Category: Games

The Raid on St Evian – Derring Do in the era of the Three Musketeers

Simon came over for a game this weekend, and we decided to return to the 17th century skirmish setting we first played about a year ago (the picture above on the blog banner is from that game). Once again the Medetians and the Fleurians went at it hammer and tongs in a very entertaining and eventful clash that saw Simon successfully complete his mission, although it was a close run thing at the end.

Rather than a blow by blow account, I just intend to draw together some pictures and a description of some of the highlights, but I will first set the scene on what the game was about..

From the Medetian player briefing that Simon received:

The Setting
While the
main war is being waged to the south, you, Captain Corleone of the Medetian
army, have been sent north with your company to cause havoc on the Fleurian
side of the border. One of your agents (spies) has reported that the town of St
Evian, known for its delicious and expensive brandy (Marc de St Evian), is
readying a valuable shipment for sending south to the capital. Capturing this
lucrative export commodity before the Royal flotilla arrives to collect it is
just the sort of thing you were sent to do, considering the loss of revenue and
prestige it will inflict on King Francis. You might even make a bit of profit
on the side yourself..
St Evian lies
to the north west of your present camp and you are advised that the small fishing
village of Bardot, two miles upstream to the south, has boats that can be
appropriated for your mission (to add surprise and to aid your withdrawal if
necessary). Also, ensuring that you have eyes on the river and cannot therefore
be surprised from upstream is crucial. St Evian itself is relatively remote and
served by a single road. The lightly wooded Petit Dern allows for a stealthy
approach away from the road and is open enough for your wagons to pass through.
 
Area Map

 

Objective

 

Capture at
least 25 barrels worth of Marc de St Evian, by having them in your control or
carried off the table at the end of the game. Large casks count as 4 barrels
worth, medium as 2 and small as 1.

Simon selected his force for the mission, comprising a decent total of 32 figures, and received some sketchy reconnaissance information about the geography of St Evian and the make-up of its defences. He divided his men between the road and river approaches and was then introduced to the table (which was, as always, a pleasant, tranquil scene before the carnage started):

 

As you can see, it was an opportunity to use the water base boards, river banks and jetties, etc. The table size was 6’x4′. I’d prepared a scattered and disparate Fleurian defence, made up of a small garrison of regulars in the fort, a militia company that had to assemble on the alarm being raised, various locals and travelling gentlemen who were determined to see off the vile invader (and defend their valuable booze), and lastly some clergy with a zero tolerance approach to people trying to nick their share of the liquor. I ran things as a ‘game master’ to provide Simon with a few surprises and to continue the narrative from the briefing.

All the action in the next post..

Refighting the War of the Spanish Succession

This week I’ve been playing through a full session of the boardgame ‘No Peace Without Spain!’ by Compass Games – the War of the Spanish Succession in its entirety. This is a game I’ve had for a little while and been keen to play, but have lacked the time to really give it a go. It’s designed as a 2-player game but like many, solo play is possible and still a lot of fun.

I’m not going to do a full review, as there are already a number of these online, but my overall opinion is that it’s an excellent game that does a very good job of capturing the high level strategy of the war. I gives players the challenge of choosing how to use the limited resources available and makes the campaigns, battles and even the sieges exciting and fun to play through.

Overview pic (click to enlarge as always):

It’s also nicely presented, with good quality components (although it’s a shame the map isn’t hard-backed) and goes into just the right amount of detail for the types of operations you undertake at this strategic level. There are historically appropriate events that occur (such as Savoy changing sides, French financial collapse, etc), often causing disruption to your plans for the year. The rules are rated as moderately complex, and once I’d played a few turns they were fairly easy to remember (although I’m sure I didn’t get everything right initially!). Mechanisms were certainly nice and straight forward, giving believable results every time.

It’s a war that’s always been of interest to me, and this game provides the opportunity to appreciate how it was fought, and why things happened (or didn’t). Very enjoyable too.

Below – The cockpit of war (in 1711) with Marlborough sitting on a fortified line one move away from Paris, and the French sitting opposite him behind their own line (there’s an excellent rule for the better generals to attempt to by-pass defensive lines, and come to grips with the enemy behind). Antwerp is surrounded, with most of the Spanish Netherlands overrun by the Alliance.

