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WELCOME TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL
W
elcome readers: this issue has a phenomenal spread: as I love games at
shows I have been trying hard recently to showcase them in the magazine
and this month is no exception. On that basis we have Nihon Shugi (the
Sino-Japanese War and aimed for Partizan); Myths & Monsters (at Salute though
here with an Arab twist); and those are both backed by an actual Salute report plus
loads more: an Indian Mutiny campaign, Chain of
Command and Army Painter Speed
Painting from Kevin Dallimore. After
last month’s shot of a figure (on a
model trike) that I’m using on the
table-top as me, I thought an actual shot
of me on the trike wouldn’t go amiss
this time. As Ian Anderson sang: “The
old rocker wore his hair too long, wore his
trouser cuffs too tight; unfashionable to the
end: drank his ale too light; death’s head belt
buckle, yesterday’s dreams; the transport caf’,
prophet of doom; ringing no change in his double-
sewn seams, in his post-war-babe gloom...”. Sadly,
spot on.
John Treadaway
Editor
MINIATURE WARGAMES
EDITORIAL
EDITOR John Treadaway
MiniatureWargames@warnersgroup.co.uk
HEAD OF DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Lynn Wright
DESIGN Mike Carr
COVER: Myths and Monsters: Arabesque!
ADVERTISING TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL
ACCOUNT MANAGER Charlotte Lewis
01778 391129 | charlotte.lewis@warnersgroup.co.uk
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER Nicola Glossop
01778 392420 | nicola.glossop@warnersgroup.co.uk
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Charlotte Bamford
01778 395081 | charlotte.bamford@warnersgroup.co.uk
MARKETING
MARKETING MANAGER Katherine Brown
01778 395092 | katherine.brown@warnersgroup.co.uk
IN THIS ISSUE
04 FORWARD OBSERVER
With the latest news items.
06 SEND THREE AND
FOURPENCE
History, Wargaming & Spain: Mr Kinch holds an
interview with Professor Charles Esdaile.
COVER 12 MYTHS &
FEATURE MONSTERS
Arabian Nights. A skirmish game scenario set in
the mysterious middle east.
19 DEFENCE IN DEPTH
With the latest figure and rules reviews.
22 COMMAND DECISION
Cawnpore 1857: “Last week I fought four fights...”
Command Decision has a selection of four Indian
Mutiny scenarios. And more next month!
28 BISH BASH BOSH
Kevin Dallimore tries out Army Painter
Speedpaints.
Get in touch 32 NIHON SHUGI
tabletopgaming.co.uk Pyongyang 1894. A scenario which will be making
an appearance at the next Partizan. Part 1.
MiniatureWG
MiniatureWargames 41 QUARTERMASTER
Scenery and gaming materials for the wargamer
miniature_wargames_magazine
are reviewed! This time it’s a new mat from
Deep Cut.
MARKETING EXECUTIVE Luke Hider 42 WARDROP AMBUSH
01778 395085 | luke.hider@warnersgroup.co.uk
Germany 10th April 1945: A Chain of
PUBLISHED BY Command Scenario.
PUBLISHER Claire Ingram
47 50 GUN SALUTE
claire.ingram@warnersgroup.co.uk
Warners Group Publications PLC The Maltings, West Street,
Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH | 01778 391000 The Editor spends the day at a big London
wargames show with his cameras.
NEWSTRADE DISTRIBUTION
Warners Group Publications Plc 01778 391150
52 RECCE
A crop of reading material to grace the
wargamer’s book shelves.
The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the
57 SCRATCH BUILD
publishers. Every care is taken to ensure that the content of this magazine A quick build of a space ship.
is accurate, but we assume no responsibility for any effect from errors or
omissions. While every care is taken with unsolicited material submitted for
59 THE LAST WORD
publication, we cannot be responsible for loss or damage. While every care is
taken when accepting advertisements, we are not responsible for the quality
and/or the performance of goods and/or services advertised in this magazine.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) exists to regulate the content of From Geoff Solomon-Sims, author of The Woods.
advertisements. Tel: 020 7429 2222 © Warners Group Publications PLC, 2023
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 3
 FORWARD OBSERVER
News, previews and community submissions from the wargaming world
MATCHLOCK MAYHEM
A miscellany of miniatures
Caliver have some new releases in the
Matchlock Miniatures 28mm ranges
that they carry. First off there’s some
Space Cultists: pretty ‘over the top’
types that would be excellent in a true
‘30s pulp Flash Gordon/Buck Rodgers
scenario. Many of them come with
huge jet backpacks to stick on and
they are priced at £2.99 each (plus
there’s an officer). Next up are some
Fantasy Cultists: they are all robed
and – while most have traditional
cult weapons (axe, scythe, er...
candelabra...) one comes with a
flamer and there’s a leader figure
for these too. They are all £2.65
each. Lastly there’s some Hooded
Ratmen. Around 23mm tall these are
PICK YOUR AFV...
...And then scale it
Butlers have some new releases in
their ‘print on demand’ AFV range. For
example, British Northern Ireland soft
skins with VPK armour: the Bedford MK
(or “Wendy House”); a Series 3 Land
Rover with VPK or HVVPK (or “Piglet”).
And to prove they really have models
for every interest and battlefield, they
4 Miniature Wargames June 2023
all teeth and snout with the obviously
ratty tail that is true to type. There are
eleven different (very similar) models
and they come supplied with a selection
of shields and weapons at £1.95 each
or a pack of five for £9.50 (and all are
randomly selected). These three sets are
all available on the Caliver/Mini-Figs/
Matchlock website. It’s probably easier
to google them as the website is quite
complex!
now have a Swedish Strv 104 MBT (based
on the Centurion). They are available
in sizes from 6mm (at – for the Strv 104
– £1.46) through 12mm, 15mm, 20mm
to 28mm (at £35.57 for the 104). They
are printed in PLA plastic but – if you
want them in higher quality resin –
that’s about 50% extra (however that’s
especially useful for the smaller models).
Go to butlersprintedmodels.co.uk
THE TOWN GUARDS
Who’s guarding the guards...?
CP Models have recently released a
pack of figures called The Town Guard.
Sculpted by Aaron Howdle in “28mm
Scale” (so between 34mm down to
26mm for the two dwarves in the set)
this six pack of figures (£3 each or £15
for the lot) is useful for everything from
Robin Hood to dungeoneering. They
are cast in one piece in a white metal
and come with a round, plastic slot base.
Dressed in a leather jerkin and a helmet
they come equipped with a selection
of vital extra kit: a lantern, a raised
club, a halberd or... a pork pie. They
are ‘traditionally sculpted with lots of
detail and – as an extra – they threw in a
wandering wizard with a staff and hood.
These are fun models: go to cpmodels.
co.uk and check out Defence in Depth for
some more CP reviews.
 DEATH LANDSKNECHT
This month in Community Corner we
talk to James Holloway. James is a history
tutor, game writer, and podcaster. In fact,
some of his game writing has been for
wargaming publications: he contributed to
Lion Rampant: The Crusader States which
came out from Edinburgh University’s
History and Games Lab in 2021. But how
did he start? It’s all lost in the mists of
time... “I honestly don’t remember! I’ve
been painting miniatures since I was very
COMMUNITY CORNER
young. I remember my local public library
having a handful of books about wargames.
One was definitely Grant’s The War Game,
but I don’t recall the others... although I can
visualise the covers clearly. I used to check
them out and read them over and over. I’ve
also been into role-playing games since I
was young, so that offered another outlet
for miniature painting. As an example of
my work, this undead landsknecht is from
Bad Squiddo Games, one of my favourite
miniature companies. I don’t know that
it has a specific purpose: I think it might
have been part of one of their Gothic
horror Kickstarters, but I just bought it on a
whim. I remember that – during my school
holidays – I had a little extra free time and
I decided I wanted to paint some models
that had been lying around in the old ‘pile
of opportunity’. It’s easy to get focused on
painting for a particular game or project,
but it’s nice to have a change of pace every
once in a while.”
“Most of the model was painted with
Army Painter Speed Paints; I then went
back and highlighted each area just a little
with various acrylic paints. I think I’m
mainly proud of turning out a model that
– to me at least – seemed quite complex
If you’d like to submit
unity and in such a short space of time.
something for Comm
Corner, contact Painting quickly is about simplifying
MiniatureWargames@ things, but that can be challenging
warnersgroup.co.uk
with more detailed models. Here I thought
it went... let’s say ‘not too badly’. This
model and its companion (an elegant lady
skeleton) remind me of the “Death and
the ...” engravings. These are illustrations
that portray a personified Death in the
company of various contemporary
characters: so “Death and the bishop,”
“Death and the lady,” and so on. “Death
and the landsknecht” is one of these and
there’s a famous version of it by Albrecht
Dürer. It also reminded me a little of the
satirical skeleton characters from the work
of José Guadalupe Posada, which are now
such a big part of Mexican folk art or pop
art. I studied funerary archaeology and
I’ve always been interested in how artistic
representations of death change over time:
honestly, I think fantasy undead armies
are an overlooked aspect of that!”
“Having said that, I don’t know if it
will actually end up being used, but – just
in case – I based it to be consistent with
my undead army for Dragon Rampant.
The cobblestone effect on the base comes
from a roll of textured wallpaper I found
a scrap end of on sale somewhere. I just
glue it to the base and then pin the model
on top. In this case, I had to snip off the
integral base, and – if you look closely –
you can see where I haven’t done such an
amazing job. Oh well!”
“If I had any advice to offer – and it’s
hardly an original insight – I think the
most important thing is to remember
that the overall effect of the model, or
group of models, is what really matters.
Frankly, I don’t have the patience – or the
skill! – to achieve some of the effects the
painters I admire manage to achieve, but
instead I focus on producing models that
look good on the tabletop and I feel like it
works out most of the time.”
SHOW & TELL
EVENTS BEING PLANNED!
BROADSIDE
Saturday 10th June
Medway Park Sports Hall, Mill Road,
Gillingham, Kent, ME7 1HF
miltonhundred.com
JOY OF SIX
Sunday 2nd July
Sheffield Hallam University,
Howard Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB
joysofsix.co.uk
ATTACK AT DEVIZES
Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th July
Devizes School, The Green
SN10 3AG
ddwg.org.uk
CLAYMORE
Saturday 5th August
Edinburgh College’s
Granton Campus, EH5 1QE
seswc.co.uk
THIS MONTH
IN HISTORY
THE JUNE
REBELLION
5 – 5 JUNE 1831
The Paris uprising (Insurrection
républicaine à Paris) that inspired
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables
began when reform-minded
republicans mounted an
insurrection to overturn France’s
two-year-old constitutional
monarchy of Louis Philippe I. It
took three days for national troops
to quell the uprising. Nearly 1,000
casualties resulted. Sparked by
the death (from cholera) of Jean
Maximilien Lamarque, a popular
former Army commander and
parliamentarian, the riots that
followed his funeral began the
insurrection. After the fighting had
ceased a large number of weapons
were confiscated in raids, and there
were fears that martial law would
be imposed. The government,
which had come to power in a
revolution, distanced itself from its
own revolutionary past.
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 5
 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE

HISTORY, WARGAMING &

SPAIN
An interview with
Professor Charles
Esdaile
Words and pictures by Conrad Kinch

ABOVE: Prof Esdaile leading a tour of Spanish

Civil War battlefields, pictured here at Madrid.

ABOVE RIGHT: Airfix Battle of Waterloo

Wargame (c. 1975) but restored/revamped by
Prof Esdaile. From the forthcoming Wargaming
Waterloo Book.

INTRODUCTION
One of the strange pleasures of 21st
century life is that social media
allows you to feel that you “know”
authors in some way. There are
quite a few historians and authors
of fiction that I love, on Twitter in
particular. Some authors that I really I have a long running interest in the several weeks later I saw him post a
enjoy reading aren’t much fun to follow Peninsular War and I really enjoyed picture of some of his 1/300 Western
on social media and vice versa, but it Professor Charles Esdaile’s book Desert armour. It turns out that the
does give you an odd “look behind the The Peninsular War: A New History, good Professor was a wargamer. As
curtain” to see how someone whose so – when I spotted him on Twitter I’m, always glad to meet another
work you admire really ticks. It’s only – I made sure to follow him. He was member of the wargaming fraternity,
a partial view, of course, and often an interesting follow, often getting I messaged him and one thing led to
carefully curated, but nonetheless it’s involved in the cut and thrust of debate another including an online Kriegspiel
often eye opening. and was always worth reading, but and this interview. Enjoy!

