Wheeling in Napoleon's Battles

So, I'm organising a refight of Waterloo in 15mm using Napoleon's Battles, a ruleset that is not known to many of the players... I need to keep it simple.

Also practical.  The maneuver template, critical for wheeling was going to be a tad unwieldy (which it is at the best of times).  I've always used it, but, as it's an optional rule I thought the basic wheeling rule would be fine.  As I found out yesterday, it's not.  It allows units to wheel at super speed, something that was sure to cause cries of anguish etc etc.

Back to the template.  However I checked the Yahoo group and someone had made a comment (on a thread discussing the not totally unrelated artillery fire zone template) that the maneuver template was just basically double the distance, measured just like in FOG.

Is it?

Old Guard Chasseurs ready for wheeling

Wheeling template deployed.  They will do a "six dot wheel" which will cost them six inches of movement.

Wheel completed. 

Positioned marked and measured.  As close to three inches as fiddly possible

So it is.

Problem solved.

And credit due to:

Now, what about turning 90 degrees?

D'Erlon's Attack

Well, not really, but for today's Napoleon's Battles practice game, I lined up the French I and VI Corps supported by the IV Cavalry Corps against a hodge podge allied side commanded by Mark W and Stephen B.

The aim was to see how D'Erlon's attack might look as well as fighting for the three built-up areas.  Note the clear labels in use for some of the French units - they looked good and displayed well.

The Brunswick cavalry filled in for the Scots Greys in cutting a swathe through the I Corps.  Picton then led his lads in an attack and after some excitement pushed the French back.

After this I launched a cavalry attack.  I was able to pin one unit, but two others formed square.  The results weren't too bad.

The attack on La Haie-Sainte never even got close as the troops were repeatedly shot to pieces.

An attack did go in against La Papelotte, but was repulsed.

A determined attack against Hougumont failed miserably, but not before weakening the defenders. 

I am very happy with the BUA rules (double score required to do one hit on deployed troops, plus one to the disordered number).  Attacking units use their formation combat modifier.  Note I am playing these three farm complexes as BUAs rather than deal with detachments for buildings areas that are very small.  As I have left out hedges and sunken road considerations I felt these defensive terrain considerations can be abstracted into slightly bigger BUAs than the ground ratio would permit.  It worked well with this game.  Given the wooded areas around these three places they also represent rough terrain for just moving through them.

We were using the basic wheel rules and I'm taking some getting used to them, especially the ability it gives troops to clear rough ground - I need to do a post on this by way of example.

I am also not fully happy with how attached generals behave after combat.  Time for some more discussion in the Yahoo Group.

Mustering Forces for Waterloo - Part 3

My mate Myron, who I've possible known since high school (it's so long ago I can't remember, but we where at the same school in the same year and grade) sent me some of his collection to use in our up and coming game.  Cheers!

Just need some TLC (note bottle of PVA glue at the ready).

Kiev to Rostov - Turns 32 and 33

Another two turns completed today.  Times just flies, we played about four hours straight.

End of Turn 32.  The Soviet line holds along the Dnepr.

However down south...  I had not paid any attention to this part of the front and suffered badly as a result.  The only good thing is it is not where the main game is.

The Axis establish a bridge head and the Soviets made their first mandatory attack.  Despite looking promising, it achieved nothing.  Luckily losses were light.

The big picture, end of Turn 33.  Time for the Axis logistical pause.

Wings of Ambush

Last night at the club Stephen arranged an ambush scenario for Wings of Glory.  It was to be two Camels surprising five Albatri.  I didn't fancy the odds, knowing how hard it is to get a quick kill, however Stephen had come up with a 3 card hit if it was a diving attack at close range.  Greg took two of the Albatri and Stephen the other three.  Mark B took one Camel and I took the other.  Luckily we were joined by Jason whose opponent was a no show and he took a third Camel (bit of a come down from the game he was going to play - Star Wars Armada I think).

Pounce!

After the surprise attack Greg turned his two Albatross fighters to face me - good move.  I over lapped one and so only got one hit (I'm an altitude level higher).  Stephen did allsorts with his three planes.  Mark B is the central Camel and Jason the one with blue rings.  We had lots of jammed guns at this stage (and later stages too).

I've lost my targets, but my fellow flyers are on the tails of two of the bad guys.

Circling round.  Best thing to do when you're on fire.

Jason has bagged his bad guy (very top of the picture).

Then it was my turn - a very lucky shot destroys an Albatross (the third Camel is flying under my plane - I had maintained altitude).

Mark B's Camel burns to a crisp - we suffer our first loss.

 

But a mid air collision takes out another of the Albatross. 

There are now only four planes left - two on two.

A close up of my plane.

We're all over the place.

Yikes!  How did that happen?

Ha ha!  Got him.  Thanks heavens for Mr Immelmann and his invention of the eponymous turn.

But I had not got off Scot free.

Somewhere in all that I also downed a third Albatross - three kills in one game!  Hoot!

I've credited Mark B's kill to Greg.  The very unofficial leader board now looks like this:

British 16th Light Dragoons

Yeah!  Finished my bag of Old Glory British Light Dragoons which I bought about five years ago (and no idea how long before that they had been languishing in the store).  I had been a little disappointed as they didn't have the variety that I am used to with Old Glory, but now they are finished I am very happy.

16BrLC in march column.

The flag is printed from something I found on the Internet.  The detail has come up really well in this picture, it is a bit pale with the naked eye.

Ready for business.

Showing discretion - most unlikely!

This completes the cavalry I need to do for Waterloo at this stage.  Some infantry, artillery and generals remain to be done.

Training for Waterloo at NWS Games Day

Yesterday we had a games day at the NWS, meaning we had the venue for the whole day, not just an evening.  With just a month to go I took the opportunity to setup the table for the 15mm game of Waterloo using Napoleon's Battles.  And good thing I did too as numerous problems were detected.  Thankfully they were overcome and will now not cause delays on the day, which is 13 June.

After moving the table around a few times and having debates about the risk of "Carlo's Corner" (the closest point between the 15mm game and the 28mm game and the issue that it might not allow for passage of gamers or members of the public) we settled on an area of floor space and setup.

While we had the full playing surface (easy when you have printed terrain), we just had the troops as per the Quatre Bras Order of Battle.  That is about a third of the French force and half the Allied (significantly very short on artillery and cavalry).

Not to let the gaming day go to waste we then played half a dozen turns or so, getting a feel for the rules, troops and terrain.  Lots of fun.

We will just be using the Basic Rules from the 2nd Edition.  I now realise I have been doing wheeling and withdraw wrong.

Wheeling

Wheeling costs the frontage of the unit; is increased by the unit's rough terrain cost; there is no backwards wheeling; and if a unit does not have the movement allowance (except if this is due to disorder or a no move or half move marker) it can always wheel on the spot.  Wheels cannot be made within one inch of an unrouted enemy unit. Wheels made by a unit during a move must be in the same direction.  Usually I have always used the wheeling template, but that is not practical when we will have around ten players.

Withdrawing

Withdrawing resets the counter for casualty calculation for routing.  This will mean a unit potentially takes more casualties, but with less chance of routing (based on the erroneous way I was calculating it as being all part of the one combat round).  In our game a British unit got hammered in a combined arms attack losing four casualties (rout number is five).  The attacking cavalry bounced out and the British brigade then withdrew.  It suffered another casualty and I declared (wrongly) that it then routed.  It should have just continued to withdraw its normal move as unformed movement.

There will be more training before the big day as well as some play aids.