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august 2021
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PERRY FRANCO-PRUSSIANS Daleks in Stargrave

Big new range release from Perry Miniatures “Exterminate!” in the ravaged galaxy

IN MEMORANDUM: DUNCAN MACFARLANE (1948 – 2021)

 wargames illustrated issue WI404 august 2021
FEATURED
THIS MONTH

from the editor

Little did we know, when we choose Turning Points as our theme for this issue, that
Wargames Illustrated would be facing a turning point of its own. At the end of May 2021,
just as we went to print with the July issue of the magazine, we lost our founding father
Duncan Macfarlane, the man who conceived of and published Wargames Illustrated for the
first time back in August 1987.
The magazine has gone through many changes over the following decades, but Duncan has
DUNCAN MACFARLANE - stayed involved throughout. As the main proof reader for the mag over the last few years,
FOUNDER OF WARGAMES I saw him on an almost daily basis; he remained as passionate about the hobby he helped
ILLUSTRATED (1948 – 2021)....... 6 “save” right until his sudden but peaceful passing.
You can read personal reflections on my old friend in my article on page 6.
When Duncan began Wi1, with Off to fight the Zulus, I wonder if he’d ever have guessed
things would still be going 34 years (and 6,528 articles) later. He’d certainly have had a
sparkle in his eye and something very intelligent to say about it; probably partly in Latin,
French, or elvish!
Dan Falconbridge
Editor and Owner

Cover Artwork: Crossroads by Neil Roberts.

Below: Duncan Macfarlane (right). Happy days at a Wargames Illustrated SAGA day in 2016.
OBERVATION POST ................... 18

THE TIGER OF KAI: A TEST OF

HONOUR SCENARIO ............... 46

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contents LINE OF BATTLE! ............................... 58
As part of our Turning Points theme, expert
DUNCAN MACFARLANE - on all things mid to late 17th Century,
FOUNDER OF WARGAMES Barry Hilton, takes a look at when Western
ILLUSTRATED (1948 – 2021) ............. 6 naval tactics changed, and tells us how he
Current Editor Dan reflects on his friend
LINE OF BATTLE! ............................. 58
incorporated those changes into his naval
and predecessor Duncan, who recently rules Mad for War.
passed away.
TWENTY-NINE, LET’S GO! .............. 64
QUIcK FIRE! ........................................ 12 Kreighton Long builds a fine-looking Bolt
A rapid roundup of your follow readers’ Action force linked to his adopted home
recent hobby projects. state of Virginia.
OBSERVATION POST ........................ 18 THE TET OFFENSIVE ........................ 72
We pass a critical eye over new 28mm James Griffiths examines the Tet Offensive
WWII Yanks, Afghan Irregulars, 7TV and finds Turning Point ideas to apply to
Fantasy, and more besides. your wider gaming in Vietnam and beyond.
FULL PAPER JACKET ......................... 26 SAMORI TURE’S RESISTANCE
What books have we picked out for your IN THE WESTERN SUDAN ............... 78
shelves this month? SAMORI TURE’S RESISTANCE
Bob Giblio presents the Western Sudan
IN THE WESTERN SUDAN............. 78
in the late 19th Century for your colonial
CHANGING THE TIDE OF BATTLE:
gaming consideration.
TURNING POINTS ............................. 30
Neil Smith introduces us to this month’s Designer’s Notes:
theme by musing over the concept of D-DAY: US SECTOR .......................... 86
Turning Points in historical campaigns As part of this month’s Turning Points
and battles, and how they relate to theme, we turn our attention to World War
tabletop action. Two and the campaign that ultimately won
victory for the Western Allies: D-Day.
DALEKS IN STARGRAVE ................... 38
A treat from Stargrave creator Joseph A. 18MM ACW PAPERBOYS .................. 90
McCullough - a history of his Dalek love Peter Dennis introduces a “new scale, a
affair - before working them into his great new adventure” for his American Civil War
new sci-fi game! Paperboys.
THE TIGER OF KAI: A TEST OF DESIGNER’S NOTES:
BACK TO THE FRONT - D-DAY: US SECTOR ...................... 86
HONOUR SCENARIO ...................... 46 PERRY MINIATURES
Graham Davey and Kieran Byrne send FRANCO-PRUSSIANS ........................ 92
spear armed cavalry specialists against James chatted to Michael Perry about his
peasants with matchlock muskets, in a new plastic Prussian Infantry frames for the
Sengoku period scenario. Franco-Prussian War.
BUILDING FORT NASSAU ............... 52 Designer’s Notes: SOLDIERS OF
Glenn Clarke has come up with a great NAPOLEON PREVIEW ................... 100
justification for the consumption of far too Warwick Kinrade’s been battling through
much chocolate - follow this guide (while the UK’s Lockdowns to progress the next
chomping your choice of sweet treats) to game in his ‘Soldiers of’ series and he’s
make a Caribbean fort from the leftover giving us an advanced preview taster!
plastic tub.

DESIGNER’S NOTES: SOLDIERS OF

NAPOLEON PREVIEW .................. 100

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 DUNCAN MACFARLANE
FOUNDER OF WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED
1948 - 2021
BY EDITOR DAN FAULCONBRIDGE

Just before we went to press with the July Despite his modest demeanour, Duncan
issue of Wargames Illustrated magazine, really can be ranked amongst the greats
our ex-Editor and my close friend of our hobby. In our recent PDF magazine
Duncan Macfarlane passed away. He died Wargames World 6 - celebrating the
suddenly but peacefully at the age of 73. 400th issue of his magazine - his close
His death was both a personal and public friend Richard Tydall compiled a list of
shock, with many of the people within “the biggest influences in the hobby”
the wargaming community who had and Duncan was rightly placed alongside
been blessed by Duncan’s friendship or Donald Featherstone, The Perrys, and
influenced by his work, expressing their Citadel founder Bryan Ansell, amongst
dismay and sadness at his passing. others. Bryan actually said of Duncan “he
was the man who saved wargaming”. That
Although an intensely private man
praise was alluding to the fact that Duncan
when it came to personal matters,
was better than anyone at showcasing
Duncan’s love for sharing the hobby
our hobby (in the pre-internet age) via
stretched across the ages and around
photographs and articles that inspired
the globe. In the early 1970s, he set up
gamers and showcased manufacturers’
his first wargames club at the school
products in a way that kept the wargaming
where he worked as a librarian in Hull.
light burning bright through the 1980s and
He went on to form another club, The
ʼ90s.
Newark Irregulars, in Nottinghamshire
with his friend Laurance Baldwin, and After 22 years at the helm of Wargames
he continued to share his love of the Illustrated Duncan sold the magazine
hobby via the wargaming publications to Battlefront in 2009 and settled into
he became famous for, first Miniature semi-retirement. “Semi” being the
Wargames and later Wargames operative word because he never ended
Illustrated. his relationship with the magazine he
had created.

6
A shot from an epic Macfarlane/Perry Indian Mutiny photo session. Back in 1988 it took two and a half
hours to set up this scene, one second to press the button, and a week to wait for the film to be developed.

hobby
talk
REFLECTIONS FROM ALAN AND MICHAEL PERRY
Duncan was a great friend who we had known for forty years. A lovely, (normally) chirpy, and extremely intelligent man,
always managing to fit a pun into a conversation followed by a grin! We met him when he was briefly our boss at Citadel
Miniatures (the miniatures side of Games Workshop) in 1981.
When he set up Wargames Illustrated we would regularly be over at his house, which was home to his photo studio. We
would set up scenes using Foundry figures, which Duncan would tweak before snapping the picture for the magazine. He was
a perfectionist and would make sure everything was ‘flocked in’ perfectly. The flock started out a nice national green/earthy
colour, but over time sand would be scrapped into the tub and European scenes could take on a Mediterranean/African look!
The evenings would take on a certain routine in which we would end up at his favourite Italian restaurant in Newark after the
shoot. Or maybe an Indian if we had been doing an Indian Mutiny photo shoot!
Duncan was probably the reason for us getting into photographing our own miniatures after we set up Perry Minis.
He loved a pint or two and until Covid struck we would often meet him in his local with the Wargames Illustrated team.
We will miss him.

From Wi10 another photo session with the Perrys, featuring Foundry figures. Alan and
Michael flinched at the number of casualties on display, but Duncan had no such qualms!
7
 Duncan made photographing wargames figures an art form. In
Until days before his untimely departure this cover shot from March 1988, Connoisseur, Hinchliffe, and
Citadel figures are featured from the collection of Peter Gilder.
Duncan was still proofreading articles
for the magazine and putting me and the
team right on the plural of pilum, that it's
Hinchliffe not cliffe models, and that Rick
Priestley needs his second "e" (which
everyone forgets).
Duncan’s intellect was a thing to behold.
I made for a poor sparring partner when
it came to the pros and cons of the 1855
Russian variant of the Shako, but luckily
his home (in later years) of Nottingham
provided him with a great many friends
and like-minded people - Alan and Michael
Perry, John Laing, John Stallard, Rick
Priestley, and Nick Eyre (to name but a few)
- who could often be found sharing either a
coffee or (more likely) a pint with Duncan
and chewing the fat over military uniforms,
campaigns, or personalities.
We didn’t have Duncan all to ourselves in
Nottingham, he was one of the few true
internationalists of the hobby. Copies of
Wargames Illustrated down through the
years testify to his trips across the channel to
France and Belgium, or across The Pond to
the United States, where he would meet up
with friends at wargames shows and/or take
photos of gamers and games in an effort to
unify the hobby across the globe.
In 2000 he was justly reward for his WARGAMING SANCTUARY
international efforts by being inducted into
the HMGS (Historical Miniatures Gamming Since Duncan’s death we have received many kind words from wargamers who
Society) Legion of Honour, taking his place have been influenced by him and his work over the years, but I wanted to share
alongside his US friends like Duke Siegfried this one in particular from Jimmy Walton, one of the members of the gaming
and Bob Giglio and UK compatriots like club Duncan set up in a school in Hull where he worked as a librarian. I think it
Richard Clarke and Barry Hilton. sums up perfectly what Duncan was all about, and the power of our hobby.

Beyond Legion of Honour medals and “Sir Leo Schultz School was an interesting place and a bit rough to say the
trophies bearing his name presented at least! The library was a sanctuary for a small group of kids who needed a
Partizan every year, Duncan’s legacy is place to go during breaks and lunch. Duncan allowed me and my friends to
what you are currently holding in your play D&D and get involved in WRG 5th edition. We gamed over the summer
hands. I know as owner and Editor of in the library too, in a haven of peace. He also helped us get hold of figures,
Wargames Illustrated I am standing on well before the days of mail order. When he left Schultz for Citadel in Newark
the shoulders of a giant. I hope you have he invited us down to see the figure casting process and chat wargames. He
enjoyed Duncan’s work over the years and remembered me from those days 20 years later when I met him at a show in the
I hope myself and the rest of the team can Midlands. Not sure where I’d be now without his influence all those years ago.”
do him justice going forward.

Duncan liked a narrative to his photos,

and cared less about them looking 'in game'.
8
A couple more Macfarlane photos from the Wi Vault. Duncan has left us with hundreds of
excellent photos which have either never been seen before, or deserve to be seen again.

9
North Star Military Figures Ltd,
Unit W41, Lenton Business Centre, Lenton Nick Eyre's
Boulevard, Nottingham,
NG7 2BY, UK
Mail Order: 0115 9704107
NORTH STAR
Trade Sales: 0115 9786656
Email: [email protected] Military Figures
Presents
Web: www.northstarfigures.com

Revenant
Infantry
30 MULTI-PART
28mm PLASTIC
REVENANT
INFANTRY

www.northstarfigures.com
Oathmark figures are copyright © North Star Military Figures & Osprey Games. All rights reserved.
 QUICK FIRE!
Short, quick-read posts from Wi readers about their hobby projects, notes, news, and observations.

WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED FREE FRAMES

By Paul Mackay
Okay, so what do you do with yours? Do they join your ‘pile of shame’ or, God forbid, even get thrown away? Well, I hope this might
encourage you to get yours off the sprue and onto your shelf or wargames table.
While I’m sure many enjoy the print type freebies that Wi throws our way, it’s the figure frames that I look forward to the most. They
provide me with miniatures that I often would not buy, because they aren’t ‘my period’ or ‘I don’t do that scale.’
For me, they allow a nice break from other projects I am currently doing. Also, the number of miniatures on each sprue is a plus
rather than a minus as I can get them done quickly without them causing me to lose valuable painting time that could be put towards
something like finishing up another large Napoleonic unit.
Hopefully my painted examples may encourage you to dig out some of your own, splash some paint on them, and ‘slay the grey.’

Above: Zulus. Above: Epic ACW. Above: ECW Firelock.

Below: Caesarian Romans. Below: French Line Lancers. Below: Greek Hoplite.

12
FIRST ST. ALBANS AND NEVER MIND THE BILLHOOKS
By Bob Giglio
We talked about getting back to gaming last issue, so the Tuesday
night crew of the Colonial Boys Club (Maryland, USA) played
another Wars of the Roses scenario with Never Mind the Billhooks
rules. Our First St. Albans (22 May 1455) game played out over two
nights and these photos show mid-game highlights.
A Yorkist billhooks unit broke into the center of town via one of the
alleyways, while a timely event card made a Lancastrian men-at-
arms unit decide to quit the field!
Yorkist forces advanced against the Lancastrian barricade near a
church protecting the northeastern road into town.
Yorkist archers traded shots with Lancastrians at another barricade
protecting the southwestern road into town (the Yorkist plan was
to pin Lancastrians at the southwestern part of town, while pushing
against the center and northwestern parts).
Eventually, Yorkist forces pushed into town via a second alleyway,
while also defeating Lancastrian men-at-arms guarding a street
barricade. Seeing the veteran unit destroyed caused a few
Lancastrian units to break, which led to them losing all of their
Army Morale tokens, resulting in a historical Yorkist victory.
From playing this scenario, we found a limitation that we hope
might be addressed in the second version of the rules when they
are published. The current rules state that only skirmishers can
enter buildings. Maybe this was a simple way to avoid fights in
buildings, and complications thereof, but historically for First St.
Albans the Lancastrians did put units in buildings. We followed
the rules but found it was impossible to force skirmishers out other
than by shooting.
The First St. Albans game was another enjoyable scenario, played
with the Billhooks rules, but with additional development from
‘Eric the Shed.’

13
 SCOTTISH REBELS AND AFRIKA KORPS
By Fredrick Carrasco
For about a year, I’ve been digging deeper into the world of historical wargaming, and this spring I finished the core of my
Scottish 14th Century rebel army. The models are mainly from the Antediluvian Miniatures’ Wars of the Bruce range (as well as
some later periods) but with a lot of converting and modifying to get the details right: more bacinets, shield swaps, and some mail
collars made out of putty.

I chose to use Little Big Men transfers for most

of the shields, but in hindsight I think I should
have tried more freehand work, like I did on
the veteran schiltron (where you can spot some
Campbells!) to avoid anachronistic heraldry.
The army is built with a later medieval adaptation
of SAGA and Lion Rampant in mind. Coming
from a historical academic background I
really enjoyed delving into Scottish history
throughout this project. I can highly recommend
The Highland Battles: Warfare on Scotland’s
Northern Frontier in the Early Middle Ages by
Chris Peers.

14
Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, a friend and I played a lot of Bolt Action in the North African theatre and I got busy
painting a fairly large selection of DAK units and vehicles. I think the desert campaign is one of the more interesting ones
throughout the Second World War, not only due to the desert setting but also the forces involved. The DAK provides a great
chance to experiment with a lot of weathering techniques and different colours and textures to achieve a rag tag look. I’m really
looking forward to adding more units to this army as I would like to try and play battles using larger platoons than those in more
conventional games.

So, what’s next for me in 2021? I really enjoy making terrain in between army
projects. This gives me a chance to slow down and focus on large terrain pieces that
can be used at my gaming club but also match up with my armies. Last year I built a
large river piece that stretched a whopping 48" (split into two 24" sections) and once MORE QUICK FIRE! PLEASE!
I finish the last of the Scottish knights for my rebels, I will probably build a third
piece for my river terrain so that it can be used on 6'x4' tables. If you want to follow Send us your Quick Fire! pieces and
my work you can find me on Instagram under the name fredandbrush or over at my get yourselves a FREE magazine or
hobby blog scattereddice.wordpress.com. Giants in Miniature figure.
Please get in touch with a photo or
two and less than 500 words of text
about anything similar to what you
have seen in this column. So that’s
painting or modelling projects,
rules, wargaming notes
and observations.
Send your emails to:
[email protected]
Use the subject title ‘Quick Fire!’.

15
 OBSERVATION
NEW AND FORTHCOMING ‘WARGAMES STUFF’
YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

RULES, SUPPLEMENTS, & FIGURES

ARTIZAN DESIGNS – ASSORTED US WW2
SPINS

Artizan’s Mike Owen has been busy creating new figures, perfect for use for the latter part of WW2. These new US Infantry options
will bulk out an existing force or, perhaps, might inspire a new one. Cast in metal and mostly one part, each of these six codes can be
purchased for the very reasonable price of £6 ($8.50 US) per pack of four. The figures are 28mm and the bulk of the range wear the
M1943 uniform, which means they’ll fit really well into most of your European gaming from late ’44 to ’45.
Commanders (Late War)
A pair of Officers, a radio operator (with a separate radio
pack), and a medic loaded with kit, come in this code, and
whilst they are adaptable to any tabletop setting, this pack
dovetails nicely with the Sarissa Precision MDF Command
Post Set. From here the figures can survey the battlefield and
the radio operator will find a much-needed chair!
With Carbines (Late War)
The standard Infantry here have M1 Military Police (Late War)
carbines and, though they are far more
basic sculpts, they still look good next to Building out an increasingly complete range (it’s worth
the Commanders. We managed to get a mentioning that there are already other codes in Mike’s
brief word from Mike about some of these WW2 US range, including some Late War rifles) are these
figures and he told us that he had “tried MP figures. Mike told us some of the appeal with this
to keep them to moving/covering, firing range was “the opportunity to add in some character sets,
packs.” That’s apparent here - the men are like the MPs, who are possibly disguised Germans.”
pushing forward and firing while on the
move, shooting from the hip.
Recon/FO team moving
There’s more detail to be found on this set
of figures that would be fantastic to use in
the Bulge, perhaps as a dismounted recon
team for the Battle of Lanzerath Ridge.
One of the arms here is separate, allowing
for a better advancing pose and we are
rather keen on the chap marching wearily
with his Thompson.
Fire Team A and B
Mike tells us he researched photos of the 3rd Army in the Bulge
and on into Germany: “a lot of the infantry had dropped their These six codes have
webbing. It was replaced with lots of bandoliers and grenades on some cracking figures
pockets, so I thought they would make interesting models.” He’s in them and will add
not wrong - there’s something appealing about the sight of WW2 real character to your
figures ready for prolonged action, and the amount of gear added Late War force thanks
to these ones is impressive in its amount and its detail. to the variety of poses,
options, and the hefty
Something we really like about these codes is that they contain amount of gear these
a wide variety of poses - firing from the shoulder all the way men are lugging
down to prone and reloading - making for a truly dynamic group around with them.
of figures doing grunt work on the tabletop. The weapon options
are varied too from rifles through to the BAR that is in the hands
of the crouching Marine.

18
ARTIZAN DESIGNS – ASSORTED AFGHAN IRREGULARS
SPINS

More from Mike, but this time focused on the Second Afghan War, are another six codes of metal figures, costing £6 ($8.50 US) per-
pack of four and £4.50 ($6.50 US) for the Gun Crew of just three figures.

Command II
These add to Artizan’s already released Afghan Irregulars command set, but
they look more suited to summer campaigning - one figure has exposed toes
and there are no Afghan/poshteen coats. No standard-bearer is included here
(there’s one in the other command set) but a drummer, two command with
swords and shields, and one rushing forth with a pistol drawn, are in the pack.
Two different shield designs are included, one with a visible rim around the
hardened hide, and they are of the smaller buckler size.
With Jezails
The iconic jezails are featured for the first time in Artizan’s range; it’s good
to have these as an option, but we have to say that these are perhaps the least
satisfying of the new releases. It’s not that they’re bad - they look just fine
along with the rest of the range - but Artizan’s metal jezails don’t show the
level of detail these carefully crafted weapons really deserve. Plastic versions
by Perry Miniatures and Wargames Atlantic offer more accuracy. It also
looks like Artizan’s weapons are matchlock, or perhaps just have the obvious
flintlock details missing, which isn’t a great fit for the Second Afghan War.
With Muskets III
We think these additional musket wielding Afghans carry Snider-Enfields,
but the weapons are a little indistinct again. A good mix of poses are available
between these and the other eight musket figures already available, giving
you figures firing shouldered, from the hip, or down at a crouch.

Swordsmen III and IV

These two new lots of swordsmen come with the same shields as the command set. Previous
codes had no shields, so that’s a bonus, and you can build four figures from each code. We can
see players using them as Ghazi fanatics.
Most of these (and the figures in the other codes) wear turbans; if you’re wanting to get
specific in your tribal accuracy, it’s worth noting that turban ends hang down to differing
degrees through the various models, so you’d need to do some filing if your tribe tucks them.

Gun Crew
For use with your big guns. The notable detail here is that one is wrapped up cosily, looking
well suited to the winter, which is a bit of a break from the rest of the figures in these codes.
Overall, these figures will bring yet more options to anyone gaming the Second Afghan War.
They’re usable well past that conflict too, we reckon. We always welcome more choice and
variety, and as you can see from the comparison shot they fit well with Perry Miniatures
(right) and Wargames Atlantic (left) plastics.

19
 CROOKED DICE AND EDGE HILL
UNIVERSITY PRESS - 7TV: FANTASY
UNBOXING AND FLIPTHROUGHS
This new 7TV set puts all manner of fantasy possibilities
in your grubby mitts and lets you direct them as if you
are a film producer, creating a game that has stars, props,
maguffins, extras, and more. The end goal is fun gaming
with an ‘on screen’ narrative as well as a ‘behind the
camera’ meta narrative at the same time. This has always
been the unique selling point of 7TV, but this, their latest
offering, might be the best example of it yet.
Narratives explore all kinds of established fantasy
worlds and tropes as well as film making conventions
that will satisfy the nerdiest of cinephiles. There’s
homage to classic fantasy cinema - things like Dino De
Laurentiis, Ray Harryhausen, all that classic goodness -
but there’s plenty of television shows, games, and novels
represented too.

All are presented in 7TV’s bold and appealing style, and this quirky approach is a
breath of fresh air. Crooked Dice’s production makes for a game that instantly screams A thorough unboxing video and two
‘investigate me!’ with quality visuals, but the deeper you delve the more layers of sweet flipthroughs (showing the four guides)
fantasy flavour and gaming options you discover in the text and game ideas. can be found on our YouTube channel
- we recommend them for the most in-
The box doesn’t have figures in it - you can choose those from Crooked Dice’s own depth dive possible into the worlds
(growing) range or any other fantasy figures. What 7TV: Fantasy does have is a of 7TV: Fantasy.
massive number of cards to use in your gaming, four books of rules and campaign
details, and loads of other gameplay aids.
Guides getting gaming going
The obvious starting point is the Director’s Guide. This introduces players to the
cinematic-skirmish gaming rules of 7TV: Fantasy. Those rules are standalone, but
for folks who have played previous releases it’s worth noting that they’re also fully
compatible with the existing 7TV second edition.
The Director’s Guide goes through the core rules, initially explaining the trilogy deck.
These 45 cards determine how many turns remain - the bigger your playing area, the
longer each of the three acts will go on for and the more trilogy deck cards will be used.
All of these cards (and everything in 7TV: Fantasy) relate to some kind of fantasy
media or cinema concepts. The Act One card ‘Saved by the edit’ is a basic reroll
given some cinema production flavour, while ‘Side quest’- allowing a model a boost
to their movement - has a video game feel. The finale card ‘Wandering Monster’
brings more of a D&D vibe, while the ‘Wilhelm scream’ card is one that cinema buffs
will enjoy! These details are what 7TV is about - solid mechanics alongside nerdy
details from players’ favourite genres and mediums. The nerdier you are, the more
you’ll notice in 7TV: Fantasy!

Plot points are recorded with shiny gem counters and 20 are included. They are accumulated each turn by the players, then spent to
perform actions. Actions sometimes require the rolling of dice and nine D6s come with the game in black and clear purple.

20
A plethora of profile cards
The bulk of the box’s contents is the stack of 230 profile cards. These list the statistics, Special Effects, and other options available
to a wide bestiary of creatures and a massive call sheet of stars and extras. The layout of these cards is clear and consistent, showing
the universal Fight, Shoot, Defence, Mind, Body, and Spirit stats that apply to every model, no matter if they are Stars, Co-Stars, or
Extras. There are Heroic, Villainous, and Neutral choices, and the cards we’re going to take a more focused look at here are just a
tiny selection of the full deck.
Leading the way are Monster Hunter and Tragic Hero, which match the models from
14 | THE PROFILE

The Profile
the Crooked Dice Fantasy Stars set. These Heroic Stars (as well as Co-Stars) have Star
Each model has
of their abilitie a profile - a list PROFILE NAME
that determiness and attacks - The name of
can do during exactly what it
the model. TYPE
a game. Hero or Villain,
Star, Co-Star
FIGHT or Extra. MIND

Quality abilities that are activated with plot points and are extra actions. There are also
The handie
st way to check How good the The mental
prowess of
profile of each out the model is at a model.
making attacks
model is to
that model’ look at (e.g. a punch). at close range
s profile card. BODY
SHOOT The physica
Statistics How good the
model is
Body equals
l strength of
better fight
a model. High

Special Effects - character abilities that happen under different circumstances - and at making ranged attacks.
attacks SPIRIT
Most models (e.g. with a
bow).
have six statisti A model’s courage
with a numeri cs, , staying power
cal rating: Fight, each DEFENCE leadership
abilities. and
Defence, Mind, Shoot, A combination
Body and Spirit. of agility, size SPECIAL EFFECT
and natural These allow S
toughness.

different attack types are listed. At the bottom of the card are Ratings (point costs), Fight, Shoot, the model to
Body, Mind useful things do all kinds
and Spirit STAR QUALIT during a game. of
normally range Each Star and
Y effect listed Each special
from 1 to 6, here is fully
6 being the with Co-Star profi back of the explained on
lists a star card.

