Preparing futuristic terrain for a Mech game

While I’m busy preparing for a house move. Packing and getting the house ready for sale, mostly tackling those small tidy-up tasks I have ignored for years. I am still finding slots of time in between tasks for  wargaming related activities. Over the past couple of days, I’ve been working on some terrain for a futuristic Mech game. I recently marked a 4-inch grid on a brown felt mat using dots to mark the corners. Since I plan to use some One-Hour Wargames scenarios for my games, many of which feature rivers, I decided that for my futuristic game set on a mining planet, crevasses could replace the rivers. I found some black suede cloth in my wife’s material stash and cut it into strips to represent crevasses on the tabletop. 

The gaming mat prepared with a square grid, each corner is marked with a dot.

Some crevasses created with black cloth cut up.

I already had some foam hills made up. They have been borrowed from my 6mm WW2 Western Desert game. Details of how I made them here.

Foam hills.

The next steps are to finalise the rules I've been playing around with and begin writing a narrative for the games and campaign I am planning.

Packing up the toys

With the removalists arriving in five weeks, it was time to start packing up all the toys. Over the past 4 days, with the help of my daughter who's visiting, we've been carefully boxing up all my wargaming miniatures, terrain, painting supplies, and more. We ended up using over 100 metres of bubble wrap in an effort to safely secure everything as it gets boxed up.

The first layer of miniatures all wrapped up and packed on their side before a corrugated cardboard insert is added and the next layer of miniatures is added. 

Hopefully they all arrive in one piece.

This now means no model making, painting, or wargaming on the tabletop until everything gets shipped from Australia to New Zealand and unpacked. In the meantime, with no tabletop games available, I will have to resort to drawing maps on an A3 sketch pad and using cardboard counters to satisfy my wargaming habit. My daughter is taking a Mech-Robot game back with her to New Zealand, which I’ve been preparing over the last few months, the Battletech models and terrain all conveniently fit into a shoebox (see here and here). So once we arrive, and before the rest of our house contents show up, I should be able to squeeze in a few miniature games, though most of my time will likely be spent preparing and painting the new house.

Battle of Cheriton 1644 - Remote Game Rematch

Yesterday, the rematch of the English Civil War Battle of Cheriton took place. It was hosted by Jon from the Palouse Wargaming Journal. I had hosted the first game a couple of weeks ago where Jon commanding the Royalist forces had secured a victory (details can be found here).

Jon has some wonderful looking English Civil War armies.

Below is a photograph of the deployed armies which was included in the briefing details provided by Jon. I chose to command the Parliamentarian army under Waller once again, hoping to redeem myself after losing with them in the previous game.

The deployed armies

The Plan…

My plan was to attack on the left wing and try to out flank the Royalist army’s position while the infantry centre would advance and use the woods occupied with dragoons to protect their right flank. All bar one of Balfour’s cavalry units would move to the left flank to support the attack. One cavalry unit was to be held in reserve, just in case the infantry centre needed support.

This screenshot highlights the opening move along with my planned strategy indicated by the red arrows.

Opening Moves…

My right-wing cavalry advanced, led by Haselrigge, and were quickly engaged with the Royalist cavalry on the left flank. The results were mixed, some of my units were successful, while others withdrew after the clash. Overall, my cavalry appeared to gain the upper hand, with the remaining Royalist cavalry opting to remain behind the hedges.

Balfour’s cavalry continue to reposition themselves to the left flank as Haselrigge leads the cavalry charge on the left flank.

The Royalist infantry centre had advanced and taken up positions behind the hedge running across the middle of the battlefield. With Balfour’s right-wing cavalry still manoeuvring into position, my infantry centre, led by Potley who had joined the front unit, charged forward. They managed to push back part of the Royalist centre away from the hedge, but much of my infantry centre had become worn in the process. One very annoyingly and stubborn Royalist infantry unit crossed the hedge and positioned itself awkwardly toward my left flank, obstructing my cavalry's movement.

Meanwhile on the right flank my dragoon’s were slowly making their way round to position themselves on the Royalist left.

