Balagan Military History and Wargaming
Wargaming, and Military History, is the interest I pour most of my spare time into. Check out Alan Millicheap’s site for a good description of this hobby, and why one person chooses to spend his time on it. Broadly speaking the hobby means I'm interested in military history (e.g. Spanish Civil War), wargaming figures (2nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán), Modeling (e.g. Wooden Buildings) and wargames rules (e.g. Crossfire, Shako, DBx, Field of Glory, Campaigns).
Currently I'm keen on the Crossfire rules although I've quite a few Armies for other periods and sets. Based on emails I receive, people seem interested in my material on the Carlist Wars, Spanish Civil War and Blue Division (WW2). I've just started putting more energy in my New Zealand section, and in particular the NZ Involvement in WW2 bit. See World War 2 for other content of that period.
What's New
Crossfire
My Crossfire pages are changing all the time so check there for specifics.
20 Jun 2009: Megablitz Orbats
I thought I see what my favourite two divisions look like under Megablitz:
- 2 New Zealand (NZ) Division
- 250th Infantry Division, Spanish Volunteer Division, Division Azul, or the Blue Division
19 Jun 2009: Megablitz Quick Reference Sheet
I have prepared a PDF version of the Megablitz Quick Reference Sheet. I have kept the Combat Matrix separate because the matrix should go on the 'Combat Box'.
14 Jun 2009: Moscow 1941
I wrote up some notes from Moscow 1941: A city and its people at war (Braithwaite, 2006).
07 Jun 2009: A Dot in Russia
The Megablitz rule book includes a fictional 1940 scenario called Dot Sur La Mappe. My own forces are Eastern Front so I've tried to transfer the scenario to 1941 and Operation Barbarossa. Hence my version called A Dot in Russia.
25 May 2009: Portuguese Colonial War
I've started writing up some notes about the Portuguese Colonial War. I'm thinking of using a modern variant of Crossfire to game the period. So far I've got a brief Chronology, Portuguese Organisation and Insurgent Organisation.
30 Mar 2009: Field of Glory Terrain
I've written up how to make Terrain Templates and Gullies (in the Modeling section) and how I used them to make Field of Glory Terrain.
17 Mar 2009: Punic Wars Painting Guides
My Punic Wars armies have been languishing for many years. With the advent of Field of Glory I'm adding to my collection so thought I'd update my Punic Wars Painting Guides at the same time.
10 Mar 2009: Field of Glory Punic Wars Battle Report
Chris and I have been playing a few games of FoG lately so I took a few snaps and wrote up one of the battles - Punic Wars Battle Report.
24 Feb 2009: Field of Glory
With tons of Ancient and Medieval figures in storage after becoming dejected with DBM I was quite keen to find a new set of rules. I recently bought all of the Field of Glory books and started converting my armies. First up were the armies for the Rise of Rome: Mid-Republican Roman, Later Carthaginian, Ancient Spanish, and Later Seleucid.
27 Jan 2009: Fortifications
In the general burst of photographic activity I updated the photos on my Fortifications page.
13 Jan 2009: Making and Painting Wooden Buildings
I added a whole bunch of new photos to the area on Making and Painting Wooden Buildings including a specific page on each of Homemade and Commercial buildings.
09 Jan 2009: Jim's Spanish Buildings
James Falkus brought along some recently painting buildings to our refight of Albuera. I liked the way he'd painted them so he sent through instructions for Painting Spanish Buildings.
03 Jan 2009: Trees
I typed up some notes of the types of wargaming trees I've got. Mainly because I've just got a big batch from Sams Trees and I wanted to take some photos before they got knocked around.
02 Jan 2009: Photos of Napoleonic Spanish and French
Armed with a slightly better photographic set up I tooks some shots of my Royalists for my 1817-18 Chilean Project, Napoleonic Spanish, and French Dragoons.
30 Dec 2008: Portugal in WW1
Added some notes on East Africa to my timeline for the Portuguese Involvement in WW1. Still lots more to do.
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Nov 2008: Albuera FOG After Action Report
James Falkus, Rich Wilcox, Chris Harrod and I wanted to try out Shako II. Because of my recent enthusiasm (Spanish Units at Albuera) I suggested the Albuera scenario from Fields of Glory (FOG). I took a few snaps and wrote up an After Action Report.
31 Oct 2008: One of our Generals is Missing
Missing General Matrix is a campaign using the Engle Matrix Game system. I play tested it with John Mclennan and Chris Harrod using Matrix Battle Resolution for the tactical battles so we could finish in a day. With more time we could have used Crossfire for the battles.
