Anglo-Zulu clash

Lots to report this week. I'll begin with an update on the Jacobite project. I'm still on annual leave so progress has continued apace, and four British battalions are currently nearing completion and will be finished later today, basing has also begun. That will leave three more battalions of foot, and two units of dragoons and a unit of horse for the government forces; and lowland infantry and Fitzjames Horse for the Jacobites and the project will be complete. There may be additions if I get into a campaign as and when required. 

Being off work has given me the time to tidy up the dining room, and sort out my gaming table. I'm pleased to have room to set up a 6 x 4 table. I found that placing the TSS tiles on a felt cloth and then a gaming mat on top gives a stable gaming surface. 

 

Last night I played an Anglo-Zulu war game using The Men Who Would Be Kings rules with Peter, a longstanding wargames opponent. Earlier in the day, while preparing for the game I decided to make some pinned and casualty markers as my Zulu are multi based. I also prefer my table to look as nice as I can make it, and I've never been keen on using dice as casualty markers as I feel they ruin the aesthetic and therefore my immersion in the game. With this in mind I had fortuously seen a bag of spare plastic bits that contained spare Zulu shields while I was tidying up. However, true to form I couldn't remember where I put them, after an hour or maybe longer searching they were found. I quickly knocked up some casualty markers, with the number of dots equalling the number of casualties. I made the pinned markers by using off cuts from a door mat that I had cut up to make some broken ground/cover. 

The game was using two 24 point field forces. The British has three 12 figure infantry units and a unit of 8 Regular Cavalry. The Zulus used the sample army from the book which comprised a force of 3 Veteran and 3 Fierce units. I also placed a leader with each unit as a marker, and to be removed if they were unlucky enough to be killed. The table was set up with the British making a stand in front of a small farm house. The game began with the British deploying in the open in front of the farm house. The Zulu force appeared and rapidly advanced with the Veterans on their left and the Fierce units on the right. The unit on the British left formed close order and waited for the Zulu advance, meanwhile the centre unit retreated behind the improvised wall of the farm house. On the British right, the infantry advanced to the edge to the broken ground, and the cavalry failed to move, horses spooked by the sound of the advancing Zulu. On the Zulu right wing three units surged towards the British, the first unit suffered significant causalities at long range and was destroyed by volley fire when attempting to close in hand to hand combat. The two remaining units managed to close in hand to hand but were beaten off and eventually destroyed, but not without inflicting casualties on the British line. The unit on the right of this attack had taken casualties from the central British unit during the advance and the central Zulu unit had taken some losses from the British unit it was charging. In the centre the British unit fended off an assault by a Zulu unit completely destroying them in short order. On the Zulu left as the cavalry continued to stall the Zulus attempted to advance at the double with mixed outcomes. One unit managed to crash into the British Line and inflict some casualties but not without taking heavy loses at the point of the bayonet. The second Zulu unit stalled briefly, finally making contact with the British line as the cavalry sprung into action. The British line held firm and repelled the Zulu assault, the broken Zulus fled into the broken ground only to be mercilessly ridden down by the regular cavalry. A comprehensive British victory. After the photos there are some thoughts on the rules.

Thoughts on the Rules

This is the first time I have played the rules, and as such my preference for a first game is a straight head to head clash with set points to get a feel for the mechanisms and the strengths and weaknesses of the set being used. From this some initial thoughts came from the game. 

The British infantry are powerful once formed in close order and when using volley fire the Zulus stand little if any real chance. This isn't a criticism of the game mechanisms as I feel they do give a fair reflection of the realities of the weapons used at the time. However, from a game prospective this needs careful consideration in order to give the Zulus a chance of being victorious. The scenario is key here. Ideas to possibly include in scenarios are:

1. Limit the British ammunition, look at a mechanism to resupply the companies. This would work well with a defended position such as Rorke's Drift.

2. Keep the British moving, the classic escort scenario would give the British player the dilemma of stopping to fend off a massed Zulu attack and being able to use close order and volley fire, or pressing on and hope to make it safely away. The risk of more enemy appearing and overwhelming them has to very real for this to work. 

3. Randomise the Zulu forces and vary the entry points.

4. Increase the size of the Zulu units. I'm unsure how much I like this idea, worth trying, but not sure how well it will work in these rules.

5. Decrease the size of the British units to 6 figure companies. Benefit of reducing the number of firing dice and makes the units more fragile. They would still benefit from close order in hand to hand with the Zulu only being able to engage on a 1-1 ratio in hand to hand. 

