Battle Game of the Month

One step forward

2012-02-12T00:25:00.000-04:00

Not sure how many backwards. The main conclusion so far is that I'm really tired today and its not a good day to make any big decisions.

I did finally get Scenario 1 from Programmed Scenarios laid out. To my dismay, the 20 man units didn't fit well. This is only a medium size game and I was running out of room to deploy, let alone maneuver. 16 men don't sound like a lot fewer than 20 but it seems to be just enough. Which is why I had decided to go that route last fall now that I think about it.

Red (attacker, on left) 1 HC, 1 MC, 1 LC, 1 Lt Inf, 5 Inf, 2 Batteries.

Blue (defender, on right) 1 MC, 1 Lt Inf, 5 Inf, 2 Batteries.

I did some refreshing on the idea of using rules with battalions as units to fight battles where each unit is actually a brigade. I was getting all excited about it but once I laid the figures out today, I realized that in practice, I think that I'm going to have problems with that, esp with 40mm figures vs terrain, and with trying to forget about scale for weapons, unit frontages, etc. I think I'd be happier using brigade stands, small figures and small terrain but maybe if I use fictional armies I won't confuse the resulting generic scenarios with the historical battles. Luckily I already have a start on fictional armies. As an aside, the Blue force chosen from the list for this scenario is very close to the American force at Palo Alto while the Red force is not so far from the Mexican one. Interesting.

Anyway, there are certainly campaigns where forces of the size used in the scenario books (and of the size that will fit my table) did do battle so I won't fret about not being able to field corps and divisions. Its a question of getting just the right balance of rules. It turns out I may have made an error by joining a new Yahoo rules discussion group. There has been some interesting discussion but my toy soldier mojo is hiding and needs to be coaxed back out because as much as I am fascinated by the history and ways to recreate it, too much reality can kill the fun in a game of toy soldiers. In any event, I'm going to sketch out yet another simple MacDuff derivative tomorrow, aimed at just the sort of 5-8 battalions + support games that I'm planning to do with the glossy 40's and not trying to do anything else, not initially anyway. One of the issues I've had with rules for the last 20 years, is the disconnect between game movement and generally what can be done in a certain amount of time vs what happens in real life. There are so many things we don't know in detail, so many things that we don't usually try to model (partly because they aren't fun),not to mention that real life doesn't happen in "turns" like a game and that we are conditioned to expect things to be a certain way. (and no, I don't have a magic bullet for this one.)

Its not often easy and not often kind

2012-02-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

But its coming on time to make up my mind. (Yes I know, another sappy musical lead in, but just a Spoonful, no links this time)

Actually, I thought I had made all the decisions I needed but while playing around with the F&IW skirmish and last week's border brawl and thinking about the War of 1812, I realized that I had missed something. No its not the skirmish. I'm pretty sure Prince Valiant will give me all the 1:1 skirmish games I need but if not, there'll be a few big homecast musket types figures hanging about. PA Indians and the like. No, its just that while getting back to the fictional setting and adding some cavalry and the like, I suddenly realized my head is still secretly planning an almost 1812 wargame campaign full of small border clashes between a handful of troops where a clash of 8 battalions is a Mega Battle. My imagination on the other hand, is still secretly planning to fight a scaled down Waterloo with 200 40mm figures on a 5x6 table. Either is possible but these are not easily reconciled objectives! One needs to be the main thing, the other a side thing, a game in a box.

There are 2 main roads that I would be willing to take my glossy toy soldiers down. One is the OSW route of individual figures in 20-48 ish figure "regiments" , a dozen of which will let you fight battles with the scope of Gettysburg if you have a strong imagination. The other is the Morschauser/V&B approach of a few figures on a base being a unit (yes Morschauser had 5 such "companies" to a regiment but he was very clear that the regiment had no role in the game, each stand was a separate unit in every way). I thought I had resolved this but really I had only dealt with the element approach where a unit is several stands.

A rather poor image of a late 90's 54mm Volley & Bayonet game based on Cedar Mountain.

If I were to completely go over to the 'Dark Side', I would probably polish up hex terrain and use hexes for both ancients and generic 19thC Horse & Musket, my grid of 270 hexes would allow me to field perhaps 24 units aside, each somewhere around 8 or 10 infantry or 3 or 4 cavalry stuck on an 80mm base. Using glossy toy soldiers for this would call for nice thick, bevelled bases to make each unit look like a playing piece. More Volley & Bayonet or MOB on Steroids than Charge! or Little Wars, but with 400 or 500 figures required, a main event not the sort of Game in a Box that I had in mind and there is no room, time, or energy for 2 main events. The alternate plan is to use my 20mm ACW figures for Big Battles, possibly using HofT with the CM scale or converted to hexes with 2 stands being a unit.

However, before I explore this angle any farther, and before I get stuck into more painting, I need to go back to MacDuff, individual soldiers and a Lawford & Young-ish/Grantian approach to scale and mixing battles and toy soldiers and play the biggest game that I can fit on my table using whatever I have to hand. I was pretty happy with the feel of the Plattsburg game last year, I want to double check that is still the direction that fits. If so, then its time to get on with it.

In the words of Davy Crocket. "be sure you're right then go ahead"

They've just come down from the Isle of Skye

2012-02-09T15:50:00.001-04:00

and these kilted 78th Highlanders aren't too shy.
(actually they just came down from my painting desk but click here if you don't know the reference)

There is some uncertainty as to what sett the regiment used for its kilts. This is a 40 man MacDuff regiment (3x12 + colour party). The grenadier company has bearskins and the red/green Fraser tartan, the center company has caps and the Fraser tartan and now, at long last there is a 3rd company which is wearing the Black Watch or government tartan. They were raised and equipped hurriedly for the Louisburg campaign and may have had to settle for a mix. That's my story and anyway, it'll help to keep the companies straight in the heat of battle. There are still highlanders in the cupboard. Not sure we'll ever need more for the F&IW so it may be time to add to the dozen Jacobites that Rob and I can field between us.

To be honest, these laddies don't really fit into anything I do at home but they have a story and have a special place in my affections. It was in 2000 that I first traveled down to visit Rob before Cold Wars. Upon arrival, he naturally took me up to see his war closet and his collection of figures. In my defence, I should point out that this was about 3 in the morning based on when I got up one time zone east, and I'd been on the road for about 15 hours. The plan had been for Rob to meet me at the Airport in Baltimore at about 5. When I finally stumbled off a plane at midnight in Washington, sans my share of the figures and terrain for the games we were going to run and wondering where exactly I was and what I was supposed to do next, this being before we went wireless so I hadn't actually talked to Rob, I was immensely relieved to see Rob waiting for me. We drove back past the Baltimore airport, collected my bag just as customs was closing (to this day I don't know how my bag made it to Baltimore when the manager in Newark swore that there were no more flights to Baltimore now that mine was cancelled and that he would personally ensure that my bag made the transfer... He may have also promised to respect me in the morning, I don't recall).

Anyway, amongst the figures Rob was working on was a 40mm Highlander conversion for his F&IW collection. With, perhaps, more eagerness to help than tact, I suggested that he didn't have the kilt quite
right. On my way home after Cold Wars, I found my luggage heavier by a large bag full of homecast Meisterzinn bodies, heads and parts. Over the next few months I converted 7 figures into highlanders suitable for the F&IW or to serve as well dressed Jacobites and Rob had John McEwan cast them for us. Then came the famous words, "what should we do next? What about the 16thC...." Which is how I came to teach myself how to sculpt.

Whap! Rattle Rattle rattle

2012-02-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

There goes that poor can again.

Thanks to some extremely useful comments, I may have stumbled on a right solution for myself.

In way of preamble, I always liked my original morale/rally system despite some rather caustic zombie comments and rejections of it by people who didn't buy the "casualties mark loss of cohesion not dead and wounded" argument. The problem came in that the original system involved rolling for all current casualties which each being either returned to the ranks or being permanently removed from the game leading to a slow attrition. In a small game this was ok but it was a logistical nightmare in large games, tracking which casualties were eligible for rallying and which weren't. It also prolonged games unless players were very aggressive about not allowing the enemy to rally. That was intentional but experience taught me that, like some other parts of the rules, it was not obvious and didn't add to player's enjoyment. Always an important object.

Skipping over all the intervening ways to avoid separate, overt morale tests where 1 roll makes the difference between running and fighting, I come to where I was last night. While pondering the twin issues of making the penalties for losing plainer and fixing the rally rule (the original intention of the revised rally was that it should take several turns of rallying to get a unit ready for battle again but I momentarily forgot that), as well as pondering the new, unintended, absence of any chance of a rout, it occurred to me that there was no need to separate the 2 partial morale states and that this would greatly simplify things. Almost always a good thing.

As for the rally chart, it now looks more like the old one. I have put an arbitrary cap on the degree to which a unit can recover but it can recover quite substantially if left alone. Of course, while Elite troops in a safe place may recover quite rapidly, it might take a badly battered regular unit longer than the game will last if its badly battered, assuming it doesn't slowly retire off table.

Here's the revised Morale rule.

1.1. GeneralRule. Casualties represent the loss of cohesion dueto fear, fatigue and confusion as well as actual dead and wounded but removingfigures is an easy, visual not to say viscerel way to track the slowlydegrading state of an army. All loss percentages are based on the initialstrength of a unit. All casualties should be removed from the rear ranks andthe original frontage of a unit maintained as long as possible.

1.1.1. Shaken: A unit is shaken if it has beendefeated in melee and not yet rallied or if it has fewer than 50% of itsinitial strength when activated. A shaken unit:

Ø Must be ordered to Rally or Retreat and may not begiven any other order or no order,

Ø Is at risk of unordered retreats when rolling on theOrders chart,

Ø May not react,

Ø Suffers a penalty when shooting and in melee

1.1.2. Rally. A unit whichrallies may rearrange its formation and may face the enemy but may not carryout any other movement or get closer to the enemy while rearranging itsformation. A unit does not need to be shaken in order to rally. Sincecasualties represent loss of cohesion more than physical dead and wounded, aunit may recover its fighting strength when it rallies. Roll 1 die and checkthe Rally chart when a unit rallies.

RALLY
6	Recover 2 casualties unless already at 75% of original strength.
5	Recover 1 casualty unless already at 75% of original strength
2,3,4	No casualties recovered
1	1 straggler lost
DIE MODIFIERS
+1	Joined by General or if there is a Support Unit within 24”
+1	Elite or Stubborn
-1	Militia or Irregular
-1	If an enemy unit is in a position to charge or shoot at the unit

A cat in the elm? Arf Arf Arf eh? This is a willow?

2012-02-07T21:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have been barking up a wrong tree again!

The original MacDuff showed it Charge! roots primarily in its organization and in the way it treated morale. Units had to retreat at 1/2 strength and musket fire during charges helped determine who won rather than resulting morale stopping the enemy short due to morale checks. I was always happy with that.

At least I was until a friend argued that it should be possible to stop a charge by fire alone, especially if using breachloaders on spear armed tribesmen. I argued that melee wasn't really hand to hand combat and figures that were removed didn't directly represent dead and wounded and that the over all effect was right. Eventually, he won me around and for the last 5 years, I've been trying to integrate a morale system that would provide an intermediate reaction, including the ability to repulse a charge by fire alone.

During the last game I noticed that once again, the latest version favoured certain unit sizes over others. Later while working on the reaction system which is meant to help compensate for the lack of simultaneous movement and firing, I noticed that I had gotten to the place where opposing units could each force the other to run screaming in the opposite direction. After some more thought and poking and reading, I have once again removed the morale rules apart from a penalty for being below strength.

That of course required redoing the melee and reaction sections as well. The results have been uploaded but not tested.

40mm? Really?
The Hussar is a Minifig 30mm figure. The Scruby in the middle is about 1/2 way in between.
Maybe I should be calling my armies 36mm?

C'est l'aviron qui nous mène, nous mène

2012-02-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

Ahhh I can picture the jolly coureurs des bois, paddles flashing in the sun as they sing their hearts out, well, maybe not while on the warpath. For some reason the French & Indian War always reminds me of college. The song of the paddle quoted above is one of the ones our Drum and Bungle Band (the one in which I was forbidden to actually blow into my trumpet while on parade on pain of dire, unspecified consequences) used to practice.

This lot are Irregular picked up ?? long enough ago that I've forgotten. They look much better painted than they did as naked metal. Fitting the muskets into the hands of the firing figures was a pain.

That's just about the end of the unpainted F&IW figures. Keep an eye on ebay if you like any of 'em.

What's the Rhyme & What's the Reason?

2012-02-06T21:26:00.000-04:00

With the coming of Winter, its time again to reflect and question. (With apologies to John Denver, neither children nor flowers are directly involved but there will be childish things and as much colour as any flower garden and together they can brighten a cloudy day).

Initially when I started this process, I often did no more than look over and list various collections of figures in an effort to decide which to work on, which to tuck away, and which, if any, to dispose of. In recent years I started analyzing the list a little more in an attempt to rationalize the collection to save space and get the most bang for my buck. In particular, I started to home in on duplication, particularly duplication due to doing the same thing in 2 (or more) figure sizes but also collections of figures from different "periods" which would render essentially the same games but with different hats. This eventually led to a flirtation with the Universal Soldier concept or the One Project, in other words having one collection of soldiers to fight all of the battles of all time, as proposed by Lawford & Young. This is now definitely and finally rejected.

At the same time, however, I am determined not to waste my time and energy building multiple, medium to large, collections which compete for time both in preparation and on the table while delivering essentially the same kind of gaming experience. My experiments with Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame and various related ideas have given me a new twist on the possibilities of a secondary collection of small games to let me paint those eras or campaigns that catch my fancy. Something along the lines of what Stuart Asquith calls a Game in a Box.

There are 3 reasons that make sense to me to collect wargame figures of any particular size, shape and type.

The first is because I like the figures or the uniforms being portrayed. This is a big trap if each collection consists of several hundred figures.

The second is because I am interested in a particular historical period or even a particular battle. For the purist, this requires the right figures for the job but taking a page from Lawford & Young, and putting aside the visual aspect, it is entirely possible to explore the battles of one campaign, using armies of toy soldiers dressed in the uniforms of another one similar one, especially if using fictious armies.

The third reason is to be compatible with something a friend is doing. I have come to enjoy Solo wargaming but it is, at heart, still a social hobby for me. This is, however, another trap if indulged in thoughtlessly. An attempt to have something of everything that every one I know has, or even to try and have something in common with everyone would leave no time, money and energy for my my own particular interests ans just encourage additional fracturing of my efforts.

In the past my focus has generally been on figures with terrain as a periodic add on or something to be dealt with "later". Well, its later.

I make as much multi-purpose terrain as I can but not all items can be used by every size and style of figure. Lately it is the style of the terrain that concerns me as much as the size and that has been a major source of grief and delay as I decide on rules, table size and aesthetics, all of which affect terrain. So far I have dealt with it by compromising on style but the time is coming to take that a bit farther. I have added a complication though by becoming increasingly interested in gridded wargames. So no decision here except to work seriously on making and executing a terrain plan so that I can lay out my table with a consistent style for each collection, while getting multiple use out of as many pieces as possible and have it all pack away somewhere when not in use.

One thing that hasn't changed is a desire to be able to table a game in each of the major historical eras, lets call them Sword&Spear, Horse&Musket, and Mechanized. In addition to my usual Table Top Teaser (or generic situation /scenario) style of game in all periods, I also want to be able to play man to man skirmishes in at least 1 era, and be able to stage some historical battles.

So what does all this mean for my plans in the near future?

Oddly enough, the idea of One Main Thing has re-emerged, stronger than ever. This is of course my 40mm glossy Toy Soldiers. Its what I enjoy most and what I have painted the least of as I pondered many issues over the last couple of years. This will be balanced by a small host of those Games in Boxes as well as some if not all of my group contributions.

I think I'd best leave the actual summary of campaigns and collections for a separate post.

Whoop two.

2012-02-04T21:27:00.000-04:00

More Indians!

5 more S&S Indians backed by 3 Prince August Skraelings showing their priming of varish + burnt sienna and a base coat of flesh mixed with burnt sienna.

I feel like I should add some clarification to my comments on the first batch. I did not mean to imply that I was in anyway unhappy with them or thought poorly of the result in any way. In fact, they are probably some of the best non-Glossy Toy Soldier style figures I've done in a while.

However, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of some aspects such as the patterns of war paint or the shade of buckskin (actually I grabbed the wrong paint pot so they weren't even the colour I intended but being a natural item I let it slide as within reasonable variation). Once upon a time I might have been more concerned about that. (i.e. at least vaguely so)

and the finished band.

There were also a lot of detail on these figures that I didn't bother to pick out. Once upon a time I would have picked out say the knife sheathe in a slightly different shade from the leggings etc or added some porcupine quill and bead embroidery and so forth. Now, when I do bother to do the extras, I find that it doesn't increase my enjoyment of the figures afterwards, hence not bothering to do it

Its a change, that's all. Some of that comes from eyesight but a lot comes from gaining an appreciation of the the simplicity of toy soldier styles which focus on the over all effect rather than distracting the eye with detail. This has been reinforced by a conscious effort on several occasions to study re-enactors from a distance with an eye to figure painting. Its amazing what one doesn't see. The view through a telephoto lens is very different than that of a wide angle.

and my new painting station in a corner of the family room.

Pleasant Valley Postcript

2012-02-03T17:09:00.000-04:00

So that was Plunder and Pillage Part 1.

What about Part 2? Well, sorry folks. This is odd for me to say but I was so pleased with how the scenario went, that I have no desire to reset and play it again. No desire to cloud the rules issue coupled with a strong desire to NOT tamper with the story line and its effect on the unfolding of the history of Atlantica. What unusual feelings!

After 4 years of turmoil and indecision, things seem to be sorting themselves out and I see 3 main, different gaming streams for the next while plus at least twice that many ongoing sideshows. I even see a way forward through some of my issues with the fictional setting. More on all that later, first, back to the game.

I had some interesting decisions to make when translating this Teaser on to the table. After some hesitation I decided to use Grant's timing rules for activation and reinforcements straight up. To my surprise, they worked. It seems that my rules have been bent and shaped sufficiently to fit in the right number of turns for a Teaser as envisaged. This wasn't the result of focused tampering but its not entirely co-incidental either. On the other hand, while I could easily have used his rules for plundering and burning, I have a system built into the rules for that sort of thing and saw no reason not to use them. It was just a matter of determining how many points of work were required (12 was my decision for plundering and 6 for burning) and that worked well. Using my system allowed the Blue forces to partially loot one house rather than being faced with all or nothing and overall the time required was about the same so that worked for me.

The rules continue to provide the sort of feel I was looking for. In particular the orders check produced the occasional wrinkle with the Light Horse stalling as they arrived at the far house. I put it down to the bitter tongue on that PA Viking woman. Having the steam tractor bog down on the hill needing work to get it going again, provided a nice moment of drama as the Fencibles closed in. In no case did the control checks prove so intrusive as to take the feel of control away however and in 2 critical cases, generals were able to intervene personally to get units moving. Combined with the fixed length moves and the card draw formation activation, there was just the right amount of uncertainty and friction.

Combat was typically bloody and decisive, more so than in the past but making them more decisive was the point of tweaking them! None of the results seemed unreasonable to me and the rules made it clearly dangerous to be a small detachment or an unsupported unit, as intended.

I did find a couple of modifiers missing from the Melee rules, (like cover) actually the whole of the Melee chart itself was missing! That has been fixed and tinkered with. I also ran up against an issue that had escaped notice. Since each roll of the dice is assumed to represents a number of volleys, I had declared that they would always be simultaneous. During the game it struck me that the defender had no advantage at all over an attacker. My first reaction was to consider a -1 penalty for firing and moving or to go back to having all fire take place before moving but I wanted units to be able to engage as soon as they were in range. Eventually it occurred to me to over rule the simultaneous idea. Now when exchanging fire, a stationary unit will get to fire first against a moving unit, in other cases, the active unit will fire first. This had the side effect of making it impossible for opposing units to simultaneously break each other with fire. For some reason, I had not considered the possibility of two units exchanging fire and then both running away. OK maybe for comic opera militia but not steady troops.

The post game changes to MacDuff have been uploaded. I think a selection of examples of play will be the next step.

Unit size issues also cropped up. I had fielded 8 man units all around as intended with 2 such being fielded for each infantry per scenario unit. This was OK where troops were properly formed up into 16 man or larger formations, but in a small skirmish like this, "companies" were often on their own and I had several small 1/2 unit detachments of 3 or 4 men. Any hit was enough to break these (unless elite) and 2 hits would destroy them. The small units also didn't quite cut it visually as "regiments" either and I was starting to wonder think of a regiment as being 2 scenario units which was going to cut down on the names and uniforms available to me. Today I set some troops out to see if slightly larger units would work better.12 and 24 seemed the next logical step but after some shuffling, I decided that the 10 & 20 man units that 3/4 of my toy soldiers are already organized into will work just fine after all and are just sufficiently large for me to accept them as 1 regiment per scenario unit which will be better for narrative and campaign purposes.

Last of all, this game gave me another chance to contrast my old ceramic buildings with the smaller ones. Alas, the game confirmed my earlier findings and after laying out the table with the bulkier ceramics, I cleared them off and used as many of the smaller ones as I had. There are a few of the ceramic buildings that are small and can be kept, and some like the Toy Shoppe that I'll keep regardless but I'm afraid most will have to go. I hate to tip them into the garbage so I'll see if I can touch them up and go from there. A building spree of small, occupy-able buildings is now a high priority.

Well, that's it. I'm now looking to select another teaser so I can reset the table and play again.

Raid on Pleasant Valley

2012-02-02T22:45:00.001-04:00

2 Feb 1842

REPUBLICAN RAIDERS REPULSED!

Once again the peaceful citizens of Faraway have suffered the ravages of the Republic's rampaging regiments. When will the Queen act boldly to put a stop to these outrages? Our correspondent has filed this report.

Oberhilse infantry and a pack howitzer ford the stream.

It was mid morning on Thursday when republican forces were seen filing into Pleasant Valley. (ed. Turn 5 to be precise). Couriers were sent off to summon help from neighboring garrisons while the troops were turned out and dispatched to meet the enemy. Across the Harde river, detachments of Light Horse and Dragoons could be seen, slaughtering lifestock, pillaging houses and offering insults to the farmfolk.

A spunky farm wife berates the Light Horse as they take potshots at her cows.

Our men turned out smartly and headed for the foe. The Fencibles were dispatched across the East Bridge while the Bodyguard galloped over the Stone Bridge. 'A' Troop swung left, drew swords and dispersed a rabble of light horse while 'B' Troop went left, catching a column of Blue Dragoons preparing to dismount, no doubt with an eye to plundering the Stone House, and routing them. However, more and more enemy troops appeared including riflemen and a howitzer which deployed and opened fire on the rallying cavalry. The heavy fire forced 'B' troop to retire while 'A' troop dismounted and prepared to defend the farmstead they have saved from rapine. As the enemy closed in, the ringing of a trumpet announced the arrival of the Princess Charlotte Dragoon Guards.

On the left flank, the 1st cabin goes up in flames after being pillaged but on the right, Blue has been forced to retreat before finishing and now the steam engine has stalled trying to pull a 1/2 loaded wagon uphill. In the center, the heavy cavalry face off.

Barely pausing to deploy from column to line, the Dragoon Guards raised their swords and charged forward to be met by the veteran Blue Dragoons. The opposing squadrons met with a deafening clash of swords. For a moment, neither side would give way but at last the heavier horses and superior swordsmanship of the Dragoon Guards told and after suffering shocking casualties, the remnants of the Blue Dragoons broke and fled.

With no advantage to either side, Blue won 2 and lost 2 combats in the 1st round of melee but lost 5 out of 6 combats during the 2nd round of melee.

By now, Blue had been chased out of one 1/2 looted farm and prevented from attempting two more. The Victoria Rifles and Fusiliers were marching on to the field. With the smoke of one burning cabin hanging over the valley, it was time to press forward and chase the remaining raiders from the valley before they could do more damage.

To the East the Fencibles saw that the enemy's steam tractor had stalled and pressed forward with the bayonet. the Bangor Rifles tried to hold them back but were unable. Pressing on, the brave Fencibles came up against the veteran 3rd Infantry. Already disordered by fighting the Rifles, the Fencibles were forced to fall back and reorder their ranks while the enemy retreated with their ill got loot.

In the center, the remaining Dragoon Guards ordered their ranks and with General Turner at their head charged the enemy center. The enemy infantry and howitzer stood their ground, waited and unleashed a storm of canister and musket balls, cutting down a third of the Dragoon Guards and forcing the rest to rein in and rally back. As the Victoria Rifles deployed, another cabin went up in smoke as Blue's battered army began a swift and disorderly retreat. Thank goodness that the swift and sure actions of the Queen's soldiers had prevented the worst ravages of Republican raiders.

The final tally for Blue was 2 houses burnt down, and 2 1/2 plundered, a total of 15 out of a possible 30 pts. The scenario calls for at least 18 for a draw so a clear victory for the Red Queen.

Bar Room Brawls, Battles and the Border Between Them

2012-02-02T10:28:00.000-04:00

It often seems easier to grab something at one end or the other.

