Devon Wargames Group - Xmas Game

December 14, 2015, 2:58 am

≫ Next: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Thirteen

This weekend I spent a very pleasant Saturday in the company of the chaps at my local club and I am posting this pointer to the club blog to highlight the game we played.

The club meets once a month and on most occasions we aim to put on about three games to cater for everyone and provide lots of variety in periods, scale and rule-sets. It really is an opportunity to play games you might not normally play and to try out new rules among other things.

Thus through the year we often end up playing fellow club members occasionally because we can all choose what we play throughout the year. The December (Xmas) and final club meeting of the year is a little different in that we have traditionally played just one big game that everyone who attends can join in on and really caps the year and allows us to celebrate the social nature of what our hobby is all about.

We are not solo wargamers, and I for one value that aspect and never forget how great it is to spend time with people who get excited about the same silly stuff that I do.

The club really did itself proud this weekend and laid on, under the guidance of our coordinator and Gamemeister for the day Chas, a huge 2000+ figures, American Civil War, 28mm, Regimental Fire & Fury game fighting a scenario based on the closing action at the Battle of Chancellorsville close to Fredericksburg in May 1863.

As you can see that means a lot of lead on the table, plus lots of cakes, mince pies, and other snacks generously donated by the guys to keep us sustained throughout the day.

So if you are interested in knowing more about the game and the club you can follow the link to the report I posted yesterday, and have a flick through the other posts about all the other stuff we have been playing since 1983.

http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/battle-of-chancellorsville-fredicksburg.html

Lots of stuff coming up on JJ's Wargames as we head into Xmas and up to the New Year and next up, Mr Steve or as he is known in certain circles "Ragnar Hairy Breeches" has come up with a cunning plan to trap me in our on going Alfred the Great game that is into the last three nerve racking moves. The question is will I walk into it?

Alfred the Great, The Great Heathen Army 871 AD Turn thirteen up next.

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Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Thirteen

December 14, 2015, 8:14 am

≫ Next: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fourteen

≪ Previous: Devon Wargames Group - Xmas Game

So here we are in May 871 AD and the Great Heathen Army is astride the Temes with boats arriving as I write this report bringing in more Pagan warriors set on rape and pillage and the destruction of Wessex and the dream of a united England under one King.

The men of Wessex brace themselves for the final onslaught as the Viking hoard prepare to move on Wiltunseir.

There really isn't much Aelthelred can do in this situation with the two options of sallying forth and offering open battle or worse still attacking Readingum, both of which offer total destruction with an uncertain return in taking many Vikings with them or, the preferred option, to hunker down behind the walls and get ready for the Vikings to make a mess of one of these assaults which they so far have got away with. Their luck must run out at some stage!!

So to reinforce the front line under immediate threat, fifteen warriors from Wintanceaster join the King at Basengas.

Our game enters the last three turns and with the Vikings in a very dominant position, just needing a further two victory points in captured areas, and looking very likely to gain a minor victory at a minimum; needing to kill the two Saxon Royals and take Wintanceaster to snuff out Wessex altogether to claim a major victory. So careful play by the Saxons is still the order of the day.

What did I say about careful play is the order of the day?

So the Viking army with two moves each left has dangled a big hook with a chunk of bait on it right in front of King Aethelred and his large army in Basengas.

So dear reader, you have an opportunity to share your thoughts on Aethelred's next move based on the situation.

In summary, each force currently holds 20 VP/RSP of town/fortified hex areas. The most likely result is a Viking points victory in towns held as they need to kill both Saxon Royals and take Wintanceaster to grab a major victory which is unlikely.

The Viking main army outside Basengas consists of three kings, eight jarls and sixty-one warriors, with a reserve force behind it in Readingum of two kings, eight jarls and a further thirty-one warriors.

In Basengas, King Aethelred commands three earls, and fifty warriors, with the nearest support being the garrison at Wintanceaster of one earl and a further twenty warriors.

The next and last supply phase is Saxon, so before any action Aethelred can reinforce any of his five garrisons with a minimum of twenty warriors.

If Aethelred sits tight and bolsters his garrison with more men this forces the Vikings to most probably assault the town with the bulk of their two armies and bring on a battle within if they can breach the walls, as a siege will take too long. You will have seen how assaults go, but with Aethelred present all the Saxons will hit at 66% of the time instead of the 33% they were causing in the previous fights.

Off course Aethelred could throw caution to the wind and attack the main Viking force before him with another forty warriors (if we include the garrison from Wintanceaster) and probably die in the counter-attack by Guthrum, but with a 66% chance of possibly taking a fair few Vikings off to Valhalla, leaving King Guthrum facing off against King Alfred and not much time to seal the deal on a major victory.

So the obvious safe approach would be to stick a load of warriors into Basengas and blow raspberries at the Vikings inviting them to come and get us, but that wont look as good in the chronicles as the heroic death in battle following a failed but daring surprise attack which dealt a death blow to The Great Heathen Army.

Ragnar has walked out into the open, in front of his massed warriors, and is staring up at you on the battlements of Basengas and as that unblinking gaze makes eye contact with you and seems to study your every thought, you know what he's thinking;

"So what you have to decide punk is, do you feel lucky? Well do you!!?" - only in Norse.

I have a feeling Ragnar will keep his council until I make a decision, so please feel inspired to share your thoughts.

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Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fourteen

December 18, 2015, 12:17 am

≫ Next: Ancient Campaign Plans

≪ Previous: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Thirteen

The weather is starting to warm up and spring is in the air and twenty more Saxon warriors heed the call of their King and arrive at Basengas to reinforce the garrison.

With just two Viking and one Saxon turns left, I decline the invitation to forego the protection of the +3 defence of Basengas, knowing full well that any sally forth by my men would most likely be met by a retreat by the Vikings and then have them descend on me with their full force in the open as I am in my turn forced to beat a retreat back into Basengas in the next turn leaving me weakened and chastened by the experience and the possibility of being unable to resist an assault.

Much better then to reinforce our forward defence in the area that the Vikings have committed towards and to threaten their expansion westward into Wiltunscir with Alfred's force, thus having the Pagans dance to my tune rather than theirs.

Well I can't do much to stop the Vikings grabbing a minor points victory as they have the initiative of the final turn, so any of my troops put out into the wider countryside as village garrisons invite being picked off in detail, and will weaken any defence of Cippenhamm but Aethelred can at least take satisfaction that the strength of the Saxon forces can still dictate a Viking response and is a force in being that would only get stronger over time perhaps allowing a counter offensive later in the year.

So I predict the Viking force near Malmesbury will fan out to the string of four villages and grab those close to the Thames, whilst those at Readingum and Lundene will grab the two villages in the south east and Sashes knowing no further Saxon attacks are possible. So potentially a 23 points - 17 points Viking win.

Making the move with Alfred and reinforcing Aethelred at Basengas was the move the Vikings least wanted to see and has forced them to shift their offensive on Wintanceaster away to Wiltunscir.

It will be interesting to see what the view looks like from the other-side of the shield wall. More thoughts from Ragnar to come as we go into the final move of our game.

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Ancient Campaign Plans

December 19, 2015, 1:58 am

≫ Next: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fifteen, Game End

≪ Previous: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fourteen

Trajan's men construct facilities in preparation for his upcoming campaign into Dacia. Likewise similar activity is going on here at JJ's Wargames with plans and constructions well under way.

The end of a year is always a great time to review progress on projects to date and also to think of things to come. At the moment I am focused on future plans, next week on the run in to Xmas and New Year I will take a bit of time to review progress on current projects.

I recently laid out my ideas on where I plan to take the Napoleonic collection and in that vain of looking ahead I thought you might like to see what I have in mind for the Ancient collection.

The emphasis of JJ's Wargames has since its beginning had a very strong Peninsular War theme and that will continue, but as the title of the blog indicates it is about the wargames I like to play and the periods of history I am particularly interested in and that includes periods and eras outside of Napoleonics and the Peninsular War.

One area I am looking forward to shift more time and development towards is the 28mm Ancients collection that I, and more latterly Tom, have started based on the Hail Caesar Dacian War book of scenarios, and a good start has been made on the Roman collection in terms of painted units. In addition with the arrival of three more boxes of Dacian warriors from Caliver (thank you to Dave Brown and the chaps who have set about sorting my order - great service as always) I will have all the troops ready to paint up for that collection with the addition of some nice terrain items from "Grand Manner" planned to be purchased next year.

Current collection

Romans
1 x Praetorian Legionary Cohort x 20 figures
6 x Legionary Cohorts x 20 - 5 painted
6 x Auxiliary Infantry x 24 - 3 painted
2 x Foedarati Warbands x 40
4 x Auxiliary Archers x 8
2 x Slingers x 8
3 x Scorpion - 1 painted
2 x Numidian Light Cavalry x 10
2 x Auxiliary Cavalry x 10
1 x Praetorian Cavalry x 10

Balance to get
1 x German Light Cavalry x 10
2 x Onager
1 x Ballistae
Some Baggage units

Dacian/Sarmatian
1 x Noble Warband x 40
12 x Warband x 40
4 x Javelin Skirmishers x 8
4 x Archers x 8
1 x Slingers x 8
2 x Scorpio
6 x Cataphracts x 8
6 x Horse Archers x 6
1 x Light Cavalry x 6
2 x German Light Cavalry x 10

Balance
Some Baggage units

DACIAN CAMPAIGN

The Dacian campaigns of Domitian and Trajan have always held the most interest for me in terms of the barbarian wars fought by the Principate and of the so called barbarian foes faced by the Romans, I think the Dacians with their use of technology and allied Sarmatian cavalry were among the most dangerous opposition when coupled with the "slipperyness" of Decebalus. So much so that Emperor Trajan amassed one of the largest Roman troop deployments to deal with them once and for all.

I am looking forward to getting stuck into the Dacian collection on completion of the Talavera project later next year (that's me controlling the inner little boy who wants to start now!!).

To add further substance to these plans I have sat down and drawn up a Cyberboard mini-campaign to better capture the linked campaign in the Hail Caesar book with a few additions. The map above illustrates the progress the Roman armies must make through and across the Dacian plains and mountains as they attempt to close in on Sarmizegethusa for the final showdown. The markers on the map having randomised scenarios to be played which are revealed when flipped over.

Cyberboard allows for an easy record to be carried forward of the condition of the forces as they progress from one clash to the next by the use of these simple army records that I have plumbed in. These are important to record what units are left to each side after the initial clashes to be able to draw up the final orders of battle.

I have also added in a little mechanism to record individual success by the amount of booty captured in the games played. Not only that but I think most Roman campaigns should have a large element of "prestige" modelled into them. The machismo that typified Roman politics contained a lot of managing public opinion on how the war was going and the booty element helps measure that aspect.

After constructing the Dacian Wars plan I then thought about the next expansion to the collection and the most obvious one would be to build on the small number of German Warbands that can turn up in the Dacian scenarios to be used as a foundation for a collection focussed on the Germania frontier.

GERMANICUS in GERMANIA CAMPAIGN

The Germania frontier is probably the next most attractive campaign setting for me and on acquiring the Hail Caesar Germania Campaign book earlier this year I started to look at the collection needed to play the scenarios from that.

Needless to say the Roman collection will be pretty much done so the units needed will be Germans and mainly warbands.

I wanted to carry on the theme of using my lorica armoured Romans and given the Augustus/Tiberius period was a time of change and it seems likely that the Roman forces were moving away from the chain mail protection used in Gaul, great against slashing cuts from the long Gallic swords to lorica, better able to stand up to German spear thrusts, I decided to opt for looking at the punitive, revenge driven, campaigns of Germanicus and his pursuit of Arminius and the lost Eagles.

I have just about finished off my Germania Cyberboard campaign plan/game as illustrated in the map I have adapted for it, and so the German collection will be put together after the Dacians/Sarmatians to fulfil this plan.

I have been toying with the construction of this project all year, spurred on by "Eager for Glory - The Untold Stories of Drusus the Elder, Conquerer of Germania" by Lindsay Powell which Will got me for my birthday back in the summer and my recent purchase of the Hail Caesar Brittania Campaign book by John Lambshead. I really liked the way he tailored the tribal differences based on the limited sources and the terrain they operated in. I have taken that idea to Germania with the "Watermen" of Frisi, to the cavalry tribes of the Usipeti and Tancteri and the more common "Forest Fiends" found else where. Note I am referring to some definitions here used in Augustus to Aurelian.

The other aspect I wanted to capture was the fact that Arminius strove, desperately at times, to get the tribes to avoid pitched battles that played into the Romans hands. In this he was not always successful and so I have gone for scenario based tabletop battles rather than just sticking the models out any old way. That allows for the "Arminius effect" by having more battle set ups that allow the tribes to fight on home ground using tactics that suit their set up, with the odd scenario or two that will have the Romans licking their lips with anticipation.

Of course any Roman collection worth its salt has to be doubled up as any fan of this period of history knows the Romans spent probably more time killing each other (rather like the Greeks) than they did killing foreign foes.

Inspired by Simon Miller's (Big Red Bat Blog) Cremona game that he ran last year I think, at Salute, I am also planning to add to the Roman collection as we go along to enable some "blue on blue" action whilst trying to keep the odd barbarian incursion at bay.

YEAR OF THE FOUR EMPERORS CAMPAIGN

I like my campaign plans to follow the KIS-KISS principle of Keep it Short and Keep it Simple (not Simplistic - that's the other 'S'). The Year of the Four Emperors is a great period to look at for creating that "Game of Thrones" structure between multiple players with very similar but different armies.

The idea behind my final creation was to take a simple DBA campaign game with its formulaic twelve unit army format and build a more interesting big unit game around it.

The time of the campaign, 69-70 AD allows me a chance of bringing in my barbarian collections that can feature in this short bloody year of struggle as the five factions wrestle to gain supremacy over their former colleagues. It also gives me an excuse to go on and build a twelve unit Parthian and Pictish force over time, and who knows, maybe a few Moorish tribal types to add more variety.

Not only that but the Romans get to play with mobs of hastily raised citizen legionaries and plain old mobs armed with what they turned up with, together with the odd unit of gladiators, not to mention dodgy Praetorians who no one is sure whose side they're on.

I quite like the way Sam Mustafa, another horse and musket man, genericized barbarian and civilized forces for his Aurelian campaign game with the barbarians effectively characterised as spear and shield types or horse and bow types (I'm sure that would have raised howls of complaint from WRG fans a few years ago worried about their double handed cutting weapons versus long thrusting spears, who knows it might still). That principle could work here with the Dacian/Sarmatians standing in for the Parthians temporarily while the latter get added.

As with the Napoleonics, the Ancient collection plans are percolating in the background and has provided hours of pleasurable contemplative thought about future games.

With regard to rule sets, I know what I want and I know what I don't in terms of the look and feel of the game. I have so far put Hail Caesar, and Sword and Spear to the test and in January "Mr Steve" and I will get together to play "Augustus to Aurelian" which from a period specific perspective are spot on. The twelve to twenty unit army in 28mm seems to be the right size for what I want to do.

