Action at Orángeville and Rougebourg

This past week my dad and I were both up in Michigan for my brother's thesis defense. (Congratulations again, William!) Figuring we would probably have some time on our hands, I brought along a few miniatures, including the Proxian armies I've been working on on-and-off for the last several years. With some terrain from my dad's travel kit, and a few pieces from a "Vacationland" playset hauled up from the basement, we set up a little game on my grandmother's kitchen table.

The last time I had out these figures (was it really almost five years ago?) we used Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames. Those worked OK, but I thought they lacked a bit of period flavor, and so this time we tried his 19th-century rules instead. I liked these better overall, so we may give them another try the next time.

The scenario we came up with involved an Elabrüner attack on an Occiterran position - the Occiterrans set up in two small towns and a hill in-between, and the Elabrüners had to capture two of the three objectives within a time limit. Both sides had additional forces coming on over the first few turns. Dad decided he would prefer the role of defender, so I took the attacking force.

The situation a few turns in - most of the Elabrüner forces have arrived and started deploying.

As it turned out, my forces all arrived mostly on time and in a coherent manner - infantry behind the hill and woods opposite Rougebourg, and artillery and cavalry along the road to Orángeville. Dad's forces started off to relieve the more distant town, but I sent my cavalry out ahead to get in the way, which seemed to be well within their capabilities. One regiment managed to ride down some skirmishers before running headlong into canister fire; the other got involved in a melee with Dad's cavalry coming up from behind the town.

The Elabrüner guns have unlimbered and started to bombard the Occiterrans in Orángeville from beyond rifle range.

Most of the Elabrüner infantry has been committed to the attack on Rougebourg, while the cavalry attempts to delay Occiterran reinforcements.

A cavalry melee ensues as Elabrüner Blue Hussars clash with Occiterran cuirassiers. In the background, the last few of the Gray Uhlans throw themselves into the teeth of the Occiterran cannons.

Elabrüner and allied Nordalener infantry press on towards Rougeborg, stoutly defended by the Seridian Legion.

Since only infantry can assault towns, and they need a numerical advantage to be allowed to assault at all, I had to soften up the defenders before I could try to take either objective. Orángeville was conveniently in reach of my two artillery units, which gradually wore down the defenders, but with Rougebourg I had to push my troops forward quickly in column to cover the ground, then shake out into line to be able to shoot at the defenders, then re-form into column for the assault. This took a while, and I was fortunate that the Occiterran reinforcements had been delayed or distracted so that I had a significant numerical advantage.

With the defending Seridians driven off, Elabrüner troops occupy the town.

Artillery continues to fire on Orángeville as columns of Elabrüner infantry advance on the town. To the right, another Elabrüner unit arrives on the road from captured Rougebourg.

With one objective taken, I could now concentrate on the other, though we were about two-thirds of the way through our allotted time. Weakened by several turns of bombardment, the initial group of Occiterran defenders was wiped out by our assault, but we had taken enough casualties to be driven out in turn by an attack from fresh Occiterran troops. Fortunately I also still had one relatively fresh unit to throw into the fray, and with both towns in Elabrüner hands, the Occiterrans decided to cut their losses and pull back.

The Occiterran counterassault against Orángeville.

Final positions of the battle: with both towns occupied by Elabrün, the Occiterrans retreat back down the road.

All in all, it was a fun and satisfying little battle, and I hope to get these figures on the table again soon! 

(We also slipped in a couple of games of DBA - the long-suffering Maya finally won a battle against the Tlaxcalans)

And Cortez didn't fare too well against the Aztecs either...

Nordalen and Seridia Join the Fray

This past month I've been working on a few different things in the miniatures vein, working off some pent-up energy after painting Mycenaeans for so long. One part of this was a return to Proxia, my 19th-century Imagi-nations setting, last seen about a year ago. Part of my plan from the beginning was to have two main combatants (Occiterre and Elabrün) and then two smaller contingents that could be allies to one or the other as needed (Nordalen and Seridia). I finally got around to painting up some troops and flags for the latter, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce them. 

My concept for Seridia is that is broadly analogous to Italy, possibly with a bit of South American flair. (Some years back I was considering trying to model the War of the Triple Alliance; there's still a bit of that DNA in this Proxian project.) The Seridian flag is red, with a white canton containing a green star. Their troops may end up a little more irregular, and might feature in scenarios where I want to designate some troops of differing quality or temperament (militia, volunteers, revolutionaries, etc.) These particular figures are Italeri Confederate Infantry, though they may be supplemented by others at some point if I find ones I like the look of.

Nordalen, on the other hand, I'm imagining as a bit more like Switzerland or Scandinavia - rather mountainous and independent-minded. The Nordalener flag is a simple vertical tricolor of black, yellow, and blue. The figures I'm using for their infantry are Esci Crimean War Russians. Since I happen to have a rather plentiful supply of these, their role in scenarios may be to give provide one side a significant numerical advantage if needed.

