WWII Skirmish Campaign - Game 1- Setup..

OK...  we're off...

First, I guess I need a somewhat more 'snappy' name for this campaign than the title of this post, so we'll call it "Operation Cornichon" (which is French for pickled cucumber apparently..  😀)

Forces are now decided - I had a super enjoyable evening sorting through my old 15mm skirmish troops - it's been at least 5 or more years since I did this so I had no idea what I had, or how they were organised... the additional, and enjoyable, complication is that DG gave me his French some time ago, and I had even less of an idea how they were organised....

Either way, it transpires that DG and I decided on the section as our basic manoeuvre unit, and furthermore decided on an fairly arbitrary NCO/6 riflemen/LMG as the composition of these sections...  clearly this may well be a-historical but it works so please don't tell me that French sections were bigger, smaller, didn't exist, or whatever.. 😏

Next step was to decide OOB's..

The Teaser that starts my campaign is #9 "Attack on the Camp" (from Charles Grant's "Scenario's for Wargames"), and in it Charles indicates that the force in the camp needs to be slightly stronger than the attacking force... after much thought I decided to go with three sections for the French, and for the Germans I went with two sections - each side will also have a C-in-C figure representing a Lieutenant/Captain, who in turn have two or three riflemen attached as runners and such....

This is a bigger discrepancy than designed, but I intend balancing it by adjusting the morale of the two sides to see if that brings them more in line with the OOB's Charles originally designed; accordingly the Germans will be classed as veteran while the French will be regular/conscript.

By way of an answer to Mike's comments in the last post, the rules I'm using are a set that DG and I put together and automated (we used Visual Basic) years ago - I have no idea what the source was other than a healthy dose of Featherstone, and some other rule sets we had at the time that I can't remember the name of ("Two Up and Bags of Smoke" may be one??); they allow 5 morale classifications, so the Germans will be "A" and the French "D" (just one better than worse)

Next step was to grid the village and decide where everyone on the French side is being billeted..  so we have 7 habitable accommodations - it seemed likely to me that the C-in-C will have his own house - that's just the way it is so I diced for the house he has commandeered and rolled a "6".. that then leaves 6 available billets, or half a section per billet - it seemed likely to me that armies being what they are, sections would adopt a fairly hierarchical approach, so I've decided the section NCO's will bunk with the machine gunners, and the riflemen would form their own group....  accordingly...

Building #

1. 1st Section - Riflemen
2. 1st Section - NCO/LMG crew
3. 2nd Section - Riflemen
4. 2nd Section - NCO/LMG crew
5. 3rd Section - Riflemen
6. C-in-C
7.  3rd Section - NCO/LMG crew (upstairs)

For the actual game I'll print this out and place the actual figures in their relevant grid... makes it much easier to see where everyone is...

Scenario Specific Rules:

• All movement is at half distance because of the pre-dawn darkness.
• The German force enters in two halves from top left, and top right of the picture in the previous post - dice for which column the C-in-C is with
• The French deploy one riflemen from each of 1st and 2nd Sections as sentries - these are placed on the small hills NE and NW of the village (top of the picture is N)
• The French sentries throw 2D6 each move and will spot the enemy on a 7 (add 1 to the dice per turn) - once spotted the sentry needs to reach the village (I know that you're all thinking - "all they have to do is let off a shot" - I'm taking the view that this is quite an active area and there are shots going off all over, all night), and the alarm is triggered when he touches the edge of the camp.
• If a German section can reach the village without the sentry seeing them, the sentry is considered captured, and the alarm is triggered when the force touches the edge of the camp.
• Once the alarm is raised (for either reason) it may be considered to be light enough for all units to move at normal speed except when in the village which is always half speed.
• The alarm must be raised before any movement may begin in the village. From the point at which the outpost reaches the village, the warning spreads inwards through the village at the rate of 10 cm’s per period and units activate.As each grid is alerted, each element within the grid throws two dice which will decide its action as shown in the tables below. The LMG's count as a single element.

Slight change to the table layout (moved the river further towards the right hand edge) - sentry's are in position - Germany entry points bottom and top left..

French Reaction Tables:

2	Break and run, unarmed : cannot be rallied*
3	Break and run, armed. May rally when out of camp if not attacked.
4	Stand for three periods during which they will run if attacked, but may rally (basically, blind panic). Throw again after three periods.
5 & 6	Stand two periods then throw again. They may defend themselves if attacked.
7	Stand two periods, then deploy out of camp moving south
8 & 9	Stand two periods then deploy out of camp by the shortest route
10 & 11	Stand one period then deploy out of camp by the shortest route.
12	Deploy out of camp by the shortest route in the next period.

