Progress Report

Well, the rain only lasted 1 night, but it refilled our rain barrels, so its all good.  Almost as important, I got some work done on the 3rd cavalry squadron. 

Here is Prince Wyngnuht of Valdur, 8th of his name, with the cavalry under his command. All but one of the riders are Minifigs, painted in '74/75. Their veteran remounts are from a mix of horse farms.

There are still a few scrapes and scars etc to be patched, but, I should be able to finish them tomorrow and then move on to the infantry.

Ah HA!

I was trying to think up a scenario for my Gathering of Hosts, something different, and drawing blanks. Then a certain reader from Tragardland requested a reappearance of the Great Beastie, that made it even harder, until I finally remembered that the Midlands did NOT have to appear on every battlefield. In fact, the Free Folk were supposed to be as opposed to the Federation, esp Valdur, as to the Midlands. 

Problem solved! However, Valdur in particular is a little short on table top troops, Luckily, there are still a few veterans from the '70's, and new recruits from here and there, all needing modification, repair, and/or painting. 

Oh look! Rain!!!! We haven't had rain since early June!    Ohh, well, I'll just have to forgo outside chores and get on with repairs and painting, and a scenario..... work, work, work :)

That Time of Year

 Like many a rural Canadian, its the time of the year to stack firewood for the coming winter.  

I was about a quarter of the way through when I took this shot yesterday and my wife's parking spot will be usable before noon. Then I can take a break and finally decide whether to paint minis or play a game.

The real issue there, is having difficulty deciding what era and what sort of scenario to play.

(...and yes, that's a call for requests and suggestions.) 

Ambushed!

It was a hot August day in 1548 when an English Magistrate approached Haddington after a long journey from the border.  The town was not under siege at the moment, nor was there open warfare, but a strong escort had been provided for his safety, and it had been needed!  

(Note: click once on the pictures for a closer look, then click on the magnifying glass symbol for an even better close up.)

As the convoy approached a bridge over the river running through a valley, a flurry of arrows flew from a patch behind cover and bands of Highland warriors raced down from the hills, screaming their war cries. The escort infantry deployed to face the enemy while the cavalry spurred ahead to ensure a safe passage to and over the bridge.

Artist's impression of an eagle's view of the skirmish.

With light cavalry and archers threatening any attempt to cross the bridge, the head of the column stopped and waited for infantry to come and clear the way rather than risk exposing the convoy. They just hoped that if the enemy attacked first that the Demilances, and Border Horse, could see them off. 

The English commander had not considered that the fleet footed Scots might wait for the convov to pass  and attack it from the rear. (and I've played this scenario again and again since I got the book in '82! As it was I used 2 blind markers per unit, one real, one false and deployed them facedown until spotted.)

 

The English infantry must have been tired after all that marching because their dice were awful! The fighting was prolonged but the English kept backing up, hoping to catch up the the convoy so as to protect its rear, and maybe improve their dice rolling. 

The sun was getting low in the sky but the wagons were getting close to the bridge and safety and the Highland swordsmen were too far away even if they could break the English biillmen. The Earl of Lennox  decided to risk throwing his border horse and the English Demilances and border horse.
If the charge worked, the wagons would be run over. 

The cavalry charge was a close fought affair, but the Scots cavalry were driven back by their heavier foe. Behind the convoy, the English billmen had suffered horrible casualties but they continued to do their duty and retreat slowly. It looked like the convoy would make it to the bridge.

What either commander hadn't contemplated, was the desire of the Highland archers to be first to reach the loot.  After a lengthy exchange of arrows, they drew  their daggers, swords, whatever they had, and screaming their battlecry, rushed the English archers and, taking them by surprise, scattered them. It was enough, with over 1/2 of the English companies scattered or out of action. the rest of the English soldiers scattered, running for safety. The English Lancers managed to rescue the Magistrate but the rest of the convoy was now loot.   

