Painting a unit in 28mm

 Recently I was asked about my approach to painting a unit of 28mm figures.  These days I am mostly working with plastic figures - a trend I had avoided for many years, but about 3 years ago, I tried out my first plastic kits, and I was very highly impressed by the quality of the figures, and the smart design of the many different options - this is a very different opinion that I had from when I tried plastic figures back around 15 years ago, when the first figures from Victrix and Wargames Factory were coming around.  I saw the value in the multi part figures, but at the time I still preferred metal.  Not so much anymore.

Okay, the very first step is in getting a suitable base.  There are a lot of different options you can use here, that are based both on whatever size and shape of base you want to use for your chosen gaming, as well as some personal preference.  A lot of the games that I play these days are (not surprising, given trends in wargaming since around 2020) skirmish games, so I often opt for 25mm round bases.  With some of the excellent options for bases with round wells in them (so you can temporarily gather your skirmish figures into a group base, if your rules require it - more on that in a different post), this is a great compromise.

Plastic 25mm base

 For bases I use the round plastic bases you can buy in bulk packs.  They are similar to the old Citadel slottabases, but without the slot.  Here is a picture of the type I use.  I usually get these from Amazon (early 2026 prices, I can get 100 of these in a pack for about $10.00).  But they are very light.  So I opt to give them a weight.  And what I have chosen to use is a magnet.  Again, you can use anything.  A Penny or a Washer work well, or many people don't put anything under their bases.  But I use magnets.  With the 25mm Round bases, the well is perfect size to fit a magnet approximately 20mm in size.  Sometimes I use the heavier, but much smaller, rare earth magnets, but lately I have been using these, which are made out of some composite material.  Again, I get mine from Amazon, there are lots of options, the ones I usually get come for about $10.00, for 120 magnets.  The size I use are ones that are 0.8" across (which works out to just a hair over 20mm), and ones that are 0.08" thick (which is about 2mm).  That thickness fits perfect under the bases that I employ, but if you are worried about thickness, there are many available in the diameter I prefer, that are 0.04" thick, which is about 1mm.  There are thicker ones as well, but they won't fit under the base.  Here is a picture of the magnets I use, they come on a sheet, with one side covered with 3M adhesive.

The .8" round magnets I use

 I will then glue the magnet into the base, using super glue.  These days for this sort of application I usually will use Starbond Thick Gel (it comes in different levels of thickness, I like the Thick gel for this type of job). I just put in a blob of super glue, and then press the magnet into it.  The adhesive is nice, but on it's own, it wouldn't last very long, so the super glue is a great adhesion multiplier.

 

Bottom of the base with the magnet glued in

The next step is to assemble the miniatures - again, that will be a different blog post.  But for now, I will take the miniatures I have assembled.  Remember this is painting a unit, which these days makes it easy for me to do 12 miniatures at a time.  The miniatures are all hard plastic, so an excellent glue to use is liquid Plastic Model cement.  This is a solvent that melts the plastic on both sides, and lets the melted plastic merge together making for a very, very strong bond.  And it takes only seconds to cure.   So now, I have my assembled miniatures glued to a base.  Here is an example of a Wargames Atlantic Medieval Serjeant glued to his base. This tutorial will be looking at the painting of a unit of Fireforge Medieval Sergeants, but I had that Wargames Atlantic figure sitting around waiting for his turn.

Assembled plastic miniature, glued to his base

 The figures then get primed.  These days I use brush primer.  It only takes a few seconds to do.  Just squeeze out some primer in a tray or palette well, and then give the figure an all over coat.  In years gone by I might have used just plain old Craft paint (any matte color would do), but these days I will either use purpose made brush on primer (my favorites are Micro-Mark Acrylic Primer, which comes in white, grey or black - or - Vallejo brush on primer, which comes in about a dozen colors), or lately when I don't use pre-made primer, then I have been experimenting with artist gesso.  Gesso is a primer coat for painting, usually on Canvas.  But white gesso has a great property (other than the fact that it dries with a nice white matte finish).  Gesso, when it dries tends to shrink a little, so it gets down into all the nooks and crannies on the miniature,   Gesso is a bit thick, so I tend to water it down (just clear water), but then it goes on quick, and covers well, leaves a nice matte finish, and as I said it shrinks down into all the details of the figure.  Other colors work well, and I often will reach for a grey primer, but this unit I did in white.

Once the figures are assembled, glued to bases, and then primed, the very first step (for me) is to do their skin.  Sometimes there is a second step to priming - sometimes I will give the figure a wash of sepia or umber, but I have found that just a straight primer coat works well.  

At this point, I should mention an alternative priming method that I used to employ.  That was to completely prime the figure black. and then do an all over dry brush of white.  It gives a very similar effect to what the cool kids want to do with Zenithal priming these days, but I didn't worry about aiming the lighter color from the zenith, or apogee, of the figure.  I just drybrushed all the high parts all over the figure.  I wrote up an article for Historical Gaming magazine, with lots of photos, years ago illustrating that method, perhaps I will do another tutorial highlighting it here as well.  It has benefits.

