Raid at Moose tavern

On Thursday night at the club I managed to run another game of Muskets and Tomahawks. The forces ended up larger than I would have wanted due to the addition of 2 extra players. It was also the first time I was using hidden markers, visually not as appealing but that was probably more to the small table and too many units.

The game centred around a French attack on Moose tavern and the surrounding settlement with orders to burn each building. The British were arriving in support of the militia defenders and to beat off the French.

French Force
2 French officers
1 Irregular Officer
2 units of 10 Regulars
1 unit of 8 Canadian Militias
2 units of 8 Companie Franches de la marine
1 unit of 6 Courer de bois
3 units of 6 Hurons

Settlement defenders (British)
2 units of 6 Militia

British relief force
1 Regular officer
1 Provincial officer
2 units 8 Regulars
1 unit of 8 Provincials
1 unit of 8 Rangers
2 units of Mohawks (6 and 5 figures)

The game opened with the French irregulars and Hurons advancing through the woods with the regulars keeping to the dust tracks to aid their movement. The British meanwhile advanced the regulars and provincials into the settlement to support the militia while their Mohawks allies and rangers went looking for the french.

The first engagement came between the rangers and some Hurons, after a brisk exchange of fire the Huron unit was destroyed for the loss of 2 rangers. Meanwhile the Provincials decided to cross the stream via the bridge. Due to an unfortunate sequence of cards, a unit of french regulars were able to advance up, form a firing line before giving them a volley which downed 5 of the provincials and put them to flight. The Mohawks then tried to engage the french regulars but were surprised by a unit of Courers de bois and Canadian militia. Caught in a heavy crossfire, both units were routed.

At Moose tavern the British regulars then got to grip with more marines and Hurons. The rangers came up to support and gave a devastating volley to a unit of marines which saw them routed. The regulars then opened up and destroyed a unit of Hurons, but not before the had torched one of the buildings.

As casulatied began to mount on both sides a second building went up in flames. With no British troops across the stream a third building had been left isolated. The French regulars managed to get moving again bringing them up into range of the British regulars. The french got the better of the exchange. With time running out we called it a day. Most of the British units were either destroyed or heavily damanged, whereas the French still had 4 strong units to attack across the stream and relieve the last of their marines and Huron allies. The game was Victory for the French.

I did have a few learning points with this game. The main one being too many units on a table only 6ft by 4ft. The game got too cluttered and very confusing for both the umpire and players. Also I would restrict hidden movement to only one side unless the scenariio requires it as it just didn't feel or look right. I also need to take more photos, but as the action got fast and furious I got too wrapped up working out the carnage. Still the players enjoyed and that is the main thing.

FPW French and others

I've been painting a bit of a mixed bag of figures at the moment. First up is the second regiment for my FPW division, the 29th Line. The figures are once again all from Outpost. I did paint up the artillery piece as well but forgot to take a picture of it.

Next up is a unit that has stared at me across the painting table for nearly a year. They are the last of my unpainted ACW infantry, I'll need some more to finish off the remaining brigades. Think this project will get pushed to the end of the year. I painted these up as Kemper's Brigade from Pickett's division. The figures are all from Warrior except a couple of the command figures from Peter Pig. The flag is from an old set of Revo flags that I have had sitting in a box for years.

Kemper's Brigade

Kemper's Brigade

Next up is a move away from historical to fantasy. I painted up this Aragorn figure from Games Workshop to use as a Ranger NPC in my fantasy role play game, I still need to finish off the base. I already have a couple of the other versions painted up as Aragorn.

Ranger

Ranger

Lastly in preparation of a club game on Thursday night with my nephews I set up a FIW game. Still got to think of a suitable title for this one. The pictures below give an idea of the layout. It will be difficult to get regulars moving so I may dispense with them and stick with Rangers, Indians and militia for both sides.

View from the South

Settlement from the West

Settlement from the East

View from the North East

I'll try and remember to take some pictures of the actual game and write up a rough battle report.

FIW Woodland Indians II

This is the next batch of figures completed for my Musket and tomahawk games. The figures are from Old Glory, plenty of character. They are slightly smaller than some of the modern ranges that are out there but I don't mind.

