Pechenegs...

I have at last constructed a couple of war wagons for my Pecheneg 'army'. 

Scratch built from matchsticks, wheels cannibalised from some spare Airfix French artillery (a fine source of wheels), and two pair of HO-scale horses bought a zillion years ago to supplement an equine draught deficiency in a whole other army. They are over-scale, sure, especially my first-built taller vehicle. But I imagine these vehicles historically to have been pretty substantial and sturdy - mobile castles, withal.

The question remains concerning what colours to paint them. The first vehicle looks pretty weathered as it stands, and I've given it a fairly minimal(ist) decoration. I'll probably give the second vehicle a similar treatment.

 After some thought, I decided to place the war wagons in 'draught mode'. At first I thought I'd leave the horses off as 'notional', but I like them better this way. At that, probably draught oxen might have been a better choice, but I had horses, and just one long-horn ox. 

Now, these war wagons appear to have been formidable battle assets for the Pechenegs. Story goes that they won every battle in which they were present, and lost every battle they were absent. 

It has occurred to me that for my own 'Portable Byzantiad', special rules have to be devised for war wagons. Readers might recall that I use the following combat system:
Units roll 1xD6 per current Strength Point. 
Hits are achieved depending upon the target:

• 6 = -1 SP on foot
• 5 = -1 SP on foot
• 4 = foot retreats OR -1 SP (optional, or if retreat is not possible)
• 3 = -1 SP on mounted
• 2 = mounted retreats OR -1SP (optional. or if retreat is not possible)
• 1 = -1 SP on artillery or war wagon
  

If playing FP3x3PW, I suggest war wagons ignore retreats, with no SP penalty.

In any rule set, I also suggest that, despite appearances, War Wagons have no 'flank': they offer all round defence to their crews/ defenders, with no penalty dependent upon direction of approach.

A FP3x3PW Pecheneg army with
war wagon

Now, reading Sultan Chor Darrai's recent encounters with Demis Roussos's (Strategos of Antioch?), his Byzantines, about Edessa (see Bob Cordery's blog Wargames Miscellany), it seemed that the light Turkic horse were in combat against heavier horse somewhat at a disadvantage. They ought, given a sizeable enough board, to derive some benefit from their greater mobility, but it is true that at some point (so to speak) they will have to get within range of the sharp stuff. Having got within range, the getting out of range might prove problematic. 

A Pecheneg DBA army, with two war wagons

Note that the WWg base with is DBA standard.
Figures all Tin Soldier, but many with modifications 
(javelins and shields)

I am going to suggest that on a 'Mounted retreats' result, the light horse can draw back more than one grid area. Question is: how much? A number of possibilities suggest themselves, but for a 'first pass', I suggest light horse can 'flee' up to their maximum move allowance of 4 grid areas, and hence out of immediate charge range of the heavies (even if the heavies follow up 1 grid space). I would offer the same suggestion in respect to light infantry as well. Mounted foes in a standard move will still catch up the foot, but heavier are foot less likely to do so.

Of course, much will depend on who has, or wins, the initiative subsequently, and what flexibility the activation roll will permit.

My 9-unit Pecheneg army for larger game boards:
1 HC, 6 LH, 2 WWg

Here I have found a seventh light horse unit
that looks as though they are also Pecheneg. 
Second hand, the 7th stand manufacture unknown to me!

So far I have been thinking that, unless I rope in some proxies - I have plenty of those - or allies (the Bulgars come to mind),  a nine-unit army was all I could field of these guys. But I discover I have at least one other stand - not of the same make - that can also be fielded as Pechenegs,  and a quick squizz at my Essex Bulgar light horse, though rather more gracile in form, can also pass muster... Two more units will yield my 12-unit army.

At the moment I'm thinking 9-unit armies for my 10x10 square battle board; and 12-units for my larger, hex battle board.

H'mmm... Looks as though the northern border regions of the Empire are about to be raided... again... 

