Category Archives: Battle Reports

At long last we have started our Black Powder Campaign. The idea is that the campaign will provide an  ongoing narrative to our regular Thursday night Club battles and encourage us to try out new scenarios and of course build our armies. This week there were three battles happening and to give you an idea of how the campaign works, I’ll describe the battle that my General, Sir Sydney Ruff-Diamond was involved in.

The first part of the campaign was to randomly choose one trait for each of our Commanders. Fortunately, all of my brigadiers were ‘normal’ with the exception of my Light Cavalry commander, Rowland Hill, who came up with Timid for his aggression Trait meaning that he will have a -1 when issuing a charge order. My opponent, Wayne, or rather his General, Michel Loup, the infamous French commander also had just one Brigadier with a unique trait. One of his Brigadiers, Colonel Cantona, had the High Decisive Trait giving him the option of a re roll for failed commands but failed re rolls will result in a blunder!

We were using our own points system, which although imperfect, is quick and easy to use and allows us to put similar sized forces on the table. If you would like to know more, I’ve covered this in a previous blog here:

http://arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk/black-powder-for-club-nights/

Tonight we were gaming with about 40 points a side.

We then chose our scenario by rolling a D6. Again, we use a simple list that I have previously posted here:

http://arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk/scenarios-for-black-powder/

Tonight’s battle would follow the ‘Off Table Deployment’ rules.

With the scene set it was on with the battle. The British started well, deploying onto the table successfully in two turns and they quickly formed into a defensive line ready for the French. Except the French failed to arrive. On the first turn, none of the French brigades deployed and it was not until turn three that the French Army was actually on the Table.

The French Army finish a leisurely meal before deciding whether to give battle!

With the French arriving so late on the battlefield, they were unable to use their superior mobility to out manoeuvre the British but found they had to commit to a full frontal assault. To make matters more difficult, whilst they were superior in Cavalry strength and Artillery, they lacked infantry support should things go wrong. Sir Sydney Ruff-Diamond had anchored his right flank against a wood, preventing any break though here by the French. He deployed all of his Cavalry on the left flank, opposing the main bulk of the French cavalry. Although out numbered, Sir Sydney was confident that the British Heavy cavalry would be up to the task of holding the French.

French Cavalry threaten the British left flank.

General Loup ordered his Cavalry forward but due to a misunderstanding ( failed order…) the French Light Cavalry found themselves leading the charge whilst the heavies sat back and watched. The British response was immediate and the Scots Greys charged into action, mauling the French Lights and pushing them back, masking their own artillery.

On the right, a  French Hussar unit was holding the entire British flank in position but unfortunately, despite Colonel Cantona’s decisive orders, he was unable to get his brigade into position to take advantage of the situation. So rapidly did he give orders, that eventually, some of the French blundered and moved in the opposite direction! Sir Sydney, as cool as ever, held his position, wearing the French down with artillery fire awaiting the inevitable French charge.

Once again, the French Cavalry surged forwards and once again, they were met by the counter charge of the Scots Greys. The French Heavy’s had the worst of it and even though they were led in a personal charge by none other than General Loup himself, they were pushed back, the General barely surviving the combat.

General Loup leads the French into battle only to be repulsed by the Greys!

The British, encouraged by the success of the Cavalry began to edge forward into musket range and the French line started to take casualties. Goaded by the impertinence of the British and still still battle crazed from the abortive cavalry charge, General Loup ordered his infantry brigade to charge the British line. When a clear head is required, Colonel Cantona is the wrong man to have as your advisor. He too, ordered his Brigade to charge and the French Infantry smashed into the British. After some initial success, the French now paid the price for their lack of infantry. The British line held and the subsequent counter attacks allowed them to outflank the French Brigades, counter charging to great effect.

Pressure relieved as the British charge home to the flank

General Sydney Ruff-Diamond looked on with pride as the French were repulsed in disarray. General Loup had gambled that he could break the British line and allow his Cavalry to mop up but he had under estimated the British resolve. There was nothing left but to surrender the field.

Sir Sydney graciously accepts the French surrender.

A great start to the Campaign, with certain Commanders already making a name for themselves and in Cantona’s case, living up to the name that he had been given! Both army commanders will gain an experience point for their Army that in time will allow them to improve that traits of their commanders. The British also gained a French flag, a victory marker that will, if sufficient are accumulated, allow Sir Sydney to upgrade one of his units.

I hope that more battles will follow!

