A Game! A Real Game! With A Live Opponent!

Yesterday I made the hour+ drive across to the Atlantic coast for a game with a longtime wargaming friend, also an ex-Montreal Wargamer.

A pregame overview.

Not only was it good to catch up, but it was good to once again fight with masses of little guys (15mm) on a table (roughly) twice the size of my current one.  Good old 'Reinforcements on Table' from  CS Grant's 'Scenarios For All Ages' was set up and waiting for me. A favourite chestnut which we've played many times over the years, in various periods and scales under multiple rules.

15mm Napoleonic was one of the era's/scales where Ron had one side and......... well, I don't have any 15mm armies anymore and no one else was coming, so, he had improvised an Hungarian revolution scenario. Having a bit of 'equality of man', anti-establishment, etc, etc, blood in me, I called dibs on the Hungarians.   

We started off trying the Portable Napoleonic Wargame but it just wasn't our style so we fumbled a bit and then improvised a variation on Battlecry, quick and easy. Instead of the ACW card deck, we just rolled a die DBA fashion to see how many formations we could move that turn and used the Battlecry dice for combat resolution. Worked like a charm. 

The bold Hungarian artillerymen open up and score hits with their first salvo.

Ron managed to take most of the hill with his first attack but in his hurry to take ir before my reinforcements arrived, combined with low activation dice, his 2nd line lagged behind, giving my reserves time to march up, deploy and recapture the bit of ground that he had taken. Ron's 2nd assault was "this" close to retaking the ridge and breaking my army but the dice liked me that day and I held most of what I held by the skin of my teeth, and then my last reserve blasted his centre away and retook the crest. VICTORY!

Not many better ways for a fellow of my age to spend an afternoon.  

Shaping the Battlefield

 "Waste not, want not", that's  an old saying that reflects how I was raised. 

I bought many feet of pine boards for use as display shelves 15 years ago when we bought this old farmhouse. A few years later, after I retreated into my current room and sold off or gave away over half of my miniatures and toy soldiers, some of the shelves became various rectangular hill shapes. Now they are beginning to morph into vaguely hex shaped hills as I prepare for battle.

Some of the joints are a little iffy if used to make multi-piece hill complexes, but they work fairly well as stand alone hills and the joints can always be disguised with a little scatter.  

Note that deployed units will face the point of a hex giving them 2 frontal, 2 flank and 2 rear hexes.
 Road columns will face a side and have 1 frontal, 2 flank and 3 rear hex sides.

The new and adjusted bases need a lick of paint, and I'd like to add a new unit or two and get the field hospitals ready and based if I have time. Once that's done, or Friday regardless, the troops will deploy and the dice will begin to roll.

I also clipped my cavalry bases to fit the hex grid, and rebased the guns.

 My initial thought is to start with a small "advance guards clash late in the day" scenario and then follow it up on the weekend by a larger pitched battle with positions determined by the advance guards' clash.

Awright You Slovenly Hexes! GET IN LINE!

 If only Colour Sergeant Bourne had been here to give me a hand. Oh well, we do what we can. Luckily, I have a high tolerance for disorder, so this grid will do for now.

"The enemy is nowhere near General, so push your Division forward with all speed"
(Note the remains of the last of my hex shaped hills from 9 years ago)

I could try to explain my clever plan to make sure the grid did not go askew by laying down a series of parallel dashed lines across the table, marking the alternating vertical sides  then laying down a similar series of parallel lines at 6o degrees then finally reversing direction and doing it again, all while measuring from one side since the board is a mishmash of pieces and neither totally even nor quite square. I could , it worked for the first bit but then I went for supper, and.... yeah, we'll draw a curtain over things.

Luckily the board is make shift and has been repainted numerous times in an irregular fashion which made it easy to block out the wonkiest bits (technical term) and redo things. It won't win any awards for accuracy and precision but I think its functional. 

Now to start tackling hills, I think I can now manage something functional although my wood cutting tools and skill are not up to the sort of rolling terrain I could do with a hex mat laid over shapes. Always good to leave some possibilities for the future. But first, it needs to be tested and I believe an ACW game is in the queue.

 

Gratuitous close up.

