A Much-Delayed Report of the Leisurely, Protracted Battle of Finchley Common

I swear I wasn't procrastinating. At least this time. Really. I've had vertigo for a week now, so jumping up and down from the computer and leaning over a table were pretty counterproductive. I've got some medication and exercises for it now, so let's see how long this takes me to write.

As a reminder, we used the D3 Jacobite rules from Gridbased Gaming But Not Always. My theory was that, because the rules are a page long, the game would go quickly. In practice, it took around a week. I was lucky to have a very patient opponent! Fellow Paperboys enthusiast George Bisset was even happy to take the clearly disadvantaged Jacobites. As we played remotely, I sent photos of my table and we exchanged moves on Facebook Messenger.

Each unit is represented by two infantry or cavalry bases or one artillery base; each unit has 8 hit points.

Opening positions. Government in two lines with guns in the
front rank; cavalry and a mortar on the flanks. Jacobites in three
lines with cavalry to the fore and three guns to the left.

Turn 1: George started off by charging towards my guns with his cavalry - one unit in each direction. His infantry. Once I remembered the Highlanders would outdistance the one French regiment (represented by Ecossais), he decided to hold them back as artillery guards. His guns all targeted my rightmost dragoon regiment and did a whopping five hits - George's response was "NOW THAT'S SHOOTIN!"

I held fast and swept my cavalry in from the flanks:

My infantry were still out of range (6") so my guns plinked away for a few hits on one cavalry unit, one highlander unit, and one gun.

Turn 2: Communication was a bit confused at this point - because I moved the highlanders 4.5 inches they were smack on the line between squares, which took a little explanation. In practice my photography seemed useful, and comments like "your infantry are a move and a half off, and your cav in range to charge this turn" got across well enough.

George charged my batteries and spread his infantry out a little, with his rear flank units attempting to extend the line.

The Jacobite guns managed to wipe out one of my dragoon regiments, while the cavalry charges were highly successful; between charging bonuses and the vulnerability of guns (which take double hits in CC) they knocked out my two outer guns.

My own moves in response were a bit complex. The Household Cav on my left moved forward and around the Jacobite flank - one struck George's cavalry in the flank, and one charged the infantry unit George had moved to extend his line. On the right, my dragoons did exactly the same thing. My Guards regiments fired a volley, to little effect despite having a "first volley" bonus. One charged Highlander unit broke and retreated towards the built-up areas on its start line. The other units took serious damage, but not enough to wipe them out.

The "ongoing" combats were more worrisome. The rules-as-written do not cover ongoing combats or the fighting scores of units that can't charge. After a little thought, and with George's agreement, I made two decisions:

• Units that cannot charge do their normal firing damage in melee.
• In the second and later turns of a combat, all rolls are at -1. (Remember we're rolling D3s, so this is pretty significant.)

It seemed to work, especially for the gun crews who wouldn't be very effective in melee.

Next, I realized that if units can only attack one opponent - and splitting attacks isn't that useful when you only have D3 to work with - George would have to make a choice.

Fight my guns but be flanked by my cavalry...

Or fight the cavalry but unmask my guns.

Fortunately for him, I then remembered it was his turn, so his infantry could simply charge the gun!

Turn 3: George's units simply moved forward, his front line charging my Guards front line. By now, as he pointed out, this was effectively a solo game, and if I'd felt healthier and run the turns faster it certainly could have been. I lost a third gun to the infantry charge, while my Guards regiments held. Morale in these rules is simply a 2d6 roll against the number of hits taken, and since at this stage my engaged units had 3 or 4 hits, it was difficult for them to roll under and thus break - though I had at least three rolls right on the number! I rallied off most of the hits on my Guard, which meant we'd both used all our "morale" rolls up - three apiece assumed to be from commanders rallying the unit, returning lost HP. In my own turn, I rolled a lot of threes on D3, but without doing enough damage to break my opponents (in part due to the -1 penalty for ongoing combat) so the fights went on.

Since only highlanders and cavalry may charge, my militia could only stand and fire rather than advance into the gaps in the line.