Bar room brawls are fairly simple to game (not that I've done a lot of that sort of thing on the table top or in real life). They need to be fast and furious and can be most easily handled at 1:1, both in terms of figure to real men (or women or aliens etc) and in terms of scaling the terrain to the figures. Doing Waterloo at 1:1 is so impractical as to be generally dismissed. Most battle games therefore use some sort of scaling down. Yeah, OK, So?

Well, there is of course a place where one comes to a "too small to be a battle, too big to be a brawl" situation. The sort of skirmish in which a hundred or 200 or 300 etc men took part. Yes, you can game that 1:1 on a 12 foot table using 10mm figures but it would be beyond most gamers to do that with even simple rules which treated individuals as individuals each with his/her own stats etc. So, we scale that down too but at some point there comes the question of when to stop dealing primarily with individuals and start dealing primarily with units. .

Suffice it to say that this week, it occurred to me that my singly based Toy Soldiers could be used either way. The question is, is there a reason to do so? The proposed action is to play a raid scenario both ways, 1st, using MacDuff and then with Musket Mayhem, the F&IW version of Medieval Mayhem, (loosely speaking).

The game will be Battlegames TableTop Teaser #4. Plunder and Pillage. The setting will be Atlantica, on the verge of some major political upheavals. (yes, yes, more on that later as I discover the details and confirm or disprove rumours of a movement to Unify the States of South-Eastern Atlantica and of rebellion and a push by the FTC for Imperial involvement to stabilize things. )

Mean time here is a clearer overview of the table. Red has an outpost across the river on the edge of a well populated farming community in Pleasant Valley with more troops close at hand. Oberhilse has dispatched a raiding part to collect supplies and devastate the are in hopes of not only hampering Faraway actions but of de-stabilizing the area politically.

There are 4 farms in the area in between the Harde River and the stream plus one in red territory just to the left of picture. There are 2 bridges across the river and 2 plus a ford across the stream which is fordable every where with some difficulty. Technically the area between the stream and the river is Faraway territory but there are no red forces there. It is a sort of Neutral Zone militarily. Blue's success will depend on how farms can be destroyed and how much loot loaded on wagons and hauled away.

Terrain has been on my mind again. How much and with what effect? There should be a lot more fencing, (not to mention barns, streams, gullies, dips and rises etc.) so much more so that the game would look and feel cluttered and troop moves would be hampered more than in real life. As the number of troops have been scaled back, so too with the scenery and only a few token fences have been placed to suggest the reality. The question is, since an area of farmland is assumed to contain various fences, ditches etc all of which disrupt troops and have been taken into account by slowing movement from the optimum, is there a valid reason to penalize troops for crossing the ones that are shown?

It would feel natural to do so as long s the penalties are small. Once could say that the penalty would stand in for all those not shown and anyway there is something to be said for increasing atmosphere in a game which is admittedly already more atmospheric than realistic. On the other hand, the game might play faster and more smoothly if they are treated as for show only. Hopefully the jury will come in before the game starts.

An easier question involves the streams. It probably varies across the globe but around here, which is a lot like Southern Atlantica, most streams gather a fringe of trees and bushes and often create or run in gullies. Therefore as odd as it seems, streams will block line of sight unless other wise noted.

Another Pleasant Valley morning

2012-02-01T20:24:00.000-04:00

Ahh, a quiet summer morning in Pleasant Valley, Faraway. The horse are being led down to the river, a courier has arrived with morning dispatches from Head Quarters, the local populace is about their business under the watchful eye of the Queen's soldiers.

But who is that lean and hungry looking fellow on a distant hilltop, eyeing the cattle?

Looks an Oberhilse Frontier Light Horseman to me.
_____________________________________________________________________________

It occurred to me today, while casting about for a skirmishy type of scenario, that while my initial mission was to play all of the TT Teasers published in Battlegames Magazine, I have in fact played only one of them in the intervening 2 years.

Whoop!

2012-02-01T14:31:00.002-04:00

I know there are some who believe that every miniature deserves to be painted carefully , painstakingly one might say, with the emphasis on pain, with as much accuracy as possible. Oh well! Slap dash it is for me or an enjoyable painting session becomes a tedious chore. Long as they look lively, and most people can guess sort of what they were meant to be, I'm happy!

(hmm, If I count assembly and priming, I think these may have taken close to 3 hours. Must be middle aged spread.)

Body Building

2012-01-31T23:11:00.001-04:00

Betcha ya weren't expecting these this week.

I can't remember which Cold Wars it was that I split these packs of Sash & Saber 40mm F&IW Indians with Rob. It will suffice to say these aren't a new purchase. So what are they doing here?

Well......, despite being distracted by sorting and refitting 25mm ancients, my mind has been spinning its wheels in the mire of such things as when to use 1:1 skirmish rules vs small unit rules (ie MacDuff) , designing a low level scenario on the cusp of these two, deciding what troops to paint next and what needs to be cast or sculpted before I can start, and what scenario to play this week, in which period and with which rules.

The figures in the picture need to be assembled, but I don't have to cast 'em! I have a sneaking feeling that it may have been mention of spares boxes that led me to rediscover them after I spent some time rifling through drawer after drawer (those little plastic nuts and bolts cabinets) of leftover heads and weapons and bodies (a grisly sight to be sure). Mind you these were in the queue rather than spare parts though they have contributed various bits. (well I say queue, more of a disorderly mob really, waiting for a cue) They won't fit in with my glossy 19thC toy soldiers but they will go perfectly well with my chunky, shaded, matte F&IW / AWI collection. (Which, oddly enough, is why I originally bought them! How clever was that then?) So, while I mull over the rest, I'm going to glue these warriors together and put their paint on for them.

The Proof is in the Reading

2012-01-27T11:31:00.000-04:00

There is no doubt that a good proof reader would be handy.

Having fixed all the errors yesterday, I've just correct a sluagh of typos, obsolete references, etc that crept back in while I was sleeping as well as adding some clarifications around formation changes. The link to the latest draft of MacDuff is back on the list to the left.

Form Up, Form Up!

2012-01-26T21:36:00.000-04:00

After much thinking and rethinking followed by editing and formatting and reformatting and re-editing, I have taken the drastic step of printing out a copy of the latest draft of MacDuff. (ink and paper are expensive you know!)

As often happens, after developing some 'clever' and increasingly complicated rules, a walk in the cold air revealed a simple solution to my twin problems of increasing the vulnerability of units reforming after melee and encouraging players not to blaze off at long range. All I had to do was simplify the reaction rules and remove the various penalties. Basically, units which have not fired, fought in melee or moved over 1/2 move yet this turn, can react by shooting, charging or retreating 1/2 move or changing formation if the enemy shoots at or charges them or walks across their front within 6". Since a unit can only shoot the once and can't be activated if they have reacted, firing at long range vs an enemy who is likely to close later in the turn is unwise as is returning fire if you want to advance later or wasting battalion volleys on a handful of skirmishers if they are backed by advancing columns. Since troops who have fought in melee, are unable to react, they are briefly vulnerable to a counter attack. Probably works slightly better with the card activation option than with the initiative/igougo option but close enough.

I also restored the old movement and range distances, simplified the arty (I couldn't find the new cannister rule last time, its gone) tidied up various bits (whole paragraphs seemed to be missing from some sections) and so on. Not only that but the rules are down to 6 1/2 pages! (Mind you I reduced the font slightly now that I think about it)

Now to come up with a scenario, with luck the snow and freezing rain in the forecast will translate to some gaming time.

The latest draft has now been uploaded to google docs.

A long but gentle K.I.S.S.

2012-01-25T13:47:00.000-04:00

(Keep It Simple Stupid for anyone not familiar with the acronym)

As usual, it seemed a shame to take the table apart after just one game. Jerry and I had played a turn or two of HofT and I had been surprised that I couldn't remember simple things,some things seemed to be missing and I was left unsure if the rules did actually work as intended. So, I reset the table on Sunday with slightly reduced forces, reread the rules and played again.

To my great relief it was all fine and worked as intended. The solo play through took barely an hour indicating that this scenario is at the bottom end of what I had in mind, which is about as intended. I did go back and reverse a too clever idea of subtracting 1 from defensive fire for troops being charged (to represent the intimidation of the charge) and restored the +1 to chargers instead. Its easier to remember and more intuitive. It also resolves an issue that cropped up about there being no charge bonus when no defensive fire is involved which was not intended.

I am also questioning how the reaction rule and the "fired or fought in melee" modifiers to the Orders chart interact. The system works just fine and I still like the idea, but in the heat of battle, even with an annoying clutter of markers, it was all too easy to lose track of who was allowed to react and who had modifiers. It also didn't seem to have exactly the intended influence on player's decisions (including mine). The alternatives include going back to a movement penalty for shooting and a compulsory rally of some sort after melee and just not worrying about it, rather, letting players get on with their battle plans without getting bogged in detail. I need some thought about this, luckily there is no rush as things aren't broken, just not optimal. I'm over due for a coffee with Lentelus anyway so will wait till I can bend his ear on it.

It occurred to me today after reading Bob Cordery's Tuesday blog entry, that the scenario itself could have been played out just as enjoyably on a small grid using MOB with 1 stand per regiment/gun. Luckily the ACW venture is as much about an excuse to paint up 1/72nd figures as it is about playing games so I remain happy with where its headed. Anyway, I still retain that option since I can always grab 1 stand per regiment and play MOB or the Portable Wargame once I get a suitable board fashioned. (That's on my list, I want a portable game for the garden, living room or on the road).

Anyhow, at this point I was so happy with the 1/72nd ACW game that I began to fret about the future of my glossy 40mm toys and MacDuff. It seemed like an ideal battlefield for War of 1812 or even an Oberhilse vs Faraway bash if I just replaced a few buildings but it was cold out and I was tired of looking at the mangy mismatched summer/winter forest (my goal for this year is now consolidated look scenery for each game). I had just been reading Thackwell's Narrative of the 2nd Sikh War and suddenly had the itch for a Colonial game. I reset with Adobe buildings and my plastic palm trees which look sufficiently unreal to look at home on any table occupied by toy soldiers and scream "this is a warm place, not cold and wintery at all".

I don't have any Sikhs yet, so hesitated a bit and then started thinking Mexico. A US force marching on a Mexican battery. I only have one unit of Mexicans, but the Peipur Tigers look right at home. What I really wanted were some irregulars, casting my eye about, my glance was caught by the gleaming white of my pirates. Well, the San Carlos Grenadiers have been known to support them before......... Now , for opposition, there has long been speculation about secret Oberhilse support for these "entrepreneurs" and anyway, this whole thing had started with me wanting to get my Redcoats on the table. It wasn't until I caught up with Bob's blog later that I realized where at least part of this urge to go Colonial had come from, his game preview last week must have been in my sub-conscious!.

Somewhere in Northern Atlantica, The FTC takes on the competition. Charge!

Recently I have found myself praising Charge! publicly in various forums and since I hadn't played a game in ages, this seemed like the time even though it wasn't exactly 18thC linear warfare. I don't have room for full Charge! armies so fielded 8 man Light Infantry and cavalry units and 16 man Infantry units. Not having an opponent to provide surprise and friction, I decided to forgo the simultaneous moves that are one of the strengths of the system and use a card draw system instead. The result was an interesting little action that took about an hour to resolve. I hadn't really meant to make the pirates equal to British riflemen or have Israel Hands as Gunner, its just that I hadn't really thought about it. Damme! Light infantry and artillery can sure decimate line infantry if their dice are hot! Especially if the infantry spend too much time tootling about and stopping to fire back at long range. Enough said. I decided to call up MacDuff to take out this troublesome battery.

It hasn't been that long since I play tested the new version of MacDuff so it was deeply worrying to find myself immediately tripped up. I had movement and ranges messed up, couldn't remember how various rules worked and so on. Stopping to read things over, I realized that the same reaction and orders check issues as encountered with HofT were cropping up. (the mechanisms were similar but different in detail) I had once again tried to get clever and encourage certain tactical choices when the game is not detailed enough to give a proper range of choices and consequences. Picking just one or two to focus on is pretty arbitrary and obscure to players who generally want to just get on with the battle. The choices should be clear and evident, not hidden, and they shouldn't pull player's focus from their battle plan to their subordinate's duties.

I had also changed distances that I had used for over a decade to make it easier to one day map the rules to a 4" grid should I ever choose to. Time enough for that if the time comes. I ended up putting the rules aside and running them by instinct rather than by what was written. The result was a very enjoyable, brisk little action. Now, can I turn off my head's desire to improve and adjust long enough to write what I played? The differences are just small details, not main concepts, surely it can be done?

Oops!

Since it was a quick, hastily improvised, game, and this post is already overly long, I will just briefly sketch the main events. The red coated Faraway Trading Company (FTC) column advanced down the road, lancers spurring ahead, rifles working their way through the woods beyond the lake. As soon as the Pirates spotted the advancing column, they quickly turned the gun about and 1 company entered the woods to counter any threat from that direction. The remaining company was uncertain whether to occupy the village or push up to snipe at the red coats so I diced for their reaction. They happily trotted across the stream and up the hill, forgetting all about the battery. It was but the work of several minutes for the lancers to gallop down the road over the bridge and into the battery position. A hasty discharge of cannister brought 1 lancer down but the the crew was cut down or chased away and the battery silenced.

The sound of drums approaching from the north announced the arrival of the San Carlos Grenadiers who had been camped just down the road. (Apparently the outpost was technically authorized by the Principality. ) The Buffs, supported by the Rocket Troop, deployed to face the Grenadiers while the Tigers deployed and advanced on the pirate, sorry Volunteer, skirmish line. After a brisk exchange of fire, the former Pirates retreated hastily into the village.

Reforming, Larsen's Lancers rode back up the hill, eyes open for an opportunity. Calmly the order came for the Grenadiers to form square. Their flank was in the air but not a man stirred. General Paz (previously San Carlos troops have only appeared as auxilliaries and have not had a General. Their strategic situation is weak, surrounded by stronger enemies, so I thought perhaps they could use a leader who shares the name of a famous general), who had now arrived to command the force, galloped forward to repeat the order in person but the stern Colonel of the Grenadiers refused again despite his flank being in the air. (a 1 followed by a 1). Instead, the 3rd company, which was lagging, was ordered up on the double to cover the flank. They arrived just as the trumpets rang out and were ridden down in an instant. Onward swept the lancers but when they crashed into the main body of the Grenadiers, a situation where military (or rules) experts rate cavalry as being worth double an infantryman, they were rudely repulsed with heavy losses. The General could be heard swearing under his breath but he courteously praised the steadiness of the Colonel's Grenadiers.

The Queen's men triumphant!

By now the red coated cavalry of Coast Guard had arrived. Taking no lesson, they formed line and charged the Rocket Battery and the Buffs. A single crashing volley laid low a quarter of their number and sent them reeling. Down the hill, a loud ringing cheer announced at last an assault on the village. The defenders fought hard but the regimental colours rose over the highest building in the village. General Paz gathered his troops and fell back to gather reinforcements.

Powder Smoke Over Belmont

2012-01-22T15:24:00.001-04:00

Newly recruited Yanks and Rebs seeing the elephant.

In May of 2010, Jerry and I played a 1/72nd AWI game, part of a long standing, occasional campaign set in Nova Scotia, but this time using Black Powder. Having enjoyed the experience, we agreed to assemble 1/72nd ACW armies to play games set in our local area with complete disregard for the politics and history, as if Nova Scotia was perhaps a peninsula in Virginia rather than Canada. Things happen and nearly 2 years passed but on Saturday, we finally brought the idea to fruition.

In the meantime, I have played a number of Black Powder games, each less satisfying than the one before, but never for the ACW and I decided that it would be best to at least try them again for this setting. Last year I noted that US Grant's first battle was at Belmont and since I was hosting the game here, in Belmont NS, it seemed like a good idea to base a scenario loosely on that action, but reversing sides since it was it is my Federal Army that is based at Belmont. Having looked at the rules, I decided that a scale of 1":10 yards more or less fit the musket ranges though 1:20 might fit the artillery better. Anyway, we usually measure in cm rather than inches to give ourselves more room. Taking this translation to 1cm on table being equal to 10 Yards to the map, I proceeded to lay out the table. Another friend had presented me with a laminated, detailed, large scale map of my local area a year or so back. Its been propped up on my desk, right up until, well until not long ago. Where it is now is a question which annoyed me exceeding Friday night!

Using a slightly larger scale map crossed with memory, I laid out the appropriate section of the table using 1" boards for the contours, occasionally eked out with thin plywood or masonite since 2/3 of the table was above the 1 contour line. The whole was then covered with a cloth with water features being cut out of a translucent blue recycling bag. Its not an exact replica and I spotted a gaff or 2 once it was complete but nothing serious and it was amusing to be able to look down on the table and be able to relate to it having walked much of the area at time or another over the last 6 years. Looking at the rules, the terrain effects didn't sit well for the ACW so we classed the woods as rough or broken (I forget the term) ground rather than woods. I classed the 3rd and 4th contours the same way since they are quite cut up with gullies and patches of woods that I hadn't represented.

From an aesthetic viewpoint, a couple of things bothered me about the result. The first is that I needed a lot more trees, bushes and fences. The second is that the cloth is khaki-ish, not bad for a late fall, early spring day but not appropriate from mid-spring to mid-fall. The evergreens were fine and I have a few leafless deciduous trees which fit the winterish look but the bulk of my deciduous trees have green foliage, sometimes scanty but in any case, only appropriate during the spring, summer, fall times where the khaki cloth is not appropriate. I either need a grass green cloth or I need to finish painting all and every bit of wood that I might use as contours, to match my table top.

Jerry contemplates move 3.

I began the game with a 4 regiment Brigade and 2 guns entrenched on table with the guns and 1 regiment alert and manning the defences, watching for an amphibious assault. The rest of brigade were deemed to be unready for combat and were stood facing some improvised out of period tents (note to self: add ACW tents to the list or things to make). The rest of my force, a regiment of cavalry and 2 brigades each of 4 regiments and a gun would arrive at some point after the alarm was raised, either by boat to the area near the battery or by road from the North, marching on past my house, depending on a die roll. Not having appropriate boats, I used a scratch built under scale ironclad of miscellaneous design that I had scratch built years ago to support my old 15mm F&F ACW armies for CS Grant's Island battle.

Jerry began with his entire force within a foot of the southern table edge. A brigade with 2 regiments of cavalry and a horse battery and 3 brigades of infantry totaling 11 regiments, with 1 gun assigned to each brigade. His mission was to capture the battery. If he could hold it, he would get a Victory. If he captured the battery but then extracted his force he would get a Winning draw. He sent the cavalry down the road followed by an infantry brigade with another moving above them. The 3rd brigade was directed down through the woods west of the pond to attack the camp.

An alert sentry spotted Jerry's troops on the road on turn 1 but no one believed him and on turn 3 when his infantry stormed out of the woods, I still hadn't managed to get my troops into battle order. Luckily for me, being hit in the rear seems to be a fairly minor penalty in BP and while my unit retreated, it wasn't badly hurt. At least being within initiative distance allowed me to shake out some other units and begin firing. A further charge by the Rebs into the prepared front of my next unit resulted in the rout and destruction of said unit.
(first time seeing the elephant for all of these units) Luckily the other lads had rallied and plugged the gap backed by a battery. The battle on this front settled into a prolonged and indecisive firefight.

Behind my brigade, as the steamboats busily chugged across the river with reinforcements, Jerry's cavalry had reached the intersection, followed the lane down towards the river, deployed and charged across the stream. Despite every advantage one could ask for, my troops were only just able to hold them at first (drawn melee) but on the next turn he had to retire, Shaken but not Broken.

The fight rages, full of sound and fury.

By then, my cavalry had appeared, (trotting past my house, wish I had more of those Wagon Train figures so i could have added them by the side of the road), deploying and careening full tilt into the flank of a Confederate regiment. These veteran troops threw them back with heavy losses with out even slowing down their march across the table. The attack worked however. The brigade that had been heading down to take over from Jerry's cavalry and overwhem the battery from the rear, turned about and climbed back up the hill, just as my 3rd brigade arrived. Another prolonged firefight broke out as we each took turns trying to coax our units to sidle into the woods to try to flank the enemy.

At last Jerry realized that time was running out as my 2nd Brigade, which had stalled midstream for several turns, finally began disembarking, driving off the few remaining troopers. He ordered a wild bayonet charge against the defenders of the battery. This time closing fire against the already battered regiments was decisive and his Brigade broke, pretty much ending the game.

It had been an enjoyable day with much catching up and an interesting game, despite the rules.

Reverse perspective: little boat in front, larger figures in the background. Those are Jerry's newly painted cavalry. To my embarrassment, I didn't get any close ups of any of his units despite their being more carefully painted than mind. (and no not because of). Actually, I got so tired of nothing changing from turn to turn that I stopped taking pictures and then forgot to shoot the end until after Jerry had removed his units.

Despite enjoying the game, I'm afraid, we both found the rules either frustrating or annoying at times, for various reasons. For me, apart from the stop/start feel of the no move or triple move command rolls, and the short artillery ranges (48" vs 18" smoothbore musket range) which didn't feel right for ACW, the ability of the attacker to always get the first shot, etc the combat wasn't terribly satisfying as a game experience.
One doesn't want combat to be too predictable but there seemed to be lots of rolling often with little effect but with occasional drastic results that don't seem related to anything but the dice, partly because of the structure of the all important morale check

I know its possible to back build a story as to what happened, why the cavalry that hit the column in the flank were the only ones to take damage and disorder, why the infantry hit while unformed were able to retreat fighting and form up while their comrades formed and facing the attack crumbled and fled and so on but I didn't find it as satisfying as, well lets say Charge! which can also have drastic swings of fortune in shooting or melee but in more up front fashion. You don't lose the combat then win the morale throw reversing the decision. For example a unit in Charge! that takes a walloping in melee due to bad dice will be beaten. A unit that only loses by little will fall back and rally if allowed to do so in peace as opposed to BP where we had units lose badly but shake it off or lose by a hair and then evaporate. Horses for courses.

The game also dragged on a little long despite how little happened. Partially this was because we wasted a LOT of time trying to find things in the book and partly because we took so many coffee breaks but that latter bit says a lot in itself. I would now rate the rules as maybe 3 stars or maybe 2 1/2.

In any event, we backed up a few things and played out a couple of turns of Hearts of Tin to give Jerry a feel. (The last version he played was a couple of years ago). I think we'll probably give them a go next time. All in all a fun day

Like Bartholomew Cubbins' Hats

2012-01-20T15:47:00.003-04:00

Just as you take one unit off the painting desk, Whish..then.... KerPlop! another one appears!

An 8th Reb regiment to balance the 12th Federal one finished this morning.

Gotta keep the playing field uneven. Same mix of Airfix, Imex and Italeri.

I was pleased but surprised at the favorable comments on the ACW figures this week as I consider this to be a very rough and ready paint job, which is why the regiments take about 2 hours apiece. There is a part of me that would like to have done a more careful, more detailed (like musket barrels and bits, designs on the reb blankets etc), properly shaded & highlighted painting of the figures but alas not only is eye & hand not equal to the task these days but neither is my patience. Instead of 50 figures (counting the horse) in 3 days it would probably have been none. (Mind you if I churned out that many figures every week, I'd have to make an addition to the house. I think I might have just matched last year's output!)

Anyway, to be clear I'm very happy with the results of the rough and ready approach. The extras would be lost on the table top. Base coat, rough highlights, nearly but not quite dry brushing, and directed wash shading using a appropriate colour for each area rather than a one size fits over wash like I used to use.

Thanks to Shep Paine for his chapter on wargame figures for talking me into that last bit as well as reminding me that shading is about where the light hits, not just about folds. Actually Shep Paine's book is fantastic in many ways and is responsible for my occasional putterings with sculpting as well. Couldn't have done it at all without him. (Price seems to have gone up a bit since I got mine nearly 20 years ago.)

Slightly fuzzy looking Federal troops. That's not exactly my house but its a similar style, straight off the back of the Imex box. Could use a bit of touch up..

Ok enough painting for now. My 12 Federal Regiments are ready to defend against the combined force of my 8 plus Jerry's 3 Rebel units, but the ground they will fight over isn't. Jerry's forces are expected to embark at Avonport, move up the Avon River, disembark at Newport Landing then march up the Belmont Road to attack the Federal Brigade camped near Wallace Point where the Avon and Kennetcook Rivers meet, across the river from the shore battery at Card Beach. The rest of the Federal Army will be encamped across the river and will have to be ferried across the Kennetcook off table. Both rivers are tidal which poses some interesting challenges which I'll ignore for now.

View Larger Map

"A" marks my house, (Since it would have been here at the time, I'll be using the one above, it'll be near the edge of the table which will be roughly 2 km by 1 2/3 km.). The Kennetcook goes acroos the top, The Avon is in the side, flowing towards the Minas Basin and then Bay of Fundy. The corner with the clearing is Wallace Point with Card Beach which will be off table is across the river, under the directional arrows. The map is about twice the area that the table will cover.

