The Cedar Mountain game on Sunday resulted in a (surprising to me, at least) Union victory. Although Scott, as Banks, lost half of Crawford's brigade to Confederate artillery on the approach to the Wheatfield, the remainder of Williams' division pushed Winder back from the Wheatfield with Ronald and Garnett retiring nearly one mile to the west. In the center, Banks' batteries dealt death onto Early and Taliaferro. Even in the south, the Federal battery hugging Hudson House inflicted huge casualties upon Ewell before being overrun. A.P. Hill arrived along the Culpeper Road and pushed his brigades into the fight in a piecemal fashion in an attempt to stabilize the situation. At one point, three Confederate divisions had panicked. With the arrival of darkness came Ricketts, and the game was halted with a Federal tactical victory.
Well done, Scott!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Cedar Mountain Scenario Preparation
April is shaping up to be a dreadful painting month. The painting mojo has vanished and painting limbers and teams does not spark much inspiration. The good news is that my OR class ended this week and I have no travel planned until the end of May. With six ACW limbers/teams complete, work begins on four battalions of 15mm Piedmontese.
Work continues on the Cedar Mountain scenario before Sunday's game with Scott. Scott expressed interest in commanding the 'good guys' so I guess he'll be taking on the role of Gen. Banks. The victory points are set in such a way as to prod the Federals into duplicating their historically aggressive opening moves. If Winder's division can be neutralized before Hill's reinforcements begin trickling onto the battlefield, Banks will be off to a reasonable start.
Work continues on the Cedar Mountain scenario before Sunday's game with Scott. Scott expressed interest in commanding the 'good guys' so I guess he'll be taking on the role of Gen. Banks. The victory points are set in such a way as to prod the Federals into duplicating their historically aggressive opening moves. If Winder's division can be neutralized before Hill's reinforcements begin trickling onto the battlefield, Banks will be off to a reasonable start.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Projects Update
With travel, work, and class, March (and much of April) passed quickly without an update. Travel included a week-long, ACW battlefield tour whose original intended goal was to duplicate the 1862 Antietam campaign. As in combat, no plan survives contact with reality and Paul and I took diversions to the Wilderness-Spotsylvania-Chancellorsville battlefields on the eastern approaches to the 1862 campaign corridor. We also expanded our tour to the west to include battlefield stops at Port Republic, New Market, Cedar Creek. Battlefield stops on our original 1862 itinerary included: Cedar Mountain, Brandy Station, Thoroughfare Gap, 2nd Manassas (and 1st Manassas), Harper's Ferry, and Antietam. I took many photos, some of which will be posted once I organize them.
Following the trip and reading Krick's Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, my plan is to refight Cedar Mountain after revising the OB from my earlier scenario. Below is a shot of the initial dispositions looking west with Cedar Mountain in the lower-left.
18mm 1799 Italian Project:
Attention returned to the early Napoleonic campaign and five French battalions crossed the painting table.
15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project:
Work on the 1859 project included the completion of the first Austrian regiment by adding the grenadier battalion for IR#11. Also making it off the painting table was Battalion 2 of the 4th Grenz Regiment.
Following the trip and reading Krick's Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, my plan is to refight Cedar Mountain after revising the OB from my earlier scenario. Below is a shot of the initial dispositions looking west with Cedar Mountain in the lower-left.
18mm 1799 Italian Project:
Attention returned to the early Napoleonic campaign and five French battalions crossed the painting table.
15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project:
Work on the 1859 project included the completion of the first Austrian regiment by adding the grenadier battalion for IR#11. Also making it off the painting table was Battalion 2 of the 4th Grenz Regiment.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Projects Update
28mm FIW Project:
Both companies of the 47th Regiment of foot and the Voluntaire Estrangers are finished. My inventory of company sized FIW figures is now exhausted.
15mm AWI Project:
I've had a small pile of ammo wagons lingering in the primed box for a very long time. In preparation for my recent painting night with Austin, I chose to pick these six ammo wagons with teams. These six wagons and teams are from the old and now defunct Frontier line. As I've mentioned before, Frontier's AWI line was really an outstanding line and the detail was ahead of its time. In fact many of the figures compare favorably with today's 15mm AWI lines. While I don't have any plans for the wagon train in any upcoming game, it is a relief to have these finally finished.
15mm Napoleonic Project:
The 2x 12 figure Russian grenadier units, the 2x 12 British line regiments, and the 2x12 Austrian units are complete although I finished the Austrians too late to make into the JAN painting totals.
