Halflings on the Margins: My WFB 3rd Empire Army

Just finished the last of my GW halflings from the 80's-90's. They sat in their blisters for quite a few years before finally being painted and taking their place in the ranks of my Empire Army, but more on that later.

For now, here are the last seven. If any readers are interested in the first 23, here is a link to all of the Gorgon Halfling posts, which will also fill you in on their place on the Black Powder Fantasy battlefield. LINK

As in the past I tried to give each batch of halflings a theme. These chaps ended up being hard bitten halflings making do on the edges of civilization. These are the hollow halflings, the stuffed halflings, for whom a pint of Old Burleby's Bitter and a Mince Pie has lost all appeal.

Confronted with the savagery of life on the frontier, these chaps have either snapped, losing all touch with reality, or hardened themselves, doing unto goblins and other raiders what those raiders have done to them. 

Below is the completed unit, thirty strong, with two missile weapons between them, three if you count the pie thrower!

In the center you can see the great hero, holding aloft his gory trophy, the head of a gorgon, that he either slew, or came upon already dead, depending on whose story you choose to believe.

He is flanked by the remains of the Weemangian Guard.

In succeeding ranks may be seen the witch hunters, Larry and his brothers Daryl, the Major, and all the other notables of the Moot.

When Warhammer Armies (for 3rd edition. It was/is a wonderful hardbound set of army lists) was first released, Games Workshop had a fantastic sale. Really. They did that back then.

I was able to pick up two or three armies at a very reasonable price.  Picked up an Empire and Skaven army. Maybe one other. Not really sure at this remove.

Now, some 25+ years laters, some of the figures still await paint!

However pictured here are some that do not.

I painted most of these in the 80's-90's although I still like to pick out the odd figure or unit to add to the force now and then. 

In fact the crossbowmen are of a slightly more recent vintage being the first figures to come with separate plastic crossbows.

These knights are actually Old Glory figures that fit right in. I do have GW knights to add but while I have found their primed mounts, the riders remain in hiding.

Can't say I really play WFB anymore but 2nd and 3rd edition remain solid games and good fun. These days I am more likely to play games set in the Warhammer World using rules of my own design.

That having been said the important thing is how wonderful are the figures themselves. Full of character, each one looks like it could tell you a few stories.

BTW many of these figures are now available once again through Wargames Foundry!

Notes: All figures by Citadel Miniatures except for the mounted lay Knights. All figures shown painted by the author.

Gamgee Din

You may talk o' ginger beer

When you're quartered safe out 'ere,

An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;

But in Victory or Defeat,

You’ll do better with a sweet,

An' you'll lick the ‘airy feet of 'im that's got it.

Now in Afri's sunny clime,

Where I used to spend my time

A-servin' of 'Is Majesty the Kyng,

Of all them ‘alfling crew

The finest bloke I knew

Was our regimental Bestie, Gamgee Din.

It has been said, and truly, that an army marches on its stomach.

Captain Giglamps of the Halflingland Rifles will tell anyone who will listen that a Halfling army fights on its stomach.

Similar to the Bhisti of India, the Bestie of Halfligland are both a tribe and an occupation. 

In the distant past when the halfings received the Word from the Author, the Bestie also received the gift of candy floss. The creation of this great confection is a closely guarded secret among the members of this endogamous community.

The word "Bestie" itself derived from the Common Tongue "best friend":, a reference to the common ancestor of the Bestie, known only as "the Old Gaffer", who brought candy floss to the wounded Bandobras Took and fought off the goblins sure to have killed that worthy, in a time before the great halfling diaspora.

Today the Bestie accompany any military expedition mounted by the Halflings of Halflingland, in order to sustain the troops in their time of need.

As a result of Albion military expeditions in Halflingland, both candy floss and the Besties who serve have become a topic of ballads in the Salons of Londinium.

Gamgee Din is one such Bestie of whom we shall see more in upcoming episodes.

Sergeants Wee

Having sent 95th (working title Baker Rifle) off to the publisher, it is time to have some fun and play some games.

The following is the first in a campaign arc I've been working on for sometime. The game takes place in Halflingland, and uses the Brawl encounter from 95th.

Sergeants Machutney, Quatar, and Balifine are, as usual, visiting the canteen. An altercation has broken out between our heroes and members of a Joccian battalion stationed in the area.

Some say the Joccians called Balifine's parentage into question.

Other say Machutney made an ill advised comment regarding kilts.

However we know it all has to do with the gullible Quatar having purchased a treasure map off of one of the rats. Machuntey rightly feared his friend had been swindled and tried to force the rats to take their map back.

Fisticuffs ensued.

