Into the New Year!

 Happy New Year one and all! Best wishes for 2025!

My other gaming blog has a fulsome wrap-up of my hobby year for those interested: https://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2024/12/2024-in-review.html

BUT the key update is that just before Christmas, we moved from Australia to Hawaii for work reasons. So my French Army is now in storage for the new few years, which is probably lucky as it was rather fulsome and needed no further expansion!  

The nuances of moving internationally being what they are, I couldn't bring my voluminous array of paints with me. But Fear Not! I have a cunning plan moving forward to continue my dalliances with VSF gaming (which have been going for awhile now in different forms, it must be admitted)

"Into the future Mon Ami!" (pic from the Musée de l' Armée, Paris)

Ben Buckler Disappearing Gun Emplacement

Constructed in 1893, the Ben Buckler Gun Emplacement (aka "Bondi Battery") is one of the last coastal fortifications but in the colonial era before Australia's Federation in 1901. Fitted with a 9.2inch naval gun, it one the last part of Sydney's outer defence perimeter and the culmination of the iterative fortification of Sydney since the Crimean War.

In 1871 a string of works were undertaken at outer and inner Middle Head, Georges Head, South Head, Steele Point and Bradleys Head. However, improvements in armaments led to continual redundancy of the fortifications by the 1880's. 

The batteries, including Ben Buckler, were aimed to maximise the new gun technologies of the era, and as a deterrent to hostile attack by increasingly efficient naval vessels. The coastal guns were used in a 'counter-bombardment' role - to repel armed ships approaching, passing or bombarding population centres like Sydney. They had to be equal to the power of ship-mounted guns, and were used in association with smaller guns aimed at attacking vessels entering port, and with other harbour defence systems such as mines and torpedo boats. The 9.2 inch breech-loading gun types were originally designed for the Royal Navy. An 1879 British Ordinance Committee had earlier identified the need for Britain and its colonies to be able to match arms developments such as those of the German Imperial Army and Navy (Krupp guns). 

The Ben Buckler ('Bondi') Battery - specifics 
The three single guns batteries consisted of a gun pit that incorporated a Mark '6' 9.2" (234mm) British-made breech-loading Armstrong 'disappearing' gun. The disappearing guns were prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century throughout Britain, its colonies and the United States. They were chosen because of their range and power, and upon firing and recoil, the gun retracted into its concealed pit and was therefore a lesser target to attacking naval vessels. The domed metal shield that covered the gun pit was devised to deflect incoming shells striking the battery. 

During the late nineteenth century, ten (10) 9.2" breech-loading 'counter bombardment' guns of this type were established in Australia. These comprised three (3) at Sydney's eastern suburb batteries, plus a spare barrel; four (4) in Victoria at Fort Nepean and Queenscliff, and two (2) in South Australia (purchased in 1888). The Adelaide guns were never established into Fort Glenelg but were bought back by the British government in 1915. 

The Sydney guns were purchased with three (3) hydro-pnuematic mounts and had the following serial numbers: Shark Point: #7317; Signal Hill: #7318; Bondi: #7319, and the spare: #7320. Of these guns, only the Signal Hill, Vaucluse barrel survives on public display at the Royal Australian Artillery Museum at North Fort, North Head. 

The Armstrong Foundry gun at Ben Buckler was cast in 1891 and established within its concrete casemate in 1893. The casemate allegedly had ten-metre (10m) thick concrete walls. Transportation of the gun from the Victoria Barracks, Sydney, involved a team of thirty-six horses and took three (3) weeks. The gun weighed 22 tons and was installed on an EOC Hydro-pneumatic Mark '1' disappearing mount, operated by hydraulic power. The gun was fired through a slot in the iron 'top' shield and could fire a 172-kilogram armour piecing projectile to a range of 8200 metres (8.2 kilometres). 

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald of April 1908 reported the findings of a Board of Enquiry into the premature firing of the Ben Buckler gun - illustrative of the dangers associated with this technology. 

