BATTLE OF COWPENS REFIGHT THIS EVENING

Having finally finished my British Legion infantry I decided to refight Cowpens. John came up this evening and we had a very enjoyable couple of hours. John was the British and I took command of the Rebels/Patriots (delete as applicable). We used Black Powder and it was quite easy to customise the armies using the special characterisitics contained in the rules. The Patriot militia was rated a wavering and/or unreliable but the Continentals were obviously much better. The British regulars (not the 7th though) got first fire, crack, steady and ferocious charge. The 7th were made up recruits apparently so were not quite as sharpe as their chums in the Light Btn or the 71st. John's biggest problem was likely to be the fact that he had only a single commander (Tarleton), and while he had a command rating of 9 he was also classed as 'independent' which meant he could blunder on an 11 or 12. The terrain was a bit sparse for my liking so I busied it up with the odd fence and field to break it up, although the only features that had any effect on movement and visibility were the main wooded areas.

The armies were deployed as per the real battle and the British had the first move. They pushed quickly right up to the Patriot skirmish line while the 17th Light Dragoons swept down the right hand side of table having got 3 moves from their die roll. In a brief exchange of fire my skirmishers were driven back and one unit was destroyed. The Patriot second line was stuck as they had a crap brigadier but even the third line wouldn't budge as I threw some rubbish dice. My cavalry did manage to move up a little bit which was to prove very handy later.

John moved the separate troop of Legion cavalry to join the rest of his mounted troops and pushed all his cavalry down the right. The push is coming here I thought! Meanwhile the 7th and 71st Foot (Feet?) moved around the woods to the left. The Light Btn and the Legion infantry passed through the trees although the latter were stuck there for a couple of moves due to poor command rolls and gun remained where it was for the entire game. It was now John found that having just the one commander was a bit of a bitch (although this probably reflected the real battle correctly) as he was getting very overextended and bogged down. Even so, I was getting a bit anxious as unit for unit the Brits were much better than mine.

What followed was a very exciting few turns. My second unit of riflemen eventually ran away, but a stalwart militia unit held off the 7th Foot for long enough for me to get the Continentals up and into the firing line. The remaining unit from the second line managed to retire back to the tree line and held off the Light battalion. (The militia in the first and second lines were pants on paper but I threw some excellent saving throws and enough sixes to disorder the British). The 7th were put under heavy fire and became repeatedly disordered and shaken. Because Tarleton was on the other flank not much could be done to rally them. Luckily for John the 71st were able to pass through them and give them some respite.

On the other flank my Virginia militia held off the British cavalry for a while, and even drove them off when charged - twice! Very lucky! What then followed was a see-saw fight of charge, counter charge and general mayhem as my militia held off the British Legion cavalry and my Continental dragoons eventually destroyed the 17th Lt Dragoons and the large Legion cavalry unit! The Virginia militia turned and enfiladed the Light Btn which sensibly failed a morale test and withdrew to the safety of the remains of the British force.

Time overtook us, but it was agreed that we had an American victory. It was quite a close battle for all that though. The British had not made any headway against the Patriot lines, were in danger of becoming overextended and out of command, were outnumbered, and had lost 2 units of cavalry. Two more units lost and the British would have broken. Overall a great game and proof once again that Black Powder work very well for this period.

BACK HOME FROM EGYPT

Arrived back from holiday yesterday to a pleasant surprise (apart from the weather that is). On the doormat were copies of Wargames Illustrated, Miniature Wargames, Phil Olley's magazine and the resurected Wargames Soldiers and Strategy AND Warlord's Hail Caesar rules. I have to say I am going off Flames of War Illu.......er...Wargames Illustrated. Nothing to do with the content (well, maybe a bit as I have no real interest in gaming WWII using Flames of War) but the articles are in too many cases littered with typos and badly written English aimed (in my view) at punters with a reading age of about 12. WSS was good and I'm glad to see it back. I've not had a chance for more than a quick glance through Hail Caesar but it looks very pretty!

Anyway, the Nile cruise was fab and the ruins and temples awesome. One pic above was taken at Phillae and shows the names of British officers who died of sickness on the 1884-85 expedition. They're all from cavalry regiments which I am sure must be a big clue to which formation they were part of and what they were doing. Its a nice bit of history but a shame that it's defacing a 2500'ish year old temple!

I must get some painting done this weekend as I am hoping to have a game next week and need to get a couple of units finished, especially my British Legion infantry - I've not lifted a brush for almost 3 weeks, which is bad, even allowing for holidays.

Easter holidays

Since my last post at the end of March I have hardly had the time or motivation to paint anything and even less time to have another game. Just one of those things I guess - a combination of being busy at work, my stupid bad back and other stuff.....although I have written up a few American Revolution scenarios to fight using Black Powder. Anyway, On Tuesday evening I am going to Egypt on a Nile cruise for a week. Can't really take any stuff to paint but I must trawl amazon and see if there's anything interesting I can put onto my Kindle. My main fear is that I will return with an insatiable desire to start an ancient Egytptian army, especially as by the time I get home Warlord Games will have released their 'Hail Caesar' rules and a copy should be on my doormat. I received book 3 of British Grenadier scenarios last week, and althougb I am not a particular fan of the rules, the book itself is very nice indeed! Meanwhile the painting is mounting up as I have several units on the go at the moment - British Legion, Lee's Legion dragoons and infantry, Armand's Legion infantry and some Hessian generals. Anyway, I'd better go and look for my pithe helmet............

Another American Revolution game - Black Powder this time!

My back was much better so Rob and John made a return trip last week and replayed our previous American Revolution scenario, slightly tweeked and this time using Black Powder. I was the British this time, and John and Rob played the Rebels. The British had to get their supply train off the table, with one brigade, made up largely of light troops and cavalry, on table as the escort with two other brigades due to enter at the opposite end of the table to cover their exit. I made the British regulars all large units with first fire, crack, steady, elite and ferocious charge. The loyalists were less impressive but at least they got the first fire rule. The Rebels had four brigades, some 15 battalions in total with some dragoons, artillery and riflemen in support. Two brigades were made up of Continentals and the other two of pretty poor militia (ok, in one case, very poor militia, classed as wavering and unreliable)

The rebels entered the table and in places made some good progress, passing most of their command tests, although the militia were hard to keep moving uless they stayed in march column fopr as long as possible. Two small units of cavalry swept right across almost to the British baseline. I have to say that my baggade train and escort looked like they would be cut off as I rolled some poor command dice for the escort and my reinforcements were very slow in deploying at the other end of the table. My grenadier battalion was badly shot up by Rob's Continentals and had to retire shaken, which didn't do my nerves any good!

The rebels pushed on and the engagement developed into a race - would the baggage get to the protection of the reinfrcements or would they be cut off? The British were also saved by the refusal of the 3rd Continental dragoons to charge into the Guards light companies, followed by a blunder that sent them running away right into the face of their own infantry, which prevented said infantry from getting stuck in. Although my 17th Light Dragoons also failed to charge into their rear, this, together with the arrival of the Hessian von Bose regiment, the Guards, the 17th foot 71st Foot and the 23rd Fusiliers plus the Volunteers of Ireland and a couple of guns, gave me enough time to get my forces on the right into some sort of order.

However, on the left, my Hessian jager were falling back (although they did beat off a militia unit in melee in the process), the Light Infantry battalion was pinned in the farm area facing a brigade of militia and the Queen's Rangers were on the far left facing an entire brigade of thankfully very slow moving and unco-ordinated Continentals.

Sadly, the baggage was lost to the dragoons of Armand's Legion and a battalion of militia as the British Legion just couldn't get moving.

We ended the game there due to time constraints having played for over two and a half hours. The Rebels had captured the baggage but as it was militia who had done the capturing there was a chance they would loot it and drink themselves silly on British rum! (Sounds like a good idea under any other circumstances) Technically a Rebel victory but it would have been interesting to see if they could have got off the table without the British being able to recapture the baggage.

We all agreed that this game had been much more satisfying than the two previous ones played using British Grenadier. The rules managed to reflect the period very well in my opinion, especially in terms of command and control and the brittleness of the Rebel militia. The British regulars were quite tough and could take a fair bit of damage but died just as quickly all the same. The verdict? A very satisfying and enjoyable wargame and one that has converted me to Black Powder as a perfectly good ruleset for this period.

Across the sea to Ireland......1690

My back was much better yesterday so we arranged to play a game at John's John had set up a scenario from Under the Lilly Banners, set in Ireland during William III's campaign against King James II's forces. Rob played the Williamites/Protestants while I took command of a small greatly outnumbered force from King James' army, guarding a river crossing, with the aim of buying enough time to allow for the transfer of artillery and baggage across the river by raft. Both armies were provided by John - 15mm, mainly Irregular miniatures.





Most of the Jacobite forces were hidden, but one battalion of Irish levy infantry were deployed in and around a farm in the hope of delaying the Williamite advance or at least distracting them slihgtly. It didn't work as the entire Williamite cavalry force of about 12 squadrons just rode past and ignored them, even when one unit suffered severe casualties and was forced to withdraw.

As the Williamite horse neared the river, two squadrons of Irish horse emerged from behind the woods and very shortly a fierce cavalry battle began which was to last for the remainder of the game.

In the meantime, a great column of English and allied infantry was marching towards the river. Once these boys got into action it would be over very quickly, so it was fortunate that the transfer of guns and baggage across the river was proceding quite quickly, although one gun was retained as part of the rearguard. Sadly it was ridden over by English horse before it could have any effect. This did leave the English horse exposed to a flank attack by a further squadron of Irish horse which eventually managed to rout them.

Meanwhile my brigade of Irish foot emerged from the wood and drove off a further uit of English horse. As the cavalry battle came to a close, both sides had practically wiped each other out. Three out of four of the Irish horse squadrons were destroyed while the majority of the English horse and dragoons were either destroyed or spent.

The battle came to a close with my Irish infantry withdrawing back through the woods in the face of massive numbers of English foot bearing down on them. On the left, English dragoons had worked their way through the woods and my dismounted dragoons, while succesfully holding back two English battalions were in danger of being trapped and overwhelmed. The unit in the farm area was trading fire with an English battalion and holding out quite nicely. Darkness fell with the majority of my guns and baggae across the river so an Irish victory was declared, although in truth had the game gone in for a few more moves I would have been pinned against the river and destroyed by superior numbers.

So, a good game, a challenging scenario for both sides, using a set of simple and easy to play rules that from what little I know (and I wasn't there in real life) had a period feel to them.

Next week (hopefully) back to the American War of Independence/Revolution.

More Continentals, Hessians and other stuff

Well, no game last week or this as I have put my back out again. Certainly no chance of me being able to bend forward over the table for a while yet (stop sniggering you smutty people!). Sitting down for prolonged periods is also painful (I said stop sniggering!) but I have managed to finish a few units over the last two or three weeks, so with my senses dulled by some lovely opiates and a week of daytime TV, here are some pictures.

The figures in the top photo are the new ones I picked ip from Old Glory at York. They paint up very nicely and although quite delicate fit in with my Perry stuff quite well. Second are my Hessian von Bose regiment. Perry figures. Very nice. I also completed two southern militia regiments (the rear ones) so now have a nice North Carolina militia brigade of three batallions. Finally, some dead and wounded. I liked Der Alt Fritz's idea of using them to mark where stands of figures were removed and casualties used to depict the flow of battle. Not sure the budget can run to many more though!

Time for another Tramodol............

AWI Clash! Second attempt at British Grenadier

I set up our second AWI game using British Grenadier hoping that the scenario would ensure a tight, fast and enjoyable game. The premis was that a British supply column had to be brought in safely (to where was never specified but could have been Philadelphia, New York or even somewhere down south as much as anywhere else), escorted by a small mixed force of Light Infantry, loyalists, light guns and cavalry. As the game progressed reinforcements might appear at the exit end of the table. Opposing this force were three brigades of Parriots/Rebels (delete as applicable) , one each of line, 2nd line and militia. There was also some artillery and a very small force of cavalry. This force was tasked with pinning and intercepting the British as they traversed the length of the table and to stop the supplies escaping. Simples!

As far as the game went, all three Rebel brigades entered the table, with the better Continental brigade on the right (me), the militia in the centre and the 2nd line brigade on the left (both John). Rob had the British and at once sent a delaying force of Queens Rangers and British Legion cavalry to hold my brigade at bay whilst the rest of his force and the supply column raced (?) down the road. Despite winning a local victory by chasing the cavalry off, followed up by a heroic charge across the bridge by one of my Continental battalions, which resulted in the Queen's Rangers running away, my brigade had lost too much time and had no chance of intervening in the battle that was developing at the other end of the table.

The British Light battalion and Hessian Jager were sent out as a flank guard to delay the centre Rebel brigade, which they did very well as the militia were held up at a fenceline with a large collection of DPs that they could not get rid of fast enough. The fighting in the centre finished with a bayonet charge by the light battalion that saw off one batallion of militia.

Meanwhile John's leftmost brigade, supported by cavalry, was trying to get into contact with the British, but were picking up lots of DPs on the way. British reinforcements also started appearing (17th Foot followed by the Volunteers of Ireland, 3rd picture from the top, the next move) thanks to some good dice rolling by Rob. John was almost caught in column by the 17th Light Dragoons but survived. Unable to make headway against the British reinforcements, John's brigade was forced into a firefight with the British which he would be unlikely to win in the long term, especially when the 23rd Foot arrived as reinforcements in the final move. The supply column was not going to be stopped from leaving the table edge. A British victory was declared.

Much debate was had about the rules. On the plus side we had played for about two hours and got through around 10 moves using quite large numbers of troops. It looked very pretty as a game and the scenario was a hard one, whether it was for for the British to achieve their goal or the Rebels to achieve theirs. However, whilst the game was ok, none of us were totally happy with the rules, and I think that despite being the 'rules of choice' for the period, they are too complicated for our liking, don't give a particularly AWI feel to the game, and we just can't 'get' DPs as there must be another way to reflect what they are intended to do. I understand what they are there for but there must be a more satisfying way of depicting the need to redress lines etc. It may just be that we're still not fully up to speed with the rules. Rob suggested that we try the same scenario using Black Powder, which we shall do next time. We are all great fans of the period so I hope we can either get used to BG or find another set. I might try and adapt our own 'Old School' set we use for Seven Years War that we all like.