Its been a while since a Hobbying update….so here is a short one.
The past year has been the addition of a new period and some much needed love to some others.
First up is following the long awaited release of the Perry Miniatures Franco Prussian 1870 range which I recall begging them for over a beer and curry while they were in NZ in the early 2000’s……the range has come out. So far there are not many options in the range, but I have started with 2 regiments of 3 battalions each and 4 La Hitte artillery pieces. Sitting on the paint table at the moment is a Mitraillause and unit of Hussars(which will be 8 horse/riders due to cost and postage!)
Way back in 2008 I started a C10th Byzantine army using Gripping Beast figures and LBM Decals. Until the past year it did not get much love but have now added more infantry, skirmishers and a unit of Kataphracts. More cavalry to follow and with Victrix having them in the list for new plastics in the new range they are releasing, I can afford to build the army up. Buying Gripping Beast figures from NZ is just $$ prohibitive. The Gripping Beast plastic Rus unit is made up from several of the plastic GB boxes..the poses don’t rank up very well at all.
Warlord’s ‘Victory at Sea’ and in particular the IJN Fleet received some more love…rules for carrier aircraft combat are still a struggle…but these received some more love…with more still required.
And finally… trees…yes trees…..considering the number of ACW games we game…I decided to invest in and base up some nice looking trees!
So that is some of the painting effort for past year….most of my periods received love from time to time…the Pyrrhic Army has had some rebasing, touching up and some additions. Both the ACW Union and Confederate armies have had more command stands and regiments added….. thanks to Keith the kitsets for my Bolt Action 1944 Germans are now assembled as is the ordinance battery for my Pike n Shotte army painted(nothing else is…but..I am classing that as a start!).
And…somehow…friend Weakley persuaded me collecting Epic Waterloo was a good idea…I really need to stop listening to him….so I am working on French. Thankfully Alan is well ahead of me(as ever) and has finished Prussians, is printing and painting Austrians and has loaned me his French to copy paint scheme…so will have an opponent while Weakley is away!
Goldie and I squeezed another game in before the end of the month.
This was another practice with same sized forces and testing the subtle changes we have been making to standard Black Powder rules. This game we introduced no supports in combat…on the basis in reality the units are basically in a skirmish formation…so should not be supported.
The terrain had the French deployed south of the central road.
I was French and Goldie Prussian as usual with all brigades being 4 bttns…..the Prussian 4 bases and the French 3 bases. All units had 4 shots, the Prussian had 8 attacks in hand to hand ,the French 6. Commanders are all rated as 8s.
My left flank brigade based around a farmhouse with a mitrailleuse skulking behind the orchard and light infantry in the wood. Goldie has advanced a brigade opposite me. The Prussian artillery(4 guns) Goldie placed centrally…but they refused to move……a great start for me!
My Central brigade deployed between/on 2 low hills with my battery in the hollow.
My right flank brigade deployed on low ridge/trees.
Goldie advances his left flank brigade to take the farmhouse. I was perfectly happy to let him have it…he can only shoot 12 inches…I shoot 24 inches…his artillery is not on this flank so I was going to stay outside of his shooting range and inflict casualties.
The Prussians were a bit tardy at advancing so I was able to concentrate fire on the exposed advance bttn.
Prussian right flank brigade advances into a wall of fire. He may have large units and stamina 4…but I have 4 shots per unit……
The Prussian artillery finally obeyed orders and advances…but artillery cannot shoot on turn moves……which gave my brigade in the open an opportunity to retire…..fools didn’t…..
Over on my right I advanced to get into shooting range…..I obviously needed a whisky…as why did I leave that unit side on?
My Centre…trying to scurry for cover as the Prussian artillery unlimbers…..but look at that tempting line in front of us!
French light infantry in the woods.. I decided to sacrifice them to the guns… while I inflicted as many casualties as possible on the Prussian infantry to their flanks before I headed for cover!
On my left flank the tardy unit that had been skulking behind the Farmhouse finally moved onto the hill to start firing!
Phew….Goldie sent a unit to charge my poorly positioned flanking unit…but he did not make it in.
The flank chaps have disordered unit to their front…good boys! Ladz in the farmhouse however are disordered and taking casualties.
The Mitrailleuse had made several rounds of firing for minimal return…then they did this…all is forgiven!
Goldies right flank is looking a wee bit sad….shaken and disordered units abound! In his defence…..I don’t think I have ever rolled so many 6’s for shooting before.
There were 2 units beside the farmhouse…now 1 and it is shaken.
