Innholdsfortegnelse for WSS 138 i Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

“We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their root in Greece. But for Greece — Rome, the instructor, the conqueror, or the metropolis of our ancestors, would have spread no illumination with her arms, and we might still have been savages and idolaters…” – Percy Bysshe Shelley (1822) The nationalism which sparked the Greek War of Independence in 1821 was in part caused by the French Revolution. Funded by rich Greek businessmen in Britain and the United States, the Greeks simultaneously rose up all over the Ottoman-held territories. This was fiercely and bloodily put down by their overlords, which fuelled an outcry in Britain and France, with calls for intervention. It was partly a sense of obligation to Greece that Shelly spoke of; an…

C ivil Wars rarely end cleanly. Despite a mandate for maintaining the religious status quo, Charles II proved just as intransigent as his father. The victims of his persecution were non-conformist Scottish Presbyterians, popularly known as Covenanters. Despite crowning Charles and fighting for his cause during the Third Civil War 1650-1651, the King felt the Covenanters had not kept their side of the bargain. In an era dubbed “The Killing Times”, Presbyterianism was suppressed, in favour of state Episcopalianism. Forced to worship in secret conventicles, based in the hinterland away from persecution, it was a melting pot for insurrection. On 3 May 1679, Archbishop James Sharp of Saint Andrews was assassinated at Magus Muir. Deemed a hypocrite for having previously served as a minister within the Covenanter Engager Army in…

Japanese tanks made a brief appearance on that first day, but their use was disjointed and uncoordinated. Four unsupported light tanks attacked the boundary between 1st and 2nd Battalions, but the Marines destroyed three of them and drove off the other. During the first night, Japanese sailors attempted a small landing with a few amphibious tanks, but it too was driven off by the combined arms of the Marines, in part due to the 2.36-inch rocket launcher (the “bazooka”). Meanwhile, Japanese infantry mounted numerous attacks, probing and pushing for weaknesses to exploit, and suffering heavy losses as they did so. On the second night, the Marines formed tight perimeters and prepared for another Japanese counterattack. Lieutenant General Saito, the Japanese commander, ordered the 136th Infantry Regiment and the 9th Tank…

The long history of Greece is marked by internal strife and fights agains foreign rule. After a period of kingdoms and city-states, which constantly fought for supremacy, the Greek mainland was subsumed in the Macedonian Kingdom and its successor states. Rome appeared in the late third century BC and gradually extended its control over Greece, ending in the sack of Corinth in 146 BC. Greek remained the lingua franca for the eastern half of the Roman empire, but autonomy was gone. When Rome split in two, the eastern half with its capital at Constantinople became more Hellenised. The Byzantine Empire protected Greece from invasions; the Fourth Crusade of 1204 AD, however, fractured Byzantine control, leading to Frankish and Venetian forces carving-up parts of Greece. With the fall of Constantinople in…

This scenario should be easily adaptable to other rulesets by using the ratio of troops in the orders of battle. Elites should count as knights, Heavies as serjeants or heavy infantry, Light or Levied as militia and so on. For Hail Caesar, use the Army Lists: Late Antiquity to Early Medieval Crusader lists on page 78 for the Franks and the Komnenian Byzantine list from pages 69-70. No allies or Varangians can be taken, and the minimum 25% cavalry can be ignored. For Swordpoint, for the Franks use the Medieval Armies book: the Christian Crusaders lists on pages 11-12. For the Byzantine Greeks, use the Later Byzantine list from page 44 of the Dark Age Armies book. No allies, Turkopoloi or Varangians can be taken.…

ENTER ON MOVE 1 AT G1: Kompanie / I Abteilung / Panzer Regiment 33 • Hauptmann Wilhelm Prince Von Schonberg • 2x Panzer II (autocannon), 1x Panzer III (37mm), 1x Panzer III (50mm) ENTER ON MOVE 1 AT G2 II Bataillon / Schützen Regiment 124 – CO + 45 figures Hauptmann Baake HQ – CO + 4 figures, 50mm mortar, Steyr 1500 medium field car + 2-figure artillery observer team, Sd.Kfz. 265 Panzerbefehlswagen observation and command Panzer I. 9. & 11. Radfahr (cycle) Kompanien – each 8 figures mounted on bicycles 12. Machinengewehr Kompanie – 9 figures, 2 x MMG, 81mm mortar, Steyr 1500 medium field car, Horch heavy field car 8. Kompanie/Lehr Regiment Brandenberg 800 – 8 figures, Steyr 1500 medium field car Panzerjäger Kompanie – 6 figures, 75mm…

SCATTERBRAINED There’s a huge variety of 3-D prints available, and by adding some scatter and additional detailing you can make the model look very unique. For example, to really lift this model of a garage, I added suitable scatter elements such as the car, stacks of tyres and crates, all either 3-D printed or taken from my bits box of spares. The signs were printed onto paper, mounted on thin card and then glued to the model. Details such as these really help to tell the story of the location. In this article I’ll be discussing my approach to upgrading a 3-D printed chapel from Patrick Miniatures. There’s nothing wrong with just painting a 3-D printed building and using it on your table, but if you have the time, a…

