Wurst Case Scenario

As promised, pictures of our last game, this one was fought on February 25th. 

"Hans!  Ich muss dringend mal pinkeln"   
 Prussians by Old Glory.  Painted by James Kelly, now in Chiba.  
He used to paint for Old Glory magazine back in the day; these are now in Giovanni's collection.

A vengeful force of Prussians, along with their sausage-scoffing, beer-swilling acolytes, the Bavarians, had entered into an unholy alliance with some Italians and Poles.  In a short and brutal engagement they effectively wiped the floor with the hapless French- although it must be said that les bleus went down fighting. 

The Allies were assisted in no small measure by the Dice Gods, who on this occasion clearly decided that they hated Gallic Guts with a real passion.

This was another one of our usual brigade-sized games using a scenario from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, this one a very entertaining and challenging "not-Leuthen" scenario based on an original by Charles Grant (it can be found on p.78: Scenario #7 Flank Attack (2) in Neil's book).

Most importantly, we may have successfully initiated a new gamer, Erik, into the mysteries and joys of Napoleonic wargaming. 

Erik had been toying for a while with the idea of trying out some horse & musket gaming (he hails from Maryland, and in the past had been taken around many an ACW battlefield).  Unfortunately, fate was to show no mercy to new recruits, and would deal him a cruel hand when it came to die throws.

Giovanni commanded the Germans, Erik had the French. Erik had never played Napoleonics before, and Giovanni was rusty after months and months of playing mainly Bolt Action.  

I was the one with, by far, the most experience with the rules. So I thought it best to sit this one out, and instead I would act as chief rule-looker-upper and scenario umpire.  

Le Champ de Mars; note the Martian.

The sleepy town of Not-Leuthen.  It was untouched by the horrors of war for the duration of the game.

The Germano-Italian-Polska Alliance assembles.

Doomed French await their dreadful fate.

My ill-used 7e Chasseurs à cheval were- yet again- to have their lives uselessly sacrificed by a callous high command.

The Ducal Lancers of Prince August Vztmrk of Cyrntzkvystk, direct descendant of the legendary prince who, in 1423, banished the vowel from the Polish Language.

The scenario has a defending force of six units ensconced on hill.  These are facing a small force of two enemy battalions (although as the Prussians were fielding one average-sized and one small battalion, and the French battalions were deemed large, we added a small contingent of Bavarian Schutzen). 

Suddenly appearing on the French left is a flanking force of four Allied units, taking the defenders unaware- Merde!! 

The defenders have to quickly re-orient their lines to face the new threat, while at the same time holding off the small force to the front.

It's a challenge for the defending force, but it can be done.  Provided, of course, you don't position your artillery uselessly on the right flank for the first few turns. And, of course, it does help if your troops can actually hit the broadside of a barn- while inside the barn.

As I mentioned, Erik had the most appalling run of luck on the dice, while Giovanni's Germans were pulling rabbits out of their lucky shakos, allowing him to get away with suicidal maneuvers and unnecessary risks that should really have been punished by a quick trip to the battlefield abattoir.  Just proving that there is no justice in this world.

Despite being umpire, I confess to secretly wanting to have seen my beloved French succeed.  But I needed to remain fair and utterly neutral, so was kibitzing with both sides.

On numerous occasions I found myself having to talk both commanders out of making some obvious Bad Move.  I did this with commendable impartiality (I think), although there were many occasions involving mental face palms, eye-rolling, and barely-restrained sucking of teeth.

"Mais non! C'est incroyable!  Mes pauvres soldats!"

French line seen from the front.  Note how uselessly placed the guns are.

The flanking force.  The similarly poorly-positioned Bavarian hussars never saw action, nor had a shot fired against them.  

View of the start positions from the French right.  They needed to quickly see off the Prussians to the front, and then turn to face the Italo-Polish-Bavarian menace to their left.

The French should have won this one.  
They didn't...

Disorder markers start appearing, as welcome as acne after a chocolate cake binge

The French finally did see off one of the Prussian battalions.  But it's a case of too little, too late, and at too high a cost.

"Stop making all that damned bloody noise!"

No mercy...

The cavalry spent most of the game charging each other to little effect.  
Late in the game the Poles managed to destroy a French square that was already well beyond its break point.

