AAR: Virtual Lard V

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One of the few good things to come out of lockdown has been how people have found ways of gaming remotely.

The Virtual Lard Games Days are an excellent example of this. Using the Lardy Discord server to co-ordinate, vast numbers of games run simultaneously all around the world, with a virtual pub also available for those all-important post-game discussions. The Virtual Lards are, in effect, online conventions.

Virtual Lard V took place last weekend, and I was lucky enough to get a place on two games: one in the morning and one in the afternoon (this isn’t guaranteed: the sessions are often over-subscribed).

Sharpe Practice in the AM

The morning’s session was a terrific game of Sharp Practice Napoleonics with Col Murray running a session that involved the French (commanded by the two Bobs: Lucky Bob C and myself) attempting to stop some Austrians (commanded by Andrew and Grizzlymc) making away with some items that had best remain nameless.

I won’t detail the step-by-step action, but suffice to say that my masterful mismanagement of the French Grenadiers kept a large proportion of the Austrians so busy shooting them to bits that the rest of our force (Bob’s Line and my Skirmishers) were able to drive the rest of the enemy off the table, so reducing their Force Morale to zero and giving us the game.

It was very exciting. At one stage it looked like being a certain Austrian victory as their Dragoons headed off-table with “the items”…but their movement rolls were poor, giving Bob and I (well, mainly Bob) time to hammer the Hungarians with musket fire again and again until they broke and fled. The last turn could have gone either way, but the draw of the cards, for once, favoured the French, and victory was ours.

Here are some pictures:

As an afterthought, one of the amusing things about Virtual Lard is the way that it brings people from different time zones together. Grizzlymc was actually in Sydney, Australia, and sipping whisky at what, for us, was early morning!

IABSM in PM

My afternoon game was I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!, with Jim Catchpole running a scenario set in France in 1944. Dan Albrecht and I were commanding a company of British infantry moving forward to clear a village that may or may not have been in German hands. A pleasant chap called Michael was playing the Germans: he hadn’t played IABSM before.

All went well for the British until we hit a major chokepoint: a bridge that proved to be the single crossing point over a fast-flowing river right outside the village in question.

We began by doing everything right: probing over the bridge with out recon carriers, laying down smoke to cover a German MMG, but then the cards turned against us and the German artillery came hammering down.

An abortive attempt to break out of our “beachhead” by the carriers failed dismally (my fault entirely, Dan!) and then we just couldn’t get out of the artillery kill zone. If we moved forward, the waiting Germans shot us; if we stayed where we were we got hit by shells from above.

We lasted a couple of turns then ordered a retreat!

It was a difficult scenario, but we could have done a whole lot better. Which was a pity, as our leapfrogging advance to the bridge was a speedy thing of beauty! What we should then have done was to take the time to spot properly, lay down smoke properly etc but the arrival of the German artillery mucked up our plans.

Well played Michael, well umpired Jim, and I think Dan and I both agreed that our solution was to pull back and call in the artillery. Or, to put it another way: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit...it's the only way to be sure!

Here a few shots of the game right up to the point where the German artillery arrived:

Afterword

All in all, another great Virtual Lard. My thanks to the organisers and game-runners, and can’t wait until the next one.

New Scenario Pack Now Available!

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Exciting news: my new English Civil War scenario pack for the For King & Parliament set of rules is now available!

In the UK:

Buy it from BigRedBat

In Europe/the USA:

Buy it from Wargames Vault

Here’s the marketing blurb:

Marlowe to Maidenhythe is a supplement for TtS! For King & Parliament that contains twelve free-standing, fictional scenarios: nine in a loose chronological order and three bonus scenarios following the fortunes of the main participants after the campaign ends.

The pack is deliberately designed to give players who don’t have enough time to write their own scenarios a number of games that they can play with little or no preparation at all. All you have to do is print out the game and player briefings, set up the table according to the map, break out the figures and cards, and start the first turn. You don’t even need to print the pack out in full: just the pages you need for the scenario you’re going to play.

Marlowe to Maidenhythe tells the story of the clash between Sir John Boulters (for the Royalists) and Sir Christopher Grey (Parliamentarian): erstwhile friends now separated by their different loyalties. The same officers and units are used throughout the campaign, and it is hoped that the players will come to adopt and recognise them as their own or the enemy.

The games can be played either as a series of linked games or as a collection of one-off battles. To emphasise: each scenario is free standing and they do not have to be played in any particular order…but it is anticipated that players will play them in order as a campaign, keeping a running total of each sides’ score as they go along. The pack provides a Campaign Record Sheet as an easy way of doing so.

Finally, although specifically designed for FK&P, with a little work the scenarios can be adapted for any set of English Civil War/Renaissance rules: the basic elements of why, where and with what each side is fighting being largely common to all systems.

So whether you’re for the King or for Parliament, Marlowe to Maidenhythe gives you everything you need for many hours of joyful gaming!

TFL Painting Challenge: An Overdue Update

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Apologies all, as it’s been a a couple of week’s since the last update and a few days since my last post: real world getting in the way of sensible things like gaming!

Actually, that’s not entirely true: a lot of my spare time has been spent finishing off my next scenario pack. Not one for a Lardy set of rules, but for For King & Parliament, the English Civil War version of To The Strongest.

