Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 10  - March 2007

Periods featured so far in this Issue:  Russian Civil War (28mm), American War of Independence (28mm),  

American Civil War (15mm) and Pirates (28mm)

Not only is this the 10th issue of this little journal, but its also a year since I first ran it. Its strange looking back over a year of wargaming. Strangely enough, the first one opened with an account of a Back of Beyond game - an assault on Krasnovodsk - and here were are - a year later - doing exactly the same darned thing - only bigger, better and with more toys!

I'm not sure what the next few games will be, although we've been bitten by the Seven Years War bug, then I'm sure I'll be taking on those Prussians again...

I'm sorry this month's edition is so picture heavy - and therefore so slow to download - but we've had some darned pretty games lately, and I thought you'd like to see them in all their glory! for instance, Antietam and the pirate game were both real stunners... Please be patient!

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Seven Years War (Die Kriegskunst playtest) 28mm

This was more of a playtest than a game.  We're still tinkering with factors for Die Kriegskunst, the Seven Years War version of General de Brigade that we're working on. I learned a few things - Commanders in Chief rated "Incompetent" have a hard time getting an army moving - especially a Russian one. I also learned that frontal cavalry charges uphill against formed veteran infantry isn't a particularly good idea. However, although my cavalry were well and truly beaten, my co-commander managed to work his Russian infantry brigade onto the ridge, and break the Prussian position.

Another lesson was that incompetent brigadiers shouldn't try to change their orders - they'll land up retiring off the table. Finally I learned that Cossacks might look very pretty, but you can't rely on them when the going gets tough. They couldn't even ride down a skirmish screen of Frei Korps hiding behind a hedge!

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Pirates    (Home-grown rules produced by Andrew & Peter Nicholson)     28mm

I've just returned from a gaming weekend, where I was the guest of the League of Gentleman Wargamers. Andrew and Peter Nicholson who organised the event had worked out a great set of rules and a campaign system, and everyone spent the weekend blundering around the Indian Ocean in search of plunder...

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and the weekend seemed to fly by.  Rather than clog this Journal up with even more pictures, I've stuck 'em on a

 special page, but you can also find more images in Pirates.

Picture Gallery:   The Big Pirate Game

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American Civil War   -  Antietam, 1862     (Guns at Gettysburg)     15mm

This weekend I was down in Stansted Montfitchett outside London, taking part in a refight of Hooker's attack at Antietam. It was staged by my wargaming pal Dave "Iron Brigade" Marks, and umpired by Dave Brown, who wrote the rules. That's the best way to avoid rules arguments! I played the part of Dick Ewell, assisted by Nick and Steve, while as Hooker, Pat was helped out by Dave, Sam and the other Steve.

Our Confederates were hard-pressed from the start, as Hooker's men attacked simultaneously from across The Cornfield, and from the far side of the East Woods. Nick - commanding Cobb's Georgians - managed to hold the Yankees just south of the field, while Trimble's brigade almost single-handedly saw off the large blue column's of Wainwright's command. However, Dave Marks and his son Sam were a bit more successful, grinding down the Confederate right - mainly through the firepower of massed artillery batteries.

Both sides threw in reinforcements - Dave Brown coming down from his umpiring perch to command Hood's Division. However, these didn't achieve much, apart from shoring up the flagging right flanks of both armies. Although the battle ended in a Confederate victory as we prevented the Yankees from capturing Dunker Church and Mumma's Farm, the truth is in a few more turns our line would probably have caved in under the pressure. There were just too many Yankees .. and Sam's artillery batteries.

The rules worked a treat. This was my first game with Guns at Gettysburg - the ACW variant of Dave Brown's General de Brigade system, and I'll certainly use it again. Its a regimental set - but its a lot faster than Johnny Reb III - and its not prone to the same extremes of events as Fire & Fury.

