ACW and Imagi-nation Napoleonics

The standard two-decker on the right and my filed version on the left. The plastic is very hard so it took a lot of careful wok to get the hull reduced and more importantly, level!

I was really firing on all cylinders yesterday! In a burst of productivity I was able to finish the ship specs for the American Civil War ships for the new book - a week ahead of schedule. In doing so I made the decision to split the ship specification section into two parts - the first being how to spec any given warship (including a few historical examples, something I did not do in The Portable Ironclads Wargame) and with the second being the pre-generated specs I have been working on. Next up will be the ship charts and once they are ready I reckon a cheeky little ACW naval game may well be in order.

I took delivery this morning of a whole pile of generic 18mm-ish hard plastic Napoleonic types - infantry, cavalry, artillery, a warship and two sizes of building - to add to the pile I picked up from Bob Cordery a few years back along with the ships from Mark Cordone. These are the same figures used in the Worthington Games Napoleon’s War series along with a US game called Viktory II (that is how it spelled for game purposes).

For the moment it is the ships that I am particularly interested in as I have an age of sail itch that is becoming more and more insistent. As mentioned in a previous blog entry the model is a stylised two-decker in full sail but minus a ‘spanker’ - the big sawn-off triangle sail at the rear of the ship. Well, I have a cunning plan to rectify this involving a certain well-known naval rules author and a willing 3D printer!

I was able to fashion a single deck warship by filing the lower hull - the plastic is very hard so it took some work - but am unsure about three-deckers. I will give that some thought.

Some suitably generic buildings - I have a dozen of each size which will give me enough for a couple of small towns/villages. They are easy enough to ‘pimp’ with the addition of walls etc.

The buildings are suitably generic and ‘Monopoly-esque’ and again, in that hard plastic. They will be very useful for a few ideas I have as I wanted something smaller than my old standby ‘Town in a Bag’ wooden buildings.

Horse, foot and guns. They are rather elegant models and again, suitably generic. The infantry are around 18mm tall.

The figures themselves are perfectly usable as they are and certainly for imagi-nations they are ideal, as Mark Cordone with his wonderful armies has shown. Something else to think about then (again!).

Flags for Afrabia

1:900th on the left and 1:1200th on the right. The Union Jack, Belgium and WW1 German.

I mentioned previously that I was waiting on some more flags for my Lake Tanganyika/Afrabia project. I have these printed by Tony at Brigade Games and the first thing that struck me when building the original batch of models was that my usual size of flag would be too large for the smaller vessels! Happily Tony is used to resizing this type of things so getting a selection printed in 1:1200th and 1:900th was easily done.

In truth I did not need many and so now have plenty of spares but the selection you see above will come in useful for the additional models I am planning. 

To start with I need to build some Belgian ships - only two or three - and I am also planning some forts/harbours etc. This will explain the national flags rather than the naval ensigns. One of the Union Jacks will feature on the model of the African Queen to finish her off. 

All being well I should have the Belgian ships built over the weekend - along with a couple of surprise items….

All will be revealed soon.

Making This Up As I Go….

A very useful ‘Back of Beyond’ style map for a DBA 1500 - 1900 based campaign. The map appeared in Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog along with some other inspiring ideas for campaigns set in the region. It just needs an inland sea large enough for battleships to be perfect!

I had a very interesting and thought provoking conversation with Bob Cordery last weekend which was further enhanced by his recent blog post which you can read here. 

The idea of ‘imagi-nations’ is something that has always been there or thereabouts throughout my gaming career and I have often dabbled with the concept albeit somewhat on the periphery. If truth be told I have often made some great plans for something imagi-nation based but invariably have never really followed through with any of my own ideas. The closest I ever got to gaming something ‘homegrown’ was the based on the North West Frontier of India and set in the fictional Roghan Valley and gamed some ten years ago. My plan at the time was to raise the forces in 54mm using Armies in Plastic figures and indeed, I even went as far as acquiring everything I needed. Sadly over time the idea withered on the vine and the figures have long since departed - they were last seen heading to Yorkshire - although I still managed to fight a game which appeared on the blog - Striking the Match - as one of the early encounters using my block armies.

This whole idea was very modest in scope and was literally confined to the valley itself. The troops were largely representative of a typical frontier defence force whilst the tribesmen were the usual mixture of assorted occasional friends or implacable enemies - usually depending on the value of the Imperial subsidies. It was relatively tongue in cheek in a Carry On Up The Khyber kind of way. As envisaged it would have led to a modest sized campaign featuring around half a dozen battles or so.

The terrain was based on a typical NW Frontier valley, the Imperial troops were fictitious as were the tribal types. In essence it was a kind of Hollywood ‘based upon’ style of set up. I think the initial idea was sound but the planned execution was a little on the ambitious side and besides - there was no naval dimension to speak of!

At no time have I taken the imagi-nation bull by the horns and created armies etc completely from scratch. I had plans to do this with two forces set during the latter years of the 18th century and inspired by Charge! And The Wargame and these went by the names of the Grand Duchy of Artois and the Electorate of Kronenbourg (the latter was founded in 1664). My plan was to have the Artois forces units named after wines whilst those of Kronenbourg were after beers. For the record I never quite sampled each of the namesakes of the intended units (I did give it a good go though!)!

Building something completely from scratch is quite an undertaking and requires a lot of work and dedication. Henry Hyde’s new tome on Wargames Campaigns touches on this in some detail and I have seen firsthand how Bob Cordery set up both his World of 1891 and more recently his La Belle Époque set up. Archduke Piccolo is also very active in this regard and so checking out either blog has been a continual source of inspiration for me. One must also tip one’s hat to Tony Bath’s Hyboria set up along with those of Henry Hyde and the late Charles Grant and on a more personal level, that of Eric Knowles’s Madasahatta.

