Campaign Game 2 Pt 1

So here we go with game two of the campaign pitting the Allied Light Division against a French rearguard force somewhere in the north of Spain / south of France in 1813'ish

Dave's Light Division  was attacking and gained the benefit of an extra general and two additional battalions for being so. CONFESSION TIME: Sorry Dave, but when I was putting the figures away after the game I was bemused by the fact that there were no French units left in the box. - I had added the two extra battalions  and general for attacking when I was defending!!!!

The Light Division had a brigade of line infantry and a foot battery in support.

Here is the Allied deployment. Line brigade in column of attack on the left flank. Rifles and 43rd  to the left of the road , Ross' battery on it and the 52nd to the right of it.  On the far right are the Portuguese consisting of two battalions of cacadores and two of line infantry.

French deployment: Three veteran battalions on the right flank (1 too many), a brigadier (1 too many) a battery of medium artillery and a regiment of dragoons. In the centre, four battalions of conscript infantry (1 too many) . On the far flank, a brigade of elite infantry with a heavy battery.

Both sides at deployment:

As the allied advance began they started taking damage from the French artillery. Seeing the attack developing on the right flank, the French dragoons were ordered to the flank. In order to get to the desired position they had to cross a ploughed field and mask their own artillery which gave the rifles some respite from the bombardment

Yes we took the walls off - most of them weren't based and looked pretty awful..

Ross' battery wasn't able to sustain a viable presence in the centre, being forced to limber up by French artillery fire.

On the French left flank the heavy battery deployed with a filed of fire directly across the line of defence.

On the Allied right the Portuguese and 52nd advanced.

In the centre the 43rd advanced to occupy the farm.

To be continued..................................

Meanwhile, in Canada....................................

I've always liked the idea of the Sharpe Practice rule set by the Toofatlardies, but as Len Goodman from "Strictly" would say; "there seemed to be too much faffing about" involved. Admittedly I didn't play many games with them but they didn't really grab me and I put them on Ebay.

Chain of Command was the first set of Lardies' rules that I actually liked rather than really wanted to like. The command dice and deployment system work really well and give a challenging, but fun game.

So when I found out that Sharpe Practice V2 was due for release on St George's day, and that it incorporated some aspects of the CoC rules (not the command dice) and was playable without cards using (I hate to say it) a system akin to Bolt Action with knobs on, I was interested. I listened to the interview with Richard Clarke on the latest Meeples and Miniatures podcast, and read the articles on the Lardies' website. In addition I looked at Mike Hobbs' blog as he is doing the War of 1812 supplement. To be honest that was the clincher.

At present I am in the process of consolidating my wargaming "stuff". Lead that will never be painted is going on Ebay, together with units that are surplus to requirements and anything else that will fund the hobby. I've given up on the idea of creating actual Peninsular War  brigades and divisions and am just concentrating on creating the units per the lists in Sam Mustafa's "LaSalle" rules because it provides a project with an end. I'm past the idea of "if I buy another six packets of this I can add them to the part painted bits of that to make something else". But what to do with the excess British units I have painted for the Pensinsular War?

Putting all of the above together the obvious answer was to use them for Sharpe Practice 2 and the War of 1812, a period I've wanted to do for a while but wasn't sure how to. These rules are set at a level which makes it doable and, if I want to add to it, it wouldn't take much. Additionally I can use the same figures for Peninsular War scenarios and that part-finished Spanish army I have can be converted for Sharpe Practice and the surplus figures sold off.

So here is the 50th Foot from my Peninsular War army, now no longer needed and rebased for SP2. It is shown here in 2 groups of 10 figures representing the 3rd battalion of the Quebec Militia which also had black facings, with one group of six skirmishers. They are AB figures.

There is another group of 10 figures to base. I'll finish the bases when I get the movement trays that I've ordered.

And here's the first  of two groups of "Voltigeurs Canadiens" from Blue Moon:

For the US troops I've got one packet of infantry, one of infantry command and Andy at Old Glory will be sending the US riflemen I've ordered when the next restock arrives from the US of A.

I'm really looking forward to this.......

Links relating to Sharpe Practice 2:

Meeples and Miniatures Podcast - interview with Richard Clarke

The Lardies - A look at Sharpe Practice 2

The Lardies - an actual game with explanations

Mike Hobbs' blog with some articles on SP2

To The Strongest - or in this case To The Fastest!!!

So yesterday I ordered a 4'x3' 100mm grid mat from Simon (Big Red Bat), and it arrived at half past one today!!!! Bloody hell Simon, that's service.

So here's some pics of my Palmyrans set out on it.:

The bases need tuftage, but to be honest I'm not going to bust a gut to do it because they match in pretty well as it is.