As I mentioned in my last blog, our gaming group, the White Hart Gamers, played another of our mega games two weeks ago. Once again the battle was based around the fictious town of Bitteburg and following the Allies defeat in the first battle of Bitteburg, we had decided that this would be the last in the series! The scenario was that the French, having driven the Allies from the field of battle at Bitteburg had caught them and would attempt to destroy the last allied army in a final set piece battle.  The set up was very straight forward. There were three players per side, each player having his own Corps Commander as per normal Black Powder rules. In addition, the player in the centre was the overall army commander, who could give three additional orders with no distance penalty. The idea being that, the overall commander could use his influence to link the three ‘Corps’ together.

Set up and ready to go!

We held back at least two brigades each in the initial deployment. They could be deployed, a brigade at a time, on the Corps Commanders orders, but only within D6 of the centre of the players deployment zone.

Set up complete, the battle commenced. For the French, it was simply a matter of pushing the Allies from the table to win. The Allies were tasked with breaking the French Army. As with all of our previous games, once we were started, the game effectively broke into three separate ‘mini games’ with very little overlap. As the French forces in front of me quickly advanced, I became engrossed in the battle in my sector, paying little attention to what was happening elsewhere!

Joint Anglo Prussian Forces await the French onslaught

My immediate plans to form a defensive line between the woods and church was thwarted by the refusal of my infantry brigades to move! In fact, the light infantry and Artillery had moved into position only to find they had no support at all from the rest of the army. Even the capture of a French Spy was of no comfort.

A French spy is apprehended!

To make matters worse, two of my Artillery batteries blundered, limbering their guns and advancing straight into the waiting enemy!

Under Pressure from the French.

As the two Armies closed to engage, a relentless fire fight ensued but on this occasion the British were out fought. The forward British units were picked off and the rest of the army refused to move! Perhaps the previous battles were beginning to undermine morale! Fortunately, I had reinforcements to bolster the Allies and the Prussians deployed in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

Here come the Prussians

The French Brigades began to waver under the Allies numerical superiority and at last their central brigade broke, retreating in disorder. Well, almost… Despite this small success, the Allies were unable to capitalise on the break in the French line and through blunder and failure to move, found themselves again in trouble. Unable to rally the troops, it was now Allied brigades that began to break and create panic in the Army. Matters were brought to a head when a French Battalion blundered and charged the British defensive line. It should have been a bloodbath for the British but the French carried home the charge destroying the Battalion of Hanoverians facing them and causing the supporting battalions to rout as well. Even a late charge by the Scots Greys could not halt the French.

The Scots Greys prepare to charge

The British line was stabilised by the introduction of yet another reserve brigade. The French were pushed back but this temporary success was short lived as the French brought up their own reinforcements. As the battle came to a close, it was the French that remained in the ascendancy – the British had decided the day was not theirs and withdrew from battle.

Time to survey the battlefield and plan the final assault!

The French had edged a victory. If my battle on the left had not gone so well, things were even worse on the right where after some initial success, our Austrian allies had also been pushed back and badly mauled. The battle in the centre was not quite so decisive but overall it was clear that the French had won the day.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this was the last battle in this series and a 3 -0 score overall for the French was a pretty emphatic victory. The next big day will be slightly different. Having experience of running these mega battles has given us food for thought as to whether we can run a campaign in a day with several smaller engagements taking place on different tables. Watch this space to see how this works out.

In the last report, I explained the background and set up to our fictional game ‘The Battle of Bitteburg’ In this article, the focus is on the battle itself. As a player, it is quite difficult to write an entirely impartial view of a battle. Not only are you very involved with the battle as it unfolds around you, but it is easy to lose touch with the detail of what is happening elsewhere. In my case, I could see what was happening to my immediate left and right, but our far right wing was very much out of sight. I could only rely on the reports of the general commanding the Division there. Those reports tended to be somewhat vague. When asked how it was going, the standard reply appeared to be ‘OK’. There was very little detail to flesh out the situation and to be fair, once I had ascertained that things were OK, I was happy to focus on my own problems!

Now if I was having trouble working out what was happening on a large wargames table, goodness knows how they managed it in real life! So with that in mind, on with the battle report.

Turn 1. The armies advance

Turn 1. Having started the game with a blunder on the far left wing, the Allies seemed to hesitate as orders were failed all across the left wing and the two divisions involved simply stalled. On the French side, progress was much faster as the whole Army advanced in good order, taking up positions in the woods and buildings that occupied the centre of the table. On the Left, the French advanced in good order to the river, taking advantage of the confusion in the Austrian Division. The only firing was from a solitary British rocket battery. No casualties were inflicted but the French were rattled at the range and potential damage that could be caused.

