Anyone for Herring?

With the recent upturn in the weather we had been eagerly awaiting our first outdoor Funny Little Wars game of the season, the plan was to run an amphibious landing, set during the "Herring War" between Norway and Denmark, with a fortress assault in the style of Port Arthur.  Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men etc..... the weather turned, rain stopped play and the game was taken inside:

The layout of the table after the first few moves had been made, The Norse have occupied some of the houses and dug in along the tree line at the far end while the Danes tentatively approach the town.

The plan now was to try out some rules for fighting in built up areas, the scenario was to occupy an inland town with the objective of taking the strategically important coaling station.  AM and JW lead the Norse while PW and I played the Danes.

As the game unfolded, snipers became increasingly active.

Danish Jaegers advance supported by the Royal Guard and heavy artillery.

The artillery might have dominated the game if not for the erratic marksmanship displayed by both sides!

A shell bursts over one of the houses which has already been pounded to rubble.

Lessons learnt: troops sheltering in houses attract heavy bombardment and the concentration of so many men leads to high casualty rates, by contrast the resulting piles of rubble provide a bulwark that can subsequently be easily defended.  A fast furious game played with about 100 infantry and three guns a side it turned into a real slugfest with lots of hand to hand melee among the ruins, great fun and all done in about three hours.

I'll leave the reader to identify the figures used, the Danish expeditionary force was cobbled together from various units in the spirit of Put Everything on the Table.

Sesquicentennial Gettysburg Game

This month, July 2013, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and earlier this week a band of enthusiasts came together to mark the occasion with a wargame using 54mm toy soldiers.  The real battle was fought over three days but we opened our action on day two of the struggle:

Overview of the field from Rock Run Creek looking west

The union forces are concentrated in a salient between the two roads that stretch from cemetery ridge where General Meade has made his headquarters all the way back to Little Round Top, the ground rises steadily from the town of Gettysburg up to the surrounding hills. Flags are placed to mark initial troop deployments (some are dummies) and are replaced by actual units when the umpire decides that they are in line of sight at ground level.

Meade's headquarters defended by a Regiment. of elite Zouaves and an artillery battery.

The rebel attack opens from the east of Gettysburg.

As in all good toy soldier games the cannon are matchstick firing but the guns have been issued with limited amounts of ammunition and conserving ammo starts to become critical as the game progresses, particularly for the Confederates who have limited resupply.

Union infantry occupy the woods to the east of Cemetery Ridge.

Battle opens on the Union right as the confederates advance over open ground towards the woods opposite Meade’s HQ. and push up the road towards cemetery ridge. The woods are occupied by Union infantry and a hot artillery duel ensues which sees heavy casualties on both sides but rebel pressure tells and the Feds are pushed back up the ridge.

Overview of the initial action.

The artillery duel begins.

Confederate Command, with an English observer, Captain William Widdirington: late of the Steam Steel and torpedoes blog

The Confederate Command watch as their attack goes in.

The Confederate advance from Gettysburg along the roads up to the ridge

More Confederate Regiments appears on the Union left, working their way south towards Little Round Top, to close the line with another two Regiments believed to be hidden in the woods.  Up on the hills above, three Union Regiments with two Batteries await them.

The fighting becomes much hotter on the right and a Regiment is rushed from the centre to stiffen the Federal flank.

The Union left flank is rocked by the rising crescendo of the Rebel Yell!

Up on Little Round Top the Yankee commander starts to get anxious that the expected rebel attack against him might just be a faint and he makes a probing advance to force the issue. Too late he discovers that he has been duped, the main attack is well advanced on the right while he has been sitting on the left with half the army and it’s guns.

Union troops on the left advance across The Wheatfield and form line around the Peach Orchard.  (the plant markers were used to indicate geographical features)

The Union left makes up for lost time, engaging the Rebel right to the relief of the hard pressed Zouaves holding the centre.

Effective Confederate artillery fire takes out the first Union battery.

Good shooting from the Rebel guns took a fearful toll on the massed ranks of Union troops squeezed into the salient.

Pressure builds up on the right as more Confederate regiments are fed straight into the attack as they arrive in the line.

And yet more Rebels!  the whole of the South must be here today.

