15mm 7YW manufacturer comparisons : Russian Command

Annoyingly I am one command stand short for my new 15mm 7YW Russian army and not wanting to buy another 50 figure pack from OG just for 4 figures I looked around for something suitable elsewhere . I also wanted to find an alternative to OG's Russian infantry standard bearers because as you will see in the pictures below they are ridiculously short in length.. Unfortunately although members on TMP said that Blue Moon and Eureka infantry were compatible, I couldn't find any pictures on what I actually wanted.
I therefore bought a pack of each so as to find out for myself.

Eureka : This first picture is of 300SYW305P  Russian Musketeer Command  . I choose the option to have 4 standard bearers instead of just 2  , dropping 2 NCO's

Pack Contents 8 x 18mm Eureka figures from Fighting 15's

 
Blue Moon :My pack had for some reason an extra NCO instead of my 2nd officer which was a little disappointing but you do get 4 standard bearers automatically and Fifers ! 
 

Pack Contents:12 x 15mm Blue Moon from Old Glory UK

 Next is a comparison shot of 4 manufacturers:  3 figures from each and just as an extra item I have tacked onto the end some Irregular Miniatures Prussian command I had in stock. How short is that OG Standard pole !

L to R:  Blue Moon , Old Glory , Eureka , Irregular

 The Final Picture is an approximate height comparison shot . 

L to R :  Blue Moon , Old Glory , Eureka .

Obviously you are now desperate for my opinion, Given that all my armies are made up from Old Glory which of the others would I use ?

Irregular is obviously too small as they are 15mm and don't mix with the bigger 18mm figures , Blue Moon is sold as 15mm but are much nearer 18mm , they are a little skinnier but would be OK'ish and the ones I bought will not go to waste however my choice would be Eureka as their height and thickness are pretty similar to Old Glory . There is something different in the way the figures look but its not easy to explain, I guess its probably as they are a newer range then their sculpting is perhaps a little sharper but that could just be my lack of coffee.
Another plus is that you can buy them in assorted smaller packs qty's of 8 or 24 and which would again save on having to get that extra one of the bigger 50 man OG packs .

Prices  Feb 2017:

Eureka : 8 figures for £4
Blue Moon : 12 figures for £6 

This has been a Mr Steve Production

Action at the Corinth Canal - Chain of Command

Our third game featured at this month's meeting was this lovely looking Chain of Command game recreating events in Greece in 1941.

Chain of Command (CoC) Game Report by Nathan (Gamemeister for the day), Pictures by JJ.

A rag tag British platoon are holding a village on the road to the Corinth Canal Bridge, with a Bren gun carrier and light tank as support, requiring to use CoC dice and then randomise where it arrived. They had five command dice and one CoC dice in hand and were commanded by Steve H.

Greece 1941, Chain of Command style

The Fallschirmjagers are attacking with two platoons, and various support options.

The two commanders Ian and Jason decided to take a 37mm ATG, FF assault team, and two MG34 MMG's; they had five command dice due to dispersal rules, and also had to roll twice to get anything on the board after the first roll. They were only informed of this when they tried to bring anything further on table. If they had taken battalion command support option this would have increased their
command dice to six.

With the drone of passing JU52 transports and occasional ack-ack, the British defenders stand to

The British deployed in and around the village, with wire defences across the board. The Germans then diced to see where they entered the board, with a chance that this could have put them in and around, and behind the British lines; as it turned out this did not transpire and the Germans came on the board with each player sending forward sections to call out the British positions.

The Germans advanced and a shout of ambush rang out as the British HMG opened up on the FJ in the open, pinning down a section.

The Germans had to get fire suppression on the British positions which they managed to do, but had to call in nearly the whole platoon and support weapons to do so. Jason’s platoon was being used to pin the enemy infantry whilst Ian sent his whole platoon around to the right to gain access.

FJ sections and weapons teams prepare to move into the assault

This went on all day with the German 1st platoon morale dropping to three at one point, with multiple leaders being hit and wounded and one squad routing. The British, in hard cover, had a hard time with the amount of fire coming in, and once Ian had got around the right and started engaging with another platoon they started taking more and more casualties.

Assaulting heavy cover means putting down plenty of suppressive fire to keep the defenders heads down

Right lads, listen up, there are Jerry paratroops out there and it's our job to stop-em!'

'Looks like they're trying to turn our flank Sarge!'

The British morale folded to four and in the last turn of the game they took more casualties forcing them to give up.

The pressure builds as the fire crackles across no man's land

A bit of extra fire support couldn't do any harm

The road to the Corinth canal bridge was open.

Not part of the game, but I couldn't resist grabbing a picture of one of Nathan's pretty Crusader tanks - JJ

Great game with swings both ways, thanks to Ian, Jason and Steve.

