Welcome to the Jungle

On a bit of a post show wind down, I thought I'd take a few snaps of some of the stuff that was made and painted for the sure, both terrain and figures. So here you go:

Jungle bases with some figures to give an idea of scale.

A mix of aquarium plants bought from ebay. Time prevented me from painting them as I had planned, as they take acrylic paint really well.

Palm tree bases, again an ebay purchase.

A mixed bag of sizes, as I wasn't sure which would work best, so may order some more in the future, now that I know height wise what works best.

I managed a quick drybrush of these, but again had planned a proper paint job.

Some Magister Militum elephants with Afghan jezzails troops stuck inside.

Lovely sculpts bought years ago, that took some sticking together and filling the gaps, but the 12mm size made it easier to add in the 10mm figures.

Choosing the colours too some time, but am happy with the result.

Ottoman siege gun masquerading as Indian heavy artillery. I just love this model so chose it over the more appropriate heavy gun in the Pendraken range.

The gabions were some 15mm miscasts bought at Colours some years ago now.

Some of the Indian Sepoys.

In the end I went with simple flags due to time issues and that they sort of linked in with the Afghan light infantry ones.

My HEIC troops.

The flags are from David at Not By Appointment Blog fame. Sadly my printer was not playing ball, so had to hand overpaint these at the last minute. Fortunately they look fine on the table but don't do justice to David's excellent work. 

Some of my Indian command bases.

Despite all of my planning and starting the project early, or so I thought, real life issues meant that it was a tad rushed towards the end. The good thing with 10mm figures is that any problems on the paint front simply disappear once they are on the table or even at arms length.

Still, I have plenty more units to paint up, but can take my time now, but hope to finish the core force before Xmas. At least I have enough now to play some small games to carry on testing out our rules, but more on that in another post.

TTFN.

Cotswold Wargames Day 2023

A gloriously sunny and crisp Atumnal morning on Sunday saw me take my annual trip to the Cotswold Wargames Day, held at Northleach community centre. Stopping at Cirencester to pick up Chris Gregg, we arrived before 9.00am having had a nice catch up chat in the car. Many games were already well on the way to being set up, but I had plenty of time to sort our game our before Dave arrived, which was nice.

The show is very relaxed in nature, with many familiar faces from previous years and good to see new ones too. Having had a good chat and wander, I set everything up and then realised that I needed to expand the width of the game, which was easily done, with the gaming area in the end being about 5' x 2 1/2'.

What I like about this show is that you see all the games being played in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, rather like a club night but without, dare I say it,  competition style gamers spoiling the show. Everyone is happy to chat, explain what is going on, what rules are being used etc. Even though it is a small event, many of the games could quite easily have graced the recent Partizan show.

Anyway, enough waffle from me and onto the photos. Sadly I lost the e-mail outlining who was running which game and what battle etc, but I hope this won't detract from your enjoyment. So without further ado:

An Indian Mutiny game that one 'Best Game' or the 'Stuart Asquith Trophy', something akin to that and well deserved too.

Elephants and bullock carts doing the heavy lifting. Nice!

Loved this camel train and very useful to see for my more modest offering, which I've yet to paint.

Again more inspiration for a possible General mounted on an elephant for my 18th Indian force.

The fort was very eye catching and with lots of little vignettes too.

Sadly no idea if this 3D printed, resin cast or something else.

Stu Surridge's lovely Operation Exporter game, using Bolt Action rules.

You can't beat a bit of early Western desert action between the Italians and the Commonwealth forces.

Lovely terrain and plenty of people were playing all day, which showed how popular it was.

South American Wars of Liberation in 20mm. A very clever set up as it was a night attack, and so a black cloth was placed over everything, forces then deployed, with it removed to reveal the actual terrain etc. A simple but effective way of simulating the disorientation of night operations.

Lots of lovely figures.

An ACW game using Sharpe Practice II. It shows that plenty of action and eye candy can be fitted onto a normal 6' x 4' table.

Confederate troops.

The Union troops.

Good old lichen being used:)!

Peninsular War in 28mm. Sadly no other info than that, but it was a participation game.

A wonderful custom terrain set up that one the 'Most Innovative Game'?

