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.
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!!
Now a while back Goldie suggested playing a Big Napoleonic Cavalry Bash..and in particular the Day 1 Leipzig Big Cavalry Bash around Liebertwolkwitz. Somehow this turned into the Ligny refight we had last month. Soo….without further ado…..the delayed Big Cavalry Bash!!
Now the game I staged was LOOSELY based on the actual battle…… in that the terrain was kind of correct…..the formations were…kind of correct…..but for ease of a good game in one evening…I…..went with the feel and flow of the Evening…..
On the night only 4 Gamers made it…so they had a FEW regiments each to play with.
Rob and Robert were French…Goldie and SteveT were the Allies…I made drinks and….kept replacing destroyed formations and on last turn actually got to roll some dice…….which was not a good idea.
So here we are at start of game. It’s the 14th of October 1813 and Murat has sent Divisions of Dragoons supported by light cavalry down the rise towards the Allied lines. The village of Wachau is on the left and Liebertwolkwitz on the right. Guilden-Gossa is in the foreground where the Czar, Emperor and Kaiser are watching the battle.
Looking down the ridge from Mark-Kleenburg(MK) to Wachau(WH) and then Lieberwolkwitz(LZ). Each has 2 units of French infantry in them who are not allowed to move. The only Allied infantry is Wurttembergs 2nd Corps in squares slowing escaping the massed French gun’s(now masked by French cavalry). The only artillery on the table are 2 Russian Guard Horse batteries in front of Gulden-Gossa(GG) which are not allowed to move and only shoot threats to their front.
Here is Murat behind his massed attack.
The Kaiser watching the battle unfold in front of GG.
Turn 1 and Steve assaults with Russian Cuirassiers to the front…Austrian Cuirassier and CLs go in one flank and Russian Hussars the other. French counter charge or turn to face.
Austrian Heavies took some punishment but saw off a unit of Dragoons.
Hmmm…there were 8 French regts there a moment ago! More Allied cavalry roll in from the rear.
One would hazard a guess this French Dragoon unitis…..in a wee bit of trouble.
Yep…they were…have disappeared and now the Cuirassiers have swept forward into the next Dragoon regt.
Nice clear space for more charges has been created.
Oh look…..2 of my Cavalry regts have appeared…..these are my 4th and 6th French Cuirassier regts…..close to 20 years old now……Front Rankers…I tidied them up as were a bit battle weary and rebased them for this game.
On the French right, Robert through forward the Polish Uhlans (which I also had tidied up and rebased for this game!) supported by several squadrons of Empress Dragoons against Prussian Dragoons/Uhlans. French Lancers advance to the ridge line.
Aerial view…. Empress Dragoons is covering the flank and giving support……otherwise is a fairly even fight.
The Empress Dragoons are very pretty.
I do like Uhlans/Lancers.
Combat was…interesting…Robert charged…Goldie countered…..Prussian Dragoons beat Uhlans who popped…Empress Dragoons then decided to withdraw off table…..then the other Polish Uhlans beat up the Prussian Uhlans…who decided to be elsewhere (Goldie’s hand is a giveaway).
And a crowded section of the table…suddenly…looks like this…Cavalry combat is brutal.
Over on otherside of Wachau….. its not looking good for the French.
The Cossacks over by LZ moved towards French lines…so Rob moved light cavalry to counter….and in response Steve…having a GREAT GAME…sent Cuirassiers into an open FLANK. Sigh…FLANKS…will they ever learn.
Recovering French Dragoons watching the carnage in front of them.
Now Steve had moved the Russian Guard Light Cavalry up to support his Cuirassier thrust through the middle…..so Robert sent Polish Uhlans into an exposed FLANK….. Rob then sent Cuirassiers into the front…..and Robert sent my Cuirassiers over there in case needed as well.
Close up below.
BEAUTIFUL.
Much to everyone’s surprise….the Guard Cossacks…..survived….I know….miracle.
Robert resetting his lines.
Steve was like a ‘Pig in mud’…..attack after attack……for the game I reduced cavalry movement to 2 and not 3 moves so attacks and responses would not be so dramatic…and we could fit more cavalry on the table.
