While I'm At Loose Ends .....

It seemed like a good time to tie up a loose end. 

My small, miscellaneous, haphazard, 1/72 pre-gunpowder collection, is a bit of a lost lamb, due originally to nostalgia. At last however, I'm beginning beginning to awaken to some practical advantages it might have in some plausible versions of my future. Since I had no particular "call" to paint any of the waiting hordes of recruits for my acrive collections, or play a game, it seemed like as good a time as any to revisit my ideas about having an emergency or unpleasant future situation where I had to pick one compact 'game in a box' that I could coax potentially non-wargamers into playing as well as playing it solo. A wargame that might be suitable to tempt people without an interest in military history into playing a game, perhaps those who enjoy fantasy movies and books, (LOTR, GofT, etc).

This motley collection was distinctly NOT acquired for this, or any other purpose actually. 

Some might recognize the game pieces from "Feudal". My copy was a present back in the late 70's. It was a time when my collection of miniatures were in storage some 5,000 km away, and I did not know any local miniature gamers. I was reduced to being trounced regularly by a board wargaming friend, and picking up and painting whatever miniatures I could find, the best source being a small card and gift shop where I bought some Armada ships and some Heritage Napoleonics which I converted to ECW Scots to go with the handfull of Minifigs, my first 15's, that I had painted in my cabin on HMCS Otatwa on the opposite coast, a year or so earlier. Board games aren't first choice, but are better than nothing for a social activity. Naturally, I stated painting the miniatures.... I even managed to play a game or two with a friend, bless her heart. Anyway, not long after, I got posted to Halifax and my gaming drought was over, but I kept the figures largely I suspect, for the good memories of those days.

Apart from my first, brief dip back into ACW, my reconnection with 1/72nd came when Hat released the old Airfix Ancient British set. As it happens, I had  received the Britons and Romans on my first Christmas leave from Military College in '72. I broke out Featherstone and played a quick solo game but by next year, Simon MacDowall had arrived and I had a copy of WRG 3rd ed Ancients. Soon, two small airfix armies were learning the ropes. Those armies were long gone and I wasn't  doing anything in 1/72nd, but could not help supporting my local hobby shop by buying the occasional box. So, for nostalgia's sake, I bought the Ancient Britons. 

The last key piece was that I had always yearned for the 4cm Elastolin figures. I used to ogle them at Eaton's and Simpson's at Christmas time but they were well outside my parents' budget. When I found out that a Revell set included  scaled down copies and later found that Orion's vikings included not only copies of some Elastolins, but also copies my old Marx 25mm vikings, well, had to have them!

So that's where the gaggle of pieces came from. At some point, I painted up two small DBA armies as a travelling game, but didn't do much with them, until Rob Dean decided to run a 6 player 1/72nd Dragon Rampant event at Huzzah a few years ago.   Since we've been co-hosting events since the turn of the century, I volunteered to bring 2 of the armies. After that they went back into the cupboard until one hot summer day in 2021 when I took the non-fantasy elements out for a quick solo game. 

That was enough to make me think there just might be a place for them as a 'game in a box' at no expense.  The Horse & Musket era one I built earlier this year is fine, but the attraction for non-wargamers might not be great. Something with a wider audience was needed, possibly something for people who enjoyed Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc, and something compatible with several published rules sets as well as homegrown rules.  

Shouldn't take long to paint up the last few figures, non-human units might be considered later...

And its a wrap!

Well folks........its done!

OK OK...nothing around here is ever "Done" done. There's always the possibility of a tweak or addition of a few extra bits, but the stated objective has been reached. 

Its even got pictures on the side!
(OK, the pictures may cover info about what was originally in the box but, more importantly, they are to remind me what's in this box when in 5 years time, I'm digging in the closest, even if I can only see one box side.)

The box is roughly 11"x 7" x 2" and weighs just under 1 pound. Inside is a painted, gridded battlefield with terrain items, 72 painted figures, rules, dice, and cards: everything you need to play! 
(and NO!, I'm NOT marketing these for sale! ) 

Now what? I'm not sure. 

I'm tempted to put the big version of this on the table or to have another run at a skirmish game, or to play the last game in the Gathering of Host Raid mini campaign, but there's a backlog of non-hobby stuff to do and spring seems to be arriving early. Might just go back to the painting desk with some bigger figures. Something that's actually better if I only do it for short bits of time.

Battle in a Box Played (link to rules fixed 24 Mar 22)

This game was a simple clash of advanced guards with equal forces (2 cavalry, 2 guns, 5 infantry inc 1 elite) on a 9x9 grid. Both sides were tasked with securing the crossroad within 12 moves. An army that lost 1/2 of its units would be forced to concede and retreat. The armies were the newly painted 1/76th (or 1/80th) Red (Dominion of Faraway) and Blue (Oregawn Free State or Rebels). 

