Nery 1914 game

I hosted my first 1914 game the other day at my store. The game was to represent the action at Nery between British and German Cavalry. The British had one HMG section at the Sugar Factory, one gun section of 13pdrs in the hay field (L battery) and two dismounted cav troops in the town (11th Hussars). They had a reserve platoon but did not know what it was or where it was going to come in. It was a troop of mounted Guard cav in delayed reserve but more on that later.

 The Germans had a full battery of 7.7 guns, one HMG section and two mounted troops. The guns were deployed on the ridge and the players were given the option to have the cav mounted or dismounted, they chose mounted.
The first turn the Germans were the attacker and got to fire first but not move. The British started pinned down to represent the surprise and the lifting fog.
 



After some exchange of fire and maneuvering, The German Artillery had been reduced to two guns while L battery stayed whole. The German cav charged across the field at the guns and took a  few before they were shot to pieces. The troop that was trying to take the Sugar factory was mowed down by the HMGs.



 In the end the Germans went below half strength and not having a CO failed company morale. The British lost L battery but held the field. It was a good game and all had a grand time with many cheers and laughs. Thanks to the players for entertaining me and my WWI obsession.

Back in the WW1 saddle!

Well I am finally back at my WW1 life long project. I just finished a half troop of Peter Pig German Dragoons. They were from the huge collection I obtain last year. I stripped them and repainted. I really like them but I wish they had a command pack and a few more poses.

Next are a few pics of some recent ebay purchases. The first is an FT-17 TSF from an unknown manufacture. I have it assembled and base coat painted. I plan on making an extension on the skid for the antenna wire and it has a hole for the antenna. I think it will make a great little model.

Next are some Iron Brigade Miniatures also from ebay.

This is a very cool truck. It should go nicely with the Minifig ones I have (pic).

This is a Mk 1 tank. I am really excited about this model. Should make a nice piece.

It looks to be about the same size as the Peter Pig Mk IV model.

Last is an Austin A/C. I have it pictured with my QRF modified model. I will keep this for my Russian army. It may be some time!

Still on the job hunt but the ebay business is keeping my head above water.

I have one more half troop of PP German Uhlans on the workbench along with a number of GW items heading for ebay. Then on to the TSF and Mk 1. Hope to get some gaming in with my mates next weekend.

1914 British Life Guards

With a snow storm that dumped over 24" of snow I had a little time to do some painting. This is a troop of British Life Guards. The figures are a mix of Minifigs and the updated version from GFI titled British Lifeguard Troopers. The GFI figures come with larger horses than the old Minifigs. They come with lances but I removed them because my research into the Life Guards did not have them as lancers. Not like the Germans, only Lancer units carried lances. Only one squadron was sent to France in August 1914 as part of a composite Regiment. They saw action at Mons, the Marne and Ypres. The rest of the Regiment arrived in October 1914. With the completion of this troop and the half troop of Peter Pig figures, very little will be needed to complete a Squadron. I plan on finishing the second half of the Peter Pig figure squadron (still need to order the figs), create a Squadron HQ and paint up some packsaddlrey horses (QRF makes some nice figs) for the Cavalry machine gun section.

The other items completed are two artillery limbers. I still need one more for the half battery and plan on ordering it with the next GFI order.

Again the pictures are not that great. I suspect I need a new camera.

Reference:

http://1914-1918.net/lifeguards.htm

Flee market time!

I am posting a few extras I have For Sale. All are of an average to low paint level but good enough to game with. If interested let me know, prices are negotiable. Shipping will by via USPS.

Irregular Miniatures EW French gun crew, 14 figures $7.00
Minifig LW German Infantry, 11 stands (30 figures) $15.00

Peter Pig HMG teams, 12 figures, $6.00

Peter Pig British EW HQ stands, 8 figures with tables and acc. $5.00

Minifig crews, Peter Pig 18pdrs, 3 guns and crews $10.00

Irregular Miniatures EW British gun crews, 12 figs, $6.00

EW British Cavalry

I just finished touching up and rebasing some Peter Pig EW cavalry mounted and dismounted.
Most were from the collection I purchased but I had to order a mounted command pack and used an artillery crew and some Minifig horses for the dismounted stand.
It is only a half a troop so I would like to finish it off sometime in the future. I have a full troops worth of the Minifig Guard Cav figures that I will rebase sometime soon.

The Peter Pig figures are very nice and paint up easily. I wish the paint job was better on these but will do.

There is a really nice article on the British cav on the Renegade Miniatures site - http://renegademiniatures.com/article16.htm

I am really looking forward to gaming the EW period, if I could just get my Germans back from the painter.

Adding a little variety to my British infantry company

To give my games a little more flavor I have created two new company command teams.




The first is a Scottish Lowland command. Many of the Lowland units wore the same uniform as the regular British so the infantry are fine. The Scottish get the Bagpipe rule so the 2IC needs to have a bagpipe. The 2IC and CO are wearing Glengarrys.


The second command team is Australian. The uniform is again as the regular British. Here the 2IC and CO along with a rifleman are wearing a slouch hat. updated 1/4/2010


I also plan on using my British as Canadians but you don't need to do any modeling mods.



