'A' troop, 2nd Cavalry

In preparation for a run out of the rules next Tuesday, I completed a 4th troop of US cavalry. The mounted figures are all from Warrior miniatures and the dismounted troopers are Peter Pig, a mix of Pony Wars and ACW figures. These were leftovers from my ACW forces. At 15mm I think the ACW figures are a close enough proxy.

The guidons are home made and represent 'A' troop from the 2nd cavalry. The other three troops I have are all from the 3rd cavalry. The main reason these are a different regiments is because the figures are slightly larger than the Peter Pig figures. So going forward the 3rd cavalry will be Peter Pig and 2nd cavalry will be a mix of Warrior and Tabletop. This works for me as I'm basing the collection loosely on Crook's force at the Rosebud Creek

More Native Americans

With plans for a game in a couple of weeks at the club I needed to get more Native Americans painted up. First is six bases each of mounted warriors and infantry. These are a mix of Tabletop, Freikorps and Peter Pig miniatures, the infantry are all from Hovels.

Now to lead my Native American forces I painted up two of the character figures from Peter Pig, these all include a dismounted version and casualty figures. I've named the Cunning fox and Little Beaver.

Not to be out done I added some Crow scouts for my US cavalry forces. These are from Hovels, a shame there is only a single pose for the rider and dismounted figure. I may add some from Peter Pig as I'll be needing a few more for a battle like Rosebud Creek.

It'll be back to the US forces as I have 'D' company half painted and 'E' company undercoated along with enough infantry for three units.

'C' Troop and Natives

As I already have the inkling of a plan for a test game at the club in two weeks I added 'C' troop to the collection. Like 'A' and 'B' troop these are all from Peter Pig and include the dismounted troopers. The flag is from Wargames design. I really need to source some flags for the individual troops and move away from the American flag. So far nothing has come up. 

'C' Troop

Head of the column

3rd cavalry on patrol

After these were done I made a start on some I made a start on some dismounted native Americans. These are from Hovels. Nice enough figures but only 3 poses available. After these 4 bases I have another 6 on the painting table.  I may pick up a pack or two from Peter Pig to add some variety.

The eagle eyed among you may notice some very simple face paint added to these. You can really see it from 3ft away on the wargames table.

For the weekend I have a 4th troop of US cavalry prepped and ready for painting. I'll hopefully make a start on some Crow scouts and more Native Americans that I got cleaned up and ready for priming.

And more Pony Wars

I've had a bit of a productive weekend. After receiving the Friekorps figures from Robbo, it would have been rude not to get some of them painted. So I prepped 20 of them or enough for 10 more bases and set to work. They painted up quite quickly. I even found that size wise they are a good match with my existing figures, so that is an added bonus. I really need to pluck some courage for adding warpaint. I think I'll practice on some of the foot figures. Though once on the table I doubt you would be able to make it out. The sun shining through the window spoilt the photos. 

Not quite a horde of 'Indians'

So that brings me up to 31 completed bases of Native Americans, that's at 60% completion for the initial plan. I've 16 more of the Friekorps figures from Robbo and another 16 from Peter Pig miniatures for a further 16 bases. Enough to start getting some games in, once I paint a few more US Cavalry. 

Looking at the US Cavalry I had a bonus find. I was hunting through some of the unpainted lead and came across some leftover confederate cavalry from my ACW collection. There are enough for two 10 man units, both foot and mounted. More than passable enough for this period. With the last of the Peter Pig figures I'll be able to field five 10 man units. In the meantime I painted up a supply wagon, I picked this up from Colonel Bills, It's a Peter Pig model from their ACW range. I deliberately based the mules separately so I can also use the wagon as part of a makeshift barricade.

On the painting table I've started to make progress on the 3rd US cavalry unit and some dismounted native Americans.

More 15mm Pony Wars

Just another quick update as I make a little more progress on this collection. First up was some 15mm tepees from Hovels They may be a little on the small size compared to more modern sculpts, but at £2.50 for 2 they are an absolute bargain. Peter Pig charge £6 for 1. They are were just given a quick paint up.

I'll definitely pick up some more of these as well as some from Peter Pig for added variety. I can't imagine that tepees came in an agreed size. I want to have quite a large village, at least 10 models will be required. On the theme of Hovels, I picked up some of their mounted Native Americans. These are a good size match with the Peter Pig and Tabletop figures I already have. They also add some much needed variety. I'm quite impressed with the Hovels figures despite their age.

L to R, Hovels, Hovels, Peter Pig & Tabletop

For the US cavalry I've added 2 officers, both foot and mounted. These are from Peter Pig

Now on to a bonus. As I was working my way through the figures I had already purchased, I picked up a conversation at the club at my ideas for wargaming the period when Robbo mentioned he had some leftover figures from his own Pony Wars collection that I could have. I gladly accepted, all he wanted for them was to paint up a pack of Indian villagers. So now I am the proud owner of around 40 Friekorps native American cavalry. They are only slightly larger but should mix very well.