For me personally I seem to prefer to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ and make use of existing fictional set ups. I have enjoyed many games using Bob Cordery’s Fezia and Rusland (from his world of 1891) and indeed, actually got as far as producing ships for both sides but that was it. 

If I am honest then I would say that I am a little nervous at the idea of designing armies and navies completely from scratch - especially the uniforms and equipment etc - and would probably opt to use largely historical armies in fictional settings or rebadging actual armies into something else. Having said that my planned late 19th century Madasahatta style set up using 20mm plastics will involve a degree of artistic licence in a Hollywood ‘based upon’ approach. A good example of this is the British infantry as depicted in the film Zulu - they looked the part but there were sufficient historical holes to drive several buses through. The Battle of the Bulge and the tanks used is another example.

In many ways I feel at a kind of crossroads in respect of certain elements of my wargaming. I enjoy both historical and imagination based wargames but am leaning more and more towards the latter. Having said that old habits die hard and so my imagination based games will always have a degree of historicity attached to them - as is only fitting.

Where to now?

The most likely project for me in this regard will undoubtedly be the Madasahatta effort although I have something else in mind that is currently piquing my curiosity so to speak. I have this idea about extending the scope of the Roghan Valley to include elements of Central Asia - especially if I can fit in an inland sea (think the Caspian or even they Black Sea) - thereby allowing the Russians in (shades of the Great Game) with a Turkish interest as well. I am looking to acquire a copy of Eagle Games ACW game for the figures which will not only give me a couple of Portable Wargame sized armies for the War between the States but also some kepi wearing Russians. Not entirely accurate but close enough for my purposes and with an inland sea naturally the naval side will get a look in!

I have also been thinking about how to go down the Shogun book route and add European style troops to fight the figures from the boardgame of the same name. That would make for an interesting match up methinks.

As ever then, there much to think about and I am sure that ideas will be formed and discarded with monotonous and inevitable regularity!

For now though, I have just received my order of custom cut ship parts from Warbases so you know what that means….

More Thoughts on War in the Age of Imperialism

A frontal close up of the standard infantry figure….

….and the rear.

Trying out a base size - in this case 40mm by 20mm which is probably a little on the small side so I will try 50mm by 25mm next.

Whilst work has resumed on the ACW project (both the rules and the ship models) I have still found some time to further consider the whole ‘Colonial/Imagi-nations’ set up planned with the figures from the War in the Age of Imperialism board game.

My first thought was to look at other nationalities that used a close approximation of the uniform depicted by the infantry firing figure - a pith helmet, tunic, trousers with ankle boots and minimal equipment. If one is not too picky about fine detail then there are a number of choices on offer. France and Italy to start with but I am sure there are others and it is actually quite good fun researching them. It has given me a number of ideas to explore and naturally these will need to tie in with some naval activity.

In a roundabout way (roundabout as in via Bob Cordery’s World of 1891) I have been looking long and hard at the prospect of something Madasahatta based only set earlier than the famous campaign of 1914 that Eric Knowles ran. I am thinking about the mid 1880s and the period just after the invasion of Egypt and the fall of Khartoum. At this stage it is very much an idea rather than anything tangible but certainly there is plenty of scope to do this.

For now though the ACW project takes priority but it is always could to have a plan B or in my case a plan B, C, D, E and so on!

Thoughts on War in the Age of Imperialism

The above represent one of the forces from the game - note the 30 (5 x 6 figures) infantry and the selection of mounted types. There are horses for them as well!

Close ups of the figures - front and back. They are not the greatest plastics you will ever see but they have one significant advantage - there is a lot of them! 

The rather lurid looking box lid for War in the Age of Imperialism.

Sometime ago I acquired a copy of the Eagle Games Age of Imperialism - a strategic level Colonial board game. As is usual with this type of game it was always about the components rather than the game itself, in this case rather a lot of 1:72nd scale generic plastic figures - a selection of which you can see above, and that is just one of the coloured sets available, there being five in all.

The figures are quite basic but are fine for what I have in mind. The infantry are solely available in the standing firing pose which would probably put some gamers off but I can live with it and besides, the command box will certainly add some diversity. They need some additional bits and pieces to make then viable as an army so a swift look at Hat Industries has furnished me with the aforementioned command set (40 figures in all including four mounted officers), a box of artillery and a box of Gatling guns. This will flesh out the choices available when it comes to making up the various forces I am thinking about. In the short term though, they will need some opposition. So what would be best suited to face some Zulu War looking British Infantry? Well, after a lot of careful consideration for all of several minutes I did the only sane thing I could think of. 

Ordered a box of Unmarried Zulus…

In all seriousness, the idea is to use the ‘British” infantry figure as the basis for other European style pith helmet wearing Colonial forces - there would certainly be a degree of artistic licence in terms of fine detail but then if I wanted that I would probably be using better quality figures. The set up will be firmly Portable Colonial Wargame based meaning the forces will be small in terms of the number figures - small enough that even I could manage to slap some paint on them!

In the fullness of time there will be competing European Colonial forces - forces that will inevitably require naval support - alongside numerous indigenous tribal types of various sorts.

Something to think about anyway - and with the possibility of a VSF spin on things as well!

More from Eric’s Collection

A selection of French Demi Brigade infantry from the Minifigs S range I believe and also....

....what look like British Royal Marines.

No prizes for guessing what these are! The RHA's finest.

