Something that I threw together over the weekend. Like you do. Shame I couldn’t be arsed to move the sea cloth from under it. Lazy is as lazy does. |
Mud Blood And Steel
Certified by the nerd council of Europe as a safe space for level 3 nerds and below.
Saturday, 16 November 2024
Finished!
Saturday, 2 November 2024
Further goings on at Maison Broom.
Bugger me it’s November already. Where the hell did October go? All the leaves are off the fruit trees and we are down to 1 egg a day so it’s definitely autumn despite the sunshine.
Although I’ve another naval game in the pipeline I thought I’d take the opportunity to bring you up to speed with matters military here at La Maison Broom.
First off, my recent dive into the depths of the lead pile unearthed a little treasure trove of Wiglaf miniatures 18mm Saxons. I’ve been painting away like a busy little squirrel ever since and this is where we are so far.
7th century Saxons in 18mm - discovered hiding in the lead pile. |
The plusses are that I already have the terrain and the rules to use with these chaps, so apart from a few more packs of personality figures I should be good to go. The minuses are that I discovered Kalistra 10mm Romans lurking in the lead pile while digging as well. I had hoped to order some of the 3d printed ones recently showcased by Keith on his Bydand blog - but the Kalistra lads are already here so it makes more sense to persevere with them I suppose.
This latest scouring of the lead pile has made me realise how fixated on a project I can become, and also how quickly this then seems to turn into a form of burnout and disinterest.
What I need to do (and I’m sure the Current Mrs Broom was referring to my wargaming when I went up to bed the other night) is to spice things up a bit ;-). You know the drill, different scales, different periods, go where angels fear to tread and all that. Maybe try and have more than one project on the go that I can flip back and forth to.
Maybe, oh I don’t know, something like…this…
Or this…
Empress Miniatures 28mm Indian Mutiny range |
Oh my God they look so good…
Of course it’d mean all new terrain and the figures are ruddy expensive but I’ve got a set of rules to use, so there’s that. I mean okay so I’ve been trying to cut costs, but for gods sake I could be run over by the bus tomorrow and have never even tried these.
It’d mean a move towards skirmish gaming with The Men Who Would Be Kings and no hexes but it’d snap me out of my “I’ve got no room for gaming so I’ll only buy small minis,” rut.
Nah.
Cmon. It makes no sense at all. What am I thinking?
But they do look soooooo good…don’t they?
Okay, enough with the levity and the ho ho ho’s.
As you may recall I had the summer off from blogging in order to recharge the old batteries. It involved a fair amount of time with chickens (anytime spent with chickens is time well spent, trust me) but I also went for a wander or two around the outskirts of my hamlets parent village (St Dizier Leyrenne - yeah you can google earth it if you like, it’s not like I’m going to know, now is it?).
It was July 19th and I was nearing the end of a pleasant stroll through the woods when I came across this.
And just like that I fell down the local history research rabbit hole that I referred to a couple of posts ago.
By mid 1944 the German army had been bled white. The units left “occupying” France were by and large a hodgepodge of signal troops, SD, Gestapo, recuperating units from the eastern front and so on. You get the drift.
Just after the invasion, orders were received to begin an anti partisan sweep in my department. Despite the supply and man power problems experienced by the Wehrmacht, 2500 troops, 110 vehicles and 7 “cannon” were formed into Brigade Jesser, and this caravan of retribution then burned and looted its way through my local area for about 2 months
On 16th July 1944 they arrived at the entrance to Bourganeuf, which is my nearest town. Here they were confronted by Capitaine Jaques Chapou and elements of his CFI partisan group.
Given the numbers involved the partisans were soon overwhelmed with the Capitaine going down in a hail of fire. 12 resistance fighters were captured and imprisoned in the Zizim tower until the follow up SD units could arrive. The official version is that these men were deported to Germany - though none were ever seen again.
The tower of Zizim in the town square - left of picture. Built in the 15th century to house a captive Ottoman prince. You know… like you do. |
The Rue de Verdun was sealed off at both ends and families dragged out into the street to be searched and generally roughed up. My neighbour Solange was only 9 at the time and she still remembers it well. I guess you would.
Rue de Verdun - then |
And now… |
On the 19th July Brigade Jesser arrived in my little hamlets parent village (St Dizier Leyrenne) with over 40 trucks parking on the village green pictured below.
The 1944 Saint Dizier Leyrenne truck stop. |
The accompanying SD detachment set themselves up in front of the monument slightly to the left of the picture and began their interrogations. There were less than 500 people resident in the village and surrounding farms. 61 people (apparently selected at random) were arrested and deported to the Reich for further investigation. Only 2 returned after the war.
I can only assume that the interrogators from the SD were fairly efficient because somehow later that evening a company of soldiers surrounded 8 of Capitaine Chapou’s partisans who’d avoided the roundup in Bourganeuf and were attempting to escape the area through the woods to the north of my house.