Health, and Genre symbols so that you can easily match figures together. The specifics
best. A statisti quality. A model le the
is possible c of 0 use its star can
and means quality up to ATTACKS
apply’. As an ‘does not per turn, before once
example, an action it performor after any Most models
have at least
warrior would average
have a 3 in action. To use s, as a free This section
details:
one attack.
these statisti all of a star quality,
cs. player must a
immediately •
the listed plot pay TYPE - There
point (aka ✪ will be one
Defence is cost (see page ) symbols here, of three
around 8 for 13), as given depending
the attack is on
Extra, 9 for a standard on the star
quality entry. a fight attack whether
attack or a
presence attack or shoot

of Star Quality and Special Effects abilities are listed on the flipside of the cards.
a Co-Star and
Star. 10 for a
RATINGS • ATTACK - The
A number that name of the
represents (or weapon). attack
effectiveness the
and value of
model in the the •
game. Ratings RANGE - The
used to determi are HEALTH maximum range
inches you in
your cast (see ne the size of

Each Star plays very differently - Monster Hunter’s Star Quality ability Hunting
From 1 and GENRE(S) can make an
Casting Guide, up. this weapon attack with
page 3). Stars normall The genre of , measured
attacker to from
3, Co-Stars
y have
model determi
each the target model. the
2 and nes
Extras 1. When if it can join • STRIKE
your
model’s Health a cast or not. - The number
your dice roll you add
is Models when you make to
reduced to from a Program attack. The
0 it higher the better. an
removed from is Guide will have me
play.
cast’s symbol their • EFFECT
here S - Any special
instead. weapon may rules the

Ground allows him to halt the advance of an enemy who gets close to a friendly model,
have.

while Tragic Hero’s Melancholy Moment essentially freezes him until next ‘on screen’,
meaning he can’t be attacked or targeted.
Special Effects vary greatly too. Tragic Hero can take wounds instead of friendly
models and recover them by taking out enemies, but can also nullify the abilities of
enemies. Monster Hunter is far more proactive with his magical hand sigils, a Killing
Blow action, and increased movement when acting alone. If you happen to know the
characters represented here (we suspect The Witcher’s Geralt and Elric from the works
of Michael Moorcock) you’ll know that they’re represented well in just a small space
and through a few abilities.

The rest of the cast

To support your Stars there are Co-Stars and Extras, making for a varied cast of characters that fits all manner of fantasy tropes.
Where there is good there must be the opposing baddies - Villainous Stars, Co-Stars, and Extras. Even Extras have individual
character, from the Big Bad Wolf’s ability to set up anywhere on the playing area; the Wight being able to Raise Dead after an enemy
is removed from play (gaining a Zombie); the Serpent Man Sorcerer casting magic; and so much more.
More than 100 Neutral Extras are featured too and come in a wide range of styles and sizes, from Giant Rodents to giant Giants!
Tokens, templates, and Grimoires
Varied Statuses are represented with MDF punch sheet tokens, and the addition of colour makes sure these look pretty snazzy. The
same MDF is used for various templates used during different combats and spell resolutions.
On the subject of spells, Magic Grimoires represent different branches of casting and each has its own feel and theme. These, along
with everything else in the box, feel a little bit like artefacts from the worlds of 7TV: Fantasy and that’s another layer of character the
game has.
There are Artifact and Maguffin cards too - the former bring in-game advantages and are generally used to do some sort of extra
devastating attack, where Maguffins are an optional extra that act as pivotal objective elements.

More Guides bring more flavour

The 32 page Producer’s Guide is essentially a campaign system that expands the meta
narrative of the invented film studio and producer; the highlight here are the Classic
Features, which riff on fantasy classics from cinema and beyond.
The third book is a 44 page Casting Guide. That’s not spell casting but creating a cast to use
in your games/productions. It offers expanded detail about the folks on those profile cards,
and there’s tons of cool background to enhance your gaming and narrative. You can even
create your own Stars and Co-Stars.
The Encounter Guide is a smaller softback book (just shy of A5 size) with 36 pages that
bulk out and expand upon previous special rules from the Producer’s Guide. There are loads
of tables to modify events, and these will create countless variables for your gaming.
Finally, there’s a little quick reference sheet to make your gaming life easier.
A broad world (or rather worlds) of fantasy fun are packed into this box, and everything’s
clearly been created, written, game designed, and graphic designed with love for the source
material. We can only complement the team behind the game before raiding the Wargames
Illustrated cabinets for fantasy figures and gaming our own production!

21
 GREY FOR NOW - TEST OF HONOUR SAMURAI WARBAND
SPINS

The latest release for skirmish game Test of Honour is a set of new Samurai and Ashigaru figures. The Samurai Warband box set
contains eight fine-looking metal figures, the 18 cards you’ll need to use them, and MDF bases, and it costs £35 ($50 US). There are
two additional packs - Ashigaru Spearmen (£12 ($17 US)) and missile-armed Ashigaru (£15 ($21 US)), which come with their own
cards and multi-bases.

Cl an Salute Your En
Shame of the Each figure in the Warband is one-part (including a small metal base), em y
but each have an individual sashimono to go onto their backs. The scale
Once per
This charac Battle
ter
his name and pauses to bow and
titles. Take state
The neares an Honour
t ene card.
either to tak my character must
is certainly larger than many ancient Japan ranges - figures at their most e a Dishon
action and our card or
take an Hon
choose
lose an
our card.
upright are somewhere around 34mm from underside of foot to eye - but
the proportions feel more realistic than heroic, so you might be able to
DISHONO
UR slide them into your army if you want to take them outside of your Test of
Honour gaming.
own
turn face-d
Once, then
er who acte
d dishono
urably
ose any
Redem
If possible,
the charact
a random
Skill card.
must discard ers to discard a rand
If not, cho
om Skill card
. ption
an
Pride of the Cl
of you r cha ract SW-18 DUTY
Revea
We were lucky enough to get hold of designer Graham Davey’s painted befo l this Que
re de
ploym st at the
en star
SW-1

extra t. Start th t of the ba

versions of these figures, so shiny colour images accompany this article, G
Disho
and no ain 3 Hon
e tt
nour battle wit le,
card. h one
furthe our
r Disho cards
but it’s worth focusing on just how good the figures actually look in nour
cards.

their raw, unpainted, pure metal form too. We emphasise the word pure
because that’s a good way to describe the casting quality here. The
HONOUR
material is extremely shiny and despite quite a lot of projecting parts
own
turn face-d
Once, then
l card. If pos
sible, give
it to the cha
maximum).
racter (particularly on the Ashigaru) ours came unbent and solid. There’s barely QUE
ST
Draw a Skil (unless at
with honour er.
who acted
If not, assi
gn it to ano
ther charact
SW-17 a mould line to be found and other than some basic feeds, clean-up will SW-14

be a doddle.

These are far from basic sculpts. Although they’re on a generally flat plane,
they come in really varied and dynamic poses. Included are five Ashigaru
in medium armour - three with yari (spears) in different stages of advance
and attack, one with teppo (musket) more at rest, and one with yumi (bow)
at a crouch.
This isn’t the first Samurai set from Grey For Now. The Bushi Buntai one
has been available for quite a while, but these are a step up in quality. We
particularly like how impressively sizable the bow is in the new design, and
for a skirmish game it’s ideal that each of the figures looks more like an
individual. They’ve been posed well, with far more drama in their stances
than most other single-part figures manage.
Bringing character to proceedings are a Kogashira with a katana and baton
and two Samurai in heavier armour. These Samurai, as you’d want from
characters, are two of the best figures in the set. Their poses show power
and confidence, very clearly defining them as the elite of the group. One
wields a katana, the other a yari.
To bulk out your warband are the extra packs. The spearmen set has three
alternately posed men with yari, while the ranged group is a mix of two
more bowmen and two more muskets. If you add these to the figures in the
box set, you’ll have men covering all weapon types and at varied positions.

22
VICTRIX PLASTIC NORMAN INFANTRY
SPINS
Like the two previous ‘Dark Age’ sets released by Victrix, this is a
bloomin’ big bag of models! Eight frames and 60 figures in total. So
you’ve got yourself a small army, or large warband, for £38/$58 US RRP.
Whether looking at the “Main” or “Command” frame, you will instantly
be impressed by the varied and dynamic poses of the torsos on offer. The
14 different bodies in the set exude great detail and energy. Subtle twists
in the body shape and leg positioning make for an ‘on the attack’ look to
most of the figures, and the shocked or aggressive facial expressions add
to that feel.
Most of the bodies come with legs and moulded bases attached (large
bases incidentally - you will struggle to fit them on 20mm x 20mm
squares), and as with all Victrix sets (unlike other manufacturers) you
are instructed as to which arms and other parts you should fit to which
bodies. Having said that, there is some ‘wiggle room’ and you won’t
be disappointed with any of your finished minis - the slightly restricted
construction options all lead to great looking models.
There are 23 different heads in total plus a further 15 helmets, which can be fitted to those
bodies that come complete with heads attached.
It’s interesting to note that some of the helmets are of the Phrygian style, generally favoured
by wargamers for actions involving Normans in Italy, or on Crusade. Other heads come with
mail coifs attached, or loosened, and some are bare.
The tooling of these models and ultimately the finished miniatures look fantastic. Victrix
really are setting the standard for others to follow in their Dark Age plastic range.

Heads up
There are 38 different head and
helmet options on the frames,
including the full gamut of Western
and Italo-Norman options.

Bodies to die For

There are 14 different body options
Command Frame Figure in total, all displaying great variety
Our finished standard bearer, and motion.
wearing padded gambeson, has a
hand axe attached to his belt and
is protected by a flat kite shield.
The frames also include six
curved kite shields for that more
exotic look seen on the famous
Arnold von Brienz shield.

to arms
There’s plenty of different arm and weapon options
available on the two frames, including swords (sheathed
and drawn), dagger, maces, spears, and Dane Axes.

ViCtrix Versus Conquest

In this shot you can see a new Victrix Norman on the
left and a Conquest Games plastic Norman on the right.
Judge compatibility and quality for yourself ….

23
 BOR
FULL PAPER JACKET
Book PREVIEWs for the Discerning Wargamer
WAR TO
GAM
E
N

By Neil smith
It’s August again, a long hot month of sitting in the sunshine reading new books on
military history - sounds like a plan to me. This month, as usual, we present an even mix
of publications, covering most of the major wargaming periods, and as usual my major
wargaming problem is “I need an army for that” syndrome!

ANCIENT Medieval
I have never quite understood the Only one medieval book this month, but
wargaming appeal of hoplite warfare. it’s a useful one that arguably goes to the
There is always some variety in warfare, founders of the period. Trevor Rowley
but ultimately this was two blocks of brings us The Normans: A History of
phalanx charging at each other across a Conquest (Pegasus), and if all you know
flat plain, or so it seems from my reading about this bunch is 1066 and All That,
of the Classical period. But then you get then you are in for a treat because the
into the 4th Century BCE and things Normans got about. Their victory against
become much more interesting. Take King Harold’s knackered army at Hastings
James Romm’s The Sacred Band: Three was only the beginning of an expansion
Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting to Save that took the Normans around the British
Greek Freedom (Scribner), for example. Isles and across the Mediterranean with
Warfare became more tactically varied as significant stops in Sicily, North Africa, and
the Greek city states fought for hegemony the Holy Land. They turned the Byzantine
only for them all to be stuffed by the Empire inside out while they were at it. It Helion’s Reason to Revolution series keeps
upstart Macedonians. That sounds like follows that the Normans encountered a supplying great material for games.
more fun to play. wide range of foes, which for us means that
building a Norman army could keep us Moving up a scale to 28mm and for a
At the other end of the Ancient period completely different form of warfare,
wargaming happily for a long time.
were the 4th Century CE scourge of the Phillip Tucker brings us Ranger Raid:
Romans, the Goths. Michael Fredholm Early Modern The Legendary Robert Rogers and His
von Essen’s recently released The Goths Most Famous Frontier Battle (Stackpole).
I don’t usually preview a Volume 2 without
(Society of Ancients) tells you pretty This takes us to the French and Indian
having covered Volume 1, but Paul Sutton’s
much all you need to know about this War in 1759 when Rogers led 140 men
The Anglo-Spanish War 1655-1660
‘barbarian’ tribe, from how they dressed in a controversial raid on the small First
Volume 2: War in Jamaica (Helion) has
and armed themselves to their organization Nations town of St. Francis in Canada.
my wargaming antennae twitching. As the
and tactics. Von Essen’s informative Historically speaking, this was a battle
title states, this is Oliver Cromwell’s effort
text is adorned with many illustrations bordering on a massacre, but there is
to establish Jamaica as a Commonwealth
and archaeological finds, and an overall plenty of wargaming scope in the journey
colony with the only problem being that
picture emerges of a people a bit more to and from the town as well as the final
the Spanish were not too keen on the
sophisticated than you might expect, assault. Tucker provides all the context
idea and fought back. This is an ideal
especially from the Roman propaganda you need to recreate this and other raids
opportunity to change things up with your
perspective we have been fed. I like the idea that made Rogers and his Rangers famous.
English Civil War figures and put them
of a Goth army project; the Romans seem
against some colonial Spanish in a paradise AWI
to get it all their own way too often and it
island setting. I am thinking Donnybrook
would be fun to stick it to them just once. If it is controversial characters you want
rules might work for this. But there’s more.
Jamaica also had buccaneers and escaped to read about, Oscar and Catherine
slaves, both of which might make for Gilbert have just the man in Bloody Ban:
interesting skirmish forces. Banastre Tarleton and the American
Revolution, 1776 - 1783 (Savas Beatie).
18th Century For a commander as notorious as
Most wargames are battlegames, so it is Tarleton, it is strange that this is the
good to have a new book focusing on a first biography of him in fifty years. He
single engagement; and one from a much was still in his twenties when he led a
understudied war is more interesting. combined-arms brigade into the south
Giovanni Cerino Badone’s You Have to during the AWI and caused havoc, or
Die in Piedmont!: The Battle of Assietta, at least his men did, committing what
19 July 1747. The War of the Austrian would be war crimes in any era. He was a
Succession in the Alps (Helion) is the ruthless leader and very good at his job,
story of an extraordinarily bloody battle as but his luck or recklessness ran out at
French forces in three columns assaulted Blackstock’s Farm then again at Cowpens.
an outnumbered Sardinian-Austrian Tarleton’s wartime exploits make for great
army and found themselves stuck in a wargaming scenarios at the big skirmish/
meat-grinder. I am a fan of 15mm for small battle level, and with ‘Tarleton’s
these colourful 18th Century battles and Quarter’ at least you won’t have to write
rules for taking prisoners!

26
 this extraordinary machine that would surveys their organization and equipment
change the face of war from the minute and considers their tactics and doctrine,
they rolled across the Somme battlefield. but, as Zaloga points out, there is more to
Adding tanks to trench warfare makes winning than the machines you operate.
wargaming WWI more playable and, as an I include this book not just because of the
added bonus, this comes with a separate “look, tanks!” attraction, but I have just
book of maps. Who could ask for more? started a new 6mm project for Panzer
Korps rules and this will be especially
WWII
useful for bringing that together.
My main area of interest for WWII is the
Modern
war against Japan, so I enthusiastically
anticipate Trent Hone’s The Battle of The first battle of any war often points
Guadalcanal (Naval Institute Press). the way forward to how that war will be
This is an overview of the six-month fought. With that in mind, I am looking
campaign for the island of Guadalcanal forward to reading Toby Harnden’s First
ACW from August 1942 to February 1943, with Casualty: The Untold Story of the Battle
An unusual aspect of the American Civil the fighting at sea proving particularly That Began the War in Afghanistan
War is covered by Myron Smith in After chaotic as the United States embarked on (Welbeck). This is the story of a battle that
Vicksburg: The Civil War on Western a sharp learning curve on how to fight broke out in November 2001 between
Waters, 1863-1865 (McFarland). This the Japanese - this was true for their land coalition forces at Qala-i-Janghi and
is the river war fought up and down the and air warfare too. Because of that, this Taliban soldiers who faked their surrender,
Mississippi and its tributaries, and the campaign may be the most evenly balanced hiding weapons in their clothes. Six days
Upper Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. in the war in the Pacific and therefore the of sometimes intense combat ensued in
I have only seen a few gunboat based most wargameable, and with the combined a desperate battle
wargames, which is surprising because services aspect the potential for a campaign for survival. This
there are many potential scenarios for is obvious. sort of deception
using them at the skirmish raid level and in reappeared
Fast forward 18 months to find a very
larger operations. The Mississippi was the throughout the war.
different, but perhaps more typical,
lifeline of the Confederacy and when it was The question for
campaign with Jim Moran‘s Battle of
cut with the loss of Vicksburg in July 1863, wargamers is how
Peleliu, 1944: Three Days That Turned
the Confederates were hard-pressed to do you duplicate
into Three Months (Pen & Sword). By
maintain supply routes across the river. The such duplicity
September 1944, the Americans were in
US gunboats were equally hard-pressed in your games?
almost complete control of the skies and
trying to stop them. Smith has those stories Ultimately, I think
sea, but the Japanese had planned their
and many more for you to chew on while you must prepare
island defences to inflict the maximum
building your model gunboat. for there being no
casualties. Moran’s case study is Peleliu
game at all, and I
WWI off the Philippines with some of the
have no idea how
most severe terrain ever encountered by
that works. Maybe
Sometimes you have to sit back and take American Marines, which was augmented
just spend your evening standing
in the big picture before embarking on a by a well-prepared and fanatical Japanese
around reading this book?
major new wargaming project, particularly defence. Wargaming these island-
if you are like me and are not quite sure hopping battles like Peleliu sets up well Afghanistan stories are becoming
how to tackle something as complex as for cooperative or even solo games with a more common, which is good because
the Great War. Michael Neiberg’s The programmed defence to overcome. Like the we now get to read about some of the
World War I Illustrated Atlas: Campaigns Marines, that should keep you busy. extraordinary actions from this war.
and Battles from 1914 to 1918 (Amber) Tony Brooks and Bob Welch have written
is a coffee-table style book that covers about a phenomenon that some might
everything you need to know about who think is a cliché but is very real. Leave
fought where and how. The land war was No Man Behind: The Untold Story of the
contested in just about every environment Rangers’ Unrelenting Search for Marcus
you can think of; not just the muddy Luttrell, the Navy SEAL Lone Survivor
trenches of Flanders. The naval war was in Afghanistan (Diversion Books) tells
also fought in far flung waters with a wide the story of a rescue mission in 2005 to
variety of actions to ponder. This was find and repatriate a lost SEAL team. The
also the first proper air war, which along helicopter originally sent was shot down,
with tanks, was the most obvious display so those men had to be returned too - what
of a perhaps surprisingly technologically men will do for their brothers in arms. For
developed war. But what makes this book our purposes, this is an exciting concept
fly are the specially commissioned maps, for a skirmish game, and it is something
and what discerning wargamer does not we never think of when we play. What if
like to see good maps? a victory condition was ensuring all your
Returning to more familiar WWII figures were cleared from the table? Or just
And speaking of tanks, Stephen Pope
territory, let’s take a look at the D-Day set up a straight cross-table rescue mission.
is setting up something interesting in
landing’s opposition with Steven Zaloga’s This is also another game that could be
the first volume of his six-part series
German Tanks in Normandy 1944: The played cooperatively or solo.
on tanks: The Tank Corps in the Great
War: Volume 1 - Conception, Birth Panzer, Sturmgeschütz and Panzerjäger And that’s that for August. To keep up
and Baptism of Fire, November 1914 forces that faced the D-Day invasion with the latest book reviews from your
- November 1916 (Helion). Pope gets (Osprey). Zaloga highlights a fierce array of favourite publishers follow ‘Full Paper
into the weeds with all the details of German armour that awaited the Allies. He Jacket’ on Facebook.

27
 28mm Finest Quality Pewter Miniatures,
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 CHANGING THE TIDE OF BATTLE:

TURNING POINTS

Neil Smith introduces us to this month’s theme by musing over the concept of Turning Points in historical campaigns
and battles, and how they relate to tabletop action.

I first encountered the concept of flow then end with the rout, surrender, or DEFINITION
Turning Points in graduate school when peace treaty. Somewhere in the middle,
something happens to change the flow of
To set up this introduction, I noodled on
reading James McPherson’s Battle Cry
a suitable definition of turning points -
of Freedom. The book is a brilliant events, and the narrative historian jumps
I’ll give you five minutes to try this at
single-volume narrative of the American on that and analyses it in detail to their
home. Done it? And the answer? There
Civil War that hinges on certain events satisfaction and the reader’s. Job done.
isn’t one. I Googled it and this is what
changing the direction of the war and This is different from the cause-and-effect
came back: “a time at which a decisive
leading to eventual Union success - those history many of us were taught in school
change in a situation occurs, especially
are the turning points. It is a concept so where events shunt into one another,
one with beneficial results.” That makes
simple and intuitive that you wonder causing new events that shunt everything
sense except for the two crucial words:
how you never noticed it before. Then forward, rinse and repeat. Turning points
beneficial and decisive. Beneficial to
you start to see turning points in every are all about the broad flow of events and
who? The Battle of Gettysburg in July
story in every walk of life. Our focus therein lies the beauty of the concept but
1863 is often viewed as the turning
here though, is turning points in military also the main flaw.
history and in wargaming. We will look at
the concept in a little more detail to find
a working definition while considering
the problems, then see how we can apply
them to what we do.
CONCEPT
Pickett’s Charge,
Most narrative military historians seek to a turning point in
explain outcomes using turning points, the American Civil
whether they acknowledge the term or not. War. As seen in the
They follow the narrative arc from a fixed Gettysburg 150th
beginning, to a middle passage full of Anniversary Game
events, to a fixed outcome - they start with at Historicon 2013.
Presented by Pete
the outbreak of war, or the order to saddle
Panzeri and Paul
up for a campaign, or the signal to fire the
Olszanski.
artillery to begin the battle; events ebb and

30
point of the American Civil War, and it To solve the conundrum, we can take the - he is not a fan. Another historian
is the most obvious one - was there ever easy way out as some historians do when blasts turning points as a “short-hand
a more apt description than Pickett’s attacking the concept and usefulness of of analysis” that “mash hackneyed and
Charge reaching the high tide of the turning points. One historian I read for amateurish analysis” - not a fan either, I

TURNING POINTS
Confederacy? But how was Gettysburg this introduction echoes Justice Potter suspect. But here’s the rub: we still use
beneficial to the Confederate cause? The Stewart’s line on pornography that he was the idea of turning points in just about
same could be said for just about every not sure how to define it, but he would every story we tell and being convenient
recorded battle, from the Hittites losing know it if he saw it - whether Stewart does not necessarily invalidate the
at Kadesh to the insurgents being swept based that decision on solid research has concept. So how can we reconcile these
out of Fallujah. Let’s agree to drop that never been satisfactorily answered! The two seeming contradictions; that turning
clause and focus on the more contentious historian continues that turning points are points are worthless but still useful? The
main point. “vague and imprecise” and that they lead answer lies, I think, in two parameters:
to a “historical mirage and incoherence” hindsight and framework.
For ‘decisive’, we have to go back to
1851 and a certain Sir Edward Shepherd 20/20
Creasy, a man ahead of his time and for
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. It is the
whom ‘clickbait’ should be renamed.
art of looking backwards and saying,
Creasy wrote The Fifteen Decisive
“if only” or “I knew that was going
Battles of the World (by which he meant
to happen” - you hear it after every
Europe, but we will gloss over that!). It
wargame, usually from the loser. It is a
is an execrable book with an argument
world where everything is predictable as
that a semi-interested schoolboy could
drive a bus through, but its influence
long as you make your prediction after
the fact. It is also the world of turning
on military history writers and some
points. We can only know something
prominent generals has been nothing
was a turning point after the event,
short of staggering. Let us pop back to
in the same way that we know if that
Gettysburg and ask why Robert E. Lee
event was decisive. It is therefore what
was even in this backwater Pennsylvania
town. He was seeking the decisive battle, Perry Miniatures Robert E. Lee figure. happens next that is key. Events can
General Lee was constantly striving have consequences, ramifications, and
as he had since the start of his command
of the Army of Northern Virginia. Many for a deceive victory to turn the course outcomes, but they are only turning
would argue he got his wish; except he of the Civil War in the South’s favour. points when we realise that something
fundamental has shifted as a result of that
was on the wrong end of the decision. In
just about every war since Creasey we
can see the search for the decisive battle
etched into almost every commander’s
orders. The decisive battle will constitute
a dramatic turning point in the war, or
so they hope. Gettysburg demonstrates
that theory, or does it? On the day after
that battle, and hundreds of miles away,
the town of Vicksburg on the Mississippi
River fell. That was not quite as sexy an
event as a major, ‘decisive’ battle, but
the loss of Vicksburg, and therefore the
Mississippi, cleaved the Confederacy in
two, cutting vital supply lines from the
west, and making defeat all but inevitable
in the long run. Which one was the more
decisive event and the turning point?

