Crimean War Minifigs S range battle report

As promised last month the following is a report on a game that Bob Black and I played using my Crimean War Minifigs S range army.  This consists of a lot of original 1970s figures past to me by Jack Alexander and some recasts.  I deliberately didn’t repaint the 1970s, so apologies for some of the ‘pink faces’ and tried to paint all the other figures to match.  Almost all the figures are gloss varnish – some still to get around to – again to match the original 1970s figures.

This is not any particular battle, just one of those let’s get all the figures out on the table, just because it’s a nice thing to do and just see what happens!

The rules we used are a quick play set downloaded from: http://bobthepainter.blogspot.co.uk. 
A first glance they are simple – 3 ranges defined by ‘colour’ and dice of the same colour to work out firing effects but gave a good game in a relatively short period.

I started the game with a fairly simple strategy which was to advance on the Turks on my left flank who were holding a ‘village’, sweep them away and fall on the French who were supporting them and holding the centre.  At the same time the rest of the army was to advance and prevent the allies from sending troops to support them.  Well that was the strategy. Unfortunately, Bob didn't play ball!

Russian colums prepare to advance

Turks await Russian onslaught

Russians enter and are driven back from village

Meanwhile elsewhere of the battlefield the allied forces advance.

The Russian cavalry and infantry advance under the support of massed guns.

Both sides prepare for a cavalry engagement on the right wing

In the centre the French advance to support the British advance

Meanshile back on the left flank, the Russians are back!

On the right the cavalry battle continues with both sides throwing their reserves.

 Eventually the Russian Cavalry breaks

Russian Guard dragoons enter the fray

Russian Light Dragoons break and run

French cavalry cover the Turkish Retreat

British infantry move to support the French and Turks.

The Turkish forces fell back across the river support by the French and British.  On the right flank both lots of cavalry had fought themselves to a standstill and fell back.  The Russians had only just held on with a number of light dragoon units broken and in retreat.  The arrival of massed colums of infantry and guns making the difference.  The French Guards took a beating from the Russian artillery and were forced to halt.  

The game ended after 10 moves with the forces drawing up to new positions for another day.

This is the first time that we had every used these rules and they gave a good flavour to the game and kept it moving at a good pace.