Action with the Mamelukes

With the completion of the Ottoman artillery I turned my attention to a game to use them in. From the start of the Ottoman expansion the plan was to base the game around the Battle of the Pyramids where a force of infantry and artillery held a fortified camp around the village of Embarbeh on the West Bank of the Nile, opposite Cairo, while a large force of mounted Mamelukes hurled themselves repeatedly against the French divisional squares. The problem here is that it was a dreadfully one sided affair where the a French lost less than 300 casualties, but inflicted more than 10,000 on the Mamelukes. To do such a game justice I would need a lot more figures and do I really need more than 11 units of Mameluke cavalry. Added to that, the purist in me says that all my French figures are in the colourful Kléber uniforms rather than the Revolutionary uniforms with their bicornes.

So I looked to do something a little different. There is an option to set the game a year after the Battle of the Pyramids, after the Syrian Expedition had returned to Egypt and after Napoleon had returned to France. The Ottoman Army followed the French retreat towards Cairo but the French still managed to beat them almost every time so there would still be a struggle to get a balanced game. Then I had an idea.

At the Siege of Acre, Sidney Smith had provided British support for the Ottomans in the form of the marines and sailors of the ships. This was in the period before Abercrombie landed in Abuqir Bay. What if Smith continued to provide that support and I could bolster the Ottoman force with a brigade sized force of marines and sailors?

So the scenario, played on Sunday, was that the Ottoman forces, together with Smith's small brigade, occupied a critical crossing point on the Nile, cutting the route front Cairo to Alexandria. A force of three infantry brigades (18 battalions) and brigade of cavalry was sent to retake the place.

Opposing them was a mixed force of fifteen units of Mamelukes, six European trained infantry units, one Albanian unit and six units of fellahin. In addition they had three heavy batteries in the fortified camp around the town and three field batteries.

My quick sketch of the battlefield

The Ottoman forces were allowed to deploy anywhere on the table to with in 300mm or one foot of the French table edge. The French were able to march on the table between the two points marked.

The Ottomans took an aggressive stance, placing the fellahin, supported by the three field batteries on the left around a village. The rest of the infantry stood concealed behind the hill near the ruins, and the cavalry all remained behind the hills.

The French  decided to swing to the right, but for some inexplicable reason they chose not to advance in brigade squares, although the terrain made the manoeuvring of such formations. 

Once the fighting started I didn't keep detailed notes of the action, but the general gist is that the French got themselves tied up in the terrain and failed to form their brigade squares. On the left they became obsessed with taking the village and threw attack after attack against it. In the end the fellahin held their position. In the French centre the infantry, failing to form brigade squares, was easily contained and eventually destroyed by the Ottomans. The third brigade was only lightly engaged. The French cavalry waited until quite late to enter the action, but were then outflanked and destroyed by the Mamelukes. Smith with his marines and sailors never moved from the fortified camp.

It was a tough day for the Republic and the remaining troops limped back to Cairo.

And the photos...in no particular order...thank to John (commander of the fellahin) for the bulk of the pictures.

Dutch Lancers of the Garde Impériale

Well for all my complaining about what a pain in the butt these Victrix figures were to assemble, but they do make a superb looking unit!

I had to adjust my basing for this unit, and probably for the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Garde that will follow too, because these figures are so much wider than many other figures on the market which meant widening my standard 60mm x 60mm bases for three figures by another 5mm. Even then they only just fit by pairing individual figures and adjusting them forward and back on the bases.

Having done this unit I am quite excited about getting onto the Chasseurs à Cheval, but that won't be until some time in August.

More Staff and a few Mamelukes

I have now completed the second set of Napoleon's staff - the emperor and others dismounted.

This include the Emperor, Marshal Ney (leaning on the table) Marshal Soult, Drouot (ADC to the Emperor), Colonel Gourgaud (Napoleon's faithful ordinance officer) and a Hussar officer acting as ADC.

Also completed are three Mamelukes that will be assigned the role of officers in my Ottoman army that will take the field on the 28th.

The Grenadiers of the Guard

Over the years I have shied away from building up elite units...having said that in my first Franco-Prussian War army (yes there has been more than one...three in fact) I did build a force of 12 battalions, plus cavalry and artillery...but that was a long time ago.