Only 2 has a clear line of sight here - I assume despite
the 45-degree LOS that Militia 1 and 3 can't fire into melee.

Turn 4: George's units either moved forward or continued to battle mine, while his guns shot at their only target - my mortar on the hill. None of my units broke, but they all took enough damage that many would go away next turn. I fought back; flanking helped me destroy three of his units, though this put my victorious dragoons again in the sights of George's guns.

One of George's units broke - into the back of my cavalry, which was sweeping around his flank. Here was another grey area in the rules. Had the cavalry been facing him, I'd have ruled George's infantry destroyed; had the infantry been unbroken, it would have charged into George. Neither seemed to match the events, so instead I had the broken regiment angle around.

The situation on my right - victorious dragoons with a battery
of guns just staring at them.

Turn 5: Despite some gleaming opportunities to hurt my cav, George decided to be characterful and retreat instead. Granted, he would then have been countercharged by my infantry, but at this point I think he was a bit worried by my Cannae-like flanking attempt. 

Half a highlander square. One useful thing that prevents
easy flanking is that a charging unit may only change facing once.

Another of my dragoon regiments was destroyed by fire. In my turn, my cavalry charged his highlanders, while my infantry lines started to move forward across the field.

Turn 6: Another thing for which there aren't rules; withdrawing from combat. I'm used to Warhammer games, where melee continues interminably unless one side or the other fails a morale test - rules for voluntary breaking are rare. In our case, we just allowed it - since only one side fights in a round, it seemed punishment enough that George's retreating units could not do damage to mine. On the other hand, his guns could still fire. At this point I turned to solo work - with George's permission, we just retreated his units, breaking and otherwise, towards the built-up-areas on his table edge. By the end of Turn 7, his survivors had made it to this line, and mine were halfway up the board. At least this is not a Culloden-like defeat for the rebels, who reasonably can wait until dark and slip away from their defensive position.

Casualties: (All units began with 8 HP, those listed are hits lost rather than remaining)

Jacobite: (Units 1-2 cavalry, unit 9 Ecossais, all other units Highlander)

• Gun 1 - 2 hit
• Unit 1 - destroyed
• Unit 2 - 6 hits
• Unit 3 - 6 hits
• Unit 4 - 7 hits
• Unit 5 - 4 hits
• Unit 6 - destroyed
• Unit 7 - 4 hits 
• Unit 8 - destroyed
• Unit 9 - 3 hits
• Unit 10 - 7 hits

Government casualties:

• Gun 1 - destroyed
• Gun 2 - destroyed
• Gun 4 - destroyed
• Gun 5 - 7 hits
• Household Cav 1 - 2 hits
• Household Cav 2 - 3 hits
• Household Cav 3 - 4 hits
• Dragoon 1 - 1 hit
• Dragoon 2 - destroyed
• Dragoon 3 - routed off table.
• Guard 1 - 4 hits
• Guard 2 - 2 hits
• Guard 3 - 3 hits

So the Government actually lost more units - particularly guns, though in context the guns if not the crews would be recovered. George's side had nearly all units still alive but many had taken debilitating casualties and could have been destroyed if we continued in the open field. Of 104 hit points in his army, George lost 63, while of 176, I lost 66. My back line, except for one militia unit, never saw action.

George's reaction to the rules and the game was favorable. 

Me: I think the Scots came out of it pretty well - with a little luck and a willing sacrifice at the end they could have done serious damage to the Brits. At least to the cavalry, thus avoiding a pursuit...

He: I had the impression we were starting to get the worst of it, hence the withdrawal, which worked fairly well.my original plan was to form on the buas and hope you'd attack, and also look for a weak flank. if I had to attack I was surprised to find you so forward on turn one and decided to close right away.

Me: I mostly figured the Brits would be - parading on the parade ground. I also ran quickly out of room for the units. In hindsight, I could certainly have attacked, what with outnumbering.

Issues to think about before the next time I try these short-but-sweet rules:

- Auto-destruction if breaking but trapped?