The figure from the unit I will paint in Part 2, primed and with Skin painted in

 Okay, so here is a figure from the unit I am painting, with the skin painted in.  I just block it in at this point, a basic light skin tone (for Caucasian;  other tones for other skin types).   And that is the end of part one.

The unit, all assembled, glued to bases prepared with magnets, primed, and with Skin painted

 

Next time (part 2) I will cover the painting in of armor, clothes, belts, and equipment.
 

28mm Dismounted Boers - a short review

28mm Boer War Figures - a quick review...

Thinking about my Old Glory dismounted Boers got me considering the different Boer War lines I've seen/painted over the years, and I considered writing a really quick review. Note, this is just the Boers (Transvaal trekkers).

Ral Partha - True 25s (so quite small by today's standards), but these were truly fantastic figures. The only drawback was that at the time, very few different poses were in a single product line. I still have some, but they don't mix well with my other figures.

Foundry - Excellent as always. Good poses, good choice of equipment, and both mounted and foot. The problem? Only one code for each mounted and foot. So that means six poses of foot, and 3(4) poses for mounted. They do have an excellent supply wagon that works for the Boers

Old Glory - A great range. They have two packs of (30 figures each) dismounted Boers - firing and skirmishing. These are a mix of hats/equipment, so would work for the 1880s or 1899. These paint up really well.They have a pack of mounted (10 figure plus horses) that is also excellent. They have a pack of Staatsartillerie that include both gun crewmen and uniformed officers (Orange Free Staters?). The guns are sold separately but they have whatever you might like. Other than my old Ral Partha holdouts, the vast preponderance of my Boer War collection is Old Glory.

Warlord - They have a nice pack of dismounted Boers that includes four body styles, with two heads each. Very nice, and excellent quality. But out of production right now. They have a new mounted set of Boers that also look great.

Black Tree - Great figures . . . except the Boers all have HUGE hands. They are Gargantuan. Not sure who the sculptor is.

Age of Glory has, in his Zulu Wars line, a nice selection of really attractive Boers. Always high quality, but I have not painted these.

North Star has a nice line of 28mm Boers.

Essex, of course makes a nice range of 15mm Boers (I've painted, and used to own them, before converting to 28mm for TSATF), but I don't think they make a 28mm Boer War line.

One last thing - there are some nice guns associated with these ranges. Old Glory has a nice, affordable selection of the main pieces you could want (Krupp, Pompom, etc). On Shapeways, there is a really nice 3d printed model of a Long Tom gun. It is from MojoBob design, under his 1:56 range.

Wargaming the Barbarian Kingdoms (6th and 7th century) - Part 3, Franks under Merovingian Rule

The Franks, of course, are those Germanic tribes that were in the area previously called Gaul, and soon to become called France.  In the period we are looking at, for wargaming, they are ruled by the Merovingians, and the style of warfare during this time and for these peoples is definitely a telltale version of the tribal type infantry army, replacing the remnants of anything the Romans left during the last stages of antiquity - but starting to get a little more organized as the political units of the day get larger and more sophisticated.

Brief history of the people and period:
The Merovingian dynasty properly started towards the end of the 5th century, in 481.  That year is significant because Childeric, who had ruled the Merovingian tribe, among several tribes of the Franks, was succeeded in 481 by his son, Clovis I - and it was Clovis (Chlodowig) who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule.   This will last until the year 751 (just outside our period, in the middle of the 8th century), when Pepin deposed the last Merovingian king, and established the Carolingian dynasty.

During the reign of Clovis, the original territory he recieved from his father (Austrasia), was added to by his military victories at battles such as Soisson (the Gauls of Neustria, defeated in 486), and Vouille (the Visigoths of Aquitaine, north of the Iberian peninsula, in 507).  By the end of his reign, the kingdom of France was pretty large, indeed.

From Wikipedia article on Merovingian dynasty

Clovis left the kingdom to his four sons, who defeated Burgundy in 532 at the battle of Autun, then captured the defeated Burgundian king (Godomar) in 534, and annexed Burgundy.  At this point, the only lands that could be called Frankish (German) that were outside the control of the Merovingian monarchs were Saxony and Frisia in the north, the Spanish Marches, Gascony, and Septimania (and Provence) in the south, the holdout german kingdoms of Bavaria, Carinthia and Lombardy in the southeast.  All those territories would come under Frankish rule, but not until the Carolingians began their expansion.

A couple of interesting cultural and historical factors from this period.  The Muslim conquest would reach southern Europe for some time (end of the 6th century, roughly), so the tribes in the south and west that the Merovingians had troubles with were other German, Gothic and related successors to the failed Roman period.  The Lombards, distinctively, retained their paganism in this period.  Clovis himself (first king of the Merovingians) is considered to be the last of the Pagan kings of the Franks, because after his victories over the Alemani (in 496 and 506), he converted to Christianity, and his people (who hadn't already) followed suit.