Initially each halfling squared off against two Joccians. The halflings are all Rep 5, while the Joccians have two Rep 5 and four Rep 4 figures.

The Sergeants won the first initiative and they each charged the toughest looking rat of the two facing them.

Quatar bull charged his rat and sent him flying over the balustrade.

The unfortunate Joccian landing with thump on the table below.

Meanwhile Machutney knocked his target down but the rat was fast up on his feet again.

Balifine flailed at his foe but to no avail.

On their activation the remaining rats charged.

Quatar held off his assailant. 

Machutney brought down both of his foes.

Balifine went down under a flurry of furry blows.

The second turn initiative roll saw the arrival of the Provosts!

The Sergeants were frog marched off to face the wrath of Captain Giglamps.

Little did they realize that the Captain had sent the Provosts looking for them.

There was a very dangerous job to be done...

That's it. A very short game and very enjoyable. Unlikely the Provosts should have shown up so soon but I was hoping they would put in a quick appearance to lead on to the next game..."Finding Faccia da Rospo".

Thank's for dropping by!

Thormoppparokay: The Charge of the Moose Brigade

General Xerxes brings up the guns.

Into the valley of death ride the 4.

As night falls the 18 have been reduced to 11.

This post follows on from Thormopparokay: The First Assault.

With the first Imperial attack repulsed, General Xerxes scrambled to bring up his guns. Even the mighty Trolka would be hard put to withstand a hail of cannister.

This would have been an ideal time for me to launch a counter attack with the Mooseketeers. I must have been asleep!

In any event the first volley of cannonfire suffered from very poor dice rolling with no real harm done.

The fighting in the north flared up again as the Coltzen foot came into line.

Waking suddenly I unleashed the fury of the Northmoose!

The werewolf gunners had been prolonging their piece and were unable to get off a shot before the the Antlers of Doom had descended upon them.

In the north the werewolves were giving as good as they got.

After the Mooseketeers went in there ensued a spirited series of charge and counter charge as the Coltzen centaurs came to the aid of their gunners.

When the dust settled, two centaurs were dead. 

 A third centaur and two werewolf gunners were hustled off to the rear as prisoners. It was at this point that I realized I should have sent the RN gunners forward with the Mooseketeers in order to haul off the gun! 

Better late than never.

After the initial clash the reserve squadron of Mooseketeers engaged the reserve squadron of centaurs. Two trolka versus three centaurs were good odds for the trolka.

Elsewhere things took an ugly turn. The Finkelstein Field Force artillery annihilated the Slaeggan 2nd Line battalion.

After that triumph of black powder over troll flesh, the gun withdrew into the square of the remaining Finkelstein infantry battalion.

Worse yet the werewolves brought down a troll and the Slaeggan 1st Light battalion was compelled to withdraw from the action.

Oblivious of the disasters on the north flank, the 2nd Squadron, The Mooseketeer Regiment, looked forward to an easy victory over the centaurs. 

They were disappointed. The centaurs managed to pull of a win and capture one of the wounded trolls!

With the centaurs currently off reforming after the hectic melees, the 1st Squadron, The Mooseketeer Regiment, returned for a charge against the dwarven square.

Smoke belched from the mouth of the gun. The result only wounded one troll and the charge went in.

The plucky dwarvers saw off the Mooseketeers with the loss of a single dwarf!

The centaurs rallied and handed off their prisoner to the Guinaleans.

Meanwhile, not pictured, the victorious werewolf battalion advanced against the Royal Slaegga Regiment of Guards. The Guards let off a volley of Kannonderbus fire and the surviving werewolves withdrew, tails between their legs. 

With the return of the centaur lancers to the scene of action, further charges by the Mooseketeers were deemed unwise.

At least the centaurs were not able to prevent the RN detachment from hauling off the captured gun.

With darkness settling over the valley I decided to call it a (game) day.

The Imperial army was reduced to three battle worthy infantry battalions, one from each contingent, two guns, and centaur lancers.

The Slaaggan force consisted of the Guards, the battered 2nd Light battalion, the 1st squadron of the Mouseketeers and the naval detachment gunners with their prize.

So who had won the day? 

I am sure both sides will claim victory as the conditions were not very clear. You see the scenario called for the defender to hold out until nightfall. With no information given on the length of daylight, number of turns, etc. the definition of nightfall is up to the player. The game did last some 30 turns though so it was a good long time in practice if not in scale.

Concerning Trolka and Charge!

The rules used, "Charge! or How to Play Wargames" were written long before the advent of fantasy miniatures and it was my choice to add the fantasy element. To this end I used the stats in "Slautherloo" as a starting point.

Using units of 20 foot for everything but trolls and 3 for trolls also provided some guidance.

A troll needed to about equal 6 other figures generally speaking. 