Work in Progress ... or Projected

Just to keep this blog spot ticking over for the time being. I'm hoping to gat at least one battle in over the long weekend. It has been a long while. Meanwhile, I have been catching up upon some backlog of long standing - particularly in the 'War of the Imperial Succession' project. 

Cavalry. Last century I bought several packs of Revell 7YW horse. Some have been painted up - Khevenhuller Dragoons and Nadasti Hussars in the service of the Empire, and I began the White (Puttkamer) Hussars in the service of Altmark-Uberheim. The Imperial Kalnoky Hussars were begun, but never quite finished.

On the tray pictured Are two further Imperial Dragoon units (one understrength with just 15 figures), an Uberheim Dragoon unit, and, in the middle of them all, two stands of 15mm 'barbarian' spearmen for the Byzantiad project (mainly to use up surplus paint...).

Then there is this box of oddments, mostly horse. I have wondered what to do with those Hussar drummers. They'll probably fetch up attached to Altmark-Uberheim Army HQ.

A fair amount of flocking (or othe rkind of base decoration) required here. Right to left: Khevenhuller Dragoons, Nadasti Hussars, a squadron of chevau-leger/ light dragoons, and, half obscured, the 'new' Batthyany Dragoons. 

A word on the light dragoons. They are assembled from Airfix Napoleonic artillery battery commanders, and some surplus Revell hussar mounts. The surplus was actually due to deficiency of troopers, mangled for reasons best known to their previous owner. I found I couldn't resurrect them so into the bin they went. 

But those battery commanders I long had it in mind to form them into some sort of unit. So they have become a 9-figure squadron of light horse. Probably in Imperial service.

On a whole different topic: I still have churning away on the back burner, my Napoleonic 'War of the Nations' project. Recently I picked up in the local 2-Dollar shop a bunch of coloured pin-markers. I figured on making a campaign map mounted on some pin-permeable surface.  Most of the pins had cubic heads, the rest some sort of 14-faced polyhedron.  The former became Army Corps or large garrisons; the latter cavalry formations or small garrisons.

Napoleon's Army (above pic) comprises nine Army Corps, the Imperial Guard and two Cavalry Corps; and has provision for two large and four small garrisons. The Army Corps VII - IX are Allies. As I have almost no Allied figures, these will actually be formed from a French-looking army. At that, they are all three of them quite small formations - the three together about the equivalent of one and a half Austrian army corps. 


Above are the other armies:
Blue = Prussian: 3 Army and one cavalry corps, with a provision for 4 garrisons;
Orange = Austrian: 5 Army Corps, one Reserve Corps Infantry and one Reserve Corps Cavalry formations, plus provision for 5 garrisons,
Green = Russian (these ones I had to paint): Left, Centre and Right, plus detached cavalry Division;
and four garrisons.

I have yet to settle upon a map - or at least, how the map is to be represented. I have several A4 pages of Central Europe mapped out, from memory stretching east-west from Posen to Erfurt, and north-south from somewhere above Berlin to Bohemia south of Prague. That seems to me a pretty reasonably sized theatre of war for the forces involved. 

The premise is that, having wintered about Smolensk, Napoleon abandoned his Russian campaign early in 1813 still with a good half of his army. Actually, the narrative won't present it in quite that light. It was a disaster - well, he lost half his army - and had to struggle to rebuild it against the rising tide of Germanic nationalism. The Austrians begin the campaign, as historically, sitting on the fence but the Russians and a corps of Prussians drive out of Poland the Corps of Marshal Davout (III) and Prince Poniatowski (V). This will probably form a 'First Chapter' of the whole War of the Nations - whenever I get around to it!

 

The Last of the Chromatic Naval Builds...

Having been considering, over several weeks, building an armoured cruiser for Ruberia, and finding myself at something of a loose end, I finally built one. It is modelled upon HMS Warrior. Here it is...

I have to admit to a considerable dissatisfaction with the gun turrets. Intended as an approximation of the bell-shape (in plan), I tried a trapezoidal shape. Unfortunately, my cutting device is getting blunt, and my spare blades have gone walkabout. So the gun turrets are pretty rough.