Since I don't want to spend hours making a terrain block of my house (after all, hopefully most of the fighting should be across the Avon River as I push out of Hants County into King's County and down the Valley.) it'll be tricky making even a vague semblance of the terrain, trying to figure out how to translate rolling hills into workable scaled down terrain and squashing the shape for convenience. But, it should be fun too.

Right, time for a cuppa then to get on with terra forming.

More grist for the mill

2012-01-19T12:44:00.002-04:00

Two hours later, they still need flocking but they'll be ready to fight. Now to go base up another regiment to bring the Feds up to 3 brigades of 4 regiments and a battery apiece.

Something Old, Something New

2012-01-18T23:09:00.000-04:00

Something Rebel (a mix of Airfix, Italeri and Imex looking remarkably uniform and tidy)

Something Blue. A new Federal Brigade Commander after an unfortunate encounter with a bottle labeled "matte varnish". Past its best before apparently. New Imex and Airfix recruits in the background. Can they be dressed and trained, ready for action by the weekend?

Sitting on the Dock of the Bey or What I did today.

2012-01-18T00:27:00.002-04:00

The first 54mm plastic figure that I've done in years. Aficionados of soft plastic AWI in either scale will recognize the base for this Barbary Pirate chief.

Interim Post

2012-01-15T12:40:00.001-04:00

Most of the activity this last week, both painting/rebasing and gaming has been Ancients related and thus relegated to the Gathering of Hosts blog. However, I did manage to paint up 1 stand of 40mm Merten archers.

They look a little more 15thC than 16thC but not impossibly so. I moved the quivers on 2 of them to the belt but there was no helping the chap drawing an arrow. They still need a lick of varnish and some work on the base when the undercoat and glue are all dry but they are serviceable as is and I'm happy enough with them.

Merten archers to the fore, my own home made ones in behind.

So with Greco-Bactrians table ready & tried and a new stand of archers, that's 2 things accomplished from my list. The relocation of my painting desk following a re-org of the family room has been backed up a bit as we experiment with layouts and the room clean up and reorg is hurrying up and waiting on that. Looks like a 20mm ACW game next weekend so that'll be the focus for this week.

Troop Dismount! Fall Out!

2012-01-09T12:55:00.004-04:00

To my great surprise, I find myself with no commitments this week. The first time, in, well, leaving aside the convalescing after my heart attack, the first time in 4 or 5 years! Not that there isn't stuff to do but there's nothing urgent or promised. So, I'm trying to sort out some hobby time priorities for the next little while.

Job 1 was finish some of the started stuff that was on my desk.

The Horse-less Soldiers. Hmm, I'm going to need a cheap HO vintage railway.

After the last ACW game, I decided that some dismounted cavalry were top of my priority list. I looked longingly at some Jacklex ones on line then turned to rummage through the spares box. I came up with 1 old Airfix trooper, 2 new Italeri ones, 2 cowboys and 3 Airfix infantrymen. I contemplated adding swords, and/or revolvers to the infantry, then I thought about how fiddly and fragile glued on 20mm conversions are,
how rough the service is that troops can expect under my command and how poor the lighting and my eye sight are, and decided that trimming the muskets to make them look slightly more like carbines would be good enough. A quick under coat in the primary colours, and......there they sat on the shelf till yesterday morning.

They have now been finished up in the minimalist style I'm using for the 1/72nd ACW guys and I'm fairly happy with them, My first impression of the Italeri figures was that they were rather chunky but though I hate to admit it, they were enjoyable to paint and I like the look of the finished figures. I feel better now about buying that box of Italeri Confederate infantry (which includes some dismounted cavalry). Some horse holders would be good, and a couple more regiments worth of mounted and dismounted cavalry but at least I have enough stands that I can dismount what mounted cavalry I have with good conscience in the next game.

There are some Elastolin dark age cavalry which have been lurking 1/2 painted for nearly 3 years now. I really ought to finish them. (or put them away...) and there's a bunch of ready to be started on things. But where to begin?

Probably the most urgent thing is to get my room cleaned up and rearranged to make it easier to do stuff. That doesn't sound like all that much fun so I may slot that for tomorrow. I haven't quite got a proper plan together yet anyway. There are two main issues. One is that stuff exceeds storage space, especially easy access storage space. I've sold enough old figures this year that there is now a little bit of not-easy-to-reach storage space available so I need to see if there are things which I can relocate there. I also need to start getting some more things ready for disposal, but again that's work. If I'm going to offer something for sale, even at firesale prices, I don't want them going out tattered. Even if I'm giving them away I'd prefer to have them smartened up unless I know the recipient wants them for parts though I have done it to help make room, but there are a lot of old figures that are tattered and need time and effort to fix up. I know I'll be lucky to find a buyer at even token prices so its hard to get motivated. Maybe there's room in the basement.....

The other is that my last effort to maximize use of space has left me with nowhere that I can approach my main troop staging areas closer than arms length. When lifting trays of figures, this inevitably results in some tilting and some death defying dives into the dog bed, garbage can or the brush cleaning pot. There is some talk of relocating my painting desk back to the family room. That would help though it raises other issues. (where the heck is the bottle of white paint, uh oh, Travis? What have you got?) Now that the table is smaller some rearranging may help resolve it.

Next up is scenery. I've been holding off in part because I'm between camps on style of scenery, and in part because its sheer drudgery for me. Perhaps if I write a blog entry on the topic, it'll help me sort my thoughts and reach some decisions so I'll put that on the list for this week.

There is a stack of 1812 figures, but I have no officers. I resumed work on a master this morning but that's going to be slow work, probably a mold of a neutral dolly of the new pose then a mold of a dressed officer. A drummer and standard bearer would be nice too. The plan here is going to be to chug ahead and hold off painting more privates till the officers are ready.

I could use some more English archers and I have some Merten figures on hand, so that might be an easy fix, even if I did one stand. OK that's on the list then.

But, above all , I want to get "something" finished. At the moment my prime target is a 25mm vaguely historical Greco-Bactrian army for Hexed Impetus. Partly because it only needs some fixing up, a few figures and some rebasing so should be a short term thing, partly because I hope to see it in action soon and would prefer to see it all tidy like instead of a mish-mash of sabots and various bases. I think that's where I'll start.

Remote Wooing

2012-01-08T21:27:00.000-04:00

Today brought something different. Today Rob Dean and I used a webcam and the speaker phone capabilities of Skype to play a miniatures game. I've been wanting to try it and afraid that it wouldn't work but I'm pleased to say that apart from having to push Rob's mini's around for him, it was much like having him in the room, I could even turn around and see him there, perched on top of a stool overlooking the table. Well, just his head and shoulders on my screen, a bit like Max Headroom now that I think about it........

A screen save of my computer in Nova Scotia at one point in the game.

The view in Maryland.

The game was set in France during the early 16thC. The rules were Rough Wooing which we co-wrote and the scenario #32 from CS Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers: Convoy (1): Wagon Train. A tried and trusted scenario. The rules use a card activation system using an ordinary deck of playing cards. Since I was going to be pushing figures, I suggested that Rob flip the cards. Ideally the scenario calls for a GM to manage the arrival of the ambushers as a surprise to both sides. Rob's son Norman was hanging around in the back ground, painting Mongols or the like so I asked if he would do the rolls required and let us know each turn what was arriving. This turned out to be a game winning move on my part.

The game progressed with Rob letting me know which group to move, how far and in which direction. ("a bit more to the left" etc) Occasionally he would ask me to shift the camera angle or to measure a distance since it was hard to judge distance using a fuzzy 2d image. When dice needed to be rolled which each rolled our own and reported the results. (There is no point playing a game like this with some one you don't trust).

We spent about an hour discussing some rule changes that I had proposed (the rules will be uploaded to Google docs soon) and discussing the mechanics of the web game, then about 2 hours playing 8 turns. In ohter words, about the same time it would have taken if we'd both been physically present.

We did not use any special equipment, just the Free version of Skype and the built in webcam. I need to find out more about using my digital camera as a webcam for the future as that would give me better resolution and make it easier to zoom in or pan the table.

Enough of mechanics, how did it go?

The table was laid out as close to the map as I could manage. The letters indicate arrival times. The convoy can be seen on the right, but the shot was staged as a pre-game look at the table for Rob. I fielded 2 stands or "companies" for each Grant unit.

Rob as the English, chose to come on the corner road, as above, but he decided to go left at the first fork and headed for the center road. He had obviously been practicing with his dice as its not easy to coax that many 1's and 2's from them. (the game uses variable length moves 2d6 for the wagons in this case) I maintain that the old driver of the first wagon was dragging his heels because he wanted to take the right hand fork. Rob's order of march was : Commanderand 2 companies of Demi-Lancers followed by the convoy. 4 companies of Bills & Bows on the left, a company of arquebusiers and one of sword & buckler men on the right. Two companies of Border Horse made up the rear guard.

My troops arrived early with 2 companies of pikemen arriving in the woods at A while 2 companies of arquebusiers arrived at D, following a trail over a steep hill. On the 2nd turn, my infantry commander and more arquebusiers arrived at D, followed by Mounted Arquebusiers on turn 3. This was all looking surprisingly organized. Nothing else arrived on turn 4 but by now we were close enough to trade shots. I had rashly sent some arquebusiers skirmishing across the plain to shoot at his lancers, hoping to draw them up into the hills after me and away from the road. My shooting was bang on and the cavalry predictably lowered their lances and charged, I prepared to evade to the shelter of the steep hill, or my halbardiers but realized that I'd come too far forward. there was nothing for it but to stand and take it. Amazingly it worked. Rob showed that his movement dice were no fluke, snake eyes while I rolled a fat 6 causing a 2nd hit to the stand and removing it. In my mind it was a close range volley that took them down. A taste of the future.

By now the wagons were committed to the center road. Inevitably, on Turn 5, my lancers arrived at Point E, perfectly placed to intercept. At the same time, more pikes arrived in the wood (OK so that wasn't that well organized). Things looked tight for now but Norman's voice had a vaguely chortling sound and I figured either my General and the rest of my cavalry had rolled a 6 and weren't going to make it at all, or else they were coming on at C, right behind the convoy.

The view from the fort. The cavalry prepares to sortie as the enemy Lancers ride into range and line of sight of the gun. In the far distance, the cross of St. Denis can just be seen beyond the wagons.

Yup. C it was, my General and 4 companies of cavalry were now parked an inch or 2 behind Rob's rear guard. Only some lucky card draws would allow him to make a fight of it.

The cavalry clash.

The cards obliged and Rob manged to pull back the border horse and turn around and bring up his demi-lance Commander, tuck the wagons in behind and move the light infantry up through the woods to get ahead of the convoy. He even managed to face the bows and bills about and unleash a flight of arrows. That, however, required dice and came to nothing. Moments later....

The French cavalry like foxes in a hen house.

The odds had been very slightly in my favour and a draw was as likely as any other outcome but the result was drastic and disastrous for the English. The French cavalry pursued, riding over 1/2 the convoy. On turn 7 the English Light Horse from the garrison made a bold dash for the rear of the French lancers but despite a very credible movement roll ended up 4" short. A unit of sword and buckler men managed to get in between the French and the head of the wagons but the horsemen were not to be denied. They rode down the English and 1 company pursued into the wagons while the other crashed into the bows. The game was over.

I've played this Wagon Train scenario times when arrival rolls or lack of arrivals made for a very challenging game but I don't think I've ever not enjoyed a play through of this scenario. If the timing and arrival of the reinforcements had been different, if the wagons had rolled even close to average movement or if Rob had listened to the old Wagoneer and risked the right hand road, who knows? The main thing is that it was fun, and validated the remote game concept.

I'm ready for more.

Invasion!

2012-01-07T22:28:00.001-04:00

Jan 7, 1842

THE BLUE REPUBLIC CROSSES THE LINE

Yesterday morning, an unprovoked attack was made on the new battery established at Torn Point near Belmont on the Blugene River. The Queen's forces in the area were composed of 1/2 a company of the Royal Fusiliers guarding the bridge near Brown Rock, the gunners with their 12 pounder and a company of local militia. These troops were on the Qui Vive however, and at the first sign of enemy preparations alerted neighboring garrisons who rushed to their aid with unprecedented haste.

Three companies of Blue's 1st infantry under General Scott landed upstream of the bridge. One was dispatched to hold off reinforcements while another company approached the redoubt at the bridge and opened fire. Despite taking 25% casualties, the Elite soldiers of the Fusiliers stood their ground and with a withering return fire, drove off the attack. The 3rd company soon renewed the attack and forced the remaining Fusiliers to retreat. While some Blue soldiers set to work tearing up the bridge, the rest followed up the Fusiliers who were attempting to make their way across the fields to rejoin their regiment and drove them off. A fresh company of Fusiliers supported by a company of Victoria Rifles was at hand already. Several point blank volleys routed the first company of Bluecoats then a bayonet charge cleared the bridge before the destruction could be completed.

The Stone House near the point was attacked by Brigadier Zinn with a company of Rifles and 2 companies of the 2nd Infantry. Brigadier Zinn, led the 2nd Infantry forward in person but a bullet from one of the defenders threw him from his saddle and the attack stalled. The Rifles began to work their way around the House and casualties began to mount amongst the defenders but help was at hand. Rushing up the road from Brooklyn came the Green Tigers led by Colonel Stoneforte. The Grenadiers rushed to reinforce the defenders of the house while the rest deployed and opened a heavy fire.

Moments later a loud whistle followed by an explosion announced the arrival of the Rocket Battery. Fresh from the exercise grounds, these opened an unusually accurate barrage. Behind them, Princess Louise's Dragoons trotted up the road, helmets gleaming in the sun

jj.

Crossing rapidly over into the adjacent fields, they charged the company of Blue infantry which had been pursuing the Fusiliers. Blinded by their own smoke, the Blue Infantry failed to form square and were ridden down.

The invasion seemed well repulsed but Blue was not yet done, The second wave was at hand! Despite the lack of any senior commanders, two companies of the 3rd Infantry and a Mountain Howitzer landed and pushed inland while the Rifles pushed up the road and opened a heavy and accurate fire on the Rocket Battery, forcing them to limber up and retreat. Behind them, another wave of boats landed. The Blue Guards were at hand!

Pushing up the road towards the bridge a company of the 3rd opened fire on the Dragoons from behind the fence line. The cavalry wheeled around but as they attempted to jump the fence to get at their foe, a tremendous point blank fire cut them down in droves and the remaining dragoons scattered back to safety.

The day hung in the balance as the Blue Guards formed with precision, their Colonel at their head. With a ring cheer they charged the house where the Tigers had replaced the garrison.

A volley the likes of which has rarely been known cut down the Colonel and nearly 1/2 the Guardsmen. The remaining Blue troops quickly re-embarked and abandoned their enterprise.

After the test, before the report

2012-01-07T12:12:00.000-04:00

Rather than asking the reporter from the Newport Noodle to comment on the plans and thoughts, I'd thought I'd slip in a brief post test post.

Another dawn, another invasion.

A detachment of Royal ~~Scots~~ Fusiliers stand to as the ~~Americans~~ Oberhilsians storm ashore.

Firstly, I was pleased. The rules had the right feel for this sort of game as I envisaged it. The game reminded me of early MacDuff games but in 2 hours instead of 4 and with a definite end. I'm sure there will be minor tweaks, for example I'm wondering if I should stick with the tried and false but easy 45 degree arc of fire or restrict it to straight ahead but allow fire groups on the end of a line to wheel 45 degrees forward or backward before firing. I suspect that is pedantic and not worth the hassle but its tempting.

Secondly, I kept thinking of the forces as British and American. May have something to do with the uniforms....... I'm not sure this Imagination thing will stick or if I'll just go back to straight fantasy with two broadly historical armies fighting each other over imaginary terrain with imaginary orders of battle. No rash decisions on this though, I want to bring the armies up to speed as they are which will leave them able to go either way.

OK Battle report by bedtime. Slightly different terrain and twice the forces. Are those cavalry coming down the road? Is that red glare being made by a rocket?

Coming Home

2012-01-06T19:50:00.002-04:00

The label "Old School" means so many different things to so many people that it is meaningless on its own. To me Charles Grant with his tables of stats and regard for consistent scale is a good example of what we could call Old School Simulationist. But to me the term brings to mind Featherstone and Lawford & Young who discourage becoming a slave to minor details or "dull consistency" in order to get the right over all effect Back in the early 1990's, I had just started playing 25mm Colonials and had been re-reading Charge! for the umpteenth time. MacDuff To The Frontier was the result.

I was looking at the latest MacDuff ideas today and thinking back over some of the principles that I've tried to put in writing over the last 2 years (for example see) and realized that various things violated some of these principles and that it wasn't the first time I tried them (for example the artificial menu of Order options). I also realized that the more I stopped trying to prescribe how players are to use their troops and just allowed them to be more or less historical as it pleases them, the easier it got to make the rules simple, quick and effective. Once again, the inspiration here is Charge! If you want to break your regiments down into companies and launch bayonet attacks in column Charge! lets you do it. Its almost guaranteed to fail against a player using historical tactics, but you can try it. Similarly, I am trying to keep in mind what experience has taught me playing MacDuff at conventions or club games with people who are not necessarily familiar with either rules or period. Too many clever bits, meant to increase various historical aspects, often result in "gotcha" moments or confusion.

So, I have gone back through the various mechanisms experimented with over the last year, (including some shared by HofT like the Orders Chart) and am now busy incorporating them into the latest version of MacDuff. The result will be posted sometime in the next few days but they are summarized below as a guide to me during the next play test.

Long ago and so Faraway.......The 1st and 2nd Oberhilse Infantry Regiments cross the Blugene River in a surprise attack.

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MacDuff 2012

Jan 6 Proposed Basic Rules summary

1. Scales. Roughly 1”=15 yds, 4 turn = 1 hour. Theoreticallyeach toy soldier thus occupies the same frontage as 1 man for each mm of base. In practice I routinely expand orcompress terrain and troop scales whenconverting historical events into game scenarios thus making them “inspired by”rather than a “recreation of”.

2. Unit organization can be anything agreedupon by the players or as set out by the GM. My own consists of 8 man "companies" which are grouped into 2-4 company Regiments. In a game, while I would normally try to keep the companies of a Regiment in a formation by themselves, but technically a "Brigade" consists of any number of companies (units) and a commander and the player can arrange them in formations as he/she chooses.

3. Formations are the key element of thegame. Activation, movement, combat and morale is by formation. Formationsconsist of an arrangement of 1 or more units from the same brigade. Close orderformations must have all figures aligned and bases touching. Askirmish formation may not be more than 1 unit. A unit may only act once perturn other than to respond to the enemy or as a compulsory move so if a unitforms up with a unit which has not yet moved, that unit will be unable to move until next turn.

A brief summary of Basic Rules.

1. Sequence of play. 2 options.

1. Basic: Draw cards, Red one side, black the other. On a cardone formation is activated, moves and fights.

2. Alternate: Sides roll offat the start of each turn.Winner chooses to go first or 2nd. Active player activates formations 1 at atime as above.

2. Orders. Issue an order (statement ofintent) before moving a formation then roll 1 die. 2-6 Obey, 0,1= Cavalry,spearmen and impetuous troops charge if able, others stand and shoot if able,others do nothing. Less than zero retreat. -1 if disordered, -1 if fired or fought inmelee since last activated. A generalwithin 8” may join unit and re-roll.

3. Movement. Infantry, Foot artillery12”. +4” incolumn. -4” to shoot -4” to turn, limber, unlimber etc
Cavalry, Horse Artillery 24” etc Muststop at least 1” from enemy unless charging. -4” to shoot. Movement is forwardonly, inc wheel. -4” for each turn unless skirmisher or disordered. -4” tolimber/unlimber, mount/dismount etc.

Terrain -4" cross minor obstacle. woods etc: skirmishers full, inf 1/2 speed disordered.

4. Reaction. If shot at, a unit may return fire orcharge. If charged, a unit may fire, counter charge or take command test thenchange facing/formation. Skirmisher, ltcav or horse artillery may retreat in disorder.

5. Shooting. Since shooting represents several shots,return fire is simultaneous. 1 die per4 inf or gunners with round shot, 1 dieper 2 gunners with canister. Round upremainders over 1/2 6=2 hits, 4,5 = 1 hit. -1 vs artillery,cavalry, skirmishers or partial cover, -1 disordered -1 over 1/2 range -2 vs fortifications Musket 8”, Rifle 16”, Cannister 16”, Shot/Shell 24”/32”/48”. Arty rerollsmisses if dense target (col/mass/square/enfilade)

6. Melee Match up front rankfigures and dice. High score wins. +1 elite or fighting militia, +1defending cover or obstacle. +1 infantry charging if they did not fire +2cavalry charging except vs square or cover.
Afterwards. Formation taking most hits retreat full move in disorder. If tie,fight again.

7. Morale. A formation receiving 1/4 casualties (currentstrength) from 1 shot will retire a move in disorder. A formation suffering 1/2casualties (current strength) from 1shot will rout and be removed.
Militia 1/6 and 1/3rd instead, Elites 1/3rd and 2/3rd instead). In mixedformations, figures will react by their class based on over all % hits. Rest offigures may choose to join a retreat. eg a formation with 6 elites, 8 regulars,and 4 militia takes 1/4 hits. Militia and regulars must retreat, the elites mayjoin them or stand. If it had taken 1/3 hits, the militia would rout and therest be forced to retreat. Takes whole turn to rally from disorder, noshooting, may face the nearest threat.

If 1/2 the units in an army have been destroyed, routed or forced to retreat off table then that army must concede.

8. General’s Rally. A Commander may make a rally roll if he is with a formation that takes hits from shooting or melee. 6=remove up to 2 hits, 4,5 remove 1 hit,2,3 No effect, 1 Commander is hit and removed from game. (OK this one is new and untested)

Mixing and Mis-matching

2012-01-05T13:17:00.001-04:00

An American landing parting crosses the Neverwaussie River to attack a British battery near Brown Rock Creek. Their mission is to seize the battery, destroy the bridge and hold until reinforced.

One of the first lessons of Rules Tinkering that one learns (or not) is that one has to be careful that ideas or mechanisms from different sources don't clash. When I started back to twiddle with MacDuff, I had in mind various historical situations, various past rule mechanisms that I have used and a process used by Simon MacDowall in Comitatus. This was developed from an ancient eye witness account of a battle between Romans and Germanic tribesmen.(Ammianus possibly? I'd have to go digging to find the author and paragraph again). Essentially this has units closing, exchanging long range fire then if their morale holds and they wish it, closing and exchanging javelin fire then if their morale holds and they wish it, charging into contact. Which is the sort of Horse & Musket era behaviour I wanted to catch within a single turn rather than in multiple turns as would happen with Charge!

My first kick at adapting the mechanism assumed that all the units on one side would move then all the units would resolve combat but units would only get to fire once so had to decide whether to shoot early with less effect or shoot later. A quick run through of an attack showed me two things. First the concept worked quite well for what I wanted, given those parameters. Secondly, it might mean moving every figure in a 32 man battalion as many as 4 times in one turn. (Simon had been using elements, generally 1 to 4 in a unit). Work or not, that wouldn't fly, not for me at least.

I decided to drop the range and sequence thing and assume that units that rolled low fired at long range while those that rolled up had held fire. Having also decided to keep the traditional MacDuff thing of card activation system with combat and movement happening when units were activated not in separate phases, I now had to deal with units being involved in more than 1 combat in a turn. I also ran into extended fire combats at long ranges so, forgetting my earlier decision, added a long distance modifier and a decision mechanism to allow choice rather than chance to decide whether the attacker would fire on the move starting at long range like the French at Quebec or at close range like the British.

This is what I dropped on the table for a small skirmish based on an action at Black Rock in November of 1812. This is about the smallest game that the rules can handle these days. 6 companies vs 7 once all reinforcements were on table. (or 9 vs 7 if the US reinforcements had opted to come. ) This size of game used to take about 3 hours with the original MacDuff which was good except that I wanted to play games 3 or 4 times this size. This game took about an hour to play through to a conclusion which is about right for its size.

The British reinforcements arrive late and both battery and bridge have been taken by the time they arrive.

Its always a bit tricky playing a game with 1/2 written rules but I managed to get a feel for some of the issues and ended up finding several situations where things were too vague and I had trouble deciding what would feel best and be consistent and several where what worked for one tactical option, didn't work right for a different one (in terms of feel not success). I liked the idea of the longer move followed by a mutual firefight and resolution and its not the first time I've tried to tackle it ( the Morschauser inspired 3" melee zone from HofT kept coming to mind). I still think it should be possible to separate artillery, skirmish and long range musket fire that cause slow attrition on one hand, from decisive firefights and bayonet charges on the other. In a way the rules originally did this by having the long range fire much less effective, esp if the firer moved, and allowing fire and charge tactics and by allowing units that held fire to react so the answer may well be in the existing and tried ideas rather than revolutionary ones. Just extending the movements, tweaking the reaction and formation change options and the charge sequence might be enough given the new command chart introduced last fall and the revised morale rules, both of which I like.

I did like the way the cards worked, making it important to take time to form troops up for maximum effect. For a while I had been playing with certain cards activating certain units but this took that aspect away plus I didn't like the reduction in player decision making that it brought. Oddly, though the system I used was basically how I had done it with the original rules, I had forgotten this aspect of them until reminded by playing Basic Impetus. (no it doesn't use cards but each group finishes its movement and combat before the next starts like original MacDuff where companies needed a Colonel to act together). For bigger battles, the initiative system will probably work better though keeping the "each unit/group does movement and combat before the next starts" concept, in other words status quo with both systems. allowed.