Any bolting or running moves are compulsory and are done before normal moving at the start of a period. In the case of running infantry, anyone in the way must throw a D6, three or more being required to avoid being swept up in the rout.

On with the game....!

I love the smell of petrol..

..in the morning.. (with apologies to Mr Duvall for stealing and adulterating  one of his finest lines).. 😏

The sentry yawns, rubs his hands together in a failed attempt to try and impart some warmth, and turns for yet another round of the small hill he has been told to guard... deep in thought he thinks could it only be two weeks ago that he had woken, bleary eyed and warm (oh God, to be warm again), next to his beloved Yvette, with pleasant thoughts of his first coffee and Gauloises of the day before work stated on the farm? 

Pah... that had all ended with the arrival of the poste and his call up papers, and ever since then he'd been rushed from one God-forsaken armpit of a camp to another, retreating, always retreating in the face of the damned Bosche, poor food (when he got any), even worse coffee, blisters, and............ cold........ 

In the distance the horizon there is a hint of light, dawn is coming, maybe, just maybe Gaston has managed to scrounge some real coffee beans.... time for another circuit before he is relieved in an hour or so...

...skirmish campaign starts tonight....

I've got an idea....

...that maybe I could do the linked series of scenario's/Teasers that I did for Jeff in this post [click here] as a skirmish campaign... set in WWII to be precise... 😀

Bear with me..... so the background is France 1940 - clearly the Germans would be the attacker...

First Teaser

So we open the campaign with Teaser #9; "Attack on the Camp" (which is, as near or dammit, the "Dawn Attack" tabletop teaser available from my Teaser's page) this time though the camp is a French army advance post manned by a squad/company of infantry with some support weapons.... play it exactly as per the teaser but instead of units it's sections, or less.... I'll give the Germans similar numbers, perhaps better quality......

Teaser 2

Escaping towards safety following the previous rude awakening, the French (lorried??) are moving quickly when their OIC decides to halt and turn and try to stop the German advance(Teaser #3; "Holding Action (1)")

Same rules apply w.r.t digging in (the French can't - the Germans won't want to)

I may allow the Germans some mechanised transport - Hanomags...

If as expected the Germans win they push the French on, both sides recover any casualties, and we come to the final teaser..

Teaser 3

"Reinforcements in Depth (2)"; Teaser #16.. the French, exhausted and near end are told that reinforcements are on the way and that they must stop and hold at all costs... we need to keep the balance, but if we allow the French some armour, we need to ensure the German's get something that puts them on a par - either A/T or AFV....

The idea was prompted by two things - first, I found my old PC based skirmish rules the other day.. these were a joint effort between DG and I and must be at least 15 years old... I also came across our old 15mm skirmish set up on one of my shelves and was once again taken by the excellence of those early war French AFV's... watch out for this on the blog soon - I'll play it solo and use a small 4' square table.....

Bluebear Jeff's linked Teaser challenge....

Over on Bluebear Jeff's blog, along with some decent news about his improving health, in a fit of pure genius he proposed an idea for us all to make up a linked campaign of three to seven teasers made up from Charles Grant's "Scenarios for Wargames"..

"Create a series of three to seven scenarios from Grant's "Scenarios for Wargames" that will make for a logical simple mini-campaign of linked scenarios.

You can even, if you like, make a "campaign tree". That is to build it in the format of "if Red won Scenario A, go to Scenario B . . . and if Blue won, go instead to Scenario C, etc."

Linking more than three is entirely possible, and as Jeff says, Charles Grant and Phil Olley have done it twice already with the "Raid on St Michel" and "The Annexation of Chiraz", but to do that is a bit of a work of genius as I've always thought that you would have to make way too many decisions on increasing/decreasing forces in order to make sure that the later teasers don't just become walkovers and a little boring...

I've decided to go with a linked series of three teasers, and I've tried to minimise the changes to forces as much as I possibly can, so the original forces will play through all three teasers - if you do play this and one of the teasers turns out to be hideously mis-balanced, feel free to modify in any way you feel fit... reinforcements for either side should be considered as entirely plausible!

So here's my idea for a linked series of three teasers...