One of the aspects of Clovis' conversion is that he (under influence of his wife) adopted Catholicism, rather than the Arianism that was prevalent among the Goths, Vandals and Burgundians. This gave him (after the Alemani) something of a religious reason for subjugating his enemies. In addition it made the remaining Roman population loyal to him.

Around the period of 540 or so, for a few years, there was a bad outbreak of Bubonic Plague, although this wouldn't be as devastating as the later Medieval outbreak in the 14th century would be (because of fewer large population concentrations) it would be bad enough, and since it hit the agricultural areas hardest, it would have had a huge impact on this post-antiquity economy - which would have kept military forces necessarily small for almost all the belligerents we are talking about.
Wargaming the Merovingians

Merovingian Re-enactor

Let's start out by taking a look at the DBA army list for the Merovingians.  If we are talking about the period from 481 to 751, this covers a couple of DBA lists.

First,Early Franks, up until roughly 496 (corresponding, roughly, to the major unification under Clovis I with his defeat of the Alemani, and eventually setting up his capital at Paris) and then the Middle Franks.

The Early Franks (II/72d) in DBA really reflect the post antiquity tribal quality of the warfare.  The army consists of one element of cavalry, and ten elements of warband, and one element of psiloi.  The cavalry element is the general - representing a Frankish leader and his comitatus.  The warbands are the tribal warriors (round shields, and spear and ax - or the), and the psiloi would be maybe slingers or throwers of the angon javelin.

Their Alemani (II/72b) enemies (fought Clovis in 496 and 506) were similar - one cavalry element, seven warband elements, one psiloi - and the difference is that the Alemani had much better quality archery, so they receive three elements of bow, in addition to the psiloi element that might represent slingers or angon throwers.

In both cases, the general and his comitatus can choose to fight dismounted (especially useful in the many forested areas of the region), in which case the cavalry element becomes another warband.

The Middle Frankish list (III/5) covers the Merovingian Franks from the war with the Alemani up until the dominance of the Carolingian Mayers of the Palace (639).  This list (III/5) has two variants, corresponding roughly to the North and East, or Austrasian and Burgundian area (III/5a), and the South and West, or Neustria, Provence, and Aquitaine areas (III/5b).
The first of these (III/5a) contains:  the general is either a Cavalry or Knight element, and there is an additional mounted element which can also be Cavalry or Knight.  There are  six elements of warband, and then three elements which may choose to be warband, or may be upgraded to spear, and finally one element of psiloi.

The second of these (III/5b) contains: the same mounted elements as above (the general, and an additional element, each of which can be cavalry or knights), six elements of spear, again three additional elements which may be spear, or warband, and one element of psiloi.

Here we see the growing sophistication of the armies, as the mounted troops become much more effective as knights (introduction of new equipment such as the stirrup, and better armor).  As the region gives way from dense forests to more and more agricultural land, the troops can find more uses to fight in a tighter formation - hence the spear elements (also representing the greater training available under rulers of larger armed forces).  In the south, more spears than warbands represents the terrain, as well as exposure to the Goths and other enemies.

For miniatures - Baueda makes some excellent figures for the Carolingians, and they are promising Merovingian figures any day now.

The Essex figures are quite gorgeous, but their "Early Franks" seem to be from a much earlier period (the era of the Roman Frankish Federates).  However, their Saxon, Frisian, Suevi and Bavarian line is just about perfect.  Here are some pictures of the figures from that line.

Essex SXA1

Essex SXA4

Essex SXA2

Old Glory 15s makes a very nice range of Carolingians - and the infantry, at least (and truly, most of the cavalry) is useable for at 15mm Merovingian army.

In 28mm, one of the companies that is supporting a lot of Dark Ages gaming in recent years, is of course Gripping Beast.  As usually, they have a great offering for this period, and they would make a great army for a wargamer.

Okay, so what is the compelling reason to wargame the Franks under Clovis (and his successors)?  Three reasons, immediately that I can think of.  First - if you are a fan of late antiquity/early medieval wargaming, and want to explore the earliest history of what would become Medieval France.  Second, because of the interesting foes that the Merovingians fought against.  And Third, the most practical reason - you can represent a Merovingian army pretty easily with a a reasonable collection of Dark Ages infantry and some cavalry.  Mounted Saxons work well.  You could use Normans in a pinch, although your opponent is likely to call foul on the shields...  Still, this gives you a new set of armies, history, and foes to explore with your dark ages infantry figures (hairy men, round shields, chainmail, and a variety of fierce weapons).

Recent Miniatures Projects

At GwC headquarters, recently there has been a lot of work going on at my miniatures workbench.  I have been painting and rebasing large quantities of my 15mm collection, and have started painting on some 28mm projects.

