Fife & Drum Miniatures Video and Terrain Tutorial

Aerial view of the battlefield, with British in the lower right corner
and Americans on the ridge in the center.

I have decided that it is time to enter the world of videos on my blog, and because the videos are usually too large for Blogger's limit of file size, I will be posting this and future videos directly onto You Tube and then provide a link on this blog going back to the You Tube URL

You Tube Video - Hobkirk's Hill

Several days ago I set up the terrain for a new AWI game on my table. It is loosely based on the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, or "Second Camden" as I like to call it. I think that it might well be one of the best looking game tables that I have ever set, so I wanted to mark it by doing a video.

Buildings, Roads, Trees and Fences
Since Camden is located in the back country of South Carolina, I decided that only log cabins would be appropriate buildings to use. All of the buildings shown in the pictures are from the company called "Grand Manner", located in the UK. Herb Gundt painted and based all of the buildings. When at all possible, I like to locate little farms or towns in the corners of the table, where they are out of the way of the action in the middle of the table. Here I can place civilians or make little vignettes or dioramas that add some charm and interest to the table top.

All of the snake rail fences and a few stone walls were made by Herb Gundt.

The trees are a mixture of ones made by Herb, using driftwood trunks and Woodlands Scenics large foliage pieces. He also made some trees using the rubberized horse hair method. I also have a goodly number of K&M trees, from the UK, and while these look very different from Herb's trees, I really like the way the two styles of trees work together and create a look of variety.

The roads are all made by Novus and are made of a rubber-like material that folds and bends nicely with elevation changes. Note to self: buy more Novus roads.

Farmer Gill and Family

The little hamlet of Log Town.

Americans deploy on Hobkirk's Hill

Scenic Background - a Herbaceus Border Perhaps?

I have about three or four bags of model railroad lichen, most of which is a rather garish and bright green color, as well as some dark green, and a light tan-ish color that I can't even describe. However, put them all together and they look pretty good because of the variety of greens working together.

Bright green lichen actually looks good when mixed in with other vegitation colors.

I placed some of my largest trees around the perimeter of the game table so that I can take some ground level photographs and not have a background of bookshelves, wall pictures, painting table, etc. Then I fill in the gaps between the trees with the railroad lichen which really gives the area a pop of color. I also like to put some large trees at the back end of the table because it plays some tricks to the eyes with perspective.  

My game mat doesn't quite fill up the whole surface of my game table, so I leave the plastic rollup tub attached to the end of the mat and use it as support for the wall of lichen that I build up to obstruct the view. I refer to the area behind the tube as my backstage area. I can place rules sheets, pencils, rulers etc here out of sight.

"Backstage" area is hidden by the wall of trees and lichen.

I also make sure to leave a "triangle" of open table in each of the four corners - I place my dice rolling trays in each corner, out of sight.

Corner dice trays are hidden out of sight by the rocks and trees.

More rocks put to good use on the table surface. Note the smaller rocks on the left that I have
randomly scattered across the table in order to break up the golf course look of the bare mat.

Natural Materials - straight from the back yard

Your back yard is a veritable treasure trove of terrain material to use on your table top. I gather up pebbles to scatter across my table mat as these help to break up the golf course effect of an undecorated mat. Larger rocks are placed around the perimeter and in the wooded areas that create mini Devil's Den rock formations. Dead leaves are one of my favorite finds. I crush the leaves or finely chop them into little bits and scatter them across the forest floor of the woods. A few broken twigs are also scattered around the woodsy areas to simulate fallen trees that are now dead.

Devil's Den is made from rocks that I found while walking the dog. T
he figures provide some perspective on the size of the miniatures relative to the rocks.
You can also see some of the chopped up dead leaves on the forest floor behind the rocks. 

Conclusion
In conclusion, the key to a realistic looking tabletop is lots of variety in materials. All that one needs is a bit of an artist's eye to put the whole picture together. You don't need to commission scratch-built buildings because there are plenty of sources for good looking buildings made of cast resin or laser cut MDF wood.

I will be fighting the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill in the next week or two and will post pictures of the battle on this blog. So stay tuned.

Your comments are always welcomed. Just click on the word Comments at the end of this article and fire away.

Free Puppies!

Ha! Made you look.

I posted pictures of the Observation Corps Grenadiers, that I painted and based on my blog the other day, and I have to say that I'm a bit perplexed. I have a general idea of the number of visits that the average blog posting will generate, but for some reason, the OC Grenadier post barely generated any look sees. Either people are getting tired of all of my Russian blog posts, or else this particular one fell under the radar screen. Hence the "Free Puppies" post heading today - I wanted to see if anyone was out there.

