टूटे हुए फालान्जियों पर लड़ाई

This week's offering from GHQ, continuing the games set in the sub continent theme, is an Indian Mutiny encounter near the fictional village of Phalanjees. Lord Rawnsley is leading his forces ever onward towards the relief of Bhyklabad when he finds his advanced blocked by a Mutineer army, shored up by the household forces of the Raja of Rhanzlistan, the ever disloyal Bhurpa hill tribe and various Badmash bands. Rawnsley's force must be checked or the mutineers must be broken before night falls - Turn 12 to you and me. As ever now an annotated photomontage which I trust will carry the reader down amongst the action ~

The Mutineer forces, supported by their rag-tag band of allies, block Lord Rawnsley's path to relief of the siege of Bhyklabad.

Lord Rawnsley deploys his forces determined to drive the mutineers from the field and open the roD to Bhyklabad.

The right is formed from his small cavalry arm, Lancers and Guided, supported by a battery of the RHA.

The four small Brigades of infantry are in the centre, Native and H.E.I.C. troops in advance of the Regulars.

Lord Rawnsley himself leads the right flank of Heavy artillery, supported by Hussars and elephant borne Regular infantry.

On the Mutineer left are the Raja of Rhanzlistan's contingent, comprised of his mounted and foot Household Guards, his Elephants and the 'Great Gun of Bhyklabad'.

The fierce Bhurpa hill tribesmen have come to the aid of the Mutineers, fielding two foot and one mounted group of warriors. While the local population has roused itself into two groups armed only with spear or sword!

The main Mutineer forces of two sepoy infantry brigades, supported by two batteries of artillery and remnants of a sepoy cavalry regiment take the right, hoping to swing around and sweep Rawnsley's force from the field of battle.

The sepoy artillery hurriedly prepares to open fire on Rawnsley's advancing forces!

The Raja of Rhanzlistan orders the 'Great Gun Of Bhyklabad' to open fire in their support while his Household troops nervously await their orders!

Ever anxious for the fight the whole Bhurpa contingent closes with the enemy! These fierce warriors will surely terrorise Rawnsley's loyal sepoys and H.E.I.C. European regiments leading his attack! 

Bhurpas and Badmash charge home against the H.E.I.C.'s European regiments! Caught in column their closing fire fails to stagger their foe, so it's down to the bayonet!

The Badmash cannot stand the cold steel. Indeed you might be forgiven for saying that "They don't like it up 'em!" The Bhurpas are more resilient of course and meet steel with steel of their own.

The H.E.I.C. Europeans reform quickly having seen off the leading horde of Badmash as their fellows continue to struggle with the fierce Bhurpa warriors.

While that combat continues in the centre more Badmash surge forward against the reforming Europeans. Rawnsley is quick to spot the Raja's infantry advancing on their flank and orders forward the first of his regulars.

The second Badmash horde fare no better than their fellows and are driven off in route! The Bhurpas are broken too though the mounted warriors can hurry to fill the gap!

The Lancers were hesitant to charge the sepoy infantry lines. Their fate was to be raked by artillery and musket fire which shattered their morale.

Meanwhile, the Raja's infantry have been driven back in Disorder, their morale almost broken!

The infantry so far engaged from Rawnsley's force must rally from their combat losses while fresh troops take the brunt of the next Mutineer assault. The Highlanders shake out into line and their volleys shake the resolve of the Bhurpas!

Rawnsley's heavy artillery have finally come in to action and begin to engage with the 'Great Gun of Bhyklabad'.

The Highlanders volleys have shattered the remaining Bhurpa warriors band and the centre of Rawnsley's attack is stabilised now.

As they reform and regroup the sepoy Mutineer infantry begin to advance on the right, their plan to turn the enemy flank and roll up Rawnsley's attackers 

The Raja's infantry having rallied and reformed again advance to block the enemy advance. They find their flank unexpectedly exposed to some Hussars with fatal consequences...

From behind the Mutineer centre you can see the attack getting underway despite the threat posed by the Guides on their right 

On the Mutineer left things are unraveling slowly with the Raja's infantry once more repulsed. The crew of the Great Gun manhandle it round to provide some support.

While things are far from positive on the Mutineer left away on their right the situation is developing in their favour.

They may yet succeed in turning Rawnsley's flank with a determined advance.

For Lord Rawnsley the situation seems grave. Despite successes on his right and consolidation in his centre his left is under great pressure and may yet give way.

