Honours of War

Nick has been amassing a large Prussian army, superbly painted and ready for action. As his Seven Years War Russian army is not yet ready we decided to give a dry run of the Honours of War rules , with his Prussians engaged in 'Kriegspiel'.

2 Brigades of infantry (4 battalions each) and Brigade of cavalry and a gun battery each made for a pleasant evening as Chris and I played Paul and Nick and Ross umpired and called out the rules!
Nick was happy as his troops were on the table, and no matter what- the Prussians would win!

American War of Independence: 53rd Regiment of Foot.

Well it's started. I'm painting landsknechts and Spanish Jinetes but I'm blogging my first AWI Unit: clearly the workings of a severely disturbed mind with multiple addictions. Don't ask why; I just saw them on eBay- bought them, rebased them and have been admiring them for the last couple of months.
The 53rd Regiment was originally raised in 1755 as the 55th Regiment. Changed to the 53rd at the end of the Seven Years War due to reductions in the regimental establishment, it sailed for Canada in 1776. It served in operations for the relief of Quebec and then joined General John Burgoyne's army advancing into New England via the Hudson Valley.

Taking part in the initial capture of Fort Ticonderoga, the 53rd was part of 'Gentleman Johnny' Burgoyne's 1st Brigade along with the 9th and 47th Regiments. The Battalion Companies were left behind to defend the fort and its outlying defences.

Jinetes: Great Italian Wars Spanish Army

I bought these guys half painted on eBay- to round out my Spanish army- Now finished, based and ready to go!
Pikes: Check,
Arquebusiers: Check.
Gente d'Armas: check.
Crossbow men: check
Nearly ready to put them on the battlefield- against Ross' French!

American Revolutionary War

   Well, like most wargamers I tend to have more than one project running at a time and found myself making a purchase that had nothing at all to do with anything I was working on at all. I can change my mind while being in the bathroom about a period that I'm a 'fanatic' on and have a new obsession within minutes of picking up a book on a given topic.
    About two years ago I read a book called 'Fusiliers'  by Mark Urban on the 23rd Welch Fusiliers and their time in the Revolutionary War. Well, I had another book on Battles of the Revolutionary War, then picked up a cheap one ($3.95) on the Battle of Guildford Courthouse and it slowly dawned on me that I really liked this period- so I bought a few more books (Black Powder's 'Rebellion' and the British Grenadier rules)......... You know where this is going!!
   Also I've been a regular reader of the Tarleton's Quarter Blog (see down the right hand side). It is by far and away one of the most amazing and informative blogs on all things wargaming and the AWI! (among others!)- I thoroughly recommend it- it's fantastic.
   Wouldn't you know it.....there were some lovely figures for sale on ebay- so having a little spare cash I bought them. Now regular readers would know that I'm also working on a Spanish Army for the Italian Wars, and playing a Modern Africa campaign, and about to start a 3rd Century BC campaign in Roman Italy.....but I couldn't resist!!!! ....yes  I know there were no Landsknechts during the AWI!!!
I'm still painting pikemen and jinetes- but I guess I'll just have to work on two periods at once...ouch.....don't tell the missus!

MODERN AFRICA ( PART 3 )SENSATION AT THE UN: T’Mbolo M’shombou wins a double victory.

A recent emergency gathering of the UN Security Council has expressed concern over the recent escalating violence in the small central African nation of Zogo. News reports from creditable sources and Zogo state media have reported a double success for the forces loyal to His Imperial Majesty, Royal Highness, The Right Honorable , His Eminence, General President T’Mbolo M’shombou, father to his people and Messiah of the Nation of Zogo. The President, known for his willingness to drown dissenters in a golden bathtub, was in fine form at a recent 29 hour press conference, where only one question was asked; by a reporter from the New York Times. The reporter was then invited to view the presidential golden bath. And never returned. The rest of the conference was a speech by the Great Leader.

Government troops awaiting the Rebel onslaught!

The Big Man himself overseeing his armoured support

Modern Africa- Trouble on the Zogo (PART 2)

The President was in his Palace when the news came.

He was not happy. His Imperial Majesty, Royal Highness, The Right Honourable, His Eminence, General President  T'Mbolo M'shombou was a father to his people. His loved them all. Some more than others. It was a measure of their ingratitude that again, the trouble making Baako tribesmen of the south were causing trouble.
Did they not have work? Working 14 hour days in the Uranium Mines? Digging underground for diamond? Did they not have food? They were given a coconut and rice each day? His advisers had warned him that the Baako were trouble. Their spokesman, Beeko Mumfasa was stirring up dissent.
Well, his uncle, the Great and Wondrous Aboiye had been forced to lop off a few heads. It was time to do so again.
So confident was the General President of Victory, that he left his Presidential Palace Grenadier Life Guards in the Capital, M'shombou City.  He went south with some of his beloved Zogo African Rifles.

