Ober-Bindlestiff

Back to Naval Gaming

2011-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've given up using the Blitzkrieg map for land gaming. That was a bit of a bust, and as I said, I now know how Abraham Lincoln felt.

So what am I doing to replace it? Pre-dreadnoughts!, but not necessarily the stately battleships blazing away at each otehr with a huge amount of ill--aimed artillery. No, I just read Neptune's Inferno, and wanted to get back to something I'd done a long time ago: small ship actions in confined waters. Or, in other words, battleships may show up, but don't count on it. Expect cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats battling away.

I've tried a lot of naval rules. For personal reasons, I did not care for Cordite & Steel (ships blew up too much). Battle Stations was fun, but you have to have the passion for it. Fletcher Pratt - no, I tried it and don't care for it. General Quarters? Fun, but a bit more generic than I wanted. Shipbase III? Same as Battle Line - you have to really want to do it, but good set other than that. Fear God and Dread Nought? Grand Fleet? Mini-Fleet Dreadnoughts? Again in all three cases, you have to be a dedicated naval gamer. Damn Battleships and CA suffered from being too generic. All of those rules have their strong points, and I've done all of them at one time or another.

Back in the 1980s I played Fire When Ready with Dan Weisman. This was a Metagaming product with not so hot physical components, and a really excellent game system. I found out that the person who wrote Shipbase III wrote a computer program to do FWR. I found it on the web (a free download). Even better, it allows you to do your own scenarios, and ffers suggestions for conversion to the gaming table.

A couple of years ago I'd been seized by this urge to do Russo-Japanese naval battles. I had cruisers and destroyers. Perfect. All it needed was a scenario.

The iland of Bingo Bango likes in the Gulf of Bango. It is claimed by two adjoining countries. A plebiscite is going to be held, supervised by Great Britain and Germany (neither of who wants the place). In preparation for this plebiscite, both sides are trying to influence the people. Of course they can't do it through open means, that would be no fun. So one side will ship in bagpipes to annoy the othe, while the second side will bring in small yappy dogs and let them run free, again to annoy people. Sounds like what politicians would do, doesn't it.

To test things out, I arranged a preliminary clash. Each side had two cruisers. The fight would be in the fot. That meant the range was point blank. How close was that? Maximum range in the fight was 1600 yards. One side was sunjk, and the other was converted to scrap because of too much damage when it got home. Excellent!

The Real First Battle -

Both sides sent a convoy out, for merchan ships. Escorts were a cruiser, two destroyers (more properly torpedo boat destroyers), and four destroyers. Gamers were recruited at a hobby shop. Both sides started in line ahead, and on Turn 2 decided that close action was better. The cruisers stayed back, the rest charged into a melee.

The exact details of the fight got confusing. Torpedo boats don't take much damage. Destroyers don't take much more. There were collisions, deck fires, and sinkings all over the place. The last torpedo boat, while sinking, fired its torpedo at maximum range at the last surviving enemy ship (a destroyer) at maximum range, 400 yards. And scored the only torpedo hit of the game, sinking the destroyer.

The cruisers had shelled each other at long range with little to show for it. After the debacle with the smaller ships they carefully steered their convoys away from each other to bring them in. The merchants did conduct rescue operations for a bit. Thus both sides succeeded and failed. They didn't stop the enemy convoy, but got their own through.

Everyone wanted to go again (time constraints said otherwise). But a good time was had by all. And people are talking about the next battle.

Stay tuned.

So Much For That War

2011-06-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

You would think that after a long personal experience with wargaming I would appreciate that different eras require different skill sets in wargamers. Someone who is good at a WW2 armor/infantry game might not be so good at ancients. How much worse, then, when it is the 18th Century? I've seen this in games of Frederick the Great (now by AH) and Napoleon in Italy. The 18th/19th Century gamer will respond to moves and countermoves. A lot of WW2 gamers will bull ahead, and we'll end up with a horrible smasyh. Maneuver to secure an advantage is a lost art with a lot of them.

For that matter, I've seen the "smash ahead" type WW2 gamers lose badly to someone who maneuvers and sets up situations.

So what happened?

Disaster on the Zocchi!!!!!

I have been in search of a general or two who would get the war off to a start. Every gamer I tried looked at the river, decided this was not their cup of tea, and sat still, awaiting events. Finally I found a tankie who decided that aggressive action was the key. And he had all of that cavalry just sitting there.

He crossed the river, going north. His opponent had set up cleverly one hex back from the river. We went through the steps outlined in previous posts. Our tankie massed his tanks, er cavalry, and charged.

I'm not sure if Operation Goodwood or Minden is a good example of what happened. To be blunt, the defender shot the daylights out of the attacking and unsupported cavalry. Then, when that failed, he belatedly tried an infantry advance. No finesse, just an assault all along the line. The same thing happened, and this time the defender unleashed his cavalry on disordered foot.

Well, that decided the battle then and there after only four turns. Then, with the former attacker now backed against the river, the former defender pushed forward and launched a new attack on an army that was basically a disordered mob.

The former attacker took 35,000 men across the river. In the first battle he lost8,000. In the second he lost 14,000. That's 22,000 lost out of an army of 35,000. That is an estimate, by the way. I haven't even bothered to look at the casualty rosters.