Turn 2: The Dominion cavalry have seized the crossroad (imagine them dismounting). 
btw, the walls at the crossroads are actually Marx sandbag entrenchments from my WWI set. 

The rules used for the first game were the 2021 version of the Square Brigadier which was meant for larger armies on a bigger table for 3-4 hour games. That didn't really work so I went back to the original idea of rules for a small game on a grid, tested a rough version, tweaked them a little and finally they were back working the way they were originally intended to work. The revived  Square Brigadier rules can be found here.   (See 2012 Draft for comparison).

Essentially, the active player rolls to see how many groups of units he may move that turn. Units may move OR shoot then both sides resolve combat between adjacent units. With unusual firmness, I resisted the temptation to add more details with formations etc. All that 'stuff' is supposed to be handled by unit commanders, not the general (ie player). Combat, whether long range fire or point blank fire or assaults with cold steel, is resolved by rolling dice to achieve the appropriate score, with a minimum of modifiers.  I dislike removing figures without reducing a unit's combat ability but the goal was a simple game without rosters or markers and, in any case, removing 1 figure from a 4 man unit is not meant to imply 25% casualties! 

As the remaining units arrived and deployed, each side's plan developed. For the Dominion, it was easy, just hang tight and don't get flanked. For the Rebels, a frontal assault would have been difficult so it was either a  matter of roll up one flank while pinning the rest or else bombard the crossroad while  threatening both flanks and keeping a strong reserve with the hope that a last minute, well prepared, charge could take the weakened enemy position before the Dominion could react. Seemed like a long shot to me but.... that's actually how they won the 2nd test game. 

The Rebel's plan of weakening the defense by fire while massing to overwhelm one flank was hampered by rolling low for several turns both for orders and in combat!  

Eventually the dice evened out, but the Dominion had troops under cover and on the objective. 

As the day started to run out, the Rebels launched a desperate attack on both flanks but judging by the dice, their soldiers were exhausted while the Domion troops were exalted! There was nothing to do but retreat. 

Today I went back over the bases, inc the bottoms. Once I add a little bit more terrain, 1 more Red infantry unit, find or make a small, but not flimsy, box to hold all this, and decorate it like a playset with a photo of the figures in action etc, I can call this "a Wrap".

Is it just me or..

 Does the victorious Rebel commander look just a bit smug?

This was the 2nd test game as I re-familiarized myself with the rules (Minnow doesn't bother with rules) and adjusted them to fit the plan. I'll post a report on the 3rd and final test game tomorrow, then it'll be time to move on.

Game in a Box Pt 2

The recruiting, equipping and training is done, the rules have been refreshed, the terrain hastily made up and the table set. 

A small encounter between Dominion forces and Rebels as a new campaign season opens.

This has to be the fastest I've ever gone from the germ of an idea to the first game with newly painted soldiers taking the field. Nine days from the first thought of putting together a 'battle in a box' of some kind to playing the first game (that's a couple of hours of hobby time over nine days) . The first five days were spent examining my options given a $0 budget, the next 4 days saw some 74 figures  painted in roughly 10 hours including minor conversions to over half of them (eg such as removing brims from kepis to make 'pork pie' forage caps etc). Luckily I didn't need to do much research to roughly duplicate an existing collection.

OK, the little guy is not an exact replica but he's a toy soldier not a model!  

One of my first decisions, even before choosing the period, was that I wasn't going to do any complex conversions or any carefully detailed and shaded painting on a horde of tiny (less than 20mm) boardgame pieces that were going to hide in a box with a few outings a year IF they were lucky. My decision to tie the small game to my 54mm collection and backstory, made the whole thing easier. 

The Dominion forces seen from far, far away...

It didn't take long to realize that my eyes, esp my depth of focus and speed of refocusing, and my steadiness of hand has deteriorated again from last winter when I painted up the new Hat 1/72 ACW figures. The toy soldier route was a good decision from that angle but these also remind me of my old Marx Miniature Playset figures.

Some of the handful of least damaged 30mm Marx hard plastic figures from my Over The Top playset.

But enough jawing! I need a bite to eat and then there is a battle to fight! 

(Best get to it before the little blighters start without me!)

Game In A Box Pt1

My first wargame in a box arrived at Christmas  in the early 1960's. It was one of the Marx Miniature Play Sets but, no, there were no rules, just imagination to guide the players. The WWI set came a few years later.