Regular visitors will have seen all the ECW battle reports I’ve been posting on this site: they have been the playtest games for the supplement. A few details: 12 free-standing fictional scenarios for FK&P loosely grouped into a chronological campaign; similar format to my Lardy scenario packs; should be out later this week or perhaps next; price will be about a tenner.

Anyway, back to the Challenge. As usual, a good set of entries with some inspirational work. Check out the individual galleries (use the NavBar, above) but here’s a selection to whet your whistle:

FK&P AAR: Return to Cookham Moor

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After last week’s defeat, there was nothing for it but to play the next game in the campaign: Cookham Moor.

The Moor is a fun battle where both sides start the game facing each other across a stretch of open land:

My right flank consisted of a brigade of Dutch horse. They are good, solid troops, but the Royalists in front of them were in Swedish formation: more agile and, most importantly, able to counter-charge. That has led to defeat in previous battles, so I decided to try something new: I would advance up to the hedgerow and wait for them to come to me. The Commanded Shot from the nearest infantry brigade would move slightly forward into the woods, threatening the flank of any Royalist advance. At the same time, the guns would deploy and the Scots on my left flank would move up to the hedgerow in front of them. For once, the cards fell my way:

The Royalists advanced forward across their line, and soon the battlefield looked like this:

DSCN2349.JPG

The Royalists then moved their central infantry to their right to face up against the Scots, uncovering the cavalry that had moved over from the right. This cavalry then charged straight forward: right at the Parliamentarian guns just over the bridge!

This was a disaster, as the Royalist cavalry swept the guns from the field, then heading off table in pursuit. There was now a massive hole in my line.

A general melee then broke out across the entire line. My Scottish pikemen did well, forcing the Royalist Commanded Shot to intervene; but my Highlanders, as usual, proved ineffectually weak.

With the infantry locked into combat, the focus changed to the cavalry clash on the right.

Here, my decision to hold the hedgerow proved a very good one, as after a couple of turns all his cavalry was dispersed.

This made up for the disaster in my centre, but both sides were now looking very battered indeed: so battered, in fact, that whichever side next lost a unit would lose the game.

If that was not exciting enough, on my far right the Royalist CinC at the head of his small-unit bodyguard cuirassiers was faced off against my CinC at the head of some Dutch horse!

It all came down to this combat. Could I do the single hit I needed to break the bodyguard and win the game?

Well, you can see from the picture above that I didn’t manage to hit the enemy in my turn. No matter, I thought, he needs two hits on me to break me.

Unbelievably, however, the two hits were done, my cavalry broke, leaving Sir Christopher all on his tod! I had lost the combat and lost the battle!

Aftermath

Phew! What a game!

I had managed to retrieve the situation in the centre and everything had all come down to one final combat that I had really lost on the luck of the cards…but at least I had played the Dutch horse well!

FK&P AAR: Return to Whyteladyes Lane

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I had another play through of the Whyteladyes Lane scenario last weekend, hoping to put my previous defeat (to John) behind me as I sent Bevan’s Royalists running from the field. As is now usual, the game was played over Zoom, with markers showing the number of each unit so that Bevan could more easily work out which of his troops were where.

The game is a tough one for the Roundheads, as they begin the game in an extended column against ready-for-them Cavaliers in a more sensible formation.

Last time, I had pushed forward right from the start, and been chewed up piecemeal. This time I decided that I would form approximately on the head of my column and work from there.

This definitely seemed to work much better, and although I still had one unit (the one at the head of the column) isolated, I now had a bit of a battle line formed to hold the front whilst the rest of my troops deployed. As you can see in the photo below, the Royalists spotted my isolated Highlanders and charged them with a small unit of “bodyguard” Cuirassiers.

All my cavalry were on my right flank, so I advanced them forward to block his cavalry moving down behind a hedge and into my rear.

Usually I charge my Dutch-style horse in as soon as possible but, this time, knowing that the enemy Swedish-style horse would then take the initiative through a counter-charge (something my more ponderous units cannot do) I decided to employ more historical tactics and halt just beyond charge range and discharge my pistols into the advancing enemy.

This worked a treat, as you’ll see in the picture below. All three units to the right are disordered, but it will only take one more hit to break either of the enemy horse units, whereas my greater numbers mean that I can survive another two hits.

All now seemed to be going well, and even Bevan confessed later that he felt that, at this stage, I had the advantage. That was, unfortunately, about to change!

If you look at the picture, below, you’ll see that out at the top of the screen two Royalist units are overlapping my line. I should have taken steps to deal with these immediately, probably by withdrawing back over the hedge or by moving sideways…but I didn’t, not seeing how much of a threat these would turn out to be.

This was a bad mistake, compounded by my response: I thought I move forwards out of danger by breaking through the enemy line.

This is the situation (below) a few minutes later: the enemy unit of pikemen dressed in red in the centre of the photo have swept in from the left and destroyed two of my pike units.

My unit dressed in blue managed to get onto their flank, but the cards didn’t fall for me, and the Royalists would go on to destroy the Highlanders as well. That was nine Victory Medals gone in one fell swoop!

To add insult to injury, on the other side of the field my Dutch horse had now been forced into engaging two battalia of enemy pike: not something that horse enjoy doing! The game continued for another couple of turns, but the writing was on the wall. I eventually had no choice except to order a retreat.

