More on Mike’s Models Colonials

The great figure rebase for the recently acquired Mike’s Models 15mm Colonial collection has resumed once again. I had a little break from it, occasioned by last minute tinkering to DTPIW and sorting out various pieces of technology prior to our holiday but am now back in the saddle so to speak.

I had originally intended using bases with a 30mm frontage but after a rethink will instead use what seems to be a standard 40mm frontage instead. The green base you see is courtesy of Essex Miniatures and I have a large supply of these in all the sizes I will need - 40mm x 20mm, 40mm x 30mm and 40mm square.

I picked up some Irregular Miniatures Zulus and Egyptians as well as some Naismith Colonials with the plan to flesh out some of the units. To be honest either are not a great fit but are usable if you are not too fussy. It is not the size so much, it is more the style. I had resigned myself to using these when a chance comment on the Fans of Mike’s Models facebook group put me in touch with a chap that was disposing of a large number of unpainted Zulu War Mike’s Models. Several messages later, a deal was negotiated and so I am now the proud owner of the following:

Zulus….

….thousands….

….of….

….em!

Not exactly thousands but there is a great selection of types.

Really pleased with this set although I am thinking that some Oxen would work better with the wagon.

These are the unpainted versions of the rank and file figures I have painted. I reckon that troops that wore uniforms of a similar cut from other nationalities might be a useful field to look at for other forces.

I am delighted with these as it means that I will not only be able to field some meaningful opposition to the painted British I already have in the shade of the Zulus, but I will also be able to round out some of the line infantry as well as the artillery park. The wagon is a nice bonus, as are the mounted Boers/Irregular Frontier Horse types. 

My plan of action would be to tackle the required rebasing and touching up required on the British troops first - thankfully the latter is minimal and fortunately I have enough Humbrol enamels to match the colour palette used - and the tackle some Zulus. This means that the figure below will have some company!

“Zulus, thousands one of em!”

Pacific Command - Carrier Battles

Carrier battles in the Pacific that are not boardgames? Hell yes! I should qualify that by 

As soon as I had seen this advertised I knew that I need to get a copy! A quick flick through as got me really excited at the potential of this system especially as I have a good selection of usable kit from the Fighters of the Pacific game (aside from the base game I also have the Midway and Coral Sea expansions) so would not need to invest in a ton of models. I even have the poker chips and decks of cards required for play!

I have played a lot of Pacific carrier boardgames via Flat Top, CV, Guadalcanal and Midway. These have given me some of my best ever gaming experiences over the years but I have never really considered it as being viable for the use with models. I flirted briefly with Axis and Allies: War at Sea range for the Pacific but never really made much progress with it - mainly due to the range of models being quite modest along with the scale being too large (1:1800th) for normal use. Pacific Command gets around this by the simple expedient of ignoring model scale entirely - a single ship represents a task force with all measurements being made from the conning tower. Purely representational indeed! I have no problem with this level of abstraction but some might so if you want formations of exquisitely painted models these rules, at first glance, may not be for you!

Personally, I am sold on the idea and cannot wait to try them out!

As a reminder, below are some pictures of the material that comes with the Fighters of the Pacific game along with the books I have for the period - 1942 

The plain sea side of the map board….

….and the side with some, ahem, terrain.

Aircraft counters - dive bombers, torpedo bombers and fighters - that I will be using. Pacific Command abstracts the recon floatplane types into the Recon phase so counters are not needed

Ships aka targets!

Fighters of the Pacific in action

Part of the library…

….another part….

….and the last part!

The full set of Fighters of the Pacific, about to be pressed into service for Pacific Command.

I have absolutely no excuse for not tackling this and am seriously thinking about running a game at the club once I am familiar with the rules. Who knows? I may even think about some ship models….

“Great Service You Get…..

A great box full of boardgame covering the conquest of Granada 

The back of the box - the production quality is off the scale with this. Note the Medieval artwork on the cards - wooden blocks for armies, fortifications and even ships.

….renting your colour set from Granada!” I am sure that UK based readers of a certain vintage will remember that TV commercial! The only link it has with this post is the last word, namely Granada.