Goldie’s failed flank charge leaves this unit facing a battery and 12 shoots in my turn…a disorder and 2 casualties is a poor return!
In they come. Goldie throws his reserve brigade into the attack in the centre.
Sigh…after its last round of shooting….it misfires and can’t shoot again.
C’est la vie!
Prussian unit lost the combat and retires shaken/disordered…. another is disordered with 3 casualties. I have a unit positioned for flank attack.
Where the game is to be decided…Goldie need to break through before I can turn his flank.
Charge on my guns…guns pop…..but the charger is now disordered……
My flank attack destroyed a unit, another has lost its combat and Goldie’s attacking brigade is now broken.
On my left…Goldies right flank brigade is broken….
On my right flank…Goldie’s brigade here is also broken.
So that was a comprehensive French victory!
But I need to put a caveat on this as several events resulted in the ease of the victory. Goldies artillery was set up where it could not control the battlefield….. the turn one blunder and non-movement then accentuated that. Then my firing was awesome with way above average numbers of 6’s being rolled all game thus pinning Goldie’s bttns outside their shooting range and allowing me extra turns to pile shots into them.
Hopefully for the next game Alan will be available and we can have a larger game…and one day the Perrys may even paint some command figures for us!! Some French cavalry is on the painting table so will be fun to add them to games…but then I am verryyy slow at painting ….. so could be a while!
The 2nd game in June was a 4 player French v Austrian Napoleonic one.
I set the table up with 2 small French forces each of an infantry brigade with 6 foot bttns, 1 battery and an attached small cavalry brigade of 2 light cavalry regiments each encamped around farms. Rob and Robert were the French players.
The terrain had 4 roads entering the table, 1 from each side of the table. The 2 Austrian players would roll to see which road they would march on down. Alan and Stephen were the Austrian players. Stephen had an Avante Garde brigade with 3 standard size bttns, a Grenz unit, light battery and 2 Hussar regiments. Alan had an Avante Garde brigade with 3 large infantry bttns, a Jager bttn, light battery and 2 Hussar regiments.
French deployments are below with Rob then Roberts deployments.
Alan arrives on the North Road.
Stephen arrived on the East Road which put him between the 2 French forces! Alan can be seen deployed on the North Road.
Robert has garrisoned his farm with a bttn and moved the rest of his force North to meet with Alan. 2 of Stephens bttns and the battery are tasked with taking the farm.
The rest of Stephens force are tasked with holding Rob off and awaiting reinforcements. Austrian Hussars have charged a French bttn, who formed square, the Hussars then retiring and the skirmishing Grenz have advanced to clsoe range to shoot them up…the Hussars staying within 12 inches which pins the square…and the Grenz close enough to them that the French cavalry cannot charge the Grenz.
Alan deploys to face Robert’s approach.
OMG! Robert charged straight in…Alan rolled APPALLINGLY badly … a theme that would continue all game….even a change of dice did not help.
Rubbing salt into the wound Robert sent lancers into the flank of Alans last bttn after disposing of his cavalry.
Down south Rob is deploying to face Stephen …Rob was unable to get his 2 bttns south of the village to move…lucky break for the Austrians.
Fortunately for Alan his reserve formation of 5 large bttns and a battery now advanced on to the table over the remains of the Avante Garde brigade.
Stephen had his reserve of a Grenadier brigade march onto the table,,.. so I personally took control of the French reinforcements of 6 bttns and a battery who rolled to arrive on the South Road. I decided to move them to a central position and support both Robert and Rob as necessary.
Hmmm…..Alan has charged Robert…then deployed a bttn in line…masking his guns…….
The reserve Austrian Grenadiers advancing…lovely metal Front Rank figures….ladz were telling me current Figures purchased from the new providers of Front Rank metals are not great(okay…I have toned down the comment ….with the cost of postage to this neck of the world you want a decent casting!). 3D printer anyone………
My brigade continues to advance…..good shooting from the attack columns shakes the Hussars who moved to attempt a block.
Alan, if he lives is now being transferred to an Austrian Village on the Turkish borderlands…..he lost the combat….both the attacking unit and support decided to head home…..his unit in line fluffed its shooting and is soon to be heading home as well.
The stalemate between Rob and Stephen continues in the South.
Soo we called the game at that stage…Robert has cleaned out both Alans brigades….he was quite damaged…but still operational…he was holding Stephen off in his farm, it was a stalemate in the South but there were sufficient French on the table to force Stephen to retire.
A French win was called. Robert’s very aggressive attack coupled with Alans real bad dice rolls made for an interesting encounter.