6 Miniature Wargames June 2023

CK: Professor Esdaile, you’ve written
extensively on military history. You’re
a specialist in the military history of
Spain and specifically the Peninsular
War, but you’ve also written about
the Napoleonic Wars in general and
the Spanish Civil War. That’s a wide
breadth of material in any body’s
language: what attracted you to this
kind of work and is there a common
thread going through your books?
CE: I suppose that the obvious thing to
start with would be my abiding interest
in Spain. This emerged at a very early
age. Initially, I think, this was as a result
of watching a documentary on the
International Brigades on BBC2 in the
summer of 1973. This was much boosted
when my wonderful parents arranged for
me to spend a series of summer holidays
with a lovely Spanish family who lived
near Santander. Basically, I fell in love
with the country and became ever more
inclined to explore it and delve into its
past, and it’s one of the reasons why I
chose to go to the University of Lancaster,
in fact, being that I could specialise in
modern Spanish history, and, especially,
the Civil War.
With my BA under my belt, the next
step was a Ph.D., and the intention
was that I would write a thesis on the
development of the Nationalist army,
and – in particular – its absorption of the
militias of the Carlists and the Falangists,
but it was very soon after the death of
Franco and my supervisor reckoned that
the field was too crowded for me to have
much chance of getting a job at the end
of it and that I should therefore look at
something else. That ‘something else’
turned out to be the Peninsular War.
However, my interest in the more
modern period never went away, and
one of the great pleasures of the last few
years has been the chance to write both
a general military history of the Civil
War and, more recently still, a study of
the combat record of the British battalion
of the International Brigades which is
coming out courtesy of Pen and Sword
later this year.
So much for the issue of the country
and periods of my specialization. That,
however, is but one way to answer your
question. Of far greater import is the
type of history that I write. Setting the
obvious answer in one word ‘accessible’:
I see no point whatsoever in writing
books that cannot be read!
I suppose that it is above all
characterised by a holistic approach that
puts the political and military narratives
– which are my usual starting point – into
their wider context and at the same time
uses said context to explain the march
of events. Hence, the fact my many
books on the Peninsular War have been
interspersed with several wider studies of
the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period.
Finally – and if there is an underlying
theme to all this – it is what I believed to
ABOVE: Palitoy ‘Battle of Waterloo’ game, c. 1975. Simple but also surprisingly sophisticated, if distinctly weighted in
favour of the French. From the forthcoming Wargaming Waterloo Book.
be the duty of any good historian: namely,
to confront and toot out the myths that
so much disfigure popular history and
also to do justice to those who history has
either overlooked or treated very badly.
CK: Could you tell us a bit about
yourself?
CE: I was born in 1959 to a very
ordinary, lower-middle-class family
(both my parents were teachers) and
grew up in a small village in Surrey. It
was a pretty idyllic place to live and
left me with both a strong love of the
countryside and a complete lack of
interest in city life. The fact that I had
no friends on my door-step meant that
my younger brother and I were inclined
to be rather solitary and therefore all
the more inclined to bury our heads in
books, not to mention such pursuits as
model-railways and wargaming.
A lot of stuff has followed on from
that, some of which I’ll cover later, but
I ought also to mention to mention my
many years of involvement in historical
re-enactment, first with the Sabre
Society and the Napoleonic Association
and then with the Sealed Knot, in whose
ranks I have now served for more than
forty years.
Setting all that aside, I suppose there
is my education: tough, outer-London
comprehensive (the last school in
England, so the joke has always gone,
to abolish capital punishment) followed
by plate-glass university. Also my
strong religious faith (I am a practising
Catholic); my long academic career, most
of which I spent at the University of
Liverpool; and, finally, my four children,
the eldest of which has just presented
me with my first grandchild.
CK: How did you get started in the
wargaming hobby?
CE: Like many chaps of my generation,
the answer here is – firstly – the numerous
sets of soldiers produced by Airfix and,
secondly, the 54 mm soldiers that were
manufactured by Britain’s and Timpo. On
the one hand, these definitely boosted my
interest in history, while, on the other, they
also led to a desire to somehow re-create
the battles in which they fought.
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 7
 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE
ABOVE: The ‘Belle Alliance’ scenario from SPI’s ‘Napoleon’s Last Battles’ - a very tough challenge for Napoleon
even when (as is not the case here) Mouton’s command is placed on the field at the start of the battle. From the
forthcoming Wargaming Waterloo Book.
An added influence here, of course,
was films of the era such as Zulu, Battle
of Britain and – for all that I have
since come to despise it – Waterloo. At
first this last was achieved simply by
moving the figures around and making
up stories, but in 1969 my parents gave
me a subscription to Airfix Magazine,
and this was something that put me
on to the work of such worthies as
Donald Featherstone and Charles Grant.
I believe, however, that my very first
wargames book was John Tunstill’s
Discovering Wargames: a text that
remains a useful introduction over forty
years after it was first published.
CK: Do you find that military history
professionals are interested in
wargames and do you think that’s
changed over the course of your career?
Are today’s military historians more
likely to be wargamers than they were
when you began your studies?
CE: With regard to military-history
professionals, I know that quite a few
of the big names around at the moment
who are of my age or thereabouts, grew
up playing wargames and, further, that
there were wargamers among their
counterparts of an earlier generation, a
very good example being the English-
Civil-War historian, Peter Young, and
another the much lamented Paddy Griffith
What I don’t know, however, is whether
the contemporaries I am thinking of still
play wargames today (one or two, I think,
8 Miniature Wargames June 2023
most certainly do not) nor how genuinely
representative the trend was.
On balance, though, it is probable
that there are more wargamers around
in the historical world than there were
in the past, even if I suspect that many
of them – like me – have tended to
move away from the use of model
soldiers in favour of board games or
computer simulations. Setting aside the
issues of time, cost and space involved
in amassing table-top armies, the fact
of the matter is that there are massive
problems with the use of figures that – to
a greater or lesser extent – render them
unsuitable for historical analysis. In my
own case, I turn to them when I want
some fun rather than some thinking.
CK: You’re working on a book about
wargaming Waterloo: probably one of
the most wargames battles of the period.
Has working on the book changed how
you think about the battle?
CE: Well my book Wargaming Waterloo
is coming out with the United-States-
Marine-Corps University Press later
this year. If you are asking “has the work
involved got me to revisit what I think about
the battle?”... To be honest, not really: on
the strategic level, my ideas – which are,
on the whole, pretty revisionist – were
rather crystallised by my efforts with
regard to Napoleon, France and Waterloo,
which came out with Pen and Sword in
2016, and, on the tactical one, Walking
Waterloo: a Guide, which came out with
the same company three years later.
What working on the new book has
done has rather been to confirm those
views. A good example of this being
the way in which repeatedly fighting
the ‘Grand Waterloo’ scenario from
the Decision Games’ version of the old
SPI quad, Napoleon’s Last Battles has
shown that it was physically impossible
for Grouchy and his forces to reach the
battlefield in time to make a difference
to Napoleon.
Therein lies the chief utility of
wargaming as a tool as far as historians
are concerned in that it permits the
ABOVE: River Horse Games: ‘Waterloo: Quelle Affaire!’
- the French have pushed back Wellington’s left, only
to be hit in the flank by Blucher. From the forthcoming
Wargaming Waterloo Book.
exploration of alternative narratives,
decisions and courses of action. It
is all very well, for example, for
unreconstructed Bonapartists to devise
fictional histories of Waterloo that have
Napoleon winning the battle, but the
proof of the pudding, so to speak, lies in
fighting out their ideas on hexagon grids.
CK: You’ve read and played a lot of
Waterloo wargames in the course of
writing your book. What do you think
makes a good Waterloo game and
which do you consider the best?
CE: If I am asked what the best board
wargame of Waterloo is, my response
is invariably to respond with another
question, namely to enquire what my
interlocutor is looking for. In so far
as this last is concerned, there are, of
course, innumerable possibilities...
Is what is wanted, for example, a
game that is based on the events of
just 18 June alone or rather the whole
campaign? Or does one desire a game
that delivers a good chance of a victory
for Napoleon? Is what is wanted a game
that that is fun to play? Or perhaps a
game that offers a wealth of tactical
detail? Alternatively, how about a game
that is historically accurate: in essence, a
simulation rather than a game?
Given all these different objectives,
the result is that there are many different
answers, and it follows that anything I
say here will be challenged by one reader
or another! However, to begin with, let us
take operational level games covering the
full gamut of 15-18 June. For those who
favour Napoleon, it is products of this
sort that offer the best chance of victory
for the emperor as the Army of the North
can be spared many of the catastrophic
errors of staff-work – not to mention
wild preconceptions on the part of its
commander – that dogged its operations.
For example, what French player is
going to have Drouet’s corps spend the
day tramping the countryside between
Ligny and Quatre Bras without firing
a shot? Equally, what French player
is going to be mad enough to believe
that – having been beaten at the former
place – Blücher is going to head to Liège
rather than Wavre and consequently send
Grouchy’s forces off in quite the wrong
direction? For this reason alone, I have
myself been inclined to be less interested
in such products than I am in games that
confine themselves to Waterloo alone.
However, two games I have enjoyed are
OSG’s ‘Hundred Days’ Battles: Waterloo,
1815’ and C3i magazine’s Waterloo
Campaign, both of which are very elegant
and reasonably well balanced.
As for tactical games, these cannot but
offer the French player a much harder
challenge and that – even when the latter
is handed the considerable advantage of
assuming that Mouton’s contingent (VI
Corps plus the stray cavalry divisions
of Domon and Subervie) – right from
the beginning of the day, something
that the accounts show to be completely
untrue; so much is this the case, indeed,
that some designers have sought to even
things up by having Wellington place
ABOVE: Phalanx Games’ ‘Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle’ - initial deployment. A good example of how designers
sometimes skew games to give Napoleon a better chance: note Wellington’s failure to place a garrison in La Haye
Sainte! From the forthcoming Wargaming Waterloo Book.
garrisons in Hougoumont and La Haye
Sainte that are little more than tokens. In
one particularly egregious example, it
seemingly forgets to put one in the latter
altogether... Most board wargames based
on the battle are therefore going to have
to be modified to one extent or another,
but – for what it is worth – my favourites
are the Victory Games version of SPI’s
‘Napoleon at Waterloo’ and River-Horse
Games’ ‘Waterloo: Quelle Affaire!’.
CK: Have you ever been involved in
professional Wargaming (i.e. map
or other exercises run by real world
militaries) and – if so – how did you
find it? Do you think it has any lessons
for the recreational wargamer?
CE: I have only been involved very
rarely, I’m afraid. Once or twice at
Sandhurst as a guest of Paddy Griffith
and – in every case – the games
concerned were committee-style affairs
in which all the clashes were decided by
a team of umpires. I found them a lot of
fun and can certainly see the advantages
offered by the genre. That said, while
I can enjoy taking part once in a while
and very much think that all wargamers
should engage in the practice if they get
the opportunity, I greatly prefer more
traditional forms of wargaming.
CK: The Spanish get a bit of a bad
rap in the Penisular War. I’ve written
on this myself discussing the use
of “National Characteristics” in
recreational war games. Do you think
the use of “National Characteristics”
is justified in Napoleonic rules and
do you think contemporary wargames
rules treat the Spanish fairly?
CE: With regard to the issue of national
characteristics in wargames rules, my
feeling is that these are best avoided in
favour of putting troops into common
categories (roughly speaking, super-good,
good, average, bad and super-bad). The
whole concept – very much an eighteenth-
century creation – is extremely dubious
in intellectual terms and, at least to some
extent, rooted in prejudice. That said, the
Spanish army did perform very badly,
though not because it was composed of
Spaniards: rather, the issue was that the
Spanish forces were perpetually fighting
with one hand tied behind their collective
backs: the problems they were facing
being so enormous that they would have
undermined the performance of each and
every one of their contemporaries in just
the same way.
If people want to read more about
this, they should read my Spanish
Army in the Peninsular War (preferably
the new edition published in 2012 by
Partisan Press).
CK: Are there any neglected periods
that you haven’t seen given the
wargaming treatment? Something that
you really think should get a go?
CE: With regard to neglected wargame
periods, people are always going to
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 9
 SEND THREE AND FOURPENCE
gravitate to traditional classics: the
English Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars,
the American Civil War and so forth. I
don’t suppose that will change, but at
least some of these offer aspects that have
but rarely been explored on the table-top.
With regard to the Napoleonic Wars, for
example, one might think of Russia’s
clashes with Sweden, Turkey and Persia.
Meanwhile, an area of Europe that I am
very interested in is the Balkans, and I
think that the conflicts of 1877-78 and
1912-13 – not to mention the Serbian and
Rumanian aspects of the First World
War – offer the wargamer a great deal.
Equally, with regard to the colonial wars,
Spain’s campaigns against the Moors in
the late eighteenth and early twentieth
centuries would make for an interesting
change, as would Italy’s successive
attempts to conquer Ethiopia.
CK: What are you working on at the
moment?
CE: A work for Helion Books entitled
Battles and Battlefields of the
Peninsular War. As those familiar with
my work on Waterloo will know, I am
convinced that an a full knowledge of
the terrain is vital to understanding the
ways in which battles were fought and
played out. While I have been blessed
with the opportunity to visit many of
the sites associated with the campaigns
of 1808-14, and what I offer in my
new book – along with the requisite
thumbnail sketch of the twenty-
seven battles, sieges and other actions
included in the table of contents – are
10 Miniature Wargames June 2023
numerous photographs of the terrain
as it exists today together with plentiful
suggestions for walking the ground.
CK: Who do you think is doing the
most exciting work in the wargaming
field at the moment?
CE: In so far as wargames rules are
concerned, I am not sufficiently in touch
with what is available to be able to
comment, but the figures are a different
matter. One of the issues that deters
people from taking up the hobby is the
cost of figures and so I heartily welcome
any attempt to bring said costs down.
Special mention, then, should be made
of two individuals, namely Peter Dennis,
whose extraordinary range of ‘paper
boys’ mean that enormous armies of
25mm miniatures can be raised for next to
nothing, and my old friend John Stallard
of Warlord Games: do check out his Epic
Battles range of 10mm figures – not quite
as cheap as paper armies, but marketing
boxes of 250-300 figures for £25 is no mean
feat! (some of them were gorgeously painted in
last month’s issue by Paul Mackay. Ed.)
CK: Who do you think is doing the
most exciting work in the history field
at the moment?
CE: There are many names that I could
mention here, but in my own field the
stand-out one has got to be Alexander
Mikaberidze: to coin a phrase, his Global
History of the Napoleonic Wars reaches
the parts that other books don’t! Herein,
I suppose lies a theme: in brief, while I
enjoy the campaign narratives of people
like James Holland and Lloyd Clark, I
value the work of those who take a more
analytical line much more highly and all
the more so if they delve into aspects of
their chosen period that have hitherto
received little attention. If you take the
First World War, for example, names to
conjure with are Vanda Wilcox (Italy),
Alexander Hall (Germany and Austria-
Hungary) and Sean McMeekin (Russia
and the Ottoman Empire).
CK: What do you think is the greatest
“Wargamer” film?
CE: I think Gettysburg closely followed
by Cross of Iron, Zulu and The Battle of
Britain. However, if these are the ‘big
four’, it is worth delving around in search
of less well-known stuff, particularly
productions relating to Poland and the
Eastern Front. Try, for example, 1939:
Battle of Westerplatte or Fortress of War.
CK: Where and when will we be able
to get your Wargaming Waterloo book?
CE: As I said earlier, Wargaming Waterloo
should be coming out pretty soon, and
certainly by the end of this year.
CK: Thank you very much Professor
Esdaile.
CREDITS
Professor Esdaile can be found on
Twitter at @CharlesEsdaile. ■
BELOW: Extra extra: read all about it! The troops
line up for the ECW from paperboys.
 FEELING THE PINCH?

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 ABOVE Having reviewed Mr Swan’s rules, I saw this scheduled for The main rule set comes with six ready-made quests
The adventure Salute and asked Chris to write a scenario for the game he or adventures for players to use, but the Editor of this
starts with
getting onto was doing. Ed. illustrious magazine has asked me to write two more to
the beach. The provide readers with examples of the type of games the
Young Sinbad ales of Men, Myths and Monsters is a set of rules cater for. The first of these has an Arabian Nights
impersonator
heir leads his
companions:
some palace
guards and the
scholar off of
the boat.
T one on one skirmish rules designed to recreate
the drama, heroics and actions of the myths in
what the Greeks called the Age of Heroes or
at least the Hollywood version of it, particularly the
movies of Ray Harryhausen.
setting, whilst the second, which will be published next
month, is set in the Greek Myths.
So, without further ado, here is a lost Arabian tale.

ARABIAN DAYS: THE TALE OF THE JEWEL

In these rules players lead a group of characters on
CENTRE RIGHT
The Evil Half quests across the Greek World and its supplement pack
Brother in – Legends and Sagas –lets players use Tales of Men,
various villainous Myths and Monsters in any fantasy setting but has
poses.
examples of creatures from the Arabian Nights/Tales
of Sinbad the Sailor and European legends.
The rules have no record keeping and are designed
to be fun to play using mechanisms from my other rule
sets which are based on ideas for individual skirmishes
that I, Mike Blake and Ian Colwill had been developing
over several years. They use a pack of standard playing
cards to activate the characters and monsters and D10s
to determine the outcomes of their actions.
In the market place of Bagdad, story tellers speak of
how, long ago and in a city by the sea, the Caliph was
struck down by a mysterious malady which resisted
all attempts to cure it. As his condition worsened an
esteemed scholar determined that – if the illness could
not be cured by natural means – then it must be the
result of dark magic and therefore only a magical cure
would end it. The efforts of all the learned men of the
land then were used to identify such a cure and – after
much study – they uncovered the legend of a magic
jewel known as the Eye of Life which could cure all
ills. This was reputed to lie in a hidden shrine built in a
secret oasis deep in the desert.

12 Miniature Wargames June 2023

 Luckily an ancient scroll was discovered in the royal THE PROTAGONISTS
archives which showed the way to the oasis and so a
party of royal guards led by the Caliph’s young heir ◗ The Young Heir and companions
and accompanied by the esteemed scholar were sent to
find the oasis and seek out the jewel. After many days TITLE CHARACTER CARDS PERSONALITY OPTIONAL WEAPONS ARMOUR
TYPE
travel they found a hidden valley in which lay the oasis
The young Main 3 Lucky Brave Sword and Armour
little knowing that they were not alone. For it was the Heir Quick witted, Dagger
Caliph’s evil half brother who had cast the spell on him Fighter
hoping to seize the throne and he had used his dark Companion Supporting 2 Brave Tough, Sword, Spear Armour and
Oath sworn Shield
arts to transport himself and his bodyguard, a hulking
The Supporting 2 Resolute Sage, Priest Their Spells None
brute, to the oasis to seek the jewel for himself and thus Esteemed or Magi Staff
Scholar Sixth Sense
prevent the cure being taken back to the city. Although (when
outnumbered he was not without other aids for about seeking
magical
his body he carried three small jars of liquid fire in items)
which he had trapped three Fire Imps who he could Expert Minor 1 Brave Bowman Bow and Light Armour
Archer Sword
release and summon to his aid when needed.
2x Palace Minor 1 Resolute Fighter Sword, Spear Armour and
So both parties began to search the oasis for the Guards Shield
shrine but neither knew the shrine’s secret for it was
guarded by an ancient spirit, a Jinn, bound within a ◗ The Esteemed Scholar knows the spells of:
statue which was sworn to guard the jewel from all
who sought to take it from its resting place. Heal To Heal a character and restores 1 card to them
Zone of Peace To create a circle of protection with a radius of 2 paces from them
THE SET UP which creatures, the undead or evil beings cannot cross
Use a 4’ by 4’ table divided to into three zones.

◗ Zone 1 is six inches deep and runs the width of

the table and is where the Young Heir and his
companions start
◗ Zone 2 is 36 inches deep and runs the width of the
table. It contains one ruined structure, The Shrine,
and five pieces of scenery representing trees and
bushes, each of which should be no larger than six
inches in diameter. These all count as bad going. To
ensure that there is plenty of open ground no area of
bad going should be placed closer than six inches to
another piece or to the Shrine. A Mutli Armed Statue
stands in front of the entrance of the shrine.
◗ Zone 3 is six inches deep and runs the width of the
table and is where the Evil Half Brother and his
brute start.

