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This magnifi cent painting was commissioned by Battlegames from John Parke, who regularly produced illustrations that adorned the pages of Practical Wargamer more than a decade ago.

John only works part-time as an illustrator, but managed to fi t creating this stunning artwork into his busy schedule over the spring of 2006. “When Henry asked me to paint the Battle of Garcia Hernandez, 1812, we quickly agreed that the view should be from the French infantrymen’s point of view,” says John. “Having researched the action (many thanks to my good friend Chris Cope for the use of his extensive library), I made several thumbnail sketches before settling on the fi nal composition. Right from the start, I wanted to put the viewer in the thick of the action, rather than looking from a safe distance.

“My style of work is very much infl uenced by the late Rick Scollins whose illustrations always had a gritty, realistic quality.”

Printed on a beautiful 300gsm,

heavyweight stock that is almost indistinguishable from the original watercolour paper used by John, a grand total of 585 A4 prints (297mm x 210mm) (of which 168 are being sent to the Charter Subscribers as their free gift) have been produced, together with 283 A3 prints (420mm x 297mm) for collectors. Every print is numbered, and comes with a signed Certifi cate of Authenticity bearing the Battlegames embossed seal.

To own a copy, please choose one of the following payment methods:• Visit our website, follow the links and place your order there using your favourite credit or debit card or your PayPal account.• If you already have a PayPal account, you can simply log on to your PayPal account page and select the link to ‘Send Money’. In the ‘Recipient’s Email’ box, enter info@battlegames.co.uk, then the amount, ‘Pounds Sterling’ as the currency, ‘Goods (Other)’ as the Category of Purchase, ‘GH A4 off er’ or ‘GH A3 off er’ as the subject, depending on the size you would like, and

then your name and postal address with any other comments in the ‘Note’ area.• You can also place your order by sending a cheque, made payable to Battlegames Ltd, together with your name and address, to GH Off er, Battlegames, 17 Granville Road, Hove BN3 1TG, East Sussex, UK with a note telling us which size you would like.• Please note that if paying by cheque other than in pounds sterling drawn on a UK bank, we regret we must ask you to add £6 to cover bank costs.• Why not buy one for a friend as a gift? Just send us their details along with your payment, and we’ll do the rest.• No more than one print of each size per household.All prints are sold unframed.

ALL PRINTS WILL BE SOLD ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. THE PRINT GOES ON SALE 1st AUGUST 2006. Once this unique issue has sold out, that’s it! Any unlucky customers will have any monies paid refunded immediately.

his magnifi cent painting was heavyweight stock that is almost then your name and postal address with

Prices (overseas post is via airmail) P&P UK P&P Europe P&P Rest of the WorldA4 (297mm x 210mm) £6.75 per print £1.50 £2.00 £2.25A3 (420mm x 297mm) £11.50 per print £2.00 £2.50 £2.75

BATTLEGAMES SPECIAL OFFERLimited edition prints of original commissioned art“BREAKING THE SQUARE”, GARCIA HERNANDEZ 1812Th e moment when Capt. von der Decken’s squadron of the 1st Heavy Dragoons, King’s German Legion,

broke into the square of the French 76th Line Infantry Regiment

Battlegames 3

Battlegames magazine is a bi-monthly publication of Battlegames Ltd, 17 Granville Road, Hove BN3 1TG, East Sussex. Company No. 5616568.

All content © Battlegames and its contributors. Strictly no reproduction without prior written consent. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the individual authors concerned.

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Copyright for this PDF version © January 2008.No resale or redistribution by any means.

Up here in the Loftwaffe (as one of my early website visitors quaintly

christened my attic studio), it’s very easy to lose track of time. With the recent hot weather, which has turned my workspace into what seems like an oven on gas Mark 9, it’s possible that my brain has simply been cooked beyond the point that I notice it, and like the proverbial frog put

into the pot of cool water on the stove, I remain oblivious to my thermal doom.

