a new rule set, and after much pondering around I have wound up revisiting Basic Impetus.

I initially disliked Basic Impetus because of the way that it used small armies of 7 or 8 bases, but decided to separate them into broad classes like 'Dismounted Nobles' as if every noble in the army would band together to form some kind of elite foot unit. This was especially bad in comparison to ACOS, where each unit was made up of the more historically accurate mix of all-sorts bunched together because of the feudal ties that dictated they fight with their Lord's retinue. I've come round, however - largely due to a bit of tinkering with scales.

By using a generous 10 figures per base, I could field two armies of 16+ units each, which means the presence of bases like 'Dismounted Nobles' is far less intrusive and fits into the overall scheme. I was initially pondering doing little 10-figure dioramas for the bases at first, as the Impetus website does such a brilliant job of showcasing, but I decided against it in the end. The flexibility of individually based figures seemed wisest, at least until I decided I was irretrievably in love with Basic Impetus. Plus, after a quick flip through my old copy of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (from the 1980s – Old School!) I decided that it would be perfectly good for use as well, should the mood take me. I will just use the Impetus bases as movement trays for now, and a quick internet search has brought up the two sites that can supply MDF bases pre-cut to the right size - East Riding Miniatures and Warbases (both just their names with “.co.uk” if you're interested) both sell suitable bases of 12cm by 6cm, so I shall shortly buy from one or the other.

As for campaign games, I have recently bought a copy of Columbia Games' block boardgame of the period: Richard III. I heard this reviewed a few months back on the Meeples & Miniatures podcast, and as I have played several other of their games (East Front, incidentally, is superb) I decided to get it. I will post a review shortly, to pass on info on it to other interested parties.

Right, that's quite the ramble! I'll shut up there, and hopefully post soon. By way of illustration, the picture with this post shows my current 16 bases of miniatures set out as they would be for Impetus - in other words, roughly under half the ultimate force I will be able to eventually assemble. I'm aiming big, as you can tell!

Eighth Army Finished

2011-01-02T02:13:00.000-08:00

The British Eighth Army is now ready for the desert and battle. Dipped miniatures have been sprayed down with a matt finish and the bases have had a fine layer of sand glued on to finish them up. Not bad, if I do say so myself (well, certainly by my own standards...) I have not painted 10mm before, and the 'dip' painting method works really well - not too big to make painting them take ages, but large enough for the detail to be visible. I'm very happy with the result!

"Off on more of these exercises, eh chaps? Keep up with the tanks."

"Is the tea ready yet, Timpkins?"

"Out on the gun-line, ready to give Jerry what for!"

"Hundreds of miles of nothing, yet we still get a traffic jam!"

"Thirsty work, all this shelling. Any more tea?"

The whole collection, in it's storage box (looking rather abstract from above!)

Eighth Army Now Painted!

2010-12-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Taking advantage of being snowed in, I have been busy with the paintbrush. I have completed painting the Eighth Army in it's entirety, and I have now 'dipped' the whole lot. They are now stashed away in the loft where they are being sprayed with a coat of Matt varnish to protect them and take off the glossy sheen. I shall post some pics soon, once the stuff has dried, to let you all see the 'before and after' effect of the dipping. It's quite striking, I think!

Eighth Army takes shape

2010-10-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

After a long silence, I have some practical progress to report! The WW2 Desert Army for the Commonwealth is now fully based. There was much (laboured) cutting of 2mm thick plastic sheets to make bases, sandpapering the surface to make it 'take' glue from the models. Above is a pic of the standard British Eighth Army Infantry Division - 9 Infantry battalions/regiments, 2 Artillery batteries, an HQ, Recon battalion, and 3 motor transports.

The standard Armoured Division - 3 armoured regiments, and just 4 motorised infantry.

The full army, in it's entirety.

The models in various stages - unpainted, base-coat sprayed, and with some details painted on pre-dipping.

Pauses & Painting

2010-09-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've recently had an enforced pause in my painting and gaming, through lots of activity in the real world - nothing serious, thankfully, but lots of social activity which has meant virtually no hobby-time!

I've also been progressing (slowly) with my painting for 8th Army, plus I've also been pondering my Wars of the Roses figures - I need to get them finished up, as at present only around half are painted beyond a very simple base-coat.

From my progress spraying the 8th Army a light desert-brown, I found myself pondering the same option for the Arrayed Levy troops in Wars of the Roses. Sounds mad, but not entirely. From internet forums discussing WotR armies, the general conclusion on colours appears to be:

1: Nobody really knows anything.

2: Undyed, bleached linen was likely to be widespread, meaning a variety of browns & beige in varying tones pretty much anywhere outside the liveried retinues.

Makes sense I suppose, as why would you - as a poor peasant of the day - feel like getting dressed up in your best clothes to go to a battle, unless you were really interested in leaving a good-looking corpse behind? Hm. Still, I suppose there's nothing else for it - I'm just going to hav eto launch myself into a full-scale painting effort yet again. Hopefully a few intense sessions of effort should see me power through a lot, rather than my usual style of numerous, snail's-pace progress sessions in spare half-hours snatched here and there!

KISS Wars of the Roses

2010-09-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

Although I like the ruleset 'A Coat of Steel' by the Perfect Captain, I find that the time required to play a game is difficult to find, so I have been working up a draft of KISS ('Keep it Simple Stupid') rules for the Wars of the Roses, much in the style of the WW2 Desert War set I recently posted about. So, as all wargamers have suspected: cross-pollination between different projects can lead to inspiration!

The set below is in first-draft form, simplifies all orders, combat, etc. to speed things up for me, but still keeps the crucial strengths of A Coat of Steel – namely the character traits of the varying commanders, and the awkwardness of commanding such an ad-hoc collection of nobles.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY

Ward chits are drawn as per the original game. As each chit is drawn, the ward can change orders, move, fire, resolve handstrokes and then routs. The next chit is then drawn and the process repeated.

TROOP CHARACTERISTICS

Archers Move 6”

Range 18”

Fire: 6 to hit; (Retinue archers get 5+ to hit vs enemy charging to contact)

Handstrokes: 6 to hit in first turn of contact, 5+ to hit in subsequent turns.

Save: 6 to save vs. fire; no save in handstrokes

Billmen Move 6”

Handstrokes: 4+ to hit on first turn of contact, 5+ to hit from then on.

Save: 5+ for Retinue & Well-wishers; Arrayed troops on a 6.

Men-at-Arms Move 4”

Handstrokes: 4+ to hit

Save: 4+

Mtd Knights Move 8”

Handstrokes: 2+ to hit on charge, 4+ to hit from then on.

Save: 4+ in handstrokes, but only on a 6 against Longbow ranged fire.

Crossbows Move 6”

Range 18”

Fire: 6

Handstrokes: 6to hit in first turn of contact, 5+ to hit from then on

Save: 6 to save vs. fire; no save in handstrokes

Special notes: Targets get -2 save mod against Crossbow fire.

Spears/Pikes Move 6”

Handstrokes: 5+ to hit

Save: 5+

Special Notes: Enemy that are non-Spears will always be pushed back 2” each turn.

Gonne Move: n/a

Range 18”

Fire: 6 to hit. 5+ to hit vs enemy charging any adjacent friendly unit.

Each unit rolls a dice to try and score a hit, then the targets roll to save. All units roll double the number of handstrokes dice if they have enfiladed the enemy.

FORMATIONS

All units should be 2 bases deep by default. All units can fire (except vs. charging enemy, where only front-rank can fire.) Any unit in 1 rank vs 2+ enemy ranks must fall back 2”.

ORDERS

Each unit is marked with a small square marker, divided diagonally by an 'X' into four triangular areas. Each area is filled in with an order and the counter is rotated to show which one is currently in use. The four possible orders a commander can give are Stand (No move); Loose (fire arrows); Advance (move forward but not engage) and Charge (as advance, but must be made to move into handstrokes contact.)

Each order segment will have arrows marking what the order can be changed to. It is not possible to switch freely between stances (for example, a unit cannot be standing and then suddenly charge to contact – it must 'pluck up it's courage' first by switching to advance and building up to contact.) The arrows I plan to mark on will allow orders to change like this:

Stand

Can be reached from: Any

Can change to: Loose; Advance

Effects: No Move. Can rotate on the spot if desired. Will get a free volley against enemy charging to contact.

Loose

Can be reached from: Stand

Can change to: Stand; Advance

Effects: No Move. Can fire one volley

Advance

Can be reached from: Stand; Loose

Can change to: Stand; Charge

Effects: Makes full move straight ahead if possible. Maintain a gap of 2” with all enemy units.

Charge

Can be reached from: Advance

Can change to: Stand (automatic on end of combat)

Effects: May move and must end in contact with an enemy unit. 2” separation may be ignored. (NB: the target unit may get a free volley if it has Stand orders.)

Typically there will be only a small chance of a fumble, so a commander will change orders for a Ward on a roll of 2+ (subject to modification by commander abilities – of which more later!) Failure means you stay stuck with the old order.

Only a single orders change can be attempted per turn, with the exception of Wards with an 'Audacious' commander (who gets two order changes a turn;) or a commander with the 'Captain's Advice' stratagem (who gets a single 'bonus' order change.)

MORALE

Morale is done by commitment. Committed need a 6 to fail, Well-wishers a 5+ to fail, while Uncommitted need only a 4+ to fail. Companies test as per the commanding magnate or as per the dominant troop type if he is dead (or an unnamed captain leads.)

A unit will test morale if:

It loses 2+ figures in a turn to fire or while closing to handstrokes

It loses more casualties than the enemy in handstrokes

It sees a friendly unit routing within 6”

It sees an enemy ambush being sprung within 12”

A unit that checks morale and fails is always marked as 'shaken' (a stand of arrow-flights, a puff of smoke, etc.) If the unit already has a 'shaken' marker, it is routed.

