The Battle of McDowell Playtest

     This past week I have been planning future wargames using Battle Cry and Command & Colors scenarios with Heroscape terrain and 15mm miniatures. I repainted a Heroscape board that is 9 x 14 hexes, which makes it 1 hex across larger than C&C boards.  I also painted 1 and 2 hex pieces for hills. Unfortunately, I painted the sides the same color, so when I photograph them you can't see the raised pieces. After the following battle report, I painted the sides a darker green, which I hope will take care of that problem.

    I tend to be quite unimaginative when it comes to gaming. I set up a Battle Cry field to take some photos of how the field would look, which is when I found out that the hills didn't show up well. I also figured having the board set up, maybe I would use it for a game. At first I was trying to decide which Civil War figures to use. Then, thinking of my plans of using just the scenarios as a guideline for my games, I decided to use a different period to fight the battle. The scenario I used was the Battle of McDowell, which is all infantry except one battery of artillery. At first I wanted to use my Peter Laing APW figures, but didn't have enough for the armies. I settled on using my 1st generation Napoleonics. Even then, I just had enough single based French for the game. If I intend to use these figures with C&C Napoleonics, I will have to single base more figures.

   The Ruler of Bluvia sees himself as another Napoleon, so much so that he has taken the name as his own. As such, it is only right that he invades his neighbor with his "Grand Armee".  Redina is not impressed with "Napoleon".  Indeed, they call him "Phony Bony", which only encourages Napoleon to attack. Napoleon crosses into Bluvia near McDowell.  The Bluvian army quickly moves up to strike first.

Bluvian Army (Confederates in the McDowell scenario) at the top of the board, The Redinan Army on the bottom.

Redinan Artillery.

Bluvian Infantry.

"Napoleon" aka Phony Bony with his army.

The armies close in on each other.

Two Bluvian light infantry units attack the Redinan center...

.....and clears the woods to its' front.

The Redinan center counterattacks.

 

The Redinan infantry that was forced from the woods is pushed farther back.

The Redina right, made up of two units, is to try to stop the four units of Bluvian infantry from advancing.

The Redina artillery eliminates one Bluvia infantry units.

Phony Bony leads his guards forward. The Redina loses their Brunswickers, and the Highlanders retreat.

In the center, the Bluvians clear another woods, but can't clear the hill.

The Bluvian left flank has eliminated two more Redina units and cut off the Highlanders from the rest of the army.

The Bluvian army finally takes the hill in the center after being held up by one  infantryman  for a couple of moves.

At this point I stopped the battle. I wanted to award the lone Redina soldier who held  the hill against  superior numbers for several turns. He was award a battlefield promotion to corporal.

The Bluvian left surrounds the Highlanders.....

....and wipes the unit out.

The Redina artillery and infantry in the center both are forced to retreat. The Redinan Army has lost 5 units, and the battle.

The battle at the end. On the left center in the woods, a Redina infantry unit is cut off. 

Phony Bony, surrounded by his guards, at the moment of his first victory. 

The field before the game. As can be seen, it is hard to see the raised tiles.

A New Year of Wargaming

    Last week I got four wargames in, all using Battle Cry. The first two games I played the Battle of Pea Ridge. I played the game using the original rules. The first game I played the Confederates, second game the Union. In both games the Union lost. Once again,  for me my poor card shuffling came into play. In the Pea Ridge scenario, the Confederates have most of their units in the center. However, most of the cards drawn were flank cards. After the second game, I went through the cards and found the good center cards were all on the bottom, once again showing my bad card shuffling. I then remembered seeing an article in Lone Warrior "Battle Cry My Way" by George Arnold. His units are moved based on dice rolls. For each pip rolled, one unit or group can move. He also uses a gridded play area, so he can use terrain pieces instead of tiles. I decided to play another game, but I did use average dice instead of a regular 6D dice. I played the First Bull Run scenario, as I had played this scenario a  couple of times with the regular rules, so had a feel of how the game played out. I found for my wargaming needs, this game was more enjoyable. I then played the game again, using Bob Corderys' Memoir of Battle rules. Once again, it was a quick and enjoyable game. And, once again, I will be using Memoir of Battle for my games. I have decided to start using Command & Color scenarios for my wargames. However, I will use whatever armies I am interested in. So my Peter Laing War of Spanish Succession or ancient Romans might find themselves on the Gettysburg battlefield. With the available Command & Colors scenarios online, I will not be lost for battles to fight. I also brought out my original Heroscape terrain pieces that will be used instead of the Command & Colors board.  I seem to have come full circle with my gaming, having decided to game this way couple of years ago!