Now with my plans for solo campaigning developing I felt I needed something to represent the French Imperial Guard, something that is in balance with the line troops. So since the line troops in my French army has five brigades of five or six battalions I figured that a brigade of guards wouldn't go amiss. By coincidence a local retailer had a special on Victrix figures and had two boxes of Guard Grenadiers in stock that I snapped up giving me 120 figures - enough for five full battalions. It would have been nice to have six battalions but it was what it was. Then I had an "ah ha" moment...I had a sixth battalion already. 

Nearly thirty years ago I painted a unit of Front Rank grenadiers for my friend Jim's seventieth birthday. Jim died in 2001 and his daughter gave the unit to me as a momento of our 21 years of wargaming experience. For the last 23 years they have been sitting on my bookshelves literally gathering dust. So why not press them into service and use them as an active unit, as Jim would have liked to see them? They were duly removed from their display base, dusted off, retouched, rebased and given a flag.

They have been joined by the first two Victrix battalions - possibly the worst figures to assemble because of the sheer number of bits to be glued on, but the easiest to paint because they are wearing greatcoats.

To support the infantry brigade there will be a guard cavalry brigade (Dutch Lancers and Chasseurs à Cheval - more Victrix that were on special...and I thought the infantry figures had a lot of parts), two guard batteries, one field and one horse, and three commanders.

Solo Campaigning

I have always liked the concept of a wargames campaign, but the few campaigns I have been involved in have all fizzled out when one or more players have lost interest. Now, with retirement approaching,  I intend to make the time to experiment with the idea of a solo campaign. This initial attempt will not get under the way until some time in the New Year, but the intent is to start with a Napoleonic campaign based in Germany in 1813. If successful the concept might also be extended to other wars.

For me there are two big issues with the 1813 campaign:

• It was the largest of the Napoleonic campaigns with the biggest armies ever to take to the field in Europe to that date with hundreds of battalions on each side. How can I hope to reproduce this when my total French force consists of only 29 battalions with maybe another 10 Bavarian allies, and for the Coalition forces I can only raise 18 Russian, 17 Prussian and 16 Swedish battalions (plus another 11 Austrian battalions should they join in)?
• Since I don't have a split personality, well I don’t think I do anyway (I must ask myself), solo gaming by default has bias and that bias is likely to be magnified in a campaign. So how do I maintain a balance in the campaign? 

In answer to the first issue I have no intention of expanding my armies beyond where they are so the largest force on the table can only be what is sitting in my storage boxes. However, I can have  multiple commands in play, but they just can't be on the same table at once. The rules will therefore need impose stacking limitations that will prevent any counter or stack of counters representing a force that exceeds the number of figures available. There is also the possible of fighting a series of disconnected games forming a single battle.

The prevention of bias is a little more complicated, but for me the answer is to create a narrative for each side that guides their actions in the overall campaign. I have been quite loose in my interpretation of the strategic situation in Germany in 1813 so serious students of the campaign should probably stop reading now.

The French narrative is very straightforward. Napoleon needs to push the Russians back behind the Oder and bring the Prussians to heel before he can relieve his garrisons in Poland.  This will bring all those states that had slipped the leash back under French control and deter further defections. He needs to retake Hamburg to reestablish communications with his Danish allies.  With those objectives achieved Sweden would be left out in the cold. 

The Allied narrative, however, is far more difficult. The liberation of Germany is at the centre of their narrative. They must drive Napoleon out of Germany, but each ally has their own political considerations and complications.

• Alexander I of Russia believes that after saving Russia from Napoleon it is his destiny under God to be the saviour of Europe and is determined to make it so, but the Russian Army is exhausted from its exertions the previous year and is filled with many conscripts. He needs Prussian and Swedish involvement to sustain his efforts.
• Bernadotte is keen to establish Sweden's place in Europe, but would be powerless in Europe without Russia.
• Prussia is conflicted. While the middle class and the army are strongly supportive of the liberation, Frederick William III is less supportive and is deeply concerned that if things turned in Napoleon's favour there could be retribution against Prussia that could cost him his crown and see the kingdom carved up.
• Duke Frederick Francis I of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin has similar fears to Prussia. 
• The various Frei Korps that have sprung up in the northwest, and are occupying Hamburg, lack cohesive leadership and are likely to disperse if pushed.

To complicate the narrative further, if the alliance can convince Austria, Saxony and Bavaria to defect from Napoleon the coalition would be unbreakable, but they too have complex political issues:

• Francis of Austria can not afford to lose another war to France, to do so would surely break his fragile Empire apart.
• Saxony and Bavaria are the staunchest of Napoleon's allies and their leaders owe their crowns to the Emperor. Like the Prussians they fear that should they defect and things turn against them there would certainly be retribution. Saxony commences the campaign neutral.

So how to represent this? If there were just one or two Allied variables it would probably be easy enough to program some simple if-then type responses to resolve those conflicts, but there are just too many variables for my brain to try to resolve. So my solution is to build a political temperature gauge that determines the breaking point for each nation, that point could see one state to pull out of the coalition or alternately for other states to join the coalition. The way it works I that every time a Coalition force is defeated in battle the temperature gauge will go up. Conversely every time the Coalition wins a battle the temperature goes down, while the gauge for Austria, Saxony and Bavaria will work in reverse. When any force hits the critical point on their temperature gauge they will exit or join the coalition as applies. But I didn't want this to be a purely mechanical function and when certain points are hit on the gauge there is an option (decided by dice roll) for the gauge to move more than a single point. I set the temperature levels for the various states are shown in the Political Temperature Table in which blue is cool, amber warm and red hot.

Coalition pressure points for temperature change are: 

• for any Coalition defeat in battle +1 or
• If it is a severe defeat +2
• Berlin occupied (Prussia only) +1 - +3*
• if troops from two or more of the  Coalition states are involved in defeat +1
• if one of the other coalition partners withdraws +2
• for each Coalition victory -1

* Roll 1xD6: 1, 2 or 3 = 1, 4 or 5 = 2, 6 = 3

Obviously I need to determine what defines a severe defeat.

Criteria for pressure to build for non-Coalition nations:

• for any Coalition defeat in battle -1
• if one of the other coalition partners withdraws -2
• for each Coalition victory +1
• for each Coalition major victory +2 

In addition when plus point is presented the Coalition forces or a minus point for the non-coalition forces:

• If the temperature gauge reads cool 1xD6 is rolled and if the score is 6 the value of the pressure point is doubled 
• If the temperature gauge reads warm for a state 1xD6 is rolled and if the score is 4+ the value of the pressure point is doubled
• If the gauge reads hot 1xD6 is rolled and if a 3+ is scored and the value of the pressure point is doubled. 

So to the rules of the campaign.

Forces

While actual armies on the table cannot exceed the number of figures actually available for play, multiple armies are possible, they just can't stack together. On this basis for armies can be built from the following commands:

France

Command	Sub-Command	Description	Max No of Commands	Stack Limit
Infantry Division	Brigade	5 light infantry  5 line infantry 1 regimental gun	3	1
	Brigade	7 line infantry  5 line infantry 1 regimental gun
	Artillery	1 horse battery 1 field battery
Infantry Division	Brigade	6 line infantry 5 line infantry 1 regimental gun	3	1
	Brigade	6 line infantry 5 line infantry
	Artillery	1 horse battery 1 field battery
Cuirassier Division	Brigade	Cuirassier regt	4	2
	Brigade	Cuirassier regt
	Brigade	Cuirassier regt
	Artillery	1 lancer squadron 2 horse batteries
Dragoon Division	Brigade	2 Dragoon regts	3	1
	Brigade	2 Dragoon regts
	Artillery	1 horse battery
Light Cavalry Division	Brigade	2 hussar regts	3	1
	Brigade	3 Chasseur regts
Artillery Reserve	Brigade	5 batteries	3	1
Imperial Guard	Infantry Brigade	6 battalions 1 field battery 1 horse battery	1	1
	Cavalry Brigade	1 lancer regt 1 Chasseur regt	1	1

Bavaria

Command	Sub-Command	Description	Max No of Commands	Stack Limit
Division	Infantry Brigade	2 line battns 1 Jäger battn 2 Kreis battns 1 field battery	1	1
	Infantry Brigade	2 line battns 1 Jäger battn 2 Kreis battns 1 field battery
	Cavalry Brigade	2 light cav regts 1 horse battery
	Brigade	2 grenadier battns
	Artillery	1 Field Battery

Russia

Command	Sub-Command	Description	Max No of Commands	Stack Limit
Infantry Division	Brigade	4 Musketeer Battns	3	1
	Brigade	4 Musketeer Battns
	Brigade	4 Jäger Battns
	Artillery	1 light battery 2 heavy batteries
Heavy Cav Division	Brigade	2 cuirassier regts	3	1
	Brigade	2 dragoon regts
	Brigade	3 dragoon regts
	Artillery	1 horse battery
Light Cav Division	Brigade	1 hussar regt 1 mtd Jäger regt	3	2
	Brigade	1 uhlan regt 1 mtd Jager regt
	Artillery	1 horse battery
Guard	Infantry Brigade	6 grenadier battns	1	1
	Brigade	1 horse battery
Cossacks	Brigade	4 Cossack regts	3	1

Prussia

Command	Sub-Command	Description	Max No of Commands	Stack Limit
Infantry Division	Brigade	2 Musketeer Battns 1 Fusilier Battn	2	1
	Brigade	2 Reserve  Battns 2 Landwher Battns
	Unattached	1 Jäger Battn
	Artillery	1 field battery
Infantry Division	Brigade	2 Musketeer Battns 1 Fusilier Battn	2	1
	Brigade	2 Musketeer Battns 2 Reserve  Battns 2 Landwher Battns
	Artillery	1 Field Battery
Cavalry Division	Brigade	1 cuirassier regt 1 Uhlan regt 1 Landwehr regt	2	1
	Brigade	2 dragoon regts 1 hussar regt
	Brigade	2 dragoon regts  2 mtd Jäger regts
	Artillery	1 horse battery
Reserve Artillery	Brigade	2 Field batteries	2	1

Sweden

Command	Sub-Command	Description	Max No of Commands	Stack Limit
Division	Infantry Brigade	4 line battns 1 Jäger battn 1 field battery	1	1
	Infantry Brigade	4 line battns 1 Jäger battn 1 field battery
	Infantry Brigade	4 line battns 1 Jäger battn 1 field battery
	Cavalry Brigade	2 dragoon regts 1 horse battery
	Artillery	3 Field Batteries

Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: is a single brigade of four battalions.

The Frei Korps: an army consisting of 8 battalions and cavalry regiment and one battery ( are classed as raw troops) also exists but can never join the other Coalition forces.

In any one hex the Coalition can stack a maximum of one Russian, one Prussian, one Mecklenburg-Schwerin and one Swedish army.

The Map 

I have created a map of Germany from Poland in the east to Frankfurt and Bremen in the West and Hei- delberg in the South. All major rivers and towns are marked and a hexagonal movement grid is overlaid. Each hex measures approximately 20 kilometers on the map, or one day's normal march for infantry. 

The map has been printed A3 size and mounted as a folding board.

Initial Deployments

I opted to construct and deploy the armies as follows:

Prussians:  

• Blucher with 10 battalions, 7 cavalry regiments and four batteries at Dresden
• 7 battalions, 3 cavalry regiments and one battery at Chemnitz
• 17 battalions, 10 cavalry regiments and five batteries spread between Brandenburg, Belzig and Lukenwalde

Russians:

• 8 battalions, 4 Cossack regiments and one battery with Blucher
• 4 battalions, 3 dragoon regiments and one horse battery at Berlin 
•  8 battalions, 10 line cavalry regiments, 4 Cossack regiments, three line and three horse batteries at the top entry point marked on the map
• Wittgenstein with 8 battalions, 10 line cavalry regiments, 4 Cossack regiments, three line and three horse batteries, plus the guard, at the middle entry point marked on the map
• 8 battalions, 10 line cavalry regiments, 4 Cossack regiments, two line and two horse batteries at the bottom entry point marked on the map

Swedes: At the entry point marked.

Frei Korps: At Hamburg

French:

• 23 line battalions, 14 cavalry regiments, 3 light, 6 field and 6 horse artillery batteries at Magdeburg
• 23 line battalions, 14 cavalry regiments 3 light, 6 field and 6 horse artillery batteries and the guard and Napoleon at at Erfurt
• 15 line battalions, 8 cavalry regiments, 3 light, 3 field and 3horse artillery batteries at Gottingen
• 8 line battalions, 6 cavalry regiments 3 field and 3 horse artillery batteries as Coburg

Bavarians: At Regensberg

Turn Sequence

• Check weather
• Determine initiative
• Activate and Move units
• Calculate any attrition from forced marches
• Where contacts occur:
• Determine type of contact
• Determine table setup
• Adjacent units can March to the Guns
• Fight engagement
• Defeated force retreats
• Determine battle attrition
• Adjust Political Temperature

Weather

Weather is rolled for each turn and can be either Fair or Bad. Weather either worsens from Fair to Bad or improves from Bad to Fair. The campaign starts with fair weather, but each successive turn 1xD6 is rolled, modified by +1 if it is April, May or October, and the result is as below:

Initiative

Initiative determines which side moves first in a game turn and is determined by rolling 1xD6 then adding dice to a pool for each of the following factors:

• If a victory was scored last turn +1
• If they held the initiative last turn +1
• More units activated than the opponent last turn +1

Each side pick the highest score in their pool and the highest score between the moves first.

Movement 

Stacking restructions

No army greater than the total available number of wargames units available for play can occupy one hex in any circumstances.

Activation

All armies must activate to move. Activation can be improved if a leader is attached or can be worsened by the political temperature. Units that fail to activate do not move in that turn. Roll 1xD6 and the basic score to activate is 4+. The die roll is modified as follows:

• If Napoleon is attached +2
• If Blücher or Wittgenstein are attached +1
• If the National Political Temperature is warm -1
• If the National Political Temperature is hot -2

To speed things up a bit I created an activation calculator. It is just a spreadsheet with all the armies listed then generates a random number between 1 and 6, and adds or subtracts any applicable factors. The same spreadsheet has separate sheets to calculate any forced marching and to record battle losses.

Movement Rates

Units move through the movement grid at the following rates.

Forced Marching

Units can also attempt to force march up to three additional hexes by rolling 1xD6 on the Forced March Table. The figure on the table is the distance a unit may force march, in hexes.

When a unit force marches there is a chance of attrition for any table result with an asterisk (*) beside it. Roll 1xD6 for each brigade force marching and a score of 4+ will weaken each unit in the brigade by one strength grade. Attrition from forced marching is temporary and strength is recovered after a day of inactivity. Units cannot force march in consecutive turns.

Crossing Rivers 

Rivers do not affect units crossing at towns and cities. Away from towns and cities the unit can cross, but will not move the following turn. Units cannot enter or exit a hex containing a river in bad weather.

Battle 

Battle takes place whenever opposing counters are in the same hex. 

Action Type 

Actions are one of three types: 

• Encounter - an unplanned battle where both sides have moved into the same hex in the same turn 
• Battle in position - Where one side has not moved and the other has moved into contact. 
• Battle in a fortified position - Where one side has chosen the ground and fortified the position by re- maining in the location for five consecutive turns 

Marching to the Sound of the Guns 

Whenever contact is made any units that have activated and are within three hexes of the contact point may attempt to march to the sound of the guns by forced marching, so long as they have not already force marched in that or the previous turn and stacking rules are met.

If successful, reinforcements roll 1xD6 to see if they arrive either on the player's home table edge or on either flank as early as game turn 2, using the following table:

Table Layout and Deployment

Using the appropriate group of table plans (below) roll 1xD10 (for a battle in a fortified position only five table options are available so divide the score by 2) to determine the terrain for the battle. 

Where a battle in a fortified position is being played the strength of the defending force may not exceed two thirds of the strength of the attacker. 

After Battle 

At the conclusion of a battle the defeated player immediately retreats two hexes away from the battlefield and may attempt to force march in their turn.

Battle Attrition 

Any battalion, regiment or battery that has taken losses of 4 or more in battle will drop one strength value - i.e. large to standard, standard to small, small to tiny. Tiny units always remain tiny.

Units will not be reinforced during the campaign.

I am sure that many more rules will come up before the campaign is played.

Since I started writing this post I have been so inspired by this idea that I have already begun digging out other campaign maps I had drawn up previously (for the American Civil War and the First Carlist War), and have completed maps for the Imperial phase of the Franco-Prussian War, the Iberian Peninsula for the Napoleonic Wars and for the 1814 campaign. A map for the American War of Independence is in progress.

Before I leave work and lose access to the specialist drawing software that I use to draw them, I will also look to complete maps for other periods of interest like Egyptian Campaign 1798-1801, the Great Paraguayan War, the Austro-Prussian War, the War of 1812, Crimean War, Russo-Japanese War, the Imjin War and maybe Feudal Japan. All will be mounted as folded game boards.