I could have said, "trolls take six hits to kill" and been done with it, and perhaps I should have.

Instead I went with a series of changes:

1. Saving throws. "Charge!" does not use these. I added a save on 1 or 2 for most creatures and 1,2, or 3 for trolls.

2. Hits on troll units were halved as if they were light infantry in game terms.

3. Trolls took two hits to remove. Two is an easy number to keep track of! At token by the troll means he is wounded. If he takes another wound he is out of the game.

Trolka light units were armed with large muskets. I treated these each as gun that fired only out to half the range of a field gun and could only fire ball.

Trolka line units were armed with Kannonderbusses. These fired out ot half the canister range of regular guns but could only fire canister.

Finally in melee each creature used the melee stat from "Slautherloo" as its base value. 

This all worked well in practice making the trolka units very tough but surprisingly brittle. The range advantage of the light Trolka worked well until the enemy got in close. At that point I should have had them charge their foes but for some reason I never did. The Trolka line were very tough opponents lacking the range of the line but able to lay down firepower that would equal or exceed that of a regular line battalion.

Concerning "Charge! or How To Play Wargames".

Young and Lawford wrote a fairly simple set of rules that captures the essence of horse and musket warfare quite well. The rules are very casualty intensive and two battalions facing off against one another in a fire fight will usually tear each other to shreds in a couple of turns.

This means that having reserves available to support an attack or defense is essential. An army deployed in a single line will soon be riddled with holes.

While one can question the technicalities of time versus losses, range versus frontages, and etc. the basics of horse and musket warfare apply. Combat is attritional and the commander who can feed in fresh troops at the right time will likely carry the day.

It would be an interesting exercise to take two equal armies and deploy one in a single line and the other in double line and see what happens. 

Unfortunately I have other projects that need attending to now.

If any of you readers give it a go please let me know how it turned out.

Well that is all for now so as always thanks for stopping by!

Thormopparokay: The First Assault

The Finklestein Field Force Flexes its Muscle

The 18 Suffer Their First Losses

The Imperial Army

This post follows on from Thormopparokay: Midmorning.

Valley of the 18

 Following the loss of my guns and the withdrawal of my skirmishers a bit of a lull ensued. General Xerxes maneuvered his forces for a blow on my right, the northern, flank. 

Lead Dwarven Line advances.

 The lead element of the Imperial assault consisted of the three infantry battalions of the Finklestein Field Force.  Their Brigadier deployed them two up in line with the third in column as a central reserve.

Duke Dynydisson bolsters his line.

 In response Lars Dynydisson brought forward the Royal Slaegga Regiment of Guards to support the two Trolka units facing the Dwarven threat.

"Follow me mes' Boyos! Do you want to leeve foreever?"

 Meanwhile on the southern flank, the Guinalean Contingent stepped up the pressure.

"Prepare to receive Dwarves!"

 The stage was set for an epic clash between Troll and Dwarf.

Advancing to "The Bier I left Behind Me"

 The Dwarves advanced as if on parade ground. No one with any sense of martial spirit could fail but to admire their good order and discipline.

"Step lively there lads"

 Even as th Imperials kept moving reserves to the front first reports of skirmish fire broke out to the south.

Wolfe Toon is no stranger to danger!

 Then as if the skirmishing had reached a crescendo, furious volleys of musketry and Kanonderbus fire ensued.

Fire!

  When the smoke cleared, Dwarves were strewn about like nine pins. Both leading Finklestein battalions were incapable of further action. But it was not all one sided.

The Butcher's Bill

The 18 became 17, as one brave Troll breathed his last. A second Troll was wounded in the northern most battalion.

"Ge dem helvete pojkar!"

 Even in the secondary south, the 17 became 16, as another mighty Troll fell. Here again the Trolka had given as good as they got and the Guinalean Irregulars were finished as a fighting force.

The Imperials prepare to keep up the pressure.

In one turn two Dwarven Line, and the Guinalean Irregulars had reached their breaking point.

On the other side, two Trolka battalions are now at two thirds strength and will only have to lose one more figure to rout, while a third Trolka unit has a hit on it. Worse yet the two battalions that suffered losses are at half firepower now.

Lars Dynydisson assures me that every lost Troll must be avenged ten fold.

We shall see.

As a reminder all of the figures are from Alternative Armies. All but the Guinaleans were painted by their fantastic studio painters. The Guinalean line were repainted by the author  to better match my concept of the unit. The Guinalean Irregulars, all of the flags shown,  and the converted Wolfe Toon, are also the author's  work.

The terrain is a mixture of mostly "The Terrain Guy" products with some Warzone GTS, and Lemax bits.

Thanks for stopping by!