Sunday, July 19, 2009

More Civic Improvements

Not getting many minis painted lately, but I have been working on bits of terrain.
Here's an "old school" inspired bridge I made from mdf board. The middle "legs" are cut a little shorter so the bridge rests flat on the table.
Experimenting with making cobblestone roads, just for a different look from plain dirt roads. The cobbles are drawn on with ink, and painted in various shades of gray.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Battle of Rumpelstiltsdorff - the battle report

(no maps yet - but here are some photos)

The battle started out with the Batrachian forces launching an attack with a strong center and right flank and a weaker left flank.The Soweiter General Hemminghaugh, a capable if not exceptional commander, was determined to defend the hills and to take the offensive if the opportunity arose.
(the general arrangement of forces, the overall plans, and the general responses were all determined by die rolls as outlined in the scenario - Scenario 1 Hill Line Defense)
(The rules as written use a die roll to determine what phase happens next, one side or the other moves or one side or the other shoots, sometimes both shoot at once, and sometimes a command decision die roll is required. This means one side may get to shoot more than once in a row, for example. I tried out my own variation with cards and a few additions, such as a few cards with possible random events, such as a single unit gets to move.)

The Batrachian forces moved forward, while the artillery unlimbered in preparation for firing.In the event the Soweiter forces got off the first round of firing. The Batrachian cavalry had surged forward ahead of the infantry, so they were the primary targets, the infantry still mostly out of range and hidden by the woods to their front. The Ballyfoole Light Artillery fired at the Mustardy cavalry, to devastating effect. On the Batrachian's left flank a detachment of Waldjaegers and some of the Mayeux Musketeers fired at the Cuirassiers Royale, again very devastating.
The woods slowed the adavnce of the Batrachian infantry, but protected them from enemy fire at the same time. In spite of the devastating fire the Cuirassiers Royale continue to move forward.
The remnants of the Chasseurs de Limbourg from the left flank head towards the woods in the center to link up with the other Chasseurs de Limbourg there. Meanwhile the Mustardy cavalry also continue to move forward towards the crossroads and the Ballyfoole cannons.
The Batrachian infantry continues their forward advance through the woods.
The Cuirassiers Royale are wiped out as an effective force for this battle by more concentrated fire from the Mayeux Musketeers. (I'm considering the casualties as loss of fighting ability for the current battle. It doesn't pay for units to operate on their own with these rules.)
On the right flank only the light infantry has seen much action so far, exchanging potshots. In the center the Batrachian artillery got off several shots, but only inflicted minor casualties on the Ballyfoole Grenadiers.
On the left flank, with the threat there eliminated, the Mayeux Musketeers and the Waldjaegers came down off the hill and headed towards the center to outflank the Batrachian infantry.
A decision check sends the Mustardy cavalry off towards the left flank. Intending to get around and flank the Mayeux Musketeers? (the card is one of my random event cards that gives a radom unit extra movement; which in this case turned out to be the Mustardy cavalry)
On the right flank the Queen's Musketeers finally got past the woods, with the King's Grenadiers making it to the edge of the center woods. In the meantime the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars come from out of reserve to surge around the Batrachian's left flank.
While the infantry of both armies exchanged fire in the cneter and right flanks the Mayeux Musketeers managed to hit the Mustardy cavalry in the flank and eliminate them from the battle.

The grenadiers from both sides commence an extended melee in the center.
The Hesienberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars sweep around and head for the Batrachian artillery, but the artillery managed to escape. Meanwhile the remaining infantry on the right flank and center join in the fray and continue to melee.
Swinging around, the Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars to hit the Batrachian infantry from behind.
The battle ends with the Batrachian forces eliminated and the Soweiter League in possession of the field and the hills.

Well, that was a bit of a disaster for the Batrachian forces. Their forces were too split up and sending the cavalry ahead didn't help. The Soweiter forces were able to exploit this and basically roll up the batrachians from the left and finally overwhelm them in the center. Although, at times it looked like the Batrachian forces might've been able to overwhelm the center first and face the balance of the Soweiter forces afterwards.

I have some other rules I might try for the next battle.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Battle of Rumpelstiltsdorff

Preliminary reports are coming in concerning a recent battle near the village of Rumpelstiltsdorff.

This battle was fought using my own adaptations of the Sacre Bleu! rules I previously used for the Battle of Wrybridge. I'm not sure they worked so well. It seems shooting can be very devastating (or hardly do any damage at all. Maybe that's okay?
I used another programmed scenario from Grant's Programmed Scenarios book. As before I had to reduce the number of figures and units to suit my small number of units and limited gaming space. I'm thinking I might be better off splitting my units in half and counting each half as a unit when selecting from the forces lists, maybe even allow them to operate as independent units to fit in with the programmed setups, orders and responses. I might try that next game.
The scenario called for one side to defend a line of hills or ridge (depending on the map sections rolled up). The Soweiter League had to hold the hill for the day. The Batrachain forces were charged with taking the hill/ridge line.
The Batrachians set up first, as seen in the depiction below.


The Batrachian army was lead by General D'Zastre and was composed of the following forces:
The Cuirassiers Royale (on the left flank)
The Poupon Dragoons de la Moutarde (in the center)
The Musketeers de Limbourg (in the center)
The King's Grenadiers (on the right flank)
The Queen's Musketeers (on the right flank)
1 Medium gun (between the center infantry and infantry on the right flank)
The Chasseurs de la Moutarde (light infantry scattered in the woods across the entire front)

As it turned out, when placing the Soweiter League's forces their setup map included a few more features, including a heavier wood on the western hill, to the left in the photo, and a building at the center crossroads, which I decided represent the outskirts of the village of Rumpelstiltsdorff).
After setting out the Soweiter League's forces the situation appeared as shown below.

The Soweiter League's forces were lead by General Hemminghaugh and were composed of the following forces:
The Mayeux Musketeers, supplemented by one stand of Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders (on the viewer's left)
The Ballyfoole Light Artillery (in the crossroads)
The Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer Hussars (in reserve behind the artillery)
The Ballyfoole Grenadiers (in front of the building)
The Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers (on the viewer's left)
The Waldorf Waldjaegers (light infantry spread in the woods along their army's front)

I used the "programmed" instructions for both sides, so the placement of units was dictated by die rolls, as was their intial orders and basic responses to enemy actions.
Further information and pictures (and hopefully, maps) to follow later, as I have time to get stuff written and drawn.