19thC AAR: British versus Russians

/

Friend Neil wanted to try the Neil Thomas Rules for 19th Century Wargaming, so I set up a quick battle: Crimean British versus Crimean Russians. I would play the Russians, Neil would take the Brits.

I set the game up as an encounter battle, with both sides advancing forward to take battle to the enemy. On reflection, I probably gave the British one or possibly two infantry battalions too many as, although they were outnumbered, their infantry was all elite.

My plan, as the Russians, was to advance forward and hold the small town on the left hand side of the battlefield, using the heavy artillery at the back of the column to pound the advancing Britig infantry into a state where I could successfully charge them. I would mass my cavalry on the right, as although that required a bit of manoeuvring to get into position, that would then give me superior numbers and a chance to break through and circle round the British left flank. In the centre, I would mass my infantry against the British , hopefully using a 5:3 advantage to stymie any advance.

The action began with the Russian heavy dragoons on the right facing of against British Lancers, witht he sheer weight of the Dragoons pushing the opposition back.

Unfortunately, the Dragoons were then hit by rockets from some British artillery and charged by Light Dragoons. This sent them reeling backwards past the advancing Russian Hussars. It looked like the cavalry battle was going to be the usual backwards-and-forwards sideshow!

The game then divided into two neat halves: with me facing the British Guards Brigade on the left and a brigade of British line infantry on the right…and with pesky Riflemen all over!

On the left, the British Guards brigade advanced forward and then switched into line, sending multiple volleys of musket fire into the approaching Russian columns (my plan to hold the village had been forgotten!) before launching a charge with the Grenadier Guards that was only held at bay by the Russian heavy artillery.

On the right, again the British moved forward in column and then switched to line. I thought my advantage in numbers might just allow me to break one of the British infantry units, but a charge by the 11th Hussars into the flank of one of my Guards battalions soon put paid to that, and I soon had nothing of significance to throw forward!

So a fairly conclusive British victory, with my only consolation being the pounding my heavy artillery gave the Guards. We didn’t play all aspects of the game correctly (it had been some time since I’d last played the rules) but it was a most enjoyable encounter, even with the hefty defeat!

19thC AAR: Battle in the Crimea

/

Having recently re-based all my British Crimean figures, it was time to get them onto the tabletop. Like some of my other 19thC figures, these troops hadn’t seen the light of day for almost twenty years: a testament to my inability to sell or give away any of my collection!

As I had done all the work, I would take the British, with friend John taking the Russians. Set up was a simple one: both sides were after possession of a strategically important village in about the centre of the table. We would use the Neil Thomas Rules for Wargaming the 19th Century.

As the game begun, both sides hotfooted it towards the village.

As you can see, the Brits were a bit faster (and maybe closer, but we rolled for sides!) so managed to get into the village before the Russians. Also note the opposing sides’ cavalry moving towards each other slowly on the near flank.

Before we move on with the narrative, here’s a great shot of the British during their approach:

The Fight for the Village

The British reached the village first and barely had time to form line before the Russian columns started to charge home.

On The Right

On the right hand side of the field, a British battalion supported by skirmishers faced off against two large masses of Cossack horse supported by heavy artillery and a battalion of Cossack foot.

Throughout the rest of the game, this battalion would hold this flank, sending the three Cossack units flying back to their steppes. The price was high: only half the British infantry were still on their feet at the end of the battle.

On The Left

On the left hand side of the field, the British cavalry slowly advanced towards their opponents: the plan was to protect the left flank then, once the Russian infantry were fully committed to the village, to smash the enemy horse from the field before looping around the Russian rear.

Unfortunately, although the flank was indeed protected throughout the game, when the British cavalry did eventually commit to combat, the result were…mixed! There was certainly no rapid smashing from the field going on and the situation developed into a grinding melee that lasted until the end of the battle.

The British eventually probably had the best of the encounter, but their cavalry had done all they were going to do for the day: no looping around the rear was going to occur.

This was very disappointing, as I was expecting the cavalry to quickly carve through their opponents and then go on to wreak havoc in the Russian rear.

With the two flanks fought to a standstill, resolution was going to occur in the centre.

Extreme Action In The Centre

As previously mentioned, the Russian columns charged into the village, focussing their efforts on the lone battalion of Highland infantry occupying the buildings on the left hand side of the road.

Time and time again, fresh columns of brown clad infantry advanced into the fight until the area was strewn with their corpses, but sheer volume of numbers was beginning to tell and soon there were only a handful of brave Scots left. These resisted for another turn or two, then were finally sent flying, leaving the left hand side of the village in Russian hands,

At the same time as the above, more Russian columns attacked the British battalion holding the right hand side of the village. These crumbled somewhat faster than the Scots, and soon the entire village was in Russian hands! Things looked a bit grim for the Brits!

