A wargames weekend

As one grows older the memories of the games and enthusiasms for rules and figures grow steadily fainter. The real riches of the hobby are found in the friendships that one makes over the years. I have been exceptionally fortunate in that despite retirement and geographical isolation the last few years have brought a host of new friends made mainly as a spin off from the Old School Wargames Group and the two show games that were held at Newark.

So I was feeling doubly blessed as the car rolled up the gravel drive at Asquith Towers last Thursday. I had no doubt of the warmth of welcome that the wife and I would recieve from that Grand Old British Wargamer, Mr Stuart Asquith. And sure enough no sooner did our car pull up than the front door was thrown open and the under butler in person rushed out to receive us.

Later I was shown around the wargames room and library and indeed the private study room. The contents of which will provide the inspiration for several more posts here. Suffice it to say for the moment that I had a valuable chance to take a close look at Peter Gilders painting style and it held a few surprises. Also the Tradition 25mm figure range were a revelation not least in that they are completely compatible with Foundry and other smaller '28mm' figures.

Friday was spent on a grand tour of the Cotswolds, and Saturday had a wargame before a splendid wargamers dinner.

The best part of such a weekend however is the charge that it gives to ones own batteries. I came away completely revitalised to resume my own wargaming activities. Which brings us back to the beginning, the most important part of wargaming is the social aspect.

In praise of Bloggers

This post has been undertaken at the request of Mr Steve Gill. He has communicated to me that the details of his defeat have stood for too long at the head of this blog.

I am not sure I share his viewpoint but nevertheless I shall endeavour to oblige.

I stand lost in admiration for those souls who have managed to find something interesting to write about week in and out over years. Unrewarded and often abused I feel that bloggers embody the real spirit of wargaming. Motivated purely by a wish to share their enthusiasm and ideas for the benefit of the hobby.

I confess myself to be a most imperfect Blogger, but as imperfection is a part of the human condition I shall once more take up the pen and seek to emulate the deeds of others. I fear that my first post must be to deal with the absence of any further news on the Marlburian army.... But first just so that you know it really is me:

AIRMAIL CHARGES



Over the last few months I have been taking advantage of the dollar in order to make a few purchases. Isn't it easy, when you think back to the sixties? Scruby figures could just as well of been produced on the moon for all the chance of buying them in this country. Now you click on a website, key in your credit card and and a few hours later the goods are underway to you. How twenty first century, well except for those bastards who operate the airmail services!

A small parcel of a couple of pounds typically takes about £14 ($28) in postage. What world do they live in? One hands it over at the desk, the assistant whisks it to the back in awed tones, "Certainly sir, we will dispatch a courier to Southampton immediately with a bit of luck it can be on next weeks Imperial Flying Boat. I am sure we can take a little of the emergency fuel out to accommodate the extra weight."

As the young people say "Hello?". The skies are crammed with planes begging for ballast. I can go to the supermarket and buy a couple of pounds of fruit flown here by express refrigerated container for a third of the price that I pay for my figures and I get the fruit thrown in for nothing!

And did I mention the customs?

Edelweiss-conclusion

THE VILLAGE IS OURS!
For the next two or three moves the game swung backwards and forwards as the French attempted to force their way into the village and the Spanish inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing units. the main French attack was repulsed but a secondary attack by the Nassau finally broke into the village. French skirmishers were albe to bring the spanish guns under close range fire and prevent them from firing. Finally the Spanish cavalry holding the high ground by the wood broke.
Although a reserve unit launched a successful counter attack they did not have the numbers to be decisive.




On the opposite flank the French cavalry had driven the last Spanish units from the field, the sweating Spanish gunners dragged their guns around to try and establish a new defensive line.


The French had suffered heavy casualties in the centre, and would have found another direct assault difficult to achieve, but with both Flanks in the possession of the French the Spanish General decided that the time was opportune for a dignified withdrawal and conceded the game.

The French prepare for a last charge on the Guns. Fortunately the Spanish general conceded before it was attempted. Even when aware of the 30" charge move it can still take you by surprise. These cavalry are within charge range.

The game took about 9 moves from early afternoon to lunchtime the next day. There was not one uneventful move and once more the charge rules proved able to give an exciting and interesting game. The game was almost unique for me for two reasons. I had a plan rather than just winging it and even more unusually the plan worked.

Now to sort that bloody Garage out!

Edelweiss 2

ELITE FIGURES. GUARD FUSILEERS AND NASSAU.

The very first move had a cavalry melee, however looking through the photographs I find that whenever the game got exciting I forgot to take photos!

