The Wood of Tears

Tuesday Morning.

The sun rises over St. Margaret's Bay as the tide moves in. If I had swivelled 90 degrees, due south  towards the narrow mouth of the bay, and if the world was flat, I could have taken a picture of Bermuda roughly 1,250 km away.   

Civil Wars in 1/72nd plastic became an accidental theme for the weekend as I broke open my Portable Russian Civil War carrying case. I do have my own rules but the portability just cried out for Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame.

Red artillerymen await the order to open fire while the Generals breakfast together. 

The basic playing field was a Hotz Desert Mat with 3" hexes and dabs and sprays of green paint. Having,  somehow, not brought the log cabins for the scenario I planned to play, I just threw a low ridge line with scattered woods to one side and dealt out two balanced armies, each of 15 units plus a general, for an encounter game. Both sides would begin off table with the goal of seizing and holding the ridge. The exhaustion level was set to 8 for each side and simple elimination was agreed upon. All units were average.

The armies, whose composition was heavily influenced by the contents of the boxes they came in as well as by the failure to equip the large numbers of recruits in holding camps, were composed of:
General with staff, 5 cavalry, 6 infantry, 2 field guns, 2 MG (one of White's being a Tchanka) and 1 machine gun armed Armoured Car or Light Tank. An insufficient number of limbers were treated as window dressing.

Game 1. The Red army swiftly seizes the ridge line before the White's have even arrived on the field. and it waits, and waits, and...

 I don't particularly like dice activation systems since there is no way to avoid the chance of infinite rolls of '1' in a row so we opted for the solo card draw. Not having brought 2 decks of cards we just extended the range to two higher and two lower and used the two Jokers. The first game saw 3 Red cards then a Joker, which allowed me to grab the ridge before Rob moved a finger. That was then followed by a seemingly endless stream of high Black cards interspersed with Jokers. At that point I suggest we ditch one of the Jokers since the pack was small and things went a bit more smoothly with me being able to get off a shot or two before the game ended. 8 vs 2 was the score in Rob's favour.

Each coloured ring marks a lost unit from that army.  In the background a hint of red marks what Rob later christened the 'Wood of Tears'. 

 The day was young and the game fast so we reset and this time the cards behaved normally with occasional short runs but basically balanced. The game played out very differently with Rob's tank cutting a  swathe through my left flank cavalry then running amok amongst my guns. Only the courage of the dedicated patriotic gunners which inspired them to keep retiring their guns rather than running saved the day. At last more Red Cavalry galloped up and finished off the isolated tank. Losses were fairly close at 6 a side until a dashing Red assault tipped them over the edge. It didn't end the game though and has his shells crashed down on my troops I feared a draw but when counter battery fire, directed by General Ross himself, finally smashed the last White field gun, it was all over. They couldn't advance and were out of range of the ridge which I occupied. A narrow win but my one win of the weekend!

Game 2. A Red victory! Urrah!
(The red discs indicate that enemy artillery has ranged in on that hex.)

 At this point Paul stepped in as Red commander. Rob, already seasoned in the rules, handled him very roughly at start, aided by his ally, the sequence deck, but Paul doesn't give up easily nor do card runs last forever and soon the game was being very hotly contested.  In the end Rob's third victory of the weekend was stoutly contested but a victory none the less.

The terrain was laid out by instinct for balance rather than deeply planned but the right most wood, lying across the centre line turned out to be a key position for a flank march covered from direct enemy artillery fire. By the end of the third game some 9 or 10 infantry units had died trying to take or hold this little grove:
The Wood of Tears.   

The Tin Brigadier Russian Ahead

Ahh The Labour Day Weekend. Summer's end (culturally at least), I should be out enjoying the fresh air but Kathy's off to a dogshow, rules are bouncing around my head and I've been wanting to give the 1/72 Russian Civil War lads an outing, partly for their own sake, partly to make sure whatever I do works for all of the period candidates and partly to separate the game from the shiny toy soldier look.

The Green Army is laid out ready to attack the Grey Army on their hill. An HQ, 1 sub commander, 4 infantry, 2 MG, 3 cavalry, 2 guns and a tank vs an HQ, 3 infantry, 1 MG, 3 cavalry and 2 guns.
I really must get some better lighting and figure out what's wrong with my camera!

Yesterday I sat down and started writing up an officious version of The Square Brigadier with multi-layer organizations, formations and tactics and soon realized this was not where I had wanted to go. So I stopped.

Late last night I stopped by to read about a skirmish in Carpet Valley in the Duchy of Tragardland  and  was reminded of where I had been headed.  Today I polished the Tin Brigadier up a bit, added a pin rule, amended it for use with or without a grid and tried it out with the RCW lads divided into Green and Grey forces since they're all a muddle. For sake of comparison I kept the same scenario but again, for sake of variety, rerolled the Programmed attacker options. The result was an engaging hour and a half cliff hanger where the attacker finally won a game, by the skin of his teeth.

