Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII - Byron's Insane Plan

Well, Greg posted his grant plan for his entry this year to Curt's annual paint challenge and I kept meaning to the last few weeks but got sidetracked with work (real work) and prep for hobby stuff.  So, better late than never, right?

This year I once again entered at 1000 point goal, but after prep and cleanup and everything I have FAR more than that, and more coming in.... sigh....

So, here is my initial plan:

I am sure that it will not survive the first month, let alone the entire challenge, but I have to start somewhere.

Priority 1 - Dropfleet Commander and Kingdom Death

I have been excited for Dropfleet Commander since it was first announced, after all I am a huge fan of Dropzone Commander (the universe it is based in) and Battlefleet Gothic (which the rules are kind of an evolution of since Andy Chambers wrote the rules with the Hawk Wargames team).  Combine those two things and you have pure win in my mind.  The plan is to paint one fleet early in the challenge and the other later on.  That way I can start getting some games in with Mike, but not have to paint everything all at once.  

Just a small number of ships I have, but all that I have assembled so far. 
Not sure if I will paint the UCM or PHR first, I am leaning towards UCM first as
they will be simpler to paint, but I like PHR better so that may change.

I am planning to visit Curt sometime in January or February this year and they had such a blast with Kingdom Death last time I was out, that I figured I should get some figures actually painted so we can have a better looking game this time, or at least that is the plan.  I an even trying to get some Arena Rex stuff done by then to take with me as well, although that falls into Priority 2, and only if I can get it done in time, otherwise it will come later on.

Priority 2 - Epic 30k, French Dragoons, and Arena Rex

Next up are a few very different projects on my table.  Epic 30k and the madness that Greg has inspired just has to get done. I have several really nice vehicles and infantry models to paint and some titans on the way (probably not here until Feb, so they are down the priority list) and they are all 6mm so paint insanely fast.

The French Dragoons have been on my painting table for 2 years now, so its really time to get them done as well, even though I DREAD painting cavalry.

Priority 3 - DBA Swiss Pikemen, and some French Artillery

I also have a whole DBA army prepped and ready to go.  I have played the game with Dave Violago and really like the simplified nature of it, so picked up some Swiss Pikemen a few years ago, but they have sat in the box since then.  I have no idea if they are good/bad or whatever in game, I just wanted to paint some pikemen.  I am already regretting that choice though as I picked up the Xyston hammered steel pikes and have drawn blood on them several times while assembling them already!  I even stepped on a stand that I had sitting around waiting to prime and had 4 pikes stuck in my foot bleeding, that woke the household up, I can tell you!  Anyway, it is time they get done. 

Priority 4 and 5 - Everything Else

I am very lucky I have a patient wife, as I have WAY too many small unfinished projects kicking around.  This year the Priority 4 includes a second Dropfleet Commander force, some Epic 30k Titans, a 40k Tau Titan (which is massive, almost a foot tall!), some 1:3000 scale WW1 ships, a second Malifaux gang, more modern miniatures from Spectre, and lots of zombies (both from the Zombicide series and the Walking Dead game).

Theme Weeks
 
This year I actually planned ahead for most of the weeks and have things setup, so that will be a welcome change.  I am really tempted to do cowboys as east and samurai as west though, since the whole direction thing is relative (an "discussion" I had with Curt :-) ), but I will be civil and do them in the right category (or is it? After all if you are in Japan, the old west is east of you!).

WAY TOO MANY other things

I didn't want to get into everything on my list, just a brief overview of some of the key things.  As I mentioned at the top, I am sure the list will look nothing like it does right now by month two...  I have too many squirrels running around in my brain to stay on any given thing for too long.  I mean this list doesn't even cover the 28mm 30k stuff I have here, nor the bolt action, infinity, martian front, and 50 other game systems....  In the end I will be surprised if I get close to 30% of this list done, and everything else I do get done will be something not on the list.

I know for a fact that I will not get everything done as it comes close to 2200 points and I can realistically get 1000-1500 done in the winter, so planning just kind of got away from me here.

Oh well, let the challenge begin, and good luck to everyone else involved with it this year.  Have fun and keep the brushes flying!

Cape St-Vincent - 1797

During my yearly sojourn in Winnipeg, I had the chance to share some wargaming time and a few beer with the Winnipeg Conscripts at Casa Violago.