The struggle to hold the woods continues

The Iron Brigade and Berdans Sharpshooters join the line as the last reserves are thrown in to face the final assault of the day

As dusk closes in the last couple of moves are played out, on the left the effect of massed rifle fire sweeps away the the Confederate right wing but in reply the Rebel counter battery fire finds the Union caissons and blows away the entire battery. 

It was planned to play the game over two days and as the first came to a close honours were fairly even. The Confederate right had been destroyed and their artillery were now running perilously short of ammunition but their main strength remained intact on the left and in the centre. Union forces still held the ridge but had taken a fearful pounding and had lost nearly all their guns, both sides settled down to spend the night on the battlefield, in the morning they would redress their lines and continue the struggle.

Sadly I was unable to stay for the second days play so this is all I have to offer you but hopefully the story will be taken up and continued on the Megablitz and more blog of Mr Tim Gow who commanded the armies of the South on the day.

The game didn’t follow the path of the original battle and it was never intended that it should do so (especially with the well known Rebel sympathies of some players on the Union side!). All the players contributed several regiments each, the sight of so many toy soldiers set out on an extensive terrain was quite inspiring and made the effort of painting them up all the more worthwhile.

H G Wells "Little Wars" Centenary Games April 2013 - part 2

The sun came out for round two of the H G Wells Little Wars Centenary Games and so we all decamped to the garden for some proper wargaming!  The scenarios for the second and third rounds came from Colonel Monseneurgue's 1913 work "Cavalry Practical schemes".  In true Wellsian fashion each side was designated as Army Red or Blue regardless of the national army they represented and each side was given sealed orders and objectives.  In game 2 Army Red had troops posted in woods at either end of a central road which it had to hold until reinforcements could come up, Army Blue was an advance guard required to clear the woods, secure the flanks and open the road  for it's Army Corps to pass through.  Here are some pics:

The Forbodian Horde commanded by TG, missing from the lineup in the previous post, took to the field for round two in place of the Turks as I was drafted in to co-umpire this session.

Bastions of Empire, the Mounties and Skinners Horse stand firm ready to do their bit.

The immaculately presented Horse Artillery of Army black

A rather neat Russian Mountain Battery takes up position

In typically Wellsian pose ST draws a bead on the enemy cavalry.

The second round came to a close as dusk closed in and after a hearty toast to all concerned the Gentlemen were lead on an Historical Tour of the Old College before retiring to change for dinner.

Sunday Morning saw hostilities resumed after breakfast, the final scenario introduced hidden movement and finds Army blue holding a major road with two entrenched guns, facing two regiments of Red infantry with two guns.  The remaining Blue forces are hidden behind the tree line while Red is moving unseen around the flanks, the game is afoot:

At the start of move two, Red's guns have moved into the positions vacated by Blue's artillery and their infantry find Blue retreating in echelon.

Blue's secret orders are to withdraw from this exposed position and beat a fighting retreat back to hold a second line along the next treeline, but above all they must save the guns!  Red's orders are to prevent the guns getting away.  A number of dummy markers were used by both sides to cause confusion as the troops moved into open sight.

On the left flank Blue's cavalry charge Red's lancers who are threatening the withdrawal of the guns.  Blue wins the melee and the guns continue on their way.

Just to add a little spice the Umpire now issued additional secret orders to both sides, Red was to bombard the South West area of the field (which just happened to be empty) while Blue was to counterattack to the North East of the field.

 

The almost suicidal Blue counter attack to the North East goes in and succeeds in pushing the Red flank back, blunting their advance and enabling the Blue guns to consolidate their new defence line......  just as play stopped for lunch.

And so a most enjoyable weekend of wargaming came to a close.  It was interesting to play the games on table and in garden consecutively (albeit with distances reduced for the table), although they are the same rules the dynamic of the game becomes very different.  Machine guns and snipers featured heavily in most of the games and added greatly to the challenge, the artillery was all matchstick firing and the standards of accuracy generally left much to be desired! 

Overall Winner of the Competition was Dr. Anthony Morton, the title of Most Gentlemanly Player was conferred upon Mr Jack Wright and as previously mentioned Best Painted Army went to Mr Stephen Thomas.

Since my return, time has been much taken up with finalising arrangements for the Plastic Warrior Show but more of that anon.

