Ancient Hawaiians

Chugging along into summer and still battling away at my endless horde of projects yet realized. While I'm finishing off colonial Italians/Ethiopians, I finally got around to basing these Bloodaxe miniatures ancient Hawaiians. 

I've started a few projects originally as DBA armies but always seem to chicken out and base them however I see fit. I did purchase the DBA 3.3 rulebook and it's quite a useful and informative resource. Finally had a chance to put out this amazing volcano piece which I purchased second hand from Noble Knight. Very cool piece, which came in a set of two, tip of the Mahiole (Hawaiian feather helmet) to the original artist.

One historical quibble I had was with another painter who named there DBA Eureka army as King Kamehameha's army (the army was painted very well-better than these!). Historically this does not jive with the period which DBA covers as Kamehameha was active in late 1700's to early 1800's. According to author Neil Dukas, a DBA army might be better modeled around a chief from Kalaunuiohuas War of c.1480-1500. Useless historical note, but now you know! The Eureka miniatures are very sharp looking but none were available for purchase in the States.

I'd like to eventually make or source some rules to play a skirmish battle with these ancient Hawaiians. If you made rules, mana, not the wizardy kind, and battlefield sacrifices, would definitely have to play a part. I based four nobles per base, these were elite troops who used long spears like pikes and wore brightly colored feather capes. Command bases feature a chief, retainer, and priest with the stone idols lofted overhead. Troops consist of mostly club wielders, but I figured in-game rules these units would throw spears as well.

Keep rolling those d6s
-15mm Dieter

Bloody '45: Old Glory Jacobites & Hanoverians

While everyone was stuffing their eggs for the hunt tomorrow, I snuck in a quick game of Jacobite vs. Government troops. Always wanted to give the Jacobite Rebellion 1745-1746 a whirl but was scared of that big bad word, Plaid. Although I need to go back and give most of the bases a proper flocking, this project is near done. Like most of my projects this is purely historical fiction, all names, characters/units are fictitious and from my own imagination.

Old Glory 15s Jacobites

I used a free play ruleset modified for 15mm for this particular BatRep. Graham Cookson did a great job with these, thanks Graham, wherever you are. I decided to cap this first game at 6 turns. 3'x3' tabletop. Minimal terrain, handful of trees and some mud patches. Miniatures are Old Glory 15s.

Opposing Forces: Hanoverians 2 units of infantry (8 stands), 2 cavalry squadrons (4 stands), 1 artillery unit (3 stands). 1 personality, Sir Mowsley-Fennoch.

Jacobites 3 units of infantry (12 stands) 1 squadron of cavalry (2 stands). 1 personality, Laird Alexander Mitchell.

Units deployed fairly evenly, cavalry moved slow while the all three Jacobite infantry brigades moved up quickly. Sir Mowsley-Fennoch's brigade took the center, rapidly moving ahead of the other infantry brigade. Units activate when their playing card is drawn. From a solitaire gamer's perspective these rules are intuitive, the playing card activation makes it so that you can always leave the game and jump right back in at a later time. Found myself spending a minute or two between each turn carefully shuffling the activation cards. 2 Jokers in the deck end the turn, so you never know which units will end up activating in any given turn. Such a simple mechanic but I feel that works great for this time period.

British artillery opened up on the 2nd brigade in turn 3, clan Ogilvy stood strong however, just one hit was scored which caused no casualties. Passing their morale, they continued on. Laird Mitchell's brigade moved through some difficult terrain with ease. Cavalry for both sides were a non issue, although one cavalry did threaten to charge in the turn 3. British artillery was non-factor, having just once chance to fire. The "Scots Hussars" based loosely on the Bagot's Hussars, made a move towards the British guns in their last activation but were still short. All units move 1 or 2 d6 randomizing movement as much as the activations.

The Scots 3rd Brigade provided withering flanking fire which nearly neutralized the main British thrust in turn 5. A late round Dragoon charged was foiled, at the end of turn 6, the Jacobites had won a significant victory.

Jacobite Hussars

Hanoverian artillery holding a muddy field

Keep rolling those 6's

 -15mm Dieter

Battle of Soggy Bend: Peter Pig AWI Skirmish

I had teased a version of this battle report in previous posts and finally got around to soloing a quick skirmish version of a larger battle that I play eventually. Using a modified version of This Very Ground: Victory or Death by Keith Stine. 

Battle

Skirmish at Soggy Bend, somewhere in the Kentucky Wilderness, 1781. 5 Turns. Objective: Kentuckians must hold their side of the river until the end of the game. If a leader is killed on either side, automatic victory.

Opposing Forces

Native American Allies: 10 "Red" Jackets and 6 "Green" Jackets led by Chief Bigcorn

Kentuckians: 10 Kentucky militia & 4 Mountain Men led by Militia Captain Hugh McGloin

AWI Native Americans Peter Pig

The Kentuckians won initiative and moved first, one block of Native Americans was spotted moving towards the river but the second smaller band of Green jackets is concealed, waiting to shoot. Hot rolls for the Kentuckians as they won initiative in turn 2 as well. The Shawnee drew first blood taking down a single Mountain Man from cover. The militia began shooting extremely well, causing two disorders and a casualty. I decided before the battle to roll for a council of war: the Kentuckians roll 2d6. On 6+ they decide to ford the river and take the fight to the enemy. 5 was rolled so we held up and waiting for the enemy to ford.

Shooting rolls have an interesting effect in these rules. A number of d10 are rolled every time a unit fires, 3 d10for normal muskets but just a single d10 for the long rifle of the Kentuckians. For each hit  another d10 is rolled as every weapon has casualty or disorder rating. Units also take smoke counters each time they fire, when 3 are accrued they must spend an action point to reload in order to shoot again. I love how this mechanic works, even in a short battle you're constantly worrying about it.

After reloading the militia poured on the fire, shooting at the Natives like fish in a barrel. Three more removed. The mountain men were of little consequence, only connecting on one shot that scored a disorder on the nearly hidden Green jackets. The last deluge of musket fire was too much and the main body of Natives broke. The frontier homesteads are safe, at least for now.

Mountain men preparing to Fire

Green Jackets waiting for their turn to strike

Keep Rolling those Crits...

 -15mm Dieter

Patrol Boat Riverine: Peter Pig PBR

My Vietnam skirmish project is one that I plan on revisiting with some more terrain and a few new miniatures. In the meantime I figured that I'd highlight my Patrol Boat Riverine (PBR) miniature from Peter Pig.

I don't mind admitting I'm a bit of Peter Pig fanboy. They can do no wrong and nearly every miniature that they manufacture I would buy. I ultimately went with Flashpoint because their SEAL sculpts were so cool looking (Peter Pig does not offer any true SEAL figures), however I liked the sculpt of Peter Pig's PBR so I purchased that instead of Flashpoint's offering, which looked great but seemed larger.

The canvas top and U.S. star on the radar are not regulation but it breaks up the solid drab scheme of the real world PBR. The tub gunner in front is magnetized and sports the distinctive black beret of the Navy river patrol section. The gunner in the far back has a LMG and the second gunner has both an LMG and grenade launcher. Quite an effective weapons platform if you ask me. That pesky antenna took some shrapnel damage in the last battle and the repair crew hasn't gotten around to getting a fresh coat of paint on it.

In my Green Faced Men rules module the PBR can drop off/pick up a SEAL team and lay down some pretty effective cover fire as well. PBRs fought in teams of two but I reckoned due to the clandestine nature of the SEAL work just one would suffice. I did purchase a Light Seal Support craft from Flashpoint but have not painted that up yet. The LSSC or STAB, is a smaller light boat for clandestine insertion and extraction. Not as heavily armored but faster.

Just missing Lance's surfboard. Charlie don't surf!

Charlie is always watching...

Keep Rolling those natural 20s

  -15mm Dieter

Target Locked On: Falklands '82

While I diligently work away on a few too many projects, I figured that I would show a project which might not ever reach my wargaming table. Lets talk the air war over the Falklands in 1:300 scale.

These little jets were purchased on Etsy, the shop owner absconded without completing the order but did manage to ship these to me before they went on the run. Luckily, Etsy has a good policy on these sort of snafus and I was able to get my hard earned dinero back. These are cool if simplistic little 3D printed miniatures. They came painted and decaled to boot! Hopefully I can source some more planes with matching decals to complete at a later date.

RAF HARRIER

I originally had planned a full complement of Harriers, a couple of Vulcan bombers (Black Buck Raids), and slew of different Argentine aircraft from the French made Mirage, Israeli Dagger (Nesher), and the British Canberra bomber. I even started to look at some ships for the British armada before this project went on a indefinite hiatus. I based these with Litko flight bases which are nice but have the disadvantage of being physically glued to the bottom of the aircraft.

Fuerza Aérea Argentina A4 Skyhawk

The ruleset that I originally chose, Target Locked On!, seems like a blast to play, although I have yet to properly play a round. As previously mentioned on this blog, I based my homebrew rules for the Russian Civil War aerial combat off some of the mechanics from TLO! As the title might suggest, this game has a neat mechanic for locking on and/or evading radar for missile attacks. I have seen some other Cold War jet-age rules/miniatures and may give this genre another crack, either with these miniatures or different miniatures in another conflict.