A rather heavily-mauled French brigade finally manages to form a perpendicular line to face the flank attack.

Time to roll up the French flank

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"  Scratch one French line unit.  
When playing games this small, you can ill-afford any losses.

Bavarian infantry take the high ground; the Allied objective was to be in control of the hill by the end of 15 turns.

End game for French fortunes.  Their artillery about to be routed, one remaining infantry unit pushed back off the hill with its back to the river.  
Time to throw in the towel- Sauve qui peut!

All in all, a fun game and a very good scenario, one we'd all like to try again, with some small tweaks in deployment, set-up conditions, ranges, and with perhaps more uncertainty as to when the flanking force appears.

We were originally planning on trying out some of the rules in the new Warlord Games' Black Powder supplement, Clash of Eagles. But other than reduced ranges and move distances to fit our table, to keep things simple we decided to just play the game as per the basic rule book. No point in complicating things.

As it was, we could probably have gotten in another game in the time available to us, given that this one was over in a measly seven turns. But the game took longer than what I have been used to; as mentioned Erik was new to the game, and Giovanni hadn't played in a while.

In addition, Giovanni- bless 'im- tends to approach every move, of every unit, in every turn like some golfer lining up that final critical putt on the 18th hole in the PGA. I'm not sure whether to introduce a stopwatch for turns, or just rely on a subtle hint followed, if necessary, by a quick gentle kick up the butt. Both solutions have their appeal.

Mind you, to be fair we did take a long break for a rather excellent pizza and some beers. An army marches on its stomach.

Erik is a great guy to game with- as he was when he graciously snotted my IJA with his Afrika Korps during our Bolt Action tournament last October- and will fit in well with the old crew. Despite the outcome, Erik took a great interest in the rules and period.

It seems he enjoyed Black Powder a lot, despite Lady Luck throwing him to the wolves whenever he had to make a critical roll. In his words, Black Powder hit a sweet spot of simple, easy to remember mechanics, along with providing a clear and quick outcome.

To ensure that he was pushed over the edge, at the end of the day I gave him a present of some gateway drugs, in the form of a box of plastic Warlord Landwehr, to help get him started. Pimp those Prussians.

The next post will feature the latest additions to my Napoleonic collection- once I get them based. It's been a while! 

(And apologies for having to upload this a second time- Blogger was being temperamental and corrupted the previous post when I tried to edit it.)

Battles for Bridgeheads

Finally found the energy for a new post, this time getting around to putting up pictures of some of our previous games.  

My veteran 7e Chasseurs à cheval were not needed on the day- let those haughty Guard Lancers earn their pay for once!

First up are some shots from a very enjoyable day of Napoleonic gaming back in December, There were two games, actually- the first was our usual Black Powder bash; and having enough time left for a second game, we decided to make it a true skirmish; our first outing with Ganesha Games' Songs of Drums and Shakos. 

Tools of the trade.

Thinking about it, I'm surprised I haven't posted this earlier, as the French were actually victorious! Twice!  Doesn't happen often in our games.

The BP game was admittedly a nail-biter; Matt and I played the bridgehead scenario (#5 from One Hour Wargames), and it proved both a challenge and lots of fun, with the British bridgehead eliminated as their forces were steadily pushed back over the river in twelve bloody turns.

Forces of Liberty, Fraternity, Equality, and Justice.

Forces of Hooliganism, Warm Beer, and high-fat Chip Butties.

We decided that this should count as bad going in the rules.

French advance into the fray.

The game featured a rare appearance of Matt's solitary Neapolitan unit, resplendent in white with pink facings, fighting on the side of the French. 

British cross the river.  For some reason Matt held back one line regiment as a reserve on his side of the river.  Mistake.

I had taken the courageous decision to rely on my French Guard Dutch (Red) Lancers for my cavalry.  These scarlet-hued and overpaid poltroons had so far let the side down miserably in virtually every game where they found themselves actually having to commit to combat. 

This would be their one last opportunity to redeem themselves; I had hinted darkly that if they failed me yet again, there would be some Prince August moulds under the Christmas tree this year, and let's just say I wouldn't be finding myself short of casting metal... 

But for once my lancers performed, if not brilliantly, at least competently; the punitive threat of immersion into the hot metal crucible has been averted- for the time being. 