I had prepared a scenario featuring some of my sailships: On the morning of 14 February 1797, a British squadron of 15 ships of the line met a Spanish fleet twice as numerous, with 27 ships of the Line, including the giant Santissima Trinidad. The HMS Victory was present, as well as Nelson, but on a different ship, and he was only Commodore at that time but was ready to break the rules of traditional sea warfare. The scenario was played with fewer ships: the British had 9 ships and the Spanish, 14.

The victory conditions for this scenario were as follow: If, after 10 turns,
- The Spanish have no ships striking colours and 1 or more British did strike colours, the Spanish win an outstanding victory.
- 1 to 5 Spanish ships stroke colours, the British win a marginal victory.
- 6 or more Spanish ships stroke colours, the British win an outstanding victory.
Historically, the British did capture 4 Spanish ships.

The rules I used are a modified version of "Trafalgar" that I called "Trafalgar Redux". The original rules are great, but things start to slow down drastically when more than 5 ships per side are used. In "Trafalgar Redux", many elements of the rules are heavily simplified to allow battle with more ships. For example, the saving throw is replaced by additional boxes on the ship. Firepower is integrated into the ship display sheet. Modifiers for firing are limited to 3 and ships can fire at any point of their movement without penalty. If ships are in column, then they all move as one unit, etc.

From left to right:  Sylvain, shaking dice for the sake of shaking dice, Byron and Brian, proud Admirals of the Spanish fleet. The orderly British column, at the bottom, starts its steady progresion towards the Spanish mass of ships, partly visible in the upper right corner of the table.

Kevin and Dave, the British Admirals, smiling confidently as they listen to all the special rules favouring the British side: Spanish roll for morale for each critical hit they receive, British reroll "1"s when firing, etc. etc. etc.

The HMS Britannia, a first rate, 100 gun ship, follows the HMS Victory towards the thick of the Spanish fleet.  The Spanish Admirals are ready to give the order to fire.

First smoke! Furious exchanges of cannonballs resulted in one Spanish ship already striking colours, as indicated by the red marker. Spanish ships can be identified by their yellow stickers at the back of the base while British ships feature white stickers.

A Spanish ship on fire. But this is nothing compared to the HMS Britannia that will later be lit like a torch. Fire from the hull of HMS Britannia will eventually spread to all the masts and the crew had to work frantically for many turns to get everything back under control. Many good sailors were roasted during the event.

Brian assessing the situation from a standing position. The British are rigorously maintaining their line as directed.

Nelson, who was only Commodore at that time, was the only one allowed to break the British line in order to accomplish something awesome. Here HMS Conqueror (playing proxy to HMS Captain) blocks the line of incoming Spanish ships.

Exchanges of fire are getting more numerous as the the fleets are penetrating each other. I just love how the smoke puffs translate the intensity of  the battle at this point. It is also possible to visualize who is shooting who.
 

The last turn played. Five Spanish ships had striken colours at this point, meaning a marginal victory for the British. From the point of view of the umpire, the whole battle was very fun to watch, and I think that if the modified rules did not work perfectly, they worked satisfactorily.

In retrospect, I think that the Spanish fleet should have put the big heavy hitters at the front, and give the officers a more central position in the fleet, to help with the morale checks. With the special rules, the Spanish had to keep their ships very close to each others in order to recuperate from striking colours.

No real sailors or miniature ships were hurt during the game, but the same can't be said about the above bottles, only remain of some delicious beer brought by the participants.

Thanks to the Winnipeg Conscripts, Brian, Byron, Dave and Kevin, who were kind enough to push my little ships around the board for a whole evening!

28mm Plancenoit Church from Sarissa Precision

Let's face it: laser-cut MDF terrain is the wave of the future. It's lightweight, (relatively) inexpensive and the detail on a nice kit will knock your puttees off.

This is Sarissa Precision's "Plancenoit Church" in 28mm scale. I asked for this kit for my birthday and my good wife came through for me as she always does. She got it from Warlord Games, which happened to be running a sale at the time (sneaky planning by birthday boy) and along with it came a 28mm "Steiner" figure for a future running of our "The Eagle Has Landed" skirmish game.
 

The church itself is a lovely model, and easy to assemble - I think it took less than an hour. The laser cuts on the window mullions are particularly impressive.

I undercoated the model with the usual Krylon flat-black spray and painted it with acrylics.