All in all a good game, but like most games needs a good scenario to get the best from them. Will definitely play again. Lots to think about.

Late Roman Infantry 3

 

More 28mm Late Romans, lovely Crusader Miniatures. Based up for Lion Rampant and Saga, though they may get a run out in Midgard in the future, who knows!

The Jacobite project has taken on a life of its own. My original plans were for two small armies to play Warfare in the Age of Reason. Then thoughts of refighting Culloden emerged, it was always going to happen and I was deluding myself otherwise. Interestingly, I haven't been able to find a 15mm flag for Clan Cameron, fortunately it's easy enough to do. Now the project is starting to stray into provincial regiments such as the Derbyshire Blues and the Georgia Rangers which weren't in my plans at all. I already have some figures suitable for the Georgia Rangers and it's a small outlay to do the Derbyshire Blues. Added to that I know that I have a few packs of Blue Moon French somewhere, that I picked up along the way just in case I wanted to do a French Seven Years War army, as you do! 

I'm on Annual Leave next week, so I'll be making a start on basing the figures that I've painted. Hopefully I'll get some pictures out if all goes to plan. 

There's been a slight distraction, as I'm also prepping for a game next Thursday. This will be Anglo-Zulu War using The Men Who Would be Kings rules. Hopefully, I'll manage to take some pictures and write up a report. A lot will depend on the light.

Early Saxon Archers

 

Thought is was time to show some more Early Saxons, 28mm figures from Footsore Miniatures. Absolutely love painting this particular range of figures. 

Update from the painting table. Jacobite Rebellion project continues a pace, I'm currently managing to paint each day after work and it certainly helps my speed to be painting regularly. I think I have enough highlanders done; that might sound strange as I did plan out this project so should know where I am. However, in true fashion the plan has not survived contact and I've expanded my original aim and am now thinking about a What If campaign for the Jacobite Rebellions. This has been inspired by or blame can be attributed to the Yarkshire Gamer podcast and the episode with Dr Arran Johnston. If you haven't already listed I can highly recommend it as a painting companion, even if it blows your plan out of the water! Currently on the painting table are four Government regiments and I need to take stock of where I'm up to this weekend and rethink the plan.

Plans for clearing the table and setting up a game have been derailed due to a visit to the Emergency Department, nothing too serious but further investigations are being scheduled. As I used to work there it was nice to see some familiar faces even though it was too busy to catch up! I'm still hoping to get the table cleared and see if I can set up a little game. 

Hobby Week: A little something for the Anglo-Zulu War

The Red Soldier by Frank Emery is the latest addition to my collection of books on the Anglo-Zulu War, and I have to give a shout out to Little Stour Books. Delivery was fast, and the book came wrapped in a cellophane sleeve, I know it's only a little thing but this little extra care and attention was a nice touch and made me smile. 

Hobbywise, I have been busy painting up my 15mm Jacobite Rebellion figures. The last batch highlanders have been undercoated and I plan to do a bit of work on them later today. Preparation involved snipping away the flag pole from the highlanders as it is too short on the Lancashire Games models. 

I then replaced with bristles, flattened and cut to a point from a floor brush. The first 4 regiments of the British Government army have been painted this week and flags have been ordered. I've also been having a tidy up over the last few months and as a consequence, my games table has become a general dumping ground, so my challenge this weekend is to clear it and set up a game. Not sure what yet, but the Anglo-Zulu War is tempting, especially as I can play solo with The Men Who Would be Kings rules.

Monks, a Priest and a Bishop

 

Painted these earlier in the year, 28mm from Gripping Beast (Monks and the Celtic Priest) and Footsore (The Bishop). 

The week has seen me plodding along with my Jacobite Rebellion project. The Irish Piquets, Baggots Hussars and The Prince have been finished, just another 80 or so highlanders to paint and then I can be happy that the clans have gathered. Flags have arrived from Northumbrian Painting Service which moves me a step closer to starting basing. 

Hobby Week 1

A lot has been happening since my last post, and I'm currently sat here on a Saturday evening full of man flu and sipping whiskey. Yesterday evening I was listening to the Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames podcast, episode 72 Ray and Lee of the Posties Delivery on Salute while painting and it led me into a period of reflection. I haven't listened to pod casts for a while so playing catch up, which is nice as I enjoy settling in for the duration and can get a lot of painting done once I do so. This particular episode struck a chord when wargames blogs were discussed, I won't go into details here, there will be no spoilers from me for the episode. All I can say is it was yet again another entertaining and throughly enjoyable episode. If you haven't listened yet, I can thoroughly recommend it, but a must are the episodes with Paul Thompson and his research into a German raid on the Isle of Wight in 1943, this is to quote, "delicious" historical research. I'm not a WWII gamer per se, but this is fascinating. 

