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Edinburgh Wargames Journal
Issue 23 - June 2008
Periods featured in this Issue : "Back of Beyond" (28mm), the "Napoleonic" War (28mm),
The Seven Years War (28mm) & Vietnam (28mm)
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The Perfume River, Vietnam, 1968 (Vietnam Skirmish) 28mm
One evening someone pointed out that several of us had Vietnam figures, yet we haven't played a Vietnam game for a year or more. Well, Dave O'Brien went away and dreamed up a nasty little scenario, designed to let the Americans use all their nice toys, while giving them a fiendishly hard time of it. It all centred around a small outpost near Hue, on the banks of the Perfume River. It was the Tet Offensive, and the outpost had been cut off for several days. A three-pronged relief attempt was launched, involving a river force, a land column, and an airborne unit. The idea was that all (or at least one) of the three forces would fight their way through before the hard-pressed outpost was overrun.
One
Things began to go wrong from the start. Colin Jack's river force came under heavy fire from both banks, and soon his leading monitor was a set ablaze, and forced to beach along the river bank. The airborne assault didn't do so well either, as the lead Huey was shot down, and its team of Special Forces went down with it. They had planned to reinforce the outpost, but never even made it to the LZ. Two Huey gunships did their best to pepper the surrounding area, but when the lumbering C-46 Sea Knight appeared, it was driven from the table with well-aimed AA fire (and some darned lucky dice rolling by Comrade Gilchrist).
The land column was now the great American hope. It dealt with its first two ambushes quite successfully, losing a reconnaissance jeep, but hosing down the VC who stood in their way. However, all this took time, and an impatient American commander (er.. me) decided to drive his tanks and APCs down the road in an attempt to reach the outpost. Inevitably the lead M48 was despatched by an RPG, and once again the column ground to a standstill as the infantry deployed to protect the remaining vehicles and armour. As the game ended a firefight had broken out between the leading marines and another group of Viet Cong. It was clear that my guys weren't going anywhere fast.
While all this was going on the fiendish Viet Cong were massing for an assault on the outpost itself. When the attack came it took the Americans by surprise - and (rather inexplicably) they never got a chance to react. This may sound like sour grapes - which it is - but the upshot is that they managed to close assault the defences, supported by a North Vietnamese T-34, without any real opposition from the garrison. I must point out that for the most part Dave O'Brien proved a highly capable umpire, but it was also clear which side he was really on! Anyway, by that stage it was clear that the Americans had no real chance to break through, and so a veil was drawn over the whole sorry venture, and a victory was duly declared to the Viet Cong, played with gleeful enthusiasm by Bill Gilchrist and Dougie Trail.
What went wrong was that we never co-ordinated our three attacks - individually none of them had any real chance of achieving success on its own. We should have used the airmobile assets to support either the river or the land column rather than go it alone - but then we'll also learn from our mistakes...
This was my first game with these rules, and they worked fairly well, despite a few minor problems. For instance, to hit a target low dice are good, while to cause damage you need high dice. It isn't very intuitive, but it would be simple enough to switch the factors round. It was also card driven, with each squad moving when its card turns up. While this was fine for a small game, it didn't work so well on a 16 foot long table! Also there weren't any rules covering river craft, while the artillery and air rules were also a bit ropey. However, the basic system worked well, and we'll certainly use them again - despite my whining about being overrun without getting a chance to fire back!
The rules themselves can be found on-line: Andy Watkins' Vietnam Skirmish rules, so judge for yourself if you think they'll work for you. The main thing is that they were fairly simple, easy to pick up, and with a bit of work the system should serve us well for future Vietnam outings.
Vietnam section
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The Seven Years War, c.1757 - "The Dominant Hill" (Die Kriegskunst) 28mm
The aim of this game was to introduce a handful of new players to Die Kriegskunst - part of a greater bid to convert the world into Seven Years War aficionados. I wanted to run a small game, and came across the perfect scenario in Charles S. Grant's Scenarios for Wargames (1981), which he tells me is about to be reprinted - just after he's finished toying with his Wargames Companion. You'll get the idea from the map above that the table (a 6x4' one) is pretty much symmetrical. Both sides come on from either end of the main road, having chosen a force of eight units from a pool, then written down their order of march. In our refight, the Prussians came on from the left, and the French from the right. the objective of both commanders was to capture the "T-junction", and to control the "dominant hill".
