42s...

... a small amount of actual work on the Irregular Miniatures' 42mm ACW figures tonight. I cleaned them up, based them (my other 42s are not based, and were affected by the domino effect during the Rattle of Dice playtest), and undercoated them. Then I turned my thoughts to Zouave uniforms:

First stop was the rather fun card game 'First Bull Run'. I managed to collect almost all of the cards in the early 1990s, and as well as providing a very effective game the cards also provide uniform references for all the units at First Bull Run/Manassas. I'd be surprised if they really manage to do that, but it was a brave effort at the least. Anyway, nothing really stood out there, so I turned to an old favourite:

Philip Haythornthwaite's book provided me with colour details for my several hundred 15mm ACW figures back in the mid and late 1980s, before the interwebtron brought instant answers. But nothing stood out there either, so it was over to:

Robin Smith's two volume uniforms of the ACW, from Brassey's. Both books are packed with the most fascinating period photographs, largely portrait photographs taken at the beginning of the war. There is a wealth of meaning in them, they are quite remarkable. But that still doesn't answer my Zouave colours - I think it's imagi-nation time.

'O Say...

... can you see...' etc etc

The rattling is over, and, yes, history repeated itself, even in my distorted and limited version:

The boys went in - what was left of the Buffalo soldiers and the supporting regiment...

A pretty forgone conclusion, with the few surviving defenders overwhelmed - but just look at the Buffalo standard bearer! Congressional Medal of Honor ?? Think so. Er, well, perhaps not just at the moment (1898); pity he hadn't been an Imperial sort of chap - the VC or the CdG might have been his.

But somebody's having a good war - look at Teddy, as his men come steaming in on the left flank...

pursuing a part regiment of rallied defenders, and driving them off the board.

Back at the heart of the action, the boys storm the blockhouse, and, what's that above the smoke, the billowing black powder from the US artillery and some small arms...

Yes, Old Glory.

Aaah, all's well that ends well, or, at least, with a nice, new, fresh Empire.

Meanwhile, on the way to the painting table are some more 42mm ACW chaps from Irregular. I so enjoyed my first run of 'A Rattle of Dice' with the shiny 42s, that I ordered up a few more from the good fellows in the City of York, including a few more officers, standard bearers and gunners:

And so, to bed. Well, soon-ish. It's a dark, chilly night here in Mercia, but this was the late evening sky over the rooftops of Old England a few nights ago:

It's from here that I can hear trains running down the mainline, people talking in the quiet street where I've come to rest, and the bells ringing on Wednesday evenings and Sundays from the great tower of St. Mary's. I was interested to read today that Channel 4, here in the UK, intends to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer every morning throughout Ramadan, and throughout the day on its website. How delightful. Interestingly, Channel 4 seems to be trying to play two cards at once, claiming that as Muslims are a minority in the UK then they need special treatment, while at the same time saying that because they are/will soon be the biggest religious group in the country (take your pick on numbers here, no one really seems to know, but 3.8 million seems to be a common number used, of which some 40% want English and Scots law replaced by Sharia law) that majoritarian status also requires that they get special status. For my part (and I care not what anyone thinks), and speaking as an Englishman and someone who has some regard for Christianity, specifically Anglicanism, I don't like the sound of this. If this is going to be the beginning of some kind of 'norm', then all religious groups need to get this type of opportunity. That, of course, would be bloody well impossible - just off the top of my head I can think of lots of genuine minority faiths that would need that access: Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland (the Shorter Catechism to be broadcast during various communion weeks); the Society of Friends (silence, broken only by a lot of talk when someone is moved); the Unitarians (explaining why the Trinity isn't what it might be); the Copts (the majority of Egyptian origin Britons are Copts - I wonder why that might be??)... anyway you get the idea. So, the other options are a) no religion broadcast whatsoever, or b) accept that England has been, since its foundation in AD 927 a Christian country, and that for good and ill, its very nature is interlaced, intertwined and built around Christianity, and that it is part of England's national identity. Church bells - sounds, not words - have been ringing here for time out mind, and it is part of what England is, and who the English have been, and, in some cases, still are. As for Channel 4, they are just being silly. We all know the context, and the overpaid beggars at Channel 4 are throwing oil on the embers.

'Now...

... this is the cup the white men drink/When they go to right a wrong/...'
Well, it was the same war, but just a different bit of it. Clearly Kipling didn't regard the Spanish as 'white men', but, like many at the time, he was an enthusiast for the great English-speaking project, and some saw it as a future safeguard against (take your pick), Jack London's 'Yellow Peril', or the Papist sloth of Latin America, or various 'great unwashed' threats. In fact, even the Islamists came into the picture - in the Philippines . Anyway, back at the rattling dice:

The US battle line, raring to go...

