Backs (or flank) against the wall, Heavenfield, 633 CE

The Battle of Heavenfield (ca. 633-634) was fought between a Northumbrian army under Oswald of Bernicia and a British/Welsh army under Cadwallon of Gwynedd. Bede, who refers to it as the 'Battle of Deniseburna' notes the proximity of the battle to a section of Hadrian's Wall - which it is thought that Cadwallon secured one flank of his army on.

'The place, on its noth side, is close to the wall with which the Romans once girded the whole of Britain from sea to sea to keep off the attacks of the barbarians...' Bede, Baedae Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, iii.2 My 2mm DBA (v.2.2) forces being complete for Oswald's Northumbrians (II/73 Old Saxon) and Cadwallon's Britons/Welsh (III/19a Welsh), it is time for some terrain! The most iconic item of terrain is surely the (then ruinous) Roman wall! Here is a prototype section scratch built from pvc sheet. Paint job is a WIP with Vallejo grey undercoat and Army Painter Speed Paint first coat (Runic Grey for the wall and Sand Golem for the ground and to highlight the 'fill' in broken areas of the wall. More pictures to follow once I get a few sections done.

Miniatures by Irregular Miniatures, of course!

Wolseley versus Arabi Pasha, 1882: HotE in 6mm

Exploring how I might use the Wargames Research Group fantasy rules, Hoards of the Things, has been on my to-do list for years, nay, decades! There is an active Facebook group and WRG released a second edition in 2002. There is talk of 2.1 being out there but I have yet to track a set down. 

While the fantasy setting has some interest to me as an another option for gaming in the style of Osprey’s Of Gods and Mortals, the adaptations of HOTT:

1. Hordes of the Empire (HotE): the Victorian colonial Mr wars adaptation of HOTT by Paul Potter, Blake Radetzky and Terry Webb.

HotE and related resources can be obtained through the DBA & HOTT Wargaming Facebook group. If I find a reliable web link I will update this post.

2. Hoards in the Trenches: the Great War version by Matt Kirkhart.

There are some (somewhat questionable) downloadable versions of HitT for those Google savvy types among you, the only link I feel comfortable advertising is the v.5 http://ianjgow.blogspot.com/p/hordes-in-trenches.html?m=1

To that end, my first project for HotE will be the Anglo-Egyptian war of 1882. I came separately, rather surprisingly, to the same view as Featherstone that Lieutenant-General Wolseley’s 1882 expedition to overthrow the dictator Said Ahmed Arabi foreshadows the British expedition to the Falkland Islands to eject the Argentinian junta one hundred years later (Featherstone, Tel El Kabir 1882, Osprey Campaign 27). 

Both campaigns lasted four and a half weeks and, due to logistical constraints, required the British to deploy their crack regular regiments not normally used for these purposes. While in wargaming terms the engagements are a little unbalanced, the variety of units on both sides make for a fun miniatures project - household cavalry, armoured trains, the Naval Brigade, Egyptian veterans redrafted into service, Sudanese conscripts, Bedouins, Krupp ordinance! 

There are no doubt some great new lines in 6mm Colonial  miniatures out there - more-so with the growth of 3-D printed options - but I am an avowed metal figure gamer and rusted-on (or the non-ferrous equivalent) user of Irregular Miniatures. https://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/6mmRanges/6mmColonial.htm

In typical fashion, I rushed into the first set of elements, probably sacrificed the paint job a bit and went with what I had for basing - I may add some detail later - but here they are (With HotE/HOTT descriptors):

Egyptian/ Sudanese lancers would be classified as ‘Riders’ in the HotE Egyptian 1882 army list.

A Bashi ‘Hoard’ (back left), two Sudanese ‘shooters’ (centre) and Bashi-Bazook ‘riders’ (right).

Egyptian infantry in foreground (Shooters) 

3 bases of Krupp artillery (foreground) and the ‘General’ in the centre. The army list only calls for 1 artillery base but given there were 75 Egyptian guns at Tel El-Kabir, I upped the numbers!

Another shot of the ordinance - I’m a gunner at heart!

Another shot of the irregular infantry 

‘Lurkers’ Bashi-Bazook skirmishers 

The Egyptian army of the Arabi Pasha mustered

2mm ACW (with updates)

Amidst the mountain of rules I’ve downloaded over the years, I’ve recently found a copy of  Who Shall Rule this American Nation? - simple ACW rules written with the 2mm gamer in mind. They are aimed at divisional or corps level gaming.

