So Gamer PaulW has returned from soaking in Whisky by the pool in the tropics for a short visit and requested a game while he was here. So….let’s do Waterloo! Its at this stage I must confess…its not really a battle I have an interest in…..as I prefer to game with Austrian’s and Russian’s…….and the only troops I have for it(apart from French of course) are Dutch. Namely a Brigade of Chasse’s 3rd Netherlands Division and von Tripps Heavy Cavalry Brigade, plus of course a command base of that Military GENIUS the Prince of Orange!

Thankfully I have PaulG’s base cloths he made for our 2015 multi player, some of the hills we made for it and Alan has been making the buildings(Hougoumont, La Hay Sainte and Belle Alliance) on his 3D printer, and PaulW has a Papelotte set sourced from Hovels so we are okay for buildings. Troop wise we are fairly okay, except Alan had to go and sell the Household Cavalry the weekend BEFORE the game to fund new Victrix replacements. Arrgghhhhhhhhh.

So the Saturday just past the Garage Gamers available assembled for a Waterloo refight in my Lounge…as its winter…..and more pleasant in the lounge and I can fit an 18ft by 6 foot table plus the dining room…kitchen and 3 toilets are readily available! The only Gamers missing were Russ who was out of town at a gaming convention and Keith who was ill.

So after spending evenings all week working out sides…troops..scenario and printing sheets for the players we actually started Turn 1 before the start time of 10am. The French players were Rob, PaulW, SteveT, Robert and Graham. The Allies were Moi, Alan, StephenC and PaulG. Rob was Napoleon and Moi was Wellington…and Orange and Uxbridge and….I was very confused and didn’t do much all game needless to say.

So below are the the ladz…from left to right… Robert…Graham….Rob….SteveT…PaulW who has already started on the whisky….Alan…StephenC and PaulG(Goldie). The painters have just finished on the room…no new curtains up yet!

So Turn 1 and Graham leads off the French attack. Now somehow…the French High Command( am sure I had NOTHING to do with it :)) got the force allocation wrong which I did not pick up on. PaulW was meant to be on the French left….with 2 Division’s of infantry and 2 Cavalry Corps seeing he can handle that many troops…and had not had a game for a while. But he was put on the right…so I got him moved to the left…but he somehow lost control of the larger infantry division and the Cuirassiers which I did not notice! Bugger!!

The Allied left anchored on Papelotte……. this is a lovely set from Hovel Models. I made small command cards for each side as I had downsized all the troops so a table top bttn represented arrox. 1700 men, a cavalry regiment 1000 sabres and batteries way down to 5 or 6 a side! A shout out to JaysWargamingMadness for the downsizing idea. The command cards listed the commands/units and any special abilities for the commander. Took these from the Albion Triumphant book.

And here is Hougoumont which Alan has printed on his 3D printer and painted up. It is smaller than the Hovel’s version which would have been way to big a piece for the game table! Alan the clever sod has made a base mat for it as well as the walls and gardens. It is beautiful. Trees are a recent purchase by Goldie from K&M Trees…..I bought some from them couple of years ago during first lockdown…outstanding service provided by Rebecca again!

So here comes PaulW and his sidekick SteveT around the side of Hmont. They did not actually attack the buildings all game. Mix of Brits and Nassau awaited them.

Close up of the action as skirmishers from both sides shoot it out.

Back on the ridge….the French can be seen advancing…they didn’t do much of this…..except towards La HayeS where the Brunswickers and some rifles were encamped.

Young StephenC has a thingk for Highlanders…has these lovely painted models and also been working on English Civil War ancestors. This is the other side of La HayeS.

More Nassaus in Papelotte and also in trees to its front. Robert’s French advancing in distance.

Back on the French left….somehow my Dutch brigade has arrived early..who would have guessed that would happen! PaulW’s whisky glass in background…..the Whisky of the day will be reviewed at end of report.

I do love a good blunder…Robert gave his battery an order…they got real confused and blundered…they limbered up and raced across the field and unlimbered by troops in woods to front of Papelotte. …and were so exhausted..they……missed!

Back on the French left….PaulW and SteveT march on…clearing all before them.

Meanwhile back over at Papelotte…Goldie charged the battery…destroyed it and retired. Graham replied with Cuirassiers + Kellerman…who added extra attacks.

PaulW is getting the casualty markers out…its getting bloody. The ‘W’ counters tell us in continuing combats… who won the last round.

