Back to Routine

I hope any readers out there all had an excellent summer. I am adjusting to routine life after a long stretch away in BC. I would love to get some gaming in but my time is very limited due to my kid's involvement in Scouts and Football.

I have not been gaming much. I played Imperial Assault by Fantasy Flight games on 2 occasions while in Victoria and found it to be a lot of fun. This may end up under the Christmas tree for Eric this year. Nice models and a fun campaign system. 

I have an 17th century English Civil War game set up on my game table but have not found the motivation to finish it as a solo game. That may be a sign that I need to take it down and try something else.

While I was away I read "Three years in the Sixth Corp" which Ross kindly lent me. It was an entertaining read and good insight into the fanaticism and ferocity of the combatants of the American Civil War. I have one scenario in my collection involving the Sixth Corp and will likely get that on my table soon.

I went to the giant game and hobby store in Vancouver. I found them to be overpriced and resisted getting anything. I left with a new found motivation to build my own terrain, especially buildings. 4Ground buildings ranged in price $40-100! I found a good terrain building book on Amazon and will put my money there instead.

Road Trip

Martin and I traveled to the big city from our wooded hideaway homes to participate in a club game put on by a new club. The club is run by two brothers who are prolific collectors and painters. They always collect opposing forces and always sit opposite each other at the gaming table. We had seven players in total and 2 new players.

The Scenario was home made and a 'what if". Prussia had joined the 1809 campaign and sent 2 Corp to join the Austrians in Italy. The map was taken from the Napoleons Battles Scenario book for Marengo. Instead of fighting along the length of the table we set up along the length and battled for the middle. There were no specific objectives beyond break the enemy and send them running.

The rule set was Napoleon's Battles. As I had arrived late, I was assigned the Allied right flank and given flank and attack orders.

2 pictures of my deployment

I had good troops including a division of Heavy Cavalry and another of Grenadiers. I also had the advantage in Cavalry quantity. On the other hand my Italian opponent had a similar number of troops and had set up a grand battery in front of his position.

I had 2 Corp and assigned the first to pin the Italians frontally and assigned the second to work around the open flank of the enemy position.

Note the open flank in the foreground

Also visible in the photo is the Italian grand battery deployed in front of his position of 2 batteries of 12 pounders and 4 of 6 pounders.

Also visible in the photo are the two large wooded areas in my deployment area.

In the end I was able to advance up to the Italian position without overwhelming losses and start to cause problems. The Italians committed 2 Divisions to protect his flank forming at a right angle to his front line.

Having read many accounts of Napoleon's tactic of forcing his opponent into just such a position and then attacking the hinge of the "L", I decided to give it a try. I had pretty good success but in the end did not have the reinforcement's needed to exploit my success. So on my flank it came to a bit of a draw.

At this point I received a courier advising me to withdraw. The French had crushed the Prussian Centre right and broken through.

Big Table, Many Figures

French force set up in the centre

Napoleon's Battles is and excellent rule set but this battle may have been a little large to manage with the number of players. Also, it took about 7-8 hours to reach a conclusion.

I met a couple of new gentlemen gamers and was able to familiarize them with the rules. Looking forward to the next club date with rumors of a WW2 game.

For God and King

I have come to some conclusions about my next project. After pondering various rules options, I have selected Victory Without Quarter (VWQ) as the rules for which to rebase my ECW collection. The new bases will also work  for the new Impetus based rules for the period, Baroque. The math works out to 10 pike and shotte units, 8 cavalry, 4 guns and 2 dragoon/commanded shot units. That makes 24 elements. This is enough for two sides to have a medium sized battle. I have played the rules a couple of times in the past. They are good fun but require some "house rules" to flesh them out. . I am keen to get rebasing done so play testing can start. ECW lends itself well to campaigns. I have read about other solo players randomizing a strategy for the battle for each side and trying it out. Orders could include all out attack, refuse the flank, envelopment, hold the line etc.

