The Battle of Tanglewood

The Bluvian Army has fallen back to Tanglewood to make their last stand. They have anchored their right flank in woods and a hill and put a weakened regiment guarding the left flank holding a farm. Both armies have brought up all their troops for this battle, realizing that this battle should decide the campaign.

The Bluvian army, being the defenders, was deployed before the start of the battle. I allowed them to deploy two grids ahead of their baseline. I also moved the terrain one grid back so they could deploy on their chosen ground. However, the Redian army moved first. The Bluvian army would stay on the defensive this battle, unless there was an opportunity for a counterattack.

The Redians quickly break the dragoons holding the woods on the left.

The Bluvians shift the brigade on their right into the woods to hold that flank.  The blue artillery fire drives back the red artillery.

The red troops in the center drive back two blue brigades.

At this point the Redian general brings up his reserve brigade. That way there is an extra dice for troop activation. The red army gets a great roll; they push up most of their army.

The blue army starts inflecting heavy losses on the reds; the red brigade approaching the hill loses 50%.

However, the reds continue to push forward, and push back two infantry brigades and the cavalry brigade.

The blue right flank continues to hold the reds back.

One red brigade pushes forward with their bayonets and breaks the brigade to it's front; it then wheels to face the blue cavalry.

The blue infantry charges with their bayonets to try to break the red dragoons. They eliminate one unit, but the other holds.
With the rules I'm using if a unit engages in close combat, if they don't eliminate or force the enemy to retreat, the defending unit gets to throw one dice.

On the reds counter throw, they force the blue brigade back.

The blue army starts closing for close combat, hoping to break the red forces.

The blue cavalry charges the red brigade on their left...

...and eliminates two units. However the red infantry fights back...

...and eliminates one cavalry unit.

The blue infantry in the center attacks the dragoon unit to it's front...

...and eliminates it.

The blue army continues to resist...

... and eliminates the infantry on it's left and dragoons on it's right. What's more, their artillery pushes back the center brigade.

The left red brigade finally overruns the blue artillery on the hill. The red cavalry on the right attacks the blue brigade to its front.

The red brigade advances off the hill to block the blue cavalry. Meanwhile, the center infantry brigade hits the blue brigade on its right flank.

The combined attack on the blue brigade breaks it. The red army now pushes up the center. The Bluvian army falls back and flees back to Old Harbor, where their fleet sits. Fortunately for the Bluvian general, the Redian general doesn't pursue. The Bluvian army is down to 9 units of infantry and one of cavalry. There is no way he can complete his mission of capturing the crossroads at Oak Grove.  He reembarks his army onto the ships. The battle cost the Bluvian army 850 casualties, the Redian army suffered 750.

Book: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places

Recently Man of Tin blog had a couple of posting on the Bronte siblings' "imagi-nations" from their childhood.  About the same time I downloaded the most recent Lone Warrior magazine. In this issue there was a book review by Rob Morgan . The book is "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places", by Alberto Mnguel & Gianni Guadalupi. After reading the review, I found a used copy for $7.00, postage included. I strongly advise anyone interested in imagi-nations to buy a copy of this book. At 730 pages and over 90 maps, it will provide endless ideas for games. And while it doesn't have the Brontes Glass Town in it, it does have their imago-nations of Gondal and Gaaldine.   One country which caught my eye was the Azanian Empire, off the coast of Africa. After reading the "history" of the Empire, I started thinking of the possibilities of what Peter Laing figures could be used. I can see using Arabs, Zulus, Fuzzy Wuzzies, Mamalukes, Ottoman Turks, from Renaissance to WW1 and French forces. As can be seen, this book opens a potential of literally a lifetime of gaming. I strongly recommend this book, especially those who are into imagi-nations.

This is a photo from Lone Warrior magazine; my copy doesn't have the dust cover.

Map of the Azanian Empire.

A different kind of imago-nation.

2nd Battle of Twinkenham

The Bluvian Army falls back towards Twinkenham, with the Redian Army in close pursuit. With some of his reinforcements coming up, the Bluvian Army turns to make a stand.

The Bluvian general decides to use several small hills to anchor his line on. The Redian general  uses the woods to screen his advance.

The Blue dragoons set up in the woods to try to slow the Reds left flank. One Blue brigade obviously didn't understand his orders and continues to advance in the center.

The two Red brigades drive the Blue dragoons from the woods. The dragoons, having been heavily used in the campaign,  break and runs. Meanwhile, the Blue general pushes forward a second brigade in the center.

Two Red brigades hits the Blue line on both flanks.