The rules are not prescriptive and will happily allow you to either ignore historical OB's and scales or to use them if you want. I think it incorporates at least some aspect of just about every influence I have mentioned over the last 5 weeks as I have been working on rules for this venture!  I also think it resolves all my organizational dilemmas, probably because I used my existing organization as a starting point....., perhaps I am learning.

I'm a little stuck for a name since it isn't really the Square Brigadier though it replaces it, nor is it really a new Hearts of Tin though it is likely to replace that as well once I do a Horse and Musket variant.  I am tempted to stay with The Tin Brigadier since it has a nice ring and is a sort of homage to its predecessors but the player is as likely to be a Major General as a Brigadier so it may not be apt. Another contender is The Tin Army but I am wide open to suggestions.

Green's cavalry harassed Grey's right, pinning it in place and drawing off artillery fire without being destroyed while the remainder of the army concentrated on Grey's left, ignoring the center. A fierce Green cavalry charge is seen here driving in more than twice their numbers on Grey's left. Red markers indicate pinned units, little green dice are marking hits.

The Tin Brigadier

Oct 15 draft.3 of a simple set of Wargame rules for the late 19thC/early 20th C.

Ranges and moves are list as numbers. These can be squares, hexes, or increments of inches (eg 1=6" etc) or centimeters as selected but roughly equal to the frontage of an extended infantry unit.

Setup. A wargame army consists of a General Head Quarters (GHQ), up to 1 subordinate HQ per 8 units and as many units as desired. The units are intended to be battalion level but the rules may be used as is with units being companies for low level engagements. An average unit is intended to be around 8 infantry, 4 cavalry and guns, machine guns and vehicles  with 2, 3 or 4 crew but they may be any size that pleases you. If using multi-figure bases you may count noses or assign an arbitrary strength to each base. Qualifiers such as Superior/Inferior firepower, Shock troops, Elite/Stubborn or Poor morale are relative terms that may be used as desired. Other troop types and variations may be added as needed as well as carrying capacity of boats etc..

Hits represent fatigue, disorganization, stragglers, killed, wounded and prisoners and everything else that lowers the ability of a unit to fight. Each hit removes 1 figure. When a unit is reduced to 0 it is removed.

Sequence: igougo. Roll 1d6 for orders per commander. Move or shoot units and declare charges as desired (subject to the rules) and rally units, then test morale of enemy units that took hits from shooting, then resolve charges and pursuits.

Orders. An order is required to move, shoot, charge or do engineering. No order is required to defend against a charge. The Army HQ may store up to 6 unused orders. Other unused orders are lost. A subordinate commander may only order units within range 3. The Army HQ may order any unit. +1 to order die of Army HQ if observation balloon or spotter plane is available.

Movement.

Infantry In Extended formation: move 2 or move 1 and shoot or charge.

Infantry Close Order:  Move 2 and charge or stand and shoot.

Cavalry move 4 and charge.  May dismount and shoot..

Artillery Move 3 if Light or Field, 4 if Horse Artillery, 2 if Heavy artillery.

MG: Move 1 or shoot.

Motor Machine Gun/Armoured Car: Move 4 or Move 2 and shoot.

Tank Move 1 and Shoot or Charge.
Train, Boat, Move 4 or Move 2 and shoot. Trains only move by rail, boats only by water.

Terrain: Reduces all moves to 1 if passable. Define by scenario.

Road If in road column add 1 to move and ignore other terrain but may not charge or shoot.

Units may advance or retreat at full speed and can wheel measuring the distance. If using a grid a wheel can be included when moving from one area to another but a wheel within an area counts as moving 1 area. Subtract 1 from a move to change formation, limber/unlimber, mount/dismount, or embark/disembark..

Shooting. Must have LOS to chosen target except indirect arty fire. Arc of fire 45 degrees either side.

Rifles: range 2. 5,6 hits  1 die per 2 extended or entrenched infantry or dismounted.

cavalry.  1 die per 4 close order  infantry. Round up remainders of ½ or more.

MG inc Motor MG range 3,  5,6 hits  3 dice per gun

Tank. range 1  5,6 hits  3 dice per tank

Deployed Artillery. Direct Fire: Light gun: 2d range 4, Medium Gun 3d range 6, Heavy gun 4d range 8. Indirect fire 1/2 dice at double direct range. Requires an order each turn (abstraction of need to observe fire, pass fire request etc). Howitzers may fire  over terrain and troops, other guns may not shoot over terrain or troops within 1 or at target with 1 of dead ground or over high hills.