Background

It is the summer of 1705, and "the French army commanded by Marshal Villeroy and the Elector of Bavaria having taken refuge behind their fortified lines, the Duke of Marlborough had formed a scheme for forcing these stupendous barriers and the first battalion of the ROYAL Regiment rejoined the army in time to take part in this splendid enterprise. The lines were menaced by a detachment on the south of the Mehaine which drew the greater part of the French army to that quarter and during the night of the 17th of July the allied army marched to its right and at four o clock on the following morning the leading regiments approached the works at Neer Hespen and Helixem" (from "The First, or Royal Regiment of Foot" by Richard J. Cannon)

First Teaser

So we open the campaign with Teaser #9; "Attack on the Camp" (which is, as near or dammit, the "Dawn Attack" tabletop teaser available here)

I've fought this one with my American Civil War troops (with great enjoyment I might add...) but in summary, the French playing Blue are asleep in their camp little knowing that events further away have left them dangerously exposed. They have some cavalry vedette's out to act as lookout, but in the cold morning pre-light of dawn they are attacked by a substantial British force playing the part of Red...

The set up is as per the Teaser in the book with the single exception that the British get an additional regiment of infantry, and an additional squadron of cavalry...

You will need rules to allow for ready'ing of troops from sleep once they are aroused, time for orders to be transmitted through the camp, and any panic when troops try to escape across the bridge...  the tabletop teaser version of the scenario has some useful mechanics to cover this, plus some other mechanics that can also be used eg.:

• All movement is at half move distance only, because of the pre-dawn darkness.
• dice for when the the nearest outpost sees the British
• if the main force reaches the camp before the outposts see them then the outposts are considered captured..
• the alarm is triggered when the British force touches the edge of the camp, otherwise the vedette starts moving towards the camp (infantry rate) to raise the alarm on the turn indicated.
• Once an outpost sees the enemy approaching, or the British reach the camp, it may be considered to be light enough for all units to move at normal speed.
• The vedette must reach the camp area before any movement may begin in the camp.
• From the point at which the outpost reaches the camp, the warning spreads inwards through the camp at the rate of x cm’s (I used 10) per period.
• All movement within the camp area is half speed.

You get the idea..... it is wholly expected that the British should win this scenario - either comfortably or not, they will drive the French from their camp and start in pursuit... it is in their best interests to do this at as low a coast in casualties to them, and as high casualties to the French, as possible...

I also leave it to you as to whether you allow either side to recover casualties following the battle... in a campaign I use the Charles Grant "thirds" method - consider one third dead, one third heavily wounded, and one third lightly wounded.. because this is a pursuit only the one third considered lightly wounded are eligible to return to the standards, dice for them, and I would suggest a negative modifier for the French (to reflect that it is more difficult for them to get back given the British hopefully won this battle!)

Teaser 2

Escaping towards safety following the previous rude awakening, the French are moving through a valley when their commander realises that this is ideal terrain to turn and try to hold the British while word is passed to the main force that they are under attack and in urgent need of reinforcements, and so the scene is set for Teaser #3; "Holding Action (1)"

Forces are as per the end of the previous teaser, and should comprise enough for the British to push through and cause the French to lose due to the winning conditions of the Teaser. When setting the war-game "day" to govern the duration of the game, I would select mid-morning as the start.

Some minor modifications, the French are being hotly pursued so limit the extent/distance of the flank positions, and don't allow entrenchments/redoubts - within these limitations hidden units are fine.. to reflect the closeness of the chase consider giving the British the option to set up closer than you would normally but it goes without saying they will be in column of march..

It goes without saying that it is in the British forces very best interests to win this battle as quickly as possible, and at as low a cost in casualties to them, as possible... one of the joys of these campaign scenario's is that you are forced to make decisions about when to make possibly wasteful and extravagant manoeuvres - in a normal game you wouldn't think twice about the lives of your little metal men..

So if as expected the British do win then they push the French on, both sides recover any casualties, and we come to..

Teaser 3

It is entirely likely that you may need to give either side a few reinforcements for the final Teaser which is "Reinforcements in Depth (2)"; Teaser #16.

The French, exhausted and near end are told that reinforcements are on the way and that they must stop and hold at all costs...

Once again the Teaser is as per the book but you may need to modify the French reinforcements so as to maintain a meaningful ratio of forces - this may well mean that the French get reduced, or even no, reinforcements depending on how the British have done up until now....