One last minor thing, the round washers are so superior to the smaller bases in terms of figures not falling over, and the wider frontage which bothers me in between games was of so little note during the game that I am tempted to tell myself to just stuff it and stay with them. (For those wondering what the issue is, it effects how many real men each toy soldier theoretically represents. Yes, this is the tortured simulationist in me struggling with the Toy Soldier Guy. In the game shown, the numbers present in the historical action suggest each of my figures represents 5 or 10 real ones but the frontage suggests 20-30).

The remnants of the last company of Americans looks for a way to get to the boats as the British and Canadians close in from both sides.

Oh yes, I was also reminded that if I'm going to play War of 1812 games, I need to make a respectable looking foot wide table edge river terrain piece! (and more trees, LOTS more trees, BIG ones!)

A Rough Overview of the New Rules.

2012-01-03T19:12:00.001-04:00

Here is a summary of my thoughts so far. Obviously a lot to do yet and not as drastic or original as my wildest thoughts. As far as I can tell, there is nothing original in any of the rules but I'm not sure I have combined the ideas in exactly this configuration before. There may be just enough MacDuff left in them to keep the name.

Ross’s New Horse & Musket rules forsmall actions or

MacDuff 2012

A Bit of Underlying Rationale.

Events are portrayed sequentially on the table even if overlapping
Time is lost and wasted in and around getting things done. In some turns units will be more active and get more done than in others or do some things faster and spend more time waiting. In other turns everyone has finished what they're doing in a minute or 2 or maybe they've actually borrowed time from the next turn to get to where they are. None of this is shown on the table and the game and the turn sequence will march on tirelessly.
Perception distorts and thus time travel appears to be possible. "A" appears to happen to a unit early in a turn then "B" appears to happen and changes the outcome. In some cases, A did happen followed by B but in other cases B began before A ended and thus changed the end result. In any event the actual event become equal to A+B if you like and any thing else was just how it appeared to an observer who couldn't see the whole picture.
Units have a posture based on their orders, in part this reflects not just where they are now but what they were previously doing.
Unit commanders will react to immediate threats
Generals react to what they can see or get reports of but this takes longer and is shown by the orders they issue next turn.
"Hits" don't equal casualties. They are the sum of all things that wear down a unit's combat capability including dead and wounded, fear, fatigue, loss of discipline etc
Morale is based on melee outcomes and on % losses. This appears deterministic but since casualties are variable it is not. A 32 man unit may fight until it is 3 strong without being forced to retreat or may fight all day and never take a hit since there are no automatic or minimum hits. It does avoid double jeopardy where a combat test indicates 1 result and a separate morale test negates it.
Scales. Roughly 1”=25 yds, 1 turn = 15 minutes. Infantry in line move 12” Musket range is 8”, rifle range will be 16", canister 16", shot shell varies varies by light/foot/heavy. My "standard" unit will be 4 x 8 man companies but small games will see companies as "units" and battalions as "brigades".

A Rough Draft of only the most Basic Rules. (I am not going to waste time writing up the rest until the important bits are tested. When in doubt I'll improvise or refer back to MacDuff)

Sequence of play. 2 options.

Standard: IgoUgo with an initiative roll at the start of each turn. Within turns units are given orders and act 1 by 1 then combat is resolved. (Several units in a brigade can form up together and are treated as 1 for activation). Movement and combat is all resolved before the next unit is activated.
Alternate: Draw cards, Red one side, black the other. On a card one unit or group of units is activated, moves and fights. esp if fighting at night, in fog or forest or if preferred.

There are 4 orders:

March/Work. The unit forms column and moves double speed to indicated target but may not shoot or attack and ends in march formation. Also used for pioneers to do work.
Prepare. The unit deploys, ready for battle. May move 1/2 in any direction and change facing/formation. May not shoot or attack. The unit is ready to react to enemy threats.
Attack. The unit must be deployed, facing the enemy and not disordered. Move towards the enemy or indicated position at normal speed. If they get close enough attacker may shoot first at 1/2 effect or let defender react first. Defender may shoot or retreat in disorder or test then charge or test then change formation/facing. Attacker may shoot if they didn;t shoot earlier or may charge. Resolve melee if there was a charge. If a unit attacks into an ongoing fight, only the defending unit is reactivated and it can only react to the attacker. No charge or formation/facing change is allowed as reaction in this case.

Things don’t always go as planned. All units test when ordered. 1= no move, no rally, no deploy. units already in range may shoot. -1 if disordered. A general who is close by may intervene
Morale. A unit receiving 1/4 casualties (current strength) or more in 1 turn will turn and retire a move in disorder. A unit suffering 1/2 casualties (current strength) or more in 1 turn will rout and be removed.
Militia 1/6 and 1/3rd instead, Elites 1/3rd and 2/3rd instead)
Shooting 1 die per 4 round up remainders over 1/2 6=2 hits, 4,5 = 1 hit. +1 cannister -1 vs artillery or cavalry or partial cover, -2 vs hard cover or skirmish -1 over 1/2 range 1st fire 1die per 3 figures.
Melee Match up front rank figures and dice. High score hits. +1 elite or fighting militia, +1 defending cover or obstacle. +1 charging except vs square or cover.
Afterwards Any forced to retreat do so. If still in contact, attacker falls back either 1" in good order or beyond enemy cannister/ small arms range in disorder.

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An imagined example with no surprise shift of initiative .

1759. Three French infantry battalions each 24 strong deployed 8 wide and 3 deep formed as a single unit attack 2 British battalions 32 strong deployed 16 wide and 2 deep. 1 French Battalion is regular, the other 2 are rated as militia do to the number of militia mixed in to bring up numbers. The British are rated as Regular

The French stop at long range and opt to fire first. They will count 1/2 the figures in the front 2 ranks or 24 figures in all but for first fire will get 1 die per 3 figures with a -1 modifier for long range fire. 8 dice with each 5 or 6 indicating a one hit, They make fairly average rolls and inflict a couple of hits on each British line with no other effect. The British choose to hold their fire. That activation is over.

The British move next and choose not to attack so there is no firing by either side.

On their next move, French advance to close range and fire first again. Again they fire only 1/2 their figures but there is no minus 1 so 6's will be 2 hits and 4,5 1 hit. They now roll 6 dice (not first fire) they now score slightly higher than average and do 3 hits on 1 unit and 4 on the other but this has no morale effect. The British now return fire at close range with 1st fire. The line slightly overlaps the French so they end up with 5 dice against the center battalion and 7 dice against each of the flanking ones (1d per 3) and are looking for 4,5=1 hit, 6 = 2 hits. They inflict 5 hits on 1 militia battalion, 4 on the regulars and roll up slightly inflicting 6 on the other militia battalion forcing both militia units to turn and retire in disorder.

The British move next and decide to fire first with 1/2 their figures, take the French fire then charge. The end result will depend on the dice but the odds should be in favour of the British sweeping the field.

Now in keeping with a desire to reduce the number of games with stand in figures, I am going to set up a small War of 1812 action to test things out on the table.(and get casting and painting so I can get the mid-19thC guys into action again).

Stopping Time

2012-01-03T13:47:00.000-04:00

OK, cooler heads have prevailed. After handling a few figures and rereading some old posts (to avoid having to actually think the thoughts again and re-discuss the old discussions again), I have decided to again post pone the late 19thC/early 20thC glossy toy soldier adventure and to stick to last year's decision to park the historical early 19th campaigns for a bit longer and just get the Atlantica collection sorted. I have also remembered 2 of the stumbling blocks. One is that I need to sculpt some more figures and have been stalled on the sculpting side. The other is that while I have a vague of idea of how I want the games to look and feel, its hard to write vague rules! I could just stick 'em all back on bases and play Hearts of Tin but I want the games to look and feel different (largely as an excuse for multiple collections of troops).

So here I am looking at Charge and fiddling with MacDuff again and wondering if its fair to use the same name if the rules end up being very different and wondering what else to call them. OK that can wait. What I found myself writing last night when supposedly updating the intro, was a rant on consistent scales and the dampening effect it can have on games design, esp since no one I've met, other, perhaps than Von Reischwitz, has managed the time issue and he wasn't writing a solo or 2 player game but a training exercise with a team of umpires.

Weapon ranges are easy enough. There is lots of data on % hits at various ranges so one can just translate that into range bands and dice scores. Of course in real life there aren't discrete range bands with a drastic reduction in effect between 99 yards and 101 but you could always use more range bands or a sliding %. Oh and of course each turn usually represents more than one volley so really you need to calculate the effect of each of those separately, and make it interactive........

Time and interactiveness are the real difficulties. The rate at which troops move is also easily calculated but is meaningless without a time scale and time scales which give reasonable bounds on the table are usually incompatible with the total length of time required for even a small battle. All of this is of course old hat well discussed in the 60's and probably earlier.

There is always the design for effect but the trick is to get the right results/effect without losing all flavour, especially if playing a low level action rather than a large battle where the player is a Corps or Army commander, above the smell of smoke. It would be fine if skirmishes between less than 1,000 men were usually over in 20 minutes, but based on studying various War of 1812 actions amongst others, such things could easily last 3 hours or more despite the lack of troops.

In real life, hurry up and wait applies, there are pauses where not much happens, then there is a burst of activity then another burst of activity. How best does one get this on the table top and keep it interesting?

There have been lots of attempts to find the best way to convert the continuous flow of time into a game format, from IgoUgo, to simultaneous moves, continuous action, variable length bounds, impulses, card decks and on and on. I'm afraid I'm not bright enough to out think all those who have given it a go in the past but I'm still struggling towards finding something to suit me right now. At least, since this is to be primarily a solo project, I don't really have to worry about finding something that works for any one else.

I'm currently revisiting an old idea that almost worked. On a high level, it would involve fairly long movement with some sort of reaction-interference by the enemy, an interactive combat resolution, usually decisive, probably with the possibility of more than 1 phase. There needs to be a reason to not commit all troops at once and there needs to be time to regroup but turns need to move quickly when there is little or no fighting.

Good luck to me.

A Startling Thought

2012-01-02T13:01:00.002-04:00

Startling may be too strong but I am so used to the convention of the 2 deep line of miniatures that it feels odd to even think about a 1 deep line despite the long history of such a tabletop formation.

One deep firing lines go right back to Don Featherstone and Jack Scruby and were used by WRG in their 1685-1845 rules not to mention GW Jeffries. With the exception of my short WRG phase, I have been an adherent to Lawford & Young's and Charles Grant's 2 deep approach. However there are 2 very different benefits to the 1 deep line. One is from a position of sheer laziness, it allows one to use 1/2 the number of figures for the same frontage of units. The 2nd, which is of primarily academic interest, is that it allows for a slightly better representation of the depth of formations.

Have a look at the American column in the picture, deployed on a Grand Division frontage (2 companies) vs the British line. If we doubled the depth as usual the line would have 40 figures, still on a 20 man frontage while the column would have a depth of 8 men still on a 5 man frontage and would look very ungainly with the rear ranks barely able to come up to the front in a single move. If we halved the size of the units but kept the 2 deep line, we would have to 1/2 the ground scale to keep in proportion which has other effects, for example the limbered gun would be more than a musket shot from tip to tail.

No conclusions, just a thought to ponder. There are days when I sure wish I could just play toy soldiers without even thinking about this stuff! (or just wargame with 10mm figures)

Admin Note: Current Email Address

2012-01-02T12:16:00.000-04:00

For anyone who is used to using my old lochsloy email address or has it in their address book, or who has picked it up from an old link, please note that my current email address is rmacfa@gmail.com . You won't get an error from the old address but I only check it when the moon is blue so there may be delay of weeks or months before I get your email.......

Thanks!

Ross
.

Planning the 2012 Winter Campaign

2012-01-01T19:17:00.002-04:00

Relax, not really campaign, or at least there might be a campaign but probably not but it is my expectation that I will have more hobby time over the winter, in particular, more painting time and maybe some longer, more elaborate solo games. If not, a big shake up of some sort is called for.

Even with increased time, I won't have time to indulge in everything, hence the need to figure out what outside commitments I have, what needs to be done to meet them and what else I want to do. I also have some "issues" around present circumstances vs past visions that I haven't completely wrapped my head around but need to as these affect things like how many collections I think I can handle at once and still enjoy them and how I feel about working on yet more figures that will rarely if ever hit the table, or alternately, dropping some secondary projects down into very small game levels.

Portable Russian Civil Wargame from March of 2011

There have been times in the past when the only valid "small game" I could envisage me doing was a small man-to-man skirmish, something I didn't actually do but could envisage. I've flip flopped on this and can now see a matched set of DBA or Portable Wargame armies as a perfectly valid option for secondary collections. A way to "scratch itches" and indulge my wandering interests without investing a lot of time, money and shelf space. Something like that, might hit the table once a decade and still justify its existence.

The main thing I want to accomplish is to take one or 2 of my collections and bring them to a "Sufficient" status. Not finished, I'm not aiming to close anything off from future additions or even to complete all the planned units for any of the campaigns. However, due, in some cases to inability to decide what a certain campaign should look and feel like, and in others to me waiting on myself to learn how to use the spin caster to produce the required figures (rather than finishing with conversions, faulty drop cast molds or purchases then spinning my originals), I have too many collections that cannot take the field for a game without incomplete units, borrowed troops and improvised scenery. That needs to change or I need to play with the finished ones, (if there are any left) or to down size requirements. There may be a drop in variety while this happens but don't count on it.

I have banished ancients to my other blog, but can't ignore them during this process as I intend to devote a fair amount of time to them this winter. In part because I know what needs to be done and have hopes of games and all of the figures or molds that I need to reach a stage of Sufficient. So here, the goal is 2 opposing 300 pt Impetus armies, all based and with enough suitable terrain to play a game. Most of the figures are painted so its largely about reorg, rebase and touch up.

Planning is afoot to meet Rob Dean at Huzzah in Portland Maine in May and co-host a 16thC Rough Wooing game. I'd like to add a few more archers and cavalry and there are a few troops to be migrated from thin cardboard to Coalition Standard masonite bases but if push comes to shove, I could pack up tomorrow and go as is. The real need is to put a push on to agree on a game and register it and to agree on some proposed rule changes. As part of this process, we hope to stage a Skype game if we can arrange a day. This is the 3rd year I have hoped to make this new convention and have had outside things intervene so hopefully this year it will all come together.

A Rough Wooing Game from last New Year's

On a related note, 2 years ago I was registered to run an Aroostock War alternate history game at the 1st Huzzah. Many of the troops are ready while those still needed are planned anyway so I would like to finally do this. I never got beyond a rough idea for scenario though and it really calls for a lot of scenery that just isn't ready, especially not travelling a 1,000 km to a convention ready. So it needs a decision soon and lots of upfront work soon if I am going to go for it. The alternative is to play it safe and put it off till next year.

I quite enjoyed the 1/72nd ACW games last fall and Santa was nice enough to drop off some Italeri and Imex reinforcements. this also needs scenery but I expect that I'll bring both armies up to a first level of Sufficient this year if not this winter. If I'm not too busy with the Aroostock thing, fences and entrenchments will also appear.

Actually scenery is becoming a critical issue for all my collections, I had hoped to get it down to 2 sets of scenery with variations but I think i am now looking at at least 4 set ups, sighhhh. more on that later in a separate post.

Then there is the WWI bug. The 40mm one is in direct resource conflict with the Aroostock/1840's toy soldier campaigns while the 1/72nd RCW/WWI one is rubbing up against the ACW campaign. I think this is the big decision that i need to make this week. The RCW project is Sufficent for a Portable Wargame and can be left there though some trenches would be nice, a few hour's work. For the 40's, I am going to have to choose one for this winter: bring 1838 up to Sufficient or drop it this year and build 1914 from nothing.

The 1840's from a game this fall, unfinished scenery, wagons and variously based and organized troops with stand ins and missing flags. Time to Polish? or time to Put Away? (for now)

A new collection, sample 1914 figures from a few weeks ago. Will they be "Home by Next Christmas?" or just a passing fancy?.

One last game

2011-12-31T17:00:00.001-04:00

I have struggled this last year to keep 2 blogs active and have found it awkward to have the run up to my ancient games happen on the other blog while the final battles appeared here. The thought crossed my mind to shut the other down but luckily I slowly realized that I could just shift the ancient reports over there. So it shall be from this day forth.

So, to read an account of a wargame based on Thymbra, Cyrus the Great's famous victory over Croesus of Lydia, where reserves and a central position were used, along with some WRG worthy Gimmick troops, to defeat a double envelopment, please step over to the Gathering of Hosts blog

Happy 2012 to all.

More thoughts on wargaming and battle reports to come here in the New Year.

Moving Right Along

2011-12-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

Thank you to all who left Christmas Greetings. It has been a very relaxing, enjoyable family Christmas including a run up to Fredericton., but not including any hobby time. Tomorrow I begin a Stay-cation.

The armies are gathering at Thymbra!

Santa's using his snow sprayer again!

2011-12-23T12:02:00.002-04:00

May there be good food, good company and exciting new toys for all!

MOMBATS in the Belfry

2011-12-19T21:46:00.002-04:00

The Roscian column comes under fire.

It is my intent that each of my "active" collections see action at least every other year. My 1/72nd forces last hit the tabletop in November of 2009. When Bob Cordery released the lastest version of his Memoir of Modern Battle, it seemed like a good time to take an hour or so to give the soldiers of Naryatria and Roscia a quick outing. The table was still set for Holding Action, all I had to do was swap out the buildings, swap in the palm trees that show I'm not in Kansas, swap about the hills so that the crucial ones would be hexed, and select troops to deploy.

The Balimont Rifles prepare their recoiless rifle. (figures from the spares box and a few plastic scraps made into a very accurate representation of a Mk 2 Ross Recoiless, the Naryatrians use a Mk1)

The opposing armies are those of Naryatria, which first saw light of day for a few AK47 games back around 2004 give or take a year and Roscia which were created in 2009 for CWC. They were both formed to resist the forces of Centralia but since these have not been seen since the repulse of their invasion of Roscia in the spring of 2009, it seems inevitable that there have been border skirmishes. Not that they share a border to the best of my knowledge but the geography is a little hazy to be sure. The time frame is almost as hazy, mid to late 60's is about as close as we are likely to make it.

The Hereditary Foe: Jerry's Centralian Hordes. Photo courtesy of E Tenibris Lux.

The scenario called for "light cavalry" and "heavy cavalry". Translating the latter into Tank was easy, but the rules had no real equivalent to the former. Luckily, Bob has been kind enough to send me a doc file of the rules to make it easy for me to tinker. I decided to add Armoured Cars as a catch all for obsolete tanks, armed APC and armoured cars. I ruled that they would be treated as a "Tank" when being shot at, but would have only 2 strength points and would only fire with 2 dice.

I wasn't happy with the anti-armour capability of machine guns, mortars and infantry so deducted 2 dice for MG's and 2 dice from the others. I considered ruling that small arms could only drive back AFV but decided not to complicate matters.

'A' Company of the Balimont Rifles, complete with Bazooka for anti-armour defence. (Almark WWII British, plus Imex Korean War US, an old paratrooper and a bren gunner from somewhere.)

In order to allow my "new" Pershing tank(only a year 1/2 old) to take the field, I let Roscia be the advancing force, chasing a retreating Naryatrian incursion no doubt. The Naryatrians dug in around the pass with 4 companies of infantry, a mortar, a recoiless gun, an armoured car, a Technical mounting an MG (treated as an infantry target but with vehicle movement), and a field gun. The Lions in their Red Berets deployed their left of the road and in reserve while the Rhino's deployed to the right.

The Roscians deployed two tanks from the Hance Horse, an Armoured car, APC and company of armoured infantry from the Newpore Lancers, a mortar, recoiless rifle, mg and 3 companies from the Balimont Rifles and a local defence company and mg. There should also have been an M113 SP mortar but it seems to have run out of gas or broken down en route. Since I had already failed to adjust force levels to account for the Naryatrians being entrenched, this didn't help.

Volunteers from the Local Defence Forces move to the assault. (Esci Muslim warriors with some new weapons)

I assumed that the Naryatrian positions were concealed until they opened fire. The first round of the day, from a field gun firing at extreme range from dead ground and controlled by an observer, drove back the lead Saracen. Not at all dismayed, the Roscian armour advanced up the road while the infantry deployed to either side.

The Newpore Lancers debus from their APC and prepare to assault the hill covered by tank fire. (British armour from Airfix kits, the Pershing is a die cast model by somebody or other, Modern British Infantry by Revell.)

It didn't take long for 2 truths to sink in: entrenched infantry is tough, and sending your infantry forward in a solid mass is going to cause additional casualties.

The Rhino's Recoiless Rifle zeroes in on the Saracen.

There was a short lived duel between the Rhino's Recoiless rifle which was being treated as a Mountain Gun, and the Saracen. The boxcars rolled by the rifle provided the first loss of the day. Not having the special die, I ruled the following: 1=Miss, 2=Retreat, 3,4=Infantry, 5= Tank, 6 = Hit Anything.

The Lion Brigade takes heavy casualties.

Once the tanks opened up, the Naryatrians began to take losses despite the entrenchments. The Pershing quickly succumbed to a mix of medium range infantry fire (RPG) and artillery. A duel between the Centurian and the Naryatrian Armoured car ended badly for the latter. Supported by 1 company of infantry, the Centurian took the right hand ridge despite heavy fire. An infantry assault on the left, took out the Rifle and a company of infantry but at a heavy cost. When a counter attack took out the last rifle company on that flank, it was time to go home.

Highwater mark.

The game was fast, furious and fun. I have a couple of quibbles over a few minor details but the rules work well and are easily tweaked. I thought my 2 grades of armour worked well and could easily be tweaked even farther to account for the latest super tanks if one wanted to, without new rules, just new unit stats.

The infantry stats worked well, but I'm not so keen on the mortars and MG's not only being able to fire and move but being extremely dangerous at point blank range making the mortar the most effective close assault unit.I am guessing the reduction in effect with range for the mortar and artillery accounts for the increased difficulty of target acquisition. (oh yes I also ignored the LOS rule for mortars and allowed them to use an observer as well.) I might be tempted to try flattening their hit dice like the tanks but will definitely make mortars and MG's move OR shoot only. The artillery ranges seemed a little short to me and it seems that when using indirect fire, that the distance from observer to target is probably more important than the range from the gun if it is on table, so I may just measure artillery range from the observer for indirect fire, but then the heavier guns wouldn't have a longer range. Perhaps a maximum range for indirect fire as well as the direct fire chart.. I'll have to think about it. The current mechanism works anyway.

So there we are, an enjoyable excursion for my "modern" troops. I predict that they and MOMBAT with or without ross-visions will see the table again ere long (Thanks Bob!).

Scots Wha Hae

2011-12-16T16:07:00.001-04:00

The Scots pike shelter behind the hill.

By happy circumstance, my Scots had exactly the right number of stands to hold the pass in turn. Six of pike, 3 shot, 6 Highlanders, 1/2 bow, 1/2 swordsmen, 3 Border Horse and 2 guns. Which means of course that I really ought to paint more. The plan called for at least 18 stands of pike, not 6 but the mold is faulty and has been waiting nearly 6 years now for me to test out my vulcanizer and spin caster. Maybe this year? If there are no new life upheavals to deal with?

The Earl of Belmont. These are all Elastolin figures.

I divided the English cavalry into 2 slightly larger Battles this time, leaving 1 stand of Gentlemen Pensioners to escort the Earl. There weren't enough Bills and Bows to do the job so some German mercenaries were employed as usual. The dice were kinder this time. Both cavalry Battles came on the South, but so did the Whitecoats while the Redcoats and Germans came on the other road, reducing congestion.

The Red Coats deal with the narrow streets of Cornerton.

It seemed to me that anything that could push the pikes off the hill wasn't going to be bothered by a handful of light horse so I sent Lord Home out to do what he could to delay the English. I'm not sure they entirely noticed. The English foot smoothly navigated the town and deployed behind a screen of archers. I tried to send the White Coats around the village but by the time they agreed to follow an order, any order, the road was clear anyway.

The English cavalry covers the march of their army.

The Scottish shot and Highland archers tried manfully to hold the English light cavalry back from the guns and then to out shoot the English bows but eventually the remnants had to retreat to safety. The Highland swordsmen fell back behind into dead ground behind the hill, meaning to reoccupy it time to hold the English bills but the Redcoats were a bit too fast for them. An uphill charge to retake the hill ended with the Highlanders streaming off the table. It looked for a moment like the Scots pikes could hold their side of the pass till nightfall. Neither the German Pike nor the White Coat Bills could come up in time to push them, though their shot and bows were taking a heavy toll, and a charge by cavalry was easily repulsed. The Red Coats came through again though, wheeling about, without waiting to order the ranks (6 on the control test), they charged across the gap and pushed the Scots back to the edge of the woods. Just far enough to be able to claim control of the pass at last light. A draw by the book.

