Lionheart - more playing with old toy knights.

 Our first trial game of Lionheart worked very well so we decided to expand on it by introducing some terrain elements and and an additional two unit types; Heavy Foot Knights and Mercenaries. The remainder of the armies were the same as in our previous game and we increased the number of actions in each turn from four to six per side.  The basic game mechanics were explained in my previous post HERE.

The French line up with Heavy Foot Knights on the left flank (just visible at the top of the pic) and the Kievan Mercenaries on the extreme right.  For the Mercenaries we used Medieval Russian Knights made in china by Supreme along with some made in Russia by Engineer Basevitch.

While the English line advances with Heavy Foot to the front (Britains Deetail knights just beyond the Timpo Crusaders) and Irish Mercenaries with their priest following in support.

The game allows for one more unit type; Peasants, but I didn't have any suitable figures to hand so we left them out, maybe they'll appear next time.

With their enhanced mobility it's always difficult to hold back the Mounted Knights, they charge across the field when they see an opportunity to strike.  This invariably draws out their opposite counterparts and leads to a duel between the chivalry.

  The Mercenaries are strong in combat and have the ability to induce panic in any unit they attack, forcing them to retire, the danger is that they can be turned if they come in contact with the enemy King and may change sides.

The terrain comprised a line of hills with a road running through them on one flank, a central plain and a forest with a road running through it on the opposite flank.  I like to keep things simple to begin with.

The Heavy Foot Knights (centre) are powerful in combat but very slow moving, it takes two actions to move them one hex, as a result they never really got into the game.

After the Mounted Knights had exhausted themselves duelling the Infantry and Archers moved in, the latter being quite vulnerable if attacked so need close support.

The Kings and their retinues tends to become a mounted reserve, kept safely out of the way behind the lines until desperation draws them out into the fray.

As things turned out all of the action took place in the central plain and virtually no use was made of the hills or forest.  (Note to self: put more obstacles in the centre of the field next time)

I always pick up bits and pieces of Timpo medievals when I see them in the cheap junk boxes at shows, they invariably have no weapons, scabbards or shields but that's easily sorted.  They are notoriously unstable on their small green bases so I mount them on 2p coins, this will be anathema to some people but lets face it they're not rare, you can find hundreds of them on the internet auction sites every day of the week.

This time the game was much less cohesive with small groups of opposing units engaging in clumps of combat dispersed around the field.

It's a good game system and I like the way it flows, I think we will need to give more thought to how we deploy the Heavy Foot Knights or revisit the way we allocate actions in each turn.  

With a little tweaking the system could be easily adapted to the Dark Ages or brought forward into the Renaissance, so we might have a go at one of those periods sometime.

Britains American War of Independance Swoppets.

 This past year I embarked upon a review of how I store and display the unruly mass of toy soldiers accumulated in a largely haphazard way over the past six plus decades.  

Everything is being separated out between collectables and figures for wargaming, the former to stand safely on a shelf gathering dust and looking pretty, the latter boxed securely in their units and ranks ready to be deployed on the tabletop at a moments notice.

I started picking up Britains and Timpo American War of Independence Swoppets with the intention of using them for wargaming, back then they were the only figures available for the period, but they were hard to find and by the time I'd acquire enough they were getting too brittle and delicate for the amount of handling involved.  I aught to let them all go but I don't feel quite ready for that yet.

The building in the background is the tinplate "Revolutionary War Tavern" made in America by Louis Marx, the mounted figure of George Washington to the front left of it is an old composition piece made by Elastolin.

In amongst the Britains and Timpo Swoppet AWI are a smattering of figures from other manufacturers such as: Shell Liberty Men of '76, Louis Marx Warriors of the World, A Call to Arms, Res Plastics for Kinder Eggs, Awesome Toys, Casualties of War, Airfix, and a couple of white metal models.

The building shown here is the Louis Marx tinplate "Civil War Mansion" from their "Battle of the Blue and Gray" playset.

Native American allies are provided by Mohicans from Britains Herald range and Charbens.

 These figures have all spent far too long languishing in boxes so it was nice to get them out and put on display where I can appreciate them a bit more.

