38943

OSTFRONT YAKHROMA 1941
FEATHERSTONE TRIBUTE WEEKEND

KLISSOW 1702 IN 6MM
THREAT GENERATION FOR SOLOISTS
AN HOMAGE TO OGRE ...and much more!
MAY 2014
4.25
issue
with
BATTLEGAMES
373
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Alan & Michael Perry

Coming soon!
American War of Independence
Hard PlasticContinental Infantry 1776-1783

28mm figures designed by Alan Perry
The box contains 38 Continental
Infantry with the option of four to six
command figures and up to four
Riflemen. All the rank and file can be
assembled in either formal or informal
marching poses.
Four figures on the Rifleman sprue
can be made up as either riflemen
skirmishing or Continentals marching
(formal or informal) in hunting shirts.
These can be mixed in with the rest of
the infantry, who are wearing coats, to
create a less regular look to the unit.
The command sprue offers the option of up

to three officer types and up to two
standard bearer options. A drummer and
two sergeant arms are also included. With all
the figures in the box you also have the
choice of three different types on headgear;
the cocked hat, the short-brimmed round
hat and a peaked cap.
Although the box is dated from 1776 when the Continental system came in there are many
regiments from 1775 that can be built and are included in the painting guide. A full
painting guide, flags and unit bases are also included.
Masters in Miniature
by Alan and Michael Perry
Coming Soon!
29.50 +P&P
This is a fully illustrated book covering all our ranges from Crusades to World War 2, shown
in action. The book opens with a forward from Rick Priestley and concludes with a brief
biography of us (!) by Henry Hyde. Published by Atlantic Publishers
Also available
ACW 90 American
Civil War Artillery
Over 370 colour photographs (the culmination of six months of photography) fill this lavish 160 page hardback book.
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.
Also available from Dave Thomas at shows around the country.
contact us at : perryminiatures@aol.com
WWW.ATLANTICPUBLISHERS.COM
2You can
Models not shown at actual size.
Although we read all questions,we cant guarantee a

reply to each one as figure making is time consuming! For updates please see our website.
www.perry-miniatures.com
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MINIATURE WARGAMES
with BATTLEGAMES
ISSN 0266-3228
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I N S H O P D I G I TA L M O B I L E A P P
CONTENTS
Briefing
The Editor
6 Forward observer
Neil Shuck, UK
10 Steaming ahead
Diane Sutherland, UK
15 Fantasy facts
John Treadaway, UK
21 Threat generation
Martin England, UK
29 Send three and fourpence
Conrad Kinch, Ireland
Steaming ahead > Page 10
30 Ogre
Ashely Pollard, UK
38 Fighting for Featherstone
Henry Hyde, UK
45 Keep lunch warm: Klissow 1702
Nick Dorrell, UK and Per Broden, Sweden
55 Command challenge:Yakhroma 1941
Andrew Rolph, UK
65 Recce
Our review team
Ogre > Page 30
68 Cavalier & Hammerhead

John Treadaway, UK
70 Salute 2014 snapshot
72 Competition
More goodies to win
74 Combat Stress Appeal
The Editor
NEW WEBSITE: www.miniaturewargames.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MiniatureWargames
@MiniatureWG and @battlegames
Contributions to Miniature Wargames

We are always keen to receive contributions to the
magazine, whether you are an experienced writer or
a novice. All submissions and ideas for articles should
initially be sent to the Editor, preferably via email to
henry@henryhyde.co.uk. Please read a few issues and
consult our Contributors Guidelines first they can
be downloaded free from the Editors blog at http://
henrys-wargaming.co.uk/ or send an SAE to: The Editor,
Miniature Wargames, 17 Granville Road, Hove BN3 1TG.
Keep lunch warm > Page 45

COVER: Charlies Charge.
Confederate troops of Johnsons
Division, commanded by wargaming
legend Charlie Wesencraft during
the Don Featherstone Tribute game
at the Wargames Holiday Centre,
heroically launch themselves up
Culps Hill at Gettysburg again!
NEXT ISSUE 374 OUT

23rd MAY 2014
MINIATURE WA R GA M E S
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Henry Hyde
Editor
T: +44 (0)1273 323320

E: henry@henryhyde.co.uk
A: 17 Granville Road
Hove BN3 1TG
East Sussex, UK
Exhilarated by the experience

of Salute 2014, The Editor
conquers his fatigue to go on
the campaign trail again, dealing
out mayhem to the hapless
victims of his imagi-nation.
ow do you find the energy to

do all this campaign stuff?
someone asked me recently.
Well, the truth is, I dont find
any extra energy: I just do it anyway.
In my experience, if you wait around,
hoping that the energy/inspiration/
right time to do something comes
your way, youll be waiting a very long
time...
So, not long after this issue is
published, Ill be in a village hall in
Yorkshire, doing my best to keep
a disparate group of a dozen or so
grognards entertained and mildly nervous
as the most recent instalment of my
imagi-nations campaign comes to a
climax. The plucky Granprixians and
their allies will be attempting to liberate
their homeland from the clutches of
the greedy Grenouissians and their axis
of mercenary forces. The only dice I
shall be rolling myself will be to decide
the fate of careless couriers and the
ineptitude of subordinate commanders,
as the befuddled players do their best to
extricate themselves tactically from the
strategic mess they have created.
Actually, to be fair, the lads have
generally done rather well, throwing
themselves into the complexity of
planning a campaign from the moment
I declared proceedings open. Their
enthusiasm was virtually overwhelming:
within two days of declaring the
campaign live, I had received nearly
a hundred emails from them! The
volume of information flowing between
players and umpire, and between the
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Dates for your Diary

players themselves when a conference
was declared (the only time I allow
players to communicate directly with
one another is when they are adjudged
to be literally in the same room) was
extraordinary. In fact, in order to get
this magazine to press on time, I had
to call a temporary halt to proceedings,
literally on a cliffhanger!
Now, whilst this doesnt fully solve
the problem of the lack of games I get
to play nowadays, it certainly goes some
considerable way to restoring my own
levels of enthusiasm for the hobby, as
well as providing me with a wealth of
inspiration and a not inconsiderable
degree of satisfaction. After all, here
is a bunch of guys who have thrown
themselves into a world I created and
made it as much theirs as mine. Seeing
the way in which their forces have grown
from just a couple of units each into, in
many cases, considerable armies with
distinct personalities has been simply
amazing. Andy McMaster has even been
collecting his army in two scales, and Paul
Bright has added a chunk to one of my
continents!
You can follow the campaign on my
blog at http://henrys-wargaming.co.uk.
Meanwhile, my enthusiasm was also
boosted recently by the tremendous
success of our very first Donald
Featherstone Tribute weekend, which you
can read about in this issue. The gathering
was held at the Wargames Holiday Centre
near Basingstoke on 21st-23rd March,
and a finer group of wargamers could not
be imagined.
Organised by WHC head honcho
Mark Freeth, the gamers gambled
their reputations at Gettysburg, and
much wailing and gnashing of teeth
was in evidence as dice rolled awry
and miniature men refused to do their
masters bidding!
Quite apart from the fun to be had
gaming, the event was a marvellous social
gathering, and we also managed to raise a
staggering total for Combat Stress in the
process. Huge thanks to everyone who
took part Im looking forward to next
year already.
Roll em high!
2nd-4th May
Border Wars
Overland Park Ramada
7240 Shawnee Mission Parkway
Overland Park,
Kansas USA
www.hahmgs.org/bw2014.html
3rd May
Legionary
3rd May
Matford Centre
Exeter EX2 8FD
www.exmouthwargames.org.uk
3rd May
Mayday
Riverbend Community Centre
258 Rhatigan Road East NW
Edmonton
Alberta T6R 2P7
Canada
www.maydayconvention.com
10th May
Carronade
Graeme High School
Falkirk FK1 1SY
www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk
16th-18th May
CanGames
Rideau Curling Club
715 Cooper Street (at Percy)
Ottawa
Ontario, Canada
www.cangames.ca
16th-18th May
Huzzah!
Double Tree by Hilton Hotel
363 Maine Mall Road
South Portland
Maine, USA
www.huzzahcon.com
17th-18th May
Triples
The English Institute of Sport
Coleridge Road
Sheffield S9 5DA
www.sheffieldwargamessociety.co.uk
22nd-25th May
Nashcon
Franklin Marriott Cool Springs
700 Cool Springs Blvd
Franklin
Tennessee 37067, USA
www.hmgs-midsouth.org/conventions/nashcon
23rd-25th May
San Marino Game Convention
Best Western Palace Hotel
Via Cinque Febbraio
San Marino
www.dadiepiombo.com/dadicom.html
23rd-26th May
Kublacon
Burlingame Hyatt Regency
1333 Bayshore Highway
Burlingame
CA 94010, USA
www.kublacon.com
Please note that this list is far from
exhaustive. For details on more events, we
recommend the Wargames Calendar on
the Newark Irregulars website at
http://www.newarkirregulars.org.uk/
With thanks to Steve Gill for compiling the diary.
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Neil Shuck does a little

scrying in his shew stone and
looks at what might, or might
not, be a hit at Salute. Youre
about to meet a tall dark
ranger...
CRYSTAL BALL GAZING
There are times when writing a column,

even for a monthly magazine, falls at
exactly the wrong time. As I sit at my
desk, merrily typing away, Salute is
still two weeks away. Yet, thanks to the
wonderful world of print deadlines, you
will be reading this with the show already
fading into memory. So how was it? Did
your wallet survive intact, or was your
flexible friend mercilessly pressed to
within an inch of its credit limit?
It is difficult to predict what will be
the hit of the show, especially these
days, as the event has become such a focal
point for new releases from the industry
over the past few years.
Luckily, with the advent of the
internet and the wonders of previews,
I can already predict what some of my
highlights of the show will have been.
Last year, new company Agema
Miniatures appeared with their first
box set of 28mm plastic miniatures:
Republican Roman Velites. This year,
they are back with a follow up box
set featuring Republican Roman
Legionaries: 40 miniatures including 16
Hastati, 16 Principes and 8 Triarii. By
the time Salute arrived, we had only
seen a few photographs of assembled
figures on the Agema Facebook page,
but even this glimpse showed that
Crusader Warriors and Knights from Gripping Beast.
they were streets ahead of the previous

Republican Romans from Wargames
Factory (although many would argue that
wouldnt exactly be difficult).
Its also intriguing to discover that
Agema are currently developing a set
of Ancients wargame rules, under the
working title of Warbands, with designers
Echidna Studios. This is the same
company that is partnering with Alban
Miniatures to produce the Bugle and
Shako Napoleonic rules, so a couple of
interesting projects to keep tabs on over
the next few months.
Sadly missing from Salute was the
new Saga: The Crescent and the Cross.
Production delays meant that they missed
the show, but the first two warbands, the
Crusaders and the Saracens, along with
the plastic Arabs box set, were available.
This box set continues the fine range
of plastic figures that Gripping Beast
has released over the last few years. Not
only that, but the more traditional metal
miniatures also look particularly nice.
You may know I have a weakness for
mounted troops (despite my total inability
to paint horses) and both the Saracens
and Crusaders having mounted forces for
Saga, Im sorely tempted particularly
with the new Crusader Saga dice, which
show emblems linked with the Knights
28mm plastic Arabs by Gripping Beast.
Templar. With these new releases, and

especially the plastic Arabs, Gripping
Beast may well have stolen a march on
Fireforge Games. Fireforge have produced
several box sets of medieval infantry for
their Deus Vult! rules in the last two years
but, somewhat mysteriously, have been
waylaid into producing the Mongol horde
of Genghis Khan on horse and foot in the
last few months, rather than producing
opponents for their Crusaders. Whilst
the Mongols are great figures (especially
the horse archers I told you I have a
weakness for mounted troops), I cant
help feeling that an opportunity has been
missed.
Were you lucky enough to scoop up
one of the limited number of Jugula that
Gripping Beast had available? Ive talked a
lot about this game in recent months, but
I just have to say that the vinyl play mat
they have produced for the game looks
beautiful, and is worth getting for any
gladiator game, not just Jugula.
Another unexpected new range of
miniatures came in the shape of new
Vikings from Steve Barber Models.
These models are multi-part metal, with
separate legs, torsos and heads, meaning
that they can be posed in a multitude of
Editorial
News/Events
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ways; perhaps a compromise for those

for whom the appeal of the flexibility
of plastic is tempered by the lack of a
figures heft. Whilst Steves style is not
to everyones taste, he is a very talented
sculptor I only wish he would finally
release the 42mm Mounted Samurai that
hes been promising for more years than I
care to remember
And on the subject of the Dark
Ages, I wont say any more about Dux
Britianniarum: The Raiders, apart from that
its great to finally see it in print.
One of the highlights of last year was
the launch of Dead Mans Hand, the Wild
West skirmish game from Great Escape
Games. Not only was this a very good
set of rules, but it was supplemented by
a great figure range and some wonderful
frontier buildings from 4Ground. The
building range has grown throughout the
year, and now, twelve months on, we are
seeing The Legend of Dead Mans Hand a
supplement that not only includes new
gangs for the game (Banditos, Pinkertons,
7th Cavalry and Indian Renegades) but
also a full campaign system. The new
miniatures, especially the Pinkertons and
Renegades, are very nice sculpts indeed.
Moving to more modern times, the
inexorable advance of
campaign supplements
from The Plastic Soldier
Company and Iron Fist
Publishing continues.
Having overseen the
end of the war in its last
release, PSC return to
the Russian Front during
the early days of German
success with Battlegroup:
Barbarossa. Here we see
the German Panzer and
Infantry divisions almost at
the height of their powers
as they invade Russia in
1941. This book continues
to show an excellent set of
production values for this
ruleset family, and whilst
the book does major on
army lists for Battlegroup,
the additional history
and campaign scenarios
are worth a look for any
WWII gamer in this scale.
Whilst the 15mm releases
from PSC have continued
to concentrate on the late
war (their latest release
being the IS-II) they have
been steadily adding to
their early war arsenal in
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20mm with the addition of early German

armour from the likes of S Models,
Minairons and First to Fight, although
we are promised both early war German
Infantry and the Panzer 38(t) in 15mm in
the not too distant future.
TWO YEARS ON
Im sure that there were more than a few
raised eyebrows last year when the Perrys
unveiled their intention to produce new
plastic box sets of 8th Army and Afrika
Korps (probably with the exception of
those gamers who suffered their first
taste of victory or defeat whilst fighting
with their 1/32nd Airfix soldiers across
the bedspread). However, once again,
the twins have shown that all they touch
seemingly turns to gold (or in this case,
sand). In the past two years they have
produce a sizeable range of British, Italian
and German troops and vehicles for this
theatre, plus sourcing a nice range of resin
vehicles from Blitzkrieg Miniatures.
Not to be outdone, Warlord has
produced a large range of resin and metal
vehicles for the Western Desert (plus the
odd motorbike and anti-tank gun), all
of which means that its currently a very
good time to be a gamer of the Western
Desert in 28mm. Those of us who play

with smaller scale figures will have to
wait until the autumn for their next fix,
when PSC and Iron Fist turn their eyes
to Africa.
If you wanted to play this theatre, Id
recommend a look at Chain of Command.
Not only did the Lardies recently feature
a Western Desert campaign on their
blog, but they have also
now released the army
lists, which are free to
download. Visit www.
toofatlardies.co.uk/blog for
more details (including
other army lists, battle
reports and many other
useful titbits).
Finally on the subject
of the desert, Renedra
have released a new plastic
building kit for a Middle
East mud-brick house.
Whilst these structures
are probably some of the
easiest for the aspiring
terrain modeller to
construct, this kit will give
hope for those of us who
feel that they are destined
to be the model making
Petrocellis of this world.
Perhaps of equal use as
the building itself is the
accessory sprue, which
provides various plates and
vases, plus an awning and
a dome. Buildings such as
these have changed little
over several hundred years,
so this is a very useful
model indeed.
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BETTER LATE
THAN NEVER?
Its been several years since the start of the
hard plastic miniature revolution and its
seeming myriad of boxes of Napoleonic
infantry. Whilst we saw a lot of boxes of
troops, the British forces available were
always multi-part and thus potentially
time consuming to construct.
Now Warlord have released the latest
in their plastic box sets of Napoleonic
troops in March Attack pose the
British of the Peninsular and Hundred
Days Wars have joined their French,
Prussian and Russian brethren. Whilst
these miniatures offer less in the way of
pose variation, they do offer simplicity
of construction (only three pieces each)
for those gamers who want to build their
armies quickly and relatively cheaply.
Both boxes offer 30 troops in total,
including six metal command figures.
This for slightly less than the Victrix box
set (which offers 52 figures, all plastic) or
the same price as the Perrys box set (40
figures).
Since the Perry & Victrix box sets
have been available for some time (can

you really believe they are six years old?)
it may seem that these latest additions are
a little late to the party. However, given
that many gamers are discovering Warlord
for the first time through the likes of Bolt
Action, having these troops available in
their range will certainly help those who
want to try different offering from this
company and are tempted by BlackPowder.
You may have also noticed that it
was recently announced that Warlord
has formed a partnership with veteran
modelling company Italeri to produce
1:56 scale plastic vehicles. Since many
vehicles in this scale are still produced in
resin and plastic, this may well be good
news for those gamers with both an eye
for detail, and half an eye on their wallet.
Top and above: Mongols from Fireforge Games
Right: 40mm Robin Hood figures byTrident Designs
WHEN BIGGER
WAS BETTER
Before Saga dragged me back (not really
kicking and screaming) into gaming
with 28mm miniatures, I actually gamed
the majority of my skirmish games in
40mm I was a big fan of the scale (pun
probably intended!).
One of my favourite miniature ranges

was the medieval range from Trident
Designs, including all their Robin
Hood personalities. I still own all of the
miniatures that were produced at the
time (although if you asked me if they
were painted, we could be in danger

of falling out). Several years ago now,
Trident Designs were bought by the
Miniature Service Centre and the range
disappeared across the pond. Since then,
there have been a few additions to the
foot knights eight Hospitallers to
be accurate but nothing much until
a recent announcement that they are
starting a major release for this range.
The first miniatures are the Welsh, with
a combination of 30 different figures and
weapon combinations, plus approximately
40 separate heads, which give a large
number of potential variations. Following
on from this, they are promising more
mounted and dismounted knights,
followed by Scots and Irish.
As I said, Ive always been a fan of
this range, so a major expansion such as
this certainly tempts me back towards
them. As a UK resident, the potential
extra import cost of any sizeable purchase
still makes me somewhat reticent to
invest, but one can always hope that they
once again find a UK distributor. Did I
mention that they also do a great range of
ACW and AWI miniatures? Have a look
at www.miniatureservicecenter.com
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NEW
28mm
Mesoamerican
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Aztec range
NEW 28mm
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NEW
28mm
Mesoamerican
Mesoamerican
Montezuma
Painted by
Andy Taylor
NEW 28mm
Napoleonics
Painted by - Andy Taylor

New additions to our 28mm Mesoameican range.
Range includes Mayans, Conquistadors and now Aztecs!
NEW 28mm
Conquistador
Jaguar Warrior
Painted by
Andy Taylor
NEW!
Command figures
Murat on foot
Painted by
Andy Taylor
Pedro Alvarado
Henan Cortez
Painted by - Andy Taylor

New additions to our 28mm Conquistador range.
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Steaming ahead
The continuing tales of a wargames widow

When Diane Sutherlands husband Jon
suggested something hot and steamy, this isnt
quite the outcome she had in mind. Still, its
better than paddling her own canoe...
wargamer was showing me some illustrations of a

succession of ever more expensive resin paddle
steamers. He wanted some river craft for his Darkest
Africa games.
How much? I spluttered, nearly choking on my coffee.
Theyre lovely, but are they 150 worth of lovely? I added,
trying to regain my composure.
Yeah, youre right. And I need at least two of them, he
replied, resigned to having to rethink his plans.
How could I let him walk away with his sad face?
b
I spent some time googling paddle steamer and came to
the conclusion that pretty much anything goes as far as the
design is concerned. There are side-wheelers, rear-wheelers,
some with the paddles visible, others with the paddles hidden
inside arched wooden structures. If you dont have the patience
or inclination to bother with the paddles, then by all means hide
them inside a box on the side of the steamer.
Theres no getting away from the fact that this project is
tricky and time-consuming. There are lots of different stages
involved and you will need to factor in drying times (not to
mention cutting dozens of coffee stirrers).
To make your paddle steamer you will need:
Polystyrene foam or balsa block for the basic structure
Cardboard tube
About 50 coffee stirrers (depending on the size of steamer)
Lollipop sticks
Thin card
Dress-making pins
Cocktail sticks
Thin string
Two 2" nails
White wood glue (concentrated or standard strength)
All purpose adhesive
The first decision to make is to determine the size of your
paddle steamer. Mine were designed to be used with epic-sized
28mm figures. This means that the scaling has to take into
account the head-room. My doors are around 35mm and the
canopies perhaps 45mm.
10
The hull with the positions of the cabin and chimney stack marked.
Use a based figure to make sure you have sufficient fighting room.
Paddle steamers havent got a great deal in common with

sleek yachts. They are more, well, dumpy. Youll want to have
some space to place your crews. The wargamer uses 2p for all his
so-called skirmish periods, so that means you need to allow at
least 30mm for walkways.
The dimensions of my side-paddler were 11" x 4" with a
deck height of 1". The larger Royal Navy rear-paddler topped
out at 15" x 6". The deck height was 2" with a further 2" high
cabin area.
Dont forget that paddle-steamers were not really designed
for the oceans. They were river or lake craft and consequently
do not need a deck as high as a sea-going vessel.
The first task is to cut out your rectangle. You will save
yourself a lot of pain by having a very gentle curve on the front
of the boat. You are going to be wrapping the hull with thin
card later on, so bear that in mind. If you are making a sidepaddler, you will need to slightly curve the back of the boat. If
you are making a rear-paddler, then it will need to be fairly flat.
Ill focus on the rear-paddler first as this has the exposed
paddles at the back. Before I did any shaping, I rough-fitted
the main components of the build onto the hull. With a width
of 6", I had to allow an inch and half either side of the cabin
to accommodate the bases. This left me with a 4" wide cabin
structure.
Length-wise, I wanted some fighting area at the front;
perhaps the wargamer might want to mount a gun on the bow
later. At the back, you will need something to suggest the boiler
and chimney stack propulsion system for the paddles. I found
an old board game counter box, but an old-fashioned matchbox
would do just as well. I also used two small vials that contained
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The cabin structure nearly completed with the windows and doors being
stuck into place.
vanilla powder to use as the chimney stacks. A pair of 2" pieces

of balsa dowel are an ideal alternative.
Once I was happy with the size and position of the cabin and
chimney block, I marked their positions on the foam. I then
marked the centre of the front of the boat and drew a curve
by hand. I cut off the excess with a kitchen knife and sanded
everything down. It is very hard to get everything square and
even, so take this step carefully and keep looking at the hull
from different angles until you are happy.
Theres no easy way of tackling the next job: you need to
plank the deck and the whole cabin. Dont fix the cabin to
the hull at this point. You will find it a lot easier to do them
separately. Ideally, the planks need to have that rough and ready
look, so once you have snipped off the rounded ends of the
coffee stirrers, cut your planks into a variety of different lengths.
Now it is just a question of putting on your favourite CD,
having a steaming cup of coffee in reach and getting on with it.
One cautionary note is that the more watery your PVA, the
greater the chance that the coffee stirrers will expand. Bear in
mind that they are not made from the highest quality wood, so
they will absorb moisture and will bend. For this reason, I used
concentrated PVA. If you dont have any, then use normal PVA,
but leave the PVA for half an hour under your painting light.
Trust me, the water loss is remarkable and the PVA is more
tacky too.
Remember that you dont have to plank the hull where the
cabin will be fixed. I went over the line, just to make sure I
did not leave a visible gap. By the time you have planked the
whole deck, most of it will be dry. Work around the edge of the
hull with a piece of sandpaper and get rid of any protruding bits
of coffee stirrer. I then gave the deck a thorough coat of Burnt
Umber.
I followed exactly the same procedure for the cabin. I would
recommend doing the sides of the cabin first. Sand down any
rough edges, then do the top. Sand down again and then add
some longer sections of coffee stirrer to hide the join between
the side planks and the top.
The wargamer had a stock of doors and windows. Hed
made them from balsa and matchsticks and mounted them on
card. I added an open entry hatch on the top.
The last construction job for the hull is to deal with the sides.
You are going to have to cut four rectangles of card. Wrap a
flexible tape measure around the front of the boat. Start your
measurement about 2" or so from the beginning of the curve on
each side. Check the height of your hull. Bear in mind it will
be slightly taller than 2" as it now has a coffee-stirrer-clad deck.
You should find it is about 1/16" more. Repeat the process for
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the back of the boat. I opted to have the card finish in line with
deck, but you may want to have a slight lip. About a quarter to
half an inch is ideal.
Use thin card (about the thickness of a cereal packet) and cut
out your rectangles. Give it a test-fit first. When you are happy
with it, liberally coat the card with all-purpose adhesive. Let
it rest for a couple of minutes. Carefully wrap the card around
the hull. It should stick pretty well, but I would recommend
inserting dress-making pins. These will fix the card nice and flat
and give you a chance to detail the sides of the hull with little
rivets here and there. Two or three at the end of each section
of card, the same around acute corners and a couple at the front
should do it.
Repeat the process for the rear of the boat. Now measure the
gap either side of the hull between the two sections of card. No
matter how careful you have been, you will find they are slightly
different lengths! Test fit it to make sure the height of the card
matches the two pieces already glued to the hull. Glue and pin
the card to the side of the boat.
The next job is to focus on the paddles. Line up the
cardboard tube with the back of the boat. My tube was about
2" in diameter. The tube length needs to be slightly less than
the width of the boat. Cut the tube and then use foam core
to create a pair of plugs for each open end of the tube. Punch
a hole in the centre of the foam core circles. I added a metal
washer to strengthen the area around the hole. The washer will
also act as a guide for the paddle struts.
Cut six lollipop sticks (about 2" long) and stick them at even
intervals around the washer. Make sure that you match the
spacing exactly on the other side of the paddle wheel. I then
undercoated the wheel and struts with grey paint.
Drill a hole either end of another lollipop stick and assemble
the struts that will fix the wheel to the hull. I used the top of a
Gluing the thin cardboard around the hull.

This is the first of four pieces that will need to be glued into place.
The completed and dry brushed paddle wheel assembly ready for a final
fitting to the hull.
11
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vanilla powder tube, but a short length

of dowel with a hole drilled through it
would be fine. Push the nail through the
lollipop stick, into the dowel and then
into the hole in the paddle wheel. Repeat
the process for the other side. Test fit your
paddle wheel with the hull. This will
show you where you need to make holes
in the side of the hull to take the second
pair of nails. Line up the paddle wheel
and struts so they are square and at the
right height. Mark the hole for the nail. I
glued another pair of washers to the hull
to strengthen the hole.
Now measure the distance between
each of the pairs of paddle struts. You will
need to cut four coffee stirrers for each
of them. I undercoated the coffee stirrers
before fitting them to the struts.
Place a spare coffee stirrer at the
bottom of the paddle strut and then glue two undercoated
stirrers above it. The positioning should mean that you will be
left with a gap underneath the pair of stirrers. Remove the spare
stirrer and repeat the process around the paddle wheel. I used
superglue to get a quick and accurate fix. Once this is done, you
can dry brush the paddle wheel assembly.
The final construction job was to drill a series of holes

around the top of the cabin and create the ships wheel
platform. The former can be achieved with either a small drill
bit or bradawl. Cut cocktail sticks in half, drop a spot of glue
on each pointed end and drive them into the holes. Make sure
that they are all broadly the same height. When these were dry, I
painted them black, and then gave them a flick of brass.
For the ships wheel platform, I mounted a rectangle of balsa
on a pair of trimmed matchsticks. I then stuck a small block of
balsa onto the rectangle and used an old 15mm wagon wheel
as the steering wheel. Once the cocktail sticks were solid, I tied
thin string to the first one and then looped the string around
each of the sticks, tying off the last one. I added a drop of
superglue to each loop to make sure they were secure.
Painting was fairly straightforward. Burnt umber, fawn and
white for the decks. Two coats of cheap black acrylic for the
hull. Mid grey, light grey and white for the cabin and paddle
Top: Madiba, my side-paddler towing a barge with trade goods. Figures by
Dixon and Wargames Foundry.
Above: Matilda, an old trading steamer. Note the converted Airfix cabin.
Darkest Africa figures by Dixon Miniatures and Wargames Foundry.
Right: HMS Africa with her Wargames Foundry Naval Brigade contingent.
The anchor is manufactured by Dixon Miniatures.
12
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wheel. I also went around the hull and

put a spot of brass on the heads of each of
the dressmaking pins.
You are now ready for final
construction. I pushed three cocktail
sticks into the bottom of the cabin and
used these to secure it to the hull. The
chimney block was stuck in place with
all-purpose adhesive. I then gently pushed
the nails in through the lollipop stick and
into the hull. All of the nails were then
given a brush of brass. I christened her
HMS Africa.
My smaller paddle-steamer was a
side-wheeler. She is 11" long, 4" wide
and the deck is just 1" from the surface
of the water. I followed exactly the same
procedure with the following exceptions.
She could have a much more rounded
stern and the deck was fully planked with
a covered steering section in the centre. I also decided that the
cardboard hull sides would be tall enough to create a small lip
around the deck area.
For the side paddles, I cut a pair of 1" sections of
cardboard tube. I wanted to suggest that the bottom paddle was
underwater. You will need to cut out a section of the tube so
that it sits flat. In practice, this means removing about a fifth of
the tubes diameter. Do one of them and use it to measure the
second tube so they are identical. The assembly was exactly the
same as for the larger paddle wheel. This time, I used coffee
stirrers for my struts and lollipop sticks for the actual paddles.
The pair of paddle wheels were fixed into the hull with a pair of
2" nails.
By the time I had finished the pair of paddle-steamers,
I couldnt stop myself from making a little barge and some
packages of trade goods for the smaller boat to pull. I also
made a dumpy tug boat with a deep hold. For the cabin I used
parts from an old Airfix crane set enlarged with a lollipop stick
base. The funnel was salvaged from the wargamers odds and
sods box!
b
The combination of coffee stirrers, card, pins and PVA make
these little boats amazingly robust. Whilst the two little steamers
ply their trade up and down a murky African river infested
with crocodiles, HMS Africa will be seeking out the dastardly
Zanzibari slave traders. At least thats what Im told. Im more
interested in how Im going to spend that 300 Ive just saved!
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Add a new dimension to your wargaming!

