Peter Laing by the Numbers 4

This is the second to last of these posting. The last figures I still need to do a little more research on.

A715; Rolls Royce armored car.

I didn't want to open the package with all the small parts; this is an example that I already have in my  collection.

Medievals

F 901 longbowman shooting; F 902 longbowman marching; F 904  Man at arms standing, spear;  A 904 kneeling gunner (the envelope says A 905, which is Standing gunner).

Back of the above figures.

F 907 dismounted knight with sword; F 910 dismounted knight with axe; A 902 cannon on elevating mount.

The back of the above figures.

American Civil War and US/ Indian Wars

F 3001 Dismounted cavalry adv (hat); F 3010 Infantry adv (hat); F 3007 Indian with bow, firing; F 3009 infantry adv (kepi); F 3012 'butternut" adv.

Back of the above.

M 3008 Indian with rifle, charging; F 3008 Indian, war bonnet with tomahawk; M 3001 cavalry (hat) horse walking. 

Back of the above.

New Peter Laing Units Formed

     Donna and I have just gotten back from camping this week. Our original plans were changed due to the fact our dog has taken ill and she needed daily IV treatments, which I had to give her. So instead of New York and temperatures in the mid 60s, we settled for a campsite 20 miles away and days in the 40s. Molly came along this trip and the fresh air seemed to do her good.

 However, I did bring some Peter Laing figures with the goal of getting them painted. With the nights dropping into the high  30s, we spent a lot of time in the camper, giving me time to get the figures painted. They include 5 units of Civil War Zouaves, 5 units of Confederate infantry and 2 units of Confederate cavalry ( these will represent Shiak and Brookshire forces in the ongoing war between those two countries.

Civil War Zouaves gives one many uniforms to pick from. Of course I tried to keep a few to be used with the French Army, too.

The Confederate cavalry uniforms.

The Confederate infantry. It is hard to see but three of the figures have different facing. The officer is a home cast figure.


I also brought along Neil Thomas'  WARGAMING NINETEENTH CENTURY EUROPE 1815-1878.  I have tried to read this book in the past but couldn't get into it. This time I started just by reading the scenarios, then the army lists. I then started reading the battle descriptions. At this point I was hooked and went back to the beginning.  I have been enjoying this book so much I ordered three other wargaming books written by Mr. Thomas.  This book also has me wanting to cast some of the APW Austrian infantry that I made a mold of and have them fight my PL French. 

Little Wars Regiment

      The last post got me thinking of forming my Airfix Civil War figures into regiments again. I had done so before and the last wargame that  I fought against my brother consisted of 6 regiments of Airfix Confederates (who won the battle, by the way).

      I am thinking of forming 13 man regiments; one officer, two NCOs and ten privates. To make movement easier in games where figures are individually based, I have an officer on one flank and that figure moves; all other figures dress on the officer figure. With Little Wars, there is a chance the officer will be killed (as was seen in the last game), so the regiment would then dress on one of the NCOs.

What a proposed regiment would look like. The two soldiers at attention are the NCOs.

After the last battle against my brother, I was going to redo my army with the victorious regiments wearing the above uniforms. I did up a couple of the regiments, but they have since disbanded.

Little Wars: Battle of the Round Top

       In my last posting I mentioned the different ideas for gaming found at broadgamegeek.com ,especially games by Pete Belli. I decided to dig out my Airfix Civil War soldiers and have a quick game. For infantry fire every 5 infantrymen got one shot. If it can to hand-to-hand combat, instead of using H.G.Wells rules, I would use the rules from "The War Game" by Captain Sachs, which I found in "The Wargaming Pioneers" by John Curry . In these rules when two force came together, after the difference in opposing forces were taken prisoner, both sides lost every other man, the side losing more then had to retreat.

      For this game I just scattered terrain pieces with no thought going into it and randomly picked which side a force would enter the battle from.  Time was short and I wanted to get this game in.