So many lovely details and vignettes to see, that I chose it as the deserved winner of 'Best Vignette or Terrain Piece', with the prize being kindly proved by Leon at Pendraken. 

It's one of those games that you could have spent a long time admiring all the details, like many others on the day.

Crimean War in 28mm. Again sadly no idea on the scenario, but plenty of gamers played it all day.

Russians by the look of it and very nice too.

Another early war Western Desert game, in 10mm and using BKCIV rules, put on by Paul James.

Seeing all this lovely armour reminds me that this is on my list to game at some point in the future.

Finally some shots and action from our game, with a bit of introductory fluff, which plenty of people enjoyed:

1^st Rhawand War

India 1755

After the failure of the '45, Bonnie Prince Charlie and chums have been a bit of a problem for the French King, Louis XV. With the growing competition for the lucrative trade with India, Louis sees an ideal opportunity to send the Bonnie Wee Laddie overseas and out of his whig.

Rumours have been circulating there that a certain Ranald McDonald has been making a lot of money for the Honourable East India Company by brewing up the local rhubard to make a rather potent concoction, know locally as Urn-Brew.

Seeing a chance to make re-ingratiate himself with Louis XV, Bonnie Prince Charlie plans a daring attack on the McDonald factory, ably supported by his loyal Highlanders, some French regulars and their Indian allies.

Unfortunately for him, the HEIC have got wind of the attack and are waiting and ready to receive him, fortified no doubt by a few drams of Urn-Brew...

The HEIC deployed for battle.

Tribal light infantry and elephant support.

The HEIC factory with its famous Mughal arch...

Heavy Indain artillery defends the factory.

Another elephant.

HEIC troops and Sepoys.

The 'Hand of God' (ie Dave) pointing out his planned troops to move.

Ship's crew, aka Pirates', with some neat 3D printed ships in the background.

The confused battle develops on the HEIC right flank.

Elephants and Zumburak Camels cause problems for the HEIC.

Tribal infantry in the rocks with heavy cavalry on the flank.

Probably over half-way, with stalemate on the HEIC left flank, but doing well in the Right and in the Centre.

The HEIC have the slight ascendency.

The Franco-Jacobites were hampered by having lots of Dithering Commanders, with the Highlanders being commanded by one of them and they never saw action.

Post Show Thoughts

The day flew by and sadly it was time to pack away and head home. As always such a great day out with friends and a chance to meet new gamers. It really doesn't feel like a show, more like a bunch of chums getting together for a days gaming. What's not too like?

For our game it was the first chance we had to have a proper playtest and we learnt a lot from it, which we will incorporate into an updated list. Dave has put together some ideas for Army Lists, which I need to peruse once a few real life things are out of the way. It is certainly a fun and colourful period to game, but sadly one without much info as it all seems to focus on the Wellesley chap and his battles. Still there is fun doing some research and trying to get a feel for the period gamed.

As mentioned earlier, all the games were being played and everyone was happy to stop and have a chat about their game, the terrain, figures etc. Sadly this is often not the case at the bigger shows and maybe this is something that the organisers could encourage those putting on the games to do? I know it takes effort having done it in the past, but it makes for a more pleasurable experience for the visiting punter IMHO.

I loved the variety of games on offer, as there was lots to enjoy and to gain inspiration from. Sadly a few people had to drop out at the last minute, but we still had 8 very nice games to enjoy. I think the most the centre can hold is 11 games, by using a side room, but having enverything in one place was rather nice.

Finally a big thankyou to everyone who came to make it such a great day, and of course to Keith and Jane for all their hard work in getting this organised! Time to start thinking of what to put on next year...

18thC India List for Honours of War

As mentioned recently, Dave and I have been working on a list for use in 18thC India for our forthcoming Honours of War game at the Cotswold Wargames Day. This is based upon admittedly limited reading on the mid-18thC in India period, but I feel enough has been read to make some informed decisions, at least for what we have planned. As always our games are to have fun, have a feel of the period and hopefully learn something along the way too!