First, starting really before Christmas, and only finishing sometime during the winter convention season (re: MarsCon and Williamsburg Muster), I had rebased and flocked my Mexican American War collection.  This amounted to about 2000 miniatures, mostly infantry (although a decent amount of Mexican cavalry), rebased from cardboard and balsawood onto MDF bases, of the variety I usually purchase from resellers like GaleForce9 at wargames shows.  I have, in a manner very similar to many of my other 15mm age of rifles armies, based the infantry on 25mm square stands, with three miniatures per stand, and the cavalry on 30mm square stands, with two miniatures per stand.  The guns are on 40mm bases, with crew.  I have not hosted a game (solo or otherwise) with this collection yet, although this rebasing project is complete, because I needed to finish up some suitable terrain in 15mm.  All my adobe/desert style terrain is in 28mm for The Sword and the Flame, and most of it has a distinct middle eastern flavor (some could swing to Mexico or California, but not all).

Second, I had interrupted my projects with a really satisfying game of Renaissance, using the Neil Thomas rules, and my figures for the Italian Wars (covered in this blog here and here).  A very satisfying game, but at the time I did not do anything to rebase that collection of Renaissance figures.  That could be a project in the future, and would make them compatible with other figures that I have for the period.

Third, I have begun a large project of rebasing and organizing my Dark Ages figures.  This is chiefly figures for four armies - Vikings (very large collection), Saxons, Normans, Welsh and Irish - recently added to my collection.  This allows a large variety of different battles and campaigns to be waged, but it also adds to an already decent sized collection of Vikings and Western Franks (Normans) that I had already owned.  Again, the rebasing is an attempt to bring a uniformity to the combined collection, and because I really prefer my own mix of flocking and MDF bases.  Here are a couple of pictures of figures from the new addition to the collection, in process (recently glued to the new bases, but not flocked yet).

New figures based - old bases on the slingers at the top right

In the first picture (above) you can see about seven units of figures, assuming 6 bases per unit.  Some of the units in the collection are this size, some larger, but it is very flexible, as there is very little to differentiate units, except for armament and some national characteristics in shield design, clothing, etc.  For instance, the three units in the upper left could be used for just about anything (Irish Bonnachts, Welsh, Saxon Great Fyrd), but were included with the Irish figures.  The presence of a priest and some of the banner designs indicate a Christian nationality.  On the other hand, the figures in the other units of the picture could just as handily serve as either Saxons or Vikings.  And considering, for instance at some of Brian Boru's battles (such as Clontarf), there is little difference between the Vikings on either side of the battlefield, these could also serve in an Irish army.  Notably, the Welsh also employed Vikings in their ranks as well.

The buildings in the picture feature on their bases my own mix of flocking.  It is made from a mixture of two different colors/grades of woodland scenic turf, and then has some small amounts of foliage mixed in, and some ballast to represent rocks.  I have been using a variant of that mixture since the late 1980s, off and on.

The old style of bases in the collection I recently acquired are pictured here, in the upper right of the picture.  It is a thin balsa style base, with a dark green grass used as flocking.  This is the same style that was employed in the Mexican American War collection, and also the Renaissance collection (they are from the same painter).  The style is good, and the look en masse is fine, it is just not what I prefer to use.  And rebasing gives me an excuse to spend time at the workbench, while listening to music and enjoying a pipe, so why not?  Below are some more pictures of the figures in progress.

[A word on the painting style - it is very different from my own.  These figures were painted with a white primer base under all the figures, and it leads to figures that have a very light look, overall, compared to my painting.  I will try to post some pictures of my own 15mm dark ages figures, in comparison, very soon.  I usually go for black primer, with white dry brush over it, and then paint in sold block colors, adding washes and detail last.  These seem to have a lot of wash style color areas added, which have a very good effect at a wargames table distance, and give a very colorful appearance to the army. It is just a different effect from my own figures.  I don't think the soldiers will mind, at all, being on the same battlefield, however.]

Very nice mixture of poses and manufacture - but I suspect a lot of Splintered Light

Closeup showing bases, wet glue(!) and figures.  Nice job on the banner!

I will be playing a solo game, very soon, as soon as the last of the Dark Ages figures are completed and off the gaming table (I rebase on the gaming table, and flock at the painting table - a sort of assembly line).

Considering that the theme for the Guns of August convention this summer is Medieval Battles, this collection should definitely be seeing some action at the convention.  I am considering a big multi-player Battleaxe-Blitz!  Details to follow, but think of a large many-factions Duke Siefried style game.  It seems proper.

In addition to the 15mm dark ages collection, I recently started painting some 28mm Foundry viking characters to use for SAGA and Lion Rampant as leaders.  Speaking of SAGA - this past year's Williamsburg Muster had some really great SAGA games going on, I really need to get an army finished up.  Here is a picture of Glenn from the Richmond Leisure Society, having a great time.

