Takeda Samurai Army from the Sengoku Period.

Last month I painted all the Irregular 6mm Samurai I had and decided to do some of the clans that made up the army of Takeda Shingen. Later I will do the army of his enemy Uesugai Kenshin -in fact I found another 4 ashigaru blocks so they will be the first of the new force.

 Takeda Shingen's own troops.

 Troops of Shingen's younger brother, Takeda Nobushige. 

The troops of the Ichijo clan under the command of Ichijo Nobutatsu.

 Naito clan under  Naito Masatoya.

 The Obata clan commanded by Obata Masamori.

Oba clan under Oba Toramasa. He was another general  who outfitted his troops in all red armour. It was known as the 'red regiment' or the the 'red fire unit'.

Not pictured are some ashigaru belonging to the Baba clan (Baba Nobuharu) and of the Tsuchiya clan (Tsuchiya Masatsugu).

Now I know that some of the mon are different ie the Takeda family -Takeda Nobushige for example- and some close retainers are also shown as having the same diamond Takeda mon as Shingen only on different coloured backgrounds but I went for a bit of variety. In fact Nobushige's design on my figures has been taken from his uma-jirishi -larger, personal standard- rather than a white diamond on a black background. Naito Masatoya could also have the Takeda mon only in red with a white background. (And anyway, single lines across a 6mm sashimono are sooo much easier to paint than diamonds, trust me in this!

Some chaps I forgot about.

Additionally, I have painted all the Germans I have for my ongoing 6mm FPW project. As you can see, I need more...many, many more. (Fades to the sound of a maniacal laugh.)

All the figures are from Irregular Miniatures.

 All the infantry so far.

 Wurttembuger Regiment

 Bavarian Regiment.

 Kuirassiers and Dragoons.

The army...so far.

Pictures as promised.

Been relatively quiet here on the wargaming front due to the weather which has been absolutely delightful and far too pleasant to spend hours in Narnia painting tinies, at one stage the thermometer in our conservatory registered a whopping 38 degrees. Notwithstanding that, I have painted another four battalions (16 blocks) of my FPW Germans, finished 20 of the 35 blocks of Goblins which will be e-bayed when finished, aaaand also took some pictures of the samurai due the ongoing elusiveness of the earlier shots. Hope you like them.

 British World War II Western Desert (all Irregular Miniatures)

Samurai from the Takeda Clan, again all by Irregular Miniatures. The sashimono are accurate renditions of the real ones -or as accurate as I could get in 6mm!

Recent Happenings

Since my last post back in March I have decided to go on a painting spree to attempt to lower the height of the 6mm lead mountain, and in that I have been relatively successful. I now have all of the Prussians plus allies for the FPW finished –although I am very deficient in Prussian infantry, 8 battalions to take on over 20 French; all the remaining WW II bits and pieces including a battery of German nebewerfers, a battery of Russian 76.2 field artillery guns all with towing vehicles; a Samurai army of 60 odd ashigaru blocks, 18 foot samurai and 28 cavalry plus commanders; all 36 infantry blocks for my WW II Western Desert British; 17 Fantasy Centaurs (since sold on fleabay) and  a reasonable sized 6mm Halfling army which are actually 4mm tall.

I have also been writing again and two articles on making your own 6mm terrain have been sent to Henry Hyde at MWBG. The first one covers hills and trees while the second is about buildings, roads, rivers etc. Hopefully people will enjoy reading it and give them some ideas about making their own scenery.

 6mm Centaurs (Irregular Miniatures)

6mm Halflings (Irregular Miniatures)

I did take some pics of the Samurai and WW II British but can't seem to locate them at the mo. I'll remember for the next post.

Broadside 2015

I do like this show. It’s in Sittingbourne –normally about 35 minutes by bus but 1hour 20minutes by train with one change since the swines changed the times of the bus service. Notwithstanding that I had a really good day apart from the fact that I had inadvertently changed the setting for the number of pixies painting in my camera and all the pictures were excrement of the highest order without a single usable photo amongst them. Fortunately others who were there are better at photography than I am  Ray (blog at http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/) and Lee (blog at http://www.blmablog.com/) both of Postie’s Rejects to name but a couple There were some really tasty looking games on show this year as can be seen by their photos.

Had a great chat with Andy Badger of Pilum Painting and his lady wife and was given a copy of The Reality of War by Leonce Patry about the FPW, which was a very nice surprise. Also spoke at some length to two of the people from the Pendraken Forum, Bernie and a gentleman who uses the soubriquet of Wurrakatte from the wilds of Harlow as well as catching up with some people from Postie’s Rejects, SEEMS and Southend Wargames Club.