To quote a friend about a miniatures battle from long ago, it made Custer's Last Stand look like a near-run thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All that preparation, and it was fairly pointless. Still, if I wanted to boost my own ego, I'd take my 1813 Prussians up against this tankie. I don't even want to consider what would happen if I took my 1806 French up against him. After a while it wouldn't be fun.

After it was all over I heard him mutter that this never happened when he took his Jagdpanthers and Tigers up against Sherman tanks. I think I'll leave his education to someone else.

I might try this again, but a) with a different map, one I'll create and share; b) different gamers who are versed in the period.

All Quiet on the Zocchi

2011-06-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Sitzenkrieg!

Years ago I was told that from time to time a wargame situation would occur that actually mirrored real life. I can now attest that this is true. I know how Lincoln felt from just after Antietam until Lee began to move north in June of 1863. Both armies moved out, both went into camp, and both waited for the other side to make the first move. I goaded. I pleaded. I even rplaced commanders. Nothing worked. Both sides stared at each other and claimed the river prevented any activity.

So I'll have to think of something. This isn't quite the campaign I anticipated.

The Armies Arrayed

2011-05-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

I decided to use my 9mm figures because the lads hadn't been out for years and years, and needed the exercise.

Ober-Bierfest
This is more or less based on the French. The Army mustered 46 battalions, 47 squadrons, and 7 batteries. This does not include 4 squadrons of irregular cavalry (see, in the French Army, cavalry outside of the Household are "light"). They were promised reinforcements, of which more anon.

Saxe-Schewinrot
The base of the army was Hanoverian, of which I could field 9 battalions, 21 squadrons, and 3 batteries. To this was added mercenary contingent of Prussians, 33 battalions, 58 squadrons, and 5 batteries. Four irregular battalions, and four irregular squadrons came along for the loot and plunder.

Ober-Bierfest allies: Swedes, of which I have 6 battalions, 6 squadrons, and a battery.After due consideration I threw in the Russians, 7 battalions and 13 squadrons, and 4 batteries. The Cossacks stayed home. I might have the mounted arms appear first.

Future allies - we'll see.

So Saxe-Schweinrot has better quality infantry, but less of it, and Ober-Bierfest has quantity. The mounted arm favors Szxe-Schweinrot. As for the paucity of artillery, alas it is an expensive arm of war.

The muster points were set (VV-12 and OO-42), and now both sides sat down and pondered: here we are at wary. Now what?

Coming soon, the first moves.

The Combatants, and more

2011-04-11T17:14:00.001-07:00

There was consternation in the two capitols (OO-31 and JJ-46), and not a little head-scratching. A border clash! War! Excuse me, WAR!!! Immediately both parliaments and Crown Councils sprang into action, levying horses to field the armies.

The head-scratching came as ministers poured over the accounts. Just who had ordered these military expeditions? And where had they fought? You see, the border between the two countries is a river, and yet if you reread the account of the battle you'll see not a single mention of a body of water (and what was in the casks in the Quartermaster Stores did not count as water). Well, there is a simple explanation, one that covers everything.

Map reading error.

See, I told you I consulted the great and good Prince Tedron of Methylonia. He specialized in these sorts of affairs, and he so arranged everything.

Cooler heads wanted to know where was this gold mine, where was the border clash, and where were the regiments that had taken part. Rumors flew of corruption, of misleading reports, and so on. All for naught. There would be war when Spring rolled around, and that was that.

!!!!!!!!!!!

Now after all of that talk about movement systems, just how did this all occur? I used Campaign Cartographer to create a hex-based map. I didn't have a river on there, my bad, but it added to the fun. I took my "away" kit of miniatures, rosters, rulers, and foot-sticks, and rounded up some Warhammer and RPG types at a local hobby store to fight the battle after a suitable mini-campaign. I even provided the dice! All they had to do was sit down and play.

I think there is a truism somewhere that low throws in movement are balanced by high throws in combat, and vice versa (at least that has been my experience). The armies squared off across the hex sheet, and both commanders threw a '1'. Both decided to "stay off the roads because the enemy would be expecting that", and both ignored whatever movement bonus the generals had, so both moved a hex.

Another pair of '1's. This was going to take all day. After a third move, one of the commanders decided to build a depot (that was the baking bread reference). He forgot to garrison it so it was inactive. The other side threw a '5' for movement, which is why he suddenly moved fast. But after five turns of map moving they finally sighted each other.

One side promptly deployed his entire army, and had all sorts of problems dealing with the terrain. The other stayed in march column just a little too long, and lost some men when contact was made. By the way, both sides had their genrals well out front, leading by example. But finally they squared off to fight.

I'd forgotten that I was dealing with people who played a lot of Ancients. They promptly tried to put every man in the front line, read the rules about shooting being two dice, but melee being four, and charged.

This is where the dice "made up" for their poor moving experience. This was Volley & Bayonet, so 6's hit. Both sides threw a lot of 6's. Whole battalions vanished in a blaze of musketry/melee. One side rolled over the other, pressed on, and ran into the second line (the troops who wouldn't fit in the first line). Which promptly returned the favor. Again a lot of 6's were thrown. Blood was flowing in quantities sufficent to over awe even a WW1 General. It really looked like whoever had a regiment left would win.