Une pression impitoyable

French take the fight to the English point d'appui.

The Neapolitans also put in a creditable performance, as they often do in our games.  On this day they made several determined charges against the formed-up 60th Rifles.  After a number of inclusive rounds of intense hand-of-hand combat, the two adversaries fought themselves to mutual destruction, both having managed to fail their break test at the same time.  

But exchanging an exhausted unit of line infantry for one of the enemy's crack rifle regiments was a good trade-off in my books.

Broken Neopolitans.  Matt's grin soon faded as the Rifles failed their own break test.  Snap!

Actually, he's safer with the miniatures than are some gamers I've known. And he doesn't get greasy paws from dipping into a bag of potato chips.

 *****

We had time for a second quick game, so we decided to make it a skirmish using Songs of Drums & Shakos.  A British RN landing party's attempt to take the same bridge from a small detachment of voltigeurs- six figures a side.  

My first time non-solo with the rules, and I hadn't the time to get up to speed with them much before the game, so to some extent we were winging it.  

However, it didn't take either of us long to get comfortable with the basic mechanics.  I'm sure we made lots of mistakes, and omitted some parts of the rules.  In the interests of time, we were just concentrating on the essentials of movement, firing, and hand-to-hand combat.  

Alarme! Gaston and Pierre manage to wound a marine, as they bravely try to hold off the attack.

Lt. Alphonse de Martinet rushes the rest of his piquets to the bridge. Would he be in time?

Gaston and Pierre seek cover behind the parapet of the bridge.

After initial British success, and despite the wounding of their gallant lieutenant, the French were able to retake the bridge and slay the impertinent- and, as it turned out, fatally impetuous- Mr. Midshipman Stringplucker.

A fierce mêlée on the bridge sees the Jack Tars repulsed and their impetuous middy slain. Vive la France! 

SDS was great- a real hoot; easy to grasp mechanisms made for a fast-paced game, with not a dull moment. We will definitely be trying them out again.

 *****

We had another Napoleonics game on February 25th, and I'll add those pics to this blog later this week.  

Other hobby activities have been mostly building models.  Along with working on the 15mm Desert War British armour, I've been building an M36 Jackson & M4 Sherman Jumbo for my WW2 Yanks.  

I've room at the painting table for plastic kits or painting, not both.  But this weekend I tidied away the modelling equipment and will be taking up the paintbrushes again.  I have had a long period of time where the painting mojo had gone completely AWOL, but recently I've been feeling it returning again, so hopefully there will be a few new Napoleonics gracing the table for our next game.

I also need to work on some more terrain; I'm getting tired of fighting over the same farmhouses every game!

Black Powder meets OHWG's (again!)

Some serious catching up to do. Too many fingers in too many pies recently, not to mention way too much time spent at a keyboard than was good for my eyes. Not helped by the fact that Blogger has been temperamental these days.

As I mentioned in my last post, we had another Napoleonic bash at my place. 

We were looking forward to this one, with four of us available this time for a game. And we actually managed to get two games in on the day. The first was a very scaled-down, abstracted version of the Battle of Wavre, 1815. For the second game we chose a scenario that was based on Langensalza, a tactical victory for the Hanoverians over the Prussians(!) during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.

Both were taken from my now very-well-thumbed copy of Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, and both proved to be challenging and fun. Huge armies of half a dozen units per side determine the fate of nations; truly, gaming in the (not quite so) Grand Manner. 

As I have often said, it's a stubborn myth that Black Powder- or just Napoleonics in general- only works with large games. Definitely not.

With 28mm miniatures on my 6'x4' table. We found that using the BP rules with the scenarios from OHWG makes for ideal games; having no more than six units a side leaves us with enough space for maneuver.

As before, out of a pool of ten units (4x infantry, 2x skirmishers, 2x artillery, 2x cavalry) each player rolls a dice and then consults a chart to see which six out of the ten will be available. This means that a player might be tasked with taking the village, only to find that two out of the six units are cavalry, which will not be of much use during the game. Or that you find yourself without the desirable artillery.

Fog of war: you fight the battle with the army you have, not the army you would like to have. It's a simple solution, but works well. The only downer is when your newly completed regiment of rifles or hussars is finished and ready to go; only for you to find out that they are too far behind the front lines to catch up, so they won't be seeing the elephant today. But them's the breaks.

