Blocher’s Knoll

 It’s been quite awhile since my last ACW game but I’ve been slowly working through the scenarios in the excellent publication Summer Storm by Brad Butkovich.

Blocher’s Knoll is the third scenario in the book and sees elements of the Union XIth corps clash with Early’s division to the North of Gettysburg.

Whilst the Union 1st corps was fighting to the West of Gettysburg Howard’s XIth corps approached Gettysburg from the South. Upon learning of Reynold’s death Howard assumed command of the Union forces on the field leaving one division on Cemetery Hill he ordered the other two divisions to advance to the North of Gettysburg to protect the flank of First Corps. As the Union divisions deployed to the North of the town Brigadier General Francis Barlow saw a prominent rise North of his position, deciding it would be a better defensive position and without orders he advanced his two brigades and took position on the hill known as Blocher’s knoll (later called Barlow’s Knoll).

It was an exposed position and men from Early’s division with artillery support converged on the hill throwing Barlow’s men back and despite a Union counter attack Eleventh corps were forced back through Gettysburg onto Cemetery Hill.

So the question was could the Union troops do any better? I continue to use Bonnie Blue Flag as they give a neat game, ranges and movement have been reduced to fit 15mm and optional rules re unit sizes have been incorporated.

Union troops are at the top of the map, both sides receive reinforcements, Hay’s brigade ( Confederates) arrive on bound 2 in the bottom left and Coster’s Union brigade arrive bound 7 in the Union centre. In addition the Confederates have two off board batteries  they can fire in from the shaded areas bottom right. The Union can order counter battery fire with their two batteries on their left flank and this will suppress the Confederate guns but it also means they can not move or fire at deployed enemy troops.

So onto the game.

The above shows the troop deployments, I haven’t put as many fences on as per the map but I have put all the ones I felt would impact on the game. Rock creek slows movement and provides some light cover for troops in the creek, everything else is pretty open. ( For the eagle eyed I used my Berdan figures to represent skirmishers as I haven’t finished my regular troop bases.

The Union plan was to hold the knoll, Ames Brigade would advance to support Von Gilsa. On the Union left Von Amsberg’s was to advance and threaten Doles brigade whilst Krzyzanowski would advance up the road and punch a hole between Doles and Gordon turning the flank - at least that was the plan.

The Confederate plan was for Doles to advance and hold the fence line protecting Gordon’s flank whilst they stormed the knoll.

Gordon’s Brigade make for Rock Creek whilst Ames stands in reserve behind the fence line.

Gordon’s brigade supported by Hay’s brigade push up through the creek to assault the knoll all the while supported by artillery fire from their three batteries which start to cause casualties on Von Gilsa’s men and causes the 153rd PA to fall back. Ames moves his men up sending the 17th CT to the right of the knoll .

Meanwhile on the Union left their attack on Doles brigade was being pushed hard the Union artillery had ceased suppressing fire to support the attack however the off board Confederate artillery seemed to be extremely effective slowing down the Union troops.

The Confederates were pushing hard on the knoll forcing the Union troops back.

On the Union left the attack on Doles brigade met with some success driving the brigade away from the fence line however Hays Brigade had detached some regiments to the right of Gordon to secure their flank and to prevent Krzyzanowski from attacking the flank.The attack on the knoll was unforgiving for the Union, two of Von Gilsa’s regiments were broken and fled the field an the and battery G was over run. Ames’s troops were also taking casualties and forced to retreat to their starting position. At this point 7 bounds had elapsed and Union reinforcements were due to arrive -Coster’s brigade and three regiments. I felt they were too little too late. Gordon’s brigade had secured the knoll 3 batteries of rebel artillery were about to be deployed on the knoll. Even though Doles brigade had been forced back the Confederate force were now in a strong defensive position so Barlow called for his men to withdraw through Gettysburg.

Very much a historical result and once again Bonnie Blue flag gave a most enjoyable there were a number of cinematic events the 17th CT defending against 3 Confederate regiments for two bounds and holding ground only being forced to retire when the knoll was taken and they were on the verge of being cut off. Likewise it didn’t help the Union cause when the 153rd PA holding the centre of the knoll just evaporated when they threw 00 on their dice whilst being fired at.

A great game with replay value and some options for additional forces or Barlow not deploying so far forward.

Workbench update soon.

Off the bench and Battle of Wavre

 Whilst still attacking my epic Napoleonic figures I thought I’d intersperse the painting schedule with some 28’s for my 1790’s Italian campaign. To add a little variety I wanted a couple of regiments of Piedmont infantry, I’ve bought some Eureka figures but I thought I’d also try the figures from Emperors Toad, sculpted by Michael Percy I thoroughly enjoyed painting these chaps. The regiment Savoy, flags are being dispatched by Maverick models and will be issued soon.

The Battle of Wavre is most probably the most ignored battle of the 1815 campaign the 17000 men of the Prussian III corps under the command of General Thielmann holding off 33000 French under the overall command of Marshall Grouchy. It was a hard fought affair and is certainly worthy of some reading.

Norm on the Battlefield and Warriors blog decided to run the battle as a PBM campaign and asked for 10 volunteers to participate. I threw my hat in the ring and ended up being appointed as General Thielmann !

What followed over the following 10 days was one of the most enjoyable games I’ve ever participated in. The frustrations of Fog of War, lack of reports or detail from subordinate Generals it was to say the least immersive and Norm did a wonderful job. He kept a diary and this is available to read here https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2023/05/wavre-campaign-diary.html?sc=1683871765518#c2289255221893235628, it makes for a most enjoyable read. It was even more enjoyable to discover that my most erstwhile opponent as Vandamme was JBM certainly exploiting his relocation to France by joining their ranks in battle.

