Rollicking Rolica

 A quick trip to Penrith this morning in lovely sunshine to hide away underground playing wargames. Matt had set out a larger table than usual for the Napoleonic battle of Rolica, I confess I don't know a lot about Napoleonic campaigns apart from a very basic idea. Despite my admiration for Napoleon himself. Matt explained that his French were sitting on a hill which was heavy going for the British to climb and then presumably assault. 

The battlefield.

The French.

My cavalry.

I had forces at the bottom of the hill ready to go while reinforcements would arrive around turn 4. I decided that I would attack the French left and try to overwhelm them while my cavalry and light troops would threaten the right, my centre would march forward and see what happened. As I reached the slopes I was slowed down and began to take casualties, you can shoot or move so it took time for me to get my men into a position where their numbers would count. My cavalry and light troops were doing a sterling job on my left and drove the French cavalry from the field and began to turn the enemy flank.

My left flank.

My cavalry move forward.

My centre advances.

Although my battalions were taking a thumping they managed nevertheless to stay in line and soon more Frenchies were fleeing. I had also now got an attack column on my right into position to assault the crest of the hill, despite everything these brave fellows also routed their opponents. My reinforcements now turned up and I sent them towards my centre, just in time as I lost a couple of battalions here, once again I managed to get an attack column into position only for it to be beaten by some Swiss as they charged down the slope in an attempt to halt the British advance.

Stalwart redcoats.

Chase them off lads.

My right about to crush the French left.

By this time the French left and right were almost non existent and my cavalry were now in the French rear. I turned everything I had against the remaining enemy infantry and another attack column swept away the Swiss, one French regiment remained but could not stand against several redcoat brigades. Matt handed over his sword.

The French right threatened.

More British arrive.

At them lads!

The tables had indeed turned, Matt destroyed me a few weeks before with my own dice, this time however lady luck wore a red coat and I pulled off some nice morale throws which kept my initial brigades in the fight and wore down the defenders. I was more than chuffed. Another excellent game in the Dungeon on a lovely table with beautiful figures. The rules were Valour and Fortitude which Matt enjoys, especially for larger games than Rolica. Next week we will be in the Bunker and back in 1940's France, it has been a while since I had Chain of Command on the table.

I am almost finished the book on Alexander and I have to say he doesn't come across well, the amount of times he promises mercy to forts or towns only to murder the populations once they surrender is quite horrific. I think by the time he returns from India he seems to be losing his mind, at least that is what the author seems to be implying.

I have been hit by the nostalgia bug and looked out some photographs of my time on HMS Sheraton, a minehunter. We were on our way to Gibraltar for deep sea sweeping trials (we could sweep as well) and stopped off at Portimao in Portugal. You can just see the bottom of the black Sandeman's Sherry logo which we used in one pic, the other we had just been to a local vinyard and we are carrying bottles of rose, most of which did not make it back to the ship.

Great day out.

Me, centre back.

Gunnery practice.

I have had my first treatment and spent a relaxing ninety minutes being 'filled up'. 

Alea iacta est

Big night at the club last week, Simon and I tried Bolt Action V3. Now as you know I was not going to bother getting this as I thought the price tag a rip off, was it a rip off, yes it was, there is far too much bumf in the thing and far too much unecessary eye candy. The actual rules take up less than half of the pages. The army lists are a huge part of the book but they are very generic and you cannot simply choose a German Eastern Front force for late 1943 without knowing what they had available, this will have to wait until the new army books are released although you can instead stick with a campaign book. I am lazy and use Easy Army which up until now I have found perfect, the author has put generic lists up for V3 but I am unsure whether he will attempt to change the Theatre lists, I really do not want to sit down with a calculator. I can say I have supported the author in the past and am not just taking him for granted.

