Mustering for A Gentleman's War

September is almost upon us and with it is our 3rd annual get-together with some old longtime wargaming friends.

This year I'm going to give the lads a chance to try 'A Gentleman's War' using a 'proper' gentleman's army of glossy old toy soldiers. 

Having reviewed the troops on hand, I've decided to go with smaller than usual for AGW but acceptable units of 8 infantry or 4 cavalry. The armies will each have a pool of 9 units: 2 cavalry, 1 artillery and 6 infantry, one of which can be light infantry.

Some of my units had not yet been upgraded to 8 so I cast up a few recruits to bring them up to strength.

While you're waiting for the battle,  here are links to last year's ECW game, and the ACW game from the year before.

Assault on Hastee House Crossroads

The 60 Minute War, as it has come to be known, is over.

The captioned photos illustrate the flow of the battle while the rest of this article will be dedicated to comments by our technical advisor.

The Government First Brigade begins an assault on Hastee House Crossroads. Rebel reinforcements are rushing to reinforce their outpost.

This battle was actually the second attempt by the Government forces to sieze the crossroads. In the morning both armies, well versed in Developed Portable Warfare, were quickly going to ground under effective fire with very few units choosing to retire to a safe position. Once again, as we saw two years ago, in close terrain opposing troops would close in then take cover and could not be persuaded to even stick their heads up once in a while to shoot at an enemy in cover or to retreat but held on waiting to be rescued. Eventually at the end of the day the government forces pulled back after light casualties and no success.

The ruins of the village has been cleared but much time has been lost due to the stubborn defemce.

Once the troops had been fed and rested they were given a pep talk and ordered to forget their developed training and go back to their original, basic Portable Warfare training. The Rebels must have had a similar pep talk as the ensuing fight was fast paced and free flowing with much manouvring and hard fighting. By the time the UN team imposed a cease fire, both sides were near exhaustion after heavy casualties.

An attempt to turn the enemy's left flank has been driven back by accurate artillery and small arms fire but the armoured assault against the rebels has been forcing them steadily back.

Observers in the press corps all agree that the Government forces fought well and inflicted more harm than they received. The new upgunned tanks were disappointing though as they seemed to be unable to knock out the  enemy armour though they did manage to drive them back into the hills. Initially the enemy fire was just as ineffective but in the end their last tank was left guarding the crucial road while our wrecks were scattered across the field.

Some say though, that the fault wasn't with the tanks but that our crews were too brave and refused to pull back regardless of how effective the enemy fire was while the tricksy rebels would quickly retreat when fired on.

Both armies were nearing exhaustion when a UN observer intervened to inform the command on both sides that a new Ceasefire had been signed.  The Government controls the Crossroad but the battered remnant of the stubborn Rebel tank company still holds the East Road. 

Well, perhaps one of the shortest wars in history but who knows how long this ceasefire will last? A week? A Year?  We will have to wait and see.

___________________________
Technical Footnote: This game was played using the original Portable Wargame. Once again, (to my chagrin since I was one of those urging Bob to include a Pin rule) the Pin rule in the Developed Portable Wargame detracted rather than added to my enjoyment of the game, partly because it took yet more decision making power from me, something I used to applaud but now have reservations about from a gaming point of view but also because the game started to stall as more and more units were pinned and unable ro recover.

It was also played using my now usual system of an initiative deck with colour indicating who was to go first each turn.  I have gone from being an advocate of activation methods to being a critic of many such systems for a long list of reasons some of which were mentioned in an article in Miniature Wargames a few years ago when Henry was editor (or was it in Battlegames?  oh well).  Bob's card system works fairly well although I would be inclined to be more lenient and have it start with a chance of everyone acting but I didn't want to abandon my turn record and intitiative deck or go with multiple decks. So, I decided to try something different.

Since I have no idea what the activation deck really represents I decided it could include factors that apply to both sides. Therefore when I pulled the turn card, it not only showed who was going first but the number showed how many units each side could activate that turn with Court Cards and Aces allowing all units to act. Worked like a charm to occasionally have quiet spells and force difficult decisions to be made without slowing the game or being lopsided or having excessive effect on the game.

As of now the original PW and this Initiative and Activation deck will be my standard for this collection. Being organized, based and ready to go means that from now on it'll be easier to get this collection out when I'm in the mood.

