So, our 3rd Game of wee ships in a month and this time we went for a more balanced game of Cruisers and Destroyers(USN/RN v IJN). Each player was to have a Cruiser and 1 or 2 Destroyers. There were 3 players a side and as I was playing this game……there are less photos then normal, and to cap it off…a few were not good enough to use in this post.
Now Russ has been working on his IJN Fleet and below here they are steaming along. The close up shoots did not work apart from one, so will need to take more the next time they grace the table. Nice Battleship line.
Pride of place is this wee beauty..the Musashi.
Onto the game and I have the lead Allied cruiser in the Northampton with a Clemson class destroyer out front also mine.
Japanese heavy cruiser and destroyer facing off to my brave destroyer trying to get in close….its torpedoes have a range of 10inches…half that of the IJN version. Next game will need to balance the quality of the IJN ships at this stage of the war better.
Now the Northampton was quickly getting smacked by the IJN Cruisers ….I was rapidly running out of hull pints…then Russ let rip and rolled…real bad as below. I survived 1 more turn!!
So my destroyer is no more..never had a chance…but still 184 left in the class! Northampton quickly followed.
The very unsporting IJN players blocked next destroyer to trying to get in close….we need more destroyers!
The game ended up being a resounding win for the IJN. The quality of their ships was just to good….next time will try and even points up a bit more.
Now that wonderful chap Stu Dobson at Magpie Designer has sent me a further order which arrived yesterday. Stu has added individual vessel names on the ships on request! How wonderful.
So this order had 4 more Japanese Destroyers of the Asashio Class, 4 USN Benson Class and 4 more Clemson Class. This gives me a good sized destroyer force for both the IJN and US Navies. Future additions need to be Capital ships for both sides and to boost up the USN cruiser force.
I also added the planes for my Essex Class Carrier and the planes for the small IJN Carrier the Ryujo.
Below is a close up of the Asashio Class destroyers
Now Stu has a dinky base on the ships so they can be safely attached to the card box in transit and also makes painting simpler. Simply to remove them once painted. I like simple.
That will be wee ships for a few weeks. This week is an ACW game at Alan’s then next week we have the first ‘Pike and Shotte’ Game in the Garage. Stephen , Russ and Alan have some beautifully painted units so will be an exciting nights gaming!
Now this weeks ‘Whisky of the Week’ is a local offering from New Zealand.
Appearance: light yellow, similar to a Pinot Gris.
Nose: The nose is very citrusy with hints of lemon. It’s very light in general, with zero alcohol burn on the back end. The lightness of the citrus is then slightly offset but a honey sweetness that also grounds the overall aroma with a full-bodied-ness.
Palate: The palate loses a bit of the citrus and more prominently features the honey sweetness. It’s similarly light in flavour as it is in colour and on the nose. There’s a bit more alcohol bite than on the nose, but overall, it’s incredibly smooth. It does though lack an overall distinctive flavour that would make it interesting.
It was actually quite a pleasant dram with quite a smooth taste…recommended.
So, after the last game, the ladz elected for another wee ships game and Russ volunteered to prepare a Carrier Scenario.
Scenario is:
Early April 1942 IJN Carrier Division 2 under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo consisting of fleet carriers Akagi (Flag) (17 flights), Kaga (18 flights) and Shōkaku (18 flights), two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and seven destroyers execute the right hook of Plan C to sweep the Indian Ocean and in particular sink Admiral Sir James Sommerville’s Force A Fast Carrier division.
Force A consisted initially of HMS Illustrious (8 flights), two heavy cruisers and four destroyers. This uneven fight has been assisted by New Zealand Signals Intelligence gathering and American decryption of the Japanese Navy code to have a good sense of what Yamamoto has in the wind. The timing and general shape of the Japanese Plan C. As a result, on 27 March Sommerville bought the newly repaired carrier Ark Royal (15 flights) and a British light cruiser from Alexandria, through the Suez Canal, to join Force A. Sensing an opportunity to cut out a detached part of the Kidō Butai (Mobile Force – Japanese carrier battle groups), Admiral Nimitz dispatches the also freshly repaired USS Saratoga (20 flights) under Captain DeWitt Ramsey and three destroyers to join Force A.
Players for the game are Terry, Goldie and Keith as the IJN and Stephen, Graeme and Rob as the Allies with Russ running the scenario and consulting the rules book.
We had comprehensive instructions for Combat Air Patrols(CAPs), Scouting and pregame decisions which I will move on from. The IJN however rolled best for the scouting and we sighted the Allied Fleet first. The IJN fleet is below with our CAPs of 2 flights of fighters per carrier airborne awaiting any incoming flights!(the 2 finished carriers are Russ’s. I have just found someone who makes decals so mine will be getting an upgrade!)
Close up of the Akagi and its CAP.
