Indian Mutiny Game in 54mm

 On the weekend I played remotely with an internet friend in Tucson, Arizona and we tried out the Fatehpur scenario from the Colonial Conflicts - The Indian Mutiny scenario book written for The Men Who Would Be King (TMWWBK). I had played the same scenario in the book written for The Sword and the Flame, but like all the scenarios in TMWWBK book, the scenario has been revised and, in my opinion, improved. It was a hard slog for the British, outgunned as they were by three to two guns, one a heavy artillery piece, and the mutinous sepoys holed up in a walled garden and a fortified house. Nevertheless, quality began to tell over quantity and the British artillery soon knocked out the light battery in its path. On the left,the 84th Foot and the HEIC Ferozepur Sikhs advanced steadily on the walled garden and caused a pin which turned into a rout to the sepoys inside. On the right the 78th Highlanders and the Madras Fusiliers easily brushed the 6th Gwalior Native Infantry off the hill to their front and then drove into the native irregulars behind the hill. They only stopped their advance when they drew fire from the sepoys entrenched in the fortified house behind the hill. As the British advanced, the sepoy artillery limbered up and retired, causing a general Mutineer withdrawal. We called the game after five of the ten Rebel units had been routed or destroyed. As you can see, we played the game with 54mm miniatures, which worked perfectly with the small sized units suggested in the scenario book. For those interested, the figures are a mix of W. Britain, Wm. Hocker, Marlborough Star and Trophy of Wales. I highly recommend the scenario book if you are interested in the Indian Mutiny.

 

Getting My Jacobites onto the Game Table - Finally!

 Sunday, I played my first game of Jacobite Rising published by Compass games. It resembles Commands & Colors Tricorne which covers the AWI, but it is a stand alone game and has its own unique feel. I played the Battle of Falkirk which is broken into two phases; I played the first phase. The game starts with the Government cavalry and the Highland infantry within attack distance of each other. I played the Government side  and I got the first card, so I attacked the Highlanders to my front. The Highlanders held off the attack, pushed back the cavalry and then followed up with a charge - very historical! From then on the Government fought a defensive battle but the outcome was never in doubt. We made a few mistakes in rules interpretations, as one does the first time with a new game. If anything the outcome would have been bloodier and more decisive. I was especially happy to get my Highlanders onto the table after month of painting tartans. The Lowlanders are AWI Minutemen and the mass of Government infantry are AWI redcoats. I plan to gradually replace them with Replicants Culloden British.

Boer War Birthday Game

Yesterday was my birthday and I invited a good friend over for a Boer War game to celebrate the day and the completion of the excellent armoured train locomotive model from Imperial Miniatures. The game started off with the Boer Bitterenders  making a surprise mounted attack on a British supply depot. The picquet in the blockhouse was able to raise the alarm just before one group of mounted Boers leaped over the barricades. But the mounted Boers were unable to close with the Khakis and were forced to retreat away from the defenses where they dismounted and continued the attack. The other Boer force dismounted on the far side of the horse kraal, ready to steal the much needed supplies inside the camp. As the superior Boer marksmanship began to whittle down the British defenders, taking cover behind the supply wagons, an armoured train carrying a full platoon of Highlanders arrived on the scene and came to a stop opposite the kraal occupied by the Boers. This timely arrival of reinforcements put paid to the Bitterender plans and the Boers drifted back into the veldt, taking only a few captured horses and rifles with them.

Waterloo Photoshoot

I wasn't able to play a 54mm Waterloo game like I did last year, so I decided to pull out some recently acquired Napoleonic figures and set them up in a  little diorama. I have been adding to my collection of Prussians, so that I can do Waterloo properly, and I have been reading up on the desperate battle of Plancenoit and so I figured I'd use that as subject for my set up. I made some tombstones out of balsa wood and used my church converted from a craft store bird house to represent the churchyard at Plancenoit. The scene is set for the last stand of the Old Guard around 8:00 PM. Thanks to Adobe PhotoShop, I was able to add the fiery sky and the appropriate tint.

D-Day Paratrooper Game

In honor of the 76th anniversary of D-Day, we played the Brécourt Manor Assault by Easy Co. 506th Regiment 101st Airborne as seen in the Band of Brothers TV series. We used Fistful of Lead skirmish rules. It's a challenge for the Americans to perform as well as their historic counterparts since they have to fire and advance, while the Germans can stay in place and fire twice or take aimed shots. In my game I only had enough German figures for three gun pits so I cut out the paratroopers' reinforcement squad that historically took out the fourth gun. There were thirteen Americans at the start, including two LMG teams, who played little part in the game after the initial assault. The Germans started with nine gunners divided between three gun pits and one LMG team. They were reinforced by six infantrymen and another LMG. The Americans easily took the first gun but ran into stiff resistance on the second. When we called the game, both officers (Winters and Compton) had been killed and the attackers were stalled on the second gun.