"Black Powder" - Franco-Prussian War in 28mm

Prussian infantry advance in Franco-Prussian War action. These are 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

In the fall of 2017 I started off with a new project - gaming the Franco-Prussian War in 28mm.  When I started, I hoped to collect and paint sufficient figures to play both skirmish-style games and games with formed units.  While I was able to run a skirmish game in March of last year, it has taken a little more time to get enough units assembled to a game using formed units. But I have been (relatively) focused on making progress with this project through most of 2018 and into 2019.  Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has proven to be an ideal motivational booster. The focus has paid off! I was very excited to run an inaugural game a couple of weeks ago! Here are a few pictures from the evening.

French line along the hills and forest to the left - Prussians advancing on to the table along the top right.

The scenario was for a small encounter battle, set in the very early stages of the war in the summer of 1870. The scenario is very loosely inspired by the Battle of Wissembourg. The Prussians were just beginning to cross the French border in force, and have encountered a small French blocking force.  Being aggressive Prussians, the solution was simple - get to grips with them, and get them out of the way! The French would hold out as long as they could, hoping their comrades would come marching toward the sound of the guns and help out...

The French line is anchored by a battery of muzzle-loading 12-pounders.

Founding Conscript Curt was visiting from Regina, which is always a lot of fun.  Curt and Dallas took command of the Prussian forces - five battalions of regular infantry, a battalion of Jagers, a regiment of dragoons, and two batteries of divisional artillery.  In the event the French resistance proved too stubborn, I also had a little "surprise" mechanism hidden up my sleeve whereby the Prussians could call on their corps artillery to assist with "blockage-removal..."

French Hussars in a blocking position along the road. In the distance, at the top left of the photo, Curt's units can be seen moving to take out that lone French battalion on the hill at the top of the photo.

The stoic French were commanded by Byron and MikeF.  The French forces consisted of three battalions of regular infantry, one battalion of "Turcos", a regiment of Hussars, a battery of 12-pounders and, last but not least, a mitrailleuse battery.

The French senior commanders ponder their situation...

Of course, the rules we used were "Black Powder".  One of the things I enjoy so much about those rules is how easy they are to customize.  When it comes to unit stats, I find Black Powder puts too many dice in the combat columns and not enough in the firepower columns.  Particularly in a conflict defined to a large extent by the performance of rifles like the French Chassepot, I wanted the players to be shooting (and, subsequently, for the Prussians to realize that the French rifles are awesome...). But with a great set of rules like "Black Powder", that's an easy fix... 

Dallas' Prussians take up position and engage the French line in a hot firefight...it is a tough go, as the French rifles were blazing.

So, boom, adjustments to the statistics were made - units overall had more firepower, but the French in particular had even more, while the Prussians had  extra stamina to reflect their larger-sized units and general willingness of their officers to happily plow them forward into the teeth of heavy fire...I also made a few tweaks to make the French Turcos to be rock-hard - by all accounts, they performed as such during the war. So they were ranked as "Elite", able to shake off "disorder" with a successful dice roll.

French battalion in position in the woods...Curt's Prussians are eyeing up that exposed flank...

French troops try to do their duty for the Second Empire!

The French forces occupied a line of hills and a wood covering an important road.  The Prussians would move on to the table on turn one, and look to bludgeon their way past these gallic upstarts... 

Curt moves to take the French flank, but the fire of the Chassepot rifles takes near-immediate effect...

Battle was joined! Things opened, naturally, with some command blunders on the Prussian side which saw Dragoons ignore instructions to threaten the French flank and instead simply wander on to the table and get in everyone's way.  Dallas moved his brigade forward to the cover offered by a walled road, and began trading fire with the French battalions on the ridge.

The French Mitrailleuse battery hammers away at the advancing Prussians.

Despite the wanderings of the Dragoons, the French flank was still a touch vulnerable, and Curt was determined to roll it up, so he sent an infantry battalion on a flank advance instead.  They would suffer heavily at the hands of French rifle fire as they advanced.

French battalion takes position to cover a gap in the line...

The Prussians brought their artillery to bear, and it started to have an effect on the French.  Curt managed to get an assault home, taking a French battalion in the flank and sweeping them from the table. Even as Chassepot and Mitrailleuse volleys took several Prussian units to the brink, and even broke one or two of them, the French line finally gave way on the sixth turn.  Fittingly the Turcos, who had ignored nearly every hit they took, and routinely dispensed with any disorder status thanks to their elite ranking (and MikeF's amazing dice rolls), were the final French unit still on the table - they would have covered the withdrawal...

