Germantown 1777 and 2025 at Partizan

 

A few pics and a bit of chat from the Germantown game at Partizan yesterday, I haven't done a proper blog post for a while so here goes.

Firstly thanks very much to Andy, Steve, Steve and Geoff from Leeds Wargames Club  for running the game and keeping the figures moving whilst I did my usual front of house. Above is a pic of the table at the start of the show.

I ended up feeling a bit ropey first thing and spent most of the day sat down, I still managed to speak to loads of people however and had a great time. It was lovely to see loads of friends and have people come up and say how much they enjoy the Podcast, I even had a donation of "snow" to the Narvik Project, thank you very much for that.

I can't mention or even remember everyone but I want to say it was wonderful to see brother Ken Hanning and Charlie Walker looking well. I had a lovely chat with Dave Tuck planning a Podcast, the Brews boys Iain McDonald and Alex Sotheran came over. Henry Hyde stopped by a couple of times and it was wonderful to see him looking happy and enjoying the day.

We raised a bit of awareness for Dogs Trust the chosen charity of my friend Dave Parrott, and it was lovely to have his figures (all the Americans) out on the table again. Dogs Trust supplied us with some bunting and flyers for the table.

The game looked great, my Chew House really stood out as a centre piece, even if you couldn't see all the subtle plank shading, I'd picked up quite a few Charlie Foxtrot Models from their New World Range a couple of weeks before the game and managed to get them all finished in time. i'd been down the DIY Store as well and as only wargamers can do I saw an Arris Rail, and rather than thinking "that's a good addition to my fence" I though that would make a good Game Title Board added something and the bunting from Dogs Trust looked good.

I used the plans from the British Grenadier 2nd Scenario Book with a few minor alterations, mostly to get more figures on the table and we used the British Grenadier rules which we are familiar with. Lots of people commented at the table that the rules are 'a bitbslow" but we absolutely cracked through the game even with public engagement.

The figures where all sculpted by the Perrys. Most of the British had been painted by me and were from the Perry Miniatures Range, mostly metal (these were started before the plastics came out) although there are a few plastic units.

The Americans are from the Collection of Dave who left them to me when he passed away. I've done the odd bit of rebating and adding flags but they are all painted by him. The collection is entirely metal and mostly the Perry Wargames Foundry sculpts, Dave was a huge fan of that company.

As for the game itself, the lads really cracked on even with the "slow" British Grenadier rules and the Americans were really Agressive pushing the British back from Chew House towards Germantown but the Firepower of the Brits told and Greenes column broke at the end of the day.

Pendants Corner - in the excitement of the game some of the British flags have ended up their ongoing way round, I shall chastise those who are responsible in due course.

Regards Ken

Troops on Parade - 28mm British AWI

Following a bit of a lull in the gaming here at YG I thought it was time to put together one of my Troops on Parade features which is essentially an excuse to drag out one of my lesser used collections, blow the dust off them and present them to the outside world.

Agnews Brigade

The bulk of the army was put together 5 to 6 years ago and was mostly a result of me falling in love with the Perrys 28mm range rather than a deep desire to game the period. The troops are based for British Grenadier rules which are part of the GdeB stable.

The flags are from GMB, some of them have had quite a bit of over painting, for some reason I found that the first batch of flags faded quite badly with the white turning a shade of light pink ! (which you can still see in certain angles / light). A bit annoying to say the least, the gold and silver cords where purchased from a local Harberdashery store.

That dog looks familiar !

Agnews Brigade of 4 British Battalions, 6 Skirmishers and a Commander was the first group of figures I put together, all of them are from the Metal Perrys range. Most of the units have between 16 and 24 figures which are the standard size for the rule set.

Grey's Brigade

The next group completed was Greys Brigade, again 4 British units but this time including a rather large Highlander unit with 6 Skirmishers and a Commander.

I chose to have a recognisable feature for each of the brigades to help with on table recognition, Greys troops all have red plumes whilst Agnews have white plumes. The biggest (36 figures and pain !) was the Highlanders.

Anyone who has painted a Highland unit and given the tartan a good go will have vowed not to paint another one, this is probably my forth or fifth "not doing that again" promise, so for I've gone 5 years without (but those Crimean War Highlanders look soooo nice).

Tartan Detail

Photographing these reminded me they need a coat of Matt Varnish, they are finished in my old Humbrol Satin Cote style, great tough varnish but too shiny got photos.

My favourite units in the Army are these, Grants Brigade, made from the Perry Miniatures plastic box set, there is really some great feeling of movement in these units.