On the other hand, it could just be that here at Battlegames HQ, things have been extremely busy. As I write, we’re down to the last couple of boxes of issue 1, issue 2 is flying out the door, the list of subscribers would make a very healthy battalion indeed, we are being contacted by distributors and retailers from around the world, and I have been making an effort to get to as many shows as I can.

As far as I’m concerned, I think that shows are a Good Thing. They give traders a chance to meet their customers, they give clubs a chance to stage games and tell the world about the hobby they love and, perhaps most importantly, they give an opportunity for like-minded individuals to seek each other out, catch up on some news and re-infect each other with the bug that made us all so passionate about this pastime in the first place. Have you seen the new castings from X – aren’t they fabulous? Did you see that breathtaking Polish Winged Hussar in the painting competition? What, you mean you used real slate to make those hills? You got all that aluminium oxide snow for free from a dental laboratory? There must be countless little exchanges like this, as we see each other’s eyes sparkle and we know, for an instant, that we are free from the mundane shackles of the ‘real’ world and sharing our child-like wonder with like-minded fellows.

I was at Cavalier in Tunbridge Wells, and then Salute in its giant new venue in Docklands, and then Partizan at Newark, and most recently at Bovington, with games taking place under the menacing barrels of Panthers and King Tigers, Shermans and Churchills, and an impressive host of other military hardware both old and new. I enjoyed every single one of them, just as I shall enjoy To the Redoubt in Eastbourne at the end of this month, where I shall be attending as a trader for the very first time, hoping to meet and chat with a few readers, and get to know some of the people putting on games and selling their wares. The confines of this magazine are

Editorial 3

Asquith’s way 4Stuart Asquith, UK

Competition crossword 5Win yourself a ready-to-play gladiator game!

The siege of Badajoz – 1936 6Adam Williams, UK

Flames of War 10Alistair Birch, UK

A project too far: part II 14Phil Olley, UK

Larry Leadhead 17Eric Hotz and Douglas Hamm, Canada

The Wars of the Faltenian Succession 18Henry Hyde, UK

Habet, hoc habet! 20Arthur Harman, UK

The Way of the Sword 26John Kersey, UK

Forward Observer 30Mike Siggins, UK

For King or Parliament? 32Angus Konstam, UK

Table top teaser 36C S Grant, UK

To boldly go 40Guy Hancock, UK

Recce 42Mike Siggins, John Preece, Richard Baber, Henry Hyde (UK)

Editorial Contents

Cover: Parliamentarian cavalry on the prowl on Paul Darnell’s stunning ‘Touching History’ display seen at Salute earlier this year. Paul is well-known as a master craftsman when it comes to terrain, but modestly ascribes all his success to the advice given to him by the late Ian Weekley. You’ll find more details about this on our website.

hopeless for doing justice to these events, so I shall be using the Recce section of our website to give extended reports of these shows, together with plenty of photos.

However, there is one event that you will be finding here: our re-creation of the Battle of Sittangbad from Brigadier Peter Young’s Charge! that we staged at Partizan. Such was the unique nature of this undertaking that Phil Olley, Steve Gill, John Preece and I shall be regaling you with the details of the project, through the build-up to the day itself, and our subsequent thoughts, in the next issue. See you then!

4 Battlegames

There seems to be a growing trend amongst figure manufacturers to market their

product in ‘convenient’ packaging, be it blister packs, cardboard boxes or polythene bags. Convenient to whom, one may well ask.

PRICEThe first point is that the price of a pack of three, six, eight, or however many figures is obviously higher than that of a single casting. Some companies highlight the point that a pack of, say, six figures can often work out cheaper per casting than those bought individually. That might well be the case, but the purchaser still has to lay out the required price for the figure pack offer, in order to benefit from the ‘reduced’ price. Sometimes this outlay can be considerable.

To quote two examples; Old Glory currently market their 25mm figure castings in bags of typically 30 infantry or 10 cavalrymen with horses for £21 per bag (April 2006), making the infantry figures a very reasonable 70p each and a cavalryman plus his horse £2.10, but the buyer still has to find £21 in order to achieve this price.

