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Saturday 16 March 2024

The Attack On Wurstburg 1758

It's well past time that I recorded some plain, old-fashioned wargaming on this blog, if only for my own benefit.  So to start with, this is a report on a game from just a few days ago, played with some old friends and using a scenario from one of the stalwarts of the now-defunct Honours of War website. Thanks then to Konstantinos Antoniadis for this scenario and the many others he has posted over the years. Some of them (including this one) can now be sampled by joining the Facebook Group. Just go to the Files section.


Konstantinos' map is shown above. His forces were French vs. Prussians - in my game the Austrians replace the French. The Austrians are defending the town of Wurstburg and the countryside to the west. They appear to be a little unprepared as the vital bridge is only lightly defended by inferior Bavarian troops, and the outlying units to the west are also weak. In addition to the bridge, there are alleged to be two viable fords across the river, one east of the bridge and one to the west. In the original scenario a pontoon bridge is to be built west of the bridge ('d'), but as I have no suitable troops I went for the ford option. The Prussian attacking force outnumbers the defenders by about 30%. The map shows the opening dispositions.

The great attraction of the scenario is the steady arrival of reinforcements for both sides, in particular the strong corps of von Kleist which arrives from the west ('h' on the map). This gives a game full of action, manoeuvre and choices. It also turned out to be very well balanced. The scenario was written for Honours of War, but I played it using my Post of Honour rules (also available for free download on the Facebook Group). The maximum turn allowance was reduced to 10 moves, which turned out to be fine, and I simplified the victory conditions by using objectives. These are shown by red dots on the map. Four of the six objectives would need to be claimed by the Prussians in 10 moves to win. Of course, if either side reached its breakpoint before then (9 units for the Austrians, 12 for the Prussians), they would automatically lose.

The Game in Pictures
The game opens with Prussian hussar detachments searching for the two fords, whilst the Prusian main forces either commence crossing via the bridge or wait impatiently for the hussars to be successful. Konstantinos had his own rules for the latter process - I produced what I called my 'Find The Fords Table'.
In the pre-game dice rolls for quality of brigade commanders, the Prussians had aquired a glittering array of 'dashing' commanders, and seemed full of confidence. The Austrian players (of which I was one) were rather more sober in outlook, hoping to hold on and praying for the reserves to arrive (or perhaps the other way round).

I'm afraid the opening moves remained unphotographed as I led the other 3 gamers through the rules, but the images below should give an idea of how things progressed post-lunch.

We join the game as von Kleist's Prussians arrive via the western table edge (foreground).
To the left two regiments of Austrian dragoons throw themselves into the fray to buy time.
Adam appears well satisfied by Prussian progress.
Or perhaps finishing the last of the Custard Creams accounts for his expression.

The Prussians have crossed the river in force and are building the pressure against Wurstburg.
Austrian reserve infantry are arriving on the left of the photo.

The Bavarian battalion in Dumhof was quickly smashed by Prussian artillery.
Now the remainder of the brigade is in trouble as the position on Windmill Hill is unhinged.
They have turned to their rear, but are still being connonaded from across the river.

A bettter view of the Austrain infantry reserves arriving in Wurstburg.

The Austrain reserve cuirassiers hover behind Trommler Farm waiting for a suitable
time and place to intervene (bottom right), as von Kleist's advance continues.

Now the Prussians have broken into Wurstburg. At top left the Austrain grenadier reserves are arriving, whilst at top right the Prussian grenadier brigade has crossed the bridge and are about to enter the fray.

Overview during the end game. The Prussians have claimed 3 objectives (bridge, Windmill Hill, and Wusrtburg north), and are disputing 2 others (Trommler Farm and Wurstburg south). But the Kaiserlichs have sacrificed too many units whilst holding back the Prussian tide, and have reached their breakpoint. Reserve biscuits have arrived at top left.

The Austrian Grenadier detachment bravely continue to dispute control of Trommler Farm,
but have been bypassed by the Prussian cavalry on their right, and Freikorps on their left.

The concluding positions around Wurstburg.

The north of the town is lost to the Austrians, whilst the Austrian grenadiers have their bases
firmly planted on the southern town objective marker. But the game is up.

