|
Other Miniatures Miniatures games besides Heroscape. |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Display Modes |
#13
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
30,000?
I'm now for the first time putting all my lists together to see how many 54mm figures I own. I'm up to 27,151 with more to go. Of course, that doesn't count all the scale horsed and motorized vehicles and other equipment that go with them, terrain, etc.! Edit: I have now passed the above figure, with more to go! Last edited by chas; April 19th, 2015 at 10:12 PM. |
#14
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
THE WAR OF THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE IN SOUTH AMERICA
FIRST BATTLE OF TUYUTI May 24, 1866 By Chas In May of 1866, forces of the Allied nations of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, having consolidated Uruguay in its civil war, and then repelled the Paraguayan invasion of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande del Sul and the Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones, crossed into southern Paraguay with an army of 57,000. Almost a logistical miracle for that period, the amphibious advance was made by the Barzilian ironclad and riverboat navy, which had previously won the key river battle of Rio Rachuelo. Advancing north after a preliminary engagement as Estrello Blanco, the Allied force set up a partially entrenched camp. There their army of 35,000 (22,000 Brazilians, 11,800 Argentinians, and 1,200 Uruguayans) was attacked by four Paraguayan columns totaling 24,000 troops. This “South American Waterloo” was the largest battle fought on that continent, and the two sides took casualties proportionally greater than the American Civil War armies at the Battle of Antietam. This decisive battle, which could have gone either way, turned the attacking Paraguayan Army into a defensive force--although often on the tactical offensive--for the rest of conflict also known as The Paraguayan War.. On the important Allied Left Flank, about a third of the battle, we shall be scaling down the units involved. A greater number of red clad Paraguayan units under General Barrios, supported by both artillery and rockets which their opponents will not have, and armed with the smoothbore musket, will advance on an inferior force of Brazilians armed with the rifled musket. This will be an open field battle where the Brazilians, clad in blue uniforms, will be holding on, hoping for reinforcements to appear. The initial tactical dispositions will be set, and all the players will have to do is duel for supremacy in their sectors, or advance against the open flank of the defenders! As the elite Paraguayan cavalry charges the Brazilians who are partially in square, the supporting units will advance, and dust clouds on the horizon will indicate the presence of more defenders. What will happen? Three or four players will be maneuvering the troops in our very first action of this new entry in our continuing “Obscure Wars Series.” Our battles will be based on the new Osprey book Armies of the War of the Triple Alliance 1864-1870 (Men At Arms 499), the first detailed source for this conflict ever published in English! |
#15
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
“The Waterloo of South America,” May 24, 1866
Played June 27, 2015 In 54mm By Chas The largest battle in South America, with 60,000 men engaged on both sides, was the decisive land engagement of the War of the Triple Alliance, which saw Paraguay fighting Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay 1864-1870. For this scenario, I gamed the action on the Allied Left Flank (Brazil), where the attacking Paraguayan army had come closest to breaking through the defenders’ lines. The advantages the Allies had with their superior rifled muskets over the Paraguayans converted smoothbores was balanced by giving the Paraguayan attackers superior numbers, better initial placement and support from a horse artillery gun and a rocket battery. Since the cavalry was historically used in shock charges rather than dismounted action, it also gave me a chance to revise some of my cavalry vesrus infantry square rules--another reason the action is known as a “Waterloo” style battle—besides the fact that a dictator was defeated by an alliance of other nations. In only 3 1 /2 hours over the course of five game turns, we entertained ourselves in an exciting tabletop action, where the advantage switched several times between the two sides. In this small and quite manageable game, with only one player on each side, I acted as Game Master. Both players this time were very aggressive gamers, but who had not met each other previously, which made for interesting times indeed! I used about 250 infantry and 40 cavalry figures, each representing about 20 real men. The action started off with the defensive Brazilian infantry brigade set up on their own right flank, one blue coated 25 figure regiment in lines against the advancing enemy. The tan clad Volunteers were deployed in a three quarter square to their left, to stand against two the red cavalry regiments, who had taken the first turn to close within range to charge them from both the front (lancers) and extreme left flank. Two other infantry brigades (of two regiments each) of Paraguayans, in red coats and shakos, stretching almost all the way across the table, were slowly entering as well! Their rocket battery could hit anywhere from off board, and the horse gun was limbered up in the center between two brigades, to move as directed. So while the basic nature of the action was set, the execution was up to each player. The attackers would have two turns to dominate the defenders before more Brazilians came onto the table: another infantry brigade in the center, and their own blue cavalry on