Aside from the Crusades the only Medieval history that I have fondness for, a fondness that could even turn into figures, is that of Spain. From El CID to the ‘Reconquista’ is a fascinating story of Christian kingdoms at odds with one another alongside the Moorish territories that has similar issues. Even in the final campaigns leading to the fall of Granada the Moorish cause was not helped by constant infighting and intrigue. In short it makes for a wonderful campaign setting. 

Last year Laurel and I spent a week staying in Alcaucin (the name is derived from the Arabic Al Kautin - “of the arches” )in the province of Malaga, Spain. We had such a good time we are shortly heading back for a two week stay at the same place but this time with a visit to the Alhambra Palace - which I am really looking forward to.

The Art of War in Spain is a book of two halves. The Conquest of Granada section was extracted from a three volume history of Ferdinand and Isabella with a modern section describing warfare of the period in Spain. It is a really good read. Moorish Spain is an overview of the history of the Moors in Spain - I read the author’s book on El CID last year which was excellent. The WRG title needs little introduction from me but includes a modest but excellent section of Spain and Granada.

As is usual for me I tend to take reading material that is themed for the occasion and so the above is my library for this period of Spanish history. I shall be taking the top two books on the trip.

With the Portable Wargame 3x3 format, along with Dominion series, reluctant figure painters have even less excuse for not trying things out - certainly for me the largest figure painting project I would consider would be something DBA or HOTT sized! 

This has been my thinking with the Colonial collection as well but that is for another post.

Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame - Update

C.S.S. Manassas ‘cruising for a bruising’ as they say in certain parts

Three 1s - What could that possibly mean?

The text for the book is now being proofread so we are close to the point of publication! I am busy organising some pictures for the battle report - there are plenty from the night but for a variety of reasons many of them are not usable. No matter, they are helpful in a draft kind of way.

The pictures from above are from the battle on the night but I am not giving any clues as to what transpired….

All will be revealed in the book though.

Nearly there!

Small Games and Big Ideas

My collection of smaller boardgames. The Hunt covers the search for the Graf Spee whilst the others ‘do exactly what it says on the tin (cover, that is)’.

I am a huge fan of board games and over the years have played and owned many. My collection is fairly modest with a smattering of classic Avalon Hill, Battleline and Yaquinto titles as well as some from more modern manufacturers - Compass Games, GMT Games and similar. There are naval and aerial tactical games, strategic level games and figures based games. Perhaps it is the wargaming gene coming through but without exception, I have thought about using figures or models for every game I have ever owned - and in some cases have actually managed to do so!

The downside is that most of these games do require a degree of commitment in respect of time and space. I am fortunate in the latter case as the man cave will happily accommodate games being left in situ for as long as required. Sometimes though, one wants a snack rather than a three course meal….

The games you see in the picture above fall very much into the ‘snack’ category in that they are tasty morsels that satisfy but not overwhelm the palette so to speak. Dare I say it, they could almost be considered to be the boardgame equivalent of the Portable Wargame or the Dominion series of rules.

The map from ‘The Hunt’ - 16” square

All of the above have potential for being battle generators using figures or models and indeed, The Hunt has already got me thinking about the Graf Spee operation (pauses to look for a copy of the Navwar catalogue….). I have mentioned previously that I have used this as disguised scenario on numerous occasions and it has never failed to give me a good game. I have the Graf Spee expansion for Avalon Hill’s Bismarck - this would be more of a main course game - which would give me the full order of battle for the Royal Navy if I needed it, along with a more detailed map.

The first pages of the rule book - note the contents.

The game is card driven and the victory conditions are very simple - the Royal Navy win by destroying the Graf Spee or by successfully getting five merchantmen to their destination whilst the Germans win by sinking five of the nine merchantmen and staying hidden.

As projects go this would be very easy to organise - in fact I would not even need to get any models (said no wargamer ever….) for it as I have plenty of counters. That is hardly the point though! Something to ponder anyway.

Boot Sales and Battle Reports

The story of the WW1 German commerce raider and minelayer the Moewe (Seagull). 

