Friday 15 March 2024

Stomping robots and mech mayhem

One of the projects I wanted to do this year was paint up some robots and mechs for a small tabletop game I can easily setup on the dining room table and game in a 2 by 2 foot space. Now that I have finished painting various BattleTech and Warhammer Imperialis miniatures with a couple of kit-bashed flyers I will now turn my attention to creating a battle mat and some scenery for them.

Red army of robots and mechs.

To keep things simple I went for a Blue and Red army.

While I have yet to land on any rules yet, the two front running rulesets are: 

Looking at using one of these rulesets.

The setting for these games is quite naturally in the distant future, were humanity has colonised countless worlds across the galaxy, but one particular planet stands out as a hub of trade and industry: Corpnovia a sprawling world with vast megacities, towering skyscrapers, and advanced manufacturing facilities.

The planet is governed by a handful of powerful city-states, each ruling over its own territory with an iron grip. These city-states have risen to prominence through their control of key resources, strategic locations, and cutting-edge technology. However, rather than traditional armies, they rely on formidable armies of robotic machines, tracked mechs, and drones to ruthlessly enforce their control and protect their interests.

For the moment though I am back wargaming some English Civil War games with stomping pikemen and musket mayhem.

The tabletop set up for a game.


Monday 11 March 2024

Imaginary Napoleonic Scenario for a large battle (part 2) battle report

Here is the after action report of the fictional Napoleonic battle scenario. Additional background information available in the previous post and the game rules outlined here. In the game each unit base corresponds to an estimated force of 4,000 line infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 30 guns.

A close up of some of the tabletop action with the Spencer-Smith Miniatures battling over some wooded block houses.

The commencement of the battle sees French forces deployed along the stretch of road from Durbach to Gotteral, with the initial Austrian units advancing to engage their line.

Initial deployment of units.

The tabletop and the 3 towns of Durbach, Gotteral, and Weller the French are defending.

Battle Report

Swiftly, the Austrian units advanced and encountered French defenders in the vicinity of Durbach, while simultaneously moving units to secure the high ground behind the French position. In response to the French promptly redeployed their light infantry, positioning them in a strong defensive position on the ridge and anxiously awaited the arrival of reinforcements.

The assault on Durbach begins and the French react to the advancing Austrians.

The French are doing well with their defence.

Reinforcements from the Austrian army joined the battle, launching an assault on the town of Gotteral. The French, had been exhibiting a resolute and robust defence on both the plateau and in Durbach, which allowed them the opportunity to mount a counterattack against the Austrian forces attacking Gotteral. 

Despite the determined efforts of the French, not every aspect of the battle unfolded in their favour. After three intense hours of combat, the Austrians finally managed to make headway on the high ground, pushing back the defending French and ultimately gained control of Durbach.

Arriving reserves are thrown into the assault of Gotteral.

The French counterattack from Gotteral town and throw the Austrians into disorder and nullify the initial threat.

Following their triumph in capturing the town of Durbach, the Austrian forces proceeded to advance across the high ground and their next target, the town of Gotteral. Reacting swiftly, the French hurridly moved their available reserves to the high ground and began fortifying the defences in and around Gotteral. Their earlier counterattack that had effectively repelled the advancing Austrian troops trying to assault the town.

The momentum of battle had shifted towards the French as the arrival of their Guard reinforcements effectively neutralised the Austrian push for the high ground. At this juncture, both armies had seen over half of their units being routed and thrown into disarray, placing constraints on their offensive capabilities. Only the Guard/Grenadier units or those units with fewer more than half their strength remaining were capable of initiating movement into contact with enemy units. This was a concern for the Austrian general who ordered his remaining fresh units to hurry up.

The French eliminate the threat from the high ground.

Fresh Austrian units can be seen rushing along the road to assault Gotteral and salvage something from the day’s battle.

New and fresh Austrian reserves launch an assault on Gotteral just as the French commander tactically shifts his Guard units and artillery to reinforce the valiant defenders of the town. As the evening darkness envelops the battlefield, the last remaining Austrian units mount a desperate final assault on the town, aiming to salvage something from the day's significant casualties. Eventually, the French are compelled to relinquish control of the town. Under the cover of darkness they regroup in the vicinity of Weller and wait to see what developments tomorrow will bring.

A desperate assault on Gotteral begins and the French guard units are repositioned to support the town’s defenders.

Gotteral is finally captured as evening arrives. A drawn game.

