Wednesday, October 23, 2019

SYW - Austrian artillery ready for action

Manufacturer:  mixture of FrontRank and Crusader miniatures
Scale:  28mm


Hi,

today I am posting about my newest expansion to my Austrian SYW-Army - five pieces of artillery.

One of these pieces had been painted by myself while the other four stands had been painted by a friend.

Yesterday I managed to give them the needed bases and so they are ready for action against their Prussian enemies.

The Commander and his fellows on the other single base are painted up by myself.

 Cheers

Mike







Friday, October 18, 2019

"The Fort" - not by Bernard Cornwell, but by Mike Spanuth

Manufacturer:   DIY - so it was me :)
Scale:   28mm

Hi again,

in this post you will find some more pictures of my selfmade "Fort" for the French and Indian War.

I started this project last year in July and the fort had already been finished in October or November last year as I remember. I wanted to have a modular fort so I could arrange it in different ways for different sceanarios. Once a larger one and once a smaller outpost. That was the idea and here is the result.


The "Fort" with the elements I produced last year - though there are 2 further wall sections missing on this picture.

After having finished the moduls of last year I recognized that the produced moduls won´t allow many variants in arranging the fort. The picture above shows the smallest version of the "Fort" with the first elements. I wasn´t able to create the fort without using the tower sections. For some scenarios this might be too large.

So - what to do - I had to produce more moduls in different shapes. And this is the result.

Though the fort is "ready" now, I am sure that there will be some more elements that I want to make.
I have shown the new elements in one of my last posts. This time they are finished with painting an basing.

The newest elements for the "Fort" - 4 edge sections, 1 edges section in vauban style and a octagonal supplement for just one tower. The wall segment and the tower in the background had been ready last year.


The fort now has the following elements:

8 straight wall sections
1 gate section
4 edge normal sections
1 edge section in vauban style
4 towers with removable roofs
1 supplementary octagonal floor for the towers, also with removable roof
1 officer´s cabin, also with removable roof
1 flagpole with a British flag waving in the wind






One tower with the supplementary octagonal floor.


I am happy because of the fact that this is a modular terrain. This means that I will be able to work on extensions if I want to, but for it is already ready for action I won´t have to. 


What could be next is 

1-2 damaged wall sections
1 further gate segment (as I would be able to place even two forts on the table)
1 building for normal soldiers
1 combined building including a small stable for the officer´s horse and a magazine


What should be next is

at least two further flagpoles - one with a French flag and one with a Continental flag for AWI


That is what I might do if I have the inspiration. 

I would be glad if I was able to say this about other projects. :)


Here are some pictures of the possible combinations of the elements of the "Fort".

Please notice that these pictures are just for testing the possibilities and they don´t have historical background.

One of the "normal" towers. 

The same tower combined with the octagonal extension.

Though this combination does not make any sense because of a missing gate section -
a combination test with several elements.

The same combination extended with the octagonal floor.

The smalles version of the "Fort".
This version would not be able to create just without the new edge sections.
The towers don´t fit close to the officer´s cabin, but the edge segments do.

The smallest version with just one tower.

Here the same combination with the octagonal extension.

Though I am not sure if this vauban style segment is historically correct - I like it very much.
Just a little larger variation.
The following pictures just show the other possible combinations. 
I am really happy with the result.

This picture shows the largest possible combination - at the moment :)








As I got a lot of positive comments within several Facebook groups the only thing I missed was to make moulds of this segments just to cast the segments and to sell them. 

Who would be interested?

While writing this post I have a lot of further ideas for more segments. So - maybe to be continued.


