Working on my WW1 Collection - Artillery & Infantry

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of 15mm WW1 miniatures. Nearly every flea market at Historicon I have found a nice amount of WW1 miniatures. This year was no different. Since I'm retired now, I have time to finally work on this collection.

ARTILLERY

The last few months have seen a lot of progress, including rebasing artillery from Germany, Britain, and USA. Here are some photos of the process. Note I haven't flocked any of the bases yet, but all bases labeled on the bottom so that they can be identified by those not familiar with WW1 artillery.

6 x 75mm Gun M1879 (USA) (French gun)

3 x 155mm Mle 1917 Howitzer (USA)

4 x FT17 (USA)

3 x 18pdr Field Gun (ANZAC)

8 x 18pdr Field Gun (Britain) - roughly 12 more unpainted.

British 18pdr Field Gun

2 x 6" 26cwt Howitzer M1989 (Britain)

2 x 6" 26cwt Howitzer M1916 (Britain) - two more unpainted.

1 x 60pdr MkI (Britain) - Handmade by Mal Wright

1 x 8" MkII Howitzer (Britain) - Handmade by Mal Wright

Top is 8" MkII and the 60pdr is on the bottom.

1 x 15cm FK16 Lange Kanone (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

1 x 21cm Lange Morser M1916 (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

1 x 15cm Lang M17 Howitzer (Germany)

Left:15cm FK16 | Right: Morser M1916

9 x 7.7cm FK96nA Krupp Field Guns (Germany) - still a lot more to paint

5 x 7.7cm FK16 Krupp Field Guns (Germany)

4 x 10.5cm FH 98/09 Krupp Howitzers (Germany)

1 x 13.5cm K 1909 (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

2 x 15cm sFH13 Krupp (Germany) 

1 x 10cm K17 Krupp (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

2 x 15cm sFH02 Krupp (Germany) 

1 x 7.7cm IG16 (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

1 x 5cm IG15 (Germany) - Handmade by Mal Wright!

That is 59 guns so far! Wow! I still have to do the French, Belgians, Russians, and Austrians. I eventually need to finish painting the rest of the unpainted artillery (maybe 24 more guns). Crew will be added as they are painted.

I also decided to use round discs to represent forward observers in the games. I don't have any good miniatures for that roll, and FOs just need to be represented on the table. I made FOs for Germany, USA/UK, Austria, Russia, and France.

INFANTRY

Also, I have based, but not flocked the following WW1 infantry:

Early War Germans (12 Regiments, plus 2 Brigades of Landwehr, 20+ MGs) I keep my WW1 infantry in map chest draws with each division on its own tray for easy access.

Early and Late War British (11 Brigades)

Early and Late War French (4 or 5 divisions, EW not shown)

Late War USA (2+ Divisions)

I have so much work to do on this collection, but I'm making progress! Happy Gaming!

Eric

SYW Battle and Vauban's Wars Playtest for Historicon

G'day Wargamers! Hope you are doing great! Although the blog has been rather stale lately, I'm gaming all the time. Some miniatures, but mostly Euro games and board wargames. I've played nearly 100 games of these various types this year so far.

SYW Battle

Back in April I ran a somewhat small Seven Years War battle with my new British army getting a chance to fire their muskets for the first time! This is a scenario where the French were caught off-guard near their camp by an Allied Army of British, Hanoverians, and Hessians.

• Rules: Battle Command from Piquet Inc. 
• Figures: 18mm Old Glory, and 18mm Eureka (Grenadiers de France).
• Number of Players: 2 (I was umpire)
• Terrain: Cigar Box mat, homemade trees, flex-terrain roads, and PaperTerrain 10mm buildings.

Normally I give a lot of blow-by-blow action text, but I'm in a rush today so it will be mostly photos. As usual, click on the photos to enlarge and go through the slide show.

SETUP and FORCES

French Left Cavalry wing holding the ground in front of the town and anchored on the hilltop forest

British Infantry Wing (their first time on the table). 

Hessian infantry wing with light guns following the infantry.

Hessian cavalry on the Allied left wing with 12# battery in support.

The entire battlefield from the Allied left wing. French forces are occupying a low ridge line.

French right-wing cavalry deployed on the ridge and anchored by woods.

Love how these British turned out!

