But Wait! There's More!

 Having got back to painting again, its easier to set to on a larger bunch (technical term).

Once these are done, I'll finally make a go into the new PA British Infantry molds, but will probably wait till spring before pouring in the wood shed!  

Neither Ice Nor Snow

 The game has begun! 

Only two turns since there were lots of winter outdoor chores as well as packing up Christmas but its a start!  

What A Relief

It had been a quiet day in Acadie until a cloud of dust and the beating of drums heralded the approach of a column of soldiers.

 "Jacques! Viens ici!  Les Anglais! Vite!  Cacher les vaches!!" 

But who were these soldiers in skirts?

 

To be continued..........

The New Recruits Have Arrived Sir

"Right-o SergeantMajor, make sure they have their arms and their heads in good order then I'll come inspect them."

Cast from new Prince August SYW moulds

"Well, they're a promising lot, but it'll take a bit of work to get them ready to face the enemy. Best start by getting them into uniform."

To be continued.......

Enemy in Sight!

 

"Forward men! We must clear the road to reach the sea!"

Comrades, we have marched from Montreal to Acadie, now is our moment. If we can hold these damned Englishmen until the King's soldiers arrive, this campaign will be over!

Note: Historically, Captain de Ramezay, a Canadian officer of the regular colonial troops (Compagnies Franches de la Marine) in New France, led an expedition of soldiers, militia and First Nations warriors to Acadia to rendezvous with Rochefoucauld. I've just made up a subordinate for my games, named lieutenant de St. Lambert after my old home town across the river from Montreal. 

To be continued......

Back To Base Lads

When I bought my first Prince August moulds, in the 1990's, it was to bring a regiment to play in the Hartford Area Weekly Kriegspiel's (H.A.W.Ks) club's multiplayer Charge! games at H.M.G.S. conventions. To fit in, I mounted each figure on a 1" wide metal washer. Since then, as the armies grew and I started experimenting at home and at conventions with different rules and levels of game, my poor armies went through a variety of basing ideas from single figures, to fixed stands with markers, to magnetised bases and so on.  

Well, life goes on and making a 3,200 km round trip drive is less attractive now than it was 20-25 years ago. This year, I donated a large contingent of my "Rosmark" troops to the H.A.W.K's to do their bit in club and convention games, and kept the units that would be useful in my planned not-quite-historical Acadian and Quebec campaigns.

My process: The single figures were mounted on steel washers using ordinary White (aka Carpenter's) glue and an hour of standing in water up to their shoes, makes it easy to pop them off. Being thrifty by upbringing as well as necessity after my choice of very early retirement, I cut my own bases from scraps, mostly from the boxes of Clementines etc.. Once the glue is dry, I flock with sawdust I've saved when doing repairs or projects and finally paint to match my table as well as I can.   

 

I confess that it hadn't taken long pushing scores and at times, hundreds, of individual figures to become a bit tiresome and, over the years, I have experimented with various alternate solutions from magnetic multi-figure stands and steel washers as bases on the figures, to a mix of multifigure and single figures and so on. Well, these days, the less fiddling with individual soldiers, the better, and since this is a solo project, open to a club or convention game now and then, all my armies, except Prince Valiant and friends, are going back on multi-figure stands.

Since I want to do both battles and large skirmishers, and want to play a game of toy soldiers, not conduct an accurate recreation, I have opted for an Old School approach where a Battalion of 300-500 men in a battle will be represented by 3 stands or "companies" of around 6 figures on a base.  In small actions or certain scenarios, an individual stand might be used to represent a detachment of 100 or so men or even less, depending on the situation, but with no change is ground scale, ranges etc.. Remember, its a game of toy soldiers. 

For my own convenience, the same rules will be used for my 1840's games at the other end of the smoothbore musket era but with different hats.

More to follow.   

I Had An Hour To Spare So.....

Well, OK, I had more than an hour and I didn't time how long it took me to pick a scenario, lay out the table, pick a setting and era, and then select units (whooff) and then play the game (without putting it away yet). The point being that on a Sunday afternoon in 1758 on Ile Royale, a small force of British infantry supported by artillery attempted to cut off and capture  a detachment of French troops which was retreating to Louisburg and had stopped for the night in a small Acadian village. 

(No don't bother try to find any other report of this action, especially not in history books or memoirs, you'd be better off looking in One Hour Wargames).

To be continued.....

"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody dice today"

 Well, the final test game has been played. I'm not quite sure why the British lost the third game in a row, after all, its a simple encounter scenario, not favouring either side. 

The French had a hard time deploying so once again they stalled not even half way through the gap, leaving their light troops isolated.

Each game was close with the British gaining a superior tactical position by mid-game and then suddenly crumbling at the height of the fighting thanks to some of the worst dice rolling I've seen in a while.  The French were using the same dice and managed to even out the distribution by rolling low early on and then handfuls of 5's and 6's vs the British 1's and 2's at critical moments to achieve a minor victory. That's fate, kharma or just plain luck. 

The British fell for it and pressed forward with their right while unintentionally refusing their left even as they extended it to try and flank the shorter French line.

The revived mutual melee rule didn't last even the first round, (I rather partly blame/credit the subconscious influence of Neil Thomas for that but the routine randomness of the mechanic also played its part.) 