In addition, a failing unit's actions are decided by what it is doing when it fails the morale test.

If already 'shaken' then it will rout.

If it tests because of being fired on, it must immediately change to a 'halt' order.

If it tests in handstrokes, it must back off by 2” and lose 1D3 figures (Arrayed first, then Well-wishers, then Retinue)

If it tests when out of contact, it must immediately change to a 'halt' order (meaning charging units can be halted short of contact by a defending volley)

If it tests because it's magnate is lost (dead, captures, or fled) then it will lose 1D3 of randomly-selected figures.

ROUTING

Units will rout if:

It fails morale while already marked as 'shaken'

It is reduced to just 4 figures, or half it's original strength.

ARMY MORALE

Largely as per the original rules, but with different effects. Army morale starts at 5, with the following modifiers:

-1 from 'The Coldness of the King' (monarch in enemy camp)

-1 from facing odds of 3:2 or worse

-1 from campaign forced march before battle

-1 from enemy pre-battle bombardment

-1 from each peer (level 3 or 4 magnate) lost/killed/captured/fled

-1 from a ward of the army breaking and routing

-1 from a ward leader lost (double-hitter if it's a peer, or if ward is also breaking)

-1 from friendly troops that show treachery (either changing sides or becoming inactive)

+1 from friendly reinforcements reaching the field

The morale level of the army has the following effects:

Level 5 – OK

Level 4 – OK

Level 3 – OK

Level 2 – Test for morale in all remaining units

Level 1 – Test for morale in all remaining units at 1 level lower than normal

Level 0 – All remaining units rout

COMMANDER ATTRIBUTES

audacious can make 2 order changes per turn; +1 to orders roll

old soldier +1 to orders roll

amateur extra 4+ roll required to change order (confusion counter)

practiced standard order roll - no effect

impetuous auto-change to advance/charge orders if the target enemy unit feints or inflicts 2+losses in fire

lethargic 2 extra lethargy chits added to the draw cup

bloodthirsty captured=killed; all routers are auto-killed if caught in pursuit

merciful captured=prisoner; all routers are auto-captured if caught in pursuit

timorous check morale as 1 level lower than normal

anti-x if vs an enemy, wounds=kia; if anti-allied magnate, -1 morale level; if anti- cause of own side, treacherous!

trimmer treacherous!

artifices ambushes can be prepared or obstacles deployed in the setup

treacherous as lethargic, but also add 1 'treacherous' chit - if it is drawn first then the leader switches sides immediately

conciliatory roll against the enemy leader morale at setup - apply -1 to the army morale if failed.

STRATAGEMS

Can select 1 for practiced, 2 for old Soldier, 3 for Audacious, 0 for Amateurs.

A captain's advice allows 1 extra order change to be attempted in a turn, once per game

forethought rout bonus - the '666 rule' becomes the '366 rule'

stout ensign cancel one failed casualty roll for a leader

inspiring (4+ puissance required) Can instantly remove a shaken marker at any time

energetic (4+ forwardness required) reroll 1 failed order roll per game

Master Gonner (gonne must be present in army) Can reroll fire dice once per turn.

caltrops/pavises (artifices required) Can setup defences in front of his ward.

good timing (old soldier required) +1 on to-hit rolls when firing, for one turn only

far sighted detects ambushes. Ambush party must be deployed at start and does not get any usual advantages.

feint (old soldier required) can play to make 1 move order backwards, then auto-halts.

COMMANDER CASUALTIES

roll 2D6 (check only if losses taken)

In shooting 2-10 ok; 11 wound; 12 killed

In Handstrokes 2-8 ok; 9-10 wound; 11+ killed

if using 'I'll not shrink back' bonus: 2-7 ok, 8+ killed (no wounds)

2 wounds = killed

In rout:

from a Bloodthirsty Enemy = auto-killed if hit,

from a Merciful Enemy = auto-captured if hit

If neither: 1-3 captured, 4-5 killed; 6 escaped.

'I'll not shrink back!'

Can voluntarily be selected by a commander on entering Handstrokes.

add Puissance to rolls as a modifier to 'to hit' rolls (Eg. 3Puissance is 3No +1 mods or 1No +3mod, or any other distribution)

The disadvantage is a higher chance of loss to your commander (see above)

if vs an enemy also using the option: roll2D6 each, add puissance & compare:

tie = no effect

1-2 difference = loser wounded

3+ difference = loser killed

And that, in a nutshell, is the new Rules set. I'll be posting a playtest game soon, to judge the likelihood of future revisions. In the meantime I thought I'd post it, at least to fire interest or hopefully provide a little inspiration to any other gamer out there!

Pendraken Figures and Basing

2010-08-31T22:07:00.001-07:00

The 10mm Eighth Army figures from Pendraken have arrived, and I thought I'd outline the haul - plus do a little checking about bases. I bought mainly infantry, obviously, and found a pleasingly varied set of poses - the 'riflemen' have three, of men either walking forward, charging ahead, or firing. Other bags I ordered, such as Bren-gun or Thompson SMG-carrying men were single-pose. Plenty, in other words, to give a varied bunch of bases.

Bases, then. I wasn't sure what size would be best, so I drew out boxes on a sheet of paper measured to the size-options. The results are below.

Left to Right, the sizes are 20mm x 20mm (too cramped), 30mm x 20mm (better spacing), 30mm x 30mm (deeper, but for no clear benefit) and 40mm x 30mm (too thinly-spread.) I decided in the end to select 30mm x 20mm for my infantry bases as the most pleasing to my eye. Other sizes could be used elsewhere and keep the 30mm frontage, with the depth varying to fit vehicles on.

Clockwise from top-left, this shows a Universal Carrier, a (massive) Bedford 3-ton truck, a Matilda tank, and a Jeep. The 40mm deep base appears to be adequate for all tanks and lorries, but the 30mm deep base is more suited to things like Jeeps on 'Recon' unit stands.

Here's a varied bunch - Clockwise from top left, I've made a 30mm x 30mm HQ stand for each division by using individual command figures, Command-Group models (usually a brass-hat type poring over a map at a table) and a pup-tent. Next is the dismantled components of a 25pdr field gun, which also comes with a trailer and three crewmen (a loader, a man pointing/pulling a lanyard, and an officer observing through binoculars.) The gun also comes with a circular firing platform. Next round is a smaller Morris 3/4-ton truck, then a pair of armoured recon units: the Dingo Scout Car and the Humber Armoured Car.

I wanted the tanks in my Eighth Army to be a jumble of all models and types, as the historical army appears to have all-sorts of varied tank types, none of which were anything other than 'adequately comparable' to most of the German ones in combat, and usually mechanically unreliable. Clockwise from top left, we have here a Valentine (with sand-skirts), an M3 Lee, a Crusader II and a Grant. Turrets come separately and get glued in place, and all will suitably fit a 40mm-deep base.

Next, I'll detail my painting plans for my first formation, an Infantry Division.

To the Desert!

2010-08-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hi - I'm on the brink of a new project, and thought I'd detail it right from the word go - the initial idea through to realising it on the tabletop.

I've never been of the opinion that an army endlessly grows - in fact, I was a bit surprised when I recently mentioned I'd completed my Seven Years' War painting scheme for two armies composed over two years ago, and people thought it'd increase. It never even entered my head to grow the forces over time with the odd extra unit of Grenadiers or Cuirassiers here and there. The size was worked out on day one, and seen through to exactly that! Does anyone else work that way?

Anyway, one of the big advantages of a fixed force size is that - besides giving you a definite finishing point - it can usually be part of a campaign structure that cleverly defines the maximum forces allowed. One of the nicest I've seen is a simple set that was first published in a copy of 'Wargames Illustrated' that I bought back in April 2002 and noticed on a re-reading a year or so ago. For those interested, I've discovered there is an electronic copy of the article ('KISS Rommel' by Norman Mackenzie) available online at freewargamesrules (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/)

The game is large-scale strategic-level World War 2, which is always the level I've enjoyed and found the most fascinating. Not for me the madness of 'Advanced Squad Leader' or any similar company-level games - I wanted to do things on a big-scale, and always have since one of the first WW2 board wgames I've ever played - the classic 'Eastfront' by Columbia Games (http://www.columbiagames.com/.) If you've not played it and you like WW2 games, then turn yourself in to the wargames police immediately, as you're doing yourself an injustice!

The KISS (or, 'Keep It Simple Stupid!') Rommel rules covered the Desert War, or North African Campaign 1940-1943, which was of little interest for me at first through ignorance - until I read the book 'Alamein' by Stephen Bungay (yet another recommendation, WW2-fans!) A slim but extremely readable fact-filled volume, the bizarre and see-saw struggle in the alien environment between the two sides began to seem fascinating as I learned more - the crack German units with their '88's and their unstable Italian allies, struggling against lack of supplies as much as with their enemies, the Eighth Army of multi-national Infantry from across the British Empire, excellent Artillery plus a jumble of tanks. A colourful mix, and crucially a situation of two varied sides that regularly had a tally of wins and losses against each other.

I've started out by buying the British Empire & Commonwealth Eighth Army, and decided to do so in 10mm from Pendraken (http://www.pendraken.co.uk/) - this is my compromise scale as I don't want 15mm armies due to the lack of space & painting time, plus I think 6mm would be too small for what is potentially a visually appealing army. The order has now arrived, and I shall post pics of the figures and details of basing plans shortly.

