Keith's Wargaming blog

Action at St Johannes

2012-01-30T21:50:00.001Z

So here we are then. Inspired by the Jack Scruby map from All About War Games (see post for 22nd January below), I developed and played a scenario to test out my rules and continue with my return to wargaming.

The original map came out with proportions of 6' x 5', so to fit my 6' x 6' set up I added 6" top and bottom, resulting in the map below (which is also mildly enhanced and tidied up). For the game some of the names on the map were 'Germanised'.

Scenario - Austria vs Prussia, 1757.

Austria

Feldmarschall-lieutenant Weisser is in charge of a force of a little under 4,000 infantry, 1,200 cavalry and 2 artillery batteries. His mission is to block the crossings of the Schnellfliessend south of the straggling village of St. Johannes, preventing the northward movement of any Prussian forces.

As dawn breaks on this particular day, Weisser and his senior officers are all gathered at the Johanneskirche for a discussion of plans and a brief religious service. Suddenly a small patrol of Grenzers enters the church with news of the approach of a significant force of Prussians, moving up the road from the south-west. Had his cavalry commander not been such a fool, Weisser might have heard sooner! He must alert his troops and get them positioned to counter the Prussian drive.

Forces:

Camped at X - 3 infantry battalions, 1 medium battery.

Camped at Y - 2 infantry battalions.

Camped at Z1 - regiment of dragoons.

Camped at Z2 - regiment of hussars.

At the woodcutters settlement - 1 Grenz battalion, 1 light battery.

At Greens Rock - 1 Grenz battalion.

The brigade commanders must ride out from the church to their encamped units, alert them and get them moving towards the crossing points at the ford and bridge. The Grenz units are each commanded independently, and are already awake and ready to go.

Prussia

Generallieutenant von Blau leads a force of 4,200 infantry, 2,500 cavalry and 3 artillery batteries. He has orders to cross the Schnellfliessend and continue north to join up with other Prussian forces in the hills.

Von Blau is confident that his small but high quality force will be more than a match for any Austrian outposts he meets. He is marching rapidly towards the river crossings, keeping to the road to maximise progress.

Forces:

Infantry brigade of 4 infantry battalions and 2 medium batteries.

Infantry brigade of 3 grenadier battalions and 1 medium battery.

Cavalry brigade of 2 cuirassier regiments.
Cavalry brigade of 2 dragoon regiments.

All units must enter the table in column along the road from A.

Photos

I managed to set up a reasonable representation of the original terrain.

Things went fairly well for the Prussians at first, aided by their higher graded commanders.

Here they have managed to get the dragoon brigade across the bridge with the larger of the the 2 infantry brigades strung out behind. But the Austrian cavalry was in place just in time - at extreme right you can see the Austrian hussars charging the leading Prussian dragoons.

A few moves later things are not so rosy for the invaders. The Austrian dragoons have been seen off but the Austrian hussars excel themselves and rout one of the Prussian regiments, supported by fire from the Grenzers' light artillery.

At the ford the Austrians manage to get their infantry into a blocking position ready to receive the Prussian grenadiers and cuirassiers, who have been stuck in a queue behind the leading brigades. A devastating volley from the first grenadier regiment pushes back one of the Austrian battalions,

but a stalemate then ensues.

The Prussians were unable to establish themselves north of the bridge - as each infantry battalion charged over, it was shot to pieces by the ambushing Grenzers and their artillery support, along with long range fire from another Austrian battery you can see in the middle distance. 2 infantry battalions and the 2 regiments of dragoons are done for and there is obviously no point in sacrificing more men. A victory for the Austrians, in 9 moves and about 2 hours of solo gaming.

Conclusions

I think the scenario is a bit of a tall order for the Prussians: that long and winding approach along the road from 'A' gives the Austrians too much time to get organised. Despite some initial bad luck which slowed the activation of the Austrian brigades, they were able to stem the Prussian tide fairly easily.

If I play the scenario again, I will change the terrain south of the river so a direct road leads from the baseline to each crossing point, ensuring that the Prussians can get some forces across the river. Then with luck there will be a tense battle on the north side.

Best wishes 'til the next post!

Battle of Hochkirch

2012-01-24T21:08:00.029Z

Having an interest in the Battle of Hochkirch (see this post), I was interested to find that my new copy of The Seven Years War In Europe by Franz Szabo actually had a detail from a painting of the battle as the cover picture. Thanks to the wonder of the internet I can show it in full here.

The full name of the work is Uberfall auf das preussische Lager bei Hochkirch am 14th Oktober 1758 (Attack on the Prussian camp near Hochkirch, 14th October 1758) by Hyacinth de la Pegna. A very evocative and beautiful work, IMHO. Presumably we are looking from the starting position of the main Austrian army north towards Hochkirch, with the church of Hochkirch prominent and the Prussian tents behind.

Hope you like the painting. If anyone can find a larger image on the net I would love the link.

Cheers for now.

'All About War Games'

2012-01-22T12:08:00.004Z

My interest in the hobby seems to be slowly reviving, inspired in the main by some Old School messing about. I have been tinkering once again with my own SYW rules, which started by being based on the Horse and Musket rules of Donald Featherstone. I have now added some ideas inspired by Jack Scruby and John Schuster, as explained by the Don in his book Solo Wargames, and the rules have been simplified significantly. I have tacked on my own basic command and control rules. You can download the current iteration here. It felt a bit weird at first, tinkering with rules that I thought might never actually get used, but the fascination is undeniable. I think I may be doing a bit of solo wargaming in future, where I can please myself and watch the game unfold and see how the rules work, away from some of the time pressures of gaming with friends.

Scouring the net for more Old School inspiration, I found (to my surprise and delight) a full copy of Jack Scruby's All About War Games. You can find it here. This seminal work was 'published' in 1957 - it is made up of about 25 pages of typed information and rules, photocopied and sold for $1 at the time; presumably to any of Jack's customers who were interested. The illustration at the top of this post is the only photo in the work - showing a table and armies most of us would be proud of in 2012, let alone 1957 (the year of my birth). If only it was in colour! Shown below is a battle map from the last page of the booklet. There is no accompanying explanation, but within 30 seconds of seeing it for the first time I was planning a SYW scenario to go with it, and wondering how my own terrain pieces could be used to reconstruct it at home.

I recently cancelled my subscription to Wargames Illustrated. My thanks to the staff member who helpfully and with good grace arranged for me to get a refund. But I was quickly becoming fed up with the magazine itself. Too many adverts, too many advertorials, too much like an industry periodical. Considering all the work that goes into making WI such a glossy product, how odd that true inspiration should come from some very basic photocopied sheets from the distant wargames past.

Of course, if this is your kind of thing, you need to visit http://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/

Best wishes 'til next time.

Sold!

2011-11-26T12:10:00.004Z

Following a successful RV at the M5 Bridgewater services, all the Desert armies are sold. Thanks to Rob for a painless and straightforward exchange of cash for toy soldiers. It's nice not to have to post the stuff off, worrying about things getting lost and damaged in transit.

GHQ A13s, Light MkVIs, a RR armoured car and two A9s head off into the sunset.
Hope you enjoy using the models , Rob.

The idea was to use the money to buy a couple of painted DBA armies (I can imagine some of you making the sign of the cross as you read this). I used to do a bit of DBR, and always enjoyed the games. DBA is so easy to get into and is a very easy game to set up and play. Lately, the hassle and time needed to set up a big table of good quality terrain in a family environment, where one doesn't have a dedicated wargames room, has been getting to me. Even 'Big Battle' DBA can be played on a 4' x 2' table, which would fit straight onto the dining table.

However, it looks like the money will be sucked into paying some of the Christmas bills instead. And to be honest, my dedication to wargaming has been low of late. In fact I have been considering giving up altogether, but I'll leave it for a few months and see if the interest returns. If not, there'll be more soldiers for sale.

So posting on this blog will not be very interesting or frequent for a while. Thanks to those who are following, and I hope the old posts may be of interest to new visitors. I will keep checking the blog, so if you have any comments, keep them coming.

Best wishes, Keith.

P.S. The desert colour TSS tiles and hills are still available.

GHQ Desert Armies For Sale

2011-10-31T21:32:00.005Z

I have decided to sell my British, Italian and German desert armies to try a new period. The whole collection consists of around 200 vehicles of all types, 80 or so infantry/heavy weapon bases, and 20 bases with ATGs or artillery. The quality of the pieces can be viewed on my various 'WW2 Desert' posts. I am also interested in selling off my related terrain items including sand TSS tiles.

I would be looking for £1 per vehicle or infantry/gun base. All items painted of course, and all GHQ. I would prefer to sell the whole collection as a job lot but might consider breaking it down subject to negotiation.

Leave a comment if you're interested and we can go from there.

Update, 5th November.

Details:
Infantry bases (2cm x 2cm) have 3 figures. Heavy weapon bases have the weapon plus crew. Towed guns have a base with the deployed weapon and crew, plus a combined base with the tow vehicle and second gun in the towed position.
Some of the trucks and tanks numbered below are included on command bases designed for BKC, all the other vehicles are unbased. The listings are the fully painted models, all undamaged and painted to a good standard. I have a good deal of unpainted infantry plus a few unpainted vehicles and guns which I will throw in for free if you want them. If you want terrain items we can negotiate.

British
9 x Matilda II, 10 x Crusader I, 10 x A13 MkII, 10 x Lt tank MkVI, 5 x A9, 5 x A10.
5 x RR a/c (3 mg, 2 ATR conversion), 4 Marmon Herrington a/c (3 mg, 1 20mm), 3 x Dingo.
8 x universal carrier, 10 x 15cwt truck, 5 x 3ton truck.
2 x 2pdr portee, 2 x 2pdr+tow, 2 x 25pdr+tow, 2 x Bofors AA+tow.
20 infantry bases, 4 mmg bases, 3 engineer bases, 2 ATR bases, 2 x 2" mortar bases, 2 x 3" mortar bases.

Italian
15 x M13/40, 10 x M11/39, 7 x L3/33, 2 x AB40 a/c.
5 x Lancia heavy trucks, 4 medium trucks, 2 light trucks, 2 radio trucks, 4 motorcycle bases.
2 x 20mm AA+tow, 2 x 47mm ATG+tow, 2 x 100mm gun+tow, 1 x 105mm gun+tow.
18 x infantry bases, 4 x mmg bases, 3 x 8cm mortar bases, 4 x light mortar bases, 2 x ATR bases.

German
4 x MkIV, 10 x MkIII, 5 x MkII, 2 x PzJgr I.
2 x 222 a/c, 1 x 234 a/c, 1 x Radio a/c, 3 x 250/1, 1 x 250/10
5 x light truck, 2 x Blitz truck, 1 x Blitz radio truck, 2 x Kubelwagen, 6 x motorcycle bases
3 SP 20mm, 2 x 88mm+tow, 2 x 37mm ATG+tow, 1 x 50mm ATG+two, 1 x 75mm IG+tow.
9 x infantry bases, 4 x mmg bases, 3 x engineer bases, 1 x 8cm mortar base.

Terrain etc.
5 GHQ middle eastern houses, 2 pillboxes, 16 x 10cm lengths barbed wire, 4 palm tree bases (2 or 3 trees per base), 4 x 5cm lengths walling, around 30 dug in markers designed for my 2cm x 2cm infantry bases.

Pickled Brains Update

2011-09-27T14:50:00.001+01:00

Just in case some of you thought I was going nuts, I wanted to demonstrate that those dust clouds did really exist. They are now promised in October, according to the FoW website. I thought they might have been quietly dropped; but apparently not.

So you see, I'm not going mad. On the other hand, a few more products like this one and I just might...

Battlefront Release Pickled Brains

2011-08-27T15:19:00.005+01:00

It's not often you hear that kind of title in a blog post. But it's true. Well, they look like pickled brains to me. The pickled brains of small mammals. Or something that you might find growing off the side of an old tree.

Yes, they're one of the latest releases from Battlefront/Flames of War. They certainly get my vote for the daftest and worst looking wargames accessory ever - and remember, I'm someone who thinks themed dice sets are really cool. What are they actually supposed to be? 'Dust Clouds', for your desert war games. Product code BB122. Check 'em out when you can. I believe they're to be released in September, but you heard it here first. Guaranteed to bring the hobby into disrepute.

And which of these two thoughts is more frightening - that even as you read this, someone is pre-ordering a box of these? Or that adults acting in cold blood conceived and designed these things, stood back and thought: yeah, they're great!?

Ah well, that's the best laugh I got from WI issue 287. The first magazine of my subscription, and already I'm thinking: subscribe in haste, repent at leisure. The ACW theme takes over a big block of the issue, and I'm not really into ACW. And there's something about the whole thing that puts me off. Have any readers been in a nightclub and thought - this is too noisy, too many flashing lights, get me out of here? Or felt the same when visiting a funfair at night? I got a similar feeling from WI 287. Too many flashy graphics, too many large colour pictures, too many miniatures painted to collector's standard. It makes my head spin. I need something more sober.

Anyway, enough negativity. The articles are in fact mostly well written and have solid content. I'll keep an open mind.

Maybe at some point in the not too distant future I'll get round to playing a game or doing some painting, rather than just pontificating. You'll be the first to know.

Cheers to all.

Breaches of Copyright

2011-08-22T21:13:00.005+01:00

I recently received an email from Henry Hyde of Battlegames magazine, who was clearly extremely cross that I had used two maps from his magazine on my blog without permission. The maps were originally featured in the posts 'Chance Encounter' (WW2 Poland) and 'Black Powder: The Minimalist Approach' (SYW).

This blog does not exist to genuinely offend anyone, and Henry was clearly genuinely offended. Therefore my first duty is to apologise. The maps have duly been removed.

However, I feel I have a right to justify my actions, and to say I feel a little offended in return. My personal view is that the images were correctly credited to Battlegames, were clearly used for no personal gain, and were likely to bring credit to the magazine and its editor. Maybe they would even result in extra sales.

I said in the SYW post "I hope I'm not going to get into trouble for scanning in the map and presenting it below". I guess I have egg on my face. But that tongue-in-cheek comment expressed the belief that if the copyright holders did see the post, they would realise that no harm or loss to them could possibly result. Naively, I also expected them to see that I was posting in an innocent spirit of sharing my sources of inspiration.

Of course, had I taken the trouble to contact Henry and ask his permission, he may well have given it, so not doing so was clearly a mistake. But I genuinely thought no offence could possibly occur considering the context.

As readers will note, numerous examples of images and text scanned in from various sources or dragged from the internet have been used throughout this blog. Three occur in the post preceding this one. This is done to show where I get my inspiration from, and to share with others the best that the hobby has to offer, in a spirit of genuine appreciation. I admit they help to bring a splash of colour to the blog, but they also represent free advertising for all the products and publications featured. I expect they all represent breaches of copyright. If I am to receive further irate emails from copyright holders it might be best just to give up.

The only thing I gain from this blog is the pleasure of sharing my activities, ideas and sources with other gamers. Legally it seems I am at fault but I feel no moral qualms. Perhaps readers (maybe even Henry himself) would like to put me straight. Be as brutal as you like.

Best wishes to all, Keith.

Pride and Prejudice (and other stuff)

2011-08-18T15:37:00.003+01:00

Pride

I am indeed proud (in a small, non-boastful way) to have accumulated 50 followers. It was only a few months ago that this little blog only had 2 or 3 followers, but word seems to have got round. Or maybe it was putting the display widget for followers in place that did the trick. I demurred from posting any self congratulation when I passed 20,000 hits, so I will allow myself this little pat on the back.

Even more pleasing is that a modest but steady stream of comments now greets each post, usually with friendly messages or interesting and useful suggestions and information. Thank you to every follower, commenter or reader.

Prejudice

Well now, I am asking myself whether I have abandoned my prejudice or my principles. To come straight out with it, I have signed up for a years subscription to Wargames Illustrated, influenced in no small way by the possibility of some shiny new toys. Let me tell you briefly how it came about.

Here we have the latest issue, WI286. I bought it because the theme on Beda Fomm would be of interest, and I needed some undemanding holiday reading. I found that the magazine continues to be a pretty good read. No slippage yet towards a Flames of War/Battlefront house magazine, beyond what was evident from the start. I don't really like magazines with themed editions, but on the evidence of this issue WI has been sensible enough not to let the theme take over the magazine.

And then there were the subscription offers. £48 gets you 12 issues, so that's £4 an issue rather than the £4.50 cover price. Plus you can choose a free box set, one of which turned out to be a French self-propelled 75mm AA platoon. Now just a minute - those are the same elderly De Dion Bouton vehicles mounting 75mm guns that were used by the Poles in 1939 (see this post).

This was a chance to get hold of an esoteric vehicle that I never imagined would become available as a model in 15mm. Alright, a box set of 4 was more than I wanted (this is definitely a pattern - see previous post), but they were free, for goodness sake. They duly arrived just 3 days after ordering, and are indeed very nice models. Having more than I need I can produce the vehicles in 'travelling' and 'firing' configurations. As for the magazine, I will have to trust WI to continue to be varied and interesting.

Regarding abandoning principles and prejudices... Well, I've nothing against FoW as a rules set, or Battlefront as a manufacturer of wargames figures and vehicles. The models I have bought have all been good. But I do rather dislike the Games Workshop style, one-stop-shop approach which they have brought to historical wargaming. And I resent the endless supplements. And I get the feeling I've been suckered in by some clever marketing. But I guess sometimes you just have to cut yourself some slack.

Naval Wargames
My old buddy Paul is getting back into naval gaming, and we have had a couple of games this year using Battle Stations, Battle Stations. Finding these a bit slow moving Paul has turned to Victory At Sea, which look a lot simpler. Apparently those truly into naval wargaming find Victory At Sea a little too simplistic, which sounds promising for a beginner like me.

On that subject, is there any set of rules released in the last 5 years which doesn't call itself a 'fast-play' set? All I can say is, some people's ideas of 'fast-play' and 'simple' are different from mine. There are still loads of sets out there with long lists of modifiers and firing that takes forever (for example). Maybe readers could tell me about their 'favourite' over-complex rules? And any thoughts on Victory At Sea would be interesting.

Colours 2011
This great UK show is coming up on the weekend of 10th-11th September, at Newbury Racecourse. If any wargamers within range of the show haven't yet tried it out, I'd highly recommend it. Well organised, big, and a great venue full of light and space overlooking the racecourse.

Unfortunately I won't be able to put on my Hochkirch game (see here) as the other gamers I was hoping to attend with can't make it, for various reasons. I don't think putting on the game solo as 'Billy No Mates' would really work! But I won't miss the show and will go down as a regular punter. Fortunately some friends of mine from the Blitzkrieg Commander website and the Portbury Knights club will be there with a couple of WW2 games, so there will be people to meet up with and chat to.

A sprinkling of SYW models to show you soon, and probably another Polish battle. See you then.

New Additions

2011-08-07T22:39:00.001+01:00

It's not often these days I buy anything significant for my wargaming. Firstly, money is very tight so I find it hard to justify even a modest purchase when cash is needed for important things like food and petrol. More positively, my three collections are perfectly adequate for my purposes and I can have a good game with any of them without having to worry about needing more stuff. I find these days the butterfly impulse is very weak: without meaning to give offence, I find the attitude of 'oh, I've just seen those new figures and I just had to buy them' a bit daft. People even do this when the 'new figures' aren't in a period they currently wargame, or when they already have a perfectly good collection in that period. I guess for those with more time and money than me, this is one way to get enjoyment out of the hobby. But I'm afraid my response to such statements is usually something like, come on, get a life. I'm just being honest here.

Further to this point, I mentioned in the previous post that I have been reading through old issues of Battlegames, and this included the regular 'Forward Observer' column by Mike Siggins. The column has recently come to an end and I shall miss it, but Mike was an unreconstructed butterfly who couldn't seem to resist anything new. I remember my astonishment (mixed, I have to admit, with a feeling of considerable superiority) when in the very first issue of Battlegames Mike congratulated himself on 'focusing down' to 'just ten projects'. Ten projects! Was this guy nuts? You can't possibly do justice to that many projects if you live a normal life. Surely even a full time wargamer would have trouble getting on top of ten projects? But there we are. Mike is an example of a wargamer who enjoys getting into everything. Maybe I'm just a miserable old git. Maybe there's no maybe about it.

Anyway, moving on, I did weaken recently and posted off for a few things. On the Polish front, Battlefront Miniatures received an order for the new Polish Dice Set. I know, I know. Come on, get a life. But I'm afraid themed dice sets are a definite weakness of mine. Unfortunately, the national symbol on these sets now appears on the six rather the one, as the comparison with the old German dice set below illustrates. Why this has been found necessary beats me, but I guess it doesn't make a great deal of difference. I'm quite happy with them.

Also in the order was an Sdkfz231 6-rad armoured car, another fairly recent release from Battlefront in connection with their new Blitzkrieg range. Unfortunately these models only come in twos, even if you only want one, but the model is only available in 15mm from this manufacturer and I have wanted one for a while, to give my recce units a bit of real early war flavour. The photos below show what a very nice model this is. The resin cast body is beautifully done with no flash or imperfections, and the metal parts fit onto it nicely, although they do need a bit of filing and cleaning up before use. The top three photos give you an idea of how the vehicle looks after construction.

