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Edinburgh Wargames Journal
Issue 21 - April 2008
Periods featured in this Issue : American War of Independence (15mm),
English Civil War (28mm), Colonial (28mm) & Ancients (28mm).
A Salute rant: As you know, Salute in London is the biggest show in Europe, if not the world. I usually enjoy it, although last year I was furious that the organisers gave centre stage to a bunch of Nazi re-enactors, peddling Hitler mugs and SS marching songs. This year they opted for Confederates, which at least was a small step in the right direction! However, the show still has major problems. Apart from the cost of getting to London (I was down for the Book Fair anyway), the public transport links were closed for repair that weekend, and of you drove it cost you £20 ($40) to park. Then there was the £10 admission charge (twice any other show in Britain?), for which you get a "free" goblin riding a bloody werewolf. I gave mine away to the first passing child. The hall itself looked like a Zeppelin hanger - a venue which lacks any charm at all.
Just as annoyingly, several major traders I wanted to see weren't there, probably because they couldn't pay the organiser's charges. Many of those who did attend seemed to be selling fantasy nonsense, which held no interest for me whatsoever - bah humbug! Then there were the games - usually a bright spot at any show. With some notable exceptions the demo games didn't seem as spectacular as before. Finally - and probably the biggest gripe of all - there isn't a decent pub within a mile or two of the venue - the nearest decent boozer is in Greenwich - a £15 taxi ride away!
Nope, I'm sorry to say it - in my curmudgeonly way - but I won't be going back again in a hurry! Sorry guys, but it just isn't worth the hassle and the expense - not when you have really good, friendly shows like Partizan, Claymore and Warfare. OK, rant over. See y'all at Carronade (Falkirk) on 10th May, and Partizan (Newark) on 25th May.
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Somewhere on the plains of Northern Greece (Warhammer Ancient Battles) 28mm
This is actually a bit of a cop-out. As I was otherwise engaged I didn't manage to play a game this week. In fact its been a slim month for games, as I've missed two regular gaming nights recently. The best I could do this time was to sit in on the closing stages of an ancient battle royal fought between Edinburgh club stalwarts Dave and Hugh. Dave O'Brian paints figures for a living, and you can tell from these Greek shields that he's good at his job!
I'm not a great fan of Warhammer Ancient Battles (or "WAB"), partly because the ancient period has never really "floated my boat". Actually, I recently got as far as buying a couple of Foundry "hordes" of Caesarean Romans. However, I just couldn't get into the period, however many times I watched that TV mini-series, and in the end I swapped them for unpainted Seven Years War French - an army which is much more my thing.
Another reason I've never taken to WAB is probably because I find the mechanisms a bit clunky. After all, there's little in the way of proper command and control rules, the morale system is decidedly suspect, and you seem to have to throw hundreds of die before you cause any casualties! However, on the plus side the games usually look good, the WAB aficionados seem to enjoy themselves, and at least it isn't DBM!
Oh, sorry for the hit-or-miss quality of the pictures - I was using a small stand-by camera rather than my trusty Fuji.
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Colonial - Egyptian Campaign, 1882 (Warriors against Bullets) 28mm
This week I was given the chance to participate in a colonial game, run by fellow Edinburgh gamer Dave O'Brien. It was set in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, and revolved around a British attack on an Egyptian outpost and oasis, somewhere on a spur of the Sweetwater Canal, and somewhere off to the side of Tel-el-Kebir. As the Egyptian player my objective was to hold the oasis and slave-trading depot, and to cause casualties on the British. I was given three units of Egyptian regulars, a handful of cavalry, a gun and two units of irregular troops (one of which was a unit of "Fuzzy Wuzzies", as there weren't enough Arab figures to go round). No problem...
Actually, it all went horribly wrong from the start. I opened up on the advancing British with fire from my cavalry and a unit of Egyptian regulars, who held a couple of hills. I caused a few casualties, but a combination of British rifles and fire from a Royal Naval Nordenfeldt machine gun cut my troops down, and sent the rest into flight. The British shook out into line - a seemingly irresistible force. The only bright spot was that my artillerymen were causing casualties as they advanced. Another Egyptian unit hiding in the date grove in the middle of the table was wiped out, and the British hardly broke step as they mowed the Egyptians down.
Then it all changed. There was one patch of cover on the table - a field of crops. As the Royal Marines approached they were surprised when my unit of "Fuzzy Wuzzies" sprang up from hiding and charged in. The Marines died to a man, and the "Fuzzies" continued across the table to overrun the British rocket troop and 9-pounder gun. Meanwhile on my right flank the British approached the outskirts of the village, and were immediately charged by a mob of River Arabs. The Naval Brigade were chopped up, and the British infantry behind them were left fighting for their lives. The British managed to capture the village and the fort, but it was something of a pyrrhic victory, as they managed to lose half their infantry and two thirds of their ordnance in the process. No doubt questions will be asked in the House...
The rules we used were Warriors against Bullets, a home-grown variant of Warhammer Ancient Battles created by Dave O'Brian. I'm not a particularly big fan of the Warhammer system, but in this case it worked surprisingly well for such a clunky rules set. Even more importantly, we all enjoyed ourselves, and the game was something of a Hollywood spectacle, complete with camels, slave girls, plucky Brits and sword wielding "Fuzzies". Its been a while since we last played a Colonial game, but after this I'm sure we'll be playing another some time soon. Besides, it's a splendid excuse to drink Gin & Tonics while you're shuffling your lead around the table!