Preparations Continue

The Green, or Government, forces are ready to go with 12 units. I've got a slight hiccup with the other side though since  it turns out that the Herald & Lone Star figures who are going to form the bulk of the Rebel infantry are actually rather green themselves, I had thought they were more khaki-ish like the Crescents were before I painted them. Oh well, the Crescents were smaller like the $ store figures I wanted to use in the Green army and its done now so it'll be the ragtag Government forces with a mix of obsolete and modern weapons and uniforms against a well equipped up to date Rebel force.  I smell foreign support in the air!

Not sure I have the Oomph (technical term) to refurbish the rebels before I play a game, especially since I'm now planning to leave the WWII Canadians intact and see if I can find them a new home. This'll mean eventually finding/making about a dozen replacements to reach the planned OB but there's no rush. I have sabots ready so they can play as is.

Green Army HQ, SP recoiless rifle and 3 infantry companies. I managed to make the Recoilless Rifle dismountable but aren't willing to do the work to allow the model to point directly at a tank which isn't up a mountain.

While I want the games to resemble a One Hour Wargame, ie quick and easy to set up, play and put away, I'm actually planning to use The Portable Wargame for rules since I'd like to have them as the official rules for one of my collections. I am, however, contemplating a few minor tweaks to suit myself.

1. HQ Company. Instead of having a commander who can join a unit and boost its ability to shoot etc, I'm going to make it an ordinary unit but with a range of 1. It will not be allowed to initiate Close Combat but will be allowed to defend itself if attacked. It will still have 6 SP's so it'll take more than 1 lucky roll to eliminate it but if the HQ is eliminated it will still have a big negative impact on Army Morale (Exhaustion). In order to give players a reason to have one, it will not be included in the army's (sic) strength for scenarios but will be a free extra. In addition if using the variable activation, each turn the HQ may add 1 to the activation if it has LOS to an enemy unit and in addition may directly activate 1 friendly unit within 3 squares regardless of whether it can see enemy or not. If it leaves the table it will be treated as eliminated including the loss of its remaining SP's.

2. Unit types. Given the toy soldier element of these armies, I am going to do a short capabilty chart for only the units that I will field and some of those units may have slightly different capabilities such as longer ranges for a generic artillery battery than its appearance might suggest. As an example I am thinking about taking the "Heavy" infantry idea from OGW to make a reinforced infantry company to replace straight MG units.

3. PIN. I am going to modify the Pin rule to allow Pinned units to retreat into adjacent cover as long as they don't move adjacent to an enemy.

4. Hit Effect Chart. Lastly, instead of using the Poor/Average/Elite hit chart which makes it easier for Elite units to retreat, while allowing Poor units to fight to the death if asked to,  I am going to just reduce Poor units by 1SP and increase Elite units by 1SP.

5. Armoured Infantry. These represent infantry with integrated armoured carriers that support their infantry in combat rather than being 'armoured taxis'.  These move like a tank and count as armoured against shooting but count as infantry when shooting and in Close Combat. They are likely to be Elite.

UN Observers Ordered Out as Peace Talks Break Down

It has been nearly 2 years since hostilities between the Red Badge Rebels and the Ducal Army broke out and were swiftly halted but it seems the two sides were largely using the peace talks as a cover for their efforts to organize and prepare for war.

UN peacekeepers pass a Red Patch outpost on their way to the border.

Will last minute peace efforts have any effect or can we expect hostilities in the near future?

To avoid confusion with the Red Patch Brigade's Khaki Drab uniforms, the Ducal army has just adopted Olive Green uniforms and equipment.

Road Block

On the 24th of August, 1919, the Dominion of Faraway declared war against Oerberg claiming that Oerberg had violated the peace treaty in February when their troops ambushed a Dominion convoy in the disputed zone.  Within hours a column of Faraway  troops crossed the border from the Kapelle into Oerberg.

The column consisted of a light tank, a squadron of cavalry, 7 companies of infantry including 2 machine guns and three batteries including one light mountain gun. No enemy were in sight but the Oerbergers were well known for their ability to hide their entrenchments and make good use of dead ground.

The advance guard was hit hard by fire from artillery and an advanced post of Frontier Mounted Police with a Pompom gun.