◗ The Evil Half Brother

TITLE CHARACTER CARDS PERSONALITY OPTIONAL WEAPONS ARMOUR

TYPE
The Evil Main 3 Fearsome Sage, Priest Their Spells Armour
Sorcerer or Magi Sword and
Quick Witted Dagger
Swordsman
A Hulking Supporting 2 Bloodthirsty Tough, strong Sword, Spear Armour and
Brute Shield

The Evil Half Brother knows the spells of:

Control Imps To control ½ D10 of undead

Harm To make an attack on an enemy up to 10 paces away - the
opponent’s DV is 0
Heal To Heal a character and restores 1 card to them

›
Shield To increase his/her DV value to 3 by casting a protective spell

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 13

 ARABIAN NIGHTS

OBJECTIVES ABOVE ◗ Uncontrollable: the Fire Imps are normally

◗ The Young Heir and their companions want to find
the jewel and leave the oasis with it.
◗ The Evil half Brother wants to stop them from doing
so and, if possible, kill the Young Heir
TIME FRAME
The adventure plays out until either side is destroyed
or breaks off the combat or is able to leave the area
with the jewel.
SPECIAL RULES
Obviously I recommend you use Tales of Men, Myths
and Monsters but you’ll still need some special rules.
In Ifret: one uncontrollable and will attack the nearest human but
option for the
multi-armed the Evil Half Brother can try and command them by
statue. casting a control spell. If successful they will obey
his instructions as long as he retains control. Whilst
controlling the Imps he may perform no other actions.
• He will lose control if he is forced to fight in close
combat or loses 1 or more cards due to being
wounded or fails a Reaction or Courage test. If he
loses control they will automatically attack the
nearest human to them including him if he is the
nearest target.
• Once he loses control he will only be able to regain
it by successfully casting another Control Spell

◗ Releasing the Fire Imps: these creatures need to be MONSTERS & MYTHS
summoned by throwing the jars onto the ground and ◗ Fire Imps: Arabian Earthborn Raised By A Magic
smashing them which takes 1 action – then roll 1D10 From Fire
for each one to see if the Imp within the jar has been
released Max Speed 8
Stamina 2
REASON 1 2 TO 4 5 TO 9 10
FOR TEST Attack Dice 2
Summoning Useless! Will it Work? Arise! Arise and Attack Type Hand Weapons Swords and Axes
the Fire The Jar has The Jar has A Fire Imp has Kill!
Imps lost its magic not worked arisen ready A Fire Imp has DV 2 – due to their very nature
and the spell so far and no to kill and will arisen ready
fails – no Fire Fire Imp has act next turn to kill and will Traits Fearsome, Bloodthirsty
Imp will arise arisen - roll act on this
again next turn Special Rules
turn Immune – Missile weapon such as bows and Javelins have no effect at all
They treat all hits on them by any weapon as Light Impact unless it is
caused by a magic weapon.

14 Miniature Wargames June 2023

LEFT AND
RIGHT
A many armed
Ifret prepares
to attack, and a
djinn.

LEFT
You might bump
into an evil
sorcerer...

RIGHT
And he might
have brought
some muscle
with him...

›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 15
 ARABIAN NIGHTS

ABOVE ◗ The Guardian: the animated statue

A sorceress
summons a
djinn. The Shrine is guarded by a magical multi-armed statue. As soon as a character or characters come within three
paces of the shrine roll 1D10 and see what happens:
BELOW RIGHT
Magic versus
cold steel. REASON FOR TEST 1 2 TO 4 5 TO 9 10
The Guardian Instant Death! Death! The Cursed Rises! The Cursed Stir!
The Statue steps forward and The Statue steps forward and The Statue steps forward but The Statue begins to move but
attacks the nearest characters attacks the nearest characters will not attack until the next will not attack r until the next
to it. to it. turn of the character who turn of the character who
If it has more than 1 target in If it has more than 1 target in disturbed them disturbed them
range, roll randomly to see who range, roll randomly to see who
is attacked is attacked The characters must take a The characters can respond or
The characters must take The characters must take a Courage test and can respond fight back on this turn
a Courage test but cannot Courage test and can respond or fight back on this turn
otherwise respond or fight or fight back on this turn
back on this turn

Max Speed 8
Stamina 4
Attack Dice 3 – the Multi-armed Statue may split these against
more than one opponent
Attack Type Weapons and/or Strength
DV 3 - Made from Stone
Traits Fearsome, Strong, Tough, Bloodthirsty, Animated Statue
Special rules
Causes High impact damage
Brittle – the Multi armed Statue is brittle – if the heroes can spot this ,
needing 10 on a reaction test, its DV value drops to 0
The Animated Statue does not take Courage Tests but use the chart below
for all such tests

REASON FOR TEST 1 2 TO 4 5 TO 9 10

Guardian Reaction to Backs off 4 paces Becomes Confused Attacks or keeps fighting Becomes enraged and makes
fire or attacked at a Becomes confused - will not Hesitates and does nothing an all-out attack adding 1D10
long distance attack until it recovers and taking the highest
Guardian Reaction if Backs off 4 paces Off balance, pushed back 2 Attacks or keeps fighting Becomes enraged and makes
in close combat Becomes confused - will not paces and hesitates an all-out attack adding 1D10
attack until it recovers Temporarily loses the use of an and taking the highest
attack dice until it recovers

16 Miniature Wargames June 2023

FINDING THE JEWEL RIGHT
To find the jewel a character must enter the Shrine and A more
statuesque
conduct a search. version of the
They must spend one turn doing so and must multi-armed
concentrate wholly on the task, so can perform no statue.
other actions whilst doing so. Roll 1D10 which may be BELOW RIGHT
adjusted for any relevant Personality, Skills or Traits A Fire Imp
and check the result. waiting to
pounce.

REASON FOR TEST 1 2 TO 4 5 TO 9 10

Searching for Oops! No Luck So Far! Tall Praise! We are
the Jewel You trigger a trap. You fail to find the You find the jewel Blessed!
Roll 1D10 again to jewel this turn but You find the jewel
see what happens may test again and can try to
next turn perform another
action this turn
Trap You’re Doomed! You’re Trapped! You’re Stuck! Avoided It!
Effectiveness Impossible to Difficult to escape May try to escape You escape from
escape from. next turn but the trap next turn
without help. May try to escape make no action. but may make no
Whilst in it the next turn but Roll action dice other action.
character is can make no If not successful, This is a basic
defenceless other action until you may try again action so no need
successful. next turn to roll
Roll reduced dice
If not successful,
you may try again
next turn

◗ Come fly with me

Rolled up in the shrine is what looks like a lump of

cloth but is actually a magic carpet.
If a character bothers to unroll it and then stands on
it the carpet will initially levitate a few inches off of
the floor.
A Magic carpet must be commanded to fly and its
owner does so by making a test needing 5+ to succeed:
if they fail they may try again next turn – they simply
did not speak clearly enough!

◗ A Magic carpet can carry two passengers

◗ A Magic carpet flies at 16 paces per turn
◗ When being shot at or if its passengers are being
ABOVE attacked in close combat whilst flying, assess which
The Fire Imp target is hit as normal, but if hit whilst in flight a
makes it's move. passenger may fall off. Treat as loss of control as for
LEFT a mount, chariot or vehicle and assess damage if a
Female passenger falls off.
sorceresses
complete with
an impressive CONCLUSION
bodyguard. So, there you have it, the first tale ready for you to
re-enact – next month we will see what the
Gods of Olympus have in store – so until
then will the Young Heir succeed in their
DOWNLOAD
quest or will the Evil Half Brother seize THE SCENARIO MAP
the jewel for themselves: only you and tabletopgaming.co.uk/
information/downloads
the Gods of the Dice will decide. Next
month, Greek! Happy Gaming. ■

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 17

RULE BOOKS
& FIGURES
MAD DOGS
◗ caliverbooks.com
◗ £16.50
Caliver Books have produced an
updated version of Jon Sutherland’s
Mad Dogs and Englishmen rules. These
are MD&E Wargamng India 1798 – 1859
and, indeed, you can see the first in a
series of articles detailing the Cawnpore
1857 campaign on page 22 of this very
issue. The first edition of these rules
catered for colonial wargaming across
a fairly long time-line and in multiple
different theatres however this new
subsidiary volume is pared back to just
India alone. However what it does do is
it covers conflicts in that locale across
about six decades: effectively from the
4th Anglo-Mysore War to the Indian
Mutiny.
It’s in soft back, full-colour A5
format and the main rules themselves
take up only around thirty pages, all
copiously illustrated with the sort of
inspirational images that we have come
(as regular reader’s of Jon’s output)
to expect from him. After the rules
section there’s a scenario: the Battle of
Kunch (or Koonch) in 1858. There’s just
the one but hey: that’s why you buy
Miniature Wargames, right? (after all,
Mr Sutherland has given us four more
scenarios in this very issue with more to
come next month!)
So what do you actually get, rules
wise? And do you need to own the
first edition before you can use them?
Well – to answer the second question
first – no: they are a stand alone set and
are aimed primarily at 15-28mm figures,
and – numbers wise – Jon says “the
more the merrier”. But then how owns
a lot of figures... Rules are pretty similar
to the first edition: movement uses a
dice randomised system; command is
still of primary importance and firing
and combat gives figure removal ‘kills’
or inflicts ‘terror’ on a unit. Morale
tests are triggered by specific situations
or the build up of terror. As with Mr
Sutherland’s regular Command Decision
scenarios, the rules are certainly not
aimed at ‘points cost balanced’ games.
Dice wise, the rules use a combination
of d6 and d10 with the former for
command, morale, hand to hand and
movement and the latter for ‘to hit’
rolls with ranged weapons. Caliver
has included a set of cards to the rear
of the volume that could be cut out but
– realistically – you are going to copy
and paste them onto card and then cut
them out (or maybe laminate them as
well) rather than slice your book up
(especially as they are all backed onto
each other). Also included are seven
pages of quick reference sheets which
certainly could be chopped out and
laminated, especially as they would then
fit on both sides of two A4 sheets, which
would be quite handy.
The rules themselves are laid out
in a clear and thorough fashion with
examples given as the text proceeds. The
fun part – I think – are the command
and special cards. Things like ‘At the
Double’ for extra movement or ‘(Play
against the Enemy) Appalling Fire
Discipline’ where they treat their target
as being at maximum range... Those are
the sort of fun elements that I have to
say I enjoy greatly.
These are a well written and a
concise rule set at a good price. Highly
recommended.
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 19
 REVIEWS
WEIRD WAR
◗ cpmodels.co.uk
◗ £25
CP Models have been adding to a line
called Weird Wars. They are an interesting
range, I will confess. To describe them
for those that haven’t seen them, they
have much of the appeal (to my eyes) of
GW’s 40K: cartoonish figures dressed in
quasi-military armour and driving WWI
style tanks with over the top weapons
and incorporating fantasy races (dwarves,
goblins, halflings and so forth). But mostly
a whole lot cheaper. The latest vehicles
include a resin Goblin Tank (that shouts
A7V) and indeed the Goblins get to be the
Germans (complete with Stahlhelms and
Pickelhaubes). The Russians are ‘Kolektiv’
Dwarfs (including Cavalry) and the
British and French appear to be halflings
(though the Brits are called ‘The Kindred’).
They are armed with all the
‘right’ weapon types: machine guns,
flamethrowers and so forth included, so
nothing too wacky. Prices are around £2.50
each and in packs they are sometimes
a little cheaper, and the resin tanks are
around £15 a go (the Brits get a nice Mk IV
type). Nominally 28mm ‘scale’, the figures
are generally around 20mm tall though
– obviously – they are quite caricatured.
Each comes with a 20mm round slot base.
Detail and sculpting – by such luminaries
as Richard Ansell, Bob Olley and Kev
White – is excellent. If you liked 40K as
a concept but never bought into it, these
might be for you. Recommended.
20 Miniature Wargames June 2023
SONG OF FIRE & SLEAZE
◗ wargamesbuildings.co.uk
◗ £2.50 - £36
Sally 4th have been expanding their
fantasy ranges by pushing (let me think
of a suitable epithet...) both corners of an
envelope. And in opposite directions...
They have released a range of figures
and some... furniture. Which has rather
surprised me (so perhaps this ought to be
a three-sided envelope... and I’m probably
stretching this metaphor a bit too far).
Anyway, let’s start with the latter.
The soft furnishings includes a pair of
pretty items: an over padded armchair
and a chaise longue both of which look to be
right out of the 18th century (he says, with
a rather limited understanding of interior
decor). Chairs are all very well but – to
have something to put on them – we move
to the other components of this release...
The Harlots element of this range are
a selection of ladies in states of slight
undress. To be specific they are all
actually wearing clothes and (lest they
are deemed ‘offensive’) they are all
fully ‘covered’. In fact they appear to be
dressed in a variety of outfits suitable
for somewhere between Regency and
Victorian, some of which could be classed
as ‘underwear’ (I am, ahem, no more of
an expert in this area than I am with the
furniture...) but... well there are some
dresses, a few corsets and some fans in
play. What they would be excellent for, I
would suggest, are character pieces for,
perhaps, a Silver Bayonet game, a Wild
West town saloon or even a Carnevale
skirmish. The ladies come as individual
models or as part of a Harlot’s Den boxed
set with a lot of other figures. All are cast
(mostly in a single piece) in a hard plastic
(Siocast, I believe, but the hard kind
rather than the overly flexible sort). Some
have the odd arm to stick on and at least
one of the ladies comes with separate legs
but they all take Cyanoacrylate glue well.
The figures are named Libby Thompson;
Lizzie Lappe; Laura Bell; Jeanne Brecourt;
Shady Sadie; Julia Bulette; Polly Adler and
Lizzy Stride.
And now we come to the other
component in the release. The non
‘favours for cash’ group of figures are all
chaps that, it has to be said, take a great
deal of ‘inspiration’ from the televised
works of Mr George Martin. So we have
Short Sword (a reduced height chap that
doesn’t look anything like Tyrion), The
Steward, The Spymaster; The Young Lion; The
Noble and the Sell Sword (both of the latter
two are sitting and need chairs from the
range, or perhaps one of your own supply
made from swords, obviously...).
They are all great models: starting at
£2.50 a figure and supplied with separate
bases, they are very well sculpted by
Iain Lovecraft, 30mm or so to the top of
the head (dwarves, aside), proportionate
and superbly detailed. It just seems
an intriguing mix of men, women and
interior design. But I guess the ladies have
to languorously drape themselves over...
something! Recommended.
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 COMMAND DECISION

COMMAND DECISION

CAWNPORE 1857
“Last week I fought four fights...” Words and pictures by Jon Sutherland.

MAJOR GENERAL SIR HENRY

T
his Command Decision – the first of a pair – looks ABOVE
at the rapid march, even more rapid victories, but the Rebels mass for
one more attack.
HAVELOCK KCB (1795-1857)
ultimately too late liberation of Cawnpore (Kanpur) After serving as a junior officer in the First Anglo-
in 1857. This is a campaign scenario, but I have outlined RIGHT Burmese War (1824-5) and the First Anglo-Afghan War
the battles so you can refight them in order, carrying the Nana Sahib’s (1838-42), Havelock and his men performed miracles
personal lancers,
casualties forward. In some respects this is a thorough these semi- in their unsupported march to recapture Cawnpore
upgrade of my Miniature Wargames issue 428 (December ceremonial units and Lucknow. You can see statues of him on Trafalgar
2018) when I focused on just Aong, which was the second of rarely fought Square and in Mowbray Park, Sunderland (where he
well.
the four battles between July 12 and July 16. was born).

22 Miniature Wargames June 2023

BATTLE OF FATEHPUR:
12 JULY 1857
Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock is tasked with
relieving the besieged force of Wheeler
at Cawnpore. An advanced force under
Major George Renaud with the 84th
(York & Lancaster) Regiment (200 men),
1st Madras Fusiliers (300 men), the Sikh
Ferozepore Regiment (300 men) some
Indian Irregular Cavalry and a pair of
field guns of the Bengal Artillery heads
off towards Cawnpore. En route, Renaud
discovers he is too late and Wheeler
has surrendered (and been subsequently massacred). Havelock gathers up the rest of his column and manages to reach Renaud at
Fatehpur before he is overwhelmed by a large Rebel force.

BRITISH
Under Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock (Inspired):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

Allahabad Volunteer Cavalry 6 Sword/Pistol/Carbine Irregular/Aggressive Lt-Col. Fraser Tytler (Good)
3rd Oude Irregular Cavalry & 13th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 6 Sword Irregular/Aggressive
64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment 20 Enfield Rifles Precise/Aggressive
84th (York & Lancaster) Regiment 10 Musket Precise/Aggressive
78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs) 20 Musket Precise/Aggressive
1st Madras Fusiliers (‘Neill’s Bluecaps’) 20 Enfield Rifles Drilled/Aggressive
Ferozepore Regiment (Brasyer’s Sikhs) 25 Musket Precise/Aggressive
Maude’s Battery, No. 3 Coy/8th Bn., Royal Artillery 3 1 Light Gun/2 Field Guns Precise/Aggressive
Bengal Artillery 2 Field Guns Drilled/Aggressive

REBELS
Under the Nana’s Commander in Chief Parshad (Able) and formerly of the 2nd Bengal Light Cavalry Tika Singh (Able):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

1st BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average Parshad (Able)
53rd BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average
56th BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average
13th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 10 Sword Irregular/Average Tika Singh (Able)
2nd Bengal Light Cavalry 10 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
1st Bengal Light Cavalry 10 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
7th Bengal Light Cavalry 6 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
No 1. Field Bty, Oude Irregular Artillery 4 2 x light , 2 x field Drilled/Stubborn Attached to infantry
Local Levies 30 Matchlocks Rabble/Poor Unattached
Badmashes 30 Improvised weapons Rabble/Stubborn Unattached

DEPLOYMENT & OBJECTIVES

Rebels deploy depth along the wall line and in the
village. The walls are brick and can be loop holed. The
cavalry must be deployed forward of the village. The
Rebels must hold the line until Turn 12. At that point,
they will have won the game as the British will be too
exhausted to continue the fight.
British deploy close to the road. The Irregular
Cavalry is untrustworthy and if the unit is even closer
to a Rebel unit than another British one, it will desert.
The British must force a passage through the village by
Turn 12 to win.
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 23
 COMMAND DECISION

BATTLE OF AONG:
15 JULY 1857
Havelock left Fatehpur burning on
July 14 and arrived in front of Aong
village the following day only to
see the enemy waiting for him in
force. The Rebels attempted to pin
the British with artillery fire and
sent cavalry on either flank. The
movement failed and the British
stormed the centre and ridge before
making for the bridge over the Pandu
Nudi which had not been destroyed,
but was protected by more Rebels.

