MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013

A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers.

Glamis Castle - birthplace of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

Sadly the lead up to Xmas this year in Scotland has been very windy and wet so no pleasant scenes like this.   I plan to take Mrs Gilchrist on a trip to the castle when the weather improves.  Glamis Castle is not to far a side trip for anyone going to the wargame shows at Forfar and Kirriemuir.

28mm AWI Reinforcements

I have rebased 6 of my British AWI commanders to make them similar in style to my Patriot commanders.  They were previously based singly on 40mm diameter mdf bases but I have now based them on 60mm diameter bases as vignettes incorporating some foot figures that I picked up from a friend. They are a mixture of Front Rank, Old Glory and Perry figures - here are photos of 4 of them.



Front Rank commander and Perry? foot

Old Glory Highland officer and Perry? foot

Front Rank British commander and Perry foot

Old Glory commander and Perry foot

I left my new camera at my latest game so I  used my trusty old Canon A620 for these photos. My next game was planned to be a huge 25/28mm ACW game of the Battle of Cedar Mountain being hosted by RAF Leuchars club but I could not get there as I had to repair the roof of my garden shed.

28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN 2 GAME 3 – ACTION AT SWAMPY BEND

On Saturday Dave Paterson and I played the third game in our second Maurice AWI campaign – the Action at Swampy Bend.   Here are the forces for the game. 

BRITISH ARMY
8 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS
Notables – De Vique, Kershaw

Patriot centre in distance British on ridge and along fence line

 PATRIOT ARMY
3 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
9 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, SKIRMISH, PROFESSIONAL TRAIN
Notable – Laurent Van Hussen

Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

Patriot riflemen get into action with their opponents

We used the Eve of Battle pre-battle system by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to try to give a greater variety to the games with special events, weather, terrain and additional troops.  This determined that I was the attacker and that Dave actually moved first. 

I deployed 2 units of irregulars on my left flank facing the swamp and Dave deployed 3 irregular units facing the swamp.  My other 2 irregular infantry units occupied my far right flank facing a single unit of Dave’s.  Dave positioned his conscript infantry occupying the long ridge on his right centre with his trained infantry along a fence line on his left centre.  I massed my main body to attack the long ridge and held back my right centre.

Main attack on the ridge line

At the start of the game I moved my Patriot irregulars on the left flank into the swamp  to engage the end of Dave’s line.  I moved my main force to attack the conscripts on the ridge and started a major firefight.    At one point I held both firefight cards, both dense smoke cards and a lethal volley card.  This good luck enabled me to hold my own against the superior British ability to rally and I thought I was at least equal in the firefight.  Sadly at the key point I threw 24 volley dice in one turn and scored not a single hit.  After that my force steadily went downhill as Dave brought his regulars across the fence line to engage my right but it was still a tough fight. 

British cross fence line to engage my refused left flank conscripts

When my army’s morale broke we had both lost 7 units but most of Dave’s were artillery or irregulars whilst mine were regulars.  Another hard fought and enjoyable game.  Photos from this battle with descriptions are on flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157638222458633/

1/600 NAVAL: HELIGOLAND 1864

This week’s game at the SESWC was something different as it was a playtest of my draft rules for Ironclad warfare 1860-79 but the game actually did not involve any ironclad ships. It was a refight of the Battle of Heligoland 9^th May 1864 from the 2^nd Schleswig-Holstein War fought between a Danish squadron and a combined Austrian Prussian force.  It was the last significant naval battle fought by squadrons of wooden ships and also the last one involving Denmark.

 

The big ships in action - Danes doing well - as  Radetzky steams on in confusion...

The idea for the game was Angus Konstam’s who wanted to test the rules with unarmoured ships and it let him get his collection of new ships for the battle provided into action.  The 1/600 scale models are all by Thoroughbred Models of Portsmouth Virginia. In the battle 3 Danish ships faced two Austrian ships and three pretty but very puny Prussian gunboats.  Here are the forces:

Denmark

Niels Juel 42-gun screw frigate
Jylland, 44-gun screw frigate
Hejmdal 16-gun screw corvette

Austria

Schwarzenberg, 51-gun screw frigate
Radetzky 37-gun screw frigate

Prussia

Preussischer Adler, 4-gun paddle steamer
Blitz, 3-gun 350-ton gunboat
Basilisk, 3-gun 350-ton gunboat

 Here are some more photos of the action.