I digress, we set up an easy meeting engagement and with books at the ready, no one has so far put together a QRS, we got stuck in. I took infantry, heavy weapons, artillery and armoured platoons, Simon had pretty much the same. The Soviets were defending and were on the table when I attacked, I was fairly aggressive and threw my armoured car forward to spot the hidden Russians, this had to back off when a KV1 turned up, but I used the Recce rule for the first time ever and it dodged back behind a small wood. 

My Recce hiding.

More bang for the buck Hetzer.

I managed to start picking off some of Simon's small teams and he began to lose initiative dice, he was then forced to bring on a small anti-tank gun which annoyingly managed to get some decent dice rolls and first set my Hetzer on fire then immobilised it. The Germans were doing well when we called a halt as the clock struck 10, we only managed three turns but spent a lot of the time with our heads in the book.

Did they work, yes, some of the things I think will make the game better from an historical players view although there are still some bits which have me shaking my head. Chain of Command 2 will be appearing in January however I suspect I shall still continue to play both sets for different reasons.

Now for the main event, Rob organised a large Napoleonic game in the Gin Pit in nearby Grange-over-Sands yesterday, there were six French commanders and five Allied while Ed took the place of umpire and rules adjudicator. The gist of the game was that an Allied army was in position trying to stop the French from advancing, the French commander had seen an opportunity to strike while his boss was busy elsewhere, possibly garnering some browny points.

In a less than democratic manner the leadership of the French command was hung on my shoulders. The battlefield consisted of three farms, one each on the extreme flanks and one in the centre, an important road ran through the middle, if the French could take the road they would win, otherwise it would rely on both armies holding the farms and inflicting losses on the enemy. As we munched on some excellent pastries provided by the commander of the Guard I came up with a cunning plan. Julian and the Guard would smash through the centre and take the road, I would protect his left and Michael would protect his right, Stewart and Paul would be on my left and told not to get drawn into a battle around 'Hougemont' to their front but to watch what was happening in the centre and intervene if possible. Ian was given the job of protecting the extreme right and possibly taking the farm to his front. Well, that's what was in my head.

Discussion time.

The new Napoleon.

The battle kicked off and the Guard plunged ahead while the troops on his flanks were reluctant to move, the enemy came forward quite aggressively opposite me and I threw my lancers in to stop them, this action was less than glorious and I lost a squadron but had halted the enemy advance. This was a foretaste of the less than enthusiastic actions of the French cavalry all through the battle. For some reason I was being asked questions on the best way to proceed as though I knew what I was doing, I nodded sagely and kept schtum. As I advanced towards a hedgeline and the middle farm I noticed the Guard marching away to my right, Julian had decided to ignore the enemy centre and make for the road, his beautiful troops waving goodbye as they went, he had made a bold move, would it pay out?

The beautiful Guard.

French commander in true Napoleonic style, but with only a tad more hair.

Ed pronounces wisdon.

Elsewhere, yes, 'Hougemont' had proved irresistable to Paul and Stewart and a large gap opened between them and me, which for the moment was thankfully empty. Ian on the other flank had managed to take the farm but Russian strength was building up while his cavalry proved reluctant to fight. A crises now approached, something had gone wrong with the troops under Matt holding the road and Julian managed to throw the Guard at them, this was the beginning of some of the most brutal fighting of the day, if Matt was defeated Julian could claim the road and the French would have victory.

Desperate fighting for the road as time runs out.

 

The centre.

My boys wondering where the Guard have gone.

As time ticked away the Russians took back their farm and Ian was on the back foot, he was simply outnumbered, Michael had attempted to help the Guard but his infantry simply would not move forward until it was too late. I cleared the enemy from my front and took the farm in the centre and then simply held my ground as more and more Allied troops began to turn up. 'Hougemont' at last fell to Paul and Stewart. The Guard were under immense pressure in the centre as British reserves turned up, Julian was screaming for cavalry as the Russians were now heading for his flank, sadly the cavalry simply ignored his pleas and sat miles away despite being ordered to gallop to his aid. As the last turn ended Matt had secured the road while the Guard could take no more and the survivors retreated. Ed totalled up the scores and it was a draw! It now came down to a dice off between the commanders, Matt for the Allies and me for the French, I confess I do not know what Matt threw but his comment of 'Shit' said it all, I got a four and the French players whooped with elation.