The Nine Year Hex

 By 2009, playing on Ron's Hexon covered table was having a strong impact on me. After a year of experimenting with  a 3" gridded Hotz mat, I broke down and hand drew a 4" hex pattern on my table and made some so-so hex hills. After  9 years of experimentation with various square grids (much easier to make hills), and occasional reversion to no grid, the hexes are back!  

June 2011: First battle on my newly hexed table: (link) (using an early version of the Portable Wargame)

Four Inch Hexes work for the Little Guys

 

and for the big guys! (Hence the decision to stick with 4 figure "companies".)

They even work for skirmish games!

At least this will be true once the table is fully covered and ready for a game.

We have work to do!!

The Aroostock War: Fierce Battle for Rebourne Ridge

5 June 1839.
Near the Maine-New Brunswick Border

It was late when General Ross arrived in Kornerton. His orders were clear, if the Americans cross the border, they are to be stopped before they reach Kornerton. A scouting report confirmed that the American army was still on their side of their border and having fought Brother Jonathon  15 years ago, he didn't expect them to in  a hurry come morning. Ordering 2 companies of Fencibles, a troop of Light Dragoons and a field gun onto Rebourne Ridge, he ordered the rest of his force billeted with orders to be ready to march at dawn. Another troop of light dragoons, a company of Victoria Rifles,  another of  New Brunswickers, a 2nd field gun and his main reliance 2 companies of Elite British Infantry, one each from the Royal Scots and the Young Buffs.

As he waited for the mist to clear, General Scott reviewed his dispositions, he was mightily pleased that his boys had managed the night march and deployment in perfect order. On his left was a company of the Bangor Rifles supported by the 3 companies of the 1st Infantry with 2 companies of Maine Volunteers behind them, willing enough but completely without discipline and liable to run at the first cannon ball, best to keep them out of harms way. Astride the road were his 2 field guns and to their right were 2 companies of the 2nd Infantry support by 2 of the the 3rd. On his far right were 2 troops of Dragoons and 1 of Volunteer Light Horse. Nothing fancy with this lot, straight up the middle, and as fast as possible, that was the ticket.
As the mist cleared, he ordered his guns to open fire.

The gane on Turn 3. The white markers are "Pins", the red markers are "Hits". It didn't take long to realize that since I was using single figures, I didn't need to mark hits, I could just take figures off. (duhh) 

The battle was of course,  C S Grant's "Reinforcements on Table" scenario. The British (or rather the Anglo-New Brunswick (New Brunswick not being part of Canada at the time) Army, opted to take 2 Elite infantry units (6 sp) in place of 3 Average units (also 6 sp). The Americans have replaced 1 Average unit with 2 Militia units. In theory each battalion is represented by 2 or 3 eight man "companies" (units) but no Battalion Integrity rules are in place. I'll keep battalions together where practical but it was not uncommon in North America to find battalions scattered into detachments so I'm not worried about it. The choice of forces meant that the British started with  5 Activation dice while the Americans had 6.

The rules in use are Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame including his new terrain rules supplemented by my proposed troop quality and roster rule and the Light Infantry rule used by Ron Porter and myself. All infantry has a range of 2 hexes except for the 2 Rifle companies which have a 3 hex range.

It wasn't long after the American advance started that I noticed again an interesting effect of the Activation Dice. You can't attack everywhere at once and you can't bring up reserves from far away while pressing an attack. This harkens back to periodic discussions  about why entire armies didn't often attack at once, Napoleon at Waterloo for example. The PW doesn't explain it but it certainly duplicates it, something that both Generals Scott and Ross failed to take proper account of initially, even though they both knew better. (yes it was a solo game.)

The British gunners, fooled by the mist perhaps, twice managed to pin a US unit but other than that failed miserably to do any damage. The American guns however,  hit, pinned then destroyed the British gun in short order and then started trundling forward to provide close support. The British infantry back peddled to belatedly take up  reverse slope positions, using up scant Activation Points. The plan was to cross back over just before the Americans started to climb the ridge, they waited just a  bit too long though and were left with a choice of waiting until the Americans topped the ridge and attacked down hill into them or  crossing over and launching a charge against 1 of the 4 approaching American units. Easy choice, the Victoria Rifles were now deploying onto the ridge so the New Brunswickers charged up and over the right hand corner of the ridge, catching the Bangor rifles off guard. With the Rifles being Light Infantry with a melee value of 3 and with the advantage of +1 for attacking downhill, it was an easy victory. 1 down, 3 to go.

