My ACW Collection - The Foundations

A Kurz and Allison print of the Battle of Franklin, 1864

First of all the biggest news surrounding this project. The balance of my Spencer Smith 30mm ACW Kurz and Allison/Old Toy Soldier inspired figures arrived yesterday and boy, oh boy are they something special! I need to base them before they get their blog post review and this will taking place over the next few days. There is 116 foot, 24 mounted and 6 guns in all - the foot and horse will be mounted on individual bases whilst the guns will be free standing. the artillery component seems rather large for the number of figures - especially when you consider that there are only 12 gunners in total, 6 for each side - but bear in mind that his collection is replicating the components of the board game Battle Cry. If I was using the maximum amount of artillery in a game then two gunners per piece would be in order (the same as Battle Cry and the Portable Wargame), if using two guns then the crews can be three figures and a single piece could have four - one has to be mindful of the aesthetic appeal after all....

As befits the basic, even crude, nature of Spencer Smith figures opting for a glossy, old toy soldier style paint job was a no brainer. You will have to take my word for it (at least until the bases are done that is) that they look lovely and I am so pleased with the end result. Again, full details will be forthcoming on the appropriate blog post.

Supporting the figures and ship models I have quietly built up a modest library of relevant titles but one must be mindful of the fact that the American Civil War is covered by the written word on a truly epic scale and the real difficulty is picking out what not to buy rather than what to buy! As a rule I tend to take a high level overview of the subjects I am interested in but will drill down further into a specific area if required. Whilst I fully applaud and admire those hardy souls that can quote to the day and specific regulation when the lower cuff button of the Umpteenth Foot's officer's mess jacket changed that level of detail is usually way beyond my level of attention!

For the Civil War the library looks something like this:

Battles and Leaders - 4 volumes plus Annals of the Civil War which was a kind of extension to the base set.
The American Civil War - John Keegan
Rally Once Again - Paddy Griffith
Battles of the American Civil War, 1861 - 1865, Kevin Dougherty et al
Thunder along the Mississippi and Gunfire around the Gulf - Jack Coombe
Ships of the Civil War 1861 - 1865 - Kevin Dougherty

For uniforms there is a very good section on the ACW in the Encyclopedia of 19th Century Uniforms which is very handy..

The above selection is very modest indeed and for sure I will add to it but only on a selective basis. I would be keen to explore anything in connection with the War in the West, especially anything river based as well as the campaign leading up to the fall of Atlanta and the 'march to the sea'. I would also like to expand the naval section where I can.

The important thing though, is that I have a solid core of books to be working with in the short term.

The games I will be playing with the collection will be Command and Colours/Portable Wargame based with the occasional foray into A Gentleman's War and Rebels and Patriots. I also envisage using the figures as units on a campaign map for when a strategic game takes my fancy so my recent acquisition of A House Divided has assumed even greater importance in the overall scheme of things.

From a practical perspective I need to think about some suitable terrain and of course a playing area. I am torn between investing once again in some Hexon or getting a dedicated gaming mat - neither of which are cheap options. An alternative will be to hex grid one of the GW playing mats I have using a permanent marker. Laborious but cheap to do and with the advantage that the off cut section could be cut into hex sized terrain pieces. I also need to think about ships. Realistically I can see me making around a dozen models - fifteen at the most - and these will be generic types rather than detailed historical models. I have already mentioned that these will be larger than my previous efforts - I am working to 5.5" grid - and that I plan to make them usable for both sides as required by the simple expedient of having interchangeable flags.

This modest collection of figures will enable me to fight wargames up and down the scale from strategic down to skirmish level and the realisation of this fact has given me much to ponder for my future endeavours.

Preparing the Ground (and the Water)

At long last I have a copy (again)! Having said that, Worthington Games are soon to be releasing their Hold the Line ACW game using blocks rather than figures - no command cards though in common with the AWI and F and I versions

I have often mentioned about my unfortunate habit of being overly ruthless when consigning a project to history. I tend to be all teeth and claws when embarking on 'the next best thing' but sadly my attention span can be far too easily swayed in other directions. I frequently end up disposing of the acquired material - usually at a loss - and then reinvesting the proceeds into something else that is new and shiny. This goes on ad infinitum and has been a major feature of my gaming career since as far back as I can remember.

The American Civil War is a case in point. My earliest introduction to the period came via Airfix but it was not until I moved to London in the late 1970s that actually gamed the period using painted armies. the figures were 15mm and the rules of choice were Johnny Reb or a set called, if memory serves me correctly, Circa 1863. I disliked both sets, Johnny Reb more so and remember some truly epic 'frank exchanges of opinion' whilst using them. It quite put me off.

