Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

A whole week off work to come so hopefully I can get back up to speed with the vallejo.

All work and no play...

Brandwine



Work has interfered with play this month.

Just a couple of piccies from Birmingham Wargames Society games I've missed.





Normans overrun Saxons

Hastenbeck 1757

June 1757 had gone well for the Austrians with their first victory over Frederick at Kolin. It was felt that a bit more effort from their French allies could bring a swift victory.

Surprisingly the French were ready and by July two armies had crossed the Rhine. One moved east to distract Frederick from Bohemia. The other quickly overran Westphalia and moved into Hanover where an alllied army, under the Duke Of Cumberland was still being assembled.

Heavily outumbered Cumberland found his army a half decent defensive position on a string of wooded hills at Hastenbeck with an escape route north back into Hanover through the village of Afferde. Before Afferde is a long stretch of stream and marshland

We used the scenario and army lists from the extremely useful Volley and Bayonet Page (although we had to replace the Hanoverians with British units) so have a look there if you want more detail of the set up.

Historically the battle was a bit of a farce for after an hour of bitter fighting Cumberland felt the battle slipping away from him whilst D'Estrees though the position too difficult to take. Both armies began to withdraw but as it became apparent what was happening it proved easier for the French to return to take the field and claim victory.

The resultant treaty led to the occupation of Hanover. Not surprisingly Cumberland was relieved of command.

Using volley and bayonet we tried to make decent game out of the "carry on" battle of the SYW.

The French centre begin their advance.

























Allied heavy batteries in hastily erected redoubts await the enemy.

Historically Cumberlands southern flank was defended only by a small unit of Jaeger. A mistake repeated on table.

The French right wing advance through and between woods.

A number of attacks were required before the village was taken and the main infantry attack was replused.

In retrospect the battle was probably lost here for a well timed counter attack by Hussars and light dragoons on disordered french infantry could only be defeated by the throw of a six on their morale test. Of course a 6 was duly thrown, the cavalry defeated and the infantry rallied. The allied flank was broken.

The French advance on the centre was slow and methodical bringing up big batteries to within close range and proved more effective than the allied guns.

Taking a battering from cannister the allies charge down the hill!

... to disaster.









The French heavies charge through the resultant hole.

The allied left flank and centre were effectively smashed. On the right the French had struggled through marsh and emerged disordered to meet a devastating charge. The French left was destroyed allowing what was left of the allies to withdraw successfully into Hanover.

Today's cheese was Delice de Bourgogne - very probably the best yet.

More than 300

I don't know much about Ancient warfare but I always enjoy the games.

Using the free set of rules Basic Impetus we hadn't determined a scenario. However Ade had brought more hoplites than you shake a stick at and Richard's Persians would have made Darius jealous.

We sorted out a couple of armies roughly from the lists and split each force into three, as there were six of us. Then haphazardly arranged some terrain on a 12' by 6' table.



As generally happens with such a lack of organisation we had a cracking game




Losing the initial dice roll the greeks set up first. With a long front to defend the greeks spread themselves thinly. One wing separated from the rest by a wood, admittedly filled with light infantry, and the other hiding behind a hill. Only the left hand wing had a unit of horse.

With the advantage of setting up second the Persians placed all their mass of horse on the right. In the centre the Immortals and on the left the sparabaras.

Moving first the Persians set their simple plan in motion. Charge in the horse on the right where they outnumbered the greek cavalry then swing them round the back and into the rear. In the centre and left the plan was to adopt hit and run tactics that slightly quicker bow armed troops can make against ponderous hoplites.

Of course the plan did not begin well with the greek horse holding their own although outnumbered three to one. The Immortals bows however began well while the sparabaras moved forward en masse.

The greek phalanx had little option than to simply advance and the initiative throw system meant that it was inevitable that they would make contact sooner or later. However the immortals proved more than a match and saw them off in style.



A phalanx hits the immortals.

In true Basic Impetus style the game swung to and fro but the advantage stayed with the Persians' archery which were able to inflict damage on the hoplites and thus remove the Impetus advantage before melee.

Brave sparabaras charge into a phalanx worn down by archery.

Once the Persian horse had destoyed the greek cavalry and were given free rein (pun intended) the hoplites proved too rigid a formation to deal with horse, bow and spearman and inevitably they were worn down and with very little Persian loss they reached their Demoralisation Value and had therefore lost.

Our group likes BI a lot and play it in preference to the full set, Impetus, a copy of which I think we all own. Definitely a case of fun over substance.

Cheese: le Pies d'Angloys. A little ripe!

On the bench

Painting in the summer mainly concentrated on expanding my forces to use with BlackPowder; 28mm American War of Independence and 15mm Sudan. Now I'm back on track with the Imagi Nation of Fromagere. The third infantry regiment almost complete with just a bit of furtling and tidying up required.








I have to admit that I do like the light blue.











I painted the unit as quickly as possible without depth or highlights, just a wash of klear with a drop of dark blue on the coat and brown on the faces.


The klear works quite well on the coats but has smudged on the faces which I may get round to amending. From three feet you don't notice.

However yet another diversion has reared it's ugly head - damn those Perry people.

The first dozen of plastic 28mm ACW almost finished. My poor old eyes struggle to get details on the faces. Hopefully they'll be facing the opposition on the table and not running towards me!
