15mm Pony Wars

After getting the latest FPW game out of the way I was able to concentrate on the new Pony Wars project in 15mm. First off the painting table was 16 bases of Native american warriors. I'll likely group these into units of between 4 and 6 bases for the games. Most of the figures are from the old Tabletop range from Alternative Armies. There are only 3 poses including the warleader, but they are cheap and good to fill out the ranks. There are also a couple of packs fro Peter Pig mixed in as they are a very good size match and offer more variety.

The next batch of figures were two companies of US cavalry from Peter Pig, I had already done the dismounted versions. The flags are from wargames design and will do for now. I even got around to adding the flags to the dismounted companies.

'A' company

'B' company

I've also had a number of orders arrive. From Hovels I have 6 tepee's, some more mounted Native Americans, some villagers and Crow Scouts. From Tabletop I have some foot and mounted armed civilians and another batch of mounted Native Americans. From Peter Pig I have a third US Cavalry company including dismounted troopers, a couple of mounted officers and a supply wagon. I am also awaiting a couple of orders, one from QRF with another supply wagon and 4 companies of US infantry, the other from Peter Pig with more mounted Native Americans and a couple of Warleaders. So plenty to keep me going over the next month ot so.

FPW - Battle of Jarny Part 2

So Thursday, we dove straight back into the game, getting the final 5 moves completed. The first move of the night saw the French IV Corps push into Jarny with one division as they tried to evict the Bavarian cavalry. The second division supported by the two Cavalry divisions looked to push elements of the Bavarian 1st Division from the heights to the right of Jarny.

IV Corps push into Jarny

The Hessians move up to support the Bavarian cavalry

Meanwhile to the left of Jarny the Bavarian 2nd Division began to move down their hill to begin an assault on the French XII Corps. Meanwhile the French artillery poured in as much fire as they could manage to slow the advance and try and disrupt the Bavarian artillery from forming a gun line. This proved effective most of the night, limiting the effectiveness of the German artillery. 

Bavarian 2nd Division

Elements of Bavarian 1st division await the advancing french

The French try to drive out the Bavarians from Jarny

Bavarians try to form up their gun line on the hill while the 2nd division advances down the slope.

Bavarian 2nd division hammers into VII Corps

To the left of Jarny the French XII Corps and Bavarian 2nd division poured heavy fire into each other. The French 2nd division made up of the Garde mobile, suffered some heavy casualties in the face of determined Bavarian pressure. 

On the right flank the French IV Corps began to put the Bavarian 1st division under heavy pressure, slowly forcing the Bavarians back despite some stubborn resistance. In Jarny itself the two Bavarian cavalry regiments were eventually destroyed from accurate french Chassepotte fire. It was only the timely arrival of the lead elements of the Hessian division that allowed the Germans to hang on to Jarny, checking the French advance.

Hessian and Bavarian infantry heading towards Jarny

French IV Corps driving back the Bavarian 1st division

The pressure continues to build on the 1st division

The fighting in and a round Jarny intensifies

As the battle was drawing to a close a number of close assaults went in. Both sides got their share of success and disaster. With repeated assaults the French IV Corps finally repulsed the Bavarian 1st Division, securing the heights to the right flank of Jarny. To the left of Jarny the Bavarian 2nd division was slowly driving XII Corps back, but were beginning to run out of steam due to their own casualties. In Jarny, 2 french regiments assaulted the Hessian defenders only to be repulsed as the game drew to a close.

Bavarian 2nd division assaulting the french XII Corps

French IV Corps driving back the Bavarians

So we actually ended up with a draw after 10 turns of heavy fighting. The French still held the heights to the north of Jarny and had managed to drive the Bavarian's back on the left flank, securing both of their objectives. The Bavarians also secured both of their objectives, occupying the crossroads at Jarny and managing to shatter a french division by reducing it to under half strength.

After 3 battles, Marcellin, Bitche and Jarny, The Prussian 3rd army holds an advantage of 13 victory points to the French 2nd army's 7 points, these will need to be factored in for the final battle of the campaign which I will need to spend some time planning. It will be a large battle with the Prussians bringing VI Corps, XIV Corps, XX Corps and Bavarian I Corps. The French will have I Corps, III Corps, IV Corps and XII Corps. Both sides will also have a couple of reserve cavalry divisions.

Overall the players seemed to have enjoyed the 3 games. Each side being unaware of their opponents objectives added to the suspense. Changing the games from just the standard line them up and try and destroy each other, giving them tactical challenges to achieve.