Life Update and Near Future ACW Battle

Here we are a solid 6 months after my last post. 2011 had many surprises in store for me...divorce, job relocation, increase of alcohol consumption. But now back to what is really important. Tiny metal soldiers.

Here today I offer you my after action review of the second battle in my Near Future ACW campaign. I had to abandon my game group so I've been playing with myself recently (get your mind out of the gutter) and I've been mildly satisfied with the system I've come up with to keep myself guessing at my own actions during play. Hint: Dark Beer

As you may recall, our first skirmish left the advanced elements of the Chicago Combine's 3rd Division short of their initial goals. Stymied by determined Indiana Free Republic defenders and poor command and control the 3rd has attempted to swing south of the well defended and fortified IFR positions. Just outside of the small Indiana town of St. Joseph lies a strategic intersection of major roads that would allow the northern and southern forks of the Combine's advance to link up.

The crossroad objective was randomized after the
 IFR deployment was finished.

The Combine would need to secure this crossroad to keep its supply and communications lines open as it closed the net around Evansville.

To keep myself guessing a little, I had the IFR/Texan contingent set up first without knowing which of the 3 potential crossroads would be the real objective.

Both Commanders were also allowed 2 preset artillery bombardments within the first 5 turns of play.

After the first turn nothing much had happened. Some positioning for next turns fire runs and some sporadic reactive fire with no results.

Then came both commander's first artillery salvo. The IFR succeeded in scuffing up some farmland and creating a few new fishing holes. The Combine's artillery was far deadlier, knocking out several platoons worth of Infantry and Armor.

Impact area's for first artillery salvo.

This cleared the way a bit for the Combine's assault at the beginning of turn 2. 

The combine rushed all infantry and armor units into close combat inflicting and receiving high casualties.

A company of Combine infantry supported by a plused up armor company began forcing IFR defenders from the woods surrounding the objective.

On the IRF's right flank the Combine kept up steady pressure in order to prevent the Texan reinforcements from aiding the IFR in a significant way.

The IFR center was immobilized due to a combination of suppressing fire and poor command.

The aftermath of the Combine frontal assault was a near blood bath with both sides losing 1/3 of their total starting forces. Both commanders were forced into morale checks. The IFR center held, but both flanks were forced from their positions into a head long retreat. The combine commander had to pull back his left and center. But was able to follow up on the right with a crushing blow securing the necessary crossroads.

Pictured: Total Defeat

Having lost the disputed crossroads, and now under threat of enfilade fire from Combine positions, the IFR/Texan command decided it was time to pull back, regroup, and make their stand on the outskirts of Evansville.

Napoleonic Hair Curler Army

All these came from 1 larger hair curler.

 Long, long ago Andy Callan wrote and article for Miniature Wargames newsletter detailing how to create cheap armies out of plastic hair curlers. A few years back I decided to take a crack at this method. I scoured all the local bigbox stores looking for plastic hair curlers. These were pretty hard to find it turns out. But I eventually found a set of 3 large curlers at a K-Mart for a few dollars. 


These pictures detail my results with English and French Napoleonic armies. Up close they look awful, just plastic with lines of paint. From a few feet away they don't look half bad on the table. You eye just blends the colors together and picks out the flags for the most part.

The thin red line...of womens hair dressing items.

 I downloaded flags from warflag.com and used a very narrow gauge brass rod as a flag staff. The brass rod was a random find at a DIY store. I haven't seen any since so maybe it was divine intervention.

 Painting was simple. Base color, small dot of color for trousers, flesh for faces, black for hats, green on the base of the curler. Done.

 The cavalry was a serious pain to make. The article details how to do this correctly, but I definitely glued my fingers together more than once. Though, maybe I could get good results with white glue and not use super glue next time.

All of this took me an evening to complete. Not bad bang for my buck and a lot of fieldable units in a short amount of time.

Here is the link to this article in the files section of 6mm Miniatures Yahoo group. You may need to join before you can download it.
Hair Curler Armies Article

*UPDATE*
The above link is dead now. I can't seem to find a copy of the article anywhere so instead here is a link to an even better resource on the SUBJECT

6mm Napoleonics Project Artillery and More

Baccus French and Prussian Artillery

 A quick update on my ongoing quest to defeat my painting table. Ive completed the next phase in my 6mm Napoleonic project. My French and Prussian artillery batteries are painted and based. Now in all truthfulness, I have more artillery for the French to complete, but I decided this was a good starting point for a table worthy force.

Box by Calvin Klein

Total bases completed to date

French

5 Infantry Brigades

2 Cavalry Brigades

4 Batteries

Prussian

5 Infantry Brigades

4 Batteries

Up Next, Prussian & French Cavalry

As an added bonus in this update here is a test base I made for a 10mm Great War project myself and a few friends are working on. These are late war Germans running across a downed barbed wire fence.

6mm Napoleonics Project

5 brigades of Prussians

In a little under a week I was able to make more progress on my 6mm Prussians than I was able to make in the preceding 104 weeks. I now have 5 fully functional bases for use in the glorious struggle against the hated French.


I used a new mixture for the grass on these bases than I have in the past. Currently my French having nothing but static grass from GW. Whereas the Prussians have a mix of the following Woodland Scenics products.
Coarse Turf Earth, Light Green, and Medium Green. Light Green Foliage, and of course the same GW static grass.


