Some Sharp Practice on the Frontier!

And I bet you'd thought I wasn't going to post about gaming anymore, didn't you?

Now that Cadets has wrapped up for the year, I managed to find both a free evening last night and a couple of my friends were available, so I set up a small Sharp Practice game. I haven't gotten any of my Napoleonic Russians painted yet, but I've been thinking that SP might also be jolly good for skirmishes on the Frontier. Get some real Boy's Adventure stuff going.

Now Richard Clarke maintains that Sharp Practice is for the muzzle loading black powder era; French and Indian Wars, Napoleonics and up to the American Civil War. Anything getting into breech loaders is stretching things a bit. But we're gamers and we always modify rules out of period don't we? (Witness all the Warhammer mods for WW2, Colonials, etc. etc.).

I haven't done too much really. British infantry with the breech loading rifles don't require an action to reload. I also treat them all as light infantry and use the light infantry with Minie rifle line for firing. The Pathans have generally poor fire discipline and since they are equipped with a mix of ancient jezzails to new breech loaders, I require them to spend an action reloading. Gurkhas are elite and aggressive. British and Indian infantry are Regular to Good. Highlanders are aggressive in fisticuffs. Haven't thought much about the Guides. Elite obviously, but I haven't decided on anything else for them.

So last night, Capt. Wooster of the Blandingshire Fusiliers, with some Gurkhas and an attached screw gun had to go visit a den of troublesome dacoits (bandits) and sort them out. Can't have them stealing sheep, kidnapping the daughters of tea merchants and generally upsetting the neighbourhood.

I only used about half of my table, giving me an area roughly 5'x5'. I thought maybe a smaller scene of action would get people stuck in faster and we might have a heroic storming of the native stronghold. The village and chief's tower were in the far corner. A river ran up one side through some rocky hills and jungle. Opposite the Imperial entry side was a long rocky hill and a dry stream bed.

 

Peaceful natives or den of thieves?

 

Busy market day

The Imperial force came on in long skirmish lines (after I pointed out to Mike that his gaggling columns just wouldn't do); Blandingshires opposite the stream bed and Gurkhas facing the hill.

Surprise!

On the tribal blind card a couple of groups popped out to fire at the invading ferenghis. The lead company of the Blandingshires charged into the stream bed to bayonet the dacoits, while the Gurkhas stormed up the rocky hillside to overrun the sangar.

Gurkhas storm the sangars

close up of the action

Patrick kept forgetting to activate his screw gun, even though the Gurkha captain was a level 4 Big Man and thus had loads of actions he could perform. So the gun only came into play on the last turn, firing one shot into the tower.

The screw gun comes up

The Blandingshires sent one company to the left to pursue another group of dacoits sniping from some ancient ruins, while a second attacked the village and captured the camel stables in another round of fisticuffs. The Gurkhas meanwhile came down from their hill and stormed into the village from the other angle.

Storming into the village

The first company of Blandingshires cleared the ruins and captured a hill on the edge of the jungle, but were then charged by a howling mass of tulwar wielding Ghazis. Despite their aggressive bonus, I rolled badly for the Ghazis and they were pushed back with a few martyrs and shock points.

Ghazis charge out of the jungle!

They rallied a few turns later and charged into the flank of the third Blandingshire company hoping to drive it back from the village but with similar results.

That's where we left it, the Gurkhas and fusiliers were clearing the village and moving up to the tower supported by the now deployed screw gun. The chieftain decided to head for the hills.

Not bad, deploying the dacoits in small groups (6 figures vs. the Imperial 9 or 10) to make them more fragile and limiting the tribal command and control was quite effective.

Playing in the dirt with the Army Cadets

We try and do a year end trip to wrap up each training year with the cadets. As much fun as we can get within what's left of the budget, and maybe they can learn something too. This year we went to visit Robin Barker-James, a retired history teacher who has a barn full of artifacts and memorabilia (mostly WW1 era) near Tillsonburg ON, and he has taken to digging trenches in his fields for visiting school groups to get a bit of insight into the Western Front.

Part of his collection

He has quite the varied menu of activities to choose from, so you can customize your visit to your group and their interests/strengths. He was also a drama/English lit teacher so school groups can do dramatics as well as trench raids, casualty clearing and battlefield archaeology. For some community service/team building and a re-enactment of WW1 Fatigue Parties, we helped him build a set for an upcoming drama group.

Fatigues, an essential part of the Western Front experience.

He also demonstrates the basics of bayonet drill (with a Ross rifle), and has some unique 'rock-paper-scissors' rules worked out so the kids can bayonet duel without actually coming into contact and knocking any one's teeth out with their wood and plastic tube dummy rifles.

Bayonet course

Non-contact bayonet duel

We then moved onto some fun living history activities. This involved a lot of lobbing dummy grenades made from foam and duct tape at each other and generally having a good time. First they took turns clearing each other out of the village we had just built.