On the other hand, the old rally mechanism which I've been using since 2002 but which stems from my own MacDuff rules 10 years before that did confirm its place. So did the alternate 'move OR fire OR rally' sequence with more effective musketry at range 1 rather than a different mechanism. Since I can't think of any examples of opposing infantry crossing bayonets in an open field during the wars I'm covering, I have nothing to argue against the simplicity and apparent effectiveness of the method. When coupled with shifting initiative, an attacker is likely to suffer one or two close range volleys from the defender but if they wait until they go second they have a chance at getting in the first volley and if the enemy has been softened up by artillery or skirmishers before the attack goes in, well.....

So, once again, the online draft of rules has been adjusted to match how the game was actually played (see here). This is very close to the version I used for the 1812 game and the first of these Anglo-French games and that is how they will stay for the foreseeable future.  Of course around here the future is veiled, but at least until the next game, probably an 1812 one, whenever it happens.

And so, having succeeding in throwing 8 units vs 5, the British were swiftly routed.  
(I think I'll paint up a new British General using one of the new cavalry officer moulds...)

In the meantime, there is painting and basing to be done and that collection of Prince Valiant strips waiting to be read which will doubtless lead to more painting and maybe... 

Well, the crystal ball is cloudy, we'll just have to wait and see.

Hold the Bridge!

Tuesday's game was Crossing Point from CS Grant's Programmed Scenarios. We divided the army point values by 50 to get the number of Portable Wargame SP's per army then used the suggested lists as a guide.

We made one change in the rules, we shortened Infantry musket fire to two hexes. Light infantry remained at 3. This seems to have allowed them to better perform their harassing task and made them less prone to having to engage in firefights with superior numbers as their only tactic. 

The enemy appears!

I drew the Defender again  and took the Allied army since I could fill much of the roster with troops I had painted. I ended up with a force of 2 medium cavalry, 4 infantry, 2 light infantry and 2 artillery (plus my commander). A total of 30 pts (We each took a free commander). My job was to deny a river crossing to Ron. (Exhaustion pt of 10)

That made Ron the attacker with the Austrians. He chose a list with 1 light cavalry, 1 medium cavalry, 1 light infantry, 10 infantry and 2 guns for 49 pts. (Exhaustion of 16) Then he had to roll to see if he marched on using one road or two. Luckily for me he rolled up 1 entry point. His mission was to establish a substantial bridgehead on my side of the river.

We set a time limit of 15 turns.

As my 2nd battery is wiped out by counter battery fire, I wave my hat at the Austrian commander who can be seen waving back from his position hear the enemy artillery. (Oh for toy soldiers with move-able arms!)

Ron is not usually an impetus commander and he decided to deploy all of his army before making any serious attacks. In this case however, having to arrive by one road meant that the game was half over before he was in position and he had been so busy avoiding unnecessary casualties that he hadn't inflicted many either and the river was still between us, the primary defences still intact. 

Once deployed, he pressed forward, pausing to silence my guns so they couldn't enfilade his infantry but that took time too and my light infantry had moved into position to snipe at a range where they were safe from return fire. 

At this point it became obvious that he had made an error in laying  out the terrain, the folds in the river were far too deep, making the approaches to the bridge too narrow and too enfiladed. None the less it was what he faced.

Now I am a fan of de Saxe and Suvarov and given the narrow space and short time, I'd have massed my infantry and gone in with the bayonet, full speed, packing my units in two deep to prevent the forward ones from retreating.  Might have been a bloody but glorious defeat or I might have pushed him back and forced my way over the bridges. We'll never know.

What Ron tried was a slow advancing fire fight, making sure that all units could retreat if needed. Unfortunately, due to the narrow frontage and the fact that I could enfilade him from across the river, my units ended up inflicting twice as many hits as they received despite being outnumbered 2:1.
Worse than that for Ron, the fight took a very long time with little to show for it.

A dash at the other bridge by his cavalry had some success but each time a counter attack drove him back. 

The battle winds down. My counter attack against the near bridge has resulted in both sides falling back but he has yet to cross a bridge let alone establish a bridgehead.
(The coloured chips mark units that have acted this turn as an aide-memoir.)

At last when time was up neither army was exhausted but he was 3 SP's away and I was at 4. I only needed to hold however and in that bottle neck he needed a lot of time and he didn't appear to have enough SP's to allow him to push across the bridge even if we'd had more turns to play.

After the  game we took the big loop out of the river and Ron may just play it over again solo. I'm quite content with the victory as it was.

Reconstruction or destruction?

My old grenadiers, shiny and red at last!

I've finally finished refitting my old 30mm British grenadiers. At last they are sporting red coats and "real" grenadier caps and I have to say that they look better as glossy toy soldiers than they ever did as military miniatures. That's the last battalion of the old guys. There are 4 left overs that I could convert to a company of light infantry if I wanted to do the work of cutting down the coats and caps but I'll leave them for now, I've been eyeing a selection Willie and Scruby SYW & AR rangers, light infantry and Indians. In the meantime, I'm over due to get back to work on Fort MacDuff for Huzzah!

