WizKids Deep Cuts Unpainted Miniatures: Wave 7: Pack Mule

The The 1st Madras Pioneers with supplies on the Northwest Frontier.

 Most gamers hate logistics in a game; but, the reality is that logistics are an important (ESSENTIAL!) part of warfare. As an exercise, I use to have my cadets calculate how much water is needed for an average US Army Mechanized Infantry battalion - and water is heavy. If I use logistics in a game, I like simplified rules such as knowing how many shots I have before running out of ammunition or a random roll. Having said that, you can have fun with logistics through escort missions of just having nice scatter pieces to be on the table. Having said that, these ridiculously overloaded mules from WizKids Deep Cuts Unpainted Miniatures are inexpensive and a quick way to get the logistics train rolling.

Bombay Sappers and Miners in China, 1900.

The mules come 2 to a pack, are semi-hard pre-primed resin. Essentially I just used GW Citadel Contrast paints to knock them out in about 2 days.

Not bad for (except the drunk mule that I need to straighten out) for approximately $11 USD.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 10: Generic 8 Nations Field Forces of General Gaselee's Relief Force

For my first 8 Nations Alliance Field Force to use with The Men Who Would be Kings, I'm focusing on General Sir Alfred Gaselee, GCB, GCIE, second relief expedition. Why? All of the 8 Nations Alliance forces provide variety and color, but I choose this because I already had some figures for the force though I painted some more to add the color and historical makeup of the Alliance.

In the summer of 1900, when the Boxer Uprising in China was at its height, Gaselee was chosen to command the British element in the international expeditionary force, and on 3 July 1900 promoted to major-general. Gaselee was nominally put in charge of the Second Expedition because the Eight-Nation Alliance refused to the allow the Japanese general Yamaguchi Motomi to lead it, even though he was the highest-ranking officer present. As a reward for his services, he was created Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) on 24 July 1901.

Here are some of my "generic Field Forces" I'm going to use first with a 24 point limit: 

1. Japanese Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    

    Total: 6 points.

The Japanese had the largest contribution to the 8 Nations Alliance; plus the new Crusader Miniatures look cool.

2. Indian Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

The British were strapped for manpower with the Boer War. Most of the British troops came from India including the 1st Indian Brigade which consisted of the 1st Sikh Infantry Punjab Frontier Force, 24th Punjab Infantry, and the 7th Rajput Infantry. 

3. Austrian-Hungarian Naval Brigade.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

Come on! You knew von Trapp and company would be included!

Gun and crew from Tsuba Miniatures.

4. Russian Artillery.

    Well Drilled Crew: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

The above is actually an Imperial Russian Putilov M1902 76mm quick firing gun which was first used in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Close enough for now until I get an older gun.

Total points: 24.

Or . . . 

1. Japanese Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    

    Total: 6 points.

Figures from Copplestone Castings.

2. Russian Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Poor Shots: -1 point. Russian firing doctrine emphasized volley fire and not individual marksmanship.

    Unenthusiastic: -1 point. Infantry were conscripts from the East Siberian Regiment and were not quite up to Western (and Japanese) standards.

    Total: 4 points.

The above is my version of the The Izmaylovsky Lifeguards Regiment circa 1905. Evantually I will get some earlier Russian infantry for the Boxer Rebellion.

3. Austrian-Hungarian Naval Brigade.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

4. 1st Bengal Lancers.

    Regular Cavalry: 6 points.

    Lancers: +2 points.

Total: 8 points.

The 8 Nations Alliance did not have a lot of cavalry and the 1st Bengal Lancers did yeoman service. The above are Perry Miniatures painted as the The 10th (The Duke of Cambridge's) Bengal Lancers (Hodson's Horse) and they will do the trick.

Total points: 24.

So far that's what I'm doing though eventually I will have some troops for Admiral Seymour's relief attempt, the follow-up expeditions after Peking was captured, and the Legation defense.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 7: The Austrian-Hungarian Naval Ground Contingent

 So why do the smallest contingent of the 8 Nations Alliance? I blame the von Trapp Family Singers.