January production was good and ahead of my annual goal. As an added bonus, I added three companies to the FIW project and mounted command to the SYW project. Outputs to both collections bring my figure inventory virtually down to zero.
On the painting table now are 48 Piedmontese for my 1859 project.
Both companies of the 47th Regiment of foot and the Voluntaire Estrangers are finished. My inventory of company sized FIW figures is now exhausted.
15mm AWI Project:
I've had a small pile of ammo wagons lingering in the primed box for a very long time. In preparation for my recent painting night with Austin, I chose to pick these six ammo wagons with teams. These six wagons and teams are from the old and now defunct Frontier line. As I've mentioned before, Frontier's AWI line was really an outstanding line and the detail was ahead of its time. In fact many of the figures compare favorably with today's 15mm AWI lines. While I don't have any plans for the wagon train in any upcoming game, it is a relief to have these finally finished.
15mm Napoleonic Project:
The 2x 12 figure Russian grenadier units, the 2x 12 British line regiments, and the 2x12 Austrian units are complete although I finished the Austrians too late to make into the JAN painting totals.
January production was good and ahead of my annual goal. As an added bonus, I added three companies to the FIW project and mounted command to the SYW project. Outputs to both collections bring my figure inventory virtually down to zero.
On the painting table now are 48 Piedmontese for my 1859 project.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
WWII Scenario - Drive on Bjerkvik
28mm FIW Project:
In what was to become the second company of 15th Regiment of foot, a bit of memory lapse resulted in white facings on the sixteen 1st Corps British figures. By the time I discovered my mistake, the figures already had white facings. Not wanting to rework the facing colors, I maintained the white facing and christened this unit as fourth company of the 47th Regiment of Foot.
The second company of the French regiment, Voluntaire Etrangers, is nearing completion. Painting is complete and I'm awaiting the dullcote to dry before basing.
With the completion of these two companies, my inventory (notwithstanding a collection of miscellaneous command) of FIW figures is exhausted.
28mm Napoleonic Peninsula Project:
Three mounted French officers are complete and awaiting basing. The Front Rank officers are really excellent sculpts and will look great on the table. These figures will be mounted individually on 50mm round bases. This change of mounting officers on round rather than rectangular bases will prompt me to rebase the few British officers I have.
15mm Napoleonic Project:Austrian flag sheets have been created and I'm preparing to reflag all of the Austrians in my collection.
On the painting table are 24 Russian grenadiers that will be forming two combined grenadier brigades. In addition to the grenadiers, I pulled 24 Austrians in shako and 20 British line from the bin and primed them. These 24 Austrian figures represent the last of the Germans in shako. The British line will form the core of 2x12 British regiments and allow me to utilize four British rifles that I've already painted.
Drive on Bjerkvik:The guys gathered on Saturday afternoon to refight the Norway 1940 scenario, Drive on Bjerkvik. Instead of using 1943, Battlefront would be the rule set in play. The game began similarly to the 1943 replay but quickly turned into a blood bath for the allies. Taking severe casualties on their advance along the coast road from the FJ heavy weapons, Austin called off the attack before the Poles could engage. In the northern end of the valley, Don's Norwegians, likewise, took heavy casualties as he tried to outflank the Germans holding the woods. The game ended in a complete disaster for the Allies.
I reset the scenario and replayed using 1943. As in the other game, the Irish advance along the coast road quickly bogged down with 1st coy losing 1/3 of its strength and becoming pinned. The Norwegians experienced better success and chose to use one coy as a diversion to attempt to slow the German advance south while using the 2nd coy as a spearhead towards the coast road. With the Irish advance stalled and the Brits continuing to take heavy casualties, I stopped the game.
In both games, cross country movement in the snow is so difficult that an advance along the coast road quickly outstrips any chance of support from follow-on companies. Perhaps, a more rational approach for the Allies is to attack out of the woods and across the valley rather than attacking along the coast road? Combined with the quick dash by the Norwegians down the valley on skis, this might be the solution for which I've been searching.
In what was to become the second company of 15th Regiment of foot, a bit of memory lapse resulted in white facings on the sixteen 1st Corps British figures. By the time I discovered my mistake, the figures already had white facings. Not wanting to rework the facing colors, I maintained the white facing and christened this unit as fourth company of the 47th Regiment of Foot.