The stars of the game, the French Turcos...

MikeF shook off nearly every hit from rifle fire and every "disorder" that came up...these guys were not in a mood to give ground...

Oh man, it was just great to see this game played! I had a ton of fun running it, and I hope the guys enjoyed it too.  One takeaway from the game that I will need to adjust for next time is the rate at which "disorder" occurs - because I significantly increased the rate of firing, I also materially increased the odds of a "6" being rolled in shooting, so it was tough for the Prussian infantry to keep moving.  In many ways, this is "historical", in the sense that the French rifle fire was murderous, but the Prussian players should at least have a chance to keep moving, and so I will likely make some adjustments to the "disorder" rate. But otherwise, "Black Powder" was fantastic - indeed, the ease of adjustment and customization is one of its greatest strengths as a rules set, and this game showed that once more.

Another view of the action from the road...casualties starting to pile up on the Prussian side...but they are victorious in the end!

While my 28mm Franco-Prussian war collection is still modest, at least we now have the basics for a game, and of course I will continue to add units here and there to "round out" the collection, allowing for some larger games in the future.  Big thanks to Curt for visiting, and to Dallas, Byron and MikeF for coming out to play - I hope they enjoy this new period as much as I do!

Infinity Project: JSA - More Keisotsu and a Spec-Ops

Here are a few more 32mm scale figures to add to my Japanese Secessionist Army forces for Infinity: The Game.

The two helmet-less figures are Keisotsu. The word Keisotsu is a title of honor that translates as ‘excellent soldier’, a credit to the level of commitment expected of these rank and file foot soldiers. For those on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder in future Nippon, the most practical enlistment options are the Keisotsu Infantry (Butai) regiments. The Keisotsu are the backbone of the Nippon armed forces and the crux of their operational doctrine.

Kaizoku Spec-Ops respond directly to the Nippon Department of Military Intelligence, and are chosen from among the more unruly Keisotsu whose talents are nevertheless too valuable to waste. This particular model is interesting; two sets of arms are offered, wielding a MediKit or a Spitfire (a type of squad automatic weapon). I assembled it with the big gun option.

Generally you need your opponent's (or Tournament Organizer's) permission to field Spec-Ops figures. However, they add a bit of customization to your force, enabling a model to be fielded with a unique set of skills and equipment (here, the Spitfire, Engineering skill, and a Mimetism visual shield). During a campaign, Spec-Ops may earn points to increase their stats and add skills.

(Click on photos to embiggen.)

Generally, I really like metal models. The rubber molds allow for a lot of detail. However, this Spec-Ops model had a gap at the left wrist which I filled with super glue, and the left foot was at a lower level than the chunk of debris the right foot was standing on. I found a suitable, multi-level resin base for it.  After assembly and cleanup, I pinned the models with brass wire to cast resin Tech Deck bases from Dragon Forge. I drilled 1/4 inch holes in the bottoms of the resin bases, in preparation for rare-earth magnets later on.

I started with the usual zenithal highlighting. GW Chaos Black primer from a can, then airbrushed GW White at a downwards angle to provide a grey-scale ground. I had some difficulty with paint spatter. I used the same Iwata airbrush/compressor setup and paint dilution as for the figures I painted in the fall. It is drier now in the winter, but I am unsure of the reasons for my difficulties. I resolved them by increasing the ratio of thinner, and cutting down the water.

For the Keisotsu, I laid in the base contours of the flesh areas with various Vallejo acrylics.

For the bearded figure, this included the lower part of the hair, since I was going to render that as shaved pretty tight to the head.

Below, I finished off the flesh tones with various oil paints, to smooth out transitions, heighten hot spots, and deepen shadows. I then used various Citadel Shades from GW, for the base colouring of the blue undersuit/boots (Drakenhof Nightshade), the green armour (Coelia Greenshade), the golden hakama (Seraphim Sepia), and the weapons and hair (Nuln Oil).

RE: flesh painting with oils: Winsor & Newton Titanium White mixed with Schminke Burnt Sienna made up the basic flesh tone, with some additional flesh shades from Weber (John Howard Sander's Pro Mix Color System). Winton Alizaran Crimson added ruddiness to the cheeks, temples, and lips. W&N Indigo was patted on with Liquin to simulate the stubble of the shaved part of the head.