Update: I have since discovered that the rules are part of a collected set by John Bobek, The Games of War: A Treasury of Rules for Battles with Toy Soldiers, Ships and Planes (2007): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37718/games-war-treasury-rules-battles-toy-soldiers-ship  A copy is on its way in the next week or two! I will review the rules in more detail then.

The mechanics of movement, shooting, melee and morale are provided but the set lacks a turn sequence and the morale rules are a bit unclear - but the rest is solid. I’m playing through a game to the identify gaps and will write up some homegrown solutions.

Update: thanks for a Review by Ryan Morgan on the above BGG page, I have learned that 'In chapter one Mr. Bobek lays out the ground work for interpreting his rules in the further chapters as well as discusses his philosophy for wargaming.'

At this point I just wanted to post some shots of the initial few turns and I will update on my thoughts soon. This blog has been quiet for too long!

I’ve also been experimenting with creating woods terrain for 2mm using Casuarina cones coated in flock - there are some WIP images below.  I'll post a short tutorial next.

Thirty Years War in 2mm - basing using 17th century military texts

I've had a Thirty Years War (TYW) project in 2mm on the 'back burner' for a long time. A very long time! As I have mentioned in a previous post, there are some terrific 2mm gamers out there who I am 'leaning on' heavily for this project.

For instance, for the 2mm enthusiast I thoroughly recommend a wander around Sydney Roundwood's blog (Roundwood's World) and check out his wonderful Lützen (1632) and Nördlingen (1634) projects in 2mm. I liked the result so much, I have shamelessly copied the winter basing Sydney has used. After all, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness!

What I love about 2mm as a scale, one small bag contains a few weekends of work!

Hmmmm. So, what to do with them...

However, I have added my own mark to the project by indulging my interest in 17th century military theory when basing the 2mm blocks. Rather than limiting myself to the standard approach of pike with two wings of musket, I have sought to reproduce the various deployments outlined in tomes such as Richard Elton's The Complete Body of the Art Military (1650) and Collonel (sic) William Bariffe's Military Discipline, for the Young Artilleryman (1657).

While in many cases the deployments of foot troops discussed in these manuals tend towards the theoretical rather than actually reflecting those used in the field, it helped me better understand the texts and posed interesting challenges in working with the blocks and the space available on the base.

Overall, the main Irregular Miniatures blocks I used for these bases were:

• RBG7, 45 figure 1-2 pike/shot unit (15 pike/30 shot);
• RBG12, 3-rank Forlorn Hope - 15 figures;
• RBG33, 15 figure Pike block;
• RBG25 Command - 2 figures;
• RBG9, Swiss/Landsknecht pike unit (40 pikes);
• BG2, Infantry in three ranks (24 figures) (these are from the Horse and Musket range; but make great musket units);
• Oh, and of course, the Tercio! - RBG10, Tercio (100 figures 40 pike/60 shot).

What rules, you ask? I have yet to track down a set of rules that I am totally happy with for either TYW or ACW gaming in 2mm. Nevertheless, for TYW, I have been considering Polemos ECW, the 2 by 2 variants from the 2mm Yahoo Group, Jackson Gamers' English Civil War Rules 'Charge yr Pike! and the free older version of Father Tilly (version 3).

My basing scheme is using a 50mm x 25mm bases (c. 2"x1") for foot and cavalry with each foot base being a regiment and each cavalry base a squadron. Command and artillery (and possibly detachments of shot) will be on 25 x 25mm (c. 1" x 1") bases. So, basically, a scaled down Polemos basing system.

For larger regiments of foot I used the RBG9 pike block with wings of two blocks of BG2 for the musket. In come cases I  used some RBG12 as musket either deployed forward as the Forlorn Hope or to the
rear as reserves.

When laying out the regiments I found it very useful to rule up the base to help with positioning the pike and musket blocks (RGB12 and RGB33 in this case). It gave them a nice, crisp military feel.
In this case, I'm laying out 'a squadron or third part of a Swedish Brigade' as described by Bariffe, in Military Discipline..., p. 172.

All three squadrons deployed in the style of the Swedish Brigade.

Rather than laying out some units in with their pike to the left or right (depending on their flank), and with musket in reserve at the rear, I based all of the three squadrons as laid out on p. 172 - assuming the commander would deploy as necessary!

