Final Prep for Colonial Barracks

Last night I completed the last of the figures for my The Sword in Africa game at the Brom's Colonial Barracks All-TSATF convention in New Orleans this weekend.  I'll be running my "The Lion and the Gazelle" game on Saturday morning at 9:00 am.  The play-test battle report is at the Jackson Gamers blog.  I just had a few figures left to do.  And here they are:

A last-minute addition to Alan Haggard's hunting party:

The great white huntress Ruby Maye Loveless (named by my wife)

And a few additional animals to inhabit the jungle and offering targets for the hunters and possible opponents for everyone:

"Croc Dundee" lunging for some unsuspecting prey

"Harry the Hippo" just a little angry at being disturbed during his afternoon siesta

A small herd of gemsbok antelope

A small herd of wildebeest antelope

A last, but not least, the game master's figure:

A "Sergeant Brom" look-alike

So my wife and I will depart Friday morning for the convention.  I'll post pictures and commentary next week after we return.

Colonial Barracks Convention Game Play Test

I have finally posted the report of the play test of the game I will run at the Brom's Colonial Barracks TSATF Convention.

The Lion and the Gazelle

Matthew Morgan, the British tax man, is coming!

The convention will run from November 4 through November 6 in New Orleans.  My game will be presented on Saturday, November 5 at 9:00 am.  Convention link  Game schedule link

Jim

Hobby Takes Back Seat

My wargaming hobby has taken a back seat lately, with "real life" intruding.

First I received word last month that Tropical Storm Lee had dumped excessive rain water on the roof of the StorageMax building in which I had a bunch of stuff stored.  After 17 days I was able to have their hired workers (they wouldn't let the unit renters inside) recover my possessions.  About six cardboard boxes were wet.  But unfortunately they included photographs, negatives, and slides from my late parents house and a batch of old SPI/S&T military board games.  I lost a large number of slides.  It is amazing what excessive water will do to the emulsion on a color slide.  Some of them that had dried out were kept and they looked like a surrealist color painting!  As far as the wargames, I only lost three S&T magazines, part of the counters for one game, and all the plastic SPI storage boxes.  I lucked out there.  I'm still trying to recover the photographs and negatives but it doesn't look good.  That has taken a huge bite out of my evening hobby time.

Then last Thursday morning my younger daughter was in an auto wreck as she drove from her home to a local community college to teach a dance class (She is an adjunct instructor there).  Traffic on the Interstate highway was heavier than normal causing her to have to slow down.  Unfortunately the driver of the pick-up truck behind her evidently wasn't paying attention and hit her.  My daughter saw the truck coming, tried to steer out of the way, and, when she realized she would hit, braced herself.  She came out of the accident with only bruising and scrapes on her left forearm from the airbag deploying as her car went nose first into a concrete retaining wall/lane divider.  But her "baby" - a 2006 Mustang GT - was totaled.

There I was, just cruising on down the road, when I got nailed from the back.

Oh, my poor, aching nose!  That concrete was hard!!

"You tink dis looks bad?  You shoulda seed de udder guy!"

Finally, a picture of my "good" side.

 But there was "ray of sunshine" about her wreck.  A lady stopped immediately after it happened and rendered assistance her her, calming her down.  A man also stopped and called 911.  The driver of the pick-up actually stopped as well, but we won't say much more about her, other than her pick-up received only minor (I think) damage.  The local policeman was courteous, caring, and compassionate; the ambulance attendants were very caring and professional; and the emergency room staff where she was taken "just in case" were efficient and professional.  Even through the shock and worry of her daddy, I appreciated what they did.  The lady who stopped even called back at the end of the day to check on how she was doing.

And to add insult to injury, the standard transmission on my car seized up late Saturday afternoon, forcing me to call both my wife and a tow truck for succor -- my wife to offload my wargaming figures and terrain (after running a game earlier that day) and the tow truck to carry my badly wounded chariot to the repair shop, where he awaits their, hopefully, tender ministrations on Monday morning.

I'll be glad when life returns to a sense of normalcy.

UPDATE:  When the mechanic went out to my car Monday morning, he discovered that the gear shift was "miraculously" free and the transmission worked perfectly.  We guess that all the jouncing and bouncing the wrecker operator had to do to get the car off his flat-bed wrecker unstuck whatever was stuck in the transmission.  So for just a towing charge (reimbursable by my auto insurance), some inconvenience, and a few more gray hairs, I have my car back.  Hoorah!!

Sachsen-Wachsenstein Dragoons

Using a small batch of Miniature Figures Russian SYW cavalry, I've completed the Sachsen-Wachsenstein Horse Regiment by adding a squadron of 12 dragoons.  Along with the heavy horse and horse grenadier squadrons, these three squadrons make up the cavalry component of the small army of Sachsen-Wachsenstein.

The Sachsen-Wachsenstein Dragoon Squadron

The figures are actually Russian horse grenadiers but they are so similar to one of the Saxon dragoon regiments that I saw no difficulty in using them for Sachsen-Wachsenstein, a stalwart ally of the Imperium.  Their uniform is patterned after the Saxon Bruhl Dragoon Regiment.

