La Rothiere Part 2

Last Saturday saw the completion of the Avon Napoleonic Fellowship's bicentennial game of La Rothiere.  Their post of Part 1 can be found here: http://avonnapoleonicfellowship.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/battle-of-la-rothiere-1st-february.html

What follows is my biased, one-sided view of the game.

A lead battalion of the Ist Voltiguer Division marches (literally) through the village of Chaumesnil.

The 5th (or maybe the 6th) Heavy Cavalry Division power through the allied lines splitting their army in two.

A close up of some of my boys putting paid to an enemy battery.  Sadly they went on to ruin themselves on an enemy square (wouldn't have happened in Napoleon's Battles do I hear you say?).

 

The Young Guard advancing and about to stop the Allied army of Bohemia dead in its tracks.  Three and a bit units of my infantry figures in this picture (the basing style is the clue), although one of the units (just mounting the hill next to the cavalry was painted by young (at the time of painting) Brenton.  Come to think of it, my figures were painted by a much younger version of me.

Over three turns we had at least eight melees each turn.  It was very bloody with a good number of encounters seeing the opposing force eliminated (especially when things had thinned out and we could get our infantry and cavalry into combat together to combine arms).

The fighting continues with the Young Guard having punched a hole in the Bavarian lines (or it might have been between then and Wurtemberg's Corps.

Brenton's lads in fancy square claiming victory.

At this stage on this side of the battle both armies had run out of steam.  The French had a significant amount of cavalry that was still fresh (I had been more careful in this game and had learnt not to do break through moves unless really favourable and was content to keep pulling my cavalry back - no going uncontrolled like in Napoleon's Battles).  Only the Young Guard remained as a fighting force; the other two infantry divisions had suffered heavy losses.  The Allies still had a division of Bavarians in good shape on the table and one in reserve (off table).

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Napoleon's Battles chauvinist, so playing something other than these rules for a game this size produces a stream of comments from me like "That wouldn't happen in Napoleon's Battles".  I tried not to comment too much (self censorship) and was able to be positive on a few occasions by supporting the Shako rules when the use of Napoleon's Battles would have produced or allowed for similar results in situations that created debate amongst the ANF Shako aficionados.

Regardless of rules, games of this scale are massive undertakings both in collecting, researching and playing.

I am proud I was able to take part.

Well done lads of the ANF!

You can almost hear them

Two close-ups from Stephen's camera of our DBA game from last Wednesday.  You can almost hear them.

What are those two cavalrymen saying as they are coming down the road?

The Visigoth general perhaps passing comment on the wisdom of charging men armed with pointy sticks.

Donkey?

Prior to our Wings of Glory game last night I set up a DBA game with Stephen using my figures and terrain.  Stephen took command of Thessalains (II/5d Late Hoplite Greek) and I took the (Very) Later Visigoths (II/82b).  Not an historical match, but actually very similar armies (important as Stephen was a bit rusty on the rules and I didn't want to complicate things with too many troop types - as it was I learnt things).  Importantly, as I was using my figures, I wanted to field two armies that didn't look the same to avoid confusion.

I had failed to bring enough camp followers, or perhaps the donkey was enough.  Either way it was well defended from the invading Greeks.  It also generated interesting comments from passers-by.

The Greek general flees.  What more can I say, but "Nice move!"  Some good fighting (read die rolls) by the Visigoths broke the Greek line, which was just as well as their cavalry was working around the flank, although finding it hard going against the Visigoth bowmen.

I was so used to fighting knights I was surprised at the resilience of cavalry.  I also found out the road does give a movement advantage, not just a command one as I thought.

Simple rules maybe, but I do find they produce a challenging game that can be played in a hour without too much fuss.  Perfect for a weeknight at the club.

Smokin'

More of a training session last night, with Stephen showing off his loops, spins and dives.  My poor Albatross had trouble gaining altitude to catch him, but catch up we did and I left him smokin'.

Note the ball joint Stephen has used for his Camel.  It really adds to the visual appeal.