Apart from a desire to give my 16thC troops an outing, these games were played to test out a slightly modified control test (reduced chance of units misbehaving), a switch from saving throws for armour and cover to a die modifier and some tweaking of the melee rules. I'm happy with them but I'm going to pop the troops back on the shelf for a few weeks until I paint some more and until Rob and I have a chance to discuss the changes more fully.

I've just about done in this scenario for now but being familiar and thus good for testing new rules, I just may play 1 more game. There is one collection on my "active" list that hasn't been out in nearly 3 years and I'm thinking about a test game of Bob Cordery's Memoir of Modern Battle rules. I don't have the special die, but it will be easy enough to give a numeric equivalent to each symbol. The short name of the rules is MOMBAT. The "BAT" bit reminds me that I still I have my old Britain's BAT anti-tank gun and a score of Crescent and Herald troops and gives me an itch to do it in 54mm but I should stick to my guns and pit Roscia vs Naryatria in 20mm.

Ohh...The traffic is terrific

2011-12-15T17:15:00.002-04:00

The Sieur de St. Lambert.

The start of this 40mm 16thC collection and the figures that I have been playing with the longest, since Christmas 1959 in fact, back in St. Lambert, across the river from Montreal. Yes, they have been repainted. If any one knows the origin or make of these, I'd love to know. They are 40mm soft plastic and the horses have hollow bodies. In their original state they are armed with lances and have bare armour as in the next picture.

Since the table was laid out and I wanted to give the 16th C lads some exercise as well as take another poke at the rules, I decided to deploy the smaller, English, force holding the gap and have the Franco-Scots attack. For my Rough Wooing games, I usually deploy 3 stands (companies) for each Grant scenario unit apart from artillery. The English had a small Advance Guard of 3 companies of Northern Spears (light horse lancers) and 2 Battles each of mixed Bills and Bows plus 2 guns. The Scots fielded 6 companies of pike and 3 of shot as well as 3 companies of Border Horse. The French came to the field with 3 stands of Gensdarmes, 3 other lancers and 3 mounted arquebusiers as well as 9 companies of Landsknecht pike with 3 shot and 2 guns. A quick series of die rolls indicated that the infantry were all coming on the left hand or Western road while all of the cavalry were arriving on the Southern road. (directions for pick up games are always based roughly on the actual orientation of the table to the sun).

Turn 3. The cavalry are playing not so nicely with each other while the German professionals deploy under the mouths of the English cannon. The little green dice mark hits.

Everything started well enough, I rolled up personalities and aided by a throw of the dice, decided that the Rash Lord D'acre would ride forward with the English light horse to harass the enemy. The equally rash Scots took it upon themselves (control check) to charge uphill into their counterparts but Lord Home was wounded and his lancers driven back. It took a bit of scuffling but eventually the English were driven off. While that was going, the German Captain sent his arquebusiers through the wood to screen his flank and assessed the situation. As the head of the column emerged from congested streets of Brooklyn, it came under fire from the English artillery on the hills. English archers and cavalry could be seen hovering not too far off. It seemed best to deploy his pikemen. This began on turn 3. By turn 9 I was pretty frustrated and questioning what the problem was but the deployment was finally complete so I carried on and left the analysis until later. It was about this point that I realized that I hadn't set a time limit.The English were plumping for 12 turns, the French were crying foul and asking for 24. I settled on 18 hours as a full day and rolled a die to see how many turns had passed before the attackers arrived on table. The answer was 5 so I ruled that turn 13 would be the last full turn of light and they would be Roaming in the Gloaming by turn 14 and in the pitch black of night by turn 15. That didn't leave a lot of time so the Germans were edged forward towards the eastern ridge, the cavalry brought up on their right and the Scots directed to take the Western ridge.

Enow Dawdling! Gae' on wi' it!

The Scots deployed in the wink of an eye and rushed, well, trundled, well, crept, forward while the Germans marched steadily forward. As the French Horse chased the English skirmishers back into the woods, the Germans crashed into the bills and drove them back. They looked a little ragged afterwards though, in large part because of the hammering they had taken standing turn after turn under gun fire and then facing showers of arrows. With the Scots not quite up yet, the situation was starting to look eerily reminiscent of the ACW game but what were the odds that the English Bills would come down from the hill despite being beyond command radius and cross the gap before either the French cavalry or the Scots could intervene? It would require a bit of luck on the command rolls and 2 prodigious movement rolls.

Off screen, a control check for the out of command range Scots has decided that they should stop to watch The Auld Alliance at work. Something that apparently happened with distressing frequency in real life if French reports are to be believed.

Apparently the odds were pretty good because they managed it. Then they managed some impressive combat rolls and pushed the Germans back in a bit of a muddle. In the end it was up to the Gensdarmes to save the Landsknechts and push the English back. The French dice were almost as impressive as the English had been but in the exact opposite way and by the time they rallied back, the gathering dusk made possession of the gap a moot point. Well, it wasn't a Scots defeat at least, I mean they never got into it apart from the odd arquebus shot, did they?.

So what was the problem with deploying the Landsknechts? My first instinct was to blame the rules, I vaguely recalled a similar situation a few years ago. Actually, on some further thought, it was the same situation just with Scottish pikes instead of German ones! It had been in an early rendition of the scenario 4 or 5 years ago with the same armies. oops fool me twice......

In game terms, what went wrong? When the head of the German column emerged from the town, the French commander had 3 choices: order the pikes to move forward until they had room to deploy and hope not to be caught before they could deploy, have them fall back beyond the town, deploy in safety and then march around the town or try and deploy as they emerged from the town. The need for speed was stressed in the scenario instructions and the march column was under artillery fire and threatened by advancing archers ahead and an uncertain cavalry confrontation to the right. Without calculating the odds I began to deploy. Here's the tricky bit. Deploying foot is a 1d6" move. Given the size of the bases (60mm), a score of 5 or 6 would allow me to move the pikes forward 1 stand depth forward and simultaneously expand to 3 wide at the head of the column. If I rolled the same again, the deployment would be complete. You've probably spotted the flaw in the plan by now. I didn't roll any 5's or 6's, I did roll a couple of 1's and 2's. The back of the column had to shuffle forward, 1 stands' depth per turn until they were clear of the town and could move sideways into position.

Looked at from a "what's really going on" POV, here are the Germans, order to form their pike block. The column is wedged into the windy streets of this little Scottish town. As the troops move forward, the enemy canon balls are smashing into the ranks as they form. Enemy archers can be seen ahead and enemy cavalry are off to one flank.

What would Montluc have done? Probably kept the arquebusiers where they were supposed to be, screening the column, then advanced far enough to clear the town, detaching a company of corselets (pikemen that is) if necessary, to hold off the enemy if they pressed and giving the main body time to form.
If I had done that the deployment would probably have only taken 2 turn to complete, 3 if the dice were bad.

So what to do next? I shuffled a few units on, off and across the table and let the Scots try their luck at holding the gap against the English and their German mercenaries. But that's tomorrow's post.

A Man-At-Arms for All Seasons

2011-12-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

Opposing Border Horse. Homecast from a Meisterzinn conversion on largely Zinnbrigade horses.

The Early 16th Century is one of those periods that is on my Short List if I ever had to choose just 1 wargame period. It has all the attractions of what Morschauser called the Shock period, pikemen, archers, 1/2 naked barbarians with big swords, axes shields and javelins (yes those would be my ancestors on my father's side) as well as the classic Knight in Shining Armour. But it also has the muskets or arqubuses and cannon and the professional soldiers of the Horse and Musket period. It can also give some of the Classic East meets West, exploring the unknown, and technology meets tradition of Colonial gaming when Turks and Cossacks are thrown into the mix, not to mention Aztecs and Cannibals as Europeans cross the Oceans to the Americas and Africa.

Its also a period that I have rather neglected for the the last 2 years. In part, that is because rather than seek out just one period, I have been tackling aspects of all those other periods, which makes it a bit redundant.

Bills, Bows and Cannon. The English guard the gap. A mix of converted homecast figures and my own original homecasts with 1 lone Irregular. The English gunner in red is actually a Prince August semi-flat 18thC gunner with one of my fully round heads. The head seems to make a big difference to how these fit in.

This is the third 16thC Scottish wargame army I have built. The first one, from my college days, was based around a Heritage (supposed) fantasy range taken directly pose and all from Almark's book on Flodden. Then during the 80's, a friend, (you KNOW who you are), knowing I had 25mm Scots, started on Henry VIII's army in 15mm. Now, its hard for a Scot to see an English army left without opposition so I raised a 15mm army based on Pinkie. How I then found myself sculpting 40mm 16thC Scottish and English troops while this century was just getting its legs, is another tale. Old habits possibly. By rights, I should have been by sculpting 16thC Turks to face Rob's Imperials. However, the 1547 Haddington campaign was the first step and now I have small English and Franco-Scots armies.

Having only a smallish Scottish force and only slightly more English, while both Rob and I can now field Landsknechts and Gensdarmes, the next logical step was Henry VIII in France. For some reason, since deciding on that course 5 !! ??? years ago, I have produced a grand total of 2 painted Gensdarmes and 2 1/2 painted ones, 8 Landsknechts, and 3 sword & bucklermen. I think more games are called for, nothing like playing a game to inspire painting. I'm hoping that our combined forces will take the field at Huzzah in May.

Seemed a shame to tale down the table after only 1 game.....

Defence of Belmont Gap

2011-12-11T21:32:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by a call from my friend George who was checking to see if I would be home if he swung by to help clean out some of my 54mm lead and plastic pile. Its no easy feat for a gamer to enter my lair and escape without a game, especially since he lives an hour away, giving me time to set up the table. I went for an old favorite that I haven't played in a while, Holding Action from Scenarios for Wargamers. Knowing George's time was limited, I went for Hearts of Tin. George does 20mm as well as 54's and has shouldered a rifled musket as an ACW reenacter so I rolled out my ACW 'boys' for their first ever non-solo outing.

Turn 2, Ginr'l George's artillery blasts the heads of the Yankee columns.

I knew I didn't have enough troops for an accurate translation of the scenario so I just put everything I had on the table. The Rebs had 2 brigades each of 3 Regiments, 3 batteries of foot artillery, a stand of sharpshooters and a small cavalry brigade with a horse artillery battery and 2 stands of cavalry. I fielded the Yankees as 3 brigades, 1 with 3 regiments and 1 battery, 1 with 4 regiments and 1 battery and 1 with 3 regiments and 2 batteries. I also had an independent cavalry regiment. The dice indicated that 1 brigade was entering from the west while the rest came on from the south. All brigades had to move up the road for 1 turn before deploying. My mission was to seize the gap and be in position to exit the table with a reasonable force by 3 o'clock.

Not being the wall flower type, George sent his cavalry and horse artillery forward to mess me up a bit while his main batteries opened on my infantry "with effect". (Thank goodness I had cut the artillery back to 1 die per battery after the game with Les!) It took me a little while to shake my boys out into something like a battle line but my artillery managed to silence his horse guns before taking the rest of the day off. (at least they might as well have). My first brigade was in pretty sad shape by the time it got within rifle range of the ridge so I sent my cavalry wide in hopes of scaring George's guns off the hill or at least distracting them.

George doesn't scare easily and I had 2nd move, so I moved the cavalry up past his left hand brigade on to the flank of the guns, If he won the initiative he was probably going to empty a lot of saddles with rifle fire while he pulled back his guns but I won it and rode the batteries down. Unfortunately, his cavalry which had mounted and pulled back when their battery was silenced, came whooping over the hill and scattered my brave troopers. A regiment of cavalry for 3 batteries, I was happy enough with the trade.I pulled back my 1st brigade to maintain it in being and moved up my 2nd & 3rd Brigades for an assault on the hill.

Mid game, The Federal lines are still looking a bit piecemeal but the line is slowly coming together. The rump of the 1st brigade ahead on the right, 2nd brigade beyond the woods on the left, the 4 regiments of the 3rd brigade still forming on the right. My cavalry is off screen to the left.

Ignoring his right, I converged both brigades on the hill where the massed batteries had been. There was some hard fighting and heavy casualties but eventually the Reb 1st Brigade broke and ran. 2 stands of dismounted cavalry were all that stood between me and the road exit. Unfortunately for me, that was because George's 2nd brigade wasn't hustling over to block the gap, it was counter attacking forward into my flank.

It wasn't a sweep, my 3rd brigade was battered and driven back but was still on the field, however, it was well after 3, George still held the gap and I didn't have enough troops left to win even if he had turned around and marched off. It was a fun game though.

Running another Marathon

2011-12-09T20:06:00.001-04:00

Once again, the armies of Athens and Achaemenid Persia face off.

For those who don't follow my Gathering of Hosts blog, I have tried a couple of games of Basic Impetus and have been favorably impressed. My friend Ron and I have tried the Full Impetus and have decided that we prefer the less intense Basic Impetus. We have however borrowed a few things from the full game and he has adapted it to a Hex grid. When checking out a set of rules, there are two tests I like to subject them to. The 1st is to try them on favoured Table Top Teasers, the 2nd is to play a game based on an historical battle. Basic Impetus has passed the 1st test with flying colours, it was time for the 2nd. The first game I reported on when I started this blog was a refight of the Battle of Marathon. A simple, straight forward game that would be easy to adapt and run again.

Part of our adaptation of the game to hexes was to adopt an 8cm unit frontage to fit Ron's Hexon terrain. My own hexes are a little bit cruder, but they work and are compatible. I have only based a few sample units on the 8cm bases but since whatever is in a hex constitutes a unit, it was easy enough to fudge the order of battle. I used the Beta army lists from the Impetus website with Harry Pearson's order of battle from Battlegames magazine with a few minor tweaks for the Persians. Interestingly, while the WHAB version had the Persian army out-pointing the Greeks by 2:1 or more (iir), using the Impetus lists, the Persians had a very small advantage. Because I had insufficient hoplites compared to the OB 2 years ago and had had to cut the units back to 12 figures, the Greek army was about the same size this time but I used substantially fewer Persian figures. To be honest, I didn't miss the extras. To fit my test grid, I had to turn the game sideways on my table (the grid was drawn before I cut the table down). Luckily the new armies fit perfectly. I only needed 1/2 the table though.

To represent the Greek's famous charge at the run, I allowed them a 1 time only charge bonus of a full d6 instead of the usual 1/2 die for infantry.

So, how did the game go?

Those nice orderly lines break up as the fight rages.

I started the Greeks just outside long bow range. They advanced rapidly but took a shower of arrows which disrupted the Greek line enough that instead of being able to make a single group move into contact, individual parts of the phalanx hit piecemeal. Early on, the dice favoured the Persians heavily but it wasn't enough to stop the deep phalanx on the right from smashing the Persian left flank wide open.

On the Greek left, the phalanx came up first against the Phyrgians who had withstood Ron's cataphracts earlier in the week, then the Skythian archers who had given the Greeks such a hard time two years ago. Both of these units lived up to their reps. It wasn't enough to stop the Greeks all together but it was enough to slow them down and seriously hurt a couple of units.

In the center, one unit of Immortals was broken but the line first held and then repulsed the Athenians, routing one unit. As the Persians pushed forward, the Greek center bent, but the Athenians held on tenaciously. At last the weight of the attack on the flanks told and as the Greek wings wheeled inwards, the Persians broke.

The end of the game. Units are labelled P for Persian or A for Athenian.

Historically, this run through came closest of my 3 games of Marathon to matching historical accounts. Something that hadn't struck me before was it was the only set of rules of the 3 that allowed the Greeks to be forced back without being broken. It was also the only set which allowed for an army to break thus ending the game before the cavalry could intervene.

Game wise, it was short but faced paced with frequent moments of tension of the enjoyable white knuckle variety. I meant to play the game tomorrow but I kept sneaking away from chores to play another turn. Looking purely at units lost, the game seemed like a lopside win for the Greeks with the Athenians having only lost 1 unit vs 8 Persian units but looking closer, the Greeks had 5 units that were teetering on the edge of rout. The game had been up for grabs right down to the last melee.

Hearts of Ten (mm)

2011-12-04T17:23:00.001-04:00

The Highwater mark of the Battle. On Turn 2 my cavalry arrives and seizes the Central Hill.

On Saturday I accepted an invitation to give the latest rendition of Hearts of Tin an outing with Lentulus's 10mm mid-18thC armies. I won't bore every one with minor details of how the battle went like what happened to my cavalry in between the picture above and the one below. Amazing though how 10mm cavalry look so much farther away than they really are? Who knew that if I went first and wheeled to face the unseen brigade on my left, but had 1 unit refuse orders, and his cavalry then advanced a full move, that they would be within charge reach and if they won the initiative on the next turn that they could charge my flank before I could finish my ~~careless~~ fancy maneuver? Who wrote these rules anyway?

Lentulus has posted a battle report and more pictures here.

Mind you, there was still hope at this point in time. It takes more than 1 blunder and a few unlucky/luckily rolls to lose a game of Hearts of Tin.

I was pleased once again with how the rules played. (actually these were quite close to what we used last time, only my own troops having been subjected to the intervening wilderness wanderings,) I did find one or two more unwritten or improperly written rules and 1 or 2 minor tweaks suggested themselves during play (for example, as I suspected during my last ACW outing, allowing the artillery 2 dice instead of 1 has made them too powerful). These have now been incorporated and Google Docs has been updated as per the link to the left.

But, I was up to the task. Two more blunders, more smart maneuvering by my foe and some very average dice later.....

Another fine army destroyed..

Battle of Snoughbound Ridge

2011-11-24T17:44:00.001-04:00

THE BELMONT BUGLE
24 Nov 1861

Word has been received of yet another clash between Federal and Rebel forces along the line of the Paynted River. Catching the Rebels by surprise, the First Division of the Army of the Kennetcook made an over night march and threw a pontoon bridge across the river. As the 2nd Brigade crossed over, Rebel cavalry could be seen topping the low ridge ahead. As they hastened to deploy, a puff of smoke and loud report announced the presence of horse artillery.

Despite casualties from sharpshooters as well as the battery, the blue clad veterans maneuvered steadily while their own guns returned fire just as grey clad infantry began to appear, Initially ahead of the 2nd Brigade and then to its left. General Williams grasped the situation in a flash and messengers galloped off. Moments later the blue line began to shift to the left as the First Brigade moved up to take over their positions and form a reserve. With a ringing cheer the long blue line swept forward, pausing only to unleash a tremendous volley. It was like a pair of boxcars rolling up the hill and the Grey clad infantry wavered and fell back.

Following up on their success, the 2nd Brigade surged up the hill, three regiments attacking with two more in reserve. Smashing into a thin line of dismounted cavalry, the 2nd Illinois sent them running but the Second Carolina wheeled forward, enfilading the brigade's left. After a prolonged struggle the battered Blue regiments fell back.

The Rebel line on the hill was looked thin and ragged by now and without a pause, the reserves pressed forward and opened a hot fire. The Rebs began to waver as the 1st Brigade came forward at a run, extending the line and opening fire. Eventually the battered rebels could take no more and retreated off the field.

On the right, the concentrated fire of 4 Federal batteries silenced one Rebel battery after another. At last General Rosser seemed to wake up and the 1st Georgia and 1st Carolina began a hesitant counter attack on the Federal Second Brigade. As the musket fire rippled up and down the lines, the 11th Indiana Cavalry slipped almost unnoticed around the Rebel flank. At the last minute, General Rosser galloped across, ordered the reserve battery to be change front to the rear while he personally led the sharpshooters to help defend the guns. It was too little, too late. The bugles rang out, the swords went up and with a cheer, the Hosier cavalry charged up the hill, scattering the sharpshooters, cutting down Rosser and crashing through the battery into the rear of the 2nd Georgia. The shock collapsed the rebel line and sent the survivors fleeing into the woods.

It seems that an aide helped General Rosser to evade the Federal cavalry and it is certain that this resilient officer shall fight again, but not today.

_______________________________________________________________________________

It took me most of the morning to clear the snow today so the game was a welcome diversion despite a few achy muscles. Once again the rules were Hearts of Tin. I meant to lean a bit towards the Rebs but today it went all the Yankee way. The Reb army started off ok but after a lapse in judgement which left a gap in the defence of the sunken road on the right hand hill was followed up by a shockingly effect Yankee volley ( 5 dice, 4x6's!), the army seemed dazed, like a deer in the headlights. The first brigade and 3 guns sat quietly under a barrage by 4 batteries and watched a masking force of 2 regiments while the other 8 Yankee regiments assaulted the 2nd Brigade on the right hand hill. It wasn't until the cavalry and 2nd Brigade were shaken that it occurred to me to make use of the 1st. The Yankee 2nd Brigade had suffered heavily in their repulsed assault and there was some hope that a counter attack would shake them. But really, it was over. The Yankee artillery was just too well handled and maybe a little bit lucky while the Reb artillery was just the opposite. The 2nd brigade battery never even got off a shot. The spectacularly effective cavalry charge that ended the game was just the icing on the cake.

Rules wise, the tweaks all worked but I realized afterwards when I double checked a few things, that I had been playing with some unwritten rules and some others where what was written didn't accurately reflect what I had meant, and a few others where I found myself playing an older version. I have added the minor bits that were missing or misleading and rather than trying to retrain myself, I have adjusted some bits (esp melee result) to reflect what I actually do.

For anyone curious about the designations, I merely coupled the arbitrary, sequential ID number on the back of the stands with a State name, based on what the uniform made me thing of. No representation of any real regiment is intended.

That's probably it for the ACW until I get some more Rebs painted up but who knows?.

Bring up the guns

2011-11-23T20:13:00.001-04:00

The view at noon. Bugler! Sound retreat! Back to the Games Room men!

For once the forecast was spot on. Just the sort of day for some quality time with my toys. The temptation to run another game was almost overwhelming but the lack of Rebs in general and Reb artillery and Brigadiers in particular couldn't be ignored. A fairly thorough search turned up a few bits and bobs that could be pressed into service until some proper ordinance makes it though the blockade. this included, a metal Napoleonic gun that I commandeered from its Les Higgins RHA crew (poor lads they waited for 30m years to be painted and now their gun has been taken!), some spare barrels and a WWI gun, surplus to requirements that, with a bit of trimming, provided a not quite right carriage. Annoyingly, all but 2 of my old Airfix gunners are still AWOL so I dug out various infantry and pioneers and started trimming off muskets and adding implements and lanyards.

The new Reb batteries, with their improvised guns, defending a copy of Vol 1 of Battles and Leaders. I used to have a 1 volume condensed version but it is no match for the full thing. Getting the remaining volumes is on my list of ways to spend money.

While I was waiting for an undercoat to dry, I turned my attention back to organization and scenarios. It didn't take long contemplating the F&F Great Western Battles scenarios and my table, and how many 100's more troops I would need to paint, as well as remembering how long, tedious and inconclusive the several that I had tried back in our 15mm F&F days had been, for me to remember that I didn't really want to go there, especially since this is supposed to be a minor sideshow. Next time I refight Shilo or Corinth or the like, it'll be either a V&B type game with 1 stand brigades or else a Grant style fudge. About double my current armies are about the most I want to think about painting and harbouring. Since the various options I had been considering all seem to have value, I decided the way the 3 stand regiments that they are currently organized into are as good as any. I'll just have to print off a whole stack of flags and convert a few more colour bearers. Several of the regiments are easily identifiable at the moment, for example there is only 1 on each side that is standing at attention with arms shouldered, but to make life easier when laying out and picking up, (not to mention removing a casualty from the middle of a brigade line), I assigned the regiments to brigades and proceeded to paint a Roman numeral on the back of each stand as a regimental identifier. Red for the first brigade, white for the 2nd. the rest will follow. Selection of State and number will also follow and be marked underneath.

Brigadier Steele, originally a conversion forming part of a unit of volunteer Scouts for a Riel Rebellion game that never materialized, with a new hat to replace the one he lost, a new base for his horse, and a lick of new paint here and there, cheers on the Horse Artillery while a sharpshooter pulls a bead on the camera man.

After a delightful afternoon of converting, fixing, painting and basing, I was ready to lay out a game. The artillery was evened up but the Yankee infantry still outnumbered the Rebs 5:3. I decided on an attack against a hasty defence. I'd had enough of Sawmill Village for now, so I cleared it off, and rearranged things a bit.

Sometime late in 1861, the Yanks, under General Williams,with 10 regiments, 4 guns and a regiment of cavalry have thrown yet another pontoon bridge over the Paynted River. The Confederates under General Rosser have been alerted and are rushing to the spot with 6 regiments of infantry, a company of sharpshooters, 4 guns and a small regiment of cavalry. The cavalry, horse artillery and sharpshooters arrive on table on Turn 1. The 1st Brigade on turn 2 and the 3rd Brigade on turn 3. the Federals start with the bridge in place and their columns ready to cross. Their aim is to control the ridge overlooking the bridge.

Why don't things ever go smooth? Just when the river crossing seemed to be going according to plan, Reb cavalry appears on the ridge.

After 15 hours, the snow seems to be slowly ending as the temperatures warm up but I don't think I'm going very far tomorrow so the Battle of Snoughbound Ridge will resume.

Ripples

2011-11-22T22:58:00.001-04:00

The weather forecast is calling for 15-25 cm of unseasonable snow on Wednesday so I postponed my trip and spent the day getting the yard ready and stacking more firewood into the shed.