Afterword

I came close this time, so I think when I replay this scenario again I will try pulling back my column and forming on the hedge line behind the first couple of battalia.

Whatever the result, another great game of FK&P: I shall just have to get my revenge at Cookham Moor this afternoon!

TFL Painting Challenge: Second March Update

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Two week’s worth of entries today: and some very nice work indeed.

As always, please do visit the individual galleries (see the Nav Bar, above) but here’s a selection of what was submitted:

TTS AAR: The Sasanids Seek Revenge!

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Regular visitors will know that my last two games of To The Strongest each involved my Classical Indians getting severely hammered by the Marian Romans. My opponent generously suggested that some of the reasons for my twin defeats were down to the relative strengths of the armies: the Marian Romans were made to kill an army like the Indians.

What might work against them, I asked, to be told that armies consisting of lance-armed cavalry supported by horse archers were very popular on the tournament circuit. Something like the Sasanids, I asked. Exactly, I was told…so this week’s game was to be my Sasanid Persians versus his Marian Romans. Revenge was to be mine!

As is now usual, for the moment, the battle would be played over Zoom, with my remote opponent able to see the table through a combination of helicopter-view webcam and on-table-on-tripod ‘phone camera. Each of his units was also marked with a number, helping with the transmission of orders: “unit 4 will move forward a square” etc

the set up

The Romans were unchanged from last week’s appearance: six units of veteran legionaries supported by some light and medium Gallic cavalry. The Sasanids sported six units of horse archers backing the hard punch of escorted elephants, cataphracts and four units of savaran lancers.

romans. Boo, hiss!

noble sasanids

The Plan

My plan was simple: pin the Romans frontally whilst hooking around their left wing. Horse archers to weaken and exploit flanks and rears; elephants, cataphracts and lancers to hammer into weakened legionary units.

Opening Moves

I had the initiative, so as the game began my right wing shot forward into the start position for their curl around the enemy left flank. Likewise, my left wing moved up to keep his left wing occupied.

the battle begins

You may have noticed that no mention has been made of my centre. This is because my central, most powerful brigade had decided that they hadn’t quite finished their breakfasts yet, and weren’t moving until all porridge (or whatever Sasanids have for breakfast) had been consumed!

The elephants and veteran savaran look on as the wings engage

Now what I should have done at this point was to wait for my centre to get moving before sending in my flanking forces…but I didn’t, and fully paid the price!

On my left flank, somewhat surprisingly and extremely annoyingly, my horse archers and lancers were seen off by the enemy cavalry backed up by legionaries. They moved forward very quickly, got their attacks in first, and soon I was left with cavalry around my left flank and nothing much to oppose them except what I could afford to commit from my centre. Hmmm…I’m sure that this was supposed to be the other way round!

One unit of horse archers lost to javelin-fire already; my savaran about to be defeated in combat with the gauls. my left flank is about to disintegrate.

On my right, I was perfectly positioned to curl in and hit the Romans in the flank. Unfortunately, they used their extreme manoeuvrability (well drilled, these Italians!) to not only turn to face me, but also to form an oblique line that effectively protected them from harrying flank attacks.

unit 4, in orbis (all round defence), protects the new roman right flank from my central command…not that that was doing anything even vaguely threatening anyway!

End Game

With my right flank attack effectively neutralised, the enemy right flank was now in the perfect position to curl around my left flank. I had to commit my centre to holding them off, who then got attacked by his centre: effectively he had done to me what I wanted to do to him!

romans outmanoeuvre me on the right

My right flank bravely tried to crack a few legionary skulls before disaster struck, but the truth of the matter was that I had been comprehensively outmanoeuvred. Game one went to the Romans!

romans to the front, romans to the left!

Game 2

As the above really hadn’t taken very long at all, there was time for a second game.

I was keen to have another go using the same tactics, and this time things seemed to be working much better for me: although the Romans had once again adopted their oblique line, this time my left flank was secure and my centre had kept up…so after the opening moves, the battlefield looked like this:

sasanids poised for victory!

Now, however, Lady Luck decided to intervene.

Really? I hear you cry: you were defeated by bad luck, were you? Not the enemy’s tactics and your own incompetence? Like in the last game?

No, really: it was bad luck.

For those of you who haven’t played To The Strongest, the mechanics work by the use of playing cards (or you can use D10 or chips) with higher cards being better than lower cards. Aces are low so, needless to say, drawing an Ace is generally a very bad thing.

We kept a pictorial record of the cards that I drew as the clash that would decide the game took place:

It was so ridiculous that even my opponent was suggesting that the only solution was a box of matches and some lighter fluid!

Anyway, I lost that game too, but still had a great morning’s gaming

To finish, here are a few more pictures of the game. You look at them whilst I go and get a good fire going…!

A Glut of Eastern Churches Redux

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Added to the collection today!

Added to the collection today!

This is a reprise or updated version of a post from January 2019, in celebration of the latest additions to my collection of eastern European churches…

It’s one thing to collect figures - you need all sorts of different sorts to represent different armies, units etc - but to collect models of eastern European churches as well?

That’s what I seem to gave done over the last few years, in that I seem incapable of not buying any model that could vaguely be described as a “religious building, eastern”!

