Preparing for Fontenoy using Might & Reason

Gaming has taken a back seat over the last few months and my postings have suffered as well.  Hope to get more active as the New Year rolls out.

First off we begin planning for a re-fight of the Battle of Fontenoy from the 1745 campaign by Maurice de Saxe.  Instructive as a battle since de Saxe 'forced' the allies to attack him in what he felt was a strong position in order to relieve the siege of Tournai being conducted by Lowendahl.  Even though the strength of both sides were similar on this battlefield, the French had the larger army in the theater and acting on the strategic offense they called the tune.

There is plenty of readily available source material and orders of battle for this conflict and the very detailed map by Obscure Battles blog shows the positioning down to battalion and squadron level:
https://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/2017/09/fontenoy-1745.html

The only feature of the battlefield not highlighted completely by this view is the low plateau that the French established themselves upon which the map below shows much better.

Also it should be noted that the ends of the Bois de Barry between the two Redoubts d'Eu had been cut down as abatis to clear the fields of fire from both redoubts onto the plain of Vezon.

Our approach to the Might & Reason rules makes one significant change to the written rules.  Each 'unit' in our armies is a 'battalion' on a single base 60mm x 30mm for all foot cavalry and artillery stands.  Thus an infantry unit is a battalion (600-800 men) while a cavalry stand is about two squadrons (300-400 troopers) and a battery is about 8-12 medium or heavy guns.  We do not model smaller battalion or light/very light canon models but MAY add an additional firing die for infantry so equipped.

With this basis we can play many battles such as Fontenoy on a battalion/squadron basis on a single table.  Here is an example from a test game we played last year:

Four players with about 60 battalions and 100 squadrons per side and it took us 3 hours to come to a conclusion (French making a fighting withdrawal with about equal losses to both sides).

M&R gives some advantages to Anglo/Hanoverian armies of the period in both firing and combat but not overwhelming (an added die or two in shooting and a reduction to the 'flanking' penalty) while the French get a slight advantage in strength point recovery (can recover up to their original SP total while others can recover only to original minus 1 SP).

The chief issue for the Allied players at Fontenoy is how can they beat an equal sized army in a prepared position when there is no option (or time) for a flanking operation? 

Next posting we will look at the leader ratings and OBs for this battle.

Tercios again TYW German Catholics versus Later Spanish

We have continued to play with these rules as the hidden orders and reactions to same offer a lot of unusual situations and the numerous dice rolls for shooting and fighting lead to surprising upsets at unexpected times.  We do not play with any of the leader traits and or conditions as that seems too cumbersome and everyone seems to pick the very same traits for their leaders, so why offer options that no one will ever likely want to select?

The terrain was a area of rolling hills and a small farming town with the local lord's chateau on the hills above.

The Spanish on the left with three late tercios in their center and cavalry on both wings facing four Catholic League classic squadrons  in two pairs.  All troops were Veterans so little to give away between them.

The Catholics brought their own right wing cavalry forward to stall the advance of the Spanish and in this were successful as one tercio was 'detailed' to help their cuirassiers 'see them off'.  This action occurs at the top of the next picture.

Meanwhile the Spanish mounted arqubusiers and a shot unit tried a similar maneuver on the Spanish right flank as seen at the bottom of the above picture.

Neither side was successful in this endeavor and the fight came down to an exchange of fire and push of pike in the center.  The Catholics had the advantage of two large heavy batteries supporting their foot and combined with their fire and some good rolling of firing dice all tree tercios were eventually driven off the field which basically ended the battle.

Next time the Spanish will reconstitute their forces and take a defensive position of some strength and a reinforced Catholic army will see if they can drive them from the area before winter sets in....

Another game of Tercios - Full of Inopportune Moments

We got together to try another game of Tercios, featuring two TYW armies in a small attacker/defender action.  The Mercenary mostly Scots against some TYW Imperials.

The opening setup shows the Scots preparing to move down from the heights to engage the Imperials.