The second company of the French regiment, Voluntaire Etrangers, is nearing completion. Painting is complete and I'm awaiting the dullcote to dry before basing.
With the completion of these two companies, my inventory (notwithstanding a collection of miscellaneous command) of FIW figures is exhausted.
28mm Napoleonic Peninsula Project:
Three mounted French officers are complete and awaiting basing. The Front Rank officers are really excellent sculpts and will look great on the table. These figures will be mounted individually on 50mm round bases. This change of mounting officers on round rather than rectangular bases will prompt me to rebase the few British officers I have.
15mm Napoleonic Project:Austrian flag sheets have been created and I'm preparing to reflag all of the Austrians in my collection.
On the painting table are 24 Russian grenadiers that will be forming two combined grenadier brigades. In addition to the grenadiers, I pulled 24 Austrians in shako and 20 British line from the bin and primed them. These 24 Austrian figures represent the last of the Germans in shako. The British line will form the core of 2x12 British regiments and allow me to utilize four British rifles that I've already painted.
Drive on Bjerkvik:The guys gathered on Saturday afternoon to refight the Norway 1940 scenario, Drive on Bjerkvik. Instead of using 1943, Battlefront would be the rule set in play. The game began similarly to the 1943 replay but quickly turned into a blood bath for the allies. Taking severe casualties on their advance along the coast road from the FJ heavy weapons, Austin called off the attack before the Poles could engage. In the northern end of the valley, Don's Norwegians, likewise, took heavy casualties as he tried to outflank the Germans holding the woods. The game ended in a complete disaster for the Allies.
I reset the scenario and replayed using 1943. As in the other game, the Irish advance along the coast road quickly bogged down with 1st coy losing 1/3 of its strength and becoming pinned. The Norwegians experienced better success and chose to use one coy as a diversion to attempt to slow the German advance south while using the 2nd coy as a spearhead towards the coast road. With the Irish advance stalled and the Brits continuing to take heavy casualties, I stopped the game.
In both games, cross country movement in the snow is so difficult that an advance along the coast road quickly outstrips any chance of support from follow-on companies. Perhaps, a more rational approach for the Allies is to attack out of the woods and across the valley rather than attacking along the coast road? Combined with the quick dash by the Norwegians down the valley on skis, this might be the solution for which I've been searching.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Projects Update and Reducing Lead Pile
18mm SYW Project:
Painting on sixteen Eureka Prussian and Austrian mounted officers/staff are complete and awaiting basing. When these are finished, it will be time for a game!
This week's SYW focus has been on flagging all of the 32 foot battalions. I had earlier flagged a few of the Austrian battalions and a few of the Prussian foot battalions using flags downloaded from www.warflag.com. These flags had adequate clarity and detail but scaling down to 15mm muddied the detail somewhat. The excellent website, www.kronoskaf.com, has images of flags so I gave these a try. After a bit of manipulation (copy, paste, flip, re-scaling, etc.), my resulting flags were very nice. They may not have the richness of GMB but they certainly are better than most of the Old Glory/Signifer flags I have laying around. I may go through a similar exercise and reflag my 15mm Napoleonics. Now, that would be a big task.
28mm Napoleonic Peninsula Project:
Work begins on retrofitting six Front Rank finials with tassels atop six British standards. Currently, these six battalions each have a GMB flag with a bare wire top. Two battalions already have Front Rank finials in place and these six will bring Allied battalions up to regulations.
Three mounted French officers are primed and ready to feed into the production line. These three figures will likely be tackled once I churn through the FIW figures on the painting table
28mm French & Indian War:As noted in an earlier post, 16 Crusader British infantry were recently completed and rekindled the mojo for FIW. The last of my 1st Corps figures are primed and ready for painting (1 x 16 figure British company and 1 x 16 figure French company). Austin and Scott are rumbling about embarking on a SYW project. If so, I may consider re basing this collection so that it could serve duty on two fronts. We'll see...
Jettisoning Figures:
With the start of 2010, I evaluated my lead pile and am actively making an effort to reduce this pile of lead. To begin, I'm dumping a few colonial figures (SAW, NW) then I'm tackling the Napoleonics' surplus. Having already painted over 5,500 Napoleonic figures, there are few battles for which I cannot field most of the contingents. First on the chopping block are five bags of Saxons. I once had envisioned painting and fielding these for the 1809 campaign but off they go to eBay. Bye bye, Saxons.
Painting on sixteen Eureka Prussian and Austrian mounted officers/staff are complete and awaiting basing. When these are finished, it will be time for a game!