Game with Postie's Rejects.

While at Broadside in Sittingbourne last year I got chatting to the group known as Postie's Rejects and was asked if I would like a game someday. Well, that day was yesterday. We had a Crimean War 15mm game to Postie's own rules where the British and French were defending a small town not far from the main supply port on the peninsula (the name escapes me at the moment) against the Russian Bear. I was given the left flank with the British, one Rifle Brigade and three others plus a battery of medium guns. Immediately opposite was Big Lee with eight Russian infantry battalions and a battery of guns. John was our CNC in the centre with Ray on the right. Opposite them were Ian, John and Smiffy.
   The game started well as my infantry fairly barrelled along the road to protect the left of the village, while our centre and right prepared to fight off another Russian Brigade.
    The long and the short of it was that the right centre was eventually overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers although my flank was holding it's own after reducing the spearhead of the Lee's Russian attack down from eight battalions to three through various morale checks under fire etc., it was decided that the Allies would have to withdraw and leave the field to the Russians.
   Postie's Shed o' War -which has the space for a 14' x 6' table with all the trimmings- was like a wargamer's Aladdin's Cave. I thought I had some lead but this bloke had got all of the main periods covered and then some in huge numbers -Postie said he has 30,000 15mm Napoleonic figures alone! I saw some of his other armies so I can well believe it.
   I had a brilliant time and it was a perfect example of what wargaming should be like, good conversation, lots of good natured banter with a lot of like minded people all enjoying their hobby. Plus, I couldn't knock the in-house catering as supplied by Postie -doorstep sarnies of cheese and pickle with fruit cake to follow. Food of the Gods! Thanks again all for a great day. They even made me and Honoury Member of Postie's Rejects and I have a little 7YW Frech figure on a plinth as a trophy. I'll post a picture of him next time as the camera is upstairs.

Here are some pics of the day.

 My initial command 

 The Opposition!

 Our Centre and Right

 The Russian Bear ambles forward towards the village.

 My Rifles and artillery slow down the battalion on the flank. That's one distracted, only the other seven to deal with now.

 Our Centre looks a bit hairy with all that lot bearing down on them.

 The Opposition l-r Lee, Ian, John and Smiffy. At this point in the game the Russians were not holding out much hope of success. How fortunes change.

The Russians ride roughshod over the French in the centre. The Russian cavalry -who up until that point had been described as cr*p- suddenly found their battle mojo and made short work of the French cavalry on the far flank, two battalions of Imperial Guard were forced back as was the line unit just to the right of the building. With no stable right flank -and not much of a centre either- the French CNC had no option but to call for a withdrawal.

In case you were wondering, the small pieces of white craft pipe-cleaners are first fire markers.

Cavalier Show in Tonbridge, Kent 2015.

There seemed to be fewer traders, less games on show and less people than last year -and it wasn't just me, others commented as well.
   Despite that I still had a good time, chatting to my very long standing mate from Southend, Lee of Postie's Rejects, and others. It was great to catch up.
   I had gone with a definite purpose, to see what was about in the FPW market in the way of books etc. So I had a wonder around and picked up a copy of  Howard's The Franco-Prussian War which , I have been told by various people, that is a bl**dy good book. This is the first book I have bought since Jean and Auerstadt last year, I believe at the same show! Later, I was talking to Andy Badger of Pilum Painting (http://www.pilumpainting.co.uk/) and noticed a box of books at the right of his stand. I carried on chatting , slowly edging my way over to have a quick look after another bloke had finished. He pulled out a book and said 'I'll have this one.' I looked over purely out of curiosity and noticed that it was Bruce Weigle's 1870 rules, priced at £10. Gutted! Thirty seconds earlier and I would have nabbed them as well. But I did get  a copy of Warring Empires rules by Chris Pringle which look fast but interesting.

Latest Daubings

During January, Ma Subs went off for a few days to stay with MO, his wife and our baby granddaughter. Time to get some serious painting done thinks I. Well, as it happened, the vivit was cut short but nonetheless I managed to get started on some Irregular 6mm FPW that had been in the 6mm draw for at least a couple of decades. The only reason I can think of to paint them was seeing some nicely painted chaps by Leman (used to be the Dour Puritan) on the Pendraken Forum.
   To date, apart from 4 half painted blocks of Imperial Guard, the French are now complete and I have now started on the Prussians. When I say complete, what I mean is all of the figures that I have on the premises are now painted.
   This was never going to be a major, major project but the research and the painting has been interesting. I would also like to thank Leman and Mollinary on the aforementioned Pendraken forum for their help.