Its a good thing that I'm getting farther and farther into Toy Soldier mode. Trying to turn this old Barzso 54mm Davy Crocket fort into a usable prop for a 40mm 1812 game is even more trouble than I expected which is rare. In many ways it would of course have been easier to start from scratch but I am determined to make some use of it even if it is glue resistant.

I did have a reasonably easy conversion laid out until I realized just how much real estate the finished thing would occupy. OK for the main event but this is a game about Indians in the woods more so than the fort so I need to keep the foot print as small as practical. Forts are one thing that really test the imagination of 40mm gamers. Many of these frontier forts were tiny, given the ground scale I need to employ, the square bastion is not an reasonable size for a fort like Stevenson all by itself. but looks nothing like a stockade. I don't have the dimensions for Fort Meigs but it was unusually large, something like 9 acres and on the plans is long and narrow not square. A few calculations show that something like 6" x 15" or perhaps 8" x 12" would be not unreasonable for a foot print. That would have to include several blockhouses and batteries as well as log curtain walls, quarters and a ditch. OK for use with 10mm figures but its not going to work for 40's. Doing Marx Fort Apache style blockhouses that perch on a corner of the stockade was a tempting thought but at the end of the day it looks like I'll have to make do with one  vertical log blockhouse/bastion.

Remnants of the  Barzso wilderness refuge, practical meets proportion.

The bastion itself is a problem. The standard sort of square, roofed, horizontal log cabin construction blockhouse was used by both sides but the British  usually put them inside the walls while the Americans used them for corner bastions and gatehouses. The British used open palisaded corner bastions which is basically what the Barzso fort had although the angles are wrong. I looked at building a proper blockhouse and may do so yet but since the darned thing should only about 1"  square from a  ground scale angle while being big enough to fold a 40mm gun and crew plus infantry,  its going to take some compromises which I haven't worked out yet.  The roof also tend to make it awkward to handle the toy soldier garrison. At least my unlikely compromise is a formidable fortification holding 2 guns and a dozen toy soldiers with all around defence should the perimeter of the fort be breached..

Then there is the ditch. This seems to have been major obstacle in several cases, deep and fraised or combined with an abatis. The abatis might work but the combination of ditch and toy soldier stockade just looks wrong and would just distort the ground scale even more.  I think I won't waste any more time on ditch ideas, it can be assumed and built into any assault rules.

So there we are, I'm only using barely 1/2 of the original fort though I've destroyed it thoroughly in the process of experimenting. The result should be small enough to not dominate the table and give the impression of a stockade while holding 6 x 8 man companies of 40mm troops. Hope for their sake that it doesn't rain, there doesn't appear to be room for tents let alone barracks!

A Guilty Pleasure

OK maybe not that guilty, its not like I've been playing many ultra-historical games with thousands of carefully painted figures on dioramic terrain lately. Anyway, Ron and I have now played two Grant/Asquith scenarios with 25mm SYW miniatures and a modified version of C&C.

Taking the Initiative 1, scenario 20 from "The Red Book" 

Last week I took command of the British and their allies to stop the Austrians from seizing a series of river crossings, or rather not stop them. After being consistently down, I struggled back to parity, next player to lose a unit would lose the game. With two infantry units, each with a general attached, entrenched in the town, with a fistful of cards giving me combat bonuses, I just had to withstand an attack by one unit of Grenadiers. I had taken 1 hit on the unit under attack but the defensive benefit of the town meant that he only had 3 dice so all 3 would have to hit.

Inevitable I suppose. At least my Highlanders survived the game.

The British and assorted imaginary Free Corps pour onto the field.

The British force is a somewhat polyglot one. The core are four battalions of Old Glory infantry that I abandoned when I got out of 25mm SYW a dozeen years ago. They are supported now by my refurbished 30mm figures but since these tower over Ron's Minifig Austrians, I prefer to rely as much as possible on the smaller guys. This game called for a number of light units and these  were supplied by various Napoleonic figures, Warrior, Hat & Minifig recruited into imaginary irregular units.

The scenario was the next one from the Red Book, Initiative 2 or Scenario 21. This is a small one and we actually played the scenario twice, once using 2 units per scenario unit then once again with only 1 unit per unit. In the first game, the cards made it easy and the dice backed them up. It looked like it was in the bag when we broke for lunch but Ron's no quitter and he fought his way back into the game   and made me sweat for my victory. The 2nd game was fast and furious without the depth of the first but still fun and neck and neck down to the last roll. Too fast and furious for photos.

The Austrians, Minifigs all, advance rapidly.

Sharp eyed viewers may notice the red and blue markers poked in between some of the hexes. These mark the C&C zones. Since this scenario calls for the opposing armies to enter on adjacent sides of the table. Ron marked out Blue & Red's zones at right angle to each other. Took a little bit of fudging but it worked.

For those who are curious, the adaptations were partly a matter of  picking unit types but we did make a few changes. Since we play on a table with roughly twice the  number of hexes, we have introduced a march move allowing infantry to move 2 hexes without battling. If they do so they are at a disadvantage if attacked by cavalry. To add some SYW flavour we dropped the squares and instead cavalry attacking infantry not on the march only hit on infantry symbols to represent the disciplined hedge of bayonets and fire. We also made the drastic move of not reducing firepower with losses as this seemed to favour the offense too much for the SYW. We have discussed other changes but the less we change, the better therefore, so far, that's been enough.

Gratuitous shot thrown in because it is the only one of the new light unit with buff small clothes.

 Minutes earlier there was a unit of Grenadiers in the small farm. Then the Highlanders fired with a bonus and  deadly effect. Instant Kharma in a Kilt.

Old Stuff brought back to life - a post in 2 parts.

My expected winter campaigning season has been quietly fizzling out due largely to domestic priorities crossed with weather. I cancelled today on a planned game with Ron primarily due to a forecast of  freezing rain on the highways, which  didn't quite make it but might tomorrow. However, the day wasn't a total waste. 

Ron had broken out his 25mm SYW Austrians last week to see if C&C Naps could be adapted to fill our requirements. The last time they were out was two years ago for some Portable Wargamess for which I refurbished my old 30mm French.

My 30mm French army trying out Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame in 2011.

The core of this army consists of my first metal wargaming figures. Forty years ago this year I got my copy of Charge! and for my birthday got 2 small armies of 30mm figures from a range designed for the Plains of Abraham. I ordered enough for 3 French companies each painted as a separate battalion plus militia and a gun plus 3 British companies, inc 1 of Grenadiers and 1 of Highlanders and a gun. I also bought every mounted officer Figurines Historiques had to convert into cavalry. I got the artillery, 6 cuirassiers and four infantry companies painted before I was seduced into 25mm ancients. For years the figures languished, beloved ugly ducklings that I would neither dispose of nor use. However, as 25's grew larger and uglier and turned to 28mm, I decided I could bring them back out and even add to them. About 5 years ago I realized it was a bit silly to have 3 French War of Austrian Succession armies (15mm, 25/30mm and 40mm)  with no real opposition for any of them though there were starts on British armies in 15mm & 25/30mm. The result was a sell off of 15's & 25's but the 30's lingered.  

Ron's Minifig Austrians teamed up with my old Old Glory British as the Pragmatic Alliance in 2011.

While discussing the relative quality of the French armies in the WAS vs the SYW and the fact that the Austrians were enemies in the first but allies in the second, Ron reminded me that he had 4 British units that I had given him some time ago and suggested I might want to use them. I had already been pondering adding enough British to do a Cardtable Quebec 1759 game and it suddenly made sense to get  the lads out and see what could be done. Most of the handful of British were on individual bases or had been finally painted up as yet more French to face Ron's Austrians. 

The temptation to rebase everyone onto pennies and play Charge! was fierce but resisted since I was determined to prevent this getting out of hand and the old figures are quite brittle. A few years back I hoped to get into a Ticonderoga game and had ordered some Willie Highlanders to supplement my old ones but I couldn't make it and only 2 figures got painted. Sifting out the most badly broken figures and recovering as many English privates as I was able to, I determined that I could muster 2 British battalions (Black Watch & 58th) in short order if I hopped to it with my Grenadiers being some sort of German auxilliaries until I have time to repaint them. There are enough Willie highlanders for another unit and then I will need to buy or cast 48 more figures to balance out 8 battalions and 2 guns a side. For table top   teasers, there are enough French and Fictional cavalry and light troops to give each side 3 squadrons of heavies and 1 of lights along with 2 light units. 

To be able to do Quebec (with not quite the right units) I will need more Canadiens and some 30mm Indians  but it all looks promising. A purpose in life and completion for my original army, if on somewhat diminished state, 12 man battalions, or even 36 man brigades, being not quite the same as 60 man Charge! Regiments, all without endless options. When I painted the French all those years ago, I ignored the crude nature of the sculpting and used my military modelling skills to shade and highlight the figures as well as doing my best to represent what was often described then as off white or light grey uniforms, all finished with matt enamels. Looking at how much nicer the new glossy, unshaded, Brits look than the dingy, cluttered French veterans, I'm tempted to freshen them with nice new white coats but they are packed in shoulder to shoulder and I may just see what a coat of gloss  does for them.  

   The Highlanders painted 40 years ago and the new lads who waited 40 years for their red coats. I think that was the oldest unit left in the queue. Flocking to follow.

__________________________________________________________________________

In addition to bit of painting and rebasing, I took a look at Spencer-Smith's Willie offerings and checked to see what Historifig had on offer.  Its been a few months since I'd caught up with TableTalk at Historifigs and Mike has been busy posting extracts from old Wargame Digests. Many of you will be up on these already but in addition to an early variant of Grant's wagon train teaser, here are links to  4 articles of particular interest to me. 

Joe Morschauser on using Flat terrain with a gridded game, - I had recently been looking at some flat toy trees with that very thought in mind for 54mm card table games, nice to see his foot prints ahead of me yet again.

Tony Bath with a set of rules for a gridded game with Arthur vs Mordred as sample games, on why wargamers who invent worlds are not lazier than those who copy history, and a set of fast play early 20thC rules.

Well worth a look. (and yes no 30mm F&IW range but some useful Indian and militia types in the 30mm AR range.) 

Turkish Delight (Pt 2)

Having finished the 1st game before lunch and having the whole day for gaming, it only seemed right to play the scenario again, switching sides. At first blush, it seemed a little odd that the Austrians who had successfully held the bridge, should now have to attack it (not that it really matters) but after selecting my defending force and finding that I would have to include two battalions of French, I proposed that the French had landed  behind the Austrians, leading them to withdraw temporarily, gather reinforcements and return in a counter attack.  

