The Battle of Sachertortenwald

Artist's renditions of the battle. Battle report with maps and more details to follow in a later post.

The morning finds the Soweiter League's infantry and artillery encamped upon the edge of the Sachertortenwald. (I made the tents with some white plasticard I had lying around, covering with white cloth, painted a cream color. I'm not too "crazy" about the tents. I'll probably try making different ones one of these days.)
The Batrachian forces start to come into view, with the Cuirassiers Royale in the lead, closely followed by the King's Musketeers, and the alarm is raised. The Soweiter forces quickly deploy to fend off the enemy.

More Batrachian forces appear.

The Soweiter forces have deployed into line and march towards the closest hill to prepare their first line of defense.

The Cuirassiers halt to allow the infantry to deploy for battle before proceeding any further up the road.

The Batrachian forces start coming together and arraying for battle.

The Soweiter forces gain the hill.

The Batrachiansm now arrayed for battle, begin their approach.

The battle commences.And continues...

And continues, as the Soweiter forces are pushed back...

And rages on...

And continues (with some undesriable consequences for certain parties)...

Some Batrachian forces near their objective (as noted in a previous report the Batrachians must exit the better part of their forces off the road through the forest to the east), but is it enough?

Leaving a depleted Soweiter army in their wake.

(This action was fought on 2 card tables butted together with an old paper-backed style GW battlemat thrown on top. I reduced the sie of each line infantry unit to 12 figures rather than the full 16 I have painted, and the other forces reduced similarly. This worked just fine as the rules I was using work on the basis of stands, where each infantry unit is usually 4 stands. Thus I removed 3 minis each time a "stand" was lost. I may even try reducing things further to make each infantry unit only 8 minis - then I can treat each of my 16 figure units as battalions with 2 regiments. Far from cool and epic spectacle of "big battalions", but for a solo gamer like me with limited space and a slow painter it seems a workable solution.)

Prelude to Battle

The Battle of Sachertortenwald is currently in progress. The battle report will follow once the battle ends. Here is the initial situation when both sides spot elements of the other side.
This is based on scenario 22, "Making the Best of a Bad Job", from "Scenarios for All Ages" by Grant and Asquith. I cut off part of the map and left some forces off the table to accomodate my smaller table. In addition I tried using a smaller number of figures in each unit - for example, instead of the 16 minis for a unit of line infantry I've been using I reduced it to 12. It seems to be working fine and is better suited for my space and time. I might try reducing even more if I do scenarios with more units. A far cry from the big (humongous! 60 figure) battalions some use, so it lacks that epic grand look, but it works for me.

Back to the battle... the Batrachian forces (of which only about half are visible at the start of the battle) are lost, strung out a bit on the road ,and only know they have to head east on the road through the Sachertortenwald. At the same time a small force of Soweiter League infantry with one cannon are encamped at the edge of the woods, while their cavalry are off foraging and not likely to appear for the battle. So both sides have to scramble to get ready for the coming battle.

The Batrachians must get at least 60% of their troops through the woods and off the board to the east. The Soweiter League forces have to prevent this from happening.

To be continued...

What's Gnu?

Finally finished painting a few minis.
First, Dr. Mont-Blanc, royal physician to the Batrachian court.
Isabeau la Coquette, the Queen's Seamstress, Batrachia.

(There's a rumor that Isabeau is actually a Monte Cristan...)

brief snippet of conversation overheard:

"I'm not really sure... the last time I saw her she was dressed in a more traditional Monte Cristan manner."

"...heart-shaped birthmark on her left..."

(voices fade away)

Next, James "Two Feathers" Pyewacket, of the Stickiwickit Indians, a woodland tribe located in the vicinity of New Thidwick, a colony in the Americas (if you can call a one horse village a colony...). James teaches mathematics at the University of the Soweiter League.

Molly Smith, apple-seller (and secret agent, shhh...)

Watsi-tu-yu & Son of the Futsi tribe, Askaris since 1742. Usualy hired by Pfrank Bach when he is on expeditions in Africa.

Pfrank Bach's latest acquisitions - a pair of lionesses to join the lions in the Soweiter League National Zoological Gardens...

And some gnus...

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.

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.

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.

Transportation Improvements

Here in the Soweiter League we have been working on improving the transportation networks. The first phase of this is a set of roads. These are all of the ones I have made so far, but I have more material for more pieces. I cut the pieces out of thin mdf board, which I find easy to work with if not the sturdiest material. Then I painted the roads with 3 shades of brown craft paint and the edges with 3 shades of green craft paint. At this stage I think they look pretty good and I'm thinking I won't flock them, at least for now.
So far I have made a number of straight pieces (some slightly wavy as you can see), a couple of corner curvess and a couple of T intersections. I plan to make at least a couple more corners and a 4-way crossroads. Does anyone else who uses road sections have other/additional shapes they find useful? I do plan to make a bridge or 2 soon, probably ones that can just be laid over my existing river sections and link up to the roads sections.

I like the painted look enough I'm considering scrapping my old river sections at some point and making new rivers just like the road pieces (or not :) ), along with a gaming table top. I'm also tempted to make some Grantian buildings along the lines of those seen in the Grand Duchy of Stollen or Lead Gardens (although it's not like I'm running short of ideas for projects!).

Be that as it may, any advice on useful road pieces is welcome. Thanks!