Over the last year or so, we have been using the scenarios from Neil's book for quite a few games now, all set in different periods; Napoleonics, World War II, and even a few Viking vs. Saxon games (the only game where we used the actual rules from the book). The scenarios have always managed to provide with some interesting tactical challenges.

Sunday's games were to prove no exception. The table looked good, dice were fickle and non-partisan, and the scenarios themselves proved tense, being close-run things.

Remarkably- and mark this in your calendars, as you're unlikely to see its like again- Matt, "The Redcoat's Redcoat", opted to play the French this time. Which may well be why les bleus managed to win the first scenario, and to put in a very creditable performance in the second. He was taking on the British, led by Sada and Rod.

I actually wasn't engaged in the game myself; after setting up the terrain and scenario, I pretty much restricted myself to the roles of Kibitzer-in-Chief and combat artist. My real responsibility on the day was with the commissariat, as the troops needed to be victualed during the heat of combat (I do a pretty mean toad-in-the-hole).

*****

Here are the (belated) pics, from our (sort-of) Wavre game:

'orrible little men..

A parley?  "Commanders of armies have better things to do than to shoot one another, by God..."

Classic Napoleonics; "Form square!"

  

This was also the last time that Rod would be joining us for a wargame, as after a number of years in Japan he made the decision to return with his family to Portugal, where his parents are now living.  So what better way to send him off than with the colour and spectacle of a Napoleonic game.

Rod has been a core member of our group since not long after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, so he'll be very much missed. On the other hand, I understand that a few Napoleonic battles may have been fought in Portugal and Spain, so perhaps a visit in the future may be in the offing for a bit of sightseeing.

Keep in touch, Rod!

*****

I've more pictures from the second game that I will try to post in the not-too-distant future. This month, though, will see me painting more of my WW2 IJA.

The West Tokyo Wargamers will be putting on our first Bolt Action tournament on October 1st.  So this coming month it's organizing and sprucing up terrain pieces, as well as putting the finishing touches on my 750 pt. IJA expeditionary force. I'll be trying out my recently-acquired airbrush and compressor, too.

Matt will be there with his Fourteenth Army contingent, most others will be (of course) Germans of various flavours- Wehrmacht, paras, etc.  The Allies may include British Commandos, and French from North Africa or even Dien Bien Phu.

This will be the first time for me to take part in any kind of wargaming tournament.  As someone who has always played BA using an historically-organized Japanese force, against an historical opponent and fighting in suitable terrain- and who much more often than not been used to coming up the winner- I need to go into this with a different mindset.

Namely, I should expect to get royally clobbered.

I can't count on having much jungle to hide in, and I'll be most probably up against the likes of various SMG's and assault rifles, quad 20mm guns, Pz-85's, King Shermans, KV-FlammenChurchills and other assorted hi-tech and/or armoured nastiness. 

There's no hope for my beloved Ha-Go's and Chi-Ha's; Kat food.  Unless I end up finding myself matched against early Yugoslavs or Italians, going "tabi-to-toe" with enemy armour is futile- it would be like taking a Nerf ball to an Uzi fight. 

So I'm not even going to try. First off, there's not a lot anyone can get for 750 points. That means if someone decides to field a Stug-III- let alone an IS-2 or Panther- that's going to eat up a lot of points, and there won't be too much left in the way of infantry.

My plan is then to stay objective-focused, and to make the best of what I've got- lots of fanatical and resilient infantry.

I'll be taking as many infantry as I can squeeze into 750 points, including grenadier squads with light mortars. I'll be laying down smoke, playing aggressively, and trusting in numbers, Seishin and the Banzai! rule. Artillery is my real foe, so I'll have to keep moving.

And with big squads (or a larger number of smaller squads- I need to experiment first), I'll be rolling considerable numbers of dice. In that case, if faced with a better-armed but smaller force, the law of averages may be on my side once the cubes start rolling.

That's the hope. More likely I'll get waxed, big time. 

Which is fine, all the time I go down with panache, and in doing so hopefully give my opponents a few bowel-loosening moments as they experience the blood-curdling Banzai! charge...