Battle of Tarentum II

This was a busy weekend for me as far as wargaming goes. Friday we had our bi-annual club business meeting, Sunday I hosted the Napoleonic campaign game from my previous post, and Saturday I visited my friend Mike's home to play this game. This is a mid-battle photo of the third game in our ancients campaign, the Second Battle of Tarentum. After the first battle of Tarentum, the defeated and outnumbered Romans retreated north to the safety of an approaching veteran legion. Once the two legions joined up they counter-marched back to Tarentum to meet Hannibal on Roman terms. On paper, this looked to be a very one-sided fight, but the Carthaginians have fought valiantly, particularly their lights, who have destroyed several battle groups Velites single handedly. Both armies still have a lot of fight left in them.  Here's a summary of the current situation from the other Roman player, Mike,

On the Carthaginian side Randy, Charlie and Leo played a great game - although outnumbered, they gave as good as they got.

On the first turn the Roman flank march on the Roman left/Carthaginian right came on. The remnants are fighting for their lives hoping to be saved by the velites, cavalry and extrodinarii coming to their rescue. On that flank the Cartho's lost their all of their cavalry and a Spanish BG. On the Roman right/Carthaginian left the Numidian remnants are being forced off the field. The Carthaginian spear line were the heroes this day. They've destroyed several Roman BG's while only one of theirs is broken - but still on the field. The Spanish have also shown their mettle in the woods and fields of this battleground.

Now Hannibal needs to decide whether to fight on or fade away. His spear line is holding strong but taking pressure from the right. The Roman flank march was destroyed but in the process the Carthaginian right flank is in jeopardy. The Numidian allies are on the run.

The Battle of Muttenz - Part I

We got together on Sunday to fight the first battle in my Napoleonic campaign, the Battle of Muttenz. The battle opened up at 1pm campaign time, with the Austrian army positioned in a defensive position around the village of Muttenz (left side of this photo). Three corps of the French 2nd wing (right side of the photo), commanded by general Rousse, commenced their assault of the town after taking the morning to march to the battlefield and deploy. In the photo you can also see Charlie G. (Napoleon) surveying the battlefield.  From their deployment it was clear that the French intended to attack Muttenz either by driving through or flanking around the large woods to the west of Muttenz.

Here Bob O. (Allied CinC and Austrian commander) deploys his cavalry in response to the French advance west of Muttenz. Allied Aide-de-Camp Mike C., to Bob's left, commands two corps of the Austrians closer to Muttenz and is advancing through some standing crops north of town, trampling them down. Opposite of Muttenz, French Aide-de-Camp Dave B. (out of frame) advances cautiously, preferring to allow the standing crops south of Muttenz to conceal his approach.

Day 1, 15:00 - Napoleon enters the battlefield from the southwest. His column is greeted by a single division of Austrian cavalry that attempt to delay his approach by forcing his column to deploy. Is that the imperial guard with him? In the center the French continue to deploy opposite Muttenz behind the screen of standing crops.

Day 1, 15:30 - General Blutcher arrives from the Northern road. At the head of his column, the Prussian guard!

Day 1, 17:00 - The French have completed their flanking maneuver and deploy a stationary battle line as the Prussians march their arriving troops away towards the eastern portion of the battlefield to meet Napoleon's arriving force. Prussian and Austrian cavalry monitor the French battle line from a safe distance.  In the center the French stay put behind the standing crops while Napoleon continues to march more troops onto the battlefield from the southeast.

Day 1, 18:00 - darkness falls and the French re-deploy within their battle lines (marked in dark cord) under the cover of darkness. The French withdraw their flanking force to a position behind the west woods. In the distance, you can just make out Napoleon getting the last of his arriving troops deployed within his own battle lines. In this photo you can see French ADC, Dave B. redeploying his command.


The allied nighttime redeployment included the arrival of the last of the Prussian reinforcements as well as a continued shift east towards Napoleon's approaching reinforcements. North of the west woods, the Prussians deploy a corps of infantry with Austrian and Prussian cavalry protecting their eastern flank. In this photo you can see Allied ADC, Byron C. who commanded the Prussians on the eastern end of the battlefield.

As dawn breaks, both commanding generals send orders to recall their reconnaissance cavalry to the battlefield. 