29 Oct 2008: Making a Terrain Mat
I asked the Shako discussion forum how to improve the look of my Shako games. Tom Breza responded with instructions for Making a Terrain Mat.
18 Oct 2008: DBM/DBR Mapless Campaign
John Gillson inspired me to write up the DBM/DBR modifications for the Mapless Campaign
18 Oct 2008: What I like in a campaign / multi-player game
John Gillson got me thinking about What I like in a campaign / multi-player game.
09 Oct 2008: Balagan on WW2
I decided to move all my World War 2 stuff into one place. Mainly this is because things like my account of Stalingrad, Arhem, and Tarnopol were buried in my Crossfire section. The Spanish and Kiwi involvement in WW2 are still found in the relevant national sections of the website but other WW2 content is now here. And all the stuff which is purely about gaming with Crossfire is still in that section.
08 Oct 2008: Portugal in WW1
Did some work on Portuguese Involvement in WW1 but a lot more to do.
08 Oct 2008: Modeling
Created a Modeling section and moved the relevant pages into that section.
28 Aug 2008: Oriamendi East
Chris hard and I tried out my Oriamendi East Scenario (for the First Carlist War) and I wrote up a Battle Report.
23 Aug 2008: First Spanish Battalion for Peninsular
I painted my first unit for my Spanish Army of the Peninsular War. An infantry battalion in brown with top hats.
15 Jun 2008: Royalists in Chile
I updated my 1817-18 Chilean Project with the plans for the Royalists.
17 May 2008: Argentine Army of the Andes
Roland has started completing figures for my Argentine Army of the Andes in the 1817-18 Chilean Project.
16 Apr 2008: Ebro Offensive
Inspired by Martin Rapier's article " The Battle of the Ebro, July 1938: A Spanish Civil War Megablitz Scenario" I created the Ebro Offensive (Jul 1938) based on the Offensive rules.
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Apr 2008: Converting Ansar to Riffi
I've been struggling to find Riffi figures to use for the Rif War so I decided to Convert Ansar Figures into Riffi.
I also finished rereading Shannon Fleming's Primo de Rivera and Abd-el-Krim: The Struggle in Spanish Morocco, 1923-1927 and updating my chronology for the Rif War.
26 Mar 2008: Patriot Flags for 1817-18
I couldn't figure out which flags to use for which units in the 1817-18 Chilean Project so I thought I'd summarise the various bits of information and give my best guess for the Patriot Flags.
26 Mar 2008: Carlist War Gallery of New Stuff
I wanted to share some of my new Carlist War photos, so created a Carlist War Gallery of New Stuff. The first batch includes my pride and joy - the Carlist Band!
22 Mar 2008: Basing for the Liberators Quick Play Rules (QPR)
I updated my page on Basing for the Liberators Quick Play Rules (QPR) - which I intend to use for my 1817-18 Chilean Campaign Project with diagrams of Detached Grenadier and Cazadore battalions.
22 Mar 2008: Setting and Rules for the Rif
I added a description of the Setting of the Rif War and suggestions for Wargaming Rules to use to for the period.19 Mar 2008: Rif War
Following directly on from my renewed interest in the Spanish Civil War, I have seriously updated my material on the Rif War including
- Adding references and material on the First Rif War to the Chronology,
- Adding an outline of what the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) offers on the Rif
- Rationalising the Wargaming section into separate Painting Guide, Rules and Figures sections.
09 Mar 2008: Flocking
Updated my Flocking page to show the range of styles I've used over time and my current thinking on Flocking using Sand and Dry brush.
24 Jan 2008: 1817-18 Chilean Campaign Project
The South American Wars of Liberation span an entire continent across 20 years, so I've decided to focus on one campaign hence my 1817-18 Chilean Campaign Project.
23 Jan 2008: South American Wars of Liberation
Inspired by the books put out by John Fletcher of Grenadier Productions I've started putting together some notes on the South American Wars of Liberation.
3 Jan 2008: DBA in the New World
I moved this material into a folder of its own and renamed the New World DBA Index.
1 Jan 2008: Thirty Years War Chronology
Several of the guys and I have got keen on the Thirty Years War so I started putting together a Thirty Years War page. Mainly a chronology so far.
23 Nov 2007: Painting Guide - the Black Undercoat Method
I asked Roland Davis to write a painting guide for the Black Undercoat Method. The vast majority of my figures use this method and Roland is a master of the technique.
21 Oct 2007: DBA/HOTT Camp Mini-Campaign
Inspired by an article by Steve Burt I wrote up some rules for a small DBA/HOTT Camp Mini-campaign. Essentially small force, based in a camp, is blocking an enemy force's attempt to break an off-table siege. Chris Harrod and I are play testing.
