Secure the Bridge

I managed to get in a small game with all of my painted Spanish Succession units today. Just two infantry and two cavalry units a side, I figured a race to secure a bridge might be a good scenario to play out.

Height of the battle

 The background to games is always important to me, and I like to have a narrative behind the fighting. In this case the Allies are racing north to secure a bridge over the river. The crossing is guarded by a unit of Dragoons, and the Bourbon forces are a step behind the Allies, who snuck out of camp at night.

Forces:
Bourbon (all Spanish)
Mahoney Dragoons
Granada Nuevo Cavalry
Seville 'Old Purples'
Burgos 'Old Blues'

Allies
Zinzendorf Dragoons (Spanish)
Killigrew's Dragoons (English)
Rivers' Foot (English)
St. Amant (Dutch)

Spanish Mahoney Dragoons deploy next to the bridge, while the Allied Zinzendorf arrive on the left of the picture.

 The Spanish decided to cross the bridge and delay the enemy on the far side of the river. (the option was a 50/50 call on a % dice throw). It proved to be an inspired choice.

The Mahoney Dragoons cross the bridge.

 The Allies got reserves on a roll of 3+ in the first turn. The Spanish on a 6. Every turn the number decreased, but if the road was blocked, then the reserves would have to wait until the following turn. Friction would not be the Allied friend in this game.

The British Dragoons arrive, but at the same time as the Granada Nuevo Regiment, just visible in the top left corner.

As the Mahoney dragoons leave the bridge in march column the Zinzendorf dragoons form up, prepared to charge.

But the Spanish get the first move in the next turn, and the dragoons form up just in time to repulse the Allied charge.

Granada Nuevo start to cross the bridge, with the infantry bringing up the rear.

Rivers' regiment of foot starts coming through the woods as the Granada Nuevo arrive. The Mahoney dragoons reform to lose their disordered status.

The Old Purples are crossing the bridge as the Bourbon horse form up. The Zinzendorf dragoons repulse a charge from the Mahoney Dragoons.

Between them the Spanish cavalry units force back the Allied cavalry - the Zinzendorf dragoons breaking and routing.

But the Allies move forward, Killigrew's Dragoons charging into the Mahoney boys and sending them reeling back. Rivers' regiment gets a volley away into the Granada Horse.

The Old Blues make it over the bridge as the Old Purples let loose a volley at the British infantry. Killigrew keeps the pressure up on his opposites.

And the final charge proves too much. The Mahoney dragoons break.

Meanwhile The Granada horse chances its arm and exposes its rear to the St Amant regiment in preparation to flank Rivers' regiment. It is a gamble that pays off.

The Old Blues deploy as Killigrew reforms to face them. The Old Purples and English infantry exchange volleys.

Forced back, Rivers' Regiment is on the verge of breaking.

The Granada horse have taken some flak from the Dutch but are still strong enough to charge the disordered English infantry and deliver the coup de grace.

At the end of the battle Killigrew was lining up a charge against the rear of the Old Purples, but with 2 units lost to 1, the Allies are broken.

The end of the battle from another angle showing all of the remaining combatants.

The game was turned by the actions of the Mahoney dragoons crossing the bridge and taking the battle to Allied side. The woods created a bottleneck that made it incredibly difficult for the Allies to deploy. The Allies also struggled with some poor early command rolls that meant that they could only move half their units at a time. Although they were the only Spanish unit routed, the dragoons did the business, and on a day when O'Mahony paid a blinder for Ireland against the All-Blacks, it is fitting that his namesake lead the most important of the Spanish units in this victory.

The rules held up surprisingly well, There are a couple of little tweaks I need to add - it wasn't written anywhere that march columns count as in 'disorder' and as 'enfiladed' if charged or shot at, so I'll change that, as it was always the intention. The use of percentage dice mean that very unit has a chance to do the business, as when the Zinzendorf dragoons managed one last rally to beat off their opposites before the inevitable.

