The Convoy, France, October 1415

On Memorial Day, the Jackson Gamers gathered to help me play test a scenario for a game at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, next month.  I'll be using the Lion Rampant rules to run a medieval Agincourt-era game.

The scenario is called "The Convoy" and revolves around an English foraging party trying to get supplies to Henry's hungry army.  Needless to say, the French don't want that to happen.

The two sides were equal, each with three players controlling a retinue of three units - one mounted serjeants, one foot serjeants, and one missile armed.  The English started in one corner of the battlefield and had to exit with as many supply animals as possible in the opposite corner.  The French started in the other three corners (including the English exit corner).

The English players were Sir Alex, Sir Phillip, and Sir Rick while the French players were Sieur Russ, Sieur Ed, and Sieur Sean.  Lord Sterling got there a little late and acted as a kibitzer and purveyor of guidance and wisdom.

The English army deploys and begins to advance.  Each of the three archer units were guarding supply animals.

Sieur Russ looks to one of his other French commanders for advice.

Sieur Ed is thinking hard about how they could defeat the English.

While the English forces continue their movement, an unusual visitor appears.

Later in the battle, Sire Ed (left) challenges Sire Alex (right).  A battered Sir Phillip looks on (far right).   Blows are exchanged ...

But Sieur Ed falls to Sir Alex's swift sword.



The battle ended not long after the above challenge combat.  The English weren't able to make much head-way, getting bogged down trying to first defeat Sieur Russ' retinue and the fending off the mounted serjeants of Sieur Ed and Sieur Sean.

There are a number of changes I'll be making in the scenario, the largest allowing the English to start deeper into the battlefield.  We'll see how it goes next month at Bayou Wars.

Pentacost and Memorial Day Sunday

Today is the Christian holy day of Pentacost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles.  We celebrated it in our church with "flames" and doves decorating our sanctuary.

The choir was all dressed in red and a large number of our church members wore red in some shape or fashion.

We also recognized our veterans, especially our departed comrades.

And I did my own "celebrating" by watching the Grand Prix of Monaco, the Indianapolis 500,and the Coca-Cola 600!

Yee hah and Amen!

 

 

 



Battle at Plancenoit - Play Test

On Saturday, May 16, the Jackson Gamers gathered so that I could play test my Napoleonic game for our regional convention, Bayou Wars, which takes place June 12-14.  The theme of the convention is Epic Battles - 1215, 1415, 1615, and 1815.

I chose a scenario to replicate, as best as I could, the Prussian IV Korps attack into Napoleon's right flank at Waterloo and the resulting fighting over the town of Plancenoit.  At first I was going to use our standard Napoleonic rules The Sound of the Guns by Larry Brom.  But after some thought I realized that using them would entail too many units for a convention game.  Luckily my good war gaming buddy Lord Sterling had recently bought a copy of Sam Mustafa's new rule set Blucher.  After a couple of games under my belt, I decided that I would use that rule set, where the "brigade" is the basic maneuver unit.

After some research and re-reading of various books, mainly Peter Hofschroer's two volume 1815: The Waterloo Campaign, I arrived at my order of battle.  The Anglo-Allied left flank would be represented by one British, two Hanoverian, and two Nassau infantry brigades and two British cavalry brigades, all controlled by one player.  The attacking Prussians would consist of the entire IV Korps (controlled by two players) and the reinforcing lead elements of the I and II Korps (controlled by one player).  The defending French would have Durutte's division, three cavalry divisions, and Lobau's VI Corps (all controlled by two players), with the Old and Young Guard reinforcements controlled by a third French player.  This gave a strength of 40 Allied units versus 20 French units.

Now to some pictures of the action (photos by John M. and me):

With the French defenders deployed around Plancenoit (left center) and in an arc above Plancenoit and the Anglo-Allied left wing around Haye and Papelotte (top of picture), the Prussians begin their deployment along the right side of the battlefield.  The playing area was an 8' x 5' table set-up.

 

The Prussian 15th Brigade (division) and its accompanying cavalry advance against the French.

 

As French (left) and Prussian (right) cavalry charge and counter-charge in the foreground, John maneuvers his British cavalry so they can get into the action against Durutte's division.

A close-up of the cavalry action in the center.  A French cavalry brigade and a Prussian Landwehr cavalry brigade tangle in the middle while French chasseurs and hussars maneuver to the lower right and more Prussian cavalry advances from the upper left.

