Battle of Saguntum 1811 - 54mm Battle Cry game.

 For our latest game we decided to try a Napoleonic version of Battle Cry and Anthony suggested the Peninsular War Battle of Saguntum 1811.

The scenario sees a Spanish force under General Blake attempting to relieve Sagunto Castle which is under siege by the French under Marshal Suchet.  The Marshal leaves a blocking force at the Castle and heads off to face Blake with his remaining French, Italian and Polish troops.

The Spanish are supported by gunboats offshore protecting their right flank.

The Spanish outnumber the French but both sides are short of artillery and the French are better quality troops.

Blake placed a holding force facing the French left wing while he concentrated most of the Spanish Army on his left flank to lead them in a mass attack against the French right wing.

The French opened with a vigorous attack on the lightly held Spanish right and centre.

Both sides fought themselves to a standstill on the French left as the course of the battle crept across the field to the centre and was finally drawn out on the French right.

The high ground in the centre held by a body of Foot Dragoons was hotly contested, changing hands several times.

On the French right Polish Voltiguers and Italian Hussars under general Chlopicki lined the crest of the Sancti Espiritus hills to await the massed attack of the Spanish.

A spirited counterattack by the Foot Dragoons drives off the Spanish Voluntarios and forces the supporting Horse Artillery to retire

The valiant Poles and Italians hold their ground in face of the Spanish advance.

On the gunboats the gun crews watch the action drift further inland away from the coast and out of range from their broadsides.

The French are finally overwhelmed on their right leaving the Spanish to their victory and the road open to the Castle.

The outcome of the game couldn't have differed more from the course of the actual Battle, in which the Polish troops advanced against the Spanish left and threw them into disarray, fighting in the centre and on the Spanish right was fierce and indecisive but the collapse of the left wing demoralised the Spanish and led to a general withdrawal with heavy losses.  The gunboats along the coast provided a threat but actually saw little action.  With no hope of relief  the garrison surrendered the Castle the next day.

The figures used were sourced from several manufacturers, the Spanish cavalry and most of the infantry were from DSG of Argentina, with a stiffening of grenadiers from the BMC Yorktown set and REAMSA of Spain, the Voluntarios in their distinctive green jackets were made from Helmet kit parts, the gunboat is the remains of a Playmobil pirate ship and the crew are various conversions, General Blake is converted from a Cafe Storme coffee premium.

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On the French side the infantry are mostly Britains Deetail apart from the Polish Volitguers which were made from Helmet Kit parts with an officer from Replicants and the foot Dragoons which are conversions using heads from ATS (Alexanders toy Soldiers), the cavalry are provided by Britains Deetail Cuirassiers, DSG Hussars and Polish Lancers made by PZG (the Polish Association of the Deaf), Marshal Suchet is a Del Prado figure and General Chlopicki is another conversion.

American Revolution Swoppet conversions at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 Dennis Donovan brought along more of his conversions for the American War of Independence, or as some would term it the American Revolutionary War, either way they are stunning figures and he has garnered a well earned reputation for them over the years.

When Dennis first started making his cavalry conversions he used bodies and heads from original Britains Swoppet figures with legs and horses from Helmet kits.  

Over time the Swoppet parts became harder to source so he had a mould made to produce the basic torso in plastic while continuing to use Helmet parts and heads, the result is a range of mounted figures that perfectly compliment the original Britains foot models.

 Britains Swoppet figures inevitably lose their hats and weapons so these ones above have had their missing original parts replaced or remodelled with Miliput.

  Early on I bought several units of Dennis' cavalry conversions when I was building up wargame armies for the period, and some are shown in earlier posts on here, just wish I had the space to get some more!

Little Wars Revisited - Woking Wargames Day 2018

Yesterday saw various members of the Little Wars Revisited Forum gather together in Woking, Surrey for a day of 54mm wargaming. Five different games were played throughout the day, each a different period and rule set, here are the all important pictures:

Anthony Morton brought out his English Civil War armies for an airing of the Pikeman's Lament rules written by Daniel Mersey.

I should have taken more pictures of the terrain and buildings (and I thought I had but apparently not!) which were superb, but as usual I was beguiled by the figures.

At least this time I remembered to include the cavalry, which I omitted when his collection last graced this blog.

Here we see Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame as presented by Mike Lewis using his Little Wars Revisited range of figures and new modular terrain.  The 54mm Wargames Day was Mike's brainchild and he did all the work, so many thanks Mike (and can we do it again next year?)