I would have to say that my interest in the period was maintained throughout by virtue of the naval side until the appearance of Battle Cry. Now I have owned a set of the original version of this game and also the 150th anniversary edition but both have long since gone. I have come to regret this, mainly because not only did they give a cracking game but they also assumed a significant role in my Command and Colours enjoyment. I am therefore, delighted to have been able to track down a sealed copy for a reasonable price. My motivation for the period is far deeper now and with the imminent arrival of the 30mm Spencer Smith ACW collection I shall be set fair for some entertaining games in the coming months.

Lots of full colour side views and some technical detail - a welcome addition to the collection.

I have also mentioned previously that my particular interest in the Civil War tends to be tied to the operations around the rivers and swampy bayous of the South and West. If you look back far enough you can see details of the great scratch building project I undertook (some 50 plus models all told) where all the models had to fit on a 4" hex. Some of them even featured in a couple of games using the block armies. The models have long since gone and sadly so did the library that went with it. I have replaced a couple of titles: Thunder along the Mississippi and Gunfire around the Gulf - both by Jack D. Coombe - and have added the book you see above published by those very nice people at Amber Books. By no means is this a super detailed title but for my planned models this time around it will be more than sufficient. If I can get a copy of Gibbons work on the subject or that of Paul Silverstone it would be a bonus but it is not really essential. I have a very nice book on river gunboats and a number of Ospreys that will help. remember, the models I am looking at now will be larger and taller cartoon style ships as I was to use them alongside the 30mm figures. They will be scaled to fit a 5.5" hex grid (my Peter Pig Hammerin' Iron mat) and will be generic types.

Finally, I always intended to fight Civil War battles on a campaign basis - either as a series of linked scenarios or something more elaborate. In my mind's eye I have a kind of 'almost but not quite' Vicksburg kind of affair or possibly something set a little earlier. I have even looked at the waterways in the area I live and there is much potential for a 'not quite an actual US state' set up or, as is my preferred modus operandi the old Hollywood stand by of 'based upon'.

Now in its fourth edition - a classic strategic level game of the Civil War

A House Divided by Frank Chadwick is an award winning strategic level game of the Civil War using a point to point movement system. A version of the map appeared, I believe, in the ACW expansion for his original Volley and Bayonet rules. There is no doubt in my mind that the system could be readily adapted to suit my needs even if I decide to create my own US state to fight over.

To finish this post then all I can say is that a number of crucial elements have come together at the right time and so for the first time in a long while I feel confident about what I will be doing for the period. For sure there is still work to be done - I need to think about some terrain as well as the ships, there is even a few other figures to be added although initially these are not essential.

It has been a while getting it all together but at last I can look forward to gaming the Civil War in the way I want to and more importantly, in a way that I will enjoy.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 43

 I remember the TV series of Michael Wood's book and I have been in search of a hardback version for ages. The paperback is of a subject I am hugely fond of - both the island itself and of the WW2 story. I had not seen this book and so have immediately started a trawl for a hardback version!

What a weekend! Aside from the blistering heat there was an epic test match with a stunning victory over the Aussies, Chelsea secured their first win in the Premier League under Frank Lampard, we had a family day out with my grandson by the sea catching crabs (11 in total) with a hand line, my son knocked up a barbecue extravaganza and SWMBO and I even managed to sneak in a boot sale visit!

Dare I say it? PHEW!!

On the gaming front I managed to get a lot of sorting out attended to and the disposal of Eric's 20mm WW2 collection has begun. I also managed to get rather a lot of packing finally taken care of although there was some issues with the courier which continue to delay matters slightly. Nothing serious, just a combination of a WiFi handset and poor broadband being the likely offender.

The decks have been cleared for when the ACW 30mm collection arrives and in truth, the fourth quarter of this year will be something of an ACW fest as I am really keen to get some games in and to make a start on the ship models I am planning.

The two purchases you see above came from our preferred local boot sale and meant spending £1.50 for the two. My recent acquisition of Command and Colours: Medieval is set in the same time frame as Michael Wood's book although of course the warfare was very different. The Ariadne Objective features the personalities of the underground resistance to the German occupation on Crete during WW2. It looks good in an 'Ill Met by Moonlight' or 'Guns of Naverone' kind of way.

Counting on Belisarius to begin with....

Hard to believe that this book was added to my library some seven years ago!

Way back in the dim and distance days of 2012 I devised a plan to expand the coverage of my block armies to include the pre gunpowder or 'ancient' period. The plan was that by devising some fairly generic looking blocks I could happily fight wargames from the time of the Pharaohs up until the Italian Wars. Essentially the new blocks would be covering the time span of DBA. The book you see above contains some rather nice battle maps and makes use of some very useful looking map symbols for the usual variety of pre gunpowder troop types. I got as far as drafting some basic troop type labels but abandoned the attempt - mainly because I came into a large selection of Command and Colours Ancients blocks which were rather more useful than my own efforts.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - more expense....sigh....