Cheers

Mike

Friday, October 4, 2019

FIW - Muskets&Tomahawks - Fierce fighting

Hi,

Last saturday Gerhard, Sebastian and I had a great battle between French and British troops, about 450 points each force.
The French had the order to burn down the Iroquois longhouse while the British had to get the supply Waggon into the fort.
Two units of french regulars and one unit of Canadian militia had to fulfill this order.
The supporting Hurons had to start in canoes and to cross the lake before they were able to fight the Waggon train defended by a unit of provincials and a unit of light infantry. Another unit of Canadian militia already was set up in the ambush.
The fort was defended by one unit of provincials and a unit of British regulars. The longhouse was protected by a unit of Iroquois warriors.
The game went very close at the beginning.
The Hurons had been lucky to reach the coast of the lake very soon and started to support the Canadians in the ambush.
The wagon was on its way and it would be very difficult to break through the enemie‘s lines.
So the British regulars started to march from the fort towards the foes and started to attack the Hurons and Canadians from the rear.
The provincials left in the fort started a fierce firefight with the French regular troops and disabled them to get closer to the Iroquois longhouse.
The left Canadian unit got into firefight with the Iroquois defending the longhouse and managed to break their lines. The Iroquois once started a melee but had been driven back and also complete defeated.
So the Canadians were able to set the longhouse on fire.
Meanwhile the British regulars drove back the second unit of Canadian militia and were in a fierce firefight with the Hurons. The provincials and the wagon had the chance to walk further to the fort and the light infantry also covered their march.
But from now on the luck was with the French.
The British light infantry failed a morale test and left the battlefield.
The Canadian unit that burnt the longhouse came to support the Hurons and so the British regulars got fired by both sides.
The troop was reduced very quickly and finally was shot down.
The remaining officer started a melee with the Hurons and killed one warrior before he was shot down by the Canadians.
As the British force already had to put the morale card in the card deck it was a question of time when the force will be broken.
The provincials in the fort weren‘t able to pin the French regulars and at least one unit of French marched into the fort.
The last units of the British were the provincials that both failed their morale tests.
So the French Not only burnt down the longhouse but also captured the supply wagon and the British fort.
A total victory for the French but als a very funny game again.

Cheers
Mike

Both forces - French and British

The French

The British

A part of the scenery

The second part of the scenery

The French Regulars had to start here

One of the French Militias had to start here

And here they come

The British Regulars marching out of the fort to support the supply waggon

British Provincials defending the fort

First volley with no effect

The other unit of Provincials with the waggon

And the British light infantry

French Regulars advancing

And firing at the defending Provincials

The Hurons reaching the coast of the lake

Also the second war party has arrived

The Indians starting to cut the trecks way

The first fire of the British light infantry against the Canadians - again no effect

The Canadians firing at the British light infantry causing two casualties

The British Regulars have arrived to support the treck

The Hurons reacting to the new thread

Melee between the Iroquois and the unit of Canadians attacking the longhouse 
The result was a desaster for the Iroquois

 
Another warrior lying dead on the ground - and the other warriors failed their reaction test and leave the table

The big chance for the Canadians to start burning down the longhouse 
And the fire spreads out

 
The other Canadians had been decimated by the Firing line of the British Regulars - but they are still in action

The Provincials defending the waggon against the Hurons

The Provincials in the fort don´t hold their stand

That is the opportunity for one French unit to walk around the fort

The Canadians have fulfilled their mission and start to help the Hurons against the British Regulars

The Regulars are also decimated because of the firefight with the Hurons but managed to drive them back for a while 
The British light infantry advancing - but an event card caused a morale test to them which they failed - the unit left the table without great action and will be missing in the fight for the supply waggon


The one unit of French Regulars at the fort 
And the same unit taking the fort


The British Regulars are defeated by several volleys of the Hurons and the Canadians

The officer as last man standing

The Provincials are not able to hit the Hurons - the cover is too good

After a volley started by the Hurons this unit had some casualties, failed its morale test and runs away

The British officer starts a heroic melee with the indians



He even manages to defeat one of the Hurons...

...and is been taken under fire by the Canadians

The end of the officer was clear

The Canadians stopping the supply waggon


The last unit of the British running around like crazy chicken


The French flag waving over the former British fort

The surviving Provincials are captured by the French Regulars



A total defeat of the British forces - the Iroquois longhouse has been burned down, the supply treck and also the fort have been captured by the French and their allies

The final scene of a great game