So here is the evidence:

 French Infantry Regiment

 Some of the units.

Chasseur Battalion 

The first Prussian Infantry Battlaion. 

French artillery. 

 Imperial Guard.

 All of the French to date

MacMahon and his immediate entourage. 

 Lancer Regiment

Chasseur a cheval Regiment.

This last picture has been added to show my method of unit numbering. This battalion is the I battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment. ( I can't be bothered to use French terminology.)

Neustadt, a solo 5mm Napoleonic battle.

Over the past few evenings I have conducted a solo Napoleonic game using my venerable 5mm Mini Figs blocks and a great set of rules that our group used to play with, known colloquially by us as the Flinch Point rules. Now these figures haven't seen the light of day for at least thirty years so I decided they well overdue an airing. Although my forces are organised for 1815, they fit the bill.

The terrain is all home made including the buildings which have been constructed out the old standby, cereal packet card and are based on the buildings in a painting of the Battle of Friedland by the contemporary French artist Simeon Fort..

I'll bet some people haven't seen these for a long time and others may have never seen them!

Bit of background:-

It is 1813 and the French armies are advancing through Prussia towards the crucial town of Hanover. A single Corps d’Armée commanded by Lieutenant-General Compte Reille has been ordered to take and retain the small market-town of Neustadt to deny the enemy the use of the area, especially the valley between the high ground to the south-west of the town. Earlier in the campaign, the Emperor re-assigned Foy’s division but has hinted that it may be in the area to act as reinforcements.

Already occupying the town and the surrounding area are troops from General von Zietan’s I Armeekorps. His orders from Feldmarschal von Blücher are to hold the town until the remaining two brigades of the Armeekorps can arrive. This is estimated to be sometime in the early afternoon.

The battle is opened at 06:00 by the French artillery.

Order of Battle

Prussia

France

Commander: General von Zietan, OC I Armeekorps 3rd Brigade, General von Jagow 7th, 29th IR’s and 3rd Westphalian Landwehr IR 7th Silesian Artillery Battery [ 8 guns] 4th Brigade, General von Henkel 19th IR and 4th Westphalian Landwehr IR Silesian Shützen Battalion 8th Brandenburg Art Btty [ 8 guns] Attached cavalry II Armeekorps Reserve 5th Brigade, General von Sohr 3rd and 5th Hussars, 5th Kurmark Landwehr Cav Regt All infantry regiments are 3 battalions and all cavalry regiments are of 4 squadrons unless specified otherwise. Total of 16 battalions, 12 squadrons and 16 guns.

Commander: Lt Gen Baron Reille, OC II Corps d’Armée 5th Division, Lt Gen Count Bachelu 1st Brigade, 61st Line and 2nd Light [ 4 battalions] 2nd Brigade, 72nd and 108th Line [ 5 battalions] 1 artillery battery [ 8 guns] 7th Division, Lt Gen Girard 1st Brigade, 82nd Line and 11th Light [ 3 battalions] 2nd Brigade, 40th Line and 12th Light [ 5 battalions] 1 artillery battery [ 8 guns] 2nd Cavalry Division, Lt Gen Baron Pire 1st Cavalry Brigade, 1st and 6th Chasseurs-a-cheval 2nd cavalry Brigade, 5th and 6th Lancers 1 Horse artillery battery [ 8 guns] Total of 17 battalions, 16 squadrons and 24 guns.

Wargame map for the Battle of Neustadt, 1813

Map Details

Prussian formations are in black or black/red and the French are blue or blue/red.

Dark brown areas are the hills, all of which count as high ground. The large hill at lower left has a pass through the middle and this is the only section that can be negotiated, the hills either side are impassable. The hill in the centre of the Prussian lines is wooded as is the hill on the French right flank. There is a wood in between the two hills of the French centre and right. The remainder of the battlefield is open ground.

The Game

Prussian infantry battalion (I/29) in line

French regiment in columns advance towards Neustadt

Prussian set up

French set up

The town of Neustadt

Girard’s first, and unsuccessful, attack on the town is set in motion. 

The French attack on the right flank gets underway. Four battalions supported by Bachelu’s artillery firing canister; the Prussian I/19 flinches under the fire.

