Angus  Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

Edinburgh Wargames Journal             

      Issue 34  -  May 2009  

 

Periods featured in this Issue:  War of the Grand Alliance, Renaissance,

Seven Years War & English Civil War (all 28mm), plus a report from Carronade 2009

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War of the Grand Alliance, Flanders, 1690's  (Beneath the Lily Banners ) 28mm

This was another game designed to try out a set of rules. We used Beneath the Lilly Banner for this little scrap - the first time I'd used the rules in anger. The idea was, a village was held by the French - a strong foraging party consisting of foot and dragoons. A large Allied force appeared to drive them out, or at least, that was the plan. In the end, a combination of bad "initiative" rolls, and the successful aggressive charges of the French dragoons combined to thwart the Allies, pinning them until French reinforcements appeared. In fact, we barely got moving off our start lines!

One of the problems with the rules is that you have to roll each turn to see how many units can move. The result is, it takes ages for the game to pick up speed, and you end up activating a handful of units, reacting to events rather than follow historic orders. It didn't work - at least not into he game we played, on the level we were fighting at. I also found it hard to figure out how to manoeuvre, what with the large charge ranges, the limited movement options, the poor musket ability and all the rest of it. That said,  BTLB produced an enjoyable game. When the bullets started flying the combat system (both firing and melee) was quick and efficient. I just wish it had been a little faster...

The War of the Grand Alliance Page

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Renaissance Battle, Italy, late 15th century (Impetus) 28mm

First of all, I have to apologise for the ugly bases. This game was all about trying out a new set of rules, and sensibly enough the owner of the lead didn't want to rebase his figures, just for one game. The rules use unusually chunky bases (12x6 cm for infantry), hence the need for the card.

It was also a straightforward line 'em up kind of game, with what passed for Florentines on one side, and the Milanese on the other. Both sides had a little help from mercenaries - Landsknechts in the case of the Florentines, and Swiss for the Milanese. I have to admit that I hadn't read the rules beforehand, although I'd skimmed through Basic Impetus - the free "training wheels" version. However, it all seemed fairly straightforward.

These involve a lot of dice. Each unit has a basic value, which equates to the number of dice it rolls for firing or melee. You add or subtract more depending on weapon type or other circumstances, then roll them. To hit the enemy you either need a "6", or two "5's". I have to confess, I never really worked out what was going on, and spent the evening rolling die when I was told to. Still, on my side of the table there was an almighty cavalry clash, with Condottieri charging and counter-charging in what seemed a fairly realistic way. In the end the Milanese gained the upper hand. In the centre the Swiss were whittled down by Florentine firepower, but they remained a latent threat, even after one block came off worse in a clash with the Landsknechts. On the far side various light forces clashed around a village, but didn't achieve very much.

Like any learning game, progress was slow, and we didn't get to fight it to its conclusion. There was too much rules-reading, or pauses to figure out what to do next. Still, the rules seemed to work, and several players in the club are wildly enthusiastic about them. We'll certainly try them again. I was also taken by the chunky basing - a modeller's delight. This might even encourage me to paint up my large stash of Old Glory Landsknechts...

Impetus Ancient, Medieval & Renaissance rules, from Dadi&Piombo

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Positional Defence, Silesia, 1758 (Die Kriegskunst) 28mm

This was another scenario taken from Charles S. Grant's Scenarios for Wargames (1981), loosely based on Fontenoy. The basics premise was that the defender (the Prussians in our case) had to hold two of three positions at the end of the game - villages A and B, and redoubt C.  In this refight we scaled the scenario down slightly, as we knew we'd have a late start. We also combined the small gun emplacements 1 & 2 into one large battery. The game was a brigade-sized action, designed to be fought out in a couple of hours on a 6x4 foot table.