I didn’t have a game planned last week but Goldie is away this week so we quickly decided to have a Franco Prussian Bash.
We played down a 6 foot by 10 foot table which I prettied up more than normal. Goldie won roll off for starting sides and who went first.
So Goldie was using Prussian’s with 3 brigades of 4 battalions and a 4 gun massed artillery battery. My French had 3 brigades of 4 battalions. Two of them had an artillery piece each while the 3rd had a Mitrailleuse.
Each game we are ‘tweaking’ the armies slightly as we have more games with them so they ‘feel’ more like we believe they should perform. For this game we tweaked the French rifles to have 3 shots, and reroll 1 miss. This was to reflect the French chassepots rate of fire being higher then the Prussian rifles.
Below first French brigade marches down a road.
Goldie has an infantry brigade and his 4 gun battery deployed. Only 2 of the guns can shoot…they are deployed below a low hill. The ruins in the center are rough ground and like the woods, only infantry can enter it and move at half pace. The hedges and walls give a +1 save from rifle fire when behind them and woods give the standard rules(-1 to hit target in woods and -1 to hit target in woods) The villages are defensive zones that can take one battalion each.
Another French brigade and …it slowly advances to their left.
The forward French brigade…slowly advances….Prussians can be seen.
Goldie has moved a brigade up on his left….French have advanced to a low rise to their front. A dumb thing to do on reflection…my advantage is a longer rifle range…and not being caught in the open…I should have stayed back behind the hedge on other side of the rise!
The Prussian are not only well painted…but in mass look quite imposing.
Goldie moved the 2 guns that could not fire over the rise and deployed….to be greeted by 3 shots from an infantry battalion…along with artillery fire. They popped! Prussian guns are scary…if kept out of the 24 inch range of the French infantry that is.
And then there were 3. It had taken several turns for the right flank Prussian brigade to move forward…here they are advancing through woods. Another brigade can be seen advancing through the ruins.
Prussian center brigade advancing…slowly through the ruins….French behind hedge to their front.
Eventually my left flank brigade made it into the village and then the stone wall to the front. Again…close up shooting against Prussians is not advisable as they get 4 shots a turn and have stamina 4 being larger battalions. What I should have done is let Goldie have the village and sit behind the southern stone wall!
Goldie throws a battalion into the village.
On the other side of the table my attempts to get a 3rd battalion to join the 2 battalions on the low rise was met by 2 turns of blunders.. backwards….. So I was forced to grab the light infantry battalion of 3rd brigade and rush them up to protect right flank.
Massed Prussians look great.
The game was now a shooting one apart from the one combat in the village.
A shaken French unit holding on.
The village is lost. We agreed we need to revisit village combat as Prussians took it to easily as the Black Powder rules are not great to this type of combat. The Prussians had 9 attacks(8 for unit and 1 for commander) v French with…2. They also get to add supports in the combat resolution while French add +3…..normally its okay as most units have 6 attacks…but these big units have 8 and has moved balance. We will think on it!
Aerial view of the village and surrounds. French have 1 unit destroyed, 1 shaken and 2 carrying 2 casualties each….so they are gone burger shortly. The Mitrailleuse wasn’t doing much either!
The other side of table and 3 of the 4 Prussian guns are destroyed……I have a second line but is pretty obvious the French day is done and need to retire.
Far right…holding on……just….
So that was fun. I made more of an effort on the terrain so looked pretty. We need to think about village combat and Goldie needs to keep his guns out of range and I need to not get so close to him before I am shooting!
Played a 4 player game at Hutt Valley Club with French v Russo/Prussians.
I organized the sides to be roughly equal on numbers as a new player, David was having his second game of Black Powder. Sadly David had some problems on his farm and couldn’t make it on the day. So rather than assist David, I filled in on the French side with Rob, Goldie had his Prussians and Mike was playing Russians for I believe the first time.
The Allied set up on North side of a stream, they had a couple of villages and some field fortifications to hide behind. Below is some of the Russian set up.
View down the table. Rob commanded the French right and in view of Goldies Prussian being mainly Landwehr suggested the plan was Rob attacks and I hold the Russians attention.
So Rob attacked on turn 1. Not quite what I had in mind, but, Go Rob!
I did a more sedate skirmishing advance on a village.
Hmmm….so Robs attack was an initial draw coupled with some extinction events on both sides, but Rob eventually did the deed on the landwehr. French heavies move up in support.
View from Mikes side towards my French.