Allied Force steaming along with the Saratoga and its CAP in the rear. They had a large CAP!
As I was Nagumo I decided at the start to scout with 6 of the Strike Bombers, which left 31 Strike aircraft and 11 Zero’s in the Strike Force and 6 Zero’s on CAP. Below is my Strike Force arriving on Allied table and being met by 3 fighter bases.
Keith arrived on my right flank and was also met by a CAP of 3 fighters.
Close up of my Strike Force… my Kate’s are not touching the Zero bases so don’t get to support the fighter combat. New rule for me…..won’t happen again.
View from the Illustrious of the incoming swarm!
Goldie arrived to the front of the Allies….below is what’s left of his Strike Force after AA fire from the ships and fighter combat.
Here we have lots of Japanese goodness attacking the Illustrious.
The love was also shared with the Ark Royal.
Fighter combat was still going on with mine and Keith’s fighters and some bombers. Fighter combat is rather brutal.
After all the AA fire….these planes get to drop bombs and launch torpedoes. They did…it didn’t do diddly squat…it slowed down a bit.
So all that remained from the attack on the carriers…….is below.
Now the Allied Strike force made it to the Japanese Carrier group…the photos I took didn’t come out well…so this is only one have. But, it didn’t go well for them either…they got through to 2 carriers….did no damage (or minimal) and lost most of their planes.
Hmmmmm…..so lots of questions after this game. Both sides lost most of their large air groups and did minimal damage to 2 carriers contacted in each engagement. So we will reread the rules….look at some videos on games with planes and see what we assume we are getting wrong. In 2 weeks, we will play a Cruiser engagement with just a couple of ships each…..should be fun.
Now, yesterday was a lovely clear winters day and was pleasantly warm in the sun. So the neighbour and I sat in the sun, in our shared driveway and sampled a couple of whisky’s. John had a new one in a Clynelish 14.
Tasting notes: One of the most distinct whiskies from the Highland’s, Clynelish is renowned for it’s notes of light brown sugar, cooking toffee and a delicate perfumed and waxy characteristic. The initial sweetness is complimented by a mouth coating oily/waxyness and just a touch of tangy sea-air salt.
Now this wee beastie is 46%, and was really quite pleasant with no smokiness or sherry tastes overpowering the taste buds. Recommended.
Now Reg and I had another bash at Hail Caesar with my Romans taking on a Gaul force of Reg’s. We played 250 points which is about limit Reg can field of his Gauls at the moment.
Set up below.
My Romans were in 2 basically equal Divisons…each with 2 legionnaire’s, 1 Auxilia and 1 medium cavalry with the right command having an additional light infantry unit of archers.
Reg had 2 commands…. the left with 2 Warbands and 2 skirimshing slinger units while the other command had 2 units of light chariots, a medium cavalry unit and a unit of light infantry archers.
My brave boys facing the crazy Gauls!
Regs warbands.(not in correct formation..next time!)
The Warband has to charge if enemy within 3 moves…so in they went.
Very nice paint job on these guys.
And this is what a Warband does to Auxilia infantry..they no longer exist. My legionnaires managed to hang in there. A warband is truly scary in the first charge of the game…gets 9 attacks….rerolls 3 misses…..saves on a 4….and has the supporting slingers adding 2 attacks. NASTY.
I had positioned my cavalry to charge when the Auxilia had died……they did so….here they are….sadly they lost and retired.
The cavalry from the other command is moving around the rear to attack the warband. The Gaul cavalry will next turn charge legionnaires and pop.
The ongoing battle between warband and legionnaires. When they charged I had locked shields to reduce casualties….in a ongoing combat I have the advantage. A waste to have a full legionnaire unit in rear…will change that for next game!
Success! The fresh cavalry unit had charged the battle weary warband who popped. The other warband is losing and retiring…with the legionnaires following up each time.
On the other flank Reg had charged his light chariots into my auxilia. The chariots have the advantage and the Auxila and supporting archers are giving ground(this is 3rd or 4th round of combat)
Surviving warband is giving ground.
End game…..Reg has lost a warband and a cavalry unit..2nd warband is doomed…next turn I would have moved cavalry up in support and turned fresh legionnaire unit to take on chariots.
So we called that the game and had lunch. I was lucky with some poor dice roles by Reg with his warbands….they are brutal in opening round of combat!! Next month we will try again while rules fresh in heads. Will boost armies to 350 points.
It’s been a year since we had a game of little ships so after the last game of ACW the ladz elected to have a game of Victory at Sea.
Now with Russ overseas that left available fleets as Stevens British and my Japanese. A quick paint of a carrier and its 18 flights and my Japanese were ready. Russ even returned in time for the game and bought along a Japanese Carrier and Battleship plus 3 clip together prepainted Japanese kits of the Titanic and her sister ships!(he also bless his soul bought the 3 for me as well!).