The unique feature for this brigade was the dark blue grey campaign trousers but I also changed the basing to give some extra depth to the Unit. This was initially purely to protect the perfectly proportioned and therefore pretty weak, plastic muskets on the figures.

But as I put the units together I found it was easier to slightly stagger the figures both forwards / backwards and sideways to get the "movement" I spoke of above, the addition of some casualty figures from the box set added to the scene and each unit has it's own diorama feel.

Which just leaves the unbrigaded Infantry. First up is a unit of Converged Grenadiers, using the great range of figures in the Perry range I was able to put a "rolling fire" layout together, with seperate bases firing, at ready, loading etc.

If you look really closely each base has different facing colours in line with the brigades of Agnew and Greg.

Which just leaves the Skirmishers and formed unit of the Queens Rangers.

Next up are the Cavalry, pretty rare in the AWI and something I neglected for quite a while. I managed to build up 2 x 6 figure units of British Light Dragoons and a unit of Queens Rangers Horse.

And finally we have the big guns, well the Artillery at least. 4 guns and 2 Howitzers of His Majesties Artillery.

So there we have another Army out in daylight for a few hours ! They are back in the cupboard now as we are back in the Desert tonight for a spot of Op Compass.

Monmouth Courthouse 1778 a 28mm Refight

A few weeks before Xmas we held a refight of the morning action at Monmouth Courthouse using 28mm figs and British Grenadier Rules.

We based the game around the scenario in the 2nd of the Scenario Books for British Grenadier, I highly recommend these as a great source of information and ideas.
Caliver Books would love to sell you a copy here !

Hesse Infantry on the move

One of the attendees at the game has already done a comprehensive AAR which can be viewed HERE so I will use this post as a general guide to the scenario and a good excuse to post some pretty pictures, if an excuse is needed !

Before the chaos 

Above is a photo of the game table set up with no figures on table, it's our usual 12 x 6 table, closest to the camera is the American entry point, the British entry point is in the far opposite corner. There is a small village on the British left with an orchard in front of it (yes, there is a palm tree in there, it's special homage to the person who tried to argue that there are no palm trees in North Africa !). A further Orchard in the mid distance and a couple of open woods, but generally the terrain is quite open.

Late in the game American Infantry hold the brook

The factor to add in for this battle is the heat, sources suggest that there were more casualties on the day due to heat exhaustion than there were due to gun fire and bayonet. British Grenadier covers this by converting excess disruption into casualties but if you use a different set you may need to come up with another mechanism to reflect this.

Smoke key ! British Lights defend the orchard

British Orbat

This is adapted from the BG orbat to match our figure collection, all commanders are Average unless stated.

On table around Monmouth Courthouse,

C in C Gen Clinton Excellent

Rearguard Lt Col Abercromby

16th Light Dragoons 10 Figs Light Cavalry 1st Line
Queens Rangers Cavalry 6 Figs Light Cavalry 2nd Line
1st British Light Infantry 24 Figs Elite
British Skirmishers 12 Figs Elite
Queens Rangers Infantry 18 Figs 2nd Line
Queens Rangers Skirmishers 6 Figs 1st Line Rifles
1 3pdr British Gun Elite

The baggage train, which starts in Monmouth and needs to travel to the British Entry Point. The British need to ensure the safe exit of the baggage before entering a general engagement.

British Light Cavalry before they wandered in column past some American Guns

All the rest of the British enter the table from their entry point at the other end of the table in column on the road.

Turn 3 Lt Gen Cornwallis (Division Commander)

Meadows Brigade 2 x British Grenadier Battalions 36 Figs Elite and 1 x 6 per guns Elite

It's a long way to the other end of the line.

Turn 4 Kospoths Brigade (Poor) 3 x Hessian Infantry Battalions all 2nd Line with 2 x 20 figure and 1 x 24 figure Battalions supported by 3 x 3pdr 1st Line guns.

Turn 5 Matthews Brigade 2 x British Foot Guards 2 x 24 Fig 1st Line

Turn 6 Greys Brigade (Excellent) 5 x Battalions of British Infantry all 16 figures, 2 Elite (42nd) and 3 1st Line. Note the 42nd has been split down into two 16 figure units.

The 33rd Yarkshire Regt advance flags a flutter

Turn 7 Pattisons Brigade 2 x 12 pdr guns and 2 x Howitzers all Line

Turn 8 Websters Brigade (Excellent) 4 x British Infantry Battalions 2 x 16 and 2 x 20 Fig units 1 Elite (Yarkshires of course ! And yes I do know that it didn't officially become that for another 4 years) the rest 1st Line

And Finally on Turn 10 Leslies Brigade 3 x British Infantry Battalions all 2nd Line with 16 Figs a piece.