Over several sessions I got to grips with the rules and played through until an Alliance major victory result was secured in 1712. The English had withdrawn from the war at the end of the previous year, taking the Duke and his redcoats with them, but it hadn’t been enough to allow the Bourbons to recover from their earlier losses. There had been a few ‘Famous Victories’ (well, once Marlborough stopped losing the early battles!), lots of sieges and some bold manoeuvres by land and sea. Spain and Italy were still largely held by the Bourbons, but the Alliance had done better where it mattered in northern and central Europe.

It’s certainly a game I look forward to playing again in the future.

A Weekend in Framlingham

This weekend saw a get together of a group of wargamers from up and down the length of England (unfortunately our Scottish contingent couldn’t make it). We congregated on Friday evening in the Suffolk town of Framlingham, where our local host Tim had made the arrangement for us to have an excellent couple of days of gaming, socialising and recovering from hangovers.

It was a fair old way to go, especially for those coming from the North East, but everyone agreed it was more than worth it. Great company and top-notch games throughout, and lots of laughter and banter to go with it.

We used the very nice function room at The Crown, a lovely hotel/inn where some of us were staying, which gave us plenty of room and facilities to spread out in. Despite this pic, the lighting was a bit dim when the sun wasn’t shining (ie. most of Saturday) so I didn’t get many decent photos on my phone.

Several people had offered to put on games (there were several rounds of voting(!) over a year ago), providing the figures, rules and scenery for others to play. These included Peeler’s Leipzig DBN taster (for Simon, who seemed to enjoy it immensely), Essex Boy and GaryP’s 20mm Marlburian game (which Andy and I joined), and the main event – Tim’s awesome ACW collection in a full-on 2 day clash which started on Saturday and which we all joined on Sunday.

The WSS game was great fun, and it was a pleasure to play with Iain and Gary’s superb collections. The rules used were Rank and File from Crusader, and they gave a quick realistic game with simple, easy to learn, mechanisms. We played at least 12 full turns which says a lot for how easy the rules are to pick up. Everyone agreed that it looked and fought out as they imagined a Malburian battle would, and we had some very exciting moments as both sides had triumphs and reverses.

As allied commander I had the dubious benefit of Iain’s dice rolling assistance (he was also the scenario designer and umpire) but fortunately the English, Dutch and Danes fought tenaciously among the hedgerows and successfully held the right and centre against the French infantry. It didn’t go so well on the left, however, where the cavalry fought it out in the open fields. Here the enemy gradually got the better of the allied squadrons, helped by an infantry brigade which came up and held the farm in the middle of the melee. Their volleys emptied a good few saddles and by the end (which was deemed to be dusk) our flank had collapsed.

We all surveyed the battlefield and agreed it to be a strategic success for the French, as the allies would eventually have to retreat down the only road they remained in control of, but a tactical draw, as 2/3 of the table remained in allied hands as night fell. A really enjoyable game all-round, with friendly and generous opponents in Andy and Gary, and lots of thanks to Iain for the effort he put into planning and running the game.

Then it was off to the bar for a well-earned beverage or two and the usual debate about basing, followed by an excellent curry in a nearby restaurant and more beers in Tim’s local.

On Sunday we all re-assembled (some more slowly than others..) for the now-expanded ACW game. Tim, Phil, Dave and Tim W had fought the opening moves of this encounter battle (Coinville I think) on day 1 and developed the battlelines that the rest of us joined for day 2. I was on the Union side (which I think I’ve been on every time I’ve played this period, but which is fine by me) and I was involved in trying to defend the centre and right against an outflanking Reb attack, while waiting for our reserve division to arrive.

There was lots of artillery fire initially, and then the infantry got to grips and casualties mounted. The whole time JEB Stuart was dashing round our right flank and things were a bit nervous as we waited for the outcome of the Union CinC’s rolls to see where the reserve would appear. Naturally Iain’s dice ensured it would be at the other end of the table, and that sounded the death knell for the North! Unfortunately I had to leave before the final turns were played, but it was a delight to see these armies on the table again and to be involved in such a great looking game.