As for painting, those of you who want to know how a master does it can refer to this tutorial. For myself, I did a quick job with Humbrol paints. First I undercoated the metal parts in panzer grey, then once dry I gave the entire model a coat of the same. The wheels and underparts got a dry brush of dark earth, then the whole vehicle received a dry brush of khaki drill. And that was about it. The commander was painted black with blobs of flesh in roughly the right places. The only fiddly bit was painting the white crosses.

Now personally I think that looks fine for a wargames model. As I have said before on this blog, painting is about my least favourite part of the hobby so I like to keep things to a minimum.

Finally, deciding I 'needed' some additional Polish machine gun teams, I thought I would check out the new range of 15mm figures available from Forged In Battle. Once again I had to order a blister pack of models which was more than I wanted (are you sensing a pattern here?), but the figures that arrived were excellent and are a very good fit for my True North infantry, though just a little smaller and finer than Battlefront figures. The Forged In Battle site shows you how these figures look painted, so here they are as they come out of the pack. I would heartily recommend a look at this manufacturer's products.

And that's about it for now. Some modest SYW additions have also recently been made, but they will have to wait for another post until some painting has been done. I also want to show off the civilians I acquired recently from Hovels and Willie Figures which are now mostly painted.

Good gaming until next time.

Defending The Gorge, 3rd September 1939

2011-07-16T14:43:00.481+01:00

My relentless search for other people's scenarios that I can rip-off for my own games has once more borne fruit.

Of late I have been enhancing my moments of relaxation by looking through old issues of Battlegames, and in issues 1 and 2 I found the Battle of Liebenau, a scenario by Jim Purky (aka Der Alte Fritz) for the SYW. Liebenau is a real place where in 1757 a rearguard action by the Austrians against the Prussians was contemplated but never fought.

Deciding to fight this 'might have been' battle, Jim based his scenario on the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, which of course took place in 1781 during the American War of Independence. In Jim's battle the Prussians must overcome the Austrians who are deployed in depth in three lines, as the Americans were in 1781. The narrow table derives from the supposition that the attack is taking place along a valley with steep hills to either side. Jim's map for the battle is shown below (with written permission of Battlegames magazine. If you wish to use this map contact the copyright holder at the email address given):

My first intention was to refight the scenario as given, as a straight SYW battle. But something in the idea of defending a narrow valley in a rearguard or delaying action rang a bell. Eventually I realised I was remembering 'Defending the Gorges', a 'real' battle from Fall Weiss, Chris Pringle's 1997 scenario booklet covering the 1939 Poland campaign. Chris's map for the scenario is large scale and rather basic, and covers 3 gorges (hence his plural). For the detail of a battle for one gorge, I thought why not go for a table based on Jim's SYW idea.

There you have it then. From the fictional Battle of Liebenau (1757), via the real Battle of Guildford Courthouse (1781), to 'Defending the Gorge', a representation of 10th Mechanised Brigade's defence against the attack of 2nd Panzer Division in southern Poland, on 3rd September 1939. I have selected the centre of Chris's 3 gorges for my re-fight. Like Liebenau, Tenczyn is a real town, but rest of the terrain is fictional and based on Jim's map. The forces however come from Chris's scenario so should be reasonably correct historically. The game will, as always, be fought using Blitzkrieg Commander. The map below gives the basic layout of the game: the dark green areas are woods. Jim's original table size was 10' x 6' - mine will be 6' x 4'. As you can see the main change is leaving out the river, which didn't feature in the 1781 or 1939 battles:

The Poles

The 10th Mounted Rifles, one of the 2 motorised infantry battalions within 10th Mechanised Brigade, form the heart of the defence. The first line consists of the tankettes of 121st Scout Tank Company supported by a company of the 10th Mounted Rifles. The rest of 10th MR forms the second line. The third line consists of 121st Light Tank Company with its Vickers tanks, supported by the Brigade's reconnaissance infantry company. Off table is a 75mm artillery battery and a 100mm artillery battery.

Unusually the Poles will have some air support. Even more unusually we have a brief account of the actual mission, flown by the 24th Reconnaissance Flight, in Tomasz Kopanski's book PZL.23 Karas:

"On 3rd September another bombing raid (six Karases) was flown. This time it was directed against a German armoured column moving in the mountainnous terrain in the area of Rabka-Podwilk. Each Karas carried six 100kg and two 50kg bombs. Having located the enemy column, the Flight crews bombed it from an altitude of 600-800m, obtaining direct hits on some vehicles. Then they strafed the column. German AA defences managed to shoot down one aeroplane."

The Poles are thus granted 2 ground attack units (Karas), along with 2 air assets. As the Germans automatically have full air superiority according to the BKC rules, it remains to be seen whether this air support will get through during the game.

The Germans

Elements of 2nd Panzer Division were attacking the Tenczyn gorge. In the game they are allocated a Panzer Battalion (a total of 10 model tanks), 2 Schutzen Battalions, a reconnaissance detachment (standing in for Jim's hussars) and a strong off-table artillery force of 3 105mm batteries and 1 150mm battery. German air support in the real battle apparently came from a force of Me110 fighter bombers, but I allocated 3 JU87 dive bomber units with 6 assets, as I have a Ju87 model available.

Scenario Notes

The game would be played basically as an assault scenario with Tenczyn as the objective. The points balance was about right, but with the Poles able to deploy further forward than normal and with no flank deployment possible, the turn limit was removed. We would just see how it went.

It is not normal for the defenders to have air support, but as described this was available in real life. To speed things up for an evening game I intended to deploy both sides fully in advance. Aiming points for air and artillery assets would therefore be plotted with full knowledge of enemy dispositions. This rather takes the normal guesswork out of this activity, but the advantage would be the same for both sides' air assets, whilst the advantage to the German artillery would help compensate for the forward deployment of the Poles.

Note there are no FACs, even for the Germans. The rules state an FAC is possible for the Germans, but this seems a bit doubtful to me for the Polish campaign. If one did allow a German FAC in 1939, I think a CV of 6 or 7 would be appropriate rather the 8 given in the rules.

The Game

The game got underway with scheduled artillery and air strikes.

The Stukas picked off the exposed TKS tankettes supporting the Polish first line. On the right you can see 2 PzIs that have been caught in a Polish minefield.

As the Germans advanced (rather slowly), the Polish Karas made their appearance.

They were shot down by a storm of AA fire and had no effect.

Vickers tanks and the recce company wait in Tenczyn. Bofors AA unit on hill at left: a really useful weapon that makes a pretty good anti-tank gun in this period.

Dug-in troops are a bitch to shift in BKC II: it usually comes down to a close assault. Even then you need to assemble a heavy advantage in numbers to assure success, as here.

The German right flank has now broken through to the Polish second line.

View of the same situation showing the Polish Vickers tanks taking some revenge against the leading German Panzers.

To the left of the road, the Germans failed miserably to make any significant progress, with a succession of failed command rolls. This was their position at the end of five moves: total advance 20cm!

Unfortunately that was as far as we got. That was the end of move 5 and we had run out of time, mainly due to being rather rusty with the rules. We had gamed from 8.00pm to 11.00pm, with half an hour of pre-game preparation and then taking an average of half an hour per move. Although the game was unfinished, and neither side was anywhere near their breakpoint, I would give a moral victory to the Poles who seem unlikely to be shifted from their second line. The Germans were not really on form and their left flank was a disgrace - some demotions seem likely! It was interesting to see what a tall order breaking through 3 lines of defence is, even when there is a reasonable superiority in numbers.

Despite the frustrations, we found we had enjoyed ourselves and a pleasant evenings wargaming had taken place. BKC II is always a pleasure to play.

Finally, it's great to see the number of followers of this blog increasing. Thanks for your interest, and for the interesting comments that have been coming in recently.

Black Powder - The Minimalist Approach

2011-07-08T23:16:00.021+01:00

Black Powder - Big Games for Elite Wargamers?

Our game has been developed and played almost exclusively on tabletops at least 6 feet wide and between 10 and 14 feet long. The game works best on large tables and using relatively large forces.

Black Powder rulebook, p.4.

It was an interesting decision for the authors of Black Powder to publish a set of rules designed to work best for big armies and very big wargames rooms. The former would make creating forces daunting for the newcomer, whilst the latter would seemingly exclude the overwhelming majority of wargamers, regardless of their experience or the size of their collections. Fourteen foot tables - you must be joking! But Rick Priestley and Jervis Johnson didn't get where they are today without having a keen commercial sense. My guess is that they recognised the appeal of a big, bold product with high production values, and knew that wargamers would adapt it to the limitations of their own circumstances.

And this of course is exactly what happened. Gamers with more normal wargame set-ups than messrs. Priestley, Johnson and the Perry twins quickly adopted reductions in move and firing distances, reductions in unit sizes, and reductions in the size of models used. The good old 6' x 4' table was quickly found to be perfectly adequate for Black Powder.

But there is more than one way to reduce the size of your Black Powder game. 6mm miniatures and halved distances will give you a physically smaller game, but there is still the matter of the army structure as presented in the rules. That is, armies of at least 3 brigades (and preferably 5) with each brigade containing 3 to 6 units. Can you play Black Powder with armies only having 2 brigades, or even just one? And what about brigades of 2 units, or just one?

The one unit brigade is really already catered for, by the 'marauder' rule. For the rest, it has become apparent to many wargamers that the key to scaling down the size of Black Powder armies is adapting the Brigade Morale rules. And whatever size of game you are playing, these same rules are the key to adjusting game length to your preference.

Small Games for Normal Wargamers.

Players need not feel too bound by these particular rules - we are happy to ignore or change them where we feel it appropriate to do so - we suggest you do the same.

Black Powder, p.96 ('Victory and Defeat')

The authors of Black Powder are sensible enough to indicate from the word go that amending or adapting the rules is fine by them. However, as the above quote shows, when it comes to the Brigade Morale rules they are practically begging the wargamer to make his own changes. The rules contained in the book are central to the stated aim of having big games that can be played in an evening, and they work very well for that purpose. But you might want your big game to last all day, or you might want a small game that will not be all over in half an hour. The answer is to change the Brigade Morale rules to slow down the rate at which brigades are lost. This can be done very simply, and I have adopted 2 main options, one of my own and the other borrowed from wargamer The Last Hussar, whose blog can be found on my list of favourites (see his post for 5th March 2011). The 2 options are completely separate: one does not build on the other.

Option 1.

'Units count as lost for Brigade Morale only if they have been destroyed or have left the battlefield and cannot return'.

Thus shaken units and units that have left the table but are eligible to return are not counted as lost for brigade morale. I have found this works well for extending the duration of big battles into a full day (for example, at a wargames convention), and also for games where you have smaller brigades and/or not too many of them (say 3 brigades with 3 units each, or just 2 brigades). I used this option in my recent 'Battle of Burndt', which can be found a couple of posts down.

Note that with this option, all the other published rules for brigade morale are retained and used normally. There is no extra work or additional thinking to be done when using this option: it could hardly be more simple.

Option 2. (The Last Hussar Option).

'Brigades are only broken when more than half of their units are lost. In addition, shaken units in a broken brigade can be rallied, which may result in the brigade returning to unbroken status. Disorder can also be removed as normal from units in a broken brigade, unless the unit makes a compulsory or voluntary retire move'.

This is an amendment which can cause a modest amount of additional work, and which I use to cope with small games and small brigades. It means you can have a Black Powder game with just 1 or 2 brigades, and brigades with just 2 units that are still reasonably resilient.

Note that you have to be allowed to recover from disorder even if the brigade is broken, in order to then issue 'rally' orders to remove casualties and restore a unit to unshaken status. This might then mean that your brigade is no longer broken and can resume the fight. Of course, if your 3 unit brigade has lost 2 units destroyed, there is no way back for it. But if it has one unit destroyed and one shaken, you can try and rally the shaken unit in order to get your brigade unbroken again. If you have a 2 unit brigade, it needs to have both its units destroyed to render it completely useless.

Note also that keeping the pressure up on a broken brigade and forcing constant retire moves makes it harder for your opponent to recover from broken status.

One Brigade Games

Two nice little scenarios came up recently which were just right for trying out one-brigade battles. The first is the Cavalry Clash teaser from Battlegames issue 23. Map is shown with written permission of Battlegames magazine. Contact the copyright holder at the email address given if you wish to publish it yourself.

I won't detail the whole scenario, but this is an encounter battle with a few tweaks to make it more interesting. It involves a single cavalry brigade on each side, with 4 units in each brigade (one of the red units is off-table at game start). Original table size was 9' x 6', with large Charles Grant-style units. Using option 2 above I have played it out solo, and with an opponent at the Portbury Knights club. In each case the battle went on for around an hour and a half, with units falling back shaken then re-entering the fight, as well as the competing brigades becoming broken then recovering. This can result in what looks like a hopeless situation being turned around, if you persevere and use the right tactics to husband your meagre forces. The games were really good fun. For a short game you can stop on the first occasion a brigade is broken, but for the full game you should carry on until a brigade is broken and has no chance of recovery. This will be when the brigade has had over half its units destroyed.

Turns are very quick and the number of moves achieved is high. If there is a down side it can seem as if luck plays a stronger role than normal; and of course the feel of a big battle is lost. My set-up for the game, on a 6' x 4' table and with my own smaller units, is shown below:

The second game is The Combat of St. Ulrich from the Lead Gardens blog (22nd December 2010). I was attracted to this small game by the charming and beautifully drawn map which introduced it:

As you can see this game involves a mixed force of cavalry, infantry and guns, but for Black Powder this will still only constitute a brigade on each side. As well as using option 2, I decided to make the guns count as units for brigade morale, contrary to the published rules (p.96). Littlejohn summarises the scenario as follows:

A Bleiherzen brigade is surprised by the advance guard of a slightly larger Grolstein force, and rather than withdrawing promptly across the river bridge at St. Ulrich, the Bleiherzen commander recklessly decides to give the Grolsteiners a bloody nose before retreating across the river to safety.

The map of course has different names for the countries, as a result of the development of Littlejohn's imagi-nations. The defending Bleiherzen/Christenheim brigade has 2 infantry units, a cavalry unit and a gun battery. The attacking Grolsteiners/Schwartzbergers have the same with the addition of a grenadier unit (not shown on the map). It was easy to set this up on a 6' x 4' table using my own Prussian and Austrian units, which are slightly smaller than Littlejohn's.

Playing solo, this game was shorter than the all-cavalry encounter. The Austrians were easily beaten in 4 moves, which took me about 45 minutes. However, the game was extended usefully by the Brigade Morale changes. The Austrians would have lost in move 2 under the normal rules as they had their cavalry destroyed and one infantry unit shaken. On move 3 two of the Prussian infantry units were shaken, which would have broken the Prussian brigade under the usual rules. The game might then have been a draw, even though at this stage the Prussians were clearly on top, with the Austrian cavalry destroyed and the Austrian infantry outnumbered in a close range firefight. The dynamics of the scenario obviously affect how long your one-brigade games will last. In this case it would have been fun to change sides and run through the game again, if I had been gaming with an opponent.

Below are a few photos of the game in progress:

The Austrians in front of St Ulrich

The lines come together

End game. The Austrians have 2 units destroyed and one shaken and disordered.
No need to take this to the wire: they have conclusively lost.

Post Script

Having got the table and figures out and having an hour or two spare, I couldn't resist refighting the scenario with Charles Wesencraft's rules from Practical Wargaming. Straight away, the game had a completely different feel. Wesencraft's 'control table' idea was ahead of its time (a precursor of the Warmaster system if ever I saw one), but combine this with rather too numerous morale tests which are very dice dependent, and units are soon all over the place. This detracts from the feel of an 18th century action. One also misses rules to create a force structure (no brigades here) and to produce an end to the game. Presumably one fights until a result is obvious or agreed.

On the other hand firing and melees are delightfully simple, and basically the rules work. Nevertheless, I don't think I'll be giving up on Black Powder just yet. Nostalgia is all very well, but rules have come a long way since 1974!

And So It Begins...

2011-07-05T14:00:00.010+01:00

Yes, the first supplement for Black Powder has been trailed on the Warlord Games website and will be available soon: though when and for what price we are not told (though Amazon are quoting £15, paperback).

I should be pleased: to the disappointment of Napoleonic gamers it covers the 18th century, obviously including the SYW. But I'm afraid I regard supplements as first and foremost a money-making concept (or should that just be 'con') cooked up by wargames companies over the last decade or so to generate extra profits. Any real benefit to wargamers is secondary. Those few of you who read my article on 'The New Wargaming' in Battlegames 24 or my post on the same subject in December last year will be familiar with my curmudgeonly and jaundiced attitude to such things.

It's hard to tell exactly what purchasers will be getting, but it looks like some potted histories of 18th century wars and campaigns will be presented, along with suggestions for revised stats, special rules and army lists appropriate for each sub-period. In addition there will be a few scenarios. And what's wrong with that, you might ask. Well, in the great scheme of things I suppose the answer is, nothing much. But I have always been of the opinion that the stats and special rules ideas should have been in the original rules, considering the size and cost of the rulebook. And 18th century scenarios before 1775 were also conspicuous by their absence in that original publication. Plus I don't really need potted histories as I do my own background reading. And lastly, well, who needs army lists? Oh yes, I remember, that will be the suckers who feel the need to be spoon-fed everything by gaming companies who regard them only as sources of profit.

I say, steady on old chap. Let's be a bit more considered.

Won't such a book be a great introduction to the period for newcomers? It might well be (depending on the quality of the information therein), but consider that a 'newcomer' purchasing the rules and the supplement together will have to part with £45 in one go. Oh, and by the way the American War of Independence is not included in this supplement - it will have another supplement all to itself. Perhaps in about 3 years time we will be able to purchase a supplement listing all the available supplements.

Warlord Games have had a great success with Black Powder, and deservedly so in my opinion. It looks like Hail Caesar will be as successful, or perhaps even more so. Good, well done. One has to assume that profits have been made. It would have been a nice bit of old-fashioned goodwill to provide some helpful period-specific stats and special rules for free online, as a thank you to customers. But profits come first, and profit is what supplements are all about. Okay, those guys at Warlord Games are providing employment to people, and they have to pay the mortgage like everyone else. I just wish some wargamers (and they are already drooling around the Warlord Games forum) wouldn't act as if Warlord were doing them a favour just by publishing this stuff. A bit of self respect is required, gentlemen.

So no, I won't be partaking. Which is a shame as I'm sure there will be some thought-provoking and useful ideas present. Perhaps I'll cadge a look at someone else's and make a trip to the photocopier. After all, sharing is one of the great things about any hobby. Unless you publish supplements, of course.

And finally... Don't be offended by this post if you love supplements and can't wait to buy this one. It's just me sounding off. It's my blog, after all. If I can't be bad tempered and self-righteous here, where else am I going to indulge myself?

Good gaming 'til next time.

The Battle of Qabr al Ahmar

2011-06-14T20:20:00.183+01:00

Time once again to take a break from the Seven Year's War and dabble with my 6mm Desert War collection, using Blitzkrieg Commander II as the rules.

As with most of my recent desert games I am taking inspiration from Frank Chadwick's book Benghazi Handicap, and the scenarios therein. This time I have chosen the first scenario given, the Battle of Qabr al Ahmar, which took place on August 5th 1940. Supposedly this was the first real tank battle of the desert campaign, and featured a number of the much derided M11/39 tanks on the Italian side:

It is sad to relate that the GHQ M11/39 tank models I needed for this battle were bought at Colours 2010, and have languished in their blister packs ever since. How time flies! But one of the conveniences of this scale that you can assemble and paint, to a reasonable standard, 5 tanks from a pack in an hour or two. And so only very little effort was required to get the forces I needed ready.

Those of you who have the book might have noticed that the battle is called Gabr el Ahmar by Frank. There is almost nothing on this battle on the net or in any of my reference books, but one thing I think I have established is that it should be Qabr not Gabr, and al not el. Qabr translates as tomb (gabr doesn't translate as anything), so we can have a small building as the centrepiece of the terrain, really for decoration only. Here is the map from the book:

As usual, a 4' x 4' table is perfect for 6mm models, and the terrain is easily set up. Forces are also modest. These are the Brits from the book...

...which I have transposed for BKC into:

7th Armoured Brigade, plus Supports. CO, CV8

Initial Troops

8th Hussars (+). HQ CV8

1 A9

5 MkVIB

1 37mm portee

2 Rolls Royce armoured cars (recce)

Reinforcements

6th RTR. HQ CV8

3 A9

3 MkVIB

'A' Company, 1st Battalion KRRC. HQ CV8

3 infantry units in light trucks (veteran, ATR upgrade)

1 37mm ATG with tow

1 scout carrier (recce)

'F' Battery, 4th RHA (off table). FAO CV7

2 25pdr artillery units

BP = 9. 25% = 5

Reinforcements arrive move 3. May use flank deployment. CO arrives with reinforcements.