But... unless eventually the gun turrets give me the pip, as they are they will remain.

The final pic is the tray containing the fleets of Ruberia and Azuria, and the Izumrud-Zeleniya capital ships. Oh, yes, the riverine gunboat - HMS Shoofly, different scale - is also there.

It is tempting to try out a larger scale fleet action between Ruberia and the combined fleets of Turcowaz and Azuria. The forces ...

Ruberia: 

• 6 battleships
• 1 armoured cruiser 
• 1 protected cruiser
• 6 destroyer/ torpedo boats

Azuria/Turcowaz

• 7 battleships
• 1 protected cruiser
• 8 destroyer/ torpedo boats

The slight numerical imbalance would probably be redressed by the more powerful units of the Ruberian 2nd Battle Squadron. This, of course, is purely conjectural. One never knows: perhaps some such battle will happen during the Little Great War... 

Heads up -

Two projects in one: Jono's World.

 As it seems likely that in not distant enough future an uncomfortable level of chaos is likely to descend upon chez nous, traffic on this blog will probably be a whole deal thinner for the next several weeks or months. My 'Little Great War' will be put on hold (there's three small command stands to add to the Azurian Army anyhow). I had planned a naval clash between the fleets of Azuria and Hellenia (why DIDN'T I call it Hellas?!), but that may have to wait a bit. It was partly a play test, but also an early encounter at the outset of the Little Great War.

In the meantime, I took some pics to test out my new mobile phone...



Two projects are depicted in the above pic. The land forces in 1:300 (6mm) scale are formations of the Ra'esharn, Sa'abia and Kiivar armies. Two infantry and two armoured Divisions for Ra'esharn; two and one for Sa'abia, and a Mechanised Division for Kiivar. These will be companion land forces for the navies that featured in the 'Battle of the Laroc Sea'.

The aircraft are Trumpeter inter-war or early WW2 types that have been drafted into the other Jono's World naval project - the one featuring toy battleships made, I think, in Hong Kong.

Turcowaz Regular Cavalry

Just these last few days I finally put together a regular cavalry formation for Turcowaz. It becoming clear that I'll never get hold of any Turkish cavalry from the 1877 war with Russia, I opted for WW1 types instead. As the HaT box comprised 12 horses and 15 riders, I scrounged from among other bits and pieces, the extra horses. It turned out, two of the boxed horses were munted. One of them required a head, the other was irretrievably mangled. 

The extra figures became a 12-figure formation, with a single figure Brigade command stand, and a two-figure Division command. That will do for the Turcowaz cavalry.

Şimdilik hoşça kalın!

More Chromatic Wars Armies...

 

Here are the other belligerents in the Great Little War (Little Great War) about to break out.

The Turcowaz (TURQUOISE) - less its cavalry

Turcowaz: 3 small Divisions of regulars; 3 larger 
Divsions of bashi-bazouk, backed by artillery and machine guns.

Army of Izumrud-Zelenia: 4 infantry Divisions, 
and 2 Divisions of light cavalry. Somehow the weak 
Turcowaz cavalry brigade has snuck into this picture.

Izumrud-Zeleniya.

The Turcowaz is substantially the larger army, but will have a column of Ruberian troops to contend with at quite the other end of the Settee Empire. That could present a problem...

Chromatic Wars Chronicles - Armies

As advertised: the Armies.

Ruberia

Ruberian Army: I Army Corps

Ruberian Army: II (Sangrian) Army Corps;
earmarked for an expedition into the Medifluvia

Ruberian Army: III Army Corps

Ruberian Army: IV Army Corps

And now the ...

Azurian...

Azurian Army: I Corps d'Armee

Azurian Army: II Corps d'Armee

Azurian Army: III Corps d'Armee

 Among the boxes above, the Army Corps comprise all arms, including an integral machine-gun unit.
In addition, both sides may field a small Cavalry Division of 2-4 stands.

