French and Indian War Game

 I ran a game based (very loosely) on Robert Rogers' raid on the Abenaki village of St. Francis during the French and Indian War. In the historic event, most of the fighting men in the village were away searching for Rogers' force and so Rogers' only opposition were old men, women and children. In my game I added Indian warriors, French Marines and Militia to give a more balanced scenario. The rules I used were Muskets and Tomahawks 1st Ed. The French and Indians began the game hidden in the lodges and houses of the village and were activated only when the British were spotted or fired their muskets. The British were able to infiltrate into three of the Indian lodges before they were spotted. Before the French and Indians could react, the lodges were set afire. One of the French and Indian victory conditions was to escort the village Sachem (Leader) to safety, which they accomplished. There was a lot of fighting around the burning Indian lodges, with the Indians attacking and routing one of the British Light Infantry units and badly mauling another. Rogers' Rangers played cautiously and made use of their firepower to keep the rest of the Indians at a distance. The French Marines put up a strong defense, exchanging volleys with the British until they were whittled down and had to rout. In the rules, the Indians are at a great advantage when fighting in the cover of the woods, but in the village their 6 figure units become very brittle and eventually the British were able to push the Indians and Militia out of the village and Rogers' force completed their objective of burning the village. It was a fun game, but next time I am going to set the scenario in the woods to give the Indians a more balanced game. Note the enemy scalps hanging in the center of the village, as noted by Rogers.

Preparing for the Battle of the Alma

 September 20 is the 170th anniversary of the Battle of the Alma, the first major battle of the Crimean War. While I have a good sized collection for the war in 1/72, I have been gradually collecting figures in 54mm as well. Today I pulled out my British and Russians to make an inventory. I think I will give the About Bonaparte rules a go as my figures break down into units of eight figures and the tactics of both sides had not changed from the Napoleonic wars. I also have French Zouaves for the French side of the battle. Ideally, I need to paint up a few more units of Dorset Miniatures Russians that I bought several years ago.

Preparing more troops for a Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867) campaign

Preparing troops for Peter who is a fan of this conflict, and the mythical Camerone (or Camaron) of the French Foreign Legion

Mexican Tulancingo Cuirassiers and Mexican dragoons. I think these were active in the Mexican-American war, but can give some extra in our future wargame campaign .

 

54mm battle, 1815, French vs Prussians 20240905

Steven and me (Dirk) played a 1815 battle.

The Prussians deffended 3 bridges over a fordable  rivulet to delay the French pursuit of the main korps.

My plan was to pin as much as possible the Prussians on my left and concentrated the artillery fire on the enemy on my right. Then follewed with punch through the weaker Prussians left flank.

Steven's plan was to turn my left flank and concentrated his best units on his far right flank.

His command dicing was poor the whole game, and mine extremely good,  which mend Steven had only enough orders to respond to my moves in the centre, and his strong right was blocked and useless.

Steven lost very quickly his skirmish units and medium battery.

He tried to stabelize the situation with charges, which indeed slowed me down and heavy losses on both  sides.

Steven commited his cavalry against my dragoons covering my exteme left flank.

As my remaining skimish unit had no longer opposition of cavalry or skirmishes, they could operate freely against Stevens infantry lines, giving me the opportunity to regroup and inflect the final blow.

A much injoyed game.

 

Hät ACW test figures painted as soldiers from Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867)

(from wikipedia) The Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was a military invasion of the Republic of Mexico by the French Empire of Napoleon III, purportedly to force the collection of Mexican debts in conjunction with Great Britain and Spain. Mexican conservatives supported the invasion, since they had been defeated by the liberal government of Benito Juárez in a three-year civil war. Defeated on the battlefield, conservatives sought the aid of France to effect regime change and establish a monarchy in Mexico, a plan that meshed with Napoleon III's plans to re-establish the presence of the French Empire in the Americas. Although the French invasion displaced Juárez's Republican government from the Mexican capital and the monarchy of Archduke Maximilian was established, the Second Mexican Empire collapsed within a few years.

(more on : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_French_intervention_in_Mexico)

There is some interest in Belgium for this conflict, as the empress was the Belgian Princess Charlotte, known in Mexico as Carlota. As Belgum was a neutral state, sending regular troops was prohibited, but a Belgian Legion of volonteers was formed of about 4.000 men it saw action in some battles with varying success.  With the withdrawal of the French troops in 1866, most of the Belgian troops also returned to Europe.

The first pictures are from the Imperial army

The first figures are painted as Cazadores de Mexico ( 1866 -1867)

Hereunder privates from the Imperial Amry (1866 - 1867)

Next a Jäger of the Austrian Legion (1865)

Next are figures from the Federal Army

Line Infantry private ( 1866 -1867)

privates of the 2nd Morelia Btn of the national Guard (1863)

These 3 figures are Federal line infantry (1856 - 1863)

Next a State militiaman (1863 - 1867)