The morning mist was still clinging to the river banks when the Austrians arrived.

My army this time was comprised of 6 infantry, 2 light infantry, 2 cavalry and 2 guns, plus of course my command stand.

A roll of the die dictated a 50/50 split so 2 battalions of Keith's Regiment, 2 light infantry companies, a squadron and a gun were assigned to one side, the Turkish infantry and remaining gun and cavalry to the other.  (btw surveying my forces I was slightly chuffed to realize that 51 of the 93 figures were my own originals)

As can be see (rather murkily) in the first picture, Ron arrived on the opposite bank and just slightly farther forward than I had.  His army was composed of 6 infantry battalions, a light infantry unit, 2 cavalry squadrons, and a somewhat alarming 3 batteries of artillery.  I had visions of myself being forced to launch bayonet assaults against the guns to avoid being blown off the bridge. As it turned out, he had some of the same issues that I had had, trying to advance his guns and deploy them under fire while I had so many targets that it was hard to avoid hitting something.  A lengthy artillery duel followed which he eventually won but taking out my 2 guns cost him 2 of his own plus an infantry unit. Two of our batteries manged a simultaneous mutual destruction, reminiscent of Blasthof Bridge and in the end it was pure chance that his last battery took out my last battery before the reverse happened. (more on artillery at the end)

Farther inland, there was some interesting  action involving light troops on the hill. We had a bit of a discussion about lines of sight in the hill, where the crests ran at various angles, and whether or not troops in a hex could claim to be a to the forward edge, shelter behind a crest but still able to fire or if they were located at the center of the hex and thus it units had to be adjacent to see each other unless one was clearly on the forward slope looking at an enemy in the open.  This is one of the double edged sides of the nice rolling Hexon terrain. It made one think of real hills that one knows but of course 25mm miniatures who don't quite match the scale of either the game or the terrain distort what is being represented. In the end, we decided that troops on the hill would count as "not clear" targets since some of them might be in dead ground, in little dips on the hill etc while others might have a line of sight to each other. This seemed to work well.

My light infantry was a threat if Ron tried to bypass me, especially if I moved 2nd and used a double move to strike a weak spot or to move into position hoping for 1st shot on the next turn and with the benefit of the hill would be a dangerous nut to crack in an assault. Mostly we hung back out of range and jockied for position but there was some fighting as I was pushed back across the hill. Unfortunately, the details aren't clear in my memory and the game was too engaging for either of us to have taken pictures (blame Bob). His cavalry was particularly effective at driving back my light infantry as it could threaten a charge from beyond my reach. Eventually, I was forced to either withdraw or reinforce so I sent in my Anatolians (these lads need a name) and in a fierce fight they eliminated an enemy battalion but were themselves destroyed by the melee. I take no unit to task if it stands to its work though I do prefer them to survive. In the end I think we had each lost 2 units but I was still clinging to one corner of the hill.   

In the center, with my guns silenced, Ron rolled forward. The Albanians stood proudly in their way and were shot down where they stood. The Austrians pressed forward into the gap. Would my Turks with their French allies stand firm for the coming musketry duel? Oh CR*P 1/2 of my remaining guys don't have muskets and I'm only 1 unit away from my second loss of the day, while Ron was 2 units away. Deja Vue all over again. Time for a counter attack!   Lancers, spearmen, the Pasha himself, all forward!  Time for the French to step into the gap, En avant!

 

 
Once again the details are foggy and pictures too few. A combined assault of lancers, spearmen and the general, took out 1 unit on the hill, probably the light infantry while on the plain, if memory is clear, Alexander's had stepped forward boldly to block the road and then fate delivered  an initiative flip giving me a double move but with minimal pips. It was enough for Keith's to unleash a deadly  fire into the Austrian Horse Grenadiers. A classic victory pulled from the jaws of defeat. Final tally, Turks 6 units lost out of 13, (2 guns, 2 infantry, 2 light infantry) and still blocking the Austrians line of march, Austrians  7 lost out of 13 and forced to retire (2 guns, 3 infantry, 1 lt infantry, 1 cavalry).

A close and exciting game.

There were to aspects of the rules that I have pondered without deciding that on any changes to propose.

The first has to do with terrain. At  present there is nothing to stop cavalry from charging effectively through the woods or over a rocky hill or indeed, marching at full speed through a jungle. For that matter, one can drag heavy guns through woods as easily as over the plain. The one terrain restriction that was in place, an injunction against crossing more than 1 contour per turn, appears to have been withdrawn, just as I was about to propose that light infantry be exempted from it to reflect their mountaineer back ground, and natives as well. This would give these troops a distinct advantage in their home terrain but I'm not sure its worth the effort in the face of the alternatives.

On the whole, I tend to favour defining terrain when a battle field is laid out rather than trying to enshrine every possible situation into the rules. One could declare, as an example, that this patch of woods here is thick with undergrowth or swampy and impassible to guns and horses  while that patch over there is relatively open and has a broad path and is thus not a movement obstacle although still blocking line of sight and providing cover or that the 2nd countour of this hill is steep and impassible to cavalry and guns. The simplest and possibly most effective way to handle terrain.