Both sides were disordered, and half of each army was in rout. Neither side could really advance on the other, so I declared the battle over. I collected all of the rosters and other impedimentia of war and retired to my game table to sort through it. The gamers were talking (as I left) about using V&B for an Ancients set of rules, though they would get rid of distant shooting by the infantry.

I've seen this sort of deployment before. Once at Enfilade! I put on a 6mm Napoleonics battle, just a couple of divisions on a side with open flanks so the light cavalry got sucked off to the flanks to protect them. I deployed both the Austrians and the French in two lines. Both sides promptly shoved all of their men into the front line with no reserves. I concluded that a halfway decent tactician would have these guys for lunch. Worse yet, some of them wouldn't understand why or how they lost!

I really regretted that these Ancients gamers wouldn't get a lesson in 18th Century tactics and strategy, but they're somewhat irregular in their gaming (well, so am I), and people who get too badly hammered don't always return. I'll think of something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So the armies are mobilizing. One country is significantly smaller than the other, but they "enjoy" higher subsidies from their patron, and so the armies will work out about the same. The countries are open with rolling ground and a few roads, so that'll make for some interesting campaigning. And I'm going to recruit some map generals who have some idea of what they're doing. Have to come up with a die roll method as none of these people will meet face-to-face for a while.

In the meantime recruiting parties are sweeping up the ne'er-do-wells and the young nobility, the two groups that traditionally are only a drag on society, giving them uniforms, and otherwise mustering. As the Spring Thaw sets in and grass comes into the fields the initial deployments will get made, and then the moves.

Stay tuned.

The Initial Clash

2011-03-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

In all fairness, this part of the border between Saxe-Schweinrot and Grosser-Bierfest had never been adequately surveyed. The locals felt (rightly) that that much official attention would be followed by taxes. So surveyers were shot, bludgeoned, and otherwise dispsosed of. When that did not deter officials (surveying parties grew larger) they resorted to bribery. That was a mistake. The gold they used whetted the appetites in both capitols. Politicians are, after all, addicted to money.

The Erbprinz of Saxe-Schweinrot got wind of this, recalled a law dating back to the 13th Century that all government officials were members of the army who served at the Grand Duke's pleasure, and announced that what pleased the Grand Duke was for these officials to serve in the front line as the officer commanding battalions. There were those who questioned that law, but the Erbprinz produced a copy on parchment (after first using a forced draft from a local smithy to dry the ink). Now please recall that in those days the officer commanding the battalion had to stand in front of the battalion to give it "proper direction". Sadly the Erbprinz recalled that old aphorism: "You peculate the big bucks only at your peril."

The Duke of Grosser-Bierfest was a little more practical. As long as he got paid off, he didn't care how much you stole. However since he wanted 155%, it didn't take these officials long to decide they didn't want to be in debt to the Duke.

Both sides set up convoys that went into the area, mined the gold, and left. But soon rumors began to filter across the nominal border that there was a lot of gold to be had just over the hill. Both sides decided they wanted to control all of the gold, and were not willing to share. Both decided the best way to do this was to send a few troops out to secure the gold mine. And then they'd redefine the border to prove they were rightly just protecting their territory.

The Schweinrot forces mustered at the small river town of Wasserdam. They numbered six regiments of foot (12 battalions) and 20 squadrons of cavalry, just over 10,000 men. The Bierfest troops numbered 10 battalions and 20 squadrons (the battalions were stronger, so the total came to just over 10,000 men as well), plus a couple of guns. They mustered at the town of Muhlhaus, downstream of Wasserdam (both are on the Wasser River). Lt. General Plumper was put in charge of the Schweirot troops. He would face General Klepterov in the coming battle.

Note - the forces were determined by a die throw.

General Klepterov was not the most imaginative of generals. He flung a couple of squadrons out in front a couple of hundred yards as a "scouting screen", and on a fine autumn afternoon, marched out. Owing to the lateness of the day they made a mile before having to camp for the day. The second day they moved a little faster, reaching three miles. Clearly General Klepterov did not believe in exhausting his troops by marching. This "blistering" pace continued, but after three days they stopped to bake bread. Two days later they stopped to celebrate General Klepterov's wife's sister's birthday. Here they camped because nobody would campaign on a Sunday.

His opposite number sat in cantonments "analyzing" the situation. Only a direct order from the Erbprinz (and a sharp note from the General's wife that he had promised to be gone only a week) goaded him into action. Plumper made up for lost time by decreeing forced marches and "extraordinary" efforts. His troops responded with marches of 10 miles on two successive days. After such prodigious feats they had to rest for a day (the General was having second thoughts about hurrying home).

Halfway between the two gold mines lay the town of Giltbrick, a community that was there to serve the needs of the miners. It had a decent tavern, an imposing cemetary, and a church that people traveled for miles to see. Both generals set their sights on the town as a place to rest for the night.

Plumper was the first to decide something strange was going on when his cavalry scouts were seen having a drink with strange cavalrymen wearing the uniform of Bierfest cavalry. Reacting with celerity, Plumper deployed his men. They then had to endure an eight mile march while in line of battle. This necessitated frequent stops to correct the alignment, so it wasn't until two hours before sunset that they came in sight of the Bierfest troops.

