WSS issue 68 4.20

wss68_aug13 def.indd 1 06-08-13 18:07

designed by

www.perry-miniatures.com

Alan & Michael Perry

The box will contain 38 hard plastic, multipose gures, enough for an under strength Zug or Platoon of 3 squads plus command section and support. They have separate arms, where possible attached to weapons as well as separate headwear. There is enough steel helmets for all as well as half the amount of tropical cork helmets and eld caps.

As well as Africa they could be used for Italy and other Mediterranean campaigns. These should be out for September.... if not before! Keep an eye on our website.

GWW 1 Price 20

Box a

rt b

y Pet

er D

enni

s

All orders and cheques by post: Perry Miniatures, PO BOX 6512, Nottingham NG7 1UJ. Cheques made payable to Perry Miniatures. All major credit/debit cards accepted. Please add postage & packing: UK 12%, Europe 17%, Rest of World 20%.Our website has a secure online ordering service.

Prices as of 1st September: Infantry in packs of 6 - Price Code A: 7; Cavalry in packs of 3 (including horses) - Price Code B: 8.50; Artillery (4 crew & gun) Price Code C: 9; Price Code D: 17; Price Code E: 4; Price Code F: 11; Price Code G: 21; Price Code H: 25.50; Pikes : 8.

Also available from Dave Thomas at shows around the country. Models not shown at actual size.

You can contact us at : perryminiatures@aol.com Although we read all questions,we cant guarantee areply to each one as gure making is time consuming! For updates please see our website.

World War Two28mm Plastic Afrikakorps by Michael Perry

Blitzkrieg MiniaturesBlitzkrieg Miniatures are producing resin tanks to t in with the 1/56th scale of our

miniatures and the North African campaign. These are available though them and

us. Here are the latest models.

BM 4 British Grant 20

BM 5 Matilda 20

BM 6 M3 Stuart 'Honey' 18

BM 7 M3 Lee 20

BM 8 Crusader Mk III 18

BM 9 Valentine Mk III 18

BM 10 Panzer III ausf G 18

BM 11 Panzer III ausf J 18

Price RiseUnfortunately, we are going to

have to increase our prices

which will come into eect at

the end of August. There will be

a 50p increase on all metal

codes and 2 on all plastic

gure boxes. We're sorry about

this but we've held o as long

as we could!

From the DAK plastic set

From the DAK plastic set

M3 Stuart 'Honey'

Matilda

From the DAK plastic set

BM 12 Panzer III ausf L 18

BM 13 Panzer IV ausf G 20

BM 14 Panzer II 18

BM 15 Marder II 20 NEW

NEW

NEW

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Perry Miniatures Pess AD June PRINT.pdf 1 28/06/2013 11:48

wss68_aug13 def.indd 2 06-08-13 18:07

designed by

www.perry-miniatures.com

Alan & Michael Perry

The box will contain 38 hard plastic, multipose gures, enough for an under strength Zug or Platoon of 3 squads plus command section and support. They have separate arms, where possible attached to weapons as well as separate headwear. There is enough steel helmets for all as well as half the amount of tropical cork helmets and eld caps.

As well as Africa they could be used for Italy and other Mediterranean campaigns. These should be out for September.... if not before! Keep an eye on our website.

GWW 1 Price 20

Box a

rt b

y Pet

er D

enni

s

All orders and cheques by post: Perry Miniatures, PO BOX 6512, Nottingham NG7 1UJ. Cheques made payable to Perry Miniatures. All major credit/debit cards accepted. Please add postage & packing: UK 12%, Europe 17%, Rest of World 20%.Our website has a secure online ordering service.

Prices as of 1st September: Infantry in packs of 6 - Price Code A: 7; Cavalry in packs of 3 (including horses) - Price Code B: 8.50; Artillery (4 crew & gun) Price Code C: 9; Price Code D: 17; Price Code E: 4; Price Code F: 11; Price Code G: 21; Price Code H: 25.50; Pikes : 8.

Also available from Dave Thomas at shows around the country. Models not shown at actual size.

You can contact us at : perryminiatures@aol.com Although we read all questions,we cant guarantee areply to each one as gure making is time consuming! For updates please see our website.

Box a

rt b

y Pet

er D

enni

s

World War Two28mm Plastic Afrikakorps by Michael Perry

Blitzkrieg MiniaturesBlitzkrieg Miniatures are producing resin tanks to t in with the 1/56th scale of our

miniatures and the North African campaign. These are available though them and

us. Here are the latest models.

BM 4 British Grant 20

BM 5 Matilda 20

BM 6 M3 Stuart 'Honey' 18

BM 7 M3 Lee 20

BM 8 Crusader Mk III 18

BM 9 Valentine Mk III 18

BM 10 Panzer III ausf G 18

BM 11 Panzer III ausf J 18

Price RiseUnfortunately, we are going to

have to increase our prices

which will come into eect at

the end of August. There will be

a 50p increase on all metal

codes and 2 on all plastic

gure boxes. We're sorry about

this but we've held o as long

as we could!

From the DAK plastic set

From the DAK plastic set

M3 Stuart 'Honey'

Matilda

From the DAK plastic set

BM 12 Panzer III ausf L 18

BM 13 Panzer IV ausf G 20

BM 14 Panzer II 18

BM 15 Marder II 20 NEW

NEW

NEW

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Perry Miniatures Pess AD June PRINT.pdf 1 28/06/2013 11:48

wss68_aug13 def.indd 3 06-08-13 18:07

-Publisher: Rolof van Hvell tot WesterflierEditor in chief: Jasper OorthuysEditor: Guy BowersCopy editor: Duncan B. CampbellMarketing & media manager: Christianne C. Beall

Contributors: Mark Backhouse, Paul Burkin, Richard Clarke, Paul Cubbin, Mike Evans, Eoghan Kelly, Richard Lloyd, Simon Miller, Gary Mitchell, Roger Murrow, Sam Mustafa, Chris Payne, Rick Priestley, Lance Robertson, Phil Smith, Kawe Weissi-Zadeh

Illustrations: Georgina Pymont-Harman,www.redfoxillustrations.comCover background: Michael Perry

Design & layout: MeSa Design, www.mesadesign.nlPrint: PublisherPartners, www.publisherpartners.com

Editorial officePO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The NetherlandsPhone: +31-575-776076 (NL), +44-20-88168281 (Europe), +1-740-994-0091 (US)Email: editor@wssmagazine.comCustomer service: service@karwansaraypublishers.comWebsite: www.wssmagazine.com

Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews, news and queries are welcomed. Please send to the above address or use the contact form on www.wssmagazine.com

SubscriptionsSubscription price is 33.50 plus postage surcharge where applicable.Subscriptions can be purchased at www.kp-shop.com, via phone or by mail.See above for the address.

DistributionWargames, Soldiers and Strategy is sold through retailers, the internet and by subscription. If you wish to become a sales outlet, please contact us at service@karwansaraypublishers.com

The exclusive distributor for the UK and the Republic of Ireland is Comag Specialist Magazines, Unit 3, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, UB7 7QE, United Kingdom. Phone: +44 01895 433600.

Copyright Karwansaray BV. All rights reserved. Nothing in this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent of the publishers. Any individual providing material for publication must ensure that the correct permis-sions before submission to us. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but in a few cases this proves impossible. The editor and publishers apologize for any unwitting cases of copyright transgressions and would like to hear from any copyright holders not acknowledged. Articles and the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the editor and/or publishers. Advertising in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy does not necessarily imply endorsement.

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy is published every two months by Karwansaray BV, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. PO Box 1110, 3000 BC Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

ISSN: 2211-503X

Printed in the European Union

COLOPHONTHEME: THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS

CONTENTS

4

REGULAR DEPARTMENTS

8 Miniature reviewsGermans, Armoured Trains and Jazz Musicians

14 This gaming lifeA risky business...

16 Osprey ventures into WargamingThe Editor talks to Phil Smith

74 Game reviews A look at By Fire & Sword, About Bonaparte and Argonauts

76 Up FrontA new baby

78 Boardgame reviewsRuthenia, Byzantines versus the Rus

80 Book reviewsBooks reviewed by the WS&S team

FEATURES

18 Bitesize battles Tiger, Tiger, burning bright 20 Scipio versus Caesar Wargaming Thapsus 28 Devils AdvocateOne game to rule them all...

54 Just a game Sam Mustafa ponders complexity in gaming

68 Lets play Dead Mans Hand An in-depth look at the new Cowboy rules

70 Lets play In Her Majestys Name Osprey goes VSF

30 The Battle of the Nations An introduction to Leipzig 1813

32 Within walking distance of Berlin Reynier at Grossbeeren

38 Holding the line at LeipzigThe crossings at Dlitz and Markkleeberg

42 Moonlight Sonata Beethoven as propaganda coup

46 Figures Pour La Gloire! Building your force for Leipzig

Within walking distance of Berlin

wss68_aug13 def.indd 4 06-08-13 18:07

-5

EDITORIALPsychological warfareThere are five pitfalls which may ensnare a general: reckless dis-regard for death will indeed result in death. Too much regard for life will result in capture. A quick temper can be provoked into rash action. A misplaced sense of honour brings only shame. Over solicitude for the men just causes needless trouble and anxiety.Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu warns us of the vices of a general, some of which are reflected in the decisions we make on the tabletop. Recklessness will lead to mistakes, as will its opposite hesitancy. Not commiting your general to where hes needed or not commiting your forces can be equally as costly. Master Sun Tzu rightly warns us that inaction will usually lead to defeat (on the tabletop is usually indeed better to be rash than not to do anything).

