Pavia Project Progress

Not the most interesting of posts but one to prove to myself I am making progress after some non-productive weekends.

This weekend I managed to clean up another 42 Landsknechts to add to the 50 done previously and 30 Gensdarmes. Not very photogenic in just the metal but until the weather allows spray priming, they will remain bare and shiny....

In actual fact, they are quicker to clean up than fully round figures. A quick going over with a scalpel, snipping of extra weapons, legs and tails, then a good quality file is all that's needed. The trickiest part are pikes and lances which usually have flash. I tend to rest them on the cutting board itself, scrape with scalpel and carefully file away from me, stopping if you get a sudden bend.

Landesknechts

Gensdarmes

Still cannot get over the movement in these figures.

Distractions, distractions......

It's dangerous looking at other people's blogs as it results in distracting you from current projects and often produces unforeseen results......

Progress has been slow,,,or rather s-l-o-w....

Weekend before last saw some Landesknecht cleaned up. Due to the weather they have not received a spray primer yet,  here they are in the RUB awaiting drier and calmer days.....

I'm hoping to do another lot today....

As a balance for the last blog entry, purchasing for the neglected SYW project continues, this time the Prussians....

The Alte Fritz is a Willie figure that came in a lot of painted figures. Needs a bit of work, but I was quite taken with the figure. I may have an unpainted version somewhere. The horse is quite nicely done (the Mollwitz Grey?). He was stored away until I saw the aide figure on eBay. Expensive, paint job is workmanlike if not exquisite. I only bought it as (1) I couldn't identify the manufacturer and (2) thought he would make a good counterpoint to Fritz. Need some Italian greyhounds or an additional figure for a nice command stand.

Anyway, back to the blogs and distractions.....

There I was looking at Martin Rapier's blog (https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/) and he had a post about Decision Games Khe Sahn:

https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2024-12-02T00:23:00-08:00&max-results=7

I thought I'd kicked my Vietnam fixation long ago, but I was intrigued. A quick visit to Second Chance Games (https://secondchancegames.com/) and before I knew had added these to the basket...

And this....

The two solitaire mini-games were purchased with the idea of actually playing something, KS as mentioned and the other as I cannot resist anything North Africa.....

Pavia was an attempt to re-start the Pavia Project to see how someone else looked at it, especially the terrain....

Unfortunately, in the solitaire section I spotted this.....

A solitaire campaign game for the Mexican Revolution.....this led to digging out the unstarted 15mm project figures. It looks as if the game will make a good battle generator for these....

 Previous to this, the distractions had already started. Richard Crawley's blog featured his long running mythical Caucasian Imagi-Nation, engaged in various C20th (and C21st?) conflicts:

https://thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.com/2024/11/attack-on-northern-hills.html

This set me off on revisiting my own Post-Soviet Imagi-Nation, the Central Eurasian Republic (geographically vague but somewhere between Kazakstan and Georgia - modern Stavropol and Kalmykia).

This emerged as a game to make use of my then collection of Soviet 1/87 armour and vehicles and 20mm figures in a post-Soviet break-up. Vague details of such conflicts had filtered out and it seemed plausible to use everything from T-34s and JS-III to T-72 . As my then collection was sparse (now much increased) I simply  divided up what I had painted and the Nationalist "Government" and Rebel forces diced to see what they got. There was a third force representing the Russians controlling some KGB, Birder Guards and with the opportunity to call in Airborne forces and airpower.

The game involved a battle for a city centre (Krasny Gorod) complete with government buildings, KGB HQ, People's Park of Liberty with Fimo statue of Lenin. Off table, was a small table representing the Airport and a card table for forces transiting between the two.....

President Danniken (Danny O'Hara) ended up with a small force of Motor Rifles and some reasonably modern tanks and apcs. These he deployed in front of the Government building where he himself was sheltering, The Rebels under Markov (Mark Daly) had a mix of veteran MRs with modern equipment and a mob of militia and some older T-34 and JS-3. He dispatched his most effective troops towards seizing the airport accompanied by a JS-III (he was much taken with this model) which unbeknown to him slowed down his progress significantly. His militia and some more effective MR supported by T-34/85 would assault the Presidential palace.