I have inventoried my collection:
152 Shotte
80 Pike and Command
40 Horse
10 Mounted Dragoons
10 Cuirassiers
32 Clubman
20 Gunners
4  Cannon
4  Captains
1 King Charles II

Getting ready to strip the bases

That's 65 Horse 270 Foote and 4 Guns. Wow! That is a lot of nicely painted lead sitting idle. I have a few figs left over but should not need to paint much to get the project going. So far I think all I need is a Horse officer and 2 Foote escorts to fill the role of Parliamentary Major General.

Another shot before rebasing

I sourced some 3mm MDF board in 2x2' sheets. I cut this up using my jigsaw. The bases are only roughly square but fit together into units well enough. Foote go on 60mmx60mm. Cavalry go on 90mmx60mm. I sanded the edges of the bases.

Bases good to go

Step One - Soak all the bases. They army was originally based on picture framing card stock and topped with plastic wood and flock.

Soaking in water

Step Two - Seperate from the bases and organize into units

Step Three - Clean off the glue from the figure bases and and make sure they stand up straight.

Step Four - Slather the base with spackle, mount the figures and then sprinkle with sand

Rebased with grit, wash and highlight

Step Five - Dry 24 hours and paint the base with a brown wash.

Step Six - Dry for 24 hours and dry brush light brown.

Step Seven - Flock and spray with matt lacquer

Finished!

Step Eight Game on!

This was a bigger job than I anticipated. Good thing it was  long weekend. I had a session every morning and night for three days and finished on the 4th night. I still need to flag up the new units and buy another base for the Parliamentarian general.

I have not used this basing method with 28mm before. The spackle has a more difficult time holding the heavier figures. I have had to super glue about 20% of them after they were mounted. I am liking the new look and will get a game on the table ASAP.

Leutzen 1813

Today we had a gathering of wargaming friends and collectively put on a 15mm Napoleonic battle using Commit the Garde rules. Brent hosted the event in his top notch living room. Zak brought some troops and his excellent terrain. We all brought food and snacks for a potluck lunch on a nice summer day. Ross bore gifts in the form of loans from his library. I made off the a beautifully illustrated book on warfare 1618-1648, to further inspire me to expand my ECW collection, I also borrowed 2 books on the American Civil War.


Brent and Ross commanded the Russian/ Prussian Alliance and Zak and Jonathan commanded the French. I did my best to referee and played a few cavalry units for the Allies.This battle was a meeting engagement with the bulk of both armies waiting to come on as reinforcements. The French deployed first but were in possession of all for victory condition hexes. The Allies moved first and were able to bring on reinforcements quickly to force the French to give ground. The French struggled to bring in reinforcements as Ney was in command waiting for Napoleon to show up. Allies had a few troubles with Czar Alexander taking command and stalling the flow of reinforcements. You can see from the pictures that the game kept the players engaged and 5 hours of play flew by. The Allies managed to capture three of the four victory hexes and drove the French across the stream. The French were reinforcing a counterattack on their right when the game ended. Commit the Garde ends on a random army morale roll. Casualties and the loss of three victory locations caused Napoleon to call off the attack and cut his losses. 

My newly painted and refurbished Prussians saw there first battle and acquitted themselves well. My new lancers routed 2 infantry brigades late in the game.

Next game planned is for next weekend to play SS Amerika. This is a hex and counter game for the imaginary invasion of North America by Germany and Japan in WW2.

Ross also volunteered to put on a game with the group using his excellent homebrew rules and figure collection! We talked about the new expansions for Command and Colors: Napoleonics which include rules for epic sized battles. That made it my wish list for a future game

All in all an excellent day spent in fine company.

Four towns in the middle of the map are the victory objectives

Allied Commanders plotting

French Commanders

Potluck Lunch Spread!

Overhead shot from the loft

The game gets intense

End game

Commit the Garde Rules Review

Commit the Garde are rules for grand tactical Napoleonic wargaming written by Gavin Tovrea. I found them on Wargame Vault at www.wargamevault.com. The are only available by pdf as far as I know and sell for the princely sum of $10.  The rules are 26 pages and you get a scenario builder and army lists that run another 20 pages. There are 2 scenarios included for Valmy and Corunna. There is a growing catalog of scenarios being published by Mr. Tovrea, also available on Wargame Vault at about $3 a piece.

