The Battle of Lumpkin's Junction...

Yesterday saw me traveling to Brazil, Indiana to the home of Bill Rosser and his wife, as I had accepted the challenge to field Southern Forces against his Union Troops in/around Lumpkins Junction.
Bill was a most gracious host and we had a wonderful time. The only downer parts to the entire affair was our atrocious dice rolling, (truly some of the worst I have done in years), and the fact that my camera was trying to go on the fritz so that my picture taking was limited.
Nonetheless we had a good game, and we plan to meet on the field of battle once again.
And now…onto the battle!

Lumpkins Junction…
Lumpkins Junction is a small town sitting at the junction of the Harkerville Road and the Tawneyburg Road. Nearby is the small town of Harkerville and Old MacDonald’s Farm. The high ground of Harker Heights, Turkey Hill, and Possum Hill ringed the junction, while the major landmark in Lumpkins Junction was Willis’s Tavern.


(My Yankee nemesis…Mr. Bill Rosser…)

We arranged our forces. I had a cavalry contingent, with a horse artillery piece. Seeing that he had a battery of long-range rifle guns, I elected to place my artillery on the right side of the table. Strangely enough, our battle plans were almost exactly the same, only in reverse! (Typical ACW). Each of us had a strong right flank, with a weaker left.
To keep the game simple we decided that all troops were of average morale and had rifled muskets.
My plan was to move my cavalry down the road and then across the field in a screen across the front of Possum Hill. My artillery would head for Possum Hill supported by Infantry, and from there we would establish strong defensives on the high ground. My left flank would be a holding action, which would gradually shift across the field.
Bills plan was to move forward across Harker Heights, Cross Harkerville Road, and then swing his right wing in a large left wheel. If it had gone for both of us as planned, we would both be facing each other East-West along the fenced Tawneyburg Road instead of North-South…


Lumpkins Junction on the eve of the battle…

I won the movement phase in Dice Rolling and started pushing hard. My left flank tried to get their act together and head for Old MacDonald’s Farm and the stone wall just south of it. In the center my units dawdled around… My cavalry took off hell for leather down the road and across the field, drawing up large clouds of dust behind their hooves on the hot summer afternoon. To the right, my forces pushed forward…

The battlefield at the beginning of the game… General Belvedere B. Belvedere can be seen in the center of the field while Col. Sanders (on the white horse), is nearby. On the right flank is the main force commanded by General J. “Jumpin’ Jehosaphat”, and including Capt. Butlers Artillery.


Bill was able to get his guns onto Harker Heights and opened up on my center. He got one good hit on my Carolina Troops. His infantry moved forward. On his left General Owen Sodbucket, (commander of his left flank), was pushing his US Regulars forward.
Remarkably through the entire battle, it seemed as if the infantry troops on either side, showed little stomach for wanting to fight.


Yankee artillery moves up onto Harker Heights…


While on the left flank, General Owen Sodbucket’s forces moved forward. This force included the 17th US Regulars, and Zouaves…


General Jehosaphat watches as his troops move forward to support the Cavalry… The Texans lead the way!

The Cavalry deploys…
My cavalry deployed and began firing at the oncoming blue bellies. Hits were average, (actually the cavalry hit better than the infantry), and would last longer than expected.

Union troops moving forward (from the Conf. Cavalry view). Gen. Sodbucket is in the rear urging them on. To the right is the 17th US Regulars.

From the beginning of the fight it was obvious that my dice rolling was going to play a significant part in the fight. It was horrible to say the least. I would need 1-3’s and roll a four. I would need 1-5’s and roll a six.
Bills predicament was pretty much the same. Units that he didn’t need to route, suddenly routed. It was as if our units would take one shot and then call it a day.
On the right flank, the 17th US Regulars broke from the fire of the cavalry and ran hard and fast determined to be the first ones to skeedaddle off the battlefield.

17th US Regulars call it a day…

And keep running straight off the table…

We traded fire…I foolishly pushed a Carolina unit up the road, which then got caught, in a devastating fire. They lost three stands and decided that they had had enough.
Other units on both sides…would take a hit, break, and then rally, and come back. We seemed to spend more time rallying troops than committing them to a long-term fight.

On the left flank my men tried for Old MacDonald’s Farm, but they didn’t get very far…ending up on Turkey Hill instead…

Union Troops in the center cross the Harkerville Road and advance towards the Confederate Center...

Confederate Left Flank troops moving towards Old MacDonald’s Farm, with Union troops approaching from the North. The Yanks would make it there, I never would.

