10mm mayhem aka Warhamster!!!

Because of schedule difficulties, no big games were planned for me at the Hamilton Road Games Club last Saturday. Andy brought a game called "Admirals" which was a naval version of Stratego. I'd neve played it before, so I was promptly trounced by Andy.  Then it was Robby's turn to be sunk.
After that Robby and I laid out the old Warmaster figures. He played High Elves (his sister's figures) while I played Arthurians (my wife's figures of a makey-uppy army; I usually play Empire while Robby pushes Dwarfs.) He beat me and really beat up my center with a brigade of chariots. My barbarian horse cracked his left but the chariots swept the center and some of my right. A revoltin' development, as has been said.
Now to the photos! (Thanks to Glenn who lent me his camera and forwarded the photos.)


Elven Chariots and Silver Helm heavy cavalry (GW figs)





Arthurian Heavy Cavalry (Pendragon & Copplestone figs)




Arthurian cavalry again




The Chariot brigade takes an objective and prepares to massacre by bowmen
(Just out of frame). The Elven mage rides a Slinky in the background.




This is how we depict the Elven Dragon Riders. I wish I knew what make
the dragon was. I think it was picked up at a flea market/Bring&Buy.





the right flank of the Elvenhost... facing late Romans (peeking out of the
left of frame.) Not too effective but they didn't have to be.





Since I had Dogs of War mercenaries added to the Arthurians, the paychest
was required! Yes, it looks like a strong box on a flatcar, but the Dog Brothers
get paid.



A Dragon Rider faces down mercenary barbarian cavalry (GW Chaos
Marauders - one of my favourite figures)



The Chariots begin to slaughter the late Roman bowmen. Messy...
and it got messier.





















Warmaster has to be my favourite GW game (up there with Man O' War). It sad it never got the support it deserved. Maybe it has a larger following than I know. I haven't tried the Ancient or Medieval versions (too much money to buy too many new armies) although I've amassed a considerable ECW/TYW collection in 10mm for a variant on Warmaster I found on-line from a Pittsburgh games club. That'll show up here someday. Whatever the case, I'll continue to enjoy the game. After all, I bought it; It's MY game now!

Summer is the time for 1/1 scale gaming!

Last Saturday, my family and I took part in the Port Dover Marine Heritage Festival in Port Dover, ON. There were three reenactment of a battle that never took place, although US Forces burned the port and areas around sometime in 1814. It was hot as all get out, but it was fun. Late morning - Skirmish; midafternoon - battle on the field; evening - Battle on the beach... with a ship and boats!
(All photos of the evening battle courtesy of my wife, Beth and my daughter, Katie.)


The Badger and the Pandora supporting the "landing".
The brigantine, St. Lawrence II is in the background.




The St. Lawrence II, which packs a cannon for the reenactment, sits
a bit off shore in Lake Erie.




The 17th US Infantry (myself, Robby, and Lyle) prepares to advance.
We were the rear guard and last to leave the field... with empty cartridge boxes.
We were the only Regular US Army unit reenactors present, although the
US Marines made a good showing, as always.




The Kentucky Volunteer Rifles serve as light infantry - blue hunting frocks
with red trim and slouch hats. A good crowd!



The 17th held the left of the US line. The Incorporated Militia of Upper
Canada Connecticut are to our right. There's always a suplus of British/
Canadian/Crown forces and some get "drafted" into the forces of the Republic!



The mighty fortifications of Port Dover. They didn't survive the battle...
especially since Robby and Lyle stomped them down!




The 17th... after action and before ice cream!




"Sand??" he said. Robby expresses an opinion.



Yes, they really fire. Just powder, no ball. Still,
a .75 calibre musket makes a noise and has to be
respected. Never point one at anybody.

Not much reenacting now until the Siege of Fort Erie, ON in early August. THAT's the one to see. We reenact in and around the actual battlefield of Fort Erie. It's quite a privilege. Maybe Fort Meigs/2nd US Artillery from Ohio will bring their 6-pounder again. In October, the Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London, ON will host the 1812 Grand Tactical for the Battle of Upper Canada. It should be huge. 

Meanwhile back in New France

Once more the Games Club went into the French & Indian War for our inspiration. The British were attacking French and Native settlements with objectives known only to them. Before the game, 3 objectives were diced for out of six possible. Meeting one objective meant a draw, two - a marginal victory, three - a crushing victory for the British. Three on a side, and off we went. We used Iron Ivan's "This Very Ground" rules with so me minor house adjustment, the biggest of which was to allow the regular units to fire in a triple line, as was done historically, so I'm told. Provincials, Militia, and Natives cannot do this. In fact, the Natives cannot even form up and spend the entire game in skirmish order. We also permit all disrupted units a free attempt at recovering morale at the end of each full turn. (Thanks to Andy for all the photos.)