Quatre Bras

Rules summary

Scale

The game is scaled for large battles. The scenarios are designed to fit on 6'x4' tables using 4" hexes. Each hex = 500 yards. The units are brigade level with each unit being represented by a number of stands. I use 4 infantry on a 20mmx25mm base and 2 cavalry on a 25mmx25mm base. Units are 3 to 6 bases in size. As the game is played on hexes, it allows any basing system to be used. Generals are Corp or Wing Commanders depending on the size of the scenario. The writer recommends only one general per player in the game. Turn length is random but averages 30 minutes per side. The game is played with 6 sided dice.

The excellent Corunna scenario I have played 4 times

Mechanics

Each unit has a morale rating of 3 to 7. This number is used to test morale and also to determine combat ability in assaults. Units can also have characteristics assigned to them such as Light, Elite or Militia that alter their abilities. The large scale of the game means you must be adjacent to an enemy to fire at them. There are some carefully thought out rules for skirmishing that work very well, even at this scale. 

High Ground scenario

The game is played IGO-UGO with a interrupts for  cavalry interception and forming emergency square. Each unit in the side is activated individually by rolling an activation die. This will yield 1,2 or 3 actions depending on how well you roll. Actions include move, assault, support, fire and rally. These actions can be performed in any order. A unit must complete all it's actions before the next unit is activated. A unit can fire multiple times but fire effectiveness declines due to smoke. This creates lots of choice and flexibility for each unit and makes it a challenge to coordinate an army's action because you will not know how your next unit will perform. Movement and range is determined in hexes so there is no measuring or guessing distances.

Waterloo on 200th Anniversary

These rules treat command in a very unique way. There are two levels of command. The army HQ has no effect on combat or army motivation. It's two purposes are to stay alive and to commit reserve troops to the battle. Many of the scenarios have the majority of troops not placed on the table. The army HQ rolls at the start of the turn to commit reserves based on their command rating. Command ratings are between 2 and 6. If the roll is equal to or less than the Army HQ's command rating a reserve unit placed and the commander can roll again at an accumulative -1. If a roll is missed, a unit still arrives but is disordered and there can be no more rolls until next turn. Reserve rolls are modified by distance from the Army HQ. There is also an option to bring in reserves on a flank. 

Homebrew Scenario

The second level of command are Leaders. These are your front line commanders and they have the ability to motivate troops and to act and fight harder. Leaders have a command rating of 1 to 5. A leader can give an extra action to an adjacent unit for each point of command rating. Thus, a unit benefiting from a leader will get an extra action during their turn. An attached leader can help a unit rally and fight as well. Leaders are vulnerable and these rules have a high level of leader casualties. There are no rules for command radius or unit cohesion so units are free to roam the table as they are able. 

The game ends on a random die roll modified by casualties accumulated, leaders lost and objectives hexes lost.

Summary

I have played these rules on at least 15 occasions. One of the great things about Commit the Garde is it is a game that can be played to a true conclusion in a single gaming session (4 or 5 hours). The mechanics are simple enough that new players can get into the action quickly. The game does not demand a lot of space to play historically large battles. It works very well for multiplayer games. It provides fog of war on several levels. Tactically, units get a variable number of actions every turn so that the players must evolve their plans as the turn goes along. Important decisions are made in which units to activate first. Strategically, the reserve system creates fog of war as the general is not sure where the enemy is for sure. The reserve deployment rules allow for placing reinforcements in unexpected places. The use of hexes makes movement and combat quick and simple. The list of modifiers is not overwhelming and they can be adjusted to players tastes if needed.