Ignoring the fact we hadn’t played for a year I set up a scenario bound to fail…but it meant we had lots of ships and planes on the table … and some combat actually occurred!
So the scenario was the Japanese have to escort the 3 Troop carrying liners to some islands and the British have to stop them. Simple really.
The Japanese steaming towards the islands in the distance. Out front is a destroyer squadron led by an AA Cruiser. Tucked in behind them are 2 heavy cruisers, then the 3 troop transport’s, then the cover force for the capital ships of 2 heavy cruisers and 2 destroyers. Lastly the Carrier and her guardian Battleship. The carrier has a combat patrol up plus has launched her full attack force.
Close up of the Carrier…great paint job Russ!
My newly painted planes are from MagpieDesigner who Russ located as a source in the UK.
Here is a close up of the liners…beautiful.
Those nasty British have formed a very cool battle line.
Steve has the standard Warlord Games planes. Nice paint job.
Side on look at the British line.
Russ moved some flights in the direction of the Nelson….the Japanese destroyers also have REALLY GOOD TORPEDOS and extra tubes.
Japanese Capital Ships.
Now at the start of the game I told Stephen his light cruiser was an AA Cruiser..target planes…so he rushes off to take on the Nelson….. next game he is getting a tug.
So, the light cruiser has been smacked……couldn’t hurt a Tuna now……so British gunnery moves onto the front heavy cruiser. Japanese destroyers have sent some torpedoes into the cruiser flanking the Nelson. Russ has massed his planes to assault the Nelson.
Last turn of game……Japanese planes attack the Nelson…..Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars attempt to stop them. Smoke is the flanking cruiser.
Once the dogfight was over…only 2 flights were in contact with the Nelson….it didn’t sink.
British planes then hit the Mogami Heavy Cruiser…..it didn’t go well for the Mogami.
So that was that…..basically a rule refresher with another battle in 2 weeks where Russ is running a scenario where we will be a lot closer at the start of the game!
Had some of the ladz around for a game and made up a scenario.
A Union force is encamped and at dawn one brigade has marched off while a second brigade remain’s encamped. However, 2 smaller Condederate brigades launch an attack.
Keith has the encamped Union brigade while Goldie has the Union brigade marching away. Stephen has the Confederate brigade closest to Keith while Graeme’s Confederate brigade is closer to Goldie.
So below is start of game with Keiths troops encamped around a farm. This was the first appearance of Keiths wagons and limbers…hence he gets the encampment!
The rear half of Goldies brigade…rest are off table.
Keiths picket line….which got a dawn volley from the Confederate’s in the woods opposite them. The grey fencing is a welcome addition from Keith!!
In response the the gunfire, Goldie turns his brigade around…well the rear half…the front half kept on marching!
Graemes brigade marches on facing the flank of Goldies troops on the road.
Stevens troops facing the picket line.
Keiths picket line took a lot of damage and has retired back behind the rest of the brigade moving out. Steven’s brigade can be now seen on the field.
Keiths troops still trying to get to the fence line!!
Goldies off table troops have marched back…and one brave unit has rushed into this field to halt Graeme’s advance!
Yes…Steven has units at close range to artillery…the fence is NO help stopping what is coming!
This Union unit stopped an amazing number of shots from front and flank!
Meanwhile Keith has a unit on Steven’s flank…..not good for Steven.
Graeme has ‘Whupped’ the blocking unit which has retired…so he is closing in on the rest of the half brigade facing him.
On the opposite flank..Steven has pulled back behind the fence…..
The other half of Goldie brigade had crossed the bridge and moved up on Steven as well.
Graeme has now shot up the Union troops opposite him who have all been shaken or ‘Whupped’. The flank is his.
Keith has the advantage over Steven who has held off 1 and a half brigade’s…but with Graeme’s troops now open to sweeping around the Union rear and Goldies brigade now broken…we called it a Union defeat.
So there we have it, what I think was a fun game for the guys and we got a result in a couple of hours.
Perfect.
Now my partner Anita and I recently had a 4 day weekend in Christchurch as it was her birthday and we have 2 of our 3 children and their partners living there. I flew the other daughter up from Queenstown for the weekend as well and the weather obliged by being glorious and we had a wonderful catchup!
Now Christchurch is also where my FAVOURITE Online Whisky retailer is based in ‘Whisky Galore’. Anita obligingly drove me there and waited in the car while I walked into a ‘Temple of Whiskyness!!’ They have 560+ Whisky’s in store, fantastic staff and were offering tastings of ‘Speyside’ Whisky’s…one of which was on my buy list! PERFECT. So after tasting it(and one or 2 others), I had to buy a Cadenhead Glentauchers-Glenlivet.