For the Italians the book gives...

...which I transpose as:

Raggruppamento Aresca. CO CV8

Initial Troops

1st Medium Tank Battalion. HQ CV7
5 M11/39

Motorcycle company, 201st Bersaglieri. HQ CV7
2 m/c infantry units (regular)
1 m/c mg unit (regular)

Reinforcements

2nd Medium Tank Battalion (+). HQ CV7
5 M11/39
1 47mm ATG with tow

9th Light Tank Battalion (+). HQ CV7
5 L3/35
1 47mm ATG with tow

2nd Battalion, 201st Artillery Regiment (on table). HQ CV7
2 75mm artillery support units with tows (veteran)

BP = 11. 25% = 6

Reinforcements arrive turn 4. May use flank deployment. CO arrives with reinforcements.

Notes

I have separated the Italian initial forces into 2 commands, as I think it will be handy and fun to have the infantry available to go their own way. For the British initial forces, I have folded the Rolls Royces into 8th Hussars, reasoning they were supposed to act as a recce force for the tanks. This is obviously just personal choice.

2 pdrs will have to stand in for the 37mm ATGs of the Brits, as I don't have the correct models, but they will fight as 37mms, the stats being different. There are only 2 guns in the Italian artillery formation as I only have 2 suitable models, but I think this will be enough to represent their role. The Libyan-manned 47mm ATGs of the Italians have been added to the tank battalions.

The book states that reinforcements for both sides can enter 'from the north or south edge', which doesn't fit in with the map orientation (north being up, as usual). I have taken this as a misprint, having encountered something similar in one of the other scenarios, assuming it should read 'east or west edge'.

I have made my own assessments of troop quality, guided by Mr. Chadwick. The British infantry get veteran status. It is not normal with BKC to give veteran status to support units, but as the Italian gunners were famous for their resolve, they get the higher rating as well.

The game will be fought as a standard BKC encounter scenario, except that I have no idea whether the forces have equal points (and I don't intend to check!).

The Battle

Shallow wadis are represented by brown felt shapes: these are treated as high area terrain for movement purposes. Units in a shallow wadi can claim partial cover but do not get a save value. The rough ground (shown by the fine gravel seen in the bottom right hand corner) attracts the dense terrain modifier but offers no cover. Moving on Qabr al Ahmer also means a modifier for dense terrain.

The Italian 1st Medium Tank Battalion moved quickly to centre table, watching with bemusement the antics of the British initial forces (who suffered 2 command blunders in 4 moves)

Combat was limited until the arrival of the reinforcements. The Italians managed to get themselves sorted out into a reasonably balanced deployment.

The Italian 9th Light Tank Battalion have their moment of glory, cresting the rise of Qabr al Ahmar and machine gunning the KRRC company. They would soon be driven off by the British light tanks (see 'House Rules and Other Stuff' below).

Half the Italian artillery failed to arrive on table (another command blunder), but the half that did set themselves up on a rise to the east of the road and did some useful shelling.

The Italians didn't fancy flank deployment (with their low CVs), but 6th RTR managed a delayed flank deployment which brought them right under the barrels of the Italian 2nd Medium Tank Battalion.

A determined slugging match went on for several moves, which the Italians eventually lost.

Qabr al Ahmar was the focus of the fighting. The Italian 1st Tank Battalion suffered a command blunder which saw them recklessly charging forward into a hornet's nest of British fire, which was to lead to their destruction.

A cloud of smoke hangs over the battlefield as the game ends. British light tanks have also suffered, but victory was with the British who knocked out a large number of Italian units in the last couple of moves, taking the Italians well beyond their breakpoint whilst themselves only losing 6/9.

House Rules and Other Stuff

BKC2 doesn't give the British Vickers Light Tank MkVI an AT value, but the vehicle had a heavy machine gun (Vickers 0.50" or Besa 15mm) supplied with armour piercing rounds and designed for anti-armour fire. Hence I give these tanks 1/20 for their AT value, and they were able to drive the Italian L3/35s off Qabr al Ahmar during the game with no trouble.

The M11/39s fought nobly but in a firefight their limited traverse and AT value of 1/40 puts them at a real disadvantage. If anyone knows why their main armament gets only 1 attack rather than the 2 attacks of other 37mm/40mm weapons of this period, I would be glad to hear from you. For the moment I'll just go with the rules.

There is an interesting article by David Brown in the latest Battlegames (Issue 26) arguing that the Warmaster system makes command and control subject to rather too much luck. He makes a number of interesting points, and this battle might be seen to support some of them - there were a large number of command blunders which screwed up the plans of both sides for no apparent reason. I am happy to accept these as a bit of fun, but I can understand the reservations of some gamers. In BKC2 there is a rule allowing the CO to re-order units that failed to receive any orders from their HQ. This is a good and simple adaption which means players can bring some command focus to bear via a well placed commanding officer.

Paul rang the changes by bringing round some beer. This meant drinking Speckled Hen from cans, but then (as they say) war is hell!

The Battle of Burndt

2011-06-01T10:17:00.016+01:00

Now what Horse and Musket wargamer could come across this map and not want to fight out the battle? Not that I'm blowing my own trumpet here: the map comes from the 'Lead Gardens' blog which I have recently discovered and which I highly recommend (see Favourite Links). The map depicts the set-up for the fictional battle of Burnt Commons (September 1642), during the English Civil War campaign created by Littlejohn on his blog.

Not much imagination is needed to translate this into a SYW battle using Black Powder. The village of Burnt acquires a 'd' to make it sound Germanic, and we use the following forces:

Austria (Newcastle/Royalists)

C-in-C (SR8)

Infantry Brigade (Brigade Commander SR8)

4 line infantry battalions

1 artillery battery

Cavalry Brigade (Brigade Commander SR8)

2 cuirassier regiments

2 dragoon regiments

1 hussar regiment

1 light infantry battalion

Prussia (Essex/Parliamentarians)

C-in-C (SR9)

Infantry Brigade (Brigade Commander SR9)

2 grenadier infantry battalions

3 line infantry battalions

1 artillery battery

Cavalry Brigade (Brigade Commander SR9)

1 cuirassier regiment

1 dragoon regiment

1 hussar regiment

1 jager detachment

Notes

I resisted the obvious temptation to make the side marked in blue on the map the Prussians. That hill position looked too much like a typical Austrian defensive set-up, with the Prussians set to do the attacking. Therefore the Prussians have a couple of grenadier regiments included, and with their cavalry outnumbered it looks like they will be relying on their well-drilled infantry to carry the burden, as so often in real life. The Prussian infantry will be using the enhanced stats outlined in my post of 5th March, so we will see how they work.

The dismounted dragoons on the right flank of both armies have been replaced by light infantry as I have no appropriate figures for dragoons on foot. The light infantry and hussars on both sides will use the 'marauder' rule, the hussars being set down where the isolated cavalry units are shown on the map.

Two brigades a side is a small battle for BP, so I will be using one of my alternative Brigade Morale house rules. For this battle, units will count as lost for brigade morale only if they have been destroyed or have left the table and cannot return. That should avoid the action being over too soon.

The first side to have both its brigades broken will lose. If the winning side then has no brigades broken, they have scored an outstanding victory. If they have one brigade broken, they have had a hard fight and only score a minor victory.
Original table size was 8' x 5', but the original battle featured 40mm figures. Therefore I chose a 6' x 4' table which would give about the same amount of room for my 30mm soldiers.

The Game

"So is this battle going to be good for business?"

The tavern in Burndt before the game

The set-up. I was able to be pretty faithful to the scenario map.

On the Austrian right the Croats keep a close eye on some of my recently painted sheep. These troops remained unengaged for the entire battle

Prussians eye-view of the Austrian infantry position.

The game gets under way. The Austrians were sprightly and aggressive from the word go. They moved off the hill and formed all their infantry battalions into a single line. The Prussians edged forward to meet them, intending to give them a taste of Prussian volley fire.

On the Prussian left, their cuirassiers (foreground) decided to take the opportunity to charge their Austrian opposite numbers, as the second Austrian heavy cavalry regiment had headed off into the fields. With an uncanny foresight that was to be a feature of Austrian tactics for the rest of the battle, the Austrians didn't countercharge but rested on their numerous supports. Despite the Prussians' charging advantage casualties were equal in the melee, and so the support bonuses saw the Prussians driven back through their own supporting dragoons. The subsequent Austrian 'sweeping advance' then destroyed the dragoons, leaving the situation as seen in the above photo.

In the next turn the Austrians pressed home their advantage on the disordered Prussian cuirassiers. The result was predictable - the Prussian left wing cavalry had now been wiped out, and the cavalry brigade as a whole was broken. In the background the infantry firefight continues.

The Prussian infantry commander swings his second line to counter the unopposed Austrian cavalry...

...but the Austrians are on a roll. The leading cuirassiers get 3 orders and set off to cause mayhem in the Prussian rear (right background). Note the Prussian hussars pushed into the far corner of the table by their compulsory retire moves (extreme background). The Austrian dragoons prepare to charge the nearest Prussian infantry battalion in front and flank.

The Austrian command rolls continued to go well. The Prussian infantry battalion was driven back through the unit to its rear (centre background), although the doughty Prussians saw off one of the dragoon regiments with closing fire and shook the other in the melee. The marauding Austrian cuirassiers charged and destroyed the Prussian artillery battery: they are seen reforming on the left of the photo.

Now the Prussian infantry were enveloped and under the most severe pressure. Austrian fire had already despatched the left hand infantry battalion of the Prussian first line: now the neighbouring grenadier battalion was destroyed. Under the revised brigade morale rules the brigade was technically still in being, but with 2 other Prussian infantry battalions shaken, the Prussian commander (myself) decided to call it a day.

On the Prussian right flank the Austrian hussars had moved aggressively against the farm, hoping to push out the jagers. (We had decided that the farm would not count as a built up area, in keeping with what we saw as the spirit of the original scenario. The walls were cover, the building counted as decoration).

The jager were affected by the breaking of the Austrian cavalry brigade and had to give way to the approaching hussars. They were then charged in the final move of the game, surprisingly holding their own.

But this made no difference to the final result. The Prussian infantry were obviously about to be broken, whilst both Austrian brigades were intact. Therefore, the Austrians (curse them) had scored an outstanding victory.

In Conclusion

We had completed 5 moves in a leisurely 2 hours of gaming. The Austrian command rolls had rarely failed them and they ended up running rings around the Prussians, an unusual experience for Frederick's men. The rules had produced a typically sprightly and incident-packed game.

The increased firing stats of the Prussian infantry didn't seem to give them an unfair advantage, and I will continue to use them. In accordance with tradition, we had consistently forgotten the -1 to command rolls when within 8" of the enemy (12" in the original rules). We always seem to forget the equivalent rule when playing Blitzkrieg Commander! Still, it was the same for both sides. Another rule we often forget is that firing dice rolls of 6 cause disorder. Why this important rule consistently slips our minds is a mystery. But the game was most enjoyable anyway. Paul's excellent bottle of Berberana Rioja simply added to the pleasure!

Black Powder & Howitzers

2011-05-18T21:48:00.007+01:00

Before the post, a thank you. Following a recent comment famine, the last 12 hours has seen a record 7 comments and 3 new followers. Well, 6 comments really as Steve Johnson posted the same comment twice. I think he realised I was feeling lonely. So thanks to all who posted and those who became followers. I hereby promise to leave more comments on other people's blogs.

To keep the party atmosphere going, I have added the proper 'Follower' widget so all followers get their logo at the top of the page. And to celebrate, what better than another post?

Howitzers in Black Powder

The photo shows a couple of howitzers recently acquired from (you guessed it) the RSM95 range. Austria to the left, Prussia to the right.

Checking the howitzer rules in BP I found that they make howitzers handy things to have, but the rules also have some misconceptions about the capabilities of these weapons. The basic mistake seems to be that howitzers are lumped in with the very different mortars. Viz:

1. All mortars and howitzers have a minimum range of 6"... This is simply allowing the room for the shell to reach the top of its trajectory before falling upon the target. (p.81).

Reasonable for mortars but quite incorrect for howitzers. These were perfectly capable of firing on a flat trajectory (sometimes using their shells for ricochet fire just like cannonballs) and were furthermore very effective users of grape or canister. So it is appropriate to use the same rules for fire within 6" (i.e. short range) as for ordinary guns.

2. Ranges have been fixed at somewhat less than equivalent cannons... (p.81).

I have found no real evidence for this. For example, in the SYW period the ranges of the Austrian 6pdr gun and 7pdr howitzer are comparable. So my smoothbore field howitzers get a range of 48".

3. Enfilade Fire... [not allowed to] cannons firing overhead at a target, or howitzers or mortars that lob their shots upon their target. (p.55).

For overhead fire in general or mortars, quite right. But again, howitzers were capable of (and commonly used) low trajectory fire, including canister. Either allow enfilade fire for howitzers as normal, or allow it for howitzers firing at up to half (or 'medium') range.

4. As mortars/howitzers have an explosive or incendiary shell, they inflict the same amount of damage regardless of range. These weapons therefore have the same number of attacks at all ranges as shown in their profile. This is normally 2 for a smoothbore field howitzer. (p.81)
A sensible seeming rule, but I can't find any 'profile' for howitzers in the rules. The only stats example that has howitzers (p.169) keeps standard gun stats of 3-2-1. I presume the above rule means that BP would give pure howitzers stats of 0-2-2, whilst my comments under 1 above would mean you should really use 3-2-2. However, this raises the question of why all guns in a SYW army weren't howitzers, if they were so effective. Well, Frederick II for one was pretty keen on them, but the point remains. Therefore it might be better to leave howitzer stats at 3-2-1, reasoning that it was much more difficult to hit at long range and that therefore casualties caused at long range would be less, as with guns but for slightly different reasons.

I am pretty confident that the above objections are watertight, but as always comments are not only welcomed, they are positively encouraged.

Thanks again to all readers.

Decorate Your Battlefield

2011-05-13T21:44:00.010+01:00

The effort needed to paint sufficient troops for my tabletop battles has in the past precluded the creation of figures which are there just to make the table look more interesting. However, I recently decided that some figures of this kind would make a pleasant change from painting 'real' soldiers, and would also improve the appearance of my Hochkirch battlefield when I take it to Colours in September.

So after some online searching I ordered various bits and pieces (mainly civilians and a few sheep) from Hovels and Spencer Smith Miniatures. In the latter case I selected from the Willie Figures range. I would also have been tempted by the set of civilian labourers available from Minden Miniatures, and the forthcoming range of other civilians from the same manufacturer. Unfortunately, following an order I made a month or two ago, I am now aware that any order for sets of individual figures from Minden Miniatures results in a refusal, accompanied by an accusation that you are a re-caster eager to create cheap and nasty copies of the Minden range. Not a pleasant experience, so we will not be mentioning that manufacturer again on this blog. Instead, let us turn to my purchases from those nice people at Hovels and Spencer Smith who have no such hang-ups.

Hovels

I ordered 8 of the 'wedge tents' from the ACW range (to represent the Prussian camps at Hochkirch), and from the 'Animals and Civilians' range I ordered a total of 9 sheep, a farmer, an innkeeper and an innkeepers wife. Total cost £24.38 including p+p. You can see them posed above with an RSM musketeer for comparison.

I was very pleased with these items. I ordered with a bit of trepidation as the figures are advertised as 25mm (so I thought they might be too small) and Hovels aren't really known as a figure manufacturer (so I thought the quality would be poor). Wrong on both counts. The figures fit perfectly with my RSM95s, and quality is excellent - well sculpted, well cast figures with little or no flash. The tents are also good - just the right size and well cast in resin with no bubbles or other faults.

Close up of 'wealthy farmer', RSM musketeer and 'innkeepers wife'.

Willie Figures

You can see below the figures I ordered from the Willie range. Again I was well pleased. This is an old range, of course, but the quality is fine and these are nicely proportioned, anatomically correct figures fully compatible with my RSMs.

From left to right: D36 French Engineer Officer, D35 British Sutleress, N5 British Company Officer, D8a Lady Riding Side Saddle, RSM musketeer, D10 British Mounted Officer, N31 Gentlemen, N32 Lady, N33 Farm Boy, N34 Farm Girl.

For my taste the pose of the lady's horse is a little extravagant, but on the other hand I particularly liked the portly sutleress. There is a bit of flash on these figures (which were cleaned up quickly for the photo) but it is very easy to remove. The officer figures come with separate swords to glue on. Total cost was £17.12 including p+p (I ordered 2 of the French Engineer Officer, British Company Officer and Sutleress, 1 each of the rest).

Close up of Lady Riding Side Saddle, RSM musketeer, Gent and Lady.

Service from both manufacturers was good. So overall I am well satisfied and looking forward to working my way through painting these models in the next few months. With a few individual musketeers and officers from the RSM range added in, I can produce some solo figures and vignettes which should add a bit of class to my SYW table.

Practical Wargaming - Bargain of the Year

2011-05-09T20:46:00.002+01:00

Back in October 2008 I published a post on Charles Wesencraft's Practical Wargaming. It was not in my collection of wargaming classics at that time, but I recently decided that it was high time I obtained a copy. The book is of course easily available as part of John Curry's 'History of Wargaming' project, but I hope John won't be offended if I say that owning an original copy was my preference, even if I had to pay a bit more. Digital reproductions are a great idea for keeping these old books in print, but the resulting books themselves lack the heft, character and production quality of the originals.

Fortunately it seems there are still plenty of old copies of this book around. Imagine my surprise on finding a copy available for £3.30 (plus £2.35 postage) from a seller on the Abe Books site. 'Acceptable quality', the ad from the seller said, so I ordered it expecting a tatty copy, probably with no dust jacket. As you can see, I received a fully jacketed ex-library copy in what I would call very good condition.

Hats off to The Perfect Book Store.com for providing such excellent customer satisfaction. There are plenty of copies on Amazon and Abe books for £20-£30, but this is a genuine bargain. Some sellers are trying to rip people off for £50 or more!

I had forgotten the book had a chapter dedicated to rules for the eighteenth century. Much joy! They look perfectly playable and I'm certainly tempted to have a go. There are a couple of errors - Mr Wesencraft seems to have got the idea that infantry battalions in this period had light companies as in Napoleonic times (see photo of text above), and also that dragoons 'usually chose to move on horseback to a given point and then dismounted and opened fire with their muskets'. Not very SYW I'm afraid. Hussars also don't get a mention. But these are acceptable faults in a book which must have been cutting edge in 1974. All the rules (there are sets covering 7 periods from ancients to the Franco-Prussian War, plus a campaign system) are well set out and easy to understand. The underlying principles are clearly explained and there are diagrams and photos to help you out. The basic simplicity of all the rules will ensure fast play. All this plus the most charming and well written introductory chapter you'll find in any book on wargaming. An outstanding piece of work indeed.

I will be reading all of this book. Not just for nostalgic pleasure but also for rules ideas, and insight into how simple, straightforward rules systems can be developed. I just can't quite work out why I haven't bought it sooner.

Being An Entertainment With Toy Soldiers Representing The Battle of Hochkirch (Part 1)

2011-04-23T14:14:00.006+01:00

So, how far can a real battle be downsized to fit one's resources, and still be a worthwhile representation of the original? When I had a go at Lobositz at Colours 2010 (see older post) I ended up using a rough scale of a wargames battalion to represent 3 actual battalions. I thought the result still gave quite a good feel of the original action.

I have picked Hochkirch (14th October 1758) for my next effort. I found it particularly interesting as the Austrians not only attacked, but won as well, even with Frederick in charge of the Prussians. They also had a pretty interesting plan, manoeuvring around Frederick's camp and attacking it from 3 directions at once. Unfortunately, whilst the Prussian army was about the same size as at Lobositz (around 30,000) the Austrian army was more than twice as strong, around 80,000. To represent an army of 80,000 men I could, of course, paint a lot more Austrian units and use a much bigger table than the 8' x 6' which is the biggest I usually use. But I am only a small time wargamer with limited time and enthusiasm, so I decided I would take the obvious course: stick to an 8' x 6' table and increase the number of real units represented by each wargames unit.

My main sources for the refight were the account on the Kronoskaf SYW website and Frank Chandler's Volley and Bayonet scenario book, Battles of the Seven Years War. Of course the great thing these days is that a simple Google search will give you a number of results for 'Battle of Hochkirch', so I was able to see how a few other people had handled the action, most notably the 2009 post on James Roach's 'Olicanalads Games' blog. And for atmosphere you have to read Thomas Carlyle's account of the battle from his History of Friedrich II, which is also conveniently available online. After a good deal of poring over OOBs and maps, I came up with forces and a layout that fitted the table and models I had available.

The map of my layout is seen below, with the Prussian deployment marked. To fit the battle into the available space more easily, the battlefield was twisted slightly, so that north is offset as shown. In the end, 5 battalions of infantry and 3 regiments of cavalry, plus 2 small detachments of Jager, stood in for an army of 30,000 men, on a ratio of around 5-6 real units for each on-table unit. A bit modest, you might think, but I felt the overall shape and tactical feel of the battle would be retained. At this ratio, battalions become brigades and brigades become wings.