This isn't actually a picture of my set but its the same set.
Thanks to marxwildwest.com for the picture and the delightful site. The figures were 25/30mm-ish hard plastic and came with a printed battle mat. I still have a lot of the pieces and some have even seen action recently.

Prior to Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame, the closest I came was early this century when I assembled two small DBA armies using 1/72nd  figures mounted on 15mm DBA bases (with a little extra depth). Nothing fancy, but they got used a couple of times. With perfect timing, Bob started developing his Portable Wargame not long before I had my heart attack. A game that I could play sitting down at a card or garden table was suddenly of tremendous value to me. The only really portable version I did was a 1/72nd Russian Civil War game that fit into a small plastic tool case, mostly because of the size and thick material of the battle matt. It was last used in 2017 before moving on to a better place. 

1/72nd RCW Portable Wargame. Various plastic 1/72nd figures on a Hotz map.

The carrying case evacuated by the Russians was soon taken over by two 1/72nd plastic fantasy armies for a Dragon Rampant game at Huzzah 2018. Last summer a desire to amuse myself outside came over me, but in the shade while sitting on a chair, so out they came, complete with a smaller, thinner, square gridded cloth that appeared to have materialized out of nowhere. It definitely looks like my handiwork on what is a scrap of my main terrain cloth, I just don't remember when or why I made it!  Fair enough, its a fixture now, though I may paint the other side as well and paint on a river instead of using my painted foam one which tends to slide around.

Hosts gathering for a One Hour game in the sun last summer. (see post).

The grid is composed of 9x9 3" squares which is perfect for laying out One Hour Wargame scenarios at 3/4 scale.  (Thomas's maps represent a 36" x 36" table with one option being 4" wide units.)  Some basic terrain feature are painted on but others can be added and troublesome ones covered over or ignored. It seems like a good fit but of course can be used for any scenario I dream up. It is also a thin material that folds up easily into a small space.

The last thing to decide was: What period? The obvious thing was to use some of my already painted and based 1/72nd ACW troops. 2 infantry or 1 cavalry or artillery stand. Done! .......except........ I don't really need or want another  ACW game. I want something more Kriegspiel/Little Wars-ish with Red vs Blue and no interference from real events and issues. The next obvious thing then, was to put a bunch of the hordes of unpainted ACW troops into some other uniform and let them at it. 

It was at this point that I remembered the unused Battlecry figures which are a bit smaller than Airfix but on big, stable bases. I started thinking about Kriegspiel   and various European armies which led me to think about having to make some terrain that was more European-ish.....and a back story and....suddenly, the choice was made! 

The fictional but existing Origawn Rebellion in 1/72nd was as good a choice as any,  as 'Toy Soldier' as you like. I know the uniforms and there is no mistaking any scenario as history gone wrong. No new terrain to make or background stories to invent. Don't even need to invent new rules when the Square Brigadier has been looking for an "in". No new uniforms for Blue and if the brims of the kepis are trimmed off, the figures easily pass as wearing forage caps.

A sample of Faraway forces in 20mm. In keeping with the original 54mm toy soldier version, I am also painting these as toy soldiers with minimal detail, no shading, and a bit of a shine. 

Recruiting is already in full swing and volunteers are pouring in. 

To Be Continued....

  

Well Sir? Are Your Sappers Done ?

Yes sir! Ready as ordered. You may commence your battle sir.

 No more marking off one third of my table. The trials have been done and done, a decision has been made, tested, tested again, and again, confirmed, and finally carried out.

4'x4' or 9x9 5" squares with a narrow border

If/when I want a larger table for a special game or to test a convention game at home, I'll add a temporary extension.

Now for a game or three!

Filling a Hole in the Line(up)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Garden Encounter 1814

The plan for today did not actually including cutting two dozen bases, re-basing 150 or so figures and playing an outside One Hour Wargame scenario using The Square Brigadier.  That's what happened though.

The New York Dragoons get cocky and are repulsed but the 104th Foot are doomed anyway.

It was such a perfect summer's day that I decided to take the day off house and garden chores. Somehow that ended up with me, an offcut of 1/4" board from a previous reduction in my wargame table and my bandsaw. In no time at all I had a stack of bases already painted green. Since the 1812 figures had only been lightly tacked on temporary bases it took no time at all to pop them off and re glue them in their original 8 man companies. I touched up the edges and decided that flocking could wait.

