Turkish Force

 Coming hot from Curt's painting challenge today I am showing the 20mm Turkish troops I have painted for my forthcoming Arab revolt game. All the figures are IT miniatures as with the Arabs. Obviously all being uniformed these were quicker to paint the whole 24 taking me just over a day if we include basing. All this means that the Arab Revolt game just needs some more terrain making which I will start today (weather permitting.... stop laughing!) You know I will show each step of the terrain making so look out for that in future blog posts.

Meanwhile back at these figures. Both of the officers have swords and holsters for pistols. This is perhaps a mistake on the sculptors part, but not a major one. While swords were used they were not generally taken into battle. Pistols were not issued but were commonly used generally being purchased commercially Needless to say this could lead to different ammunition calibres and types being used. Likewise the infantry would be equipped with different rifles in different units or on different fronts. This would have no tabletop implications and is just mentioned to highlight that at times the Ottoman Army of this period was not as well equipped as many of the WW1 Western front armies. 

This is nearly the whole range of IT Turkish troops and will allow me to fight some WW1 Skirmish battles other than the Arab revolt. Indeed I am talking and thinking about putting on a WW1 Palestine game on for the Rejects. At present I am just tweaking the rules .because  at the moment the rules I would use would make the game a little slow. The flip side is that it would make them play very tactically. Good Lord making wargamers think it's just wrong!

That's it for today. I am travelling to Posties Shed of war for a colonial game all day long on Saturday. Ray, Big Lee and Fran will not be present so I will be the only blogger there. Unless my camera plays up or I forget it there should be an AAR on Sunday. So until Sunday, take care and have fun and try not to get too cold or wet! All the best Clint.

Guardia Civil Spanish Civil War.

To the right you can see my rebased Guardia Civil figures for the Spanish Civil War.The paramilitary forces of the Guardia Civil (Civil

Guard), followed standard Spanish military organisation patterns, with a few minor variations.
Typically therefore, their individual platoons
(Secciones) consisted of a small platoon command staff of simply a First or Second Lieutenant (Teniente or Alferez), accompanied by a Staff Sergeant (Sargento Primero). There were two large sections (Pelotones), each led by a Sergeant (Sargento) and composed of three squads (Escuadras), each of a corporal and five Guardia; except the first, where the Sergeant replaced the Corporal.  I however have mounted 3 figures to a base to keep the figures consistent with my other forces in the two armies.

With the exception of the platoon leader and his
second in command, who were armed with pistols, all men were supposedly armed with a rifle or carbine of the Mauser type. Other weapons were also held in their arsenals however, which included sub-machine
guns, riot shotguns and exotic types more usually seen wielded by prison or bank guards. That makes you ponder what the prisons were like! Talk about rough justice.

Support weapons were virtually non-existent, with each Guardia Civil or Carabinero Commandancia (essentially a four company battalion-sized unit) only being authorised a single Hotchkiss M.1914 medium machine gun.  They did however also field mounted units,
as well as, in some cases, motorised or motorcycle units.

The figures are 10mm Pendraken miniatures I have still to attaché flags, but as these troops fought on both the Nationalist and Republican sides during the SCW I will most likely make some slip on /slip off style flags to retain figure versatility. Don't get excited Ray the Mounted unit shown here will not be taking the field in the planned SCW game at the Rejects/posties Shed of War!
  Likewise Fran please do not expect them to look like this and if you have any thoughts about police women it is best not to voice them in public.

I will need a chat with Postie in the next few weeks to find out how large a force the players are happy to field, which will determine how many I will be able to entertain, accommodate, erhm I mean fit in the game.
 

I also suspect I will be able to put on a WW1 Palestine Skirmish game on for them in the near future, BUT I suspect that might be too small for the shed of war at this stage as it would be limited to 2 players until I build more terrain.

 

Thanks for Popping By, I hope to have some more painted stuff from Curt's Challenge to show by Friday as I sent him the Pics on Monday afternoon. All the best folks and Hope to see you soon.

 Cheers Clint

 

Honor and Glory.

Not so much of that really. But Honor and Glory are the rules we were playing at the club yesterday. Yes it was a good game but alas not a win for me this time.


The initial positions with Peter my commander on my right (that's his hand) We had the confederates in an 1864 scenario. My orders were two fold. Seize the town which the fedrals were intent on burning down (the rotters) and capture the crossroads. Peter would also Capture the crossroads (a joint objective as it was between our lines. His other objective was to take the bridge.

 Our troops move first. Then two Fedral moves in a row the our turn then two Fedral turns in a row. Yes they started with more turns than us..... the dice gods were good but the card dice hated us!

 Anyway The fedrals reach the town first and actually manage to start burning it while I just reach the town edge.

 Peters Cavalry take the bridge. Last one turn of fire and then rout from the table never to be seen again! Ouch!
















Union troops form a firing line.









I bring my Rebels up in skirmish order taking and returning fire. Hardly a fair fight but what else could I do.










Peters troops close in on the Crossroad. Peter it must be said is a Murdering officer. Tim Opposite him had 3 Gun batteries continually firing at Pete's troops











I get into the town and then get pushed out of the town. I re enter with the buildings burning. And then manage to push some of the union out.

 Tim's Cavalry take the bridge objective.

 I reach the fence and start to form up into a firing line.

 Peter takes the Crossroads but continues to take heavy casualties.

 The melee in the town continues and My initial successes are thwarted.

 I finally get into a firing line and the Card dice give me two turns in a row. Than goodness! Due to good positioning I am able to get an extra unit into the line to fire at Grahams. This allows me to concentrate my fire on a unit.

 Peters troops charge the guns and despite canister shot actually take them. A Pyrric victory as they are too badly damaged to continue are rout from the table in the following turn.











I loose a General in close combat and get expelled from the town. I also gain by chance a unit of reinforcements which are at this stage my strongest unit on the board.



While it did not go all the Union way the extra turns they got from the Card gods at the beginning of the game made a big difference. Allowing them 2 shots to my one. So when the card gods finally decided to even thigs up my units were so damaged that their shooting was weaker than the Federals.

Not complaining we could have won, but we did not. A good game but a win would have made it a better game for me as me and Peter were up against it given the size of our units at this stage of the war. Oh well maybe next time!