The Command and Colours: Ancients system needs little introduction from me and it is what I would call a 'proper' ancients wargame, covering as it does the period from the Greek and Persian Wars up to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. Richard Borg has now taken the game system a stage further come up with the first release in the next sequence if you like - Command and Colours: Medieval.

I will be completely honest with you. When I first heard that this was going to released my initial reaction was frankly one of 'meh!' I had visions of endlessly replaying the Battle of Agincourt and dealing with hordes of Knights and longbow men - a subject that is only of passing interest in my world unless you get down to skirmish or Lion Rampant level. I should have had more faith in that the game above is obviously the first in what I suspect will be a long sequence.

In fact this has been confirmed by GMT themselves in that this initial release concentrates solely of the Byzantine Wars against the Sassanid Persians and occasionally the Moors. All of the various Goths and Franks the Byzantines campaigned against do not feature at all although they may appear in a future supplement.

As an aside one of my pet peeves with the Command and Colours Ancients and Napoleonics is the fact that later expansions also tend to include additional troop types from earlier editions meaning hat if one wants to have a complete army one has to buy each and every expansion. I realise that companies are not charities and by selling more they can produce more but it is irritating all the same. Perhaps in time GMT will sell complete army packs to avoid this but I suspect that is a naive hope!

The period from 500 AD to 1500AD saw the rise and dominance of the mounted arm and the subsequent shift in emphasis as the lowly foot soldier slowly came to prominence. For me there are certain periods within the span of the thousand years mentioned that are of particular interest. First and foremost I would say the Crusades which I am sure will feature in due course as will the period of the great Arab conquests. I like the idea of the Viking era but again, mainly at a Lion Rampant level.

For a detailed overview of the game take a look at the following: Command and Colours: Medieval - A Review

For my own part I am very excited about the potential of this latest version in the Command and Colours stable and the nuanced way that Richard Borg has taken the core system and 'medievalised' it for that all important period flavour. At this stage I cannot see myself producing armies for the game - at least not for this edition - although I do have a couple of sets of plastic figures from the Risk: Europe Medieval version that would be a cheap solution. I will say that I am probably more excited to see what comes next because should the Arab Conquest feature then sign me up!

Note: Belisarius was a famous Byzantine general of the period covered by the earlier years of this edition of the game and subject of a cracking fictionalised account of his life written by Robert Graves - Count Belisarius.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 42

A Russian machine gun in action. I always liked the Airfix version of this.

Slightly later this week due to a couple of domestic commitments - nothing serious, just 'life' stuff.

I have sorted out the unpainted 20mm WW2 Germans and Russians from Eric's collection and will try and get some pictures up over the bank holiday weekend. As mentioned previously the Germans are in winter garb and the models have been organised into an Atlantic Wall Fortress formation. Based on Rapid Fire there is an infantry battalion with artillery and anti tank support (crews only) and a brace of ground mounted 20mm cannons.

The Russians have what Eric described as a Scout platoon of around hundred or so figures and around 150 infantry of various sorts including two calibres of mortar and that wonderful looking Maxim machine gun complete with a shield and wheels.

All of the WW2 figures are unpainted and I shall be looking to list these on eBay over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend. In the meantime though, should anyone have any questions about them or be interested in acquiring any of the models let me know.

Mention of Eric's collection (the 18th century this time) has reminded me that I can now happily report that all except for the smattering of Napoleonics are packed and ready to go to their new homes. I amusing a courier for these and the only time I can drop them off is at the weekends which makes for a minor delay but against the scale of the projects being planned would probably be small beer! It will be a relief to clear a big chunk of the loft floor, albeit temporarily!

"If you go down to the woods today!" - watch out for the hordes of native Americans and their budget price haircuts! 

My copy of the French and Indian War expansion for Hold the Line by Worthington Games arrived and so completes the 18th century American set up. The expansion includes additional rules and scenarios - including some more for the American Revolution featuring the French - as well as more terrain tiles. there are a hundred plastic 20mm figures including a complete French army, some more militia, woodland Indians and some Roger's Rangers. As mentioned previously it is possible to buy some Hessian Grenadiers and Highlanders from the Plastic Soldier Company so I may add these at some point.

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South... Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow.. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and Slave... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilisation gone with the wind..."

The biggest news of the week though concerns my 30mm ACW Spencer Smith Kurz and Allison inspired toy soldier collection. The remaining figures have been completed and all being well will be in my hands over the next week or so. I am really excited about this and so the decks are being cleared to undertake the basing required and then I can get them into action. With this in mind I suspect that the forth quarter of the year will be very ACW facing so I had best get on with making some ships.

