AHPC X: From MikeW - Young John Churchill at Sander’s Sand Dune (60 Points)

Being of little imagination when embarking on a new challenge - I thought I'd go down the Historical path and start at Sander's Sand Dune.


The requirement being RED!

The young John Churchill
in the Duke of York's livery

So I have done a figure depicting the young John Churchill in the early 1670s, at a time when he was the Duke of York's (future James II) protegee and a time of innocence and valour for both, before the ugly stink of politics turned both their heads...

The figure is from the North Star 1672 range and the Red with Yellow trim livery are the Duke of York's personal colours and yes, there are contemporary images of Churchill in this or a similar style of uniform, which seems to hark back a further 40-50 years, in terms of fashion sense....

Rear view

The figure was part of an eBay (other online auction sites are available) lot I purchased a couple years ago and not used, as I already have a version of this same figure that I'd painted up from the period when Churchill was an officer in the French Regiment d'Anglais - the uniform being much more subdued and based on light greys and blues of that unit.

The figure came undercoated in black - so I went with that - layering on red colour. I wanted the outfit simple but striking, so it is predominantly red, with a white undershirt on show and then the trim you'd expect for the period.

I used washes to build up depth in the colours and the based and varnished the figure in my usual manner.

Another frontal view

On the tabletop, if used, 'Young John Churchill' will bestow a special skill of allowing the unit he is with to re-roll any dice that throws a '1'. Hopefully reflecting what a lucky guy he was to get where he did in life!

Again with a cheeky reading of the rules, I'll be using this as my Challenge Island Entry Fee figure and I have arranged with Curt that this should be made available to a local co-challenger - Grahame - so that we can avoid the complexity and complications of international postal and shipping systems!

Basis this - I think the scoring should be:

5 Points for the 28mm Foot figure.
25 Points for my Entry Fee figure.
30 Points for completing Sander’s Sand Dune.

TOTAL = 5+25+30=60 Points

Having now committed to the Historical Path, I need to figure out what to do to meet the requirements I will now find at Millsy's Millpond - luckily I have some old figures lying around that might just help me out.

AHPCX - From MikeW: Late 17th Century Ottoman Heavy Cavalry and Artillery (60 Points)

I'm pleased to be welcomed back go participate in Challenge X, this year I'll even hopefully achieve my targeted 2,000 points of painting!

Having missed the target last year by a slim margin, I realise that getting a start over the Xmas and New Year period is key to success, thus my first post in the first week - albeit a small batch of figures and artillery pieces.

An added spur to keep me going is that fellow SAS Wargames Club member 'GrahameH' is participating in the challenge this year, withe the same 2,000 point target - and I'm worried - he can be a truly prolific, quality painter....

4 x 28mm Ottoman Armoured Cavalry

First up are 4 x 28mm Ottoman Turk, Armoured Cavalrymen, these guys will join 8 of their companions that I had already completed before the start of the challenge to make up 2 x 6 figure squadrons.

These figures are a bit of a 'mash-up', the horses are actually from the plastic HaT Industrie,  El CiD Sets, whilst the riders are from a couple of batches of suitable metal figures sourced form eBay with appropriate weaponry such as shields, bows, muskets and pistols added.

I use acrylic paints, from a variety of manufacturers and typically undercoat my figures in white, before building up the colours. I used Army Painter washes on these guys to get the shading as there is a lot of exposed armour and metal work.

Then there is a final coat of Matt Varnish, I have taken to using Windsor and Newton's 'Galeria Acrylic Mediums' varnish, it gives a truly matt finish and is very quick drying. Note - be sure to give the pot a long, strong shake before use!!


The bases of these figures were treated using my usual method - a coat of brown emulsion paint, mixed with PVA glue - various  house paint sample pots and any good glue will do, the paint mix is sprinkled with sand and allowed to dry. Next a dry brushing of the same emulsion / PVA mix and a sprinkle of electrostatic grass to give vegetation cover before applying a variety of grass and plant type 'clumps' to the base to give added variety.

By my reckoning these 4 figures are worth 10 points ea - so a total of 40 points


The final two items on this first post are 2 x 28mm Ottoman Artillery pieces. The green  Field Gun is a plastic model sourced with two others off the internet. Actually, together, they represent three of the worst quality moulded models I've ever seen....