Grenadiers de France returning to the field! Will they get their in time?! This was their first time in a battle! These are Eureka figures.

View from the French perspective

Edge view of the two forces.

Allied German cavalry

Vaubanner Flags on these British. British painted by Old Guard painters out of Kiev, Ukraine.

Closer view of the French cavalry wing near the town.

Three new French cavalry that have just been based and flagged! I got a lot of new regiments on the table for the first time.

Swiss in French service.

French view of the British infantry wing. The British guns were surprisingly effective from distance throughout the entire game. 

Hessians

British cavalry covering the flank of the British Grenadiers.

THE BATTLE

The battle started with some long range canon fire, but the English cavalry did a massive charge into the French left wing cavalry

French Light guns in reserve in case the British break through.

Melees on this flank were swirling ordeals. 

No massive routs, but a sway back and forth.

The Hessians advance and drive back the front line of the French defensive positions.

The British march forward slow and methodically.

The Alsace regiment is all that is left in the first line of French infantry. Tan and Brown pipe cleaners indicate UI loses.

The Swiss are driven back by the Hessians. Green cubes indicate disorder.

A view down the line

French and Hessian cavalry clash on the flanks. The French take a beating.

French guns deliver canister fire into the British dragoons, with little visible damage!

The Grenadiers de France rush forward into the gap in the French line.

Grenadiers make life difficult for the British

The British put on a show advancing into the French lines

British guns are silent now as their troops are blocking their view.

British Grenadiers on the right near the town start to make an impact on the French infantry

Despite terrific loses the Hessians push on!

French guns overrun on the British right. More cavalry clashes!

Nearly all troops now are damaged and disordered

Sir! We have no targets! 

British Grenadiers deliver a volley

French Wurtemberg cavalry charge the Hessian Grenadiers!

French Grenadiers hold! Casualties mounting

French volley causes two UI loss to the Hessians

At the time we had to call the game, the game hung in the balance. The French had stabilized their center, but their cavalry wings were taking a beating. We had a great time.

Vauban's Wars Playtest

I'm running a VW game at Historicon this year and I'm using my summer to playtest the game and get a lot of material rebased, created, and situated. Being retired is helping me finish projects that have long been dormant. For instance, I just rebased 25+ regiments of WW1 miniatures and I will be running 3 WW1 games this summer and winter.

I will be doing another Vauban's Wars playtest with mostly new players in June in my final preparation for my Historicon game which is Saturday, July 19th, at 1pm. 

I appreciate Rob and Steve helping with this playtest. Neither had played VW before so this allowed me to get great feedback and a dry run at explaining the rules for a convention game.

• Rules: Vauban's Wars (my ruleset) from Piquet Inc. 
• Figures: 18mm Old Glory and Hallmark guns and sappers.
• Number of Players: 2 (I was umpire)
• Terrain: Cigar Box mat, flex-terrain roads, PaperTerrain 10mm buildings and 15mm fortress. New first parallel earthworks are from Acheson Creations. (only primed for this game)

The initial setup with the first parallel built

View of the fortress with the French garrison worried about their existance

The big open spot in the town is for the church I couldn't fine for days! I put it in a "safe spot"! Hahaha!

I now have crew painted for these fortress guns. They look great.

I think we should keep our heads down!!

Damn! The Allies are coming from every direction!

Second parallel being created. Hanoverian infantry help guard the sappers.

French trench raid kills the sappers despite Hessians helping the besieging security forces.

Hanoverian infantry guard the sappers as they make gun emplacements.

French militia unit is hit by artillery fire! UI lost!

Allies have picked this location for their breaching fire.

This photo shows the progress by the besiegers. Second parallel is completed. Guns moving forward. A third parallel just getting started on the far right near the rightmost bastion.

French move infantry to the covered way to make building the 3rd parallel more challenging

French light infantry leads a trench raid against a siege gun! The Hessians were able to drive the trench raid back.

This siege saw many spies captured and hung, however the spies were successful in destroying food stores and making some of the besieging troops desert. Disease ran rampant in both camps due to a unique event. Heavy rains caused minor havoc, but soon passed. 

At this point the players had to leave, but they gave me fantastic feedback and I'm making great advancements in the terrain and figures since then. Next play test in about 3 weeks!

Cheers! Hope you enjoyed!

Eric