Great looking figures, Glenn.  I hope to put some of my own out there (I have a decent sized collection of older Ral Partha 25mm vikings, and such, but I really want to get my Foundry, Crusader and Old Glory figures painted - I have had them since Georgia, and keep putting them off).

I will most likely be missing Historicon this summer (although I do plan to be at RavenCon, playing some RPGs and boardgames, at the end of April).  The reason for that is because of my Daughter's schedule - summer camps and college preparation activities (she is in 11th grade, and deep in the process of picking a school for after she graduates).  Considering I have such a great time with her, it takes all the sting out of missing Historicon, but it means that I am deeply involved in getting prepared for Fall In as my next major (non-ODMS) convention.

Time with my daughter, the best reason to miss out on gaming conventions

In preparation for Fall In, I am working on two painting projects.  The first (to be detailed in a later blog entry) is 28mm Napoleonic British.  This will be my first Napoleonic project using plastic figures.  I am using the Warlord figures, and they are great to work with.  More details and pictures later.  The second project is getting ready for a Hail Caesar game.  This entails two things - getting my Early Imperial Roman figures rebased from individual mounts (used for Warhammer Ancient Battles) to group stands (4 men on a 40x40 base, for the formed infantry) that will be useful for a variety of different rules, including Hail Caesar (and still quite useful for WAB).  The second, and more exciting thing, is getting some Celtic units ready for a large Briton's army.  I am, again, using plastics for this (because I have the figures stockpiled already, and I have been *meaning* to get around to painting them for about 7 or 8 years now).  The first up are some Wargames Factory cavalry.  Here are some pictures of the figures I have assembled.  Yes, I know, I should have painted the riders and horses separate, but I really wanted to see what the assembled figures looked like, and I got carried away.  I think they look splendid!

Yes, you can see the gory details of the painting table, but the figures look absolutely splendid.  Can't wait to get paint on them.  Expect to see more pictures of them, once completed, here at Gaming with Chuck.

19th Century Imagi-nations - Terrain for the 23 Weeks War pt 1

In 1871, when the 23 weeks war began, the forces of Furstenberg invaded the Cantons of Rumpwhistle, and began operations around Lake Nyakker.  The first land engagement was between the three Companies (in name only, they are close to battalion strength, of about 600 men each) of the Furstenberg Seebataillone fighting Fribourg canton militia at the battle of Krump's Farm.

The border between Furstenberg and Rumpwhistle runs through the Karzstan Mts

One of the recent model farm houses that I built was based on the farm house of this engagement.  The other key terrain features of the battle are (1) the old oak forest, and (2) the Persimmon grove at Krump's Farm.

The farm house is as constructed, recently.  It will be based on a base with a wall around the farm yard, and a work building in the back yard.  The base I am working on (I will post photos) will have a rough, but ruined, outline of the house, that the actual model house sits on.  This allows for the possibility of Krump's farm house to be destroyed by artillery or fire during the battle.

The Persimmon grove will be modeled by using several rows of smaller 15mm trees, representing the grove, with the stone wall around it.  This allows for the fight in and around the grove, and should be pretty flexible.

The edge of the old Oak forest, that also saw action, will be modeled using larger 28mm trees, grouped together on dark felt to show the forest outline.

Pictures will be posted soon, but here is a map of the battlefield...

 The map is approximately 6' wide by 4' from north to south.  The features, labeled, are these:

• A. Krump's Farm, with a stone wall around it.
• B. The Persimmon Grove, also with a wall around it.
• C. The Chewgas Stream, that runs south east to the Maduro River, and south west to Lake Nyakker.  It is deep and fast, not fordable, but not very wide (about 2" in game scale).
• D. Hedge rows, tall enough for a man to hide behind (soft cover - concealing, but not protective)
• E. Two other farms along the road into the Maduro Valley

The Furstenberg Light Brigade (consisting of three battalion strength units of Seebataillone, and a battery of light guns from the Eiderduck) had landed by ships boats on the north shore of Lake Nyakker, and enter this map from the south side, between the southwestern leg of the Chewgas, and the southwest corner of the table.

The Fribourg Canton militia are in place, with one battalion stationed east of the bridge, on the road between the two farms, and two battalions in the ground between Krump's Farm and the Chewgas stream.  Finally, two units of Rumpwhistle sharpshooters will enter the road, in the northwest corner of the board.

The battle is simple - the Furstenberg troops must cross the Chewgas, and the Rumpwhistle militia must do their best to stop them.

The Sword and the Flame - Hosted by GwC at Siege of Augusta 2014

So, the one miniatures game at the convention this past weekend that I hosted was a big game of The Sword and the Flame.