On his part the near-sighted Klepterov remained oblivious to any approaching forces. He was just short of Giltbrick when he realized that there were enemy troops present. This happened when he stopped to utilize his flask, and a Schweinrot trooper had to help him get the cork out. This (and the particularly fine brandy) forced him to react. He called for a deployment of the whole army!

Deployments were processional, and so it took two hours to get the 10,000 Bierfest troops into line. As nobody wanted to be the second one to strike a blow, the colonels deployed their men in one line of battle with the cavalry on the wings. The Schweinrot troops had been disorganized by the last march, and two regiments had fallen behind owing to an inhospitable series of beehives. This meant that the Schweinrot forces were (accidentally) in two lines.

Note - I found some guys who were willing to try a "quick" scenario at a local hobby store. I set up the troops, and then sat back to take notes. One force promptly deployed into one line, while the other remained in two, but only because he couldn't get everyone in the front line.

Both sides decided the only proper thing was to advance to point-blank range and open fire. And so they did! Battle was immediately joined all along the line. The Bierfest troops enjoyed immediate success in the center, while the Schweinrot forces drove off the enemy cavalry, but only at considerable cost. After an hour of intense fighting (we were using 15 minute turns) the Bierfest flanks were both on the defensive (i.e. stationary) because of threatening cavalry, but the enter was advancing victoriously, the Schweintrot troops fleeing in panic in front of them.

Remember those two regiments that couldn't make it into the front line? The Bierfest troops learned about them while disorganized. Their advancing center was thrown back, and some of the Bierfest troops broke and ran. The lines stabilized and both generals frantically rode around patching things up (rallying troops from rout) while the troops blazed away at each other until it was too dark to see.

Night fell, and both generals stumbled into each other in Giltbrick as they sought a drink after an afternoon of carnage. Over dinner of poached roast pheasant they glumly assessed their losses. In immediate terms both sides could muster about 2,000 men. But with troops returning from rout both sides eventually worked out that they had about 7,500 men each. A truce to bury the dead was worked out, and the two sides sat there eyeing each other for the next week. Both governments ordered their troops back, except for cavalry to picket the area.

-----------

The importance of a second line was brought home to both sides, though I think only one side learned that lesson (Bierfest). The devastating dice throwing by a couple of the regiments in the Bierfest army was truly something to see. The only thing that saved the Schweinrot forces was the success of their Horse. They tied down 40% of the Bierfest army. So there was a glimmer of hope for both sides. Both generals were retained in command, though not the supreme command.

-------------

Both sides "absorbed" the "lessons" of this fight, even as delarations of war for this "unprovoked" attack were issued. More on that anon.

Questions - and some answers

2011-03-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

I have received some questions about what I'm doing here, and I'll try to answer those I think are relevant, or that pique my curiosity.

#1 - Why Don't You Post More Often
This is a simple one. Real Life. Work has been busy, and there are other requests on my time, such as my writing, some home improvement, and the like. I'm no longer a full-time wargamer; sad, but true.

#2 - What About Other Rules? "Ruleset XYZ is Much Superior, and..."
Wargame rules are personal. There are a ton of game systems out there, and they don't always fit what each gamer is looking for. There are different philosophies and mechanics between, say, Warfare in the Age of Reason and Koenig Krieg, and my past experiences with both sets of rules have prejudiced me against one of them -- and no, I'm not saying which one, but those who have heard my stories will know. Everyone who wargames finds this or that set of rules with which they are comfortable. For me, Volley & Bayonet works for this period. It feels right. Now as to the difference between v.1 and v.2, that remains to be seen.

I would sooner argue religion than debate wargames rules. There are people who take it that personally. I will go on record as saying that I prefer Hordes of the Things as an ancients set to Shock of Impact, having played enough of both to have a very FIRM opinion, but that's it.

#3 - What About "Minor" battles?
That remains to be seen. However I will probably post a CRT for those. But the whole point of campaigning is to: a) give a reason for the battles; b) generate something other than the evenly matched fight. And while 4:1 is no fun to play, I've pulled off a rearguard action against an entirely mobile force, and made it work. I've also been on the wrong end of 3:1 odds from converging forces, and gotten away.

#4 - Why Hexes? Why Not . . . ?
Because I have this perfectly good hex map sitting downstairs gathering dust. Maurice de Saxe once wrote that you would be hard put to find a position that could hold 50,000 men in each province. There was almost a kind of positional warfare in the 18th Century because everyone knew the good positions, and they would use them. Frequently. A box-to-box campaign system such as in Soldier Kings is very good at replicating this. But I had this map, see... So why not?

#5 - Will There Be Pictures?
Yes.

#6 - Which Minor Countries Did You Choose?
I'm getting to that. Years ago, in a game of Blitzkrieg, I played a very nasty trick on my opponent. I did not invade one of the minor countries. I left a force watching the border, but I bypassed the country. Of course he had to do the same (detach a force) and those troops were a long way from the main front. That got me interested in those countries.

