New Spencer Smith ACW Castings

 Just before Christmas I asked Peter Johnson at Spencer Smith Miniatures if he would be able to do some conversions on his ACW 30mm classic range.  He has done this and some samples arrived yesterday.

From left to right there is a Zouave wearing boater hat, Zouave in kepi, standard bearer in soft hat as well as a drummer and bugler. Next there is an officer with raised sword arm in kepi and finally a riderless horse for dismounted cavalry.  Not shown here, but Peter has also produced standing and kneeling dismounted cavalry in kepi.

These figures are not listed yet on the Spencer Smith site, but Peter assures me that they are available on request.

These small additions will greatly expand the uniform options for the range and, along with the new limber and riders, provides a good range of ACW figures.

Punic Wars - Wofun Style

I have always wanted to have a go at some ancient battles, particularly the Punic Wars.  The problem is that, with all of my other interests, I have never been able to put together a painted army.  I had seen Wofun figures on other blogs, so I thought I would take a look.

I have opted for the 18mm version of the Punic Wars starter set.  It consists of the two armies, Roman and Carthaginian.  Setting up, took a couple of hours as each group of figures needs to be eased out of the Perspex sheet and then attached by clipping in to an MDF base, which is pre-coloured. So seting up is quick and easy, although I managed to break a few figures with my fat fingers.

This is what they look like; the Romans:

And the Carthaginians:

Overall the set does provide two reasonable armies, however, at 18mm I find it quite hard to work out what the figures are and I have written a description on the underside of the bases. This may prove a problem in a game.  I do not like the white outline created by the Perspex and I may paint all the edges in black.

The jury is out.

B Company's Grand Day Out

 

B Company (B Coy) has been tasked to provide infantry support to British armour planning to move along the road through quite close country.  B Coy has four platoons and a headquarters and has a mortar section and medium machine gun section attached.  The tanks are represented by four Shermans. The ground is as follows; beyond a low ridge there is a village on the right by the road junction, a patchwork of fields and a small wood on the left:

On the left, 1 and 2 Platoons (Pl) are to advance and clear the wood, with two tanks in support, while on the right, again with two tanks 4 Pl will move up to the village.

In this game there are no enemy on the table, which consists of elements of a panzer grenadier battlegroup, just a series of square markers.  Once troops are within 2 hexes they can dice to see if they spot what is there (if anything).  If something is spotted, 2 D6 are rolled to determine what it is. This provided quite an exciting game.

1 and 2 Pls begin their advance on the wood:

Once on the other side of the ridge they spot movement behind the hedge near the wood.  To their horror this turns out to be a Panzer IV, which begins firing at them:

1 Pl in the direct line of fire runs into the wood for cover, while one of the Shermans advances to take on the German tank:

Both tanks exchange fire to no effect, and the arrival of the second Shermans sees the Panzer IV pull back out of view. 1 Pl consolidates its position in the wood, with 2Pl on its flank.  A second suspected German position to the right of 2Pl turns out to be a false alarm.

The action now switches to the right flank and a Sherman moves onto the ridge to cover the advance of 4 Pl.  There is a marker in the village, which turns out to be a Pak 40 75mm anti-tank gun:

The gun opens fire and the Sherman is destroyed:

The supporting infantry of 4Pl make short work of the anti-tank gun and they enter the village:

As 4 Pl move into the village they spot a panzer grenadier platoon at the other end:

A brisk firefight ensues in the street:

4 Pl win the firefight killing several of the Germans, but also take a couple of casualties themselves. The remaining Germans withdraw when the second Sherman begins to edge around the village, leaving 4Pl to lick its wounds and consolidate in the village and church.

Back over on the left, 1 and 2Pls begin their advance towards their secondary objective, White Farm, which, after testing, turns out to be occupied by a German tank hunting platoon:

 1 and 2 Pls begin their attack, while one of the Shermans moves around the side of the farm:

2Pl comes under heavy fire in the field, while 1Pl advances behind the Sherman. Unfortunately the Sherman strays too close to the farm and is taken out by a Panzerschreck:

 The second Sherman arrives and quickly deals with the Panzerschreck team, but 2 PL has to withdraw due to heavy casualties. To make matters worse, as 1Pl begins its assault, the Germans put down a mortar stonk, which slows things up even more:

However, the weight of fire from the tank and the infantry overwhelms the German defenders, who break and run.  1 and 2Pls combined set up a defence around the farm, with the remaining Sherman:

With the vallage and the farm secured the remainder of B Coy moves up:

B Coy commander is a little shocked by the level of resistance and determines that with half of the tanks knocked out and only one complete platoon remaining his best course of action would be to hold what he has gained and await reinforcements.  This will make an interesting second game.