Temper and honour are both emotions which can cloud our judgement. There are times when Ive seen games become battles of psychological warfare. Nowadays Im more interested in having a good game for all the players involved to be worried about this sort of nonsense, but in truth, over a decade and a half ago, I used to be one of those players, who would do almost anything to win. Id MinMax my forces, take all the most powerful combos and even bend a few rules on occasion. To be fair, it was the atmosphere of the club at the time and a reflection on common practice. I used to be elated when I won and downright angry when I lost.

Then I started gaming regularly with Paul Houghton. Our games were always friendly. We tried out this historical gaming lark and liked it, there was less of the berness wed seen elsewhere. As we were both learning the rules (at first DBA/DBM then WAB), there was no temptation to exploit the others lack of knowledge of the rules. To this day, I tend to explain what Im doing in a game to my opponent. Our games were fun and fair. Where we encountered ber army lists, wed come to agreements and limit those forces to make the game more fun.

Pauls been gone seven years now this August, but I will not forget the lessons we learnt togeth-er. A good game is one your opponent also enjoys. He taught me that while winning a game is good, enjoying a good game (win, lose or draw) is far better.

As always, comments and critique are most welcome. Please drop me a line at:editor@wssmagazine.com

FEAT

URES

:

G

eorg

ina

Har

man

HOBBY54 I am a Prussian, Do you know my colours?Painting the front cover vignette

56 TankogradQuick techniques for weathering tanks and vehicles

58 The Rats who plagued RommelThe 8th army in plastic

64 Base, the final frontierAll your base are belong to us!

With great bravery 62

Leach and Hogan at Festubert

wss68_aug13 def.indd 5 06-08-13 18:08

PUBLISHING

OVERLORD

30

available from: www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

The first supplement for the Battlegroup game system, covering amphibious and airborne operations on D-Day and the battles inland, to the Westwall of Germany.

Designed to be played at 15mm and 20mm scales.

Fast, fun and authentic-feeling game-play.

Thirteen detailed army lists included: the German Panzer, Ersatz Panzer and Fallschirmjger Divisions,

to face the US and British Armour, Infantry and Airborne Divisions.

Extensively researched background and comprehensive equipment data, including specialist equipment for amphibious assaults and 21st Panzer Division conversions.

New scenarios and historical refights

All in a lavish 240 page, hardback book.

BUNDLES DEALSGet Battlegroup Overlord plus a small-

format core rulebook for 35. Also, the full Battlegroup bundle: separate core rulebook, Battlegroup Overlord and Battlegroup Kursk books all for just 50.

PUBLISHING

wss68_aug13 def.indd 6 06-08-13 18:08

PUBLISHING

OVERLORD

30

available from: www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

The first supplement for the Battlegroup game system, covering amphibious and airborne operations on D-Day and the battles inland, to the Westwall of Germany.

Designed to be played at 15mm and 20mm scales.

Fast, fun and authentic-feeling game-play.

Thirteen detailed army lists included: the German Panzer, Ersatz Panzer and Fallschirmjger Divisions,

to face the US and British Armour, Infantry and Airborne Divisions.

Extensively researched background and comprehensive equipment data, including specialist equipment for amphibious assaults and 21st Panzer Division conversions.

New scenarios and historical refights

All in a lavish 240 page, hardback book.

BUNDLES DEALSGet Battlegroup Overlord plus a small-

format core rulebook for 35. Also, the full Battlegroup bundle: separate core rulebook, Battlegroup Overlord and Battlegroup Kursk books all for just 50.

PUBLISHING

Old Glory UKInstitute House.

New Kyo, Stanley

Co Durham. DH9 7TJ

Tel 01207 283332 Email

info@oldgloryuk.com www.oldgloryuk.com

Weve got Napoleonics Covered.In 10mm, 15/18mm. 28mm and 40mm

Almost 1000 packs of Miniatures from the Egyptian Campaign to Waterloo.

For fulldetails see

website call or SendSSAE.

Dont forgetthe

6 for5 dealon show andphone orders.

wss68_aug13 def.indd 7 06-08-13 18:08

small canvas bag on their chests). These bags were cumbersome and gener-ally abandoned later in the war (circa 1942) but means these troops are useful up until 1941. Size wise, these are middle of the range so will fit in with most existing ranges.

JAZZ MUSICIANSEureka have released an eight piece Jazz band, complete with piano and drums and five dancers. Each of the band members is a homage to one of the heroes of the golden age of Jazz. On trumpet, we have Louis Armstrong. On clarinet is Johnny Dodds. The trombone is played by Kid Ory while Jelly Roll Morton plays piano. On drums is Baby Dodds, the double bass John Lindsay and on banjo (six strings) is Johnny St Cyr. Finally theres the female singer Bessie. The dancers include three flappers two of which are flat chested and look suspiciously like the cross dressing duo Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon out of Some like it hot. There are two gentlemen dancers as well who by the look of things are in for a bit of a surprise. The

REVIEWS

8

Company: Warlo

rd Games

Size: 27.5mm f

oot to eye or 31

mm tall

Era: early World

War 2

Price: 25.00 fo

r 30 miniatures

www.warlordgam

es.co.uk

Company: Eurek

a Miniatures

Size: 29mm foo

t to eye or 31mm

tall

Era: Early 20th

Century

Price: AUD$29.5

0 for the band a

nd

AUD$ 15.00 for

the dancers.

www.eurekamin.

com.au

The latest plastic release from Warlord is their early war Blitzkrieg German infan-try. There are five sprues in the box, each containing six models (four standing, one kneeling and one prone). Bases are provided. The models are crisp and well moulded. They are provided with a good selection of firepower, Kar 98 Rifles, MG 34s and the MP40 submachine gun. There is a good selection of ten heads provided, six with helmet, three with cap, and one bareheaded. Each comes with standard kit, such as the ubiquitous cylindrical gas mask container, bread pouch and entrenching tool. There are some additional nice touches, such as grenade throwing arms and binoculars. Assembly is straightforward and the end results are very satisfactory. The models are historically accurate, each has a gas cape bag (the

BLITZKRIEG GERMAN INFANTRY

models in the set are well cast and detailed. This is a charming and unusual set which will be of use to early 20th century gamers, whether youre into Cthulhu or gangster games.

The latest plastic release from Warlord is their early war Blitzkrieg German infan-

. There are two gentlemen dancers as well who by the look of things are in for a bit of a surprise. The

Price: AUD$29.5

0 for the band a

nd

AUD$ 15.00 for

the dancers.

www.eurekamin.

com.au

wss68_aug13 def.indd 8 06-08-13 18:08

9Here are more reinforce-ments from Ironclad Miniatures for their Second Anglo Afghan War range. The models shown are an Indian army gun crew and Afghans armed with Snider rifles. Each pack comes with four min-iatures; we have only shown two of the gun

AFGHAN WARRIORS

FRANCO PRUSSIAN WAR INFANTRYVive la France! Heroes of the Dark ages is a company which specialises in Dark Age and fantasy miniatures. How-ever, their recent release (sur-prisingly, given their name) is a range of Franco Prussian War infantry. Starting with the French, they currently have guard infantry, line infantry and Zouaves - with more promised. The models

REVIEWS

Company: Heroe

s of the Dark a

ges

Size: 28mm foo

t to eye and 35

mm tall in

Bearskin.

Era: Franco Pru

ssian War

Price: 1.25 per m

iniature.

www.heroesoft

hedarkage.com

Ironclad miniat

ures

Size: 28mm foo

t to eye or 31mm

tall

Era: Colonial

Price: 5.50 for

4 minis. Gun is

5.

www.ironcladmin

iatures.co.uk

crew here and two Afghan riflemen. The gun is a British7lbr. mountain gun. The models are well cast with no flash or mould lines visible. The Indian turbans may look a bit big, however contemporary photographs do show that their turbans were very large indeed. The range has been expanded to include British Officers, Afghan leaders and colonial Indian infantry with Sikh or Punjab heads.

Here are more reinforce-

Second Anglo Afghan War range. The models

Snider rifles. Each pack comes with four min-

shown two of the gun

AFGHAN WARRIORS

crew here and two Afghan riflemen. The gun is a British

Company: Heroe

s of the Dark a

ges

Size: 28mm foo

t to eye and 35

mm tall in

are robust and well cast, with the guards being 1mm taller than the line infantry (foot to eye). The standard infantry measure 27mm foot to eye or 30mm tall. Mould lines are nonexistent, however the bases were a little rough (though easily smoothed with sandpaper). The detailing is good and historically accurate, each model comes with full backpack and kit. Apart from the Franco Prussian war, these could find use in several theatres, including Victorian Science Fiction as reinforcements for In Her Majestys Name. Size wise, these models will be compatible with most middle to large ranges. Colonel Bill will be stocking this range at the shows he atternds.

wss68_aug13 def.indd 9 06-08-13 18:08

in the set. From left to right, we have Mariposa the female hunter, Risteard the biker, Big Ged the hero with assault rifle, Ezekiel armed with a shotgun, and finally Imhotep (the big guy standing at 33.5mm tall). Not shown, is Coco the zombie hunting clown! The range is well cast and sculpted. Ged promises further additions to this range including some zombies and other hunters with a variety of weapons.