The soldiers involved were Crimean Tartar “volunteers” in the Russian legion and they brought with them all the excesses and barbarism of the Eastern Front. The 8 partisans were captured, tortured for information and then executed on the spot.
Crimean Tartars of the Russian Volunteer LegIon in France 1944] |
So yeah, it was exactly 80 years later to the day, on the 19th July 2024 that I was wandering through the nearby woods and I discovered the memorial. I was alone and the woods were silent. It all felt very sad. Apparently there are flowers left each year. Next year I shall add to them.
Some of the Tartars responsible for this outrage mutinied on the 29th July and actually, while out of my area, volunteered to join a resistance group in the Corrèze region. Their fate after this point remains unknown. The rest of the unit eventually met their end in the Colmar pocket.
Kurt Jesser was captured in October 1945 and held in a camp to be charged for war crimes. He was released in 1947 and all charges were dropped. A further investigation was launched in 1949 (perhaps when further information came to light?) but again the charges were dropped. He died at home in 1950.
Now, if you want “grim” on a larger and even more barbaric scale try googling Oradour Sur Glane which is also not too far away and well worth a visit.
Toodleooh.
Saturday, 26 October 2024
Shots fired!
After a few sessions of F2F testing against Jérémie it’ll come as no surprise to anyone that I dropped the flag orders portion of my homebrew naval rule set. They looked nice, they worked okay (ish) but they added extra and unnecessary “chrome” that the game seems none the worse without. I’m sure that most of those who write their own rules will have experienced something similar at one time or another.
Since everything else seemed ticketyboo and was explainable to a Frenchman (through the medium of dance when my French failed me) I’ve moved forward with my alt history Mediterranean naval campaign.
For those who can’t recall the setting and are too lazy to go back a post, the French and the Austrians have had a fallout over France’s attempt to control Morocco. Supporting Germany’s secret plan to provide troops for the Sultan’s defence an Austrian troop transport hits a mine and is lost with all hands. Shortly after and perhaps in retaliation a French merchant ship disappears off the coast of Albania.
Both sides demand satisfaction and the calling of a second international convention to arbitrate the matter. Unfortunately, before the convention can be arranged the French navy begins boarding and searching Austrian flagged merchant ships in Moroccan waters.
Naturally it didn’t take too long for the Austrians to start organising convoys and adding escorts to deter the French, and equally naturally it didn’t take long before a miscalculation saw shots fired.
Wounded national pride meant that damage to two Austrian escort cruisers could not go unanswered and all thoughts of an international convention were kicked into the long grass as we start this campaign in July 1906 with the following fleet action plans.
Austria has opted to “send a message” by shelling a largely unpopulated area of French Corsica with two major warships. The battleship Habsburg and the Armoured Cruiser Kaiser Karl VI approach the coast which unknown to them is being patrolled by three Motor Torpedo Boats (Tempête, Orage and Cyclone).
The mission occurs in calm seas with good visibility (the Torpedo Boats would have had to return to port if rough seas had been rolled for) and one side of the board is designated as coastline. The bigger Austrian ships stand a chance of running aground if they get too close to the shallows but their mission is to get within the 8 hex range of their main guns and fire off three salvoes into French territory.
Sacré Bleu! |
By turn 4 the Orage has rigged a temporary rudder repair but her sister ships have now closed in on the bigger vessels and as one they launch their torpedos.
Ignoring the sporadic and inaccurate gunfire from the Kaiser Karl the Tempête closes again to launch its last torpedo salvo - with devastating results.
This time the hits on the Kaiser Karl are terminal and she rolls over and sinks with huge loss of life. |
The Kaiser Karl’s damage capacity is maxed out and she sinks. |
I think I can safely chalk this game up as a French win which’ll score them 5 campaign points. With only 1 damage counter each the Torpedo Boats will be repairable within this 1 month window and available for missions in August. The Habsburg will make it home at half speed and will also during the month be repaired in time for actions in August. I suspect that the Captain will face an enquiry if not for the outcome then for not attempting to rescue the Kaiser Karl survivors!
Observations.
The Austrian ships were more heavily armed but slower and less manoeuvrable than the tiny French Torpedo Boats and this advantage allowed the French boats to press home their attacks with their very destructive torpedoes. The bottle out mechanism allowed for a realistic “time to get out of Dodge” moment for both fleets so that was all good too.
The failures, if failure they were, were out of the players hands. Anything but a calm weather environment roll would have forced the Torpedo Boats back to port before any combat, thereby ceding the game and the mission to the Austrians.
The Austrian decision to attack the French at long range alerted them to their presence. It’s unlikely the French boats would have just continued sailing along in ignorance until they left the board but if they had this would again have ceded the game to the Austrians.