You will have to take my word for it that both flanks were heavily engaged throughout the game with whirling squadrons emerging from dust clouds and disappearing again to the flash of steel and the thunder as lines of the giant heavy cavalry collided. In fact in the first two engagements both Steve and I made the novices mistake of allowing lights to mix it with heavy cavalry. The difference was that he threw mediocre dice which allowed me to withdraw my chassuers dented but usable on the wooded side. But on the plain to the east his hussars were almost destroyed by the french cuirassiers.

FRONT RANK

On the west flank the dragoons advanced to fill the gap left by the Chasseurs rout. The infantry trudged forward and a battery deployed to fire at the village of Delft.
In the centre the infantry columns tried to swing away from the Spanish Artillery but the six foot range of the guns left little place to hide and the Marine regt marked its progress across the plain with a trail of crumpled blue overcoats.

On the second move the French artillery deployed within close range of the Spanish line.


The photo shows the guns with a battalion of Nassau deployed as support to replace casualties and help crew the guns. o the right the main french attach develops while the Dragoons move to the front and the Chassuers can be seen in the distance rallying. The counters on the guns denote gun crew casualties, already the Spanish Counter battery fire is weakening one unit.

The Spanish battery in front of the village proved a real nuisance to the French. Figures by Redoubt(early range)

The Spanish light Infantry occupy Delft. (figures by connoisseur)

In fact the luck of the dice throws affected things quite a bit, the French Grand battery consistently threw low and was less effective as a result. This was more than made up for by the cavalry melees where the french consistantly threw better dice. In fact the first melee on the plain was a decisive one for after that the French always had the advantage of a reserve unit which could be used to attack any spanish cavalry while they were rallying.


Here the Spanish dragoons have won a melee but they face fresh units which will attack when rallying.

Meanwhile in the centre the objective of the main french attack was clear.

Battle of Edelweiss

We had lunch before making a start in the early afternoon. Steve chose the Spanish side which meant he was south on the map and had the village of Delft and the splendid defensive position of Moulder hill in his deployment area.

However Steve had to contend with two major disadvantages. he had a difficult drive of a couple of hundred miles through the heart of the midlands which took him a little while to recover. He also had no previous sight of the table or map. However he was able to use the lethargy and lack of planning to help get into his role as a Spanish General.


THE SPANISH DEPLOYMENT
Both Steve and I felt that the open ground to the east of Sarchen See would be Cavalry ground. He put two heavy and one light regt there. Next to them a battery of six guns deployed on the imposing Moulder hill. These were supported by four infantry units. On the west flank two cavalry regts and one infantry unit held the gap between Delft and the woods. The light infantry garrisoned Delft supported by two more units and a battery. the centre was held by a thick line of infantry of seven units.

This seemed to make a formidable defensive position with both flanks securely anchored and a stable centre commanded by imposing artillery support. Although he used his cavalry in aggressive support Steve maintained defence as the main purpose of his opening moves.



SPANISH THE WEST FLANK AND DELFT:

The previous evening I had spent some time wondering how it was possible for the player on the north (in the book the Prussians) to win. The south having such a strong position and the sides being equal. I decided that the only hope was that the defensive position might tempt the northern player to deploy his guns on the hill and sit back and wait. So reluctantly I attempted to put this theory into practice.



THE FRENCH DEPLOYMENT
Essentially I wanted to refuse the centre and break in both flanks. I could not put all my cavalry on the east as this would have left the attack on Delft vulnerable to counter attack, and I knew that tired or not Steve would not simply sit back and let me waltz up to the village. Aboveall I needed to keep from straying in front of that damned hill.

In the far corner of the picture can be seen three cavalry units 2 Cuirassier and a light. They have no other supporting units

This side of the village of Edelweiss are two battalions of Marines and one of middle Guard. The center is three battalions of Nassau and three of line together with three batteries. All of these units were ordered to swing diagonally toward the village of delft and attack the ground to the immediate centre of the village. The 6 guns were to gallop forward and deploy as a Grand Battery causing disruption to any attempt by the Spanish to transfer units across the center.

On the Western flank three infantry, one heavy and one light cavalry, and one gun were to advance along the line of high ground and seize the village of Delft.



FRENCH CENTRE

The game proceeded at a leisurely pace with a break for refreshments every two moves. and in that spirit I will postpone an account of how these well laid plans actually turned out until my next post.

I feel a post coming on!

Well here we are once again, its rather like an old house, rather cold and empty with a couple of unanswered posts waiting on the mat. Still not to worry a couple of logs on the wargaming fire and we will be up and running in no time.



I recently had a visit from Mr Steve Gill who came to play a napoleonic game. I wanted to have a thoroughly old fashioned set to. No points or scenarios, just set about beating he hell out of the opposing army. We were playing on the first and second of May so a Dos Mayo commemoration was in order.