I followed that with a wash of good old Agrax Earthshade, a bit of drybrushing, and some random grey drybrushed blotches on the walls.

This model is clearly designed for gaming - roof pieces all come off to allow placement of figures inside.

You can even place a machine-gunner or sniper in the bell tower. Try that with your solid resin model ;-)
  

Here's a picture with some filthy Huns, just for scale. The infantry models are from Foundry's Great War range.

The church will do very well for a variety of different games - that's why I picked this one in particular. I can see using it for everything from Napoleonic games to WW1 and WW2 games as well. It's available from Sarissa Precision for 35 English Pounds. Alternatively you can get it from Warlord Games, like I did, also for 35 quid. Recommended!

Battle of San Domingo 1806 (1/1200 sailing ships)

Yesterday, Dave and Byron came to my suite for a game pitting British against French ships of the line. The battle of San Domingo was the last fleet battle of the Napoleonic wars to be fought in open waters. Of notice, H.M.S. Canopus was commanded by captain Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen. One of the most dramatic event of the battle happened when the Northumberland moved between the Impérial and the Superb to protect the flagship. Some shots from the giant French ship went right through the Northumberland and into the Superb. But, of course, wargaming was to redefine history.

At the beginning of this fleet engagement, British and French ships had to be set at least 15cm apart (measured from base to base, not main mast to main mast) in their respective deployment zones, to reflect the scattered aspect of the fleets too rapidly engaged in battle. This included ships from the Louis squadron entering on the map, that will enter the board with a die roll equal to or lower than the current turn number. This made it very difficult to form battle lines.

The objective of the French squadron was to escape to the South West corner with as many ships as possible. The objective of the British squadron was to intercept as many French ships as possible. Victory would be measured as follow:

5 French ships escape    Great French victory
4 French ships escape    French victory
3 French ships escape    Marginal French victory
2 French ships escape    Marginal British victory
1 French ship escapes    British victory
0 French ship escapes    Great British victory

The rules used were a simplified version of "Trafalgar" that I call "Trafalgar Redux". It speeds up the game considerably by halving the number of dice to be rolled.

The British squadron commanded by rear admiral Byron Duckworth, recognizable with the white name tags at the stern, duly proceeded to intercept the  French ships of Dave Leissègues, with blue name tags.

As I forgot my sea board at home, Byron was kind enough to bring his own sea mat from "Dreadfleet". Oddly enough, the mat and the ship bases matched perfectly.

The Agamemnon, a 64 gun third rate, the smallest ship on the board, sails toward the Impérial, the largest ship, with 120 guns. Is this wise?

BOOM! BOOM! After the smoke dispersed, it appeared that the Agamemnon lost two masts while the Impérial was still in good order. Both sides were mostly aiming at the masts at this point of the game, trying to reduce the speed of the opponent's units.

Soon, French and British ships were engaged in ferocious gun exchanges.

The British were able to get the second squadron on board. Rear Admiral Thomas Louis was eager to join the fight visible in the distance.

 Meanwhile, in the central melee, a few ships collided with each other and became unable to fire.

The three ships under the command of Louis, including the 80 gun Canopus, are getting closer and closer. Will this sceal the end of the French attempt to disrupt British commerce with the colonies? What could prevent a British Victory?

Wait a minute. What is this? A wind dial? So the wind changed direction. So what. I beg your pardon? It allowed a French victory? How is that even possible?

Because of the way the ships were positioned, after the wind changed direction, it became impossible for the British vessels still able to sail to catch three of the escaping French ships, including the giant Impérial. This was enough for a French marginal victory. This kind of event could only happen during the age of sail.

 Here are a few images of the last turn of the battle. A British ship caught fire during an exchange of volley causing the reserve of black powder to explode. The ship survived though.

Louis was just about to join battle. One of the French ships, invisible because she is completely wrapped in smoke, caught fire during an exchange of cannon balls, stroke her colours down as a result, then blew up because of an explosion.

On her way to the edge of the table, after an incredibly graceful tack manoeuver, the Impérial sunk a British ship trying to block her way. French sailors can cause surprises sometimes.

The action in the middle, on the last turn played. The black smoke shows were are located the two ships on fire, that eventually exploded without sinking. So the final result was: 3 French ships escaped, 2 were captured, 1 British ship was sunk and 2 were badly damage. The destruction and carnage felt very satisfying to the host.