An initial bad positioning of one of the two P&S units for the Imperials was rectified by their moving back into the walled fields near the center of the picture.  Fortunately on the second turn the Imperials won the initiative and were able to complete this movement without alarm...

The Scots placed all their cavalry on their left wing (foreground in the pictures) and hoped to drive the fewer units of Imperials foo and away from their two infantry units.

Here they come down the hill in turn 2.

The Imperial artillery was in fine form, shooting up the Scot infantry unit at the top of the picture and it was driven off the table eventually by combined fire of the infantry and artillery of the Imperial left flank.

The crux of the fight was the several advances by the Scot mounted arquibusiers against their Imperial counterparts.  The fight went back and forth, casualties went against the Scots on more than one occasion by a tie or a single loss so they had to bounce back, take some fire from the Imperial foot and Dragoons and then try to advance again.

Eventually the Scots had to pull back 2 or 3 of their mounted units to reform them (take off wear points) and with their attack stalled and their infantry facing one on one odds, the commander wisely pulled back to maneuver the Imperials out of their position by a clever flank movement overnight.....

We do enjoy the use of the unit order cards provided in the rules as you have to give some thought to when to activate each unit for best effect.  Even so sometimes the dice fall against you at inopportune moments and although you caused 6 hits the opponent promptly rolls off 5 of them making you the loser in a 1 to 2 loss situation.  C'est la vie...

My 28mm Napoleonic Bavarians for 1809 organized for Column Line and Square

My first experiences in wargaming and with napoleonics came with a local club that was using 20mm figures (mostly Airfix plastics at the start) and playing Column, Line and Square (CLS).  This was back in the 1970's when there were few options for figures.  We played several major battle refights from the period and even completed a few of them despite the many arguments/interpretations and puzzled considerations that ensued.

I sold off my 20mm figures back in the 80's but had a yen to have a really nice contingent for future play.  Since most clubs and players eventually moved to 25/28mm figures with the offerings that were being made available I decided to go full bore and had these lovely Front Rank miniatures painted by the kindly people at Siam Painting Service to represent Wrede's Division during the 1809 campaign.  It was my first foray into off-shore painting and represented quite an expense at the time but was and remain very happy with their results and have enjoyed displaying and occasionally  playing with the figures in the rare CLS games that a buddy hosts now and again.

The Division consists of 10 battalions of foot (8 line and 2 jaeger) with supporting artillery and a light cavalry brigade of 2 regiments (one of Light Dragoons and one of Chevauleger). 

I think that en masse they look impressive...

The brigades have the jaegers to skirmish out front and each battalion also has eight 'schutzen' figures to screen the battalion (at least this is the organization blessed by Fred Vietmeyer in his collection of OB's annexed to CLS).

The schutzen (which Front Rank offer) are the four 2 man stands across the front of each battalion.  I confess they by rights should be on bases that are 1/2 as long on the frontage but it made sense to me to extend the frontage so each company covered the full line infantry base stand.  My fellow CLS players have allowed me this but I do try to make sure they don't give me an unintended advantage when paying the game since lights screen troops behind them.

The jaegers are on eight 4 man stands as prescribed by the rules so no problem there and they would screen the whole brigade front when deployed in two lines with supports.

The organization of the Bavarian Army for 1809 still followed earlier practice so a battalion had one grenadier and three fusilier companies all of equal strength.  Two battalions made a regiment. 

The Bavarians did not convert to the French battalion model till late 1811 so no 6 company stands for me.

I had the flags created by the Siam Painting Service folks based on prints by 'Rigo' from his 'Le Plumet' series as shown below:

Very nicely done and in accordance with everything I have seen on Bavarian flags for the period.  The Madonna icon flag was discontinued in use by the Bavarians around 1806 as they started incorporating areas that were not all Roman Catholic by choice into their 'kingdom'.

The artillery were all done by me using Foundry 25mm figures and lack some of the complex finishing of the line troops but with a dark blue coat and black/red facings I can get away with it!