French Dromedary mounted cavalry for Napoleon's Egyptian campaign

Part of the unpainted 18th collection lead mountain that belonged to Eric was a force he had earmarked as an 18th century Indian army. The original crate consisted primarily of ancient Indian figures and cavalry but the above were recently uncovered by Bill and are now with me for disposal. I was rather taken with the French Demi Brigade infantry - any military figure wearing a Tarleton-style helmet will always get my vote - and the camel riders. I have no idea as to what Eric had planned for this part of his collection although it looks very much like he would have been raising two European forces to go with the hordes of natives. I would not be in the least bit surprised if Bill unearthed a box of elephants at some point as well as some substantial native artillery pieces.

There is also a unit of what look like French Chasseurs a Cheval but sadly I had forgotten to take a picture of them. They also appear to be Minifigs S range.

Planning for the ACW

An antique map of Essex from around 1850. Note the coastline and inland waterways - ideal for lurking ironclads.

Now that phase one of my ACW collection is virtually ready to hit the table - the guns will be ready by the weekend - my thoughts are already moving towards the setting for my games. I have something suitably old school in mind and that would allow me to create something rather unique and personal. I want to design my own theatre of operations for the ACW but not based on anything in the USA. My plan is to use a map of my home county of Essex that will be, for want of a better word, 'Americanised' to suit my own background. 

Essex is blessed with a number of rivers and small islands meaning that the potential for riverine and coastal actions is certainly present. By adjusting some of the place names - for example adding 'ville' at the end of an actual town name - and inventing some notable personalities for either side one has created a viable theatre of operations that can then be tweaked as required. I have already given this aspect some thought and have a shortlist of Union and Confederate commanders to call upon. I want to allow these characters a personality that can influence events of the tabletop - and not always in a good way!

The Duke himself as Captain Nathan Brittles from the classic John Ford Western 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'

By extension the ships of the opposing navies will have fictional names and this has proven to be a very enjoyable task indeed as I have been trawling through various books and films for ideas. I reckon that Nathan Brittles is a great name for a river gunboat or ironclad of some kind!

A Vivid Imagi-Nation(s)

The great figure sort out of Eric's lead mountain continues and the constituent parts are gradually being sorted into some kind of order. I picked up a couple of hundred plastic grip top bags to help with bagging up some of the figures as well as some other bits and pieces to help with storage. I will need to replace some of the crates Bill used as they have taken a royal battering and in many cases would not survive another move. One of the ongoing problems I am experiencing concerns the small, square blue Hinchliffe boxes. Eric used hundreds of these for his units but they are so old that when you take the lid off the four corner tabs that hold the box together immediately fall off. The house was littered with small brown tabs - the glue had long since dried out - but luckily the lids are not so afflicted and can be used to, in effect, hold the box together.

I really need to get out more....

The Minifigs component of Eric's collection is quite large and extremely diverse. Every army in this collection has a contingent of these figures - some more than others - but on their own would be insufficient to produce much beyond a good sized Portable Wargame/DBA inspired force. For me this is perfect as my ideal size of army tops out at around the 150 models mark. Despite the quantity of figures present there are some notable omissions - artillery being the main culprit as there are very few guns in this collection. Eric has a massive painted artillery park and so Bill and I concluded that Eric would have been happy to have used his existing collection and merely replaced the gunners with more modern figures.

Needless to say I have been pondering what to do with such a varied and diverse collection. My plan originally was to replicate a number of forces for the 1700 to 1720 period in the Balkans with Venice, Austria, Turkey and Russia being the combatants. This has a lot of appeal and is a nice alternative to the more usual War of the Spanish Succession. However, there are a couple of problems with this idea in that whilst it would have been easy to tackle using the modern ranges of figures in Eric's collection, the Minifigs portion does not have quite the same degree of historical coverage.

The solution I am fast heading towards is to use the Minifigs collection as the basis for something set in the region but on an imagi-nation footing. You may recall that this was something I was considering for the mid 19th century following my visit to Corfu last year. All I would be doing would be taking the timescale back 150 years give or take.

As mentioned previously, Eric had organised a pair of imagi-nation forces - the Electorate of Bustenberg and the Kingdom of Umbriago. The former was very Germanic flavoured - at least the unit names are - although the figures Eric used ranged from British Napoleonic Heavy Dragoons, French Guard Horse Artillery and Revolutionary era Bicorne wearing infantry to Spanish Napoleonic Grenadiers. The latter was Italian inspired - I rather liked the Hussars de Borgia - although the figures for the infantry are largely Minifigs English Seven Year War.

It would be unforgivable if these armies never saw the light of day and so I am obliged to do something with them in some fashion. I have decided to produce them both but using solely the Minifigs portion of Eric's collection rather than the figures he earmarked (especially those for Bustenberg which appear to a fusion of Hinchliffe and Essex). I shall retain the unit names for each side and for their respective historical counterparts I shall look to Austria and Venice for inspiration and ideas.

To round out the idea of course the imagi-nation versions of  Russia and Turkey will need to be considered (and indeed, I am doing just that) but I am also going to factor in the Grand Duchy of Artois and the Electorate of Kronenbourg in due course. There are more than sufficient figures to cover these armies as long as the sizes are kept manageable. Although my army standard size is around 150 pieces all in, the actual on table fighting portion would typically be roughly around a hundred figures per side, often less.

The armies will be organised with the Portable Napoleonic Wargame in mind as these need minimal alteration to suit the earlier and besides, they are a cracking set of rules!

The main aim of this expansive project is to make the maximum use of  the Minifigs portion of Eric's collection and from a cost perspective I want to have to purchase as little as possible to complete the armies. There is no doubt it will be good to see these table top veterans taking to the field and I hope that in doing so it will help to preserve elements of Eric's legacy and to acknowledge the debt that I, and many others owe him.