Now, what to start on next. Cavalry or Artillery? Also Im considering having the command bases painted for me.

6mm Napoleonics Project (2 Years and Running)

Around 3 years ago I discovered Baccus. No, not the ancient Greek god of partying like a rock star. But the modern manufacturer of quality 6mm scale miniatures, obviously the far cooler Baccus. My first purchase was the ACW box set from the now gone Old Rivertown Minis. After some fiddling in the ACW arena I finally made the decision to ruin my financial future and get into Napoleonics. This was my first venture into the era and I knew little else but that there were a lot of options and foreign words involved.     

French Battalions next to pipe cleaner trees based on 3mm foam.

I chose to start with the French (of course!) and Prussians, because who doesn't like the Germans? The above picture was my first test base. I chose to use the Fast Play Grand Armee rules set because I liked the command and control elements, wanted larger battles, and free is always good.

Closer look at the trees.

I may not have mentioned this before, but I hate painting minis. Im not very good at it and my attention span does not allow me to paint like some of you for hours on end. Hell, I'm barely able to get through this blog post without jumping onto Steam to play Day of Defeat for an hour.

Anyway, after much delay, several side projects, geek space renovations, etc I was able to complete a grand total of 5 Infantry bases and 2 cavalry.

Pictured: 2 Years of Effort

Not to say Im not very satisfied with the results. Im just annoyed it took me 2 years to get to this point. Now all I need is another 2 years to get to the same point with my Prussians.

Close up of Le Petite Armee de Nick

Fear my poorly painted Chasseurs and Hussars.

NFACW Skirmish

 The first battle in my 3mm Near Future ACW campaign took place tonight. Advanced elements of the Chicago Combine's 3rd Division were tasked with securing an important crossroads dominated by a large semi wooded hill. Opposing the Combine were  Indiana Free Republic soldiers and tanks of the 4th IFR Regulars.

The Combine was able to call up additional infantry reinforcements bringing their total strength to a full battalion of mechanized infantry supported by a company of T-90 tanks. The Combine lacks ready access to former US Army equipment and has been forced to purchase much of its armament from Russian arms brokers.

The Combine commander deployed his infantry in echelon for the maximum chance of break the IFR left flank and thereby securing the crossroads. 

The IFR has a dominant position on the hill and in the woods. However the IFR commander has spread his forces thin with no reserve.




Initial contact took place in the small woods between  a full company of Combine infantry and 1 IFR infantry platoon. The IFR was forced back due to over whelming firepower from the Combine's BMP-3's.

Combine Infantry push hard against the IFR left while the T-90s pin down the hill's defenders. After much effort and heavy casualties a break through is achieved. While on the hill a company of BMP's knocks out several IFR M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley IFV but fails to secure the top. The gains made at great cost are for naught as the cost high enough that the cross roads and hill are securely back in IFR hands by the end of the engagement




The skirmish has delayed the advance of the Combine 3rd Division into the Ohio valley near Evansville long enough for the IFR to link with their Texan allies. But even with the addition of an expeditionary brigade the IFR/Texan force is still outnumbered by the Combine by a 2 to 1 margin in the the theater.


More to follow...

3mm Near Future American Civil War

Ive always enjoyed smaller scales. Mostly because my poor painting skills aren't as obvious. So recently I invested some money in some of Oddzial Osmy's 3mm moderns. My intention was to create a campaign for a few of us to play through centering on the break up of the US into dozens of independent nations.

The first grouping of scenarios I came up with deals with a 3 nation struggle over the territory surrounding the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers near Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Greater Texas

Greater Texas encompasses a large portion of the southern US. Their primary strategic goal has been the acquisition of the Mississippi River as a geographic protective boundary and the potential resources of surrounding agricultural states. Greater Texas has allied itself with the Indiana Free Republic (IFR) and Lower Ohio Federation(LOF) against the Chicago Combine for control of the aforementioned territory.

Greater Texas has a large supply of US equipment due to the numerous former army bases spread throughout the lower states. The forces present in the Ohio valley are minimal due to other combat commitments farther south. As of now Greater Texas is supporting its allies with a battalion of M2A1 Abrams.

Indiana Free Republic

The IFR has been in a state of war against the Chicago Combine for several years, losing some territory in the process. Recently with the influx of Texan support the Hoosiers have been able to stage several counter attacks at key points severely weakening Combine positions.

Prior to the collapse of the US, Indiana had one of the largest and best equipped National Guards in the nation. Multiple combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mexico have created a large cadre of well trained and professional soldiers.

The IFR is armed primarily with former US equipment. M1A2 Abrams and M2A2 Bradley's comprise the majority of their fighting capability. Though there is a significant artillery and air support contingent as well.

Chicago Combine

The Combine has been attempting to push its influence south towards the transit hubs of Indianapolis and Cincinnati for several years. Things came to a head 2 years ago with Indiana and the Lower Ohio Commonwealth signing a cooperative defense pact as well as several economic agreements that essentially cut off the Combine from needed raw materials and markets. In response the Combine made a two front surprise attack against the IFR. After several initial gains low quality combine troops stalled against well prepared IFR defensive positions.

The Combine has a standing contract with the Russian Federation to supply it with military hardware and support. The armor battalions are a mix of T-80 and T-90 tanks supported by Infantry mounted in BMP-3's.