Fort Leopold - at Vanderhof

Concerned by the buildup of Wittenberg forces in and around Vanderhof on the river Oudear, a Saxe-Jarlsberg officer and a Monrovian liason officer are looking at what has appeared on the other side of the river a few hundred yards up-stream from Vanderhof.

A palisaded fort has been built to hold troops rather than billet them in Vanderhof ..

Inside Fort Leopold a company of garrison troops are on sentry duty; a pile of supplies has already arrived. They are looking after the fort till their occupants arrive.

Wittenberg engineers have started work constructing something on the bank of the river Oudear...

[palisaded fort made from cardboard and foamboard, the palisades were made using printed papers stuck to each side of a piece of cardboard - then the top of the cardboard was 'nibbled' out to get the stake points, you can get some idea of how the palisade sections were done at http://saxons-and-vikings.blogspot.com/2009/05/palisade-gateway.html]

Boats and Barges

A boat takes two barges laden with goods up the River Oudear (barges/boat made using lego and megablocks boats).

Three recently completed boats for use by the Wittenberg river marines, are on the way down the River Oudear to Vanderhof (boats made using Playmobil toy boat hulls).

Wider River Sections and 'Lakelet'

I wanted to have some wider river sections and an open body of water so the little boats I'm making could have room to manouvre. I decided to have enough to go across or along the table. I needed enough width for two boats to pass each other and settled on 9" wide sections. The 9" inch width will also suit my Reiver castings pontoon bridge which I haven't painted yet.

For the sections I used some acrylic glazing sheet from the local DIY store. This is awkward stuff to cut curves in (!"£$%^&* and other similar words were uttered) , so eventually I managed to get two slightly curved sections and the rest in straight sections; the left over piece I cut to form a lakelet to join with the other sections. I spray painted the back of the sections with mid-brown at the edges and a mid-blue down the middle. The acrylic sheet is quite reflective, but it does the job for me.

So below shows a few sections setup across the gaming table ...

The lakelet and some sections along the length of the table ...

A closeup of the first of my little boats to be finished.

I'm trying to finish off all my 'river' related projects so expect a few more posts to follow.

The Trouble with Truffles - or how not to get captured

A game based on the 'The Hunt is On' tabletop teaser as given in the Wargame Companion ...

Scenario:
The forces of Wittenberg have crossed the border into Saxe-Jarlsberg (an ally of Monrovia) in reprisal for the raid on Oberstein. Acting on intelligence, the uhlans and jagers were despatched further into Saxe-Jarslberg - their mission to capture Marquise of Finkelstadt the daughter of the Herzog who was on that day enjoying a ride in the country hunting for truffles.

The Marquise being the daughter of the Herzog of Saxe-Jarslberg, was under close escort with guard troops nearby in case of trouble.
The escort:
- General Hoffmeyer, commander of the Herzog's guard.
- The Count de Monet, chancellor of Saxe-Jarlsberg
- A small detachment of the Finkelstadt Hussars
- Herr Odermayer swineherd to the Herzog, with Odette the Maquise's truffle hunting pet pig.
Nearby troops:
- Guard Reiter Regiment
- Guard Hussars (half regiment)
- Guard Grenadiers (3 companies)
- Infantry Regiment Finkelstadt (2 companies)

-----oXo-----

The Marquise is in hot pursuit of Odette who is heading towards a little coppice; General Hoffmeyer shouts after her - don't get too far away form the escort !

The Grenadier Guards and Guard Hussars are settling in to Mittelsdorf and hope they will be told to stand easy - they are eager to get to the tavern and unwind.

A regiment of Uhlans appears over the nearby hill, they ride straight for the hunting parting ...

General Hoffmeyer manages to get the escort in the way as the Marquise turns and makes a run to safety; part of the Guard Reiter escort moves up ...

As the escort and reiters fight hard to hold of the uhlans, the Wittenberg jagers approach the bridge. The Marquise crosses the bridge riding towards Mittelsdorf.

The Marquise reaches the Guard Hussars who have come to find her and escort her to safety ..

The escort and the reiters have been pushed back and rally with their backs to the river. A second Uhlan regiment is just arriving..

The uhlans charge again, killing the escort and routing the reiters; they then pursue them into the river and get stuck-in with their lances ...

The other regiment of uhlans crosses the river and prepares to move on towards Mittelsdorf

The Marquise has arrived safely in Mittelsdorf and riders have been sent to bring re-inforcements ..

The commander of the Wittenberg forces abandons his pursuit of the Marquise and sees who he has managed to capture ... Looks like pig for supper, shout the Uhlans ..

The Count de Monet has been captured, they thought he was dead - he was found stuck under his horse; slightly wounded he is taken away; he is the only survivor from the escort. The commander is satisfied he has someone to ransom.

----oXo----

End notes:

My opponent for the evening, playing the Saxe-Jarlsberg'ers, was Douglas (the man form Noverre); he was jinxed by the card deck we used for unit movement. In the rules, a card is drawn for a unit to move, so if you draw your colour then you move a unit of your choice and continue till all units have moved. I was black, he was red - for some reason lots of black cards came up before the red ones; even though he shuffled and cut the deck between each move. It is a proper deck - honest !

The Marquise of Finkelstadt

The Marquise of Finkelstadt is the daughter of the Herzog of Saxe-Jarlsberg. A keen horsewoman she enjoys riding her favourite horse.

The Marquise is a converted civilian figure on a spare horse;

some fiddly work with the old green-stuff but worth it.

The Marquise if currently about her favourite pastime hunting for truffles with her pet pig Odette. As she is the Herzog's daughter she has an appropriate escort, with some guard cavalry keeping an eye on her from a distance.

Boats for the River Oudear

I needed a few boats for my river marines to patrol in and also to represent small trading craft or smugglers. The 'shipyard' has been busy today; I had bought 3 Playmobil boat sets (item 4295) and I had small Playmobil rowing boat I got at a car boot. I stripped off the fittings and sanded down the rough edges to give four basic hulls.

I worked out the required height of the decks and cut them from cardboard and trial fitted them. Then I made up the masts; these were made from some cheap plastic paintbrushes with 'spars' ready for sails made from various spare bits from some viking longship plastic boat kits. The masts were then fitted to the decks and the decks to the hulls, and also added rudders. Here they are:

Next job is to paint them, then add some swivel guns. I've also got 4 boat 'captains' to paint to represent civilian crew. The river marines are now on my painting desk ready for undercoating.

I also need to make some wider river sections for my gaming table, with also some way of having maybe a small lakelet as well - some interesting scenery projects for me !

40mm: Freikorps Uhlans

The Uhlans of the Wittenberg Boritzy Freikorps; a 2 squadron regiment (using Charge unit definitions as a basis).

I think I might move the guidon bearer to the command group and do another uhlan for the 1st squadron; perhaps I may add a 3rd squadron later as well. A closeup of the command ...

[figs: All cast from Creartec 40mm hussar moulds converted to uhlans, except officers who are Irregular Miniatures hussars]