Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 4 The Show

Up nice and early having packed up the car the night before, I set off to Legionary 17. The roads were clear so it took me 6 minutes to get to the show. How lucky am I.

In the past I have raved about how good the facilities are at the venue for gamers and traders, well this time I remembered to take a photo.

How many shows can you unload next to your table?

I had booked a 12 x 6 table. I started to lay out the terrain and place the figures.

The Plot.

The game was to be set around August 1814 when both sides were sitting around a table in Ghent brokering a peace deal. The Americans not wishing to have to give up any of their country following a reversal of fortune and the British trying to reinforce their position. To give them a better bargaining chip a force has been dispatched to seize the Washington DC. The scouts tell them the road is open apart from a few militia. The British ever confident set off.

The Americans have been tracking this force and have guessed what the British are up to. So to stop them they rush all available troops to the area. This means that to initially stop the British there are some militia infantry, Cavalry and a gun.

Here you can see the Amera Plastics river.

 

Looking up the table from the British view point

Across the British Lines. In the distance you may just spot some supporting gunboats. These were classed as heavy artillery but took a turn to reload. They could also not move as they were at anchor due to the current.

In the centre you may be able to spot the royal marine rocket team. These were the stars of the game and anybody who was watching when they fired, all commented on the process we use to see where they land!!!!

The game started with the militia units having taken up position behind the fences, just shy of the river. Just on the British side of the river waiting in the woods were 3 units of Indians. In our games Indians can deploy up to halfway across the table if in a tree line otherwise normal deployment rules apply.

The British fired their rocket – they decided to roll 7 sets of dice. A D6 for direction and a D10 for distance. The first two dice rolls looked good then a few wild rolls saw the rocket head towards the British units on the right flank. The final three dice rolls somehow correct the direction and landed the rocket within an inch of the original target.  Must get Nathan to pick next week’s lottery ticket.  The Freed Color units did not like this with one becoming shaken.

Not a great photo but you may just spot the Freed Color militia , the shaken unit has a white counter.

Rocket crew fire again. this time nearly taking out one of their own gunboats!

Heavy Militia gun opens fire

British are in the fields!

The  British advance continued and American reinforcements start to arrive. The American militia had a heavy cannon mounted on the hill by the church and so they started to fire. The first shot hit the advancing 1st Royal Marines.

Both sides traded shots and the militia taking the worst of it started to fall back. American regulars advancing up the left flank enter the woods to chase out the Indians. It takes 4 line and a unit of rifles to finally clear them out.

The remaining militia attempt to hold the ford!

American regulars advance into the woods!

Having advanced across the river they catch the Indians in a crossfire

Royal Marines advancing on the river, in the rear ranks are the 5th west indies regiment with the two Swiss Regiments Du Meuron and De Watteville in the middle (great flags).

View from the British end

View from the American end

The American advance down the left flank was not to continue as they were faced with the Canadian brigade and a rocket aiming at the American Right flank landed in the woods and 4 units had to test morale (Enemy units under flight path of a rocket have to test).

Canadian Brigade including Voltigeurs

Another rocket just misses the advancing British!

7th New York Militia and the Glengarry Lights trading shots when another rockets lands and frightens the horses making them shaken and a sound volley from the Glengarry finish them off.

The British push back the American Left and take the river but the lead units have taken a little too many casualties to pursue the retiring,  not retreating Americans.

A great game was had by all. It was especially great to get such positive feedback from the visitors and especially some new gamers  asking about the figures, rules and terrain.

Figures- Old Glory, Knuckleduster,Foundry,Victrix, Elite, Britannia and Perry.

Buildings –  Large house -Sarissa, small home and Church – Renedra

Trees – Mostly hand made(please see blog) and K&M.

Haystacks – Homemade

Fencing and Walls – Ebay

River – Amera Plastics. I think this is great value product

Hopefully you will get to see some better pictures as the photographer from Wargames Illustrated was on hand to take a few which I hope will be in the magazine soon.

A big thank you to “A Brush Too Far” painting service who helped me out with a number of units towards the end. Thank you Jono and Mary.

