Friday 30 June 2023

Almansa 1707 - Spanish - Silly's Brigade

 


Silly by name Silly by nature!!!

And here we are, the last brigade for my Almansa project,  as the war was called the Wars of Spanish  Succession, I thought it only fitting that the last brigade are Spanish.
Even though I'm posting the last brigade in June, I actually painted and based them back in the middle of May. Which means its only taken me 6 months to paint all the units, which I think is pretty good going.


Why has he circled 2 brigades you ask?
Well they were both part of Silly's brigade, you can also see that Silly's brigade were formed on the right under Lt Gen Duque de Popoli.


Making up Silly's brigade were...
4 squadrons of Pozoblanco


4 squadrons of Guardias de Corps


and lastly
3 squadrons of Rosellon Nuevo


The flags are all from the earlier Nine Years War period, although the Burgundian Cross above was most probably used by all units.


So there we have it, now onto some buildings and terrain!!!

Thursday 29 June 2023

Almansa 1707 - French - Pons Brigade


I'm very nearly there, this is the penultimate brigade for my Almansa project.
 

Here we have the six French line battalions from Pon's brigade.


Two battalions of Charolais


Two battalions of Barrois


and two battalions of Orleans


Pons French Brigade fought in the 2nd line of the centre under Lt Gen Hessy or Mariscal de Campo de la Vayre???
 



Monday 26 June 2023

Fathers Day - The Haul

 


I am a lucky lad, I have 4 beautiful daughters, who understand that their Dad likes to play with soldiers!


They asked me what I'd like for Father's Day, as I'd already bought Barry Hilton's Mad For War rules at Broadside the other week, I thought it'd be a good idea to get some ships?
Or rather give in to inevitability and get some ships.....


An English Squadron for the 2nd Anglo/Dutch War




And a Dutch squadron too!



With a few freebies from Barry!


A 40, 80 and 100 gun English ship

A big thanks you to Emily, Abi, Holly and Nieve xxxx
for my pressies!!!


Saturday 24 June 2023

Rapture, Medway Gaming Festival - Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667

 

At Parizan in 2022 I had a very long chat with Sir Barry Hilton of League of Augsberg, Beneath the Lily Banners and Donnybrook fame, whilst admiring his wonderful display of the Attack on the Medway in 1667, using his new Mad for War rules.


After the show a thought occurred to me, to see if I could persuade Barry to come down to Kent, to join the Rejects at Rapture Gaming Festival, funnily enough held at Chatham Dockyard, where we could refight the Attack on the Medway game. After all what better place to play the game, than the docks that were actually attacked.
He didn't need any persuading!
See Barry's post here.
Unfortunately for Barry, he's got a longer journey than most of the Rejects, it'll take us a mere 17 minutes and 9.2 miles, while Barry's journey will be 430 miles or a 860 mile round trip, that's dedication for you!!!



So if you feel fighting fit come and join Barry and the Rejects at Medway Gaming Festival on the 1st and 2nd of July at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, Main Gate Road, Chatham, Kent.


The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch Wars in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships.

The Dutch, under nominal command of Wilem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles.

Politically, the raid was disastrous for the war plans of Charles II of England. It led to a quick end to the war, and a favourable peace for the Dutch. It was one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy's history, and one of the worst suffered by the British military. Horace George Franks called it the "most serious defeat it has ever had in its home waters


Hopefully we'll see you there!!!





Tuesday 20 June 2023

Almansa 1707 - English - Hill's Brigade

The last English and last Allied brigade for my Almansa project.



Hill's Brigade fought in the 2nd line of the left flank under the Conte de Alayda See the map above.


The regiments in the brigade are Hill's own regt, Lord Mark Kerr's, Alnutt's and Stewart's.


As with most English regiments they wore a nice red coat. All the flags are pure conjecture and made by me, using the cuff colour of the unit as the base flag colour.
The figures again are from Irregular's 2mm range.

Thursday 15 June 2023

Almansa 1707 - 2mm Portuguese - Henriques' Brigade

 


My last Portuguese brigade is complete!!!



Henriques' Brigade fought in the centre, 2nd line under the Dutch General Friesham, see the map above for their position.


The 4 units in this brigade are Francis d'Abru Pereria, Mat. Alvarez Galle, Felix Machado and Don Henric Henriques'.


