Ersatz Japanese Infantry

 I think I mentioned earlier the imbalance in numbers between the Russians and Japanese forces.  I have now reorganised all of the Japanese and ideally, I could do with another two or three battalions.  Finding 20mm Japanese for 1905 is near impossible and so I turned to converting some plastic figures.  Here I have paint converted some Airfix and Emhar WW1 figures:

I think that they will look OK from a few feet away!

Russo Japanese war 1905, Jacklex Russians

 Finally, I have finished basing the last of the Jacklex Russians.  Thee was a lot of them.  I still have some unpainted figures and a few odds and ends to sort out, but the bulk of the collection is now ready for action.

Here is an overview of the Russian army:

The artillery:

Army command:

The rest of the artillery:

The cavalry Brigade:

The infantry:

The Cossack Brigade:

I'm working on some more Red Army troops and then back to the Great Plastics Revival - unless i get distracted again!

Battle of Naseby 1645

 Will came over during the weekend and we decided to have another go at an English Civil War battle. Naseby turned out to be the venue for the game and the board was duly set up.  I would play Parliament and Will the Royalists.  The field consisted of a shallow valley, largely open, with just a couple of small wooded areas, although on one side were some high hedge enclosures.  The hills were not steep enough to cause movement penalties but gave cover from view and uphill troops had a melee advantage.  Here is the battlefield as set up at the beginning, with Parliament forces nearest the camera.

The two commanders meet prior to the action:

I was feeling rather smug as, in the real battle Parliament wins and has a considerable numerical advantage.  I kicked off the battle with an artillery bombardment that had little effect.  Will immediately responded by pushing forward all of his cavalry regiments, hurtling hell for leather towards my lines.  Having more cavalry I ordered four regiments forward to counter attack. Soon the Royalist cavalry were amongst my artillery lines:

My cavalry counter attacks on the right:

Over in the enclosures a regiment of Parliamentary dragoons begins to harry the enemy infantry and Will sends two regiments of foot to clear the dragoons away.

Will's cavalry continue to charge forward, this time on my left.

Over on the right a significant cavalry battle begins:

And, back on the left my cavalry begin to engage the Royalists:

An exchange of fire between the dragoons and Royalist foot begins, with little effect, although the dragoons take a few hits from Royalist musketeers.

Over on the left a confused battle between the horse units of both sides continues.  My foot units hold the ridge:

The action in the enclosures continues and the dragoons now are being pushed back, losing half of their number:

An overview of the battle, with the horse from both sides on the flanks fighting it out.  The dice was not in my favour and bit by bit I lose initiative points and seem to be failing in combat:

Will begins to move his infantry forward and one of my guns is destroyed.

On the left the Royalists begin to take casualties, but continue to hit back.  A Royalist general falls as his cavalry rout.

The same on the right with the cavalry of both sides continuing to fight.  By now all of the Parliament cavalry have been committed to the fray:

Having broken through my cavalry, the Royalist horse charge up the ridge:

Will's foot regiments advance and clash with their opposite numbers in the centre:

Meanwhile the dragoons and Royalist foot pop away at each other.  One of the Royalist foot regiments is beaten off:

Close quarter action in the centre:

At this point in the battle most of the Parliament horse have either been destroyed or routed, two guns are lost and Parliament's nerve is weakened.  Cromwell's army pulls away from the field and although badly battered the Royalists claim victory.  History is reversed and the monarchy is saved - for now!

This was a terrific game.  Once again we used the rules from the Portable ECW Wargame book and they worked very well, providing a fast moving fun game.  

This was a big action involving a lot of troops, however, the whole battle lasted just over two hours as we adjourned for lunch!

Jacklex Japanese Army

 As mentioned in my previous post, I have acquired a couple of 20mm Russo Japanese War armies.  I have been organising them to suit my rules and table layout.  The figures are by Jacklex and were used by the ABC Wargamers, having been produced by Jack Alexander.  The figures were recently available online for sale, but sadly the shop has now closed.

Here are the Japanese:

A close up of some Infantry:

And a cavalry regiment:

The Russians are nearly finished too and I will share some pictures soon.

Funny Little Wars - British

 I have been really busy recently, which has distracted me from my current projects.  A friend gave me his collection of 20mm Russo Japanese war figures.  They are mostly Jacklex and a large portion were owned and painted by Jack Alexander.  There are three armies; the Japanese, the Russians and a Red army for the Russian Revolution.  My time has been taken up sorting them out and basing them to suit my playing rules.

