G'day Wargamers! Hope you are doing great! Although the blog has been rather stale lately, I'm gaming all the time. Some miniatures, but mostly Euro games and board wargames. I've played nearly 100 games of these various types this year so far.
SYW Battle
Back in April I ran a somewhat small Seven Years War battle with my new British army getting a chance to fire their muskets for the first time! This is a scenario where the French were caught off-guard near their camp by an Allied Army of British, Hanoverians, and Hessians.
- Rules: Battle Command from Piquet Inc.
- Figures: 18mm Old Glory, and 18mm Eureka (Grenadiers de France).
- Number of Players: 2 (I was umpire)
- Terrain: Cigar Box mat, homemade trees, flex-terrain roads, and PaperTerrain 10mm buildings.
Normally I give a lot of blow-by-blow action text, but I'm in a rush today so it will be mostly photos. As usual, click on the photos to enlarge and go through the slide show.
SETUP and FORCES
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| French Left Cavalry wing holding the ground in front of the town and anchored on the hilltop forest |
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| British Infantry Wing (their first time on the table). |
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| Hessian infantry wing with light guns following the infantry. |
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| Hessian cavalry on the Allied left wing with 12# battery in support. |
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| The entire battlefield from the Allied left wing. French forces are occupying a low ridge line. |
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| French right-wing cavalry deployed on the ridge and anchored by woods. |
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| Love how these British turned out! |
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| Grenadiers de France returning to the field! Will they get their in time?! This was their first time in a battle! These are Eureka figures. |
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| View from the French perspective |
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| Edge view of the two forces. |
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| Allied German cavalry |
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| Vaubanner Flags on these British. British painted by Old Guard painters out of Kiev, Ukraine. |
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| Closer view of the French cavalry wing near the town. |
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| Three new French cavalry that have just been based and flagged! I got a lot of new regiments on the table for the first time. |
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| Swiss in French service. |
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| French view of the British infantry wing. The British guns were surprisingly effective from distance throughout the entire game. |
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| Hessians |
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| British cavalry covering the flank of the British Grenadiers. |
THE BATTLE
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| The battle started with some long range canon fire, but the English cavalry did a massive charge into the French left wing cavalry |
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| French Light guns in reserve in case the British break through. |
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| Melees on this flank were swirling ordeals. |
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| No massive routs, but a sway back and forth. |
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| The Hessians advance and drive back the front line of the French defensive positions. |
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| The British march forward slow and methodically. |
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| The Alsace regiment is all that is left in the first line of French infantry. Tan and Brown pipe cleaners indicate UI loses. |
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| The Swiss are driven back by the Hessians. Green cubes indicate disorder. |
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| A view down the line |
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| French and Hessian cavalry clash on the flanks. The French take a beating. |
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| French guns deliver canister fire into the British dragoons, with little visible damage! |
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| The Grenadiers de France rush forward into the gap in the French line. |
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| Grenadiers make life difficult for the British |
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| The British put on a show advancing into the French lines |
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| British guns are silent now as their troops are blocking their view. |
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| British Grenadiers on the right near the town start to make an impact on the French infantry |
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| Despite terrific loses the Hessians push on! |
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| French guns overrun on the British right. More cavalry clashes! |
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| Nearly all troops now are damaged and disordered |
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| Sir! We have no targets! |
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| British Grenadiers deliver a volley |
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| French Wurtemberg cavalry charge the Hessian Grenadiers! |
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| French Grenadiers hold! Casualties mounting |
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| French volley causes two UI loss to the Hessians |
At the time we had to call the game, the game hung in the balance. The French had stabilized their center, but their cavalry wings were taking a beating. We had a great time.
Vauban's Wars Playtest
I'm running a VW game at Historicon this year and I'm using my summer to playtest the game and get a lot of material rebased, created, and situated. Being retired is helping me finish projects that have long been dormant. For instance, I just rebased 25+ regiments of WW1 miniatures and I will be running 3 WW1 games this summer and winter.
I will be doing another Vauban's Wars playtest with mostly new players in June in my final preparation for my Historicon game which is Saturday, July 19th, at 1pm.
I appreciate Rob and Steve helping with this playtest. Neither had played VW before so this allowed me to get great feedback and a dry run at explaining the rules for a convention game.
- Rules: Vauban's Wars (my ruleset) from Piquet Inc.
- Figures: 18mm Old Glory and Hallmark guns and sappers.
- Number of Players: 2 (I was umpire)
- Terrain: Cigar Box mat, flex-terrain roads, PaperTerrain 10mm buildings and 15mm fortress. New first parallel earthworks are from Acheson Creations. (only primed for this game)
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| The initial setup with the first parallel built |
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| View of the fortress with the French garrison worried about their existance |
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| The big open spot in the town is for the church I couldn't fine for days! I put it in a "safe spot"! Hahaha! |
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| I now have crew painted for these fortress guns. They look great. |
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| I think we should keep our heads down!! |
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| Damn! The Allies are coming from every direction! |
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| Second parallel being created. Hanoverian infantry help guard the sappers. |
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| French trench raid kills the sappers despite Hessians helping the besieging security forces. |
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| Hanoverian infantry guard the sappers as they make gun emplacements. |
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| French militia unit is hit by artillery fire! UI lost! |
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| Allies have picked this location for their breaching fire. |
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| This photo shows the progress by the besiegers. Second parallel is completed. Guns moving forward. A third parallel just getting started on the far right near the rightmost bastion. |
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| French move infantry to the covered way to make building the 3rd parallel more challenging |
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| French light infantry leads a trench raid against a siege gun! The Hessians were able to drive the trench raid back. |
This siege saw many spies captured and hung, however the spies were successful in destroying food stores and making some of the besieging troops desert. Disease ran rampant in both camps due to a unique event. Heavy rains caused minor havoc, but soon passed.
At this point the players had to leave, but they gave me fantastic feedback and I'm making great advancements in the terrain and figures since then. Next play test in about 3 weeks!
Cheers! Hope you enjoyed!
Eric
