Border Reiver 2013

Today I attended the Border Reiver show held at the Gateshead International Stadium. It was my first attendance at the new venue and its much more spacious that the Arena, however it did get hot, though thankfully not as bad as it was last year according to others from the club.

The club put on a demonstration game for day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg. We were using 15mm figures from my own collection as well as those from George and Neal. There was a mix of manufacturers on display from Old Glory, Warrior, Essex, Peter Pig, battle honours and Mini figs. Harry did all of the terrain boards while Neal and myself provided most of the fencing and buildings, We were going to use the Fire and Fury rules, but in the end decided to just move the figures to there position as they did historically to try and demonstrate how the battle unfolded on the day.

I did manage to take a number of photographs of the game. I was rather pleased with how it turned out and we did get quite a bit of passing traffic and people stopping for a chat which is always nice.

Initial set up

Union position on Seminary ridge

Sickles and III Corps

Behind the Union lines

The view from the Round tops

Ward's Brigade

Hood's Division begins their approach

III Corps falls back

Rebel II Corps advance through Gettysburg

II Corps falters under the Rebel assault

V Corps occupy the Round tops

VI Corps finally arrives to bolster the line

VI Corps start to deploy

Rebs assault the Round tops

Johnson's Division crosses Rock Creek

Rebel III Corps finally in to action

With running the game I didn't get much of a chance to visit the other games. I was was impressed with the Falkirk Wargmaes display for  the AWI, sorry forgot the camera here. There were a couple of 40K games on display, full of some excellent figures including Titans. The game that really caugh my breath was Blood Bowl. The Custom built stadium was awesome (sorry guys I forgot which club you were) the chaps were very friendly talking about the game and the dstadium and all the fans. Also liked the custom built Treeman for the Halfling team.

Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl

Lastly I have to mention the Wings of War/Glory participation game that was run by Neal from the club. Seems a lot of fun was had and the table was constantly busy throughout the day. Neal reckoned that thery used 35 different planes on the day. He is already talking of improvements for the next show.

Wings of Glory

Wings of Glory

For purchases I was very restrained this year, keeping to what i had made a list for. I did pick up some figures from Andy, 15mm Austrian napoleonics, some Austrian Landwher from Colonel Bill as well as assorted MDF bases and paints. There was one bargain on the Bring and buy which tempted me. A full brigade of napoleonic French nicely painted for £50.00, when I returned with the money they had already gone.

Was the show worth it, yes definatly and I will try and make it next year.

Crimean War part IV

I've been making some more progress on this project, starting on a second infantry division. First up is the Borodino regiment. This comes in at 12 stands (all four battalions) As usual the figures are all from Pendraken.

Borodino Regiment

As usual I've gone for a slight mix in headgear, just to give the unit a bit of a campaign look which is rather difficult with 10mm figures. The next unit for this division is the only unit of skirmishers available to me. With the 6th Rifle regiment being in skirmish order I dispensed with the greatcoats.

6th Rifle battalion

Lastly I've painted up 3 pieces of artillery, 1 of which is destined for the 13/14th infantry division I've already painted. I was a bit worried painting up artillery in 10mm scale but needn't have been as the proved rather easier than I thought.

Artillery

On the painting table I have 2 further infantry regiments underway which I hope to have completed in the next couple of days. The last unit in this particular division is of some sailors. Now Pendraken do not have any as part of their range and it looks like I am going to have to either use some left over infantry without greatcoats or order from Magister Militum and hope they match in scale wise.

Different period and scale, Napoleonics in 15mm. I've finally succumbed to the bug, but in so much that I am prepared to collect huge armies, just enough for re fighting smaller actions. I've gone for the 1809 Brunswickers which will give me 3 small battalions of infantry and a large regiment of Hussars. I'll support these with a brigade of Austrians, a nice mix of Black and white. To oppose these I am going for 3 to 4 regiments of Westphalians and a couple of regiments of French infantry and cavalry. That will be more than enough troops for fighting games on a 6x4 table. I will be able to theme the games around the 1809 campaign in northern Germany and the Brunswickers march to the coast and into British service. Think I'll need to put together a paint plan to focus my efforts. Wish me luck

Ventosa Part 2

Well this week we got to fight our game to its rather quick conclusion. The French flank drove in hard against my left flank. Despite holding the initial charge, one of my regiments eventually broke under severe pressure from 2 French columns. As confusion began to spread through the British ranks I realised one of my brigades was broken. This was not good.

French columns drive home their advantage

Eventually I was able to bring over the available regiments from my right flank to try and shore up the position. Furious firefights erupted across both fronts and some well aimed British musketry managed to hold off the French columns when at the end of turn 12 Neal called time. A quick count up of victory points saw the game end in a very hard fought draw. It does make you wonder how the French on the actual day performed so poorly as even with some well drilled and veteran troops I was hard pressed to hold the ridge, especially when the flank attack appeared.

British line tries ot reorganise

British form line to give fire

End position

All in all a very enjoyable game. Rules used were Black Powder and Albion Triumphant. Since I've been quite enthused I am looking to put together a small Napoleonic force, discovered that Dave has a large collection of Austrians so don't want to duplicate that. Now I am looking at Westphalians and Brunswickers for the 1809 campaign

Penninsular War

This week I was lucky enough to take part in the Ventosa scenario as part of Neal's Peninsular campaign. I was given control of the British against Dave and the French. Things were going quite well early on as I managed to break the French Brigade attacking to my front, however the arrival of Fresh French troops including cavalry behind my left flank was a bit of a shock and put the game back in the balance. We should get the game finished next week and I'm looking forward to it, even though Napoleonics have never been my thing. It has got me thinking about doing some Austrians in 15mm. Well on with some pictures to whet your appetite.

British await the French assault

French advance

Give them fire!

French line destroyed

French assault against the left of the line

French reinforcements arrive

The British about face to meet the new threat

French assault goes in.

The arrival of the French cavalry is proving a thorn in my side as I have no cavalry of my own with which to counter them. I'll need to neutralise them before too long as they are forcing my lines into squares making them vulnerable to French musketry.

On the painting front I've done some more for the Crimean, another infantry battalion, riflemen and some artillery of which I'll post pictures of shortly.