Menawhile, Petrov (Pete Foggin) as representative of the former Soviet, now Russian forces could negotiate with either side. Following self-imposed mandate of "never negotiating with rebels" he opened discussions with Danniken. In a canny move, he deployed what few troops he had at the airport and called in the Desentniki...

I was using Combined Arms, the modern version of Command Decision, so the game remained unfinished when the players left, but I concluded it solo the next day.

Markov's assault on the palace consisted of successive "pasadaran" human wave assaults backed by T-34s which eventually petered out after losses caused morale failures. An appearance of an Hind gunship crewed by rebels promised much, but Mark as an inexperienced player attacked the front of a T-72, failed to do any damage and contented himself with shooting up the palace with remaining cannon, while Danniken cowered in the basement but survived any risk of becoming a casualty. His column trundled towards the airport (slowly) and was straffed by Russian aircraft, losing artillery and softskins and causing further delay. The Desantniki would arrive in a randome number of turns (diced for) so any delay was crucial if they were to arrive on time.

As it turned out, their transport planes touched down just as the rebel assault on the airport developed. They could have opted for a parachute landing at either the airport or city, but instead taxied down with the warning the landing zone could be "hot!.

The Rebel MR managed to breech the defences of the Border Guards, broke in the main gate and suppressed the KGB in the main control tower by dint of shooting it up with BTR-60 cannon/MG!   

With the BG suffering a morale collapse, the MR had only to break down the perimeter  fence and overrun the trenches. Tearing across the runway, the Desantniki shot in by BMD2 apc managed by the skin of their teeth to reach the trenches landing in and among their shocked BG comrades. There followed a furious fusilade of small arms, MGs, Cannon, tank guns and AT missile fire between the two sides, with the rebel MG getting the worst of the exchange, despite dealing out damage and knocking out at least a platoon of BMD. In the morale phase, the cumulative losses were enough to cause the rebels to melt away leaving bodies and burning vehicles....

I had ideas to develop things further and since then have acquired many more suitable vehicles and figures. Like many projects it simply stalled. The last work I did was some S&S Models Russian MR to represent the inevitable "Peacekeepers" that would arrive.....

 

As the stash of x-Soviet equipment has increased, I feel like a revisit to the CER is in order. 

That is after I finish the Pavia, Soldier King and AIW projects!

So much for maintenance of the aim!

Back in the saddle

The lack of activity on the blog recently is due to a lack of activity at weekends generally.....

Aside from the VWC, I have been unable to summon the energy to tackle any of the many projects, partly due to endless grey skies and work, work, work.....

Hopefully, I can get myself into gear and do some cleaning up of figures.

In the meantime, various projects have suggested themselves, such as my long neglected SYW and FIW armies. While there is still unpainted lead, I have supplemented them with some eBay purchases....

Greenwood & Ball / Garrison French

Very nice in an "old school" way and about £1 per figure.

I also could not resist this Austrian Willie general and his Hinchliffe aide. 

Not cheap but an inspiration to paint my own Willie generals; fortunately the style is not too dissimilar to my few painted Austrians, supplemented by some painted units. I puts me in mind of Phil Robinson's (?) fantastic Hinchliffe SYW Austrian army, complete with Willie personalities that appeared in a very old MW.

A friend of mine, Pete Foggin, sent some pictures of masters he has done for his expanding Italian Wars 10mm ranges. In this case Stradiots.

To buy, see here:

https://www.foggofwarminiatures.com/

At present only Gensdarmes and Swiss/Lansknechts seem too be available with various ancients.

Finally, David of the Ragged Soldier blog (https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/) mentioned he had been to the NAM in Chelsea and seen the Siborne Waterloo diorama. There were in fact two a small and large, the small resides in the Armouries Leeds. I didn't post previously as the pictures are not of the best as it was very difficult to photograph. Online articles suggest the figures are 25mm but appear much smaller - scale creep even in the C19th?

Despite restoration and conservation (including making replacement figures) it looks a bit sad and worn. Anthony Clipsom indicated there's a viewer to see the figures in close up, but I missed that.

Pavia inspiration and a trip to Fiasco

Last weekend saw a trip to the Fiasco wargames show and the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

Fiasco was disappointing; the games were mostly small with a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, the venue itself (across from the Armouries) a bit gloomy. Trade stands were OK and I came away with some paints and brushes. I noted a couple of tables where games had failed tom turn up (never a good look) but on the whole it had more of the feel of a club night.