I like the look of a twenty figure Roman cohort/unit up against a forty figure Dacian/German warband and the scaling down of say three cohorts of legionaries and three of auxiliaries with some cavalry and artillery to represent a legionary army, hence the twelve unit DBA arrangement could work well with the option of adding in the odd unit or two for variety.

So the plan of campaign as far as the next major collection is concerned is pretty well drawn up and, as with the Napoleonics, just a case of playing some scenarios as the collection grows to a point where we can think about other stuff.

As you can see it is all about beginning with the end in mind and remembering that the plan changes on first contact with the enemy.

Isn't this a fantastic hobby?

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Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fifteen, Game End

December 20, 2015, 11:33 pm

≫ Next: Talavera - Attack on the Pajar Vergara, Xmas Game

≪ Previous: Ancient Campaign Plans

So with the last move of our game, I toy with the idea of going down in a blaze of glory with Alfred wading in among the Vikings and thinning their ranks before they fan out into the countryside, but the risk/benefit profile of that option in terms of still leaving the Vikings with a sizeable force to go forth and grab real or should I say Royal Estate, with the likely hood of not really making much difference.

Alfred returns to Cippenham and I throw in an Earl at Malmesbury rather as a gesture rather than expecting it to make much difference to the outcome.

The Viking response was fairly predictable, free to go anywhere they like in the knowledge that no one will come and get them if they do. On reflection I missed the opportunity to protect Wilton from a raid by Kings and Jarls from Readingum by the simple expedient of putting a warrior road speed-bump in the woods at the junction west of Basengas, but it really doesn't make much difference to a Viking minor victory.

With secure major bases in the south and west it is time to think of raiding all those exposed Viking outposts in June.

Turn 15 last turn

As it happens the Saxons do none of the possible moves I had considered and instead run for cover into Chippenham, this leaves me completely free to go wherever I want without the hindrance of having to fight unnecessary battles.

Malmesbury is an obvious target so I send Guthram and thirty-two warriors to attack it; The Reading garrison spreads out along the river picking up towns as they go. Everyone else grabs whatever towns that have been left unguarded, and there are quite a lot left unguarded!

The Jarls and Kings have ten movement points so this gives me a small but powerful strike force and I look around for viable targets. Winchester is tempting but being a castle I can only breech the walls on a 6 and whilst the Saxons will only hit me back with a 3 or a 5 , I don’t think I can sustain more then two failed attempts so I decide against it . Fortunately Wilton sitting nice and quiet in the rear area, with its head down hoping not to be noticed, is also just in range so that’s the place to go.

The Malmesbury attack breeches on the first turn so it’s a slaughter, religious Areas like Malmesbury are easier to get into being a 50% chance. The Defenders with no king to help them fail to hit in reply.

The attack on Wiltonis a little more stressful, it takes me three goes before I manage to get over the walls however the defenders left leaderless by their betters are not interested and miss on all their combat rolls, once across the walls I take pity on them and only kill them and forgo despoiling their bodies.

Obviously spreading out like I do is because of the game mechanics, I know this is the last turn and that the Saxons cannot strike back at my dispersed armies however I prefer to see it in a different light.

I think a recently discovered passage from the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles puts it better than I can:

The Vikings did gather up all their stolen Horses and rampaged throughout the kingdom, the Saxons cowering in their palaces closed their ears to the cries of the poor and the dispossessed. The King Aethelred cared naught for his people, safe behind his walls he spent his time instead painting small figures and writing epistles. It was not long after that one dark night a hooded figure crept into the Kings bedroom and plunged a dagger into his worthless chest, the Prince Alfred was spared the wroth of the disaffected but there are some that say that this hooded figure was Alfred for he was well happy about being King.

So that is the end of our game, I hope you have enjoyed the play through as much as we have swapping our moves day to day and trying to bluff each other with the commentary you have seen getting written up during each move. One final post to come with Steve and my thoughts on our game play and overall strategy and then we can think about more fun in the Westcountry as King Alfred continues the fight with King Guthrum in 876 AD.

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Talavera - Attack on the Pajar Vergara, Xmas Game

December 22, 2015, 1:03 am

≫ Next: Battlefields in Devon - Battle of Bovey Heath 9th January 1646

≪ Previous: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, May Turn Fifteen, Game End

"Further south the Spanish infantry were locked in an indecisive engagement with the Hessian and Frankfurt troops. Here the Spanish volleys were not so effective and the Germans were able to hold their own. However the outcome of this attack was decided in the centre where the unfortunate Baden battalions found themselves looking down barrels of ten artillery pieces at very short range. Although the British guns were only 3-pounders, the four Spanish guns were heavy 12-pounders and the effect of the grapeshot fired from behind the protection of the earthworks was terrible."
Talavera: Wellington's First Victory in Spain - Andrew W. Field

Just as a little 'heads up" pre-game announcement for the Talavera fans, as we will be playing a new scenario for Carnage & Glory between Xmas and New Year which will look at the attack of General Laval's German Division against the Pajar Vergara redoubt that heralded the start of the French afternoon attack.

Facing off against the German, Dutch and potentially Polish battalions will be General Portago's 3rd Spanish Division supported on his left by the men of Cambell's 4th British Division with five battalions of British infantry but with three of them in a rather weak condition.

Talavera - Pajar Vergara
As of Game Turn: 1

German Division Order of Battle
Division Baron Jean-Francois Leval - Attack
[ 118] General de Division Baron Jean-Francois Leval - Active B- [875 paces]

Brigade Heinrich Freiherr von Porbeck - Attack
[ 119] Oberst Heinrich Freiherr von Porbeck - Active B [450 paces]
[ 160] III Fuss Batterien Steinmetz 0/ 190 [ 8] C Limbered 4pdr [Light]
[ 161] I.von Harrant Nr.4 (Baden) 0/ 376 C- [sk] Company Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 162] II.von Harrant Nr.4 (Baden) 0/ 367 C- [sk] Company Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 163] I.Nassau IR Nr.2 0/ 360 C- [sk] D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 164] II.Nassau IR Nr.2 0/ 386 C- [sk] D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 165] Porbeck's Voltigeur Bn. 0/ 317 C- [sk] Open Order SB.Musk.[1st]

Brigade David-Hendrik Chasse - Attack
[ 120] Generalmajor David-Hendrik Chasse - Active C [350 paces]
[ 166] 3m3 Artillerie a Cheval Trip 0/ 147 [ 6] C Limbered 6pdr [Light]
[ 167] I/2me Regiment Linie 0/ 393 C- [sk] D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 168] 2/4me Regiment Linie 0/ 378 C- [sk] D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 169] Chasse's Voltigeur Bn. 0/ 154 C- [sk] Open Order SB.Musk.[1st]

Brigade Balthazard-Grandjean - Attack
[ 121] General de Brigade Balthazard-Grandjean - Active B [450 paces]
[ 170] III. Fuss. Batterien Venator 0/ 96 [ 4] C Limbered 4pdr [Light]
[ 171] 1/Gross und Erbprinz Nr 4 0/ 398 C- [sk] Company Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 172] 2/Gross und Erbprinz Nr 4 0/ 371 C- [sk] Company Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 173] Rheinbund Bttn von Frankfort 0/ 391 C- [sk] Company Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 174] Grandjean's Voltigeur Bn. 0/ 225 C- [sk] Open Order SB.Musk.[1st]

Brigade Feliks Potocki - Attack
[ 122] Oberst Feliks Potocki - Active C [350 paces]
[ 175] I. IR Nr 4 (Polish) 0/ 761 C [sk] D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 176] II. IR Nr 4 (Polish) 0/ 782 C D.Comp.Col. SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 177] Potocki's Voltigeur Bn. 0/ 260 C [sk] Open Order SB.Musk.[1st]

Strengths:
losses/active
0/ 5919 Bayonets
0/ 433 Artillerists
0/ 18 Cannon
0/ 6352 Total of all arms
11 Standards present

Anglo/Spanish Divisional Orders of Battle - General Campbell Commanding

Division Alexander Campbell - Defend
[ 517] Brigadier General Alexander Campbell - Active C [875 paces]
[ 548] Lawson's Brigade 0/ 145 [ 6] C Entrenched 3pdr [Light]
[ 621] 1st Battery 0/ 148 [ 6] D+ Entrenched 12pdr [Med.]

Brigade William Myers - Defend
[ 518] Lieutenant Colonel William Myers - Active C [450 paces]
[ 541] 2/7th Foot 0/ 388 C- [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 542] 2/53rd Foot 0/ 483 C- [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 543] A. Campbell's Bde. Light Bn. 0/ 161 C [sk] Open Order Musk.[2SB:1R]

Brigade James Kemmis - Defend
[ 519] Colonel James Kemmis - Active C [450 paces]
[ 544] 1/40th Foot 0/ 670 C+ [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 545] 97th Foot 0/ 452 C+ [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 546] 2nd Battalion of Detachments 0/ 562 C- [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 547] Kemmis' Bde. Light Bn. 0/ 244 C+ [sk] Open Order Musk.[3SB:1R]

Division Marques de Portago - Defend
[ 528] Major General Marques de Portago - Active C [725 paces]
[ 553] El Rey A 0/ 229 D Line SB.Musketoon
[ 554] El Rey B 0/ 231 D Line SB.Musketoon
[ 600] 1st Bn. Badajoz Regiment 0/ 571 D- Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 601] 2nd Bn. Badajoz Regiment 0/ 557 D- Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 602] 2nd Cazadores de Antequera 0/ 557 D- [sk] Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 603] Imperial de Toledo 0/ 792 D- Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 604] Provincial de Badajoz Militia 0/ 577 D Line SB.Musk.[1st]
[ 605] Provincial de Guadix Militia 0/ 562 D Line SB.Musk.[1st]

Strengths:
losses/active
0/ 6576 Bayonets
0/ 460 Sabres
0/ 293 Artillerists
0/ 12 Cannon
0/ 7329 Total of all arms
13 Standards present

The two sides are quite evenly matched giving the unit strengths and the quality difference of all the Spanish troops versus the Germans, plus the Nassau boys will get to try out their "Hola" as they attempt to kid the British line into not firing immediately on what could be some Spanish militia lost among the olive trees. Both sides have troops in reserve that they would rather not commit to this part of the line and there are penalties for the French if they throw in the Poles; so we shall see how far both sides are prepared to commit their assets.

The objective is to hold or take the redoubt which will swing the result in favour of the side in possession at the end of the game. The redoubt will also form a key objective in the full afternoon attack scenario

As you can see the two sides are deployed and set up so we should have some post Xmas, Talavera action here at JJ's

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Battlefields in Devon - Battle of Bovey Heath 9th January 1646

December 23, 2015, 5:07 am

≫ Next: Happy Christmas

≪ Previous: Talavera - Attack on the Pajar Vergara, Xmas Game

Cavalry in the snow - much as it would have looked on 9th January 1646

The cavalry clash at Bovey Heath in January 1646 continues the series of posts looking at battlefields in Devon, following on from the Battle of Bindon, I visited last month.

Battlefields in Devon - Battle of Bindon

The Westcountry was a busy theatre of operations in the English Civil War with its involvement in the struggle between King Charles I and his Parliament commencing in August 1642 as the war broke out. William Seymour, Marquis of Hertford was appointed a commissioner of array for Somerset, a commission granted to raise troops for the King, and also Lieutenant General of Royalist forces in South Western England and South Wales.

http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/west-country/index

Prince Maurice

The area was fought over between the two forces between 1642-44 which saw the Royalist forces gain control of most of the countryside and the key cities of Bristol and Exeter, but with continued resistance by Parliamentary forces in Plymouth and Lyme, both placed under siege by Prince Maurice.

A Parliamentary relief army was sent to the area in 1644 under the command of the Earl of Essex which managed to break the sieges and relieve the two strongholds but then managed to get itself surrounded and defeated at Lostwithiel in Cornwall, with Essex ignominiously deserting his army and escaping by fishing boat.

General Sir Thomas Fairfax

In June 1645 the war turned dramatically in favour of Parliament with the defeat of Royalist forces at the Battle of Naseby and the Western Royalists could only brace themselves for the advance into the region by Sir Thomas Fairfax at the head of the New Model Army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Model_Army

Lord Goring's Royalist army were defeated at the Battle of Langport on 10th July 1645, then Fairfax stormed and took Bristol on the 11th September. With a secure rear area to operate from, General Fairfax then began a steady march into the south west as the Prince of Wales, Captain General of the Western Royalist Army fell back to Truro in Cornwall as he desperately struggled to keep his forces in the field and by the end of October 1645 the New Model Army was in winter quarters in Tiverton and Crediton, laying siege to Exeter.

I recently discussed the siege of Exeter by Fairfax's army in the post about the Royal Albert Museum which has some amazing artefacts on show from that period.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/royal-albert-museum-art-gallery-exeter.html

The winter of 1645/46 was a particularly hard one with a carpet of snow covering the countryside which is not common in this part of the world. With the winter setting in and Fairfax keen not to leave Exeter as a Royalist stronghold on his line of communication, the two armies settled down to a period of static occupation, as Fairfax decided to starve the city into submission during the winter months leaving an area of no-man's land separating the two opposing sides outposts.

Sir Ralph Hopton

Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalist army commander, seeing this move decided to put his forces into winter quarters and without the possibility of supplying his army from outside the region, was forced to disperse the troops as they struggled to feed themselves whilst not alienating the local populations of Devon and Cornwall.

The war of the outposts is always an interesting struggle within the context of a larger campaign and as well as forming the picket line and advance warning of a major attack is an opportunity for one side or the other to dominate the neutral ground and to gain an ascendancy over the other through aggressive patrolling.

Thus it was that the little town of Bovey Tracey on the River Bovey, found itself on the front-line of the Royalist outposts opposed to the New Model Army around Exeter. A force of three Royalist cavalry regiments under the command of Lord Thomas Wentworth, occupied the town, seeking to patrol and monitor the area as well as gather in supplies to feed the men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wentworth,_5th_Baron_Wentworth

Oliver Cromwell, Lieutenant General of Horse in blackened armour with a lobster tailed helmet under his arm, alongside a Parliamentary General Officer

The opposing cavalry commander was none other than Oliver Cromwell, who had defeated the Royalist cavalry at Naseby and had developed his tactics of having his men ride knee to knee in close formation, three ranks deep, relying on the shock of impact to disrupt and defeat the opposition. This together with tight discipline that didn't allow his men to disperse in pursuit of a defeated enemy but to maintain their close formation ready for further action were key factors in his success.

On the 8th of January 1646 following a particularly heavy fall of snow, Wentworth decided to call off his patrols for a few days and rest his men thinking it was unlikely for the enemy to be patrolling in the difficult conditions. The opposite was the case as Cromwell, deciding that the frozen ground offered much better conditions for patrolling than the mud and slush of previous days, decided to launch a reconnaissance in force from his base in Crediton, just a few miles north west of Exeter towards Royalist positions at Bovey.

