Biblical Game: Assyrians v Babylonians

I decided to roll out my Assyrian Army and settle old scores with a Babylonian
lineup.

The terrain was dominated by hills and woodland to the south with a long river
running east to west dividing the board in two. This provided the Babylonian
General a good defensive position. He'd need it if he was going to face the
highly rated Assyrian host arrayed before him.

The Assyrians made a rapid dash to the river using missile discharges to cover
their relentless advance. Meanwhile the Babylonians remained motionless behind
the river waiting rather nervously as the Assyrians approached.

The intial clashes were on the flanks. By that time there were already a great
number of accumulated missile casualties so first base removal was rather rapid.
That and the devastating impact of the terror rule gave the Assyrians a distinct
advantage in getting on top of combats quickly.

That being said the Babylonians were putting up a very credible resistance and
actually started to win on both flanks eliminating chariot and cavalry units.

It was only the successful central thrust by the Assyrian heavy infantry which
eliminated their opponents and allowed them to race for the Babylonian camp and
thereby neutralise four units and win the contest.

Overall a much closer game than I'd initially thought would happen. The
Babylonian army was identical in composition but apart from chariots were one
morale class lower. They also were victims of the terror rule, but despite these
disadvantages managed to fight toe to toe - assisted by the riverbank.

A good game with lots of hard fighting and heroic action.

Seven Years War: Prussia v Russia

Another tricorne period playtest for my linear adaptations for the 18th Century
period.

It proved to be a gripping contest between two determined opponents. The
Prussians were superb, their infantry even better in the SYW incarnation than
the Austrian Succession army I used last time. The relentless advance of their
infantry lines producing a steady fire was fun to deploy.

The Russians were rather impressive counters to the Prussian advance and put up
a dogged resistance all the way through. Early on it looked a bit poorly for the
Russians as their heavy cavalry were soundly beaten in the cavalry contest and
it looked as though the Prussians were getting an advantage on both flanks.
Despite this the Russians fought on and managed to win some local victories in
the centre and on the other flank where they managed to contain a couple of
Prussian units. Their cossacks were also a real menace inflicting missile
casualties all over the place.

In the final analysis the Russians prevailed - only just, winning by one unit.
It's probably the closest game I've played for a while. The Russians, despite
inferior infantry and cavalry units managed to pull off a superb victory.

War of the Austrian Succession Playtest

Here is a short battle report of a game I played set in the War of the Austrian
Succession using the Napoleonic rules modified with my Linear Warfare rule
modifications and the specific Prussian and Austrian army list special rules for
the period.

The Prussians were the aggressor and were led by a competent if rather rash
General Reinhard. The Austrians were under von Steich who was a more reserved
but experienced General who had a good eye for the defensive and had deployed
his forces in favourable positions along a line of hills, using a meandering
river to split the route of Prussian advance.

The Prussians made a poor start in the initial cavalry battle on each flank with
their charging cavalry faring poorly vs the firepower doctrine Austrian cavalry.
I might make their firepower less effective in future games as this seems to
give a significant initial advantage allowing them to benefit for both defensive
and offensive fire using a 4-6 hit. I think I'll change this to a 5-6 hit score.

With the cavalry out of action, Reinhard focused on using his superb infantry to
punch a hole in the centre and hopefully force through the line and roll up a
flank or two.

The Prussian infantry performed excellently. Deployed in a line of three units
supported by a Grenadier unit they advanced issuing fire and managed to whittle
down a couple of defending Austrian battalions on one of the hills. The drill
rule which stopped the Prussians from having to check after the loss of the
first base to firing was another useful rule for the Prussians allowing them to
maintain unit cohesion and staying power.

That being said and despite some local Prussian victories in the centre, the
Austrians were prevalent on the flanks and performed the coup de grace on the
Grenadier unit held in reserve by attacking from front and rear thus eliminating
it and allowing the Austrians to achieve a narrow victory.

My Linear rules worked OK but I felt they were a bit too narrow in their
requirements and I'll modify them in future tricorne games to looser criteria
for flank and rear support. The depoloyed lines did look good and the presence
of a second line was pleasing to the eye as well as historically accurate.

18th Century Linear Warfare

I've been formulating some linear warfare modifications to the core Napoleonic ruleset and have been play testing these using the War of the Austrian Succession as a test period. I'm quite pleased with the results so far and will post my updates to the files section. The key aspect I was trying to simulate were the benefits of a linear deployment through supported flanks and a second line. I've also introduced battalion guns and some specific features of the period into the army lists. As with all the Thomas rule sets, the army lists are the best way to introduce period chrome and not overburden the core rules with a multitude of exceptions and "specials". This, to me seemed, to infect the WRG rules development resulting in technical manuals. I'm quite warmed by the spirit that's emerging in wargaming just now where there is a retrospective viewpoint being taken back to the simple, playable and collegiate rules.