Laurel and I headed out this morning to our local boot sale and I managed to pick up a copy of the above for the princely sum of £1!

I have owned this in paperback but it disintegrated a few years ago. It is a magnificent read and if WW1 commerce raiding minelayers are your thing then is book is a treat. 

Relying largely on stealth for protection the Moewe could not outrun or outfight a warship she would be likely to encounter and so ploughed a lonely furrow across the sea, capturing and sinking stray merchantmen and laying mines were least expected.

Cracking subject for a mini campaign methinks!

In Other News….

The battle report for Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War has been drafted. I now need to add a selection of appropriate pictures to the text and then send it over to the editor-in-chief for his perusal.

It was great fun to write!

The Dinger of Hums

The grand finale has been fought and a victory secured. The game was enormous fun and oozed period ‘feel’ which is exactly what a good wargame should do!

As mentioned previously, the after action report will appear in Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War in due course, along with pictures of the resultant mayhem (of which there were plenty!).

As a teaser though, here are a couple of pictures of the carnage - the great ‘Dinger of Hums!’

The inexorable advance of the Union

“Around the rugged rock the ragged rascals ran…..!”

The naval equivalent of the M25 during the rush hour - come to think of it, this was probably worse….

That is all for now - a full report with pictures will appear in the book when published so best I get busy with the keyboard!

The Grand Finale

Tomorrow evening will see the battle that will form the grand finale to Developing the Portable Ironclads Wargame: The American Civil War being fought at the club. The scenario has been planned, the models and ship charts are ready, and I am really looking forward to seeing the action unfold!

The after action report will not be on the blog as it is reserved for the book but I will share some pictures of the protagonists by way of a taster.

The two sloops - the USS Brooklyn (forward) and the USS Richmond (aft) and the two ‘double-enders’ the USS Port Royal and the USS Octorara.

Two double-turreted monitors - the USS Winnebago (single white stripe) and the USS Chickasaw (two white stripes), the USS Keokuk and the single turreted USS Manhattan.

The ironclads CSS Manassas and the CSS Atlanta with the CSS Morgan and CSS Gaines

The looming bulk of Fort Gordon and the floating battery the CSS Memphis

The action will be fought over a 6ft by 4ft playing surface using my Hexon collection - the area is 21 by 12 hexes so there will be plenty of ‘sea room’ to fight over.

I am delighted to have finally gotten to this point and I am really looking forward to the game - and writing the after action report!

A Colonial Conundrum of Sorts

Basing sorted - infantry will be in 3s or 2s for dedicated skirmishers (30mm x 15mm), cavalry and artillery on a 30mm square - a gun and two crew or two riders and 15mm square bases for foot single figures, commanders and so on. Mounted commanders will be on 30mm x 15mm bases. The order is already in with Warbases! The Post It note was used to measure out the sizes I needed and how the figures looked - as Mike’s Models are on the diminutive size the 30mm frontage is ideal.

I spent some time yesterday evening sorting through the 15mm Mike’s Models colonial collection and planning the next steps. Now that the cold light of reality has set in I find myself looking in various directions as to what to do with the disparate elements of the whole. Summing up the situation would be a good start so this is what I have been pondering.

The three line infantry standard bearer groups - far too nice to be ignored in my opinion, redcoats and standards flying proudly!

1. There is a lot of British - in pre and post Khaki (more of the former). The redcoats consist of a 12 figure unit of highland infantry (in trews) and there are a further 12 infantry with yellow facings, 7 with green and 8 with a tan/buff colour. There are also 16 in rifle green but 5 of these have white helmets whilst the others have a tan colour. 

The sole tribal figure in the collection - a solitary Zulu warrior

2. NO OPPOSITION! No Zulus or Mahdists and only a representational two units of Egyptian/Sudanese and one Boer. I have a had a change of heart about this as I had originally planned to muddle through with some paint job improvisations but now the stakes have been elevated somewhat. I plan to add a Zulu force as historical opposition for the Redcoats. They will be simple to paint which means they an be table ready relatively quickly. The only other thing I need to address is the shortage of artillery for the British - a point I mentioned previously and is now even more pressing!

