Longstreet Campaign - The Battle of King George Forest - 24th May1863

Fresh from their Winter camps the Union forces crossed the Potomac and attempted to drive a wedge between the Confederate forces and their rail heads. A party of Confederate horse staged a lightning raid on the Union supply depot but Colonel Rogers pushed on nevertheless.

Confederate forces

Major General Gerald P. Whippam (EP:20) is a 31 year old Floridian and is already a Veteran of the Indian Wars and is accompanied by his personal Scout who's reliably provided the best ground to make a stand in earlier engagements. At the Battle of Battle of Keller's Heights Doctor Thaddeus Marle joined the force as Whippam's Personal Physician

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
21st Virginia	CAV	Seasoned	Veterans	6
19th Texas	INF	Eager	Recruits	4
4th South Carolina	INF	Seasoned	Recruits	4	Hero: Sgt. Jones
2nd Florida	INF	Cautious	Veterans	5	Sharpshooters
8th South Carolina	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	4
27th Georgia	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	6
10th Maryland	INF	Eager	Recruits	6
Battery D Georgia Light Artillery	ART	-	-	2	One 12lb smoothbore, 1 6lb smoothbore

The Confederates start the next game with an act of Sabotage.

Union forces

Elias Rogers (EP:7) is a 29 year old graduate of West Point and had made a career as an Artillery Officer in the United States army. He is a Leading Abolitionist and is steadfast in the cause. The Irish Catholic Fire and Brimstone Preacher Father Seamus O'Riordan has seen fit to attach himself to Colonel Rogers staff.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
26th New York	CAV	Cautious	Veterans	3	Hero: Sgt. Benson
20th Maine	INF	Cautious	Veterans	3	Hero: Lt. Chamberlain
39th Ohio	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	3
44th Maryland (Zouaves)	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	2	Hero: Cpl. O'Connor
10th Iowa	INF	Cautious	Veterans	6
2nd Wisconsin	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	4
15th Vermont	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	4
27th New Jersey	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
Battery B 6th US Artillery	ART	-	-	3	One 6lb smooth-bores, Two light rifles
Battery E 10th Pennsylvania Artillery	ART	-	-	2	Two 12lb Napoleon

We would play the standard battle scenario, Whippams scouts were unable to determine the intentions of the Union and they took the initiative for the battle and attacked Whippams divided force.

As the Union was so much stronger in artillery with five guns to my two I split my deployment leaving a void in the centre of the battlefield to allow my troops to form up behind cover and react to the Union attacks.

The new units to join the brigade, the 27th GA, 10th MD and Battery D Georgia light made up my left while the establish troops formed on the right behind some woodland.

I placed an objective behind the woods to be guarded by the 19th Texas who were likely too fragile to be of any use in the game.

On the my left the Union troops came on and on with the 10th MD being particularly savaged by musketry from the 15th VT and the 2nd WI, I was making a steady fighting withdrawal there in the face of insurmountable odds.

On my right the Union force had faced the guns ready for me to break out of the woods, these though were supported by some of his weaker units, the sneaky play of a Confusion card pulled the 44th MD out of line and into the range of the 4th SC whose sharpshooters exacted a terrible toll with the survivors withdrawing from the field with the colours.

On my left the Union pushed on, and on my right I pushed on, whose weakened flank would collapse first.

The 10th MD were now down to about 150 troops on my left but held the line against the odds. On the right the Union guns crashed and my troops still pushed on and on with the 21st VA now clear of the woods and looking to turn the Union flank.

It came to a head on my left, the Union commander realising that they were about to be overwhelmed and outflanked decided that their troops should break contact and start an orderly withdrawal screened by the 26th NY, quite battered themselves the Confederates were unable to mount an effective pursuit.

The Confederates claimed a victory but neither side had really exposed their opponents. 1863 is going to be a long year so both sides can regroup and do battle again.

El Cid last few Brother Knights and Almoravids

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Quite the milestone this week, every figure I had in the backlog for the El Cid collection is painted.

First I completed these four Perry Miniatures Hospitaller Knights from their First Crusades range. They also follow the gold and red theme that is replicated throughout the force.

There were also a few Gripping Beast Moors left to paint, just a couple of archers and a camel rider.

These last seven figures mean that is it for adding to the collection, it now runs to about 900 pieces and fills eight really useful boxes, I think I can probably say that I really don't need any more figures for this period. But, never say never!

Here's some more shots of these last few.

Andalusian Jinetes

The El Cid project has been getting some attention of late and this week I finished six Andalusian Jinetes from the Gripping Beast range.

These fellows have been in the backlog for a long time, I recused them from the "primed but nothing doing" box at the back of the painting desk where they have languished about three years and set about slapping some paint on.

As with all these old Gripping Beast El Cid models they are a delight to paint and as luck would have it there are still a few of these models left in the backlog of shame that I hope to get done over then next few days.

 

They also contributed another 65pts towards my Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge over here.

I suppose the next step will be to start gaming with them.

Almoravid command stand

It's been ages since the El Cid collection got any love, but, one of the Challenge Island challenges over at the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge site is "Docherty's Dock" which involves painting a vignette with a came. Well, I'm sure I have some camels of unknown provenance in the bit's box, but what to do with them?

It's been an absolute age since I added anything new to my Almoravid horde - checks, blog, nearly 3 years - but a scouring of the lead mountain revealed not only ten camels, but some left over Gripping Beast minis, including a mounted drummer who could be bodged onto one of the camels, although is pose is a little awkward, having ridden a camel though I think sitting awkwardly on them is the default.

Of the two rather splendid commanders the one on the right is Abid al-Docherty, ex of the Black Guard and now serving as leader of this merry bunch, on the left is loyal bodyguard Jaysh al-Millsy.

The ensemble is completed with a spearman and standard bearer.

All are done in the white/blue/gold scheme that is the theme throughout my Berber horde. It's quite propitious as I think I needed to do a few more command stands anyways.

You can view my entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge here.

Spyglass Miniatures "Chick"

Chum Drew gifted me this miniature and I was rather at a loss as to what it was or what to do with it. It came with a card insert that pointed to a broken URL, but a bit of Googling for "Chick Challenge Four" turned up that it was produced for Spyglass miniatures as a limited edition sculpt by Steve Buddle.

It appears that you can get some of the old Spyglass stuff, but not this one, from Heresy Miniatures.

As she is wearing a Hussar jacket I wanted to paint her in a pastiche of an 11th Hussar with pink leggings in some Flashman like tribute.

I really don't like slotta-bases, especially these with the void in them, but I decided that I wanted her stood in shallow water, much like in Stranger Things when Eleven goes into sensory deprivation, it's a layer of gloss gel, painted with black and grey shades, then another layer of gloss gel on top.

All in all, a nice figure to paint and she earned me a balloon ride over on Challenge Island on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

I think she came out much better "in the flesh" than in these shoddy photos, after four attempts I gave up trying to get the lighting right.

American Civil War: Union (17)

I've already painted up a box of the Perry Miniatures Confederate infantry as part of the challenge, so it's time to make a start on a box of their American Civil War Union Infantry in sack coats skirmishing set.

One thing that our recent Longstreet campaign has showed me is that you can probably never have enough command stands so I made a start on these first. The flags are just downloaded from Warflag and printed off at Office Depot. After sticking them on I mess up the trim of braid with a sharp scalpel then repaint it bronze, then brass, then gold. I think it gives a rather nice effect.

The officers terrier is of unknown providence, I think after painting it the model is supposed to be an Airedale terrier so the legs should probably be a lot lighter.

The skirmishing infantry frames make a nice selection from the mass of charging or right shoulder shift that make up the bulk of my 28mm ACW forces. The "ramming home" set of arms I really do like.

 Mrs Scrivs painted me a nice backdrop for my photo-shoots in acrylics on canvas, and as well as adding to the general ambience of the picks I've convinced myself that it likely shows off the highlights on the figures better in the pictures.

You can also view these over at the AHPC here.

Longstreet Campaign - The Battle of Underwood Crossing - 23rd October 1862

The struggle for regional dominance continues late into the campaigning season. With Pinkerton intelligence that the Confederates are preparing winter quarters south of Underwood Crossing and bolstered by fresh reinforcements Colonel Rogers decides that with the unseasonable weather there is a chance to catch Whippams men off guard.

Confederate forces

Brigadier Gerald P. Whippam (EP:14) is a 30 year old Floridian and is already a Veteran of the Indian Wars and is accompanied by his personal Scout who's reliably provided the best ground to make a stand in earlier engagements. At the Battle of Battle of Keller's Heights Doctor Thaddeus Marle joined the force as Whippam's Personal Physician

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
8th Georgia Volunteers	CAV	Eager	Recruits	3
21st Virginia	CAV	Eager	Veterans	8
19th Texas	INF	Eager	Recruits	5
4th South Carolina	INF	Eager	Recruits	6	Hero: Sgt. Jones
2nd Florida	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	6
8th South Carolina	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	6
Battery A 7th Texas Light Artillery	ART	-	-	1	One 6lb smoothbores

Union forces

Elias Rogers (EP:4) is a 28 year old graduate of West Point and had made a career as an Artillery Officer in the United States army. He is a Leading Abolitionist and is steadfast in the cause.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
26th New York	CAV	Cautious	Veterans	4	Hero: Sgt. Benson
20th Maine	INF	Cautious	Veterans	3	Hero: Lt. Chamberlain
39th Ohio	INF	Eager	Veterans	5
44th Maryland (Zouaves)	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	3	Hero: Cpl. O'Connor
10th Iowa	INF	Seasoned	Recruits	8
5th California (Zouaves)	INF	Eager	Recruits	3
2nd Wisconsin	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	6
15th Vermont	INF	Eager	Recruits	6
Battery B 6th US Artillery	ART	-	-	3	One 6lb smooth-bores, Two light rifles

Whippam has been joined by the 21st Virginia cavalry, who on their route march to join the force ripped up the rail head in an act of Sabotage however, despite his poor performance in the field Rogers superiors have great faith in the man and dispatched a riverboat with Priority supplies.

We would play the "Clear the Treeline" scenario with the Confederates as the defender.

Whippam's scouts were able to give some warning of the Union approach so all troops apart from the 19th Texas and 4th South Carolina were able to form an initial defensive line to the north and west of the woods at Underwood crossing, the remaining troops were rushing to the join the battle line.

Early success went to the Union, the new 10lb rifles added to Battery B easily destroyed the remaining guns of the Texas light artillery and the Confederates were left without fire support as the Union troops marched on. Both the 8th GA and 21st VA mounted feints on the Union flanks to attempt to draw away troops attempting to overwhelm the thin Confederate centre, but the Union marched on relentless until the 2nd WI became bogged down in some unexpectedly marshy ground.

On and on came the Union troops in a relentless advance that threatened to overwhelm the thin line of Confederates, but eventually the drums of the 19th TX and 4th SC were heard in the rear, if the rest could just hold on until the the reinforcements arrived.

The Confederate horse having drawn troops from the Union centre eventually fell back to positions on each flank of the line to add their weight of fire to the defence.

Along the line the Union troops poured fire into the 2nd FL and 8th SC and the Action cards were burnt through keeping the troops in line.

With a rousing rendition of "John Browns Body" the blue-bellies fell upon the 2nd Fl and 21st VA supporting them, in a desperate struggle along the line the Union troops were repulsed a short distance.

The Confederates followed up this success with a viscous counter charge.

 It was desperate volley fire along the lines, the Union troops with close artillery support were thinning out the Confederates, but with close losses on both it was the Union that cracked first, both armies retreated to their winter quarters to tend their wounded and regroup for the coming season.

Brigadier General Whippam was promoted to the rank of Major General for his continued successes in the cause of the Confederacy.

Had the Union won the charge against the 2nd FL they would have held their objective and likely won the game.

Drew hates this card, fortunately for him from the next battle it disappears from my deck!