The Village at the center of the rebellion

Modern Africa- A small campaign (PART1)

Spyros once posed the notion of a game in Modern Africa with our forces.  We'd played Rhodesian Bush war scenarios and fighting in Mali, but he wanted a more involved game. So, after a few sources of inspiration (Force on Force, a few movies like Tears of the Sun and the Wild Geese,  the AK-47 Republic rules as well as countless other stuff!) I came up with a game that was a small campaign using amendments for Modern Bolt Action.

His Royal Highness, Imperial Majesty, The Most Enlightened, Highly Exalted,
Commander -In Chief, Field Marshal General, Commodore Admiral and President of Zogo for Life:
T'mbolo M'shombou

Burgundian Ordonnance vs French Ordonannce

Two armies that I have fought, and lost to, fought it out on the table top last week. I dropped in to grab some photos of Richard's Burgundian Ordonnance Army facing off against Ross' French Ordonnance Army in a late 15th Century clash. The battle  had bombards, super heavy knights, Swiss pike men, longbows, light cavalry and lots more besides. It was a very close game with Ross and Ralph going down to Richard and Nick.

The pictures came out very nicely- for more info see 'Tarty's Tin' blog down the right hand side.

The Knights Clash

Bagradas 255BC- A nice big refight!!

My Romans emerged from their cupboard alongside Paul's Romans to take on a fraction of Nick's Carthaginians, to refight the battle of Bagradas in 255BC. 

Nick has enough Carthaginian lead to create Hannibals army in a 1:2 scale.....yes he has two figures for every one of Hannibal's. I may be overstating the case but to lay his Carthaginians edge to edge requires 30 feet of table. But in this instance he brought a small fraction with him to fight this historical refight.

Historically the Carthaginians, under the command of the Spartan Xanthippus defeated the Consul Regulus...saving Carthage. So it was time to give it a go......... (maybe the Romans (Ross and Paul) could reverse History!)

Ottomans Vs French Ordonnance

Ross finally got his French Ordonnance Army together- and challenged my Spanish to a game. If you saw my previous blog, my Spanish only have about 12 Units...not enough. But I had another contemporary opponent available- My Ottomans! So a challenge was issued forthwith and I made an appropriate selection of Janissaries, akinjis, spahis, Qapiqulu guard and other assorted rubbish.

Ross' French knights.

Italian Wars- Rennaissance

If you take a look at some of the Blogs I regularly read, many of them are dedicated to, or have great sections on the Italian Wars 1494-1559. There is a lot of colour and pageantry in this period along with diverse troop types. Swiss mercenaries, French Gendarmes, Italian crossbowmen, Landsknechts, arquebusiers, Spanish Jinetes- you name it, it's there. And some very colourful personalities- Pope Julius II, the French Kings Charles VIII, Louis XII, Francis I. Add to this mix El Gran Capitan -Gonsalvo de Cordoba and a host of other characters from France, the Empire, Spain and the Italian States- Naples, Venice, Milan, Florence...you get my drift! There is enough stuff to keep any wargamer occupied for a few weeks at least!! And when Ross recently told me that he would be doing a French Ordonnance army to cover the second half of the 15th Century I figured that's close enoughfor me. By adding Swiss and some extra artillery he could have Charles VIII's army that invaded Italy in 1494, I decided is was time for me to get my act together and make an opposing force.

Zombies in Africa!!

Now many of you 'serious' gamers who play 'proper' games may be horrified at the title...but I gotta confess, the sheer laugh aspect in this game was the motivating factor!
After the game in Mali with the Legion, ( see last post) as we were packing up someone suggested that in future, would anyone like to play a game,  'Walking Dead" style.
I thought 'Why not?'. It was still early afternoon, so we had time. I told the boys to pick any figure from all the ranges I've got.
Dumb order.
With 3 minutes I had a Games Workshop giant, a Polish Winged Hussar, a horned demon, two ogres, a dog and a US special forces figure on the table.
I clarified my instruction....'Any HUMAN figure ON FOOT!'.
Well there were some complaints, a death threat or two and a punch thrown, but 5 minutes later there was a Japanese Samurai (Evan),  a Spartan from '300'(George), a little old lady with a stick (Chris), a 'Clint Eastwood' style character with small repeating crossbow (Connor), a US special forces figure on foot (Spyros' choice never changed), and a strange man in a long grey coat (Nick) with a funny moustache who screamed a lot...please don't ask....you'll see.

Zombies in the shanty town!

Force on Force: The French in Mali

With my Foreign Legion figures sitting in the cupboard, it was time to put them through their paces! I had been reading that the French government had deployed troops to Mali and, after a chat with Spyros who has more Legion,  Malian government troops and some good insurgent-looking figures, we decided to put on a game with the lot....in the end my Legion didn't get a look in..we used Spyros'.

Insurgents in the rough terrain north of the town.

Hannibal's anniversary- But Cannae do it again?? Sorry for the bad pun.

The 2nd of August 2015 was the anniversary of one of Rome's greatest defeats- and an opportunity for Nick to put his Carthaginians on the table and for Paul to put his Republican Romans on the table. The important thing was that- as every one agreed- there was no chance of MY Romans going anywhere near the table given my previous results ( see last blog!). They did make the mistake of allowing me to command Romans...and using some of my cavalry to make up the numbers!