In the center, my Texans moved forward to try to plug a breach. Taking cover behind a fence line, they engaged the yanks at Willis’s Tavern, and forced a unit to rout, before they themselves were forced to rout…*curses stupid dice*

The fence line claimed many a Yankee and Southern Boy that day…

We slugged it out with one another for approx. 15 turns. My infantry were taking the worst of it, on the left flank, while he had no left flank, and was desperately trying to hold on with a unit in the woods. The unit that I needed to help pin them to allow my artillery to fire down the Union flanks, decided to break after one hit *curses dice again * and thus that idea was done for.

His troops were advancing on the left flank, while mine did the right, and in the middle we traded shots. His artillery was getting the worse for wear as my Mississippians were starting to drop his men, and a lucky shot from the horse arty, took out a gun of his…

By the time we called it, it was an obvious draw. Each of us had enough forces to hold, but not enough to press forward the attack and drive the enemy from the field. McClellan would be proud of us…

The Forces of Gen. Owen Sodbucket with the 2nd of his three regiments routing. Only the Zouaves move forward, and for a moment, Old Owen sees himself as the leading element…with haste he galloped back to the rear…


Results: A bloody stalement with me holding Turkey Hill, McGraw Place, and Possum Hill…and Bill holding Lumpkins Junction, Harker Heights, and Old MacDonalds Farm…

His best units were his infantry on the right flank, while I have to say that my best was my cavalry and horse artillery battery. I also have to give credit to the Mississippians who took shot and shell and held to start picking off artillerymen…

Analysis: Man..this was a mess. Fun, but bloody. Average troops give you a little bit of extra in morale, but they seem to always break at the worst times. My artillery was good overall, but never terribly effective..just a hit here and there. My cavalry did what they were supposed to do, and stopped the Union infantry long enough to get my troops deployed. My biggest mistake was spending six turns of the game moving two regiments alllllllllll the way around the back of Possum Hill. I should have kept them closer and committed them sooner.
It amazed me though how little stomach the infantry seemed to have for the fight…interesting.

Game Comments: Rally Round The Flag is still a great set of rules, even after 35 years. Yes it’s dated, and it shows, but overall works nicely. We were never close enough to do any type of charges, and anything the rules didn’t cover, we simply made a house rule for which always worked for both of us.

I truly enjoyed the fun of playing against Bill, and once again would like to thank him. It was a great way to close out 2009…

War comes to Lumpkins Junction...

I had just sat down to a small dinner of possum stew and a nice piece of cornbread mush, when my aide, Lt. Jasper came running up to me. He saluted me, and I nodded back to him.
“Scout coming in and needs to report to you sir. I think you need to hear this.”
I nodded once again, chewing on a particularly tasty bit of possum fat. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I had eaten last, other than a Johnnycake or two.
I watched the scout dismount from the horse before it came to a full stop. He was a young boy, with a dusty sweat stained face and a look on his face which shown me that he had lost his youth and was older than his years took him to be.
He saluted me.
“General Belvedere suh?” He asked.
I swallowed the possum fat and nodded. “Report.”
“Yankees suh. Seems to be Rosser’s Brigade. They’s moving south down the Tawneyburg Road and the main group of them seems to be camped on the rear slop of Harker Heights between Harkerville and Lumpkins Junction.”
I nodded. “A brigade you say?”
He nodded. “Yessuh. I counted at least 8 regiments of infantry, and a battery of guns.”
“A battery of guns? Hmmm…could you make out what kind?”
He nodded his head again. “Yessuh. Looks like them long range Parrott Rifled Guns.”
“Any cavalry or horse artillery?” I asked.
“Nawsuh; Just infantry and that battery of guns. They got the guns close to Harker Heights but they ain’t on it yet. Judged by the way they is camped there, I’d say that they either don’t know we are here, or aren’t expecting any real opposition until they move further South tomorrow.”
This boy was smart and observant for his age. I looked at Lt. Jasper. “Anything else from the scouts on any support on this?”
Jasper shook his head. “No sir. Seems that this is a forward brigade movement. Could be a diversion, could be a push this way to see where they can go.”
I place my plate onto the small table, and picked up my tin cup of black coffee. It had started to cool, and I took a small sip to get the taste of possum fat out of my mouth.
“Lt. Jasper, assemble my commanders for a meeting in half an hour.”
“Yes sir!” The young lieutenant nodded, saluted and quickly heeled away to his urgent task. Suddenly the peaceful silence of the evening twilight was quickly being replaced by the urgency of war.
“Anything else to report?” I asked the scout.
“No suh. That’s all I saw.”
“Good job. Let me ask you something…how old are you?”
The scout looked at me. “Thank you suh. Umm…I’m 16 suh.”
“Sixteen?Son, you should be back home courting your gal, and not out here riding around trying to get shot by bluebellies.”
He shrugged to me. “I know suh, but I got’s to do something. My brother was killed at Winchester and well, I had a gal, but she went and got herself engaged to a fella back home that is in charge of his paw’s general store.”
I nodded. War and Romantic Heartbreak, was what he had already experienced. He was a poet just waiting to happen. “Son..you had supper yet?”
He shook his head. “Nawsuh. Been out counting Yankees.”
I quickly scribbled on a piece of scrap paper, and handed it to him. “Here. Give this to Old George. He’ll fix you up something good. Plus, tell him that I said to give you a slice of the rhubarb pie he made.”
The boys grinned. “Thank yuh…I mean Suh!” Saluting, he practically ran out from beneath the fly and towards the company cook.
I watched him for a second and thought about the young boys in ranks under my command. Captain Butler my artillery commander had two 14 year olds in his battery, and a man that was almost 72.
War takes the young and the old.
My reflections started to fade as the urgency of the task came back to mind. I turned to the table, pushed the plate of possum stew aside and began to study the map of the land around Lumpkins Junction. Tomorrow there would be a fight, and we needed to be ready…
There was much to do tonight…