Another division of French lights arrive on the table…..
The previous view of Cuirassiers hitting Hussars in the flank was a pre cursor to the destruction of the French cavalry in this sector. They were in that empty bit of field. That included the NEWLY ARRIVED Saxon Cuirassiers!
Huzzah!
On come Imperial Guard Cavalry…4 regts!
Beautiful.
The Allies will be terrified at this line opposite them!
Over MK way…..Robert and Goldie were throwing heavies at each other…..Austrian and Prussian Cuirassiers, supported by Landwehr Cavalry up against French Cuirassiers and Uhlans. Round1 to Goldie who has wiped out a French unit and swung onto the flank…..my 6th could be in trouble…..
But then I noticed they had 3 wounds…so shaken…so cannot perform a ‘Sweeping Advance’….naughty naughty Goldie……tsch tsch
It then got really bad for Goldie….he lost all the combats….and 3 Prussian Kuirassier’s popped and others ran away……I lost count but he may have lost 6 ot 8 Cuirassier regts alone during battle……
Now what’s really embarrassing is that I finally got to roll some dice…last few games I have spent games in woods or trying to cross streams…….unsuccessfully…so French Guard…I MUST be able to beat someone up with them..alas….Russian Cuirassiers are pretty even…Steve rolled good…I rolled…not so good……the Guard Uhlans refused to charge…and that was that…..but I take solace in the combatants were my troops!!
On other flank…… Robert had the better of Goldie……but Allies had the overall win.
And that was that……we will probably rerun it when rest of guys are available……will lengthen table…remove woods at end…and add the cavalry Russ/Alan/Keith can bring. As it was there were around 60 or so regts used ….ladz seemed to enjoy game…lots of dice were rolled and hopefully the gamers had some fun.
So after the Waterloo refight the question was asked over what would be next big game and Ligny was suggested. The 3 wise men of Robert, Rob and Goldie elected themselves to organise this game.
Now Goldie has moved to a new, much larger abode so he hosted the game in his lounge as no furniture is in it yet so was perfect for a large game. So last Saturday the game was fought on a 15 foot x 6 foot table.
The map for game is below.
The Victory conditions are as below. Prussia Hold at least 3 of the 4 villages, or Break the majority of French forces France Capture at least 3 of the 4 villages, or Break the majority of Prussian forces or Breakthrough Prussian northern side of table.
The players for the French side were Russ, Rob, Steve, Robert and me. On day I swapped over to Prussians as they were down to 3 players and needed 4.
The Special Rules for game were:
Rivers/Streams 6” movement penalty crossing the La Ligne stream, artillery cannot cross except by way of bridges Units are disordered while crossing or in are contact with the river. Disorder automatically ceases once unit is no longer in contact with the stream Units disordered prior to crossing the stream remain disordered after crossing Villages The villages are sprawling areas of brick buildings and walls, trees, orchards and gardens, rather than single strongpoints. The battles for villages were extremely bloody and saw attack and counter-attack as the two sides would feed troops into the meatgrinder (rather than a prolonged siege of a single strongpoint): Villages are impassable to artillery and cavalry except roads. Villages use Rules as Written. Defenders get a +2 Combat Result. Defenders get all HtH combat dice (i.e. usually 6). Defenders ignore Withdraw results from Break Tests but become Disordered. (Note: Losers always lose their cover save). Woods As per the Rules as Written All Napoleonic infantry who do not have the ‘skirmishers’ special rule can form a skirmish formation only to go into terrain they could not otherwise enter, and will automatically revert to line when they leave it Broken Brigades A brigade is broken when the number of units destroyed is greater than the remaining unshaken units in the brigade. Any shaken or artillery units in a brigade are ignored in the assessment.
Orbats were:
Prussian Order of Battle Prussian Korps had dual command, with the senior commander supported by a junior officer from the GeneralStaß. Each Prussian Korps can be commanded by two players – the corps commander and his chief of staff. In game terms they act as two commanders-in-chief for the Korps, with two players.