Another great day with an impressive battle full of peaks and troughs, laughter and the odd expletive. Lots of lovely troops on the table and pastries to boot, what's not to like. Ed did a great job keeping the game flowing, Rob for organising and Stuart no doubt for helping. I believe there is one more in the series, so I am looking forward to it.

I have now finished my mercenary hoplites for the Seleucids, these are very tough under WAC rules so the Twelfth are in for some problems at some point. Mate Dan helped me out as the Little Big Man transfers I got for the Foundry figures were far too small for the hoplons and just did not look right, he had some from Victrix. I have made a change to my painting, I am not going to varnish these troops, nor the Romans already being worked on, my main reason is the paints are already matt and they will only be on the table once in a blue moon these days. I also find that the matt varnish over time really dulls the metals on figures.

The gaming continues this week, Italian Wars here on Wednesday and somewhere in Sicily at Matt's on Thursday.

A good start to '24

 It's been a wee while but the dust has now settled from the Festive Season, the New Year has begun and seems so far not very different to the old one, "quelle surprise" as the French say. I am expecting my builders to get in touch any day but radio silence so far apart from the new windows have been measured up. I have been dragged around bathroom and flooring showrooms, been asked my opinion then had it tossed aside to be told what I really want.

I was supposed to kick the new campaigning season off with an Eastern Front Chain of Command game but Simon took ill and it was cancelled, instead my first shots were fired in the Gin Pig yesterday in one of Rob's large Napoleonic games. It was an alternative history where the Prussians had been destroyed at Wavre and Ligny and Allied forces under the Prince of Orange moved towards the approaching Russians, during this both of these ran into the French flank guard somewhere south of Turnhout.

Russians in the village with some help from their friends.

I had control of two cavalry brigades and a Guard brigade in the left centre of the battlefield, I was offered the commanders baton and told Julian to hold our left flank and Rob to attack a small village full of Russians on our right, meanwhile myself and Ian to my right would advance for a couple of moves and then see if any opportunities came our way. As usual with Black Powder I found it very hard to get my cavalry moving, my guns managed to hair off and bring the enemy cavalry opposite under fire, Ian moved his cavalry to contact while wondering what had happened to his support.

The table.

My cavalry about to attack, while the Guard whistles.

Rob lines up his assault.

Ian was pushed back but I had at last got my troopers moving and they smashed into the weakened enemy, it also helped that I had three squadrons of very tough Curassiers. The Allies lost a couple of squadrons while I followed up, more Allied cavalry were thrown into the melee but this did not help and soon the British heavy cavalry fled the field leaving the remaining horse in a very bad position. I took a bit of time to reorganise then went in again, while sending my second brigade to the right in the hope of destroying the Allied cavalry in reserve behind their left centre.

All of this cavalry are stunning.

On my left Julian had been forced to withdraw his light cavalry and his lancers had been pushed back, however the Allies could not take advantage of this as most of their commands had a great reluctance to move forward and with the arrival of several infantry battalions were running out of room to manouvre. My Guard had arrived by now but again simply sat around for a couple of turns before decideding to obey orders. Rob was having a very hard time trying to oust the Russians from their defences. Ian managed to send his infantry into the attack but had been beaten back, but importantly not broken.

Two more players had turned up and were given a brigade each, Andy sadly now facing a large hole in the Allied centre and slowly being outnumbered as Peter with the French reserve now moved to hold the left of the breach with lots of French cavalry in reserve. This allowed me to move my Guard battalions to the right flank of the breach and threaten the Allied flank and rear, my cavalry had not managed to destroy the Allied cavalry reserve but they had weakened it and as my infantry now took up the ground things looked very bad for the Allied cause.