After a lot of knife work to clean up the pieces - I feel that they are now presentable for tabletop games, as long as they are not too closely inspected. The gun carriages are distinctly wobbly and the barrels are still warped, but it is very hard to find suitable Ottoman artillery pieces for the Late 17th Century at present.

To be fair - I was looking for a cheap solution to allow me to put on a game without waiting for more established manufacturers to release Ottoman Artillery - so you get what you pay for! I think the Ottomans will have a high chance of miss-fires when using these field guns...

Field Gun with warped barrel

Field Gun with acceptable carriage

but dodgey wheels

The Red Gun is a similar 'mash-up' to one I did in last year's challenge - the carriage is from an old Warhammer Empire Galloper gun set, with a plastic barrel taken form the Warlord Games 17th Century Artillery set.

These 2 guns are worth 10 points ea - so a total of 20 points

Ottoman Light Gun, from Rear

Ottoman Light Gun, from Front

Overall Post Value:  40+20 = 60 Points

So now I'll be looking for what to do next - I have several Ottoman Cavalry Units still to get done, plus some Polish Armoured Cossacks that also need doing, many units of European Foot.

Then there is the SAGA Norman Infantry & Dark Ages Archers, some Warlord Imperial Romans. Some 10mm (1/144) Israeli Sherman Tanks. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do and how I can explore the Adventure Island!

2019 Statistics - Another View

by Steve Cast

Editor's Note: These stats follow Steve's usual annual annual report format, going into some great detail on who has done what (or not) this year at the club. There may be differences between this set of Stats and those published by John a few days ago <here>. Send questions to Steve and John for answers, lets saw there are stats and fake stats, who know which of our master statisticians is the ral deal!

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X

So once again, I have taken the plunge to enter into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!

Again the competition does not focus 100% on quality, though I think my attempts are of  reasonable level in that area but it also awards points basis quantity - from what all our guys say to me,I seem to be able to bang out the figures at a good rate!

Competition runs form midnight 21st December through to midnight 31st March (I believe), so you will see the return of the 'On The Workbench Posts' during this period as well as links to the Competition Website <here>

The Battle of La Capelle 23rd October 1339

By Steve Cast

A 100 years war “What if” battle

This is the first in my series of “What if” battles based on confrontations that could have turned into actual battles during the 100 years war but didn’t so for one reason or another.  This particular one happened during Edward III first campaign in France and would have been the first battle of the 100 years war.  His first ventures into France were a complete disaster and a lot of people will be unaware of this only knowing about his great victory at Crecy and his sons at Poitiers.  The reason he survived these early years in France was because of the reluctance of Philip VI to engage with his enemy in battle which eventually undermined his authority and the respect of his court.  Had he done so then the 100 years war may have only been a foot note in our history books.

I shall try to cut a long story short which will be difficult so apologies for the lengthy brief but I thought that people would be interested in just how different things were in Edward III early years.  Edward had for many years had great difficulty in paying homage to Philip for his domains in Gascony in France because not only he but others thought that he had more right to the throne of France than Philip and this culminated in Gascony being taken away from him in 1338.  For the past year a phony war had been going on with Edward building up an alliance in the Low Countries whilst the French lingered around the fringes of Gascony threatening to invade.

With an army of approximately 4,000 men Edward sailed from Ipswich in 350 ships and landed in Antwerp in July 1338.  The rest of his army was to be made up of his allies consisting of the Duke of Brabant, the Count of Hainault, the Duke of Guelders, the Margrave of Juliers and a host of lesser princes who had all come together in Antwerp to greet the King and present their accounts.  This alliance had been forged together into a rather flimsy coalition with large payments of money being made to Edwards allies that had bankrupted England and of which a lot were still outstanding.  These so called “Allies” were still reluctant to commit themselves to Edwards cause until payment had been made in full.