Turn 2 French advance to the River

Turn 2 saw the Allied army making slow progress forward, with the first reinforcements arriving on the battlefield. On the left, the Austrians had started to sort themselves into some sort of battle line. The Prussians had occupied the village in the Austrian deployment zone and the rest of the Prussian brigade in this sector attempted to bolster the weaker wing of the Austrian Division. In the centre, the British and Hanoverians had successfully advanced and joined with the main Austrian force on their right. The French in reply, continued with their remorseless advance, their army looking the more cohesive of the two. The first Cavalry skirmish resulted in a minor victory for the British Hussars as they shook their French equivalents forcing two French Cavalry Regiments to retire shaken.

Turn 3 French cross the river

Turn 3 The battle for the centre

Turns 3 and 4. As the armies closed in the centre, the action really started and the game began to take shape. On the left an Austrian Cavalry charge ended disastrously, with the Austrians being soundly beaten both in the initial combat and the follow up move, resulting in the loss of a brigade of heavy cavalry. This allowed the French army to confidently cross the river, putting even more pressure on the Austrians. Left of Centre, the British and Prussians closed with the French, initially with some success as a French Battalion was broken by fire power and many casualties were inflicted. The French reply was equally devastating, with the Somersetshire Battalion broken and the Prussians occupying the village hammered by artillery fire and forced to evacuate. Frustratingly, the main body of Austrian troops in the centre, commanded by the Supreme Commander were struggling to move and make their numbers felt. The ‘Grand Battery’ of 5 guns that had been set up was largely ineffective and was becoming masked by Allied troops, limiting the targets available. On the far right things were going ‘OK’…

Turn 4 French are pushed back on the right.

Turn 4 things are getting hot in the center

Turn 5. The Austrians on the left were trying desperately to hold back the advancing French but refused all aid offered. They were convinced that the tide would turn and that Callans first rule of wargaming, ‘He who crosses the river first will lose’ would apply. The British and Prussians were ready to deliver a killing blow to the French Centre. Unfortunately, the firing was ineffective and the French weathered the storm, their morale intact. Once again, the Superior Austrian forces in the centre were unable to engineer a break through and the majority of their forces were snarled up in the rear of the battlefield. Meanwhile, on the right, the Austrian division had pushed forward and although four battalions were forced into square they had effectively bottled up the French on this wing.

Turn 5 The pressure mounts on the Austrian Right

Turn 6 The British are held – The French Cavalry plug the gap

Turn 6. Left of centre turned into a blood bath! A whole British brigade was broken and effectively wiped out. The French also lost a brigade but managed to retire in good order as replacements were on hand to cover them. The Prussians in the ‘hinge’ were also severely mauled and on the point of breaking. The Austrians on the left were now crumbling in the face of the French advance. The French had now secured all of the river crossings and were moving up the reserve artillery. In the centre, the main Austrian army remained deadlocked, unable to exploit the few small gaps that had opened up. At least over on the right things were ‘OK’…

Turn 6 The French cut the hinge

Turn 7. The French tighten the noose! Despite there being clear gaps and weaknesses in the French line, the Allies seemed unable to exploit them or break through. A clever redeployment of French Heavy cavalry plugged one gap and the continued arrival of reinforcements kept the allies on the back foot, penned to the edge of the Battlefield (table!). The Austrian Left flank had all but failed and was desperately holding on. The Prussians holding the ‘hinge’ between the Austrian and British divisions were now on the back foot, holding as best they could. The strong Austrian centre had pushed forward but was unable to relieve the pressure on the left. The only good news was that these Austrians were now in contact with French forces on the right and the Allies right wing was now secure and making progress.

Turn 6 at last the Austrian Centre is on the move

Turn7 the Austrians threaten the French Flank

Turn 8. There’s a certain look that winning players have as the game swings in their favour and I could see it across the table. The French confidence was high, their strategy had worked, the dice had not been too unkind and the end was in sight! On the left, the Austrian division was fading away and to make matters worse, they had been cut off from the rest of the army as the French had now secured the village guarding the  ‘Hinge’. The British and Prussians had been badly mauled, losing two brigades of infantry and were effectively pinned with their left flank badly exposed. The main Austrian force in the centre was largely untouched but had been unable to fully deploy or break through any gaps that appeared in the French lines. The only good news for the allies was that things were ‘OK’ on the right… Well, to be fair they had steadily fought their way into a winning position but were unlikely to be able to influence the outcome of the battle.