Rules were used by the latest draft of the updated "Rough Wooing". As soon as the one page Quick Reference is rearranged to give all of each troop type's stats in one place, I'll make it available. 

ps: Any relation to the ambush scenario in CS Grant's "Scenario's for Wargames" is because that was what it was.

How Went The Battle?

 Well, my dear, fetch me a dram and I'll tell ye.....

to be continued....

What Report From The Scouts?

 "Milord! They have just reported that the road to the bridge is clear."

But is it? or are those sneaky Scots hiding in those hills?  

Stay tuned!

The Sea Just Got Bigger

While giving my wife a hand, I stumbled on the rest of the roll of blue corduroy fabric. She said she had no more use for it and I could have it. It wasn't quite as wide as my table but with the hills in the background, I decided to put the old piece on the inshore and laid the bigger piece overlapping it, like a breaker rolling in from the sea to the shore.

(Mind you, from a few feet away the overlap isn't very noticeable, not like the back drop. It seems all my naval actions will have to happen near to land.)  

Chasing Pirates!
(Apparently the RN is a little short of sloops, let alone brigs, but you gotta use what you can get!) 

Right, time to clear the table again and prepare an ambush. But what century and what setting? 

Come On Ye Sassenagh Sissies!

 That didn't take as long as I expected.

40mm: 2x3d printed (1 highlander, 1 viking), 1 homecast Prince August Viking, with minor tweaks.

The gathering of the clans. 
(Is that it?? Should I recruit more?)

Now, I need a scenario, maybe for these guys, or maybe for the West Indies in the 1790's, after all, we've been suffering temperatures over 30C so it would feel more authentic than usual.

More Highlanders?

 Yup, I think this may be the last stand for my 40mm 16thC Highlanders. 

The silvery guy is a Prince August Viking with a head and targe off of a very tall medieval Scot pikeman.

.

I was going to have 2 of the swordsmen but one of them chopped his own leg off while trying to insert a pin in his foot to secure himself to the base. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

There's a feeling in the air that those dastardly English (sorry Mom) are about to come poking over the border again ere long......or there may be one of those annoying Scottish civil wars like Queen Mary vs her 1/2 brother the Earl of Moray, Catholics vs Protestants etc. Its a little bit later than my armies but little but fashion changed and besides, its the only Scottish battle that I've found where the Macfarlanes (on the Earl's side) played an important role by appearing late (an inherited gene), and in the rear of Mary's army, not that its often mentioned in the rare modern summaries of the battle.  

Anyway, I'm not going to reenact Langside, just some generic scenario, once these guys are fully dressed.  

Indulging Myself

Sometimes things just come together and either one seizes the moment or one lets it go by. 

Well, there I was, pondering my plans for this year, and of the passing of Rene Chartrand who I had the good fortune of meeting several times when I was a young officer cadet and cadet curator of the Musee de Fort St, Jean and also a member of the Montreal Wargame Club who were meeting at the old fort on Ile St Helene in Montreal  where Rene was curator amongst other things and would show us stuff. 

In addition, I had decided to focus more on 18thC campaigns in Canada, esp on Louisburg and Acadia. Then a Helion book sale flyer landed in my inbox and it included a two volume set with "Frontier Soldiers in New France" with Rene being a co-author. They also had a book on Grey's 1794 West Indies campaign, the only other book I had found on this subject had been in a university library some 30+ years ago.  Well, that was relevant to my current miniatures interest.  

Once looking, I stumbled across a new printing of a fairly rare 26 year old book on the 1745 siege of Louisburg, available from a "local" bookstore (about 120km but in Nova Scotia) . Well that was just the period I've been setting my games in, and Louisburg is a site that I've visited several times, so.........

Anyway, having just completed my first 7 decades, I decided to treat myself to help me stay on track over the next 2 decades. 

Death OR Glory

....and so the battle began.  Since the Saxons had managed to turn so as to move down the British flagship's starboard side, the central British ship was blocked unless she took a long way around, against the wind and in danger of rocky shoals. A horn blew from the flag ship and she was pointed towards the other Saxon ship. That left one ship to attack the large Saxon flagship with twice as many warriors but with two on one against the small Saxon ship, it might be possible to take it in short time.

