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.

Early Germans core army finished

 I finished my core stands for the Early German army. It is 1- 4Wb(Gen), 10 - 4Wb & 1 - 2Ps. As I noted in my previous post, I based three figures instead of four on the 4WB base size. I could not see mounting four. It would be to crowded. I enjoyed doing the guys and I really like the poses. The shields are okay, I wish I could free hand scrolls better but...

For their camp I mounted up an Ox cart. I think it will work fine. I left room for a stand to be placed on it. In the future if I find some camp followers I will add them.

I plan on doing the following options for this army - 1 - 3Cv (Gen), 1 - 3Cv, 1 - 2Lh and 1 - 2Ps. I have one more stand for my Romans, 1 3Cv, and the core of both armies will be done and I can start gaming with them.

The pics still are not great, need to work with this camera some more.

Early Germans II/47 not British

Well I was wrong in my last post. The barbarian army I am building are actually going to be Early German not British as I had noted in my last post. I have decided to go with three figs on the 4Wb (20mm) stand. Putting four of these guys on a stand would be really crowded and I don't think it would look as good. I will be able to build the A, B, D, F & G lists when I am done but for the moment I am going to focus on the G list.  This army is to be a matched pair for the Romans so I will only focus on those lists.

II/47 Early German 115BC - 250AD


a) Cimbri & Teutones(113-102BC) - 1x3Cv(Gen), 1x3Cv, 9x4Wb, 1x2Ps

b) Ariovistus (58BC) - 1x4Wb(Gen), 2x3Cv, 8x4Wb, 1x2Ps

c) Batavi Rebellion (69AD) - 1x3Cv(Gen), 2x4Aux, 8x3Wb, 1x2Ps

d) Other Batavi - 1x3Cv(Gen), 9x4Wb, 2x2Ps

e) Cherusci - 1x3Cv or 3Wb(Gen), 9x3Wb, 2x2Ps

f) Tencerti - 1x3Cv or 4Wb(Gen), 1x2Lh, 9x4Wb, 1x2Ps


g) Others - 1x3Cv or 4Wb(Gen), 10x4Wb, 1x2Ps

Red indicates enemies to the Roman army II/56.


This is what they looked like when I got them. Some still do.

 

This is after a Simple Green soak and a wire brush.

This is them in all their glory! Not the best pic, still trying to figure this camera out. I will post pictures of my finished army hopefully soon.

 

I have ordered some shield decals and am waiting to see how they will work.

Losing focus but gaining an army

 I started this year with a list of projects and was hoping to stick to it. Well, that didn't last long. I wan digging through the bins of figures I have and came across some 25mm Romans. When I opened the shop I had taken a few stands and rebased and touched them up to make a demo DBA army. They are RAFM historical figures which we can call old school style. So I did five stand and five stands of some Old Glory Celts (more on them later). They never really got used so they were put away and kinda forgotten. So I am looking at the bin of figs and decide that I don't need all of them, seventy some painted green, yellow and blue. I pull the blue ones, rebase and touch them up as Aux, four stands. The others are in the case at the store for sale. This gives me four Blade, a Blade general and the four Auxilia. Not much more and I have an army. I find two cav that will work as Light Horse, so I ordered the artillery piece (using some extra figs as crew) and Cav from RAFM to finish it up. They are not great but a decent gaming quality and I think it will make a great army for a better visual game. The camp is very simple and generic, works for me.

The RAFM figs are not that bad. They have separate heads and weapons so you can personalize them. They are the older chunky style but still not bad. For the Aux I removed any plum form the helm to give them a different from the Blade along with the different base and staggered line basing.

Once the Cav and Art come in I will paint them up and will be done. I will post a pic of the complete army then.

As for the Celts, I have decided to do them up as a British Amry so I have a matched pair. Since I have a ton of Old Glory figs I will not need to buy anything for them but it will be a total Warband army. I do have enough cavalry to give them two light horse to add a little something different. These will take a little longer as I have to strip the figs (ghastly paint job) and repaint them.

I am still working on my FoW - EW, MW and LW but slowly and my WWI figures have been calling my name lately ...

