Edinburgh Wargames

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The Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 67  -  February 2012  

Periods featured in this issue:  The American War of Independence, the Napoleonic War (two games), and the Malayan Emergency  (all 28mm)

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

Bill Gillchrist has a thing about Oriskany. This must be the second or third refight of the battle he's staged during the past year! I suppose it's because he has all those Indians and militiamen, and sees it as a  quirky  battle, and therefore an entertaining one. He also tends to use it as a test bed for his tweaking o0f Black Powder - a great rules set for more conventional set-piece battles, but one that falls down slightly when irregular forces or badly-trained militia are involved. Oriskany has both of those in abundance! Finally, he's working up a scenario for an Oriskany demo game at a small Scottish wargames show - Albanich, which takes place in mid-March. Anyway, with Angus up in Orkney at the moment, this game report comes directly from Bill;

This game was based on the Battle of Oriskany, fought in August 1777, and was played out using Black Powder Rules. The game was a test of a display that I am putting on for the SESWC at Albanich, the Dumfries wargames show. One of my earl ier refights was of a fictional 2nd battle of Oriskany, but this game was based on the real battle.

Oriskany was one of the bloodiest battles in the war, and a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign. During the siege of Fort Stanwix an American relief force  of militiamen and Indians under General Herkimer attempted to raise the siege. The Loyalist Sir John Johnson intercepted them with his own King's Royal Regiment of New York, a jäeger detachment, and a host of Indian allies. The Loyalists ambushed Herkimer in a small valley about six miles from Fort Stanwix.  Herkimer was defeated and mortally wounded. The battle cost the Patriots 450 casualties, while the Loyalists and Indians lost about a third of that. 
 

The game was fought down a 8 x 6 foot table. We used the standard movement and ranges given in the rules. The terrain was assumed to be wooded except for an area of open ground around two hamlets that was by fences. The 24 figure units were classed as standard units, the 10 to 12 figure units as small units. I made all the commanders 8s for this game as the Patriots are already. handicapped by the their militia being Unreliable. To make them more effective I allowed the Indians to charge any troops in the flank or rear and to charge any shaken formed troops frontally. The formed militia units were "Untested" and had to dice when required to check their stamina. On a 1 their stamina was 1, on a 2 to4 their stamina was 2 and on 6 it was 3. Colin Jack and Bart Zynda commanded the Loyalists, while Olivier Lepreux and I commanded the Patriots.
 

The Loyalists deployed in a defensive line midway across the table facing the two clearings (marked by teddy bear fur). Butler's Brigade commanded by Colin was on the right with the skirmishers flanking the Royal NY Regt, with the Indians commanded by Bart on the left with two of their units held of table in reserve. The Patriots had their 1st brigade on their left commanded by Olivier and I commanded and the 2nd Brigade on the right.

The battle opened with the Loyalists taking the initiative and advancing to the edge of the open ground whilst their Indians moved into the woods on their left. The Patriot advance was hampered by my poor command rolls and so Olivier's brigade advanced more rapidly into contact. His Indian unit skirmished with the opposing Iroquois who eventually charged and drove them back. His two militia units had come under fire from the rangers who repeatedly disordered the leading unit forcing the supporting unit to leapfrog through them. With the their right flank exposed by the defeat of their Indian allies each unit was charged in turn by an Iroquois war band whose initial bloodthirsty charge broke the first unit and then they forced the second unit to retire two moves!

On the other flank my militia units came up in turn to their side of the open ground and both were broken by the amazing shooting of the Royal NY regiment. My riflemen skirmished with the Jaegers who eventually gained an upper hand and charged them. With the Patriots having only one formed militia unit and two skirmishing units still on the field it was an obvious British victory.

