Capitania General de Florida, Battle #1

Here are some of the pictures I took during the game I ran several Saturdays ago.  It pitted a punitive expedition of two Britannian battalions and some rangers and militia against a regular Andalusian (imagi-Spanish) force of regular battalions, militia, and Indians.  All of the regular battalions on both sides and the Andalusian gun and crew are owned by Doc Ord who has generously granted me a long-term loan of them.  The militia, rangers, and Indians are owned and painted by me, as was all the terrain.  Please click on the pictures for a larger image.  [Added note:  Additional pictures can be found at the Jackson Gamers blog.]

The battle area with a clearing for the Andalusian fort in the left foreground and the allied Indian stockaded village in the right background.

A closer look at the fort clearing showing the temporary breastworks manned by a company of Andalusian militia.

The stockaded Indian village.  This stockade was originally built as a Zulu kraal for a Victorian colonial game three years ago.  It is manned by Old Glory Indians.

A mixed bag of Britannian rangers, light infantry, and Indians advance toward the fort clearing.  These figures are Redoubt, Foundry, Conquest, and one unknown manufacturer.

The stockade is being assaulted by a battalion of Britannian infantry and two companies of Georgiana militia.

One of three battalions of Andalusian reinforcements marches toward the fighting.  This battalion is from the Regiment Ibernia.

Two more Andalusian battalions marching forward.  You might recognize the mounted officer in the foreground as Feldmarshall Leutnant Freiherr Bernard von Alderheim of the Imperium.  He was pressed into service as the Andalusian senior commander, Baron de la Plata (played by my friend, Lord Sterling).

The Britannian rangers and light infantry assault the Andalusian militia behind their temporary breastworks.  The Andalusians probably wisely decided not the stand and began to withdraw upon their regular supports (the Battalion Ibernia).

Meanwhile the center Andalusian battalion begins to deploy against some of the rangers and light infantry.

But they are quickly reinforced by the second of the Britannian battalions and a fire fight results.

The Andalusian militia continue to fall back on their supports who now line the reverse of the breastworks at the rear of the clearing.

The Andalusian gun, cheered on by de la Plata, comes into action.  The two gunners are borrowed Imperium figures who are assisted by infantrymen from two different Andalusian battalions.

Even though the battalion commander has been slain, the left flank Andalusian battalion holds its own against both the Britannian regulars to the left of the fort and some of the Georgiana militia (out of the picture to the right).

The final tally saw the Britannian and 'Muricans withdrawing from their attack after suffering severe casualties from the Andalusian and Indian fire.  Another battle is in the offing -- probably an Andalusian assault against the southern most Britannian outpost which now shelters the survivors of this battle.

Indians and Breastworks

I ran my first imagi-"FIW" game today.  It took place along the border between the Britannian colony of Georgiana and the Capitania General de Florida.  I completed this group of figures of six American Woodland Indians just before the game.

These figures are pack Woodland Indians B from Conquest Miniatures 500 Nations line.  As with the other Conquest figures, they were a joy to paint.  They joined six Iroquois Indians (pack Iroquois Warriors B), that I had painted sometime earlier, as part of the Britannian punitive expedition.  More on the battle at a later posting.

I also prepared ten sections of temporary breastworks for the Asturian (AKA Spanish) troops to shelter behind.  These breastworks were inspired by the blog of Little Fritz - Der Kriegshund (link to posting).  They were made from sections of 2" x 4" cast-offs after the edges were ripped to a smaller dimension.  I cut the strips into 4" sections, glued on pieces of dried branches, and then added white glue and sand to give them some ground texture.  I also added some plastic plants to some of the sections.  The following pictures show some of the sections being used in today's game.

I still have some more work to do on these terrain pieces, such as improving the look of the "ground" and adding some additional foliage.

As usual, please click on the pictures for a larger image.

Compagnies Galliens

After painting 36 "Murican" colonial militia, I switches sides and have begun painting 33 figures for two companies of the Compagnies Gallien de la Marine.  As most of my readers know, these troops were raised in Metropolitan Gallia for deployment to various Gallian colonies.  Since almost all the overseas colonies were under the control of the Ministry of Marine (the Navy ministry), these "Army" troops were also controlled thusly.

With the exception of the officer waving his hat, these are Old Glory figures from their French and Indian War line, pack FIW-22, Compagnies Franches de la Marine.  These are all in a variety of advancing poses. Half of them have knapsacks and half don't, which made it easy to divide them into two 15-figure companies.  I added three officers from the Dayton Painting Consortium's Spanish line (formerly of the London Warroom) so I'll have a battalion commander (the one waving his hat) and two company commanders (carrying muskets).  More of these later as they progress in their fitting out.  I'm hoping to have them completed by my first Capitania General de la Florida game on July 17.

Georgiana Militia Company No. 2

The other day I completed the outfitting of the Georgiana Militia Company No. 2 and they were mustered into Brittanian service today.  As I stated in a previous post about Company No. 1 (link), they are dressed in darker colors - dark brown, dark green, black, and charcoal.  [As usual, please click on the pictures for a larger image.]

Here is the entire company - one officer, one sergeant, one drummer, and fifteen other ranks.

The "firing line" half of the company.

The "advancing" half of the company.

This RSM-95 American militia 36-figure pack I purchased consisted of two officers, two drummers, 19 "firing line" figures, and 13 "advancing" figures.  I considered making one company all firing line poses and the other advancing poses, but in the end decided on the division you see above and in the previous post.

