Wargames Foundry - Devon Wargames Group Day

Last weekend the Devon Wargames Group and friends, Panjo and Andy, went on tour with a trip up to Nottinghamshire to take in the delights of Wargames Foundry on the Saturday and Partizan on Sunday interspersed with a bit of merriment and battlefield sight seeing.

Lots of eye-candy at Patizan last weekend in the link below

Partizan 2017

The trip up to Foundry based in Newark took just under four hours, so setting out at about 07.00 we were up to their show-room/shop/games-room for about 11.00 in time to get started on our game before lunch, provided by our hosts mixed in with a bit of occasional retail therapy.

When Tom, Vince, Steve M and I arrived the other guys were already there, so once the table was set up and the respective forces laid out, Mr Steve M our Gamemeister for the day briefed the players on their objectives.

The cat herding begins

Our game was a French Indian War 'big bash' using Muskets & Tomahawks, with Steve overseeing the card deck to herd the cats that playing a big game in our club can sometimes feel like, especially with the added distraction of all those lovely Foundry figures in close proximity just asking to be given a new home.

We were looked after during the day by Diane Ansell and her team who kept our strengths up with liberal lashings of tea and coffee together with other sustenance as well as dealing with our purchases.

French Coureur de Bois lead the advance across the river

British Rangers move forward to contest the French advance

The premise of our game was a fairly straight forward encounter mission between the two opposing armies with each player commanding a different mix of three or four units of Indians, Regulars, Militia and Ranger/Coureur de Bois types but with each player also having an individual task to perform during the play.

This mechanism meant that as well as dealing with the threat posed by the enemy opposite each player had an eye on an objective close by that had to be kept in mind as the forces tried to grab control of various parts of the table.

My motley force are led across the river by a screen of Indians

The early moves were a rush to get forward and grab the terrain

As an example I ended up commanding a group of ten Militia, eight locally raised Irregulars and eight Indians, with the task of securing a wagon in the opposite half of the table and dragging it back into French lines.

British Regulars and Colonial Militia could chuck out the fire

Tom's regulars and light infantry on the advance

My particular task was made extremely difficult as the open space between my occupied barn opposite my objective was covered by Tom's British light infantry and regulars tasked with searching the buildings around to safely escort a party of officers ladies to the rear.

No matter how much fire I laid down on the cover close by the wagon, his light infantry held firm and I ended up taking my frustration out on "Mr Steve" in the sector next door by continually showering his Rangers with a barrage of arrows that took out four of their number over the course of the game.

As the two lines closed on each other as each side sought to grab the best terrain from which to run their battle, the game settled into a struggle to wear down the enemy opposite to allow more freedom of movement to do the tasks each of us had been set.

Bob manoeuvres his regulars down to the river 

A pause in proceedings, perhaps due to a shopping foray

Some rules are not particularly suitable for these kind of large friendly games, but Muskets & Tomahawks were a perfect accompaniment and kept the play flowing very well as the variation in card draw made sure that play from one turn to another was never in the same sequence.

Dress those lines

Search everything and then burn it!

My militia can only observe the wagon, my objective, over in the copse of trees opposite as Tom's light infantry and regulars refuse to budge

Indians hugging the terrain and sniping at favourable targets

My Indians, probably my best performing unit on the day, 'darkening the sky' with their arrows

British fire-power was a constant threat to troops in the open

I get some much needed support but that wagon in the trees opposite still looks a long way away

 As our game progressed some player objectives began to be achieved as the battle started to swing in different directions across the front.

The ladies are found and Tom's regulars provide a close escort as they make their way to the rear

Virginia Militia and regulars hold the cover

Another British objective achieved as French property goes up in smoke

With two British and one French objective achieved and with the day drawing to a close we called the game a British victory.

The game was a triumph of organisation and thanks go to the DWG members who provided figures and terrain to populate the Foundry provided tables, but principally to Steve M who pulled the game together and provided the bulk of figures from his very fine collection.

Thanks also to Diane and Wargames Foundry for hosting our day out. We were all made very welcome and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Oh and not forgetting my retail therapy, aided and abetted by Mr Steve who kept thrusting packs under my nose all day, I picked up enough figures to build a Roman citizen legion together with some fine German ladies exhorting their men folk to kill lots of Romans and spare them from a fate worse than death.

Rangers cover the open ground

Before heading off to our hotel in Lincoln about forty minutes up the road, we decided to check out the battlefield of Stoke Field which is situated right next door to the Foundry workshops.

Unfortunately during our game the day had developed into perfect wargaming weather with a torrential downpour by the time we stepped out into daylight.

Thus we contented ourselves with a visit to the church next door and a drive around the back of the battle field to see the area of the "Red Gutter"where some of the fleeing rebel soldiers met their end during the rout towards the River Trent and in which several grave pits were discovered.

If you are interested, Wargames Foundry are promoting activities in support of the 530th commemoration of the battle next month and I have attached the link to their site for booking tickets.