Oddly, throughout the battle I suffered from 'Raglan syndrome'. I kept referring in my head to the Bourbon troops as the French! The reason, in my case, is probably because there were Spaniards on both sides, and not flashbacks to a past life when I lost an arm fighting the Frenchies... probably...

Nate

Some progress

Since the last post my paint brush has been busily working through a few things. First and foremost is another 2 regiments for the Spanish War of Succession project.

The Viejos Murados - the Old Purples. the Sevilla Tercio.

From the other angle with a closer shot of the grenadiers.

The Dutch Regiment St.Amant - a marine regiment that served in Spain for the duration of the war.

And another angle.

Rivers' regiment is not too far off finished so I'll put that up when it's all done.

I completed the Ultramarine Kill Team. Painted up in mid-90s style - ain't no school like the old school! Adam's been keen to get a game in but the weekend has been far too busy, as we've taken advantage of the weather to do some tidying up in the yard.

A bit bunched

A better view of some of the hidden chaps from above.

I also finished off Geoff's last figures.

I felt a little sad as I painted these kids. It just reminded me of how desperate things must have felt in Germany in 1945, and the price that was paid. Some of those kids might have been distant relatives.

Which leads nicely into my updated DNA Ancestry results. The previous results had 40% English, 20% Irish, and no German. The latest update (the more people that take the test, the more markers are available and the more accurate the test becomes) sees my ancestry shift a little to match what I know of my family tree. The Scandanavian probably comes in with my Eastern English ancestry - lots of Vikings hanging out in those parts, and the Eastern European probably adds to the German as part of my Prussian heritage. but I am quite surprised at the degree of Irish in there.  20% seemed to tally with my knowledge of the family tree, so further research is needed. Gone are the small Spanish, Jewish and Caucasus percentages. Just lots more Irish. I look forward to seeing how it shifts again in the future.

Right, time to go and grab some Guinness I guess. Will it improve my painting?

Nate

I'm still around, just thinking about going Old School

But not posting much, obviously. Things were fairly hectic in the past month, and if the hobby time is a choice between painting and blogging, painting wins I'm afraid.

In the meantime, I've been looking at the cabinets and making decisions about what I really want to do from here on in. The result is a decision to try and concentrate on just a couple of key projects. The first is Ancients, and in particular, the Roman Civil Wars. This is to be in 28mm, using Warlord plastics and the Clash of Empires rules. I've looked at Warhammer Ancient Battles and War and Conquest as well, but CoE is the ruleset that appeals the most. I've already got 2 armies worth of Romans, although there needs to be much gluing of the plastic before they get anywhere.

The second, more immediate, decision is to expand the Spanish War of Succession project from a skirmish game using Pikeman's Lament into a full blown army game. I've been inspired by Old School Gaming and reading through some of Charles Grant's Tabletop Teasers using his imagi-nations. Now I'll never end up building 48 figure battalions, but I am going bigger than I normally would with 20 figures to a battalion. 8 figures to a cavalry unit, which follows the organisations laid down in the ruleset Honours of War. I'm not necessarily going to use those rules, I have a plan to write my own Featherstone style set, but I do like the visual result of battles that use them.

I tossed up whether to go completely Imagi-Nation, naming fictional regiments etc., but when it comes down to it, I really enjoy the research that goes on around historical armies. And given the paucity of info on the Spanish campaign in the War of Succession, there is a quite a bit of imagination needed anyway. So I've set a plan in place to build two sides reflective of forces in the Peninsular 1706-8. I've kept the Spanish in Tercios with their coats of many colours before the big chnage to white in 1707, but the Allies have some Imperial troops in their OOB that didn't show up until 1708. Both forces will have imaginary commanders in an imaginary campaign in an imaginary province which borders the Pyrenees. I've finished the first unit, the Spanish Valencia Tercio already.

The full 20 figure regiment

Close up of the command with hand painted flags. Information on the standards is quite sparse, and often conjectural, so I just did one 'King's Colour' in white and a Colonel's Colour' in the colour of the coats.

