Incident At Belmont Station

"Were you there Grandpa?"

"Sure thing! I was a Corporal with the Belmont Fusiliers, and we were in the midst of it."

"Let me see......yes, the regular patrol and resupply train was just passing when suddenly,
 the morning was shattered by gunfire! The Oerbergers had broken the truce!
We grabbed our rifles and fell in to wait for orders."

"We figured we'd be sent to reinforce the company of Ross's Rifles that was acting as train guards but before we got our orders, there was a roar and a pile of smoke as the train started to cross the bridge. The  train came to a halt but we cheered when it was clear that the bridge was not going to fall apart wrecking the train."    

"As we crossed the river, Mounted Oerbergers appeared from their hidden lairs and galloped towards the disabled train. Once we opened fire though, they hopped off their horses and replied with a storm of bullets."

Things were looking tight until Larson's Lancers crossed the river. Their trumpeter blew charge and the enemy's horsemen turned and fled. It was the end.   We loaded our rifles, carried the wounded to the town for the medics to treat, and we began to dig graves. 

The 10:00 Train

Belmont Station on a warm winter day. 

"Train coming Sir!"

"Right-O. that's the 10:00. They'll be going straight through and over the bridge.
Bugler, sound the all clear." 

"Sir? We haven't had any trouble with the Oerbergers for more than a year. Do you think they've given it up?"
" They're crafty folk son. You never know when or where they're going to pop up,  They could drawing a bead on you right now or planning an ambush on that train!    Best keep a sharp watch or they may sneak up and steal your lunch!"

.....to be continued

Right, An Early 20thC Colonial Game........Let's See.....

Hmm.....attack a ridge?...Hmm...did that one of the last Colonial games....

Assault on North Village

 ..reverse the attacker?..hmm..naah...... Ambush a convoy?......  done that....I think that was a while ago, BUT we just did a 1790's version.    Hmmm.....naah!

Hmm, maybe a night attack to seize a prominent, steep, rocky hill, and then hold until relieved?  Yeah, but...too much terrain to make, and I'd need to add more figures, and.......  

What about.....maybe...an armoured train ambush? Haven't done that in a while......

2014 Ambush At New Station

I wonder where my train is......somewhere in the cupboard under the eaves......must go looking....

Please stand by....

Fighting in Oerberg resumes!

 Very useful aides are those readers who comment now and then, especially when I'm looking for inspiration for the next game.  I had almost forgotten that my early 20thC Colonial forces had been in standby since 2023 

See Battle of Bridgetown Oct 2023

I've dug them out, just may add a few more figures, and am pondering scenarios. So, stay tuned we're heading for warmer climes!

An Uneasy Truce

Well, here we are well into the 2025 winter campaigning season but peace has fallen over my wargame table due to Domestic affairs (ie various household chores and  projects).

 However, we have archives!

Here is a repeat of a January game from 10 years ago: 

Let Us Cross Over The Rivers

Our impression of the feel of a game is often as important as the reality of how it played. When I look at the actual mechanisms there are only two main differences from previous versions of my game: movement by both sides followed by shooting by both sides and finally charge resolution rather than alternate turns with one side moving and shooting and resolving charges then the other, and the substitution of temporary groups for fixed units. In some ways these changes made very little difference to how the game played or to the outcome but the change in play sequence in particular made a world of difference to the feel. It is not a particularly new or innovative play sequence rather it is pretty much drawn from Featherstone and from Lawford and Young  but that is perhaps the point. Its comfortable like an old pair of slippers and feels right for Old School glossy wargame figures yet the game maintained the convenience of the grid and a small number of figures.

Since the game is no longer a variant of the Square Brigadier I have decided to settle on the name The Tin Army.

General Grey arrives and is briefed by the commander of the Oberhilse advance guard.

The scenario has a small detachment of Faraway troops defending a river crossing on a quiet sector of the front. In this case there is a nice straight canal crossed by 1 bridge and a larger river crossed by 2. Oberhilse must capture a route across both bodies of water to win. Faraway must hold all of the bridges to win. The forces appear in dribs and drabs in what was supposed to be random order but dice being what they are, they all appeared in order! 