Our hero, now Marshal, Georges on the left.

Paul's traffic jam on the Allied right.

French cavalry still a threat.

We called it a day at this point, objectives were counted up and the French scraped a win on points, game wise the Allied right could not budge the French defence and the French right could not take the town, the Allied centre however had been crushed and the flanks of the Allied army on both sides of the breach were in great danger of collapsing. And so we were done, another great looking game with some beautiful figures moved around, Julian and Ed's cavalry are simply superb, if things keep going on like this we will need a larger venue.

Nine of us, seemed like more.

I have finished off the last of the figures in my lead pimple, some arquebusiers, this leaves some of the figures which Dan had offered me, these are some guns and heavy cavalry types, they need stripped, cleaned and primed before I move on them, but with the threat of builders arriving and my vast wargaming empire hidden under beds, in cupboards and taking up most of the study and shortly my living room I will not be adding troops for a while yet. I am also finding it difficult to find Dettol to strip the paint, is this now too dangerous for the public?

My grandson is a Blood Bowl and Underworlds player and received several teams and warbands (how can a warband be three figures?) for birthday and Christmas, as I have time I offered to paint some of the figures for him, something out of my comfort zone but hey a test of my brush skills. I have completed the first figure while watching a Games Workshop video, the host got to the eyes and recommended white and black of course, I couldn't actually see the eyes! Whither you like GW etc. or not some of these guys are fantastic painters, I can confirm I am average, maybe just a tad above that but no more.

To The Strongest author Simon Miller dropped me a line to inform me that the Montrose scenario book which I worked on will be out soon, I was quite chuffed if I say so myself with the maps for this publication. Years ago I covered the same ground in a book written by Charles Singleton. I have no priority map work on at the moment which again suits me fine, I have started the mini atlas however.

 

Central Madrid for the mini atlas.

 I saw something on FB the other day, a lovely camouflaged German truck, but it had bright blue windows, on my walk the other day I looked at all the cars jammed along the village main drag and did not see one with bright blue windows. Why do wargamers paint blue windows?

Old Dog, New Tricks?

 I have one set of rules I have been playing since 1988, my second longest playing rule set is from 2014, these two continue to be my favourites although there are a couple of other sets/games I have played for some time or go back to now and again. I enjoy, in the main, what I play and am willing to try things outside my comfort zone, but suspect I would not pick up on a completely new set anymore.

This week I was introduced to 'O Group', a company level WW2 game with elements of Chain of Command in it, it has to be 'abstract' to a degree in order for the game not to bog down, all well and good but a lot of abstraction niggles me. I was the French and defending against a German assault in 1940, I had less numbers than Matt but was defending, I put two companies on the table and left one in reserve, Matt did basically the same thing. I got off to a decent start and wiped out his recce armoured cars and I think I got one of his Panzer II's later, while he got both my anti-tank portee units, by the end of the night he had not got very far and I still had a company in reserve.

Can you make a call on a set of rules having played only one game with no clue as to what your are doing, probably not but I do know I would not hurry back for another game of 'O Group', despite Matt taking the time to explain everything for me.

My second foray into a new rule set was yesterday at the Gin Pit in Grange where Rob once again organised a large Napoleonic game to test them out, some small games had been played at the club but this was the big one, seven players and umpteen brigades on both sides using Valour and Fortitude from the Perry brothers, and they are free. Needless to say they are a fast play set for big battles and once again therefore with a fair bit of abstraction.

Basically the Russians and Austrians were holding ground to prevent a French withdrawal, the French I am told outnumbered the Allies but looking along the table I was not so sure about that. I held the French left and my three brigades were well outnumbered by the Russians opposite and they had much larger battalions to boot, this will no doubt not surprise Napoleonic players but it came as a shock to me. Anyway I had decided not to attack and simply hold the Russians, who duly forgot they were defending and instead launched an attack all along their line ably commanded by Stewart.

