Le Coq Fou: Random Wargaming
Monday, November 4, 2024
Run for the Hills Redux
Killiecrankie (sort of)
A map of the deployment (above) and the actual tabletop deployment from the Jacobite side below.
I made the large hill and small knoll myself in the weeks leading up to Fall In, I'm pleased with the results, it didn't stick out as a different colored terrain piece.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
2024 Fall In Recap
Sunday evening is here and another convention has come and gone, this weekend it was 2024 Fall In held in Lancaster, PA.
I got to the convention early Friday afternoon and met up with my old friend and gaming buddy Rob. We walked around the vendor area and I managed to quickly unload some cash with scenery purchases from Monster Fight Club and a miniatures case from Dave's Baggage Train.
A few hours later, Rob and I indulged in a tradition established many years ago, a Friday evening naval game hosted by our favorite GM Brian. Occasionally it's an ancient or renaissance galley action but our favorites are games of Brian's age of sail rules Form on the Admiral's Wake.
The battle was a refight from the Four Days Battle during the Anglo Dutch Wars. I commanded the English center and managed to contribute to the smashing English victory. Rob was on the losing side with the Dutch van.
Lots of really nice looking games and I kick myself that I didn't take as many photos as I intended. The photos above are from a Mad Max game, a Viking raid and Munchkin Wars.
Saturday I found some good deals in the flea market. I picked up a bag of 10mm WW1 figures from Magister Militum and Pendraken. I look forward to tackling these little fellas some time..I also picked up some decks of Aircraft and Aces cards for Aeronautica Imperialis (a game I own and have never played).
I hosted two games for Rob, a refight of Killiecrankie and and Anglo Zulu War battle (which I had previously gamed with my friend Alex).
I won't go into too much detail of the two games since they will be their own separate posts but suffice to say we had a blast.
The only blemish on the weekend was me not seeing the raffle that was going on during the convention until it was too late to purchase tickets. I normally participate and have had some good luck winning prizes so I was but gutted to realize they just moved it from the normal location.
As I unpack my things, I'm energized to hobby more and looking forward to the next convention in a few months time.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Ferdinando Hastings' Regiment and Fall In games...
I just finished Hastings' Regiment and it will prob be the last I complete prior to the Fall In convention. I wouldn't have made a post for just one completed unit but I like this particular unit because it was the only English unit at Killiecrankie, the only one with yellow trim (the Scots units either had red or white facings) and their Colonel was an interesting character. My wargaming friend "One Lover" Ray (who frequently posts comments of encouragement below) explained the "colorful" background of Hastings here.
I will be hosting two games for my friend Rob at Fall In. One will be a refight of my Anglo Zulu War game of The Men Who Would be Kings. The other will be a Killiecrankie-inspired scenario. I say inspired because the government force will be short a few units (I ran out of time to paint them).
The Williamite force will consist of the following, with their classification according to Tercios:
1 x Hastings' Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)
2 x Kenmure's Regiment - Pike & Shot, Raw (270 250 points)
1 x Ramsay's Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)
1 x Balfour's Regiment - Pike & Shot (135 points)
Lauder's Grenadiers - Musketeer Company (55 points)
Weem's Highlanders - Melee Company, Mercenaries (50 points)
Aberdeen's Horse - Cavalry Company (? points)
Belhaven's Horse - Cavalry Company (? points)
Leather Guns - Light Artillery (60 points)
Commanders: Mackay (Zeal) , Balfour (Discipline)
Total: 615 820 Points (apparently my math skills left slot to be desired when I made my initial "fuzzy math" computations.
The Jacobite force is this:
1 x Cameronians - Clubmen, Well Equipped, Enraged (90 points)
5 x Highlanders - Clubmen, Equipped, Enraged (400 points)
Purcell's Irish - Pike & Shot (135 points)
Dundee's Bodyguard - Cavalry Company (? points)
Gentleman Highlanders - Cavalry Company (? points)
Commanders: Dundee (Dexterity), Cameron (Sacrifice)
Total: 625 Points
The battle map will look something like this...
To balance the game out a bit, I may have the Williamite infantry roll at the beginning of the game to see if they are "disordered" which would reflect the lackluster results some of the veteran units displayed in the historical battle.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Future plans and lots of lead...
As I approach the terminus of the Killiecrankie project (four more Williamite infantry units and some terrain is all that remains), my mind has already begun to figure out what is next. As my mind takes inventory of various projects, I begin to suffer paralysis by analysis and the options are overwhelming.
Starting at 3mm, I have a collection of WW2 North African theater armies to use with Sam Mustafa's Rommel rules and 1980s SADF and Angolan armies for Tankwreck!
I could stay in 6mm and the 17th century: for Scotland, I still have the lead to flesh out forces for the Argyll Uprising of 1685, my Scanian armies are about 75% complete and I have unpainted figures for 17th century Ottomans, Muscovites and Poles.
Then there is 10mm, I really do need to finish my Ravenfeast Big Battle armies for the 1066 campaign. I also want to expand my Dux Bellorum armies at some point as well..
There are many other options in 10mm...I am near completion of my Thirty Years War armies. Just a few more Catholic infantry units, some cavalry and baggage would allow me to game the various battles of the Bohemian campaign.
The Fenian project has stalled somewhere midway through and I do have those pretty War of the Pacific Armies that I could paint up in honor of my Santiago trip. How could I forget the abandoned Crimean War armies or the Risorgimento and there are a few units left to paint for my Mexican American War project.
I also have various forces for the 20th century conflicts using Five Core Company Commander (Spanish Civil War, Korean War, French Indo China, Yom Kippur, and some leftover Falklands War stuff).
I shouldn't even mention 15mm with the South American Wars of Liberation, Carlist Wars and also slews of unpainted 16th century warbands for Irregular Wars. I could add to my 15mm Krapistan armies...I really should do that.
Since I already mentioned 15mm, I might as well mention 28mm. I don't do too much of this although I have a few In Her Majesty's Name companies that haven't ever left the shrinkwrap of their boxes. Equally shameful is the fact that my Test of Honour Japanese have never been released from their packaging. I wont bring up the 28mm fantasy stuff...
Naval wargaming is also a possibility. I have 1/2400 modern fast craft and missile boats, 1/2400 ironclads for the War of the Pacific, or tackle my 1/3000 Battle of Copenhagen fleets.
We've addressed land and sea so I'd be negligent if I didn't bring up the various 1/700 Tumbling Dice aircraft that desperately need paint and the scenery that goes with it. There are aircraft for WW1, Arab Israeli War of 1948, Korean War, Vietnam, Indo Pakistan, Ogaden War and the Falklands.
For the remainder of 2024, I think I will probably try to finish up one of the above-mentioned projects that is near completion and I really want to tackle my 10mm Macedonian, Persian and Indian armies for To The Strongest! I should really try to address my lead like.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Government Army for Killiecrankie
Thursday, September 26, 2024
A Chilean Detour...
I don't often travel for work, although the opportunity is always there I try to avoid it as much as possible. Sometimes, I can not avoid it....as I was making significant progress with my 6mm Killiecrankie project, an unavoidable work trip would require me to Santiago, Chile for 3 days. It would be a whirlwind of meetings but I wanted to make it worth my while in terms of my hobby and passion of wargaming miniatures and military history.
Prior to the trip, I targeted two museums I would try to visit: Museo Histórico y Militar de Chile (Chilean Military History Museum) and Fundación Museo Guerra del Pacífico (Museum of the War of the Pacific).
On the second day of the trip, I made a rather difficult trip to the Chilean Military History Museum.
The museum was in a barracks style building and had displays beginning with the indigenous populations and their contact with conquistadors and covering up to 1970s or 1980s.
My primary interests were the Wars of Independence (I have partially painted armies in 15mm) and the War of the Pacific (partially painted armies in 10mm and babies navies in 1/2400).
Throughout the museum there were awesome dioramas of battle scenes. The figures ranged between something similar to HO scale all the way up to 54mm or so. In the picture above, the diorama is a clash between conquistadors and the indigenous tribes.
This rather interesting diorama is the battle of Yungay in 1839 from the wars of confederation. I have to admit I don't know much about this period of conflict.