The Army of Louis XIV vs The Grand Alliance: January 2013

Each year I try and get a very large game in with my Marlburians. At this point there are 52 Battalions of Infantry and 50 squadrons of cavalry....and still growing. I try to get as many on the table as I can depending on the number of players and the scenario. This time, in January  of this year, I decided to base the scenario on the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. Now that was a later war- not my usual fare of Spanish Succession but it is a fascinating tactical situation.  In my game the armies were switched and the names of the historical places changed and it was Marlborough' s army of the Grand Alliance that  was attempting to trap the Army of Louis XIV.

Two pike and shot Regiments for the Army of Louis XIV

I got a very nice suprise recently when an old friend of mine, Chris,  handed me a box and said 'These are for you.' At first I assumed it was an IED and he was wanting to inflict some sort of grievous bodily harm on me. He insisted that it wasn't. When I opened the box I was very pleasantly surprised to find two nicely painted units from the North Star 1672 range. Two French regiments of Foote: the Regiment Bourbon (red cuffs and stockings/breeches) and the Regiment Dauphin (with the multi coloured flag).
I was very impressed! Thanks mate! Much appreciated!!!!
I rebased them for my 'Vive Le Roi' rules and they're ready to go. There was also two artillery pieces which I have yet to base up!
 ( ps I did kill the large poisonous spider that he had hidden in the bottom of the box).

Louis XIV's Swiss Guard: North Star 1672

As anyone who has merely glanced at this blog can tell you, one of my favourite periods is the Age of Marlborough, or Marlburian, and more specifically the War of the Spanish Succession. I love the colour, the pageantry, the flags and the figures! Actually I'm beginning to think it should be called the Age of Louis XIV! If you are a fan of the League of Augsburg website then you'll now this period has so much to offer the wargamer! Anyway I was looking on ebay the other day and spotted this unit. Now it's a little bit earlier than the vast majority of my figures....but it was too nice to pass up. They were painted by a guy called Ian Clark form Eye Pro-Painted Miniatures and I was so impressed I just had to grab'em! They're a battalion of the Garde Swiss of Louis XIV from the North Star 1672 range. I think I've gotta get more of these! Enjoy the pics. One day when I grow up I want to be able to paint like this!!

A big thank you!

I just realised that my Blog has just clocked up 10,000 views- thank you one and all for your interest and support!  I enjoy writing the blog and even more I enjoy reading other people's! And it's time for a new look too!

Bolt Action- Canadians vs German Fallshirmjager

 Spyros, our boys: Evan, Nick, Michael and I got together one afternoon to try out the new World War II rules 'Bolt Action' from Warlord Games. These are a great set of rules; very easy to play, quick to learn and for first time gamer Michael he was able to get his head around them by the third turn. A nice simple scenario based on the fighting in June/July 1944, the Canadians were given the task of storming a village held by German Paratroopers supported by some fanatic SS units. 

 

 

the German paras move behind a ruined house

Force on Force, Modern Skirmish: US Recon Snipers and the Foreign Legion in trouble

Mission report:

A US Marine sniper recon team had been positioned to carry out surveillance on a known Taliban held village. The two man team was uncovered when a local shepherd led his flocks through their hidden bivouac. The team quickly moved out as soon as they were discovered but as luck would have it the nearby Taliban moved quickly and cornered the two Marines in a 19th century British fortification. The recon team were able to radio their last position and approximated troops strengths and locations of the opposing forces before contact was lost. Response time for the Black Hawk extraction flight was approximately 55 minutes. It transpired that NATO HQ was able to confirm the presence of a nearby French Foreign Legion patrol. The Legion responded that their ETA to the sniper team was less than 30 minutes and quickly deployed for action.

The Table at turn 3: With the Taliban in various firing positions. In the immediate foreground the old fort where the sniper team were holed up. The first Legion patrol is visible at the far end of the table behind the ruined vehicle. The second patrol is to the far right corner moving along a stone wall. It was here that the patrol caught a Taliban cell in the open and wiped it out.