On the down side, I feel that something is lost playing on a hex map. I like to strive for the "model railroad" look in my games. Forcing terrain to conform to hexagons detracts from this. For a grand tactical game, there does not seem to be enough representation of command structure. Units can go where they like with no reflection of maintaining a chain of command/ communication. The original game had some things in it that did not feel right for the period but there has been a revision to the rules to address some of these concerns. It should be said that I have never tried a ruleset (and I have played many) that did not have elements that did not feel right, to my vision of a Napoleonic battle. The unique reserve system can be a two edged sword. I played a game of Aspern Essling and lost Archduke Charles early in the game with half the Austrian army still off board. The lesson learned was security for the Army HQ is a priority.

My attempt at the Model Railroad look

I should note that the author is active on the Yahoo group that supports these rules and he or other players have been prompt in answering rules questions when they are posted.

Overall, I think Commit the Garde is a top ranking set of rules. I have been able to play many intense and enjoyable games with them. They are full of clever and elegant game mechanics and most of all, I can play a battle to conclusion in an afternoon.

Austerlitz

Blucher Arrives

I completed my Prussians from Essex. I also found a pack of Prussian Uhlans from Minifig in my lead pile and painted them up just for good measure. I modeled the Uhlans after some of the lancers in the original army. I undercoat in white and did not give the figures a wash so the colors are brighter than the originals.

Blucher Army Command stand

Original models on the left

12 new troopers from Minifig

22 new command stands

One original infantry added to 3 new command figures. Color matching was hit and miss but will look fine from 3 feet away. It was a fun project and a nice departure from my usual mass recruitment painting slog. I made no effort to match flags to historical unit types but rather picked ones I liked or matched the uniforms.

Start

Finish

Assault on Rogan

 I was very happy to knock the dust off my WW2 collection yesterday and play a game with them. As noted in a previous post, the scenario was Assault on Rogan in which the German army was attempting to bypass and encircle a Soviet force. The town of Rogan and it's vital crossroad was needed to carry on with the encirclement. The town was held by 2 rifle companies and 1 smg company supported by mortars and a few precious 45mm anti tank guns. In reserve was a platoon of T34 tanks.

AT gun line on the hill

The Germans were attacking with the elite SS troops. They had 2 recce platoon of PZIIs, 2 platoons of PzIIIs, 1 platoon of PzIVGs and 3 platoons of Panzer Grenadiers in trucks.

The Germans had to capture the objective in Rogan behind the Soviet trench line by turn 6. We used Flames of War rules with 15mm figures by BattleFront and Old Glory. Phil and Martin commanded the Germans while Zak, Brent and myself commanded the Russians.

3rd SS PzGrenadiers arrive by truck and occupy the woods in front of the Soviet trench line

PzIIs run out of luck on the German Right

The Germans advanced fairly aggressively and attempted to turn the flank of the weakly defended Soviet right. Recognizing that the only anti tank assets were a line of AT guns on the hill, much fire was placed on the hill where they sat. By turn 3 the Soviets had lost 4 of their 6 AT guns and the lead platoon holding the trench was badly reduced. Luckily, the Soviet reinforcements of 7 T34s arrived at the first opportunity (nice roll Zak!)

Turn 2 German Advance

Turn 4 the Germans mad the big push to capture the Soviet trench line and assaulted with most of their tanks and the remnants of 3rd infantry platoon. The tanks pushed through along the roads through the trench lines. The Soviets were forced to fall back and try to rally the remaining forces of Red Company but did manage to force on attacking tank platoon to fall back and captured a bailed out tank. 

PzIII Zug

The German's had broken through in strength on the Soviet right, But wait! The last AT gun on the hill passed its morale and opened up on the side armor of the victorious PzIIIs. 3 hits and the two lead tanks went up in smoke, blocking the road for following tanks. The T34s bailed out another PzIII, effectively stalling the breakthrough.

No animals were hurt in the making of this game

At this point we determined that the German's had no chance of getting through the remaining sea of infantry t capture the objective. We played another round to practice the assault rules (3 of the 5 players had never played FoW before).

A solid Soviet victory using the victory conditions provided. If we had a straight up fight, the result would have been closing due to the German's not being obliged to run into the Soviet guns.

The three new players liked the speed with which the game played but felt it is missing opportunity fire rules. There was some discussion about getting Bolt Action rules and playing using 15mm figures and terrain.