Edwards’s whole strategy in forming the alliance had been based on the sale of English wool which wasn’t going according to plan.  He was selling at a loss just so that he could get cash to pay his allies.  He also had to borrow money from merchant bankers such as the Bardi in Italy at extortionate rates of up to 50%, he mortgaged the great crown and secured other loans by giving up hostages such as the Earl of Lancaster as guarantors.  When the campaign ended Edwards debt would be over £300,000 which was equivalent to 10 years of revenue for the King.  In fact poor old Edward was having such a bad time of it that on his first night in Antwerp he narrowly escaped death when the lodgings that had been hired for him were accidently burned down by his servants, this did not bode well for the campaign ahead.

The French were well aware that the “alliance” had major problems and were hoping that it would peter out but when Philip heard that the English had landed he quickly began to muster his troops.  Still hoping that the alliance would collapse and not wanting to antagonise Edwards’s allies, instead of attacking Flanders Philip began attacking garrisons in Gascony.  Bottled up in Antwerp and still pleading with his “allies” Edward could only watch as these garrisons were picked off one by one.

With financial transactions still going on between him and his allies, by the 14^th August 1339 Edward was in such financial straits that he couldn’t even afford to pay his own men and had to play his final card.  He told his allies that he would lead his own army into France without them and confront the French alone, and if he should be killed in battle then he would at least have died honourably.  This galvanised them and they grudgingly replied that they would follow him but only with yet more stringent bonds placed against Edward.

On 20^th September 1339 Edward marched on Cambrai and formally summoned the garrison to surrender which it refused to do, so the city was invested.  Edward was hoping to draw the French army into a quick and decisive battle thus ending his financial woes.  The nearest French army was 65 miles away in Compiegne.  Philip was reluctant to send this to the aid of the garrison, the first of many decisions that would earn him a reputation for timidity, because Cambrai was in Imperial territory and he didn’t want to antagonise Edwards’s allies whilst there was still the possibility that they would desert him.

By the beginning of October it was clear to Edward that he was not achieving what he wanted.  He hadn’t subdued Cambrai, a city that he had little use for, and he was not bringing Philip to battle.  On the 9^th October Edward raised the siege and marched into France.  During its first day Edwards’s army destroyed 55 villages in the Diocese of Noyon alone and a year later these same villages still lay abandoned.  Apparently the sky glowed red in the night and the countryside could be seen burning for 15 miles around.

Philip VI joined his main army at Peronne where the two armies came within a mile of each other on the 14^th October.  On hearing this Edward decamped and crossed the river Oise taking the town of Origny and burning it to the ground.  However things weren’t going so well in Edwards’s army.  The English had organised their supplies very thoroughly but his allies, thinking that there would be a quick and decisive battle, had not.  On the 17^th they came before him and told him they intended to withdraw before they starved.  However their bemoaning was soon silenced when they were reminded of the closeness of the French.  Philip sent Edward a formal challenge to battle for either the 21^st or 22^nd but Edward refused because his army was spread out on a broad front in a bend in the river Oise which cut off its line of retreat so it was decided to withdraw the army so it could follow the river eastwards burning and pillaging as it went.

On the 21^st October Edward called a halt between the small town of Capelle and the village of La Flamengrie.  The French were about half a day behind and stopped on the 22^nd at Buirenfosse and intended to attack on the 23^rd.

Sir John Sears of the English Army

Early in the morning the French Vanguard advanced a short distance from the French camp and waited for its orders, but none came.  There was a dispute going on in Philips tent about whether to give battle at all.  Scouts had discovered that the Allied army had dug a trench in front of it and to make things worse the French army had been marching through territory wasted by Edwards men and it was hungry and thirsty.  Making yet another timid decision Philip ordered the Vanguard to retreat and wait for the allies to attack.  From the English lines the retreat of the vanguard was noticed at once and soon afterwards the French were seen digging trenches and drawing large tree trunks in front of their positions.  Edward and his commanders conferred, to keep the army drawn up was unthinkable because they too were short of food and water and to attack would be suicide so it was decided to withdraw.  Edward however saw no pleasure in this as it marked the failure of his campaign.

So there we have it the “Battle” of Capelle.  Tonight’s game will be “What if” the French had attacked?  As with most medieval battles suffice to say that no one knows for certain where the Allies formed up, all that is known is that they chose ground that gently sloped away from la Flamengrie towards the French positions with the forest of Nouvion preventing any outflanking manoeuvre and the road junction of La Capelle blocking any eastward movement of the enemy.

