Ambushed! (Mid-game Teaser)

 The overture of scattered skirmish fire has now been swelled by periodic volleys and the roar of guns.

Stay tuned for the full story.

What A Relief

It had been a quiet day in Acadie until a cloud of dust and the beating of drums heralded the approach of a column of soldiers.

 "Jacques! Viens ici!  Les Anglais! Vite!  Cacher les vaches!!" 

But who were these soldiers in skirts?

 

To be continued..........

Allllllmost There!

I'll give these guys a last look over, touch ups, a coat of varnish....and base them, and...they'll be done! 

Then I'll need to cast and paint and base 12 more.......but I'll get this company into action on the table top first. After all, I have a war in hiatus!   

"Where in hell are my reinforcements!!?"

Sighhhhhh, I remember fondly when my eyes could see clearly, my hand didn't shake, and the process of painting miniatures was both quick and enjoyable in itself. Still, I'm not ready to give it up yet and in the end they'll look just fine on the table at arms length. 

Even if only one company arrives in time for the next battle!

Middleton Hill: The Last Day

The morning was spent deploying the two armies while the generals studied the terrain and the enemy's disposition. With the Grey Brigade having been defeated in the first encounter, (see Crossroad) the Origawn Republic's army needed to win here or give up this campaign and withdraw. 

The two armies traded artillery and long range rifle fire as the reinforcements deployed. With all of their available units now on the battlefield, the Republic launched an attack designed to take out the Dominion's artillery and cut the road, isolating the Fusilier Brigade from their supply line and any reinforcements. 

Casualties were heavy on both sides and soon it was time to go all in, or retreat. Brigadier Strombecker drew his sword and led his men forward to take the enemy battery but despite having suffered heavy losses, the gunners loaded double cannister and blasted the Bluecoats as they advanced.  

The repulse of the attack on the guns allowed the Highlanders to fall back and let the Naval Brigade take their place in the line. The Cossacks did not hesitate to take advantage of this opening and once again charged the gun, cutting down the last gunners  before they could react.

On the Dominion's right, the Fusiliers who had been firing effectively from the cover of the woods, were now ordered to advance, supported by the remaining Highlanders and Sailors. A brief but fierce close range firefight ensued.

As casualties rose and the line started to waver, General Lannigan rode forward to steady the line but he was too obvious a target. When he went down, the line broke, the soldiers pausing just long enough to lift their beloved General and carry him to safety. Brigadier Ross deployed his horsemen to cover the retreating infantry but the redcoats stopped on top of the hill, waved their hats, gave three cheers and then let their enemy go. Enough paint had been scraped on both sides.

_______________

54mm figures, mostly homecast, many converted, but a few original Britain's figures. 
Rules: the latest version of my The Square Brigadier.

Day Two Begins

 With the dawn came reinforcements.

To be continued!

First Battle of Middleton Hill

While the action at the crossroads was taking place, Colonel MacDuff's column, heading for Middleton Ridge, bumped into the advance scouts of Colonel Nolan's column. 

Lancers!? The small territory of Neurus must have thrown off its neutrality and joined in with the Origawn Republic. 
(Word has it that they left the 54mm or Fight blog to come join the fight in the NorthWest.)

The armies deploy. Once again opposing minds thought alike and each force consisted of 4 infantry companies, a field gun and a troop of cavalry. The Bluecoats seemed to have marched a bit faster however and are closer to securing the dominant ridge.

The affair gets serious as the Blue artillery opens fire on the NW Mounted Rifles. 

The steep, wooded hill slowed Blue's deployment but also gave cover to some of their infantry.

After a prolonged firefight, the Highlanders and Fusiliers, supported by their artillery, drove the Bluecoats off the crest of the ridge. 

While Col. Nolan rallied his men on the reverse slope, he ordered his cavalry to chase off the Mounted Rifles who looked a bit shaky after a prolonged bombardment. The Mounted Rifles fired a hasty shot, mounted, and headed for safety.

As the sun sank lower, MacDuff ordered the Highlanders and Fusiliers to make one last effort to drive the enemy off the ridge. They took the crest, but not the woods and the cost was too high. As the dusk settled in, a parley was held and both sides agreed to cease hostilities till daylight as stretcher teams began their dreary task.

Will the opposing armies reinforce and fight on in the morning? Or will they manoeuvre again?

Meanwhile, On The Other Flank.....

 The second action in the Winter campaign has been fought. Who will seize the high ground?

.....full story of today's battle to follow. 

The New Recruits Have Arrived Sir

"Right-o SergeantMajor, make sure they have their arms and their heads in good order then I'll come inspect them."