Renegade Miniatures has had the idea of marketing their castings as complete ‘regiments’ supplied in a box, again providing quite reasonable cost savings when compared to purchasing the requisite number of blister packs to match the contents of the box. The boxes are currently (April 2006) £27 each however, which can make the eyes water a little. That said, there are typically 32 infantry or 12 cavalry figures and horses in a box, making the foot 84p each and the rider with horse £2.25, against a (blister pack) ‘norm’ of £1 for a foot figure and £2.66 for a horse and rider.

The same company also offers ‘army’ deals which currently sell at £75 per box, but again providing savings compared to the cost of blister packaged figures.

With blister packs there is also the

point of being forced to buy more figures than one would wish. If the pack contains, say, eight figures and the purchaser only wants perhaps five of them, then that’s just too bad. There is little option other than to place the unwanted castings in a ‘spares’ box and watch them gather dust. This also pushes up the price per casting; if the selling price of the aforesaid blister pack was £8, then each casting costs £1, but if the buyer only wants five of the figures, then in reality they have paid £1.60 for each casting. Equally, if the figures are packaged in eights, but my organisation, for example, is based on sixes, lots of figures are left over. One could argue that all these ‘overs’ will accumulate and possibly build into additional units. Well, yes, but only if they are of the same type, pose, arm of service…

CONTENTIt has always intrigued me to know what criteria companies use when deciding how many castings to put in each box, pack or bag. Is it a retail price, with sufficient contents to meet that price, the result of one spin of the casting mould, or other factors? Some companies supply either six infantry figures in a pack, while others provide eight, although the supply of cavalrymen seems fairly consistent at three riders plus horses per pack. One dodge that does seem to have declined is for manufacturers to place a lesser number of castings in their so called ‘command’ packs – those containing officers, drummers and so on – but still charge the same price as for a ‘rank and file’ pack. Presumably, this was intended to counteract the reduced potential sales of such packs, one for perhaps every half a dozen of the regular packs.

Then there is the point of the appearance of the figures within the same pack. Whilst the castings might be depicted in similar poses, there will be slight differences in appearance and details of uniform – a variation in head gear for example. Why? ‘For greater realism’ we are told. Realism? An inch-high metal toy soldier who is going to be fixed to a base, painted

and possibly varnished? It’s good fun, lads, and when painted the toys look pretty, but realistic? Come on.

Current research may well show that the stereotyped ideas we have of English Civil War period cavaliers all wearing wide-brimmed hats and the roundheads all wearing ‘lobster tail’ helmets are, in fact, incorrect – until this theory is debunked by the next round of research – and that the men of both sides were fairly indistinguishable, hence the frequent use of field signs. Fine, but what if I want all my Royalists to have floppy hats adorned with plumes and all my Parliamentarians to be kitted out in metal helmets?

I’m happy to have my figures sighed over and receive rueful shakes of the head from the self-styled ‘experts’, but they are my figures, bought with my money and painted to represent my appreciation and thoughts of the period. Please don’t prevent me from purchasing the castings I want by offering packs featuring a compulsory mix of castings for ‘greater realism’.

There are the packs where the figures vary wildly in pose, usually under the euphemism ‘firing line’, with figures loading, priming, firing, standing, kneeling or whatever. To me, these just look a mess; I like my toy soldiers – and come on, that’s all they are you know – to line up in an orderly and disciplined manner, not as a rag-tag mob. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool ‘horse and musket’ type and as a result I prefer my line infantry marching, the guards in a stationary pose, the light infantry firing, the heavy cavalry at rest and the light cavalry charging around.