DOGS OF WARRun! Get to the choppa! The latest release from Rogue miniatures is a set of seven dogs of war, each very heavily armed. They bear more than a passing resemblance to the characters from Predator. The mercenary team, is armed with an impressive range of weaponry, from grenade launchers to mini-guns. They are all here: Dutch, Dillon, Mac, Blane, Billy, Poncho and Hawkins. At first, Blanes mini-gun may look to be a bit small, but our extensive research (i.e. watching Predator again and again) suggests it is correctly scaled for the model. This is no over-scaled 40K weapon The first instinct when seeing these models is to dig out some suitable alien opposi-tion (there are several predatory aliens done by companies

REVIEWS

10

Company: Gringo

40s

Size: 27mm foo

t to eye or 30m

m tall

Era: Modern

Price: 1.50 per

miniature.

www.gringo40s.

com

Company: Rogue

Miniatures

Size: 28mm foo

t to eye or 31mm

tall

Era: Modern

Price: 32.00 fo

r the set of sev

en

www.eurekamin.

com.au

Mexican zombie hunt-ers? What other sort would we expect from Gringo 40s? This inter-esting range, sculpted by Paul Hicks, has several potential uses apart from undead killers south of the border both modern skirmish and gang warfare games come to mind. There are currently six figures

TRIGINTA XXX

including Ainsty, Copplestone and Hasslefree to name but three), however this would be to overlook the first part of the movie, where the mercenary team take out a guerrilla camp. While perhaps a little pricey, this is an excellent set with a number of possibilities, both terrestrial and alien.

esting range, sculpted by

potential uses apart from

TRIGINTA XXX

tion (there are several predatory aliens done by companies

wss68_aug13 def.indd 10 06-08-13 18:08

11

The latest release from The Plastic Soldier Company is a set of useful undercoat spray paints. These come in two types, one for infantry and one for vehicles. The Infantry Warspray is available in 4 colours: British Khaki, German Field Grey, Russian Uniform and United States Olive Drab. The Tank Warspray is available in five colours: British Tank, German Panzer Grey, Mid-Late War German Dunkelgelb, Russian Tank and United States. Each can contains 400ml of paint. As these cans are aerosol sprays, certain shipping restrictions may apply. PSC cannot ship this product to customers out-side the UK mainland, but they do export to retailers overseas. The spray itself goes on slowly and smoothly. At first we thought we had a faulty can - however this is deliberate and part of the design. The smooth spray is a good thing, as it controls the flow of paint nicely. Two coats are recommended to cover a model completely. Weve not yet used our can completely, but we estimate that youll get a dozen or more vehicles from one bottle. If you have a lot of armour which needs undercoating, this could be just the product for you.

SPRAY PAINT

ANCIENT CART AND LOAD When they first started, 4Ground produced a very useful set of wagons for the colonial period. This range has been expanded into the ancient and renaissance periods, and now includes peasant and strongbox carts. The model shown here is an ancient ox wagon, ideal for Romans or similar civilised na-tions extending into the dark ages. Construction is simple when follow-ing the instructions. Each piece fits well with the simple application of wood glue. The overall result was ro-bust and ready for painting. Colonel Bills provides draft horses, wagon drivers and wagon loads for the 4ground carts. Shown are the loads for the ancient cart, namely Roman equipment and sacks. There are also accessories to change this cart into a Saxon or Norman version.

REVIEWS

Company: 4Grou

nd and Colonel B

ills

Size: Scaled for

28mm

Era: Ancient and

Dark age

Price: 4.00 for

the cart, 4.00

for

two baggage

www.4ground.co

.uk or colonelbi

lls.com

Company: The P

lastic Soldier C

ompany

Volume: 400 ml

Era: World War

II

Price: 8.50 per

can.

www.theplastic

soldiercompany.

co.uk

ANCIENT CART AND LOAD

wss68_aug13 def.indd 11 06-08-13 18:09

two officers with a support BAR, and four variations of rifleman in the M10 Hat (Tricorne), M23 Cap and M26 Helmet. Each figure is well cast, the mould lines are hard to spot. One does wonder, why Swedes? They are however ideal troops for What if? and Imagination games, including Very British Civil War games. After all, who can resist troops armed with mod-ern rifles in tricornes (the M10 Swedish hat)? Other historical alternatives spring to mind, such as an Allied attempt to curb Germanys Iron Ore Route in World War 2. This could have led to landings to disrupt Swedish ports or a German occupation of Sweden to secure the ore. Possibilities abound!

M13/40 COMMAND TANKAvanti! Company B has released a 1/56th scale M13/40. The tank comes with two options: it can be built as a standard M13/40 or as the M13/40 command tank. Both variants are supplied with the kit. The model features exposed engine details and an open interior, plus a tank commander. The resin and metal kit is well cast and easy to assemble: simply stick on the tracks and machine gun and the hatches for your preferred

REVIEWS

12

Company: Adale

n Miniatures

Size: 27mm foo

t to eye or 30m

m tall

Era: Interwar

Price: $8.00 fo

r 4 miniatures, $

28.50

for the set of 1

5.

www.adalen.hist

orifigs.com

dalen Miniatures (named after the eponymous shootings of 1931) is a new company producing Interwar Swedes (circa 1919-39), although the miniatures could be used for earlier and later con-flicts. The current range consists of 15 models. There are three command,

INTERWAR SWEDISH

version. Its proportions are good and fit in well with other manufacturers. Company B specialises in the Pacific theatre and Desert War. Their latest releases include several unusual Japanese vehicles, including an AA Spotlight truck, which well review in a future issue. Also of interest is their new Winnebago RV, ideal for modern and Zombie games.

two officers with a support BAR, and four variations of rifleman

dalen Miniatures (named

new company producing

miniatures could be used for earlier and later con-

There are three command,

INTERWAR SWEDISH

the tracks and machine gun and the hatches for your preferred modern and Zombie games.

Company B

Size: 28mm 1/56

(41mm wide x

85mm long x 42m

m tall).

Era: World War

2

Price: $30.00

www.companyb.

biz

wss68_aug13 def.indd 12 06-08-13 18:09

13

Toot toot!!! Sgts Mess has produced a model of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway Armoured Train which served the Home Guard. The kit consists of one engine and two carriages (one not shown) and crew. The engine and carriages are primarily resin with some metal attachments. The model fits on narrow-gauge track. The crew consists of four gunners, two observers with binoculars and a driver. Armament consists of a mix of Boyes antitank rifles and Lewis guns on pedestal mounts and in the trains two open revolving turrets. While scaled for 20mm, we could not resist trying some 28mm Perry Desert Rats in

LIGHT RAILWAY

SHIP FLATSCapitan miniatures has released a number of ship flats, primarily for their game Master and Com-mander. Currently, there are flats for a 1st Rate, 2nd Rate, 3rd Rate (80 gun), and 4th Rate with either combat sails or full sail. The purpose of these flats is to provide a simple but effective way of portraying the ships on the tabletop. The models come in in two pieces, and include a sea base with waves and another part with the 2D ship itself (its pretty sturdy, being 3mm thick). The flag is of course blowing the wrong way, but we assume this is deliberate, to allow identification colours to be easily painted. While the sample provided was in full-colour glory, the models are supplied unpainted. Some naval players may disagree with using flats, but personally I can see the appeal in something which is fairly easy to paint and requires minimal construction. There is no need to recreate any rigging, except with a fine liner pen. Available in the UK through Caliver.

REVIEWS

Company: Capita

n Miniatures

Size: 1/1200 sca

le flat

Era: Age of Sail

Price: 6.50 for

a 1st Rate to

5.90

for 4th Rate.

www.warmodelli

ngminiatures.co

m

Company: Sgts

Mess

Size: 20mm (tra

in is 123mm long,

carriages 100mm

long)

Era: World War

2

Price: 25.00

www.sgts-mess

.com

the model. To our delight, the crouching Perry models fit perfectly. This set is ideal for Home Guard and Very British Civil War aficionados everywhere who use 20mm or 28mm.

LIGHT RAILWAY

Capitan miniatures has released a number of ship Master and Com-

. Currently, there are flats for a 1st Rate,

either combat sails or full sail. The purpose of these flats is to provide a simple but effective way of portraying the ships on the tabletop. The models come in in two pieces, and include a sea base with waves and another part with the 2D ship itself (its pretty sturdy, being 3mm thick). The flag is of course blowing the wrong way, but we assume this is deliberate, to allow identification colours to be easily painted. While the sample provided

wss68_aug13 def.indd 13 06-08-13 18:09

14

COLUMNBy Rick Priestley

G

eorg

ie H

arm

an

The summer months are with us once more, and the roads and lanes are crammed with cyclists braving the cars, trucks and tractors, protected only by a flimsy plastic helmet and a misplaced sense of mortality. Which to be fair is plus one flimsy plastic helmet compared with the world in which many of us grew up. But then, the past is a foreign country and all that. As I recall, school assembly was frequently enlivened by some announcement of complaint, injury, and occasional fatality, consequent to the daily cycle ride. We took such things in our stride in those days.