I once joked that I would like to have enough churches to have a different one for each of the maps in my Bashnya of Bust! scenario pack for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! That would take seven, eight or nine, dependent on whether you assumed one of the buildings in some of the smaller villages were houses of worship or not. Whichever it is, I seem to have achieved if not exceeded my target. Below is a gallery (in ascending order of size) of my church collection so far:

I’m pretty sure I don’t actually need any more eastern churches now, but if anyone should know of any others that are available…just add their details as a Comment and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be spending my bottom dollar on another house of God!

IABSM AAR: Les Attaques

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Another absolutely beautiful battle report, this time featuring a game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum played using the first scenario from the Defence of Calais scenario pack.

The report was originally posted on the IABSM FB group, which you can access by clicking here.

It’s May 1940, and with British troops being evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, the ancient port of Calais stood on the critical western flank of the Anglo-French lines.

In a desperate bid to shore up the flank Churchill committed the British 30th Infantry Brigade to defend Calais to the last. What ensued was an heroic struggle that is writ large in the annals of British military history.

This first scenario features men from the Searchlight Battalion, supported by anti-tank guns, trying to hold off the leading elements of the German advance. Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Le Bleu Ferme

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Absolutely brilliant After Action Report from Des Darkin, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, featuring action in France in June 1944 as a British attack tries to push some Germans back. The game was played using the IABCYM dice-driven variant of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum.

Played and reported in four sessions, this AAR combines Des’ various FB posts into one document with loads of great pictures: recommended reading.

Click on the picture below to see all:

TFL Painting Challenge: First March Update

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This would have been the last February update, but Feb is a day-challenged month so today’s update falls into March!

Whatever the date, some lovely work being submitted today. As always, I recommend that you visit the individual galleries (access via the Nav bar, above) but, to whet your collective whistles, here’s a taster:

Indians Hammered, and then Hammered Again!

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Another couple of games of To The Strongest, again on Zoom. This time it was to be my Classical Indians against the Marian Romans: a bit more of a challenge than the Achaemenid Persians!

As before, the set up was for my opponent to have a combination of a stationary overhead camera surveying the whole battlefield and a roving on-table ‘detail’ camera which could be moved to where the action was taking place.

I lost the scouting phase and, as can be seen in the picture above, ended up in a long line across the battlefield facing a Roman force who’s main contingent seemed to be skulking in one corner.

My plan was therefore to hold back my left wing and send forward my centre and right wings to destroy his two separated commands one by one, and then combine my forces again to attack his rather impressive looking camps. Hopefully my superior numbers and mass longbow fire would negate his heavily armoured veteran legionaries (gulp!).

Skulking, I tell you, skulking!

Brave, noble, well-painted!

As already mentioned, I had lost the scouting phase, so my opponent had the initiative and would move first. That should have got him a couple of squares forward, just out of longbow range, but perfectly in keeping with my plan.

Unfortunately not.

A combination of group moves, marches, good cards and, presumably, sheer Roman determination led to a line of annoyed looking Italians appearing right in front of me before my men had had a chance to even finish their breakfasts!

Two thirds of his legionaries are now in my face!

Worse, some of his hairy cavalry had got off the table to the left of my line and were threatening to re-appear and roll me up like a yoga mat!

Well, that was my plan out the window: time for a desperate scramble to retrieve the situation.

A desperate scramble

Most of my men are uninvolved!

The cards were not with me either: although my four-horse chariots managed to manoeuvre themselves into the right position for a flank charge (above left), there they halted to admire the scenery rather than getting stuck in; and my longbows seemed to be firing the wrong sort of arrows today: nerf guns would have been more effective!

Then it was the Romans to go again, and my left hand command just evaporated!

I’m sure I had a left flank around here somewhere!

The Romans were then able to “left turn” with their usual alacrity and, although I did manage to kill one unit of light cavalry, that was really that.

Well that was as comprehensive a mullering as I have ever had!

Game 2

The good news was, of course, that that left us time for a second game: every cloud, silver lining etc!

Things started well: I won the scouting phase this time and ended up in a much better position as the first card was about to be drawn.

Good, tight formation from the Indians this time!

A tough nut to crack!

A tough nut to crack!

The Roman commander looks down on my troops with disdain!

My plan was to quickly kill the cavalry in front of my right wing, then bring the chariots back into the centre for some flank attacks. Meanwhile, my other two commands would advance en masse and pepper his men with their longbows, weakening them in time for the elephants to go in from the front just as my heavy chariots hit them from the side.

Unfortunately, the Gods were against me again (despite me changing the pack of cards I was using in a desperate attempt to change my luck!) and my first turn ended with my men arrayed as shown in the picture above. Chariots: yes, good. Division One: yes, good. Division two…where on earth is Division Two!

If there was anything I’d learnt today about the Romans it’s that they can react really quickly to anything that happens and, sure enough, forward and sideways they came as they attempted to retrieve the situiation.

There was, however, an opportunity here. If I could get my chariots across the field and into the flank of the two legionary units in the centre of the table, then I reckon that I could hit one and then the other and roll them both up. After all, I’d have three attack cards on the first unit with a Hero and a General to get replays. That would put him a third of his main force down with no casualties to me:

I had, of course, neglected to factor in the fact that it was not my day!

Although my chariots flew across the field and got into a perfect charge position, they then stopped! I had had two chances to draw a seven or more (i.e. a 64% chance of success) and failed both times.

The Roman cavalry were thus able to come forward and hit my chariots in the flank (bye bye one unit of chariots and a general), then move the rest of their troops to begin rolling up my line.