Modifiers

+1 per die if superior firepower, marksmen,

-1 per die if inferior firepower

Double casualties vs close order or road column

1/2  effect vs entrenched or in cover. Round down.

Killing zone: Reroll misses vs next unit in line of fire within range 1 of original target.

Target Reaction. A unit which is in the open and takes 1 or more hits from shooting must test morale at the start of its next move. 4,5,6 pass. 1,2,3 fail. 0 Rout. +1 Elite -1 Poor. Fail = Extended infantry, deployed MG and engineers are pinned, others retreat a full move and are then pinned until they rally. A pinned unit may not advance or shoot and counts 1/2 in melee until it rallies.

Charges. The Defender may choose to shoot and remove enemy casualties and test for pins before melee or may fight in melee. In melee roll 1d per infantry or cavalry or crew figure, (x1/2 if pinned rounding up). 5,6 hits. +1 If Elite, +1 mounted shock cavalry -1 if Poor .

If a unit took more hits from melee and defensive fire than it inflicted it is defeated and must retreat a double move and must test morale as for shooting.  A unit that charged and won must advance and occupy the ground. Cavalry which charged and won may advance up to a full move and charge again. If it wins again it must occupy the ground but may not charge a 3rd time.  

Rallying. A unit which is pinned may rally if it does not move. No order is required.

Engineering.. An infantry unit with tools may entrench instead of all other activity. Roll 1d6  needing to accumulate 10 pts to entrench. Add 1 d6 if sappers are attached. Entrenchment is lost if unit moves. Engineers may similarly prepare a roadblock or clear a path through an obstacle needing 6 pts or mine and blow a bridge etc  by laying 1 d6 per turn to represent the charges. When the bridge is blown, roll all of the charges and add them needing a total of 6 to destroy a small one, 10 to blow a large one. Other tasks may be defined as needed.  .

Army Morale. Unless specified otherwise by the scenario, a player that has lost over ½ of his units either destroyed or forced to retreat off table must concede.

At this point Grey has inflicted more hits than it received and most Green units are close to destruction with only 1 being unscathed but Green's concentration pays off and within 3 turns Grey reaches its breakpoint with most remaining units intact.

Introducing 20th Century Square Brigadier

Well here we are, the first draft of The 20th Century Square Brigadier hss been posted as a blog page (see tab above). If this works I'll see about migrating other rules to the same format.

The changes to my original concept were a little more drastic than anticipated. Partly this was to harmonize but it was because I wanted the feel of units being shot at as they moved. I actually tried this with the Square Brigadier at one point but stumbled because I was using the same mechanism in melee but I've since found my way around that.

A key concept of the rules series are that things are relative. There are basic troop types which can have various attributes added such as inferior for shooting or superior in melee and so on to add more granularity and flavour. So US infantry would with bazookas might be rated as having superior anti-tank capabilities in 1943, average in 1945 but inferior when facing T34s in Korea unless they had the new 3.5" super bazooka.  So there is a crucial bit missing from the rules as posted, army lists with ratings, ranges etc.. I'll work at adding some samples for what I'll use before long but you can easily make up your own.

The Red Army attacks a hasty White Army trench line.
The lighting downstairs at night is too dim for the tablet camera but hopefully you can at least get an idea of the game set up.

The test game turned out to be Russian Civil War since that was ready to go. This means I didn't really get a chance to test the tank rules very far. What I did test worked well though.

I made up the scenario as I pulled troops and scenery out of the box and started laying things out. This is what I ended up with.
White Army is defending some hastily dug trenches counting as cover and a broken ground obstacle. (It looks like I am going to have to break down and make some simple,  robust,  barbed wire entaglements. Hate that sort of fiddly work.) They have:
White Army
Brigade HQ 2 area radius
Artillery battery with observer connected by telephone.
Battalion HQ 2 area radius
8 units of infantry average shooting, average morale and assault, inferior at
2 units mg
1 mortar direct area fire only, range 4

Red Army.
Brigade HQ 2 area radius
1 slow tank, inferior firepower
2 batteries of artillery, no observers

Cavalry HQ 2 area radius
5 units cavalry, no firepower, superior assault

Battalion HQ
5 units infantry average firepower,
1 mg
1 mortar direct area fire only, range 4.

White had insufficient firepower to even slow down Reds infantry but they did hurt it and repulsed the first attack on the woods. The Red gunners were spot on while they had targets but the Whites held on as long as possible, shifting reserves to hold the attack through the woods which was slowly working around the flank.

A headlong charge by cavalry on the other trench, supported by the tank, was repulsed bloodily. It was supposed to go at the same time as a flank attack over the river but the Red HQ rarely rolled high enough to move everything at once. Neither did White but being on the defense it was ususlly less critical. When that cavalry charge finally went in, it cost a regimental commander and 1/2 the men but they over ran the battery and cracked White's morale just as the last few companies of infantry on the other flank finally took the wood.