I leave it to you to decide whether the British get any themselves, but preferably they shouldn't - the British commander should live (or die!) by his previous mistakes/losses..

...and that's it... I've filed this for a possible later game - maybe solo - as I still have the "Raid on St Michel" to finish, and the "Annexation of Chiraz" to start! If you play it, let me know how it turns out....

Thanks for the idea, Jeff... most enjoyable...

Wednesday was good....

...and why you might ask?? Well, two things mainly, and proof if any were needed of what a good bunch wargamers are (I'm sure there are probably some that buck the trend but I've never met one), and what a brilliant hobby this is for sharing information, and helping each other out...

Some of you may be aware of the Table Top Teaser page I host, you may also be aware that I have a disclaimer at the top of the page as I've been concerned for years now about issues of copyright etc etc, and because I didn't want to be in a position stealing someones intellectual property. Writing is hard enough work as it is, without someone else giving it away for free..

With the recent posts from Charles (Grant) on the Old School Wargaming group however, I no longer had any excuse and with some trepidation wrote to ask if he minded me hosting the teasers - the excellent news is that he has very kindly given me permission, so the Teasers can stay - thanks, Charles! He also advised me that there is going to be a special Teaser in the forthcoming "The War Game Companion" that he is currently working on... one to watch out for.

Separately, John Preece also responded to my email with agreement to allow me to post the "Action in the Plattville Valley" picture (that's it on the left) - that picture takes me back almost 30 years, and is the single reason for me starting to think about the American Civil War as a potential new project - cheers, John!

I'll put some pictures of those recently completed Marlburian staff and brigade officers soon - they were finished on Wednesday, but I just need to base and spray protect them... I've also finished off the paint job I promised on that Kibri church that I bought on eBay, & mentioned a few posts ago. In the end I went for a total re-paint as I'd been enthused by the very striking pictures of the church on the AlteFritz blog in his review of the Leuthen game - some pictures of that soon as well...

...more on Warblington...

In 1551 it was finally entailed on Sir Richard Cotton, knight, whose son George succeeded to it at his death in 1556. " (The coat of arms is that of the Cotton family - more on these guys later)  

...a little more info has come to light, but before I launch into it, first off a small correction as it's been pointed out that I got my Mary's hopelessly mixed up in the last post - it was Mary Tudor who was the daughter of Henry VIII (later to be crowned as Mary the first), not Mary Queen of Scots (thanks to my missus, and also Will, for this!!)

...anyway - as promised, a little more info has come to light...

as we know Warblington .."was restored in 1514 to Margaret (Polk), countess of Salisbury, sister and heir of Edward, the Earl of Warwick, with other lands. She was living at the castle in 1526. She was a staunch papist, and from her house her son-in-law, Lord Montagu, and others sent frequent messages to their friends on the continent, especially to Cardinal Pole, using as an agent a certain Hugh Holland of Warblington, who had already been convicted of piracy" (! I'm guessing he was probably a smuggler rather than your actual yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum type, as there have been stories about the lane that leads down to the harbour from the town for some time as having smuggling origins which around here would have been brandy, lace, and other goods from France). 

"After her attainder ('the forfeiture of land and civil rights suffered as a consequence of a sentence of death for treason or felony') in consequence of her share in these conspiracies Warblington was granted temporarily to William, Earl of Southampton, and to Sir Thomas Wriothesley, the King's secretary. 

"George Cotton was living at Warblington in 1596, and died there in 1609 or 1610, leaving a son and heir Sir Richard Cotton. In 1635 Richard Cotton died seised of the manor leaving a young grandson and heir of the same name who was a staunch Royalist."

...now comes the first of the interesting stuff...

"In January, 1643–4, 'the strong house at Warblington' was captured by sixty soldiers and a hundred muskets, and Richard Cotton was obliged to compound for his lands. He is said to have bequeathed them to his only surviving son William, who died in 1736."

My reference quotes a letter from Wilmot, the lord-lieutenant of the Royalist forces, in which he states that 'he has not yet had a reply to the message sent to Arundel Castle' (then besieged by Sir William Waller), and that 'they have taken the strong house at Warblington … which commands a pretty port, and will be of good advantage.'

It's an ambiguous entry - he probably knew who he meant - but safe to assume that the sixty soldiers and hundred musketeers were Parliamentary. Begs a few questions though - why does the source differentiate between soldiers and muskets? Perhaps the "soldiers" were pike? Or mounted troops?