"German" bombers with buckets of dummy stick grenades

Defending a house

Then we had a couple of trench battles. The defenders had two bombs each and the attackers had two 'bombers' equipped with pails of bombs (about 2 dozen per pail) plus a Lewis gun. They quickly learned that with the bunkers, switchbacks and barricades, the bombs were the most useful weapon. When someone got eliminated they had to go to the end of the line, but slowly in each game the attackers worked their way down the trench, clearing each position. One battle, for a particularly large and complex trench system, bogged down when the attackers lost their bomb buckets to a lucky grenade throw!

Pillbox

Waiting for the attack

Nice trench, just needs more mud and rats

Defending a barricade

Attackers moving up

Then on Sunday after getting our tents dried out and folded up, the cadets did a bit of battlefield archaeology. Our host had buried some of his artifacts in dirt and the cadets got to go find them and then try and figure out the story they revealed.

Cadets, playing in the dirt.

Trench art

Remains of a French rifle

An old helmet

 

Soldier's pipe

It was quite an enjoyable weekend and the cadets had a lot of fun playing what we used to call 'silly buggers' when I was a cadet. Even though I was standing up on the ground helping declare who was a casualty during the trench battles, I still got some interesting insights into trench warfare and it's unique difficulties and tactics required. So even though there wasn't any mud or rats or stink, the venue can still provide some good lessons into WW1.

To arrange your own visit, you can email Mr. Robin-Barker James at robin.barker-james@sympatico.ca.

A Grand Redoubt

Well I squeezed a few moments in at the painting table recently and painted up the resin redoubt I picked up at Hotlead this past year. It's an Imex 1/72nd scale piece. I think I got it for a reduced price at $25. I don't know if that's a great deal or not. But it is a nice piece and I think it fits my 15mm SYW figures even better than the plastic 1/72nd figures it was designed for.



Painted redoubt, front view

It came cast in a terracotta colour. Some of the sculpting seemed a bit crude, with earth slopping over the duck boards and the tree stumps seem a bit primitive.

I gave it a wash in soapy water and then an all over coating of pretty runny burnt umber. Dirt was dry brushed "Mississippi Mud" (my favourite dirt colour). Logs and planking were dry brushed grey and then the wicker work on the gabions was dry brushed a golden brown. The ruts of the wagon track were given some dilute chocolate brown to make them stand out more. The stacks of stores were painted khaki. The broken wheels were given the ochre colour I paint my Austrian artillery carriages.

Back view

My mix of flock was then glued on in a rather patchy way since I figure the ground would be heavily trampled (especially between the wheel ruts) and scored by round shot. But I also know from my back garden that weeds will start popping up within a week or two, so I even have some patches on top of the gabions and the earth fill between them and the log walls.

Austrian artillery train tries out the new digs.

I'm quite pleased with the results and now just need to find time for a game. Perhaps it can cover a bridge that the Austrian baggage train must retreat over? Or the Prussians must break a siege?

I've also read the two Ospreys I picked up for a couple of songs at the Hotlead Bring and Buy, so I have now actually dealt with all of the small amount of stuff I got at the show. Within 2 months too, I think that's a record of sorts.

Happy VE Day!

Momentous day today; VE day and my birthday.


So to celebrate, from today until D-Day (6 June) my gift to you is 15% off any purchases in my webstore.

Just use the coupon code Happybirthday2013! on page 2 of the check out.
Don't let the WW2 theme fool you, everything else, even the ancients are included.

Vpered Na Berlin!

I treated myself to the latest I Ain't Been Shot Mum supplement to come from Too Fat Lardies last month when Richard Clarke ran a sale. I finally printed off the relevant pages the other night. For your 10 pounds you get 111 (yes ONE HUNDRED and ELEVEN!) pages of PDF detailing forces for the Eastern Front from 1943 to 1945. I didn't print off all 111, just most of the German lists and the Russians.
The lists follow the format used in Battle for Liberation. For each company there are core platoons and then a selection of options from battalion and divisional supports. Colour coding tells you which ones are off table and the text will tell you which ones are rare or limited. Which tanks would be typical in each platoon by year is also noted. The scenario design tells you how many platoons you may select from your list. Obviously some armies such as German panzer and panzer grenadier forces will get a dizzying array of possible supporting options and the Kampfgruppe rule pretty much lets you throw together whatever you think is appropriate. Other forces such as Volksturm, Yugoslavian Partisans or Finnish Border Jagers are much more limited for choice. Each national section is then rounded out with tables for rating your infantry, armour and weapon stats, plus card suggestions for putting your game deck together and adding extra Big Men.
The German lists from Battle for Liberation are expanded to include Cavalry and Cossack units plus anti-partisan Schuma battalions in addition to AFVs that only saw action on the Eastern Front. The Soviet lists are pretty straight forward, although I find myself drawn to the allure of fielding an entire Guards Heavy Tank Regiment (I mean it's ONLY 25 tanks...)
The book isn't just limited to the Germans and Russians. The Finns for the Continuation War are present driving their captured Soviet tanks. There are Hungarians and Romanians. Yugoslavian Partisans are also listed and the book includes rules for generating forces for anti-partisan games and a selection of scenarios.
The lay out and graphics are well done and the format is very easy to use. Another must have for IABSM players.
Of course I don't even have any WW2 Soviets.... yet...

