Battle of Spion Kop, a Bloody Big Battles scenario

I was inspired to run a Boer War scenario from a wargaming friend who had been reading a book about the Boer War.  I have not run a Boer War battle in a long time so figured I'd give it a go again.  This time using the Bloody Big Battle rules.  It turned out the Spion Kop scenario would work out good because I had all the miniatures for the scenario painted up and based already.  This would also be my first foray into the Bloody Big Battles rules.  I played in a Franco-Prussian War game awhile back, but really couldn't get into the rules as a player.

In all the Bloody Big Battles scenarios, you will notice a lot of terrain.  They are not simple throw down a few terrain elements, these can be elaborate winding rivers to expansive hills.  I wanted to see if I could come with a way to simply create these features for this game and future games.  I don't want to spend a lot of time building fancy terrain when I will only use the setup for a couple sessions and then I'm onto the next battle with a different layout.  I also really don't have the room to store the terrain.

I have a lot of future Bloody Big Battles scenario options that I want to do in the future in periods I already have a lot of 15mm miniatures for: Crimean War, 1859 Franco-Austrian War, and Boer War.

The Spion Kop, Boer War scenario by Anton van Dellen is a good one.  I would drop the British artillery can not fire at a Boer target if a British unit is within 9", British artillery suffers a left shift because of Boer camouflage, and British artillery suffers low ammo if they roll a 10 or more.

It is certainly a challenge to figure out visibility between units when you have hills in the battle.  I need to build a diagram to explain when units can see each other and when they are blocked by contours.

In the playtest and at the club, the British has it hard.  I was able to get to a draw in the playtest.  The club game we only made it through half the scenario turns and the British were struggling to take any of the objectives.

Video on the terrain and setup of the Spion Kop scenario.

Video showing the results from each of the 8 turn playtest.

Russo-Polish War 1919-20 playtesting

Recently I acquired 15mm Russian Civil War (RCW) painted and based miniatures and have been looking at using them for a game.  Before I acquired these miniatures I have had some interest in the RCW and also the Russo-Polish War of 1919-20.  Having just read a second book on the Russo-Polish War I was inspired to test out some WWI rules.  In the past I used the Big Table Little Men rules for a battle in WWI Palestine, but this time I wanted a different ruleset for the RCW and Russo-Polish War.

Here is the list of rules I have read through or playtested as options for Russo-Polish War:

• Through the Mud and Blood
• Trial by Fire
• Great War Spearhead 2
• If the Lord Spares Us
• Red Actions! the Pygmy Wars Version
• Return to the River Don
• It Rolls for Ivan
• Triumph of the will
• Big Table Little Men

Rather than explain why I did not pick each ruleset, I'll just focus on the ruleset I picked.  I don't think any of these rulesets are bad.

I chose Trial by Fire by M Batuhan Tuncdemir.  I was not familiar with these rules, I think I just stumbled on it.  I was looking for a ruleset that was not complicated, uses my existing based miniatures, does not end up with a lot of markers on the table, games conclude in less than four hours, and of course is fun to play.  I will have to try out these rules for WWI Mesopotamia.  The free rules can be found on the official blog or Facebook page.

The scenario I have been testing has Polish infantry and cavalry defending a town against Russian infantry and cavalry.  Some field artillery is sprinkled in on both sides.  Below you can see what my playtest looks like.

Russians advancing on the Polish positions.

A good book on the history of the Russo-Polish War mainly from the military aspect is Warsaw 1920 by Adam Zamboyski.  It is an easy read that gives a good overview of the conflict.  There is not a lot of books on the war in English and this is a good addition that I recommend.  Do not be fooled by the title of the book, most of the book covers more than just the defense of Warsaw.

To get you in the era of the conflict, here are some good music to listen to:

Polish Patriotic songs

What scale should we game in?

I have been in various discussions regarding historical wargaming miniature scales and why gamers choose certain scales.  We should choose the scale we want to.  We all have our reasons for picking a certain scale whether it is for land, air, or naval battles.  I've ended up with all sorts of scale miniatures.