Travelling across country it was just after lunchtime that Cromwell, having circled around the north of the town entered via East Street having so far avoided contact with any Royalist pickets. The advance was led in by a vanguard of six troopers who approached cautiously the Old Tudor Manor House that served as an Inn in 1646 (Point 1 on the map above).

Officers of Royalist Horse Regiments

The Manor House was occupied by a group of senior Royalist cavalry officers who having just enjoyed their lunch were settling into a game of cards in the front room when the Parliamentary patrol prepared to enter and search the building. One officer on hearing a noise outside, looked out of the window and was astonished to see the enemy troopers about to enter, and with great presence of mind threw out the pile of coins on their card table into the street, which immediately drew the attention of the enemy as they made good their escape at the back of the house. Sadly for one of their number, the commotion and noise was not enough to disturb his post lunch nap and he awoke to find himself a prisoner.

Left centre, The Old Tudor Manor House and former billet of the Royalist cavalry officers, the first men to spot Cromwell's advance into the town.

The view down East Street still showing the narrowness of approach that presented to Cromwell and his men

With the element of surprise now lost Cromwell led his men at a brisk trot and headed for the Royalist camp on the southern edge of the town on the opposite bank of the River Bovey (Point 3 on the map above).

Will on a very wet rainy December day, next to the window where the Royalist officer threw the money into the street

We followed Cromwell's lead into town, but given the weather, which as you can see was not ideal for battlefield touring decided to stop for a very pleasant lunch in the aptly named Cromwell Arms.

The Cromwell Arms, just visible through the rain drops on the camera lens, with East street and Cromwell's route of entry seen on the right.

The pursuit of the Royalist cavalry pickets led Cromwell to take his men across the bridge over the River Bovey, a small but swift flowing little river coming straight of the tops of nearby Dartmoor.

On the opposite bank the New Model Cavalry drew up in line of battle opposite a scene of frantic action as Lord Wentworth was desperately calling his men to arms to counter the sudden appearance of the enemy.

Cavalry troopers of the period

The Royalist cavalry had constructed an embanked camp with wooden buildings for the men and horses and it is thought that Wentworth had managed to get about half his men armed and in the saddle when Cromwell's troops sounded the advance, eager to take advantage of the enemy's discomfort.

The Royalist cavalry answered the charge of Cromwell's men with a charge of their own hoping to use the advantage of their slightly up-hill position to offset the tighter better prepared formation of their enemy. The crash of the two lines soon developed into a swirling mass of intermixed troopers as the fight ranged across the open heathland. The Parliamentary men soon got the upper hand and the Royalists broke away to the south west, retreating back to Tavistock, just north of Plymouth leaving in their wake 163 of their number as prisoners and more killed in the fighting. The prisoners are recorded to have included four Colonels, three Lieutenant Colonels, five Majors, eleven Captains and along with the 140 soldiers, 150 head of cattle and 300 horses.

Cromwell called off his pursuit before the early winter dusk drew in and quickly reassembled his regiments before withdrawing with his prisoners and booty back through the town leaving via Cromwell's gate on the road towards Crediton. The dead were left on the heath to be buried by the locals and speaking personally has given the area that rather morbid feel made only more pronounced in the very inclement weather we had for the day.

The monument to the battle on Bovey Heath - the weather just kept on getting worse

The view from the monument with the undulations indicating the very rare remains of this English Civil War camp

Cromwell's arch (Point 2 on the map) through which the general led his victorious force back towards Crediton

The action at Bovey Heath had a demoralising effect on the Royalist forces left contesting the South West and established a superiority of the Parliamentary force over its enemy that lasted from then until the Royalist surrender by General Hopton at Truro on the 14th March 1646 .

Despite the rotten weather, Will and I really enjoyed our trip around Bovey and seeing the terrain over which the fighting occurred seemed to bring the history of three hundred and seventy years ago much closer.

This little action might make an interesting scenario with say five New Model cavalry regiments at about 300-350 men each up against three equivalent Royalist units and the challenge of getting close to the town and camp without detection, long enough to surprise the garrison and capture all those cattle and horses.

Happy Christmas

December 24, 2015, 5:39 am

≫ Next: 2/45e Regiment de Ligne

≪ Previous: Battlefields in Devon - Battle of Bovey Heath 9th January 1646

Just a quick note to say JJ's Wargames will be busy for the next few days enjoying the seasonal festivities and to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. All being well we will have some interesting posts coming up between then and New Year, so until the next time.

Cheers all
JJ

↧

2/45e Regiment de Ligne

December 27, 2015, 3:17 am

≫ Next: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, "Wash Up" and Post Game Comments

≪ Previous: Happy Christmas

The 45e Regiment de Ligne was already a veteran French regiment when it entered Spain for the first time in 1808, with battle honours that included Austerlitz and Friedland and experienced soldiers in its ranks from the 1805/06 and 1807 campaigns in northern Europe.

In January 1808 the regiment contributed a battalion to the 9th Provisional Line Regiment as part of Marshal Moncey's, French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean. The corps was tasked with following in the wake of General Dupont's 2nd Corps d'Observation de la Gironde as they entered the Biscay Navarre region of north east Spain, as the former headed towards Vallodolid and Burgos

French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean
l January l808
3rd Division: General de division Morlot
lst Brigade: General de brigade Lefebvre
9th Provisional Line Regiment
8th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(6/299)
22nd Line Infantry Regiment (l)(2/ll5)
45th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(6/299)
l05th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/556)

The map illustrates the movement of the first of Napoleons troops to enter Spain in January 1808

The progress of Moncey's Corps was covered in my post about the 2/54e Ligne who like the 45e Ligne ended up garrisoning the capital Madrid through the turbulent days before and after Dos de Mayo uprising and Dupont's defeat at Bailen.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/254e-regiment-de-ligne.html

The first invasion activities that involved or were associated with the movements of the 45e Ligne can be summarised from the map above:
1. Moncey's Corps are sent in to relieve Dupont's troops in the Navarre and Biscay towns.
2. Joachim Murat arrives in Burgos collecting both Dupont's and Moncey's troops to march on Madrid, arriving in the capital on the 23rd March.
3. Towards the end of May, Murat became ill and handing over command to General Savary headed back to France to convalesce, not before sending back several reports to the Emperor playing down the level of the national uprising and describing the situation as localised riots. Napoleon issued new orders which focused on maintaining a strong hold on the LOC from Madrid via Burgos back into France with the two corps in and around Madrid providing troops to march on Valencia, with Moncey detaching 6,000 men of Musnier's 1st Infantry Division and Wathier's Hussar brigade to capture the city;
4. and for the subjugation of Andalusia, Dupont taking Barbou's infantry division and Fresia's cavalry division, marching on Seville and Cadiz.

With the failure to overawe the Spanish and their defeat at Bailen destroying the myth of French invincibility, Napoleon soon realised that the invasion required his personal attention together with a lot more troops

The three battalions of the 45e Ligne found themselves alongside the 54e Ligne as part of General de Brigade Darricau's brigade in the 2nd Division of Marshal Victor's I Corps as part of Napoleon's Grand Armee organised in November 1808 for the second invasion of Spain. The movements of the corps have been covered in the other posts on the four regiments preceding this one and can be picked up in the link above to my post on the 54e Ligne.

French Army in Spain, 15 November 1808 - Source Oman
I Corps: Maréchal Victor

2nd Division: Général de division Lapisse

Brigade: Général de brigade Maison
16th Légère Regiment (3)(47/1,739)
8th Line Regiment (3)(52/1,922)

Brigade: Général de brigade Darricau
45th Line Regiment (3)(52/1,703)
54th Line Regiment (3)(59/2003)

Artillery:
7/1st Foot Artillery
2/8th Foot Artillery
8th Artillery Artisan Company

(Battalions)(Officers)(Men)

General de Brigade Augustin Darricau

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Darricau

One particular period of interest that I haven't really covered in my previous posts in this series was General Lapisse's 2nd Division's time in Salamanca and its battles with Sir Robert Wilson's Loyal Lusitanian Legion which culminated with their fight for the bridge at Alcantara on the 14th of May 1809.

January - March 1809
The base of operation in Leon for the Loyal Lusitanina Legion and Lapisse's 2nd Division

General Lapisse's division spent the early months of 1809 detached from the rest of I Corps on garrison duty in Salamanca and the outlying towns in Leon; and their patrols into the surrounding area around the city brought them into contact with the Anglo Portuguese light infantry unit on raiding trips designed to take the war to French forces and keep them uncertain as to allied strength along the Portuguese/Spanish border and to monitor their activities.

This little war of the outposts went on from January 1809 to the March with the the Legion, operating from its base at Almeida, patrolling into the region of Leon and regularly "bumping" similar patrols from the French division.

This period of time was also one of great peril for the Allied cause in Portugal with the defeat of Spanish armies during Napoleon's invasion, the withdrawal of General Moore's British army from Corunna in early January and the remaining British troops pulled back by General Craddock in and around Lisbon, seemingly in preparation for a British withdrawal.

The allies feared that Lapisse's 2nd Division would spearhead the reoccupation of Lisbon and the aggressive activities of Wilson's Legion of Portuguese volunteers led by British officers, clad in British style uniforms did much to confuse the French as to the strength and capabilities of what seemed was potentially a 12,000 man Anglo Portuguese Corps forcibly asserting its presence on the border with Portugal and the plains of Leon and northern Estremadura.

In fact the Legion barely numbered 300 men supported by Portuguese militia, newly forming and encouraged bands of Spanish guerillas and the 1,400 man Spanish garrison at Cuidad Rodrigo.

Loyal Lusitanian Legion troops in a raiding action against French troops during the early months of 1809, little skirmishes that would have involved the men of the 45e Ligne - Picture by Mark Stacey

During the time of Lapisse's 2nd Divisions detachment, Marshal Victor dealt with the threat to Madrid from Venegas' 11,000 man Vanguard division of Infatado's Army of the Centre at Ucles on the 13th January 1809 and followed this up with his pursuit of and beating of Cuesta's Army of Estremadura at Medellin on the 28th March 1809, both covered in a bit more detail on my post about the 2/96e Ligne.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/296e-regiment-de-ligne.html

With the advance of Marshal Soults Corps into Northern Portugal, Victor came under pressure from King Joseph to fulfil his part of the Emperor's plan by supporting the invasion with one of his own along the valley of the River Tagus. Marshall Victor, following the battle of Medellin was not, in his opinion, strong enough to either pursue Cuesta's beaten but reforming army now based at Badajoz or ignore the Spanish threat and move towards Portugal. In addition he was struggling to feed his troops in and around the town of Merida, with few supplies coming to him from Madrid.

In late April 1809 the situation changed dramatically with the arrival of Wellesley and British reinforcements at Lisbon. The new commander reinvigorated the Anglo-Portuguese offensive spirit and Wilson's growing band of Legionaries put more pressure on the French, with more raids and interference of their communications between Salamanca and Merida now supported by General Mackenzie's covering force of 12,000 Anglo-Portuguese troops at Castello Branco in eastern Portugal.

With the new threat in Portugal Marshal Victor was authorised by Joseph to issue orders to Lapisse to bring his division south and reunite it with the rest of I Corps at Merida. This was not as simple as it sounded as it was Wilson's Legion that threatened that plan due to their blocking of the passes over the mountains north of the Tagus.

General Lapisse thus cleverly led his 7,000 man division plus the 1,500 dragoons from Latour Maubourg's division, towards Cuidad Rodrigo in what looked like a threat to the Spanish garrison when he arrived before the city issuing a summons for its surrender on the 6th April. As expected the summons received a brusque response from the garrison well aware that Lapisse had no siege artillery with him. However the move had achieved its object by getting the attention of Wilson and causing the Legion to muster close to the city to aid in its defence.

The French division moved away to the south by night and hurriedly marched on the Tagus crossing at Alcantara, and catching Wilson's men by surprise and brushing aside the Spanish levies encountered along the way.

The Roman bridge at Alcantara was taken by assault by Lapise's men against a weak barricade manned by Spanish militia, they then went on into the town after the walls were subjected to a cannonade and according to Lieuntenant Colonel Mayne of the 1st LLL, and Captain Lillie of the Legions cavalry regiment in pursuit of the French division,

"the revenge and cruelty of the enemy were exercised in the most barbarous manner on the unfortunate and helpless inhabitants who had been found in the town, or taken in endeavouring to make their escape. They were butchered in the most brutal manner in every direction and it may be doubted whether the annals of history describe so inhuman a spectacle as that unfortunate place presented on its evacuation by its treacherous and cruel enemy, who performed acts of cruelty and barbarity there that would disgrace the most savage and uncivilised of mankind."

April 1809 - Lapisse leads the 2nd Division to Merida, sacking Alcantara on the way

On the morning of the 13th April, the French 16th Legere, 8th, 45th and 54th Ligne regiments were observed leaving the town with all the loot they could carry via the road to Caceres by the men of the Legion who pressed on the outskirts of Alcantara to determine if the French would contest its occupation and make a stand.

On entering the town the two British officers noted the scenes that greeted them,

"The scenes witnessed ........ exceeds all description; the houses in many parts of this unfortunate place were in flames, and the passage of the streets actually obstructed by mangled bodies of all description lying in heaps; in other places, piles of furniture, and many valuable articles that could not be brought away had been erected in front of houses of some of the principal inhabitants, and been set fire to, and the mutilated bodies of the unfortunate owners covered with wounds, were thrown on the piles, and there found burning in the most shocking manner....."

General Lapisse and his men continued their march south rendezvousing with Victor at Merida on the 19th April.

May 1809- Victor takes 2nd Division to retake the bridge at Alcantara

As Lapisse's men were leaving a trail of murder and destruction in their wake, the Anglo-Portuguese command was alive with orders to support the new offensively minded approach to dealing with the French in or threatening to enter Portugal.

As Sir Arthur Wellesley set off north from Lisbon to deal with Soult's army paralysed in Oporto due to militia and guerrilla attacks on his rear areas, orders were issued for General Mackenzie to defend and delay any moves by Marshal Victor's corps whilst Soult was being dealt with.

In accordance with his orders he was to support the deployment of the 1st Battalion Loyal Lusitanian Legion (750 men) now under the command of Colonel Mayne after Sir Robert Wilson was ordered to join Welesley's staff, bringing with him his much needed local knowledge; together with a troop (50 men) of the 11th Portuguese cavalry, the legion's artillery of four 4 pounder guns and two 5.5 inch howitzers and 1,200 men of the Portuguese Idanha Militia Regiment. Their mission was to set up their force to best defend and hold the bridge at Alcantara, considered a vital crossing point should Victor decide to advance into Portugal.

The build up of this force was soon noticed by Victor as General Lapisse reported back on his men's contacts with the green coated troops they had fought in Leon, now operating in the countryside between Alcantara and Merida. The Marshal was starting to feel the pressure of having a resurgent Spanish army under Cuesta to his west at Badajoz and what looked like an Anglo Portuguese corps threatening him from the north, not to mention his concern to be seen by the Emperor to be actively supporting operations against Portugal.