So back on the right..the Cuirassiers beat up the Allied Cavalry who retired…the Cuirassiers followed on …fought some infantry…didn’t win and retired. So Goldie hit them as below…the Cuirassiers were shaken so could not counter charge…it didn’t go well…and Kellerman died!(apparently his replacements kept dying……as good cavalry commanders should!)

Turn 5 arrives and the Prussian 4th Korps arrives…..Goldie had command of them. The French had been alerted to the arrival and were moving cavalry and Young Guard over to support the flank.

View towards centre where Kellerman is heading for Valhalla…the French did not press the centre of the battlefield which was a wee bit surprising. The Allied lines look impressive…but..a lot of Landwehr there. The French infantry either side of La HayeS advanced…carefully….and were held by Alled shooting…a special star were the Brunswickers who stopped Grahams attempts to advance by disordering fire……and with so many troops trying to get around the far right flank…..the French were stopped in the centre.

Back on the French left…..Allied line is getting pushed off table……..what remains.

On right…. Goldie’s cavalry falls back from destroying the Cuirassiers.

The British in Hougmt have clambered out and shot up a French column in the flank…didn’t do much…..French turned to face and British attacked…still didn’t do much.

Sigh…..it was another of my wonderful suggestions to Alan…..

View from French centre towards La HayeS…the black smudge are Brunswicker’s..who were real stars!

Its heating up over on the left…..Ney has lead a unit into combat…he added extra attacks…he…died a glorious death…like a Dwarf Slayer in Glorious Battle…Gotrek would be proud of him! The Cuirassiers are looking for opportunities….but…its very cluttered.

Prussians are relentless…..Robert’s attempt to stop them on edge of table did not go well….

We had run out of Allied cavalry so I used Austrians……if Sri Lanka ever sorts themselves out will send some Dutch cavalry over to Fernando’s to get painted.

Allied infantry almost gone…but the cavalry had a good flank attack into some French..so some French have joined the casualty list.

Woohoo…..if you roll a 12 to form square….the cavalry complete their charge into you….ouch.

More and more Prussians pour onto table.

Oopsy…what’s that behind the French..is it a small force from Halle! I think it is fair to say this did not go down well with the French.

No matter how often we discuss open flanks…….. this happens…..

The French push around the flank has stalled…..

Sigh…open flanks…..rampaging Cuirassiers hit a Guard unit in the flank…..for 2 turns I had been suggesting moving said unit to change facing and block off rear of Hougmt….. thankfully the Gods of War smiled…somehow the French lost…in 2 Cuirassier combats…SteveT rolled 20 dice …and achieved…2 wounds! Heavy cavalry have now been added to the list of troop types SteveT is NOT ALLOWED TO COMMAND!!

End Game…..the French Guard Cavalry are sitting in rear..Grahams infantry are in trouble…the Brunswickers were amazing….I never had to use the Household or Dutch Heavy cavalry. The French Old Guard never arrived on the table..I hadn’t noticed or would have made sure they did!

On other flank…..British have had minmal damage and Prussians are rumbling forward…so we called it quits.

There is a LOT of Allied troops on this flank.

So at the end of the day…its a crushing Allied Victory. The French plan to attack around Hgmont did not work…..the Allied ridgeline defence was never really tested…and the Prussians were….unrelentless.

So onto the Whisky of the Day….PaulW had procured a bottle of Arran Sherry Cask

The toasting notes are:

Nose: Orange chocolate, with Christmas spices, lots of dried fruit and toasty oak.

Palate: Loads of juicy sherry influence, with chocolate-dipped cherries, raisins and a touch of caramel.

Finish: Oak spice, dark chocolate praline and oak char.

So we tried this wee beauty during the day….Paul then stayed for dinner…we watched the Rugby….why oh why…and then played music….drank whisky(the Arran…..a Bowmore 15 and the last of the Aberlour 14!) and wine and sang til late.

A Great Day!!

Til next time….Terry out!!

Garage Gamer SteveT was having one of those birthdays that feature a ‘0’ so he decided to host a Game in his Garage. Steve has written the report and I have added pictures.

Enjoy.

Battle of Bautzen Report by Steven Thompson

Why host a big Game?