So, a Prussian victory in the final turn. Their set of dashing commanders had produced a run of double moves which had greatly aided their triumph. On the other hand, von Kleist had arrived later than hoped, and the Austrian dragoon brigade had done wonders against the Prussian cavalry on the Austrian western flank, before being finally crushed. So Austrian hopes of victory had not been dashed too early.

This was a fine game, and all four of us enjoyed ourselves immensely. This is a scenario I would recommend for any Horse and Musket gamer, regardless of the actual period.

The Post of Honour rules worked very well, I thought. In essence, they are Shadow of the Eagles for the 18th century, and are in fact the rules from which SotE were developed. Of course, Honours of War would have been just as good!

Thanks for visiting. 'Til next time!

Friday 23 February 2024

The Cotswold Wargaming Day 2024 - And Facebook

Well, it's that time of year again, and I'm planning my annual wargaming event. This year, I am having a change of venue from Northleach to Cirencester.

THE COTSWOLD WARGAMING DAY 2024
Sunday 20th October
09.30 - 17.00
at
Big Battles Ltd
Unit 3 
Cirencester Business Estate
Esland Place, off Love Lane
Cirencester GL7 1YG

Last year at the old venue.

There was of course nothing wrong with the old venue - I have been very happy with it. Except that there was one issue - the number of 6' x 2' folding tables I needed. About 40 or so were in fact required, and half of these had to come from the other community facility in Northleach, the Cotswold Hall. Apart from having to transport 20 tables from one end of the town to the other in my car, I had to get permission to store these overnight at the Westwoods Centre (permission was always freely given), and then hope to set everything up the night before, once again with permission. 

However, the real issue was, what would happen if those 20 tables were needed at the Cotswold Hall for an event on the same day? Well, what would happen is, is that I would be f*cked. A risk I was prepared to take (being on good terms with the supervisors of both venues), until I discovered the venue mentioned above in an industrial estate on the edge of Cirencester. Any miniature gamers in the Cirencester area not aware of these guys should check their website

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Big Battles venue looks just about perfect for the CWD - they have the room, the flexibility to accomodate a number of games with different size tables, under-table storage, plenty of parking on a Sunday and free tea and coffee (!). Plus, I don't have to transport, set up and tidy away anything at all. I'm thinking that maybe (just maybe) I might have time to present a game myself.

As usual, invitations have gone out to my mailing list. The event is also highlighted on my Facebook group:

If you haven't been before and fancy pitching up, please be my guest on the day. I'm planning to charge £10 a head for players, assuming an attendance similar to last year's. Casual visitors not playing might get away with free entry - I'll see how I feel on the day! Ideally, contact me for a proper invite and maybe you can get a game, or even put one on. Do this via the Facebook group, or leave an email address in the comments here - I'll delete it once we've made contact in an attempt to protect your privacy (not that any of us has any privacy online these days).

Hope to see you there!

FACEBOOK
I'm pleased to say my Facebook group has taken off nicely, with over 60 members as I write this. Naturally, a number of members of the old websites were sad to see those sites go (as was I), but a lot of them seem to have bitten the bullet, joined Facebook, and then joined the group. If you have any interest at all in my rules, or just an interest in wargaming the SYW, Napoleonic Wars, or WW2, I invite you to head over and apply to join.

Just today, a member was kind enough to upload an Excel spreadsheet that gamers can use to create Honours of War armies with the correct points values. Naturally, I thanked him for taking the trouble to do so. In reply he said:

"Just happy to know that I can give back something for the joy that wargaming (and thus, whoever gave time to write rules, or explained them) gave to me."

Now, that was a very nice thing to say. It certainly made me glad I'd started the group. In fact, I will say that I hope the group will become a source of eclectic comment and discussion not just on my rules, but wargaming in general, in so far as that may be possible. I look forward to encouraging and receiving comments, discussion, photos and various uploads. A number of scenarios have already been generously provided to grace the Files area of the group.

And so, on that upbeat note, I will leave you - 'til next time!

Sunday 28 January 2024

Ah Yes...Facebook

I have never really thought Facebook was a good place for wargaming sites. The Facebook pages or groups I visited seemed to lack focus and looked to me like a jumble of messages and posts with little order or organisation. So I set up 'proper' websites for Honours of War and Shadow of the Eagles, with forums, download sections, author content etc. 