While I have complained about large demonstration games, this was the opposite, small niche games or 5mm /15mm often on plain cloth. The biggest was a Battletech game with very nice scenery.

I think somewhere in between club type games and elaborate demonstration games is the answer with some of the others mixed in. At least a lot appeared to be participation.

The only temptation was Anschluss' 1:144 armour, but I resisted.

Naval landing skirmish

Cthulu Mountains of Madness

VBCW

Castles in the Sky Agean sky battle

What a Cowboy

Cold War turns Hot

Battletech Big Red Button

The Armouries was busy, and a bit dark for photos. A lot of reflected light.

Pavia

Solo wargaming - some thoughts

A departure for me as normally my posts are concerned with what I've done, though occasionally I may explain a little of how and why I've got to where I am. This post will try to concentrate on a specific topic - solo wargaming.

A couple of things have prompted this; my chat with David of the Ragged Soldier blog (https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/) and a discussion on the Polemarch blog (https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/) about his recently published book:

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/David-Heading/a/5916

I'm not going to review the book or comment directly on it, as I think that's proper to his blog. Instead, I want to put down my thoughts on solo wargaming.

The above book is another in a list of titles looking at solo wargaming, from Donald Featherstone, Stuart Asquith and others. There is a society dedicated to this aspect (https://lonewarriorswa.com/). Most of these cover the topic in more detail than can be expected in a blog post, so I will concentrate on my thoughts.

During my chat with David, we touched on solo wargaming; David does a lot. I'm not currently gaming due to absence of anywhere to do it! The dining table is out of commission, the garage full of clutter and the best I'd manage is a card table for something like DBA. 

I briefly mentioned "mechanisms" and also explained that once I'd finished painting my SK armies, I wanted to start the campaign solo to get things ironed out before potentially inviting real people to participate .

I don't want to get involved in the "why" or debates on whether a real live opponent is preferable- most of this is personal choice - and wrapped up in issues around not what game you play but who you play it with. I'd argue under the right circumstances both can be equally pleasurable or conversely, disappointing.

Instead, it's the "how" you go about it I want to look at.

The most obvious drawback is that you control both armies, know what troops are available and can see both sides of the table. The first thing to decide is how much of the unknown you wish to introduce. It is perfectly possible to simply play both sides, planning deployment and plan of attack or defence; the problem is of course it's difficult to both be impartial and unbiased as well as able to forget what you have planned for the other side. It's also unlikely you will be surprised at any stage, something a real opponent will provide when they do the unexpected. Hidden units provide a real challenge.

Many gamers simply play both sides as fairly as they can; some rulesets lend themselves to this through the inbuilt friction. Commands and Colors for example relies on cards for movement and actions; you can either play as they are drawn or attempt to use the cards in the best way for both sides. Other types of rules introduce friction via phased movement or disruption such as BP's "blunder" rule. Some people hate such rules, others love them.

The alternative, is to either completely randomise both sides plans and deployment or to rely on some form of pre-programming, such as CS Grant's Programmed scenarios. Or, refight a historical battle drawing each side's deployment from the historical and then deciding whether either or both sides follow the historical aims and plan.

Whichever approach you take there are certain aspects you will need to consider and possibly devise mechanisms for. My view is they sit under the following headings:

Deployment

Touched on above; do you randomise or deploy sensibly? Cavalry facing a marsh is going to be a problem - do you then allow some reorganisation? Or have standard deployments decided by a dice. Do you have characteristics for you generals? Would an incompetent general deploy cavalry behind a marsh - stranger things have happened in history. How do you handle hidden troops or the problems of the 2000 foot general? The latter of course is not confined to solo gaming - the issue is reacting to things you would know nothing about - is it simply a question of honesty? Perhaps easier when playing solo.

Movement

Not just how far you move, but when or if at all. Most rules are either predictable or have a degree of randomisation. At one end of that spectrum, you know each move how far that unit can move and if you choose to move it, it will unless there are other factors such ad command radii and or morale. The other extreme is where what acts (and when or if) is determined by cards or dice, the ultimate being also the actual distance moved being also randomised. Many critics point out that you are simply reacting to circumstances from move to move, rather than following a plan and that skill is replaced by luck. For the solo player, it does allow some detachment, assuming you play each side equally. The less randomisation, the more cerebral the game, but that predictability will make for few surprises.