A better die roll on the initial Austrian fire could have caused significant damage if it had hit, which would have altered the dynamic of the encounter at a stroke.
The assignment of vessels to missions by random die roll put the Austrians in an awkward spot. Attacking in daylight with two capital ships, unsupported by light screening vessels was a choice no competent Admiral should ever take. Another reason for a board of enquiry methinks!
All in all I was well chuffed. The game took 10 turns to complete and the playing time was a mere 50 minutes.
Hopefully I’ll have some wreck markers made before the next mission.
I appreciate that most of this blogs followers are not “naval types” but cheers if you’ve read this far. Take comfort that there’ll be a land based post coming up before the next maritime excursion.
Toodleooh.
Monday, 14 October 2024
So I went looking for trouble…
I needed a reason for Austrian and French fleets to clash before the First World War, something historic and plausible if possible, a factual jumping off point for a little naval campaign based in the Mediterranean and, given the ships I possess, circa 1906 / 07 ish.
Fortunately the major powers around that period were forever getting up in each others grills and I quickly found just the thing.
You might want to go and have a look at the Tangier crisis on Google (other search engines are available)… but if (most likely) you just can’t be arsed to do that, I’ve listed the essential highlights below.
a) 1904 - Britain and France sign the Entente Cordiale - Germany is mightily pissed off.
b) 1905 - France continues to expand its influence in North Africa, focussing on making Morocco a protectorate.
c) 1905 - 1906 Pissed off germany does a bit of meddling. The Kaiser goes to meet Sultan Abdelaziz assuring him of German help to maintain Morocco’s independence. Sabres are rattled.
d) 1906 - An international conference is called to settle the matter. Britain, Spain and Italy side with France. Only Austria Hungary sides with Germany. The Germans are told to back off and mind their own beeswax. The Kaiser is humiliated.
So naturally that wasn’t actually the end of the matter…and it sort of rumbled on in a very low key manner until a second crisis occurred in 1911, but for now 1907 will serve as my campaign jumping off point.
So here’s the alt history bit to hang my new campaign on.
e) Following the conference a humiliated Kaiser begins secretly shipping weapons and “advisors” to Morocco via his supporters in the Austro Hungarian government. Wilhelm is not terribly concerned about Morocco in itself, of course, but in the right hands he hopes the weapons will fuel an insurgency that would be embarrassing and costly to France.
f) June 1907. The Austro Hungarian registered SS Amstetten strikes a mine while entering the port of Nador and is lost with all hands. Arms and amunition are recovered from the wreckage.
g) Austria Hungary blames France for the sinking and demands reparations. France accuses Austria Hungary of attempting to destabilise Morocco, and threatens military action.
h) Germany comes out in support of Austria Hungary but Britain orders its Navy to readiness and the Kaiser backs away, washing his hands of the affair and leaving Austria Hungary to carry the can.
i) A French Coaster, the Isle de Maran, goes missing in clear weather while en route to Le Souqet.
j) Elements of the French and Austrian navies put to sea, intent on seeking redress.
The campaign will have strategic turns lasting a month (in game time) in which the players will assign their available vessels to a series of mission types conducted in unspecified geographical locations (look ma no maps). The French have more ships available than the Austro Hungarians but the latter fleet has a minor qualitative edge. Many of the French ships are Protected Cruisers for instance, having a fraction of the armour that the Austro Hungarian Armoured Cruisers have.
The French vessels initially available are:
Hoche - Battleship
Bouvet - Battleship
Charles Martel - Battleship
Galilee - Protected Cruiser
Linois - Protected Cruiser
D’ Entrecasteaux - Protected Cruiser
Friant - Protected Cruiser
Amiral Cecille - Protected Cruiser
Cyclone - Torpedo Boat
Tempête - Torpedo Boat
Ourage - Torpedo Boat
Coming into the region from other deployments are the Armoured Cruiser Bruix, 2 x Light Cruisers and 6 x Destroyers.
The Austro Hungarian ships are:
SMS Habsburg - Battleship
SMS Marie Theresa - Armoured Cruiser
SMS Sankt Georg - Armoured Cruiser
SMS Kaiser Karl VI - Armoured Cruiser
SMS Zenta - Protected Cruiser
SMS Huszar - Destroyer
SMS Ulan - Destroyer
SMS Tural - Destroyer
In reserve they have the Battleship Wien and the Armored Cruiser Kaiser Franz Josef.
Any number of vessels may be assigned to one or more of the missions shown in the last piccie below, but the players assign them in initial ignorance of their opponents assignments.
Once the two deployments are complete the planning forms are placed next to each other. Where two missions are found to be in opposition a battle will occur. The winner of a battle is awarded 5 victory points.
Once all battles have been resolved a cessation of hostilities check is taken, wherein the damage sustained to each fleet and the number of victory points accrued will be influencing factors.