The first two knights to scramble over to the Saxon ship were met by twice as many foes and pushed back.

Although outnumbered, the initial British attackers were better armoured than their Saxon enemies and slowly but steadily pushed them back into the bow and stern. But, could they keep that up as the fighting spread over the full deck giving the Saxons more room to deploy?

Nearer to the rocky shore, the British, especially the armoured regulars, steadily pushed back the Saxons until the remainder threw down their swords. Leaving the regulars to secure the captured ship, the middle ship turned and headed towards the outnumbered flag ship. The wind was not favourable to maneuvering quickly around to the Saxon's starboard side so they took the shortest path and used the Count's flagship as a bridge to the Saxon ship.

In no time at all, the Earl had a choice, fight to the death and his men with him, or surrender and come to terms to end the current war. It didn't take him long to decide to fight again another day.

A seagull's view of the end of the fight.

A Rendezvous Kept

At last the fleets faced off again. 

The British plan was to pit two of their ships against the large Saxon ship while the 3rd ship handled the smaller Saxon ship.

The Saxons proved too experienced to be caught by that plan, and shifted their course a bit so that each of their ships fought with one British ship while the 3rd ship was blocked by their own ships.    

To be continued.....

Helgin Is Ready To Rumble

The sea battle should resume ere long.

Notes: 

- I didn't plan on painting the skull and crossbones but I suddenly decided to add stripes, and then, there they were...... Luckily, only the one big ship has them so the Saxons have it. 

- The soft plastic is sometimes reluctant to hold to grasp all of the acrylic craft/art paint at first go, even after having washed and scrubbed them. (spray paints, primers, varnishes etc are forbidden), I'll let the paint settle for a week or so, then touch them up and varnish.    

Saw saw, Bang, Bang

 One big one down, four little ones to go.

 

This vessel already had a deck before the mast, as will as a small tower over the bow, just large enough for 2 archers. Now it also has a main deck aft the mast and a small quarterdeck.

The main decks each hold 4 warriors. Last of all is a small quarterdeck which has room for 2 or 3 figures, usually including the Captain. 

A raven's eye view.

Last, but not least, the forward deck can be used as a platform for a small catapult instead.

Next up will be the smaller cogs which will hold 8 figures and a leader, with no option for artillery. Then I'll paint the decks and we'll be ready for the fog to lift so there can be a rematch.

Beware of Lea Shores and Fog

Alas and alack! It did not take very many turns before I realized that I needed more work on the ships and the rules. 

When I played the quick 1 on 1 encounter last year, there was a lot of improvising and it was a VERY quick game.

One of the problems was trying to get the figures to stand up on a lumpy ship. Another was that the setting and storyline seemed to need a bit more complexity with so few figures and little maneuvering with only 2 ships.  Various obstacles made it hard to match up opponents, but with so few figures, it was easy to improvise.

A sudden fog began to form and with rocky shoals on one side and a rocky coastline on the other side of the shore, a truce was called and the ships headed out to sea with agreement to meet again and finish the affair 

It didn't take long today for me to realize that I have to modify the ships to have a smoother deck for the figures stand on and make it easier to match opponents, or come up with another approach. The usual committee of 3 has been appointed to look into the matter.

If I get a sudden solution, the battle will start again, if not. I'll adjust the table and do something else.

Helgin's Revenge

Over the winter. Helgin's shipyard was busy and by spring the largest ship that had been seen in these waters was finished. With a new consort, and a balista mounted on the Giant's bow, Helgin was ready for his fleet to go sweep away the Duke's little fleet of one, well it might be two by now but no matter, Bertha would crush them all.

Alas for Helgin, his scouts and spies had not managed to discover that the Duke's shipyard had secretly finished two of the smaller cogs and the fleet of three was now out, seeking the Saxon fleet.