- What roll to hit during protracted combat?

- Leaving combat voluntarily?

End result - Bonnie Prince Charlie loses the Battle of Finchley Common, but manages to retreat safely with the survivors. Will he make it back to Scotland with Cumberland's and Wade's armies between him and home? Probably not, but might be an interesting skirmish down the road.

Despite the delays, George was very complimentary and offered to be my victim opponent in future remote games. Thanks to everyone who's followed this desultory little campaign.

And happy New Year!

Planning Finchley Common, Part 3 (last one!)

 "Feth it, we'll use a squared grid."

- Me this morning over Messenger, to my opponent.

Part of the problem was the hexes, but what really changed my mind was the small size of the Memoir '44 board. Instead, I broke out one of my Melee Mats, which are 24x36" and writable with wet-erase markers. I marked it up with rows (A to X) and numbers (1-36), then placed the terrain ("buildings centered on I-2, O-2 and G-2") and informed George. He would lay out similar terrain on his home table.

Placing troops was slightly more difficult. In order to fit the entire Government contingent on the board, I was still limited to two-base regiments which were 60mm wide on a board marked in inches. George seemed clear enough when I simply reported that, for example, a line of six infantry regiments ran from D-9 to D-26; so long as they are evenly spaced it'll be okay even if his are of different size. I also named and numbered all units so we're clear about actions.

I ran out of British guns so threw in a Coehorn mortar for interest. My guns and infantry are in the center, my cavalry on the flanks and the mortar on the hill. Left to right:

Household Cavalry.

Guards, guns and militia.

More of the same.

Guards, guns, foot and a handful of loyal Highlanders.

Dragoons and a Coehorn mortar.

My front line of four guns and my Guard infantry is seven inches into the board, with my second line of regular infantry and militia two inches behind.

George wanted a central deployment, so according to his instructions I placed the cavalry in the first line eight inches into the board, three highlander regiments and Ecossais an inch behind, and four more highland regiments an inch behind that. 

From my side.

From his side.

He wanted his guns in the fourth line; when I pointed out they'd be masked by his troops he shifted them to his left. I placed them so that they could fire diagonally past the houses in their front. 

Now that they're not in the way, I may also pull the infantry and cavalry back an inch or two. At present the front lines are 9" apart. I'll be halving the moves and ranges on this smaller board:

• Cavalry: 6"
• Highlanders: 4.5"
• Infantry and Artillery: 3"
• Musketry: 6"
• Artillery: Unlimited; no mortar fire within 12"
• Retreat from fire: 3"
• Rout from melee: 6"

The D3 rules include commanders, but they are basically a hit-point-recovery mechanic and don't even need to be present. For fun, I included Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Glenfinnan standard on one side, and his distant cousin George II with bodyguards on the other.

Given how badly the rebels are outnumbered, this looks like Culloden all over again. I have several ways to balance that, and will discuss with George to see which we'll use.

• Keep the deployment where it is rather than separating it further, saving the Highlanders a turn crossing the board.
• Give the rebels the first turn.
• Roll for the militia and government Highlanders, who are all reluctant. On a 6 (the old "Oops, Sorry Sir" rule from Warhammer 40K), they either flee the board or don't even show up to the fight.
• Roll for weather - on a 1 all shooting will be at a penalty.

Given this is our first try with these rules, it occurred to me (late, of course) that it might be easier to proportionally reduce the number of troops on the board! Halving the number of regiments would make it easier to track all the hit-points they'll have (eight apiece). But since some of them come in odd numbers, that isn't as easy as it sounds. Ah well, in for a pound, as they say. 

See you soon with the results!

Planning Finchley Common, Part 2

So, at the slooowly approaching end of my '45 every-rule campaign, the two sides stand as follows:

British OOB:

• Three Guards regiments.
• Four Yeomen/Militia/Trained Bands regiments.
• One Highlander regiment (Murray's).
• Three line regiments (Royal Irish, Bragg's, Richbell's).
• Three Household Cavalry regiments.
• Three Dragoon regiments (one militia).
• Five light guns.