I went to Charles Grant's last work, the posthumously published 'Wargames Tactics'. For some reason this has never grabbed the Old School imagination in the same way as some of his earlier books, nevertheless I have always enjoyed its diversity and sure enough I found a Napoleonic battle which fitted the bill perfectly.

Now I am sure that there are those who, when they want a game have no more to do than don the smoking jacket and stroll through to their games room perhaps pausing to pick up a glass of suitably smoky single malt'


In truth this is what I expect in my minds eye, but in reality the garage where the table is sited had become a little cluttered over winter.



Even the table itself needed a bit of work to clear it for action.



Finally the figures had to be taken from the immaculately organised storage system.

Still it was no more than a days work to set up the table and clear a path through the junk that enabled us to edge around it.


Finally I was able to start setting up using the Map of the battle of Edelweiss from the book. The main features were laid out on 13' x 5'8" table. The centre was dominated by a strong natural defensive position of a hill fronted by a marsh. One edge of the table was forested and accessible to light troops only.

The Spanish drew up on the side with the hill. they had 15 x 30 man infantry battalions. The French had 12 x 36 units. Both sides had 3 x 24 Heavy cav and 2 x 24 Lights. Additionally each side had 4 batteries of two guns each. The Spanish had one regt of light infantry while the French had the ability to deploy 6 skirmishers per battalion.

The rules used were the full set from Charge. However we have been incorporating some small amendments to allow us to use them with figures on six figure bases. Generally speaking I disapprove of mucking about with other peoples rules and to alter the great Charge is pure sacrilege, but.. Peter Young eventually gave up wargaming because he couldn't face moving all the singly based figures any more. Using bases makes it possible for two people to play a game of this size in a day.



So with the table set up and ready to go, it is an opportune point to halt and await the arrival of Steve.

nothing new to report

A rather dull few days as regards wargaming. I have been painting figures but alas for other people, not myself. I have an eclectic mix on the table at present demanding quite a range of painting styles. Front Rank French Line infantry, almost ready to march off to 1809 Spain. Some Seven Years units; French from Front Rank and Austrian from Spencer Smith. (Not destined for the same customer fortunately). Even some dashing hussars from Peter Gilder en route for the Red Sea and service against the Fuzzies. To say nothing of boxes of vintage 20mm from Hinton Hunt, minifig and Les Higgins. But nothing for myself and nothing new to write about as a result. Indeed since, as you might guess, orders are somewhat backed up I cannot envisage much progress with my own figures for a month or two.

The weekend of snow and sleet gave me a chance to finally sort out my library of military books. They were unpacked when we moved house four years ago but have sat just as they came out of the boxes ever since. So I have been agonising; should Fuller's British Light Infantry of the 18C be with Duffy's wonderful volumes or should it go with David Gates light Infantry work and the Napoleonic tactics shelf?
Putting all the Indian army and campaign books together made sense but should I end it at 1914 or continue later indeed should the Burma campaign be included there or with the WW2 books?

Since nobody could possibly care less apart from myself all the dilemmas were resolved with a minimum of tantrums and bad language. How could well under a thousand books take up so much space and effort?


Looking through the old volume made me think back to the first few I read in my early teens. In those days the public library seemed to have much more interesting books and the military history books opened the door on to life long fascination. they also provided a welcome alternative to the corn laws and various education acts. To say nothing of the 'Welsh Renaissance', which seems in memory to have been nothing more than a long list of translations of the Bible.

So just to have something of interest, here are the volumes that set me going.
First up: Battles and Generals of the English Civil War. HCB Rogers. Fantastic stuff he worked out frontages and formations, all the stuff that nobody else bothered with.
In fact I have accepted the line that this is outdated and a nostalgic curiosity for far too long. I lent it to a friend doing a PHD on the months after Edgehill and she found it the most useful single volume she used. It is still a really good book on the war by any standards and better than *******'s latest military history.


Imperial Sunset by RF Delderfield. OK it will never be a substitute for Nafzigers three volume orders of battle but wow does it grab your attention, history as story telling. Twilight of the Gods or what? Not post Marxist social history I grant you, but how many school children have had their interests changed for ever by reading a list of workhouse bills?

Finally one that I had on permanent loan for many months, it legitimised collecting toys, and as result I acquired many Britains plastic figures. I still love Garratt's books, he is opinionated, waspish and snobby. But also honest rigorous and with an incredible breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. Modern designers and painters could benefit from reading his views on animation and painting. How much better the hobby would be if we had just one critic of his stature active today.


By the way these are my own copies legitimately paid for, not the originals still on loan from the library.