    In a recent Wargame Miscellany post, Bob Cordery mentioned how he is watching "Time Commanders", a show where 4 amateurs takes the roll of general to refight great battles. I had watched a couple of the shows a while ago, but lost interest in it. The last week I have been watching the show on Youtube, and found a new appreciation for the show. It now has me thinking of using BobCorderys' "Portable Wargames Ancients" with Heroscape terrain and Peter Laing ancients. Once again Command & Colors Ancients scenarios will provide the battlefield.

Happy New Year to all; may you get plenty of wargames in.

An example of my plans for future gaming. The Battle of Agincourt using Battlelore rules and scenario, Heroscape terrain, and Peter Laing Medieval figures. These pictures are from a game I played in 2013.

Another view of Agincourt at the start of the game.

Random Thoughts on My Gaming.

     I have had increasingly less time for my gaming.  I try to do something when I do have spare time. Here are some random events that have happened in the last couple of months.

     I went to the local big bookstore a couple of months ago .While there I picked up a few magazines, including a wargaming magazine. When I went to check out, the clerk behind the counter started talking to me about wargaming, as he was into wargaming.  I was in a rush that day, so after a few minutes talking, I excused myself ( I am seeing why I'm a solo war gamer!). While talking, he mentioned the Meeples and Miniatures podcast, by Neil Shuck. As a big part of my job requires me to drive around, I have been listening to the podcast. I find it more enjoyable than the true crime pods I had been listening to. While listening to this podcast, he also mentioned another podcast he produced "View from the Veranda" where he and Henry Hyde, of "Battlegames" fame, discuss wargames. I have been listening to this series this week.

    As I spend most of my day in a van, I usually eat my lunch in the van. Now, my cellphone provider has given me a "Christmas gift" of unlimited data for the month of December. I have been taking full advantage of it. While on break or eating lunch, I have been watching lots of videos. Among them are "Callan: Act of Kindness" and the wargaming classic "Battleground" series. I also started watching Youtube videos of people playing different wargames. Last week I came across several of gamers playing Memoir '44 as solo games. After watching a few videos, I realized that the Richard Borg line of games were the answer to my problem of limited gaming time. As I already have Memoir '44, Battlelore, and Battle Cry, it seemed that I should start putting these games to good use. The last few days I got two games in; and it has me inspired to continue to get more gaming in.  With the Memoir'44 game, I used my Peter Laing WW2 figures instead of the plastic figures that came with the game. Unfortunately, I just had enough for the first scenario; I'm not sure if I will be able to use them with all my games. However, it might also have me using my Airfix and Matchbox figures in these games.

    I recently came across a "headless horseman" toy soldier, which seems the ideal size for my 40mm project. I have ordered new rubber for making a mold. This mold will be a three part mold, and as I still haven't mastered two part molds, I am hesitant about starting this mold. However, I really want to try to get this figure cast, and when I have a little more time, will try to start the mold.

   Finally, I bought a "Practical Wargamer" magazine that I didn't have, and bought two lots of 1st generation Minifigs Napoleonics.   Also, on one of the "View from the Veranda" podcast, both Neil & Henry  couldn't give enough praise to Richard Borgs' Command & Colors; Ancients.  As mentioned earlier, I already have three Command & Colors games, so I found a copy of C&C;A on Ebay and bought it. after buying it, I got an email from the seller in which she thinks she might have mixed up my package and might have sent me the wrong game. Hopefully she didn't!

Memoir '44 wargame with Peter Laing miniatures. Pegasus Bridge scenario.

The Germans guarding Pegasus Bridge.