The limbers are Hinchliffe 4 and 6 horse limbers again finished by me with the riders in the light grey coat of Bavarian artillery train attendants.  The pontoon train is a Perry set that I simply painted as Bavarian with appropriate colors for the fatigue caps.

The initial cavalry brigade, again by the Siam folks included one light dragoon and one chevauleger regiment of 27 figures each (or in CLS terms, 4 squadrons of 6 plus a 3 man command stand). 

Enough light cavalry at 2 points apiece for CLS and Bavarian had no real heavy cavalry during the period for 1809 so I am happy with these.

Playing CLS one realizes that in large battles one has to have lancers so I belatedly added a regiment of them using Front Rank figures but with my own painting plus a 'half regiment' of Hussars since the sky blue coats were impossible to pass on.  These represent a later period (1812/1813) so I try not to use them unless the scenario falls in that period but that's another uniquely CLSism with the group that I play with.

Looking forward to the next encounter in CLS land for these guys.

Tercios Wednesday game

My friend and I again worked our way through a smallish (1000 points per side) game of Tercios featuring my Catholic League army versus his Scottish/ECW host.  The primary difference being my troops were in Classic Squadrons - so shooting with mixed arquebus and muskets while his troops were a bit later and as Reformed Battalions and were mostly musket armed.

The terrain had been set up so the choice was to the guest as to which side to enter from.

This is the view from the Scot side, the Catholics to set up opposite.  Pretty much equally bad terrain for both but gentle hills and some fields with hedging and a few spots of woods.

The Scots were deployed with the infantry on their right, all the cavalry on their left which is a mirror image of the Catholic deployment!

 Both sides moved quickly (choosing the 'Run' card for all units) to gain the center of the table.  Once there the Scots seemed unsure how to proceed so went for an immediate assault with all their cavalry while their infantry was still coming up.

 Unfortunately the Catholics stood on the slight slopes with 'Fire' and 'Ready' orders and were able to inflict just enough casualties by both fire and then melee that the Scots were forced to 'disengage' back three inches.  They then took even more fire from the Catholic units supporting their horse.

By the time their infantry moved into support range it was all over for the Scots and they were going to need to make a slow withdrawal with their reformed battalions to their camp.

Well it was a good trial for the rules and the troops weren't happy about being placed back in their boxes I can tell you.

We do find these rules better for smaller sized engagements and reckon that the 'overhead' of placing and then playing the order cards in sequence is offset by the surprising things that seem to fall out of the actions.  No truly dominant troop types and good plans, preparation and fire support go a long way to helping your cause for sure.

Next time the Catholics might actually have to advance to the attack and then they will see how it truly feels.

The Nine Years War Campaign Part V – 1694, a year for Bourbon recovery

Our Nine Years War campaign continues into 1694 with the inclusion of new event cards as prescribed by the rules of the game that feature events more relevant to the later stages of the war.

The map is displayed below with the setup as existed when we completed our last session and the French had been repulsed decisively from both Madrid and Amsterdam.

While the Alliance regained some territory in the Low Countries they had not yet recovered from the peril of the past few months.

Both sides showed numerous 'destroyed' counters in their respective force pools for rebuilding.

The Alliance was able to seize the initiative for the first round and moved their main army up to Antwerp to recover it for the Alliance.  The Bourbons, lacking a field army to contest the place withdrew into the fortress.

The Bourbons then with three actions reinforced Tournai, built a new force in Lyon and conducted a hasty withdrawal from in front of Madrid (more akin to a rout, but praised as a 'controlled maneuver to our supply lines').

The Alliance then took two actions, one to siege Antwerp which was partly successful, and to advance the Spanish army to Saragossa as they followed up the retreating Bourbons.

The Bourbons then took two actions, moving an Army to Metz to contain the lower Rhine theater and to reinforce the troops in Spain.

The Alliance played three actions, a continuation of the siege of Antwerp that was not successful at all, the Spanish moved to besiege Barcelona, and a move of a small force to Briancon to keep the Bourbons guessing on the lower Rhine.

