A down of Hares

So in between painting up some Franco Prussian troops, I managed to add to the collection of animals for Burrows and Badgers. This time I decided to concentrate on a single species as one of the beauties of the game is that you can create single species warbands. So I decided on a bunch of Hares. I already had 1 painted in the collection, so decided to add another 4. At the same time I also completed a batch of creates and barrels from Debris of war.

A bunch of hares

With the original model added

Hare hedge knight

Grymlocke Grawloggson

Garrow One-eye

Druidess

Crates and barrels

The idea behind these is to run them as siblings, will have to com up with a clan and individual names. These were quick and fun to do. Got me thinking of a second single species warband, probably go for either otters or foxes. I've also got Mitch trying to source some STLs to print out some more crates and barrels for extra scenery.

FPW - Baden Infantry regiment

As I get closer to staging the second of our Franco Prussian War battles, I've been trying to complete the Baden division. I'll be cutting it fine but, here is the second infantry regiment completed. Like the rest, the figures are from Outpost / Reiver castings. The flag was provided by some chaps on the LAF forum. It matches those produced by Pendraken in 10mm.

I also managed to complete the Divisional commander as well. I do have the 3rd regiment on the painting table and hope to get it completed over the weekend. I may get a chance to start the 4th regiment, they are undercoated, butwill likely not get them completed along with a cavalry regiment.

Franco Prussian War - Baden Division

Starting to make progress on the Baden Division to complete XIV Corps. I did initially have an issue in sourcing some flags, but chaps on LAF managed to provide me with some. So here they are the 1st regiment for the Baden Division. All the figures are Outpost from Reiver castings.

I went with the all marching pose for this regiment. I have enough figures for a 2nd regiment in a marching pose. A 3rd will be all advancing and the 4th will be a mix of poses. With these done I have already made some progress on the Divisional commander and a 2nd line regiment. Hopefully get these completed over the next couple of days.

Quar Rampant - You can't take Quar seriously

So we decided to give the Xenos Rampant rules a run out for the Quar. We randomly generated the scenario which would involve one side trying to escort a convoy across the table while the other tried to stop them. So to 24 point forces per side. I took a light infantry company from the 22nd Double D's regiment, led by a junior Caertan on his first mission. I had a couple of supports in an Alithean tank and a torpedo team. We were joined by support elements from the 13th Regiment, the Quarkers dozen. 

So we arrived for the game to discover a slight miscommunication in orders. We were defending the convoy, not attacking it. Looks like the Pykpyk was a royalist sympathiser. Now looking at the Royalist troops, there didn't seem to be many,  turns out they were elite, yikes!! and they had artillery, double yikes!! Now in Xenos rampant if you fail an order it will end your turn. Happened quite often on the first order, triple yikes!! As a result my Alithean tank blocked in the convoy and the support elements from the 13th. I did manage to get the light infantry spread out to support the flanks.

The Glorious 22nd Deploy

Let's head for cover

Treacherous Royalists open fire

Heavily armed Royalist elites

Turn 6 and we haven't moved much, well once.

The boys under fire from Royalist infantry and a pesky hidden sniper

Vehicles getting nowhere fast

1st squad beginning to have second thoughts

Once we engaged the Royalists, their superior quality of troops quickly began to tell. Poor honourable Crusaders cut down in swathes. We did manage to pick off a few of the enemy, but not enough. One Royalist elite squad, took out the torpedo ream and then routed 1st squad. The second unit of elites took out 2 trucks and severely damaged the Alithean tank with their demolition charges.

With the 2 Crusader commanders bickering over vehicles moving, not moving, blocking fire lanes etc, lots of jovial banter, our poor Quar were being routed from the field. We did manage to get to turn 8, I think we managed to get the vehicles about 18 inches across a 6 foot table. 

So an enjoyable game and will definitely give them another run out.

FPW Additions

With another large Franco Prussian game approaching I cracked on getting a few more figures painted. First up was the artillery to complete the French XII Corps. These were 4 batteries from the old Outpost miniatures range. Quick and easy to get done.