As regular readers of my blog know, while recovering from foot surgery (hmmm . . . how long was I in the infantry?) I watched the movie The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music based on Agathe von Trapp's memoir (the oldest daughter), Memories Before and After The Sound of Music. Researching Captain von Trapp's military career I discovered: HOLY COW!!! HE WAS DECORATED FOR BRAVERY AS A NAVAL CADET DURING THE BOXER REBELLION! Thus a project was born.

The complete, 12 figure unit to use with The Men Who Would be Kings.

The figures are from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range and are Russian Naval Command and Russian Navy Sailors.  During this time, depending on the area and the region of service, many naval uniforms were similar and at the 28 mm scale the differences are so minor that it does not even matter. For example, you can use British Naval Brigade with Sennet hats for French Navy during the Seymour Expedition as that is what the French sailors wore. For the Legation defense, specifically the Peitang Cathedral, the French Sailors had the hat (I'll have to look up what it is really called) with the pom-pom on top.

Seekadet Georg Johannes von Trapp (accidentally painted as a Korvettenleutnant - the stripe around the cuffs should end at the loop for Seekadet), Matrose (Seaman) Antoine Antumac and Waffenmatrose Ernest Grbac.

Anyway . . . another reason I did the Austro-Hungarian Naval contingent was because of variety - you have to love having white figures in your force. My initial Field Force for the 8 Nation Alliance will be a generic for with units that will add variety and color to the tabletop.

Quartermaster Carl Raschka.

Seventy-five members of the crew of the SMS Zenta were attached to the Peking Relief Expedition. Later they would be joined by 160 sailors from two other Austro-Hungarian ships. In addition, before hostilities commenced, the captain of the Zenta, Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Eduard Thomann von Montalmar, one officer, 2 cadets and 30 sailors went to help reinforce the Legation Quarter. As the senior allied officer von Montalmar was placed in command. Now we have controversy - either through bad intelligence, a lack of good judgement or cowardice, depending on the source, von Montalmar had all forces fall back on the British Legation which allowed many Legation buildings to be burned and parts of the Legation Quarter to be seized. A counterattack restored the perimeter. He was relived of command. On July 8, 1900, he was mortally wounded by a grenade; some accounts state he recklessly exposed himself in combat to make up for the blow to his honor.

Matrose Joseph Basurina, the photo bomb known as Waffenmatrose Grbac and Matrose Nicolas Hranuelli.

The most famous action of the sailors was the storming of the Taku forts by naval personnel of the Zenta and German marines.

"The Capture of the Forts at Taku", by Fritz Neumann in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University.

The figures were a blast to paint - nicely sculpted figures make the painting easy! Copplestone is one of my favorites and the figures were a joy to paint. Uniforms that are primarily white can always be a challenge. I primed them with Citadel Wraithbone Grey and then did the highlights of the white uniforms with Vallejo Flat White once or twice. Not bad for a quick and easy paintjob and it follows The Colonel's rule Number 1 of painting: Paint for gaming distance (unless you just have to paint a masterpiece of a special figure).

Matrose's Mathieu Simcic, Joseph Bozikoo and Yure Petrovac.

The valiant crew of the SMS Zenta.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 6: We Need a Flag!

Naval Ensign of the Austrian-Hungarian Navy

I love flags! If I can get them on the Dining Room table (whether they were actually carried or not) I will get them on the table. Fortunately we have evidence that the Naval Ensign (flag) of the Austro-Hungarian ground contingent was carried by the sailors of the SMS Zenta and came from the ship. 

During its existence, Austria-Hungary did not have a common flag – a "national flag" could not exist since the Dual Monarchy consisted of two sovereign states. Until 1918, the War Fleet continued to carry the Austrian ensign it had used since 1786.

Naval ensign 1786–1918.

SMS Zenta in the Boxer Rebellion.

Instead of purchasing a commercial flag, this flag seemed easy to reproduce and paint. I wish I had taken pictures of what I did but I will try to summarize:

1. I used the image above as a guide and grabbed my handy-dandy rule and made a tricolor with an artists graphite pencil on regular printer paper. I did the right side of the flag first and then the left side with a small separation between them for the pole.

2. I sketched out the shield and crown sightly darker with my pencil

3. I mixed about 2/3 Vallejo Flat Red with 1/3 Vallejo Flat White and painted the red portions of the flag. As expected, I could see some of the crown through the paint of the upper portion of the flag.