I tried to get a skirmish line up to close range on the Jager…also skirmishing..to avoid the Russian artillery doing to much damage on me…it failed.
Cavalry attacks going in. Its looking good for Rob at this stage!
Missing Prussian units…others damaged……but heavies have taken punishment.
Back on other flank…French skirmish screen has taken a battering …so columns have burst through them to charge and drive off the skirmishing Jager and then carry on into the columns behind them…only…we didn’t make it…and instead decided to be target practice for Russian batteries. Being the gentleman I am(well..sometimes) I helped Rob with advice on how to beat up my French(I never play French…normally Russian..or Austrian…even Dutch before French!)
At same time the columns were meant to be engaging Russian infantry…behind this battery was a brigade of light cavalry…who were meant to charge the battery in the distance…..die in the attempt…allowing the now unloaded battery to be ridden down by the next French cavalry unit…..sadly…..no one wanted to … and rolls and re rolls just failed…and failed….and…..I need a drink….
In centre…. it was shooting..and shooting…..
View of other occupied village… a tough nut to crack frontally hence Rob’s flanking movement. Goldie has Dragoons and horse battery stationed in reserve in center.
Robs attack stalled as his cavalry commander blundered and retired…..the horse battery got shot up and popped…..and attacks could just not get going……its one of those days….
Russian horse battery has now deployed so the plan of charging the foot battery is now over and with the damage was taking…I decided to retire from the field.
In center…French skirmishers finally managed to get moving and stormed across stream to enfilade the defending troops on the field fortifications…with supporting columns to retire behind if needed,,,and brigade of heavies ready to assist. But its all to late…..
The Rob v Goldie duel and Rob has just taken to much damage to push Goldie back.
So we called it an Allied victory as they still held the villages…and looked to have a superior position overall.
Now when we visited Christchurch recently, my better half got all carried away and bought a bottle of whisky for me. She liked the name…no other reason….how can you resist buying a bottle of ‘Firkin Whisky;…just say it a few times after a tasting….it grows on you.
Found a review : ‘They say quality counts, and this dram has our number! This is a seriously sensational whisky. The elegance of Linkwood, one of Speyside’s finest, marries perfectly with the glorious earthy oak and Madeira richness & raisin spice. Brilliantly rich and fruity notes complement the hint of toasty oak with exceptional balance. This dram lingers like a summer lover, complete with a lovely tingle of spicy oak.’
One of our local Wargaming clubs, Hutt Miniature Wargames Club runs an annual convention which we have been attending and putting on a one day Demonstration Game. Last year was Waterloo, this year was ‘The Wilderness’.
There were 170 gamers in a number of competitions over the 2 day weekend which was spread over 2 venues. We were in the main venue which has parking, an onsite cafe ….but only 2 toilets!
So there were 11 of us playing this year, 6 Union and 5 Confederate players. Each player had 2 brigades of 5 regiments each, 1 battery, 2 brigade commanders and a division commander. Each division commander had personalized attributes to add a bit of flavor.
The game was on a 18ish foot long x 6 foot wide table and as one would expect for the Wilderness…there were a lot of trees. We had some designated clear areas where artillery could be deployed…somehow that morphed into you could unlimber and use guns on the tracks and shoot into the woods…..GGGRRRR. The Confederate side deployed up to 24 inches in from the table edge while the Union were marching on from their table edge. The Union had first move.
The Commands of Grant and Lee meet!
We played the brigades in woods had to order units individually to move, while a brigade order could be used if in open terrain. Below a Union regt blundered(rolled 2 D6 and then a further D6) and advanced in column of march. Sadly the Rebel troops when charging did not quite make it into contact!
Down one end of the table Sheridan(Rebel) and Keith (Union) both advanced quickly and by turn 2 they were already charging into combat.
Below we have the start of an endless number of combats between these 2 all day.
Grant advancing on Lee with Confederate guns in the distance, left behind in the open ground as they cannot move into the woods.
Rebels advance on disordered/shaken Union unit with a battery facing into the woods…grr. The rebels failed the charge order on this juicy target.
Units getting into it in the middle of the table.
A perfect opportunity presents itself to one of my units. 2 shaken Union units face it….if I can get a charge in….with average dice may make a breakthough.
Goldie and I designed the game and we have 3 dismounted cavalry units arrive on turn 3 and move towards 3 division commander’s per side. Each had a different dice….one represented a reserve brigade arriving, the other 2 stragglers that recovered a casualty. The base I tagged as the Union brigade arrived in Keith’s space….while the Confederate brigade arrived….opposite them with Sheridan! Just as well as they were churning through regiments.