These two border on one of the major combatants of the game Blitzkrieg. They are both egged on by the larger power under the assumption that this is a good place to train officers, get some combat experience, and weaken these two minor countries for later seizure. However the other major power is pumping money into the area, too. This is giving these smaller countries a chance to buy a lot of troops that they could otherwise not afford. Will it suck the larger powers into a war? Perhaps. Smaller wars have a disturbing habit of becoming larger ones. But maybe saner heads will prevail at the Chancelleries. We shall see.

This conflict has been brewing for some time. The immediate cuase is a gold mine that is right on the border. As the very astute Duke of Plaza-toro, Ltd. (95 quarterings in arrears) once stated, "A Class A gold mine on the border is a causus belli." That has indeed proven true. Both of these minor countries realize they are being played, and are struggling to stand on their own two feet. Right now they have no realistic hope of a Woodrow Wilson showing up, mucking everything up out of pig-headed idealism, and laying the groundwork for a greater war. Those events lie in the future.

So, it is time to generate a border incident to spark the wider war. This will be a limited incursion by both sides, or something. Prince Tedron of Methylonia, who was ennobled for creating a border incident between two countries with no common border, will be consulted. And the details, and the actual combat, will be displayed very shortly.

Correcting the Math

2011-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

I had a private email pointing out that my method of assigning initiative would given an even application of skills, contrary to my post, and produce a general with an initiative of 4. Neither was what I intended. So it's time to do the old DM trick: choose different dice.

Average dice have a 2,3,3,4,4,5 and those tend to group in the middle. Low-average dice are similar, but produce numbers weighted for the low end. A typical one would be 1,2,2,3,3,4, but in this case I want a little more extreme, so let's use one that goes 1,1,2,2,3,4. Come to think about it, usually matches my die-rolling in a lot of games. If we only subtract one instead of two, we get a nice range of lower initiative generals.

So, that'll be the measure of the generals. And remember, we're rolling for "divisional" commanders and above. Think wing commanders and "column" commanders in this period as the division hadn't been invented until 1745, and then only in Maurice de Saxe's army in Flanders.

Now when one gets promoted through attrition, you get to roll his initiative all over again! This means the guy with the initiative of zero might turn out to have a three at the next level, and vice versa. There is such a thing as promoting beyond ones level. And there's historical justification for this. There are generals who got promoted simply because there wasn't anyone else available, who turned out to be great at the higher level.

One reader asked a bout "special promotions" where you promote someone due to valor. Not quite. Not in this period. Instead the worthy gets a promotion within the nobility. He might well be the model of a modern Major-General, but now, instead of being a Baron, he is a Duke. That makes for a less-expensive promotion from the monarch's point of view as that worthy has to maintain his social standing at his own expense. Expect peculation to increase. Another promotion might be to give him his own regiment (an already existing one, of course), but one he can rename after himself. At his own expense, of course; new gowns for the mistress and the wife are not cheap, and he has to purchase that regiment, and pay you. See? When you're the monarch, money-making opportunities abound (why do you think the new Elector of Hesse-Kassel, when he came into the title in 1760, doubled the number of regiments in his army by simply splitting all existing foot regiments in two? All of those new Colonel-Proprietors had to pay him the purchase price).

So now we go on to the armies.

Initiative and stuff

2011-03-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's a sad but accurate comment that during times of peace the generals with initiative are discouraged, while those who know how to play the paperwork game are promoted. Read the poem by Rudyard Kipling, "Stellenbosch" for an example. The early part of any war is spent shaking out the fighting generals from those who can push paper. Both have their places and both are useful. It is a sad state of affairs that many people have to die while this is taking place.

But with that said, there are generals who are more "pushy" than others. Sometimes they can be identified early in the process. Robert E. Lee comes to mind. He was as good as everyone thought he would be. And he had tons of initiative.

What Is It?

What is this initiative? He's the officer who has his men ready to march or fight, and is up getting a jump on his foe while others are still in bed. Or, in better chosen words, he's that "...silly pushing person" that Kipling refers to in "Stellenbosch".

So we'll rate the generals in our armies for their initiative. This will be a number between -1 and +3 to rate how they react to things. A 3 might be Jeb Stuart or Nathan B. Forrest (to go with an ACW reference), while a -1 might be McClellan, who needed a strong reason to move. For those who want to quibble and suggest Burnside, it's clear that you haven't studied the Fredericksburg campaign. If those *&%*%$ pontoons had been in place, he'd be hailed as a Great Captain for stealing a march on Lee.

Determining Initiative

Nominate a general. Throw 1d6. Subtract 2. That number is the general's initiative. It is used when marching or force-marching. Thus Stack A, with a General in command with an initiative of 2 throws for movement. He throws a 2, and adds 2 for his initiative, for a total of 4 hexes he can move.

Look at Stack B. This is commanded by someone with an initiative of 3. He is force-marching for whatever reason. He throws a 5, plus the 3 for initiative gives him 8, though the max he can move is 6. But as his total was 6 or more on his force-march roll, he loses 3 SP through march attrition. Your higher initiative generals can get out of trouble, but they burn troops. And remember, there are no replacements during the campaign season.

Promoting Generals -

Before you roll for initiative we have to assign the seniority of generals. This is important because those with greater seniority cannot be in a stack, or have fewer men, than someone with a lesser seniority. Also, as generals are lost for whatever reason, promotion is strictly by seniority. To do otherwise would be to insult the honor of those generals. And if this means your army is commanded by a general with an initiative of 0 or -1, well, that kind of sucks.