Well, not ALL the day, I didn't have time for a game but I broke out Vol 1 of Battles and Leaders and looked at a couple of Orders of Battle, contemplated elastic ground scales and scenarios then did some experimental maneuvering of various regiment and brigade sizes and configurations. Apart from Gettysburg, I'm more interested in the early years of the war, 1861 & 62 when many of the armies were smaller and it was all new. It seems that if gaming 1861 at least, a 500 man regiment is not unreasonable in either army. Depending on where you peg the ground scale, each of my stands can reasonably be anywhere from 120 to 200 men so 3 stands is reasonable but 2 or 4 would also work. A total of 15,000 troops or 30 "standard" regiments would cover a number of battles but they need anywhere up to about 10 miles of frontage as opposed to the 1 or 2 miles that I can squeeze onto my table unless I measure in centimeters in which case each stand becomes a regiment and the whole thing will look out of scale anyway. So, no firm conclusion yet but I'm leaning towards 4 stand regiments as units without dismissing the 3 stand ones yet. For teasers, I'll field 2 regiments per scenario "unit'" (once I have enough troops) and for historical battles, I'll calculate how many stands per brigade and use that to decide how many regiments to field rather than adjusting the regiments even though that will lead to some units being the "3rd & 5th Texas" or what have you.
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I also took some time tonight to play out some Brigade firefights and some charges. it didn't take long to notice the ripple effect of taking of stands as originally intended. Losses went from severe to unsupportable. The double dice in melee was a relatively recent introduction so I went back closer to Morschauser's original values. So, for infantry with rifles for example, instead of 1 die over 4,5,6 when shooting and 2 dice for 4,5,6 in "melee" (up to 3" apart so we aren't talking fisticuffs). it is back to 1 die per stand 4,5,6 to hit in melee and 5,6 to hit when shooting, 6 if using muskets. Those are the values I originally used for Morschauser meets MacDuff and after a number of 1 on 1 brigade scuffles, they seem to still work. i also went to check the details on the Hold Fire rule and couldn't find it so that has been added. A necessary rule if fire and movement is allowed so, another ripple.

Having noticed that I need more guns, I also spent time looking at the Musket Miniatures 23mm ACW range again. Pity they don't take Paypal. If you have coin for a bulk deal, the artillery actually works out cheaper for actual model guns than buying boxes of plastic. At least if you leave off limbers but even these are reasonable. They also have command figures.

If at first you don't succeed, or "Git around behint 'em".

2011-11-21T17:18:00.001-04:00

General Williams and Brigadier Taleri peer through the morning mist at the Rebel lines

Well there I was, I wanted to try an 1840 MacDuff game on my flat hills but I also wanted to play a bigger ACW game despite not having any more Rebs painted up. A completely different scenario would mean clearing the table but what if the Yanks who had just been seen off, came back with friends? What if they threw a pontoon bridge BEHIND the Rebels?

_______________________________________________________________________________

As quick as thought the Rebs fell back towards their entry point and dug in along the hills with the right flank refused. The Butternut Brigade on the left, Virginians on the right. Each of 3 regiments and a battery deployed with 1 regiment in reserve. Two stray stands of cavalry formed an army reserve. All under General Rosser.

General Rosser (on Ol' Whitey) and Brigadier Porter watch the Federal army deploy.

The Yanks, having also refilled their ranks, sent the 1st and 2nd Brigades back up the way they had come, each with 3 regiments and a battery, the plan being to advance in column of Brigade and attack the Rebel right. The newly arrived 3rd brigade with 4 regiments and a battery crossed over the new pontoon bridge facing the Rebel left with orders to "amuse" them and then, once the main assault went in, to attack the enemy left.

Colonel French filling in as Brigadier for 3rd Brigade. The lads in front were painted back c 1982, the ones on the bridge are part of the new additions from that same lot.

Things went more or less as planned for Billy Yank. After a bit of softening up with artillery and rifle fire, the 1st Brigade charged in led by Brigadier Dryver. OK so maybe the charge didn't quite go as planned. However, Reb losses were heavy and they didn't have many men to spare.

The shocking aftermath of the first charge on the entrenchments. The Rebs threw 10 dice for 4,5 or 6 and scored 10 hits! Then the Brigadier went down! The remnants of the 1st Brigade may be seen on the hill behind the 2nd Brigade.

On the Yankee right, the 3rd Brigade was a bit more cautious, and traded fire with the Rebs for a few more turns, opening up some gaps. When they finally charged in, they seized the front line, only to be thrown back by a counter attack.

The 3rd Brigade prepares to charge.

Bringing their 2nd line forward, the 3rd Brigade charged in again and were bloodily repulsed, routing back towards the bridge. Hurriedly, the remnants of the Butternut brigade rushed to support the Virginians who had fallen back to rally while the cavalry held the line. Every one expected the cavalry to hold for a while but they were barely in place when a storm of shot, shell and rifle fire blew them away. The 2nd Brigade surged forward over the lines and in a fierce firefight broke the Virginians just as the Butternuts hurried up. The issue hung in the balance. Could the battered Butternut counter attack throw back the last Yankee Brigade?

A brief pause as the Rebs desperately struggle to form a line. The very hasty nature of the entrenchments is clearly shown here. A redoubt and sunken road from my old 15mm ACW setup and a toy sandbag emplacement.

Nope. The dismounted cavalry stormed up the hill and took the battery and while the Union line appeared to be wavering, they seized the initiative and kept up a hot fire, mowing down the Butternuts and driving them from the field.

_______________________________________________________________________________

So there we have it. 18 stands of Reb infantry with 2 stands of cavalry and 2 guns defending against 30 stands of Yanks with 3 cavalry and 4 guns and it came down to the wire. If the Yanks hadn't won a shift in initiative and then fired their most devastating volley of the day, the game might well have tipped in the Reb favour. A Pyrrhic Victory either way. I've no idea how many turns I played,probably between 12 and 16 but the game took a little under an hour. For a pitched battle, I should be able to squeeze 3 times the number of stands on and get a solid day's battle from it.

I should also be able to do some smaller historical battles or sections of larger ones, I need to reconsider my organization though which is standard 3 stand regiments as Units with 3 to 6 regiments forming brigades as Commands. At this rate the game just fought was 2 divisions facing off and allowing up to a corps aside if I paint enough to crowd the table.

Some calculation on ground scale tells me that my stands have the right frontage for about 200 men so 3 stands is a very strong regiment and anyway, I don't really want 1 man in 12 to carry a flag or have to figure out to tell 30 regiments apart.I'm even more dismayed at having an anonymous collection of stands that get parceled out into temporary regiments.

I may be better off organizing to use Brigades as Units with these grouped into Divisions and the whole forming a Corps. 200 men per stand is the same as the alternate Fire & Fury scale with typical brigades being 6 to 8 stands, occasionally larger. This would mean that I could use F&F set ups from the Great Western Battles book, the Gettysburg scenarios from the rule book and Bull Run from the Courier. Or, well, I could if I still had a 6'x8' table... Parts of battles then! or maybe I should think about that temporary 5'x7' extension for my table.

Rules wise, I was pretty happy. Apart from some editing errors, there were 2 small tweaks, 1 to the wording for Shaken Commands, the other to the options for how hits get translated to stand removal.

The idea was that since "hits" are as much or more about loss of cohesion as actual casualties then it would make sense to mark one hit on every stand and then start taking them off. The unit would still be able to take the same number of hits. That was the theory. Apart from the hassle of marking more hits, the idea had also been that brigades would gradually get weaker as they lost stands but with distributing hits, the brigade could sometimes take 50% hits without losing any combat power. Then it would disintegrate rapidly as each additional hit removed a stand. It also meant that defensive fire against a charge was less effective since they often wouldn't reduce the attacker's combat power. So I have gone back to the original idea that a stand comes off for every 2 hits. One could always substitute casualty stands as space holders, could.

I'm off to Fredericton for a few days to visit family. This means several days away from gaming and about 10 hours of highway time to ponder gaming, so who knows what I'll do next. More ACW? An 1840's MacDuff game or maybe back to Ancients?

A Small Relief or Its All About Shoes

2011-11-20T09:19:00.001-04:00

The Federal forces deploy for a piecemeal attack of Sawmill Village.

Shoes? Yes as in "If the shoe fits", though there may have been a stack of shoes in Sawmill Village, it would explain its importance anyway. One needs a good match of figures, rules and intent. It was a relief to try out the restored Hearts of Tin with my 1/72nd ACW troops and find that it all worked for me again. Playing one small game left me wanting to do another, bigger one.

There is very little to any particular unit's activity in the game but it was quickly obvious, painfully obvious, that having lost the race to grab the strategic objective, the Union commander had no plan and was just throwing units forward as and when they appeared, without even the hutzpah to throw them into a close assault before the enemy could consolidate. After a period of trying of vainly trying to out shoot troops in cover without even a numerical advantage, the Union finally started to use their artillery and organize some co-ordinated assaults which worked much better but early losses told and a counter attack.threw them back. A small game resolved in an hour.

Now to fit another 100 or so ACW figures into my over long painting queue.

Maintenance of the Aim

2011-11-19T19:36:00.001-04:00

Congested street fighting (again) in Sawmill Village. This time Red won by a nose.

This has been a good exercise this week and things are all finally, falling nicely into place with 2 distinct rule systems for 2 types of game.

Having rescued MacDuff and finally getting it working the way I wanted, it is once again my game of choice for single toy soldier games. That in turn has allowed me restore Hearts of Tin to its original purpose as a quick game for elements or stands of troops, capable of handling small to medium sized historical battles. Both games have been updated and can be found under links to the left, subject to further proof reading and play testing.

To avoid my old problem of having 2 sets of rules with the same name, 1 for the late18thC/early 19thC and 1 for the mid and late 19thC, I have renamed the 19th/20th C set With MacDuff To the Front and will leave the 18thC game as With MacDuff to the Frontier, or at least I will when I get to fixing it. The 2 rules will be as alike as I can get them to be, the main difference being in weapons.

Leaving aside minor changes, the main changes between the original and current MacDuff, at least in my mind, are:

1. A reduction in friction. This has been done partly by simplifying the Control Check and asking it to do less and partly by substituting fixed for variable movement rates for most troops. This has reduced the number of steps speeding play, eliminated some double jeopardy and increased player control over their units decreasing frustration and increasing engagement.

2. A reduction in fiddleyiness. A lot of minor restrictions and clever bits have been dropped as being of little import for the end result and, based on experience running multi-player games over 15 years, of interest to a minority of players.

3. A reduction is staying power of units. I have reluctantly, finally given up on my casualty recovery rules. The essential part of the original idea that units should be able to be repulsed, rally and come back has been retained in a different format but units now slide irreversibly towards destruction and a decision is reached more quickly and decisively.

The updates to Hearts of Tin was largely to simply revert all references to groups of figures to references to "companies" but I also took the opportunity to reinstate the ability of better troops to absorb more hits. When I get a chance I want to replace the fire and melee charts with unit capability charts listing melee and shooting "to hit" numbers and ranges and movement for various units which will allow for easy addition of tweaked unit types.

Now to test HofT using 1/72nd ACW troops, play an 1840's MacDuff game and get casting and painting troops in khaki!.

From the Archives: MacDuff as originally published in the Courier.

2011-11-18T08:27:00.001-04:00

After an interesting lunch time chat about rules design yesterday, including the difference between fixing a rule that doesn't work vs trying to incorporate a "better" idea, I decided to go back to the original With MacDuff to the Frontier and see what I would have to change or take out to get close to what I used in my play test as opposed to starting from scratch. MacDuff was developed for 25mm Colonial Games, specifically British vs Sudanese, Zulu and Pathans though I had in mind dragging it back as far as the Mutiny (aka War of Independence). Imaginary conflicts and country were not on my radar at the time.

Since the oldest version I have is an html version of the rules as submitted to The Courier, and since Dick had kindly given me permission to post it on my now defunct website, I thought I would repost it here.

Wouldn't it be great if there could be a compendium of back issues of the Courier printed up? or at least collected on CD?

This is the version of the rules that were published in Issue 73 in 1997 as transcribed for MacDuff on the Web. The introduction is actually lifted from the sister version adapted from this for the French & Indian Wars.

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With MacDuff To The Frontier Colonial Wargame Rules

WITH MACDUFF TO THE FRONTIER

(Ross'sColonial Rules) SEP 95

These rules were published in the Courier Issue #73. The Courier, (IMHO a great wargamingmagazine)
Table of Contents
I. Introduction

II. The Rules
       1. Organisation
       2. Sequence ofPlay
       3. Command Control
       4. Formations
       5. Movement
       6. Charging
       7. Terrain
       8. Small Arms
       9. Artillery
     10. Casualties
     11. Melee
     12. Morale
     13. Engineering
    14. Errata
    15. Peshwar Gazette (BattleReports from the NW Frontier)
    15. New Durban Times (Battle Reportsfrom Africa)

I Introduction
This introduction is a slight modification of the introduction publishedwith my French & Indian Wars rules which were developed from this set.
These rules may look a little old fashioned but they represent the culminationof 25 years of wargaming ranging from Don Featherstone and Lawford andYoung through WRG and on to Fire and Fury and Armati with many other stopsalong the way including 10 years of playing only with homegrown rules. Myaim has been to create a game which has an historical flavour, is easyand enjoyable to play after a hard week's work, rewards historical tactics andgives a believable outcome to actions.
To further this group of divergent aims, ground and figure scales have beenkept flexible and some things are done for the look or ease of play rather thanas my best scientific simulation. For example after many bad and some goodexperiences with seperate charge morale tests, I decided to combine theeffects of fire, and morale (including the threat of the bayonet) into an oldfashioned melee even though troops rarely crossed bayonets. Basicallyboth sides will suffer disorganisation and casualties and one side willrun away. Whether the bulk of the losing side actually ran before the chargestruck home or not is not really important in the long run. It is just amechanism that is fun, lends colour and gives an appropriate result inthe end.
1.2 Scales and basing. Time, ground and figure scales are flexiblebut have been balanced to achieve the desired effect.
I have used companies of 6 to 12 figures giving a figure scale of about 1:10but reduced the number of companies per battalion dropping the overallscale to about 1:20 for large games. For scenario design assume 6 turns perhour and 1 inch per 10 yards if fighting a small skirmish, 1 inch per 20yards if fighting larger actions. Any distortions of ground and figurescales this flexibility implies has no practical effect on the game.Regardless of scale, figures should be treated as if individuals not as groupsof men. Normally all figures should be individually based, but, multiple basesand casualties markers or rosters may be used.
II THE RULES
1. ORGANISATION
1.1. General Rule. Figures must be organised into units with aleader and assigned to the command of a general. Units may not be reorganisedduring a battle and must stay together. A leader and up to 3 figures may bedetached in open order to act as a scouting patrol. Native refers to nonEuropeans fighting in their own armies as opposed to those enlisted in Imperialarmies. Imperial refers to the forces of European or American powers. Regularsare drilled according to European methods with a fixed comamnd structure. Allartillery is regular. All other units whether disciplined Zulus, wild Afgantribesmen or European volunteer cavalry are Irregulars. All units whethertribes, impis or battalions may be referred to as regiments for simplicity.Likewise native leaders may be refered to using equivalent European titles suchas Colonel or Brigadier or they may use native titles.

1.2. Irregular Infantry. An irregular infantry unit consists of 1 leaderand 19 other figures. All figures must try to stay within 12" of theirleader. Normally no more than 1/2 of an irregular unit will have fire arms.
1.3. Irregular Cavalry. All irregular cavalry is light cavalry. Evenif some figures carry lances, they do not get the lance bonus due to their lackof order. Irregular cavalry units are composed of a leader and 9 to 19 men.
1.4. Regular Infantry. A regular infantry regiment consists of amounted colonel, a musician, and 2-4 companies each with an officer, an nco and6-10 other ranks. As long as a company is within 12" of the colonel or hisreplacement, it is treated as part of the regiment for morale. If it is fartheraway it is treated as an independant unit. Companies do not have to adopt thesame formation. A sergent-major and/or a standard bearer may be added to theregimental head quarters to represent units with higher morale or stayingpower. If only 1 company is fielded the colonel can not be fielded. Compositeregiments composed of companies from different regiments get a colonel but no sergeantmajor, musician or standard bearer.
1.5. Regular Cavalry. A cavalry regiment is composed of a Colonel, atrumpeter and 2 squadrons each with an officer, an NCO and 6-10 other ranks.Light cavalry may be lancers.
1.6. Artillery. An artillery battery consists of an officer and 2 gunsections each with a gun crewed by a junior officer or NCO and 3 crew. Heavyartillery requires a 5 crew instead.
1.7. Engineers. An engineer company consists of an Engineer officer,an NCO and up to 6 sappers and miners.
1.8. Generals. A general is required to command each side. If thereare 4 or fewer regiments this will be a brigadier equivalent. If there are 5 ormore units, a brigadier may be fielded for every 2-3 units and a divisioncommander may be added as commander in chief. Larger battles are not envisaged.Irregular generals may be accompanied by a drummer and standard bearer. Theymay be attached to one of his units to assist in rallying, but, may not leave aunit once attached.

2. SEQUENCE OF PLAY
2.1. General rule. Draw cards from a deck one at a time. As each cardcomes up one unit is activated. Imperial units act on red cards, native unitson black cards. When activated a unit takes a control check if required thenmoves and/or shoots or passes. Each unit completes its action before the nextstarts. Detachments will act on the same card as their parent unit even ifseperated. A unit which has been charged may react but is then pinned until themelee is resolved. After all units have acted or passed, resolve melees bewteenunits in contact.
3. COMMAND CONTROL
3.1. General Rule. Units within 24" and in sight of theirbrigadier are deemed to be in control and may be moved as he commands (subjectto morale and movement restrictions). Units which are not in control must takea control check unless shattered.
3.2. Control Check. Roll 1 die and consult the following chart:

5-6	Cavalry and irregulars without firearms charge the nearest enemy if any are within reach. Other troops stand and shoot.
3-4	Act as the player desires
1-2	No advance. The unit may retreat.

3.3. Attached Leaders. The senior leader attached to the unit mayinfluence the die roll according to his personality. Rash leaders always add, cautiousleaders always subtract, bold leaders may add or subtract, indecisive leadersneither add nor subtract. Company or irregular officers add or subtract 1,higher officers add or subtract 2.
3.4. Personality. On the first occasion it needs to be known roll 1die for each officer and consult the following chart.

6	Rash Leader
5	Indecisive Leader
3-4	Bold Leader
1-2	Cautious Leader

4. FORMATIONS
4.1. General Rule. All the figures of a unit must normally be kept togetherin a recognised formation and must act together.
4.2. Skirmishers. Any infantry may deploy as skirmishers in 2 rankswith 1" to 2" between figures.
4.3. Mass. Any troops may form a mass 3 or 4 ranks deep with upto 1" between figures. This is the only formation shattered units may use,and the only close order formation that irregulars may use.
4.4. Line. Any regular troops may form line 2 deep with allfigures touching. Normally a regiment in line will form with all companies sideby side. It is allowed to deploy with each company in line but lined up onebehind the other. This is basically an assault column. it moves as a line butis easier to manouvre and adds depth to an attack on a narrow front.
4.5. Column. Any regular troops may form column 2 wide with allfigures touching.
4.6. Square. Only regular infantry and dismounted cavalry may formsquare. A multi-regiment square is not treated as a single formation. It iscomposed of units in line and or column each moving on their own card.

5. MOVEMENT
5.1. General Rule. The distance a unit can move is based on a fixedportion plus a random factor. It can be further reduced by shooting, terrainand formation. Infantry and cavalry may shoot then move half a move. See theshooting rules for the effect on their shooting.
5.2.Irregular Infantry. Irregular infantry could move quite rapidlybut lacking discipline might not move when their general desired. Their closeorder formations were not tightly ordered, therefore they move the same speed whetherskirmishers or in close order.
    Irregular infantry move 6" + the score of 2 dice.
5.3. Regular Infantry. Regular infantry was slowed by the need tokeep order but their disciplined movement was more predictable. Skirmishers hadless need of order than troops in line but were strictly contolled andtherefore move the same speed as troops in line. Troops were formed in columnwhen they needed to move any distance as the narrow formation was easier tomanouvre, therefore our columns move faster. Squares were very difficult tomove while maintaining formation and are therefore penalised.
    Regular infantry move 6"+ the score of 1 die.
    Regular infantry in column add 3" to their move
    Regular infantry in square move at 1/2 speed.
5.4. Cavalry. Cavalry's speed was affected by the need, even forirregular cavalry, to keep order and to preserve their horses. Irregular lightcavalry tended to use hardy mounts and had less need to keep order, whileregular light cavalry was practised at manouvering quickly and carried lessweight than their heavy counterparts. Light cavalry will therefore be able tomove faster than heavy cavalry. All cavalry usually charged at the gallop bythis period therefore charging cavalry get a bonus. They must rally on the nextturn even if they do not contact the enemy.
    Light Cavalry moves 18" plus the score of a die.
    Heavy Cavalry moves 12" plus the score of a die.
    Charging cavalry may add 6" to their move.
5.5. Manhandled Artillery. Artillery pieces may be manhandled bytheir crews. Machine guns were mounted on light carriages and were easilymanhandled. Other artillery normally used limbers or pack animals to go anydistance. If an artillery piece has less than 1/2 its full crew, it cannot bemanhandled unless some infantry are assigned to assist.
    Machine guns may be manhandled 3" plus the scoreof 1 die.
    Other artillery may be manhandled the score of 1 die ininches.
5.6. Limbered Artillery. Pack artillery and heavy guns take a fullturn to limber or unlimber. Other guns may move full and unlimber, limber andmove full or unlimber and fire.
    Pack animals, heavy artillery and wagons move 6"plus a die
    Other limbered guns move 12" plus the score of adie.
5.7. Changes of Direction. Units may retire or take ground to theflank, facing the enemy at half speed or may turn and retire a full move. Theymust spend a full turn to face the enemy again and reorder their ranks. Otherchanges of facing must be done by wheeling or as part of a formation change.
5.8. Changing Formation. Only regular infantry need to changeformation. Irregulars may close up or spread out as they move. Regular infantrytake 1/2 a move to change formation including a 90o turn when changing between aline and column. Mounting/dismounting cavalry takes a half a move, notincluding a formation change.

6. CHARGES
6.1. General rule. A unit must declare its intention to charge andwhether or not it will fire first, before rolling its movement dice. Its targetmust then announce its reaction. The charger may then wheel up to 45o then mustmove straight toward the target, moving figures into contact with enemy.Counter chargers move simultaneously. The chargers may break formation or closeup as they charge so long as no individual moves more than their maximummovement. Now resolve firing, if any, from the defending unit. Casualties maybe taken from the rear ranks if any. The defenders may now move figures upto1" to contact attackers.
6.2. Reactions. A unit which is rallying this turn, which isshattered or which has already acted may not react to a charge. A unit whichpassed or which has not yet acted may react as follows:
Skirmishers may fire and retreat or retreat a full move.
Regular infantry may form square.
Cavalry may counter charge, wheeling up to 45^o first
Any troops may stand, firing if able
6.3. Reserved Fire. Infantry which moved upto 1/2 move and artillery whichdid not move may choose to reserve fire when they act. In this case they mayconduct their fire when they are charged. If they are not charged they losetheir fire. Note that the number of figures eligible to fire may be reduced ifthe unit moves.

7. TERRAIN
7.1. General Rule. Any terrain other than a flat plain disrupted themovement of cavalry, artillery and regular infantry in close order. Someterrain is even more of an obstacle while other types can provide cover fromfire or sight.
7.2. Difficult Terrain. Steep rocky slopes, swamps jungle and other verydifiicult terrain is impassable to horses, wheeled vehicles and close orderformations. They can only be crossed by skirmishers moving at half speed, orinfantry columns and pack mules following a trail.
7.3. Broken Terrain. Woods, brush, soft sand, steep or rough slopesand similar may be crossed by all troops.
    Skirmishers and irregular infantry may move at fullspeed.
    Other infantry and pack mules may move at half speed.
    Cavalry, artillery and wagons may move at 1/4 speed.Camels are unaffected by sand.
7.4. Linear Obstacles. Streams, river fords, ditches, hedgesand low walls or fences take half a turn for infantry and cavalry to cross.Artillery and wagons take a whole turn to cross. They leave a gap in walls,fences and hedges which can be used by any column, wagon or gun withoutpenalty. Very high walls or deep ditches can only be crossed in pioneers spenda turn to prepare a crossing point. Troops in column can then cross as if overa minor obstacle.
7.5. Villages. Villages are represented by a group of buildings on abase. Towns are represented by several villages seperated by a road. Onlyinfantry may enter a village. They immediately loose all formation and move asindividuals at half speed. They may not move through solid walls; they mustenter the village and any interior rooms through doors, windows or breaches.
7.6. Roads. Roads are only useful to artillery, wagons and regularsin column. Troops on a road ignore off road terrain. Troops on a secondary roadadd 50% to their movement. troops on a highway may double their move. If a roadcrosses a steep hill road units move at normal speed.
7.7. Concealment. Native units may be deployed in concealment at thestart of a game and kept off table until they are spotted or they move or fire.Unless an umpire is available, place a marker when they move to show theirlocation, they may not be fired on or charged unless spotted. Massed troops maybe concealed in brush, forest, jungle, villages or dead ground. Skirmishers mayalso hide in rocky areas and scrub. Dead ground should be defined when theterrain is laid out. Units within 6" may always see each other. Spottingis done prior to moving or firing. Each unit may attempt to spot into one areaof concealing terrain within 12". Roll 1 die and add the fieldcraft ratingof the spotting unit. If the result is 6 then any enemy have been spotted.
7.8. Field Craft. Units with field experience or composed of men fromthe fronteirs were more adept at scouting than units fresh from Europe. This ismeasured by giving Imperial units field craft ratings of 1, 2 or 3.MostEuropean imperial units would be 1 with some veteran units and most sepoy typeunits being 2. 3 is reserved for Gurkhas and frontier light horse or the like.