DISPLAYIt cannot be doubted that figures in blister packs or boxes are much easier to display – and thus encourage sales – than loose figures. One has only to walk into one of the few remaining UK wargame shops to appreciate this. My nearest outlet is The General’s Store in Evesham, Worcestershire. Walk in here and the customer is faced with walls full of neatly arranged and displayed blister packs of figures in various sizes (remember, 10mm

Asquith’s wayBlister packs – what about them?

by Stuart Asquith

Battlegames 5

and 25mm are sizes, not scales) just waiting to be browsed through and purchased. Strong and single-minded indeed is the person who walks into this particular shop, and has the ability to buy just what they came in for and leave. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of blister packs on show, often revealing figures you didn’t know existed. I have never yet managed to walk out of the shop without carrying roughly twice the purchases I had intended to make. I’m sure that The General’s Store is typical of other wargame shops – Dave Ryan’s place (Caliver Books) in Leigh-on-Sea springs to mind – and think about the various stands at wargame shows. Also, the numerous Games Workshop outlets are accomplished exponents

of the ‘selling by display’ approach.There must be an additional cost,

however small, for the packaging, be it card or plastic, its storage as raw material and the empty packaging being filled and labelled, but presumably the manufacturer hopes this is offset by increased sales; otherwise discounted figures in blister packs just would not happen.

Granted, figure manufacturers who only sell single castings usually have wonderful displays of their figures, often featuring superbly painted examples stuck on shelves with the relevant code number depicted below. I always feel sorry for the harassed stall owner and his gnomes at shows as they beaver away, clutching lists requesting 1xFN14, 2xFN16, etc. and putting the

requested castings into a temporary sorting box as the rugby scrum in front of the stand grows ever larger.

THOUGHTS IN CLOSINGIt seems clear that blister packs and boxed sets are here to stay, but I for one would appreciate more thought going into the contents of such packages. Certainly, put in a suitable ‘realistic’ mix of figures if you must, but please don’t overlook those of us who like our toys to neatly line up in identical pose and uniform.

One final point; the 25mm castings purchased from Perry Miniatures arrive in neat little cardboard boxes that look so useful that you don’t like to simply throw them away, but what can you do with them?

The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. This prize carries no cash alternative. One entry per household only. Battlegames Ltd takes no responsibility for the safe arrival of entries. Please ensure that your details are legible. The winner will be announced on our website and in the next issue of Battlegames.

Our lucky winner of the “Touching History” competition in issue 2 was Ms M Wojtaszek of Falkirk. The answers were: 1) Peter Gilder; 2) Richard Sharpe; 3) 1807; 4) June; 5) Garcia Hernandez.

OUR PRIZE IS A GROUP OF 25MM FIGURES KINDLY DONATED BY MINIFIGS, INCLUDING SIX GLADIATORS AND A COUPLE OF WILD BEASTS, WHICH ARE CURRENTLY ON THE EDITOR’S PAINTING TABLE, RIGHT. THEY WILL COME WITH A FULL SET OF PLAYING CARDS AND THE ARENA, PRINTED AND MOUNTED ON CARD: IN FACT, EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET PLAYING A MINI-TOURNAMENT!

WIN YOUR VERY OWN GLADIATOR GAME!

Answers must be sent with your name and postal address clearly marked, to: GX, Battlegames, 17 Granville Road, Hove BN3 1TG, East Sussex, UK. CLOSING DATE FRIDAY 1st SEPTEMBER 2006. A photocopy, printout or manual copy is fine – no need to destroy your copy of Battlegames!

Across1. Megalomaniac emperor who famously really did fight in the ring against gladiators and beasts3. Protective bands of leather worn around arms or legs6. Gladiator armed with scimitar and small shield7. Illustrator of Osprey title on gladiators8. Perennial cartoon foe to Julius Caesar who took a turn in the ring12. A thumbs-up from the crowd meant this was certain13. Actor who played the leading role of Maximus in the Oscar-winning “Gladiator”14. Gladiator armed with just the things to catch a fishy helmet15. Sword that gave gladiators their name16. Armoured shin-guards17. Roman city famous for its games, but lost beneath Etna’s outpourings18. What the Romans called a shield