 
A brisk firefight between the Victoria Rifles, the Fencibles and the 3 companies of the 1st Infantry supported by over head artillery fire, resulted in the surprisingly quick destruction of the Victoria Rifles, allowing a company of the 1st to top the ridge just as the Royal Scots deployed. onto the reverse slope.  A prolonged fire fight ensued with the Fencible company eventually succumbing leaving 3 1/2 strength US infantry companies to climb the hill.

On the other flank, the 2 cavalry forces eyed each other warily. The Americans had thought of doing the customary push to try and catch the British on the road (lets just say that this isn't the first time I've played this scenario), but they couldn't spare the activation points for a co-ordinated assault without cutting back one section of the main assault. The British unlimbered a gun and tried to goad  the Dragoons into charging but each turn that they showed signs of restlessness (ie were pinned) a point was found to steady them.
 

At last, as the American center closed with the hill, the 2nd company of Fencibles, faced with the same problem as their comrades, chose to leave the cover of their wood on the reverse slope and charge down on the Americans before these could surround them. With a +1 to their dice, the odds were excellent of taking out an American unit with a reasonable though not good chance of survival. The 3rd US infantry had lagged well behind though and the sacrifice should allow the British infantry to retake any lost ground. Well, "anything but a 6 " having its usual effect, the 2nd US suffered 1 hit and survived while the Fencibles, were not just thrown back but destroyed. C'est la geurre. The Americans continued to push forward all along the line.

Fire from the woods hit the Lt Dragoons and these spurred down the hill into their counter parts. 1 hit aside meant that the attack was repulsed. On the left, the fire fight continued with the Royal Scots holding off 4 American units but slowing taking hits and eventually being overwhelmed by enemy fire. I nearly declared an American victory at this point since the British had lost 5 out of 11 units while the US had only lost 1 out of 15 and held the objective. But, I hadn't really had a chance to see the Elites in action, so I pushed on. (The militia were rightly hiding at the back of the board providing moral support and counting towards activation dice without having to use any so I didn't expect to see them in action).

On the right, the Light Horse noticed that the New Brunswick infantry had left the gun to continue its march to the hill. Putting spurs to horse they galloped down on it. 2 dice for 4 or less vs 2 dice looking for 1's. They lost a hit but took the gun. Before they could gallop off though, the general, a company of infantry and a troop of Light Dragoons swarmed down on them and dispersed the remainder.

Back on the hill, the Buffs stormed up the hill into the woods, supported by the still pinned Light Dragoons. A fresh elite unit with 3 dice at a minus for the hill and another minus for the woods vs a 1/2 strength unit facing two attackers, so 3 dice for 1,2  vs 1 die for a 1,2 or 3. Odds were good for a bounce with few casualties on either side but they did it. 1 hit for the Buffs, none for their opponents and so they climbed into the woods.

  OK so technically there are no rules for capturing colours but I sensed a photo op.

Finally, at long last,  the Americans dropped an activation die!  As the Buffs charged downhill into a US field gun and a flurry of cavalry charges finished the rest of the cavalry on both sides they dropped another but it was too late. The 3rd infantry charged into them from the rear supported by 2 companies of the 1st but despite causing 2 hits they were repulsed as the Buffs still were not dispersed. Rallying they returned to the fray and finished the job. With the Anglo-New Brunswick force reduced to a General and 1 infantry company. I called it a day.

From my point of view, the new optional rules worked like a charm. They added depth to the game and reduced to randomness a bit while still allowing chance a significant roll. They also made quality of troops an important but not omnipotent factor.  Past experience has shown that doubling the force levels would have had a similar though not identical effect as the 2 hits per stand, taking some of the sting ought of "lucky" pot shots giving some depth  to both attack and defence on a mid-size table but this game was already a comparable size to all but 2 or 3 1812 battles so doubling the number of units causes other issues.  More units also would address the ability of some units to seemingly take more punishment (though a -1 to hit or a saving throw might).

On the whole, I'm happy to plan on using the Portable Wargame with this optional rule for my 1812 and Aroostock battles.  Very much like the feel of my original Morschauser Meets MacDuff but with a better activation system and the hassle free ease of hexes.

