Angus Konstam

Periods featured in this issue: Second World War, American War of Independence, English Civil War and Seven Years War (all 28mm)

Second World War: The Battle for Teddy Bear Field, Southern France, 1944 (Rules of Engagement) 28mm

I'm up in Orkney at the moment, clearing out my late mother's house, so this brief report is brought to you by the imitable Colin Jack;

I (Colin) rolled up a scenario for a force of Canadian paratroops versus a force of Falschirmjager - the figures I had at my beck and call. Like most Rules of Engagement games, this was a skirmish using about a platoon per side. The result was what was known in the scenario generator as "an Escalating Engagement". This involved both core forces advancing on to the table, and then steadily being reinforced throughout the game. The objective was to try to cause the maximum casualties to their enemy, and the minimum to themselves.

Both sides advanced fairly cautiously to start with, and Bill's left flank Germans quickly took up good defensive positions from which they could launch opportunity fire. Hugh on the other flank was taking a more aggressive line, with a section making a wide sweep around the tabletop, under the guiding eye of the platoon commander and his headquarters. Meanwhile, Dave's Canadians were trying to do the same to Bill - he sent a rifle and sten-armed section sneaking forward on his flank, covered by his Bren Gun section. My section had quickly raced forward to seize the central building, and we now had a commanding view over the landscape. The German MG42 section caught the Canadian mortar team almost in the open, and inflicted the first casualties of the game. This ensured that the Canadian paratroops would have no mortar support for the rest of the game - and in Rules of Engagement mortars are particularly useful assets to have.

The flip side of this was that the MG42 team had now given away it's position, and it immediately came under fire from both Canadian Bren Gun groups. At that point the Canadian reinforcements arrived - a rather useful Sherman tank. It managed to score a direct hit with it's first shot - so scratch one Falschirmjager machine gun. Dave's paras now reached the line of hedgerows in the middle of the battlefield and sprayed the hedge with their stens. At this critical moment Dave rolled 19 dice, got 4 shots on target and caused just 1 casualty against the experienced Falschirmjager! While all this was going on Hugh had worked his section up close to the Canadian-held building and launched an assault. The Canadians however, had all the advantages, won every combat and completely destroyed their adversaries.

We ran out of time here but after that close combat success the Canadians definitely had the upper hand. We need to be more familiar with the rules but they do seem to work well. The Dave mentioned above by the way, was Dave Cooper, from the USA, a reader of this site, who found himself in Edinburgh for a few months. At heart he's a horse and musket man, but he seemed perfectly at home sneaking along the hedgerows with his paratroopers.

American War of Independence: The Battle of Oriskany , 1777 (Black Powder) 28mm

This game was run by Bill Gilchrist, and was loosely based on the Battle of Oriskany, fought in the backwoods of upper New York in August 1777. The background to the original battle was that a small army of the good guys under General St. Leger were besieging the Rebel-held Fort Stanwix in the Mohawk Valley. An American relief column was organised by General Herkmer, consisting the Tryon County militia supported by a detachment of riflemen and a party of friendly Oneida Indians. A few miles from the fort they were ambushed by American Loyalists led by Sir John Johnson, supported by a horde of Indians. In this game the battle was less of an ambush than the real thing, and the Loyalists (played by Hugh Wilson) had red rather than green-coated regulars, and Hessian skirmishers, as those were the toys Bill had available. To win, the Americans (played by Colin Jack) had to drive off the British, and march off the table to relieve the fort. In every other Black Powder game Bill has organised the Americans won easily. The question was whether the British could pull it off this time, helped by their war-painted allies.

The British force consisted of a company of regulars (Loyalists of the Royal New York Rgt.), supported by detachments of Hessian Jaegers and Loyalist Butler’s Rangers. Hiding off table edge on one flank were tree warbands of Six Nations Indians. The idea was that when the British tripped their ambush and pinned the Americans, the Indians would come rushing out of the woods and chop up the American column. Other than the main track all the table was assumed to be forest, although in the photos it looks like an area of open fields. Bill couldn't face moving through all those trees, hence the seemingly open terrain.

The Rebels marched up the forest track, but their scouts spotted the waiting British, and so the column deployed to meet them. That turned what might have been an ambush into a head-on encounter in the woods. The first clash was between the Oneida Indians and the Hesse-Hanau Jaegers. The indians charged, and their blood-curdling and ferocious attack broke the Jaegers in a single turn. The British commander tried to retrieve the situation by throwing his crack regulars forward. His plan was to break the American centre. The trouble was, his Indian allies were too slow, and didn't fall on the flanks of the American force before the British began their attack. As a result the loyalist regulars went in unsupported and - horror of horrors - they were broken in hand to hand combat by the Rebel militia. While all this was taking place the remainder of the American force was engaged in a running firefight in the woods with Butler's Rangers. Outnumbered, the loyalists were eventually broken by a combination of Rebel firepower and a determined attack by the seemingly invincible Tyron County militia.

With nothing left on the table but the three Indian warbands, the British player conceded the game. In the real battle the Rebels were pretty badly mauled, but they fought back well and the Loyalists were only able to win a pretty marginal victory. In this refight the Americans were triumphant, Fort Stanwix would have been relieved, and the Mohawk Valley and upper New York would have become a Rebel stronghold. Once again the Americans won the game, helped by the British player's abysmal die rolls for break tests. The whole affair lasted under two hours. Black Powder mightn't be the best set to recreate the American War of Independence with as its difficult to make militia as bad as they really were. However, nobody can argue that they produce a fast and enjoyable game... and a pretty one.