The tasting notes are:
14 years old, this Glentauchers-Glenlivet bottled by Cadenhead has been matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. With pear drops, peaches, treacle and a touch of nutmeg on the nose, we’ve landed in Scotland for pudding on a winters night. Flavours of pouched pears and vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate flakes come alive on the palate. The finish is a wee glass of mulled wine, rich and warming with orange slices, crushed cloves and dark chocolate.
Been a while since the last update and a few things have been added. The following are what I can recall!
First up are Victrix Unarmoured Samnites which were a joy to assemble and paint. Went for simple tunic and let the shield decals star.
Close up of command base.
The slow expansion of my 1809 Austrians with a 36 figure unit being added.
This completes a brigade of 6, with the other 5 needing the addition of 12 figures each to make up to 36s. Thankfully I have the figures already.
2 more Netherlands Militia bttns.
Which now completes the brigade.
My Team Yankee West Germans. The choppers are missing…rather fragile and rotors have fallen apart and in repair shop. View from above.
View from front.
View from side!!
Doing an expansion of my C10th Byzantines Heavy Infantry by adding several units of Rus. Using plastic Gripping Beast Vikings and Dark Age Warriors with commands from metal/SAGA ranges with addition of the rectangular shields. I really should have used Victrix Vikings as these figures really don’t rank very well at all. These current project so obviously, not finished!
At Xmas I picked up a box of Fireforge Byzantine Auxiliaries to really see if they matched with my Gripping Beast figures and they do. Planning cavalry expansion as the Fireforge are plastics far cheaper than metals and the postage from GB is a killer. Below are archers in light mail.
Standard skirmishing archers.
The guys who stand in front of the battleline with long spears to stick them in horses. Crazy dudes!
Sigh…..while I waited the lonnnnnng awaited Perry Franco Prussian French…that I first begged them for 20 years ago over a beer and Chinese meal here in Wellington…..I started practicing on some Foundry French. The quality of casting is……poor…being polite..its REALLY BAD! Which is why they have languished in a box for years. I have never drilled and filed figures as much as these required(actually…on reflection I did have a unit of Connoisseur Cuirassiers which I was going to bin but Brian the ‘Woolshed Gamer’ took them off my hands that were worse) …and these were the best of the bunch.
But the good news is Goldie was at Salute on Saturday and has picked me up 3 boxes of the newly released plastics to start with.
Rob made this lovely poster above for the game we staged at the Hutt Wargames Club annual convention ‘ValleyCon’ Saturday 22nd April 2023. There were around 160 gamers playing in a variety of competitions(including the DBMM’ers at the local school that is the Clubs normal gaming location) and we 6 GarageGamers with the demonstration game being a Waterloo re-enactment.
First up some pictures of the other games in the hall to start the report. It’s a great venue, the ‘Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre ‘ in Upper Hutt that has a large well-lit hall, a fantastic cafe on the other side of the door from where our gaming table was plus ample parking. For after gaming festivities its a mere 200metres to ‘Brewtown’ which hosts a number of Craft Breweries, Eateries and a Distillery! SO A PERFECT VENUE.
This is the picture from the stage where the ‘Bring and Buy’ was. I deliberately did not check it out knowing I cannot be trusted not to buy something I probably don’t need!. On the right are some double grey doors…we are just past them with the doors leading to the toilets and the cafe.
Here we have GarageGamer Graeme and sometime GarageGamer Simon wearing the Organising Team T-shirt. They were part of the 24 strong Flames of War Competition.
This is Gamer Reg playing in the SAGA tournie…I believe were 16 players.
Shock Horror! A 40k table!! Playing on it was a friend Craig who a decade ago tried to teach me how to play 40k. He failed. But he does paint beautiful armies.
The Bolt Action tables with Al from New Plymouth(the tall chap). Al has graced some of our Big Games in the past. Great Chap.
The Main event. The table is 17.5 foot long and 6 foot wide. Alan has made 3D buildings for the game. They are stunning.
There were only 6 of us playing in this game but with Russ and Goldie(at SALUTE buying up Perry French Franco Prussians!!) overseas and others busy it is we happy few. From left to right, Mike(Allied left then Prussians as arrive), Robert(Napoleon/ French Centre/Old Guard/Guard Cavalry), Keith(French left), Rob(French right), Alan(Wellington and Allied Centre) and Me, Terry as ‘Prince of Orange’ with Allied right.
And here I am….’Prince of Orange’ survey the enemy lines.
View from Alans position.
Mike’s view from Papelotte towards La Haye Sainte.
Lobau(Robert) advances both his Division’s at La Haye Sainte.
Keith(Reille) advances his Division’s towards the Beautiful model that is Hougoumont. Alan has made a superb job of this one. Nassau’s can be seen in the garden.
I was a wee bit shocked to see on other side of table Rob(D’Erlon) had thrown a division straight at the Hanoverians…with minimal support…and minimal damage on the Hanoverian Lines troops!