(Click on photo for larger version)

Tomorrow I will be in Brazil, Indiana playing fellow TMP'er Bill Rosser at 15mm ACW using the old RRTF rules. Seems that the Yankees are pushing and I've been ordered to meet them in/around the area of Lumpkin's Junction. My boys are ready, and got their dander up. He's got those damn long range Parrott Guns, but I've got cavalry!
More to follow...

Merry Christmas from me to you...

With no photos of works in progress, all I can wish you dear reader and wargaming friends is as VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!

Here's hoping that your new year will be filled with good tidings, blessings, and peace for you and your loved ones...

More to come...including a soon to be fought ACW battle, and more pulp fig goodies...

Dedicated to Kyoteblue...

And the rest of the TMP crowd out there...(and you know who you are)...

OG Building Preps and Bongolesian Armor Ready for Action!

Okay, it's been a bit since I've given a decent update, so I guess I'll go ahead and post these pics and what I've been up to recently.
I've a hodgepode of projects right now; Painting Pulp Figs, to working on Bongolesian stuff (still), to doing some scratchbuilding, and now I've started painted an OG 28mm scale Pirate Village building...
These buildings are made out of a hardened foam, and sadly enough, OG doesn't sell them anymore. They are really nice, (but they have a lot of flash).
I was originally worried about priming it, since I usually use good old Wally World Primer and the idea of seeing the primer react with my foam and seeing my building become a lump of goo was not too appealing, but my lads at TMP said it was pretty much okay, so I thought I would give it a shot.
Here's the building, before cleaning and priming: (CLICK ON PIC FOR LARGER PICS)

The front of the building here. It's got a good amount of detail and the roofs are removable.

And another shot of the front and side of the building...

The back of the building.

The side with the flashy window...more on this later...

The "worn brick wall" side...

The inside of the building.

As you can see it's pretty plain and ready to be painted or modified to a gamers content.
I first cleaned off the flash and gave it a good scrubbing with hot water and gritty dish soap to get the oils of the foam, etc, off of it. It took a bit to dry, before it was ready for priming.
I applied appprox 3 light coats of primer. The first one seemed to merely change the color. It took the other two before I felt convinced that enough had gone on to actually have the building "Primed"....

The front primed. Detail shows up very well.

As does the back...

The "flashy window". I had forgotten to cut this out before priming. I'll have to go back and fix that during work.

Roof off, showing the inside.

So that is where I am at with this building right now. I'm looking at doing it in a off white stucco pattern for the outside, and the inside will be base coated burnt umber, (which seems to be good for a lot of things), and highlighted with lighter browns and tans... More to come on this project.

While working on buildings I thought I would go ahead and show off the current Bongolesian Presidential Palace that is under construction...

From these shots you can see the platform for the balcony, the entrance ways and the front windows. You will notice that the corners are left blank. That is where the two large towers are going to be...More on this as construction continues...

And finally...

The NDF Armor is DONE!!!!

Grrr....readers will notice what looks like white "stuff" on the vehicles...sadly enough, this is what Armory Sealer does to everything I have ever used it on. It collects in folds and turns into a white "ick"...looks like sand or something....bleah...

T-55's of 3rd Bongolesian Armored (The Mighty Elephants) and 4th Bongolesian Armored (The Rhinos) sit waiting for the word to move out.

T-62's of the Presidential Guard. Higher quality tanks always ready to make sure that the Army Officers remain loyal to the President-For-Life.