So there I was with the 20 odd stands needed for Crysler's farm and beautiful sunshine streaming in through the window. I didn't really feel like another refight of Crysler's so decided to grab One Hour Wargames and move the Square Brigadier outside. I intended to still use the 10x12 as close to Thomas's 3ftx3ft  table if considering each square equivalent to 3" allowimng me to field 2 stands per scenario unit but saw my 9x9 travelling mat and decided to grab it and use 1 base per unit just to see if that would work.

The setting: my shady corner between the woodpile and the Lilacs (and other assorted bushes).
Not terribly good lighting for photos at 6 in the evening.

Th scenario was an advance guard clash over a hill in the middle of the table. One unit per side on table and the rest dicing for arrival. Since it was supposed to be Canada in 1814 I added a strip of woods along one edge and assumed an off table river on the other. Rolling for the armies gave me:
Americans: 4 infantry, 1 riflemen, 1 cavalry. British: 4 infantry, 1 light infantry, 1 artillery.

The game started off with the advantage swinging back and forth but slowly started to swing towards the British and then suddenly the American line collapsed.

To my surprise the game went 12 out of 15 turns and lasted 1/2 hour excluding set up and take down. Using the larger board with 12 stands instead of 6 would probably have given a full hour of play but for a quickie it was just fine as it was.

As dusk sets in (OK I'm shading the table with my body) the American forces rout leaving the British in possession of the hill.

In summary: Bases: Check, Rules: Check, Grid: Check, Ability to handle scenarios: Check.
All systems go!

The rules as played are available here (click)

ps.
For those with an interest in history, this game is a direct descendent of this 2011 portable 1812 wargame (click) using my adaptation (click) of Bob Cordery's portable wagame.

Get'em up!

Well, one never quite knows what to expect. Last Sunday, a few hours after playing the first game of a 3 part miniseries using the new Elastolins, I was struck down by a nasty flu bug or similar. By Wednesday I managed to scribble a quick game report (click here to see the report or go to the Gathering of Hosts blog) but that's been it for hobby stuff for the week.

Today I finally felt up to playing something small, simple and seated. Seemed like a good time to break out my old card table set up and some little figures as well as being an appropriate time to give One Hour Wargames another try.  But which period?

A Roscian column makes it way down the road : 4 infantry platoons lead followed by the Battalion (recoiless) AT gun and a Centurion. Their mission is to press on and exit at least 3 units by Turn 15. If not slowed by the enemy the column could accomplish this in  3 turns. Some veteran gamers may recognize the infantry portion of A company. 
(Some veteran 20mm gamers may recognize the make of the infantry portion of the 1st platoon.)

It has been on my mind that after investing time and money in my 'game in a box' 1/72 modern (well they were contemporary when first produced) troops two years ago, they haven't been out since.  Fair enough, I've never tried the OHW WWII rules and these lads are just barely post WWII. Just the thing for today.  I decided to start one of Thomas'  suggested mini-campaigns. I rolled Scenario 6, selected 2 armies and then tried to figure out the best way to fit the game onto my 36"x30" board. The simplest way would have been to fudge the 6" so I decided to mark off an area of 27"x 27" ( or 9x9 3" squares) and reduce all measurements by 3/4. This  gave me a border around the edge to hold off table troops and gaming paraphernalia. I made a quick measuring stick marked with ranges and movement since my brain was still too fuzzy to calculate such things on the fly.

I rolled up 2 armies and, after consulting the curiously jumbled boxes, determined that the Green, or Lilliputian, Army would defend. This army once had a slightly different name but I was having trouble remembering it and since the infantry are largely CtoA copies of the old Britain's Lilliput version of the Herald Khaki infantry I decided that it will work fine. The meant that I would attack with my Roscian or Khaki Army.

At the end of turn 1 the column has taken significant casualties while deploying to attack a blocking force of 2 Green Infantry platoons. Green reinforcements have also shown up, a Pershing, a mortar, and 2 more infantry platoons.  By turn 2 almost every unit is firing with superb fire control, massing their fire for optimum effect. Units started disappearing ....fast!  (Note, the last row of squares is not in play)

Once again it took considerably longer to set up the game than to play it but from the time I decided that I wanted to play something through finding stuff and dragging it downstairs to finishing the game, it did take just under an hour. The Lilliputians did manage to put up enough resistance to slow the Lilliputian advance by 2 turns but it was all over by the 1/2 way mark of the 5th turn as the Roscians exited the board.

Lower die rolls all around would have helped prolong the game but that's dice for you. Having to defend with modern troops in the open, the only real hope for the Green army was the support of their deadly mortar platoon which came into action on Turn 2 and played a roll in all 3 destroyed Khaki units.   At least, not including the initial battleplan, there were actually 2 points in the game when I had to make a decision about moving or shooting. Once for each side.  The rest of the game was win the firefight or die.    If I should replay the game I'll probably let the blocking force infantry entrench.

