V&F - Roughly Rolica

I couldn't really spend all this time building armies and then not use them, so following my recent board gaming session Gary said he would like to try some figure gaming.  So here was a chance to put them on a table with an actual opponent, how could I resist.  I had to proxy some artillery bases as I haven't bought any of them yet but other than that the troops are all Commission Figurines MDF.  I, of course, made some changes to the Valour and Fortitude rules to accommodate the use of 6mm figures on single bases which changes some distances for moves and firing, but mostly the rules remain as written. 

For a first time try out C2 remains as in V&F (all that hard thinking time and then I go and ignore the results, how typical!).  I will trial them next time out, honest.  We used a fairly small table and kept things simple so a French rear guard action against newly arrived British Troops seemed to be a decent script. I based this on Rolica 1808 (roughly).  Around about a brigade sized force for the French with an attached small cavalry force from division trying to delay a British force of around four infantry brigades (remember these are smaller than their French equivalents though) including some Rifles.  It actually comes down to 

Off table Portuguese troops, or in this case Spanish (well I did say roughly Rolica and I don't have any Portuguese painted yet) are moving round the flanks trying to arrive to the rear of the French rear guard.  This is was Wellesley's (he isn't Wellington as yet) actual plan at Rolica, to either trap the French or to force them to retire.  The French have to play a careful hand balancing the need to delay the superior British force against the risk of being trapped and destroyed.

Order of Battle

Anglo - Spanish Lt General Arthur Wellesley

Wellesley's Centre Division of four brigades plus Negrete's Spanish

Hill's Brigade 

5th Foot (Northumberland)

9th Foot (East Norfolk)

38th Foot (First Staffordshire)

Fane's Brigade

5/60th Foot - Royal American Rifles, Light Infantry

2/95th Foot - The Rifles, Light Infantry (small unit only a half battalion present)

Nightingall's Brigade

29th Foot (Worcestershire)

82nd Foot (Prince of Wales Volunteers)

Craufurd's Brigade

45th Foot (Nottinghamshire)

50th Foot (Queen's Own)

91st Foot (Argyllshire Highlanders)

Artillery

2 Batteries of 6pdrs

Negrete's Spanish Brigade (off table at the start)

Cazadores de Antequera, Light Infantry

Provinciales de Badajoz, Militia

Regiment Reina, Line infantry

French General de Division Delaborde

Brenier's Brigade of Delaborde's Division

Brenier's Brigade

1/70th Line Infantry

2/70th Line Infantry

4th Swiss Line (unenthusiastic so factors reduced)

3/2nd Light Infantry

3/4th Light Infantry

2 squadrons 26th Chasseurs de Cheval

Artillery

1 Battery of 8 pdrs

Next post will cover the AAR of the battle

It was fifty years ago today....

 ......well not exactly today but close enough for jazz.

Last week I spent three very enjoyable days with some of the alumni of Hull University Wargames Club, the 1973 - 77 vintage.  Some of them I haven't seen since leaving university or very shortly after.  Back then the club was a mix of figure gamers and hex map board gamers, especially the SPI monster games like War in the East.  In fact it was the golden age of SPI games in some respects which made life a bit harder for the figure gamers as everyone seemed to have an SPI game they were desperate to try out!. 

The group which assembled last week was from the hex map game side of the hobby so the three main games were all of that ilk, but we also played a couple of slightly odd card games, well odd to me as I hadn't played them before.  To be honest I was so wrapped up in the occasion I only took one picture so bear with me.  So it came to pass that a rather greyer and creakier (than last time we met) bunch of wargamers gathered together comprising: Stephen Thomas, Dave Harbud, Gary Derrick (our host), John Staniforth and John Digby.  Dave H had to leave before any serious gaming got started as he had a trip abroad planned but the rest of us were there for the entire three days.

On day one we played 'Spies' a 1980's SPI game, set in the late 1930's in the run up to World War Two.  It's a typical experimental SPI game from the period, with no combat result table, no dice and no hexes.  players deploy police units to locations in their home country who try to intercept incoming spies or hunt down emplaced ones.  You also have your spies who move around Europe trying to collect secrets from other player's cities.  There are also event cards that are played by each player each turn and which may grant benefits to your side but also to the opposition.  It's an interesting concept but slightly flawed as the lack of a random element means some aspects of face offs between spies and police can be precalculated based on the known values of the police and spies.  In fact it is possible by stacking police units to create locations where a spy cannot avoid detection and can only escape capture by playing a skill chit.  Still it kept us entertained for an afternoon.

This is the one an only picture I grabbed.  Exciting isn't it.

