Plodding On

This month I have continued adding to the 19th century collections from last month.

Firstly I have added an Isabelino gun and limber to the First Carlist War collection.

I have used the Perry Miniatures Napoleonic foot artillery limber team and converted one of the limber horse riders adding skirts to the jacket to make a frock coat, epaulettes and hair (the figure is designed so you can have either a Tarleton or forage cap on the figure, I added hair) with Milliput.

Next I have completed another battalion of Paraguayan infantry for the Triple Alliance collection.

Now it is further back in time to the 6th century working on Franks and Roman light cavalry.

Take care and KBO

A Final Flourish

I started June off well after a meagre May output and I have finished the month with another flourish prior to going off on another break up to Flamborough in North Yorkshire this time.

Continuing with the First Carlist War I have painted up another battalion for the Isabelinos, the Espana regiment.

Figures from Perry Miniatures.

Whilst in Black Powder period mode I have also painted two skirmishing units for the War of the Triple Alliance.

Paraguayans from Perry Miniatures.

Brazilians again from Perry Miniatures.

To keep the World War II Italian theatre project going along I have started the second British section.

AB Figures.

No games in the next two weeks as Dave and Sue will be going on their trip up north has we return.

Until next time keep cool and KBO

Top Gear

After a fairly fallow May on the painting front since returning from a week down in Cornwall I have gone up a gear. I am currently working on an Isabelino battalion of twenty figures for the First Carlist War, I have twelve completed so far.

First up I finished off four figures to complete the British infantry section for WW2 Italy action.

All AB Figures.

To break up the monotomy of painting the twenty Isabelino infantry figure I worked in these figures for an Isabelino command base. Perry Miniatures.

Also these British Auxiliary Legion staff officers, again Perry Miniatures

Some time ago probably a couple years, both Dave and I had forgot about them Dave passed these rather nifty metal palm trees onto me for the Triple Alliance scenery. I rediscovered them when searching for something else so I set to and got them painted and based up.

Our first game after our respective breaks in the South West was a French Revolutionary Wars game over at GHQ which currently features on Dave's Blog

Next week all being well over here in Darkest Rawnsley we will feature another Goth v 3rdC Romans game. On checking they last saw the table in 2024 when we thought it was only last year. Tempus Fugit so Carpe Diem and KBO.

Espana 1836

This week saw a return to the First Carlist War when we trialed the Black Powder revised turn sequence when firing comes first, see HERE

It certainly changes the game dynamic, I think we both tentatively gave it a thumbs up. We shall revisit it on Dave's bigger table and forces when we return from our respective breaks in June.

The game itself developed into an impasse by the designated usual twelve turns neither side having a clear advantage. 

Whether this is the effect of the sequence change or the fact neither side did a lot for the first three turns remains to be seen.

Here are the usual photos with comments where applicable.

Valencian volunteers take up position among the vines on the Carlist right.

Carlist artillery and a battalion of fresh volunteers anchor the right flank behind their revetment.

While their left is protected by an orange grove occupied by skirmishers.

A blunder sends one of the Carlist battalions charging forward routing the Isabelinos in the process.

They are subsequently charged by the Isabelino heavy cavalry but with their dander up they repulse the attack.

After a couple of dud rockets the next one explodes in the tube!

Having driven off the Carlist skirmishers the two right flank Isabelino battalions form square and keep the cavalry on the Carlist left at bay.

Thats all until next month in the meantime take care and KBO.

The San Marco Pass AI

As a follow up to the previous post and intrigued and inspired by Norms AI musings I asked Gemini to do a battle report based on our recent game. The description I gave was rather sparse so it sprang up some random things, Isabelino infantry in square with no cavalry present for instance and the narrative put in entrenchments and mentioned a bridge.

I also asked it to create a map and a cinematic picture here is what it generated.

I have also generated a Bolt Action scenario which I will try out here in OHQ a week Tuesday when Dave's grandson Will is joining in the fun. Whether it works we will see.

Until next time KBO

Secure The San Marco Pass

The San Marco Pass is a gateway through the local mountainous region vital for both sides of the conflict.

The Carlists fuelled by local knowledge have the initiative, however communication of orders have been an issue (queue failed order rolls). The Isabelinos force also making for the pass has suffered similar problems but were nearer to start with which negated their surprise and resulting chaotic response that a Carlist force was nearer to reaching it than thought.

By the time the Carlist force arrived the Isabelinos were already deployed across the entrance to the pass and ready to repel any Carlist attack. The Carlist commander decided that the fervour of the troops under his command would carry the the day pressed on to attack.

The Carlists advance on the deployed Isabelino infantry.

Acurate fire from the Royal Marine rocket battery causes disorder among the Carlist cavalry.

The British Auxiliary Legion advance against the Carlist right flank.

Continued fire from the rocket battery breaks the will of the Carlist cavalry to continue the fight.