The Bourbons countered by pulling their army completely out of Spain and moving to Briancon to repulse the Alliance forces there.  The Alliance decided to retire to Montpellier.

The Alliance with two actions were finally able to bring the siege of Antwerp to a conclusion and also were able to assault Barcelona since the Bourbons had departed and left little in the way of a garrison.

The Bourbons with two actions next conducted a siege of Metz without effect and attacked the Savoyards at Montpellier, driving them back into Savoy.

The Alliance with its last action of the year reinforced their forces in Central Germany.

The Bourbons with three actions to end the year renewed the siege of Metz and were successful in taking it.  They then reinforced their forces in Briancon and recovered forces in Flanders.

One battle was fought, the Alliance forces in vain trying to defeat a slightly smaller Bourbon force (11 brigades to 10 brigades on the table) but their drive ran out of momentum when both their cavalry wings were defeated and things in the center looked 'dicey'.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures to chronicle the battle so we will have to wait for Le Hertier to finish his large paintings for Louis XIV to see the action as it occurred.

In this year the Alliance claimed a lack of action points and were unable to fully exploit the weakness of the Bourbon position, especially in Holland.  The Bourbons were decisive in evacuation Spain and also aggressive in Savoy where things are not looking too good for the Savoyards since no reinforcements have arrived from the Empire as was promised....

The Bourbons wisely created new corps with their resource points, thus keeping an approximate balance to the number of corps in play, even if they did suffer from having more that were reduced ('flipped') when time came to count actual bodies in the field.

We continue to enjoy the balance and the finesse that this game offers and will play our next session in April.

Might & Reason testing the game flow Part 2

Our second Impulse for Turn 1 occurred as follows;

Du Muy rolls a two dice with an additional +1 (did not have initiative last pulse) and gets a 2, 2 +1 = 5.  Since he rolled doubles he also gets the number on the Average Die of additional command dice this turn (3).

Erbprinz rolls 2,1 = 3

French win and take the initiative.

Musketry segment - No action as all units are out of range still

Artillery simultaneous segment - no hits recorded (pretty poor shooting all around, but you do need a 6 at long range which this is, even with 2 dice per battery instead of 1).

Pulse 2 - Du Muy gives 2 CD to Fischer to make sure he reacts to the flanking movement on a timely basis and gives no CD to any other commander (concerned about needing CDs to react to combat results perhaps?)

Fischer rolls 6, 3, 3, 2 and takes the 6 and 3 for 9 = Active so moves his regular infantry forces to the left flank in March Formation whilst the irregular troops move (and must always move) in Fighting Formation

Segur rolls 4, 4 = 8 so is active and stays put

Lutzelberg rolls 6, 1 = 7 so is active but stays put

Meaupeou rolls 5, 3 = 8 so is active buts stays put

Pulse 2 Erbprinz gives 1 command die to Zastrow to make sure he moves out of the village and engages Meaupeou before then end of the day.

Zastrow rolls 5, 5, 5 takes 10 and is active so advances out in front of the village.

Granby rolls 6, 4 = 10 so Active and advances to keep near to both the infantry wings.

Brunswick rolls 3, 2 = 5 so Inactive (perhaps the Erbprinz should have given him a CD to give the 'flanking movement' some teeth?)

3rd Pulse turn 1 rolls

Du Muy rolls 2, 1 = 3 CD but also rolls the average die for a 3.  Since the Avg Die result is equal to or less than last pulse the turn ends automatically. 

Both commanders are left with extra Command Dice which they must lose once the turn ends.  So part of the command mechanics are set to cause players to think about possible 3 or 4 pulse turns when they actually probably only occur infrequently?

Here is the table at the end of the first turn, 2nd pulse activity:

Turn II

Roll for Command Dice for the turn

Du Muy rolls a 5 (so has rolled a 6 and then a 5 for 11 CD's - far in excess of what could reasonably be expected for a Poor commander per the rules).

Erbprinz rolls 3, 1 = 4 for command dice.