The British use the "Behind Enemy Lines" card. The paras push the Germans off the Orne Bridge...

....and capture the bridge, for the first victory point!

The British assault on Pegasus Bridge bogs down. The Germans brought up two units that fired across the river, pinning the paras down.

To win the game, the first side that won 4 victory points wins the game. The British had three victory points; but the Germans also had 3 victory points. 

The Germans launched a two prong attack on the British. The Germans didn't eliminate any British  units, however, on the German left, they pushed back one British unit. The British had lost the victory point as they had been forced off the Orne Bridge. The British unit that retreated fell back onto the Orne Bridge, giving the British their fourth victory point, and the victory!

During the game the British got very few cards that allowed them to move units in the center; two units never even moved during the game.

A Battle Cry game: the First Bull Run.

Both sides push forward their left flanks.

A Union infantry unit fires from a distance on the only Confederate artillery battery, and eliminates it!

The Confederates launch an assault in the center.

The Union draws the "All Out Assault" which allows them to move all units. The results are disastrous for the Confederates; they lose three units in this attack and lose the battle.  When I play solo again, I think I will remove this card from the deck. 

The Union tries to kill General Jackson; they miss.

My newest Practical Wargamer.
I have been finding myself going back to the bookstore  more than I usually do, looking for the sales clerk who was into wargaming. I was hoping to maybe have another discussion with him and possibly even setting up to have a wargame with him. Last time I found myself doing this, was over 30 years ago when I would go food shopping, hoping to run into my future wife. Does this count as a "man crush"? 

A New Minifigs British Regiment

    One good thing about being in a funk is I will try to jumpstart my way out of it by trying different projects. This week I watched the "Callan" show, "Act of Kindness". Inspired by this show, earlier this year, I started to make several Minifigs regiments using 1st generation French and Russian Napoleonic figures. In "Act of Kindness", it was French against British, so  I wanted to make a British regiment along the lines of my earlier regiments.  As I was nearing completion of the regiment, I  looked back on previous posts. The first units formed were 18 man units; 6 stand regiments with 3 figures per base.  I started painting enough figures to make the 18 man units, even though they will in all probably be used in four stand units, such as used with Battle Cry or Command & Colors games. The figures are being painted for the most part as "generic" figures, meaning just red coats with no facing colors and the drummer is in a red coat, instead of reversed facing. Below are some photos of the nearly completed regiment. Some fine detailing is needed, such as shako plates, and the stands being painted. Once completed, they will receive a coat of gloss lacquer. 

The regiment. Before putting on the gloss lacquer, I want to work on redoing the flag.

Although the Battle Cry system has three infantry and one flag per unit, I wanted the unit to look a little larger; when the last infantry stand is removed the command stand will be removed at the same time.

This is actually a 21 man unit. The French and Russians have 5 infantry stands and a command stand.  I think I might increase the regiments to seven stands.  By painting them the same, I can use them for either as 21 man units, or as 4 stand units.  The six figures in the back on the right still need more painting.

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator Finally Available

      A while back I mentioned a video game, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, a.k.a. T.A.B.S, that looked like it would be enjoyable to play. It IS NOT as described; it is not a totally accurate battle simulator! However, it is a fun game to play. It has undergone quite a few changes from when I first saw it. It's all for the better; however, I wished one option was the original game as first shown. The original game was really silly to the extreme! That being said, they have different armies you can play with, such as Viking Greek, Napoleonic, and miscellaneous. You can play against the computer, or go to "sandbox" mode, where you build both armies. In this mode I could see two people playing against each other using the same computer. The "soldiers" still look like those inflatable people with flapping arms that car dealers use to attract attention to their dealerships. The consist of the red army and blue army; the soldiers are blue and red with google eyes. When using the Napoleonic army, the soldiers are provided with a  shako for a uniform.

      I received this game for free. It is right now available as an "Open Alpha"; whatever that is! I will say that if and when they finally finish this game I would in all probably be willing to buy it, if nothing else as to have on my computer to play when I'm really bored.

     If you would like to see the game, there are plenty of videos on Youtube. If you would like to see the actual company website, here is a link:   Landfall Games .