This week's SYW focus has been on flagging all of the 32 foot battalions. I had earlier flagged a few of the Austrian battalions and a few of the Prussian foot battalions using flags downloaded from www.warflag.com. These flags had adequate clarity and detail but scaling down to 15mm muddied the detail somewhat. The excellent website, www.kronoskaf.com, has images of flags so I gave these a try. After a bit of manipulation (copy, paste, flip, re-scaling, etc.), my resulting flags were very nice. They may not have the richness of GMB but they certainly are better than most of the Old Glory/Signifer flags I have laying around. I may go through a similar exercise and reflag my 15mm Napoleonics. Now, that would be a big task.
28mm Napoleonic Peninsula Project:
Work begins on retrofitting six Front Rank finials with tassels atop six British standards. Currently, these six battalions each have a GMB flag with a bare wire top. Two battalions already have Front Rank finials in place and these six will bring Allied battalions up to regulations.
Three mounted French officers are primed and ready to feed into the production line. These three figures will likely be tackled once I churn through the FIW figures on the painting table
28mm French & Indian War:As noted in an earlier post, 16 Crusader British infantry were recently completed and rekindled the mojo for FIW. The last of my 1st Corps figures are primed and ready for painting (1 x 16 figure British company and 1 x 16 figure French company). Austin and Scott are rumbling about embarking on a SYW project. If so, I may consider re basing this collection so that it could serve duty on two fronts. We'll see...
Jettisoning Figures:
With the start of 2010, I evaluated my lead pile and am actively making an effort to reduce this pile of lead. To begin, I'm dumping a few colonial figures (SAW, NW) then I'm tackling the Napoleonics' surplus. Having already painted over 5,500 Napoleonic figures, there are few battles for which I cannot field most of the contingents. First on the chopping block are five bags of Saxons. I once had envisioned painting and fielding these for the 1809 campaign but off they go to eBay. Bye bye, Saxons.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Vimeiro AAR
28mm French and Indian War Project:
After having purchased three test bags of Crusader Miniatures' SYW Rank and File British quite some time ago, I pulled 16 figures from the primed box and tackled the unit this weekend. These figures will become the first company of the 17th Regiment of foot. The figures are noticeably smaller than the 1st Corps figures yet a bit larger than the Old Glory FIW figures. The Crusader figures are nicely detailed and paint up quite quickly. If I need reinforcements, these will certainly be at the top of my list.
Painting these British figures reinvigorated me to clean-out some of my remaining inventory from the FIW collection. I have two more companies of 1st Corps infantry remaining in inventory (one French; one British) and I grabbed the 16 British figures to prime.
Vimeiro 2009 AAR
With ex-Delaborde unable to launch attacks against Vimeiro, the responsibility for cracking the Vimeiro defenses fell to Margaron. Repeated attacks by the French cavalry failed to break the British morale and the final charge of the day saw the dragoons breaking off their attack against Vimeiro. On the Toledo front, three attacks went in against the defenders and two were repulsed with heavy casualties. Even though Loison did not panic as a result of failed attacks, sustained casualties will pre-empt future attacks.
Junot calls it a day and retires from the battlefield giving Wellesley a tactical victory.
After having purchased three test bags of Crusader Miniatures' SYW Rank and File British quite some time ago, I pulled 16 figures from the primed box and tackled the unit this weekend. These figures will become the first company of the 17th Regiment of foot. The figures are noticeably smaller than the 1st Corps figures yet a bit larger than the Old Glory FIW figures. The Crusader figures are nicely detailed and paint up quite quickly. If I need reinforcements, these will certainly be at the top of my list.
Painting these British figures reinvigorated me to clean-out some of my remaining inventory from the FIW collection. I have two more companies of 1st Corps infantry remaining in inventory (one French; one British) and I grabbed the 16 British figures to prime.
Vimeiro 2009 AAR
With ex-Delaborde unable to launch attacks against Vimeiro, the responsibility for cracking the Vimeiro defenses fell to Margaron. Repeated attacks by the French cavalry failed to break the British morale and the final charge of the day saw the dragoons breaking off their attack against Vimeiro. On the Toledo front, three attacks went in against the defenders and two were repulsed with heavy casualties. Even though Loison did not panic as a result of failed attacks, sustained casualties will pre-empt future attacks.
Junot calls it a day and retires from the battlefield giving Wellesley a tactical victory.
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