1st Pulse rolls for initiative:

Du Muy rolls 6, 2 = 8 plus an Avg Die of 3

Erbprinz rolls 5, 2, = 7.  Erbprinz then sacrifices 1 CD to re-roll the 2 and try to win the initative, unfortunately he rolls a 1 so ends with 6.

French take the initiative for Pulse 1

Musketry segment - no one is yet in range so no firing

Artillery segment No hits yet made by either side!!!

French action pulse 1:

Du Muy rolls for Fischer with 2 CD added and gets 6, 6, 3, 1 and selects the 6 and 3 for 9 = Active and Fischer continues his movement to the flank.

Segur rolls 5, 2 = 7 so is active buts stays put

Lutzelberg rolls 6, 5 = 11 and must Attack so is forced to charge down off the heights and engage some of Granby's horse and some of Zastrow's grenadiers.  He wins none of these combats and as the attacker must fall back 3 Base Widths after taking 2 hits on each unit that was in the various combats.  The allies take 1 hit per combat as they won but did not defeat the French by double.

Meaupeou rolls 4,3 = 7 active buts stands pat.

Allied action pulse 1:

Granby gets 2 CD and rolls 6, 6, 6, 2 and takes the 6 and 2 = 8 and is active.  He adjusts his lines by way of a slight forward advance.  (Seems he does not relish the idea of attacking uphill into the untouched French regulars and heavy cavalry there just yet.)

Zastrow rolls 6, 2 = 8 and is active so advances 2BW towards Meaupeou's line but remains just out of range.

2nd pulse turn 2:

Du Muy rolls 2, 2 = 4 CD but also rolls the average die for a 2.  Since the Avg Die result is equal to or less than last pulse the turn ends automatically.   (Again some CDs are lost as the turn is over after only a single pulse occurs).

Turn 3 Command Phase

Du Muy rolls a 6 (really that's a 6, 5, and 6 for 17 CDs already, either this guy is misrepresented as Poor or is incredibly lucky so far in this game)

Erbprinz rolls a 1, 3 = 4

1st Impulse Initiative rolls:

Du Muy rolls 1, 2 = 3 with a Avg Die of 4 (so again likely a one impulse turn ahead for us)

Erbprinz rolls 4, 4 +2 (not having the initiative for 2 turns now) = 10.  He also gets 4 extra CDs from rolling doubles.

Erbprinz naturally takes the initiative for the turn.

Musketry Segment - allies with initiative fire first and cause casualties:

Brunswick scores 2 hits on Segur's line troops and they return fire causing 1 hit.

Zastrow scores five hits on Lutzelberg's cavalry which is still trying to recover from last turn's unexpected charge.  This almost destroys the 2 Dragoon units in Lutzelberg's force as they only start with a strength point value of 4 instead of the 6 for regular horse.  (Maybe they should have remained a supporting line instead of trying to match frontages with Granby's forces?)

Artillery segment - no hits scored again.  (seriously need more training)...

1st Pulse turn 3 - Allies with initiative move first

Brunswick gets 2 CD and rolls 2, 2, 3, 4 = 7 and is active by taking the 4 and 3 together (had he not been given both extra CDs he would have been inactive.  His dragoons charge the french irregular troops and one unit evades but one is caught and must fight on the Heimberg. 

Brunswick has one stand of Dragoons with SP 6 plus 2 dice (one for combat and one for regulars fighting irregulars) and rolls 6, 6, 4 = 14

Fischer fights one stand of lights with SP 4 plus 1 die for combat and rolls 6 = 10 loses but not doubled so takes 2 hits while the Dragoons take 1 hit and fall back 3BW

Granby gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 4, 2, 1 = 8 taking the 6 and 2 and is active so attacks at his leisure some of Lutzelberg's cavalry to his front.  (Had he taken the 6, 4 and made 10 he would have had to attack with all his troops). 

Granby fights the two French cavalry stands and loses both combats so both his stands take 2 hots and fall back 3 BW while Lutzelberg's horse take 1 hit each.

Zastrow is not given any CDs so rolls 3, 1 and is inactive this turn.


