Sharp Practice: En Avant!!... Holding The Line (Day One)

The latest 'En Avant' Peninsular War Sharp Practice weekend was held down Bristol Independent Gaming over the weekend, this time as doubles event, with two players a side controlling a total of 110 points of troops. I paired up with Chris Clark and we used my Kingdom of Italy troops.

Game One:

In our first game we faced Lloyd and Tom with their Anglo-Spanish army, our mission to burn the village and make off with the livestock. With a Spanish cannon in the village covering the road we decided to try and flank it with half our force...

The Italian line Volteggiatori pushed forward to try and suppress the cannon, eventually forcing it to fall back behind the building.

Meanwhile one formation of Fucilieri advanced along the left flank, the second along the road...

...towards a line of presented Highlanders.

Whilst Irish line moved up behind to reinforce the "Diavoli in gonna"

However before they got there, the Highlanders found themselves under fire from some Italian light infantry Volteggiatori in the wood.

And then receiving a volley from the Fucilieri who had marched up the road.

Leaving several dead behind them, the Highlanders tried to charge the Italian line but came up short.

Meanwhile the Granatieri engaged the Spanish Guerrillas who were attempting to flank the Italians...

A well aimed Italian musket ball hitting the Guerrilla leader between the eyes!

The Irish arrived, too late to help the broken Highlanders, unleashing a volley at the Italian Fucilieri to their front.

Meanwhile the light infantry Volteggiatori charged into the village, attacking the cannon.

Capturing it and killing several of the crew and routing the survivors. That task done, they started to set fire to the buildings.

Back in the centre, the Irish poured fire into the Fucilieri breaking the formation and causing two groups to break...

Unfortunately at this point we had to call the game, somewhat finely poised, a draw as it was almost time for the afternoon game to start.

Who would have won? Well the Volteggiatori had almost completed the task of burning one building, a cow was being escorted to safety and we still had a full strength Fucilieri formation on the left, along with the Granatieri and two Volteggiatori  units. However the Irish were still in a strong position and Lloyd was moving up his Spanish infantry and cavalry around the village to threaten the Italian left, so only the gods of war(gaming) will ever know...

Game Two:

This time Chris and I had to escort a priest and his donkey to safety, with Leigh and Jack's Anglo-Spanish force trying to capture him!

The Escort Mission gave us three turns of movement before we started pulling leader tokens and if Chris and I had been a little more switched on the light infantry Volteggiatori could have captured Leigh and Jack's deployment point before they got any troops on the table and then we'd have been down the pub!

As it was we missed the opportunity for an early drink and Jack got his Light Bobs on to give us a volley.

Somewhat untypically the Granatieri were well up for a fight and stormed forward along with both the line and light infantry Volteggiatori.

The woods were full of smelly Guerrillas (masquerading here as monks) who opened fire on the Italian scouting cavalry...

Two Cacciatore a Cavallo and their leader fell to the Spanish irregulars fire and the unit took a lot of Shock...

More enemy troops spilled out of the woods, British Light Infantry Skirmishers having a pop at the Italian cavalry.

The fight around the allied deployment point was heating up with the light infantry on both sides trading blows...

The Granatieri snapped into line and poured a volley into the British, inflicting more casualties.

Meanwhile the woods were alive with the sound of Guerrillas as the "monks" pushed forward...

And some Guerrilla cavalry trotted forward looking for a priest and a donkey to skewer!

With the Cacciatore a Cavallo deciding discretion was the better part of valour left it to the Fucilieri to escort the priest to safety...

Back on the flank, the battle was becoming more vicious as the British, weakened by the Italian volleys, charged in on the line Volteggiatori in a desperate attempt to change the inevitable outcome...

They were beaten back, the Light Bob line disintegrating.

Having taken casualties, and suffered a wounded leader, from guerrilla sniping, the Fucilieri snapped into line ready to give the enemy cavalry what for...

However it was on the flank where matters were to be decided. With both sides Force Morale on the low side (British 5/Italians 3), I rashly charged the line Volteggiatori into a group of Light Bobs, commanded by the British force commander, as they were carrying a lot of Shock. My dice rolling however was a disaster, the Volteggiatori were defeated and pushed back and their NCO killed. They were then charged by a unit of Guerrillas hiding in the wood, and wiped out, all the bad thing happen rolls resulting in the Italian Force Morale hitting zero - I don't think Chris was impressed with my gung ho tactics here! :-)

Two enjoyable and fun games there against great opponents. What would day two bring?

Indian Rebellion: Second Regiment Native Infantry, Bengal Native Infantry

Back to the Mutiny and a pile of miniatures that had been sat in the part painted pile for a few months now, but as Phil asked if I had any mutineers to add to his for a Sharp Practice campaign he is playing, I was enthused to finish them and add some native officers.

The rank and file are old Wargames Foundry miniatures. They have been sculpted with worsted wings on the shoulders which means they are either Grenadiers or Light Infantry, so with yellow facings these will either be the 2nd (Grenadiers) Bengal Native Infantry or the 42nd Light Infantry.

The two native officers are Empress models from the old Iron Duke range and scale nicely with the old Foundry models, even if the weapons are more slender.

Hopefully these groups of well-formed mutineers bring Phil some success for his Pandies, something which has been lacking in his recent battles.

This Quar's War: Crusader Squad

It lives! Apologies for the lack of blog updates but the universe keeps getting in the way. There are a pile of battle reports to put up, including many victories(!), which I hope to get to this month but in the meantime here are some Quar! 

I fell in love with the Quar over a decade or so back but couldn't justify an order from the States, however with Wargames Atlantic now producing plastic Quar in the This Quar's War: Clash of Rhyfles boxed game, this long standing itch has finally been scratched!

The miniatures are fantastic and great fun to put together and paint. It is no exaggeration they made me smile sticking them together and painting the first Quar up.

The Crusaders are the first troops I have painted, their opponents, the Coftyrans are next on the painting table.

Not quite sure what they will get used for, I'll try the small scale game that came in the box, but Xenos Rampant or Chain of Command (Chain of Quar-mand?) might be a better long term bet if I end up buying more - which seems quite likely!

Sharp Practice: Silencing Singh the Sniper

Despite the successful defence of the Mission House at Pershawarinan, the rebellion continues and large numbers of Europeans seek shelter within the garrison at the Residency of the Governor General at Peshwarinan. The Residency is soon besieged with regular attacks on the compound, which is subject a constant artillery barrage and even an abortive attempts to mine the walls. In addition a sniper (who the British have nicknamed Singh the sniper) is firing into the compound from a nearby building (known as Abramovich House) disturbing tiffin. The situation is intolerable and the Governor-General orders Captain Turner-Round to lead a sally out to destroy the guns and silence Singh the sniper!

The North Somersets were rather noisy embarking on their sally alerting Subedar Poosh Dittin who rouses his men to protect the guns from the British.

Sergeant Nocker and the Bengal Horse Artillery decide to have a pop at the Pandies but find the bloody infantry have got in their line of fire! Bollocks! curses Nocker.

The commotion rouses more Pandies asleep on the roof of Abramovich House and they fire down at the North Somersets below...

Not noticing the arrival of the Lieutenant Flynt-Ston of the Gurkhas, a group of whom try to smash down the door into the building. Unfortunately their die roll was not enough to complete the task.

Captain Turner-Round splits his formation into two groups leaving the second under the leadership of the indomitable Sergeant Grimshaw and fires at Poosh Dittin's Sepoys...

Killing one.

Whilst the Gurkhas and North Somersets try to get to fulfil the mission, Captain Oulde-Duffer leads two groups of Piffers (Punjabi Field Force Sikhs) beyond the Residency walls to provide support.

Which looks like it will be needed as Argi Bargi and a mass of Badmashes suddenly burst from the town!

Then Badmash Skirmishers under Allo Gobi climb out of their beds onto the roof of their hut and start taking pop shots at the North Somersets...

Wounding Captain Turner-Round! What a bore.

Subedar Poosh Dittin orders his men to fire at the British...

And a brave lad from Somerset falls dead, his comrades taking a point of Shock.

Lieutenant Flynt-Ston's men make a second futile attempt to smash down the door to Abramovich House, when suddenly they are attacked in the flank by Argi Bargi and his Badmashes!

Kurkis and tulwars flash in the sun and many a Badmash and Gurkha falling dead with both Argi Bargi and Flynt-Ston being wounded in the kerfuffle!

The surviving Gurkhas break...

Dragging their wounded officer back to the safety of the residency.

More trouble for the British then arrived as Havildar Priti Patel leads his mutinous Sepoy Rifles to the edge of the village and opens fire at the Sikhs...

Gad! Yells Oulde-Duffer as two of his Piffers bite the dust and his men take Shock.

It was starting to look like the Brits were in a bit of bind when Lieutenant Moore-Bacon leading two groups of skirmishers from the North Somersetshire Regiment arrives to support the attack. What ho! Could his arrival pull Turner-Round's chestnuts out of the fire?

Before we find out, poor Oulde-Duffer is hit by a rifle ball from one of Patel's men. Gad again!

Rapid fire men! yells Moore-Bacon, his men loosing a volley at Poosh Dittin's Pandies.

The devastating volley kills several Mutineers, breaking Poosh Dittin's formation as one Group of Sepoys falls back with excess Shock.

The remaining Gurkhas open fire on the Badmashes...

Who high on hashish charge the Gurkhas manning a barricade!

Tulwars, tablas and bamboo sticks hammer into the Gurkhas, killing four in a drawn round of Fisticuffs!

The second round sees another two Gurkhas downed and the survivors fleeing! This will not go down well in Kathmandu!

Dismayed at the performance of his men, the wounded Lieutenant Flynt-Ston returned to the fray joining Sergeant Grimshaw and his North Somersets.

The courageous Moore-Bacon orders his men in with the bayonet on Poosh Dittin's Sepoys but their charge comes up short!

Inspired by his subordinate's verve, Turner-Round orders his men to charge the Badmashes at the barricade, after all they don't like it up 'em!

Lord knows what was in the hashish though as despite Argi-Bargi falling to several inches of quality forged British steel, the Badmashes kill three of the North Somersets...

With Captain Turner-Round, hit over the head by a tabla, also falling to the ground dead!

The British Force Morale fell to zero and the Indians celebrated a decisive victory with extra chapatis all round!

A chastening defeat for the forces of the Queen (with three leaders wounded, one twice), I personally blame Andy's dice rolling and chit pulling for our abysmal performance! ;-) Congratulations to Phil and David.

Indian Rebellion: 1st Regiment of Infantry, Punjab Irregular Force

Following on from last week's Sharp Practice Mutiny game, we re-visited Peshwarinan again last night, Phil having come up with a scenario for which I "won't be able to use cavalry" - so the weekend saw me splash some paint and dip on some Sikhs to give me two units of "Piffers", men of the Punjab Irregular Force.

The figures are mostly Foundry but I had to include some Empress Sikhs to bring them up to strength. Whilst they look a bit different, after painting they seem to blend together ok.