BRITISH
Under Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock (Inspired):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

Allahabad Volunteer Cavalry 6 Sword, pistol, carbine Irregular/Aggressive Lt-Col. Fraser Tytler (Good)
64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment. 18 Enfield Rifles Precise/Aggressive
84th (York & Lancaster) Regiment 10 Musket Precise/Aggressive
78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs) 18 Musket Precise/Aggressive
1st Madras Fusiliers (‘Neill’s Bluecaps’) 18 Enfield Rifles Drilled/Aggressive
Ferozepore Regiment (Brasyer’s Sikhs). 22 Musket Drilled/Aggressive
Maude’s Battery, No. 3 Coy/8th Bn., Royal Artillery 3 1 x light, 2 x field Precise/Aggressive
Bengal Artillery 2 2 x field Drilled/Aggressive

REBELS
Under the Nana’s Commander in Chief Parshad (Able) and formerly of the 2nd Bengal Light Cavalry Tika Singh (Able):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

1st BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average Parshad (Able)
53rd BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average
56th BNI 25 Musket Drilled/Average
13th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 10 Sword Irregular/Average Tika Singh (Able)
2nd Bengal Light Cavalry 10 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
1st Bengal Light Cavalry 10 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
7th Bengal Light Cavalry 6 Sword, carbine Drilled/Average
No 1. Field Bty, Oude Irregular Artillery 4 2 x light , 2 x field Drilled/Stubborn Attached to infantry
Local Levies 30 Matchlocks Rabble/Poor Unattached
Badmashes 30 Improvised weapons Rabble/Stubborn Unattached

DEPLOYMENT & OBJECTIVES

Rebels deploy in depth along the wall line and the RIGHT
village. The walls are brick and can be loop holed. Rebel infantry
flee a village
The ridge line can have trenches for 1 regiment and before it is
additional trenches can be dug between the ridge stormed by the
and the pond. The cavalry must be deployed forward British.
of the village on either flank. The Rebels must hold FAR RIGHT
the line until Turn 12. At that point, they will have A pair of guns
won the game as the British will be too exhausted to from Maude’s
Battery prepare
continue the fight. British deploy close to the road. to fire.
The Irregular Cavalry has been disbanded. The British
must force a passage through the village by Turn 12
to win.

24 Miniature Wargames June 2023

BATTLE OF PANDU
NUDI: 15 JULY 1857
A few miles away from Aong the
bridge crossing the Pandu Nudi
River that was swollen at the time by
torrential rain. The Rebels, under Bala
Rao were entrenched in positions on
the far side of the river, with a pair
of guns for support. British guns
under Maude fired into the flank of
the Rebel positions and the Madras
Fusiliers stormed the bridge.

BRITISH
Under Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock (Inspired):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

Allahabad Volunteer Cavalry 6 Sword, pistol, carbine Irregular/Aggressive Lt-Col. Fraser Tytler (Good)
64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment. 18 Enfield Rifles Precise/Aggressive
84th (York & Lancaster) Regiment. 10 Musket Precise/Aggressive
78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs). 18 Musket Precise/Aggressive
1st Madras Fusiliers (‘Neill’s Bluecaps’). 18 Enfield Rifles Drilled/Aggressive
Ferozepore Regiment (Brasyer’s Sikhs). 20 Musket Drilled/Aggressive
Maude’s Battery, No. 3 Coy/8th Bn., Royal Artillery 3 1 Light Gun/2 Field Guns Precise/Aggressive
Bengal Artillery 2 Field Guns Drilled/Aggressive

REBELS
Under Bala Rao (Able):

UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER

1st Composite Sepoy unit 25 Musket Drilled/Average Bala Rao (able)
2nd Composite Sepoy unit 25 Musket Drilled/Average
3rd Composite Sepoy unit 25 Musket Drilled/Average
4th Composite Sepoy unit 25 Musket Drilled/Average
Field Bty, Oude Irregular Artillery 2 2 x Field Guns Drilled/Stubborn
Local Levies 20 Matchlocks Rabble/Poor Unattached
Badmashes 10 Melee weapons only Rabble/Stubborn Unattached

DEPLOYMENT & OBJECTIVES

Rebels deploy in trenches either side of the road with
the two guns in sandbag positions to the right of the
road. Bala Rao did not put up much of a fight here
and so they only need to hold unit Turn 8, at which
point Bala Rao can tell his brother, Nana Shaib, he did
his best.
British deploy to the rear of the ridge with the
artillery and the Madras Fusiliers forward. The artillery
can fire at the Rebel positions for 3 turns and then the
British player must send the Madras Fusiliers forward
to storm the bridge. The British win if they rout the
Rebels or force a retreat before Turn 8.

›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 25
 COMMAND DECISION

BATTLE OF MAHARAJPORE:
16 JULY 1857
Not content with two battles on the 15th,
Havelock marched his men 16 miles to close
with a force under Nana Sahib blocking
the Grand Trunk Road near the village of
Ahirwa. The Rebels made good use of the
terrain, walled gardens and the village
houses. Havelock left the Volunteer Cavalry
on the Grand Trunk Road and manoeuvred
the rest of his force around to turn the Rebel
left. It was a tough fight as Havelock was
outnumbered about five to one.

BRITISH CARRYING CASUALTIES OVER

Under Brig-Gen. Henry Havelock (Inspired): I have reduced the size of the British units for each
successive engagement. Bearing in mind that these battles
UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER were fought from July 12-16, the chances of reinforcement
Allahabad Volunteer 6 Sword, pistol, Irregular/ Lt-Col. Fraser or patching up wounded men would have been pretty
Cavalry carbine Aggressive Tytler (Good)
unlikely. One way of dealing with the problem of
64th (2nd Staffordshire) 16 Enfield Rifles Precise/
Regiment. Aggressive carrying over casualties is to use an adaptation of the
84th (York & Lancaster) 8 Musket Precise/ rules I used to recover figures after melee (in effect a
Regiment. Aggressive kind of posthumous saving throw in this case). A 4- 6 is
78th Highlanders (Ross- 16 Musket Precise/ required on d6 using the following modifiers:
shire Buffs). Aggressive
1st Madras Fusiliers 16 Enfield Rifles Drilled/
(‘Neill’s Bluecaps’). Aggressive Casualty Modifiers
Ferozepore Regiment 18 Musket Drilled/ DRILL OF UNIT MODIFIER TO A SINGLE D6 THROW
(Brasyer’s Sikhs). Aggressive
Precise +2
Maude’s Battery, No. 3 1 Light Gun/2 Precise/
3 Coy/8th Bn., Royal Field Guns Aggressive Drilled +1
Artillery Trained -1
Bengal Artillery 2 Field Guns Drilled/ Irregular -2
Aggressive
Rabble -3
REBELS
Under Nana Sahib (Able): RULES
I used my own Mad Dogs & Englishmen: India 1798-1858
UNIT STRENGTH WEAPONS DRILL/MORALE COMMANDER (2nd Edition) rules for these scenarios (reviewed in this very
1st Composite Sepoy unit 30 Musket Drilled/Average Nana Sahib issue: see Defence in Depth. Ed.). The weapon types, drill
(Able)
2nd Composite Sepoy 30 Musket Drilled/Average and morale can, however, be converted to other sets such
unit
as Black Powder. Some time ago I wrote a conversion
3rd Composite Sepoy 30 Musket Drilled/Average
unit article to use these rules in Wargames, Soldier & Strategy.
4th Composite Sepoy unit 30 Musket Drilled/Average Most of the scenarios are slightly too big for sets like
Field Bty, Oude Irregular 4 2 x Field Guns Drilled/Stubborn Sharp Practice or other skirmish based sets. Given the
Artillery characterful nature of the Indian Mutiny, sets like The Men
Local Levies 30 Matchlocks Rabble/Poor Unattached Who Would Be Kings are a little too beige for my tastes.
I know there will still be some that prefer the old-school
DEPLOYMENT & OBJECTIVES simplicity of The Sword and the Flame and why not?
Rebels deploy in trenches either side of the road with
the guns in sandbag positions to the left of the road. FOUR FIGHTS: FACT CHECK
This is Nana Sahib’s last chance to stop the British “Last week I fought four fights,” said Havelock on the
reaching Cawnpore. All rebel units must begin the Road to Cawnpore. After the massacre of the British
game facing to their right. Nana Sahib only wins if he soldiers at Cawnpore on June 25, the women and
defeats the British by routing four of their units. children have been held by the rebels. As
British deploy the Volunteer cavalry on the Grand Havelock neared, 120 of them were
Trunk Road on their extreme left. The rest of the force can murdered and thrown down a well
be deployed from the woodland to the large pond. They on July 15. Havelock was a matter
DOWNLOAD
THE SCENARIO MAPS
must clear the villages of Rebels and continue their march of hours late to save them. Part tabletopgaming.co.uk/
to Cawnpore. They have ten turns to achieve this goal. two: next month! ■ information/downloads

26 Miniature Wargames May 2023

 evin Dallimore has had four previous
K outings in Miniature Wargames on
the subject of fast building forces for
Oathmark. This time he expands both
his troop types and his materials: this
time it’s Army Painter’s Speed Paint
used on fantasy figures from the North
Star Range. Kevin can explain... Ed.
WHY?
I was inspired to have a
go at the new The Army
Painter Speedpaints after
seeing Nick’s Eyre’s work
on a batch of Crusader
Miniatures Brood. I thought
they looked fun and wanted
to see if I could achieve a
similar result. Also the Brood
are quite nice and simple
Using Army Painter Speedpaints
figures for a first run out with a new set
of paints that, frankly, I had not even tried
before.
UNPAINTED
Another thing that has been growing
on my mind recently the amount of
undercoated but wholly unpainted figures
I have around the place (ah... the pile of
shame! Ed.). There are also all the models
from North Star that I prime up grey for
my photography and thinking (wrongly...)
that ‘one day’ I’ll have time paint. The
pile is further added to by a number of
complete armies which need painting that
haven’t even got out of the box yet! So
28 Miniature Wargames June 2023
Words and Photos by Kevin Dallimore
Speedpaints: I hoped that they might be
an answer to some of that, at least.
ODD
It might seem odd that I wanted to
dabble with Speedpaints. As someone
who has written, and had published,
several book on the subject of figure
painting and – as those of you who are
regular readers of some of my on-line
painting guides will know – it might
seem odd, but I am no stranger to fast
painting (in spite of my reputation).
In fact the last four articles for this
magazine on fast painting armies for
Oathmark using the previous iteration
of The Army Painter fast painting
method – using their Quickshade washes
and Quickshade Varnish – are a
testament to that. However I was
keen to see if the Speedpaints offer
something different. And they did.
GRAIL
The first thing to say is that
these paints are not the Holy
Grail: they will not “do
it all for you”. They also
won’t win you the painting
competition at Salute.
However, what they are is
another useful tool in your
painting ‘arsenal’ and – used
correctly (and on the right
models) – they will give a very pleasing
result. To get the best out of them they
need to be used on a good, well sculpted
model, and they won’t do well on a model
without much detail.
Like all paints they require thought
and handling in the correct way to get the
best out of them and this does extend to
the choice of model they are used upon.
I am still getting to grips with them and
I’m sure I have more to learn.
FIRST
So the first thing I did was to read up on
the paints form all of the sources I could
find. Following that I went on YouTube
and searched out vids on the use of the
Speedpaints. I also spoke to Nick Eyre
about his experience of them any gleaned
any tips he had. Nick also pointed out
that Speedpaints have no metallic paint
(fixed – to some extent – by Speedpaint 2.0:
see my review of them in last months issue:
Ed.) so those areas need to be dealt with
in a more traditional way.
UNIT
My ambition was to complete a whole
unit in as short a period of time as I could.
I didn’t have time to do it all in one sitting,
as I was fitting it in around my proper
job and other painting commitments.
Luckily, with the figures I had chosen,
they came from my pre-primed pile: most
of the cleaning up was already done and
they were primed grey. As it turned out I
reckoned that (spoiler alert!) the painting
took about half an hour per model when
doing a whole unit, which for me ranks
as very speedy. The observant will have
noticed that I did some conversions of
the Brood (adding the odd extra weapon
culled form my spares draw and making
them a banner) and this, however, did not
save me any time at all...
TIME
Prep-work is vitally important and where
these paints aren’t much help is speeding
up the preparation and finishing time of
the models. You will still need to spend
just as much time cleaning up and/or
assembling your models and the same
sort of time varnishing and basing them
up, although I did find a Speedpaint
assist in the basing. Now some people
just love the prep and finishing and hate
painting: if that’s your approach then
Speedpaints are made for you.
ZENITHAL
From the recommendations from those
that know – and as the models were
already primed grey – I went for a
white zenithal undercoat applied from
above over the grey. If you search on
YouTube for ‘zenithal undercoat’ you
will see what it is. I applied it with my
very elderly airbrush, but a spray can of
white primer would do just as well.
The idea is not to obliterate all the
darker primer but rather leave it
underneath, creating a shadow effect
and thus some shading for ‘free’, so a
light touch is needed. You can also spray
apply the zenithal white over a black
undercoat too. I will try a straight flat
white undercoat at some point to see
how it fairs, as I do have a lot figures
languishing in black undercoat to get
through first. I stuck the boys to a piece of
wood and sprayed white along the line.
PAINTS
I’ll say this from the get-go: Speedpaints
are not paints. They are transparent.
They are much more akin to a wash
or a stain, but have a more sustained
pigment and an interesting way flowing
and don’t seem to leave tidemarks.
These almost unique properties require
some planning as you are less able to
hide errors with subsequent layers or
colours as you could with conventional
painting. My plan was to use lighter
colours first and then go darker in the
hope to minimize any mistakes.
Also the peculiar properties of the
Speedpaints mean that, if you have left
any mould line on the models, they
will accentuate them, so be prepared to
clean up the figures well. They also
have another unusual property which
is, when you paint over the Speedpaint
with normal Army Painter War Paint,
the Speedpaint has a tendency to bleed
into the normal paint and stain it slightly,
so if you are trying to correct an error by
applying more white undercoat, expect
this phenomenon (I’ll say – as I always do
at this point: a can of spray matt varnish fixes
this problem and adds a protective coat to a
model. A double whammy. I recommend and
use Pebeo Matt Picture Varnish Spray on
Amazon. Ed).
Lastly, it’s worth remembering that
the watery nature of these paints means
that they will run up the bristles of the
brush into the metal ferrule and are the
devils own job to completely clean out,
so don’t use your best finest brushes.
SHAKE
Shake the bottles up really well. This
can make a real difference to how the
Speedpaint goes on. Each bottle has two
ball bearings in them to ensure they mix
up well when you shake them. Be aware
when you are squirting out some of the
Speedpaint that you don’t have a ball
bearing lodged in the nozzle as it can
make a rather messy accident if you just
keep squeezing… like I did. My bad.
APPLICATION
There is no great secret, but try to be
controlled with them, there is a tendency
because of the speed thing to slap them
on any old how, and this will not yield
the most satisfactory results. Don’t
overload your brush. The Speedpaint
will spread: I think it must have a low
surface tension that allows it to flow so
successfully. Be careful and apply the
paint only to the areas needed, avoiding
slipping into other areas if you can, as
you will see I slipped over a bit but I
was thinking they are mostly going to be
darker areas so I could get away with it.
Anyway: theory and prep work aside,
let’s get on with the painting.
SPEEDPAINTS
I started with flesh, as that’s what I
usually do when using normal paints
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 29
 BISH BASH BOSH
1 2
9 10
and it would be the same colour on all
these models, so I would get a good
run-up at it, so to speak. Also I chose
the flesh as it seemed to be amongst
the lighter colours. It is really worth
planning the order of colours you are
going to use from light to dark. I didn’t
use the free (and very nice) brush that
is included in the sets, as it was bit too
'manly': I used a smaller, old and a bit
knackered Army Painter brush, already
well broken in from other painting.
1 Flesh: Crusader Skin
PLOT-LOSS
I then slightly lost the plot about the
whole ‘light colours first’ thing, and
went to Hardened Leather as my next
choice... In my defence I thought these
would be well away from the lighter
colours, and I had decided to do their
loincloths in lots of different colours to
try out as many colours as possible.
I then used Dark Wood for, well... the
woodwork and some other bits and
pieces and these pictures show it thus
far with the many colours of loincloth.
So, for all of the models:
Horns & Hooves: Hardened Leather
Wood & Whip: Dark Wood
And loin cloths...
2 Loincloth: Camo Cloak
3 Loincloth: Blood Red
4 Loincloth: Plasmatic Bolt
5 Loincloth: Magic Blue
6 Loincloth: Sand Golem
30 Miniature Wargames June 2023
3 4
11
7 Loincloth: Holy White
8 Loincloth: Cloudburst Blue, but note the
still wet paint on the drum skin, see what
a hurry I was in, which is Pallid Bone!
9 Loincloth: Malignant Green
10 Loincloth: Slaughter Red
11 Loincloth: Camo Cloak, Orc Skin,
Zealot Yellow
HOLY
The only real problem I had was with the
Holy White Speedpaint, which was looking
like it was going to be just grey not white.
To try an fix this, I wiped it off with my
thumb to reveal the white undercoat but
nothing more sophisticated than that and
no highlighting here. I think I should have
thinned it, but – even then – the judicial
application of the painters thumb might
be needed to get a whiter than white
finish.
FOREWARNED
The final bits to do were the belts in
Sand Golem and fur in Grim Black (plus
– lastly – the metal). For the belts I did
try touching in the white undercoat, as
I realised I had gone over them a little
with some of the loincloth colours,
and – as some were quite dark – they
might well show though the Sand Golem
and look messy. I used Army Painter
Warpaints Matt Whit and this is when
I noticed the Speedpaint bleed issue
with the colour slightly leeching into
the top colour when the Warpaint
White is painted over them. Nick had
mentioned this but I’ll confess that I’d
had forgotten...
This is not a major issue but just be
aware and I did find a solution but I’ll
give you my fix elsewhere. Nick had
also forewarned me about the Grim
Black: he said that it was both very grim
and very black, so I tried some out and I
realised it needed thinning otherwise it
risked covering up the detail of the fur,
especially as the fur is quite fine on the
models. I had read that it was best to use
the actual Speedpaints Medium, so I did.
On balance I might have over thinned
it but I could always give it another
coat, which I did to some areas where it
looked a bit pale.
THE BLEEDING FIX
How did I stop the Speedpaint
bleeding in to the white I painted
over it? I used some Humbrol
white enamel paint to repaint
rather than an acrylic and thus I
could tidy some of the areas where
I had inadvertently gone over with
the Speedpaint like the belts and so
on. The good news is that – as it’s
not an acrylic – it seems to work
just fine.
METAL
There weren’t any metallic Speedpaints
in the first set (which is what I was
using) but I wanted Bronze metal
throughout so I used I used Army
Painter Warpaints Weapon Bronze,
with Plasmatic Bolt Speedpaint over it to
represent verdigris.
 5 6
12 13
So: paints I used were, as follows. For all
of them:
12 Belts: Sand Golem
Fur: Grim Black
Metal: Weapon Bronze and Plasmatic Bolt
MORE
I then came to the realisation that I didn’t
have enough painted for a full Oathmark
unit (which was kinda the point) so I did
some more Brood but – this time – with
some conversions, and eventually I made
the unit up to fifteen including a banner.
The conversion bits are all Oathmark or
Frostgrave plastic bits and pieces from
my enormous plastic spares draw.
All of them used the same paints
combo for the Belts, fur and metal as
the first lot but for these I added yet
more loin cloth colour variations (how
immensely diverse: Ed.):
13 Loincloth: Zealot Yellow
14 Loincloth: Orc Skin
15 Loincloth: Camo Cloak (again)
BASING
I wanted to carry on the Speedpaints to
the bases if I could. I glued on my usual
sharp sand and when that had dried
I painted the edges of the base with
Hardened Leather. Then I painted the
sand itself with Hardened Leather mixed
60/40 with the medium. That was left to
dry then I stuck on some Gamers Grass
6mm tufts for a quick finish!
FINISHED
So that’s it: a unit of fifteen of them done
in about a day for the painting (and if I
7 8
14 15
did it all together).
This is very quick for me and I can
now visualise doing one or more
whole armies using the Speedpaints
and – not only that – also combining
them with more conventional painting
for particular effects that I have liked,
particularly the flesh and fur.
MORE SPEED, MORE PAINTING
I wanted to try the paints on some figures
that were a little less ‘fantasy’. These last
shots are of more conventional figures (ie
humans) which were also lying around
waiting to be painted one day (they hail
from the – granted – fantasy world of
Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago, but you
know what I mean...). well indeed when combined with a well
I primed them up and I found similar sculpted model. See what you think.
problems and successes with these, This last group are conversions on the
with the middle and lighter colours Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago Crewmen
working on the whole better than the converting them into 18th Century
darker. Again, I think that the most pirates with a Crewmen Pirate Conversion
pleasing aspect of them is their flesh: Pack. On all of these I have used a wide
Crusader Skin is my absolute favourite variety of the Speedpaints. But that
of the Speedpaints, and works very might be for another article! ■
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 31
 Pyongyang 1894 Words & Pictures by John Kersey. Illustrations by Osprey.