Outskirts of Stalingrad, August 1942

Ralph invited the Brothers around for a Flames of War (FOW) game. I know this is a very popular rule system and all the Brothers have vast arrays of troops, from Paul's Polish trains, to Chris' Afrika Korps companies. I don't have any...but I hope to remedy that soon!
The situation was simple- a Russian battalion with armour support- well 3 very understrength companies, a pioneer platoon, two SMG platoons and two platoons of T-34s were to retake a series of buildings with a large building at the far end of the table, beyond the park area- was to be the main objective.



The Table: The big building in the center front of the photo was the Soviet objective- They started at the far end.

Polygon Wood- September 1917

I had the privilege of walking the ground that was covered by the attack of the 5th Australian Division in September of 1917. I started at the point known as Black Watch Corner and walked along a track that followed the path of the 5th Division's assault.

The capture of this wood by the Australians and the neaby by town of Zonnebeke by the 4th Australian Division enabled British and Canadian troops to then advance on Passchendaele. The battle of Polygon Wood was the I ANZAC component of a larger British and dominion operation staged as part of the third battle of Ypres. This operation was the second of the "Plumer battles", a serious of well-planned, limited advances supported by large volumes of artillery, masterminded by the British general Herbert Plumer. The name "Polygon Wood" derived from a young plantation forest that lay along I ANZAC's axis of advance.





The Forest Today......there was no undergrowth in 1917 and just a few shattered tree stumps.

Hill 60- Outskirts of the Ypres Salient 1917

The Crater at Hill 60

As part of the opening moves of the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 miners detonated a massive explosion under the German position on Hill 60 ( as depicted in the recent movie). Now this hole has to be seen to be believed!

The Crater

Pointe du Hoc....not in scale but for real!

Now I know that I have dedicated this Blog to the Brothers and our gaming but I thought many of you might be interested in a place I recently visited- and it's why I haven't blogged for a while. I was lucky enough to get to Europe recently and visit the Normandy beaches...and my first stop was Pointe du Hoc. So I hope you'll all forgive my departure from the regular stuff!

This is Point Du Hoc, just near Omaha Beach in Normandy...captured on the 6th of June 1944 by the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Colonel James Earl Rudder. Of the 225 men, 90 were still on their feet when they were finally relieved 2 days later.

The remains of an Ack Ack mounting

 

Force on Force: Modern Skirmish- Bundeswehr vs the Taliban

My son ( Nick Junior) and I decided to put his new 28mm Eureka Miniatures Bundeswehr through their paces recently. The task was simple for the Germans- a routine patrol through 'pacified' territory with the usual 'hearts and minds' visits- knocking on doors and being nice. Well in this scenario, each building that the Germans went to a D6 was rolled. On anything but a '1' all was okay. But eventually the dreaded single digit put in an appearance ( it wouldn't have been much of a game if it didn't) and this indicated a weapons cache.

 German Patrol No1 approach the house where the stashed weapons were found. Tail End Charlie watches the patrol's rear.

Marlburians Again!!

The usual collection of rogues and scoundrels assembled amongst the flotsam and jetsum of my gaming room (read: garage) for a nice little stoush with the 28mm Marlburians. This particular action saw a French force holding a central village awaiting the arrival of their Bavarian allies. The French were being attacked by a combined Dutch and British force, with a flanking Danish/Austrian force attempting to cross a river and turn the French position. If it sounds messy- it certainly was with enough twists and turns to keep us at the table until very late!

The Deployment

Spanish Civil War

Many years ago I bought some Spanish Foreign Legion figures from FAA  ( now produced by someone else but I cannot remember who!) and painted them up. I added a few militia units and then put them in a cupboard for 12 years! Well about 3 years ago we played a game using Flames of War. I wasn’t quite happy with the game and they went back in the box. Phil encouraged me to give them another try as he had some figures too (in fact lots!) and late last year we gave the Spanish Civil War another try using a set of rules called Triumph and Tragedy (T&T). Surprisingly the game went well and Phil decided to expand his collection.  Last week both our piles of metal were put on the table and we used T&T for a game!