I'm still considering what rules I would like to use for these - a few years back, my dad and I played a couple of games with them using Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames, which worked well enough but I thought lacked a little flavor. I do plan on expanding this project a bit over the coming months, so if that goes as intended I may have more options available to me. I also had (what seems to me like) a fun idea for a series of games - a sort of "Famous Battle Charades" where I would set up various well-known battles using the various Proxian armies and see if the players could guess what they were re-fighting. We'll see if I get around to that at some point...

The little things that count - wrapping up 2020

Well, I don't know quite what I expected from 2020, but this wasn't it. I do feel quite fortunate to have come through the past year unscathed, and with my family and friends generally still in good health. And for all that this was a terrible year for other things, it was a great year for me getting painting done - at some point early in January I realized I had finished an average of one figure a day, and I decided to see how long I could keep up that pace. The answer turned out to be all year - I finished yesterday with 400 figures completed. This was the first year I have kept detailed logs, but I am sure this exceeds whatever my previous record was - and it may prove to be a high-water mark for some time to come! For the fun of it, I decided to lay out everything I painted this year, all at once:

The bulk of this is my six DBA armies, but there are a number of Reaper Bones figures and a few other odds and ends for other projects in there as well. A few of the miscellaneous miniatures that rounded out the year for me:

As mentioned at the end of my last post, these are old chariots I had painted some years ago, but rebased on 60x80mm bases for DBA, and with some new chariot runners added. The runners are a couple of spares left over from my Assyrians, and a couple of Robin Hood conversions. The bowmen are more Caesar Mitannian Mariyannu Chariot archers, dismounted to use as 4Bw in DBA. Between them, these will let my Syro-Canaanite army double as list I/19 Mitanni.

The other item mentioned as forthcoming in a previous post - a second piece of artillery for Elabrün. These are Waterloo 1815's Austrian Artillery set - and in this case, Elabrüner uniforms don't diverge too much from historical Austrians...

Moving to the Reaper Bones side - at some point back in August or so, I actually ran out of the 1-inch washers usually I use for basing 28mm figures, so I switched to working on ones which went on either larger or smaller bases. These ones are all on the small side: two kobolds, and two halflings. (Or possibly a gnome and a halfling.) Alas, the kobold's mace remains bent despite repeated attempts at straightening it in boiling water. 

Some other assorted Reaper critters: the packrat had been sitting around primed but unpainted for at least a couple of years, but I finally got around to it this past month. The normal rats went much quicker. One of the things I enjoy painting most is animals (hence my delight at getting to paint some camelry earlier this year), so it was fun to paint up a couple of animal companions as a wolverine and a bald eagle. And as a Marylander, of course I had to paint the dire crab up as a blue crab!

This final one is a bit of an oddball - it's an old Mage Knight figure, carved off its original Clix base, repainted, and rebased onto one of the empty bases that had previously held a chariot. I still have several of these, so I will be on the lookout for more flying creatures or other ways I can put them to good use. And now with a giant eagle to hand, I find myself thinking about how to stage the Battle of the Five Armies, from the end of The Hobbit...

So that's it for 2020! Of course, one of the other silver linings of the past year has been the revival of this blog. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by, and especially those who have taken the time to leave comments. Hopefully this year's posts will include a few more games, but if not, I expect I will at least post pictures of whatever I decide to pain next! Happy New Year, and best wishes for 2021!

A Dispatch from Proxia

One of the projects that has mostly lain dormant this year are my imaginary 19th-century countries, Occiterre and Elabrün. (For more information on them and their various neighbors, please consult this map, or reference the Encyclopedia of Proxia - now available in a new and updated edition!) However, a recent hitch in my supply chain caused me to dredge up a couple of units that had sat on my desk since the end of last year, and get them finished off:

The fellows on the left are more Occiterran infantry (from Emhar's French Infantry set), but the origins of the Elabrüner cavalry on the right are a little more complex. For my Elabrüner infantry, I've been using Waterloo 1815's Austrian Infantry, but for some reason that set is oversupplied with officers - each box comes with both four officers on foot and four mounted officers. I decided to press some of the latter into service as cavalry instead. Unfortunately, the horses they come with are in a dramatic rearing pose, and I didn't particularly want a whole unit of these, so I scrounged up some spares to remount them: 

Cavalry conversion in progress

Their uniforms are loosely based on this and similar images of Austrian hussars from the era (though I did not bother trying to add a pelisse):

Doing these up in a more "classic toy soldier" style made for a nice change from the Bronze Age figures I've been working on, but I do have one more army I'd like to complete for that project before the end of the year. After that, we'll see - I do owe Elabrün a second artillery piece at some point...

Commencement of Hostilities

From The Times of Mindon - March 4, 1854 AUT

WAR DECLARED
Occiterran troops force border crossing near Urell
Our correspondents in Lutens and Rugen have confirmed that a state of war now exists between Occiterre and Elabrun. This follows years of tensions between the continental powers over the North Seridian question, and Emperor Jules III's repeated statements of support for the rebels in Melaponte and Pollograta...

Reports from the frontier indicate that the Occiterran First Army have seized the crossing at Rougepont, but that the Elabruner Army des Westens under General Graf von Kettefurt has repelled a two-pronged attack on the town of Urell. If the Occiterrans can take the town, they may be able to capture the key passes of the North Canton that lie beyond, threatening to sweep into the disputed provinces along the Fredda River...

