1866 and all that
The occasional ramblings of a historical wargamer
Monday 4 November 2024
A Bit of Scenery Work
Saturday 26 October 2024
Radio Silence
Things on the hobby front have been very quiet of late. In part because real life has been rather intrusive - a significant international audit has consumed a lot of time this month. In part because our gaming venue is inaccessible for a while due to construction work in the street and games there are suspended. Mainly it's because the lead pile is flat and I have nothing to paint.
The lead pile is flat because I made the conscious decision to stop buying figures (except to complete exiting armies where specific models are yet to be released...and maybe the occasional new unit) because at 20,000 figures I have enough...although the thought of some of those Württemberg infantry from Piano Wargames have surely tested my resolve.
I haven't been totally unproductive in the hobby space. I have been working on a few more terrain tiles, but nothing is complete to show here...maybe in a few days time.
For now, in the early evening of the Saturday of a long weekend, there is little more to do than sit looking out the window at the pouring rain in the satisfaction that work in the garden in the morning and afternoon was very productive and, since neither of can be bothered cooking, I need to decide if the Chinese takeaway will be sweet and sour pork, or bami gorang...I think the latter...and a bottle of red.
Thursday 10 October 2024
The Vineyard
Monday 7 October 2024
AWI Game
Yesterday we played an American War of Independence game.
Often in our games we have reinforcements arriving during the game, but usually they are at the discretion of the umpire. I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to start the game with a small force on each side and allow it to be reinforced, but calling reinforcements had to have a consequence. So this game is to be the first of two and decisions made in this one will have an impact in the next.
The basis of the game is that a Hessian force is holding a position at X (below) being attacked by an American force. The Hessians are not strong enough to hold the position without reinforcement. They can draw on reinforcements from their home bases at A and B (two brigades at A and three at B), but if they lose this fight they will need to fall back on their home base and if they strip too many reinforcements they may find themselves disadvantaged in the second fight. The British have an additional source support. There are allied Indians in the area, but no one, even the British, know where they are. Whenever an American unit enters an area of woods 1xD6 is rolled and of a 5 of 6 is rolled mean that they have encountered Indians, and a second roll of 5 or 6 means that they have been ambushed.
Similarly the attacking an Americans are not strong enough to drive the Hessians without reinforcements which they can draw on from C and D and they too have to be mindful of the second fight. The American force is stronger that the British, but the Americans have a number of raw militia which come with their own complication. The battlefield, X, and the American bases of C and D are in New Jersey while the British bases, A and B, are in New York and the militia cannot serve outside New Jersey, so would not be available in the in a battle at A or B, and the Americans need to decide how to best use them.
Two other things players need to consider. First is that losses are carried forward, so any reckless attacks will have a consequence. Second, lines of retreat need to be considered too because should only one be available to the defeated army, the consequence of crowded roads could lead to the disintegration of retreating units.
The map below shows the initial deployment and potential arrival points for reinforcements.
So what happened in the game? Well wargamers being wargamers, all three American players brought their entire force onto the table, completely stripping their home bases of troops. The British chose to bring their entire force at A, a total of six battalions and two guns, while the commander of force at B was hedging his bets, waiting to see if an opportunity arose, but protecting the home base.Saturday 28 September 2024
Townspeople
My continuing work on my oddball vignettes has moved onto the civilians.
I ordered four sets of the new Perry Napoleonic civilians. There are another four sets in the range, but regrettably they were out of stock. So another order will need to be placed.
The first batch are the workmen.
This reminds me of an old (very old...I mean 1968) Pink Floyd song Careful with that Axe Eugene |
The village comes out to watch the parade |
And catch a rare glimpse of the Emperor |