Went I checked a couple of turns later (the first few hours of the game I had 10 a minute timer on sides so the early turns roared along as I expected game would slow later in day) the French Division commander was surrounded by…no one….the entire division was gone burger.
Keith uses his Legere to try and damage the Nassau before charging in.
The French GungHo battle plan carries on… Robert charged a column at the Brunswick Leib(see more about them below)…..they arrived but with no supports…..they outfought the Leib..but…the Leib had supports and won the conflict. The ‘W’ counter is used when a combat carries on so we can keep track of the winner for the next round of combat.
For those more informed readers…yes the Brunswickers are actually Portugese…..for the very good reason that the Brunswickers…..who belong to friend Weakley who is in Vanuatu…were not based…so this week…I based them…and here is a picture to prove their existence…on my paint table. DOH!.
Robert has forced the Brunswick Lights out of the orchard and they have retired towards their rear. Bright lads. British rifles are hiding in the sandpit.
So we arrive at Turn 5 in next to no time! On the Allied right flank, Chasse arrives with his Dutch Division. Love these guys. They didn’t actually do much…but…I do like them.
Also on Turn 5, Mike rolls for the Prussian arrival… and he succeeds and Von Hackes 13th Brigade arrives.
Woohoo… Robert had thrown units into an assault on La Haye Saint and a unit out as a flank blocker as he assaulted La Haye Sainte from 3 sides…..the Brunswickers had held….the French flank bttn was shaken….meaning if charged by Cavalry…they form square…but.. the cavalry can then charge in. In the combat…Alans Brunswick Uhlans(rather than a large Hussar and a small Uhlan I made all regts in game standard size…easier) made 5 wounds……the square pooped.
On the other side of La Haye Saint , Alan threw the Brunswick Lights into the flank of the French locked in combat with the Garrison. Open Order troops can charge into a flank of formed troops from a flank/rear position.
Further to the Allied left, Mike threw Nassau Jager into the flank of a battery…allowing a bttn to charge it from the flank and not be shot at. Perfect! Another Bttn moved up in support.
Alans Uhlans had destroyed the broken square…and he sweep on into a column….the combat was a draw and Alans Uhlans retired.
Sensing the time was now…the French Cuirassiers charged the Uhlans who were carrying 2 wounds….. a second unit moved up in support. The Uhlans lost…but only retired…the Cuirassiers sweep on and destroyed the Brunswick battery…. then retired.
Now the fun really started for me! On the right you can see Keiths infantry in a fire fight with the British which lasted all game….. then Keith threw a Cuirassier/Dragon combo attack in against a battery…they defeated it as you would expect…but sustained a casualty. They then swept onwards and hit my stationary Dutch Dragoons….and several combats then ensured…before……
we arrived at the 4 French heavies sitting in the middle of the table…with no supports..and the 2 right side regts both shaken… so cannot counter charge and being shaken…are at a serious disadvantage……
Meanwhile Keith finally succeeded in getting his troops to charge the Garden!
Over on the Allied left….. the combats continued non stop.
Now this is where I got so excited I never took any photos……I charged British nutter cavalry into the flank of the shaken Dragoons(they had been lurking all day behind Hougomont waiting for a flank charge opportunity…sadly the second unit with Prince William leading them failed to charge!)…who turned to face as hit in the flank…I then sent the Belgian Carabiniers (my Favourite Front Rank Models) into the now exposed flank..with Tripp leading them….in the resulting melee…the French Dragoons popped…the British Cavalry sweep off into the flank of a Cuirassier unit…while the Belgians hit the shaken Cuirassiers…..at the end of it all…the French Heavy Cavalry were no more…and the Allied cavalry retired out of danger.
The French now forced the Nassau Jager out of the garden.
The French were still attempting to get into La Haye Saint…..Alan threw the Brunswick Hussars into there flank. Behind them on the ridge are my Hanoverian Landwehr, part of a command that twice blundered(meaning I rolled 2 6s) and then they had retired off the table…but each time came back straight away! Alan is still holding La Haye Saint.
Lordy…look at this fight! 2 Prussian brigades have made it onto the table….Young Guard have made a rapid march and are attempting to hold the flank. Allied light cavalry are fighting it out with French Cuirassiers and light cavalry……and Alan has even had a rush of blood and sent light cavalry into a battery! British Cavalry have the ‘Ferocious Charge’ so that in their 1st round of any combat they reroll any misses. So where standard light cavalry are normally at a disadvantage against heavy cavalry…the British lights almost get an even playing field.
With Rob not having a good day with his dice and saving throws, the British cavalry were carving up his Cuirassiers. Below is not what you want to throw… believe me.
Another Cuirassier Division is now broken… the Young Guard have their flank totally exposed…but the BATTERY repulsed the cavalry! Alan was looking embarassed…as he should!!
