Battle of San Millán-Osma 8 June 1813

Saturday afternoon at the Abyss, a 10 turn game of General d'Armee 2 played out in just under 5 hours.

The game was put on by John (john de terre neuve - check his blog) and Graham. Details of the scenario from John are found below.

Anglo-Portuguese (Attackers): Played by William and Michel. French (Defenders): Commanded by Myriam and myself. John and Graham were the Gamemasters. 

View of the table after Turn 4 arrival of Montfort's Brigade is the corner.

The layout of the terrain naturally split the battlefield into two distinct flanks, which worked out perfectly. A huge thanks to our game masters, John and Graham, who each took charge of a flank. Their expert guidance kept the game flowing without any noticeable delays or controversies. Both William and Myriam were complete newcomers playing their first game of GdA2. This was my third match, the last taking place over a year ago.

Stolen directly from John notes, " The Battle of San Millán-Osma  8 June 1813 was a sharp Allied advance-guard action fought during the campaign leading directly to the decisive Battle of Battle of Vitoria. It took place in northern Spain around the villages of San Millán and Osma as the army of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington pushed eastward against the retreating French under Honoré Charles Reille and Bertrand Clausel.

Map stolen from the GMs files

Wellington’s army was advancing in several columns through difficult mountainous terrain in an attempt to outflank the French and cut their communications. On 18 June, Allied forces struck two separated French positions:

At San Millán, the Light Division under Charles Alten attacked elements of Clausel’s corps. The British light infantry and riflemen aggressively pushed the French out of the village after hard fighting in narrow streets and broken ground. The French withdrew after suffering significant casualties and confusion.

At Osma, to the northeast, part of Thomas Graham’s column engaged French troops covering the road network. Fighting here was less intense but added pressure on the French flank and rear. "

Pinoteau's Brigade trying to blunt the Allied Advance

View of the Allied forces bearing down on Espejo

William ponders his next move. Graham looks on.

Michel ignores the ref's advice and prepares to throw red dice.

WIP 10mm Republican Roman Army Part 2

 Finished basing the troops. I ran out of steel 20x40mm bases and had to improvise. I had some plastic bases hanging about that I cut down to size. So here are the Hastatii with Pilum and Shield.

Hastatii with Pilum and Shield.

And the Cavalry based and flocked. 

WIP 10mm Republican Roman Army

Getting a 10mm Republican Roman army based and ready is a great way to stay ahead of the club arms race, especially since 10mm provides fantastic rank-and-file mass on the table without requiring a massive playing area. I commenced to base the army that I received early in the spring, brough to life by Old Guard Painters. The figures being Pendraken Republican Roman Army Pack.

Partial - Pendraken Republican Roman Army Pack.

The more I look at the figures, the more I am thinking it might just be an ADLG army to play with.

Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare At Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950

The various WRG rulesets were a mainstay of my gaming experience from the mid 1970s through the 1990s. Too many hours were wasted away playing the WRG WW2 rules with our 6mm microarmour armies. I still have the troops but have only played a couple of times in the last three decades.

Based upon the recommendations of two gaming buddies from out east I picked up the 2025 revamped version of the Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare At Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950. Printed on demand by Lulu. I have also lucked into a collection of 15mm WW2 minis. I hope  to try to entice some of the local Montreal gamers to give this a shot

War of the Ring

 I haven't posted in a while. I was on a trip to Halifax for 5 weeks and returned to Montreal last Monday evening. Yesterday I was out for a four player game of War of the Ring. We try to meet on the first Friday of each month for a game, but life has a habit of getting in the way.

Stan and Mike won the game. We started playing at 1PM and ended with a Dark Lord military victory at 6PM. It was the first time I played since before COVID. The Ringbearer was in Mordor but only on the 2nd rung of the track, when the shadow fell on Matt and myself. 

28mm Gallic Warband - Saga Part II

Back in early January this unit was my first entry for the 2026 Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. It was a unit purchase from Black Tree Design that has been sitting in my pile of lead for ages. As I wrote I did not find any shields and I placed an order with Warlord Games. Both the shields and decals came in and this is the result. This was first attempt using waterslide decals in decades. I hope to improve with the next group of figures. 

WIP Ragnarok 9 Brunanbuhr - Kickstarter

 Another Kickstarter backed. This time a four point Scot's warband which consisted of 25 x 28mm white metal miniature wargames figures sculpted by Colin Patten. Since this was Ragnarok 9, I assumed that Mr. Patten has had a series of successful Kickstarter campaigns. Monday I finally got around to opening the package which has been sitting on my desk since early May.

Kickstarter figures cleaned, mounted and base-coated,
Same for the Silver Bayonet Spanish Unit

My kickstarter reward 25 miniatures supplied with separate weapons and shields

1 x warrior, 8 x hearthguard and 16 x warriors

with a bonus add on of 2 Celtic Heroes. Two or three were top heavy and kept tipping over as they were superglued to their recesssed bases. I was impressed that the four axe or sword weapons and hands easily fit into place. That has not always been my experience.

The next step will be to hand drill for the insertion of  the spears. Most of the hands seem to be a solid fist as opposed to opnen.This is my only real complaint about the figures.

TFL Infamy, Infamy WIP

 I picked up the Infamy Infamy rules by Two Fat Lardies a while ago. Last year I purchased some Gauls that were already pre-based from the Facebook Marketplace.. After playing some other game sets by TFL I thought I came up with a solution that won't require my rebasing the troops. The figures were based 6 figures to an element. I got a buddy to print up some movement trays for me. Their sole purpose will be for my Gauls using Infamy Infamy. A recess was included in the tray design for a single D6 to keep track of casulties. After some experimention I think I found a look that I like for the trays.

Above are the trays that have just been spray painted skeleton bone.  The elements were glued into a central recess large enough for the unit. 

The above photo are the six movement trays that are completed, I used a sifted Krautcover Scencis Soil of Sparta for the basing. Six completed with six to go.

LOTRs - Haradrim or Southron Easternlings 28mm Part 2

 Friday I enjoyed the weather and the yard and exercised some Army Painter rattle cans to spray coat my growing collection of movement trays. Since Sunday was a cool rainy day in Montreal it was a good time to catch up on busy work. I completed basing the Haradrim figures I received from Chris early last month. 

Half the figures. The rest were based about a month ago.

The slot-bases were covered with Vallejo Earth Texture paint, with some Battlefield Rock formations added. These formations were then coated with Mod Podge which acts as a sealant. After sitting to dry for 24 hours I added some AK Dry Grass Flock for the wasteland effect I want for these figures. This warband is destined for use with Saga Age of Magic, a rule set which I have yet to play, or Dragons Rampant.

SAGA - Greek tragedy.

Last night the Montréal Historical Wargaming Club held a monthly Saga/Age of Magic night at the Abyss. From the Age of Hannibal I choose Epirus as the city option for my Warband. I was faced with a Spartan warband from the Age of Alexander. In the words of my opponent we had a great lil brawl. Quick and brutal. At the end of the 4th round, Sparta had three saga dice remaining. Since I choose Pyrrhus I, king of Epirus as a legendary Warlord, I would still generate between four and six.