Rebel OOB: 

• One French regiment (Irish Brigade), seven Highland regiments.
• Two cav regiments (one French, one Scottish).
• Three guns (with French crews).

I hope to also run the Junior General Leuthen scenario this month, so it helps that I need to organize my 18th-century Wofun figures. The Leuthen scenario will require three bases per regiment, but I'll want less to fit them all onto my new Memoir '44 board. The D3 rules require tracking hit points for regiments, so sizes aren't important. However, George will be using conventional minis on his own table, so I need to work out the right size.

The board itself is 9x13 hexes. At first I thought 90x130cm might work, which would be roughly 3x4feet, with cm for the moves. But first, the width of a hex is wider than the height (6x5.5cm), and second, it wouldn't provide much room for the armies. Another possibility is half that number of inches - 45x65, so about four by five-and-a-half feet, normal inches for increments, and smaller regiments. 

The Memoir '44 board itself is about 17x27 inches of playable area, room only for seven or eight three-base regiments. So gotta break it down. Eight two-base regiments plus three guns also cross the whole board. Guess we're stuck with one base per unit.

As you'll see in the first photo, this still isn't quite large enough; it may be better to use the entire 2x4 table and mark its edges. I'll have to label both the units and the hexes for George's benefit anyway.

For terrain, I've opted for an open field with buildings at the edges
and low hills in one corner. I have proper foam hills on the way,
but with hexes I'll have just a couple villages on the larger table.

Given the orientation of Finchley Common to what would have been the rebel route of advance, I considered playing down the long axis of the table, but that just won't work even on a one-base scale. 

Another option that occurred to me just as I posted, is to reduce the number of units! Perhaps one large regiment per "brigade?"

The Government force, reduced to "regiments" representing
(right-to-left) militia, guns, Guards, line, Household cav, dragoons.

Suggestions happily accepted!

Planning Finchley Common

 For about a month now, I've been talking with the very patient George Bisset on Facebook about running a remote game to finish off my desultory '45 solo campaign. Part of the problem with remote games is my cat Lex, who will happily interfere with any game in her line of sight, and George suggested that he use his own table and miniatures, with me basically GMing. While this is a bright idea, we went back and forth on methods of ensuring that we were both "on the same table."

His plan was that I would have table squares in order to tell him "X Regiment is in A2." Even if he were using an ordinary table, so long as we determine distances and angles to terrain pieces he should still be able to manage with my instructions as a guide. While I liked this, I haven't got a table or map of the appropriate size or breakdown. I considered sticking pennies to the tabletop, and was on the verge of creating and printing a large paper map when I decided to order Memoir '44.

While I've heard many good things about this game, what intrigued me was how many of the players on the Paperboys Facebook group have used the related Commands and Colors game with paper figure stands in place of the block pieces. That and my increasing interest in Bob Cordery's popular Portable Wargame made me want to use a ready-made hex-board with plenty of terrain hexes to add to it.

I received Memoir '44 a couple days ago.

Sometimes I wonder if it's the color green that Lex likes.

The board is 13x9. The photo is grainy, 
must try to avoid that if I use this method to
communicate moves.

Experimental shot of units. Will need to fix the lighting
to make both units and hexes recognizable.

Lawrence Newman, who ran a similar campaign for his kids last year, sent me a couple useful maps. They're both from well after the battle, but it doesn't have to be perfect.

1780s. Not sure where (if) it overlaps with the next.

19th century; appears to be "enclosed."

He also filmed part of the scenario on Youtube:

In practice, it looks like we can get away with a flat, open space, with buildings and perhaps a ridge or two at the edges. Lawrence says he began the scenario with the British army deployed and the rebels marching on. Any comments or suggestions are welcomed!

Given the board size, I am thinking of suggesting a 130x90cm table, with moves made in cm (as I doubt George has an 11-foot table!). The rules, incidentally, will be the one-page D3 rules from Grid-Based Gaming But Not Always. Units on my table will be represented by single Wofun bases. Since units have "hit points" in these rules, there should be a way to mark units and track casualties, perhaps with a spreadsheet. If I can, I want to be able to do it myself, effectively "GM'ing" George's more conventional table.