One of the Confederate players sadly had to leave early so Mike and Sheridan took over a neighboring brigade. Above is the center of the table where an outnumbered Confederate Mike is having a masterful game.
So my earlier charge had gone off and defeated a regt…forced others to break or flee…..below is Goldie trying to hide the evidence behind a screen of large trees so no one will notice!
And they are still charging….here is another one!
This awesome unit is the 18th Virginia!!
They need a statue.
Keith’s reserve brigade have made a difference and he is driving Sheridan back.
Elsewhere the commander of the 18th Virginia has grabbed another regiment and thrown them into the flank of a Union regiment.
Lee joined in the fun to assist a flank attack.
Mikes defense of the center was now reaping rewards as we started to roll up the Union center.
The bloody fighting in the center had left both sides with many shaken or close to shaken units.
Keith pressing forward on the Union left flank.
Close up of the advance.
So we called twilight and by agreement it was deemed a Confederate Victory. Both sides voted for the opposition player of the day. Keith was adjudged Union player and Mike Confederate. The Club had given all players a pack of anniversary dice as part of the registration and I had a couple of extra packs which these 2 outstanding generals received!
We then adjourned the Brewtown, a local watering hole a minute away to recover!
Above are the pensive Union commanders…..’Oh what could have been!’.
Next year we are thinking of bringing the Borodino Game to ValleyCon and playing for 2 days…will be great fun!!
So it was my partners birthday in April so we popped down to Christchurch for a weekend to celebrate as 2 of our children and their partners live there. It is also where my favorite shop, ‘Whisky Galore’ is……so I picked up a bottle of ‘Infrequent Flyers Release 211’ which is a Glentauchers Distillery. Now this wonderful chap, Alistair Walker takes barrels from Distillery’s and works his magic on them…and I do enjoy sampling his efforts.
This particular bottle is from the same Distillery as the Cadenhead 14 friend Weakley and I rated the best of the 14 we tasted on my bday tasting….. so I had to get it…and I am not disappointed…its is a wonderful drop…not to be shared!!
Notes on it are:
Splendid Speyside single malt from Glentauchers, distilled in 2012 and matured for 11 years, including a finish in a Pedro Ximénez sherry puncheon. The cask was opened by Alistair Walker in 2023, releasing a total of 682 bottles for the Infrequent Flyers collection.
One of our local Clubs, Hutt Miniature Wargames Club is holding its annual convention on the weekend of April 27-28 2024. A group of 10 of us will be playing a Demonstration Game, another American Civil War Game. This time, we are replaying ‘The Battle of the Wilderness’, in particular Day 2 on 6th May 1864.
To get the ladz a feel for it, I staged a practice game based on the fighting around the ‘Orange Turnpike’. The Map is below.
We were practicing playing in woods…lots of thick woods…so movement was 6 inches, shooting in woods was 6 inches. There was no tinkering with the command ranges or artillery being in the woods…just to see how it went.
Looking from the Turnpike down the battlefield we have an open area known as Saunders Field and then woods…everywhere!
The Confederates left flank extended beyond the Union line and the Confederates had more troops on this flank.
The Union advance on the enemy who left a number of units behind….which they would pay for.
Back on the Turnpike the Union started with some of the best artillery fire I have seen in a while causing extensive damage to the Reb’s in the first couple of turns.
On Turn 2 a flanking Confederate brigade appears on the Union right flank. Sadly one of our players had to pull out and he was providing a Reb contingent. So I subbed in Franco Prussian War French!
The Union line awaits the Reb’s moving through the woods.
Sadly after moving to shooting range…the flanking French fluffed all their shots. It really was turning out not to be the Confederates day!!
View of Confederate left flank where they have turned the Union right flank, but sadly have suffered major casualties and their right flank is in real trouble.
End of game and a picture of a shaken Reb unit facing an onslaught of Blue Coats was an apt summary!
Final picture..I do like these games…troops are so pretty!
So that was that.
Following this game we have made changes for the game on the 27th April. Among them is reducing the amount of artillery and it cannot go into woods. Command ranges will be reduced, failed command rolls can result in troops suffering special rolls for getting lost etc in the woods. Should be a hoot.
Played another Franco-Prussian game with Alan and Goldie to carry on our journey of finding rules that work for us with Franco-Prussian War.
This time Goldie proposed scenario as below.
Scale:
Gravelotte-St Privat was the largest and decisive battle of the Franco-Prussian War.