hen Commodore Perry’s small squadron

W of four ships entered Edo Bay on the 8th

July 1853 he set off a chain of events that
would ultimately lead to an awakened
Japan. Although Japan signed the Convention of
Kanagawa with the United States the following year
it was under no illusion that the US and other colonial
powers would leave it there.
The shogunate was aware that their neighbour China
had been subjected to several conflicts forcing trade
agreements and treaty ports as outlets for western
goods including narcotics.

Whereas
China tried to
unsuccessfully THE PATH
restrict the TO PYONGYANG
foreigners’ influence The causes of the Sino-Japanese War
and retain their culture, are complex but at its root was the fact that the
the rulers of Japan resolved to strategic location of Korea means it has acted as the
take a cue from them and create a TOP cockpit of Asia, in the same way that Belgium has in
strong, modern country able to both Tadzumi force Western Europe and Poland in the East. Korea was the
deployed ready
resist and play them at their own game. As to assault on jumping off point for the attempted Mongol invasion of
a part of this process the tradition minded and the left flank Japan in the 13th Century and the attempted Japanese
conservative shogunate made way for the reign of the towards Peony invasion of China in the 16th. To the natural protagonists
Hill.
far sighted Emperor Meiji who was no longer content of Japan; China and Korea was now added the Great
to play at figurehead but wanted to lead his country ABOVE Powers; Russia to the north and various colonial powers
into a bright future. Internal wars including the The board is set deploying sea power around the area in support of
obliquely to add
Satsuma rebellion popularised in the movie The Last interest and trading rights. This was typified by the American
Samurai altered the military system from the famed allow the two intervention in Korea in 1871 sparked by the destruction
feudal class, the samurai, to a broader based national sides to act as a of the ship General Sherman.
natural diorama
army and navy on the western model. This national effect. The Korean regime itself was unstable with some
temperament with notes of militarism, nationalism and parties favouring Japanese style modernisation over more
patriotism, the Japanese were to term nihon gunkan traditional interests. This led to the Donghak rebellion in
shugi or in short, nihon shugi. 1894 where Qing Dynasty China deployed troops to help

32 Miniature Wargames June 2023

ABOVE
Uniform Imperial
Chinese forces
- from the left
Green Standard
musketeer,
Manchester
horse archer
and Huai Army
volunteer.

TOP LEFT
The Osprey
illustration is
from the book
The First Sino-
Japanese War
1894-95,
copyright
to Osprey
Publishing Ltd
(permission

›
granted).

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 33

 the Korean ruling class suppress the wave of anti-Chinese
violence. In turn Japan escalated the situation by moving
8,000 troops to Korea from Japan in support of naval
infantry mobilised from Japanese warships in the port of
Chemulpo (present day Incheon). The Japanese offer of
joint suppression of the rebels was rejected by both the
Korean King and the Chinese authorities.
The Japanese forces swiftly put down the rebellion
on their own and ended up occupying the Korean
capital Seoul and its leader, King Gojong. Japan
installed a Korean proxy government which authorised
Japanese forces to expel Chinese military forces and
this led to war breaking out.
to around 13,000 effectives which were supplemented
by local Korean labourers in constructing a series of
27 earthen forts in and around the city. The Japanese,
now under the overall command of General Yamagata
and reinforced with fresh reinforcements from Japan
forming First Army, awaited further developments.
A near contemporary account of the events up
to and including the Battle of Pyongyang are to be
found in the work The China Japan War authored by
“Vladimir” a non-de-plume for the diplomat Zenone
Volpicelli available on the internet as a print on
demand bound book (go to Google Books and search for
“The China Japan War Compiled from Japan”). This
was published in 1806 and was said to be compiled
from Chinese, Japanese and other (foreign) sources.

PROTAGONISTS
We now follow each of the forces in turn, firstly with
the Mixed Brigade who set off after their victory at
Songhwan.
They first dispatched a small party of Japanese
scouts led by Lt Machida who headed north and spent
9 days observing the Chinese forces at Pyongyang but
were discovered and in a skirmish with 200 Chinese
cavalry all but 2 were killed. The vanguard of the force
under Major Ichinobe set off from Seoul on the 8th
August and advanced to Kaisong where they met up
with the survivors of the scouting party.
The subsequent advance was cautious knowing
Chinese were in the vicinity. The Chinese were equally
cautious; and feeling exposed fell back on Pyongyang.
Meanwhile the Japanese due to logistical problems had

ABOVE NAVAL APPROACH

Imperial Japan needed to gain control of the Yellow Sea area
Japanese army
supply column to allow land reinforcements to be ferried over and
with engineers prevent a Chinese build up by sea. The naval battle
moving up to of Pungdo on the 25th July 1894 ended up with the
support the
attack. sinking of the chartered British vessel Kowshing and
loss of Chinese reinforcements and two gunboats. The
RIGHT land phase of the conflict in what the Japanese termed
Sato force with
1st Battalion in the Seikan campaign started with the assault on
the lead assault Chinese forces at Songhwan (present day Seonghwan)
the earthwork by the 4,000 strong Mixed Brigade centred on the 9th
fortifications
of General Infantry Brigade and led by Major General Oshima
Ma Yu Kun’s Yoshimasa resulting in a pitched battle on the 28th
bannermen July 1894. The Japanese were able to swiftly defeat
supported with
Gatling guns (but the Chinese forces after a sharp fight who retreated
no ammo in our towards the strategic node of present day Pyongyang,
game!). then known as Phyong-yang or Heijo to the Japanese.

CHINESE COMMAND
The Chinese under the command of General Yeh,
anticipating a Japanese attack through this route,
set about gathering forces here from Manchuria
together with the survivors of Songhwan and other
reinforcements sent previously by sea. This amounted

34 Miniature Wargames June 2023

to also retreat undertaking several skirmishes with
Chinese forces along the way.
Another Japanese force under Lt General Nodzu
had landed at the southern port of Fusan (present day
Pusan) and arrived in Seoul on the 19th August. In
addition to these forces, there was a third detachment
of battalion size sent to Sak-riong. They were further
reinforced by a battalion of the 12th Regiment plus
artillery company sent from Gensan thus completing
what was to be known as the Sak-riong detachment.
MIXED BRIGADE
The Mixed Brigade advanced north and on the
24th August they linked up with Major Ichinobe’s
detachment. The Japanese thus had two avenues of
advance and their build-up continued with a further
force landing at Gensan on the 26th August forming
a further Mixed Brigade from the Third (Nagoya)
Division and made available for the Pyongyang
campaign under the
command of Colonel
Sato. Major General Tadzumi
arrived from Japan via Chemulpo to
take charge of the Sak-riong force.
The original plan was to take Pyongyang with a
frontal attack by the original Mixed Brigade but Marshall ABOVE
Yamagata decided taking Pyongyang in view of the Sato force 1st
Battalion.
Chinese preparations would need a more considered
approach. His plan was to employ a favoured Japanese
tactic: the Concentric Attack whereby several forces
advance by different routes all converging on the
objective at the same time and from different positions.
This tactic was also employed at the WWII Battle of
Midway but its weakness as a concept was exposed;
if the enemy has prior intelligence as to the plan and
whereabouts of the forces they can be defeated in detail.
The other possible weakness is if the forces lack
coordination as they advance in secret then the attack
may be delivered and defeated piecemeal. To avoid
this Yamagata set the date for the attack on Pyongyang
as the 15th September which allowed time to recover
any consequential delays.
CHINESE
The Chinese for their part had been kept informed
by their network of informants and spies throughout
Korea of the advance of the Japanese forces, excepting
the Gensan detachment whose landing had blindsided
them. Their forces remained on edge anticipating the
arrival of the Japanese enemy. Outside of Chung-hwa
3,000 Chinese had been encamped and during the
night had been startled by a party of Koreans who
were taken for Japanese raiders. This had set off a
general bout of wild, uncontrolled firing for 3 hours
leading to heavy casualties among the Chinese forces.
THE ADVANCE
The Japanese final advance to Pyongyang was not
without incident. In a touching ceremony full of the
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 35

