AAR Sawmill Village Pt 2

Continuing on from my previous post, Curt's Milanese had attempted to barrel straight into the village without bothering to form up first and had gotten themselves spread out as a result.  Sylvain's French had opted to deploy first and the attendant delays meant that Curt was able to get his leading troops into the village in good time.  

Sylvain's left wing unit the "Archers" actually a heavy cavalry unit) facing Curt's Gendarmes and infantry (swordsmen with red shield then Swiss with Halberds) while Curt's missile troops man the village.  The rest of the French are formed up to the right while the Milanese continue to straggle up in the background).

Milanese Gendarmes on the left, Swords in the centre and Curt's Swiss.

The next few command rolls essentially decided the day.  After some ummmm... cautious deployment and backstopping, Sylvain tried to charge his Archers at the Swordsmen.  The command roll only let them make one move and thus left them in the open between the lines.  Curt in his turn charged the Archers with his Gendarmes, easily rolling enough to contact.  The heavier cavalry won out, pushing the Archers back and then breaking them with their Sweeping advance.

Sylvain looks resigned to his fate as the Archers get swept away.  His pikemen in the background have now failed two attempts to form a hedgehog formation (you want a Vole? formation sire?).  Otherwise things look orderly on the French side.

In the meantime, Sylvain tried missile fire with his cannon and two crossbow units (which outranged Curt's arquebusiers).  The cannon was ineffective but the Crossbows managed to disorder the Swiss, requiring them to halt and redress ranks for a turn.  Curt but his missile troops into the village, including his mounted crossbows since he feared they would be fast versus the heavier French cavalry.  I let Curt dismount, which was contrary to the rules but suited my interpretation.  I may look at treating these troops like ECW dragoons in the future.

With the Halberdiers halted, Curt charged a unit of swordsmen into the pike block who had now formed up in hedgehog.  Meanwhile the Milanese Gendarmes bypassed the infantry and charged into the flank of the French Gendarmes.  The French were able to turn to face but not able to countercharge.

The swordsmen hit the hedgehog on the left while Gendarmes clash to their right.  Bloodstains mark the hits and show that the French came off worst.  The yellow market on the roofs show where the dismounted crossbows went.

Another angle of the Gendarmes in combat.  Another broken cavalry unit with a Milanese sweeping advance into the crossbows.  In the background Curt is moving arquebusiers onto a difficult hill on Sylvain's flank.

The infantry fight.  Hedgehog gives advantages against infantry, but sadly not against foot troops.  The swordsmen have a +D3 to combat resolution vs foot and in this case rolled up.  The blades got into the block and broke the pikemen.

That is pretty much it. Sylvain had lost 3 of his 6 infantry and cavalry units, and had 1 of his 2 battalias broken.  The remaining French men retreated back home while the Milanese tested the local Chianti.

AAR" An Old Friend and New Enemies Pt1

Last Friday night Curt hosted and I GMed a miniatures games featuring an old friend and new enemies.  The old friend was a scenario that has been likely fought more often than almost any other (the scenario in the original Featherstone's Wargames likely exceeds it).  It was the Battle of Sawmill Village (OK Chance Encounter) from the first CS Grant Scenario Book.

The new foes were my early Italian Wars French and Northern Italian (Milanese on the night) armies circa 1496 using 28mm Perry figures.  The scenario calls for two equal points value advanced guards arriving from the North West (Milanese) and South East (French corners).  OK that's backwards Geographically but fits the layout of the book's map and our table.  We can rotate the orientation 180 degrees or assume that the French are on their pox-ravaged way back from Naples.

Curt's Milanese fielded the following units (the rules used were Warlord's Pike and Shotte)

• 1 unit of Gendarmes
• 1 unit of Mounted Crossbowmen
• 2 units of Arquebusiers
• 2 units of Swordsmen
• 1 unit of Swiss Halberdiers.

The Milanese advance.  Curt's Bernese Halberdiers on round bases, my units on square bases.

To face them, Sylvain's French fielded

• 1 unit of Gendarmes
• 1 unit of "Archers" (really heavy cavalry, just not as heavy as the Gendarmes, but with bows)
• 2 units of Pikemen
• 2 units of Crossbowmen (on foot)
• 1 Medium Gun with limber

French "Archers" gallop behind infantry on the march.  In the background the gun lumbers forward.

From the starting gun the two players had different plans.  Curt put his three foot with melee weapons in one Battalia and his mounted and shot troops in the other.  He also went straight for the village without deploying and allowing gaps to appear between units.  Sylvain put his units into two similar Battalia, each with a pike, bow and cavalry unit.  The first Battalia in his column had the Archers and gun, while the second had the Gendarmes.  Sylvain also chose to move south of the village and deploy fully before adding.  Even then his infantry were cautious (partly due to poor command rolls) and he seemed to favour using his firepower before closing on the Milanese.

Curt ponders the French slow and steady deployment.

Meanwhile the Milanese ride hell bent for the village!