As soon as the squadron of Larsen's Lancers came within rifle range of the farmhouse a furious fusillade followed by artillery fire tore into them causing heavy losses. They pulled back as Ross's Rifles deployed to attack the farm supported by the light tank. As the Rifles extended their front they came under a heavy fire from a wooded knoll to their right but the casualties did not stop the advance and the Mounted Police fell back before they could be flanked.

An ambush of Oerberg mounted rifles waits until the time is right, 

As the Dominion troops pressed forward they were surprised again by a concealed PomPom gun which opened up from a rocky knoll on the other side of the farm. The advance threatened to stall but the Royals were at hand and the artillery opened up as they deployed.

The advanced guard takes the farm as the artillery arrives.
(The smokeless powder makes it harder to follow the action)

Quickly the advance resumed and the advanced Oerberg troops were either wiped out or forced to retreat. As the Dominion infantry pushed forward the artillery fire became more deadly and was joined by a hail of bullets from the two companies of the Railway Volunteers.  The battle stalled into an intense firefight. The defenders took serious losses but not quite enough to force them to reterat while the Dominion forces did not have enough effective infantry companies available to risk an assault. To avoid useless bloodshed, General Spice order his men to fall back to regroup.

Evening approaches. The Oerberg forces have taken heavy losses but are still holding. The attack has to be called off for today. 

And that was that, just the sort  of brisk action with the advantage shifting back and forth that I had been picturing. I did pick up a few minor ommissions, errors and bad choices in the rules but they were quickly fixed up. The game itself took about an hour to play through which was about perfect for what I wanted. If I hadn't pulled noy 1 but 2!! aces, the Dominion just might have gotten the extra couple of hits needed to break the enemy's morale, maybe.

I'm going to need more hills for the native army! Luckily the large bases allow me to go back to building hills under the cloth.

Ready to Roll

The Square Brigadier Rules (click to view) have been updated and the table is set.

Mobilization

"Be sure you are right then go ahead!" 

Oom Bob is ready. 

One of my goals is to have each of my remaining collections of figures present a different sort of gaming experience. In part this can be done by different historical periods and different levels or battle but it also includes styles of gaming. This tends to go against my instinctive urge to use variations of the a current favourite rule system for as many periods as possible.

So, having some time today,  I took the plunge and reorganized and rebased ny remaining early 20thC  forces for a style of game that was once a favourite. The goal will be to have twelve units per army or at least twelve where more are already available. 

The Faraway Expeditionary Force: Force HQ, 1 cavalry squadron, 1 light tank, 7 infantry companies, 2 of which include an MG, 3 batteries.

 The Kapelle Rebels almost have enough units based for an ambush. Recruiting continues.

The Oerberg Defence Force: HQ, 3 cavalry squadron, 1 cavalry MG, 4 infantry inc 1 MG, 2 batteries.

At this point the quick and easy foamcore bases are just painted to not jar with the cloth but with only one 3"x3" base per unit I'd like to add unit names (or id) and maybe stats to the base. But not until they've been engaged. In this format there are several rules systems they could use but my plan is to resurrect the Square Brigadier and fine tune it.

Filling a Hole in the Line(up)

The other day I was enjoying a battle report on Maudlin Jack Tar's Projects and Procrastination when I was hit by a wave of nosatalgia for my old Morschauser inspired games and a sudden realization that I no longer had a similar game or even a Portable Wargame style game ready to go.  Time to get on that.

Atlantican irregulars preparing for war.
(mostly Scruby from Historifig)

In part this nostalgia goes back to memories of small 54mm Volley & Bayonet games with my friend Tom in the late 90's, and in part to my various cardtable and portable games.

I think this 2015 post sums up much of the attraction  reasonably well.

Quickly reviewing my shelves, I was relieved to be reminded that my shiny Colonial 40mm collection was in limbo and that this was just the sort of thing that I had had in mind for them when I got around to it. In other words, a small, limited,  collection of figures, based and organized to quickly set up, play, and pack away small games. Phew! The perfect period for it.

A quick check confirmed that I had enough Brits (by any other name) and almost enough of my Not-Boer and fictional Native opponents ready to play with only a little work. I also have enough unpainted figures on hand to finish the armies.