A rebel sortie to silence the

Union guns at Vicksburg.
President Lincoln nicknamed
the Southern held city the “key
to the South”.

Although Lee led his Army of

Northern Virginia to several
victories after Gettysburg, he never
came close to orchestrating a
turning point after that battle.

31
 event. Napoleon’s inability to muster a The night attack at Epipolai during the Syracuse Campaign of the Peloponnesian
new army after Waterloo falls into this War. Illustration by Peter Dennis from CAM 195 Syracuse 415 - 413 BC (c) Osprey
category, although that defeat was not Publishing Ltd. www.ospreypublishing.com
the sole reason. In World War II, it took
the Imperial Japanese Navy a while to
grasp the consequences of its blunders Operation Bagration in June 1944, or just when the snow started falling in the Winter
at Midway. And in the greatest war of of 1941? And those were just the major events, any or all of which turned the tide of
them all, the Peloponnesian War, at what the war. Perhaps there is another way to look at turning points, through a smaller lens.
point did the Athenians recognise their
diversion to Syracuse was a war-ending
error? As the saying goes, you don’t
know until you know.
LITTLE & LARGE
One of the great things about turning
points is that there is no scale attached.
It is also one of the prime ways of
attacking the concept. How can one
event be a turning point when it is made
up of smaller turning points, or is itself
part of a larger turning point? The action
becomes a battle, which is part of a
campaign, which is part of an offensive,
which is part of this war. That sequence
almost always constitutes the narrative
of war, the natural flow of events. So
where along that line do you attribute
the turning point? Take Nazi Germany’s
Operation Barbarossa, launched against
the Soviet Union in June 1941, itself seen
as a turning point in the wider war. At
first all went well for the Germans who
soon reached the gates of Moscow, but
by April 1945 the Soviets were knocking
Operation Barbarossa. The failure of German troops to defeat the Soviet forces in
on the door of the Reichstag in Berlin.
the campaign signalled a crucial turning point in the war. But where exactly was that
Where was the turning point? Tradition turning point? Soviet and German infantry and armour by Battlefront Miniatures.
has the German disaster at Stalingrad in
February 1943, but what about the Battle
of Kursk in July that year, or the Soviet

32
 Stalingrad, a World The Thin Red Line of Sutherland
War II turning point? Highlanders at Balaclava.

Tanks on the Somme, turning the tide in World War I.

Models by Great War Miniatures.
The argument goes that turning points
contain turning points, but as you work
into the detail you end up with a turning
point so obtuse that it cannot be taken
seriously as a viable historical moment
- if, say, Private Crenshaw had not tied
his shoelace on 1 July, we would never
have won the Battle of the Somme. To
answer this conundrum we must return
to the idea of consequences and, perhaps,
the point of no return. Private Crenshaw’s
action might not constitute a turning
point, but the Battle of the Somme was
because this action saw the first use of
tanks by the British army, although if we
go back to an earlier point, it was Haig’s
willingness to keep using them that
proved the true turning point. The same
argument could apply at the broadest galleons over galleys. Gettysburg and upwards, the turning point at Waterloo
scale, going back through time, for all Midway are two more battles that led could be the devastating volleys of the
successful military developments, from to inexorable change if not inevitable British Foot Guards, and the Thin Red
aircraft carriers to machine-guns, to defeat. Once the major turning point Line of the Sutherland Highlanders
muskets to the stirrup. Many so-called is established, we can then drill down repelling the Russian cavalry at
decisive battles fall into this category to the smallest factor on which the big Balaclava in 1854. The questions
too. The Roman legion victory over the turning point pivoted. That might be here then are if there was a turning
Macedonian phalanx at Pydna in 168 Joshua Chamberlain’s command of the point, what did it turn on and who was
BCE ushered in a new era of warfare 20th Maine at Little Round Top or Wade involved? Answer those and you have
in the Hellenistic world. The Battle of McCluskey’s intuition about how to find gone a long way to making the case for
Lepanto in 1571, heralded the age of the Japanese carriers at Midway. Building turning points as historical conditions.

The Battle of Kursk on the Eastern Front.

Photo by Warwick Kinrade.

Pydna, 168BC. The days of the Macedonian

phalanx were coming to an end. See our
theme of Legion versus Phalanx in Wi261.

33
 HANNIBAL

Hannibal’s allies (Celts, Libyans, and Numidians) advance on a line of Romans

during the Punic Wars, in which Hannibal employed his double envelopment
of the flanks to pull off a turning point at The Battle of Cannae. Figures by
Renegade Miniatures.

The battle for Little Round Top - a small action which led to a pivotal turning
point at Gettysburg. See our Little Round Top refight in Wi307.

Alexander the Great from the Wargames

Illustrated limited edition Giants in
Miniature range.

FINDING YOUR TURNING POINT

Most of us play battlegames within this
broad church we call wargaming. And,
as previously stated, most of us believe
in the concept of turning points. But how
many of us make the connection between
the two? The difference between our
wargaming and a wargame like chess
is that we can make winning decisions
before the game starts. But first a proviso:
we are not talking about gaming a set battle without too much help from the gods, we should maybe consider the outcome
of rules here, but the tactical choices that we desire and where the turning point might be to achieve that result.
facing us as we set our forces against our Three of our main criteria for turning points are particularly useful when it comes to
‘enemy’. We have a table usually full of determining victory on the table. Assessing how the battle is likely to flow against us
terrain and we can organise and deploy will help to lay out our plans to change that dynamic. To do this, we must consider the
our armies how we choose. Yet, all too table from the other side, working out where the main thrust of the attack will hit our
often, we line them up, charge across forces and how we might counter that. We can examine the terrain to decide what will
the table, and see if the dice gods are help us or them, and what we need to hold or capture to afford us the opportunity of
going to favour us for a change. This is finding the turning point we need. Then we can review our forces to decide who needs
particularly true for multi-player games to go where on the battlefield to produce the turning point, not forgetting where we can
where you have your part of the table put our reserve to take advantage of the moment when it arrives as Alexander the Great
and that is all that matters. But to win the did at Gaugamela in 331 BCE.

34
 HANNIBAL

Prince Rupert wasn’t the only commander to struggle to control his wayward cavalry
That brings us to scale. Our consideration during the English Civil War. He failed to turn his advantage at Edgehill into a turning
here is at what level we expect the point in the war.
turning point to happen. Most traditional
battle deployments consist of a left, Finally, consider the consequences the Remagen bridge in March 1945 drove
right, and centre, so perhaps we can see of your actions. To make an action a a bridgehead over the Rhine, arguably
a potential turning point in one of those turning point, the consequences have shortening the war. You won’t know that
sectors, so we throw our best forces into to matter, or to put it another way, can you have achieved your turning point
that fight while holding back the other you control the outcome? There is until you have established a positive
two - this is what the Theban general did little to be gained by smashing in your consequence, so you must take that into
to change warfare at the Battle of Leuctra opponent’s flank if your cavalry decides account when making your plans for
in 371 BCE when he advanced in oblique looting the enemy baggage is a much glorious victory.
order to bring the mass of his force onto more attractive proposition than rolling
the Spartan right and send them flying. up their army, just ask Prince Rupert
Turning points are a contentious issue,
at Edgehill in October 1642. Similarly,
Or it might be a double envelopment of some believe in them, others do not.
the flanks as conducted by Hannibal at at the Battle of the Bulge in December
What we have tried to demonstrate here
Cannae in 216 BCE. It might be that a is a framework for defining turning points
1944, the Germans could not exploit their
small but effective unit, acting in the right that you can test in your wargames. But
breakthrough to seize the vital fuel depots
place at the right time, might do a lot a word of caution: if your opponent also
they needed. Conversely, the Americans
more damage than a broad frontal assault. believes in turning points, he will be
who pounced on the fortunate capture of
Consider the US Rangers taking Pointe trying these ideas out on you!
du Hoc on D-Day, allowing the major
landing to go in, or forcing a hole in an
enemy line to allow units to burst through
into the rear as the Germans did in the
Ardennes in December 1944.

German planes in action over Remagen.

Bolt Action Americans and Germans in a Battle of the Bulge refight.
Models by Battlefront Miniatures.

35
 www.hindsfiguresltd.com
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 DALEKS IN
STARGRAVE

A treat from Stargrave’s creator here - Joseph A. McCullough gives us a history

of his Dalek love affair before working them into his great new sci-fi game!

According to family lore, when I was into their torsos. On the inside, however, some new figures and hit the painting
about eight years old, my father came they are little, fleshy blobs with writhing table! In fact, while I have broadened
into the lounge and asked me what I was tentacles. They are horrific both inside and my ‘paint listening’ horizons, Big Finish
watching on television. I responded, “I out, and their metallic voices, continuously Doctor Who audio plays remain my
don’t know, but this show has the best shouting “Exterminate!”, is enough to favourite. I have recently purchased a
monsters!” Thus began my life-long love send any child running for cover. CD shelf that I can use to hold both my
affair with Doctor Who. Doctor Who CDs as well as some of my
Doctor Who left the airwaves when I was
larger miniatures!
In 1980s America, Doctor Who was an in my teens, so I turned to the
obscure show that aired on PBS, the series of novels being produced
Public Broadcasting Service, a television by Virgin Publishing. These books
channel devoted to arts, culture, and constituted a huge percentage of
education that was funded through viewer my reading in those days, but it
sponsorship. It broadcast a lot of shows was really when Big Finish began
created by the BBC, which I suppose is to produce audio plays on CD that
how it came to have Doctor Who, since it my love of the character and series
is hard to justify it by any of the above- fully returned. It also brought back
mentioned categories. those menacing Dalek voices! It
was around this point that I began
I remember watching Tom Baker (the
to connect Doctor Who with
fourth Doctor) and Peter Davidson (the
miniature gaming.
fifth Doctor), but mostly I remember
the Daleks! The Daleks are the greatest Those Doctor Who CDs became
of all the Doctor Who monsters. On the the exciting background to all my
outside they resemble giant, armoured miniature painting sessions. The
peppershakers with an eyestalk jutting arrival of a new box of CDs, all
from their heads, a bathroom plunger for the way from merry old England, Above: Doctor Who CDs lined up on Joe’s shelf, ready
an arm, and a cool deathray integrated meant it was time to prime up to be played during painting sessions.

38
TO THE HOME OF THE DOCTOR
(ENGLAND, NOT GALLIFREY!)
As life would have it, I ended up moving
to England in 2006 to get married. While
this was exciting in itself, I was also
excited because I heard that Doctor Who
had returned to British television (though
not American TV at that point!). One of
the first things I did upon arrival - after
saying hello to my fiancé, of course -
was go out and buy a copy of the new
Doctor Who on DVD! In truth, I’ve never
completely gotten onboard with ‘New
Who’. I’ve taken what enjoyment I can Above: Joe’s personal army of Daleks.
from it, but it’s never had the same kind
of magic for me. That said, good things
have certainly come from it!
A few years later, when ‘New Who’ was FinisHing tHe Joe and WHo story
at the height of its popularity, there was
a monthly children’s magazine devoted In 2016, I attended UK Games Expo as part of the Osprey
Games team. By then, I had gained a little notoriety in the
to the show that always contained a free
wargaming world for the creation of Frostgrave, released the
toy. Usually, this was complete junk, previous year, and I was excited that Frostgrave had been
but there were a couple of treasures. nominated for the Best Miniature Game of the Year award.
I bought one issue that came with
a TARDIS themed pencil tin that I As the show wound down, I made my way to the center
stage for the award announcements. When I got there, my
currently use to hold my paint brushes, jaw dropped. The awards were being presented by none-
but best of all, one issue came with other than Colin Baker, the sixth Doctor himself! I admit, I
a ‘Dalek Army’ - ten plastic Daleks, was already hoping to win, but when I saw Colin, I wanted
about 30mm high. Okay, they were the it bad! Thankfully, the story has a happy ending for me.
new ‘I-Daleks’ that don’t have quite the Frostgrave won the award, and I got to go up on stage with
same classic lines as the originals, but Colin. We exchanged pleasantries, had a hug for the camera,
ten Daleks for £3 was more than I could and it was done.
resist, so I bought two copies. For one moment, my love of Doctor Who and my love of
miniature gaming really came together, and I got to meet a
For those that have done it, painting childhood hero. It remains one of my favourite memories!
Daleks is a little bit of headache, but
they look great when they are done! I
managed to break one of them while
working on it, but that just gave me a
chance to paint up a destroyed Dalek,
which should probably be a part of every
miniature collection!
EXTERMINATING IN STARGRAVE
Those Daleks have gone on to fight
many battles on my wargaming tables.
Generally, they have taken on my
Imperial Guard army in a variety of
scenarios. I have created stats for using
Daleks in Warhammer 40,000 and the
Starship Troopers Miniature Game. Now, Above: A very happy Joe getting his award at UKGE.
however, there is a new science-fiction
game in town, my own Stargrave, and I
thought it was high time that the Daleks
made an appearance! And don’t worry -
the plastic magazine give-away Daleks
may be long gone, but you can now get
plastic Daleks from Warlord Games!
So, contained here are rules for using
Daleks in Stargrave, including a couple
of the common Dalek variations. I
have also created two scenarios - one
competitive and one solo - so that players
can bring these maniacal, cybernetic
aliens into their own games, regardless of
whether they have an opponent or not.
On to the deathrays!
Above: Two of Joe’s I-Daleks against a figure from his personal Stargrave collection.

39
 DALEKS
On the outside, Daleks appear to be human-sized robotic peppershakers, but this appearance is misleading. They are actually a
complex battlesuit, worn by a small fleshy alien, similar in appearance to earth cephalopods.
While Daleks are slow and a bit ungainly, they employ levitation technology to make sure that they can move freely in any
environment. Dalek battlesuits are extremely tough, and their deathrays are capable of cutting through the strongest armour; however,
Daleks suffer from poor perception. This makes them easy to hide from and also means they are generally poor shots even when they
acquire a target. Also, their eyestalk is a weak point because it is not protected by the same level of armour as the rest of their bodies.
The vast majority of Daleks are simple ‘Warriors’. That said, it is possible to encounter a ‘Special Weapons Dalek’ or even the
‘Emperor Dalek’. Stats for each are given below.

Move Fight Shoot Armour Will Health Notes

Deathray, Levitate, Never
Dalek Wounded, Filter Mask,
Warrior 5 +0 -1 18 +2 6 Weakpoint: Eye Stalk, Can
Shoot While in Combat,
Poor Perception

Move Fight Shoot Armour Will Health Notes

Special Mega-Deathray, Levitate,

Weapons Never Wounded, Filter
Dalek 5 +0 -2 18 +2 6
Mask, Can Shoot While in
Combat, Poor Perception

Emperor Move Fight Shoot Armour Will Health Notes

Dalek Deathray, Levitate, Never
(or Supreme Wounded, Filter Mask,
Dalek, 3 +3 -4 18 +8 10 Weakpoint: Eye Stalk, Can
or Dalek Shoot While in Combat,
Supreme) Poor Perception

Can Shoot While in Combat - Daleks never initiate melee combat. Instead, they are allowed to
shoot while in Combat. If a Dalek activates while in combat, it will shoot at one random figure
in combat with it and then end its activation. If another figure attacks a Dalek in hand-to-hand
combat, the Dalek will fight as normal, but never deals damage if it wins.
Deathray - A horrific energy weapon employed by Daleks. The weapon is indestructible, does +6
damage, and has a maximum range of 24". In addition, figures wearing standard Light Armour,
Heavy Armour, or Combat Armour receive no Armour bonus from this gear (so reduce their
Armour Stat to 9 unless they have other modifiers). Any form of Advanced Technology Armour
gives its bonuses as normal.
Mega-Deathray - This weapon follows the same rules as the Deathray, except it does +10 damage.
Poor Perception - Daleks have legendarily bad perception. Any figure that is not in combat and
who does not make a shooting attack as part of their activation, may spend an action to hide (this
can replace a move action). For the rest of the turn, no Dalek that is more than 6" away counts as
having line of sight to this figure.
Weakpoint: Eye Stalk - Daleks never suffer additional damage from critical hits (so no +5
damage); instead, if any figure scores a critical hit while attacking a Dalek, either with a shooting
attack or a melee attack, it has destroyed the Dalek’s eye stalk. For the rest of the game, whenever
the Dalek activates, it makes one random move, moving out of combat if it is in combat. It will
Above: When it comes to true supremacy
then make a shooting attack at the nearest other figure even if that figure is another Dalek or other
look no further than Davros, the creator
of the Daleks. creature. It also spends the rest of the game shouting “I cannot see!”.

40
 Above: “I CANNOT SEE!” - with its eye stalk destroyed, this Dalek has opened fire on a fellow Dalek.

SCENARIO 1: PROPERTY OF THE DALEKS

A competitive Stargrave scenario for two or Then place two data-loot tokens on the table, each 10" from the central token,
more players. on a line running through the middle of the table, parallel to the player entry
edges. Finally, each player should place a cluster of four small cargo pods
The derelict cargo-hauler entered the system just
anywhere they want on the table, so long as they are at least 10" from their
hours ago, broadcasting a distress signal so old
starting table edge.
there is no chance of any survivors. Soon, every
scrapper, salvager, and independent operator If playing with three or more players, increase the number of data-loot tokens
will be descending on the wreck like a plague of to four, and position them so that they form an ‘X’ around the centre of the
locusts. But you’ve got the jump on them. If you table, with each token 6" from the centre. If there are only three players,
can get into the ship, grab the best stuff you can remove the central token.
carry, and get out before encountering too much
opposition, this could be a very profitable day!
Set-up the crews following the normal rules.
SPECIAL RULES
SET-UP
Loot Crates
This scenario is set in the crowded cargo hold of
a massive space freighter. It should be filled with Each of the clusters of crates contains one physical loot token, but players
terrain both large and small, potentially including don’t know which crate it is in. Figures may open a crate following the normal
small ships and vehicles, large cargo pallets, rules for unlocking a physical-loot token, except that all rolls are made at
random machinery, etc. The exact set-up is not +2. As soon as a crate is unlocked, roll a D20. If the roll is 1 to 14, then the
important, so long as it is crowded. crate contains nothing of interest and should be removed from the table. On a
15+ the crate contains a physical-loot token. This token is unlocked, but still
Place one loot token in the centre of the table.
requires an action to pick up. If a player has searched all the crates in a cluster,
Roll randomly to see if it is data- or physical-loot.
then the final one will contain the physical-loot token and no roll is necessary.

Above: A crew heads into the packed cargo hold, Above: It’s either extremely brave or very stupid to charge up and engage a Dalek in
cautious but optimistic about the loot they will snag. close combat!

41
 tHe poWer oF tHe daLeks LOOT AND EXPERIENCE
In the creature phase of the first turn, roll for a random point along the table edge. The Loot is rolled for as normal after this
wall at this point explodes. Any figure within 4" suffers an immediate +1 shooting attack. scenario. Experience is gained as
normal with the following additions:
Place two Daleks on the table, 2" apart, surrounding this point. Then draw a line from
the selected point, through the middle of the table, to the opposite table edge. Repeat • +5 experience points for each crate
the procedure at this point, so that four total Daleks enter the table. These Daleks will unlocked.
activate immediately.
• +10 experience points for each Dalek
In the creature phase of each of the following turns, place one Dalek on the table at a killed (to a maximum of +50).
random point along the table edge (no explosion this time). There can never be more than
• +20 experience points if the crew has
five Daleks on the table at any one time, so if you reach a creature phase and there are
a crew member reduced to 0 Health by
already five on the table, do not place another one.
a Dalek.
The target point for this scenario is the nearest data-loot token carried by a crew member.

Above: Daleks blast their way through a wall and Above: A terrifying sight as the Daleks gather for battle.
into the cargo hold.

KEV DALEKMORE
All of the game and figure photos in this article were snapped by famed brushmaster and
photographer Kev Dallimore. He might just be a bigger Dalek fan than Joe, so we asked
Kev to tell us a little about his Doctor Who and Dalek obsession.
“I can’t ever remember not being a Doctor Who fan and as a gamer and collector it was
inevitable that Who and Daleks in particular, would feature in my collections. In my
defence, most of them are or were for gaming, rather than just gathering dust on a shelf.
That’s even true for the big fella, who is a full-size home build. It was made by a friend
of mine - we did three in all, for a live-role-playing game in a disused nuclear bunker. I
painted them and this one now stands guard over the living room most of the time. He’s
advertised our games at shows and I’ve driven him around (with me inside) at many
Salutes, frightening children.
“The small ones are lovely little resin models by
Media Collectables, I painted these for the games
we ran for the South London Warlords at Salute
and other shows all over the UK. We now use
player friendly toy replacements. My smallest are
elderly Citadel ones.
“If I’m honest, some of my Who collections are
purely for pleasure such as the grading by size black
and silver command Daleks and my collection of
TARDIS’s, ranging from a small 28mm sized to
over a foot tall. You could take this as a cautionary
tale - this is where obsessions get you - but I guess
I am preaching to the converted here. Just don’t
mention the Who DVD and book collections, the
old Who VHS tapes, and the … oh dear …”

42
 SCENARIO 2: DESPERATION STRIKE

A solo Stargrave scenario featuring Daleks. SPECIAL RULES

The planet is burning. The capital fell in minutes and the last isolated pockets pyLon poWer
of organized resistance are now surrounded. Soon, the entire planet will fall
In this scenario, the player is attempting to kill
and all life will be exterminated. You have only this one, last chance. You
have obtained the shield frequencies of the enemy flagship - you should be
the Emperor Dalek. They may not enter the
square containing the Emperor, or draw of line of
able to teleport a small team through their defences, right into the heart of
sight to him, nor make any attack that could harm
their command chamber. If you can take out their leader, then your planet
him, until at least three of the pylons have been
might just survive.
deactivated.
SET-UP
There are two ways to deactivate pylons:
This scenario is played on a 2.5' x 2.5' table. In the center of the table, place
1). A figure that is adjacent to a data terminal may
an Emperor Dalek. In a square around the Emperor, place four pylons, so that
each pylon is approximately 8" away from the Emperor. The rest of the table
attempt to deactivate a pylon of their choice by
can be filled with whatever terrain the player chooses. Place two Robomen
spending an action and making a roll to unlock a
data-loot token; however, the Target Number for
(use pirate trooper stats) adjacent to each pylon. Place a Dalek in each table
this unlock is 20. Only one figure may attempt
corner. In the center of two, opposite table edges, place a data terminal. No
this roll per data-terminal, each turn.
loot tokens are placed in this scenario.
2). A figure adjacent to one of the pylons, and
Instead of setting up the crew, put a marker on the Emperor Dalek and roll
not in combat, may spend an action and attempt
a random direction. Then roll another die and move the marker that many
to unlock a physical-loot token. In this case
inches in the random direction. If this generates a result that is off the table,
the Target Number is 16. If successful, that
or within the square of pylons, reroll until this is not the case. Once a legal
point has been generated, the player should set-up all of their figures within
pylon is deactivated. No powers, or items that
automatically unlock loot tokens, can be used to
3" of the marker. The marker can then be removed.
deactivate pylons.

Above: The crew take cover as an Emperor Dalek activates and directs his Above: An Emperor Dalek searches for interlopers
Dalek Warriors. with the support of a Special Weapon Dalek.

43
 tHe emperor aCtiVated
The Emperor Dalek will not activate until three pylons have been deactivated. At that point, it will activate as normal. All Robomen
and Daleks will activate as normal each turn. The target point for this scenario is the nearest crew member, even if that crew member
is not in line of sight (unless that crew member is specifically hiding from a Dalek. Crew members cannot hide from Robomen).

reinForCements Desperation Strike Reinforcements Table

Die Roll Reinforcements
At the end of each turn after the first, roll on the Desperation Strike
Reinforcements table (right). Place any new creatures at a random point 1-8 No Reinforcements
along the edge of the table. 9 - 12 1 Roboman
As soon as the Emperor Dalek is destroyed the scenario ends; the surviving 13 - 15 2 Robomen
crew members can teleport to safety. 16 - 18 1 Dalek
19 - 20 1 Special Weapons Dalek
CHaLLenge LeVeL
This scenario is designed to be tough for casual players or players that are more about narrative. Players who like to play the game
more tactically, will find it a bit easier. There are several methods of adjusting the difficulty. First, the more terrain on the table
the more the advantage shifts toward the player, as they can use this terrain intelligently to their advantage, whereas the simple
AI system controlling the creatures will not be able to do so. As such, there are times when the player might want to ignore the AI
rules and just make what they deem the most sensible move for the Dalek forces.

Above: A desperate last stand!

Another way the player can increase the challenge is to divide their crew into two equal groups
and have each group appear at separate, randomly generated points on the table.
If the player wants to increase the tension, they can also introduce a countdown timer.
Can the heroes take out the Emperor in the ten turns remaining before the Daleks fire their
‘city-killer’ weapon?
That’s the great thing about playing solo, you can do whatever you want to make the game more
fun for you without worrying about what anyone else thinks!
LOOT AND EXPERIENCE
If the crew destroys the Emperor Dalek, they gain 2 data-loot tokens for
this scenario. If they fail, they gain 1. Crews gain experience as normal for
this scenario, with the following additions:
• +5 experience points for each Roboman killed.
• +10 experience for each Dalek killed.
• +40 experience for each pylon deactivated.
• +100 experience for killing the Emperor Dalek. (This award does not
count against the normal maximum of 300 experience points per scenario).

44
 EVOLVING TACTICS OF THE SAMURAI:
THE TIGER OF KAI
A TEST OF HONOUR SCENARIO

Graham Davey and Kieran Byrne send spear armed cavalry specialists
against peasants with matchlock muskets in a Sengoku period scenario.