Finally, George has linked me to a map-and-scenario editor on the Memoir '44 website. If I can work out how to use it, it'll be a good way to "store" unit positions, as in practice this game may take some time to play and I simply can't leave it out for the cats to pounce on...

Falkirk in FKR mode

 My '45 campaign has fallen by the wayside. I've done an awful lot of reading since, and experimented with a lot of rules, which is half the reason the campaign has been problematic. If I ever settle on a single ruleset, I might re-run it. Next year maybe.

Today, I'll try using the solo Free Kriegspiel rules I tried at work a couple weeks ago:

Despite the bloody nose they had at the border, the government are on the move, with twelve infantry units, three cavalry and four guns.

Against this, the rebel Scots have eight infantry (half elite), one French cavalry regiment, and three guns.

Using the Black Powder campaign, I have the choice of two scenarios:

• The Spey: An abortive river-crossing action during the real war, but one that could have happened. Requires good timing on the part of the rebel player, who must decide the right time to move out of cover (against enemy guns) and attack the crossing government army.
• Falkirk proper: Initially a cavalry advance against high ground, with fire reduced by the weather. This would at least even things for the rebels, which I might need as they are outnumbered three-to-two.

There are scenarios for both in CS Grant's Programmed Wargames Scenarios; in fact what I would use for Falkirk, Hill Line Defence, is the first and simplest in the book. Okay, I'll do Falkirk.

The table and layout are based on a map from Wikipedia that I can't add to the blogpost for some reason.

A patch of carpet represents swampy ground, black cards an impassable ravine. Moves and ranges will be based on Simpson's rules as well:

• Infantry line, guns: 5cm.
• Cavalry line, infantry column: 10cm.
• Cavalry column: 15cm.
• Musketry: 10cm.

A few certainties for the result table:

Owing to bad weather, all units have three turns of fire.

Victory conditions: If one side has lost or retreated with half its units, the game ends.

After first removing an uncooperative cat (left) the table is set (right):

Rebels:

Government:

Turn One: The government advance. The Highlanders roll to see whether they hold their ground, and score "Yes, But." They don't charge, but do fire off one of their volleys to zero effect, as the enemy are out of range.

The British horse canter forward, not quite in range to charge next turn.
I have got to get better lighting in here...

Turn Two: The French cavalry countercharge one of the British regiments, on the Likely row for downhill impetus: "Yes, but." They drive back the British, but are themselves forced to retreat. The rightmost Highlanders roll to not charge the cav in their front, at even odds because it's obviously not good for infantry to charge cavalry: +2. They hold their ground and fire instead, with a result of -2 for "No." No effect on the British.

Turn Three: Further advance. As the French and one British horse regiment rally, the rest of the horse charge up the slope into the Highlanders. Even odds this time for the Brits going uphill and the Highlanders fighting cavalry. I roll "no, but" and interpret this to mean the Highlanders don't break, but are forced back.

There is a firefight, with a +1 for the chaps on the far right of the British line who outflank the Scots. "Yes buts" all around; the Scots take casualties and are out of ammo, but are enraged enough to charge! 

As a clan slams into the Hessians, the Irish behind stand their ground.

On "Likely to win assault," the clans score (left to right): even, +1, +1, -2, -2, +1, +4. The English are forced back on the left, hold their ground in the center, and the right hand unit breaks and is eliminated.

Push of Pike (or bayonet!)

Turn Three: The British right flank pivots into the Scots; they are Grenadiers, so I would say they're Very Likely to Win. Nonetheless, they roll -2, meaning No, But. I interpret this to mean the fight degenerates into a free-for-all and the English are winning.

The other infantry melees roll No, But twice and Yes, But twice. On the No's, the battle does not end but the Scots are pushed back, on Yes but, the Scots retreat but the Government do not pursue.

Do the resting cavalry recover? French No, British Yes, But - so both retain their positions but the Brits are not ready to charge again.