It was set in the Sudan, with the forces of the Khalifa (successor to the Mahdi) on one side, and a combined Anglo-Egyptian relief force on the other side.  Here is the write up that was submitted to the fine folks running the convention:

Name: "Close Scrape in the Soodan"
Scale: 28mm
Rules: The Sword and the Flame 20th
Players: 8
Scenario: Khartoum has fallen, Gordon is Dead.  The Khalifa has taken over the vast, deadly army of the Mahdi's followers.  They are on a rampage, throughout parts of Egypt, seeking to eliminate any enemies of the Mahdist cause.  Famous Egyptologists Emerson and Peabody, having abandoned their dig site, returned to the small river village where they left their falucca, which was to carry them back out to the Nile, and to safety.  A company of Egyptian troops are within a short march of them, and a larger force of British troops are not much further away.  But, the forces of the Khalifa are drawing closer, closer, closer... The game settles around the possibility to rescue the team of scholars, with a combined Anglo-Egyptian force, and against them mobs and mobs of deadly Mahdist warriors.  Played in 28mm, using The Sword and the Flame.

In the end, we had 5 players (Saturday night, when the game was hosted, is REALLY BUSY at Siege of Augusta, there were a zillion great looking games, and almost all of them were full).

Two brave souls decided to run the forces of the Mahdists, and three played on the Anglo-Egyptian side.

The table was 5' wide, by 12' long.  The center of the table had a smallish tributary of the Nile, crossed by two fords. The fords were both connected to roads, that ran off in the four different directions, off the table.  The rest of the table top was covered by sporadic rock formations, and patches of rough going.

Along the tributary, there was a make shift defensive area, manned by the two Egyptologists (Amelia Peabody, and her husband Radcliffe Emerson), along with 10 hired guards.

On one of the roads, near to the defensive area, was the Egyptian column.  It consisted of a company - 2 platoons - of infantry, a squadron of the Egyptian Camel Corps, and a krupp gun.

Egyptian Captain (with standard bearer and bugler), eyeing the placement of the Egyptian Krupp Gun

On two of the other roads, starting further away, were two companies of British soldiers (each with two platoons of infantry, no guns, no cavalry).

Two platoons of British Infantry, from the Denbigh Fusiliers

Arrayed against them was the Mahdist horde consisting of:
5 units of Beja tribesmen (Fuzzy-wuzzies, fierce swordsmen, fanatics)
3 units of Ansar sword infantry (Dervishes)
2 units of Ansar riflemen (hidden in some rock formations on the tabletop)
3 units of Ansar mixed sword and spear infantry

4 units of Ansar Cavalry (armed with a mix of sword and spear)
2 unreliable ancient cannons

The horde of Mahdist warriors, approaching the fords of the tributary

The game would have really benefited from having the three additional players - one to play the guards and Egyptologists, and two more to play on the side of the Mahdists.  As it was, the two Mahdist players grouped up almost all their units on one end of the table, because that was where they set up.  I, as a referee, should have set the units out on the edge of the table rather than letting them choose... live and learn.  Here are some excellent photos, taken by Charles Cabell, of the Fort Mill Historical Gamers club.  All figures are 28mm, Old Glory, and painted by GwC host, Chuck Turnitsa.  The exception is the Egyptian Camel Corps, which are 25mm scale, and Ral Partha - painter unknown.

Ansar leader directs the advance of the horde

Beja Tribesmen (Fuzzy Wuzzy) begin to mass, and move towards the ford over the tributary.

Approaching the ford...

Egyptian Infantry, standing their ground

Dervishes, coming out of the rocky country, approach the Egyptians from behind

The Hamilton Rifles, taking casualties from Ansar rifles, firing captured Snyder rifles

The Egyptian Camel Corps, in line abreast, ready to charge the Dervish

The moment before the clash!

What the Dervish Commander saw...

The Fuzzy Wuzzy tribesmen prepare to charge the Denbigh Fusiliers

The Charge!! The Fuzzy Wuzzy warriors come at the line of British soldiers at an angle, to try and avoid the worst of the deadly rifle fire!

Sgt Jones, Denbigh Fusiliers, in hand to hand combat with the Fuzzy Wuzzy leader

Meanwhile, Amelia Peabody (in green, with her deadly umbrella) and Emerson (in the tan long coat) are escorted by Lt. Pemberly, away from their defensive fort, leaving the wagons and supplies behind.

The hired guards performed admirably, even heroically, under the command of the able Lt. Pemberly.  Even the goats were compliant.

The guards escort the two Scholars to safety, their way secured by the British and Egyptian soldiers.  A supply wagon, and a stream of goats left behind.

flash review of Bolt Action (Osprey/Warlord)

I got to sit in on a Demo Game of Bolt Action at Siege of Augusta this past weekend.  The game was run by Charles Cabell, and it was extremely enjoyable.  Here is a really quick review of the game, and I should mention that I followed up by buying a copy of the rules from Time Portal Hobbies.

 

Bolt Action is a joint venture between Warlord Games and Osprey publishing. Warlord writes the rules and makes the models, Osprey publishes the books.

A word about the Osprey venture into rule publishing.  Each title might not be your cuppa tea, but they are all done nicely, I certainly like a few, they are using proven rules writers, the production is excellent, and the prices are far lower than the other rules publishers. 

