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---

40mm Wittenberg Army review....

I laid out the bulk of the 40mm Wittenberg army to review it on the new table surface (the militia infantry and cavalry units are on border duty so they didn't get to be on parade ).   

A view along the table....

The big cheese - General Waldebeck...

From one side to the other .... Kings Jagers in the woods...

The heavy cavalry - Dragoons and Kurassiers

The infantry .....

The light cavalry - Hussars and Uhlans...

On the other flank Hofler's Pandours...

The artillery...

'Atmos' pic along the front of the infantry ...

One of the reasons for the review was to see if any repairs were needed as many of the moulds I used to cast the bulk of the figures are at 'end of life'. Fortunately no repairs or new castings are needed.

I inspected all the moulds I'd used to cast the figures - they had definitely had it and have been binned.  I have kept my own home-made cavalry moulds which are still serviceable; if I want more infantry then I'll have to make some moulds from the new masters I made last year.