Edinburgh Wargames

The Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 54  -  January 2011  

Periods featured in this issue:  Second World War Naval (1/2400), "Napoleonic", Seven Years War & First World War (all 28mm)

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Second World War Naval: "The Battle of the Buoys", April 1941  (General Quarters 3) 1/2400

A planned French Revolutionary War game didn't happen because the French commander was feeling poorly, so instead Dougie and I played a quick Second World War naval game - a clash of destroyers. The real battle of the Kerkennah Bank (aka "The Battle of the Buoys) was fought off the north-eastern corner of Tunisia, close to the well-marked patch of sandbars that gave this little battle its two names. An Axis convoy was heading to Tripoli, laden with troops, equipment and ammunition for Rommel's 15th Panzer Division. Sinking the convoy would inflict a serious blow to the Afrika Korps. The British sent Captain Mack's 14th Destroyer Flotilla based in Malta to intercept it, and the two forces made contact just before 2am on 16th April 1941. The aim of the Axis player was to get the bulk of his convoy to safety, even if it meant sacrificing his three Italian destroyers in the process.

The battle began with both sides opening up on each other, and scoring minor hits. The four British destroyers circled around the convoy to the west, shepherding it away from the shallows towards the open sea. The outnumbered and out-gunned Italian destroyers laid smoke, trying to cover the convoy which turned away from the threat. That was when the Italian destroyer Baleno fired a salvo of six torpedoes, one of which hit the bow of the third destroyer in the British line - HMS Nubian. She went down within minutes, while her companions forged ahead - Mohawk taking on the Baleno, while Jervis and Janus engaged the Tarigo and Lampo. Until now the British fire had been hindered by the smoke laid by the Italian destroyers, but the Lampo presented a perfect target, and the British mortally wounded her.

While all this was going on the two Italian destroyers fired their torpedoes, but the fast-moving British destroyers managed to avoid them, and cut through the line of smoke to engage the enemy at point-blank range. That was the point when Dougie, playing the Italians all but threw in the towel. The British could manually load their guns for brief periods - consequently there's a "rapid fire" rule that all but guaranteed that they would eviscerate their slower-firing opponents. That was exactly what happened, with the Italian destroyers scoring one hit to three or four scored by the British. Within minutes the Lampo was dead in the water, the Tarigo was flooding and the Baleno had her guns knocked out. It was all over bar the shouting. We spared the Italian player having to fight it out to the end, as it had become a turkey shoot. With the escorts dealt with, the British could then destroy that all-important convoy at their leisure. Those 300 Nazi vehicles would never reached Rommel.

Strangely enough, the course of our game mirrored the real battle. In the actual engagement the Italians were torn apart, but before they were sunk the Italians managed to fire torpedoes that hit and sank the Mohawk. The Tribal Class destroyer that came a cropper might have been different, but the outcome was the same - three destroyers and a convoy of five merchantmen, in exchange for a British destroyer.

Sure, this scenario was prettily heavily weighted in favour of the British. The Italians would have to be pretty lucky to survive, especially given the slight British advantage in destroyer numbers, and their superior gunnery and night-fighting capabilities. However, Dougie blamed the rules - the torpedo rules to be precise. He might have a point. In General Quarters 3 its now pretty difficult to hit anything with a torpedo, as it all depends on the torpedo track crossing the position of the target at the end of its move. Dougie argued that there should have been some chance of hitting if the torpedo track crossed the ship's path at any point - a method used in other older rules. Even the original General Quarters had a system where hitting was easier, and for our next game we may go back to that old, well-proven method.

Of course, Dougie didn't complain when he scored a hit on Nubian. Then the system seemed to work just fine! Perhaps the problem lies with his second-rate navy, which never seems to win a game...

Second World War Naval page  

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Napoleonic War: "The Flank Attack", Spain, 1811    (General de Brigade) 28mm

When we don't have time to dream up a scenario, or can't think what to do, we dip into Charles S. Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers (1970), looking for inspiration. Dougie had been painting up French cavalry, and was eager to give them an airing, so we chose this scenario, which begins in disaster for one side, and takes it from there. The premise is that one force - the French in this case - have managed to work their way around the flank of the enemy, and are about to unleash themselves on one exposed flank. The scenario was based on Leuthen (1757), but the situation was also similar to Albuera (1811). To win, the French have to roll up the British line, and secure the pass between two hills, by capturing the village. The British had to recover from the disaster, and hold their ground. The two armies set up as shown on Charles' map, with the bulk of the French army deployed in the area marked "F", their advance screened by dawn mist, rolling ground and scattered orchards.