By turn 3 the Green infantry blocking force had been eliminated and the Pershing was out of range of living targets so it rolled forward  despite having already taken heavy damage. On Turn 4 it took the  combined fire of the BAT and Centurion and the road was open.  The mortar, still firing for all it was worth, took out the BAT  but there was nothing to stop the Centurion and the 2 remaining Khaki Infantry from exiting the board. 

The temptation is strong to add some terrain, switch rules, then play it again. Maybe tomorrow.

Make and Mend

Yesterday was largely occupied with spousal duties which in this case involved a trip to a social event,  not of the wedding variety, an hour & 1/2 away along backroads. Today we gave ourselves the day off. So "make and mend" in modern navy lingo but also in another, older fashion as in making things and mending personal effects.

In my case, my wargames table.

Last year, I set myself the task of building a sit down solo wargame table. Experiments have shown that while various sizes of grid square are best for various things,  4" was the best all around size for me. I also found that while smaller grids could be made to work, 12x12 was the smallest that I was prepared to accept. At the same time, 12x4" was too wide for a sit down table but that  12x9cm was just possible if one stood up to reach the farthest row. It was one or the other so I chose the sit down table and proceeded.  Suddenly I could realized that I could recover some lost wall space for shelves by moving one of my bookcases to the middle of the room and using it to support one end of the table as I had done previously. So I adapted the plan .

Once all was done I was happy with the result but it was painfully obviously that while you could perch on a tall barstool you could not sit comfortably and play. It was also obvious that the table was about 6" shorter than the bookcase it rested on and it didn't take long to realize that with the table being several inches higher and geometry and my shortlegs being what they are, I was no longer able to reach all the way across the table, even when  I stretched my utmost.  So much for the sit down table, I might as well have left the table at 4 feet wide! Ah well. No way to stick the trimmed  bits back, press on.

Several games later I had proved to myself that the table would indeed work but that my suspicions were right. The grid was a VERY tight fit for many units and much, if not most, of my secenery needed adjustment or replacement.  I started thinking whistfully of  4" squares and looking at various scraps lying about waiting and  suddenly I thought "why can't I stick a bit on the side? I already patched back on a 2" wide strip?"

Restored to 5ft x 4ft.
An initial overcoat of paint dulls the old grid and I'm almost ready to start adding a new grid to be followed by detailing later. I need to get it playable by tomorrow night to get ready to host an imminent pbem game.

So that's how I spent the morning.  Luckily, being a pack rat I stil had a strip, never even painted, that I had cut off the original 4x8 sheet when building the 6x8 table in 2009, and some more bits of the 1" pine shelving that frames the top, and some metal brackets from a long gone 1979 water bed. (Did I mention pack rat? Its both nature and nurture)  Needs a bit of crack filling but its had an overcoat of random green and in an hour or so will be ready for the new 4" grid. Its only an extra 2.5sqft or not quite 10% expansion but the modified table looks ginormous to me now even though its the same number of grid squares.

I might not be so hot at planning but improvising, kludging and mending, I can do.

NYW: Junction Pt2

There I was, game all set and ready to play. Since the attackers were presumed to have just spotted the defenders, the latter were granted first move. There seemed no justification yet to move so the 4.7" opened up and blasted the head of the column with 2 hits. That was easy, splendid opening to the game. The unit cancelled 1 hit by falling back but had to take the other. Then it was time for the attacking Free State forces to move......ummmmmm suddenly I had a problem.

I hadn't taken any time at all to consider just  how the force available might carry out their mission and despite having written the rules, I wasn't sure of the unit capabilites in this situation or what the best plan of attack was. In fact I was probably feeling much like the inexperienced little plastic general on the table.

My first instinct was to send the mounted troops through the open country on their right  to turn the Nottinglish flank and cut the road. It was a good instinct but I didn't know when reinforcements would arrive and it seemed like the best bet was to move fast, seize the bridge objective and prevent the Imperial troops from crossing. So, off they went leaving the infantry and guns to handle the rest.

It didn't take long to realize that a defile made the approach difficult and the machine gun in town made it dangerous to approach. Worse, between the river and the hill there was no way to concentrate enough rifle fire on the enemy to drive them away. It would have to be done the hard way.

No sooner was the attack set in motion than the Imperials rolled a 6 and their cavalry appeared. It was going to be one of those days.

A fine mess.