Green stuff was used to put the fur on the grenadier caps.

The planned armies are:
The Two Crowns
Spanish - Tercios Sevilla, Valencia, Murcia and Spanish Guard. Mahony Dragoons, Poco Blaco Horse and Granaderos a Cabello.
French - Orleans, Royal des Vaisseux, La Couronne and Berwick Regiments. Tessé Dragoons, La Reine and Berry Horse.
The Grand Alliance
British - Foot Guards, Rivers' Foot, Royal Dragoons and Killigrew's Dragoons.
Dutch - St Amant Regiment, Drimborn's Horse
Palatine - Leibregiment zu Fuss and Frankenberg's Horse
Imperial - Stahremberg and Osnabruck regiments, Jorger Dragoons
Spanish - Catalonian Guard and Zinzendorf Dragoons

Yes, there are Spanish on both sides. The result will be some extremely multicoloured armies.

I've also been doing some painting for others, in particular Geoff. Here's the latest:

Border Reivers

And he can't get enough zombies!

I've played a DBA game where the Athenians defeated the Spartans, although I haven't had time to write it up. I also had a game of Songs of Broken Legions with Adam, where he took the Romans and crushed the Celtic warband. I need to go back and rework the stats for the poor old barbarians...

And finally, something I thought you'd never see on this blog.

Pure yellow trimmings - we don't do any of that brass rubbish around here!

I've tried to add some battle damage, so he isn't too shiny

I gave up on Games Workshop a long time ago as their prices went ridiculous and the rules alienated me. Kill-team has got me interested, and Dan made me a Kill Team and sent it to me all the way from Australia. It's going to be 90s style Ultramarines (the last time a played the game and enjoyed it). Adam is very keen on playing, so why not?

Next up I have some Hitler Youth for Geoff to do tonight, a British 6 pounder and crew for Craig, and a bit more work on my Ultras. Tomorrow my first Army Box of Warlord Marlborough's Army should show up, so assembly will be the priority.

Nate

Giving Up...

No, not on wargaming, but on trying to make plans. After trying to launch project management last year I have seen some fellow bloggers able to stick very well to producing their long-term plans. But me, I'm just a butterfly. Let me explain.

This has lead to...

It began with painting some West German Leopards. I decided that it was time to really get into Team Yankee. At the same time I have been painting Craig's Soviets, and really enjoying this. So needless to say, the West German army has been expanded and is now my priority project as my small gaming circle gets more excited about playing Team Yankee.

...this, which in turn has lead to...

And, of course I won't ever just collect one side of a conflict, so have bought a Soviet army of my own to contest the West Germans.

...this.

Goodbye Frederick the Great, hello Wellington

At Christmas I began to consider that I wanted to play Napoleonics, particularly the Peninsular War. In order to make sure that all figures are the same company I like to try to buy big projects all at once. You never know when companies might go belly-up or the exchange rate drops suddenly. So to fund this I thought of selling the Seven Years War collection. Upon returning home from holiday I changed my mind, thinking that I'd put so much work into the 7YW collection that I really shouldn't part with it, even if there was another similar period that I liked better. Then I reappraised the situation a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't resist the call of the Peninsula any longer and to make a long story short have sold the 7 Years War collection and already reinvested in the Peninsula. All done, can't take it back now.

Who can resist gaming with Sharpe and the boys?

This of course means the end of the Seven Years War campaign and of the Zorndorf anniversary project. In its place? Well I doubt I'll get the Napoleonics finished by the end of the year. An ACW campaign, on the other hand, is a distinct possibility, and I might try and get more DBA armies painted. But no firm plans. That is what I'm giving up on. I'm just going to paint stuff when I feel like it, and not put any pressure on getting any particular thing completed. Of course, my Team Yankee West Germans are to be finished by the end of this month, so short term goals are all good.

Nate

Ambush at Rotkirch

A quick game played out in the 1758 campaign. This sees a supply train for the Hungarian forces north of Colslau being ambushed by a light Prussian force.
I began to play this game with the Honours of War rules, but in the first combat I found both the Austrian and Prussian Hussars wiped each other out. The speed with which units can be destroyed is something about the rules that I haven't really liked, and so after a bit of tweaking I have gone back to my old Horse and Musket rules. With a few updates to take out removal of bases as part of the mechanisms, I've arrived at a set of rules I really enjoy. The page has been updated today.
I actually didn't play this one solo. John came around and it took about half an hour to play through, with quite a satisfactory conclusion.

The Austrian supply column winds its way along the road.

A view showing Rotkirch in the background.

 The scenario called for the Prussians to roll for when they would appear. Each turn they rolled a d6. In the first turn they needed a 6, in the second a 5 or 6 and so on. They arrived in Turn 3.

The Prussians arrive.

 The forces were:
Austria - 1 Hussar regiment, 1 Grenadier regiment and 1 Grenz battalion.
Prussia - 2 Hussar regiments and 2 Freikorps battalions.
The Austrians had four carts that they needed to get off the southern table edge. If a Prussian unit contacted a cart it would be captured.

Because I was playing a real person, I didn't end up taking photos of the whole action, but it ended with the Austrian Hadik Hussars being routed and the Austrians losing two carts to the Prussian raiders. The other two carts were safely delivered. This will affect the siege of Colslau in that a detachment of Hungarians will be sent north to garrison the road via Rotkirch, and the garrison will not have to endure heavy bombardment on Colslau itself.

The end of the battle as the Malachowsky Hussars catch the Austrian wagon just before it leaves the table.

 The Malachowsky Hussars restored their reputation after their precipitous flight at Brudenitz, earning a commendation for their role in routing their Austrian opposites and then managing to secure the second Austrian wagon.

Hunkering down in Rotkirche the Warasdiner Grenz and the Grenadier regiment keep the Prussian Freikorps at bay.

On the Austrian side the Warasdiner Grenz earned a commendation for their delaying action against the Freikorps, which saved two of the wagons.

Nate

Steak on the hoof - 6 x 6 Pikeman's Lament AAR

My first game of The Pikeman's Lament had been a solo effort, and went rather well. The rules were incredibly easy to use and the game was fun. As I am on holiday at the moment and John was able to get away from work a little earlier than usual, I offered to set up a game to play out. This time, I thought it would be good to start using the officer traits and begin a small role-playing campaign. The previous outing I had created two officers, but hadn't bothered with traits or honour - it was realy just to get my head around the basic rules.

Originally I had thought to use my two characters from the first game - Charles Utterlea-Barking and Luis Alejandro de Jambon-Empanada - but when I rolled on the table for their background, both ended up being quite unsuitable. My Bourbon officer was sly, a son of a merchant without honour, and could never be a an aristocrat like Luis, while the Confederate officer was a foreigner, not entirely trusted by his men. Once again, Utterlea-Barking was just too English to fit that personality. So I created two new characters. Leading the Bourbons was Rodrigo Tapas, while the Confederates were led by a Protestant French exile, Hugh Geneaux. I randomly generated their personal missions for the game. Rodrigo had to kill the enemy leader in hand to hand combat for 3 points of honour, while Hugh had to motivate his force to remove more enemy causalties through hand to hand rather than through shooting.

The scenario I rolled up from the rulebook was 'steak on the hoof', and the table was duly set up. When John arrived I quickly outlined the basics of the rules and found that they were very simple to explain. We got stuck in.

As the battle starts the Condfederate forces are deployed in the centre of the table facing the columns of Bourbon troops moving forward with their pilfered cattle.

The grendier detachment (forlorn hope) and a line company (shot) of the Toledo regiment moved froward with some of the Rios Spanish cavalry regiment (trotters) in support. Rodrigo Tapas was the grenadier officer.

Hugh Geneaux was with Pearce's Dragoons (Gallopers) and a company of Colbatch's 5th Spanish foot. 

