Angus  Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

Edinburgh Wargames Journal             

      Issue 39  -  October 2009  

Periods featured in this issue:   French Revolutionary War (28mm),

Franco-Prussian War (10mm),  Second World War Naval (1/2400) & English Civil War (28mm)

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Battle of Lannoy, French Revolutionary War, 1793  (Napoleon) 28mm

The aim of this little game was to try out a new set of rules - Napoleon - from Wargames Foundry. Our resident rules lawyer Bill Gilchrist posted a review of them on this site, but we were keen to try them out first hand. Unfortunately, Bill was the only one of us who'd read them from cover to cover, without being distracted by the pretty pictures, and he couldn't make it that evening. That meant that this was very much a learning game for the rest of us. Chris Henry supplied the French, defending against two Allied columns. My Austrians (two line battalions, a battalion of Grenzers and some skirmishers) attacked from one side, while Iain Gales British (two battalions of Guards) appeared on the French flank. The arrival of French reinforcements - a brigade of cavalry commanded by Colin Jack - were rolled for at the start of each turn. He needed a 5-6, and they duly appeared on Turn 2, on the French left flank. Still, this was a really small game, played to try out the rules rather than to win tabletop glory.

The battle itself was a slow affair, partly because we were learning the rules as we went along, but also because the movement distances dictate a fairly leisurely pace. Just 4" move a turn for units in line and 10" musket range means that it takes several turns to close with the enemy, unless you try moving in march column. We left attack columns to the French Revolutionaries, as we wanted to fight the game using historical tactics. The key thing is "engagement range". Once you get within 8" if infantry of 16" if cavalry you have to stop, and the enemy is pinned as well. Then you lay down "command cards", and you can choose what to do next - advance and fire, form square, charge etc. etc. This system had its charms, but it also produced a lot of annoying little anomalies, and we constantly had to look up rules governing cause and effect.

For instance, a battalion of Iain's British played an "advance and fire" card, and the unit duly moved forward and pelted a battalion of Frenchmen. As far as we could see you only test morale at the end of the turn (unless you suffer casualties from artillery), so Chris was then able to play his card - a "charge". The French automatically charged in - there was no morale test needed on either side (as far as we could see), or defensive fire, and the two units were locked in combat. Bizarrely, in the melee phase it seems that a unit in column has less chance of winning a melee as a unit standing in line - two French dice as opposed to three for the British. Granted, if the French had more room to charge they'd have got another two dice bonus, but they didn't. The result was that the column was routed. While this was probably a fair result , the mechanism seemed wildly illogical.

Another quirk is that casualties seem to have little impact on the game - they don't seem to reduce the effectiveness of morale, or firing. You can reduce a unit to just a few figures, and if it still rolls well for its morale tests it still fires with the effectiveness of a fresh battalion. That's just plain silly. And so it went on - more quirky outcomes, fairly lethal shooting (even my scummy Grenzers did well), and the slow plodding of troops across the table, until they reach "engagement range". Unfortunately Iain had to leave early, by which time the British were threatening the French right flank, while - with the exception of the Grenzers - the Austrians had gone onto the defensive, forming square to receive the French cavalry. At that point we packed it in, promising each other to give the rules another go, after we'd all had a chance to read them from cover to cover.

First impressions though weren't particularly favourable. While the card system is quite clever, the rules themselves seem to lack clarity, hence the range of strange events. It seemed like the whole business of "if you do this, then what happens to that unit" hadn't been thought through properly. While these are all things that can be sorted out by amending the system a little, or adding house rules, you don't really expect to have to do this, especially after shelling out £25 for a set. We'll certainly try them again, but as it stands I can't see Napoleon becoming our rules set of choice.

Bill Gilchrist's review of Napoleon       The Age of Bonaparte page

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Franco-Prussian War, 1870  (1870 - modified) 10mm

This was another game laid on by Gerry Henry, using figures from his vast 10mm late 19th century collection. Of course, you could melt a whole Corps down and still not have enough lead for a decent 28mm battalion, but even the most ardent scales snob has to admit that this "looks" like a battle. I've played 28mm Franco-Prussian games, but they've always lacked the "big battle" appearance you get from these smaller-scaled games.

The battle was essentially a repeat of the one played out two weeks ago - the Prussians were attacking a line of hills held by a smaller French force. The big difference was that this time we'd learned our lessons. There were going to be no heroic charges - we planned to let our guns do the talking.

