The Battle of Spatlesse Bridge

The beautiful and wiley opponent General Bojallay, my daughter Georgia. Having arrayed the forces of Weinpfalz.

the tale continues................

Count Olaf placed both hands flat on the large oval table and looked at his generals. "There must never be a bridge between our land and the frightful Fromagere," he said. "The pontoon at Spatlesse must be destroyed before the cheese-eaters have time to fortify the town and encroach into the water meadows." General Bojollay was first to his feet. "Give me the honour my Lord, and in ten days I will have the bridge in a million pieces." "Thankyou Bojallay." Count Olaf bowed to his youngest general. At only 53 General Bojallay had not suffered the ignominy of most of Weinpfalz's military tradition. "Very well, take two regiments of infantry and a battery; and please bring the pontoon back in fewer pieces than a million. It may prove useful." "and perhaps a few horse sire?" "Yes, yes. Bring the pontoon back in a weeks time Bojollay and we'll hold a ball in you honour." "Fail, and he hold your balls in a vice," whispered witty General L'Ambrusco.

Within two days Bojollay led his small force down onto the watermeadows of Spatlesse only to find that he was expected.


Being out of focus may account for the totally ineffective fire of Fromagere arillery. No casualties are inflicted in move one.


Rashly, the Fusilers de Brie march over the cause of the conflict to meet the Weinpfalzers.



Patiently the Weinpfalz dragoons wait for the Fusiliers to form line.... and then charge. Huzzzaahh!

A less than withering fire takes only a couple of dragoons from their saddles and the resulting melee proves indecisive and goes on for a second round. The dragoons cut down a few poor infantrymen but with artillery support for the Fusilers honours are even and both units must withdraw to rally

(at long last I get to play with a set of rules bought in 1977)

On the Fromagere left the Roquefort Regiment are more cautious and form up along the riverbank. The Spatburgunders march up in fine order and receive a volley at short range. A furious firefight ensues.



With an evil laugh of triumph General Bojollay follows up the retreating Fusilers and takes control of the bridge head. A wild volley from the head of column lays down three more Fusiliers and brings their total casualty count over 50%.


With one regiment retreating with fewer than half of it's men remaining and the other also near that mark the forces of Fromagere declare discretion the better part of valour and make their weary way back to the city of Roquefort and quite possibly a year's latrine duty.

As the pontoons were loaded onto their wagons General Bojollay wondered whether a triumphal arch on the small hill in his country estate would be too ostentatious. Perhaps he might even get to dance with Countess at the celebratory ball

Odd time of year

...between Christmas and New Year is always an odd time of year. I usually go into work but the past few months have been so busy I thought "*** it," I'll have the week off.

Naturally I was hoping to paint for the December unit is way behind schedule Of course Christmas has got in the way, visiting, eating, visiting, drinking, visiting, eating etc etc. Also new books in one's stocking. I received "Slaughterhouse Five" which I hadn't read since a student - so that was Christmas evening sorted (with a nice Stilton and glass of port). Even better than I remembered.

Today however I was rebasing Napoleonics and 6mm to boot. I think the fourth rebasing that these guys have been on. Now on regimental bases of two inches square, quite a change from Charge!. A couple of corps in an A4 lever arch box file! Piccies will follow once complete.

Even worse I was perusing Plastic Soldier Review and the Impetus site whilst digesting another ample lunch. Mmmm interesting; now what period/continent have we not tried? And there was a review of Zvezda Samurai. Very pretty too and a 9/10 review from PSR. Perhaps a little look at ebay wouldn't hurt, Aaaaaaarggggghhh caught again. Now I wonder if Amazon has an Osprey on XVI century Japan, 'cos I don't have a clue.

Christmas begins

The family tradition, when I was a child, was that the Christmas tree and decorations would only begin to appear after December 13 - dad's birthday. This year was the old man's eightieth so the great day has taken up even more of our thoughts than usual. And began with a game of golf on a frosty Saturday morning!

Today we made our way to Birmingham to visit the Frankfurt market! Odd but true.

Gluhwein and pretzels in the English Midlands.

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Bunker Hill (again and again)

Unfortunately my camera has gone awol so no piccies of a fun afternoon with Birmingham Wargamers.

General Jimbo set up a very nice interpretation of Bunker Hill terrain so with 15mm armies and a set of Volley and Bayonet we set about changing history.

We began the first game at 14:45. The main force of red coated Brits advanced manfully through the disordering terrain ignoring the inaccurate fire of the light guns in the redoubt. The British grenadiers and light troops moved around the flank of hill.

14:55 hours - two British regiments assault the corner of the redoubt to bring two line units against one militia. With a morale rating of 5 only a throw of 6 could fail; of course Jim throws two 6s. With sterling defensive throws against the now disordered red coats the initial attack is repulsed. On the rebels' left the fire of the Grenadiers and light troops prove ineffectual. The militia however prove to be good marksman and the Grenadiers take casulaties.

15:00 hours - two more British regiments charge forward to assault the redoubt, only a throw of 6 on their morale test could prevent a break in on the redoubt - Jim throws... two sixes. The melee goes with the yankees and two more red coated regiments are routed. Derisive laughter can be heard from behind the breastwork. The grenadiers also charge and push back one of the brave colonial units but do not break them.