Replacements

Not during the campaign season. After the campaign season ends troops enter winter quarters by going into a friendly unbesieged fortress and declaring they are in winter quarters. That means they are not subject to attrition due to bad weather. They also can't move. If the enemy is so crass as to then besiege that city, those troops will take part in the resulting open field fight before the siege starts.

During the winter season, while the officers and generals are off attending balls, the sergeants are busy rounding up fresh cannon-fodder. Basically all regiments that have at least one hit left on them are automatically filled out to full strength. Those regiments that were reduced to zero are "sent to the rear" and take no further part in the game. Moral - sometimes you want to give battle, but don't want to afford the losses that will happen. This also means that armies will get smaller the longer the war continues.

There are no new units created during the war. You have what you start with. This is because the administrative mess that would result is not worth the effort.

So, that SHOULD take care of the last of the details, now a look at the armies and the land they're going to campaign over. Then we'll have a shakedown cruise with a border incident.

The Turn Sequence and Disorder

2011-02-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Years ago I likened the role of a turn sequence to the steps of a computer program. You follow the sequence in order, completing all steps one at a time. When you do, you get the result the game designer wanted. The hard part was designing that process by the game designer. And unlike what happened to me with a program I wrote for a billing system, I don't have people criticizing the "style" of the turn sequence (if you must know, it was written in COBOL and I used tricks learned in FORTRAN classes. I can't believe how many "so-called" sophisticated and "experienced" programmers have never heard of "computed GO-TOs" and "Fall-Through" coding; my sin was that I used hard "GO-TOs" not PERFORMS.)

For the turn sequence in these rules we'll use what was from Frederick the Great. Why? Well, it works, and it captures one of the most important things about 18th Century battle: that battle was a seduction, not a rape.

Okay, harsh analogy, but the deployment methods for an army were such that you really needed to march up the day before and offer battle. In the time it took you to perform your processional deployments, the other side could count noses, take the auguries, and decide they didn't like things, and march away. But SPI built a kicker into the whole thing. When you marched away, you used a "force march", and if you exceeded a 6, you burned troops. You added the general's initiative with the roll of a 1d6 to get the final total, and poor old Fritz, with an initiative of a 3, had a 50-50 chance of burning troops. But battle almost had to be by mutual agreement, hence the analogy.

So both sides get a chance to move, though they don't have to take it. And you have to put in some of the other things that happen. So let's jump in and take a stab at it.

Depot Creation
Roll to Remove Disorders*
Side A rolls for movement
Side A moves
Side B announces any forced marches
Side B rolls for those forced marches
Side B executes those forced marches
Combat
Repeat 2-7 for Side B
Supply checking and attrition
Roll for sieges

That's enough for a start.

Disorder

This is the collective funk that an army goes through after a defeat. An army that fights a battle and loses, is "disordered". This means all morale values are reduced by one. These values are calculated after losses have been calculated and adjudicated. Also, a stack subtracts one from their forced march roll when they are "disordered".

To get the troops back in "order" there are two methods. First, a general (the senior-most general on the stack) rolls against his initiative. If he throws his initiative number or less, the troops are put back in order. The other method is for the stack to move to a friendly fortress, and stay inside for a complete turn. Thus: army enters on Turn 4. They stay there for all of Turn 5. On Turn 6 they are no longer "disordered" and can leave with their post combat losses morale and no longer suffering the -1 on the forced march roll.

We'll talk about the initiative values of our generals later.

Some Odds and Ends

2011-02-22T16:13:00.001-08:00

More on Generals

Okay, I'll confess it, Generals are "chrome" to the system. I prefer to know that it was General Hund-Hund who was killed or wounded, ont General #7. And with the way the rules are written, taken literally, a hard-fought campaign can do you out of generals. We know this doesn't happen, though command talent can get mighty thin in a prolonged war.

So players should name their generals. Put them in the nobility, and invent colorful biographies for them. Thus we can have General Sir Hugh Hackwell-Slashem, the famed cvalry leader, Sir Pickaninny Pouncetrifel, the Auditor General, and most beloved of all, Citizen Field Marshal Lord Stanley of Umbrage (he successfully took Umbrage, a town in Imaginary Germany). The more joking, the better. For example, the Colonel of the Marine Regiment is Lagostin (which I believe is lobster in French). The regiment has yellow facings because lobster with butter...yum!

So as generals fall by the wayside, new ones step forward to risk life and limb. The sprigs of the nobility have to be pruned from time to time.

Guards

Both armies have guards. They number, at most, a company. They snap to attention and thump their halberds on the groun when nobility passes. The palaces are guarded in turn by regulars who take turns doing it.

Grenadiers? More later. A pernicious habit, by the way.

Now to describe the armies -- next post.

Ah, Generals

2011-02-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Everyone who has played rules I've written know that I like dead generals. The air around a battlefield has a high metallic content, and generals are not bulletproof (as Marshal Vauban reminded Louis XIV). Even Emperor Charles V (known to those who took more than one year of Spanish as Carlos Quinto) tried to laugh off the danger ("Who ever heard of a cannoball killing an Emperor?"), but the danger was real. Marshal Turenne was killed by a cannon shot, and bullets and cannons cut a swath through the ranks of Napoleon's marshals (Oudinot was wounded 23 times), while the American Civil War was replete with the loss of general officers. The men tended to fire just a little high, and mounted officers were right in the middle of the danger zone.

