Work on a New Peter Laing "Little Wars" Army

     When I started looking for Peter Laing figures, my main goal was to get as many Victorian Parade figures as I could. I have managed to get a few of them. I will admit, that I was a little disappointed with the line. I was hoping the cavalry would be mounted on the early "ponies". I believe this line was a later line and Mr. Laing was getting the horses more to scale. Also, the marching infantry in home service helmet was another disappointment. The helmet just doesn't look right.  I was really looking for that early toy soldier "Britains" look.

The new home service Peter Laing figures, after having their washers removed.

Mounted on their new plastic square stands.

A column with the artillery in the lead.

    Today I started to do some work on my British Boer War figures; removing the figures from the washers and remounting them on square stands.  While working on them, I pulled out some of the marching British painted for the Zulu War. Four figures I painted the helmets as home service helmets. Although they don't have the spike on top, I had put a dot of brass paint where the spike should be. With my increasingly bad eyesight, they actually didn't look bad. before I knew it, I had started repainting 16 figures for "home service", with the goal of having my games resemble as best as possible, "Littles Wars". Looking at "Little Wars", the margin sketches have several pictures of Royal Horse Artillery in dress uniforms. I have some beautifully painted PL Crimean War RHA and British Crimean War cavalry which will work perfectly with this project.

Peter Laing Legion Boer Wargame

I decided to do a Boer War game using my "Peter Laing CIV Legion" as one of the forces. Naturally, their opponents will be Boers.

Boers on the left, CIV on the right. Terrain features were randomly placed, although I tried to mirror the features. I then rolled to decide which edge they approached from.

Both sides push forward to seize the center hill. In this game I rolled average dice to decide how many units would be activated. Only activated units could move or fire. Usually in my games I allow any units in range can fire.

The Boers seize the hill and push back the machine gun detachment.

The machine gun fire drives the Boers off the hill; another CIV unit moves to seize the hill.

The Boers push back the the infantry and machine gun. The Boers rolled two "retreats" on the machine gun; they only had one square to retreat to, so one man is killed.

The CIV retakes the hill.

The Boers move to outflank the hill.

The British move the machine gun to the top of the hill to  hold it. 

At the top of the picture; one CIV unit is wiped out.

The CIV attacks along the entire line, pushing the Boers back.

The Boers push back the British right, but still can't take the hill.

The Boers shift more units to their left flank.

The Boer unit on the right takes the farmhouse; unfortunately they have no support now.

The British cavalry eliminates the Boer unit at the top of the picture and the machine gun pushes back the Boer cavalry.  

In this game the army that loses four units first is defeated. The Boers still have three units, however, the British cavalry is now in position to sweep behind the Boer line and cut them off. The Boers decide to retreat.

This Week in Wargaming

It has been a productive week as far as my wargaming is concerned.

I was hoping to get a rather large lot of Britain's "B" series  44mm figures, which would have given me 4 new figures that I don't have. Unfortunately, I lost the bidding at the last second. While watching this lot, I did come across a single "B" series Coldstream Guard figure, which I ended up purchasing.

I also bought a lot of 16 30mm semi round figures; a very nice lot which has me pulling out my  semi round figures with the intention of using them soon. I originally was thinking of repainting them as Austrians from the 1860's, however, the paint isn't in as bad shape as I thought and I'm not sure I can bring myself to repaint them.

I managed to play two games. One I used my Peter Laing Army of Counterpane, the other game I used my Caesar miniatures fantasy figures. In this game, the humans were the evil army, the goblins simply defending their woods.

All in all, it was the most successful week I've had in a few months.

Britain's "B" series Coldstream Guardsman

Britain's "B" series figures.

"New" 30mm semi rounds.

Counterpane Army facing German army.

Among the Counterpane casualties was the hero of their first battle (center with chevron of merit).

Good goblins vs. Evil humans.

Comparing 30mm semi round figures on Heroscape terrain.

Pursuit of the Blue Army: a SAE Wargame

      With the Blue Army in full retreat, General Higginbottom started a rather casual pursuit. With a fresh militia regiment joining his force, Higginbottom turned the pursuit over the the militia commander. He also gave two companies of his grenadiers to the force. The blue force shouldn't be in any condition to rally.
     However, what Higginbottom didn't know is the Blue army received reinforcements of two companies. The blue commander found a nice ridge line to rally his force on and to turn and fight the Red army.

The red army prepares for battle.

The blue army take position on a ridge line. The new reinforcements, the grey battalion, takes the right flank. The blue commander keeps one company in reserve behind the ridge line.

The red army advances piecemeal.

The blue artillery opens fire, and drives one company of militia back.

The blue commander sends three companies forward to try to disrupt the red advance.

The red artillery opens fire and hits the company in front of it.

The blue continues to charge. A fourth company joins the blue charge.

This blurry photo shows the lay of the land during the game; the ridge line doesn't show with the flash of the camera.

The red fire forces two blue companies to retreat.

The blue army continues their attack. The blue commander brings up his reserve company onto the ridge.

The grey troops go right in at the militia.

The red left flank suffers a disastrous turn. One red company is wiped out, and the other company turns tail.

The red army is in a precarious situation.

The red commander shifts his left flank troops towards the center, and refuses the flank (always wanted to say that after seeing "Gettysburg"!) 

The red left flank is stabilized, and the artillery fire drives back another blue company.

The grey companies still inflect heavy losses on the militia, but they hold firm. One grenadier company breaks, but another company moves forward to their aid.

The red center moves forward...

...and the left companies put the grey companies to flight.

The militia overrun one grey company.

The blue army counterattacks.

One militia company breaks and runs.

Things seemed to turn to blue's favor.

However, once again, the red line stabilizes.

The combined fire causes heavy casualties amongst the blue forces.

The blue army decides to withdraw before their losses are too great.

The red army line at the end of the game.

This game gave me an opportunity to show off some more of the SAE clonal British figures I have. I should have put those figures closest to the camera, however, this game was quickly put together.