As the war develops, the composition of the forces involved will be listed at each encounter. If the Ruberian II (Sangrian) Corps does get dispatched to Medifluvia, the formation will have a riverine gunboat and transports attached.

A World of the Wars

Royal Ruberian Navy: 1st Battle Squadron
and 12th Destroyer Flotilla.

For the last several weeks I have been working on the armed forces for my Chromatic Wars. These feature the armed forces of Ruberia (RED) and Izumrud-Zeleniya (GREEN) on the one side, and Azuria (BLUE) and Turcowaz (TURQUOISE) on the other. The latter countries in the respective alliances featured in the Kavkaz Campaign of a couple of years or so back. The armies - especially the larger Azurian andd Ruberian - have been reorganised into Army Corps. Izumrud-Zeleniya has an extra Division, building up to four.

1st Battle Squadron: top to bottom of pic: HMSS 
Thunderer, Victoria and earlier 'Admiral class'.

But the major work has been the ship building. Here are the lists:

I had to build the Ruberian sea-going fleet from nothing. It now comprises:

• 1st Battle Squadron of 3 early ironclad and pre-dreadnought battleships
• 2nd Battle Squadron of 3 later pre-dreadnought battleships
• 8th Destroyer Flotilla of 1 'S' Class and 2 'R(iver)' class destroyer/torpedo boats
  
• 12th Destoyer Flotilla, ditto
• Protected Cruiser Endymion (Capt. Sir Horatio Trumpeter)

The powerful 2nd Battle Squadron:
HMSS Royal Sovereign (leading), Agamemnon and 
Commonwealth.

Ruberian cruiser Endymion

The Azuria Navy is much less powerful. It comprises:

• 2 early pre-dreadnought battleships
• 1 early ironclad battleship
• Destroyer/Torpedo boat flotilla of 4 vessels
• 2 'Flatiron' gunboats of the Acheron class

Azurian Navy: Hoche (leading), Carnot
and Amiral Duperre

This fleet is based upon the French of the pre-dreadnought era, a time at which its ship designers seemed to be exploring the 'steam-punk' genre of naval architecture. Very weird designs - and I had to find ships that had fewer than the five or six funnels they favoured. I may add a later pre-dreadnought to the fleet to give the Azurian Navy a bit more beef. 

ANS Hoche

An alternative might be to requisition at least some of the 'Hellenistic' navy - at least the French-designed Hydra class ironclad battleships. The difficulty there, is that Helleniya is hostile to Turcowaz, so an alliance there is out of the question. But if France retained some Hydra class units in its own navy, then they could justifiably be added.

ANS Carnot

Ironclad battleship Amiral Duperre

Azurian Torpedo Boat flotilla.

Finally, I gave the Izumrud-Zeleniya two pre-dreadnought battleships. The Ekaterina II is, of course, Russian, and a fine looking unit it looks, too.

Izumrud-Zeleniya battleship Tsarina Ekaterina II

Although the second ship has a Russian sounding name, it is derived, in fact, from the Austrian - one of the last pre-dreadnoughts ever built. It is the powerful Radetzky - match for any single ship in my Chromatic World.

The powerful Izumrud-Zeleniyan battleship 
Radetzky

The Izumrud-Zeleniya Navy comprises:

• Pre-dreadnought Ekaterina II (Bolshaya Katya - Big Kate)
  
• Pre-dreadnought Radetzky
• Light cruiser Elizaveta
• 3 small torpedo boats
  

The last two 'dot' items have been 'requisitioned from the 'Rhumbaba' navy, which is not itself an 'actor' in this drama.

The Turcowaz navy has featured in an earlier campaign, the First Blacklands War. As a reminder, here is its composition:

• 2 pre-dreadnought battleships of the Turgut Reis class
• 1 ironclad battleship
• 1 protected cruiser
• 4 Destroyer/ Torpedo boats.
  

Later, I will talk about the armies, and perhaps make some preliminary remarks about how the war looks to be developing.