And just to make sure that enemy planes don't decide to make life hard for the tanks...NDF ADA assets...

The ZSU23-4 is assigned to the Presidential Guard and provides air support to the Guard when they are in military support operations, or when the President is travelling across the country in a military style convoy. When not in this mission role, it can be used for low level Air Defense of the Presidential Palace and other important Govt. buildings in Sudekia, as well as using it's highly effective quad rapid fire 23mm guns as crowd control in case of civil unrest.

The ZSU 57-2 supports Bongolesian NDF forces in the role of tactical ADA assets, and infantry direct fire support. It's twin 57mm guns can wreck havoc on enemy defensive fortifications, troops and soft armor targets.

And here's a pic of yours truly taken by my lady as I arrange my armor for a nice photo.... ( which comes next!)

The business end of the Bongolesian National Defense Forces Armored Fighting Forces.

From front to rear and left to right:

1st Recon Sqd: "Roaring Cheetahs"

2nd Recon Sqd: "Condors"

1st Bongolesian Armored: "The Fighting Jujus" (PT-76's)

2nd Bongolesian Armored: "The Golden Lions" (T-34/76's)

3rd Bongolesian Armored: "The Mighty Elephants (T-55's)

4th Bongolesian Armored: "The Rhinos" (T-55's)

MT-12 100mm AT Gun with M3 Halftrack Mover AT Assets

ZSU-57-2 ADA Assets

4 Truck Medium Section

4 Truck Light/Medium Truck Section

4 Truck Heavy Section

And that dear reader is all that I have for you on this Thanksgiving Day....

Hope you enjoyed it, and hope your day of Thanksgiving is a good one for you and your family.

Comments are appreciated.

More to come, (naturally)...

An ugly realization...

Today I have on my table approx. 250 15mm figs, half a dozen 28mm Bob Murch Pulp Figs, and 6 T-80's needing to be painted...I have three buildings to finish, 1 coastal trawler, 1 tramp steamer, and then...THEN I can work on my MEU...

I shall never die....

GRRRRR! A NON-GAMING RELATED POST!!!

Sorry for the gripe folks, but just had YET "another issue" with "The school that has no clue"...(Westlake Public School, Indianapolis Indiana)...

This occurred ON MY STREET!

Nov 16th 2010.
I’m on the phone when I happen to just glance out the front window. Across the street from me is Westlake Public School, It’s an Elementary School, and has people in and out of it all day.
Today I looked out the window and my eyes caught something…

(Take a look at the pics and see what I saw…)

YEPS…The American Flag is flying UPSIDE DOWN!

Immediately I ran over to the school, and asked the Secretary “What’s the Problem?”
Her answer was “I dunno. You tell me.”
“Well…” I said. “You’re flying the American Flag upside down, which is a symbol for distress.”

She nodded and rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah. They put it up upside down this morning, and didn’t pay attention to it. We’re trying to get someone to come and fix it.”

It seems that the lanyards are secured in a metal locked box (visible on the pole), and only a “certain few” (Principal, etc..), are allowed to have the key to open it.

What made me concerned is the fact that if they put it up “This morning”, why (at 12:30) in the day, is it STILL this way?!?!…

So folks, the question I have to ask you, (and you ask yourselves)…

“IF OUR SCHOOL OFFICIALS CAN’T BE “BOTHERED” TO TAKE A MOMENT TO CHECK TO SEE IF THE FLAG OF THEIR COUNTRY IS FLYING CORRECTLY IN FRONT OF THEIR SCHOOL, THEN WHY ARE WE AS PARENTS, TRUSTING THESE FOLKS WITH OUR CHILDRENS EDUCATIONAL WELL BEING?!?!?”

Projects, and Painting, and MARPAT, Oh my!!!

Okay I have finally gotten up off of my duff and updated this site. The last post about me not having pics was just getting to me. (Makes mental note: Get a new and better digital camera as the flash to this one sucks)...

This morning I took the liberty of sitting down to my painting/work table and cleaning it off...and then putting SOME of my many projects back upon it to just kind of get a "perspective" of how much I really REALLY need to get finished...
And then I started crying...

As you can see by the pic, I got A LOT to do...

The desktop, with oodles and oodles of 15's waiting patiently, (in various stages), to be painted, or finished being painted. Off to the right are my 28's (Mostly Pulp Figs, but my ladys Quactica Orcs have snuck in there primed grey and are now waiting to be painted)... And you can see the bashed trawler that I am working on...among other things...
First off, the trawler...
I don't have a name for her yet, but it'll definately have a "French" ring to it...
The boat itself is a little ornamental knick-knack sailboat that I picked up from Hobby Lobby, and basically dissected. The only part left is the hull. I took out everything, built up the deck, built the structure, etc...I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to go with a mast so it can have that "fishing trawler" look, or keep the deck relatively clear to allow figs (or more figs) to be placed there.