reverence that the Japanese have for their dead, several
wooden tablets were placed marking the spot where Lt
Machida’s scouting party had suffered casualties near
Chung-hwa. As “Vladimir” poetically describes the
martial virtue of the Japanese soldier:
“He knows that his name will be ever remembered and
cherished, and for this hope of immortal glory he thinks he
can well sacrifice a few years of vulgar existence, with its
deceptive pleasures and wearying cares.”
The approach to the Taidong river and Pyongyang on
the 12th September by the Mixed Brigade set off a minor
action with Chinese forces who retreated into their
riverbank fort and at the same time drew forces out of
Pyongyang including cavalry who crossed the Taidong
by using a bridge of boats. The following day units of
the Mixed Brigade continued their demonstrations and
artillery bombardments in front of Pyongyang aimed at
convincing the Chinese they intended crossing the river
at this point with a direct assault on the city.
Whilst these actions were in motion the main body
under General Nodzu slipped across the Taidong
further downstream positioning itself for a further
attack in the south. The Chinese opened up a large
bombardment the final day before the attack on the
14th September which the Japanese used to observe
and count artillery positions. The scene was now set
for the main attack which was set for 03:00 on the 15th
September, all as originally planned.
THE DAY OF BATTLE
The separate forces converged on their objective: the
city of Pyongyang. It was surrounded by fortified stone
walls and protected by outlying earthwork forts. The
36 Miniature Wargames June 2023
LEFT Mixed Brigade attacking along the eastern axis had to
Map of the face the Taidong River as a considerable obstacle. There
peninsular.
was a bridge of boats across the river however no
substantial cover and the crossing was under the fire
arc of three forts on the other side. Japanese artillery
was originally placed too far away to offer effective
support to the assault but when the attack started at
04:30 AM, the guns commenced a tremendous duel
between the opposing sides with the Japanese guns
with their superior aim mastering the Chinese artillery.
Under the flags of the rising sun the Japanese infantry
of the 11th Regiment then charged in across the fire swept
ground turning the Chinese out of the group of forts on
the left bank. The Chinese were not short of stocks of
ammunition stored in their forts and kept up a storm of
fire with their repeating rifles whilst the Japanese soon
exhausted their munitions having to forage amongst the
dead and wounded for spare cartridges.
ABOVE Rushing to their support, the Japanese 21st
The Imperial Regiment - 2nd Battalion plus elements of the 9th
Chinese forces
of General Company attempted an escalade of the earthworks
Tso Pao Kwei but that proved not to be practicable. With a bitter
of Manchu heart and having exhausted their ammunition, the
Kansu Braves
supported by a Mixed Brigade fell back to their original positions after
mountain gun taking heavy losses in officers and men including the
battery. wounding of General Oshima which took place during
a demonstration of personal bravery.
On the left flank Major Okuyama succeeded in
crossing the river and creating havoc by setting fire to
some buildings. Although the Mixed Brigade’s assault
had not delivered a decisive blow it had monopolised
the attention of the Chinese troops and pinned down
considerable forces on the eastern flank of the city.
Whether it was planned as the main attack or just a
demonstration, it had diverted attention from the other
attacks taking place from the Gensan and Sak-riong
detachments on the northern side as well as the forces
of General Nodzu to the west.
THE NORTHERLY ATTACK
The Gensan and Sak-riong detachments, although
forming the northern part of the assault, attacked as
separate forces. Like the Mixed Brigade they faced
formidable earthwork forts and the city walls however
did not have the Taidong River to contend with. At the
point of the assault the earthworks consisted of three forts
at the front and two on the local hills. One of these was on
Mok-tak-san (the famous Peony Hill beauty spot) held by
the muslim troops of General Tso-pao-kuei.
The Japanese aimed to deliver a two pronged
attack, the Gensan detachment on the right flank had
managed to approach quite close to the fortifications
without being fired upon on the previous night and
had set up guns in readiness for the main assault on
the 15th. The Sak-riong detachment on the left flank
rushed the Chinese forts with a two battalion assault
which by 07:30 AM had captured two front forts.
The centre fort held out until the Japanese guns were
brought up and commenced firing at 800 metres range,
with the Chinese forces in confusion and by 08:00 AM
the battalion under Major Tomida had overwhelmed
the defenders. Meanwhile the Gensan detachment
had overcome the defenders of the fifth fort, the
Chinese defenders being confused by the evidence of
separate engagements all around showing the power
of the concentric attack when it all worked out. Both
Sak-riong and Gensan detachments now turned their
attention to the remaining forts.
The Sak-riong detachment found the fort on the
BELOW summit of the smaller hill abandoned; deserted by
Battle map its defenders. The Gensan forces then commenced
the assault of the remaining fort on Peony Hill. The
superior tactical skill of the Imperial Japanese Army
was then demonstrated as the Sak-riong detachment
ordered by General Tadzumi to support the Gensan
effort by Major Yamaguchi and his battalion, after
capturing their hill then charged Peony Hill from the
front whilst Major Tomida and his battalion assaulted
from the rear. To add to the pressure Colonel Sato
himself led two battalions from the newly captured
fifth fort to take the objective from the flank; thus it was
attacked on three sides.
The muslim defenders, considered the best in
the Chinese army, put up a stout defence but when
the combined artillery of the Gensan and Sak-riong
detachments turned their fire on them they found it
all too much and buckled. During this engagement
General Tso – who was probably the most able Chinese
general – was killed either by artillery fire or by rifle
fire (according to “Vladimir”).
HYON-MU GATE
Showing their tactical agility, the Japanese under the
command of Colonel Sato now pivoted towards the
Hyon-mu gate (Gemmu gate in Japanese), the nearest
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 37
 entrypoint into Pyongyang. The Japanese attempted
capture of the fortified wall had been repulsed by the
fire of the Chinese defenders and they had been forced
to retreat and regroup after taking heavy casualties. A
turning point developed that later was to be celebrated
in Japanese woodblock prints which were eagerly
lapped up by the Japanese public back home and it
now forms part of the mythology of the conflict.
Lieutenant Mimura, seeing his comrades beaten
back showed the resolve and fighting spirit of the
new Imperial Japanese Army shouting out “Who will
come with me to open that gate?” with one of his men – a
Private Harada – running after him shouting “Who will
be first on the wall?” echoing a samurai tradition dating
back to the 16th Century Imjin War of being the first
warrior in a captured city.
Eleven other ranks joined in facing a storm of fire
on the way to the gate. They were not able to force
it open and they had no explosives with them; so –
maintaining the spirit of the attack – Mimura ordered
the escalade of the city wall. Fortune was with the
small party as the enemy riflemen were pre-occupied
directing fire at the more distant Japanese forces. The
Chinese were startled to see Japanese troops amongst
them and rapidly scattered in panic. The party then
descended to the gate and attempted to open it from
the inside with Mimura slashing away with his sword
like a samurai of old at any nearby Chinese. Again
the gate proved difficult to open and the small party
lost two killed and one more wounded before Private
Harada managed to open the gate to the complete
surprise of the Japanese outside!
SURRENDER
Pyongyang was now practicable with the commanding
position on Peony Hill taken and an access point available
38 Miniature Wargames June 2023
ABOVE into the city. The Chinese forces were now starting to
Imperial display white flags signalling the fall of the city, however
Japanese
engineers the Chinese forces elsewhere were re-grouping and
prepare to enter taking up positions on the wall. In view of this and
Pyongyang the Japanese inability to communicate the terms of a
after blowing
the North Gate. surrender, General Tadzumi felt the wisest course was to
Harada unit in retire to the Peony Hill position and re-align his forces.
background
ready to
escalade the THIRD ATTACK
walls if needs But what of the main body under General Nodzu?
be! They formed the third (and main) avenue of attack
and opened up their operations at 08:00 AM with an
artillery barrage on the southern forts. A probe by a
company of Japanese infantry sparked a foray by a
party of Chinese cavalry, about a 100 strong. They
provoked an outburst of artillery fire from the Japanese
batteries that had been firing on the forts which alerted
the infantry company that cavalry was on the loose
and added their fire to the shells of the batteries. They
proved to be from the northern forces of General Tso.
Further cavalry, estimated at over 1,000 strong were
seen to be escaping from Pyongyang past the southern
forts first and then into the nearby fields towards the
surrounding hills held by the Imperial Chinese. The
main body then took these retreating horsemen under
fire so that they were subjected to deadly fire as if in
a shooting gallery. To aid the work of the main body
in dealing with the southern forts, units of the Mixed
Brigade moved in setting fire to some houses nearby
and by 14:00 they were cleared.
FINAL PHASE
The battle then entered its final phase. The majority of
the Chinese command were in favour of abandoning
the city even before the battle had started and it seems
only General Tso was in favour of putting up a fight
but – with his death – the spirit of resistance had ABOVE accepting that there would be some divergence. These I
collapsed. During the night parties of Imperial Chinese Command stand translated into model units to fit in with the game and
of General
troops fled the city through the southern route being Yeh inside the rules.
mercilessly fired on by the surrounding Japanese. Pyongyang.
The morning after saw over 1,500 dead littering the IMPERIAL JAPANESE FORCES
surrounding area as triumphant Japanese forces The Imperial Japanese forces for the attack on
entered the deserted city. Pyongyang had fallen. Pyongyang are listed as:
The Japanese meticulously documented their losses
resulting from the battle with 162 killed, 438 wounded Mixed Brigade under Major General Oshima
and 33 missing. Chinese losses were estimated at about ◗ 11th Regiment
2,000 killed, a large number of wounded and about ◗ 21st Regiment (less 1 battalion)
600 prisoners. In addition to this the Imperial Chinese ◗ 1 Cavalry company
forces had lost a great deal of supplies including 36 field ◗ 1 Artillery battalion
guns, 500 magazine and 500 breachloading rifles as ◗ 1 Engineer company
well as much ammunition and other essential military Total 5,510
equipment. The Chinese forces as a consequence
abandoned Korea and fell back to the river Yalu ready to Sak-riong Detachment under Major General Tadzumi
make a stand there. The battle for control of Korea was ◗ 1st Battalion of 12 th regiment (less 1 company)
over but the battle for China was yet to come. ◗ 2nd Battalion of 21st Regiment (less 1 company)
◗ 2 Cavalry troops
PYONGYANG: THE FORCES ◗ 1 Artillery company
The sources vary on the forces engaged. It’s perhaps Total 2,160
easier for the Japanese as they seem to have detailed
records and reports in the public domain with a more Gensan Detachment under Colonel Sato
rigid organisation. For the Chinese there is more ◗ 18th Regiment
variation around numbers employed and especially ◗ 1 Cavalry troop
casualties. This is not entirely surprising as we ◗ 1 Artillery battalion
can’t be sure of the effects on desertion or perhaps ◗ 1 Engineer battalion (less one company)
“absenteeism” especially in the officer group where Total 3,640
they would make themselves absent from duty, even in
some cases to indulge in gambling or opiates! Main body under Lieutenant General Nodzu divided
For the purposes of the game I relied heavily on into two columns
Nathan Chaikin’s Sino-Japanese War which – although ◗ First column under Lieutenant Colonel Shibata
principally an art catalogue – has a listing of the forces ◗ 22nd Regiment (less 3rd Battalion)
at Pyongyang derived from the “Vladimir” book. This ◗ 1 Artillery battalion
I fleshed out from other sources found on the internet Total 2,300
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 39
 RIGHT
Kennington
miniatures
forces lined up
prior to the paint
stage.
Second column under Lieutenant Colonel Tomoyasu
◗ 12th Regiment (less 1st Battalion)
◗ 1 Artillery battalion
◗ 1 Engineer battalion (less 1 company)
Total 3,100
A British Army observer offered this opinion on the
Imperial Japanese Army:
“The officers of the Japanese Army have mostly passed
through the Imperial Military School, and may therefore
be held to be of much the same stamp professionally as the
quality of officers of European armies… As regards the troops,
the infantry are very good, or at least better even than some
European infantry I could name; the artillery good or at least
fair; and the cavalry indifferent… The army is not a paper
sham, but is a complete living organisation framed on the best
models, and as a rule thoroughly adapted to the rigours of the
country…. The Japanese soldier has discipline, perseverance
and great endurance. He has valour also.”
QING CHINESE - PEIYANG ARMY
From Japanese official reports referenced in the book
“Epitome of the Chino-Japanese War” compiled by
official British military staff attached to the Imperial
Japanese Army these were noted as:
Commander in Chief - General Yeh
◗ Under General Tso-pao-kuei - 3,500 men from
Moukden (Mukden in Manchuria)
◗ Under General Feng-sheng-a - 1,500 men from
Moukden (Mukden again)
◗ Under General Wei-ju kuei - 6,000 men from Chihli
(the district near Taku in north eastern China)
◗ Under General Ma-yu-kun - 2,000 men from Port
Arthur
◗ Under General Yeh - 1,000 men
This is listed as a total of 14,000 men although other
sources vary.
Pyongyang itself was noted as having 20,000
inhabitants including 2,000 Korean who were used as
40 Miniature Wargames June 2023
pioneers in constructing the earthen defences.
Although these seem impressive forces entrenched
within robust earthworks the variable here was the
quality of these units. A Western observer, Isabella
Bird noted the appearance of Chinese troops passing
through Moukden as:
“They looked the losers they would be, she thought. Their
clothes were stagey and unserviceable - loose sleeved red jackets,
blue or apricot trousers, boots of thick black cotton cloth, their
weapons were of mainly historical value - muzzle loading
muskets, spears and bayonets, and their general impedimenta
were mediaeval - paper fans and umbrellas, banners and
singing birds tethered to sticks. It was a sad colourful pageant
shambling loosely through the muddy streets.”
She further added: “It was nothing but murder to send
thousands of men so armed to meet the Japanese”.
As quoted in Armies of the World 1854-1914 by
David Woodward their effectiveness was further
degraded by endemic corruption compounded by
inefficiency. Some symptoms noted for this were
commanders stealing the pay of their men, the sale
of rations and procurement of poor quality or useless
ammunition for financial gain. The officers themselves
sometimes left their posts for pursuits such as that
gambling and opium smoking to pass the time.
MAKE A GAME OF IT
My aim with Pyongyang was to present this as part of
an ongoing series of games looking at the Nihon Shugi
period. My emphasis is always on fun and playability
over realism and complexity and I have chosen 1/72
or 20mm as the scale/size fits with some great plastic
and metal figure as well as commercially
available buildings and accessories
both for wargames but also model
railways I will be premiering this DOWNLOAD
game at Partizan in May. Next THE MAPS
tabletopgaming.co.uk/
month I will deal with turning the information/downloads
battle into a game! ■
QUARTERMASTER IBERIAN PLAIN
◗ deepcutstudio.com
◗ 32.90€ - 97.90€
feature on their website and – having
used it in the past – we can attest to the
quality of the results.
The plains mat is priced at 32.90€ for a
Deep Cut Studios have a new mat mat printed on Cloth at a 36” x 36” (and
release (or two). We haven’t seen the cloth – I will say now – is my favourite
Icy Water mat in reality (although it material if only for space and ease of
looks very nice with a deep blue and storage); right up to a Mousemat version
underlying cracked ice) but what we sized at 44” x 90” which is 97.90€. They
have as a sample for review is the also make PVC ones, of course, for
excellent Iberian Plains mat. those gamers that insist on a wipe clean
When grass on a mat is too surface (for whatever reason...). Check
lusciously green and sand on its own out their website at deepcutstudio.com
is just to ‘desert’ like, what you need is for more information. This is one of the
something a little more universal and most universally useful mats we can
this is an excellent middle ground. The think of. Highly recommended
Iberian Plains design has an interesting
mix of both sandy soil and grass making
it just a great ‘compromise’ mat.
What’s interesting is that the mat
surface itself looks like a photograph
of an actual flocked and sanded piece
of terrain. Printed on a good quality
substrate, the sample received is printed
on a mousemat type material. It’s a large
8 by 4 foot footprint and is packed in a
clear tube or sleeve. It is probably the
closest thing you can get to having an
actual flocked mat.
The Iberian Plains game mat (like
the Icy Water and indeed all of their
other mats) is available in pretty
much any needed sizes, and can be
customized with overprinted hexes
or grids or fiddled with in other ways
to match your specific battlefield
ACCESSORIES & TERRAIN

projects or needs. You do this sort of

customisation using their
Print-o-Mat

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 41

 WARDROP AMBUSH
Germany 10th April 1945: A Chain of Command Scenario
Words and Photos by David Hiscocks.
he British Army in April 1945 was, despite its
T war weariness, at the height of its effectiveness.
Within its ranks were men who had not only
fought in Normandy but also those who had
been fighting since the start of the war. One such man
was Sergeant Jake Wardrop of the 5th Royal Tank
Regiment. He had fought with the regiment in France
1940, then in the Western Desert, Tunisia, Italy, and
in Europe from D-Day. His diary, that he kept illicitly
throughout the war, tells a remarkable story. The
tragedy is that men such as Wardrop continued to lose
their lives even at this late stage in the war when the
conflict was clearly soon to end.
42 Miniature Wargames June 2023
BELOW THE AMBUSH
11 Troop
advances into
the woods.
On the 10th April a platoon of B company of the 6th
Battalion Welch Fusiliers, supported by 11 Troop,
5th Royal Tank Regiment, were ordered to lead the
advance through an area of woodland towards the
village of Anderten on Reichstrasse 209. Sergeant
Wardrop commanded the tank troop’s Firefly. Precisely
what happened next is not clear due to the chaos of the
enagement.
In general outline survivors reported that the troop
commander, Lieutenant Crocker, spotted a roadblock
and ordered the accompanying infantry riding his
tanks to dismount. At this point a panzerfaust hit
Wardrop’s tank, followed by a deluge of small arms
fire. More panzerfaust rockets were fired, one of
which also knocked out Crocker’s tank. In the close
confines of the forest, surrounded by an enemy force
of unknown size, the survivors fought a fierce but brief
battle before being forced to surrender with only a
handful escaping. Follow-up forces entered the woods
to find the wreckage of the knocked-out tanks and the
bodies of Wardrop and his crew, killed by small arms
fire as they exited their vehicle.
KRIEGSMARINE
Their ambushers had been elements of the 2nd
Marine-Infanterie Division. This division had been
hurriedly established on February 12th 1945 following
the Infanterie-Division 45 establishment with its ranks
filled by Kriegsmarine surface and U-Boat sailors,
dockyard personnel and 17/18 year old conscripts.
Although they lacked experience and training, they
were comparatively well equipped and made a good
account of themselves against the advance of the
53rd Welsh Division. This ambush was typical of
many engagements fought in the last month of
the war, with small groups of desperate defenders
forcing the Allies to pay dearly for their increasingly-
inevitable victory even as the Third Reich fell apart
around them.
THE SCENARIO
The scenario begins at the point when Lt. Crocker
stops his tank and orders the infantry to dismount,
having seen the roadblock ahead. The objective of the
British player is to break through the ambush, while
the German player must force the British to retreat or
surrender.
THE GROUND
The terrain predominately consists of a forest of
deciduous trees. This should be treated as broken
ground and dense woods offering light cover. Tanks
can only move off-road slowly or at normal speed,
with rolls of doubles causing them to bog down.
Infantry cannot move at the double off-road.
Reichstrasse 209 is macadamized.
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 43
 WARDROP AMBUSH
BELOW ORDERS OF BATTLE
The Fusiliers Germans
dismount and
the ambush is ◗ 2nd Marine-Infanterie Division
sprung. Platoon Quality: Green
Senior Leader: “Oberleutnant zur See Helmut
Vollmers” equipped with SMG
• MG42 medium machine gun (4 crew, no JL)
• Panzerfaust Team (2 crew carrying 2x Panzerfaust
60s)
Sections 1-2
• Junior Leader (JL) equipped with a Rifle
• LMG Team (3 crew equipped with a Belt-Fed LMG)
• Rifle Team (4 men equipped with rifles)
Section 3
• Junior Leader (JL) equipped with a rifle or Sten Gun
• SMG Squad (7 men equipped with SMGs)
Support Options:
• Roadblock (12 inches from where the dirt path
crossed the tarmac road)
• 6x Panzerfaust 60s which may be distributed as the
player wishes to leaders or troops
• Uberfall!: The German player starts the game with
one full Chain of Command dice, representing their
advantage of surprise.
• Sustained Fire Mode: The MG42 medium machine
gun (MMG) team may be set up to fire in a sustained
fire mode along a fixed trajectory. The owning
player must decide before the start of the game if
the medium machine gun is set-up to in this mode.
If it is then when it is deployed the owning player
marks a line across the board (perhaps using a
dice) from the MMG team which denotes its firing
trajectory. For the remainder of the game any enemy
44 Miniature Wargames June 2023
or friendly infantry model that cross this line are
immediately hit, counting all shooting as being at
effective range. This mode ignores the normal range
and line of sight restrictions caused by the dense
woods, although targets still get the benefit of being
in cover. Tanks will block the MMG’s firing line.
Once deployed the MMG team cannot be given
further orders.
British
◗ B Company, 6th Bn. Royal Welch Fusiliers
Platoon Quality: Regular
• SL Platoon Leader “Lt. Castles” equipped with a
pistol or Sten Gun
• SL Platoon Sergeant equipped with a rifle or Sten
Gun
• 2” Mortar Team OR PIAT Team (both have 2 crew)
Sections 1-3
• Junior Leader (JL) equipped with a rifle or Sten Gun
• Bren Gun Team (3 crew equipped with a Bren Gun)
• Rifle Team (5 men equipped with rifles)
5th RTR, 11 Troop
• 1x Firefly with JL (“Sgt. Wardrop”)
• 1x Cromwells with SL (“Lt. Crocker”)
• 1x Cromwell with JL (“Cpl. Richardson”)
• Command & Control: Lt. Castles may not use his
command initiatives to give orders to any of the
accompanying tanks, nor may Lt. Crocker give orders
to the infantry. Lt. Crocker may, however, use his
command initiative to give orders to any of the tanks
of his troop so long as they are in line of sight. Players
are reminded that tanks with junior leaders can
be activated on a 3, while those with a
senior leader can be activated on a 4.

