As referred to in Revolt in the Sudan Turn 03: January 1884, at Abu Hamed Sayed Bey decides to sally forth from the town and endeavour to temporarily break the siege. While Abu Hamed is now plentifully supplied with resources (it has over 6 months of supplies on hand) Sayed Bey determines to take the opportunity to procure more, and while he has a relatively fresh & strong force available to hopefully inflict a defeat on the local Mahdist forces. Unbeknown to Sayed Bey, he sallies forth only two days after Sir Henry’s victory over the Dervish force at Baqah al-Garbiyyah Oasis, intent on breaking the siege of Abu Hamed…
Continue reading “Fire & Sword Battle 04: Sally at Abu Hamed”Category: Rulesets
Printing Action Cards For Longstreet
If you are interested in Longstreet you will know it requires cards to play. There is an official set available from Sam Mustafa with the rules, which requires the action deck for one player, plus all the advanced cards for other features of the (advanced) rules and the campaign. However you do need to have 2 decks of the action cards for a standard game – the official deck will provide you one set for 1 player, plus all the advanced cards you need for both players. So to get a second action deck (assuming your regular opponent(s), or lack of the same, don’t have a set) you can either do as I have done and buy a second official set, or you can just use the lower quality free PDF from Sam’s Website to printout, stick to card, and cut out. Continue reading “Printing Action Cards For Longstreet”
Marching On Richmond: Virginia Farm 1864
As the summer of 1864 dragged on we continued to manoeuvre and fight indecisive engagements with our erstwhile rebel opponents. As Fall approached however we finally cornered the main Confederate Army in Virginia to force a major action to defend Richmond. My Division was engaged near the centre-right of our line, at a place we dubbed “Virginia Farm” where once again we found General Longman’s forces opposing us… Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: Virginia Farm 1864”
A Spanish Village near Waterloo
In a Spanish Village somewhere between Quatre Bras and Waterloo, in Belgium, Napoleon’s advanced guard clashed with rearguard elements of Wellington’s retiring British & German allied force. My detachment of dragoons were in the vanguard of the returning Emperor’s advance, and had stopped for the evening in a strangely Spanish village not far from Quatre Bras, having pursued the English since the battle and the last mentioned place. We selected the village to billet in and establish pickets for the evening in anticipation of the arrival of the leading infantry elements of the following Corps. Unknown to us the English and their their new Allies had sent forth aggressive rear-guard patrols to the village with similar intent, and presumably hoping to deny us the village for the evening, setting the scene for a brisk late afternoon action! Continue reading “A Spanish Village near Waterloo”
Warlord North American Buildings
To supplement my Perry Miniatures’ ACW Buildings I also have a couple of Warlord laser-cut MDF Settler’s Log Cabins – like the Perry buildings these are suitable for most North American eras from the French & Indian Wars & American Revolution through to the American Civil War and turn of the (20th) century – and at a stretch the 19th Century NZ Colonial Wars as well. Continue reading “Warlord North American Buildings”
Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings
These are some ‘in progress’ pictures of my 28mm Perry Miniatures’ North American Buildings – I’m hoping they will be useful for not just the ACW (American Civil War), but also for the American Old West & Indian Wars, some Colonial theatres, and even early 20th Century pulp periods. Included is a simple conversion of the Perry Store kit, into a small Blacksmith & Stables. The conversion and the kit assembly & painting/basing was done by my fellow gamer, Kieran Mahony (6mm Wargaming). I just need to now flock the bases and add all the micro detail… Continue reading “Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings”
Miniature Addiction!
Roundie, from my local gaming group (the Auckland Wargaming Club), has recently launched his own website & blog of his wargaming & modelling work – he’s one of our area’s most prolific modellers & painters and has built some amazing terrain boards and scratch-built buildings & terrain… He’s also running a local SDS (Song of Drums & Shakos) Napoleonic Skirmish Campaign at the AWC. Continue reading “Miniature Addiction!”
Marching On Richmond: Sam Mustafa’s Longstreet
You may have been wondering what happened to our Marching On Richmond Campaign? Well, after the May 1864 action we did successfully conclude the campaign and I will post the final 1864 and 1865 battle reports and campaign narrative sometime soon… Meanwhile if you haven’t already realised we were playing with a near final draft of Sam Mustafa’s “Longstreet” – the latest in his Honour Series of games… Longstreet is now finished and the books & cards have been printed and Sam is planning an August release, however in the meantime you can download a ‘Lite‘ version of the game from the Honour Downloads Page. This is a very cut down version, but for those interested will give them a taste of what the full Longstreet will be when it’s released in a month. Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: Sam Mustafa’s Longstreet”
Getting My 28mm ACW Underway
With all this ACW Action Going On it’s finally motivated me to resume construction of my 28mm ACW forces – I’ll be building both Union & Confederate Forces to provide opposing armies, and as originally mentioned I was looking at building these forces initially for Fire & Fury (for both Brigade & Regimental level games). However now that Sam Mustafa has Longstreet due as the next game in the Honour series I’ll be looking to build them principally for that but still compatible for Fire & Fury as well (and obviously they will be usable for Black Powder and similar if needed). I started this project about 4-5 years ago and got a portion of the troops painted up but then ground to a halt – however I’ve now started basing the painted troops and have more under-way, so here’s some photos of the initial portion of my Union forces…
Marching On Richmond: May 1864
After our rebuff in The Wilderness we quickly reformed as our army continued an on going series of manoeuvres and battles against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Part of my division (29 CT & 88 NY) had not been present at our defensive action on the hills and they now joined us as our remaining units recovered. No immediate artillery replacements were available for our lost battery, and the wonderful “Fighting Sixty-Ninth” was finally disbanded as there were less than half a company of men left in the regiment. Likewise the redoubtable 4th Vermont was lost to us – the last of it’s men falling into enemy hands after their brave stand in the last battle. On the positive side I have developed a strong rapport with the 5th Wisconsin and their Colonel, and a surprise visit by The President during this time greatly boosted the 5th Wisconsin’s morale and enthusiasm!
Marching On Richmond: The Wilderness 1864
On the 4 May 1864 we crossed the Rapidan River, and headed towards the Wilderness Tavern, the convergence point for our Corps, prior to heading south into the open terrain beyond on our march to Richmond… Prior to this march I had taken the decision to permanently disband the 20th Indiana (a somewhat problematic regiment for me at the best of times), its remaining men were sent to the 6th New Jersey as replacements. However the wily Robert E. Lee launched a rapid and unexpected counter attack on us the next day (5 May) and we were taken by surprise. My Division, being near the forefront, was rapidly deployed on what suitable ground could be found to hold the line while the rest of the army moved up into battle formation.
Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: The Wilderness 1864”
Marching On Richmond: Winter 1863
After our Bristoe campaign we moved into our winter quarters in early November 1863, however shortly after we were involved in the failed Mine Run Campaign through the wilderness (vaguely familiar terrain), but after it’s inconclusive result we soon retired and then encamped at Brandy Station, in Virginia, until the spring. During the winter my division suffered much attrition, but the men were cheered by the arrival of fresh units, including the smart looking 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment (finally we would have our eyes back, something we had missed since the 5th Cavalry had departed us in mid-1862), and Battery A of the Maryland Light Artillery, as always with our artillery a fine looking professional formation. Being an ex-Artilleryman I was much impressed by them, as with all our fine gunners!