The French - 3 line companies and 1 grenadier company - await orders at the beginning of the game.





The First Nations warriors move to defend their settlement - Andy's new long house.




 The British line advances on the cattle while the Independant Companies
of the Ministry of Marine watch from across the stream.




A view down the "spine" of the table - Regulars and other cattle.



The British - Regulars, Provincials, and Militia - stealin' cattle.



More rustling, or I should say, "requsitioning of beef" by the militia
as the Redcoat Regulars engage the Whitecoat Regulars over the rail fences.




British Provicial troops move toward the Native warriors in the left center of the photo.
The Natives stayed in the forest and smashed the Provincials... this time.



Musket and bayonet vs, tomahawk and warclub in the forested area. Messy.



In the foreground, the British Light Infantry exchange shots with the French Light
Infantry and the Independant Company in a village across the stream.
The British got the worst of it.



At the end, we discovered the British  objectives were to:

1. Steal/requisition all the cattle
2. Burn the boats at the villiage dock
3. Burn the village

The boats were too far away and the bridge crossing was much too hot, so the Redcoats only achieved one goal and there was plenty of beef for all in this drawn game.

Games with objectives make for good, solid, entertaining games. Large, slash-and-burn games are fine for ancients, but 18th Century on seems to go better with goals and objectives rather than "kill me all of them."

Greetings from Sick Bay

Not really. I've been suffering from a nasty respiratory malady for a few days, and I'm done no gaming and very little painting. (I almost lost my voice which is a real  problem in my line of work.) So I'm going down "Memory Lane" and sharing some old painting I enjoyed doing.


From Copplestone Castings, Captain Spaulding and Alan Quartermain.
The Quartermain fig was a special one year at Historicon.
The Captain is always a favourite!





The Gentleman's cyber-Gentleman... in brown shoes. (Copplestone)




Pulp Miniatures' "The Shadowy Avenger" (*wink, wink*)
Knowing what evil lurks in the hearts of men and that the weed of crime
bears bitter fruit.



When I played WFB, I tried to run the Black Company as a mercenary regiment.
Lots of simple head swops

Arthur, King of the Britons for my wife's Arthurian Warmaster army.
(Copplestone and Pendragon minis)



My "Mercenary Brigade" for an Empire Warmaster army -
the Red Death Legion, the Wild Geese, the Hochmeister Regiment, and...
The Black Company. (GW Warmaster figs)




Some ECW/TYW regiments using a variation on GW's Warmaster
(Pendragon and Old Glory 10's mixed)



Grenadier Barbarians working as Chaos Marauders with a sprinkling of
GW Chaos Marauders as "advisors".  I was always impressed with 
Grenadier Models product. I think they are still moulded in Italy.




Napoleonics! My wife's Italians face my Austrians. A mixed bag of figures
on both sides.



A horrible "phone photo" of part of my Gallic army for WAB. Talk about
Chaos! But they're SO much fun!




A brigade of my SYW Russians face down my wife's Bavarian hussars.
The Cossacks will probably not do much to help. (Freikorp 15's and Essex)



More 1/1 gaming, Part 2

Somehow this photo didn't make it into the previous post!



Robby cuts loose with Brown Bess. He's dressed in the uniform of the Royal
Newfoundland Regiment and was told he wears it well!

I just wanted to add this photo since it's a good one.



More 1/1 gaming

No miniature gaming lately, but more reenacting. The King's Company assisted at the education day at Backus-Page House, Wallacetown, ON, last weekend. On Friday, Robby and I and two other members ambushed the grade 8 students who had been drilled as American raiders. We set a roadblock and held them off with very little success. We did defeat the slugs in the woods, although we were heavily out-numbered. On Saturday, we took part in a "raid" on the Talbot settlement for the public to see.

Many Strings (Kim L., professor of music at the University of Western Ontario), Robby, and myself at the question period. I portrayed a Canadian local militiaman and Robby, a member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

 

The US raiders at the house. Jonathan, our first sergeant, Lyle, and Owen.





The raiders take the house after "shooting" the farmer. Lyle's son, in red, was sort of a junior militiaman.




The Crown forces counterattack.




Kim/Many Strings awaits his moment to charge with his deadly "foam-ahawk."
He took down Lyle in the afternoon raid and scalped Owen in the morning show.





Nick from our group portraying Colonel Talbot.
The Colonel was a major factor in the settling of this part of Ontario.



Jeff, Robby, Owen, and Lyle drill the "Mini-militia." All the boys and girls present are 'conscripted' to
learn drill with wooden muskets. Always fun to see. Jeff does a great job and parents take lots of photos.