15:10 hours - An heroic militia regiment charges into the flank of the Grenadiers and with musketry support destroy the already weakened Brits

15:15 hours - Game Over

At this point we usually set up again and swap sides - however Richard and Jim are determined to reverse the embarrassing performance. Red Coats and Red Faces.

Always funny to see four consecutive morale failures. Quote of the day paraphrased from Dame Edna; "God has given me the gift of laughter ... at other peoples' misfortune."

The next game lasted a little longer as the Brits manoeuvred onto the flanks and blasted the poor colonials with well aimed musketry and long range artillery before charging in. Even the rebels gave a good account themselves before being overrun.

We agreed to swap sides for the third and final game.This led to much manoeuvering and hanging about by the Brits who hoped for better results from a thin skirmish line and a couple of cannon. Eventually a charge from one side of the redoubt managed to rout the weak and weakened militia. Equilibrium was restored.

Today's cheese was a very tasty Caerphilly.

Remembrance Sunday

A drizzly grey morning for the annual procession up the High Street to our local cenotaph. Led by a bagpiper and a couple of drummers the procession was the largest I can remember. While the ranks of veterans from WW2 and Korea progressively thin the general populace feel the need to pay their tribute to the fallen of more recent wars as well as the C20th conflicts.

Artillery

September was not a good painting month so I decided to make more of an effort in October.

When I started this project in June my aim was a, reasonable, unit a month. At the end of October I am back on target having completed the infantry regiment started in September and also a couple of batteries of artillery.

I purchased a couple of Strelets GNW boxes which were a bit of a disappointment. So after a quick visit to Plastic Soldier Review I went out and bought a box of Zvezda GNW artillery. The artillery men were much, much nicer, although I did have to stick some arms on. Even with my lack of dexterity it didn't prove too difficult and I have managed to prise my fingers apart. The first piccie shows Alpha Battery of Fromagere in the purple personally chosen by Duchess Sophia, with largest gun in the Zvezda box, a six pounder. The gun itself is a nice model though a bit fiddly to put together (yes I am major klutz so it's probably not really) and I am a bit concerned as to it's ability to stand up the rigours of wargaming.



The Strelets artillery men were not very good figures but the guns themselves are a doddle to push together and a nicely robust. Not the most accurate replicas of C18 cannon being a bit chunky but I like their generic "cannony" look and are certainly tough enough to stand up to being knocked about to and from wargame tables. The artillerymen of Fromagere man a battery of Strelets cannon above. There are only two cannon per box however.

The Zvezda box may be twice as expensive (in our local model shop anyway) but you do get a lot of nice artillery men, five cannon as well as a limber and horses. If I was hypercritical the cannon aren't the most useful for wargamers feeling a little fragile and also three of the guns are "gallopers", very light cannon pulled by one horse. The other two are a heavier six pounder and a nice howitzer. While neither The Wargame nor Charge discriminate between heavy and light artillery I think I might introduce this to our games, possibly giving a regiment or two a battalion gun.

Left shows a Weinpfalz artillery officer lining up a light galloper gun. Nicely modelled as all Zvezda seem to be.

On a slightly larger front my Great Northern Army has gained an artillery piece. I think cannon and crew are courtesy of Front Rank and very nice they are too, painted by Jim of course.

We're not quite sure what rules to use for these yet, with Impetus Baroque being mooted.

I'm not convinced with that idea yet.

Whilst I am back up to speed with my one unit a month target I am well underway with "November's" unit already.

Half painted Revell SYW dragoons charge across the painting desk in Castle Vallejo. They will be the first mounted unit of Weinplfalz.

Oh - I also purchased a couple of boxes of Hat Prussian Hussars 1806 which look emminently suitable for the wars of the mid C18. Hopefully I can get these painted up sharpish and get these guys in the field.

The New Bridge

Not since the rape of the Palatine by Tilley had there been a bridge over the Weinbach, which suited both the Duke Fromagere and Count Otto of Mittelwein. For this little river was the natural border between bitter enemies WeinPfalz and Fromagere and trade and communication between the two was negligible.

However following the death in battle of Otto in 1709 the pleasant water meadows and the town of Spatlesse were seized by the forces of Fromagere on a misty morning in early autumn. The only casualty being Mayor Traubensaft who was summarily hanged after hitting the colonel of the Camembert Cuirassiers with his ceremonial mace.

In anticipation of having to relinquish his prize fairly quickly Duke Reynard hesitated and then forgot to improve communications with his new enclave over the river. For over twenty five years the only way to transport goods and livestock into and out of Spatlesse was by the little foot ferry.

During the campaign of 1735 however a harassed clerk in the war ministry misread a request from General Mozzarella and sent a company of pontonniers to Spatlesse. Once there they did as pontonniers do and within a couple of days a fine bridge was awaiting an army to cross it. At Spatburg a very irate colonel of chevaux-legers was getting his feet wet.

In Weinstadt, after a good breakfast, the war council convened. Undoubtedly Fromagere was preparing to attack. And the best form of defence is..

tbc