Byron and Dave, discussing the outcome of the battle after it was decided to end the game when the result became obvious. The mat really made the whole experience look good. I'll definitely need to get one. Again, thanks Byron and Dave for playing this scenario.

French vs. Austrians 15mm Napoleonics Battle Report and New Warmat!

Last week, Greg had a great idea - Napoleonics. We haven't rolled out any of our 15mm collections for some time, and the arrival of a fancy new "warmat" from Barrage Miniatures provided the perfect opportunity.

Greg came up with an interesting scenario for us to play, using the Black Powder rules:

“It is 1809 and the War of the Fifth Coalition.  The Austrians are on the move against the French, but Napoleon and his Marshals are rallying their forces to seize the initiative.  We’ll play “Black Powder” with a scenario featuring a rear-guard confrontation near Landshut in Bavaria. Austrian General Hiller is falling back, but turns to defend against Marshal Lannes’ pursuit.  Will he hold the French back?”

As much as I was looking forward to pushing around some great-looking 15mm Napoleonics, I was also eager to start amortizing some new terrain. With encouragement from Conscript Curt, I ordered a warmat from Curt's pal Alf at Barrage Miniatures in Madrid, Spain. I'll be posting a review on the blog later, but suffice to say that Barrage was great to deal with and kept me well updated on progress (the mats are apparently quite labour-intensive to produce). The mat was certainly expensive but it's very high quality and as you can see from the photos, it looks great and elicited lots of comments from the guys. 

We also used the new "wheatfield" terrain I've been making, using an idea I stole from some chaps at Legio-Con. It's a sisal mat from IKEA cut into 1" squares and makes great looking fields for 15mm or 28mm!

Anyway, on to the game...

Conscript Frederick took command of the French heavy cavalry brigade. They deployed on the French left and aimed to sweep around the Austrian flank and hit them from behind.

Conscripts Dave, Kevin and Bill took the Austrian commands. They deployed a weaker brigade on their right (facing Frederick's cavalry) with the main strong infantry brigade in their centre (just visible in the background of the photo above). The Austrians kept their cavalry brigade and a battalion of Guards infantry in reserve.

Here's the main mass of Austrian infantry.

Helicopter view of the Austrian position, viewed from the French side. They placed a gun in the woods at top left.

Here come the French! We deployed our strong infantry brigade directly opposite the strong Austrian position, the idea being that we would pin the sausage-eaters in place while Frederick's cavalry swept around. Conscript Keegan took the weaker infantry brigade up the French left, just to the right of the cavalry. Check out the infantry moving through the fields - neat effect, eh?

Battle is joined as the French engage with musketry.

"Was is los???" The French cavalry sweep around and end up behind the Austrian lines. One of the French regiments has already zapped an Austrian battalion in the centre of their line, and bounced back behind the hill. (This was a bit of a snafu with our understanding of Black Powder, as the victorious French should have been allowed to sweep into the next Austrian battalion. However I personally think that the balance of the game as a whole benefited from this misunderstanding, as the French cav had been rocket-like in their flank march.)

Anyway, the Austrian arrived from reserve and their cavalry charged in on the French - heavy on heavy - while the Guards infantry lined up their muskets on the other French cav regiment.

Meanwhile, the French infantry continued to advance under heavy fire from the Austrian foot-sloggers.

The French have lost two battalions to shooting at this point and have to turn one to the left to refuse the Austrian flank pressure.

French cavalry have driven off their Austrian counterparts and are about to bounce off an Austrian square. Another slight miscue on our part - cavalry are not allowed to charge home on a square in good order...

A nice view of the fracas unfolding.

The Austrians are starting to really buckle under pressure from both directions.

Austrian battalion on the French left is eliminated in close combat while their colleagues behind are forced to form square.

The end... Too many Austrian casualties to allow them to continue the battle. French victory.

Thoughts... Black Powder is good fun and the battle rattled right along. However, the elastic time scale of battle, with the potential for multiple actions by one unit in a turn, had a real effect on the game. The French heavy cavalry brigade got some good command checks and was all the way around the flank and in the Austrian rear in about three turns. Although some minor rules snafus evened things up a bit, that really put paid to the game for the sausage-eaters as the French vise grip tightened. Even with that, though, the game was great fun and looked fantastic with the new warmat and Greg's exquisite figures.