Project Roundup

2010-08-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

What with my recent blog posts on the Wars of the Roses, it's as if I've not been doing very much wargaming - far from it! However by being stuck in my Medieval 'thing' I've been slow on posts here recently. I need to vary things a bit by reflecting the more varied activities I'm up to. As a result, here's a brief round-up of the little projects I've got going on right now and which I hope to be posting about soon:

My Seven Years' War campaign is still running along on my other blog (http://www.konigundkaiser.blogspot.com/) and progressing steadily, along with a recent big battle. I've come across the "battlechronicler" piece of free software to create battle maps for blog posts very handy it is too, now I've finally started to get the hang of it!

My American Civil War (ACW) campaign set in Scotland is still in the background, which is proving a bit slow to progress at the moment as both a strategic and tactical game. As I don't get to fight out battles as DBA-style tabletop games, I wind up having big pauses in the campaign. Rather than let it die out, I am thinking of pursuing it as a strategic game only. Battles can be noted as a source for scenarios later, and played at leisure - without causing the campaign to be derailed.

I have also got my 2mm ACW armies to put into action, possibly as part of a recreation of the 1864 Grant vs. Lee Overland Campaign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_Campaign) which I've been aiming to recreate for a long while - ever since reading the Bruce Catton book

'A Stillness at Appomattox.' (Incidentally, if you're a Civil War fan then read the book immediately - it's a genuine classic!)

Away from the ACW, I have another mini-campaign of Napoleonic setting, which I've not posted on for a simple reason: it's so small I hope to complete it before long and then post the entire campaign from start to finish over a single week - we'll see how that goes!

I have also got a game of the excellent GMT Games WW2 boardgame 'Barbarossa to Berlin' on the go. Although not a tabletop game, it's an excellent card-driven boardgame which I'm playing through with an aim to then posting as an entire alternate WW2 strategic campaign, from 1941 to 1945. The card-based system allows for a great deal of period-setting flavour, so I'm hoping it might make a pretty good narrative.

Most recently and unusually, I have gotten into the Desert War in WW2. This has led me to order a bunch of models to re-start painting again, in my attempt to create my own little mini-version of the 8th Army. Once they arrive, I shall be posting a bit about my attempts to create an army 'from the ground up' for gaming.

Good grief, so busy! I think I'll go for a lie down...

Automatic For The Nobles

2010-08-04T22:25:00.001-07:00

The 1460 campaign for the Lancastrian return to England is underway to decide the fate of the prototype Yorkist Dynasty, and shall be posted soon. However, there has been one little scrap - barely 1000 men a side - which I've briefly gamed out for fun, and also as a test-run for a little prototype of mine.

The rules system from Perfect Captain for tabletop battles, "A Coat of Steel" is good and unique but... well, it does involve a lot of table-consulting, cross-referencing, and requires two decks of cards plus repeated draws to fight a round. It also means totting up a lot of combat points, to the extent that I have found it necessary to always keep a pencil and some scrap paper handy. No more, however, with the aid of my new Excel Spreadsheet! I have automated the vast majority of the donkey-work, allowing me to enter the strengths and tactics of two competing units, to then get presented with a final outcome instantaneously.

I'm rather proud of the end result, which manages to include the bewildering variety of modifiers to come from total strength, rank-on-rank deployment, troop types, approach speeds, tactics, etc. And at the end of the day it tells you who won or lost, casualties, morale effects, and even if your leader has been killed!

So, to the tabletop for a try-out. Part of the struggle at campaign-level is currently for Lancastrian sympathisers to reach the returning army of invasion, while various local Yorkist regime-friendly magnates try to pin them down and prevent escape. One such encounter has taken place in the Southeast. Baron Scales, veteran of the French wars, has gathered supporters from across East Anglia and is trying to head west to the Midlands. Blocking the move however is Henry Bourchier, with his younger brother John (Baron Berners.) The two small forces come together at Chatteris Abbey in Cambridgeshire, itching for a fight.

The two armies approach

Bourchier - the banners were drawn and painted in about 20 minutes.

Scales - he drew the happenstance card "I Have Dreamed a Fearful Dream" which meant his already Array-heavy command was definitely looking over it's shoulders!

The fight! Bourchier drew lots of billmen, so rushed into contact immediately. Scales used his levy archers to riddle them on the approach.

On impact, the Lancastrians reeled back slightly but overcame the initial impact. The fighting degenerated into a gruelling scrap with each side getting "stuck in" as the result for repeated rounds. The spreadsheet allowed the repeated calculations to go ahead very rapidly. The Yorkists generally had the upper hand of it and steadily inflicted more losses than they took. Scales was even wounded one round, but he couldn't upset the Yorkist will to fight. Eventually, once losses had climbed high enough, Scales' Lancastrians routed of the field, with the Baron himself captured by Bourchier's victorious troops. A successful first outing for the Handstrokes Spreadsheet!

Lancastrians in Exile, Yorkists in Power

2010-07-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

So, the aftermath of the battle of Lawford Heath has to be weighed up for effects. First, the nobles on the field: as he is 'Merciful', the Earl of March – now the Yorkist host commander – spares the captured Lords Audley & Dudley. Likewise the Lancastrians will spare Wenlock through Buckingham's Merciful nature. Losses in the commons come to roughly 2200 Yorkists and 2400 Lancastrians - including dead, wounded, and (predominantly) fled. Still, who cares about our little plastic-modelled commoners? The little plastic-modelled nobles are all that matters!

Dead:

Y: Duke of York, Baron Clinton, Baron Grey of Powys,

L: Duke of Exeter, Earl of Shrewsbury,

Wounded/Captured

Y: Baron Wenlock, Earl of Salisbury (wounded),

L: Lord Audley, Baron Dudley,

Survived

Y: Earl of March, Baron Ferrers

L: Duke of Buckingham, Lord Grey of Rougemont, Earl of Wiltshire, Viscount Beaumont

Queen Margaret of Anjou watches the rout of her army from a nearby church steeple, and then flees the scene on horseback - no doubt employing the ruse (she supposedly used historically) of having her horse shod back-to-front to leave a false trail - and makes a fast getaway, along with her son.

Campaign Morale for the Yorkists sinks to 3, but Lancastrian morale implodes outright and sinks to zero - there's nothing for it but to flee! Queen Margaret, Buckingham, Wiltshire & Beaumont flee the battlefield to Bristol and then sail to France and exile. Other Lancastrians all make a similar move abroad - Beaufort and Devon join the fugitive fleet sailing out the Bristol Channel, while the Elder Somerset and Northumberland head north to Scotland for safe shelter. In the meantime it is Yorkists that call the 'Parliament of Devils' to issue an attainder on all the fleeing Lancastrians, pronouncing them all traitors and confiscating their lands & titles.

The scenario ends: Yorkists win only a 'minor victory' as they have routed the Lancastrians into exile, but Buckingham, Somerset, Queen Margaret & Prince Edward are all still at large. The Lancastrians however, win a 'major victory' as they have killed Richard of York!

Now the Yorkist cause is championed by Edward Plantagenet (previously Earl of March, now Duke of York himself from inheriting his father's title.) His father's death is not such a blow to Yorkist factional hopes, as he historically died just one year later at the tail-end of 1460, at Wakefield. Now the Yorkists are the controlling faction at court, but without the support of the majority of nobles – several of them lost their fathers to Richard of York at his earlier battles of Lutterworth & Lawford Heath, and are in no mood to make up. The Lancastrian cause in exile shall return in 1460 to challenge them, so York must defend all England from invasion, and do it with a small core of loyal & active Yorkists plus a large mass of uncommitted or actively hostile nobles!

(Incidentally, the historical Edward declared himself king Edward IV after his father died, but does not do so in this game. Why? Well, historically Warwick won at Northampton and killed many Lancastrian peers who are still alive in this game; York advanced his hereditary claims to the throne and got Parliament to pass the 'Act of Accord' which named the Yorkist line as heirs after Henry VI (disinheriting Henry's actual son); plus after York was killed the Lancastrians had lost a lot of popularity by plundering and revenge-seeking, while March had won an independent victory at Mortimer's Cross. In other words, the country just isn't ready quite yet for a rival king to Henry VI, and the wars at present are still only for becoming the controlling influence at court. Give it time though, and the increasing bitterness & rivalry will prepare the ground for the Yorkist claim to become overt!)

The Battle of Lawford Heath, 1459

2010-07-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

The day of battle dawns, and the two armies line up. The Yorkists have York himself in the Centre, his son the Earl of March on the left, and Salisbury on the right. Facing them are the Lancastrians with Buckingham heading the centre, while Exeter takes their right & Wiltshire the left. Wiltshire is an 'amateur' commander and also 'Timorous', so he's the likeliest to quit out if the going gets rough. Also, Buckingham has also prepared a feint to lure in the impulsive York - how will it all turn out? Let's see, through my pics of the game (which I've also added some handy name-markers to!)

The Setup (Yorkists in white lettering, Lancastrians in red.)

The battle begins! Initially promising to have the wind behind the Lancastrians, the Yorkists get a bonus when the wind direction suddenly shifts in the opening moments and removes the disadvantage they had been facing.

"To Arms! A York!"

York in pride of place, surrounded by retainers.

"Buckingham for the king!"

The king's lines, just before they 'run away' back up the slope. Crafty old Buckingham!

The advance underway. The Yorkists advance, and Buckingham's ruse works like a charm. York loses his head and orders all his men to rush on, throwing his central battle into disorder. Meanwhile, Exeter on the Lancastrian right decides to charge onward to strike Edward of March down in short order.

Charge! Buckingham's view from the hill as his right surges forward under Exeter. It duly strikes poor Edward full-force and nearly knocks his company to pieces. The Yorkists take heavy losses, including the Lord Clinton. The whole ward buckles back and comes within an ace of breaking, but the tireless and inspiring Edward (even though he's in his late teens) manages to just barely hold out and stalls Exeter just short of breaking through.

