1866 and all that!

At the club on  Thursday Nigel and Conrad staged a small Austro-Prussian War of 1866 game. We used slightly adapted Black Powder in an attempt to replicate the superior Prussian musketry and inferior artillery, the excellent Austrian artillery and the silly Austrian infantry tactics of forming attack columns and hurling themselves fruitlessly at lines of Dreyse-armed Prussians. The figures were a mixture of North Star (ex Helion) and Foundry. The scenario was fairly simple. The Austrians had a corps of 4 infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade trying to defeat a smaller Prussian force before it was reinforced.

The Austrian plan was simple and reflected their tactical thinking of the day, i.e. we were to launch all 14 battalions at the Prussians in the hope that numbers would prevail. It all went horribly wrong from turn 1. My brigade failed to arrive on the table and Nigels only made a single move onto the battlefield. One Austrian brigade managed three moves and raced 36" across the battlefield, while the final brigade made reasonable progress compared to me and Nigel. The Austrian reserve artillery did manage to get to a prominent hill in the centre but the cavalry didn't make an appearance either! Firing was ineffective. The much vaunted Austrian artillery had been allowed to re roll one miss per gun but even then still failed to score a single hit!

 

The Prussians just stayed where they were but did manage to disorder one Austrian battalion on the right flank. In the next Austrian turn the leading brigade on the right flank charged the Prussians and two battalions actually survived the bullet storm and got into contact. On the far left I didn't see what happened but the Austrians there were also charging towards the enemy. I think at least one battalion was broken in the process. Meanwhile, my brigade made a leisurely appearance onto the table and Nigel's brigade blundered and retreated off table! Not quite the 'let's swamp them with numbers' approach we had hoped for.

 

 

 (Above: Prussian firing line. Below: Austrians surge forward on the left flank)

 (Austrian columns smash into the Prussians)

(Austrians blundering off the table)

On my flank the Austrians were able to destroy a Prussian jäger battalion in the melee and held on for  two rounds of combat with another unit before the brigade became shaken and had to try and extricate itself as 50 % was shaken or destroyed. On the Austrian left the same was true as Conrad's troops were in the middle of the Prussians, being shot at from several sides and charged by cavalry in the flank.

I had to leave at that point so have no idea how the game panned out. It looked like at least two Austrian brigades were out of action or were about to be, leaving the Prussians, now reinforced, to deal with the two remaining brigades.

The game certainly had the feel, based on what I have read on the subject, of what I would have expected an 1866 battle to look like. The Austrians were able to get very close to the Prussians or were even able to close to melee, but they had no answer to the Needle gun and suffered some quite heavy losses as a result. In addition, the Austrian plan went to pieces from the outset. It was a good plan and had it been executed as intended the Prussians would have struggled to hold on. As for the Austrian artillery...........?

Nice troops, enjoyable game even though we still have some trouble with the rules, and I wonder what happened at the end of the evening? I am tempted to push my unpainted Austro-Prussian figures to somewhere a bit nearer the frot of the painting queue. I forgot my camera so only had my phone to take pictures with.

American Civil War with Black Powder

(Shaken Confederate cavalry loitering on the edge of the battlefield) 

This week at the club we concluded the ACW game started last week. Paul had set up an encounter battle with pretty much evenly matched sides numerically. Four brigades each of infantry with supporting artillery, and a brigade of cavalry. The Federals had four units in each brigade but two regiments were classed as freshly raised. The Confederates had three units in each brigade but were all classed as tough fighters. The Federals were armed with MLR muskets, their enemy with SB muskets. There were three designated objectives; the crossroads on the Federal left, the stretch of road in the centre running towards the Confederate base line, and the far,house on the a Federal  right.

Last week (no camera and dying phone so no photos, although this week the camera was on its last legs again) saw both armies enter the battlefield, dicing for when they arrived and where.  This probably favoured the Federals slightly as it turned out. The Federal cavalry made right for the farmhouse on the right and occupied it. The Confederate cavalry decided to charge the dismounted cavalry outside the farm but due to the Federals having breach loading carbines and some extreme dice throwing were eventually driven off shaken and no longer able to take part in the battle as they were a spent force.

(Above and below, the fighting in the woods)

On the Federal left a firing line was deployed along the road while a second brigade tried to outflank the Confederate through the woods. One regiment at the apex of the Federal line was exposed to the fire of three Confederate regiments and a gun and quickly destroyed. Nevertheless the line held and over the course of the battle the flanking Federal brigade drive off the opposing Confederate brigade, completely smashing it. In the centre the elite zouave regiment was destroyed, throwing a double 1 for an all important break test! Federal forces on the right tried to attack the flank the Confederate centre but were themselves hit in the flank by fast moving Confederate reinforcements. The brigade was shaken and had to withdrawn, leaving the farmhouse dangerously exposed.

 (Massed Confederate infantry assaults, wave after wave of them!)

In the centre the Confederates threw in three successive attacks against the Federal positions. Each in turn was halted and thrown back in disorder, even when they used their guns up to point blank range. On their left the Confederates tried to throw the Federal cavalry out of the farmhouse, but were unable to dislodge them for three rounds of melee. They were able to survive their break tests for failing to break into the farm and loosing the melee for a while but on the last round they failed their test and were destroyed.

(Above and below the farmhouse held tenaciously by the Federal cavalry throughout the entire battle)

 

At the end of the game the Federal forces had held in the centre and the all important rod junction, had held the farmhouse and on the left were sweeping round the Confederate flank poised to roll up the line. A victory for the boys in blue.

Very good game. Everyone got the hang of  the rules eventually although a few things needed working through carefully to make sure everyone understood what and why, and I think we have a couple more converts. Next week I think we are trying out BP with an Austro-Prussian War of 1866 battle. Guaranteed to be interesting and a shame my 1866 Austrians and Prussians are still in the box of doom.

Poles blunder their way to an inconclusive end!

 

 Two more games this Thursday (yesterday). John came up after lunch and we played another Renaissance game with Pike and Shot, fielding my Swedes and Poles. We diced for sides and I got the Poles. The game was an uncomplicated line up, with two objectives to be fought for along the centreline of the table, a toll house and a churchyard. The Swedes had six squadrons of horse, two squadrons of Finns and two squadrons of cuirassiers, organised in three brigades. Each mounted brigade had a contingent of commanded shot, and one had light guns as well. They also had one brigade of two large regiments of foot (I give the Swedes three 'sleeves' of shot and a pike block per 'regiment'), and another of one regiment plus an additional unit of commanded shot. Each had a light gun attached. The Swedes were commanded by the man himself, Gustav Adolf.

(Swedish and Finnish horse seeing off the Cossacks)

 

The Poles had five squadrons of Hussars, four of Pancerni and eight of Cossack light horse, plus a single squadron of Tartar light cavalry, organised into three 'brigades'. They also had a brigade of Krackow militia (with the militia rule but otherwise treated as normal Polish infantry minus the axes!), and a brigade of two regiments of mercenary German infantry supported by two mercenary  medium guns. The rating of the Polish CinC was decided randomly and he ended up being a very poor '7'. :o(

The Swedes moved first, or at least would have but for a fair few failed command roles. They kind of edged forward a bit here and there. The Poles advanced along the whole line but I didn't want to risk a fast advance at this early stage of the game due to close nature of the terrain and the Swedish superiority in firepower.

 

(The Yellow regiment advancing)

For clarity I'll cover the action for each sector of the battle, so on the Polish left the Cossacks closed with the Finnish and Swedish facing them and true to my impetuous nature attempted to charge. Only one unit made it but was beaten conclusively in the melee and withdrew. The Swedish commanded shot made quite a contribution and began causing some casualties on the Cossacks. For the rest of the game the Swedes/Finns and Cossack battled it out. One Swedish unit of horse was shaken and withdrew, as did another towards the end of the battle. However, the Cossacks were ground down and pushed back until over half of their squadrons were broken or shaken, at which point the brigade was spent.

In the left of centre part of the table the German mercenary regiments advanced towards the toll house, taking fire from the dragoons John had raced forward to hold it and the Swedish Yellow regiment. The German advance was stalled as John kept disordering one or more units each turn. The dragoons were eventually driven out of the house, but replaced by a musketeers from the Yellow regiment. A pike assault on the house was repulsed and both sides spent most of the game taking pot shots at each other. I tried to charge my other pike block at a shaken musket unit but failed to make contact. I had numerical superiority but the Germans were not quite as good as the Swedes when it came to shooting, morale and stamina so we hung on until the end of the game arrived.

Skipping the right centre for now, on the extreme right both sides moved slowly towards each other. I declared a charge with my hussars but despite getting three moves fell short by an inch!!!!!! My supporting units of Pancerni and Cossacks failed their command roles or couldn't get close enough so there I was with two squadrons of Poland's finest exposed in front of the entire Swedish left flank! John charged one unit in the front and flank and took pot shots at the other as his unit facing them was disordered and couldn't declare a charge. In the melee the Poles proved to be very tough and drove off the horse facing their front in the first round and then beat off the flanking unit in the second. This left the Swedes with some very scattered units of horse and dangerously exposed commanded shot. The next turn I declared a charge with the Hussars in what should have been a battle-winning move. Should have was the operative word as the general threw an double 6 and blundered. The entire command was now unable to move. Bugger I thought! We will return to this flank shortly.

Meanwhile in the right/centre sector the Krackow militia advanced against the graveyard and traded fire with the Swedish Blue regiment. Despite some losses they soon took the upper hand and drove off one of the musket units and occupied the graveyard. Job done.

 

(The fight for the churchyard)

The other 'brigade' of Polish horse were in the centre, poised to charge to glory. The leading Hussar units were peppered with shot and were disordered although one unit did charge home and push some Cuirassiers back. Pancerni followed this up with an unsuccessful attack on some Swedish shot. I ordered my remaining Husssar unit to charge and, yes you guessed it, threw a double 6, so they blundered off to the right and that brought the big push in the centre to a halt.