8. SMALL ARMS:
8.1. General Procedures This period saw, first the wide spreadintroduction of percussion rifles, then the deployment of breachloading weaponsthat significantly increased infantry firepower. These rules do not cover theintroduction of modern smokeless magazine rifles which changed the face ofbattle. Roll 1 die for each 2 eligible figures. Count remainders of 1/2 ormore. Two ranks of figures may fire. The target must be within 45^oof straight ahead and must be visible. If charged a unit must fire at the unitcharging it, otherwise it must fire at the nearest eligible enemy. Firing uses1/2 a move.
8.2. To Hit. At close range 4,5 or 6 will inflict a hit. At longrange 5 or 6 will inflict a hit.

Weapon	Short	Long
Pistol	2"	-
Smoothbore Carbines	4"	8"
Smoothbore Muskets	6"	12"
Jezzails/Rifled Carbines	8"	16"
Rifles	12"	24"

8.3. National Modifiers. Boers and Metis add 1 to their dice. Other nativeunits subtract 1 from their shooting dice when fighting the British. Thisvariously reflects lack of training, shortages of ammunition and just generallyBritish good luck. They often got off light when under heavy fire.
8.4. Muskets. The term muskets includes all muzzle loading small armsincluding rifled muskets and cavalry carbines. Although a musket could easilybe fired and reloaded in 30 seconds by even an average soldier, they wereslower to fire than breechloaders especially for skirmishers trying to stayunder cover. To represent this muskets take 1/2 a turn to fire. When a unitfires mark the unit with a smoke cloud to indicate that some figures will nowbe unloaded. This will remain untill the unit rallies. The options available tothe unit are as follows:
     a. Standstill and fire all figures
     b. Fire 1/2 the unit and move ½.
     c. Regulars in close order who have not fired sincethey last rallied may opt to fire all figures then move half. Mark themwith 2 smoke
        clouds, they cannot fire againuntil they rally.
     d. Early rifles firing patched ball take a wholeturn to reload. They must use option c even if skirmishers. Once they fire,however,
        they may elect not to use patchedballand may then commence to be treated as ordinary smoothbores. They may onlyregain rifle
        status by rallying.
8.5. Breechloaders. Breechloaders could be reloaded much easier thanmuzzle loaders. Troops with breechloaders may fire all figures and move half ormay stand fire twice.
8.6. Repeaters. Early magazine rifles could put out a much higherrate of fire for a short period of time, however, prior to the introduction ofmagazine chargers, reloading was a lengthy process. Magazine rifles may operateas ordinary breechloaders or they may choose to stand and fire four times. Ifso they must rally before firing again.
8.7. Pistols. Early pistols will be ignored and only revolvers willbe counted. They have a very short range but allow a single officer to roll 1die for hits.
8.8. Spears. Thrown spears are included as part of charge resolution.
8.9. Mounted Fire. Only light horse or irregular cavalry can firemounted. They use the normal rules for their weapon type but need to score 6 tohit.

9. ARTILLERY FIRE
9.1. General Rule. Artillery did not improve as drastically duringthis period. There was a gradual switch from smoothbore cannon to rifled gunsbut muzzleloaders remained in service along side breechloaders with fieldtrials showing little to choose between them for speed or functionality.
Artillery targets must be within 45^o of straight ahead and must bevisible. If charged a battery must fire at the unit charging it, otherwise theymay pick their target. Artillery may not fire then move. Horse Artillery mayunlimber then fire. Heavy guns may only fire on alternate turns.
9.2. Cannister. At close range all guns fire cannister. Roll 1 dieper gunner needing 4,5,6 to hit for smoothbores, 5,6 for rifles. Nativeartillery deducts 1 from all dice. When firing cannister against abattalion or company square, roll double the normal number of dice. Errata12" for all guns
9.3. Shot and Shell. At long range ammunition is assumed to be acombination of shot and shell or shrapnell. Measure the range to the target infeet then roll 1 die per gun needing to score equal to or greater than therange to hit.
     Rifled guns +1 to the die to hit.
     Mountain guns and 6 pdrs -1 to the die to hit.
     Native artillery -1 to the die
If a hit is scored roll 1 die per 2 crew needing 4,5,6 to hit.Native artillery deducts 1 from all dice.
9.4. Machine Guns. Early machine guns were prone to jaming when mostneeded. Roll 1 die before firing a score of 1 or 0 means the gun has jammed andmay not fire this turn. Machine guns have a range of 24". If there is nojam roll 1 die per crew needing 4,5,6 to hit. Native crews subtract 1 from alldice.
9.5. Breaching Walls. When artillery scores 6 when rolling for effectagainst a wall or building, a breech 1 figure wide is created. Heavy gunscreate a breach on a score of 5 or 6.9.6 Line of Sight

10. CASUALTIES:
10.1. General Rule. Close order infantry in the open suffer 1casualty for each hit.
10.2. Cover. Troops behind hard cover suffer 1 casualty for every 2hits on the unit from shooting. Native units may claim cover from small armsfire, but not artillery, if they are in brush or rocks.
10.3. Skirmishers. Skirmishers were harder to hit because they weredispersed and making maximum use of cover. Therefore, skirmishers remove 1casualty for each 2 hits when being fired at. This is cumulative with thereduction for cover.
10.4. Cavalry. Cavalry usually suffered less shooting than infantryfor several reasons. They tended to be in less dense formations and movedquickly while under fire and were thus not a target for as long as well asbeing harder to hit. Many of the hits were on the horses who would often carryon after wounds that would send a man out of the ranks. There also tended to beless straggling than in the infantry, if a man went down he was on his own asthe regiment swept on as opposed to the infantry who would be helped to therear by 1 or more comrades. Therefore cavalry suffer 1 casualty for each 2 hitsfrom shooting.
10.5. Artillery. When artillery is fired on the hits may fall on thegun, the crew or the animals. Batteries normally contained enough horses toenable the guns to be moved even if some were hit, but there could be a delaywhile horse were redistributed. For each hit against artillery roll 1 die. A 6means the gun was hit if the hit was from artillery the gun is destroyedotherwise there is no effect.A score of 4 or 5 means a draft animal has beenhit. The gun may not move limbered this turn. A score of 1,2 or 3 makes a crewfigure a casualty.
10.5. Remainders. If there is a remainder of half or more, place acasualty marker by the unit. If the unit receives a second casualty marker,remove both markers and a casualty. Ignore fractions of less than 1/2.
10.6. Risk to leaders. If a leader (including musician or standardbearer) is a target or is with a unit which suffers casualties, roll one die.If a 6 is scored a leader is hit. If several leaders are with a unit dice withan even chance for each to be hit.

11. MELEE
11.1. General rule. Dice for each pair of opponents in contact. Ifone side's score is 2 higher than their opponent than 1 opposing figure is hit.
11.2. Die Modifiers.
    +1 Imperial Infantry/cavalry
    +1 Lancers or heavy cavlry charging
    +1 Defending obstacle
    +1 2 vs 1 (2nd figure must touch the enemy)
    x2 Cavalry charging infantry not in square or cover, orhalted cavalry
11.3. Resolution. The side with the highest casualties from shootingand melee combined retreats a 1/2 move facing the enemy. If the original fightis a tie, cavalry which charged will pass though the enemy using any unusedmovement from their charge. Other troops will stand and fight again. Casualtiesmay be replaced from rear ranks. If there is no result after a second round ofcombat, the charger must retreat a half move. Both sides must rally after amelee.

12. MORALE
12.1. Shattered Units. When a unit suffers very heavy casualties itloses spirit as well as manpower. When a regiment, battery, tribe or detachedcompany falls below 1/2 strength it becomes shattered and must immediatelyretire a full move in disorder unless surrounded. On its next move it mustrally. If still shattered after rallying, it must retreat off the field ofbattle.
12.2. Surrounded Units. If a unit is surrounded and cannot retreatwithout approaching closer to some enemy then it may stand and fight until anopening appears. Once per turn the enemy may call upon the unit to surrender,both sides roll a die with the surrounded unit adding 1 for each attachedleaders and 1 if the regimental standard is present. The highest score decideswhether or not the unit will surrender. If a way becomes clear the unit mustretire .
12.3. Recovery. If a shattered unit recovers enough casualties torise above half strength, it ceases to be shattered and may operate normallyuntil it falls below 1/2 strength again. A shattered company may rejoin itsparent regiment. The status of the regiment is then based on the entireregiment.
12.4. Rallying. Rallying represents the regrouping of troops by theirofficers. Units must rally after a melee, when shattered, and may rally torecover casualties or reload. A unit may rally on the spot or fall back 1/2move while rallying and may include a free facing or formation change. The unitmay not shoot, evade or countercharge while rallying. The unit must end up inline or square if regular or in mass in irregular.
12.5. Casualty Recovery. Casualties include stragglers, men helpingwounded comrades and lightly wounded or stunned men as well as seriouscasualties. Some of these may be recovered, therefore, when a unit sufferscasualties, put them in a holding area. When the unit next rallies it mayattempt to recall casualties to the ranks if it has any leaders attached.
For each casualty in the holding area roll 1 die, on a score of 6 thefigure rejoins his unit. Commanders were often able to inspire their men, if abold or rash general has joined a unit to rally it, add 1 to the die. Martialmusic has long been used to stir men's spirit and many acts of heroism havebeen done out of devotion to a unit's or countrys colours. If there is amusician or standard bearer with the unit 1 may be added to the die. Anycasualties which fail their roll are permenantly lost. Most armies attempted torescue their wounded, particular Imperial forces facing enemies who did nottake prisoners. On occasion, however, if units were under too much stress themen panicked and abandoned thier comrades. If a unit loses a melee and isshattered in the same turn, all casualties currently in the holding area aretaken by the enemy and become permenantly lost.
13. Engineering
13.1 General rule. An engineer officer and a tool wagonmust be present to supervise engineering tasks and provide materials. Onlytrained sappers may build a pontoon bridge or lay demolition charges. Anytroops or conscripted civilians may be used for other tasks. Engineering tasksmay not be conducted by shattered units or by units which shoot, move or which havebeen engaged in mellee during the turn. The owning player announces when thatgroup is activated that they are working. If at the end of the turn they havenot been disturbed then 1 period of work is completed.
13.2 Tasks. The time taken for each task is as follows.
a) Build pontoon bridge if materials available: 1" per turn.
b) Lay demolition charge. 1 turn. When ready roll 1 per charge to find thedamage inflicted. 6 points are required to damage a wooden bridge,
    12 points are required to destroy a wooden bridge or damagea stone one, 24 points are required to destroy a stone bridge. A damaged bridge
    may only be crossed by infantry moving at 1/2 speed.
c) Repair a damaged bridge: 1d6 turns.
d) Construct a redoubt to hold a gun or company: 6 turns.
e) Cut a road through a hedge or wall 1 turn.
f) Fortify a village: 3 turns.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dispatch from the Front

2011-11-17T17:33:00.001-04:00

Oberhilse Guard Jaeger advances c 1990.

The first play test, involving Farway and Oberhilse forces in the years just before the adoption of drab uniforms, was a success! At first it seemed odd to be using open order tactics and modern rifles with colourful uniforms but of course magazine rifles and machine guns were adopted into European armies long before drab uniforms came in.

I was interested to see that the rules seemed to fit quite comfortably but then remembered that the original rules were written for Victorian Colonial wargames. The musket era adaptation came later. I was also interested to see that removal of 2 of the key concepts: variable length movement and the ability to recover strength improved the feel rather than detracting from it.

The game, of course, was a version of Sawmill Village. Each side fielded 4 companies of 12 infantry, a troop of 6 cavalry, a field gun and an MG. In brief, the Oberhilse cavalry forged ahead and seized the village but failed an Orders check, charged the Faraway cavalry and was driven back. The Victoria Rifles were able to move up and seize the village but were thrown out of 1 building by a company of Blue Guard, A 1st counter by the Buffs faltered but a second one recaptured it. An attempt by a Blue company to cross an open spot in the woods and outflank the town was stopped by Red's infantry in the woods.

On the left flank, a column of infantry was caught by Larsen's Lancers before it could deploy (failed Orders check) and was sent reeling, their retreat being coverd by the MG which was over run but held the cavalry just long enough. It was the turn of the Lancers to launch a charge against orders and suffer the penalty when they were hit by rifle fire when trying to sneak past a deployed company of infantry to over run a limbered battery which was just moving up.

Attempts by Blue's center to muster another attack on the town kept faltering, occasionally due to fire but mostly due to poor orders dice. Not surprisingly, the resulting fire fight with an equal number of enemy in cover resulted in Blue being repulsed, causing the whole Blue army to retire.

I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about the Orders checks. 1 detachment of rifles, having lost its officer, needed 3 or better to rally but rolled 5 1's in a row and Blue suffered disastrous freezes 4 or 5 times, in each case needing 2 or better to pass. Not having kept records, I'm not sure if there were an unlikely number of 1's or if it just felt like it, particularly as they seem to have been inflicted on Blue in droves, usually at critical times (like trying to deploy out of march column before an unexpected cavalry charge). On the other hand, several of the events were quite reasonable if frustrating. The question is not whether or not to have some unpredictability and friction, but how much. The cavalry charge for example, would have worked as well if the Red Card was pulled first. having the Black card be pulled first but then be a non-event smacked of double jeopardy. It may be that a minor tweak and a stiff upper lip will suffice. After all the control chart was a major feature of the original rules.

I also need to think a bit about organization and how it fits typical Table Top Teasers and my table top and preferred figure size. 12 figures was just too clumsy and once around any terrain, units tended to break into 2 x 6 man detachments. I suspect that my old 8 man organization will work best with 4 of them forming a battalion and 2 being counted as 1 scenario "unit".

Last but not least I need to think a bit about Orders. Part of me would like to see each battalion have a written game order but in small games, 1 side might only have 1 or 2 battalions plus a few supporting units. it may be that the Orders check if properly tweaked, will suffice to discourage players from dispatching companies to do strange things on the other side of the table.

A test of the new organization and a few other tweaks is planned for tomorrow and work will also start on writing up the rules properly. The prospect suddenly looms ahead of me of having a series of armies covering 100 years of Atlantica history with units slowly being replaced as styles and weapons change from smooth bore rifles through to magazine rifles, machine guns and early AFV's. All using the same terrain and support units, wagons, boats etc. Scary, very scary.

Sending MacDuff to the Front.

2011-11-16T20:20:00.001-04:00

Having laid out some 40mm troops t try again, it occurred to me that it was really a MacDuff game that was in my head, Here is a stripped down rethink of a MacDuff based late 19thC early 20thC ruleset. If it works out I'll do the legwork to put it together. AT stuff for later games will have to be added as well as many other things and explanations.
__________________________________________________________________________________

With MacDuff at the Front

15 Nov 2011 (edited)

Company/Troop: 12 infantry, 6 cavalry, 1 gun and crew.
Regulars Officer+sergeant, conscript 1 officer, Elite Officer 2 nco.

Colonel commands several companies.

Brigade HQ commands Wargame army.

Sequence of play: Take deck of cards, assign Red to one side, Black to theother. Draw cards, when a card is drawn, 1 unit or group of units may Act. Group must be touching and receiving the same order.

Actions are: Move, Shoot, Rally, Charge, Hold fire.
After all actions done resolve melee.

Orders. Company. Roll 1 die when activated. 2+= obey. 1 = cavalry charge if able, others halt may shoot, may not rally or hold fire. -1 noofficer, -1 beyond 12” of Colonel, -1 beyond 24” of Brigade HQ unless connectedby wire or radio or signal team.

Movement:

Infantry, Artillery, Brigade HQ 12”, Cavalry, Colonel, Horse Artillery 18”, Wagon, 6"

Road bonus +50% if in road column X 1/3 in bad going forcav, arty, HQ, all -3:" cross obstacle.

Artillery except MG, HQ -6" to limber/unlimber, cav -6" to mount/dismount
Wire takes whole turn to cross.

Shooting.

1 die per 2 rifles, 1 per crew for arty, MG. 2 dice pergrenade

Grenade 3”, Rifles 12”, MG 18”, Arty 48”

4,5,6 hits, X 1/2over half range, X1/2 tgt has cover, Drop fractions

Double dice vs column

Special Effects.

If any hits roll 1 die 6=officer or specialist hit.

Vs cover or armour a 6 by a field gun is needed to breachcover or destroy armour.

Reaction. A unit may fire if charged from the front, even if it has already fired. Fire takes place at 3".
Cavalry can countercharge to the front unless disordered
A unit on Hold Fire orders, may shoot once at an enemy which moves to within 1/2 range or leaves cover.

Melee. Resolve if any figures in contact, Pair off. If 2 vs 1 then roll 1 die per figure and choose whoch to use. High score wins. Cav which charged doubles die except vs countercharging cavalry or enemy in cover.

Side with most losses retreats full move. Winner may occupy position. Cavalry which charged and won may charge again and resolve melee. After melee both sides are disordered.

Morale. A unit which loses 25% of its current strength from shooting in 1 turn will immediately halt for the rest of the turn. (Note this may halt a charge for example)
A unit which loses 50% of its current strength from shooting in 1 turn will immediately retreat a full move in disorder.
If all infantry and cavalry units reduced to 1/2 strengththen concede battle.

Disorder. A disordered unit may not shoot or move towards the enemy until rallied. A unit which obeys a rally order spends a turn stationary.

Tom and Jerry

2011-11-16T08:24:00.001-04:00

With a slight twinge of guilt, (for abandoning a game, any game) I cleared the table of 1/72nd figures and started laying out some 40's. I don't have any 20thC armies in 40mm (yet) but I figured the Oberhilse troops in Pickelhaubs backed by some horizon blue infantry would serve on one side while the other side will have to make do with obsolete red for now.

It seemed like the perfect moment to put together the Irregular Mitrailleuse I bought a few years back. After all, I've tripped over it 3 or 4 times in the last month alone. Of course finally I put it...hmm not here, hmmm hmm not there, hmmm... Oh well, I did find a couple of spare Zinnbrigade 1900 Prussian castings. A change of colour was enough for the Germans, a head swap with one of my Mex-American War heads and some token swipes with an exacto was needed for the Tommy. He's not exactly right but close enough for me given the price.( I already have molds for gunners, infantry, cavalry and staff as well as a stock of metal so it'll cost me nothing new to indulge myself.). The results of 15 minutes work can be seen above.

This is all making lots of sense to me now despite the ripples of excitement. There is a fair amount of synchronicity with my 19thC collection, scenery, wagons, civilians (people are obviously very conservative in Atlantica) and even some troops, especially as the armies march further into the 19thC. After all, some reservists and even whole armies in the real world marched to war in 1814 in nice dark blue uniforms while if some Faraway units adapt khaki and sun helmets when they go North of the mountains, they'll look right at home in 1910.

Adding some later armoured vehicles to push it father into the 20thC will be a challenge. 1/48th or 1/50th vehicles exist but WWI and early WWII ones are hard to find and tend towards expensive. There are some cheap 38T's out now which might do but I'm leaning towards checking out a few 1/56th vehicles made to match "28"mm miniatures which aren't much shorter than my old 40's and are substantially chubbier.. On the whole, I would rather have underscale vehicles than over scale ones, especially as the size grows. MG's are another issue. I could probably scratch build some but will probably give a little business to Irregular.

A Change of Hearts

2011-11-15T12:01:00.001-04:00

I was rather eager to try out the draft rules to see whether or not they were a good start. A quick survey of remaining WWII stuff in hand, in any scale led to a quick conclusion that we would be looking at mostly unpainted plastic. I could mix in the AK47 and CWC stuff but I suspected that would just highlight the unpaintedness of the other figures and anyway, the mix of figures on bases was awkward if I wanted to look at individuals..

A fudged late 19thC game of 40mm figures was tempting but begged the question of whether or not 1/72nd was going to be satisfying.

That left the RCW 1/72nd despite the bases. I don't have enough painted figures to field 2 armies except in the Portable Wargame, so once again my ACW troops were called to stand in and some Zulu War Brits thrown in for the feel of single figures.

When I started to fiddle with ideas for a 20thC game, I was tempted to start with Hearts of Tin mechanisms and update them. Instead I tried slotting in some older rule ideas from my Lawrence of Arabia game-in-a-box (now gone) with hits and pins but since I was borrowing the concept though not the detail of Don Featherstine's anti-tank rule, I figured I'd also try and adapt his infantry firing. Even toned down a bit, boy its bloody! Anyway, by turn 2 I was already confusing HofT and what I was playing and since it wasn't hordes of tanks and things, I started thinking, wouldn't it be easier adopting common mechanisms where I can? So I played a few more turns improvising on a HofT base

Conclusions so far:

A. The 1/72nd stuff is OK but.....something seems to have tipped inside me. It may not be just a phase that I'd rather play with a few single 40mm toy soldiers than a horde of 20'mm figures (or 40's) on bases. This doesn't bode well for vague plans of using 1/72nd ACW to fight big battles. . Not sure what it means for the unpainted RCW either though the PW still looks like a good use for both these.

B. An adaptation of HofT for early 20thC looks perfectly feasible. I'm just looking again at play sequence for fire and movement, some thing that periodically bothers me anyway. I have experimented in the past with reaction/opportunity fire options and with revised sequence of play such as A moves B fires. or else both move and then all fire. I need to check options farther. I'll add in anti-armour rules but the odds that I'll go big in 40mm WWII are pretttttty slim. Boer War & WWI/post WWI are more likely. (still allowing a tank fix of sorts).

The dice flew furiously

2011-11-14T07:29:00.001-04:00

The dice flew fast and furious across the grass green field,
The soldiers gripped their guns and swore they'd never yield.
The men were as brave as lions and their general as sly as a fox
For if the dice should get them, they'd just go back in the box.

________________________________________________________________________

The Dice Flew

A game for playing Wargames with toy soldiers in the age of machine guns and magazine rifles.
Initial Draft 14 November 2011
Immediate updates in purple

Notes: This is a simple set of rules for playing wargames in the Age of the Machine Gun. They are meant to provide an enjoyable game and to be evocative of stories told rather than an accurate simulation or recreation of experience or fact. More specifically, they aim to work in OSW fashion, not worrying about consistent time and ground scales and operating on multiple levels at once. Figures and vehicles are treated more or less as individuals so a player can get that emotional feel of being there in the midst of things while putting dozens if not hundreds of toy soldiers on the table and getting the feel of commanding a "battalion" or even a "brigade", yet still be able to finish a game in 2 to 4 hours. The rules are intended for use with individual figures of 20mm size or larger but it should be able to be used with multi-figure bases either counting each base as a figure or by marking hits.

Organization. The "modern" army is a bureaucracy and so the game includes 4 levels of organization.

ARMY: This is all of your guys that are taking part in the game, regardless of how few they are. There must be an Army Commander (CO) with a small staff and escort on table.
BATTALION: This is an intermediate level of organization consisting of a Head Quarters (HQ) and 2 or more companies. Normally these will be part of a permanent organization but for game purposes they may be adhoc formations but must be formed before the game starts. Each Battalion must be given a single mission.
COMPANY: This is the basic unit of the game and consists of an officer, sergeant and usually around 10 men. Poorly trained companies might not have a sergeant. Well trained and experienced ones with high morale may have an extra officer or sergeant. Companies much smaller than 10 figures at the start of a battle will probably be too brittle while those approaching 20 will be too clumsy. Companies may include attached heavy weapons such as machine guns.
PATROL: This is a group of up to 4 figures detached for a particular purpose. If it is more than 1/2 a move from the its company, it is treated as a separate company for movement, combat and morale.

ORDERS.

Game Orders. At the start of a game, players must write an order for each on table Battalion giving its mission. These may be written in plain language as long as they are clear or may use a short hand with an action and a location. Possible actions are: Hold X, Move to X, or Attack X where X is an identifiable terrain feature. A start time may be specified. Hold orders are implied for any unit awaiting its start time or after it has reached its objective. A move order implies expeditious compliance, no unavoidable engagement and no attacks. Attack orders force a Battalion to advance, engage in a firefight or attack with at least 1/2 of its units. Off table units do not need an order until they arrive on table. Off table artillery may be controlled by an on table observed attached to a battalion or else will need a pre-game fire plan giving which targets to fire at on which turns. The fire plan can only be changed using the order change process.
Order changes. A Game Order can be changed at the start of any period. if communications exist. Roll 1 die, the order change succeeds on a roll of 2 or better. -1 to the die if the range between the army commander and Battalion HQ is over 2 feet and no radios are being used and there is no telephone link. (see advanced rules for laying and cutting telephone lines).
Company orders. If a company (or patrol) includes an officer or nco and is within 12" of its battalion HQ, 24" if equipped with radios, then it will act as the player wishes each turn. If either condition is not met then roll 1 die and a score of 2 or better is required for the unit to move or attack.