French impulse 1 actions:

Fischer gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 6, 6, 6 and must take 12 = attack so he must deploy his regulars out of March Formation and try to engage along Brunswick's front but is just out of range to do so.

Segur gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 4, 3, 1 and takes 6, 3 = 9 and is active.  He repositions his line a bit to avoid being outflanked by Brunswick and to engage more of Granby's cavalry in the coming pulse.

Lutlelberg gets 2 CDs and rolls 6, 5, 2, 2 and chooses to take the 6, 5 for 11 = attack.  He destroys a cavalry stand of Granby that was damaged before but is repulsed from Zastrow's grenadiers easily.  (Given the start SPs for both troops types the 6 for the French horse plus a 6 on the combat roll amounts to only 12 - and is the best they could do while the Grenadiers start at 7 so can't be doubled)

Meoupeou also gets 2 CDs and rolls 1, 3, 3, 4 and takes the 3 and 4 to = 7 for Active but can't reach Zastrow's troops to attack them without leaving the hill so he adjusts his line and waits developments...

Here is a final view of the table prior to the end of the test match:

French Left flank

French Right flank

Comments to follow upon suitable reflections about these rules.....

Might & Reason testing the game flow

Our group has been playing a Horse and Musket homegrown set of rules for several years based loosely around the DBX system and the more we changed it, added to it, tried to make it better the more we came to realize that it had some flaws in basic design. 

After looking around a bit we decided to try out Might & Reason, an older Sam Mustafa game that looked like it might adapt to a 'battalion on a base' playing and allow us to use realistic OBs in largish sized games (40-50 battalions and squadrons per side) with 2 to 3 players per side.

This post records a solo effort at working through the game mechanics using the Warburg scenario included in the rules as a test case.  After reading the rules the actual combat mechanism seemed clear (you shoot and need high dice to cause hits and then you fight and need to double the opponents score to win, otherwise someone bounces back). 

Our only changes were to adopt the policy that one stand was a basic unit, not two, and that brigades would contain several basic units.  By effectively doubling the infantry firing power over one base frontage we added that artillery would fire with 2 dice instead of one, thereby evening up the rate between infantry and guns.  Since we also doubled the cavalry strength by going to single stands as well we thought we should be okay in that regard as well. 

Here are the forces from the scenario - the SP is the strength factor assigned per stand:

French Army:
Du Muy (Poor)

Left Wing: Ségur (-2)
2x Swiss Inf (6SP)
1x French Inf (6SP)
1x French Inf (5SP)

Center: Luetzelbourg (-1)
2x Cuirassiers (6SP)
1x Dragoon (4SP)

Right Wing: Meaupeou (-1)
1x French Inf (6SP)
2x French Inf (5SP)

Reserve: Fischer (+1)
1x Irregular Inf (3SP)
2x French Inf (5SP)



Anglo-Allied Army
Erbprinz von Hessen-Kassel (Average)

Right Wing: Brunswick * (+1)
2x Grenadiers (8SP)
1x Hanoverian Inf (7SP)
1x Hessian Dragoons (5SP)

Left Wing: Zastrow (0)
1x Brunswick Inf (7SP)
1x Hessian Guards (7SP)
1x Hessian Inf (6SP)
1x Hanoverian Dragoons (6SP)

Cavalry: Granby (+1) V
1x Guard Dragoons (8SP)
2x Dragoons (6SP)

So on to the trial.  Here are the troops deployed in the noted deployment areas with the French having four commands.

Deployed in 2 lines of infantry with the reserve in columns behind the hills.  The cavalry is the center command in this scenario and I was curious how that was going to work out as we went forward.

And the Allies deployment opposite:

Again infantry commands separated by a cavalry command.  Must have been the villages on both wings that lead to this?

So before anything you determine how many Command Dice (CD) - a big factor in this game - each side starts with.  Du Muy being an unimaginative dullard is rated Poor so gets one D6 but manages to roll a 6, while the Erbprinz being Average with 2 dice rolls  that total to a 6 also.  These 6 dice are placed behind the respective command figures for the turn coming up.