Rather annoyingly, the scenario breaks from the usual format of "units" and occasionally 1/2 units to speak of companies, troops, squadrons and units without specifying what each was intended to represent. So for example there are 2 companies in the front village and the rest of the unit in the rear village. Ok so is that 2 and 2? 2 and 1 ? 2 and 8?  No hint of proportion. If my own organization was fixed it would have been easier but eventually, taking into consideration what was available, I settled on the following. 

Faraway or Red Army: 8 infantry and 2 cavalry and a commander in the small town , 8 more infantry and 2 more cavalry in the bigger one. Reinforcements eventually included the General, 4 more cavalry with the cavalry commander, a commander  and 16 infantry, another commander with  8 infantry and an MG, and last but not least, a field gun. (in Red and Khaki) Total: General, 4 Commanders, 8 cavalry, 40 infantry, 1 MG, 1 gun 

Oberhilse or Blue Army: 8 infantry and 4 cavalry under a Commander followed eventually by an MG and further 8 cavalry for the advance guard, another 8 cavalry and commander, a field gun and 3 "battalions" each with a commander and 16 infantry. (in Blue and Field Grey) Total: General, 5 Commanders, 20 cavalry, 56 infantry, 1 MG, 1 gun.

  

The game lasted 16 turns and probably lasted 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I spent too long fiddling with rules, taking pictures and just plain looking at the figures and used up my block of "me" time so had to finish it 1 or 2 turns at a time over two days when I could grab a minute. 

I'm not going to attempt a blow by blow description of each of 16 turns but the pictures and captions will hopefully give a good impression of how things went. The red discs mark disordered or pinned units, the red caps mark carried over 1/2 hits while the white caps mark shaken units. Now that I feel very 'settled' I'll add more scenic markers to the to-do list along with more dismounted cavalry so units don't have to change uniforms when they dismount. 

Blue decided to run the gauntlet of fire and bypass the village with the Jaegers and cavalry of the Advanced Guard while the rapidly approaching infantry stormed the village. Red called everyone forward but some of the detached units were slow to fall in. 

A gratuitous close up of the arrival of The Frontier Horse. These volunteers are now largely recruited from Oerberg across the mountains, one of several grievances held by Her Majesty's government against that state. 

The aggressive General Brown has arrived to take command of Faraway's defences. He redirects 2 companies of infantry to retake the bridge captured by the enemy lancers. His own cavalry has left the defence of the village to the infantry and has formed a skirmish screen to prevent the village from being surrounded. Reinforcements rush to the front on both sides. 

This picture follows the teaser in the previous post. In the village, an assault by Blue's infantry has taken the Red house but the garrison of the White house is still hanging on after repulsing an assault. The Blue advance guard has taken heavy losses from shooting and a series of cavalry charges and is now spent. Red has recaptured the bridge and taken the commander and a handful of Jaegers prisoner.  As Red savours the moment, the Blue Dragoons suddenly appear, almost as if the GM had missed their arrival and just plopped them down on table where they might have been as if their approach had merely been unnoticed. 

The village has fallen and as more and more Blue infantry marches on backed by artillery, Red is forced to abandon his efforts to retake the village and fall back in hopes of a draw. The Lancers and Country Volunteers hold the Blue Dragoons, just. Both the Dragoons and Lancers will be shaken by losses next turn and forced to withdraw but Blue still has fresh reserves moving forward.

The slaughter was terrific as impetuous massed charges by Blue infantry faced fierce rifle, machine gun and artillery fire but while repulsed shaken, their attacks also shook the enemy. Red still controlled both bridges and the light ws failing (ie only 1 turn left) so I was going to call it a draw on Turn 15 but Blue had fresh infantry just within reach of the bridge and was willing to risk another turn of  shooting. This turn the gunners fired high and although the lead company of Windsor Blue's had to double forward with bayonets to reach the enemy, the shaken defenders were unable to hold them and the bridge fell. Another Oberhilse victory! 
The Old Queen is not amused!  

Plans are already afoot for the first game of 2025 but I need to pick a period. Requests will be welcome!

