Burgundian Halberdiers

With all the disruption of preparing for Gauntlet and then going on holiday these have been a long while coming. There are four 16 figure units, one of which is decked out in Burgundian colours. The idea is to have units I can swap between armies simply by changing the flags added to the bases.


Figures are mainly Redbox Wars of the Roses Continental Mercenaries, plus some from their Retinue set and also from the Miniart German and Burgundian Knights

A splendid 28mm version can be found on the Je Lay Emprins blog tempting me to produce another unit.

I'm back

and bruised from over a week hiking in the Lakes so normal service will resume shortly


and on my return a pile of reading awaits Miniatures Wargames/Battlegames, Wargames Illustrated and also Slingshot, perhaps I should go off more often!

Ooh, and for those interested in such things the picture was taken on the top of Scafell Pike

Scammell Tank Transporter

Not sure how I'm going to use this in a game, maybe a specific tank recovery scenario. It's the old Airfix kit, which I first built many years ago and went the same way as many of my early kits. I picked another one cheap on B&B a couple of years back, more for the memories rather than a specific project. Then I bought one as part of the bundle of kits and therefore tidied up the built one and put my existing one up for sale.

The box has landed!

I am now the third recipient of the box of plastic goodness, thanks Mark wherever you are. My first impression when Richard said he would pass it on to me was that there can't be much there for me, hah, how wrong I was, note the pile alongside. It started with an Esci Muslim warrior then a Revell SYW Prussian Hussar and before I knew it I was finding lots of useful bits. But, regrettably no more Muslim Warriors as I need them for Sudan casualties and they sell for silly prices on ebay.

I won't take all I've sorted and I'll also top up the box with more goodies before passing on.

But out of curiosity, does anyone recognise these?


Long live the largess of Wargamers

Gauntlet - Day 2 - Longstop hill

For the second days gaming the hills were re-configured into a version of Longstop hill and we played the November 42 attack in the morning and the successful April 43 attack in the afternoon.

The November attack set two allied platoons attacking a single German platoon occupying the hill


The rules were Bolt Action


The British wing struggling against the stubborn German defenders


The American move forward on the south


And breaking through the defenses


The the tide turned for the British as well


The German front line crumbles


However it's a Pyrrhic victory as the Allies done have enough strength left to resist the German counter attack


No pictures for the afternoon game except this one, where the North Irish Horse arrived with their Churchills to support the assault.

Gauntlet - Day 2 - other games

Leipzig continues, expect a full write up on the Wargame Amateur site in due course, the advantage of using 15mm figures was there was more room for manouvre




A new game for Sunday - the relief of Hawarden, a big Pike and Shotte game (Hawarden is just up the road from the venue) Hopefully more picutres will appear on Rick's blog in due course.






And the Flames of War game continued


There was also board games, a few pick up games, a Dystopian Wars competition and a large WRG 6th competition

I picked up a couple of 15mm armies on the B&B, seems rather strange but they were a good deal and I'd like to try a bit of DBA/DBM again and most opponents have 15mm.

Gauntlet - Day 1 - Road to Tebessa

Played the Road to Tebessa scenario yesterday at Gauntlet. As usual I got so caught up in the game that I didn't take pictures of all the action

The game opened with Stukas circling the French defenders of the southern town Bordj Oum Ali (they failed to knock out the guns and only killed three of the defenders)


French deployed around El Ma el Abiod


Italian troops preparing to attack El Ma el Abiod from the east.


German troops massing to the south.


Italians commence their assault on the ridge to their north they succeeded in badly damaging one of the Stuarts rushing to support the defenders of El Ma el Abiod (They subsequently fell back fo two turns due to a poor morale check)


The Germans decide to deploy the heavy tank company first (The players could bring on one company of their choice each turn)


As the Stuarts flee their bigger brothers turn up to deal with the troublesome 20mm AT Rifle


The French grimly hold on against the Italian assault


The Germans proceed systematically, amassing their forces ready for an assault


Having dealt with the AT Rifle the Grants move on to support the French and in a magnificent bit of shhoting take out all the Semovente company


The german assault on Bordj Oum Ali gets underway just before the British arrive to reinforce the position


Meanwhile the Italians are in serious trouble as the Americans concentrate on them "Where are the Germans, they should have arrived from the south by now?"


For the British and French around Bordj Oum Ali things are not looking good either, already they have lost two Crusaders and a pair of 6pounders to the Panzers


The US seem content with occupying a blocking position while finishing off the Italians (Their Motorcycle company was down to 5 figures by the game end, but had continually passed their morale checks)


Finishing of the French defenders of Bordj Oum Ali and the remaining 6 pounders the Panzers push on as the Valentines flee


The one success for the Royal Horse Artillery one heavy and one light damage inflicted on the Tiger


US driving the Italian remnants south


A final Stuka strike manages to disable the US commander's tank


Game end - the Germans were on a roll and looked strong enough to defeat the Americans as they had very minimal losses.


Rules were Rapid Fire

Gauntlet - Day1 - other games

Some pictures of the other games underway on Saturday.

Gentlemen Pensioners - Leipzig, looks quite empty at the start


Pony wars


Large Flames of War game


A Viking raid game, due to a non-attendance this was played on Sunday


Kursk 1943 in 1/300 (still not enough tanks - personal joke)


Leipzig underway


The nice Mr Oates from Baggage Train


And his nicer 10mm forts

Gauntlet is go

Spent yesterday afternoon lugging tables and setting up the SOTCW game. Everything is now ready and I'll be setting off shortly to get started. Already bought two 15mm of the B&B so I'll need to get cash on the way just in case I find anything else to take my fancy.

Gauntlet link - please pop in if you are nearby

Pictures of the SOTCW Road to Tebessa 1943 table