Austrian squadron - the big hitters in the combined force

Prussian gunboats - the Blitz fires opening shot in the engagement

The brave Blitz has struck after being smashed by fire of the Danish frigates.

We had 5 players and they all agreed that the rules worked.  I initially thought the action would be over 5 minutes after the first gun was fired we actually played for 2 and a half hours.  At the end the only ship fully in action was the Austrian Schwarzenberg in action even though her captain the renowned Tegetthoff had been struck down. On its side the 2 small Prussian gunboats Blitz and Basilisk had struck while the other two Austro-Prussian ships had broken off from the action.  On the Danish side the valiant fighting Niels Juel had struck whilst her 2 consorts were breaking off.

The game showed me that a few more changes to the rules are needed to further clarify what a ship can do once it has decided to break of the action and to slightly amend the damage control tests.  Angus will be producing a more full account of the game on his Edinbugh Wargames blog at
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2089.htm
Bart Zynda has put up a report of the game on his blog at
http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/helgoland-1864.html

28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN 2 GAME 2 – ACTION AT FOREST HEIGHTS

On Saturday Dave Paterson and I played the second game in our second Maurice AWI campaign – the Action at Wooded Ridge.   Here are the forces for the game. 

BRITISH ARMY
8 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS
Notables – De Vique, Kershaw

Patriots engage the fenceline

PATRIOT ARMY
5 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
7 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, SKIRMISH, PROFESSIONAL TRAIN
Notable – Laurent Van Hussen

Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

Patriot irregulars mass on British right flank

We used the Eve of Battle pre-battle system by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to try to give a greater variety to the games with special events, weather, terrain and additional troops.  This gave me 2 trained infantry units and Dave an elite unit.  The system also determined that I was the attacker and Dave’s elite unit was delayed.

I deployed my 4 units of irregulars on my left flank facing the wooded heights and Dave deployed his irregular cavalry facing the heights while his irregular infantry occupied 2 woods on his far left flank.  We both deployed our infantry and artillery in the centre mainly keeping the trained troops in the front rank and the conscripts in the second line however the units on my right flank which I was intending to hold back were all conscripts.

Deployment and initial Patriot advances

At the start of the game I moved my Patriot irregulars thru the woods on my left flank to engage the end of Dave’s line.  Dave bombarded my main force twice and then I advanced with my centre and left and engaged his troops along the fence line.  The superior British ability to rally meant that they were winning this fire fight and as I lost a couple of units I decided to withdraw and reorganise.  Once I had rallied my troops I used the confusion card to move a Brunswick unit in Dave’s army forward into my range.  Dave countered this by moving his main force forward over the fence line to join the Brunswickers and we began another general firefight. 

Brunswickers march forward in confusion

British cross the fenceline and bring on 2nd general firefight

We both suffered losses and Dave was clearly still winning so I again moved my centre back to recover.  Dave followed up and once he suffered some losses his force began to fragment.  I decided to attack on my left and this steadily broke his right wing.  He forced back my centre and destroyed most of them.  However a final flank charge broke the last of his right wing units and I rolled 5 and reduced his army morale by 3 down to zero so it ended as decisive victory for me.  It was very timely as I was down to army morale 1 and Dave had just picked up the Death of a Hero card which guaranteed him victory in his next turn.  When Dave’s army broke we had both lost 7 units. 

Final major moves in the game - Patriots win on left flank - British break Patriot centre

 

British right in trouble - a final charge in the flank broke the redcoats

It was easily our longest game so far – it took all of 5 hours to complete!  A very hard fought marathon but a very enjoyable game.  A lot of photos and more maps from this battle with descriptions are on flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157638222458633/

28mm BP NAPOLEONIC - ACTION AT RUEDA, SPAIN, 29 OCT 1812

Action at Rueda

This week’s game was a fictional action set in Spain in 1812 during the retreat from Burgos played using Black Powder.  There were 8 players at the game which was played on a 14ft by 5ft table.   Here is the briefing for the players.  The terrain was provided by Hugh Wilson, the troops were from the collections of Dave O'Brien, Donald Adamson, Angus Konstam and myself.  I provided the scenario and we used my Napoleonic Black Powder house rules. 