The Sengoku period (1467 to 1615) was a time of major change in Japan,
both in terms of the political upheaval of the many clans warring against
each other and the development of military strategy and weaponry.
While Japan was nominally ruled by the Emperor, it was actually governed
by the Shogun, a powerful military position passed down through the
Ashikaga family whose military might and political influence had kept the
other clans in line for the previous two centuries.
However, in 1465 a succession dispute weakened the Ashikaga shogunate
and within a few years fighting broke out in the capital of Kyoto that
quickly spread to the rest of the country. Warlike feudal lords - the daimyōs
- led their clan forces against their neighbours to settle old grudges and
seize new lands, while upstarts took the chance to oust their superiors and
carve out dominions for themselves. Adding to the chaos, each samurai
clan was supported by a network of smaller families, bound to serve by
years of loyalty, marriage ties, or coerced after being defeated in battle.
The conflict was to last 150 years, a period of constant warfare, only
ending when a single daimyō managed to conquer all the rest and finally
control the entire country.
NEW FIGHTING STYLES
Prior to the Sengoku period, the elite samurai warriors fought mainly from
horseback with the bow as their primary weapon. The iconic katana was
essentially a side-arm and remained a secondary weapon in any massed
battle as they were outmatched by the longer reach of spears and naginata
pole-arms.

46
However, as war swept the country in the terrain
following decades, increasing numbers of
Set up the battlefield as shown with a small village in one corner. The rest can be as
common peasants were recruited into the
sparse or heavily covered as the players see fit. Is cover or speed a greater advantage?

TURNING POINTS
clans’ armies and mainly armed with long
spears. Clashes of a few thousand men Once the battlefield is set up, objective markers are placed at the entrance to three
progressed to tens of thousands, and by buildings in the defender’s table quarter.
the end of the age hundreds of thousands
were marching into battle.
In the face of such numbers, a small deFender’s
contingent of horse-archers could make reinForCements
little impact however skilled they were. It 18"
was the famous general Takeda Shingen
who re-armed his mounted samurai with 18"
spears, turning them into lancers. The
Takeda cavalry soon became feared for
their shock charges which would crash
into the enemy lines, clinching victory
after victory.
Meanwhile, in 1543 a ship carrying
a party of Portuguese traders was
driven onto Japanese shores by a
storm. The local daimyō purchased two
matchlock muskets from them and set
his swordsmith to work copying the
Rest of area is farmland/
design. Muskets (known as tanegashima) sparse wooded area.
were quickly adopted into the armies
of forward-thinking samurai lords who 12"
discovered that, unlike the bow, which
took years of training, peasants could be
instructed to use them easily. 12"
Though it could struggle in wet weather, attaCker’s
this new weapon led to victories over reinForCements
much larger armies and increasingly
reCruitment
became the key to a clan’s ambitions for
domination of its neighbours. Equal forces - 24 points (or as agreed between the players).
MUSKET VS CAVALRY attaCker’s ForCe:
Musket and shock cavalry were to face The attacker’s force should include as many mounted warriors as possible - at least
off numerous times. When Takeda first two. No bows or muskets are allowed.
deployed his spear-armed riders, the
muskets of Tokugawa Ieyasu were unable deFender’s ForCe:
to reload in time and got completely The defender’s force should include as many musket-armed warriors as possible - at
overrun. It was the ruthless daimyō Oda least three (or one group). No bows or cavalry are allowed.
Nobunaga who perfected the use of
muskets, introducing the method of firing
in a series of ranks to produce constant
rolling fire. He learned the importance
of keeping the gunpowder dry (a small 6
box was developed to fit over the gun’s
Takeda Shingen

mechanism and keep off the rain). Faced

with the full might of the Takeda cavalry TAKEDA SHINGEN
at Nagashino in 1575, he deployed his
The attacker can choose to
muskets behind wooden pavises and a
include Takeda Shingen,
shallow stream. The mounted samurai from Wargames Illustrated’s
were slowed by the mud and unable to Giants in Miniature range,
jump the barriers leaving them easy targets as part of their force. His
for the devastating onslaught of the guns. card is included here and
The battle destroyed the strength of the can also be found on the
once-mighty Takeda clan forever. Wargames Illustrated website
Once per turn, after making a Move or Charge
to download and print (search
action, Takeda Shingen can take a Test of Wits.
SPEAR TIPS AND BLACK POWDER for Shingen). If passed, a mounted warrior within 12” may
take a free move or charge action.
While Test of Honour features clashes
Armoured, Katana, Clan, Samurai Class
between just a handful of warriors, we
can still play out this classic match-up of
cavalry versus muskets.
5 5 5 5 5 3

47
 ODA NOBUNAGA

The defender can

choose to include
Oda Nobunaga, from
Wargames Illustrated’s
Giants in Miniature
range, as part of their
force (as long as you
got him before he
sold out!). His card is
included here and can
also be found on the
Wargames Illustrated
website to download
and print (search for
Nobunaga).
Above: Oda Nobunaga figure from
the Giants in Miniature range.

6
Oda Nobunaga

Recruit up to three Ashigaru armed with

muskets (any type, including groups, sergeants,
veterans, etc) for 1 point less than normal.
Unarmoured, Katana, Clan, Samurai Class

5 4+1 4 6 5 3
48
 THE TIGER OF KAI

Takeda Shingen was one of the late Sengoku period’s most powerful daimyōs, able to combine military might with diplomatic and
domestic intelligence. The first-born son of Takeda Nobutora, hailing from the province of Kai, rebelled against his father in a bloodless
coup, taking control of the Takeda clan in 1540 and finding many military successes in the following 20 plus years.
Takeda Shingen’s death in 1573 preceded the Battle of Nagashino (discussed in this article) by two years - it was his successor, Takeda
Katuyori, who directed the Takeda cavalry to Oda Nobunga’s matchlock infantry and, ultimately, the collapse of the Takeda clan.
Thanks to our latest Giants in Miniature release, sculpted by Graham himself, you can bring Takeda Shingen to battle in games of Test of
Honour. Maybe you want to have him on the table in a mini ‘what if’ Battle of Nagashino scenario. You can use him in a pre-Nagashino
skirmish, as outlined in this article, or to represent any command figure in your chosen Sengoku period game.

depLoyment
The defender’s forces are set up first,
anywhere within an 18" radius of their table
corner.
The defender can choose up to a quarter
of their warband to stay off the table as
reinforcements. They will move on anywhere
up to 18" from their corner of the table.
The attacker’s force does not start on the
table. They move on automatically when
assigned an action, anywhere up to 12" away
from attackers table corner.
The attacker draws first token.

49
 oBJeCtiVes powder. Make a Test of Wits. If the test is failed, the warrior was
too close to the explosion and takes a 4 dice damage roll. Either
The buildings in the defender’s table corner are storage areas for
way, the powder is destroyed.
the black powder used to supply the muskets. The attackers are
attempting to knock out this cache because without powder the Ending the battle
muskets become nothing more than clubs.
The battle lasts for 5 turns.
speCiaL ruLes
If the attackers destroy all three of the gunpowder caches, the
Destroying the black powder game ends immediately and the attacker is victorious.
Once in base contact with the objective markers within the If any caches remain intact at the end of Turn 5, then the game
buildings, an attacker can spend an action to set a flame to the ends as the attacker withdraws, and the defender is victorious.

50
 BUILDING FORT NASSAU

Glenn Clarke’s come up with a great justification for the consumption of far too much chocolate - follow this
guide (while chomping your choice of sweet treats) to make a Caribbean fort from the leftover plastic tub.

Firelock Games’ planned release of a I would make a fort worthy of the period browsing I decided to base my design on
new starter set (and various other bits but practical enough for the scale of one of the towers from Fort Nassau in
and pieces) for Blood and Plunder has battles in Blood and Plunder. the Bahamas.
fans excited; I’m certainly one of those
I decided to build a small and fairly Where to begin can be a problem with
interested pirates … I mean parties! With
squat round tower that would not look any terrain project but I soon found
more gaming goodies on the horizon,
overpowering in what would basically be the perfect starting point - the plastic
I’ve started thinking about terrain. I have
a naval game. I also felt that it would be container for Roses chocolates. You
several buildings for different Caribbean
useful to have something that could look might prefer Heroes, Celebrations,
scenarios, but no fort of any kind, which
great standing alone in an expanse of sea, Quality Street, or some overseas
makes my collection feel as empty as a
but equally feel at home on the coastline equivalent, but as long as they come in a
plundered ship’s hold.
of a port or town, either in the Caribbean large and round container, you’ll be fine.
Searches online failed to reveal anything or in the Mediterranean. The first job is to empty the tub; for this
suitable from other manufacturers so the onerous task I would suggest that you
Fort inspiration can be found in the many
die was cast, and my challenge was set. enlist the help of whatever motley crew
photographs online and after some happy
you feel like sharing with!

52
1. Fix the lid to the empty tub with a hot glue gun, place the tub bottom-
side down on a sheet of card, and draw around it.
Cut out this circle and put it to one side, it will later become the surface
of the floor.

Modelling
Painting &
To make the walls you will need a roll of corrugated card. I opted for this
rather than rigid sheets of card as I needed something that was flexible
and could be molded around the empty tub.
You should be able to find this type of card in the stationery and
packaging materials aisle of the supermarket or the Post Office. Failing
that you can find supplies on eBay.
Cut two strips of the card to form the walls with embrasures for the guns.
If you’re using a Roses tub the inner wall strip needs to be 9.5cm tall and
75cm long. The outer wall strip should be 11.5cm tall and 80cm long.
1. Empty tub, cardboard floor, and strips for the wall.

2. The inner wall needs to be fixed in place first - but go slow! The tub
has a slight inward slope and the best way to deal with it is to cut the
strip you’ve measured out into 10cm sections, gluing each one in place
individually. Three rules here:
• Fix the flat surface to the tub, not the corrugated surface.
• Slightly overlap the top edges of your sections to address the problem
of the slope.
• Fix the sections above the lid bulge (this is clearly shown in the
photograph on the right).
The hot glue gun is the ideal tool for this job and will ensure you can get
everything attached quickly. Once the sections are fixed in place hot glue
the floor you measured out earlier into place on top.
2. Tub lid, floor, and inner wall sections glued into place.
Note how the wall sections sit just above the rim of the tub.

3. When all of the inner wall sections are fixed, showing a corrugated
surface all the way around, turn your attention to the outer wall. Make 10cm
strips again but follow these rules:
• Glue the corrugated surface to the inner wall so the two corrugated surfaces
interlock and the top edges are flush (this will help you fix capstones later).
• Once the first section is in place you might find it easiest to cut an angled
edge off the next section to get a neat fit (you can see in the photograph on
the left how I have marked out a section with the necessary angle).
• Place the pieces so they cover the underlying joints of the first layer.
• Do all you can to hide the bulge that houses the lid but don’t worry too
much - stones will be added to the bottom edge later and any irregularities
will be hidden.

3. Outer wall sections being added, one section is marked

out with an angled edge ready to be fixed in place.

4. Next on the to-do list is marking out and opening up the embrasures. For the guns
that I was using I made embrasures that were 20mm wide and 15mm deep. I decided to
have just five guns as I would also be adding a small tower to one side of the fort. The
easiest way to mark out five embrasures and the position of the tower is to use a little
basic geometry.
Measure the diameter of the circular floor (on my model this was just over 20cm), set
a compass or a pair of dividers to half of this measurement (which is the radius of the
circle) and ‘walk’ it around the circumference, marking each point as you do. Half of
your diameter will ensure it fits exactly six times!
With these six positions marked out you can create your embrasures by expanding
either side of the mark and, should you also want a tower, leave the sixth mark for it. 4. Method of marking out embrasures.

53
 5. The surface of the model is covered with very pronounced
lines from the layers of corrugations at this point. I was not
satisfied with this look and decided to cover the whole of the
external wall surface with thick watercolour paper. This neatens
things up by hiding the joins and also adds texture. If you do not
have watercolour paper to hand any heavy-duty paper (or even
wallpaper offcuts) will suffice.

5. Outer and inner walls faced with watercolour paper.

6. When all of the wall sections are covered individual coping

stones need to be added. I cut them from card and applied them to
the top of the wall and inside the embrasures.
Individual stones of a larger size are then glued to the bottom
edge of the tower. I also decided to add a couple of bands of card
and a few other random pieces to create more texture and suggest
the building’s masonry.

6. Base stones, other random stones, and masonry added.

7. To make the tower I used more containers scrounged from food goods: the basic form of
the tower is a white plastic pot that previously held pepper, the distinctive roof shape seen
in Spanish architecture throughout the Caribbean is made from the more spherical end of
an egg shaped container.
A piece of plastic mesh made the grating in the centre of the floor and a couple of small,
barred windows. This mesh is readily available from craft and haberdashery suppliers;
usually labelled as canvas designer’s plastic shapes. I have seen similar mesh in the bonsai
sections of many garden centres where it is usually listed as potting mesh.

8. Assembling the tower and the

grating is fairly straightforward. 7. Pepper pot, mesh, and egg half.
The tower components were glued
together, topped with a couple of
beads, had some more detail added
in card, then got a spray of undercoat
before being fixed to the roof.
The grating was painted first,
then glued to a piece of black
card and edged with pre-painted
coffee stirrers.

9. At this stage I decided to give

the whole model a basecoat of
paint. I used a tester pot of simple
household emulsion and thickened
up the application wherever there
were slight gaps in the joins.
8. Assembly of the tower and grating. After it has dried you can add
additional blobs of paint to cover
any remaining blemishes and fill
9. Basecoat of paint.
pronounced gaps.

54
10. The main entrance was made with thick card. I created three arches of
slightly decreasing size and stuck them together with a coffee stirrer door
nestled within.
Windows were made using the same plastic mesh as the grate - sticking it
onto black card after painting it white.

10. Construction of the doorway.

11. With the model close to completion it’s important to take a

step back and assess the work. I was pleased with the overall look
of my fort but some of the surfaces were a little bland. To add
interest I decided to apply more random sections of masonry and a
couple of extra windows. This photograph shows the model before I
completed this work.

11. General view before detailed painting and weathering.

12. And now that additional detail has been added. With
that done I drybrushed the stone surface with a lighter colour
before weathering the fort with washes.
The last job was to add final details - first up was handles and
bolt heads for the two doors as well as iron hoops to run out
the guns after they recoiled. The hoops were slices of a pre-
painted drinking straw and were fixed to the wall with curved
sections cut from paper clips (these punch into the cardboard
walls easily and should be fixed with superglue).
The guns are from Wargames Foundry and Irongate Scenery.

12. Hoops installed ready to rig the guns.

13. Thread ropes the guns into place and is a fiddly but
worthwhile detail.
• Take a long piece of thread and tie the centre to the cascabel
at the rear of the cannon barrel.
• Fix the two loose ends to the floor with superglue at a point
where the rope would naturally fall.
• Snip off the excess thread.
• Make separate coils of thread and glue them to the point where
you snipped off the loose ends.
Cannon balls can be made from painted beads and added
alongside some barrels of gunpowder to complete the defences.

13. Guns roped into place and cannon balls stacked nearby.

55
 14. The last task is to base the fort so it can represent a rocky I always had a Caribbean setting in mind, but it would suit many
outcrop in the sea. I cut several irregularly shaped pieces of areas of the Mediterranean and North African coastlines. The
cardboard and fixed them together (MDF could also be used). techniques I have described here could also be used to make
a Martello tower, perhaps working around an upturned plastic
Once the glue had dried, I coated the base with layers of PVA plant pot for the extra height. You could make three or four
and kitchen roll; a final coat of PVA and sand ensured that the different sized examples and produce a multi-towered Victorian
pattern in the kitchen roll was disguised. When everything coastal fort with 12-inch RML casemate guns … that would
was thoroughly set, I painted it and added flock and a few require the eating of vast quantities of chocolates. The sacrifices
miscellaneous plants. we wargamers must make for our art!
I am pleased with the finished model; it is ready to grace a
Caribbean seascape either as a stand-alone feature or as part
of a small town.

56
 LINE OF BATTLE!

As part of our Turning Points theme, expert on all things mid to late 17th
Century, Barry Hilton, takes a look at when Western naval tactics changed, and
tells us how he incorporated those changes into his naval rules Mad for War.

Whether you think of Trafalgar, James commissioned the Prince Royal,

Tsushima, or Jutland it is likely that lines England’s first three-deck warship and
of magnificent warships, pennants, and a giant of its time, in 1618. His son
ensigns pulling in the wind, come to outdid him with one of history’s most
mind. Through the transition from sail breathtakingly elegant ships - Sovereign
to steam, thundering guns, clouds of of the Seas. This seminal vessel begat
smoke, and lots of noise were a constant imitations including the Danish Sophia
as mighty fleets clashed across the globe. Amelia, which was built to be slightly
For centuries, such scenes have been larger. Ship envy was a big hang-up for
the naval artist’s fodder and they have 17th Century monarchs. The War of
bequeathed evocative, indelible images Three Kingdoms, sometimes known as
many of which hang on the walls of the English Civil War, saw most of the
wargaming rooms. The line of battle Royal fleet defect to Parliament, and by
formation was more or less the standard the time the internal strife on the British
operating deployment for war fleets for islands was finally over, a new conflict
nearly three hundred years, but where did had flared up almost immediately. goods on them was less expensive
it begin and what came before it? than on other ships. In short, the Dutch
The fledgling Dutch Republic had commoditised and monopolised a huge
Most commentators agree that the tactic achieved much during its brief life, and proportion of international traffic. Today
originated with the English navy - not by 1650 its industrious people were it would be called price fixing. Trade
the Royal Navy because at that point, beginning to get an almost unassailable routes to the Baltic, Mediterranean,
England was effectively a republic. lead on its larger rivals in terms of Caribbean, South America, Far East,
The country’s waxing naval strength maritime trade. The mercantile marine and Africa were dominated by Dutch
began with the Tudors and continued of the seven provinces ran into many convoys. This brought massive wealth
in the period of the Stuarts. Both James hundreds of largely custom-built cargo to the new country and turned the heads
I/VI and Charles I wanted to create ships called fluyts or flutes. In simple of many jealous rivals. Exhausted,
naval symbols of their self-image as terms, these ships were able to carry cash-starved England in particular, had
masters of all they surveyed including more, were cheaper to build, and more much cause for discontent. The English
the seas around and beyond Britain. numerous than any other type. Moving had long harboured delusions of being

58
masters of the sea. They introduced could find. The tough and the lucky CATALYST FOR CHANGE
restrictive legislation and taxes to survived. Without regular pay, captains
Ship and gun size increased considerably
between 1550 and 1650. The English
damage Dutch trade. They revived laws and crews were interested in what they
through which foreign ships had to abase could capture and sell; taking prizes

TURNING POINTS
began to favour extremely heavy
themselves before English ships at sea was a key objective. The Dutch had
ordnance whist the Dutch preferred
by lowering colours or firing salutes. plenty of experience in close and board
lighter guns. The English started
They started intercepting foreign ships style tactics, having just successfully
constructing bigger, heavier ships. Often
(mostly Dutch) and confiscating cargoes; concluded an eighty-year long war for
these were slower and less manoeuvrable
by any other definition, piracy. All of independence against the Spanish. The
than their opponents due mainly to
this provoked the First Anglo-Dutch War legendary Watergeuzen (Sea Beggars)
weight. During the First Anglo-Dutch
between Cromwell’s government and the were the privateers who started the
War, the Dutch did not have many
Dutch Republic. Dutch Republic by their seizure of
custom-built warships. They relied on
Brielle and Vlissingen. The English had
WHAT CAME BEFORE LINE hiring a vast quantity of merchantmen,
used similar tactics in their struggles
OF BATTLE? which carried some guns but nowhere
with the Spanish during the Armada
near as many as the large, purpose-
Before 1652, most sea battles once period, but a reliance on gunnery took
designed English warships. The Dutch
underway, turned into individual hold early amongst English captains.
possessed many famous commanders and
struggles between ships. Complex chains In summary, hand-to-hand fighting
to an extent these experienced and able
officers counterbalanced any deficiency
of command did not exist, signalling achieved through boarding, individual
systems and inter-vessel communication ship actions, and some gunnery were the
in ship armament and performance, but
were rudimentary or completely absent. prevailing tactics employed before 1652
it was not enough to level the playing
Sea fights were like massive street by almost all navies.
field. In the early stages of the war the
brawls with ships engaging anyone they

Tactic: Close and board! Early First Anglo Dutch War - 1652 Above: The merchant fires a typical ‘one broadside’ to scare
off the predator. This sometimes worked. Often there was
Above: The Dutch 28-gun frigate Wapen van Zeeland races to insufficient crew to reload the guns, which stood primed and
board a 40-gun English merchant Mary Rose. ready giving the merchant a fighting chance.

Above: Undeterred, the Dutch captain pushes his frigate close in

to grapple and board. Any damage incurred would provide added
motivation to get the job done.
Right: After a brief, violent close combat, the merchant is taken as a
prize by Wapen van Zeeland. The crew quality of the Dutch ship and
a skill check advantage when attempting to grapple and board allows
the contingent of sea-soldiers aboard the Dutch ship to overwhelm a
merchant crew who although serving with the navy, have little stomach
for a close quarter fight with angry and determined soldiers.

59
 Tactic: Line of battle v close and
board! Late First Anglo Dutch
War - 1654

Left: The Dutch 38-gun frigate

Maan closes to board a 40-gun
English warship Phoenix (second
in line).

Left: Phoenix stands in the new

line of battle formation adopted
by English ships around this
time, and so she and the 60-
gun George in line ahead can
both bring their guns to bear,
concentrating nearly 50 cannon
on the approaching attacker.

Left: The Dutch frigate, despite her

quality, is shot to pieces, sustaining
catastrophic damage in a short
space of time. This slows her down
and greatly diminishes her fighting
capability. The following English
ship Elizabeth together with Phoenix
continue to fire upon the crippled,
drifting Dutch ship, causing it to
strike its colours, having sustained
enormous battle damage and
horrendous crew casualties.

Dutch persisted with their swift close Blake may or may not have originated balancing act. Oversimplification leads
and board tactics whilst the English the idea, but he certainly championed to bland, vanilla flavoured rules that
increasingly depended on firepower to it. Sources exist that describe both the lack any real compass. Overengineering
break up enemy attacks. Although the Dutch and Spanish using a line astern can create too many layers, conditions,
English did considerably better than formation during the mid-period of the 80 tables, charts, and caveats which purists
the Dutch in most of the larger fleet Years’ War and it is hard to imagine that may endorse, but most gamers reject
actions, vulnerability to boarding and the no admiralty or squadron leader had ever because they slow things down and melt
reluctance of impressed merchant vessels placed their command in line astern prior your brain.
that retained civilian masters to take to the English adoption of the deployment
in 1653 - 1654. The earliest recorded use
I devised mechanisms for Mad for War
orders in battle and do their duty, forced
significant change in both organization
that simulate the differences in tactics
of this tactic, however, belongs to the
in a nuanced but relatively simple way.
and tactics. General at Sea Robert Blake Portuguese operating in the eastern seas.
These are designed to encourage players
is often credited with originating the As early as 1502, written instructions
show Portuguese squadrons fighting
to attempt to emulate historical tactics.
tactic of arranging large warships of
48 guns or more in a line astern (one
In the period of the First Anglo-Dutch
Muslim opponents in the Persian Gulf and
War from 1652 to 1654, Dutch ships
ship sailing behind another). This tactic Indian Ocean were deploying in line astern
and using gunfire to engage enemies at
generally had less than forty guns and
presented a hopefully impenetrable
wall of fire. The concentrated nature a significant distance. It is uncontentious
their cannon were lighter than those of
the English. In tabletop shooting duels,
of the broadsides and the ability for to say that the difference between the
they are likely to lose against the larger,
more than one English ship to target a English and Portuguese was in the
heavier gunned English ships. In this early
single attacker proved to be decisive on overt prescription of the tactic and its
war period, the rules ensure Dutch crews
most occasions. It served to break up normalization within naval doctrine, which
checking to board enemy vessels find
the swarm attacks of Dutch ships with has tied its origination to the English Navy
a rolling wall of fire somewhat akin to
that activity commensurately easier than
in Anglophile sources at least.
battalion volley fire on land. Another
English crews. This is managed via the
SIMULATING THESE TACTICS concept of Skill checks which are a core
advantage of placing ships one behind
component of the system. If successful,
the other to shoot at the enemy is that by Finding a workable table-top solution
Dutch crews, even without the help of
doing so, there is no danger of friendly to tactical differences in naval warfare
fire incidents or obstructing targets.
sea-soldiers or marines, will have superior
during the Age of Sail is a tricky
combat performance to their enemies.