This was the North West Frontier game that I participated in, the rules used were The Sword and the Flame, written by Larry Brom

This was my first time using these rules and my thanks go to Alastair (sorry don't know your surname) for patiently steering me through them.  The scenario shows a relief column trying to fight it's way through hostile Pathans to save a beleaguered garrison.

A well sighted Pathan gun plays havoc with the British troops pinned in the rocky landscape.  Again there was great use made of simple terrain pieces to create a visually enjoyable game.

We used activation cards designed specifically for TSATF and available from The Virtual Armchair General which all agreed made the game a lot easier, quicker and more fun to play.

This impressive display was brought along by Eric Kemp and features figures from numerous manufacturers including his own Helmet Soldiers

Eric was using his own rule system to refight the action around La Haye Sainte every roof tile has been individually cut and fixed to the the buildings, wish the slates on my house were as well laid.

Eric is aiming build up his collection to 1,500 figures for a massive outdoor game at the end of this summer, we wish him luck!

My own humble offering was a pitched battle between the French and English using Lion Rampant rules and my well worn medievals.

A fast flowing game, helped or hindered, (the jury is still out on this) by a quick reference sheet that I had prepared in advance.  Here the French men at arms are about to serve the coup de grace on the English.

After a long tiring day of playing with toy soldiers I retired home and met Mrs C in our local pub just in time to watch the French trounce the English for a second time in a day, this was a rather more serious matter, it was the 6 Nations rugby match in Paris.

 A great day had by all.

The Cast take a bow

This post is in response to a request for more details of the figures used in the C18th Funny Little Wars 54mm wargaming project.  These days there are some very good sets of 7 Years War figures made by Armies in Plastic and HaT but before that most of the C18th figures you could get were based on the American War of Independence but with an alternate paint job and stretching the bounds of history a little they can fit the bill for earlier periods. 

At the back troopers of Kurassier Regt. no2 are made from the bodies of Britains "Herald" Life/Horse Guards, the heads replaced with metal castings, saddles and horses from Helmet kits  I had intended to paint them as a "white jacket" Regt. so that they could double bubble as Austrians but at the end of the day I just couldn't resist the "yellow jackets". 

The Line infantry, Musketeers of Regts. 3 and 4 on the left and Fusiliers of Regts. 35 and 42 on the right are all from the BMC Yorktown playset.  Their sculpting is generally poor but they have a nice toyish appearance, you get a good variety of animated poses and when painted up en masse they look okay.

The Grenadiers in the middle are made by American firm CTS, the drummers are all by Accurate (who I think have been taken over by someone else now) with mitre hats from the spares you get in the HaT 7YW sets.

At the back the Dragoons are made from Britains "Swappet" AWI bodies with heads, legs and horses from Helmet Kits.

In front from the left are more BMC painted as Russians (another stalled project) but pressed into the Frederickian ranks as Jaegers for this game.  The greyhound comes with the Elastolin figure of Frederick the Great, so had to be included. 

The command group include a character figure from a German TV series? don't know what it was or who made him but he looks the part.  Marshal Murat from del Prado looking suitably exotic travels back in time to become Lord of the Bosniaks.  Lazare Hoche and Louis XVI were premiums from the French coffee firm Mokarex, behind them Marshal Montcalm is made from SEGOM kit parts on a Historex horse and the begging dog is a vintage item by French firm Clairet. 

The Pandurs are loosely based on Trencks' Regt. and will rejoin the Austrian army when I get around to doing it but for now they have joined the ranks as a Bosniak contingent.  They are a mix of figures by Marx and A Call to Arms with either a head change or just a reshaping of their bearskins, by rebasing and giving them a uniform paint style figures from different makers can go together seamlessly.  They are accompanied by their chaplain in the form of Piere l'hermite issued as a premium by the Belgian coffee firm of Storme.  Finally the Grenadiers in light blue began their military career with the French Lazun Legion but have now joined Frederick as allies from a nondescript minor state.

The opposition "Pragmatic" army (not shown in this post) are from the French and Indian wars range by Barzo bolstered by some rather nice metal figures from Tradition.  The Regiment Royale Ecossais are mostly by Marx and the Dragoons and light infantry from A Call to Arms.

Helmet Kits figures at the Plastic Warrior Show

Eric Kemp had a stand for Helmet Soldiers and displayed some of the great figures he makes to promote his kits.

"An army marches on it's stomach!" Eric uses a lot of the Helmet Kits parts to make figures for his wargame armies, see the link to his blog "Towards a 54mm Waterloo Wargame" in the list on the right, it's been dormant for a while but there's an awful lot of great conversions to look at.

An artilleryman struggles to change a carriage wheel, small vignettes like this add a bit of  fascination to the table and help to tell the bigger story in a wargame.