22 Sep 2007: Painting Guides for the Napoleonic Period
I got all keen and wrote up a painting guide for Napoleonic Spanish Cavalry, 1st Volunteers of Aragon Light Infantry, French 13th Cuirassiers, British Infantry, and British Allies.
11 Aug 2007: Kongo and Angola 1500-1700
I was thinking about my New World DBA and started to put together a chronology for The Kingdom of Kongo and Colony of Angola.
4 Aug 2007: Guidelines for Historical Scenarios using Shako
I've got interested in the Peninsular War and the Wars of South American Independence again, so started thinking about Shako Scenarios, and put together some Guidelines for Historical Scenarios using Shako.
14 May 2007: Galleries for Britannia 600 AD
We played out the Britannia 600 AD campaign and I put together some galleries for Alba, Mercia, Northumbria, Powys, Strathclyde, and Wessex.
10 Mar 2007: Britannia 600 AD
I've always love the Avalon Hill board game called Britannia and thought the map at least would make a good basis for a DBA/HOTT campaign = Britannia 600 AD.
24 Feb 2007: Cristino Organisation
Updated the Cristino Organisation page, in particular added a full list of provincial regiments
22 Feb 2007: Cristino Regimental Histories
I translated the Cristino Regimental Histories from Camacho: Un siglo de presencia militar en nuestra provincia (1833-1936) [Spanish].
16 Feb 2007: 3 Greek Mountain Brigade and the Turcomen
Added further description of the Greek and Ostruppen fighting at Rimini in Sep 1944.
4 Feb 2007: New material on First Carlist War
I just got some more material and started updating my Chronology for the First Carlist War. The first one I'm working through is:
Alcalá, C (2006). 1a Guerra Carlista [ Guerros y Batallas 31]. Madrid: Almena. [Spanish]
22 Oct 2006: Carlist War Scenarios
I started writing up ideas for scenarios in the Chronology for the First Carlist War
21 Oct 2006: El Mercenario Gallery
El Mercenario sent through photos of some Carlists he's been painting. They're from the new range by the Perry Brothers
15 Oct 2006: Castelfrentano to Orsogna
While on holiday recently I outlined the Kiwi operations from 28 Nov to 7 Dec 1943 as they took Castelfrentano and moved up tot attack Orsogna for the first time
11 Sep 2006: Coat D'arms conversion chart
I use Coat D'arms paints, so I thought a conversion table to other painting schemes would be useful
09 Sep 2006: Figures for Colonial Brazil: Tupi etc
Add a Figures page to the Brazilian area
07 Sep 2006: Painting Guide for Colonial Brazil
Created a Painting Guide for Brazil, including Tupi and their enemies
01 Sep 2006: Links between Military History and Rules
I updated my Luso-Spanish Military History page and my Luso-Spanish Empires page to more clearly show the pages related to military history versus specific rules
30 Aug 2006: Colonial Spanish and Buccaneers
Added the Colonial Spanish and Buccaneers to the Army Lists for my New World DBA
27 Aug 2006: Chanca and Chimu
Added the Chanca and Chimu to the Army Lists for my New World DBA
25 Aug 2006:
HOTT in the New World
Added a hint of HOTT to the Army Lists (plus corrected a couple of mistakes and updated the formatting ) for my New World DBA
15 Aug 2006: 26 (NZ) Battalion on the Sangro
Restarted work on the Kiwi action on the Sangro in Nov 1943. Only got as far as 26 Battalion on 28 Nov, but there is more to come
31 Jul 2006:
Added some more notes to my First Carlist War page based on Zumalakarregi Museum: 19th Century Military History in the Basque Country .
12 Jul 2006: Portuguese Auxiliary Division
Added some detail on the Portuguese Auxiliary Division to my First Carlist War page. Finally I have something about what they did!!!
11 Jul 2006: More on Portugal's Liberal Wars
Having acquired quite a lot more material - much of it from Nuno Pereira - I've updated my page on the 1826-34 (Portugal's) Liberal Wars
02
Jul 2006: Cristino gallery
Created galleries for my Cristinos and British for the First Carlist War
01
Jul 2006: Portuguese from 1833
Added some pictures to the Portuguese Painting Guide
30 Jun 2006: Split Cristino Painting Guide
Having added a lot of illustrations to the Painting Guide for the First Carlist War, I split the Cristino portion to give a quicker download. Now has Infantry, Cavalry and Other pages
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Jun 2006: Cristino Painting Guide
A major overall to the Painting Guide for the Cristinos in the First Carlist War. Added lots of pictures and more description
21 Jun 2006: Belgian Corps
Nuno Pereira surprised me by explaining that Belgium contributed four battalions - the Belgian Corps - to the Liberal Wars
11 Jun 2006: More
Carlists
Added details from volume 2 of Duncan (1997) to my account of the First Carlist War. Only four more volumes to go
Duncan, F. (1997). The English in Spain: The story of the War of Succession between 1834 and 1840 (Vols. 1-6). UK: Pallas Armata. (Original work published 1877.)