Upcycling a display cabinet

 Some years ago I picked up an IKEA display cabinet in a charity shop, and have been very pleased with it.  I got it for a reasonable price, and some time later learned that it is their DETOLF model, which is a "Best Seller" and is still available brand new for a very reasonable £65.  Here's what it looks like:

I use it to house my 7 Years War collection of wargames armies, which are quite attractive figures but the collection has now outgrown the four shelves in the unit.  It can house about 300 foot figures but as you can see the big drawback with this unit is that there's a lot of empty space and for years I've been looking for a suitable method to install additional shelves.  A few weeks ago a friend on facebook gave me the heads up on a firm in Northern Ireland who produce custom made supports and Perspex shelves for this very unit.  So I got some! 

The original shelf for two Regiments of Infantry (BMC AWI), two guns and two companies of Grenadiers (HaT and various conversions).  The new shelf supports are a bit fiddley to attach but after acouple of goes you start to get the hang of it and I managed to add a further eight shelves in the space available.

The new layout with additional shelf, for 2nd Cuirassiers, two more Regiments of Infantry and some light troops.  The figure of Old Fritz on the left is an early tin flat.

The original display of the Cuirassiers was a bit cramped.  The bronze disk in the foreground is dated 1757 and is a Campaign Medal issued for the battles of  Lissa (Leuthen) and Rossbach, I found it in a junk box of old coins 50 years ago when I was a teenager working a Saturday job in London's Portobello Road Market, it seemed appropriate to display it here.

The Austrian shelf (these also double as French but I need to do more flags) Three Regiments of Infantry (HaT Prussian infantry), two companies of Grenadiers (Italieri) a unit of Pandours (various conversions) and two guns (BMC)

On the left are the Russian contingent (BMC AWI) and on the right the Army of Brunswick (Marx infantry and HaT cavalry)

New layout with additional shelves.  The Brunswickers on the top shelf and below them the Austrians with the Pandours at the front covering the guns.

And finally a closer look at the Russian Infantry and Artillery.

It's surprising what turns up.

The recent mild weather in the South East (UK)  has ushered in the start of the Car Boot Sale season a little earlier than usual.  Our local one is held on a farm, so it's a good long walk in the early morning fresh air, and I like to go along as often as I can for the exercise.  Who am I kidding, I go along for the bacon rolls and to hunt toy soldiers!   It can be very hit or miss but  here's what I picked up this week and last:

A group of modern white metal figures the first one depicting Captain Souter of the 44th Regiment of Foot could have walked straight out of the Last Stand at Gandamak painting by William Barnes Wollen.  The other five are from a range of 150 figures issued with the Hachette publication La legion Etrangere, available in France but not in the UK so they are harder to find here, I use them mostly for uniform research and at less than £2 each they had to come home with me.

I know nothing about old tin toys, except that I like them, and I do like to include them as set dressing in wargames.  The saloon car is about the rights size for 54mm toy soldiers while the Omnibus is a bit small but I think we'll get away with it, they both need a bit of cleaning up and straightening out but nothing too drastic.  I don't think there's any great age to them, they look like modern reproductions to me but for a couple of quid each they had to go in the bag.  Likewise the ceramic stable block which was made to take a tea light candle but will now illuminate my toy village.

Finally a hotch-potch of odds and ends that came in at about 50p each from various junk boxes.  The first three Britains/Herald Robin Hood figures are so damaged and scuffed that they will end up as conversion fodder.  The Evzone and horse from the Lone Star Lone Ranger figure will be passed on to someone else at the forthcoming Plastic Warrior Show next month.

The remaining two figures I'll keep, the chap in green is a Starlux character figure of Barberousse (Red beard) from the ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise) TV series Richard Coeur de Lion.  The set was issued in the mid 1960's and included two foot figures each of Richard, Redbeard and Blondel and one mounted figure of Richard, they're quite hard to find.  The diminutive figure of Napoleon was made in France by MDM.  The palm tree is a modern white metal item.

The Plastic Warrior Show is being held on Saturday 11th May and further details can be found on the Plastic Warrior blog, link in the column to the left.  Good Hunting!

A Storm in Flanders (part2) Funny Little Wars.

And so it all begins:

At the sound of the mortar barrage opening the main attack goes in, led by the newly raised Kurassier Regt. no.2 and the dependable old Dragoons, the infantry follow up at the double in column of fours.  The mortar barrage has mixed success, the first salvo falls amid the "Pragmatic" command wiping them out and setting the Town Hall ablaze.  The engineers are called away from their work on the fortifications and rush to put out the flames.  As the flames are brought under control the troops manning the perimeter stand to, unaware that they have lost their beloved Colonel.  A second mortar salvo screams in but does no damage, the fuses have been badly cut.