Well, the Honours of War site has worked pretty well for about 9 years, but activity is now limited to a few stalwart members. These guys post some great content, but for a set of rules published in 2015 a website was beginning to look like a luxury I couldn't afford.

The Shadow of the Eagles site had some interest at first, but this has faded recently and there is currently very little activity. The simple fact is that SotE sold less copies than HoW. This is pretty easy to explain - the Napoleonic rules market is much more competitive than the SYW one, and Osprey have a much higher profile than Partizan Press - particularly with their 'Blue Books'. With the annual renewal of the site coming up, at much increased cost, renewal just didn't seem worth it for a site generating almost zero posts on the forum. (As an aside, check out the Little Wars TV review of the Blue Book series HERE).

On the other hand, people kept telling me Facebook and Instagram were the places to be if one wanted to generate interest in your rules. Once you joined Facebook and your page or group got going, you became part of a significant online conversation, where people joined and posted on your little group, and you joined and posted on their groups. Interest might therefore flourish. This is the problem for small-time rules authors - once the initial publicity has faded, there is the danger that your rules will just sink without trace amongst all the other rule sets.

So there we are - I want to keep interest in my rules alive, and Facebook seems to be a good place to help that along. At least, that's the case according to my kids - and my wife. And a number of fellow gamers. And Dave Ryan at Partizan Press, who always wanted me to have a Facebook page. And recently, well-known military historian and Osprey author Angus Konstam also encouraged me along this route.

So, in a month or so, I will be saying goodbye to the HoW and SotE sites. To anyone who ever posted on those sites, or just joined to download free stuff, my sincere appreciation and thanks. I learned a lot from the questions asked and comments made, and this resulted in some rule amendments and errata corrections. All the errata and new or amended rules will continue to be available on Facebook, free to download. 

The Facebook group is set up, and you can apply to join via the group page:


As for Startline, the discussion group on groups.io will continue (see the Startline Discussion Group). After all, this group has only just started and I want to keep the momentum going. Anyone interested in Startline should keep an eye on both groups. 

For the record, where Startline is going remains uncertain, but I'm enjoying working on the rules immensely. I'll just keep plugging away and time will provide an answer as to what to do with them. The secret to success (as the Buddhists and mindfulness experts tell us) is to love the process, not crave an outcome. That works for me!

So, I hope to see you on the new platform. 'Til next time!

Monday 6 November 2023

STARTLINE - Wargaming World War Two

I have mentioned previously on this blog my work on a set of company-level WW2 rules inspired by the WRG 1973 set 'Armour and Infantry'. I have spent many pleasant hours working on these rules recently, and thought it was now time to open up the content to my fellow gamers.


The changes to the original rules have increased to the extent that I now consider the rules to be a new and separate set, which I have called Startline. You can go to the group via the link below, and join up if you wish:

All interested wargamers are welcome to join. If you have not received a specific invitation, membership is subject to approval, to keep out spammers. 

You can download the present version of the rules and a few other files I have included for background. At the moment a QRS is not available, mainly because creating one is a bit of an issue. Startline covers the whole of WW2, but each wargamer will only want the details relating to the part of WW2 he or she is gaming. So I'm still working on a useable format.

Those of you on the CWD mailing list should have received an invitation email - if not, one will arrive in the next day ot two. Apologies if this represents unwanted junk mail - just ignore it and it will go away! Wargamers who have expressed an interest in my ongoing work via this site should also receive an invite - but if you want to just go straight to the group and sign up, that's fine.

Finally, this is a just a hobby project at the moment. The group is there for individual gamers to download a set of rules, game with them if they wish, and post any comments or suggestions they have. In other words, we are just exchanging ideas on a personal set of rules. 

I hope to hear from you via the comments on this post, or via the group. 
 

Thursday 26 October 2023

Cotswold Wargaming Day 2023 - The Judges Scores Are In

And so, a slightly delayed report on CWD 2023. One or two non-wargaming parts of my life took up some time recently, and so I waited for a quiet moment to properly enjoy putting the report together. In fact, two fine AARs are already out there, from Chris Gregg and Steve Johnson. Both are well worth visiting.

This year we had 11 games scheduled at one point, but sadly unavoidable issues cut that down to eight in the end. One good result was that everyone was together in the main hall, with no games in the 'side room ghetto'. I counted 31 gamers present, or 33 if you count me and my long-suffering other half (more on that later). For the moment, here's a quick run-down on the 8 lovely games that were played on the day.