Urrah!

PS  I did start a test of a post WWII game but not only do I need a larger playing area (in terms of numbers of squares big enough to hold a tank) I also need to work out troop and equipment stats and army organization as well as building more terrain. The scenario at very least needs to be adapted to the small grid. :)

The Portable Cossack

I was planning to try another MacDuff game this week  but I've been discussing aspects of the 18thC Portable Wargame with Ron inbetween sculpting Turks and Albanians  (ok just 1 of each but they will be legion if the mold works). Neither Turks nor 4" hexes are ready but I had hexes on my mind so I put out the almost 4x6 Hotz mat.  I meant to get out my 1812 40mm guys but some how the mat looked more like the steppe in one of the seasons in between grass and snow, and anyway the 20's fit the 3" grid better than the 40's do. The 19thC version of the game was what was in my mind and since it has all the relevent bits apart from the odd armoured car, (easily imported from the 20thC game) thats what I used.

The scenario was Crossing Point from Programmed  Scenarios. This is essentially a small force defending a bridge with variable reinforcements. Between the variable maps and variable arrival times and locations for both sides, this scenario can swing between well balanced to no hope. To even things up, I chose the map, opting for a version where there is only 1 bridge and that located beside a small town. The defenders reinforcements come on close, the attackers come on about as far away as they can. Times are given in 15 minute intervals so I played each turn as 15 minutes.

The Whites began with 1 field gun, 2 rifle platoons and an HQ on table. The riflemen & HQ were posted in the houses while the gun deployed directly behind the bridge. One of the rifle platoons was in the leaad house so that any Reds crossing the bridge would have to attack it in its fortified position. Off table were an MG, 3 more infantry, another field gun and 2 squadrons of Cossacks. Reinforcements would arrive at 10:00 or later by rolling a 6 on 1 die. Each unit rolling independently.

The Reds had their own rolling to do and ended up with 1 infantry, an MG, a field gun and a cavalry squadron arriving at the closer point at 8:30 while the main body with 5 more infantry, an MG, a field gun, a cavalry squadron and the HQ arrived at 9 am on the farthest road.


The game proceeded quickly as the Reds pressed down the road. Finally at about 10:am the White field battery was able to open up, destroying a platoon of Red riflemen just as the first platoon of reinforcements arrived.

Opening shot of the game, Airfix 18pdr with Hat WW1 Russian crew, Pegasus log cabin.

Not to be out done, the 1st Red battery unlimbered and on the next turn silenced their White opponent while being pinned themselves. As troops on both sides continued to trickle towards the bridge from either side, they turned their guns on the first house and on the next turn they leveled it and the platoon inside (uhoh).

Is that 3 hexes? Holy C***

 As White scrambled  to move up the last of the original platoons, the Red Cavalry galloped over the bridge and into contact, swinging their sabers. This was the first test of battle for the Zvezda Regiment. Down went the dice...the red one turned up 6, a miss!, the white turned up 5, a miss! no wait +1 for the HQ which was adjacent, a HIT! The bridge was saved!

The moment of truth. Zvezda WW1 Russians shoot down some Orion Red Cavalry while a Hat command group steels their verves.

As more white troops poured onto the field, the Whites were up to 3 dice and rolled ..1 pip! Oh well, enough  for the jubilent infantry to occupy the lead house and make themselves cozy. For the rest of the game, the Red artillery shelled them but never managed worse than a pin.

As more White troops  rushed up, a fierce fire fight broke out across the river. Both sides took cover but first the 2nd Red gun was silenced (drat, too close again!)  and then the infantry was slowly eliminated until finally as the first Cossack rode onto the table, was pinned, and whipped their horses to cross  over the bridge and ride down that annoying Red machine gun, the reds dropped below 50%  and now being outnumbered, withdrew.    

Better dead than Red say the Whites. Stelitz, Hat and Zvezda Russians.

A brief but hotly contested game which could easily have gone either way. The latest tweaks to shooting and melee scores made a big difference and the game flowed well. Its hard to advance under fire but not impossible and assaults though dangerous can work if you line them up in your favor, or if you're lucky. The temptation was to reset the table and try again. Mind you, I found the game even more fun when I had a live opponent. Its more a case of the rules enabling the game than being the game.

