Rebasing: Everyone's Favorite Job

I received notice from Essex Miniatures that my shipment of Prussian infantry command is on the way from England. That is my cue to get going on my rebasing project. I received about 500 infantry and 100 cavalry for a Prussian Napoleonic army from my friend Yankee Jeff. None of the infantry had command figures so I decided to order some to complete the army. They are on the small side so some interweb research revealed that Essex makes smallish 15mm figs. I will need some cannon as well and am using some Russian gunners to paint up as Prussians (sacrilege I know). I have all my other armies based for Napoleon's Battles on 20mm width x 25mm depth, 4 infantry in 2 ranks. Cavalry are on 25mm square with 2 cavalry to a base.

These are some figures from my collection being used with the hex based Commit the Garde rules available on Wargames Vault for cheap.

French and Russians at Friedland

Austrians and French in an fictitious engagement

I have in my collection French, Russian, Austrian and British armies and now I am excited to be adding a sizeable Prussian army to my collection.

I have already cut the bases out of thick card used in framing pictures from Michaels. Next I will pop all the Prussian infantry off their old bases and sort them for rebasing. 

500 infantry...

100 Cavalry...

To rebase: Supplies needed 

1) Spread a thin layer of wall plaster on the base.

2) Add four infantry in two ranks.

3) Sprinkle with sand/ballast. 

4) Let set overnight.

5) Paint base with a thick wash of brown paint. This softens the plaster and really sets the figures and sand in place.

6) Let set overnight again

7) Mix a batch of 50% water and 50% white glue. Flock the bases with a little of the brown showing through.

8) Spray with matt varnish.

9) Play a game and take pictures of your new stuff!

Here is a pic of some already rebased Brunswickers. In the background is my newly painted background

New Game Room Swag

I have tidied away the figures and terrain from my ACW game and am looking to add some upgrades to the game table. The table is a 4x8 plywood sheet with my 15 year old felt game mat on top. I am planning on buying a 1x8 board and bolt it on to the side of the table to make a 5x8 table.


 Today I purchased a lighter grade of material both in color and weight.

Too olive?

 It is 5x10 and I plan to use it to overlay on top of my hills. I have been trying to come up with ideas on how to do the elaborate elevations for the Regimental Fire and Fury or Napoleon's Battles scenarios without breaking the budget in time and money. While at the fabric store, I saw some 52"x20"x1" sheets of soft foam.

I purchased 3 and plan to use them to create hills to put my new game matt on top of. Blue styrofoam insulation is the usual choice but I am too cheap to buy that and will try this. It should grip the over cloth well allowing for good clean hill lines.

Now that summer is here I can continue to game in the loft with this important addition...AC

Right next to my painting chair and table.

Last but not least, I purchased some cheap canvasses to create a backdrop for the game table. We will see if my painting skills extend to landscapes.

Blurry pictures today...

Turns 4 and 5 Regimental Fire and Fury

Holidays are great even when you are under the weather. I was able to fit in another 2 turns of the Fire and Fury game today. Turn 4 saw the casualty count rise for both sides as the Confederates set themselves up to attack the Federal main defenses around the redoubt. Timely reinforcements on the Federal right suprised the Confederate flanking regiment and it withdrew with heavy casualties. General Palmer commanding the Federal left was shot from his saddle.

Turn 5 saw the Confederate left assault the rifle pits with "cold steel". The 24th and the 49th Virginia regiments forced the Wessell's regiments to fall back from their covered positions with the help of Confederate artillery fire. Attacks in the centre and right were turned back.

Confederates charge the redoubt but are pushed back with canister and musketry.

During the Federal turn, things went badly for the blue coats. The counter attack to retake the rifle pits failed and they had lost the battles key position causing their morale to falter. Naglee's battered regiments routed off the board. Two regiments from Palmer's brigade now leaderless decided to fall back from the rifle pit line and abandoned their position. General Casey had to stabilize the remainder of Palmer's brigade.

Federal losses = 31 stands (heavy casualties at 38 stands)
Confederate losses = 38 stands(heavy casualties at 52 stands)

Turn 6

The Rebels left flanking maneuver with Rains' brigade finally arrived enfilading and driving off the Union defenders in the rifle pit. A reinforcing brigade failed to take action to counter this threat. Palmer's replacement arrived and tried to encourage his out maneuvered brigade to hold it's position which it did. The Rebels n the right held onto the newly captured rifle pits, opting to line up and shoot rather than risk any more charges. Rebel charge in the centre was pushed back. Federals fell back and tried to form a new firing line but were hindered by disordered and routing brigades. The Union artillery was screened by falling back troops.

Turn 7

Rebel troops pressed their advantage routing two Union Regiments on the left flank with a charge. The Rebels had 3 units fall back or rout due to casualties and bad rolls but overall were able to maintin the advantage. When the Union turn came they failed their morale due to having taken heavy casualties, losing their defended position and being outflanked which ended the game.

This rule set worked very well. Without knowing the rules, the players were able to come up with a battle plan and attempt to execute it. I learned that charging is difficult as it is easy to be driven back by defensive fire. A significant advantage is needed to gain a telling result in a charge. Even then, with 10 sided dice, nothing can be taken for granted. The Rebels were forced to attack to achieve the victory objective of capturing the rifle pits. They had the greater numbers and better quality troops to pull this off. The only thing the Union might have done better was to withdraw the brigade that was posted ahead of the rifle pits sooner to form a reserve. This would have allowed the Confederated to close more quickly but the difficult ground would have slowed them down.