Command decisions

The most difficult issue in many ways. Unless as above, you as the player are simply reacting to events, it is very difficult if not impossible to split yourself in two and act fairly for both sides. Unconscious or conscious bias will play a part. Do you characterise your generals? How far do you go and how far down the chain of command do you go? Again the question revolves around how much randomisation are you introducing? Is the aim to remove control from your hands entirely and place it under that of the general's character? Is it "rash", "bold" and "cautious" or to the level of " timid, dithering dypsomaniac"? Some of this can be taken out of your hands by cards which determine which wing or unit can act, as above. Or do you attempt to put yourself in the persona of th general and role play to some extent? Or simply throw dice for different choices options? - 1 or 2 withdraw, 3+ counterattack?

End point

Unless you have rules that determine the end of a game (objectives, victory tokens) or a scenario that gives a result, then the decision on whether to continue playing come down to the player themselves. Some players become so demoralised or dislike the rules, they will quit even when there's a chance to win. Others will fight to the last man, unless prevented from doing so by victory conditions or similar. It's more difficult for the solo player as he is the general for both sides; it's simply not possible to psychologically influence yourself! Campaigns are interesting in that they add a different dimension to when to end a battle. Do you save the army or fight bitterly for that city? What losses can you sustain?

So where do I sit within all this? Well my Soldier King armies have generals with random characteristics down to brigade / column level. I've tried to translate the major characteristics into a set of values from 2 to 8 which give some sort of score against which to role. I have not cracked random deployment or how to have each side deploy independently as well as take account of terrain, let alone hidden units and deployment. I'd love to introduce random movement, somehow influenced by character or the army 's training, but fear it would slow things down excessively.

What it boils down to are mechanisms you can bolt onto existing rules or exploit the mechanisms in existing rules that remove control from the player. So far, the books I've seen give some hints or suggestions, but often little by way of actual mechanics that can be adapted.

T'Other Partizan

Flying visit to Partizan today. Only spent about 2 1/4 hours there, so it was a bit of a rush to go around trade stands , photograph games and anything else.

I confess I spent most of my time there having a very enjoyable chat with David Barnes of The Ragged Soldier" blog:

https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/

It was nice to finally meet David in person, especially after the last time when I accosted his body double who reacted in  no uncertain fashion! We had a good old chat waiting for David's friends to arrive.

I will post a selection of photos; when I arrived it was extremely busy - I cannot say I have ever seen it that crowded before - hence it was quite difficult to get photos and several were not very well signed so it was difficult to identify them - the lack of a hard copy floor plan doesn't help. Some listed games I never saw and many I saw did not appear to be listed on the floorplan! Once upon a time they used to give you such things.....no bands this time so how they policed it I cannot say.

All Hell Let Loose 6mm Omaha D-Day

Not Quite Mechanised Tunisia - hoped to have a chat with Chris but was fully engaged in chatting each time I passed.

Old Pikey's Hell's Highway with intriguing paper buildings

Forest Outlaws French & Indian War March on Montreal 1760

The very busy and at times noisy Morris & Chums Battle of 5 Armies from the Hobbit

League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers Lutzen TYW 1632 with burning town

Simon Miller To the Strongest Wars Louis XIV

Yarkshire Gamer Italian Wars relief of Forli

Bramley Barn Wargames Club RCW

Vietnam

Like a Stonewall Poltava Redoubts Great Norther War

Chesterfield Old Boys Oudenarde (?) Marlburian

I have tried to credit where I could work out who had put on the game and what it was, there were others I took photos of which I simply cannot attribute to period or players.

Apart from the crowds and lack of adequate signs or paper floorplan, there was a startling absence of castles this year.....some city walls was it.....perhaps they got the memo or decided everyone will do a castle so let's be different....

A lot of C20th and Horse and Musket, some fantasy but only one ancients game. I'm sure there were many others I simply missed in my rush.

Purchases were minimal - casualty bases and some 20mm French for Syria 1941