4. I then used Citadel Yellow for the crown.

5. I went back to the red portions of the flag and painted them again (carefully) with Citadel Contrast Blood Angels Red.

6. After the contrast paint dried, I went back and cleaned up the crowns with the yellow and then added some red dots on the crown.

Note: I made the flag smaller than in real life.

7. Ta-Dah!

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part Two: The SMS Zenta

The SMS Zenta in 1901 at the Pola Shipyard after returning from China in 1901.

Truth in advertising time: I'm an Infantry, maneuver warrior kind of guy. But I love old ships. My real world experience with the United States Navy was interesting. At one time (this sounds more impressive than what it really is) I was the Lead Joint Planner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, United States Army Europe. I got to work in a vault in Heidelberg, Germany. On the gripping hand, I got to work with the Navy and Air Force and could chose which operations I would be involved with - as long as the 2 Star was okay with it! As the Lead Planner, I was also the Army Liaison to the US Sixth Fleet. I actually had a billet, when activated, on the now decommissioned USS LaSalle.

The Navy loved me when I was on board when I was on that great boat, umm, ship the USS Lasalle:

"Excuse me Chief, what floor is Commander Smith on?'

"It's a deck sir."

"Do I go through this door Chief?'

"It's a bulkhead sir."

"Excuse me Chief, is the latrine through that door, er, bulkhead?
"You mean the head sir?'

"Now where did I put my hat?"

"Here's your cover, sir."

"During General Quarters, should I be on the left side of the ship, or the right side of the ship?"

"I don't care what the admiral said, I'm putting you in the brig sir."

They loved me! Gaming with ships can be fun too! Just don't have me in command of your flotilla. Let's see, how many times did I get my gunboats stuck on sandbars going up the Nile River in the 1890's? My greatest success was storming a British gunboat that got stuck during a fictional Boxer Rebellion game as an Imperial Chinese commander during a great game of The Sword and the Flame, Those were the days.

Anyway, while recovering from foot surgery, I discovered the Georg von Trapp of Sound of Music fame was a decorated hero during the Boxer Rebellion which is my next project. Here are some details on his ship, the armored cruiser SMS Zenta just for fun.

The SMS Zenta was launched in 1897 and represented one of the new iron ships in the Austro Hungarian fleet, a transition away from wooden vessels. Her overall length was 96.88 meters (317 ft 10 in) and a beam of 11.73 meters (38 ft 6 in). Her two four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each drove a single propeller shaft with eight Yarrow boilers for an average total of 8,160 indicated horsepower (6,080 kW),  achieving a maximum speed of 21.87 knots (40.50 km/h; 25.17 mph).

She also had the extra protection of an armor deck, two layers of 12.5 millimeter (0.49 in) plates and 50 millimeters (2.0 in) over the engine and boiler rooms. Further, she was armed with two 45 centimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, eight 40-caliber Škoda 12 centimeter (4.7 in) quick-firing guns, eight 44-caliber 4.7 centimeter (1.9 in) Škoda guns, and two 33-caliber 4.7 centimeter Hotchkiss guns.

The start of my Austro-Hungarian landing party; figures are Russian Navy from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range.

Next: Lt. Col. Shiba Gorō of the Japanese Imperial Guard.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part One: Midshipman Second Class Georg von Trapp

Yes. That von Trapp. As we all know from The Sound of Music, etc., Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. Captain von Trapp Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World War I, sinking 11 Allied merchant ships totaling 47,653 GRT and two Allied warships displacing 12,641 tons. 

Hmmm . . . I think I gave him Groucho Marx eyebrows. that will be an easy fix.

But how many of us knew that he participated, and was awarded for bravery during the Boxer Rebellion? Ladies and Gentlemen, the SMS Zenta:

In 1894, aged fourteen, Trapp followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy, entering the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy at Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia). In 1900, as a midshipman, he was assigned to the protected cruiser SMS Zenta and was decorated for his performance during the Boxer Rebellion in China, in which he participated in the assault on the Taku Forts. He personally led the Austro-Hungarian sailors that helped assault and capture Fort Pei Tang. For his bravery he was awarded the Silver Bravery Medal, 2nd Class and the War Medal.