Strangely enough, both commanders chose identical forces, and identical orders of march - leading with two cavalry regiments, followed by a unit of grenadiers, and five line infantry battalions. Each unit could bring on a unit a turn, so it took a few turns to come into contact. Both sides also split their cavalry - with one unit being sent to contest the hill, and the other into the open ground north of the road.
The cavalry clashed while the infantry were still deploying, and the French lost both encounters. I'd just spent a couple of evenings painting up the wonderfully gaudy Bercheny Hussars, so it was inevitable that they would retire in disorder following their first bout with the enemy! At least they did a bit better than the rest of the French horse, who were routed in short order. The Prussian player managed to prevent one of his cavalry units from pursuing the enemy, but the Prussian 2nd Cuirassiers chased the French off the table, and rallied on the French table edge.
Meanwhile the two infantry forces were coming into action, although the deployment of the French was constrained by the enemy cavalry milling around on his flanks. In a daring display of French élan the Grenadiers de France charged into the Nymschofsky Grenadiers, only to lose the resulting melee. That blew a hole in the centre of the French line, and by that stage the bulk of the Prussian foot had deployed on the hill, threatening the left flank of the small French force.
The only thing protecting these troops from the Prussian cavalry was Dillon's Irish regiment, who soon had to face a charge from the Prussian cuirassiers. In what turned out to be the only real French success of the evening, the Irishmen drove off the charging cavalry with a highly-effective point-blank volley.
By that stage it was pretty clear that the French had lost, and in the spirit of the times the two commanders decided to draw a veil over the spectacle. The Prussians had secured the "T-junction", and were swarming all over the "dominant hill", so there was little doubt who won the day. As for my gaudy Bercheny Hussars, their time will come again...
Die Kriegskunst is due to be released by Partizan Press on 1st July. You can order your copy here.
Seven Years War pages
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The "Napoleonic" War - The Spanish Peninsular, c.1811 (Republic to Empire) 28mm
Is
Dale putting on weight?
Two or three times a year a group of wargaming friends who call themselves "The League of Gentlemen Wargamers" get together to play a game - usually up in the Scottish town of Kirriemuir. A year or so ago they kindly included me in their group, and now I thoroughly look forward to their games. First of all, they're a pleasant bunch to hang out with, and secondly they put on some great games - and in most cases they're far bigger than those you would normally play. This was no exception - an enormous Peninsular War game, which involved thousands of figures, and about a dozen players. The game was played out on three tables - one of which was 14 x 14 feet, with a pop-up hatch in the middle. This time also fought over a 12 x 8 foot table which was dominated by a superb Spanish town, built for the occasion by Charles Grant, and finally on a 8 x 6 foot table, which featured a river gorge.
We fought it out over a weekend. On the first day I found myself defending the river gorge against a far larger French force. Fortunately the terrain was on my side, and the only way forward for the French was up a road leading to a bridge over the river. Just in front of the bridge the gorge narrowed, and it was there that I made my stand. That's the bridge in the photo above. The British regiment which plugged the gap was the 3rd Foot - "The Buffs", supported by a second battalion in reserve, a battery of guns, and a screen of skirmishers. In fact their defense was so successful that the French were held up for 40 turns! Even more remarkably, the Buffs even managed to withdraw across the bridge in good order, and suffered a mere handful of casualties. They're now my new pet regiment!
On the other small table things weren't going quite so well. Despite a spirited charge by the Spanish lancers the defence of Rioja wasn't particularly successful, and the Spanish were driven from the town in short order by a determined French assaulting force. Charles did a wonderful job with the buildings, and the town really looked fantastic. It even had ruined versions of the buildings inside the models, so the French players had a great time firing on buildings and watching them turn to rubble!