Day 2, 10:00 - This view, from behind Napoleon's lines shows the Emperor's forces, deployed ready to assault the Allied positions. In the distance, several allied cavalry divisions press the western flank while French cavalry give ground, waiting for additional French cavalry to arrive.


Day 2, 12:00 - Napoleon strikes, driving a brigade of Austrian curiassers from the extreme eastern flank of the allied line with an attack from two brigades of French guard cavalry. Elsewhere on the eastern side of the battlefield the French continue to advance cautiously while the allies continue to organize their internal lines.


Day 2, 12:30 - After the French curiassers have exhausted one division of Prussian cavalry, a counter-attack by a second Prussian cavalry division routs the French curiassers, dispersing them. On the extreme west flank (right in the photo) two allied cavalry divisions continue to press a single French cavalry division, that is desperate to protect the French supply lines that are marked with the supply wagons at the table edge.


We've suspended the game at this point as it was getting late in the evening. We will be returning to finish the battle in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the campaign troops will continue to maneuver. There could be other battles developing, more reinforcements, supply lines being cut, who knows! Stay tuned for more campaign news as it unfolds. For additional photos, including a series of panoramic shots taken from each side at the suspension of the game, you can visit the Northern Conspiracy's Events Galleries.

Roman Triarii for FOG

These are two battle groups of Roman Triarii I painted up for my mid-Republican Roman Field of Glory army. Normally they'll probably see service as four battle groups of two stands each, but in order to allow me to use them in larger groups I painted them up in four-stand units. The figures are Old Glory 15s . I used a basic block painting technique with dry-brushing and Citadel black wash. The wash came out a touch too dark for my tastes, but I'm going to just think of them as 'dirty, weathered veterans'. These are only the second ancients I've painted after a long hiatus, so I'm still getting a feel for the period.

I've finished these just in time for them to be used this Saturday in another battle in our FOG campaign. Hopefully they'll perform well on the tabletop. Sorry for the rough photos. This time of year in New Hampshire, I go to work before the sun comes up and I get home after it sets, so I have to take my photos indoors, and lighting is always a problem for close-up photos of miniatures indoors for me. Some day I'll construct a proper light booth for such occasions. Until then I'm stuck with dodgy photos. The next ancients will be either some Roman cavalry, or some extraordinarii -- I need more of both.

Napoleonic Campaign - First Battle Announced

My new Napoleonic campaign has generated its first battle, the battle of Muttenz. Located centrally in the hypothetical countryside of the campaign. The small village of Muttenz holds a key location on the northern end of two crossroads. Here is the battle announcement my players received:

"In the late morning hours of day two of the campaign, advance elements of the French 2nd light cavalry division approaching from Burgdorf, contacted pickets from a multi-corps Austrian force defending the area surrounding the village of Muttenz. The Austrian force is commanded by Erzherzog Karl, CinC of the combined allied forces. At approximately noon a multi-corps French force under the command of Marshal Rousse will commence a general engagement of the Austrian forces defending Muttenz."

In addition to this general announcement that all players and ADCs received, each team received specific intelligence about their forces in the battle and a general scouting evaluation of the enemy forces. Unfortunately I can't divulge this sort of information here in this public forum.

We're currently working out a date that best suits most of the primary participants. I hope that we'll get good participation from both our primary players and our ADCs, who get to be corps commanders in the larger battles where we need more players. This should be a fun battle. Look for battle report here after the game is played.

Edit: We've scheduled this first game for November 22nd. I'll be sure to post an after-action report after the game.

New Nappie Campaign Started

OK so the blog has been quiet as of late. Early in October my wife and I took a vacation to Orlando, FL to visit the amusement parks and on the flight home I picked up a horrible bug that put me out of commission for another week. Once back on my feet I took to catching up with non-hobby items that built up during the first half of the month.

The past couple of weeks I've been working on a new 1813 Napoleonic campaign that I'll be running for several members of the Northern Conspiracy. The campaign will feature hypothetical map with terrain modelled after Napoleonic Europe and armies built from the Volley & Bayonet Road To Glory rulebook. Each army will have three 4500-point wings. One army will be French, the other will consist of three allied wings: Austrian, Prussian and Russo-Swedish.