The Prussians placed one infantry battalion in village B, and their artillery in the two fortified positions. The rest of the Prussian force - two more battalions of infantry and a regiment of hussars - were kept in reserve. Lastly a unit of Prussian skirmishers lurked in the wood, sniping at the Russians from the flank. For their part the Russians attacked village B with two battalions, supported rather ineffectually by artillery, while two more screened them by advancing on the main Prussian gun battery (1-2). A regiment of Cossacks headed towards village A, and two battalions of grenadiers advanced on redoubt C, supported by a regiment of horse grenadiers. Not counting the guns, eight Russian units were pitted against five Prussian ones.

The attack was a disaster. Not surprisingly the artillery proved deadly, but given the scenario the Russians had little choice but to head towards the waiting muzzles. The Cossacks occupied village A without any trouble, but the other objectives proved far harder to take. First, two assaults on village B were repulsed, and the supporting Russian artillery caused no casualties whatsoever all game! The attack on battery 1-2 stalled when the two battalions faltered in front of the guns - not a good position to be in! Finally on the right the first wave of grenadiers was shredded by canister, then caught in the flank by the Prussian reserves. The horse grenadiers made two charges in support, and were bounced back both times.

However, it all changed on the final turn. The Russians launched three charges - against gun battery 1-2, village B and redoubt C. This time fortune favoured them, and all three objectives were stormed and captured. That meant that despite horrendous casualties - about a third of their force - the Russians actually won the game. Prussian casualties were relatively light, and if the game had gone on they'd probably have launched vigorous counter-attacks which might well have turned the tables. In fact, the Prussian green hussars never even moved off the table edge all game, as they didn't need to. The complacent Prussian player thought it was all in the bag, which just goes to show - the final turn can be a dangerous thing!

The Seven Years War page           Die Kriegskunst rules       Die Kriegskunst playsheet (word file)  

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Carronade 2009, Falkirk

This was the weekend of Carronade , the wargame show run by the Falkirk Wargames Club. Although new, the show has been an instant hit, and unlike Claymore - the other major Scottish Scottish show - it comes at the start of the wargamers' summer calendar. Despite or possibly because of a downpour outside, the show was well attended, and as always it was a good opportunity to catch up with wargaming buddies old and new. Here are a few pictures of games which caught my eye;

The Kirriemuir club staged a nice-looking Mexican-American War game, with the finest-looking handouts I've ever seen at a show. Steve Shaw from the club tried to persuade me the period wasn't necessarily a turkey-shoot, but I wasn't convinced. On the right, Barry Hilton of the League of Augsburg proudly shows off the great-looking backing board he used to frame his Peninsular War game - a really effective idea, plus it gave him something to hide behind when really persistent "anoraks" appeared. It was also a very pretty game, and all the more unusual because it was staged using plastic figures. Anyone who still questions the appeal of hard plastics needs to take a look at it before passing judgement.

My own Edinburgh club staged a French Wars of Religion game, which looked pretty, despite the "off the shelf" terrain. The same tiles were also used by the Border Reivers club, but in both cases the figures were the centrepiece, not the battlefield. The Reivers staged a Great Northern War game, set around the storming of a defensive position.

 Then there was the Mummy's tomb, built by Kevin Calder of the Iron Brigade, to decorate a corner of his Sudan Campaign table. It even had a mummy, emerging from the crypt! 

The highlight of the show for me was a beautiful mid 18th century game, staged by Phil Olley. For a start, he had his signature turning windmill, and some of the nicest buildings I've seen for a while. While the battlefield was very attractive, what really set the game off was the lead - and there was an awful lot of it. His units were 54 figures strong - the size advocated by Charles Grant Senior in The Wargame. Phil's game certainly had an old school feel to it, but his figures were all state of the art Front Rank ones, with some lovely hand-painted flags. My favourite unit was his fictitious Battenberg Infantry Regiment, whose flag and uniform was based on the colour and pattern of Battenberg cakes!

After seeing some of these splendid games - particularly the "Napoleonic" and mid 18th century ones - I was enthused enough to think about revisiting some of my own armies. After all, that's what demo games are all about - they're designed to be inspirational. These ones certainly were.

As for lead-buying,  I escaped relatively lightly. Apart from buying six feet of river at the Bring n' Buy, my only big purchase was a horde of 28mm Landsknechts, for an Italian Wars project which might never see the light of day... until I'm inspired by another spectacular game at another show...