RULES – King George Commands and We Obey – see blog.

 

Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 3

My demo at the Legionary show is based on the American War of 1812.

Last night I finished another unit for the table.

Native Indians.

Here they are mixed in with a few units I already had.

The figures are Foundry and Old Glory,

 

 

 

A few days rest now although I may attempt to make a few trees over the weekend.

Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 2

My demo at the Legionary show is based on the American War of 1812.

Last night I finished another unit for the table.

The Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada.

This unit were always going to be in any army as I was just attracted by the uniform. I have decided to paint them in their early uniform  which they apparently changed  some time in 1814 to a more traditional Red face Blue. The earlier uniform was Green faced Red and trousers in a variety of colours from Grey to Oxford blue.

The only issue I have is that the only flags I could find seem to represent the later uniform, as the regiment colour is blue and not green. That said I cannot find any evidence of a green regimental flag, I just assumed it would or should be.

The figures are Knuckleduster with a few Old Glory and the flags are from Flags of War.

 

Tonight I hope to finish a few Indians!

Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 1

Well it is fast approaching that time of year when panic sets in to complete my regular demo game for the Legionary Show, Exeter.

This year I had decided upon a Napoleonic game with a difference, The American War of 1812 or Napoleonics with Indians.  I decided upon this theme as I packed away last years Dad’s Army game. Every year I do a demo and try to furnish everything from my own collection. Therefore the Boys can just turn up and play. Unfortunately due to health issues this year I had started to fall behind with the required volume of figures needed to ensure the game looked good.

A Brush Too Far, to the rescue

Once I realised this was happening I sent some figures off to Jono and Mary and asked if they could fit in some units to help me out. Well, a number of months later the figures have started to arrive.

All I had to do was base them and here they are:

5th West Indies Regiment. Scratch built flag. Figures are Old Glory

93rd Sutherland Highlanders. Flag by Flags of War and figures by Old Glory

1st and 2nd Regiments, Men of Free Color. Scratch built flags and figures by Old Glory

1st and 2nd Regiments, Men of Free Color. Scratch built flags and figures by Old Glory

1st and 2nd Regiments, Men of Free Color. Scratch built flags and figures by Old Glory I have put the 1st in Blue and the 2nd in Green

2 regiments of Royal marines. Figures by Old Glory.

Over the run in to the Game I will post more images to hopefully whet your appetite.

Legionary Show.

Is on the scale of things a relatively small show and only on for 1 day but it has a lot of things right which other local shows should learn from, if they want to keep attracting people new and old.

Please come along and support it.

Hope to see you there.

 

Painting, Painting, Painting

 

Well over the last month I have been playing so many games. Each though has had a side effect on me. Every time I played a game I got enthusiastic and started to paint for that era. So the end result is as many Wargamers find, is that we finish nothing.

I thought I would give you an update on the month.

War of 1812

I have managed to paint a unit of Glengarry Light Infantry. I will paint two units for this regiment. One in skirmish formation and another in line.  Here is the first unit in skirmish formation. I also got around to finishing the British Rocket Crew.

These are fantastic figures from Old Glory.

American War of Independence

I have painted a unit of British Grenadiers. These are Foundry figures.

War of the Roses

I managed to paint some pike and hand gunners, these are Perry Plastics. Having played a few games using the Flower of Chivalry rules we have started to add some local house rules or interpretations. I will also pull together a quick reference sheet. the main house rule we have added is reference morale outcomes. In the rules when  a unit that fails morale rout. we felt that this was a little dramatic so picking up on the ECW rules I use we say that the first failed morale causes the unit to become shaken and a second failure would cause the rout. I will explain more in a  later blog.

Scottish Wars of Independence

Fired up by the war of the Roses games it got me thinking about all medievals. Below is a unit of welsh bows. These are EBOB figures with the three command figures being old Citadel Ral Partha.