Too late to back out, a unit of mounted rifles charged and to everyone's surprise, drove back the cavalry but not being cavalry could not pursue. On the next turn they charged back in while their supports charged the infantry. Both were repulsed but the enemy had been weakened. With sharpshooters moving up to support the attack and supporting guns and infantry pinning the enemy center, there was not going to be a better time to risk some casualties and press the attack.

Then, above the din of battle, could be heard the clear notes of a bugle followed by the sounds of men singing. "Come on Soldiers of the Emmmmpire. The day of gloryyyy has arrived!" The marching song of the Imperial Marines. (You'll have to imagine the tune, its very catchy, could bring a nightclub full of people to their feet).

In the Nick of Time

.

Rifle fire drove the Imperial artillery back, off the road and ..........into a good firing position, hmm. With the Free State artillery that was supposed to be supporting the attack stalled in the rear and the defenders around the bridge now outnumbering the attackers in that sector, the attack turned into a pinning action.  

The focus switched to other flank where an artillery duel was in progress with honours even. The Colonial Mounted Rifles had been switched to the right to backstop against the first attack but with the gun with its escort now being attacked by 4 infantry, a gun and sharpshooters, they were quickly shuttled back and the 2nd Guards ordered forward as well.

 At this point I seem to have forgotten the camera so here is a wider shot at the same point in time as the last shot.

Before the reinforcements could arrive the first assault rolled in on the gun but was repulsed with losses. Supports were close behind but suddenly the Free State orders dice hit a cold spell. As the supports edged forward piecemeal, the sharpshooters opened a heavy fire on the gun. To relieve the pressure the Guards came forward with the bayonet and were stopped dead by accurate fire. Repulsed, they spread out and returned fire without effect and were forced to give ground to avoid being decimated. Their sacrifice was not in vain. By the time the Free Staters were ready to resume the attack, the mounted rifles had galloped forward to flank it, dismounting, and pouring in a hot fire supported by infantry swinging down off the hill to protect the gun The Free Staters were shot to pieces and forced to give ground.  The general rode forward to steady them but was struck by a bullet.

The sharpshooters continued their fusillade against the 4.7 and forced it to limber and retreat but there was no one to follow up. Taking advantage of the confusion in the Free State ranks, and with the gun safe, the Nottinglish infantry and mounted rifles fell back into dead ground, daring the enemy to come and get them. As the wounded General climbed back into the saddle he contemplated doing just that but his army was battered and now the enemy was in position with equal numbers and fresh units. The opportunity to keep the enemy allies apart had slipped away. He ordered a retreat.

The scene at the end.

What? I had become so used to games ending with 2 men and a dog rallying for a last stand that it didn't seem right to end a game with NO units destroyed.  What could be wrong? Should I renew the assault? The game had already run nearly 2 hours instead of the one I had planned but an extension was possible, I just didn't feel like it. Hadn't it been fun? Yes it had. What were the odds of a final attack succeeding? Slim to nil. Oh. Was that due to the troop mix? The victory conditions? Partly yes and yes. If this was an actual campaign and I was playing the Free State though, I wouldn't throw more men away so why should I do it now? Oh. Ok, that actually worked then.

So was it fair? Since the Free State sharpshooters and mounted rifles were originally Boers I had thought about giving them superior firepower but hadn't, was that a problem? No, they had actually done quite well. Was it just a string of bad luck? The timely arrival of reinforcements? Partly, but, looked at after the fact, it had been a battle plan that was dependent on luck that ignored terrain and the enemy's strengths while minimizing the attacking unit's mobility advantage and the ability of the sharpshooters and dismounted rifles  to win firefights in the open. It also ignored their inability to take heavy casualties.  When the Free State units started taking hits early on, instead of pressing forward to take their objectives before the Imperial troops could arrive, they gave ground to avoid the hits but at the cost of lost time.

In other words, it was a risky plan carried out in a cautious manner. That's not usually a recipe for success even though it came close twice. It was a recipe for a good game though!

Note: No changes were deemed necessary to the Square Brigadier rules (not often I say that!)

NYW|: JUNCTION PT1

Free State cavalry on the march.  
For some reason when I look at this image, I hear the instrumental version of 13 Days of Glory from the opening scene of John Wayne's The Alamo.

This Nine Years War will be what I call a "Narrative Campaign". In other words, no maps, no logistics and record keeping, I just make up a story to explain how we got from the last game to this one. 

For example, the first game was the opener so I did an encounter between advance guards. Since Sawmill Village is an old favorite and only requires 6 units on each side, I prepared that many units. The invading Nottinglish lost so I saw the next game as some sort of rearguard action with reinforcements.

