During the last few days I have rebased and tidied up my remaining ECW cavalry figures. I have also decided that this will be the end of this project, certainly for the time being as I now have sufficient figures for some reasonable sized actions.
These cavalry figures are really lovely. They are not my work and I must give credit to the original artist, whomever that may be. All that I have done is touch them up and rebase them. These latest figures allow me to deploy two 12 figure regiments:
I have continued to work my way through the huge pile of Minifigs ECW figures and another five foot regiments have come off the production line. As before, I am painting these figures in imaginery colours as a generic force so that they can be used by either side (apart from a few). Here are the latest completed units:
This gives me a total of 10 foot regiments. There are two more cavalry units nearing completion and another three foot units to finish off this project. I must say these colourful troops look really nice en masse once painted.
A few weeks back I spotted a group of about 25 colonial figures on that famous auction site and made a bid. The figures were a lovely mix of Hinchliffe Indian Army and Minifigs British and Zulu infantry. My bid was successful and a few days later a parcel was dumped on my doorstep. It was very light, too light and badly beaten up. When I looked inside, I did not need to open it, the box appeared to be empty. But, hiding amongst the bubble wrap was a lone British infantryman:
He is a lovely little figure and should have been accompanied by another nine or ten others. All of the Indians and Zulus had completely disappeared. In vain I scoured outside and along the footpath to no avail.
The seller very kindly reimbursed me and I hope claimed the money back from the shipping company, but what a shame for these fine figures to be lost.
Anyway, I painted the lone survivor. here he is:
During Lockdown One last year, I set myself the project of painting my Ros Figures Prussian Army, with around 20 battalions, guns and cavalry. This worked out quite well and helped pass the time and also gave me something tangible at the end. The theme of this project is Pike and Shotte, based upon the English Civil War. My reason for this is that I had a reasonable pile of Minifigs 25mm ECW figures that had been sitting unloved in a drawer for decades, and when I purchased a large portion of the Eric Knowles SYW collection, I discoverd that a number of Militia units were made of of ECW castings.
When I had sorted them all out there were enough figures for 10 -12 infantry regiments consisting of four stands with 16 figures; three gun batteries and six cavalry regiments (of six figures).
I already had acquired some command figures, half of which were beautifully painted, just in need of basing and touching up. Here are the forces so far:
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.
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:
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 (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:
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.