 

Naval

Not Napoleonic but 16th century Armada. I came home from work one evening and there on the table was the new Zvezda Armada Invincible. My wife had thought I would like it, having bought one of the ship models previous. I have to say that I think this will be a big hit. the only thing I think stopping it being a huge hit will be the limited number of ships (currently only two available with another 2 in the pipeline). The basic rules are great and the advanced rules look ideal. The gameplay is all carried out on wipeclean playsheets and the set even includes pens and cleaning pads.

So what do you get for your money.

 

The Box Set

2 model kits in 1/350 scale. HMS Revenge and San Martin

One of the two kits

Game cards for both plus two additional ships HMS Swallow and Santiago .These are laminated and so wipe clean.

The ship sheets and order sheets.

9 double sided hexed game boards, approximately C4 size. These have sea on one side and a mixture of shallows to land on the other.

Sea Boards

8 x D20 dice

29 movement tokens

2  marker pens

Wind marker

Fire markers

Quick start rules, Advance rule book and Scenario book

The kits are great. They don’t take too long to put together and if you have the time I am sure they will look great with rigging etc.

This game is going to be a favourite of mine, especially when the next range of ships are released. I am even enjoying building the kits although at times I do struggle with my eyes and painting a steady line on the hulls.

HMS Revenge No my painting is not that great. Transfers are brill. Gun carriages to paint. Transfers have to be put on as the ship is built!!!!.

 

 

San Martin waiting for the finishing touches.

15mm Middle Imperial Romans

Many years ago I had designed and produced a range of Roman and Sassanids. As with most things my wargaming buddy at the time moved on to other eras and I did nothing else with them. Having found them again I have started to rebase them on 80 x 60mm bases. As I rebase them I will share with you. I also had camp scenes made. I really love the guy mopping his brow and there is also one drinking from a wine skin!. Some of the range have never been cast so I will have to dig out the moulds.

 

 

 

Unit markers for KGCAWO rules

Please find below a copy of the unit markers for the Battle of Vimeiro.

I think they are self explanatory.

You have the ratings for Fire/ Melee/ Morale  weapon type and wounds (OOOO) which is for a large unit of 4 strength points. Most have 3 and an S = Shaken. These are coloured in when appropriate so the status and strength of a unit is clear at all times.

We laminate and then colour them in with a erasable marker as the game progresses so literally no other paperwork. Wipe clean afterwards for the next refight.

I will try to do these markers for all scenarios if anyone is interested.

 

 Vimeiro Battle Labels

King George Commands and We Obey

Having wargamed for far too many years to mention, it finally dawned on me how much money and time I have spent rebasing armies or learning a new set of rules. With that in mind I decided a few years ago to find a style of rules that I liked and base all my future rule sets and armies it.

My key requirements are:

• I spend a large amount of time and money collecting units. I decided I wanted them to stay on the table long enough for people to see, therefore no casualty removal.
• I hate the “my turn/your turn” approach. With that in mind I use a card based turn system. I first used this in my Dad’s army game. Depending upon the level of game you are playing, a playing card is allocated to each unit or in larger games brigade commanders and above. This also means turns are not all the same as an end of turn card can come up at any time.
• They have to be easy to learn. The common approach should assist with this and it is then just about the era specifics.
• As little paperwork as possible. Most units have a small tab on a base. This contains all the information you need so no other paperwork, in most cases. This could of course be kept separately rather than attached but I think in a demo game it also allows visitors to see which units are representing which.
• Enjoyable. I am not too serious and enjoy a light hearted approach at times to rules. Have a look at my rocket rules. While they may be a little slow to enact, imagine the gasps as rockets snake across the field. You never really know where they will end up!

I like to discuss issues arising. One of the biggest challenges is for “serious” Wargamers is to look past their unit not getting activated and not firing, moving or engaging in melee. I remember in one game, a player arguing that units should always have an action. This came about due to the fact that in the first 3 turns his British artillery’s activation card had not been drawn. What rubbish he argued and most others started to agree after a while. I then raised the point of the British artillery at the battle of Bunker Hill. Not many were familiar with the battle but the British artillery could not fire for a while as the wrong ammo had been made available. This impacted upon their ability to join in the battle at a key moment and affect the outcome. How could you ever build that potential impact in to a set of rules?