Battle of Stoke Field 530th Anniversary

Battlefields Trust- Battle of Stoke Field

The two World Wars are commemorated in East Stoke Church with this plaque to
the fallen, noticeably Gunner Price aboard HMS Queen Mary, the loss of which was covered
in my post on Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the WWI exhibition.

That is an extremely large Union flag, we thought probably from a ship

The memorial stone to the Battle of Stoke in the local church close to where
most of the burial pits were discovered

The following pictures show the steep escarpment at the back of Stoke Field down which the rebel troops sought to escape at the close of the battle.

You can always tell when I have gone the extra mile for this blog when you can detect rain drops on the lens in the lower right corner of these pictures.

For a fuller understanding of the location of the "Red Gutter" area seen here, follow the link above to the Battlefields Trust site for a fuller explanation of the action together with a range of superb maps illustrating the possible positions of the two forces.

With the weather as bad as it was we contented ourselves to plan another visit to do this site justice on a future visit.

Next up the Queen's Sconce Newark and that Book Review.

Virginia Regiment - French Indian War

George Washington in the uniform of Colonel the Virginia Regiment - 1772

The Virginia Regiment was raised in 1754 initially under the command of Colonel Joshua Fry, a soldier, surveyor and mapmaker, and a 'West-countryman' having been born in Crewekerne, Somerset. He was and is most famous for his collaboration in producing a map of the state of Virginia in 1752.

Joshua Fry

Colonel Fry was on his way to attack the French Fort Duquense when he fell from his horse, which led to his untimely death in May 1754.

He was succeeded by the then Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, who would, as well of a spot of soldiering, later go on to have an interesting career in politics!

Virginia Militiaman 1755 -62, Gerry Embleton

The Virginia Regiment may well have not been as well uniformed as the figures presented and certainly in the early years of the regiment only the officers would have been so, with many of the men operating in civilian dress mixed occasionally with items of regimental items.

That said there are many references to the red waistcoats and blue-red faced jackets having been established by 1755. Although it seems that Washington and many of his officers may have dispensed with their 'regimentals' when joining General Edward Braddock on his ill-fated expedition that year, preferring to wear linen hunting shirts as illustrated by the man in Gerry Embleton's classic illustration.

Braddock Expedition

The Virginia Regiment bears the distinction as being the first all-colonial professional military force, distinctive from other local militias raised at the time for practising regular drill and wearing a standard uniform.

This regiment heralded the early attempts to professionalise the colonial militia in support of the regulars and laid the foundation of Virginia line regiments that were formed in 1775 at the start of the American War of Independence.

Actions participated in include Jumonville Glen, Fort Necessity, Braddock's Column and the Forbes Expedition.

Map to illustrate the key area of operations for the Viriginia Regiment along the border territory with Ohio Country

Battle of Jumonville Glen
Battle of Fort Necessity
John Forbes (British Army officer)

The figures presented are a twenty six figure project I have painted as part of Steve M's growing collection of 28mm French Indian War figures and are from the Galloping Major range of figures which with the 'heroic' 28mm size are an absolute joy to paint and made a nice break in between finishing my AB 18mm French before starting the Spanish.

I think given the descriptions of the look of the regiment when on campaign I would be inclined to mix in few hunting shirt types to represent the officers and newer recruits.

Steve and I play-tested Sharp Practice II a few weeks ago and I know he is looking at creating some sabot bases so we can more easily organise trained units such as these into formation groups as per the rules.

Sharp Practice II - First Date with a New Lady

I am looking forward to seeing these chaps out on the table.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/GallopingMajorWargames/
http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

Virginia Regiment

Next up a review of the Spanish 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of Estremadura at Talavera

Rogers Rangers

Formed in the winter of 1755 from units based at Fort William Henry and commanded by the then Captain, later Major Robert Rogers, Rogers Rangers became one of the iconic units of the Seven Years War fought between Great Britain and France in their struggle to dominate the early colonies of North America and Canada.

Initially forming one company, the unit operated around the Lake George, Lake Champlain area of New York sometimes deep behind French lines raiding towns and military encampments; often ignoring the military tradition of retiring to winter quarters by launching raids that ambushed French forces twice in January 1757 and March 1758 at the first and second Battle of the Snowshoes.

The usefulness of the Rangers was recognised in that the unit was expanded to two then four companies in that time and by early 1758 had expanded to fourteen companies of around 12-1400 men and operating with Indian allies were able to take the war into the French controlled territories.

The tradition of daring attacking light forces lives on today in the American armed forces with the establishment of WWII US Ranger companies that carry the heritage of these men into the modern forces of today.

These figures are part of Steve M's growing collection of French Indian War figures, many of which have featured on this blog over the years. I love the period and the scale and it's nice to break up my own project work by helping friends with theirs, and I get to play with them as well.

The picture that heads up the post gives the look I was striving for and I think they will make a nice addition to the collection.

After my little excursion into the French Indian War, it's back to the Peninsular War and the Talavera Campaign with the 2/63e Regiment de Ligne up next.