150th Anniversary game of the Battle of Rosebud

 Some photos from the game I ran today of the Battle of Rosebud - on the actual 150th anniversary.

No particular order or explanations just now.

Little Bighorn game

 First, not my figures nor my terrain.  And note, it was Very Hard to get any photos without impedimenta and hands and fingers so not as many as I'd have liked and not the ones I would have preferred to get - but I got what I could.

Here are five in no particular order.

Above - a large melee early on.  My troops on the left, Reno's command.

Later on and a lot of Shaken units on both sides in this giant scrum.

The chief in the background is Lame Deer.  I killed him!

Custer's force.  Which did a follow on of my Reno force in attacking the village.

Reno's command, the figures I ran.  Rules were Battles for Empire II.  Nick ran the game.

Remount herd - Horses!

 

Three dozen horses to represent the cavalry remount herd, the 'remuda'.  Basing a bit different so these can be used in varying periods and scenarios.  A dozen bases.  Another step along the way of the great painting 'expedition'.  These worked without the white facial markings and socks and stocking but were just a bit bland - minor improvement but I like them.  May glue on tufts when things calm down.

Rosebud Battlefield practice setup

A practice setup for the sesquicentennial game I am running on June 17th.  On the floor of my garage so a bit hard on my back.  Up on tables on the day, approximately 5' x 12' playing surface.

Kolmar Creek - with a weird confluence since the water flows left to right (west to east) but that is just how this water effect works so I'll live with it.  Crook's Ridge to the right, Royall's Ridge to the left.

Crook's Ridge with the Conical Hill at the top.

The Gap to the east of Crook's Ridge.

A closer up of a few figures on top of Crook's ridge - for perspective.

Looking west to east - in the distance you can see those figures - if you look carefully.  The main watercourse is, of course, Rosebud Creek.  Kolmar Creek, the smaller stream, should be dry but it still works.

Looking south to north along Crook's Ridge, a bit of a lower angle.  Royall's Ridge to the left.

From the east, the Gap and then Crook's Ridge.

Looking east to west.

A shot of Royall's Ridge.

There will be a number of rock formations on the day but forgot to set out for this setup but I was getting tired and it was getting hot, 95 Fahrenheit outside when I decided to put it all away and head inside to cool off.  Swimming pool shortly!

 

The cavalry are painted! And some villagers, too.

Trying to come up for a reason for a mermaid in the Old West.  Well, maybe.  She just got painted.  From Rebel Minis pirate command pack.

Villagers for my Old West/Pony Wars - these will be added to a friends Little Bighorn Battle this coming Saturday, as near to the sesquicentennial as his club schedule allows.  Includes 8 dead, 6 slightly modified with some glue-tissue masking to create dresses instead of men's legs.  Two Peter Pig Vietnam civilian women dead just painted as plains Indians.

Photos taken just prior to seal coating.  This is the high command, 6 men.  Mounted, foot, dead per soldier and one dead and one standing horse for every three cavalrymen.

The two images show an additional 60 soldiers, 45 cavalry and 15 mounted infantry, same proportions as above for the command.

All of the above are game ready (well, the mermaid needs to be seal coated and then new gloss medium applied to the water and her scales).

While 'game ready', eventually I will dry brush a medium volume grass green and a very light yellow ochre so the texture will blend better in various settings.   For now as is for a game on the 17th.

The natives get a moment in the spotlight.

Box one of Lakota in preparation.

And more Lakota.  Though mixed into the two photos are Cheyenne and Arapahoe.

 Crow and Shoshone figures - the yellowish dots were a sampling of speed paints which I hope to use to accelerate getting these natives done, all of them.  We'll see how it goes.

Total 96 native warriors to paint - but mounted, dismounted, dead per warrior plus the one standing and one dead horse for every six warriors.

Progressing towards Rosebud Creek

Above photo shows three full cavalry companies that will be used for Rosebud and one company of mounted infantry for same - with the darker trousers.  A cavalry company consists of 15 figures: Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal, Guidon, Bugler, and nine troopers.  Mounted infantry similar.

Top of this photo shows the cavalry high command towards the top and a bunch of native villagers and dead below also in progress.  After a break, the blue coats are next.  Hopefully get that done today and then progress will slow due to getting more detail focused.  But must maintain serious focus on this project to get it done in time - and still some natives to go as well, allies and hostiles.