A view from behind the Union lines. Both sides had four 11man regiments and two batteries.

Behind the rebel lines. Notice the stack of ammo for the cannon, which is cut down spruces  from plastic toy soldier sets.

After a couple of moves both sides were coming into range. Infantry had to be within a foot of the enemy to fire.

Another shot from behind the Confederate line.

The same move from behind the Union lines. Measuring stick can be seen in the background. At the end of the move dice were rolled for initiative.

The Confederates open fire on the 2 center Union regiments, causing appalling losses.

A close up of the carnage. Both union officers went down in this fire; at the top of the picture can be seen one officer who was catapulted backwards from a direct hit.

The Union right regiment losses one man.

The Union on the left fire at the rebels in the woods and causes one casualty; one of the regiments officers.

In the center they kill two rebels.

And the right regiment kills two more.

At the Union field hospital the results of the first combat can be seen; not a good start!

The Confederate surgeons will be a little less busy than their Union counterparts.

The two right Confederates launch a bayonet attack the the Union left regiment.....

and, outnumbering the yankees two to one, captures the entire regiment! The ill starred regiment can be seen marching off to a rebel prison escorted by three rebels.

This blurry photo,( taken while the photographer came under direct enemy fire!) shows the the rebels on this turn fired high and only killed one soldier, and almost a combat photographer!

The left Union battery exacts some revenge for the loss of the regiment.

The right Union regiment also kills another reb.

The Rebel field hospital at this point......

....and the Union hospital.

The Confederates bring the Union battery under fire, killing three gunners and prevents the gun from firing this turn. (In the bottom of the picture can be seen my "canister templet" which I was going to use to determine point blank artillery fire. Alas, it wasn't used!)

The Confederate fire decimates the Union center.

And the right regiment loses one.

The Union army breaks and runs.

The right regiment fall back through Hanlonburg.

The Union army marches by their fallen comrades. It has been a disastrous day for the Union.

The Confederate positions at the end of the day.  They have enough captured artillery for two new batteries!

And their losses compared to the yankees  is not bad. Notice the captured yankees being escorted in the right of the photo.


If this game had been played several years ago my regiments would have been numbered or named as once these figures were divided into regiments. While working on another project, I broke up the old regiments to reform new units. I might just have to reform some of the old units.

Garden Wargaming with 30mm SAE Figures

With warmer weather coming I found myself thinking about how to get more wargaming in. SomehowI just haven't had the time to get games in. On my day off by the time I run my errants, do the required work around the house and getting the dog out, the day is done  and my wife is home. Now

I always feel guilty because I don't get my dog out as much as she should. Last week as I was sitting out in the yard and Molly was enjoying the fresh air, I started thinking of playing with Airfix figures in the yard when I was a kid. With "little Wars" in mind, I was trying to figure what toy soldiers I could use. Now Airfix was fine as a kid, but even based they are still pretty tipsy. I wanted to use metal figures for their weight. While considering which scale to use, 40mm or 54mm, some SAE 30mm British Guards figures purchased several years ago caught my eye. I grabbed a few of them and brought the outside. The size of the bases seemed to work fine. But I only had 8 of the figures. I went on Ebay and found a good size lot of SAE 30mm Civil War figures at a good price.  The figures has seen many campaigns and most of the rifles are broken and some will need repairs, but for what I want them for they will do.

Today was a beautiful day and Molly was itching to get out. When I got home from work the package of figures were in the mail. I grabbed a handful of the figures, some dice and made a quick measure stick.  Using basic rules, as Molly laid in the sun, I started playing with the figures.  While it was just to see if the figures would work, I found not only did they work, but I was having more fun than I should have for the time invested in the setup.  I fought 2 skirmishes, the Union won the first; Confederates the second.  I even decided to snap a couple of shots of the action.

The Yankees manage to cut 2 Rebels off from the rest; discretion being the better part of valor, the Rebs surrender.