Not as bad a mullering as last time, but definitely another hammering!

Aftermath

A couple of great games of TTS despite my ill-fortune. Some of you might be muttering that a good workman doesn’t blame his tools, but even my opponent agreed that it seemed as if every second card I drew was an Ace. For the final chariot combat, needing two 6’s for saves, I drew two Aces: a fitting end to the day!

Still, onwards and upwards, as they say: I’d like to fight the Marian Romans again, but might try one of the other Indian-style armies next time!

Classical Indian 2-Horse Chariots

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Regular visitors will know that one of my current projects is to build a Classical Indian army using the excellent 15mm CAD designed “Z” range from Museum Miniatures.

I already had enough figures to field a standard 130 point army for To The Strongest, which has already and quite successfully hit the tabletop a couple of time, but I wanted to add some units to increase it’s flexibility.

I say ‘increase its flexibility’ to mean two different things.

Firstly, I wanted to extend the figures’ use into other TTS armies, looking at the Vedic Indians as a starting point. This is an earlier army mainly consisting of chariots and javelinmen.

Secondly, I wanted to increase the tactical flexibility of the Classicial Indians. At the moment, I only have three commands, with my impact units being Elephants and Heavy 4-Horse Chariots. These are great, but risk being outflanked by armies with loads of lights. I therefore need more, slightly less powerful units as potential substitutes for the usual mighty, but inflexible, fist.

The lists all mention two-horse chariots as a slightly less powerful version of the heavy four-horse variety: less powerful so you get more of them. These would be ideal, except for the fact that Museum didn’t do them in their Z range.

Or at least they didn’t!

A quick e-mail to Dave, proprietor, with the request and justification, and within a couple of days (yes, days!) a two-horse chariot option hit the shop.

I bought nine!

These are, like the other figures in the range, lovely models and highly recommended. Great service from Museum as well. I feel ready for Alexander now!

SdKfz 7 Half-Tracks

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Finally managed to get some units off the painting table and into the finished pile!

Here are four SdKfz 7 half-tracks from Battlefront:

These are intended as tows for my early war German artillery: I painted up four 10.5cm le FH18 howitzers last year that are in need of transport.

Those of you who know these sorts of things will know that that sort of howitzer was actually pulled by the smaller SdKfz 6 half-track but, as far as I know, Battlefront don’t do those, and I got these in one of their 40% off sales…which shows how long they’ve been waiting for a coat of paint!

What’s the difference between the two, you ask?

Well, the SdKfz 7 is bigger: 50cms longer, 15cms wider and 14cms taller, and weighs a third more. There were also a lot more of them: about 12,000 built versus about 3,500.

Hopefully no-one will notice when they’re on the tabletop!

TFL Painting Challenge: Third February Update

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It’s raining outside, and the first coat on the bases of the artillery tows I’m painting are drying, so the perfect time to do a quick Painting Challenge update.

Plenty of entries despite the fact that only a week has gone by since the last update: lockdown is proving productive for many of you!

A special mention to Mr Plowman who, after a somewhat disappointing 16 points last year, bounces back with a 101 figure Dwarf army. Lovely work.

Visit the individual galleries, but here’s a taster of this week’s entries:

TTS AAR: Classicial Indians and the Achaemenids

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Two remote games of To The Strongest played at the weekend: both featuring my newly painted Classical Indians against a cobbled together army of Achaemenid Persians.

I say cobbled together because I don’t have an Achaemenid Persian army, so what ended up on the tabletop were Assyrians as Persian cavalry, some Medes from an Alexandrian army, some Greek types as Ionians, some Scythian types as horse archers, then Sassanid Persian infantry as Sparabara and, embarrassingly and perhaps the most heinous crime, Greek Hoplites as the Immortals!

Due to lockdown, the game was played remotely i.e. the table and figures were set up at my house, with my opponent being able to see what was going on over Zoom from his house. After last week’s first attempt, I’d invested in a new webcam, so the picture was much improved:

I also bought a little tripod for my mobile ‘phone (you can see it in position, above) so it was also a lot easier to move the “battlefield reporter” camera around as well.

Game One

So a victory for the Indians: a couple of enemy units killed by missile fire, but the main damage was from the heavy chariots punching their way through the centre. After the game, Bevan mentioned that he wasn’t expecting to find “cavalry” in the centre of my line, and this discombobulated his battle plan!

I also feel honour bound to mention that the cards were most certainly not falling for the Achaemenids!

Game 2

So a second victory for the Persians, although things were a lot closer this time.

Massed longbow fire, and the elephants/heavy chariots at the schwerepunkt, proved a winning combination. Both sides had infantry with strong missile fire but weak melee skills supported by decent melee troops (his cavalry, my elephants and chariots) but I had the advantage in both areas: my longbows outranged his bows, and my elephants/chariots were a bit better than his cavalry. These two advantages gave me the win despite having less units (by one!) and less flexibility (three commands to his four).

Still, I suspect Bevan will have his revenge. Next encounter will see me fielding the Indians again, but against an Alexandrian army…gulp!

IABNM Reborn!

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I knew there was a reason I spend so much time on keeping this site going!