the wide open Brazilian left flank. The Paraguayan attacking player was warned that enemy reinforcements could appear on the flank, but did not send out any skirmishers there, as he was busy advancing everyone to the farthest possible distance, in order to dominate the entire field before the enemy could respond with his second wave of troops. The Paraguayans took fairly heavy casualties with his attacking infantry in order to put pressure on the Brazilian regulars in their kepis,, holding out in line before his own left flank brigade (Brazilian Right), so these units could not come to the aid of the Volunteers. Then the attacking cavalry took casualties but charged home, sending the Volunteers defenders routing off into a small formation of regulars backing them up, which fell back as well. Although the cavalry did not get its regular charge bonus against infantry in square, the lancer regiment in their wide crowned flat hats still got its own bonus against them! As the Paraguayans advanced on this open field, all of the defenders fell back, heavily damaged, some of the Brazilians regulars being forced off table sideways into the oblivion of the marshes on their own right. Other defenders rallied off the rear and would reenter. A desperate Volunteer formation held off remnants of cavalry hitting them close to their rear edge of the board from two directions at once, and was awarded a unit citation! Although taking casualties, the Paraguayans had almost blown the starting Brazilians right off the table, and now dominated two thirds of it! Things looked grim for the defenders as their own reinforcements entered on Turn 3. One of the Brazilian Second Brigade regiments, the National Guard with their broad brimmed hats and blue coats, entered in the center to form a new defensive line. The Brazilian second regiment of ‘Zuavos de Bahia’ (Zouaves) never did make it on the board, although it maneuvered off table to cover the original Brazilian right flank that had been lost earlier. The Paraguayan infantry fell before the superior rifle fire of the National Guard in droves, before they could close to their own effective range, which was only one third that of their opponents. Then it was the chance of the Brazilian cavalry, who entered far in the rear on the open Brazilian left flank, and turned in behind the advancing Paraguayan third brigade. With the artillery gun and last rocket salvoes proving ineffective, they charged home with great advantage against the enemy in the rear--who were in line rather than square formation! With full on charge bonus and attacking in the rear bonus as well, the enemy infantry routed back onto ranks which had been advancing before it as well, and much of the brigade was disorganized. With the Paraguayans having now lost their own cavalry and with their artillery having very bad luck, they had no way to clear the enemy out of their rear, and form up for further advance against the enemy, even though they now held almost all of the field. With the second Brazilian reinforcement regiment maneuvering to come onto the field, the Paraguayan commander, who had seen victory in his grasp, was forced to declare that he could no longer hope to win. Therefore the historical results of the battle were once again reenacted. It was the Brazilian cavalry which really sealed the victory, as in the historical accounts of the action. They were the only riders on a par with the Paraguayan horsemen. Although I had added a new game rule for cavalry throwing Bolas in defense against other cavalry, this was not attempted, as no horse vs horse action occurred. This new battle in my ‘Obscure Wars’ series was lots of fun. Like the previously played Crimean War actions, it showed clearly the change in the nature of a battle where one side has superior long arms. (I expect this will be the case in the Franco-Prussian War as well, another conflict rarely gamed in our Big Scale (54mm or 2 ˝ “ toy soldiers). Like unequal Colonial wars of Europeans against indigenous peoples, such as my recently gamed out New Zealand Maori wars game, other advantages must be given to the side with inferior weapons technology, if that side is to have a chance for victory. Tuyuti Casualties Paraguay: Cavalry 20 Infantry 54 Total: 74 Brazil Cavalry 10 Infantry 38 Total: 48 The Paraguayans had fired off all of their rockets, and half of their artillery ammunition. One player had asked me how good the South American troops were, say compared to European regulars. I don’t know. I rated them all as Crack, and the cavalry as Elite. They seemed to have fought bravely and well in this war, and all classes of units performed heroically. For comparison, in the earlier Mexican-American War, the large cavalry arm of the Mexicans, who were also good riders, never attempted a charged on the invading American infantry. But the cavalry from South America did charge, and often, even against rifled muskets. I had planned to offer the Brazilian player the superior repeating cavalry carbines for dismounted action, as shown in my source book, which would have given them great firepower dismounted.. But closer examination revealed that these were not issued until the next year, 1867, so I did not. The action showed the effectiveness of good cavalry properly handled on both sides, and they had a major impact on the results in both cases, although taking large casualties. The best source in English on the military aspects of this war I have found is the recently published Armies of the War of the Triple Alliance 1864-1870 (Osprey, Men At Arms 499). Last edited by chas; July 15th, 2015 at 09:53 AM. |
#16
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
This is a very interesting blog,
@chas
. Did you ever finish counting all of these "beans" and how/where do you store all of this "crap?"