The gaming table

Sir Micheal of the Pines

As with most medieval battles the actual battlefield is very hard to get accurate information especially one where a battle didn’t actually occur!  So from what information I’ve managed to ascertain and looking at topographical maps of the area, the area in question is very high up.  La Capelle is 500ft above sea level and the terrain where the Allies deployed was on a steep slope with cultivated land to slow the progress of the French.

Personally I think that the Allies would have formed up between La Cappelle which was garrisoned by Flemish troops and the forest of Nouvion therefore protecting both of their flanks.

So on the table anything forward of the Allied position (The hill) is classed as being downhill and the Allies will get a terrain advantage because of this.

Victory conditions

The French win if King Edward is captured or at least 2/3 of the allied army is pushed off the rear of the hill.

The Allies win if:

1    1.   At least 2/3 of the army or more is still forward of the rear of the hill and Edward III is still in command.

A draw will be adjudicated if:

1.   The allied army is still forward of the rear of the hill and their army strength is below 2/3.

Boer War Game

By John Sears

I hope Fridays one week Boer War game amused you all? I've had some helpful and interesting feedback from Nigel (thanks), so we'll be going again this Friday with another scenario that I initially thought would be too small an action but in fact I now think with a little tinkering with figure scale will work fine.

We all know how effective the British artillery is so the Boer players will be pleased to know that there is less artillery in this next scenario. After digesting Nigel's thoughts as well, I shall be including Boer dummy positions to confuse the Brits. This did play a part in the original battle as well, confounded by British officer ineptness!

I've also messed about a bit with the morale rules! Over this weekend I've looked at various situations that players could be in when needing to test for morale and the original rules make it really really easy to pass morale in even the most dire of situations. So, I've moved the factors around a bit so that failing morale is more of a possibility than it was before. I'm not a fan of units fighting on forever and we had a few situations on Friday when units were destroyed before their morale failed!

Anyway, thanks for sticking with my latest attempt to find a rule set for a difficult theatre that I feel gives you a sense of 'what it would've been like'.

2019 Games Stats

by John Sears

Well, it’s that time of year once again when its good for the soul to analyse what we’ve been doing all year. So, once again I’ve taken it upon myself to burn the midnight oil pondering over exhaustive records, statistics and log entries (all on the back of one of Rupert's envelopes with gaps made up with personal prejudice) to illuminate our activities for your amusement (other analysis is or will be available) revealing the following items of interest;

Most popular gaming period of 2019

Joint 1st place: Medieval & WW2

3rd place:         Horse and Musket

Player who put most games on or contributed to others (not including venue provider which would mean Mikey winning hands down every year!)

1st place:  John

2nd place: Steve

3rd place:  Dave

So there you have it, retirement obviously suits Dave who crept up this year from behind! 

Steve and I are pretty obvious contenders and probably explains the leading periods as well as we both cover two out of three each.

Battle of Magenta, 4th June 1859

The first session of this three week game was held on 2nd November, teams were sorted out with Steve and Nigel taking the French side and Mike W, Rupert, Mike N and Phil taking the Austrian side.

The game was using Dave's 2mm collection and showcased his new 2mm playing boards, as seen in the pictures. Rules used were the 'Bloody Big Battles' set.

The game started with the French entering the table on the West and Northern edges.  In the west, the French foolishly tried to cross the border river & canal in front of the Austrian guns.

Led by the Imperial Guard they came a real cropper, when the guns opened up the Imperial Guard was shattered and the following columns held up behind them for the rest of week one.

To the north and North West additional french Corps came onto the battlefield forcing Austrian forces in the North West to retire back and form a hasty defensive line some distance back form the northern table edge.

Again, this Austrian line held for the rest of week one, whilst the French Corps, manoeuvred to prepare for an attack.

Finally a third Austrian Corps entered the table in the South East and marched to re-enforce the norther n line.

Week Two saw John join the Austrian forces and lead a fourth Austrian Corps on to the South Western edge of the battlefield.

Meanwhile a firefight and a series of melees ensued on the northern front, with a series of French attacks and fighting withdrawals by the Austrians facing them.