2nd British Brigade along the hill line - in the distance the Burgos to-Salamanca Highway

Spain 29 October 1812
Following the failure of the siege of Burgos Wellingon’s army is retiring towards Salamanca in the face of the combination of the Armies of the North and Portugal.

A French flanking force is known to be advancing parallel to the British line of retreat to their south.  Due to this a Division of the British force has been deployed at the vital road junction of Rueda to cover the retreat of the British Armies slow moving transport and the weary rear-guard. 

British Briefing

The troops of the Army of Portugal are now advancing on Rueda from the south.  The Army of Portugal is to the north beyond the River Duero and the bridges along the river are held by allied troops.  A detachment of the Black Brunswickers hold the historic bridge at Tordesillas.  The British objective is to cover the retreat of the valuable transport column and the approaching brigades of the rearguard.

British Army

1^st British Brigade
4 Infantry Btns, Foot gun
2^nd British Brigade
4 Infantry Btns, Rifle det, Foot gun
3^RD British Brigade
3 Infantry Btns, Foot gun
1^st British Cavalry Brigade
2 Lt Drag Regts, Horse gun

Rearguard

4^th British Brigade
3 Infantry Btns, Foot gun
2^nd British Cavalry Brigade
2 Dragoon Regts
3^rd British Cavalry Brigade
2 Lt Drag Regts, Horse gun

Supply columns

And various debris…..

Massed French assaults on the hill line

French Briefing
The troops of the Army of Portugal are advancing on Rueda from the south.  The Army of Portugal is to the north beyond the River Duero but are due to attack the bridge at Tordesillas this morning and then plan to advance on Rueda.  The French objective is to cut the line of withdrawal of the British army and secure the capture of the supply train and the rearguard.

French Army of Portugal 

1^st French Brigade 
4 French Btn, Foot gun
2^nd French Brigade 
3 French Btn, Foot gun
3^rd French Brigade 
3 French Btn, Foot gun
French Cav Brigade 
2 Dragoon regts, Horse gun
French Lt Cav Brigade 
2 ChaCH regts, Horse gun

French Army of the North

1^st French Allied Brigade 
Neufchatel Btn, 2 Polish Btn, Saxon/Italian Btn, Foot gun
2^nd French Allied Brigade 
4 Bavarian Btn, Foot gun
French Allied Lt Cav Brigade 
2 Bavarian ChaCH regts, Horse gun

On the 2nd to 4th move a Brunswick messenger arrives for the British CinC…….

The stalemate to the north along the River Duero was broken early on 29 October when a party of 50 naked French soldiers swam the river at Tordesillas with their weapons on a raft.  Upon reaching the far bank, they took up their guns and routed the Brunswick defenders of the bridge.  The troops of the Army of the North have crossed the river and are now marching on Rueda along the road from Tordesillas.

How the game played

The British deployed 2 brigades facing the advance of the Army of Portugal.  The 2^nd held the line of the large low hill and the 1^st was deployed just south of the Salamanca highway.   The 3^rd brigade was deployed north of the highway covering the line of the Rueda stream in case something went wrong at Tordesillas.  The light cavalry brigade was deployed on open ground north of the highway.  See map below.

The French started with 2 infantry brigades of the Army of Portugal deployed on the south table edge and could bring on another Brigade of that army each turn if it passed it’s command roll.  From turn 2 -– The French were lucky – the Army of the North started to arrive at the rate of 1 brigade a turn if it passed it’s command roll.

The Army of Portugal rapidly engaged the 2^nd British brigade defending the hill line but the steady fire of the British infantry broke several battalions as they charged into combat.  The French were forced to commit their 3^rd infantry brigade to this action whilst their dragoon brigade moving very rapidly tried to flank the British right wing.  Two French battalions charged the British central battalion which held them but it was then charged in the flank by another French battalion.  Flanked and outnumbered the British battalion heroically held them for another turn before finally dissolving. 