The other question is artillery. During the duel, I couldn't help but notice (despite it being to my advantage at that moment) that the odds of missing or hitting an alternate target were greater than the odds of hitting what the gunners were aiming at. I'm not sure that this isn't over  stating the case somewhat.  I  do like that the hex rules only have over shoots, undershoots and hits as opposed to including left and right misses. It encourages linear tactics, punishes dense masses  and seems to reflect the actual problems of observed gunnery better, estimating the range being harder than pointing in generally the right direction. I'm not sure that this is a problem since the guns are effective at pinning when they do hit and any attempt to reduce the number of over/under shoots would cause complications when the target is aligned so  that there are 2 of each. I suspect that this is a case for thinking about and living with rather than tinkering.

Next up, possibly a step back to ancients or a trial of a Grid-Less Portable Wargame, or maybe I'll just use the weekend to work on terrain and troops.

Turkish Delight (Pt 1)

I really only intended to add a unit or 2 of 25mm Turkish Auxiliaries to my 30mm French army, to start with. Honest. But by the time I finished 2 battalions and a battery, looked at the force lists for the scenario that was selected  for this week, and then remembered that I still had a pile of my brother-in-law's old 25mm Medieval troops, including some Saracen/Moorish types, well, it suddenly seemed possible to do it the other way around. OK so a little ragged but I had great fun.

The scenario was #7  from Programmed Wargame Scenarios, "Two Sides of a River". We played the game twice, switching sides at lunch time. Each game having taken roughly 2 hours.

For the first game, Ron's Austrians were on the defence with 6 Infantry units, 1 Cavalry, 1 light infantry and 3 guns!!  (This was one of the army choices I had tagged in case I were to defend.)  A formidable firepower to face for the army I had chosen: 4 infantry units, (2 of them Syrian Volunteer Native infantry with melee weapons), 4 cavalry units, 3 light infantry and 2 guns.  I'll confess that I was a little unsure how to progress. I had lots of maneuverability but had to attack up a defile with a river on one flank and impassible mountains (aka the table edge) on the other. When it came to fire power, I was out gunned 3 to 2 in artillery and 6 to 5 in infantry but I did have an over all edge of 1 unit giving me 1 extra activation die to start with, and, since we had agreed that an army reduced to less than 50% of its original strength, including command units, I could also afford to lose 1 extra unit.  Quickly I devised a plan that  would make the least of these advantages (ok so that wasn't the actual intent).

Haven chosen to come on the wider side, with the river on my right,  I set out my order of march, 2 units wide, cavalry, light infantry, then regular (sic) infantry, artillery, melee infantry and finally a rear guard of cavalry.   Figuring out how to classify units had been a bit of a poser. My aim was to inject some feel of a Turkish army while making the games as well balanced as possible, and allowing me to use the scenario lists without jumping through hoops. We had agreed on a rule for light infantry so that part was easy, I decided that Jannisaries and Sekhans etc would count as ordinary infantry. Any deficit in discipline being made up for by numbers since my 2 ranks of figures probably represent 5 or 6 while Ron's only represent 3. Artillery was one of the stronger arms so I could let that stand, and the native melee infantry seemed reasonable for my levies, again assuming that each unit was a lot of them! (when I get to it, I'll probably mount 18 instead of 12 on a deeper base). When it came to cavalry, I was stuck, many sources suggest  that the Ottoman cavalry  in the 18thC couldn't stand up to European cavalry but at the same time, they seem to have been a major factor
in some of the wars with Austrian and Russia, causing these armies take special precautions  and of course in Egypt they seemed to have impressed the French. I also noted that some sources dismiss a lot of Ottoman irregulars as being useless for anything but skirmishing and plunder, leading me to contemplate calling them  Non-European Cavalry so that when pinned, they would be pinned rather than being forced to charge. Various wargame rulebooks classify them as impetuous however and certainly both Djellis and Mamlukes seem to have been given to rash charges so in the end,  I just treated them the same as the Austrians, assuming again that each unit represent more men than their Austrian opponents and that numbers and superior weaponry (sharp sabers etc) and individual skill balanced the superior discipline and heavier weight of the Austrian cavalry.

  As I started to accustom myself to my new army, I deployed my light infantry in reserve, moved my cavalry out of the way and started t bring up my "proper" troops, the artillery and musket armed infantry. Ron responding by moving artillery and light infantry into an enfilading  position across the river, reminding me of the French at Dettingen, and bring the rest of his infantry over the bridge to form a thick defensive line.
Fumbling a bit, I felt my way forward while Ron advanced his guns and unleashed "artillery hell". I deployed my allied French gun and then moved it to make room for my Turkish gun but Ron's gun across the river smashed it as I ceased fire to limber. I pushed troops up the road but the guns from in front with a thick target  were able to hit whether they were on or over and soon I had pinned units and then my brave Sekhans were bolwed over before they had really had a proper sight of the enemy, let alone fire off a musket. Some foes have no mercy!

At last in a desperate ploy I decided to try trading a cavalry unit for a gun and unleashed my Syrians to gallop up the road a double move. They sabered the gunners then advanced over the bodies, hoping to get the chance to finish off the 2nd gun on their next move. First though, came the Austrian counter attck.

