From the German 'Kabinettskriege' - Cabinet Wars: a period of limited conflict from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the French Revolution (1789).
Showing posts with label Old School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old School. Show all posts

A Shiny Scuffle in Valencia

After an epic Chain of Command game (see previous post) we were short on time so hastily set up a quick Napoleonic game using 'Backpacks and Batons', my version of Stryker's 'Muskets & Marshals' rules from his 'Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures' blog.

The scenario involved an isolated French garrison holed up in a church ...


... which the Spanish hoped to overwhelm ...


... before the two relief columns could save it.


In all the French force should be capable of crushing the Spanish, as they include some excellent troops, like the Imperial Guard Fusilier-Chasseurs led by Cambronne himself in the column led by Lasalle.


Bessières' column, while smaller included the super-large regiment of 4th Hussars.


The Spanish forces, as well as the main body advancing on the church, included two small bands of guerrillas, one of each of the two hills overlooking the approach roue of the French relief columns. 


But the Spaniards chief hope lay with their newly reinforced cavalry brigade, consisting of the 2o Rgto. Dragones de Almansa and the newly arrived Coraceros Españoles, resplendent in their red uniforms captured French cuirassier equipment.


Realising the Bessières' troops had almost reached the garrison, the cavalry were sent off to halt Lasalle's column.

And to ease their way, one of the Spanish batteries opened fire to soften up Lasalle's lead unit ...


... the 3e Légère immediately feeling the effect.


Cambronne, with incoming roundshot and a cavalry brigade coming straight at him seemed unconcerned feeling it was not necessary to put the 
3e Légère to deal with this.


He must have felt a bit less sure of himself as, taking only hit from the French volley the Dragones de Almansa, crashed into his men.


And well he should as the melee was a crushing 3-nil Spanish win!


While this was happening the Coraceros had veered off to attack the French 6e Chevau-légers Lanciers, but not quite come to blows yet.

Away from the cavalry action, some orders issued by a commander who seemingly couldn't tell his right from his left, has seen the Guadalajara regiment hopelessly entangled with the Spanish 12pdr battery.  The result of this was the Princesa regiment found themselves advancing alone and without artillery support against the French 44e and 46e Ligne regiments.


The question was whether, with their general down, they could hold until the confusion to their rear was sorted out?

They couldn't!


Also, taking advantage of the confusion in the Spanish line were the 4e Hussards, who charged the Spanish 12 pounders, but paid a heavy price as five of them were swept away in a hail of canister, before they cut down the valiant gunners.


By the time your correspondent switched his attention back to the cavalry fight, he found he had missed the melee, but the Coraceros had been put to flight by the French lancers who were in hot pursuit.


Next turn the pursuit continued ...


... and the Coraceros and their general were 'eliminated'.

The curse of the newly-painted unit had struck again!

Elsewhere, the French hussars had fallen back to rally but it left the Guadalajara regiment facing insurmountable odds.


With time running short, and with the balance clearly in the French favour they were awarded the win.  The French had lost no units (the 3e Légère had rallied), while the Spanish had lost: the Princesa infantry regiment; the Voluntarios de Valencia skirmishers (outshot by French voltigeurs); the Coraceros Españoles; and, the 12pdr battery, not to mention both generals.

The Spanish had paid the penalty for stretching out their force in line as the two outermost infantry units had hardly contributed anything to the fight.  Also, as a postscript the Alamansa dragoons had pursued the 3e Légère who fled behind the Fusilier-Chasseurs to rally.  The dragoons' melee with the Fusilier-Chasseurs was a draw with both falling back in disorder.  

The rules worked reasonably well, but more changes are required including some slimming down.  One bit that did work well were the skirmisher rules which made the Spanish guerrillas a nuisance but not much more.  The main difference to skirmishers as in M&M are limits on independent action and how close they may approach the enemy, as follows:

A/A+ Class & Rifles: effective range in the open; close range if in cover; and, do not require infantry support. 

B Class: effective range in the open; close range if in cover; and, must have infantry support in the open. 

C Class: long range in the open; effective range if in cover; and, and must have infantry support* in the open.

* Irregular skirmishers e.g., guerrillas, are always C Class, they do not require infantry support but must stay out of cavalry charge range unless in or behind cover.

Skirmishers are supported by formed infantry within 6” of their rear.  



Peninsular War - Spanish Mules and Oxen

Just a quick post to show off my Spanish Peninsular draught animals to get 'The Gun' to Ávila while avoiding the French.  It's not their first appearance as they did get a walk on part in my first ever post.

First, an overview of the whole baggage train.


The ox-carts.


The mules.


The postillions on the mules, like this figure ...