Revisiting My Ottomania with an Indian Takeaway

I have on a number of occasions acknowledged the fact that my lifelong interest in the affairs of the Sublime Porte had its roots in Eric Knowles’s South East Asia naval campaign set in WW1. As the ‘new kid on the block’ I was given command of the smallest navy that would see service - in this case the Turkish - and so my interest in all things Ottoman was born. To this day I can still see the serried ranks of Janissaries deployed beneath the walls of Vienna when we undertook the refight of the siege of 1683. It was an impressive sight and it took the combined efforts of three other figure collections to match it on the day. Eric’s son Bill still has the terrain that was used to represent both the Turkish camp and Vienna itself.

Fast forward to the present day and I am sitting on a huge collection of unpainted 25/28mm late 17th and 18th century figures which means that the wherewithal to revisit this is certainly present. I should at this point state for the record that I have absolutely no intention of emulating the Vienna set up!

It has made me look long and hard though, at the unpainted Ottoman Turkish collection (amongst others) that Eric had built up and what I can do with it. Bill has already said that I can have this portion of the collection but as we have discussed, even in its unpainted form is far too large for my needs. I have a size in mind and this will also be the basis for the opposition - whatever that may eventually be!

Whilst I was pondering this thorny issue I had the occasion to visit a previously unknown second hand bookshop near to where I live. It proved to be a useful visit as I picked up a couple of titles of special significance for where my whimsical nature is currently residing....

I have read this in the past and it is a good primer for the subject. I had previously disposed of many of the books I owned on the earlier Ottoman Empire so a minor shopping expedition may well be on the cards!

The other title is one that I missed out on when it was out but have had a weather eye open for it ever since. I have always had an interest in the Indian subcontinent during the 18th century and this is is really the story of the East India Company. Eric had started on a collection of assorted native Indian troops - no Sepoys though - and so I am thinking that at some point he may have contemplated gaming the wars of Robert Clive. Given the size of his Ottoman Turkish collection I dread to think what his idea of a Moghul style army would have looked like!

A useful addition to the 18th century section of my library. 

All of the above factors and the continuing sorting of the lead mountain has really given me much to think about. Trying to guess what was in the mind of Eric with even a fraction of this collection is proving to be a challenging (and frustrating!) experience but I am honoured to have the opportunity to do so. I will be raising a couple of forces from his collection and I hope that this will, in some small way, help to preserve Eric’s legacy.

Minifigs and Maxi Problems

The famous Minifigs logo. I remember buying their figures from a small shop in Charing Cross and then over at Victoria in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The whole range is now available from Caliver Books.

It has not arisen yet but I can foresee a fairly significant problem looming over the horizon in respect of the Eric Knowles 18th century lead mountain. The unpainted 25/28mm collection contains a significant number of figures produced by that stalwart of wargaming history - Miniature Figurines or Minifigs as we usually refer to them.

For me, from the mid 1970s until the early 1980s armies of Minifigs for all periods from the time of the Pharaohs until the Great War strode across the table tops of the wargaming world. Their catalogue was an inspiring read in its own right and I can remember the sheer thrill of having one drop through the letter box and be read until the pages came loose! In 25mm or 15mm when choosing a new army the first thought (after 'is there an Osprey or a Blandford on it?') was invariably 'do Minifigs do it?' For breadth of coverage and uniformity of quality and pose Minifigs had a huge impact on the wargames of the world. The figures were basic but would reward a good paint job as well as more basic brushwork and although wooden in terms of pose were ideal for using en masse.

Minifigs 25mm Seven Years War infantry.

Now I am going to put this out there and certainly remain to be corrected but I believe that the reason we do not see quite so many Minifigs based armies around is simply because figure ranges now are not only larger but are also more detailed and animated. There is nothing wrong with this as there was nothing wrong with Minifigs - tastes have simply moved on and so it is very rare to see armies of Minifigs alongside Front Rank or Essex for example - simply because the ranges are so different.

I have absolutely no problem with Minifigs but I can see why they may not tick all the boxes for the evolved gamers of today.

Eric had no qualms about mixing ranges in his armies and indeed, was also usually fairly relaxed about such considerations as scale. This means that for most of his armies there is invariably a number of units of Minifigs - usually the first he raised for a particular project.

The problem that I think will arise is that whilst the Front Rank, Essex, Redoubt and later Hinchliffe will find a new home readily enough the early indications are that the perfectly usable Minifigs may well be left behind. This is a conversation that Bill and I will be revisiting in due course but in the meantime I will seeking out those gamers that enjoy using these classic figures.

Scaling a Lead Mountain....Part 2

A useful reference on the army of Hanover during the Seven Years War. Eric had one of these (I mean the army - I am not sure about the book although it would not surprise me in the least!)

Following on from my post of earlier I received a very helpful email from Bill in connection with the ‘missing’ 18th century unpainted figures and it not only confirmed a couple of things for me but also raised yet more questions! To give you a better idea of the enormity of this undertaking, the sorting and cataloguing, I am showing you the list that Bill sent me. The figures are all in unit boxes so he merely carried out a headcount based the labels of the contents in each one. Taking that into consideration there is around another 5 or 6 crates worth which I shall be taking delivery at the end of next month.

The questions that were answered for the main addressed some gaps in the army compositions of those force I have already. A good example of this concerns the Polish army. I have all the cavalry whilst the infantry lurked in Bill’s loft. The British infantry for the 1680 to 1700 period - all 734 of them - was another notable absentee. It is safe to say that Eric liked his armies in ‘the grand manner’ and one wonders when on earth he would have gotten around to painting this lot, much yet use it!