The Table- Nationalists to the right (naturally)- Republicans to the left.

 

Another trial of Napoleon at War.

Four of the Brothers assembled amongst the flotsam and jetsam of my games room ( read : garage)  to continue with our trial of the new Napoleon at War (NaW)rules. Now I must confess I have begun to really like these new rules even though a year ago I rebased my large Ottoman army for Lasalles only to find that the Brothers recently switched to NaW . They are fast, bloody, not too complicated and produce an enjoyable game. My main complaint is that they are appallingly written with bits and pieces everywhere that require a bit of cross referencing  and looking back and forth through the rules. But no matter, when the game starts it flows easily and there are some really interesting little nuances in the rules.



The Initial Deployment

The Marine Commandos are here!

No not the ROYAL Marines Commando....I put the Bootnecks in a past blog. This time it's the Compania de Commando Anfibios (Ca Cdo Anf)- the Argentine Marine Commandos. - and I intend to make them double up as Marines that fought at places like Mt Tumbledown as well.



Armed with the FN FAL and Sterling SMGs

Bundeswehr and French Foreign Legion

My son and I have obviously gotten into Force on Force from Osprey and Ambush Alley games in a big way. We recently ordered more troops from Eureka Miniatures to add to our Taliban and US Marines. Nick (junior) ordered the German Bundeswehr and I couldn't resist the Foreign Legionnaires with their FAMAS rifles. I ordered them with  berets (painted green for the Legion- red is for the other French paras) rather than helmets because I prefer the figures with the berets rather than the helmets.

The Bundeswehr

Pachyderm Pandemonium on the Po

Or Romanorum adepto suum anus vulnero
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A report from one of the Brothers: Paulus on the Po!

 It was a cold winter’s dawn but what the Carthaginians thought would be a token Roman force turned out to be a “table bending” tonnage of lethal metal.  Carthage called up all the Allies and all the Barbarians they could lay their hands on.

The Roman Van was certainly impressive.  Cohorts in depth always mean business and they ranged across the central battle field of the Po River Valley as far as the eye could see.  Hannibal and Hasdrubal both vied for command but in the end controlled the wings as Lachlanabal took command while they quibbled.

Napoleon at War (NaW): New rules trial!

Some of the Brothers have been playing the new rules 'Napoleon at War' ( NaW)and I was invited over to Ross' place for a run. It was a quiet one with Ross, Nick (senior) and myself. As a trial, the forces were kept to a minimum ( 1 Brigade of Infantry, 1 battery of guns , and a Brigade of cavalry). Ross devised a simple scenario- clear the opposition away -and the game was on! We were using Ross' very nicely painted 15mm Poles for both sides..

 

The deployment- Ross on the left, Nick and I on the right.

Oversized Force on Force: A full day's game

A friend of mine, Spyros, came over during the school holidays with his son Evan for a game. Spyros is a very serious gamer and his collection of World War II and modern stuff is enormous. His Force on Force terrain is actually pretty spectacular and so we combined all of mine with his for a game that involved my son Nick, and two of Nick’s friends- Jack and Connor and Spyros and Evan.

The Mission:  A combined US Marine and Bundeswehr ( German Army) operation was designed to flush out  a high value target (HVT) - the local insurgent leader. Evan and Jack played the Bundeswehr . Nick was the US Marines and Spyros, Connor and I were the Taliban. The Bundeswehr's job was to move from one end of the table to the other, take out the target and then arrive safely at the US Marine compound.



Overview- impressive stuff!

Empress Miniatures: SAS Sniper Team

My son ( junior Nick), was very keen on the Empress Miniatures SAS sniper team, so a small order for the said team and the SAS squad was entered via email, and a couple of weeks later duly arrived and he set to work to get them ready for the table! I think he did a great job - for a 13 year old!

The finished product