Cast from new Prince August SYW moulds

"Well, they're a promising lot, but it'll take a bit of work to get them ready to face the enemy. Best start by getting them into uniform."

To be continued.......

I Went Down To The Crossroads

General Douglas looked at the map. "Here, Colonel Ross. Scouts have reported the Rebels getting restless and this crossroad could be important if Lannigan is planning to come this way, so I want you to take your brigade and make that cross road secure".  "Lannigan Sir? I had heard that he had had a fatal wound?" "Naah,  I thought maybe we'd not see him across the battlefield again but an old campaigner like him has too much spirit. We'll see him on the battlefield for as long as this war drags on".  "Carry on Colonel"

Colonel Ross was relieved to see that they had arrived before the enemy and began considering how best to deploy his small force.

The Rebels weren't far behind though and while the tail of Ross's column lagged behind, the Rebels advanced swiftly and drove the troop of Bodyguards back.

Seeing that more redcoats were arriving, General Grey paused to make his positions secure and pondered his options. He could see that almost all of the enemy were in cover and he suspected that there was another company in the woods by the road, while many of his men were out in the open. 
Still, he wouldn't fulfil his orders by sitting here and ordered all of his infantry forward.

In the centre, the Irish stormed the crossroad itself and, despite heavy casualties from rifle fire and cannister, they took the crossroad. On the Eastern flank though, a heavy and accurate fire by the Grenadiers, ensconced behind a stone wall, broke 'A' company of the Greys before they got close.
Still, he had moved his gun forward and was ready to blast the Grenadiers out while the Irish held the crossroad. 

Alas for Grey, Colonel Ross personally led his reserve company forward and sent the Irish running. Grey's brigade was now on the verge of giving way altogether but as the sun sank, he rode forward and rallied 'B' company and that steadied the rest. 

What will the armies do now? Wait for reinforcements and renew the fight? Or pullback and try to outmanoeuvre their opponent? 

Time will tell.

Teaser: Crossroad Encounter

Its been a busy day but I managed to find an hour for a quick game.

More soon.
Notes: The game was played with 54mm, mostly homecast and converted, on a (subtly) gridded table, using the latest 'roll it back to an older, simpler version' draft of The Square Brigadier which I will make available when I have it edited for errors and omissions, and have played them again. 

At The Crossroads

The 2024 Winter Campaigning season, has begun!

Stay tuned for more!

Happy 2024!

And so it has begun, 2024, who knows what it will bring?  Still, best to start with some sort of plan.

1st test casting from the new Prince August 40mm SYW mould.

Last summer I decided it was time to go back to posting plans for the year ahead at the start of the calendar year instead of doing so on the anniversary of my 2010 heart attack, so, here we are!

See here for details: My current collections and plans.   (link fixed)

The Fight for Acadia Begins

In years gone by, I've collected and wargamed multiple "periods" using various sizes, mostly from 6mm to 54mm, too often doing favoured "periods" in multiple sizes, often depending on what friends were doing, partly because I'm interested in many (MANY) things, partly to help get a group project on the table sooner, partly because I want to paint "some of this and some of that" , and...because I preferred to play with figures I had painted. 

All of that has been very enjoyable but these days, 90% of my gaming is solo, and the rest mostly with the host's figures. More than that, over the last 50+ years, everything that I have been interested in, has been at least sampled, as have many other periods and scales which were tried as part of a group interest, and countless sets of rules, published or homemade. 

All of that has been fun but my efforts to do anything more than dabble in very short mini-campaigns or narrative campaigns, (Essentially playing a game then making up how that links to the next game.) have all failed to get very far. It's also led to too much time writing and adjusting too many sets of rules, often in the middle of a game. Then there is the backlog of unpainted soldiers........

Well, this past fall, I sat down and decided on what I really wanted to focus on, and was practical over say the next 20 years or so. (He wrote optimistically since that'll put me approaching 90.) I'm not being too brutal though, my remaining collections will still cover 1/72, OS 25mm,  40mm and 54mm from the dark ages to pre WWI. 

However, I need more storage/display space, more storage space and fewer distractions. That means yet another round of finding new homes for many of both old and new, toy soldiers. I know that some find that thought disturbing but of the many who have been reposted in the past, memories remain but none have been mourned. Better to march on someone else's table or be on parade on their shelf, than to wait endlessly in a box at the back of some closet.

It'll take a while to get organized but I'll list things here for a while before I start listing them on eBay or tipping them into the melting pot to be 'reassigned'. 

The last action of 2022.
I think its time to give them the first action of 2024!

Now, on to that first battle of the year!