It was at this stage the Napoleon conceded the day. The Old Guard Infantry and Cavalry had taken the field, however his right flank was gone..the Allies were largely undamaged, and Wellington had not committed the Guard Cavalry to the table as yet.
So that was an exciting game…..the early turns were all about getting units into position then the game was one of continuous combats….and I do love getting some good cavalry attacks in!! I lost count of the turns at 10 …we played for roughly 5 hours with a pleasant break to eat some lovely food from the cafe and then after packing up…adjourned to Brewtown where I shouted the lads a lager at the Good George Bar and we talked crap for a while as gamers do….a great way to finish the day!
Now my recent Whisky Purchase was largely to get the bottle so when almost empty I will use as my infinity bottle(ie. take last wee bit from each bottle as nears empty…and put in it..idea from neighbour John. It is a VERY HEAVY BOTTLE.
So this is a bottle of Bladnoch Liora and the review online :
Liora is created using an exceptional pairing of casks: Bourbon and New Oak, and sits alongside the likes of Alinta, Vinaya and Samsara in Bladnoch’s ‘Classic Collection’ of whiskies. Master Distiller, Dr. Nick Savage, elaborates that “Liora embodies the delicate balance between the intensity of the New Oak and the sweetness of the Bourbon casks. On the nose you can expect juicy fresh cut apples along with toasted caramel and floral notes. As you taste Liora, on the palate you’ll get caramelised toffee apples along with peppery spices and fresh cut oak. A truly magnificent dram with a long finish with a slight warming dryness.”
Which in Terry speak translates to…. very pleasant to sip while sitting in front of the fire watching an episode of ‘The Mandolorian’. It is being accompanied by a slice of Lumberjack Cake that Keith made and brought along to yesterdays game…he knows I have a weakness for it! (what remains is shown below….coconut..brown sugar…butter….its syruppy and luscious..yummyum).
So on Saturday I journeyed out to the Hutt Club to have a Black Powder game with Reg, Alan and Robert. As am planning on a small Waterloo Game at the Hutt Clubs annual ‘ValleyCon’ convention next month, decided to practice with a Quatre Bras refight.
We used the scenario straight from the ‘Albion Triumphant – Volume 2 The Hundred Days Campaign’ book. Scenario recommended for minimum of 12′ x 6′ table however as club short on tables, Reg had snared 2, I brought 2 with me so we settled for 10 foot long table(had 2 more tables in car…but after several trips to car…one more was a walk to far!)
The Allies were Alan and Reg with Robert and I as French. The Game was 8 turns long and is a meeting engagement with both sides having troops on the table at the start. The Allies were at the Crossroads with Bylandt’s Dutch Brigade in the front with Picton’s Division to its rear/flank. Reg commanded the Dutch/Hanoverians and Alan Picton’s 2 British brigades.
The French started with 2 Divisions on the table, both of 2 brigades. There were meant to be 2 cavalry brigade’s also on the table…but the reduction in table width resulted in not enough space to deploy them.
Below is set up positions.
Allies had Dutch and Hanoverians(Reg) on left flank with British(Alan) on the right. French had Robert on left and Terry on right.
View from Ney on centre road.
Robert must have had too much meat in his diet, he charged straight in while I was having trouble moving so was not supporting him!
The Dutch Brigade gets lots of Robert’s troops charging them.
View from Reg’s position with Dutch holding centre and Hanoverians moving up to the left flank. Robert has a bit of a bloodied nose but has given as good as he got. My 3 bttns of Legere are moving up in skirmish supported by columns. My 2nd brigade was having trouble crossing the stream and lagged behind.
Dutch and Hanoverians before my troops…….slooowwwlllyy advancing get into contact.
Dutch Militia at right angles…..there was a French bttn there a moment ago. On other side of road French and British have been at it…….light cavalry from both sides moving up.
On Robert/Alans side the infantry were committing mutual extinction and now the cavalry went at it. They both bounced in this combat.
It got bloody very quickly on this side….. Robert retired the remains of this brigade to rally them…Alan had a unit retiring out of line(or popping…can’t recall).
Back to view from Reg’s position….. my legere are inflicting casualties as the columns move in. Reg is having disordered/shaken units falling back from front line. Sadly for me …none were popping at this stage!!
The start of my attacks going in. Been a while since playing Black Powder and forgot that Dutch Militia and Hanoverian Landwehr are morale 5 not 4…… silly me.
Centre attacks.
Dutch and Hanoverians suffering badly and multiple units are shaken and disordered but Brunswickers have arrived and Reg threw the exact die roll to get them on table and in position! I had legere on his flank and in woods before Brunswickers beamed in from no where…damn them!!