Obviously, it wasn't much fun for the British, who spend the first few turns desperately trying to issue new orders to their brigades, with the French falling on their flank like a Gallic tidal wave. Dougie's new cavalry really came into their own. On the first turn the 16th Dragoons charged the British flank guard - the 16th Light Dragoons - who were driven back in disorder after a single turn of melee. The British brigade on the left flank was unable to change its orders, so the units had to pretty much remain in place, although they had a little leeway to change formation, or to try to turn to face the new threat. The British 28th Foot in reserve went into square, as it lay in the path of the French cavalry, but the 48th had no time to react. The 15th Dragoons hit the battalion from the rear, while French infantry columns burst out of the orchard on their left flank. The 48th broke and ran, pursued for a bit by the French cavalry, before the horsemen pulled back to reform, their job done. The 48th was dispersed, and for the British the only consolation was that their loss had bought time for the nearby guns to limber up and escape.

It was then the turn of the 28th, whose square was threatened by both cavalry and infantry. The second unit of French cavalry - the 5th Dragoons - failed to charge, but the massed battalion columns of the 95th Ligne piled into the square, which dissolved. The British had now lost half of their left-hand brigade, but the survivors miraculously passed a brigade morale check, and fought on.

By that time the British brigade on the right had moved up in support, forming a line in front of the village and the western ridge. To win the game the French needed to break this line, and storm the village beyond. With the French columns massing on the eastern ridge, the British players (Angus and Dax) threw caution to the wind, and launch their reserve cavalry brigade at the French. On the British left, the reformed 16th LD charged and drove off their French counterparts of the 5th Dragoons. The French reacted by going into square, but on the ridge itself the French columns were still unformed, after their destruction of the British square. Dax launched the 2nd Dragoons into the heart of the French, forcing a battalion of the 96th Ligne to run back to the cover of the orchard behind them. Purists will tell you that the 2nd Dragoons - the Scots Greys - weren't in the Peninsula, but Dax was rightly proud of his unit, and so they got to play their part after all.

The French screening force to the south weren't to be left out, and began advancing on the British position. Leading the assault were the 5th Chasseurs a Cheval - Dougie's only metal cavalry unit. They were duly eviscerated by Dax's Royal Horse Artillery batteries, and the survivors broke and ran. Wisely enough the supporting French infantry - actually they were a German allied battalion - decided to halt where they were. With this flanking manoeuvre stymied, the French would have no option but to launch a frontal attack on the waiting British. The charge of the Scots Greys though, had bought time for the British infantry to get into position, and their cavalry were now loitering on the northern flank of the French.

While the Scots Greys were eventually driven back with heavy losses, it was clear that the French would be extremely hard-put to break the British position. The game was duly declared a draw, although quite rightly the French player (Dougie) claimed a moral victory, having broken two British battalions. To be honest, the British players were a little relieved - they spent the entire game under a lot of pressure, and much of it on the wrong foot.

The real victor of the evening was my friend Charles S. Grant, whose well-balanced scenario produced a tense, frenetic and thrilling game right from the start. By having the French in place on the British flank we were spared those long turns of advancing to contact - instead the action began in earnest on Turn 1, and the pace never slackened. This was a fairly small game - the British had 7 battalions and 3 units of cavalry, plus two small gun batteries, while the French fielded a similar force, only with less guns and one less unit of foot. Despite the usual heavy drinking, pausing to chat to friends, and general time-wasting, we managed to get through the game in just under three hours - which is usually all the time we have on a Thursday club night. As this was Dax's first exposure to General de Brigade, and Dougie and I are still not fully up to speed with the new edition, and it stands as a testimony to the rules, which worked well, and produced an enjoyable game.

Age of Bonaparte page          "Napoleonic" page  

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Seven Years War:  Securing the March crossing, Littau, 1758  (Die Kriegskunst) 28mm

Angus was down in London this Thursday, so this Seven Years War game was fought out between Dougie and "Dax", a small 6x4 table game to give Dax an idea of the rules. An Austrian advanced guard was holding the crossing over the River March near Littau in Moravia, as part of the manoeuvring going on during the Olmütz campaign of 1758. A Prussian advanced guard was also sent to secure the crossing, and the two sides forces met just south of the river, in an area dominated by a long, low hill. The Austrians had two cavalry regiments and an infantry battalion on the hill, while other troops were marching to the sound of the guns.

The Prussian advance guard consisted of a hussar brigade of two regiments, and three battalions of grenadiers. Both players began rolling for reinforcements a few turns into the game, and for several terns these rolls were equally unlucky. For the time being at least, the commanders would have to rely on the troops they had already.

