Battle of Blasthof

This is a game I've wanted to play for close to thirty years. Well, to be fair, I did play it with my first pack of 28mm AWI Wofuns, years before I started this blog, but I was using the original "beginner" rules then. This time is with the Athena Books edition which I hope to run at Das Krieg Haus. All moves and ranges are converted from inches to centimeters.

The forces:

2nd Foot, Yorbourne Dragoons, and Blew's Battery

 Saillant Regiment, 1st Cheval and Jaune Battery.

Deployment. My apologies: closer examination
will reveal the refuse of the farmer's feline harvest.

I did not play a true solo game with intent to win, I simply put the "Electoral" Brits on the defense while the "Imperial" French aggressively moved to seize the bridge. As it proved, this wouldn't be good tactics, but it did provide opportunities to test all the mechanics.

Turn 1: Both sides move, Brits cautiously - except to
cross the river with cavalry.

Turn 2: Closer to bridge. French cav reforming,
with intend to hold off Brit cav from preventing
a crossing.

Turn 3: Brit cav tempt French to charge. Notice that
the British guns have been plinking at the French horse,
who thus far have three casualties.

Turn 4: Cavalry charge. French lose due to 4 casualties
from crossing artillery fire, though killed two Brits
in melee. Infantry crossing bridge.

I used the SCRUD method for the 1-1 fighting. One combat was 2-1, so its side got to double the score and I rolled separately. Infantry melee is simpler, one die-score of casualties per 10 men fighting.

Notice that until this point, the French battery was entirely masked. It fired its first shots and killed one British gunner, who was immediately replaced by a nearby infantryman.

Turn 5: French cav retreats one move past guns while Brits rally.
Infantry gets onto bridge but takes 11 casualties
from guns and musketry. I forgot that canister allows full score
to hit between 6-12", so it could've been even worse.

Turn 6: French horse retreats second move. French infantry charges. British canister causes only two casualties! Also I think I forgot to roll for British musketry on the way in - there should have been three dice of long-range (ie half casualty) fire.

19 infantry a side, at one die per 10 men (I'll use full dice, though the second ought to be halved). The French win the melee, 9 casualties to 3! (plus two prisoners), but are now at half strength of their original 32 and must retreat. They fail to capture the colour (on a 6), which would have been a consolation.

I should have tried column attack here, which would have allowed four ranks of the column (16 figures) to fight versus two (eight figures) of the line. It probably would have come out the same.

Brits, recovered, charge the French guns, taking two casualties to canister on the way. One gun is contacted. Gunners cannot fight and are automatically deleted.

Turn 7: French cav rally. Both sides' infantry retreat.
The Yorbourne Dragoons take the second French gun,
whose crew do not have time to spike
(would be hit during the spiking move).
Brit guns fire canister at the retreating infantry on the bridge,
again causing only two casualties!

Owing to the order of actions, in which artillery fires before charges go in, it would normally be possible for the French gun to get a shot off, but the cav are too close (less than 3cm).

Current casualty score: 

• Brits: 18 of 60
• French: 34 of 58.

Turn 8: The now understrength French have clearly lost, but as the bridge is the objective and they're still on it, we'll do one more turn. Infantry fall back again, Saillant are now off the bridge. To prevent them being charged by the dragoons, ten rallied French cav charge six Brits, meleeing among the guns. Three casualties to one, plus a prisoner - the British horse are down to two men and (at 1/3 strength or less) out of the game. This will give the French the opportunity to retrieve their guns, even under fire from the intact British battery.

Just for the heck of it, the British battery gets off two more rounds of fire before the French are out of range. They cause two more casualties to the infantry.

Turn 11: Both British units are done rallying.
They can both return to the bridge by turn 15,
so, like Soubise's Electorals, have thoroughly won.

End total: 

• Brits: 22 casualties, including three prisoners. Serious casualties to infantry regiment, cavalry almost eliminated.
• French: 38 casualties, including entire gun crew and over half an infantry regiment. Guns retrieved from field.

I think this went pretty well. And it was surprisingly fun. At this small scale, the inch-cm conversion worked very well. My first thought for playing this scenario at Das Krieg with more than two players is to raise each base to a regiment, thus having five battalions and two horse regiments against four and three respectively. The two guns would remain, being appropriate for the size of fight.

My other thought is to run "Kleine Krefeld" from Charles S. Grant's first Wargaming in History volume, but that is a less "setpiece" action. I may try it myself in the cm scale at home. 

Speaking of which, I found Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers on ebay and have a copy on the way. Looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for reading.