I was reminded of this only recently, as my neighbour nerv-ously removed a section of asbestos guttering with all the care and respect formerly accorded only to nitro glycerine. That gutters been there for 50 years without killing anyone. Still better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Most people wouldnt normally think of wargaming as a risky business. I mean to say, what can be endangering about pushing model soldiers around a tabletop or rolling a few dice? Surely, when it comes to all-time most dangerous pastimes, wargaming props up a grisly table championed by such brave souls as nude paragliders, tarantula fondlers, solo yachtsmen, and amateur racing car enthusiasts. Well, thats what I thought, anyway, until I was clearing out an especially neglected corner of the garage and came across a box of old Citadel miniatures from the early 80s. Heres what was printed on the header cards: WARNING - This product contains lead which may be harmful if chewed or swallowed. Not suitable for small children. Blimey, I thought. Best not tell the neigh-bours.

Of course, over the centuries, lead has been used to make everything from roofing to cutlery, and jolly useful stuff it is, too. Pure lead melts at 327.5 degrees which is pretty hot but the lead-based white metal alloys used for wargames figures generally cast in the region of 260-310 degrees. Now, it is dangerous to heat these alloys to above 450 degrees, at which temperature the lead starts to give off toxic fumes, but thats much hotter than any commercial casting process, as far as I know. You can melt regular alloy in a saucepan on a kitchen hob, as I did when I was a youngster, pouring the stuff into homemade plaster moulds to make my own figures. Of course, without a proper thermometer, theres no way to gauge the temperature, other than by the look of the metal just as a medieval plumber would have done but you soon get the hang of these things.

This Gaming LifeA risky business

Interestingly enough, until the mid-70s, books on wargam-ing often contained advice on making and casting your own figures. You can just imagine the reaction from a publishers lawyer these days: so, youre suggesting that children start messing about with molten lead, are you, Mr Wise? (Just look at Introduction to Battle Gaming by Terence Wise, published in 1972, if you dont believe me.)

This public concern with lead in the environment sprang from the proven toxic effects of lead introduced into the atmos-phere by leaded petrol. Lead as a paint additive had already pretty much disappeared. Soon, it was curtains for lead piping and, eventually, lead fishing weights and even lead shot in shotgun cartridges. Would we humble pedlars of toy soldiers be next in the firing line? It certainly felt like it by the early to mid-80s. Unruly journalists seized upon the issue to indulge in their usual fare of outrage and sensationalism. In one infa-mous TV interview, a model dragon was proudly displayed, whilst some sanctimonious, self-appointed champion of the public good declared, theres enough lead in this to poison the population of Manchester Manchester! Why this chap should think we had it in for Manchester in particular, I dont know. Considering that, in those days, Manchester almost certainly had several Russian ICBMs pointing at it, youd have thought Mancunians would have been tolerably indifferent to the threat posed by a Citadel Emperor Dragon. Still it takes all sorts.

A more justifiable source of concern was the lead-based paint that was once commonly used to colour childrens toys. Understandably, legislators felt no qualms when it came to

Harmless toy or toxic terror?

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was surely coming. Overall, a move away from lead to pewter seemed inevitable, and sooner rather than later looked the safest bet.

Traditional pewter is a tin-rich alloy that also contains lead. In modern terms, lead-free pewter contains only trace amounts of lead and is, to all practical purposes, lead-free, as described. The bulk of the alloy is made up of tin, with a little copper and antimony (the standard is BS EN 611-1:1996, should you be interested in that sort of thing). So what? you may ask. Does it matter what our models are made of, so long as they are not going to poison us, explode unexpectedly, or crumble away to nothing? From the point of view of manufacturing, there is little difference, it is true although youll be lucky to get pewter to cast in a mould thats been made for lead-alloy production. The addition of lead enhances the flow properties of the metal, allowing better detail capture, which is why first stage master metal usually contains a small amount of lead. Pewter is usually cast at a slightly higher temperature and the material itself is harder, both factors combining to increase mould wear somewhat. But the chief difference is the price. In brief, tin costs a fortune and lead whilst hardly cheap, these days is still much cheaper. That means you are going to pay more for pewter figures; but, at the end of the day, its worth it surely. I mean at least you can rest assured that neither you nor the population of Manchester is about to keel over at the sight of a leaden Space Marine. Its a quality product, right?

Quality or not, Ive never liked the stuff, I must admit. Its just too damn hard! You can cut, scrape and bend white metal castings, but, with pewter, even removing mould lines and flash is heavy going. Give me proper white metal, any day of the week. Its far more suitable for making wargames figures, in my opinion. And I promise not to lick, chew, or swallow it, honest! But going back to that packaging warning, Not suit-able for children under 36 months was the official line on the 2010 GW blister packaging, though admittedly with a further recommendation for ages 12 and up. To me, this was one of the worst results of the move to pewter by Games Workshop: by suddenly removing the 14 years restriction, it became acceptable to sell to well, 3-year-olds, obviously! The lead-based alloys had always come with the tacit understand-ing that wargames figures were not for small children, and whether that was 10 or 12 or 14-year-olds may have been a matter of discretion, but it certainly wasnt kiddies of 3, 5 or 7!

In truth, I dont think were in much physical danger from our wargames and certainly not from lead poisoning. Yes, you need to be careful with modelling tools and especially knives and scalpels but the same is true of any modelling hobby. Its certainly a safer affair than cycling. And you dont have to wear one of those silly plastic helmets well, not unless you really want to.

We wonder what Ricks view on GWs Finecast might be...

banning lead in toys, but the implications for our hobby were potentially profound. Did a lead ban in toys effectively mean a ban on toy soldiers made of lead alloy? The state of New York was certainly thinking that way. If New York went for an all-out ban, it was widely assumed by the figure manufacturing com-munity that the entire US would fall into line. The whole thing came to court in the end, with representatives of the figure industry making the case that wargaming products were, in essence, not toys, but actually collectables, designed for dedi-cated hobbyists. As it happened, the judge agreed much to our relief at the time, as you might imagine.

Accepting that wargames figures were not toys was to have ramifications, though. Did you know that a toy is legally defined as a plaything intended for children of less than 14 years of age? As far as the law is concerned, 14 is the key age when it comes to legislation governing toys. Consequently, signing up to the notion that wargaming figures were definitely not toys led to a change in the Citadel warning I quoted ear-lier. Now, the very same models were deemed not suitable for children under 14 years old. That warning, with the age spec-ification, would remain in place until the old lead-based alloy was finally replaced with lead-free pewter. Whilst a change in packaging was easily enough arranged, it was another matter when it came to making sure that nobody under 14 years of age was buying the models. Keeping wargames figures out of the mouths of mewling infants was one thing, but did lead alloy models really pose a danger to someone who happened to be 12 or 13? To this day, the packaging for Flames of War models carries the Not recommended for persons under 14 years old warning notice. Does no one under the age of 14 possess a Flames of War model? I wonder.

The theoretical situation where wargames figures could only be purchased by those aged 14 years or over probably didnt trouble the average historical wargames figure manufacturer too much. If anything, the people in the front line were the owners of gaming and hobby stores selling lead-based war-games figures. In the UK, this trouble came in the guise of local trading standards officers. With a large, conspicuous chain of stores and a young customer base, Games Workshop became something of a target for the more zealous of these public serv-ants. Without any system of formal ID, it was never going to be possible to enforce the under-14 rule in any consistent way. The truth was that many GW customers were under 14, and refusing to sell them metal models, though official policy, was practically unenforceable.

Even if it were possible to ensure that nobody under 14 ever bought a metal model, there was no practical way to stop those models falling into the hands of junior siblings, keen to emulate the activities of big brother. In the UK, the mounting pressure from local trading standards authorities was one of the factors that encouraged GW to switch to a lead-free alloy. Renewed talk of further legislation in the US also seemed to suggest that, even if lead-based models hadnt had their day yet, that day

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An interview with Phil Smith

OSPREY VENTURES INTO GAMES

By Guy Bowers

Can you tell me about the history of Osprey Publishing?In 1968, Berkshire Printing, part of the Brooke Bond Tea group, decided to make a series of books called the Aircam Aviation series. In 1971, the first Men-at-Arms (MAA) appeared and we had the series approach we have to-day. The company changed hands a few times and kept expanding. The market needed something and we were supply-ing it. So now, 45 years later, we have more than 400 MAA books, over 200 Campaigns, 200 New Vanguards, and a dozen different series of books.

Enough to ruin my bookshelf at home!There is still a lot we havent done, even within the existing series. Its re-ally about trying new things. If we do a Raid title on a new subject and it does really well, well look at expanding the coverage within another existing series. One of the things I really admire about Osprey is that coverage is diverse, yet thorough, for a lot of things. There are still huge gaps, such as the sixteenth century, for example; but for the big topics like WWII, theres nothing you cant find.

