Peter Laing Legion Boer Wargame

I decided to do a Boer War game using my "Peter Laing CIV Legion" as one of the forces. Naturally, their opponents will be Boers.

Boers on the left, CIV on the right. Terrain features were randomly placed, although I tried to mirror the features. I then rolled to decide which edge they approached from.

Both sides push forward to seize the center hill. In this game I rolled average dice to decide how many units would be activated. Only activated units could move or fire. Usually in my games I allow any units in range can fire.

The Boers seize the hill and push back the machine gun detachment.

The machine gun fire drives the Boers off the hill; another CIV unit moves to seize the hill.

The Boers push back the the infantry and machine gun. The Boers rolled two "retreats" on the machine gun; they only had one square to retreat to, so one man is killed.

The CIV retakes the hill.

The Boers move to outflank the hill.

The British move the machine gun to the top of the hill to  hold it. 

At the top of the picture; one CIV unit is wiped out.

The CIV attacks along the entire line, pushing the Boers back.

The Boers push back the British right, but still can't take the hill.

The Boers shift more units to their left flank.

The Boer unit on the right takes the farmhouse; unfortunately they have no support now.

The British cavalry eliminates the Boer unit at the top of the picture and the machine gun pushes back the Boer cavalry.  

In this game the army that loses four units first is defeated. The Boers still have three units, however, the British cavalry is now in position to sweep behind the Boer line and cut them off. The Boers decide to retreat.

Finished Peter Laing Legions

     While on vacation I painted up two of my "Peter Laing Legions".  Originially they had 4 units; one cavalry, two infantry, and one machine gun. One is based on the late 1800's US Army, the other the CIV from the Boer War. I started to add another infantry unit to the CIV and an artillery unit to the US legion. I think in the end they will become 6 units made up of two cavalry and four infantry units, with the machine gun and artillery added based on games.

    Recently I have been taken a break from wargaming and mainly been doing some reading. I also started working on a RC sailboat bought on Ebay. I will not be posting much for a while, although I will continue to follow other wargaming blogs.

The US Army Legion. The figure walking his horse is to be used if the cavalry dismounts to fight as infantry. The US Army during this period wore ammunition bandoliers around the waist, not over the should as the British army did. However, as I rarely fight historical games with these figures, a little "artistic license" was taken.

The CIV Legion. I started painting the third infantry unit, that is on the left of the picture.

Peter Laing Legions

      I recently read a book on the American Revolution. In the book they mentioned the use of Legions in both armies. At the time I was working on my Minifigs AWI armies and started thinking of making a Legion of Minifigs. Of course, I got distracted from my painting and lost interest in that project.

     I also have started rebasing my Peter Laings, switching from washers to plastic square bases. I was working on my Peter Laing Boers. One reason I wanted more Boer figures was so that some could be painted as dismounted Yeomanry. While walking my dog, I started thinking of how to use the new Peter Laings. I also started thinking of legions. As I have been using Neil Thomas' army charts, it dawned on me that his 3, 4, or 6 unit armies would make nice little legions. I decided to make several "legions" of Peter Laings, made up of 3,4,5, or 6 units. I already have a Natal Native Horse "legion" consisting of 2 infantry and 2 cavalry units. I decided to make two more legions, one based on the City Imperial Volunteers from the Boer War, another painted along the lines of the US Army in the late 19th-early 20th century.  Both these legions will have one cavalry, one machine gun, and two infantry units.

Working on Peter Laing Legions.

Close up of the first CIV infantry.

In the background some of the US infantry have started to be painted.

These are the two Natal Native Horse units that I got years ago.

Two units of Natal Native Horse infantry. These four units have been used in several games, fighting as a unit.

Another shot of the CIV infantry.