15mm English Civil War

Bob decided to make two small ECW armies using the classic wargame regimental organisation of 2 of horse, 4 of foot and a gun which seems to be the norm when we first started gamming over 40 years ago.  This would keep both the number of figures under control and didn’t involve too much painting before we could get to grips with the figures.

Bob’s wargame room is his garage and in the winter it is off limits despite the electric heater.  So he went for 15mm which would enable us to play games on his smaller dining room table as well as on his larger table in the warmer periods.

He chose the 15mm ECW Gallia Range from Warrior Miniatures.  Individual figures can be purchased and the range of figures is extensive.  Equally importantly, at 21p per figure (42p for a cavalry man as the horse and rider are separate) they represent some of the least expensive 15mm figures on the market.  If a project fails to take off (as can so often happens) or leads up a blind alley, the outlay is modest. 

I offered to help Bob paint some of the figures.   Not having seen the figures before and having read references on TMP to these figures being 20-30 years old and the price being so low, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  As you can see below the infantry, guns and gunners came as a very pleasant surprise.  They were both a joy and easy to paint.  The proportions are good and they are a true 15mm scale.

I am not so sure about the cavalry figure.  I have only painted the standing horse with a rider.  Separately they are okay but the rider sits too far back on the horse to look okay to my eye.  This is in part because the pistol holders get in the way.  After mulling this over and with Bob’s agreement I decided to slice a bit of the back of these pistol holder – sort of squaring the off at the back – this took literally a couple of seconds with a scalpel.  This meant that the rider sat forwards by a couple of millimetres improving the position and appearance of the figure.  There is a ‘trotting horse’ but I haven’t seen it so I don’t know whether it presents the same problem.

The range has a specific ECW Saker as well as a number of 16/17^th century cannons and mortars.  You can purchase metal ‘flags’ for the infantry and cavalry figures but these need to be painted.  Bob opted for paper flags as this was easier.  They also do a very nice ‘Draught Oxen’ which I have painted up for my 15mm Ottoman army at 25p each, you can’t go wrong and they fit nicely with the Minifigs gunners.

The guns and gunners are on temporary bases.  All the figures were undercoated with black spray paint.  I have painted one unit of infantry with the pikemen in 'blackened' armour - just sprayed them and painted sleeves etc and they look really good - saves even more time.  I oversprayed the gunners with Warpaint's British Armour which makes a good buff/green and again saves a lot of painting.  They are them painted with the Army Painter Strong Tone dip.  I then just highlight the white to give more contrast.

15mm Persian Napoleonics

Following our BP game using my 15mm Russians I wondered who else they could take on.  Looking through the various 15mm manufacturers listings, I came across Irregular Miniatures 15mm Persians. Not only could I ally these to my Ottomans to take on the Russians but also fight against them.  The Persians are listed under the Indian Mutiny tag.

These are really nice little figures and paint up well in my opinion.

Persian Line Infantry - FIP1, FIP2, FIP3, FIP4

Gholam- Tufanghis or Jazaurchis provincial infantry - FIP 14

 

 Persian gun crews FIP 13

Russian Guard Infantry in Persian Service FIP 5, 6 and 7 

Persian Militia Infantry FIP 8

Regular Lancer cavalry FIP 9

Kurdish Mailed Heavy Lancer FIP 11

Camel Mounted Zambuck Gunner  FIP 12

Some irregular cavalry using CAU1

Commanders for the Persians is a bit of an issue as the best are the various Ottoman Officers from the Colonial and Renaissance ranges.

     

I thought I would have a go at making some Officers in the more European uniforms.  The Regular Line Lancer (FIP11) works well as a conversion for a mounted Infantry Officer and for my European style Commander.  The lance is cut down and the carbine removed.  I them squashed the remaining bit of lance with a pair of pliers to make a flat sword - should have left more of the lance, but they will do.  For the General I cut away the lance completely and bent the arm into the body to hold the reins.








Whilst I was at it, I made a couple of outriders for a limber team.  The outriders are again the  Irregular Miniature Persian regular line lancers (FIP11 above).  Cut away the carbine, reduced the lance and added a bit of green stuff to make the fancy gunners bonnets. The Limber and harness team are from Warrior and were left over from an earlier project.




Like their Ottoman counterparts there should be lots of irregular cavalry.  For these I turned to Lancashire Games partly because I had a few already, but also because they had a sale on!  They can also fight with the Ottomans or in the case of the Tartars with the Russians!