This was our first time using Pike & Shotte and I have to say that they worked well.  The variable move system (it's like Marmite) worked very well IMHO, as each side had moments when they seemed to be ahead in the race only to have the opponents catch up.  Also, it drove one the pros and cons of moving at the slowest speed to keep a line intact vs moving at one's best speed and having gaps appear.

The Milanese Condottiere himself looking very dapper as he surveys his forces.  Mrs Admiral thinks that he needs cufflinks to complete the look.

The view from above the village (laser cut by Curt's pal Byron).  

Gonzaga Figure

A shout out to Bedford over at Gewalthaufen for the excellent Gonzaga vignette using Perry figures which has been a great inspiration for my own much less spectacular Italian Wars collections.  It appears in the latest WSS, but improperly attributed.  Go check it out at it's true home on the link above.

We are not worthy!

Henry V's Warship

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-34503044

I found this cool story on the Beeb website today, about archeologists finding one of Henry V's great car racks.  The wreck is in the a River Hamble, a spot that I know about as well as any in the UK.  My dad lives along the Hamble and keeps his boat moored n the river, although down river from the site.  From the looks of it, she lies upriver of the Bursledon Bridge towards the a Queen Elizabeth Country Park.

I'm Not Dead Yet

According to blogger, I have done diddly squat since July 19th (2 1/2 months ago).  This is not strictly accurate, although family members might challenge my position...

Anyway when we last left the blog story, I had lost the Waterloo campaign shortly afterwords lost my supper.  Having put up a flurry of "Blucher -100 Days" related posts I was pretty much blogged out and never really got back on the horse.

However, I have been active with gaming related activities such as:

• Painting more Italian wars related Perry 28mm figures, mostly plastics with some metals thrown in.
• Dusted off my collection of Armada era galleons and tried them out with Galleons and Galleys.
• Read a bunch of books on 15-16th century voyages of discovery.  Most appropriately, my biography of Columbus got lost at one point but reappeared on the wrong continent (OK sofa).
• Played several board games and actually won some of them.
• Played a Blucher era game hosted by Curt using his 3mm (yikes!) figures for the 1809 Danube campaign.
• And likely other stuff, but I am having an academic memory fade....

More on these topics to follow...

Battle of Halle - When Real Life is a Metaphor for the AAR

So we fought out the second battle of Halle yesterday and evening (1:30-10:30 pm), and it was a WWF wrestle mania of an affair featuring the entire French army, all of the surviving brigades of the Anglo-Allied army and almost all if the Prussian army.  There were about 300,000 troops represented on a huge battlefield.

And it went like my dinner.  We ordered pizza from a national chain, and I risked a pizza that met my dietary restrictions on paper (gluten free and milk free).  But something bit me back and it turned into a religious experience involving much prayer at the shrine of the porcelain goddess when I got back home.  And that is kinda how the game went... down the flusher...

For the second day in a row the Anglo Allied army took on the bulk of the French army on a flat Belgian plain devoid of shelter or terrain.  This time Boney set up a Grand Battery and used a cavalry threat to force me into squares.  They were vaporizing a brigade a turn, while leaving their infantry out of musket range.  They obviously learned from the first day when the redcoats' fire was deadly.

The Prussians arrived in force, sooner than expected and much closer to me than I expected, but Boney was able to screen them and focus on me.  Meanwhile, aided by my atrocious activation rolls early on and a triple epic fail on a cavalry charge later on, the column led by Ney moved off board to threaten our supply line.

Bottom line

• Anglo-Allies broken in the field for the second day running and forced to retire.
• French achieved victory by exiting twelve units off the road to our supply lines.
• Anglo Allies and Prussians damage the French Army, but not enough yo break them n the field of battle of knock them out of the campaign.
• French victory in the campaign.

100 Days Campaign - Battle of Halle pt 2 (or Not Dead Yet)

So today our 100 days campaign likely winds up with an all in all out slug fest in the second day of the Battle of Halle (our campaign map spells it Hal, but everywhere else has is as Halle and Halle looks classier).  We invade Curt's house for an afternoon cum pizza cum evening battle.  The map at day break looks as follows.

Curt has got out the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" machine and downscaled the armies by 1/3 (see the post) to fit the entire thing on one 4x8 foot table.

The French can win the whole thing in four different ways.

1. Knock the Anglo-Allied army our of action permanently
2. Knock the Prussian Army out of action permanently
3. Exit a sufficient force off board at the road at B1.
4. Exit a sufficient force off board at Brussels in A6.

The allies can win by avoid all of the above, or by knocking the French army out of action permanently.  As Curt has noted, all three armies have been knocked about a bit and could be crippled today.

In the first days action (AAR), the Anglo Allied army faced the full French Army and was forced to retreat North, while Ney took a column off table to the west and threatens our supply chain at B1.  Meanwhile the Prussians missed their appointed date with Ney en transit and showed up just as the Brits broke.  Boney has the main French force facing the Prussian advance guard to the south of Halle.

I have a really good idea of the French numbers and locations and only a foggy knowledge of the Prussian numbers and location (this was a constant theme during the campaign).  I have been assured that they will appear and cross the river between Braine le Compte and Halle, but Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny might also appear at the same locations....