True to his mission, Geneaux led his troopers forward towards the enemy.

The Bourbon forces opened up, the Rios troopers performing the caracole.

Colbatch's company also took casualties. no-one failed their morale or fell below half strength though.

Geneaux led his men into the fray and forced the the Rios squadron back.

The Confedrate reinforcements entered the table - some Miquelets and Rivers' grenadiers.

On the otherwise so far anonymous side of the battle (due mainly to heir being no Confederate troops there initially, and to the fact that the Zinzendorf dragoons and Osuna regiment aren't quite finished yet), the Zinzendorf Dragoons and a line company of Rivers' regiment appeared.

I managed to miss taking a picture of the duel, but Tapas called out Geneaux, which was rather extraordinary considering he was sly. It can only be assumed that he was thinking of the 3 points of honour he would take away from this clash. Of course, he lost the duel. Geneaux's triumph was shortlived though, as murderous fire from the Toledo regiment and a renewed charge by the Rios horse destroyed him and his unit.

The Zinzendorf dragoons didn't hang back, charging pell mell into the Toledo company on the far side of the battlefield.

The miquelets moved into a flanking position, but the grenadiers failed their activation and couldn't enter the woods.

The Toledo grenadiers abandoned their cows (later I realised they couldn't do this, but at the time John wanted to get moving and I saw nothing wrong with this) and charged Colbatch's, forcing them into a retreat that would eventually become a rout. The Miquelets took a hammering, but would rally to get off a salvo, which took out two of the Rios cavalry, before being hit and wavering again.

The Valencian militia kept trying to get off the hill and help out the Toledo grenadiers, but consistently failed its activation roll.

Rivers' grenadiers burst out of the woods and smashed into the Toledo regiment, forcing them back, only to be decimated by shooting in the following turn.

The Zinzendorf dragoons repulsed by fire from the Toledo infantry and the Osuna Dragoons, only Rivers' foot stood between a Bourbon victory and a potential draw. But they failed their activation roll to fire twice in a row. They were destroyed without firing a shot...

With the Confederates beaten off, the Bourbon troops safely escort their precious beef back to their camp.

The rules were perfect for a pick-up game like this. John had them down-pat by the second turn, and minimal use of the qrs or book was required. On reflection, I realised that I needed to try and wipe out units in an attempt to break the company but also narrow down the number of manouevre elements open to an opponent - especially as mine were whittled away. I mucked up the deployment of the miquelets and the grenadiers. The former should have been in cover because they are fleet-footed and need the cover to boost their low stamina rating. Weakening your opponent with musketry is also advised before assaulting, but I was trying to play to conditions determined by my honour mission. Hint to self: worry about winning the game before the scenario requirements!

So what about our two heroes? The Bourbon side received 6 honour for securing all of the cattle, and the Confederates received 1 from a double 6 activation roll and 2 from killing more enemy through hand to hand than shooting. However it was all academic. Both leaders became casualties and had to roll on the casualty table. John rolled a double 1 and I thought it fitting that sly old Rodrigo Tapas died begging for his life in the duel with Geneaux. Then I rolled a double 1 as well! My distrusted Frenchman must have fallen from his horse and got on his knee when the Rios troopers charged him. So, next game we will have two new officers.

I'm hopeful that I will get my 6 x 6 completed. Kaptain Kobold has been kind enough to let me have my previous Pikeman's Lament battle report count if necessary (it wasn't originally my game choice), which means four more games of this, one of DBA (I'm saving this one for two new armies which I hope to have out next week), 3 of Song of Broken Legions and six of Commands and Colours. C& C is the only one I'm iffy about, as although it is a quick playing game, I'm not really sure about playing it solo, so it is up to how many times I can manage to get Mike to be available for gaming it.

I apologise for the photos, a number didn't come out very well due to the light in the shed, and even the ones I've been able to use here aren't all that great. My old fluoros have given up the ghost and I'm going to have to get some new ones installed.

Nate