They are very nice figures and being plastic a very reasonable price. I think they were about £13.00 for 36 figures.

BlackPowder IV: Relief of El Tel

The Sudan of the 1880's is an interesting period of history and should provide the basis for a good wargame what with colonial brits in red and grey and marine blue, with camels thrown in for good measure. The odd Egyptian unit, some armoured, and a variety of colourful natives that proved more than capable of holding their own, until the arrival of Mr Maxim's baby. Then there's the Nile with improvised and purpose built gun boats and the option to add a unit or two of French to add flavour.

For those who like to add characters to their scenario then no fiction can equal Gordon, Kitchener and, being the Birmingham Wargames Society, our own Colonel Burnaby.

We've tried Peter Pigs PITS rules and some house grown rules but never had a completely satisfactory game. So as Black Powder has been at the front of our wargame thoughts and the book has some very nice piccies of a Sudan game - "why not?"

The answer should have been "because we don't have enough figures." But a quick note to Mr Pig and couple of weeks frantic painting and another few units were added.













'Eres to you Fuzzy Wuzzy

Historians write of British reluctance to send troops to Egypt in 1882 but they did and when the Mahdi emerged from the southern desert an army was already present. When it became apparent that shipping on the Suez may be threatened intervention became inevitable.

On of the Mahdi's finest generals, Osman Dogma, was proving to be particularly troublesome and in fine British understatement Major General Trepanning ordered that a couple of regiments "should see 'em off."

The Royal Worcester Permains and Braeburn Highlanders played cat and mouse for a couple of weeks under the desert sun. However they weren't aware that they were the mouse. After a sharp encounter with a large force of Hadendowa they were fortunate to fall back into the walled village of El Tel.

Eventually Major General Trepanning noticed they were missing and the RSM suggested that perhaps they ought to go and look for the missing lads. Fortunately the local scouts were top notch and it wasn't long before the relief force could make out in the distance the village of El Tel and Dogma's army.

Ferocious fighter they may have been, but pretty awful with the dice throws. This "brigade" refused to move for three turns.

The Mahdi's forces seemed reluctant to move towards the new threat but the big Krupps guns finally moved into position and began shelling the village with immediate effect. Behind the mudbrick walls the cheering at the sight of the relief column was curtailed as comrades fell and wounded were added to the wagons carrying the sick.

Outnumbered, Trepanning ordered the hussars forward to scout amongst the rock and scrub anticipatin ambush. The foot were formed into two brigade squares, slow but secure and inexorably they advanced.

Dogma's forces on table were split into two principle brigades and while the ansar warily advanced the hadendowah hesitated too long and the Shropshire Blue hussars charged in with great gusto and routed the lead unit. On the right the Wensleydale Hussars took casualties from long range fire which took the sting from their first assault. In the centre the squares rolled on.

Trepanning's plan was proving to be a good one as the hussars kept the natives busy leaving the squares to move forward. The naval gardner gun was initially deadly as it took out the crew of a Krupps gun but with such heat and sand it soon jammed. The remaining Krupps maintained a steady fire and the Royal Worcesters could do little but take what cover there was.

On the left the hussars overran a further unit of fuzzy wuzzies but on the right the going was much tougher. Eventually a square reached the village and under sustained fire the wagons were shepherded into it. However both units in the village were disordered, and therefore couldn't move The square began it's slow march back with the sick and wounded making for even slower going.

Once order was regained the Braeburn Highlanders set forth valiantly from the village. Instantly a unit of hadendowah charged in only to be met with a crashing volley from the irate scotsmen. Surrounded by smoke and fuzzy wuzzies the valiant scots failed to see the camelry until they had charged in to the rear of the line. Unsupported they were massacred to a man.

Charge after charge was made upon the retreating squares but no headway could be made. The remaining Krupps was keeping the Royal Worcester tied in the village and was not moved forward to assaut the square.

And so the sun set red over the village of El Tel. The few remaining Royal Worcesters remained trapped inside the village, the Braeburn Highlanders had been decimated and the Wensleydale Hussars had suffered a great many casulaties. However Dogma had lost half of his army and had found it impossible to break a square. As the full moon rose and the groans of dead and dying haunted the desert both generals pondered what to do when dawn broke.

In square even the Egyptians proved to be invulnerable.

Another go at Black Powder and I'm still not 100% convinced. There's a lot to like but there's also a bit too much faffing about with saving throws and special rules. I suspect a bit of simplifying and streamlining may ensue. Watch this space.

(Jervaulx: all the way from Britanny - splendid)

The Relief of El Tel

Major General Trepanning sat astride his old grey mare and peered in the blistering haze that is Sudan. A God fearing man, Trepanning had never quite believed in Hell, until now. A never ending vista of sun blasted rock and sand. Whatever managed to live out there had devilish thorns or stings, sharp teeth or sharper swords.

Taking binoculars from his aide he peered into the shimmering heat. On the horizon he could make out the walled village. Was that a Union flag hanging limply from the improvised flagpole?

Beyond the village the vague shape of the Beja camp showed little activity. If the devils are there then the lads must still be alive in the village. He straightened his saddle weary spine and turned to his subordinate officers.

"Send forward the hussars in skirmish order, the foot will maintain column of march until we are on the sand, then form brigade squares. We will relieve El Tel today."

Silently he prayed he wouldn't throw a double six.