Additional French formations possibly arriving later in the game:(Terry Note…needless to say..THEY ALL ARRIVED) VI Corps: Lobau with three Inf divisions and a Cav division 19th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Simmer SR8 20 th Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 4 Line, 1 6pdr – Jeanin SR8 21 st Inf Division (4) 1 Legere, 3 Line, 1 6pdr – Teste SR8 5 th Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Subervie SR8 I Corps with one Inf division and a Cav division 4 th Division (4) 4 Line, 1 6pdr -Durutte SR8 1 st Cavalry Division (2) 2 Chevauleger-lancier – Jacquinot SR8
First up below is view from Wagnele on right and La Haye on left at the advancing Vandamme.
View from St Armand which held 2 Prussian bttns. Note on right a sole Prussian bttn guarding area to La Haye.
Alan’s Prussians linking La Haye to Ligny.
And we have Ligny in the corner with another wood…it also held 2 bttns.
Old Nappy has set up shop in front of St Armand.
Vandamme closes in on Wagnele.
Here’s my 7th Prussian brigade….in woods…..my plan was to rush through the woods…..and beat up Steve quickly so that Nappy would need to despatch troops to this flank….foolish me!!
Turn one and the Prussian plan just fell apart……Pirch(Goldie) sent the Reserve artillery of 3 batteries racing towards La Haye on the right flank…….howeverrrrr….. this left them exposed to a French attack…while in march column…yep…they all died.
Brilliant start…turn one and half our artillery gone. The mantle of never being allowed to command artillery again moved from SteveT to Goldie. Thats a really big gap to run through isn’t it.
Over by Ligny Gerard(SteveT) advances onwards….
Dear oh dear….. Rob had painted up a new unit of French Legere…looked darn good…nice bright yellow……they charged Keiths skirmishing fusiliers….so means pretty even..Rob has slight advantage being the attacker…but the curse of the new unit struck yet again…they lost the combat and popped…..
Pain has arrived…..massed Guard artillery….
And over on French right…some heavies arrive from the Reserve.
Big gap on Nappy’s right….. has someone got lost??
A bit further along….Vandamme is really rolling forward……Prussians are still holding Wagnele.
Close up of attack ..it lasted a couple of rounds…..
Way over on other flank…..Gerard(SteveT) spent the game assaulting this piece of wall…..he never got into the village….took lots of damage and kept coming back for more….my troops can be seen in the woods….
Talk about ‘Gung Ho!’…no preamble…Russell threw the Young Guard straight in!
Vandamme(Rob) has taken Wagnele…1st Objective taken.
Hmmm…the Young Guard seem to be..missing…dear oh dear….Nappy is not going to be happy. Sadly the Cuirassiers didn’t care…..now that really would have been a good result had they failed morale!!
French have taken half of St Armand. Oh look…Lobau has wandered onto the battlefield…what..a …surprise…….
Goldie has managed to get a brigade over to the La Haye/Wagnele sector……actually did some damage…
Lobau(Robert) threw units over stream to support Guard moving out of St Armand……at start of game I said to ‘Watch your FLANKS!’…..Robert had left a beautiful one..Alan ordered Uhlans to charge it…fools blundered and rushed ahead…across stream….(next turn French Cuirassirs charged and wiped them out)……but he did then manage to get the bttn we can see on the left which took out a unit….another pooped…good result..stopped French..briefly….
Oh look… d’Erlon has arrived…..expect Ney and Davout will arrive ….kidding guys…..KIDDING……we all know Davout is in Paris and can’t quite make it.
Sigh…back in the middle….a lot of popping occurred in the Prussian ranks…….
As for my bold flanking manoeuvre……move into woods…fail move orders for 2 turns….French manage to get to stream so never going to cross now…so back out…form up…and then…Blunder back into the woods! LOL. They can now join with my 8th Brigade and cavalry and form a rear guard!
So clear French victory….WELL PLAYED BY THE 4 FRENCH PLAYERS…..the Prussian left flank was intact…but the right was gone burger……quite a good game for those that did something….at least I had a comfy chair and twitter to entertain me…..solace is taken in only suffering 2 casualties all game….wood splinters from the trees…. I really hate woods…next game will have NO TREES ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE….OR DISORDERING STREAMS.