  
Two musketeer regiments wheeled and poured in volleys then the dreaded Horse Grenadiers charged. The Horse Grenadiers would hit on anything but a 5 or 6. Surrounded by 4 enemies, the Syrians needed a 1 to strike back but they had been promised 12 Houris apiece if they took both cannon. The Grenadier rolled...5! the Syrians rolled 1! With loud cries of triumph they prepared to surge forward and take the last gun. Just have to survive one last blast of cannister........ Oh well, 2 losses inflicted for 1 taken. That was better than the 3 losses suffered for 1 inflicted against the enemy artillery and light infantry so far!

By now, losses were starting to cut into my activation dice. Even worse, it was clear that any attempt to push infantry and artillery forward to engage in a firefight was doomed since I was not only outnumbered 2:1 now in terms of fire capable units but I was going to have trouble moving more then 3 at a time vs the enemy given my reduced number of dice and the sorts of rolls I had been getting. Just enough for them to be shot apart by the stronger enemy. The effectiveness of the unsupported cavalry charge gave me pause for thought, My army was strong in cavalry and it could charge from outside musket range. Even better, any artillery fire that didn't kill them before they charged would just spur them on without using up activation points.  I started to bring up my remaining three units and the spearmen. At the head of the Cavalry rode my personal guard, The Valdurian Horse Guards, one of my oldest units, Minifig Rohirrim bought at the Wargaming tent at the Aldershot Military Show in June (iir) of 1974, (my first wide eyed brush with some wargaming greats and the highlight of my Europe on $5 a day, not exactly Grand, tour. Since I had no where to sleep my kind hosts allowed me to roll out my sleeping bag in the tent after the chariot races were over. I sometimes wonder who else had been there that day that I might have encountered since on the web).  A little tattered and battered as they await refurbishment, they were doomed to obscurity over the years by their S range 1/2 armoured ponies, amidst a sea of the new generation of steeds and historical armies. A picture of an armoured provincial Ottoman cavalryman  as I stumbled to fill out my OB. The plan is for them to be remounted on PA Sassinid horses and assigned to lead the resistance to the Medes but for 1 day at least, they were Ottomans and once again were Guardsmen.  

By the time the attack was in place, I was in a tight position, I was only 2 units away from being broken. The storm of musketry and artillery was found In the absence of a clever plan, I need to be both bold and outrageously fortunate. While the cavalry rode in on my left, I sent a lone unit of Spearmen, dog-trotting down the road to throw them selves on the enemy bayonets in a 3 to 4 attack. Could the brave Turks storm through the disciplined musket volleys and crack the line of bayonets to take out 3 enemy units without losing any?

Well, 3 turns later, Rossi Pasha was glad that the French attache was at hand and could be publicly  blamed for his failure to land disciplined infantry as promised. Well, the cavalry had charged bravely and made good stories, the Valdurians had even managed to crack an Austrian unit and survived the following blast of cannister..  True, final losses had heavy, a battery, 3 cavalry units, a spear unit, a line infantry and 2 light infantry units but there  are always more volunteers and mercenaries to be recruited. And his varnish had dried before the firing began!  Not a bad introduction to battle, all in all.
 
  

"But there wasn't quite as many as there was a while ago"

Once again the rules had proved themselves to me. There are lots of areas where looking at thing 1 on 1, a lot of detail, tactics and flavour seem to be missing  and the 1 shot and your dead approach is alarming, but at the macro level, looking at groups of 4 and 5 units over 4 or 5 turns, and if you don't equate removing a stand to being "all dead" but rather to being "combat ineffective" (even if a shattered remnant falls back and rallies stragglers towrds tomorrow's fight) they all fade away and it all works.

 The optimum formation for an 18thC army is in a long line of infantry battalions, shoulder to shoulder with a break here and there for batteries, with  cavalry on the wings, sufficient in numbers to launch an assault or repulse the enemy.  Behind this, there needs to be a 2nd line, stationed at musket range to the rear. Any closer and enemy artillery will cause disruption and losses, any farther and they will not be able to plug any gaps. Light infantry is only really useful for scooting about on the flanks or trying to disrupt and distract the enemy.  I've seen many a set of 18thC rules which has gone to great lengths  to capture period feel and detail but yet failed to make that sort of deployment a natural choice.

Next post, the second battle, the tables are turned and the Turks defend.

Foreign Correspondent reports on Enemy Wargames

 Ral Partha Colonial Egyptian Officer gussied up as Rossi Pasha. 

As Rossi Pasha,. Governor of Hantsia,  reviews his forces, 1 regiment of Anatolian Sehkans, a regiment of Albanians, 1 field gun and 2 regiments of Syrian religious volunteers armed largely with spears, and ponders whether or not the French can be relied on to land troops to assist him against the Emperor, a courier arrives bearing an account of the Imperial enemy carrying out maneuvers barely an hour's march up river.

Prince August Polish Lancer converted to Turkish lancer.

The following report comes via Ron Porter and describes a solo play through of Scenario 8 from Programmed Scenarios, staged as maneuvers between a force of Austrians and English units. In brief, a defender has split his force to try  and guard both banks of a river. The enemy arrives with a goal of pushing past.