The General reviews the Dominion of Faraway's troops as war looms.
Three Squadrons of Lancers, seven companies of infantry, 2 machine guns, a motor machine gun, a battery of field guns, a Mountain Battery and a heavy howitzer. ("Hmm Feswig, where is the Koolahat Battery?" "Sir, they'll be coming 'round the Mountain anytime now" "Yaaas all right and see if we can get them all into khaki before the Oerbergers shoot them to pieces" )

I should be able to get a game on the table by this weekend to see how it fits.

In the Absence of a Story Teller

What a ballad could have been told of the stand of Tribune Johan and the White Cohort. Alas, no bards were available after all and my inner bard is too tired to weave a narrative. All I can offer tonight is a quick recap with  technical details.

Turn 8..ish? The game is 1/2way through. All forces are now on hand. Duke Stephen has been wounded slightly and the first charge by his household knights has been held. The spearmen of the rearguard suffered grievious losses in that first charge but stubbornly refused to give an inch.

The game was Scenario 13, "Escape", from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames. The game sees a single defending unit facing the enemy who is tasked with getting...hmmm..2? units off the far end by road by turn 15. Why by road? Maybe there's a bridge? I made a pass between rugged wooded and hill terrain just off table, something that would certainly be an obstacle to the ...Picts??  well maybe to the Saxons? hmm,  anyway, "Why?" isn't the point, its just what they have to do to win.

The defender gets reinforcements according to a fixed schedule, the entry points are largely behind the retreating party except for one unit (the White Cohort in this game) that reinforces the original road block.

The Raiders rearguard has been scattered and Duke Stephen's troops are hurrying as fast as the dice will allow to save the small blocking force. 

I started playing with the 2018 version of my Castle Dangerous which I had used for some games I ran but never actually used in a solo game. (Delinquent!!) . By turn 7 I decided that I didn't like them, rest the table to turn 4 and reverted the rules to the original version without saving throws and a few other differences and then applied what I had learned over the last 3 years about my current likes and dislikes. They still need alot of work (and a forever name) but they were just the sort of thing I wanted for this kind of quick scenario game with traditional units. (Current draft here for the curious).

The game was played using my usual initiative deck which tracks the number of turns and decides each turn who will go first, allowing the occasional double move when initiative changes. In this game several of the initiative switches gave temporary, but potentially critical, boosts to one side or the other.

The only wild card I used was the Joker which means the turn ends immediately but still counts as a turn played for scenario purposes. In this case, two jokers turned up early meaning that the raiders lost two turns to clear the road block before the last reinforcement arrived. The game went to turn 14 of 15 before being decided and I suspect that those 2 turns were what gave the Romano-British the chance to make it be in a position to win on turn 12 and 13 if Lady Luck hadn't annulled the advantage by suddenly turning their dice cold on turn 12 AND 13! Got to rally and move? Nope, not today. Needing 1 hit on 6 dice needing 4's+ to hit? Nope! No hits!   Don't think you can do that twice in a row? Here let me show you...... 

The Saxon? Well, she was cruel to him earlier with those aces but she did smile on the barbarian morale and rally tests, including letting Helgin's standard bearer and guard roll a 6 and rally despite being the last survivors. Then when it was his last chance and he needed a hit with his last die, no problem. OK Tribune and the remnant of the White cohort, 2 or better to not break. Oh! So sorry but the Tribune allows you to reroll....look at that! Another 1! 

Dice! Never trust your life to them!

The local soldiery who had arrived first to hold the pass had bravely stood and repulsed charges by Dearg Mor's household cavalry and a band of Saxon raiders but were eventually driven back and broken by subsequent charges. By then however, Duke Johan and the armoured veterans of the  White Cohort had arrived. These proceeeded to repulse Earl Helgin's Hearthguard not once but twice, cutting them to shreds. Follow up attacks by Saxon warriors and continuous showers of arrows and javelins slowly whittled their numbers but by then the Duke was at hand!

More technical stuff. The OHW  scenarios are designed to be played on a 3ftx3ft table with units being 4" to 6" wide. Since my table is 4.5ftx6ft, I just use a 4.5ftx4.5ft area with the last 18" being "off table" and use roughly 6" wide units which each take up the same relative space as 4" ones on a 36ft sq table. Seems to work well when translating the scenarios for my own armies and rules.