Bariffe goes on to describe a series of deployments for 'imbattelling larger numbers' (Military Discipline..., p. 130. In the next series of bases I have adopted various forms of the 'double Crosse-Battle.' In describing these forms of deploying regiments/squadrons of foot, Bariffe notes they '...may bring most hands to the fight, with conveniency, so that one part of your Battle doe not cumber or hinder the other...' (p. 130).

In this second form, after the musketeers have '...fired once or twice over, the Front-division of Pikes may move forwards, porting, until they range-even with the front of the Musquettiers, and there charge their Pikes: The Musquettiers still continuing their Firing. The Reer divisions of Pikes, in the mean time facing to the right and left-outward, and sleeving-up the flanks of the Reer-division of Musquettiers; there in like manner charging their Pikes. either to the front or flanks...' (p. 132)

Finally, below are a few pictures of my first attempts to pain some of the above bases. I have gone for fairly generic colour schemes. I have used the same approach as my ACW 2mm basing where I paint a discoloured patch to the rear of units to represent their footprints in the frost/snow.

2mm ACW ... progress!

The curse of the blogger is your proclamations of new projects are there for the world to see. Looking back, I see I started this 2mm ACW project in June 2014! Curiously, this first post on 2mm has become on the the most visited pages on this blog with 1473 views to date! Must have been something I said! it's ^%$#&*-well time I finished it and actually posted some AARs!

Nevertheless, every project gets its moment in the sun, and 2mm ACW seems to be having just that. Besides, I want to start a Thirty Years War project in 2mm so it was time to get a wriggle on.

So, after a flurry this weekend painting is nearly complete and I am now working on basing (40x20mm). For me, one of the challenges with 2mm basing is to ensure they help show the direction the blocks are facing (very helpful with my dodgy eyesight).

When I based the Confederate force I was thinking I would need a label the rear corner for unit identification - I've since decided against that as I feel it detracts from the overall look on the table. Instead, I have decided to paint muddy ground behind the base to reflect the tramping of brogans through the pasture. I think this gives a good sense of movement for the units too.

I am working on some subtle 'landscaping' on each base with gravel, static grass and minute pieces of clump foliage. At this scale even the finest gravel looks like I'm recreating the Devil's Den! So some subtlety is required (in short supply here).

I can feel the project nearing the point where I can game with them (if I could only settle on a set of rules*!). In the meantime, I couldn't resist a quick layout for some pictures. I think the pictures show that 2mm - even with fairly rudimentary basing and paintwork can give a really good drones-eye view of civil war engagements!

*which will, of course, need to be sympathetic with my rather arbitrary decisions around basing!

 The next challenge is to flock all the bare spots I left for labels on the CSA bases! Doh!

2mm ACW is back on the table!

Just a quick post to signal a return to the most challenging of scales - 2mm. I've had a pile of Irregular Miniatures 2mm ACW blocks painted (except the cavalry) for some time. Each time I get them out I go into a nose dive over basing and rules and away they go again.

I've grasped the nettle and based them on a 40mm x 20mm (1 1/2" x 7/16") with two infantry blocks on each. I've been experimenting with adding a little detail to the base - in this case, the muddy path across the field left by the companies as they advance.

I'll look at adding some bushes and hopefully a fence or two (pebbles for stone or flywire for post and rail).

The 2mm project lives!

2mm ACW – rebasing

Well, after a flying start on the Confederates, I spent a few days mulling over the issue of using the scale of 1 base = brigade. While this was the scale for the rules I were planning on using – Polemos Crisis of Allegiance (CoA) – I felt like that method of basing had some issues particularly with historical scenarios.

I was struggling with the need to amalgamate smaller brigades / demi bridges / reserves into roughy equal strength groups in CoA. I would find myself having to amalgamate smaller formations that were not deployed anywhere hear each other.

So, I have rebased to 40mmx 20mm which fits two regiments on it nicely allowing 2–3 base brigades. and is a fairly adaptable format in terms of use with a variety of rulesets. CoA is being set aside for this project and I'm going to trial Polemos On They Come and DBACW (which I've played before and quite like).

With a flurry of activity over the past day, the Union have the best part of a Corps nearly ready for the field as well and the CSA are rebased as well. One of the great joys of 2mm is the relative speed in which you can paint them.

Here's the days effort:

Re-based Confederates

The Federalists finally make an appearance!

All together with a few command and artillery stands in half size.