Parliament’s infantry centre push forward while their cavalry have the upper hand on the left flank. The hedges were creating problems.

The Middle Game…

Potley pressed his infantry forward, taking advantage of their momentum, while on the left flank, Haselrigge’s cavalry continued to engage but were now becoming worn and fatigued. Any further attacks on the left flank would now depend on Balfour’s cavalry, who had finally taken up their positions.

Potley's infantry continue their advance in the centre while on the left flank cavalry continue to engage with little effect.

Potley’s advance in the centre, while successful, had resulted in his unit becoming very exposed and surrounded by Royalist forces. It was crucial to clear the Royalist infantry unit blocking movement on my left flank. After a series of desperate cavalry charges they were finally routed.

On the right flank, Balfour’s one reserve cavalry unit moved forward to be ready to charge the Royalist artillery. While the Dragoons, after making very slow progress through the woods, emerged on the Royalist flank.

After a series of cavalry charges a problematic Royalist infantry unit is routed, freeing up movement on the left flank. On the right flank preparation is underway to charge the Royalist guns.

The End Game…

With the blocking Royalist infantry unit removed, Balfour’s remaining fresh cavalry on the left flank were able to charge the Royalist infantry centre. They successfully routed a unit but failed to pursue, leaving them vulnerable to a flank attack that ultimately forced them to rout. Potley’s infantry unit was finally routed by Royalist assaults, he managed to escape and rejoin the remaining infantry, who were all at various levels of exhaustion and merely observing the battle.

Note - this is a view from the Royalist side of the table. Parliament’s cavalry on the left wing are finally able to charge on the flank of the Royalist infantry.

With my infantry centre units all in a worn state, my final attacks now all depended on my remaining fresh cavalry units, which managed a somewhat successfully charge and destroy the Royalist artillery near the woods before quickly retreating back. On the other flank, my cavalry repelled a Royalist charge. These final Royalist losses were enough to break their army’s resolve, leading to a Parliamentary victory.

Note - a view from Royalist side of the table. The final moves see the Royalist artillery destroyed and Parliament’s cavalry repulse the Royalist cavalry charge.

Summary…

The game began slowly as I worked to reposition Balfour’s cavalry and advance my infantry. The hedges restricted movement, causing my initial left wing attack to stall, which led me to charge with my infantry against the Royalist centre infantry lining the central hedge. Not part of my original plan, but Potley’s charge proved to be crucial, as it pushed back the Royalist centre and limited Parliament’s ability to move units and coordinate attacks. Removing the Royalist infantry unit that had restricted cavalry movement on the left was crucial. If this had not been done promptly, the Royalists could have reorganised after Potley’s successful charge.

By the end of the game, nearly all my units were exhausted and had limited attack capability, with most loitering on the battlefield like lost sheep. The remaining Royalist units were still in relatively good condition, but after witnessing other units routing the overall army resolve had been undermined.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and close game and took 3 hours to play. Thank you to Jon for hosting the rematch. Below are a few close-up photographs of Jon’s armies from the game. One downside of remote gaming is missing out on appreciating the miniatures up close.

A view of the Royalist centre as Potley begins his attack.

The last hurrah of Potley’s unit.

Making Terrain for a Stompy Robot and Mech Game

In March 2024, I posted an update about my Stompy Robots and Mech Mayhem project. This weekend, I revisited the project to try and make some buildings that have the look of towering mining and manufacturing facilities. I wanted for a futuristic look and decided on tubular-shaped structures. This choice allowed me to put to use the various pieces of wooded dowel I've been saving in the shed, waiting for the right project.

Futuristic buildings for the robots and mechs.

Robots defending the mining and manufacturing facilities.

After deciding on tubular-shaped buildings, the next step was figuring out how to make them and choosing the colours. I wanted to make the buildings in such a way so they could be placed together to make one large facility. I also knew I didn't want the usual grey, so I chose a pale purple with blue undertones.

The first step was to cut up the wooden dowel into various lengths. I used the largest piece of the dowel as the base and piled the smaller pieces on top, glueing them as I went.

The wooden dowel cut up and glued together.