Okay, the game is squad based (5-15 figures per squad). WW2. Maximum of 1 tank and 1 recon vehicle per side.  Turn goes by drawing activation markers out of a bag. Player picks a unit to activate, and chooses 1 of 6 commands (move, shoot, run, hold, etc). Warlord Games makes sets of colored dice to use as these activation markers, with the six sides corresponding to the six possible commands, so that everything is clearly marked on the table (see above picture).  Individual shooting and individual melee resolution by dice. Simple morale rules. Nice organization tables, for the big four (Germany, US, Russia, England).  

Separate books (again, priced affordable) cover other belligerents and go deeper on the main crew. Well done, and supported by an excellent line of models from Warlord. Could be played any scale, even 54mm. Could stretch to other conflicts (Korea, WW1, Vulgarian Civil War).

Decent skirmish game. Feels less gimmicky than Flames of War. Lots of product, but none will break the bank.

War of the Roses project officially started

Just last week, a package found its way down the frigid rivers of Balkania, via tramp steamer.  Once leaving the ice choked and alpine fringed waterways of the January landscape in that wartorn land, it made its way deep south, past the equator, into the Umbongo rain forest, to the Mission House at the rail head of the Trans-Umbongo railroad.  From there, it traveled by llama train to the heights of the Boruckistan mountains. Blessed in a monastery, the package was then sent by carrier vulture to GwC headquarters.

What was in the package? Why, an Old Glory box containing the beginnings of the Lancastrian army project for the War of the Roses.  The initial order is enough to allow the building of three large units of billmen, and a pair of associated longbowmen units for each.  The billmen units will be 24 figures strong, mounted on six man stands.  The longbowmen units will be 12 figures strong each, mounted on three man stands.

I received 60 bill armed figures; 60 bow armed figures; and 30 assorted command figures.  The unit consist for each of the billmen units is 20 bill armed figures, plus one standard bearer, one musician, one Nobleman, and one lesser Noble or Champion.  24 figures.  The consist for each of the six 12 figure longbowmen units is ten figures with longbow, one leader, and one musician.

The official start of the project took place on Saturday past. I opened and began cleaning the longbow armed figures. Pictures will be forthcoming, chronicling the progress.

War of the Roses Army - project planning and analysis

So, if one were going to build a 28mm army for wargaming the War of the Roses, a couple of things should be done to begin the project.  First is to decide on the scope (size, scale, etc) of the project.  Second, is to decide on a side, or army nationality.  Third is to decide on the size and composition of the miniatures army.  Fourth, is to decide on the typical figure type/sculpt type.  Fifth is to choose miniatures, order them, and begin the prep/paint/finish process.

Step one has been done - this will be a 28mm project, and I would like to aim for enough miniatures for a medium to large army good for a single player in a several hour wargame.

Step two is MOSTLY done - I have been looking at both the Lancaster and also some of the Yorkist Pretender armies.  The reason for this is because Chris, my intended opponent, is looking strongly at a Yorkist Army.

Step three is a tricky one.  More on that later.

Step four is down to two choices, I believe.  The first choice is to use the Old Glory War of the Roses range.  These are good figures, and I have had great luck with the Old Glory figures in the past.

Old Glory War of the Roses Longbowmen - from the Old Glory UK website

The second choice would be using as many as possible the Perry figures for the War of the Roses.  These would be plastic, and I have always loved the Perry brother's sculpts and look of their toy soldiers. An older range of Perry War of the Roses figures exist - the figures from Wargames Foundry (or The Foundry).  These, while quite excellent, are not as animated as the new figures from the brothers, but they would mix well.

Perry plastic set that allows the building of Billmen and Bows.  From the Perry website.

Step five is in progress - in fact, trying to decide which is what led me to write this article.

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Okay, so back to the unfinished step - Step Three.  I want to, if I stick with Lancaster, model the army of Somerset from the Battle of Towton (March 29, 1461).  This is a pretty standard late medieval army, both in command structure (three battles, each under the command of a separate Noble) and in composition (predominantly foot, with some heavy infantry knights and men-at-arms, as well as mixed ranks of billmen and longbowmen).  For reference, there are several well known books on the subject, as well as a great website on the Battlefield. Some of the books, of use for wargamers, are Boardman's book on The Battle of Towton, the Osprey Campaign guide to Towton, and more recently, the title Fatal Colors: Towton 1461 - England's most Brutal Battle, by George Goodwin.