60
This encourages players using Dutch but common challenge to holding the checks to board and in the ensuing rounds
forces to emulate the tactics of the period deployment for any sustained period. of combat the merchantman is captured.
as they provide more chance of victory.
All of these variables put together - ship In the second example, set in 1654, a
When line of battle is introduced, and I
sizes and speeds, the difficulty of forming
have arbitrarily set 1653 as a date for this,
veteran Dutch ship runs at an English
line, wind direction, sea conditions, line of battle. Two English ships have
several advantages are associated with the
damage levels, and a non-compliant an arc of fire onto the attacking 38 gun
formation. Ships are permitted a wider arc
of fire than if on their own. This is a rule
enemy - means maintaining line of Indiaman. Both English ships have 50
battle on the tabletop is a real headache guns and because they fire at musket
construct, but it is some reward for the
unless the rule system is so simple as to range, all of their firing dice are used.
challenge of trying to form line of battle in
the first place. In addition, ships in line of
ignore many of the important variables Although neither has a crew of high
quality, the combined weight of fire
battle receive a positive morale modifier
listed. Clearly, the tactic was considered
effective, or it would not have lasted for causes enough damage to the Dutch ship
for being part of the formation. Players
nearly three hundred years. that it is forced to take a catastrophic
trying to get ships into the formation as
in real life, find it very challenging. Ships
damage check. This concept simulates
TABLETOP EXAMPLES
massive shock damage over a short
of different sizes and speeds must try to
These examples use Mad for War to period of battle time. The result of this
form a continuous line. One of the tricks
demonstrate the transition and contrast is that the Dutch ship is holed below the
in doing this is for ships that cannot tag
onto the rear of a line or find a space in ‘close and board’ with ‘line of battle’. waterline, begins to list and slows down,
preventing it from making a boarding
its length, to cram on full sail and race to In the first example, set in 1652, a veteran
the front. However well-formed, line of
attempt. She now lies almost motionless
Dutch 28 gun ship with a contingent of and prey to the next passing English ships
battle is almost impossible to maintain sea-soldiers, attacks a larger English hired which may well finish her off. The photos
once ships begin to sustain damage or merchantman. The English vessel has 42 show this.
the enemy decides not to play ball in guns and is more sturdily built, but its
terms of tactics. Light frigates were used crew have little stomach for close quarter In the third example, two lines of battle
to shadow the battle line and tow out warfare. Although it damages the Dutch exchange broadsides and each squadron
damaged or wrecked ships. Changes in ship on its approach, the shooting is not decides to concentrate fire on particular
line and wind direction wreak havoc on enough to stop the attack. The Dutch crew vessels, forcing them out of the line and
an orderly formation, and this is an added

Tactic: Line of battle! Mid Second

Anglo Dutch War - 1666
Lessons have been learned. An up-
gunned Dutch squadron goes toe to
toe with a Restoration Navy squadron
under Prince Rupert.

Left: Sailing on parallel courses, the

Dutch squadron (foreground) is led
by the formidable Eendraght of 72
guns whilst the biggest English ship,
the 64-gun Swiftsure, is second in
line. Both sides choose their targets
in an attempt to disrupt the opposing
formation and compel damaged ships
to drop out.

Right: The engagement commences

with each side concentrating fire on
particular targets. This means some
ships may not be fired upon whilst
other receive incoming from multiple
sources. Mad for War has a line of
battle rule allowing for a wider arc of
fire and concentration of gunnery on
specific targets. The results may
be dramatic!

61
 leaving gaps, which may be exploited by a space. The consequences are going to Danish, Swedish, Ottoman, Venetian,
change in tactics. This was a common way be predictably unpredictable: chaos will Brandenburg, or even Mahratta, Berber,
to fight but maintaining lines was very ensue, chain reactions of destruction may or Chinese squadrons, the fusion of
difficult when ships became damaged or occur, panic is likely, and a run for the styles and the transition of tactics makes
the wind changed direction. exits is almost guaranteed. for wonderful, colourful, and exciting
tabletop action. The absence of yet to be
WHAT DID NOT CHANGE You may also damage your own ships
created naval disciplines, procedures,
when using them. On the tabletop it may
A tactic that persisted across the tactics, and signalling, offer huge scope
be argued that they are too influential, but
transition period between individual ship for role play and unpredictability. No
I believe significant impact on the course
actions and line of battle was the use of a single navy dominated for long and each
of an action is justified because of the
classic naval terror weapon - the fireship. had its phase of ascendency, making
Despite the successes of fireships
panic they generated. A case in point is
the supercilious approach adopted by
the drowning of the Earl of Sandwich at
being relatively few, almost every navy players modelling the Royal Navy in
the Battle of Solebay on May 28th 1672.
continued to deploy significant numbers the Napoleonic era a welcome absence
When his flagship Royal James was set
during large fleet actions in open waters. from actions set between 1650 and 1714.
ablaze by a fireship he was escaping in
Some spectacular fireship successes are That pre-game winner mentality hardly
a shallop. So many panicking English
indelibly etched into the folklore of the provides motivation for an opponent
period. Holmes’s Bonfire on the Vlie forced to conform with his fleet to the
crewmen jumped into his boat that it
in 1666, during which over 140 Dutch
capsized and the great man drowned.
usual lazy racial stereotypes often found
merchant ships were burned at anchor, A REAL ALTERNATIVE TO in rulesets.
the raid on the Medway in 1667 when the NELSON AND ALL THAT
Source material for the late 17th Century
Dutch panicked the English into sinking
The period 1650 - 1714 is an extremely is becoming more available and I have
thirty of their own battleships to avoid
exciting alternative to Napoleonic naval been steadily developing scenarios for
them being taken or set alight, and the
gaming, which, like Napoleonic land the period and making them available in
burning of the 102 gun 1st rate, Royal
PDF for about a year now. With minimal
James by Dutch fireships at the Battle of
gaming, has been somewhat done to
investment in ships, modest table sizes,
Solebay in 1672. These provided enough
death. The earlier period’s differing
and game lengths easily accommodated
justification for the tactics to continue
tactics, ship types and quality, offer
in a couple of hours, what’s not to like?
well into the 18th Century. Fireships
much more scope to every side. No
fleet can really be cast as the sick Game the transition decades, they will
are an opportunist’s weapon. On the
man. Whether you model Portuguese, captivate you with the sheer elegance of
wargames table they have a similar effect
ships the like of which were never seen
to letting large fireworks off in a confined
Spanish, French, Dutch, English,
before or after.

Tactic: Fireships! 1672 Third Anglo Dutch War

The chaos of a 17th century sea battle. Both sides are hopelessly jumbled and fire is being taken from multiple directions. Enter, the
fireships! These floating bombs are now loose amongst the swarm of ships and panic will ensue as targets attempt to fend off the
fireships using large poles or shoot them out of the water with the risk of a catastrophic explosion that consumes everything in the blast
radius. It is little wonder these weapons created terror and disruption.

62
 Now available through our website
28mm Wars of the Roses Range

www.athenaminiatures.co.uk
Banners used with kind permission of Pete’s Flags
 TWENTY-NINE,
LET’S GO!

Kreighton Long builds a fine-looking Bolt Action force linked to his adopted home state of Virginia.
As a transplant to Virginia (or “come-here” as my neighbors call me) I had to learn the geography of my new home state. Towns,
roads, and hollows gradually became more familiar after repeated visits. One such road was U.S. 29, which I grew familiar with
driving to my duty station as an Army Reservist. Month after month, I would pass the large signs commemorating the highway as
the “29th Infantry Division Memorial Highway”.
I began to wonder about the story behind this division and some quick Googling brought up stories of American soldiers landing
on Omaha Beach under heavy German fire, snapshots of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, and a proud legacy as a
National Guard unit.
As an active Army Reservist
(or weekend warrior) it was the
National Guard element that really
drew me in. Weekend warriors do
not usually get mentioned with
the sort of respect and admiration
that is typically reserved for the
well-known active-duty units. My
curiosity was officially piqued and
my next WWII army was decided
- the citizen soldiers of the Blue
and Gray Division. Playing with a
29th Infantry Division army would
hopefully score me some brownie
points when I put them on the table
at local stores in the recruiting
homeland of the 29th too!

Right: Already baptised by fire on

Omaha beach, the 29th took more
losses in Normandy’s hedgerows.

64
WHY BUILD AND PLAY THE 29TH?
The 29th Infantry Division found itself fighting in a variety of settings
during their time in the European Theater of Operations: storming
the beaches at bloody Omaha; hedgerow fighting in Normandy and
Brittany; siege-style warfare at Brest; and battles of maneuver, river
crossings, and street fighting in Germany. Theming an army around

showcase
project
the 29th Infantry Division provides a healthy variety of historically
accurate actions and almost any wargaming table will fit the force, be it
a beach, hedgerow, urban, or flat farmland setting.
The same variety applies to opponents with the 29th battling against
Infantry and Static Divisions at Omaha; Wehrmacht Infantry Division
and Luftwaffe Fallschirmjager troops in Normandy; Fallschirmjagers
again, along with German Navy and marines at Brest; and regular
Wehrmacht formations and Volkssturm in Germany.
arming tHe squads support Weapons
To build my 29th ID army I dove into my box of shame. The 29th was allocated a standard variety of machine guns,
Some older Warlord Games plastic US Infantry sprues mortars, anti-tank guns, and artillery. The division had .30 and .50
were joined by few newer ones as I added more options to caliber machine guns and could rely on 60mm and 81mm mortars
the army. As I worked on a few newer sprues of American for indirect fire support. When dealing with enemy armor or
infantry from Warlord Games, I was disappointed to find strongpoints, each of the three infantry regiments were allotted 112
only three M1 Garands on the sprue for six bodies. bazookas and eighteen 57mm anti-tank guns. The most common
The standard WWII US Rifle Platoon was equipped
artillery pieces found in the division were 105mm howitzers. These
support weapons give some much-needed firepower to my 29th
almost exclusively with M1 Garands and Browning
Automatic Rifles, so I needed plenty. Fortunately, I could
Infantry Division army and I almost never skip over bazookas or
medium mortars when building my lists for game days.
build more Garand armed models from the outdated
Warlord Games American infantry sprues, which made up
the difference.
On paper, a US Rifle Platoon consisted of three rifle
squads of twelve men, of which eleven men were
equipped with M1 Garands and one man with a BAR.
Thompson submachine guns were not typically found
in rifle companies of the 29th, though photographs
show engineers of the 29th armed with Thompsons. As
units spent more time on the front line, squads typically
acquired a second BAR to add some much-needed
firepower to their inventory. When comparing the typical
US rifle squad with a similar German element; it is not
hard to imagine why American riflemen went out of Above and right:
their way to add BARs to their squads. A similar squad Some of the support
of Germans boasted the fearsome MG-42, with its 1,200 options available to
the 29th.
rounds per minute, as the primary squad light machine
gun. Limited to roughly 500 rounds per minute, the BAR
was easily outmatched by the MG-42. My infantry squads
were given all the BARs they could “tactically acquire” to
help even the odds.
In the Normandy hedgerow fighting the
29th was supported by the 747th Tank
Battalion and their Shermans; cooperation
between infantry and armor is apparent in
the tactics employed by the 29th. Having
a Sherman to bust through the hedgerows
feels right for my list. M-10 tank
destroyers would also be acceptable - the
29th’s attack on Saint Lo was supported
by tank destroyers of the 821st Tank
Destroyer Battalion.

Left: Troops cover each

other as they move
between hedgerows.

65
 Looking to History
Painting the unit patch
When building my own 29th Infantry
The Blue and Gray unit patch of the 29th was worn on the
Division themed list for club games, I
left shoulder and some photos also show soldiers with the
lean into the historical formations the symbol painted on the front of their helmets. I decided to
division employed in Europe. A Rifle skip that step, but adding the symbol to a few helmets in
Platoon had three squads of riflemen, your own 29th Infantry Division force would certainly help
which I replicate. Rifle Platoon leaders them stand out from other painted US infantry models.
were allowed to designate one man in
the platoon to serve as a sniper with the 1). Paint a black circle on
Springfield rifle. A rifle company of the the left shoulder of the
29th was allotted five bazookas in the model. If your circle is Above: Photograph from 29
Let’s Go! showing the Blue and
Company HQ. This weapon was the most
imperfect, like mine here,
Gray unit patch on the left
don’t fret - we’ll clean up shoulder of a 29th NCO.
common anti-tank weapon the Americans the outside later.
had at their disposal and my platoon takes
one bazooka to counter enemy armor.
After playing with the numbers, I realized 2). Paint in the gray half
that an officer, three rifle squads, a sniper, of the unit patch. I find it
and a bazooka came out to roughly 500 best to paint a circle at the
points. For a 1,000 point club game I top then paint the tail from
could take two near-matching platoons bottom to top in a counter-
and field two-thirds of a rifle company. clockwise motion. I used
Vallejo’s Pale Grey Blue
This feels appropriate as I embrace the
(907) for the gray half.
historical inspiration for my army and rely
on the grit and courage of the common
American riflemen to win the day.
3). Paint the blue half 4). The last step is to clean up
using the same technique - the outside of the unit patch.
A downside to my historically themed a circle at the bottom then Carefully apply some of the
list is that it lacks the firepower armored the tail from top to bottom uniform color, in this case
in a counter-clockwise Vallejo’s Khaki (988), around
vehicles and heavy support weapons the outside of the circular unit
motion. I used a 1:1
bring to the game. This is a significant mix of Vallejo’s Andrea patch. Preserving a thin black
obstacle to overcome, especially when Blue (841) and Luftwaffe line is ideal.
playing against Veteran units or enemy Uniform WWII (816).
vehicles. I choose to put a positive
spin on this predicament by looking
at the table through the lens of an
American rifle company leader during Gyro-Stabilisers allow Veteran US tanks to Advance and fire with no penalty -
the Normandy campaign. The greatest exactly how the Fire and Maneuver rule works for infantry with rifles and BARs.
strengths of my historical 29th Infantry This is a fun rule if you want to spend the points on a Veteran tank - being able to
Division list is that I have six rifle squads drive around and maintain accuracy is delightful.
to work with, all of which have no firing
Modern Communication allows units to enter the table from reserve without the
penalty when moving, and I have an
usual -1 penalty. This allows United States players to have greater reliability when
advantage in bringing in reinforcements.
bringing in units from reserve, exploiting a gap in their opponent’s defenses or
In the past, a few squads of riflemen and
reinforcing their own lines.
a bazooka team coming onto the table at
the right place and time has swung games
in my favor.
BoLt aCtion army speCiaL ruLes Gyro-Stabilisers will allow your
tanks to terrorise the tabletop.
tHat i use
Fire and Maneuver allows some
weapons to advance and fire at no
penalty, a wonderful ability that only the
Americans benefit from. This forces me
to play the game in a new way that keeps
Bolt Action fresh after my tendency to
primarily play Germans, who like to sit
and shoot with their MG-42s.
American rifle squads will almost
always be outgunned by their
German opponents, so being able
to fire while moving can help keep
fire on targets while working on a
flanking maneuver or moving into
charging range. Stacking pins on a
target to force Order Tests and to make it
harder for the pinned units to shoot you
as you close the distance, is something
American rifle squads excel at.

66
 KEY MOMENTS FOR THE 29tH

A rich heritage Some contemporaries cautioned combining soldiers whose forebears

fought each other during the Civil War, but the Army leaned into
The beginnings of the 29th go much further back than WWII. The this history with their unit patch. Soldiers of the 29th wore a circular
5th Maryland charged the British lines at the Battle of Long Island patch on their left shoulder, with blue and gray swirling around each
in 1776. The 1st Maryland divided into two regiments during the other, similar to the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol minus the dots. The gray
American Civil War (one for the Union, one the Confederacy), and represents Southern heritage, the blue represents Northern heritage,
the 2nd Virginia proudly served in the Stonewall Brigade in the while the patch as a whole symbolises solidarity during a national
Army of Northern Virginia. In 1917, these regiments, as well as crisis. The division became known as the “Blue and Gray”.
artillery regiments from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, were
consolidated into the newly formed 29th Infantry Division, serving in
the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.

Second Virginia Infantry during the Civil

War - Figures by Dixon Miniatures and photo
courtesy of The Work of Shaitan blogspot.

Painting Chevrons
Devastation and bravery on D-Day
While most sane people use decals for their US Army chevrons, I am a
At 0700 on 6 June 1944, Companies A, E, F, and G of the 116th glutton for punishment and decided to freehand mine. If you would also
Infantry Regiment led the 29th into its baptism by fire on the like to cause yourself a migraine for fun, you can follow my process.
western half of Omaha beach. E, F, and G Company drifted away
from their intended sectors, leaving A Company isolated and
under concentrated fire.
A similarity between the National Guard soldiers on Omaha
beach and their ancestors in the American Civil War was that
men often shared a hometown. During the age of black powder,
towns risked losing their entire military age male population
in a volley of musket and cannon shot. On Omaha beach, the
National Guardsmen took a similar gamble. A total of 30 young
men from Bedford Virginia fought with A Company; by the end 1). Using black, paint a 2). Paint in the chevrons
of D-Day 19 of them were dead. In half an hour, A Company lost chevron shape on each and try to stay inside the
96 percent of its effective strength. All thirty-two Stonewallers arm of the model. Aim to black shape, but don’t
(nicknamed in honor of their service under Confederate General be neat but don’t panic if worry if your hands/eyes
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson during the American Civil War) in you mess up the shape - fail you. I used Vallejo’s
A Company’s LCA 1015 boat were killed, including the company we’ll go back and clean up Iraqui Sand (819) for the
CO, Captain Taylor Fellers. the outside later. A Private chevrons and practiced on
with one chevron needs some paper first. Slightly
a thinner black chevron thinner paint will give you
while a Sergeant with better flow and control.
three chevrons needs the
black patch to be taller.
I’m adding Sergeant’s
chevrons to this model.

Though based in a more hedgerow suited style, these

bangalores would be put to use on the beaches.

Where there was catastrophe, there was also hope. Small bands of
Stonewallers, led by the surviving officers and NCOs, made their 3). Using black paint, 4). Using the uniform
way off the beach and began the deadly work of clearing German add vertical lines on both color, in this case Vallejo’s
bunkers and trenches atop the bluffs. By mid-afternoon, the 29th sides of the chevrons. This Khaki, carefully clean up
Division beachhead had been established but at a high cost - black layer evens out the the outside of the rank
approximately 1,000 men of the 116th Regiment were killed or sides of the chevrons and patch. This NCO is ready
wounded and some companies in the first two waves had ceased give them a more crisp, to lead his men into hell.
to exist. uniform appearance.

67
 Pushing through the Normandy hedgerows
Saint Lo was the center of the German lateral
communication, through which all east-west traffic
flowed, and fighting here brought very different
challenges than those faced by the soldiers of the 29th
on Omaha beach.
The Normandy hedgerows date back to Roman
times - a mound of dirt, topped with trees and
shrubs - and they formed a natural wall that was
exceptionally difficult for infantrymen to penetrate
without explosives or heavy machinery. The 3rd
Fallschirmjager Division, ready to face the Americans,
were young, motivated soldiers who were trained by
combat veterans of the Italian campaigns and utilized
eleven times as many machine guns as the 29th. A
standard Fallschirmjager Company had twenty MG-
42s while a comparable company from the 29th had
just two machine guns.
Tankers of the 747th Tank Battalion (attached to the
29th during the Normandy campaign) used fifty-
pound explosive charges to blow a Sherman-sized gap
into the hedgerow, then opened up with the cannon
and machine guns. Just one tank company would
need seventeen tons of explosives to advance a mile Above: The slow and grueling advance through the Normandy hedgerows.
and a half.

Above: Bursting through a hedge, sending the German defenders scattering.

A more economical solution was developed by welding two pipes in front of the tank, used to either punch holes in the hedgerow, plant
smaller explosive charges, or simply plow right through any hedgerows small enough. By late June, the 29th had pioneered tactics for other
Allied units to implement in order to attack the German defenders in hedgerows.
For a month, the 29th clawed its way through the Normandy hedgerows, inching closer to Saint-Lo. One medic commented that it cost
two doses of morphine for each hedgerow captured, and the Commanding Officer of the 29th, General Charles Gerhardt, was half-jokingly
referred to as a Corps commander - he hyperbolically had one division in the field, one in the hospital, and one in the cemetery.
The rifle companies of the 29th were close to 100 percent replacements but kept pushing forward until on 17 July soldiers of the Blue and
Gray broke through the German lines, capturing high ground roughly one kilometer outside of Saint-Lo.
A Hollywood, Michael Bay-esque rush into Saint-Lo came the next day. Infantry and tanks fired away at the token German resistance and
the town was secured. Major Thomas Howie, the CO of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, had been killed
the day before by German mortar fire. His body was brought into Saint-Lo on the hood of a jeep, draped in an American flag, before being
placed on a pile of rubble beneath the Saint Croix church. The press took the story from there with Life magazine sharing the story of “The
Major of St. Lo”.

68
The surrender of Brest Painting the officer helmet bar
Three days into Operation Cobra, on 27 July, the 29th (in line During the Normandy campaigns, photographs of the 29th show
with other Allied divisions) began to pursue the Germans officers with a white bar painted on the back of their helmets. The
through Normandy. The division was again pulled off the line white bar allowed officers leading their men, presumably following
to regroup on 16 August and following a short rest, the division behind, to be recognizable while looking like any other soldier
redeployed westward to take part in the Battle of Brest. from the perspective of the enemy situated to his front. The lack of
distinguishing markings on
his front would, in theory,
make him less of a target
for the enemy. For a splash
of historical accuracy, as
well as to make my officer
easier for me to find on the
table, I added a white bar to
my officers’ helmets.
Above: Photograph from 29 Let’s Go! showing
the vertical white bar on the helmets of officers.

Above: An experienced officer ready to take Brest. Note the bar

marking his rank on the rear of his helmet to avoid becoming a 1). Paint the helmet and 2). Using the base color
target for enemy sniper fire. add a vertical patch of of the helmet, paint a box
white paint slightly larger around the white patch to
than the intended bar. the desired shape and size.
Brest was one of France’s largest ports and its capture would If you make a mistake,
provide relief to the Allied logisticians who were trying to it’s easy to add white and
maintain the army’s momentum. The division was committed repeat until you have the
from 24 August until the fortress’s surrender on 18 September, desired bar.
but despite the 29th’s best efforts, the Germans were able to Painting the NCO helmet stripe
destroy the port facilities, rendering the harbor useless without
months of repair work. The same theory of being recognized from behind while remaining
anonymous to the front applied to NCOs during the Normandy
campaign. Where officers sported a white bar, NCOs used a white
stripe. In Bolt Action, and other WWII tabletop games, being able to
quickly identify your NCO within a rifle squad can help speed up the
Into Germany game - I simply look for the white
stripe, rather than the old-school
After three-and-a-half months of combat, the infantrymen
method of picking up models to count
of the 29th were experts at fighting in the hedgerows of
chevrons or look for some other
Normandy and Brittany. From late September these same men
distinguishing feature, such as the
had to learn how to fight in Germany’s very different terrain.
model that is shouting or pointing.
The Rhineland was flat, brown farmland, which over the
Use the same process as the officer’s
next several weeks the 29th worked through alongside
bar but rotate your white patch to be
other Allied divisions to clear German forces west of the
horizontal rather than vertical.
Rhine River. In October, the 29th loaned the 116th Infantry
Regiment to the 30th Division for the capture of Aachen.
In November, the 29th participated in an offensive aimed
at pushing the Germans across the Roer River to reach the
Rhine by Christmas, but were halted on the west bank of
the Roer. Men of the 29th fell at towns including Siersdorf,
Durboslar, Aldenhover, Bourheim, and Koslar.
As the Battle of the Bulge erupted north of the 29th’s sector,
neighboring divisions were pulled off the line and sent
to contain, then reduce, the German offensive. The 29th
maintained the precariously thin line across the Roer River.
On 23 February 1945, the 29th began a new local offensive,
crossing the Roer River, forcing a bridgehead, capturing
the town, and storming the Citadel in an anti-climactic
encounter. Men rushed in with bayonets fixed to find just a
few surrendering Germans - the rest had gotten away.
Outside Julich, the veteran soldiers of the 29th saw off
counterattacks from tired Wehrmacht soldiers and civilian
Volkssturm. These hodge-podge formations put up little
resistance, if any at all, and often waited for the Americans
to come close enough to ask for permission to surrender.
Above: Men recover by the banks of the Roer River as the weather turns.

69
 Paints used
I use Vallejo Model Color paints on my figures. If you want to replicate my results you can use this guide.

Helmet: Rifle:
1. Brown Violet - painted metal 1. Leather Brown
2. Beige Brown - front chinstrap 2. Beige Brown
3. Khaki - rear strap
4. Green Grey - netting Rifle Strap:
1. German Camo Black Brown
2. Leather Brown
Jacket:
1. Khaki/ Leather Brown Trousers:
2. Khaki 1. Leather Brown
3. Khaki/Buff (2:1) 2. US Field Drab
3. US Field Drab/ Buff (2:1)
Webbing and Gaiters:
Boots:
1. Green Grey/ Leather Brown
2. Green Grey 1. Leather Brown
2. Flat Brown

Vallejo Colours: 5. Buff (976)

1. Leather Brown (871) 6. Brown Violet (887)

2. Beige Brown (875) 7. Khaki (988)

3. Flat Brown (984) 8. US Field Drab (873)

4. Green Grey (886) 9. German Camo

Black Brown (822)

Rocketing to surrender Further reading

The remainder of the 29th’s wartime stay in Germany was • Ambrose, Stephen E. Citizen Soldiers. New York, Simon &
mostly quiet, but a notable event did happen on 30 April. At a Schuster Paperbacks, 1997.
river guarded by the 29th, three German officers crossed in a
rowboat and asked to see the Commanding Officer. The local • Ambrose, Stephen E. D-Day. New York, Touchstone, 1994.
battalion commander met with the Germans who represented • Balkoski, Joseph. Beyond the Beachhead. Lanham, Stackpole
the V-2 Rocket Division and wanted to stop their latest secret Books, 2005.
rocket developments falling into the hands of the fast-
approaching Soviet army. • Balkoski, Joseph. The 29th Infantry Division in World War II.
29th Division Association. 2021.
A plan was developed that evening to transfer the Germans
across the river, accept their surrender, and their rocket • Ewing, Joseph. 29 Let’s Go! A History of the 29th Infantry Division
expertise. Over the next few days the operation was carried in World War II. Washington, Infantry Journal Press, 1948.
out and by 1200 on 3 May, the 29th had disarmed and received
• Fries, Stuart G. After Action Report for Month of June 1944.
10,367 prisoners.
Headquarters, 747th Tank Battalion. 21 June 1944.
• Order of Battle of the United States Army: World War II
European Theater of Operations. Department of the Army. 1945.