In fact the game became a glorified artillery duel - one the Prussians were bound to win. The French tried to respond, but inevitably - over the space of an hour or so of gaming - their gun batteries (and pesky Mitrailleuse machine guns) were silenced, and the German guns could then turn their attention to the French infantry. This "softening up" was vital - without it the Prussians would simply be shot to pieces. However, it doesn't necessarily make for an interesting game. The French could do little but get pounded, while the Prussian players spent the evening champing at the bit, waiting for the chance to get to grips. In the end the advance never happened, apart from one one flank. There the Prussians launched their attack too early, and paid the price by being mown down. Everywhere else the German infantry lay prone, waiting for orders that never came.

While this was something of a non-game, it was also another part of that Franco-Prussian learning curve. Gerry has invited us all around to his house in a few weeks (8th November), where he'll be laying on a full-sized game - a refight of the Battle of Fröschwiller - with his specially-built terrain, and up to four Corps per side. We'll need all the experience of troop handling we can get before the big day if we're going to take on the French and win...

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The Dykes of Keltham, 1646  (Very Civile Actions) 28mm

This was one of those big, spur of the moment pretty games. We'd promised ourselves an English Civil War game, and two gamers (Dave Imrie and Jack Glanville) wanted to use their Covenanters. The rather threadbare scenario we concocted involved a vital supply column, bringing much-needed powder up to the siege lines at Newark, on the far side of the River Trent. Those who know the area please forgive our liberties with geography here. The way forward was along a lane, leading past Keltham Farm to the bridge over the river - an area of high-walled hedges known as the Dykes of Keltham - the ideal place for an ambush. Word reached the garrison that the Royalists were attempting to attack the wagons, and a brigade of Coventanters was dispatched to escort the wagons along this last difficult mile. The scene was set for an encounter battle, fought in close terrain.

We played the game on a 11x4 table, with the River Trent dividing the battlefield into two parts. The siege part on the far side of the river was essentially a sideshow - the Parliamentarian and Covenanter gunners hadn't the powder to batter the defences, and the Royalist commander didn't sally out. The main fighting therefore took place to the west, beyond the bridge.

The wagons began plodding down the lane, escorted by a company of Parliamentarian dragoons. The Royalists appeared through the fields to the south, and then the Covenanters showed up, dribbling on a unit at a time from the north.

Inevitably, the wagons were held up at Keltham Farm, while the two sides fought it out. The battle took just over two hours to game, and the fighting ebbed and flow several times. The Royalist foot reached the lane, blocking the way for the wagons, but the Covenanters firing on them through the hedges couldn't really budge them. The Parliamentarian dragoons had more luck, repulsing an attempt by their mounted Royalist counterparts to capture the wagons by riding round everyone's flank. Then the two cavalry units lined up - Dougie Trial's Royalist horse (pictured at the top) clashed with Jack Glanville's Covenant lancers, and the Scots were driven from the field. This effectively blocked the way to the bridge.

In the centre of the table though, things weren't going so well for the Royalists. While the two sides were locked in battle, fighting it out over and through the hedgerows, another regiment of Covenanting foot worked its way onto the lane at Keltham Farm. Its pike block then slammed into the Royalist shot and drove them back in disorder, exposing the flank of the Royalist pikes, who were soon fighting for their lives, with Scots on two sides. At that point we ran out of time, but it was clear that while the Covenanters had cleared Keltham Dykes the Royalist horse still commanded the river meadows beyond. The game was therefore declared a draw, although technically the Royalists did stop the wagons getting through.

English Civil War page      A review of Very Civile Actions

Very Civile Actions rules, from The Perfect Captain - a free download (off-side)

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Franco-Prussian War, 1870  (1870 - modified) 10mm

This was rather unusual - a game in a scale I'd never contemplated before (10mm), run as a rules-learning exercise by the incredibly patient Gerry Henry (he of the grey cable-knit cardigan). In this game a French Corps-sized forces defended a line of hills, while a slightly larger Prussian force attacked them. The figures were surprisingly detailed, given their ludicrously small size, and the general look of the game was a good one - you got the impression that it was quite a big battle. It was certainly an educational experience, particularly for us Prussians, who learned the hard way.

My South German division attacked the hill on the left flank, while the other two Divisions attacked the right-flank hill, supported by massed Prussian batteries. Actually, it soon turned out that artillery was the key - I sent mine too far forward and they were mauled by the French, but the rest pounded the French line from a thousand yards away, and whittled down the defenders, ready for a massed assault. Actually, we attacked too soon against both hills, and on mine the Baden and Wurttemberg troops were roughly handled by the defending Frenchmen and their Zouave reserves. The rules make the French Chassepot rifle far more effective than the German Dreyse needle gun, so we would have been better off hanging back and pounding away with our guns for several turns. Unfortunately we were all to impatient, and paid the price.

The rules themselves were fairly simple, with combat factors for firing and casualties, a very straightforward morale system, and a simple but somewhat confusing method of working out charges and hand-to-hand combat. The only melee occurred on the far left flank, where my Wurtemburgers were driven off by the Zouaves. Another novel feature was that Gerry banned tape measures to protect the figures, and we used dividers instead, which was a little different, and looked rather slick. For the sake of lessening the learning curve we dispensed with the Orders system, and the game flowed fairly quickly, although poor Gerry the umpire was always being called on to deal with queries and clarify the rules.

All told it was a fairly enjoyable game, and will serve as a warm-up for a full-sized fight planned by Gerry in early November. At least by having a few practice games first, there's a faint chance we won't make so many basic errors when it comes to the big several Corps a side mega-battle.

1870 Rules Website   (off-site link)

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The Battle of Cape Esperance,  11-12th October 1942  (General Quarters, 3rd edition) 1/2400mm

The original plan was to play an English Civil War game, but as it was cancelled at the last minute we had to come up with something else. In these circumstances we often lay on a naval game, as it involves little effort; less lead to cart around, easy terrain and a quick set-up. While we'd played one game using the new version of General Quarters rules, this game was the first chance we'd had to try them out using my Pacific war fleets. The Battle of Cape Esperance seemed manageable, as it was fairly small, but it involved a few novelties such as night fighting, radar, and lots of torpedoes. It was the second of the string of battles fought in "Ironbottom Sound" off Guadalcanal, and pitched a small Japanese force of cruisers and destroyers against a slightly larger American squadron. I had most of the ships (although I had to substitute a couple of the American ones), and the game could easily be fought to a conclusion in an evening.

The Japanese force consisted of of three heavy cruisers and four destroyers - two more destroyers than the historical force to balance the sides a little, while the Americans had four cruisers (two heavies, two lights), supported by five destroyers. Just as it did historically, contact came just before midnight, on a quiet night, with a quarter moon, and calm seas. 

The Japanese (played by myself and Dougie Trail) had a cunning plan - to close to within 10,000 yards, then loose off a massed salvo of Long Lance torpedoes, then to break contact, reload and return to the fight. Of course it didn't quite go according to plan. For a start, the Americans (played by Kevan Gunn and Bill Gilchrist) spotted us as we approached - something  we hadn't reckoned on given their inferior night-fighting abilities. Their opening salvos began to plaster our destroyers, but it didn't stop a wave of 35 torpedoes being launched at their ships. I was a bit nervous playing with torpedoes alongside Dougie - in the last naval game he torpedoed my flagship, despite being on the same side! The trouble was, we didn't use the torpedo rules correctly - we should have marked down the direction on a post-it note stuck to the table, then covered it, so the enemy couldn't guess where the spread was going. Instead the Americans found it all to easy to avoid all of our torpedo salvo.

We missed, so we laid smoke and veered away, protected by the covering fire of the Japanese cruisers. This didn't work too well either - a lucky hit on the flagship Aoba hit a turret, and I failed to roll a saving throw which would have prevented a cataclysmic explosion. The Aoba blew up, leaving the Japanese cruisers outnumbered two to one. The only saving grace was that in the exchange of fire the USS Salt Lake City was so badly damaged it had to pull out of the battle, and head to safety. The next disaster was an engineering hit on the Furutaka, promptly followed by a second one. Once again we failed to repair the damage, and the ship lay dead in the water - a perfect target for the American cruisers.

By that stage it was clear we weren't going to achieve anything apart from losing more ships. We withdrew under cover of smoke, avoiding a last parting salvo of torpedoes fired by the American destroyers. Of our three heavy cruisers only the Kinugasa survived, making the game a pretty emphatic American victory. Of course, our lack of experience with the torpedo and night fighting rules helped the Americans, and with luck they'll find it a little harder next time we meet.

Apart from those little hiccups the rules worked really well - a great improvement on the earlier version of General Quarters. I really like the fact that everything is built into the ship cards and the playsheets, which means you rarely need to look anything up. It all makes for a fast, furious and enjoyable game - even when your bloody Japanese flagship blows up ' cause you can't roll under a "10" on a twelve-sided dice!

Pacific War Naval page  (updated)

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