I've enclosed a pic of a 15mm PP Vietnam Sniper Team on the deck for scale ideas, and comparions.

Once I go ahead and get the boat finished, I will put a comparison pic of the sailboat up and the trawler for your observations and opinions.
The next up, my truck conversion and painting...
From my last major posting, readers might rememebr that I took one of my fuel tanker trucks and made a flatbed out of it...

Well here it is in it's "new" Bongolesian paint job...

A little weathering, a little more detail and she'll be done, and ready for whatever dirty work she finds in Bongolesia....
And speaking of trucks...

No, it didn't hit a cotton candy factory...this is the gooey mold residue from a failed attempt at learning how to make a mold using Alumilite HSIII mold making compound (The pink stuff).
It was supposed to have a cure time of 24 hours - 3 days....
Well, two weeks later it was still a pink "goo"...
When it finally dried, there was no mold, just a semi gooey mess that I had to cut away from the truck. EPIC FAIL!
Not sure if I got a bad batch of compound or not. I am going to try again with another vehicle (truck), and see if it works. (NO, I don't NOT plan to pirate these vehicles! I am using them to learn HOW to make molds...)
*Sigh*...Many times I look at my paint desk at all the figures and wonder, "How did I get all of these?" and "When will I ever be able to finish them?"
I see the numbers of figs and sometimes I want to cry...

Rows of figures in various stages of painting, waiting to be finished...waiting, and waiting...

And waiting, and waiting...troops, mortars, civilians, rebels, ....waiting...

All waiting for the day to be done and on the table...so many....it seems an impossible task....
But I shall plod on!
Now...my latest issue...MARPAT!
Just when I get 15mm scale BDU's down the US Military decides to change Uniforms on me. The Army goes to ACU's, (which took a while but I got it), and the Marines went off the deep end with this abomination called MARPAT.
So I decided I didn't want the desert MARPAT, I wanted the woodland MARPAT...
Should be easy right? I mean, Brown, Green, and a little tan?
ha ha...yeah right.
My test subjects are 15mm Peter Pig Modern Marines/US Infantry M249 Saw Gun Teams, and Heavy Weapons Crews.
After reading, reading, and reading some more, I felt as if my eyes were going to drop out on color coordination. A friend sent me an email with a link from a guy that had done "Fleck" pattern on his figs. (Unfortunately they were 28mm and Modern German so the colors were different, but I decided to try the same pattern and see how they came out...)
And they came out...kinda German looking...

Test Subjects #1: Saw Gunner and Asst: Notice that there seems to be more green and black visible than actual in the USMC MARPAT, (which seems to be more Brown and Green based)...Great, my SAW team just joined The Bundeswehr...

A side shot of Test Subjects #1...while feeling that the pattern is kinda right, the colors are horribly wrong...
Okay back to the drawing board.
Test Subjects 2 and 3 are Peter Pig USMC Heavy Weapons Crews:
Subjects #2 are painted in the Military Sage Green color for a base, while Subjects #3 are painted in German Pale Brown as a base, (yes...there's that German thing again, but it's the only brown color paint that I can find that is even close to matching USMC MARPAT brown)

Lab rats...errr...I mean test subjects #2 and 3...

While here, I decided to paint another SAW Team with a base coat of the Pale Brown...and we will see how they do against Test Team #1...
And for this I will keep you advised of my progress, observations, and opinions on USMC MARPAT.
Right now my biggest issue is that with 15mm it's practially impossible to get the paint scheme right due to the fact of the size of the figure, plus with US troops they are covered in STUFF, (ie "gear"), and the most you will see is helmet, some arm sleeves and legs...not really enough, but enough that it has to be there...grrr...
Now onto other things...
15mm just isn't my only obsession...
Here are some pics of my 28mm Pulp figs that I have been working on lately also...
First off..."The Crimson Cult"...

Led by the mysterious "Crimson Leader", he and his evil minions are always on the wrong side of the law...

More figs...the first two from the left are from the West Wind Gothic Horror Line (The Innkeeper: Herr Braunschweiger, and his lovely adopted daughter Katrina Von Teeze), followed by more Pulp Figs, Doktorr Von Glock, and "The Skull"...(all in various stages of painting)...
And last but not least....another project...paitiently waiting completion...
Yes Virginia...those ARE T-80's in the box...
Seems that the Russians are interested in sending "Peacekeepers" to Bongolesia...
More on this as it happens!!!
As always...comments are appreciated...