Map from the Towton Battlefield website (link above)

From a wargaming perspective, there are some fantastic pictures at the Grimsby Wargaming Society (gallery 1 and gallery 2).  There is also a great compilation of War of the Roses battle descriptions (Albans, Towton, Wakefield and Barnet), using DBM, from Wargames Illustrated, the collection of articles exists as a PDF file here.  The details on the battle of Towton were by (as they all were) Eric J. Cruttendon.  Towton appeared in issue 137.  Using that article as a reference, the three battles of the Lancaster army are composed of these DBM elements -

Somerset's Battle
Element	Number	Description
Kn(S)	1	Duke of Somerset C-in-C
Kn(S)	2	Royal Bodyguard Men-at-arms
Bd(O)	8	Retinue Billmen
Bw(S)	16	Retinue Bowmen
Bd(I)	4	Shire Levy Billmen
Bw(O)	18	Shire Levy Bowmen
Bd(I)	6	Northern Border Foot
Sp(I)	12	Northern Border Foot
Bg(O)	6	King's Baggage

Northumberland's Battle
Element	Number	Description
Kn(O)	1	Duke of Northumberland
Kn(I)	3	Men-at-Arms
Cv(O)	2	Currours
LH(O)	2	Northern Border Staves
Bd(O)	4	Retinue Billmen
Bw(S)	8	Retinue Bowmen
Bd(I)	4	Shire Levy Billmen
Bw(O)	18	Shire Levy Bowmen

Exeter's Battle
Element	Number	Description
Kn(O)	1	Duke of Exeter
Kn(I)	2	Men-at-Arms
Cv(O)	1	Currours
Bd(O)	4	Retinue Billmen
Bw(S)	8	Retinue Bowmen
Bd(O)	4	Shire Levy Billmen
Bw(O)	16	Shire Levy Bowmen

These descriptions are all well and good, and serve (as a wargaming reference) as an excellent guide to the composition and ratio of the three battles involved on the Lancaster (Royal, Red Rose) side during the battle of Towton.  However, I am currently thinking of two other sets of possible rules to represent the battle.

The first set of rules would be Warhammer Ancient Battles 2 (sadly, out of print as Warhammer Historicals was, for some reason not to be gone into here, shut down), following the War of the Roses army list from the fan supported publication Armies of Antiquity 2.  For this set of rules, for the infantry units, I would go with 12 figure Retinue units (with 1 unit of 12 billmen, organized with two units of 12 each bowmen, giving a total of 36 figures for a bill/bow block), and maybe 6-8 figures for the mounted units.

The second would be using a fan supported modification of the Dux Bellorum rules, modified for War of the Roses battles.  That modification can be found here - at the Shire and Everything After gaming blog.  As a mounting/organization size, I would use two stands of 60mm x 40mm bases for a unit in this set of rules.  For foot, that would be 12 figures, and for mounted that would be 6 figures.

The nice thing about the 60mm x 40mm mounting is that it works for either ruleset, as well as a bunch of other rulesets that could be used - the WRG Renaissance rules could be used, as well as Impetus, Armati, HOTT, or even the Neil Thomas rules for Ancient and Medieval games (as well as his more general Introduction to Wargaming rules).

So, looking at the DBM lists above from Cruttenden's article, we can surmise the following, choosing to analyze the basic ratios, and looking at blocks of bow/bill troops that were 33% bill.

Somerset had two bow/bill blocks of Retinue soldiers, the other battles had only one each.
All three battles had maybe 2 blocks of Shire/Levy (Militia) bow/bill blocks, with additional bodies of archers.
All three had bodyguard elements (knights) for the C-in-C
Some (scant) other knights (maybe 1 unit) were in each, as well as a few other lighter units (Northern spear and sword units, currours, staves).

In Warhammer, doing a Retinue bow/bill block as I described (12 billmen, 24 bowmen) would cost the following:
12 Billmen - @12 points each, with +1 for heavy armour, so a total of 156 points
2x12 Bowmen - @13 points each (as per the errata), so a total of 312 points
Giving each body a leader, musician, and standard bearer gives each a cost of +15 points
Total, for all three bodies of troops making up the bow/bill block would be 513 points.

On the other hand, using the Dux Bellorum rules variant, a Retinue bow/bill block (again, with 1/3 of the troops being the bill unit, and two associated bow units), has the following
Retinue Bill - 12 billmen (two stands of six each) 3 army points
Retinue Bow - 2 units of 12 bowmen each (two stands of six each unit) 2x 3 army points each
Each such bow/bill block would be 9 army points.

To build two such blocks (the number of figures are the same, and I would even do the basing the same, either way), requires the following:
Total (two blocks): 24x billmen, and 48x bowmen.

Using the Perry Plastics, you would need two boxes, and then you would have a couple of figures left over (for command, no doubt).  Going with the pricing from The War Store this would come to a total of $64 (plus shipping, if any).

Using Old Glory 25s, you would need 1 bag of Billmen, and 2 bags of Bowmen.  Assuming an Old Glory Army membership (40% discount), and ordering 1 bag of WOR-08 (Billmen in Livery Coats) and 2 bags of WOR-09 (Longbowmen in Livery Coats), the price would come out to 3x$21 = $63 (plus shipping, if any).

So, the price is about the same either way.  Now I have to decide....