 If all goes well Rossi Pasha will get a chance to try his hand at the game tomorrow. and now in Ron's words:

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Well here’s how it went.

Le Duc de Lorraine: 7 Line Infantry, 1 light infantry,1 Dragoon, 1 field gun, 1 howitzer, 1 commander. Total units 12, break at 7 destroyed (5 remaining)

Le Comte de Rhonne: 4 Line infantry (British), 2 Austrian Grenadiers, 1 light infantry, 2 Horse Grenadier, 1 Dragoon, 1 field gun, 1 howitzer, 1 commander. Total units 13, break at 7 destroyed (6 remaining).

Turn 1

Artillery: L’artillerie de Lorraine using counter battery fire the howitzer misses but the 12 pdr destroys the Rhonne howitzer. L’artillerie de Rhonne misses with both guns.

Le Duc rolls 10 action points and decides to provide fire support for the southern bank from the northern bank in case further Rhonners show up on the northern bank. 

Le Comte rolls 6 for activation points and moves directly ahead with the intention of capturing the bridge and preventing reinforcement of the southern bank by Le Duc’s forces. 

Turn 2

Artillery: L’artillerie de Lorraine 12 pdr destroys a British battalion on the southern road, while the howitzer pins the remaining enemy field piece. The Rhonner artillery manages to pin le Duc’s howitzer.

Le Comte rolls 7 activation points and continues his advance. 

Le Duc rolls 5 activation points and manages to destroy another British battalion with fire from the 2^nd btn Pallavicni, while the Pandours on the southern hill destroy yet another battalion. 

Turn 3

Artillery: All of the artillery fire results in pins on the enemy artillery. The only artillery unit not pinned is the Lorrainer’s 12 pdr field gun.

The Conte manages to roll 6 activation points which he uses to order his cavalry forward within double move distance of the Austrian line while continuing the infantry advance. Pic08

Le Duc rolls 8 activation points continues his northern deployments and the musket fire results in the loss of the Austrian Grenadier battalion on the southern road. 

Turn 4

Artillery: More pinning back and forth.

Le Comte roll 5 activation points  he orders the Horse grenadiers and the Dragoons to charge the Los Rios battalions. The fight was split with one Horse Grenadier versus 1 line battalion, and the second Horse Grenadier and dragoons fighting the other. The first melee resulted in a 1 for the Horse Grenadiers and a 5 for the line infantry, so the battalion was destroyed and the HG advanced into their position. The second melee results in a 6 for the Horse Grenadiers and 5 for the battalion, which was a draw the cavalry fell back. I was unsure what to do with the Pandours, they were not the attackers so I did not take a minus on the Grenadiers. They were not the defender as the Grenadiers chose to attack the line battalion. 

Le Duc managed a 9 on the activation roll. The line and the Pandours each fired at the closet cavalry target. Both enemy cavalry units were pinned. Then the Line battalion took on the Dragoons in a close assault, the Los Rios battalion rolled a 6 while the dragoons rolled a 3. The Los Rios battalion was destroyed. I ignored the Horse Grenadier unit as it was not the attacker or the engaged unit. The Horse Grenadier unit closest to the artillery is showing as pinned, but that is out of sequence as it only gets pinned next turn by the artillery. 

Turn 5

Artillery: Lorraine pins the Horse Grenadiers while the Rhonner artillery misses the enemy howitzer but destroys the command stand that had moved up in support..

Le Comte rolls 5 activation points and his pinned cavalry charge towards every enemy in sight. The enemy howitzer, the enemy Dragoons and the enemy Croats on the hill. The Pandours also moved on the Croats in support and as they moved after the Horse Grenadiers they became the attacking unit. The artillery melee results in the dragoons being pushed back from a drawn melee! The Horse Grenadiers (rolled 1) taking out the enemy dragoons (rolled 6). The Croats (rolled 4) were destroyed after the Pandours (rolled 2) attacking with support of the Horse Grenadiers. 

At this point Le Duc de Lorraine decided to move his troops on the northern shore to the southern shore. Rolling 3 activation points he began their redeployment.

Turn 6

Artillery: The artillery fire was ineffective due to the increased smoke cover I guess

Le Conte de Rhonne rolled 6 activation points. This time unpinning both Horse Grenadier (used the unpin and move option) squadrons but allowing the pinned Dragoons to charge the howitzer again. The dragoons (rolled 5) managed to be destroyed by the howitzer (rolled 1) in melee. 

Lorraine gamely pushed on and occupied the bridge.

Turn 7

Artillery: The remaining Rhonner gun destroyed the Lorraine howitzer.

Le Duc de Lorraine rolled 2 activation points and pushed the infantry battalion over to the southern shore, and engaged the Horse Grenadiers. Both sides were 1 away from their break point. How would the struggle be settled? Would the brave Lorrainers manage to prevent the British advance? Would the courageous Rhonners finally push through? NO, nether would happen. The Lorraine infantry battalion rolled 3 while the Rhonner Horse Grenadiers rolled 1. Both units are destroyed, and both sides decide to return to camp! 

As the scenario mission is for the attacker to push through the enemy and exit towards the opposite table edge I am counting this as a minor victory for le Duc de Lorraine.

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