1. Indian Mutiny in 28mm - Ian Bailey
True to form, Ian had a great looking game set up in half an hour or less. For me, it was a classic with multi-player particpation, great figures and fine terrain. As a result, Ian was the winner of 'Best Game' and the Stuart Asquith Trophy. Rules were Mad Dogs and Englishmen .






2. Western Desert in 28mm - Stuart Surridge
Stuart and friends returned with another fine game, using a home-brewed set of rules combining Bolt Action and Chain of Command, an innovative idea which set the stage for what turned out to be a very innovative show, as we shall see. The opponents were Italians and Free French troops.




3. The Battle of Maipu 1818 in 25mm - Napoleonics in South America - Tim Cull
The theme of innovation continued with this game set in an unusual period, which also featured the clever and detailed scenario planning Tim is well known for. So, after a briefing on the situation, players found the gaming table suddenly covered with a black cloth and were thrown in to a night attack, following which a new daylight table appeared and the main action commenced. I've never seen that done before. Tim got one of three prizes from Empress Miniatures for 'Most Innovative Game'. The rules in use were Liberators!, a period specific set which have their own website.




4. Sharpe Practice ACW in 28mm - Mark Richards
Will the surprises never end? Mark brought over a lovely game using the Sharpe Practice rules, but featuring a scenario from the ACW. Nice! Intense play was taking place throughout the day - as with most of the games, I wish I could have joined in.




5. 'Napoker' Participation Game in 28mm - Tony Dillon
Tony brought over his delightful scenery and superb figures to present a Peninsula participation skirmish game, featuring (who else?) Richard Sharpe. The rules were his own, simple but great fun, with much kicking down of doors to reveal what was inside the various houses. If it was wine inside, you actually got a glass of wine! And a chocolate coin if food was within. Brilliant. My wife Jane and I played a game and really enjoyed ourselves - this was the first time in over 30 years of marriage we had played a game together. And yes, I got a thrashing. Reminded me of our wedding night.

Tony received the Pendraken Miniatures prize for Best Vignette. His game included three or four groups of lovely figures, any of which would have won the prize. He also won the Chris Gregg prize for Best Presented Game - the first time anyone at CWD had won two prizes. Well done!





6. Battle of Inkerman 1854 in 20mm - Stuart C. & Cirencester Wargames Club
Another nice terrain which was set up very quickly, and as usual a game played with intense interest and concentration by my local gaming club. Roy Boss provided a wonderful old school figure collection of 20mm metal figures which were widely admired. They won one of the three prizes for Most Innovative Game, for their rules around fog of war which were used in the game. The overall rules were a lightly adapted version of Shadow of the Eagles. The adaptions, including the fog of war rules, can be found in the file share section of the SotE website.




7. Imaginations India 1755 in 10mm - Steve Johnson/Dave Fielder
For background details of this excellent game, see Steve's website. A fine and funny back story had been invented for this imaginary battle, which meant the game got another of the Most Innovative Game prizes. A great variety of well painted units were also present, and the rules choice was, well, nothing but the best - Honours of War, of course, with the odd amendment. 





8. Battle of Sidi Barrani 1940 in 10mm - Paul and Matt James
More Western Desert loveliness from Paul and Matt, but using a very different set of rules from the other game in this period - BKC IV. Yet more innovation here - naval gunfire support for the Brits, which you don't see very often. A number of the models were in base coat only, but at the CWD we don't worry about such things a great deal. Some nice middle-eastern style buildings. Great to see Paul and Matt back at the show.



Highlights of the Show
Firstly I want to pay tribute to the generous nature of those who provided the prizes. I have maintained the tradition of giving prizes at the CWD as it is a way to thank those who have taken the trouble to put on games, as well as being a fun way to bring everyone together during the show. This year I was intending to restrict myself to just one prize, the Stuart Asquith Trophy, as getting together the books I had been giving away was becoming problematic. 

