Toy Soldier Chessboard Wargame

Blue toy soldier army vs. Red toy soldier army. Landscape terrain is the same on each side.  Game using Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 rules.

Both sides rush forward to seize favorable terrain.

Blue fire drives one red soldier to retreat from the woods.

Red advances against the blue right...

...and kills three soldiers.

Blue return fire kills three red soldiers, as the blue army pushes forward their left flank.  Meanwhile the blue unit advances on the woods in the center.

The leftmost red unit kills two blue infantry, while another blue soldier is killed before the woods.

Blue continues their assault on their left. They kill one red soldier and force two to retreat from the stone wall.

The red commander starts moving some of his troops from the left to bolster his right flank. Meanwhile, blue loses two more men on their right flank.

Blue continues to hit the red right. Red loses two more soldiers behind the stone wall.

Red drives back the defenders of the woods on blue's right flank; the red troops in the woods  forces the blue infantry in it's front to retreat, and blue has one killed in it's left flank.

Blue moves to shore up it's right flank.

Red counterattacks on it's right.

Blue finally takes the woods in the center, kills one infantryman, and drives one off the battlefield. They also win the race for the woods behind their lines.

Red drives the blue infantryman out of the woods on the top left of the picture. The red counterattack on the woods in their center drives one blue soldier back( as there are already 4 infantrymen in that square, the soldier is killed.

The blue left continues their push on the left. Meanwhile, the blue infantry tries to clear the woods in the foreground.

The blue attack on the red right falters; one soldier is killed and the others forced to retreat. Meanwhile, blue loses two more soldiers in the center.

Blue disparately tries to rally in the center.

The red army hits the blue left flank hard, killing two more blue soldiers.

At this point the blue commander orders a retreat. The first side to lose 16 men loses the battle.

As the blue army falls back, the red commander comes forward to lead the pursuit.

Thoughts on a "Chessboard Campaign"

Besides shipping  another 6 pounds of  figures out and having a quick wargame,  little has been done with the hobby, until last night.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I get the strangest thoughts when I wake like this.  I started thinking of a "Chessboard Campaign". For this campaign I would use simple rules such as  Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 rules. With his rules there is a headquarters on the base line of each side; the goal being capturing the HQ. In most of my games, one side is usually destroyed before it comes to that.  My thought is to have the first side to lose 50% of their forces forced to retreat one square backwards; that would end the day. Next day both sides would be back to full strength, and the battle would start anew where the battle line ended the day before.  First side to capture the HQ would win the game. Of course, I have started thinking  of variants on these rules, such as each side would only get a percentage of their forces back every game. Also, the possibility of having several villages on each side, which would be goals for each

side to capture.

This being Memorial Day weekend, I'm hoping to get a game or two in using the campaign idea.

One of the readers to receive some of the plastic toy soldiers sent me this picture of some of them in action.  It 's good to see them in action again.  

Patriot's Day Wargame

     Patriot's Day is a Massachusetts state holiday commemorating the battle of Lexington and Concord. Being a town employee, I had the day off. My wife, who is still recuperating from surgery, decided to take a nap, which gave me time for a quick wargame. I decide to use Chris Salander's H&M 2.0. As mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to try to use mixed units instead of the usual infantry, cavalry and artillery.  I started with the basic rules figure allotment of 16 infantry, 6 cavalry and 4 artillery. The red army would use the conservative infantry, cavalry, and artillery units. The blue army did something different. Their army had mixed units deployed from left to right: 3 infantry; 2 cavalry & 2 infantry; 2 artillery& 2 infantry; 2 cavalry & 2 infantry; 2 artillery & 2 infantry; 2 cavalry & 2 infantry; 3 infantry.  Each army could move 4 squares of figures per turn, although anyone within  range could battle. I wasn't going to do a battle report so I didn't take any pictures until the game was half over.

At the half way point in the game, the Red Army was turning Blue's right flank.

Blue tries to stabilize their right flank.

Blue wipes out the Red cavalry on their left flank and their artillery fire drives back an infantry unit.

Red's right flank has crumbled.  However, their cavalry on the left has eliminated  the Blue cavalry  on the Blue's right flank. Red starts consolidating his right flank units.

Blue cavalry hits the Red's right flank...

...and kills two infantrymen, eliminates one artillery piece, and forces the other gun to retreat.

The Blue army starts moving their infantry on the left to shore up the right.

The Red army manages to get all their troops into combat.

The Red army starts breaking through the Blue's line.

The Red army  has the Blue army on the run.

The blue army's morale breaks and the withdraw off the field. After the fact, based on the holiday, I should have used my 1st generation Minifigs American Revolution figures.

2mm and Chessboard Battles.

   With my wife out of work again from an injury, and me recovering from a cold, I haven't had much time or entusiasum for gaming. As I started feeling better, I wanted to get a game in, but didn't want to spend a couple of hours in the cold basement after getting over being ill. I brought some of my 2mm figures up to the new den and fought a game. That game ended quicker than expected and I found time for another game. For this I brought up my Peter Laing recasts and used the chessboard and  Chris Salander's H & M 2.0 rules.

2mm game. The Red Army has seized the ridge line and the Blue Army brings up two batteries to shell the ridge.

The Red Army fire drives back both Blue batteries  and the Blue infantry suffers heavy losses. At this point the Red Army launches a general assault along the entire line.

The Red Army splits the Blue Army in half, and wins the battle.

Chessboard battlefield. The game is set up to use H&M 2.0 rules.

The red cavalry pushes through the center of the blue army.

Between the red cavalry and red infantry, one blue unit loses one killed and two retreat.

The cavalry overruns the blue artillery. He now has blue's headquarters within striking distance.

Blue manages to push the cavalry back.

The red cavalry captures blue's headquarters. After checking the rules, only infantry can capture the opponents headquarters. A red infantry unit is 3 moves away from the headquarters.

The blue cavalry drives off the red cavalry.

The blue army launches a counterattack.

The red army is on the run.

The red army's left flank is gone; the red army concedes the battle.
While playing the game, I forgot some of the rules which makes this game interesting. With the original rules, each side can move 4 squares worth of figures. Usually I will roll an average dice to add some degree of  uncertainty to the game. In this game I stuck to the original 4 squares movement. I did roll for initiative for which side moved first. For the first half of the game I played using Command & Colors style rules, where only the 4 squares worth of figures could engage in combat. However, after looking at the rules, I remembered the rule that ANY unit was in range could engage in combat, which during a wargame, does make sense.
After playing this game, it has me rethinking of using these rules more.  In the rules, four figures are allowed in a square; you can mix and match the pieces. Over the years, I usually just make units of infantry, artillery, and cavalry.  This game I moved different infantrymen to join other units. It has me thinking of using combined arms units instead of the same old infantry, artillery, and cavalry units.