The previous months operations by the Legion had also served to encourage large scale resistance from the guerrilla bands in Leon who had now severed all contact to Marshals Ney and Soult further north.

Thus, feeling sure that Alcantara could not be left in allied control, on the 11th May Victor led Lapisse's 2nd Division, together with the 5th and 12th Dragoons and a dozen artillery pieces (about 10,000 men) towards the town leaving the balance of his corps to observe and contain the Spanish at Badajoz.

Arriving at about 08.00 on the 14th May, skirmishing with the Legion along the way, the French entered the town as the legionaries fell back through it to the prepared defences on the bridge itself. As the bridge came into view of the French they found Colonel Mayne's force dug in on the opposite bank with his light guns deployed determined to dispute the crossing.

The Grenadier Companies of the 8th, 45th and 54th charge into the withering fire on the Alcantara bridge - 14th May 1809, Picture by Mark Stacey

Victor and Lapisse soon realised that, with no opportunity to turn the position and with a determined enemy set on holding one end of the bridge, storming it would be the only solution. At 09.00 a nine hour battle for possession of the bridge commenced with the assault columns of the grenadiers from the 8th, 45th and 54th Ligne formed up and under the cover of the massed French artillery and infantry skirmish fire from their side of the river. What followed was a series of assaults with the French columns making multiple attempts to force their way across the bridge in the the teeth of withering fire from the defenders.

At about noon the Idanha Militia Regiment had had enough and the men deserted the trenches leaving Mayne and his men little option but to prepare to fire an explosive charge laid under one of the main spans. This was done at about 13.00 and the charge exploded but Roman engineering showed its quality as the charge only succeeded in blowing out half of the span leaving a narrow stretch still usable by infantry and cavalry.

The last of the Legion's 4 pounder guns were fired at 15.00 after which they were spiked. At about 17.00 and with ammunition running low and French pressure continuing, a rear guard was appointed and the defenders began to pull back, with the battle petering out by 18.00 and with French troops on the opposite bank, with cavalry patrols seeking out the Legion rear guard along the road into Portugal at Segura.

The casualties reported by the French in the nine hour fight are unknown but Mayne and his officers estimated their losses at around 1,400 men. The Allied force reported casualties for the Legion to be 4 officers and 103 other ranks killed, 4 officers and 143 wounded and 2 subalterns and 15 other ranks missing; and for the militia, 3 officers and 40 other ranks killed, 1 officer and 17 other ranks wounded and 2 subalterns and 1,150 other ranks missing.

With the bridge now firmly in his hands, Victor could at least feel secure that the road to Madrid was under his control. This however did not relieve his uncertainty as to his overall position with Cuesta's army at Badajoz growing by the day as more recruits joined the colours and with a seemingly large Anglo Portuguese force facing him along the road into Portugal at Castello Branco.

In the days following the battle Victor received news of Soult's defeat at Oporto and on the 17th May he evacuated Alcantara, falling back to Merida and pursued by Cuesta and eventually Wellesley, began the march back into Spain that would culminate in his army's arrival at Talavera further along the River Tagus in July.

Thus the battle honours credited to the 45e Regiment de Ligne for 1809 would include
1805: Austerlitz
1806: Crewitz and Lubeck
1807: Ostrelenka and Friedland
1808; Espinosa-de-los-Monteros
1809: Alcantara, Aspern-Essling, Wagram, Talavera-de-la-Reina and Almonacid

My 2/45e Ligne are composed of figures from AB with the battalion fanion from GMB Flags.

Other sources used in this post:
Raid, Oldest Allies, Alcantara 1809, Osprey - Rene Chartrand, Mark Stacey and Johnny Shumate

↧

Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, "Wash Up" and Post Game Comments

December 29, 2015, 12:37 am

≫ Next: Deepest Darkest Africa with Donnybrook

≪ Previous: 2/45e Regiment de Ligne

Just to conclude the series of posts on our play-through of "Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD" by Mark H. Sheppard, Steve and I decided to write up our thoughts about our strategy and what we might have done differently now we have the experience of of first game.

As Steve was the victor I think it only fair to let him have the first say, followed by my own thoughts as the humbled loser.

Mr Steve's Thoughts:

So the world is once again free from the tyranny of the West Saxons, however sitting here now with my feet up on a pile of Saxon skulls I am thinking that things could have gone a little differently.

Sometimes I think the most enjoyable games are those played when neither side has any idea about what they are doing as it only takes roughly four or five games of any boardgame before the set moves and optimal strategies kick in and then all future games tend to follow a similar course of events. I certainly had no idea what I was doing and it is therefore possible that I may have made some less brilliant moves than normal so lets review our game .

I think there are three main points I want to look at and after going over each one in turn I will chip in at the end with some minor ones as the thoughts come to mind.

Towns.

The key to this game is occupying towns, to do so as the Vikings you will have to capture them from the Saxons and there are two ways to do this, Assault or by Siege.

Both Jon and I had unpleasant experiences early on whilst assaulting towns and this made us very wary of repeating it but my attitude changed after closer study of the rules. Assaulting towns isn't that hard if you pick your targets and look at the odds, Religious Towns can be breached with a 50% chance and Royal towns on 33%, once inside you will then normally overwhelm the defenders. Without a king the defenders chance of hitting you back in both cases is also only 33% and if you are attacking small garrisons of 5 to 10 then you can usually survive two or three turns of being hit before considering giving up. Sieges take time, a long time and not only that but your individual hexes are open to be attacked whilst doing so. Jon’s assault on London whilst probably worth an attempt was always going to be difficult as he had to throw a 6 to breach the wall of a Castle which is the strongest type of defended area in the game plus he was a little unlucky in that all three of the defensive rolls were hits whilst he was trying to get in.

Supply

Linked to the above, as the Vikings you should spend your time while waiting for the Summer army to arrive by occupying as many easy supply points as possible, this will both deny the Saxons extra troops and will boost your starter army. This was something I singly failed to do and I should have spent most of my early turns moving along the Thames occupying the many supply points that are located in that area.

Battles.

We didn’t have any, not through want of trying on my part, which I suppose reflects to some extent the inherent fear of the “One Big Battle” complex, fine if you win but devastating if you lose, you can see why many Kings /Generals avoided fighting battles unless they had a really big advantage over the enemy, had no choice or were bonkers.

Odds and ends.

River Thames

The river is key for the Vikings, you get free movement along it and after enjoying a pleasant boat trip you still get to move off into the countryside with any of your remaining movement points, when I cottoned onto this I started to dangle out many little single “worms” who by occupying supply points might just get Jon to bite and attack them, meanwhile my army, seemingly well out of range was cunningly poised to sweep down the river and gobble them up if I got a nibble. Unfortunately Jon was too dense to fall into my trap; I will have to be less devious next time.

Aethelred

Jon’s original plan was to get Aethelred killed off in order that the much more powerful King Alfred could take over, knowing this I decided that I wouldn’t oblige and deliberately tried to keep him alive. My thoughts on this have changed and if the opportunity now cropped up to do painful things with pointy sticks to him then I would definitely do so. The advantage of having two Kings available as opposed to just one is huge, as far as the actual casualty’s the two Kings themselves cause then the combined total is roughly the same as those caused by one Super Alfred however what they really do is to greatly boost the chances of your warriors and earls hitting in combat, with a king its 66%, without its only 33%. As a Saxon I would try and keep both leaders alive for as long as possible so that I could campaign in two armies rather than just one. I believe Jon has also reached this opinion as well having recently read a reply of his to the game designer, Mark Sheppard.

Could the Saxons have done things differently?

I spent more time reacting to the Saxons rather than scheming for them so it’s a bit tricky for me to say and obviously I was not aware of what their master plan was, if there was one. Jon maximised his supply points very well and therefore increased the size of his army greater than it should have been however I might have considered risking an early battle in order to degrade the Vikings options even at the risk of losing Aethelred. Towards the end when the Great army was sat in front of Basing I think Jon’s decision not to attack was correct as a defeat would have been devastating and it wasn’t as if the enemy could actually threaten anywhere. (My plan was to pin the main Saxon army in place out of the way and that is what happened).

The one thing I would definitely have done differently was at the end when the real threat was Guthram, I would have attacked him with Alfred’s army mustering up everything I could find because Guthram's force was positioned to threaten so many places that couldn’t otherwise be adequately defended and especially as it was the last turn with the Viking’s getting a free go at any points in range. Then use some of the Earls in the Basing army to occupy the empty towns as, given average luck, there wouldn’t have been many surviving Vikings from that army to take advantage of weak garrisons.

What other general tactic do I see for the Saxons to follow in the game; they need to restrict the Vikings rampaging about and also to try and recapture any fallen towns whilst still maintaining the highest possible supply score however it is tricky to chase someone down who can just jump on a boat and sail away, perhaps Royal towns along the river could limit movement if still held by the enemy but there are many recorded occasions when the Viking longboats coasted past defended burghs and it was only places with bridges that could really stop them so perhaps not.

Conclusion.

This was a fun game to play and I had forgotten how enjoyable it was waiting for your opponents turn to appear in your inbox. I would imagine that this could easily be played in an evening in around an hour across a table with a few tankards of mead.

Oh yes, don’t abandon Reading at the start like I did and instead make the Saxons fight for it , by adding in a spare King not only are you more likely to inflict casualties more often but it will also attract them like moths to a flame .

JJ's Thoughts:
Wow! I think Steve has pretty well covered all the areas I was thinking about when I got his thoughts through on the email and then decided that it was so flipping good, what can I add?

So I might as well keep my comments succinct and use them to highlight and emphasise the points Steve has so eloquently covered.

The Villages, Religious sites, Royal Estates and Castles are the key to gaining the advantage in this game as they impact on victory conditions and supply, which are the two factors that will decide if you will win and by how much. The occupation and control, particularly of the defensible "fortified hexes" which are all of the habitations except villages, offers the defender a force multiplier by adding in the potential to inflict casualties on any unlucky sole who fails to breach their defences. In addition their control generates the points that pays for all those troops you will need to replace your losses and to add to your numbers.

I totally agree with Steve's comment about the fun of learning the game as you play and the potential generated from mistakes that more experienced players probably wouldn't make. Thus my taking of Readingum early in the game when Steve vacated it was all part of an early cunning plan to take advantage of his vacating the town and follow that up by grabbing Lundene and shutting down the river to Viking landings and movement. It was a bit risky attacking Lundene with its high defence but if you are going to try, better to try early in the game when you have time to recover any losses incurred with all those Saxon supply turns coming up.

The attack on Lundene didn't come off and I incurred higher than average casualties in the attempt that forced me onto the defensive whilst I rebuilt my forces. Steve wisely recognised the importance of building his own force during my inactivity which again left me little time to do much about the situation before the Great Summer Army turned up.

I think the forward defence on the river was probably the right strategy, because it forced the Vikings to clear their rear areas before advancing inland, but I made the cardinal error of not putting the King or Alfred into Readingum thus causing them to miss out on really hurting the Vikings when they inevitably broke in over the walls.

I agree entirely that losing Aethelred, particularly whilst the Vikings are still a force to be reckoned with, is a poor swap for getting Alfred the White instead of Alfred the Grey. The benefit of having two leaders able to hype up the combat effectiveness of the troops is really important particularly when the Vikings have five such characters running around the map.

The big battle temptation was close to being taken, and I did seriously think of stripping out all my Earls and King Aethelred from the garrisons to join Alfred in one last hurrah attack on Guthrum at the end. The risk in going for the big battle is that with much riding on the result for me as the Saxons, the Vikings had the luxury of fighting the first round and if there was no advantage to them, retreating back to their stronghold on the Temes or trying to take out the two Saxon Royals for a knock out major victory. Either way, their main force was sitting pretty in Readingum waiting to mop up at the end.

Perhaps the Aethelred of the Sagas might have risked it all on one last throw of the dice, but I think, on reflection that discretion was the better part of valour limiting the overall victory as it did, although I am kicking myself for not putting a forlorn hope force of warriors out on the road to Wilton to stop that final raid.

My final thought, and the one which prompted me to get the game is that I am confirmed in my thinking that herein lies a great little map game to generate tabletop encounters with figures, be they big set piece battles or assaults on walled fortifications and the fights in the towns when the walls are breached. The forces involved would be easily assembled with a few boxes of plastic figures and the game would add that, oh so important, context to the tabletop clash.

I agree that there is much fun to be had from this game and I am looking forward to resuming the struggle over Cyberboard in the next in the series "Alfred the Great - The War in the West Country 876 AD".

If you missed the earlier posts on our play-through, just click on the label "Alfred the Great" at the bottom of this post or in the "Labels" section in the side bar to the right to follow the game.

Lots more fun to come on JJ's with next up our annual Xmas-New Year game in North Devon with Chas, then we're back at Talavaera as Will leads the German Division against Steve M holding the Pajar Vergaga Redoubt and a review of 2015 and New Year Plans.

↧

Deepest Darkest Africa with Donnybrook

December 29, 2015, 11:41 am

≫ Next: Talavera - Attack on the Pajar de Vergara

≪ Previous: Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871 AD, "Wash Up" and Post Game Comments

Whenever I plan to go up to North Devon for our annual post Xmas pre New Year game at Chez Chas I am never really sure quite what to expect.

Last year we were battling in the American Civil War and recreating events surrounding Stoneman's Raid at the Danbury Iron Foundry in 1865. This year would prove to be quite something different.

ACW Skirmish Stoneman's Raid 1865

This year our game was set in late 19th century Colonial Africa, deep in the Congo jungle at a tributary of the River Uele.

At this crossroads of narrow trails crossing one of the many small rivers that wind their way through the thick jungle foliage an unholy alliance of Arab Slave Traders, River Pirates and a tribal group from the native Azande people that had been disturbing the peace in their own way had been driven by military columns sent into the forest from the various Colonial Powers that had been subjected to the depredations of these three groups in recent months.

The rules we were using for the day were the recently new set of skirmish rules by Barry Hilton and Clarence Hamilton "Donnybrook" which was my first play through, so I was keen to see how they worked.

The set up below with my annotations should help you picture the scene. The scenario simply had the three alliance players in the centre each with three units of different size and abilities, based on groups of four (excellent), eight (bulk standard regular) and twelve (cannon fodder) figures supported by two to three characters such as principle leaders and in my case as the River Pirate leader, a witch doctor and second warrior leader as well.

The basic idea is that combat from shooting and melee will cause hits on a 6 or more with the better quality, but fewer figured units rolling D10's per figure to hit, the regulars getting D8's and the cannon fodder on straight D6's. Saving throws are similarly structured and the leaders were generally fighting with a D12.

To make things interesting, we had some boxes of contraband and booty in the camp, next to the tent in the centre of the table which we all would have been happy to keep with fewer people to share with, thus an alliance of convenience rather than one of goodwill.

The four roads leading into our camp area were the approach routes of the separate but cooperating Colonial troop columns similarly structured with differing ability units but with much different weaponry, some including heavy machine-gun teams.

In preparation for the arrival of the regular troops we set up some road barricades and positioned some troops outside of the camp perimeter. I chose to put my four man mercenary section on the road barricade to slow the approach of the British-Indian army column, whilst my men manoeuvred for a better position to attack from.

Will making some last minute adjustments to his slave traders set up prior to the arrival of the German column on his road

My four man mercenary team cover the road barricade with the pirate riflemen lining the hedgerow behind

Will's Arab slave trader riflemen together with a light cannon cover the road barricade on the route of the British Naval brigade

Once the perimeter forces were set up the four colonial troop columns edged their way down their respective roads.

The movement and combat is card driven so no Igo-Ugo here and the anticipation and often frustration experienced just willing the right card to come out at the right time just added to the fun of the game.

View of the camp perimeter with the River Pirates nearest camera and their allied band of native club-men centre, by the tent

My best unit and one of the more successful units to still be standing at the game end was my eight man squad of pirate riflemen who regularly fired off five D8's worth of shots at various targets through the game and succeeded in taking out the Indian HMG team and shooting up both British rifle squads as they approached the camp aided by the club-men skulking about in the undergrowth and charging out at the survivors from the shooting, taking out the British commander in one attack.

British -Indian army patrols covered by Vickers HMG placed on the road

German Askaris covered by an HMG team as they approach the camp

All the Colonial Troop columns were badly shot up at game end but the Royal Navy more through luck, I suspect, than planning had managed to keep their Naval squad away from the worst of the carnage. Their card had failed to show up for several moves during which time the two sides had dealt mortal blows to each other.

As the Jack Tars moved into the camp the Pirate leader could only shout defiance as he leapt over the hedge to join his men as they retreated leaving their ill-gotten gains behind them.

The British Naval brigade column, with Jolly Jack Tars top left

My Pirate Mercenary squad try to ambush the Indian HMG team but whilst getting badly shot up only kill one of the enemy

Arab slave traders and Azande tribesmen man the perimeter

The River Pirates with their ranks thinned in the fighting pull back observed by Captain "Bunny" Chivers MC, Royal Engineers (centre top), last man standing in the British column and carrying his trusty croquet mallet that he used to dispatch several of my men!

The rules played seamlessly and we were soon able to roll our dice with the basic mechanisms memorised, and I really appreciate rules that work in that way. It is clear that "Donnybrook" have plenty of scope in them to allow you to tailor them as required and I really liked the way they played.

We were using characters like my witch doctor who had the ability to terrorise the enemy on first meeting him thus reducing their to hit potential as they were temporarily memorised by his carrying on.

The Royal Navy in force move into the camp ready to seize the contraband

The German Askari HMG team cover the camp perimeter whilst the British Naval infantry move in to mop up

Personally, I am on the lookout for a turn too skirmish set of rules, mainly for horse and musket eras, and these are now firmly in the frame, possibly alongside Sharp Practice by the Lardies as another option.

Not much left of the Congolese Republic troops as they go through the roll call for the third time

We all had a great day messing about in the Congo jungle with lots of laughs and chat which just made the game play even better. If you haven't played Donnybrook, I would certainly recommend giving them a go.

We played from about 10.30 am to about 15.00 with a stop for lunch with, as you can see, plenty of figures on the table and got a clear result in the time, so these should make a very usable set for smaller games with less time to get a result, very useful for those of us who are often time poor and need a quick game system.

The rulebook is in full colour and like the "Republic to Empire" rules from Barry Hilton that I have are full of "eye candy" alongside a well structured layout.

A deserted camp at the end of the days fighting. The River Pirate Chief is the last man to leave defiantly overseeing his surviving pirates away down the road to regroup and fight another day

The River Pirate Chief shouts defiance (top centre behind the native hut) as the Royal Navy move in from the right

Thanks to our host Chas, and to Nick, Mike, Steve, Vince, and Will for a great day of wargaming.

↧

Talavera - Attack on the Pajar de Vergara

December 31, 2015, 12:17 am

≫ Next: Look Back on 2015 and New Year Plans for 2016

≪ Previous: Deepest Darkest Africa with Donnybrook

The Attack on the Pajar Vergara is a battle within a battle that shouldn't have happened in the way it did. This was supposed to have been a holding action to pin the allied flank and potentially draw in reserves whilst a much larger powerful force punched through the British line in the centre.

To emphasise the support role of this attack the German Division under General Leval was supposed to advance after the main attack had gone in and thus, echeloned back, prevent the forces in this area going to the support of their hard pressed and soon to be beaten comrades in the centre.

This plan was soon upset as Leval's men lost from sight in the enveloping olive groves became disorientated in terms of their position in relation to the other attacking formations and found themselves in the lead on the French flank as they left the cover of the trees and, thus committed, attacked first ahead of the main attack.

This account reveals the difficulty faced by any modern day General Laval trying to navigate their division through this difficult terrain that, whilst providing cover from artillery fire on the approach, causes fatigue and disruption to formed troops whilst crossing it.

For our New Year's Eve re-fight of this very interesting battle within a battle we have two veteran C&G commanders eager to pick up matters where they left off in the Dawn Attack scenario where Will snatched a hard fought victory for the French by forcing his division onto the summit of the Cerro de Medellin and driving Steve's British troops off their commanding position

Brigadier General Alexander Campbell General de Division Baron Jean-Francois Leval

AKA Steve M AKA Will

The map below illustrates the approximate set up of the various units and brigades with a six gun battery of British three pounder guns and a half battery of four Spanish twelve pounder guns occupying the half finished redoubt atop the small knoll called the Pajar de Vergara.

Pajar Vergara Scenario Map

The scenario is set up to reflect the attack conducted by General Leval in that his attack seemed to suggest that his main objective was to secure the Pajar position as a means of anchoring the flank of the French main attack to his right.

Thus if the German Division is able to take and secure the gun redoubt they would shift the C&G casualty result one victory level higher in their favour.

In addition if the French commander chose to include the Poles in his plan of attack it would shift the victory condition in favour of the allies to reflect the fact that the Poles were kept in reserve by Joseph throughout the day and were not intended to support this minor attack.

Finally if the German troops on first contact with the British chose, they could use subterfuge to get closer to their enemy by pretending to be Spanish troops lost in the olive groves. If the British fell for the ruse it would limit the fire they could issue in their first volley to simulate the confusion caused, The Nassau troops used this tactic to good effect in the actual battle.

As with the historical action we commenced our game at 14.00 as the French artillery along the line opened up a tremendous barrage that presaged their attack. Leval ordered his troops to advance en colonne serree, columns that would keep their companies closed up on the ones in front. This kept them easier to control and keep in order but more difficult to deploy should the need arise.

As you will see in the picture below our attack followed a similar profile with the Voltigeur battalions the first to exit the tree line to start the softening up process with their will directed skirmish fire.

Birds eye view of the German columns picking their way through the olives as they approach the allied line, with the first skirmish shots being exchanged

As the German skirmish lines began to work their way forward the next arrivals on the tree line were the three batteries of light artillery attached to the three infantry brigades. By using the two approach roads and by skirting the olive groves on the right flank the three batteries were able to ply artillery fire across the Anglo-Spanish line to thicken the fire from the Voltigeurs.

Baden gun limber, Nassau infantry, Dutch and Hesse Darmstadt skirmishers
are the first troops to get to the edge of the tree-line and open ground

With the bulk of the fire from the lead German units directed at harassing the allied gunners on the Pajar it was soon being answered with canister from the redoubt backed up by British and Spanish skirmish fire, the latter provided by the Antequeran Light Infantry on the Spanish left who were soon engaged in pot shotting gunners from the Hesse Darmstadt battery deployed on the road to their front.

The skirmish battle well under way

The bigger guns add their fire in support of the skirmishers as both sides try to soften each other up

As the allied artillery pours on the hurt, the infantry lines move forward to support the gunners

The German columns took a move or two in the shelter of the trees to shake off their fatigue from crossing the olive groves and time to dress the ranks prior to advancing

The German skirmishers close the range prior to their supporting columns moving forward

The British move forward on the allied left in preparation for the impending attack

The skirmishing and artillery fire lasted a good half hour before the German columns had had time to re-order and recover their fatigue following the difficult march through the olive trees.

Suddenly the skirmish lines moved forward to be joined by nine infantry column emerging from the tree line.

Two battalions from the Hesse Gross und Erbprinz Regiment and two from the Baden Regiment made directly for the redoubt screened by Grandjean's and Porbeck's Voltigeur battalions.

One effect of the preceding skirmishing had been to fatigue the allied gunners and whilst the twelve pounder canister fire was still a potent threat it became noticeably less so as the gunners fatigue levels rose with no respite from them labour in sight.

Suddenly the German columns breach the tree-line and head for the Pajar in force

As if recognising the looming threat to the redoubt, General Portago moved the second battalion of the Badajoz Regiment closer to the gun line, but then was drawn away to deal with the Antequeran Cazadors becoming shaken by fire from the Hesse gunners and the attention of the Franfurt battalion.

The shaky Spanish light infantry only held firm when joined by General Campbell himself who steadied them at the wall to their front and returned fire on the two German units to good effect.

The firing across both fronts reaches a crescendo as the two lines close

The British commander was wary of placing to much reliance on the Spanish holding firm and brought forward Brigadier Kemmis at the head of the 40th Foot and the 2nd Battalion of Detachments to form line on the Badajoz Regiment.

The Baden gunners supported by Nassau troops closest to camera attempt to pin the British as their comrades close on the Pajar

The climax of the action was approaching as Generals Grandjean, Porbeck and Leval attached themselves to the lead battalions and charged the redoubt, barely making it to the line of gabions as they were met by a weary discharge of canister.

The encouragement from the attached officers made the difference and three of the German battalions swept into the redoubt in hot pursuit of the gunners leaving from the back and also leaving most of their guns.

Generals Porbeck and Grandjean launch the Hesse and Baden infantry at the redoubt forcing the allied gunners to relinquish their defences and some of their guns as the German troops move onto the position to mop up. General Leval (118) can be seen at the centre of the attack

The distraction of the Antequeran Cazadores had caused two of the allied generals to be out of place when the attack struck, with only the second battalion of the Baden Regiment caused to pull up in the redoubt after the fire it received on the way in.

The German battalions keep the pressure on as they charge in over the redoubt striking the first of the Badajoz battalions.
The Baden battalion (162) is about to meet its nemesis in the form of HM 40th Foot to their front

The fighting was taking a toll on both armies as by 15.30 (turn 6) both army morale levels were at 86% and with failure deemed at 75% the next few moves would soon determine which would brake first. This distress became obvious as the first German brigade commander was advised his command was on a cautionary rating meaning that the fatigue was building fast.

The moment of crisis as the first Spanish battalions meet the onrushing German battalions

With both sides sensing that the tipping point was approaching for either force given one more significant blow, the opposing infantry prepared to charge and to open fire in one last attempt to wrest the initiative.

The three good order German battalions charged again with the two Hesse battalions taking on the lead Badajoz Infantry battalion whilst the second battalion of Baden infantry shook out into line to take on the 40th Foot.

"Cometh the hour" - The Provincial de Badajoz Militia step up and take the fight back to the Hesse battalions amazing everyone involved. Ahead to their left can be seen the 1/40th Foot (544) sorting out the Badeners. General Campbell can be seen top right steadying the Antequeran Cazadores

Up to this point the fire from the weaker British battalions of the 7th Fusiliers and 53rd Foot had seemed rather desultory compared with what you would expect from a British battalion and their lack of numbers couldn't have helped. The 40th Foot on the other hand were one of Wellesley's stronger battalions and so we shouldn't have been that surprised to see them pour forth a devastating volley in to the Badeners before them that staggered the battalion backwards.

The heroes of the day, the Provincial de Badajoz Militia launching their own bayonet counter attack following their two devastating volleys that retook the Pajar redoubt and reclaimed the allied guns. The smoke is from the volley from the 40th Foot.

With what looked liked the turning point as the British volley enveloped the Baden unit in smoke, the Hesse battalions charged forward at the II/Badajoz, who immediately turned tail and fled without firing a shot.

With their tails up the two Hesse battalions charged on into the I/Badajoz and like their regimental comrades they too turned tail and broke before contact leaving the third and last Spanish unit in line facing the oncoming victorious German battalions.

Turning point as the lead German battalion are about to break back off the Pajar

It looked like game set and match as the Spanish infantry seemed to collapse under the attack as the two German battalions charged at the Provincial de Badajoz Militia. Then something happened.

The Spanish militia battalion stood the first charge and with half the battalion coolly presented arms and let fly a column staggering volley that stopped the Hesse battalion dead in its tracks horrified to see General Grandjean fall mortally wounded from the saddle.

It seemed we were all holding our breath as the second Hesse battalion charged in keen on avenging this lucky shot when the other half of the Spanish militia battalion followed the example of their brothers in arms and coolly shot the second Hesse battalion to a standstill.

The field of battle as the German Division breaks contact leaving the field of battle to the victorious allies.

As the smoke cleared the Spanish battalion lowered their bayonets and charged in to finish things, catching one of the German battalions as they both turned tail and fled. Two of the German battalions were in full rout and the other retired shaken with General Grandjean dead and General Leval carried from the field with a serious wound following his meeting with the Spanish militia battalion.

Not only that but our game was over with the German Division at 75% army morale failure and the astonishing performance of the Provincial de Badajoz Militia to savour as an incredible game turning event.

The butchers bill and game statistics illustrate what a convincing victory the allied infantry achieved but doesn't do justice to how things looked in the final turn as two Spanish battalions broke and fled without firing a shot.

You have to feel for Will commanding the Germans after his careful approach and full bloodied assault seemed to have paid dividends especially with the Nassau battalions and Baden artillery able to successfully tie down the other British brigade. Then with victory in his grasp to have a Spanish militia battalion, pull a bit of an "Albuera" on him was hard to watch, but was a fantastic end to a very close well fought battle. We are looking forward to playing this scenario again and Carnage & Glory is the rule set that just keeps on giving!

Talavera - Pajar Vergara

Major victory for the Allied Army as of Game Turn: 9

The Allied Army has suffered losses of:

[ 4%] 354 men of all arms incl.

[ 1%] 122 prisoners of all arms

[ 4%] 327 bayonets

[ 0%] 0 sabres

[ 9%] 27 artillerists

11 cannon[s] lost

Honours: [547] Kemmis' Bde. Light Bn.

The French Army has suffered losses of:

[15%] 984 men of all arms incl.

[ 1%] 109 prisoners of all arms

[15%] 936 bayonets

[11%] 48 artillerists

6 cannon[s] lost

Honours: [160] III Fuss Batterien Steinmetz

Losses include 2 General[s]:

[118] Baron Jean-Francois Leval - Dressing wound

[121] Balthazard-Grandjean - Mortally wounded

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Talavera - Pajar Vergara As of Game Turn: 9

Division Alexander Campbell - Defend

[ 517] Brigadier General Alexander Campbell - Active C [875 paces]

[R] [ 548] Lawson's Brigade 10/ 135 C Shaken

[R] [ 621] 1st Battery 17/ 131 [ 1] D+ Shaken

Brigade William Myers - Defend

[ 518] Lieutenant Colonel William Myers - Active C [450 paces]

[ 541] 2/7th Foot 19/ 369 C- [sk] Formed

[ 542] 2/53rd Foot 0/ 483 C- [sk] Formed

[ 543] A. Campbell's Bde. Light Bn. 17/ 144 C [sk] Formed

Brigade James Kemmis - Defend

[ 519] Colonel James Kemmis - Active C [450 paces]

[ 544] 1/40th Foot 26/ 644 C+ [sk] Formed

[ 545] 97th Foot 0/ 452 C+ [sk] Formed

[ 546] 2nd Battalion of Detachments 5/ 557 C- [sk] Formed

[ 547] Kemmis' Bde. Light Bn. 8/ 236 C+ [sk] Formed

Division Marques de Portago - Defend

[ 528] Major General Marques de Portago - Active C [725 paces]

[ 553] El Rey A 0/ 229 D Formed

[ 554] El Rey B 0/ 231 D Formed

[R] [ 600] 1st Bn. Badajoz Regiment 72/ 499 D- Shaken

[ 601] 2nd Bn. Badajoz Regiment 50/ 507 D- Formed

[R] [ 602] 2nd Cazadores de Antequera 120/ 437 D- [sk] Disorder

[ 603] Imperial de Toledo 0/ 792 D- Formed

[ 604] Provincial de Badajoz Militia 8/ 569 D Formed

[ 605] Provincial de Guadix Militia 2/ 560 D Formed

Strengths: losses/active

327/6249 Bayonets

0/460 Sabres

27/266 Artillerists

11/1 Cannon

354/ 6975 Total of all arms

13 Standards present

Legend:

[D] Denotes dispersed

[Y] Denotes In rout

[R] Denotes halted in disorder, in retirement or retreat

[W] Denotes no advance unless accompanied by officer

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Talavera - Pajar Vergara As of Game Turn: 9

Division Baron Jean-Francois Leval - Attack

[ 118] General de Division Baron Jean-Francois Leval - Dressing wound B- [875 paces]

Brigade Heinrich Freiherr von Porbeck - Attack

[ 119] Oberst Heinrich Freiherr von Porbeck - Active B [450 paces]

[ 160] III Fuss Batterien Steinmetz 7/ 183 C Formed

[W] [ 161] I.von Harrant Nr.4 (Baden) 17/ 359 C- [sk] Formed

[Y] [ 162] II.von Harrant Nr.4 (Baden) 107/ 260 C- [sk] Rout

[ 163] I.Nassau IR Nr.2 0/ 360 C- [sk] Formed

[ 164] II.Nassau IR Nr.2 0/ 386 C- [sk] Formed

[ 165] Porbeck's Voltigeur Bn. 25/ 292 C- [sk] Disorder

Brigade David-Hendrik Chasse - Attack [No Advance]

[ 120] Generalmajor David-Hendrik Chasse - Active C [350 paces]

[R] [ 166] 3m3 Artillerie a Cheval Trip 26/ 121 C Shaken

[ 167] I/2me Regiment Linie 7/ 386 C- [sk] Formed

[ 168] 2/4me Regiment Linie 14/ 364 C- [sk] Disorder

[R] [ 169] Chasse's Voltigeur Bn. 36/ 118 C- [sk] Shaken

Brigade Balthazard-Grandjean - Attack [Retire]

[ 121] General de Brigade Balthazard-Grandjean - Mortally wounded B [450 paces]

[R] [ 170] III. Fuss. Batterien Venator 15/ 81 C Disorder

[R] [ 171] 1/Gross und Erbprinz Nr 4 91/ 307 C- [sk] Shaken

[Y] [ 172] 2/Gross und Erbprinz Nr 4 154/ 217 C- [sk] Rout

[ 173] Rheinbund Bttn von Frankfort 0/ 391 C- [sk] Formed

[ 174] Grandjean's Voltigeur Bn. 8/ 217 C- [sk] Formed

Brigade Feliks Potocki - Attack [ 122] Oberst Feliks Potocki - Active C [350 paces]

[ 175] I. IR Nr 4 (Polish) 0/ 761 C [sk] Disorder

[ 176] II. IR Nr 4 (Polish) 0/ 782 C Disorder

[ 177] Potocki's Voltigeur Bn. 0/ 260 C [sk] Disorder

Strengths: losses/active

459/5460 Bayonets

48/385 Artillerists

6/12 Cannon

507/5845 Total of all arms

11 Standards present

Legend:

[D] Denotes dispersed

[Y] Denotes In rout

[R] Denotes halted in disorder, in retirement or retreat

[W] Denotes no advance unless accompanied by officer

A great game to finish 2015 with more to come on JJ's with a review of the year and a look forward at plans for 2016.

Thank you to everyone that has joined in the fun here on the blog, I really appreciate the comments and discussion generated and would like to wish everyone a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

↧

Look Back on 2015 and New Year Plans for 2016

January 1, 2016, 7:33 am

≫ Next: Eager for Glory, The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder - Lindsay Powell

≪ Previous: Talavera - Attack on the Pajar de Vergara

This year culminated with the biggest Talavera game staged so far with the full "Dawn Attack" scenario played in November

As regular followers of the blog know, I am a bit of structures and planning kind of chap and have always worked on the basis of "begin with the end in mind" and thus move forward saying what I will do and then doing what I have said.

Last year on January 1st I took the time to post my thoughts on progress in 2015 with the blog and the projects outlined in the previous year which seemed to generate a lot of interest and I hope allows regular followers of activities at JJ to see why things happen in the time and way they do with items of pure serendipity on my part thrown in throughout the year to add a bit of spice and variety.

Look Back on 2014 and New Year Plans

So in that spirit of sharing my ideas for 2016 and inviting your comments and questions should you be inclined I thought I would start, as last year, with a review of what the plan was for 2015 and progress against it together with the interest in the blog. Then I will look at what I want to achieve in 2016 with a look at the plans put in place to make it happen. It feels a bit like an appraisal at work except much more fun.

So what did I naively and rashly commit to doing last January?

The plan outlined in 2015
Well as I outlined last year, I would take the Peninsular War career of Sir Arthur Wellesley and his army on to Talavera with a series of scenarios that focus on that battle that will allow me to game the battle in small chunks as we build up to doing the full battle. This project is BIG with 24 battalions of French infantry to be done plus a dozen odd Spanish units.

The progress is well under way though with the completion of the German Division last year, and you will have seen progress towards completing the British units for Casa de Salinas which requires just two more British battalions.

I am planning to carry on with the posts about the units and their back story as they are added to the collection. The feedback on those done too date has been really positive, so to keep it interesting I plan to alternate between French and Allied units interspersed with battle reports on the planned scenarios.

So with regard to the Talavera project I hope you will agree that good progress has been made with this BIG project with a series of posts throughout the year that has looked at the building of some really key additions to the two orders of battle; and the playing as we have gone of the battle broken down into bite size scenarios that looks to model the battle that was fought over two days between the 27th and 28th July 1809.

Mackenzie's British 3rd Division

The year got going with the completion of Mackenzie's British 3rd Division in anticipation in plating the first scenario "Casa de Salinas"
British Units at Casa de Salinas-1809

Battle Royal around the farm enclosure of the Casa de Salinas back in March 2015

Soon followed by three play tests of the scenario to work out play balance and test out special rules which finished in March.
Casa de Salinas - Talavera Game Three

General Portago heads up his Spanish 3rd Division needed to play the last of the scenarios planned for this year,
Attack on the Pajar de Vergara

Whilst the Casa de Salinas play tests were happening work moved on in between play tests to complete General Portago's Spanish 3rd Division from General Cuesta's Army of Estremadura with this work completed in April.
Spanish 3rd Division-Talavera

The final clash in the Night Attack Scenario that produced a thrilling last round of combat to decide matters

Play testing then moved on to three scenario plays of Talavera - Night Attack which culminated in the final game in Mid-May
Talavera Night Attack Game Three

General Fane heads up the brigade of "British Heavies" at Talavera, completed in May

By the end of May work was finished putting together the final British Cavalry brigade, that of General Fane's Heavy Dragoons, needed for the next series of scenario play-tests for the Dawn Attack.
3rd Prince of Wales Regiment of Dragoons

Another 2015 highlight - My purchase of musket balls and clay pipe relics from the military museum in Ligny. These were found on the battlefield during the construction of the museum and have now found a new and caring home

The month of June caused a slightly prolonged pause in progress as JJ's Wargames took time to pay tribute to one of the most influential battles of modern times that ended major warfare in Europe up to WWI and put the final laurel on the glittering career of the finest British General Officer since Marlborough - the two hundredth anniversary of Waterloo.

The panorama of Waterloo, with the Lion Mound top right against the skyline and the bell tower of Ligny church poking up from the valley top left at the end of the track. I could picture Blucher's triumphant smile as he realised he had Napoleon exactly where he wanted him and there was no coming back from this.

My series of posts completed on the day in question two hundred years previously culminated in a family trip to Belgium in July that allowed us to tour the campaign area and produced some memories for life. I remember particularly the view of Waterloo as Blucher would have seen it, mid afternoon of June 18th 1815, as we parked up on the "Green Route" that his troops would have recognised instantly, little changed in two hundred years.

Wavre and the Prussian march to Waterloo

A clash of Titans as the French and British go at it full tilt on the Cerro de Medellin in November 2015

The Talavera Dawn Attack play tests began in July and culminated in the biggest game so far in November with the final pay test and produced a really exciting and hard fought battle with the narrowest of victory condition on casualties to the French.
Talavera Dawn Attack Game Three

The 3/54e Regiment de Ligne finished in October 2015 and marking the half way point on the French Line Infantry painted

Since July the work has focused on the biggest part of the project and a step by step completion of the eight regiments, or twenty four battalions of French Line infantry required to field Marshal Victor's I Corps d'Armee for the final afternoon attack scenario that will be the ultimate end point for the project as a whole.
3/54e Regiment de Ligne

At the time of writing I am working on the 3/45e Ligne which will complete the fifth regiment in the corps.

The 2/83rd Regiment of Foot "Fitch's Grenadiers" completed in November, finishing the British order of battle for Talavera

In addition to finishing off the French forces I completed the last British brigade and final two battalions with the completion of the 1/61st and 2/83rd Foot Regiments in General Alan Cameron's brigade in November, completing the British order of battle.

Attack on the Pajar de Vergara with the sweeping attack of the Hesse Darmstadt regiment about to meet the Provincial de Badajoz Militia!!

With work set to continue on finishing off the French and then the Spanish orders of battle we have started a new series of scenario tests only this week with the first run through of "The Attack on the Pajar de Vergara. The game produced a really exciting battle with a new and unlikely set of heroes to finish the year off with, namely the Provincial de Badajoz Militia Regiment who turned the result of the battle completely with one last irresistible counter-attack.

The plan outlined in 2015
Alongside the Napoleonics, Tom and I plan to carry on the progress with the Roman collection, with plans discussed to build, in time, sufficient units to look at gaming scenarios from the Year of the Four Emperors as well as Dacian and German barbarian units.

I am really chuffed with Tom's enthusiasm towards the ancients and his love of painting 28mm so I am looking forward to showcasing more of his work this year.

As well as the wargames projects, we have a family trip to the Waterloo battlefields this June as part of our pilgrimage to commemorate the bicentenary of one of the most important events in world history. I am really looking forward to our week in Belgium and to share the highlights of it here on JJ's.

Alongside the trip to Belgium touched on in the comments above, it was great fun to watch Tom develop his skills as a very accomplished painter, much better than his Dad, whilst completing his studies this year for a well earned BSc in Ocean Science this year.

A memory to savour on a lovely sunny day in Plymouth for Tom's graduation

The post on the plans for the Ancients collection outline the work, mostly done by Tom before he left for Australia. My focus on bringing Talavera to a successful conclusion has limited my contribution to the Dacian Wars project but that is set to change in 2016.

Ancient Campaign Plans

A sample of Tom's other work in the summer that produced equally excellent results

2015 will be a year of consolidating the progress too date and the figures added to both the Peninsular War and Roman collections will set things up to look at bigger projects in 2016 and beyond. In addition I am thinking about another period to look at in 28mm, but am holding off until this years work is complete.

As well as the painting, playing and battle anniversary celebrations other work has helped to consolidate progress in other areas. I am keen to broaden my writing into other fields and so it was fun and a real thrill to be invited to follow up the series of articles in Miniature Wargames in 2014 with an article in the May edition of Wargames Bloggers Quarterly, which is a brilliant free, full colour, PDF publication that I think really helps to promote what is really great in our fantastic hobby, with the work of some very talented people who do this stuff for fun.
Wargame Bloggers Quarterly

As well as that, based on feedback from comments left to previous posts, I was prompted to put together two painting tutorials summarised in PDF downloads for painting French and British infantry and will look to complete a trio with one covering Spanish infantry later this year.

In addition I was really pleased to include material from another contributor other than myself to cover a period that I would not normally look at, but of great interest to other gamers. Having been playing wargames for over forty years I have been lucky to build some very special long lasting friendships through this, rather strange to many, past time and these friends bring a knowledge and a reading of periods and eras that I frankly do not feel qualified to cover, but would like to.

So it was great to include a book review form my old friend "Mr Steve" last month and to collaborate on a board-game play-through of Alfred the Great - The Great Heathen Army 871AD last month. Steve has large collections of Ancient, Dark Ages, ACW and Seven Years War figures and is well read on many periods and brings a witty insightful view to subjects
Gettysburg The Last Invasion-Allen C Guelzo
Alfred the Great and the Great Heathen Army-871AD

Finally I am really looking forward to the release of the much anticipated campaign module from Carnage & Glory. I am really pleased that the coverage of the Oporto game in Miniature Wargames has generated a lot of discussion about the merits of computer moderated gaming. The addition of a campaign module will only add to that and, with the growing Peninsula collection, I am keen to try out some campaign modules that I would love to play and will demonstrate further the advantages of these kind of games.

So there we are, 2015 here we come.

I think in Carnage & Glory I have found my preferred set of rules when playing Napoleonics and horse and musket games in general, and I have really tried to illustrate, in the games we have played over the last two years, what the rules have to offer. I often find myself playing other paper based rules comparing how easy and seamlessly C&G covers the basic gaming concepts of movement, firing, combat and morale compared with the other way of doing it! I can't say too much about the Campaign system, as I like others have been closely following developments, but through the focus on current projects have not really been able to contribute. I do though look forward to this and other improvements to the system that I have had the privilege of previews of and am really looking forward to sharing them with potential new players going forward.

So what to look forward to in 2016

The immediate work is set focused on completing the remaining ten battalions of French line infantry whilst developing and testing the Pajar Vergara scenario as we go. Then it will be on to the remaining Spanish units, namely the seven battalions of infantry in General Bassecourt's division and the five regiments of Spanish cavalry in General Albuquerque's division, both of which took post at the end of the northern valley during the afternoon attack. These three groups of figures plus a few supernumeraries in the form of general officers and artillery limbers will take the best part of the year to complete.

Once done we will stage the big battle using Carnage & Glory to fight the afternoon action with about fifty battalions of infantry on each side going at it. I think we will play several games with different sets of players to fully explore the potential of this, one of the most interesting Peninsular War battles.

On completion, I am planning to put the information gathered from this and the previous years work into a scenario book and guide that will be tailored for both players of Carnage & Glory and other battalion level rule sets, that the unit strength C&G orders of battle easily facilitate.

Once the Talavera project is complete and written up I will be shifting some of the focus on to the Dacian War collection and it is the aim to be in a position to be playing or close to playing the first games by the end of the year.

The last boxes of Dacian war-bands showed up between Xmas and New Year, so now it's just a case of painting and basing them ready to play. In addition I will be putting together a collection of 28mm terrain and buildings to compliment the figures on my table. As the Dacians and remaining Roman forces are built I will be putting together the German War-bands for the next phase as we move into 2017 and thoughts of moving the Duke of Wellington back to the valley of the River Coa and a meeting with Marshal Massena Duc de Rivoli, Prince d'Essling.

As well as the project work I plan to continue the work to make JJ's Wargames a magazine style blog with a variety of subject matter and hopefully additional contributors to add to that variety and keep the blog fresh and interesting.

Thank you to everyone who has commented and joined in the conversation and to all those who regularly look by to see what is happening. Last year I reported that the blog had doubled its traffic in 2014, since it started on December 2012, to seven-thousand hits a month; well you guys have doubled that in a year to fifteen-thousand a month and the blog reached its first major landmark of 250,000 hits in October this year, so you must be interested in something that is going on here. I would be doing this stuff anyway, but it is a privilege to be able to record and share it with other people who also get fired up by this kind of nonsense.

The last year has been very focused on breaking the back of probably the biggest wargaming project I have so far taken on and with the end in sight I am keen to take more time to enjoy the journey this year.

Oh and in case you were wondering about the secret 28mm project in addition to the ones discussed. There are plans to start purchasing that collection in 2016, but it is so so secret I am going to save news about that project until later in the year.

Another highlight of 2015. The addition of a family heirloom to "JJ's mancave" with the restored
1845 Pattern Infantry Officers Sword

I hope you like the look of the blog at present with the recent addition of tab subjects at the top to capture the key projects that are the focus of JJ's Wargames. I am rather keen on keeping all the activities together on one site rather than set up separate subject subject lead blogs as others have done. I rather like the Too Fat Lardies approach of keeping all their game themes under the one banner and exposing visitors to all the delights that different themes have to offer.

Here's looking forward to another exciting year and wishing everyone in the hobby good gaming for 2016.

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Eager for Glory, The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder - Lindsay Powell

January 4, 2016, 11:01 am

≫ Next: 3/45e Regiment de Ligne

≪ Previous: Look Back on 2015 and New Year Plans for 2016

As part of my build up to putting the Roman collection together I am getting a bit of additional reading done to give me a better feel for and understanding of the army I am trying to create on the table.

This Xmas, as well as completing the buy in of my Dacian host, I also got my four heavy pieces of Roman artillery and two fantastic hard back tomes, "The Complete Roman Legions" by Nigel Pollard and Joanne Berry and"The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy, so you can see the mobilisation is well under way.

As mentioned in recent posts I also have an eye towards the Germania frontier and I have been picking my way through "Eager for Glory" by Lindsay Powell over the last month, a birthday present from Will, and I thought I would share my thoughts after reading it.

This book is heralded as the first book since ancient times to document the life and achievements of this ultimate Roman war leader and all round "damn fine chap" as the Romans would certainly have seen him. Unfortunately all the contemporary ancient written records of his campaigns and life are lost to modern researchers and thus Mr Powell has pulled together what remains of the written texts together with the latest research from the archaeological record to put together this, what I thought, excellent read.

I have to say that before reading this book my knowledge of the Roman contacts with the German tribes pre Varus and Germanicus was rather sketchy other than the activities of Caesar and his contacts with the tribes during and after his conquest of Gaul.

Having read this book I can now understand the relationship that this early contact with the Romans created with the Germans and it really puts into context what followed in the time after Drusus.

Lindsay Powell has structured his book in a chronological format around seven chapters followed by the authors assessment of his life.

In Chapter One - Drusus the Youth we start with the young Drusus (38 - 18 BC) and his family relationships with his mother Livia, brother Tiberius and step father Augustus, which was a time heavily influenced by the civil war and the struggle between Augustus and Marcus Antonius. The chapter goes on to look at his early career into public life and his marriage to Antonia Minor, the daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, Augustus' sister. As a young girl Antonia would have been known to the young Drusus and who would, unusually, form a life long bond with her husband and never re-marry after his early death; a Roman marriage for love it seems rather than one of political convenience.

Chapter Two looks at the life of Drusus the young soldier covering the years 17-15 BC with his first command in Raetia and Noricum in what became known as the Alpine war as Augustus sought to extend control over the Celtic tribes that bordered the narrow link between Italy and Gaul and was subject to constant raids primarily from the Raetians. This chapter also includes a look at the Roman and Celtic troop types together with their arms and equipment.

Chapter Three is titled Drusus the Builder and the years 14-13 BC which covers the time that Drusus, now a young father was appointed governor of Tres Galliae with his palace at Lugdunum, modern day Lyon in France. From here he oversaw the build up of troops and fortifications along the Rhine, in preparation for the German War; including the building of the famous canal designed to give sheltered acesss to the North Sea by linking up the River Rhine to the Zuider Zee and thence along the coast. The Drusus canal or fosse Drusiana required the agreement by the allied tribe, the Batavi, who after their discussions with Drusus also permitted the building of a forward base in their territory to accommodate two legions.

Chapter Four, Drusus the Explorer, covers the year 12 BC when as well as launching the German War, into what was at that time uncharted territory with an amphibious borne land campaign, combined with diplomacy and treaties with the Frisii and Chauci tribes, Drusus also had to deal with an attempted rebellion in Tres Galliae.

Chapter Five , Drusus the Commander covers the year 11-10 BC and looks at the Germanic tribes and, with emphasis on the Chatti, Cherusci and Sugambri, their fighting techniques. This time was also one of near disaster for Drusus as he was nearly badly defeated at the Battle of Arbalo.

Drusus in his eagerness for glory, nearly spoilt the record when ambushed at Arbalo by the Cherusci.

Chapter Six, Drusus the Consul, looks at 9 BC when Drusus attains the highest political office, but returns to the front to lead his army to the edge of the Roman known world and the River Elbe, only to turn back under extraordinary circumstances that are referred to in the sources that predicted his untimely death. The author then works through the likely scenarios that might have caused the death together with the complications that may have occurred from the suspected injury.

Chapter Seven, Drusus the Hero, describes the journey his body took back from Germania to Rome. the reaction to his death and the exploitation by Augustus and his successors to exploit his subsequent legendary status as a Roman role model and 'Conqueror of Germania'.

The book then has a summary and assessment of the life of Drusus and events in Germania that followed his death, with the disaster under Varus and the follow up campaign launched by Drusus' son Germanicus that was practically a carbon copy of his father's invasion plan.

Each chapter carries an extensive list of the references and sources quoted or referred to in what was a really good read. The final assessment makes a really interesting comparison between Drusus and his accomplishments and that of Alexander the Great, with both men dying somewhat prematurely at 29 for Drusus and 33 for Alexander. The one shining example both commanders exemplified was that charismatic leadership that convinced their men to press on in the face of extreme difficulty and a willingness to lead by example with, in Drusus' case, an almost rash determination to challenge German tribal leaders to personal combat in his pursuit of glory and an eagerness to inspire his men to victory.

Lindsay Powell also looks at what might have been had Drusus survived the passing of Augustus, given the professed leanings expressed by him to the Princeps of a return to a Republic. The devotion of his troops, his military record and his personal reputation as man of high integrity, combined with charm may well have enabled him to have turned the political clock back whilst the Principate was still in relative infancy.

The text is accompanied by twelve really good maps and plans that helped to follow the progress of the story, together with sixteen pages of full colour photos of family busts, relevant archaeology, re-enactors displaying the dress and weapons of the Roman and Celtic/German warriors and modern day views of the terrain discussed.

Given the somewhat limited material to work with, this made an excellent read and I really felt I had learnt a lot about a great, but somewhat forgotten Roman hero and has me ready to read the other book in the series on his son Germanicus. In addition I can see a trip to Holland and Germany with Will to have a look at some of the great museums and Roman displays that capture the events of this period of Roman expansion.

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3/45e Regiment de Ligne

January 8, 2016, 1:00 am

≫ Next: FA Cup, Exeter City 2 - Liverpool 2

≪ Previous: Eager for Glory, The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder - Lindsay Powell

The 45e Regiment's involvement in the fighting at Talavera spanned both the 27th and 28th of July 1809 starting on the afternoon of the 27th when Lapisse's 2nd Division, spearheaded Victor's surprise attack on the British rearguard of Mackenzie's 3rd Division caught unprepared for such an attack at Casa de Salinas.

This action was modelled over three plays of the scenario last year and you can pick up the details from the following:
Casa de Salinas- Pre Game Set Up
Casa de Salinas Game One
Casa de Salinas Game Two
Casa de Salinas Game Three

After the sharp action on the 27th the Allied army fell back relatively unmolested on to the selected position resting on the town of Talavera and the 45e Ligne along with its divisional comrades were held in reserve until the afternoon of the 28th July when the 2nd Division formed the extreme left of Victor's I Corps alongside the troops of Sebastiani's IV Corps and opposite the KGL brigades and Cameron's brigade in Sherbrooke's British 1st Division.

The details of the attack by Lapisse's men were covered fairly comprehensively in my post of the 3/8e Ligne.
3/8e Regiment de Ligne

Suffice to say the 45e Ligne alongside the 16e Legere were the lead brigade in the attack with the men of the 45e Ligne directly opposite the 2/83rd of Cameron's brigade.

The French attack by the first line of infantry columns was met with a close range single discharge of musketry followed up by a bayonet charge that caused them to break to the rear and fall back behind the second line of columns. The Guards and KGL over extended themselves in their pursuit of their beaten enemy and were caught by the second line French counter-attack that, after some desperate moments as the British line looked likely to be pierced, was equally repulsed by the reserves on hand.

This attack marked the high-water mark of the French infantry attacks for the day and the battle subsided as they withdrew that evening.

The losses reported for the 45e Ligne over the two days were 388 men of which three officers and forty-three men were killed and twelve officers, including Colonel Barri, and three hundred and twenty-eight men wounded and two men missing.

My 3/45e Ligne are composed of figures from AB and the battalion fanion is from GMB flags

Colonel Barri leads the three battalions of the 45e Regiment de Ligne

Sources used in this and the other posts on the 45e Regiment de Ligne;
Napoleon's Line Infantry, Osprey Men at Arms - Philip Haythornthwaite, Bryan Fosten
French Napoleonic Line Infantry - Emir Bukhari
Napoleon's Soldiers, The Grande Armee of 1807 (The Otto Manuscript) - Guy C Dempsey Jr.
Napoleonic Armies, A Wargamers Campaign Directory - Ray Johnson
Talavera, Wellington's First Victory in Spain - Andrew W. Field
The Peninsular War Atlas - Colonel Nick Lipscombe

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FA Cup, Exeter City 2 - Liverpool 2

January 9, 2016, 12:45 am

≫ Next: Augustus to Aurelian

≪ Previous: 3/45e Regiment de Ligne

Every now and then JJ's Wargames goes "off piste" and looks at Devon and Sport themed activities and sometimes combine the two.

Last night was such an occasion, and at the risk of being slightly partisan, take the opportunity to offer a huge congratulations to Manager Paul Tisdale and Exeter City Football Club who did themselves and the city of Exeter proud in the FA Cup.

Exeter City F.C.

FA Cup

Exeter City took the lead twice in the match and looked nothing like they would against a side that is seventy odd places above them in the football league. The game was broadcast live on BBC TV and little St James' Park took centre stage on national television, with a maximum crowd of just over 8,000 crammed in to watch a thrilling FA cup encounter.

A win would have been very special in the history of the club, but the draw means a potential windfall of an estimated £700,000 from receipts from a replay at Liverpool which will come in very handy; and it will be fun to hear "Ooh Arrr, we are Exeter" echoing around Anfield.

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Augustus to Aurelian

January 12, 2016, 10:23 am

≫ Next: Robert the Bruce's Irish Wars - Book Review

≪ Previous: FA Cup, Exeter City 2 - Liverpool 2

The ancient collection took a major step forward this weekend following the play test conducted at the Devon Wargames Group.

Devon Wargames Group - Augustus to Aurelian Play Test

I have been spending time looking at various rule sets to base the collection on and I feel really happy with these rules following the play through and a now have a better idea about what they have to offer.

Having had time to consider how they played and the look and feel of the game I thought I would highlight what for me makes them a real winner.

The first thing I had decided was I wanted to recreate the divisional (Hail Caesar terminology) formation (AtoA terminology) style of game each with their own commander overseen by superior and/or wing commander.

I really feel that style of game allowing individual players to fight a battle within a battle with four or more units under their command really appeals and suits the look of large 28mm groups of figures. I have to say that that was what drew me to Hail Caesar in the first place.

I was also keen to go for a set of rules that set out to model the period of ancient history I am interested in, namely the Roman Principate and the era of Roman expansion and civil war. Like the horse and musket era I am not convinced with rule sets that set out to be "jack of all trades, and master of none"; in that I feel that the various historical periods are unique one to another and I want rules that reflect that uniqueness in their design concept.

Limited command and control in the Ancient period - encourage the men, oversee the reserve and fingers crossed

Finally I wanted the rules to capture the friction of command and control, that allows the game to model what I believe many ancient confrontations developed into, once the plan was arrived at and the various commands set in motion; namely that their was very little the individual commanders could do but to encourage the men to greater efforts, determine when or if to commit reserves and keep their fingers crossed, by trusting in the original plan and/or their troops abilities to overcome.

Saturday's game confirmed my thinking that AtoA ticks these three boxes and more. The card deck activation mechanism is a tried and trusted "friction creator" and translates well into the ancient period and the combination of deck design and "Carpe Diem" cards allows enough scope to model the subtle differences between commanding an often ill-disciplined barbarian army and the better drilled Romans.

The combat and shooting mechanism are straight forward and easily accommodate the few additions and deductions for situation, training, equipment/special weapons and tactics that model the armies of the period. Most importantly, they are fun to play and the card deck adds to that aspect of the game.

From the one play-test I now know that I don't want sheets for each division with each unit and its statistics laid out under the commander. Instead I intend on producing little cards that carry the information for those troop types applicable to all similar units for the players to refer to when needed. All the information about morale, casualties and thrown pila can be recorded on the table with simple but easy on the eye markers, together with micro dice.

Artillery rules will need adapting slightly for my tastes, but nothing major

The rules are loose enough to allow plenty of adaptations and additions according to taste and for my few Dacian siege scenarios I will probably use the Hail Caesar rules for attacking walls, their defenders and the firing of heavy artillery at defences, as I have never liked scatter dice for aiming purposes.

For my Germania scenarios I can quite easily translate the special rules about Priests and Sacred Groves plus use some of the AtoA special rules on religion and treachery to add additional spice to the games.

As you can probably guess I am quite excited after Saturday's game and can't wait to field my own collection based to the rules and it gives me something to really look forward to later in the year.

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Robert the Bruce's Irish Wars - Book Review

January 18, 2016, 12:14 pm

≫ Next: 1/63e Regiment de Ligne

≪ Previous: Augustus to Aurelian

Another interesting book review by "Mr Steve"

The Invasions of Ireland 1306-1329
By Sean Duffy

Many years ago there was something called a Book Club and I was idly flicking through that month’s magazine when this book caught my eye. I made a mental note to add it to the “possible’s” list and then promptly forgot all about it for the next ten years.

Nothing happened until it became time for my scheduled brain de-cluttering, this is where all the things I have stored away in my memory get brought back out and I decide whether to permanently forget about it or to re file it into the pending section of my mind.

So when this book came up for its re-assessment I decided to move it into my action section and started looking around for a copy. I was a little shocked at the price that was now being asked for it but after a few months of searching I eventually picked it up for a reasonable price. (My copy inside the front cover is marked up at £45!).

At this stage I think I need to explain that I categorise my non-fiction books into two major groups, the first group consists of those books that are written for the public (the vast majority) and the second are what I call academic essays, then each section is further sub-divided into 3 more groups with the books being classified as either being readable, tough going or mainly made up. (I am considering adding in ‘dull ‘as a fourth sub-category)

This book falls into: academic, tough going.There are seven chapters which are really seven separate essays and they cover various aspects of the Scottish invasion of Ireland set roughly around the time of Bannockburn.

I think I'd better precise what happened for those who are unsure on this bit of history.

Ireland

was a source of money, soldiers and more importantly supplies for the English army which had been fighting against the Scots for many years, Robert Bruce therefore encouraged his brother Edward to cross over and conquer

Ireland

and in the process deny these resources to the English. For three years he rampaged up and down the country being very successful until the one time that he wasn't and so ended up dead for his troubles.

Ireland

is left devastated which also exacerbates the ongoing famine and the country now becomes a drain on the English treasury.

Chapter 1. The Bruce InvasionThis chapter covers the invasion, fighting and the whole three year campaign and really you could stop reading here if you wanted, first hand information is unfortunately very scarce but the writer makes a decent job of what there is available although there is no in-depth detail of any of the battles or of the general fighting.

Chapter 2. The Bruce’s and the Irish Sea World,
The writer’s thesis is that there was a Gaelic triad consisting of

Scotland

Ireland

and the Lords of the Isles and that Robert Bruce was trying to ferment a Grand Alliance. I wasn't aware that he landed on the Isle of Man and held it for a few years and that a small fleet of ships based there controlled the Irish Sea .Generally though it is a bit too academic for me, to be honest I am still unsure what the point of this essay is but I am sure they got very good marks for it.

Now I am not actually unhappy with this chapter as I am sure it is of interest to others however what annoys me the most is the decision to put all the Irish nobles names into Gaelic English, I had no idea who was who and this was straight after I had just finished reading about all the main players in chapter one. Again I would have had no problem with this or with those authors who like to include quotations in the original language that they were written in but please include a translation as a footnote! This applies especially to French, Greek and Latin as I am fed up with guessing.

Edward Bruce, Lord MacDonald and Sir Fergus of Adrossan

Chapter 3. The Bruce Invasion, analysis of problems.
Like I said you could have stopped reading after chapter 1, this section covers the inability of the Irish government to deal with the Scots and highlights how weak English control over

Ireland

actually was.

Chapter 4 .Galloglass.Quite interesting but I would rather read an Osprey on the subject. Scots had been hired for years as mercenaries by the Irish lords and as their numbers steadily grew over time then so did their power until they eventually became a bit of a problem. More about the effects of the Galloglass rather than what it was like to be one.

Chapter 5. Battle of Faughart
This was the final battle for Edward Bruce when his small but superior Scottish army pushed it once too often. Ten pages long and the writer did well to fill that much. Still, a good effort.

Chapter 6. The Impact of the Invasion.Good on famine, murders, poverty and various unknowns grabbing an opportunity when they saw one. The Irish government after the invasion had no money, troops or supplies so for a while lawlessness went un-punished. As a Lord you were responsible for punishing your family members who transgressed, guess how often that happened.

Chapter 7 .A Sequel to Edwards Invasion.Eight pages on what happened afterwards. Not a lot, they were hungry and had no money, some people got pardoned, there, I have saved eight pages. (See me .Ed)

Finally there are two appendices which are translations of related historical documents, the first is an extract from John Barbours (1320-1395) History of Robert the Bruce that covers the Irish Invasion /Campaign and is quite interesting, the second is a plea sent to the Pope from the Irish Princes describing how naughty the English are, which isn't.

Conclusion:There are not a lot of books published on this subject which is what originally attracted me in the first place and when combined with the paucity of first hand information from the time then I think this format is the best way to go about it because I am not a fan of those authors who can write an entire book based on fourteen lines translated from the original Greek. (Sub-category: mainly made up).Some of it is interesting, I was however disappointed that after I had finished reading chapter one, then that was really all about it for me apart from the odd snippet here and there. Lots of pictures of ruined castles.

I can see now why my £45 copy hadn't sold.
Paperback: best price for a good used copy is currently around £20.
186 Pages and then some notes, a bibliography and an index.

JJ's note:

Interesting summary of the campaign in Ireland together with some handy maps can be found here

http://www.historyireland.com/medieval-history-pre-1500/the-bruce-invasions-of-ireland-11/

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1/63e Regiment de Ligne

January 26, 2016, 10:11 am

≫ Next: Roman Soldier versus Germanic Warrior - Lindsay Powell

≪ Previous: Robert the Bruce's Irish Wars - Book Review

The heritage of the 63eme Regiment de Ligne can be traced back to the founding of the Swiss Regiment d'Ernest on February 17th 1672 under it's then colonel Jean Jaques Baron d'Erlach.

One of several Swiss units that served in the army of the Kingdom of France, the regiment would change its name with each new colonel:

1694 - 1701 Regiment de Manuel
1701 - 1728 Regiment Villars Chandieu
1728 - 1739 Regiment de May
1739 - 1751 Regiment de Bettens (two battalions were present at the Battle of Fontenoy)
1751 - 1762 Regiment de Jenner
1762 - 1782 Regiment d'Erlach
1782 - 1791 Regiment d'Ernst

Colonel Jean Jaques Baron d'Erlach

In 1791 the regiment was retitled the 63eme Regiment d'Infanterie but was returned to the Swiss army the following year.

In 1796 the French revolutionary authorities formed a new corps bearing the number 63e Demi-Brigade d'Infanterie de Ligne, formed from the following units:

14e Demi-Brigade de bataille (2/7e Regt. de Inf., 1er and 2e Bn. du Gard)

22e Demi-Brigade de bataille (2/11e Regt. de Inf., Bn., Vol. de Martigues and 2e Bn. Vol., de Marseilles)

51e Demi-Brigade de bataille (1/26e Regt. de Inf., 3e and 5e Bn. Vol. des Hautes-Alpes)

1er Bataillon, 66e Demi-Brigade de bataille.

With the rise of Napoleon the regiment was retitled the 63e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne under Colonel Marc Antoine Come Damien Jean Christome Laucee who would be killed on February 7th 1807 during the Eylau campaign in Poland.

In 1808 the regiment would enter Spain with significant recent combat experience at Golymin in 1806, and Eylau and Friedland in 1807, with Friedland added to its battle honours. They would be under the command of Colonel Regis-Barthelemy Mouton-Duvernet and under whose command they would be at Talavera.

Colonel Mouton-Duvernet picture later in his career as a General de Division

There are several illustrations of the 63e Ligne in the years leading up to 1809 that give a good impression of the regimental distinctions of the unit that might have still been carried at Talavera.

Originally in 1807 the Grenadiers appear to have carried a lower white band on their red grenadier plumes, with red tape on the upper and lower bands on the shako. together with a "V" shaped arrangement

Grenadiers (Officer and Soldier) of the 63e Ligne pictured in Hamburg in 1807

Bucquoy suggests that the red and white plume had given way to a more traditional red only plume and with less red tape on the shako when they entered Spain. He then has an interesting illustration of a Grenadier NCO seen in the second picture below with rather distinctive shako chords and epaulettes.

Grenadier and Voltigeur Officers - 1808

Grenadier NCO 1807 - Bucquoy

The three company distinctions of Grenadier, Voltigeur and Fusilier are captured by Bucquoy for the period 1808 covering the regiments time in Spain leading up to Talavera.

The key distinctions that I will include on my depiction of the regiment are the reversed "yellow/green" tipped voltigeur plumes, instead of the more standard green tipped yellow, yellow topped epaulettes and the white chords on the grenadier shakos.

Bucqouy also includes a great illustration of the pioneers and drummers of the regiment with very distinctive orange/red facings

My 1/63e Ligne are composed of figures from the AB range and the Eagle standard is from GMB flags.

Sources used in this post on the 63e Regiment de Ligne;
Napoleon's Line Infantry, Osprey Men at Arms - Philip Haythornthwaite, Bryan Fosten
French Napoleonic Line Infantry - Emir Bukhari
Napoleon's Soldiers, The Grande Armee of 1807 (The Otto Manuscript) - Guy C Dempsey Jr.
Les Uniformes du Premier Empire, Cdt Bucquoy.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://frederic.berjaud.free.fr/063edeligne/63e_de_ligne.htm&prev=search

http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/c_frenchinf7.html#63rd

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/63e_r%C3%A9giment_d%27infanterie

http://www.spanishsuccession.nl/armies/french_infantry_regiments.html

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9giment_d%27Ernest

http://www.frenchempire.net/biographies/moutonDuvernet/

Next up with the French line infantry project now standing at 66% completed I will take a slight intermission to finish off some 28mm Rogers Rangers for Steve M's growing French Indian collection.

In addition I am off to "Crusade 2016", the Penarth and District Wargames club show, this weekend

Crusade-2016 Wargames Show

and as it is the first time of going, I will be looking forward to sharing my impressions and highlights from the day.

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Roman Soldier versus Germanic Warrior - Lindsay Powell

January 29, 2016, 3:33 pm

≫ Next: JJ's Wargames Followers - Lost but Not Forgotten

≪ Previous: 1/63e Regiment de Ligne

Following on from my recent review of "Eager for Glory", Lindsay Powell's biography of Drusus the Elder and his campaign of conquest in Germania. I though I would share my thoughts about the next book I decided to tick off the list of reading, which rather aptly was another title by the author on a similar subject matter.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/eager-for-glory-untold-story-of-drusus.html

I picked up my copy of this book as a Kindle offer from Amazon and it had been sitting in my E library for several months when I remembered I had it following finishing the Drusus book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00J4ICU16/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

This is the first title in the Osprey "Combat" series of books I have read and like most of the other Osprey series it provides a compact appraisal and summary of its given subject with plenty of pointers to more detailed sources, coupled with great artwork for which the publisher is renowned, in this case done by the great illustrator Peter Dennis.

The book is well illustrated throughout with Peter Dennis' superb artwork

I have to say I really enjoyed this book which was a perfect follow up to the Drusus title and consolidated the knowledge gleaned from the first book. This book really does pack a lot of information into 80 odd pages and provides a good grounding in the subject for someone like myself getting to grips with the period.

So what do the contents look like?

Introduction

This chapter covers the first contacts with the German tribes by Caesar in Gaul and consolidation of Roman occupation under Augustus and the appointment of Drusus to lead the campaign into Germania, its progress up to his death and the follow up initiatives of Tiberius and Varus followed by the rise of Arminius, which sets the scene for an analysis of three key campaign examples and the fighting that followed

The Opposing Sides

Before launching into an analysis of the campaigns, Powell provides a chapter looking at the two sides troop types and general organisation, covering training, weapons, tactics, morale, logistics, leadership, communication and the role of Roman allied and auxiliary troops. I was familiar with most of this content, but found it a useful recap with a few nuggets of new information to add to the learning.

The next three chapters look in detail at three examples of campaigning that help illustrate the way the two armies fought each other in the early years of the 1st Century, with the classic ambush scenario that is represented by the Teutoburg Pass, the set piece open field clash at Idistaviso which favoured the Roman style of combat and an attack and defence action with the German warriors set up in behind field defences and in wooded terrain with the Romans looking to force them out and mop up in any pursuit.

Teutoburg Pass - Summer AD 9

A familiar battle in the woods fought over several days designed to wear the Romans down with attritional warfare in terrain that allowed the German warriors to make full use of their ambush style of warfare, before moving in in force to administer the coup de grace. This kind of action depended a lot on surprise, and the Romans became less accommodating as the campaign progressed.

Idistaviso - Summer AD 16

The classic line of battle with German tribesman charging down from their ridge line position into the three line Roman battle formation with cavalry hovering on the flanks to take advantage of any waverers. This fighting suited the Roman tactics and their better discipline and drill won out at the end of the day.

The Angrivarian Wall - Summer AD 16.

The Romans attack a prepared position, get repulsed on the first attempt, then resort to softening up the Germans with their artillery before sending in the legionaries to take the position. Another way for the Germans to make the Romans fight a more attritional battle and perhaps cause them to question whether the campaign would be worth pursuing.

Each of these chapters follows a similar format with a description of the events leading up to the battle giving the context for the action, usually accompanied with some very good battle maps to illustrate the set up. The battle maps are well illustrated designed to give a time line to key events that shaped the clash. There is then a description of the battlefield based on the sources and then what is often the best guess as to where the actions may have taken place with photos of some of the modern sites today to give an impression of the lie of the land.Then we get a blow by blow account of each action illustrating the way the various commanders used their units in the three very different battles.

Analysis - Leadership, Mission objectives and strategies, Planning and preparation, Tactics, combat doctrine and weapons. The penultimate chapter acts to summarise the battle descriptions by teasing out the key command decisions that influenced the outcomes and a consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of both armies tactics that shaped the style of fighting they adopted

Aftermath - the conclusion to the book discusses why the campaigns were initiated by the Romans in the first place and how events probably drove Emperor Tiberius to put a halt to any further troop deployments and consolidate his hold on the west bank of the Rhine, content to conduct a proxy war with the help of Rome's German allies.

Bibliography - A very useful list of the ancient sources

In summary a good read and a useful starter book to encourage further reading, with very inspiring artwork to encourage the wargamer to get painting.

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