All the figures are Hinchliffe 20mm castings and the Tanks are by Armorfast.  I really enjyed this small action, which provided a fairly unpredicatable enemy.

Minifigs S Range Bavarian Artillery

 I have just finished basing this little unit of Minifigs S range Bavarian gunners.  The painting was mostly carried out by someone else, I simply touched it up and and based the figures.  The gun is an 8pdr from Warrior Miniatures.

My little Bavarian force is coming on nicely, with four infantry battalions, a gun and a cavalry regiment.

Thw Action at Sagewerkdorf 1866

Austrian forces are advancing northwest with the intent of capturing the disputed border town of Sagewerkdorf and, if possible, pushing on to take the adjacent industrial complex.  To counter this move a Prussian and Allied force, consisting of three Prussian line regiments, a Jaeger regiment, a regiment of dragoons, a regiment of Hussars and a gun battery are deploying, with four allied regiments; from Lippe, Brunswick, Bremen and Waldeck under command.  The Austrians have a similar size force.

Here is the area of operations:

Those knowing their wargame history will note the close resemblance to Grant's Sawmill Village setting!

The Prussians appear in the northwest, quickly taking the high ground of Sandig Hugel, where they set up their command post and artillery:

One of the Prussian Regiments quickly occupies the Sagewerk complex and the Jaegers move into the woods:

The Austrians, meanwhile, advance towards Sagenwerkdorf and set up their artillery on the high ground above Sonnig Schlucht:

The Prussians decided to go on the offensive by ordering two allied units, the Brunswickers and Bremen Regiment, up their left flank to envelop the village:

And the Prussian Jaegers were to take the Taube farm complex, which by now has been occupied by Austrian light troops:

Underestimating the power of modern artillery the brunswickers were forced back, suffering heavy casualties. They eventually break and rout off the field; first blood to the Austrians:

 All the time the Austrian numbers increase and soon Sagerwerkdorf and its church are occupied by Austrian and Hungarian infantry:

The Prussian artillery on Sandig Hugel opens fire on the area of the church causing devastating casualties amongst an Austrian infantry regiment in the open:

 

Having seen off the Brunswickers, the Austrian artillery turns its attention towards the Bremen regiment, but the Prussians open fire with their artillery in counter battery fire, causing some Austrian casualties.  An exchange of fire between the artillery of both sides results in the Prussian guns being silenced:

Whilst this is going on an Austrian Light Horse regiment charges down the Bremen Regiment causing some casualties, but the infantry stand firm forcing the cavalry to retreat:

The cavalry rally and charge again, this time sweeping the Bremen regiment from the field.  The situation is not looking too good for the Prussians with the advance on the left having been beaten and having lost their artillery:

Things do not go well on the Prussian right either; the Jaegers fail to take the farm, which has been reinforced by a further Austrian regiment and fall back and leave the field:

The Prussian commander decides on one last push.  He moves up his regiment of Hussars and an infantry regiment on the left and they see off the Austrian light horse with combined rifle fire and sabre:

The Prussian command then orders two regiments to rush up the road in the centre, supported by the Hussars, who are to distract the Austrian artillery:

The Hussars achieve their aim and the Austrian guns withdraw, but are forced back by rifle fire and the presence of more Austrian cavalry.  Soon the Austrian gun is back in action and rifle fire with artillery stops the Prussian advance in the centre. The Prussians decide that further attacks would be futile and withdraw back onto the area around the industrial complex.  A couple of attacks by Austrian infantry are pushed back, but Prussian casualties continue to mount. The Prussians consolidate in the northwest corner:

However, without artillery they cannot respond to the Austrians who simply sit in the village and bombard the Prussians.  The retreating Prussian infantry on the road are destroyed and that tips the balance and the Prussians call it a day:

The final score is a 6-4 win to the Austrians.  I used modified Battlecry rules.  I gave the Prussian infantry (not allied) the advantage of Needle Guns, which far outclass Austrian rifled muskets.  On the other hand, Austrian artillery is superior to the Prussians, which gave them an advantage in the end.

All the wonderful figures, which are mostly Minifigs S Range conversions, are from the collection of the late Alan Cook and, as mentioned earlier, the scenario is based upon Sawmill Village in CS Grant's 'The wargame Companion'.