Plattville Project gets under way

Next year is an ACW year for me.  With the 150th anniversary of the conflict this year and with next year being the 50th anniversary of the publication of the War Game by Donald Featherstone I think it seems the time is right for a Plattville project.  

I aim to recreate this famous miniatures battle once again. Some say it was the Confederate defeat at  Plateville Valley that was the turning point of the war and not Lee failure at Gettysburg.        

I plan to use Spencer Smith figures and to recreate the forces involved - this will require 6 infantry regiments  of 22 figures each, 2 cavalry regiments of 15 figures and 2 artillery batteries.  Infantry units are organised into 2 regiment brigades.  

My first unit finished is the 10th Ohio. The figures have been painted in Acrylics and then given 2 coats of gloss to get the old school fell. Figures are left unbased .

And here is the same photo in good old black and white - 

Officer Casualties in the Wargame

I thought I would take a few minutes to describe how I resolve Officer

casualties when playing the Wargame using my 28mm New School Collection.

The units I use are 36 men for Infantry and 16 for Cavalry and light infantry.
These are all multiple based units with 4 infantry or 2 Cavalry/Lights per base
with officers etc mixed on the bases. So no single based Officers to target or
remove.
So this is what I do.

When an infantry unit takes loses from fire it rolls a d10 against the hits
suffered. If the d10 is equal or lower than the hits then an officer is lost
instead of a Other Ranker.

Now assuming the Colonel is still alive I use another dice roll to confirm if
the Colonel is hit.

If all 5 Officers are present the I roll a D10 and remove the CO on a 9 or 10. 
If the CO and 3 other officers are left I use a D8 removing the CO on a 7 or 8.
If the CO and 2 other officer use a D6 etc etc.

In melee I use a D8 against the hits suffered as I think Officers are more
likely to be hit in melee than musketry.

For Cavalry and Lights I use a D8 for fire and D6 for melee and again use a
further roll to work out which officer. So for instance if a cavalry unit takes
an officer hit I roll a D6 and if 5 or 6 comes up its the CO, 3 or 4 the 2nd in
command etc.

To mark Officer loses I use a single small D6 at the base of each unit. If the
?Infantry CO is lost I mark the loss of 2 Officer points by turning up the 2
face on the dice. A Cavalry CO would show a 3. As Officer loses mount the dice
is turned to show the total Officer point loss.

This method is simple and easier to use and adds another bit if fun to the rules
and we have seen on more than 1 occasion that first loss a unit suffers is the
CO.

An Austrian unit has 2 of its 6 morale points 

Zvezda 15mm Plastics

As a change I decided to have a go at some of the new Zvezda 15mm plastic kits in preparation for some Operation Crusader games using Charles Grants 'Battle'.  These kits are easy to assemble at paint up well. Here is are some  pictures of a Hanomag and Panzer IIIG painted for North Africa. 

I added extra stowage bits and some transfers I had lying around to complete the models.  

In all I think these are good kits and will give other companies are run for their money.  These kits cost me £ 2.50 at mu local Boyes and are a lot cheaper than other manufacturers. .

Prince August reinforcements

I have recently picked up a collection of Prince August figures courtesy of Geoffrey from Kendal who had cast these many years and gamed with his son.  Geoffrey kindly gave me the figures for a donation to the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team. 

In all the collection consists of 

4 guns and 12 crew

96 infantry

4 hussars

18 dragoons

8 grenadiers

and 4 spare cavalry which were used as generals.

I will repaint these figures and they will provide welcome reinforcements for the Duchy of Calvados and the Electorate of Furstenburg-Lederhosen 

AWI project

My recent games of the War Game has got a couple of  the other Lads interested in adapting them for the American War of Independence. So we have decided to put together some 40mm armies based on the Battle of Cowpens. 

Well I was happy with this choice as I already had some 40mm AWI figures in 'stock'. My units will be  organised with 24 figures and 4 officers types. I am currently drafting out rule amendments for the War Game

My first unit is a Continental Line using Sash and Sabre figures.  This unit is a fairly well dressed with a mixture of clothing and the odd new recruit still in civvies and armed with muskets and no bayonets.  

   

The second unit is a militia unit and I have used Frank Rank figures for this one.