Some Mystery Figures....Part 1

The two figures on the left are obviously dismounted dragoons - there are around two dozen of the chap at the top and a dozen of the fellow on the bottom. Three of the standard bearer and the painted chap is one of two dozen with what looks like some Hinchliffe command figures.

The rear view. The painted chap I have a feeling may well be a Tradition figures but I am really not sure.

I mentioned previously that I am now in the latter stages of sorting out Eric's unpainted late 17th and 18th century collection. What is left - and there is still three crates worth! - falls into the 'of unknown origin' category and so I am asking readers of the blog for help in identifying them.

I rather like the standard bearer but painting that flag would be the devil's own job! The muskets/carbines the two dragoons are using are very 'chunky' but they are useful figures all the same.

If anyone has any clues about the above - there will more mystery figures to follow for sure - please let me know.

Many thanks in advance.

An 18th Century Interlude

The Worthington Games/PSC version of Hold the Line and not that by Toto or Maximus Decimus Meridius....

Now that I am coming to the end of the great 'Late 17th and 18th century unpainted figures disposal' I have, rather unsurprisingly perhaps, been thinking about wargames set in the period. I suppose that seeing all the models Eric had amassed brought back some very happy memories of games large and small (mostly the former if truth be told!) and I would be less than honest if said that the process of sorting all these goodies out had been less than inspiring.

There is something about fighting tabletop battles set in the 18^th century. I suppose for me it was cumulative effects of cutting my wargaming teeth on Charge! or The Wargame back in the early 1970s and of taking part in a number of Eric-inspired epic games when I first moved to London. With its penchant for colourful and outlandish uniforms and modest sized armies it seemed like the perfect choice for gaming on the tabletop and a good subject for study. The study portion I have enjoyed immensely but being a slightly less than enthusiastic painter I have always ducked raising model armies in the period – the effort required being far beyond my usual attention span! Many years ago I did start painting a 25mm Swedish force for the Seven Years War using Minifigs but, like far too many of my bright ideas, it fell rather ignominiously by the wayside.

Fast forward from those early days and I am still a reluctant figure painter but the hankering for something 18^th century is still there. For sure I flirted with tackling something from the figures available from Eric’s collection but the stamina required evaporated quickly. For a variety of reasons my interests tend to veer away from the mainstream European wars so things like the ’45, the French and Indian War, the War in India or the American Revolution have circled my consciousness in a kind of ‘wargaming holding pattern’.

Of the conflicts mentioned the two that would be most gameable for me are both of the American Wars which is strange given that I had made a conscious decision some years ago to leave this particular theatre behind! In a roundabout way my ACW project has given the inspiration and impetus to work backwards to the Revolution and the earlier French and Indian War. Strangely enough the war of 1812 – with the exception of the naval dimension – has never really ‘done it’ for me which is rather ironic when you consider the size of the forces involved!

The latest acquisition to the Crook collection is a copy of the Worthington Games/PSC game Hold the Line which covers the American Revolution – 34 battles from it in fact. There is a supplement which covers the French and Indian War which I currently have on order.

The French and Indian War Expansion - ideal for those Last of the Mohican moments.

For the uninitiated the Hold the Line series of games are very similar to Command and Colours but do not use command cards or special dice. This version of Hold the Line includes 20mm scaled plastic figures, rather like Battle Cry or Memoir ’44. For all intents and purposes the rules are very similar to those that I routinely used with the block armies and that were developed by Bob Cordery before the Portable Wargame – MoB or Memoir of Battle.

Some of the figures from the base game

The game contains a goodly number of 20mm plastic figures moulded in red for the British and Blue for the Americans. The French and Indian expansion includes white moulded French and green moulded woodland Indians and Roger's Rangers. There are also optional Hessian grenadiers and Highlanders. The figures are what I call 'board game based upon' rather than uber detailed and historically accurate miniatures but they are absolutely fine. There is a degree of plastic warping but nothing that the old hot and cold water trick could not put right.

Note the woodland Indian figure and the kneeling Ranger. The other figures are the same as for the Americans from the base game.

One would only need to add some command figures and gun crews and one would the basis for a pretty good set up for the period. For my own part I would not bother differentiating between the earlier and later period as far as uniforms are concerned - in fact the French figures are the same as that used for the Americans only moulded in white.

As a long term plan it would be a fun idea to replace the plastic figures with Spencer Smith 30mm figures from there 18th century range. They produce all the types I would be likely to need and with some appropriate paint conversions all the forces could be replicated in my 'based upon' style. In the meantime though I shall look forward to trying the game out.