It was not until the 1920s that Australian coastal defence sites began to be re-equipped with modern breech-loading 9.2" naval guns. These comprised the seven two-gun 'Mark 10' 9.2" batteries completed by World War Two. The new Sydney batteries comprised North Fort at North Head, and the Banks Battery at La Perouse. These sites still exist (minus the guns). 

Current Status
The Ben Buckler gun site has survived today through a series of unique events. Obsolete by the outbreak of World War Two, the gun was held in reserve. With the Federal military disposal program after the war, the majority of coastal gun fortifications were dismantled.  

The Australian coastal defence guns were generally offered for sale to be cut up for scrap value. No buyer was obtained for the Ben Buckler gun so it was allegedly buried under direction of Waverley Council in the 1950's, complete with its hydraulic raising mechanism and concrete emplacement works. The work allegedly involved the dumping of five feet of sand into and over the emplacement which was then incorporated into public grasslands.  

The gun's existence was forgotten until disturbance by excavation trench works associated with the Bondi sewerage treatment works in 1984. The exposed top of the concrete casemate was uncovered by mechanical diggers, photographed and surveyed by the (then) Waterboard Authority. The existence of the fortification led to its inclusion in the Waverley Heritage Study commissioned by council in 1990. At that time, the approximate location of the site was added to a modern plan of the Hugh Bamford Reserve. The gun is believed to have been retained within the below-ground level emplacement, although its existence has not been confirmed. The gun site survives as a buried archaeological feature.

From: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5056455

https://celebrating.waverley.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/43819#idx86269

More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Buckler_Gun_Battery

Battle for the Trading Outpost: Part 2

A roar of aerial and ironclad artillery signalled the commencement of the French attack upon the Martian Trading Outpost, and the dying on both sides began.

Somewhat unimaginatively, the French attack focused on the Martian Legions on the plains, and attriting the Red Legion holding the outpost, before unleashing the Guards to steal all the wine. Of course, the French could bombard the place to oblivion at leisure but that was the way of the hated Prussians or scorned Belgians, and General Escargot was under orders to capture the location for French use. 

And so the Martian sepoys were thrown in to lead the attack while the regulars stayed back to provide covering fire (a very Earthman approach, a cynic might suggest)

Martian view of the French left flank attack

Focusing fire on the left flank with Le Epee supporting, the French advanced steadily with aerial fires sweeping away the Martian artillery quickly (some good rolling for hits, AND some bad rolling for pin checks!). One unit of sepoy infantry made an early dash to secure the ruins (and the cover they invited).  Centrally the clanker landcruisers focused on counter battery fire, the sharpshooters sniped and the Grenadiers sipped champagne and patiently waited their turn. 

"These snazzy rouge pantalons will make us invincibles Mon Ami!"

Far out of the right wing, the Martian Gashants advanced and General Escargot deployed his own cavalry Regiment to counter (yes that is indeed 52 gashant models on the table at the same time!)

"Mon Dieu! Ennemie Cavalrie!"

Meanwhile the Legionaries advanced into a firing positions, and nobody really cared what they thought of things. It is the way of things in la Legion.

Back on the left flank crossfire whittled down the Martian Black legion, but Le Epee's fire - pinpoint at the start of the battle, rapidly became ineffective and a Hill Martian sharpshooter unit took the sepoys under fire, bogging down their advance. Spying his chance for gloire, Prince Imperial Louis-Napoléon (on secondment to the training cadre in Ideaus Fons) took command of the closest Sepoy unit - storming the hill, throwing back the Hill Martians and blasting them with panache and a dash of fusilade! For his actions that day he was subsequently gazetted with the award of the Légion d'honneur.

"Avant! Hommes en avant!"

The French Cavalerie had fully deployed by now and a standoff had evolved with both forces just outside of charge range (and looking magnificent, naturellmont!)