Day two saw us play a more traditional and rather newer game from 2013 called 'Hinge of Fate'.  This covers the Poland campaign of 1939 but with a twist.  the twist being that you can choose to also play a French intervention on the Franco-German border.  While this actually did happen it was a half hearted attack that quickly fizzled out.  In this counter factual version of events the French after delaying three turns (six days) actually make a proper assault.  This puts the Germans in Poland under time pressure to capture all the Polish cities and fortified hexes before French advances start to trigger random events.  Now I know Hitler believed that a vigorous assault in the west could have defeated Germany and ended the war before it got properly underway but the possible impacts of French success in the Rhineland seem a bit extreme in this game.  Still it was a fun game and went right down to the wire.  The Soviets came into the war on the allied side and then the following turn the French also triggered a coup in Germany, Hitler was killed (yay!) and Germany lost.

The bit of the map I was playing on, no wide open plains with Panzers for me!

Day three saw us trying 2025's SPI game 'Eagles of Rome 1: Caesar', we played the opening scenario Orchomenus 85 BC, Sulla's Romans versus  the Pontic Kingdom.  The initial deployment didn't favour the Pontics as they have a big army and a restricted deployment area.  Once the legionaries get to grips they almost always force retreats or kills which cause disruption to units behind the retreating/killed front line troops.  I quite liked the system but then again I was in control of the Roman infantry.  The Pontic players seemed much less keen.  So much so that after we broke for lunch we didn't return to the game and instead played a few hands of Bandito and  6 Nimmt instead.

Eagles full map, our game used area III making it similar to a Folio game

All in all a great few days of gaming and catching up on who had done what over the last 40 - 50 years (God but that sentence makes me feel old!).  Hopefully we won't leave as long before the next get together.

The Bots are back

 If my hit rates to the blog are to be believed one of three things is going on!

1.  I have become increasingly popular as a blogger

2.  There are far less blogs to read out there, or

3.  AI bots are trawling blogs for data to use in large language model AIs.

I have gone from barely crawling into the 20 - 30 hits per post to a steady 150ish and those hits are almost instant after I hit post!

I don't really think I have become better at blogging as unlike Mary Poppins I'm not "practically perfect in every way" and the content can't be that interesting to a general reader with no interest in wargaming. I also haven't noticed a major falling off of blog posting either, which leaves me to believe that the AI web crawlers are back.

Is anyone else finding the same thing?

Looking at Command and Control again

In the comments in my first post about this topic  (You can find it here >Small but Perfectly Formed: Command and control in wargames.<) Rob pointed me in the direction of a long out of print set of rules which had looked at the same points I was mulling over.  These are 'Napoleonic Rules for a Large Scale Action with Small Scale Miniatures'.  The rules were published in 1980 and had come up with a set of mechanisms to cover pretty much the exact issues I identified.  No point reinventing the wheel I thought and promptly hunted down a copy on Scribd.  After a read through and some note taking I was in agreement with Rob, almost half a century ago the same issue had come up and been solved by smarter minds than mine!

(AI image) This is the chain of command...don't make me use it!

The rules use a variable bound mechanism which was in vogue back then and which has fallen out of use since but it doesn't make much difference to the C2 rules involved.  It listed change of situation triggers, possible reactions to those changes and who can act on the triggers.  It also gives guidance on ranges over which triggers can be identified.  The core concept is that command and control are exercised at separate points in the chain of command and no one  (other than the CinC) can simply issue orders to attack, unless it is for a counter attack to defend the subordinates formation.  

Each link in the chain of command consists of a superior who issues commands and a subordinate who must execute them but can determine how that is done.  Orders have to pass down the full chain of command between an officer who is entitled to give a command and the officer who executes it,  and that takes time.  Essentially this consists of time in transit and time to read and execute the order.  In the absence of new orders a formation simply gets on with the last instructions unless attacked when it is entitled to defend itself.  I rather like the simple underpinning concept of "If tell you to jump all you are allowed to do is ask 'how high'."

The basics of the rules are as follows.

1.  The game starts with the CinC writing orders for the overall objectives of the subordinate commands.  These are broken down by Corps, Division Brigade objectives as required.  I can see fun and games arising in multi player games where three or four players are acting as Corps or Divisional commanders and have to translate Army level orders to their own subordinates objectives.

2. These initial orders are followed unless a change of situation is seen by an Army, Corps or Divisional Commander.  Brigades and Battalions can only deviate from orders if forced to act in self defence when attacked.  In that latter case all they can do is defend and/or or seek new orders from above.  Only the CinC has full freedom of action.

3. Change of Situation triggers are restricted to ten cases, see the tables below.  Each one has a limited set of responses available (also shown on the table below).

4.  Most responses only allow the parent formation to change orders but that requires a message moving from them to the subordinate formation and in some cases vice versa all of which takes time.

5.  Units engaged in firefights or close combat cannot respond to changes in situation or seek new orders.  This means that generals need be able to see what is happening to their commands to be able to influence the fight as the units at the sharp end are locked in place.