Most of this post by the way, is from the following excellent source ''Warblington', A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3 (1908), pp. 134-139. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41943. In the meanwhile, the search continues...

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On a separate subject, I've recently completed loading the majority of the original JPG's of the "table top teasers", so that you can now see the original articles. There were a couple missing - I'll add these soonest. Next will be the PDF's...

...final teasers added...

..just a quick update to let you know that the final Teasers have been added to the project page - many thanks to the various, and many, people who have assisted over the months and years I've been collecting these. I'm pleased to say I now have all seventeen posted.

Any broken/missing links are entirely down to me... so please let me know! One final word of appreciation to Mike for the suggestion on Box.Net - I've been looking for somewhere to store my files easily for ages and they were just the job! Thanks, Mike....

.. I have visitors down for the weekend so I'm not going to get any time for painting unfortunately. I'm cogitating on what unit to paint next - I know it'll be War of the Spanish Succession, and I know they'll be Allied cavalry, but not which unit - I'm deciding between Wyndham's and Cadogan's, as once I've painted those I then have representation for all the regiments present in Wood's Cavalry Brigade at the assault on the Schellenberg.

...I do have Warfare to look forward to though, which is on this weekend. I'm going up on Sunday with my regular opponent DG and am looking forward to it immensely, as yet again, as a result of all this painting, I have a shopping list.... more anon, and hopefully some pictures as I'm taking the camera!

New Teasers, Polls and Painting

...just a quick update to announce that there are some more new Teasers added to the web page (March/August and December '78)... I've also updated the way they are presented as it makes it easier to see which one's I have, which one's are on the way, and which one's are new... I can confirm however, that as a result of the recent influx, I now have the full series, and that there were seventeen Teasers in total.... it's a bit of a complicated piece of HTML so if anyone finds a broken link let me know..

..the poll has also come to a close and many thanks for those who voted - much appreciated - not surprising perhaps given the scope of the evil empire (Microsoft, not Games Workshop!😀) the majority of people wanted WORD format so I've stuck with that... what I will do however, is put them up in other formats over time once I find a better/decent file hosting site...

...painting has gone on a storm over the last few days, and I can confirm that as soon as they're based, I'll be putting up pictures of the latest British cavalry to join the ranks of Marlborough's allied army - these are painted as a squadron of Woods horse - green facings - using the Freikorps figures I bought at the Colours show a couple of months ago...

..I'll also put up some pictures of the now completed artillery limbers, and the camel train...

..next on the painting list is another squadron of British or Dutch cavalry to finally bring the allies up to equal strength with the French (after their recent acquisition of the two units of Cuirassiers); a herd of cows (15mm - found them in the corner of my waiting to paint box) which I have an idea would make a fine scenario; and a couple of small wagons (same scale and corner of the box)... and next weekend is one of my favourite UK shows - it's Warfare at Reading and I have a shopping list... definitely all fired up!😀

..new Teasers added to a new page...

...I've been a bit busy over the last few days, scanning and then translating the recent batch of "Teasers" but am happy to say that the first of the new batch (and one re-formatted one) are now on the Teaser page. I've also taken the opportunity to transfer the web page to Blogger (so you need to update your links, or use the link to the left)...

...for your reading pleasure then I can advise that you can now read:

• June '79 (Military Modelling) - Playtest of the "Railway Incident" Teaser (which was featured in March 1979)...
• September '79 (Military Modelling) - No. 10 - "Rear Guard"... "This month's Teaser centres round a blocking position occupied by a rear guard and provides the defender with the choice of a forward or a reverse slope position or indeed a combination of both..."
• January '81 (Military Modelling) - Playtest of the "Peninsular Conflict" Teaser (which was Teaser No. 14 and featured in December '80)...

...I also took the opportunity to reformat the existing December '80 Teaser to make it a little more readable. Hold steady - there are more coming! J

...separately, the tricorne's I mentioned previously didn't quite make it to the painting table - they are undercoated, however. Instead I took the opportunity to finish off the Colonial artillery bits and pieces as they were ready & undercoated... a very pleasant afternoon ensued and I ended up with six baggage camels, and handlers...

...I've now modified these camels to act as the "limbers" for the screw guns, and while not strictly realistic (they're a little top heavy) they do give a good representation and I'm very happy with how they turned out. I also finished off some artillery limbers for the Krups guns...