The buildings were first undercoated with white gesso, followed by a light grey. Once dry, I gave the buildings a pale purple wash, then used a blue wash to highlight specific features and the base of the buildings.

After undercoating a pale wash is applied.

A blue wash is added to highlight areas of the buildings.

The final step was adding details and sealing everything with PVA glue. I kept the details simple, using small dots of white and yellow, along with a few black lines.

The buildings with details painted on.

A closer look at the finished buildings.

With the buildings finished, the last task for this project will be to add some color to the gaming mat, which is currently just a piece of sand-coloured felt.

New book on solo wargaming arrived

I had been eagerly waiting for the book "Solo Wargaming - A Practioner’s Guide" by David Heading to arrive in the post. It arrived a couple of weeks ago and I have been able to find time to quickly read it. So here is my review of the book after a first read through.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style along with how the book is organised as it explores the various aspects of solo wargaming, offering guidance, suggestions and examples.

The new arrival from Pen and Sword Publishing

Chapter 1 addresses the question of why one might choose to solo wargame, examining both the advantages and disadvantages.

Chapter 2 looks the different types of tabletop battle settings, including historical, semi-historical, scenario-based, and fictional. It was good to see a variety of game types considered, such as role-playing, skirmishes, small to medium-sized games, and large wargames. The chapter also covered generating terrain, choosing forces, and generalship, discussing options for playing both sides or using an automated general. Each area discussed has practical advice and often one or two example mechanisms. The chapter concludes with a quick discussion on how to address biases towards armies, one’s favourite units, and reading/information sources.

In many ways, Chapter 3 (Campaigns) and Chapter 4 (Personalities, Logistics, and Randomization) form the core of the book, emphasizing how a campaign setting and narrative can significantly enhance the interest of tabletop battles and influence the decisions made during these games. These chapters delve into the scale and scope of solo campaigns and provide guidance on setting them up, and looks at the various types of campaigns, such as narrative, map-less, semi-mapped, and fully mapped. Even diplomacy gets a look in with an example mechanism, very useful for campaigns with more than two forces. The challenges of taking campaign situations to the tabletop and back again is well covered. There is a discussion on when and how to abstract campaign detail so to avoid getting bogged down in a campaign.

It was nice to see consideration given to siege, naval and air wargames in their own chapter 5 and how they can be incorporated into campaigns, or be a campaign in their own right.

The final chapter, Chapter 6 - Advancing, includes some additional considerations such as sources of inspiration, levels or realism and choices about abstracting them, and a few suggestions and guidance for approaching Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

So, what did I gain from reading this book? I found the emphasis on narrative particularly interesting, especially in the context of campaigns. This approach helps the story telling aspect of the campaign and adds personalities into any decision-making. Most of my solo campaigns have been about connecting a series of tabletop games with minimal record-keeping, so this narrative focus has given me something to think about and consider using for my future campaigns to add to their story. The chapter on handling sieges has some useful ideas and mechanisms which I can see myself using in some future campaign.

A book I am pleased to add to my wargaming library.

Game Report - Battle of Cheriton 1644

Yesterday, I hosted a remote Battle of Cheriton wargame with Jon (Palouse Wargaming Journal). This battle from the English Civil War took place on March 29, 1644. Jon chose to play as the Royalists to see if history could be reversed. The preparation for the game is covered in my previous post and there were a couple of changes to the scenario discussed below).

Order of battle…

Parliament

• Right Wing Command - 4 x Cavalry units
• Left Wing Command - 3 x Cavalry units
• Centre Command - 6 x Infantry units
• Reserve Command - 2 x Infantry units
• 1 x Artillery units
• 2 x Dragoon/Commanded Shot units

Royalist

• Right WIng Command - 4 x Cavalry units
• Left Wing Command - 3 x Cavalry units
• Centre Command - 5 x Infantry units
• Reserve Command - 2 x Infantry units
• 1 x Artillery units
• 3 x Dragoon/Commanded Shot units

Tabletop Setup…

The tabletop setup has the woods on one flank and a series of fields and hedges in the centre. While the fields do not affect combat, the hedges remain in place. I do not allow hedges to be moved or for units to end their move positioned precariously on top of them. This approach means formations can become disrupted, and this can sometimes prevent units from supporting friendly units or engaging enemy units. Only dragoons or commanded shot can occupy wooded areas.