After game thoughts

A drawn game and definitely one I shall refight. While the Austrian general is hampered by reinforcements arriving randomly in different positions, did he err by attempting to capture the town of Durbach, instead of bypassing it and assigning the task to later arrivals? 

The defence of Durbach certainly delayed the assault on Gotteral and allowed the French to counterattack and gain momentum for a crucial period during the battle. Seeking to dominate the high ground undoubtedly diverted French reinforcements, and its central position is crucial for launching an assault on the small town of Weller. Getting more units on to the high ground earlier might have proven advantageous, potentially compelling the French to relinquish Durbach without engaging in an assault.

The home-brew rules inspired by SPI's Napoleon at Waterloo game provided an enjoyable and entertaining game. As I continue to use these rules in future games, I may review how light infantry operate, and may consider introducing horse artillery and distinguish between heavy and light cavalry.

Friday 8 March 2024

Imaginary Napoleonic Scenario for a large battle (part 1)

The planned game this weekend will feature a largish Napoleonic battle set in a imaginary scenario between a defending French army (25,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 30 guns) and the attacking Austrian army (31,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 60 guns). I'll be using my home-brew tabletop Napoleonic rules, which are inspired by SPI's "Napoleon at Waterloo" board game. These rules are aimed at wargaming battles with one or more corps, where each base typically represents a Brigade. 

The rules can be found here or on a tab at the top of the blog, and a thank you to those who flagged my typos, provided clarifications and asked questions.

Pretty much all the units are made up of the old plastic Spencer-Smith miniatures. The eagled-eyed of you may even spot some converted ACW miniatures.

The tabletop all set up ready for the game.

To come up with an imaginary scenario, I browsed through the battles outlined in Neil Thomas' "Wargaming: 19th Century Europe 1815-1878" and chose the "Battle of Nachod" as the basis for this wargame. While I made several adjustments to the troops and town names, the tabletop layout remains quite similar, with the exception of the river which does not appear in this scenario.

An overhead view of the tabletop showing the entry points for the Austrians reserves (Blue) and French reserves (Red). The hills are difficult to make out in the photo, but have rocks positioned on them.

The Austrian forces are hastily advancing to initiate an attack with the French. They are aiming to seize control of the three towns: Durbach, Gottertal, and Weller. At the beginning of the game, both armies have units deployed on the tabletop, while additional reserve forces will arrive along the roads during the game. Due to the hurried Austrian assault, their reserves will arrive on one of three roads, while all French reserves will arrive along the single road leading to Weller.

Austrian Order of Battle

8 units of Line Infantry

2 units of veteran infantry (Grenadiers)

1 unit of light infantry (Grenzers)

4 units of cavalry

2 units of guns


3 line infantry, 1 cavalry, and 1 light infantry start on the tabletop. The remaining units arrive 1 each turn randomly at one of their 3 entry points determined by the dice.

French Order of Battle

6 units of Line Infantry

2 units of veteran infantry (Guard)

1 unit of light infantry (Voltigeurs)

2 units of cavalry

1 unit of guns


4 line infantry and 1 light infantry start on the tabletop positioned between the towns of Durbach and Gottertal. Their remaining units arrive 1 each turn on the road to Weller.


The generals for both armies will arrive on turn 2 with the reserves.


The starting positions of the units.

Victory Conditions

For victory the Austrians must capture all 3 towns, if only two are captured the game is drawn.


Apart from the uncertainty surrounding the arrival locations of their reserves, the Austrians also confront the challenge of army resolve. In the game, once an army has suffered the loss of over half its units, only veteran units or those with fewer than 3 hits are allowed to initiate engagements with enemy units.


The next post will have the game report.



Monday 4 March 2024

Painting some Battling Robots and Tanks.

While I've been enjoying plenty of game time lately, my attention to the painting aspect of wargaming has also been progressing along quite nicely. I have been focussing on one of my planned projects for this year, which involves painting a set of battling robots. I managed to grab a couple of discounted Battle Tech boxes each consisting of 5 robots which will be supported by some Warhammer Imperialis tanks. A Christmas gift. All in all these should supply me with enough models for a game of Battle Suit Alpha from Wiley Games. Some simple scratch built terrain will also be required for a game on a 2x2 or 3x3 foot tabletop.

Progress so far. The tank with missiles is a conversion using bits from the spares box which will be used as some form of artillery unit.

Another view. There are a variety of robot sizes in the boxes.

Battle Suit Alpha ruleset looks like it will provide a fun game.

The colour schemes are being kept really simple with a set of red robots and tanks and a set of blue robots.

