Silver Bayonet - Russo - Japanese War.

Despite having the rules for a number of months, it's taken a while to get figures to the paint table. How things have changed as I picked bloody Russians.... :-(

I had an idea to shift Silver Bayonet to Manchuria and the Russo-Japanese War, which allows me to tap in to much of Chinese collection and other weird models from the Water Margin. 

The Northstar Russian faction are great sculpts, many of them are generic in overcoats and soft caps, or civilian types so swapping out a couple of figures for the Tsuba castings and the we jump forwards 80 years.

They should be fun to play, Yori who can turn into a Werebear, an old woman who is an supernatural investigator and a priest as a champion of the faith, together with a couple of squaddies the equivalent of red skirts in Star Trek.

 

The idea for Manchuria allows me to field this Russian faction, but also a Japanese faction including monks or Chinese Honghuzi who fought a guerrilla war against the Russian occupation and regularly attacked the Chinese Railway line between Harbin and Vladivostok acting in support of the Japanese.

All set for the first solo outing.

A Russian patrol goes out in search of an earlier party who has gone missing with valuable orders for the front line. As night falls and the full moon rises they hear a blood curdling howl. 

The team stumble into a clearing where they find human remains but their investigation is interrupted by movement on all sides.

This should be fun......

AVBCW - Worcester Aflame.

It's been at least 5 years since Worcester was last aflame and a British Civil War outing.

That's what the show circuit does for you, a brief chat turns into a why not and out of cold storage comes the AVBCW collection. Time for Harry Doyle Leader of the Severn Riverside Wharf Labours Federation (SRWLF) to make an appearance. 

One of the best things about the AVBCW is the opportunity to dig a little deeper into local history, this scenario led me down a path exploring Worcestershire and whether we had any mines after all when you have a coal mine you need to get it on the table right.... It turns out that a branch of the Severn Valley Railway lead to the Highley Colliery and the idea for the days scenario. 

Harry Doyle had lead a force out of the city to meet with the Highley Militia to secure coal for the winter. District Leader Clarke of the BUF had received news of this from an informant and sent a flying column to capture the mine for the fascist cause.

The SRWLF can deploy anywhere from the stream backwards, there are two access roads and the railway line, that need to be defended from the attackers.

The opening moves as the BUF arrive by trucks but are instantly countered by the SRWLF who advance across the stream to line the hedge row closing the road to the men in black.

Pigeons are sent into the air and flags are waved, the workers from the Royal Mail depot send forward a special delivery to slow the BUF advance.

Under heavy fire the BUF advance, driving the wharf men backwards and push up the railway line.

Under pressure in the centre and with fascists crossing the stream, the Highley Militia supported by a SRWLF Armoured car move down the railway line to take the fight to the government forces.

On the left flank a similar move is countered by Anti-Tank weapons deployed in the wheat fields and a Police assault on the opened topped truck.

The armoured assault swings right catching the BUF armoured car in a weak spot and setting it afire.

However having held back the British Regulars, the district commander calls forward his reserves, they rush down the open road bypassing pockets of defenders.

As the local militia and socialists rush to redeploy in the face of the fast moving column, the Police rush the hill taking out the spotter and supporting sniper who had been annoying the advancing troops for a number of hours.

The regulars debus and under Clarke's personnel command pour fire into the defenders who whilst better armed are soon under a number of pins, which forces units to go down rather than fire on the fresh attackers.

The Police fresh from their victory on the hill push on as the defenders in the corn field are slowly whittled down.

The left flank is forced but both sides found themselves unable to advance across the field.

Much like a game of cricket fought over a number of days, rained stop play and we agreed on a tie.

Although on the table the armoured car was pressing down the road and it would only be a matter of time before the coal mine would have been in the BUF's hands and as I write this post now it certainly feels like a victory for the men in black and the regulars.

A great encounter with plenty of opportunities for both sides. Bolt Action gave a really balanced game although the hand to hand element is rather brutal. Once again we added in the Blucher dice mechanism by rolling for each opposing command, so you never knew if you had 2 or 12 command dice to play with. That really is a game changer for the Bolt Action encounters.

These toys have been in storage far too long, it might even inspire me to finish the last few pieces of bare metal.

Until next time.... 

Leven Miniatures - Korean Structures - Red Phoenix

I must be honest these were a struggle to finish, what with events in Ukraine and doubt whether these will see the table in a while, just a little too near real life at the moment.

It turns out after weeks of painting 6mm getting your eye in back to 28mm was harder than expected so thought I would clear these off the paint table. I picked these Leven Miniatures pieces up before Christmas but got side tracked when the Baccus Pony Wars order landed.