Funnily enough, we had some reader suggestions on Waffen SS Underpants or Assault Accordions of the Eastern Front. Who knows? If there is a demand for it, perhaps ... Wed have to find someone qualified to write it and also find an illustrator. On your website, youve been asking

what your readers want.A lot of those online questionnaires are now coming to fruition. From concept to release is a process lasting a year-and-a-half to two years. For example, we opened our commissioning for 2015 in spring of this year. Thats the nature of the industry, for writing, artwork, dis-tribution, and so on. Our lead-in time for books means that these results can easily be forgotten, but we are listening and hopefully providing people with what they want.

Some of your earlier books had wargaming commentary in the back.Yes, the old Campaign series had a page of wargaming information. It was useful, but it wasnt really fundamentally differ-ent from taking the information from the book as a whole.

What prompted Osprey to look serious-ly at going into the wargames market? Two great tastes combined was the logic, with Slitherines experience of games and Ospreys military his-tory background, artwork and general presence as a publisher. Field of Glory (FOG) came from that. Its a good thing we got back into gaming, as its a natu-ral fit for Osprey.

So, after the success of FOG, is that what inspired you to go further?Yes, with Force on Force and Bolt Ac-tion it really all took off after FOG. Some of the Osprey team are wargam-ers, myself included. We had actual gaming nerds pushing gaming products;

games for enthusiasts by enthusiasts.It doesnt matter if a submission is from an individual or a manufacturer. If its from someone who loves what they are doing, itll show in their game and will be fun to play.

We wont necessarily say no to large rule books. For example, we have two big rule books coming along next year: an American Civil War book called Across a Deadly Field, and a French and Indian War through American War of Independence to 1812 game called Land of the Free. They are both due out next year and both take a more tradi-tional big rule book approach.

So these books wont be under Osprey Wargames? Theyll be wargames by Osprey, but not part of the OWG series. They will have their own series and layout, hardback books with full colour throughout and, yes, more expensive - 25, as with the FOG and Bolt Action rule books.

So, no supplements for your OWG games? Originally, the series was conceived with each title as a standalone game. However, the success of the In Her Maj-estys Name (IMHN) game and the calls for new material made us think again. Given how well it was received, right off the bat, we questioned why this had to be a set rule. Thus, we are planning OWG 3a and OWG 3b.

INTE

RVIE

W

G

eorg

ie H

arm

an

Osprey Publishing has provided reading materials for wargam-

ers for decades, but their venture into actual wargaming pub-

lications is of fairly recent date, but they have met with great

success in Field of Glory, Bolt Action and their new Wargames

series. Obviously, it was high time to have a proper chat with

Phil Smith, head of the Osprey Wargames (OWG) series.

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Would you ever consider expanding the wargames series? Such as campaign settings and painting guides? Potentially, but we are in danger of rep-licating what Osprey has done in other areas. There are Campaign books for Across a Deadly Field, one on Battles in the East and the other on Battles in the West, however.

The idea of What ifs has been bandied around in discussion before. It would be easier with gaming.

What sort of games are you looking for?Practically there are no limits. The only line in the sand we draw with the OWG series has a set word count, which is 22,000 words. If its bigger than that, wed consider a larger FOG-style book. The prime thing is the quality of the game.

It would be unfair (and pointless!) to compete against our own game, so, for example, with Bolt Action being worked on, World War II would be off limits. We are happy to go back and do some-thing different within a period weve already covered.

How about mechanisms? Cards, for example.We are a book publisher first and fore-most. Anything beyond that is trickier, but not a deal breaker. Weve included cards at the back of Force on Force. Wed find a solution, like a PDF online.

Would language be an issue?Not particularly. It requires some more editorial work, but its not a definite obstacle.

What sort of playtesting do you have in place?They get proper playtesting by the authors groups. Then Ill do a proper evaluation and edit.

What do you have in the pipeline?Ronin is out now. Next is OWG 5, Of Gods and Mortals, covering mythologi-cal battles. Each player controls a god, a couple of heroes and legends, and some mortals. The main rule book includes Greek, Norse, Celt and Egyptians. As with IHMN, there are rules to make

up your own sides. Theres more Bolt Action stuff; namely, Armies of France & the Allies and Armies of Italy & the Axis. OWG 6 will be A Fistful of Kung Fu, a Hong Kong action game. Think Big Trouble in Little China with a hodge-podge of Korean action movies and Japanese horror. Apart from the others we mentioned, further down the line for OWG we have a pirate game, plus a medieval game for retinue type games.

How many games per year?As many as theyll let me do! General average is three OWGs and two or three larger books. In 2014, we have six in the system already with a few still to come.

Lets say Im considering writing for you. Whats in it for me?All the books run around royalty pay-ments. Thanks to its standard design, OWG is set at 12.5% net while the larg-er books will be generally less. There are a large number of factors that affect the production costs, which makes es-tablishing a standard rate slightly tricky. The author needs to feel like they have earned something from that which they deserve to, and I try to make sure the royalty rates achieve this.

What risks are there?We soak up all the risks there are none for the author.

What is your personal favourite game and period?In terms of wargames, De Bellis Antiquitatis was my first love. I really wanted to get into Age of Arthur, but never had any opponents. In terms of Ospreys, MAA 279 The Border Reiv-ers. That would make a good game, too. Also, because I love the genre, the Kung Fu era. Im a great fan of the old Water Margin and Monkey TV series. Im a typical wargames magpie, but the single biggest army has to be my VSF Mexicans.

How do we contact you? If you have an idea for a game, or even if its just to say what youd like to see, please contact me at: wargames@ospreypublishing.com

Thank you, Phil!

Whats the idea behind the standalone concept?Our concept is how to get good small games to market at a competitive price. I would say an OWG is well below what youd normally pay for that quality. As a company of our size, we have the resources and can produce the volume to keep the price down. It allows people to dip in and see if they like a rule set, and if not, theyve not really lost out.

Your books dont seem to follow any central rule concept.Absolutely. The OWG series is just an outlet. Each author comes up with his own concept. The only thing tying them together is the design.

Do you think this could be a problem? We argued this back and forth. Youll always be sacrificing something. I think it was probably the best choice. The one thing I didnt want to do is establish one system with a bunch of settings simply bolted on. I dont think its ever worked particularly well. The core game may be great, but theres a lack of feel in those particular games.

Were you surprised at how well In Her Majestys Name has sold?Yes. Pleasantly so. There were some issues. We did not anticipate that it would sell that well beyond our wild-est dreams! We have a second printing, so were getting it back out there now.

There has been some critique about the level of support.Yeah. At the minute, each one is being handled individually by the authors on their blogs. Ideally, it would be lovely to have all of that under one roof. I would love to offer people an Osprey Wargaming forum, and this is some-thing I hope to do in future, given time and resources.

Is there is a danger that one book is going to get dropped as the next shiny game comes in? I think weve proven that we dont do that. With Force on Force and FOG, they ran side by side. I dont think either suffered as a result. Similarly, Bolt Ac-tion and OWG are coexisting nicely.

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Bitesize Battles

TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT

By Eoghan Kelly

The Ardennes, however, was one order too far. Dogged with bad luck from the outset, he had insuf-ficient forces to protect his rear lines and a plan that was just unrealistic. The low-water-mark came just beyond La Gleize, a small village in the heavily wooded hills north of Luxembourg. His attack faltered on 21 December, and by the 23rd his forces had been driven back into the village. Attempting one last break-out, he manoeuvred his tanks to attempt an early morning assault on the American lines at dawn on 24 December 1944.

THE SCENARIOThe following scenario is designed to be played at several different scales. At the grandest level, it could be played with 6mm using almost the entire map recreated on the board. At bigger scales, the moves of both combatants could be given to a referee, who then determines at what point the forces meet. The forces below are roughly based on the Bolt Action rules set, but are generic enough to be adapted to any system.

GERMAN BRIEFINGArmed with the very best that is on offer, you are attempting to break the American forces to your west, in order to give you and your comrades a chance to escape eastwards and reach the safety of German lines. The prob-lems you face are manifest from the start. The streets of this little village are too narrow to easily move your heavy armour the tanks have to turn their turrets with the streets, in order to avoid

damaging their guns. You need to get clear to properly use your main arma-ments. Your objective is to destroy the Americans and then to escape east-wards.

German NotesThe Germans have no Panzerfausts they had lost their resupply vehicles in an airstrike a few days before, and exhausted what they had by 23 De-cember. The only anti-armour they have consists of their own tanks.All the Germans start in the town, defending each of the perimeters. They are trying to escape eastwards on the only good road; taking a Knigstiger or the soft-skinned transports cross-country is simply not an option. The German

SCEN

ARIO

As part of the 6th SS Panzer Army, Kampfgruppe Peiper was the largest of the four armoured

columns designed to punch holes through the Allied lines during the opening days of the

Battle of the Bulge. Its commander, SS-Standartenfhrer Joachim Peiper, was a battle hard-

ened veteran of both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He was selected for this mission as he

had a no-nonsense approach to following orders and had a track record of pulling o spec-

tacular victories in the face of huge odds.

German Forces(II/2nd SS Panzergrenadier Bat-talion plus elements from Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501)

2 x Pzkpfw VI Ausf. B (King Tigers)4 x Pzkpfw V Ausf. G (Panthers)2 x SdKfz 2511 x Major1 x Captain1 x Medic team1 x Sniper Team4 x SS-Panzergrenadier Squads (1 NCO + 9 men)1 x medium mortar team2 x medium machine-gun teamsSeveral wheeled soft-skinned trans-port vehicles, carrying wounded.