A response is expected shortly from the government of the Republic of Seridia, which has also supported the North Seridian rebels. Chief Minister Athelby and the House of Thanes have reaffirmed that Stratland will remain neutral...

This past weekend, the armies of my 19th century imagi-nations, Occiterre and Elabrün, finally got their first outing. Dad and I played three games using Neil Thomas's "One Hour Wargames" rules, using the some of the scenarios included in the book. I wanted something short and simple that would require only a limited number of units, and these certainly fit those requirements. The games were fast and entertaining enough, but maybe a little too simple - it seems like the side that is forced to move is at a distinct disadvantage, since units can't move and fore, and there are no distinctions for long vs. short range. On the other hand, the combinations of slightly randomized armies and classic scenarios offers a good amount of replayability that could be carried over to a different ruleset.

Occiterran infantry crosses a river with artillery support

The first game involved the Occiterrans crossing a river, with the Elabrüners attempting to gradually withdraw their forces while holding off the Occiterran advance. While the Elabrüner troops in the town did hold off the Occiterrans for a while, by the end of Turn 15, the Occiterrans had secured the bridge and proceeded to advance across the board.

Elabrüner infantry and jaegers defend a key hill

The second game involved a small Elabrüner force defending a hill against a larger Occiterran force while waiting for reinforcements. Elabrün was fortunate to have some light infantry available in this game, who stationed themselves in the small patch of woods at the base of the hill and proved a nuisance for the Occiterrans the entire game. The Occiterran assault petered out, and the Elabrüners were able to reinforce their position.

Occiterran forces press an unsuccessful attack on a town

The third game saw the Elabrüners once again taking a defensive position, this time in a town, which the Occiterrans were required to capture. Unfortunately for the Occiterrans, their forces this time included two units of cavalry, which by the rules were not allowed to enter the town, and their infantry was not able to carry the day alone.

So, overall score at the moment is Elabrün 2, Occiterre 1. So far Elabrün seems to be holding out pretty well against the invasion; maybe a counterattack will come next, or maybe Occiterre will bring more forces to bear...

"Thanks-gaming" Weekend

This past weekend was Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and following the ritual consumption of turkey and associated side dishes, we were left with three or so days to devote to other pursuits--preferably those that didn't involve too much vigorous activity. Both gaming and painting fall neatly into this category, so we resolved to do a bit of both--a painting bee on Friday and an NQSYW game on Saturday.

My brother William and I had been tossing around the painting bee idea for the past month or so, but I think it was I who suggested upping the stakes by making it a contest--one point for each 20mm infantryman painted within our time limit, and three points for each 20mm cavalryman, with the loser to buy pizza for everyone afterwards. Apparently the promise of pizza really energized Dad, as he managed to crank out seven Punic War Spanish cavalry in the alloted five hours.

My competitors ready their paints and brushes.

Painting montage...

William: five points

Me: eight points

Dad: twenty-one points!

A closer look at Dad's cavalry...

William finished up some Almoravid auxiliaries, while I completed some Bronze Age spearmen (more Robin Hood conversions) who had been cluttering up my painting desk for a while. We were all pretty stiff by the end of five hours of painting--next time we do something like this, maybe we'll agree to take a break in the middle...

The next morning, we set up a battle with the NQSYW figures. The scenario saw both sides trying to take and hold a small town and a large walled inn. Dad and I took one side, opposed by William and an iPad with Ross Macfarlane's voice. Our opponents were given two regiments of heavy cavalry, a regiment of line infantry, and a battery of guns. On our side were 1 2/3 regiments of heavy cavalry, a regiment of light cavalry, and a light infantry battalion. As it turned out, this was probably not a good mix of troops for this scenario, but matters were only made worse by abysmal die-rolling on our part.

Setting up the table.

Some initial maneuvering.

First cavalry action, off to the left.

Our light cavalry.

Cavalry lining up on the other flank.

The ensuing melee.

Hussars waiting to charge.

The last picture before my camera battery died...

The initial plan was to try to get the advantage with our cavalry, while depending on the superior marksmanship of the light infantry to overcome their line infantry. Unfortunately, we lost almost all of the cavalry melees, and the light infantry just hung out in the woods getting shot by enemy troops in the town. At one point I attempted to charge the enemy infantry with my hussars, but was repulsed when they formed square. After that, I pulled the rest back to attempt to turn the tide of the cavalry actions in the center and on our right flank, but to no great success. The lack of a third company in the right-flank cavalry unit really told, as they were able to hold troops in reserve and catch us while we were rallying after the first round of melee. We did eventually come out on top in the center, but casualties were too heavy and we were forced to withdraw.

Once again, my poor hussars got drawn into fights with heavy cavalry and butchered. At least my cuirassiers were able to put up a better fight--apparently I should paint more of them...

And speaking of painting, after getting home this afternoon, I based my spearmen from the painting bee, as well as finishing up another little side project: the first of the MiniArt Germanic Warriors I picked up at Cold Wars this year. They'll eventually feed into another 20mm fantasy army, suspiciously similar to the Riders of Rohan...

Riders of Roham?