We found that the turn thing went to pot quite quickly as the rear of the column from the previous Brigade hadn't cleared the entry point.

American Forces

Turn 1 in column with the head of the column at the edge of the woods in front of the Monmouth Orchard.

Note the BG scenario doesn't give American Artillery calibres so we rolled a d6 when each gun arrived on table 1-3 was a 3pdr 4-6 a 6pdr.

C in C Maj Gen Lee (Poor)

Waynes Brigade 4 x 16 American Infantry Battalions with 2 guns all 1st Line.
Durkees Brigade 1 x 20 American Infantry Battalion with 1 gun all 1st Line.

Gen Fayette looks slightly surprised, he should do he's just been shot.

Turn 2 La Fayettes Brigade 3 x 20 Fig American Infantry Battalions with 1 gun all 1st Line.

Scott's Brigade 3 x 20 Fig American Infantry Battalions with 1 gun all 1st Line.

Turn 3 Maxwell's Brigade 4 x 16 Fig American Infantry Battalions all 2nd Line with 1 4 Fig Milita Light Cavalry Unit and 1 gun which is 1st Line.

As with the British the turn sequence goes out of the window very quickly, with 1 entry point the rear of the column in front won't clear the table so an off table traffic jam ensues.

American Cavalry

After the last American Unit has entered the table the American commander rolls two d6 in the command phase of each turn until they roll a double.

If double 1,2 or 3 next turn Col Morgan (Excellent) arrives at the entry point with his Brigade of 2 x 20 1st Line American Infantry Battalions with 12 1st Line Skirmishers.

If double 4,5 or 6 next turn Dickinson arrives with his Brigade of 3 x 16 Militia Infantry Battalions.

It's either or with the American reinforcements, not both.

Run Away  ! American troops spot a dangerous white Rabbit

How did we get on.

No detailed AAR here as Roger has done a cracking job on that already (see link above).

We weren't that far off history too be fair, the British managed to shield their baggage train off the table.

Monmouth Orchard getting a bit hot.

The Americans pushed on with their initial bigger numbers and pushed the British out of Monmouth but not without one hell of a battle for the orchard with the British Light Battalion holding back 3 American Infantry Battalions at one point, although the 4th one in the rear proved to be the end.

The American Forces had pushed on into the Cider Orchard but they arrived at the same time as the British Grenadiers and the Hessians and the second battle of the orchard began, this time it was the British who were victorious.

The increased British numbers started to tell and the Cider Orchard was cleared when the Hessian Infantry managed to out flank it.

One of the British Grenadier Battalions had held the open flank of the Cider Orchard while this was going on, it had taken one hell of a beating, down to 50% strength it finally gave way, unfortunately for the Americans the 12pdrs and Howitzers deployed in the gap in the line.

The British now had the advantage in numbers even though the American reinforcements were on table and the American Commander decided it was time to withdraw.

Another good game of British Grenadier with one of my favourite collections of figures, it will no doubt be 12 months or so until they are back on the table again, most likely to do the afternoon section of the same battle.

28mm AWI Queens Rangers Hussars

More new additions have been made to my 28mm AWI Collection recently and following on from my British 17th Lt Dragoons I managed to get this small 6 figure unit of Queens Rangers Hussars finished, which means I have gone from no AWI Cavalry to 18 in a short time. I feel a game coming on.

The figures are from the fantastic Perry Miniatures range and if I remember correctly they were one of the first figures to be released when the range came out. I bought them shortly after release and my castings where nice and clean, with only a minimal clean up required.

Painting wise it my usual Vallejo Acrylics for the figures and oils for the horses with a sculpted base, basetex and grass tufts for effect.

No real challenge paint wise here, they are basically Green with a bit of black and flesh. I have seen various versions of the uniform especially the facings which I have seen both black or black with white piping. I never did manage to see a pic of the rear of the uniform so I guessed black for the turn backs.

For a simple looking unit they are quite eye catching, it will be good to get them on the table soon. The unit were part of my entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and helped me get over my initial target with 6 weeks to go. The challenge has been a great help keeping the painting mojo alive.

I'm cracking through some 28mm SCW for our Jarama refight which is on hold for a few weeks whilst the Naval Campaign finishes. Also on the paint table are some 28mm WW1 Highlanders and some 1/2400 WW2 Naval, it keeps me out of trouble  !