Turn 8 The Austrian right pushes the French back

With the French winning in two sectors, drawing in one and only under pressure on the far right wing a victory was declared and once again, Napoleon had triumphed. The Allies were retreating in reasonable order although, it was possible that one wing of the army would be entirely lost in the retreat.

Turn 8 Napoleon watches the French advance

It was time to mull over the battle, the victors enthusiastically planning the next meeting, the losers holding a ‘post mortem’ to work out what had gone wrong!

We will be back again in the New Year!

Once every three months or so we play a ‘mega’ battle where all the units that we have painted are placed onto the table. The last battle that we fought in this way was our Waterloo tribute, on June 13th. The battle of Bitteburg was the follow up played on Sunday 22/11/2015. We don’t get too vexed about how many troops are on each side, as long as they are painted , they are on the table! We are also quite lax regarding uniforms. I know that purists will find this difficult to accept but provided the troops are from the Napoleonic era, we are quite happy to mix Peninsular Uniforms with Waterloo issue. Likewise early revolutionary French will face off against 1815 Prussians. We even had a battalion of Caribbean troops to bolster the Allied numbers…

The scenario was as follows:

Following Napoleons victory at Waterloo, the Allies were able to retreat in good order back into Belgium, holding Napoleon back from capturing Brussels. The Allies were however, in no position to go back onto the offensive. Despite his victory, Napoleon was prevented from further pursuit of the British and Prussians by political unrest at home and again had to return to France to settle matters once and for all. Meanwhile, a combined Austrian/Russian Army was approaching from Germany and reinforced by a small Anglo Prussian force, threatened the borders of France. Napoleon swiftly marched out to meet the oncoming army and battle was joined just outside the town of Bitteburg.

First Table set up – note scenic cloth

We were using the basic Black Powder rules with a few of our own additions and modifications. There were four players on each side. Each player commanded a Division made up of between 3 and 6 brigades of Infantry and cavalry with the appropriate artillery support.  In all there were over 3000 figures to go ontyo the table! The French deployed their forces first, with the Allies responding. However, all players could only deploy half of their division, the rest following on, one brigade per turn at the Divisional commanders discretion. One player on each side was appointed ‘Army Commander’ and was given the ability to issue one additional order to each division ( four orders maximum) to any unit or brigade that had either not moved or failed an order to move. The Army Commanders rating was 9 and these orders were unaffected by distance to the unit. (We assumed a very fast ADC would issue the order!) However, the Army commander was still required to pass the order on a dice throw as usual and of course, subject to the ‘blunder’ rule.

Apart from adding to the fun, the idea of the extra order was to create a pause at the end of each turn so that the players would get a feel as to what was going on else where in the battle. In addition it ensured that all four players on each side kept in turn with each other.

The Zig Zag Table set up. Pete takes a break before deciding whether to place more cover on the tables!

Rather than lay the tables out in a straight line, we adopted a zig zag shape to create some ‘pinch points’ on the battlefield. This gave us about 26 feet of deployment area per side! Scenery was set up by three of us the day before the battle and placed arbitrarily to break up the battlefield without giving either side a particular tactical advantage. We modified the rules regarding fighting in buildings to make it easier for assaulting troops. The first round of combat would be fought as per standard Black Powder rules. If the defenders won the combat, the assaulting troops would immediately recoil, regardless of the outcome of the morale role. If the combat was a draw, the troops would remain locked in combat but the defenders would have their save modifier reduce from 2+ to 1+. In the event that the attackers won, the it was assumed that they had fought their way into the building and subsequent rounds of combat would take place subject to normal combat rules with no further advantage to the defenders. The aim was to encourage the assault of buildings!

The last of the Allies are deployed

With all of the above in mind, the troops were deployed, the Allies had the first turn and The Austrian Commander on the left wing gave his first order of the day… and with the first roll of the dice, a double six! A blunder! The omens did not look good for the Allies…

All troops deployed – let battle commence!

To be continued.

You can learn a lot by looking at photographs, they give you another perspective and a chance to see detail that you might otherwise overlook. My last two blog articles have been quite instructive in this respect. First of all, it’s clear from the photograph of me painting the house that I need to lose a few pounds. From my usual perspective I had always thought that I looked quite slim…..looking upwards, that clearly isn’t the case….

That aside, I also reviewed the Hanoverians and it’s clear that they would benefit from an ink wash over the bayonets & a highlight with silver just to bring out the detail at the top of the muskets – A job that will take about 10 minutes – more on that next week.