Next you roll to see who has the Initiative for the coming turn.  Both commanders roll two D6 for this and one also rolls an Average die to determine the starting number of the turn (so a 2, 3, 3, 4 , 4 or 5).  The average die is important since each 'Pulse' you roll the AVG die and if you get the same or a lower number the turn ends at that point.  Apparently some of the tension in the game revolves around how many pulses you will possibly have and how you manage your Command Dice across that number.  Without going into the statistics of it it would seem that most turns would have 2 or maybe 3 impulses and if you roll a 4 on the first roll you aren't likely to have a second impulse, but let's see how it goes...

Du Muy rolls 4, 3 = 7;  Erbprinz rolls 6, 2 = 8 plus the Average Die with a 2

The Allies decide to take the first movement segment.  But before that happens both sides fire muskets and then artillery.  The initiative player gets first shot in musket fire and the opponent takes hits before replying.  This we guess is to simulate the gaining of some advantage in firing but since it occurs each pulse it doesn't have anything to do with better fire discipline or tactics as far as we can see, just a game development issue but we can live with it.

No one is in musket range this pulse so we go to simultaneous artillery fire and here no hits are obtained by either side.

Before the Erbprinz can begin to execute his flawless tactical plan he can assign 1 or 2 Command Dice to his subordinate commanders to use when taking their activity check.  So he assigns Brunswick 2 dice out of his trove of 8 and Brunswick with 4 dice rolls 6, 4, 3, 2 and selects the 6 and 4 to give his command a total of 10 which makes it Active for the pulse.  He promptly advances the lot as a single line 1BW (some of his infantry are in the town and can only move this fast) and breaks off his Dragoons to go for the Heinburg slopes on the French flank.

Granby gets no extra dice and rolls a 3, 2 = 5 so is Inactive this turn and stands pat.

Zastrow with one CD granted rolls his 3 dice and gets 6, 5, 1 takes the 6 and 5 to get 11 and is Active so advances 1 BW (some of his infantry are in the town and can only move this fast).

No combats occur so the Erbprinz pulse is done.

Du Muy Gives his reserve commander Fischer 2 extra dice and Fischer rolls 6, 6, 5, 5 and takes the 6 and 5 to = 11 and is Active (had he taken 12 he would have had to attack instead of maneuver).  He moves the reserve towards the Heinburg reacting to the Erbprinz's detachment there.

Segur gets 1 extra die and rolls 4, 1, 1 = 6 which makes him Inactive for the pulse.

The other 2 commands get no extra dice and roll Active but do not move forward off their hill slope defensive position.

Next posting - 2nd Impulse of Turn 1 where certain themes develop.........

Megablitz game system

I have been preparing both sides for the 1940 campaign intending to use the Megablitz rules and system to play through a number of battles to see if they accurately portray the chaos and lack of purpose amongst the French forces while giving a fair representation of the German forces abilities and capacities as well. 

Likely we will play what-if scenarios and battles since I find that it provides more options and freedom to the players than to make they once again be forced to refight scenarios that are forced by historical hindsight.

The scale and figures I chose to go with were the 10mm line by Pendraken miniatures and I coupled that with the decision to base all the basic units on 2" hexagons and play on a hex grid.  This for a number of reasons but chiefly because it removes the need for constant measurements and it also represents a 'square' kilometer of ground which is about the lowest a battalion would be expected to deploy in.

From previous playing in other scales and circumstances it became obvious that being able to identify what a unit was and what 'division' it was a sub unit to are critical to playing multi-divisional games on the tabletop.  When you have 12 infantry stands and 3-12 transport stands plus various guns/tanks/fuel trucks etc... per division it is easy to lose sight of where your guys are and whether they are in or out of command and supply and any moment.

As you can see I have amassed a few divisions per side:

Each division resides in its own bow and has its roster (including strength point rosters) in with them.  While I originally thought we would play using the SP formula as noted in the rules I am now more inclined to the Memoir 44 approach of having all infantry stands (battalions) have a similar strength (4 SP) so in large multi-player games you can tell at a glance how units are doing by checking the number of plastic rings placed over the figures to count losses.