The French army under Bazaine had adopted a position magnifique to defend from, sitting on a low ridge with wide open fields in front of them. Von Moltke’s plan was to pin the French army down with spoiling attacks in the south and centre but outflank the French to the north with the Guards and XII Saxon Korps. This would swing through the supposedly deserted village of Saint Privat.
Except St Privat was held in strength by Canrobert’s VI Corps, who were waiting for the advancing Prussian masses.
Fought on a 6’ by 9’ table. French deploy 30” in. Prussian Guards move on the right, Saxons on the left. The terrain is flat and open, with two sprawling villages and a few small woods.
Alan was the Prussian Guard, Goldie the Saxons and I was the Glorious French!
The map below was the terrain with the French setting up on the right extending from Roncourt south through Saint-Privat.
The Rules for the game are Black Powder with the following house rules.
So below we have the start of game on French right flank. I have placed 2 regts on the edge of board, 2 more in the town, the mitrailleuse is hiding behind village with the artillery in right rear of village. Goldies Saxons are moving on.
In French Centre right 4 regts are in the village, Mitrailleuse is hiding on road in village with a battery out back and another division to their left.
Otr on right Saxons have rushed up to shooting range….and they got shot up!
Prussian Guard Corps where several blunders occurred halting Alans attempts at a combined advance, which allowed the French to concentrate shooting on his units on table.
First blood to the French…the Mitrailleuse was shooting from behind village, out of sight of the Saxon artillery…which combined with the artillery and infantry shooting from the village and troops on the table edge, destroyed a unit. The Mitrailleuse had 2 rounds of superb firing…then…..fluffed it for rest of the game!
Mitrailleuse moved into open…managed to survive the incoming artillery fire…and combined with infantry fire destroyed another regiment, this time Guards.
With Alans blunder problems I moved 2 regts out to my left flank to take advantage of my 24 inch v 12 inch firing range…..accepting Alan might get some good results from his batteries…but needed to get some damage in before he could advance his troops.
Saxons advance on the village.
So much for tempting fate of the Guard artillery…disordered and 3 wounds.
First line of Saxons destroyed but am now taking hits.
Hmm……4 batteries and a couple rounds of shooting and unit in this part of village is no longer around….stamina is 3 so was 5 hits over and disordered….so -5 on dice roll…the survivors are heading for Spain.
Guard division with the rear 2 units having retired from shooting. However that means 2 fresh units in the front!
The 2 French regts I was holding in reserve behind the centre have moved across to vacated buildings in Roncourt.
Hmm 2 more of my units are shaken…..
Hmm…..both my right division and one of Goldie’s Saxon divisions have passed break stage and been removed.
Game end….we called it a draw….there were not many infantry units looking that healthy.
Same on other side of table…..
Well… that was an interesting game……we played Prussians artillery as 2 shots at long range……as opposed to Scenario plan…which I believe is correct way to do it. We will replay this but bring in ability of troops to lie done…its what they did…see how that works out. I did some amazing saves from incoming Prussian artillery hits at the start of game, which coupled with the blunders for them moving on, allowed the French to get some casualties in.
I am still not in favour of stipulating we follow the tactics employed by the armies at the time, after all.. the French LOST…so expect I will continue to disagree until I get my way.
We played a Montmirail 1814 refight at the Hutt Club which was designed for 6 players , however on the day sadly we had 2 no shows so we ended up with Goldie and I being Allied players and Rob and Russ the French.
The table was 15 foot x 6 foot with the Russians set up on the Western side of table and deployed on the Southern half of the table. The Prussians to arrive on turn 2 from the North.
The French would arrive from the East with locations/turns on their Orbat
Being 1 player down I took on playing the Russian force of 24 bttns, 6 cavalry regts and 4 batteries. I was going to be exhausted!! Goldie had the Prussians of 4 cavalry and 12 foot. Their artillery was bogged down back up the road.
The French Orbat is an impressive list of units! I never quite got my head around it totally…but Rob was Marmont, Rob also had the Division of the Middle Guard and also started with the Young Guard cavalry but as the game developed Russ took over. He also had Ney. Russ had the Old Guard Cavalry, Old Guard infantry and the artillery and absorbed the Young Guard cavalry as well plus Napoleon and Lefebrve!
Now having far more units than I normally command I was very much focused on my sector and neglected to get pictures of other parts o the battle so up front apologies for that.
The Russian cavalry was placed on the open left flank.
Beside the cavalry I had a strong defensive position with a wood, a gap and then a 3 defensive zone village.
Then on the other side of the village there was another open gap to swamp with a wood to my front. I figured I should be able to defend this!