I did however manage to sort out a British battalion for my 'funny little wars' project.  These are Britains Highlanders in tropical dress.  I haven't done much to them, other than paint the bases a sandy colour:

I also painted a test figure.  This is a Irregular miniatures 54mm colonial Sepoy.  He looks rather good and I am thinking of getting some more to create anoth battalion:

The Great Plastics Revival - Airfix Infantry

 Another couple of Airfix units, as I continue to work my way through the enormous plastic mountain.

This time it is a unit of Airfix 'Waterloo French Infantry', painted straight out of the box in basic French colours:

The second unit is of British infantry, again, straight out of the box, but with a Newline metal officer:

I continue to work through these figures in between other projects.

Lone Star British Paratroopers

 Using a Crescent anti-tank gun and slight conversions of some old Lone Star paras, I have created a bit of additional firepower for my 1/32 parachute regiment force:

Those Pesky Airfix Horses

 For decades I have struggled with Airfix horses with the separate bases.  In the past I have tried various glues and eventually resorted to pinning the hose to the bases using metal pins.

Well, at last, I think I have found a solution.  I bought a tube of Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Flexible Adhesive and used it on some onf my mounted Napoleonic commanders.  It works and provides a strong bond. I hope I now have a solution and will be able to use the mound of unemployed horses.

Here is the stuff:

The Great Plastics Revival - French Infantry and Artillery

 Over the past couple of months, I have been working through the mountain of French Line and Guard infantry and artillery.  The figires are a mix of Airfix, HaT, Revell, ESCI and Italeri.  

First off, we have the line infantry, with 11 battalions and three batteries of guns:

Airfix line infantry:

Esci line infantry

And the Imperial Guard, consisting of, five Old Guard battalions, two of Young Guard and three gun batteries:

I'm now starting to sort out the Prussians.

The Battle For Donville - Rapid Fire

 Bob Black came over for a quick game earlier in the week and after a beer and a light lunch we went to the war room, where I had set up a scenario borrowed from the July 2025 Miniature Wargames (credited for the map):

Essentially, US forces in the shape of an infantry company are holding the vicinity of the central farm, while elements of 17th SS Panzer Division, supported by Stug IIIs, Panzer IVs and the 17th Artillery Regiment.

The US forces have advance warning of the German attack and rush to send reinforcements to the area.

Here is the table, looking at the central farm area, viewed from the north.  The US infantry can be seen lining the hedgerows around the farm, a single Sherman has arrived and there is a machine gun covering the diamond shaped field within the small copse.  An FOO team has also turned up and moves towards the taller of the three buildings:

German infantry arrive, emerging from a wood on the western edge of the board and move towards the farm:

Bob, playing the Germans, sends his first Stug III rushing up the road and straight into the field adjacent to the farm. The Sherman takes aim - and misses.  The Stug fires and the Sherman is destroyed:

A US bazooka team flanks the Stug from the hedge, but they are out of range. Now the US troops are in trouble, with an assault gun in the area of the farm and nothing to deal with it.

Meanwhile the German infantry begin to work their way through the hedgerows:

Some enter the field and are mown down by the concealed US machine gun:

To add to the US woes a second Panzer Grenadier company with heavy weapons dismount from their half tracks and follow up behind the Stug:

The Stug, meanwhile, crashes through the hedge and engages the US infantry, some of whom retire into the farm buildings. German artillery hits the farm and HE rounds from the Stug cause casualties. 

The Panzer grenadiers close in, but they come under fire from US artillery and small arms:

The US machine gun is taken out by German artillery and heavy fire from the hedge, allowing the German troops to close onto the farm:

Most of the US defenders are either dead or wounded and the farm is quickly cleared and occupied by German infantry.  The Stug takes up position in the farm to cover the approach road:

To make matters even worse, a second Stug arrives and rumbles up the road to support the Panzer Grenadiers in the field, who have taken heavy casualties from flanking fire:

This final US defence is soon disrupted as the half track pours machine gun fire into their position. Despite three shots from the Bazooka team, all miss and the half track causes havoc:

At this point the first US reinforcements, in the shape of armoured infantry and heavy weapons company arrives:

But, it is too late.  The Germans have two tanks and a half track in the farm, with the remnants of two infantry companies.  Also, the US FOO spots more Panzer Grenadiers approaching the farm across the fields:

Outgunned and with the Germans in control of the farm and key road junctions the US commander calls it a day and withdraws what he can save.  This was a resounding win for the Germans.  A very interesting game that played well with Rapid Fire rules.  The loss of the Sherman early on was a major disaster and spreading the US infantry out too widely was probably a mistake, putting the Bazooka team out of range.