They will join two 24 figure battalions of Brittanian foot (borrowed from my friend Doc Ord) and an advanced guard (see these previous posts - link and link) as a Brittanian expedition into the northeastern corner of the Capitania General de la Florida to take possession of the post at Fernandina before it can be occupied and developed by the Espagnians and used as a base against the colony of Georgiana.  The battle is scheduled to be conducted on Saturday, July 17.

The Relief of Wadi Zoum-Zoum

Finally after more than a week, I'm able to post the pictures and report of my Victorian Colonial game at the HMGS-Gulf South Bayou Wars convention.  The game went well from my game master's perspective.  I hope that the various players had fun.  I didn't take as many pictures as I normally take but my friend "Electric" Ed contributed two to this report, the first and the last ones.

The scenario involved a small Egyptian force protecting a supply base at Wadi Zoum-Zoum along the Green Nile River (the least well-known and explored branch of the river in the Soudan).  The Agandar of Karres decided that raiding and destroying this base would garner him much support from the scattered remnants of the Madhi's and Khalifa's armies.  But he had Egyptian spies in his camp who passed along his plans.  The British immediately sent a riverine force to aid the Egyptian garrison repel the Agandar's attack.

As usual, please click on the pictures for larger images.

Photo by "Electric" Ed

Here we have yours truely, Col Campbell, giving pre-game instructions to the players.  The zariba enclosing the supply base is in the center, manned by its garrison, and part of the native attacking force is on the right.

The mighty native players (from left): "Beja" Clay, "Dervish" Paul, "Agandar" Mark, and "Arab" Michael.  This was Michael's third Bayou Wars convention.  During the first he had the "misfortune" to be a British player in my massive and ill-conceived Zulu game.  I think his role in this game was more to his liking.

The stalwart Imperialists (from left): "Egyptian" Martha (actually "Agandar" Mark's wife), "Lord Sterling" Jay (who gave up his position as Egyptian cavalry commander to "Cavalry" Rick after a couple of turns), "Steam Launch" Jeff, and "Gunboat" Phil.

The action commences in the distance as "Cavalry" Rick (right) enters with three troops of Egyptian and allied cavalry.  "Arab" Michael begins to maneuver against him.

"Beja" Clay and "Dervish" Paul launch their ansars against the walls of the zariba and the artillery emplacements.  The zariba is a tangled mass of thorn bushes that can only be penetrated after it has been burned.  The attackers will begin that process at the end of this turn.  In the distance are part of the skirmishing riflemen of "Agandar" Mark's command.

The troop transports of the British relief column arrive with "Steam Launch" Jeff's two Gatling armed launches on their shoreward side.

The Beja warriors succeed in lighting the zariba which the Egyptian irregular tribal levies cannot extinguish.

The HMS Shilleleigh of "Gunboat" Phil's command begins to fire its Nordenfelt machineguns against the Arab attackers.  In the background, "Arab" Michael's and "Cavalry" Rick's forces meet in some furious cavalry/infantry melees.  Rick was successful and defeated Michael's troops although it was a hard-fought series of engagements.

With part of the zariba burned and another part burning, the Beja warriors are ready to close with and destroy the tribal irregulars.  But unfortunately, "Egyptian" Martha's die rolls were much better than "Beja" Clay's and she repulsed several of his attacks.  "Dervish" Paul couldn't persuade his ansars to close with the Eyptian gun in the the emplacement just beyond the Beja since a lucky ball had taken his leader's head off.  Without the leader's encouragement, the ansars just wouldn't continue.

Photo by "Electric" Ed

The final actions with the British Naval infantry and Royal Marine Light Infantry, accompanied by Gatling guns, advancing through the base toward the luckless native attackers.  Even though they penetrated the gate and overran one artillery emplacement, the Agandar's force just didn't have the punch left to deal with the British.

I called the game at this point.  There was no hope that the native attackers could succeed in their mission, not with two platoons of British infantry and two Gatling guns, backed up by four naval machineguns.  Also it was drawing close to the end of game time and I still had to drive back to Jackson to see my wife who had broken her leg the preceding Friday night and was having a pin installed about the time we started the game.  (By the way, she is doing fine but still cannot put any weight on that leg for another almost two weeks.) 

Georgiana Militia Co #1

The 1st company of the Georgiana Militia has been completed.  I did everything except the matte varnish sealer before I departed for Bayou Wars last week.  With my forced absence from work due to my wife's broken leg, I put the sealer on earlier this week and glued them to their bases yesterday.  The bases were painted earlier today.

Here are all 18 of them.  This company is primarily in lighter browns and tans.  The 2nd company will be in darker colors.  They are being outfitted at the present.

The company commander, drummer, and six militiamen.

The other ten militiamen in a rough firing line.

These are RSM95 American Revolution militia that I got as a pack of 36 figures, thus the unit size of 18 (or 1/2 the pack).  These figures have minimum equipment as befits a militia organization - basically each man provides his own weapon and accoutrements.

They will join in the first engagement of my upcoming mini-campaign against the Ibernians and Gallians along the coast of the Capitania General de Florida next month.

P.S.  Thanks to all for your kind thoughts and well-wishes.

Bayou Wars - Quick Report

Just a quick report on Bayou Wars.  I'll post pictures later.  Con was great and my Colonial game went well.

But I had to leave early because my wife fell at work and broke her leg.  I've been rushing around since then.  She is doing as well as can be expected (had a pin put in the femur).

More later,

Jim