On To Washington!

 I have put in my first order for the new army, I chose some safe troops which I know will be in the army, legionaries and Moor light cavalry. I have had a quick look at the make up of 3rd Century Romans but have still to read my book rather than just glancing at it, along with some research online, although I usually find the latter to be less good at specifics than a book. My main concern is whether during this period allies were used under their own leaders, I think we are still a way from Foederati joining in large numbers. The Moors were certainly with Thrax on his expedition and units based on heavy, lance armed cavalry had been added to the order of battle, but would the Romans have taken along friendly tribes of which there were many on the opposite banks of the Rhine and Danube? We will see. On the subject of figures good friend Phil Robinson very kindly sent me some A&A miniatures he had in his lead pile, some Romans and a pack of Moorish light cavalry, how good and fortuituous was that? Maybe the gods smiling on me as I had just sent off some spare transfers to a guy in Welsh Wales who needed them.

'Lucky' Jimi and I settled down to Bolt Action for the first game of the year, his mountain troops versus my Russians. Once again I decided to think outside the box, I kept my force Early War and took three squads backed up by the useless Ampulomet anti-tank mortar, a T-34/76 and a T28 (a first for this tank), along with an infantry gun. A young lad, Adair, new to the club asked if he could join and why not, he chose to join Jimi, they had a Panther, a PzII flame tank (my Luchs sitting in for this) and three squads, I think. We put three objectives on the table and whoever held the most at the end would win.

I now bring transports and had two trucks, one I sent up to unload beside a farmyard on my left centre, the other I sent up the right. The Jerries looked to be making an effort to attack all three objectives, I concentrated on the middle and right flank, during the second turn I went to unload my squad from the right flank truck and realised it was empty as I had already laid down the squad which should have been in it! I compounded this mistake by realising with a flame tank to my front I needed to quickly abandon the farm I had so easily grabbed.

T-34/76.

I grab the farm, bad move.

Adair's Panther after Bovington Panther.

As the action heated up I was winning the firefights apart from seemingly being unable to kill off any of Jimi's veterans opposite my right, despite having a full squad and my multi-turreted mechanical monster hit them. My T-34 on the left did manage to hit the Panther but only got a turret jam out of it, the Panther missed several shots. Young Adair was no slouch and decided to ram my T34 rather than shoot his less than accurate gun, I have never seen this done but I survived it and both vehicles ended up nose to nose. Lucky for me Adair seemed happy to keep Jimi's reputation for bad dice alive as he failed time and again to 'light up' my troops while I caught quite a few Jerries in the open as they made for the centre objective.

The monster.

How are we going to get over a hedge?

My troops grab a victory objective.

We called a halt on turn five, I had two objectives and the Germans one, a good win for the Reds.

Last night we finally managed to fight our first Shenandoah Campaign game, a Union division encamped around the town of Woodstock was attacked by a Confederate division, not quite Shiloh but similar. I was going to umpire but Ed offered my one of his brigades to take part, I was set up on the Federal left, there was another brigade to my right and one being held off as a reserve. Fran put his whole division opposite our right flank and it turned out for a time he had three brigades against one, then as he was forced to pull back as my troops began to advance and threaten his right it was two against one. A really good effort, he had the good fortune to have organised his attack before Ed had received his cavalry so managed to gain an advantage on position.

View from the Reb lines.

View from the Union lines.

The Federals were wrong footed and to add insult to injury the Confederate artillery was devastating and cut a swathe through the Union defenders on the hill as they lay down to minimise the effects. With the Rebs noticing my rush to help they peeled off troops to prepare a hot reception, meanwhile the tsunami of gray began to engage Ed's defenders and casualties mounted. First the Federal cavalry ran despite a valiant stand and then two blue regiments were cut to pieces and joined them. Things were looking very bad.

The Rebs turn up.

More of 'em.

The Federal reserves had now arrived and took up a defensive position on the edge of the town just as I was beginning to get within musket range of the enemy. I had tried to help the situation with counter-battery fire on the Rebel guns but my crews were hopeless, the other Federal battery while not as bad was unable to fire on the main Confederate assault columns and instead took potshots at the infantry protecting the Rebel batteries. 

Federal right flank.

Under attack.

John Wayne is late.

Woodstock.

I was now feeling confident of overwhelming the hill on which the Confederate guns sat but they now turned their attention on my boys and stopped my skirmish line dead, plan A had suddenly gone out the window. Ed, was being urged by his commanders to withdraw while he could, I would have fought on but perhaps I was just enjoying myself. With a heavy heart and Confederate taunts Billy Yank retreated.

The reserves arrive.

Ed decides to retreat.

My useless attack on the left.

