Wild Geese Weekend

 I’ve lost track which year this event started 2016? But it has continued to take place in Kennilworth where 20-25 like minded gamers who all have an interest in 18th century Warfare come together for the weekend and play toy soldiers. It’s been a few years since I’ve attended ( life, Covid and cancer) but this year I was determined to attend and with the encouragement of my good lady I set off on Friday for a leisurely drive to the hotel. What should have been a 3 1/2 hour journey ended up being 7 1/2 hours, accidents, road works and volume of traffic all conspired.

However upon arrival it was good to see familiar faces and a few new ones. An excellent evening meal was followed by a quiz and I was partnered by Niall Barr and we turned in a pretty good result. I can’t keep up with the more seasoned drinkers these days so I called retreat at a reasonable time to be ready for Saturday.

After a healthy breakfast we assembled in the games room where we were presented with six excellent looking games.

Wills superb Bridge too far with his excellent Spencer Smith collection.

Keith’s FIW with loads of canoes, rafts, Indians, Magua and more wild animals than you could shake a stick at.

Paul’s SYW action using Berliner Zinfigurren

Steve’s GNW Swedes v Russians

Steve M’s Kolin game using 40mm Prince August figures

Finally Iain Burt and a spectacular 1870’s Shiny Toy Soldier game.

Always difficult to decide what to play but I kicked off with Paul’s SYW game, both armies had two brigades of infantry and cavalry with a battery in support. Paul always creates rules that are simple to learn, play well and give a great game this was no exception. Despite having Prussian grenadiers who have a distinct advantage in firing Aly Morrison my opponent in this sector got the better of me and succeeded in destroying the two grenadier battalions. But in the nick of time my co General Niall Barr destroyed the French to his front and turned his infantry brigade to outflank Aly and force his surrender

Great game.

My next game was Keith’s FIW I was joined by Dave Andrew as the British, unfortunately for Dave his column struggled advancing through the woods from the off, fighting hard against Magua and his Indians. My militia on rafts outpaced the Indians in their canoes and my Rangers had a great time sinking a boat full of French Regulars and then finding an unusual ally in the form of a bear who the French had disturbed and who put the fear of God into them.

Sunday saw me joined by Peeler on the Austrian side as we fought Kolin. I took the Austrian right flank, opposing us was Robbie Roddis and Gary Phillips. Steve M had done a great job tweaking the Command and Colours epic rules and Tricorn tactical rules. Victory was to the side who could destroy 15 enemy units (including Generals).

The early stages saw my right flank under intense pressure and at one point we were behind 8:4 but gradually we clawed our way back into the game, with Peeler first attacking the Prussian right and then their centre thus saving the Austrian right flank from certain destruction.With less than half an hour to go the score stood at 13:12 in favour of the Prussians. 

What was left of my right flank had managed to kill Ziethan earlier and they now managed to attack and destroy aPrussian dragoon unit.The score was now 13:13.

In the centre Robbie as Frederick had been mauling our infantry with some excellent dice rolls  Peeler threw everything he had in one last attack. He destroyed a Prussian musketeer battalion 14:13 to the Austrians then through the smoke Peeler saw Frederick had become isolated, the Grenzers took a shot two sabres ( effectively a 12) were required and yes Frederick fell from his horse. Much cheering could be heard from the Austrian Generals, victory on the last throw of the dice.

Here’s an assortment of pictures of the games.

 Will's bridge too far with his splendid Spencer Smith figures

A huge thanks to Steve fir organising and to all the chaps who put on a game, a superb weekend and I’m already in for next year 🤪

Quatre Bras project - some progress.

 Some of you may recall that when Warlord released their Epic Napoleonic I thought it would look good to use them for DBN and the Waterloo campaign - starting with Quatre Bras and using 1 base to a battalion. That is still the main priority however after Norm’s (Battlefields and Warriors) excellent Wavre campaign using Keith Flints Shadow of the Eagles I thought I’d tweak the project and have the option of using his rules as well. Keith uses a standard four bases to a battalion so I’ve used this to translate into two epic bases. Although large battalions 900+ I will make 3 bases.

It does mean I have more French to paint however for the Allies I’ve just finished the British 5th Brigade

 

So the 30th, 33rd, 69th and 73rd Battalions under the command of Sir Colin Halkett prepare to take to the field. The Guards brigades are finished so now I’m starting on the Hanoverians 😁. 

In other news a week tomorrow (Friday) I will be travelling to the Wild Geese weekend. Good company, great gaming and a little alcohol ( not allowed to drink too much 😩) Really looking forward to this as it’s been some years since I’ve been.

Take care everyone.

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