There was two key reasons why I wanted to host a big game for the Garage Gamers using my own old school 20mm Napoleonic armies. I wanted to celebrate a major upcoming birthday milestone (how the hell did that happen – one year at a time I guess) but more importantly I wanted to do it to thank Terry Swain and the other Garage Gamers for allowing me to participate in their garage gaming nights.

I was very much a solo gamer before Terry invited me to the Garage Gamers nights. It is the best thing that has happen to me in the hobby as I have enjoyed playing with beautifully painted 28mm armies, experienced a wide range of periods that have included ancients (elephants!), ACW, WW2 Sea battles (battleships!), Napoleonic sailing ships (which brings out the kid in us all) and recently Flames of War modern battles.

The forward to the Black Powder rulebook says it best, ”let us remember that ideal accompaniment to the journey [in our hobby] maybe found in good brandy, fine cigars, and the companion of like-minded enthusiasts.”

We may not be big on cigars but we do like fine brandy & whiskey and I cannot think of a finer bunch of like-minded enthusiasts to share the hobby with than my fellow Garage Gamers.   

Planning a Scenario

I have long been fascinated by the 1813 campaign which featured a number of epic battles which are rich in the element of “what if” scenarios. Bautzen is one of these, and I was interested when reading Michael Leggiere history of the 1813 Spring Campaign about the debate in the Allied HQ for a counter offensive against the initial three French Corps that crossed the River Spree on the first day of battle.

My Bautzen game was more in the spirit of the battle rather than a historically accurate refight. I wanted to use the terrain boards from the epic Wagram battle at Call to Arms in 2019 as I have fond memories of that game and the boards lovingly built by Paul Weakly deserve to be used. 

This still allowed me to retain the key elements of a Bautzen game, Allies in strong defensive position on heights, a number of fiercely contested villages as the French launched pinning attacks before the arrival of the sledge hammer flank attack. The layout of the terrain boards also allowed the Allies the opportunity to use their advantage in cavalry to inflict a punishing attack on the initial French deployment.

I added a bit whimsy to my scenario by making the Czar as a very distracted CnC for the Allies as Terry had wanted to spend part of the day drinking whisky while listening to 70/80’s Lps on my  stereo. However this did remove the best player on the Allied side from the game at important moments. 

In planning any good scenario game you should try for an even match in player abilities and temperament and this was where I came a bit unstuck due to unexpected late withdraws. I had Paul Goldsmith commanding the Austrian Bde (I know but I did say it was in the spirit of Bautzen!) and a Heavy Cavalry Bde as he knows how to get the best out of those big battalions in white and is an aggressive cavalry commander. Rob Parks who was to command the French VI Corps and I Reserve Cavalry was a good match against the Allied commanders he was likely to face in the opening stages of the battle.

However due to illness neither could attend which meant I overloaded poor Keith Gates with the Austrian Bde when he enough on his hands being Blucher. Rob’s unavailability meant that Keith & Stephen Clarke had to face Russel Briant in command of 3 French Corps from move one.

Russell is a player I have huge respect for as he sees the angles in BP rules for flank attacks just quicker than anyone else. When playing him you are constantly under the threat of your units being overwhelmed by a never-ending wave of flank attacks and playing with French he rarely fails any command rolls so these attacks come at a speed that is difficult to defend against. He only failed one command roll all game.

I also learnt a lesson about not laying the units on the table at 2am as you will make deployment mistakes which allows one side an unfair advantage which was never your intention.

How did it Play?

We managed to get six full moves completed by 4pm. Robert Nippert had the heavy lifting role of storming the heights defended by Alan Hollows entrenched Russian & Austrian Bdes.

Robert is an experienced French player and due to my early morning placement blunder he quickly crossed the River Spree, stormed the village at the foot of the heights and pushed a Russian Bde back into the woods at the top of the heights. However he could not sustain his position and his Bde representing Oudinots XII Corps settled for retaining control of the village.

His second Bde representing McDonalds XI Corps also managed to make it to the top of heights, storming a redoubt before facing fierce cavalry and infantry counter attacks which drove his units back down to the river line. Fighting in this zone of the battlefield settled ended in a stand-off but Robert had achieved his objectives of pining Alan’s Bdes in place and seizing the village.

The key battle was in the centre between Russell, commanding the French IV & VI Corps, I Reserve Cav Corps and the Guard and Keith and Stephen with Bluchers I Prussian Corps, & 3^rd Army of the West.  Keith took my “what if” scenario to heart and advanced boldly forward to attack the French VI Corps but did not use the heavy cavalry Bde to provide flank support.