Despite losses, after heavy fighting the Gurkhas and European infantry finally destroy the remaining Irregulars holding the Mutineer centre.

The Mutineer left and centre has finally broken! The road to Bhyklabad is open to Rawnsley. Despite some success on their right the Sepoys must break off their attempt to turn Rawnsley's left flank as the army morale has Broken. They live to fight another day!

All up for my force in Turn 7, despite it all looking so promising in Turn 6! That's the joy and pain in Black Powder and why Phil and I like it so much. Next week hopefully we advance to the early 1920's and see Brigadier 'Tubby' Bykleigh confront those wiley Bhurpas and their Soviet allies under Robinski as a new campaigning season opens in Rhanzlistan.

Decisive Engagement at Malingarah

As mobility is something of an issue for me presently Phil kindly agreed to visit GHQ for our weekly game. I managed to put together a small Tales from Pendawar action with Lord Rawnsley making a surprise attack on the gathering forces of Typoo Bicca, the Tiger of Pendawar. As is my custom now,  an annotated photomontage which I hope will carry the reader into the heart of the action ~

Typoo's forces, a motley bunch at the best of times, are gathering around the village of Malingarah awaiting the promised hordes from the mountain tribes of Rhanzlistan.

Lord Rawnsley has deployed all his cavalry on his left, his brigade of regulars in the centre and the brigade's from the H.E.I.C. on his right. His main challenge is not to be caught piecemeal due to the terrain disrupting coordinated movements.

Typoo has mustered his brigade of regulars on the left of Malingarah, supported by his large guns and his rocket men. From here he hopes to deter any probing attack from the H.E.I.C. regiments opposite while also supporting the Raja's Household troops holding the village in his centre.

Typoo has garrisoned Malingarah with the troops of the Raja of Rhanzlistan's Household. Fiercely loyal to their lord, they can be relied on to fight to the last.

On his left Typoo relies on his numerous gun batteries supported by the Voluntares de Bhykli, numerous bands of Badmash, and the elephants from the Raja's Household.

Amongst those batteries he prizes the now legendary Great Gun of Bhyklabad.

As Rawnsley's cavalry manoeuvre into position to shield his centre Typoo's forces pour forward supported by salvos from his artillery. The elephants may hopefully disrupt the nervous horses!

Rawnsley's regulars probe Typoo's centre. Typoo counters by despatching the Household cavalry against the slowly advancing enemy. From here he hopes to disrupt both right and centre of Rawnsley's force.

The Pendawar Horse Artillery drive off the first of Typoo's rabble, sacrificed to shield the elephants and the Voluntares de Bhykli.

The elephants' ponderous advance now threatens Rawnsley's left wing. The Voluntares are poised to exploit their anticipated success.

Rawnsley counters Typoo's bold move by sending the native cavalry against them, forcing them in to square and leaving the elephants dangerously unsupported.

The ponderous advance of the units of the H.E.I.C. on Rawnsley's right is supported by the first of his heavy gun batteries to counter the threat of the Household cavalry.

As Typoo moves his entire left wing forward he suffers a serious loss when a rocket explodes prematurely and destroys the battery! Fortunately only the Tiger's Claw regiment are Disordered in the aftermath.

The elephants' attack forces the 71st into square while the native cavalry are repulsed by the Voluntares' fire from their square.

In the centre Typoo throws the Raja's Guard against the Disordered infantry in Rawnsley's centre. If they break he will have split the attacker's in two for the cavalry to exploit.

Typoo's plan is to swing round on Rawnsley's centre, exploiting the hoped for success in the centre, having destroyed his left. It all hinges now on the elephants' success and the disruption of the cavalry.

The Pendawar Horse Artillery are Disordered by counter battery fire rendering their support of the endangered left less effective than Rawnsley hoped at a crucial moment.

Lacking support the elephants' ponderous assault is first halted, then thrown back. Rawnsley's left is holding up despite the pressure!

In his centre the 72nd, despite being Shaken by enemy fire, gallantly charge down hill against the faltering Raja's Guard. Their attack is now supported by the European battalion of the Pendawar Fusiliers.

The Raja's Guard, both Disordered and Shaken by the assault, are driven back by the 72nd, the Hindoostan Regiment.

Unsupported and under fire from the Pendawar Horse Artillery the Raja's elephants' morale is shattered and they route for the rear!

As do the defeated Raja's Guard in Typoo's centre. Suddenly it is all unravelling for Typoo S he anxiously awaits news of the hordes from his allies Hill Tribes!