Before I got the game going I decided to make the reactionary forces an alliance. That suggested a game involving two poorly coordinated armies trying to join up with a pursuing force trying to separate them and assume a central position. 12 units a side happened to be what I had available so I started there crossed with the useable terrain on hand.

Up to this point I hadn't even thought about where the Imperial troops came from but if there was a shared border why hadn't the Emperor sent a division or more over the border rather than a brigade of Colonial Marines? 

With one army wearing  red coats and blue pants and the other wearing blue coats and red pants, there also lurks the possibility of a left side/right side sort of tension. I decided that since the armies hadn't actually joined yet that there would not be an over all General and that commanders could not order allied units yet.

An overview of the table at the start of the game.
This table is a mere 1/6 of my main table a couple of years ago. Hmm. 

After some experimentation I ended up with a small town at a T junction. One end of the road running through the town ran over a bridge towards the Imperial landing area while the other end ran off towards the Nottinglish camp.

The Nottinglish started deployed in and around the town. In order to win, the allies have to join up and control the road joining the two camps including the bridge, town and road exit. The on table force is a General, heavy gun, machine gun,
mounted rifle unit, 2 Guard infantry units (shock), 2 infantry units.

The Imperial forces start off table and need to roll a 6 to bring on a unit of shock cavalry. Once that is on they begin again to dice with a 6 bringing on a general, a gun and 3 infantry units.

The Free State forces enter in column on the road. First a commander and 4 units of mounted rifles, already on table then moving on, the General, a 2nd brigade commander, 2 units of sharpshooters 2 guns, and 4 infantry units including 1 Elite. Their goal is to sieze the road junction and prevent the enemy from joining up.

The armies will have an equal number of units but the Allies will have more infantry and artillery if the Imperial troops ever arrive. The Free Staters are more mobile, have better command control and will be more concentrated with a bit of luck. They also have a faster force which can hold its own or better in a shooting match but which is weaker on the attack in melee. Since so many of the figures are Boers I thought about giving them superior firepower but decided to go with the basic unit types from the rules trusting that they would work as is.

Burghers Sir! Dozens of 'em! Bugler, sound Alarm!

Next post, the game!

The Little Nine Years War: The Story So Far

Yes, I know, I said the next post would be that Crysler's Farm report and it will come, it was a good game and deserves something,  but there were ideas in my head, new troops to paint, old ones to refurbish, terrain to prepare, rules to clarify and a card table game to play. In due course, after checking for painting information in Andrew Rose's guide to Toy Soldiers as well as Kannick, Funcken and others, ransacking the cupboard for surplus painted ACW and Zulu war infantry to refurbish and looting the nascent Boer War project, I was ready to begin a late 19thC Cardtable Campaign using The Square Brigadier as rules. (Essentially a late 19thC version of the 20thC one ).  The rules will appear as a blog page before long.

The game took somewhere between 1 and 2 hours to reach a final, surprise, conclusion and turned out to have just the sort of look and feel I have been working towards since deciding to do a permanent downstairs card table game, based on  Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame with an improvised ACW version of Sawmill Village, back in November of 2012 .

And so dear readers, let me take you back 130 odd years, to a land far away......

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King Egbert, ruler of the small island Kingdom of Nottingland was, through his mother, the grandson and rightful heir of the Duke of Hungover, an even smaller Duchy on the coast of the Mainland. Unfortunately the good Hungoverian burghers got tired of paying taxes to someone who didn't work for a living and didn't conduct public policy in a way to maximize the wealth of his subjects. After a heated public debate, the Council proclaimed that the Duchy was now the Hungoverian Free State and asked the old Duke to please hand over the keys to the treasury and ducal palace and retire to his country estate. He chose instead to take a fast ship to visit his grandson. Shortly after an Nottinglish fleet appeared off the coast. The Council called the citizens  of the Free State to arms and with just a roll of the drum, the Nine Years War was begun.

The initial Nottinglish landing party, commanded by Brigadier Steele, consisted of the 1st or Grenadier Guards, the 2nd or Fullstream Guards, the 1st & 2nd Infantry battalions, a machinegun battery and a 4.7" gun with Royal Marine Artillery crew. (Please note that the tail of the column which snakes up the side of the board is technically off table following the small, unmarked path)  

The Hungoverians did not at the time have a standing army, apart from the  City Guard, but the Customs and Internal Security departments maintained several well trained paramilitary units. There was also a strong tradition of citizen soldiers  with the rural gentry and their tenants providing Mounted Rifles, the City Volunteers providing artillery as well as garrison troops and villagers everywhere being expected to turn out parties of riflemen for local defense.