I sometimes roll on his charts to see what units are available but this time I just went with what was ready to go. Units of 12 infantry or 6 cavalry or archers.

The Barbarians had Earl Helgin and his Elite Hearthguard infantry, a unit of Saxon infantry and a unit of archer. Dearg Mor, the Pictish (ish) King had his bodyguard of light cavalry, a unit of spearmen and a unit of archers. 

The Romano-British had Duke Stephen with his Elite Armoured knights, a unit of garrison light cavalry, Tribune Johan with a unit of armoured infantry, 2 units of infantry and one of archers. Earl Helgin Dearg Mor, the Pictish king, Duke Stephen and Tribune Johan were all rated as commanders.

All figures are vintage 4cm Elastolins, mostly repainted with a number of conversions. 

Alas for the Guardians of Britain, fate intervened and just before the Duke could launch his knights into a charge to sweep away the remnants of the enemy force, a change in initiative allowed a final desperate charge by Dearg Mor at the head of his remaining light cavalry which broke the square and swept it away allowing the remaining raiders to escape. 54 men had entered the pass,  11 escaped but the leaders, despite having been in the thick of the fight all day, were amongst them. Their fame would quickly gather new recruits to their banners.
(Uhoh, those bare washer bottoms! BB Jeff my friend, I will get the underside of those bases painted! Soon!)

Rumours of War

Never a bard around when you want one.

Did the square stand? Did reinforcements arrive in time?
Who went first next turn?

Hopefully someone will write up the tale soon!

You Shall Not Pass!

It was too hot to work this afternoon.....time for an impromptu solo game!

Earl Helgin the Saxon leads an allied raiding party home. Only a band of local British levies bars the way.

After several ho's and hum's I settled on my Elastolins and the Age of Arthur and scenario 13, "Escape", from Thomas's One Hour wargames.

OK, so now that Minnow has left, we can see the whole table. Reinforcements from the wall have just arrived on one flank! Where is Duke Stephen and his knights?

To be continued!

They're Back! Doug Miller 40mm Landsknechts are back!

Bless the internet, and, I suspect, the blogosphere.

About 15 years ago, I bought three Doug Miller Landsknecht figures (yes the author of the old Osprey Landsknect book),  through the Michigan Toy Soldier Company if memory serves. I then found Doug's old website on line but by the time I had spare funds, it was gone. This spring I was surprised to receive an email from Doug saying that he had heard that I was looking for more of his figures. I didn't ask him how he knew but a BIG thank you to whoever tipped him off and gave him my email.

1525 (Doug Miller ) and Elastolin recruits.

Anyway, when I got home from visiting family yesterday, the package was waiting on the kitchen table (Of course).  I still don't have ample funds and don't realllly need  more 16thC figures but do have a box full of Elastolin kits that I got cheap, BUT they are mostly duplicates of a few very active poses rather than the nice, useful, standing or advancing figures. The 1525 range fits very nicely with Elastolin, as was Doug's intent, and apart from the pleasure of building custom figures and painting them, even a few will help me move forward with building an Imperial army that can stand up to the French without relying on English allies. It'll also help grow my collection of civilians, supply trains and character figures.

Doug was quite flexible about mixing etc so I bought a few more of the armoured horses so that I will finally be able to add a small but much needed reinforcement for my gensdarmes.

His illustrated catalogue can be viewed at https://1525miniatures.net and orders placed through the contact page. The dioramas in the gallery are well worth viewing even if 40mm 16thC isn't your thing.

Doug Miller 1525 range commander and arquebusier figures with Elastolin trumpeter, horses and arquebusiers.

Note: I suspect that I may not have been clear above, this is a small reinforcement for one of these 3 armies: 

Dawn Surprise

I suddenly decided today that I needed a quick game, as one does sometimes.

Swiss mercenaries in French pay storm the heights.

Casting my eye about to see who hadn't been out recently and would be easy to fit into a One Hour Wargames scenario, I decided that the 40mm 16thC lads were up. The last time I used them I noted that the simplified rules needed an overhaul to make them clearer and more engaging. An hour later I was ready to go.