Some of my division, all gorgeous figures from Tim Hall’s collection:

All in all, everything went even better than expected and we’re looking forward to the next opportunity to get together again for another one. Big thanks go to Tim for all the planning/arranging, and to everyone for their excellent company!

A Couple of Punic Battles – part 2

The first game ended in a Roman minor victory, with them scoring 15 victory points (14 being required for a win) against the Carthaginians, with the latter scoring 10 in return.

With the terrain and figures already to hand it would have been rude not to play another game so I made a few minor changes to the table (ie. clearing a bit more central space) and re-deployed. This time I upped the armies by half again for a 150 point game involving a total of just over 500 figures. The Romans had now recruited a force of Spanish and the Carthaginians had bought in more Gauls and Numidians.

On the assumption that the Carthaginians were coming back for more, and the Romans were happy to oblige (and confident from the first battle), I decided that both sides were ‘up for it’ and there was no defender as such. I didn’t take many pictures this time, but did capture the deployment and some of the early moves.

 

 

The lines getting closer:

First clashes:

This time the Romans were faced by a first line of seething Gauls who charged in hard as they always do. The elephants were in the Carthaginian second line, as were the best of their infantry. It worked; despite the Romans using their unique ‘Legion’ rule which allowed them to swap tired units in combat with fresh reserves, and cutting up most of the Gauls, the attrition was too heavy and their right and right-centre crumbled. Both sides were forced to commit generals to the melee, and several were lost.

What’s Latin for ‘not this lot again!’?

 

 

 

When the dust cleared the Carthaginians had got their revenge. Both Roman flanks were crushed and although they still had a reasonably viable second line still able to fight, the enemy had achieved a decent victory: 23-15 (first to score 21 being the winner in this bigger battle). I think the Romans would have been able to fall back on their camp, and march away during the night or the following day – the enemy were too hard hit themselves to prevent it.

It was very enjoyable to return to this period, collection and rules. I hope not to leave it so long next time.

A quick note on figures;

The Romans are made up of Essex and Old Glory infantry, Essex cavalry and a right old mix for skirmishers, including some 10th Legion and (now defunct) Strategia e Tattica.

The Carthaginians are even more of a mix – most are Corvus Belli, but there are some Lancashire, Essex and Old Glory in there too.

They all go together well as far as I’m concerned, which makes picking what to buy a matter of preference rather than being restricted by size, etc.

A Couple of Punic Battles – part 1

In the end I played two solo Rome vs Carthage games on Friday evening, finishing off on Saturday morning.

The first was a 100 point game (100 points per army as per the rules I was using). I played it as a standard attack-defence game, having previously rolled to determine that the Carthaginians would be the attacker. The game set up gave the Romans a handy hill in their deploy area, and provided for a couple of woods towards the flanks. There would be plenty of open space in the middle for the infantry to come to grips, and just enough open ground to either flank for the Carthaginian cavalry advantage to be a factor.

The Roman commanders have a quick pre-battle pep rally:

The deployment and battlefield:

 

The Roman infantry (2 lines rather than 3, but I think most rules and wargames have some compromise here):

The Carthaginians:

The Elephant brigade:

Spanish and African infantry:

Cavalry:

True to their mission, the Carthaginian army advanced, pushing cavalry ahead on the flanks and skirmishers into the woods to fight their Roman counterparts. The Romans used more velites in an attempt to delay the crunch of elephant on hastati, but couldn’t hold them up for long and soon the battle was in full flow as the front ranks crashed into each other. Gauls and Spanish charged the Roman wall and heavy cavalry closed in on the weaker Roman left.

 

 

 

 

 

The fighting was tough everywhere, and the Roman cavalry in particular fought back tenaciously despite the odds.

 

The elephants, having swept aside the velites (who did at least cause some casualties and disruption) got stuck into a unit of principes, pushing them back in disorder.

A freak result for some of the Spanish against heavier Roman infantry!

The battle lines surged back and fore and each side had their share of triumphs and disasters. After 8 game turns though, the Romans had dealt with the nellies and held on despite their vulnerable flanks, winning a close victory (15-10) and forcing the enemy to retire from the field. There would need to be a re-match, but in the meantime it was definitely beer o’clock..