La Gleize, Stoumont, Belgian Ardennes.

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American NotesThe officers are veteran, the squads and armour are all regular. Each squad has a BAR. The bazooka teams consist of three-man crews (jeep driver plus 2-man bazooka team). Due to plentiful ammunition, the bazookas are effec-tively endless and may be fired every round of the game.The M10s are mechanically unreliable. On any turn in which an M10 attempts to move, roll a D6; on a 5 or 6, it be-comes stuck, as its clutch has burnt out. Its turret may still rotate and a mechani-cal crew may attempt to fix it by staying with it for 2 turns they fix it on a roll of anything except a 1. It will remain unreliable, even after fixing. American artillery has plentiful am-munition; they can call on two fire missions per game. Off-board artillery is heavy (155mm). The air observer can only call in air support 2 turns after dawn.

GAME CONDITIONSThe weather is cold and overcast, as the game starts in the early morning. The scenario is 10+ turns long, and dawn is possible after turn 3. Roll a D6: on a 1 or 2, its still dark; on a 3 or 4, dawn starts to break; on a 5 or 6, the clouds have masked dawn and it is now daylight. Night-fighting rules as per Bolt Action apply (online at bit.ly/14qdgnd). The wind is slight and from the north-east. Conditions are icy and frozen some snow has fallen, but the main issue is frost. The buildings are stone and timber fires may be started inside them.As the ground is unsuitable for Ger-man AFVs to go cross-country, they will inevitably have to go down the eastern road, exposing their rears to Allied at-tacks. (Driving their tanks backwards is also not an option!)

VICTORY AND GAME BALANCE The Germans win if they end the game with the majority of their forces on the eastern end of the board, exiting off-table. A major victory happens if this includes a Knigstiger exiting the eastern edge.The numbers on each side can be either

increased or de-creased, depend-

ing on the scale played or the size

of the forces available. The number of AFVs could be halved, for example, or the forces doubled for both sides. Other balancing options include giving the German vehicles low fuel (as per the Armies of Germany supplement, p. 95). For the Allies, reduce the bazooka teams to 3-shot weapons.

AFTERMATHAfter enduring nearly five days of bombardment, the Germans finally got to grips with their tormentors. The US forces moved in to eliminate the re-mains of the Kampfgruppe. The German survivors fought tenaciously for nearly 24 hours, weathering repeated assaults by American infantry, supported by air and artillery fire. American close sup-port was poor, with their armour being reluctant to engage with the Big Cats lurking in La Gleize. In the end, the German armour, hampered by the tight streets and the many bazookas that assailed them, was forced to withdraw into a defensive line to the east of the village. Later that day, following a lull in the fighting, the Germans could be seen setting fire to vehicles and stores, and pulling out of their positions, abandoning their heavy equipment and vehicles. With the Allies reluctant to immediately pursue, Peiper led 800 of his men out of La Gleize, 770 of whom made it safely through to the German lines. The original size of his force is estimated at 600 armoured fighting vehicles and 4800 men in the column when it set off. The defeat at La Gleize was the effective end of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler as a fighting force.

Expect more Bitesize pieces from Eoghan, including Monkhe business at Berlin Zoo!

command must start dug-in in the cellar of one of the buildings.The German infantry are all regular, except the officers, who are veteran. German armoured vehicles are veteran. None of their tanks can rotate their turrets while in the streets of La Gleize; vehicles can only point their main gun directly forwards. This strictly limits weapon fire to the front arc. All German vehicles may suffer from low ammunition. Each time they fire their main gun after the first time, roll a D6. On a 1, they may have depleted their ammunition. Roll again and, on a 4, 5 or 6, they are fine, but on a 1, 2 or 3 they have depleted their ammunition and have only D3 rounds left for their gun.

AMERICAN BRIEFINGAfter a very hair-raising couple of days, you seem to have finally stopped the huge German armoured thrust into the Allied armies. In order to stabilize the front, you need to cut the heads off these columns and emasculate them. The remnants of the main column are now dug-in at La Gleize. They still have significant firepower, and nothing you have in your armoured vehicles is capable of going toe-to-toe with these huge armoured monsters. However, you do have mobility, artillery (and, hope-fully, air support), and a lot of anti-tank weapons.

American Forces(2nd Battalion, 119th Regiment, plus support from the 116th Ar-moured Regiment, Tennessee NG)

2 x M4A4 Sherman 75mm2 x M10 A1 Wolverine5 x Bazooka teams (with optional jeep transport)1 x Major1 x First Lieutenant1 x Medic1 x Forward Air Observer (may only spot in daylight)1 x Forward Artillery Observer1 x Sniper Team1 x Mechanic team (as per medic team, but with spanners not sy-ringes!)4 x Regular infantry squads (1 NCO + 11 men) 2 x .50-cal heavy machine-gun

Miniatures by Warlord Games. Our thanks to Paul Sawyer for al-lowing last-minute photography.

A Knigstiger, perhaps not ideal in heavily wooded hills or the narrow

streets of old European villages.

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Leach and Hogan at Festubert

WITH GREAT BRAVERY

By Mark Backhouse

These books were a record of the First World War, written while the war was still going on. They were filled with a veritable wealth of photo-graphs, maps and reports from the front, covering just about every campaign possible, from the Western Front to ob-scure Eastern Front battles in Armenia! Being ten years old, I found the text heavy going, but became particularly fascinated by the glorified pictures and descriptions of the Victoria Cross win-ners, as I spent hours thumbing through the fifteen or so volumes.

One of my favourite stories was the one about Second Lieutenant James Leach and Sergeant John Hogan. I think the reason that I was first drawn to it was the wonderful A4-size drawing of the British soldiers coming around the corner of a trench with weapons drawn and the disgruntled Germans throwing their hands in the air, looking thorough-ly dejected.

Leach had been commissioned as an officer in the 2nd Battalion of the Man-chester Regiment on 1 October 1914. At only 22 years of age, he received his baptism by fire in the first couple of months of the war, fighting with the 1st Northamptonshires. He had started the war as a lance-corporal and had been quickly promoted to sergeant for his distinguished conduct and bravery in the fighting on the River Aisne in mid-September. Such rapid promotion was clear testimony of both his qualities under fire and, doubtless, of the high rate of attrition at the start of the war.

The 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment had been attached to the 5th Division and sailed to France in August 1914. They had been involved in rearguard actions following the Battle of Mons and had managed to with-draw relatively intact, suffering just 12 casualties. At Le Cateau, they had been committed as reinforcements to try and stem the German breakthrough, but had received heavy fire from their flank and front, and were forced to fall back. In September, they were engaged at the battles of the Marne and the Aisne, and even more severe fighting continued around Bthune in October.

The Manchesters were sent to Festubert on 22 October 1914, on the southern flank of what was turning into the First Battle of Ypres. Festubert was a small village in northern France, close to La Basse and about 2km north-west of Givenchy, which had been captured by the Germans about a fortnight earlier.

Between 26 and 29 October, both the 1st and 2nd Manchester Battalions came under a heavy German bom-bardment followed by a rapid assault. The German attack had managed to dislodge the Manchesters from their position around Festubert and the Brit-ish had lost large parts of their front-line trench. Despite repeated attempts to retake it on 29 October, they had all been beaten back with heavy losses throughout the morning. By the after-noon, the situation was getting more desperate and Leach volunteered to lead an attack to retake the trench. He was supported by ten volunteers and his trusty sergeant, John Hogan.

Descriptions of what happened next are rather hazy, and any reports of an aggressive and quick military action are bound to differ somewhat. Some

SCEN

ARIO

As a boy, I remember having to wait each day for my mum to nish work as

a teacher. As luck would have it, one day, I spotted a big pile of old books

being thrown out in the school skip. Being of an inquisitive nature, I had a

look and found a nearly complete set of The Times History of the Great War

and salvaged them. The next hour of waiting went very quickly!

Lt James Leach, VC.

Leach and Hogan advance forward.

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small number of figures required to re-enact it. The Manchesters need just 12 figures, while the German forces holding the captured trench can be rep-resented by a single platoon of around 30 figures.

The game should ideally be played on a 6 x 4 table, with a single trench running roughly diagonally across it, starting about 14 in from the British side of the table and ending in the op-posite corner. At least one communica-tions trench should connect this with the British table edge. If you are short of trenches (or table space), then there is no reason why this would not work with a 4 x 4 table. Some craters and shelled woods could be helpful to provide the British with some alternative cover as they advance on the German-held trenches, although some hedges, walls or trees would probably suffice.

While many trenches depicted in photographs and descriptions from 1914 show straight and rather shallow

ditches, at Festubert they seem to have learnt from some of the earlier mistakes and included some traverses to mini-mise the impact of enemy shell-fire. Because the Manchesters had been in position for several days, I suspect that they would have made their trenches as deep as possible. The British second-line trenches need not be depicted and can be assumed to be just on the British table edge.

THE RULESFor our play-through of the scenario, I used Chris Peers To The Last Man rules. However, any set of twentieth-century skirmish rules could easily be used, such as Triumph and Tragedy. At our club, we quite like Through the Mud and the Blood and If the Lord Spares Us by TooFatLardies, but the size of the British force is possibly a bit small for these. Another set that would work well is the 1938 Very British Civil War conversion of Legends of the Old West, written by Guy Bowers and published in WS&S 52 and 53.