A good game and a solid fight, luck was certainly with the Rebs as the Union artillery basically did nothing to help the defence and having the disadvantage of deploying first it was always going to be a tough time against an aggressive commander like Fran. In the cold light of day however things were seen to have been a lot more even in casualties than we had thought the night before as one Union brigade had basically ceased to exist. Confederate casualties were fairly high but were spread out between the division while four Federal regiments had bore the brunt of all the Yankee casualties. The battle was unusually safe for commanders as no officers were shot during it although several must have holes in hats.

No matter, we had a good time and the Rebs have drawn first blood, our second battle will take place on 9th February, I am not going to make any predictions as I was sure the Yanks could have held Woodstock in this one.

Parthian Shot: Civil Service people at the Land Registry to strike 'indefinately' due to their harsh employers (you and me) who want them back at work, like during the Victorain era but with endless tea breaks ad Hob Nobs. If you have been waiting for a search or a call back on your title plans or summaries you might already have thought they were on strike.

I am Politician material.

 Happy New Year. I had hoped to have a battle report from the campaign in this post but circumstances were not such that I could get the players involved together for the Battle of Woodstock, so hopefully this will be upcoming at a later date.

Why am I now suitable to be a politician you ask, well I already cannot look at myself in the mirror as I am a shadow of my former handsome self but the main reason is that I too am able to do a U-Turn and go back on a promise. No more projects I have shouted over the last few months, maybe one of those miscreants who delve into ones past online utterances could prove it was even longer. I have been brought to such a pass by a Christmas present.

The item in question was a book on the army of Giaus Julius Maximinus Thrax (the Thracian), who led an expedition deep into Germany, far deeper than most historians allowed for prior to the discovery of the Harzhorn battlefield (2008). A Roman victory against the German tribes for which Thrax is the main contender although the exact date and leader cannot be determined for now. I have two Roman armies but have always had a soft spot for the middle period which my troops do not cover, Armorum & Aquila (A&A) Miniatures have ranges which cover the 3rd and 4th Century, I was hooked.

The culprit.

 The illustrations in the book are quite striking, some of the facial expressions are a bit strange and the face looks like it has been trapped in the helmet. The armour detail is exceptional and I doubt you will find this in wargaming figures, these guys as well as looking frightening also looked sharp. As ever the shields draw me in, in nearly every case they are the artists represenatations based on Legion symbols and unless you are good at hand painting you will have to rely on transfers, thankfully Little Big Man Studios do a range which will fit. The book points out that the famous Duro-Europos shield would be useless in combat as it is too thin, part of another decorated shield found in the city is also unsuitable for combat, so again I suspect these were for ceremonial/guard use.

I also have to mention the work of Phil Hendry who ran a blog years ago which detailed his building of a 3rd Century army using A&A figures, the force is simply inspiring and I have never forgot them, I will be using his blog as a starting point for the new army. Phil's troops were based in the East of the empire while I will be concentrating on the Legions of the Rhine and Danube frontiers who more that likely sent vexillations for the expedition into Germany rather than the complete legion. I believe my favourites, Legio XII, were on the Pannonian frontier around this time and if so probably had a presence in the invasion. Further research will follow.

Phil's troops, hope he doesn't mind.

 Will I get these troops on the table, who knows, maybe once in a blue moon but I don't care, well I do, but in the end the research, collecting and painting will keep me sane for the coming year and a bit.

In order to clear the decks I have managed to get another small pike block from out of my lead pimple, this leaves about 20 figures in the tin whose fate will be to remain there forever. I am painting them up as a Papal contingent which includes mercenaries of Ludovico de' Medici. As I am moving on to the Romans these will be the last Italian Wars figures for a long time. While on the subject of the future I am getting an urge to add figures to Cohors I of the Twelfth, I know it should be twice the size of a normal cohort but adding a few more figures will scratch that itch, also I can order them from Aventine when I get the cataphracts for the German invasion, sorted.

Over Christmas I managed to finish my four new buildings, two barns and two houses, nothing spectacular but decent kits, I might add a bit more weathering to the two houses.

The club starts back on Tuesday and I have a game of Bolt Action to kick off the year. I am also going to go to York this year to browse for bits and pieces, mainly scatter terrain, some paints and maybe the odd piece from the Last Valley, I feel the need for some more trees and maybe some smaller hedges.

Parthian Shot: In the new 2025 D&D rule book if you feel your adventurer has met a situation which is inappropriate you can hold out your palm or make a cross with your arms above your head to halt proceedings. The rest have not to discuss why you have called a halt but simply amend the play and move on without prejudice. I might try that the next time my one and only tank is punctured by a strike from an anti-tank gun.