If you like military history and recreating the worlds great
battles then you will love HISTORICON, Americas leading
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Fantasy Facts
From Doggerland to Planet of the Apes

John Treadaway has a mountain of goodies
to get through again, ranging from fantasy cavalry
for a long-lost civilization, through characters for
ray-gun fans and hardware for hard sci-fi battles.
EDITORS NOTE
Johns a talented chap, so unless stated otherwise, take it as read that he
assembled, painted and photographed all of the items shown in his column.
y the time you read this, Salute that mad day of

gaming mayhem will be over and done and I, for
one, will be sitting at home with my feet in bucket of
warm water. But, in the here and now, I have another
fairly packed column this month with a mix of fantasy and SF
and both 28mm and 15mm. So lets get straight at the reviews:
DOGGER: FAIR TO EXCELLENT

Just for a change, I thought Id start with some Fantasy. Over the
last couple of years, Mark Copplestone www.copplestonecastings.
co.uk has released a 15mm Fantasy Barbarica line and the range is
slowly building, with two new sets just released. They are aimed
at what I, at least, think is a very interesting quasi-historical
background: a just post-ice age Britain, with the sceptred isles
still connected to mainland Europe and an additional island
present in the north sea called the Dark Isle (an actual island in
the historical period, often referred to by modern archaeologists
as Doggerland).
These new figure packs two mounted cavalry command
units for both the Barbarians (clean shaven and mighty thewed)
and Northlanders (bearded and slightly less Schwarzenegger)
add six (each) mounted figures apiece to the range, all unique,
of the extant mounted Northlander and Barbarian packs

(themselves having six figures per pack) and they come with a
couple of standard bearers and horn blowers each to add to the
guys with axes and swords in the other sets. This means you
could field a dozen unique figures in each force. Sculpting and
facial detail are, as ever from Copplestone, excellent.
The foot figures are around 18mm tall and the cavalry are in
scale: the proportion is pretty fine, too, with a good compromise
of robust weaponry versus them not being too comedy. If I
would criticise them for anything (and Im struggling to do so),
then a couple of horse variants would be nice (the twelve horses
in the two packs were all superb, but identical). The metal is not
too brittle, though, and takes a bend: having first protected the
areas I wanted to work on with some masking tape, I tried two
or three of the horses necks and legs with my trusty pliers and
got some good variation in just a couple of minutes.
The range already has foot versions of these mounted
Northlanders and Barbarians, plus heroes, archers, some simply
stunning wolves, three excellent Northlander Warchiefs (on
a bear, a stag and a pony; the latter three are jaw-dropping
examples of one-part castings of rider and mount as a single
item) plus a couple of giants (that I reviewed a few months ago),
some bears and a few snow trolls.
The Barbarica figures are a superb range only hindered by
one thing: Mr Copplestone is a great sculptor, but he just cant
seem to turn the stuff around fast enough! Brilliant work that
we should all be seeing more of and a good price for this level of
sculpting at 7.50 a pack.
Below: Northlander command pack on the left and the

Barbarian Command pack on the right.
Its hard to believe these figures are 15mm!
Copplestone Castings picture supplied by the manufacturer.
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Shaman and Gallieni in 15mm by Brigade Models.

Picture supplied by manufacturer.
14 HOURS TO SAVE THE WORLD

This is the first of a couple of review items from across the
pond this month. Hydra Miniatures www.hydraminiatures.com
have been hard at it for a few years with a very Flash Gordonlike space ship game called War Rocket, featuring rules and
resin and metal ships, plus other ranges including a 15mm SF
range called Xeno 15; Primal Dawn a 30mm alien creatures
range; and Retro Raygun. These latter items are also very 30s
SF pulp in style and are split into four sub ranges: the Space
Aliens (a nice range and less primitive than the Primal Dawn
figures: some of them have ray-guns!); Robot Legion (mostly
clanky, 30s style robots, but not too comedic); Valkeeri
and Galacteers. The latter are mostly chaps (with the odd
female, old professor type, robot and chimp thrown in for good
measure!) and they all tend to have jet style space helmets, ray
guns and back-packs. The Valkeeri are, to be frank, sexy girls in
revealing, but still modest, costumes, often with helmets, and
pretty much all with ray-guns. I keep saying ray-guns because,
style wise, thats what they really are: they are very true to their
mythos!
As examples of recent releases, I was sent the Valkeeri Rocket
Sled, Empress Xenovia and Princess Alluria plus a Galacteer
Engineer for review. The engineer is holding his ray gun up
and has a comms unit (or something similar a wireless,
perhaps) in the other hand. Hes wearing an all-in-one suit
with excellent padded knee details and a helmet with a visor,
and stands abut 34mm to the top of his head, 36mm to the
crown of his helmet. Hes a two-part model with a separate
back pack. The Princess and the Empress are less statuesque at
about 32mm tall. Alluria has a brilliant looking ray-gun and
Xenovia has some sort of sceptre and a separate left arm which
has a pin and socket to aid gluing. Both have attractive, well
sculpted faces.
Inevitably, Ive saved the best till last. The Valkeeri Rocket
Sled is a grey resin, winged, flying jet-bike affair (and faultlessly
cast in one piece, I might add) and metal Valkeeri rider
consisting of a pilot body and a sprue containing three heads
with different pony tails and three right arms (two with rayguns drawn) and separate torso and legs. Hydra also give you
a clear acrylic rod to raise the sled off of the ground for flying
and it has a metal base connector, but youll need to stick it on a
bigger base with some weight on it to make it stable for gaming.
Hydra sells these in packs of three as well as singletons, so its
nice to have the chance to make them all different. Sculpting
and casting are top notch and mine went together with a little
16
cyano glue without issues. Price wise, the Galacteers seem to fall
between $4 and $4.50 (the engineer was the latter price) but the
ladies are around $6.50 each or $18 for the Rocket Sled, with a
slight saving if you buy three for $48.50. Im not sure why the
single ladies are more expensive than the single chaps. Perhaps
thats just the nature of ladies!
BRIGADE
Brigade Models www.brigademodels.co.uk sent me some new
15mm SF releases, mostly from their Euro-Fed range, but some
other items as well. The Euro-Fed releases include two variants
on their (previously reviewed in this column) Montsabert tank
hull, an ACV hover AFV. One is an MLRS missile turret and
the other is a low slung tank destroyer. The latter, called the
Gallieni, has a modified hull with a super-structure moulded
on the top where the turret ring usually sits and a big gun (8).
The MLRS (the Weygand rocket launcher) has a three-part
box turret cast in white metal with missile nose cones moulded
onto the front panel. This sits on a standard Montsabert hull.
Next up is a Turret Bunker: this resin structure, sloped
and rectangular with buttresses and a small armoured door,
comes with optional tank turrets from Brigades various ranges
(mine was supplied with one of the German turrets, but most
Valkeeri Rocket Sled in 28mm from Hydra Miniatures.

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Checkpoint Charlie 15mm barrier to progress by Brigade Models.

of Brigades larger tank turrets will fit). These cost 9 each,

including the metal turret. Another piece of scenery supplied
was a Check Point. This would make a fine guarded entrance
to a military complex or space-port. There are two pillbox
elements and two separate barriers, all in resin, with two
Gatlings on remote mounts guarding the entrance. This group
will set you back 5.
Last in the resin AFV department are some new mercenary
forces vehicles. The Shaman hover tank (8) has a solid metal
turret with the short main gun moulded on with a separate
hatch, remote weapon station and drivers hatch to go onto the
resin hull. This vehicle has a soft ACV skirt, like the Montsabert,
but with what appears to be armoured covers to protect it. The
turret comes with a cracking basket moulded onto the rear that
just shouts out for lots of stowage. The vehicle is of a similar
size to the Montsabert hull, perhaps 60mm long, but with a
flat, low turret. It rather reminds one of an SF version of an
M551 Sheridan. I know this was sourced from a different digital
designer from Brigades usual work (i.e. themselves) and its nice
to see something with a different look in their range.
Lastly from this manufacturer comes a sneak peak at one of
the new Neo-Soviet forces a Laska tankette. Yet another
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upscale from their 6mm range, this is an all-metal kit with a

32mm long hull, two track units and three optional weapons:
This little gem will set you back a very reasonable 4.
One final release are some figure bases. For those who,
for example, play a rule set like (say) The Crucible with figures
that need to be based in small teams, but who wish to use
the same figures for another system where you might like your
figures based singly, perhaps Gruntz, then the good news is that
you are faced with a basing conundrum no longer. Brigade
now make some resin bases that have between 1 and 4 holes
in them to take single figures, provided that your figures are
already mounted on 1p or 2p coins. The bases are 75p each and
are 40mm square. They have some slight texture and include
recesses for small rare-earth magnets to keep the figures in place
(providing that the coins are magnetic, of course).
I like all of this months releases, but the Shaman is probably
my favourite, closely followed by the excellently brutal looking
Gallieni.
CHUCK ANOTHER PRAWN ON

THE BARBIE
GZG www.gzg.com have sent me a sample of some new
Crusties, their not District 9 alien race. Aliens are often
difficult topics in SF games: people love them or hate them and
Im glad to say that the GZG ones are not only well supported
by the manufacturer (in 15mm and space ships for Full Thrust)
but have also proved very popular with gamers.
The release includes a Crusty Riding Beast (or riding
prawn), which as the name implies is a multi-legged
creature with a Crusty rider armed with an arc rifle sitting on its
back. Theyll come as a two-pack, with different poses for each
of the mounts and riders.
GZG also sent some Crusty scuttlers vicious little prawnlike animals (with scorpion-like overhead stinger strike) that
will come in two poses, with multiples in a pack with a Crusty
handler with a big pointy stick to prod them towards the
enemy! These are planned for a Salute release so no prices yet.
A Turret Bunker
with a German type
turret by Brigade
Models. Inset are
other turret options.
Pictures supplied by
manufacturer.
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CLEAR HORIZON
My other selection of samples from the US this month came
from Clear Horizon www.clearhorizonminiatures.com. They
have been making big inroads into the now well established
15mm SF market and have sent me the latest additions to their
Helldivers figure range with two of their VTOLs: a Sparrow
Hawk and a Raven. First off, what I do like about Clear
Horizon is their presentation. The figures come in nice little
blisters with a coloured card behind them and the two flyers
are bagged with again a nice little card. They were also
accompanied by some coloured unit cards for use with Gruntz
rules. I know that these things arent fundamental to the models
themselves but I applaud the attention to detail from such a new
and small time manufacturer.
But what about the actual models? Well, like their drop pods
I reviewed a couple of months back, they are both very well
cast and come in lots and lots of fine resin bits. The Raven is
some 130mm long and has two stub wings and a tail plus two
shoulder mounted engines. It has under-wing stores and an
area in the rear for personnel with a ramp to allow egress. I
think you can model the undercarriage deployed or folded and
you can have the ramp up or down but there are
a couple of items that I cant easily locate
positions for on the model: what it really
needs is an instruction sheet!
The Sparrow Hawk is a smaller bird
around 90mm long with a flat panel tandem
cockpit rather than the smoother one on the
Raven. This like its bigger brother has a
chin gun, but no room for passengers inside.
Instead, the brave Helldivers can ride on the
outside above the fixed landing skids, sitting on ledges!
Both the Sparrow Hawk and the Raven have rotating
engines; you can stick them in position, as I have done, or get
clever with magnets for play value when mounting.
And talking of Helldivers and VTOL riders, the manufacturer
sent me some packs of the latest in the Helldiver range of
armoured infantry. Wearing their tight-fitting suits, I think the
best of the bunch are the six character poses in the Omega
Squad. These have their helmets off and are in some striking
poses: one with his main weapon slung and a pistol, one talking
and chewing a cigar with his weapon held up and resting on
his hip. Another couple are crouched. But the riders for the
Sparrow Hawk are good too: six figures in a sitting position (six
riflemen and a sniper) and useful for a variety of roles wherever
a sitting figure could be put to good use. All of the Helldivers
come with separate backpacks and the Omega Squad has some
separate weapons to add in the slung position.
Price wise, the Sparrow Hawk is $15.99 and a Raven $21.99.
The Omega team and the insertion team for the Sparrow Hawk
are both $5.99. I think that makes them excellent value and the
resin flyers are certainly some of the best Ive seen.
18
MONKEY BUSINESS
Ainsty www.ainstycastings.co.uk sent me a mounted Ape Patrol in
28mm. Saddled on regular horses (two different ones) you get,
not surprisingly, six assorted simians in a very Planet of the Apes
style. There are four types, two of a fella waving his carbine,
two of them with the carbine across the horses neck, one with
the carbine down at his side and one leader with a big helmet
and holding what looks suspiciously like a silenced Ingrams sub
machine gun. Details good: the carbines are M4s, so I guess
that makes them Mark Wahlberg rather than Charlton Heston
monkeys and for 27 theyre all yours.
Top: Sparrow Hawk by Clear Horizon Miniatures.
Above: Raven dropship by Clear Horizon Miniatures.
Below: Omega Squad by Clear Horizon Miniatures.
All pictures supplied by manufacturer.
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Sponsored by Colonel Bills
SUNDAY 13TH JULY 2014

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Threat generation
Active opposition for tabletop wargaming

Stymied by the inability of tabletop wargames to
provide the immediacy and tension of computer
wargames, Martin England was close to
giving up until one day, he had his Eureka!
moment, which he shares here with us now.
n almighty, deafening clang and the tank shuddered

to a halt as the engine stalled. Reverse! Reverse!
screamed the tank commander, choking on the
smoke and dust. The driver frantically tried to restart
the engine, knowing full well that another round would be on
its way in seconds. The engine turned and coughed but would
not start. Abandon now?, thought the tank commander and
then he remembered smoke! He reached down and triggered
the smoke dischargers on both sides of the turret. As he did so,
the engine sprang into life, the driver hit reverse and, just as the
white smoke started to thicken around the tank, they lurched
backwards, crashing through the undergrowth and back down
the slope they had just climbed.
Anybody see anything? asked the tank commander.
Nothing, reported both the other
tanks in the troop that had been
providing overwatch. The only
thing they had seen were the troop
commanders smoke dischargers
going off and then they watched
as his tank reversed past them at a
speed they would have sworn was
impossible going forwards, let alone
backwards.
Now what? thought the
tank commander. No idea what
fired on us or what it was. Where
are the bloody infantry? Lagging behind as usual. To be fair,
he had been urged to press on, at best speed, by the CO at
the O Group. Should he wait for the infantry to catch up? Or,
sneak forward slowly, hoping to spot the gun this time, before it
spotted them? Call for artillery support? But with no target to
give them... He needs to make a decision fast there are only a
couple of game turns left.
This description is why I play computer wargames. I really
enjoy small-scale, tactical level, turn-based wargames, and it is
only computer games that can provide a decent hidden enemy
and deliver that feeling of tension and sudden shock when the
unexpected happens. The classic computer games such as Steel
Panthers, Panzer General and the Close Combat series all do this
and provide a game impossible to recreate with miniatures. This
is a great shame, because although I really enjoy my computer
games, they just do not provide the visual and tactile pleasure of
a tabletop game, with good scenery and the satisfaction of seeing
the hours of effort put in to building and painting both scenery
and forces translated into actual combat.
I have always enjoyed regular wargaming against a live
opponent, and although often outwitted, out-thought and
thoroughly beaten, I have never managed to achieve that level
of tension and complete surprise that you get in a computer
game, that results from fighting a totally hidden enemy. We
have tried dummy units, event cards and even programmed
scenarios, but they have always only been partially successful
dummy units are still reacted to, as they cannot be ignored and
may be real; and event cards are okay, but as my opponent and
I have written them, we know what to expect, if not when! And
programmed scenarios inevitably follow a script.
It appeared to be an impossible dream: to create a mechanism
whereby I could recreate the advantages of a computer game
on the tabletop, with this mechanism able to be used either
in a solo game or with an opponent to provide totally hidden
units and recreate a level of tension
and surprise as intense as a good
computer wargame. I just never had
the time to devote to the problem
and anyway, I thought, it is
probably not achievable and will be
a waste of time.
Enjoying now a thoroughly
deserved retirement from the
military, it is only in the last few
months that I have found the time
to really think about the problem
again, and at long last, I believe
I have found a mechanism that works: the Threat Generation
System or TGS.
I began by breaking the problem down into its simplest
components. As a commander in the field with a task to carry
out be it advance to contact, defend a location or any other
mission there are really only three basic things I need to know
about the enemy, or the threat in military speak:
What is it? (Tanks or infantry, A/T gun etc)
Where is it? (In what direction and at what distance)
What is it doing? (Moving in the open, dug in, retreating etc)
It is then up to me as the commander to deal with this
perceived threat.
Although often outwitted, outthought and thoroughly beaten,

I had never managed
to achieve that level of
tension and complete
surprise.
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An overview impression of the battle area.
Put in these simplistic terms, I thought it should be possible

to come up with a mechanism to trigger the appearance of
enemy forces and answer each of these questions. Any standard
set of wargame rules could then be used to play out dealing with
the threat.
After some error and a lot of trial, I believe I have come up
with something that is not too complicated, requiring only one
chart and one tabletop device again very simple, but it really
does work! How do I know? Because this happened.
I decided to test my TGS with a typical tabletop wargame
scenario, set in the Western Desert, 1942. The British were
advancing to the west along the coast road, on one of their
trips up and down the North African coastal path. The map
was as shown. There was an Arab village and oasis to the centre
right of the map, several low hills and plenty of soft going. I
played an advance element of the attacking British, operating on
the left flank of the main force. My orders were to:
Occupy the village and the oasis, which will be utilised as a
supply base as our forces advance.
Recce to the end of the game board to ensure no enemy
forces remain in the area.
Report when the village was occupied and could confirm
the area is clear of enemy.
The game lasted only five game turns. By the end of game
turn 5, I was cowering in the bottom of a ditch with the few
survivors of my infantry platoon waiting to be rescued, if
possible, by my other surviving forces or more likely having to
surrender next game turn.
So, what went wrong? Nothing, apart from my poor
tactical ability and lack of proper recce. This was when I had
my eureka moment! Hey, this TGS really works! I have been
defeated by an enemy who took me by surprise and appears to
have out-thought me! And in a solo game on the tabletop!
Heres a brief outline of what happened. I had decided on
the following forces:
One Infantry Recce Platoon in three Bren Carriers
One Armoured Recce Troop with three Crusaders
One Platoon Lorry Infantry with three trucks and one Jeep.
(I placed myself as Commander in the Jeep, equipped with
radio.)
One Off Board 25pdr Battery, On Call.
As will be seen later, the number of on-table units chosen has
an influence on the TGS mechanism.
My plan was simple and, of course, foolproof. I would send
the Crusaders in on the left flank. Their job was to occupy
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ground to the south west of the village and provide cover for
the infantry as they entered the village, as well as providing
covering fire to the west. At the same time, my recce infantry in
the Bren carriers would advance up the hill to their front and,
on reaching the summit, observe the village, radio back if clear,
and I would then send in the lorry-borne infantry to occupy
the village. The Crusaders could then advance to the end of the
table. Game over. Superb plan, what could possibly go wrong?
Game turn 1: nothing to report, both Crusaders and Recce
Infantry advancing.
Game turn 2: the Crusaders spot a German infantry platoon
advancing towards them at a distance of about 750 metres. The
German infantry have not spotted the Crusaders. The Crusaders
watch and wait to see what the Germans are doing, hoping they
will get just a little closer.
Game turn 3: the German infantry continue to advance
towards the Crusaders, who open fire and, taking the Germans
completely by surprise, inflict some serious casualties. The
German platoon goes to ground. On reaching the crest of the
hill, my recce troop in the Bren carriers is spotted by another
German infantry platoon which is dug in on the hill to the
north of the village. A firefight starts between the Bren carriers
and this platoon, with little effect on either side. The recce
platoon dismounts and moves into good firing positions with
the carriers providing cover fire.
Game turn 4: the first German infantry platoon caught in
the open by the Crusaders continues to take casualties and stays
down and pinned. The second German platoon takes some
casualties from the recce platoon, which is on higher ground.
Game turn 5: I now decide to bring on my lorried
infantry, with me leading the way in my Jeep. It is now that
the Germans spring their ambush another German infantry
platoon is dug in, in good cover, just 300 metres to the north of
where my convoy enters the game board. I dont even see the
Germans, but they pour fire into my lorries, setting two on fire
immediately. My survivors abandon the remaining vehicles and
dive into the ditch to the left of the road. My radio, of course,
remains in the by now burning Jeep!
In the distance, the Crusaders keep inflicting casualties on
their pinned German platoon. The recce troop are now locked
in a firefight with the German platoon to their north, and I am
unable to contact either them or my artillery support.
End of game turn 5, the map situation was as in Map 2.
Unable to contact either the Crusaders or the Bren carriers, I
just had to hope they would spot the burning lorries and Jeep to
The Germans ambush the lorries disaster! Photos by the author.
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their rear and come to the rescue. Could I now win? I had no
infantry to occupy the village, so I stood up and put my hands
in the air. (Actually, I reset the game and restarted with the same
forces to have another go!)
Was it a little unrealistic to have missed the dug in German
platoon that ambushed me? Or perhaps a little too realistic? The
German infantry platoon had been dug well in to the east of
the village, perhaps to delay the British advance. They had let
the Recce unit pass, (as a good ambush would). The Crusaders
were too far away and were not a viable target. But a soft vehicle
convoy, led by an obviously incompetent officer in a jeep was far
too tempting a target to resist! And, if an infantry platoon is well
dug in, they are very difficult to spot, especially from moving
vehicles.
I restarted the game and just managed a not too convincing
victory this time by game turn 10. It was a lot closer second
time around, and my artillery saved the day by pinning down
the German infantry as they were spotted. I still took far too
many casualties whilst advancing, having run into a couple of
dug in AT guns as well as a couple of PzIIIs this time. But it was
a really enjoyable and tense game.
I have since played several more games using the TGS, using
both Flames of War and Bolt Action, but the system will work with
any ruleset, and each time the games have been exciting, tense
and have never turned out as expected. With each game played,
I have tweaked the TGS a little and can thoroughly recommend
the system. So, how does it work?
The first thing to do is to make a Unit Card for each enemy
unit. I use small 2" x 2" cards and write the type of unit on each
of them. For example, for Flames of War, which is platoon-based,
I write PzIIIJ Platoon or PAK 40 or Regular Infantry
Platoon, for example; or, for Bolt Action, which are single
vehicle based, they might be Regular Infantry Section or
Pz IVH. I also write on these cards basic details for each unit
according to the rules I am using, which helps to speed up the
game and saves constantly looking up unit or vehicle stats. For
example (Flames of War):
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the Arab village example, I would add three more blank cards,
one for the Crusader platoon, one for the Bren recce platoon
and one for the lorry-borne infantry platoon.
Now shuffle the cards once again.
The number of cards is important, as this is the length of the
game. Once all cards have been drawn, play out this game turn
and one more turn, obviously without drawing cards, and then
the game ends.
At the end of each of your units moves during the game,
one of these cards is drawn. If it is a blank, it is discarded; if a
unit is shown, then the TGS system is used. It is important to
understand that a card is drawn whatever action your unit has just
completed. Drawing a card is not about spotting an enemy unit
it is about activating the TGS or not. Why is this important?
Well, you may have one of your units ending its turn by
cowering in a ditch, or reversing out of a smoke screen (sounds
familiar?), and the only action that unit can take is to attempt to
rally, but it still draws an enemy unit card. Why? Because the last
thing you want is to activate another enemy unit whilst in this
condition and that is exactly what may happen!
Having activated a unit, we now know the what; the next
step is to find out the where. For this, we need our TGS
device. This is called the Direction Finder (DF).
Panzer IIIJ (Late)

5cm Kwk39 Gun
24 F: 5 S: 3 T: 1
ROF 3 A/T 9 FP: 4+
Co-ax MG, Hull MG, Protected Ammo
or for Bolt Action:
Panzer IIIJ (Late)
1 turret mounted medium AT gun with co-axial MMG
and 1 Hull MMG.
Damage Value: 9+ (Medium Tank)
Special Rules: Reinforced rear armour (+1 instead of
+2 modifier)
I make one of these cards for each section/platoon or team
(sniper, observation team, PIAT etc) that I have as a model and
wish to use in the upcoming battle.
I now add the same number of blank cards. (So, if I have ten
enemy unit cards, I now add ten blank cards.)
Shuffle these cards really well and now, without looking,
discard one third of the cards, rounding down. (So, if I have 20
cards, I now discard six.)
Now add one more blank card for each unit you will be
using (one card for each section/platoon). So in the above Take
The Direction Finder
The DF I use is 15cm by 15cm. The large arrow at the top is

the Expected direction of enemy. So in the scenario described
above, the DF arrow points West. The DF is placed as near as
possible to the middle of the table.
Roll 2D6 and this gives the sector in which the enemy
will appear. The DF is designed to favour enemy units being
activated somewhere to your front, but enemy units can and
do appear on your flank and occasionally in your rear. (Consider
this to having been stalked by the enemy, or enemy you have
bypassed (a not uncommon occurrence in all theatres at all
times). There is only one modification to the DF dice throw: if
you have any infantry on foot in the 12 sector of the table and
you throw a double 6, then roll again this represents infantry
being able to clear the ground better than any other units.
Next, roll one D6 for distance from the centre of the DF:
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6= 50m, 5= 100m, 4=250m, 3=500m, 2=750m, 1= Edge

of table. Amend these distances according to your rules scale, or
just split the distance in 1/6 sections; or just call the distances on
the DF Very Close, Close, Medium, Medium Long, Long and
Table Edge. It will all work.
With the DF in the middle of the table, measure the distance
from the edge of the DF and place the drawn unit card (not
the unit itself) at this position. If this places the enemy unit at a
location that cannot be seen by any friendly unit, then slowly
move the unit card outwards from the DF, keeping in the same
sector until it is visible to any friendly unit. If still not visible,
then place the card at the table edge in the same sector. This
now represents off-board reinforcements arriving.
For example, I roll 8 on the DF and 3 for distance. The
Enemy Unit card just drawn will be placed in the 8 sector of
the table at 500M from the edge of the DF.
Next, we want to know what it is doing, and the following
table overleaf is used:
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Small vehicle
Artillery or
large A/T
(88mm+)
A/T Gun
Infantry
Infantry A/T
Team or MG
team or sniper
team or
observation
team
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Initiative Table
Roll 1D6 for friendly unit, 1D6 for enemy.
Higher score has initiative.
Where is it? And, if moving, what direction? Use DF table
Tank/Large
AFV/
Truck/
Limbered
Artillery
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This looks a bit complicated, but it really isnt. Roll a D6

and read down the second column. For example, if the activated
unit is a tank and you roll a 1 or 2 it is moving, 3 it is stationery
and if a 4, 5 or 6, it is dug in or hull down. (Tanks hate being
stationary in the open, and will use every fold in the ground to
find a hull-down position if possible).
If the unit is moving, reverse the DF (so the arrow is pointing
towards your baseline) and roll 2D6 again on the DF. This is the
direction the unit is moving again, there is more chance that it
will be moving towards you, but it may be retreating!
If a unit is in soft cover, I place some hedge/scrub or similar
directly in front of the activated unit; if in hard cover, a section
of wall or, if dug in, a section of trench. (I also have markers to
show that a tank is hull down).
The next thing to decide is who has the initiative, you or the
enemy? Does he get the drop on you, or you on him?
The following table is used:
What and Where Table
What is it?
Modelling
How far is
it? D6
What is
it doing?
Edge
of
table
1
750M
2
500M
3
250M
4
100M
5
50M
6
Moving
1,2
75 or
below
80 or
below
85 or
below
90 or
below
95 or
below
98 or
below
Stationary 3
65
70
75
80
85
Dug in/hull
down 4, 5, 6
60
65
70
75
Moving
1, 2, 3
70
75
80
Stationary
4, 5, 6
60
65
Ready to fire
in soft cover
1, 2, 3, 4
20
25
Dice modifiers for own unit

