Innholdsfortegnelse for WSS 117 i Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

The Treaty of Perpetual Peace (1502) lasted eleven years before it was broken by James IV. He and his successor fought England off and on for the next three decades, until James V died with his newly born daughter Mary (later Queen of Scots) as his heir. The English crown wanted Mary’s daughter to marry Henry VIII’s son, Prince Edward. This was at first agreed, discord soon broke out, and in 1544 the Scottish government renounced the treaty and broke off the engagement. King Henry VIII was furious and demanded vengeance. The king instructed: Put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it, as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God…

There were several desperate battles to capture harbours, all of which were pyrrhic victories with large military and civilian casualties only to find the Germans had wrecked the port facilities. This pattern was repeated time and again. Finally, the port of Antwerp was captured mostly intact, but it still required the clearing of Walcheren island, which was done in the Battle of the Scheldt (Nov 1944). Taking the ports was costly with little benefit, so the Allied supplies kept coming through Normandy until Antwerp finally opened in late 1944. In the rapid Allied advances made in 1944, many German garrisons were simply ignored. These Festungen could be cordoned off by Allied troops and left alone, effectively neutralizing each one. This was done at several locations in France, including St Nazaire,…

It was a fateful meeting, as both had plans to become the leader of their respective areas: Lysander intended to dominate Greece and Cyrus wanted the same for Persia. This meeting of minds meant Cyrus gave support and resources to Lysander in order to boost the Spartan cause, whilst arranging for Spartan support should he need it in staking his claim to the throne. In 404, Darius was dying, and he summoned Cyrus and his brothers to his side. Cyrus fully expected to be named his father’s heir despite having an older brother named Arsaces; Cyrus’ mother argued that Arsaces was born before Darius ascended the throne, and Darius was therefore a subject when his first son was born, whereas Cyrus was born afterwards and so should succeed as he…

Whenever I start a new painting project, I pour through whatever sources I might find and have at hand. This time I primarily used Duncan Head’s The Achaemenid Persian Army. I used it both as a guide and as inspiration – some of the miniatures are straight copies from Richard Scollins’ artwork in that book. Osprey as usual has a few good titles with nice colour plates. I can also recommend Jeff Jonas’ excellent site ancientbattles.com; it’s full of useful information and very nicely painted miniatures too. All the miniatures in the vignette are plastic Persians from Wargames Atlantic with the exception of the mounted commander, the hoplite, and the casualty. All of these were kindly sculpted and 3D printed by Wargames Atlantic exclusively for this cover; many thanks to…

The house sits by a road junction between Saint-Côme-du-Mont and Carentan and was the site of fierce combat between US and German forces in the days after D-Day. This was a strategically important junction, as it was the route via which US forces could strike at Carentan, helping them to link the Utah and Omaha beachheads. On 7 June 1944, an M5A1 Stuart from the 70th Tank Battalion was knocked out by a Panzerfaust near the junction. The wrecked tank soon became a landmark for the US paratroopers, who named the junction ‘Dead Man’s Corner’. Photographed with the tank within days of the battle, the distinctive house on Dead Man’s Corner became an iconic location in the Battle of Normandy. RESEARCHING THE HOUSE To recreate the junction for my tabletop,…

The latest game from the McCullough stable is a wargame of Napoleonic gothic horror. At first, I thought this was a new version of Frostgrave set in a black powder era. Never judge a Victorian-looking book by its cover …! While there are similarities, this is an entirely new game. As the system in Frostgrave can be a little random, the new ideas in this game are most welcome. The game itself is perhaps best described as Supernatural and Grimm meet Sharpe’s Rifles and Hornblower. The format is familiar: a player chooses an officer as a lead character from one of six nations (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, Russia, and Spain) and has 100 points to recruit soldiers with; all the standard infantry and cavalry (yes, cavalry!) are covered. These form…

Plastic French infantry 1916-1940 Company: Wargames Atlantic Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 32mm tall in beret Era: World War I and early World War II Price: £25.00 for 35 miniatures www.wargamesatlantic.com Rarely does a set really impress me, but the new plastic French from Atlantic has. Not only do you get the helmets and weapons for the Great War (including Lebel and Berthier rifles, VB rifle grenade launcher, and Chauchat LMG), but the set also includes WWII weapons such as the MAS-38 SMG and the FM 24/29 LMG. There are two choices of backpack, plus canteens and gasmask containers. The head count is staggering – 42 variants! This includes Adrian helmets, kepis, M2 and ARS gas masks, and Senegalese heads. The variety of heads allows Foreign Legion, Senegalese Tirailleurs,…

The British garrisoned forts spread across the Hindu Kush with Fort Lockhart on the Samana Range and Fort Gulistan in the Sulaiman Range (both originally built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh). By an error of geography, these two forts could not see each other, and so a new fortlet was built to allow communication by heliograph. The new fort, Saragarhi, was built on a rocky ridge with commanding views across the surrounding valleys. It was a small block house with loopholed firing steps on the ramparts and a signalling tower. This fort was a key part of the defensive line as not only was it the communication connection between the two larger forts, but at nearly 2,000 m above sea level it also had a commanding view across neighbouring valleys and…