His right mostly destroyed and his centre thrown back Typoo is facing defeat as Rawnsley's men pour forward with renewed determination. 

With only his left strongly holding their position and his right and centre now Broken Typoo's army is defeated. If only those unreliable Bhurpa tribesmen had answered his summons! 

All done then in Turn 7 of 12. An intriguing action which in the best Black Powder tradition was unpredictable until it's sudden climax. Next up here in GHQ an Indian Mutiny game with Malingarah transforming into Bhyklabad...

"The Nights are Drawing in!"

As my old Grandmother was wont to announce once the longest day had passed. Well, perhaps that is overly dramatic but we are over the hump of the year, summer still seems to have gone AWOL and my Crimean War project has reached a natural break in it's growth, and so I thought I would take this opportunity to look back on the first half of 2024 and tentatively forward to it's second half! I know I'm a tad behind here, blame it on 'Added Time' if you like! There's a bit of a natural break around now anyway which disrupts gaming and such, accentuated this year by a bad fall I had resulting in a broken big toe, severe bruising and restricted mobility for a while! Anyway, to business...

It would surely come as no surprise to any reader that the focus of painting over the first six months of the year was 28mm Crimean War figures for my new-old project. When I checked up on 30th June I had painted 372 figures, so if my arithmetic is correct that total slightly exceeds my modest two figures-a-day target. Hurrah!

While games have been as rare as hen's teeth of late due to holidays, illness, pratt falls and such I have managed to play in 25 games with Phil and Paul so far this year, both here and at Phil's {News from the Front in the side bar ~ If you don't know it you are missing a real treat!} Of these 25 games I won 10, drew 3, and lost 12. Not my best performance I'd say, but every game has been great fun and better company!

So far this year I've managed just three visits to Wargames Shows: WMMS and Hammerhead in March and Partizan in May. Both excellent events, well worth visiting if you don't know either, with great games to drool over, lots of traders to spend your warchest with and the welcome opportunity to natter with more distant friends in person rather than by text.

Turning lastly in this retrospective to purchase, the obvious comment might be too many. But then I'm a wargamer and as you well know we don't entertain 'too many' as a notion worth a fig! No prizes for guessing that most expenditure exhausted on keeping the Lead Pimple stocked up went on Crimean War figures, overwhelmingly from Great War Miniatures via North Star. When I look at it all on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ it's quite worrying, just for a moment of course and then I order more!

Anyway, that's January through to June neatly trotted through, on to the second half of the year and my 'vague aspirations' for my hobby. Firstly, no more Crimean War project painting for now at least, even though the 42nd Highlanders, the French and more Cossacks are waiting in the wings for their turn later in the year as winter arrives. Looking outside as I type it might already be here! The Lead Pimple contains the kilted Highland regiment for the Crimean, Austrian Uhlans for the FRW, Breton and Norman Light Cavalry, three regiments of Confederate infantry, some Late Roman Clibanarii, as well as sundry odd figures and more besides. Variety will be the rallying call for the coming months I hope! First up have been four Casting Rooms Miniatures British Horse Grenadiers on foot. These were the final part of Jon's generous gift last year. They were long overdue their moment in the sun!

As I've already mentioned I have sent off an order to Aventine Miniatures for the bones of a Pyrrhic army. I'd hope that they would arrive in a week or so and can be advanced in the painting queue to give me some welcome relief from Foundry's 'British Red Coat'. I would anticipate hopefully having at least a decent tranche of them completed by the time my Vikings are due to arrive in September. I will need to order some Tarentines of course later in the summer: a Phalanx, some cavalry probably and perhaps more, we shall see. 

Back in the day, when the world was young - not to mention myself and Phil - we would perhaps have attended upwards of 20 wargames shows in a good year. Looking at the second half of 2024 I can only realistically see me hoping to attend Colours and The Other Partizan. I would have liked to pop up to Jockshire for Claymore but Sue is not so keen as the costs of accommodation have skyrocketed, partly post lockdown profiteering of course, but also the Festival effect on prices. So if that comes to pass it will mean just four wargames shows; a bit of a come down from pre-Covid times! Of course age and general health are a factor also, but all in all it's a tad depressing seen baldly like that. But, KBO being the watchword here in GHQ I am braced for whatever opportunities the second half of the year may bring my way! Starting with today's game with Phil, a welcome return visit to Pendawar.