 

Game Decision for Friday

Although I hadn’t intended to run a public referendum on what game to play on Friday evening, there’s been a landslide vote in favour of the Punic Wars in 15mm. Or rather Count Belisarius said he’d like to see it, so lacking a better reason to do something else, how can I refuse?

Rome vs Carthage then, with the usual assortment of allies for the latter to keep the Romans on their toes. I’ll set up a standard sized game of 100 points per side, using my house rules (By Force of Arms, written by my friend Jase, and which have seen plenty of action over the years).

I’ve already selected the armies, and a dice roll has determined that the Carthaginians are the ‘attacker’, meaning that for strategic reasons they need to get their skates on and win decisively before they run out of time. Good job they’ve got a cavalry advantage and, of course, some nellies to throw at the enemy!

More soon..

 

A Very Eventful Skirmish – part 2

So, up went the first pair of rockets…. and down they came… about halfway to the target! The rules for them certainly made things interesting and unpredictable, and we soon agreed that the safest place on the table to be was the target they’d been originally aimed at. Simon had some nice explosion pieces containing flickering lights which really looked the business.

 

As my units struggled forward over the rough terrain, I was beginning to feel that I was at least as likely to hit my own troops as the enemy. It was a good premonition, as the very next rocket mischievously decided to turn hard right and plough into one of my rifle groups (which had just failed by 1″ to charge the voltigeurs). Lovely. I’d been aiming at the village again, so as you can see from the next pic, this was a significant miss! One dead and a few shock (disruption) points. It could’ve been worse I suppose..

 

Still, the rifles rallied and after 1 more shot I ordered the crazy Major Brock to desist for a while, and let the enemy take a turn shooting at us. That last rocket came down short of the target like all the rest, but at least evened the score by killing a voltigeur! We were beginning to close in on the village and the fire from the rifles and the light infantry’s muskets was causing Simon a growing problem in casualties and shock points. His earlier sortie, which had caused me some concern, was recalled or forced back, and his voltigeurs somehow made it back to their own lines by routing faster than my men could catch them. With 26 shock points on a unit with only 5 men left, they weren’t going to play any further part in the action, and about time too.

 

Getting back to the mission, the church was still a long way away and there remained a lot of French infantry between me and it. Despite the deadly fire my units were now pouring into the defenders, time was running out and with a flurry of unhelpful (to me) cards and turn ends, the French cavalry finally turned up. As I’d feared, my rifles were too spread out and were vulnerable to being ridden down, even on the rough hills. As fate would have it, the turn ended suddenly again (those damned cards!) which freed up the newly-arrived cavalry to launch an immediate charge.

The first group of riflemen fought well, but were killed or sent packing, and over the next couple of turns the horsemen slaughtered another group, killing the rifles officer and the Irish priest who’d led them by hidden paths to the village. Although my speed-bump rifles did finally manage to stop the cavalry, and cause enough casualties and shock to dent their effectiveness, the game was up. We reviewed the table and agreed that despite the losses and disruption among the French, a successful assault by the remaining British would have had little hope of success. In retrospect I should probably have tried to focus on moving faster and ignoring the temptation to stop and shoot. That said, there’d have been a lot more enemies left to face an assault if I hadn’t wittled them down as I did, so the outcome would still have been in doubt.

The final positions, with the rifles major and the priest lying dead on the hillside as the cavalry pull back to re-group, and the remaining attackers still too far away to achieve their objective:

All in all this was a very enjoyable game with lots of fun and surprises, and a believable outcome at the end. Simon was an excellent host, and played his position well, holding on for the cavalry to thunder to the rescue. The rockets were amusing and completely hopeless at the same time, but added extra flavour to the game. The rules are very good, but are vague in places and we were understandably rusty a year on from game 1. We certainly speeded up once we got going, despite grappling with cavalry, artillery and rockets for the first time. The card-generated turn sequence, with all its uncertainty and swings of luck, makes for great entertainment and a real challenge. Roll on the next game!

A Very Eventful Skirmish – part 1

Yesterday Simon (Goat Major) hosted me for our second ever game using the Sharp Practice rules. We used one of the scenarios from the Compleat Fondler supplement, which involved the British attempting to rescue an important officer from the clutches of the dastardly French before he could be hustled out of the Peninsular. We took advantage of some of our own back-story from the first game we played last year, where the British commander, Fondler himself, was captured (due to my carelessness and Simon’s initiative). It was therefore Fondler who was to be rescued then, by his own men.