We're hoping to get games started by mid November, as soon as the Carnage convention is over. Many of the campaign players are either running games, or participating in the management of the Carnage convention. Look for more updates and game reports from the campaign to be forthcoming soon.

I'm also hoping to post the promised, and well-overdue, photo tour of my gaming room and painting & modelling room as well as hopefully some finished photos of my in-progress Roman Triarii once I complete them. Stay tuned!

Column, Line & Square

My friend Dave was a member of the New England Wargamers Association (NEWA) back 'in the day'. He and a bunch of his friends gather occasionally to play Column, Line and Square (CLS), a set of Napoleonic rules they played heavily back in the 70s and 80s when NEWA was THE wargaming club in New England. Being slightly younger than Dave's NEWA friends, I was nonetheless invited to participate in Dave's most recent game. The figures, all 25mm, from several nations made up the hypothetical scenario. Both the terrain and the figures were stunning.

Column, Line and Square is typical of rule sets of its era. There are the various charts based on formation, troop type and nationality. You roll dice, modified by factors for every so many figures if skirmishing, or roll dice then multiply by the figures if in line. There are morale checks with math that nearly requires a calculator, and melees that last for many rounds of dice-offs until one side rolls doubles forcing the other to check morale. It's BLOODY. Units committed to combat, either ranged or melee are rendered useless no matter who wins. This has its charm, especially if you like painting figures, as you can have hundreds on the table and it's a good bet that most of them will get to die during the game.

The player's handbook called the 'Battle Manual', which is the condensed version of the rules, is a svelte 107 pages long, although the full rulebook with all errata is much thicker, around 250+ pages. Needless to say I was not going to be able to familiarize myself with the rules sufficiently before the game as I usually prefer. Instead I would show up and hope luck and tactics alone would save the day for me. Alas, it was not to be so. Buried somewhere in the 250+ pages of interpretations, rulings and revisions were enough minutia to doom me to failure before the game started, and I made sure to make this prophecy a truth by destroying my entire command to a man by mid game. My opponents seemed to enjoy my utter destruction well enough while they reminisced about when CLS was cutting edge technology for rules. Actually it was quite impressive how much of the nuances of the rules everyone (but me of course) remembered. I guess playing the same rules pretty much full time for 15+ years will do that to you.

I think we all owe a nod to rules such as CLS for the success and longevity of our hobby. If it were not for such rules we wouldn't have what we have today. I am however, glad that modern rule sets have been created for the betterment of the hobby. I don't think I could convince anyone today to learn a set of rules with a 250 page rule book!

Below are photos from the game, courtesy of fellow gamer and NEWA member Bruce Weeks.

Dennewitz - Third Replay

This is the third time I've run this Dennewitz game. The first time was a play test in my basement, the second was at my club's game night. Both of those playings left us a little short on time to play to completion, so this time I hosted it at our club's game day, knowing that this venue presented plenty of time to play the game to completion.

Although our club events are usually well attended, we've had a lot of Saturday events this year and I think the club much prefers our normal Friday night schedule. We originally had three games scheduled, but one game master had to cancel due to other commitments. Because of these two factors attendance was very light. I was only able to get six of the eight players my game was designed for, and that was with the game master of the other game playing as one of my players. We pressed on, and had a good time regardless. I was fortunate that our club has a lot of experienced V&B players who aren't overwhelmed by having to push a corps or more of figures at a time. Since some of the players had played the scenario before, I asked those players switch sides in order to give them a fresh view of the game.

In the photo above you can see the terrain lay out. The French deployment zone is marked in red cord. The Prussian advanced guard deployment zone is anywhere North of the river and east of the bridge, including the Town of Dennewitz. Below you can see the initial deployments for both sides. Prussian on the left and an overview showing both on the right. Of note in the Prussian photo is my new 6mm windmill that I purchased at Historicon and painted for this game. Although 6mm terrain isn't in the figure scale, it better matches the ground scale and still looks quite snappy with the figures.


After seeing this scenario twice, both sides had a good idea of how they wanted to approach the battle. The French took the initiative by pressing the western part of the battle, away from the river while contesting the Dennewitz area initially with only the Italian division and artillery. This thrust proved overwhelming to the Prussian cavalry division initially deployed in that area and the Prussian cavalry gave way falling back on upcoming infantry reserves.