Whisky of the week is still the Wolfburn Fathers Day……really enjoying it……have managed to finish a bottle of Jet Fuel(Infrequent Flyers) I got back in the first Covid Lockdown 2 and a half years ago.
Now Infrequent Flyers was recommended to me by buddy Murray…he who owns the lovely Calpe Prussians I was using in the game. Must admit struggled with it at first…not used to the style…but couple of years of Whisky appreciation and yep…my palate has improved……and was really enjoying it when bottle sadly emptied. So will be getting another one!
So that’s it for now….next game is an 1813 Leipziggy mega cavalry game with a gazillion heavy cavalry…be quick..and bloody…fun fun…
Carrying on the ACW streak Goldie offered to run an Antietam Refight on a Saturday excursion to the Hutt Club.
The Battle of Antietam, or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theatre of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the Union army suffered heavier casualties than the Confederates, the battle was a major turning point in the Union’s favour.
The game was fought on a 15 foot by 6 foot table with 5 Union and 3 Confederate players. For the Union Keith, Stephen, Robert, Alan and Terry(me) lined up. The Rebs were represented by Russ, Sheridan and Reg.
Goldie rounded the forces down so each Union player had around 8 foot regts and 2 batteries and the Rebs 10 foot and 2 batteries. Russ and Robert both had some cavalry as well. Map of battle is below.
Table from the end where Reg and I were. Apparently, I was meant to form march columns and rush over the bridge and get destroyed. My mate Mark from ‘1866 and all that’ was telling me today that historically 350 Rebs held off 8,000 Union troops on this bridge. I had 4 regts and 2 batteries…as did Reg…so we just sat and looked at each other all game. We could both see into a gully…but after turn 1 when I made Regs’s skirmishing regt retired shot up…no one ventured down into the gulley. My second brigade is heading to the ford where a unit of dismounted cavalry was waiting to stop me.
And here they are…they were even my own figures…traitors.
On hill overlooking the bridge and the gully…2 of my new batteries watched……all game….
Next to me was Robert who also had a bridge to cross…this one a 3D print of Alan’s….very cool bridge…Sheridan has troops in a sunken road waiting…..so that’s a -1 to hit and a +1 on saves type of sunken road……going to be hard to shoot them out of there……
Down far end of table Keith has the Iron brigade who are advancing on. Reb’s on other side of field.
Their neighbours have given up on a steady advance and raced ahead.
Back down my end…here is what Reg had on other side of the big bridge…same force as me…..now in Black Powder ACW…you can only make 1 move and still be able to fire…so even if I managed to get a march column across the bridge…it still could not shoot…..so I not be trying that silly tactic…so at least I was pinning an equivalent Reb force away from action further west!!
Keith moving through field…Russ advancing on him…..Steven is off table Keiths left and in top left Robert is moving on by the covered bridge…but he cannot cross the stream so it’s a shooting match…until Alan who will move up on his right can force the sunken road so Robert can burst through the bridge!
FLANKS…..FLANKS…FLANKS…..every game i keep talking about…FLANKS……here Jeb Stuart is leading the charge in person.
A close up….after game have ordered bunch more command figures including mounted standard bearers from Perrys so can make this a proper Jeb Stuart Cavalry base!
Roberts’s command included 4 small cavalry brigades so here they are dismounted and lining stream to left of wooden bridge.
The Gods were smiling on Keith….Jeb Stuart didn’t obliterate the Iron Brigade. But it is not advancing with its neighbour which Russ is bound to take advantage of.
Oh dear…..Robert has lost a regt.. it is ‘Whupped’ from shooting so must retire 12 inches…so it’s off table for game….and cannot come back.
Alans on table and advancing on the sunken road.
Dice can be a real ‘b****h’ can’t they. Close range artillery can be quite devastating…rolling double ones is not what you want…the Reb’s summoned me from the other end of table to record this event!
Steven arrives…Irish Brigade leading the way.
Keith moving thru the field……
View from Russ position….was a bit cramped behind table on that side so not many pictures taken! Nice vignette of the ladies watching the battle.