Well, I'm not going to stop posting pictures of my Russians, 'cuz that's what you do when you are in the miniatures business and are marketing one of your new products. Also, they are a key element of my Kunersdorf Project for 2019 so I'm afraid that I will be given the Russian army some love over the coming months.

So as a public service, and in case you missed the previous OC Grenadier post, here they are again:

Minden SYW Observation Corps Grenadiers

With the long Memorial Day weekend upon us, I suspect that web traffic might be down a little bit as most people get together with family and friends rather than spending all their day on the internet. On the other hand, maybe readers want to get away from it all for a few moments, so I will be actively blogging over the holiday.

Observation Corps Musketeers

Something as equally adorable are the new Minden Observation Corps musketeers that I finished painting the other day. I ran out of wood MDF bases, so I can't base and flag the unit until I visit my FLGS and purchase some more.

Minden SYW Russian Observation Corps Musketeers. Click pix to enlarge.

A better view of the full battalion.

I have to say that the Russian infantry in summer waistcoats are the easiest to paint figures that I have ever worked with. Everything on them is either red or black and there is a minimal amount of equipment that one needs to paint, because these guys are traveling in light gear on a hot summer day.

Aside from my having a Kunersdorf and Pomeranian Army projects, why Russians, you might ask.

Why the focus on the Russians

For starters, I like the color combinations of the green/red regulation uniforms because they look nice and they are a change of pace from painting dull white coated Austrians or French, or dare I say, even painting battalion after battalion of Prussians. Heresy, I know, but I like to branch out a little bit on my painting table.

Second, the Russians were the toughest foe, bar none, that Frederick the Great had to deal with during the Seven Years War. In fact, Frederick never defeated a Russian army nor did any of his subordinants in other battles. Even a rabid Prussophile like me will have to admit that Zorndorf was  at best a draw than it was a Prussian victory. I can't put Zorndorf in the win column for Fritz. It was a battle that Frederick did not have to fight, because he could have achieved the same objective of evicting the Russians from Prussian territory simply by maneuvering across the Russian line of supply. This he had achieved when he crossed to the east bank of the Oder River and then marched behind the Russian army, stationed at Zorndorf.

Third, the Russians have an interesting variety of troop in addition to the conventional infantry/cavalry/artillery that every SYW combatant has: exotic Cossacks and Kalmucks, Observation Corps infantry wearing those rediculous cavalry boots, Horse Grenadiers wearing mitre hats, and more varieties of artillery equipment than you can shake a stick at.

Fourth, the Russian military command were quick learners when it came to developing tactics that could stop or neutralize Frederick's oblique order tactics.

To my way of thinking, if you are interested in refighting the battles of Frederick the Great then you need to cross swords with the Russians in your table top battles.

What's next?

AWI Battle of Kingston AAR

I fought and concluded the next battle in my South Carolina Campaign yesterday, the contest between Cornwallis and Gates at Kingston, South Carolina. I will post a lot, and I mean lots, of pictures over the weekend, so stay tuned to this blog.

As a teaser of sorts, here is one of the pictures that I snapped during the game. This was also the inaugural battle in the new Man Cave:

Americans (or rebels depending on your point of view) man some wolf pits
dug to slow down the inevitable British assualt on Gates' Continental army.

The battle of Kingston may well have decided the outcome of my South Carolina Campaign series of games.

Let's Do an AWI South Carolina Campaign

South Carolina mounted militia - converted Fife & Drum cavalry - are expected to see a lot of action in the coming campaign.

I have decided that I would like to do an AWI campaign in South Carolina in the year 1780. This will accomplish a number of things: 1) cater to my interest in doing some historical research for a period; 2) give me a reason to stage some more AWI battles; 3) showcase the Fife & Drum Miniatures range of 30mm (1/56 scale) AWI figures; and 4) to simply have a lot of FUN.

You can find campaign news by visiting the fifeanddrum-minis forum:

Fife & Drum Miniatures Forum

To start up a campaign, we need to do a couple of things such as finding a good map of South Carolina as the basis for creating our own game map; and creating a simple set of campaign rules that only require a minimal amount of paper work.

I found two very important web sites that we will need to construct our AWI campaign. The first link is a comprehensive archive of events in South Carolina during the American Revolution. The second link is to a copy of the James Cook 1773 Map of South Carolina . The map shows all of the parish districts, roads, village, names of farms (owners), ferries, chapels and much more.