The tabletop setup.

All units are deployed on the tabletop at the start. The game begins with Royalist dragoons and commanded shot successfully occupying the woods, while an infantry unit advances on Parliament’s left wing. Initially, I considered having a rule where the woods would be contested first before either side could advance their main force. If the Royalists secured the woods, an infantry unit would then advance. However, after a few test games I decided the simplest approach was to start the game with the Royalists already holding the woods and an impulsive Royalist infantry unit positioned advancing on the Parliamentarian left wing, as it appears to have occurred in the historical battle.

The deployment of commands with the Royalists occupying the wood and one impulsive unit advancing.

Opening Moves…

The Parliamentarian cavalry quickly targeted the advancing Royalist infantry, charging them with their left wing cavalry while also advancing their infantry centre. This situation prompted the Royalist right wing cavalry to charge forward and engage Parliament's cavalry, they were supported by their left wing cavalry who moved around from behind the Royalist centres. The battle soon intensified the with infantry centres of both armies advancing and engaged in combat.

The Royalist cavalry quickly gained the upper hand in the engagement, prompting Parliament to advance their right wing cavalry command from their position behind their centre provide support and plug any gaps.

Parliament’s cavalry charge the impulsive Royalist infantry unit.

The cavalry clash on the wings while the infantry in the centre have advanced.

Middle Game…

The battle was quickly becoming a slog in the centre, and as casualties mounted, Parliament gradually gained the upper hand, prompting both armies to advance their reserve infantry. On Parliament’s left wing, their supporting cavalry initially nullified the attacks from first line of Royalist cavalry but soon faced renewed pressure as the Royalist second line charged in.

The second line of Royalist cavalry move up in the background, while the centre the battle is intensifying.

Parliament is gaining an advantage in the centre, while their cavalry on the left wing is hard-pressed.

End Game…

The Royalist cavalry finally defeated most of the opposing Parliamentary cavalry, opening up the flank. In the centre, a sizeable portion of the Royalist line routed from the pressure from Parliament’s infantry. The Royalist reserve infantry braced themselves for the advancing enemy infantry, but the advance did not eventuate. After losing more than half of its units, many of them cavalry, Parliament chose to call off the battle and retire in good order.

The battle in the centre intensifies, while on the flank Royalist cavalry have gained the upper hand.

The Royalist centre outs, but too late for Parliament who have more than half of their army routed.

Summary…

Well done to Jon for his victory, who’s infantry effectively held up my centre attack long enough until his cavalry eventually prevailled.

The losses in the game were:

Royalists:

• 5 x Infantry units
• 4 x Cavalry units
• 2 x Commanders

Parliament:

• 3 x Infantry units
• 6 x Cavalry units
• 1 x Artillery unit
• 1 x Commander

The game was decided using a points system, which I’m still fine-tuning:

• Add 1 point for each routed enemy unit.
• Add 3 points for each enemy supply unit attacked.
• Add 2 points for each enemy commander lost.
• Add 3 points if the enemy commander-general is lost.
• Add 6 points if enemy army is reduced by more than half, including any enemy cavalry exiting the tabletop after attacking supplies.
• Add 6 points for each objective captured.

Using this system, the Royalists scored 18 points (10 for enemy units routed, 2 for an enemy commander removed from play, and 6 for reducing enemy units by more than half). Parliament scored 13 points (9 for enemy units routed and 4 for enemy commanders removed from play).

If you’re wondering why both armies were slow to advance their reserve infantry and second lines of cavalry, it’s because the rules limit movement to only two army commands per turn. This restriction prevents frantic manoeuvring of units and ensures a more gradual engagement of commands as they advance.

This was a most enjoyable game, taking just over an hour and a half to play. In a couple of weeks, Jon will be hosting his version of the battle and we will be using his rules.