The centres grow close, with total disorder reigning in York's ranks. They are thrown into disorder by archery, lose out in exchanges, and can only advance at a slow, stuttering pace. Still, at least it's not going totally Lancaster's way - Confused old Wiltshire orders the Lancastrian left to advance slightly, but then can't manage to stop it. It keeps on drifting further and further forward, away from Buckingham's flank and towards Salisbury's ward opposite.

Full-contact along the lines as the armies grapple from one end to another

Wiltshire vs Salisbury. The pair lock together with much bloodshed. The Yorkist Baron Powys is killed in the scrum, and only Salisbury hastily throwing in the reserve holds it together. Wiltshire may be a fool, but his men know how to fight!

Disaster in the centre! York finally strikes Buckingham's lines and comes off worst. York is himself cut down in the struggle - the great rebel himself, dead on the field! At this, Wenlock's company cracks and runs, threatening a wholesale collapse. The Yorkist cause is in crisis, and the day hangs in the balance.

On the Yorkist left, March continues to hold out (doubtless unaware his dad has just died in the centre). This proves to be all that is required however, as reinforcements finally rush to the scene and fling themselves onto the flanks of Exeter's ward. At this, the exhausted Lancastrians crack and flee. Lord Audley is captured in the rout and taken prisoner, and Exeter himself is killed by the anonymous swords of the commoners in the chaotic rout. The whole Lancastrian right wing has collapsed!

Battle's end (Routers' names are in brackets)

This proves the crisis for the Lancastrian cause also, but while the Yorkists merely faltered a little, the Lancastrians go all to pieces. The faint-hearted Wiltshire suddenly remembers something he must attend to elsewhere, and the Lancastrian left wing begins to withdraw. Doubtless Buckingham in the centre is cursing his unreliable noble!

The routers and withdrawers back away, and the state of play becomes clear. Shrewsbury is killed in the rout, Lord Dudley dies, while Lord Wenlock gets captured by the Lancastrians. The Yorkists have seven hugely battered companies left to square up against just two of Lancastrians. It looks bad, and shortly as the two exhausted armies face off against each other, the withdrawing Wiltshire convinces the Lancastrians to quit the field. York surges on against them in pursuit. From despair to triumph! What a narrow and glorious victory for York! Pity he's dead, and all that...

The hero of the day, Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March

1459 - The White Swans

2010-06-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

And so, the second part of the military campaigning begins with a genuine head-to-head between the Yorkists and Lancastrians. From north to south the setup reads like a layer-cake, with alternating York/Lancaster forces assembling. I'll spare you a detailed account of the helpless swirl that resulted, but give a rough overview so you have the flavour of it!

York starts in the Welsh marches in a fortified camp at Ludlow. Warwick starts out overseas in Calais, but Salisbury is in the Yorkshire Ridings to the north. There are also many inactive nobles in the SE of England who can probably be counted on to rally to the Yorkist faction.

Meanwhile the Lancastrians' main army (with the Queen and King) gathers in the Midlands. In the south an army under Henry Beaufort (heir to the Dukedom of Somerset) is recruited in Devon & Cornwall, while up in the very far north the Percies gather forces along the Scottish Border - including York's Arch-Enemy Edmund Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset returned from his exile in Scotland!

At first, everybody sits tight and recruits across the counties by issuing Commissions of Array and pulling in every favour-owed family of supporters to provide them with troops. Warwick rather unfortunately fails to make it over the channel at first, being delayed by weather. Lots of the potential Yorkist nobles in SE England take their cue from this and fail to recruit to the Yorkist side, deciding sitting it out is much more sensible.

Once everybody has at least a decent army, it's a question of who can combine forces the quickest. Salisbury begins to take a circuitous route southwards, aiming to join York in the Welsh Marches. With their forces combined, plus Warwick's hoped-for arrival in the enemy rear, they should be able to drive the Lancastrians out of their central position in the country.

It's not to be, however! The Lancastrian main army heads north at full-speed and catches Salisbury at Lathom. Outnumbered 2:1, Salisbury is beaten in a half-fight, half-retreat in which his forces are scattered [the unequal fight was played out with the campaign resolution-rules rather than a tabletop battle, and Salisbury managed to cling on long enough to retreat.] The Earl manages to personally flee southwards after the rout and reaches York in person (plus a belatedly reformed personal retinue) but his army has been routed and destroyed (no doubt with the Queen watching in satisfaction from a nearby church steeple.)

The wheel of fortune has now taken a decidedly nasty spin for the Yorkists - now there are only Lancastrian armies in England, north and south - plus any union between them will see him crushed. Even worse, fragile Yorkist morale has taken a big blow through news of Salisbury's rout at Lathom, and everybody seems to be looking over their shoulder, coming up with excuses, etc. York runs east to Northampton in the hope of meeting up with Warwick, when the combined Yorkist force could then throw itself at one of the isolated Lancastrian armies and restore the situation. Warwick, thankfully, manages to arrive back in England and his arrival in London manages to rouse the Yorkist capital and boosts the faction's morale back to decent levels. Then the Lancastrians make a blunder...

The main Lancastrian army moves back into Coventry, aiming to take a central position from which all the outlying armies can reach him and combine, but in so doing he puts himself within striking reach of York. If York quits Northampton instead of waiting for Warwick to arrive and join him, he can catch the king's army with near equal numbers. Waiting for Warwick would almost certainly allow similar or larger numbers of reinforcements to reach the Queen. York decides that he can't take the chance of that happening, leaves only an apologetic note for Warwick in Northampton, then rushes off himself to seek the decisive battle!

I checked out Google Earth for a place near Coventry and in the direction of Northampton, and came up with 'Lawford Heath.' This took my fancy because the historical battle around this campaign was Blore Heath, so the 'Heath-yness' of the name made it for me! Below is a list of the two armies for the battle, plus the inset names are a couple of the 'minor nobles' I have drafted in to command companies for the major magnates. In fact, I only have two companies led by unnamed captains, the rest all being led in the correct style by those of noble blood. To arms!

YORKISTS

Duke of York 1860 men

Baron Wenlock

[unnamed captain]

Earl of March 1800 men

Baron Clinton

[unnamed captain]

Baron Ferrers 660 men

Baron Grey of Powys 820 men

Earl of Salisbury 360 men

Total of 5,500 men

LANCASTRIANS

Duke of Buckingham 1540 men

Baron Dudley

Earl of Shrewsbury 1140 men

Lord Grey of Rougemont

Earl of Wiltshire 420 men

Viscount Beaumont 480 men

Lord Audley 1140 men

Duke of Exeter 180 men

Total of 4,900 men

New Miniatures & Work

2010-06-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the next Wars of the Roses encounter, I have been both making and buying a few extras. First up, I decided to look into getting some banners made for the relevant nobles. The Perry Miniatures boxed sets come with free banners in the form of a randomly inserted sheet (I got four boxes - and four identical sets of banners for Bosworth, naturally!) Although they were no good for what I was searching out, I did get a size template from them. I drew it out onto a sheet of decent-quality paper and then got to drawing and painting myself! The results:

Excuse the temporary stands on some of them, but the banners here are Lancastrian (l-r) Audley, Buckingham, Beaumont, Wiltshire, Shrewsbury & Exeter.

Yorkists here, with (l-r) Ferrers, York, March, Powys & Salisbury. It turns out the details of heraldry such as lions rampant, fleur-de-lis, etc. are nightmarishly hard to draw, but nonetheless a shapeless squiggle with the right colour is indistinguishable on a tabletop (always abide by the 'two-foot rule'!) The banners were drawn twice as mirror-images, cut out, folded over along the 'staff' side, then lightly glued on. Beyond making things, I have also bought a small addition in the form of a cannon, or 'Gonne' from Perry Miniatures.

A free word of advice, Perry Miniatures! - If you send out an order for a miniature in a small package, please don't place the parts in a small jewellery-style box! Otherwise my wife collects the post before I get home, convinces herself that I've bought her a surprise piece of jewellery as a present, then I'm stuck with the task later on of explaining how 'a large Culverin on a Burgundian-style carriage with four crewmen' actually counts as a thoughtful gift ("but this is better than a necklace dear, it has a practical purpose!") Nice work guys, thanks a bunch...

Lancastrians 1455 - 1459

2010-06-12T01:42:00.000-07:00

Ever had a person you couldn't stand, but can't do without? Queen Margaret does. York is now the leading magnate in the country, with his supporters in key positions following Lutterworth. However, the situation is not so bad on examination. Most of the nobility dislike the ambitious

York as he has obtained his position through violence & he has therefore got few (if critical) supporters.

Into this fertile situation we now have Queen Margaret moving Centre stage to lead the Lancastrians. Her husband is useless, her son's succession threatened by the protector York (who is his primary rival claimant to the crown.) The Queen may have no time for all this parliamentary nonsense and ruling in any way other than by decree, but she still has many potential followers - not least from sons of the dead at Lutterworth who feel they have scores to settle.

Queen Margaret gets York stripped of the Protectorate in 1456 & begins stuffing posts with Lancastrian supporters. The Yorkists are driven out and his main allies, the Neville family, find their rivals the Percies are getting more favour. Margaret leaves the unsafe London to set up a new court at Kennilworth in her Midlands power-base, buys cannon & gets the Royal armouries stock up. Clearly, a reckoning with the upstart York is on the way.

She would finish him off once and for all but York & Warwick are both needed for the moment because of French raids on the South coast mean the French-born Margaret is unpopular and - even worse - Warwick is required to sort it out as the Captain of Calais. Everybody in the capital and the southeast seems to like these Yorkist types a bit too much!

So, how do you get rid of the popular but disliked Warwick? You starve him of funds for one, but then he just resorts to piracy to pay the bills. You call him back to face charges and get him locked up, but his supporters fight with yours and he refuses to come, claiming you're trying to murder him. As if.