The Blue cavalry, which had been on he hills protecting the left flank, charges down the hill and pushes one brigade back.  The rightmost Blue brigade pushes back the brigade to it's front.

The leftmost Red brigade hits the Blue brigade, which has another regiment break and run. The Blue cavalry is hit by  volleyfire, and is routed.

The Bluvian has been holding their line, but have suffered heavy casualties. At this point they have no more reserves; the Red army has two infantry brigades advancing who have yet been engaged. The Bluvian army continues their retreat.
The Bluvian Army has suffered 425 casualties; the Redian Army, 225.

The next battle I plan to have the Bluvian Army stationary on the ground of their choosing. The last couple of battles the defending force had to advance on the ground they wanted to defend. Often they couldn't reach the chosen ground. It really  didn't make sense that the army would march past the ground they want to defend, then have to march back to the ground they want to defend!  As a solo gamer, by having the defending army stationary, the game would come down to maneuvering one army to dislodge the other army.

My next posting will be a book review. The book has opened a whole new world of imagi-nation wargaming potential.

Battle of Scottsdale

The Redian Army falls back to it's second line of defense at Scottsdale. The Bluvian Army dallies for several days at Twinkenham, for no apparent reason. However, as their reinforcements finally arrive, they push forward towards Scottsdale.

The start of the battle. Scottsdale is in the center right of the picture.

The Redian general blows his advantage of being on the ground first. The Bluvian general rapidly pushes his cavalry, dragoons and artillery forward, seizing the great woods in the center.

The red dragoons on the right drives back the blue cavalry with rifle fire.

The blue cavalry counterattacks, and the blue artillery forces back one red infantry brigade.

The cavalry fight on the right is costing both units losses. Red pushes forward all his infantry brigades.

The red dragoons eliminate the blue cavalry.

Two red brigades charge the blue dragoons in the great woods.

The red dragoons flank the blue artillery and overruns it

The red dragoons have also positioned themselves behind the blue dragoons  in the woods.

One of the blue infantry brigades drives back the red dragoons, as the blue dragoons maneuver out of the woods.  The blue general loses his composure and orders the army to fall back to their lines at Twinkenham.

Homecast Hills and the Battle of Twinkenham

 I went out this week and bought a new card reader for my computer. Below are some of the home cast hills.

     Using the 2mm blocks on a small board has been most enjoyable, however, without a clear goal the battles tend to be repetitious.  I decided to make a small campaign, using a straight line campaign. There are five towns along the line (the line representing the Old King's Road) with five towns along it. The two armies will first meet in the center town (Twinkenham) for their first battle. The invading Bluvian Army is pushing for the important crossroad at Oak Grove; the Redian Army is trying to push the blue army back to Old Harbor, from whence the invasion started. Both armies start with a six unit army drawn from One Hour Wargames, with additional reinforcements in the form of 3 units from the OHW lists.  The campaign shall go on until either one army captures its' goal or concedes the campaign due to losses.

The two hills made from my mold are on the left, the rest are the poured freeform hills.

The hills with troops on them.

The Bluvian Army approaches Twinkenham. The Blues are heavy on cavalry, having two cavalry and one dragoon regiments. The dragoons have ranged fire and are excellent for skirmishing, however, are weak in close combat.

The Blue cavalry pushes forward to try to take Twinkenham village.

The Redian Army pushes its unit of Dragoons forward to engage the blue cavalry.  

The red army eliminates one cavalry stand on the right and their artillery hits  the other cavalry in the center, which loses one stand.

The blue dragoons (left center) drives back one red regiment. The blue cavalry on the right drives back the red dragoons. It looks like the battle might be over already.

The reds counterattack.

The reds manager to break the blue cavalry on their left. The reds also bring forward their reserves on their right. The last couple of games I have allowed the armies to keep up to two units off the board as reinforcements. They can be put on their back line during any of their turns. 

The blue cavalry in the center hits one red regiment hard and drives them back in panic.

The blue cavalry breaks the infantry unit, then turns on the reds artillery and takes one gun. The blue dragoons hits the red infantry outside of Twinkenham.

The battle at this point from the Redian side. The blue cavalry is in position to overrun the last of the red artillery, or attack the Redian general. All Redian infantry have suffered losses; the Bluvian infantry has two infantry regiments that haven't suffered any losses (the blue reserves can be seen entering the board at top. ) The Redian retreat.  The Bluvian general  holds his cavalry back;  he might need them and for reinforcements is only going to get one dragoon regiment. The Redian losses for the battle are 925; the Bluvian 400.