I also painted up a couple of small companies of Franc-Tireurs. They are not really suited to the pitched battles, but will be handy as a bit of a nuisance for the Prussians to deal with. These are also from Outpost.

Not to be left out, I did paint up some additions for the Prussians. There are 4 stands of Uhlans which I can use to strengthen one of the 2 Prussian cavalry divisions. Nice serviceable figures.

I've also decided to commit to painting up the Baden division to complete XIV Corps. I've already made a start on purchasing the figures that I'll need, enough for 4 regiments of infantry @ 30 figures each and a regiment of Jagers. Thankfully I already have enough artillery painted up. Once these are painted up I'll add the cavalry regiment. I've already made a start and completed the Jagers. There is also the 1st line regiment undercoated.

As for the game, both sides have their orders of battle, sent the map through earlier in the week so that they can plan their deployment and objectives for the game.

FPW French, XII Corps

As I begin preparing for a second Franco Prussian game, I needed to strengthen XII Corps. I recently painted up the 4 regiments for the 1st Division. Now I needed commanders, cavalry, artillery and Mitrailleuse machine guns. So first up are 4 Mitrailleuse machine guns and 2 artillery batteries. 1 will be attached to each of the 3 infantry divisions while the 4th will support the XII Corps artillery reserve. The Mitrailleuse is from Outpost, while the artillery is from Lancashire, not my favourite models.

Mitrailleuse machine guns

2 artillery batteries

Next up are some mounted officers and a regiment of Chasseur a Cheval, to represent the 7th regiment. These are all from Essex miniatures. They match in fine size-wise but do have the issue of incredibly slim bases which make them a pain to get onto the bases. I did have a slight error as I originally painted their tunics brown instead of green. I had been looking at pictures of the Hussars, thankfully now corrected.

7th Chasseur a Cheval

This has gone some way to strengthen XII corps. I do have the 4 artillery batteries on the painting table to add to the Corps reserve. Hopefully get them done by the weekend. So here is XII Corps as it currently stands.

XII Corps

The Corps is led by Lebrun. He has 3 infantry divisions, Grandchamp, LaCretelle and Vassoigne. There are also two small cavalry divisions each of 2 regiments led by Lichtin and Salignac-Fenelon. With both of my French Corps at similar strength it is time to make a start planning the second game. I hope to get something on the table by the end of February.

Burrows and Badgers first game

So at the club on Thursday Mitch and I got our first game of Burrows and Badgers in. Mitch went for a warband of all spell casters. For me I went with some plucky Royalists led by Captain Otto (Otter) and his second Mad Mick (Mouse). The rest of my force consisted of Harold Longleg (Hare), H'sssid (Adder spellcaster) and Dead-eye Nibs (Mouse).

I set up the table to represent the small village of Chattyn in Northymbria. Captain Otto had been tasked with protecting the Church. The buildings were all from my dark age collection which I remembered that I had stuck in storage.

Otto and his warband in the grounds of the church

Village of Chattyn

Otto, supported by Mick and Nibs move to challenge the strangers

A collection of spell casters

Nibs takes a shot and wounds a Beaver spellcaster

Otto chargers in dealing heavy damage to his opponents

Spells start flying around

Mad Mick joins the fight, Harold can be seen in the distance to cut off their escape

It was at this point I forgot to take anymore pictures. H'sssid tried to provide magical assistance to the troop , but seemed to have difficulty with his aim. Only landing 1 of 6 lightning bolts on target. With Nibs providing slightly better missile support with his crossbow, Otto, Mick and eventually Harold started to carve up the spell casters. However some good use of 'heal' spells and 'take control', kept them in the fight. Eventually though, Harold and Otto managed to isolate the Beaver spell caster before putting him out of action. It was at this point that Mitch decided discretion was the better part of valour and retreated.

A good fun game, the rules are simple enough and quick to get used to. Looking forward to getting another game in soon.