French Cuirassiers have been resting on table edge for some time….. they really did consider themselves a reserve! A field of juicy targets and they just sat and looked at them!!
Ahhhhh… this warms the wee cockles of my heart……the remains of the Dutch and Hanoverian Brigades have been pushed back to tables edge. They are all hurting. I have obscured the guns with legere and then sent Uhlans into a shaken disordered bttn that formed square … but as shaken and disordered I still get to charge….they exploded and units within 6 inches had to pass a morale test to stay…..
There were now not many units left…as I did a sweeping advance into the remains…..they all popped or retired off table as well.
And it is here we stopped the game on turn 6. There were 2 turns left….Alan thought his British could hold the village……wishful thinking! But Dutch and Hanoverians were gone….Brunswicker foot wouldn’t last much longer…..I still had 10 intact bttns to throw at village… Roberts Cuirassiers am sure would carve through the Allied cavalry(they certainly weren’t tired!) but was time to pack up!
I thought it was a fun game and a good practice for our Waterloo refight at Hutt Club’s ‘ValleyCon’ convention on the weekend of April 22-23.
So this year has kind of been a series of games playtesting Valour and Fortitude rules….. so time for a change and a game of ACW.
The Battle of Cross Keys and Port Republic the following day were pre cursors to the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond which we have played in the past.
So for the game Goldie and Alan played Union with Robert and Russ playing Confederates and with Steve a no show…I made the drinks!
Scenario has Confederates holding a creek line, with a bluff in the centre with 2 artillery batteries on it which has a view over entire battlefield and cannot be frontally assaulted. They have a cavalry regt on each flank and a reserve brigade of Louisiana troops off table. Robert is on the left and Russ on the right.
The Union are deploying from the north west with Goldie on the western side and Alan the eastern. Each has a flanking cavalry regt , 2 batteries are in the open in their centre and some more attached to brigades.
The terrain has the Confederates on a wooded ridge with the Mill Creek to their front. The woods extend on both flanks deep into Union deployment with a few buildings and abridge on the western edge of table. The Creek is a 6 inch penalty to cross with the the woods half speed to move in and 12-inch visibility for shooting.
The confusing map below was how actual battle went.
Initial set up below…..Goldie has Union commands west of centre road….Robert opposite with Alan on east side of road with Russ opposite.
Robert’s batteries on the Bluff with Goldies troops in distance.
Union troops advancing in centre towards bridge.
Schenck’s brigade on Union right.
Trimbles brigade awaiting Alans advance.
Schenck advances into Stuert’s gray lines firing range!
Goldie charged his cavalry at Roberts…didn’t make it…so Robert then charged and they met in the river.
Union left flank…cavalry dismount and skirmish towards creek. Russ’s troops appearing in treeline.
I was dragged to other flank by an aggrieved Goldie over his dice rolling. He insisted I take picture of the 3 x 1 dice rolls. These are saving throws from shooting…and 1 is not good.
Particularly when 3 casualties make a unit shaken and the rest of the brigade looks as below. Robert rolled high..Goldie went low……and that is one seriously in trouble brigade.
The cavalry fight after several more attacks resulted in Rebel victory.
Now in the real battle the Confederates used a ravine to sneak into Union flank….so here is Colonel James Walker with the 13th and 5th Virginia Regts! Alan was not impressed with me.
The long line of Goldies shot up brigades.
Taylors Louisiana Brigade has arrived and is moving to support Walkers flanking attack.
An ‘Oh Dear’ moment…..one would have expected the skirmishing Union cavalry to ‘Pop’ easily..alas these lads are made of stern stuff…and held!
But….. Walkers 2 regts have supports lining up behind them…..in distance another Union brigade is advancing.
And the next turn we have the Union cavalry gone….Russ has got a unit across the creek into Union flank and Alan has a number of damaged units…..so advantage definitely to Russ.
On the other flank Robert has held which combined with Russ winning position gives game to Confederates.
So there we are, another pleasant evening’s gaming.
ACW is really quite a chill period to game…colourful…the rules are period suitable ,,,you get to roll lots of dice…and laugh a lot at them!
No Whisky of the week……..but am enjoying a Good George ale at the moment!!
Valour & Fortitude (V&F for short) is a set of rules that you can download from this website and then use to fight tabletop wargames using the Perry Miniatures range of figures. The rules are complemented by a set of army sheets, that contain the information needed to use one of the armies from the Perry Miniatures range in V&F, and scenarios that provide all the information needed to set up a battle.
The rules, army sheets and scenarios are completely free of charge, and are designed to fit onto just half a dozen sides of A4 paper. All you need to do is download them and print them out and you are good to go! In addition, a full colour printed version of V&F is available with the October 2022 issue of Wargames Illustrated magazine, and the magazine itself includes further V&F coverage. You can find out more by visiting the Wargames Illustrated website.
