Welcome

Welcome to my wargaming blog,
I'm Dave and live in Morpeth, Northumberland in the UK.
This may or may not be a regular thing, we'll just have to see how it goes.

I am a painter/collector of figures first and a wargamer second. My thrill in this great hobby of ours is to place that final well researched & painted unit into the cabinet. The actual gaming with the figures is an important but secondary experience, we all like to win, but it isn't the be all and end all of it, being with good friends and having fun is.
Hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as I will writing in it.
Just to remind the visitor to scroll down the various pages and click on 'older posts' to see more.
Dave.

Sunday 30 October 2016

Battle of Atlanta 1862, campaign.

Following on from the battle of Oberglau See here: Mick and I recently fought our second battle of the campaign using the second of our three corps. If you recall we have three corps each fighting a series of battles pitting each corp against one another one at a time with the victory points (for objectives gained, enemy troops killed or captured and terrain controlled) used to reinforce as we go. The victor will be the one who wins five consecutive battles on the trot.

The next scenario was the battle of Atlanta.



The map of the battle field above shows green hills, streams, roads, wooded areas and the odd village. As you can see it was a particularly cut up field of battle with many obstacles making it quite difficult to manoeuvre for both sides, much like many U.S. battlefields I suspect.
My Confederate corp entered from the top of the map as you look while Mick's Union from the bottom.
I sent my three reb divisions on with the intention of occupying and holding the two main ridges in the centre, i.e. Bald Hill and the ridge with Troop Hut on it (marked on map). I felt that this would dominate the Georgia railroad which ran through the centre of the battlefield fighting a defencive battle with my 2nd corps, my weakest as it contained quite a few green brigades.
Mick entered on a slightly broader front than mine with the main part of his force on the left side of the Georgia railroad. I don't know what his original plan was but as you will see it worked pretty well!


A Confederate cavalry brigade with supporting horse artillery move forward to delay the Union advance, they did but the horse battery was wrecked.


My right hand reb division march onto the field and occupy portions of Bald Hill.


While on my left two divisions were faced by only one Union division. The Confederate plan to occupy both ridges and sit on the defencive went straight out the window!



They piled straight through the Union force to their front and turned to their right to take the rest of the Yankee army in the flank - yeah right!


Not a great photo I'm afraid but it does give a general view of my right hand side of the field while the other action was taking place on my left. As you can see Mick's heavy left hook, though taking a bit of time getting into position was going to cause havoc once it arrived.



Above is what my weaker right wing mostly green forces were about to get a taste of. Later Mick asked why I didn't withdraw my right at this point, and looking back he was right. I did think that if the boys could hold them for a few turns then my victorious left wing would come in on their flank and roll em up. But the terrain took it's toll and they didn't get there in time.
Mick played it well, softened the Confederates up then hit them all at once. The rebs folded like a pack of cards.

On my right this was what was left, not a pretty sight. The whole battlefield had rotated like a door with both sides left swinging round.
At this point we called it a day, both sides withdrew. Given what happened to my right wing I think I got away with it. Points wise it was pretty close but I did loose more men so a close win to Mick. No hard feelings - the sod!
Dave.

Friday 21 October 2016

Nearly done, 10mm Caesarian Romans

It has been a while since I last tackled these fellows, my 10mm Caesarian/Pompeian legions have sat short of five cohorts for about two years but now with my policy of getting armies to a 'playable' completion I figured that these lads were next in line.
For the moment there are one and a half legions per side along with supporting cavalry and skirmishers. I do have a few Numidian cavalry to do and I must admit that I would like to add more legionaries eventually but for now this is where I am at:



This is the latest legion to be completed. Each unit represents a cohort (the first cohort being double size of course). The castings are mostly Old Glory with some Magister Militum thrown in though I do intend to look around at other manufacturers later on.
 Skirmish types and Gallic cavalry.




Finally a view of the lot, two full legions, two half legions with cavalry/skirmish support.








The cavalry in these photos are more eastern sorts.
The intention will be to fight a campaign using Columbia Games, Julius Caesar a fantastic board game of the civil war period as a gaming tool.

ACW 15mm Confederate cavalry next!
Dave.

Wednesday 5 October 2016

More Revolutionary Vendee figures.

After searching for ages for some suitable mounted figures for the Vendee royalist cavalry I finally found some. I had been looking for mounted armed civilians with a feel of wealthier landowner about them, you know, not rich but fellows who could afford a decient horse and the weapons to go with it. So I sent away for these Trent Miniature figures for the Irish rebellion of 98 (I think), cut down the daft lepricorn hat and added a wider brim - hey presto and ther you are:




The quality of the pictures ain't great I'm afraid but I had a game of 15mm To the Strongest going on so I didn't have much room!
Here are some photos of the whole ensamble as it were:









I've really only got about three more flags to paint for the musket armed troops and maybe a limber for the humongous siege gun and we're away.
Finish off the 10mm Caesarian Romans next. It never ends, good job I love it!
Dave.