Highlights and shadows on the uniforms and weapons were punched up with mixes of  oil paints: Winsor & Newton Titanium White & Indigo for the undersuit/boots; Titanium White & Grumbacher Greenish Umber for the armour; and Titanium White and Winsor & Newton Gold Ochre (highlights), and W&N Burnt Umber and Gold Ochre (shadows) for the hakama. Some sky reflections were added to the weapons with Winsor & Newton Pthalo Turquoise. Tiny catch points or edges were picked out over the figures in pure Titanium White. The nominal light source was above and slightly to the front of the foreheads of the figures.

Glazes of Secret Weapon Stone Wash, Vallejo Rust Wash, and some detailing with Winsor & Newton Titanium White and Peach Black oil paints finished off the base tops. Vallejo acrylic black, with 180-degree LOS lines in dark grey, went around the lower part of the bases. The figures were sealed with Tamiya semi-gloss. After removal from the painting stands,  I epoxied magnets into the previously drilled holes, finishing off the figures. The magnets allow for transporting the figures in metal boxes.

You cannot have enough rank and file troopers. These were a fun addition to my slowly growing JSA forces.

With these Keisotsu done, I only have a couple of figures left in the JSA Sectorial Army Pack left to complete: the second Ryuken (who looks like Batou from Ghost in the Shell, naturally), and the Kuroshi Rider (a straight copy of Celty Sturluson from anime and manga). However, I have also purchased extra rank and file, several heavy infantry, some robots, some more ninja, a biker, special characters, and Conscript MikeA gifted me two versions of Shikami, a deadly combination of heavy infantry and techno ninja. I have no idea when this pile of metal will get done.

Infinity RECON+: Exfiltrate! and Rickfest X

"RECON+ is a set of unofficial firefight missions for Corvus Belli’s Infinity miniatures games. Based around 150pt games, they are slightly larger than the official starter box missions but half the points of a traditional 300pt game. Although they make great stepping stones to full size tournament play for beginners, they are also fun and challenging tactical games for experienced players. The action is fast, games are quick, different weapons and tactics have increased emphasis, and hard choices have to be made in designing army lists."

I really enjoy the smaller-format games for several reasons, including a smaller play area (roughly 2'x3'), and a shorter play time. Infinity: The Game is a very detailed sci-fi combat system, with hundreds of pages of rules. I typically play with the Wiki open on a nearby smartphone or laptop.

Over the recent holiday season I played a couple of games of RECON+, with KyleF and with DerekY.

Play Area Configuration
As part of their army deployment, before placing their High Value Target, each player deploys 3 Civilian models inside the half of the Exclusion Zone (see below) on their opponent’s side of the play area. Civilians must be deployed at least 4” away from all other Civilians placed by that player. They cannot be placed on any terrain requiring a Climb entire order to reach. No model or marker may be deployed in base contact with any Civilian or vice versa.

Once deployed, take 2 Agent and 1 Citizen importance markers (or suitable proxies indistinguishable on the back side). Turn them face down, shuffle them, and randomly
assign one to each of your Civilians without being revealed to you or your opponent.

Exclusion Zone. 
There is an Exclusion Zone extending 6” on both sides of the short centerline of the play area (12” long total) and covering the full extent between long edges.

Mission Rules
Players may target Civilians they placed with the Discover skill. On success they may look at the targeted Civilian’s importance marker without revealing it to their opponent.

Once a Civilian has been revealed to both players as an Agent via the Interrogate Civilian skill, it may be directly targeted by the opposing player as an enemy troop and no penalty is
incurred by them for damaging it.

Scoring
Exfiltrated: An Agent has been Exfiltrated if it is wholly inside its player’s deployment zone.

Secured: An Agent is Secured if it is wholly outside the Exclusion Zone on its player’s side
of the play area. An Exfiltrated Agent is necessarily Secured, but not vice versa.

Victory Conditions  
Have at least one of your Agents in CivEvac state at game end. 1 Point
Have both of your Agents in CivEvac state at game end. 1 Point
Have at least one of your Agents Secured at game end. 1 Point
Have both of your Agents Secured at game end. 1 Point
Have at least one of your Agents Exfiltrated at game end. 1 Point
Have both of your Agents Exfiltrated at game end. 1 Point
Have more Agents in CivEvac state at game end than your opponent. 1 Point
Classified objective achieved. 2 Points


So, the game is all about finding and rescuing your own agents, and preventing your opponent from achieving his victory conditions.