Anyway, onto my reflection. I started thinking about what I intended my blog to be and what it has actually become, and how the two have changed over time. I have seen my output decrease over the years and I go long periods without posting. The reason being this has been a habit of showing completed units, photographed the best I can, which means a time delay to have them painted and based and then another delay to find the time to set up and take photographs. Combined with a chronic illness and constant fatigue this means that I rarely have the energy to do what I want when I would like. As a consequence, the updates on the blog have suffered. Now, my hobby thoughts never really stop, and I'm doing far more than my blog would indicate, except gaming but we'll come onto that in another post. I do love the video content that hobbyists are putting out, but unlike Big Lee I'm too lazy and technologically inept even for 15 minutes programmes. So, it looks like I'm firmly in the blog realm of hobby output. I came to the conclusion that my blog will evolve, become more of an actual journal where I document my hobby thoughts and often mistakes or near misses. I hope that those of you who stop by continued to do so with this change. There will of course continue to be posts of completed units, it's just that they will be accompanied by the story of the journey. 

This brings me to the title picture, The Last Highlander by Sarah Fraser. This is my current read, a fascinating account of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat; notorious double agent and Jacobite conspirator; and ties in nicely with my current painting project, the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.  I have been fascinated by the '45 Rebellion since a child, predominantly fuelled by my Scottish Dad, tales of romantic failure and lost causes which combined powerfully in pursuit of all things historical from a young age. Not only did I drag my parents around the castles of North Wales at every opportunity, I forced them to go to Culloden. It was from these early beginnings that my interest in the 18th Century emerged, a love that is still with me to this day. There have been a number of stalled attempts over the years at building armies to refight the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745, these have seen 28mm Front Rank, Cran Tara figures languish and fall by the wayside, as well as an early attempt in 15mm. This summer I sat down on my birthday and decided that I was going to finally paint a couple of armies up and play some games of the '45. Rules have been purchased, albeit initially intended for the Seven Years War project; these are Warfare in the Age of Reason. Now, reflection has taught me that one of my biggest downfalls is planning out my armies. I have always had a habit of buying what I think I'll need and then the whole thing grinds to a halt as I get distracted by the next shiny thing waved in my face having bought far more than I actually need and not having a clear focus. This time I actually planned everything out. My decision to build two armies for the Jacobite Rebellion coincided with a sale by Lancashire Games, so I took the plunge and my birthday present was decided. I did have a stash of unpainted 15mm Lancashire Games Jacobites bought years go, but these figures have been resculpted and are no longer available. Once my order arrived it was immediately apparent that the new Lancashire Games Jacobites are significantly bigger than their old range, which cause me the slight dilemma of whether I can mix the two sets in the same army. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't and placed another order to replace the older sculpts in my collection. I like both sets of highlanders, but the decided to go with the newer sculpts as I can easily expand the army if I wanted. Warfare in the Age of Reason has units of highlanders in 16s and regular foot in 12s. I decided that I will keep to this format even though I'm using 15mm figures. 

In the picure are 12 units of Jacobite highlanders, 4 artillery pieces and a small detachment of the Princes Lifeguard. I've kept the tartan very basic, using a stylistic approach. Photos of completed and based figures will show this more clearly in a future post. There is nothing fancy about the tartan, and the 3ft rule is very much in play! I have placed an order yesterday for Jacobite flags from Northumbrian Painting Services and am looking forward to these arriving. 

This morning I varnished two completed units of the Royal Ecossais, undercoated the Irish Piquets and continued work on Baggots Hussars and the Jacobite command (pictures below). There are two Royal Ecossais and two Piquets as I have realised that I will have two Jacobite armies when finished, divided on the old and new highlander sculpts. The second army will be sold off.  

That's it for tonight, more thoughts will be posted as the weeks roll by. I hope this new format is to everyones liking. Back to the Whisky...

Pict War Dogs

28mm Pict war dogs from Footsore Miniatures, well mostly...one dog was short when I came to paint them up and I managed to find a stray from Gripping Beast to join the pack.

Managed to play a game of Lion Rampant last weekend where my Picts and Early Saxons joined forces to take on a Viking force. I'll add pictures next post.

Currently on the painting table are some 15mm Jacobite Rebellion. I'm painting two armies up, very quickly to use with Warfare in the Age of Reason. I have 2 weeks off work coming up, and the plan is to have both armies complete.