                 Team Marks                         Dave Brown - unbiased umpire                   Bumblin' Bubbas                             a  hands-on game 

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American War of Independence    (Die Kriegskunst - SYW General de Brigade variant)    28mm

Lately we've been tinkering with rules, trying to come up with a playable Seven Years War version of General de Brigade. We've called our version Die Kriegskunst (The Art of War), which has a suitably Prussian sound to it. It this game we decided to change theatres, but not the rules, setting the game in Colonial America rather than the German-Polish border.

Dougie Trail's Prussians were pretending to be Hessians for the day, taking on my American Rebel militia. the idea behind the game was to test good troops (classed as Veterans and Line) against rubbish ones (Garrison and Militia) holding a strong defensive position.

The four battalions of "Hessians" advanced against the right of the American line, harassed by the American 4-pounder and their skirmishers. The assault was launched with two battalions up, and two in support (the rules encourage this period tactic), and the first attack was repulsed - both battalions being forced to retreat, after taking substantial casualties from musketry.

However, these are Hessians we're talking about here, and they went in again, this time driving the Rebels back from their fence. By the time we ended the game the American right wing was in retreat, while the unengaged left was starting to feel a little isolated. Militia tend to bug out in those kinds of circumstances...

The rules worked a treat, although we came up with a few minor tweaks we want to try out next time. If you're interested in seeing the latest playstest version of our Die Kriegskunst playsheet, you'll find it in the Seven Years War section of the site.

           Dougie looking for that extra morale factor...                                                          He found it. The "Hessians" break through...

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Russian Civil War     (Back of Beyond campaign - Contemptible Little Armies)    28mm

Every so often you play a game so large, so much fun or so darned silly that it takes your breath away. Well, this - the "Krasnovodsk Mini Campaign" was one of them! It was all part of out on-going "Back of Beyond" campaign, which has developed a name for coming up with rather crazy but highly enjoyable games...

The idea was relatively simple. Two groups - a White columns and a Red column - would approach the Turkish-held city of Krasnovodsk, on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. Both groups wanted the port, and the Reds were out for revenge, having been ousted from the city a few months earlier by a Turkish Expeditionary Force. The White followed the rail line from Ashkabad |(supported by an armoured train), while the Reds came by sea, landing at Fort Shevchenko after crossing from Astrakhan. To make matters a little more interesting local bandits (labelled the Greens) picked on all three factions throughout the game.

This map shows the general idea - each box being a small tabletop. Forces took a set number of turns to march, boat or ride from one to the other.

Well, the Turks and the White rapidly came to an agreement which allowed the Whites access to the port in return for help against the Reds (and Greens). All three factions lost troops to bandit ambushes, but generally the Reds moved down the coast, while the Whites entered the Kara Kum to fall on them from behind. However, the sneaky Red players launched two secondary attacks - a big cavalry force swept round the campaign map to fall on Krasnovodsk from the railway line, while a second assault came by sea.

Both fell von the Turkish garrison at the same time as the main force reached its northern outskirts. A real hum-dinger of a scrap followed, which saw the Turks swept from the north of the town before they rallied and held the onslaught. The cavalry column was wiped out by some lucky Turkish rifle fire, while the amphibious attack secured a foothold in the town. The Turkish commander was a little unhappy when he learned the big gunboat protecting the harbour had no ammunition, or steam in her boilers! However, the Whites came to the rescue, and the armoured train sunk the Red's own gunboat before it could cause much damage... and an armoured car for good measure.

At that critical moment the White reinforcements arrived, piling into the remains of the main Red force, freeing the beleaguered Turks to mop up the remaining Red pockets. At that stage the Red players called for a general retreat, leaving the Turks in charge of the city, supported for the moment by a large and relatively fresh White army. Whether the alliance holds is a question for another day...

The game was played using Contemptible Little Armies, and their Back of Beyond supplement, modified by a few house rules controlling strategic and tactical movement. As always it produced a thoroughly enjoyable game, and all the eight players vowed to do it again some time. As the Turkish commander I'll also have a word with that gunboat captain before the next scrap...!

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