** Post script
I was just reviewing thing and realized I made a slight, inconsequential for this game as it turns out, error. Since Bob extended rifle ranges by 1 hex, I assumed that MG range had also been extended by 1 so that they would out  range rifles. Not so, rifles and MG's are now the same range and the same firepower, and I just realized, there is no restriction on them attacking so since they have the highest combat value, they are the ideal shock troops. Not what I expected, I'll have to think about it (and toss it to Bob) but my initial thought would be to up their range to 4 hexes, the same as light artillery, and to reduce their close combat value so that one isn't tempted to use tripod mounted machine guns to spearhead a close assault. The longer range and the new pinning rules would make them hard to attack with infantry.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a Tachanka appeared

Tachanka's are iconic Russian Civil War stuff, no self respecting RCW wargame army should be without one of these horse drawn MG carts.  BUT, they weren't  exactly top of my ToDo list. There are some more pioneers, artillery crews and Grenadiers for the NQSYW siege in July, the other 1/2 of my Rose Ethiopian archers, a few extra Royal Marines to flush out a unit and some Mexican Dragoons, or maybe the King's Dragoon Guards, I haven't decided yet.  

40mm Zinnbrigade Napoleonic British Dragoons, cast up and waiting patiently to find out who they will be when they grow up.

So, it was no real surprise yesterday to find out that suddenly, having a 1/72 Tchanka was the most important thing in my life (hobby wise).  Now I'm sure there are some marvelous 1/72nd models of these out there but that would require mail order, waiting 4-6 weeks for delivery and money. This is a tertiary, sideshow of a collection  and an immediate itch. I'm sure a talented modeller could research the subject carefully and scratch build one  but I'm not a modeller by any stretch of the imagination.  Luckily for me, as a "toy soldier guy" , I don't need an accurate model, just something that looks like its grandmother once met a Tchanka on a warm summer's evening, which is to say, something that reminds people of a Tchanka and looks like it could serve the purpose on a wargames table.  

The sort of Tchank I am most familiar with is the type that looks like a Russian sled but with wheels and an MG. I pondered cutting the fenders off a $ store armoured car but it all seemed a bit much. Luckily I found this picture on wikipedia:

Looks more like an old 2 wheeled MG carriage hooked up to a limber than what I think of as a Tchanka but I just happened to have a couple of limbers in the spares box (The Italeri ACW limber looked too fiddly for my modelling ambitions). So in a matter of minutes I had cut a piece of cardboard and connected a WW! RHA limber to an ACW one, added a deck and remounted an mg, primed it and this morning slapped some paint on between chores and voila!

Rough and ready but serviceable, cheap and quick. 

The Imperial troops gather

I had one of those wakeful periods during the watches of the night last night, so rather than toss and turn, I arose and tended to some Zvezda WWI Russians that I had assembled and primed the day before. The assembly had been much easier than I feared. The only pose that gave me trouble was a 2nd figures of the pose that I had had trouble with the day the boxes came. Hard luck on a random draw for a sample figure to try.

A rough & ready paint job for these guys. I even skipped painting the barrel & breech on the rifle. I think that is a first for me, in any scale, even 6mm but I wanted these guys to look a bit as if they were factory painted toys. They are beautifully detailed figures though and would repay careful painting from someone who is "into it", Me,  I like these guys just the way they are. The 1st MG has already been assembled.

Still not sure where this is collection is going. WWI is more attractive to me than the RCW from a political/social etc side (not to mention the Zvezda Germans)  but I'm pretty much stuck with a civil war for now since additional troops are unlikely to be acquired soon. Truth be told, its not that I have a burning ambition to get "into" either war, I'm just drawn to the look and feel of wargames with cavalry, mg's, tanks and remote, wide open spaces. If I could get my head around it, a Ruritanian War of some  sort would be just the thing.

 .  

 

Give me Shelter. A Portable RCW Wargame.

Shot out of the saddle

This is my playtest of Bob Cordery's Portable 20thC Wargame inspired by Joe Morschauser. I expected the game to be short, so I decided to make it a double header. Since I was unsure of the relative merits of various troop types and of trenches, I decided to start with a meeting engagement between equal forces then follow it up with an attack defence game with possibly unbalanced forces. 

The Red Army

The White Army

It is March, a sudden thaw has cleared away the snow (except for the small patches around White's armoured car and machine gun), but the cold has come back freezing the ground solid and 2 small detachments are seeking the shelter of a village. Each detachment is composed of the following units:

1 Command, 1 Armoured Car, 1 field gun, 1 mortar, 2 MG, 6 infantry.  That brings the total to the allowable maximum of 12 units including 1 command.  (not coincidently it uses all of my painted infantry and at least 1 of each troop type I have) The winner  is allowed 3 entrenchments and what ever troops remain while the loser may use any remaining units but may also draw on any painted troops left in the box up to a maximum of 12. (This amounts to 2 more guns, a cavalry commander and 8 stands of cavalry.)  

Rather than construct a narrative that will last longer than the actual games, and for the benefit of those interested in how the rules worked, I am going to list which side won the initiative, how many activation points they rolled up and what the losses were and let that and a few pictures tell the story.  