Now please feel free to comment, belittle our ideas (not too much😉) or make suggestions to improve things. Afterall this is very much a work in progress and by no means set in stone. Things might change if and when I get chance to run a few trial games, or during the game itself on the day. We are flexible in our approach as it's only a game afterall!

Background Info

The early days of the Honourable East India Company and the conflicts it was involved in have little info with regards to the battles fought. There appears to have been lots of bribes prior to battles to get one side to defect, no intervene or simply ride away, with the battles not being battles in say a mid-18thC European sense, as there was little action, despite large numbers involved. So there is some artistic licence that can be taken in how to replicate these actions and it is up to you how you want to reflect this. These then are our take on things:

The French and British sent some European troops to support their respective trading concerns in India. These were the best troops there and so it is appropriate to class them as Superior. Each of the Companies had their own troops or militia that were trained, but no especially to any high standard. So these have been classed as Standard. Given both sides used lots of Sepoys due to the limited number of Europeans there, they were relatively well trained to support the Europeans in military actions, yet could be fragile, hence classing them Standard for shooting and melee but Inferior Class for rallying. 

For our game and for fun, we have included European ships crew as well as some nominal Jacobite forces after the failure of the '45. Whilst not good for shooting that are pretty good at getting stuck in, hence the Onferior shooting but Superior melee.

Both sides Light Infantry, of which there were large numbers of, they were more used to raiding rather than pitched battles, so these are classed as Inferior Light Infantry. The same is broadly true of the Indian and Afghan Light Cavalry, that are also classed as Inferior. The limited numbers of Heavy Cavalry with armour as classed as Standard only.

The French had the edge on the British in terms of how they used their artillery, so these have been class as Superior, whilst the British is Standard only. The Indian States had heavy artillery that was more of a status symbol rather than being especially effective. Their rate of fire was low and they were pretty much immmobile once deployed, hence being rated Inferior but Heavy guns and immobile.

Both sides had plenty of fun and exotic troops, such as Elephants, Zumburak Camels and Rockets. The Elephants were certainly at the end of their useful period but are too fun to leave out, ditto the Zumburak Camels. All of these were largely used to break up the very large Light Infantry and Light Cavalry units that were found on the flanks of all armies of the period. So whilst not being especially devastating (famous last words!), their main use to attrit units on the flanks to limit their offensive abilities and to make them less able to resist attacks.

In terms of C&C, the British had the edge (think Clive of India) but the French did have good commanders too. So here the British have the slight edge. In contrast the Indian and Afghan commanders are much less able in comparison, to reflect their tendency to switch sides, to go raiding after the baggage etc. Again they did have the odd excellent commander, but rarely so.

The List

French & British Infantry – Superior Infantry.

European Infantry – Standard Infantry.

Scottish & Ships Crew - Inferior Infantry for Shooting but Superior Infantry for Melee.

Sepoys & State Troops - Standard Infantry but Inferior Class for Rally.

Light Infantry – Inferior Light Infantry.

French Artillery - Superior Medium.

British Artillery - Standard Medium.

Indian Siege Artillery - Inferior, Heavy, Immobile (possibly shoot every other Turn to reflect long reload times).

Elephants - Inferior Light Artillery, Infantry Move Rate, No -1 for Moving, Large Target, Ignore Terrain penalties.

Camel Zumburaks - Inferior Light Artillery, Light Infantry Move.

Rockets - Inferior Light Artillery (range of Medium Artillery). Deviate on D6. 1 – Miss, 2 – 3 Deviate and hit next nearest unit, 4 – 6 Hit target.

Indian Light Cavalry – Inferior Cavalry.

Indian Heavy Cavalry – Standard Cavalry.

French Commands - 1-2 Dithering, 3-5 Dependable, 6 Dashing.

British Commands - 1- Dithering, 2 -5 Dependable, 6 Dashing.

Indian Commands (Light Infantry & Light Cavalry) - 1-3 Dithering, 4-5 Standard, 6 Dashing.

So there we have it. I hope you found this interesting and possibly informative too. As mentioned at the start, this is very much our take on things and the above has been done to try and balance things to make for a fun game. Please feel free to change, tweak or amend things to your hearts content. As always any suggestions to improve things would be grealty appreciated.

TTFN.