English Civil War Using the Pike & Shot Rules From Introduction

Thought I'd have a venture into the late Renaissance with an early ECW encounter between a veteran Royalist force and Early Parliamentarian army.

I adopted a later Renaissance unit configuration for infantry with bases arranged 3 wide by 2 deep. This seemed more in keeping with the look of the period with the shot arranged on the respective flanks. It did cause some maneover problems but I quite like these constraints on moving around - reminds me of Armati which does limit your movement options and penalises poor deployment. This seems to ba a cardinal sin of a commander to not visualise where his units will be in the next couple of moves. Bit like chess. I'm afraid I'm not possessed of this foresight - which is a mixed blessing. As I play solo I make mistakes and can't over plan the army moves which adds to the chaos.

The game played rather faster than I thought it would. The Parliamentarians performed much better on the day. The Royalists just didn't seem to have their hearts in the contest with generally lower dice rolls and an unwillingness to commit their combat power. With piecemeal success the Parliamentarians suddenly found themselves three units ahead and closed in on the remaining Royalists who still had a spirited defence but were eventually contained and reduced to two units. Parliament was also poised to start looting the baggage in the rear so Royalist collapse was inevitable.

Observations from the contest. My first venture using the rules in the ECW. It didn't dissapoint. Gave me a quick and realistic game with some nice looking units, interesting battlefield restrictions due to the clumsy unwieldy formations and some dashing displays of cavalry tactics. The additional shot element in the Parliamentarian units gave them some slight advantages and made a firefight more alluring. The Royalists tactic became apparent with a need to get to grips with the enemy and use that pike advantage. This was particularly useful vs the enemy reiters and cuirassiers where pikes use 3 dice. Get them on the flanks in a pincer and despite some medium / heavy armour they usually vapourise.

A good game. Long live Parliament!

Brian

French Revolution Period Game

I decided the other day to try out an early Revolutionary encounter between a
French Republican force and an Old Regime Austrian army. I also wanted a big
game so I doubled the size of forces giving me 16 French v 12 Austrian. The
latter were governed by the small is beautiful rule which limits these forces to
six units. By the way they did look rather nice with neat lines of deployed
infantry and cavalry.

The French in contrast had four masses of brooding hordes. This was the first
time I'd played with hordes and was looking forward to see how they would fare
in the game.

The battle moved fast with both the French and Austrians advancing to gain some
positional advantage. The French then drove heavily on the left flank and used
their skirmishers in a massed cloud to mask their advancing hordes and
interspersed regular regiments.

The advance really felt quite authentic as the cavalry worked around the
Austrian flank and the hordes unleashed themselves on the weakened Austrian
lines. Hordes have quite a punch when they get to grips. At full strength that
is a minimum of 16 dice for hits. They managed to blow away a couple of lines
which seemed quite realistic. The counter to Hordes was pretty limited and
seemed to hinge on getting as many morale instances pre-contact to invoke the
double morale test which on a couple of occassions really hurt. Overall I did
like the Hordes unit type and how it was simulated.

Back to the battle and the French managed to constrict the Austrians around
their central position. With the left flank being rolled up the centre pinned
and the right threatened by fresh French troops the valiant Austrian General put
up a brave rearguard action but seemed doomed to defeat which finally occurred
after some 16 turns of intensive fighting. The end result was 9 v 2, however,
the French were pretty depleted regarding their remaining units.

On reflection a great game, plenty of period flavour which the simulation
brought out. Hordes look good en masse and with four of these 8 stand beasts I
had quite an aesthetic effect and pleasant contrast to the neat and ordered
Austrian lines.

I did find that maneovre of lines was a real headache, as I would imagine the
real battle commanders would have found. This particularly hindered the
Austrians who were unable to deploy all their muskets to best effect in their
firing lines.

Vive la Révolution!

Brian

Desert War Wargame using WWII Rules from Introduction

I felt the urge to put some more of my Xmas purchases to good use with a confrontation I'd been contemplating for some time. I got some H&R 8th Army and Afrika Corps and combined with the armour I already had this amounted to enough fighting power to put on a good sized Desert War game.

I used to play a lot of this in 20mm and used rules such as Operation Warboard. Before that I experimented with the John Sandars rules in An Introduction to Wargaming. These really captured the feel of the conflict for me and combined with some inspiring pictures of his scratch built tanks and airfix figures and models it still strikes a very nostaligic cord.

So I recreated something along the lines of the battle in the book using the WWII Rules in the Introduction volume. Not quite the Jock Column against the German recce unit but more a full on battalion sized engagement involving some Matilda and PzIII armour support.

The British were set the enviable task of securing a sparsely occupied ridge and

driving through to the end of the board. I had the long edge as the sides so the

battle was a bit different from my usual setup.

The British started well and got better as the game went on. The luck factor was

evident or should I say the lack of it on the German side. They lost a clear chance to stamp their dominance early by losing their 88m gun. This was spotted by advancing infantry and once located fell prey to a host of small arms and mortar fire with very poor saving throws eliminating the entire crew before it had fired a shot. Worse was to come when a long range Matilda shot took out one of the PzIII advancing in the open from the German base line.

The Germans tried to regain the initiative but the superior numbers of British forces were starting to tell. They had more units deployed up front and within firing range while the Germans still had two armoured infantry units and a PzIII

moving up from the rear.

The Germans managed to hang on for another couple of turns but soon it was clear, once they were reduced to two effective units and no armour support, that

the British, who still retained all their vehicles were going to prevail and comprehensively achieve their objective.