The excitement…I am shooting at the dismounted cavalry….there goes the 5 seconds of my turn. Reg rolled 3 great break tests from shooting dice rolls……he was moving a small reserve force to help them out…..
Few turns later……they are still there……even when tried the march column charge…my boys refused to move…..they knew better!! Reg’s reserves have arrived as well…..fate really.
Back in the real battle……I couldn’t figure out why the Union players were not charging the join in sunken road……
The battle was looking very messy…….if someone manages to get a good charge in….there are a few units not in good shape who might pop easily on break tests.
Aha…Steven has a got a charge in on the flank of one of Russ’s regts…..
Steven wins…but is now shaken…..in a precarious position…..
Russ goes in on them…….look at the clump of Union troops…..if they pop…all units within 6 inches of the popping unit must make morale test….
Which is the BEST way to break the line. Steven actually rolled really well and did not end up as badly as he could of.
I missed a photo opportunity where Jeb Stuart once again found a flank…FGS!! FLANNNNKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS,,,,,,But Keith was shaking the Rosary Beads and beat him off…then shot up the unit and they and Jeb disappeared…….
Sheridan has been holding the sunken road all game……but as one can see…he is getting a few ‘Whupped’ units….Reg has committed his reserve brigade to hold the line.
View from Russ hill again……nice blue line advancing…….
End of game coming up…Steven has broken one of Russ’s brigades…..he gets over excited and charges after them…..so Russ taught him a lesson about OPEN FLANKS…OMG…FLANKS!
So here is end of game where the action was…..result is deemed a draw…….ladz really seemed to enjoy it…lots of dice rolled….got quite noisey at times…..a good sign…
Meanwhile down the other end….I woke up …to find Reg actually had an average dice roll and retired 12 inches…so could rush over stream…where some Reb units were waiting…we died…nough said…..
So learning from game is….
FLANKSSSSSSS
FLANKSSSS
FLANKSS
FLAN….
Now onto the exciting part of MY day….I was quite grumpy when got home so my beloved made me a lovely steak…mushroom gravy…creamy mash and salad meal…with which I consumed 2 glasses of the Saddleback Pinot Noir previously mentioned in a post. She also went and procured me a large block of Kitkat chocolate….love that woman…..and so consumed that while enjoying my latest whisky….which I purchased for myself for father’s day….it is from Wolfburn and is called ‘Fathers Day!…how cool is that!!(It was an early night)
Here is some information on this wonderful release……
Limited release consists of just 1840 bottles in total. Crafted from spirit matured in a combination of wonderfully sweet Oloroso sherry butts and ex-bourbon quarter casks it is a shade over seven years old.
This hand-selected cask pairing has done an astonishing job of producing a smooth and rounded single malt whisky – and to maximise the flavour we have bottled it at cask strength.
Sweet, aromatic and sumptuous in character, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable dram.
The bottle comes complete with a neck-tag so that Fathers Day gifts can be personalised.
NOSE: Fresh bourbon aromas are softened by sweet sherry essence. Hints of toffee and caramel shine through.
PALATE: Chocolate truffles meet sticky toffee pudding and trifle sponge – and the whole mouthful is wonderfully overlaid with gentle hints of peat smoke. By any standards this is a rich and flavourful dram, bursting with flavour.
FINISH: Caramel sweetness is present, accompanied by hints of toffee and demerara sugar. A traces of peat smoke remains until the very end, ensuring a beautiful lingering finish.
Now I have to admit this is one of the few times I actually could taste what they are talking about…..the sweetness of the toffee/sugar was evident. It is very easy to drink…..the final peaty taste at the end is not overpowering and I now have the issue my beloved being impressed by it so much am going to need to get another one!
So for me that’s the end of ACW for a while….it’s time for some Ancients and ‘Hail Ceasar’ rules starting with a game with Keith tomorrow night. He has completed a lovely Macedonian Army so we are going to push some troops around as a refresher…then am playing Reg in 2 weeks and bound to fit more games in. Also discovered a SAGA group that meet in a movie theatre cafe on a Wednesday night close to my work and a group testing a new ‘Hail Caesar’ Gallic Wars Supplement up the coast so am going to be very busy!
terrysgaragegaming 