French Guard cavalry advance onto the table.
The view of the arriving French. From the top to bottom they are: 2 divisions of Conscripts to the front, Middle Guard advancing up road, Old Guard to Northside of road, Garde d’Honner with the Conscripts, Young Guard cavalry then Old Guard cavalry with a horse battery. The 2 Guard batteries were off table.
In my turn I managed to move my Dragoons and Hussars out of charge targeting by the French except for the Cossacks who declined to move. Idiots. Thankfully the French were a bit confused and didn’t manage to contact them.
Rob threw his conscripts forward, I forced one into square by charging them with Dragoons, and then charging them with a column and moving the skirmishing Cossacks up as a support. It took a few combats but eventually the square popped.
So Goldie arrived from the North. He moved his 4 cavalry on….not any infantry. So 2 Dragoons and 2 Landwher cavalry marched on just so they could give Russ the pleasure of introducing his massed Guard cavalry to them.
Rob spent the day shooting up the village but without any artillery he had no show of kicking me out of 3 defensive zones. I plugged the gap with a battery supported by 3 columns and held 2 bttns Jager in reserve. My Hussars and Dragoons were behind them. From the wood to the table edge was another brigade of a battery..4 Musketeer bttns and 2 Jaeger bttns.
After several turns of a cavalry massacre for the French this was the situation. Notice the lack of Prussian cavalry.
Meanwhile in the centre the Middle Guard have entered the fray and I have tried the cavalry to front, form square and charge in a column combo again. Sadly, Middle Guard are tougher proposition.
After taking out the Prussian cavalry a unit of Guard lancers was flank on to my Hussars who managed to get a ‘Follow me’ into them. They destroyed the Lancers and carried on into the Horse Grenadiers but did not destroy them. I then rallied them back to face the Horse artillery that would now rock up and destroy them. I figured it was a worthy sacrifice in the scheme of things. Some Cossacks had wandered over to guard their flank and offer support. They would soon be destroyed.
Back in the centre another Dragoon charge has forced another Middle Guard into square so they could be charged by a column. Rob then started deploying the same tactic on me!
Prussian infantry march on face the Guard cavalry with the Old Guard infantry closing in.
My Cossack commander admiring the Guard Horse artillery, presume he is trying to locate his troops.
Hmmm… Old Guard v Prussian landwehr…surprisingly they actually did okay and shook some units according to Goldie.
Lovely paint job as ever Russ.
Sadly my camera played up…the light gets dodgy in the hall in the afternoon and the pictures from this flank were to blurry. But I had taken the flank wood…. put batteries either side of it and was moving 8 undamaged bttns forward supported by Dragoons. Below is final part of turn…Dragoons forced a square and 2 columns hit it…French survived!
So in the end the Prussians were destroyed but the Russians were largely untouched with only the Cossacks and 1bttn destroyed. So being as biased as ever…its a draw leaning towards an Allied victory!
Be nice to try it again but make the villages smaller as those huge buildings of Goldies really dominate the table. Rob was never going to take the village without any artillery but there was no room for him maneuver around it. Equally in the North send the Prussian infantry on first…..then the cavalry behind it so the infantry has opportunity to form firing lines supported by the cavalry…who knows …I might then venture out from cowering in my corner and attack the French!
So after the game I rushed home, showered and headed into the Central City for the night as the neighbors in hill above us had left a wee note in the letterbox advising a daughter was having an 18th birthday party and it would be loud(ouR other neighbor’s report it was VERY LOUD). So we evacuated to the Sofitel….had a lovely room….. they gave us an upgrade…we went and dined at a lovely restaurant while watching our local Football team on the screen and retired back to our room where I had a tasty whisky and was asleep….early!
The tasty whisky is the Oban 14 which I enjoy when staying at a Sofitel/Novotel Hotel.
Tasting notes are:
Palate Smoky, creamy palate with notes of marmalade, toffee apples and pear cider. A development of cloves comes late palate. Finish A long, malty finish with toasty oak and spice. Overall A true classic, Oban’s 14 year old is a great coastal dram for lovers of lightly smoked, fresh malts.
As ever I really don’t taste all that…all I know that after a tiring week…and a tiring game….it was the perfect way to end a good day. I will be buying a bottle soon.
Tuesday was our National holiday here in New Zealand so Goldie suggested a game at his place. So we played a Napoleonic Game using our Black Powder points system. It was set at 200 points which is what Goldie can field his Prussians as. I took along Russians.
