Simplicity in Hexes: Battle of Cheese Hill

   The Bluvian cavalry reports to their commander that the only obstacle to their advance is a couple of infantry regiments holding a hill known as Cheese. Hill.  He decides for a quick advance on Cheese Hill before the regiments get reinforcements.

As the Bluvian army advances on the blocking force on the road, the Verdian army storms out of a hollow the Bluvians right flank.  The Bluvian commander had deployed his dragoons on the left flank, expecting an attack from that direction.

The Bluvian cavalry and dragoons attack down the road, hoping to clear the road. The artillery deploys  and the infantry starts to form line to meet the threat.

The Verdian fire eliminates the charging cavalry.

The Verdian cavalry charges the battery and the infantry on the road starts advancing down the road.

The first Bluvian infantry retreats behind the artillery.

The last two Bluvian infantry units form a line on the hill while the dragoons attack the infantry and Verdian dragoons.

The Bluvian guns manage to break one of the cavalry regiment's attack, while the second regiment loses heavily from musketry on their flank.

The Verdian cavalry rallies and attacks the Bluvian infantry's flank on the hill. The Verdian infantry in the meantime is forming to advance in line.

The Bluvian infantry that was driven off the hill rallies and drives off the cavalry.

The Verdian cavalry concentrates on seizing the hill. 

The cavalry rotes the infantry on the hill.

The Bluvian commander orders the dragoons to disengage on the left flank, and to try to retrace the hill.

The Bluvia artillery drives back one regiment that had been trying to take the guns.

The Verdian cavalry charges down off the hill and eliminates one infantry regiment (no picture of the attack) . The battery was forced to retreat from infantry fire. In it's retreat, it runs right into the victorious cavalry, which proceeds to overrun the battery.

The Bluvian dragoons sees that all is lost and flees the field. What's left of the infantry isn't so fortunate.

The Verdian general decides to march back to the capital (to show off what a great general he is). The Bluvian army has  been eliminated as a threat, at least for now.

The colors of the victorious regiments, along with the captured colors. As for the Bluvian general, there is no sign of him. He hasn't returned with the remains of his army; he isn't a prisoner and his body isn't on the field of battle. Of course, the fact that the army's payroll disappeared has rumors spreading through the Bluvian capital.
The Bluvian losses are over 200; the Verdian losses only amount to 25.

Simplicity in Hexes; Battle of Hook's Crossroads

       For the Bluvian commander, to retreat back to Bluvia was not an option. After such a humiliating defeat, he knew he would lose all, including possibly his head. With a brigade of reinforcements coming up, he decided to try to turn the Verdian left flank. Scouts told him there was a small force at Hook's Crossroads. If he could move fast enough he might just be able to slip by the left of the Verdian army. After the army rested, it was learned that the army lost about 200 men at Apostrophe Hill.  With his army fed, he ordered the army on the move.

       For the Verdian general, he thought the fighting was over. He had next to no losses, most of those injured could return right to the colors.  After the total collapse of the Bluvian army, they must be running back to the Bluvia border. Still, he decided to keep an eye on the retreat. His cavalry was blown from the day's fight. He ordered his dragoons to follow the retreating army.

    The dragoons were surprised when the Bluvian army turned north towards Hook's Crossroads instead of continuing to Bluvia. A dispatch rider went back to raise the alarm. The Verdian general ordered most of the army on the road, leaving a small guard to protect Apostrophe Hill.

The Bluvia army moves forward to seize the vital Hook's Crossroad. 

The Verdian army moves to hold the high ground, and he sends forward his dragoons to skirmish with the Bluvians.

The Verdian dragoons engage with the Bluvian dragoons. A Verdian infantry regiment forms line and starts to engage  the infantry at the crossroads.

The Verdian fire forces the infantry back.

The Bluvian commander decides to try to advance his army in line.

The Verdian dragoons are driven off.

The Bluvian cavalry hits the Verdian cavalry in the flank.

The Bluvian fire continues to inflect casualties along the Verdian front.

The Verdian left launches a strong assault against the crossroads.

The Bluvian dragoons are driven off, however, the infantry holding the crossroads holds fast.

The Bluvian right starts their attack on the hill.

The Verdian cavalry is routed off the field, while one Verdian infantry regiments is eliminated.

At the battle of Apostrophe Hill, the Verdian commander resisted the temptation to advance his infantry off the hill. However, now he decides to try to take out the Bluvian battery with a direct attack off the hill.