Rabbitman on Parade!

Well I haven't posted anything in a while.
My brushes are untouched.
I've played one game since Hotlead, and only because Patrick had some armies completed (1/72nd scale Chinese Civil War forces) and wanted to give the World In Flames rules by Osprey a try.
Many of the loose ends from Hotlead are still untied.
What I have been doing is a lot of cadet stuff.
A week before Hotlead I got an email telling me I was loaded onto the Intermediate Officer's Training Course and the Distance Learning segment started pretty much that evening. This has been an amusing 6 week course with almost daily deadlines covering diverse subjects like policies and procedures, enforcement of regulations, supervision of subordinates (as a Lieutenant now it's assumed I will have 2nd Lieutenants and Officer Cadets to keep an eye on), more adolescent development and group dynamics, environmental impact assessments for training exercises, safety and emergency response plans, correspondence and warning orders. Fun stuff.
Good professional development, but pretty time consuming.
I was also preoccupied developing my magnum opus; a lesson for M420.02 The History of the Canadian Army. The official lesson plan had a lot of bureaucratic details like Militia Acts and the various reorganizations the Army went through. Do some 17 year olds really need to know how the CF was organized back in the 1980s? I threw that out and started with some First Nations warriors hiding in the bushes and worked my through the siege of Quebec, the War of 1812, the Fenian Raids and North West Rebellion of 1885, WW1, WW2, Korea and Afghanistan to try and tell a story. It also happened to be Vimy Ridge Day. I had 90 minutes, elaborated too much sometimes and ran out of time. But they were quiet and paid attention and they even learned about a few Militia Acts.
Another distraction was that my Cadet unit went through a change of command. My friend Chris took over as CO mid-year (and a couple of years early) due to our old CO having a change in her situation. So we had to step up the ceremonial review practice for the cadets.
Usually the cadets do the parades and we officers just watch from the edge of the parade square.
But this time the CIC officers had to fall in.
I hadn't been in command of a formation on a ceremonial parade for 30 plus years!

Lt. Rabbitman on parade!

 But it all went well. The muscle memory kicked in and I actually enjoyed myself.

Taking the Reviewing Officer through the inspection

 It was also good to meet my Boss, the Western Ontario Area Commander, Maj. Sainsbury.

March past

Above you have my friend Chris leading us in a March Past as the new CO. As the sr. subaltern I'm right behind him leading 1 Platoon. Chris and I have been friends since we were 10, joined cadets together and for our last two years he was the RSM and I was the Cdt Lt. Colonel (there were cadet officer ranks back then).


Advance in Review Order


Here we've just finished the Advance in Review Order, the climax of the parade. For a bunch of kids their dressing is really quite good (and they all halted at the same time!). The observant among you will notice the flight of Air Cadets in their sky blue on the left of our line. We've developed a pretty cordial relationship with the local Air Cadet Squadron, mostly based upon a standing invitation from their officers to join them for drinks at a local bar at the end of cadet nights. Their facility has more elbow room for march pasts, so they were our hosts for the evening. It would have been rude not to let them parade with us.
As soon as Chris was made acting CO he made me his Training Officer (TrgO). It will now be my responsibility to generate all the Warning Orders, Operations Orders, RSS, MOARs, Emergency Response Plans, Briefings and O Groups. Plus devise the training plan for the next training year.
I have also been stepping up my efforts to find better employment. So resumes, finding my footing with the TrgO position and my DL have been absorbing all of my spare time lately.
But the course is done this weekend, so I hope next week to find some time to pick up my paint brushes again.


Medieval artillery

I had these done before Hotlead, just haven't had time to blog about them.

So after last month's musing and list writing I put brush to figure and finished off these 12 Old Glory crew for my medieval field guns, and added a third Old Glory gun to the order of battle!

I decided to keep the liveries fairly generic. One crew in blue, one in red and one in yellow. Gunners, being highly paid specialists, could afford the bright colours. I had an ammunition box (from a RAFM ACW artillery limber) and a sponge in my bits box to dress one of the bases.

The gun in the middle is from Old Glory, the other two with the mantlets, I cannot remember who makes those now. I got them many years ago for Christmas when I still worked in the bookstore.

You'll also notice I'm also experimenting with some Army Painter meadow flower tufts to dress things up a bit. I rather like them. They add some nice variety to the ground work.

The bases are bit bigger to give the crew some elbow room; 50mm x 75mm. The guns aren't glued down in case they need to be abandoned.

Of course, now my armies will be unevenly matched in artillery, so to balance things out I will just have to get one of the Perry Wars of the Roses guns.

Next up are 5 stands each of some Old Glory levy bills and levy bows.