Note from Angus: You can see Bill wrote this, 'cause he calls the colonial rebels "Patriots". They are but rebel scum, Sir, and if they were true patriots they'd still be swearing allegiance to good King George... This little bit of nomenclature notwithstanding (you should hear me on the Frog-pandering term "Napoleonic") the game seems to be getting better at dealing with poor-quality troops, thanks to Bill's amendments he uses for his American War of Independence games. Once he's finished tinkering we'll post them on the site. Actually, we'll post them now, but it's still pretty much a "work in progress".

American War of Independence page       Bill's Black Powder amendments page

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The Napoleonic War:  Assault on El Casa Vaggio, 1811  (Warfare in the Age of Napoleon) 28mm

The second of our try-outs of "Warfare in the Age of Napoleon" involved a fictitious French attack on an equally fictitious British-held village called El Casa Vaggio. The village was the outpost of an area occupied by the British, and was held by a Highland Brigade - the troops being the pride and joy of Dax Robertson. He and Angus played the British, while Dougie Trail and new chap Jim Roche took the side of the dastardly French. The French led their attack with their light cavalry - a brigade of Chasseurs a Cheval and Hussars, who came hurtling over the old Roman bridge on the Albuera road, leaving the French infantry to plod through the shallow river to the side. Dax played it cool and did nothing for the first few turns, knowing full well that his own cavalry - a light brigade of Light Dragoons and Kings German Legion Hussars - was coming to the rescue.

Sure enough the two cavalry forces clashed on the far side of the village. At first things went entirely the French way. The 2nd Hussars got the better of their tussle with the 16th Light Dragoons, and the British pulled back a full move in disorder. The French didn't follow up their success, but instead they kept apace with the 5th Chasseurs a Cheval, who were having a tougher time of it with the German hussars. While all this was going on the French infantry continued their advance against the village, while their supporting battery of foot artillery pounded away at a British unit - the 79th (Seaforth) Highlanders who had formed square as the cavalry rushed past them.

That was when things started to unravel for the French players. First off, the 16th LD returned to the fray, and this time the 2nd Hussars took casualties from the British square and some British Horse Artillery, which gave the British a slight advantage when the melee started. The turn ended with both French light cavalry units breaking and running - an event that took place just minutes after Dougie declared his brown-coated 2nd Hussars had never lost a game. You shouldn't say that sort of thing out loud, as the Gods of Miniature War might be listening. The British gave chase - actually they didn't have any choice, as controlling them isn't easy. For the rest of the came the light dragoons harried the remnants of the French cavalry back across the table, over the Roman bridge and out of the game. Only the better-controlled 1st KGL Hussars halted, reformed and stayed in the game, but that was enough to force the French to withdraw their guns. Things weren't going well for Team France...

 It was now up to the French infantry to win the day. Unfortunately for them the British reinforcements arrived just before the French assault went in, and this new brigade of British foot deployed in whatever space was available on the British right flank, or else formed a reserve line. The French were certainly enthusiastic - after driving back the British skirmishers they deployed from column into line, and launched an assault against the entire British front. Only one unit - a battalion of the 64th Line Regiment - remained in column, and it charged the 3rd Foot (Buffs), and pushed them back. This though, was the only success of the day. In the centre the 42nd Highlanders (the Black Watch) used firepower to break the two battalions which were attacking it - both from the 27th Light Infantry Regiment. Elsewhere the 71st Highlanders (HLI) and the French 28th Light Regiment engaged in an inconclusive firefight, after the French declined to move into contact.

This was the point when the two French commanders called off the assault. They British were in a stronger position, they now had reinforcements, and most importantly the one remaining unit of German cavalry dominated the exposed French right wing. Jim was particularly disappointed, as he was convinced his 64th Line were onto a winner - a solitary success in a day of French disappointment. The British failed to pursue, partly because their own units were disordered, but mostly because it was time to retire to the pub.

Once again the players all enjoyed WAON, and for Dax and Jim this was their first contact with the rules set. While the mechanisms are slick, the rules themselves are terribly laid out, and it took no end of poring through their 24 pages to find the right bit. Still, they did exactly what we wanted, which was to produce a fast, enjoyable game, with a believable result. We'll certainly use them again for club night games.