Robby cuts loose with Brown Bess. He's dressed in the uniform of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment
and was told that he wears it well.

  

In answer to a boy's question, Jeff shows how a Native warrior could defeat a bayonet with a knife and tomahawk... providing the soldier was alone. I joined Robby a few minutes later and showed the youngster how the line defeats the single warrior.

Part of our reenacting is education of the public and even that can be a load of fun. So is explaining why your musket didn't go off despite 3 reloadings! There will be more reenacting in the summer and more in 2012, the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Another nasty alarm clock...

Happy  Holiday everyone! (A rainy Victoria Day here in Ontario.)
On Saturday, the Gaming Group used almost the same table as the week before (used for 1812) to do a French and Indian War raid. (Iron Ivan's 'This Very Ground' rules were used... actually for F&I <Gasp!>)

   The British (Andy and Kevin) held the village with two companies of regulars, a company of grenadiers, a company of light infantry, a 6-pounder and crew, and two companies of Provincial infantry, just waking up in their camp. The regulars were on parade or on piquet duty. The French (Robby and I) approached in the morning haze with 3 companies of regulars, a company of grendiers, a company of light infantry, a small company of militia, and 3 small native warbands.[Our cunning plan was to set buildings on fire, disrupt garrison life, cause the British internet service to crash, and steal their wig  powder. Well, maybe not the last two.]



The Provincials have a rude awakening. (All photos by Andy; I fogot my camera!) HRGG custom requires a bottle of pop of some type be on the table 75% of the time. We're nothing if not traditionalists!

  

Elmer Borden, chief bull of the herd, looks at the village. I think he's considering buying land.


The British piquets sounded the alarm and fell back through the woods after exchanging fire with the French lights and militia. The native warbands advanced through the fields on the right as the regulars and grenadiers advanced in line toward the village. The Royal Artillery ran to their gun and began loading. Ithe Hatmen on parade moved to take up a position between building just off the centre square. The grenadiers formed column and advanced toward the French lights, but soon pulled back, realizing that they would be masking the gun. The Provincial companies formed up and began to move to a fence line facing the Natives.

"Lookit all them white coats, Clem!" The French and Natives advance.

 

An overview of the center of the table. The 6# gun is on the other side of the last house on the right. The British grenadiers advance in column, while three companies of French infantry advance in line over the field.



Two native warbands charged the Provincials behind the rail fence. A mistake as the braves were cut to ribbons. The third warband under the Sachem fired the kitchen house (middle foreground in the photo above.) Two French infantry companies exchanged fire with the British Hatmen. One company fired a volley while the other fired a half-volley (I didn't want to be completely unloaded should the Brits reply in kind.) The two firings took out 30% of the Red-coat company. Nasty! ("Formidable!") Their morale sagged and they fell back. My third French company tried to fire the woods in front of them. Took three activations! (It was more damp than I thought.) Meanwhile, the British grenadiers thought better of things and withdrew to form line in support of the gun and the piquet company. The gun fired on the French lights and achieved great execution... even though they were in loose order. The militia attempted to fire the woods and failed miserably. Since Robby and I set stuff on fire and had cornered the market on wig powder, we made use of the better part of valour and took off. We also upset morning tea. The French grenadiers had the worst of the exchange of fire with the Provincials, who were making a halting attempt to flank the assault force. The Native warbands had been decimated, the lights were hurting, so we withdrew in good order.

As the Natives get wiped out in the foreground, the second British regular company advances to engage the French grenadiers behind the kitchen house where a native warband engages in pyromania.

 

The fire spreads! Robby loves Andy's fire counters - cotton balls glued to metal washer and given a quick spray with black primer. As a matter of fact, I love them too!



Regulars advance, Provincial administer the coup de grace to the native through the rail fence. The Britiah light are in the far background.

  Since we achieved our objective to some extent, it was considered a minimal victory for the French, but a costly one. Lessons learned:

• Fire that volley! A half decent roll will do wonders to your morale as a player and really mess up your opponent's day. Just beware of being caught unloaded.
• Don't use Native warbands a shock troops in open country. In the woods, they're deadly. On the flanks, they'll distract and even scare some opponents. They have great value in drawing people's attention. In the open... eh, not so much.
• Don't mask your cannon. Unless you are NKVD or such, shooting your own troops is a bad idea.
• Don't get distracted by piddly units demonstrating (dancing around) in front of you. Like a red cape to a bull...
• Remember your mission. Keep your eye on the sparrow, as they'd say.
• Don't discount a marginal victory. The second word is the key.
• Always, always, always... have fun. It is why we play with toy soldiers!