Usually I have a little fun with general officer casualties. For example, in King's War a player who loses a general throws a 1d10 and reads the results from a table. There the results go from the general KIA right away to "general mortally wounded. Faithful aides lower him from his horse. He gasps out some final words for a grateful posterity. Players must compose those last words." This adds some fun as those "last words" go from "who ordered this stupid charge?" to some uplifting and heroic statements. The game actually stops while people labor at their "last words".

Sad to say, in Volley & Bayonet, Road to Glory, there isn't really room for that, at least at the highest level. This makes sense as the turns are one hour, and that is enough time to sort out the command changes caused by a bullet. This is a pity as it adds an element that I think is kind of fun. At the lower level this can be worked into the game.

What is the effect of a general being removed from the battle? Loss of command and control. Units lose coordination, orders are not obeyed, and so on. But in a one hour turn? The loss of a general, while personally bad, doesn't have a big effect in game turns. However...

If a general is within 3" of a unit that takes any kind of fire (artillery or small arms), throw 1d6. On a 6 the general is down and a replacement takes over. This is only applicable on the map where the general's counter is removed. He is either dead, or is back in the capital, reclining in bed, eating sweetmeats, intriguing against his fellow-generals, and being seduced by all of the right women. Players can make up whatever stories they wish about the general. He is available for the next season.

~~~~~~~~~~~

What's next? The effects of defeat on an army. And the odds and ends in the rules that need to be covered. We also have to discuss the countries (where they are on the map, etc.) and the armies (including the official Order of Battle).

And then we get into putting the pieces together courtesy of Prince Tedron of Methylonia (who once arranged a border clash between two countries with no common border) in a mini-campaign done as a solo map exercise.

Then...on to the campaign!

Operational Level Gaming

2011-02-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

I was first introduced to this by an old SPI boardgame whose name escapes me at the moment. What struck me at the time was how I would do the "proper" boardgame tactic and mass enough forces to wipe out the enemy, only to have that blasted counter fall back instead. I was used to the D-Elim combat results, and it took a little reading to remember that units were not normally wiped out in the course of a fight. Oh, granted, in WW2 there were armored units that ended up with no tanks functioning at the end of a fight, but there were other assets in the division/brigade/combat command/kampfgruppe.

A few months later I saw one of the best microarmor games ever. There was a crossroad with only one or two buildings, not enough to be much of a strongpoint. But right nearby was a large wooded hill. The enemy had an observation post up there, and no tank was going to go wandering through the trees. This was a job for the infantry (much despised by a lot of treadheads). In they went. Artillery fired in support, but two turns after it was requested. And that meant that it wasn't always accurate, had to be adjusted, and so on. Both sides got stuck in, reinforcements were sent in, and quite a lively battle developed. I don't recall who won. I do know that everyone appeared to have a good time, and all of the fearsome armor on both sides sat around doing very little.

I watched that, and wondered why nobody tried to outflank the position. A week later (we were gaming every weekend at a local hobby shop) I saw someone stare at a position, and decide to turn it. We ended up with a map game for a bit, and then got stuck in as a small force (mine) fought a delaying action while reinforcements marched to the scene. This was very much what nobody had expected. And it was a lot of fun.

This wasn't always likely in the 18th Century, especially the earlier part. Armies (and generals) were still in the unitary mode. This meant that you concentrated everything on the field of battle, being as strong as you could at the point of contact. The Duke of Marlbofough tried something different on the battlefield that 100 years later became Waterloo, having his brother with 20 battalions hidden behind the enemy position, but the Dutch Deputy on Mission, Slangenburg, couldn't see it and managed to hold things up enough that the battle was not fought. Marlbofough didn't try that again. Well, okay, Overkirk at Oudenaarde, but not after that.

Part of the problem was communications. Part of it was administrative, and part was social. After a bit you didn't say no to the CiC, even if you didn't agree with him. Marlborough managed to overawe his subordinates enough. Frederick tried managing separate forces at Torgau, and showed how all of the problems you had when someone didn't keep to the timetable. The Austrians in the Seven Years War were pretty good at the different columns concept, but Maria Theresa would remove the generals who caused problems. And de Saxe, in the War of the Austrian Succession managed to make it work, but by then he was a Marshal-General, and only the King and Dauphin outranked him. Even the most pig-headed member of the French nobility had to take orders from that "Lutheran bastard".

Now part of it was also doctrine. As I said, these were unitary armies. The detached columns were the province of only the top generals. It wasn't "normal", and it took both the invention of the division (pioneered in 1745 by de Saxe) and a few books on mountain warfare before the idea began to work its way through the officer corps. But you needed a common doctrine, staff as well as otherwise, and that didn't happen very often. The Austrian staff advances in the Seven Years War deteriorated afterwards because it wasn't encoded and become part of the regulations. The French finally achieved it in the 1790s, and others copied it. It brought a flexibility to warfare that made things a lot more fluid.