3. The Plan(s). I am still fleshing out the back story for Madasahatta 1880 but suffice it to say it will enable me to indulge in a relative smorgasbord of types for the German/Turkish force. Along with the white coated Egyptians, Sudanese Askaris and Boers I would need to add some German Schutztruppen and possibly a naval landing party, not to mention a couple of warships. That is one option. The next and possibly more immediate option would be to acquire and paint up Zulus or similar. I am not looking at the Sudan at this stage although certainly there is the raw material to do so from the British side - both for the earlier Khartoum period and the later Omdurman one. The final option, and this is one that is rather left field, I could raise some Martians for some VSF action. 

I have plenty to think about with this collection but for now the priority will be to get them rebased and refurbished and with a rather more representative artillery set up

Conundrums of sorts but nice ones to have all the same!

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1880 and Madasahatta

15mm Mike’s Models Colonials. Sudan British for 1882/85 and the later Omdurman period. Camels, rifles and a naval landing party. Egyptian infantry, cavalry and camelry along with Sudanese Askaris (I think). A single artillery piece and a Gatling gun along with a small Boer contingent.

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1880 was originally an idea I had in order to get some later ‘blue water’ ironclads built. My plan was to fight a battle between the two opposing fleets for inclusion in Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame - the addition of ‘The American Civil War’ to the title came about when it decided that  the between the two books the focus was primarily on the war between the states. A fictional conflict felt a little out of place surrounded by ships and battles of the American Civil War - despite the ‘what if’ nature of many of the combats I fought! 

The ironclads for the Royal Navy and the Ottoman Turks are still under constriction - they have been started but thus far only the hulls have been prepared - but for now will have to wait to get finished because of a fairly exciting development. The development that I am talking is my acquisition of a selection of painted 15mm Colonial figures - British, Egyptian, Boer and Askari types - produced by Mike’s Models. I will let the pictures do the talking.

British infantry followed by what looks like a Zulu War era volunteer mounted rifle unit(?) - I do not know the period well enough to comment.

More British followed by the Egyptians and Sudanese (on the left) and the Boers in the rear.

Rifles, British cavalry, mounted infantry and the artillery park.

The collection is by no means complete but there is more than enough to form the basis of a good 1880 set up featuring the British Army along with a smattering of Egyptian and Boer opposition. For organisation the available types would be ideally suited to something akin to Bob Cordery’s Portable Colonial Wargame meaning three figure infantry bases, two figures cavalry and skirmishers and for artillery/mgs a gun and two crew. There is a distinct shortage of artillery so I will need to raid Irregular Miniatures to bolster this arm.

The first order of business will be some tidying up of the figures - a lot of the riders have become unhorsed - in respect of the paint job. I am not planning on any extensive repaints but there are a few chips here and there. The painting technique is very old school and would be easy enough to replicate - even for me! There is also the rebasing - luckily these are on cardboard bases so that should not be difficult to do. I shall also give them a coat of satin varnish just to freshen them up but other than that there will be little to do. 

The Siren Lure of Madasahatta….

So how does this all tie in with Madasahatta? Well, it doesn’t, at least not yet but that is where my thoughts are heading. The problem is changing the back story of the island to accommodate forces for 1880. Madasahatta as we know it only really came to prominence in 1891 with the discovery of gold in the Bloeminstip mountains. The Germans moved in first and established Hansaland followed by the British two years later with New Surrey. The border between the two colonies, running along the centreline of the Bloeminstip Mountains, was set in the Treaty of Badlikortout agreed in 1898. Taking the history of the island back to 1880 changes things a little so I will need to get my head around a feasible prequel. I have an idea about this but need to flesh it out first. I will say no more than other than it was a good job that there featured an Arab Concession centred on Port Maleesh!

Once the figures have been repurposed and reorganised, and the ships built, the plan is to make use of Eric’s marvellous creation once again - either through the Portable Colonial Wargame or possibly even Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet.

I am delighted to have secured this little lot as it will save me a heap of time getting the collection to the tabletop and enjoying these vintage warriors.