No sooner had I mentioned this on the CWD mailing list than Chris Gregg came forward, offering to create a bespoke artwork for me to present. Then Steve Johnson offered to contact his friend Leon at Pendraken Miniatures to try and arrange something (they came through with a £25 voucher to spend on their website). About the same time, Paul from Empress Miniatures (who had attended the show in the past) also offered some prizes from their product line. He brought along 3 copies of the Bohica rules for the Vietnam War.  My problem was solved. I thought the donators should choose the title of their prize, so Chris Gregg's was for Best Presented Game, Pendraken's was for Best Vignette, and Empress Miniatures' was for Most Innovative Game.


Which leads me to my second highlight. By a happy coincidence, I thought this years show had a definite theme of innovation, as I have tried to point out in the above descriptions. Creativity is one of the best aspects of historical wargaming as a hobby, and I am particularly drawn to what I would call intellectual creativity - as demonstrated (for example) by clever scenarios, unusual historical periods, and clever rule mechanisms. All of these things were on display at CWD 2023. In fact, after a quick chat, Paul and I agreed that there were three games (at least!) that warranted an award for Most Innovative Game, so one book was presented to each of three games, as described above.

A personal highlight was not only taking part in one of Tony Dillon's participation games, but doing so with my wife Jane as my opponent. A first in over 30 years of marriage! It was a tribute to the game and Tony's umpiring that she actually rather enjoyed herself, despite being convinced that wargaming is boring and that wargamers are basically nuts (in the latter case, she may have a point).


Finally, it was good to see a bit of bring and buy action taking place, as well as having Chris Gregg's usual display of military-themed art on display. This adds a nice extra dimension to the show, and I hope it may continue into the future.

So there you have it. Another cheerful and engaging event, which I for one found rather inspiring. It was worth every minute spent organising. Thanks again to all involved. 

Next time, some news for WW2 gamers. Stay tuned!

Friday 21 July 2023

Please Support Dan

Last week I was walking a short section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path with my wife and some friends, when we met the guy shown below going the other way.



Dan McNeil is walking the entire length of Britain's coastline (including its islands) in support of the SSAFA (the Soldier's, Sailor's, Airmen and Families Association). He's been going since March 2021 and still has a way to go. What a hero.

We gave him a tenner - maybe you can help him out as well via his Just Giving page:



Dan isn't the only young person we know of doing great things for charity - I expect you know (or have heard of) someone like Dan as well. Couldn't hurt to send a donation his way.

'Til next time!

Wednesday 14 June 2023

Airfix Nostalgia - Redux

Well, it seems I just can't get away from those old Airfix kits. My original Airfix nostalgia project was supposed to be all over in 2020, but it seems the itch still needs scratching. So this is a short post recording a couple of recent bits of kit building. 

The first kit was one of those 'Vintage Classics' that Airfix currently have an extensive range of. So you can buy one of the models you remember from your youth, with the old school artwork, but the decals and instructions will all be bang up to date. Personally I'd prefer to have a facsimile of the old style instructions, but you can't have everything. Quality of the kits is generally very good. 

I picked the DUKW kit for two reasons - I remembered having fun building it and playing with it from when I was about 10, and it was also a vehicle that my dad told me he had driven in the war. In particular, he drove one up the beach at Anzio in 1944 (whilst the beach was still under fire), serving in a machine-gun battalion of the Middlesex regiment. So there it was, on a shelf at my favourite model shop, the Cheltenham Model Centre. No brainer!


The second is a genuine late 60s kit of a Ju-87 Stuka. This was another kit I distinctly remember building, at a time when I didn't even bother to paint my models, just glueing them together and then impatiently waiting for the glue to dry so that I could fly them round the house. Sad old fool that I am, getting my hands on one of those old bagged kits was once again a real thrill. 

Back in the day, the model would have been put together in an hour at most, but a combination of other things to do and a desire to savour the full nostalgic experience meant making this particular Stuka took a couple of months of short spells of activity. One positive surprise was that the decals, over 50 years old, still functioned, and so all I needed to add was a tail swastika from a modern decal company. Such things weren't allowed back in the late 60s, at least if you wanted to sell your kits in Europe.

Maybe those decals neeeded a couple of extra coats of Microsol!

It seems this project is now open-ended. I have a genuine 50+ years-old boxed Me-110 kit waiting on the shelf, and my eldest son bought me a trio of 'Vintage Classics' for Christmas, so that will keep me going for a while. I find making up these old kits at my current slow pace to be so relaxing, and the nostalgia is great for promoting peaceful and pleasant reminiscences. Retirement is good!

'Til next time.