Member: Mid-Atlantic Region 'Scapers "Strategy without tactics is the most circuitous route to victory, but great tactics without a strategy is just the cacophony before defeat." ~Sun Tzu 500 BCE |
#17
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
JohnGee,
Come and see! (I'm always inviting him over). Sleep over. Play games. I live in one bedroom, and my toys live in the other! No, I still have a couple of categories to count, but I'm busy with lots of other large gaming projects, like chronologically indexing all of the unoffical China Scenarios for Memoir 44 on the Days of Wonder site (!?!) So I can spend years playing them. I just did a toy soldier game on the 1937 Shanghai battle, which actually started WWII (many people think it started in Poland). Etc., etc., etc. Last edited by chas; July 15th, 2015 at 06:36 PM. |
#18
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
Just a note that we're now playing 54mm toy soldier games here monthly. Right now we're getting ready for our sixth Crimean War game. Anyone interested near NYC can PM me. We start at noon and play until dinner.
Hey John, its only a blog when no one else joins in! I'm now taking my first digital photos, although I don't know how to post them here yet. These will add to a dozen or more photo albums I've been filling since the 1960s! |
#19
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
Figure it out, chas! I was just hunting through this entire (short) thread, looking for pictures. Please, could we have some pictures?
|
#20
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
Hey
@chas
- I thoroughly enjoy your blog and description of obscure battle reenactments, but I have absolutely *NO* substantive knowledge about the realm of the 54mm toy soldier arena. However, I've recently (this year) made some new friends from the South Jersey Confederation of Wargamers (SJCW) down here that meet on the second Saturday of the month at the Cape May Court House Senior Citizen Center (CMCH-SCC), where they "play" historical battles with highly detailed and exquisitely painted (NMCOT) 15mm, 28mm, and 54mm models; and sometimes aircraft or naval ships.
Member: Mid-Atlantic Region 'Scapers "Strategy without tactics is the most circuitous route to victory, but great tactics without a strategy is just the cacophony before defeat." ~Sun Tzu 500 BCE |
#21
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
Yes, and I understand that they occasionally play 54mm with RECON AND RUSHES, which is my favorite WWII rules system. Its been played at Historical Miniatures Gaming Society Conventions for years, since it was published long ago by The Toy Soldier Company (Shameless Plug, although I don't know if they have any copies left any more). I also have about eight other rules systems yet unpublished for various periods, which I use here at the Chas Game Palace with a different set of players, except for Taeblewalker, who'll try anything.
(Edit) PS: If you're truly desperate to see the photos, join littlewars@yahoogroups.com and see their photo section, where a pal has just started to post them for me--over 120 of them which I've taken over the last six months! Last edited by chas; September 17th, 2015 at 02:04 PM. |
#22
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
MINIATURES SCENARIOS PLAYED 1968-2015
BY CHAS Fifty Years of 54mm Wargaming From Medieval To The Korean War Key: (C) = Convention Game (CL) = Club Game (H) = Hypothetical Historical I = (Imaginary) This list represents over 100 games in over 30 different conflicts that I have run with 54mm toy soldiers using my own wargame rules. Most were based on historical battles, those that could have happened but did not (‘Hypothetical’) and a few were imaginary. Thanks to all who have gone before for their inspiration, especially H. G. Wells and Donald Featherstone. Let us hope that the great Age of Wars is now ending. It has been left to the traumatized humans, even those like me who have not served, to act them out. MEDIEVAL AND FANTASY Swords Against the Skraelings: The Vikings In North America (C, I) Storybook Medieval: The Sherrif of Nottingham Assaults Greystoke Castle (I) With many diverse characters both Good and Evil such as William Tell, Robin Hood, Vikings, And Etc. Small Skirmish: Two Nobles and a Boundary (H) Kullikovo: Mongols Against Russians 1380 CE Fantasy: Tolkienish Forest Encounter (I) Men, Elves, Dwarves, Amazons vs Orcks, Skeletons, and an Ogre (with Magicians) Hansando 1592 The Japanese Invade Korea THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR 1642-1651 Twittington Manor (Early War) (C, H) Edgehill I: Rupert vs Ramsey On The Royalist Right Edgehill II: Parliament Counter Attacks Windsor (H) Cheriton THE SEVEN YEARS WAR IN EUROPE Rossback Leuthen I: The Kirchberg Leuthen II: The Churchyard THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR Turtle Creek (Braddock’s Defeat) (CL) Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon) Landing At Louisborg Quebec THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION The Battle of Brooklyn Oriskany Saratoga Yorktown Breakout (H) THE NAPOLEONIC WARS Assaye (Wellington In India I) Argaum (Wellington In India II) The Peninsula (H) Vimero Liepzig I: The First battle of Wachau Leipzig II: Mockern The British Navy vs Pirates (I) Kaiser vs Czar: Norther Russia, 1812 Hougoumont (Waterloo) THE WAR OF 1812 Murray’s landing (C, H) Bladensberg (near Washington, D.C.; polayed twice) (CL) New Orleans: Chalmette POSTNAPOLEONIC EUROPE The First Carlist War In Spain Algeria, 1834 The First Carlist War In Spain Oriamendi, 1837 THE TEXAS WAR OF INDEPENDENCE Fannin At the Alamo (H) San Antonio de Behar (H) THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR Molino Del Rey MERCENARY ADVENTURE Fillibuster Expedition: William Walker In Nicaragua THE CRIMEAN WAR Sebastopol: The Light Brigade (H) All cavalry; The British vs The Russians Inkerman The British and French vs The Russians Tchernaya River The French and Sardinians vs The Russians Eupatoria The Turks vs The Russians Kurudere: Caucasian Front, The Turks vs The Russians THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR The East The Attack of the Confederate Second Brigade (H, 196 Artillery Road (H, played twice) Benjamin, NC (H) For Facuppee, Florida (H, with British Intervention in the Florida Keys) Bull Run: Blackburn’s Ford Bull Run: Matthew’s Hill Bull Run: Henry House Hill Maryland Heights: The Garibaldi Guard Antietam: The Cornfield and The Sunken Road Antietam: Crack In The Cornfield The 14th Brooklyn and The Pennsylvania Bucktails vs The Confederate Texas Brigade The Streets of Fredericksburg Brandy Station All cavalry Gettysburg Lookout Tower, The First Day (H) Olustee, FL Secessionville, Charelston SC 1862 Ft. Sumter, 1863 The West Shiloh Pea Ridge Valverde Glorietta Pass The Great Galveston Raid THE VICTORIAN IMPERIAL/COLONIAL ERA The British The Indian Mutiny: Treachery At Chinhut The Northwest Frontier, India (H) Gunga Din (I) The Egyptian Campaign: The Camp (H) The Sudan: The Train (H) Khartouom: Rescuing Gordon 1885 New Zealand Maori Wars, Battle of Ohaeawai, 1845 Zulu War: Fort Durban, Natal (H) Zulu War: The Kraal (H) The French The French Adventure In Mexico: Puebla, 18623 (Cinco de Mayo) The French Adventure In Mexico: Santa Poco (H) The French Foreign Legion: North Africa—Hold the Fort (H) The French Foreign Legion: North Africa—The Advance Column (H) The French Foreign Legion: Syria—Fort Zindertrois (H) The French Foreign Legion and the Gunboat Navy In Indochina: Up The River! Vs the Black Flag Pirates The Spanish American War Cuba; Kettle and San Juan Hills Puerto Rico: Coamo The Philippines: Second Manilla The Italians Abyssinia: Adowa I 1896:The Center Brigades Abyssinia: Adowa II: Dubormida’s Brigade The Taiping Rebellion In China The Ever Victorious Army (H) “Freddy and The Pirates” (H) Amphibious “Saving Princess Aya” (H) Gordon In China: “The Guns of Shanhai (H) Saving Gordon’t Honor (H): Suchow, 1863 The Boxer Rebellion In China Hsiku Arsenal South America The War of the Triple Alliance: Tuyuti, 1866 (Paraguay vs Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay) Steampunk Science Fiction Victoria and Alexander On Mars (I) The British and Russians Rescue Their Colonists from John Carter of Mars THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR The Defense of Chingchou THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION OF 1916 “Brisco County and Pancho Villa” (I) (Also with Tom Mix, Ambrose Bierce, Lt. George S. Patton, Jr, and baby Anthony Quinn) WORLD WAR I 1914-1918 Tannenberg 1914 Fort Marcel: The German Assault At Verdun 1916 (H) Capture The Command Post 1918 Trench Raiding-US vs Germans; played twice The Big Push: 1918 (H) INTERWAR China: the Warlords, 1924 (H) Multifactionj Nationalists try to get gold to the railroad Russian Civil War: A Treasure Hunt (H, I) Multifaction; With Young Indiana Jones, Baba Yaga, and many others The Spanish Civil War: University City, Madrid 1936 WORLD WAR II 1937-1945 WESTERN EUROPE Operation Fjord: The British In Norway (H) Operation Sword of Victory: The Germans Invade Britain (H) Operation Monte Olympus: The Italians Invade Greece (H) Operation Drop On Rome: The US Doesn’t Turn Back! (H) Operation Allies Three: The US, British, and French In France (H) Clash of Armor: Germans vs Americans (C, H) Battle of the Bulge: Defense of Charleville (H) Operation Dutch Canal: the British Attack The Germans (H) A Canal Too Far: The Allies In Holland (H) Five plays, including (C) The Weismar Escape 1945: Save The Scientists (H) British, Russians, and Germans try to capture/escape with German scientists NORTH AFRICA Operation Desert Pirates: The Germans Attack The British in Libya (H) Operation Algerian Maginot (Operation Torch) (H) The US vs France. Thala, Tunesia The British at The Kasserine Pass (H) Operation Patton’s Punch (H) THE EASTERN FRONT Operation Luftwaffe Sector (H) Russian Paradrop on reinforcing German armored column Operation Karlsgrad Bridge (Stalingrad) (H) Played twice Operation Prussian Crossroads German attack and Russian counterattack. (H) Kursk Skirmish July 1943 (H) THE PACIFIC AND THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER The Singapore Campaign Game Series (H) The Japanese attack the British in successive defensive positions Operation River Slim (H) The Japanese attack the British at Singapore Operation Burma Road (H) Japanese vs British Operation Dundee (H) The Japanese invade Australia Operation Island (H) The US attacks Japan (CHINA) Commando Mission To Hua Qing Hot Springs (I, CL) Adventure in the world of Terry and the Pirates, with Saburo Sakai, Japanese Frogmen, Chiang Kai Shek, and many others including The Dragon Lady. Played at The Toy Soldier Company. The Temple Out of Time (I) played twice; 3 players Nationalists, Japanese, Communists, archaeologists, temple ogres, and The Dragon! Shanghai 1937: The Villa of Lucky Plants THE KOREAN WAR Chosin Resevoir, 1950 The Chinese Communists attack the US Marines Last edited by chas; September 20th, 2015 at 01:30 PM. |
#23
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
I have acquired more rare Engineer Basevich sets made in Russia:
The Red Army the Red Army (2) The White Guard The Counter Revolution (more whites) Heroes of the Revolution WWII Partisans Now I'm on the trail of their elusive Crimean War set, the only one I know about that I don't have. It sure would be great if I could find some while I'm still playing that war! |
#24
|
||||
|
||||
Re: 54MM: The One True Scale
A cloud can change its semblance, yet retain its will With the intimacy of destruction, One knows what it is to be alive The empty sky holds no reflection, for sorrow - Eslo Rudkey |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Attack Scale vs. Defense Scale | GreyOwl | Comic Hero Custom Creations | 14 | February 22nd, 2010 12:41 AM |
heroscape scale | the mighty Thor | Custom Units & Army Cards | 5 | October 25th, 2007 03:10 AM |
what scale are the HS figures? | destroyer | HeroScape General Discussion | 9 | April 30th, 2007 05:19 PM |
Scale Questions | ALLvs1 | Custom Terrain & Obstacles | 6 | April 20th, 2007 06:44 PM |
What is the scale of a HS hex? | DoesntCompute | HeroScape General Discussion | 42 | September 15th, 2006 09:53 PM |