Sunday, February 16, 2014

15mm Peter Laing Battle of Beaverton

      After the train ambush, General Piffle  was furious. To lose a battery of guns and have a battalion of infantry cut to pieces by a bunch of amateurs was too much. What's more, his higher ups were reconsidering keeping him in command.  He called his most trusted officer, Col. Potty to gather a force using what few troops were in the region. Potty put forward that he would take his battalion, along with a battery of artillery, and two troops of militia cavalry; one a troop of hussars and one of lancers.  As an afterthought, he also added a company of militia infantry. He knew the rebel were based in the village of Beaverton, and he might have to storm the village.
   Meanwhile, in Beaverton itself, the rebels rested on their laurels. Certainly it will take the government forces some time to recover from that loss.  The commander of the rebels, Braun, has scouts out and spies throughout the countryside. So it can be imagined his surprise when his scouts come running into town reporting that the army is marching on Beaverton. He orders out his troops. While his officers want to garrison the town, Braun says they will march out to meet the enemy. He doesn't want the innocents in town to be endangered by the coming battle.





On the top of the board (north) The government troops arrive on the scene.  On the left is West Wood, on the right East Wood, and the bottom Beaverton with the rebel troops with their recently capture artillery.
View from behind the Government line. Col. Potty  (on white horse) observes the town of  Beaverton.

View from behind the rebel lines looking towards the government line.

Two companies of infantry close on West Wood; the infantry draws first blood by killing one rebel.  Meanwhile the troop of lancers launch a flank attack on the woods.

Meanwhile the battery brings one of the rebel batteries under fire, causing heavy losses.

The fighting becomes general in the East Woods; the hussars starts moving across the open fields.

The hussars hit one of the rebel companies, causing it to retreat.

The follow up charge forces the other rebel battery to retreat.

At this point in the battle the government forces have  the rebels on the run.


The rebel battery is eliminated, but the rebels continue to hold part of the East Woods.


One rebel unit manages to route one grenadier company, almost forcing it off the field (3 "retreat" dice) and another kills one hussar and made them to  retreat. 

The rebels manage to work behind one of the grenadier companies, cutting it off  from  the other company.

One rebel tries to capture the battery. The batterie double charges the gun with  canister…..

and eliminates the rebel company.
One of the grenadier companies force back one of the rebel companies in the East Woods; now the grenadiers has turned the tables on the rebels and has cut off one of their companies.


The hussars attack the rebel company that was forced out of the East Woods.

Meanwhile, in the West Woods the infantry finally clear the woods of rebels, who the lancers quickly closes in on them.

In the West Woods, the militia company clears the last of the rebels from the woods, as the grenadier company that broke and ran rallies and comes back up fast.

The trapped rebel unit starts taking losses.

The trapped rebels, realizing they are hopelessly surrounded with no help nearby, surrenders.

The rebels get back into the West Woods, but the government troops are working their way behind them.

A grenadier guards the captured rebels from the East Woods.

The rebels now realize the battle is lost. The lancers are almost around the back of the rebels. The rebel artillery manages to force the lancers to retreat, opening a way for the rebels to retreat, an opening that the rebels use. The government have recaptured one gun, but the rebels make off with the other. At least Col. Potty can return one gun to General Piffle.

This battle was just slapped together. I used Bob Cordery's Memoir of Battle rules. Usually for victory the first side has to lose 50%.  I didn't even think of that with this game, just started playing. In most of my war-games, I have been disappointed in the performance of artillery. This game the government guns played havoc on the rebels. Also the cavalry played a bigger roll than normal. Maybe I'm just learning to use them properly.
One will also notice the names of the Government officers as names from R.L. Stevenson's war-game. I'm actually terrible making up names and my war-games tend to be too generic with no names to be memorable.
















9 comments:

  1. Well the game still looked and sounded like fun. I liked the back story setting it up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog was the main inspiration for this and The "Train Ambush" game. Your games that use British and American forces in 40mm is what gave me the idea. I used the idea of a local rebellion along the lines of the Canadian rebellions or Fenian raids for this game.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great looking game.I have enjoyed reading of you and your Peter Laing chaps.I had a Roman legion of around 300 figures many moons ago and a ww1 in East Africa set up.Both sadly gone...
    Where do you get your figures and do you cast commercially at all?
    Cheers
    Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the kind comments. Most of the figures i've got I have bought on Ebay. When I first started looking I went to wargaming forums and had several kind people give me several large lots of the figures. I have also traded different figures for them. Unfortunately I do not cast them commercially. There's a good chance that might open me to copyright infringement. Also my molds don't make figures that I would charge for. I do have some Roman figures, along with WW1 African campaign. Some of the WW1 figures are on an earlier post on my blog.

      Delete
  4. John, as always, loved the game! Now I need to find a suitable 1870s German train to do a Prussians via French Franc Tireurs version - but I am thinking of playing the roles in reverse. Do you remember the scene in the film "The Horse Soldiers" where the Confederates storm off a train to try to re-take a town? Should make for an interesting game.
    Tradgardmastare - Both John and myself share details, together with a group of other PL fans, of PL figures coming up on e-Bay. That is pretty much the only way to get them these days as the moulds seem to have disappeared.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian, If you look at the Liliput engine I think that could be used for a FPW game. I do remember the scene in "The Horse Soldiers". I have been thinking of a battle along those lines; something along the line of the Confederates arriving before the battle of Bull Run.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for your comments.Perhaps the moulds will appear one day,here's hoping...
      i must keep an ebay eye out...

      Delete
  5. Ian Dury tried to track them down at one time. Unfortunately the trail went cold. Hopefully they are sitting in someones attic and someone will find them and realize what they have. It would have to be a labor of love though, as PLs seem to be held in contempt by most of the wargaming community.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tradgardmastare - if you drop me a mail with you contact details, plus your areas of interest in terms of PL figures, I will add you to my circulation list for any e-Bay "spots" - ian dot dury at hotmail dot co dot uk

    ReplyDelete