English Civil War: The Battle of Stinky Bottom Sconce, 1648 (Very Civile Actions) 28mm

This fictitious little engagement was set in the Second Civil War (1648-49), and saw a small brigade of Parliamentarians defending itself against twice the number of Royalists and their Scots allies. As the defenders were troops of the New Model Army they enjoyed a qualitative advantage over their opponents, and their line was further supported by a small sconce, or earthwork, set in the middle of a large open area. This sconce became the focal point of the battle, with the allies throwing a whole Scottish brigade against the place, which was defended by a mere handful of musketeers. The question was, would quantity defeat quality, or would we see a demonstration of that old Soviet military adage that quantity has a quality all of its own?

The allies divided up the problem. The Scotsa foot would take on the sconce, while their Royalist counterparts advanced and defeated the New Model infantry. Meanwhile both cavalry wings would also sweep forward and attack the outnumbered Parliamentarian cavalry. Simple. Of course, while it looked good on paper, it didn't work quite so well on the tabletop. Most of the allied infantry commanders were "bookish" - they had their nose in the bible rather - and there was a 50-50 chance their units wouldn't advance on any particular turn, as they dithered and scoured the good book for inspiration. True to form, these units spent much of their time halted, waiting for their commanders to sort themselves out. This presented the New Model commander with a great opportunity, and he moved his shot forward to harass the Royalist infantry. Their fire did more than irritate - they caused casualties, and forced the oncoming enemy to retire and regroup, before coming on again. The whole attack eventually bogged down as this farce repeated itself. At the end of three hours of play the Royalists were no further forward than they had been at the start, only their units had been badly cut up by musketry.

Over on their flank the Scots threw themselves at Stinky Bottom Sconce, and after a lot of effort, and much halting and redressing of ranks their foot finally managed to charge home, and overrun the heavily outnumbered defenders. That attack though, against a mere 12 musketeer figures had held up the advance of half of the allied army, giving the Parliamentarians the time they needed to repulse the Royalist foot. The Scots cavalry advanced in support of their infantry, and after a fair bit of effort they managed to defeat the New Model cavalry regiment which blocked their way. In this instance at least, quantity had triumphed, but the Parliamentarians still had two horse regiments in reserve - more than enough to stall the Scots if they persevered. The game was finally declared a draw, but despite the loss of the sconce, the New Model army outperformed their lacklustre opponents. Overall then, quality shone through against quantity.

Seven Years War: Raiding the Frontier, Landsberg, Poland 1758 (Die Kriegskunst) 28mm

This small Seven Years War game was fought around Landsberg an den Warthe, the village on the banks of the River Warthe on the Prussian-Polish border. It was held by a regiment of Prussian Freikorps, backed up by jaegers and artillery, while a stronger Prussian force was a mile away, and able to march to the relief of the garrison if they were attacked. The Russians wanted to seize the river crossing, which meant capturing the village. A small advanced force (two battalions and some Cossacks) had already forded the river some miles to the east, and the game began with them in a position to attack the village from one side, while a larger Russian "combined arms" force appeared on the far bank of the river.

Unfortunately the Prussian player (Dougie) was very late turning up - one of the joys of having a new baby. We therefore knew we wouldn't manage to finish the game, but at least we could shuffle lead around, with the option of setting it up again some other time. The Russian infantry brigade had only one avenue of attack - directly across the bridge. The Russian cavalry moved off to the right, searching for a ford, and spent the next four turns haplessly looking for it. The two battalions on the Prussian side of the river launched an assault on the town, but were driven back thanks largely to a crucial "Double 6" roll, just when Dougie needed it most. Back at the bridge the Russians piled across, and ignoring the canister fire they charged and swept away the Prussian gun blocking their way.

The Freikorps were made of sterner stuff, and not only repulsed a charge by the leading Russian battalion, but they forced them to retreat, causing disorder around the head of the bridge. By the time the attackers had sorted themselves out the relieving Prussian column had arrived, and was filtering troops into the centre of the village. Of course the Russians were doing the same, and it was shaping up for a bitter little fight for control of the town - one we knew we didn't have time to fight to a conclusion. Meanwhile those two brigades of infantry were readying themselves for another assault on the far side of the village, while the Cossacks moved out to cover their flank, which was threatened by a Prussian hussar regiment.

The two cavalry units charged each other, and not surprisingly the Cossacks were hurled back in disorder. Rather than follow them up, the Prussians managed to pass a pursuit test roll, and therefore had the wherewithal to halt their pursuit, and instead they turned to face the Russian foot. One of the two battalions turned to face this new threat, which of course weakened the assault on the far corner of the town. Regrettably, that was when we had to stop the proceedings, with everything still to play for. The Russians had firmly lodged themselves in the village, but the Prussians were reinforcing it, and the fighting in the streets and houses would continue. The Russian cavalry had finally found the ford and were moving up to support those isolated two battalions of infantry, while the Prussian green hussars were posing a serious threat to the Russian flank. We've got to play this game through some time, as it was an interesting and well-balanced set-up, with the Prussians benefiting from a defensive central position and interior lines, while the Russians enjoyed a concentration of force. What would you have done as the Russian or Prussian commander? Give it a go, and tell us what happened!"