Everybody relocates to their centres of support. The Queen is at the Midlands; York is in the Welsh Marches; Warwick is in Calais. Most popular support in the country goes to the Lancastrians, and at long last the fight must inevitably be resumed - drive out the presumptuous Yorkist Traitors!

Early Days in the Wars 1455-1459

2010-06-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, the battle of Lutterworth is over, and with it - the campaign. The Yorkists rout the Lancastrian army of Somerset and capture the rather confused king Henry, complete with his unfortunate arrow-wound in the neck, and York explains to the king just why he was compelled to take up arms to drive away his evil councillors, thus saving the realm - or at least, that's the official version. The battle of Lutterworth scales out as having about 1900 casualties, but as this is the first resort to arms it's likely the battle's death-toll would have been lower as many troops fled rather than fight to the death. (The historical equivalent of 1st St Albans, for example, had only around 50 to 300 dead and was more of a massive gang-rumble in the town's streets than a battle, which generally only revolved around the deaths of targeted Lancastrian commanders.)

None of the Yorkist commanders died, which is at least historical. Of the Lancastrians however we have the lords Devon, Northumberland & Egremont killed in the fighting. This is okay in game-terms by and large, as Egremont would be historically killed at Northampton in 1460 and merely exits a campaign or two earlier. Northumberland died historically, and while Devon survived the historic campaign he would die naturally in 1458 before the next outbreak of fighting. Clifford is captured by the Yorkists, but (since he was one of the very few targetted die-hards that were specifically killed at St Albans) he is executed as a traitor by York.

Somerset was historically (and famously) killed at St Albans, but here he routed from Lutterworth and successfully evaded capture. He has to flee the country to escape belated capture and execution – as the battle of Lutterworth is further north than the historic St Albans, he has time enough to flee to London and take a fast ship to exile, most probably in the Lancastrian bolt-hole of Scotland. His survival means the scenario was only an intermediate Yorkist victory. How Richard of York must have regretted his hated rival giving him the slip!

The Earl of Wiltshire and the Duke of Buckingham are both linked by marriage to Somerset, but were historically pardoned by York and so the same happens here. Buckingham especially was a conciliatory figure and so he is able to remain in London to see the city entered by the Yorkist army & King Henry VI. Wiltshire was York's one-time rival for the lieutenancy of Ireland, so he presumably keeps a far lower profile for safety.

A July parliament pardons all the Yorkists for Lutterworth, blames the absent Somerset for it and in November King Henry falls ill once again. York is proclaimed Protector and Buckingham works to help run the country, hopefully overcoming the one-off day of violence. Warwick gets rewarded with the plum post of the Calais captaincy. It's all great news for the Yorkists - what could possibly go wrong?

The Battle of Lutterworth, 1455

2010-05-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

The initial deployment

Battle Plans

The Lancastrian centre is supported by hedgerows, plus Buckingham, as an old soldier, has a Feint planned to draw on the impetuous York. The rest of the army is to sit tight and fire arrows on the enemy.

York's plan is to advance and pin with his centre and left, then outflank on the right with Warwick and roll up the line. All morning the two armies remain drawn up for action, with heralds passing back and forward between York and the king, with the former demanding that Somerset be handed over and the latter refusing. Eventually despairing of any kind of peaceful settlement, York orders the attack.

Hosts arrayed - Yorkists on left, with Warwick's outflanking ward closest

Warwick himself, with his boys!

Buckingham in the Lancastrian Centre, behind their hedge-line

Turn 1

Yorkist advance begins. Somerset (in the Lancastrian vaward) shakes off his Lethargy, which is pretty handy!

Turn 2

Flights of arrows begin descending on the Yorkists as they advance. No losses, but some courage loss in one of York’s Captains. (Good job all the troops are reliable retainers, with no arrayed locals getting involved.)

Turn 3

Yorkist Rearward (Salisbury) halts and fires back. Salisbury loses a bit of courage through happenstance (a 'Gloomy Captain' in the ranks!) but his return fire is much heavier, Galling Somerset’s troops with heavy casualties.

Turn 4

Salisbury uses his ‘Energetic’ quality to recommence his ward's advance after firing. Northumberland fires on March’s troops, as the Yorkist centre overlaps onto the Lancastrian Rearward. Warwick out on the flank stops and fires flights of arrows himself, which hit Pembroke hard on the Lancastrian flank with Galling fire. Northumberland uses his ‘Inspiring’ style to hold up their morale, hoping to keep the flank in play long enough for the centre to repel York.

Turn 5

Buckingham pulls back the Lancastrian centre in a feint to draw on York, but as he does so the Lancastrian army runs low on arrows. Unable to fire back or sit tight to be battered by the Yorkist return-fire, the whole ruse of Buckingham's is rather undermined as while the centre pretends to retreat, both flanking wards rush forward. This seems to be the reason anyway for failure, as York manages to hold off the impulse to advance pell-mell and keeps an ordered advance. Damn! Warwick fires more flights of arrows and Pembroke, badly outnumbered and taking losses, routs off the field. Retainers of York's son Edward (including the 13-year old presumably safely to the rear ranks) charge into Northumberland's troops and press them, but the Percy retainers gather round their standards hoping to buy time for the centre.

The Lancastrian Feint in the centre, as the hedge-row is 'abandoned'

Turn 6

Salisbury stops at short range and fires a 'sharp archery' sheaf into the faces of the enemy ward – his old soldiering experience comes in handy! Somerset's company routs from the losses and the uncommitted Devon takes over the Lancastrian vaward, which falters under the incoming fire and comes to a halt in its advance. March repulses Northumberland on the other side of the line. The Yorkist centre collides with the enemy Main at the hedge-line as the Lancastrians advance back from their feint to catch the Yorkists mid-crossing. While battling over and through this obstacle, Lord Clifford bests a Yorkist company. Similarly successful, Buckingham manages to repulse York and his troops press on against them, crossing the hedge as they advance but losing the advantage of the terrain.

Both sides locked, York on the left and Buckingham/Clifford on the right

Turn 7

Is Buckingham wise to emerge from behind cover? Divine approval quickly arrives (as 'A Celestial Omen' happenstance appears) and the sun parts the clouds dramatically just as they advance. This encourages the Lancastrian centre as they press on, although there's fighting all along the line now. All battles through the Yorkist right and centre continue, plus the new one to the left as Salisbury charges home against Devon (narrowly winning the fight at first, thanks to an unseen ditch thwarting his advance. Damn this farming countryside!) All fights result in protracted battles. In the Lancastrian Vaward Lord Egremont is wounded in the fray (which is the worst place to be wounded!)

The battle in full-swing.

Turn 8

Warwick's rapid flanking move peters out, but he uses his 'energetic' style to encourage a regular advance. He strikes Northumberland's flank but the Yorkists are thwarted as he plays 'Stand off, Apace' and the attackers can't break through. Clifford's fine defence in the centre is belaboured and he routs when March's reserve company finally manages to rush up and join the Yorkist troops already engaged with him, when simple numbers rout the Lancastrians. Lord Clifford himself is swept up and taken prisoner in the retreat. Buckingham had been pushing York back but is now becoming dangerously isolated. Salisbury's battle proved a protracted and bloody one, with Devon being wounded and the injured Lord Egremont being killed.

Warwick's crushing flanking move goes in - "Percy, I'm coming for you!"

Turn 9

The Lancastrians are breaking up but still have each ward in existence, and they issue withdraw orders to each. However Northumberland's surrounded and outnumbered ward is unable to get cleanly away from the enemy flankers on each side, and flies apart under the strain. Warwick gets wounded lightly in the struggle with his hated enemy, but the Yorkist captain assigned to watch over the youthful March is killed – as is Northumberland. Looks like the score is settled! York disengages with the still-numerous enemy centre, and Salisbury has one last fight with Devon's men who get away intact, but with Devon killed in the closing battles.

The end result: A Yorkist victory!

The field, with the Lancastrians broken up into isolated pockets of fast-withdrawing survivors.

1455 - The Castle Inn

2010-05-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

The first Scenario in 'A Crown of Paper' (ACOP) is the 1455 scenario of 'The Castle Inn' which features York up in Yorkshire (naturally) while Henry VI plus his councillors (including Somerset) are in London, preparing to march in a royal procession to Leicester in the East Midlands. The scenario is unchanged from the historical one as nothing has happened yet in my re-fight. York and his supporters have gathered, and must block the royal progress before it reaches it’s destination!

It all progresses fairly swiftly as York heads south on a directly blocking path, rather than dally around with gathering reinforcements. He reaches Leicester himself within a few days, precluding any hope that the king will get there before he can intercept. The slow-paced march by the Council & retainers reaches Northampton on the northwards march, until the heralds bring in news - York is in the vicinity with an army of retainers and supporters! Before they have a chance to gather their own support across the Midlands however, York moves first.

York makes a slight sideways detour westwards to Coventry, allowing the Earl of Warwick to gather some supporters there - sadly not as many as he hoped, with some even having the temerity to send nothing but excuses! (Does nobody have the nerve to attack the god-ordained king?) Still, when York’s army turned east and intercepted the Royal force on the road to Leicester, he had a comfortable numerical edge.

A quick scan of Google Maps and Wikipedia led me to pick Lutterworth as a decent-sounding town between Northampton and Leicester, which would have been as likely as anywhere for the confrontation. The forces present for the first tip over the abyss into armed rebellion are:

YORKISTS

Duke of York 960 Retinue & Well-wishers

Earl of March 780 Retinue & Well-wishers

(Note - York’s son Edward, the Earl of March is 13 years old at present, and his retinue will be led by a suitable captain of his father.)