These rules are written by Jervois Johnson, Alan and Michael Perry, names well known to all Wargamers. The rules are aimed at those hosting games for new players and convention demonstration games.
So, Goldie expressed a desire to give them a whirl at the year ending BBQ so 4 of us gathered to give them a first whirl…I had printed them….as had Alan while Goldie and SteveC had actually read them…so a good start. As usual I managed drinks while Alan and Steve playing French took on Goldie in a 150 point game. The Army lists allow you to point out a force.
A second game was played between Xmas and New Year; however, I missed that one as Covid finally got me on Xmas Day… sigh…….but a third one was played with Alan and I with Goldie (Alan also had Covid over Xmas). So, a scattering of pictures is below from several games with my initial thoughts…….
The Rules are the standard fare of I move, you move with caveat of they are FAST PLAY rules so don’t expect a BLACK POWDER game.
It’s designed to be quick, and it is as once you get the hang of the rules…a good-sized game will probably last a couple of hours. The rules are 4 pages however with the Army lists you get a wee bit of the National characteristics along with a small deck of cards which add a wee bit of flavour.
Some pictures from games follow:
So below we have French infantry brigade on the left v Prussian infantry and a French Cuirassier brigade on v Prussian Cavalry. In the infantry fight the French have advantage as have a flanking unit and a rear unit…they add differing attack factors. Now the Cavalry bash is very interesting….. the Dragoons get 6 attacks….the support adds 3 as is touching corner of French Cuirassiers…the Cuirassiers get 7 attacks…but only 1 for the supporting unit…Prussians roll average…French less than average and they explode(several tests are performed).
Here we have a different game…..Prussian skirmishers on left that were proving very difficult to get away…Goldie checked after game, and they should have died earlier…..but the cavalry is more interesting…..I used a small brigade of Guard Cavalry…why not! To take on 3 Prussian Landwehr Cavalry…..this is where the Card deck helped…was able to auto move 2 brigades so sent Guard into Landwehr and then moved the infantry brigade up as cover. I took out the Landwehr.
Other side of table…..I was holding the village…well….actually just being target practice. Shooting is vicious,,,,,you get 3 shots…..on a 4 you cause a casualty…no save…in a village…you ignore the FIRST casualty.. the rest stick…so if you put a unit in a village…and opponent gets several units and a battery to shoot you…you don’t survive long at those odds!! Now opposite these Prussian landwehr is my Cuirassier brigade. Plan was to charge to landwehr and form them into square. This is where reading rules would have helped…..I have 7 attacks….Landwehr have 5 as in attack columns…however….there is no form square test…instead my attacks round down to 50%…so I have 3 attacks…..YIKES!!
Last picture from this game is Alans flanking cavalry having smashed my Cuirassiers, is flanking the Landwehr and the village is now devoid of French infantry as the brigade guarding it has been blown away.
So I have watched one game and played in one….. so and initial thoughts are it sure ain’t BLACK POWDER.
Do I like Valour & Fortitude…frankly unsure. Goldie has been conversing with Jervois Johnson and as a group we have been invited to do some playtesting which the guys have jumped at. But you do need A LOT OF TROOPS as brigades literally EXPLODE…. which fortunately is not an issue for our group.
I don’t like the layout of the rules…so as just headed away on holiday the plan is to do very little for couple of weeks(at a beach town….but…its going to be wet most of the time)…so will reformat them so easier to read.
Pop on over to Little Wars for a good review if you have the time.
Now the first Whisky of the Year 2023 is the Lagavulin 16.
When asked what I wanted for Xmas…I informed the Beloved a bottle of whisky of course…so she just sighed and just handed over her credit card! Last year while visiting one of my daughters who is working in Queenstown in a hotel…..while drinking whisky at the bar…the delightful young chap on the bar gave me samples of a few whiskies, one being the Lagavulin 16…which is a peaty classic….so I decided this would make a good Xmas Prezzie.
Sadly…with covid hitting me on Xmas day…was unable to sample it until this month…when friend Weakly stopped over for a night on arrival from Vanuatu (we spent the day spray coating his Warlord Epic Waterloo figures…you can’t send spray cans to the island) …so at last could open it and smell then taste it!
These are the reviewing notes:
Nose: More like Lapsang Souchong tea than Lapsang Souchong! One of the smokiest noses from Islay. It’s big, very, very concentrated, and redolent of iodine, sweet spices, good, mature Sherry and creamy vanilla. Stunning.
Palate: Very thick and rich. A massive mouthful of malt and Sherry with good fruity sweetness, but also a wonderful sweetness. Big, powerful peat and oak.
All I can say is I heartily agree….it is not for the for a Whisky newbie or the faint of heart…..but I am really looking forward to winter and enjoying this wee beauty in front the fire….. while listening to Runrig singing Loch Lomond!
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