There is no info on the uniforms of the Portuguese, but its most probable that they wore those same boring grey uniforms like the Dutch, Portuguese and the French. I've chosen to give Henriques' the old blue unifom, which has faded to a lighter shade of blue, just for a little colour to be totally honest.

Only 3 Brigades to go!

Monday 12 June 2023

Broadside 2013 - The Rejects on Tour - Skirmish at St Francis Cove 1784 - A Smugglers Adventure.

 


Postie did a cracking job painting all the figures and making all the terrain for our demo game Skirmish at St Francis Cove 1784 - A Smugglers Adventure, at Broadside in Gillingham over the weekend.


We arrived nice and early and set up in no time.


Lee printed out all the info and Smuggler pictures, to make the table look 



We started the game as the doors opened. Steve bought a Pirate outfit with him (why has Steve got a Pirate outfit, you ask) Well we all asked the same question!!!

We had a pact, whoever knocked over any terrain while moving their troops would have to wear the wig for 10 minutes.


Our first winner was Lee!


The aim of the game was the Smugglers had to get their contraband off the beach, up the cliff and off the closest table edge. The Revenuemen and Marines had to capture the smugglers, not kill them and stop them getting any booty off the table.


The Revenue men and Marines march on the table, its early morning, they've been given some info that a ship might e landing at St Francis cove, by a recently captured local.





Surj is watching Lee like a hawk, hoping he knocks over another tree.


But wait..... Steve knocked over tree, (I think he did it on purpose)


Suits you Sir!


The Smugglers are all alerted that the Revenumen are on their way, when.......


Brian May, aka Reject Dave knocked over a tree, then knocked over another tree


Out of Steve's bag of tricks came a Pirate shirt, which Dave could just about get on.
He then proceeded to knock over a stack of trees, just look at those sleeves!!!


Dave was then saved as Surj, who knocked over a tree, he really didn't wanna put the wig on Ha!!!
We'd only been playing 30 minutes and the wig wearers were a sweaty mess.
So we left the wig in the box.


Back to the game, all Smugglers moved toward the approaching Government men, apart from the ones loads the carts and mules of course!!


Talking of carts and mules......


We only had one practice game, where the Government men were victorious, in this game it looked like the Smugglers were getting the upper hand. Instead of going for the beach a troop of men headed towards the ruined church of St Francis. Good news for us the Smugglers!!


Luvvly terrain pieces from Debris of War!!


The Goverment men were dropping like flies.


Two brave Smugglers take of the Marines.


There were 12 Revenue men, now there's only 3.
Postie pulled out an event card, one of the young recruits tripped over a rock and fired his 6 shot blunderbuss and accidentally shot and killed 4 of his own men.
Oh how we laughed!





A powerful volley drops more Government troops.



The mules are fully loaded and heading for the table edge.


The game ended when the 3 remaining Government men fled the feild.
So a win for the Smugglers.

There were lots of other great games on show at the show, here are some photos of them.

Lord of the Rings SBG - Hythe Tyrants




Luxembourg 1940, 20mm Rapid Fire - Deal Wargames Club
















Star Wars Legion - Fire When Ready

Who were voted in as the well deserved Best in Show.










Sheppy Models
I had a bargain purchase of Vallejo paints from Shaun!!!


Spanish Ulcers; Battles in the Peninsular War - Real Time Wargamers




Battle of Cawnpore, Indian Mutiny 1857 - Hailsham Wargamers





Ragnorak Hobbies
  • Nach Paris 1870; Franco-Prussian War - SEEMS




  • Disain Studios?
  • Medway Veterans Hub
  • Sarissa Precision
  • Crawley Wargamws Club - 1st Sikh War









  • Skirmish Wargames - Red & White and Blood Red Snow
  • 54mm Russian Cival War





  • Eagles & Lions at Carentan - Retired Wargamers Reloaded








  • Friday Night Fire Fight



    Flea Market

    601st Cos Play Games
    BattleTec - BattleTec UK South East

    Battle Foundry
    Bloodforged Games

  • Parkfield Miniatures
  • Fox Miniatures Dioramas


    Debris of War
    Blotz & AppleJax
    Trench Offensive - Pandyman Enterprises





    Medway Wargames - Star Wars Legion 54mm







    Big on Stratergy - The Great Turkey Hunt - 54mm French Indain Wars



  • TWWS - What a Tanker

    Maidstone Wargames Club - Fallujah Iraq 2004






  • And finally a Team Reject pic