I will not go into detail or disclose the result, this was the campaign map we fought over

With Wavre town being the locations 16,21 and 22. In many ways I’m sad to see it’s conclusion although my wife may not agree as most nights I was reading reports, uttering profanities at some of the information ( or lack thereof) and scribbling new orders for the ADC’s.

Highlight of the year for sure

Starting on the Allies

 Just a short update before the month ends, I have been quite busy hobby wise but haven’t got round too taking photos mainly a mind set thing as I now have a blood clot in my left leg, don’t know where that little blighter came from! In addition the GP sys I have arthritis in right knee and hip although I’m arguing with him about that but at the moment he won’t send me for a scan ! 

So enough moaning and a few pics of some of the Brits I’ve done for the QB project, I know the Scots Greys weren’t at Quatre Bras but you have to have them.

The light troops and rifles are all 3D prints, a little fragile but as this project is solo it will only be my fault if I break them! 

I actually found the British line easier and quicker to paint than the French - more uniform I guess.

The Warlord Epic range doesn’t include figures for any of the allies now whilst the majority can be done through paint conversions it’s nice to have some correct pieces. 

MC miniatures on Wargaming 3D provide a huge range of files for Napoleonic, SYW and ACW initially in 28 he has now started converting them into epic scale and in strips of five figures so half an epic strip.

A colleague is printing me some Dutch line - the pics are of the figures straight off the printer and they haven’t been cleaned up but I know they will fit well.

I have some more files for militia, Brunswick and Belgian jaegers, so looking forward to getting these and painting them up.

Keep safe everyone and happy gaming.

The French for Quatre Bras assemble

 When Warlord released their epic Napoleonic range I decided that at last I had a reasonable opportunity to achieve one of my bucket list dreams of doing the 1815 campaign in a way that would still look good on the table but didn’t require a huge investment or a major painting commitment.

I had decided to use DBN for the project but to work on the scale of 1 base of infantry was roughly 500 men and 1 base of cavalry was roughly 300. There would be some rounding up and down but on paper it seemed to work well. Also most French brigades would have 4-6 bases likewise with the allies so with a bit of juggling I could group bases into units for other rule sets.

Anyway Norm on his Battlefield and Warriors blog is contemplating doing an 1815 campaign around Wavre using the ideas published by Jervis Johnson in this months WI, now I haven’t read the article but I bought Shakos 1815 board game together with its neoprene map,

I think the map is excellent and I intended to use this and the counters from the game to play the campaign, and I too shall have a look at the article to see if it will adapt to this.

Feeling enthused this week I have pressed on finishing the bases for the French at Quatre Bras, I think even with one base to a battalion or so it looks pretty impressive.

This shot shows Reille’s 3 Divisions that were at Quatre Bras together with the Light cavalry Brigade, to the front of them is the Heavy cavalry division from Kellermans 3rd corps.

I haven’t done the Guard light cavalry yet as Ney’s orders were not to commit them so they will only be required initially for a what if scenario. As the project progresses into painting for Ligny then I will paint them. 

Really pleased with how these are looking and I have the first four bases of British Guards just about done, flags are still to be attached but this project has now taken a leap forward 😁

‘Herding Butterflies’

 For those that know me or have followed my blog for some time they will know that my paint desk usually has 3 or 4 painting projects on the go at once! It’s just how my mind works, I need different figures in terms of scale or uniform so that I can paint what I fancy at that time! 

I envy those individuals who can focus on one period at the expense of everything else but my ‘butterfly’ mind just isn’t disciplined enough for that, the best I have been able to achieve is to stay within some fairly broad parameters, Ancient/ Darkages. 17th Century, 18th century British in the Caribbean and America, Napoleonic and ACW and that really is quite a lot and I’m sure there’s some other bits lurking on the fringes.

Since the sale of Crann Tara it has enabled me to dabble in all of these and make progress. In particular the ECW mainly due to the painting services of Lee Gramson who has painted about 90% of  the figures in my two armies. That is ongoing but I’m also quite tempted to move east in Europe and look at Cossacks/ Poles/ Ottomans. By Fire and Sword 2nd edition is currently on KS and I’m mighty tempted- so whilst mulling over thought I’d print a Russian church 🤦🏼

A little bit of filling to do where it’s glued but won’t take long and can then paint.

I also had a good run on painting those Warlord ‘epics’ for the Quatre Bras project, all the French are done just need basing finishing so I will show them later, in the meantime here’s a pic of the French characters, they need highlighting and some Matt varnish put on.

On a Wednesday my colleague usually pops round for a game, the last couple of weeks we’ve returned to board gaming and our focus has been on GMT’s Panzer. At present we are just about to progress from tank v tank action to adding infantry and artillery when I feel comfortable to write about a game in progress I shall do so.

I also received what appears to be a very interesting game, a cross over between board and figure gaming, Onus Traianus has excellent production qualities and includes standard rules, solo rules and campaign games. I’m still working through the contents but you can see the production quality is nice and the cards, which are used on the table top as units, could easily be replaced with figures or as some other gamers have already done they’re using the cards to try out other rule sets.

So just a few things floating around and in the background there’s my 15mm Ancient Thracian army which is just about 50% painted😁 variety is the spice of life! 

Keep safe.