Guard Duty

I mentioned in the previous blog post that I'd been rummaging about in the Lead Pimple. Alongside the two Roosian casualties you saw towards the end of said post I found four Great War Miniatures British infantry figures, one sergeant and three privates. Initially I couldn't see any relevant use I might put them to so they were laid aside pending inspiration. A couple of days later I was sitting at my desk painting when it suddenly dawned on me how I might use them. I saw them in a small vignette representing the guard being inspected by the duty sergeant! Another frippery added to the ever expanding number! So, without more ado here they are ~

As you already know I have decided to lay the French and the remaining Cossacks aside for now, I really do need a change. In the early autumn I should receive my Footsore Miniatures Vikings, sculpted by Matt, from their Kickstarter. { I've actually got a few resin master casts as a gift from Matt which I hope to work on.} However, they are two or three months away for now so I have the opportunity to paint other bits and bobs as I choose, so, some Casting Rooms Miniatures SYW British Horse Grenadiers on foot who have been lurking for years in the Lead Pimple are next up!

As if I don't have enough in the Lead Pimple to be going on with I have sent off an order to Aventine Miniatures for the bones of a Pyrrhic army ~ three Phalanxes, Companion Cavalry, Greek Light Cavalry, a mounted Successor general, Pyrrhic General & Staff on foot, and skirmishing Light Infantry. With what can be added to them from my Punic Wars armies I should need only some Tarentines. But then you are all wargamers so you already know how these things go...

Cossack Scouts and others

As I had previously mentioned on the blog amongst my purchase of pre-release figures from Eureka Miniatures in Australia for my Crimean War project were six Cossack Scouts on foot, one of each of the poses I believe. I thought that they would make useful bases of skirmishing infantry for my Roosians so I have based them up on 50mm round bases, two figures to a base. 

I have no print sources for their dress but research on t'internet had supplied me with several illustrations of Cossacks of the period. In the end the very small areas of their uniform coats and trousers on view I chose to paint dark blue {Foundry Prussian Blue shade and mid tone} while the greatcoats I painted in a beige-brown shade {Foundry British Uniform mid tone and light}. Two of these are modelled with rather nice hooded coats which vary the look nicely. Belts and such were painted Leather, bags and such either Drab or Rawhide {Foundry shade and mid tone in all cases}. When it came to grass 'n tufting their bases I went for a wilder look, well they are scouting after all. Enough waffling on, here they are, make up your own mind ~

While I was rummaging through the Lead Pimple I found two Great War Miniatures Roosian casualties, so ever the cheapskate I've painted them up as another frippery, or an objective marker even ~

There do remain in the Lead Pimple some Foundry Cossacks, but they need a spray undercoat and I haven't got around to it, yet... You could probably blame the 'great British summer' for that! Hopefully they will appear alongside the French over the winter. Mind, they need to be spray undercoated too...

The Look of the Game

One of the advantages of having a permanent wargames room and table is the simple fact that you are not usually as rushed in setting up or taking down games as you would be on most typical club games night. A simple knock on effect of that is the ability to model and paint game ephemera, put simply that results in the creation of interesting fripperies which just add to the look and feel of the tabletop battlefield. The 'look of the game' matters to those of us who game under the loose GHQ Irregulars banner, creating points of interest be they figures, equipment, vehicles or buildings. I've already shown a few of these from my Crimean War project on earlier blog posts, so the fact that I've added some more should not come as a surprise to any regular reader.

By now you might well be wondering where the figures were sourced. Well, if you follow the Lead Adventures Forum in the Age of the Big Battalions subsection you may have seen that last year Eureka Miniatures in Australia acquired the rights to a new range of Crimean War era figures from a Russian designer. With the Eastern European unpleasantness intruding the range has sadly been in an hiatus since. Having seen via the internet that Nic had cast some Uhlans for a fellow gamer I thought I'd take a chance and enquire if I might acquire some figures also. Very kindly Nic sent me a provisional pack list, quite an extensive one if I'm honest. I decided to choose a few dismounted Cossack Scouts, Casualties, and a Dressing Station set. Mixing the latter two sets has produced three bases of figures to populate a Roosian Field Dressing Station ~

The figures include two orthodox nuns in a nursing role, medical orderlies and a number of casualties in different stages of treatment or recovery. {On a related point, there was also a Hospital pack but no indication of what it might include, but I was sorely tempted...} The figures turned out to be straightforward to paint, though somewhat more delicate in sculpting style than the robust Great War Miniatures, Warlord Games and Foundry figures in my collection. The Cossack Scouts though look much more solid and have given me less trouble now they have come under the brush. They will feature in a forthcoming blog post in due course