Mincepie Pass

Two birds with one stone here - trying the Minceheim "mass battle" rules and finally getting round to the third scenario from Grant's programmed wargames. We'll be following up on my last Minceheim game, in which a dwarf mining team had a bad time with goblins. So the dwarves are going to go after the gobbos in force - which means they have to clear a pass.

Appropriately, the figures I'm using are from the old Warhammer Battle for Skull Pass box!

Three warrior units, two handgunner units, two miner units.
(one miner unit not shown)

Three goblin spear units, one archer unit, one spidercav unit.

The field of battle.

Gobbo light troops are up front, while the spearmen
won't appear until the dwarves reach the second third of the table.

Turn 1: The dwarves, limited to 2" movement due to heavy armor, shuffle forward on the center and left. (The miners on the flank are limited to 1" thru the trees.) The handgunners and archers exchange fire; the requirement for the gunners to reload a turn is balanced by +2 to wound.

Turn 2: The handgunners deliver another volley to the goblin archers - the survivor fails morale and runs.The spider-riders, however, line up for an attack on the forward miner unit, which faces left towards them.

Turn 3: The front handgunner unit turns to face the spiders, though at this point they don't really have line of sight with a melee about to start. The other forms column to get by them. The spider riders charge the miners, but in their heavy armor only kill one. However, only one goblin dies in return. Neither unit is under half strength.

Turn 4: The melee goes on, though the spiders now have dwarves approaching on both flanks. They take a casualty each. The surviving archer rallies and returns to the edge of the trees on the ridge for free sniping (the dwarves won't be able to shoot him in cover).

It occurs to me at this late stage that the dwarves shouldn't have been able to shoot the other archers either. Hm. Fortunes of war?

Turn 5: The miners eliminate the spider riders and the whole army lurches forward another two inches. Just 36" to go!

At this point we're close enough for the goblin back line to deploy - on the heights. I'm undecided whether to reinforce with another squad of archers; under the circumstances - right now the defenders are outnumbered two-to-one - it seems fair. The dwarves advance on a broad front; the goblins' programmed response is to "attempt to draw the enemy into the pass and envelop them." Well, it can do that with the warriors, but probably not the handgunners or miners.

Four turns later, the dwarven march is starting to straggle, while a clash looks ready to start on the goblin right and center. The handgunners will have to get thru the trees before they can assist, and by that time they might have to fire into melee to be of any help.

Turn 10: More maneuvering. The goblins are out of position to fight the handgunners now at the edge of the treeline, but at least they're on a lower level so can't be shot at yet. I draw the front-line dwarves up to avoid a goblin charge next turn; both sides are trying to gain positions where two units can gang up on one.

Turn 11: The first charge goes in. Let's see how this goes - the goblins get double attacks for their polearms. Two (!) of the attacks pass their armor saves, and eight of the fourteen resultant hits are kills (5+). The first dwarf unit is eliminated. Oh, and the lone surviving archer has been killed off.

Turn 12: A nice little scrum:

The dwarves are overwhelmed and broken, with three figures remaining.

I've just realized I'm not sure I'm doing melee correctly. In many games, both sides fight in a turn of melee - I've been doing it only on the side's turn, so that when a unit is broken, it loses its chance to fight. This has the effect of encouraging aggression.

Turn 13: And again:

Six more dwarf casualties.

Turn 14: The dwarves hold their own, as the forward dwarf regiment marches stolidly towards the goblin back line. Goblins assault, their spears proving key with all the extra attacks. One regiment of handgunners breaks, a warrior regiment holds its ground with but two dwarves remaining.

Turn 15-16: The handgunners are run down, but the second line fires a volley into the goblins and breaks them. Two survivors flee. One of the spear-gobbo regiments on the far side of the valley sees off its opponents, but the survivor meets up with the dwarf rear guard.

From victorious to sitting ducks.

Back-and-forth fighting but the dwarf reserves are hastening to the rescue.

"Where are we going, chief?"
"Away, young dwarf. Away."

Turn 17-20: More internecine warfare. I did not determine an army breakpoint for the game, but there are now three decimated dwarf units remaining, and one goblin one (in a position to be shot at in another turn). The dwarves have carried the pass, but at grievous cost.

End game.

The rules are very simple, more so than the skirmish game - though I may have missed some subtleties. I did give handguns a bonus to wound, for example, but didn't do so for the dwarf axes. The table size and fighting down the length made it seem longer than it really was. Perhaps the army break point can be the same as for individual units - at half strength, roll a 5+ or retreat.

I also played turns "turn and turn about," rather than with an initiative roll. The fewer steps to recall, the better, and it would have made for a swingier, messier game anyway. I didn't play either side very well; one thing I've noticed with the Grant Programmed Rules is that the AI instructions must of necessity be vague. I ended up being more aggressive with the goblins than their instructions called for - though with their spears this actually didn't go too badly!