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English Civil War - Tinker Fox Campaign (Very Civile Actions) 28mm
For a week or so we've been running an English Civil War campaign, using the "Tinker Fox" system. This skirmish came about due to an event in the campaign - a Royalist raid on the fortified Parliamentarian outpost at Bracknell Church. Actually, in our game we fought around Bracknell House, as the church ordered from Hovels for the occasion didn't arrive in time. The idea was that the church complex itself had been heavily fortified, and turned into a Parliamentarian bastion. To capture it would involve a full-blown siege. Its garrison consisted of a seasoned regiment of foot (less the pikes), supported by a regiment of cavalry (harquebusiers) and two small regiments of dragoons. The Royalist raiding force was made up of a small but seasoned infantry regiment (a block of muskets and a block of pikes), supported by a regiment of good quality cavalry (Cavaliers).
In the campaign the area where the battle was fought was rated as having three "Provender Points". The objective of the raid was to carry away as many of these as they could - represented by caches of provisions or livestock. Unfortunately we used a random system to work out where these caches were placed - and two of them landed up on the Royalist table edge! Us Parliamentarians weren't off to a very good start!
One of these was captured by the Royalist cavalry without much difficulty, while the foot marched over to claim the second cache. This one was a little trickier for them, as the Parliamentarian musketeers sallied out of the fortified church to contest the ground. Unfortunately the Royalists got to the cache (a flock of sheep) first, but were shot up by the Parliamentarians, causing a stand of casualties. The Royalist pikes were kept at bay by the rest of the shot, but it still wasn't enough to prevent them from securing the objective. Unable to stop the raiders, the Parliamentarian shot pulled back to their defences and sniped at the enemy from long range.
Our last hope was to see off the Royalist cavalry. Unfortunately they charged first, and our Harquebusiers routed from the table without even drawing their swords. As if this wasn't shameful enough, the Royalists repeated the performance with one of our regiments of dragoons, who were charged and routed. The rest of the dragoons pulled back to Bracknell village, where the enemy horse couldn't harm them.
The only successful aspect of the game was that these other dragoons kept the Royalists away from the third cache... and of course we inflicted casualties on them. We also ran away or hid behind our fortifications before they could do the same to us. A lack of casualties is small consolation for such a generally dismal performance. I can only hope that as the campaign progresses the forces of Parliamentarian liberty won't give the Royalists such a one-sided victory again.
The rules we used were Very Civile Actions, a company-level set available for free on The Perfect Captain website. You can also download the "Tinker Fox" system from the same site. These rules always produce fun, fast-moving games, although I have to say this one lacked the usual sparkle - partly because it wasn't really a well-balanced game ... and partly because my side got beaten!
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American War of Independence - The Battle of Camden, 1780 (Loose Files & American Scramble) 15mm
Our recent American War of Independence game using "proper" 28mm figures was fought using the British Grenadier rules. Well, for years our club's "Rebel" sympathisers Jack Glanville and Dave O'Brien used to wargame the period in 15mm, using Loose Files and American Scramble. They're a set of rules produced by Andy Callan, and first published in Wargames Illustrated back in 1987. The rebel duo were keen to lay on a game to show me how the rules worked, and this was it. They decided to refight the battle of Camden - a fairly large affair by American standards, where 4,100 "Rebels" under General Gates tried to make a fight of it against 2,200 British regulars and loyalists. Like the real battle, it wasn't much of a contest...
The first thing to understand was the notion of leadership - each commander had a rather obtrusive little pegboard display (left), and command "pips" had to be allocated to move, rally or join in a combat. Fortunately Jack Glanville was gentlemanly enough to show me how it worked as the game played itself out.
Cornwallis really had two main commands - Lt. Col. Rawdon on the left commanding a largely loyalist force, stiffened by the 71st Highlanders, and Col. Webster on the right, with the good troops. Col. Tarleton commanded a small reserve - centred around the British Legion.
I decided to launch an all-out assault on the American left - pretty much what Webster did back in August 1780. I soon discovered that American militia don't put up much of a fight against bayonet-armed British regulars - within a few turns the American wing was shattered. A spirited charge by Armand's Legion was the only sign of any American aggression on that flank, and it was easily repulsed by the British Light Infantry. While Tarleton busies himself mopping up the last few American units, Cornwallis and Webster set about turning their troops against the American right flank.
By this stage my fellow British commander Gerry Henry had launched Rawdon's troops against De Kalb and his American continental regulars. This time things didn't go quite so well. His whole command was repulsed and sent reeling backwards. It was an impressive performance by the Continentals, but at that late stage the chance of turning defeat into an American victory had been lost. General Gates had fled the field (again), while General Cornwallis and Webster had turned the flank, and were poised to roll up what remained of the American line. At that point the Rebel duo conceded defeat, and we packed our toys away.
I have to admit, I was quite impressed by the rules, and I can see how they'd work well for my 28mm figures. Jack and Dave plan to lay on another big game some time soon - probably the Battle of Germantown (1777), and they also wanted to refight Oriskany again, this time using the Andy Callan rules. Well, I really like British Grenadier, and I'm fairly familiar with the General de Brigade system, but I can also see the potential with this set. I'll certainly give them another go. I'd even consider gaming the period again in 15mm .. although it really isn't the same...
If you want to download a copy of Loose Files & American Scramble for yourself, you'll find them on the Wyre Forest Wargame Club Website.
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Die Kriegskunst
Wargaming the Seven Years War
It's done! The rules are with the publisher, although the publication date has slipped slightly.
They'll now be published in early June by Caliver Books. See the Seven Years War page for details.
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