The scenario chosen was "Shambolic Command".  After diddling about a bit I decided that when using a 45" x 45" table, a 1/3 increase in stands would give me about the same frontage of troops as the original scenario. I then rolled a few dice and selected armies. That gave me a defending force of 2 small units of Landsknechts on the hill (probably should have been one), each 2 pike and 1 shot with a similar force plus a light gun, a unit of mounted arquebusiers and a unit of lancers back in camp, with no General. My equivalent to the original command restiction was to merely have all units out of command and let them roll each turn as per the rules. It worked very shambolically.

The attacking French force was represented by 2x 4 pike, a unit of 2 shot, a light gun and a commander.

The battle gets going. (End of Turn 2 I think)

The attack up the hill was a hard slog, not helped by the commander rushing to the front to inspire the men and dying a glorious death instead. Meanwhile the gun and arquebusiers did a sterling job of thwarting  attempts by Imperial cavalry to turn the flank.

About an hour and 8 turns later, the Imperial army broke and retreated at which point I remembered that I had meant to take more pictures. Oh well.

The end.

The rules worked better but since I several times found myself confused by the language and all the unexplained bits. I have decided to rework them to make more sense at which point I'll get the lads out for another go.

The Cannonade of Belmont

Ready for action!

Well, the bases will need to be flocked once I decide on how I want them but they could take the field today if the need arose.

The odds are starting to even out.

Ragged Republican skirmishers and that General next, haven't had a good excuse for painting striped trousers in years.

And a Great Battle was Won and Lost.

Today's outing was a great success as far as I'm concerned.

Jeff now owns my old 15mm Russian and Austrian French Rev. armies and its always a pleasure to briefly resume command of some of my old units from time to time. 

A good mix of gamers either played or dropped by for a bit to chat and have a look, including old friends from the 70's and 80's  to newer friends made over the years and some new gamers giving historical minis a go for the first time.  Really glad to finally be able to put a face to my fellow wargaming blogger, The monkey that walks .

I played Dokhturov on the left, so this was my command. Lets just say that 5 hours later I was still holding our left. Jeff's terrain and armies.

The game was Austerlitz organized by Jeff using Napoleon's Battles and his 15mm troops. Yes I know, not my usual style but it did the job OK considering that most of the 8 players had never read the rules let alone played them. Looks like another NB game will follow in September. I think I might work on a QRS that I can read and understand without specialist equipment!

A rather blurry shot of Suvorov playing the role of Kutuzov and the table reencarnation of an old friend since college days who has just returned to Nova Scotia. 

Thanks to Jeff (Armchair Commander blog) and Brent for a good outing.

Oh alright, Brent and the French team won an epic victory over the allies.

Bringing up the guns

A little bit more done today.

Looking over my artillery moulds I decided that the old Karoliner/1750 French gun would not serve as anything but a 3 pounder with these larger figures but that the Rosbach 12pdr was a suitable size and shape to pass as a Gribeauval 8 pdr. Given that the games are most likely to be affairs of outposts, a four pounder seemed more likely and the carriage was very similar. A bit more research showed that the French 4 pdr was of similar length as the Austrian 6pdr so I chose that barrel. The wheels are also from the new SYW mould as looking more 1790's-ish.

I wanted to use at least a few of the tall new crewman but didn't want everyone in waistcoats so I used two plus two converted Rosbach Prussians. Probably I could have gotten away with ignoring the old fashioned long waistcoats but trimming them wasn't a huge job, especially since it was rather crudely done. I'm hoping that the simple glossy painting will gloss over it (so to speak). I'm not sure if the veste had sleeves or not in 1792 but I'm going to go with shirtsleeves to emphasis that they have removed their coats.

My old, reliable, nearly 50 year old, copy of Kannick shows a Republican French gunner with a horse hair plume which I rather like, so I copied it!

Waiting in the wings is a mock up of a future General of the Republic! Aka new SYW Dragoon officer with one of my bicorne heads. Its back in the melting pot for this first go but I really like the look of these new cavalry moulds.

Much as I want to get this gun crew painted, they are going to have to wait. I'm off to Austerlitz on Saturday morning! Well, ok my body is off to Lower Sackville where Jeff of the Armchair Commander blog will be hosting an all day 15mm Austerlitz wargame. Attendance looks to be good so I expect to see a number of old friends as well as newer ones around the table or dropping by. I also expect to see some old 15mm friends marching on to the field as well.