Russell took one look at the open flank and reoriented the Swiss Bde he was planning on using to attack the town of Bautzen, to slam into Keiths advancing Prussian Bdes. The poor Prussian Bde was hit by the 2^nd Bde of VI Corps to its front and the Swiss Bde to its flanks and eventually destroyed.

Stephen moved this Bdes into the gap and launched a series of attacks against Russell’s advancing French. This involved a series of heavy cavalry battles which despite losing some units Russell managed to prevail, destroying the Allied heavy cavalry Bde. The end of the days play saw Stephen and Keith cobbling together a make shift defensive line as Russell was bringing up his guard units to deliver the coup de grace.

Terry deployed the Russian Guard and Reserve Cuirassier Bdes to face Ney’s flank attack which finally arrived in turn four. We ended playing a game divorced from the rest of the action which more resembled an Age of Marlborough game as we both deployed our units in line to blast away at each other as Terry used his cavalry to try and take out my artillery. 

We are planning to rerun the game in the summer when everyone is fit and healthy and it will give me a chance to tweak the scenario to make it flow a little better so we can fit more turns in a day’s playing which is always the challenge for big Napoleonic games. 

But as for my two personal objectives it was very much mission accomplished!

Steven Thompson

So that is Steve’s report! I must thank him for his hospitality…fully stocked fridge…hot tea..and his lovely wife Clare provided a sumptuous feast for lunch! I personally enjoyed the bottle of Monkey Shoulder Whiskey while I listened to music before my occasional visists to the Game room…. this was the role as per the scenario instructions! PERFECT! As Steve said…he plans to replay game in summer when hopeful everyone is free of Covid.

So the Whiskey of the Week has to be Monkey Shoulder.

Review is:

Color: Dirty gold.

On the nose: A faint mix of honey and chili flakes make up the top notes, accompanied by sliced white bread. The base notes are all about malt: porridge, oat cookies, and the slightest touch of starch. Then, it transitions into old bananas, apple skins, and cotton candy powder. These aromas blend too soon until only the malt notes remain dominant.

In the mouth: The core of malt remains but with added light citrus peel and toasted rice. The fruity aromas are less distinct, giving way to wood spice, old gumamela flowers, and Manila paper. The texture is thin. It has a medium-length finish, beginning with powdered nuts and weak Victorian perfume before trailing away with toasted wood and old flowers.

Must say that is one of most ridiculous tastings have read…its a blended whiskey…was quite pleasant and on a cold day….warmed me up nicely….what more can one ask for! Thank you SteveT!!

Til next time..Terry out.

p.s Garage been out of commission for a month….we have been replacing furniture so old stuff was in garage until all sold…then popped down to the Winter playground of Queenstown to visit one of my daughters who is working there at moment. Normal gaming resumes next week.

So 2 weeks prior to Game 1 posted….Alan, Rob, Robert and I visited the Hutt Club taking along some Naps for a game.

I had an idea for a game…….got there and changed the set up. Stoopid. I told ladz after game when I have one of those ideas…you know to tell me its stoopid before we start!

So rather than playing across the table…we played down it….and I increased the number of units for each side as well. I must fight the desire for ever larger games!!

Below we have Bavarians and Russians at one end. Alan had bought along his newly painted Victrix Bavarians. Being not allowed into his office for a couple of years due to earthquake damage and the plague that goes on and on and… has really allowed Al to focus on painting armies…darn that man!

And at the other end of the table we have the Frenchie’s with Robert having those on the left and Rob on the right!

Shot through my Russkie’s to Roberts French at the far end. It was a rush to reach the centre of table where woods and village was!

Alans newly to Battle Bavarians. As ever..wonderful paint job.

Now these are Perry plastic Bavarians. The enlightened among you will know the Perry’s do not(well yet anyway) make plastic Bavarian cavalry…this is Alan playing with heads…adding shabraque extensions etc to make units up. He’s just embarassing.

So the issue with my really bright idea is now apparent…wall to wall troops…in depth with no space for manoeuvre. A slug fest.

Robert was really aggressive….Russians eat up aggressive….especially aggressive columns charging their large batteries…yum yum.

What a mess.

So the game ended in a fairly bloody draw…..

