Battle at The Temple of the Divine Wind - Redia Versus Army Cerise

Today Mat and I played a Funny Little Wars game of Redia versus Cerise (analogues of Britain and Japan about 1905). The game period equaled to that of the Russo-Japanese war.

The scenario was set on the island of Cemosa, which had, some decades ago been divided between Redia and Cerise. The Temple of the Divine Wind in the Cerisian half caused issues when Redian Christian missionaries preached their own religion in the vicinity. A Redian church was consequently burnt down by enraged Cerisian locals. The church parson and his wife were taken into custody by Cerise and held prisoner in the Divine Wind temple. The Redian government had to appease public outrage, and an army was marshalled to rescue the parson and his wife (Mr and Mrs Nobrooke).

Originally, I had intended to play this one outside with observation balloons, planes and messenger pigeons. However there had been rain yesterday and I did not prepare the outside battlefield. The weather was also decidedly cool and not attractive, so I set the game up inside. I did, however, keep the idea of spies each armed with revolver and bombs. (Should there be an infinite supply of incendiary devices? Usually, the spy, once revealed, does not survive long enough for the question to arise).

I decided that each player would write down the whereabouts of his spy. This could be any civilian figure, or he could be in a building or cover. As it happened, we both decided to have female spies.

Mat tried, successfully, some extra subterfuge; adjacent the war table was a lineup of assorted civilians. Mat removed one figure and replaced her with a modern infantryman so I would not notice! He then placed this lady on the battlefield, behind the burnt-out church. The idea was I would be too busy keeping an eye on the civilians already on the table. I did not notice this figure until too late but she turned out to be ineffective anyway.

Temple of the Divine Wind showing prisoners and officer.

Redian forces

Redian cavalry

Tramps are everywhere

Resin Cerisian cavalry from the Virtual Armchair General.

These fellows also see life as Americans, South Americans and French but here they are Cerisians. The furled US flag passes as a Rising Sun.

Cerisian general with staff. The general (at rear closest, with map) started life as an Airfix driver. (The map was cut from Super Glue tube. The car is cheap metal one).

Guard Cerise regiment facing away at rear. Infantry at front of photo. (AIP Japanese)

  

Cerisian artillery remained near the starting edge.

Yesterday's conversions of WW2 Marx Germans with police caps trimmed down. The caps are not exact but passable. The general has a civilian cap reworked with putty.

Mat thought the scarecrow might be a spy. Nope.

Below: The lineup

                                            Redian forces outnumbered the Cerisians by about two units.

                                                                      Cerisian forces

                                                              Temple of the Divine Wind

                                                                     Burnt out church

                                     Redian Royal Marines have a firefight with the Cerisians.

          Redian infantry, their numbers more than halved, advance in front of the temple, thus disputing a table quarter.

              The curate is escorted to the rear after he is taken, with his wife from the temple. (I cheated and used a Frenchman for the guard). However, the guard did have a shock when the curate's wife kneed him in the groin and made her escape to the Marines.

                                              The Marines accidentally gunned down a tramp.

   Spy versus spy. The green clothed lady is a Redian spy. She attempted to throw a bomb at the Cerisians but it was a fizzer, Meanwhile the Redian pink clothed spy hurled a bomb into the damaged church, causing many casualties among the Redian troops ensconced there. A revolver duel took place between both ladies, with neither harming the other. The Redian troops then shot down my spy and my troops shot down the Redian spy. Spies and civilians in aggressive actions maybe shot!

  Redian troops behind the bridge fence caused two of my regiments to retreat. I managed to drive off the Highlanders but these were replaced by a guard unit.

                                         One of the Eurasian civilians 'too obvious' to be a spy.

                                                              One of many tramps

                                                                        Redian troops

POINTS

The prisoners were worth five points. As one escaped it meant each of us got 2.5 points for them. I inflicted two more units destroyed than Mat and was thus ahead there. However, two of my guard units were down to very low numbers. Our table quarters were the same, with two in dispute. Each of us lost a point for (accidentally) killing a civilian. This was determined that if civilians were in the line of fire they were diced for as well. The fleeing missionary's wife had a narrow escape when the marines she fled to were fired upon.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

  Mat charged with his cavalry and both units were destroyed. My cavalry dismounted to fire as their quality as melee troops was limited due to poor mounts and training.

  The game ran for 13 moves. My army was necessarily in the defensive but my two cannons did a lot of damage, especially when one of their shells hit a limber. On the last move they were both destroyed by an enemy shell.

  We will do a rematch in two weeks.

MODELS

Those familiar with my battles will know that I love imagi-nations because I can make up all kinds of stuff! I also get to combine units and uniforms from more than one war, as well as ceremonial and combat uniforms. Most of the uniforms are based on real ones although occasionally I make ones up! Some units serve in more than one army; Redian ones have also served in The Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

  The head on the temple was a garden ornament. I added the red eyes and lips and thought it had an Oriental look. 'Temple of the Divine Wind' is my invention but has a semi historical ring to it. The grey blocks are made of wood. Some years ago, I got Bunnings hardware shop to cut up a beam and I painted the blocks with grey acrylic sample paint.