The "campaign," such as it is, is in stalemate, and I'd either have to have a truly massive battle (maybe not a good idea with this little experience at the rules) or start a skirmish campaign as the sides try to find a lateral path to victory. I look forward to trying it. "Please let's not go through Mincepie Pass again, milord."

A good game, but definitely something smaller next time. I did enjoy the speed with which it could be played, even if I overlooked a few steps. Til next time.

Minceheim in the Mountains

I haven't had much leisure for play lately - more interested in reading, and it also feels like a drag to pull terrain and minis out and set them up for a larger game. Having put together a Charge! Pocketmod, I was thinking of trying Blasthof Bridge. Then I spotted my copy of Minceheim, and realized I could do that even quicker.

Scenario: A dwarf mining team is in its base when goblins supported by monsters turn up. Can they hold out?

All the dwarves have light armor, two have shields, the foreman has a mining tool that is +2 to wound but can misfire like a gun.

The goblins have bows, one "prodder" with a spear, a Troll (Goliath) and a Giant Spider (Horror).

Lex wanted to play so badly, I felt guilty
shooing her off the table every couple minutes.
Amazingly, we managed to avoid disruption.

The trained miners head for the high ground, whilst their apprentices hold the camp. Their opponents also climb - the spider races over the crags, but one of the archers falls and is stunned for a turn.

The spider charges the one miner who's gotten up. He can only save, since he's effectively stunned (no move this turn) by the climb, and is wounded and killed. The others immediately return to the ruined building, and one is hastily exchanged for a handgunner (read: he found a gun in the team's baggage).

The bad guys have rested from their climb, and the one who fell recovers. They advance or climb as appropriate.

The spider charges again, clambering over the broken-down walls of the camp as the handgunner aims, not wanting to hit his mate.

Both miner and spider roll a 1 and recoil. The handgunner blasts the spider and wounds it, then the other dwarves charge from the ruin with earsplitting battle cries. The foreman causes another wound to the freakish monster.

As the Goblin climbers recover their breath, one archer reaches position to fire whilst the troll clambers down, ready for its turn. The spider wounds the foreman, whose armor saves him. He strikes back, but neither he nor his plucky fellow manage to wound the beast. The handgunner hurries to get into LOS of the troll.

At last the dwarves win initiative - the gobbos have been going first all this time. The handgunner settles his aim on the troll.

The spider parries an attack from the junior miner and retreats an inch, towards the troll. The foreman follows up, but fails to hit him. Uh-oh...

On the bad guys' turn, the troll can't reach anything because the spider is in its way. A tie causes both spider and foreman to back up - but the only way for the spider to go is over the troll. I decide this means they will fight each other on the gobbos' next turn! The handgunner switches his aim to the goblin archer and knocks him back an inch.

The dwarves win init again and clamber back into their nice, safe ruins. The spider stuns the troll - the dwarves have a breather!

The gobbos decide to fall back out of sight of the handgunner and wait for the titanic battle to resolve itself. So do the tired dwarves. 

The troll is bitten again by the spider, but its tough hide protects it. It rises again to its full towering height and on the next turn crushes the spider with its massive rock. Before it can celebrate its victory, a dwarven slug smashes into it. The foreman follows up with another charge, and would have wounded the beast but for its tough hide. The troll returns the blow, driving the foreman back, at which point a feathered goblin shaft strikes him and knocks him down. Back to danger!

The Troll furiously drives down upon the fallen foreman, and only his heavy dwarven armor saves him. The handgunner, finding his LOS blocked by the troll's bulk, fires into it, but its 6+ hide saves it again (for at least the third time this game!

Two of the dwarves hasten to save their master, exposing themselves but still too far to reach. The goblin archer takes his opportunity, but his arrow snaps on the dwarf's stout armor. The goblin spearman leaps from the heights to confront the junior dwarves. Since he has to recover from his jump, he cannot avoid a hammer-blow that knocks him off his feet.

The troll aims another fearsome blow at the winded foreman, whose armor protects him. Then he and the other dwarves have their own go. One dispatches the fallen goblin spearman, but the others are driven back by the wildly swinging troll.

The hammer dwarf clambers up the stone face to confront the goblin archer, who shoots and stuns him. The dwarves on the ground are more successful (for once!). They charge the troll and stun it twice.

Next turn, the troll cannot parry, only roll a 6 to save against more dwarf blows in his flesh. He makes both saves! The third dwarf survives a blow from the goblin archer. The handgunner risks a shot into the archer, but his gun jams... the other goblin archer chances a shot into the melee below but hits the troll instead - and wounds!