A regiment of Fusiliers is led to the right to avoid congestion on the narrow avenue through the woods.  The Kurassiers burst from the cover of the trees and are blown away by a volley from the barricades to their front and enfilading fire from the guns in the centre.

In the centre the Jaegers, Grenadiers and Pandours move up to the tree line. 

On the right both sides move tentatively towards each other in the open and a desultory fire breaks out along the lines but at long range it is ineffective.  In the town smoke still billows from the embers of the burnt Town Hall.

The redoubtable Dragoons charge home through the debris of the Kurassiers and bludgeon their way into the streets of the suburbs.  Taking fire from the houses on all sides they pay a heavy price for their action but they have opened the door for the supporting infantry regiments who have now reached the town virtually unscathed.  Two companies are detailed to house clearance while the main body press on into the town.

The "Pragmatic" guns have been turned away from the main assault to meet the more immediate threat to their front, firing canister at short range they gouge great gaps in the Frederickian lines.  The mortars continue to batter the town but as the bombs land the engineers attempt to extinguish the burning fuses by dousing them with buckets of water, desperate dangerous work but it meets with some success. 

The situation hangs in the balance before the town square but just then a mortar salvo lands on one of the "Pragmatic" batteries and the Grenadiers surge forward to burst through the breach.  A melee ensues but the superior training and discipline of the elite Grenadiers tells in their favour.

While the victorious Grenadiers reform, a battalion of the Royal Ecossais rush across from the churchyard, the surviving gunners and engineers pick up arms and all together they throw themselves into a desperate counterattack to expel the invaders. 

But the line holds and with the Frederickians pouring in from every side the artillerymen spike their guns and the surviving "Pragmatics" beat a fighting retreat.  The enraged Frederickians sack the town but with their infantry exhausted and the cavalry broken they are unable to follow up the victory.

In retrospect:

The game lasted a full five hours but it felt like much less, the intention was to test out the storm of fortifications,  the special rules for use of engineers and house to house fighting, the first two were achieved the third less so (but there is always next time). 

Conventional wisdom tells us that a superiority in numbers of 3:1 is required for such an assault to succeed, on this occasion the attackers fielded 110 inf. 22 cav and 2 mortars to the defenders 50 inf. 10 engineers and 2 guns.  The cavalry shouldn't really have featured in this game but as I'd just spent a week painting the 2nd Kurassiers there was no way they were going to miss it.  The defenders probably didn't have enough troops to man such a large perimeter but it's difficult to know what the right proportions for a balanced game should be until you've tried it out a few times.

The rules for engineers worked well, and their contribution was critical at times.  Canister shot was emulated by firing a "Party Popper" at the attackers, those covered in tissue streamers were casualties, it worked with varying degrees of success and made a change from firing matchsticks, the sound of explosions and background martial music add greatly to the ambience of the game.  Caution should be exercised when introducing explosives to the table top, no fingers were lost on the day although blood was spilt!

Spring Campaign in Flanders, and a storm is comming

A delightful day was spent in the countryside yesterday, where we held our third encounter in the C18th Funny Little Wars campaign.   The weather was unseasonably fine and bright such that we could almost have played the game outside in the garden......almost but not quite.

The scenario chosen to playtest was the storming of a fortified town as a prelude to full blown siege operations.

The "Pragmatic" Army have occupied a town and their Command are in the Main Square to oversee the laying of guns and supervise the engineers who are hastily putting up barricades and revetments.  This is the centre of their line and the guns have good clear fields of fire.

To the left the newly arrived Regiment Royal Ecossais hold the strongly walled perimeter of the churchyard, on their extreme left (out of picture) a regiment of Dragoons is posted on a low hill.

On the right of the "Pragmatic" line more French infantry and a regiment of  dismounted Dragoons take up position behind the barricades among the outlying houses.

The "Army of Observation" have arrived on the outskirts of the town, after a careful reconnaissance their Command confer and decide on an immediate attack before the fortifications can be completed or enemy reinforcements intervene.

A full view of the table at the opening of the game.  The main attack will be delivered on the right flank where the open country will allow the cavalry to deploy supported by three regiments of infantry.  At the far end of the field a single regiment of infantry and a battalion of Bozniac Pandours will pin down the enemy's left flank while a company of Jaegers and a composite battalion of Grenadiers will make a demonstration against the enemy centre.  Two mortars are also sited in the centre which will pound the town to Rubble!

The Game is afoot.