Here are a few links for sources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_52nd_(Lowland)_Division

http://renegademiniatures.com/article10.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Corps

Trench Raid Mission

This past Monday (12/28) I put on a Trench Raid game for the DAHGS.
This was the first play test for this mission with others and I was really looking forward to their feedback. I had played it solo and enjoyed it. I will post some ideas on how to do this in the future.
I let them pick sides and nations. Jan and Frank chose the British and Attackers and Josh (with my help) was the Germans and Defender.
The British had a raiding force of three full infantry platoons. Since the rules allow the attacker the Kampfgroup rule they created a fourth platoon using the 2IC and teams from the existing platoons. The Germans had three infantry platoons, an HMG section, a Marksman HMG section and two SOS barrages.
The British chose to attack at night. For those not familiar with the Night Fighting rules this limits movement (no double timing) and visibility (each platoon must roll for visibility each turn).
After the placement of the objectives, six in all, three placed by each side, the Germans plotted their SOS barrages. The British then placed their platoons and wire gap markers.

Turn one through three were fairly uneventful as the British moved through the wire and into the trenches quietly in the dark and the Germans did not successfully roll for any troops (reserves). The British did manage to take two objectives (I made a mistake on the first one and allowed them to capture the first one incorrectly). To counter this I gave the Germans an extra die for the next two turns for reserves.

One turn four the Germans were successful in calling in both SOS barrages and receiving two platoons. They rolled a 2 and 6 for location of entry. The six being the left side front trench that the British had not set up a blocking unit like they did on the left (location 1). The Germans entered an infantry platoon at this location. Location 2 was the right side support trench which the Germans brought in the HMG section. From this point the left side was afire with grenade blasts and rifle and MG fire pretty much the rest of the game.
The Germans assaulted the British, forcing them back and successfully holding the objective in that location.
The British had obtained two objectives and needed a third to have a minor victory. Their right flank was in a struggle costing them casualties so the left went for a bold move to capture a deeper objective on their side. Luck was with them as the Germans had a difficult time unpinning their platoons and allowing the British to sneak a few teams up and eventually taking the third objective. The German HMG section on that side must have had extremely bad night vision because they were never able to see farther than 4”.

Now all the British had to do was get it’s platoons off the board. Easier said than done!
Their tactics were text book as they left Lewis gun teams to cover the escape and it was working on their left. Their right was another story and before the last teams could escape their casualty numbers caused a moral test which they failed reducing their number of platoons that had captured an objective to two. A Minor victory to the Germans.

A good time was had by all! The only tweak to the mission is to reduce or eliminate the 8” distance from the table edge requirement for the objectives.

Scratch building a 15mm 6" Newton Mortar

I thought since I was creating a few more I would give some details and show how easy it is.

The 6” Newton Mortar was the standard medium mortar for the British army in World War One from early 1917.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_6_inch_Mortar

This project is actually very simple. The items needed are; a regular round toothpick, some card stock, thin wire, glue and a little patience.

I glue the tube to the base and let dry. Then I cut the wire and glue it on. I add a dab of glue to the top to get a ridge around the top. Some wire as hand holds.

Hope this helps!

Middle East project progress

I have made some more progress on my Middle East project.
Below are the Arab LMG teams I created a few weeks ago in full color.
I am really happy with them!


The next is the third and final Turkish infantry platoon completed along with six Turkish guards mounted individually. These will be used for raiding games I am planning on running.


Last is my version of a Talbot Car used in conjunction with the Rolls Royce A/Cs.
It is a Minifi WWI generic truck. I did a head swap on the driver using a Peter Pig WWI Sun hat head.

The Talbot Cars were armed with old light field guns. The gun is a Peter Pig Screw Gun from the PITS line. The crew are EW British Minifig.

I made the gun removable by mounting it on a piece of metal basing allowing the truck to be used for other purposes. I think it turned out smashing and should be a real blast on the game table.

Next up, Arabs!

More EW figures done.

Since I sent my EW German company out to be painted I have been working on some smaller units for my EW armies. I can usually only get a few minutes every few days at the painting table so it goes slowly.

This is a British Artillery section. The figures were already painted (fair) so I just did some touch up and re based them. I did not mount the guns allowing the unit to have 4.5" How (pictured above - QRF model) or 18pdrs (pictured below - Peter Pig). Crew are Peter Pig.

I did the same thing with the German Artillery section. I repainted the figures completely with these. This is with the 7.7cm Field gun (Peter Pig)

This is with the 10.5 How (Peter Pig). Crew are also Peter Pig.

This last pic is of German Cavalry dismounted. They were just touched up, dipped and re based. They are Peter Pig figures.

I am currently removing some French Colonial Zouaves (Blue Horizon Miniature figures) from there original bases, touching them up, dipping and re basing but more on them in another post.

EW BEF Infantry

Here are my 1914 British Infantry. They were part of the large collection I purchased a few months ago. The figs are Peter Pig painted to a reasonable gaming standard. I rebased them for FOW1918 and dipped them. I think they look pretty good. I just need to do some cav and an artillery battery but I am on to the German Infantry next.

CO and 2IC.

British 6" Newton mortar section complete

This is my 6" Netwon Mortar section I just finished. The mortars are scratch built the crew are Minifigs artillery figures, some with head swaps and the wagons are BF.

They should be a blast (pun intended) on the gaming table and add something different. With only two tubes they will probably not be all that effective though.

I plan on pulling them out for an Amiens game some time soon with the DAHWGs.