+2
stationary
+2
specialist recce unit
+2
elite or veteran
90
-2
moving
80
85
-3
unable to take normal action (e.g. rallying or broken)
85
90
95
-2
raw
70
75
80
85
35
85
95
98
Dice modifiers for enemy unit

+1
if best target* is at long range
+2
if best target* is at medium to short range
+3
if best target* is within short range
+2
sniper or artillery/air observation team
+2
stationary
-2
moving
+2
elite or veteran
-2
raw
Ready to fire
dug in or hard
cover
5, 6
15
20
25
60
85
95
Ready to fire
in soft cover
1, 2, 3, 4
10
15
20
60
85
95
Ready to fire
dug in or hard
cover
5, 6
10
15
40
70
90
Moving in the
open
1, 2
75
80
85
90
95
98
Stationary
(soft cover)
3, 4, 5
65
70
75
80
85
90
If the activated enemy unit has the initiative, it will open fire
if within its maximum range at the nearest best target.
Resolve this fire.
Dug in or
hard cover
6
20
25
35
60
80
95
SPOTTING THE ENEMY
Moving
1
70
75
80
85
90
95
Stationary
(soft cover)
2, 3, 4, 5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Stationary
(hard cover)
6
10
15
20
25
30
*where more than one target is available. Choose the best target e.g.
tank target for A/T or tank, infantry target for sniper or MG.
The unit fired on (not necessarily the unit that activated the
enemy) may not have seen where the shot or shots came from
and must now attempt to spot the enemy unit.
Roll percentage dice and again consult the What and Where
Table. For example, if attempting to spot a hull down tank at
a range of up to 500m from the targeted unit, a score of 70 or
below is required.
The following modifiers are used:
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Spotting Modifiers
+10
for each time this activated unit has fired (cumulative)

Plus a further (once per shot if):
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Return to 2 above. Repeat for any other activated enemy

unit cards which have not yet been spotted. (The unit has
not been placed on the table).
A DETAILED EXAMPLE
-20
if sniper (snipers are very hard to spot)
-10
if sub-88mm gun
-10
if infantry
+30
if 88mm+ gun (lots of dust and smoke!)
Game
+40
if MG
-40
if spotting unit is moving fast
-25
if spotting unit is moving
My Crusader tanks moved onto the table. I drew a blank enemy

unit card which was discarded. I then moved on my Bren
carrier recce platoon. I drew a blank enemy unit card which was
discarded. I kept my lorry-borne infantry platoon off table.
-25
if spotting unit has taken a casualty this turn or is

suppressed
Game
So for example, a hull-down German PzIIIJ has just fired on

a moving Crusader from a distance of 500m. The base chance
for the Crusader to spot the firer is 70%, +10% as the PzIIIJ just
fired, -10% as its 50mm gun is sub-88mm, -25% as the Crusader
is moving = 50% chance to spot.
If the unit is spotted, the unit card is replaced by the
actual model of the unit and you may return fire or react as
appropriate. If the unit is not spotted, the unit card is removed
from the table. The unit card is, however, retained by the player.
From now on, each time a unit card is drawn, this previously
activated unit which was not spotted is also activated again. This
is repeated until the unit is finally spotted and placed on the
table. This will allow, for example, a dug in tank or AT gun or
sniper to fire a round but you may fail to spot its location. The
marker placed and then removed becomes just a guess of where
you thought the shot came from. The unit may well appear
somewhere else and fire again before you spot it. Each turn this
unit fires, the chances of you spotting it increases, but it may
happen that a dug in AT gun or sniper may hit several targets
before being located. (This happens all too often in reality and
needs to be recreated).
So, lets summarise and then close with a couple of examples.
For each unit you have on the table, every time that unit
ends its turn:
1. Draw enemy unit card. If blank, discard.
if not blank:
Dice for how far away it is on the What and Where chart.
2. Place DF in centre of table and dice for direction.
3. Dice for what it is doing.
4. If moving, dice for direction of travel using reversed DF.
5. Place unit card on table in designated sector at designated
distance from edge of DF, or at first point of visibility to any
friendly unit.
6. Dice for initiative on initiative table.
7. If enemy unit has initiative, it will open fire at nearest best
target if it has any visible target within maximum range.
Resolve this fire.
8. Dice to spot enemy unit on What and Where chart, use
Spotting Modifiers.
9. Place unit on table if spotted. Remove unit card if not ready
to be activated again next game turn.
10. If enemy unit is spotted, all friendly units with line of sight
may respond if they wish and if able.
11. Next friendly unit takes turn - draw an enemy unit card.
So, here now is the advance on the Arab village scenario in a bit
more detail to give a few examples of the TGS and associated
rules in progress.
turn
turn
2.
I moved the Crusaders again and drew an enemy unit card. The
card was Infantry Platoon. I rolled 10 on the DF and I threw
a 2 for distance from the edge of the DF (750m). I placed the
infantry unit card 15" (1" = 50m in these rules) in the 10
sector, which is to the SE of the village.
Next what is it doing? I rolled 2, so it was moving in the
open. I therefore needed to throw another dice on the DF for
direction. I reversed the DF and rolled 8. They were advancing
towards my Crusaders. Not so good for the German infantry!
I now rolled for initiative. The Crusaders threw high, the
Germans low. The Crusaders won the initiative and attempted
to spot the infantry. If the Germans had won the initiative, they
could have opened fire on the Crusaders, (unlikely), or gone to
ground (more likely). The Crusaders had a base chance of 85%
of spotting infantry moving in the open, -25% because they
were moving. They needed to score 60% or less and did so. They
could have fired on the German infantry, but decided to wait in
ambush.
Next, I moved the Bren gun recce platoon, drawing an
enemy unit card. Another German infantry platoon. I rolled 11
on the DF and 1 on the distance table. This placed them on the
edge of the table in the 11 sector. I placed them on the hill
to the NE of the village and in line with the recce platoon that
had advanced up the hill. On the What are they doing table, I
rolled a 3, which placed them in soft cover. I placed this units
card on the table as the Bren carrier recce platoon had still to
spot them. I now rolled for initiative. Recce platoon rolled a 4,
plus 2 as they were a specialist recce team, which gave them 6.
The Germans also rolled a 4, +1 because their best target (recce
platoon) was at long range and +2 because they were stationary,
giving them 7. The Germans won the initiative and opened up
with all weapons at the Bren carriers. They managed to suppress
the carriers, but inflicted no casualties. The recce platoon now
attempted to spot the German platoon. The German platoon
was 700m from the recce platoon, giving a base chance of 75%
to spot. Add 20 as the firing unit was infantry, -25 as recce
platoon was moving and - 25 as they were suppressed. (95 - 50
= 40% to spot). The recce platoon threw 28, so managed to spot
the German platoon that was firing on them. They could not
return fire that turn as they lost the initiative.
Game
turn
The now stationary Crusaders opened fire on the still advancing

Germans, and unsurprisingly caused considerable damage. The
surviving Germans went to ground, heavily suppressed. I drew
an enemy unit card it was blank.
The Bren recce platoon opened fire on the German platoon
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that was shooting at them, without much damage to either side.

Again, I drew an enemy unit card, which was again blank.
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corner of my eye as I went to ground. The German platoon was

placed on the table.
So it was at this point that I took stock and realised that the
Game turn 4
TGS appeared to work. With just one table and one DF tool, I
The Crusaders continued to pour fire into the German platoon
had managed to produce something special for a solo tabletop
causing more casualties. I drew another enemy card another
game, a game of high tension which took me completely by
blank.
surprise and looked like beating me!
The Bren recce team continued its long range firefight. Both
It was also quite believable. The German commander had
sides received some suppression. The enemy card was again
sent one infantry platoon to his left front of the village, the
blank.
one which was fired on by the Bren carrier recce platoon.
He had sent another platoon out to his right flank but this
Game turn 5
platoon was caught in the open by the Crusaders. He had also
I needed to do something. The Crusaders were doing their job
sent out a third platoon to watch the road from the East. It was
and covering the village and had by now decimated a German
this platoon which had let the recce and tanks go by and then
infantry platoon. The recce platoon had taken the high ground,
ambushed the target they had been waiting for a soft-skin
but were locked in a firefight. So I decided that with the tanks
vehicle convoy.
in position to cover me into the village, I could risk bringing
A further note on solo gaming: once an enemy unit is
on my lorry-borne infantry and would dismount them, to enter activated, I then play that unit to the best strengths of the enemy
the village on foot, when parallel with the Crusaders. The recce
for the remainder of the game. I roll a D6 for each activated unit
platoon was covering my right flank, although they were locked
which gives the ability of the officer or NCO in charge of that
in a firefight.
unit as follows:
The enemy unit cards were being drawn and the pile was
1 = Fanatic
going down when all were drawn, the game would be over,
2 = Motivated to succeed (medal hunter)
and I needed to advance to the end of the table as well as
3 = Well trained and capable regular
occupy the village.
4 = Well trained and capable regular
So, on I came in my Jeep, leading my platoon. I made one
5 = Cautious, will take no risks
move onto the table for me and my convoy and drew an enemy
6 = Extremely cautious (will retire if possible)
unit card. Another German infantry platoon! I threw a 3 on
This aids me in the way I play the unit and adds a lot of
the DF and a 1 on the distance table. This put them right on
enjoyment. I mark the unit card in pencil so I dont forget the
the edge of the
type of commander
table and about
I am dealing with.
6" (300m) away
Each and every
from my little
time I play with
convoy. I rolled
the TGS, I am
a 3 on the What
surprised and have
are they doing
to work very hard
table, which made
for a victory. Now
them stationary,
its even better
in soft cover. I
than a computer
put their unit
game as having
card on the table
the same level of
6" to the right of
tension and that
my convoy! We
constant feeling of
diced for initiative,
not knowing what
which the German
is going to happen
platoon won
next but on
easily (they threw
the tabletop with
a 5, +2 for being
miniatures!
stationary and +2
I urge you to
for medium range
have a go with the
target). I rolled a
TGS. But dont
measly 2, -2 for
be surprised if you
moving, so actually
lose to an invisible
An overview of the game in progress. In the centre, you can see the Direction Finder in use, the Bren
carriers and recce platoon deployed onto the central hill, and the marauding Crusaders on the left
scored zero.
opponent who
(southern) flank. At the bottom of the picture is the ambush that caused such consternation! German
This German
somehow always
units have appeared entirely at random, making use of theWhat and Where table on page 24 which, when
platoon opened fire
seems to be one
combined with the DF, is guaranteed to keep you on your toes throughout your games.
and immediately
step ahead!
destroyed two of my trucks and their passengers. My Jeep was
I now intend to further develop the TGS for use with
disabled and I dived for the ditch with the survivors. I now
skirmish games from ancient through to colonial and also
attempted to spot the enemy, for which I needed 75%, +20% as
to use the same mechanisms with a live opponent, with one
being fired on by infantry, -25% as moving (into my ditch) and
side playing the enemy units once activated, which should be
-25% as taken casualties, therefore 45% was required. I managed
interesting as even the enemy commander will not know where
to roll below this, and therefore spotted the enemy out of the
his units are. Now, theres realism!
26
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Old Glory UK
Institute House.
New Kyo,
Stanley
Co Durham.
DH9 7TJ
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28mm Magyars
Tel 01207 283332
info@oldgloryuk.com
www.oldgloryuk.com
New 15mm Argentinians

Drabant 28mm
Normans
NEW 15mm Falklands War/

1980s British
Dont forget.
The 6 for 5 deal on show
and telephoneorders.
28th - 29th JUNE 2014

At Scarborough Spa in North Yorkshire
3 dedicated wargames rooms for late night wargaming

Set up Friday to wargame Friday, Saturday and Sunday
2 Mantic Tournaments to be announced
check websites for more details
Mantic academy games for new gamers

Mantic demos of Deadzone and Dreadball
Alessio to demo LOKA
Dropzone tournament Magic the gathering tournament
40k tournament role play room(if we have enough interest)
New for 2014: Scarborough Library Exhibition
check website for more details
Hundred years celebration for World War I

2 Historical talks
more information to follow!
Warlord Games to demo Beyond the Gates of Antares

Rules System and Dads Army demo game
Mantic, Old Glory, Warlord Games, Dave Thomas,
Bring and Buy, 30+ trade stands, 30+ demo and
participation games - see website
www.wartornuk.com
Display game, trade stands and competition
enquiries to Kelvin on 01723 373852
Untitled-3 1
MINIATURE WA R GA
MES
18/03/2014
27
14:35
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Send three and fourpence

Conrad Kinch considers the
thorny problem of prisoners
in wargames, an aspect that is
often overlooked.
When youre wounded and left on

Afghanistans plains,
And the women come out to cut up what
remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Rudyard Kipling,
The Young British Soldier
have a friend, a distant relative in fact,

who served in the Irish Defence Forces
from the period 1939-1945. There was
something happening in Europe around
that time, I cant remember what exactly,
but in Ireland at least there was what was
known as The Emergency. Like that other
great piece of linguistic circumlocution,
The Troubles, The Emergency has that
particularly Irish trait of being descriptive
without being enlightening. A bit like me.
So around 1940 or so, my relative had
been issued two magazines of .303 and been
given the job of defending Dun Laoghaire
Harbour from the avaricious navies of the
world. Setting off in a brisk and soldierlike fashion, he was completing his second
round of the pier when he noticed a man
with a camera lurking underneath it. When
challenged, the photographer could not
account for himself and did not respond to a
shouted, Hnde hoch! And so it was that
a visiting Swedish naturalist with an interest
in wading birds was taken in Dun Laoghaire
piers first bayonet charge. Having secured
his surrender and bound his hands with a
rifle sling, my relative marched his prisoner
to the local barracks, where there was a spot
of sorting out. I am told he got his camera
back eventually pictures of Boobys intact.
You may smile, but I attribute my great
nations freedom from the dastardly Swedes
to his actions. But, as it happens, you will
be hard-pressed to replicate his feat in most
wargames rules. Prisoners are few and far
between on our miniature battlefields, no
matter the fact that they are rather more
common on real ones. I suppose we dont
like to think about our gallant little men

throwing in the towel. For all the debates
Ive read online on whether or not it is
pointless to paint casualty figures, Ive never
come across an argument about the need for
surrendering figures.
I never really thought about prisoners
until I started playing Little Wars. H G Wells
little book may have been a distraction
from proper writing for him, but its proved
endlessly interesting to me. Melee combat
in Wells rules is rigidly mathematical:
any group of men attacked by twice their
number will surrender. In fact, almost all
bayonet charges in Little Wars result in some
prisoners being taken; once the smaller side
has been whittled down to half that of the
larger, the survivors surrender. These men
are then taken under escort and brought
to the rear. In our experience, this tends
to mean that towards the end of the game,
there is a substantial POW cage at the rear of
the field.
Little Wars isnt unique in accounting
for prisoners. Charge! by Brigadier Peter
Young and Lt. Col. J.P Lawford also allows
for them: troops defeated in melee that fail
a morale roll or that are cut off, surrender.
Ambush Alley Games Force on Force ruleset
also includes them, though for the most part,
they only really occur when wounded men
are overrun. I dont recall a single instance in
our games of Force on Force where the rules
dictated that an uninjured man throw down
his arms. The Sword and the Flame forces
Imperial players to keep a careful eye on
their wounded lest, like the young British
soldier of Kipling, they fall into the hands of
the Native player, who then has the option
of torturing them for information. Grim
stuff indeed.
Ive never been shy of cross-pollinating
ideas from one game to another, and I cant
think of a multi-player game Ive played in
the last few years that doesnt owe some
debt to Richard Borgs Overlord rules, for
example, but prisoners have yet to appear
in any of the games in which they dont
already feature. The argument is, of course,
that prisoners are taken in real war and
should therefore be taken in miniature war.
However, there are plenty of things that
occur in real war that never appear on the
table we rarely see casualty dressing stations
or USO shows, though those are usually
behind the front lines.

I have been thinking of ways of weaseling
prisoners into tabletop wargames and Ive
come up with a couple. Most of these are
only really of use in campaign games, but
campaign games are the best games anyhow.
VICTORY POINTS OR
VICTORY CONDITIONS
In some games, capturing the prisoner (by
whatever means are set down in the rules) is
the main thrust of the scenario, but there are
also situations whereby a prisoner is more
use than a casualty. Ancients players may
be keen to take prisoners, which can then
be sold as slaves, while Force on Force allots
Coalition prisoners a high victory point
bonus, as the Irregular player can parade
them in front of Al Jazeera. The ransom of
high ranking prisoners in medieval games
could also finance further operations.
INTELLIGENCE
Prisoner interrogation is an art in itself
and, while it is unlikely except in very
unusual circumstances that an interrogation
is going to yield usable intelligence in
the timeframe of a typical battlegame,
in the context of a campaign there are
certainly things worth looking at. I
would recommend Chris Mackey and
Greg Millers book An Interrogators War
as a fascinating look at the subject. The
information gained could take the shape
of strategic intelligence (where the enemy
are headed in a map game, for example) or
possibly a look at his order of battle.
MORALE
Prisoners are awkward, need feeding, get in
the way and are generally hassle which has
caused many a bloodthirsty commander to
order that none be taken, including sadly,
my old chum Harry V. However, the side
that does take prisoners and that does not
mistreat them has the inestimable advantage
that the next time they do battle, the
opposition will be aware that fighting to the
last man is not absolutely necessary. Contrast
the resistance offered to the Western Allies
with that offered to the Red Army in
1945. Theres an argument to be made
for allowing a victorious army which has
taken prisoners to reduce the morale of an
opponent when they face them next.
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Ogre
Everything from Texas is bigger

Ashley Pollard confesses her love for one
of the classic sci-fi games, first produced in
the heady 70s when everything was new and
exciting. Quite an achievement, then, for one of
those games to still be pulling in the punters in
the second decade of the 21st century.
his is not so much a review as a paean to my love of

the first wargame I ever bought, back in 1977 from Just
Games in Piccadilly, a shop that is sadly long gone. This
game was called Ogre and the two main attractions
were its price, and the fact it was a Science Fiction wargame. It
is hard to imagine a time when SF wargames were rarer than a
rare thing now that we live in a Golden Era that caters for Star
Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and numerous other franchises,

of which there are far too many to mention.
So this article will sing the praises of one of my favourite
wargames that has a new edition for the 21st Century, marking
thirty-six years from its first introduction to the world. Im also
going to take the time to discuss what I think it is about Ogre
that has struck the imaginations of so many players around
the world over the years. This new box set has raised not only
the production values of the game, but also the number of
components and sheer physical size of a game, which now
matches the epithet that applies to Ogres of being a bit of a
juggernaut. En passant I will comment on the experience the
game delivers, how playable it is and why you should run out of
the house and get down to your local friendly neighbourhood
games shop and buy a copy today. Or, if you lack one of those,
Ogre attacks: a recreation of the classic Ogre Miniatures Rules cover
using the authors collection Ogre miniatures. All photos by the author.
30
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THE LAST WAR

When the rules were first written circa 1977,
2014 was the future. Now we have arrived in the
future, some of the assumptions made in 1977
have moved the Ogreverse into an alternate
reality where things happened differently.
However, the main assumptions behind the game
remain largely intact. These were the introduction
of better armour, power-armoured infantry, AI
cybernetics to control machines, lasers able to
shoot down missiles, ECM and ECCM, including
stealth, that make targeting things more difficult.
About the only bad call is the inclusion of air
cushion vehicles, and even then the Russians did
develop the Ekranoplan, so even this is only a
near miss. The one big thing Steve Jackson got
right was the presence of ubiquitous battlefield
surveillance by orbital and other assets. We
can only hope that the tactical use of nuclear
weapons doesnt become widespread.
The background to the Ogreverse is built
around what is called The Last War, which
kicks off ten years after the introduction of the
Mark 1 Ogre circa 2060. Steve Jackson Games
has printed two versions of the timeline, the
first in the Ogre Miniatures rules that starts in
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1995 and goes up to 2105. The second was in

GURPS Ogre that starts in 1944 and again ends
in 2105, which in the Ogreverse is when the
Factory States period begins; think of a world
where automated factories have decided that
they need to run things, because humans are so
bad at doing so its sort of Skynet light. By the
way, the latter timeline just unpacks more events
in the Ogreverse.
The Last War covers the period from 2070
up to 2092, but the recommended playing era
is to start with 2083, because this is when all
the variants of the Ogres are available. Within the
game timeline, 2087 is when the first of the AI
Ogres accidentally becomes sentient, which, as
you can imagine, changes the nature of warfare.
The main two factions in the game are the
North American Combine and the Pan European
Federation. Politically, the background of Ogre is
loosely inspired by Orwells 1984, in that none
of the main combatants can really be called the
good guys. The Combine represents a union of
Canada, the USA, Mexico and Central America,
with aspirations to control all of South America
too; the stylized hour glass emblem for the
Combine is an abstract image of both continents
joined together. The Pan Europeans are an
throw all your money at the computer screen now and order
your copy online; Leisure Games of Finchley has an excellent
mail order service.
I should add as a disclaimer that I recently became a Steve
Jackson Games (wo)Man In Black and have been running
demonstration games of Ogre for the last two years. Im jokingly
called the official Ogre demo agent in Britain. However, saying
that, the only reason I volunteered to be a MIB is because I love
this game so much. So, yes, Im biased, but I will endeavour to
be as critical as I can during this article. You are free to call me
out on any displays of over-enthusiasm.
HISTORY
There are now six editions of the Ogre rule set. The changes
made to Ogre have been, in the tradition of Old School Rules,
rather minimal. By minimal, I mean they make the revisions of
some of the rules in the SF BattleTech game look like complete
rewrites by comparison. This can be put down to Steve Jackson
being the sort of game designer who likes to playtest his games
thoroughly.
The only rider I would add to the above statement is that
the introduction of new units over the years has required more
rules to be added to account for special attack conditions, or
alterations in movement and so on. In the bigger scheme of
things, these are all rather small beer in comparison to most
other games in their second or third edition of their rulesets.
Think growth through evolution, rather than revolution.
The first edition of Ogre was launched in 1977 as Microgame
1, the first of what became a series of twenty-two games
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extended European Union that includes Eastern

European countries, including Russia. For some
reason, Britain stands apart from being involved
in all of this continental shenanigans and allies
itself to the Combine. You can see where this is
going, and it doesnt end well either.
China is another major player and is looking
to move Westward, but Japanese Nihon Empire
wants a slice of the action too and initially its
a Combine ally, which all makes for strange
bedfellows as the war progresses and allies
turn on each other. South America is split into
two main factions, with Brazil nominally allied to
the Combine, while Argentina is supported by
the Pan Europeans, providing them aid against
the Combine incursion, not that anything goes
according to plan and lots of real estate ends up
glowing at night.
As for the rest of the world, it pretty much all
goes to hell in a hand-basket as the war spreads
its way across North Africa, into the Middle East,
ending up in Pakistan and India. So, there are
lots of opportunities for players to get down and
dirty and fight over the radioactive wastelands
of Earth.
I did say this game is a bit grimdark didnt I?
Oh well, if I didnt, I have now.
published by Metagaming (Concepts) Microgames. Ogre came

in a plastic bag and you had to cut apart the counters to be able
to play; the rules were printed in black and white with the only
luxury being the use of red as a spot colour on the cover. We are
so spoilt for choice that gamers today dont know they are born.
The Ogre game introduced us to two variants of the
eponymous cybertank, called the Mark 3 and the Mark 5,
which had to be stopped from destroying ones command post
by using a combination of power armoured infantry, howitzers,
heavy tanks, missile tanks and ground effect vehicles. There
were two introductory scenarios, one for each of the Ogre
variants, with four variations combinations to spice things up. I
can recommend the two Mark 3 Ogres attacking as extremely
challenging fun to play.
The Designer Edition provides a number of 3D building that act as

either objectives for specific scenarios, or are used in conjunction with
certain pieces; for example, if you are using cruise missiles, then laser turrets
or towers will allow you to intercept them before they reach the target.
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The only minor gaffe in the first edition rules was in the stats
for one of the units, which unbalance the way the game played.
The GEV (Ground Effect Vehicle) tanks had a bonus move that
could make it impossible for anything other than an undamaged
Ogre to catch them. This hadnt been picked up in playtesting,
for two reasons. The first was that no one had thought to see
what happens when one fielded a whole force made up of
GEVs, because that would be a totally stupid idea. The second
was that when the game was printed, there were twice as many
unit counters included than originally planned, which allowed
players to field whole forces made up of one unit type. Steve
Jacksons new mantra became test the stupid ideas.
The corrections from player feedback led to the second
edition of the rules that reduced the GEVs second bonus
move by one movement point, and increased the speed of the
heavy tanks by one movement point, thereby showing what a
difference a single point makes. The other change occurred in
the scenario set-up conditions: from being based on choosing
the value of the defending force based on attack points, it was
altered to allowing a simpler fixed number of armour units
LITTLE BIG GAME
Ogre was the first Microgame from Metagaming

(Concepts) Microgames, and its sequel was
called GEV. This was released as Microgame
Number 8 a year later in 1978 and again went
to multiple print runs. Its appeal lay in expanding
the Ogreverse, giving a wider purview of the
world of autonomous cyber-tanks that fired
atomic munitions to lay waste to all those that
opposed them. New units were introduced into
the mix, including mobile howitzers and light
tanks that could now fight over expanded terrain
features that were not on the original Ogre
map. The biggest change was the introduction
of overrun attacks to replace the ramming of
the original game, which simplified what was
actually happening when an Ogre entered a hex
containing enemy units. Four new scenarios were
described, including one of my all-time favourites
The Ceasefire Collapse, which I adore for the
fact that no two games are ever the same.
By 1982, a hundred thousand games of Ogre/
GEV had been sold and to support the fan base,
Steve Jackson games released The Ogre Book, a
40 page softbound booklet to support the game.
I read my copy of this so many times that it fell
to bits and I had to put the individual pages into
sleeves, but luckily, a couple of years ago, I found
another copy in reasonable condition. Its chock
full of scrummy Ogre goodness, including the
designer notes and the rationale for both Ogre
and GEV.
Battlesuit was released in 1983 and this was a
spin-off game dealing with power armour infantry
in the world of Ogre and is non-compatible,
dealing as it does with the individual at a much
smaller ground scale. This was a microgame that
dealt with micro-tactical combat, rather than the
macro-tactical combat of Ogre/GEV.
The first expansion game for Ogre/GEV was
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and infantry. It also had a colour cover, and this version went
through three print runs.
Then Metagaming Concepts went down the pan, but the
eponymous Steve Jackson Games brought Ogre back into print
with two versions of the third edition being produced. The first
came out in 1982 and had a colour map for the first time, while
Ogre: Deluxe Edition came out in 1987 in a larger box with the
first colour cardboard map. The counters could be stood upright
with small, clip-on bases.
The first Ogre/GEV combined set that came out in 1990
was called the Fourth Edition, while the next production run
in 2000 with the same title came in a videocassette box and was
labelled the Fifth Edition. Again, there were two versions of
the Fifth Edition when SJG produced Deluxe Ogre in 2000, with
miniatures that came in three videocassette boxes with a wraparound cover and that reorganized the rules using the SPI games
numbering system. Both of these had colour paper maps.
That brings us up to 2013 and the Sixth Edition of Ogre
which is currently being produced in two versions; the Ogre
Designer Edition that has colour cardboard maps and self-assembly
Shockwave that came out in 1984. It introduced

new units to the game, like cruise missile
launchers, lasers to take the cruise missiles
down with, super-heavy tanks and two new GEV
variants; the light GEV and the GEV personnel
carrier, with expanded rules to cover the use of
trucks, marine infantry, buildings and infantry
riding on top of, or in vehicles. Rounded out with
five more scenarios two for use with the Ogre
rules, and three for use with the GEV rules.
Three years later, Ogre Reinforcements came
out in 1987, only reinforcing the popularity of the
game, and the demand for more Ogre goodness.
This was as much a product designed to replace
worn out components, or expand your collection
allowing for larger games, as it was anything
else. However, saying that, it introduced Ogre
variants from the Ogre Book by providing specific
counters for them and rules to allow things like
towing immobilized Ogres off the board. The
biggest additions that this supplement brought
to the Ogreverse were the three multi-map
scenarios that were included.
Ogre Miniatures, published in 1992, was
a rulebook for playing games of Ogre on a
wargame tabletop terrain maximizing the use
of the then recently released miniature range
from Ral Partha Enterprises (see And It Comes
in Pints sidebar for more information about the
miniatures themselves).
The rules used a ground scale of two inches
to the mile, with a suggestion that three inches
to the mile would work where one has a large
enough space to play on. Given that the minimum
recommended table size for the game was three
feet by five feet, Ive never had the luxury of
having a large enough table to play a game with
these rules, given that my new enlarged table is
approximately three by three feet.
Slightly left field, and included because I have
it and therefore it must be worth mentioning, is
the GURPS Ogre book that was published in 2000.