I have added a few comments alongside some of the entries but the names and

Indian or Afghan - I have a small selection of Indian types - foot, mtd and gunners

34 mtd

14 foot

1680-1720 Turkish - I thought I had the whole lot already but obviously not....
162 foot

238 gunners, train guards, drivers etc

SYW 1740-1780 Italian Umbriago - NEW
77 mtd
235 foot

1680-1700 Polish - I already have the mtd element for this army
2 mtd
358 foot

Marlburian Danish - NEW
149 foot
64 mtd
6 guns and limbers

1680-1720 miscellaneous - NEW but there are also some other miscellaneous types I have
124 foot
79 mtd

1680-1700 British - I already have the mtd element for this army
734 foot

1680-1720 Dutch - NEW
438 foot
113 mtd

Marlburian French - I have a good selection of other figures for this army
108 mtd
33 foot

1720-1780 French - I have the foot for this army
108 mtd

French Colonial - NEW
235 foot
6 Canoes

Prussian Brandenburg 1680-1720 - I have a selection of foot and mtd for this army
28 foot
108 mtd

1740-1780 Prussian - I have a small selection of figures already for this army
390 foot
67 mtd

1740-1780 Hanover - NEW
126 mtd
613 foot

4 guns and limbers

1680-1720 Portuguese - NEW
79 mtd
209 foot

SYW Austrian Cavalry - I have the foot and some mtd for this army.
217 mtd
44 foot

Of all the above the one thing that really piqued my curiosity was the army described as the Seven Years War Italian Umbriago - a collection of some 77 mounted and 235 foot. I will check with Bill but if this is correct (and I have no doubt that it is) then Eric was organising a second ‘imagi-nation’ alongside the Electorate of Bustenberg. At the time of writing Bill is preparing a list of the units for 'Umbriago' so we can see what is there and if my theory is correct. Again, should this be correct then it is a second 18th century 'imagi-nation' that Eric was considering.

Until I take delivery of this lot I have no way of knowing what figures Eric has used although I suspect that usual suspects of Minifigs, Front Rank, Essex, Hinchliffe and even Wargames Foundry will feature alongside the smattering of Hinton Hunt and Les Higgins.

'Umbriago' was a song (and an imaginary comic sidekick) by the famous American entertainer Jimmy Durante. Whether or not it will receive a reinvention as an Italian themed 18th century 'imagi-nation' only time will tell!

Thoughts on The Electorate of Bustenberg

One of the many surprises that came out of the eleven crates of unpainted 18th century figures from the collection of Eric Knowles was number of unit boxes designated 'The Electorate of Bustenberg'. The boxes consisted of units of horse and foot and rather a lot of gunners with figures from the final quarter of the 18th century that eventually filled an entire crate. The units all had names so a certain amount of preparation and forethought had been undertaken by Eric and indeed, the whole set up formed a complete and sizeable army for the period.

Nobody, including Eric's son Bill, knew anything about this particular project of Eric's and aside from some small notes about uniform details - Eric was very organised about such things - contained in a few of the unit boxes themselves, the whole thing is a bit of a mystery.

The Army of the Electorate of Bustenberg

Cavalry

Erzherzogin Leibgarde - 10 figures

Bustenhalter Kuirassiers - 18 figures

Fieldelbaum Dragoons - 16 figures

Jäger Zu Pferde Biergarten - 14 mounted plus 7 dismounted figures

Infantry

Garde Zu Fuss - 33 figures

Von Boozy - 33 figures

2nd Line - 36 figures

Vlaming Fusiliers Limburg - 34 figures

Vlaming Fusiliers Brabant - 36 figures

Vlaming Regiment Ghent - 31 figures

Der Freischutz Light Infantry 1st regiment - 28 figures

Der Freischutz Light Infantry 2nd regiment - 22 figures

Combined Grenadiers - 14 figures

There is also 46 gunners as well as mounted generals etc.

Interestingly the figures are quite late in the century compared to the rest of the collection as the infantry are wearing trousers and bicornes whilst the heavy cavalry looks suspiciously like British Napoleonic heavy dragoons.

It is fascinating to speculate exactly what Eric intended for this part of his collection although given that he had the 18th century already covered with his historical armies he may not have prioritised it. I must confess that seeing this and all the attendant figures for the other forces did make me think rather whimsically about my own aspirations in the 'imagi-nation' direction.

The Grand Duchy of Artois and the Electorate of Kronenbourg have existed as an idea for at least ten years, probably longer. I still have the list regimental names for each side - Artois taking theirs from the names of various wines whilst Kronenbourg are after continental beers.

The one thing that struck me though about all this is that these ideas need to be acted upon or, as in the case of the Electorate of Bustenberg, they pass away into history with their creator.

Thoughts on Imagi-nation Uniforms

A selection of French Zouaves wearing the turbaned fez. Note the 'camp follower' on the shoulders of the right hand figure!

My recent blog posts concerning imagi-nations have generated a number of comments that have given me much to think about – for which I am very grateful to those that took the time to write in.

In the interests of clarity I would like to detail what it is I am going to do and how in respect of the Spencer Smith project.

Initially I will be producing a pair of 1860/1870 armies organised as per Charge! and intended for use with a number of rules sets including A Gentleman’s War, Charge! (there is a Victorian variant on the Old School Yahoo Group as I recall), the Portable Wargame and The Men Who Would Be Kings (yes I know they are designed for Colonials but they would work well enough for what I am planning).

I was considering using the ACW figures as intended to support my 1/600th naval collection but have decided instead to follow the imagi-nation route as this will give me a lot more creative licence. The forces in question will be supported by a full back story complete with the all-important map (which will naturally feature some water for the naval side) and the essential dramatis personae.