As the French continued to deploy their arriving army they pressured the towns of Neder-Gohlsdorf, Wolmsdorf and Rohlbeck. On the east end of the battlefield the Prussian Landwehr made two solid attacks on Rohlbeck, but neither dislodged the Wurtemburg troops holding it. In the center the Prussians were eventually able to push the French out of Neder-Gohlsdorf after several turns of back-and-forth fighting which saw the town change hands three times in a bloody exchange that threatened to exhaust divisions on both sides. On the west, the overrun Wolmsdorf was kept in French hands for the remainder of the game.


The telling blow actually came when the Prussian 4th division (in the right-hand photo above with blue labels on their stands), after holding that flank since the opening blows of the game, finally collapsed. Until this point holding Windmill Heights had kept the Prussians in the battle. This loss put the French on the winning side of the casualties and at this point the French drew up a solid defensive position. The Prussians, while still having most of their army un-exhausted, conceded that attacking the French in this position wouldn't improve their situation and both sides opted to call the battle at this point. The result of the game was actually quite historical, with the one exception that the French attack didn't cost the players of the game nearly as much as it did in the real battle. Had the French in the game taken more casualties, the Prussians may well have counterattacked late in the battle as they did historically. This battle ended in a Minor French victory.

I'd like to thank all the Northern Conspirators who came to the game and stayed and played it to completion. I'm actually hoping that some day I can bring this game to one of the larger HMGS conventions now that I'm confident that it's well balanced and well designed and that I can host it competently. For those interested in more photos, they can be found on the Northern Conspiracy Events Galleries.

Historical Image Bank

Just a quick update. I don't usually post updates about other sites, but the Military and Historical Image Bank is worthy of an exception to this rule. They have a wonderful collection of color plates for the American War of Independence as well as several other black powder periods. The plates are searchable and well cataloged. This is a commercial site. They sell these images and what's on-line are watermarked samples. They are however, still extremely useful to us wargamers for painting guides and research.

Roman Velites for Field of Glory

These Roman Velites are Old Glory 15s that I've painted up for Field of Glory. Most of the time they'll be used in two battle groups of four stands each, but since I wanted the flexibility to deploy them in a single battle group of six or eight stands I painted them all similarly. I have to admit that I stylized these figures quite closely to how Scott MacPhee painted his as seen over on his blog. The only exception is that I chose un-decorated red shields which was inspired by a club mates figures that I've always liked. I still like Scott's paint job better than my own, but these will do just fine for me and will fit in well with my other figures.

I haven't painted 15mm ancients figures in over a decade, so I started with the Velites as they're quite simple figures. The Old Glory figures are quite acceptable with decent detail and a variety of poses in the pack. These were block painted then washed with Citadel Sepia wash. I'm still getting used to these new Citadel washes and I think I could have used a heavier coat, but wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it. Next up I'm going to ramp up the difficulty a bit and try painting four battlegroups of Triarii. We'll see how that goes.

American Rifles

This is a unit of American Riflemen I've painted up slowly over the past month and a half during the rennovation of my hobby room. The figures are from the Perry Miniatures AWI range - pack AW35 - American Riflemen Advancing. The figures are based up as two skirmish stands for Volley & Bayonet. They'll get plenty of use as skirmish elements of Morgan's and Dearborn's units as well as other at-large rifle battalions as needed.

These figures were painted using my usual technique of block painting followed by a wash. For this unit instead of using my usual homemade wash, I tried out the new washes from Citadel. These washes, while quite nice, do have a tendency to lighten up after they dry. Not knowing this when I first applied them I was aghast at how muddy the wash made the figures look. I paniced, wet my brush with water and cleaned most of the wash off. After the figures dried it looked like I hadn't done anything. After a second application of the wash without the panic they ended up as you see here. I used two different color washes: Sepia on the light brown and tan coated figures and black on the blue and dark brown coated figures.

Although these are wonderful sculpts, they do suffer from one problem commen to a lot of 'advancing' poses from many figure lines: the figures all seem to be leaned forward a lot. While this makes for a nice looking pose, photographing the figures ends up being quite challenging. For the photo on the bottom right I ended up having to prop the stand up to be able to see the faces of the figures.