H G Wells "Little Wars" Centenary Games April 2013 - Part 1

Last weekend, the 27th/28th April, a diverse band of toy soldier enthusiasts were drawn together in the Surrey countryside, it wasn't a wargame convention or a collectors show but more a celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of H G Wells' book Little Wars.

The event had been at least two years in preparation and was the brainchild of Mr Paul Wright, author of "Funny Little Wars" (an updating of Wells' rules to take account of small arms fire, morale etc.) ably supported by members of the Funny Little Wars Yahoo Group for chaps who enjoy playing with larger size toy soldiers.

The event was split into three rounds, each with four games being played simultaneously.  First up was a staging of Wells classic Battle of Hooks Farm, which had to be played indoors due to rain, and here is what the armies looked like:  (click to enlarge)

The Russian contingent (Army Green) commanded by Dr Mike Snape, the infantry are by Armies in Plastic (AiP), the cavalry converted from Britains show jumping riders and Italieri Mamelukes.

Army Red/White/Blue, the American Rough Riders led out by Mr Jack Wright. more AiP infantry with cavalry by Britains Deetail and Paragon Scenics

Dr Anthony Morton offered us his Army Red/Khaki, The British Army in overseas order, most effectively formed up on movement trays from Warbases (note to self: must get some of these) 

By the unanimous vote of all present this Teutonic Army Black won the "Best Painted Army" prize for Mr Stephen Thomas.  More AiP infantry, traditional Britains 4.7s and elephants!   Well who wouldn't vote for them.

The composite Imperial Force comprising RN blue jackets, Canadian Horse and these rather splendid cyclists under command of the Duke of Tradgardland aka Mr Alan Gruber

Here we see Army Red face up against errrrrrr.... Army Red?  At the far end of the table a satisfyingly nostalgic collection of old Britains and other hollowcast figures from Messrs Julian Spilsbury and Andy Hussey advance toward a solid red line of the Little Wars Revisited range of figures produced, and commanded here. by Mr Mike Lewis.

........And finally my own humble contribution to the proceedings, the steadfast Turks of Army Turquoise.  the central column and artillerymen are my conversions from BMC American Civil War figures while the flanking Regiments and cavalry were fashioned from HaT figures by the skillful hand of Canadian veteran gamer Mr Ross Macfarlane



One army is missing from the lineup above; the Forbodians of Mr Tim Gow who was charged with assisting to umpire the first round.

The Cast take a bow

This post is in response to a request for more details of the figures used in the C18th Funny Little Wars 54mm wargaming project.  These days there are some very good sets of 7 Years War figures made by Armies in Plastic and HaT but before that most of the C18th figures you could get were based on the American War of Independence but with an alternate paint job and stretching the bounds of history a little they can fit the bill for earlier periods. 

At the back troopers of Kurassier Regt. no2 are made from the bodies of Britains "Herald" Life/Horse Guards, the heads replaced with metal castings, saddles and horses from Helmet kits  I had intended to paint them as a "white jacket" Regt. so that they could double bubble as Austrians but at the end of the day I just couldn't resist the "yellow jackets". 

The Line infantry, Musketeers of Regts. 3 and 4 on the left and Fusiliers of Regts. 35 and 42 on the right are all from the BMC Yorktown playset.  Their sculpting is generally poor but they have a nice toyish appearance, you get a good variety of animated poses and when painted up en masse they look okay.

The Grenadiers in the middle are made by American firm CTS, the drummers are all by Accurate (who I think have been taken over by someone else now) with mitre hats from the spares you get in the HaT 7YW sets.

At the back the Dragoons are made from Britains "Swappet" AWI bodies with heads, legs and horses from Helmet Kits.

In front from the left are more BMC painted as Russians (another stalled project) but pressed into the Frederickian ranks as Jaegers for this game.  The greyhound comes with the Elastolin figure of Frederick the Great, so had to be included. 

The command group include a character figure from a German TV series? don't know what it was or who made him but he looks the part.  Marshal Murat from del Prado looking suitably exotic travels back in time to become Lord of the Bosniaks.  Lazare Hoche and Louis XVI were premiums from the French coffee firm Mokarex, behind them Marshal Montcalm is made from SEGOM kit parts on a Historex horse and the begging dog is a vintage item by French firm Clairet. 