I play GURPS, but I didnt buy this for role-playing
games in the world of Ogre, rather I bought it
for the background information that is included
in the book. In my opinion, playing in Ogreverse
is the equivalent of playing Call of Cthulhu,
because when Cthulhu turns up, all the players
go insane, whilst in Ogre they are irradiated and
start to glow. I would run games if I could find
anyone willing, but for some strange reason, the
people I know are less than keen about rolling
up characters who will end up glowing in the
night than they are of having their characters go
insane. Go figure? No sense of humour, in my
opinion.
The second edition of The Ogre Book was
released in 2001 by Steve Jackson Games that
expanded from the original book from 40 pages
up to 128 pages of articles on the Ogreverse. It
included a combination of reprinted old material
updated in light of revisions to the rules together
with new material. Fortunately, while GURPS Ogre
and both editions of The Ogre Book are out of
print, you can buy and download the PDF versions
through the online Warehouse 23 store. An ideal
use for ones Kindle, I would have thought.
As a result of a competition, the Ogre Scenario
Book 1 was produced in 2001, featuring seven
new scenarios for aficionados of the Ogre game.
This was followed by Ogre Battlefields, which
also came out in 2001 and introduced four new
maps with rules for militia, combat engineers and
revetments. There were nine variant scenarios
using different maps to make changes in each.
And that, as they say, is a brief journey
through the history of the products released over
the last thirty-five years since Ogre first came
out. Now the new Ogre Designer Edition allows
you the chance to purchase the game with all the
units and rules, with enough maps to satisfy all
but the most rabid Ogre fan in one package.
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Ogres, and the Ogre Pocket Edition, which

replicates the first edition of the game
in all its elegant simplicity. The latter
is also priced at the original $2.95 as a
thank you to all the fans that made the
KickStarter a success. The 6th Edition
rules are effectively a compilation of all
the expansions that have been introduced
to the game over the years, tidied up to
remove any confusion that might arise in
particular cases that push at the edges of
the games design envelope, which adds
up to a couple of minor things, including
a new terrain type and the ability of
infantry to treat railroad tracks as roads.
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While the game universe is based on the North

American Combine versus the Pan European
Federation, the designer edition includes grey
coloured ogres to represent third party powers
that one might like to play with. You get two Mark
5 Ogres and four Mark 3 Ogres to add to the two
third-party factions that come with the game.
OGRE DESIGNER EDITION

BOX SET: BIGGER IS BEST
Steve Jackson Games, from Austin
Texas, has brought out a new edition
of Ogre that grew from Steves desire
to give the first game he ever designed
an ultimate makeover. The goal was
to make a big, beautiful edition of the
game. The thought behind this started
simply enough in 2008, but by 2013 it
had grown into a monster through the
auspices of a KickStarter campaign that
was designed to raise just $20,000, but
which ended up raising a staggering
$923,680, confirming that everything that
comes from Texas is bigger than anything
that comes from anywhere else!
It was also an indication of the
enthusiasm of old time players, who were
happy to put their hands in their pockets
and dig deep to bring about this new
version of a game that they loved. At the
time, I couldnt afford to contribute to
the KickStarter for lots of reasons, and
as a consequence was kicking myself
about it later. If you missed out on the
KickStarter edition with its benefits from
meeting stretch goals, you can still buy
the Designer Edition. This is the edition
I am reviewing, but I think it appropriate
to mention some of the extras that are
available separately, or upcoming. If you
want to peruse the KickStarter page then
go here:
www.kickstarter.com/
projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition
So what do you get? It would almost
be easier to say what dont you get? Well,
for starters, no kitchen sink, sorry about
that, but you cant have everything.
Im not going run off a string of
superlatives about how big the Ogre
Designer Edition is, because until you see
it in the flesh, the figures are so large as
to be almost meaningless. For a start, it
weighs 28 pounds and even when youve
assembled all the card models inside and
The North American Combine Ogre designs are

the classic signature cybertanks that are used by
Steve Jackson Games as their trademark for the
game. What you see here are a selection showing
the different 3D Ogres and the Combine mobile
command post.You only get one each of the Mark
6 and the Mark 4, but all the other Combine Ogres
come in multiples, so you are not likely to run out
even when playing the largest scenario.
Here you can see all the Pan European Ogres

that come with the designer edition, including the
unique Fencer and Doppelsoldner variants. The Pan
European player tends to field more conventional
forces with cybertanks in support, whereas the
Combine uses Ogres as raiding units.
The Pan European Federation fields its own unique

Ogres called the Fencer and Doppelsoldner, as
well as the Combine Mark 3 and Mark 5 designs.
The games background explains the use of the
Combine designs from Pan European capturing the
Combine Ogre manufacturing facility when Britain
falls to them during The Last War.
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thrown away the frets, it will still weigh

in at about 25 pounds. They say mind
over matter, but in this case, size really
does matter. Trust me when I say you will
know in your mind how heavy carrying
this box is, because like the eponymous
Ogre, this box set is the largest game you
are ever likely to encounter. When I went
to collect my copy from the Post Office,
I lugged it from the counter to the car,
struggling to balance it while opening the
door to my Polo and get it home. Once
home, I had to carry it up three flights of
stairs to my flat and by the time I got into
my living room, I was fit to collapse and
decided that I probably didnt need to go
to the gym as I had done my workout for
the day. On speaking with Brian Engard
from SJG, he told me SJG recommends
carrying the Ogre box set around can
be used as part of ones daily exercise
regime.
Lets just say that on the thirty-two
counter sheets, you get a mix of more
than 500 armour and infantry units,
72 Ogres and lots of 3D buildings to
assemble. It took me three nights to
punch out all the counters, sort them out
and assemble the Ogres. Once you have
punched out and assembled your forces,
you have five main map boards to play
over; the classic orange crater wasteland
of the original Ogre game in two parts,
and the four GEV maps each come in
two halves that fold out, with overlay
counters to customize the maps as needs
be on top of all that. Oh, and the box has
three moulded trays for storing everything
inside. Not to mention the usual things
like a rulebook, record sheets, scenario
book, two quick reference sheets, a pair
of Ogre dice and a blue print poster. So,
quantity really does have a quality all of its
own when it comes to the Ogre Designer
Edition.
THIS IS MADNESS, THIS IS

OGRE: PLAYING THE GAME
So much for all that game development
background stuff and the shiny box, I
hear you say, tell us about the game and
how it plays! For the games in universe
background history see The Last War
sidebar.
The basic Ogre scenario is to defend
a command post with an under-strength
battalion against the eponymous
cybertank. The cybertank is controlled by
an AI, and is therefore a bit like facing the
T101 Terminator, except that the Ogre is
a bit larger than Arnold Schwarzenegger
who appears in the movie. Back to the
game, each hex represents one mile, and
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Top: Ogre Expansion Sets

The first expansion to Ogre was the game GEV, which expanded the
Ogreverse into mass combat between conventional units as well as using
Ogres to knock down the command post. Over time, new units and maps
were added to expand the game further, and for those who had either worn
out their counters, or just needed more units SJG offered a reinforcement
pack too.
Centre: Ogre Books
The first Ogre Book was incredibly popular and was expanded upon the
printing of the second edition, which included all the old articles as well as
new ones to expand Ogre with more material on the background world of
Ogre, and new units. GURPS Ogre took the game gave enough information for
players to play RPGs in the Ogreverse. Not as popular as other supplements, it
does however provide the most technical information on the various units for
those who want to know about such things.
Bottom: Ogre Miniatures Rules
With the launch of the Ral Partha miniature line in 1992, a set of miniatures
rules were released allowing you to play games without hexes using
approximately 2" = 1 mile as the ground scale. The book included templates for
blast effects and new rules and units. My only complaint is that Ive never had
access to table large enough to play the game using these rules.
each turn lasts one minute. Each turn consists of moving your
units and then firing them. The Ogre moves first and fires,
followed by the defender who moves and fires, which completes
one combat round.
Most units have a movement point allowance with a couple
of exceptions. Those are the command post and howitzer,
which are both immobile, as both are units that have been
placed where they are for the duration of the battle. Each units
weapon has an attack value, and all units have a defence value,
while Ogres have individual parts, each with their own defence
value. The combat is resolved by adding up the number of
attack points of the weapons firing and dividing them by the
defence value of the unit being attacked, thereby generating an
odds ratio. One D6 is then rolled and the combat results table is
consulted.
The results range from no effect, to disabled and destroyed.
A disabled result means that the unit cannot move for one
turn, which means it is easier to destroy. Ogres, however, are
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not affected by disabled results. In addition, the Ogre can

ram armour units, and overrun infantry during its movement
phase, which can destroy, or disable armour, and will reduce
the infantry unit by one squad. As the Ogre player, you really
want to take advantage of these movement attacks to weed out
the defenders and reduce them to a more manageable number
of targets. The defender, on the other hand, must prevent the
Ogre from defeating them in detail by maximizing the number
of attacks per turn, and understanding the probabilities that
the different odds ratios offer. This game is good for teaching
youngsters basic mathematics and probabilities.
GEVs are the fastest unit in the game, with a move of four
hexes, and the ability to move another three hexes after firing.
The downside is that they are fragile, with a defence of 2 and
dont have much of a punch with an attack of 2. Heavy tanks
move three hexes per turn and have a good attack of 4 and a
defence value of 3. Missile tanks only move two hexes per turn,
and given that Ogres move three, this means that they are slow
and can get left behind. However, they have a four hex range
and a pretty good attack of 3, but only have a defence of 2, so
they tend to die if the Ogre looks at them too harshly. Last,
but not least in my opinion, are the PBI who get the short
end of the stick, despite being in power armour and having
the equivalent firepower of a contemporary tank. They move
two hexes per turn, and have a range of 1, so keeping them
in contact with a fast-moving Ogre is difficult. Their attack
and defence value depends on the number of squads left in the
platoon. You start with three, and you can choose to divide the
platoon into squads as well, but in the bigger scheme of things
they tend to be degraded quite quickly by the Ogres antipersonnel defence batteries.
Ogres, being the stars of the game, have an extended
repertoire of weapons and have treads, which are a way of
keeping track of how fast the Ogre can move during the course
of the game when it takes damage from attacks aimed at slowing
it down. A Mark 3 Ogre starts with one main battery that has an
attack value of 4, a range of 3 and a defence of 4. The defending
player really needs to take this sucker out first, because this will
rip your units apart at a distance.
Next up are the four secondary batteries that have an attack
and range of 3, and a defence of 2. Given the Mark 3 Ogre
starts with four of these on board, it can combine attacks
together to cut a swathe through your well-laid attack plan. So
these should be your next set of targets to prioritize. Then, to
add to the misery, a Mark 3 Ogre has two one-shot missiles that
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OGRES ARE
CYBER-TANKS
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beginner usually just turns into a bloodbath

of attrition. Who am I kidding? All games tend
to end up as bloodbaths of attrition, but more
experienced players know this and dont tend
to sacrifice units with quite the same sense of
blithe abandonment.
Since the introduction of the Marks 3 and
5 Ogres, the range has been expanded both
forward and backwards. The Mark 1 model
represents the first deployment of an AI cyberbrain in what is an enlarged heavy tank with
beefed up anti-personnel array to keep the
infantry from swarming it. The Mark 2 is the first
step to the multi-weapon Mark 3, having a main
gun, anti-personnel array and two secondary
batteries. Both of these smaller Ogres have
their uses and I recommend trying out attacks
using three or four of them as a useful exercise
in seeing how it changes the games tactics.
There is also a Mark 3B variant, only generally
available to the North American Combine player,
that has more weapons more weapons being
a very good thing for an Ogre to have, and there
is a Mark 3B variant called the Vulcan that is
configured for repair and retrieval of damaged
Ogres for specific scenarios.
The Mark 4 Ogre is a missile carrier that
goes faster than the two original Ogres and is a
The original game of Ogre only came with two

cybertank variants for the players to choose
from. Since then, Steve Jackson Games has
introduced a number of different cybertank
designs that have expanded the number of
Ogres one can choose to play with. In my
not so humble opinion, there is still plenty of
room for more variant designs, both from the
combat stats perspective, and especially from
a miniatures range point of view. So now there
are a quite a large number of Ogre variants to
choose to play with, and most are commonly
available to all sides.
The original Mark 3 variant is the one I use
the most, because it allows for quick games that
can be played in less than an hour, whereas
the iconic Mark 5, which appears on the covers
of the books, is a bit of a beast. Its not that
one cant have quick games when playing this,
but if both players are experienced, then there
are more choices to be made, which can take
the game over the hour as both sides feint for
the best positions. On the other hand, a Mark
5 in the hands of a beginner against another
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very good unit for raiding scenarios. The Mark 6

is the toughest of the Ogres that exists officially
within the Ogreverse. Finally, there is the Ogre
Ninja that was designed to be stealthy through
the use of advanced materials and complex
ECM/ECCM countermeasures that means it is
fast and sneaky. Well, for definitions of sneaky
that include the concept of a giant cybertank
that is hard to target even when you can see it.
There are stats for the Mark 7, but unless the
Word of Steve changes on this, none were ever
fielded during the last war. Im hoping he will
change his mind; call me an optimist.
In addition to the standard Ogres, there
are several other Ogre variants. The first two
are the Fencer and Doppelsoldner fielded by
the Pan European Federation. In-game, the
Fencer is their first homebrew Ogre design.
The Doppelsoldner is described as the largest
Ogre fielded during The Last War. Both designs
have distinct designs, which adds more variety
to what one can field. Then there are the Nihon
Empire Steel Oni and Samurai, the Israeli Golem,
and late in the war, the introduction of the
Chinese Dragon variant fills out the last major
powers choices. All these Ogres have their
own distinct visual style and variations on the
standard Marks 3 and 5 combat stats to boot.
7
2
5
All photos by the

author of models
from her collection.
Not actual size.
9
1: Two Ogre Mark 3 miniatures. 2: Ogre Mark 3B which first appeared in the original Ogre Book. 3: the Mark 4 Ogre was a late addition to the Ogreverse, and it
can best be described as a light raider unit. 4: this Mark 5 model is a very old Grenadier Models casting from back in the day before the Ral Partha line, and you
can tell this from the secondary cannon mouldings, which are different to the current casting, and some other minor details. 5: Ogre Mark 6, the toughest of the
Combine Ogres, but not physically the biggest model in the line. 6:The original defending units for Ogre from Martian Metals were all from the Pan European faction,
and included a howitzer, heavy tank, missile tank and GEV, but no infantry. 7: When Ral Partha launched the new line of miniatures in 1992 the first releases of the
Pan European Federation conventional forces were expanded to include the super heavy tank, mobile howitzer, GEV Personnel carrier, and a cruise missile launcher.
Ive also included the infantry heavy weapons team in the picture. 8: Detailed Castings Products produced a line of resin accessories for Ogre, including these rather
lovely Pan European Laser tower and turret. Ive included my much modified Pan European command post here too. 9: When Ral Partha brought the Ogre line
to market the much neglected North American Combine forces finally got some miniature love. These are a few of mine including another Pan Euro Federation
command post, but this time in my NAC colour scheme. Here we have a howitzer, GEV, GEV Personnel Carrier, and missile tank.
35
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AND IT COMES
IN PINTS
In 1979, the now long defunct Martian Metals

company introduced in the first line of metal
miniatures for the game by making a model of
the Ogre Mark 5, thus making Ogre one of the
first composite board/miniature wargames that
are so common nowadays. They also produced a
Pan European heavy tank, GEV and missile tank
to go with the Ogre in the first run of this line.
The second run included the howitzer and
the mobile howitzer. When Martian Metals went
out of business Steve Jackson Games produced
the miniatures for a couple of years and added
a command post and Combine GEV, and revised
the master for the Ogre Mark 5. All these are
now out of print with, the Martian Metals Ogre
being a much sought-after rarity. Even I dont
own one.
The production of the line then passed to
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Grenadier Models, who dropped production in

1985, and they later went out of business. Ogre
models were unavailable until 1992 when Ral
Partha brought out a new range of re-mastered
miniatures. In my opinion, these were the nicest
models produced for Ogre and the masters are
still being used today.
The line was released in three phases,
with the Ogre Mark 5 leading the way with Pan
European GEV, missile tank, howitzer and both
the heavy and light tank. This was followed
by the Ogre Mark 3 with more Pan European
models of the mobile howitzer, super heavy
tank, GEV personnel carrier, missile crawler
and infantry. Finally, the Combine models were
released with a new missile tank, GEV, heavy
and light tanks, howitzer and rounded out with
the release of a Pan European Fencer. Various
prototypes were also made, but not brought to
market before the line went out of production
again in 1996; Ral Partha changed hands
a couple of years later and are no longer in
can reach out to five hexes and deliver a 6 point hammer of god
attack on any unit that is usually pretty fatal. The good news is
that once used, they are gone, so my advice is ignore them and
accept the inevitable demise of two units.
Finally, just to rub the salt into the defending forces wounds,
the Mark 3 Ogre has eight anti-personnel batteries that can
be used against infantry and the command post. Note though
that an Ogre can only attack each squad once per turn with
these so, for instance, if a 2-point squad were in range, it cannot
choose to do two 4-point attacks, which increases the odds of
destroying the squads. Saying that, an 8-point attack only has a
1-in-6 chance of not destroying the 2-point squad, so this is a
bit theoretical, all things considered.
The Ogre Mark 5 has more of everything than the Mark 3;
with two main batteries, six secondary batteries, six one-shot
missiles and twelve anti-personnel batteries. It is a total pain in
the proverbial to run up against. The basic Ogre scenarios also
allow for multiple Ogre attacks, and using an Ogre to defend a
command post is quite challenging, because the Ogre cant be
everywhere at once.
CONCLUSION
At its core, Ogre is an asymmetrical wargame, which is
something that not all wargamers find easy to assimilate, as it can
be quite depressing to face up to the less than heart-warming
idea that whatever you do, and however well you may play,
even victory can often feel like you have lost. Something said
by Pyrrhus is apposite here, as quoted by Plutarch: If we are
victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be
utterly ruined. Saying that, what do you expect from a game
that allows you play in The Last War, throwing atomic warheads
around the battlefield?
The basic Ogre attacking the command post scenario can be
played in under an hour, even with complete beginners when
teaching them the rules, so I think it is safe to say that we can
call this a fast-play wargame. Each year I grow older, I seem to
have less and less time to play as many games as I would like.
Therefore, a game where I can play lots of scenarios during one
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business under their original name.

In 2000, Steve Jackson Games acquired the
Ral Partha masters and brought the Ogre line
back into production, adding new models to
the range. These included the Combine super
heavy tank, light GEV, infantry and more Ogres;
including Marks 1, 2 3B, 4, 6, the Ninja and
Doppelsoldner. I may have missed a couple of
other things, but in principle, it was now possible
to play full-on games with miniatures rather than
cardboard counters.
However, they were unable to keep the
miniatures line in production, as they are
primarily a board game company that produces
paper-based products, rather than a casting
firm, and the more popular items sold out. The
good news is that with the Ogre Designer Edition
KickStarter success, the miniatures have been
brought back again through Grey Cat Castings,
but are only available direct from Warehouse 23;
Steve Jackson Games online store at
www.sjgames.com/ogre/sponsored-counters/
day is a very good thing indeed. Ogre also has another good
thing going for it, which is that its an open ended game that
allows one to set up different battle scenarios with no two games
ever playing out exactly alike. So in terms of bangs for your
bucks, where number of games equals number of bangs, Ogre
Designer Edition delivers the goods. It is one of the few games
where I have truly lost count of the number of games of Ogre I
have played over the years.
Moving on now to talk a bit about how the Ogre game
is expanded, the original scenario remit of the destroy the
command post game was expanded into the full-on world of
The Last War, through the GEV game and supplements (see
Little Big Game side-bar). In the new Designer Edition, all the
rule expansions are now included to allow you to venture forth
and play games where Ogres may not even appear during the
course of the battle.
One might think that such games are inherently less for
not having an Ogre, but the inclusion of objectives, along
with the fast play and simplicity of the combat system, makes
for a different sort of challenge. My favourite scenario is
the Ceasefire Collapse, as it clearly illustrates the tactical
complexity of the basic game, which can result in games where
no one actually fires. This, to me, speaks volumes about the
design of the game.
Also, now that all the rules are combined, one can of course
choose to have Ogres and all the various standard units swirling
across the battlefield, raining down nuclear death on your
opposition. Call me perverse if you like, but this makes for a
fun-filled wargaming session where one finishes a game with a
sense of a real story being fought out on the table. For all the
number of times I have played games in the Ogreverse, I have
still yet to reach a stage where I have tried every combination of
map and units. The richness from Ogres development over the
last thirty-six years means you are going to have to work really
hard to exhaust all the options that it offers you. On that note,
my ode to the Ogre Designer Edition ends, as I cant really offer
any higher praise for a game than telling you it offers lasting
enjoyment from repeated play.
36
Across A Deadly Field

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Coming Soon from Osprey Games
The American Civil War was a turning point

in the history of warfare, as Napoleonic
tactics met deadly new technology.
Cannons and rifles had become more accurate
at longer ranges, rapid-fire pistols gave cavalry
a new weapon, and the telegraph and railroad
completely altered both strategic and
tactical thinking. Across a Deadly Field, the
new regimental-level wargame from Osprey
Games, allows players to recreate this
tumultuous period of warfare on the tabletop.
Its versatile rules make it possible to refight any
battle, from the early skirmishes of Balls Bluff
and Big Bethel to the grand, set-piece battles
such as Gettysburg that decided the war.
Written by John Hill, designer of the
Johnny Reb series, Across a Deadly Field
offers both new and experienced wargamers
a fast-paced and dynamic game where even
a single regiment can make the difference
between victory and defeat.
F U L L - C O L O U R , H A R D B AC K ,
27.99/$39.95
37
www.ospreypublishing.com
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Fighting for Featherstone

Tabletop fun in memory of a great gamer
The Editor presents a visual diary of a
magnificent weekend of American Civil War
battling and the presentation of the very first
Donald Featherstone Trophy, all held in honour
of one of the hobbys legendary figures and
conducted in the spirit of wargaming.
his isnt a report about a wargame, though there
was indeed a game played, and a mighty one at that.
Gettysburg presents sufficient challenges for any
gamer, at any time, being one of the bloodiest and
most critical battlefield contests there has ever been, and the
participants at this event, guided by Wargames Holiday Centre
supremo Mark Freeth, and using a variant of the Regimental Fire
& Fury rules, did not falter in their devotion to duty. Time and
time again, the Rebel commanders threw their men forward
into the attack; time and time again, the Union men facing
them threw them back, until at last the incessant waves of
Rebels wore them down and they began to look nervously over
their shoulders, wondering whether the road to Washington
would remain open.
No, this is a report about an event, which happened to last
an entire weekend and at which a game was played. The reason

we had gathered in the Berkshire countryside, not far from
Basingstoke, was to honour the greatest wargamer of them all,
Donald Featherstone, at the behest of his dear friend Ron Miles.
Those of you who take MWBG regularly will recall the
publicity in the magazine, and perhaps on the View from the
Veranda podcast. Don passed away on 2nd September 2013, and
in issue 366, I ran an obituary section. At the same time, at the
Colours show in Newbury, what is now affectionately referred
to as the broom cupboard meeting took place, during which
Ron Miles, Trevor Halsall, John Curry and I discussed ideas
for an event to commemorate the great man. To this cabal was
added Mark Freeth, who was almost literally squeezed into the
meeting, and it is as a result of his good offices that the event
described here came into being at all.
It was with some trepidation that I drew up the first
advertisement which went into issue 368. Ron had donated the
trophy, Mark had arranged the venue, accommodation and, of
course, the game but would anyone actually want to come?
After all, we had pitched the priceline relatively high, the idea
being to also raise funds for the Battlegames Combat Stress
Appeal, and the timescale between launch and first event was
relatively short. Would it all fall flat?
A view from behind Cemetery Ridge, which was never threatened in the game.
Confederates bravely assault Little Round Top... again.
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Alan Charlesworth sees humour where Grant Pettit evidently sees only pain!
A lighter moment as yet another die roll goes awry for the Confederates.
Confederates swarm across the Plum Run at Devils Den. The Rebels launched
repeated attacks from here during the game.
Charlie Wesencraft launches yet another Rebel attack against nemesis Steve
Thompsons Union troops holding the crest of Culps Hill: it was a bloody day!
Sid Bennett, Andy Powell, Steve Clarke and Alan Charlesworth view Round Top
early in the game before its slopes were slippery with Union and Rebel blood!
Of course, I neednt have worried, and the guest list filled

up rapidly. I was particularly delighted that we had managed
to persuade Dons friend Dr Chris Scott to come along as a
guest of honour to speak at the dinner on Saturday night, but
as it turned out, he was far from the most senior gamer present.
Ron, who had spawned the idea, came along too, joining us on
Saturday, and sat at the head of the table, 87 years young; and
next to him, a man we have interviewed just recently in this
very magazine and a wargaming legend in his own right, none
other than Charlie Wesencraft.
This also gives me the opportunity to correct an error which
crept into that article: Charlie is not 75 hes 86! Moreover,
he had driven himself all the way down from Newcastle to be
at the event. At dinner on Saturday night, sitting next to his
contemporary and chum Ron, he had us all in stitches when he
quipped Its great to be here, considering the alternative, but I
didnt expect to find myself sitting next to my father!
Chris Scott himself no spring chicken these days regaled
us with tales of Don, garnered from the years they had spent
together as friends, especially travelling the battlefields of the
world. It turns out that Don was quite the stickler for history
and wanted to ensure that all his games were based on a
proper appreciation of the ground actually fought over. The
Featherstone sense of humour was also much in evidence, with
Chris providing a remarkably accurate mimicry of the great
man, who was never anything other than down to earth.
Ron also spoke movingly about the man he had known since
just after the Second World War. They met in Italy and a firm
friendship was formed when they met again a little later back in
Blighty. Ron and Don both lived in Southampton and gamed
together for decades, and Ron himself achieved a degree of
fame through his memorable series of articles about the Siege of
Dendermonde that ran in Battle for Wargamers.
That the atmosphere throughout the weekend was nothing
less than convivial is due entirely to the personalities of the
gamers who gathered for the event. As well as Charlie, Ron
and Chris, we were delighted to have Steve Thompson, Paul
Wisken, Andy Powell, Alan Charlesworth, Brian Fish, Marcus
(Sid) Bennett, Grant Pettit, John Secker, Steve Clarke and
Melvyn Jenkins-Welch present. They ranged in experience from
seasoned big game players like Grant, through to primarily solo
gamers like John, to sort of newbie Brian Fish. I say sort of
because Brian had been collecting miniatures and buying rules
for a long time, but had hardly ever played a game in anger.
Talk about in at the deep end! He will have returned to Leeds a
transformed man.
The Wargames Holiday Centre is really just an industrial unit
near Basingstoke hardly the Greek island paradise of John and
Diane Sutherlands Wargames Holidays in Crete but it works
perfectly as a venue for intense gaming, with no distractions.
Moreover, you sense you are on hallowed ground, surrounded
by thousands of miniatures and stacks of terrain from the
collection of the great Peter Gilder. Shelf after shelf of those
wonderfully animated sculpts in glorious, shiny colour: whats
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The gathering at the inaugural Donald Featherstone Tribute weekend. From left to right: Steve Clarke, John Secker, Brian Fish, Sid Bennett (almost hidden), Steve
Thompson, Chris Scott, Charlie Wesencraft, Andy Powell, Grant Pettit, WHC owner Mark Freeth, Alan Charlesworth, Melvyn Jenkins-Welch and Paul Wisken. Ron
Miles arrived later. The lavish terrain was almost entirely created by the late Peter Gilder and many of his miniatures grace the shelves on the back wall.
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A magnificent moment late in the game when, literally against the odds, JEB Stuart arrived and the Confederate cavalry launched an all-out attack from the northern
end of the battlefield, commanded by none other than Ron Miles, ably assisted by Chris Scott. Everyone stopped to watch as hordes of wonderful cavalry figures
swept across the table, only to be scythed down by withering fire from the Union lines. However, their presence tipped the balance for the Rebels.
Main picture: Longstreets Confederate Corps

launches another desperate attack towards
Round Top at the southern end of the battlefield.
Grant Pettit, playing General Lee, launched
repeated attacks against this famous landmark
over the weekend, resulting in a gritty battle of
attrition which sucked in Union reserves.
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not to like? The word I would use is inspiring. Meanwhile,