Finally this was countered when the Austrian 3rd Corps formed a second line behind the northern front and opened up additional bombardment on the French lines..

Swapping over to historical events - the battle took place near the town of Magenta in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire on 4 June 1859.

Napoleon III's army crossed the Ticino River and outflanked the Austrian right forcing the Austrian army under Gyulai to retreat.

The confined nature of the country, a vast spread of orchards cut up by streams and irrigation canals, precluded elaborate manoeuvre.

The Austrians turned every house into a miniature fortress. The brunt of the fighting was borne by 5,000 grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard, still mostly in their First Empire style of uniforms.

The battle of Magenta was not a particularly large battle, but it was a decisive victory for the Franco-Sardinian alliance.

Patrice Maurice de MacMahon was created Duc de Magenta for his role in this battle, and would later go on to serve as one of the French President of the Third French Republic.

28mm Ottoman Heavy Cavalry

Just off the workbench today are a unit of 6 x 28mm Ottoman Heavy Cavalry...

The metal figures are Redoubt Miniatures whilst the plastic horses are from the HaT El Cid range, the HaT figures were really poor so I've had the horses painted and kicking around for months now.

A useful lot on eBay with these Redoubt figures going at a snip completes the unit. Happy Days!

The Battle of Kadesh, ‎late May 1274 BC

A map of the battle from the time!

The Battle of Kadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the modern Lebanon–Syria border.

Hittite Heavy Infantry Command

 Our recreation of the battle took place at Rupert's place and the Hittites were played by Steve and Dave, whilst the Egyptians were run by Mike W and Phil. Rupert provided his usual excellent and insightful umpiring service!

The rules used were a variation of Rupert's standard ancients rules, the game was played in 15mm using figures from Rupert's collection - which were painted and previously owned by Alan Martin.

The Eygptians started with four commands, each with two chariot units and then typically a couple of Infantry units plus archers, some of the commands had Light Infantry Archers, some commands were accompanied by a baggage train. 

One command, with the Ramesses with them were camped just outside Kadesh, Kadesh its-self stood on a hill and was not occupied by either side's military. Two Egyptian commands were marching the length of the table to join Ramesses in Camp whilst the fourth command was off table,  not at all far from the camp area.

The rear of Mike W's Egyptian command, with baggage
train, just before being hit by Hittite Chariots

The Hitites were across the rive from the Egyptians, with two strong Chariot commands, poised to hit the Egyptian columns as they marched across the table. A single large Infantry command of about six Heavy Infantry units were also marching into position from the Kadesh end of the table.

Phil's Egyptian command starting to try and
march the length of the table

The action started with a lightening attack by the first Hittite Chariot command, supported by a second command in a rear line, this caught the Egyptian column as it was turning and managed to push back then rout several of the Egyptian units. The only saving grace for the Egyptians was that the Heavy Infantry inflicted high casualties on the attackers and held the line, whilst archers, chariots and Light Infantry fled.

The Egyptians pushed up their second command that was marching onto the field and this had the desired effect of distracting the second Chariot command, who turned to oppose this new threat. In the meantime the Hittites continued to press their advantage in the centre as the routing Egyptians were further punished, Ramesses started to move units from his command out f the camp to oppose the large Hittite infantry column that was snaking its way towards Kadeh.

Ramesses Camp, with units awaiting orders
Kadesh can be seen in the background

Phil commanding the second Egyptian command marching across the table - was able to form up and start hitting out at the opposing chariots with some punishing fire form his archers. meanwhile the Egyptian units that survived the initial onslaught were able to turn and face and start dishing out some punishment of their own.

Suddenly the tables turned again as a number of Hittite Chariot units broke, disrupting their organisation and allowing a number of piecemeal melees to break out, melees that saw the Egyptians gradually gain the upper hand and push away the pesky chariot foes.

Kadesh, the city on the hill.

As the main Hittite Infantry command crossed the river, it was hit by one of Ramesses Heavy Infantry units, supported by a unit of archers. Melee ensued and after several turns of fighting the Hitties broke, with that the morale of the Hittite commanders also broke and they elected to quit the field.

A good game had by all - great to get out the Biblical figures so beautifully painted by Alan.