He is now hopeful of turning the Bluvian's right flank.

However, the Bluvian forces attack along the line.

They push back the infantry on the road. Worse for the Verdian army, the infantry regiment that advanced off the hill  is broken by the crossfire from the Bluvian artillery and infantry on their flank. Meanwhile, the bluvian cavalry starts working their way around the Verdian rear.

The Verdian general orders a retreat before his army is surrounded. The Verdian army falls back to a chosen position along the road. They have lost 225 men.  The Bluvian losses number around 125.

Simplicity in Hexes; the Battle of Apostrophe Hill

    For the campaign, I am using the Simplicity in Hexes campaign maps and result tree. The opposing armies are the Nation of Bluvia  and Verdia (easier for me than the names in the rules!). The rules are a thrown together set using mainly Battle Cry and See the Elephant.

     The Bluvian army crosses into Verdia, expecting a quick advance. However, Verdia has a good spy ring and know when and where the Bluvian attack is to take place. The Verdian general sends two regiments to Apostrophe Hill, a high ridge on the main road the Bluvian army is going to advance down. Meanwhile he quickly assembles what forces he can to reinforce the two regiments.

    The Bluvian cavalry reports of the occupation of Apostrophe Hill. The Bluvian general decides to deploy his army and launch an attack before the rest of the Verdian army can come up.

The Bluvian army deployed. Three regiments will assault the hill, and the dragoons will charge down the road to either attack the hill in the flank, or try to delay any troops on the road.

The Verdian army advances quicker than the Bluvian general expected.

The Bluvia dragoons attack the flank of the hill, and the Bluvian cavalry attacks the approaching Verdian cavalry.

The dragoons drive off one of the infantry regiments. Meanwhile, the Bluvia cavalry drives off the Verdian cavalry. In the rules I came up with, dragoons act like skirmishers. They can either fire on the enemy, or close with the enemy. However, to melee with the enemy, they must have equal or a greater number of stands to melee. As they only had 2 stands (they lost one stand to Verdian musketry from the hill) as opposed to the infantry's 4, they can only fire on the infantry. Only a unit engaged in close combat can "take ground", so the dragoons can't move onto the hill.  I'm not sure if this rule works, but for this campaign I am sticking to the rules for this campaign.

The Verdian cavalry counterattacks the Bluvian cavalry; another regiment of cavalry attacks the dragoons on the road. The Verdian dragoons move up onto the hill to support the infantry regiments.

The Verdian cavalry causes heavy casualties on the Bluvia cavalry, and the Bluvian dragoons are wiped out.  Meanwhile, the advancing Bluvian infantry suffers staggering losses in front of the hill.

The Verdian cavalry continues their attack. One regiment charges down the road and hits a blue regiment still in column.

The cavalry attack eliminates half the infantry regiment; the Verdian infantry fire from the hill  decimates the Bluvian infantry to their front. The Bluvian general orders a retreat to save what little is left of his command. It has been a catastrophic battle for the Bluvian army. Of course, the general's main concern is how to save his head!

On Campaigns

     This week has been an inspiring week for me. On Sunday I was going through a list of different articles made many years ago. While the original article I was looking for could not be found, there was another in an issue of MWAN; " Campaigns for Lazy People".  At the same time several other blogs mentioned a campaign system atNumbers, Wargames, and Arsing About , along with a set of wargame rules. Just a quick glance of this campaign showed me this is the system for my games. What's more, in his reference section he gave a website with some excellent maps of Europe; a great source for wargame maps .

    Needless to say, I decided to use the campaign outline for some battles, using the GNW armies and my own rules. With his rules his board are 6x6 hexes. I used my 9x9 board.

    The battles are made up from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargame scenarios. The first battle, "Apostrophe Hill", is OHW scenario 4, which just happens to be the last OHW game I used.

    For this campaign, I used the "Simplicity in Hexes" army list for a 6 unit army. However, I also picked 3 unit reinforcements using the same list. This campaign is going to be a three battle affair. The 9 units each army starts with are the only troops they have for the campaign. The first battle will be fought by the first 6 units picked. The next battle the commanders (me) will pick the 6 units, instead of rolling for them. The last battle, all remaining forces may join the battle. Any unit that is wiped out in one battle automatically loses one base. The rest are rolled for to see how many stands return to the colors. The victor of the battle will get back a stand for each 4,5, or 6 rolled.  The loser must roll a 5 or 6 to get stands back.

The invasion begins.

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.