 

Battle of Bridgetown

The Oerburg front had been quiet for over a year, but having heard rumours of agitators trying to stir up trouble, the Dominion had recently increased the outpost at Bridgetown. So it was that when a company of Oerburgers quietly occupied the far side of the rail bridge, the garrison commander ordered out 3 companies of Ross's Rifles supported by a 4.7" naval gun to clear them away.

  To no one's great surprise, that first company was well supported.

To the Dominion's surprise though, the Orberg cavalry splashed through a ford the Dominion's soldier were unaware of and were advancing at a good pace towards the 4.7". A squadron of Larsen's Lancers were there though so no one was too worried.

Instead of dismounting as was their habit though, they came on at a gallop, firing from the saddle. The Lancers were thrown back, and the 4.7" overrun! 

To make things worse, the Rifles had suffered heavy casualties and the remnant had been forced to fallback to the town. Only the company of Dominion Guards were left intact to strengthen the defence of the vital town and railway.   

It was enough.   The Oerbergers launched a weak attempt to storm the town but they had also suffered heavily in the early fighting and there wasn't enough time for their artillery to demolish the town, even if they wanted to. 

So, the day ended, as it began with the two parties glaring at each other across the Blutape River.

(Note: After some false starts with versions of the WW1 Sq Brigadier rules, I decided to fall back on the rules I intend to use with my 54's. I've finally agreed with myself that the fewer sets of rules I use, the easier my life and games will be. I'll post them once they are tidied up and tested again... oh!.. another game!  awright! ) 

Hurry Up and Wait

Some weeks it seems like there's always something that needs doing. Anyway, at last the game is set and the first 3 turns played.

Hopefully a Battle Report will be posted for Sunday morning. 

A Charge Is As Good As A Rest

I hadn't realized how much I missed my multi figure based armies until I played that last 1790's game. What devil had wanted me to go back to single figures, something I'd almost never done until I wrote MacDuff for 25mm Colonial games in the 90's and finally played Charge! which I'd had since '73? The new rules using individual soldiers worked ok, but took twice the time and work to play, and added nothing really apart from a a few 'war stories' and photo ops. It had no more drama, history, or opportunities for generalship, than my old Hearts of Tin had provided, and took a lot of extra time and effort.

I decided it was time to  give myself a break from the 1790's. Atlantica always seems like a good place to go to escape from reality. Here's a quick look at what followed:

The Free Corps fighting to keep the Kapelle Territory free and independent for a little longer.

I decided that the scenario would consist of a column of Faraway Trading Company troops, backed by some battalions of the Queen's regulars, paying a visit to a native Kapelle village to collect taxes and punish resistance. The village elders had sent out messengers seeking help and Brigadier Zinn's Oberhilse Free Corps, in the pay of neighbouring Kyuquoit, answered the call.   

Mid-game, the Free Corps has managed to march on and deploy in the nick of time. Prolonged and bloody close quarter fighting ensued.

The struggle for the village was prolonged with the middle houses changing hands three times, and casualties were high on both sides.

Both sides had taken heavy losses as the sun sank. (3 turns left out of 15) Her Majesty suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surveyed the table, and ordered Larsen's Lancers to over run the mercenaries battery and sweep away the armed farmers, allowing her redcoats to secure the village. 

I forgot to time the game, and was interrupted a few times, but I think it took about two hours of actual playing time and victory (possession of the village) and wasn't decided until the last turn when the remaining troop of Lancers made their 2nd charge on the guns and rolled three 6's while the gun whiffed. The loss brought the defenders to their break point on the last turn. Soooooo close!

The rules used may be found here: A Whiff of Dice: A Hearts of Tin variant.

The struggle over the gun was bloody but HM was right and her soldiers cleared the rebels out of the town and forced, what she considered to be mercenaries, to retreat. Her troops paid dearly for their narrow victory but the merchants and land speculators were pleased.

Now, I return myself to the French Revolution........

Never As Easy As It Seems

The plan was to play a game this morning.

What happened was a lot of useful work refurbishing units and getting them ready to play.