One of Tim’s collection, taken from the IABNM Facebook Group

One of Tim’s collection, taken from the IABNM Facebook Group

Fellow Lardy Tim Whitworth was browsing the other day, and came across the battle reports that I have taken from Nick Overland’s currently hibernating Maxim to Milan blog.

Nick wrote a variation of IABSM called I Ain’t Been Nuked Mum or IABNM for short which made some brief but very successful appearances at various Lardy days.

Inspired by what he read, Tim has set up a Facebook Group for IABNM, which you can get to by clicking here. It’s got the latest draft of the rules on there, and some lists, so hopefully we’ll see a few games taking place shortly.

It’s certainly inspired me to get all those boxes of Soviet armour out of the cupboard, the ones I bought in the last Battlefront sale…!

TFL Painting Challenge: Second February Update

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As so many people are sending in entries at the moment, I thought I’d keep on top of things with a quick Painting Challenge update after only a week rather than the usual two.

As usual, some lovely figures submitted, so I do recommend that you visit the individual galleries, but here’s a taster to keep you inspired:

Lloyd also gives us the story behind the ships he’s submitted: a tale that shows that although wargamers may pass on to the great table in the sky, their collections continue…and that there’s a value in cleaning out the cupboards!

Thought I might send in some pictures of my latest project. The first picture is of merchant ships and some escorts, 42 total. These are all 1/2400 scale and the merchant ship models have an interesting history. My first gaming group in the north coast broke up about 25 years ago due to people moving out of the area and one very unexpected death. I inherited some the deceased’s collection .

I gleaned all the merchants from the old collection and bought a few more to make up a decent sized convoy. Only one of these ships had been painted in in something other than basic battleship grey, a very boring sight! Most of the models are Panzerschiffe models, very basic resin cast models, some of which went directly into the bin since they were so poorly cast! All were repainted in differing schemes which I hope are close to what might have been seen at the time. The Hunt and Flower escorts are recent purchases from GHQ since there were none of these ships in the old collection.

The second photo shows a further 11 escorts, all DDs from the old collections and all repainted. Most are Panzershiffe, thought there are a few metal models mixed in.

The third photo is my homage to our cousins to the north. At the end of the war the RCN was the third largest navy in the world and they had fought everyday in the Battle of the Atlantic. Again most of these are Panzerschiffe and I’ve snuck the GHQ Flowers into this photo since they are Canadian ships.

This project was another “clean out the cupboard” projects. I feel pretty good about it!

Napoleonic AAR: Austerlitz on Zoom!

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Another remote game: this time a re-fight of Austerlitz.

The set up was similar to that for Ostrolenka (see earlier this year) but with a few improvements. Two teams of three players each: the French (Mark, Peter and I) and the Austro-Russians (Dave, Steve and Trevor) each in their own Zoom breakout room.

Each team could see each other and a limited view of the battlefield, and each was periodically visited by an Aide de Camp (Bevan) who took our orders and passed them on to the Umpire (Edward) who ran the table.

Eight participants, eight different locations: the wonders of modern communication!

Set Up

The game would be played with the Age of Eagles ruleset but scaled at divisional level i.e. the smallest units were divisions grouped into corps.

Each turn would be one hour of battle time, and the battlefield was about 8 by 9 miles in size. Each side would decide their deployment and send in orders for their first (7.00am battle time) turn before the day of the game itself, with the aim being that each turn would take 20 minutes to play, meaning that playing nine turns would give us all a game lasting from 7pm to about 10pm.

Each turn, each team would be able to move their Army Command location and issue orders to each of their Corps. Or the team could decide to “ride about a mile and a half round your army to inspect things for yourself” instead of issuing orders.

As a guideline, we could issue a one sentence order with a one sentence advisory to each corps:

  • "V Corps to deploy between villages A and B. Artillery well to the front"

  • "II Corps to attack enemy to front. Cavalry in reserve prepared to take opportunities"

  • "IX Corps to assault village C. Watch out for enemy Corps behind hill to your left"

  • "III Corps to advance and pin enemy to front. Attack only if enemy corps disordered"

  • "VII Corps to withdraw behind XX stream line. Conscripts to form rearguard"

Corps would continue to follow their previous order until changed. We were further warned that:

  • If you issue an order to each Division you will run out of competent Aides de Camp to take orders before you get very far.

  • If you issue long and complicated orders with multiple conditions and sub clauses the Aide de camp will pass on a random selection that he remembers to the Corps commander.

Background

For those of you unfamiliar with Austerlitz, our briefing was as follows:

Napoleon’s successes against the Austrians during the second half of 1805 have been extraordinary, with Vienna taken and many prisoners seized. However, Czar Alexander of the Russian Empire has now come west to help his ally Emperor Francis. Despite the French triumphs, Paris is swirling with rumours about Napoleon’s imminent defeat and fall from power, especially after Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. The French Emperor needs one final triumph on the battlefield, and the hilly ground near Austerlitz makes a perfect setting.

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Deployment

Our army could deploy anywhere in the western third of the map (roughly bordered by the line of the stream running between Kritschen and Tellnitz). The Emperor Napoleon could place his HQ wherever he likes within that area, but the battle is lost instantly if he is captured or killed.

Terrain

Streams were all easy to cross with only a modest loss of pace. Ponds and marshes were frozen, but would hinder movement somewhat. The battlefield was very hilly, with various plateaus. Santon Hill and the Goldbach Heights tower above all the other ground.