There was minor glitch that arose from my multi-purpose, multi-grid cloth but it did not cause any major issues. The cloth was laid out with a grid of 8x8 6" squares subdivided into 256 3" squares by marking a cross in the center of each.  This was larger than the small table I was using so the cloth hung down all around and I planned to pick out an 8x8 grid of 3" squares as a playing surface. Well the combination of the table being even smaller than I thought and my eye being fooled by the overlying 6" grid I actually laid out the game on a 6x10 grid. I rolled a die to see how many woods squares to place on the board and placed the rest of the trees along the back of the board in the "unused" squares.

Rather than choose sides, I settled on a random deployment, interference from politicals or high command perhaps.    Starting with the armoured car and leaving the infantry until last, I rolled to see which 6" square within the deployment zone that the unit would deploy into. (It didn't click that there should have been 4 6" squares in the deployment zone!). Once the larger square was picked, I put the unit in an obviously suitable 3" square if there was one or rolled to choose if there wasn't. When I got to the last 6 infantry stands, there were only 6 squares left so I put one in each and thought "aha so that's why you can only have 12 units". (It still didn't click that with 2 rows of 8 squares in the deployment zone, 12 units shouldn't fill each one! Maybe if I had more fingers?)

 On the first turn I finally noticed that Red and White were not equidistant from the objective as was intended, so I moved White forward to their planned start line and carried on. It wasn't until I finished both games that I realized that I hadn't used the farthest 2 rows of squares. Must have been muddy in the woods! In any event, I don't think the game suffered from the narrower battlefield.

Turn 1: I=Red.  White's Artillery found a Red FT17 directly ahead  (technically a tank but since it was armed with an MG only, I treated it as an armoured car), it fired, missed and blew up an MG instead, opening the ball. Red's artillery commenced making shell holes in the steppe. Red, with a full slate of 5 activation diced managed 8 points and began forward. White rolled up 12 which was more than it could use.

White forces seize the village.

Turn 2. I=White  White's Artillery stuck on target and zeroed in this time. So much for my new FT17, hastily assembled and painted then blown up on Turn 2 of its 1st game,  Red made some more potholes. 

 White rolled 12 activations and moved an infantry company into the first house and pushed forward supports. Red rolled 7 points and found itself unable to occupy the closest house without engaging in close combat with White hunkered down in cover in their 1/2 of the village. They opened up on a White unit in the open instead.

The unfortunate FT17

Turn 3 I=White. Artillery was ineffective. White smugly rolled the activation dice expecting another 12 and got 4 instead. Most of it was spent shooting without effect. Red rolled a 5 and a Red infantry company bravely stormed the Armoured Car, most were gunned down but a wounded soldier managed to crawl up and drop a grenade through a hatch (or something like that, both units were destroyed). 

Red's first success.

Turn 4 I= Red. White's Dead-eye Dick Artillery took out a Red infantry company. Now down to 4 dice, Red rolled 5 and blazed away.  White, still with 5 dice, also rolled 5 and fired without effect.

Turn 5. I= Red Now the battle got hot, rolling another 5, Red's fire took out a White MG and Infantry stand. Were they about to even up the battle? White now down to 4 dice as well, took out 2 Red Infantry. 

Turn 6. I=Red. With 3 dice left Red rolled a grand total of 1 point. With only 2 infantry supported by a gun, a mortar, an MG and the command stand, Red decided he didn't want to face a counter attack and started to pull back. As so often, this is when the really heavy casualties began,  By the time the last unit left the board on Turn 7 only a mortar and a command stand survived. 

White digs in

Here comes the cavalry!

As White entrenched, Red selected forces for his counter attack. Actually, given his losses, there was no choice, he took all the available troops to bring him back up to 12 stands. You'll note that the defeated Red commander does not appear in the 2nd game having been replaced by the Red cavalry Commander Gudinuv. This time, instead of random deployment, I chose White's positions and then decided on an attack plan for Red which was basically to bombard the town with the mortar and 2 guns while the cavalry took out the outlying White forces then dismounted to assault the village. White's defences consisted of 2 sandbag entrenchments from my 45 year old Marx "Over the Top" set and 1 from a $ store bag of toys. The Command is located in the rear house with the mortar just beyond it, the MG in the front corner redoubt, the field gun in the open with entrenched infantry for protection, more infantry in the lead house and entrenched beyond in and a final infantry stand in reserve.

Turn1 I=White. Red's artillery began well by taking out White's sole MG. White with 8 units rolled 4 points and fired their mortar. Red rolled 8 and advanced.

Turn 2 I=White  White rolled 7 and the mortar landed a hit on a cavalry unit while infantry moved forward to occupy the front trench. Red rolled 9 and undaunted sent 2 cavalry to over run the entrenched infantry beyond the village while the mortar took out the new garrison of the front strong point.

