The South London Warlords are a wargames club. We also run the Salute show each year. The next Salute will be held on 12th April 2014, follow this blog for the earliest news and information.
There is quite an active band of 6mm / 1:300 Moderns players at SLW, and as an alternative to playing actual forces against each other, one of our members decided to build a Cold War Imagi-Nation based on the Order of Battle (and camouflage) of the Polish army in 1939, and using the modern equipment of the manufacturers they used in the 30's (so Vickers tank of 1939 becomes "What's the available Vickers tank of 1979"). The result is the OOB over here and here are some pictures.
Vickers Mk 3 Tank Company
Armoured Cavalry Regiment - Panhard M3 APCs and AML 90 Armoured Cars
Well, another club member who has an odd penchant for thinking about what medieval Byzantium may look like in any period you care to name, followed suit and built Byzantium's imaginary forces in the Cold war, taking a lead from the forces of the Cold War "border neutrals" like Austria, Finland and Yugoslavia. The army Order of Battle is described over here and here are some pictures....
Byzantine Thematic Brigade Tank Co - T-55 tanks and Daimler Dingos with AT-4 Spigot AT missiles. Finland and Yugoslavia both found it politic to use predominantly Soviet equipment well into the 70's, but mixed it with own-design and increasingly Western equipment.
As with all Imagi-Nations, borders are quite vague - so vague in fact that these two nations find they are in dispute over their joint border, and tensions are rising - there are fears that there may well be a full scale border "Incident" in the very near future....
So you want to build your own Imagi-Nation?
Imagi-Nations are great fun for combining equipment you otherwise don't see together, or "what if" organisation structures, and 1:300 scale means even building a decent sized force is not exorbitant (in Fistful of TOWS, one model or one infantry stand represents a
platoon sized unit, so a battalion is usually c 9 - 12 models). Even less so if you build it out from a core force, say a Soviet or US supplied core force in this era.
How do you do it? Simple - Invent a country, imagine a history, build an army, and assert your right to rule :) There are fellow Iamgi-Nation enthusiasts in most periods, TMP has a section "Modern What-Ifs" where they gather for this period.
For Tricorne fans....benefit of 10mm scale here is you don't have to paint the lace :)
French and Bavaarians vs Dutch and Palatine, approx 1705. French and Bavarians assaulting a prepared position and trying to turn the Dutch line. Figures all Pendraken.
Rules are the General de Brigade variant called British Grenadier. Rules are written for AWI, but have a lot of mechanisms that suit the WSS and SYW. We were play testing to see if the rules worked and broadly they did what we hoped. Will need to tweak, but all war gamers want to tweak rules!
From club member Iain Fuller's blog, about a good night at the Warlords:
Last night I had the pleasure in playing another of Phil Andrew's ‘Crazy
Horse’s Fury’ Plains War games where my brave Hunkpapa Sioux took on the
2nd Cavalry to prevent them moving a wagon over a creek and off the
table – no doubt for various nefarious reasons.
The US force was of 4 companies of cavalry, 2 Veterans and 2 new
recruits, with a Crow Scout troop and a wagon containing something or
other (either the payroll or working cartridges, we couldn’t decide
which!). They were controlled by Philip and Darren.
I controlled 4 bands of Sioux, 2 were Warriors and 2 were ‘Boys’ –
not great at shooting as they had yet to obtain rifles but very game and
eager to get stuck in! Field of the action with ‘my’ side of the creek nearest the camera – the Wagon had to be exited anywhere on this edge.
I was allowed to set up each warband either in cover or behind a hill
so that they were not visible to the yellow-legs until they got close
enough to try and see me (needed to get 4-6 if the Crow’s, and 5 or 6 if
‘regular’ troopers I think). I duly marked the map and hoped my cunning
plan was cunning enough – the two older Warbands were placed in the
‘rough’ ground (brighter green patches) to the left and the furthest
right of the table with one of the Boys bands hidden in the copse by the
creek, the last band was behind the right hand hill on ‘my’ side of the
creek either to be used as a reserve or as a last gasp ambush attempt
on the wagon if everyone else got mullered earlier!
These rules are a good deal of fun and whilst being simple have
enough subtleties to make them really interesting. Each unit has to draw
a commander chit which has a characteristic on it that will either
bring a benefit or hindrance to their units’ performance. For example my
old mate ‘Talkheaps’ was drawn for one of my Warbands which meant that
instead of automatic activation I had to roll a d6, get a 1 and the unit
was inactive that go (the Cavalry drew their own version of this: ‘West
Pointer’). The Cavalry are quite lethal once they get dismounted and
start firing plus they have longer range than the Indians but the
Indians can move further each go and can Move, Fire and Move in a turn
(instead of just Move and Fire) which gives them more fluidity, plus
they are a bit more lethal in melee so both sides have their pluses and
minuses.
I won’t be able to do a blow-by-blow account of the battle as it was
really fluid all the way through, (again one of the great things about
this game) but here’s the basic outline. After the Crow’s nearly spotted
my left hand band I decided to break cover with them and leg it over
the creek, planning to either draw a unit after them so that the waiting
Boys in the copse for could spring an ambush or if that didn’t happen
to go into reserve to be used where needed. Over on the right Darren’s
troops were getting mighty close to spotting my braves so I sprang an
ambush which managed to hit home but I started an unbelievably inept
sequence of rolls in melee, so the attack was quite ineffectual. The
Crow scouts and a Company then started probing towards the woods and I
unleashed the Boys from there in another surprise attack – again they
charged home on Blue-bellies but again not with the desired effect. Some of the damn Yellow-legs prepare to escort the wagon. I think I see a reason for subsequent bad shooting!Crow scouts get ready to do some scouting.Wagon-ho!Braves break from cover in surprise attack. and get promptly flanked – manage to escape unharmed though!Where’d they go!
From this moment on the battle ended up as a series of moves to
contact from the Indians with which I failed to do much damage from
the melee; or the Cavalry would move into range to unleash a volley at
me and roll a 1 or 2 (honestly they rolled about ten 1’s all night!)
hence causing no casualties; or I would move into range, fire, get a 5
or 6 forcing the Cavalry unit back, then retire myself to keep out of
range. I therefore managed to hold the line of the Creek whilst forcing
the Wagon to withdraw to prevent it from being captured. Boys charge out of the CopseHolding the line of the Creek
I did manage to rout away one Cavalry unit with a successful charge
by the boys, this Company being wiped out by fire when it returned but
the boys came a cropper themselves when they tried to evict the Crows
from the Copse and nearly got cleaned out themselves. Over on the
other flank the other boys band had a terribly ineffectual in the rocks
with some veteran cavalry and retired back behind the creek. By the end
the Cavalry had started to unjam their rifles and cause losses on the
braves so I started to fall back further and further, now not being
strong enough to cause much damage myself. As time was getting on we
called the game and I believe a morale victory was gained by the Indians
as the Cavalry failed to get the wagon off the table but I had suffered
quite a lot of casualties in the process. Cavalry take the rocksBoys fail to evict them!Hoka-hey!Up and at ’em boys!
A great game again, and I’m looking forward to play another one in the future.
Here’s a few pictures of Des and Ian’s game of 6mm Napoleonics
(General de Brigade – Prussians v French) that was going on behind us –
game looked great so had to take some photos! 6mm Napoleonic goodness!En Avant!DeployingVat is the Wurst that can ‘appen?Lovely terrain…..