The final insight and the real point of this observation was last weeks battle report and just how good the battle was, in part because of the scenery that we were using. I had actually commented that good scenery wasn’t really necessary for Napoleonics as you needed plenty of space for your troops. Well looking back at the pictures made me question this and at this weeks club battle, we put a bit more effort into both the scenery and the scenario itself. The result was a most enjoyable battle. We used one of the new ‘Cigar box’ battle mats that has a scenic design printed onto it. Although a bit expensive, there is no doubt that the result is much better than playing on just a plain battle mat. Some of the scenery that we used is a bit tired and battered but by adding a bit more than usual, the table was broken up and a few problems were added for the ‘generals’ to solve.

Italians & Polish take up position on their new battlefield!

The actual game was an entirely fictitious affair involving a joint Italian/Polish force (Duncan) taking on a British force (Steve). The objectives being to secure one end of a bridge and capture the two hills dominating the approaches. Deployment was carried out simultaneously, without too much regard for each other, although the objectives became the focus of the main Infantry forces, with the cavalry deployed facing each other out on the far flanks. The British won the initiative and ordered an advance to secure the objectives. Unfortunately, the first roll of the evening produced a blunder, leaving the largest British Infantry brigade out of position, hard against the river in column of battalions.

Polish Artillery supported by infantry

Polish advance in column – figures from the Trent miniatures range

The opposition, taking full advantage of both the confusion in the British ranks and the terrain, moved forward at a more measured rate forming a cohesive line as can be seen above. If the British Infantry were somewhat slow to respond, the cavalry ( two heavy regts, two lights) did as they were ordered and advanced to threaten the Polish Flank. The response from the Polish/Italian force was immediate and a fierce cavalry battle ensued. The action was so ferocious that I didn’t have time to take a photograph! The result was a victory for the opposition. Although they lost one heavy cavalry regiment and two horse artillery guns, the British lost a whole brigade of heavy cavalry and a regiment of light cavalry, leaving the right flank somewhat exposed.

British hold the line!

Despite the set back on the right flank the British infantry held the Italians in the woods, firmly anchoring the left flank. The Polish infantry, encouraged by the success of their cavalry, advanced in the centre to capture the road.

Poles capture the road and take position behind the hedgerow.

This move was in turn, matched by the British infantry who immediately engaged the forward elements of the Polish advance with a superior force of infantry.

British advance to drive the Poles back

The initial British musketry was somewhat ineffective, and despite the overwhelming odds the Poles held on long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Polish reinforcements arrive.

With a fierce battle raging for control of the centre and the Polish/Italian Cavalry threatening the right flank, held only by a solitary regiment of  British Hussars, the Italians consolidated their position in the woods by the bridge on the left flank, threatening to take yet another objective.

Italians hold their ground in defensive position at the wood

The British response was again to attempt to drive the Italians back with superior musketry. Volley after volley was poured on the Italians but their clever use of the cover and terrain meant that the British were unable to inflict the casualties required.

British Musketry attempts to remove the Italians

As the infantry faced off against each other, the casualties began to mount! Virtual stalemate was the result on the left at the bridge but in the centre the British were able use fresh battalions and it was the Polish that were begining to waver.

Casualties mount!

At last the Polish Battalions broke under the constant volleys of the British and the whole brigade started to retreat. The centre belonged to the British!

Charged in the flank!

This victory was somewhat short lived. The Italian Cavalry had by now brushed aside the last British Hussar regiment and charged into the flank of the British line! After a brisk engagement, despite the loss of an infantry battalion, the cavalry were driven off and finally the Polish were sent on their way. The centre did now belong to the British.

The Poles repelled!

If the British had won the war of attrition in the centre, things were not going so well at the bridge on the left Flank. In an attempt to bring their superior Fire power to bear, the British had advanced to close range of the Italians and their solitary artillery piece. Initially, there was some success as the British destroyed an Italian column. That success was once again double edged, as it made space for yet another Italian Cavalry attack!

The attack reaches a critical point!

With the lead British battalion pushed into square under the guns of the Italians and casualties mounting in the supporting British battalions, the Brigade began to run out of steam – and men! The next round of Italian Musketry and cannon fire inflicted sufficient casualties to shake the brigade! With both of the British Cavalry brigades broken and now the largest infantry brigade in retreat, this meant that the British Army was forced to withdraw. The field was left to the victorious Italians troops and their courageous cavalry!