And when the dance had became tiresome and the fromage was all gone, the hooves of giant desert lizard creatures was defeaning as both Mounted formations committed to the charge!

First up, the French Cuirassiers crashed into the lead Martian cavalry...

...and instead of the newly painted Frenchies dying to a man in the great wargaming tradition, they saw off their opponents and sent them packing with heavy losses while only taking a single casualty themselves

And then the err.. other 'French' and Martian units contacted and the French strength of mounted arms was repeated!

As this second Martian unit fell back, the Cuirassiers added insult to injury by slamming into their flank

And as the dust cleared, the Martian Mounted force was looking rather battered

The fresh Martian unit charged the upstart Cuirassiers, who rose to the challenge yet again!

Having beaten back this third unit, and with fresh reinforcements from the Sepoy gashant squadron coming up, the Martian Cavalry Legion attempted to retire. Much of it was chased down and destroyed in detail.

Naturally, the French began considering a garlic jus to serve with the roasted carcasses, but perhaps a simple White Wine Sauce would be more appropriate...

The Final Insult: The Martian Cavalry Commander, resplendent
 in his fine armour, is slain by the jubilant Cuirassier commander

With that action done, it was time to embrace the spirit of "L'audace, encore l'audace, toujours l'audace!" and commit my Guards Battalion to the assault! Rolling to unpin the only Guard unit sporting a pin marker - snake eyes, and it routed off the table to investigate rumours that the Mess tent had opened early for pre dinner drinks.  Perhaps more pummelling of the defenders was the better part of valour...

Nevertheless, French had momentum on both flanks though the Martians had some untouched Defenders that needed routing out at the tip of the bayonet. It would be bloody work. Of course the French could stand off and pound the settlement to destruction but that would somewhat sour the view of the Martians that they sought to be allies. Time to encircle, besiege, and offer terms from a position of strength while saving precious French lives.

VP tally 

The French had captured the Ruins (1), had Prince Louis engage in Close Combat and survive (1), and destroyed 3 legions (9) for 11 points. Meanwhile the Martians retained control of the Trading Post (5) and had eliminated one French unit (the Guards unit that routed, to the chagrin of all) for a total of 6.  A Victory for France!

And so, my French Army was most reluctantly not returned back into their usual place of honour in Gav's figure cabinet, but placed into a new figure case bought just for them for long term storage. Rest and recover well mes hommes!

la Fin!

Epilogue: With a grand total of 52 Gashants on the table, Gav has proclaimed that this game was the winner of the World Record number of Gashants simultaneously fielded in a Space 1889 wargame. Post your accolades or provide evidence to the contrary! 

Battle for the Trading Outpost: Part 1

The prosperous Trading Outpost near Niliacus, complete with Liftwood supplies

It was with excitement and melancholy that Gav and I setup for our Space 1889 game this morning. Excited because EVERYTHING was going onto the table, including my brand new unit of French Cuirassiers on Gashants! A chance to get all of the last 4 years of building my French Armee de'Mars onto the table!

Mars pour le Francias!    

But also melancholy because this would be out last game for a number of years because I am moving overseas. Even in the wargaming community, Space 1889 is a rare 'niche within a niche' and finding a fellow geek only 15mins drive away who you can have an informed conversation about the relative merits of 'martian tack vs European tack' on Gashant models is rather special and rare!  Anyway, on with the game...

A Martian Artillery Battery - ready to defend!

After recent victories on the pains of Xanthe, French confidence and ambition was high. With conditions set and flanks secured through diplomacy (and slightly shadier means), the invigorated French army attempting to forcibly annex the outlying trading posts of the trading city state of Niliacus. Located on a nexus of four wet canals it offered a strategic access into Mare Acidalium, and a clear demonstration of strength would likely swag its ruler, Prince Dardag, to follow the example of Ideaus Fons and enter into an alliance with France. If this also granted access to the Driftwood plantations around Chryse and helped curb American ambitions from Thymiamata then all the better.