Keep Rolling those 6's

 -15mm Dieter

Kentuckians AWI Peter Pig/Stone Mountain 15mm

Happy end of Summer to everyone. Near Labor Day in the states and I've been diligently working on several new and exciting projects. Most recent project finished was 15mm American War of Independence Kentucky militia. These miniatures are for an AWI skirmish game using the snappy ruleset, This Very Ground (Iron Ivan Games) which I first highlighted in the post British Rangers & Shawnee, Oh My! As previously mentioned these are great rules to play with a fun shooting mechanic that is effected by black powder smoke filling the battlefield among other factors. Highly recommended.

Peter Pig militia captain and mountain man armed with long rifle

Stone Mountain militia

These figures are a mix of Peter Pig and some vintage circa 1980s? Stone Mountain miniatures which were still on the original blister pack and purchased from eBay. Most of the rank & file are Stone Mountain but the Kentucky mountain men, the elite woodsmen, are Peter Pig's militia in buckskin. The details on Peter Pig's is the usual quality-outstanding but the Stone mountain figures look nice painted up as well considering their age and lack of ornate details.

Over there boys!

For an upcoming battle report, which I've dubbed the Skirmish at Soggy Bend, the Kentuckian militia will consist of one officer, irascible Major Hugh McGloin, 10 militia including a lieutenant, and 8 mountain men. Even though they will be outnumbered by the opposing Anglo-Native allied army 28-18, the mountain men shoot at longer range with a slightly better chance to hit.

Keep rolling those crits...

 -15mm Dieter

Moro Patrol

Going back to the jungle again for a different American counterinsurgency campaign, Philippines 1902-1913. In the aftermath of total victory in the Spanish-American War, US forces fight a low intensity war with the native Moro people of the southern Philippines, attempting to impose tax regulations and to disarm the warlike Moros. At first glance, this campaign pitting pre-doughboy US troops against brave Muslim warriors fighting with swords and spears might seem like the typical colonial wargame, and well, maybe it is, but it's at least unique.

Miniatures by Bloodaxe (Historifigs), who offer several different made to order 15mm lines in a few unique periods/settings. These miniatures are lead free pewter, a fact I appreciate now that my eldest little rascal has taken an interest in my tabletop happenings. These specific miniatures are chunky but seem to scale well with other 15mm. We'll take a look at the U.S. troops, Filipino constabularies, and Moro warriors below.

I started this project with ten stands per side but have enjoyed them so much that it's expanding. As usual, these projects tend to grow during the process. In regards to terrain & scenics, I was able to make a smooth transition carrying over from my last project in the jungles of Vietnam 1968 to Progression era Philippines, saving myself a little time/effort/money. The part that is most exciting is the ruleset, Moro Patrol, that I'm currently working on. I may post these rules in the near future as a file share if anyone might be interested.

My favorite subset from this series is definitely the Philippine Constabulary, sporting loin cloths and slouch hats. They are molded with rifles sans bayonets which look better than the US troop offerings. I based one US army officer with the constabularies, the rank and file representing the stalwart non-Moro Filipinos who enlisted in the American officered Constabulary, whilst the officer represents a Yank officer employed by the constabularies.

The regular US army troops are standard fare, bedrolls, rifles with bayonets, and campaign hats. These guys are rather dull save for the officer with pistol but I do appreciate that they have sculpted period burly moustaches! I cut down a few of the rifles to make them shotguns, which were popular with US army troopers in the Moro conflict. Added bonus with these miniatures is they could conceivably be used for a Spanish-American War scenario as well. The Moro are fairly standard as well, spears, rifles, or old muskets, close combat machetes (barong), and a ululating chief. A few Kris wielding swordsmen would have been a nice addition. The machete troops can be upgraded in Moro Patrol to Juramentado, jihadist die-hards who gain a significant melee bonus and who will charge enemy stands whilst braving withering gunfire.

Philippine Constabulary

U.S. Army Regulars

Moro warband

The combat system for this game is predicated on jungle fighting and siege combat. The Moros held Cotta forts, well defended clay mud citadels often dotted with trenches, where the Moro Datu (chiefs) usually made a last stand. I've yet to 3D print an appropriate fort but that will certainly feature in a upcoming battle report. US forces have an MG and mountain cannon at their disposal, firing more accurately & frequently. The Moro have better melee attacks with spears which can be thrown a short distance or used in close combat.

Juramentados on the attack

Keep Rolling those Crits...

-15mm Dieter