Back to the right flank, immediately following the blunder in the centre, I again ordered the Hussars to charge. I could not believe it when I threw another double 6!!!!!! The blithering idiot in charge of this flank had only just passed the blunder dung heap on to one of his compatriots barely two minutes previously. Obviously s**t does stick.

Time was the eventual victor so we left it there. An inconclusive end, but if my charges had got in the poles would have won the day we agreed.

FYI both armies were pointed up using the P&S lists and came out at 1488 and 1486 points. I really do need some more Poles though!

Blast from Darkest Africa's past

I was tidying up, i.e. moving stuff around, my study (the room formerly known as the dining room) when I came across a number of CDs. When I loaded them up I found hundreds of photographs of my wargames collection going back to 2002! Certainly the Darkest Africa collection was last used way back then, although I do still have it in a box under my games table. I was playing a campaign at the Durham Club back then, exploring the Congo as several  of us were 'into' Colonial gaming using The Sword and the Flame, and I remember some really fun and bloody games. Maybe I should resurrect them........

Above and below, a scratch built motor launch manned by the Belgian navy. The boiler is made from a kinder egg.

The rest of the pictures show various elements of my Force Publique and tribesmen, together with some Zanzibari slavers and intrepid explorers.

Two wargames in one day! Part deux

There was a temporary lull in the SYW campaign at the Club so I had been asked/offered to put on a TYW game. Slightly weary from the battle in the afternoon I took my hastily repacked Swedes and my Poles down to Durham and set up a multi-player game, again using Pike and Shotte. This was likely to be a slight  (?) challenge as while there are a number of 'fans' of the Black Powder concept,  few had played Pike and Shotte.

The basic scenario was that we were in the late 1620's and the Swedes were blockading one of the routes into Danzig/Gdansk (take your pick). The Polish army had to drive them off. Fairly simple for what was almost everyone's first game.

Yet again it was an incredibly hot and muggy evening so we started as soon as there were enough players. Paul Stephenson and Conrad Cairns took the Poles, the latter with great enthusiasm, to be joined later by Shaun and Jim. Dave Jarvis, Bob and Matt took the Swedes and I decided to umpire/adjudicate. The Polish plan seemed quite straightforward; pell mell cavalry charge with hussars and pancerni on their left to drive off the Swedish horse and roll up the line, while the infantry and lighter cavalry held the centre and  right. I'm not sure what the Swedish plan was but they probably had one. Well, the Polish attack on the left took quite some time to get going due to some unhelpful dice scores, but eventually the hussars and pancerni crashed into the Swedish and Finish horse. However, the commanded shot intersperced between the horse squadrons and lining a hedgerow on the Polish flank took its toll and managed to cause enough casualties and disorder a couple of units, therefore blunting the attack.  The Swedes had pulled back one of their mounted brigades to provide some defence in depth, and this proved to be a wise move as their front line was crushed by the hussars who then thundered into the second line. A massive cavalry battle carried on all evening, with the Swedes slowly giving ground, although, despite being very tough, especially the hussars, the Poles didn't have it all their own way due to the fire from the commanded shot on their flank who managed to keep a number of units either disordered or shaken and therefore unable to exploit the gaps in the Swedish line. Conrad also threw double 6 for one of his hussar units and they blundered, winning the dubious honour of the dung heap. Towards the end of the game, Conrad threw another blunder when trying to use the Polish C in C to move one of his units, so the dung heap was passed on to  the Polish king! (see the first photo). The end of the game saw the Swedes on this flank grimly hanging on, with one brigade of horse smashed and the other being beaten back bit by bit.

Meanwhile on the Swedish left I have to admit I don't really know what was going on. Bob made slow progress but did eventually swing round and engage the German mercenary foot on the Polish right and forced their light cavalry to retire. The German 'yellow' regiment was all but destroyed by the end of the game.

In the centre Dave and Paul entered into a ferocious firefight with the German mercenary 'blue' regiment and the Krackow militia. The latter managed to hold up the veteran Swedish 'Yellow' regiment for most of the game by throwing an impressive number of 6's. There was a brief melee between the militia and a Swedish gun and elements of the 'Green' regiment in which the Poles came off worse.

       

       

      

                                        
Despite the success on the left, the Poles had failed to drive off the Swedes. Given that the latter had lost one brigade of horse and were likely to loose a second one, and the very brittle state of the Polish right and centre, I believe the outcome was a draw. I am sure the players may have different views..... ;o)

I hope eveyone enjoyed the game. I know the rules take a little getting used to conceptually, which is often hard for some gamers to grasp, but from my point of view the whole purpose of the game, any game, is to have an enjoyable time trying moving little men aruond the table in what may or not be a reasonably accurate historical representation. Thanks for the positive comments about the figures too. Feedback welcome.