Eastern Light Horse

Tartar Light Cavalry with bows

  

15mm Black Powder Napoleonic Game

Decided to get out the 15mm Napoleonic’s for a Black Powder Game.

The forces represent part of the Russian First and Third Army Corps and the Second Cavalry Corps plus a few other units whilst the opposition is made up of the Grand Army Austrian Auxiliary Corps, Saxon 21^st Division and the 19^th Bavarian Division and various supporting Austrian, Saxon and Bavarian cavalry brigades

The fictional Town of Omsk is held by the Bavarians, with Little Omsk and the right flank held by the Saxon’s.  The Austrians hold the left flank with a Grenadier Brigade supporting the Bavarians.

Bob commanded the Russians and I managed the Allied forces.  Although outnumbered the Russians aim is to take either Omsk or Little Omsk.

The Russians have deployed with a massed cavalry presence of their right flank (9 regiments), 2 Divisions of infantry (10 Regiments) in the centre facing Omsk and 2 Brigades of cavalry, the Grenadier Brigade and a Brigade of Infantry (6 regiments) supported by 2 Brigades of Dragoons (4 regiments) on the left.  This is supported by 8 guns and 3 units of Horse Artillery. 

 

The Russians launched an advance on all fronts.  The Russian cavalry moved 3 moves threatening the Austrian infantry who in turn form square.  The supporting Hussar Brigade moves forward to support them.

In the centre the Russian 4th Division made up of 3 Brigades advances towards Omsk supported by the 17^th Division made up of two Brigades made a rapid advance bringing them under the musketry of the Bavarians and Austrians and the massed Austrian artillery.

The leading Russian Brigade made up of Jagers is stopped by the Allied forces

However, to my surprise one of the supporting Russian Brigades launches a charge against the Austrian massed guns.  Fear not 4 guns firing at closing range with all the bonus can’t be under any threat!  Little did I know!!.  My firing was appalling.  The Russian charge surged on.  In the ensuing melee my gunner having been unable to fire properly found the ability to fight.  They held the Russians.

The next move however the gunner were beaten but one forced to retire.  The Russians meanwhile were attacked by one of the Austrian units and they in turn broke, but the damage had been down.  The guns were silenced and a large gap had developed in the Allied front.

On the left the Russian Grenadiers and infantry supported by their cavalry moved slowly towards Little Omsk.

Sensing the moment the Russian Cavalry on the right move forward with the leading Brigade of Cossacks and Hussars charging my Hussars.  My Hussars roll six dice without a single hit and are thrown back by the Hussars and Cossacks

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In the meantime the Bavarians in Omsk and the attacking Russian are engaged in an exchange of musketry.

On the left little is happening the Saxon’s move forward to take up position behind a wall along the road. Whilst the Saxon Garde Cavalry advance to threaten the Russian advance.

You may well ask what the massed Russian artillery was up to during the game.  On two occasions when Bob tried to bring them forward, they suffered Blunder Tests.  Unfortunately, these only resulted in their advance either one move to the left or one to the right, but enough in both cases to disrupt them and take targets out of their sights.

The Russian leading cavalry brigade comes under fire from the Austrian squares and are disordered and stop and then get a Retire order.  However, the sheer mass of advancing Russian cavalry regiments left them nowhere to go and they merely stop all the other cavalry from moving.

Another bold attack by Bob's Russians sees one of their regiments charge an Austrian infantry column. 

Amazingly the column holds and after a couple of rounds the Russians are broken.

Bob's Russian Garde Cuirassiers were able to move and hit the already weakened Austrian Hussars breaking them

Whilst all this was happening, Bob brought forward his Horse artillery who opened fire on one of the Austrian squares causing it to break.

In the centre one of the Jager regiments breaks and flees.

My attempt to get my Bavarian Cavalry Brigade into action ends in disaster with a double 6 Blunder resulting in them leaving the table.

At this point we had been playing for a couple of hours and it was clear that the Russians could take neither of their key objectives.  Whilst the Russians had plenty of cavalry, they didn’t have enough infantry to take on the allies.

The figures are predominately Warrior Miniatures with some Minifigs Russian Infantry.  The Town of Omsk consists of scratch built Russian Buildings by Jack Alexander.  The Church with the green roof is a supposedly 20mm plastic kit of an American 24 hour chapel which I got off of eBay.