10 Jun 2006: Portuguese Liberal War
Inspired by material on the Viriatus Miniatures site, I wrote up the precursor to the First Carlist War, i.e. 1826-34 (Portugal's) Liberal Wars. Also wrote up Portuguese Organisation in the First Carlist War and a Portuguese Painting Guide
01 Jun 2006: New Mexico
Started writing up the Spanish conquest of New Mexico
29 May 2006: Wildly Inspired Miniatures
It seems Wildly Inspired Miniatures are producing again, including their ranges of NZ Wars figures
19 May 2006: Perano = Kiwi Tanks
Wrote up the Kiwi and Indian attack on Perano,18 Nov 1943. This was the first time New Zealand tanks saw combat
01 May 2006: NZ Wars Gallery
Took some snaps of my NZ Wars kit and created a gallery. Also added a subset of the pics to the painting guide and figures page
27 Apr 2006: Rules
I updated my reviews of various Rules for the NZ Wars
I also started typing up my father's Rules for Naval Warfare 1500 to 1850
25 Apr 2006: Portuguese in Japan
Added a place holder for the Japanese episode in Portuguese history (or the Portuguese episode in Japanese history), although really this was an excuse to show some pictures of my mate Vince's Samurai
24 Apr 2006: Costumes of the Spanish Army, 1859
A long time ago Chris Tubb sent me an article from the Illustrated London News of 1859 entitled "The Costumes of the Spanish Army". I finally added these details to my page on the First Moroccan War
11 Apr 2006: NZ Military History
Reorganised the New Zealand section, to include a summary of the various wars we've been involved in, regrouping the material into folders for NZ Colonial (Maori) Wars and WW2, and adding more detail to the WW2 bit - still a long way to go
07 Mar 2006: Flocking
I'm experimenting with a style of flocking using C1229 Earth.
05 Mar 2006: Complete Revamp
Completely revamped the Wargaming pages. The gist of this change was to separate all content related to specific rules - Crossfire, Shako, DBx - from other military history and wargaming content - Luso-Spanish, Arab-Israeli, New Zealand. Campaign rules are catalogued with the tactical rules they relate to, but there is a master Campaign index as well. Apologies to anybody who had links.
Military History
| Luso-Spanish (Iberian) |
My specialty is the Military History of Spain and Portugal. The bits that seem to interest people the most are Carlist Wars, Spanish Civil War and WWII ...more |
|
| Arab-Israeli | The Arab-Israeli wars from 1948 to the present ...more | |
| New Zealand | A brief summary of the various wars involving New Zealand, with additional details on the NZ Colonial (Maori) Wars (1845-72), and WW2 (1939-45) ... more | |
| World War 2 | All by WW2 stuff that isn't covered by the above. The most comprehensive material is on Arnhem, Ponyri. Stalingrad and Tarnopol. |
Wargaming Rules
| Crossfire | Arty Conliffe's WW2 rules are my favourite set at the moment. I've got House Rules, a FAQ, Scenarios (including campaigns) and other Musings, which I also use for the Spanish Blue Division in Russia the Spanish Civil War ...more |  |
| Shako | Thoughts on how to use Arty Conliffe's Napoleonic rule set for the First Carlist War ...more | |
| Matrix Games | A general overview of Matrix games and a couple of suggestions for campaigns ...more | |
| DBx | Variations on DBA, DBM, DBR and HOTT, plus compatible campaign systems ...more | |
| Campaigns | A list of all the various campaign rules that appear on the site ...more | |
| Other Rules |
Modeling
| Modeling | The Modeling aspect of my Wargaming Interest |
Sources / Links
Fire and Fury - A site focusing on this rather jolly set of American Civil War rules
Free Wargames Rules - a entire website of them.
- The Nafziger Collection - George Nafziger's catalog of Orders of Battle
Has a whole bunch of links to free rules sets. Dave W. of the RFCM discussion forum recommends:
"Where's Charlie": Vietnam rules by Pete Jones.
"Fire Force Campaign Rules" Vietnam rules by Martin Porter.
The Headquarters of the Perfect Captain
Some free downloads of Renaissance games.