Most of the players started to appreciate the idea behind the card system. The British player finally supported it fully as Lancers appeared on his flank only to be too far deployed from their commander to be activated. This gave him the chance to form square next turn and live to fight another day. I appreciate it is not for all but I love it.

With this in mind I offer my set of rules called KING GEORGE COMMANDS AND WE OBEY. They are suitable for the American War of Independence, Napoleonic Peninsular and the American War of 1812. Some aspects may be familiar and some not so. Ideas have come from so many rule sets I have collected over the years.

I hope you find something you like; if not then I hope they encourage discussion.

If you would like to see them in action then please come along to Legionary 14, Exeter, on the 3rd of May  where we will be presenting the battle of Vimeiro.

I will add some more scenarios over next few months.

Enjoy!

 KGCAWO rules

 

 

Crysler’s Farm – Nov 11th 1813

Here is a great little scenario for the American War of 1812. This will be the target for my first units in this new era. The Old Glory Figures I ordered cover all this scenario apart from the Gunboats which I will probably use the Britannia range for. It will be a while till I get them all painted but will update you as I paint them.

Background.

Following on from the American assault on Montreal about 8000 troops under Major- General Wilkinson left Sacket’s Harbour mid October and sailed down the St Lawrence River. They were being shadowed by a small British force originally out of Kingston. Due to the need to transport the river craft through the rapids at Long Salt the American disembarked. This was now the time to deal with the troublesome British.

Leading up to the battle the Americans had to deal with a serious outbreak of Dysentery. Quite a few senior commanders were infected including Major-General Wilkinson. In fact Major General Wilkinson was in such a poor condition that he took no part in the battle, having decided to rest in his bunk.

Rules.

The rules used were my own compilation, King George Commands and We Obey (KGCAWO).

Forces.

The Americans, due to illness have no overall commander. All the other American commanders were also ill but at least they attended the battle. They all have a poor command rating to reflect their troubles.

The British commander, Lt-Col Morrison is an Excellent commander but he has no subordinates. He will have to spread himself around the field to keep all units in command.

American

Brigadier Boyd (Poor)

12^th US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

13^TH US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

Brigadier Swartwout (Poor)

11^th US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

14^TH US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

21^st US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

Brigadier Swartwout (Poor)

9^th US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket

16^TH US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

25^TH US Regulars C/C/D SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

2^nd US Light Dragoon D/C/C Carbine. Only one troop, so starts game with 1 Strength point

Battery of Light Artillery C/D/C Smoothbore cannon

British

Lt – Col Morrison (Excellent).

49^th Foot B/B/A SB Musket

89^th Foot B/B/B SB Musket (large unit 4 strength points)

Canadian Militia C/C/C SB Musket Only one coy, so starts game with 1 Strength point

Voltigeurs and Indians B/C/E ( if in open) SB Musket Skirmish formation only

Or B/B/B ( if in woods) SB Musket Skirmish formation only

1^st Battery of Light Artillery B/D/C Smoothbore cannon

2^nd Battery of Light Artillery B/D/C Smoothbore cannon

Gunboat 1 B/C/C Smoothbore cannon. Treat as heavy Guns. Are anchored so may only swivel to move and if so no fire that turn. If fired at treat as light defences.

Gunboat 2 B/C/C Smoothbore cannon. Treat as heavy Guns. Are anchored so may only swivel to move and if so no fire that turn. If fired at treat as light defences.

Map.

Americans deploy anywhere along line A. When the brigadier’s card is turned roll a D6. If turn 1 a 1 is need to deploy, turn 2 a 1-2 need etc. all the way to turn 6 when they will automatically appear and deploy. Units may not be activated until their commander has been deployed.

British deploy to the left of line B. If Americans capture John Crysler’s Farm, all British units drop one morale level.

Fences take ½ move to cross for foot, ¼ move for skirmishers and full move Cavalry/Artillery due to need to dismantle. No benefit if shot at behind a fence but + 1 if attacking unit behind in melee.

Hope you enjoy this scenario. I will add some more soon.