This was a bit of a surprising result as the British looked as though they were going to have a real tough time advancing on the German forces, however, the early elimination of the rather exposed 88 position which wasn't adequately protected and losing a tank proved to be decisive factors in what eventually became a bit of a rout.

Hurrah to the British, however, I'll play the Germans a bit more thoughtfully next time. Better anti-tank preparation seems to be in order.

This was a great game and I was playing it on my reversed sand coloured board

with homemade dunes and rocky patches. I'll get round to producing some desert scrub and the odd dwelling for future games. The rules as always played well. These are probably the ones I've modified the most and I'm reaching the point now where I'm very comfortable with them

Cheers

Brian

More Biblical

I've just completed my third venture into the Biblical period. This time a New
Kingdom Egyptian v Hittite Kingdom encounter.

I decided to use my solo rules so I was the Egyptian and the NPG the Hittite
commander. He proved to be a better general than I and soundly whipped my army.
I didn't exploit the Egyptian mobility and he quickly managed to pin me down and
force me into a fist fight which I was doomed to lose.

Both armies had distinctive strengths and advantages. The Hittites were good in
a straight fight with their heavy chariots which were battlefield resilient.
Their poor infantry were good at supporting the chariots once the fighting
started. My Egyptian light chariots had all the potential to whizz around the
battlefield but apart from one successful unit, were forced into combat with the
Hittites. They could break away but were taking heavy casualties.

Overall another excellent game. Nice and fast with missile firepower a potent
battle winning element and speeding up the disruption of the armies.

Cheers

Brian

Biblical Take Two

Hot on the heels of my battle last night I set up a fresh encounter, once again
set in the Biblical period. This was another indulgence as I was itching to play
a Mycenean army - one from the later period where troops looked more Greek than
Summerian and which I don't have suitable figures for yet.

Opponents - I decided on the Sea Peoples. It proved a fun match up with a fast,
bloody, full on clash developing. Some minor manoeuvring from the Myceneans gave
a slight advantage early on but the Sea Peoples managed to close down their line
pretty quickly - all those auxilia in a full 12cm dash forward - quite a sight.

Both sides bows were effective, the Myceneans particularly so. The Light
Infantry also proved useful in flank attacks on Sea People warrior units when
they charged the Mycenean spear. Overall the Myceneans fought in a more
consistent fashion - better dice rolls, despite having the close quarter odds
slightly stacked against them with Sea People morale and armour advantages.

The Heavy Chariots were particularly effective in neutralising a couple of Sea
People units and were great at absorbing hits with their superior saving rolls.

Overall a cracker of a contest and most enjoyable. I had the Rome Total War
music on Youtube playing in the background so it was like playing an episode of
Time Commanders!

Cheers

Brian

First Biblical Game

I treated myself to a venture into the Biblical period for army purchases this
Christmas and got myself some nice 6mm Egyptian and Hittite figures to allow me
to pursue an aspect of warfare I've always had an urge to look into in more
depth.

Many of my early games with toy soldiers contained Egyptian chariots, Assyrian
siege engines and Mycenean heroes, and it is these fond memories which I hope to
re-kindle with this move into the period.

My first pitched battle was a treat. It proved a rather one sided affair in the
end but did play exactly the way I wanted it to and gave me all the character
and feel of a pacy Biblical encounter.

The forces were slightly out of timeline in that it ranged a New Kingdom
Egyptian against an Assyrian Empire army. The latter is a very cool combat
operation. A bit like a Biblical panzer division in its offensive capability.
Looks great aswell with a potent mix of chariots, cavalry and infantry.

The Egyptians put up a pretty valiant fight but were overwhelmed by the Assyrian
surge forward. The terror rule combined with mixed units, heavy infantry and
better armour gave a fundamental edge to any Assyrian attacks. Despite this the
Assyrians were reduced to five units vs 2 Egyptian so it wasn't a walkover.

I've got plans now to go through all the major combatants I'm interested in and
in scanning the list, it does present a suprising amount of variety in
composition and tactical fighting style.

I've figures to cover:
- New Kingdom Egyptian
- Hittite Empire
- Assyrian Empire
- Cimmerians
- Sea Peoples
- Myceneans
- Trojans

This will keep me occupied for a time. One final comment, the Biblical rules
were spot on in my estimation of the ideal good game and satisfying simulation.

Cheers

Brian

Napoleonic Game: Peninsular War

I played a Napoleonic game today, seeing that I'm completely cut off due to

heavy snowfall.

It was the classic British v French Peninsular line-up. The game was a cracker

with a real "near run" feel to it. The French were the victors in the end but

only just, with four remaining units, most of them pretty battle weary.

I did have an issue during the game. I had a British line attacked from the rear

by a Dragoon regiment that had managed to move round behind it from a previous encounter with vanquished British cavalry. The Dragoons won - but where do the British retreat? I ruled they would still move directly to their own rear i.e. through the Dragoons. In this case they met a Rifle unit placed in their path and were eliminated. Just wondering how others would have ruled on this.

Observations:

- British 2 man line firepower is very effective

- Use the crest line on slopes for British lines

- French artillery is brilliant, British very poor in contrast. If the French

had had more guns they would have mashed the British line in the unprotected

zones.

- the French Dragoons acting as dismounted infantry was a nice touch. Good range

if they are stationary and potent for defensive fire if charged.

Overall played very nicely as a simulation of Napoleonic warfare and reflecting

the Peninsular dimension.