THE SIDESI have tried to explain these with To The Last Man classifications, although they should be easily transferable to your favoured rule set.

The BritishSecond Lieutenant James Leach Gallant (Elite), C in C. Armed with a revolver.

descriptions suggest that Hogan and Leach attacked the trenches alone, after several failed attempts to attack in larger numbers. The soldiers assaulted the Germans through one of the commu-nications trenches, and then attacked the front-line trench. Leach used his revolver to fire around the corners of the trenches at close range, without exposing himself too much to returning fire. Hogan guarded the parapet behind Leach as they advanced, and prevented the pair being attacked from above or behind. Along the way, he raised his hat on the end of his rifle to let the rest of his platoon know where he was and to make sure they were not fired upon.

Hogans citation claims that the men worked from traverse to traverse at close quarters and with great bravery, gradually regaining possession, killing eight of the enemy, wounding two, and making sixteen prisoners. In the final traverses of the trench, Leach was surprised to hear an English voice shout out Dont shoot, sir! One of the Manchesters who had been captured in the morning had been sent out to arrange the Germans surrender. Neither of the British soldiers had been injured, although Leachs cap and scarf both had bullet holes in them from near misses. After such a successful action, both Leach and Hogan were recom-mended for the Victoria Cross. They were awarded it on 22 December 1914 by King George V in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

THE SCENARIOThe scenario recreates the attack led by Second Lieutenant James Leach and Sergeant John Hogan at Festubert on 29 October, to recapture the trenches held by the Germans. The event appealed to me as a gamer, due to the relatively

Trench clearing, section by section.

The Germans bring up reinforcements.

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Sergeant John Hogan Gallant (Elite), NCO. Armed with a rifle and bayonet. 10 x British Infantry Regular. Armed with rifle and bayonet.

I decided to make the British regular for this scenario, but allowed the troops a +1 bonus for their shooting, to allow for the British emphasis on marksman-ship in the regular army at the start of the war.

The British infantry should be organized into two rifle sections, each one led by one of the characters. Leach and Hogan should be assumed to be completely self-motivated, regardless of the state of the rest of the section.

The GermansPlatoon commander Militia, C in C.

Armed with pistol. Corporal Militia, NCO. Armed with rifle and bayonet. 30 x German Infantry Militia. Armed with rifle and bayonet.

The Germans should be organized into two squads of around 15 figures, led by the Officer and NCO respectively. In the accounts of the battle, only 26 Germans are mentioned as either killed, injured or captured, but I have assumed that a couple managed to escape. Feel free to modify the numbers as you see fit or to suit available models.

I decided, for balance of play, that the German platoon should probably be classed as militia quality, represent-ing reservist troops who perhaps lacked the formal training or confidence of the

regulars. In To The Last Man, this still makes them reasonably competent at shooting and effective in hand-to-hand combat. However, they are consider-ably more brittle in terms of morale and find it difficult to recover if they are pinned or if their unit suffers major trauma. This was meant to accurately reflect the high rate of surrender on the day in question. Unfortunately, I have not managed to find out the specific German unit involved.

The Germans are set up occupying the trench facing towards the British long table edge. The two squads should be evenly spread along the entire trench. The British storming parties can start anywhere along their long table edge and can attack either stealthily or using a rush and assault. The British get the first turn.

Victory conditionsThe Germans win a total victory if they keep control of the trench at the end of the game and Leach and Hogan are killed or captured.

The Germans win a minor victory if they keep control of the trench, regard-less of whether one or other hero is killed or captured.

The British win a total victory if they recapture the trench and Hogan and Leach receive a VC (see below).

The British win a minor victory if the trench is recaptured, regardless

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The British storm a bunker.

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of casualties or VCs.If the trench is still disputed, then the result is a draw.

Winning the Victoria CrossAs each of the British characters carries out specific actions, tally up their glory score as they go. Capturing the German trenches: +10

glory points For every German killed or captured

by the character: + 2 glory points For every German killed or captured

by British soldiers under their com-mand: + 1 glory point each

For killing or capturing the German officer: +4 glory points

If engaged in close combat for at least a turn: +2 glory points

If killed in action: +4 glory points

Each character needs to score at least 20 glory points to win the Victoria Cross for valour.

TWEAKING THE SCENARIODepending on the rule set that you are using, you might want to alter a few aspects of the scenario to make it more balanced. If the German platoon repeatedly lose using your rules, you might consider improving their quality up to regular (although in To The Last Man terms, this would make it even more of a suicide mission, if it applied to the whole platoon maybe limiting it to one squad would be better). Another alternative would be to reduce still further the number of attackers, as his-torically Leach and Hogan seem to have

done the majority of the groundwork. If the British are repeatedly beaten, then you might want to consider improving the quality of the Manchesters up to dashing, or providing some support-ing fire from off-table HMGs or artillery barrages.

FIGURE AND SCENERY AVAILABILITYWe played the scenario out using 28mm figures from Great War Minia-tures, although Renegade, Wargames Foundry, Battle Honours, Woodbine Design Company, and Reiver Castings all provide suitable figures at this scale. 20mm is another viable option that makes gaming some of the larger battles of the Western Front more affordable. IT Miniatures and Tumbling Dice both supply the troops required for this scenario. Several soft plastic sets are also available from Airfix, which would allow you to play out this scenario for less than a tenner.

At 28mm scale, Ironclad, Kallistra, Grand Manner, and Total System Scenic all have decent trench systems. In 20mm, Ironclad and Small Scale Scenics both make excellent systems. Because many WWI games require a lot of trenches, I would encourage players to have a go at scratch-building, if they are short of cash. The ones we used in our playtest looked fantastic and were made very cheaply out of balsa wood, polystyrene and lightweight filler.

TIME FOR REFLECTIONI always worry about glorifying war

in my articles. As a lad reading those Times History of the War books, I never realized the true horror of the First World War. After the events of 29 October 1914, Leach was treated for concussion, and was discharged on medical grounds in December. Despite this, he was back at the front in April 1915, where he lasted just one week before again being deemed unfit for service and given leave until September. This was cut short and he was called up again to the Signals Corps. Later, he was transferred back to the 2nd Manches-ters, but clearly he was suffering from very poor mental health. He spent a short period in Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh, and then spent a further 12 months on sick leave drawing half pay. He was discharged in August 1918. Clearly, the events at Festubert had played a huge part in his breakdown. After the war, Leach volunteered to work in the Royal Irish Constabulary in County Cork, and returned to England after the peace treaty in 1921.

Reading of the after-effects of Leachs heroism can only make one grateful that tin, resin or plastic figures can have no stress. Its just the gamer who has to paint them all who gets that!

The models used are from 25mm Foundry range and were painted by Martin Oaff and Guy Bowers. The author built the trenches.Initial findings came from The Times History of the War, Volume 10 (London 1917). An excellent biography of James Leach can be found at: http://www.tameside.gov.uk/muse-umsgalleries/mom/lotm/leach

Several of the more general his-tories of the campaigns of 1914 that I found useful to put the ac-tions into context include: Lyn Macdonald, 1914: The days of hope (London, 1989).Antony Farrar-Hockley, Death of an Army (London, 1967).David Lomas, First Ypres 1914 (Osprey, 1998).

The British return with prisoners.

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Wargaming the battle of Thapsus

SCIPIO VERSUS CAESAR

By Simon Miller

Caesar had landed in the area as well in September 47 BC, assem-bling a sizeable army over time. At the Battle of Ruspina and in numerous skirmishes, the Caesarian forces gener-ally seem to have gained the upper hand over their enemies.

By April, both the Populares army and the larger Optimates army were in the region of Thapsus, a walled coastal town garrisoned by a Pompeian detachment; Caesar promptly besieged the town, throwing a circumvallation around it. The main Optimates army, led by Scipio, but including a large al-lied contingent under Juba, marched to its relief.

Thapsus was situated on an isthmus: a long, curved spit of land with the sea to the north and a large salt lake to the south. For this reason, the town could only be approached either from the south-east or from the west.

Scipio first attempted to approach Thapsus from the south-east, but found his way barred by a Caesarian fort. He erected two forts to secure this end of the isthmus, and left Juba and many of the allied forces to man them, thus blocking Caesars potential line of retreat. That night Scipio force-marched his legions all the way around the salt lake, approaching the town again, this time from the west. Drawing up his battle-line, he set some of his troops to building a line of hasty fortifications across the isthmus, threatening to cut Caesar off. Not wishing to be so con-fined, and trusting to the superior lan

of his legions, Caesar therefore brought his army out of camp and offered battle.

THE FORCESCaesar had ten legions in total. Five of these were veterans. The other five were relatively recently recruited, but somewhat hardened by campaigning. He assigned the two least experienced of these new legions to man the forts covering the south-eastern approach to Thapsus, leaving eight legions in his battle-line. He also had an unspecified number of Gallic cavalry, supported by skirmishers and a force of archers and slingers. Finally, he had the support of a naval squadron on his seaward flank, including marines armed with missile weapons.

