Quelling the Commune - part 3

As night falls the defenders of Fort Issy remain confident...

...but overnight they are outflanked by Republican troops.

Soon the flag of freedom (or it might be brutal repression, depending on your point of view) flies proudly atop the fort's ramparts.

Republican forces near the city...

...where the criminal mob mans the walls.  They were an ill-assorted bunch of scruffy figures.

See what I mean?

Meanwhile, the Marshal maintained a dignified appearance.  Comfortably out of cannon shot...

Aside from the walls, the many barricades looked pretty formidable.  But hopefully the rabble would run off at the first whiff of grapeshot.

Quelling the Commune - part 2

 Government troops surge forward...

 ...towards the nest of criminals that is Paris. Note the barricades on the streets and the town hall in the distance.

 But first we must subdue Fort Issy......

....General Gallifet’s division was tasked with that. 

As you may have gathered from the tone of these posts, I was cast as Marshal MacMahon, with Mike L as General Gallifet and Anthony M as General Cissey.

The town hall flying the red flag. Deputies can be seen lolling drunkenly on the steps outside.

The wicked Communards were played by Brian C and Graham A. Setup and umpiring by PW. 

Quelling the Commune, 1871 - part 1

Or to put it another way, “Thiers before bedtime.”
This was a Funny Little Wars game played in London with an assortment of 54mm toy soldiers.  It is 1871 and the French republican government under Adolphe Thiers has finally lost patience with the Commune which controls the city of Paris. A corps under Marshal MacMahon is ordered to capture the outlying Fort Issy and then return the city to government control.
A word of warning at this point - if you might be easily misled into taking any of this seriously, or to taking offence at some period politics and language, then stop reading now and go and do something else.
If, on the other hand, you are confident that what follows is merely a sorry tale of some middle-aged men playing with toy soldiers, read on!
Above - our 100% accurate scale model of Paris.

Fort Issy. It’s commander was wanted for murder of a police officer. I wanted him to stop firing those bloody guns.

This and next three photos - the government forces assemble. The figures were an assortment of ACW Yanks and various French dating from 1805 to 1914!

Essential purchases from COW

Better late than never, here are my purchases from the informal bring & buy at COW. There are always some books - the first is every bit as dodgy as it looks and has already been read and put in the surplus pile. 

I’ve still not had a rummage in this box of old 25mm medievals - they were comfortingly cheap though!

David Crook provided these 25mm Sea Peoples figures for an excellent price. Free!

DC also very kindly gave me this splendid book from the collection of the late Eric Knowles. Toy soldier porn of the very highest quality.

The seemingly bottomless boot of DC’s car also yielded this box of dodgy 54mm ‘modern’ figures. I’ve kept a few (and the palm trees) and passed the others to Ian Drury. 

Finally, there is this box of high quality plastic. There are three tolerable Humvees in there, plus a tank transporter.