INTERMISSION - GREAT NORTHERN WAR AND STUFF

Its been a funny old week. Not much painting has gone on but it happens that way sometimes. I got a bit fed up of 28mm so started rooting through my lead mountain and came across enough strips of Bacchus 6mm Streletz to make up 4 btns for my Russian Great Northern War army, as if I needed any more of course? Managed to finish them quite quickly and just need to do the bases whch will probably be harder than the figures themselves! I've not had my GNW figures out on the table for a year or two but they are very nice so here are a couple of pictures of some of my Swedes. As well as Swedes I have lots of Russians (of course) and enough Saxons for anyone, plus a few units of Poles (Winged Hussars, etc). I'll get them all on the table again one day I hope, although I still have about 6 btns of Russian infantry, several Russian dragoon rgts and 5 or 6 rgts of Saxon horse to do one day...

Had a second sift through the bottomless draw in my games room and found a few odds and ends that escaped the last purge. They will be on ebay soon. I also found some more 28mm SYW figures lurking in a corner. Looks like there is a btn of RSM Prussian infantry, a regiment (24) of hussars, half a regiment of Prussian dragoons, a btn (36) of Foundry Russian Corps of Observation, a dozen cossacks and what looks like enough for a btn of dismounted Russian dragoons plus lots of wagons and odds and ends, commanders and figures for those vignettes I never got round to, e.g. dancing bear, preacher, orthodox priest.

Still not clear what to do as my next project. Gone off the idea of Sikh Wars as no matter how nice the available figures are in 28mm (Old Glory and Foundry) I don't have the space, time or money and I don't like the old Freikorps 15mm range. So, something in plastic perhaps? I might even throw in my lot with John, Rob and Neil and get some FoW (have to be early war though). Whatever I decide I have promised myself that I won't buy anything else until the VBCW project is finished. Better get painting then!!!!!!!

AIRWAR OVER THE DALE

Finished the first couple of aircraft for my VBCW war in Weardale. I think my modelling skills left me when I reached puberty but they'll do! Inspired by the RAF's policing of the NW Frontier in the 1920's I decided that one of the most effective ways the Government forces could patrol the high pennine passes would be from the air. The terrain is pretty inhospitable, roads are few and opportunities for smuggling undetected are many, especially to and from the Comminust enclave in Chopwell and Socialist forces around Shildon and the Liverpool Free State.

Government forces have established airstrips at Stanhope and St John's Chapel using the showgrounds. Operating from these strips are a mottley collection of aircraft, few of which are serviceable at any one time. At Stanhope the BUF have a Bristol Bulldog fighter supporting a Government Avro Anson used for reconnaisance and interdiction over the high ground. Currently a Handley Page Heyford is located at Stanhope. Forced down by mechanical problems it is hoped it'll be airworthy in the near future (i.e. when I have worked out how to mount it on a flying base!). There is also a Gloucester Gladiator fighter at St John's Chapel.

The Anglican League operating out of Wolsingham have likewise turned the showground into a makeshift landing ground where the Bishop of Durham's Hawker Fury is based, although it usually to be found flying from the (safer) grounds of the Bishop's palace in West Auckland.

The Shildon Railwaymen are operating an old Russian I-1 fighter off an 'airstrip' located next to the Wagon Works. They also use this landing strip to accomodate aircraft shuttling across the pennines to the Liverpool Free State.

Pictured above are the Hawker Fury being stalked by the BUF Bulldog, who in turn is about to get a nasty surprise from the Socialist I-1. The last photo is of my Heyford heavy bomber. I've just taken delivery of a Tiger Moth and am waiting for a couple of other kits to arrive - not for quantity but for variety........honest! Now to find something to mount the Heyford on.....

Another bad day for the BUF

Just played another VBCW game. Rob commanded a BUF snatch squad charged with escaping off the table with their Anglican League prisoner, the firebrand Reverand Jesmond Parsnip, Vicar of Wolsingham. Closing in were a small force of League troops in pursuit from Wolsingham under the command of John, and allied Socialist Shildon Railwaymens' militia under myself en route from Fir Tree.

BUF forces were all motorised and comprised a headquarters section, a towed anti-tank gun, three platoons of infantry, supported by two armoured cars, a Morris and a 6x Lanchester. The Anglicans were in pursuit with an old WW1 vintage Rolls Royce armoured car, a platoon of the Bishop of Durham's Guard (from the Anthony Bek Company) supported by an HMG, and a platoon of Wolsingham School cadets. The Socialists had three platoons of militia, a Vickers 6-ton tank and an Armadillo armoured truck.