A Faraway Trading Company column approaches an apparently empty Kapelle village. (But we know better)

Yes, having exhausted various ways to make every collection different in rules, level of play etc, I've finally decided the challenge is over and I'm going to be lazy again and just play what works for me. This 1840's game could easily be played with my French Rev armies using essentially the same weapons and tactics but since I have these guys and like 'em, and still have space for them, I'm not going to worry about it. 

Now it's a Sunday Solo 1840's Kapelle game using Whiff of Dice (aka Revived and improved Hearts of Tin) that I'm planning.

Assault On North Village

Finally, here is a short report on last week's battle.

Having repelled The Oerbergers' raid on the the Dominion's supply depot, orders were issued to clear a road block at North Village so the planned offensive could begin.

After an extended barrage by a full field battery and a half battery of naval 4.7's, the order was given for the attack to proceed. Ross's Rifles were ordered to sieze the western end of Long Hill in order to drive the rebels away from the road. The  Royal Regiment was ordered to clear the village.   

Apparently the barrage had had little effect on the defenders on the hill and deadly MG, rifle and artillery fire cut the Rifles to piece. Those stout veterans did not falter though, and while unable to storm the hill,  the firefight was prolonged.

The assault on the left did not meet the same deadly hail of machine gun bullets and shrapnel and quickly closed on the village which was defended by a handful of rebel villagers, and by the newly raised Kapelle Rifles, their first taste of battle. It didn't take long for the dominion forces to realize that closing with the enemy wasn't the same as driving them from their positions. The brutal, hand to hand fight in the village was prolonged and deadly.  

"A" Company of the Royals, on the left, eventually took 1/2 the village, but were unable to push on any farther. "B" Company, supported by the MG company,  took the perimeter wall after a prolonged fight in which the new Kapelle Rifles defended their post to the last man (turn after turn of drawn melee). As the sun set, the cavalry, supported by the Armoured Car were unleashed in hopes of over running the dismounted Oerburgers who had finally come forward from the reserves but the Oerbergers' rifle and MG fire was too deadly.

The Dominion forces were exhausted and there was nothing to do but retreat under the protection of a renewed artillery barrage on the rebel positions. 

Halt! Who Goes.....ALARM!!!

Sometime, somewhere near the Kapelle/Oerburg border, there was a Dominion supply depot, and an outpost. Early one morning......

To be continued!

Right, Clear The Table, NEXT!!!!!

 Due to popular vote for a more modern game, aided by the itch to get recently refurbished figures on the table......

Larsen's Lancers in Khaki, now led by an NCO with pistol.

After the last outing for these lads (See Incident at Square Crossroad (16 Apr 22) ) I decided that I needed to refurnish/convert more figures. For example: Larsen's Lancers Khaki Squadron had a lame horse and a broken lance and the Dominion Forces no longer had a serious numbers advantage.  So I started by repairing the Lancers, then looked around for the optimum source of recruits.

Dominon Dragoons in Drab (work in progress) and the First Recruit for the Kapelle Rifles, looking suspiciously like a certain retired miniature......

The Dragoons were Historifig Scruby ACW figures, originally converted to Mexican-American War US Dragoons, a project long ago abandoned, now being re-converted to something more appropriate for the early 20thC. 

The Canadian militia private was part of a forlorn attempt a few years ago to replace my 54mm toy soldiers by 40mm figures as part of a standardization program. Predictably, it failed. Luckily, no new figures had been purchased. The armies were started with homecastings of a few orignal sculpts and various existing conversions of Zinnbrigade and Scruby castings. All have been or will be recucled...... in one way or another......  ("What'll be private? Volunteer for a new uniform and a bit of genetic modification? or go into the melting pot?" " Gulp? Anything for Her Majesty Sir! I'll volunteer please.")

There's a few busy days coming up, then some quiet ones. My current target to play the next game is Thursday. I've got the first few ideas for a scenario.........

At Last!

They're a bit rough around the edges but the armies are again ready to rumble.

Well, some of them anyway.

And its supposed to be yet another rainy day tomorrow! Game ON!

Sar'nt-major! Get These Men Formed Up!

I'm Done! Tomorrow is a 'me' day. It could be a good day to get back to poking at the table with a paintbrush but I'm keen to try the table out. While trying to tidy up at least some of the mess and clutter at the same time I rearranged furniture and table, I was reminded that I had one collection that was in limbo, waiting for a decision as to whether they would stay active or be pensioned off.     