At this stage I have not settled on the two armies yet  - whether they will appear as Kronenberg and Artois or Fezia and Rusland. The figures I will be using initially are kepi, trouser and tunic wearing ACW types and so there will be plenty of historical examples of similar uniforms to serve as inspiration. The kepi, trouser and tunic combination was a very popular style of uniform for the 1860 to 1870 period until the Prussian style came into vogue (and I am indebted to Bob Cordery for mentioning that to me). Aside from the American Civil War, uniforms of this type featured in the Italian Wars of Unification and the Pacific war amongst others which means that the standard kepi-wearing ACW infantryman is a very useful figure indeed. Fezia on the other hand, will be a little more problematic as there is but a solitary Zouave figure in the Spencer Smith range wearing a turbaned fez.

The Zouave style of uniform was again very popular for a while during the period in question and so would allow for some elements of the exotic in the armies under consideration. Should Fezia make an appearance then this fellow would serve as the rank and file for the regular army and probably as a Bashi-Bazouk style irregular alongside the Croats, Pandours and other assorted Balkan types available from Spencer Smith.

The Spencer Smith ACW Zouave - again wearing the turbaned fez

The 84th New York Zouaves from the brush of the very talented Jim Duncan 

Chronologically speaking I am approaching this toy soldier project from the wrong way round. I hope to tackle the 18^th century in due course but for now the third quarter of the 19^th century will hold sway. Of course there is also the small matter of the Napoleonic Wars ‘twixt the tricorne and kepi period….

....And the naval dimension....

Just my imagi-nation....Once again

Founded in 1664 the Electorate of Kronenbourg changed the spelling of their name in 1715 to remove any Gallic overtones.

The Grand Duchy of Artois dates from 1366 and has been bickering with Kronenberg on and off since 1700. Aside from border disputes and police style actions there has been at least three wars directly between the two sides

In my last post I mentioned about the two ‘imagi-nations’ I came up with several years ago, originally for an 18^th century set up. The Electorate of Kronenberg and The Grand Duchy of Artois were inspired by Messrs Grant, Young and Lawford and took their names from two well known beers. I liked both the names but ‘Germanised’ the spelling of Kronenbourg so it looked less French. I had great fun looking up names of German and continental beers for the regiments in the army of Kronenberg and the names of wines for those of Artois. As an example the senior heavy cavalry regiment in the Kronenberg army is the Holstein Kuirassiere whilst Artois has the Cuirassiers du Chablis. You get the general idea. I also toyed with the idea of having a ‘British’ force where all the units were named after cheeses but the idea never really matured….

My own opinion is that one has to make a huge leap of faith to produce an imagi-nation to its fullest extent. By its fullest extent I mean designing uniforms and standards etc as well as the terrain and the whole back story because, let’s be honest, most imagi-nations are very much personal affairs meaning that inevitably a carefully painted unit of one’s own design will not find favour with the more serious historical fraternity – other than to admire the brushwork perhaps. You would also probably have a job selling them on should the need arise. If I am honest this had always been a problem for me as I am a notoriously slow and reluctant painter so painting something with little resale value was not something I was keen on. Churning out a unit based on a whim is all well and good as long as one is fully committed to the cause and is in it for the long haul. I am far more relaxed about this kind of thing now – I am pleasing myself primarily after all - and so ‘imagi-neering’ is a lot more viable. I suppose I am at that stage of my gaming career when the idea of ‘pleasing myself’ rather than ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is far more important!

Messrs Young and Lawford mentioned in Charge! about the advantages of using mythical armies and of being able to design one’s own uniforms and standards etc. I have no problem with this and have even worked on the basic colours used for each side. The end result will not surprise you in that the main coat colour for Kronenberg infantry is dark blue whilst those of Artois are mid to light grey. Regimental facings would be applied to the usual places – turnbacks, cuffs etc and the cavalry would usually be more colourful and not follow the uniform conventions of their foot compatriots.

For the 18^th century I would opt to use the Spencer Smith War of the Austrian Succession range rather than the later and more traditional figures seen in The Wargame. I would do this simply because the choice is far better and more complete than the original eighteenth century range and the figures lend themselves to an easier paint job.

There is also the possibility of pitting the two opponents in later years so it would be possible to raise Napoleonic forces – again, Spencer Smith have a small Napoleonic range - and then the same for the third quarter of the 19^th century – naturally with a naval dimension adding to the fun. Producing pairs of armies for three different periods is obviously a long term project but it would enable different types of games to be fought as tactics and technology evolved. One could ensure a degree of continuity between the combatants and their units which helps to flesh out the story.

For me at the present time the great debate is whether to go historical or imagi-nation for my Spencer Smith project and if the latter will Kronenbourg and Artois see the light of day or will those old adversaries Fezia and Rusland cross swords once again?

I have time to think about this and so am not going to make any hasty decisions – I have done this far too many times in the past and have lived to regret it – as I have a number of supporting ideas to consider as well.

"It was just my Imagi-nation (once again)....Running away with me...."*

 

FW 190 A3 in Turkish markings. This is my favourite German fighter of the war although I must confess to having a liking for the Me 109 G series....

 

* With apologies to any Motown fans....

I now have a lot of Axis and Allies game pieces. When I say a lot I mean around 7 sets worth so there is a prodigious amount of plastic to play around with. Initially I was looking at purely historical forces - meaning some acquisitions from Historical Boardgames to round out the naval forces was needed - and certainly these will feature but I was struck by the amount of material that would be, well, spare.

The solution came to hand quite unexpectedly and as is usual in these cases, I was left kicking myself as to why I had not thought about it previously.

Some while ago I had a brief flirtation with the Turkish army of WW2. I had notions of a scenario whereby the Turks had thrown in their lot with Germany and that a German 'Asia Korp' had been sent to bolster the Turkish Army and was engaged in the Caucasus. there was even a couple of blog posts on the subject as I recall.

Historically of course Turkey opted to remain neutral despite being courted by both the allies and the axis - she was simply not in a fit state economically to engage in a modern war.

