1879 Battle of Charasiab at Colonial Barracks convention - updated Nov 21, 2015

[Traveler Man]

Fantastic!    I envy the players who get to game on that terrain. 

[Marine0846]

Wonderful terrain.
Just love it.
Can't wait to read the battle report.
Thanks for sharing the thread.

[FifteensAway]

First, you make me glad I have 15 mm figures - don't need so much space or if I use so much space I have so much bigger a battlefield.  Now, if I only had your skills with terrain.  Stunning, truly.

But the real point is: I'm in SoCal next week, wife wants to spend time with some famous guy down there named Mickey.  Thus, where do I go to see this fine work in the flesh?! 

I do hope to visit Brookhurst and Warin15mm's other favorite shop, Arnie's trains - and maybe meet the fine man himself.  But how do I swing an invite - me being a total stranger and something of a cordial curmudgeon to boot?

Some of the finest terrain out there, then or now or when.

[Yggdrasil]

Thanks, Yggdrasil.  In case you want some more detailed info on how I built those rocky hills using garden bark-chips, here's a link to my last painstakingly over-detailed tutorial on the subject:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2014/04/building-last-rocky-wood-chip-hill-blow.html 

In my experience they do work well for "Old West" gaming.  I used one of the same hills for my 150th Anniversary BATTLE OF CAMERONE game, set in Mexico, and I've seen mountains that look very similar here in California and also in Texas, and seen photos of more of the same in Utah and South Dakota.

Sweet! Thanks for the great tutorial. Its very inspiring 

[Atheling]

Just lovely MG! 

Darrell.

[Mad Guru]

Thanks once again for your positive feedback, one and all!

Fifteensaway... Hahahah, what can I say?!?!?! Thanks for your high praise and I do appreciate your own appreciation of the inherent advantages of smaller scales in general & 15mm in particular.  Not sure how serious you are but if you were here during the next one or two weekends there's a chance you could see or even participate in a play-test of the Charasiab scenario.

When exactly will you be in LA?  Disneyland and Brookhurst are both a bit South of me in Orange County.  Also I may soon need to remove the Eastern-most 4 feet of terrain in order to put my desk back to work as an actual desk, as my partner and I have a looming deadline.  Still the other 8' should remain in place.

Anyway feel free to PM me re: dates and times for a possible visit.  Actually I'd love to visit warin15mm's place myself, though it might be a case of sensory overload!  I mentioned a while back to another LAFer based in SoCal that we should consider mounting a West a Coast USA version of BLAM -- the "British Lead Adventure Meet-up".  But until then, I can get by hosting an occasional fellow traveller from... wherever.

[Mad Guru]

The longstanding "Rumor of War(game)" at my place finally came to pass, and a fine day it was if I don't say so myself.

Unfortunately neither FifteensAway nor Arundel (AKA: the "other" Daryl, who lives less than 20 miles down the freeway from me in Pasadena) were able to make it, but I managed to snag 3 friends and fellow gamers, all of whom were alerted to the fact that it would be a learning experience for me re: all aspects of the scenario and its army lists as well as a game.  But they were all very gracious and it went very well, with a good mix of competitive "Drive for Victory" and collaborative game development.

I've put up a rather long and elaborate report on my blog detailing the play-test game and some of the adjustments and new ideas for the scenario which it inspired, which you can visit here, and thanks in advance for your time if you do so:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2015/09/charasiab-play-test-10.html

Meanwhile, this wouldn't be the Lead Adventure Forum if I didn't grab at least a handful of pics from the game and post them, so here goes...

Calm before the storm in the verdant Logar Valley:



High ground bristling with Afghan regulars:



Action commences:



12th Bengal Cavalry snake between the edge of the Western Spur of "Red Ridge" and the East bank of the Kabul River in order to avoid Afghan Infantry fire... but will they be AMBUSHED on the North side of the spur...?



Wider view of the action on the British left:



23rd BNI (Sikh Pioneers" supporting 5th Gurkhas who are in turn supporting the 72nd Highlanders at the front:



On the British right, Major White's "Feint" brigade advances towards Khairabad Village and the Conical Hills:



Afghan Regular Artillery on the heights prepare to open fire on them:



72nd Highlanders charge the Afghan Regulars occupying "Red Ridge":



Turns out the only ambush waiting for 12th Bengal Cavalry on the North side of the spur is a couple of local farmers...



Wider view taking in the East bank of Kabul River:



Wider still:



On the British right, 92nd Highlanders approach Khairabad Village, filled with Tribesmen...



Fire is exchanged...



View from behind Khairabad Village...



And more fun ensues...












Again, if you'd like to see and read a lot more about the proceedings, please stop by my blog, here's the LINK again, just to make it easy, since it's such a long scroll back up to the top of this post:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2015/09/charasiab-play-test-10.html

I hope in the near future when I run the next play-test of this scenario it will be attended by at least one fellow LAFer... Pasadena Daryl, my eye is on you!

And UK Darrell... if you can swing the plane ticket, since we dropped my son off at college on the other end of the country last month, there is now a spare bed available for visitors!

[OSHIROmodels]

A most enjoyable game and table to behold 

cheers

James

[marianas_gamer]

Really, really nice looking game 
LB

[Sparrow]

Great looking game and so many terrain ideas to try! Thank you!

[Atheling]

I read all about it and gawped at the pics on your blog yesterday Mad Guru..... excellent write up and some really very inspiring photographs.

Basically i'm saying I love it all 

Darrell.

[Iowa Grognard]

I keep oogling these pics.

That view from the artillery on the ridge is pretty darned cool.  The focus being in the distance, on the looming threat, does a nice job of putting the viewer there.  Can't get enough stuff like this.

[Mad Guru]

Thank you, James, LB, Sparrow, Darrell, and Iowa Grognard.

It's very gratifying to read your comments.

Iowa Grognard: I'm glad you like that pic.  I do too.  As I keep play-testing the game and hopefully take it on the road to The Colonial Barracks Convention in Louisiana, I'll be sure to take a ton more pics.

This project has come a long way but still has a bit further to go.  I have some Charasiab-related figure conversions to do and some very small terrain pieces to finish up and one last large piece of terrain to build... plus I'm still waiting for a few command packs to be released by Artizan for their Second Afghan War range, so I can finally raise a more accurately uniformed and equipped unit of the 92nd Highlanders, as well as a new unit specifically painted as the 5th Punjab Infantry (khaki uniforms with green facings), plus I have 30 figures to paint (or get painted for me!) in khaki uniforms and brown turbans so they can replace their stand-ins and accurately serve as the 23rd Bengal Native Infantry (Sikh Pioneers), and then... well, maybe I'll really be done.

[Atheling]

I'm still waiting for a few command packs to be released by Artizan for their Second Afghan War range

They have been released but sadly there are no pice on the NS site as of yet.

Darrell.

[HerbyF]

Lovely game. Beautiful terrain. Wish I could play on that table.