Sequence of Play. At the start of each turn, each side rolls a die. The side with the highest score chooses whether to go 1st or 2nd that turn. If there is a tie, repeat the last turn's sequence.

The 1st player issues any order changes and rally units then fires any bombardments then moves with any or all of his units. The 2nd player may shoot with eligible units as the 1st player moves. Then any melees are resolved.
The 2nd player now issues any order changes and rallies then fires any bombardments then moves with any or all of his units. The 1st player may shoot with eligible units as the 2nd player moves. Then any melees are resolved.

Do any end of turn activities such as weather checks or as called for by the scenario then start the next turn.

Movement. Figures may move up to the following maximum each turn. They may move in any direction. Movement through various types of terrain is pro-rated.

Infantry and infantry support weapons: 12" in the open or through broken terrain such as woods and fields, 18" in column on a road, 6" through difficult ground such as steep rocky hills and swamps.
Cavalry, Armoured Cars and Fast Tanks: 24" in the open, 6" through broken terrain, 36" in column by road. They may not move through difficult ground.
Artillery, HQ: 6" in the open. 18" in column by road. No off road movement through broken or difficult ground.
Tanks:. 18" in the open, 6" in broken ground, 24" in column by road. They may not move through difficult ground.

Shooting. Figures may only fire out a 90 degree arc to their front (45 degrees either side of straight ahead). The firing player may interrupt the movement of an enemy company to shoot at it and the effect is calculated before the move is completed. A company that moved or bombarded or fought in melee during or since its last turn may not shoot. A company that can shoot, must do so at the closest target but may fire more than once if enemy movement brings another target closer.

When a company is fired on, it may choose to immediately halt and go to ground, counting as being in cover or it may choose to push on and continue moving.

Direct fire vs infantry and other soft targets: Shooting is by company against an opposing company which is not within 3" of the shooter of any unit friendly to the shooter. Only figures with a line of sight to the enemy and sufficient range may be included.
Roll 1 die per 5 10 points of fire. Round up remainders of 1/2 or more.

Rifles: 12" 1 pt per rifle.
SMG: 6" 3 pts
LMG: 18" 3 pts .
HMG: 24" 5 points

Mortar: 6"-24" 5 points

Artillery or tank gun:: 24: 5 points for medium or heavy gun + 5 pts for AFV with MG within 12"

Snipers get 1 die each but they work alone so their fire cannot be added to any other.

Effect

Subtract 1 from each die if the target is up to 1/2 range.
Subtract 2 from each die if the target is beyond 1/2 range.
Subtract 2 from each die if the target is in cover. A company counts as in cover if 1/2 or more of the figures are in cover
The total score of all the dice after modifiers is the number of hits on the target.
For each die that scores 6 before modifiers, the firing player may select one critical figure such as an officer or a specialist as a casualty otherwise the owning player decides which figures are taken. If crew figures are killed, other men can be moved to take their place on a sunbsequent turn.
~~If any figures were killed then the company is pinned.~~
~~Pinned units may not move until they rally and cannot fire except in melee.~~

Anti-tank fire.All armoured vehicles have a defensive value, all anti-tank weapons have an offensive value.
Players may come up with their own charts as detailed as they like. A flank shot has to come from behind the front of the vehicle. An open topped vehicle attacked by mortars or artillery count as being shot at from the flank.

For anti-tank fire, instead of rolling company vs company, roll 1 die for each afv or gun firing at each trget and add the Attack value of the gun to its die. (If mixed guns fire at 1 target roll them separately or use different colours of dice.) If the result of any modified die is greater than the defensive value of the target then it is destroyed. If the result is equal to the defensive value then the target will immediately retreat 2d6" but may stop when reaching cover.

Basic defense values: front/flank
Heavy Tank: 7/5
Medium tank: 6/4
Light Tank: 5/4

Basic Attack value: +1 within 1/2 range -1 if the target is hull down or in cover
Small arms, HMG, Mortar: 6" 0 Roll 1 die per 5 points of fire.
Bazooka, 6" 1.
Light: 12" 0
Medium: 24" 1
Heavy: 36" 2

Examples: Tiger heavy tank with heavy gun, Sherman medium tank with medium gun, Firefly Medium tank with Heavy gun, Honey: Light Tank with light gun. . .

Artillery barrages.
Range unlimited for artillery. Must be pre planned or directed by a FOO using Order Change Communication roll. Count 5 points per light gun, 10 per medium and 15 per heavy gun. using same to hit and to kill score on target company as for direct fire at over 1/2 range.

Melee. All units within 3" of the enemy must resolve melee. Roll for hits as per shooting for both sides simultaneously, but with the following modifiers instead of the shooting ones:
Elite +1
Conscript -1
Enemy in cover -2 ( Infantry with grenades and rifles or smg do not count the enemy as in cover if they are touching the cover.)
All AT attacks in melee are made against the enemy's side value to represent the confusion of close fighting.

The side which suffers the highest number of hits must retreat 2d6". If tied, the melee will be resolved whenever either side is active again unless 1 side retreats before then.

Morale. A Battalion that has lost 1/2 of its figures. (1/3rd if militia, 2/3 if Elite) is shaken and changes any Attack order to hold. If at the end of either player's turn, all of the Battalions in an Army are shaken, the Commander must concede and withdraw.

If a company loses 1/2 of its current strength, 1/3 if conscript, 2/3 if elite, to one round of shooting, then it will retreat 2d6" and become pinned until it rallies. A pinned unit may not move or shoot except in melee.

Rallying. To rally a pinned company, roll 1 die for each officer or nco present at the start of the turn. If any of the dice score 4,5 or 6 the pin is removed. -1 if conscripts, +1 if elite.

Advanced rules: Still to come: entrenching, air support, parachuting, amphibious ops, mines, and more

Dubbiya Dubbiya Oh-oh

2011-11-13T17:54:00.001-04:00

Have you ever had one of those flashes of insight and realization where you suddenly see the solution to a nagging question and then wish fervently that you hadn't?

Marx 30mm soft plastic, factory painted Japanese and British infantry, most touched up by me during my adolescence. Note the stereotyped fat officer with Samurai sword.

The 20thC isn't really my "thing" but I have dabbled in WWII and occasionally WWI off and on since I was about 5 years old. "Grown up" armies have included Canadians and their arch-enemy, the German Paratroops, in 6mm, 1/72nd and 54mm. I even built a 1:200 Afrika Corps battle group in 1990. (I blame THAT one on the Admiral, I wanted to do 20mm but said I'd play any scale if he provided the troops, then he showed me his Wargames South 8th army......). WWI also in 3 scales but substituted 15mm Arabs and Turks for the 6mm. All gone now, or nearly so. I depend on various friends for the occasional WWII fix, usually using Blitzkrieg Commander these days, or occasionally Command Decision.

More Marx soft plastic 30mm figs. The US as they came in the window box, the Germans repainted in my Military Models not Toy Soldiers phase just before I found Battles with Model Soldiers. Pity these were never widely released or ever released as recasts.

Last month after an enjoyable game that maybe wasn't quite as enjoyable as an ideal game in an ideal world might be, I found myself discussing and pondering WWII rules philosophy and possibilities. It was a short step to review my old WRG rules, Battle and 2 sets of Featherstone's rules. I even blogged some early thoughts since I was drifting down a different road from Lentulus with whom I was doing the discussing. However, I was still thinking along the lines of 1/72nd plastic troops for my own armies with each 40mm stand being a platoon or similar.

Heil! It was probably inevitable that figures produced so soon after the end of the war should reflect certain stereotypes. More Marx30mm soft plastic in what's left of their original factory paint.

I've always had a hard time getting into studies of division, corps or larger WWII battles but memoirs, movies and documentaries can get me itching to push toys around on the table. The movie and memoir side should indicate that skirmish games are indicated but they just don't do it for me. The BKC level games generally work ok to give me my WWII fix but they don't completely scratch the itch to move a file of riflemen warily down a hedge and building lined road.

If you accept that wargames should have a constant scale and preferably, a single viewpoint, it becomes very hard to design a game where you're playing a battalion attack but it feels like a tank on tank, man to man game and can be fought to a conclusion in 2-3 hours with a handful of miniatures. I'm not sure why I was even thinking about it today but the thought popped up that abandoning these concepts is basically what Charge! and other OSW rules used to do for Horse & Musket games, The Sword and The Flame for Colonials and I suppose what the Warhammer Ancients stable does. Its worked for me in Horse & Musket so why not for WWI or II which is even closer to "playing army men" for me?

Corgi 1:50 Yanks dismount from an old plastic 1/2 track, probably made by Marx who used to include undersized vehicles in their play sets but I picked it up at flea market a few years back .

So there I was, pondering what it might be like to move a bunch of single 1/72nd figures mounted on pennies around the battlefield when I started to think about how much 20mm terrain I was going to have to build to get the right affect, at least for Europe. Pity I couldn't just use the 40mm scenery I have or am already planning to build. At this point I thought about the Corgi 1:50mm figures I picked up a few years ago when, at a time I was contemplating restricting all of my gaming to 40mm, I saw them in a local hobby store. These are the best painted commercial figures I have ever come across and were quite affordable (or would be if I was still working). No wonder the range has been cancelled. I should have sold them off ages ago to avoid temptation but they are just too pretty. My my, imagine, non-based 40mm or 1/48th troops organized in 10 or 12 man "companies" but fighting as if 1:1, using existing scenery and just a handful of vehicles. Wouldn't that be about right? I wonder if WWI using my Zinnbrigade molds for Germans would scratch the itch? Oh dear.

So here am I wondering if I can fight a 20thC test battle using Oberhilse troops in peaked caps and pickelhaubes backed by that Crescent 18 pdr? How to finance the acquisition of 1/48th scale armour (I hear Solido may be coming back) and are there any $ Store toys I can make use of? Not to mention, what to do with all these 1/72nd WWI troops I've acquired? (A Portable RCW Game-in-a-Box springs to mind.)

Hopefully if I lie down a while, it'll pass.

A Game That Might Have Been Part 2

2011-11-11T20:32:00.001-04:00

( As related by General (Ret'd) Sir William Soupese, Lord Belmont, O.T.S., H.O.T. )

Ahhh Yaass, yas, The Affair at Lawford's Bridge, down there by Young's Farm, I remember it well. I had retired and they called me back from my farm for that one you know. Dare say they couldn't trust the little fellows they depend on these days to deal with that rascal Cornville. Now there's some that look down him, say his morals are a little too Plastic. They call him a Marxist, and say he follows that Louis fellow. They would have had me holler Charge! at the sight of him. But they have also been known to say that this old soldier has a leaden foot but I have a Heart of Tin under this Red coat and I knew just how to deal with that Blue fellow.

As I recall, Blue's little raid caught us all by surprise, why the Queen had to send her Guards out to deal with the fellows. The Guards , Black Watch Highlanders, 2 squadrons of Hussars and a pair of guns, a force to see off any enemy, let alone that Blue rabble. They had 3 regiments to my 2, as many guns and his squadrons were half again as large as ours. (ed: The General's memory may be misleading, the enemy regiments were only 8 or 12 men instead of 20 and the squadrons were 8 instead of 6. He has also neglected the presence of the Guards Band on one side and a field hospital on the other.)

As we neared the bridge, I caught sight of the enemy on the far bank. I could see that there was no room for all our men on this side so I sent the Highlanders across the Hard River with orders to push on, save Young's Farm if they could and secure the West end of the bridge. I led the rest of the force up the East bank, keeping the Hussars under the cover of the hill. Old Cornville came on in his usual impetuous style, splitting his force right away, sending his Light Dragoons across the river while the Lancers galloped straight forward. I swiftly unlimbered my guns and opened fire.

The enemy looked pretty pleased with themselves when their cavalry reformed on our side of the bridge but in a few minutes our guns sent them galloping back over, faster than they came. Seeing the effect our guns had, seems to have given the enemy some ideas and the poor Highlanders had some hot work getting over the river.

It is deuced hard at times, when you're in command. Your natural instinct is to go for the enemy but the responsibility is on your shoulders, to achieve the mission and preserve the army. So there are times when caution is called for. We had driven back Cornville's first attempt to capture the bridge and I knew that all I had to do was block our end and he was stymied. It was work for the guns now.

You can't ask for men steadier under fire than those Guards. Britain's all, even if some of the younger ones were born on this side of the water, they were cast in the mold of their forefathers. Still, no need in having such brave soldiers shot down without reply and besides, I could see the Lancers rallying beyond the bridge, slowly building up for a another go. Doesn't do to take the pressure off the enemy so I ordered the whole line forward into rifle range and sent the Hussars forward to keep those pesky Dragoons away from the guns.

I'm not sure if its the spirited horses or the fancy uniforms but its hard to get cavalry to do anything in a quiet, controlled manner. Since they swept the bank clear of the enemy I suppose I can't really complain but they did get a little carried away and without orders from me, the Cherry Bums galloped off across the river. Mind you if they'd been close enough for me to send them an order, I might just have sent them over anyway.

The Black Watch did just as well, driving off the enemy's naval brigade. Well, the enemy does seem to be a little short of real soldiers don't they? Brave ones they have, but a bit raggle taggle when it comes to it don't you think? I think it was having Cornville fall at their head that really took the starch out of 'em though. Anyway, I ordered Major Stuart to turn his guns on the enemy's guns, especially that 4.7". In no time at all, what was left of them were limbered up and scurrying for cover.

Welllll it was really all over then. The Hussars, coming up the West bank into the enemy's rear, ran over the retreating guns, scattered the sailors and caught the Lancers in the rear just as they were preparing to charge over the bridge into our guns which were on their own at the moment. The Guards, you see, had suffered so many losses from the enemy guns that I had had to pull them back and give them a little pep talk, "What would Her Majesty say?" and "How would it look in the papers?". That sort of thing. Stiffened 'em up right away and they were ready to get back into the fray. But the enemy had had enough. No need to be uncivilized. I let 'em go with a stern warning that they could expect more of the same if they returned.

Yes that little action earned my my title of Lord Belmont don't you know? But did I ever tell you the tale of.........

A Game That Might Have Been (Part 1)

2011-11-11T20:13:00.001-04:00

Its been a busy week with no chance for a game. Torrential rains today looked like a good opportunity for a quick solo one. Every now and then I wonder about they propriety of playing a wargame on Remembrance Day but I know enough Vets who wargame to be at ease on that score and refraining on one just one day seems hypocritical so after watching Passchendaele and a telecast of the ceremony at the Cenotaph in Ottawa, standing for the anthem and silence (though part of my remembrance was remembering the occasions when it was the turn of the College Militaire Royal de St Jean to provide a contingent and I was there in grey astrakhan cap with its scarlet flap and scarlet tunic or long black greatcoat depending on the weather) I proceed upstairs to clear for action..

Thinking about my grandfather, I decided to break out my old Britain's and play the sort of game we might have had if he had lived longer.The scenario is an old chestnut that most old hands will recognize.

Red's army, under General Soupese, deploys with orders to prevent Blue from capturing the bridge.

General Cornville leads Blue's army in an assault on the bridge.

Lest We Forget

2011-11-10T20:09:00.001-04:00

My mother's father, Hubert deSolla volunteered for Queen Victoria. In 1914 he was recalled to the colours and served through the war with the Royal Horse Artillery. In 1939 he tried to join the Canadian Army but was deemed too old and was diverted to the Corps of Commissionaires and served as a night watchman. He loved to tell stories of battles and loved his toy soldiers..

My dad volunteered in 1939 because it was the thing to do. His brother Angus also signed up but didn't come home. It wasn't till I was in uniform myself that I could get Dad to talk about the war at all.

As fair as these green hills may be

2011-11-04T19:18:00.002-03:00

They're not my land's hills.

( click here for those not familiar with the reference, a Scottish Soldier is a song that was popular on the juke box in the Black Watch armoury when I was a Cadet though I'm a still a little iffy on exactly when this Scottish soldier with his trusty piper beside him lay dying on a Tyrolian hillside. According to Wikipedia, the tune as a pipe tune dates back to the Crimean war but is adapted from an opera air itself based on an Alpine folk tune which would explain the Tyrol bit but not why a Highland soldier should lie dying there.) .
.

For me, the decision to go with single glossy toy soldiers meant that I needed to replace my aging foam slopes or cloth over shapes with flat contour hills, partly for thematic consistency but mostly because single 40mm metal figures just don't stand well on steep slopes.

I could have used various materials but as life would have it, a change in domestic arrangements 2 years ago when we agreed to have my 88 year old mother-in-law move in, led me to evacuate my previous wargames room in progress for the current smaller one. This left me with about 30 running feet of surplus pine shelving painted in a bright green. Some 5 or 6 foot lengths, other pieces being shorter off cuts from when I shortened various 8' shelves to fit the new space. Prepaid hills!

They need a bit of work though. The second step is going to be easy, they need to be painted to match my table which itself needs to be repainted. A job for a winter afternoon. While I am at it, I'll be looking for a lighter shade of green. I must have spent too long in the city, looking at grass up close and playing on felt sheets. It was a bit of revelation when I started to really look at the hills around here and to see just how bright a green they are, even in the early fall. Now, I'm not saying that all hills everywhere are this green all year round. I well remember getting used to the brown hills of some parts of BC in mid summer, but if I'm going to have a fictional land, it might just as well resemble the world I see around me now.

The hard part is going to be deciding on shapes and sizes. After studying various options and checking various OSW books for inspiration, I have come up with several options to consider (now that I've abandoned my hex trials for the near future at least).:

1. Cut out various stack-able, vaguely oval, shapes of different sizes, some cut in half to fit on an edge. This is more or less what Charles Grant's books show and is something I have done in the past, though never before with vertical edges that I can recall. This is one of the simplest methods to use but it is might be the most limiting unless I build up and store a huge selection of hill shapes .

2. Collect a large number of small rectangles and use them pixel-like to create hills of the desired shape. This method allows for almost any piece to be used in any game thus avoiding sorting through stacks of hills looking for the right shape but it also means sharp angles, straight lines and a lot of seams. My refight of Hooks Farm was the first time that I can recall using rectangular hills (usually books) without throwing a cloth over them to soften the outline. I was surprised last weekend when I deployed rectangular hills again that I didn't mind the right angled hills. This option could also be made compatible with a square grid.

3. Something along the lines of what HG Wells proposed in the appendix to Little Wars. A mix of squares and triangles with 2 straight sides and a curved side, some convex, some concave. The straight sides to match the sides of the squares. If done right, this could allow a wide variety of hill shapes. If not done right or without enough pieces, it would be even more limiting than the first option.

I think I need a miniature Topographical Engineering Section to sort this out. Maybe I should paint one up. Where is Captain Lee when you need him anyway?

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Bless them all, bless them all

2011-11-03T18:23:00.003-03:00

"The long and the short and the tall"

Too tired to say much. It is possible that I've dabbled in too many scales over the years even though there are no 6mm or 10mm left. From left to right, 15mm, 1/72nd, Minifig 25mm, RAFM 25mm, Willie 30mm, Zinnbrigade 40mm, "Standard" or original Britains, New Britain's 54mm. Its the 30 & 40 that strike me as the sweet zone .

Incident at N'Haro Pass

2011-11-01T15:18:00.000-03:00

NOV 1st, 1841

INCIDENT AT N'HARO PASS

Reports have been received of an unprovoked attack yesterday on Her Majesty's troops in the Origawn Territory. It seems that while on a tour of FTC trading posts, Lord Walts received a terse note declaring that the Faraway troops that accompanied him would not be allowed to proceed. Disdaining to reply let alone turn back, the column proceeded. Our correspondent on the Frontier has posted this report:

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It was about 10 in the morning when our column, under the immediate command of Colonel Stoneforte, Brevet Brigadier, entered N'haro Pass. Bearing the previous night's warning in mind, the experienced Frontier Fighters of the FTC DG's Bodyguard led the way, scanning every rock and hollow where a Bushwhacker might lurk. As we approached the narrowest point of the pass, the signal was given to halt and scouts were sent forward towards several large clumps of lichen adorning a ledge which overlooks the road. The crack of rifles and several puffs of smoke was the response. Our way was to be challenged!

Like a well oiled machine, the Bodyguards fell back as the Wye Fusiliers, the famed Green Tigers, rushed forward and deployed, their new colours flying proudly. In no time at all the ruffians had been driven back and the column proceeded past the sad site of the bodies of 4 young soldiers, lying by the side of the road.

The Wye Fusiliers drive the ambushers from Lichen Point while the Voyagers scout up towards a patch of trees, exposing several dummy cards.

As we pushed forward through the pass, the Belmont Fusiliers or Buffs, doubling forward to shield the coach and wagon, I heard some of the experienced officers mutter about the risk about getting so tightly bunched should there be more Oberhilsers in the vicinity. I know there was some muttering about the clubs about the army's most junior Brigade commander being given such an important task but he is a man cast in the same mold as General Turner (literally- ed) and "fortes fortuna adiuuat".

The crowded pass.

For awhile, it seemed that this dozen or so scruffy frontiersmen (actually it was probably only 10, ed) were all that we faced. The bridge over the South Sloy River could be seen ahead and the road to Roslin and safety beckoned. Suddenly from a ridge ahead, more shots rang out and the grey clad forms of Volunteer rifles could be seen. The Bodyguard had been taking a terrible toll from sniping and that was no ground for a cavalry charge so they dismounted and forming a skirmish line, returned fire.

More foes appear!

With Corporal Blogger and his fellow Horse Guard riding ahead and a column of the Buffs pushing forward on our right, we felt no threat but the carriage ground to a halt while the situation was sorted. Suddenly the road ahead filled with troops,the pale blue of Oberhilse regulars and the wild troopers of the infamous Frontier Horse.

The trap is well sprung!

It was a bad time for us to lose the initiative! Before they could react, the skirmish line of the Body Guards was ridden down. The Horse Guards who had posted themselves as a reserve, found themselves too close to the action and were forced to draw swords and spur forwards, being caught up in the precipitate retreat of the FTC troopers. With their blood up, the enemy troopers spurred forward in pursuit, scattering the Buffs before they could deploy from their march column and surrounding the Director General's coach.

The Frontier Horse seize the carriage containing the Director General, his wife and Duke Peter.

All was chaos but Colonel Stoneforte rose to the occasion! Quickly rallying the Buffs, he seized the initiative and led them forward in a wild charge before the Frontier Horse could drive away their prize. True to his last breath, Corporal Blogger spurred forward to join them and rescue those whose safety had been placed in his care. At the same time, Stoneforte ordered the Green Tigers to drive off the enemy skirmishers who were creeping close on the flank. With a brave huzzah the red coated troops stormed forward.

Colonel Stoneforte rallies the Buffs and gives the order to Charge!

Alas, fortune does not always favour the bold. Corporal Blogger cut down one of the enemy with a masterful stroke of his broadsword but a rifle bullet threw him from the saddle. The Buffs, their ranks ragged, tangled with the horsemen about the carriage but honours and casualties were even. The melee hung in the balance. Then , as Colonel raised himself in the stirrups, urging his men on, another rifle shot rang out. These Frontier Horsemen are crack shots, born in the saddle and raised as hunters. The Colonel was flung backwards off his horse and the Buffs, gathering him up fell back in dismay. On the hill slopes beyond them the Tigers struggled across the broken ground as the enemy rifles cracked, time and again. Finally as the Buffs behind them gave way, it became too much and they turned and fled pell mell down the hill again.

Too little, too late.

Anxious to prove themselves the Black Horse pressed forward from the rear, but this was no parade ground. The wagon, which had been saved by the charge of the Buffs, still blocked the pass so the big black horses were urged up over the ragged ridge. By the time they had reformed on the flat, the carriage and the enemy horsemen were gone. In their place stood a resolute square of blue clad infantry while the rifle fire from the hill swept the road. For a moment it looked like the horsemen would throw themselves onto the square but they were the bulwark behind which the army must rally and there was still the vital paychest and records to protect.

Lord Walts confronts his captor, Brigadier Zinn.

The mood around the campfires that night was bleak indeed, the groans of the wounded and maimed mixed with the laments of the men for their failure in the face of the enemy. There was the usual post battle chatter about how the Buffs should have advanced in an attack column, how the carriages ought to have been held back till the way was secured and how we needed more Riflemen on the frontier as musket armed line infantry are no match for riflemen in rough ground. I even heard arguments that the day was really a draw because the Oberhilsers didn't get their hands on Ol' Betsy the steam tractor nor on the gold, but in truth we were bound for Roslin and none of us made it, least of it the Lady and Lords that we had been charged to protect..

The gloom was only slightly lightened when a messenger appeared out of the darkness. Colonel Stoneforte, his wounds bandaged, called the men around and announced that word was received that the Director and Duke Peter were safe and sound and were the guests of the Oberhilse commander for tonight but would rejoin us in the morning.