Victory Conditions

Our victory conditions were simple: victory would be achieved if significantly more casualties were inflicted on the enemy than were suffered by the French army, or if Czar Alexander was captured or killed. In either case, Austria would sue for peace and the Confederation of the Rhine could be established.

Our Troops

Our army consisted of six corps:

  • Bernadotte

    • Rivaux’s Infantry Division (some 5,500 men)

    • Drouet’s Infantry Division (some 6,500 men)

    • 1 Foot Artillery Detachment

  • Davout

    • Friant’s Infantry Division (some 7,700 men)

    • Bourcier’s Heavy Cavalry Division (2,700 Dragoons)

  • Soult

    • Vandamme’s Infantry Division (some 8,700 men)

    • St Hilaire’s Infantry Division (some 9,000 men)

    • Legrand’s Infantry Division (some 8,600 men)

    • Beaumont’s Heavy Cavalry Division (2,700 Dragoons)

    • 2 Foot Artillery Detachments (1 with heavy guns)

  • Lannes

    • Suchet’s Infantry Division (some 8,600 men)

    • Cafarelli’s Infantry Division (some 7,600 men)

    • Oudinot’s Infantry Division (some 5,400 Grenadiers)

    • 2 Foot Artillery Detachments

  • Murat

    • Kellerman’s Light Cavalry Division (about 2,100 Chasseurs and Hussars)

    • Wathier’s Heavy Cavalry Division (1,700 Dragoons)

    • Nansouty’s Armoured Heavy Cavalry Division (1,700 Cuirassiers)

    • d’Hautpol’s Armoured Heavy Cavalry Division (1,600 Cuirassiers)

    • 1 Horse Artillery Detachment

  • Bessieres (Imperial Guard)

    • Hulin’s Old Guard Foot Division (some 4,500 of the finest veterans)

    • Savary’s Old Guard Heavy Cavalry Division (1,600 elite horsemen)

    • 1 Foot Artillery Detachment

The Plan

As we didn’t expect the enemy to follow history and conveniently deploy in two easily-beatable chunks, we decided that we would go for the Pratzen Heights and then hold against all comers, waiting for the opportunity to exploit an opportunity.

We therefore issued the following orders to our corps commanders:

  • SOULT:

    • Deploys on Schlappanitz.

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move as fast as possible east, keeping south of Girschkowitz and Blasowitz and up onto the northern end of the Heights.

    • Commentary: You must get up onto the Heights before the enemy.

    • Anticipation: Deploy along the edge of the Heights facing N-NE, with left flank covering Krug.

  • LANNES:

    • Deploys on Puntowitz.

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move as fast as possible east keeping north of Pratzen and up onto the central mass of the Heights.

    • Commentary: You must get up onto the Heights before the enemy.

    • Anticipation: Form on Soult's right flank.

  • BERNADOTTE:

    • Deploys on Kobelnitz (or as close as our deployment limit allows)

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move as fast as possible east via Pratzen and up onto the southern part of the northern end of the Heights.

    • Commentary: You must get up onto the Heights before the enemy.

    • Anticipation: Form on Lannes' right flank.

  • DAVOUT:

    • Deploys on Marxdorf

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move to Puntowitz.

    • Commentary: Keep a sharp eye for Allied troops approaching from the south.

    • Anticipation: Guard against an Allied approach from the South

  • MURAT:

    • Deploys on Kritschen

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move east to where the road crosses the Bosenitz Brook.

    • Commentary: Send scouts up onto the Santon Hill

    • Anticipation: Be ready to head either east or south dependent on what the enemy does.

  • BESSIERES:

    • Deploys on the Zurian Heights.

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Move to Girschkowitz.

  • FRENCH HQ & NAPOLEON:

    • Deploys with Lannes.

    • Turn 1 Orders:

    • Orders: Establish yourselves at the juncture between Soult and Lannes.

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The idea was that once our strong centre had encountered the enemy, we would either crush them straight on (if they had come straight at us) or pin them so that a flank could roll them up (if they had weighted their opposite flank).

We actually predicted to ourselves that they would go strong up north, so we were anticipating Soult and Lannes being engaged, Murat pinning, and Bernadotte swinging north and rolling the enemy up from the south.

The Game

In the event, I think it fair to say that things went sort, but not entirely to plan!

Here’s a series of snapshots from the game, with commentary where appropriate:

From left to right:

  • Bessieres takes the Guard forward to Girschkowitz to protect the left flank.

  • Soult (the three central columns) heads up the hill and encounters Russians

  • Lannes (top centre right) is already engaged!

  • Bernadotte is moving forward slowly, Davoult is in reserve. Why is all our artillery (the grey blocks) in a stream bed?

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The Guard have been hit by three divisions of Austrian Cuirassiers. Better send Murat to help.

Soult has a 3:2 advantage: should be okay.

Lannes still going strong.

Come on Bernadotte: get moving!

And will someone please get our artillery out of the stream!

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The Guard have been smashed backwards! How can this be? Bessieres is sacked!

Murat (off screen to the left) is engaged and reports that he’s doing well.

Soult has been pushed back? Does not compute: we had a massive advantage! Get back up the hill immediately!

Lannes is still going strong.

Urgent messages going to Bernadotte, and don’t even talk to me about our artillery!

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Murat still doing well to the left, but there seem to be lots of Russians coming towards him. No probs, we’ll break their centre and turn their right flank soon!