Over on the main table both Marshal Soult's French and the Duke of Wellington's British and Portuguese marched onto the battlefield during the day, and it soon became clear that when the main fight began the following day, then the fighting would revolve around the bridges which spanned a meandering river. Although some heavy skirmishing took place that day, it was clear that the real battle would take place the following morning. As the umpire, Charles Grant had linked the three tables together - my rearguard action meant the French column which marched up the gorge would arrive quite late the following day, while the force which assaulted the Spanish town entered the battlefield early in the morning, preceded by a routing mass of Spanish troops.
On the second day (the Sunday) we all grouped around the big 14 x 14 foot table. You'd have thought there was plenty of room, but there was so much lead on the table that it actually looked congested - we even added an extra few feet onto both ends of the table, just to accommodate all the troops. This time the going was a lot tougher - at least on the British left wing, where the French launched a very determined assault on the British line. The French drives elsewhere on the battlefield were a lacklustre at best - even to the extent where the guy playing Marshal Soult threatened to court-martial one of his leading subordinates. My 2nd Division eventually made it onto the battlefield, but they had the relatively easy task of screening the British right, where they faced the same troops they'd fought in the gorge. French losses from the previous day were so high that their commanders were reluctant to press the attack, although they did succeed in chopping up some Portuguese cavalry out there.
The main battle on the British left involved some very hard fighting, and by the end of the day's fighting there was still a question mark over who was actually winning. The umpire eventually ruled that the game was a draw - although one which slightly favoured the French. The main thing was that everyone had a great time, and came away with memories of playing in a game which was both spectacular and challenging. The rules we used were Republic to Empire - a set produced by Barry Hilton of the League of Augsburg. Although they're not available commercially, plans are afoot to publish them within the coming year. Arguably they produce a faster game than General de Brigade, but use a similar figure ratio and basing, so you can switch from one set to the other without much difficulty.
More pictures of the Peninsular War game My Anglo-Portuguese Army The Age of Bonaparte
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North of Baku, 1920 -Russian Civil War (Back of Beyond / Contemptible Little Armies) 28mm
This "Back of Beyond" game involved my Turks (with a few "White" allies) taking on the Bolsheviks (owned by Colin Jack & Dougie Trail). It was a meeting engagement, with initial reconnaissance forces being bolstered by reinforcements as the game progressed. We fought it out over an 8x6 foot table, and as I forgot our sandy cloth, then we had to use bare painted boards, which don't really look as nice. Still, it was a worthwhile sacrifice as we needed the larger playing area to fight over! The table was dominated by three villages, one of which was in Turkish hands, another in Red hands, and the third up for grabs by both sides.
Inevitably this meant that this third village attracted troops like a giant magnet. First of all a column of Red cavalry entered it from one side, while Turkish cavalry entered from the other. Both sides dismounted and took cover, rather than fight a melee in the streets. So began a firefight which continued throughout the game, with both sides funnelling reinforcements into the fray. By the end of the game the battle included the initial cavalry, plus Cheka, White Cossacks, Turkish regulars, Red Siberian marksmen, and sailors from the Red Banner Fleet!
Elsewhere on the table a stalemate ocurred, with opposing forces on oppositie sides of a small hill. You see, if your opponent moves and you remain stationary, then you get to fire, and at point-blank range this is a battle-winning advantage. Consequently both sides stayed where they were for most of the game. The impasse was finally broken by the appearance of a Turkish armoured car, which chased the Bolsheviks away into a nearby village - the only member of the force to stand his ground was the Red Commander's borsoi hound! Things didn't go entirely the Turks' way though, as a dashing flank charge by a small body of Red cavalry almost routed the Turkish infantry, who were saved only by their high morale and some lucky die rolls.
In the end the game was very much a draw. As umpire, Colin Jack solved the question of victory by dealing playing cards - one for each occupied building. Well, those darned Bolsheviks literally came up trumps, with a trio of face cards! Next time we'll scurry around and occupy more buildings as we pass through towns - just in case!
As always we used Chris Peers' Back of Beyond rules - the Central Asian and Russian Civil War bolt-on to Contemptible Little Armies. The game has inspired be to dig out "Back of Beyond" figures I've been meaning to paint for some time - a bag of Afghan tribesmen, and my Czech Legion...
Back of Beyond Section Contemptible Little Armies playsheet
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