DEPLOYMENT
The game uses an 8ft by 4ft table (or there-abouts). It
is notoriously very difficult to persuade wargamers
to actually be ambushed. After all, they have a ‘gods-
eye’ view of the tabletop, and – additionally – they are
aware of the scenario. To avoid this issue the patrol phase
is played slightly differently than in normal games of
Chain of Command.
The British place three patrol markers on the road
within 12” of the centre of the board. The Germans
then place four patrol markers along their board edge.
Following that, the Germans complete their patrol
phase as normal. The British may not move their patrol
markers. Once completed the German player places
three jump off points following the normal rules.
LEFT Finally, the British deploy a single
A German MG42 jump off point in the centre of the
team set up
position. board before deploying all their troops
along the road or directly next to it within 12”
of this centre point. At the start of the game all British
infantry count as having been given the order to adopt
a tactical stance.
OBJECTIVE
◗ The British win if they manage to reduce German
force morale to zero, or if more than 50% of their
models voluntarily withdraw off the table via point
A. For this purpose each tank counts as four models
for a total of 43 models for the entire force.
◗ Any other result is a German victory.
BELOW Note that British troops that exit the table voluntarily
Desperate at point A do not cause a force morale test to be taken.
fighting erupts
as the ambush is However, once they leave the table they cannot return
revealed. and take no further part in the battle.
CONCLUSION
The final few weeks of the war in Europe are often
overlooked for – by that point – the outcome was
seemingly a foregone conclusion. Yet even as the
campaign in Europe drew to a close Allied troops were
still being forced to fight hard against determined
defenders, taking losses all the way until the final days of
the conflict. The nearness of the end made the casualties
they suffered at this late stage appear to contemporaries
all the more tragic for their pointlessness.
In the case of Sergeant Jake Wardrop, this was so
much more so for he had survived five long years of
war, only to fall in a minor ambush at the final moment
with the end in sight.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
George Forty, Jake Wardrop’s Diary: A Tank Regiment
Sergeant’s Story (Amberley Publishing Plc:
Chalford, 2009).
John Russell, Theirs the Strife: The
Forgotten Battles of British Second DOWNLOAD
THE SCENARIO MAP
Army and Armeegruppe Blumentritt, tabletopgaming.co.uk/
April 1945 (Helion & Company Ltd.: information/downloads
Warwick, 2020), pp. 252-259. ■
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 45
The Editor goes to the 2023
GUN SALUTE
Salute show
Words and photos by The Editor

attended the 50th anniversary Salute (held –

I incongruously – not half a century after it’s inception

but... well there we are). As has been the case for the
last dozen or so Salutes is was held at ‘the big shed’:
ExCel in London. And it was quite a deal: what with
pandemics and what-not, gamers had been waiting
for this for a long time, I think, and consequentially
lots and lots of them turned up: over 6000, in fact and
– when you add in the visiting club members (from
the over 100 games) who attended – that number
approaches 7000. That’s a lot of wargamers by any
one’s standards.
TOP play a game or purchase a single thing from a trader)
TRADERS The Battle of – there still wasn’t enough time to see all of the games
Leuctra (by Jon
There were 136 trade stands who turned up to do a Sutherland) properly. So I’ll do a skim and let the photos in these
roaring trade with those almost 7000 wallets. That’s with over 3000 pages do the heavy lifting.
just shy of the record from the past but only down by 28mm Greeks. High points were: The Lard Zone with loads of
That's a lotta
about 20 from an all-time, pre-brexit high. Realistically, Greeks...! games from the TooFat Lardies crew and their mates
if you were into wargaming and wanted to buy (the new What A Cowboy joined the established
anything for your hobby, you could probably spend ABOVE Strength and Honour micro ancients and Chain of
Gravesend
like a drunkard sailor at Salute. Gamers Guild Command WWII outings); loads of stuff from Warlord
with Gaslands. (including new Epic games) and other trade outings
GAMES from Pendraken (Korea); Rubicon Models’ and
Here’s the tricky part. There were just so many that – Gringo 40 who both had excellent Vietnam games,
even though I spent the entire day doing nothing other Osprey/Northstar (with a great Oathmark and Silver
than visiting game stands with my camera (I didn’t Bayonet: Carpathians in the snow), and Anschluss
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 47
 SALUTE

CENTRE RIGHT
Midgard with the
Rainbow bridge
by Morris &
Chums.

RIGHT
Peterborough
Wargames
Club's The
Dambusters
Challenge.

RIGHT
The Friends of
General Haig's
Dirschau/
Tczew 1627:
Sweden versus
the Polish-
Lithuanians.

ABOVE games with just a cloth, figures

Ntombi River by and blokes chucking dice: what
the Hornchurch
Wargames Club.
were on display were just solid,
splendid-looking show outings
RIGHT AND and really way too many to
INSET RIGHT
Silver Bayonet:
mention in any detail.
Carpathian in the So I’ll start with two Gulf
snow by Osprey War outings including one from
and North Star.
Maidstone in 20mm and the
Friends Of General Haig in 15mm; a medieval frozen
Thames with great scenery called Cold Doings in
London by London Wargames Guild; the Battle of Leuctra
(by our own Jon Sutherland) with over 3000 Greeks.
And – also making appearances in this magazine –
were a DAK Attack game, Skirmish Wargames’ Greek

48 Miniature Wargames June 2023

 CENTRE LEFT
A DAK ATTACK
sweep by the
SAS.

LEFT
Myths &
Monsters by
the Skirmish
Wargamers.

LEFT
A close up og the
Dirschau/ Tczew
1627 game.

BELOW
Wait, What?
group's Space
Crusade: The
Wrath of Kanner
game.

Myths and Monsters,

and Kaiserschlacht.
See recent months
(and this issue) for
reference...
There was a ‘dam-
big’ Dambusters game
from Peterborough WC; the Hailsham Wargames Club
ran a splendid Bombay Mix Up (15mm Indian
mutiny); a great Midgard game (featuring a light
up Bifrost bridge) by Morris and Chums; Carentan
made another appearance with even more scenery
(and planes!) by the Retired Wargamers Reloaded; a
great looking Light Cycles (or ‘Tron’) game by the
Bexley Reapers (complete with funky illumination);
a huge To the Strongest Ancients game; a Sikh War
extravaganza (Ferocious fighting at Ferozaphur)
by the Crawley WC; a neat The Eagle Has Landed
(using Disposable Heroes) by the host club; an
excellent 54mm VBCW outing with Britains and
Airfix models by the Gentlemen’s Wargames Parlour
(called .The life and times of Roderick Spade.)...
I’ll end up the shout-outs with a board game
translated into an upright figure game: the hard to
explain Snits Revenge (from Tom Wham: the same
mind which produced the classic The Awful Green
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 49
 SALUTE

ABOVE Things from Outer Space) by the Bunnys and Badgers;

Crawley and the Ardhammer Group’s Bread and Beef: a vast 7
Wargames Club
with the 1st Sikh Years War flats game.
War. But there were just so many tables heaving with
splendour: over 100 games means that – whatever the
RIGHT
London detractors might say – there were a handful of games
Wargaming there that were almost guaranteed to suit anyone and
Guild's Cold (if you are as catholic in your tastes as I am) the vast
Doings in London.
majority of them appealed to me on most levels: an
BELOW RIGHT eclectic historical and non-historical mix of demos
Gulf War: The and party games, all well presented by experienced,
Friends of
General Haig. enthusiastic gamers. I could not really ask for more.
Well – perhaps – I could ask for more time...

50 Miniature Wargames June 2023

 they’ll fix those issues for next year. I hope so as it’s LEFT
pretty embarrassing. Aliens: this time
it's war by the
That all aside, the painting competition itself had Werelords.
entries of the usual very high standard and one of
the attractions of the day were a selection of guest CENTRE LEFT
Korea Inchon
speakers, although a few from the historical branch of landings by
wargaming would have been welcome. Pendraken.

LEFT
Hugo's Heroes
Getting my Airfix
using Bolt Action.

ORGANISATION
Although the show was very well attended it has to be
said that the organisation was a little sketchy in places:
the cafe facilities at Salute are always overburdened
with customers (from both Salute itself and the
accompanying, unrelated shows) which leads to
inevitable long waits, and the car parking is ‘central
London’ expensive. But added to those long faces was ABOVE
US Embassy
a cheap approach from the organisers to things like attack in Vietnam
internal seating (folks really shouldn’t be sitting on the by Gringo 40.
floor) and the painting competition (who wants to win
LEFT
an award with the wrong date on it because they were Light Cycles
originally ordered two years ago? That's a trick question: - light up
the correct answer is ‘no one’). But perhaps – now that Trontastic by the
Bexley Reapers.
the organising club has had a good year financially –
BOTTOM LEFT
Vietnam by
Rubicon.

CONCLUSIONS
It was an overwhelming day out: I met so many
readers and enthusiasts of the magazine and just so
very many wargamers.
Post covid, Salute 2023 was a gigantic return to form.
Perhaps – and not surprisingly – the 50-plus years of
momentum from all of the previous Salutes paid off in
spades and the Salute train is well and truly back on
the rails. The only real question is an old one: does it
need to be a two-day show? Either way, as ever, I’m
looking forward to next year! ■

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 51

 B O O K R E V I E W S F O R T H E D I S C E R N I N G WA R G A M E R
REVIEWS
THE ART OF SHOOTING GREAT
ORDNANCE
◗ Jonathan Davies
◗ Helion (2022)
◗ £29.95
◗ 296 pages (softback)
◗ ISBN:9781915070289
◗ helion.co.uk
If they ever invent time
travel, this book will be
all you need to become a Tudor master-
gunner – such is the extraordinary detail
on cannon design, manufacture, usage
and tactics, including all the associated
paraphernalia on tools, transport, and
men.
The period saw major changes
in gunnery, the key ones being in
gunpowder through cheaper access
to saltpetre, metallurgy, mathematics
(especially trigonometry), and the
writing of treatises on the Art.
This could be a rather dry tome, but
the author brings the subject to life by
adroit touches of humour and a nice
turn of phrase – for example, fixing
a cannon’s problem by using ‘a hefty
wallop’. It is also finely illustrated with
contemporary drawings, supplemented
by the author’s own experience in
casting and using modern replica
cannon, together with vast knowledge
on the period and sources. For the
wargamer, the book brings out the
usual problem – where to place the
guns so that they don’t obstruct (or are
obstructed by) other troops, without
being so exposed as to be captured? This
is excellent material.
Chris Jarvis
THE BERLIN BLITZ
◗ Martin Bowman
◗ Pen and Sword (2022)
◗ £25
◗ 253 pages (hardback)
◗ ISBN:9781526705525
◗ pen-and-sword.co.uk
This book is almost exclusively
personal accounts by Bomber Command
aircrew of their experiences of the
air assault on Berlin, broadly from
September 1941 to September 1943,
interspersed with accounts by German
aircrew, flak gunners, and civilians.
There are some technical details, but the
emphasis is on the human drama: from
memory, over half of Bomber aircrew
did not survive the war, and Berlin was
a well-defended target.
Some wartime diary accounts can be
glib or ‘understated’ to make an impact,
but the stories told here are measured,
reflective and honest. It is an immensely
sad story, on both sides: the sheer scale
of destruction visited on the city, and
the constant reference to aircraft lost
and young men killed. Picture all the
20-yr-olds in your workplace, and
imagine 50% of them dying in the next
few years…
I am not very knowledgeable on air
warfare, but this is without a doubt the
finest and most moving set of personal
accounts that I have ever read on this
subject. Very highly recommended.
Chris Jarvis