Earl of Warwick 1320 Retinue & Well-wishers

Baron Clinton 240 Retinue

Earl of Salisbury 900 Retinue & Well-wishers

Total of 4200 men

LANCASTRIANS

(King Henry VI Present)

Duke of Somerset 420 Retinue

Duke of Buckingham 360 Retinue

Earl of Northumberland 480 Retinue

Earl of Pembroke 360 Retinue

Earl of Wiltshire 360 Retinue

Earl of Devon 360 Retinue

Lord Clifford 420 Retinue

Baron Egremont 180 Retinue

Total of 2940 men

Wars of the Roses Campaign Begins

2010-05-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

After a fair bit of tinkering, playing, researching and counter-shuffling, I am finally prepared to start my ‘Wars of the Roses’ refight! By way of introduction, I’ll begin with a brief bit of scene-setting for the benefit of newcomers to the period (perhaps unnecessary, but indulge me for now and accept apologies in advance for any historical blunders - I'm reasonably new myself!)

The start of the wars has something of an advantage in that it has only two major figures centre-stage. There’s Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York; and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.

York is capable, rich, and an heir to the throne after the childless Henry VI, but it’s all rather spoiled by two things: first is that York himself is highly ambitious and sees his claim less as an “I should be king after you” matter and more of an “I should be king instead of you” business. The second thing is that his whole family is viewed with suspicion. His dad was executed for treason against Henry V (right before the Agincourt campaign, no less!) and 4-year old Richard was only saved from being disinherited by his uncle, who died at Agincourt and left him the Dukedom of York. After this, Richard grew up to become one of the richest and most powerful nobles in England, but his rival claim to the king’s throne meant he was under a cloud the whole time.

Enter the Duke of Somerset, who is a relatively poor noble but a favourite of the king. Henry VI tries to make up for this by showering him with prestigious and well-paid honours, much to the annoyance of others such as York, who winds up paying for a lot of this through the crown. York also gets saddled with hard fighting in France for the first half of the 1440s without much backing from the king, and when he’s sent away for the second half of the decade and Somerset takes over, disaster follows as the English lose much of France. Although the king keeps his favourite despite these disasters, most English people begin to hate the incompetent Lancastrian regime and York (packed off to Ireland) escapes much of the blame for misrule.

Things are all set to go spectacularly wrong, and they do - when York returns from Ireland in 1452 and demands that Somerset be arrested and he get a place on the King’s Council. It all fell apart as people were reluctant to support York and he was forced to back down, swearing never to raise a sword against the king again (that clearly doesn’t work out!) It looked like York had fluffed his big chance and was finished, except for two big catastrophes that followed.

First, the English lost the Hundred Years’ War and all holdings on the continent outside of Calais, which sent the fragile Henry VI into a full-blown nervous breakdown. With nobody at the discredited court able to rule the angry and rebellious nation, York had to be made Protector. He promptly imprisoned Somerset, froze out the queen, and began promoting all his favourites to positions of influence, building up a small but powerful following. It was all fine, until the second catastrophe struck - Henry VI recovered.

Now there were two rival factions with a lot at stake in either York or Somerset controlling the pliant king. Things looked bad for York as not only did Somerset promptly get released and restored to favour, but the king now had a male heir of his own, putting the inheritance of the crown even further from York. (Apparently conceived pre-breakdown, but York’s supporters naturally spread the rumour he’s the illegitimate offspring of Somerset!)

In 1455 York and his supporters (such as the powerful Neville family) left London without taking leave of the king and headed north to their estates and began raising troops - for their own protection, naturally. Then summons arrived from the court, calling on them to attend a Great Council at Leicester “to provide for the king’s safety.” There was no indication what was going to be discussed, but with Somerset controlling the king it seemed pretty certain that “all Yorkists being dead or in prison” was on the agenda! What do you do when you’re backed into a corner, alone, vulnerable, and with only a few thousand highly-armed killers at your disposal? York knows the answer…

More Northampton fights & Rules

2010-05-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

After my test-run of the rule-set 'A Coat of Steel' (ACOS) I was quite happy, and made some extra discoveries as I read more of it and grew more familiar. First up was the fact it'd sometimes be better to split up wards into several smaller companies, under various commanders, than have single massive and flankable companies - or so I thought. I had a 're-fight' of the same armies that I had just used, breaking them up from 3 companies a side to about 4 or 5 each. Here's a few snaps to give a feel for things:

Still a decent show on the tabletop, even if half are still only base-coated.

Exchanges of arrows, and Lord Grey becomes shaken pretty fast and hangs back - false friends!

The 'lets all just collide head-to-head' phase. (Tactically rubbish, but it looks good!)

Yorkists triumph on the left, as Bourchier batters back Clifford's men. Meanwhile Warwick in the centre has already put Lord Grey off by his fire, and promptly flattens Shrewsbury's company. One whole half of the Lancastrian army routs, while the remainder is stalled by Warwick's captains and Lord Fauconberg. Time for the Lancastrians to perform a "strategic retrenchment" - also known to some amateurs as running away!

There was more 'movement' in the battle, but some more features of the rules became clear. The characteristics of the leaders used by ACOS are all very good, but there were so many companies on the go it was impossible to keep track of them all - then I realised that only Ward commanders (ie, the blokes in charge of the left, centre and right 'battles' of the army) have effects that count - I was doing it for each company on the go, which is a definite error.

I think I was also a bit too eager to roll for commander casualties, with the result that in some combats practically every noble was killed or wounded. I think rolling for leader casualties should actually occur if a unit loses a base of figures, not just if it is in combat - this should improve the mortality of commanders to a decent degree, and fit in more with the rules' intention.

Problems are also becoming clear. The orders system is a bit convoluted, requiring a blizzard of counters to track what each ward is doing, and can do. I think I'll be abandoning that for a simpler system, perhaps with a small card for each ward that I can just tick off with a pencil - far neater and requires far less time to set up (I spent about as much time sorting out the stack of counters as I did playing the battle!) Also, the army morale track seems a bit redundant. An army needs to take 3 major 'disasters' to become unsteady, and a total of 5 to collapse. However by the time an army has taken 3 disasters on the tabletop it's virtually disintegrated anyway, meaning you'll probably wrap up the battle yourself before the game "makes" you do it.

I had a little experimental tinker with big-battle DBA out of curiosity, and was rapidly reminded of why I think it's good for Ancient warfare where you have lots of troop variety, but is awful for late-medieval battles. The whole game was just ineffective archery fire on near-indestructible Superior Blades, who carved a bloody path through the majority of each army. Hardly enjoyable, or particularly realistic! Anyway, the monotony of dice rolls with +2 or +5 on each and every dice quickly told on me, and I fled the DBA scene for Wars of the Roses. The only other thing I would consider is Warmaster, but I'm not even sure that'll have the character-filled flavour I like in ACOS. I need to iron out some of my own problems with the orders system to speed it up and make it more user-friendly, but the Beta version has just been made available for free download, and I may start my 'campaign' idea - playing through the scenarios as a 'linked-scenario campaign' of the Yorkist rise to power (or fall to ruin, depending on the results on the field.)

Oh, and don't worry - painting continues in the background! More posts will follow on the progress towards the first campaign scrap.

Cheers,

Craig

The Battle of Northampton 1460

2010-04-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling recently to get on with my Wars of the Roses painting, mainly down to the struggle to get enough 1p coins to base the remaining half and then start painting them. However, one army is done, I've a set of rules to try out, and I've at least assembled the unpainted army. To the tabletop!

The situation is 1460, where the Yorkist faction led by the Earl of Warwick has landed in Kent and taken London, before marching up to Northampton where the royal Lancastrian army is assembling. Warwick is aiming to see King Henry VI and explain that he's raised an army in rebellion just so he can speak with the king and reassure him he won't raise an army in rebellion, erm, and that's sort of it. I know it's crazy-sounding, but as Henry VI was only tenuously holding on to sanity this is actually how it all went at first! If Warwick wins the day, he can basically take possession of Henry and get him to agree to anything he wants.

I got this situation by playing the campaign game out, which then gave me a vaguely historical situation for the first battle. Since this was my first try of the rules I did without any fortified camp or historically accurate map, just making one up as I went. The campaign game did give me rules on assembling forces though, so here is the army each side brought to the bash:

Yorkist host (7800 men in total)

Vaward (Right Wing) under viscount Bourchier

Main (Centre) under the earl of Warwick

Rearward (Left Wing) under Abergavenny and Fauconberg.

Lancastrian Host (7420 men - pretty much equal strength!)

Vaward under the duke of Exeter (and bloody Clifford)

Main under the duke of Buckingham

Rearward under the earl of Shrewsbury

The battlefield at the start, with the Yorkists as the painted, nearest-the-camera army. Thanks to a small stream the armies were forced to offset slightly, but Warwick planned to hold back with his left while his centre and right attacked and crushed the enemy line. The Lancastrians prepared orders to sit tight and fire arrows for a bit, before advancing out to fight.

"I will speak with the king or I will die!"

The battle started off with the Yorkist advance forward, as Abergavenny refused the left as per the plan. Sadly the enemy battle under Exeter and Clifford began turning in to face them. Also, as the offset in the armies became apparent it meant that the luckless Yorkist left took most of the incoming archery fire. Luckily they remained steady!

The advance in progress (the game is card-driven, hence all the bits scattered around!)

As the above pic shows, I'm pretty pleased with the painting effort! I think I cared too much about the livery colours however, as they quickly get lost in the chaotic jumble! Beyond an appropriate standard, I doubt you'd care! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the start of Warwick's plans going wrong! The pic above shows the Yorkist right hitting a small patch of woodland, which threw their advance off. The fleet-footed mobility to avoid it seems to be beyond our two howling mobs! Rather than flanking the enemy, Warwick's line is being compacted into the centre.

Contact! The Lancastrian host matches the advance and the two sides collide in a monster-sized scrum. Looks like it's going to be settled point-blank, by the two lines going head-to-head!