We used Triumph and Tragedy as the basis for the rules but much simplified. I used a random card-driven movement and firing system; one card in the deck for each unit, which worked well and added to the confusion....lots ;o)

The BUF were lucky with the draw of cards and most of their units moved early in the turn. Their Lanchester turned to head off the League forces heading towards them, shooting up the bus carrying the cadets and forcing it to stop, thus blocking the road. It was supported by a rearguard of a platoon of infantry and the anti-tank gun, that moved to outflank the League now bottled up on the road.. The BUF Morris and the other trucks with their prisoner headed for the exit point at the opposite end of the table, but not without demonstrating some really poor driving skills, one lorry running into the back of another, causing some damage and a dead passenger! Meanwhile the Socialist column raced towards the crossroads to cut off the BUF escape. Exciting stuff!!!!!!

Next turn saw the BUF rearguard de-bus and take up position on a hill to enfilade the League forces, but not before the League Rolls Royce armoured car had broken through behind them. A vicious firefight followed by a bayonet charge by the Bishop of Durham's guard and the BUF were driven off and almost anihilated. But between them and the Lanchester they had blocked the advance of the entire League contingent and caused several casualties, including Wolsingham's Head Boy in command of the cadets.

The BUF and Socialists continued their race for the crossroads and the road to safety; the latter got there first. Just. One BUF platoon was dropped off to hold the flank while the Morris and the final platoon (together with prisoner) sped over the bridge at full speed and halted at the Old Mill. The Lanchester acted as rearguard, bottling up the League force, but it came a cropper when reversing at high speed round a bend, ending up in a ditch!

Finding the crossroads occupied the Morris armoured car could not get past the Socialist vehicles blocking the road, and had all its tyres shot out and the Boyes anti-tank gun destroyed. But it kept the much of the Socialist infantry pinned down, immobilising one truck and the Armadillo, while the last BUF platoon disembarked and tried to escape on foot behind the mill and across the fields and behind walls and hedges. The BUF flank guard retired under heavy fire onto the bridge where firstly they were pinned down, suffering heavy casualties before legging it in rout.

The BUF almost made it off the table with their prisoner, but the final Socialist platoon cut them off and pinned them down in the open just inches from their exit point. The BUF force had been almost totally destroyed as a fighting force, only the Lanchester was in a position to escape. League and Socialist forces had suffered heavy casualties, and most of their transport was shot up badly.

An enjoyable and hard fought game that could have gone either way right up to the last turn of the cards, and was almost a rare BUF victory, but not quite. A BUF triumph it wasn't; more like a BUF tragedy! An early good run of the cards had put Rob in an advantageous position, and John and the League couldn't get into the game once they'd seen off the rearguard, but the situation changed rapidly, enabling the Socialists to get into position. The BUF's fortune wasn't helped by some really unlucky dice rolls, e.g. most BUF hits seemed to result in few kills or wounds, just pinned or 'near misses', whereas the League and Socialists seemed to score kill after kill.

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Well, I have spent the last 2 weeks in Rhodes enjoying the 40 degree sunshine and Mythos lager contemplating my next wargames project. John, Robbie and Neal are well into Flames of War but I wasn't that interested unless I got some Russians (I always go for Russians for some reason, no idea why!) but with the promise of early war stuff I might be tempted to get a few bits and pieces, French maybe, we shall see.

Going back to the sunshine, and prompted by some of my holiday reading, I did wonder about going back to one of my great interests from years gone by, i.e. Normans in Italy, the Sikh Wars or the US-Mexican War (I still have a set of the rules I published yars ago - "A little more grapeshot Captain Bragg!"). With the Sikh war I have even gone so far as surfing the net for suitable figures (in 15mm I reckon as I have too much 28mm lead) and working out what I might get for my first purchase. Of course, I still have to finish off my VBCW figures...........

A final thought on the heat though. I have no idea how anybody, no matter how fit and tough, can operate in temperatures like you find in the eastern med in the summer. I like it, becuase for 2 0r 3 weeks I get to walk around in my shorts and crocs, drink beer, eat nice food, read lots, plan my next projecty of course, and jump into the sea/pool as and when required to stop sizzling! But fight a battle or even walk up the road to the shops in our resort in clothes would leave me gasping! (Ok I'm not as fit as I was but I know what I could have done in my thinner more muscley days ;o)

I guess I have enjoyed my break but will be glad to get back home and get as many more VBCW figures as possible done during August when work keeps me at home more.

Getting hot now and the pool is beckoning me.......

PS: I've been coming here for a few years now and the fortifications at Rhodes town remain stunning in their sheer size. Definately got the X factor.