Mark Freeth ensured that no gamer went thirsty or hungry, and
drinks both hot and cold were available throughout, with a tasty
buffet lunch on offer both Saturday and Sunday. We extend our
thanks also to Marks lovely wife Karen, who helped out with
the catering on Sunday.
The formal dinner on Saturday night was not, in fact, the
first social occasion. The night before, those of us present had
strolled into Basingstoke from the hotel, where we found an all
you can eat for a tenner Oriental establishment, and put their
claim to the test!
Now, you may recall that the point of our gathering was not
merely to remember Don and to have a great time, but also to
reward the individual most admired by the other participants
for their gentlemanly behaviour and good-natured gaming. We
had planned to have a secret ballot; as it happened, none was
necessary. Early on Sunday morning, a few people muttered
in my and Marks direction that to make the award to anyone
other than the author of Practical Wargaming would be frowned
upon; a few whispers to the others present confirmed this
sentiment to be generally held, and so the decision was made.
On Sunday afternoon at teatime, I was delighted to utter
these words to crown the inaugural winner of the Donald
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Featherstone Trophy: Would Mr Charlie Wesencraft please step

forward. The applause was generous and sustained, and you
can see the occasion for yourself on YouTube at www.youtube.
com/watch?v=gcUBukOPFp0 where John Curry has uploaded a
short video.
We were particularly blessed to have another special guest:
Jane Winmill, one of Dons daughters, came specially for the
presentation, together with her husband Mark who, I suspect,
may just have picked up the wargaming bug over the course
of the afternoon... Not only did she present the award most
gracefully, but she also brought with her a selection of books
from her late fathers personal collection, almost all of them
signed by Don, most of them also signed by their authors too,
and many filled with notes and cuttings that Don had placed
there. This made a few of them extremely rare, and our auction
at the end of the day reflected this: we raised an amazing 380
as a result.
Special thanks are also due to Paul and Christine Eaglestone
of Empress Miniatures and painter Keith Ainslie, who donated
the exquisite Zulu Wars vignette that Charlie will by now have
placed on his mantelpiece; and John Curry of the History of
Wargaming Project who gave two of Dons books as extra prizes.
I can hardly wait until next year. Word is that itll be Arnhem.
During the weekend, the Confederates launched repeated attacks from the Wheatfield and Peach Orchard area towards the gap between Little Round Top and
Cemetery Ridge. Eventually, this tactic proved successful and they managed to break through onto the Unions back board see the photos below.
The Confederates threw attack after attack into the Union left centre which
eventually paid dividends. Here, they have managed to bring artillery to bear.
42
Sedgwicks VI Corps arrived to cover the Union centre left, but found itself
assailed by Rebels, marking the high water mark of the Confederate advance.
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1
2
6
8
10
11
The main events from the weekend. 1: for the dinner at the Basingstoke Hilton on the Saturday night, Chris Scott kindly brought along some Don Featherstone
memorabilia conssisting of honours bestowed on him by organisations around the world. This included his Legion of Honor from the HMGS East in the USA, his
coveted Jack Scruby Award and his certificate of Honorary Membership of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides. 2: the private dinner on Saturday night.
3: honoured guests Ron Miles and Chris Scott (yellow jacket) share memories with Charlie Wesencraft. 4: Brian Fish won an award for Best Newcomer.
5: Mark Freeth presents me with a cheque for 300 for Combat Stress. 6: Books from Don Featherstones personal collection that we auctioned, raising a further
380 for Combat Stress. 7: Melvyn Jenkins-Welch won an award for Best Attitude. 8: Paul and Christine Eaglestone of Empress Miniatures donated the stunning
vignette for the winner. 9 & 10: the beautiful Zulu Wars vignette, painted by Keith Ainslie. 11: the climax of the event Charlie Wesencraft is presented with the
Donald Featherstone Trophy by one of Dons daughters, Jane Winmill. The beautiful glassware was donated by Ron Miles. Charlie also won Dons lucky dice.
43
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Wargaming Books for Schools
The death of Don Featherstone was a

milestone for many a wargamer of a
certain age. For me, and I am sure for
many, many others, this was because
he was the key which unlocked the
hobby of wargaming for me. It was
in my first week at senior school
that I discovered his book War Game
Campaigns and I was hooked. In those
days, my school library had a wide
selection of books on wargaming by
Don and others, such as Terry Wise
and Charles Grant, so I was able to
slake my thirst for knowledge about
this new hobby easily by getting
books out on loan. Now, I may be
wrong, but the impression I get
from talking to teachers is that those books are no longer on school library
shelves and, given their age, they are unlikely to return. However, what
Henry has created with his Wargaming Compendium is, to my mind at least,
the modern equivalent of those books all rolled into one. It is the perfect
access point for a youngster looking at historical wargaming to find out
what they need to know and get started.
I was recently contacted by a gentleman from a school in Wales who
had been asked by his head teacher to form an historical wargaming club
in the school. The head had apparently been impressed by the mix of
historical research, practical maths, artistic skills and all of the other bits
which combine to make historical wargaming so much fun, but also, for
a youngster, such a well-rounded hobby. I offered to donate a copy of
Henrys book to their school library in order to support his efforts and,
after getting the relevant approvals, I am very pleased to say that the book
has been delivered to the school. This was a one-off conversation with one
member of a school staff team who is giving his time freely to help the
young people there and to promote the hobby of historical wargaming.
I am sure his efforts are being replicated in numerous schools across the
country by staff members who are probably provided with little in the way
of support and assistance.
Hinds_MW373_Half_Layout 1 01/04/2014 19:47 Page 1
In view of how much pleasure historical wargaming has given me,

I thought it would be a nice idea to try to support the efforts of these
individuals by providing them with one additional weapon in their
armoury: specifically, a copy of Henrys book in their school library. This
would allow the youngsters who are interested to find out more about the
hobby and see that their new found interest is not just something run by
Mr X on a Thursday after school, but is a worldwide hobby with a huge
following.
To that end, I thought it would be a good idea to create a scheme where
teachers and school staff members starting or running such schemes in their
schools could get access to people like me who were keen to support their
efforts as a way of repaying, in some tiny way, the debt we owe to those
books in our school libraries. I am personally keen to donate a dozen copies
of The Wargaming Compendium, but I am also happy to act as the link
between schools and potential donors. If a school is undertaking such a
project which includes historical wargaming, then they can contact me.
If a gamer wishes to donate a book, then they too can contact me and I
can then facilitate getting the book purchased and delivered. This will be
done with no element of profit to me, indeed any postage charges I would
continue to cover by way of a charitable donation after I had already paid
for the first dozen books. This is an entirely non-profit venture, in fact it
will undoubtedly generate an ongoing small financial loss for me, but I am
very happy to be doing something to promote our fantastic hobby.
I am also delighted to report that Pen & Sword have consented to a
special price of 21 per copy, which not only matches, but in fact slightly
beats the ludicrous discount offered by Amazon. Moreover, I have spoken
to Henry himself who is extremely pleased to endorse and support this
initiative.
Therefore, if you would like to help get copies of The Wargaming
Compendium into schools, then please contact me either by emailing
toofatlardies@yahoo.co.uk or by writing to me at 64 Tollgate Road,
Colney Heath, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL4 0PY, United Kingdom.
Richard Clarke
TooFatLardies, http://toofatlardies.co.uk
www.hindsfiguresltd.com
FIGURES
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The battle of Klissow 1702

Nick Dorrell and Per Broden staged a
magnificent 6mm demo game at The Joy of Six
show last autumn, and here they describe the
historical battle from the Great Northern War
and the wargame that followed.
any gamers are attracted to stories from history of

doomed struggles against the odds. There is a certain
kind of romance to the stories of the American
Confederates and British Royalists struggles against
the odds. The Great Northern War (1700-1721) is less wellknown, but is a similar story. From this war, the best known
battles are those between the Russian hordes and the plucky,
but small, Swedish band. Yet for much of the war, the main
enemy of the Swedes was the Saxons. This article is about one
of the major actions of the war against the Saxons who, on this
occasion, fought with Polish allies the Battle of Klissow (also
spelled Kliszow or Kleszow).
This battle was recreated in miniature by Per Broden, and
fought by Per, the author, and members of Wyre Forest games
club at the Joy of Six show in Sheffield, July 2013. The battle
offers both sides a variety of tactical opportunities. In most
battles, one side stands on the defence while the other attacks,
whilst in this battle, both sides can attack or defend as the battle
changes. It also offers the opportunity to use the famous Polish
winged hussars against a more unusual opponent. In addition,
the battle offers a number of different points in the build-up
to the actual combat for the gamer to try and with a variety of
challenges to the gamers.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Great Northern War opened in 1700 when a coalition of
Swedens enemies Denmark, Saxony and Russia launched
attacks on various regions of Swedish-owned territory. Charles
XII, the Swedish King, responded with a lightning move that
forced Denmark out of the war. Charles XII followed this up
by striking out against the Russians. The Swedes inflicted a
crushing defeat on the Russians at Narva, which temporarily
knocked them out of the war. Despite the scale of this victory
against steep odds, it was widely seen as no great achievement
at the time. The Russian army was generally considered as little
more than an armed mob who could easily be beaten.
Charles XII next turned to the third member of the original
hostile coalition, the Saxons. First of all, the Swedes drove the
Saxons out of Swedish territory they had invaded in 1700. Then
in 1702, the Swedes advanced into Poland to settle the issue
D
Map by Daniel Wharton
45
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servants to keep lunch warm, as they would be back soon.

Unfortunately for the Saxon officers, the next time they came
back to camp they were fleeing from the victorious Swedes. It
was the Swedes who were to enjoy this days meal.
TERRAIN
An overview of the game at The Joy of Six.
with the Saxons. The Saxons were in Poland because Augustus,

Elector of Saxony, was also King of Poland and the Saxon army
was based in Polish territory. Despite Augustus, as Saxon ruler,
being at war with Sweden, his other territory Poland had not
yet got involved in the war. It was therefore not clear at the
time if the army that saved Vienna 20 years earlier would get
involved in the war. The Poles were deeply divided over various
issues and many saw Augustus and the Saxons as the real enemy.
They were also exhausted by a period of long wars. Poland was
tottering on the edge of a civil war and the current events were
going to push them over the edge into it.
Even without the help of the Poles, who had a fearsome
reputation at the time, it was generally thought that things
looked bleak for the Swedes. Not counting the easy victory
at Narva against a sub-standard opponent, the Swedes had no
recent combat experience. Their army was mainly a part-time
force and they had not fought a war for over 20 years. By
contrast, the Saxons were a well-respected force that had fought
with distinction in all the recent wars of the time. The veteran
Saxon army outnumbered the Swedes by about a third and with
the addition of the Poles, the combined army was nearly twice
the size of the Swedish army. The Saxons were already justifiably
confident that they would teach the Swedes a lesson.
As the battle approached, this confidence grew. The Saxons
took up a strong position near Klissow and waited for the
Swedes to attack. The Swedes took up a similar position and
initially hoped that they could tempt the Saxons out of their
position to attack them, but this failed. Instead, the Swedes
marched to attack the Saxon position, but most of their artillery
fell behind because of the speed of the advance and the terrain.
Only four light guns continued with the army as it emerged
from a wooded area to confront the Saxons.
The Swedes arrived near the Saxon position just as lunch was
about to be served to the Saxons. The experienced Saxon army,
with a large numerical advantage, a strong defensive position,
massive artillery advantage and the help of Polish allies, was
totally convinced that the upcoming battle would be a walkover.
So convinced were they, that the officers told the cooks and
46
The table is 8 squares by 4 squares. The size of each square

should be approximately the frontage that five infantry
battalions would occupy under the rules you use. In the rules
we use, an infantry battalion has a frontage of 60mm and so
a square is 300mm (about 12 inches).
The Nida River runs from B1 to D1 and is impassable to all
troops. The two streams running from the Nida River to B5
and C5 are minor obstacles. They should be relatively easy to
cross, perhaps lose half a move and cause some disorder, and
a minor bonus in a melee.
The various villages are mostly wooden buildings and so
should give a relatively small combat and defensive bonus.
There is marshy land mainly between the two streams in
squares B5, B6, C5 and C6. This should be relatively easy to
cross, perhaps lose half a move and cause some disorder, and
a minor bonus in a melee.
The woods are standard, open woods.
The hill at C3, D3, D4 and D5 is a standard low hill. It will
give a defensive bonus and block or aid line of sight, but will
have little or no effect on movement. The area on the right
hand side of the map is rising ground and has no effect on
the game.
In squares D2 and D3 is the Saxon encampment.
THE ARMIES
This section will provide some details of the armies, the tactics
they used and the quality of their units and commanders. I have
tried to present this in general terms so that you can organise
the armies according to whatever rules you want to use.
I have rated units as being Levy, Raw, Trained, Veteran or
Elite, with Levy being the worst quality and Elite the best.
Some units are rated as two qualities, for example Trained/
Veteran. In these cases, you could rate the units as either grade
or a mixture of the grades.
Notice that I have listed the numbers of real units present.
Particularly with the cavalry squadrons and artillery, the players
will have to convert these to wargaming units. For example, the
rules you use state one model gun = four real guns, the Swedes
will have just one model on table. Similarly, it is common to
combine squadrons to make an on-table cavalry unit.
The Polish cavalry advance on the Saxon right. Photo by the Editor.
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The Swedish right/Saxon left early in the game. Photo by the Editor.
The Swedish Army

Army Commander: Charles XII, King of Sweden
Artillery
4 Veteran light guns
Right Wing: General Rehnskiold
Life Dragoons
2 Veteran squadrons*
Drabant
1 Elite squadron*
Life Guard Cavalry
10 Elite squadrons
Ostgota Cavalry
8 Trained squadrons
Centre: General Von Liewen
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and used disciplined charges at the gallop. On the face of it,

this will not surprise many readers but, at the time, this form
of attack was not common. Most nations used relatively sedate
charges at slower speeds or disorganised charges at higher speeds.
Only later in the eighteenth century did the Swedish style of
charge become standard for all cavalry and this gave the Swedes
a distinct edge against units using other tactics. It should also
be noted that in the Swedish army, there was no real difference
between cavalry and dragoon units. Units raised in Sweden and
Finland were usually called cavalry, while dragoon units were
generally raised in other parts of the Swedish empire. Other
than this, there was no difference between the unit types.
The quality of the Swedish commanders was also a factor in
the effectiveness of the Swedish army. Charles XII was a very
good, if perhaps flawed, commander who is often numbered
amongst the Great Commanders. Rehnskiold was also a very
good commander who is often overshadowed by Charles XII,
but who was certainly well above average as a general.
Overall, the Swedish army was very effective, but can be
difficult to portray on the tabletop. Hopefully, your rules will
reflect the tactics and character of the army and allow them to
defeat a competent enemy that outnumbers them by nearly 2:1.
The Saxon Army

Army Commander: Augustus, Elector
of Saxony and King of Poland
Right Wing: General Flemming
Leib Dragoons
6 Veteran squadrons
Life Guard Foot
3 Elite battalions
Narke Varmlands
2 Trained/Veteran battalions
Vastmanlands
Dal
Upplands
2 Trained battalions
Vasterbottens
Kalmar
Saxon Guard
Tremanning
2 Raw battalions
Polish Guard
2 Elite battalions
Kurprinz
Konigin
Left Wing: General Vellingk
Sodra Skanska Cavalry
8 Trained squadrons
Smalands Cavalry
8 Trained squadrons
Life Guard Cavalry
2 Elite squadrons
Life Dragoons
2 Veteran squadrons
Reserve
Albedyls Dragoons
4 Trained squadrons*
The army consisted of about 4,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry

at the time of the battle. This meant that, on average, a squadron
was about 85 to 90 men. The units marked with a * would be
a little stronger, perhaps 90 to 100 men. The infantry battalions
were about 470 men strong on average.
The Swedish army used very aggressive tactics which were
completely different to those commonly used during the period.
Indeed, they were one of the most aggressive armies of all times.
The infantry units still contained a large number of pikes (about
1 in 3 men were pike-armed), at a time when most nations were
replacing pikes. This was not because the army was backward,
but because they used shock action. Unlike most armies, the
Swedes relied on charging with pike and bayonet, rather than
firepower. They did not engage in firefights, but instead closed
quickly and charged ferociously. The attacks emphasised the
shock value of the charge and often swept away the enemy.
Similarly, Swedish cavalry tactics emphasised shock action
Goltz Dragoons
6 Trained squadrons
Garde du Corps Horse
6 Elite squadrons
Leib Horse
4 Veteran squadrons
Kurprinz Horse
6 Trained squadrons
Eichstadt Horse
6 Trained squadrons
Centre Infantry: General Schulenburg
2 Elite battalions
Steinau
Pistoris
Gortz
1 Raw battalion
Beichlingen
1 Raw battalion
Zeitz
1 Raw battalion
Flemming
1 Raw battalion
Left Wing: General Steinau
Jordan Horse
6 Trained squadrons
Steinau Horse
6 Trained squadrons
Konigin Horse
6 Trained squadrons
Leib Horse
4 Veteran squadrons
Kurprinz Dragoons
6 Trained squadrons
Milkau Dragoons
6 Trained squadrons
Artillery
24 3-pounder guns and 22 12-pounder guns, Trained.
The Saxons also have enough chevaux de frise portable obstacles to equip
up to 10 battalions.
The army consisted of about 9,000 cavalry and 7,500 infantry

at the time of the battle. This means that, on average, a squadron
was about 130 men, with infantry battalions of about 470 men.
47
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The stoic Saxon infantry in the centre awaits the Swedish onslaught.
Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was

nominal commander of both the Saxon and Polish armies, but
didnt exercise real control. In practice, he left the command of
the Saxon army to General Schulenburg, while the Polish army
was, in reality, independent.
The Saxon army was a well-respected force with a good
recent combat record. Their performance in the wars before this
had been at least above average. The infantry was solid, rather
than spectacular, and fired by rank. Similarly, the cavalry used
German style tactics which emphasised maintaining order over
speed in attack. Schulenburg, the real commander of the army,
was experienced and very competent. He was, at the time,
probably considered a better commander than the youthful and
inexperienced Swedish King.
Most people at the time considered the Saxons to be
militarily superior to the Swedes in general which, when
combined with the numerical advantage the army had and other
advantages, was thought to make the coming clash one-sided
in favour of the Saxons. Even members of the Swedish high
command tried to talk Charles XII out of the attack because
of this. As the Saxon army sat down for lunch, news that the
Swedish army was advancing to attack arrived and the meal was
confidently set aside for later consumption.
The Polish Army

Commander: Grand Hetman Lubomirski
1st Line: Under Lubomirski
Kings Regiment
225 Hussars, 370 Pancerni
Prince Augusts Regiment
Hetman Lubomirskis Regiment
D. Lubomirskis Regiment
Miaczynskis Regiment
345 Pancerni
2nd Line: Field Hetman Sieniawski
Hetman Sieniawskis Regiment
Radziewills Regiment
Katskis Regiment
Leszczynskis Regiment
Potockis Regiment
400 Pancerni
Sobieskis Regiment
315 Pancerni
Others
Jazda Lekka
570 Light Cavalry
Combined Infantry
400 men
Noble Levy Cavalry
400 Levy Cavalry
Artillery
4 or 5 guns, probably light
The numbers given above are an estimate of the probable

numbers of men in the units given the reported size of the
whole army.
48
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The Polish army of this period was unusual and a throwback

to the previous century. There was little standardisation of
organisation. Cavalry units were composed of a varying number
of banners. Banners had a nominal strength of 40 to 120 men,
but always had considerably fewer than this in practice. The
heavy cavalry units had between six and nine banners. Often
there was a mixture of Hussar and Pancerni banners within a
regiment, but some were all Pancerni. The light cavalry had 13
banners. Finally, the Noble Levy cavalry were a throwback to
feudal times.
The Hussars were the famous Winged Hussars as during
the previous century and were heavy, armoured cavalry. Their
tactics were disciplined charges at the gallop which were also the
basis of Swedish cavalry tactics, and so subsequently those of all
nations later in the century.
The Hussars were always in mixed units with Pancerni.
The Pancerni were a dual purpose type of cavalry. They helped
prepare the, hopefully, decisive charge of the Hussars with fire
and would charge in support of the Hussars when they charged.
They were also capable of acting on their own.
Jazda Lekka were standard light cavalry who normally fought
in open order. Their tactics consisted of the usual activities of
light cavalry such as skirmishing, scouting, screening, and so on.
The Noble Levy cavalry were a very low quality group
whose main tactic was to run away as soon as possible. They
were not normally used at this time, because of their very poor
performance. They were probably only called out because an
easy victory was expected and so they would boost the Poles
numbers and thus their share of the glory from the victory.
All of the cavalry were dressed in styles common in the
previous century. They were also frequently armed with a
variety of weapons common to that period as well lances,
spears, axes, bows, and so forth. The Hussars and Pancerni wore
armour, just as they had in the previous century. Yet, despite
all this, the cavalry usually relied on their pistols, carbines and
swords when actually in action. Armour and old-fashioned
weapons and equipment were disappearing from the army, but
were not yet totally replaced.
The infantry was actually two very under-strength battalions.
One was a Hungarian unit and so, in theory, should look
Eastern in dress, something like what was common for musketarmed troops from Eastern Europe in the previous century.
The other unit was German and so should look Western in
theory; in other words, they should look like standard infantry
of the period. Little is known about what was actually worn at
this time, but later on, Western style uniforms were always worn.
Similarly, little is known about the tactics used by the Polish
infantry. It is likely that they would use a rank-firing system
and may have continued to use a proportion of pikes, as was
common at the time.
Assigning a quality rating for the Polish troops is a little
difficult. The Polish troops, with the exception of the Noble
Levy cavalry, were good, but were not motivated to fight. The
Polish were, at the time, deeply divided over various issues and
in dispute with their Saxon king. As already mentioned, it was
thought that the battle was going to be an easy victory for the
Saxons. Because of this, the Polish troops were mainly present
so that the Saxon king could not claim all the glory. Individual
Polish leaders were often motivated more by not wanting rival
Polish commanders to benefit from any success, rather than
achieving success for the army and certainly not for the disliked
Saxon king. The Polish troops therefore launched three attacks,
probably with less conviction than normal, before withdrawing
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from the battle intact. The attacks were repulsed, but the Poles
were not defeated. The consensus amongst the army was that
they had done enough, so they simply left the field of battle!
Because of this, the best way to simulate the Polish armys
behaviour at the battle is to have some kind of special rule to
reflect their behaviour. In the rules our group uses, you can rate
troops as Wavering, in addition to the quality of the troops. So,
for example, a unit might be Veteran and Wavering or Raw and
Wavering. Units which are Wavering generally fight as their
quality, but suffer a deduction when attacking and also when
taking morale tests for the whole group or command. So they
are less effective at attacking and likely to withdraw quicker than
similar troops who are not Wavering. This rating is often used
for troops who, for one reason or another, are reluctant to fight.
The Poles at Klissow are a classic example of an occasion to use
this rating.
If using a rule similar to the above, then the Hussars should
be rated as Veteran and the Pancerni, Jazda Lekka, infantry and
artillery as Trained. The Kings regiment and the two Hetmans
units could be rated higher. The Noble Levy cavalry are Levy
quality. If not using a rule similar to the above, then careful
thought should be given to the Poles and how to handle them
in the game. If possible, an attempt should be made to reflect
the real army, but if all else fails, then perhaps rating the troops
as poor can be used.
DEPLOYMENT
The deployment of the armies will depend on the stage at
which you want to start in the historical build-up to the battle.
You could, for example, start with the Saxons in camp and the
Swedes marching onto the table. At the other extreme, you
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could start with the armies deployed as they were just before the
combat started. These are the most obvious choices.
Begin
at the beginning
In this option, none of the armies are deployed and they will
have to march into battle positions. On the first turn, the
Swedish army enters the table in column of march from the
table edge of squares A3 or A4. It arrives in three columns, each
with the units in a single column, i.e. it will take some time to
get the rear units in the column onto the table. The Saxon army
is in its camp and on the first turn, the units may move out from
that area.
The Poles will arrive on the edge of the table in squares
D7 or D8 in march column. A dice roll based on how long it
will take for the Saxons and Swedes to deploy under the rules
you use should decide the time at which the Poles arrive. So,
for example, if you estimate that it will take five turns for the
other units to deploy under your rules, you should perhaps start
rolling for the Poles to arrive from turn 4. On turn 4, a 6 on a
D6 would be required for them to arrive, on turn 5 a 5 or 6, on
turn 6 a 4, 5 or 6, and so on.
A Nasty Surprise
In this option, the Saxons are deployed in squares C2 to C5
and D2 to D5. The Saxons cannot be across the lower stream
and have placed their chevaux de frise. The deployment can be
free if desired. Historically, the Left Wing were in squares C2
and D2. The infantry and up to half of the artillery were in C3,
C4, D3 and D4. The rest of the artillery are on the hill in the
deployment area and finally, the Right Wing cavalry were in C5
and D5. They should be in at least two lines.
The centre of the battlefield from behind the Swedish position, looking towards the Saxon right, clearly showing the difficult ground. Photo by the Editor.
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The Swedes are deployed facing the Saxons in A2, A3, A4

and A5, but outside effective artillery range. They too can be
deployed freely, but if deployed historically, then they deploy
matching the Saxons, i.e. with the left wing in A5, the right in
A2 and the infantry in A3 and A4.
The game organiser can choose whether the Poles have
arrived at the start of the game or are yet to arrive. If the
Poles have yet to arrive, then a random dice roll, similar to
above, should be used to determine when they do. Perhaps 5
or 6 on the first turn, 4, 5 or 6 on the second, and so forth.
Alternatively, the Poles could arrive automatically during the
first turn. In either case, the Poles will arrive at the edge of the
table in squares D7 or D8 in march column.
Let
battle commence
All of the armies are deployed ready to fight. The Poles have
arrived and the Swedes have redeployed to counter their arrival.
This is the historical deployment at the time the fighting started.
If you choose the Let battle commence deployment, the
two armies will be able to quickly engage and so the battle will
take less time. The other two options will take longer to play,
as the armies will have to move into position before engaging,
but these options do, of course, give greater scope for different
approaches to be tried.
The Saxons are deployed as for the Nasty Surprise scenario
above.
The Swedish army has been reorganised. Half of the infantry
from the Centre has moved to the left wing. They can be
deployed in the A2 to A6 squares and also the B2 to B5 squares,
but not across the stream. The right wing is in A2 and B2. Half
of the centre and the artillery are in A3, A4, B3 and B4. Both
of these are facing across the stream towards the Saxons. The left
wing is in A5, A6 and B5. They are facing at an angle towards
the Poles, but with their right resting on the centre. The infantry
in the centre are in a single line, but the two wings are in at least
two lines each.
The Poles are facing at an angle the Swedish left wing and
outside of effective artillery range, so they should deploy after
the Swedes. They are in the area A8, B7 to B8, C6 to C8 and
D6 to D8. They must be in at least two lines.
THE HISTORIC ACTION

The Saxon army left their hot meals behind them and moved
out of their camp to take up positions facing the oncoming
Swedes. Their position was based on high ground and behind
a marshy stream. To further enhance the position, chevaux de
Swedish cavalry in full cry towards the Saxon right flank. Photo by the Editor.
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The whole Saxon army

advanced, but their
own defences
now worked
against them.
frise and similar

defences were
deployed, although
as events would
turn out, these
proved to be a
handicap rather
than a help.
Undaunted by the
strong position and
superior numbers of the Saxons, the Swedes deployed directly
facing the Saxons in preparation for a frontal assault. The Saxon
and Swedish deployments were standard for the period, with
the infantry in two lines in the centre and flanked by the cavalry
on each side. It was at this point that the situation changed
dramatically.
On the left of the deployed Swedish army, the Polish army
suddenly appeared. Luckily for the Swedes, the Poles were not
in position to attack and the Swedes had not yet started their
own advance. The Swedes reacted to this by switching to the
defensive and rearranging their army. More than half of the
infantry were stripped from the centre to reinforce the exposed
left wing. The left wing was bent back at an angle to face the
arriving Poles and the infantry from the centre was mixed into
the formation. In this new formation, the Swedes awaited the
Polish and Saxon attack.
The Polish army deployed and moved to confront the
Swedish left wing. In support of this move, the whole Saxon
army also advanced, but their own defences and strong position
now worked against them. The Saxons struggled to pass through
the various obstacles they had placed and the difficult terrain
they had deployed behind and their attack was delayed. The
Poles launched three attacks, but could make no headway
against the steadfast Swedes. This was despite one of the Swedish
commanders on this flank, the Duke of Holstein-Gottrup, the
Swedish kings brother in law, being killed in the early stages of
the fight. This, the Poles felt, was more than enough for their
purposes and so [no doubt to the relief of the Swedes! Ed.] they now
made an orderly withdrawal from the battle.
At this time, the Saxon left wing cavalry were pressing hard
against the opposing Swedish cavalry. The Swedish cavalry
was outnumbered by about 2 to 1 and fighting to avoid being
outflanked. Because of the delays imposed by the terrain and
obstacles, the forces in the centre were barely engaging their
opponents and bringing their great superiority in numbers
to bear. The Saxon right wing cavalry had yet to get into
position because of the difficult terrain, but also because of the
advance of the Poles across part of their path. This last failure
had contributed to the ineffectiveness of the Polish attacks
and was to have further ramifications. The Swedish left wing
was relatively unscathed after the Polish attacks and now was
perfectly placed to counter-attack against the tardy Saxon right
wing. So, a few squadrons were detailed to watch the Polish
withdraw and the rest of the Swedish cavalry and infantry of
their left wing switched over to the attack. The Swedes now had
a numerical advantage at this point and an inviting open flank.
The Swedes, under the personal command of their king,
were quick to exploit these advantages and the combined arms
force fell on the Saxon right wing. The Saxons on the right
were in a hopeless situation and, after a short but heavy fight,
they routed. This in turn meant the Saxon infantry centre was
now exposed. The relatively successful Saxon left wing were also
now being forced back, as the Swedes exploited the disorder
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The Swedish infantry about to clash with the Saxons whose fire has been ineffectual. Photo by the Editor. All figures Baccus 6mm in the authors collections.
from the Saxon advance to check them. Clearly, it was time for
the Saxons to withdraw from the battle while they still could.
The remaining units of the Saxon army started to retire off the
battlefield.
But the Swedes did not want to just let the Saxons go and
so they pushed forward. The Swedes swept into the flanks of
the withdrawing Saxon infantry and into the Saxon camp.
Here they captured, amongst other things, the still uneaten
Saxon meals. Schulenburg, the Saxon commander, countered
the Swedish advance as best he could with units of the Saxon
infantry and bought some time for the other units of the army
to withdraw. These actions could only delay the victorious
Swedes and not stop them, yet they were enough to prevent the
total destruction of the Saxon army.
The Saxons and Poles, but mainly Saxons, lost 4,400 men
killed, wounded and captured. This was about a quarter of the
army. The Saxons also lost all their artillery, the war chest and
Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Polands personal
baggage. The Swedes had lost about 1,100 killed and wounded
but had delivered a crushing defeat. This victory put the Swedish
army in the limelight and proved that it was a force to be
reckoned with. They had secured an advantage over the Saxons
which they would not lose for the rest of the war. They had also
secured a nice meal after their exertions; hopefully it was still
palatable by the time they got to it.
THE REPLAY
The battle was re-fought at the Joy of Six show in Sheffield.
Per Broden was the main umpire, with Nick Dorrell on hand
to help and answer any questions. The game was played by
members of the Wyre Forest gamers club: Gordon Hazelton,
Dave Morris, Ross Owens, Harry Ryder and Matthew Terry.