On the Lancastrian left, one of the minor magnates present gets personal! Yes, the Percy-Neville feud gets an airing as the sworn foes Thomas Percy, Baron Egremont and Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury make it a grudge-match. Percy cries "I have singled thee alone!" and wounds Salisbury, as well as getting pronged himself. The magnates are dropping like flies in the fight here - viscount Bourchier is killed, handing command to Salisbury just as he gets wounded; and on the Lancastrian side Shrewsbury dies too - the Yorkist right and Lancastrian left both lose their leaders, with other nobles taking over the job. Frankly, next to 'the bloody wood' on this part of the field, anybody that doesn't get stabbed in the face just isn't pulling their weight.

"I guess I don't speak with the king, then!"

Then, catastrophe in the centre! Warwick is cut down in the thick of it, trying to lead his men on one last desperate heave to break through the enemy horde. Now that he's down, the Yorkist morale begins to sink like a stone.

Good grief - what a tangle! There's cards everywhere as the monster headbutting match continues. It begins to dawn on me that possibly this first 'try-out' session of the rules was a good idea, just to size things up. I formed my wards into single massive formations, with all the nuance and subtlety of a breeze-block through your window. If I'd had several smaller companies I could have broken some by now, and turned flanks for maximum execution. Oh well, that's for next time. For now though, the massive grinding-match nears it's end!

"They flee!" the Yorkists decide suddenly they've something better to do today. After losing bases for a while they suddenly crack and are slaughtered wholesale in the rout. On the flanks things quickly degenerate too, and the remainder flee!

Most terrible slaughter!

We are abandoned!

The bloody day comes to an end - almost. Buckingham is killed at the very moment of his victory, and the remaining Yorkist magnates are swept up in the retreat. Sadly, while the likes of Salisbury go straight into imprisonment for defying the king, the barons Abergavenny and Fauconberg (who held off Exeter for so long) learn that crossing Henry Holland, duke of Exeter is not lightly done. The man whose violent tastes when Constable of the tower of London saw the rack dubbed "The duke of Exeter's daughter" is clearly not in the mood for make-up hugs! The pair of them go to the executioner's block. With the Yorkist cause now thrown down, it looks like Lancaster is victorious! Hurrah for king Hal!

Two entire armies - done!

2010-03-30T23:00:00.001-07:00

Hello all - more 2mm ACW stuff which I've knocked into order. The rebel army has been rebased, and now stands at a pretty respectable level. I'm thinking of going for a corps as represented by between three to five 'units' in Black Powder, which means each individual 'unit' represents about two or three brigades. Incidentally this means each of the 20mm by 10mm bases used to make up a unit equates to one brigade. I've done the Rebels in three corps of infantry, plus one of cavalry, to represent Lee's army in the Wilderness, right at the start of the huge Overland Campaign of 1864. In total, thirty-four infantry brigades, seven cavalry brigades and nine artillery 'battalions' of corps-level guns. Below is a view of some of the troops, plus some terrain I've found - some stretches of trenchworks and a pair of large redoubts - pretty much essential for refighting the Overland campaign. Although these were bought from Irregular Miniatures some years ago, making your own should be intensely easy.

Here is the Union, which I have also managed to represent in it's entirety. Four infantry corps, plus one cavalry. 41 Brigades of infantry, seven cavalry, plus about ten artillery 'batteries' of corps-artillery. And wagon-trains, camps, and supply dumps, naturally.

I also had a go at adding a bit of 'detail' to the infantry, and had to give up almost straight away. If you're trying to vary the grey ranks with browns of various shades, your efforts become completely invisible even at a few inches' distance. Only bold colours have a chance, such as in the photo below. On a whim, I coloured one Confederate corps commander in red, to represent A.P. Hill's notorious habit of wearing a red 'battle-shirt' when he led his men into a fight. At least 'Lil' Powell' will stand out!

Here's a few of those Union 'tail' formations behind the fighting troops. I tend to plough mounds of spare units, wagons, riders, cavalry troops, and tents onto all army HQ bases, to represent the chaos at a large staff-base. The Union tends to have more tents, just as a gesture towards their larger numbers and better supplies. In the background to this photo, you can also see Sheridan's troopers in the US Cavalry corps, ready to tear up some railway tracks.

2mm Extravaganza!

2010-03-26T10:41:00.001-07:00

If you've not read it, I'd advise reading the blog 'Steel on Sand' for a good resource-pile relating to 2mm - for my money, one of the most routinely under-rated scales in wargaming. While my Wars of the Roses painting rumbles on, and my ACW campaign is on hold while I write up my campaign history (book-keeping - in real life, and in the hobby, it gets everywhere!) so I've taken my inspiration from it and dug out some old 2mm figures to see what I have. Turns out: far more than I realised! I have several armies of Horse & Musket kicking around in various states, so I thought I'd pick one to illustrate:

Take the above, for example - a full Confederate army in 2mm. I'd based it for DBA or something similar, but now with the excellent Black Powder rules in my hands, I'm thinking of converting it over to bases half this size.

Above are some Rebel infantry, which show the uneven and half-completed paint job I got through. Some units have little face-dots and stars-and-bars flags, while others are grey basecoats and no more. The above even has some rear-line regiments fashioned experimentally out of matchsticks. This may sound mad, but once painted and viewed from over the 'two-foot rule' distance, they are virtually indistinguishable from the moulded lead ones! To the front, a Corps commander plus his staff have a base of their own.

Here is a close-up on the cavalry, which includes Jeb Stuart and some light horse-artillery. The troopers themselves are modelled as a dismounted scrum of skirmishers (the collective noun?) to the fore, and a clutch of tethered horses to the rear. Looking at the photo, I've walked round the table and photographed them from behind - D'oh!

Now up to more refined levels - Army headquarters! the right shows the reserve artillery park of batteries, most of which are to be attached to the infantry corps. On the left is the HQ camp of R. E. Lee, with staffers, tents, hangers-on and even a little wagon. Behind it is the army supply base of yet more tents and such. One of the best things about 2mm is that you can model not just the fighting edge of an army, but the 'tail' as well, which can add a real extra dimension to large-level campaign games. (Plus, having it pillaged by enemy cavalry is a pain in the backside!)

Some close-up views of Johnny Reb. I feel like adding some variety to the uniforms, by putting in some splashes of browns and such - they're too neat and uniform! Each little 'unit' is a strip of a formed body of troops, forwarded by a skirmish line. I originally based them as 20mm by 10mm units, but then glued them together for DBA into 40mm by 20mm (as shown here.) For Black Powder I'll probably revert back, and a BP unit (probably around a brigade-sized outfit, at this scale) will consist of two 20mm x 10mm bases. This way they can go side-by-side for line formation, or back-to-back for a column. By converting scales I reckon they will move at about 2" a 'move' order and have a range of 4" for rifled muskets. At that scale, I can probably fight a battle on a small table or use a large one for effectively doing a series of battles - the entire Seven Days' battles on your dinner table?

First WotR Army painted

2010-03-18T00:06:00.000-07:00

Hi - just a quick update plus some photos. I have almost completed painting 80 figures, or one of my Wars of the Roses armies - half the total I got delivered recently. The base-coats are on, and following a few little additions like livery badges etc. I'll be ready to 'dip' the whole lot in a stained varnish to add detail to the figures. Rounded off with an aerosol spray to kill off any glossy finish, then some flocking the base with grass, and they'll be done! Below you can see a ward of two companies, one under the Kingmaker Warwick, plus another minor noble with blue & yellow livery colours (doubtless some minor noble too humble to trouble a chronicler!)

My 'Main' Battle with the retainers of Henry VI or the Duke of Somerset (both blue & white - I've discovered many livery colours can apply to several people, reassuringly!) With him are further troops in Percy-ish colours, plus assorted minors, and even the five unpainted figures I've just to finish up (no doubt the unhinged Henry VI's personal escort, who'll be several miles off the field when the battle comes.)

Another small company of troops - Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter - in red and white.

The whole host, ready to battle!

My wargames weekend

2010-02-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

My weekend has actually passed with a rarity for me, when a friend of mine bought a copy of Memoir '44 and (despairing of his girlfriend) asked me to join him for a few games. I went round for a "boys' night in" featuring pizza, beer plus about 7 or 8 games of Memoir '44. Excellent fun, and so much so that we have agreed to do it again! I had not played Memoir '44 before, and had low expectations of what it would be like. Certainly t was not what you would call 'historically realistic' in the detailed sense, but the game was a great deal of fun and gave a great flavour of things - I finally 'got' the game, after a year or two of thinking it sounded bad. What a turnaround! I may even be tempted to try it myself for different periods, so I shall be following the blog 'A Wargaming Odyssey' closely, as he has recently decided to try a Vietnam version of it (sadly I must wait as it's only one project among his many, just like any self-respecting wargamer!)

Back home in my own GHQ bunker, I've been doing a great deal of the 'donkey work' for my WOTR armies. I have worked my way through half of the boxes, clipping, glueing, and assembling eighty figures. I then glues eighty 1p coins to their bases, sat them all in a cardboard box in the loft (no small achievement in the freezing snow-bound cold) and spray-painted them a base-coat of black. I even took advantage of a trip to Ikea to get some storage boxes on the cheap.

I have now only just started out on the tricksy task of painting retinue colours on them, and my research largely consists of looking up other peoples' models on the internet plus a bit of Wikipedia. Here are my first set of liveried Retinue men, in a fetching blue and white. This should apparently make them lancastrians as these were (again apparently) the colours for Henry VI and/or the Duke of Somerset.

It's base-coat only, and I intend to dip them to get the finished result much improved. I'll paint up a lot more before I do that, however. For now though it's 12 down, 148 to go!