Woodland Indians

Indian loading

Indian warrior

Indian Warrior

Indian Warrior

I've got another 6 old glory Indians to paint up and that will bring my total of Indians up to 33. Enough to put together a size able raiding force in M&T games.

On other projects I picked up quite a bargain from EBay. A bunch of Dixon GNW Swedes. I paid £18.00 and when I have priced up the figures to buy new, £77.00. There are enough figures to complete 6 battalions of foot including Pikes. there are enough Pike and command for a further 4 battalions. There was also a 18 figure regiments of horse and 10 dragoons. Not a bad starting force. I'll get some extra cavalry command and musketeers to round off the force and get to painting them later in the year.

On the WSS my search for a decent Marlborough figure goes on. I picked up some Generals from Irregular to try out. They are serviceable figures and seem to paint up well. So far I have done 2 versions, 1 accompanied by a drummer and the other by a cornet. I'll post pictures once they are based up. I'm not totally happy with either set, but then I don't have it clear in my own mind yet for how I want the command base to look. If anything both bases are serviceable as Divisional commanders.

I've also had an invite up to Micks in May for a Franco Prussian game, gives me a chance to get out my collection. I some how volunteered to organise the game. I need to come up with a balanced scenario. I'll also have the use of Dave's troops. This will give us 3 French Corps, about 10 divisions of infantry and 3 cavalry divisions. The Prussians have 2 Corps, 1 Bavarian Corps and a Wurtemburg divisions, sure there is some cavalry available as well

FIW Woodland Indians

In a change from painting up my 15mm WSS collection, I decided to add some paint to some Old Glory woodland Indians that I picked up a while ago. I've based them up to use in Muskets and Tomahawks, need to give the rules another run out sometime soon. I enjoyed painting these up, didn't take very long either.  Typical of Old Glory figures they always look uninspiring when still bare metal, very rough and ready I think, but paint up remarkably well I'll be using these chaps as part of my British force and use the AW Miniatures as Hurons for the French.

Indian War party

Lead tracker

Indian Warrior

Indian Warrior

Indian tracker

I'm still not that confident when doing the war paint for these guys, suppose more practise is required. I keep checking some of the other painted figures out there and some very inspiring paint jobs there are. Check out some of these on Christopher's blog Link sure you will enjoy these

FIW New Jersey Provincials

Finally managed to get these guys finished. I went for the New Jersey regiment, simply to match in with my rangers which were also a New Jersey unit. The figures are all from Front Rank. Not quite quite sure if I got the blue right for the coats, but I'm happy enough with them.

The figures came in only 2 variants. I am thinking of picking up some more, but this time from Galloping Major to add a bit of variety. I want enough for a couple of units.

Next up is an officer, I think he is from the SYW Prussian range by Front Rank, will need to check. He came as part of a bundle of figures I got off EBay.  Unfortunately his coat has turn backs, but I am reasoning that since he is an officer he is more than likely provided his own attire.

The bases as usual are MDF provided by Warbase. Now I have the last 10 Frenchmen to complete.

FIW Militia

Sorry for the lack of updates but real life is taking precedent at the moment. Gaming is definitely on the back foot and my painting is only on a sporadic basis. That said I did manage to complete a handful more figures for my French and Indian war collection. These are 2 units of militia, each of 4 figures. I will be adding to these to bring both units up to their 6 figure maximum. The figures themselves are from Front Rank's AWI range. I like the fact that you can pick out the individual figures that you want and in the quantity that you want.

Militia unit 1

Militia unit 2

I also painted up an officer for my unit of rangers. This figure is also from Front Rank. Size wise each matches in well with the AW miniatures I currently use for my rangers. The only noticeable difference is the length of the rifle, which is significantly shorter on the Front Rank model.

Ranger Captain

Ranger Captain

I also finally finished off the final building, another log house from Pegasus Hobbies. These plastic kits have much to recommend them. I have seen the latest MDF ones from 4ground, but currently cannot see me getting any at this time.

Trading post

Trading post

This model will probably see use as the main focal point within a settlement as it is larger than the other models I have or act as a stand alone trading post.

Terrain part 3 and others

Finally managed to finish my 2 rock outcrops. Quite pleased with these, despite the larger base warping slightly. I finished both bases with sand and added some static grass to help blend them in with my wargames table.

small rock outcrop

another view

Large rock outcrop

Frenchman added for scale purposes.