Speedpaint markers Company: Army Painter Size: All scales Era: Any Price: £42.99 for a ten-pen set www.thearmypainter.com I think it is true to say that the new range of ink-style paints, such as AP Speedpaints, have been a welcome boon to wargamers. It is now possible to complete a miniature to a reasonable standard in a fraction of the time it used to take. Army Painter has taken convenience to the next level — why use brushes when you can use Speedpaint markers? These are the equivalent of felt-tip pens for painting miniatures. Each pen is preloaded with Speedpaint and, once primed, can be used to paint directly onto the miniature. When you’ve finished, the top goes back on keeping the marker fresh. No paint pot to prepare; no brush…

While I started the article stating that any ECW Covenanter figure range would suffice, obviously there is also the option to go the periodspecific route. While the choice is limited, as we stated above, the agnostic choices are still there. The only specifically designed figure range for the later Covenanter Risings is the Northumbrian Painting Services/Reiver Castings range, which should fit in with most 28mm figures. Alternatively, for a more generic design, both League of Augsburg’s and Front Rank Miniatures’ civilian militia ranges for the 1670-1680s would ideally suit the needs of typical Covenanters of the time.…

Japanese The Japanese field a regular rifle platoon for 1944. They deploy their patrol markers along the top table edge. Platoon Headquarters - Chui (senior leader), Gunso (inferior senior leader) Three squads each under the command of a Gocho (junior leader) and composed of an LMG team with a Type 96 LMG with four crew, and a sixman rifle team. A grenade discharger squad under the command of a Gocho (junior leader) composed of three teams each with one Type 89 grenade discharger and three crew. SUPPORT Three Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks. One is commanded by a senior leader; the other two by junior leaders. They may operate as a platoon under the command of the senior leader. They may enter the table anywhere along the top edge; it…

But the motto of WS&S is “It’s time to play with history,” — so let’s have some fun on the tabletop, eh? It’s (probably) 546 BC, and our curtain rises on the plains in Thyria, in the Peloponnese. Herodotus tells us that against this epic background, two epic forces meet — one from Argos, the other from Sparta — and as the epic sun beats down on glinting armour, they make the epic decision to… not fight a big battle. Instead, we are told that the two commanders mutually agree to send three hundred of their best warriors to fight instead. We cannot be sure who the opposing commanders were or quite why they decided to do this, but it appears that this is what happened: three hundred Argives were…

At the beginning of April 1941, German forces crossed from Yugoslavia into Northern Greece, and Allied forces (Greek, British, Australian and New Zealand) were deployed to cover their two most likely approaches: centrally via the Florina Valley, and along the East Coast. What followed was less than three weeks of hard-fought rearguard actions and fighting withdrawals. By the end of April, the Allies decided to conduct a seaborne evacuation from the south coast of Greece (with echoes of Dunkirk in 1940). On 24 April two notable actions were carried out by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces. In the morning, the 19th (Australian) Infantry Brigade delayed German Mountain troops at Brallos Pass. Later the same day, the 6th (New Zealand) Infantry Brigade successfully repulsed another German attack at…

I initially rejected King Arthur for this very reason: nothing about him felt historically accurate. For example, neither Gregory of Tours (writing in sixth-century France) nor Gildas mention Arthur, even if Gildas mentions details that later become part of a general Arthurian story. Bede, writing in the fifth century, similarly doesn’t mention Arthur, although he does name a range of characters and battles that also become part of some Arthurian stories. Nennius, in the ninth century, is the first to name Arthur somewhat briefly, and then Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century is, I believe, the first historian to give a fairly full treatment of an Arthurian history. It is hard to tell how much of his work is fiction. In my own dive into a “very historical” Arthur,…

That was fun! I really enjoyed being able to play my miniatures individually, rather than in groups. Because of this, it feels like every inch of the table counts. Within the first few turns, David and I quickly found ourselves planning ahead and reacting to each other’s advancing warriors. I really liked the way bowmen can fire at enemies over the heads of friendlies — at the risk of hitting my own warriors! My reckless nature of course let arrows fly — I may or may not have tried this more than once……

Dragon Rampant Second Edition By Daniel Mersey (Osprey Publishing, 2025) £25.00 Dice: D6 Alternate turn activation Since its initial release, Dragon Rampant has carved out a place for itself as a streamlined and adaptable fantasy wargame system. In the new edition, the essence of Dragon Rampant is unchanged: it remains a fast-paced skirmish set between two (or more) fantasy forces, with minimal book-keeping. The Second Edition continues this tradition. The original rules were an adaptation of Lion Rampant and were squeezed into 64 pages; the new book expands that to a substantial 232 pages. The rulebook itself is easy to read, with clear layout, evocative illustrations and photographs, and a generally fun narrative throughout. The game is generic, so players can use whatever fantasy forces they wish and fit them to…

THE TEMPLATE FOR SUCCESS While I was recently working on some terrain projects the other day, I came up with an elegant solution for making stencils. Post-it notes are ideal; they are generally thick enough to be carefully cut into shape with a sharp knife, and the fact they have a gentle self-adhesive strip along one edge helps keep them in place while you are spraying or painting. These DIY stencils are great! – Chris King HOLD FAST! Seems like I’ve tried everything when it comes to fastening miniatures to dollies and sticks in order to find a secure surface to easily apply paint. I’ve tried white glue, double-sided sticky tape, Blu-tack, rubber bands, even a small drop of CA glue, but the results have never been satisfying. There is…

The diversity of the event was such that I am sure most people attending were only interested in about 10% of what was there; that is with the exception of my father. Being a real-life engineer bought up on Meccano, he was very interested in lots of stuff about beams and equilibrium and load analysis, none of which was of any interest to me. As a result, I roamed free, soaking up anything and everything that was vaguely worth seeing. In my case that meant looking at the display of military models for ten minutes (let’s face it, they don’t do anything!) and then trying to find something else with which to amuse myself for the rest of a very long day. To my surprise, I came across several grown…

This scenario can be easily adapted to other rule sets by following the orders of battle given. For Bolt Action, the Japanese field a tank platoon of 3× Chi Ha, supported by an infantry platoon. A second tank platoon consisting of two Ha-Go and one Type 2 Ka-Mi tank, plus an understrength inexperienced SNLF platoon of two rifle sections are available as reinforcements but only when two Chi Has have been destroyed. The USMC should have two bazooka teams. For larger games such as Battlegroup Pacific or Flames of War, double the numbers on both sides.…

DEPLOYED ON TABLE AT A: 6th (New Zealand) Infantry Brigade HQ – Highest level HQ Brigadier Harold Barrowclough 9 figures, AA machine gun, saloon car, light truck DEPLOYED ON TABLE AT B: 24th (New Zealand) Infantry Battalion – CO + 41 figures Lt. Colonel Clayden Shuttleworth HQ – CO + 9 figures, 2” mortar, AT rifle, 3” mortar + 2-figure artillery observer team, Austin Tilly car A - D Companies – 6 figures each Carrier Platoon – 3 figures, AT rifle, carrier 8 Platoon/3rd Company/27th (NZ) MG Battalion – 3 figures, Vickers MMG DEPLOYED ON TABLE AT C: 25th (New Zealand) Infantry Battalion – CO + 41 figures Lt. Colonel. Alan Wilder HQ – CO + 9 figures, 2” mortar, AT rifle, 3” mortar + 2-figure artillery observer team, Austin…

This brief review looks at the different scales in which you can collect a Greek army for the various periods of history. For some of it, the Greek troops would have been indistinguishable from other forces, such as in the Byzantine period. Of course, space and time restrictions prohibit us from covering every manufacturer; for example, I would have liked to include Battlecat’s STLs of World War II Greek infantry, but we have to use what has been supplied in time to meet our deadline. As usual, we classify ranges as follows: Basic (standard infantry); Standard (the essential troops and skirmishers plus command); Comprehensive (as standard, but with cavalry, artillery and civilians); and Complete (you’d have to think hard to come up with units they don’t have). 1st Corps Greeks…

A DIRTY BUSINESS We can add dirt — which enhances realism — by adding filters (created by heavily thinning paint with water, using a ratio of approximately one part paint to nine parts water). We can use several red-brown tones, such as Black Brown IONIC-0160 and Rust IONIC-0156, to provide both dark and light variations. Apply gradually and selectively on the lower parts and recessed areas to simulate the accumulation of dirt and the natural formation of rust. Several military religious orders were founded after the First Crusade. The first of these aimed to protect the pilgrimage routes to the Holy Land and to protect the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. The French called these states ‘the Outremer’ (outre-mer,…

Set between the attack on Lindisfarne Abbey in 793 AD, and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Pillage invites players to field around a couple of dozen miniatures each in narrative-driven scenarios for some lethal bloodletting on the field of battle. Like many skirmish games, a significant attraction is the low model count needed to get started: a couple of dozen miniatures per side is absolutely adequate. These can comprise a selection from three categories of infantry: unarmoured (UA), somewhat armoured (SA) and fully armoured (FA), which affect movement and defence rolls. Warriors may sport a choice of weaponry (bare hands, improvised weapon, spear, hand weapon [typically a sword or axe] or Dane axe), each with progressive advantages in combat. There is a bonus for an attack following a successful…

Painting 28mm Wargaming figures: The Back of Beyond By Mark Hargreaves (Partizan Press, 2025) - £27.50 In his latest (7th) volume of the Partizan Press painting guides series, Mark Hargreaves (from the League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers) covers the period 1914 to the 1930s in Russia and beyond, into north and west Asia. Specifically, he covers five factions that were major participants: Russians (Civil war), Czech Legion, Chinese, Imperial British and Japan; and to a lesser extent other Imperial players: Italy, The United States, Germany and civilians. This is a book about painting wargame figures for gaming to a good standard: it is not about painting figures that will win painting competitions. I have reviewed the pdf but I presume that the print version is a softback (118 pages in this…