Pontoon Bridges....

All the reworked Pontoon stuff is finished; extra wagons, more pontoons, improved deck sections and an an improved selection of pontooniers in action poses. 

The uniform for the pontooniers is like those of the SYW Hanoverian army; I liked the light blue coat colours - just right for working on the water.

---oXo---

The first and second pontoon companies..... formed up ready to embark on a little bridge building competition.

2nd company on the march

1st company reach the river first....

and soon have the river bank access ramp up....

the 2nd company has just reached the river ...

The 1st company have pontoons in place and started work on the deck....

The 2nd company, working hard, have just about caught up....

problems for the 1st company, they've got a pontoon stuck by the far bank....

2nd company are finishing the far side river bank access ramp

the 2nd company have got ahead, all pontoons in place and the deck is being completed; the 1st company are finishing the positioning of their pontoons.

as the 1st company start work to complete the deck...

the 2nd company have finished and receive the officer's congratulations for their efforts..

The 2nd company win the pontoon bridge building exercise; they'll be a couple of barrels of beer for them tonight to celebrate !

Saxe-Jarlsberg army completed....

The Saxe-Jarlsberg army is now complete; I've kept the uniforms and units as close as possible to the those of the Brunswick army during the seven years war. There are some deviations..

• The Leib-Grenadier Guard I've done like Erbprinz from Charge!
• The Volontaires Auxiliaires, I've done a unit of uhlans and a unit of grenadiers in tricornes.

The regular cavalry...

The generals...

The artillery ....

The light troops; jager corps at the front....

Volontaires Auxiliaires at the back...

Joining the game mat pieces.....

My game table is 7ft6in x 3ft.  The fleece game mat that I bought a couple of months ago for my game table was a 7' x 5'; too short for my table lengthways and too long for the across the table. 

I trimmed 6" off it length ways to give me a 1ft gap; then cut ~1ft8in off it the other way to give a mat 6ft6in by 3ft3in ; then I used part of the offcuts to fill the gap.  There is an overlap, which has visible edge due to the thickness of the fleece mat.

That visible overlap......

I wanted to join the two pieces of mat together, so after consideration opted for to use gaffer tape.

The edges of the two pieces of the mat were cut as straight as I could; the tape was applied to the underside of one piece and the slowly and carefully the second piece was then put into position. A bit of fluffing to the surface and the gap is not that visible.  The two pieces have slight differences in colouration but the 'joined mat' looks way better .....

Once some scenic bits is on the mat and a game is in progress it won't be that noticable.

Saxe-Jarlsberg: Last infantry regiment finished...

The last unit in the Saxe-Jarlsberg army complete. Brunswick IR Imhoff joins the army; along with all of the converged grenadier battalion.

Some 28mm Additions....

 Some Eureka Saxon artillerists painted as Wittenberg army cadets...

on duty with the headquarters staff....

Also completed a small band for the Saxe-Jarlsberg guards...

leading the guards on the march....

Pontoon Stuff (2)...

 New wagons purchased and horses etc - prepped and ready for painting...

Two groups, one for each pontoon set to represent the pontooniers on the march...

the pontooniers in action... a mix of figures, some converted ....

next job is to get them all painted ....

Pontoon Stuff.....

 Having spent three days trying to locate my pontoon bridge and wagon sets - finally found them the bridges had gone to the garage and the wagons in a small box with the most illegible label in amongst an stack of other small boxes.

So taking stock of the sets, one had some cardboard boats instead of pontoons, so I decided to make up four pontoons out of plasticard as replacements...

once finished these work out nicely with the second bridge (shown at the front - which is handmade from cardboard)

I have two of the the Reiver pontoon wagons, I may get a couple more - perhaps add some more pontoon bridge crew and horse holders.

The bridges also work nicely for 40mm as well, I swap out the horses and bridge crew.

Some more 40mm Masters - artillery crew...

Just for the sake of completion, I've made up some masters for artillery crew

The rest of the figures waiting to go into a mould ... 

Moulds have been made already for the cavalry - uhlan, hussar, kurassier and dragoon.

So what army project to do in 40mm that I need to make moulds up for all the foot figures ?  hmm something to think about....

Saxe-Jarlsberg: Carabiniers...

Brunswick carabiniers join the Sax-Jarlsberg army..

and form up with the Garde de Corps...

 

Two more infantry regiments

1) For the forces of the Duchy of Noverre;  French infantry regiment Navarre

2) For the forces of Saxe-Jarlsberg;  Brunswick infantry regiment von Behr

Saxe-Jarlsberg: Von Roth Hussars...

This time, the Brunswick Hussars von Roth join the Saxe-Jarlsberg army...

AGWA Wargames Weekend - Siege of Havana 1762

This last weekend I attended The Armchair Generals Wargamers Association (AGWA) held a large scale 18th century game at Yeovilton.  A great time was had by all and many thanks to Willz Harley for organising the event.

The weekend event was a "re-fight" of the siege of Havana in 1762, with extra allied forces for both sides and with the scenarios setup so the Spanish had a chance of beating off the British invaders.

The game using a host of Spencer Smiths figures was played over 4 large tables; one table for Havana city's defences and one table each for the main coastal forts.  

The multi-player game was played twice, once on each day with the players swapping tables and roles. I took some photos of the tables and the games in play. I have more pictures from the two games I played in which were:

- on the first day in the role of the Spanish, defending the large fort of El Moro

- on the second day in the role of the British, landing and attacking one of the smaller forts.

Havana city

The allied forces advance to assault the breaches in the defences...

on both days the city was taken.

Coastal Forts (1) - Puntal and Lazarro

The British had already captured the small fort of Puntal in the foreground, but the Spanish still had control of Fort Lazarro further along coast.   The Spanish tried to eject the British from Puntal and push them off the beach...

The Spanish forced a British withdrawal on the first day.

Costal Forts (2) - The Main Fort of El Moro

The defending Spanish forces in position.... I didn't bother with the far half of the table, apart from deploying a couple of artillery batteries...

My lone Spanish ship exchanged broadsides with the Royal Navy...

and paid the price....

Troops landed down the coast from the fort. I managed to sink three barges and reduce the numbers of some units with artillery fire and cannon fire from the fort.

By the time the second wave landed I was withdrawing back to the fort of El Moro and the built up area behind it.

 A small land attack on the fort was beaten off, the attackers withdrew

The fort came under bombardment form the British naval ships, slowly knocking out my fortress guns.

At the end of the first day's play, El Moro was still in Spanish hands, but if we'd have played on the fort would have fallen eventually.

Coastal Forts (3) - Cojimar

The fort and some of the supporting Spanish troops..

British ships bombard the fort, as the first wave comes ashore

The first wave secured the landing beach... with naval battery at each flank...

The second wave on their way in ....

The Spanish advance ....

Second wave form up on the beach, the Spanish attack has stalled...

The third wave come ashore ....threatening the Spanish flank...

As the third wave comes ashore, the British ships start to bombard the fort again, slowly knocking out the cannon...

The third wave have formed up and started their advance inland as the Spanish fell back...

The storming party forms up and advances towards the fort...

scaling ladders up....

and into the fort ...

with the fort taken... thats when play finished on the second day;  the Spanish forces were still present but we didn't have time to carry on.  It would have been nice to have had time to advance the British inland and engage the Spanish.

---oXo---