The troops are once again shuffled to conform to new rules and a new organization. 

In theory, they should be disposed of as not fitting the 'Grand Plan', and seeing little action in the last few years but.......they've earned their spot over the last 2 decades. 

Scenario 15 Battle Report from "Playing through the Scenarios for All Ages (The Red Book)"

They are on the blog header, are in 9 issues of the Noodle, including some of the best issues, featured in many of the games in the "Playing through the Scenarios for All Ages (The Red Book)" and have been getting out at least once a year, most years anyway. 

Hunting down a Pirate Lair by Air (Balloon Borne landing), Land and Sea.
 (Early Edition, Full Battle Report)

More than that, they are also close to my heart and were my first glossy toy soldier style figures, so, they will stay and will have the honour of "First to the fray" on the new table top. They just need to be reorganized and tidied up a bit then a scenario designed or picked.

Their last game as reported in the Newport Noodle in January 2021.

Stay tuned!

Incident at Square Crossroad

As the Dominion column moved down the road towards their objective, the silence was broken by the roar and pom-pom-pom of the Oerberg artillery. 

The armoured car halted and poured forth a hail of machine gun bullets in attempt to silence the enemy but their cavalry escort was cut to pieces with the dazed survivors forced to gallop to the rear to reform. Behind them, the infantry began to deploy at the double.

 

As the infantry advanced, they were met with a hail of rifle and artillery fire but the Dominion artillery was soon in action, silencing the Oerburg guns and driving the defenders back from the fence line at least.

The Orberg artillery withdrew their gun behind the crest and redeployed in time to open a murderous fire on the Dominion infantry advancing on the village. At the same time, the deadly accurate rifle fire from the rocky hills had Ross's Rifles pinned in the open. 

If the Dominion had had another battalion of infantry or a full regiment of cavalry, they might yet have cleared the way to the vital crossroad but as the sun dipped towards the horizon, it seem wiser to maintain their force in being and try again in the morning if indeed, the enemy did not slip away in the night.

***********

Notes

When reading about the sort of late 19thC, early 20thC engagements that interest me, especially when reading first hand accounts, it is hard not to notice that it was common for infantry under a heavy and accurate fire to go to ground and return fire. Periodically they might make short rushes towards the enemy if well led and of good morale, often to be pinned again but were sometimes able to work close enough to eventually close with cold steel. 

Ever since I started using the Square Brigadier for such engagements, I have usually included some sort of "pin" result, something often used in WWII games, but always the games ended up being long, indecisive, and all too often, as boring as lying on the Prairie or Veldt as bullets whizzed over your head. This became a real issue when I was preparing my centennial WWI game for Huzzah 2018. Eventually, I ended up giving up a "pin" result and resurrecting a "rally" action for units not closely engaged. This allowed players to try to remove a hit as their action instead of moving or shooting. It had the right result as far as stalling an advance but was heavily dice dependent and so wasn't as attractive or effective as it might have been. The same could be said for die modifiers for cover and for saving throws, sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't, all depending on the dice. Lawford & Young's Charge! used a simple 1/2 casualties in cover, a technique as old as Kriegspiel. However, they were dealing with big units and lots of hits and weren't afraid of a bit of mid-game arithmetic (A company of 13 infantry shooting at a close range enemy in cover roll 1 die plus 5/8ths of a 2nd die, divided by 1/2 for cover with fractions rounded off then carried over. )

For some decades now, I have tended to use die modifiers instead. These reduce the probability of any given die hitting but not the maximum number of possible hits. A few lucky rolls can easily convert cover to completely irrelevant, especially if rolling small numbers of dice. Recently (say 3-5 years), inspired by Battlecry, I have instead experimented with subtracting dice for things like cover and it seems to be working for Square Brigadier variants at least. This does not affect the odds of any one die scoring a hit but does reduce the possible maximum number of hits regardless of how lucky you are that day. 

When it comes to being pinned, I have decided to let the player decide. Once per turn he can cancel 1 hit by going to ground (being pinned), and this being unable to move or shoot next turn. Units with higher morale can risk taking the hits while rather shaky units will tend to stall easily. 