The scenario I envisaged to a certain extent mirrored that of the Germans supporting the Italians in the desert and for sure, the advantages to Germany of having the Turks as allies would be many (and was probably why Churchill was so relieved with the Turks 'Ally friendly' neutrality). Although Germany supplied the Turks with some Panzers and aircraft - they really liked the FW190 - the government were able to keep them at arm's length for the duration of the war. Indeed the provision of the tanks mentioned - 56 Pzr 3 J/H and 14 Pzr 4 G - was accompanied by some none-too-subtle prompting during March to May 1943 for the Turks to attack Russia.

Had Turkey thrown in their lot with the Germans the effects could have been far reaching. To begin with the Russians would have a belligerent Turkey on and behind their Southern flank - launching an offensive to coincide with Operation Zitadelle - the Kursk operation. This would have forced the Soviets to keep substantial forces away from the main fight against the Germans. The British would have to ensure that sufficient forces were deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean to counter any potential Turkish moves in the Middle East. This in turn would have had an impact on the Western Mediterranean.

Luckily it never took place but what a 'what if?'

This leads me back to the opening paragraph in that I have an enormous amount of spare kit from the Axis and Allies sets I have been acquiring. A lot of this could be pressed into service to bolster the Turkish armed forces for operations against the Russians and indeed, the use of a German 'Asia Korp' alongside the better known 'Afrika Korp' means that the US supported British forces could be caught between the two.

The more I think about this the more interesting it seems.

Something to ponder methinks.

As a postscript to the supply of German material the Allies responded by shipping to Turkey 25 M4 tanks, 220 M3 tanks, 180 Valentines and 150 Mark 6 Light Tanks as well as a goodly selection of aircraft.

Turkey eventually threw in their lot with the allies and declared war on Germany in February 1945.

Army Red or Blue?

"There are those who raise Armies carefully designed to represent actual units and formations. This is not without disadvantages. Having failed to attain command of the corps it may be a consolation to include one's old Regiment in the Order of Battle, but it is perhaps safer to concentrate on forces of mythical powers. It will save endless arguements as to the impossibility of the Umpteenth Foot ever being routed and so on. And besides if you have any flair for military millinery it leaves you to exercise your own inventive powers in designing uniforms, colours, standards and all the panoply of military life in a more ceremonious age." 

Charge! Or How To Play War Games by Brig. P. Young and Lt. Col. J.P. Lawford

I don't know if it is just me but whilst many gamers are happy to to design fictitious armies for the 18th century - and I should qualify that by meaning to the extent that they design the "uniforms, colours, standards and all the panoply of military life" - the 19th century is by comparison relatively poorly served. What I have seen though are many gamers using historical armies in an imagi-nation setting. To my mind this is not quite the same thing as what the good Brig and the Lt. Col. intended so I wonder what readers thoughts are?

I should point out that in my opinion gamers should be able to tackle their chosen period in whatever fashion they desire but it did cross my mind about the uniform aspect. Why not design uniforms using historical models for your own armies - be they set during the Wars of Napoleon or any of the other campaigns during the 19th century?

I have given this some thought on and off for some time now and have made a point of studying, for want of a better expression, military 'fashion'. In its simplest form you could say that there are three periods up to around about 1870 or thereabouts. I call these the 'tricorne' period followed by the 'shako' period and finishing with the 'kepi'. I realise that the Prussian style helmet was also influential and I would include this as following the kepi. In each case of course there would the inevitable overlap.

Whilst the tricorne was pretty much the same whichever army you served - usually the level of lace or cockades being the only difference the shako was a little less standardised. In my opinion the bell topped version was the most common type and so any troops thus attired could serve for pretty much anybody at one stage or another. Similarly with the kepi. One could also extend this to the Prussian style helmet.

My point is that for the most part figures in the requisite headgear could serve in any number of armies, regardless of national affiliation and therein lies the attraction when designing ones own forces. Selecting a suitable attired figure for the 'era' and then designing the uniform colours should be easy enough and there are certainly mainly smaller and less well known armies that could provide additional inspiration if needed. Going down this path certainly opens many avenues as one could utilise the best figures (and I mean that from the perspective of uniform styling rather than casting detail) to form ones miniature forces.

The title of this post of course refers to that staple of military maps and professional training - the concept of the blue army and the red army. These alone could provide the basis for a pair of matching  opponents (and have indeed done so) with the main uniform colour of red or blue reflecting the affiliation of the force in question.

This is leading somewhere - I just have to decide where that somewhere is!

Homage to Riskovia

Ok, ok, ignore the unpainted and garish looking figures and just think about the potential....with grateful thanks in advance to the good Kaptain for using one of his pictures

It never ceases to amaze me how ideas that crop up on other peoples blogs really give you a light bulb moment; a moment of 'why didn't I think of that?' style clarity. So it was with a post a short while ago by one of m blog readers, Kaptain Kobold of Hordes of the Things fame. In a nutshell, he had acquired a quantity of Risk plastic figures and had used them to great effect to fight a wargame using a set of Marlburian era rules. The figures were blue-tacked to card bases of the appropriate sizes and the action was fought as follows: More Maurice.

I have acquired three sets worth of the figures from this version of Risk and this post proves to me quite happily that I was wise to do so. The potential for 18th century imagi-nations is huge and I have absolutely no excuse (other than sheer slothfulness) for not doing something of my own accord.

Of course painting something like a thousand figures may have something to do with it not having happened thus far but perhaps I really should bite the bullet and just get on with it!

In the footsteps of T.E. Lawrence

A newer edition of Doughty's classic work - alas abbreviated!