Nathan

15mm Old Glory 7YW Russians Un-Bagging

As previously threatened I am back with more un-bagging pictures from Old Glory's 15mm 7YW range , this time its the Russians  who are going to be the opposition to the Ottomans we have seen un-bagged already. To forestall the howls of complaints from my fellow club members I will attempt to get as much into this post as possible.
Fortunately this is helped by there not being that many variations in this army to show you. I will however add on some extra figures I have used from their Renaissance range to complement the pictures already on their website , purely to give you an idea of what you actually get in each pack.

First are SYR1 Russian Infantry Defending

 

Next we have SYR6 Russian Grenadiers :

Next : SYR7 Russian Artillery

My pack was missing two large Gun Carriages which were sent on later by Timecast. So to confirm, you get the 4 medium carriages shown in the picture plus 2 bigger ones.

SYR13 Russian Generals

SYR 9 Russian Dragoons

Finally I want to add in quite a lot of Cossacks but there aren't any in the 7YW range so I had to pick from the Renaissance range.OG have done pictures for these but I am adding them in purely for completion purposes.

RC03 Cossacks with Melee Weapons

 

RC01 Mounted Cossack Command

Thats it for the first muster but I have already given some thought about expanding the armies later which will probably include some more new packs to show you such as Hussars, Horse Grenadiers , Light Infantry and Secret Howitzers.

 

This has been a Mr Steve production.

Battle of Wijnendale 1708 - Beneath the Lilly Banners

Chas took us back in time to his youth in Queen Anne's army, running a recreation of the battle of
Wijnendale, to the excellent "Beneath the Lily Banners - 2nd Edition" rules.

League of Augsburg - Beneath the Lilly Banners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wijnendale

In 1708 Marlborough had the city of Lille under siege. He relied on supplies being brought up from the port of Ostend to his siege lines by cart.

A convoy of seven-hundred wagons was en-route with a strong guard of 7500 men, when the screen of dragoons spotted a French army over 20,000 strong marching across open country towards the road. The one hundred and fifty British dragoons aggressively harassed the French, forcing them to deploy. This allowed the convoy guard to form up in three lines between two large woods, in the open fields flanking the road. More infantry was deployed in the woods on either side of the Allied line. The scene was set for the start of our scenario, with the French coming on in force towards the Allied lines, which stood between them and the vital convoy.

Chas and Steve M took the French (boo !), whilst myself and "Lucky" Andy commanded the Allied contingent.

The French gun line fired a volley, before the infantry masked their fire. The first casualties fell on
some luckless Dutch infantry. The French infantry stepped forward, leaving their cavalry on the flanks and rapidly fell to "first fire" from the steady allied ranks. Several French units retired, causing
discomfort and disorder to the successive lines behind them.The next French line re-ordered and
stepped up to take fire, but now the casualties were starting to mount in the Allied first line and the
French pressed on.

The French command looking very happy with their day

Both sides were now struggling to get fresh units into action, without ruining the discipline of their new troops. A melee was fought in the centre and both sides suffered badly, with several French units
routing or retiring. Meanwhile the Allied troops in the woods stared at their opposite numbers, with the Allies unwilling to leave cover and the French unwilling to step into the woods. The Allied right
exchanged fire with their opposite numbers, but on the left both sides sat out of effective range.

The convoy crawled slowly past the scene of carnage.

The second lines of infantry clashed and both sides took losses. Now an Allied unit was cut down and
one retired. Seeing a chance to force the issue, the British dragoons charged a reduced and shaken
French battalion. The French suffered, but stayed locked in combat. Now French horse joined the fray
and musketry rippled along the line. The dragoons broke, as fresh Allied infantry moved from the
woods towards the centre in an effort to support the third line.

Lines of French horse were now visible through the gaps in their infantry line. The Allied third line of foot stood ready, as they eyed the fresh horse and a fresh Allied battalion from the woods fell into line.

There we called it a day. An honourable draw and a very close fought game. The main problem suffered on both sides was that the close terrain made getting shaken troops out of line and fresh ones in, was no easy matter.

Many thanks to Chas for making the refight a balanced contest and to all involved for playing in a
"gentlemanly" style. I let the side down with my dice rolls, but Andy more than made up for it. He
threw a bucket full of sixes at every asking. Last I saw Steve was still inspecting the dice he was
using.

As a footnote, General Wade's Allied force suffered 900 casualties and inflicted 4 or 5,000 on the
French, who quit the field. For his efforts, Wade received the thanks of parliament and the queen.
Some years later he was set aside from command for "being a Scotsman". No one said life is fair.

Vince