French centre.

French left, me.

Good looker third from right, me.

My division.

We learned that skirmishers were simply used as a suicide squad to soak up fire as your attack went in, there was no closing fire if you were charged and I was not convinced of many of the other mechanics, yes they were fast but did they feel like I had been commanding a Napoleonic division, nope, but then as I said, I do not know much about Napoleonic warfare despite being an admirer of the big man.

Erik moving on the Austrians.

Cavalry fight.

I grab the village.

My right in trouble.

Anyway Stewart did launch a successful attack on my right and took out the brigade on that flank, I stopped going forward and reorganised my line to at least attempt a speed bump before the Russians steamrollered me. I did manage to build up an attack by my left hand brigade and it took an objective just as the shutters came down, so a win for me and an overwhelming win for the French as victory points were tallied up. As I waited patiently for my turn to move, a huge cavalry combat had occured way over on the French right between Rob and Paul which had destroyed the Austrian and Russian cavalry while Stuart and Erik managed to overwhelm Michael around the centre of the battlefield.

The rules certainly were quick and I think the consensus is that they will overtake Black Powder in the Gin Pit battles, personally these types of rules are simply not for me, I don't have massive Napoleonic armies and although I like big battles they are generally under the figure count of these games. I do very much enjoy spending the day with friends and moving wee sojers around however and as long as the lads keep me on the straight and narrow will continue to turn up, but I will never quite understand the rules.

Ah, now for the sting in the tail, Matt came around to play our latest game in the Smolensk Campaign, I felt fairly good about this meeting, my platoon was back to full strength and I took a PzII and in anticipation of Russian armour paid for a heavy anti-tank rifle, which should be enough to support my boys. This hope was kept alive until I heard the clank, clank of tank tracks and Matt drove a KV1 onto the field. I had also not done my homework and it transpired that the large area of scrub in the middle of the battlefield prevented me seeing anything behind it apart from the damn KV1.

Panzer II arrives.

The monster and battle winner.

Soviets.

I hid my troops from the nosy Red monster and Matt set his in a corner on overwatch apart from a forlorn hope in the centre, the amount of firepower on the Russian left was against me quickly moving forward. I therefore moved my PzII on and took the Russian forlorn hope under fire as vehicles could see over the scrub, this was going nowhere fast so I decided to move the tank up at the same time as the heavy anti-tank rifle and hopefully kill or at least damage the KV. Twice the AT rifle failed to spot the thing, yes, a KV1 became invisible, gah, this also happened with the PzII, the return fire when it came brewed the panzer and routed the AT rifle.

"What if we go that way Hans?"

It's all over.

I called a halt with two men dead and withdrew, I was not prepared to sacrifice a platoon to try and win an uphill struggle. I did think later that I could have just put everything on the front line and hope that Matt would take heavy losses and his morale dropped before mine, but as the KV was sitting waiting with two MG's supporting all the infantry on overwatch I simply despaired of winning anything. The initiative now belongs to Matt who can still win the game with two turns to go, he might even get a major win if he chooses the right tables, there is a very slim chance the Germans could cause both sides to lose but the ball is in the Russian court for now.

Alright I could have organised better and should have taken into account the terrain but this game threw up one of those Chain of Command regulars where the game is just no fun at all, and this effects both sides, Matt had travelled an hour to come and play a game and although we had a laugh and chewed the wargame fat, he deserved better for the effort, he did enjoy it though.

I recommended Vagabond on Netflix last post, if you do listen to me on these things stop watching at Episode 13, and consign the last three to the dustbin. I am still furious over the ending having enjoyed the series and spent hours watching it, it is as though they simply switched everything off and went home, completing nothing and leaving half a dozen plot lines to simply hit the buffers.

 There are quite a few jokes (or are they memes now?) about Napoleon the movie, here is a sample.