Season of scenery challenge was looking promising until real life again got in the way of an already disrupted year.
I did manage to plan to do some pieces with this early war miniatures small stone bridge being snapped up at Partizan in May in anticipation (that now seems a long time ago).
EWM have both resin and metal items in their comprehensive ranges
I decided to experiment with yellow stone – no not that US thing but the European sandstones which you often see in the Mediterranean but also in Northern Europe where sadly the weather can erode the fine carvings.
I used craft paints with some blending plus house paint sample potsOnly a little bit of dry brushing on the stones and road cobbles was needed to get the look I wanted.
The bridge reminds me a bit of the Bellona bridge I had as a teenager – in fact I had the large and small ones eventually, although they have disappeared long ago.
The moulding from EWM is first class with no prep needed although you do need to prime the resin – I did not to start with – in a hurry and had to rectify that issue.
I am delighted with the results which may well influence some of my other stone work plans.
The Corinovans are in retreat, “B” division has been destroyed holding the coastal city of Viana and now inland, “A” division is dangerously exposed to isolation by the rampant Gombardian forces.
Remnants of “B” division and elements of “C” division in retreat, continued to try and intercept Gombardian thrusts on “A” division’s eastern flank.
My previous Fauxterre post covered the strategic situation that lead to this action.
The game
Essentially this is an escalating engagement and I simply used the scenario from Neil Thomas’ “An introduction to wargaming”. His World War Two rules reflect his simple yet interesting approach you can find in his more popular books like one hour wargames, C19th Century European warfare or ancient and medieval warfare.
The rulebook offers four scenarios
Encounter
Frontal assault
Surprise assault
Escalating engagement
I opted for an escalating engagement action reflecting the chaos of a rapid advance experienced by both sides.
I took the real world unit lists in the book and came up with two slightly different lists for the Gombardians – plenty of armour like Germans while the Corinovans were more likely to field infantry like the French.
I used my own table for observation – everything had an observation rule to help cause friction that’s required for a solo game.
The scenario set victory conditions based on three shared objectives – the winner having two or all three at the end of the game. I had a count down variable tracker but this had not expired when one side patently had run out of forces.
The three objectives were the
Town
Sawmill
Orchard
Both sides quickly acquired either the sawmill or town.
It remained simply to fight it out for the orchard.
As the table was created first before selecting the scenario it was also the case that the opposing forces diced for arrival points.
Each side had 9 units and deployed 3 units to start but I also applied scenario requirements that all six remaining units arrived on an improving odds dice throw each turn.
Here is some of the key action.
The base cloth can use its grid but today I am using Neil Thomas rules with measured distances Gombardians enter the town The walled orchard – soon to be the centre of attention In the distance an old sawmill nestles beneath the hillThe gombardians venture cautiously through the townThe Gombardians enter the orchardUnknown to them the Corinovans had entered the orchard at the same time in some strength, fighting eruptsThe gombardians already had one of the three objectives- the townMore gombardians pass through the town while the Corinovans have already taken the third objective – the old sawmill. Both sides have to secure the orchard to meet their orders
The action now centres on the walled orchard
The gombardians are beginning to wear down the Corinovans in the orchardThe Corinovans launch an attack past the orchardMore gombardians arriving through the town A defiant single soldier from the first gombardian assault hangs on frustrating the Corinovans The newly arrived gombardians decimate the Corinovans attacking past the orchardThe Corinovans benefit from some excellent barrage though, in turn decimating the gombardians
The battle moves toward a conclusion
The gombardians are now driven back to the town areaA few Corinovans hold the orchard and so have secured the “two objectives” orders. The gombardians have failed and decide to withdraw leaving the town in the possession of the Corinovans.
The Gombardians had arrived with armour which fits the scenario of a fluid front in the campaign situation. But they did not have enough infantry to take on the Corinovans in the congested orchard area.
The army lists therefore helped create an asymmetric game and the armour heavy force on this occasion lost.
What do you do when your sidetrack project becomes a Cuckoo in the nest. You buy another nest, metaphorically speaking, and stick it in it. I had attempted to paint and kitbash my way through the sidetrack project Fauxterre 1930, while progressing my main project of 2021 – Wars of Italian Unification 1848/1859 (in themselves ever more complicated but still fascinating).
So, having gone round the show in quick time I felt there was little to tempt me or solve my current project woes. “Or so I thought”.
Early War Miniatures was one of many (but not all) bigger traders busy selling at VAP22. With no bring and buy or competitions, plus only a select few demo/participation games, it was easy to get around but also the smaller sellers were not too diminished as they were spread across all 4 floors.
At Early War Miniatures I encountered a sell off of some completed figures. And they were exactly what I wanted for my Fauxterre 1930 project. Although I had opted for US and Russian forces – original plan – I had drifted into the interwar period and French forces had loomed into sight complete with Char B tanks, Renault’s and various quirky looking vehicles.
Net result was I came away with a prize and of course my wallet much lighter.
The effect was that a mini deluge in buying followed. There is a lesson in there somewhere.
The figures come next followed by the rest of my purchases with some kit armour and finished EWM tanks to finish.
French WW2 infantry from Early War Miniatures – 4 x 12 man rifle units plus HQ + Heavy Weapons The complete set of French WW2 figures – it was the fact that it was a useable set that caught my eye – all ready to go.
The rest of my buys were somewhat “erratic” of course……….
impulse buys at PendrakenMy Great Northern Wars “Era” project remains unrealised. I seem to find Italy ever more interesting across all periods.tufts for basing my italian wars of unification project (1848/1859) – for when I get some figures painted again!Pendraken again – small dice are simply too enticing – should be banned.I like AC’s!This Renault Truck I nearly bought in injection kit form from Hannants – but at a higher price!tankettes are the way forward!Some interesting armour and vehicles for Fauxterre 1930 From EWM, my slow build of a Russian WW2 force now includes some decals – very slow it would seemAs part of a show discount Early War Miniatures included these miscasts for free. They are intact enough to become part of the Fauxterre 1930 war effort.
So a big thank you to Early War Miniatures who fixed a growing problem. Pendraken as ever met my needs for all sorts of extras while HelionBooks invariably come up with attractive titles to feed my reading. Great Escape Games provided the tufts and some humour.
The large ground floor flowed freely as the demo and participation tables were absent this year.Plenty of the smaller traders were located on the higher levels
Last of all for those who stuck the journey………..
3 M11/39 Italian tanks from Early War Miniatures
Thats all folks – just maybe for patient “John the Varnish” the next post should be about Wars of the Italian Unification although Fauxterre 1930 is still squawking away!
The Wargaming Erratic 