Simon had set up the table (6′ x 4′) as an exact replica of the one called for in the scenario, even going to the trouble of putting in some after-work sessions last week to add a necessary large hill! As you can see, the battlefield looked enticing to play over. Pics are from my phone, but hopefully they’re OK.

 

The figures were an eclectic mix of our 18th and 19th century forces, some on group bases and some as singles, along with the appropriate Big Men to lead them – and my new rocket battery of course. We rolled for sides, with me getting the ‘British’ and therefore being the one to attack. Simon duly set up a tough-looking defence of the church in which Fondler was being held, with one squad of voltigeurs under Sergeant Petain required to be out on the hills to provide warning of the British approach.

The various arrivals due included my main force of light infantry and the rockets by road at the start (on blinds), my riflemen (represented by Simon’s lovely Grenzers) via the middle road after a few (but randomly timed) turns, and finally the French cavalry which Simon had to hope would come to his rescue in time. The action kicked off with increasing numbers of my infantry peeling off the road to go cross country and push the voltigeurs back so the rockets could deploy unhindered. It was to take a long time to drive them away, which definitely had an impact on my troops’ positions in the closing stages of the battle.

 

 

I had some luck with the timing of my rifles’ arrival and they were soon racing to cut off the frustratingly resilient voltigeurs, who were benefiting from the cover offered by the scrub-covered slopes they were retreating across.

 

The game was beginning to hot up as the rocket battery deployed on the road within sight of the main French position and started taking fire from the enemy’s light gun. As the eccentric Major Brock (slightly mad scientist and inventor of these experimental rockets) ordered the first fuses lit, no-one on either side could prevent themselves from ducking a little in anticipation of the impending mayhem that was expected to follow.

Part 2 to follow..

Ponte di Spurlacco – Final round up

A few days after fighting the battle, I thought I’d jot down some final details and my reflections on the game while it’s still pretty fresh in my mind.

The casualty returns were as follows:

Medetian Army

Braganza Infantry Regiment          7 figures
Sebastiani’s Grenadiers                1 figure
Weissach Grenz                           2 figures
Montanelli’s Cuirassiers                9 figures (unit retired)

Total                                             19 figures (380 men, of whom about half could be expected to return to the colours during the campaign)

Fleurian Army


Bravence Infantry Regiment          18 figures (unit dispersed)
Friant’s Jagers                                2 figures (unit dispersed)
Wurttemberg Jager                        2 figures
Legion de Fleurie Hussars             1 figure

Total                                              23 figures (460 men, of whom about a third could be expected to return to the colours during the campaign)

Not too bloody, all things considered. However, with the Medetians holding the ground at the end of the battle (and therefore capturing some of the Fleurian wounded) and with two Fleurian units dispersing (with inevitable further losses to desertion), the actual result was probably more in the favour of Medetia than the close tactical victory would suggest. Certainly the Medetian main army would now be able to capitalise on its advanced guard’s hard work and gain an early advantage in the campaign.

The next clash would take place on Fleurian soil then. I need to look through other scenarios I have kept over the years (many of them Charles Grant’s Tabletop Teasers) and decide what will offer the most interest and fun next time round.

In terms of the rules, although I still have some reservations about certain bits (generally the ‘weightiness’ of them rather than the quality),  they did play well and give me believable outcomes. Where there were surprises and dramatic events they all felt plausible for the period and unit types involved, and (assuming I interpreted them correctly) coped well with the ‘tricky’ bits such as split units, fighting over bridges and in built up areas, etc. The Ayton games had given me some familiarity with Henry’s rules, although I think they work better for smaller games with fewer units, where you have more time to appreciate the details of the fighting they’re designed to evoke.

I was pleased with the look of the game itself, and although I still think the rivers are a little ‘bright blue’, the gloss paint does offer different depths of colour and levels of reflection depending on the light, which I like. I wasn’t sure about leaving so much of the table empty of scenery and had been tempted to place more trees, walls, rocks, etc, but having manoeuvered fairly large units all over the place, I’m glad I didn’t!