The Isabelino infantry form a defensive line around the entrance to the pass 

The right flank defensive infantry line anchored on the rough terrain continues to disorder the advancing Carlist forces. While on their flank the unopposed cavalry threaten any advance from the Carlist forces onto their left.

Isabelino skirmishers harry the Carlist left flank.

The Carlists finally break one of the Isabelino battalions.

Things are not going well on the Carlist right, a battalion of volunteers is surprised and broken by the Auxiliary Legion lancers so the division on the left cannot expect any support from that quarter.

As dusk falls the Isabelinos hold the entrance to the pass, battered by poor coordination and the constant disordering fire from Isabelino musketry the Carlists withdraw into the shadows of the sierra.

Until next time may all your dice roll high where needed and of course KBO.

Valour and Fortitude I

 When I first read through Valour and Fortitude rules my immediate reaction was that they didn’t appear to have much that Black Powder didn’t deliver in game enjoyment terms. On top of of this I had serious doubts about playing on a 6 x 4 table with the corresponding lower unit count and folk saying that they were quite bloody, but then seem to enjoy them, so after all they are free and with army sheets for the periods I game I felt we should give them a try.

This week I put on a First Carlist War game to try them out, Dave took command of the Isabelino forces while I commanded the Carlist forces.

The government forces.

The Carlist forces.

The Carlists win the initiative and begin their advance.

The Isabelino forces move off to attempt to get around the Carlist left flank, this will take time as the terrain is heavy going, it does however pin some of the Carlist battalions who must holdback to counter it.

Dave sends the British Auxiliary Legion in to pin the Carlist right centre and flank.

Meanwhile the Carlist left centre has come to a halt with having to counter the advance of the Isabelino infantry and heavy cavalry.

The Auxiliary Legion lancers having already forced the Carlist Ontario hussars to retreat of table play a Fate Card, surprise attack! They charge headlong into the Carlist remaining cavalry flank routing them.

A simultaneous attack by the heavy cavalry is repulsed by the steadfast Carlist Navarre battalion in line! Dave needing 3+ and rolling 1 and two 2s!

The Carlists were now hemmed in and threatened with two cavalry units and a horse artillery battery plus the approaching battalions from the right they threw in the towel.

What did we think of the rules? Well we both thought there was lots to like, I particularly liked that different levels of troops had different firing, melee and morale values, with BP one has to use separate rules to reflect this and remember to apply them. They are definitely intended for use with large multi player games, do they transpose to smaller two person games? The jury is out on this at the moment but we will give them another run out using my Triple Alliance forces in a couple of weeks time. By the way they do play fast we managed five turns in just under two hours not bad for a first game we thought.

Until next time……………KBO 

Away Day

Yesterday saw my First Carlist War forces make the trip over to GHQ. Dave set up a suitable table, for a change Dave took control of the Carlists while William and myself took the Isabellinos. The Isabellinos consisted of two divisions the British Auxiliary Legion division was commanded by William while I commanded the second, Spanish division. Dave split his Carlists into three smaller divisions.

Dave will post his customary report over on his blog sometime tomorrow LINK be sure to pop over to read all about it. In the meantime here are some photos to tempt you further.

Cavalry Clash

The Carlists Arrive In Town

This Is Going To End Badly Chaps

Contact

Carlist Cavalry Threaten The Flank

It looks All Up For The Carlists Or Is It?

Until next time................

Toddle pip & KBO

Soldiers of Don Carlos

For this week's game I gave the First Carlist War collection another run out. For this game we would be using the Soldiers of Napoleon rules, I knocked out some troops stats based on on what I have read about the forces involved, gleaned mainly from Conrad Cairns articles in WI and his book published by the Perry brothers and Edward M. Brett's "The British Auxiliary Legion in the First Carlist War" I should also mention that Mr. Cairns has a Wargamers guide to be published by Helion, due out in the New Year.

As we are still getting to grips with the rules we did not use the tactical advantage and deployment faff prior to the game. We did however use the How Went The Day part of the rules to determine who had the initiative, this went to Dave commanding the government forces, who also gained two Victory Points due to rolling triple the Carlist score.

I unfortunately didn't take enough photos to do a coherent annotated picture report, here are some photos anyway, and if you are not bored, at the end of them a brief description of how the game went.

On the Carlist left flank both sides cavalry brigades faced off one another for most of the game, with the tide turning against the Carlists elsewhere in the field the Ontario hussars attempted to charge the Isabelino line cavalry and failed.

In the centre both sides advanced cautiously while over on the Carlist right their newly raised volunteers hotly contested the advancing British Auxiliary Legion advance, both sides losing battalions a calm came over that side of the field with neither having the strength to attack one another further. While this was going on the Royal Marine rocket battery was giving the Carlist cavalry some nuisance fire, I should really have dealt with them. After the break for lunch the tide turned in the Isabelino 's favour, the Carlist hussars finally charged and came off worse and the Carlists fruitless attempts to rally gifting the enemy victory points. The disruption points piled up breaking two Carlist battalions in the centre in turn five giving the government forces victory.

Until next time........

TTFN & KBO