It is no secret that I am great admirer of T.E. Lawrence - especially his activities during the period of the Arab Revolt during the Great War. In fact the whole region of the Middle East has long held a fascination for me and dovetails in nicely with my interest in the Ottoman Turks. I will get around to gaming the revolt at some point but not for the present as I have too many other distractions to service. The reason for mention of this interest of mine is because today I was absolutely delighted to acquire another copy of Arabia Deserta by Charles M. Doughty.

The main interest for me of this book is that Doughty spent some two years travelling around Arabia during the 1870s and his resultant travel guide (Arabia Deserta) was considered to be an epic of its kind and one of the finest books of its type ever written. The original edition was in two volumes and weighed in at some 600,000 words and was published as a limited edition of 500 copies only in 1888. Lawrence campaigned long and hard to have the book republished and so it was in 1921 although again it was a limited edition. In 1931 Edward Garnett was tasked by the publishers, Jonathan Cape, to produce an edited version of around 130,000 words as a popular edition. I have a copy of this and it is fascinating read albeit a little disjointed although given it is less than a quarter of the size of the original this is perhaps understandable.

The Edward Garnett 1931 edition

Lawrence used this book extensively and looked upon it with almost Bible-like reverence as the guide for many of his travels across the Middle East. In fact, the edition that Lawrence campaigned to have produced in 1921 contained an introduction written by him which is happily reproduced in the new edition I have acquired.

Needless to say this came from a boot sale for £1 and the book is quite simply beautiful. It contains a number of full sized plates of paintings from various Middle Eastern themed collections as well as a number of photographs taken by such famous travellers as Gertrude Bell and Captain William Shakespear (I kid you not!). As an aside I would like to find out more about the good Captain as apparently he travelled across Arabia with a case of wine and a collapsible bath tub and a huge plate camera!

Aside from the pictures this edition has been very carefully considered in terms of the content and so whilst abbreviated from the original the story has a much more structured approach than that of Garnett's version. Between the two books then I should have a far better idea of what the whole title covers and just why Lawrence was so enamoured with it.

All in all it is very good material for a desert loving Englishman!

From a gaming perspective this kind of book is a priceless resource to the background of what the desert was like in the 1880s and the use of this information for the creation of any number of imagi-nations is obvious.

Wilfred Thesiger, the noted explorer and himself a traveller of the desert described the edition I have just acquired as being "The very essence of that perceptive masterpiece."

I shall enjoy this and no mistake.

Rolling up the Loins and Girding the Sleeves

"Do, or do not. There is no try." Yoda.

I would like thank everybody for all the comments re my 'Great Debate' - as ever they have been very supportive and have also served to bump start my 'reality chip' and so the plan is now back on after my temporary blip. My FLW set up will have to wait awhile (there is plenty of time in any event - especially from the funding perspective!) as I shall refocus my efforts on matters closer to home.

I shall be making a concerted effort to tackle the 15mm Balkan Wars figures first in the guise of the Russian and Turkish armies of the 1890s or Fezia and Rusland as they will be known. The 1935 kit will join the ACW ships on the back burner for the time being - especially as I hope to unveil some really exciting news very soon which will take up even more time but in a very good way.

The two 15mm armies (for which I have everything I need) consist of around 80 foot, 15 mounted and three guns a side. The great figure clean up is already underway and I am really keen to get some figures on the Hexon terrain so want to push on with this as much as I can. Meanwhile, the blocks will be in action once again as plans continue for my inaugural game on the new terrain as and when it arrives.

"All right, let's move like we've got a purpose" Corporal Hicks, Aliens

Smokestack Lightening....

The legendary bluesman in a cheerful frame of mind

" I woke up one mornin',
Feelin' so bad, I thought I was dead....
Got the wrong warships in my collection,
So I got me a plan instead...."

Ok, so I know it is not classic blues as played by Muddy Walters, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Lee Hooker etc but the idea is broadly the same!

The offending model, of which I have but a single example - note the obvious large calibre guns on each corner of the superstructure.

The warships in question refer to my collection of Minifigs/BMC style 1:2000th scale models and my plan to drop cast those models that I need more of. I have hit a bit of a problem. In a nutshell, the model that I thought was a Canopus type pre dreadnought (and therefore as near to being a standard configuration for the type as you could get) is in fact nothing of the kind. On closer inspection it appears to be a King Edward VII class battleship as it has a distinctive 9.2" gun on each corner of the central superstructure. Although it has the symbol 'B3' on the stern it appears that this was a 1950s era copy of the original BMC models incorrectly described as a Canopus. This is a blow but one I have given some thought to along the lines of some fairly drastic remedial action.

Swiftsure and Triumph - and the potential saviours of my cunning plan!

Take a close look at the model above - that of HMS Swiftsure, the second class battleship taken over, with her sister, HMS Triumph, and completed for the Royal Navy. They have virtually a typical configuration for the pre dreadnought battleship type - the central superstructure with a pair of funnels atop. There is plenty of space on the top of the central superstructure to add a further funnel if need be and this was something I was considering going forward for representing different classes but then, it came to me (and this is the drastic part).

If I removed the funnels entirely (Smokestack Lightening if you will....) and ensured that the top surface of the superstructure was suitably 'flush' then the resulting casting would need to have these added afterwards. This would be no problem and plastic tubing in various suitable sizes is available for that very purpose.

Why bother? Well, simply put, by having the freedom to position the funnels where I choose, not to mention the quantity, I can represent any number of battleship types, albeit in silhouette. There is room for three funnels easily and so this would allow some of the German types to appear.

The cruiser being considered for some novel surgery

The same idea can also be applied to some of the cruisers I own and so that is also an option I will explore further. It does mean that a couple of originals will be sacrificed for the greater good though - the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few....

Live long and prosper.