70
 THE MANY TURNING
POINTS OF THE
TET OFFENSIVE

James Griffiths examines the Tet stronghold of the Việt Minh) but for in many ways. It is one that is made all
Offensive and suggests some Turning the most part the US military stuck to the more impactful because it came at a
Point ideas to apply to your wider its smaller scale S&D tactics, reporting time when the US had supposedly broken
gaming in Vietnam and beyond. them as increasingly successful over the the Communist opposition in the region.
months, then years of operations as the The Communist threat rose up, showed
In the second phase of the Vietnam war dragged on. that it was anything but broken, and in a
War, following on from the sustained very visible way took the fight to the US.
air bombardment of Operation Rolling It was not until the Tet Offensive,
Its military efforts would ultimately be
Thunder, combat was dominated by US beginning 31 January 1968, that
crushed, but its overall impact led to the
search-and-destroy missions. Designed to widespread and large-scale combat finally
gradual American withdrawal.
counter the Viet Cong’s guerrilla tactics, broke out across the length of South
the aim of these S&D missions was to Vietnam. That this massive, coordinated
infiltrate enemy territory, eliminate as attack was launched against, rather than TET - THE RON RINGROSE
many opposition forces as possible, then led by US troops, came as a shock not EXPERIENCE
get out. It was not practical to take and just to the American military personnel
in Vietnam, but the general public The epic photographs that accompany
hold the VC’s territory - it was generally
back home. Largely accurate reporting, this article show the huge Tet Offensive
impossible to effectively defend it - so
supported by photography that retains game set up by Ron Ringrose in 2012.
the goal was to gradually increase the
its visual impact more than 50 years Eight players took charge of varied troops
enemy body count and emerge victorious
later, documented the events of the Tet and vehicles and battled it out across a
24' x 6' table that included air, land, and
through a brutal battle of attrition.
Offensive. This led to an increasingly
Most of these missions were taken angry, frustrated, and morally outraged riverine combat options.
This setup shows just how magnificent a
on at a platoon level, with a group of American and worldwide audience.
Marines hiking or airdropped into enemy
The nature of Tet’s combat - a stark Tet Offensive game can get if you really
territory. There were some bigger battles,
contrast to those minor S&D missions - commit to it! You can see a lot more of
of course, particularly around the Iron
is a notable Vietnam War turning point the game in Wargames Illustrated 299.
Triangle (so named because it was the

72
 America’s belief in the war was already
diminishing at a rapid rate. Reportage
about the Tet Offensive and its aftermath
dramatically reduced that support. The

TURNING POINTS
weight of public outcry in the US reached
its own notable turning point around
the time that the North launched their
1968 attack. Tet was viewed so badly by
the US public that on 31 March, when
the uprising had been all but crushed,
President Johnson announced that he
was not going to stand for re-election,
unwilling to further implicate himself in
the actions of the war.
The Tet Offensive, ultimately, had a
huge impact on the type of combat that
characterised the Vietnam War, the
war’s ongoing viability, the politics of
the United States, the way the nation
viewed warfare, and the way that future
A TURNING POINT FOR YOUR was reported and, thus, how it impacted conflicts would be reported. These
GAMING OPTIONS the general public in America and the extra considerations make Tet not just
wider world was not just a turning point an important turning point in military
This change in combat makes the Tet
in the war, but a breaking point for any history, but one of the most complete and
Offensive a notable moment for anyone
further public support. impactful ones in world history.
playing games based on the Vietnam
War. Tet ups the scope and scale of the
battles you can play, bringing all manner
of mini turning points to your wargaming
“CRACK THE SKY, SHAKE THE EARTH”
options. It gives the VC and PAVN the
opportunity to go fully on the offensive, Named for its timing - at the coming of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tết
it allows the scale of the battles to Nguyên Đán) on January 31 1968 - the Tet Offensive saw the combined forces of
change, and in doing so it opens up the the VC and PAVN make a truly unprecedented assault on the South Vietnamese
opportunity to use new units or try new and US forces. In short order more than 80,000 of their troops were involved in
rulesets, taking your gaming from a tight attacks across the country.
skirmish to something far broader, more
involved, and tactically complex. That a vast attack such
as the Tet Offensive
You can expand your terrain options
could happen at all
while playing the Tet Offensive too
is testament to the
- troops can battle across open and
capabilities of the
relatively expansive airfields, or engage
leaders in Hanoi - a
in deadly urban combat, fighting through
coordinated assault,
the streets of cities such as Saigon. The
across multiple fronts,
tactical challenges here are very different
spanning the length
from the cat and mouse search-and-
of South Vietnam,
destroy missions found in games played
against district capitals,
through the deep jungle and native
towns, and all major
villages. Any Vietnam War gamer who
allied airfields is a
likes variety in their chosen period needs
mammoth undertaking.
to give Tet some serious consideration
That these attacks
(and if these photographs don’t inspire
came as such a shock
you with their variety nothing will!).
to the US military is,
The tactical challenge of combat is on the other hand,
impacted by who is attacker and who testament to America’s
is defender. That’s a dynamic that overall unpreparedness
shifted rapidly during the Tet Offensive, and hubris. The Tet
sometimes over the space of days, or Offensive would later
even hours at some locations. Even the be listed in a West
intended victory conditions for your Point textbook as an
campaign can change dramatically at this example of “an allied
point in the war, so you have plenty of intelligence failure to
scope for mixing things up. rank with Pearl Harbour
in 1941 or the Ardennes
A MORAL TURNING POINT
offensive in 1944.”
Those things make Tet a major turning
point for the Vietnam gamer, but the
overall importance of Tet as a turning
point comes from far more than just the
minutiae of the combat. The way that Tet

73
 TURNING BACK THE ATTACK -
RAPID REPRISAL
Despite American unpreparedness, The
VC and PAVN troops that launched the
various Tet Offensive attacks knew they
couldn’t hope to achieve a long-term
victory without further support. Not long
after the initial shock of the offensive had
hit, a combined half a million US troops
mobilised to respond and did so rapidly.
Planners in Hanoi had hoped the audacity
of the combined attacks would inspire the
people of South Vietnam, and drive them
to rise up and offer their support in battle.
When this didn’t happen, in part because
the political climate was more stable than
had been believed, the offensive was
crushed on most fronts, often brutally and
with extreme prejudice.
The Viet Cong, who had proved to be
a tenacious and resilient foe, were left
decimated by fighting in prolonged
open combat. They were all but wiped
out as an effective fighting force in the
immediate aftermath of Tet and the loss
of many VC recruitment bases left slim
pickings from which to rebuild. The VC
ended up recruiting new soldiers from the
PAVN, who had far less experience of the
combat and lifestyle hardships ahead.

WAR IN WIDESCREEN - ANOTHER VIETNAM TURNING POINT

A fireteam pushes through dense jungle, nervously scanning the treeline, dripping with sweat, wary of an unseen enemy. Some
of these men will die on this mission, far from home, perhaps with the sound of distorted Jimi Hendrix guitar chords as the
backing track to their final moments.

This is the powerful sort of imagery that defines the Vietnam War in most peoples’ minds today and it comes from the jungle-
based tension that is at the heart of many classic ‘Nam films from the late ʼ70s and 1980s. These films - still regular fixtures on
‘greatest of all time’ lists from critics and academics alike - are the lens through which many (especially younger generations)
now view the conflict - wargamers included.
Legendary directors - in their attempts to unpack, understand, and
convey the American and worldwide zeitgeist - filmed some of the
most iconic and well-regarded movies of all time. The majority of
these films are reflections on the human psyche and show conflict at
its ugliest and most personal. Indeed, some directors seemed to try
and ‘atone’ for their lack of participation in the war while filming,
by pushing themselves, their actors, and their crews to (and beyond)
breaking point. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s famous quote: “We
had access to too much money and little by little we went insane,”
could just as easily be referencing the military efforts during the
Vietnam War itself as it references the difficulty he had while filming
Apocalypse Now.

Classics like Coppola’s film, as well as Platoon, The Deer Hunter,

Born on the Fourth of July, and Full Metal Jacket (which actually
features the Tet Offensive in its second half) caused a paradigm
shift in the way war movies were written and made - the glory and
valour of previous epics was replaced with the internal and external
struggles that the grunt on the ground faced. In doing this the films
showed the cost and “the horror” of war - a shift in perspective that
remains in war films to this day.

This is yet another turning point brought about by the Vietnam War
- it ultimately inspired a permanent tonal change in war films, which
has now continued into the way that other conflicts are displayed on Above: Platoon is in the minority of Vietnam War films that
the big screen and influences all branches of ‘cinematic wargaming’ were directed by a Vietnam Veteran. Oliver Stone served from
that many of us play. September 1967 to November 1968 and was twice wounded
in action.

74
PHOTOGRAPHIC TURNING
POINTS
The Vietnam War’s photography brought
further turning points as organisations
such as the Associated Press and
publications like Life magazine showed
many images of the brutal realities of
combat to the world. The photos of the
Tet Offensive were amongst those that
had the greatest impact, partly because
they were in stark contrast to the US
superiority that had been claimed. At
the beginning of ’68 it had appeared
that America had the upper hand in the
war, but the Tet Offensive shattered that
illusion. The US public saw an enemy
(all but beaten according to the military)
waging war in Saigon, even in the US
embassy.
This feeling of betrayal, along with the A wounded MP is helped away during fighting in the Saigon US Embassy compound
brutal reprisals shown in the images during the Tet Offensive.
of Tet, increased anti-war feeling in
America. One in particular, in a single
frame, became a powerful anti-war As anti-war sentiment rose even more difference is perhaps due to what the
symbol. On 1 February 1968 the shutter uncensored images were demanded public saw - fleeing refugees and images
on photographer Eddie Addams’ camera and, despite the efforts of the military of the wounded were a part of Korea’s
snapped shut at the exact moment South and politicians to suppress the output, coverage but Vietnam showed death;
Vietnamese brigadier general Nguyễn a turning point had been passed - the thus, its photographs more accurately and
Ngọc Loan shot Viet Cong captive credibility gap (the ‘gap’ between the viscerally represented the human cost.
Nguyễn Văn Lém in the head. This administration’s claims of military
image, along with other photographs of Don McCullen, one of the most prolific
control and resolution, versus the reality)
Tet, ultimately ensured that though Tet war photographers of all time comments:
had grown too wide. Photographs from
was a failed military action it became “The American military, I don’t think,
Vietnam continued to make their mark
a powerful moment in ending the US’s ever forgave the press for what they
on the public consciousness and images
involvement in Vietnam. thought was treachery in a way, that lost
of the war (Eddie Adam’s amongst them)
them the war.”
Where WW2’s Dunkirk was an example and the protests won Pulitzer Prizes for
of a potential military disaster that excellence in journalism. By as early as April 1967 an estimated
was spun into a moral victory, Tet 195,000 marched against the Vietnam
PROTESTS AND FUTURE
was a battlefield success for the US MILITARY RESPONSE
War in San Francisco and New York,
with an enemy so brutally crushed it prompting military figures to speak out.
caused moral outrage across the world. The number of anti-war protestors was General Westmoreland stated: “[My
While the uprising did not happen in huge over Vietnam - huge, that is, when troops] are dismayed and so am I by
Vietnam, as the attackers had hoped, the compared to the levels of opposition to recent unpatriotic acts at home.” But still
sacrifices made by those VC and PAVN previous wars. Approximate figures for protesting increased, with the protests
fighters ultimately caused a worldwide the human cost of Korea and Vietnam themselves becoming much publicised
outpouring of protest that would claim are similar yet Korea caused nothing and photographed parts of the war.
them their eventual victory. like the level of public outcry. The
You only have to look to another turning
point - the suppressed and censored press
coverage of America’s next major conflict
- to see how damaging the photographer’s
free reign in Vietnam was judged to be.
The Gulf War could have been
photographed in a similar way to Vietnam
- even more so thanks to technological
advancements - but the US military
imposed huge censorship rules. Any
photographer going to the front line had
to obtain permission and be accompanied
by a military public relations officer.
Horst Fass, who had worked with
essentially unrestricted freedom as a
Vietnam War photographer, describes the
change in the Persian Gulf: “the photo
judgement wasn’t made by us; it was
made by our minders. We did not see any
wounded; we did not see any dead.”
The execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém in Saigon.

75
 Only now, through mobile phones, social
media, and widely available internet
access, are we once again seeing the
gruelling but important images of war
that were pioneered in Vietnam.
GAMING WITH REALISTIC
ARMY BUILDING
This article already discussed the
broader changes that the Tet Offensive
can bring to your Vietnam gaming. In
addition, the unprecedented freedom
that was afforded to photographers (and
the journalistic quality of their images)
makes the photography from the Vietnam
War arguably the most reliable visual Photographs of protests became as iconic as those from the war.
representation of a conflict ever for your
research purposes, at least if looking at it tactically work around him or her. They who min-maxed a system representing
from the American perspective. should bring a layer of simulation that the moralistic feasibility of the Vietnam
The photos show every visual element sits above your combat level decisions - War, right?
you could wish for before you get nobody wants to be known as the player
busy painting uniforms and weapons,
especially if you want to add an accurate
‘in the field’ look to them. While many of PHOTOGRAPHERS
the iconic images are black and white you
can find in colour images too. You can Before your game roll a D6 for each individually acting unit (or model if small skirmish) on
see squads in action to better understand the US side. On a 5+ they are accompanied by a photographer. Restrict the maximum number
their formations, use of cover, sidearms by the size of the game:
and gear. This will all help you build a • Small skirmish - 2 max
realistic army.
• Medium fight - 3 max
While almost all of the photos are • Large battle - 5 max
taken by US photographers, they still
During the game roll an additional number of dice (matching the amount rolled for a single
provide some insight into the tactics of model from the unit/model they are a part of) with each shooting, close combat, or save
the VC too, especially when backed up action made. Instead of these successes impacting the combat results, record them on a sheet
by written reports. Many of the photos of paper. These are potentially impactful images that they have taken a snapshot of.
provide reference ideas for every kind
impaCtFuL images
of terrain building you could wish to
undertake as well. For each potentially impactful image roll a D6 at the end of your battle and refer to the
following table:
GAMING WITH A CONSCIENCE
D6 roll Result Victory points Credibility gap
While the images of war on the previous
page aren’t pleasant, they are important, 6 Winning the hearts and minds +1 VP +10
and they bringing humility to my own 5 to 4 Good reportage - +5
gaming. They remind me that for every 3 The cost of war - -5
unit I push across the tabletop, regardless
of the moment in history they are from, 2 Brutal reprisal -1 VP -10
a similar snapshot could have been taken 1 Decisive moment -2 VP -25
of their battlefield trauma. We are playing This random element, at the finish of the battle, brings a layer of the uncontrollable realities
with history and, though the play is of combat to your post-battle moment, or your campaign calculations and I suggest it is a
important, I think that at times we need good time to take a moment and reflect.
to remember those harrowing parts of
tHe CrediBiLity gap
history to bring some moral equilibrium.
In a campaign the US player can apply a credibility gap calculation to show the level to
We can start to ‘gamify’ some of the which public opinion is distrustful of the claims politicians are making back home. Start with
turning points mentioned earlier, by the credibility gap at zero then refer to this table before the next battle:
applying simple mechanics to them, but
that aforementioned morality issue makes Credibility gap Result
this something that is worth doing with +anything to -15 Normal
respect and caution. If you do apply these
Questioning the truth - The first objective/VP
upcoming ideas my suggestion is that -16 to -25
gain this battle is rewarded with only half VPs.
you play normally within them (focus
Protests at home - Previous result and roll a D6 for
on the tactics as if the new turning point -26 to -30
systems were not in place); don’t try to each unit/man and reduce their morale by 1 on a 4+.
tactically work around them. Don’t even “Not our war!” – Previous results and each unit must
think about a photographer figure on the -31 and up have its combat effectiveness reduced (either less
field of battle once combat starts, for special weapons, rolling less dice per turn, etc.) by 20%.
example, because once things got hot in
reality they were certainly having to look If you wish to apply similar rules to other conflicts (even earlier conflicts could be imagined
after themselves; certainly, don’t try to to have reporters in the field pre-widespread photography) you can adapt these rules.

76
 SAMORI TURE’S
RESISTANCE IN THE
WESTERN SUDAN
Bob Giglio thinks the Western Sudan in the late 19th Century is well worth your colonial gaming consideration!
When wargamers think colonial wars in of their presence. By 1890, the French Mali Empire (in present-day Guinea).
Africa, it is images of Queen Victoria’s had signed treaties with several African Samori acquired his military skills during
armies fighting the Boers, Egyptians, leaders, which ostensibly gave the French various campaigns he undertook for local
Sudanese, and Zulus that are most often the mandate to annex large tracts of the chiefs, and he became a well-known
conjured up. France’s Empire is often Western Sudan, but their expansion was leader. From 1865, Samori subjugated
overlooked, except for the exploits of the not without difficulty. surrounding states and established
Légion Étrangère in North Africa, but the
SAMORI TURE
scale of their expansion ranked second
to the British. The French conquest of The period between 1880 and 1900 that
the Western Sudan brings new gaming historians have called ‘The Scramble for
options, challenges, and characters to use Africa’, saw the rise of the most capable
in your games and campaigns. West African colonial leader, Samori
Ture (also known as Samory Toure and
A new theatre brings new defenders; the
Samori Touré). The story of Samori was
expansion into West Africa was stymied
one straight from the Arabian Nights, of
by some capable native opposition
a poor boy who became an emperor, and
against the French. The Moors, the
the way it is told in the Sudan keeps that
Toucouleur Empire of Segu (under Al
Hajj Umar), and the powerful Samori
legend alive.
Ture of Wassoulou put up strong and Samori was born around 1830, from
sustained resistance. These were far a non-Muslim, Mandinka-speaking
from weak opponents and the progress merchant family in the Milo River
of French expansion suffered because Valley - what had been the center of the
Above: Samori Ture, holding the Koran.

78
a large and powerful empire called West Africa, symbolized heroic
Wassoulou (sometimes referred to as and determined resistance
Mandinka), which promoted trade, to the foreign conqueror.
conquered gold-producing Bure, and Samori’s forces fought the
encouraged the spread of Islam (to which French for seventeen years,
he had converted). Samori declared while fighting the British in
himself Faama (monarch) by 1874 and Sierra Leone. Samori was a
established the capital of his kingdom at ruthless fighter who won the

colonial
Bissandugu (in present-day Guinea). By respect and admiration of his
the 1880s, his army could muster 30,000 enemies - mainly the French
men - mostly firearm-equipped infantry - as a formidable adversary.
- including 3,000 cavalry. It became the No other enemy has shown
third largest West African empire; only the skill and tenacity in the
Sokoto and Tukolor were larger. field against the French as
Samori did.
The Wassoulou Empire expanded in the
1880s, from Bamako, Mali in the north, He was captured at Gelemu
to the frontiers of British Sierra Leone, in September 1898 (as
the Ivory Coast, and Liberia in the east a result of treason), and
and south, with the Sudan as the eastern died in exile in Ogowe
frontier. Samori’s soldiers were equipped (supposedly poisoned by
with firearms imported through the British his jailers) on 2 June 1900.
enclave at Freetown in Sierra Leone and
This article only touches
trained in modern-day tactics. Samori’s
empire reached its apogee between 1883-
on Samori’s background
87, a period in which he took the title
and does not include
his many early battles
of the “Almamy,” a title of nineteenth-
against Africans and his specific conflicts Above: French daily Le Petit Journal
century West African Muslim rulers
with the French, which offer far broader showed Samori’s capture in its 30 October
(usually translated as “Commander of the
tabletop options. 1898 illustrated supplement cover.
Faithful” or “Emperor of the Believers”).
The French Conquest of West Africa is easy
to dive into thanks to the relatively small
number of forces involved. Total French
forces in the French Sudan only exceeded
4,000 men during the 1898 campaign and
actions can be easily represented on the
tabletop with individually-based figures.
Naturally, 28mm is the ‘king’ of the
battlefield for this type of colonial gaming.
Any number of colonial rulesets would work,
such as The Sword and The Flame, Death in
the Dark Continent, or The Men Who Would
Be Kings.
WassouLou ForCes - an oVerVieW
Samori’s army was chiefly comprised of
tribal infantry (levies), which were divided
into companies (called Bolo, meaning “arm”)
of 200 men, each under command of a Bolo
Samori from Bob’s collection, along with a leader in the distinctive donibali. Kun-Tigui (chief). Tribal levies were armed
with a knife (suru), a wide-bladed curved
Samori undeniably was a king; his empire WEST AFRICAN
short sword (suru-ba), and either a spear or a
rifled musket (50/50).
stretched for hundreds of miles across the COLONIAL GAMING
sun-scorched savannah that lies between
Samori was the most successful
the Sahara and the thick rainforests just
West African colonial leader, but
inland along the coasts of Guinea.
details of the French campaigns
By 1894, Samori had 9,000 men: 3,000 sent against him, along with
infantry (half with modern rifles), 4,000 the battles that were fought, are
tribal spearmen, and 2,000 men who almost unknown. Nevertheless,
fought as mounted infantry. By 1898, a savvy gamer can fill in some
Samori had an army of 12,000 men and blanks and find vast gaming
4,000 had modern rifles. potential for French colonial
wargamers. I hope this article
HeroiC resistanCe against tHe FrenCH will spike more interest in French
Though Samori was a Muslim, he was colonial actions in West Africa
hardly ever accused of fanaticism; and I am working on a book
the religious element was slight in the that covers one of the French
campaign against the French led by this campaigns and subsequent
admirable fighter. Samori, more than battles against Samori. Tribal levies with a mixture of short swords and spears.
any other leader in the colonial period of

79
 Samori maintained trained regular
companies of 150 men he called
“sharpshooters,” known as Sofas THE DISTINCTIVE DONIBALI
(Mandinka for “infantry”), which were The universal headgear was the conical
considered regulars as they were drilled hat (donibali), which often resembled a
to move to bugle calls and could volley Chinese “coolie” hat, although its shape
fire; half of these were “Elite Sofas” that varied slightly, with the brim somewhat
were also drilled in the use of bayonets. widened and the cone deeper, and having
Sofas were armed with a breech-loading a large chin-strap. This was made of a
rifle and a sword, while Elite Sofas used a
wicker frame held together by a leather
edge, which was often decorated on
bolt-action rifle and bayonet. the fringe and at the top. The top was
The cavalry was divided into squadrons adorned with a tuft of leather straps or
sometimes by feathers.
(Sere) of 50 horsemen, armed with a
seven-foot-long lance, a double-edge
short sword (sirawa), and a shield; 25%
of the cavalry were considered “Elite,”
and armed with a breech-loading carbine
and short sword.
The soldiers in the Bolos wore dark-
yellow or light brown colored clothes.
Chiefs and horsemen used European
fabrics or luxury local dyes, which
allowed a variety of colors. The soldiers
wore smocks (dorokes), which had large
neck-lines, but varied in length. Infantry
wore them to mid-thigh and horsemen
to mid-calf. Some were superbly
embroidered, but generally reserved for
chiefs, who were the only ones allowed to
use white as an embroidery background.
Those for infantry were made of strips of
rough cotton material and covered with
amulets sewn into square leather sacks.
The pants (zarabu) were ankle-length Elite Sofas with their bolt-action rifles and bayonets fixed, dressed in the dark-blue jacket
with sandals; horsemen had leather and pants of 1886 onwards.
gaiters or Moorish boots with steel or
though some wore white pants. One with two satchels that hung in front of
brass spurs.
French account of a parade of Bolos the saddle, containing a stake, a lead,
A white cotton bag, which hung on the noted that “their equipment is often and other supplies. The saddle rugs were
side like a soft cap (fuqula), was also laughable … European clothes of all often brightly colored and sometimes
worn. The Muslim style skull-cap was shapes, morning coats, frock coats, and embroidered, while the saddle was often
not generally worn, although many at other formal wear … headgear consisted red or yellow in color and embellished
Samori’s court wore red fezzes. Only of chechias, native caps, or felt hats … with carvings and/or metal or precious
chiefs wore turbans around their head, pants white or blue … tailored in a native inlays. In 1890, an English observer
and these were normally red or some fashion … [The Sofas are] given orders described the cavalry as “brightly
other bright color; black was forbidden, in French.” caparisoned horses, with red being the
dominant color, men wearing bright red,
Horsemen provided their own horse’s
as it was reserved for Samori himself.
A few chiefs also wore a tall, stiff, dark blue, or wide white robes, which
equipment, which was a saddle, saddle
cylindrical cap or bonnet (tutu-tutu), looked even more exotic billowing in
rug, and sometimes a breast-piece, along
entirely covered with long, rectangular, the wind.”
leather sacks, sometimes adorned with
metal trims and containing amulets.
Chiefs almost always had their heads
shaved. Many of the men, and all of the
chiefs, followed Samori’s example and
covered their eyelids with antimony (fale)
to give depth to their look. They wore
small gold earrings at the edge of their
ears, rings on their fingers, and a leather
strap around their necks, holding amulets.
By 1882, Samori had started dressing
his Elite Sofas in a uniform comprised
of cotton blue pants, green jackets, and
a wool red rust-colored fez (chechia).
By 1886, this uniform had evolved into
a dark-blue jacket and pants with a red
fez, and red belt or sash. This uniform
was eventually adapted for all Sofas, Cavalry charge through some scrub.