Turn 3. I=White. White, down to 3 dice, rolled 5 and blazed away. Red's seemingly unstoppable cavalry over ran White's artillery as well as taking out White's mortar. Things looked bleak and I thought turn 4 might end it.

Turn 4. I = Red.  Red rolls 9 and attacks Red's  infantry with 2 cavalry units, and is repulsed  with losses! White rolls 3 and shoots 2 more Red cavalry. Hmm The fat lady hasn't sung yet! 

Turn 5 I=Red. Red, down to 4 dice,  rolls 6, dismounts his cavalry and moves his commander forward. Too far forward apparently as White with 2 activation pts shoots the man on the white horse.

Turn 6 I= White. Red's artillery finally hits the village with effect and takes out the infantry defenders. White with 2 points takes out a dismounted cavalry unit but with 5 points, red's dismounted cavalry take out the White commander with rifle fire. The village is now empty and the remaining White rifle company, leaderless and anticipating a barrage of artillery and mortar fire decides to slip away in the dusk. Red's cavalry decides to occupy the town  before the artillery gets all the good spots.

  White's casualties have been used to supply Red with dismounted cavalry. Something that will need to be rectified.

 Conclusions? An enjoyable evening of gaming. It took about an hour and 1/2 to set up and play the 2 games . The rules worked smoothly and nothing really odd seemed to pop up, especially when looking at the big picture. The question remains, for a larger game, would it be better to have more grid squares with 1 stand in each? or to use larger squares which fit the terrain better and have multiple stands in each square?  I need to paint up those Zvezda infantry before I tackle that.

Right, thanks to the early "Spring Ahead" change to Daylight Saving Time, and the time taken to right this up, I am behind schedule. I need to clear my usual table, saw up 1" boards for hills and sort out my antique and reproduction Britain's figures for this afternoon's game. 

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Portable Preview.

After spending the afternoon fussing over the grid size vs proposed base and unit sizes and configuration, I modified my portable cloth grid to include 8 6" squares each quartered to allow the use of either 3" or 6" squares. I then set up on a small table in the family room  and started comparing terrain items.

Pegasus Russian Log Cabins each occupying a 3" square. or else a 6" square  village. 

The tank is a Hat FT-17 with a basic coar of paint. A bit of weathering etc to follow. Infantry by Strelitz.

An old 15mm cardboard farm I made about 25 years ago. It fills 1 3" square but doesn't quite have room for a stand of troops.

An even older carboard town block made by friend Dave Wilson. It makes 2 adjacent 3" blocks with no room for troops or 1 6" town with room for troops 

Then I played a 2 game RCW mini-campaign.  Each game took about 45 minutes. I'll write up a proper report tomorrow but both games were fun and the rules worked well..

Whites on the right, Reds on the left. Naturally.

I finished up with a run through a 1 hit per unit mini-Crysler's Farm. Again, a full report to follow but it needs some work and thought. One of the issues I need to sort out is what to do if I go permanent with a grid, do I use many 3" squares with 1 stand units or  fewer 6" ones with multi stand units. Then I need to look at the impact on a portable game.

Russian Ahead

I was starting to worry. I've been focussed on the 19thC for 3 months now and with the first 6 Royal Scots on the table, there was no sign of a change in the air though I was over due for a dabble in ancients or maybe moderns which were missed altogether last year. Was I becoming one of those single period gamers??   However, with one eye on the mailbox I have been starting to do a little bit of reading on WWI & the RCW.   

Another great Christmas present from the 60's. Marx 30mm Hard plastic, factory painted figures from their Over the Top playset. The sandbag emplacement, a shell stuck in the mud and a square tank turret are the only accessories left. I'm surprised that there are any rifle barrels left. 

Then there was an alarming visit to Irregular Miniatures where they have some gorgeous shiny 40mm WWI pictures. It had previously occured to me that my old Crescent 18pdr is just the right size for my 1900 Zinnbrigade  homecast figures, and I was starting to wonder if I should be doing WWI with glossy 40mm toy soldiers?  It would make sense from a point of view of terrain, buildings, wagons, farm animals etc. But 40mm toy soldiers are by and large a solo thing for me.

  I really need to grab a few more of these while it is still possible.

But at last, there was a pick up notice in my mailbox. Could it be........

5 minutes from box to trimmed and glued. My kind of tank!

Yes! Michigan Toy Soldiers came through, Hoorah!

 Of course there are the usual issues, 3 companies, 3 humanoid races. Once painted and based in separate units, I'm sure they'll be fine.

My goal now is to assemble (hope the rest are easier than the 1st!) and paint up at least a few of  the Russian Infantry, make a gridded playing surface and try out Bob Cordery's latest game.