The Optimates were probably some-what more numerous than the Caesar-ians, with ten legions that may have been nearer to full strength than Cae-sars, as they had recruited heavily in Af-rica. According to Caesar, though, many of their legionaries were inexperienced and contemptible freedmen and slaves.

Moreover, some of them (probably the third line of cohorts) were engaged in building the new fortifications. The bulk of Jubas troops, probably including his four imitation legions, were absent, garrisoning the forts on the far side of Thapsus. However, at least 64 of Jubas elephants and presumably many of his light cavalry and infantry were present on the battlefield.

THE BATTLEThe spit of land on which the Battle of Thapsus was fought was a narrow, flat plain, around a mile and a half wide. The land would then, as now, have been agricultural, with fields and olive trees that would have offered little obstacle to the free movement of troops. On the south flank, scrub still runs down to the impassable salt lake (the Sebkha of Moknine; an interest-ing modelling challenge). On the north flank, sandy beaches run down to the Mediterranean.

Caesar deployed seven of his eight available legions in three lines of co-

By 46 BC, the Roman civil war between Caesars Populares and the Optimates, the faction

formerly led by Pompey had moved to northern Africa. There, the remaining Optimates led

by Marcus Cato (the Younger) and Caecilius Metellus Scipio (a descendant of Scipio Africanus)

had gathered their forces. It was still a formidable, led by experienced generals and now rein-

forced by their ally, Juba I of Numidia with a substantial native force.

View from the seaward flank, with the Optimates on the right.

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Caesar initially tried to restrain them. However, an unknown trumpeter sig-nalled the attack, and the entire Popu-lares line rolled impetuously forward! Making the best of circumstances, Caesar signalled the attack. Caesar had originally planned a naval diversion behind the Optimates seaward flank, but the rapid advance of his unruly troops left no time for this stratagem to take effect.

The Numidian elephants attacking Caesars right flank were panicked by the missiles of Caesars skirmishers, and routed through the troops behind them, carrying the wing away with them. On his left, at least some of the elephants were driven off by the veterans of V Alaudae Caesar had, with his usual forethought, arranged for these latter to be trained in anti-elephant tactics, using pachyderms specially re-imported into Africa from the Roman circus. Similarly, he had also made his cavalry practise with the elephants, so that their horses could overcome their fear of the latters scent.

The Optimates forces apparently col-lapsed very quickly, as Caesar claims that only 50 of his men were killed during the battle. However, his enraged legionaries massacred 10,000 enemy legionaries who were trying to surren-

der, and, in their bloodlust, even killed some of their own officers, who tried to bring an end to the slaughter. Plutarch writes that Caesar had lost control of his forces, because he had suffered an epileptic fit. Caesars decisive victory at Thapsus effectively ended the war in Africa. However, several of the Pompeian lead-ers evaded capture and reached Spain, where they gathered a fresh army and initiated the final stage of the Civil war.

GAMING THAPSUSThe author plays Thapsus as an ex-tremely large scenario, using his own To the Strongest! rules and involving more than sixty 28mm units, on a table 8 wide by 6 deep. His legionaries are formed into units of 24 models in 2 ranks, elephants in units of two, and light infantry and cavalry are in units 9-12 strong. The scenario will also work perfectly well with other rule sets, though, such as Impetus, Hail Caesar, FoG or WAB. If a gamer lacks sufficient miniatures, the number of units can be scaled down, as long as the width of the battlefield is reduced proportionately. Alternatively, single elements could be used in place of units, or formations could be reduced to one rank deep.

Caesars legionaries were certainly superior in morale to their opponents (whose formations included many re-cently conscripted farmers and slaves). Moreover, several of his legions were veteran. These differences should be reflected in the rules; in Hail Caesar terms, the Alaudae cohorts might per-haps be Elite and the veterans Stubborn; the inexperienced Optimates legionar-ies might be Freshly Raised. Caesar also had more bridled Gallic and German cavalry than the Pompeians. Lacking bridles, the Numidian cavalry could not sufficiently control their horses to charge these on anything like an equal basis.

On the other hand, the Optimates le-gionaries should be rather more numer-ous and supported by substantial native forces, albeit of indifferent quality (Wavering or Levy). Jubas elephants, in

horts, across the width of the spit, with his less experienced legions in the cen-tre, and the more experienced ones on either side of them. Each end of the line was reinforced by half of the veteran V Alaudae legion, drawn up in a fourth line, most likely (in the view of the author) in front of the other cohorts, as the Larks were heavily engaged with the enemys elephant screen. Archers and slingers screened the wings, which included contingents of Gallic cavalry mixed with light troops.

The Optimates would also have drawn up their forces in the customary three lines, with their cavalry on the wings, screened by at least 64 of Jubas 120 elephants.

The restricted width of the battlefield proved highly advantageous to the Cae-sarians, as it limited the effectiveness of the Optimates greater numbers of light infantry and cavalry, who were left with little space to deploy and no opportu-nity to outflank their opponents.

Caesar rode along his line to review his troops, who were in excellent spirits, unlike those of the Optimates, whose lines seem to have been in some dis-order, either due to their inexperience or the need to build the fortifications. When his troops clamoured to attack,

Historical deployments.

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particular, were very poorly trained, and appropriate rules should be selected to make them almost as dangerous to the Optimates as to their enemies!

Place one low hill in the central zone and one in each of the flank zones. Place two areas of rough ground (olive groves) in each flank zone. If available, a partially constructed line of fortifica-tions can be placed across the entire width of the Optimates base zone; it is impassable terrain for both sides (the openings being too narrow to allow many soldiers to pass at the same time). The eponymous besieged city and siege lines were off-table, behind the Caesarian lines, so they dont need to be represented on the battlefield ... but it would look great if they could be! Thapsus was a walled port.

At the outset, the players should agree a set number of turns for the game, depending upon the rule set used. The Caesarians move first. The Caesarians win if they rout the Pompeians within this time period: the Pompeians win otherwise, or if Caesar is killed.

Caesars challenge will be to win the battle quickly, before the Optimates superior numbers tell!

This order of battle is based on the au-thors To the Strongest! scenario.

WHAT IFThe historical Battle of Thapsus was something of a whitewash for the Caesarians, so the author has to some extent balanced the scenario, in order to make it more entertaining than the historical encounter. This has been done by somewhat improving the quality of the native forces (who performed so very poorly on the day). There are, how-ever, a number of what ifs that could change the balance of the battle.Players might like to introduce a mecha-nism through which Caesar can be laid low by an epileptic fit, being removed from play on any Blundered order roll, in Hail Caesar terms.

Another interesting variation would be to model and include the Caesar-ian naval squadron, positioned on the seaward flank. This is likely to have included triremes and perhaps even some of the exceptionally large Roman grain ships, pressed into temporary use as troop transports. Manned by marines with missile weapons (and perhaps artillery), Caesar intended the fleet to be used primarily as a diversion, but in the game some troops could be withdrawn

from the Caesarian battle line and used in an amphibious landing. The author is currently laying the keels of a small Roman fleet to explore this idea.

At the start of the battle, it appears that the element of the Optimates forces who were constructing the fortifications behind their camp, were disorganised, which is why they arent permitted to move in the first turn of the scenario. However, if Caesars response to the flanking move had been less prompt, these fortifications (presumably a pali-sade and ditch) might have been com-pleted, and the troops available from the first move. They might also have provided platforms for light artillery to provide supporting fire over the heads of the Optimates troops.

Scipio had made some efforts to train his elephants for the battlefield, although not sufficient as they were quickly routed. Raising the quality of the elephants would also help to bal-ance the battle.

Finally, at the height of the battle, the besieged defenders of Thapsus sallied from their town, through a gate on its seaward side, and waded through the waves to attack the Caesarian camp.

Clash of the battle-lines.

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Populares ForcesCaesar inspired commanding general

Right wing sub-general 2 x German or Gallic bridled horse1 x javelinmen2 x slingers or archers

Centre sub-general8 x veteran cohort and 6 x experienced cohort, drawn up in three lines 2 x elite cohort (half of V Alaudae), one in front of the end of each line (If the rule system permits, the morale of the Populares cohorts should be higher than that of their Optimates equivalents.)

Left wing sub-general2 x German or Gallic bridled horse1 x javelinmen2 x slingers or archers

Optimates ForcesMetellus Scipio commanding general

Titus Labienus Right wing sub-general1 x elephants*1 x German or Gallic bridled horse 2 x Numidian skirmishers2 x Numidian cavalry

Lucius Afranius Centre sub-general20 x experienced cohort, drawn up in three lines If desired, some of the legionary cohorts could be replaced with Numidian imitation legionaries. The rear line of cohorts cannot move in the first turn, as they are deemed to be forming up, having abandoned work on the fortifications.

Marcus Petraeus Left wing sub-general2 x elephants*1 x German or Gallic bridled horse 2 x Numidian skirmishers2 x Numidian cavalry

* Jubas elephants were poorly trained, and should be at least as dangerous to the Optimates as to their enemies!

All photos courtesy of the author.Sources: Caesar, The Civil War (Penguin Books; Harmondsworth, 1967) A. Goldsworthy, Caesar. The Life of a Colossus (Phoenix;London, 2007)

A city that belongs to just one man is no true city.

They were driven off by a scratch force of slaves and camp servants. If a gamer has the resources to