Their addition now gives me five squadrons of battlefield cavalry for the Reichsarmeeabteilung Obere-Sachsen.

Forcing the Bridge

Last Saturday, I participated in a 15mm Seven Years War battle that pitted a French advanced guard trying to force a river crossing in the face of stiff resistance from part of His Britannic Majesty's Army in Germany.  Normally I play on the British side in these battles, but this time I chose the French and was in command of the right wing.  Here is my report to the advanced guard commander.

Note:  A complete battle report will soon be posted on the Jackson Gamers web site and additional pictures can be seen on the Nomadic Old School Gamer's blog.

TO:  His Excellency le Vicomte de Florida, Lieutenant-General de France, commander of the advanced guard

FROM:  Le Marechal-de-Camp François Lucien, Compte de Merlot, commanding right wing of the advanced guard

 

Monsieur le Vicomte,

In accordance with your instructions, I advanced my column down the right hand road to wards the bridge over the river.  I deployed the Irish brigade along the road, intending to use these elite soldiers to storm the bridge and secure a lodgement.  Of the light brigade, I deployed one battalion to scout for additional crossings over the river, alas without success.  The other three battalions were employed to the right of the road, anticipating finding a crossing.  The 7^th Cavalry Brigade followed in reserve to exploit the crossing secured by the Irish Brigade.

The Irish Brigade is on the right along the road, with the light brigade in the center and the cavalry to the left.  Part of the English defensive line can be seen in the foreground.

The Irish advanced with alacrity and courage, enduring heavy fire from the English guns just across the bridge and from their deployed infantry battalions.  

Regiment Fitz-James storms across the bridge.

The Regiments Fitz-James and Buckeley suffered severe casualties but screened the dragoons enough that they could get into position to attack the guns.

The dragoon brigade begins its advance to exploit the attack of the Regiment Fitz-James.

The Regiment Schomberg, followed closely by the Regiment Colonel-General, rode down the English batteries, sabering the gunners without mercy.  

Regiment Schomberg has just ridden down and sabered the English gunners.

Seeing approaching enemy cavalry, both regiments continued their advance, engaged the English cavalry, and forced them to retire.

Regiments Schomberg (on left) and Colonel-General (on right) engage and defeat the English cavalry.

 But the rest of the Irish Brigade and the Light Brigade were not able to follow-up the gallant exploits of the dragoons.  The English infantry closed off the bridge with additional troops, isolating the two dragoon regiments on the far side.  Both regiments fought stupendously, inflicting many casualties on both the first enemy cavalry brigade and later upon a reserve brigade.  But they were doomed without further support.

Regiment Colonel-General has already been rendered hors de combat and the Regiment Schomberg is now surrounded.

I am commending the following regiments for their outstanding efforts in the recent action -- the Irish Regiment Fitz-James and the Dragoon Regiments Colonel-General and Schomberg.  Their heroism must be brought to the attention of the army commander and the King.

Regiment Schomberg has repulsed all four English cavalry regiments.  But suffering heavy casualties and with blown horses, they are forced to retire down the river to seek another crossing point as the English infantry have closed off the bridge to them.

  

It is also my sad duty to bring to your attention the abysmal performance of the Grenadier Battalion de Fischer.  They were quickly scattered by a single volley of English artillery fire and were of no further use in my attack.  I would strongly recommend that the commander be cashiered and the unit be converted to a punishment battalion on the wilds of the Breton coast.

I am, your obedient servant, etc.

François Lucien, Compte de Merlot

Footnote:  We used a modified set of rules originally published in MWAN.  You can find them on the Jackson Gamers web site - called Quick Tricorne. 

Administrators and Warriors

Trying to get a head start on the figures I'll need for my Colonial Barracks convention (link) game in early November, I just finished a few 28mm figures that I have had for a while.

First up are three Colonial administrators:

On the left is the Colonial Governor's secretary, in the center is a missionary, and on the right is the Colonial tax collector.

To assist the "helpless" native village against both the Colonial tax collector and the Zanzabari slavers are a group of traveling warriors, out to right wrongs and protect the innocent, all for a small remuneration, of course!

The warrior in the center with the multi-colored shield is an old Ral Partha figure.  He and the Zulu-style warrior on the far right have been painted for a while.  They are joined by the six Foundry native warriors across the rear of the picture.  Armed with spears and other hand weapons, their courage and fortitude will have to strengthen them as they will be facing modern Western rifles.  But  being a "white hat" has never been easy.

I'll be play-testing my modified Lion and Gazelle scenario on October 15.  Between now and then, I still have some African animals to paint and some more jungle vegetation to construct.

1st King's Dragoon Guards

The 1st King's Dragoon Guards joined the Electorishe Armee Thueringen late Friday evening after a forced march.  They got their baptism of fire at the Battle of Hesselbach (battle report to follow on the Jackson Gamers blog - see link at lower left).  This 12-figure squadron are Dixon Miniatures.  These particular figures do not have the "pumpkin heads" that some other Dixons do.

The King's colours are from the Kronoskaf SYW Project web site.

Colonel Bland, the regimental commander, leads the squadron in its evolutions.

These were nice figures to paint, with the details being well defined but not, to my eye, too exaggerated.