Waterloo - Command & Colors

For a long time I have wanted to try the C&C scenario for Waterloo using miniatures, and my 'Scrapbox' army allows me to do this, as I have constructed all the units to match the C&C scenario. The internet is peppered with other examples of this well worn battle being refought using the C&C rules, but I feel it is worth a go, using my five inch hex board and terrain.

So, here is an overview of the table set up ready for play:

The French are at the top, consisting of a mix of Minifigs, Prince August and Del Prado figures:

Reille on the left:

 Ney in the centre:

 D' Erlon centre right:

 Guard heavy batteries:

The Allies, consisting mostly of Prince August infantry, Del Prado cavalry and a mix of artillery, is deployed with Hill on the right:

Picton in the left centre:

And Perponcher on the left, with the Dutch/Belgians:

The Allies also hold the three strong points, that are also French victory objectives:

Hougoumont, on the Allied right:

La Haye Sainte in the centre, with Rifles in the adjacent sandpit:

and, Papelotte anchoring the Allied left flank, held by jaegers:

There are no Prussians in this scenario, so it will be a straight slugging match, with the French attacking and attempting to take the three strong points, or by destroying units to give a total of eight victory banners. The allies simply have to hold the French at bay and gain eight banners by causing French casualties.

Tank Action - Rules Play Test

My brother visited over the weekend, and being a fellow wargaming it seemed a good opportunity to play test my version of Charles Grant's tank battle rules, extracted from his book 'Battle'. I converted these rules to be played on a hex grid, as opposed to measuring moves and firing ranges:

The scenario I used was a meeting engagement to secure a village that sits on an important road junction somewhere in Russia in 1943.  The Germans enter from the right and the Soviets from the left:

The German force consists of a tank company, represented by three Panther tanks and a tank destroyer company equipped with three StugIIIG (total 6 tanks). Here is a view from the German end:

It was decided that I would command the German force, while Phil took charge of the Soviets. His force was nearly double the size of the Germans, consisting of three companies of T-34 tanks; a mix of 76 and 85mm gunned vehicles (total 10 tanks).

We arranged our forces on the table and I decided to concentrate my armour on the left flank, with the aim of holding the high ground and picking off the Soviets at long range using the Panthers. The Soviets advanced cautiously on a broad front across the whole board.

Initially things went well for the Germans, as a Panther round slams into a T-34/85 advancing down the left road and it burns blocking the road:

Another Soviet tank, a T-34/76, emerges from behind a house and is quickly taken out. The Germans are destroying the Soviet force piecemeal.  Those Soviet tanks that do return fire at long range have no effect, even when they hit the target.

At this point things looked good for the Germans, who planned to continue to fire concentrated attacks at individual advancing Soviet tanks; however, in the next round of shooting another T-34 is destroyed, but a side shot takes out one of the Panthers (in the foreground):

The Soviets now realised that their current approach is doomed, so they changed tactics. Using their superior numbers they all charged forward, bursting out of the village.  The dice turned against the Germans, and despite many hits their shots failed to penetrate the oncoming Soviet tanks.  Having closed the range, nine tanks against five, saw another Panther go up in flames, quickly followed by two of the Stugs:

In a matter of minutes the tide had turned. The one remaining Panther and the single Stug backed away, hoping to take down a few enemy tanks as they crossed the high ground, but the dice was not on their side.  The Germans withdrew; the Soviets controlled the village and road junction. A clear victory for the red army.

Overall, this was a very quick (less than an hour) fun game. The rules worked really well and there could have been a different result with a little more luck on the German side.

Next I will begin developing some infantry and artillery rules.

Pause for thought

After a pretty intense painting session, working on the Prince August figures with some Warrior Miniatures in the background, it is time for a pause for thought. The arrival of the grandchildren for a few days has forced me to put the paint brush down and to focus on other matters.  This is an ideal opportunity to think about where next as far as painting and gaming goes.

I am keen to play test my WW2 tank battle rules and I am conscious that I have not had my Crimean troops in the field for a while.  I also would like to have a go at the Command and Colors Waterloo scenario.  Finally I would also like to try an AWI scenario.

So that is the likely main effort as far as gaming goes.

Regarding painting, I am not so sure. I have some Spanish lancers and British hussars to be completed in my peninsular war series and I have also been working on the figures from the board game 'War of the Ring@ - all 200 of them. Ove rthe next few days I will decide where to focus my painting efforts - I have plenty of raw material; just awaiting some inspiration!

Scrap Box Army - Completed

Today I fnished the last of the British units, completing the scrap box project. I have enough figures, generals and guns to play the Command and Colors 1815 scenarios, with all the right models. This has given me a Dutch Belgian contingent, with 6 infantry units. A gun battery provided by Minifigs and a Del Prado general and cavalry:

Then there are two British Brigades. The first consists of the 2nd Foot Guards, the 42nd Foot (Black Watch) and the 4th Foot:

The second Brigade has four units; the 1st Brunswick Line, the 30th and 5th Line and the 92nd Highlanders:

With a light cavalry Hussar regiment, a foot battery, as well has a heavy cavalry brigade, with its horse artillery the British contingent looks like this:

Putting the whole lot together, adding a battalion of rifles and senior commanders we have the allied army:

The cavalry are all Del Prado, as are the rifles and most of the commanders.

Peninsular Warriors - Napoleon Arrives

Arriving in Spain to see for himself what is happening in the Peninsular in 1808, Napoleon takes charge of the situation with the capture of Madrid and forcing the retreat of the British to Corunna in January 1809.  He did not stay in Spain for long as he departed to deal with the emerging threat from Austria.

Here we have the emporer with his senior commanders, with an escort provided by the French horse grenadiers of the imperial guard. All figures are by Warrior Miniatures. Napoleon is the only personality figure available in the napoleonic range:

Peninsular Warriors - French Chasseurs a Cheval

Tipped off by Jeffers (see earlier comments), that having developed some masters for John Holt, Warrior Miniatures would soon be producing some French Chasseurs a Cheval.  Although not yet in the catelogue on the Warrior website, they are available as FNC 37, 38 and 39. I just had to order some and when they arrived I realised that they were lovely figures and just had to be painted. So here they are - charging to head off those pesky Spanish hussars:

Peninsular Warriors - Spanish Hussars

I have been painting these figures on and off for the last few weeks, a bit at a time. They are lovely figures, with loads of detail. They came on trotting horses, but I thought that their rather spirited poses deserved some galloping horses, so I orderd some from John Holt at Warrior miniatures. They came within a couple of days.

These guys look as if they mean business -