Here is my army list for both games, from the Infinity Army list-building tool:

Game with Kyle

Below, Kyle can be seen after setting up his Nomads.

I ran my new Japanese Secessionist Army forces, who were set up behind cover, below.

Below, the exclusion zone, with various civilians and nearby infiltrating skirmishers from each side.

Kyle had previously won the roll off and chose to go first. He put a fireteam together and pushed toward the centre of the board, identifying one of his Agents right away.

Kyles had a trooper escort the Agent back deep into his deployment zone. Fortunately, I had succeeded in infiltrating a techno  ninja ((Oniwaban) into the Nomad backfield. In a face to face roll-off, these deadly foes managed to blast each other into unconsciousness, and out of the game! Kyle's Agent was now out of CivEvac state, losing the 3 victory points he had gained for these efforts.

Meanwhile, the other two members of Kyle's fireteam had advanced up the flank...

...revealing their Classified Objective, which was to kidnap my HVT (a Kuge Delegate)! They proceeded to grab her, and pull back to the centre of the table.  Kyle now had 2 more victory points to my 0.

After a bunch of shooting where we each inflicted a casualty or to, I managed to get a Kempei (a type of political officer) into contact with one my my own Civilians, and blew two or three dice rolls vainly trying and interrogate them.

In the last turn, running out of time and running out of orders, I sent my heaviest armoured trooper (a Daiyokai) into the fray with drawn swords against the heavy machine gun and rifle fire of Kyle's fireteam.

Against all odds, the heavy dude cut both opponents down, rescuing my Kuge Delegate, denying Kyle his victory points, and forcing a 0-0 draw!

This was an exciting game, which I was losing from the start, until I suddenly wasn't. KJyle played very well, achieving his goals in the first and second turn. The dice were with me that day.



Rickfest X

A week later, I joined DerekY at Rickfest to,play the same scenario against his Ariadne. He went with a lot of cheaper troopers, ending up with 10 models/orders to my JSA's 6.

I ended up on the same board edge, and set up somewhat similarly to the previous game. However, this time I had to move first.

Derek successfully Infiltrated a trooper just beyond the planter. She caused no end of trouble, gunning down my own mine-laying infiltrator (the Ryuken, who looks exactly like Motoko Kusunagi from Ghost in the Shell), in ARO when the later tried to turn around. I ended up committing the big Daiyokai early, to get rid of her.

Deep in the Ariadne deployment zone, there was (from L-R), a hidden sniper on the roof of the small Japanese building, a war correspondent and a couple of troopers behind the same building, and a fireteam with an HMG on the roof of the small rectangular building. Again, before the game started I had managed to infiltrate the techno ninja (the Oniwaban) right onto the roof with the fireteam.

He revealed himself, and managed to cut all three down with his mono-filament blade.

My Lieutenant tried to get into the fight, moving up beside the self-driving car, but she got shot by Derek's sniper. Fortunately, the Kempei's presence prevented my forces from entering the Loss of Lieutenant state.

Derek's sniper had special, extra-damage-causing ammo. Throwing caution to the wind, I advanced the Daiyokai. In an epic firefight, the Daiyokai managed to outright kill the sniper.

Realizing that my forces had little chance of actually fulfilling game objectives, the Oniwaban stood up and gunned down a couple of Ariadne troopers who were by the Spinner hover car. This lowered  the Ariadne's numbers enough to put them into Retreating off the table, ending the game with another 0-0 draw.

As the scenario itself states,

"The Exfiltrate mission is challenging and often results in low scores. In tournament play it is recommended to be used in the late rounds, so opponents will be of roughly similar skill but given the opportunity to differentiate themselves within win/loss brackets."

***
Following, some other photos of gaming action at the end of December at RickFest X, “the 6th most wonderful time of the year”!


One of the surprise hits from Rick’s collection was The Royal Game of Ur; it’s a dice and race game that traces back its origins to ~4500 years ago. (This video featuring Irving Finkel, curator at The British Museum, shows a play-through of the game:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I )

Everyone brought lots of snacks and appetizers (unseen, meatballs etc. in slow cookers in the kitchen).

ClintS (in black shirt) running his game Ragnarok: Age of Wolves (available for purchase here).

Congratulations and thanks to Rick, for hosting another fun event. This year was the highest attendance yet!