FoW, SDS (61/65) and Warhammer projects progression

I have completed a few more parts to the many projects I have in the works.

First up is a Flames of War early war Panzer IIC platoon. I really dragged my feet on doing these because I was not enthused about them. Thier stats are not that great - Rof 3, AT 5, FP 5, but they are a required combat platoon for the Czech tank company that I have. I have been having trouble with the big tanks of EW, Char B, T34, etc. and could not see how these little guys would help. My air support was not making it through the AA fire. Well they can't help on the monsters but they are a good light vehicle/infantry killer so they can be good for holding an objective.

These are 28mm tents that I have been molding for my Song of Guns and Shakos/'61-'65 games. I found a really old resin tent and just made a mold with 3D Gel and Plaster of Paris from the craft store. The molds only lasted three pours each so I will need to find a better molding compound for my next project. Once dry I will paint them to seal and protect them but they will be fragile.

On the table now is another unit of archers for WHFB, and some French ATGs. I am considering a Hungarian Assault gun company for a FOW 1750 challenge pyramid we are going to start at the shop. Just what I need, another project in the mix. We will see...

Warhammer HYW/WOR Song of Drums and Shakos

Here are a few pics of my latest Warhammer Fantasy Bretonnians. I plan on using the archers and billmen for HYW/WOR 28mm DBA in the future.

Seven ranks of five billmen with full command and a knight. I am hoping this dept will allow them to stay on the table longer.

A GW Damsel, not a fan of Magic but I am finding it is an important part of the game. I am planning on using her more for defence from Magic than actually attacking with it, more because I am up to speed on the Magic phase. I left her eyes all white as if she was going into a trance.

GW Trebuchet, I am not a fan of the crew though they did paint up nicely. The peasants are made to be such dregs of the earth and not my cup of tea.

Song of Drums and Shakos is a skirmish level Napoleonics rule set that I just recently discovered. I have played it twice now using my ACW figs and really am enjoying it. I just got a copy of the 61/65 ACW company level rules that have the details on playing ACW with SDS (only a few rule changes).

I plan on writing a number of scenarios for the Mosby raids and doing some Peninsular War.

I have started on some terrain for this and will have pictures in my next post along with some more Bretonnian archers.

2011 goals

For 2011 I have made a few personal hobby goals and I want to post them up to maybe help me stay on track and get a few projects completed. These are for me compared to my business (Huzzah Hobbies) goals.

First off is to blog more often. I would like to post at a minimum once a month but hopefully more often.

Next is a list of projects. Each is rated by priority (1-5, 1 being high) and percentage complete.

FOW1918
1914 German Inf. Co.  45%   3
1914 British Cav. Sq.  80%    4
1917 Arabs                 50%    2

FOW EW WWII
French Tank Co.         90%    1
German Tank Co.       85%     1
(the EW Escalation at the store should help with this)

WHFB
Bretonnians                 75%     1
(the league is helping with this)
This is a little outside my normal historical realm but I plan on using a majority of the figures for historical games)

28mm Skirmish
Napoleonics               0%        3
ACW                       90%        2
Have started to play with Songs of Drums & Shakos

I try to get a few minutes of painting in every other day or so. This does not seem like much but after a while it starts to add up.

Currently on the table is a Brettonian Trebuchet about 75% complete. It is needed for the next pts game so I will focus on it till finished. Then I have some men at arms and archers for the next pts step.

 

FOW WWII Early War game

It has been some time since I last posted. My new venture http://www.huzzahhobbies.com/ has been keeping me very busy. I did manage to get a few hours this last Sunday to get a game in. I am a fan of the early war period of World War Two and with the new release of Blitzkrieg from Battlefront I have been working on a French force to go against my Germans that I did some time ago. We only got in a half a dozen turns before I had to give up the table to a customer so they could get a game in. We called it a German minor victory because they had destroyed one platoon with none of theirs destroyed. The Stukas showed up almost every turn but did not always hit. My French unit is a DLM so can not take AA. Need to look at the other lists!

It was a fun game and who knows what could have happend.

New European terrain

I acquired some new terrain for my FOW1918/FOW WWII games. I am not sure of the manufacture(s) but I like the sizing and look of the buildings. They should do nicely as a French/Belgian village in 1914 and in 1940.