Can the largest naval fight ever seen off this coast be far away? 

....To be continued....
 

The Clans Are Gathering

 One more stand is table ready. The current plan is to have 12 stands of Highlanders in my Scots army. 
This brings me to 9.

1/2 way there for Lennox's Highland levies.

Highlanders, always looking for another angle.....

So Far...

..so good. About 1/2 done.

1/2 Done.
(Is it just me or does the bald but bearded guy bear an eerie resemblance to Graham McTavish in his role of Dougal MacKenzie.)

I have vague memories of another blogger, or maybe a pre-blog webpage, writing about how weakening eyes and increasingly shaky hands was reducing the pleasure of painting miniatures.  Well, over this last year, its begun, a bit at a time. Luckily, I'm fine with simple painting with less detail etc and have found that the reduction in sight also means not noticing the simpler painting style or all but the worst slips or twitches of the brush, or omissions of some detail etc. 

So: "balance in all things". 

While I'm waiting.....

 I decided it would be a good time to paint a few more figures. Since I had recently seen some unpainted 25mm Garrison medieval figures when looking for something else, and there were two votes for the Gathering of Hosts, I decided to dig them out. 

Hmm, not here......Hmm, Hmm, not there, what about in here...  Oh look!  ....I'd forgotten that I still had a dozen of these to paint..... Well, might as well paint a few more of them, and then, maybe a few more, or at least fix a few of the veterans, dropped pikes etc. 

Of course, the new lads will have to see the Woolly Mammoth. (Well, no elephants in Scotland were they?).

40mm resin Highlanders for Rough Wooing/Henry VIII's Wars.
3d Resin figures from Day of Battle , the 40mm option.

  I guess Rough Wooing is up next after all, but north of the border, not across the channel.

https://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/2022/11/cometh-hour.html
A game from 2022, including the first appearance of 3d printed Scots,
(Well, these 2 didn't exactly start as Scots, but, hey! Look! T\hey're flying the Macfarlane arms on their flag.)

For My Next Act......

I'm not quite sure what I want to call to the table next. 

Finish those ships for Prince Michael and have a small fleet battle? Or an amphibious assault?

Back to the hot, humid, West Indies? (Which is what the weather feels like today.)

or.......? 

At times like this, it's just as well to ask the audience  or......to pull one out of my hat.... "Nothing Up My Sleeve...".

Welcome To Faraway. May I See Your Passport Please?

 "No, I thought nought." .... "Bob! Quick! Telegraph Fort Belmont for help!"

A close up shot of a critical point in the battle. 

_______________________

The garrison at Ft Belmont was on the alert and a force under the command of Colonel MacDuff soon appeared to meet the invaders. A quick conference led to a decision for Brigadier Ross to command the artillery and a company each from the Rifles and Infantry on the left with orders to pin down the raiders until they got the order to advance. On the right, a company of the Royal Highlanders and one each from the Fusiliers and Grenadiers, were ordered to turn the enemy's left flank, and drive them off the field of battle.

Initially the infantry firefights were even, but the Origawn artillery was inflicting steady losses on the Dominion forces while their guns had trouble finding the range.

As the Grenadiers deployed and extended the line, the Origawn infantry started a slow retreat, hoping for support from their artillery. 

Once the flanking attack had driven back the enemy's left flank, the order was given for the whole force to advance.

The firefight was prolonged and bloody and the sun was sinking. Who knew if the enemy was expecting reinforcements any moment. 

Finally, the Dominion's numbers were starting to tell. The enemy gun was silenced, and some of their infantry wavered, ignored the orders to "Rally Men!" and then ran! There was only a small rearguard to cover the disorderly retreat but the Dominion soldiers were tired and their commander was under strict orders not to cross the border.   

(It appears that the original report that the invaders had a gun and 4 companies of infantry, was slightly exaggerated as only 3 companies were spotted. Oops! ......but it was close with the attacker being 6 vs 4,
so it might have been the intended ratio.)