Battle of Thermos

The other night the Ilkley Old Schoolers decamped to chez Tims for an Ancients game.  The game was based upon he Donald Featherstones classic battle- Trimsos - from his book Wargame. We used form the book rules as written with only one minor change.  Before a player moved the opposition pulled a tile from a bag. These were numbered 2 to 5 and the tile was placed on the table with the back to the moving player so they did not know how many moves they had.. When the moving  player had moved a number of units equal to the number on the tile his move was over.  As the moving player was unaware of how moves he had this added a nice level of uncertainty over the proceeding and worked well in the game.   

The set up - A green cloth and MDF hills. Persian and Greek figures are all from Tims collection

Greek pikemen - we treated these as heavy armoured and spear armed in the rules. 

Persians - In all the Persians had 3 chariots rather then the elephants from the original. We treated each infantry base as having 4 figures regardless of the number of figures on it  

Greek Pike advancing. An awesome sight

The persians throw thier chariots at the Greek Pike but to no avail  -the pike held firm and the chariots were easily beaten 

The game was played with 3 players on the Persians side and 2 on the Greeks.  The moving system described above worked very well as neither side never had enough move to do everything. As a result the fighting flared up across the table rather then have on almighty advance.  

French Mindens

I have just finished my first Minden figures for my 30mm collection. Very nice figures and a joy to paint.  I have based these on Charles Grant Burgundy Regiment. Just need to get another 30+ figures ordered and painted to complete.

Mollwitz

Another 'classic' battle old school battle is Mollwitz from the War Game. Over the last 2 Wednesday nights the Ilkley Old Schoolers had a fun game which ended in a Prussian victory. Again I had to raid my GNW armies to fill the ranks.

The Austrian cavalry boldly advance against their Prussian adversaries - not doubt the fact they have 6 regiments to the Prussian 3 influenced this decision. The Prussians reinforce their cavalry with 2 guns and 2 infantry regiments   

The remainder of the Prussian foot can be seen streaming past Hemsdorf heading towards the Austrian left at Gruningen.
 

Fredrick the Great seems to be lost - Minden is a long way from Mollwitz

The Austrian lines quickly form across the front of Mollwitz extending to the Gruningen.

As the lines of cavalry advance both sides charge and counbter charge into a swelling mass of cavalry.

The Austrians with the greater numbers slowly push the Prussians back but the Prussian artillery is able to assist their hard pressed cavalry and with the support of from the 2 regiments of infantry are able to stop any Austrian advance on this flank.

Gruningen is defended by 2 Austrian regiments who are assaulted by 4 Prussian units. And after some particularly effective close range musketry the Prussian numbers are made tell.

The Erbprinz are a particularly handsome sight as they advance towards the Austrian defenders.

Supported by more Prussian infantry the pressure is too much for the Austrians who units begin to crack under the pressure of the sustained effective volleys of the Prussian Infantry.

With the night drawing in the Austrian decide to quit the filed covered by their still numerous cavalry.

Frederick had got his first victory

Adler Miniatures

I thought I would have a go at some small scale figures so have recently bought a few of the excellent Adler 6mm SYW figures.  I have organised these as 48 figures units with 6 extra officer figures. My thoughts are to get enough to play the War Game or Charge on the kitchen table using cm instead inches and use roster sheets to mark off casualties.  Here a couple of shots of the first unit.  

  

Fontenoy - the action

A short report of the action at Fontenoy played using the Charles Grant rules from the War Game. 

Infantry units consisted of  36 figures and light infantry 18 figures. Cavalry have 16 Sabres per regiment.  I do  not use separate officer figures instead their casualties are marked using a D6 at the rear of the unit. 

Hungarian Infantry launch an attack on Fontenoy. They are racked by musketry and artillery fire. 

There assault reaches the defences but after a short melee they are thrown back in disorder

As the assault goes in French reserves are rushed into support the defenders. Additional Allied units can be seen moving up to support the Hungarians. 

Fresh Allied infantry advancing into the Fontenoy Maelstrom. These are in fact GNW Saxons  

To relieve pressure on Fontenoy the French Cavalry launch a holding attack. After a drawn out melee both sides with withdraw exhausted to rally. 

As the Allied attack on Fontenoy ebbs the Allied commanders decide to a launch an attack on the French centre. With flags flying and drums beating British Infantry supported by Austrian Cavalry start a slow methodical advance towards the French centre

Gentleman of France Fire first!!!  

The British continue to advance with range closing the volleys become more deadly. The French also pour canister into the tight British ranks. The British pass one morale check, but with 3 officers down they fail the second one and retreat. 

 In one final effort the British launch one last attack. But after a short melee the attack is halted and the British retire.  

A hard fought fun game that is certainly a challenge for the Allied players.