After 1 turn with other players and 7 turns over all, I started to have the many die roll modifiers memorized and had to refer to the QRF less frequently. I need more disorder and out of ammo markers. The game looked great and I was happy to get to try out 2 never before used armies and much never before used terrain. Now to clean up!

Turn 2 and 3 Regimental Fire and Fury

Today I continued the battle from the last post solo. I am becoming more familiar with the charts but the turns still took about 2 hours each to play.

Turn 2

The Confederates received 4 more regiments and 5 cannon as reinforcements. They had a significant numerical advantage at this point but the onus of attack was on them. The 6th Alabama formed line and charged the 92nd New York but was repulsed by musketry. The 12th Mississippi assaulted the 100th New York and carried the position. Union cannons took a toll on the advancing Rebels.

The Union turn saw the 92nd New York rout behind the redoubt when it realized it's position was indefensible. The 100th NY withdrew in good order to form up next to a gun battery that had fallen back last turn. The remainder of the Federal move was dressing lines and rallying shaken regiments.

Confederate losses = 13 stands    Federal losses= 11 stands

Turn 3 

The Confederate front line units were starting to wear down and some were able to fall back in good order to be replaced by fresher regiments. They were able to get out of the difficult terrain and form a firing line to continue the firefight with the Union troops and exploit their greater numbers and quality. They were able to deploy face guns within canister range of the Union centre to lend weight to their fire.

The Union regiments were also wearing down but were less able to fall back without conceding valuable ground and were forced to stand in to delay the Rebel pressure.

They spent the turn rallying shaken units and using the reinforcements to support their flanks.

Counter battery fire was effective this turn with the Union damaging one gun and the Confederated damaging 2 in return.

Confederate losses= 21 stands    Union lose= 15 stands

CSA band entertains the troops

Hoping to add more turns tomorrow. I want to wrap this game up and get a WWII game going next.

Shots Fired - Turn 1

I had the pleasure of hosting Brent and Zak to try out a Regimental Fire and Fury game with my as yet unblooded ACW 15mm armies. We played for the evening and had a lot of fun coming up with a battle plan and then trying to execute it. None of us had played the rules before so we spent a lot of time flipping through the rule book and tallying up modifiers on the QRF. By the end of the evening we had only completed 1 turn! 

Deployment

End of Turn 1

Rebels on the left Yanks on the right

This pictures shows the Rebels have carried the position along the fence line and driven the Federals back toward the rifle pits in the rear. Brent was going to try or a flanking maneuver but was so happy with his success that he changed to a frontal assault.

Zak commanded the Confederate right. He elected to engage in a firefight and to by pass the Federal holding force.

During the post game discussion, we agreed that the rules played well and that we had successfully learned the rules. One turn was enough to learn command, maneuver, fire, and combat. There was some discussion of continuing the battle the next night but in the ned we agreed I would continue to play solo and players could jump in when available. 

In turn one the Rebels were able to advance and drive of half of the advanced division. Two Rebel regiments charged on the left while the division on the right engaged in a fire fight. 

Cannons and muskets blazed away and both sides suffered much disorder (casualty figures indicate disorder).

The rules were enjoyable overall. I think that with more experience their will be less need to go through the QRS modifiers every time we moved, shot or charged. This ended up eating up a lot of time. 

"You have no idea what a horrible sight a field of battle is."

This quote is from Robert E Lee. I like ti think my version of the battlefield is quite attractive before the shooting starts at least. I am preparing for my inaugural battle with my newly minted American Civil War troops and a new (to me) set of rules. Here is a shot off the table before troop are deployed.

This is a scenario called Seven Pines from the Regimental Fire and Fury rule book. My table is a little more narrow than what the book calls for so the Yankees have less room to fall back past their camp. I chose this scenario because there are no hills. Almost all the other scenarios are festooned with lovely rolling hills and look great, but I have not figured out how to represent this level of detail without investing heavily in styrofoam boards, I thought about getting together a sand table but this remains an idea for later consideration.

This battle occurred in May 1862. The Federal army has been idling outside of Richmond and the Confederate army put together a counter attack to drive them off from threatening their capitol.

I have played Basic Old Fire and Fury (BOFF) a few times in the past and found it to work well with this period. Regimental Fire and Fury (RFF) scales the game down and adds different weaponry. I will post a review once I get the game completed. For now the units are in parade formation, labeled and ready to be deployed...

The Confederate Army marching to the sound of the guns.

Troops are now deployed. All pictures taken from behind  the Union lines

 Confederates advance across a frshly plowed field made of Dollarstore carpet and flock added.

 More Confederates advancing across an abatis made of felled trees.

 THe Union troops are deployed in depth. The front line holds while a routed regiment streams down the road past them.

 General Casey's redoubt

Another Union battery and limbers

Now to review the rules before rolling the dice.

Big Battle!

Here are some pictures from the 15mm Napoleon's Battles game I played in today. Below is a panoramic shot of the pregame set up. Allies on the left, French on the right. We had 3 players a side and used models from the Gavel brothers impressive collection. I met some excellent fellow gamers and hope to attend their next club meeting despite the lengthy travel.

This is the French southern flank ably played by General Jim. I played the Russians assigned to dislodge this force...

The Russians were divided into 2 Corp. One regular and one guard Corp. Here is the Guard cavalry screening the Russian advance.

Russian Guard preparing to battle the Marie Louise French infantry

Prussian Heavy Cavalry charge in the centre.

Prussian infantry on the advance

Russian Guardsmen push back the French line