(Hits are automatic, but I randomized the target 1-4 dwarves, 5-6 troll and rolled a 5.)

The frustrated dwarf handgunner tosses his gun aside and scrambles to help his equally frustrated comrades. It is his blow that at last slays the frustrated troll.

The goblin archer dispatches the brave but foolhardy dwarf on the heights. Staring daggers at his abashed companion, the surviving gobbos fade back into the hills. The dwarves have defeated two monsters, but at grave cost - there will be a new grudge inscribed into the annals.

Playtesting Bundok and Bayonet

Having read (so far) about two thirds of Campaigns on the North-West Frontier 1849-1908, I was eager to try a quick round of Bob Cordery's old classic Bundok and Bayonet with my Wofun Great Game collection. I may have been in too much of a hurry to make a balanced scenario, though: read on.

Sir Hectare McDonald, Colonel of the Upteenth Bengal Infantry, has been tasked with marching up the Whatsit Valley to reconnoiter and, if possible, burn the native village at the other end. (The natives have been uppity.) He has his understrength battalion of fifteen men, and two squadrons (eight men) of the Bengal Lancers.

The natives have a dozen riflemen, ten swordsmen, and a rusty old cannon.

Village to right, native rifles on the ridge at bottom,
gun in the village, swordsmen at center. Indian troops
enter at left.

The rules have a few similarities with TSATF; they are card-driven, and units have random move distances. When a red (British) or black (native) card is drawn, a unit is selected and rolls a morale check, trying to roll under its number of figures on a variable number of D6. Then it may choose two actions - shooting, movement, formation change, etc. On a failure, the unit still has plenty of options, but any movement must be away from the enemy.

Turn 1: The infantry moves at the double through the pass, and is fired on by native rifles and cannon, losing two of the battalion's sixteen men. Then I realize the firing required two sixes per kill at long range, and the casualties get back up. The native foot and Bengal cavalry both fail their morale rolls and thus do nothing this turn.

Gun in the village. Note the unique local architecture.

Swordsmen cunningly hidden behind a patch of stone, giggling.

Khyber rifles waiting patiently, with a fine view of the valley.

The expedition faces front.

Turn 2: The Bengal infantry changes formation to put more rifles into the firing line (only the first rank may fire or fight), but cause no casualties (the hills provide cover, requiring four hits per casualty at long range). The swordsmen pop out of hiding and charge screaming into the Bengal regiment, but lose three of their own in the melee in exchange for a single Indian figure.

The Indian infantry moves into range.

First melee.

Turn 3: The swordsmen fail their morale this turn, so their options are limited. They fight another close combat, then move away. Both sides lose two men before the natives break. While this clears room for the mountaineers to fire, at long range they remain ineffective. The Bengal Lancers move 15" onto the table, but only two of them can see a target for their carbines. The Bengal Infantry moves forward and fires at whatever targets it can see.

Turn 4: The lancers are forced to change formation to get through the pass, which means they can't attack this turn (you can change formation and move, or move and assault, but not all three). The Bengal Infantry find themselves on the end of a short(range) stick as the musketeers on the hill fell three of them. Their mounted colonel nestles into shelter and gives an order that he should have given on Turn 1: "Take the hills!" The infantry mount a bayonet charge up the slopes (losing four inches of movement to climb two contours), but lose two of their own to the sharp Khyber knives. The native gun nudges its way into the open, hoping to take the cavalry as they approach. Its long-range fire picks off one Lancer. The surviving swordsmen roll a five on 2d6 - exactly what they need to charge and fight again. They clamber into the rocks to sandwich the hapless Bengal Infantry. The fight is inconclusive.

Lancers narrow their front to move ahead.

Turn 5: The British clearly haven't brought enough troops to this battle. Colonel McDonald sounds retreat. The Bengals scramble along the ridge back whence they came. The Lancers follow, hoping to screen the infantry in retreat, but apparently stumble on the rocks as they roll seven on 4D6! The swordsmen plunge after them and, impressively, kill two horsemen for no loss. The musketeers on the hills pick off two more of the Bengal Infantry, including the Colonel, who made a great target.

Turn 6: The swordsmen fail their morale check, so stand around waving their swords and jeering at the fleeing British. Both infantry and cavalry retreat precipitately (16"+!) and are either off the board or out of sight.

The game was lost from the start, really, because there weren't enough Imperial troops. My key mistake with the Bengal Infantry was keeping them in the plains, when what I've just been reading and one of the key rules of mountain fighting tells me to hold the high ground! Standard procedure on these expeditions was to drive the tribesmen off the peaks and only then send the column through the valleys. The decimated swordsmen were the MVPs of the match, passing two difficult morale checks in succession to keep them annoying the Indians.

