15mm Napoleonic Ottoman Army

This is a roll call for my 15mm Napoleonic Ottoman Turkish Army.  The figures are mainly Minifigs, with some Lancashire Games figures and Irregular Miniatures.  

I started my return to 15mm with an Austrian Napoleonic Army (pictures to follow at a later date) having had a Renaissance Polish army back in the 1980s.  I choose the Warrior Miniatures Austrian because they were all white and Warrior do a very good deal.  Having managed to paint them, I added Saxons - again white - and Bavarians.  The aim was a coalition  army to take on the Russians. 

I didn't want to paint the French  and knowing Bob is into all things Eastern European and Turkish I thought I would paint up an Ottoman army to take on the Russians. So here they are and I will be posting pictures of them in action shortly.

Ottoman Command

Nizam-j-jed brigade

Bostandji Corps

New Model Armt regiment

Chifflick Regt

Albanian and Anatolian Sekhans

 Lancashire Games Janissaries and Minifigs Command

Irregular Miniatures Turks

Sulvarileri and Sipahis

Irregular Cavalry

The Battle at Erzbeta’s Abbey

Know then that the Abbey on the Austrian Frontier had long been abandoned by the Poles. For over sixty years the walls and buildings had crumbled. Trees had grown up and Abbey was no longer recognisable as a place of Pilgrimage, as it had been for centuries.

In 1704 Piotr the Monk proclaimed he had a vision in which Erzbeta demanded an answer of him as to why her people could no longer worship in her abbey. He began preaching along the Frontier where he was heard by Duke Conrad. The ambitious Duke saw an opportunity to add the Abbey to his lands and enhance his reputation with Warsaw.

He ordered the reinstatement of his personal Regiment of Hussars and mobilised the local forces. At his own expense he engaged a Sotna of Registered Cossacks. He ordered a general advance on the Abbey.

The Austrians, alarmed by Piotr’s preaching and by Conrad’s mobilisation, sent the nearest troops available, a small force with orders to hold. If there was a danger of being overrun a messenger was to be sent to the local garrison and help would be sent immediately.

The danger was if the Poles held the Abbey – neither country wanted a full scale war so if there were hostilities whoever held the Abbey when peace negotiations began would keep it.

This was the situation that led to the Battle at Erzbeta’s Abbey.

The game is 8 turns long. At the end of Turn 8 roll 1D6 -    1or2 =game ends immediately

                                                                                             3or4=1 more turn

                                                                                             5or6=2 more turn

The game was played in Bob's war room.  Here he is explaining to Jack how the rules work.

General view of the table showing the Abbey in the centre.  On the right are the small Austrian forces.  Jack and Alan took the Polish forces.

This picture shows the Cossacks under Alan’s command. Knowledgeable viewers will notice the blue coated infantry passing a Poles but carrying a Russian flag.  

Jack’s wing, waiting to sweep forward and to the left to encircle the Austrians

Down the centre came the Perry twins’ 1812 Russian peasants, who do sterling service as Eastern. Feudal peasants in a range armies.

Austrian forces were in prepared positions. All Austrians were counted as Regulars, whilst the Poles had Elite to Raw troops.

We used a new set of rules for this game. Jack attacked and pinned the right flank – Alan refused the left flank and then poured troops into the centre. The Austrians were unable to hold the centre and at the end of the game day the Poles held the Abbey.

Above shows the Abbey – Games Workshop Lord of the Rings scenery and the East Gate from Wargames Vault. Polish troops advance and although they suffered casualties they fulfilled their objective.

Another shot of the Austrian forces, which dealt severe blows to the Poles, but could not hold Erzbeta’s Abbey.

P.S. the new rules worked fine. Jack had not seen them before the start of the game but this did not stop him doing sterling work with his Polish Flank.

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.