And that was half the problem. Those boys were keen, not so used to operating in brigade or division sized formation, and, in some cases, not that bothered about what officers thought. So, in order to replicate this in some way, I added a simple card element to ARD:

Each US unit had a card, and then I added the same number of non unit cards to make a small deck. A unit could only move if its card was drawn, and only seven cards were drawn each turn. The artillery and gatling batteries could, however, fire at will once they had reached a position where the enemy was in line of sight.

Happily, the simple card element worked - the above photograph shows how the battleline lost its cohesion, even though all units had an advance to contact order.

 Right out in front - the Buffalo soldiers (erm, Kipling probably forgot about them...), here seen taking the first casualties from the Spanish mountain gun.

But the gatling battery did some good work in support, with the first Spaniards going down.

The Buffalo heroes make the wire, but that put them in range of not just the Spanish trenches, but also the blockhouse defenders:

Another US regiment in support, but the casualties are mounting and the wire has still to be crossed....

P.S. on Kipling and 'A Song of the White Men' (1899). Reading it today and it reads like a peon to liberal interventionism , the sort that brought us Iraq, and would bring us Syria. Odd that. Plus ca change.

Rattlin'...

... more preparations for another Rattle of Dice (ARD). This time a frontal assault against prepared positions. Inspired not just by the pleasure of playing a game with ARD, but also by the long-awaited appearance of The Virtual Armchair General's Span-Am buildings, I broke out my Spanish and US forces:

Above: Spanish infantry in trenches, behind wire, covered by a block house (scratch built).

With a bit of (probably ahistorical) mountain artillery - Spanish general and staff in the background.

And, above and below, a regiment of Guardia. So, two regiments of foot, one battery of mountain guns, and fortified positions.

In the Red, White and Blue corner:

US General staff (or should that be old timer Confederate and US staff?),

and artillery and gatling gun support, think about the task:

Looking tricky, even for four regiments of these boys:

The Spanish are outnumbered more than two to one, but they're dug in and experienced. The US boys are mad keen, but have very poor command and control, and I've an idea about how to add that into ARD...

More...

Yeehaaaa anyone?

Probably, because look what I got from TVAG today:

Coming to a heavily fortified dining table soon (ish).

Night falls...

... on the bloody field. The dice have rattled, and many a Christian tin man has gone to his maker.

The Army Gray regiment of foot seen above would be almost entirely destroyed by the rattling dice ... but here they advance boldly, tasked with covering the right flank.

And, above, an overview early in the fight, with the soon to be 'Lost Regiment' taking its first casualties from the Iron Brigade of Army Blue. Overall, there was a general advance on both sides of the river, but the Blues kept winning the initiative, and, mindful of the victory condition (three successive moves in control of both banks of the ford), took the fight to the enemy:

Despite the heavy fire from the gray clad line, the Blue assault went in, across the ford, two regiments strong.

The first regiment of Blues faced two rounds of melee with the Gray heroes, who stood like a wall of stone, and sent the blue bellies back across the river (the remnants can be seen in the distance below, yet, despite their losses, they rallied the next move):

But Army Blue hadn't finished, and the second regiment of foot went in, led by old man greatcoat himself:

A crisis point was reached - Army Blue had held both banks for two moves. The fighting was fierce, it looked as if the Blues had narrowly lost a melee, but General Greatcoat rallied those boys for another round! Was the vital crossing to be held by Army Blue? The dice rattled. The gods said 'No'. The Blue heroes streamed back across the ford. But, too exhausted, Army Gray chose not to pursue. Their losses had been heavy:

And night fell:

Well, Ross Mac, another triumph! Easy to use rules that gave a great game. YeeeeeeeeHaaaaaa!!!

Opening moves...

... after a quick hour with the hoe on the allotment plot, it was back to the play test of 'A Rattle of Dice' (ARD). Army Grey (or should that be 'Gray'?) is three regiments of foot, a squadron of cavalry, and a battery of field artillery. Army Blue is four regiments of foot and a battery of field artillery.

Army Gray's battle line - just look at those boys! Eager ? Yeeeeeehaaaaaa!!

More restrained, Army Blue leave their start line. The objective (for both armies) is the ford across the otherwise impassable river, seen upper left in the photo below:

Victory condition is holding both banks for three moves.

Army Blue won first advantage and began a general advance.

Army Gray surged forward too, pushing the cavalry squadron up towards the ford. Army Gray was also able to take advantage of the road, rapidly advancing (x2 bonus) in column. There was no penalty for change from column to line in 'ARD', but I added one in, of half a move. That still enabled the regiment in the centre above to advance close to the ford and form a firing line, waiting for the blue bellies...