80
Prior to 1892, Samori’s forces were as FRENCH FORCES - AN OVERVIEW
numerous as most native armies. Once WASSOULOU FORCE The composition of Western forces in
Samori’s soldiers were well-supplied CONVENTIONS West Africa varied, but for the most part
with modern weapons and trained in their
Samori’s tribal infantry, Sofas, and they were only European in leadership.
French officers and NCOs led African
use, the French were surprised to see that
cavalry are Trained, with Elite Sofas
his forces were more specialised, only
Experienced. All are poor shots, and troops, trained in European drill and
slightly more numerous than their own, all infantry fear the bayonet charge, weapons, against their fellow Africans.
and almost as effective. The one thing even the Elite Sofas (who, though European other ranks were used sparingly
that the French had over Samori’s forces equipped with bayonets, never (or not at all) in West Africa due to the
was that the Sofas were badly trained in felt comfortable with them), and
therefore all have an adverse morale
high death rate from the climate and
marksmanship, especially at close range.
modifier (-2 for D6 rules) to stand tropical illnesses, in particular malaria
As of 1885, Samori started training against bayonet charges. and yellow fever.
his forces in European formations and
The backbone of the French forces in
techniques, and by 1897, his guards were
West Africa was the infantrymen of the
characterized by their rapid-fire rifles
Senegalese Tirailleurs (i.e., “riflemen”)
and their blue and red uniforms. The
training. While some regulars did learn recruited from among local Africans.
number of European-trained regiments
in Samori’s army grew rapidly, having to volley fire, their shooting was often For active service in West Africa, the
individual and not as a volley. The rest Tirailleurs wore a red fez with medium
been trained by local deserters from
of the army consisted of disorderly blue tassel, dark-blue tunic, and white or
French units. Only those soldiers that
tribal warbands that did not march or khaki pants, with black leather equipment,
were considered Samori’s ‘regulars’ were
and bare feet or leather sandals.
armed with modern rifles and received manoeuver to bugle calls.

SAMORI FLAGS
There is some contemporary mention of flags, but
no definitive details. Presumably they would be
similar to those used by other Arabic people. For
gaming purposes, each tribal war band carries a
flag, while each Sofa regiment only carries one
regimental flag.

Above: Private, summer service dress,

c.1880–89.
Left: African officer, full dress, 1872–89.
Far left: Private, Infanterie de la Marine;
overseas full dress, 1890s.
Illustration by Mark Stacey from MAA
517 French Naval & Colonial Troops
1872–1914, Osprey Publishing Ltd.
www.ospreypublishing.com.

81
 Limited numbers of European infantry were available to support the Tirailleurs, but only
FRENCH FORCE
supplied from the Troupes de Marine (French Marine Infantry). These were dispatched in CONVENTIONS
company formations to West Africa, as needed, to support a campaign. Marine Infantry
wore a white or khaki sun helmet, dark-blue tunics and white pants and gaiters, with Senegalese Tirailleurs and Sudanese
black leather equipment and boots. The brass “fouled anchor” insignia was occasionally Spahis are Veteran; Senegalese
Spahis, Spahis Auxiliaries, Sudanese
worn on the helmet front or collars. An all-white uniform was also worn, as were khaki Tirailleurs, and Tirailleurs Auxiliary
tunics in the late 1890s. are Experienced. Marine Infantry are
French artillery came from the Marine Artillery, which were uniformed like the Marine Veteran; Infantry are armed with bolt-
action rifle (smokeless powder) and
Infantry. The prominent gun in use was the 80mm de Bange mountain gun.
bayonet; Sudanese Spahis are armed
The French Foreign Legion also fought Samori, but only in small numbers, including with bolt-action rifle, other Spahis a
a mounted company on mules from the 2nd Regiment in 1892-93, and two more bolt-action carbine; all cavalry have
companies in 1894-95. a sabre.

Cavalry were mainly troopers from the Spahis Senegalese, officered by Europeans,
and from the Chasseur’s d’Afrique (African Hunters), all mounted on Arab horses
with Moorish saddles. The Spahis wore crimson tunics, white pantaloons, and
white sun helmets, with black leather equipment and boots. Their flowing red Spahi
burnoose, or hooded cape, was usually kept rolled behind the saddle due to the hot
West African climate.
Left: Lieutenant, full dress, 1873–1902.
Centre: Trooper, 1873–79.
Right: Trooper, 1879–90.
Illustration by Mark Stacey from MAA
517, French Naval & Colonial Troops
1872–1914, Osprey Publishing Ltd.
www.ospreypublishing.com.

82
 TERRAIN FOR YOUR TABLETOP
West Africa is a diverse region; from the dry Sahara Desert in the north to lush rain forests in the south, its physical geography includes a
diversity of environments. The northern portion of West Africa is composed of a broad, vast track of semi-arid terrain (savannah plains)
called the Western Sudan, stretching for more than 2,500 miles west-to-east across Africa. It is largely a plateau of modest elevation that
borders the southern limits of the Sahara and the equatorial rain forests of the Guinea Coasts and the Congo River basin. The savannah is
a hot, seasonally dry, ecological region characterized by an open tree canopy (scattered low trees growing above continuous tall grasses)
and savannah forest that merges into the Guinea Coast equatorial rain forests.
The minor rivers, scenes of many of the actions in West Africa, were actually swampy streams, and fordable. Thick brush (tall grass,
bamboo, shrubs, trees, etc.) would be found in wide belts along both sides of the rivers, often blocking line of sight from one side of
the river to the
other, unless on the
ridgelines above the
floodplain. All woods
are thick.
While it is not
the most nuanced
approach, if you
want to create some
West African brush
and riverside cover,
the selections of
aquarium plants that
can be purchased
easily online are not
a bad starting point.
These can be used
as is, but often will
benefit from some
paint to tone down
their brightness and
often rather neon
coloring.

“NOT WITHOUT PERIL” - REARGUARD ACTION, 26 JANUARY 1892

“Samori’s troops fight exactly like Europeans, with less discipline perhaps, but with greater determination”.
- Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Marie Gustave Humbert, Commandant Supérieur, 1892 campaign
This is a simple historical action during depLoyment
the 1892 campaign between Samori’s
Anywhere south of the French column, but no closer than 36" to any French unit; units
forces and a French supply rearguard.
During the 1892 campaign against
hidden in brush or woods must be recorded on paper for referee.
Samori Ture, the French forces often ViCtory Conditions
split into a combat column and various
Capture the French baggage train for a Major Victory; Minor Victory if unable to
smaller supply convoys. While the
accomplish this, but still able to inflict 33% or more casualties on the French.
combat column was marching south in
pursuit of Samori’s main forces, a supply
convoy under Captain Dunoyer left Sana
on 26 January 1892, marching north with
an escort. The supply convoy eventually
reached its destination of Kankan, but
“not without peril”.
WASSOULOU FORCES
• C-in-C (mounted): Chief Kago Fode
• 2C-in-C (mounted): Chief Kali
Morifindian
• Elite Sofas (300 men): 4 units, 15
figures each; modern rifle and bayonet
• Sofas (300 men): 4 units, 15 figures
each; modern rifle
• Elite Cavalry (100 men): 2 Squadrons,
10 figures each; modern carbine

Sofas with a mix of spears, swords, and breech-loading rifles.

83
 FRENCH FORCES
ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS • C-in-C: Captain Dunoyer
You may wish to reflect the oppressive
• Baggage Train (119 mule carts, 350 animals, and 1,400 porters, grooms, and drivers):
impact of the West African climate on
non-native commanders by giving the 10 mule cars with drivers, a herd of 12 cattle with drovers, and 20 porters
French a gradually diminishing level of • 1st Company, Sudanese Tirailleurs (70 men; Lieutenant Morin, Sous Lieutenant
Voulet): 14 figures
command effectiveness.
At the end of each turn, roll a D6 and
add the upcoming turn number to the • 2C-in-C: Captain Sansarric
total. If the total equals 8 or more, • 2 Platoons, 2nd Company, Tirailleurs Auxiliary Skirmishers (115 total men;
reduce the French overall command
Lieutenants Gristofari, Andlauer, and Manet): 23 figures per platoon
points by 1 (or whatever the equivalent
is in your chosen system) for the rest of depLoyment
the game. Continue with the same end
of turn roll after this, and if the total The baggage train is on the road 24" from the northwestern table edge. The baggage is
equals 10 or more, reduce the French’s followed on the road by the Sudanese Tirailleurs and then the Auxiliary Skirmishers,
overall command points by 1 more (or all in column with 6" between each.
equivalent) for the rest of the game.
ViCtory Conditions
Obviously you can tweak this system,
depending on the size of the forces Prevent baggage from capture by enemy and exit it off northwestern table edge via the
involved in your chosen skirmish. If road for a Minor Victory; Major Victory if incurring less than 20% casualties.
there are regular French troops involved
amongst the native recruits, then you reinForCements
Roll 1D6 each turn after the first turn of enemy firing; success is a roll less than the
could modify their effectiveness with
a similar system, perhaps reducing
movement for the first stage of attrition current turn number, indicating the following units enter the northern table edge at the
and increasing the required roll for end of the following turn.
• Platoon, Sudanese Spahis (23 mounted men; Lieutenant Belleville): 5 mounted figures
successes with the second stage.

• 7th Company, Senegalese Tirailleurs (44 men; Captain Menon, Lieutenant Moreau):
9 figures.

SETTING UP THE TABLETOP

The map is based on a contemporary French map and designed for a 6'x9' tabletop of brownish-tan cloth or terrain boards.
The southwestern woods should be at least 36" from the road; northeastern woods at least 48" from the road.

Woods

Road
Open Scrub N

Open Scrub

Woods

Village of
Tintioulén

Ground Cover: Entire tabletop considered medium density open scrub of tall grasses, shrubs, and the occasional African style trees,
but should not impede movement if in open order.
Road: Dirt track should be wide enough to allow two adjacent mule carts.
Woods: Thick and block line of sight (only open order infantry allowed (at half movement)).
Village of Tintioulén: Native huts.

84
rearguard aCtion, HistoriCaL aCtion Outside the village of Tintioulén, the Captain Durand with his 7th Company
rearguard “was attacked in [the] rear by of Senegalese Tirailleurs, “to avenge
Captain Sansarric was in command of
a strong Sofas band and many horsemen the Lieutenant’s death, set an ambush
armed with quick fire rifles [that] wanted
the rearguard, with his 2nd company
for the Sofas” that continued to pursue
of Auxiliary Skirmishers marching
to surround the rear guard.” the convoy and “they fell into the trap
about 220 yards behind the Sudanese
and from then on, ceased to worry the
Tirailleurs, which in turn were behind Lieutenant Belleville successfully led
detachment.” The supply convoy reached
the baggage porters. The rearguard was his Spahis to rescue the rearguard, but
Kankan without incident thereafter.
“charged with keeping a party of Sofas at was killed “with a ball in the chest
a distance” that was following the convoy. during the charge.” The following day,

FIGURE AVAILABILITY
Even though French West Africa has been relatively overlooked for gaming, a few figure companies have some 25/28mm figures, though
mostly for the French.
Native West African figures are sorely lacking, except from one company. Castaway Arts (castawayarts.com.au) is the only company
that currently makes an almost complete range of figures for French West Africa, including both infantry and cavalry of the Wassoulou
Empire. These native figures are generally flexible enough to also be used for other West African states. Castaway Arts also cover the
French forces in the Sudan, with Tirailleur Senegalais and Spahis (in fez or helmet; the latter being good for Sudanese Spahis).
Askari Miniatures (askari-minis.com) has a nice range of French forces in the Sudan, with Tirailleur Senegalais, Spahis, and Command
figures, plus an 80mm de Bange Mountain Gun with Marine Artillery Crew. They also have figures for Foreign Legion and Command in
Madagascar, which can be used for Infanterie de Marine as they are wearing the same uniform worn by the Marines. For Samori’s Elite
Sofa regulars, simply use Tirailleur Senegalais figures.
Artizan Designs’ (artizandesigns.com) March or Die range (seen
on this page) have been adding codes for West Africa. Many of the
French Foreign Legion packs are suitable for Colonial Marines in
West Africa. For the pre-1900 Colonial Marine uniform, the Legion
in Sun Helmets (MOD005 and MOD006) and Legion Command
in Troupes Colonial Uniform & Sun Helmets (MOD034), plus
some of the officers in the Legion Command III (MOD009) work
very well. For the post-1900 Colonial Marine uniform, the Legion
in Troupes Colonial Uniform & Sun Helmets (MOD032) and
Legion Command in Troupes Colonial Uniform and Sun Helmet
(MOD034) packs are very nice. For West Africa specifically, they
have Senegalese Tirailleurs (MOD080) and Senegalese Command
Group (MOD081).
When I became interested in French West Africa gaming, I
was not aware of figures for that theatre, so I used Old Glory
(oldgloryminiatures.com) which worked well. From their Sudan
Campaign range, the Sudanese Infantry Advancing with Command
(CSB-04) is good for Senegalese Tirailleurs or Sudanese
Tirailleurs, if you ignore the fact that they are wearing a stiff fez
and shoes. From their Boxer Rising range, the French Marines
Advancing with Command (CBP-07) are in 1900 uniforms, so fit
for either pre- or post-1900 white or khaki.

85
 DESIGNER’S NOTES:
D-DAY : US SECTOR

As part of this month’s Turning Points theme, we turn our attention to World War
Two and the campaign that ultimately won victory for the Western Allies: D-Day.

In a timely new release, the D-Day: just finished the support elements for
US Sector’campaign book for Warlord the British army in the previous book,
Games’ Bolt Action is the third in a covering mortar and machine-gun
series covering the D-Day landings platoons and the like, I was very keen
and subsequent allied advance through to do the same for the German and US
Normandy. This book focuses on the push armies. Both Gareth and I knew that we
inland by US forces after the assaults on would be following the standard format
Utah and Omaha beaches. We caught up of a combination of historical narrative,
with the book’s two authors, Mark Barber scenarios, new units, and new theatre
and Gareth Walsh. selectors, but from previous and almost
totally unanimous feedback we knew that
Wargames Illustrated: What were your
the majority of players wanted new units
first thoughts and initial plans for this book
and selectors as a priority, so with a finite Gareth Walsh: The scenarios really
as soon as you committed to writing it? lay the groundwork for the new units
word count to play with we decided early
Mark Barber: We got involved with this on to focus on that rather than scenarios. and selectors, as the overall narrative
book before we had even finalised writing Some books offer a lot more scenarios needs to be formed first. The very
the book covering the Anglo-Canadian than the ones I’ve written, and it will first thing we looked at was breaking
sector, so as a team we were still very always be that particular author’s slant, down the key points in the campaign
much in the zone for writing about so it isn’t a matter of right or wrong, but and then associating them with ideas
Normandy. The American advance after I’ve always tried to go for a dozen or so for playable scenarios. Both Mark and
D-Day immediately conjured up images relatively detailed scenarios rather than myself would rather give options for
of those slow, bloody, and brutal pushes twenty more simplified ones. That save forces in each scenario within the book
through the bocage-lined countryside of as much of the word count as possible rather than just referencing a selector
Normandy. With that in mind, my first for new units and selectors and we both in an ‘Armies of’ book, which in turn
thoughts for scenarios went to open plan, agreed that those new units and selectors added more ideas. That’s always been
rural maps; the city fighting scenarios all needed to offer something new, even if Warlord’s approach, too - the historical
in the book came a bit later. Having really small and subtle. narrative and the scenarios worked into

86
it tell the actual story of what really
happened. Before committing ink to
paper (well, fingers to keys) we both
did a substantial amount of research,

TURNING POINTS
(and no we don’t mean Wikipedia!)
using primary source documents, history
books, documentaries, and museums to
sharpen our knowledge of the campaign.
Although the book is entitled the “US
Sector”, I wanted to try and open it up to
as many belligerents as possible, giving
different players new options.
Wi: What new ideas came out of the
planning process for the book?
MB: One of the first things we did was
split the workload 50/50 overall, but not
in every area. I knew from some previous Above and right:
projects with Gareth that he is far better Examples of the
than me in conjuring up new, interesting, historical and
scenario sections
and balanced ideas for scenarios. On in the book.
the flip side of the coin, I’ve got a few
more years experience in researching
and writing the historical narrative, so
we were both happy to split the work
with me taking the main part of the
historical narrative and link writing, and
Gareth taking on most of the scenarios.
We both really enjoy coming up with
new units and theatre selectors, so that
had a pretty even split. As with all the been available to any player using the Standard German Army players will
projects I’ve worked on with Gareth, I’m options from the Armies of the United find most of their new options in the
really interested in the mass-produced, States book. However, Rangers appear theatre selectors, which include the
commonly seen backbone of militaries, as a squad which is effectively bolted aforementioned support selectors
whilst Gareth loves the specialist, niche, on to a more generic American force. such as anti-tank gun platoons centred
and sometimes weird stuff. With that in This book, in a similar way to what we around Pak 38s or Pak 40s, and Heavy
mind, I was keen to write up new units did with commandos in the previous Companies built around medium
and selectors for the standard armies, campaign book, now allows players to mortars and medium machine gun
such as US Army mechanized infantry, field an entire force of US Rangers, based teams side-by-side. There are also more
and it came as little surprise to me when on their historic Tables of Organization specific selectors such as the Defenders
Gareth appeared with ideas for the SAS and Equipment. This was the first stand of Cherbourg, which give a flavour of
and French resistance! alone army I put together for this book, the desperation faced by the German
GW: One of the overwhelmingly positive but between myself, Gareth, and our defenders against the American onslaught
notes from our last book was some of man in the US - Francesco Bambina - we where every available man who could
the quirky scenarios, so we tried to give did something similar for US Airborne, carry a rifle was employed, allowing the
players different ways of playing the as well. But as well as the elite forces, player to field a mixture of German army,
game rather than variations of commonly American players can also get stuck into navy, and air force units. But in the same
used scenarios based on the campaign Armoured Rifle Companies, Cavalry way that American players have more
in question. One of the biggest areas Reconnaissance Troops centred around options for elite units such as Rangers
I wanted to ensure we got right was M8 Greyhounds, Tank Destroyer and Airborne, we haven’t left German
making sure that every unit in the book Battalions … all sorts of stuff. players out here, either …
has a place so to speak, so players know
if their new units are allowed in the
generic selector or can only be used in
selectors in the book. This was one of the
biggest balancing acts, ensuring punchy
new units wouldn’t skew balance in
generic platoons.
Wi: Both the American and German
armies in Bolt Action have featured
heavily in several previous books. What
will this book give to players of these
armies that they haven’t seen before?
MB: From the feedback we’ve received
from previous books, the ability to
field specialised units in their own,
complete forces has been very popular.
For example, US Rangers have always
Above: US Rangers storm an unwary German command post.

87
 German Fallschirmjäger Squad.

GW: The US get some elite love, and

so do the Germans. An entire section is
dedicated to the Luftwaffe’s elite arm
of paratroopers, the Fallschirmjager.
There are several new ways to play
the Green Devils, giving the German
player the option to field a full force
of stubborn veterans. Likewise, the
Waffen-SS gain several new options and
some unusual selectors such as the 17th
SS Aufklarungs platoon, consisting of a
swarm of Schwimmwagen loaded with
fanataical SS. Left: Some of the
Wafen-SS new
As a self professed SAS fanboy, it was units included in
a no brainer for me to give the Allies’ the book.
Special Forces heroes some attention.
The previous iterations of the SAS have
been mainly focussed on the desert have a mix of partisans, SAS, and SOE/ the books! The campaign books have
action in their early days, whereas the OSS, which will make for a visually always leaned more towards the historic
new content brings them screeching fantastic force on the table. With the side of the line, but even with that said
into 1944 with Vickers K guns blazing. Paris uprising, partisan players will have we’re still aware that Bolt Action has
There are several new units (including an access to a number of new unit options, always been a streamlined, fast paced
officer that can call in airstrikes!), a new including policemen and, for the first game which emulates war movies more
selector, and two scenarios that will allow time, a regular or veteran tank! than real warfare itself. However, even
you to play one of the most elite armies with that in mind, the campaign books
the Allies can deploy. Fighting alongside Wi: Bolt Action appeals to a wide variety
are aimed at players with a passion for
their uniformed allies, I then drew of players for differing reasons; some
history - but there is still plenty of scope
focus to the large number of irregulars like the historical aspect, others lean
for catering to the tournament scene. I’ve
fighting the German occupiers in two more towards the tournament scene.
always been more enthused by history
ways; firstly the Maquis partisans and How challenging was it to straddle the
than tournaments, whereas Gareth is
then the Paris uprising. The addition of line between two ends of the gaming
a veteran Tournament Organiser and
the Maquis allows the partisan player to community which sometimes have
player, so the writing partnership worked
field deadly new units of French fighters conflicting appeals?
really well. There would be times when
(the Maquis squad is able to upgrade one MB: This has always been one of I would write a new unit or selector and
man to a sniper!) and new selectors that the trickier elements to manage with Gareth would point out a loophole that

Above: The Panzer Counterattack at Mortain, 7 August 1944 by Tony Bryan © Osprey Publishing Ltd. Taken from Campaign 88: Operation Cobra 1944.

88
could be exploited in competitive play,
whilst sometimes Gareth would produce
something new and the rivet counter in
me would point out that it didn’t adhere to
historical sources or TOE. Having those
different perspectives but a proper respect
for the other side of the fence really helped
in putting this book together.
GW: As Mark mentioned, I tend to lean
toward what I would called organised
play, but not neccessarily always hardcore
tournmanent play (what some people
call “win at all costs”) but two opponents
with the same relaxed attitude that want
to win the game. This sort of play doesn’t
always rely on historical accuracy; I’m
not bothered if my 1944 North West
Europe British force plays against a 1942
Philippines US force, for me that’s one
of the best aspects of Bolt Action - utter
freedom to play what you want (in a Above: An M36 Jackson tank destroyer lurks in the shadows.
manner of speaking, at least!). People
enjoy the game in different ways, when
players are absolutely paramount. We the German defence. I wanted players
creating new game content you need to
do all we can in terms of getting player to actually want to take them, so I gave
try and get a happy balance for as many
feedback, normally via social media, machine guns the same rule as German
of these different audiences. Personally
and getting play testers involved from NCO’s and Stubborn to make sure they
I will look at a new unit and my first
the start. All of the authors have an idea stick around longer.
thought would be, does this already exist
of what they want to see in the game,
in the game? There is no point duplicating Overall the combined goal was to really
but getting a consensus from the target
the same Regular infantry squad from an give something to suit narrative, historic,
audience is hugely important.
‘Armies of’ book in a new supplement, and competitive gamers alike. We
people want things to be new or different, GW: We did a lot of outreach on social certainly couldn’t have done it without
this is my approach to developing new media when we wrote D-Day: The the invaluable help of a fantastic group of
units and selectors. British and Canadian Sectors; as Mark playtesters. Having two of us to bounce
said it’s a book for the players, so we ideas off is brilliant (as well as the
Wi: With a wide range of Bolt Action
did the same with this book as well. occasional Skype session with Alessio)
supplements now available, what has this
Granted, not every single Bolt Action but to really ensure we haven’t missed
book brought about for the continuing
player is on social media or responded to something or to tame or boost a particular
evolution of the franchise?
our outreach, however it was extremely new unit or selector, they are thoroughly
MB: Mainly lessons learned! Each book helpful to see what people wanted. It played through and given feedback.
draws on experience from the last one. gives a great insight that can be used to
MB: And without that community
I look back on Battle of the Bulge and, help shape how things evolve within the
enthusiasm and input these books could
even though it was the very best I could game. A great example of this is with
easily go off in the wrong direction.
put together at the time, I think I could do one of the key weapons on a World War
Two battlefield, the medium machine gun
That’s probably the best note to end on
it better now. The lessons I learned in that
here - a huge and sincere thank you to
book were then applied to New Guinea, which is generally not considered great in
the community for getting stuck in with
and in turn to Battle of France. The Bolt Action by much of the community.
helping put these books together!
main lesson in all of this is community With this in mind when I looked at the
involvement; these books are written for Fallschirmjager defending Carentan, Wi: Thanks very much guys. Right,
the players and so the opinions of the the machine gun teams were vital to we’re off to storm the beaches!

Above: German assault guns head to the frontlines.

89
 18 ACW
18
PAPERBOYS
Peter Dennis introduces a “new scale, a new adventure” for his American Civil War Paperboys.

The thing about printing downloads of the 28mm scale blokes are already a tiny Bert de Groot has been reducing his
paper soldiers is that they don’t have a enough task for the old blunt snippers, figures for years and the photographs of
fixed size. I make them 28mm to eye but armed with the right tools (Beaditive his 64% figures, beautifully cut-out and
level and then build the armies at that detail scissors are brilliant for 18s) and glued straight onto the base (seen over
scale, but right from the start, even a little patience, they are not difficult to the page), caused me to think about how
when copying the book pages, makers of make, and their smaller cousins are little if I was to make a smaller scale, I could
Paperboys were reducing them to their different. If you’re a paper-soldiering present them in a way which would be
favourite scale. Those who haven’t tried veteran you’ve probably already tried, so flexible and help everyone to ‘make like
cutting out paper figures might think that you know. Bert’. Mirko Bruner, one of the visitors

90
 American Civil
War 1861-1865
Bert De Groot’s 64% sized 1705 French infantry.

to the Paperboys page on Facebook, sent me a sheet of American

Civil War mixed types reduced from the Helion book, which showed
just how economical these little fellows could be, and his offer to
Photoshop the sheets for me really sealed the deal. We were on!
Pretty soon, sheets resembling the old Imagerie d’Epinal ones of the
1880s were arriving in my email. Rich in colour and potential, they
made my fingers twitch with anticipation.
Reducing the scale enlarges the area of your wargame terrain, and
even the dining room table will have far more rear areas than with
28mm battles. New scenery was called for, including familiar and
unfamiliar buildings, fences, and 18mm tree types in the innovative
‘crosstree’ style which makes a tree group that folds completely
flat. The 1860s was an age of industry and for the first time in the
Paperworld, we steam into the modern era with railways. Oh, all
right then, we cotton-wool into the modern era.
The infantry figures are presented in nine-man strips with no base.
This makes it easy to cut out between their legs and to kink the line,
dropping a figure or two back a bit. The Paperboys assume a more
individual character and their 3D illusion survives being seen from
a wider angle. The bases can be the familiar 40mm size (using seven
of the nine men on the strip) and a base sheet is supplied for that, but
it is now much easier to base them on, say, a Fire and Fury one-inch
base to make two four-man ranks which are much more realistic
than the single line of figures gamers have become used to with 3D
minis. The figures are glued directly to the base like Bert’s figures.
This works surprisingly well and a layer of Mod Podge painted onto
the feet and weapons makes them pretty tough. Without the rigid
‘locator strips’, the cavalry groups can be staggered, again helping
the illusion of a moving two-line body of men.
Other big 19th century armies like those of the Franco-Prussian War
and the Crimean War come into focus in my imagination in this more
expansive scale. I think this is a step-up in wargaming with paper
soldiers and, although the men are smaller, the games- and the gains-
are bigger.

