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Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 6  - October 2006

Periods featured in this Issue:  English Civil War (28mm),  The Great War (28mm), Second World War (28mm)

&  Pre-Dreadnought Naval (1/1000)

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English Civil War     (Very Civile Actions)  28mm

First up was another English Civil War game, fought using Dave Imrie's Covenanters (supported by some of my Parlaimentarian horse) and Dave O'Brien's "munchkin" Royalists. I do Dave something of a disservice by calling them "munchkins". They were the first wargame army he ever painted, and still look fine, despite being some 30 years old - particularly after Dave rebased 'em. However, when you stand his figures next to more modern figures they look like dwarves - or "munchkins". OK, they're also a little dated - with stripped buff coats, regimented foppish hats and poses, and full armour on the pikemen, but that reflects the knowledge of figure sculptors at the time rather than Dave's paint work. Hell, I was getting my over-sized Bay City Roller-esque flares caught in my bicycle chain back in the late 70's, so I can't speak about fashion! Still, you can see what I mean;

The idea was that a small Royalist garrison was holding out in a manor house, and another Royalist force was running much-needed reinforcements and supplies through the cordon of besieging Covenanters. I guess that puts it around 1644-45. The convoy fought its way up the road, while the Scots (and Parliamentarian horse) came on from either table edge. On the whole the Scots got the worst of the fighting, as the Parliamentarian cavalry and a unit of Scottish lancers were routed, and a Covenanting regiment ridden down by Northern Association Horse.

 You can see Dave Imrie in the background, wondering why his prettily painted figures are running away. Still, he managed to have the last laugh. The Royalist commanders (Dave O'Brian and myself) decided to sortie from the Manor House to join in the fun - only to have the Scots lancers cut them down to a man. We might have got the convoy through, but we still had a fight on our hands if we wanted to reclaim the Manor House. Unfortunately we had to pack up before we could fight out that particular scrap, and the game was declared a draw. Here are a few pictures of Dave's superbly painted figures... and the other Dave's "mumchkins"!

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WW2   -Normandy 1944 (Disposable Heroes)    25mm

I bought a section of British Paratroopers in 25mm at Partizan, and used them in a WW2 skirmish game using Disposable Heroes rules. The objective was to capture or deny to the enemy an abandoned German quad flak gun hidden in a ruined building somewhere in Germany. Well, supported by other British troops I stormed the building, only to find the back garden was full of Germans (including some weird-looking armed civilians). Needless to say my heroics led to naught, as my men were hosed down by automatic fire at point-blank range.

Well, not to be outdone my fellow British commander decided to follow the second part of our orders, and disposed of both the flak gun and its towing truck using a PIAT! We then beat a hasty retreat, pursued by catcalls and MG-34 rounds. I can't say I knew what I was doing, but I'm prepared to give the rules another go - once I've painted up a few more figures!

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Pre-Dreadnought Naval            (Perfidious Albion)        1/1000

Thursday 19th October was the club night closest to Trafalgar Night, and appropriately enough I earmarked it as the day when I inaugurated my new pre-dreadnought fleets and cool-looking sea mat. The ships are 1/1000th scale, from Dale Kemper's Houston's Ships in the States ( www.greatendeavours.co.uk/ships/), while the mat was made by Richard West of Terrain Mat (www.terrainmat.com). Don't ask me why the US company has a .co.uk address and the British one a .com, but there it is!

 The game pitted a British Fleet against a French one in a fictitious engagement set in 1890. I chose that period because the ships were at their funkiest, and those Houston's Ships models really bring out the charm of 'em! Club regulars Hugh and Colin commanded the French, while Phil Olley and I took charge of the good chaps. The French never really formed up into any kind of battle formation during the entire game, and as a result they got a bit of a pounding - a drubbing which began when the French flagship Formidable blew up following a lucky shot from HMS Victoria.  

That's the Victoria (Phil's flagship) in the front, and under fire.  My squadron (below) led by HMS Inflexible also performed fairly well, pounding away at the French with vigour.

Then there was the inshore squadron. Both sides sent their cruisers and smaller ships in close to the shore. In fact I sent mine too close, and HMS Galatea was incredibly lucky not to run aground (bottom left). The French torpedo boats failed to hit the British cruisers, and were peppered as they swept past. Then the two cruiser forces met, and once again the British struck lucky, hitting the magazine of the Vauban causing her to blow up (bottom right).  

The battle ended in an emphatic victory for the Royal Navy, but even the gallant French commanders appeared to be enjoy themselves. Of course, we used those Perfidious Albion rules, which always produce a highly enjoyable game. It was also a pretty one, and club members kept on coming and staring at the battle as it unfolded. I don't know whether the sea mat or the ships were admired the most, but the combined effect was pretty stunning!

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WW1    Verdun 1916  (Contemptible Little Armies)    28mm

The next week witnessed another biggie. We fought over our newly-built First World War terrain - my 28mm Germans to be pitted against Dougie Trail's French in a Verdun game. the Germans were attacking, and launched their assault in two waves, preceded by a short artillery barrage. The French machine guns began causing casualties from the start, but the fire really increased once we reached their side of the table.

While most of the first wave managed to get itself pinned down or wiped out, the Sturmbattalione on the German left flank managed to reach the French redoubt there, and captured it in hand-to-hand fighting. The second wave exploited this success, and although the French were fighting back with vigour, the redoubt remained securely in German hands at the end of the game.

We used Chris Peers' Contemptible Little Armies, which may be ridiculously simple, but they always produce an enjoyable game. When we counted up the casualties, it turned out the Germans took about 50% losses - some companies were even wiped out to a man. However, they did manage to capture and hold a few square feet of French mud, which was what it was all about...

I made the mistake of painting up no less than six flamethrowers for the game (four of them in two-man teams), but they proved singularly ineffective. After all, they can't move and fire, and everyone else can fire before they can. They just proved to be flammable targets for the French machine gunners! I can see me replacing them with riflemen before the next game!

Dougie Trail and I made the battlefield - heavily converted from 2'x2' TSS terrain tiles. the idea was to make them pretty interchangeable, allowing us to run front trenches, support and communication trenches either facing each other (as seen above), or else as a deep network of defensive earthworks, allowing the French the opportunity to move reserves up and launch counter-attacks. You'll have to agree, the end result is pretty impressive, and somehow captures the carnage of Verdun quite well. These are little more than crude scrapes compared to the far nicer 1918 trenches which featured in the demo game at Partizan, but then most Verdun trenches seemed to have been crude affairs, as they were constantly being shelled and fought over.  We'll be building more in the near future, and there's even talk of building Fort Douaumont! If you want to see more of this, click on the new Verdun section.

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Games in the pipeline over the next few weeks include: Another Contemptible Little Armies game (this time Bolsheviks v my Turks, another naval game (probably ACW), more 20mm WW2, and possibly a foray into the American War of Independence. Watch this space!  Oh, and don't forget we'll be at Targe in Kirriemuir on Saturday 4th November.