Terrain notes: the stream is a linear obstacle and counts as cover. Woods may be moved through at half pace by formed units or at full pace by light infantry. Hills can be moved on at full pace by all units. Both Prussian artillery batteries are in fieldworks, marked in brown. (Dark green areas are woods, the olive green, shaded areas hills).

Of course, I had to make arbitrary decisions about the command structure on each side, bearing in mind I would be using Black Powder. The organisation I ended up with is below. As I have said, the 'wings' will count as Black Powder brigades.

Prussia

C-in-C: Frederick II (SR10)

Left Wing: Generallieutenant Manteuffell (SR9)
1 grenadier battalion
2 line infantry battalions
1 cuirassier regiment
1 medium battery

Right Wing: Feldmarschall James Keith (SR9)
1 Grenadier battalion
1 line infantry battalion
1 cuirassier regiment
1 dragoon regiment
2 jager detachments
1 medium battery

The division between the 2 wings at initial deployment is shown on the map by the dotted and dashed line through Pommritz. Cavalry units on the map have an arrow to their front. In line with the actual battle, Manteuffell's grenadiers should be the unit guarding the bridge in the north-east, whilst Keith's grenadiers should be the unit placed in front of Hochkirch itself. The two jager detachments are classed as 'tiny' for BP and represent the jager and freikorps units deployed to protect Frederick's right wing, south-west of Hochkirch. Frederick starts the battle within 8" of the centre of Rodewitz and must remain in the north half of the table for the first 3 moves, until he realises the attack to the south is serious.

Austria

C-in-C: Feldmarschall Leopold Daun (SR9)

Left Wing: Feldmarschall-Lieutenant Loudon (SR9)
assisted by General de Kavallerie O'Donnell (SR8)
1 line infantry battalion
1 grenz light infantry regiment
1 cuirassier regiment
1 hussar regiment

Centre: Feldzugmeister Sincere (SR8)
2 grenadier battalions
3 line infantry battalions
1 medium battery
1 heavy battery

Right Wing: Feldzugmeister D'Ahrenberg (SR7)
assisted by General de Kavallerie Buccow (SR7)
3 line infantry battalions
1 grenz light infantry battalion
1 cuirassier regiment
1 dragoon regiment
2 medium batteries

Daun is with Sincere commanding the centre. This represents the main body of the army, which will initiate the attack. They are deployed in the area shown at game start, up to 9" from their baseline. The Austrian left wing can arrive from move 3 along the stretch of baseline indicated, subject to a successful command roll. The right wing can arrive along their bit of baseline from move 5, also dependent on successful command rolls. The lower staff rating of the right wing generals is based on the slow movement of this wing in the real battle, which was affected by a Prussian flank threat from the north. These Prussian flanking forces (for students of the battle, those under Retzow) didn't actually get involved in the battle and are well off table, so are not represented.

The additional commanders listed for the Austrian left and right wings are an attempt to recreate the original command structure a little more closely. In both cases, the assistant commanders can only issue orders to cavalry units, whilst the main commanders can order any unit in their wings. O'Donnell's cavalry should deploy on the left of Loudon's wing, Buccow's cavalry on the right of D'Ahrenberg's wing.

Scenario Conditions

The battle commenced at 0500, ending with a general Prussian retreat at around 1000. My guess for game length would be 10 turns.

The initial attack on Frederick's right wing opened in darkness, fog and mist, so the following rules are in force for the first 4 moves (dawn at this time of the year in Germany is roughly between 0700 and 0730). During these initial moves there is an extra -1 command modifier for ordering units more than 8" from the command base (remember I reduce all rulebook distances by one third, so this equates to the normal 12" command distance). There is also a -1 extra fire modifier for any fire beyond 6" in the first 2 moves, and beyond 12" in moves 3 and 4. No charges may occur from a distance of greater than 6" in the first 2 moves, or 12" in moves 3 and 4.

Any artillery defeated in melee by the Austrians may be captured and used against its former owners (copying events in the real battle). This will require a successful order from the nearest command figure.

This is actually a fairly small battle in BP terms, so to keep it going I will be using amended brigade morale rules. Each wing/centre formation counts as a single brigade. Units only count as lost for formation morale when they are destroyed or have left the table and cannot return. Each army seeks to win the battle by breaking the opposing force. The Austrian army is broken when 2 of its 3 formations are broken. The Prussian army will only break when both its formations have broken.

Below are some photos I took when I made a practice set-up. The building on the near base edge of the top photo represented the village of Laske, but subsequently I decided to leave this village out and instead represent Plotzen (to the south-east of Hochkirch), along with the associated road. I placed all Austrian units on table merely to test the deployment areas.

Part 2 of this post will be the refight itself. I intend to take this battle to Colours 2011 in September, but of course would hope to playtest it well before then! I'll keep you, erm, posted.

Happy Easter!

Grenadier-Battalion Grun Loudon

2011-03-12T22:10:00.002Z

Sometimes known as Loudon's Frei-Corps. This is a unit I have quickly knocked up in the 10 days since I posted those Hussar pictures. And if you believe that you will believe anything. I actually started work on these figures in November last year, and have just finished the last base. The frightening thing is, some people actually would produce a unit like this (only better) in a few days. Ho hum.

The figures are of course RSM 95 Austrian musketeers, with the pom-poms removed as these were not present on the originals. The standard bearer is an exception: he is one of the Spanish infantry figures RSM now stock - I just happened to have him lying around from a small order of sample figures. Whether the unit actually had a flag I could not find out, but I thought they deserved one. The flag itself was printed free from an online source.

Although called grenadiers, as you can see there is not a mitre or busby in sight. General Loudon apparently thought calling the unit 'grenadiers' might improve recruitment. The unit was to be formed mainly from foreign recruits, including enemy deserters, and was intended to support Austrian light infantry by providing them with formed infantry back up. They seem to have been reasonably successful, so I will class them as standard line infantry.

Despite the shine, these figures are finished with a coat of Windsor and Newton matt acrylic varnish. If I had bought the product to get a nice matt finish I would have taken it back to the shop: what you actually get a is a nice subdued slightly-gloss effect. Luckily, I find this just right.

I like this unit. It makes a change from the usual Austrian white and is likely to enhance the look of my games. My next move is going to be to order some more hussars, but this time from Minden Miniatures. Meanwhile, I have some Prussian grenadiers lying around unpainted, and I have decided to create IR6, the Garde-Grenadier battalion. This will be fun as the unit was an elite one, all grenadiers, and was derived from the battalion of giants recruited by Frederick's father, sometimes known as the Potsdam Grenadiers. Not being a converged unit, one gets the advantage of a grenadier battalion which has a flag. And according to the Kronoskaf SYW Project, the flagpoles were yellow. Nice.

Black Powder and the Prussians

2011-03-05T15:59:00.001Z

My Black Powder stats have been amended recently, mainly as a result of reading the book shown below: Frederick the Great on the Art of War, edited by Jay Luvaas.

I can't really understand why this work doesn't get more publicity. Professor Luvaas wrote and edited this book in 1966 whilst teaching military history at Allegheny College. He was a mere Doctor at the time, but went on to hold Professorships at the US Military Academy, US Army Military Institute and the US Army War College. He retired in 1995 and died in 2009. Here he has taken on all Frederick's writings on military subjects and edited them into a themed and well ordered book, adding some judicious analysis and comment of his own. This is my kind of book: scholarly but easy to get to grips with. The book has recently been republished in paperback and is easily available in this form on Amazon for under a tenner. However, the original hardback is much more satisfying to own and I managed to pick one up for much the same price from the same website.

I would categorise this book as a must-have for anyone desiring to understand 18th century warfare, along with the works of Duffy, and Nosworthy's Anatomy of Victory. And by the way, it is not to be confused with the work available through Caliver Books, Frederick the Great's Instructions to his Generals, edited by a chap called Hayes. This latter work only has 80 pages (Luvaas' has 391) and only covers the work stated in the title. The Instructions were written before the SYW and do not cover Frederick's later thoughts on warfare developed through his experience of that dreadful conflict. Thanks to Professor Luvaas we can hear the authentic voice of the greatest practitioner of 18th century warfare, 250 years after he committed his thoughts to paper.

Anyway, one of the points made loud and clear is that the tactical superiority of the Prussian army was founded on its ability to manoeuvre better and shoot better than its opponents. Hardly a stunning conclusion, you will think; but it was having this point drummed home to me through this book that I decided to make a few amendments to my stats tables. The superiority in manoeuvre is covered in the rules mainly by giving the Prussians a higher staff rating. I feel this is essential and has to be done, or you might as well be playing fantasy or imagi-nations (both highly respectable forms of wargaming but not what I am discussing here). In addition, it is tempting to give the Prussians special rules, such as 'superbly drilled', but I have not taken this route. The 'reliable' rule, for example, seems pointless if you have already decided the army justifies higher staff ratings all round. As for firing, the book informs the reader that even conservative estimates allow the Prussians 4 volleys a minute against 2 or 3 for most other nations. Frederick himself was much more bullish, claiming a 3 times superiority in firing for his infantry. Of course, the figures for rate of fire are subject to some dispute but I have accepted that the Prussian advantage was real and significant.

Therefore, all Prussian regular formed infantry get 4 firing dice instead of 3. 'First Fire' is given to all decent quality infantry units of both the Prussian and Austrian armies as representing a basic tactic of the time (the Bavarians and Frei-Korps miss out on this). 'Superbly Drilled' is reserved for grenadiers to give them an edge in reliability, making them additionally suitable for their historic role of undertaking the most difficult attacks. I have made no changes to the cavalry, remaining convinced that the Prussians have the edge, and continuing to refuse the use of the 'heavy cavalry' rule. Note that I have decided to have the option of fielding 3 types of artillery; light, medium or heavy. I decided to differentiate these purely by range and ease of movement. Ranges are given in the tables. Light guns will count as the battalion guns mentioned in the rules for manhandling, whilst heavy guns cannot be manhandled. Medium and heavy guns will move limbered as per the rules, but light guns will get the movement for horse artillery. Finally, Frederick himself, if present, always gets a staff rating of 10.

All comments welcomed, of course, especially those disagreeing with my conclusions. Wargaming is a learning process, like any good hobby.

HR 7 The Yellow Hussars, and Husaren Regiment Splenyi

2011-03-02T21:36:00.003Z

The painting of new SYW units continues to creak along at a slow pace. Recently completed are these two Hussar units, one for the Prussians and one for the Austrians. You will notice I have solved the problem of painting Hussar lace by ignoring it completely. Not a tip I would recommend, but that kind of fiddling around is just too much for my meagre skills and even more meagre will-power.

Note the Austrian unit has a standard whilst the Prussian unit does not, which I believe is historically correct. The RSM95 range doesn't have Hussar officers, so officers are designated by a rearing horse and some very minor conversion work (plus some nice yellow boots).

Austrian Splenyi Hussars

Prussian Hussar Regiment 7

The release of dismounted Hussar figures from Minden Miniatures is tempting me to add a dismounted option for these units. It's well past time I got a few figures from that manufacturer into my armies. And the choice of dismounted cavalry should be just the ticket for those smaller scenarios featuring La Petite Guerre (or Der Kleine Krieg if you prefer).

Cheers for now!

Memory Lane

2011-02-27T16:56:00.010Z

Rooting around in my wargames storage cabinets (good old IKEA) I found some photos of old games going back nearly 25 years. Knowing that many present day wargamers are of my vintage, I thought it might be fun to share a selection with readers of this blog. Ah, nostalgia! All the photos have been scanned in so a little quality has been lost.

This one is marked 1987. Back in those days I was wargaming late WW2 and occasionally ACW, both with Airfix plastics. Sadly, no photos of my ACW games ever got taken but this shows what my WW2 games looked like. Airfix figures on individual bases, with the odd Matchbox figure added. Note the US Marine bottom left, painted to represent a German radio operator, with plasticine blob radio just as Mr Featherstone's books had recommended. Home made buildings and plasticine trenches. Of course, any gentleman wargamer will recognise the Bellona walls and bridge. The bridge at least is still with me. At this time I was using Charles Grants rules from his Battle - Practical Wargaming book.

The two pictures below date from a couple of years later. I've still got essentially the same figures but new buildings and trees. Dig that gloss painted board! I had begun to branch out into some new resin vehicles, like the Loyd Carrier in the lower picture. The Charles Grant rules got modified and modified again until almost unrecognisable. I only played commercial sets when playing away with other gamers. Eventually I ended up with what were really my own WW2 rules which (I eventually realised) became far too complex.

In a while the board got a couple of coats of matt varnish. The 3 photos below are from a game based on Operation Goodwood. Those Infantry Combat Group figures are still going. Note that I couldn't be bothered to paint them properly - just the detail was painted in (packs, boots, rifles etc). And a pretty basic job on those Shermans and half tracks as well.

Fast forward a year or so (around 1990) and the figures are on multiple bases. Nevertheless, you'll see that most of the German figures are still the WW2 German Infantry designed in the 1960s (and purchased by me in the 60s and 70s) The odd resin building is creeping in, but the ceiling-tile hill contours continue to give sterling service.

Below again: new house, new kit. For a brief few years I actually had a good size loft to game in. TSS tiles were acquired and the old figures were gradually replaced by metal 20mm. Cardboard roads were still quite good enough, however. Still, not a bad looking table I think. The whole 20mm WW2 collection was sold off in the late 90s to make way for my current collections. The ACW Airfix had gone many years before - probably straight into the bin.

Finally, 2 photos below of a Napoleonic game (from 1989-90 I reckon). A wargames buddy had a much nicer set-up than mine, with a hexagonal tile system and really well painted 15mm Napoleonics from the Peninsular campaign. We used WRG 1685-1845 rules. I wouldn't touch those rules with a barge pole these days (though it seems many still use them) but in those days I recall enjoying the games we played, even if they were occasionally rather slow when all the figures were out.

And that's about it. How I wish I had taken some photos in the 70s and early 80s. Only some hand written rules and one or two scribbled maps endure from the 70s, and one or two hand written battle reports with maps from the 80s.

Hope this has been of some interest. Will get up to date with the next post, with photos of some recently painted SYW Hussars. Byee!

Kradschutzen Vorwarts!

2011-02-11T20:39:00.002Z

Inspired to represent an action by German motorcycle infantry (or kradschutzen, see previous post), I came up with the following scenario.

Kradschutzen Vorwarts!

(motorcycle infantry, advance!)

September 1939. German motorcycle troops, supported by a reconnaissance battalion, rush to seize an important bridge before the Poles can claim it for themselves.

German Forces: CO (CV9)

Kradschutzen Battalion: HQ (CV8)
6 motorcycle infantry units (ATR upgrade)
2 MG units in motorcycles
1 mortar unit in light truck
1 37mm ATG unit with truck tow
1 assault engineer unit (ATR upgrade) in light truck

Aufklarungs Battalion: HQ (CV8)
1 Sdkfz 221 (recce)
1 Sdkfz 222
1 Sdkfz 231
3 motorcycle infantry units (ATR upgrade)
1 MG unit in motorcycle
1 75mm IG with truck tow
1 37mm ATG with truck tow

1675 points. Breakpoint = 10

Polish Forces: CO (CV8)

Cavalry Regiment HQ (CV8)
9 cavalry units (veteran infantry, ATR upgrade)
2 MG units in taczankas
1 37mm ATG with horse tow

Divisional Recce Group HQ (CV7)
1 Wz.34 armoured car (recce)
2 TKS (mg)
3 motorcycle infantry units (ATR upgrade)
1 MG unit in Lazik jeep

Improvised Tank/Infantry Group HQ (CV7)
1 infantry recce unit in Lazik jeep (recce)
2 FT-17 (37mm)
6 infantry units (ATR upgrade)
1 MG unit
1 mortar unit
1 75mm artillery support unit with horse tow

2245 points. Breakpoint = 15

The map for the game is shown below, using a 6' x 6' table. For a change I decided to make up a basic map in colour using Microsoft Word, which was actually easier than I feared. In fact I was pleasantly surprised at how little swearing and cursing was required to make the software behave as required.
The idea is that the stars of our show, the Kradschutzen Battalion, automatically arrive in column on road A at the start of the game, and have 2 free moves to make for the bridge (command rolls permitting). On move 3, their supporting Aufklarungs Battalion can enter along the same road, but using mobile deployment to arrive.
The Poles can also start to arrive on move 3. One Polish formation is allocated to each of the roads B, C, or D by dice rolls, entering the table in column by mobile deployment.
The German CO can try to arrive from game start on road A using mobile deployment. The Polish CO can be allocated by the Polish player to any road or formation at the start of move 3, but must also use mobile deployment to arrive.
Game length was set at 8 turns. The bridge and ford count as a single objective, and the side occupying the objective at the end of the game wins, unless either side has broken in the meantime. The ford can be crossed by any unit but attracts the dense terrain command modifier.

The Game in Pictures

The table is set up and ready to go.

The motorcyclists arrive along with the CO and are able to move forward.

But there is a delay - the lead unit encounters a stray mine on the road and is knocked out (command blunder with a roll of 5). They managed to overcome this setback but after 2 turns the motorcyclists are still not quite at the bridge.

The Polish tank/infantry group arrives straight away on move 3. The Poles have a -1 command penalty for ordering combined infantry/tank formations, so the CO accompanies them to keep things moving.

The cavalry also arrive smartly. They ended up being lucky with their command rolls throughout the game, and they moved rapidly towards the objective.

The Germans, however, beat them to the bridge and ford. The bad news is that the Aufklarungs Battalion stubbornly fail to arrive.

The Polish cavalry move forward bravely and deploy to attack the bridge.

The Germans dismount from their motorcycles and trucks and set up a modest bridgehead.They are able to knock out an advancing Polish recce unit with MG and small arms fire.

But then there is a mix up in orders (yes, another command blunder), and the formation falls back a move, handing the initiative to the Poles.

Meanwhile, on Rollbahn A, the second in command of the Aufklarungs Battalion stares down the road. Where have the buggers got to? Surely they're not lost? Whatever the reason, the recce formation still doesn't arrive.

Close up of support units from the Polish cavalry regiment in action against the bridge.

The Polish recce formation was not much more lively than their German opposite numbers. Their arrival was delayed, and then their movement towards the bridge was sluggish in the extreme. They never got into the fight.

The Polish cavalry, with further tanks and infantry coming in slowly from their left, form a firing line and pour fire onto the isolated German motorcyclists. The extra firing dice for veteran infantry is of great value to them, and the outgunned Germans lose units continuously.

The Polish tank/infantry formation moves forward slowly, but steadily. The CO took personal command of the 2 tanks. Eventually the tanks and the 75mm were able to commence shelling the German positions around the bridge as the infantry edged forward.

At last the Aufklarungs Battalion arrive. But they may be too late to save their comrades. Mortar from motorcycle battalion in foreground.

A tragic end to a bold advance. The Kradschutzen at the bridge have been wiped out by a storm of Polish fire, and now the dismounted cavalry swarm forward to claim the objective.

The German armoured cars come in sight of the bridge, only to see it covered in enemy infantry.

Close up of the FT-17s and 75mm gun supporting the final cavalry advance.

The Polish recce formation has hardly moved at all by the end of the game.

Final move, and a Polish victory. The game went by quicker than we expected, so in the end we played 10 moves. The Poles were pretty much in control of the objective after 8 moves, and during the extra 2 turns they consolidated their advantage. The Aufklarungs Battalion approached the bridge but ran out of steam as they encountered some solid Polish small arms and ATG fire.

Alternative view of the last move. Well done the Poles!

Postscript
A pretty conclusive victory for the Poles. The motorcycle battalion was completely wiped out, and the Germans ended the game with casualties of 11/10. The Poles had not suffered badly, only losing 4/15.
The army lists allow some Polish HQs to have a CV of 8 and it was well worth giving this rating to the Polish cavalry, helping them get into the game. At the minor tactical level the best Polish troops were at least the equal of the Germans in 1939, and the Polish cavalry were the elite of their army. For the record, all the Polish horse tows were allowed to move at cavalry speed. Video evidence I have seen on the net shows taczankas and towed 37mm guns galloping around at a great rate with their cavalry colleagues. On the practical side, if you make the horse-towed support weapons move at draught horse speed the cavalry formations become very difficult to use in their historical role.
Both players agreed this scenario would be well worth playing again with the roles reversed (on this occasion I was the Germans). It is one of those games which will be different each time depending on how the arrivals work out. I certainly didn't expect the German and Polish recce units to be so sluggish.
Finally, the evening passed even more pleasantly due to a highly acceptable Le Pre du Moine 2009 Bordeaux provided (as always) by Paul. That man knows his wine!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7otLd1z_o&playnext=1&list=PLE55417C6764CF3B2

WW2 - German Motorcycle Riflemen (Jan 1941)

2011-02-03T21:54:00.010Z

I was pointed towards this video by a post on the BKC forum: thanks to Steve Johnson for the link. The video got me looking up my material on German motorcycle troops (Kradschutzen). Consider this quote from September Storm:

Motorcycle rifle battalions were employed for reconnaissance and as exploitation units. Their high-speed mobility and good cross country capabilities allowed them to take advantage of many situations in which it was necessary to gain a quick advantage, such as seizing an abandoned bridge, securing a vital crossroads in advance of the main body, or screening an exposed flank...

Enough there for at least 3 scenarios. And from Panzer Divisions: The Blitzkrieg Years 1939-1940, concerning the Kradschutzen battalion in the Panzer Divisions:

Its speed and its capacity to redeploy quickly made it the natural spearhead of the Schutzen Brigade, and it was often used in offensive reconnaissance missions.

Hmm.... 'seizing an abandoned bridge'. That sounds fun. Well, the scenario is in preparation for a game next week. Full story and pictures soon after. Meanwhile, enjoy the video.

Fort Capuzzo, June 16th 1941

2011-01-01T17:24:00.006Z

Following an autumn dedicated to SYW gaming, I have finally turned back to WW2. I decided to get the 6mm Western Desert stuff out, using (of course) Blitzkrieg Commander as my ruleset. Funny really: at the height of my concentration on SYW, I had actually considered selling my GHQ Western Desert collection to make money for more SYW purchases. Luckily I had the sense to realise I would return to my other interests in time.

This will be a fairly long post: as with some previous Western Desert reports, I find it fun to mix in some real photos of the actual area and consider some of the scenario alternatives. Once again I turned to the Command Decision scenario book Benghazi Handicap by Frank Chadwick for inspiration, and chose the scenario 'Rally Forward', which covers the German attempt to recapture Fort Capuzzo from the British on the second day of Operation Battleaxe, June 16th 1941. In the original battle the Germans failed to re-capture the Fort, due it seems to a stubborn, well conducted British defence supported by tanks, an unusual lack of tank/infantry cooperation on the German side, and a lack of German resources in infantry. I went with the forces and map given in the book, though Barrie Pitt's Crucible of War: Wavell's Command might suggest some alterations, which I will mention at the end.

Here then is the game map reproduced from the book. Designed for a 6' x 6' table using 15mm miniatures, 4' x 4' would be fine in 6mm:

Below are the German forces as outlined in the book. It is easy to convert to the BKC equivalent as Command Decision uses the same ratio of models to real troops. However, the BKC website includes a download called 'Converting Orders of Battle' which gives some useful advice if you want it.

So for BKC these forces came out as:

CO, CV10. 1 recce unit (PzII)

1st Bn, 8th Panzer Regt

HQ CV9, 2 PzII, 2 PzIII, 1 PzIV

2nd Bn, 8th Panzer Regt

HQ CV9, 2 PzII, 4 PzIII, 1 PzIV

Regimental Troops, 8th Panzer Regt

HQ CV9

3 infantry units + ATR upgrade, 1 MG unit, all on motorcycles

3 infantry units + ATR upgrade, 1 MG unit, all in trucks

1 37mm ATG unit with tow

1 50mm ATG unit with tow

1 88mm ATG unit with tow

2 20mm Sdkfz10/4 units

1st Bn, 33rd Artillery Regt

FAO CV8, 3 105mm artillery units (off table). 6 artillery assets.

Below is the British OOB from the book and the BKC equivalent I used:

CO, CV8. 1 recce unit (scout carrier)

1st Bn, The Buffs

HQ, CV7

12 infantry units + ATR upgrade

1 mortar unit

2 2pdr portee units

1 2pdr ATG unit with tow

7th RTR

HQ, CV7, 4 Matilda II

Battery, 31st Field Regt

FAO CV7, 1 25pdr artillery unit (4 gun, off table). No assets.

This gave the Germans 2745 points, with a breakpoint of 11 (13, minus 2 for flexible doctrine). The Brits had 1580 points, breakpoint 10. I decided to play the game as an Assault scenario, but allowing no flank deployment as this was not indicated in Benghazi Handicap. The points advantage for the Germans was well over the 50% allowed for in BKC, but it still seemed the Germans had their work cut out. They had half the infantry the Brits had, and a limited advantage in tanks, especially considering how tough the Matildas are. Their main advantage was in artillery, and their superior CVs. As all the Brits would be able to dig in, we decided to use the 'auto suppress' optional rule, and extend it's use to on-table HE fire from mortars, infantry guns and tanks etc. In particular this would give the Germans the option to use their PzIVs in their historical role of bombarding and suppressing the British 2 pdrs.

For a bit of period flavour, the photos below give some contemporary views of Fort Capuzzo and the surrounding terrain:

The Game

First photo shows my interpretation of the game map, looking from the north (German) table edge. Tarmac roads in dark grey, tracks in yellow. Shallow wadis are represented by brown felt shapes: these are treated as high area terrain for movement purposes. Units in a shallow wadi can claim partial cover but do not receive a save value. The rough ground (shown by the fine gravel scattered in the bottom right hand corner) attracts the dense terrain command modifier but offers no cover.

British set up. All 4 Matildas are dug in on the British right flank, an interesting tactic which shut off this flank from the possibility of attack as far as I was concerned (as the German player).

If any reader doubts whether the Brits would have dug-in their Matildas, here is a photo from Tobruk around the same period. With only the turret exposed, a very tough nut to crack.

The Germans enter the table, with the stronger panzer unit aiming for the weaker British left flank. They would have to find gaps through the wadis, relying on arty and direct HE to suppress the British 2 pdrs. The weaker panzer battalion is on the German left flank and would play a waiting game. Infantry support in the centre, with ATGs leading.

The auto-suppress rule payed off well for the Germans throughout the game, as can be seen by the measles rash of red dice in this and later photos. We thought this historically sound.

German right flank creeps steadily forward. One portee 2pdr has been KO'd, but the British mortars have claimed the 88mm near the road.

The threat to the British left forces Paul to move his Matildas out of their pits and move them round the back of the fort. The HQ of 7th RTR has been knocked out by artillery in a freak rash of sixes (bottom right).

Now is the time for the German left flank armour to advance, but in typical BKC fashion the command rolls failed at the crucial moment. German FAO in foreground, who was vital to the advance.

Auto-suppression cuts both ways. We were using the 'reduced artillery fire zones' optional rule, which gave the Brits only a 10cm circle for their arty. Nevertheless, here they have a successful shoot against German tanks and infantry bunching up as they negotiate the line of the wadis.

As the game nears its end, the Germans close in on the fort, aided by suppressive artillery and direct HE fire. The tank duel between the panzers and Matildas (centre background) starts to go in the German's favour, now that the Matildas are in the open. The British were hampered by their low CV, not getting in enough fire orders to tip the balance in their favour. The German left flank Panzer Battalion has caught up.

Last move, move 8. The German infantry have broken through on the British left flank following a close assault, and have managed to get 2 units into the fort, but this is not enough. The Matildas are scattered, with 1 knocked out, 1 suppressed and fallen back, and a third skulking behind the fort to avoid German fire. In a desperate final charge the German 1st Panzer Battalion lunge towards their objective but lose 2 tanks destroyed and 1 suppressed (the latter out of picture to the left), demonstrating the likely result of doing without covering fire. Overall, the Germans have been cautious, advancing under the cover of suppressing fire, and have lost only 5 out of a breakpoint of 11. The British end on 6/10, including their destroyed HQ from 7th RTR. The result then is a minor victory for the British.

And in conclusion...

A most enjoyable game. Just for once I tried hard to think about my tactics rather than just charging in, and it almost worked. Things would have been much tougher for the attackers if the auto-suppress rule had been limited only to artillery, though I leave it to you to decide whether our modification is justified.

In Wavell's Command, Barrie Pitt indicates that 15th Panzer Division had 80 tanks available for this attack, which would work out to 16 tanks rather the 12 we used, if you assume 5 tanks in a German tank platoon. He also suggests the presence of German engineers, so perhaps a company of these could be included. His battle account is not detailed however, so for this game I took Frank Chadwick's word for the balance of forces. Having the British 25pdrs on-table (another option suggested by Pitt's account) would make the British anti-tank defence rather too strong, in my opinion. Despite the historical validity of digging in Matildas, I don't think this was actually done in the battle itself, so perhaps only the British infantry should be allowed to dig-in, which would help the Germans.

And finally...

A couple of photos I found online showing how other gamers have represented Fort Capuzzo. The lower photo in particular shows a rather different interpretation of the surrounding terrain.

http://willwarweb.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

(A game put on by the Society of Gentlemen Gamers)

http://saskminigamer.blogspot.com/2008/02/wargames-weekend-08-part-2-saturday.html

Hope you enjoyed the post. Once again, best wishes for 2011 to all visitors. Leave a comment!

The New Wargaming

2010-12-28T18:00:00.004Z

I'm very happy to say I have finally managed to get an article into one of the wargames glossies: and not just any old glossy, but the best of them. Battlegames 24 has my article entitled 'The New Wargaming'. According to the blurb, 'veteran wargamer Keith Flint takes a long hard look at the commercial tendencies in modern wargaming and asks us to think hard about how we respond to marketing messages'. How about that: I'm officially a veteran wargamer!

The article was inspired by reading comments on a number of forums over the last year, and by recent publications that have interested me like Wargames Illustrated and Black Powder. It occurred to me I was not particularly happy about some of the more commercial developments in current wargaming, which others seemed to welcome with open arms, so I decided to write a 'think piece' expressing my thoughts. Thanks to editor Henry Hyde for publishing it.

Whilst the commercial growth of wargaming suppliers has provided us with a better level of choice and quality in wargaming products than we have ever enjoyed, some tendencies seem to me to be getting a bit out of hand, whilst others are being forgotten. For example, I'm afraid everything is getting a little too glossy and upmarket for my taste (and therefore increasingly expensive), whilst concepts like the pleasure of sharing things for free, or doing your own research instead of relying on supplements and army lists, seem to be fading into the background. Perhaps if one thing can be considered to have tipped me over the edge and into print, it was reading this comment regarding Black Powder on TMP:

First impressions: well, even if the rules are no good, the piccies by themselves will be worth the cost alone!'

If you agree with this sentiment, or in the unlikely event that its author ever reads this, I apologise in advance. But really! There we have a wargamer happy to shell out thirty quid for a few posed pictures of wargames figures, when they are available by the gross for free online. Alright, maybe the comment wasn't meant to be taken entirely literally. But it seemed to me some gamers were losing their perspective, not to mention their self respect and common sense, in becoming too enamoured with surface over substance.

I'm afraid the approach of Games Workshop and Flames of War to wargaming takes a bit of flak in the article as well. On the other hand, I applaud a project trying to take things the other way, namely Phil Olley's Classic Wargamer's Journal, which is not produced for profit and also contains no adverts.

Enough of me and my soapbox. I would say that Battlegames 24 is an excellent issue, with or without my article, being crammed with ideas and inspiration on a variety of topics. Indeed, it re-ignited my enthusiasm for this particular magazine after a few recent issues which I have found a little flat.

And finally, Happy New Year! See you in 2011.

Black Powder SYW Stats

2010-12-02T16:42:00.038Z

For any Black Powderers out there (is there such a phrase?) who game the SYW, these are the stats I'm currently using, placed in the tables available from The Last Hussar's website (see my favourite links). Note I use First Fire to represent the better fire discipline of Prussian line infantry, and the hand to hand stats of the Austrian cavalry are all reduced by one as they appear to have been generally inferior to their Prussian counterparts.

To discourage successful cavalry charges against line infantry (and successful charges in general) I am now using a modifier of +2 for closing fire. Cavalry do not get the +1 for charging frontally vs infantry unless the infantry they are charging are shaken, disordered or not supported.

Down at the Club

2010-11-22T15:39:00.010Z

Anyone remember the Drifters' hit? Maybe not. Anyway, I was down at Portbury Knights Wargaming Club last Friday and took a few photos of what was going on. Among the many good things about Portbury Knights (friendly club, well attended, lots of variety) is the fact that they open at 3.30pm on a Friday evening (the normal club night), and go on until 11.00pm. So if you can wangle that early stack from work, you have time for a relaxed big game, or two or three smaller games.

To be fair, this was a fairly quiet night. On some evenings the hall can be jam packed. And there was also a distinct WW2 flavour present, when usually there is greater variety. There were a couple of tables of gamers playing some kind of fantasy card games but I have rudely ignored them in the following photos - only historical miniatures here!

Your host for the evening is Alan Vowles, Club President. Yes, a bar is available in the hall. Beer and toy soldiers - the perfect Friday evening beckons.

Those Redcoats have moved from the bar counter to their more natural home on the wargames table. A Black Powder game set in the Sudan is in progress

Overview of the Sudan game. Black Powder is popular at the club at present for Horse and Musket games.

My own first game was a Greeks vs Italians game set in 1941. I had the pleasure of using Steve Johnson's 10mm forces, and the Blitzkrieg Commander rules. Naturally, under my command the Greeks stopped the Italians in their tracks.

Steve is gracious in defeat as usual. Though his comment that he was 'playing in character' as the Italian commander was highly suspect.

Club stalwarts Stefan and Craig discuss Steve's charity moustache. A bit frightening but all in a good cause. Well done that man!

Stefan played this Western Desert game with his son. A distinctly 'old school' feel here, I felt. Nice!

Another view of Stefan's game.

Steve and I moved on to a game against Craig, using his 15mm figures and outstanding bocage terrain. Germans vs Americans in 1944, using Blitzkrieg Commander again. Here we see German tanks in an outflanking move.

View from the American side.

Craig gathers the dice for another sickening set of saving rolls.

Towards the end of the game. German tanks doing well, infantry lagging. But in the end Steve and I were victorious.

A very relaxing seven hours which flew by in the company of some very nice people. Two games, plenty of discussion and conversation, plus beer and sandwiches. The perfect start to the weekend!

More Free Downloads!

2010-10-25T20:18:00.008+01:00

Following some recent playtesting, my SYW rules have reached a new iteration, which I hereby share with you on the same basis as before: the link will take you to a Mediafire page where you may safely download the rules.

Similarly, click on the link to the notes to get some background to the rules and a bit of explanation of where I am coming from.

Best wishes as always.

SYW Rules SYW Rules: notes

Scenarios...getting it wrong

2010-10-21T20:53:00.195+01:00

I had conducted a couple of playtests of my own SYW rules using the scenario 'Vanguards Collide' from the pilot issue of The Classic Wargamer's Journal. This is a great little scenario which was fun to play (even solo) and gave the rules a good workout. Looking for something a bit more ambitious for an evening game against a live opponent (well, fairly live: we're talking Paul James after a long day at work) I came up with 'The Battle of Pfaffendorf'. This would be a basic encounter game livened up by making an effort with the terrain, which would represent a river valley across which the armies would fight.

The map and deployment are shown above. Table was 6' x 4'. Forces were:

Prussia

1 - Grenadier infantry brigade: 3 grenadier battalions, 1 gun

2 - Line infantry brigade: 3 infantry battalions, 2 guns

3 - Cavalry brigade: 2 dragoon regiments

4 - Hussar regiment (independent)

5 - Jager detachment (independent)

FK - Freikorps battalion (independent, in Pfaffendorf)

Austria

A - German infantry brigade: 2 infantry bns, 1 grenadier bn, 2 guns

B - Hungarian infantry brigade: 2 infantry bns, 1 grenadier bn, 1 gun

C - Light infantry brigade: 2 Grenz bns, 1 Bavarian infantry bn

D - Cavalry Brigade: 2 cuirassier regiments, 2 dragoon regiments

The three photos below show how the terrain came together: TSS tiles and hill contours were laid out, which were covered by two Games Workshop battle mats and then dressed with a FoW river and the usual bits and pieces. I decided to lay out the forces in full to save time deploying. My opponent would choose which side to play, or we would dice for sides if he had no preference.

I thought this all looked pretty good, for a quick evening game.

Prussian deployment.
Overall view and detail of the Line infantry brigade and its guns.

So far so good. But the weakness of the scenario was pretty obvious once we started playing. I had allowed for the river to be fordable within the woods and also for a section between the 2 streams, but it was still supposed to be a significant obstacle, taking a whole move to cross without being able to fire. Deployment was also pretty cramped, with little room for manoeuvre. The result, of course, was that a stalemate ensued with a firefight taking place across the water for the whole length of the river from the wooded table edge to Pfaffendorf. Neither side wanted to cross in the face of enemy fire.

At this point, the Prussians are getting the best of it,
having driven the Austrians back from the river bank.

I had hoped for some manoeuvre on the flanks, where I had given the Austrians an advantage in numbers. The Prussian left flank was, however, easily closed off by infantry units. Only on the Prussian right flank did some manoeuvring take place, when the weaker Prussian cavalry were predictably destroyed by the much stronger Austrian force, despite flanking fire from the Freikorps battalion. However, even here the flank was easily sealed off by a Prussian grenadier battalion (see below). In the end, both sides reached their breakpoint in the 5th move and the game was drawn.

The rules worked well and the battle played out as it might well have done in real life, but there was definitely some sparkle missing.

Consulting my copy of Scenarios For All Ages, by those kings of the scenario Grant and Asquith, I quickly found that where a river has to be attacked across in one of their games it costs a bit in movement but nothing else, and is usually fordable for its entire length. Pfaffendorf was inspired by the fictional Battle of Otterlitz in Volume 1 of the Classic Wargamer's Journal, but on closer inspection I found that the river valley in that battle (dating from 1957) was occupied only by a stream, which was easily fordable.

Ho-hum. The lessons are obvious. If almost the entire table is divided by a river, make it easy to cross. Or restrict your river to a small section of the table so forces can move around it. And if the table is filled by the opposing armies, give them the ability to get at each other and create gaps that can be exploited. Wargamers like manoeuvre: real battles may have often been a slogging match, but for our fictional wars we appreciate the dashing cavalry charge and the outflanking infantry advance.

However, all is not lost. I did like the look of my table when set out, so I will refight Pfaffendorf with the river removed and replaced by a road, and the town moved a little towards the centre to give the cavalry more room. We'll see how that goes.

See you soon!

And for that classic look...

2010-10-15T22:38:00.000+01:00

Always on the lookout for terrain items to enhance the table, I chanced upon these Javis walling sections at my local model shop. They only had a couple left so I decided to order a whole box online. Only £10.75, including p+p, for 9 sections, each 140mm long and 22mm high. And they come ready to use, flock and everything. They also come in their own box which you can use for storage. Very old school.

Specifically, these are OO gauge Garden Walling from the Javis 'Premier' range, code PW3. Javis only do online ordering for trade customers, but just type in the product name and you'll get 2 or 3 suppliers to choose from in the UK.

Here are the walls in action in a recent game, sheltering some Prussian jager.

And for that Classic read...

Have just received issue 1 of the Classic Wargamer's Journal, Phil Olley's new project. It really is just the thing for Old Schoolers, being a non profit making, basic magazine in an old fashioned, stapled together style, with no adverts. Just the antidote you need to Wargames Illustrated...

Only joking. I like WI as well. See Phil's 'Classic Wargaming' site if you're one of the remaining few who haven't heard of the project.

Best wishes 'til the next post.

My Seven Years War Rules

2010-09-28T18:59:00.003+01:00

My Featherstone-inspired Horse and Musket rules, now optimised for Austro-Prussian SYW battles, have continued to evolve. Rather than present them as a mega-long post, I have uploaded them to a file sharing site (as 'Horse and Musket Rules') so that you can download them as a PDF and see what you think. One major recent change is to move away from figure or base removal and just record casualties a la Black Powder. This keeps all your miniatures where they should be - on the table.

Anyway, I invite you to take the plunge, download the rules and see what you think. Need I add that comments are welcome? Surely not!

Download PDF

Airborne Armour - Now in Paperback!

2010-09-28T16:17:00.005+01:00

Just a note to say that my book on the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment in WW2 is now available in paperback. The initial printing of 1000 in hardback has run out, but thanks to the miracle of digital publishing the paperback edition can be printed pretty much to order, so the book will remain available in brand new condition for a good while yet.

You'll find the cover is the same. A couple of minor printing errors have been corrected but be advised that there is no new content. However, the good news is that the RRP is a little less than the hardcover edition.

My thanks to Helion for keeping the book in print. Happy reading!

Lobositz: It's A Town Of Two Halves

2010-09-13T17:36:00.024+01:00

Not knowing exactly who would be able to turn up, I booked myself a table at Colours 2010 under the name of the North Bristol Wargames Collective. A daft name, but nobody seemed to mind. I did know what battle I was putting on: The Battle of Lobositz (1756), the first battle of the Seven Years War, between the Prussians under Frederick the Great and the Austrians.

I won't provide a potted history of the battle: good accounts are available at www.kronoskaf.com (follow the links) and The Wargames Room (NZ site - follow the links to Volley and Bayonet then 18th Century Battles). The map above is the Prussian General Staff map made in the 19th century. I was looking for a real battle to have a go at and Lobositz ticked all the boxes: an interesting encounter, relatively small armies, terrain do-able, etc.

When recreating an historical battle I like to keep things as historical as possible, so deployment would be as per the original battle and some scenario rules were enacted to keep things moving along historical lines (all based on using Black Powder of course). For example, the Lobosch hill was classed as rough ground, there were some special rules to limit charges and firing during the 3 moves at the start of the game when swirling fog was deemed to be present, and the Austrian left wing was limited to staying behind the Morellenbach for the first 3 moves. Frederick had to leave the battle after 5 moves in line with his behaviour on the day: the game was expected to last around 9 moves.

The historical forces were around 30,000 on each side. I found I could just about manage to represent them, on a ratio of roughly 1 model battalion to 3 actual battalions. My orders of battle were as follows:

Prussians

C-in-C: Frederick II, King of Prussia (SR10)

2nd-in-Command: Feldmarschall James Keith (SR9)

Left Wing Infantry (1st line): Generallieutenant Prinz von Bevern (SR9)

1 infantry battalion

1 grenadier battalion

1 jager detachment

1 medium gun battery

Left Wing Infantry (2nd line): Generallieutenant von Kleist (SR9)

2 infantry battalions

1 grenadier battalion

Right Wing Infantry: Generallieutenant Ferdinand (SR9)

2 infantry battalions

1 grenadier battalion

2 medium gun batteries

Cavalry: Feldmarschall Gessler (SR9)

2 cuirassier regiments

1 dragoon regiment

Cavalry: Generallieutenant Schwerin (SR9)

1 dragoon regiment

1 hussar regiment

Artillery on the Homolka Berg (under von Kleist)

1 heavy gun battery

1 medium gun battery

Austrians

C-in-C: Feldmarschall von Browne (SR9)

Left Wing Infantry: Generallieutenant Kollowrat (SR8)

3 infantry battalions

1 grenadier battalion

1 medium gun battery

Left Wing Cavalry: General Feldwachtmeister Lowenstein (SR8)

1 dragoon regiment

Centre and Right Wing Infantry: General Feldwachtmeister Lacy (SR8)

2 infantry battalions

1 grenadier battalion

2 medium gun batteries

Right Wing Cavalry: Feldmarschall Lieutenant Radicati (SR8)

(deployed in centre)

2 cuirassier regiments

1 dragoon regiment

Light Infantry Corps: General Feldwachtmeister Draskowitz (SR8)

2 grenz light infantry battalions

The Game

Four gamers turned up on the day: myself and my eldest son Sam (we would be the Prussians), along with Paul James and Andy Potts (both Austrian to the core). We had all run through a practice game on the previous Wednesday, which ironed out a few wrinkles and gave us all some food for thought on tactics. In particular we all resolved to be more cautious on the day, rather than risking a broken brigade or two at the end of the first move!

10.00am on Sunday and we're ready to go. We had a nice big table near the window with plenty of room to store all our stuff and keep the table clear of clutter. That's Sam, by the way. You'll have to smoke that roll-up outside, boy. I just hope it's ordinary tobacco.

A closer view of the set-up. Austrian left in the foreground behind the Morellenbach stream. Lobositz right background, Lobosch hill centre background. Polyester swirling fog in place. Sam adjusts the position of Schwerin on the Homolka Berg: the King of Prussia can be seen nearby on the same hill. We deployed the cavalry forward of the infantry on both sides, ready for the opening cavalry encounter as per the real battle.

Prussian deployment. In the foreground, Bevern's brigade faces the Grenz light infantry on the Lobosch.Ferdinand is deployed to Bevern's right, with von Kleist's line backing them up. Village in background (blue houses) is Wchinitz.

The Prussian cavalry peers through the mist, ready for the off. Initial cavalry moves were fairly cautious. Frederick is seen behind on the Homolka berg.

As the light infantry on the Austrian right were pushed back, one of Lacy's battalions fell back a short way to occupy Lobositz. Gun position on the right of picture would prove to be the Prussian's nemesis.

General view as the game got under way. Bevern makes good progress, but in the background two of Gessler's cavalry regiments have been forced back.

The Austrian players in action.

Prussian infantry continues to make steady progress in the centre and left. Frederick decided to personally lead a dragoon charge on move two to restore the cavalry situation in the centre, but miserable dice throws saw the unit and its King thrown back behind Wchinitz (bottom left). At least the Monarch survived!

Oh dear: those Prussian infantry are going to get a pounding from the Austrian guns.

The fog is about to clear. Bevern has taken the Lobosch Hill. A second Austrian battalion is moved back into Lobositz: the unit that moved back previously now occupies the rear block of the town.

Heavy pointing action in evidence around move 5. In front of Lobositz the Liccaner Grenz battalion make a 3 move stand against a battalion of Prussian infantry, badly holding up the Prussian attack. Damn them! The Austrian left wing is beginning to move across the bridge to support their centre.

After 3 moves of hand to hand the Liccaner regiment breaks. Andy is torn between pride and sadness as the grenzers return to their box. A touching moment indeed.

A couple of moves later. Having blasted away 3 Prussian infantry battalions, the blasted Austrian guns have been blasted in turn by Prussian artillery and have broken. A lack of understanding of the rules (and a lack of common sense) cost the Prussians dear: the Austrian guns should have been bombarded before the infantry went in, which would have saved a lot of casualties. On the plus side, close range infantry fire has broken the Austrian battalion in Lobositz. A nice little hole opens temporarily in the Austrian front.

Final move (move 8). The Austrian left wing infantry replaces the cavalry which move round in turn to plug the gap by Lobositz. Austrian grenadiers sally forth from Sullowitz in the foreground. Schwerin's Prussian cavalry are still active as well and manouevre towards Lobositz (centre left of picture). But time is up. By this time (16.30) we were about the only ones still actually playing on our floor.

Lobositz at the end of the game. The town was formed of two blocks (hence the title of this report), and one each is held by the Prussians and Austrians. The town is burning as a result of the Prussian bombardment (a scenario specific rule which aided the eviction of the Austrians). Though there was still some life left in the game, a Prussian victory seemed unlikely, so the day was awarded to the Austrians. History had been reversed.

All in all, a truly excellent day's gaming. The scenario worked well and both sides hopes were maintained until the end. Colours itself was as good as ever: a great selection of games and traders in a cracking venue.

Some very good friends of the NBWC were putting on a Spanish Civil War game on the floor above: see the Blitzkrieg Commander forum under 'Shows and Conventions' for a link to a report of their game.

Here's hoping we can think of something equally good for next year!

Frederick Prepares For Battle

2010-08-16T19:14:00.006+01:00

Suddenly it's that time again: Colours 2010 is just 3 weeks away. In the last few years this has become my main show of the year: it's not too far away, it's a good size, it's well organised and it has perhaps the best location for a wargames show outside Kelham Hall. The grandstand at Newbury Racecourse provides an open and modern venue, with great views across the course from the floor to ceiling windows.

This year I'm doing another demo game, but on this occasion it's SYW using the Black Powder rules. I'm attempting the Battle of Lobositz (the opening battle of the war), which I've decided is just possible despite my limited resources. More details about the wargames refight will be posted when I write up the game on this blog after the show.

I have to say straight away that my demo games are unlikely to win any prizes. They tend to be basic and use mostly those resources I already have. No months of constructing purpose-built terrain and assembling armies of hundreds of figures. I salute those who produce the jaw-dropping set-ups we all admire - but where do you get the time? And where do you get the sheer enthusiasm to see those projects through? I'm afraid I am sadly lacking in both.

Anyway, even I couldn't do Lobositz without representing Frederick himself. I decided to go for the Tradition figure of the King of Prussia, along with another mounted general from the range to keep him company. Some will know these as Stadden figures, after their original sculptor. They are painted to my usual basic, 'toy soldier' standard. Although advertised as 30mm, you can see they are well over that size and tower over my RSM hussar figures. But placed on their own command base they blend in well enough, and give due prominence to Frederick. After all, he was something of a towering personality! Cue tumbleweed.

The hussars were one of the few extra units I had time to paint especially for the game. They represent Hussar Regiment no.7, the 'Yellow Hussars'. The church was also bought for the game. This is another JR Miniatures building (like the others I use for this period), from their 15mm Prussia range. In contrast to Frederick, this building turned out be a little under scale, with doors more suited to 10mm figures. But once mixed in with the other buildings, it will form a nice addition to the town of Lobositz (or Lobosice, as it is called these days, being in the Czech Republic). Somehow, once the game is set-up and battle commences, one doesn't notice that Frederick would have to literally crawl through the doors on his stomach to get into the church!

I hope that some of those reading this blog will be able to attend the show (11th - 12th September). I will be there on the Sunday only, first floor. Come and say hello.

Black Powder House Rules

2010-06-25T16:46:00.006+01:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was to cut out the house rules as much as possible. The main catalyst was joining the Portbury Knights wargaming club. This is the first club I've formally joined and attended regularly, and it soon became apparent that everything was much easier if you just played it out of the book. Everyone knew where you were coming from. And I soon found that those treasured house rules didn't really make that much difference to outcomes anyway. So my house rules for Black Powder are nothing to get excited about. Remember I only play SYW so all the house rules relate to this period.

Distances

As I will generally be playing on smaller tables than those featured in the rules, I quickly decided to reduce all disances by one third. This is easily done as all the distances in the book divide logically. This includes all firing, movement, command, initiative and proximity distances, except for the following:

Artillery ranges stayed the same, including the 6" short range. Artillery in the original game has artillery range set rather short in relation to infantry fire. I wanted to redress the balance a bit. I also added 'heavy artillery' with a range of 60", to represent those Brummers and 24 pounders.

Sizes of 'shoot through' gaps are retained. I'm still using 28mm figures so gaps reduced by a third seemed a little narrow.

Commander movement is 30". All my commanders are mounted in this period and two thirds of 48" is 32". 30" is just a nice rounded figure and easy to remember.

Formations

Attack column and mixed formation are not used, as they didn't feature in the SYW as far as I know. Square can only be used when units are forced to retire and the rules state that forming square is an alternative move (p.97).

Broken Brigades

An amendment here as I will generally be using smaller brigades (2 to 4 units) and I wanted them to be a bit less fragile. Therefore, a brigade cannot be broken unless at least one unit from the brigade has been destroyed or has left the table. All other rules remain the same.

Buildings

Where a town or village is formed of 2 or 3 'blocks', units able to retire from one block to the next will not ignore a retire result from a break test. This is just a minor tweak to give attackers a reasonable chance of establishing a foothold in larger built up areas.

Unit sizes

My units as modelled for previous rule sets were smaller than those in the rulebook, and I had no wish to expand them, leading to a great deal more expense and painting. I like my 20 figure infantry units. Reduced unit sizes as compared to the rulebook also fitted in with the reduced move and firing distances. So my unit sizes are:

Infantry: small=8-12 figures, standard=16-20 figures, large=24-32 figures.

Cavalry: small=4-6 figures, standard=8-10 figures, large=12-16 figures.

Stats

Most of my unit stats are fairly standard, and I use as few 'special rules' as I can. Most line and grenadier infantry get 'first fire'. Grenadiers and cuirassiers get 'elite 4+'. Grenadiers usually get 'superbly drilled'. Grenz and Jagers get 'skirmish'. My heavy cavalry (i.e.cuirassiers) don't get the 'heavy cavalry' rule as I feel this makes them much more effective than is historically correct.

I prefer to make my grenadiers and cuirassiers a bit more stubborn by giving them a stamina of 4, and keeping a standard moral save of 4+. That way they take casualties at the normal rate but are just a bit tougher than normal troops.

Generally, I use a staff rating of 9 for the Prussians and 8 for the Austrians. And that's about it. I have found no need for any fundamental changes to how the rules work, such as altering the move sequence to 'I move, you fire, you move, I fire' as some have suggested. I just haven't found that the rules as written cause me any real problems.

Next Battle

I'm considering an adaption of the Gross Jagersdorf scenario available for download from the Edinburgh Wargamers site (on their Die Kriegskunst page). This offers a nice historical game on a 6' x 4' table, with forces I can more or less match. So stay tuned!

Dawn at Witzenhausen

2010-05-25T15:01:00.020+01:00

If you have the Black Powder rule book you'll be familiar with the ACW scenario 'Daybreak at Hangman's Creek'. I decided to have a go at this with my SYW forces, renaming it as befits the different period. Witzenhausen is the German town twinned with the town where I work. I just liked the name.

This is not a particularly big game so I had no trouble getting together about the same number of units per side as in the original scenario. However, a 12' x 6' table is rather too much to ask in my family home. I was able to squeeze an 8' x 6' table into the dining room by removing most of the furniture, and this would have to do. My infantry units would be mostly 20 figures rather than 36 which would make things easier. I also omitted the gun foundry and the outer arm of the river. The 2 photos below show the terrain I ended up with. Initial on-table troops are deployed and the Prussian commanders placed on their baseline ready for arrival throws.

The scenario was mostly as per the book. The Prussians would arrive on their baseline following successful command rolls for each brigade: any late arrivals could be put down to the problems of a night approach march. All the Austrian commanders started in the town, the camp was occupied by 1 Austrian brigade, and the other 2 were off table. 2 small light infantry units acted as the advance picket who could deploy anywhere on table as long as they were no closer than 12" to the Prussian baseline. One regiment from the Austrian cavalry were also allowed to start on table, guarding the bridge. As shown below, I substituted a cavalry brigade for one of the infantry brigades on each side, and arranged things so that the cavalry brigades would not start opposite each other. This would scupper the obvious option of a mutual charge, and hopefully make each commander think a bit more deeply about how to employ his cavalry.

Loss of the town or camp would count as a lost brigade for the Austrians.

Forces were:

Prussia (staff rating 9)

1st Brigade (centre)
2 line infantry battalions
2 grenadier battalions
1 jager detachment
2 guns

2nd Brigade (left)
3 line infantry battaliopns
1 grenadier battalion
2 guns

3rd Brigade (right)
2 cuirassier regiments
2 dragoon regiments

Austria (staff rating 8)

Picket (marauders)
2 small light infantry battalions

1st Brigade (camp)
3 line infantry battalions
1 gun

2nd Brigade (town)
2 line infantry battalions
2 grenadier battalions
1 gun

3rd Brigade (bridge)
2 cuirassier regiments
2 dragoon regiments

The Game

Hungarian and Bavarian battalions occupy the camp at the start of the game. Their absent commander may be imagined sleeping off a heavy night in an inn at the nearby town

Austrian commanders concentrated in the town.

Prussian deployment. All brigades managed to arrive on the 1st turn. Prussian forces are concentrated onto the right side of their baseline, to avoid the constriction of the river bend to their left. Austrian Grenz occupy the field and wood in front of them.

The Prussians manage a rapid advance in the first turn.

On the Prussian right the cavalry loop around the wood. They have a tempting expanse of open ground ahead.

The Grenzers do a good job of delaying the left flank Prussian brigade, but on the extreme right of the picture 2 battalions from the centre Prussian brigade are nearly at the town. Austrian cavalry enter the board at the top of the picture.

After a slow start, the Austrians start to arrive in force. Their cavalry come galloping over the bridge and find themselves in the midst of the Prussian advance. The Prussian infantry on the left just missed out on blocking the bridge ahead of them.

The action is now in full swing, concentrated around Witzenhausen and the camp. Austrian infantry have occupied one half of the town whilst a Prussian battalion has the other half. The Prussian guns have deployed to bombard the camp, but their own cavalry have foolishly blocked their line of fire.

The Prussian cavalry has reached the town but doesn't seem to know what to do next. The Austrian cuirassiers form themselves into line and go after some of the Prussian guns (they have just destroyed two).

Close up of the action in the town. It was formed from 2 'blocks'. Technically there can be only 1 battalion in each block, but an Austrian battalion has moved up the road in column through the Austrian held block and is attacking the Prussians in the next block. Temporarily there are 2 Austrian battalions in one block.

Close quarter tussle between the town and river.

Final positions. We managed 5 turns, but neither side had had a brigade broken.
Let's call it a draw!

Conclusion
An interesting game despite the lack of result. Units were all over the place, with battalions and regiments of both sides on each other's flanks and rear. This resulted in an excellent tryout for the rules.

Black Powder

2010-03-01T18:18:00.018Z

Dear, oh dear, oh dear. Which rules to choose? Not really a problem for my WW2 games. I have been playing WW2 for more than 30 years so I know a good set when it comes up - hence I have settled on Blitzkrieg Commander. But the Seven Years War is a project of only two and a half years duration, and I still seem to be finding my feet. I started with Standing Like A Wall, the downloadable rules by Ioannis Mavromichalis (of Leuthen Journal fame), but they barely got a look in before I discovered Minden Rose, an excellent set which I was fortunate enough to be introduced to by the author (Barry Lee). At the same time, I was dabbling with Donald Featherstone's horse and musket rules, which then got me started developing a set of my own derived from these, as a bit of a side project. Then along came Die Kriegskunst, which I bought but never played as I could see straight away they were a little too complex for my taste. And then before I knew it, Rank and File were being released. Minden Rose is hardly a complicated set (and I would recommend them to anyone), but R & F was even quicker and simpler to play whilst retaining all the period feel I felt I needed.

This was all good, then. I was happy to carry on with Rank and File as my standard set. The Featherstonian project was abandoned. But then I started to hear about a new rule book called Black Powder. Really quick and fun games, and based on the Warmaster system which I liked so much when adapted for WW2 in Blitzkrieg Commander. And the guy who wrote Black Powder was the guy who had originally developed Warmaster. Crikey! However, reading various pieces and discussions on the net, I quickly got the impression that the rules were designed for gaming on enormous tables with at least 3 players each side, and that the authors had some weird fantasy that they were Edwardian gentlemen. Plus the rules were apparently a sort of coffee table book that cost 30 quid. Well, I wasn't having any of that sort of nonsense. So I went off Black Powder and vowed to ignore these foolish people. But they wouldn't go away. BP was authored and backed by some prominent names in miniatures wargaming, people who knew a bit about production values and PR. In the modest world of horse and musket wargaming, Black Powder was quickly established as something of an event. And almost every comment I read from those who had played them was positive. So, with a resigned sigh, I went on Amazon. There, I was lucky enough to find that I could pick up the rules for a shade under £18, including p & p. Oh alright then. I sent off for a copy. That was a couple of weeks and two solo trial games ago.

So here are my personal impressions of Black Powder. Every other bugger on the net with an 18th or 19th century army is writing reviews of BP - so why not me?

The Package.

As everyone knows, the production values of this rule book are very high. It is indeed a very slick commercial product. I acknowledge this aspect of BP is very attractive to most purchasers, but just to be contrary I will make a few personal comments.

The photos are of a high quality, featuring beautifully painted figures, but mostly these figures feature in carefully posed dioramas rather than real games. I am not fundamentally a modeller or a creator of dioramas, I am a wargamer, so I find I am not particularly inspired by these photos. I would have preferred photos that gave me examples of different layouts and types of terrain, or that illustrated the rules.

The writing style I found actually quite appealing. Take this quote, for example, regarding judging visibility,

'A sense of generosity under heavy fire is an admirable quality and the mark of a gentleman.'

Or, when discussing hand to hand combat,

'It is merely demeaning to gain petty advantage from fractions of an inch and to imagine otherwise diminishes all concerned.'

Nice. However, my overall impression was that this publication takes the creation of an attractive product a bit too far. One hundred pages (in round figures) to describe what are fundamentally a simple set of rules is rather excessive, a page count fluffed up with large photos mostly not of actual games, side bars of period quotes and (notwithstanding the above) a rather long winded writing style. The main problem is not that this all increases cost (although it does), but that it makes the rules harder to get to grips with when first getting to know them, and makes the rules harder to look up when you are learning in your first few games. I am in favour of nicely produced rule sets, but one has to maintain a sense of what is appropriate. Perhaps a good alternative might have been a concise exposition of the rules in a discrete section with all the chat, explanation and rationalisations forming the rest of the book.

The Rules.

I would take comments that this is a book about wargaming which includes a set of rules with a pinch of salt. This is fundamentally a rule book: it lays out a set of rules by which to play wargames. Hence my comments above regarding excessive length. Having said this, it follows that the rules are the essential grounds on which the book must be judged - and I found them very attractive. In simplicity and ease of play, they don't have much advantage over Rank and File, but the command system provides a game which can be dramatic, surprising and a lot of fun, and the rules for morale up to brigade and army level create a game that will come to a proper conclusion in a reasonable time (i.e. an evening's play).

Setting aside my preference for a more concise style, the rules are well explained and generally easily understood. I have played 2 solo run-throughs with around a dozen units per side. The first was a bit of a trial to begin with, due to the sheer number of pages to be rifled through when you want to look up a procedure, but by the middle of the second game I was away. If you played these rules for the first time with someone who already knew them, you would be in the groove very quickly.

If I were to find fault I would say advice about period adaptions is lacking. In a book running to 180 pages, a set of brief sections outlining how the unit stats and special rules might be adapted to the various wars and campaigns forming the 200 years covered would have been appropriate: but it is absent. There is a section called 'The Age of the Musket', but this is a set of potted histories and of little use for actual games. Further to this point, wargamers of such conflicts as the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, or the Seven Years War, are rather poorly served. The scenarios start with a game set in 1777, so the first three-quarters of the 18th century are largely ignored as far as scenarios are concerned: and the scenarios are the main source of period information. Napoleonic gamers are much better served, as are colonial era players. One quote from a side bar I found particularly telling,

'Players who are keen to reflect known range advantages within a specific historical context (Dreyse rifle versus Chassepot for example) are invited to make adjustments as they see fit.'

Dreyse vs. Chassepot is a basic tactical factor for anyone gaming the Franco-Prussian war. With 180 pages to play with, such issues deserve a bit of attention. One is left with the impression that the authors simply couldn't be bothered.

Another reservation concerns unit stats and the special rules that can be applied to give units a particular character. There are 24 of the latter. With a unit already having 4 basic stats to define its abilities (shooting, hand-to-hand, morale and stamina), I feel that that should have been enough. Adding the special rules creates a kind of Lord of the Rings feel, where each unit becomes the equivalent of a character in a skirmish game. Then you spend half your time trying to remember which special rules apply to which unit and then remembering what those special rules actually entail - with the high probability that you will forget all about some of the special rules until after the game. Suffice to say I reckon a lot of these special rules (or 'useful' rules as they are also described) are rather superfluous, and they are best used with considerable circumspection. Here again, I have read online comments describing how much some players enjoy tailoring their units to a particular battle or campaign by using the special rules. Fair enough. But in a simple game, for me they are just over-egging the pudding.

The rules did give me the impression that luck with the dice was even more important in BP than it is in other sets. I think in particular it's the all-important Break Tests, which use 2D6 and hence have a very wide set of possible outcomes. However, I'm no game designer and my experience of the rules is limited, so this is something I will keep an eye on rather a criticism. However, my final point is linked to this latter feeling about BP. I am intending to game the Battle of Lobositz (1756) in the near future, as I have found my relatively meagre forces can be stretched to give a reasonable representation of this battle. But something is telling me I would be better off using Rank and File than Black Powder for this refight. Maybe BP would provide too volatile and unpredictable a game for a re-run of a real battle, and a more traditional, predictable set would be better. I don't know. With luck I'll be able to try it both ways.

The Conclusion.

My personal take, then, is straightforward: an excellent set of rules in a rather over-produced rule book. I'm glad I bought them. If your preference is for the simple and fun game, these are the rules for you. But get on Amazon and check out the latest deals - paying Warlord Games or any of their agents the full £30 is just daft. With the fluff reduced, these rules should have sold for £20, and that is what you should try and pay.

P.S. - QR and Roster sheets.

You can download these for free from Warlord games. However, a wargamer going by the name 'The Last Hussar' has developed QR and Roster sheets in black and white so you can save on coloured ink over printing out full colour pages. More significantly, you can type your units into the Last Hussar's rosters, rather than having to print out a roster then hand write the details. Much easier and looks better. Despite being black and white these alternatives are still stylish. Recommended. See the link to the Last Hussar's Barracks, then look out for the post on Black Powder QR sheets and Rosters.

Encounter Battle

2010-02-12T14:55:00.013Z

This scenario was based on ideas contained in Donald Featherstone's book Solo Wargaming. In particular, he has a nifty idea for generating random reinforcements which would give the game a bit of a twist. Rules for the game itself will be Rank and File.

Total forces for each side would be as follows:

Austrian
C-in-C, 4 Brigadier Generals
2 Cuirassier regiments
2 Dragoon regiments
3 Line infantry battalions
2 Grenadier battalions
2 Light infantry batttalions
1 Medium gun battery
1 Heavy gun battery

Prussian
C-in-C, 3 Brigadier Generals
2 Cuirassier regiments
2 Dragoon regiments
3 Line infantry battalions
3 Grenadier battalions
1 light infantry battalion
2 Medium gun batteries

Each side would have 1 Cuirassier and 1 Dragoon regiment (plus a Brigadier) on table at the start of the game, acting as advance guards. These units would have five moves to wrestle for an advantage before reinforcements arrived.

The main bodies would straggle on to the table over the next five moves (moves 6 to 10). Their arrival was arranged as follows:

The forces available to each side were divided into seven groups, some a single battalion or regiment, some a group of 2 or 3 units. The remaining brigadier generals were randomly allocated to the groups as well. These groupings were then written down on slips of paper.
Then, for each side, five envelopes were numbered 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 on the front. They were then turned over, shuffled, and arranged on a table in line. They could then be mentally numbered 1 to 5 from left to right. The slips of paper (piled face down) were then blindly allocated to the envelopes using a D6, with a throw of 6 meaning 'roll again'. With all slips tucked away, the envelopes could be sealed and collected together, then once again re-arranged in order of the numbers on the front.
Thus I could create a totally random set of arriving forces for both sides before the game. The C-in-C would arrive on move 6, accompanied by whatever forces (if any) were in envelope 6. These would arrive on the baseline wherever the C-in-C preferred. Forces arriving in subsequent moves would be allocated an arrival sector on the baseline by dice throw when they arrived.

The Game.

Set up and position of the advance guards. I laid these out before my opponent (Paul) arrived, pretty much where I fancied. We diced to see who would be Prussian and who Austrian, then we were set to go.

The Austrian cavalry (commanded by myself) wait impatiently for the off.

With a minimum of preliminary manouvering, the two cavalry groups got down to the serious business of lining themselves up for charges and the subsequent melees. The Austrians came out on top: the Prussian dragoons were completely routed, and although the Austrian dragoons were beaten back, they were still in good shape to continue, once the reinforcements arrived.

Paul considers the arrival of his first reinforcing units. As you can see he is a little fuzzy-headed. Well, he was already on his second glass of red wine.

On the Prussian left, 2 line battalions advance with confidence along the line of the ridge. They are opposed by a single Bavarian battalion (rated green) coming the other way. Doesn't look good for the Bavarians.

On the other flank, the Prussian grenadiers form together into a brigade and push forward. Austrian infantry and guns have arrived in the background. The Austrian cuirassiers are falling back, hoping they won't be caught in the rear (ouch!).

More Austrian units crowd onto their baseline.

The light infantry arrive conveniently on the Austrian left. The farmstead here provides the perfect position for them to occupy.

The Bavarians look on nervously as the enemy infantry manouvers across their front. What are those damned Prussians up to?

Later position on the same flank. Now the Bavarians are facing cavalry as well as infantry. Help is on the way but it will not arrive in time to save them. They were charged (by the infantry) and routed.

In the centre, the Austrian infantry shapes up to oppose the enemy grenadiers, who are nicely supported by both Prussian gun batteries.

On the Austrian right again, later in the game. Austrian grenadiers and cavalry manouver boldly and the Prussians are forced to give ground. (Austrian cavalry in the background advancing along the table edge)

The Austrian gun position. As things turned out, they were not really in the best place and did not have the effect I had hoped for.

In the centre, the Prussians have the best of it. The right hand Austrian battalion is down to 50% (those blasted guns!), and both Austrian units are unsteady and falling back.

This last picture was move 13, by which time the Austrians had lost 6 of their 24 army points, causing them to waver (under my house rules - see previous post). The Prussians had still lost only 4 out of their 24. We had run out of time, and so a minor victory for Frederick's men was declared, although there was still plenty of life in the game and things might have gone the other way in time. At least that's what I think.

A very nice, fun, evening game. We found the need to add one house rule, or house clarification if you will. When deciding if a unit is within charge range of the enemy, we take it that it is if half or more of the stands are in charge distance. This caters for those situations where the opponents are not lined up parallel to each other.

One minor point to close with. I have found my Austrian light infantry have not been having the effect on the table they seem to have had in real life. Although they were not really designed to take their place in the line of battle, they seem to have done very well in a number of set-piece battles (Kolin and Lobositz being 2 good examples). Therefore I will be increasing their size from 4 to 6 bases. Less obviously, I will also try rating them as veteran to see how that works.

Finally, my copy of Black Powder arrived this morning. Time to get reading!

Zen and the Art of Wargaming

2010-01-31T17:37:00.009Z

As I have said on this blog before, painting is not my favourite bit of the hobby. But when I'm in the right mood it can be quite therapeutic. I didn't realise the full significance of this until a recent trivial incident.

There I was, painting away in the dining room, some favourite music playing, the kids in their rooms and the wife watching TV next door. Alone and at peace. Then a couple of the kids come thundering in, raiding the fridge, asking questions about something, etc... and I found I was getting quite cross. Why was my peace being disturbed! Of course, I was being unreasonable, but the level of my irritation surprised me, and it brought home to me that doing this bit of painting was more than trying to work up a new SYW unit: it really was a kind of therapy.

In fact, it was like meditation. I had got into what I believe might be called a 'zen moment'. For my purposes I'll define that as a point where I was focused only on the now, on the task in hand, and everything else had faded into the background. Something like the sort of mental state people try to achieve via meditation. I realised then what a useful tool for winding down and achieving a sense of well being our hobby can be. Perhaps I should be surprised it took me so long to realise that fact.

Another positive view of the hobby came from reading a bit of Donald Featherstone recently (in Featherstone's Lost Tales). Talking of reading H.G. Wells Little Wars, he described the book as a 'classic contribution to the art of remaining young despite one's years'. That is a great description of the beneficial influence of a hobby like wargaming: a contribution to the effort of remaining young. If wargaming seems childish to some people, that's part of the point. It is perhaps more than just escapism, more than just putting the cares of everyday adult life aside. One is keeping in touch with the playful, light hearted, youthful part of one's character.

So there we are. Two good reasons to feel good about wargaming. I'll be back in the not too distant future with a SYW battle report. And I have a set of the Black Powder rules on order (at a great price from Amazon: I doubt I would have bothered at the full price). That should be worth a post or two, but I'll hold fire until I've had a game with them.

To conclude, a picture of some wargame's buddies (and my son, 13 at the time) who took part in a Poland 1939 demo game with me at Warfare 2005. I'm not sure if they're sharing a Zen moment or getting in touch with their playful natures. Maybe neither, but a good moment captured on camera. Something about too many cooks getting ready to spoil the broth springs to mind.

'Til next time!

Race to the Vistula

2010-01-12T20:26:00.012Z

So. My latest game was interesting to me in two ways. First, I had developed my own scenario which I thought could produce a fun game, and second I was going to try out BKC II for the first time.

Scenario.
The idea was to re-create the conditions arising as the German 1st and 4th Panzer Divisions broke through Polish lines and raced towards Warsaw and the Vistula, around the 8th of September 1939. I designed a 6' x 4' terrain, which the Germans would have to traverse along its long axis against Polish opposition, with the objective of exiting worthwhile armoured forces off the far end of the table. The map was as below, with the Germans entering at the bottom (A) headed east. The interesting bit of the scenario was a set of randomly generated arrivals (both Polish and German) designed to represent the confused nature of the German advance and the Polish withdrawal. Zelazna is a Polish village name from the rough area of the fighting, but is used only to provide a little local flavour: the action is entirely fictional.

Initial Forces: Polish (deploy first)
Deploy anywhere in or east of Zelazna. All except tanks may be dug in.
CO
Infantry detachment: HQ (CV7), 4 infantry units, 1 mg unit, 1 mortar unit, 1 37mm ATG with tow
Infantry detachment: HQ (CV7), 4 infantry units, 1 mg unit, 1 40mm Bofors AA with tow
Tank Detachment: HQ (CV8), 2 Vickers E (47mm), 1 Vickers E (mg)

Initial Forces: German (move first)
Arrive in column along road from A. First movement on table must be along road.
CO, FAC, FAO
Panzer Bn: 2 PzI, 2 PzII, 1 PzIV, 1 Sdkfz 231 (recce)
Panzer Bn: 2 PzI, 2 PzII, 1 PzIV, 1 SP88mm
Stuka Staffel: 1 Stuka unit
Artillery Bn: 3 105mm units. No assets. Counted as out of range of targets east of the river.

Random Arrivals
From move 2, at the start of each move roll a D12 on the arrivals table. Arriving forces deploy in column along their route for their 1st movement action, up to their maximum move.
Once a formation has arrived at a particular point, cross through any enemy forces with the same arrival point. If a force has already arrived or has been crossed off, re-roll until an eligible force is thrown for.

Arrivals table:
1 - Polish air raid; 2 Karas units arrive and may attack any aiming point not within 30cm of friends, or in woods.
2 - German motorised infantry arrive at A; HQ, 4 infantry units in 2 trucks, 2 m/c units, 1 mg in truck, 1 37mm ATG with tow.
3 - Polish infantry detachment arrives at B; HQ, 4 infantry units in 2 trucks, 1 mg in jeep, 1 37mm ATG with tow.
4 - Lost German lorried infantry arrive at C; HQ, 4 infantry units in 2 trucks, 1 mg unit in truck.
5 - Retreating Polish tank detachment arrives at C; HQ, 3 7TP (37mm).
6 - Flanking German Panzer platoon arrives at D; HQ, 1 PzI, 1 PzII.
7 - Lost Polish recce detachment arrives at D; HQ, 1 Wz34 (mg), 2 TKS (mg), 2 m/c units.
8 - German recce detachment arrives at E; HQ, 1 Sdkfz 221, 1 Sdkfz 222, 3 m/c units, 1 mg unit with truck.
9 - Polish cavalry arrives at E; HQ, 6 cavalry units, 1 mg in taszanka, 1 75mm artillery unit with horse tow.
10 - German Panzer platoon arrives at F; HQ, 1 PzIII, 1 Sdkfz 10/4.
11 - Polish armoured train retreating south arrives at F; Armoured train, 1 T-18 drasine (recce)
12 - German cavalry detachment arrives at G; HQ, 4 cavalry units, 1 mg unit with truck.

Victory Conditions.
The Germans must exit at least 5 AFV units (tracked or wheeled) off the table via point B to win. If not, they lose and the Poles win. Game will last as many moves as time permits.

The Game.

Table set up as per map.

The bridge is well defended: Polish infantry on the east bank, tanks blocking the road.

The other Polish infantry formation holds Zelazna.

The German panzers arrive. The first battalion moves off the road to bypass Zelazna to the south.

The Polish tanks move forward to engage. The MkIV on the hill gave the first result attributable to the new rules: the Polish player rolled 4 sixes in 2 firing actions with his mortar (called in by infantry units in the village), and with no successful saves the tank was KO'd.
First arrivals were the German infantry reinforcements from A who joined the queue on the road behind the tanks.

Next to arrive: Polish cavalry east of the railway and river move to join in the defence of the bridge.

Stuka strike! The new rules again take effect as the Stukas pick off 2 Polish tanks in 2 separate moves, using the 'concentration' rule and the new effect rolls.

The second panzer battalion bypasses Zelazna to the north. The Polish 7TPs arrive, but they merely provide target practice for the well drilled German tanks and the deadly SP 88mm. In 2 moves they are all KO'd. The PzIs move ahead quickly to bypass the flaming wrecks.

More German panzers arrive at D. The Polish light tanks are being overwhelmed but manage to delay the German advance.

The Polish cavalry dismount and consolidate at the bridge. The defence here is looking very strong.

More arrivals: German cavalry are moving along the railway line from G. They are headed for trouble.

As the game reaches its climax, Zelazna is bypassed to the north and south by German panzers and supporting motorised infantry.

Polish infantry retreats from Zelazna. The mortar and the remaining Vickers tank fire off a few last rounds to delay the Germans.

The Stukas appear again and attack the bridge area. But with 3 Polish Command units in the vicinity they encounter a storm of AA fire and are knocked out of the game without affecting their targets. (CO plus 2 HQs plus the Bofors = 9 attacks. 4 hits achieved with no saves possible).They will be unable to return. Note the severely reduced German cavalry. They encountered heavy fire from the Polish dismounted cavalry who were in cover, and eventually lost 3 of their 5 units.

Final positions. The Germans have done reasonably well, but the defence of the bridge area is far too strong. Note further arrivals: more German armour has arrived at F (lower left), and more Polish infantry arrives from B (left). As the Germans advance precipitously against the Polish second line, they lose a PzI to AT rifles, and the Sdkfz 10/4 to the Bofors. The PzIII is suppressed by the 75mm and 2 infantry units and 1 mg unit are lost from the dismounted motorised infantry, all in the final move. There is obviously no way through at the moment. The Poles have won.

Conclusion.
8 game turns were completed in a little under 3 hours. The new rules worked perfectly, and I had no problems with any of the changes. The new cover saves made the Polish infantry in Zelazna difficult targets for the German artillery: despite having 9 attacks very little was achieved, but this is probably realistic. Overall, this is definitely an improved set.
As for the scenario, it was hard to judge the balance as the random arrivals provide a great deal of chance and variety. Nevertheless, perhaps the defence was a little too strong. If we refight the battle, I will reduce the Vickers tanks to 2, and attach 1 to each infantry formation, so that the Poles only have 2 formations initially. This actually fits in with the 'penny packets' rule added to the Polish army list. I should have listened to Pete! A little tweaking of the Polish arrivals should make the German task a little easier as well. I would also remove the range restrictions east of the river for the German artillery.

Thanks for visiting. Comments welcomed as usual!

PIBWL Military Site

2010-01-12T18:42:00.008Z

A brief post to sing the praises of this website (run by Michal Derela) devoted to Polish armoured formations 1918-1939, including armoured trains. For those interested in wargaming the 1939 Polish campaign the information contained on the site is invaluable. It is written entirely in English which makes it (as far as I can tell) a unique source.

Michal is willing to take email enquiries about most Polish military subjects of this era. As an example, he emailed me the following photos of Polish self-propelled AA guns, on French De Dion-Bouton cars and then on PF621 truck chassis. My enquiry followed a discussion on the BKC forum regarding the Polish equivalent of the 88mm on 12 ton halftrack fielded by the Germans and featured in my recent post.

The first pair of images show the de Dion-Bouton cars (above) and the PF621s (below)

The upper picture in this pair gives a good idea of how the De Dion-Boutons looked.

Here rear views of the French cars (lower) and Polish truck mounts (upper) can be compared.

Stephen Zaloga and Victor Madej's book on the Polish campaign (The Polish Campaign 1939 - not the Osprey written by Zaloga alone) indicates that 12 of the 75mm AA guns mounted on the cars were re-mounted on PF621 trucks. Michal tells me the number of conversions was 4. It seems both SP mounts were involved in combat in 1939. They were employed primarily against aircraft but did engage tanks on a few occasions, and with some success apparently.

Anyone interested in Polish military history of the 20th Century should check out this site. A link is posted (under 'Polish Military Site') to the left of this post.

A Miscellany...

2010-01-08T20:26:00.008Z

...Which is a posh way of saying Odds and Sods. Over the last few months I have acquired a number of wargames products that might be of interest to readers of this blog, so I thought I would bring them together in one post. This gives me an excuse to show you some photos and make some comments.

88mm Flak 18 on 12 ton half track.
Having found out about this vehicle on the net about 2 years ago, and reading that it was deployed in Poland in 1939, I have hankered after one ever since. I thought about doing a conversion of some sort, but had shelved the project when Battlefront Miniatures came up with the model as part of their 'Mid-War Monsters' range. Brilliant!
In 15mm it towers over my Panzer Is and IIs, and is a very impressive model when made up. The hull is resin, the rest of the parts metal. The tracks and wheels fit easily and solidly onto the well-cast resin hull, but there are a couple of problems with the gun. First, it is supposed to be a Flak 18, but Battlefront provide what is obviously a Flak 36, with the prominent 'barrel nut' half way down the gun tube. This needs filing off. The parts of the gun fit together awkwardly, and if fitted as cast create a slightly lop-sided weapon, due to rather poorly cast trunnions. The shield is also not quite the right shape, having rather too much of a backward slope. Nevertheless, for wargaming the model is fine and produces an excellent result. As with all Battlefront kits of this type, it benefits from being provided with a full gun crew, an example which other manufacturers would do well to follow.

The two shots above show the model posed on another of my purchases, a Faller 'Minimat' bought via Timecast. This is the cornfield colour one, 29cm x 40cms for £4. It formed the wheatfield in my 'Plattstadt' post. The mat has a paper backing but is proving to be perfectly robust and a good way of adding variety to my layouts. One thing that I have never liked is the common use of what look like bits of doormat for cornfields, where your Prussian Grenadiers or Tiger tanks can be seen delicately balancing on the tips of 4 foot corn stalks. This Faller mat is a much more acceptable alternative.
The haystacks are another new item, bought from The Square (http://thesquare-wargames.co.uk). These resin casts are inexpensive and easy to paint up.

Cart and Wagon - Parkfield Miniatures.
If you have read my brief post about the excellent service I received from Parkfield, well, these are the wagons in question. Nicely cast, easy to put together metal models that have a very solid feel, and are perfectly compatible with 28-30mm figures. The models don't include the figures: these have to be purchased separately. The barrels are also an addition. The models are shown on another Faller Minimat, this time the 'light green' one.

SYW Heavy Gun.
Having decided I'd like to field a heavy gun battery or two in my SYW games, I finally settled on the guns made by Elite Miniatures. The models I bought are actually from their French SYW range, but I'm not particularly fussy about these things so the Prussians and Austrians will get one each. The model shown is of a Valliere 8 pounder cannon, but compared to my RSM 'medium' guns it is pretty big, so I'm counting it as a 12 pounder. In fact, I shortened the barrel by a few millimetres to give the gun a more stocky look. The limber is a quick conversion of the standard RSM 2 horse limber to have a centre pole and cross-piece, with 4 RSM horses.

The gun is loose and can be hooked up to the limber for travelling across the table. When deployed, it is placed on the base as shown, the crew being permanently fixed to the base as normal. This saves on buying 2 guns, and also allows the crew to 'run away' and abandon their piece, which can occur under the Rank and File rules that I use.

RSM Spanish figures.
RSM have recently acquired the rights to the SYW Spanish range previously cast and marketed by The London War Room. I bought a few of these to see how they look. As Rich at RSM says, they can be used to provide a bit of variety for other nations as well as being used to create Spanish armies. The pictures show how they compare to the normal RSM figures. As you can see, they are bit chunkier, the heads in particular being a fair bit larger, but in general I think they fit in quite well. The unpainted figures in the centre are an officer and standard bearer (sans standard). The painted officer on the extreme right is also a Spanish figure which has taken service with the Prussian Grenadiers. Also potentially useful are a couple of seated figures, an officer and a fusilier. The latter is seen in the background of the first photo and more prominently in the lower photo. Very handy to have in the odds and sods box.
I should perhaps apologise for the clumsily painted Prussian eagles on the mitres of the right hand base of grenadiers. All I can say is I did my best, and from a couple of feet away you can hardly notice!

War Bases.
I wanted to give this company a mention as I now use them to obtain all my 2mm MDF bases. They provide very accurately and neatly cut bases (the best I have encountered) at competitive rates, with a prompt turnaround. They provide standard sizes or a custom service. Recommended. (www.warbases.co.uk)

Blitzkrieg Commander 2nd Edition.

Last, but very much not least, the new edition of Blitzkrieg Commander. There is no need for me to give these rules an extended review: the BKC website is full of appreciative comments, and there is also a summary of what has changed somewhere on the site. In brief, the best set of WW2 rules currently available have just got better. FoW gamers can use the 'one stand to a squad' scale and take part in a much superior game at the organisational level they are used to, or one can use the 'one stand to a platoon' scale and have multi-battalion games in an evening.
The 140 page book retails for £20 plus £3 postage in the UK. This gives you all you need: no supplements required, as a very comprehensive set of army lists for most nations and periods is included. The basic rules only take up about 20 or so pages, a tribute to their simplicity. The rest of the book consists of examples (with colour pictures), details of various suggested scenarios , a few optional or specialist rules and the army lists. One feature I particularly like is that the photos are there to illustrate well chosen examples of play, rather than being eye-candy. Recommended? You bet. These rules are quite outstanding.

A battle report with the new edition of BKC is pending, so watch this space.

A slightly belated Happy New Year to everyone!

'Rank and File': House Rules

2009-12-06T14:38:00.026Z

I thought gamers using these rules might be interested in the house rules I am currently adopting. Assume the usual comments about them only representing my personal opinion and being subject to change as I play more games, etc etc. Bear in mind these house rules relate to the SYW period.

My Figure Ratios

1 stand = 125 men. 1 gun = 5 actual guns.

My 'standard' infantry battalion is 5 bases, which would make 625 men in a typical battalion. This seems to me reasonable for a battalion on campaign. Going by the ratios in the rules (see Appendix 3), you get one gun for 25 men, so an artillery base would represent 5 actual guns. You could actually make the figure ratio anything from 100 to 150 men represented by a base (or 4 - 6 guns per artillery base), and things would still work as far as my organisations are concerned. The ratio is the same for cavalry: a base represents around 125 cavalrymen.

Pass Through Morale Test

A unit that routs will normally do so directly away from the enemy. If a friendly unit is in its path, it may deviate by up to 45º to avoid passing through, providing this does not bring it closer to any enemy unit.

If more than 1 stand of a routing unit does pass through a friendly unit, check morale of the unit being routed through using standard modifiers.

Retiring units or single stand units do not cause pass through morale tests. No matter what the cause of the morale test a unit will only have to test morale once in the morale phase.

This is my version of the optional rule published online by Mark in Supplement 2.

Movement: Prussian Drill

Prussian infantry may wheel up to 90 degrees. Prussian cavalry and infantry may oblique move. These abilities do not apply to green units.

This is designed to give the Prussians a slight edge to represent their higher level of drill.

Troop Quality and Firing

Veteran class +1 to firing dice; Green -1.

I think it is correct to give veteran class infantry a significant edge when firing, to represent their greater steadiness, experience of battle and higher level of confidence and training. In the same way green troops get a deduction to simulate their relative lack of training and their confusion and fear in battle. This house rule seems to me the simplest and most obvious way of representing this, and so far doesn't seem to unbalance things.

Dicing For Leader Quality

Prussian: 1, no bonus; 2,3,4,5, +1 bonus; 6, +2 bonus

Austrian: 1,2, no bonus; 3,4,5, +1 bonus; 6, +2 bonus

No re-rolls. When dicing for quality of the C-in-C, add one to the dice roll.

As I only use Austrian and Prussian troops, this is my simplified version of the rules concerning leader quality and bonuses presented on page 44 of the rules.

Markers

Green counter for unsteady: red for rout.

You have to mark it in some way. For the moment, small tiddlywinks will do the job.

Artillery

Movement – use 1792-1848 rules.

These seem more correct to me. For example, if 12 pdrs are counted as heavy guns (which I believe is correct), then making them completely immobile in the game does not fit in with what I have read: the most famous example being the movement of Frederick's 12 pdr 'Brummers' at the battle of Leuthen. Similarly, I don't see any need to hamper the movement of the 6-9 pdrs which constitute the medium guns.

Capturing - Each gun captured during a game cancels one point from the number of army points you have lost. Captured guns can only be moved at manhandled speed.

Just a little extra rule to allow the capturing of guns if they are abandoned by crews fleeing a charge or moving away due to morale.

Ranges

Light Smoothbore – Close = 8”. Medium = 16”. Long = 32”. Point blank 2”.

Medium Smoothbore - Close = 12”. Medium = 24”. Long = 48”. Point blank 3”.

Heavy Smoothbore - Close = 15”. Medium = 30”. Long = 60”. Point blank 4”.

Mark has said on the Yahoo group that the ranges of artillery were kept deliberately short to help with play balance. I prefer to lengthen them slightly to fit in more comfortably with the infantry firing range and to give back the reach that I think guns ought to have on the table. Mark has suggested shortening infantry musket range as an alternative, but I think the present range for infantry fire works well.

Penetrating Fire - Artillery fire may also affect units behind the original target unit, up to a maximum distance of 3" for light guns, 6” for medium guns and 12” for heavy guns (half this distance for units in hard cover/woods/fired at or from higher ground). Any such troops in the line of fire (normally taken to be through the centre of the target unit) and in range will be liable to hits as normal but with an additional -1 modifier.

An extra rule to represent those bouncing cannon balls.

Retiring

When unsteady retire distance will be only 1D6” for infantry or 2D6” for cavalry in the SYW period.

I came to the conclusion that the 2D6 for infantry and 3D6 for cavalry made the game too fluid for the 18th century. Just my own view of how SYW battles worked.

Formation Changes

Whilst the unit overall may not move more than half a move, individual bases can move up to their maximum column move to create the new formation.

My view of how formation changes should work.

One Stand Left

Multi stand units reduced to a single stand are removed and count as lost.

This is connected with the changes to the Army Morale rules given below. Single stand units have no real fighting value (in particular as they are often unsteady as well), and I got fed up with them hanging around at the back of the battle keeping well out of the way, but stopping their army being deducted 2 points for a lost unit. So 1 base units are simply removed.

Army Morale

Calculate one quarter and one half of the army points, rounding up fractions. Check army points lost in the end phase of each move. In addition to normal deductions for lost units, deduct 1 army point for every multi-stand unit at or under half strength, and one army point for any unit currently routing. Army points may also be deducted for objectives lost to the enemy.

When an army loses one quarter of its army points it is wavering: effects are the same as for the Army Break Point in the original rules.

When it loses half of its army points, dice for army morale during the end phase on a 4, 5 or 6. Add one to army morale throw for exceptional C-in-C or if most remaining units are veteran. Deduct one for poor C-in-C or if most remaining units are green. If the roll is failed, the army is broken and retreats from the field. If the roll is passed, continue for that move but the roll must be repeated in the end phase of every subsequent move until it is failed and the game ends.

At the end of the game (because one side has broken or time has run out), a result may be established by comparing the army morale of the two sides. If it is the same (e.g. both unaffected, both wavering), then the game is drawn. If one side is unaffected and the other broken, then this can be called a major victory for the unaffected side. If one side is unaffected and the other wavering, or one side wavering whilst the other is broken, then a minor victory for the least affected side may be declared.

My response to the recent discussion on the Yahoo group. This is how I am currently playing it, in an attempt to get a conclusion to a game in the 3 hours which is the maximum I usually have available in the evening. Losing half your army before registering any sort of reaction just takes too long: indeed, losing this many troops would represent a massive and possibly unrealistic loss in a real formation. I believe it is reasonable to bring the onset of army morale forward to 25% losses, and that it is also reasonable to suppose that an army commander would react to reports of weak or routing units.

I would add, however, that this house rule is strongly connected to the size of the armies I use and the playing time I generally have available.

Any comments or disagreements about the above by current players of Rank and File would be warmly welcomed, and read with great interest.

Action In The Plattstadt Valley

2009-10-22T12:00:00.012+01:00

Ah, nostalgia. I think you'll agree nostalgia is the beating heart of Old School wargaming. Whilst I myself am quite taken by the whole Old School thing, I like to mix some new school in with the old, especially in terms of rules. So this post is a mix of Old School nostalgia with new school rules and some compromises from the School of Reality.

Furthermore, I am more of a Featherstonian Old Schooler than a Grant/Young Old Schooler. It is the Don's 1962 classic War Games which inspires me, rather than Charge! or The War Game. For a start, Featherstone used Airfix figures, a good number of which I owned myself at the time, and he gamed in the ACW and WW2 periods, with which I was familiar. The Seven Years War and those Spencer Smiths were a bit exotic for me in 1970, when I first started reading wargames books. And Featherstone favoured the 20 figure unit, which has always been my favourite size.

Anyway, it's well past time for a bit of Donald Featherstone-inspired nostalgia on this blog. To whit, a re-fight of the horse and musket classic, 'Action in the Plattville Valley'. For those benighted miscreants who don't own a copy of War Games or are unfamiliar with the battle, I will give the basic details of the original scenario, then detail the changes I made (through choice or necessity) to complete the re-fight.

Action in the Plattville Valley.

The original map, copied from the book, is seen below. Table size was 8' x 5'.

The original game is set in the ACW period. Each side has 6 regiments of infantry with 20 figures each, two regiments of cavalry with 15 figures each, and 2 guns. The regiments are supposedly organised into 'brigades' of two regiments each, but the rules Featherstone used have no real command and control regulations, so the regiments can operate individually or can be grouped in any way the player wishes. Two regiments of infantry from each side (the 'advance guard') enter the table on move 1, moving along their respective roads. From move 2 they may move off the roads, then at the beginning of move 4 the rest of each army (the 'main body') may deploy as required anywhere on each baseline.

The scenario was therefore a fairly simple encounter battle. Forces involved were quite modest in relation to the table size. I felt that the scenario and size of forces were likely to produce a battle with plenty of potential for manoeuvre.

Action in the Plattstadt Valley.

I don't have access to any ACW forces, and anyway I wanted to play the game using my SYW figures. So 1863 in North America became 1757 in Central Europe. I suppose a 'true' refight would use the same rules as laid out in the book, but I had no real desire to do this. Much more to my taste was to use the Rank and File rules from Crusader Publishing. As this blog has already indicated, these have an Old School simplicity but are rather more modern in their mechanisms than Mr Featherstone's originals.

Terrain.

I would have preferred to use an 8' x 6' table, but 6' x 6' is the best I can manage in my wargames room (alright, my dining room). Considering the size of forces in use, there should still be plenty of width. The inability of the infantry units to deploy in single line due to the basing conventions of Rank and File will help. Using the terrain pieces available to me I came up with the terrain shown on the map below, representing the closest I could get to the original.

The only real point to make is regarding the river. This was obviously intended to be fordable as the original game report indicates units crossing Bull Creek, so the Bullenbach is fordable throughout its length by infantry and cavalry. Artillery must use the bridge. Units lose half a move to cross. If fighting whilst crossing, they deduct 1 from any firing/melee/morale dice.

Of course, I didn't make any plasticine hills or mark in the roads and rivers with chalk. But maybe that could be an Old School project for the future. A matt-green painted board, a set of chalks, some hill contours cut from chipboard or some of the foam materials you can get nowadays... Those Old School tables could be very eye-catching, as the photo below (from Featherstone's Complete Wargaming) shows.

Now that's what I call Old School. However, I definitely draw the line at the pullovers. And I'm not getting a side parting either. But I digress.

Scenario.

This would be as per the original.

Success or otherwise would be decided by using the Rank and File Army Break Point rules. These are simplicity itself: 2 points for each unit, except the guns which are 1 point each. Lose half your army points and you are in trouble. Failing that, an Old School-style gentleman's discussion would take place and a winner would be agreed upon.

Forces.

Each side had 6 infantry units of 5 bases/20 figures each. One of the infantry units on each side was a grenadier battalion ('veteran' in R & F), and one a lower grade unit ('green'), just for a bit of interest. Each side had 2 cavalry regiments of 5 bases/10 figures each, one of cuirassiers and one of dragoons. Two gun models (2 'batteries') per side were also present. Making the cavalry units the same size as in the original game would make them relatively too powerful when using Rank and File, so they stayed at 10 figures.

The leader (or command) figures can be distributed as required, in accordance with the easy going command rules of R & F (which tie in quite well with the type of command rules Featherstone used in the original battle)

Prussia

1 Commanding Brigadier (+2 bonus), 4 Colonels (+1 bonus).

1st Battalion, Infanterie Regt. No.1, von Winterfeldt (regular)

2nd Battalion, Infanterie Regt. No.1, von Winterfeldt (regular)

1st Battalion, Infanterie Regt. No.33, de la Motte (regular)

2nd Battalion, Infanterie Regt. No.33, de la Motte (regular)

Grenadier Battalion 1/23 Wedel (veteran)

Freibattailone No.1, Le Noble (green)

Kuirassier Regt No.8, von Rochow (veteran)

Dragoner Regt No.6, Schorlemmer (regular)

2 medium guns (regular)

Austria

1 Commanding Brigadier (+2 bonus), 4 Colonels (+1 bonus)

1st Battalion, Infanterie Regt No.10, Jung-Wolfenbuttel (regular)

2nd Battalion Infanterie Regt No.10, Jung-Wolfenbuttel (regular)

1st Battalion Infanterie Regt. No.37, Josef Esterhazy (regular)

2nd Battalion Infanterie Regt No.37, Josef Esterhazy (regular)

Grenadier Battalion Siskovics (veteran)

Infanterie Leib Regt., Kurfurst in Bayern (green)

Kuirasssier Regt No.10, Stampach (veteran)

Dragoner Regt. No.37, Kolowrat (regular)

2 medium guns (regular)

The Game.

The terrain. View across the Bullenbach towards the wheatfield. Similar to the views in plates 6 and 9 of Featherstone's book.

Plattstadt, with the Plattwald on the left and the ploughed field in the background. See plate 10 in the original book.

Move 1. On the Austrian (right hand) side, the Siskovics grenadiers lead the 1st battalion of IR10 towards the bridge. On the Prussian side, grenadiers also lead, followed by the 1st battalion of IR1. Rank and File allow a triple move to columns on road outside 12" of the enemy, so initial progress was rapid.

Move 2. The Prussians start to form line, but the Austrians continue in column in order to deploy on the far side of the bridge. By move 3, both advance guards had formed into line and faced each other just to the south of the bridge.

Move 4. The Prussian main body has entered the game. The rules allow a double move off road outside 12" of the enemy, so once again units move forward quickly.

Move 4, showing the initial move of the Austrian main body. Units from the main bodies were placed alternately on their respective baselines. Once all were in place, they moved forward their first move.

Move 4 again. A cavalry clash seems likely on the Austrian right flank. The Prussian cuirassiers are just off the photo to the left.

Move 5. Both sides have quickly established a battle line on opposite sides of the Bullenbach.

Move 5. On the western flank, the Austrian dragoons have veered off into the Plattwald on some vague mission of encirclement (they can just be seen amongst the trees in the background). This leaves the Austrian cuirassiers outnumbered two to one, although they are supported by the 2nd battalion of IR10 who are in position behind them. The Austrian gun in the foreground is bombarding Prussian infantry just outside the photo to the left. In contrast, the Prussian gun chooses to indulge in some counter-battery fire which turned out to be very effective.

Move 6. The Austrians decide to get aggressive. The Hungarians and Bavarians attack across the Bullenbach (probably a bad idea!), whilst the two advance guard battalions in the foreground are ordered to charge the Prussian battalion to their front (1st battalion, IR1). Both Austrian advance guard units are already unsteady, but... orders are orders.

Predictably, the Austrians suffer badly from fire and melee casualties and rout across the bridge at under half strength. This means they will not be returning.

Move 6 on the western flank. The Austrian heavy cavalry brace for impact. (The attacking Prussians have been obliged to approach slowly if they are to maintain formation, with one squadron on the left moving through the woods and two squadrons on their right splashing through the Bullenbach). In the distance the Austrian dragoons veer away from the 2nd battalion of the Prussian IR1, who have emerged from Plattstadt to challenge them as they pass by.

Move 7. The Austrian units attacking across the Bullenbach have been thrown back by Prussian musketry and return to their starting positions. The 1st battalion of IR37 (furthest away in this photo) suffered particularly badly.

Move 7. The Prussian fusiliers of 2nd battalion, IR33, occupy the wall at the north end of the wheatfield, with an artillery battery in support.

Move 8. The Prussian cavalry have charged with predictable results. The Austrian cuirassiers have lost 2 bases and have been forced to fall back.

Move 8. On the hills overlooking the Bullenbach, the depleted Prussian infantry units stand firm. The Freikorps unit on the right is held firmly to its task by the presence of a colonel and the commanding brigadier.

Move 8, and the Austrian dragoons continue on their rather pointless tour of the Prussian baseline. The attack over the Bullenbach has already failed, and there will be no opportunities to attack any Prussian infantry units in the rear. 2nd battalion, IR1 track them around the south of Plattstadt.

Overview of the final positions on move 8. As in the original battle, by this stage the winner was obvious. Two Austrian battalions have been routed for good, and the Austrian gun in the centre has been destroyed by counter battery fire.
All Prussian units are standing firm and are ready to continue, although some have lost one or two stands. There is also a nice gap opening up around the bridge which Prussian units are well placed to take advantage of. A Prussian victory.

And How Was It For You Darling...

Well, not as much manouevre as I hoped for. A table eight foot wide would have helped, making it harder for both sides to form a coherent line. As it was, with two players familiar with SYW tactics, and rules which encourage historical play, two opposing battlelines soon appeared across the table.

As the Austrian commander, my attack across the Bullenbach and the detachment of the dragoons were both attempts to shake things up a bit, but neither had much chance of doing so. A better option would have been a Frederican plan to refuse one flank and load up the other in order to create a breakthrough. However, deployments on both sides were conservative and this option was not explored by either side. Maybe next time.

One key to victory might be to get your advanced guard to occupy the hills on the enemy side of the Bullenbach early on. However, this would be easier said than done with your opponent on the lookout for any such move.

The Rank and File rules continue to impress. They are free flowing and simple to use, but retain all the necessary period flavour.

Comments welcomed as usual. (Apologies to the four gentlemen who posted responses soon after this report was published. Gremlins got into the system and the blog was deleted, so it has had to be re-done).

'Til next time!

Parkfield Miniatures

2009-09-19T21:06:00.005+01:00

Just a quick shout out (as the young people say these days) for Parkfield Miniatures of Buckinghamshire. I encountered this firm for the first time at Colours 2009 when I was looking for some 25-30mm size wagons suitable for the SYW period. I found just what I was looking for at half the price of some other wagons I had been looking at across the way.

Needing some rider/driver figures to go with these wagons, I contacted Parkfield by email after the show. Not only did they readily agree to take some appropriate figures out of a couple of their other packs (significantly reducing the cost to me), but these arrived in the post within 48 hours.

Excellent service, and good quality models. The website is -

http://www.parkfieldminiatures.freeservers.com