Wars of the Roses in 28mm

2010-02-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

It's a red-letter day! A brand-new project has been started, and I thought I should blog it from the very earliest stages. First came the growing Medieval interest, with my 6mm armies, which was meant to be all about the Hundred Years' War. Then, I noticed my attention was slanting towards the end of the period, and the Wars of the Roses (WotR.) Next, came the Perry Miniatures' box of plastic 28mm figures, which looked marvellous - but I stayed strong, and held off(or went into denial, depending on your take.)

Next, there was The Perfect Captain, who brought out a Campaign game calles 'A Crown of Paper' and then followed it up with a tabletop battle set of rules called 'A Coat of Steel.' This set actually looked increasingly interesting as I read through it, and seemed much more suitable to do in 28mm.

Final straw - Warlord Games did a special offer for a 'Retinue Set' of four Perry Miniatures boxes bundled together, plus free P&P. So, I caved in at long last. They arrived last night, and here's a few snapshots to commemorate the starting project 'acorn' I hope will grow up nice and large - mind you, with 160 figures to keep me busy, I think I can relax on that score!

This fellow shows my planned basing system - figures individually glued to a penny! They are nearly/exactly 20mm in diameter, add a pleasing weight to stabilise the base, plus I can combine them as I wish on a movement tray 'base' of 40mm by 40mm.

A lord with his mini-retinue! By the scaling system of ACOS, this is a relatively minor noble with a group of 240 retainers (or potentially figures enough for 600 levies from Commissions of Array - scales and figures per base vary according to type.)

The working tabletop - assembling takes longer than I expected, but is actually also more enjoyable than I expected too!

The Retinue boxed set from Warlord Games - works out in total to about 34p a figure! Now there's just the minor matter of painting them...

A Coat of Steel

2010-02-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Not really a full post here, but a public service-style notice to any people with an interest in the Wars of the Roses. The Free resource site 'The Perfect Captain' has released a free set of battle rules for Wars of the Roses combats, as part of it's WOTR Campaign game. I'm currently having a look at them, and they seem very interesting - full of period-detail and colour. They're certainly a bit different from the normal run of things, but they've got my interest and I thought I should direct others to them. After all - when they're free, how wrong can you go?

Civil War Battles

2010-01-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

Just to keep you updated, there have been some developments over the xmas/new year/january period in my Scotland-set ACW Campaign, and I thought I'd post an update. Under McClellan, the main Union army has finally made it's great advance, seeking to destroy it's Rebel counterpart. The scene for this fighting was Stirling and it's environs which - if the Union captured it - would lead to the Rebel heartlands of the Fife peninsula and the highlands being exposed!

Launching this attack were two 'Regular' corps (under Porter and Sedgwick) and a more inexperienced corps (Pope.) Also nearby, there was potential reinforcement from another untried corps (under BUrnside) down the Kilsyth road. Facing them were the rebel veterans under Beauregard now in the entrenchments around Stirling, plus an untried corps under Johnstone. A third, well-drilled corps under the eccentric Jackson was to the west, and would no doubt be recalled at speed once the attack began.

McClellan stayed true to historical type, advancing slowly up to the rebel defences and digging in himself. The Union couldn't turn the eastern end of the lines where they were anchored on the River Forth, and the western end had been secured with a small redoubt called Fort Burke. The rebels under Johnstone were concealed in the woods and hills to the west, to fall on the Union flank as they tried to encircle and destroy Fort Burke.

The attack was duly launched, and Porter's Union corps found itself being struck by the eager if inexperienced graybacks under Johnstone. The scattered woodland around Bear Mill became a battleground as the Union rapidly formed a line to repel the onrushing horde.

The attacks by Johnstone proved inadequate however, and the steadier Federals ultimately repelled the onslaught with heavy losses (I diced for destroyed units being recovered, and through bad/lucky rolls the Union units were able to largely reform while the Rebels seemed permanently lost!) However, although tactical disaster the battle did leave Porter facing west and turned the Union line into a salient, so strategically it had good results!

Next came the battle at Fort Burke itself, where Sedgwick's men had a crack at it.

No doubt the Rebs were shaken by the defeat nearby, because with a great display of enthusiasm, the Federals managed to storm the fort. The Rebel position was turned, and their centre threatened with collapse as their two wings were driven apart! To make matters worse, even the eastern flank began to look tricky as Pope's corps managed to ford a division over the river and threaten to take the overlooking high ground. Only Jackson's instant deployment could save the day!

Thankfully he made it in the nick of time, marching down the Stirling Road and hurling his compact little corps into the tip of the Federal breakthrough. Thanks to his sweeping advance and the Rebel cavalry raiding into the rear, the fleeing Federals were quickly routed and fled the field, abandoning Fort Burke and losing the battle of Kerse Farm!

Both sides paused to regroup, and the arrival (or non-arrival) of Burnside's fourth Federal Corps became crucial. The incompetent general seemed incapable of getting himself on the field however, while the Federals waited and the Rebels swapped Johnstone's battered corps with Beauregard's, giving the tired militia the benefit of fortifications while the two good rebel corps were freed up to become mobile.

They duly did so, racing south to cut the road link between Burnside's arrival point and the Union corps already present. With them in the way, Burnside could be crushed 2:1 when he arrived, so the two good Union corps moved southwest to keep the route open. The result was yet another battle at Cross Lines, where the Union and Rebel corps hit each other on the move, each flanking the other. However, while the Rebels couldn't rout the union they ended up in posession of a wood on the north of the battlefield, which blocked the Union army's return back to it's lines. Forced to withdraw east and back over the Bannockburn stream, the Union had lost it's chance of getting Burnside onto the field for a joint effort. McClellan withdrew, leaving the Rebels still in control of the Stirling area and victorious.

Overall, this was an enjoyable little mini-campaign, with lots of map maneuvering plus a good couple of colourful battles. Looks like the onset of the 1861 winter means both the Federals and Secessionists will need to start planning on an 1862 campaign!

Medieval Army in 6mm

2010-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

After a prolonged silence and related xmas/new-year shenanigans, I have been busy working away in my spare hours to paint and plan. I have been painting quite a volume of 15mm SYW figures over the last few months, so now I have been indulging in some various periods, what with a change being as good as a rest, and all that! So, here are the results of my labours: primarily, my Baccus 6mm Wars of the Roses armies are done up, providing me with DBA/Impetus forces for many late-medieval battles of a historical and fictional nature!

The full host: 27 bases all told!

Mounted knights - the flower of chivalry, plus some ludicrously over-bannered generals!

The mass of the footsloggers - Longbowmen, all in retainer livery (fictional, but as records are so vague, who cares?)

A little close-up of some of them (a black undercoat hides a multitude of sins!)

Billmen to back up the Longbowmen, who outnumber them about 2:1. A little forest of bills, halberds, poleaxes and all manner of terrifyingly pointy bits of metal!

A further close-up. As a lot of other people on the web seem to have done, I have clipped the six 4-long strips of troops into eight 3-long, to fit the 60mm x 30mm base.

The nobility on foot - a mass of men at arms in 'white' armour. Far too many for WotR forces, but they'll be handy for dismounted knights in the HYW French army.

Disgraceful common villeins! City militia in Spear-wielding masses, plus some contemptible mercenary crossbowmen.

The Full Crowd - A fine spectcle en masse, although this lot will spend more time fighting each other. I have no decent campaign rules at hand, plus I have only just had my first experimental try-out games with Basic Impetus, to get a feel for it. Marvellous!

(Oh, and stand by for my attempts to sell various old miniatures in the new year, as part of a big cleanup! I will post links and details, if anybody feels like picking up a clutch of troops to strengthen their own forces!)

New Arrivals

2009-12-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

Ah, the arrival of much-anticipated figures! I won't post pics of the new lead mountail I have waiting for me, but I have pressed on and painted a few bases of 6mm Wars of the Roses figures. So, here's a little eye-candy for you!

Here's the full crowd so far of ten bases plus a commander. (There's no overall scheme, I'm just painting them as the mood comes to me!)

The rank-and-file, Retainer Longbowmen. I've painted one set plain red, and another blue-and-white. I'm not basing it strictly historically, just on what looks decent and plausible!

The General, plus bodyguard and herald, mounted on a 2p coin. Retinue Billmen in the background.

Men At Arms - possibly the fastest to paint, thanks to the 'white' armour with no heraldic colours on them! Makes them look far more scarily business-like, I think. No banners are made yet, but that's my next task.

Mounted knights. I bought these mainly to give me the option of later-HYW battles, plus in my fictional Lavancia campaign things will have a HYW-WOTR flavour, and there's always space for some hard-charging cavalry in any army of mine!

Finally, a close-up of the billmen. Second-most numerous troops on the field, being outnumbered by Longbowmen roughly 2:1.

Painting continues, so updates - and ultimately a battle will follow, as soon as I have the time!

Waiting and Waiting...

2009-11-22T00:50:00.000-08:00

AAAaaaarrrgghh! Is there any annoyance in a wargamer's life to compare with a much-anticipated delivery not arriving? (Probably not, beyond the time when I accidentally misjudged picking up some marching Musket-troops and got a line of bayonet-wounds in my hand.) As of the time of writing, no sign of the delivery of the Wars of the Roses Army.

I sent the order on tuesday, thinking 'wednesday if I'm lucky, but count on thursday.' Nothing on Wednesday, so fair enough. Thursday - nothing. Hm. Still, no cause for alarm. There's still friday, and then even if that fails there's saturday morning, so I'll still be able to do something over the weekend. Friday - nothing. Then, damningly, Saturday - nothing! Can Royal Mail really be playing mind-games with me? Does the postman secretly hate me? Is there somebody down at the sorting office with a hankering for late-medieval 6mm figures?

So, the weekend has been spent in something of a wasted-time zone, with me reading up about livery colours and banners to fill the gap. Come on Monday - all my hopes lie with you!