This was, however, only a temporary setback. The two battalions of Guardsmen on the left of the British line had repelled the Russians in front of them and now took the offensive. One formed columns and moved towards the left hand side of the village whilst the other pivoted around its right hand man to flank more Russian columns as they advanced forward.

This proved too much for the Russians, and soon the left hand side of the village was back in British hands, with no more Russian reinforcements on the way.

Meanwhile, on the right of the central British line, a battalion of line infantry had been holding its position in the centre of a cornfield, repelling any Russian columns who came towards them. Fortunately for the Brits, the terrain meant that the Russian attacks had come in piecemeal as opposed to a co-ordinated push.

Although honours were now technically even, with each side holding one half of the village, the Russians were down to only three effective infantry units (from eleven!) whereas the British had only lost two of their six infantry battalions. With the wings stalemated, the Russian commander declined to waste his troops on further assaults, or even to try and hold the gains that they had made, and ordered a general retreat.

Aftermath

Another great game and one that was actually very close indeed.

When the Russian columns pushed two British battalions out of the village, I was seriously concerned that I wasn’t going to get back into them, especially as my “elite” cavalry were busy getting nowhere.

To finish, here are a couple of shots not included above of the battle in progress:

19C AAR: Crimean War Clash

/

Having re-based my Crimean Russian army a couple of weeks ago, it was now time to get them onto the tabletop. These figures had last seen action 23 years ago, so it was a real pleasure to wheel them out again and just proves my adage: never sell any figures, never give any away!

The game, using Neil Thomas’ Rules for 19th C Warfare, would therefore feature my Crimean Russians against John playing my Crimean French army in a fight for control of a strategically vital crossroads atop a ridge somewhere near Sebastopol.

Russians to the left, Frenchies to the right. The aim of the game was to take the crossroads in the middle of the table

As we wanted a big game and weren’t too bothered about making things fair, we fielded every figure that I had in the two armies concerned. This left the French pretty outnumbered, but with much better command and troops of generally better quality. The French could also form line for firing, unlike the Russians who were forced to stay in column throughout the game, and were armed with rifled muskets unlike the smoothbores of the Russians. Finally, the French could also field skirmishers (the Legere units) to harass the Russian columns as they advanced.

The Russians fielded four infantry divisions and a cavalry division for a total of ten infantry units, four cavalry units, five batteries of artillery and a couple of dubious looking sotnias of Cossacks.

The French fielded three infantry and one cavalry division for a total of six infantry units, three skirmisher units, four cavalry units and three artillery batteries.

So a hard fought victory for the Russians!

The French retreated in good order having lost all their skirmishers and half their line infantry. They managed to save two batteries of artillery, but lost most of their cavalry.

The Russians advanced to occupy the crossroads, but had lost half their infantry, half their artillery, half their cavalry and most of the Cossacks.

As the Russian commander, I knew my only route to a win was to just grind the French down, and grind them down I did.

John admitted that his infantry got bogged down in the fields and hedges near the town: his infantry mainly stayed static and tried to win by musket fire alone, which was a shame as every time the French attacked they smashed the Russian columns back. More elan needed next time!

The cavalry action on the Russian right was just a distraction: three units of Russians took care of two units of French, but hadn’t the strength to do much more. On the Russian left, the Cossacks were effectively wiped out by the French Guides, and it was again a shame that the French Cuirassiers had to be sacrificed in a vain attempt to stop the three columns of Russian infantry coming forward. At least they dies knowing that they gave the surviving French infantry in the centre time to retreat in good order!

All in all a cracking game!

Crimean Russians Re-based

/

Thermopylae, Flanders, the Crimea…it’s the same places that get fought over again and again and again.

Here’s the latest re-basing for my 19th Century collection: the Russian army of the Crimean War, another pointless campaign that achieved far more misery than lasting effect.

I’ve exchanged the existing somewhat esoteric basing scheme for a more ubiquitous version: infantry in units of 32 figures mounted on 40mm wide and 30mm deep bases; cavalry on the same size bases in units of 12 figures.

A right pain in the backside to do, but good for my Painting Challenge score and means that I will get the army onto the tabletop again. Looking at my records, I last used them in anger on 9th March 1999: just over 23 years ago. Ridiculous, but I’m still glad I’ve kept hold of them all this time.

Vis Imperica Gallery: Crimean Russians

/

My Crimean Russians are a nice little army: solid battalions of drab-coated infantry commanded by glittering officers, supported by equally solid masses of cavalry and hordes of Cossacks. Although most of the army is painted to the standard I was achieving at the time, the officers and Dragoon Guards show that I was reaching for more.

The figures are mostly Essex, IIRC, with quite a few Minifigs thrown in, and one unit from Irregular. Confession time: the Hussars were bought painted at a Bring and Buy, and the Don Cossacks were painted by the Irregular Miniatures painting service. All the rest are my work...and I do love the Dragoon Guards!

Click on the pic to see the gallery: