Pandemic Painting VII

We continue not to meet due to the pandemic, sadly, our painting seems to have slowed as well, or at leats folks are not sharing as many pics. 

Matt's first 3D printed 28mm vehicle "the little T-26 that could"

Matt "Sixteen tanks. 32 guys. Pure winni....Er not a whole lot of winning was done by the two man tank concept but as far as they go the H39 wasn’t the worst. Getting the decals over the stupid “stick your helmet in and rotate it” vision dome was @?!$."

Ren's "British armor for Africa"

More of Matt's 15mm 3d printed vehicles. 

Matt is "Particularly happy with the Char Bs."

Matt says, "A TuG of Gendarmes I finished up today. The Renaissance is one of my favorite eras - so much color (too much color - painting an army is going to be an exercise in getting stands to “good enough” and then moving on to have any hope of completion). Reasonably happy with the time to result ratio on these lot."

Eric "It’s Friday painted up some trolls... for trolling."

Paul rebased an old Achaemenid Persian DBA army for ADLG, and painted a few new
firgures (in blue and purple) to flesh it out some. I still need more figures, infantry and 
cavalry, to fully deploy a Persian army. 

Blast from the Past: 2013 Flames of War game

 It is hard to believe this game was over seven years ago!  It's one of my favorite games, when the legend of 'Super Stuart' was born but primarily because I played the game alongside my 9 year old son.  I've shared these pictures before online, but thought they provided a nice look at the 'old days' of SAG when we played Flames of War 3rd edition in the back room at Game Vault.  Fun times!

Salamanca

 

A couple weeks ago, in September, Ken (the French) and I as the (British) refought the 1812 Battle of Salamanca between the Duke of Wellington and his Anglo-Iberian army and Marshal Marmont's French Army of Portugal.  We used Ken's 15mm Napleonic figures and his modified Black Powder 2nd edition rules.  It was a masked, socially distanced game on a Saturday at Your Hobby Place - Fredericksburg. 

A Masked Ken ponders how Marshal Marmont would have proceeded...

The fighting developed early on the British right, and early poor 
command rolls left the British struggling in the face of effective
French fire.

But the French were unable to move their own right flank,
allowing the British to continue to concentrate on the French left.

Early on British unites were shaken and unable to act, one unit 
was badly mauled by the French.  But all stood firm.

The British managed to extricate the surviving battered unit,
and reinforcements came to bear on depleted French forces. 

In the end, despite suffering severe loses, the British took
control of the right flank and earned a minor victory
over the French.

Blast from the Past: "Tanks on the Matanikau" at Historicon 2015

"Tanks on the Matanikau" at Historicon 2015
The only Japanese armored assault on Guadalcanal.

I thought posting photos from some of the convention battles club members have run in the past would be a good way to keep the gaming spark alive as the pandemic keeps in person gaming to a minimum.  And I thought I would start with a game from Historicon, 2015.  

From 2012 to 2017 Historicon was held in Fredericksburg, Virginia, home town of the Spotsylvania Area Gamers.  For all of those years, as a military historian, I presented lectures as part of the Historicon War College. For most of those years, I teamed up with fellow club member Wayne. I presented a War College lecture on a specific battle in the morning, and that afternoon Wayne presented a large miniature wargame reenactment of that battle, using Battlefront's Flames of War 3rd edition rules for convention goers.  

I still love these lecture/game combinations, though we haven't been able to do them since Historicon moved back north to Pennsylvania.  I thought they were a wonderful combination of education and fun. The games were always gorgeous because Wayne is such a skilled painter and terrain builder.  

In 2015, I lectured on the Guadalcanal Campaign, and then Wayne presented a wargame depicting Nakaguma's attack on the Matanikau on 24 October, modified slightly to give the Japanese a bit more of a chance. 

The lecture room was a but small in Fredericksburg, but 
that meant it always looked full! I usually had 20 or so attendees. 

We paired the lecture with a game run by Wayne and Allen.
I wrote up the scenario and the lists. 

Players and onlookers gather...

Wayne admires the gorgeous board he made.

The Japanese armored commander was young but experienced.

Soon the game was in full swing.

Japanese tanks were shelled on the sandbar.

Japanese infantry reached the river.

Marines dug in.

Marine 37mm anti-tank gun positions.

Marine 75mm self-propelled guns back up the 37mm guns.

Full Japanese assault!

Banzai!

Most of the Japanese tanks burn...
but not all and the American anti-tank guns are all destroyed...

Japanese vicory... casualties for the Japanese were 75%+

The empty field...

Our wargame proceeded nothing like the historical action, but that was fine, the players had fun and they learned about the Guadalcanal campaign. For those interested in learning more about the Guadalcanal campaign themselves, The Marine Corps' History Division has produced several history that can be downloaded as free pdfs.  These include Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal: History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, vol. 1, First Offensive: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal, and The Guadalcanal Campaign.  The best single volume history of the Guadalcanal campaign, in my opinion, is Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle by Richard B. Frank. It makes solid use of both American and Japanese sources. 

Of course, today the Matanikau outlet looks very unlike 
the jungle river of 1942.

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

 

Army Spotlight: Ken's Napoleonic British Army

Napoleonic British arrayed for battle.
“We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France”.

This month's army spotlight looks at Ken's 15mm Waterloo British. 

Regarding this army, Ken says, "My interest in Napoleonic gaming started, like a lot of old Grognards, in 1970 with the movie Waterloo.  I fell in love with the pageantry of large masses of school marching band members shooting at each other. It didn’t take long for me to buy a bunch of Airfix 1/72 scale minis, and with my cryptic “rules” taped to the walls of my garage my friends & I spent many hours re-fighting historical battles.

30+ years later I happened by a local hobby store called Game Vault and my love affair with historical minis was rekindled.  I tried a number of Napoleonic systems until I landed on Napoleon at War.  It’s a divisional level game, with a lot of flexibility in the list building mechanism.  I think the national doctrines/characteristics are reflected nicely in the rules: the Brits are very tough on defense, the French move fast & are all about sticking you with the bayonet, the Austrians are big but cumbersome, etc. I currently have 7 lists – French, Brits, Poles, Russians, Swedes, Austrians, and Prussians."

Ken built this army to match a list from Napoleon at War: The Hundred Days, duplicating British at Waterloo.  He's also used it to build a Peninsular list with Portuguese allies.

Asked about the scale, Ken says "Why 15mm? To me, the visual appeal of Napoleonic miniature gaming is in the movement & combat of large bodies of troops. I think 6mm is too small, 10mm works, but 15mm hits the sweet spot."

The list has also been used for Blackpowder games, but Napoleon at War, Ken says, "If anyone is interested in giving Napoleon at War a try, I would LOVE to host a demo game and can provide everything needed. The Napoleon at War Facebook page also has a ton of files for list building, rules clarifications, etc.

"Finally, on painting style, "Good enough to look good enough on the table! With Napoleonics it’s basically paint by numbers; get the major colors right and don’t sweat the details.  I think with any rank & file system with lots of figures the visual “wow” factor is in the numbers, not the details of any particular figure (at least in 15mm)."

3 Regiments of stalwart line infantry – “the scum of the earth”.

Two regiments of Highlanders, with a regiment of “Light Bobs” in front. 
Don’t let the skirts fool you – these guys TOUGH.
“Has Wellington nothing to offer me but these Amazons”?

A brigade of Allies:
2 regiments of Brunswickers, a Nassau regiment, and the Dutchies bringing up the rear.

An artillery battery under the watchful eye of “The Peer”.

Two regiments of Heavy Dragoons.
“Our officers of cavalry have acquired a habit of galloping at everything…
they never think of maneuvering before an enemy”.