Innholdsfortegnelse for WSS 134 i Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

Originally a National Guard unit in the pre-war American army, the 29th US Infantry Division had three infantry regiments at its core: the 115th, 116th and 175th. It received its baptism of fire on Omaha Beach. The 116th Regiment would land to the west of the veteran 1st Division. It would be responsible for four sectors of beach. Behind Dog Green, the western-most sector, lay the village of Vierville-sur-Mer. This was a crucial objective as it was one of the few places where vehicles could easily move inland. In pre-war days, the village had been a holiday destination, but by June 1944 it was a heavily defended strongpoint that the German defenders would fight hard to retain. Facing the 116th were the Germans of the 916th Regiment, 352nd Division. Formed…

Bernard was in the thick of a battle between the Bishop of Utrecht and his rebel vassal Rudolph II of Coevorden (Roelof van Coevorden); the Saxon peasants who supported Coevorden were freehold farmers in the Oversticht. This territory consisted of the provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, and the city of Groningen in what is now the north-eastern Netherlands. Freshly from the Fifth Crusade, Otto II of Lippe (Otto von Lippe), Bishop of Utrecht, decided he needed some hard cash. After installing tolls and fighting successful wars with his neighbours in Holland and Guelders, his eyes turned north towards the Oversticht. He had two main vassals there: Rudolph II, Castellan of Coevorden and Sheriff of Drenthe, and Egbert, Burgrave/Prefect of Groningen. They were great-nephews, but palms crossed with gold had cheated…

Since I began working as a painter for Last Sword Miniatures, I've learned a great deal, including the famous “non-metallic metal” technique (NMM). Ready to battle in the painting arena? Grab your brushes! THE SKIN The model was primed with a matt black before applying a zenithal coat of Beasty Brown spray (Vallejo), creating a good base layer to begin with. I started painting the skin first by applying a base coat of Bugman's Glow (Citadel) across all the skin areas. Next, I added a 50% mix of Bugman's Glow (Citadel) and Skin Tone (Vallejo Game Color - ‘VGC’), highlighting only the raised areas and leaving the previous layer visible in the deeper parts. Finally, on the most prominent raised areas, I applied a layer of Skin Tone (VGC). NON-METALLIC…

Sea monster hunters Company: Antediluvian Miniatures Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 32mm tall Era: Modern Price: £15 for three monster hunters www.antediluvianminiatures.com “You're going to need a bigger boat!” Antediluvian Miniatures’ latest release is a set of three sea monster hunters. The models are, of course, based on a famous 1970s movie where a 25-foot great white shark terrorises a New England island beach resort. Our intrepid heroes go in search of the beast on their fishing boat, but the shark proves to be more than a match for them … From left to right we have the bespectacled marine scientist armed with a Greener harpoon gun, the expert shark hunter wielding a large machete, and the local Police Chief who has borrowed the shark hunter's rifle. Each of the models is…

Recognising the importance of the colline du Caire heights, the Allies built a series of fortifications: Fort Mulgrave (also known as the Redoute Anglaise or Little Gibraltar), Redoute Saint Charles, Redoute Saint Louis, Fort de Balaguier, and Fort de l'Éguillette. The Redoute Saint Phillipe, which was designed to hold five guns, was unfinished at the time of the action and remained ungarrisoned. At best, Fort Mulgrave was a temporary position that could not sustain lasting resistance to determined men. Its profile was weak, and its layout defective. At 150 metres across, it had parapets clad inside and out with pine trunks placed horizontally, and embrasures with openings lined with boards. The arsenal consisted of 20 cannon and four mortars of large calibre, in several batteries, and surrounding it was a…

So how well armed would the peasants be? Most feudal systems had a form of levy, where the common folk were expected to take up arms. In England, there were statutory requirements for local militias: the 1181 Assize of Arms set out the minimum requirements of arms and armour that free men would have to purchase and keep. The 1285 Statute of Winchester went further, requiring poorer men to be armed with polearms or bows. With the Archery Law of 1363, all men between 17 and 60 were required to own a bow and practise with it; as such, English peasants could be surprisingly well armed. It is likely too that a number of them would have been veterans of wars: Wat Tyler (the leader of one of the Poll…

The royal government's response was reactionary, passing legislation to fix wages and prices, to prevent labourers from breaking contracts and to restrict the peasantry's access to luxury goods. To finance the wars against France, the Crown found increasingly novel ways of raising revenues: in 1377 a ‘Poll’ tax was instituted, to spread the cost across a wider segment of the population. Whilst it succeeded in raising far more revenue, it was inevitably unpopular. Nor did the extra money change the fortunes of the war – a second, and then a third round of taxes was levied, leading to more widespread evasion. King Richard II's commissioners – sent to identify defaulters and to reprimand those local officials who were failing to impose the tax – were met with resistance. In Essex,…

The peasants listed their demands to the Swabian League in a pamphlet called Die Zwölf Artikel or The Twelve Articles. This set out a dozen moderate demands to reduce the tax burden on the peasantry, ease the restrictions on woodland for hunting and gathering wood, and put an end to serfdom, but the nobles rejected the articles and instead chose to put down the revolt with force. The peasants’ pleas were also rebuffed by the emerging Protestant Reformation movement; while Martin Luther himself had sympathy for their cause, he chose to support the establishment. Luther stated in a letter: “They set up twelve articles, some are which are so just that they bring shame to you before God and world. But almost all of them are in their favour and…

Allied high command had realised that German army had to be ground down in order to destroy its fighting capabilities. Short advances under the protection of artillery were planned, to capture small chunks of the opposition's lines in ‘bite and hold’ operations. Given the limitations in moving heavy artillery pieces forward across shattered battlefields, attacking units were given realistic objectives: this would gradually push the Allied line forward a few hundred yards – it was tortuous, slow and cost many lives. The German defensive doctrine developed to counter this, moving from heavily-manned frontline trenches to defence in depth. Lightly held outposts were pushed out in front of the lines, with a series of interlocking lines behind them, all occupied by men of the Stellungsdivision (trench defensive formations). This would draw…

What follows is a campaign to allow you to refight the battle of the 3rd Servile War between 73-72BC. The campaign has been written with the Strength and Honour rules in mind, although it can be fairly easily converted into whichever Ancients ruleset you prefer to use, such as To the Strongest, Wars of the Republic, or Hail Caesar. The aim of the campaign is for Spartacus and his followers to fight their way to freedom over the Alps. Of course, you could choose to continue playing the campaign and fight out the remaining battles in 71BC, although space does not permit full coverage of these later battles. A scenario for the climax of the campaign at Silanus River can be found in the Strength and Honour rulebook, and if…

The revolt spread quickly through the southern Holy Roman Empire. By February 1525, 25 villages near Memmingen (in the Swabian part of Bavaria) had joined. The rebels presented their grievances in to the local town leaders, properly written down. In March 1525, the Upper Swabian Peasants Confederation published their Twelve Articles. These were a series of demands about personal freedoms and payment for work, and were in effect a Constitution for the Peasantry. Reflecting Martin Luther's recent Theses, they also demanded changes to how the Church operated, and how taxes and tithes were raised and used, but while Luther had sympathy with the peasants, he distanced himself from the uprisings. The revolt did not spare monasteries, convents and libraries. The formation of the Upper Swabian Peasants Confederation meant this revolt…

The 64-page A5 core rulebook opens by setting the scene in the form of a short story, followed by the origins and core principles of the game: unit types, how to play, movement and combat protocols. Once the basics are established, readers are then guided through table set up and terrain, then onto spellcasting and game scenarios. At the end of the book, there is a very brief, but handy quick reference page. GAMEPLAY Players will need enough terrain to cover at least 50% of the 2'x2’ battlefield (3'x3’ for games of two tribes with 21+ models each), two tribes of an agreed number of miniatures, tokens, a set of D6 and D12 dice and measuring tools. That's right: there's no points - just match the number of models, include…