Due to the lack of gaming opportunities at this time I have been able to concentrate on finishing off some of my scenery. Next up was the third woodland Indian hut. Constructed using the same methods as the others. I've got enough material to finish off another model.

Indian hut

For use during games of Muskets and Tomahawks, I picked up some movement trays to be used for the regular troops. Each tray will hold 8 figures. I'll try and pick up some more with differing sizes and layouts for the more Irregular troops.

Movement trays flocked and grass added

The troops in place

I also manged to pick up some more figures from Front Rank. The first painted are some more French Regulars for the La Reine regiment. I also complete a foot and mounted officer, Captain Clerambault to lead them. The flag is from War flag. This brings my regulars up to a strength of 2 units of 10. I also have another 10 and another officer to paint up.

La Reine regiment additions

Next up, I've ordered some more bases and movement trays. I also have some militia, provincials and a Ranger captain to paint. The larger building from Pegasus hobbies just needs basing, photos to follow. I have also been using some poker chips to make counters for use in the game, white for French and Red for the Brits. After this I only need to add a few more civilians and some livestock. Not sure yet if I will put together a larger river and get some canoes to add a bit of variety to the games. There is also the possibility of building a fort, the MDF walls from Warbase look promising.

Terrain

Due to real life getting in the way I've been unable to get any gaming or painting in this week. So today I decided to make some outcrops for my wargames table. I want them to be fairly generic, as I play a number of periods and scales. So banished outdoors as I would be using some polystyrene pieces I managed to scavenge after building some flat pack furniture I went to work.

For the bases I used some MDF from the bottom of an old set of drawers. I trimmed them up to remove the straight edges. Next I went to work on the polystyrene, cutting and shaping until I was happy and then glued them to the bases. I had to use some cocktail sticks to pin the large piece as it was constructed from a couple of pieces of polystyrene. I then coated both pieces with a large mix of PVA glue and polyfilla to help protect them before I get around to painting them up.

Large outcrop

Smaller outcrop

I am still a little undecided on the colour scheme to use, either start with black and work up in shades of grey or work up in shades of brown and tans. Need to decide by tomorrow as they should be thoroughly dry to commence painting.

As my FIW project progresses I have been making up a few purchases. !st off I bought another of the Pegasus models, this time the 2 storey log house. This will take over the place as a trading post and relegate my home made model to a basic homestead. On EBay I picked up a bargain 27 SYW French by Front rank figurines. These will allow my French Regulars to increase to 3 units of 10 with a further 2 officers. There is also a mounted officer if I wish to use one. This leaves my British rather shorthanded , so to start redressing the balance I have ordered 8 militia, 8 provincials and a ranger officer from Front Rank. Next month I will add a couple more militia, ad some Indians, probably from Redoubt for added variety.

FIW extras

To further clutter up the battlefield for future games I've decided to add a few pieces of extra details. First up is two carts from 4ground. These are made from MDF and were pretty straightforward to put together and paint.

2 Hand carts

I've also put together some extra trade goods to go with the trading post. The sandbags were from a plastic WW2 set I picked up years ago, still got some more lying around. The smaller crates and barrels are resin that I picked up rather cheaply on EBay. The larger barrel is from GW Siege defenders range and the 2 rolls of cloth are from Black Crow's sci fi range.

Trade goods

 As most of my scenery is for the Europeans I decided I wanted something for the Indians. I had a quick look on the Grand Manner site at their Indian Longhouses, lovely sculpts but out of my price range. It was then I remembered an old WI issue with and article from Herb Gundt on making a woodland Indian village. Using this as inspiration and knicking a plastic bowl from the Kitchen, I add small squares of crepe paper to get a bark effect. Quite pleased with my efforts, though the door is probably too large.

Indian Hut

Indian hut

And all Indian villages are not complete with a totem pole displaying the scalps of a warriors recent victims. The scalps were made from some rolled up tissue paper.

Scalping pole

On the figure front I painted up another 6 Canadian militia as Courer de bois. These figures are all from Front Rank Miniatures. Quite enjoyed painting these guys despite my initial reservations.

Courer de bois

Courer de bois