It seemed to work well in this game as in a few others recently played with a version of the Square Brigadier from a few years back. It lacks a lot of the hedging of bets that tend to creep into my rules when I get lax, but seems to give the best games. It does, however, mean that one must careful about having too many modifiers leading to no chance of any hit or even more deadly fire against targets without modifiers. Its a balancing act.

Since my recent reductions, I only have two remaining collections for the late 19th and early 20thC period (say 1870-1910) (ie the shiny 54mm toys and these 40's) so the tentative plan is to chuck all the other tentative SB variants and alternative rules, and just revert to this latest variant of The Square Brigadier (link) as my rules for this period, which is where these collections all started! I'll need to ensure that all the relevant troop types are covered but keeping in mind that the later period are balancing magazine rifles with drab uniforms to get a similar effect.  

That will of course mean playing more games to confirm the decision. Oh well...needs must! 

Fierce Fighting On The Frontier

Dominion forces have been ambushed at Kloth Junction!

 

Details to follow.

Pregame Conference (Amended)

"Gentlemen, thank you for your presence. I've been asked as a Neutral Observer to confirm that you are both aware of the result of the Joint Committee's Review of the 2019 rules for The Great Game and have been given a copy to review?" "Yes? and Yes?" "Good! 

"Shall we have a picture of this conference for the record?"

Hopefully, you have both had a chance to review the changes, understand them, and agree to play according to these rules. Are there any questions?....Yes, Colonel?" "Yes, this is just an amendment of the rules used at the affair at the train junction at Missisjones Junction back in '19."  "Colonel, Weren't  you were in charge of that fias-oha-hmm-hrrum... well, never mind that."

Link to 2019 Battle of Missisjones Junction

 "Yes? General Oom Bob?"  

"Hmm well, you are right General, the Oerberg government have no responsibility for or authority over these Kapelle villagers whose allies you are, and cannot make promises on their behalf. I did approach their Village Elder but he says his people are farmers not soldiers and know nothing of rules. Brigands is more like it but we won't hold their behaviour against you, though if I might say it, you might choose your allies more carefully".

"No other comments? Well Gentlemen, you may begin your battle. For the public record, I'll attach this agreement to the draft of the rules which have been agreed upon. " 

"uhh One minute please Gentlemen!" ....... "Hmm, yes, I see, thank you Captain" Gentlemen, apparently the draft has been rejected by the joint committee. Best stand down your men and we will reconvene in the morning."
__________________________________________

Here They Come

 I thought I'd give my early 20thC Colonial figures first crack at the 5" grid maybe because they've used it before, or perhaps because its been nearly a year since their last outing. 

Either way, the winter campaign season is officially over which means it might happen soon, or maybe not for a week. Pleased stay tuned!

The Scenic Route

One of the best things about early retirement has been the luxury of time, especially hobby time. Time to explore options and test out proposals and theories and time to backtrack and try and try again. A luxury not usually available in war or the workplace.

The Oerberg army ready to see action again.

When it comes to a wargame, how a set of rules reflects the history is only one facet. Various other considerations such as the feel of the game, how emotionally, intellectually and visually engaging the game is as, how practical it is in existing circumstances, and so on are also important.

To cut this short, I've decided that on my smaller table with the hex grid, using smaller forces, I can go back to individual figures like I wanted at the start.  

Coming A Round

My Oerberg Pioneer unit was hastily paint converted from ACW figures a few years ago in order to increase the number of infantry  in the unit from 8 to 12 when using different rules. 

Since the setting is now the early 20thC rather than the 1870s as originally planned, I decided that they could use a uniform touch up. I  trimmed the trouser legs on the sappers into boots and painted all the leather dark brown instead of black.

Oerberg  Combat Pioneers with new boots and bases.

 

 That part was purely for the look but I also rebased them back onto their old washer-bases. Now that the armies and table are smaller than they were,

it  is easy to manage stable individuals and the single figures makes it easier  to take photos that give a feel for what's happening in pictures of a game. 

Since most of the figures are still on temporary foamcore bases, I'll  probably rebase more of them from time to time.