This was quite a large group to play the game, but when the
club runs a demo at a show, we ensure there are plenty of
participants. Partly this is because by having more players than
needed it means that individual players have time to look around
the show, shop and so on. Also, for this reason we usually play
as teams, rather than individuals with specific commands.
This also helps maintain the pace of the game. The club feels
that the most important aspect of a demonstration game is
the interaction with people that come to view it. So, the first
priority of everyone involved is to talk to visitors to the game.
To get to the action quickly, the game was started at the
point where the Polish army had arrived and the Swedes had
reacted to this, the Let battle commence scenario above. In the
circumstances of putting on a public display, this was the best
choice. The game opened with two contrasting styles which
were to ultimately decide the game.
The Saxon/Polish players were still feeling the after-effects
of a heavy fast food snack on the way to the show. As events
turned out, they might have done better to put off eating until
later, but with the false confidence of a happy meal or two,
they decided to rely on pure numbers. The infantry centre
would advance, but try to keep its distance and shoot the Swedes
down at long range. Meanwhile, the great mass of cavalry would
swarm forward and engulf the vastly outnumbered Swedish
cavalry. So, in effect, the whole army was to amble forward
and jump on the poor Swedes who, it was presumed, would be
quaking in their boots, awaiting the onslaught. Unfortunately
for the Saxon and Polish players, the Swedes had other ideas.
Rather than standing totally on the defensive, the Swedes
had a plan they called it their revolving door plan. They were
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going to attack the Poles and try to destroy them before the
The Swedes in this area were as disorganised as their opponents,
Saxon cavalry on that wing could come to the assistance of the
but pressed on regardless. Rather than push on with the
Poles. To do this, they sent the infantry on the left to block the
infantry, the Saxons allowed themselves to be tempted into a
Saxon cavalry and massed their left wing cavalry to knock the
rash advance on the left flank.
Poles out of the battle. The centre infantry would push forward
The game now entered the final stages. In the centre, the
to maintain contact with the advancing left despite the odds,
now confident Swedes pushed forward and exposed themselves
and danger, facing them. The right wing would not stand on the to attack, but this potentially fatal advance was not punished, as
defensive, but would pull back when threatened and try to draw no large scale attack came with the Saxons concentrating on the
the attacking Saxons on. The Swedes on the right hoped they
action on the two flanks. The Saxon left wing cavalry lunged
would be able to hit the disorganised Saxons as they attempted
forward, but that meant that isolated groups of units were
to follow them across the difficult terrain that separated them.
exposed to Swedish counter-attacks. On the Saxon right, the
During the early turns, the Saxon/Polish players were
emphasis was on buying time to re-organise and again, this left
surprised by what the Swedes were doing but pressed on,
sections of the army exposed to attack. So it was that the Swedes
rather haphazardly, with their plan. This included moving the
were able to chip away at the Saxon cavalry. On the Saxon
Polish army to engage the Swedish cavalry advancing towards
left, the Swedes were particularly successful, as the position
them. Perhaps it would have been better to hold back with
they had chosen meant that despite being greatly outnumbered
these troops and wait for the Saxon cavalry on that side of the
overall, they actually outnumbered the Saxons in units engaged.
battle to join the fight. At first, it looked like the Poles had
The Saxons were fighting at a disadvantage and, as casualties
made the right decision. With support from the Pancerni,
mounted for both sides, the Saxons were suffering the most.
the Polish Winged Hussars gave as good as they got, but the
On the final turn, three commands had to take morale
Swedes soon learned to concentrate their efforts on the weaker
tests. The Saxon right wing cavalry and the Swedish opposing
support troops and mask the
left wing both faced tests,
dangerous Winged Hussars. So
but these were unlikely to
far, the Poles being Wavering
be decisive because neither
had not been a great
command was seriously
disadvantage, but as losses
damaged so far. They both
mounted on both sides, the
failed their tests, but only
effect of this came into play.
just, and so while both were
Both sides needed to take
now battle-weary, they could
morale tests for the commands
continue fighting, although
engaged. The Swedes had
the Swedes in this sector
a relatively small chance of
retained their advantage
failing and, if they did fail, it
following the earlier Saxon
would be a setback, but not
morale failure. But at this
necessarily decisive. Because
point, the decisive morale test
Saxon left wing infantry wait in vain. Photo by the Editor.
they were Wavering, the
needed to be taken by the
Poles had more chance of
Saxon left wing. This wing
failing the test and, if they failed, they would withdraw from the was badly beaten up and so was likely to fail, and if they failed,
battle. The Swedes passed the test, but the Poles failed and so
a lot would depend on how badly they failed. It was a classic
had to withdraw from the battle.
dont roll a 1 situation, although with the rules we were
The retreat of the Poles was clearly disconcerting, but not
using, it was dont roll high on three D6.
unexpected and, indeed, the Poles had done better than in the
The player rolled his three dice and the result was 6, 6, 6...
real battle. This alone was not a disaster, as the Saxons were
18 catastrophe!
still a great threat, but the right wing cavalry now had to take
The Saxon left wing cavalry broke and fled, amongst howls
a command morale test because of the Polish withdrawal.
of Swedish laughter. This, in turn, was enough for the Saxon
Because, at this stage, this part of the army had not been heavily
army morale to collapse, and so the battle was over. The Swedes
engaged, there was only a small chance of a negative result.
had a plan, stuck to it and it eventually worked. In contrast, the
Despite this, and as often seems to happen, the dice were rolled
Saxons/Poles had a vague general idea of what they were going
and the command failed its morale test! Morale test failure is
to do, but they allowed themselves to be distracted by events.
graded, so in this case the result was that this command fell
They ended up reacting to what the Swedes were doing and so
into disorder. This had an enormous impact on the game, not
did not seize chances that they had. After the game, the Swedes
because of the actual effect but more because of what it did to
confessed they were very surprised that the Saxon infantry
the thought processes of the Saxon players. From now on, their
were not more aggressive and even neutrals thought they had
main thought was to try to re-organise this part of their line,
been under-used. It was not a good day for the Allies and they
rather than pressing advantages elsewhere.
did have a couple of bad dice rolls. Overall, the Swedes had
Up to this point, the Saxon left and centre had been
recreated history and so, once again, they got to eat the Saxons
advancing cautiously. The Saxon left wing cavalry had been
waiting lunch.
pushing forward slowly with care to maintain formation. The
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
infantry centre had been more aggressive, but had mainly been
wyreforestgamers@yahoo.co.uk. For 2014, Per is busily
shooting at long range. They had done this with some success
constructing and painting another interesting Great Northern
and probably should have pressed their advantage more here,
War battle, Kalisz 1706. You can see this battle with Swedes,
but the Saxons were obsessed with restoring the Saxon right as
Saxons, Russians, Cossacks, Kalmucks and four groups of Poles
they started to engage the piecemeal Swedish attacks.
at the Joy of Six show in Sheffield, July 2014.
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Command challenge
Yakhroma 1941
Andrew Rolph returns with a really testing

bridgehead scenario from Operation Barbarossa
in 1941, with Germans and Soviets struggling in
the snow. Can you capture the bridge in these
testing conditions?
his scenario arose from a reading of the Osprey book

on the Moscow campaign by Forczyk and Gerrard and,
more particularly, the illustration of the battle around
the Yakhroma Bridgehead 27th-29th November 1941.
That illustration and the accompanying text virtually write
the scenario by themselves. I looked up a few other things in
Carells Hitlers War on Russia and Glantzs Barbarossa, but most
of what follows is straight out of the Osprey book.
The designations of the formations are largely accurate and
the OBs are at least plausible and (with an exception or two)

are probably reasonably accurate. The terrain is somewhat
hypothetical, since the illustration I was working from was of
a snow-covered battlefield, making features difficult to identify
(but see the end for an alternative). I have omitted some towns/
villages on the eastern bank of the Moscow-Volga canal and
may have overdone the woods. The game doesnt involve a
great number of figures but is quite long (6 hours or so) because
of the number of turns. Some options for shortening it are
presented at the close.
The game represents the German Armys easternmost
advance of 1941. The Third Panzer Army under Generaloberst
Reinhardt was the northern spearhead of Operation Typhoon,
the German operation to take Moscow before the end of 1941.
The 7th Panzer Division, under Generalleutnant Freiherr von
Funck, was the tip of that spearhead and a Kampfgruppe (under
Oberst Hasso von Manteuffel) of the division was charged with
Panzers advance during Operation Barbarossa. Photo courtesy of Warwick Kinrade, author of Battlegroup Barbarossa for Iron Fist Publishing/PSC.
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taking the bridge over the Moscow-Volga canal at Yakhroma

about 35 miles north of the Kremlin. The 1st Soviet Shock
Army under Generalleytnant Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov was
forming in the area (predominantly or wholly from Naval
personnel for those of you who want to use the right figures)
and Stalin ordered that no enemy forces should cross the canal.
Over the course of a long day, the two formations struggled
for supremacy over the eastern bank of the canal. The German
forces were depleted by the casualties of a long campaign
and they lacked any air support. The Soviets were equally as
stretched, with the army in the process of formation, being itself
a number of separate brigades and the remnants of the 19th
Army supported by 58th Tank Division (at minimal strength in
AFVs). The Germans established a bridgehead and were subject
to repeated uncoordinated counter-assaults. In the end, they
held on, only to be ordered to withdraw by Reinhardt two days
later. The last attack north of Moscow had come to an end.
RULES AND CONVERSIONS

The scenario is written with the Spearhead rules (SH hereafter)
by Arty Conliffe in mind. These are a little old now (published
in 1995), but I find them very suitable for what I want from a
game. They emphasise planning for the whole battle and the
flexibility (if you are playing the German side) or lack of it
(if you are the Soviets) in responding to the situation, which
makes your plan less than ideal when you attempt to execute
it. However, I recognise that they are probably not the most
popular set around at the moment, so I will clarify particular
aspects of the scenario where I have used specific SH terms in
order to assist in converting the type of restriction implied by
the SH terminology to the provisions of your own preferred set.
Ill start with some basic parameters of SH. The scale is
one inch to 100 yards and 15-30 minutes to each turn (I have
tended to treat night turns as longer). The rules use battalions
as the main unit of manoeuvre and the platoon/battery is the
smallest individual stand on the table. Casualties are inflicted on
a stand-by-stand basis. Generally, movement in snow is around
three inches for infantry and four and a half for tracked and half
tracked vehicles half that if firing. So thats 8-12 full moves
across this table and 12-18 along its length, ignoring any terrain
restrictions. Firing ranges are six inches for small arms, nine for
HMGs and up to twelve for tanks. Indirect fire is conducted at
considerably greater ranges, but all fire is limited by spotting.
Unless firing, infantry will be seen only nine inches away and
three if in cover. Vehicles are seen at double that. A platoon
firing will be spotted at at least twelve inches regardless of cover.
These numbers/space/time ratios are the sort of thing that need
to be maintained as far as possible in converting to another
system.
Additionally, your rules need to be able to cope with a fairly
severe disparity of forces. In the scenario, 44 German platoons
will assault twice as many Soviet ones across a river and the
Soviets will have twice as much artillery support. Whilst the
Germans (probably) wont meet all the Soviets at once (and
they will therefore have the opportunity to defeat the Soviets in
detail), they will nevertheless need to have some staying power
and/or other advantages to help make it a worthwhile contest.
In SH, this is brought about partly by the quality of the German
troops (well, the infantry anyway), but mainly by the relative
lack of restriction placed on German battalions responses as
they spot enemy formations.
Finally, the following phrases, which have particular
meanings within SH, appear underlined in the main body and
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are explained here:

Attach out support units (regimental troops, artillery,
mortars etc.) are attached to (become part of) a given
battalion for the duration of the game.
No support stands may fire through any non-support
stands ordinarily stands cannot fire through friendly stands.
Support stands (HMGs, ATGs, IGs etc) can usually fire
through stands of their own battalion or the one to which
they have been attached for this battle (because theyve
practised it). However, ad hoc kampfgruppen might not get
such an opportunity.
Veteran/regular/random morale/1943 table morale is
straightforward in SH. Green troops test for morale at 33%,
50% and 67% casualties, Regular troops test at 50% and
67% and Veteran troops test at 67%. A 5+ on 1D6 is a pass.
Otherwise, the unit is removed from the battle. Additionally,
Veteran troops fire more frequently because they recover
from suppression (an adverse effect of combat which
prohibits fire) more often. The Soviet troops in the scenario
have random morale which makes them Veterans one sixth of
the time, Regulars one half of the time and Green one third
of the time. This is determined at the time of each battalions
first casualty.
Reserves/attack arrow/Defend the command and
control rules for SH are the heart of the game. The rest of
the game (other than target priority stands follow a strict
order of precedence in what they fire at) is quite simple. The
command and control rules severely limit what is possible for
a battalion. So, for example, a battalion with Defend orders
which cannot spot any enemy cannot moveat all. Thats
pretty restrictive! A unit with Attack orders has an Attack
arrow drawn for it at the start of the game and essentially
follows it, maintaining its original formation for as long as
it fails to spot any enemy or until it reaches the end of the
arrow when it changes to Defend orders and stops. Once the
enemy is spotted, things loosen up considerably, but the HQ
stand of the battalion is still tied to its arrow or to its defence
position and all other platoons within the battalion are, in
turn, tied to it (basically, they are required to stay within
twelve inches of their HQ). So, a battalion on Defend orders
can shuffle around in response to a threat, but it will not
move far from its original deployment area. Changing orders
is easy for the Germans and nearly impossible for the Soviets.
Finally, Reserves are battalions which are primed to receive
new orders they can automatically go into action at the
first time of asking.
Pre-planned artillery artillery is attached (see above) to a
battalion or is in General Support. In both cases, a Forward
Observer calls for fire on targets he can spot. Artillery
battalions respond less frequently when they are in General
Support than when they are attached to a specific battalion.
Alternatively, the artillery is pre-planned at the start of
the game, a three inch square template of fire is plotted
for each battalion of artillery up to its number of turns of
ammunition. Anything in the template on the turn it arrives
is hit once.
Town sectors these are subject to a number of special rules
in SH. Each one is three inches square Yakhroma consists
of 15 such sectors and stands in town sectors cannot be
targeted with direct fire. Additionally, they can only be
suppressed by indirect fire (infrequently) with 105mm or
greater calibre guns. Conversely, occupants cannot fire
directly out of their sector. Town Sectors have to be taken
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by close assault. Three platoons at most may occupy a Town

Sector.
Initiative die roll throughout the game, each player rolls
1D6 prior to each turn. Whoever rolls higher determines
who moves first that turn (all fire is simultaneous within
various subsections).
Morale retreats as stated above, the basic morale rules are
straightforward. Morale retreats extend them somewhat by
forcing a two turn retreat on a roll of 3 or 4 when checking
morale. Thereafter, the battalion returns to the battle once it
rolls a 5+.
The foregoing ought to give you a flavour of the peculiarities
of SH and help you to understand the restrictions/conditions of
the scenario. In turn, you can then decide which parts need to
be represented to make the scenario work for you and how that
might be achieved within your own rules whether that be by
an existing rule or some special convention specifically for the
scenario.
permitted. Up to (but no more than) 50% of your battalions

may be designated as reserves if desired.
GERMAN BRIEFING
Mission
Anticipated
Clear the town of Yakhroma of enemy forces, capture the bridge

across the Moscow-Volga canal intact and establish a bridgehead
on its eastern bank. Hold it until the end of the day. See
common briefing for victory conditions.
Available Forces
The majority of the remaining functioning elements of the 7th
Panzer Division namely two weakened Motorised Infantry
Battalions, half a battalions worth of Panzers and a dozen or
so platoons of support troops drawn from the Regimental HQ
Company and the Motorcycle Battalion. The tanks are veterans
and the rest are regulars. The divisions artillery is at your
disposal, but there is no air cover. See OOB for details.
Anticipated
enemy forces
Before you, on the western bank of the canal, you can expect
little organised resistance. The remnants of the 133rd Division at
about battalion strength may be located in or around Yakhroma.
The bridge is likely to be set for destruction, so a swift coup de
main is in order. On the eastern bank there is nothing for at least
a mile, but there are some vague reports of yet another Soviet
Army forming beyond that.
Deployment
Your forces can be organized into three or four units based
around the two Motorised Infantry Battalions and the weak
Panzer Battalion. A fourth Kampfgruppe (KG) may be formed
using the Regimental HQ as its HQ and some or all of the
additional platoons of the M/c Battalion and the Regimental
HQ Company. Alternatively, these stands may attach out to any
of the three existing battalions. Additionally, the three gepanzerte
rifle platoons of the 1st battalion of Motorised Infantry may be
detached from their parent battalion and added to the Panzer
battalion or the fourth KG (if one is formed). The fourth KG
must comprise more rifle/SMG/Engineer stands than support
stands (mortars, IGs, ATGs etc) and no support stands in its
composition may fire through any non-support stands. The
Panzer Battalion may retain its veteran rating as long as no more
than six additional platoons are attached to it if more are
added, it drops to regular morale.
All battalions are eligible to enter the western table edge on
Turn 1. They may be delayed if desired. No flank marches are
SOVIET BRIEFING
Mission
Deny the Germans a bridgehead across the Moscow-Volga canal
by holding the bridge across the canal or by holding the key
terrain on the eastern bank. See common briefing for victory
conditions.
Available Forces
You have two Rifle Brigades (44th and 29th) a significant
part of the newly forming 1st Shock Army. They have random
morale, but may roll on the 1943 table to represent the last
ditch nature of the operation. Additionally, a whole, but
severely depleted, tank division and a good deal of artillery
are available, along with some air support. See OOB for more
detail.
enemy forces
The Germans are significantly weaker than they have ever been.
Although reports indicate that the majority of the 7th Panzer
Division is attempting to force the canal, as a consequence of
losses to date, you can expect a force well under half the usual
full strength size of that division. It will be approaching from the
west and no enemy forces have crossed the canal to the north or
south of this battlefield.
Deployment
This is a rushed operation, with troops deploying off the march
from their forming up areas. You can be sure neither of when
your forces will arrive nor in what strength see OOB below.
Your planning will therefore be somewhat haphazard. You need
to attach a company of SMGs to a battalion in each brigade.
After that, draw an attack arrow for each battalion prior to the
start of the game; then plot all pre-planned artillery fire; then
roll for the arrival turn of each battalion. On the turn of its
arrival, roll for its composition (each battalion has a random
number of rifle platoons based on the roll of an average die plus
a modifier generally four). You are not permitted any flank
marches (other than that some of the arrival zones below are on
the flanks), battalions may not delay their arrival and you may
not designate any as reserves.
The 58th Tank Divisions attack arrow must start on the
northern table edge to the east of and within one foot of the
canal.
The 11th Independent Ski Battalions attack arrow must start
on the northern edge within one foot of the northeastern
corner of the table.
The attack arrows of battalions of the 29th Brigade must
start on the eastern edge of the table within two feet of the
northeastern corner of the table.
The attack arrows of battalions of the 44th Brigade must start
either on the eastern edge of the table within two feet of the
southeastern corner of the table or on the southern edge of
the table within one foot of that corner.
The remnants of 133rd Division set up within Yakhroma on
Defend orders. They are split into three groups as evenly as
possible and assigned randomly to three town sectors. Special
after a morale failure (even if simply an enforced retreat)
this battalion will not rally and will take no further part in
the battle.
Artillery is available only from the latest possible turn that
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any battalion of its associated brigade could arrive on table. The

IL2 sorties are controlled by an Air Ground Controller attached
to 3rd Battalion 29th Brigade and will be available when that
battalion arrives on table.
COMMON BRIEFING
All hills are gentle, adding three inches to the spotting capability
of units on top of them but having no effect on movement. The
Moscow-Volga canal is impassable for all stands except at the
bridge. The town sectors are standard ones for the determination
of the effect of artillery fire.
Note that the bridge over the canal originates in a town
sector of Yakhroma. It may only be crossed from west to east
by stands beginning their move in that sector. As such, only
three stands (and a dedicated Forward Artillery Observer or
Air Ground Controller) may cross the canal each turn. This is a
considerable choke point. This is also true from east to west as
only three stands may enter the town sector each turn.
The whole table is covered in snow with a consequent effect
on movement. It is not actually snowing, however, so spotting is
as under the standard rules. See below for night turns, however.
The German player adds 2 to his initiative die roll throughout
the game.
The game is 32 turns long. (0200 until 2130 28th
November). The first eight turns (0200-0800) and the last four
(1830-2130) are definitely night turns. Additionally, turns 9, 10,
27 and 28 may be night turns. Roll 1D6 at the start of each of
these turns with the following results:
On a roll of 1 or 2 at the start of turn 9, dawn breaks on that
turn. Otherwise it is still night.
If dawn did not break on Turn 9, then a roll of 1, 2 or 3 on
turn 10 means that it breaks on that turn. If not, then dawn
breaks on Turn 11.
On a roll of 1 or 2 at the start of turn 27, night falls on that
turn.
If night did not fall on Turn 27, then a roll of 1, 2 or 3 on
turn 28 means that it falls on that turn. If not, then it falls on
Turn 29.
At night all spotting distances are reduced by two thirds.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
If at least one Soviet platoon occupies the town sector where
the bridge across the canal originates, then the Soviets win
the game.
If all the Germans or all of the Soviets have been eliminated
or have routed and been permanently removed from the
game, then the other side wins as long as they have troops in
good order remaining.
Otherwise, each side secures one victory point at the end of
the game for controlling each of the Hills numbered 103,
106 and 107 on the attached map.
Control is defined as:
occupying the feature exclusively of any enemy stands or
not currently occupying, but being the last to have
exclusively occupied it with a battalion which has not
since been wholly eliminated or permanently routed.
If enemy troops contest the occupation of a hill or the
battalion which last occupied it has since been eliminated or
routed, then neither side earns victory points.
NOTES
I recommend that players use the advanced rules covering
Morale Retreats for both sides and hidden movement rules for
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the Soviets for this scenario, even if you dont usually do so. The
length of the game makes a battalion breaking and returning
to the fray a possibility and the uncertainty for the German
of not quite completely writing off Soviet battalions keeps
him on his toes. Similarly, however, the potential retention of
part of a battalion following a morale failure for the Germans
is reassuring, since those remnants can then become a useful
reserve in a few turns time.
Hidden movement is also a good way of keeping the German
player honest. If all the stands are on table as soon as they
arrive, then its a saint-like German who will take no account
of another three Soviet battalions massing out of spotting
range two miles away in the south whilst he already has tanks
and a couple of other battalions which he is engaging in the
north. Keep the stands off the table until spotted (then, for
convenience, leave them on, even if they cease to be spotted)
and the German player cannot be tempted to change his plans
(inadvertently or otherwise) in response to a threat his forces
cannot see. Infantry stands only move at three inches a turn,
so have the Soviet player form up his battalions in their attack
formation at the start of the game, and then simply measure
their movement since arrival. This also speeds up play for the
Soviet player, if all the stands are on the table, there will be eight
or ten turns worth of laborious shuffling forward of 30 or 40
stands, three inches a turn.
Finally, regarding the note in the German briefing about the
risk of the bridge being blown, this is merely a misdirection to
ensure that the German player feels the need to get a move on.
There is no risk of the bridge being blown. In reality, the Soviet
platoon guarding the bridge was surprised and I have taken
this as a given within the scenario. Otherwise, the game would
be engineers building a bridge for 32 turns (or even 32 turns
waiting for the engineers to arrive to build a bridge).
TOO LONG?
I have played the scenario twice and each time has taken around
six hours. I played a truncated version in about three hours
at the club I attend and have given some thought to further
possibilities for shortening it. Many may not be lucky enough
to have the time available and, within the long version, there are
turns with not too much happening beyond some slow trudging
around. So, here are three alternative versions...
1. Omit the first eight turns. The 133rd Division is barely
a speed bump in the German advance anyway, so do away
with it. Reduce one or two Motorised infantry battalions
by a total of 1D6-3 rifle platoons (i.e. between 0 and 3
stands total between them) to represent the remnants efforts.
The German player sets up his forces in a column of march
grouped in threes and they enter the table in that order at
the eastern end of the bridge. Reduce the Soviet entry and
artillery availability turns by eight as well. You could also
decrease set up time by treating the canal as a straight northsouth affair and making it a table edge just deploy the
eastern terrain on a 2 foot 6 by 6 foot table. Playable in four
or five hours?
2. Omit the last 12 turns of the game. Reduce the Soviet
OB by the ski battalion and 2/29th and 3/29th battalions.
Reduce the artillery by that attached to 29th Brigade.
Remove the M/c attachments from the German OB and
reduce their artillery to three turns of fire. This would
recreate the early attacks of the Soviets (which were less
successful historically), so bias the victory conditions by
giving the Soviets a half a victory point automatically. If they
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can take one hill and contest another they win. Playable in
three or four hours?
3. Combine 1 and 2 and play only turns 9 to 20 inclusive.
Should be possible to play in a couple of hours or so.
Refer to the map on page 60.
ORDERS OF BATTLE
OOB comments
The German forces are based on standard OBs with some
infantry stands deducted as losses. The 7th Panzer Division
was still running Pz38(t)s at this point and the battalion here
represents just over 50% of the strength returns for this time
period (I regret I cant remember my source for that). The
Osprey title certainly talks in terms of company strength armour
commitments, so the numbers are about right. I have no reason
to believe any part of the divisions M/c battalion was involved,
but it was necessary to build the German forces slightly for play
balance. That, and the Regimental support company (which was
there) also permit a little more flexibility in deployment terms
(i.e. the formation of a fourth battalion-sized Kampfgruppe). The
artillery is also primarily a guess although two battalions were
the entire complement for the division at the time.
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For the Soviets, the Rifle Brigade is not a standard TO&E

within the SH rules, so Ive (broadly) followed Zaloga and Ness
Red Army Handbook description (a third of a division with a
divisional volume of artillery in support). The Ski Battalions
TO&E is from the same source (its designation 11th is
entirely fictitious). There are no rules for skis, so I allow them to
ignore the impact of snow on their movement. The mortars and
76mm artillery represent a full complement for a single brigade.
The other artillery represents some attached army level assets.
Certainly the Osprey title talks of a fair volume of artillery fire
(and, specifically, of Katyusha and IL-2 strikes). I wanted to
limit the flexibility available to the Soviet player to represent
the urgent and ad hoc nature of the counterattack hence the
restrictive deployment/artillery fire conditions and limited scope
for attachments. Each brigade could have a platoon of engineers
as an attachment (and I have attached the Brigade ATG to an
arbitrary battalion), but the value/rarity of such specialists at the
time has led me to omit them they are deemed either to not
be available or are available, but cannot be wasted as ordinary leg
infantry.
The remnants of the 58th Tank Division certainly disposed
of T26s, but the Matildas are entirely conjectural. Matildas were
deployed in the area for the first time around this date and were
Soviet OOB elements of the 1st Shock Army with remnants of 133rd Rifle Division and 58th Tank Division
Battalion
Morale
1/29th Rifle Brigade
Constitution (platoons)
HQ, 4+1DAv Rifles, 1 HMG