Ross, Paul and I were Varro et al and Nick and Geoff did the Hannibal bit. Refighting such a well known battle always has the potential to just follow the course of history, especially if the original deployment is followed.
Nevertheless, following the historical layout, the game was on!

View from the Roman third line.

How many defeats can a wargamer bear????? My Roman Shame....AGAIN.

This game was played late last year after many  humiliating defeats at the hands of Ross' Macedonians. I demanded a rematch to restore the honour of the Roman army and stop the shame and humiliation that had been attached to my family name for generations to come. The table was set up, the rules produced, the armies deployed...and well.....read the report.....my Romans are persistent if nothing else.

I had high hopes when I deployed my troops. I was wiser after my multiple defeats and was determined not to let Ross and Paul have a victory again !!!

Well rather than bore you all with a long report that basically tries to make excuses for my catastrophic defeat...just look at the photos. Suffice to say I led with my left- held back my right and got kicked in the balls. I give up. The Romans are going into a cupboard and staying there for a while.

My Romans

Samurai vs Samurai.

In a previous blog I wrote about Nick's purchase of a beautifully painted Samurai army.  I also have a Samurai army, but as Nick pointed out it was not big enough. So I told him exactly what I thought of that: lend me part of his.  He thought about this for a brief period and then agreed.  Not too many of us can put as many figures on the table as Nick can as he likes to play games 'in a grand manner' with maximum points, maximum space and enough lead to buckle the table.  He had over 1500 points, I had under 600.  So he lent me enough to even out the points,  he had less cavalry than I did ( I took all the upgrade options) but he had more Samurai and Archer Retainers. I had more monks and light infantry.  The armies were from the Kamakura period and many of the Samurai also carrying bow. This was going to be a tough game with  lots of tough infantry and loads of archery!

My cavalry on my left flank- Ross commanded these guys and he did a good job in taking out the opposing cavalry commanded by Roger- but my centre failed to hold out long enough to take advantage of this!

Bolt Action - Modern Action in Afghanistan

Spyros has built up a nice force of modern Diggers (Australian soldiers!) with Bush Masters and LAVs for our country's recent combat in Afghanistan. He originally touted the idea of using them for Force on Force......but as he had well over 60 figures it may not have been feasible....well not for my feeble mind! I would lose track of all the actions and reactions! So he suggested Bolt Action. Initially I was sceptical..but he found some amendments on the net (check some of the links on his blog - No Duff gamer). So we set about organising 'equal' forces ( a far cry from Force on Force !!). The Diggers were all classed as regular and we made majority of the Taliban forces as 'inexperienced' but the heavy weapons, commanders and technicals were all regular.  We tried not to fiddle too much with the rules, and although the game worked well and we had a great time, the casualty rate amongst the Spyros' forces would have been considered a major political disaster.
Aside from that, the lens of my camera had fingerprints on it....so the pictures didn't come out too clearly! No more eating greasy chips and taking photos!!

French Paras - Indochina.

Years ago I read a great book by Bernard B Fall called 'Hell in a very small place" about the siege of Dien Bien Phu. Well, I had always thought that I would love to game the French in Indochina against the Viet Minh.  You know how it is- in the dark recesses of our minds we're always dreaming up some new project that will be the biggest and best we've ever done with superlative terrain, beautiful figures...and the best rules ever written.
Well that's probably not going to happen but I can only dream!
When Red Star released their Indochina range I was certain that sooner or later I was going to spend some cash to add to the mountains of unpainted lead piling up in boxes under the stairs. Before I could do that, however,  I came across these little beauties on ebay....and I grabbed them!
Now I've got to build some terrain....and get some Viet Minh.
The photos don't really do the figures justice.  The first 11 are under fluoro lights..the others are in direct sunlight. I think taking the photos in bright sunlight may not highlight them to best effects. Maybe I need to get a better camera!

Thanks Warlord Games!

I got a call from Spyros late last night to tell me that the Brothers' Blog was now famous.
The reason? In the latest emailed newsletter from Warlord Games, there was an article on The Royal Marine Commandos. And in the article there was a picture from one of our previous Bolt Action games in April of this year. At first I thought he was pulling my leg. But sure enough when I had a look- there was the picture from our game with due acknowledgement that they were Spyros' figures from our blog. Thank you Warlord Games!
To view the article on the Warlord Games Website- please: CLICK HERE

Mongols and Samurai

At the end of last year Nick procured himself a beautifully painted Samurai army.
So, not unusually, Ross was eager to kill them.
In early January we assembled at Ross' place as Nick's new Samurai took the field against Ross' hordes of Ghengis Khan. With every unit equipped with some sort of bow, the bowfire was intense and blocked out the sun- and to quote an ancient Spartan- the battle was 'fought in the shade'.
I sided with Nick while Ralph and Richard joined the horde.

The armies- Mongols to the left, Samurai to the right.