The Prussians moved forward and charged the Austrian cavalry. On the left the 8th (Von Seydlitz) Hussars were comprehensively trounced by the Austrian 7th (Schmerzing) Cuirassiers. They rallied - briefly - but the Austrians were on a roll, and the Prussian regiment was swept from the table. Next to them the Austrian 8th (Sachsen-Gotha) Dragoons met the Prussian 1st (von Szkeley) Hussars - the green ones. This time the Austrians came of worst, and were pushed back. The Austrians still held on though, and the melee ground on for several turns, with both sides taking heavy casualties.

The Prussian grenadiers tried next, grinding forward to take on the sole battalion of Austrian infantry, from IR9 (Los Rios). The first Prussian unit was held, and by that time the threat posed by the victorious Austrian cuirassiers forced the rest to halt, to protect themselves from this new threat. At that crucial moment both sides rolled for reinforcements for the sixth time. It had been getting easier each turn, and now it was "anything but a 1". Dougie commanding the Prussians duly rolled a "1", while Dax rolled a "6". On came another three battalions of Austrian foot, and another regiment of cavalry. That was when Dougie called it a day, and pulled back his battered force. The Austrians held the crossing, and therefore their army could dictate the course of the next stage of the campaign.

It was a fun little battle, and a useful refresher with the rules. We're in the process of modifying them, and so trying out different situations, and looking for ways to improve the mechanisms. This means we need to play a few of these little games, and soon we might solicit help from you the readers of this site, to try out a few of our new ideas.

Seven Years War page           Die Kriegskunst page          Buy die Kriegskunst (off-site link to Caliver Books)

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 First World War: Houffalize, Ardennes, August 1914  (Contemptible Little Armies) 28mm

Due to yet another baby crisis Dougie failed to show up this week, so instead I joined in a First World War game staged by Colin Jack. Colin isn't such a slave to aesthetics as the rest of us, and seems quite happy to play on a garishly-painted lime-green table, using buildings from a mix of regions, and troops with shiny minimalist bases. Actually, it isn't too bad, as the effect is a sort of "old school" look, reminiscent of the games I used to play based on those inspirational books of my childhood, Introduction to Battlegaming, Battle and Charge.

In this game the plucky Belgians were holding out in Houfflaize, facing an attack by a division of Germans. Their aim was to hang on long enough for reinforcements to arrive - columns of French and (rather bizarrely) British troops were marching to the sound of the guns. Things were made a little harder for us Germans by having our troops advance one brigade behind the other, which meant we had to attack on a limited frontage, and expect our leading units to be shot up. We decided to launch the first brigade against the town, while the second would work its way over to the left, to face the expected French reinforcements. Then the reservists of the 3rd brigade would reinforce the assault on the town. It all seemed pretty straightforward, but of course games run by Colin Jack are never that simple.

The French appeared on the southern table edge from Turn 1, and their deployment was covered by a seemingly suicidal charge by Belgian Guides and French Chasseurs. In fact the cavalry swept all before them, riding down a battalion of German Jaegers, and then a battalion of infantry behind them before their saddles were finally emptied by massed Mauser rifle fire. After that the German 2nd brigade never really got back into the game.

Meanwhile the town attack bogged down in the face of steady casualties until the Germans were able to bring up their artillery and machine guns. Eventually this added firepower turned the tide, and the Belgians were literally shot to pieces, allowing the battered German infantry to storm the town. An unexpected appearance of a Minerva armoured car might have turned the tables again, but the Belgian vehicle was soon despatched by a lucky shot from a German field gun. The leading units of the French column tried to fight their way through to the town, but their bayonet charge of a German unit blocking the way came to naught, and the game drew to a close. During the final turns the British contingent made an appearance to the west of the town, but it arrived too late to play any part in the battle.

In the end the game was deemed a draw, but one that slightly favoured the Germans. After all, they had wrested control of Houffalize from the Belgians, and were it not for that dashing Allied cavalry charge they would probably have swept all before them. As ever we used Chris Peers' Contemptible Little Armies, a very bloody "4,5,6 you're dead" kind of set, which added to the "old school" feel, but nevertheless seem to capture the flavour of the period, in no small part due to the appallingly high level of casualties everyone tends to suffer in these bloodbath-like games! As usual, great fun was had by all.

Meanwhile, at the next table, some of the guys were using the popular Impetus rules to fight a Renaissance game, set during the early part of the Italian Wars. I've included a couple of pictures, because it looked really pretty. It might even have inspired me to dig out my Landsknechts again, and to paint a few more of them.

The Great War page

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