One versus three- the heroes hang on for another turn

The 2 Dragoon regiments charged the rifle detachment covering the 2^nd Brigades right flank and riflemen though the losers bravely held their ground.  In the 2^nd round of this melee the Riflemen gave way but only retired.  True hearts of oak!  It took a flank attack by a French infantry battalion to wipe out the riflemen.  By the time this struggle had ended it had cost the French 6 battalions to break the hill line. 

The weakened Army of Portugal did not attempt any serious action against the 1^st Brigade.  Their commander was heard to mutter into his ginger beer "One day the French will just sweep over a hill... but not yet! (Sob!)"

The first element of the Army of the North to arrive was the mixed foreign brigade which tried to rush the bridge over the Rueda stream.  The first Polish battalion on the bridge was broken as it tried to charge the defending battery.  (It was the Poles time in action!)  Continuing British fire then disordered the following attackers for several turns.  The Bavarian Brigade arrived and engaged the eastern flank of the 3^rd Brigade.   The Poles crossed over the swampy terrain and broke 2 British battalions.  Eventually the Saxon battalion got across the bridge, routed the artillery and charged the rear of the covering British battalion and broke it – all this done without a single casualty.  This wiped out the 3^rd Brigade.

Bavarians reorganised after crossing the stream

So far one British supply column had crossed the table along the Salamanca Highway and the 4^th Brigade had arrived on the table along the highway.  This brigade moved to face the advance of the Bavarian Brigade and their supporting cavalry brigade from the stream.  The British Light Cavalry Brigade had been held back as a reserve and moved to cover the right flank of the newly arrived 4^th Brigade.  The Bavarians tried a bayonet attack on the British line but the first battalion that got into contact broke and its 2 supports retired behind their cavalry.   However by this time the 1^st French Allied Brigade after capturing the bridge had moved quickly unnoticed along the west side of the table and occupied the Salamanca Highway.

4th Brigade has driven of the Bavarian infantry

The game ended at this point.  The French had gained a strategic victory by cutting the highway but the British had seriously weakened the Army of Portugal.  The heroes of the day were the 2nd Brigade British infantry on the hill, their riflemen and the Saxon infantry battalion.

More photos and descriptions on flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157638423704903/

28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN 2 GAME 1 – ACTION AT WOODED RIDGE

On Friday Dave Paterson and I played the first game in our second Maurice AWI campaign – the Action at Wooded Ridge.   Here are the forces for this game.  We both picked the same initial troop mix but with different national characteristics.

Patriots await British jumping over the fence line - and they did

 BOTH ARMIES
8 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY

PATRIOT

National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, SKIRMISH, PROFESSIONAL TRAIN
Notables – Chaffee, Katzenov

BRITISH

National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS
Notables – De Vique, Kershaw

Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

We used a pre-battle setup system developed by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to try to give a greater variety to the games with special events, weather, terrain and additional troops.  This gave me 2 elite units and Dave an elite unit, a mercenary infantry unit and an artillery battery. 

Dave won the scouting role and decided to be the attacker.  We both deployed our 4 units of irregulars on our right flank and massed our infantry and artillery in multiple ranks in the centre.

At the start of the game I moved my Patriot irregulars thru the woods on my right flank to engage the end of Dave’s line whilst he tried to do the same on his right.   However neither of our irregular forces got into action as Dave advanced quickly in the centre and that brought both our main forces quickly into action.

Boris Katzenov leads the Irregulars forward - he retired after this action

I moved into musket range and used a First Fire card to gain an advantage by shooting before Dave.  This first volley was the high point of my game as I wiped out 3 of Dave’s 4 guns and scored lots of other hits.  After that my firing was very poor and the British gained steady successes in the fire fight with their advantage of Rallying to the Colours.  I broke a few units with heroic charges but Dave broke more of mine by firing and charging.

When my army broke it had lost 8 units and Dave had lost 6 units including all 4 of his guns.  It was a decisive British victory with 3 epic points won.  Once again it was a hard fought enjoyable game.   My notable James Chaffee was KIA while Boris Katzenov retired after the battle.  However I was joined by Laurent Van Hussen.

A few photos from this battle with descriptions are on flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157638222458633/

On the previous evening I played Angus Konstam in a one-off Maurice AWI game.  Angus has written a very thorough description of the game at his blog - here is the link
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2088.htm