Silver Bravery Medal, 2nd Class 

War Medal

In doing my research I noticed that many European Navies had similar uniforms and that the differences in 28mm are not noticeable. Now if you want to do the French, you can buy the figures with the pom pom on the top or even use British navy figures with Sennet hats as photographic evidence from the Boxer rebellion has them wearing (outside of Legation forces). Back back to the Austrians. I thought the Copplestone Castings Russian Sailors from their Back of Beyond range would be perfect for the Austrian Sailors from the SMS Zenta (reinforced later by the SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, SMS Aspern and an additional 160 Austrian marines).

"The Capture of the Forts at Taku", by Fritz Neumann in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University.

I accidentally painted the figure as a Koverttenleutnant thinking that he already passed his Lieutenant examination and had been commissioned at this time - and by golly, the figure is going to stay that way!

Setting up the Play Test for "Pulp!" (originally published 10/10/23)

 

The Mad Guru is back and not a sign of the Sergeant's Three to stop him now. Rumor has it that he is in some mysterious temple with an ancient artifact to make the Thugee Cult even more powerful . . .

"I have located the Lost Temple that supposedly the Mad Guru is marshaling his forces and preparing some devilish surprise for the British Raj," exclaimed Colonel (Retired) Douglas, DSO, CBE, etc., as he rushed into the cabin of Captain Ridgewell Hawkes of the 19th Punjabis.

"Well. Quite. Hmmm . . . bloody nuisance," said the good Captain.

"I will cut out his heart and !@&#* to his !@&#*", Princess Sita Devi icily replied.

"Princess," Colonel Douglas continued, "This is a family oriented blog and is rated PG." Plus who will get us there?"

As if on cue, (or a result of watching too many movies) a man shaped shadow grew and cast itself upon the heroic trio. "I will."

"Who the blazes are you?" gasped Captain Hawkes.

"He's The Bat," answered Colonel Douglas.

It's time to play test Pulp! and though I don't want to jump to conclusions, it would be nice if there were quick reference sheets (QRS) or Character rosters to easily reproduce and use. If I was a betting man, based on the zero playing aids under the Pulp! listing on the Osprey game resources page, I'm guessing Osprey is not going to be committing many resources for the game. I am spending way too much time preparing for the game creating my own QRS and Character rosters. The good news, once they are done, they are done and reusable. I'm primarily using Excel, PowerPoint and my good ole copier. In addition, I did not want this playtest to be the generic, vanilla characters that are recommended for beginners. I'm an experienced gamer and we need some HEROIC ACTION AND VILLANY.

Anyway . . .

Our adventure is going to feature the return of one of my favorite figures, the Mad Guru from Pulp Figures which is based on the Guru from the movie Gunga Din and sculpted by the talented Bob Murch. Leading our heroes to the mysterious ruins is The Bat - the British Raj version that is blatantly based on a certain caped crusader in America. What the heck is the Mad Guru up to? That's what our heroes need to discover, except for Princess Deva who only has revenge on her mind. 

Here's the line up:

For the good guys we have a 1 figure Superhero unit, a 1 figure Hero unit , 2 x Single figure Elite units, and 2 x 3 figure Seasoned units giving a total of 10 figures to halt the mischievousness of the Mad Guru. Speaking of the Mad Guru:

If the Hypnotic Gaze inflicts an unsaved hit, it causes no suppression or wounds; but, The Mad Guru controls the target for the next turn. The figure will still activate when it unit does, but the Mad Guru will decide what the figure's Action is and resolve it (BWAH HAH HAH!). 

Big, bad and mean - a mercenary after a sorts though he is taking no pay from the Mad Guru. He may take other things . . .

For the forces of evil (BWAH HAH HAH!) there are 1 villain figure units x 2, 1 elite unit with Trainer and poisonous snake, 1 elite unit with 1 figure and 2 Seasoned units with 3 figures each. This gives the forces of evil (BWAH HAH HAH!) also with 10 figures to ruin all that we hold dear.

Now that we have all of our characters for their starring roles in "The Shadow of The Bat, it's time to develop (I kinda have an idea) the scenario and get the playing fields of India set-up.