Takeaways:

• Only my first game, so there were a few mistakes on the rules. In particular, I didn't notice that units get an extra die to move in open ground, which made a difference early on. Shooting was also a bit tricky - all hits are on sixes, but it's possible to shoot twice and you need more or fewer hits to score casualties depending on range and cover.
• I was flipping back and forth between the morale, movement, shooting and close-combat rules, each of which was on a separate page of my printout. A quick-rules-sheet would be handy, but the rules are quite brief so it should be doable.
• The rules as a whole are simple, with basic mechanisms and a "loads-of-dice" attitude. I was getting the hang of them by the end of the game.
• Close combat is deadlier than shooting, since only one hit is needed for a casualty, whereas much of the shooting was at long-range or into rocks, requiring two or even four hits per kill.
• There's no morale check at the end of combat; it comes next turn when a unit that has taken casualties is less likely to pass. A failure means that it is limited to holding still or falling back.

If this were a campaign, the clear defeat the Indian Army suffered would lead to further uprising and perhaps fire all along the mountain chain. What next for the Border? Only time will tell...

Leuthen Solo

So it took a while, but I finally finished assembling the church and ten paper regiments (thirty stands) of heavy cavalry. The Prussians got cuirassiers and the Austrians what I think are heavy dragoons. The Wofun chaps will count as "regular" cavalry. Infantry are easier to tell apart, since I have plenty of the plastics in grenadier or fur caps.

"the lighter the category of cavalry
the more pronounced the curve in the blade of its sabre."
- Christopher Duffy

Of course, then I procrastinated getting the game going. It's the last day of December, so I think I can still claim this is an anniversary game. I've also been reading a book on AWI naval warfare, and working on the DnD 5th Edition Player's Handbook (not that that will be much use past May when a new edition comes out).

Junior General's Leuthen scenario is even more basic than others in its class on the site; for example, columns aren't a thing, so all units move at the same speed. Although those 24 inches from the enemy may make double moves. Fair enough.

The setup, on a 4x6 table (smaller than the recommended 5x7):

Range is unusually short in this scenario; most have guns with 24" range, but here it's 12" (infantry have 6"). The sides start 18" apart, so movement is in order. Perhaps to make this feel like a larger battle? On the other hand, units can both move and charge.

Turn 1: On the right, the Austrian cavalry start to sweep round the Prussian left flank. On the left near Leuthen, the Prussian cavalry drive the Austrians back into Leuthen and kill their commander, Nadasty.

Turn 2: The Austrian cavalry drives back the Prussian flank guard, wiping out half of it, but on the left the Prussian horse fight their way into Leuthen. The Prussian infantry and artillery haven't even fired a shot yet.

Decimated Prussian horsw sweep through the village.

Turn 3: Prussian cavalry gets around Leuthen as the Austrian infantry reserves reverse ranks to hold them off. The Prussian left is still holding out against the Austrian cavalry, who can't make it over to Leuthen to hold off the looming Prussian infantry. Cavalry fight their way through the Leuthen defenders.

The equivalent of Rot-Wurzburg did not hold this time.

The church is practically surrounded.

Turn 4: While its left flank desperately holds out in Leuthen under heavy fire from the Prussian center-right, the bulk of the Austrian army tries to form a line behind Leuthen to hold off the Prussian horse. The Prussian cavalry has got past Leuthen by now while the infantry is firing into the town and causing casualties. I think this is definitely a Prussian victory, though their cavalry has taken a beating.

While Prussian horse is following up, I think it's clear
that the Austrian infantry could finish forming a line on
this side of town before the Prussian main force arrives.

I find the Junior General rules a little fiddly for a solo player because of the morale mechanism - before melee both sides must remember to check.

1. Attacker checks - if failed, no charge
2. Defender checks - if failed, lose a base and fall back
3. Melee roll-off - loser loses a base and falls back.

Each scenario is slightly different, but all of the "horse and musket" types taken together make for a nice, simple set that, as intended, would work well for kids. It would help if I had an opponent to remind me of the steps, though!

The other issue - and this is my own fault for "mixing" miniatures - is reassembling the units in their correct groupings and boxes. I might have to find a way of notating the regiments, perhaps by sticking tabs under the bases.

It is two hours to midnight here on New Year's Eve, so I at least completed the Leuthen anniversary game in the same month! All the best to you and yours, and here's to more gaming activity in the new year. Thanks for all the commentary and encouragement I've gotten from readers - community is key to gaming, even online. See you next year!