An overview of the battle taken from behind the Anglo-Allied positions at Haye and Papelotts.

A close-up of some of the cavalry action.  Each movement base is a brigade equivalent consisting of two stands, each with four infantry or two cavalry figures.  Artillery is either attached to and subsumed in an infantry brigade or gathered into "grand" batteries with two guns and four gunners representing a larger number of guns.

Here is an example of the "brigade" movement stands seen  from the rear.  The identification characteristics include, along the top, the movement rate (in this case 2 or 1 base widths for the infantry), the unit identification, and any special characteristics (such as skirmish for both Nassau  "brigades").  Along the bottom are the "strength points" for the unit and whether or not it has attached artillery (as does the 2nd Nassau).

All measurements are in "base widths" which in this game's case was 3".  The dowel above was cut 12" long and then divided into four 3" segments by the color bands.  This was used to measure movement, infantry fire, and short range artillery fire.  A longer dowel (24") was used to measure long-range artillery fire.

More swirling cavalry action in the center, but now the French massed horse artillery (right center) can get into action against the Prussian cavalry.

 

The Guard marches on behind Plancenoit with one "brigade" of Old Guard, one of Middle Guard, and four of Young Guard.  In the upper right is a portion of one of the Prussian objectives, part of the French trains.  Plancenoit (lower center) was the other Prussian objective.



 



With most of the French cavalry defeated, the left flank of the Prussian IV Korps marches forward towards Plancenoit (off picture to left).



Durutte's French division (with four brigades) attacks the Anglo-Allied line at Haye and Papelotte.



A higher angle shot of Durutte's assault.

 

Two of the combats were successful, forcing the opposing Hanoverian militia  brigades to fall back.  But the other two weren't successful and those French brigades had to fall back, opening Durutte's now scattered division to the two British cavalry brigades (on far right of Anglo-Allied line).

 

Although the French guard reinforcements were marching onto the battlefield the rest of the French army was pretty much shot.  All of the cavalry and two of Durutte's brigades were destroyed.  Lobau's VI Corps (five brigades) was still pretty much intact but it would soon be assaulted by nine Prussian infantry brigade-equivalents supported by five to six battery groups.  Night was fast falling and the main French army was streaming away to the south, shouting "Sauve qui peut!!" at the top of their lungs.  Thus the play test ended without any struggle over Plancenoit.

 

After some discussion, I resolved to have the Prussian IV Korps set up further in and bring the forward elements of the II Korps on at the beginning instead of waiting.  I also will impress on the Prussian players that they must press their attack as swiftly as they can since the main Anglo-Allied army's position is in grave peril unless they can drive into the rear of the French army quickly.

 

And some observations on Blucher.  It is a fairly easy rule set to learn to use, once the players get the movement sequence in their heads.  But the finesse of figuring out when to move units and in what sequence will take more than just a game or two.  The uncertain movement orders available to each side gives it a definite "fog of war" feel.  Ranged artillery and infantry fire seemed to produce too few casualties but that may be a left over from our other Napoleonic rule set mentioned above.  We will definitely play this rule set again, many times  I feel.

French Chevau-Legers Lanciers

As the final preparation for my play test of a Napoleonic game at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, next month, I completed two regiments of French cavalry.  Both of these regiments are chevau-legers lanciers, six of which were raised from dragoon regiments by the decree of July 15, 1811. 

5th Regiment of Chevau-Legers Lanciers, which was converted from the 10th Dragoon Regiment

6th Regiment of Chevau-Legers Lanciers, which was converted from the 29th Dragoon Regiment

 

Both of these regiments are primarily vintage Scruby Miniatures and its follow-on manufacturer, Historifigs.  There may be a few Warrior Miniatures in the 6th Regiment.

 

They are each brigaded with a hussar regiment in two light cavalry brigades that are part of my French reserve cavalry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



More on Trophy WW1 German Artillery

Lats Friday, our National Guard returned the third and final trophy WW1 German gun after refurbishment.  See http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2010/05/figurehead-and-some-guns.html for the first two that were returned.  I thought that it was being kept for the Mississippi Military Museum at Camp Shelby, but evidently they decided it wasn't needed there.

In my original post (above) I identified the guns as two 150mm and one possible 105mm.  But actually they are two 105mm and one 77mm.