The Age of Bonaparte page

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The Malayan Emergency:  Attack on the Longniddry Plantation, 1952  (Force on Force) 28mm

The thing about Force on Force games is that in often takes longer to put out the scenery than to play the game. This would have been the case here, except Colin Jack, Bill Gilchrist and I hadn't played a game using Force on Force for quite a while, and none of us had re-read the rules before the game. Fortunately a couple of grognard Force on Force players were on hand to keep us right, but there was still an awful lot of rules-fumbling for a skirmish action that in real terms was fought out in less than ten minutes! The scenario was a simple besieged garrison one, with a plantation owner and his wife holed up in their bungalow, supported by four Malay police, while out there in the jungle lurked a fierce band of Malay Communists. Actually, there were two bands - one was busy attacking the bungalow, while the other group waited in ambush for the relief column - a squad of inexperienced British National Servicemen, and a squad of crack Ghurkhas.

The game began well for the CTs (Communist Terrorists), as got the better of a gunfight with the defenders of the bungalow. In two turns all of the defenders were incapacitated, for the loss of one CT who was slightly wounded. One of the features of Force on Force is the need for other troops to check the status of casualties. They could be lightly wounded, seriously wounded or killed, but without troops on hand to check the fallen, then they just lay there. It made sense for the CTs to move into the bungalow and kill or capture the casualties, but events on the far side of the table intervened.

The relief column appeared, and immediately split into two groups. The inexperienced British squad - guided by an Iban tracker - managed to detect the ambush, and a firefight soon developed between them and the CTs hiding out on the edge of the rubber plantation. Meanwhile the Gurkas ran hell-for-leather towards the bungalow, giving the CT ambushers as wide a berth as they could. In theory the CTs attacking the bungalow should have fired on them as they approached, but for some reason they couldn't - or didn't - and the Gurkas reached the safety of the brick-built building. Once there they checked the casualties. The plantation owner and his wife had been killed, along with one of the policemen, while the other three Malay police had a variety of light or serious wounds.

Back on the far side of the rubber plantation the British were faring badly - taking three casualties in the firefight with the ambushing CT force. They pulled back to the cover of a cluster of native workers' huts on the far edge of the table, leaving the CTs in possession of the battlefield. Back in the bungalow the Ghurkhas and the CTs engaged in their own brisk firefight, and again thanks to some terrible dice thrown by Colin Jack the Ghurkhas had the worst of the exchange, losing three casualties for the loss of one CT. Unfortunately for my CTs the Ghurkhas passed their ensuing morale test with flying colours, while my own CTs were pinned and went to ground. This allowed the Ghurkhas to slip away, carrying the bodies of the two British civilians, and their own dead and wounded. Only the body of one Malay policeman was left behind, as there wasn't an unwounded Ghurka left to carry him.

The game then ended in something of a minor Communist victory. They'd achieved their objective of killing the plantation owner and his wife, and had caused more casualties on the Ghurkhas and the British than they'd received. A complete CT victory was only averted by the bravery of the Ghurkhas, who at least managed to take the casualties away with them. Force on Force is a good little set of rules, but it has a lot of subtle caveats to remember, and if you don't play them regularly then it can be a little daunting to remember everything you need to do. Colin and Bill thought that the next time they play a Malaya game, they might try Triumph & Tragedy, a set of rules they've used successfully for earlier periods. All the figures in the game came from Britannia Miniatures, who also made the bungalow, while the fine looking trees covering most of the 6x4' table were supplied by Realistic Modelling Services.