... were all fairly straight-forward conversions of the Jacklex Colonial figures inspired by Suhr's contemporary illustrations of Romana's Spanish Division in Hamburg, 1807-08. 


And the reason for it all, The Gun, complete with Cary Grant, Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra.


Yes, the gun is ridiculously over-scale being a Warhammer Great Cannon, but the Hollywood version is even further over the top.

In C S Forester's 'The Gun' it's only an 18-pounder, and in the historical event on which the story is based it's a 12-pounder.  

The Combat of Dva Mosta

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017]

I had been hoping to round off this month's posts with a final Chain of Command (CoC) AAR wrapping up the Caesar's Camp campaign.  Unfortunately, John, my opponent, has had to postpone the final showdown while he fights off a bout of 'the Lurgy'.  

So instead, I've dug out, what I think is the last of the pieces I wrote for the short-lived Wargamer's Notes Quarterly (an e-magazine), and here it is from back in 2017:

The Combat of Dva Mosta

Ignoring parental warnings about the dangers of meeting up with ‘e-friends’ I took the plunge and invited a fellow Spencer Smith Miniatures (SSMs) fancier over for a game with my collection.  Iain and I had met up online and corresponded courtesy of Henry Hyde after I spotted Iain’s figures in an issue of Miniature Wargames and asked Henry (the editor) to pass on my compliments.   

With a game looming, I cast about for a table-top teaser not wanting to present Iain (of Gateway Alliance and General E Pickled fame) with a ‘fair fight’.  Scrabbling through my bookshelves I came across my copy of Bruce Quarrie’s Napoleonic Wargaming.  

Like many rules this contains a short description of a game to illustrate the rules ‘in action’, albeit the game is not played to a conclusion.  I had always thought that the scenario was unbalanced, which was just what I was looking for.  Perhaps I should explain my philosophy: one, war is seldom fair, so why should wargames be any different; and two, imbalanced games can help keep the level of competitiveness in check, not a bad thing with an untried opponent.  Surprisingly, Iain, when offered the choice, opted for the challenge of trying to cross the river crossing; an impulsive act of bravado that was later regretted.

The Scenario: involves a Russian force attempting to cross a river in the face of strong French opposition posted behind the two bridges from which this battle takes its name.  The book does not list the orders of battle so, going from the various photos, like that below, I substituted CHARGE units (infantry battalions, light companies, cavalry squadrons and artillery batteries) for the units in the book. 

Order of Battle (OOB): owing to the, MUCH, larger unit sizes in CHARGE this resulted in fair sized game involving about two thirds of my infantry and artillery and a third of my cavalry.   The OOBs are as follows.

1. 3 sqn.s Rostovski Dragoons (30 fig.s)
2. 1 sqn. Grouzinski Hussars (10 fig.s)
3. Novyy Rossiya Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
4. Shveytsarskiyh Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
5. 1st Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
6. 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
7. Khorvat Pandour coy. (15 fig.s)
8. Zheltyy Freikorps coy. (15 fig.s)
9. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

Mal'chik and the 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt.

A. 1 sqn. Gendarmerie du Roi (16 fig.s)
B. 3 sqn.s Condé Cuirassiers (30 fig.s)
C. 1 sqn. Berry Horse (10 fig.s)
D. Converged Grenadier Bn. (60 fig.s)
E. D’Eu Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
F. Soissonnais Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
G. Los Rios Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)
H. 2 coy.s Arquebusiers de Grassin (30 fig.s)
I. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

The French force has an edge in the quality of their cavalry and a slight numerical advantage from the large Gendarmerie squadron.  As the Russians have to force a river crossing in the face of such odds, I upgraded the morale (but not firepower) of all their infantry to ‘grenadier’ status, i.e. units become ‘defeated’ when reduced below third-strength (as opposed to below half-strength).

Deployment (see map): was based on starting positions from the original game, or at least as far as they could be inferred from the available photographs. 

The units on the map are labelled as per the orders of battle and the location of the opposing generals is shown by a star.  As can be seen from the map (which I think is more squashed toward the right than it was in the game), the French (mostly Austrian figures) under de Grasse heavily favoured their right while General Mal’chik had more evenly spread his Russians between the two bridges.  Here's the reality (back in the day before I got my cabin).

The Game: started with the Russians pouring across the bridges and ford as rapidly as possible while the French advanced to deny them space to deploy. 

While most of the opening moves were aggressive, an element of caution generated some confusion, and curses, amongst one company of Grassins.  Their orders were to advance to the river to bring the enemy artillery under effective fire however, they were also tasked to maintain a safe distance from any enemy cavalry.  Like some bizarre form of the game ‘Twister’, these conflicting requirements saw the Grassins squashed like the jam in a Russian cavalry sandwich.  