The refurbishment of the three guns consisted of complete reconstruction of the wooden wheels, repair or reconstruction of various components, cleaning and repair of rusted portions, and a complete repaint.  I was involved a little bit in the discussions on what to paint them.

First here are a couple of pictures sent to me by the National Guard maintenance officer who oversaw the refurbishment.  Please click on all pictures to see an enlarged version.

Reconstructed wheels for one of the 105mm guns.  They are made from hard yellow pine and were painted and lacquered for protection against the sun and weather.

The 77mm gun in its coat of red lead base paint.

 

One of the 105mm guns being stripped down prior to a light sandblasting to remove surface rust and corrosion.

The 77mm gun was brought up to Jackson from Camp Shelby on a trailer and was off-loaded by a M984 HEMTT wrecker.  Then the guardsmen muscled into position on the concrete pad.  The first two pictures are by one of my co-workers, a newly retired National Guard special forces sergeant.  The rest are by me.

View from one of our building's windows as the gun is being off-loaded.  [Photo by Joe W.]

A closer look as it is being muscled into position.  [photo by Joe W.]

View of gun from a window in my office area.

Close-up of front right of gun.  From this close, the new rusty areas are very apparent.  The gun must have sat outside since it was refurbished.  Sure doesn't speak well of how it will fare here.

View from left rear quadrant.

 The next three pictures show the detailed engraving on the barrel of the gun.  Unfortunately it was very bright the day (Saturday) I took these pictures so the engraving is not as distinct as it should be.  See http://www.lovettartillery.com/7.7cm_leichte_Feld_Kanone_%28l.F.K.%29_1896_n_A.html for a more detailed description of the gun including a partial translation of the engraving, although that gun's barrel isn't as ornate as ours.

 And finally, a picture of the breech block, clearly showing the serial number (4859), manufacturer (Fr. Kp. - Friedrich Krupp), and the date (1907).

Well, that's all for now.  I'll post more on these three guns if and when I develop more data.

French versus Austrians Using Blucher Rules

On Monday, April 27, a state holiday here in Mississippi, a number of us gathered at Jay, Lord Sterling's to play a 25mm Napoleonic game using his venerable 25mm Napoleonic host.  We used Sam Mustafa's new grand tactical rules rules, Blucher and his introductory scenario, "Along the Danube."

Here are a few pictures of the cavalry action in the center of the battlefield.  I was the senior French commander and reserved two French cavalry divisions for my command.  Three other players divided four French infantry corps among them.  Our task was to beat the Austrians and capture two objectives on the battlefield.

Jay's Napoleonic forces are based for Napoleon's Battles which the group used many, many moons ago.  Now we use them with Larry Brom's The Sound of the Guns and with Command and Colors Napoleonic. 

In Blucher, each "unit" (3 stands of troops/guns on a movement base) is roughly equivalent to a brigade of infantry or cavalry or a "grand" battery of 12-18 guns.  The movement bases are 4-1/2" wide and deep enough to allow for the troop stands and the Blulcher troop characteristic card.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

Colorful Austrian uhlans, backed up by cuirassiers and dragoons face off against French lancers, dragoons, and cuirassiers.

One Austrian uhlan brigade is defeated by a French cuirassier brigade and sent scurrying behind its supports (upper left).  In the lower left, the French carabinier brigade advances.  You can just feel the ground shake as they trot forward.

During a succeeding turn, the carabiniers along with other French cavalry attack the Austrians (Hungarian infantry and Austrian cuirassiers), only to be outflanked by some Hungarian infantry backed up by jagers.  Is this the gruesome end of the brave carabiniers?

Nope, their left files just turn and smack the Hungarians, whose commander is measuring their retreat.  The Austrian infantry who were the original target of the carabiniers was also defeated and forced to flee.

The French ended up winning the battle although it was a see-saw affair.  We've enjoyed two games using the Blucher rules and I can see us using them in future games.  What we really liked was Sam's method of command and control.  At the end of each movement/combat phase, the active player rolls three "command" dice under a cup, not allowing his opponent to see them.  That player, now the inactive one, keeps track of the now-active player's command point usage during the next movement/combat phase.  The active player doesn't know how many command points he has to use so must "choose carefully" how he activates his command.  Sometimes you can do want you want and sometimes you can't. Let's the "fog of war" into the game.  We may use this system with other rule sets.