Permitted Responses to a change in situation

These possible changes are not mutually exclusive.  They include options for both the affected unit and that units superior.  So (for example) the subordinate unit could go on the defensive and seek new orders while the superior commander seeing the situation could send orders to other units in response

Triggers and options

The rules don't take into account failures to follow orders correctly and other areas of friction as it seems to be assumed that orders are not open to interpretation and are followed to the letter.  While this may be the case in most situations there are always occasional  'outliers' where subordinates have ideas of their own, for good or ill!  They also don't appear to be written to cover Army through to Battalion chains of command or the freedom of action granted French Corps commanders (Q was that really a thing on a big battlefield or just while Corps were acting independently?)

That said, looking at the above I think I have enough to work with to create some simple C2 rules.  Lets see how it goes.

And just like that

 Like what you may wonder?  As well as what happened 'just like that'?  Or maybe not of course.  You may recall that I was bemoaning the lack of local wargaming opponents and saying how I had taken a chance on sticking my head over the parapet to ask on a local Facebook page if there were any local wargamers in my small slice of North Lincolnshire.   The answer appears to be no and that the nearest historical gaming groups are either in Hull or Grimsby.  As a result I resigned myself to solo gaming for the foreseeable future.

Well 'just like that' I had a message from an ex member of Hull University Wargaming Club firstly asking if the same chap who had been a member back in the mid 1970's.  The answer being yes I was indeed a member some fifty years ago.  It turns out the ex member (no names no pack drill applies as not everyone wants their details splashing all over the net) was still in touch with a couple of gamers from back then and that they had been getting together for games meet ups.  The amazing bit being he lives less than fifteen miles away.  As a result I have an invite to a three day gaming session later this month and I'm in touch with some friends I haven't seen in half a century!

I don't think it will be figure gaming as the people concerned were fans of the hex map strategy games especially the really huge ones.  War in Europe was a favourite although they did draw the line at SPI's Campaign for North Africa.  But hey a wargame is a wargame on a table with figures or on a hex map with counters.  Watch this space for a follow up game report towards the end of the month.

The grand parade of recycled wood dust

Also known as MDF, a strange material made of wood fibres, resin and wax.  It contains Formaldehyde which is not a pleasant substance and sanding is not recommended as the dust is potentially hazardous,  On the other hand it does make some excellent miniature figures and it's cheap (a recuring theme in my thinking you will have gathered by now!).  Once laser cut and engraved by the talented Walt of Commission Figurines, painted and based by yours truly they create a rather nice effect for not a lot of time and effort.

As always with 6mm figures the trick is to paint for the overall effect of the unit once it is based up, rather than creating individual masterpieces.  This especially so with the MDF figures and I have realised that painting them in an almost toy soldier style works well.  To be honest there is almost no scope for traditional high lights and ink washing is pointless as there is nothing to pick out.  A little creative paining of brighter shades along arms legs and shoulders some darker creases on the legs is about the best that you could do an guess what?  At arms length it hardly shows up so I didn't bother.  Even if I did I'd limit it to the front of the front rank and the rear of the rear rank and perhaps the left and right files outer sides.

So having made my excuses for a only using a limited paint scheme, here's what the result looks like massed together.

The Anglo-Spanish Army as it currently stands

The gallant losers, er,  I mean the French

Last but not least I have my first unit of French foreign troops the 4th Swiss Line Infantry.  Included in the front line of the above picture.

The Swiss, they look better at table top distance

Swiss rear view

I ran out of grenadiers in bearskins so sneaked an elite in shako figure into make up the shortfall.  I'm quite taken with the red and sky blue jackets.

All for now the next post is about something completely different. 

White Paint Pens - part two

I tried the paint pens this week.  They are not the perfect solution but they are neater than my freehand, more consistent and a lot faster.  They do need a good shaking before each use otherwise the paint and medium separate.  I was hoping for a perfect 0.7mm or 0.5mm line and that isn't what I got.  In both cases the line is thicker as the paint spreads.  In fact the 0.7mm nib gives a narrower line than the 0.5mm as it has a tapered nib while the smaller nib is more like that on a fine liner pen.  I'd say the 0.5mm gives a line closer to 2mm while the 0.7 is around 1mm. As a result both need a bit of touching up after the paint dries but not a huge amount.  The paint goes on smoothly and dries quickly and most importantly is a good solid white even over a dark base coat like Dark Prussian Blue. 

Part painted and pre touch up on the cross belt, but you can see the coverage is good

With a paint brush I can get a better result than  the above about 25% of the time.  The problem is the other 75% of attempts!  I tend to be a bit messy with the initial coats anyway and tidy up any over painting at the end so touching up cross belts is no biggie.

After a tidy up

I shall persevere with the pens as I think that with more practice I could probably get a more consistent and thinner line. The main point is that overall I'm no worse with the pen than I am with the brush and it is a lot faster in use.  The time on touch ups is still less than the faffing about trying to get a brushed line right.  So for me pens are useful, if you are younger than me and have good eyesight and coordination the paintbrush may still be the best solution.