The bridge and stone walls in the above picture are from JR Miniatures. They make some very nice products and I have number of their destroyed buildings.

Here some 1914 German Uhlans move down the empty main street. The villagers have fled or are in hiding. Notice the cart on the left loaded up but left.

The buildings came painted (not very well) so I touched them up a little.

I have pulled the 1914 German Infantry out (I was going to send them out to be painted but...) and will start working on them. I will try to keep the interruptions to a minimum so that I can finally get a 1914 game in in 2010. ;-)

Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade (CMMGB) late 1918

This is my CMMGB FOW1918 force. It was created using the Minifig Generic truck, Model T truck, some extra US HMG figures, a few PP head swaps and some scratch built Mortars.

The Model T's being the command element.

The Newton mortars mounted in their lorries.

I tried to make them as modular as possible so the trucks could be used of other purposes. Each mortar/HMG section is mounted on a metal base that fits into the truck bed. The command units have a crate. I plan on working out an extension on the canvas bed cover so they just set in the bed securely.

One of the Machine Gun sections. When dismounted I will just remove the figures from the bed and replace with the normal HMG stand.

The intel is on the FOW1918 Yahoo group and covers the other options available for the force (bicycle inf., cav, a/c, artillery, etc.) and includes a list of sources.

It is truly a mobile force but very vulnerable in the unarmored trucks.

The Fighting Withdraw scenario (Germans defending in 'open' terrain) will be the most appropriate for this force in the last 100 days.

I hope to game them soon!

DBA Camps

Here are a few pictures of some DBA camps I recently created and posted on ebay.

The asian camps were from purchased items repainted but the stone hut was all scratch built,

foam, fabric & wood.

More German EW Cavalry

I just finished a half troop of Peter Pig German Uhlans. This finishes off the German cav from the lot I bought last year. This gives me enough mounted bases to table a Squadron for EW/MW. I really like teh Peter Pig figures. I just wish they had a command pack like the British.
I need to scratch/kit bash one or two HMG wagons to go with them and then I need dismounted. I will probably do another German Artillery section next and then maybe move to some LW Canadians but we will see.

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.

Been away for some time.

Well, it has been some time since I last posted. I lost my job, unexpectedly, over a month ago, continue to train and race my bicycle and have started a little eBay business to keep the bill man at bay. I was lucky enough to come into an inventory of minis and such which has alloyed me to stay afloat as I look for a job.

I did step away from WWI for a short time to take a breather but am getting the itch again but more on that later.

You can track my eBay auctions by doing a search on seller offroad_nut.

I have discovered the Games Workshop world in doing this and have gotten a few games in. I enjoy it and am looking forward to the Historical side in the future.

In my sell, I have upped the value of a few things by giving them a slap of paint and glue. Below are a few.

For Sale $30.00 obo

On ebay now!

On ebay now!

SOLD

Nery and German Uhlans Cavalry Command

I just finished reading Nery, 1914 - The adventure of the German 4th Cavalry Division on the 31st August and the 1st September by Major A.F. Becke. It is a detailed look at a cavalry vs cavalry action. There is also a nice website on the action - www.chakoten.dk/nery_100914_2.html

The GWSH yahoo group has a nice scenario on the action also. I have created a FOW1918 version and will post it in the files section once I have play tested it.

This book along with the delay in receiving my German infantry from the painter, more on that in another post, I have decided to use the remaining German cavalry figures I have from the big purchase to create a Squadron to game with. I only had a few Minifigs Uhlans so I decided to use them as the Squadron Command.

I had to strip them of there original paint job. The horses are not Minifigs but I am not sure what manufacture they are.

While I was working on the Uhlans I also did two more command stands. One is for the artillery and the other will be for the Cavalry HMG teams.

I am now working on another 7.7cm gun section, the German Horse artillery batteries had four guns and I will need a full battery for the Nery scenario. I am also working on the remaining Peter Pig German cavalry I have left. They need major stripping and cleaning. Four stands of Dragoons and four stands of Uhlans. I plan on mixing them in with the Minifigs stands i have already completed to make two full troops.

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