Battle of Brooks Farm 15mm Peter Laing battle

This is another of the wargames I played during the blizzard. It is based on H.G. Welles "Battle of Hook Farm".  I used Peter Laing British Victorian parade figures (most of them home casts) and Crimean War figures for one side; Peter Laing ACW and Indian wars figures for the other side.

On the left is the Red forces: from bottom up;cavalry troop, cavalry trp, infantry co., artillery battery, infantry co. artillery battery, Guards co., Guards co.
Blue forces are on the right: from bottom up: Inf. co.,Cavalry trp., artillery battery, inf.co., inf. co., cavalry trp., battery, inf. co.

Red forces move first. Notice Guards co. swinging wide around church of left.

Blue's first turn:right cavalry unit cuts across infantry co. front. Both cavalry troops making for Brooks farm (in center  of picture).

2nd move: Blue moves first. Their cavalry grabs the ridge line  while the rest of the units continue forward.

Red's turn: between the cavalry charge and artillery fire, Red  throws both Blue cavalry units back with heavy losses.  Notice one blue cavalry unit has fallen back and is to the right of the yellow trees. 

Blue's turn.The blue cavalry unit at left of picture hits Reds right flank cavalry troop forcing it back with losses. One infantry co. gets to the ridge line, the rest of the army comes forward. 

Red's turn.  Reds rightmost cavalry unit attacks blues left cavalry,  forcing it back with losses. For the rest of the battle these two units fight each other and they no longer play any important part in the main battle. The other red cavalry unit attacks the ridge line and throws back one infantry co.  Notice on the right the two Guards cos. have joined together on Blues right flank.

Red gets first turn.  The Red infantry starts establishing a line around Brooks farm. Meanwhile the Guards hits the leftmost blue infantry co. which loses 3/4 it's numbers and is routed. 

Blue's turn. Around Brooks farm, blue's infantry forces back some of red's infantry. Meanwhile, the blue infantry co.that had lost most of their men now takes up position to the right the gun facing the advancing Guards.  And now disaster strikes the Red's Guards. The right hand blue gun inflects 3/4 losses on the Guards co. at it's front.

Blue's turn.  Blue tries to consolidate it's hold on Brooks Farm.

Red's turn. With darkness closing in, Red continues to try to carry Brooks farm and Blue's losses continue to mount.

Blue's turn.  The blue gun  causes 50% loss to the Guards co.  and the Guards retreats behind the ridge to get itself out of the line of site of the gun.

Red's turn. The Guards now come up on the ridge line and joins the attack on  the farm.  It looks like Red just might win the battle.

Blue's turn. However, Blue's counterattack throws all of Reds' troops off the ridge and they bring up their  gun onto the ridge and now has a strong line on the ridge.

Red's turn. The Red army general now decides to pull his army back; the Blue army has too strong a position.


This battle proved to be great fun. I had to wrap this battle up as it was getting dark out and the power was still out at my house.  The turns might have seemed to be out of order, however  each turn I rolled for initiative for the sides.

15mm Peter Laing Victorian Parade Figures

What really started me looking for Peter Laing figures is when I found out about the Victorian Parade figures.  I thought that this line would be good for fighting  "Little Wars" in 15mm.  I recently got some WW1 lots on Ebay. There were quite a few Peter Laing figures, along with other makes. Among the figures, here are some pleasant surprises.

What I believe to be Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures. Guards mounted officer  on the left,  Highlander mounted officer on right.

Same figures; other side.

Peter Laing Russian Crimean War drummer (painted as German WW1 drummer) , and Franco-Prussian War German officer.

Same figures, other side.

I don't know the manufacturer, however a piece with plenty of wargaming potential!

I believe this is a Peter Laing Rolls Royce armored car.

Peter Laing 15mm Northwest Frontier Battle

My first blizzard wargame was a replay of a Northwest Frontier battle I fought a couple of months ago. In that battle the British were trying to force a pass held by mountain tribes. The British force failed in their attempt. And so the British organized another expedition to take the pass.

The British forces are on bottom of page from left: infantry, artillery,3 infantry units, artillery, infantry, and cavalry.
Mountain tribes on top. From  left: cavalry artillery, 4 infantry units, artillery, cavalry.

Both sides advance; British cavalry starts moving behind the line towards the center.

Both sides close for battle.

The British center and right flank press forward, the left flank holds back because of the threat of  the mounted tribesmen.

The British open fire, without effect.

The tribesmen now starts their attack. The mounted tribesmen hit the left flank  and pushes back the  native scout company.  The tribes artillery does damage and forces back the next company. Farther along the line another company retreats and the British Dragoons now forms the front line.

The native scouts manages to take out 2/3 of the mounted tribesmen and make s the rest retreat. The British center and right attack along the line, causing some losses and made some of the tribesmen retreat.

The tribes counter attack. They hit hard and break both the Dragoons  and the company next to it. What's worse, the rightmost company is completely overrun.

(2 shots of the same turn) At this point most of the British companies were down to half strength  and both flanks are open.  The Dragoons form a rearguard, while the rest of the British fall back. The natives continue to hold the pass.

The Blizzard of 2013

1. The usual doom and gloom reporting started on Wednesday, speaking of the Blizzard of 2013.  The storm was to start on Friday morning. For Cape Cod, where I live it was to start as rain and turn to snow in the evening. The storm was to blow until mid afternoon Saturday, with hurricane force winds. My wife was to work on Saturday, and a fellow employee offered her a room at her house, which was only 5 minutes away from work. My wife took up the offer; a relief for me knowing she only had a short drive to work. Alas, she never did make it to work. And so Molly, my dog, and I hunkered down for the night. We lost power at 10:00 PM, but my furnace has a manual override switch so we had heat and with the old gas stove I could simply strike a match and light the burners, so I would have plenty of coffee.
2. Now I had the house to myself for 24 hours with no place to go. It was the perfect time to get some wargaming in. Over the course of the weekend (my wife managed to get home Saturday night) I managed to play 3 wargames, painted some figures that I have been putting off, and got some casting done.  Not a bad weekend considering.
   

   

   The view outside my front food during the storm.