HQ,
4+1DAv Rifles, 1 HMG, 1 45mm
Random 43
ATG
Random 43
3 SMGs (to be attached to any battalion of the Brigade). Attach
Soviet battalions
Random 43
HQ, 4+1DAv Rifles, 1 82mm Mortar
Random 43
HQ, 4+1DAv Rifles, 1 HMG, 1 45mm
Random 43
ATG
Random 43
3 SMGs (to be attached to any battalion of the Brigade). Attach
Soviet battalions
Random 43
HQ, 6 T26Ss, 3 Matilda IIs
Green
HQ, 2+1DAv Rifles
Arrives on Turn
Random 43

29th Brigade Attachments
11th Independent Ski Battalion
44th Brigade Attachments
Remnants 58th Tank Div.
Remnants 133rd Rifle Div.
10+1D3 (11-13)
14+2D3 (16-20)
14+2D3 (16-20)
prior to rolling for the arrival time and constitution of the
14+2D3 (16-20)
10+2D3 (12-16)
10+2D3 (12-16)
10+2D3 (12-16)
prior to rolling for the arrival time and constitution of the
6+2D3 (8-12)
Sets up randomly in Yakhroma
Artillery
Field Artillery of 1st Shock Army attached to 44th Rifle Brigade

Mortar Battalion of 44th Rifle Brigade
Guards Mortar Battalion attached to 44th Rifle Brigade
Field Artillery of 29th Rifle Brigade
Mortar Battalion of 29th Rifle Brigade
Air Ground Controller
3* 122mm Field Gun batteries. Off board and pre-planned. Available from turn 16 inclusive. Six turns of fire
4* 82mm Mortar platoons. Off board and pre-planned. Available from turn 16 inclusive. Six turns of fire
2* Katyusha batteries. Off board and pre-planned. Available from turn 16 inclusive. Three turns of fire
3* 76.2mm FG batteries. Off board and pre-planned. Available from turn 20 inclusive. Six turns of fire
3* 120mm Mortar platoons. Off board and pre-planned. Available from turn 20 inclusive. Six turns of fire
2 bomb armed IL-2 sorties. Attached to 3/29th battalion
German OOB Kampfgruppe of 7th Pz Division

Battalion
1/6th Motorised Infantry Regt

2/6th Motorised Infantry Regt
1st Battalion 25th Pz Regt
Attachments, 6th Motorised
Infantry Regt HQ
Attachments 7th M/c Battalion
Morale
Constitution (platoons) & Notes
HQ, 8 Rifles (3 gepanzerte in half tracks), 1 Engineer, 1 PAK 35/36, 1 75mm LIG, 1 HMG. Half tracked Company may
Regular
detach and fight as part the ad hoc KG (if created) or the Pz Battalion (but not as part of the 2nd Motorised battalion)
Regular
HQ, 7 Rifles, 1 Engineer, 1 PAK 35/36, 1 75mm LIG, 1 HMG
Veteran
HQ, 1 PzIIf, 3 Pz 38(t)s, 1 Pz IVe
6th Mot. RHQ, 3 half-tracked Engineers, 1 SMG M/c, 1
These elements may attach to any of the three core battalions. Some (total
Engineer, 1 75mm LIG (or StuG D), 1 150mm SIG (self
Engineers, SMGs or Rifles > total support stands) may be attached to the Regt
propelled or not)
HQ to form a fourth ad hoc Kampfgruppe with Regular morale. No more than
six stands may attach to the Pz Battalion for it to retain its veteran status.
3 M/c Rifles, 1 PAK 35/36, 1 75mm LIG
Artillery
1st Battalion 78th Arty Regt

2nd Battalion 78th Arty Regt
3* 105mm Howitzer batteries and a Forward Artillery Officer. Off board. Attached to any battalion/KG or in general support as the German
player sees fit. Five turns of fire
3* 105mm Howitzer batteries and a Forward Artillery Officer. Off board. Attached to any battalion/KG or in general support as the German
player sees fit. Five turns of fire
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mixed in with Soviet models so I thought Id stiffen that force

somewhat. If you feel this makes the Soviets too tough, then
exchange the Matildas for more T26s.
However, there is a case for weakening the 58th further.
According to Glantzs Barbarossa, the Division was transferred
from the Far East with a full TO&E (but made up solely of
T26s) in mid November and thrown into Rokossovskis spoiling
attacks immediately prior to this German offensive. It was
unused to the terrain and had no time to scout leading to
60% of its vehicles ending their days in a swamp. Thereafter,
it (along with all troops involved in those spoiling attacks)
suffered dreadful casualties and was reduced to 15 vehicles and
a handful of guns by the time the German offensive began.
For the purposes of this scenario, I have presumed it was built
back up again (slightly), but you may want to ignore that (slim)
possibility and field three platoons of T26s only probably as
an attachment to 1/29th battalion. If so, it would probably be
best to remove the German M/c attachments for play balance
purposes (and give the Soviets their engineers). I made it bigger
partly for the Soviet players interest and partly because the
Osprey account does indicate it was a worrying assault for the
Germans which would not be the effect with just three stands.
Alternatively, if the Soviets are too weak, a further Ski
battalion with the initial assault by 1/29th Rifles or with the
44th Brigade is entirely justifiable its not absolutely clear how
many such battalions were present.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS

As noted previously, I have played this scenario twice in its full
form and once as truncated at 2 above.
The truncated version was something of a playtest of the
basics and resulted in a German victory. That result led me to
modify the victory conditions for that version of the game as
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originally written, it seemed that a Soviet victory was quite

unlikely. In the game, the 1/25th Panzer with gepanzerte rifles
and engineers attached swept through Yakhroma, suffering a Pz
38(t) casualty on the way. They turned north and ran straight
into the 58th Tank Division. This division rolled for its morale
and turned out to be Green. It was soon stripped of its T26s, at
which point it routed. I am not sure the Matildas fired a shot.
The whole of 6th Motorised filed across the bridge (slowly),
whilst the 1/25th Panzer kept the single battalion of the 29th
Brigade (which was assaulting Hill 107) occupied.
In due course, the 6th Motorised marched onto hill 103 and
occupied the woods to its west and arced to the canal as a secure
flank. The Soviet pre-planned artillery was uniformly poor,
as it failed to form up effectively (the Katyushas), failed to fall
anywhere near the enemy or failed to inflict casualties if it did.
As a consequence, the big attack of the game by 44th Brigade
from the southeast was a difficult affair. They successfully overran
Hill 106 before the Germans reached it (as it happened, the
German player in this instance had decided not to even attempt
to take that hill), but the advance then went little further. The
Soviets fought a grim battle of attrition in the woods west
of Hill 103, but any movement to contest the hill itself was
swiftly repulsed by the well set German forces. Meanwhile,
the 1/25th Panzer had forced 1/29th battalion away from Hill
107 and occupied it. The Soviet battalions started to fail morale
tests and after 18 turns, the Soviet player conceded the game
unsurprisingly, three Soviet battalions with ineffective artillery
cover versus two German in defensible terrain had been too big
an ask.
The second and third tryouts were of the full version of the
scenario and both were Soviet victories. Both, however, looked
like possible or even probable German victories until the last
few turns.
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The plans for the two games were dissimilar, although the
games played similarly in the end. The Soviet plan was identical
in each case based on the actual Soviet attacks on the day. The
German plan in each case was a swift advance on Yakhroma and
thrust to Hill 107 by the Panzer Battalion, with the battalions
of the 6th Regiment following up thereafter. In the first case,
one battalion was to turn south and set up defensive positions on
Hills 103 and 106, whilst the second was to act as a reserve. In
the second game, one battalion was to move on Hill 106 whilst
the other relieved the tanks on Hill 107 and the tanks, in turn,
would then move off to Hill 103 in the south. As it happened,
in both cases the Soviet assaults caused those plans to change.
In neither case was an additional Kampfgruppe created (I didnt
give them that option at the time still tweaking the set-up!).
In both cases, the gepanzerte rifles and gepanzerte engineers were
attached to 1/25th Panzer.
In the first game, 1/25th Panzer lost a tank platoon in the
assault on Yakhroma, but then successfully crossed the canal and
took Hill 107. However, the 58th Tank Division intervened
and by about 0930, all the German tanks had been destroyed.
The attached gepanzerte rifles permanently dismounted and
fought off the tank attack between the canal and Hill 107, whilst
1/29th battalion swept over the now undefended hill. As 1/6th
Motorised crossed the canal and turned south, 1/25th Panzer
(with no tanks) formed the best defensive shoulder it could
facing north, allowing the infantry to proceed unimpeded.
Within a short period, however, the Germans were becoming
hemmed in near the canal bridge and the depleted 1/25th
Panzer and 2/6th Motorised were finding it difficult to deploy.
1/6th Motorised successfully moved southeast into the woods
to the west of Hill 103, but 2/6th was getting into a muddle
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within 4 or 5 inches of the bridge. Eventually, 2/6th became

desperate enough to charge (in company strength only thats
all that would fit) the Soviets just to the west of the woods south
of Hill 107. This was surprisingly successful and freed up space
to deploy a couple of AT guns, which drew the fire of the 58th
Tank Division, itself up to this point desperately overrunning
the (un)gepanzerte rifles. It hadnt helped that the 58th had
turned out to be veterans.
At this point, the 1/25th Panzer broke (67% losses) as did
the Soviet Infantry resistance around Hill 107. 1/25th retreated
to the bridge and rallied as a single company of gepanzerte
engineers as a reserve. However, the first Soviet assault had
been successfully repulsed (just) and 2/6th Motorised moved to
occupy Hill 107. ATG fire and IG/SIG fire from across the canal
did for the remaining tanks of the 58th Tank Division. At around
noon, attention shifted south to Hills 106 and 103, where the
44th Brigade was closing with 1/6th Motorised. A massive preplanned bombardment on Hill 106 had achieved nothing but
the destruction of half a battalion of Soviets (who arrived too
early and strayed just too close to the barrages extremities). The
remnants of that battalion were the first to engage the Germans
around Hill 103 and almost instantly routed. Meanwhile, two
further Soviet battalions had overrun Hill 106 and were moving
alongside the canal and into the woods west of Hill 103. They
were somewhat cramped unlike the Germans who now had
space (and fewer troops) to deploy effectively. After a few turns,
one of the Soviet battalions retreated, leaving the last in a hand
to hand contest in the woods.
The German line now saw the 2/6th Motorised anchored
on the canal bank and arcing over Hill 107 and into to the
woods to its south, whilst its sister battalion occupied Hill 103
A KV-1 stands like a giant pillbox, fending off Panzers. On the other hand, that immensely tall turret makes it difficult to hide!
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by three Soviet battalions. That they

destroyed two of them coupled with the
early sacrifice of 1/25th Panzer allowed
the German player to put together what
looked like a fairly solid defensive line
(certainly more stable than anything
prior to that point) very late in the
game. A little bit of luck and some good
tactics were required to see them off,
but it could easily have been a German
victory. So it seemed like a reasonably fair
scenario.
The second full scenario playtest
followed a not dissimilar pattern not
least because of the repeated Soviet plan
and, strangely, the 58th Tank Division
turned out to be veteran again. Critically
this time, however, 1/25th arrived at Hill
107 early enough to stop and achieve
hull down positions. This increased their
survivability a good deal and saved the
Hungarian troops played their part in Barbarossa too. Photo courtesy of Warwick Kinrade.
accompanying infantry from the enemy
tanks attentions. The Germans cleverly
and a line halfway through the woods to its west and then back
moved assault engineers to close the gap between the canal and
to the canal. There was a gap between Hill 103 and the woods
that hill and the lack of supporting Soviet infantry meant that
to its north. It was now that the final Soviet assault (the rest of
they could use flamethrowers and Teller mines on the tanks. As
29th Brigade) came into view, with a battalion approaching that
a result, the initial Soviet assault in the north did not achieve or
gap directly from the east and another approaching Hill 107
threaten as much as in the first game. By 1300, the Germans had
from the northeast. German casualties had been fairly heavy
taken Hill 107, been assaulted, held on and broken the Soviets
maybe 20% or 30% (worse in the 1/25th Panzer), but 1/25th
although at a cost of almost all the German tanks. Consequently,
Panzer had rallied and was now ready to receive orders again. Its 1/6th Motorised was able to cross the canal unmolested and
remnant company of engineers in half tracks dutifully filed into
with some room to deploy. It moved southeast towards Hills
the gap in the lines. At this point (around 1700), the Germans
103 and 106 where, in due course, it ran into the Soviet 44th
were facing the best odds they had had all game (perhaps 25
Brigade.
stands to 35), the line was stabilising and they held two out of
This led, however, to what turned out to be (with hindsight)
three objectives. The Soviets were down to four battalions (one
a mistaken commitment by the German player. Feeling the
of which was very battered near Hill 103) and some remnants
north to be secure, and noting the mass of 44th Brigade
awaiting changes of orders.
engaging 1/6th Motorised on or around Hill 103 and to its
That the Germans lost over the next three game hours was
west, he abandoned his plan to relieve 1/25th Panzer with
due to the twice successful calling in of IL-2 strikes which
2/6th Motorised. Spotting the inviting gap between the canal
eradicated 1/25th Panzer and the infantry guns supporting 1/6th and the woods to the west of Hill 103 and seeing no enemy, he
Motorised, the heroic resistance of the remaining battalion of
spied an opportunity for a straightforward 3-0 victory. Instead
the 44th Brigade (whose SMG platoons close assaulted 1/6th
of relieving 1/25th Panzer of its defensive duties, he turned
Motorised repeatedly in the woods) and a nifty little outflanking his second motorized battalion south to begin an assault on
manoeuvre on Hill 107 which allowed the Soviets to bring
Hill 106, directing it through that inviting gap. However, just
more fire to bear on the Germans occupying the hill than they
because his first battalion had seen no enemy over towards the
were able to return. The heroic last battalion of the 44th Brigade canal, it did not mean they werent there. Within a turn or two,
passed two morale tests in one turn and one of the Brigades
he found his way blocked by more troops of the 44th Brigade.
battalion remnants (a few platoons only, which had previously
These he engaged, but progress was slow he certainly had
been forced to retreat) successfully rallied and changed orders,
enough troops available to inflict grievous damage on the Soviet
allowing them to occupy Hill 103. That hill and Hill 107
Brigade, but not enough to do so quickly and to break through
had become suddenly vacant when, at 2000, both remaining
to Hill 106 especially not in the wooded terrain.
German battalions (all the motorised infantry 1/25th had
Nevertheless, at this point (around 1600) it was looking
already gone) reached 50% casualties and catastrophically failed
fairly rosy for the Germans. The few remaining tanks of 1/25th
their morale tests. They both routed and all German resistance
Panzer and its attached gepanzerte infantry/engineers were
east of the canal ceased. The Soviets occupied all three hills on
deployed in a straight line NW-SE across Hill 107 and into the
the last turn and turned a likely 2-1 defeat into a 3-0 victory
triangular woods. The whole of 6th Motorised was engaged in
despite casualties around the 75% mark.
an uneven contest of attrition (in its favour) around Hill 103 and
Definitely a grim, gritty battle, but with a real see-saw feel
the woods to its west. Hill 106 was Soviet and it was out of the
to it. The German position looked precarious early on, with the question to launch an assault on it (unless the Soviet battalions in
initial Soviet attack retaking Hill 107 and pressing them back
the woods and by the canal routed and cleared the way), but the
to the bridge. The fight for the woods west of Hill 103 looked
odds looked good for a 2-1 German victory.
hopeless, as eight or so German platoons were initially assaulted
And of course, this is just the point at which the third Soviet
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assault (remainder of 29th Brigade and the Ski battalion from

the north east) arrived. The German player, feeling that the
somewhat battered 1/25th Panzer might not be best suited to
static defensive duties, issued another change of orders (the
third in the game, I believe). He now abandoned the assault in
the south by peeling 1/6th Motorised away from Hill 103 and
northwest towards Hill 107, where three fresh Soviet battalions
were converging. Meanwhile, 2/6th Motorised extended its
line east to occupy Hill 103... but it now faced 44th Brigade
alone. At this point, the IL-2 should have played a critical
part, but it wholly failed to inflict any casualties on German
gepanzerte infantry defending the eastern edge of the triangular
woods. However, a couple of turns later (around 1830), it did all
come right for the Soviets when the SMGs attached to 3/29th
battalion close assaulted those infantry; the Ski battalions mortar
suppressed a critically placed German stand; the preplanned
artillery battered the Germans who had taken up residence on
Hill 107; the HMG and two platoons of rifles of 3/29th could
fire first against 1/6th Motorised moving across their front in the
open between Hill 103 and the triangular wood; and the IL-2
did arrive and shattered several platoons in that same spot!
2/6th Motorised continued to maintain its position on Hill
103 and the woods to its west, but 1/6th broke and retired
to the bridge. 1/25th followed suit (especially after a Soviet
45mm ATG started making a mess of the gepanzerte infantry
around Hill 107) and the Soviets advanced onto Hill 107. Both
retreating German battalions rallied before the end of the game
and were given orders to assault Hill 107 again but there was
insufficient time (a turn or so) to bring any pressure to bear.
The result, therefore, was a 2-1 Soviet victory with 70%
casualties for the victor. Again, however, had the German player
retained a motorised battalion as a reserve a little longer, had the
IL-2 not arrived (a more than likely proposition) and had, even,
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a German battalion broken sooner so that it could have rallied

in time to counterattack, then a German victory was very likely.
Also, it might have helped had the German artillery been better.
One battalion failed to respond on a couple of occasions and
over the course of firing all its ammunition, it suppressed only a
couple of stands and killed one.
Another gritty battle and perhaps less free-flowing than the
first outing. It definitely looked and felt safer for the German
there was no real Soviet threat to the bridge. Unlike in the
first game, the closest the Soviets got to the bridge was around
18 inches. It seemed entirely likely that it would be a German
victory and, curiously, had the plan to relieve 1/25th Panzer
been carried through, then it might well have been.
MORE ACCURATE TERRAIN?

Since playtesting the battle, I have had the opportunity to
examine some 1:50,000 maps of the actual terrain. These have
served to demonstrate how inaccurate the original was, so we
have reproduced a somewhat better version here. It is by no
means 100% accurate, but is closer (as best I can tell) to the
ground over which the battle was fought. It turns out that there
are areas of higher ground sloping up from the canal. All the hill
numbers are fictitious.
Some readers may wish to try the battle over this terrain.
Noting that I have not played it, I can only suggest victory
points awarded for control of Hill 101 (one point), Perimilovo
(one point) and Hill 102 and Sameshki (one point for the two)
for the Germans. The Soviets gain one point for controlling
each, but may ignore the need to control Sameshki as well as
Hill 102 for their single point (i.e. controlling 102 whilst the
Germans control Sameshki earns the Soviets a point). I have no
idea which side this version of the game would favour. Good
luck with it if you try it!
63
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Peter Pig
Innovative Rules and quality 15mm figures
LATE WAR Germans : All Fronts
Basic packs 2.90 each (plus postage) - 8 infantry or 4 cavalry figures

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66. Assault Rifles adv.

67. SMGs (NCO) - kneeling
68. Rifles Adv
69. Command in helmets
70. LW Panzerschrek troops
78. LMGs standing,firing
336. MG42 Tripod LW
358. Rifles- standing,firing
359. LW Panzerfausts
405. 2 Goliath teams
445. Assault rifles firing
446. Surrendering
447. Dead
448. Rifles firing, kneeling
449. LMGs lying, firing
450. LMGs advancing
451. SMG (NCO) standing
452. Command in Cap
453. Radio operators
454. LMG Ammo carriers
455. Grenadiers
456. Gun crew kneeling
457. Infantry lying
458. 81mm mortars
459. Advancing under fire
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64
461. Flamethrowers
462. Mine team
463. 120mm mortar teams
464. Medics and casualties
465. Higher command
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(scrim helmets)
413. Snipers
115. PIATs
143. NCO Stens
195. Infantry Grenades
214. Inf. Firing
215. Inf. advan
482. Inf. Kneeling
483. AT Gun crew
484. Stens
485. Grenades
486. Rifles with Leather coat

487. Sten/Rifle lying
488. Rifles adv ( light kit )
489. Bren sections adv.
490. Bren sections firing
491. Bren sections lying
492. Radio men
493. Platoon commanders
494. Company commanders
495. 2 Mortars
496. Surrendering
497. Medics
498. 3 Mortars
499. 4.2 Mortars
501. Gun crew standing
502. HMGs
503. LW dead
504. Greatcoat advancing
US NORMANDY +
381. Para Rifle Adv
382. Para Rifle Firing
383. Para Platoon cmnd
384. Para Coy Command
385. Para SMG
386. Para BAR
387. Para bazooka
388. Para 60mm mortars
389. Para 81mm mortars
390. Para dead
391. Para carbines
392. Para 30 Cal
393. Para seated
394. Para gun crew
See Range 21 for buildings and
barricades etc.
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Recce
We strive to give fair, unbiased and

truthful reviews. Reviewers are asked
to express their honest, measured
opinions, which are not necessarily those
of the Editor.We will never submit to
intimidation of any kind, howsoever
disguised, and though we do not publish
critical reviews lightly, we reserve
the right to do so where we believe
constructive criticism is justified.
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analyses (many in German).

The author avoids a dramatic style, but
still conveys the physical and emotional
brutality of close combat, supported by
good illustrations and clear strategic and
tactical maps. The lengthy captions to the
illustrations tend to repeat what is in the
main text, but this is a minor drawback.
All in all, a good demonstration of the
impact of terrain on a battle same foes,
but three very different outcomes.
Chris Jarvis
Rules reviews categories:

Readthrough; Dabbled; Played;
Multi-play.
ROMAN SOLDIER VS
GERMANIC WARRIOR: 1ST
CENTURY AD
Lindsay Powell, Osprey Combat Series,
No 6, 2014; 11.99
As a reviewer new to the Combat series,
I found this to be a compelling read. The
emphasis is on what might be called style
of fighting: it describes well the close
combat techniques and equipment of
these two foes.
Three battles form the basis of the
book the Teutoburg Pass (AD 9),
Idistaviso (AD 16) and the Angrivarian
Wall (AD 16). Each is described in detail,
and show respectively the techniques of
ambush, open battle, and the assault on
a defensive earthwork. There is a useful
bibliography, both of ancient sources
and modern
IMPETVS GUIDE 1
THE PARTHIANS
Jim Webster, Dadi & Piombo 2013,
PDF 3.95 from Wargame Vault
www.wargamevault.com
The stated intent of this guide is twofold:
to provide a simple guide to the Parthians
and to offer up army lists for use with the
Impetus ruleset. Did the author achieve
this goal? Yes, with a few technical
problems along the way.
The Parthians is divided into four
sections. The first section covers the
history of Parthia in the western half of
the ancient world. The second describes
some of Parthias western allies. The less
well documented history of Parthia in
the east forms the third section. Finally,
the fourth section presents a brief
campaign system.
In each of the first three sections, a
brief history of the period is given along
with an analysis of infantry and cavalry
of the period and an appropriate list for
Impetus. Unfortunately, this is where
technical problems arise. The presentation
of the histories is rather dry. This is
aggravated by the lack of any paragraph
breaks, which forces the reader to work
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through a continuous wall of text. In

fairness to the author, a number of PDF
readers were tried and all had the same
problem.
The infantry and cavalry analyses
are quite insightful and useful to the
wargamer. As expected, there is good
discussion of the nature of the Parthian
army as it moved from horse archers
to cataphracts. The infantry, never the
main feature of this army, also receives
good coverage. I would have preferred
to see more time spent here than on the
minutiae of Parthian politics.
The lists also have some formatting
issues, but of less impact on the reader.
While specifically constructed for Impetus,
they are generally useful as they provide
ratios for each of the troop types used in
the different periods covered. Wargamers
using rules without a Parthian list can
use this guide to create an army that
has the right flavour, if not the precise
organization.
The allies section was informative.
Not having read much about the region,
the information on the Commagne was
interesting, as were the descriptions of the
Nehardae and the legions of Labienus,
neither of which I had heard of before.
In the third section, the author is clear
that reliable sources for the Parthians
in the east are much more difficult to
find than for the west. He gives what
information he can and clearly specifies
when he is making conjectures or
expressing his personal opinion.
Although I have not been able to try
it, the short campaign in the final section
looks well put together. It should play out
over a small number of sessions, a bonus
for the time starved gamer.
Impetus Guide 1 The Parthians will be
of interest primarily to Impetus players and
for them it represents a good value. While
I do not include myself in that category, it
is a ruleset my main gaming partner and I
have been meaning to try. Thanks to this
supplement, I suspect I will be playing
Parthians.
Patrick Gilliland
WILDERNESS AND
SPOTSYLVANIA 1864:
GRANT VERSUS LEE IN THE
EAST
Andy Nunez, Osprey Campaign, No 267,
2014; 14.99
The advent of Ulysses S Grant as Union
C-in-C saw a new determination to use
superior forces in a relentless drive to
crush the Confederacy. This campaign
was the start of the new offensive
65
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JUSTICE 4.1
(TSARINA SECTOR)
tactically, a learning curve for Grant

in his first confrontation with Lee, but
strategically the beginning of the end.
This was an interesting campaign, with a
scrambling series of meeting engagements
plus assaults, and with a high degree
of uncertainty over your opponents
dispositions and numbers.
In my experience of reviewing around
120 titles by this publisher, a duff Osprey
is an extremely rare event, but this title
is frankly way below standard. There
are orders of battle down to regimental
level but no indication whatever of unit
strengths (even at corps level). There isnt
even a summary of casualties. There are
too few maps; many places mentioned
in the text are not shown on the maps;
and the maps are generally placed too
far from the text to which they refer. I
hesitate to criticise an authors writing
style, but the many dramatic statements
like a wall of musket fire and even the
grass was stripped bare by the unceasing
gunfire are just irritating after a while.
A reference to one Union attack on May
10th describes it as costing 5,000 Union
dead, whereas total casualties on that day
were 4,100 dead and wounded across
the whole Union army, according to the
Civil War Dictionary.
The author is apparently editor of
Against the Odds wargaming magazine,
for which he has won an award in four
successive years for Best magazine.
Bearing in mind that this book is virtually
useless for a wargame re-enactment, one
wonders who on earth gave the award.
Osprey Publishing are a fantastic
resource for the wargamer and historian
alike, but I hope we hear no more from
this particular author. Obviously not
recommended.
Chris Jarvis
66
Jim Webster, 7.99 paperback, 75p

Kindle
Ive seen Jims games at shows over the
years and, based on that, know him to be
an out of the box thinker. I didnt realise
hed written some fantasy titles but this
one is, apparently, his first SF venture.
Available from the likes of Amazon both
on paper and as a download, Im glad
to have it on paper as at least it meant
I could read it in the bath! Im a bit of
a slow reader at the best of times, so I
was glad that the 150 or so pages were
something I could lug around and get
damp (I try not to do that with my
Kindle). Oh, but what about the story,
you ask?
Space cop Haldar Drom teams up
with a journalist and an insurance assessor
to investigate murder and as it turns
out greater intrigue on a backward area
of planet Tsarina, in a backwater sector
of the galaxy. Theres piracy, genetic
engineering hokeypokey, smuggling,
marine attacks, a fashion parade raided
by bandits, the wonders of largely
yak-based diet, huge space stations and
assassinations A whole lot crammed
into a slim novel.
Did I like it? Yes: a good yarn with
sensible, gritty but still dry (I have to
say very British) humour sprinkled
throughout. A good plot effectively
an SF who-dunnit (with a and why did
they do it tacked on for good measure)
without unnecessary leaping about.
However, it started off with a cast list
on one of the opening pages which
immediately put me off. Many years ago,
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I stopped reading books with huge casts

with leap about stories after busting
my brain on the likes of Footfall by Larry
Niven and Jerry Pournelle (one of what
I would consider the worst offenders of a
vast dramatis personae that needs listing and
the first twenty chapters that open twenty
different threads which ultimately weave
into one canvas): I hate them. So, the cast
list in Justice 4.1 initially put me off, but
it neednt have done: the story is quite
linear not completely, but enough, and
the cast list is not huge, but is necessary
as, to be honest, I found some of the
characters a little samey and I had to
keep reminding myself who was who.
I found the story reads like a good
role-playing scenario: and thats not a
criticism (not from me, at any rate). Sure,
I could pick up on a couple of things:
I find brackets used in dialogue to be
jarring. I thought the cover was a little
dull (not that youll care f youre reading
it as an ebook) and, as I said, I found the
characters all slid into each other a little
but if thats my only criticism (and it is)
I think thats pretty good going.
If you like your SF grimdark and
armoured flares for the emperor, this
wont be for you. If you liked the 1980s
TV series Star Cops (as I did) then buy
this book: itll probably appeal greatly.
John Treadaway
BAYONNE AND TOULOUSE