These crates and barrels will act as objective markers or a supply dump in the rear lines, for the ROK forces to defend from the rampaging NK armour.

The next couple of pieces are part of an airfield setting to go with a couple of Attack Aircraft that are waiting on the paint table, the Air Traffic Control Complex is a lovely piece and will have multiple uses.

A reinforced bunker for a sortie across enemy lines.

As we have all seen,  control of the media is so important so the radio station will be great for a number of scenario's. The mast is detachable for storage and transport.

Not sure about the size of this piece, a small chemical plant but it will come in handy for tagging on to more industrial areas of any gaming table.

If the Chemical Plant is small the next piece is huge. The Shou Sugi Ban Style Dojo whilst Japanese in style should fit in nicely with the other oriental style pieces.

Lovely pieces but back in the draw for now and on to something a little less to near real events.

Hammerhead 2022 - The Fetterman Massacre 1866.

After two years, wonderful to get back on the show circuit and a visit to Hammerhead at the Newark show ground yesterday. Hammerhead is a great show, every game is participation game which makes for a really friendly atmosphere, it was great to catch up with loads of old friends and find out how many new projects they have been working on over the lockdown period.

For our part the Wyvern's took the 6mm Pony Wars on our travels with a refight of the Fetterman Massacre 1866. Players played the part of Fetterman's command fighting for their lives to escape Red Cloud's trap?

Captain Fetterman believed with 80 men he could ride through the Sioux nation, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse had other ideas. 

Once again the Wood Train coming out of Fort Phil Kearny was under attack by the Sioux, Fetterman led the relief party.

Spotting a group of native horsemen he ignored orders not to pursue the Indians over the ridge and was ambushed by over 2000 warriors.

Could players escape the trap and get back over the ridge before the Indians over ran his tiny command or hold out long enough for his own relief to arrive?

Fort Phil Kearny and Captain Eyck relief force mustering to response to the sound of battle.

Unfortunately I was far to busy to take any photo's of the game in play but needless to say it was not a good day for Fetterman who went down in history for all of the wrong reasons.

What a great days gaming, plenty of interest in how Sharp Practice can be converted into 6mm and how the adaptions work for gaming the native Americans.

The prep for Hammerhead gave me the push to finish the last of the terrain pieces, excellent castings from Leven Miniatures. The fort is a wonderful piece of kit, I left the buildings to allow me to move them around within the command.

The bell tents allow me to expand the fort compound or set up base camp for the cavalry on campaign and at £3.00 a pack great value for money.

The last couple of pieces useful for loads of scenario's. A log cabin or traders post and a church bringing religion to the prairie lands.

Until next time.....

Dispatches from the front XXII - Projects old and new.

A rather eclectic mix of games and projects.

First up club night and over at the Wyvern's a 4 player Stargrave outing, using anything we can get our hands on, just simply turn up and play.

One of the chaps dug out the Core Space playing board, despite it only being 2x2 it did make a fun encounter with lots of laser blasts and Aliens popping out of the walls and floors. Warlords Algoryn took the bragging rights on the night.

Meanwhile the Visitors from the 4th planet from the Sirian Star make hard work of picking off the local inhabitants.

After months of nagging I finally relented and let my young nephew play with the grown up toys. King Arthur has to travel the table visiting various way points picking up recruits and defeating any nasty's along the way. We picked Songs of Blades and Heroes as a great introduction to proper gaming. 

My young padawan  picked up the rules really quickly, even if  he did play fast and loose with the measuring stick :-) After slaying numerous enemies.... Arthur was victorious.

I fear I have created a monster.

A fun encounter besides it gave me the excuse to finish off a couple of odds and ends such as the Warbases Gibbet and the mighty Excalibur stuck firmly in a stone. 

Having given the Sudan a well overdue outing I saw a post of on Tales From GHQ: The Battle of Tettenhall Green with an excellent game of The Very British Civil War. It's been a long while since Worcester was a flame... so maybe time for another outing.

With the King residing in the County at Madresfield Court, Worcester has stuck to it's long held motto of "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" - The City Faithful in War & Peace. The City maintains a moderate pro government stance with reluctant support from the regular royalist forces and local Worcester City police.

Whilst largely peaceful as the crisis in the country unfolds a number of opposition groups have sprung up, notably armed elements from the Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours Federation (SRWLF) with an enclave in the Diglis area. This group is supported by communists out of Birmingham and armaments being shipped over the Malvern's from the Anglican's based in Hereford. 

Just need to find where I packed the figures away now.

That's an old project now for a new one - Coming soon in May.

For years I fancied turning the excellent Standard Games - Outremer/Cry Havoc game to miniatures, with the new Baron's War range it might just make it to the table.

Until next time.....