Down2. British actor who died during the filming of “Gladiator”4. Arena with banked circle of seating5. Hit a retiarius here and he’ll be kaputt!7. Hail, emperor!9. What the crowd would point up or down to decide a fighter’s fate10. Roman venue for the greatest gladiatorial contests11. Gladiator named after his fish-crest helmet14. Wooden sword that signified a fighter’s freedom

6 Battlegames

The siege of Badajoz – 1936A challenging proposition for a Spanish Civil War game

by Adam Williams

INTRODUCTION

I’m sure many of you will be familiar with the Napoleonic storming of Badajoz. How about the battle for Badajoz in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War? Well, we knew

very little about this battle until we started to research it as a possible demonstration game for the Plymouth wargames show PAW 2006.

A look through our library found only brief mentions of the battle. Most accounts seem to focus on the slaughter after the battle with very little about the fight itself. Well, what about the Internet, would we find much more on there? Initial searches didn’t find a huge amount, but as we tried searches using Spanish phrases, a lot of resources were gradually tapped and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

PRE-BATTLE EVENTSIn 1936, Badajoz was an important border city with around 40,000 inhabitants. Since W e l l i n g t o n ’ s time, very little building work had been carried out outside the 18th Century Va u b a n - s t y l e walls. A small barracks and a cluster of housing had sprung up around the San Rogue Lunette on the east bank of the Rivillas. A larger barracks, the Menacho, was built outside the city walls between 1923 and 1925 on the glacis of Santa Marina near Fort Pardaleras. This barracks was demolished in the late 1970s, so there is no trace of it now, which made finding details of it tricky.

The city stayed loyal to the Republic from the start of the war, with its army regiment, Civil Guard, customs officers and Assault Guard all staying faithful to the legally constituted regime.

General Franco’s Army of Africa, driving north from Sevilla in commandeered trucks to join with General Mola’s forces in the North, had to turn aside to attack Badajoz. It was necessary to secure the city to protect the rear of Franco’s column. Control of the city also gave control of the flow of supplies from Portugal.

On 5th August, some of the Militia in Badajoz assaulted the

jail in attempt to shoot some right-wing Falangist prisoners. This resulted in some of the Assault Guard rebelling and a two-day fight before order was resumed.

On 8th August, Junkers JU-52s started bombing the city. They flew low, targeting the walls to try and make openings for the infantry attack. On 10th, one of the Spanish pilots, Captain Trechuelo, died inside his plane from a single rifle shot to the heart. By 12th, civilians were deserting the town en masse and on 13th, the town was without electricity.

In the following account we use the terms Republican and Nationalist for the two sides; however, at this time, the Nationalists were fighting for the Republic and even fought under the same flag!

THE REPUBLICAN DEFENDERSCommanded by Colonel Puigdendolas, the defenders outnumbered the attackers, but were mainly made up of untrained and poorly-armed militia. He had at his disposal

approx imate ly 500 trained men, made up from the 16th Infantry Regiment, Civil Guard, customs officers and attack units. There were also about 5,000 militia (2,000 sent from Madrid and 3,000 locals). He had no artillery or armoured cars at his disposal, and had to rely on a few mortars, machine guns, rifles and the morale of his men to defend an extremely long perimeter wall.

Puigdendolas had one serious handicap that had been imposed on him by the civil authorities and the gradual modernisation of the city. The Vauban defences had been weakened by the introduction of a couple of breaches in the walls for roads and for the passage of mule-driven trams. A large breach had been made in the Trinidad bastion in the early 1930s to improve communications between the new barracks of San Roque and the highway to Madrid. Some accounts mention this breach in the wall being made by artillery, but the truth is that the breaches were already there! A similar breach had been made in the western wall near the Menacho barracks.

THE NATIONALIST ATTACKERSCommanded by Lt. Col. Yague, the Nationalist forces were composed of two columns (Ascencio and Castejón) made up

An extraordinary aerial photo of Badajoz taken in 1935, looking south-west with the bullring and fort Pardaleras clearly visible. The breach and the Trinidad gate are at the bottom left of the picture.