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Rescuing the Countess, Yorkshire, 1644 (Very Civile Actions) 28mm

This scenario can be found in the latest Battlegames magazine - Issue 17. It was designed by Charles Grant the Younger (i.e. the Subaltern son of CSG), so it was interesting to see if he shared his father's sadistic streak when it came to devising scenarios. All we did was to set it in the Yorkshire of the English Civil War rather than in the "Napoleonic" Peninsular, and of course we changed a few names - the river became the River Bouze, the vineyard turned into Master Theakston's hop fields, the village was re-named Oakwell, and the Tavern was turned into the "The Poisoned Dwarf". This "tabletop teaser" involved the rescue of a Countess, captured by the dastardly French. We made her Lady Fairfax, held prisoner by the evil Royalists.

The idea was that she was allowed out of custody to attend church, while her escort - a squadron of horse and another of dragoons - patrolled the area. Actually, only the dragoons were patrolling (at X) - in true cavalier fashion the Royalist horse headed to the tavern and brothel, despite it obviously being a Sunday. Lord Fairfax, based on the far side of the River Bouze, decided to launch a raid to reclaim his wife. When the Parliamentarians are sighted the Royalist dragoons can alert the cavalry, and either or both squadrons can ride off for help - heading in the directions marked A to D. Once reinforcements arrive, the Royalist objective is to escort Lady Fairfax back into custody,  down road A. Lord Fairfax had to reach the safety of the bridge - with his wife in tow of course. The game was played out on an 8 x 6 foot table.

When the Parliamentarian column appeared the Royalist dragoons headed straight towards road C, without waiting to tell the cavaliers in the Poisoned Dwarf what was happening! They saw the approaching column in the nick of time, saddled up, and fought a spirited defensive action which saw both sides charging and counter-charging in the lane leading to the tavern. This delayed the Parliamentarians, who seemed more concerned with deploying to meet the expected royalist reinforcements, or routing the pesky Cavaliers than rescuing Lady Fairfax!

Eventually though, a unit of Parliamentarian troopers rode up to the church,  collected the General's lady, and headed back towards safety. By that time though, everything had changed. The Royalists had appeared at C, and while the Royalist dragoons skirted the battlefield to seize the bridge (and block the Parliamentarian line of retreat), the rest of the force launched itself at Fairfax's line of horse and foot. While the Parliamentarians held their ground pretty well, and their shot were whittling the Royalists down, another crisis was developing on the far side of the table.

Each turn the players rolled for special events  - which kicked in when a double was rolled on 2D6. The Parliamentarians were the first beneficiaries - an extra unit of poor-quality horse. Then the Royalists won the perfect result - the arrival of another column of reinforcements at B, representing men who'd marched to the sound of the guns. This meant the Parliamentarians were caught between two forces. While the unit escorting Lady Fairfax threaded their way through them and headed towards the bridge, the bulk of the Parliamentarian force was already fully committed, and there was little left to counter this new threat. 

What followed was a race to the bridge. The Royalist dragoons lost the first part of the race, as a unit of Parliamentarian horse reached the crossing first. However, the rest of the army was strung out along eight feet of tabletop, while the Royalist reinforcements were manoeuvring themselves between them and the bridge. We ran out of time as this rearguard action was playing itself out, but it was clear that while Lord and Lady Fairfax would be re-united, the Parliamentarian general had won a pyrrhic victory, and as many as half his men would never make it back to safety.

The rules we used were Very Civile Actions, available as a free download from The Perfect Captain. As for Charles the Younger's sadistic streak, the scenario was taxing, but a lot also depended on timing and luck. Without those unexpected Royalist reinforcements the game would have been a walk in the park for the Parliamentarians. In the end however, we landed up with a very tense, and very enjoyable game, with everything to play for right up to the end. It seems that while Charles the Younger mightn't be quite as fiendish as his brigadier father, when it comes to scenario design he's certainly a chip off the old block!

English Civil War Page      Very Civile Actions Review   

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