A Great SC Battles Link

James Cook Map of South Carolina

The next step was to create some campaign rules that would be easy to use and not require too much paper work. I based my rules on Tod Kershner's "Bohemian Blitzkrieg" and "Sport of Kings" campaign rules. There is no point in reinventing the wheel when you have something that works in hand. I cut out some of the chrome in the Kershner rules but followed the template of Bohemian Blitzkrieg.

The campaign map that I will be using can be seen below:

Our South Carolina campaign map

The Basic Campaign Rules

Both sides can move SPs up to two dots, as shown on the campaign map. Whenever two opposing forces land on the same dot on any turn, then the result is a battle. I'm not using all of the pre-battle rules from Sport of Kings, I just have both sides "have at it". Prior to the battle, I will roll percentage dice to see which battlefield I will use from Sport of Kings - there are up to 100 different terrain combinations, so I never really know what the upcoming battle will look like until the dice are rolled. So everything is left to chance. Battles will last a maximum of 12 turns.

I will use my own Fife & Drum AWI rules for all games that I fight.

I will create some basic "Commander Skill" ratings ( 0, +1 or +2) for each general in the campaign. When there is a battle, the two sides will roll one D6 and the high score determines which side gets to choose the deployment area for its army. The commander skill ratings are added to the D6 die roll, so a really good general has an added chance of winning the die roll and choosing the ground over which the armies will fight.

The campaign will have twelve game turns, each turn corresponding to one month of the calendar year. At the end of the year, the side with the most points (more on that later) wins the campaign. Each side will start the game with a certain number of Strength Points (or SPs). An SP represents either one battalion of 24-30 figures or a 24-figure regiment of cavalry.

The British army gets ready to campaign - Fife & Drum Miniatures. Click the picture to enlarge.

Boo, Hiss! The Bad Guys - Tarleton's Legion

The British Forces
The British will start the game with 40 SPs distributed around the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Key supply locations are at Charleston, Camden, Georgetown, Augusta and Savannah. The British armies or forces must always have a clear and open line of supply back to one of these depots.

Charleston (16 SPs)
Camden (6 SPs)
Georgetown (2 SPs)
Fort Watson (1)
Fort Motte (1)
Fort Granby (1)
(collectively, the above three forts will be referred to as "the Forts")
Ninety Six (3 SPs)

The Savannah Garrison has 10 SPs which are distributed as follows:

Savannah, GA (6 SPs)
Augusta, GA (2 SPs)
Fort Charlotte, SC (1 SP)
Beaufort, SC (1 SP)

The American Forces
The Americans will largely be based in North Carolina with a total of 25 SPs. They will have a small force of SPs in the Carolina back country in the Northwest part of the state. American supply depots are located in Hillsborough and Charlotte, both in North Carolina.

Hillsborough, NC (15 SPs)
Charlotte, NC (3 SPs)
Gilbert Town, NC (2 SPs)
McDowell's Camp, SC (3 SPs)
Haye's Station, SC (2 SPs)

The Americans have several mechanisms for increasing their forces:

1) Partizan Uprising - each turn I will roll a D6 and a roll of 1 or 2 results in a Partizan Uprising in the back country areas of South Carolina. If there is an uprising, I will roll anothe D6 to determine how many SPs in the uprising force: a roll of 1-2 results in 1SP; 3-4 produces 2SPs and 5-6 results in 3 SPs.

2) Raise the Militia - prior to any battle, there is a chance that the local militia will join the American army and fight in the battle. On a D6, a roll of 1-2 produces no militia; 3-4 adds 1 SP; and 5-6 adds 2 SPs. These militia units return home after the conclusion of the battle and their SPs are removed from the game.

Victory Points

The campaign will last twelve turns and at the end of the game, the side with the most points wins. Victory Points include the following:

1 point for control of each named town with a dot or fort
1 point for each opponent's SPs that are removed from the game
1 point for each captured general
1 point for each fort controlled


The Campaign So Far

I started up the campaign today and have worked through three turns. On turn three we will have our first battle of the campaign at Winnsboro, SC between DeKalb's American army (16 SPs) and Cornwallis' British army (11 SPs). The American total SPs include 2 additional militia units that were raised locally. There has also been a partizan uprising in the northern part of the state at Cheraw, under the command of Andrew Pickens.

I will start posting campaign updates over the next several days and expect to fight the Battle of Winnsboro next week. Of course there will be a blog update for that battle.