Below is Goldies Prussian point list
Below is my Russian point list. I upgraded the Jager to Reliable for reasons that will explain in report(apart from having the points spare!)
Below is my Russian set up. My force was divided into 4 brigades. This was a standard Russian division of 3 brigades with 2 being of 4 Musketeers EACH and the 3rd of 4 Jager. I upgraded the Jager to Reliable/Elite 5+ so they could be ordered on CC9 instead of 8 and have a change of rallying from a Disorder before the order phase if disordered. The 2 Musketeer brigades each had an artillery battery. The last brigade was of 2 Hussar units which allowed me a free Cossack unit(under our army system rules).
Goldies Prussians had a brigade of 2 Dragoons, a brigade of 2 landwehr cavalry, a brigade of 2 Grenadiers, a Jager, horse battery and Leib Hussars then a brigade of 6 landwehr. A foot battery was in there somewhere as well!
Terrain was a village( 1 defensive zone) in center of table, woods either side of it and a farm on one table edge with a couple of small hills in the Russian side of table.
I managed to just beat the Prussians into the village.
Goldie takes a gamble and charged Landwehr cavalry into my right side of table battery. My battery gets 4 shots, hitting on 3s with hits having a -2 effect on saving throws. The cavalry save on 5+ so they have no saving throw. Any unsaved hits while charging artillery result in an automatic break test from closing fire. That plus the unsaved hits and a poor break test roll from Goldie meant the unit and its attached commanders were destroyed. Being marauders the remaining unit does not suffer any brigade morale test.
A good start for me!
As I beat Goldie to possession of the village he threw in Grenadiers with supports to try and take the village. I managed to disorder them by my closing fire which is great result as now they need 4s and not 3s to hit in combat. I manage to hold in the combat.
Goldie had placed his horse battery on his left flank….he then ordered it to move to the centre. Sadly, that move was only partially successful and they ended up flank on just past the woods. So I dutifully charged them with Hussars…..destroyed them and continued a ‘Sweeping Advance’ into a stationary Dragoon unit. I managed 3 wounds so they were now shaken. Goldie did 2 on me and I retired. Another good result.
Shaken Dragoons looking at Russians in distance.
On other flank I had managed to get a unit of skirmishing Jager around the farmhouse that Goldie had a Landwehr unit in and put 3 shots into the Leib Hussars who were now shaken.
I did this so they were not available to charge me when I moved my Jager’s in skirmish formation through the open terrain between the farmhouse and Village.
Poor dice rolling by Goldie meant the attacking Grenadiers lost the continuing Village combat and were destroyed when failed the break test. The other units did not care.
The undamaged Dragoon unit charged a column I had advanced to the edge of the woods who passed their test to form square and the Dragoons retired. With no artillery on this flank and infantry busy attacking the village…there was no risk to them….there were Prussian Jager in the wood…but they had been forced out.
Between the farmhouse and village I have moved up 2 skirmishing Jager units supported by columns. This was so I could move forward with a skirmishing line and shoot up and hopefully destroy the Prussian battery next turn with no fear of cavalry now interfering.
The Jager who shot up the Leib are retiring back towards their lines. The troops in the farmhouse were unable to inflict any damage on them.
Skirmishing Russian Jager have advanced on Prussian battery and shaken it from shooting. Hussars are now positioning for charge on Prussian landwehr column next turn…which will form square…the Hussars will retire and the Column with then charge the now formed square. If they don’t manage to get charges in…there is a battery positioned to damage the column and 2 Jager units will be positioned to shoot it.
I have moved a second unit up to block the gap between the wood and village.
On Prussian left the Prussian Jager have been pushed out of the wood, my artillery have disordered and put 2 wounds on the surviving landwehr cavalry and a unit of Cossacks are poised to charge them .
Goldie made another attempt to attack the village..it failed and we called that game as a Russian Victory.
Fun game…….Goldie had some poor dice rolls at critical times…..but charging into a village when your artillery has not caused any wounds or disordered the troops inside is always a risky task. Taking out his Horse artillery and stopping the turn 1 charge on one of my batteries was a great step in winning the game.
The Whisky of the day is the Aberlour 16.
This was another Xmas present.
I won’t bother with tasting notes….except to say it has won multi awards and deservedly so!
The comment I found online pretty much sums this one up.
‘A fruity and spicy release from Aberlour, this 16 year old has been matured in a combination of sherry butts and first-fill bourbon casks. Jim Murray scored it 94.5/100 in his 2015 Whisky Bible, describing it as ‘a malt of unbridled magnificence’.
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