The armies clashed at the little town of  Grant's Mills. Moving quickly, the mounted Burgers seized the town and their accurate fire forced back the MG but its return fire soon drove them from the town. 

The Hungoverian Infantry was slow to follow up and the Nottinglish Guards pushed forward seizing a farm on their left as well as the center of the town under the cover of their heavy artillery. The City Guard was at hand though and pressing forward through a horrendous storm of shell and bullets, took back the town in a fierce hand to hand struggle,  wiping out the stubborn 1st Guards.

As the Hungoverian City Volunteer artillery deployed between the town and the farm, an assault by the Nottinglish line infantry took back the town  despite heavy losses. A counter attack by mounted Burgers  and City Guards was wiped out  but their own losses were heavy. A final counter attack by the Border Police  took back the town and Brigadier Steele was forced to order his last Guardsman to cover the retreat of the artillery.

The battle was over but the war was just begun.

Upstairs, downstairs, in my Lady's chamber.

Well, maybe I won't play wargames in her chamber but the puzzle has been solved and I am on my way again to be able to play upstairs, downstairs and outside on a summer's day.

A conundrum that has been befuddling me since November of 2012, how to play upstairs and downstairs and have both 40mm/1/72nd toy soldiers from the same era without duplication, has just been resolved, and in a good way. Amazing what inspiration you can find in a Junkyard and in a Hermit's closet.

A quick swap and my 1/72nd forces once again include Guards, band and colour party, and Foreign Legion. Not sure when I last saw my old ones, might be more than 40 years. These ones have not been repainted or even touched up, just quickly based up Battle Cry style to see how they look on the card table gridded board.

Seeing the Wargame Hermit's 15mm traditional style toy soldiers based on Peter Laing conversions got me thinking about the old Airfix Guards. Why I'm not sure since I've been planning to do 40mm ones to replace my actual old Britain's but it did and next thing you know I now have a bunch plus some Foreign Legion. I just have been  unsure what to do with them. Given the few hundred ACW figures on hand, the obvious answer was to go the British involvement in the ACW route but that treads so closely on the Atlantica Red vs Blue heels that I didn't want to go there. I especially didn't want to go there since it is shaping up more as a middle school historical wargame project than as a game of toy soldiers.

The Atlantica campaign as also been losing its 'playing toy soldiers' feel again despite glossy paint jobs and a fictional setting. OK, apparently I enjoy the game of toy soldier thing now and then but not quite as much in its purest form (as in firing matchsticks) nor as my main thing. So the first question to be resolved was what to do with the ACW (Airfix Conundrum Wargame)? Ditch them? Nope. Change my mind again and put Atlantica and the Warof 1812 back to single figures skirmishes? Nah, can't seem to stay there. Do the same thing with both and the heck with it? Seems counter productive. Find some way to differentiate even if using the same rules? Maybe. I started off by comparing a brigade of each.

Two brigades both of 3 regiments each roughly 4" wide. 36 x 40mm figures vs 54 x 20mm ones.Yeah the little guys look a tiny bit more like a line and could fit better into realistic  terrain if  I were going to make it but wargame wise they are replaceable, same foot print in terms of grid squares occupied, same size of battle. Not the answer.

The possibility of using small units of the smaller figures on the small downstairs grid (ie the 2012 Plan B before receiving a generous donation of painted figures more than doubling my armies) crossed my mind but that would only use a quarter of the existing armies without touching the ones still in the cupboard awaiting refurbishment. So I turned my mind to ground scale and last year's Picket's Charge game. Here there was promise, if I were to skip the grid and go with brigades at a 1 stand=300 men ratio, I could easily find myself able to fight all of Gettysburg on a 5x10 table in my garage in a few years or any number of corps sized actions upstairs. There is something worth doing separately but not much room for those Guardsmen.

Then I looked at the village posts on Norman's Junkyard Planet blog and a little later at the latest post on the Stronghold Rebuilt. Aha!  I had thought of using my 20mm Boers on the little table but it didn't seem roomy enough for the veldt, and I have been trying to figure a way to squeeze in some European style towns and villages into an Atlantica setting, as well as a way to rescue my version of a card table game. There it is in a nutshell! I have  some Guardsmen and all sorts of excess painted and unpainted 1/72nd plastic figures and know where to get more if needed plus matching metals. Each army only needs around 50-60 figures to build all the units to handle any CS Grant Teaser including the occasional unit of engineers etc.. It just needs a new  fictional background.

Suddenly I am left with plans for fewer than 12 collections, including both major and minor, all under way and with built in scope for handling any butterflies that may alight without upsetting any apple carts. Lovely!

In the meantime, Crysler's Farm has been fought once again but that's another post.