Next up will be a Napoleonic battle report.

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Rules for larger Napoleonic battles

Not much to post about this week as I have finally been able to write up my “home-Brew” Napoleonic rules which are inspired by SPI's board game "Napoleon at Waterloo". In particular the combat rules and use of a combat results table. These rules are aimed at playing larger scale battles involving a number of corps, where each base generally represents a Brigade, but can represent a Division for a particularly large battle.

A tabletop view of a game in progress.

I have been playing a number of games with these rules over the past few weeks and finally settled on a number of the rule mechanisms. So it was time to write up my notes up, which I have done and added them to the tabs at the top of the blog or just click here to find them.

A closer view of the tabletop actions.

There are quite a few excellent Napoleonic scenarios on various blogs covering various historical battles which I now plan to play.

Friday 23 February 2024

Battle of Lake Trasimene - Remote Wargame

Today, I played in a remote wargame featuring the Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC, with Jon from Palouse Wargaming Journal as the game’s host. Over the past couple of weeks Jon has been hosting this game with a few other wargamers both as an umpire and player. The outcome so far has favoured Carthage with them winning 3 of the 4 games played.

Jon and I had previously wargamed this battle back in October last year, where I played as the Romans and suffered defeat with many of my units pushed into the lake and lost. Jon offered me the choice or Romans or Carthaginians, and I opted to play the Carthaginians for a change. As usual, Jon provided a game briefing along with a photo depicting the initial positions.

The initial game setup provided by Jon.

In the first turn, the Carthaginian forces moved on to the ridge and advanced to obstruct the leading units of the Roman right wing. Responding promptly, the Roman units moved away from the lake's edge in the direction of the approaching Carthaginian troops. I was wondering at this point whether I should have attempted a charge with the risk of units failing to reach the Romans.

The Carthaginians appear on the ridge and Roman forces organise.

During the next turn, the Gaul units launched a formidable charge into the Roman line with devastating effect. The dice rolls were very kind to me. A number of Roman units were forced into the lake, and the Roman left wing found itself split into two separate sections. Rome’s one success was to repulse the attacking light cavalry.

The Gauls begin their charge after the light cavalry are repulsed.

More Gaul units charge and force Roman units to retreat.

In the third turn, the Roman right wing, remaining unscathed by the Gauls' onslaught, advancing they forcing a unit of Carthaginian heavy infantry to retreat. Simultaneously, their cavalry rushed to support the remnants of the left wing units, catching a Gaul unit unprepared and successfully routing them. Despite this setback, Carthage's medium cavalry joined the assault on the Roman left flank, routing more units, including killing their commander Flaminius.

The Carthaginian attack continues with medium cavalry. While the Roman right flank has some success pushing back the Carthaginian heavy infantry and their cavalry rout one of the Gaul units.

The remnants of Rome's left wing found no respite, facing assaults from heavy infantry under Hannibal's command that drove back their remaining heavy infantry. Subsequently, they were charged by Spanish infantry, resulting in their rout. The Roman army's resolve broke with this final unit loss.

Hannibal with his heavy infantry charge.

Spanish infantry finish off the game with a successful charge.

The gameplay mirrored historical events, with the Roman left being routed and their right wing appearing poised to break through for an escape. It marked another victory for the Carthaginians, bringing the overall scenario score to 4 to 1 in favour of Carthage. 

In the after game discussion we thought for the Romans to win they must roll successfully at crucial moments, especially at the game's start when they are organising themselves, and trying to put space between themselves and the lake to avoid forced retreats into the lake.

A close up of the game and Jon’s wonderfully painted 28mm miniatures.

Thank you to Jon for the game.

Wednesday 21 February 2024

English Civil War supply carts

Looking back at my recent posts, it would seem like I've been focusing at lot of my time on the wargaming table lately. However, I have actually managed to make progress in painting various miniatures and reducing the pile of  plastic and lead miniatures in the process. The latest bunch of painted miniatures are some supply carts for my English Civil War armies. They are mostly Hinchliffe miniatures with a few random figures I had lying around.

Four supply bases completed.

I did enjoy painting the oxen.

A couple of carts. I tried to select one of each type of cart model available to avoid the baggage train having a uniform look to it.

Currently on the tabletop are my glossy Spencer-Smith Napoleonics in a game using some rules inspired by SPI's board game "Napoleon at Waterloo" adapted for tabletop play. Having played quite a few test games with the modified rules before and after the new year, I hope to give them a final read through and post them in a few days.

A game about to start.