SIZE MATTERS!!!!!

Well I thought the guns on both of my armoured trains were a bit on the small side so I cobbled this together from a kit I bought on ebay a few months ago. I need to do some work on a customised flatcar to carry this beast along with its ammunition and other stores but wanted to see what it looked like. I think that if it were to fire the entire train would end up being propelled at a zillion miles per hour back up the railway line, but this is not real life so what the hell!!!!

I seem to have acquired rather a large number of figures for this project and just hope I can get them all finished and on the table soon. I still have my BUF cavalry to finish, along with their dismounts, as well as about 60-odd militia (including cavalry) as yet unassigned to any particular faction, a squadron of Yeomanry and a platoon of regulars or TA. Well at least they are easy enough to paint! Not today though as the sun is shining and the garden needs sitting in!!!!!

Durham Show 12 June 2010

Well, for the first time in many a year I attended this small but friendly show as a punter rather than help stage a demo game. The show has been going in its present location since the late 70's and has always been worth a visit. Always seems to be well attended (except the year it clashed with the FA Cup Final!). Not much in the way of games this time though, although the two that caught my eye were the 10mm SYW game put on by the Old Glory gang and a very nice 28mm ACW staged by the Durham group.

Enough trade (for me anyway as I had a very short shopping list and much reduced funds having just dropped my car off at Kwikfit to get 2 new tyres!). I picked up some Reiver BUF cavalry for VBCW that I have just stuck together and will crack on with them after dinner when they have dried. I got home to some new Solway VBCW flags for the Northern Army. I can probably use no more than half a dozen as standards for Royalist troops (DLI, Northumberland Hussars) so if anyone wants some of the others just ask.

Also had the chance to catch up with some old friends, remember how we (as the Prussians) got stuffed in a recent refight of Mollwitz using Black Powder. My set went on ebay the next day as while I liked the rules the first time I used them (and lost) I didn't think they felt right for SYW. (The fact that the Prussian Guard brigade ran away has nothing to do with it!). Best of all, got to chat with the real-life incarnations of a number of chaps off GWP who share an interest in VBCW. Their VCBW worlds border on mine so maybe one day we might see my Weardale forces skirmishing with the Chopwell Communists or Lord Lambton's private army? Would be an interesting development methinks?

War comes to Weardale!!!!!

Played my first (solo) VBCW game last weekend to try out the rules and get my figures on the table. Basic premis was that the uneasy peace found to that date in the Dale was was about to be broken. A small Government force was holding a roadblock controlling a bridge dominating a key level crossing on the Weardale railway. Socialist forces from Wolsingham (steel workers and quarrymen) had been tasked with taking control of the area to permit their newly-converted armoured train to pass unmolested out of the dale and back to its owners the Shildon Railwaymen's Peoples' Militia.

The Government had a platoon each of LDV and BUF. The BUF had just arrived and were camped quite some distance from the bridge but had brought with them an anti tank gun and an armoured car. The force was supported by a 3" mortar manned by TA members of the DLI. Local police were also present. Somewhere in the area were the Wear Vally Rangers, a motorised militia unit raised by a local landowner and former MP. Attacking this small force were four platoons of Socialist militiamen, supported by an improvised portee and a 'liberated' Vickers 6-ton tank.

The Socialists drove their main attack across the bridge with a flanking force including their tank to their left. The police on the bridge checkpoint were overwhelmed, the survivors running as fast as they could. Meanwhile the BUF platoon mustered and advanced towards the bridge under heavy fire from the enemy. The socialist portee managed to knock out the BUF armoured car with its first shot but then missed with every subsequent one! Caught in heavy fire from militiamen lining the walls to their front the BUF broke and ran.

Meanwhile, the LDV platoon and mortar were unobserved in the churchyard and not in any hurry to expose themselves, although the mortar did manage to bracket the portee on the hill over the river, putting their aim off at the very least! Over on the left, the militia and their tank had crossed the river unopposed. The much vaunted (in their eyes) Wear Valley Rangers appeared in their nice posh touring cars and came under fire straight away from the tank and supporting infantry. They suffered no casualties but discression being the greater part of valour they turned tail and fled, having failed their pluck test. The BUF anti tank gun was knocked out, and most of the Government forces were in full retreat or lurking under the cover of the churchyard walls. It was all up and the remaining LDV to beat a hasty retreat just as the armoured train from Wolsingham appeared.

Well, I got almost all of my troops on the table and the game was ok but I didn't like the VBCW variant of WGW so next time I will try Triumph and Tragedy.