My research has shown that in Wolsey's Desert Column, everything was transported by camel. For artillery, the Naval Brigade had one five-barrelled Gardner gun with four camels to carry it (one for the barrels, one for the wheels and elevating gear, one for the trail, and one for the ammunition). The Camel Battery of the Royal Artillery had three 7 pdr. screw guns - each gun, plus two boxes of ammunition, were carried on six camels with one native driver allotted to every two camels (courtesy "Savage and Soldier" & Wikipedia)

The picture is from the Redoubt website and shows their "Camel Train" (click to go to the page) - I only hope mine looks half as good!

..the end of the week is nigh...

..and so we reach the end of yest another week - I can't believe how quickly this year is going...

..so what have I got to talk about in this post?? Quite a lot actually as it's been a brilliant week from my personal/wargaming perspective...

..first off, I was absolutely delighted to get an email from one of the guys on the Old School Wargaming group asking me if I'd like a whole collection of Table Top Teasers that I was missing! Silly question... J ...having almost bitten his arm off in the haste of my response, you can imagine how excited I was when I saw the big envelope yesterday, and when I opened it, it contained fourteen of the articles!!

I'll put these up on the page (and announce here) as and when they're posted over the next few weeks, but to say I'm "chuffed to bits" is a slight understatement....! The gentlemen knows who he is; my thanks for the kind help - it's fully appreciated.

...while on the subject - I've put a poll at the top of the page (my first ever) as I'm interested in knowing how people prefer to see the Teasers. When I started out I always assumed people would prefer WORD format so that they could easily re-use the text in the article for writing up battle reports, orders of battle, etc. The files also tend to be smaller, which makes for quicker downloads. I have in the past however, also posted them as straight scans ie. a graphic, or a picture of the page. I'm interested to know if I'm on the right track because if I'm not I'll change how I post them....

...second off - this week I bid for, and was pleased to win , a copy of Charlie Wesencraft's "With Pike and Musket" (pictured). It doesn't normally happen, as some eBayer more clever than me usually puts in a bid 2 nano-seconds before the end and trumps me, but in this case I was successful and have just stared reading it. The period he covers is slightly earlier than the War of Spanish Succession which is my main interest in this period, but none the less there's always something of interest in the books of the Old School "masters" and this one doesn't appear to be any different - I'll put up a fuller review when I've finished it...

..while on the subject & on eBay (and hopefully you'll have begun to see by now why it was a brilliant week!) I also got a copy of "Wargame Campaigns" by Charles Grant (the younger). When it first came out I had this book on loan from the library almost permanently - it still forms the basis for my genericic campaign rules, and I cannot rate it highly enough.

...second to lastly, I found a company on the web call em4miniatures (click on the name, to go their website) the day before yesterday. They're a UK based company that do a lot of wargaming supplies - I was looking for little dice as they're very useful when playing Blitzkrieg Commander for showing hits, morale state etc. Not only were the dice reasonably priced, but they also take PayPal. I'll advise further when I get the goods, but their communications were prompt so full marks so far...

...last of all - being a wargamer I'm fairly happy when I get a bargain and would direct people to this web site immediately if they feel the same way. The Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society are an American group based in Salt Lake City - not only do they have a brilliant site (click to go there) they also issue a quarterly newsletter called "Warning Order" in Adobe/PDF format. Quite honestly it's of excellent quality and appearance (considering the price!) - full colour, graphics etc. What about the content though I hear you ask - well I've started with the latest (#19), and was equally impressed. I especially liked the article on "Command and Control" in wargames, and there was also a good article on "Campaigns" which has definite possibilities... Recommended - and the link will find it's way to my resources list soonest...

...and that's it for this post - the weekend beckons and I plan to get myself to my painting table - it's time for some more tricorne's to make it to the table. I'm also enjoying a re-watch of "Band of Brothers"... who knows may even get to do both at the same time!

"Ambush!"

First off, I'm very pleased to report a new addition to the table top teaser page - I've just taken delivery of the July 1979 issue of Military Modelling (at a very reasonable price from a lady on eBay) and have now scanned and added it to my Teaser page. This is the "Ambush" scenario that up until now I'd only seen the play test of.

From my perspective, in addition to the extra background information/mechanics etc, the best thing about it is that it gives a very useful force list so that you can set it in the horse and musket period (the play test was set in the ancient period)

Having read it through it has definite possibilities and I'm looking forward to trying it out the next time my regular opponent is down my way! Trust you find the same..