How goes the cav vs. clan battle? The cav roll Yes, But. The Scots retreat, but the cavalry is exhausted and cannot pursue. Too bad, as in that case they could chase the Scots from the table.

Too bad, as in that case they could chase the Scots from the table.

Turn Four:

Do the British horse charge? Yes, but they'll be exhausted afterwards. This will be an even fight then, and the British win it, driving the French Horse from the field.

Melees again, rolling for the British. Do they win? No, Yes But, No, No, Yes And. Five British units retreat in disorganization; two force their Scottish enemies to retreat but are exhausted, and the leftmost Highlanders, flanked by British grenadiers, are overwhelmed and removed.

Kinda a repeat of my previous fight here; The rebels are flanked at both ends but the Government center (see next pic) is disintegrating.

Turn Five: 

Do the Scottish infantry facing the horse rally? Seems Unlikely. They have a No, But. They haven't recovered, but at least they're still on the board.

Do the retreating masses of British infantry rally? Unlikely under the circumstances; all score No and continue to fall back. (One is a militia regiment and thus has been dropping a line on the chart.)

How about the column that won its battle? Yes, But it won't advance. It fires instead (final volley) and is Likely to win the firefight. It does, so the Scots opposite retreat.

Will the Scots follow up their victories? 50/50 after all that fighting: Yes, But. Okay, they rally but are too tired to move far. They shore up their line ready to fight all the grenadiers to their left.

Do the victorious Brits and Hessians on the right flank rally? I would say Likely, and Yes; they dress their lines and swerve towards the rebel left flank. The Irish, the only reserve, move to face them.

I think we're getting on toward twilight here.

Turn Six (and last, given it's getting late): 

Do the tired British cavalry retreat? I'd say Likely. Yes they do, And they retreat off the board into the evening mist. The tired rebel right has held on by its fingernails.

Do the rest of the British infantry also retreat off the board? Likely. Yes, But they do so in good order.

Will the grenadiers make a fight of it? Unlikely, given they are now unsupported. No, But again they retreat in good order.

The Scottish rebels have won the day!

One British foot regiment is eliminated, and one clan regiment. I roll on the campaign recovery table - the Scots recover their lost unit, while the British don't, plus their militia unit deserts. Then the Scots roll on their victory table - 5. They raise a second cavalry regiment.

Will the British regroup and advance again into the Highlands, or will the Scots push south into England again? Time will tell...

I think these "narrative" rules worked fairly well. Some granularity to track casualties and morale might come in handy, but given that casualties in the period were relatively low, I think the total destruction of just one regiment apiece makes sense; we can assume that time and typical recruiting will bring the others back up to strength for the next battle.

Prepping for Falkirk (not there yet!)

 I bought the Black Powder ACW starter set and have been reading the rules. They include this quote about Falkirk:

"There was a high wind accompanied by a heavy rain, which the Highlanders, by their position, had in their back, whilst it was full in the face of the English who were blinded by it. They were, besides, incommoded with the smoke of our discharge, and the rain, getting into their pans, rendered the half of their muskets useless."

That's useful background! The Black Powder campaign also recommends limiting the number of volleys to be fired, perhaps to D3. This should work alright for Simpson's rules. I have played his Falkirk scenario before, from Wargames Illustrated 134. That is recommended at this point in the campaign, but the forces will be different given the track of my own campaign thus far. For one thing, I don't think the majority of British units should be below average, and they should also outnumber the Highlanders. I'm undecided about guns, which did not feature at the actual battle.

In other news, I've continued assembling the ACW plastics; my goal at this point is to have two sets, one for solo play at home and one for experimentation at work. However, gaming at home will halt for the moment, as my Dad is visiting and he's not a gamer. He got me into military and aviation history, and in the UK we visited Culloden, Portsmouth and Bovington. As an engineer, though, he wanted to see the Falkirk Wheel instead.

Aside, my cat likes Black Powder. Or at least the enormous box it comes in.

So that's my last home post for a bit. I hope at least to play at work next month, though. Happy gaming!