VBCW

Last night at the club I put together a quick game of VBCW. It has been a while since we played this at the club. The rules were just improvised as we went, adding much fun to the game with troopers dropping grenades among their own men. The game was based upon the Anglican League - 1st Newcastle Militia, entering the village to pick up an informer from the Red lion Inn, however unbeknown to them, The Wansbeck Association of the BUF had prepared an ambush.





As the Anglican League transports made their way down the main street they came under small arms fire, losing one man from a truck, but 2 men from the Bishops own car. Quickly disembarking from one of the trucks they returned fire, while the rest made their way across the bridge towards the inn. At this point they came under yet more fire as a Vickers machine gun opened up. As the ongoing shootout continued casualties began to mount on both sides. Eventually the Anglican League located their informer and made good their escape.





Forces involved

Anglican League command section - 5 men with rifles mounted in a van.
2 x 10 men rifle sections with 1 LMG mounted in trucks

BF Command section - 5 men with rifles and a staff car
2 x 9 men rifle sections with 1 LMG
1 Vickers HMG support team.

Battle of Sheepwash Bridge

After their defeat at Stotts farm, the Bishop of Newcastle has linked up with a company of Scots Nationalists and has begun fortifying the bridge at Sheepwash. These developments alerted the Local regular armed forces in garrison who quickly dispatched a company of regulars supported by a platoon of militia to force a crossing of the River Wansbeck

The Bishop of Newcastle and Entourage

Overview of the Battlefield

Royalists advance on the Bridge

Anglican League and Scots defend the Bridge

Anglican league sortie across a footbridge and deliver a devastating volley into the unsuspecting regulars.

The royalist attack eventually ground to a halt after sustaining heavy casualties amongst both the regulars and militia. Unconfirmed reports claim only light casualties for the Anglican league and Scots. Following this reversal the Royalist now find themselves on the receiving end of an auditious attack by the League and Scots on the town of Bedlington as they try to cease the 2 coal mines. It is also widely believed that Lord Clifford and elements of the Border Horse have thrown in their lot with the League.

VBCW - Raid on Stott's farm

Umpired my first game of VBCW today, with my 2 nephews taking on the leading roles commanding the respective Royalist and Anglican League forces. The scenario was based on the AL hiding out at Stotts farm, which was being used as a staging area for smuggled weaponry. The royalist forces under the command of a BF officer were out to arrest the miscreants.
First blood went to the royalist as they managed to pick off a couple of the AL sentries, after which a heavy exchange of fire took place with the AL having the worst of it. Eventually despite the arrival of some reinforcements the AL were forced to flee the farm abandoning their weapon cache and a prized armoured car to the victorious Royalist forces.
All in all a very enjoyable game, fast flowing using the rules from Empress miniatures. Shame I forgot to take the camera to get some pictures

VBCW pictures II

A few pictures of my growing forces for VBCW. First up is a small platoon of the Northern Horse mustering to intercept some marauding Scots.

These are the start of my Anglican League force, still working on the background but will be affiliated to the Bishop of Newcastle

Command group (Renegade and Foundry figures)

1st Newcastle Militia (Northstar and Empress figures)

The vehicle pool, 2 diecasts from Lledo and an armoured car (Big Geordie) from wargames command post.

Quick update

Just a quick note, continued painting on the VBCW front. The collection now consists of 24 Regulars, 36 militia, 6 Police constables and 9 militia cavalry for my royalist faction. For opponents I am concentrating on the Anglican League under the Bishop of Newcastle, force is currently 19 milita (mix of northstar international brigade and Empress Assaultos) in their colourful blue and grey uniforms backed up by an armoured car i picked up from Wargames command post.

Now got to switch attention to Marlburians as I have a big game at Micks this weekend, will post some pics of the event. Current plans are to fight 2 battles of 300pts on Saturday and a 400pt battle on the Sunday. I've got 3 battalions and a medium battery to paint.

VBCW - Northern Horse

The start of my Northern horse militia. I am using some black tree boers, currently have 9 and painted these 3 as a test. The others are going to have head swaps done once the heads arrive from West Wind. (mkI helmets)

These militia will form the mobile arm of the Garrison of Morpeth and the Wansbeck area. I plan to add a platoon of regulars from the Northumberland Hussars. There will also be a BUF attachment in Trucks as well as at least 1 armoured car and/or tank

VBCW pt III

A couple more photos of the recent additions to my Royalist force

Local Defence Volunteers - Musketeer miniatures

A Converted BUF officer, simple head swap on a Renegade Miniatures EarlyBrit WW1 officer.

VBCW part II

A few more pictures of my expanding VBCW Northern Army. The force will be based upon the Royalist garrison of Morpeth protecting the vital rail link to Berwick. Apologies for the quality of the photos but I think I need a new camera.

The Duke of Portland - Commanding Officer with Aide

The remnants of the local Constabulary

Couple of pictures of the local militia raised from the Estates of the Duke of Portland (predominantly farmers) These are a mix of ACW and Boer war figures as their rural look seems perfect for these guys. I have just received more militia from Musketeer miniatures to mix in to these (gives a little bit more modern weaponry)

Very British Civil War

I'm just getting interested in the 'Very British Civil War', so far I have painted and based 20 renegade WW1 Brits as the start of a battalion of regulars/TA, got another platoon on the painting table with 3 machine guns. Made an order with Musketeer miniatures for 4 packs of their militia. I am also utilising some Boers that I had lying around (17 of them) as militia (easily usable as farmers from the Duke of Portland's estate). I also ordered some Boer cavalry with the intention of using headswaps, probably Mk1 helmets to use as Lord Clifford's Border Horse.

I have also painted up a Lledo model van that I picked up off eBay and will use it as a ammo truck in games. For rules I intend to use those freely downloadable from Empress miniatures.
I'll post some pictures once my camera is working again of how the project is proceeding.

New Year, new projects

Well I've been busy these last couple of days. On the painting front I managed to finish the 3 battalions for the Franconian Helmstaett regiment, as well as the Schwarzenburg-Reuss battalion and the Onoldsbach Grenadiers from Ansbach. I have also added a battery of 3 medium guns.

In a break from the Marlburian period I painted up 7 ships to use in Firestorm Armada when the rules eventually arrive in the new year.

For future projects I have a couple of aims, I want to paint up a small ECW force, I got a box of the infantry with a mag subscription. I have also started to purchase some half timbered buildings for use in this period as well as latter as I also quite like the idea of the 'A very British Civil War'. I have already started to put together a force for this. Using some 1st WW Brits from Renegade I have approx 32 figures and 3 HMG's. I have also downloaded some rules off the Empress miniatures site and this force is sufficient for a battalion (The Duke of Portland's Rifles).

I have started to paint some of these Brits using a base coat and dip method, they came out okay apart from flesh areas so added a flesh wash and some minor highlights, I'll post pics once I have them based. I have also converted 4 Boer figures as the start of my Revolutionary elements, some slight conversion work and i have 2 figures with new berets and 2 with head swaps using GW Catachan heads (red bandanna). They don't look to bad and should be fine following painting.