Rarely on Mars have Europeans mounted a Brigade level offensive operations, but that was exactly the plan here: 

- on the Left flank the French Sponsored Sepoys of Ideaus Fons (2 units of Regular Infantry), supported with a mitralleuse (poorly trained), and 2 units of Hill Martian sharpshooters

- on the right flank the légion étrangère (2 units of Regulars) with an attached unit of sharpshooters

- in the centre the Attack column comprised of 3 units of Grenadier Guards (Regular infantry with Fierce and Elite) and an attached company of sharpshooters. Closely supported by Ironclad Squadron with one Heavy land cruiser with Cannon and two Light land cruisers fitted with mitralleuse.

- In reserve, the Cavalerie Brigade, comprising French Curassiers, Lancers (models borrowed from the British garrison but most definitely French!) and Sepoy Cavalry, all mounted on Gashants

- in support, the French aerial gunship 'Le Epee' armed with a cannon

In total this was 19 units - about 3 times the size of a regular TMWWBK game

The Martian 'Red Legion' - gallant defenders of the Trading Outpost against the Earthmen!

The Martian defenders were arrayed in 4 Legions - the Red Legion in the Outpost, and a Legion on each flank on the plains. The Outpost itself offered the benefit of heavy cover at long range (including obscuring targets) but only light cover at short range where targets could be seen better

The Martians also had a supporting Gashant Legion of 3 units, which was both impressive and imposing on the table!

Victory Points would be awarded as follows, with subtle difference between armies

French

• Capture the Trading Outpost 5 VPs
• Capture the Ruins 1 VP
• Eliminate Martian forces 1 VP per 2 units
• Break Enemy Formations 3 VP per Legion
• Have Prince Imperial Louis-Napoléon enter Combat and survive 1 VP (rumours of his demise in Zululand were greatly exaggerated!)

Martian

• Hold the Trading Outpost 5 VPs
• Hold the Ruins 1VP
• Break French Forces 1 VP per unit
• Break French Formations 3 VP per Battalion
• Prince Imperial Louis-Napoléon falls in Combat 1 VP

The Martian 'Black Legion' on the Martian right Flank

Rules:

We used our usual adjustments to the rules, including the 'bag pull' method for random unit activations.

- the French Cuirassiers we treated as standard Regular Cavalry but their armour gave them the equivalent of light cover: that is, requiring 3 hits per casualty vice the usual 2.

- For simplicity, Le Epee got to move automatically but had to roll to activate her cannon armament, which fired as a standard cannon. (We still havent gotten around to making some specific damage tables and effects for Airships and walker Land Cruisers)

To suite the larger game size, we broke the Armies down into Commands of 2-3 units, all of which would be available for activation when their time came. To reflect better command and control, Martian Commanders could activate 2 units for each activation while French Commanders could activate 3 (Units still had to individually dice for activation success when activated)

    - for simplicity, the Commanding Officers of each unit group didn't really have an active role/impact or have individual skills, but that would be a nice addition for next time. The scale and scope of the game, with only 1 player per side, didnt permit it in this case

With the formations set and his orders given, General de Brigade Claude Escargot looked out one last time across the plan and signalled his men to begin the attack...

A Zulu Fort...for Mars?

Imagine this...with a liftwood observation post floating above it!

 

Just posting a quick article I came across in an old, old Magazine for making a Zulu War encampment by Mr Ian Weekley himself. Naturally, this sparked the idea of one for Mars for my Legion troops to defend against hordes of savage Hill Martians!

click for larger version

click for larger version

In fact this article comes from the hallowed pages of Miniature Wargames Issue 26 from July 1985, well back in last century (and almost 40 years ago in fact!)

Grey Lady Down: Rescuing the Airship Leland!

Back to Mars today, hosted by club mate Gav and with fellow Space 1889 aficionado Charles. Highly unusually for us, we kept the game size way down at 24 points, and played a modified scenario from the TMWWBK book. 