Even though not totally in focus I like this shot as the propellers look like they are spinning (to my eyes at any rate).  I just wish the smoke wasn't blending into the background so much :-)

Wings of Glory WW2 Style

I've never been a big fan of WW1, but Wings of Glory has changed that somewhat plus the upcoming centenary.  My maternal grandfather had been in the Lincolnshire territorials and rose to the rank of colour sergeant before leaving to go work in a munitions factory or something such which was a "reserved occupation".  That was just before the war broke out so he was a lucky fellow, unlike many of his brothers and brothers in law.

My paternal grandfather was in one of the Green Howards battalions which took part in the later landings at Gallipoli.  He ended up on the Italian front and survived all that only to die of pneumonia in the mid 1920s after fishing off Hartlepoole.  So it goes.

Anyway, a week or so back I had ordered the Wings of Glory WW2 rules and some planes from Milsims here in Australia.  They were due any day now.  I checked the PO Box first thing.  Nothing.  I saw they were still clearing the mail so I went back in a bit, but still nothing.  I went home and checked on the registered parcel delivery web service.  Australia Post said it was in Bassendean as of 5:15am this morning.  Promising.  So I went back.  Still nothing...

I went into the store and asked.  Yippee!  There it was.  I got it home just in time to get ready for Mark coming over for a game of planes.

First game, first shot, my plane blows up!

After that we had time for three more games, matching Gladiator against Fiat CR.42 Falco (wonderfully maneuverable planes, but slow) and a Yak 1 against a RE 2001 Falco II (fast and hard hitting).  Not sure if I have done justice to the Italian plane names.

WW2 WoG plays like WW1 WoG, but somewhat faster.  We only used the standard rules and just had stand up dog fights.

Lots of fun.

Here's a shot of one of my victories and showcasing the smoke marker:

The models seem finer than their larger WW1 counterparts.  It is going to be hard to resist getting more.

Down In Smoke

While still mulling over counters/labels for Napoleon's Battles and my recent aborted attempts to model explosions, I thought I would have a go at making some smoke markers for Wings of Glory.  This was before I read this post: http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/entry.php?268-How-to-make-and-paint-up-smoke-and-flames

I cut up one of my aforementioned explosion attempts (teddy bear stuffing spray painted black) and wrapped it around a black twist tie that happened to be handy.  I secured it with thread and good dollop of PVA glue and hung it up to dry.  Afterwards I added some more black paint and voila!

A more traditional view:

Hopefully that's the only time I will see my beloved Albatross going down in smoke.

A close up of my new smoke markers:

Maybe I can turn my hand to fly fishing next...

The Hunters

Richard lent me this game to play: The Hunters.


http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113873/the-hunters-german-u-boats-at-war-1939-43

I can't recall how the subject was raised, possibly mutual respect for the movie Das Boot.  I had always had an interest in U-Boat warfare and I remember being excited, but ultimately dissappointed over SPI's Up-Scope!


http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8024/up-scope

What a difference 35 years makes.  The Hunters was fun and uncomplicated and really told a story.

I started in a Type VIIA hunting in the British Isles in September 1939.  My first patrol was a success, but my second a dud and I was switched to laying mines for a living.  But I came good and was sent to the Atlantic in 1940.  After a mission to to land a spy in Britain I was promoted and assigned further patrols in the Atlantic.  My crew became veterans and in August 1941 we joined a wolf-pack.  After sinking a 12,000 ton freighter my sub was damaged by vengeful escorts.  After successfully eluding them we limped back home with engine damage. The going was slow and we were spotted by aircraft.  Our flak put up a good defense, but the attacks were relentless and we went to a watery grave.

In ten patrols we had sunk 15 ships totaling 94,000 tons.

The most interesting thing about this game is that it was designed for solitaire play.

It's tempting to dust off the old Visual Basic skills and computerize the game mechanics as it would play well as an app, just needing to add in some sound and visual affects.

The other interesting thing would be to use it's mechanics to structure Wings of Glory games.