Each divisions has all its subordinate units identified with a unique and color coded tag on the stand, you can tell your troops from your buddy's (and even from the opponent's) at a glance.  Stands that get 'lost' during a furious engagement eventually find their way to the home box.

Here is a French Division Legere Mechanique (mechanized division) by contrast.

And here are the stands used to represent Cirps and Army HQs.  In the French army this is where Army level reserves of Heavy Artillery, Independent tank battalions, Pioneers and Pontooners and assigned Air Force coordination was held.

Here we see a 'typical' French infantry division of three regiments (3 bns each) plus supporting stands deployed 2 up one back with the HQ securely protected in the rear.

Here the same with a few tiles from Memoir 44 to show they can be used out of the box in this scale.

And here is the DLM strung out on an approach march with recon elements to the fore and the rest of the division in column down the road behind them.

We have had a few familiarization games to brush up on how troops move, fight and fit on the table and are now ready to play out a real campaign.

More to follow.

The Nine Years War Campaign Part IV

The Nine Years War Campaign

Part IV – The Battle for Amsterdam and After

1693 – The Bourbons had made much progress in the previous year, advancing to Nijmegen in the Low Countries and threatening Madrid in the South.  As their first act in this year they fought a decisive battle to try and end the war by seizing Amsterdam and driving the Dutch Republic out of the war.

The battle field was flat and swampy and the Alliance determined to defend with a stronger army against the advancing Bourbon forces deploying to the right side of the field.

The Bourbon army was organized into two large ‘corps de battaile’ of 24 battalions and 24 squadrons each with a small reserve of troops form the Maison du Roi.

The Alliance had three roughly balanced Divisions of Anglo-Subsidy troops (24 Battalions, 12 squadrons) on their left, the Dutch with 22 battalions and 14 squadrons in the center and the Imperial troops with 18 battalions and 28 squadrons on the right flank.  Both wings of the Alliance force attempted to advance whilst the Dutch held fast the center.

As the full extent of the size of the armies was revealed the Bourbons enjoyed success on both flanks by pushing back the Alliance cavalry wings.

But the terrain slowed the advance of their infantry, particularly in the center.  The Anglo-Subsidy foot made a valiant attack to restore their field position but it ran into a wall of Bourbon foot and the Bourbon horse was moving behind their flank, perhaps to roll up the line.

The Imperials, reinforced with all the Dutch horse was making life very difficult for the Bourbon left wing, although one brigade of foot penetrated almost to the line to the stream before being halted.

The Alliance commanders:

The Bourbon Commanders:

The combat at its height:

As the Bavarian contingent advanced to the Dutch held village the fire seemed to go out of the Prince of the Royal Blood.  Realizing that his forces would be disordered crossing the stream and then have to fight through into a heavily defended village against troops that he had been unable to damage yet his resolution failed.  Marechal Catinat, likewise, on the left flank seemed to have a crisis of spirit (or perhaps just too many oatmeal raisin cookies) and the joint decision was made to pull back and reorganize the army.

The elated Alliance command group began plotting the retaking of the Low Countries and we moved back to the campaign map to run through the rest of the events of the year.  These can be summarized as follows:

1.      The Bourbons main army was forced out of the Low Countries, yielding Nijmegen, and Antwerp before they could recover their full order.

2.     Both sides launched ill-advised and costly attacks on each other outside of Madrid and in these the Bourbons came out the worse for losses and wear.  Marechal Lorges will undoubtedly be re-posted in the fall season.

3.     The Alliance completed the sieges to bring all Northern Italy under their sway and also to bring support up towards the Duke of Savoy as he was projecting incursions into France itself.

4.     The line of the mid Rhine is still held by the Alliance even though they were thwarted in their attempts to penetrate into France proper.

Our next session will pickup and make the end of year actions occur and the start of a new campaign year – 1694.