Using our modified rules tweaks listed here (but forgetting to use the Bolt Action dice drawing technique) I played a French force comprising:

- French Garde Grenadiers (12 man Regular Infantry) with Elite and Fierce (8 points)

- French Foreign Legionnaires (12 man Regular Infantry), with Fierce (7 points)

- 2 Skirmisher Squads (6 man/half strength Regular Infantry) (3 points each)

- Aerial vehicle crew (6 man/half strength Regular Infantry) (3 points)

The Leyand was cleverly constructed from card by Andrew P - all the fittings are magentised

The aerial transport ship Leland had emergency landed on the Xanthe plain while transporting French supplies to Idaeus Fons. The local manager of the owning company, Dubauve and Gallais, had great influence with the local magistrate and was able to solicit military assistance for its recovery. Locally stationed legionaries had linked up with the crew, and now waited for a rescue column to arrive- led by the newly arrived Garde Grenadiers on their first foray out of the city! Against them, 4 mixed Martian companies (*8 units of Cutters and Shooters) advanced, seeking to forcibly salvage the weapons and technology of the Earthmen.

The superior French rifles kept a number of Martian units pinned down and whittling them away slowly.  I managed to get my relief column into range and the volleys crashed out with regularity.

The Martians got some luck when their musketry took down a couple of the Airship's crew, pinning the unit. It failed to rally and the sailors fell back, abandoning the ship and their firing vantage point. The race for the ship was on!

And won by the Garde, who surged forward and began to pour the fire on. The Martians lost momentum and their casualties began to tell, falling backwards and a couple of units dispersing under fire.

The sound of rifle fire died away as the Martians melted back into the hinterland to lick their wounds

I thought I would be overwhelmed quickly, but lacking good leadership the Martians failed many of their activation rolls. In contrast, I didn't fail a single one all game and the Garde never rolled less than 11 !  That made it a rather one sided affair, though the Legionairres almost failed a pin check after taking a single casualty at a critical time and that would have really turned the game around.

Armée d'Mars in all its Glory! (minus the Cavalry WIP on my desk!)

Thanks to Gav and Charles for a fun game and the chance to get our figs out onto the table! Naturally we dreamed big plans for our next armies (my French army is now getting waaaay too big!)

French Land Cruiser unveiled!

Our planned game this week, to debut the French Grenadier Garde I painted earlier this year, unfortunately had to be cancelled when my mate got sick. Instead I invested time into a long stalled project... a French "Land Cruiser"!

Having trialled the design on Earth, the first four production vehicles were deployed to the German border to bolster the defences. Another pair were subsequently deployed to North Africa for expeditionary campaigning, and field tests were conducted in arid conditions.  With those lessons implemented, model Number 7 aka "Sept Chanceux" (Lucky Seven) was assigned to Franciase Corps expéditionnaire du Mars.

This was one of those models that stays in the cupboard for years awaiting the perfect time, and then rushed through the painting process in under 24 hrs.  After all, a model finished to "good enough" standard is far better than "Parade Ready" years too late (or so I have found out, years too late...!)

Fitted with a large calibre, short barrelled naval cannon

This model is a pre-release one that my friend allowed me to have while he implemented some improvements. The body is resin with the legs, weapon and mast are cast metal.  The model came with 6 different weapon options, so they are temporarily mounted depending on the field commander's needs! To add a bit more of the "Battleship on land" feel and add some colour, I made minor modifications to the mast to rig it, and then made some naval signal flags (still no radio in 18989 you know!) 

Overall I am very happy with how it came out - thanks Drew for allowing me to have this model ahead of time (no release date currently)

Painting notes: Black Undercoat

Heavy Drybrush with GW Skavenblight Dinge

Drybrush with Model Colour (vallejo) Light Green Grey 70.971

Pinwash with GW Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade for rust spots