I like the idea of 3 "company" battalions but given that a few of the battles call for 8 battalions a side, I think I'd better plan on using 2 units per battalion. If I were to put the figures on 45mm square bases, I could squeeze 6 figures per base, shoulder to shoulder giving a 24 man battalion, (2 units, 4 bases, 2 bases per hex) but I for now I'll leave the figures on their single bases which will give me 8 men per unit. I can always paint up 3  such units per battalion and use all 3 for skirmishes and cut it back to 2 for the bigger battles except that if I drag a game to a convention, I could use a 6x10 table and have room for armies of over 30 units aside. With 3 or 4 players per side, this would easily be playable in a typical 3-4 hour convention time slot.

Now what about all those drummers I painted for use with MacDuff? Well, whether or not its permanent, my short term memory is not what it used to be and I have trouble tracking  how many activation points I rolled and how many I used, especially when rolling 4 to 6 dice.

 
Simple, (though I need to paint a few more drummers so the 2 sides don't have to share) when I roll my activation dice, I pull one drummer, trumpeter, bugler etc, from the pool for each point rolled up. I then execute an unofficial planning phase, placing 1 drummer beside each unit  that I plan to activate (2 if they will be using 2 points, cavalry that I intend to move twice  for example). As I activate each unit, I replace the drummer  to the pool. Easy peasy, no over usage of points, no activities missed (or almost none, its a good idea to paint drummers in bright, reversed colours...), no brain strain.  

All in all an enjoyable game. Hats off to Bob!

Good stuff!

Shapes and Colours

It occurred to me as I contemplated patterns for drawing hexes, that if I'm not drawing full hexes, it wouldn't really matter if some of them were a little bit wonky. The table would still be split into areas with the right overall patterns. A half inch here or a few degrees there wouldn't matter, the distance would still be 3 hexes and within the hex pattern defining a certain arc.  While on one of my morning walks, it also occurred to me that the surrounding fields and pastures are full of variations and especially little lines of colours where a bit of taller grass grows in a damp patch or where a path has been trod and so forth.

A row of hay that got missed in the foreground, line of bushes between fields in the background.

 A track, a stream and pond too small to play a role in anything but a skirmish game and some bushes, all good hex angle or side markers.

Another line of bushes (and trees) between fields. Very common here and in the areas where many of the War of 1812 battles were fought. 

Yellow flowers (ok weeds for those who don't care for dandelions amidst other wildflowers) help change the colours of the field in the foreground vs the one in the back, beyond the ubiquitess dark green line of bushes.  

Its times like these that I wish I had a stronger artistic bent and some training, or at least that my sister lived closer to advise me. As bright a green as my table seemed to me when I painted it, its still too dark but the  only things as bright as the brighter green that I highlighted with, were some patches of ferns that I passed. More tans and yellows are needed with dark green.....hmmh.... highlights is not the right word, darker contrasting patches.  Of course, this is all for a Spring table. Many of the 1812 battles I'll want to fight took place in the Autumn so really a lot of yellows, browns and tans suitable for dried grass and dead leaves ought  to predominate but I'm not going to repaint my table for every battle so will settle for something suitably bucolic.

A soft medium/dark green paint would have been good but I was in my usual "Irregular D" uncontrolled advance mode and started with what was to hand, a green felt pen. Anyway, perhaps this fall I'll repaint the base coat and start over again but for now, I'll just keep slowly working on  it and experimenting with colours in between some test games. The goal is to breal up the monotones and to have the hex grid clear enough to play in but not as "in your face" as a clear printed grid.

8 singly based 40mm figures fit comfortably. If based shoulder to shoulder on multi-figure bases, 12 figures per hex should work for the Scruby, Zinnbrigade and my own homegrown figures should I wish to go that route. I need to determine what a "unit" will be for the War of 1812, I expect about 1/2 or 1/3 a battalion or 200-300 men.

25mm Persians experimenting with a proposed 3 x 60mm bases per unit, occupying 2 hexes. If this works, it would allow the use of existing 25mm troops without rebasing onto something "odd".

I also forgot for a short spell, to stop  and measure to make sure that my template wasn't creeping too far off true. Oh Well, once the clouds of smoke start drifting across the field, no one will notice. If I get some hills cut this afternoon, tomorrow, I"ll roll some Dice!