Mal’chik’s amused grin was soon wiped from his face as both sides artillery fired their opening rounds.  The Russian fire was largely ineffective but the French dismounted a gun with their first shot.

The inevitable charge declaration by the Grouzinski Hussars against the Grassins saw the Arquebusiers dismayed to find their ‘safe distance’ ineffective against cavalry that can move 30” (having none, the French had overlooked the fact the Russians had Light cavalry)!  

Charge declarations were rounded off with the leading squadron of Condé Cuirassiers charging the Rostovski Dragoons as they emerged from the ford.  Nearby, the Novvy Rossiya infantry having crossed the western bridge reformed for the inevitable confrontation with the white-coated Los Rios infantry awaiting them on the ridge ahead.  With the artillery supporting the Austrian infantry already inflicting losses it was clear the Novvy Rossiya were in for a rough time.

The Condé Cuirassiers attack on the Rostovski Dragoons proved indecisive, a second round of combat being required to determine the victor.  The Languedoc Dragoons did better, thrashing the Rostovski squadron that had crossed the eastern bridge.  To complete a trio of unexpected results, the Arquebusiers de Grassin rolled a splendid set of dice to hold the Grouzinski Hussars to a draw despite odds of two to one!  A further die roll then forced the hussars to rally back and reconsider their options[1].  The end result of all these shenanigans can be seen in the photo below of the table after two moves, with Mal’chik frantically scribbling orders for turn three.

The game continued with the Russian left and French right glowering at each other across the eastern bridge, but neither prepared to risk crossing under fire.  On the Russian right, the advancing Novyy Rossiya took heavy losses from artillery fire while the Shveytsarskiyh Regiment crossed to form up behind them in support. 

Mal’chik, disinclined to force the eastern bridge, decided to double-down on the western crossing and ordered the 2nd Bavarskiy infantry across to reinforce his right flank (they can be seen in the distance below marching from right to left).  

In the centre, the Grassins rallied in place after unfairly escaping the attentions of the Russian hussars and the Languedoc Dragoons rallied back in readiness to charge again.  The Condé Cuirassiers and Rostovski Dragoons both rallied back after another drawn mêlée opening the way for their supporting squadrons to get to grips with each other.  The resulting combat between these squadrons was overshadowed by the bloodbath resulting from the Russian infantry advancing to exchange volleys with the Los Rios regiment on the ridge.  


This resolved the infantry contest on the western ridge as both sides went understrength[2] and were consequently forced to retire for two turns.  This result reflected more credit on Mal’chik than de Grasse as the latter had failed to hold his nerve and withdrawn his artillery from the ridge in response to an imagined threat.   

Mal’chik also managed another bloody draw in the nearby cavalry mêlée thanks to an adroit move allowing the Russian infantry to assist their dragoons with a timely salvo.  The 3rd squadron of the Condé cuirassier promptly charged the infantry responsible and wreaked a terrible revenge courtesy of some exceptional combat dice.


There was now lull in the action as both sides rallied in western half of the field and brought over more troops from the east.  These manoeuvres effectively saw the Russians abandon any attempt to cross the eastern bridge as the last of their infantry marched off to reinforce the western bridgehead, here being held by eth recently arrived 2nd Bavarskiy infantry.  

As the strengthened Russian right flank prepared for another attack Mal’chik realised that the French had responded in kind.  Surveying the field, he realised he was facing odds of two to three in infantry, two to one in artillery, and while nearly at parity in cavalry his surviving dragoons were close to their defeat threshold while the elite French Gendarmerie were as yet untouched.  

Against these odds and with his army dangerously close to its break-point (50% losses) Mal’chik conceded and yielded the field to de Grasse.

The Victorious Comte de Grasse

Digging out this old account has made me realise my SSMs don't get much play these days; I really must squeeze in some more games.


Notes:

[1.]  This was mistake: cavalry only dice to determine if a second of mêlée is allowed when fighting cavalry.

[2.]  The CHARGE rules are exceptionally bloody, and I do now use a modified set which, while still pretty deadly, means units do hang around a bit longer.

Bring on the Empty Horses

Just a quick progress update on my Hinton Hunt French hussars which have suffered from a number of distractions slowing progress.  The latest distraction from the hussars is their mounts.  As I've no doubt said before, I enjoy painting horses a great deal more than their riders, and the net result is that I've finished their mounts while making little to no progress on the hussars themselves.

I'm pleased with how the horses have turned out so thought they deserved a quick post.  So here are the 'empty horses'.


And some close-ups of the different painting schemes / markings - some of these show up some of the casting flaws in some horses that escaped my clean-up and fill process.







That's all for now, but for anyone following the Caesar's Camp, Chain of Command, campaign the next game is now scheduled for the 15th of the month.