Now one of the nice chaps have met at the Hutt Club is doing some 3D printing and I have purchased the 3 buildings below which are Team Yankee scale 15mm building and will fit in perfectly with the pre painted building have bought from Battlefront. He is also doing various tanks etc which look quite good.

So that was the 2nd visit to the Hutt club…. finding with upgraded motorways now open its only a 15 minutes drive!

Til next time…..Terry out.

Been bit slack in writing up games….

In no particular order.

Game 1: Battle of Saltanovka

So another game played at the Hutt Club. Previous visit had taken Naps along for a game and 2 of the regulars in Reg and Doug expressed a desire to get their Russians out on the battlefield so I rounded up Rob and Goldie to play them while I helped with rules for Reg and Doug. Chose our old favourite in Saltanovka but we reduced the orbat by roughly 40%.

Below is a picture of ladz… from left Rob, Doug, Reg and Goldie.

So the Russians are on the left and the French on the right. You probably have already figured that out! Doug had the Russian right flank opposite Rob in Saltanovka and Reg was on left opposite Goldie in Fatova. Russians deploy up to 8 inches on table and have first move. The rounding down on orbats gave each Russian player a brigade of 2 Jager and a brigade of 4 Musketeers with 2 batteries attached. On turn 4 a brigade of 2 heavy cavalry would arrive. The French players had a brigade of 4 battalions plus a battery each. On turn 2 another brigade of 4 battalions would arrive. On turn 3 they get a brigade of 2 heavy cavalry. The French start positions were holding the 2 villages.

Goldie’s force with battalion in line on left behind field fortification with a battalion in each of the houses and then a 4th in reserve. The battery is set up to shoot down the road. Reg’s force in distance.

Here we have Doug advancing on Saltanovka. Note the lovely 5 gun battery on a gorgy terrain piece on the left. It fired as a standard 3 gun battery but was so lovely we made sure it was on table! Rob has battery in advance behind cover with bttn’s in buildings and 2 in reserve.

A bit along in the game….. Doug has taken out the French battery and the cavalry for both sides is on the table. Goldie has moved the bttn from beside Fatova to woods further back due to artillery fire.

French reserve infantry are advancing around French right flank.

Woohoo! I do love heavy cavalry charging each other! Rob’s cavalry brigade has charged the Jager skirmishers who evaded out of the way opening up a charge on the Russian Kuirassier’s who counter charged. It got quite bloody… Rob’s Kuirassier’s imploded…Doug did a sweeping advance into the 2nd unit of Kuirassier’s…resulting in both units becoming shaken…but Doug’s won the combat. Rob’s 2nd unit was now shaken and so was removed from table as brigade now broken.

Now on the other flank… Reg has been throwing some truely appalling dice….and Goldie was getting stuck in and avoiding the Russian artillery…..

A bit further along and end of game time…and…well….its all a bit confusing…units have charged all over the place…combats have carried on..Reg has made some amazing dice rolls to hang in there…..but in the end…Goldie got there

On the other flank…was last turn so I encouraged Doug to charge in and see what would happen…good practice… sigh…..several bttns popped…….taking buildings can be very hard…even when you shake units with artillery first!

So that was a learning game for Reg and Doug.

Hopefully they will want to play again!!

And its Whisky of the Month time!!(Month as with Weakley overseas…..far less Whisky being consumed!!)

So I received an advice from my favourite online supplier to tell me that the Talisker Dark Storm was back in stock. However as I excitedly logged on to buy…found already sold out…..like…not happy (picture a very sad emoji). So I looked around and saw the GlenDronach Port Wood was in stock so decided to give it a trial.

The marketing spin says:

Glendronach 10yo Port Bottling Note

Following on from its Peated Port Wood Finish, GlenDronach have released another sumptuous single malt that has enjoyed a rest in Port casks. This particular expression is a 10 year old whisky, initally aged in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks before being finished in Port pipes from Portugal’s Douro valley.

The tasting notes say:

Nose: Huge helpings of dried fruit, mixed with aromatic oak and strawberry jam.

Palate: Brandied cherries, blackcurrant and chocolate digestive biscuits.

Finish: Honey, biscotti, raisin and orange zest.

Terry says….liked sound of it…..but…..bit of a let down…..perhaps being harsh as have had the GlenDronach 15 and 21’s and perhaps expected more from this…could be the finish in the Port casks….am not a Port drinker….will put aside for partner to drink..she enjoys a port!

Til next time.