91
 BACK TO THE FRONT
PERRY MINIATURES
FRANCO -PRUSSIANS
James chatted to Michael Perry about his new plastic Prussian Infantry frames for the Franco-Prussian War.

Above: Perry miniatures Prussian

Advancing frame seen at its actual size.

92
This month’s theme is Turning Points
and, as luck would have it, there are
some connected to the fine new Perry
Miniatures Prussian Infantry and the chat

TURNING POINTS
we had about them.

Turning Point One - for the first time this

year I was able to venture out and enjoy a
couple of hours in the pub with Michael
(and brother Alan, adding his insight
and quips). I’ve missed these ‘business
lunches’ - Zoom calls aren’t quite the
same - and with Perry access back open,
Wargames Illustrated will once again be
abusing … um, making the most of the
Perrys’ figure collections and generosity
to bring lots of shiny new stuff and fine
photos your way. Hurrah!

Turning Point Two - Perry Miniatures are

turning 180 degrees and wandering back
to their beginning - actually quite a way
before the beginning of Perry Miniatures Above: Michael (right) and Alan (just kidding!) enjoying
themselves in the Sir John Borlase Warren pub.
- in creating a new Franco-Prussian War
range. The first ranges they created at
Foundry, back in the mid-’80s were for the So, without further ado, here’s Michael with a painted line of Prussians, a handful of
Franco-Prussian War, and now decades on, plastic frames, and a pint of Tiger before him, ready to talk us through the details of
we can see how far things have come. his new plastic Prussian Infantry and the metals that will expand the range.

PRUSSIAN PERFECTION?

Michael Perry: Stephan Huber has painted some of the early plastics - every now and again he’ll ask if we’d like some
figures painted and he’s just been getting better and better! Alan’s done some too … I fear they won’t look quite as good in
comparison, maybe don’t show them too big! [Laughs] They have some shiny helmets and I’m not sure if that’ll be a good
thing for photographs. [Alan’s efforts are shown scattered around these pages and we don’t think they look too shabby - Ed]

I’ve got some Dragoons painted up too, by Rafa

‘Archiduque’, along with French artillery, but these
Infantry are the only plastics. Everything else is metal,
at least for now. I’m working on French Infantry, but I
haven’t even finished the greens - they’re a good way
off from release. Alan’s next plastics will come before
they do.

There are a couple of bayonets on these Prussian

frames that are too short, and a bit of flash. These are One of the plastic
the first casting shots, so things like that will be fixed Prussian infantry
painted by
up before the final production frames get out into the Stephan Huber.
world. Terry, who does our plastic casting at Renedra,
will be very cross that I’m letting these be shown in
the pages of the magazine!

RIFLES AND BAYONETS

MP: As you can see the bayonets are all fixed to the rifles … well,
they can come off, but not in battle. The Prussians were trained and
drilled to fire with them fixed, but I can imagine that after a while it
would be tiring with a bayonet on the end of your rifle or musket -
well, I know it is! They clearly did alright with it though.
A figure painted
by Alan Perry, its
Not featured on the frames, but wherever possible the Prussians shiny helm looking
would pick up the French’s Chassepot rifles and pass them to the just fine!
best marksmen in their unit. They were used for things like outpost
duty and sniping because the French weapon was better at range.

93
 USE YOUR HEAD

MP: Each frame has 20 head options around

its edges and these are the same on each frame.
Ten come wearing two choices of Pickelhaubes
- that’s the iconic spiked helmet of the German
troops (well, Prussians at the time). They actually
started wearing them in the army about 1845, but
those ones were much taller. The ones on these
frames are the 1860 and the 1867 types - they
were the ones most used during the Franco-
Prussian War.

The early one has more bling to it with a lot more

brass and a cross running down from the top.
The 1867 ones were simplified - I think that was
down to financial restrictions, what with the army
expanding a lot in the later ʼ60s. Above: Prussian infantry looking swish lined up in front of Hovels European
range scenery.

Five other heads wear landwehr shakos. The uniforms were

identical but there were almost as many landwehr units as there
were regular army; they would be found fighting in France as well.

The final five heads are in forage caps and everyone would have
had one of these in addition to their Pickelhaube or shako, so I
included them. While these would generally be used for camp and
fatigue duties, you do see them worn in paintings of fighting in the
field as well, so I wanted to give gamers the option.
Above (left to right): Landwehr shako, forage cap,
and Pickelhaube.

Left: Perry
miniatures
Prussian
Skirmishers
frame seen at its
actual size.

94
 Figures painted by Stephan Huber.

GETTING INTO THE GEAR

MP: It was common to wear the greatcoat rolled over

the shoulder - the men generally took off all their
packs, stowed them, then went into action wearing the
roll in assault order.

They also have separate Fascine knives, which would

be worn in battle even though they were used for
FACE FOCUS
hacking away at things like wood or bread on camp
MP: Once headgear is on, especially Pickelhaubes, you duty more than anything else. Those are in scabbards
can’t really see detail on the faces too well but there’s and you can see some arms are holding onto them.

As long as they could do it (if they had their rifle in

a fair mix. I used photographic reference as well as
paintings to get an idea of what to add. Some have beards,
their right hand) they would clutch the knife with their
some have moustaches, but as the campaign went on you
left when at a run. That was actually ordered - I think
see more beards in the images of troops. There didn’t
people tended to trip up on them otherwise, which
seem to be any regulations in the Prussian army about not
would be pretty embarrassing!
having a beard, moustache, or anything like that.

We like to get it right - in the British army beards and

moustaches weren’t allowed until the Crimea, then it
was just standard, really. I can’t remember exactly if
moustaches were standardised in the Crimea or if it was
more that they just couldn’t really do much about it. Up to
this period, it’s quite unusual to have beards in armies, so
it does add a bit more variety and character.

Holding the Fascine

knife in hand during
the advance.

95
 BOX BREAKDOWN

MP: There will be two different Infantry boxes. In the Advancing box, you’ll get five of the frames that are used to build your
men marching or running at trail. In addition, you’ll get two frames of the Skirmishers - those are loading, firing, kneeling, and
standing. Arms are interchangeable between the frames.

The other box is kind of an extended open order firing line, which would be quite common to counter the effectiveness of the
French’s Chassepot rifles at range. They were superior to the Prussian’s Dreyse rifles at a distance, so the Prussians would
suffer until they got within range. For that reason, the Prussians would abandon a shoulder to shoulder firing line, preferring a
more open order. The intent isn’t that you put all of the kneeling ones in front as there won’t be enough to build your ranks out
properly - it is more to represent them ducking and diving, using cover where they could. So, in this set there are more of the
Skirmisher frames and your final unit will be less uniform looking.

There’s also a command frame in each set - unfortunately, I don’t have that with me, it’s still being tooled. There’s four figures
on that: officer, standard bearer, drummer, and hornist (I don’t think they called them buglers). In the book I have on the
German army, written by a German, he always said hornist. There are more heads than you could ever need, along with some
extra arms, including a sword and pistol for a commander.

You can ultimately build 39 figures from each box and there are also some casualties.

COMING AROUND AGAIN – TURNING BACK TO THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

MP: We first did the Franco-Prussian range for Foundry in about ’85. It was the first range we did for them and nobody had done
Franco-Prussian War figures at that point really. Minifigs had some in 30mm from the ʼ60s but it was far from a big period. Not for
us either! We got two big Cassell’s books - History of the War - and thought “Ooooh, I didn’t know about this!”, so the range was
born largely as a project to satisfy ourselves. [It seems that more than 35 years later, little has changed. Perry Miniatures projects
are still almost entirely driven by the current whims of Alan and Michael! - Ed]

Once it was done, it sold really well - surprisingly well actually. Looking back, I think we always thought we could do better. No,
we knew we could! I think that there’s maybe only 20 Prussians in the range, about the same number of French, and then some
cavalry. It deserved more. And part of the appeal is that you can cover all of the Infantry with one box for each side. Obviously,
there will be stuff on the edges of that - Bavarians in metal, along with Jägers.

There are perhaps some in the new plastics that are similar in pose to some of the Foundry figures - there’s one loading from his
pouch that can be made who is a bit of a throwback.

It’s still not such a widely played period but Foundry still sell those early figures. I hope the new range will bring more gamers to
the Franco-Prussian War. I can see them being used for other things too though. There’s the chance for some fine ‘what if’ fun with
the invasion of Britain in the 1870s, of course, but there’s weird war possibilities - Martian things, steampunk, maybe Turnip28.
Different continental periods with different coloured jackets and ImagiNations.

I think there’s certainly interest in 19th century European wars, but there haven’t necessarily been a lot of figures out there,
especially reasonably cheap ones. I hope once the figures are available, it’ll encourage more players and we’ll take some nice
photos to inspire people, do some articles in magazines [Ta da! – Ed] and scenarios.

If you have buildings from Napoleonic to the First, even Second World War, you can use those on the tabletop, so that helps.

When it comes to the war you

don’t have to play 100,000 a
side battles - there were lots of
big battles, of course, which
the French tended to lose, but
there was plenty of skirmishing
in between. At the Battle of
Saarbrücken, which was the
first encounter of the war, there
was one regiment of Prussians
defending the town and a handful
of squadrons of cavalry with a
battery of artillery on the hill
further back. They were assaulted
by six divisions of the French,
who attacked first and invaded
Prussia. They held out for quite
a while before falling back …
Above: Now vs then - the new plastic Prussians alongside figures
from the original Foundry Franco-Prussian War range.

96
 Above: Figures in various poses, forming a more open order firing line, painted by Alan Perry.

I know a regiment versus six divisions isn’t exactly a skirmish, but there are records that a British tourist was there at the time,
having some food as things kicked off. Apparently a Jäger copped it near him, so he grabbed up the rifle and started to take pot
shots at the French too - something to put on a postcard! You had quite a lot of British and Americans around the Franco-Prussian
war observing what was going on actually.

There were patrols before Saarbrücken where shots would get fired over the border - there’s a record of Count Ferdinand von
Zeppelin (the one who produced Zeppelins in WW1) - who was a young officer at the time - leading some uhlans into France.
He ended up sitting down to have a meal at a bistro about six miles past the border, to the complete shock of all of the locals,
before riding back out again.

Above: A classic shot of early Foundry Franco-Prussian War figures, set up by the Perrys and snapped by Uncle Dunc in the early days of Wi.

97
 Above: French Foot artillery painted by Rafa ‘Archiduque’.
MORE IN METAL

MP: There’s a lot to accompany the plastic Prussians in metal. An early release is 12 codes of Prussian cavalry and I’ve got
some artillery for the French too. I’m still working on a mitrailleuse for them, the Prussian guns and crew are finished, I’m just
starting French chasseurs à pied (light infantry), and I will make a few codes in metal to go with the Prussian Infantry.

I’ve done a pack of officers already, to mix things up in the plastics, and there will be some Prone Infantry too … I really need to
get started on Jägers. There are French cavalry to do, Zouaves … I haven’t touched Bavarians and Saxons. The only difference with
the Saxons is a slight variation on the Pickelhaube crest, which is annoying - they integrated them instead of forage caps once they
came into the Franco-Prussian War. Maybe Aly [Morrison] will pester me to do a strip of heads - he can be very particular.

I’m looking forward to getting more things released and then painted, to get into gaming.

Above: Prussian Dragoons painted by Rafa ‘Archiduque’.

98
A PRACTICED POSING PROCESS FRANCO PRUSSIAN READING LIST

MP: I used to draw out positions in the early MP: There are four books in the Osprey Men-at-Arms series (two
days, especially when I worked for Games French and two Prussia), one in the Campaign series, and an overall
Workshop and Foundry, but even by the time history of the war in their Essential Histories. Those are a fine
Perry Miniatures started, I was so practiced starting point.
that I could pretty much just make the
models how they needed to be. I don’t have One thing that’s a little annoying is that in most of the books - the easily
prone figures here, but that’s about the only accessible ones at least - two thirds of anything on the French army will
pose concession. I’ll do a couple of codes of focus on the Imperial Guard and elite cavalry. They don’t play much
metal figures for that. of a part in things, while the line, who are central to the war, get short
shrift. Artillery uniforms get a couple of pages at most, which makes my
Prone figures do make sense in gaming as life tricky!
units would have gone prone - you can put a
single prone model next to them to indicate The best double volume on uniforms is from Verlag Militaria - Franco-
that if you want to. I think it would look Prussian War 1870-71, Uniforms and Equipment of the German Armies
great with big units going prone, it’d be a by Markus Stein and Gerhard Bauer (volume 1) covers the Prussians,
bit unusual. and the French side of things is in Franco-Prussian War 1870-71,
Uniforms and Equipment of the French Armies by Louis Delpérier,
Laurent Mirouze & Christophe Pommier (volume 2).

A great book for a pictorial view of the French army is L’Armee de

Napoleon III dans la Guerre de 1870 by Andre Jouineau and Jean-Marie
Mongin. That’s published by Heimdal.

I have three late 19th century books on the war: The Franco-German
War edited by Major-General Maurice C.B. from Sonnenschein
publishers and a double volume from Cassel (all well illustrated).

There are a number of more modern works, including The Franco-

Prussian War by Michael Howard from Routledge and one by Irving
Werstein (which I’m reading at the moment but is quite heavily Prussian
biased). There are loads more on t’internet too!

99
 DESIGNER’S NOTES:
SOLDIERS OF
NAPOLEON PREVIEW

Warwick Kinrade’s been battling through the UK’s Lockdowns to progress the
next game in his ‘Soldiers of’ series and he’s giving us an advanced preview taster!

Napoleonics is the biggest period for to use a card, and how managing your
one of my regular gaming opponents, card deck correlated to the command
who has large miniature collections and and control of an army. Another nice
My wargaming started with the has played with various rulesets for 30+ feature is that the cards can also give the
Napoleonic Wars, back in the early ʼ80s. years. Despite the plethora of rulesets armies their historical character, steering
Airfix plastic men that would never stand available nothing’s ever quite worked as commanders into fighting with an army
up, combined with Charles S. Grant’s well as he’d like; he asked if I’d consider as it would have performed historically.
Napoleonic wargames rules (photocopied writing some new rules (to go along with
The way Piquet’s cards produced a
from a library book) to make up the the other ‘Soldiers of’ games we often
pleasing amount of ‘friction’ within
first games I played with a tape measure play (Soldiers of God and Soldiers of
a quick to understand and, more
and dice. ‘Epic’ battles took place on Rome)). Nostalgia was no longer the only
importantly, quick to play system is
bedroom floors and, when it was allowed, motivation (it’s usually best if it isn’t)
something that inspired Soldiers of God
and Soldiers of Napoleon was born!
across a dining room table covered with and Soldiers of Rome. These first two
a green Subbuteo pitch and scouring pad INCREASING THE COMPLEXITY titles in the ongoing ‘Soldiers of’ series
hedges for terrain. IN THE ‘SOLDIERS OF’ GAMES only deal with ancient warfare, of course,
It was terrible! No battle ended without when men with pointy sticks tried to
I am a big fan of games that use cards
acrimony, but it was the beginning of a stab each other - a far simpler period for
to create tension in gameplay. Back in
tactics and army organisation than more
lifelong hobby in tabletop wargaming. the ʼ90s I experimented with the Piquet
Our gaming passions soon moved to modern combat.
rules, which had some brilliant ideas, but
WW2, but the appeal of the Napoleonic I felt they were weighed down with too As warfare has developed, over the
period lingered. The epic battles, the much ‘other stuff’ that, frankly, made it centuries, it has become increasingly
grand and colourful pageantry, and the hard to finish a game. Elements I really complex and the basic rules for any
sheer scale of the wars - it was only a liked included the asymmetry of the turn ‘Soldiers of’ book going ahead is
matter of time before I felt to the need to sequence, the unpredictability of the evolving to reflect this. With my first
go back to my wargaming origin tale and cards, the hard choices of how or when crack at horse and musket rules, in
write a set of rules.

100
Soldiers of Napoleon, I didn’t want to
just re-write a set of ancient warfare rules BRINGING CHARACTER TO THE TABLETOP
with added muskets! No, for a change
of time period, there would need to be a The game, as it stands, has the feel I
radical change in the game system too. hoped for and includes a few new gaming
twists. There are battlefield objective
The core mechanic that drives the action
cards and, to answer the question you’ve

designer’s
along would have to be altered, with probably all got waiting to go, yes, there
the aim of reflecting the complexities

notes
are some named commanders too. These
and details of Napoleonic warfare. The will not be a persistent feature on the
game rules and card system need extra tabletop, instead making the occasional
complexity. appearance, to observe and assist on
the part of their battlefield that you are
My starting point for Soldiers of gaming on. These commanders include
Napoleon was to change the engine the bigwigs: Napoleon, Wellington,
somewhat - the card mechanic. The cards Kutusov, Blucher, et al. who will bring
provide various Orders, which are spent their own variants to the flow of battle
by a brigade’s commander on Actions for and give you the justification to collect
the battalions, regiments, and batteries and use their models!
of his brigade. The greater the command
distance, the more orders required for an
Action - every ten paces costs one Order. in their scale on the tabletop, they should grinds until one side breaks. Only the
This keeps brigades together for efficient have an epic sweep. They were large most incapable commanders would
use of Orders, with large widespread engagements by the previous standards pursue the mid-battlefield mass-melee as
brigades becoming unwieldy and costing of warfare, so at a very simple level they a key strategy!
a lot of Orders. Actions include the benefit from bigger armies.
There are smaller actions across the
usual: marching, manoeuvring, formation There were many smaller engagements, of battlefield, a charge here, ground lost
changes, and cannons bombarding. course, but Soldiers of Napoleon would be there, a hill taken then lost, etc. I want
Musketry fire is split into two ‘modes’, a game of battles, not skirmishes. There is these events in my battles - a hill fought
volley and skirmish fire (for which you’ll great gaming to be had from Napoleonic over, and wood cleared on the right
have to deploy skirmishers). skirmishing, I’m sure, but what attracted flank, a farm defended on the left flank,
There are also some specialist actions, me to the period was the ‘big battalions’ so that the story of each game reads like
like ‘harassing’ for light cavalry only (to and that’s what I still love - massed the story of a historical battle. This, in
try and sweep away enemy skirmishers) infantry, cavalry, and artillery swamping part, comes down to having space on a
or ‘intimidation’ with heavy cavalry or the tabletop in their finery. tabletop for such fights to develop. As
lancers. Cards don’t have to be played for most of us do not have huge tabletops to
That’s great on paper and in the
just Orders, they can also be played for play on and huge numbers of men to line
imagination, but the instant problem
Special Events or to Rally. up on those tabletops, I need to put on my
designer hat to find another way to make
encountered while going down this path
is that the battles are
it work.
just too large for most
tabletops. There are I think there is perhaps a ‘golden rule’, a
only so many toy proportion of models to table space that
soldiers you can have works best. I don’t know exactly what
on a table, and I’m not it might be, but experience means I can
a fan of the over-full feel it out and see it on the tabletop when
tabletop in which playing the game.
miniatures have no
DIVISION-PLUS GAMING
room for manoeuvre.
Figures that are All of the above helped me to settle on
crowded-in, shoulder a roughly ‘division-plus’ sized game for
to shoulder, restrict the Soldiers of Napoleon. The basic tactical
two commanders to manoeuvring element of the game is
simply advancing on a battalion of infantry (or the roughly
each other and meeting similar regiment of cavalry). This is
Above: Designing the action cards. in a grinding war of as it was on Napoleonic battlefields.
dice rolling attrition. Regiments might be fielded together but
EPIC FOCUS - divided into their battalions and these
Decisive movement makes battles
ACHIEVABLE SCALE could execute different tactical roles
intriguing, it gives them more of a story,
if required. It seems only right that the
The next decision to make was what was enables a to-and-fro feel. There can be a
flanking move here, a heroic defence of
game would use the same system.
I actually trying to recreate? What are
the characteristic features of the period? a farm or village there, a swirling melee In all, with infantry battalions, cavalry
What makes Napoleonic battle unique? for a ford or bridge, the sudden collapse regiments, and the addition of artillery
What makes Napoleonic battle feel of a defensive position, the clearing of batteries, playing with maybe a dozen to
Napoleonic? a wood - these are the events that tell fifteen units under your control on the
a battle’s story and create the type of tabletop is possible. This is scope for
Big questions to work out the answers narrative that underpins the events of the enough variety in units to keep things
to and, on the subject of big, one of best gaming campaigns. interesting, but not so many men that the
the defining elements of Napoleonics tabletop is so packed with models that
is exactly that word - big! For me, When reading histories of real battles,
there is no space to manoeuvre in.
Napoleonic battles need to be impressive they do not often become repetitive

101
 I’m talking about 28mm
THE STATE OF PLAY
models; obviously smaller
models equal more space. Work on the Soldiers of Napoleon rules and book I’ve been keeping those interested in the game’s
As with all ‘Soldiers are well advanced (much helped by the UK’s development updated through the ‘Soldiers of’
of’ games, Soldiers of Lockdowns, keeping me inside with little excuse Facebook page and my blog (Move to Contact),
Napoleon is model-size to escape the confines of the keyboard) but the so feel free to join us there. With luck, and
agnostic. All distances game needs the final playtesting to refine it without too many further Covid-19 delays, it
are set in ‘paces’ by the (which will be much helped by the ending of the should be available later in 2021 or early 2022.
players to suit model size UK’s most recent Lockdown!).
and table space.
If, as a commander,
you are in control of
a division, it seemed
obvious that, although
it’s a lot of men, you
can’t expect to refight
Austerlitz, Wagram, or
Waterloo on a regular
tabletop. What you can
do is recreate part of it -
hopefully the exciting or
crucial parts! Hence the
‘plus’ part of the division-
sized game, because once
engaged a division is not
often fighting alone, it is
part of a wider force - its
Corps and then Army,
and they may well also
become involved, as
reinforcements.
Above: Playtesting a game pre-Lockdown.

102
GETTING CLOSER TO THE ACTION of the heavy cavalry or the grenadiers to quickly, faster than the heavy cavalry,
apply the coup-de-grace or save the line which is faster again than infantry.
These extra troops, from the periphery,
is pure drama! An ‘exciting, emotional, Sometimes the reserve can be strong
would play a big role in the game,
or unexpected event or circumstance’ - brigades, other times weaker; will they
to try and make it feel like you are
that is what all wargames (and games in strengthen the line on the left, right or
commanding part of bigger whole - there
general, for that matter) need! centre? Will they be required to defend,
is a larger battle raging, to the left and
or attack? This is all part of the pre-game
right of your tabletop that will impact on During the game, each side’s force has
planning for the battle.
your actions despite it being out of your access to Reserve Brigades, drawn from
particular game’s scope. the wider army; there is a chance these Soldiers of Napoleon is an ambitious
will be released to aid your area of the project, covering eight different theatres
battlefield. This is all arranged pre-game, and campaigns, from 1805 to 1815, with
You’re trying to win in your ‘divisional
area’, which is slightly different to just
as part of set-up - on which turn and multiple army lists for each. It’ll be a big
book in the end, a (hopefully) definitive
commanding a division. It opens up the
which table edge they’ll arrive - and this
historical orders of battle somewhat. A
can be aided by the presence of more tome for those interested in playing the
senior officers. Napoleon’s presence can
Napoleonic division is fairly restrictive
period with a card-driven set of rules.
on models and variety, it’s going to be
get things done!
infantry or cavalry. The assumption that As ever, writing the rules is just the
the tabletop area you are pushing figures Reserve brigades include the likes of start. Further playtesting is required
around is just one part of a bigger fight the French and Russian Imperial Guard, and there are all kinds of production
allows games to include elements that grenadiers, the heavy cavalry and, well challenges to consider; that’s the
were not part of single divisions, like the just about any other brigade really, an next big step. The cover needs to be
heavy cavalry reserve (note reserve). Just authentic way of placing the central finalised, the manuscript proofed,
because they aren’t in your division it reserve and second line troops into the layout and photography has to be done.
does not then mean that cuirassiers can’t game without them becoming an overly It’s a task almost as epic as the battles
be in your games - they can be committed common choice of forces. themselves but as your experienced
to your ‘divisional area’ and it still commander I’ll be seeing this campaign
The faster the brigade, the sooner they are
feels historically correct. In fact, their through safely and I hope to see you on
likely to arrive, so a light cavalry brigade
deployment just adds to the exciting story the tabletop soon!
can be moved up from reserve
the game is creating - the arrival

Below: Victirx figures, Hovels buildings and

Debris or War trees seen throughout this article.

103
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