If I enjoy painting the 1/72nd Zvezda figures, their Germans may be next as I slide more towards WWI with the RCW as a side show. Time will tell.

Play it again Tsar

This morning I intended to reset my table for the battle of Chrysler's Farm to test the rules against a small historical battle that I've done in the past with success (Including using an early version of the rules). However, it occurred to me that  although I had included a nod to later 19thC  weapons, I hadn't actually tested them in a game. Refighting the scenario  in some remote corner of the world circa 1880 suddenly seemed like a good idea.

My 1880's Egyptians and British are largely gone in both 54mm & 25mm so I cast about  for alternatives. I had been starting to think about adapting HofT to the Russian Civil War instead of backdating rules from WWII so that got me thinking 1/72nd. If I had to kluge something, it might as well involve figures on bases. There aren't enough RCW figures yet but mixed with ACW figures I could fudge something vaguely Balkan or perhaps Baltic.  I was able to scrape up 24 infantry stands per side, mostly organised into 4 stand regiments. Worked ok for the defenders in blue but not the attackers in grey & brown, I decided to go with 3 stand regiments for Grey and call them all veteran to see what difference that would make. I also upgraded the  Grey artillery to "superior" rifled artillery. I fudged enough extra Blue stands to make a small unit of sharpshooter light infantry and balanced it with a machine gun battery. I was short on commanders so each side only got 2 brigades of infantry. All infantry have breechloading rifles, all guns are rifled field artillery.

Opening moves

The game opened briskly with Grey advancing under heavy fire and the cavalry moving towards a clash in the gap. A clash which destroyed  Blue's cavalry while leaving Grey's cavalry facing a line of infantry and artillery which eventually cut it to pieces. I was a little uncomfortable about the cavalry taking the losses without retiring once they were shaken but reminded myself that the general had had a chance to withdraw  them before they were shaken but chose to sacrifice them to stall the enemy and the remnants on the table represented, not steady ranks of cavalry standing calmly  in ranks while troop after troop is shot down in sequence but rather the decreasing effectiveness of a body of cavalry milling about, some perhaps returning fire ineffectively from the saddle, others probing and threatening while more and more are shot down or slipping away.     

The advance of the infantry under fire was as bloody as might be expected. The superior artillery was frightening in its effect. Their concentrated fire of one battery wiped out one of the Blue guns in 2 turns while the defending infantry suffered heavily despite being declared to be prone and thus in cover. Since there was no advantage to being veteran in a long range fire fight, I pushed the Grey infantry in. Despite the advantage of position and the deadliness of rifles at melee range,  numbers and quality told and the right hand regiment was destroyed. On the left, Grey only manages to attack with 1 shot up regiment and was repulsed.

The attack goes in.

Grey started moving up his artillery and renewed the attack on his right, capturing the ridge. All they had to do now was repulse the inevitable Blue counter attack. Deploying one regiment on the right to fire on the far ridge and supporting the attack with artillery fire, Blue stormed up the ridge and after a fierce struggle, took it and pursued swinging right to contact Grey's left hand brigade.  The left hand regiments came forward and poured rifle fire into Grey's right hand battery, wiping out a gun and forcing Grey to retire the 2nd one or lose it.

The counter attack.

A prolonged melee between 2 opposing regiments while the rest exchanged fire. The game hung in the balance but Grey's superior artillery tipped the scale and eventually Blue's last brigade was shaken by losses and the counter attack failed.

It took about an hour to play 8 turns to a conclusion, a bloody one but a conclusion none the less. The game had a very different feel to the musket game but it worked. When regiments got shot up, stray companies occasionally got left behind, clinging to a position, unable to shoot or attack but holding the ground. A serious attack would take them out but if the enemy was also badly shot up and didn't want to risk the attack, then a stale mate with the 2 sides taking cover until either fire took out the last opposition or reserves came up to push the attack forward.

Having full brigades of Veteran infantry is definitely an advantage and armed with breechloaders, they are deadly in close combat.  Wouldn't want to be a spearman charging breechloader armed infantry defending entrenchements!

I had an initial cringe at infantry not being able to fire and move and I briefly considered going back to 1/2 move and fire 1/2 but on reflection it still seems right. It is possible to drill troops to alternately fire and advance or retreat but it was notoriously hard to get troops to advance once they start shooting. Once the men started going prone it got even harder and in any event a long range fore by advancing troops doesn't seem to have been effective so one could consider it to be happening with no effect. In any event, it forces players to make a conscious decision to either engage in a prolonged firefight or advance. That rings more true than the way gamers tend to shoot any time they can even at reduced effect, It also means that troops under fire will tend to halt and return fire rather than pushing on, without having a special rule for it.
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A Russian Civil War version of HofT game is now on my list, but I'm going to need more men, a LOT more men!