Aux Armes, Citoyens!

Long ago and far away (well ok, 1998 and 1,600 km.) I crossed the border into the USA and drove down to Pennsylvania for 'Cold Wars', a US wargame convention (That's another story.), to run a 54mm 1812 game using my  "With MacDuff To The Frontier" rules which had been published in 'The Courier' magazine the year before. To my surprise, some guys were running a  French & Indian "With MacDuff" game using homecast 40mm figures, and another game using Prince August homecast figures (Yes, that's how I started home casting figures) and Charge! one of my first wargame books which had been read over and over, especially the pictures......, a few hundred times since I bought it with my first paycheck at military college at the old age of 17!

Rob and I became friends and co-hosted 40mm games until Covid hit.  French & Indian skirmishes, then a 16thC Anglo-Scottish affair involving the English trying to get a supply train into a defended city, (A game we ran three times ending up with twice the number of players in the last game as they teamed up, and which got us a "Best of show" award). 

A few years later, we ran a French Revolution sort-of-skirmish/character game involving the Scarlet Pimpernel and all. The figures were largely homecast from Meisterzinn moulds cast and painted by Rob. I think all that I added was to sculpt and cast some peasants but the games were fun. Well, things change, people move, etc etc, and the last time Rob and I ran a game in Portland Maine, roughly 1/2 way between us we were using our mutual horde of Prince August semi-flats and Rob was moving to a different house and had decided that his French Revolution figures would be better elsewhere, like in my game room!

(btw his blog is:  https://sharpbrush.blogspot.com )

40mm French Republican Infantry

Each of his units were 12 single figures, a good choice for the kind of games we had been playing, but I have recently decided to settle on 4 stand battalions, preferably with 16 figures for line infantry but not necessarily. So, I added the handful of standard bearers then scrounged a few extra figures to boost the numbers to at least 14 figures. Rob's painting style is a bit different from mine but I think I managed to copy his style close enough to fit in. 

40mm French Regulars, still wearing their old uniforms.

Austrians and British to follow, I think I'll leave the civilians and peasants as singles!

Meet Me At The Crossroads

Well......., its been more than a week since I laid out the table for a quick game with some of the refurbished Oberhilse (not USA) and Faraway (not Dominion of C.). Well, life's chores and obligations sometimes interfere with hobbies, as does working on reversions of incomplete rules. None the less, the game went on.

(PS: If you click on the pictures, they will expand to a larger size. Depending on your computer, you can either expand and shrink the pictures using 2 fingers, or on older machines, there will be a "+" marker, click that and then the picture will expand to full size, bigger than most screens BUT you can slide around the big picture and have a good close look. When you've had enough, click the back pointer on the header panel where the left, right, arrows etc).  

 a '+' on the Click on pictures for larger size. Depending on your machine, you can use your figures to enlarge or shrink the picture, or there may bepicture which will expand again and allow you to slide the large picture to see all of it. Click on the header arrow pointing left to go back to the regular screen.

What follows is a quick illustrated report on the opening encounter in the war of 1837. Once again, there was a dispute over just where the border ran. The particular target was the Stone Jug Inn and Tavern.

At dawn, both armies rose and hit the roads. Once the enemies spotted each other, the advanced guards moved as quickly as possible with the republic's cavalry and sharpshooters moving fastest with the infantry doing their best to catch up.

The Oberhilse forces moved up quickly, cavalry across the fields, infantry up the road and soon had troops in the village. The Redcoats marched forward in good spirits, but it was soon clear that the enemy was already occupying the town. General Turner had to come up with a new plan.

For awhile, while the armies deployed, the battle was a skirmish between the light troops, taking what cover they could find while the infantry on both sides moved forward as fast as possible and the Generals made battle plans.

A prolonged firefight followed.

Before long the casualties were increasing without any advantage apart from the side in the cover of the town.

At last, the Redcoats were ordered to "Fix Bayonets" then "Charge!!!"

The Dominion's infantry on their right managed to push back the enemy infantry but they weren't broken or even forced out of the cover of their houses, and reinforcements were at hand.

It was time for General Turner to fallback, fortify the two sections of the town that they held, barricade the roads, call for reinforcements and make a clever plan to evict the enemy.

ps: About 2/3 of these figures were home cast, with or without conversions, but about 1/2 of those are from my original sculpts, the rest being from commercial moulds.

Interlude

It's been "one of those days" but I managed a few turns. 

Hopefully, I will be able to resume soon.