The Guard have retreated to a village and are sorting themselves out.

Soult goes back up the hill…but why has one division stayed behind?

Bernadotte is finally moving forward on the right. We bring Davoult forward to breakthrough the centre.

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Murat is starting to feel the pressure…but he needs to keep fighting to hold our left.

Soult is knocked back again! What is wrong with you, man, you are French and outnumber the enemy! Get up that hill now!

Lannes (lovely boy, lovely boy) is back moving forwards again.

Bernadotte est un escargot (snail) reborn as a French marshal. Will you please hurry up and hit them hard on the right so you can swing round and roll them up!

The guns! The guns!

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Murat has been dispersed, with only one division left, holding the Santon Hill. This is not good, but his sacrifice should have bought us time to win the centre and right and, as he said himself, any Hussar who is still alive at 30 is a blaggard and a coward!

The Guard have been pushed back (again!) but have determined to re-take the village. They’d better, Bessieres, as your future prospects are right in the middle of it!

Soult, Lannes and Bernadotte are pushing forward hard. Looking good: lots of blue, not so much green and white!

The guns are finally moving as well!

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Hmmm…there are some Russian coming from the left now but (Gallic shrug) the battle seems to be won in the centre and on the right.

We just need Bernadotte to push forward, but he’s whining about Austrian cavalry holding him up!

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A pity the battle didn’t end last picture: the enemy is resurgent!

This is where the battle ended.

Soult is barely holding, Davolut is under pressure, but Lannes and Bernadotte seem to be doing okay.

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The End

And that is, indeed where the battle ended.

Up to that last picture, we thought we’d been doing pretty well, but we were starting to come under lots of pressure.

Remembering the victory conditions, casualties were counted. We had taken 50% more than the opposition! Oops! Throwing Murat away like that had not been very helpful, and it was hard fighting all the way.

The Austro-Russians were claiming a glorious victory, but we thought that, situationally, we were on the cusp of a massive roll up, and we had taken the Heights and pushed the enemy back. That said, the victory claims from the French camp were much more muted: we knew that, whatever the situation, we had been quite badly roughed up.

Analysis

What did we do wrong?

Well, we deployed to perfection, but underestimated how long it would take to get our guns into play.

We were also a bit passive in issuing orders sometimes. I think we could have pushed some divisional orders onto our marshals to improve the tactical situation (although there wasn’t that much room for tactics given our charge forward!) and definitely used ADCs to get the guns and Bernadotte moving forwards more quickly.

Using Capitaine ‘Indsight again, Soult initial set back was a real surprise and really turned the tide against us really early on. The unit that turned him back was the Russian Guard, who were, to coin a phrase “immense” and held us up far too long. Without their resistance, we’d have been over the hill and into Austerlitz by lunchtime!

Our huge mistake, however, was not going to see what was going on with Murat. We left him to get on with it, even when things turned against him. we then threw him away…in that he should have disengaged and pinned the Russian right flank advance. That’s how cavalry do things, after all, but we just ordered him to keep fighting. Funnily enough, it’s what the Austrian cavalry did to Bernadotte on our right.

So, in summary, a good plan, that could have worked, but we should have been more active. I blame the hours I’d already spent on Zoom working that day: my equivalent of Napoleon’s Waterloo malaise!

Good play from the enemy too. We might have had a good plan, but I think it fair to say that they made no serious mistakes once battle was joined. Well done Dave, Trevor and Steve!

Anyway, onto…

The Result

For a final decision, let’s hear from the Umpire:

It was something of a heavy-weight bout, with both sides launching head-on attacks! It felt like two battering rams crashing into each other!

I'd call it a costly draw, although strategically more of a set-back for Napoleon perhaps.

To be honest, as one of the French players, I think we were relieved to be awarded a draw, but a draw had been declared and all that now remained was for Napoleon’s excellent propaganda machine to spin it into glorious victory!

To finish, my thanks to Edward and Bevan for running the game so smoothly, and to all the players for participating. It was a brilliant experience, and one I look forward to repeating soon.

From the Austro-Russians

A very enjoyable account, much like the reports I think Le Moniteur printed from time to time! 

Very roughly, the Allies anticipated where your main attack would come from and placed our strongest Corps to block it. Sadly, Buxhowden was apparently a little hungover and they moved very slowly at the start.  Our main plan was to hold the French on the Heights, with as compact a line as possible, whilst Bagration’s huge cavalry Corps savaged whatever you had on your left and then swung down the valley to smash into your advancing infantry on their flank.  The Russian Imperial Guard were nicely positioned to help stop and then drive back the initial French attack.  

Like a lot of things on the battlefield it don’t quite work out that way! Still Kutusov fought like a lion whilst always being outnumbered, Constantine’s Guards were magnificent, Bagration’s Cavalry did the business (Murat was always all trousers and whiskers) and once Buxhowden sobered up he know what to do. Oh and I suspect we got a few very timely dice rolls…

However our troops were all ordered to cut out the glorious but fatal charges on the French and to cause maximum casualties in defence.  This seemed to work and according to our victory conditions it looked like an Allied victory – but half way through we would have settled on the draw, so no complaints about the decision.

Yes, a really good idea which produced a great game. Well done Edward & Bevan.

Finally…

Here are some final, Umpire’s, shots of the game: