"Get the Ammunition to Camp Bailey!", Part 1

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.”  - Rudyard Kipling.

Mr. Babbage is going to attempt to stop the supply column from reaching Camp Bailey as I test some ideas using the Skirmish Kings variant from The Men Who Would be Kings. Background on the scenario and ideas can be found in the post "I will call him . . . Mini-Mr. Babbage."

 

Somewhere along the Northwest Frontier.

The Supply Column:

Turn 1.

The Supply Column moves out with Captain William "The Sash" Huntington Wilmont-Smythe in the lead with a troop of the 10th Bengal Lancers. Billy the Mule is attached to the 2nd Platoon of the 20th (Punjab) Infantry.

1st Troop scouts ahead.

If you have never played against Mr. Babbage, there is a table you roll on every time one of your units move. Tables also determine the type of unit, where it shows up, actions it will take, etc.

Units that leave the battle might be recycled - or never show up again!

Afridi tribesmen on the left rear flank of the supply column.

The 2nd Platoon with Billy the Mule move toward the 1st Troop.

HH Maharjah Colonel Sir Gupta Varma, GCSI, (Hero of the Empire) swiftly turns 2nd Troop to the left flank and immediately sounds the attack!

A second line of Afridis!

Overhead shot from the newly invented British drone.

Three of the Afridi tribesmen fall to the lances and they flee in terror running for their lives . . .

. . . but are caught and slain to a man!

"How will we deal with the rifles?"

1st Platoon moves and  . . . where did they come from?

The Afridi's take aim . . . 

 . . . and one sowar falls from his saddle.

Turn 2.

Discretion being the better part of valor (especially in the open against expert marksman), 2nd Troop retires and heads toward the supply column.

1st Troop continues to scout ahead.

More tribesman appear in front of 1st Troop, reading to teach Captain Huntington Wilmont-Smythe some "Arithmetic on the Frontier."

1st Platoon wheels right to face the Afridi threat with .303 in mind.

The fearless Afridi's charge the 1st Platoon in the open.

Without a single casualty, the jemadar looks proudly on his men (and their bayonets) and shouts a mighty "Huzzah" for his baptism in "seeing the elephant."

The 1st Troop braces for the volley.

"Where did they go?"

"The cowards have slunk away fearing our sharp lances Captain Sahib."

Meanwhile the other tribesmen fire on 2nd Troop in vain.

Turn 3.

We need to move closer to the cavalry.

2nd Platoon fires at the fleeing tribesman; their time on the range well spent!

A difficult shot but another tribesman is felled by a .303.

Meanwhile, HH (gasp!) fails his Leadership roll.

The tribesmen on the left flank reposition to rough terrain and higher ground.

"Sir, all accounted for!" I just had to take a picture of the officer and the NCO. I really like these figures from Artizan Designs.

Turn 4.

The supply column is getting spread out.

Getting ready to fire.

A troop continues to advance when suddenly with a yell another group of tribesmen charge from the high ground.

Captain Huntington Wilmont-Smythe orders his sowars to fire with their Martini-Henry carbines and two fall to their fire.

HH with B Troop and the 1st Platoon converge to cover the rear.

"Your Eminence, you must not expose yourself to so much danger!" (This is a staged photo as units need to be no closer than 1".)

Speaking of danger.

Billy the Mule continues to move toward Camp Bailey.

There seems to be more tribesman than before!

"Fire!"

Two sepoys are hit by accurate, long range fire.

Due to their losses, they are pinned.

Seeing the confusion in 1st Platoon, with a furious yell the other tribesman charge.

The last stand of the 1st Platoon.

The other unit of tribesmen, after facing the carbines of A Troop . . .

. . . decide to melt away amongst the rugged terrain.

The situation after the loss of the 1st Platoon.

From the front of the column. They have moved a third of the way toward Camp Bailey but have lost over 25% of their force.

More to come!

Third Quarter 2022 Update: How's the Plan (what plan?) going?

Rare photo of the Colonel on the Frontier.

Note: 3rd Quarter updates in Bold.

Well we had some unexpected setbacks - some happy and some sad. If you remember the 1st Quarter was almost a complete bust but I gained some momentum in the 2nd Quarter. 

So what happened in the 3rd Quarter? How did it go?

1. Well I had the disease that rhymes with dancer. After the surgeon removed a big chunk out of  my left leg, I did have fun coming up with a reason for the missing flesh and cool scare: I got it fighting space ninjas. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. (BTW I am dancer free.)

2. Three funerals and a wedding that involved some long range traveling.  I know it sounds like a movie title but time does pass on and I'm grateful that those who died are in the arms of Christ.

Here is the plan I developed for 2021:

But first - I forgot that Blood & Steel from Firelock Games was scheduled to be published.

My contribution looks more impressive than it actually was!

1. Continue to make my hobby self-sustaining as much as possible with eBay sales, commissions and the blog. By the way, if you are interested in having figures painted, feel free to contact me at nreinwald@yahoo.com. 

2. Scottish Units for the English Civil War. Nothing like already having unpainted figures to encourage you to save money - especially when you really want to paint them! My goal is to:

    a. Paint one to two Regiments of Foot. The actual number of regiments will depend on some conversions I need to due for musketeers as I have plenty of pike.

    b. Two units of Horse/Mounted Dragoons. No dismounted dragoons yet!

    c. One big honking cannon - pretty sure it's a Saker from Warlord Games but I'm too lazy to go up to the War Room and look right now.

The Scots will be painted later in the year (I hope! I really hope! Well maybe not)

Where is my cavalry?

3. Imperial Russian Army circa somewhere in my imaginary universe from 1880 to 1910. I've been having fun with my Fictional conflict of the Anglo-Russian War. Be a Daniel Mersey fan of many years, I use The Men Who Would be Kings (Paid Link) as my rules; though, I am thinking about giving The East is Ablaze a try. (Ministry of Finance) Yep, a sucker for Hollywood style and fun rules.

    a. One unit of Regular Infantry. (Ministry of Finance)

    b. One unit of Dragoons. (Ministry of Finance)

    c. One unit of Cossacks. (Ministry of Finance)

This one is iffy. Now I don't want to talk politics because this is a fun blog on Toy Soldies, but I wrote down my predictions in December about fuel prices, etc.; and not we do have high inflation and a recession in The United States. Time will tell whether the Russians will get their reinforcements. Plus I have been putting more effort, and some changes, into the Army of the Raj and Afghan tribal infantry.

"Where are my fellow Sowars?"

4. The British Indian Army.

    a. One unit of Sikh Cavalry (The 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry). Complete!

The 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry mounted with the alternative basing method for The Men Who Would be Kings.

    b. One unit of Bengal Lancers.  Complete!

    b. One unit of Highlanders. Purchased! I plan on painting them before Christmas.

    c. One unit of Gurkhas. (Ministry of Finance) Not yet purchased and will probably be delayed due to the current economic situation.

    d. A British Political Officer in Native Dress. How can you have the Great Game without a Political Officer? I'm planning on using a figure from the Perry Miniatures Hard Plastic Afghan Tribesman box. Done!

Not only did I do a Political Officer in Native Dress, but I did the fictional character Mahbub Ali "The Red Beard" from the classic novel Kim, by Rudyard Kipling.

Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, KCIE, CSI

Mahbub Ali, "The Red Beard"

In addition I did two more characters in the 3rd Quarter from the novel Kim:

Kimball "Kim" O'Hara AKA "Little Friend of All the World"

Teshoo Lama

     e. Remember that deal from eBay in 2nd Quarter? The Guides Infantry and the 20th (Punjab) Regiment have joined the British Indian Army:

The Queen's Own Guides, Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force

20th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry

5. Afghanistan.

    a. Two units of 16 figures each of Perry Miniatures hard plastic Tribal Infantry

    b. Anything else will depend on tribute . . . err . . . subsidies from the British Raj or Imperial Russia.

Making progress on my tribesman . . . but there is a change of plans. After doing more research I'm going to do three units of 12 "shooters" and 2 units of 16  figures for the more melee focused troops. The first 16 figure unit is done, one of the units of "shooters" and 1/2 of a unit of shooters. I also coverted a Brigade Games figure that I had for one of the numerous Mad Mullahs and did a Victorian Sci-Fi Pashtun leader using some additional bits. In addition I purchased one more box of  Tribal Infantry. I also added the Afghan BFG!

First Irregular unit of Infantry - my shooters.

The Mad Mullah: Sartor Faqir!

First Tribal Infantry Unit.

First six figures of the second Irregular Infantry.

Major Ivan Rostov of the Russian Imperial Army and The Golden Sheik of the Pashtuns.

Russian gold and weapons are flowing into the frontier.

Special Characters for the Frontier.

Arithmetic on the Frontier.

6. French and Indian War. Did someone mention I'm a Daniel Mersey fan. Continuing on with the French and Indian War using Rebels and Patriots. (Paid Link)

    a. Finish one more unit of Native Skirmishers. Complete!

    b. One unit of French Regulars.  I'm estimating there will not be enough time.

    c. One unit of British Regulars or Colonial Regulars/Militia. As above.

7. Elite Heavy Elf Infantry for Dragon Rampant: This is a carryover from last year and won't take too long to finish these old GW Warhammer Elf Infantry. Complete!

I rebased Conan.

“Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, . . . and he needed a bigger base."

8. In Her Majesty's Name, 2nd Edition.

    a. Update my Adventuring Company's to the 2nd Edition. In Progress! Slowly but surely.

    b. Finish drafting and then play our campaign for 2022. Locally we had a multi-year campaign called "The War of the Witches" which involved, whenever available, friends, kids of friends, my Honorable Sons, and me (usually getting my butt kicked or being the gamemaster/umpire). With the victory of the Forces of Good (they had Teddy Roosevelt!) over the Forces of Evil (BWAH HAH HAH!) it's time to start another campaign. Two of the main, evil Adventuring Companies somehow managed to escape the defeat . . . and of course Professor Moriarty figured out which way the wind was blowing and helped (kinda). The first game will have the premier of my new Adventuring Company in the Highlands of Scotland.  We are still not sure if we will get one or two games in to start the campaign.

The campaign has been delayed but will happen and will bring us from Scotland to India and who knows where? Plus the return of everyone's favorite villain (BWAH HAH HAH!).

The fools THINK they won. BWAH HAH HAH!!!

    c. Do some odds and ends that will be needed for the campaign; you know - unexpected surprises! And here they are:

9. Terrain.

    a. Paint the roof of the mill and some other parts! I spent some time in New England visiting Honorable Son #1 (The Librarian) and his Beautiful Bride (The Doctor) plus Honorable Son #3 (The Engineer) and his Beautiful Bride (The Social Warrior) and was able to take a look at some real mills in the area. And some other areas of interest - but that is for another post.

I finished painting the mill but need to take some pictures!

    b. Put together an MDF Tavern that was given to me by Honorable Son #2 (The Captain) and his Beautiful Bride (The Lawyer). Looking forward to putting this together and using it on the tabletop. I still need to put it together.

    c. Scratch build a frontier fort. It's coming.

10. Play games! Two mass Napoleonic Battles. Epic!

    a. English Civil War.

    b. The Anglo-Russian War and the NW Frontier.

    c. The French and Indian War.

    d. The IHMN2 campaign (need to come up with a name of impending doom for the world). 

11. Secret projects.

    a. Getting back to my gaming roots. This will be the subject of a future post whether it is financed or not. (Ministry of Finance) Done! Back to mass battle Napoleonic's with WoFun Miniatures.

Converted Dutch Infantry into Frankfurt Infantry.

b. A board game/miniature project.  I'm estimating there will not be enough time! I actually started this. Honorable Son #4 has the new version of Ogre and I'm painting miniatures for the game:

Heavy Tank.

Ground Effect Vehicle (GEV): A fast lightly armored hovercraft.

Heavy Infantry.

New Project: Operation Heinlein! In anticipation of the release of Xenos Rampant, I'm test painting and thinking of what forces I want to build.

Hard plastic Space Marines (copyright Games Workshop requiring a Blood Oath and eternal loyalty to the Emperor) from Games Workshop (copyright Games Workshop requiring a Blood Oath and eternal loyalty to the Emperor) painted with Contrast Paints (copyright Games Workshop requiring a Blood Oath and eternal loyalty to the Emperor) with silly names so you can't remember what color to use which is why I keep a journal.

Hard plastic Rebel Soldiers from Star Wars Legion by Fantasy Flight Games. I really like this figure range.

Three months to go!