PANZER RECONNAISSANCE
◗ Thomas Anderson
◗ Osprey (2023)
◗ £35
◗ 288 pages (hardback)
◗ ISBN:9781472855022
◗ ospreypublishing.com
The latest offering in
this excellent Osprey
series is on the German armoured
reconnaissance units of WWII. Like
its predecessors, this has superb
photos (many from the author’s
own collection) of a wide range of
equipment, including prototypes and
with a good coverage of all periods and
particularly early-war and even pre-
war vehicles.
Of particular benefit for wargamers
will be the very detailed TO&E (Tables
of Organisation and Equipment), at
battalion, company and platoon levels,
throughout the whole period. There are
also good tactical summaries – ‘Lessons
Learned’ – ranging from minor tactics
to the deployment of a whole battalion
across 50km or more of a division’s front.
I am not about to teach experienced
gamers to suck eggs (my wargame
recce and deployment skills are close to
zero), but the armoured recce battalion,
sometimes reinforced with some Stugs
and perhaps an artillery battery, was a
major component of German battlecraft in
both attack and defence, forming an ideal
basis for a wargame or even a connected
set of actions. A highly recommended
book: congratulations to Osprey.
Chris Jarvis
THE DANISH ARMY OF THE
NAPOLEONIC WARS 1807-1814
◗ David A. Wilson
◗ Helion (2021)
◗ £29.95
◗ 156 pages (hardback)
◗ ISBN:9781913336592
◗ helion.co.uk
This large format A4 softback, Number 61
in Helion’s From Reason to Revolution
1721-1815 series (and subtitled Volume 3:
Norwegian Troops – Cavalry and Artillery)
continues David Wilson’s study of the
organisation, uniforms and equipment of
the Danish Army that began in Number
48 with the High Command, Line and
Light Infantry, which I have previously
reviewed in these pages.
Six sections of text accompanied
by full-page colour plates cover the
organisation, equipment, harness and
tack of the Danish Regular Cavalry; the
uniforms, helmets, swords and shabraques
of the Royal Horse Guards; the uniforms,
swords and shabraques of the Heavy
Cavalry; the uniforms, swords, helmets
and shabraques of the Dragoons and
Light Cavalry Regiments; the uniforms,
harness, shabraques and rank distinctions
of the Hussar Regiment, together with
the Danish Bosniaks and Uhlans; and the
Cavalry Standards. There are also four
plates showing Danish Cavalry breeches
and overalls, cavalrymen in cloaks, cavalry
pistols and longarms.
A further three sections cover the Danish
Artillery. The section entitled The Artillery,
Det Kongelige Artillerikorps including the
Engineers, covers the uniforms of the Foot
and Horse Artillery, the Artillery drivers,
Artillery swords and Artillery shabraques,
but does not actually include the plate of
Engineer uniforms, which is to be found in
a later section.
The Ordnance offers scale drawings
of side and overhead views of the most
commonly used guns and howitzers,
limbers, ammunition carts and wagons,
accompanied by additional figures of
artillerymen to indicate their size, together
with diagrams showing horse teams
drawing artillery pieces.
Finally, the Heavy Field and Siege Guns
section contains scale drawings of two
heavy guns, three different fortress pieces
and types of carriage, and a field forge, also
accompanied by figures of artillerymen.
These are followed by the plate depicting
the uniforms of the Engineers, Sappers and
Matros Kompagniet, 1813-14.
Fifty-seven carefully researched,
detailed colour plates, portraying over
a hundred figures in uniform, together
with drawings of colours, weapons, horse
furniture and artillery pieces, make this
book excellent value for both painters of
wargames armies and modellers of larger
scale figures and guns. Most of the figures
are c.65 mm from foot to eye; the larger
figures are c.85 mm. There are only a very
few rear views. The guns and vehicles are
all drawn to slightly different scales to fit
the pages, but a linear scale and a human
figure is provided on each plate. No scales,
however, are provided on the plates of
cavalry standards, swords, sabres, pistols
or longarms.
A three-page appendix by Jorgen
Koefoed Larsen discusses The Puzzle of
the Standards of the Livgarden til Hest
(Horse Guards) 1720-1866. A two-page
bibliography and list of mostly Danish
sources concludes this attractive book.
A third volume, currently in preparation,
will cover the Norwegian Army and the
Danish militias and volunteers, together
with additional artillery and equipment.
The set of three books will then provide
wargamers with an excellent uniform
guide that will be perfect for painting the
range of 28mm figures recently produced
by Perry Miniatures or to convert smaller
scale figures of other nationalities into
Danes. David Wilson’s books are highly
recommended to anyone contemplating
raising a Danish wargame army.
Arthur Harman
›
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 53
 REVIEWS
LINE IN THE SAND
◗ Richard Jeynes
◗ Helion (2023)
◗ £25
◗ 104 pages (softback)
◗ ISBN:9781915113832
◗ helion.co.uk
Time to dig out the Airfix Sahara Fort…
This is an excellent sweep of the French
forts in Morocco in the early 1920s,
covering not just the fortifications (from
major fort to tiny watchtower) but also
the garrisons in terms of men, equipment,
logistics, tactics and example actions.
At first glance, £25 might seem
excessive for just 100 pages, but
around a third of the book comprises
high-quality plans, maps and photos,
including the results of archaeological
digs. The text is interesting and
informative, but – as is so often the
case with Helion – showing no signs
of proofreading or editing; you have to
read some sentences several times to
make sense of them. The author was in
the Intelligence Corps, and you would
think that clarity of expression was
paramount….
Nevertheless, this book is purpose-
made for wargaming, whether skirmish,
main battle, operational or strategic.
My favourite scale is 10mm, and (for
example) Pendraken’s five packs of
inter-war French Foreign Legion would
form a good core of a siege-and-relief
scenario. Highly recommended: an
exciting tale, a good history, and a
promising wargame setting.
Chris Jarvis
54 Miniature Wargames June 2023
GENERAL SIR JAMES
SCARLETT
◗ Martin Sheppard
◗ Pen & Sword (2022)
◗ £25.00
◗ 320 pages (hardback)
◗ ISBN:9781399089982
◗ pen-and-sword.co.uk
Subtitled: The Life and Letters of the
Commander of the Heavy Brigade at
Balaklava, this book has a two-page
listing of the illustrations, four pages
listing people and places mentioned in the
text and – with the author’s Introduction
– it begin this account of the life and
military career of James Scarlett, based
upon his letters and those of family
members as he kept no journal and wrote
no memoirs.
The chapter devoted to the Battle of
Balaklava concentrates upon the Charge
of the Heavy Brigade, commanded by
Scarlett, but also gives concise accounts of
the repulse of Russian cavalry by the 93rd
Foot and the Charge of the Light Brigade.
The author argues that the subsequent
concentration upon the latter, the subject
of many books and two films, has resulted
in both the success and the strategic
importance of the former being largely
forgotten or ignored. He believes that had
the Heavy Brigade been defeated by the
Russian cavalry which it attacked, despite
being outnumbered, the Russians might
well have succeeded in penetrating as
far as Balaklava where they could have
done great damage to British stores and
shipping that would have had a very
deleterious effect upon the prosecution of
the siege of Sebastopol.
It is also the author’s belief that had the
Heavy Brigade been allowed to advance
and charge in support of the Light Brigade
and not ordered to halt by Lord Lucan, a
‘glorious blunder’ might well have been a
great victory – though, ironically, it might
not have remained as well-known in the
popular imagination. That possibility
is something wargamers have the
opportunity to explore in their tabletop
recreations of Balaklava.
Tony Richardson’s 1968 film, The Charge
of the Light Brigade, which many readers
will have seen on television, omitted both
the Heavy Brigade’s own charge and its
role later that day in support of the Light
Brigade, while the incorrectly named ‘Sir
John Scarlett’ was only a non-speaking
role. It also created the impression that
all the senior commanders of the British
Army in the Crimea were eccentric
incompetents, whereas Scarlett was a
dedicated professional soldier, respected
by his officers and held in great affection
by his men. The Crimean War was his first
experience of active service, and he did
not disappoint, unlike ‘Lord Look-On’ and
‘The Noble Yachtsman’, but completely
justified his appointment as commander
of the Heavy Brigade and was knighted
and promoted to major-general.
Eight pages of black and white plates,
bound between pages 70 and 71, consist
mainly of reproductions of contemporary
photographs of members of Scarlett’s
family and of Crimean War officers and
scenes. A further eight pages of colour
plates, bound between pages 134 and
135, include Crimean War scenes by
William Simpson and Alexander Elliot,
two portraits of General Scarlett and two
modern photographs of the helmet he
wore at Balaklava.
There are three maps included in the
book. These are a full-page map of Turkey
and the Crimea, and half-page maps of
the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and
the Charge of the Light Brigade. Thirty-
nine pages of endnotes, a four page
bibliography and a nineteen page index
conclude the book.
This is a thoroughly researched and
very readable biography that will be
enjoyed by readers with an interest in the
Crimean War and may rescue Scarlett
from his undeserved obscurity.
Arthur Harman
 FACES OF THE FEW; &
MOSQUITO NIGHT INTRUDER
ACE
◗ Dilip Sarkar; and Danny Burt
◗ Pen and Sword (2023)
◗ £25; and £22
◗ 218, and 252, pages (hardbacks)
◗ ISBN:9781399065368 & 9781399017862
◗ pen-and-sword.co.uk
The first of these two titles is an album
of the faces of around 200 British
fighter aircrew in the battle of Britain,
sometimes including a photo from their
retirement days. Each photo has a short
caption describing their role and a brief
history: the youth of so many of them is
striking (and moving).
The ‘Mosquito’ title is a very
entertaining account of the wartime
experiences, both in the air and on
the station, of a well-respected and
somewhat free-spirited night fighter
ace. It is a good mix of personal
anecdotes and tactical snippets,
with a healthy attitude to excessive
bureaucracy: his reply to an over-
enthusiastic Memorandum on physical
exercise is a model of under-stated
humour… This should appeal to
anyone with an eye for a good story,
as well as those with a love of flying
and accounts of an iconic aircraft. The
operational flying log, combined with
descriptions in the main text and a
strong tactical appendix, offer a good
insight into the unusual nature of
night-flying over Luftwaffe airfields.
Chris Jarvis
55
HUNGARY 1849: THE SUMMER
CAMPAIGN
◗ Wilhelm Ramming (edited by Christopher Pringle)
◗ Helion (2023)
◗ £35
◗ 555 pages (softback)
◗ ISBN:9781915113801
◗ helion.co.uk
This work is a translation of the Austrian
official history of the Austro-Hungarian
1849 Summer Campaign, but the editor
has sensibly incorporated additional
material to provide a more balanced
analysis: the author (a senior serving
Austrian officer, who later fought as a
corps commander in 1866) was often
reticent about criticising fellow officers.
Both sides were a mixture of regular and
irregular forces, well described here in
terms of organisation and characteristics.
A particular benefit of the book is the 22
maps: some are operational/strategic,
but many are of the battles and often
with two maps per battle, each with a
scale and accompanying text on the same
page – a neat way of linking our reading
and viewing. There are numerous orders
of battle (broken down to battalion levels
and with overall strengths typically by
corps) throughout the book, with a helpful
appendix listing them all by page location:
again, an innovative and helpful device.
The text is translated in a most readable
manner, and the whole book is a welcome
addition to this period, written by a
practising wargamer. Nicely done.
Chris Jarvis
DESERT ARMOUR
◗ Robert Forczyk
◗ Osprey (2023)
◗ £35
◗ 336 pages (hardback)
◗ ISBN:9781472851888
◗ ospreypublishing.com
This is a superb account of the first half
of the WWII North Africa campaign,
sub-titled Beda Fomm to Operation
Crusader but in fact covering the
previous minor actions too. A second
volume will cover the remainder of
the campaign, so the first third of the
book provides a very helpful technical,
organisational, doctrinal and tactical
background to the Italian, British,
German and US armoured forces.
The author is a former armour officer
as well as having a range of Osprey titles
under his belt. A major benefit of this
current volume is the wealth of research
into daily tank strengths (by type) at key
stages, so wargamers of this campaign
can replicate exact scaled-down numbers
for each action. He is certainly not afraid
to give his views on each commander:
some you may disagree with, others (such
as Brigadier ‘Jock’ Campbell with his
‘imbecilic command style’) seem eminently
fair. Maps are clear, and the photographs
are often not seen elsewhere.
For the price of just over two normal
‘Campaign’ Series Ospreys, this represents
outstanding value for the WWII gamer.
Chris Jarvis
June 2023 Miniature Wargames 55
 Your first mystery box purchase

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1.
On a recent visit to Poundland (a UK retail store) I came across these
items, called Final Faction KHARN weapons packs, or shock arms.

They were on clearance and I bought all three available packs for
just 25p each.

It set me thinking that they would be great as standing in for

Genestealer space craft.

2.
The larger ‘Burrower’ needed very little work to convert it into a
great representation of a living spaceship.

I removed the pistol grip and trimmed any mould lines with a
scalpel before drilling a 3mm hole into the bottom so I could insert
a wooden cocktail stick, ready for paint and ultimately mounting
onto a GW flying base.

3.
Painting was simple enough; in fact I copied the basic purple colour
scheme with added yellow highlights and dark red mouth areas.

I then began giving the models a wash of purple and dark blue inks.

I ended up with some gloss varnishing.

4.
The three craft were then superglued on to the flying bases and
were quickly ready for any game of space combat. The finished
spacecraft are 87mm long and mounted on to 32mm round flying
bases.

I still have the remaining craft to model and paint but wanted
to test the theory of using such simple toys as spacecraft for
wargaming.

Next month: a Greek Mythology piece. It’s all bull!

June 2023 Miniature Wargames 57

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THE LAST WORD
GEOFF SOLOMON-SIMS
OF OAKBOUND STUDIO
Heart of Oak
Geoff wrote an interesting scenario
in Issue 480 and I asked him a little
about his background. Ed.
y first encounter
M with miniatures,
though I didn’t know
it at the time, was a
pack of Citadel Combat Cards
intended to entertain me on a
long car journey. I was already
mad for all things fantasy and
spent that holiday gazing at
them in wonder, arranging
them into ‘armies’ and trying
to draw my own copies of the
pictures. I must have been 6 or
7 years old. I couldn’t work out
if they were incredible paintings
or photographs of statues… I
was to discover they were both!
Shortly afterwards my cousin
brought his Heroquest set to
my grandparents’ house for
Christmas. After losing me to
it for the entire day my parents
rushed out on boxing day and
bought a copy.
As the years went on I added
miniatures purchased from the
toy shop in the next town over
(no GW anywhere near us at
the time) and experimented
with painting (badly). My mates
and I played a very reduced
version of Warhammer based on
a starter leaflet from that same
toy shop and a copy of the third
edition rulebook found at a car
boot sale. Mostly though I used
my miniatures to make stories.
Thanks to inspirational elders
and the BBC radio version of
Lord of the Rings I was obsessed
with Tolkien, Labyrinth and
The Dark Crystal, myths and
legends, fairy tales (the proper
Grimm ones!) and the folklore of
Britain. Peering through hurdle
fences at the iron age technology
centre near my school I would
gaze at the roundhouses and
imagine living there. I took as
much pleasure in creating a
world for my models as I did in
playing the games, I certainly
spent much more time doing it.
When I finally got my hands on
actual army books I found the
‘official’ lore a bit... disappointing.
After a brief dabble with
historical miniatures (painting
Historex, still badly!) I lost
interest in my mid teens. One
kind of storytelling had made
way for another: theatre had
become my passion. Not on
stage but behind it creating
sets, lighting and the thing I
ended up doing professionally:
propmaking. However, the love of
fantasy had not disappeared, I
took every opportunity to make
cool armour and weapons. My
first commission out of theatre
school was sculpting a range of
LARP swords and I was involved
with the up-and-coming
UK Steampunk scene which
provided great opportunities.
Something else had happened,
though: I discovered Euro-style
board games. Here was gaming a
far cry from the roll-a-dice-and-
move games I had been used
to: this was new and exciting
territory!
My first forays into the gaming
world as Oakbound Studio were
board games. Tripods!, based on
HG Wells’ War of the Worlds,
and The Woods, an epic (long-
winded!) game about coming of
age, folklore and faeries. With
both I was concerned that the
“My first game mechanics should produce
forays into a narrative. My housemates
the gaming were into miniature gaming
and so I got hooked on toy
world were soldiers all over again. This
board time – approaching it from a
games.. propmaker’s perspective – I was
encouraged by friends to start
Tripods!, sculpting. The metal miniatures
based on.. of the early nineties had long
War of the since vanished from the hobby
shops but there were plentiful
Worlds, and pickings to be had on a popular
The Woods, auction site and I began building
an epic . . my collection again. Having
been a Heroquest fan I wanted a
game about Fimir army but – even then – the
coming of models were expensive and rare
age, folklore so I decided to sculpt my own.
Posting pictures on a forum I was
and faeries. asked whether I had looked into
With both getting them cast. I hadn’t. I did.
. . the game It seemed much more accessible
than I thought! The Woods
mechanics became a miniatures project.
should The stage was set for what we
produce a do now: blend aesthetics of old-
school hand-sculpted miniatures
narrative.. ” with strategic rulesets drawn
from a love of Eurogames. Over
the last nine years Oakbound
has expanded so that – even
though it’s not my day job – it
often feels like it! From creating
the world, writing and testing
rules, sculpting, casting, painting
and photographing the figures,
promoting the game and
(hopefully!) packing and posting
orders, it’s a lot for one person
to do but there’s never a dull
moment! My gaming experience
has grown and developed but my
outlook hasn’t changed. As far as
I am concerned my hobby is still
about telling great stories. ■
Miniature Wargames June 2023 59

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ĐůĂƐƐĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ͕ĂŶĚǁŽƌůĚǁŝĚĞ
ƐŚŝƉƉŝŶŐĂƚĐŽŵƉĞƟƟǀĞƌĂƚĞƐ
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“...the nearest run
thing you ever saw
in your life”.
- The Duke of Wellington
“ WATE RL O O RE -F OU GHT”
17th/18th JUNE
ALL PROCEEDS TO “HELP THE HEROES”
OFFICIALLY REGISTERED EVENT SPEV23-3299458-1
Trraditio
onal tabletop gam
ming,
buut in re
eal time....
Imagine a 264 sq ft tabletop laid out at a scale
of 1/1000 featuring every significant part of the
Waterloo battlefield. Take charge of the French,
Allied, or Prussian armies representing every
regiment, battalion and cannon present on the day.
Now re-fight the battle in real time!
The Intelligent Wargames Table (IWGT) offers a
traditional looking tabletop, but its cutting edge
technology monitors movement and calculates
complex combat outcomes in seconds. 5 minutes
of battlefield time takes 5 minutes to play. You
can make 100 moves in a day - even with 12,000
painted miniatures on the table. Commanders can
concentrate on command, not computation. Real
time decision making is not for the faint-hearted.
Are you up to the challenge?
Table shown lit for placement of infrastructure and units
Yoou are
e invited to partic
cipate
n the Grand Event....
in
We are running the event over the weekend of
17th/18th June 2023 at our gaming centre in
Edgbaston, Birmingham, with all proceeds going
to “Help for Heroes”. We are now extending
invitations to individuals and teams to command
the respective armies throughout the day.
We are looking for around 14 players for each day
(7 per team) and have in mind a charge of around
£95.00 per person for a full 8 hours play. Why not
get friends and family to sponsor you for the day?
If you can raise more than £95.00 for “Help for
Heroes” all the better! Application and sponsorship
forms are available for download from our website.
It should be a great weekend with lots of other fun
things to do including a painting competition for
children, trivia quiz and prize draw.
Your support for “Help for Heroes” is appreciated.
Bernard Cornwell has promised a number of
signed copies of his fabulous non-fiction book
“Waterloo” in support of the event, which we
will offer as prizes.
 ARE YOU UP TO THE CHALLENGE?
Our specially constructed 8m x 4m tabletop has
enabled us to re-create the 32 sq km Waterloo
battlefield at a scale of 1/1000. Our detailed study of
historic maps has enabled us to accurately position
all the main infrastructure features that were key
influences on the battle’s outcome. Here you will
find the respective ridges occupied by Wellington
and Napoleon and the high ground occupied by the
French Grande Battery. The layout is a revelation in
itself. We’ve all read about the fight for Hougoumont,
but how many of us really had a sense of how far
that farm was situated in front of Wellington’s line
to act as a breakwater against the French attack.
We all know about the pivotal role of La Haie Saint
in the centre of the British line, but do we appreciate
the importance of the close knit defensive barrier
formed by Papelotte, La Haie Farm, La Marche,
and Frichermont that channelled D’Erlon’s abortive
attack on a relatively narrow front?
Hougoumont Chateau and Farm
SIGN UP FOR OUR
GRAND EVENT NOW!
Places for the weekend of 17th/18th June are
limited. Sign up now using our online Application
Form. You can also download a Sponsorship Form.
All proceeds go to Help for Heroes. Thank you for
your support. This is an experience not to be missed.
THE INTELLIGENT WARGAMES TABLE
Head Office tel: 01327 368 498
ema
@Valkyrx_Gaming
La Haie Saint
Our battlefield is designed to ask the same
questions of our players as was asked of
Wellington and Napoleon. There were many good
reasons why the 18th June followed the course it
did, but many mistakes contributed to the ultimate
outcome. We are not expecting our players to
re-enact the battle as it unfolded on the day,
but rather to find their own path to victory. We
believe we have produced as a “true-to-life”
simulation as is possible on the tabletop, to be
played in real time. Your strategy may differ, but
you will find you are best served by employing
the tactics of the day. However, the best laid
plans do not always come to fruition. Will you
avoid a catastrophic mistake? Will your fellow
generals be the best of the best, or like Napoleon
do you prefer a lucky general to a good one?
BONUS FREE
INTRODUCTORY SESSION!
A downloadable pdf of the rules will be available
shortly so you can familiarise yourself with the
game. Participants who sign up for the Grand Event
will be offered a full day introductory session as a
rehearsal for the big day - FREE OF CHARGE!
Gaming Centre tel: 07856 893685
ail: info@valkyrx.com
email: birmingham@valkyrx.com
Valkyrx_Gaming @valkyrx_gaming
FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING! JUST SPEND $50/£35!
facebook.com/wargamesatlantic DESIGNED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POND