I will use my own set of rules because I’m eager to try them out, (they’ve been sitting on the shelf since 2021) though I am in possession of several other excellent sets that I intend to try out as well in the near future.
Here are a few piccies relating to my rules, taken during a recent play test - which may stimulate comments (good or bad).
Flag type order counters made out of MS Word symbols and stuck onto spare mdf bases. |
Friday, 11 October 2024
Goings on at Maison Broom
Sometimes good things can come out of bad - which is an unusually glass half full kind of thing for me to find myself saying…but it’s true.
See I’m a bit light on the whole hobby dosh thing at the mo (US TRANSLATION - I’m on skid row / I’m a bum and I ain’t got no money) since the wife’s 60th birthday and our 40th wedding anniversary will unfortunately not pay for themselves - and it’s forced me to delve deep into my lead pile of shame.
Some of us accrue a lead pile with the certain knowledge that its contents will be turned into table ready masterpieces within a rigidly preplanned production schedule…(coughs)…isn’t that right Jon, while some of us without the gift of purpose and planning lose interest in a project almost as soon as the miniatures arrive - put off by the enormity of the task that suddenly lies ahead.
You can guess which category I fall into.
After a while the lack of any finished product from such profuse and carefree spending becomes a matter of internal guilt and shame - definitely something to keep out of the view of curious wives and their desire to establish “how much did all this lot cost, then”. As a direct consequence of all this - for the last two years most of the East Midland’s chief export has resided in my special cupboard of mystery - to which only I have the key.
Working on the assumption that I must have seen something in these jolly little bags of lead at some point and baulking at the prospect of buying something new from my currently scant resources I resolved to dig deep into the pile to see if something within might be worth revisiting.
The first step was to isolate the still half finished stuff, with its accompanying taint of failure, (I’m looking at you Elizabethan 10mm) and make my way down to the deeper strata of things I don’t even remember buying and which, it seems, have never been touched. First out were some tripods from Tumbling Dice, (I know, I know…always with the Victorian sci fi…what is it with me and that sort of stuff ?) models which look much nicer than the scratch built ones I cobbled together over the summer and probably require early deployment.
Tumbling Dice Tripods - with wavy tentacle additions by moi and some blurry 2mm infantry both for scale and potential opposition. FYI the left most one is sort of crouching down menacingly. |
At the same semi Carboniferous level were other goodies from TD - an entire project in fact - from a past fixation of mine that never left the planning stage. Until now.
I thought I couldn’t do stuff smaller than 2mm, but I was wrong. Welcome to the world of 1:2400 scale pre dreadnoughts. Ships designed, constructed and employed at the height of the belle époque.
I have two small fleets, one French one Austro Hungarian, a set of rules written years back and a sh*t ton (or its metric equivalent) of blue hexon tiles…so I think I’ll have at it.
Waddya reckon?
It might get me out of playing against this guy for a while…
Toodleooh.
Sunday, 29 September 2024
Keep it simple stupid..! (Part 2) The big game.
Rather than throw him in at the deep end with a single battle I’ve been working incrementally through my rules with Jérémie, so that he can get a handle on some of the concepts and ask questions in a none competitive environment. Fortunately the arrival of son number 2 and his family of locusts gave me the opportunity to test things out on another newb who at least spoke the same language. Sort of.
We settled on a different scenario to the one I’d set up for the last post in which there was no set defender / attacker - just a have at it sort of thing. The usual win conditions (eliminate enemy leader or 5 units) was applied and I present the proceedings in Broom Battle Picture Library format below.
In an effort to aid comprehension a lot more counters were used than is normal. Not sure if they help matters, but hey ho.
And then things started to go wrong…for me. My knights were “ready to leg it” so I didn’t hold out much hope but they did manage to disorganise the Lancastrians before fleeing the field. |
View from my Yorkist right flank. Disorganised crossbowmen stream past the front of the advancing peasant spears. Way off in the distance lurks my nemesis. |
When the Lancastrian billmen began to fall back I pushed my own forward (right of picture). Unfortunately a previously disorganised Yorkist company became the target of the Lancastrian archers… |
Observations
The rules worked extremely well. Units that made it across the zone swept by massed archer fire usually made contact in a disorganised state and suffered as a consequence in subsequent melees. The knights had a big impact but proved brittle in the long run. Morale played a key part, peasant spearmen with the “we could be heroes” trait managed to stop the Lancastrian cavalry in their tracks. So all good.
Neither of us spent enough time moving our blocks of foot forward into contact despite having enough command points to achieve it. Apart from the foray of the Lancastrian knights we both became bogged down in archery duels and getting units back into an organised state before attempting to advance. I’ll try to avoid that next time and see how things go. I might just have to accept that they’re not going to be in the best shape when they eventually get across the killing ground.
Next game will involve some additional rules like improving the morale of a unit mid battle.
Toodleooh.