1813-14: WELLINGTON
INVADES FRANCE
Nick Lipscombe, Osprey Campaign
Series, No 266, 2014; 14.99
This is a useful operational-level account
of the key actions from July 1813 to the
armistice in April 1814, including a good
account of the bridging of the River
Adour in itself a challenging wargame.
The orders of battle and strengths are
a little skimpy below divisional level, or
(on the French side) vague in terms of
numbers of battalions. The necessity of
covering nine major actions means that
each receives too little detail to refight
a specific battle but then this is a
campaign book, not a description of an
individual battle.
I confess that I find the two-page
three-dimensional birds-eye views of
the battles to be somewhat irritating in
the Campaign series: it is impossible to
gauge the topography (especially hills)
accurately, and the campaign maps are
far more useful. However, the authors
photographs give an excellent feel for
ground.
Overall, this title may not add much
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to your sum of knowledge if you possess

the relevant volumes of Oman or even
Weller, but it is a good portrayal of an
interesting campaign.
Chris Jarvis
HORDES OF THE THINGS

Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott and
Sue Laflin-Barker, Wargames Research
Group, 86pp A4 + covers, 14.99
Readthrough
Now, Im not going to claim to be an
expert on HOTT, nor on the mightily
popular DBA ruleset on which HOTT is
based, but having received this updated
and, one might almost say, glamourised
version of the ruleset, with its shiny
black cover, Im now more than tempted
to give it a go.
Until now, my primary contact with
HOTT has been, over the years, a result
of bumping into the Southend Wargames
Club at various shows, where they have
frequently staged all-day HOTT demo
and participation games, alternating with
their equally frequent DBA bonanzas.
Around a relatively small terrain set-up
never more than about three feet square,
to my recollection they have displayed
the most bizarre collection of forces on
parade that you can imagine. I recall with
particular affection what appeared to be
an entire air force consisting of rather
plump gentlemen astride magic carpets.
Well, for those who have no idea
what on earth Im talking about, you
simply need to be made aware that doyen
of the hobby, Phil Barker, has not only
maintained a love of ancient warfare
throughout his long life (he is now 84
or thereabouts, I believe), but also an
enthusiasm for fantasy. Never forget that
he played the role of Conan in Tony
Baths famous Hyborian campaign that
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ran for many years and featured in the

pages of Battle for Wargamers.
So, whats in this edition, encouraging
you to part with your fifteen quid or
thereabouts? It opens with the standard
fare, including a glossary of specific
terms used in the rules, an overview of
the play sequence and a page on design
philosophy. The latter is interesting,
because it makes it perfectly clear that
the writers aim to reflect existing works
of fiction and mythology, rather than
invent stuff of their own: We aim at
the maximum possible consistency with
such works and folk lore, and tend
to lack sympathy for game designers
who compensate for lack of reading by
wholesale invention, turn the friendly and
helpful solitary household brownie into
a pack of midget fiends, drag broggarts
from under their bridges, allow unicorns
to be ridden by the less than virginal, and
make up strange monsters and machines
wholesale. So there!
Next we have a description of
the playing equipment required,
the representational scales employed
(elements totalling up to 24 army points),
troop definitions (terms such as GODS,
HEROES, BEHEMOTHS, BLADES,
LURKERS and so on), then basing
conventions, element costs, terrain effects
and a discussion of strongholds before
plunging into the rules themselves.
The section entitled Fighting the
Battle describes deployment, PIPs and
sequence of play. PIPs, in case you still
havent encountered them, are simply
initiative points generated by the roll
of a die quite why that isnt included
in the definitions, I cant imagine: the
knowledge is assumed. Carrying out
actions with your troops uses varying
numbers of PIPs according to their type.
In HOTT, the addition of exotic types
such as gods, dragons and goodness
knows what obviously adds to the tactical
choices to be made and therefore the rate
at which PIPs are used up. Deployment,
too, becomes an interesting exercise once
you have to take lurkers, hordes and
magicians into account.
Movement comes next, adding gods,
dragons, flyers, aerial heros and airboats
to the selection of lesser units confined
to moving on foot and riding beasts, and
rounded off with types that move through
water, marsh and so on. This is followed
by magical attacks, distant shooting and
close combat which, due to the relative
complexity of rules encompassing a wide
range of effects both real and imagined,
are quite comprehensive. Ensorcellment,
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recoiling, fleeing, pursuit, lost elements

and winning and losing a battle round
off the standard rules. Considering the
subject matter covered, a ruleset of
not much more than a dozen A4 pages
represents admirable economy!
The next ten pages are filled with
useful and simple diagrams explaining
most of the major tenets of the rules,
before we move on to mass battles (48
army points or more) and a nice section
on campaigns.
But the second half of the book is
filled with army lists, and its here that
you can see the authors scholarship.
The selection of forces described is simply
astounding! The lists are helpfully divided
into sections, representing Generic
armies (types well-known in standard
fantasy gaming think Orcs, Undead,
Ratmen, Barbarian etc), Myths, Legends
and Epics (Homeric, Arthurian, Norse
and so on), Fantasy Writers (Robert E
Howards Hyboria, Fletcher Pratts Well
of the Unicorn, Bram Stokers Dracula
Terry Pratchetts Discworkld and many
more surely Game of Thrones should
feature too?), Semi-Historical (fictional
equivalents of historical armies such as
Atlantis, Da Vinci Italian, Mnchhausen
18th century, Victorian Science Fiction
and more) and, finally, Just Plain Silly
(alien invasion, Christmas Wars, Garden
Wars... Yes, theres no gnome business like
show business).
The book rounds off with some extra
information and a very helpful rules
index if only more rulesets did this.
Now Ill go away and play some games
so I can provide a much more in-depth
review. Where can you buy magic carpets?
Henry Hyde
67
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Cavalier & Hammerhead

A tale of two shows
John Treadaway went to these two early

season shows with his camera and reports back
with a comparison of these two popular events.
CAVALIER
This is a show I have attended off and on for the last twenty
years or so and Ive seen it move venues from a school hall to
its current location. As a venue, it leaves a little to be desired,
being quite poorly lit, but it has a fair degree of space, with
a main sports centre hall and several adjoining smaller rooms.
Over thirty traders and seventeen games, both party and demo,
make for what should be quite a busy show but after lunch, the
show suddenly fell very flat as people streamed out of the door,
having made their purchases, I suspect, and headed for Well,
anywhere else, I guess.
I wouldnt like to say what the participation to demonstration
ratio was, but Id be surprised if it was 50/50. I would guess
there were slightly more of the latter than the former. There
were some pretty demos the Maidstone Wargames Societys
Somewhere in Belgium 1914 featured some very impressive
buildings and 28mm skirmishing Germans and Belgians, for
example. However, theres no reason why party games cant
look good too and the Staines Wargamers Schweinfurt 1943
with B17s in 1/144 was a good example of that.
But, in the end, my estimation is that perhaps seventeen
games, of which maybe seven or eight at most were intended
to be participation games, isnt enough to keep people hanging
around the show?
68
Above: Somewhere in Belgium by Maidstone.

Below Left: Staines Wargamers Schweinfurt 1943.
Below Right: The Belgian troops defend a makeshift barrier.
All photos by the author unless indicated otherwise
HAMMERHEAD
This was a rather different animal. The new venue is small,
certainly rather smaller than its previous home at Kelham Hall.
The problem here is that I have never really liked Kelham Hall.
Everyone tells me its great and the architecture is very pretty,
but Im not there for the venue, Im there for the gaming (and
Ive attended many shows there over the years). I find the new
venue, with its carpeted floors and open, well-lit space, to be
superior to both Kelham Hall and more importantly in the
context of this article Cavaliers Angel Centre.
The venue itself could be the subject of a whole article on
what I like or dont like about show venues (Colours is very
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A column of home 3D printed 1/144th scale vehicles by KB Club members.
Prize winning game Hostilities at Haribo by the Leicester Phat Cats.
nice, Salute Excel is a huge shed, Salute Olympia was good but
too dark, SELWG smells of chlorine etc etc) but, as I said, thats
not what this article is about. Ill simply say that the venue was
good, but in my opinion needs to be bigger for the show to
realise its full potential.
Organised by Kallistra and a local club (The Forest Outlaws),
the event had only eighteen traders, but had twenty five games:
a very different ratio to Cavalier and Im not picking on them.
The Tonbridge show is pretty similar, proportionally, to Salute
and many other shows. Another thing I found interesting was
that, unlike the last Hammerhead I went to a couple of years
back when it was still transitioning from Fantasy Partizan
this shows games were from all periods, both historical and
non-historical, but they had one simple proviso: they all had to
be participation games!
There were many good ones featured and some I didnt really
understand (Peterborough Wargames Battle for the Patio with
full-sized garden gnomes certainly attracted the youngsters),
but there were also some real bits of eye candy. The Leicester
Phat Cats Hostilities at Haribo was a fine example of 20mm
modern warfare and justly won a prize (I like any game that
manages a 1/72 TU22 on the table as well as tanks!) and the
overall winner Bingham and Districts Shaun of the Dead
was a splendid thing to behold, but there were many other
pretty games. In fact, Id go as far as to say that there wasnt a
clunker amongst them.
Of the many, many innovative efforts including Dragon
boat Racing from Doncaster WC and a reworking of the
Memoir 44 board game using (not surprisingly) the Kallistra

hexon system was a Cold War Germans v Russians game by
the KB club thats worth a special mention. It featured models
and buildings entirely produced by the gamers themselves. The
buildings were cardboard and, to be honest, rather basic, but the
game was surrounded by a fake horizon of printouts which was
an unusual approach. However, the interesting part for me was
that pretty much all of the (many) vehicles in 1/144th scale were
printed on a home 3D printer. It astonishes me to report that
the result was pretty good. A 1,500 piece of kit has resulted in,
they told me, around the same values worth of printed vehicles
and when painted Id have been very hard pressed to tell
that they werent resin or white metal.
The future may be upon us sooner than we thought...
Andrew Hubback and Kevin Dallimore slug it out in Clyde City. The Prize
winning Hammers Slammers game by the authors club The Warlords.
Zombie Apocalypse: the prize winning game

Shaun of the Dead by the Bingham & District Club
WHOS TOP DOG?

Which of the shows did I prefer? Well, there was more to buy
at Cavalier but frankly a more interesting (to me personally)
selection of traders at Hammerhead. There were better games at
the latter, I thought, certainly more good ones and if I hadnt
been running a Slammers game all day long Id have loved to
have played in one or two of them. Tonbridge is forty minutes
from my house and Newark is three hours, but thats just
laziness on my part!
After that, its down to the venue, I guess but that just
makes me a hypocrite as I said earlier that I didnt care about
that. Overall Id pick Hammerhead but, being greedy, I want
both of them.
69
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Salute 2014 snapshot
Armed and dangerous: the ever-popular MWBG girls (from l to r Sammi Welcher, Juliet Arthur and Katie Ayres) pose with WWII re-enactors from the Woolwich
Firepower Royal Artillery museum. The lads couldnt believe their luck when we stormed their encampment in the middle of the show! Our sincere thanks to them.
15mm WWII action by Jersey Privateers, one of several WWII games this year.
70
A lovely looking 28mm Crusade siege using Sage: The Crescent & the Cross.
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NextIssue_MW373_Eighth_Layout 1 03/04/2014 11:02 Page 1
NEXT
ISSUE
ISSUE 374 JUNE

ON SALE FRIDAY 23RD MAY
71
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WIN A SIGNED COPY OF MASTERS IN MINIATURE

We have two copies of Alan and
Michael Perrys beautiful Masters
in Miniature, signed by the
authors, to give away to our lucky
winners. To be in with a chance
of winning a copy, just answer the
following questions correctly:
1. Name the other Nottingham-based

company where Alan and Michael used to
work as sculptors besides GW.
2. In which year was Perry Miniatures
launched?
3. How did Michael lose his right arm?
4. On which range of miniatures to
accompany a famous movie trilogy did
Alan and Michael work as sculptors?
5. Which range of miniatures did Alan
rethink completely after being contacted
by a customer?
Answers (in English only) can be sent by post with your name and postal address
clearly marked, to: Competition, Miniature Wargames, 17 Granville Road,
Hove BN3 1TG, East Sussex, UK or by email to henry@miniaturewargames.co.uk
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS.
CLOSING DATE TUESDAY 6th MAY 2014.
Our lucky winner of the Encyclopedia of Warfare competition in issue 372 of Miniature Wargames with
Battlegames is Joakim Strm in Sweden. An honourable mention in dispatches for the runners up, Eddie
Rainford, Simon Skinner, Bryan Davies and David Logan. The answers were: 1) The book covers from
Hayk Nahapet defeating Nimrod in 2492BC up to the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War in 2013; 2)
the Dictionary of Wars was written by George C Kohn; 3) in 2011, Casemate took over Oxbow Books;
4) the book by Phillip Thomas Tucker is Barksdales Charge; 5) the company famous for creating the
range of 1866 figures, whose books are distributed by Casemate is Helion & Company. (That seemed to
catch a lot of you out as the range is now owned by North Star.) EDITORS NOTE TO WINNERS: when
you have been sent a prize, a short note or email acknowledging safe arrival would be appreciated.
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from the perry twins
ORDER
YOUR
COPY
NOW!
Illustrated with photographs taken by the Perry twins themselves, displaying armies from many historical eras in mouthwatering dioramas and vignettes, created by Alan and Michael Perry with help from their wargaming friends.
The book opens with a foreword by Rick Priestley and concludes with a brief biography of the twins by Henry Hyde.
The First Crusade 1096-1099 Agincourt to Orleans 1415-1429 The Wars of the Roses 1455-1487 and
European Armies 1450-1500 Samurai Armies 1550-1615 and Choson Korean Army 1592-1598
The English Civil Wars 1642-1651 and the Border Reivers of the 1580s The American War of Independence
1775-1783 Napoleonic Armies 1809-1814 Napoleonic Armies 1815 The First Carlist War 1833-1840
The American Civil War 1861-1865 The Mahdist Uprising in the Sudan 1881-1885 World War II 1939-1945
A book destined to be treasured by wargamers, modellers and military enthusiasts.
ORDERING
DETAILS
Masters in Miniature 29.50 + p&p (UK 2.95; Europe 5.90; RoW 7.38)
Make cheques payable to Atlantic Publishers and send to
Masters in Miniature, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH
Tel: 01778 392032 Email: subscriptions@warnersgroup.co.uk
Or order online at https://subscribeme.to/miniaturewargames/products
73
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The Battlegames
Combat Stress Appeal
After an exceptional month, we have surged
towards our current target of 20,000 and our
running total now stands at 14,840.92 plus
Gift Aid, a massive jump of 1,170 since last
month! The Editor brings you up to date.
A TRIUMPHANT TRIBUTE
he quite astonishing jump in our running total is

due primarily to two events. Firstly, as you can read
on pages 38-43 of this issue, there was the Donald
Featherstone Tribute weekend where we managed
to raise a mighty 730. This came from three sources: all
the participants paid 25 as part of their ticket price for
the event; Ron Miles insisted on donating a cheque for
25 of his own; and finally, we raised an amazing 380 by
auctioning a selection of books from Don Featherstones
personal collection, donated by his daughter Jane Winmill,
who has also generously donated 25 to the fund herself.
Not only did all these volumes have a connection with
Don and many were signed by him but quite a few
had been signed by the authors, with dedications by the
authors to Don. One of the books (Firepower by Maj. Gen.
B P Hughes) was not only signed by the Major General
a rare enough find but also contained an extraordinary
discovery: some typewritten sheets attached to a handwritten
letter, which turned out to be an article written for Dons
Wargamers Newsletter, together with a covering note, from the
hand of none other than the late Paddy Griffith!
CAVALIER GENEROSITY FROM TWWS

As well as the DF event, another donation was made to the
cause just after MWBG 372 went to press: the Tonbridge Wells
Wargames Society added a magnificent 400 to our total,
thanks to contributions collected at the door of their popular
Cavalier show in Tonbridge, Kent on 23rd February. Once
again, the TWWS have done a magnificent job. Sadly, I couldnt
get to the show this year because of illness, but I want to extend
my heartiest thanks and congratulations to the club.
OTHER DONATIONS
20 has come through to the JustGiving website from three
donors thanks to Malcolm Johnston of the Grimsby club and
those lovely flags of his. And finally, a very nice chap called Barry
Sweeney thrust a couple of 10 notes into my hand at Salute for
me to donate to the cause on his behalf. Thanks Barry!
74
COMBAT STRESS 24-HOUR HELPLINE

The Combat Stress 24-hour Helpline is for the military
community and their families who are seeking help and advice
for mental health issues.
The Helpline number is:
0800 138 1619
Please pass this number on to anyone who you feel might

benefit for example, your local General Practitioner who may
have ex-services patients suffering from PTSD.
You can also now text 07537 404719.
HOW TO DONATE
Donate online at www.justgiving.com/battlegames/
This method is quick, easy, totally secure and the most efficient
way to raise funds: Combat Stress gets your money faster and,
if youre a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid,
plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation. You can
also send a cheque made payable to Combat Stress to the
following address:
The Battlegames Combat Stress Appeal
17 Granville Road,
Hove BN3 1TG
East Sussex, UK
Your support is greatly appreciated. Together, we really are
making a difference.
Editorial
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Feature 11:12 Page
Profile1
MagsAndWebsite_MW373_Half_Layout
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Magazines...
Website...
w w w. a t l a n t i c p u b l i s h e r s . c o m
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77
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CLASSIFIED
Editorial
FOR SALE
25mm painted Napoleonic figures 120 Infantry,
48 Cavalry, 3 guns + crews. Mainly French, few Saxon.
Email: jjr@jross89.fsnet.co.uk
Polly Oliver AWI well painted, plus books
and other odds and ends.
Phone: Mark 07979612915
Email: Lawrenm02@cpwplc.com
Waterline Ship Models and Kits
1/1200 and 1/1250. Warships and Merchant.
For more information or a list
Phone: Dave 02392 352383
Email: dave.willcocks@ntlworld.com
Profile
Scenario
Painting
WANTED
1950-70s plastic toy soldiers,Vikings, knights,
cavaliers, cowboys, wagons, forts and buildings
wanted. Farm. Plastic and lead garden. Timpo trains.
Toy soldiers catalogues, adverts.
Phone: 01455 286510
Turn Your Lead to Gold have you got piles of
figures that you are never going to use?

LTD

Figures wanted for cash, part ex or New for Old
Tel: 01332 559025 (visitors by appointment only)

99 Birchover Way, Allestree, Derby, DE22 2QH. UK
hindsfigsltd@btconnect.com
www.hindsfiguresltd.com
This space
could be selling
for you!
Contact:
Alex Robinson
Tel: 0845 226 0477
Fax: 0845 226 0377
alexr@media-shed.co.uk
78
Advertising
Trade Advertisers:
20p per word (minimum 20 words; phone numbers, email and web addresses count as two words). Box No. 5.00. Adverts must be paid for in advance of publication.
Booking Deadline: JULY Issue 375 16th May 2014 (Please email your text to: alexr@media-shed.co.uk)
I buy collections of painted or unpainted figures, any

make or scale including Games Workshop and historical figures. Also Board Games, RPGs, model kits,
books and terrain. I will buy your entire collection
(not just the good bits), pay in cash and collect the
items from your door. No distance is too far.
Phone: Rob Palmier 07914 609709
Email: bigbadwolf@blueyonder.co.uk
Address: 23 Clanfield Avenue, Wolverhampton,
West Midlands WV11 2QU
PAINTING SERVICES
Elite Company figure painting. I am a long established painter, 5mm to 40mm. Collectors and basic
standards available. For 28mm sample send 4
Address: Applewood Cottage, 73 Enfield Road,
Hunt End, Redditch, Worcs B97 5NE
Email: Elitecoy@aol.com
J.A.D. Designs high quality painting and basing
services for the wargamer and collector.
Phone: 01283 521247
Website: www.quarks-bar.co.uk
The Loaded Brush figure painting service. Sci-Fi,
fantasy and historical periods in all scales, finished to
your specified standard. We supply new miniatures,
or select from our regularly bought and sold used
miniatures. For more information or a quotation
Email: pictor@theloadedbrush.co.uk
Phone: 07909 556644
Address: Enterprise House,
Houghton-Le-Spring DH4 4JW
INFORMATION
Craonne Wargame Sunday 22nd June 2014
Commands appointments are now available
Email: tmaroney@hotmail.co.uk or
Phone: 01428 725193; more information at
www.napoleon200.org
Vorhut figure painting. Historical, fantasy and

science fiction wargame figure painting and model
making. 6mm to 30mm scales.
Email: vorhut@westnet.com.au
Phone: +61 (0)8 99642237
Website: www.vorhut.com.au
Address: Geraldton, Western Australia
CLUB NEWS
West Norfolk Wargamers
See us on Facebook;
Historical Wargamer seeks opponents near
Downham Market, Marham, Littleport areas.
Phone: 07909
020522
Warrior
F I G U RES
Reviews
Private Advertisers:
FREE (maximum 20 words; phone numbers, email and web addresses count as two words). Up to three insertions PER YEAR only.
Books wanted Osprey MAA, Elite, Warrior,

Vanguard, Campaigns, Uniform books etc.
Must be tidy. Cash paid.
Phone: 07855358229
Email: anitawilliams@btconnect.com
Geo hex for sale

5 large storage boxes of Geo-hex terrain for sale,
buyer to collect. Consider offers.
Email: swalther@cohortplc.com
Modelling
= = = MAGNETIC
DISPLAYS = = =
MINIATURES
Coritani
14 Tiverton Avenue, Glasgow G32 9NX. Tel/fax 0141 778 3426
Mail order only
Over the Wire Games
est.1987
England Invaded,
basic skirmish wargame... 12.00
www.magneticdisplays.co.uk
See website for full range of

Over the Wire Games.
Contact:
Trevor Holland
trevor@magneticdisplays.co.uk
Dragon Fantasy Miniatures

from 1.00 each
All figures made of top quality metal.

Prompt delivery wherever possible.
We take all debit and credit cards in payment,
Plus cheques, postal orders and Pay-Pal.
6 Lumley Cres, Skegness PE25 2TL
Tel: 01754 761383
www.warriorminiatures.com
OPENING TIMES
Mon 10-6. Tues 9-6. Wed 9-6. Thurs 9-6. Fri 9-6. Sat 9-5.30. Sun 10.30-2
Closed last Sunday in month
227 Droylsden Road, Audenshaw, Manchester, MR34 5RT

Tel/Fax: 0161-370 3235 (DEPT. MW) Email: sales@fandsscalemodels.co.uk
STRELETS 1:72 SCALE

STR116 Roman Transport Set 1
STRM094 Napoleonic British Line Infantry in Overcoats
STRM095 WW11 Polish Peoples Army
STRM096 WW11 Finnish Army
8.99
5.25
5.25
5.25
ARMOURFAST 1:72 SCALE

ARM99030 Valentine MK 11
7.99
AIRFIX
AF75015
AF75016
AF75017
AF75018
AF03311
AF06382
AF06383
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1:72 Czech Restaurant - Resin
1:72 European City Steps - Resin
1:72 European City Fountain - Resin
1:72 1WW11 RAF Vehicle Set
1:32 Bamboo House
1:32 Frontier Checkpoint
CAESER MINIATURES 1:72 Scale

CMHB06 WW11 German Army Combat Team 1
CMHB07 WW11 German Army Combat Team 2
CMHB08 WW11 German Sturmpioneer Team
CMHB09 WW11 German Army In Stalingrad
CMHB11 Modern US Soldiers In Action
ITALERI 1:72 SCALE

IT7505 Pzkpfw V1 Tiger 1 Fast Assembly
IT7071 Nebelwerfer With Crew
9.50
13.99
MASTERBOX 1:72 SCALE

MAS72001 Mk.1 Male Br. Tank Somme Battle 1916 12.99
MAS72002 Mk.1 Female Br. Tank Somme Battle 1916 12.99
PERRY MINIATURES
ACW90 28mm American Civil War Artillery 1861-65 20.99
29.99
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MAR72066 Lithuanian-Russian Heavy Inf. 1st Half XV
MAR72071 Barbarian Pirates
MAR72077 Polish Field Artillery XV11 Century
MAR72078 TYW French Dismounted Dragoons
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PEGASUS 1:72 SCALE

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PG7267 Russian 'War Against Fashism'
PG7271 WW11 Russian Infantry In Greatcoats
PG7272 WW11 Russian Infantry In Winter Dress Set 2
PG7273 WW11 Russian Mortar Teams In Greatcoats
6.99
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German Tiger 11 Heavy Tank
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T34/76
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PLASTIC SOLDIER COMPANY 1:72 SCALE

WW2020007 US Infantry Heavy Weapons
12.99
WW2G20004 Br. 6pdr Anti Tank Gun & Loyd Carrier TOW 13.99
ZVESDA 1:72 SCALE
Z5003 Ballistic Missle Launcher 'Topal'
28.99
Z7412 Mod. Soviet AA Missile Launcher 'IGLA' with Crew 2.99
Z7416 Mod. US SAM FIM 92 Missile Launcher with Crew 2.99
REDBOX 1:72 SCALE
RB72048 Kamikaze
RB72052 Japanese Airman
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A CALL TO ARMS 1:72 SCALE

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PRICES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS Visit our brand new Website: www.fandsscalemodels.co.uk
PLEASE NOTE NEW POSTAGE RATES AS FOLLOWS:
UK: 1.00-60.00 (+4.50) 60.00 and over (+5.99)

EUROPE: 20% of Order (Minimum 4.50) WORLD: 30% of Order (Minimum 5.99)
Please send 65p Stamped Addressed Envelope

for Mail Order List (Please state interest)
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Enter a World of
Bravery & Valour
Book 1
The Joust and Mounted Melee

Two complete games in one book
Book 2
The Foot Melee and Archery Competition

With crowd events and intrigue plots that bring
both books together as one complete tourne
Available from WWW.CROSSEDLANCES.COM

Also available from our supporting partners:
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All trade enquiries to sales@crossedlances.com.
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OSTFRONT YAKHROMA 1941

FEATHERSTONE TRIBUTE WEEKEND

Alan & Michael Perry

American War of Independence

Hard PlasticContinental Infantry 1776-1783

The command sprue offers the option of up

Models not shown at actual size.

Although we read all questions,we cant guarantee a

Steaming ahead > Page 10

Ogre > Page 30

68 Cavalier & Hammerhead

Contributions to Miniature Wargames

Keep lunch warm > Page 45

NEXT ISSUE 374 OUT

T: +44 (0)1273 323320

Exhilarated by the experience

ow do you find the energy to

Dates for your Diary

Neil Shuck does a little

There are times when writing a column,

they were streets ahead of the previous

28mm plastic Arabs by Gripping Beast.

Templar. With these new releases, and

ways; perhaps a compromise for those

20mm with the addition of early German

Desert in 28mm. Those of us who play

have been available for some time (can

One of my favourite miniature ranges

were painted, we could be in danger

Painted by - Andy Taylor

Painted by - Andy Taylor

The continuing tales of a wargames widow

wargamer was showing me some illustrations of a

Paddle steamers havent got a great deal in common with

vanilla powder to use as the chimney stacks. A pair of 2" pieces

Gluing the thin cardboard around the hull.

vanilla powder tube, but a short length

The final construction job was to drill a series of holes

wheel. I also went around the hull and

Add a new dimension to your wargaming!

Special News for 2014

The Fredericksburg (VA) Convention Center

Everything from DBA, DBR, Warhammer

Hundreds for all historical periods, from

This major publisher returns with some great

The War College

Includes speakers presenting seminars on a

From Doggerland to Planet of the Apes

y the time you read this, Salute that mad day of

DOGGER: FAIR TO EXCELLENT

of the extant mounted Northlander and Barbarian packs

Below: Northlander command pack on the left and the

Shaman and Gallieni in 15mm by Brigade Models.

14 HOURS TO SAVE THE WORLD

Valkeeri Rocket Sled in 28mm from Hydra Miniatures.

Checkpoint Charlie 15mm barrier to progress by Brigade Models.

of Brigades larger tank turrets will fit). These cost 9 each,

upscale from their 6mm range, this is an all-metal kit with a

CHUCK ANOTHER PRAWN ON

Sponsored by Colonel Bills

SUNDAY 13TH JULY 2014

202 Field Hospital (V), Army Reserves Centre,

15mm DBMM, 28mm Saga, 28mm Dead Mans Hand,

Black Pyramid Gaming, Colonel Bills Wargames Depot,