Spot the difference

I managed to grab some time today to do a spot of basing on my Spencer Smith ACW figures whilst on a long conference call for work.

Any way here are some pictures of some of figures side by side.  

Can you spot the difference. 

I will give you a clue. One is a metal figure available today from Spencer Smith miniatures where as the other is a plastic figures circa the sixties/seventies 

In photos 1 and 2 the left hand figure is metal and the right hand one in photo 3.

Vapnartak 2014

We had a busy but fun day at Vapnartak on Sunday. Our Tomahawks and Muskets participation was busy with a few younger players joining in.

Here are a few pictures of the action.

I managed to squeeze in some shopping as well and picked up a copy of Charles S Grants new Wargaming in History Volume 9 which includes Lobositz and Kolin and indeed Charles has used some of my photos of these battlefields.

AWI Game

We ran through our participation game for Vapnartak in a few weeks time.

For a change we are doing a participation game using 40mm figures from the Front Rank and Sash and Sabre ranges.

For rules we are using Musket and Tomahawks which will make for a fun game.

Here are a few pictures of the game.

Rule ideas for The War Game

I have been thinking about some rule ideas for Charles Grants the War Game.

My 28mm collection is organized on 16 figure infantry and 8 figure cavalry units. For the War Game I combine these into 32 and 16 figure units respectively.

The problem is there are no officers to remove which makes morale a bit harder to work out.

Well I have come up with the following ideas.

Infantry and cavalry units are based upon the number 8. Units will therefore be 8, 16, 24, 32 etc

Unit strength loses for Morale are as follows

1/8 lost -1

1/4 lost -2

3/8 lost -3

1/2 lost -4

The 50% rule still applies

Sounds complex but actually for a 32 man unit mounted 4 on a base this equals a base per increment. 2 base lost is - 2 on a morale test.

For 16 cavalry mounted 2 to a base it equals, yes you guessed it, a base a increment

Officer losses. When ever a unit loses 1/8 of its strength roll a d6.  If a 6 is rolled the unit loses an officer and suffers a -1 morale penalty.  For each officer lost roll another D6 and if it's a another 6 it's the Colonel that is Iost. I mark the unit with a small dice showing officers lost. 

An oprtional rule is to lose an officer on a 5 or 6 in a Melee.

Infantry firing get 1 dice per complete base of 4 figures firing. Use the standard rules for firing except to reduce the casualties I have introduced saving throws.

For each hit, except Officer loses, caused by Infantry volleys throw a d6 saving on a 5 or 6. This applies to all target types.

As Light Infantry fires individually I don't propose to make any changes to light infantry firing. Light Infantry can still target enemy officers.

Battle of Ilkleysburg

My son Max got the BMC Gettysburg playset for Christmas which together with his other 54mm figures means he can put on some fair size games.

This afternoon we set up and fought the Battle of Ilkleyburg using some simple Wellsian rules and a Lego Cannon.

I managed to capture a few Dariographs of the resulting brisk action.

I commanded the Rebels and deployed the bulk of my troops around  Tennants Farm.

I deployed my infantry in my centre ready to attack the Union line which was well entrenched behind rubble and fences.

We started trading shots (we had 3 rounds per turn). 

Ouch - Max's shorting was accurate. 

I decided to launch my infantry in an all out attack. Max takes careful aim and...

When the smoke clears the borken remains of my troops retire in disorder.

Cheers

American Civil Wargaming in History - Antietam

The Wargaming in History Books by Charles S Grant are truly inspirational. The writing style, content and approach to representing famous battles are a lesson to us all of how to recreate battles on the tabletop.

In the last few months I have once again returned to thoughts of gaming the American Civil War.  This has partly been inspired in my son Max who has got the ACW bug.

The other evening I started thinking about putting on some large games using my 28mm collection. Having just about finished reading the first volume of Shelby Foote trilogy's my head is full of the early battles and the battle of Antietam in particular.

Antietam has always been my favourite action and is I my opinion the best of all the battlefields I have visited. 

So I have decided to give Antietam the Grant treatment and put the game on in the same style as the battles in Wargaming in History books.  I am not sure which rules to use yet.

More later

Ilkley Young School

After Football training my son invited 2 of his friends over a game with their dads. I quickly set up a game for 4 players. 

Each player had 24 Infantry, 8 cavalry and a gun and 4 crew. Each player also had a General figure.  In all 37 figures each.

The rules used where the simple rules from Charge with a few house rules.

Mark struggled with the low ceiling in my basement. Whilst Loius decide decided to wear a steel helmet to protect his head.

The kids and dads had fun and they picked up the rules quickly.

Louis command started well causing loses to Max's troops. However Louis divided his infantry allowing Max to maneovre and fire into the rear of Louis infantry which took him over 50% loses and forced out of the game.

Harry and his Howard his father had been trading loses but as Max's victorious infantry turned on Harry flank the combined firepower was too much and Harry's command was soon joining Loius and forced to retire.

Both the boys and dads enjoyed the games and asked if they could play again.