The French continue to press on their right flank and now break the I/19 leaving only the III battalion which begins to retire. This means the whole Prussian left is now in complete disorder. All three battalions of the 12 Light charge into the town of Neustadt, forcing the defenders to back away from the barricades and deeper into the town. There is now no chance of the Prussians holding the position so Zietan orders a general retreat covered by Sohr’s cavalry brigade.

The French declined to pursue the Prussians as Reille decided he had achieved his orders and captured the town.

Casualty Returns

Prussia

France

Commander: General von Zietan, OC I Armeekorps 3rd Brigade, General von Jagow 7th Line [-], [-], [-] 29th Line [ 26], [-], [-] 3rd Westphalian Landwehr [10], [-], [12] 7th Silesian Artillery Battery (8 guns) [-] 4th Brigade, General von Henkel 19th Line [34], [94], [-] 4th Westphalian Landwehr IR [6], [-], [-] Silesian Shutzen Battalion [-] 8th Brandenburg Art Btty (8 guns) [-] Attached cavalry II Armeekorps Reserve 5th Brigade, General von Sohr 3rd Hussars [-] 5th Hussars [-] 5th Kurmark Landwehr [-] Total casualties: 182 officers and men.

Commander: Lt Gen Baron Reille, OC II Corps d’Armée 5th Division, Lt Gen Count Bachelu 1st Brigade, 61st Line [-], [102] 2nd Light [136], [92] 2nd Brigade, 72nd Line [50], [60] 108th Line [-], [-], [26] 1 artillery battery (8 guns) [36], [Destroyed] 7th Division, Lt Gen Girard 1st Brigade, 82nd Line [44], [120] 11th Light [56] 2nd Brigade, 40th Line [54], [12] 12th Light [12], [12], [12] 1 artillery battery (8 guns) [-] 2nd Cavalry Division, Lt Gen Baron Pire 1st Cavalry Brigade, 1st Chasseurs-a-cheval [-] 6th Chasseurs-a-cheval [-] 2nd cavalry Brigade,   5th Lancers [-] 6th Lancers [-] 1 horse artillery battery [ 8 guns] [-] Total casualties: 772 officers and men.

For simplicity, all infantry battalions begin the battle with 800 officers and men, all cavalry regiments are 600 sabres and all artillery batteries are 100 officers and men. In all cases of infantry regiments, casualties have been recorded in square brackets as per battalion running in sequence starting with the first. 

A note on the rules. The different coloured stickers are used to show the state of a unit. The yellow and blue alternate each move to show outstanding Flinch Points  and are removed at the end of the following move. The green represent more serious disorder i.e. rallying after a melee and are also removed at the end of the following move provided the unit does nothing. The red show the current moral and physical state of the unit by using casualties as a benchmark. There are three states, Engaged, Committed and Exhausted each showing progressively higher casualties; these remain with the unit until the end of the game.

Putting my money where my mouth is: Part Deux.

In the last post I said I would post some pics of my opposition armies. Well, here they are.

First up are the Khwarizmians (they double up as Sassanids if there is a Roman amy in the area). Like the 6mm Mongols from teh previous post I don't have any game pics as yet but I'm thinking about it. Watch this space!
Also, I would like to say that the bases of these -and the Mongols- have been repainted to match my boards and they look a lot better for it! Both armies are at least 25 years old.

I also have Khwazmians and Polish in 10mm: Mongols on the left, Khwarzmians on the right. The Khwarizmians are still very much a WIP -only 99 cavalry and 30 infantry painted so far. All Irregular but I have some Pendraken infantry in the painting queue.

 Some of the units from the ongoing Polish army. I have 183 infantry and 80 cavalry painted with another 30 cavalry and 60 infantry to go. All Pendraken.

There are no 15mm opposition armies but as the Mongols aren't painted yet that isn't a problem.

Moving on to 25/28mm. I have two armies, one of Poles and the other of Russians, both culled from a number of manufacturers.

 The complete Polish army with Duke Henry of Silesia in the centre of the line with his yellow caparisoned steed and eagle standard. This was a set up in the back garden last year, hence the decent lighting.

 The Poles in action at the Alumwell Show in 2007.

Part of the Russian Army, the druzina cavalry screened by some polovtsi. The buildings on the left are home made by me.



Russian levy infantry under attack from Mongol HC. Again taken at the Alumwell Show.




I couldn't close the post without a picture of Chinggis Khan's favourite command hound, Snoopy Khan. (My daughter found him for me way back when.)