The Pandurs are loosely based on Trencks' Regt. and will rejoin the Austrian army when I get around to doing it but for now they have joined the ranks as a Bosniak contingent.  They are a mix of figures by Marx and A Call to Arms with either a head change or just a reshaping of their bearskins, by rebasing and giving them a uniform paint style figures from different makers can go together seamlessly.  They are accompanied by their chaplain in the form of Piere l'hermite issued as a premium by the Belgian coffee firm of Storme.  Finally the Grenadiers in light blue began their military career with the French Lazun Legion but have now joined Frederick as allies from a nondescript minor state.

The opposition "Pragmatic" army (not shown in this post) are from the French and Indian wars range by Barzo bolstered by some rather nice metal figures from Tradition.  The Regiment Royale Ecossais are mostly by Marx and the Dragoons and light infantry from A Call to Arms.

A Storm in Flanders (part2)

And so it all begins:

At the sound of the mortar barrage opening the main attack goes in, led by the newly raised Kurassier Regt. no.2 and the dependable old Dragoons, the infantry follow up at the double in column of fours.  The mortar barrage has mixed success, the first salvo falls amid the "Pragmatic" command wiping them out and setting the Town Hall ablaze.  The engineers are called away from their work on the fortifications and rush to put out the flames.  As the flames are brought under control the troops manning the perimeter stand to, unaware that they have lost their beloved Colonel.  A second mortar salvo screams in but does no damage, the fuses have been badly cut.

A regiment of Fusiliers is led to the right to avoid congestion on the narrow avenue through the woods.  The Kurassiers burst from the cover of the trees and are blown away by a volley from the barricades to their front and enfilading fire from the guns in the centre.

In the centre the Jaegers, Grenadiers and Pandours move up to the tree line. 

On the right both sides move tentatively towards each other in the open and a desultory fire breaks out along the lines but at long range it is ineffective.  In the town smoke still billows from the embers of the burnt Town Hall.

The redoubtable Dragoons charge home through the debris of the Kurassiers and bludgeon their way into the streets of the suburbs.  Taking fire from the houses on all sides they pay a heavy price for their action but they have opened the door for the supporting infantry regiments who have now reached the town virtually unscathed.  Two companies are detailed to house clearance while the main body press on into the town.

The "Pragmatic" guns have been turned away from the main assault to meet the more immediate threat to their front, firing canister at short range they gouge great gaps in the Frederickian lines.  The mortars continue to batter the town but as the bombs land the engineers attempt to extinguish the burning fuses by dousing them with buckets of water, desperate dangerous work but it meets with some success. 

The situation hangs in the balance before the town square but just then a mortar salvo lands on one of the "Pragmatic" batteries and the Grenadiers surge forward to burst through the breach.  A melee ensues but the superior training and discipline of the elite Grenadiers tells in their favour.

While the victorious Grenadiers reform, a battalion of the Royal Ecossais rush across from the churchyard, the surviving gunners and engineers pick up arms and all together they throw themselves into a desperate counterattack to expel the invaders. 

But the line holds and with the Frederickians pouring in from every side the artillerymen spike their guns and the surviving "Pragmatics" beat a fighting retreat.  The enraged Frederickians sack the town but with their infantry exhausted and the cavalry broken they are unable to follow up the victory.

In retrospect:

The game lasted a full five hours but it felt like much less, the intention was to test out the storm of fortifications,  the special rules for use of engineers and house to house fighting, the first two were achieved the third less so (but there is always next time). 

Conventional wisdom tells us that a superiority in numbers of 3:1 is required for such an assault to succeed, on this occasion the attackers fielded 110 inf. 22 cav and 2 mortars to the defenders 50 inf. 10 engineers and 2 guns.  The cavalry shouldn't really have featured in this game but as I'd just spent a week painting the 2nd Kurassiers there was no way they were going to miss it.  The defenders probably didn't have enough troops to man such a large perimeter but it's difficult to know what the right proportions for a balanced game should be until you've tried it out a few times.

The rules for engineers worked well, and their contribution was critical at times.  Canister shot was emulated by firing a "Party Popper" at the attackers, those covered in tissue streamers were casualties, it worked with varying degrees of success and made a change from firing matchsticks, the sound of explosions and background martial music add greatly to the ambience of the game.  Caution should be exercised when introducing explosives to the table top, no fingers were lost on the day although blood was spilt!