Modern Brushfire Wars  page       Malaya & Borneo page       Force on Force review

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The Napoleonic War:  Clash outside Krasnyi, 1812  (Warfare in the Age of Napoleon) 28mm

I like it when other people are supplying the toys, and I don't have to haul several boxes of lead to the wargame club. This was one of those occasions, when Dave Imrie brought along his Russians, and Dougie Trail supplied the French. Better still, these guys are some of the best figure painters I know, and so their figures were a real pleasure to play with. We were also trying out a new set of rules, which added to the sense of occasion. Warfare in the Age of Napoleon are written by Tod Kershner, whose Warfare in the Age of Reason were such a big hit. His slimmed-down Napoleonic variant came out two years ago, but I only heard of them recently. The best thing about them is that they drew on many of the slick mechanisms of WAOR, and they were only 24 pages long - which makes a pleasant change. Granted they had minimal Command and Control rules, but for this trial game we weren't really concerned about such niceties. We just wanted to get the toys on the table and get cracking with the game.

The loose premise behind this week's game was that during the Grand Armee's approach to Smolensk, Neverovsky's 27th (Grenadier) Division was operating on the south bank of the River Dniepr, and it clashed with elements of Ney's III Corps somewhere near the town of Krasnyi. As Dave's Russian troops were all grenadiers, we based it around that clash in August 1812. The Russians started with one brigade deployed astride a crossroads. The French (with two infantry brigades and two cavalry ones) had to seize the road junction and drive the Russians back. The rest of Dave's force (a second infantry brigade, a regiment of cuirassiers and another two gun batteries would also march onto the table after the battle got underway.

The Russian secret weapon was a position battery of 12-pounders. In these rules large gun batteries are particularly effective, and sure enough when the leading French brigade appeared Dave set to work shredding its front units. Both sides reinforced the fight, the French sending a brigade of light cavalry backed by horse artillery off on their left flank, while the Russians fed more infantry into the growing fight, deploying them on their own left flank. As soon as the cavalry got into position they launched a charge. Dougie had no sooner finishing telling everyone how his brown-coated 2nd Hussars had never lost a combat when they were forced to retire in disorder, having come off worst in a clash with a battalion of Russian grenadiers. His other hussars were a little more successful, and soon the Russians were pinned in square, as the French horse artillery deployed and began pounding away at them from close range.

The Russians, of course, were made of stern stuff, and after re-deploying into line the battalion who thwarted the 2nd Hussars advanced towards the guns, and began firing at them in an attempt to drive the gunners off. This unusual exchange continued for the next few turns, as both sides took casualties, but refused to give ground. Meanwhile, over on the French right the French infantry had deployed from column into line, and soon a brisk musketry exchange had developed, with both sides pounding away at each other at close range. The rules rather discourage charging in using attack columns, so the French relied on their superior firepower instead. Having outflanked the Russian heavy guns they blasted away at it, and forced it to withdraw. That, of course, spurred Dave to launch his second brigade of grenadiers in a counter-attack, and just for the heck of it I encouraged him to charge home in column. The result was discouraging, as despite outnumbering the French battalion in front of him by two to one, his units were forced to retire in disorder. Lesson learned. Line good - column bad.

Elsewhere the Russians were holding their ground, despite the heavy casualties they were taking, and the profusion of French units. As a last resort Dougie brought on his dragoon brigade, but it was still deploying for a charge when the time came to pack our toys away. The game was fast-paced, even though we kept on stopping to check the new rules, or try to find the French player who had wandered off again, to speak to cronies at another table.  One of the strange things about WAON is the inverted nature of firing and morale. Normally, high is good, but here the aim is to score low - a 1 or a 2 is ideal on a D6. While this turned out to be a very sensible and well thought out system, it took a little getting used to. We'll certainly give these promising rules another outing soon, but for now everyone came away from the game with a new-found respect for Tod Kershner's largely unsung set.

Incidentally, Dave Imrie has just launched a figure manufacturing venture, and is about to launch a range of great-looking Scottish medieval figures. You can learn more from his Saxon Dog blog.

The Age of Bonaparte page

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