Other updates - the artillery crews and pack horses for my Sudan artillery were completed over the weekend as I'd hoped. 

They're now varnished, and the first coat went onto the bases last night - I should have some pictures soon. I've completed 3 separate sets of crews, representing Egyptian, British and Dervish artillery... my plan is to base the crew, but leave the guns free standing so that I can swap the guns around depending on the scenario.... it saves me having to paint (and buy) multiple artillery...! Once finished, I'll have crews/transport for two bases of artillery per side...

More Teasers and a trip to the "smoke"....

Have added another two teasers to the Teasers page - these two date from May and June of 1978 so are quite early in the series - they comprise a test of the "Wagon Train" scenario, and teaser No. 3 "Advance Guard Action". This latter one certainly looks interesting....

On Wednesday, for reasons of work, I was in London to attend a meeting - the meeting was in the St. Katherine's Dock (East end docks area - mightily bashed during the war), and on the understanding I don't get up to London much (and am therefore easily pleased) I was pleasantly surprised by the area.... best by a long shot however, is coming out of the bowels of the earth (a.k.a the London Underground) to come face to face with the Tower of London, with Tower bridge behind... cracking sight, and one that immediately brings to mind new wargame periods... Senlac Hill, shield walls, and Norman Knights.... are all wargamers similarly fixated, such that any walk, visit, or trip, is immediately thought of in terms of military history, and the aptness to the wargame/painting table, I wonder?!!😁

Either way, happily the meeting finished reasonably early, and I found myself with a couple of spare hours. Given I've always wanted to look round the National Army Museum, I headed on over to Chelsea for a visit..

Thoughts??

• You certainly can't fault the location of the building - the museum is in Chelsea, not far from Sloane Square, certainly one of the more expensive parts of London... it's located at the end of a row of Georgian buildings that form the Chelsea Hospital (of Chelsea Pensioners fame); the museum itself is a bit of a concrete monstrosity, however.. 😏
• The displays/content were OK - I've been wanting to go for some time, so maybe I had built my hopes up, but I have to say that my main impression is that the displays, and the way they are put together, is a little "disjointed" .. the museum uses "themes" as a way of hanging together the displays - at the moment the themes, or "exhibitions", are The Making of Britain, Changing the World, World Wars & Fighting For Peace, but there is also a standalone exhibition based on the Somme.
• Of the exhibitions, for me the best were "the Making of Britain" and "Changing The World" as these cover off my main wargaming interests - in the former there was some (fairly limited) coverage of the wars of Marlborough, and in the case of the latter the Campaigns in the Sudan.

Highlights were -

• Siborne's diorama of "Waterloo" - it is worth going to the museum for this ALONE! Quite astonishing.. at least 20 feet by 20 feet, and covered in thousands of (I guess) approx. 6mm home cast figures...
• Lots of diorama's - plenty comprised of work/figures by the likes of Suren, Tradition etc. Rorkes Drift springs to mind
• A full size mannequin of a private of the 10th Sudanese Infantry regiment at Omdurman - brilliant to see close up, and to see the colours of the component uniform parts...
• Lots of paintings - especially the one's depicting battle scenes...

In summary? Well worth a visit, it does suffer in comparison to the Imperial War Museum, but then it's a fraction of the size, and the aims are different - the IWM covers the study of war, the National Army Museum is there to give the history of the British Army.

Some new teasers added..

As promised the first of the new Teasers have been added to my web page - follow links to the left.

I've added the first ever Teaser which dates to February 1978 and is entitled "Bridge Demolition" - this was originally published in "Battle". I've also finally got my act in gear and actually scanned the August 1982 Teaser, which up until now has been present only in JPEG format...

Keep an eye open here for more news on additional Teasers - I have another three to post in the near future.

I have to admit - I'm taking my time as these "Battle" magazines I picked up from eBay are brilliant - I'd forgotten how good some of these old magazines were, and with the sole exception of "Battlegames" there isn't anything to match them these days.. in the four I obtained alone, their are articles by:

• Charles Grant on Marlburian Warfare, refighting Oudenarde, etc.
• Tony Bath on the Hyborian Campaign (classic!)
• Phil Barker on gaming in 15 mm (pictures of the hideous old style Minifgs 15mm's in strips!)
• etc. etc.

...huge amounts of brain food - if you see any, I'd advise buying them..