Here are my reasons for picking my scales in order of decision making:

1. I have a battle in mind that I want to wargame.  Do I have some of the miniatures in a scale already?
2. What rules will I use?  Sometimes rules are designed to use a range of scales.
3. Is there a company which supplies all the needed miniatures for the battle.  If only one company has the needed miniatures, then I am stuck with that scale.  If this scale results in too many miniatures to paint or too few, then I probably will not do the battle (examples: Jutland or Gettysburg).
4. What is the size of the battle?  To cover the whole battle maybe painting up 6mm or 15mm will work.  If it is a small battle, maybe 28mm as a skirmish battle will work.  28mm could also work for a big battle, but do a portion of the main battle.
5. Based on the figure count, will it cost too much or result in me painting for years?  If so, then don't move forward with this possible project.

This is my current scale variety in my collection:

Naval

• 1:600 - ACW
• 1:1000 - Russo-Japanese War
• 1:1200 - Age of Sail (2 ships), War of the Triple Alliance
• 1:2400 - WWI, WWII

Air

• 1:144 - WWII, Korean War, Vietnam
• 1:600 - WWII
• 1:1200 - WWII
• 1:2400 - WWII

Land

• 28mm - War of 1812, Philippine-American War, Rebellions of 1837-1838
• 25mm - Aztec-Conquistador
• 15mm - Boer War, Crimean War, Battle of Flodden, War of 1812, Italian War of 1859
• 10/12mm - Vietnam, WWI, WWII, Korean War
• 3mm - Guns for War of the Triple Alliance (1 stand)

I have others unpainted periods that will expand this list.  In the future I can see myself adding 6mm.

I used to have 1:72 / 20mm WWII which I used with Rapid Fire, but decided to bail on that for something smaller (10mm) with Blitzkrieg Commander ruleset.  I found it looked better for the battles I wanted to do.  Also, so much easier to store these miniatures.

What scales would I recommend staying clear of? I think scales smaller than 6mm (land) and smaller than 1:1200 (air).  Naval wise, I think all the scales are fine.  My struggle is when the ship models get large and lack the maneuver room on the table (i.e. 1:1000 Russo-Japanese capital ships).  I guess I struggle getting excited about miniatures I can't tell what they are.

15mm Canadian Armoured Autocars

I have finished up two 15mm Canadian Armoured Autocar.  Not sure if I'll paint any markings on it, but I think they turned out pretty well.  These models from Battlefront Miniatures are excellent.  I do think the machine gunners are sitting a bit high based on photos I've seen.  These will make their appearance in a future Square Bashing rules 1918 scenario.

My full blog post on the Canadian Autocar: link

Napoleonic First-Person Videos and Miniatures

In another random YouTube discovery, I came upon a great two part video set of a French Napoleonic reenactor from the first-person perspective (Go Pro camera).  Below are the two part videos:

I have played in a number of Napoleonic games over the years, and watching these videos really shows a great perspective of what being a soldier in the line infantry was like.

Unlike some Napoleonic gamers, I have not gone in very heavy.  I only have about 200 15mm War of 1812 figures.  I have since decided to focus on 28mm War of 1812 figures for skirmish wargames.  In the photo below, the miniatures on the left are 6mm Napoleonic figures.  I have never painted 6mm figures before.  I am curious if I will like painting the scale.  I don't plan on getting into 6mm Napoleonic figures.  I will be certainly be expanding my 28mm War of 1812 collection.  I may use 6mm for a different period.



Battle of Flodden Video

I made my first video and posted it to YouTube.  This video focuses on the historical situation of the Battle of Flodden mid way through the battle, from the perspective of the Scottish Army.

Last Stand Dan blog: Battle of Zorndorf, 1758

Last Stand Dan: Battle of Zorndorf, 1758

Thanks to Dan for doing a write up about this game on his blog.  Excellent game.  Thanks Matt for putting it on.  We used the Age of Honor scenario book which uses the Age of Eagles rules (based on Fire and Fury rules).  Fire and Fury is one of my favorite set of rules.  I wish I could use the rules for all sorts of games I want to do, but I find it just requires too many miniatures to be painted up.  That is really my only issue with the rules.

I do not know much about the Seven Years War and know just a bit about the French and Indian War.  I was impressed with how much cavalry there was at the Battle of Zorndorf and I guess in this period in Europe.  The battle felt very Napoleonic, but there was a great variety of troops.  The scenario was done using 15mm figures.  I prefer this scale over 25mm for these sized battles.  It just looks right.

I'm looking forward to more Seven Years War battles from Matt.