The Saka and Scythians were nomad horse tribes north of Persia, divided by the Sea of Azov into western and eastern groups. In the west the Greeks called the nomads Scythians, in the east the Persians called them Saka. The Persians and Medes held old grudges with the Scythians. According to one fable, Cyrus the Great was killed by Queen Tomyris of the Saka. THE HAMMER POISED Herodotus’ claim that Darius’ invasion force totalled 700,000 men is disputed. Still, it was a large force, maybe around 90,000-100,000 soldiers. A large fleet of warships and transports set up supply depots along the Black Sea coast. We are told that contingents from all 23 nations were represented, including the Ionian Greeks. One can assume that the Persian Immortals were on hand, leading…

I began this challenging kit by making a ‘mood board’ with pictures showing all the elevations, including a newly-obtained photograph showing the layout of the back wall. Using this reference, I was able to create a simple elevation of each aspect of the house, as well as door and window locations. I design everything in a two-dimensional process, creating a multitude of parts and bringing it together into a three-dimensional jigsaw to create the final model. Once these drawings are complete, it’s a relatively simple task to use the elevations to create the kit, using the reference pictures for the unique details that identify the house. These are all recreated as accurately as possible given the limitations of the scale and the materials used. Once I’d assembled the first prototype…

MR XERXES, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL! One of the features of the Achaemenid Persian armies is their tall rectangular pavise-style wicker shields that we call spara. The troops that carried these are called sparabara. Based on artwork we surmise that these were only carried by the front rank. The shields were constructed out of rods woven into wet or uncured leather strips in different patterns. Once the leather hardened, the spara shield provided lightweight and also very strong protection against missiles. The spara bearer probably had straps to hold it tight. Reinforcing posts that could be pushed into the ground to make the spara wall freestanding are shown in art. This spara wall can be copied and printed out and glued onto thin card stock. Fold it over and glue…

As you may have guessed, I’m not a massive fan of the typical wargames tournament, nor the typical club pick-up game where gamers select their forces to a given points value. Commanders of real armies have rarely had the ability to summon the ideal force needed for the task in hand, but rather they have to deal with their mission with the resources at their disposal. To put it another way, Wellington never asked Napoleon how many points he was bringing to Waterloo … There will be those who regard list composition as an integral part of their wargaming experience; this isn’t for me. My own feelings are that every player should have a reasonable chance of fulfilling their objectives when the actual tabletop game commences, otherwise there is little…

Ships of the line had one main disadvantage: during a swell with heavy waves they had to close their lower gunports or be at severe risk of flooding the ship. Likewise, they had to perform shallower turns in case the wash of turning caused similar flooding. Any trained sea captain would know the risk, and a cunning captain would know to use it against the bigger ship. THE IRISH EXPEDITION In 1796, the French Directory drew up plans to assist Irish rebels by sending a 15,000-strong expeditionary force. However, delays meant the planned August deadline slipped until 15 December, and the fleet of 44 ships sailed into the worst weather in almost a century. The British were warned of the expedition by the British frigate patrol off Ushant (near Brest…

The island of Naxos revolted in 502 BC, precipitating the Ionian Revolt. Initially the Ionian city of Miletus under Aristagoras sought to assist the Persian satrap Artaphernes to suppress the revolt in Naxos in 499 BC, but the entire expedition proved to be a debacle. Instead, Miletus joined with Naxos and sought to spread the flames of the revolt further. The Ionians sought help from Sparta (who refused) and Athens (who provided aid); thus the mainland Greek city-states were brought into a collision course with Persia. In 498 BC the Ionians, with support from Athens and Eretria, marched on Sardis, the regional satrap capital of Artaphernes. They captured the main city, sacked the temple and burned it down, but failed to capture the citadel. Darius mobilized the satrapies of Asia…

I was first attracted to these rules by the figures. I’ve experimented with 2mm in the past, but I never seemed to get what I felt was the full value out of them. Here at last was the chance to have a wargame that actually looked something like a whole battle. As I read the rules, I confess my enthusiasm grew. With these rules the major actions of the period with tens of thousands on the field become playable, each legion depicted as a single base measuring 120 mm by 80 mm with the cohorts drawn up in triplex acies. Strength and Honour is not a game for those who want to micromanage, this is a game for players who want to be a general. The game is fought on…

THE HEAT OF THE ACTION Here’s a tip I received Marcus at Wargames Foundry. The humble hair dryer is a good way to speed up the drying of paint layers on your miniatures. If you are in a hurry, try gently using a hairdryer on the warm setting. The same technique can work with varnish. Some varnishes tend to go cloudy in wet or cold conditions, but you can reduce this risk and speed up the drying process by using the hair dryer on the miniature beforehand, and then gently again after the varnish has been applied.…