So how do we imitate this on the tabletop? Well, we don't, not directly. I know of one attempt right now, sort of a "narrative" campaign. You issue orders ("Brigade A to move from Point A to Point B"), and the GM carries them out. Will it work? Perhaps. I hope so, but it depends upon the GM.

For our miniatures campaign, there is nothing to stop players from using detached forces to achieve campaign objectives. But be warned, small forces can suddenly confront the enemy main army and get crushed. I've fought tabletop battles where I was outnumbered 3:1, and it is no fun. I escaped, but that was more due to the enemy not talking with each other.

So look for fights where one side is outnumbered, and not by a little bit. Expect some huge disparities. But also realize that while one side can be outnumbered at Point A, that means they probably outnumber the other side at Point B. Tit for tat. That is one of the reasons we fight miniatures campaigns. It sure isn't to generate "even" fights. (insert rant about "even" fights here).

In Praise of Different Scales

2011-02-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

Campaign Rules blogging will cease for a moment to respond to reader Jeff's comments, and one possible solution.

Jeff points out that if you have a deployment area that goes to the edge of the board, you will have players that will rest their flank there. This is true. I have seen players anchor one flank on the edge, and another on the back edge of the table, deploying obliquely so they do not have a flank that can be turned.

Now while we can't use the German solution to make a single breakthrough, create two flanks, and then turn both (you have to admit it's more efficient that way), there are two competing things, perhaps three going on.

First, gamers will be gamers, and if you give them the opportunity, there are some who will get every advantage they can out of the rules. I do and don't have a problem with this. Rules can be interpreted. However the interpretation should be backed up by historical evidence (even though this is a game), and should be consistent. The ones I don't like are those who will argue vehemently for Option A when it favors them, and then, just as vehemently, argue against Option A when it is turned against them. So when you write rules you have to take into account these people. One way is to do what Phil Barker did with DBA/DBMM and prescribe deployment areas to get a straight-ahead battle. This works in the Ancient and Medieval periods, but not so well in later eras where the whole point was to create an uneven battle.

Second, "Let the Bazaine's be Bazaine". Each gamer comes with some inherent military ability. It may be well-hidden, or strictly limited. But let them exercise it. Do NOT dictate anything to them that forces them to behave in an ahistoric manner. Do not get in the way of a gamer making a blunder. DO get in the way of one wanting to act in a way that is outside of the period. So the 18th Century gamer who wanted to move his men forward in loose swarms and skirmish lines was disappointed. That wasn't contemporary military thought.

Okay, let's look at scales; 28mm, 15mm, 6mm, and the like. Using V&B, RtG scale of 3" for 1500 men, my 8' wide table can hold 32 units in a single frontage. If foot, that's 48,000 men. That, by the way, is regardless of whether you use large figures, or small. If we go to the 2/3rds scale, that is 48 units, which is 72,000 men. That's just the first line. Double the numbers for the size of the army.

If, say, we went with the scale in Little Big Battles, a battalion taking up 1.5", a division of 10 battalions comes to 15" in a single line; 8" when deployed properly. There is nothing so beautiful as to see someone deploying a corps of three divisions of infantry, a division of cavalry, and guns, and realizing that he has two exposed flanks. Anchoring everything on hills/villages becomes sensible. And all of that beautiful cavalry gets sucked to the flanks for scouting and protecting, not available for thundering charges.

But as beautiful as the smaller figures are (I have a friend who painted glasses on his Marshal Davout figure in 6mm!), and they do get the spectacle you want of a large battle (I did a refight of the only major Austrian/Russian battle in the Invasion of Russia in 1812 and people were taken with the spectacle because the attack looked like two divisions going forward), the overall spectacle of miniatures was lost on the casual observer.

The guys in Oregon did Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde in 28mm. A 28mm figure, ostensibly 25mm, but my belief is that the figure designers longed for the old 30mm Surens, and so "scale creep" took place, which might explain why 15mm figures are now large 18mm, closer to the old 20s, is nearly five times the size of a 6mm figure. That's 25 times the volume with the requisite surface area. It looks big and impressive. This is what the casual observer expects to see when he wanders into a Con. And they look suitably impressed when you tell them that each figure was painted by hand.

Now, in my opinion, those larger figures look better when you have a large number of figures in a unit. In the smaller scales we can somehow get away with 6-8 castings equal a battalion, and people will "believe" it. I think that in the larger scales you need to go to 24-30 castings per battalion. Bill Protz fielded his Protzdam Grenadiers with 60 castings in the unit, and it was breathtaking. Mike Lonie did the Coldstream Guards in 25mm, a 60 casting unit, and it was like a red wall stretching across the battlefield. Gesturing at something that could be covered by a single sheet of paper, and telling people that that was the entire French Imperial Guard circa 1808 didn't seem as breathtaking.

And face it, the spectacle is important.

And this is the beauty of gaming. Every person finds what is "right" for them. If they want three corps on the tabletop with both flanks open, or they want enough metal figures that they have to get special shocks for their car (Isandlwhana in 30mm with all troops present on both sides!), there is room for them.

~~~~~~~

So how does this "fix" the problem with people resting both flanks on the edge of the world? Even "deployment areas" have their problem. At a DBA game in California Phil Barker found himself so hemmed in by an enemy built Up Area and impassable terrain that he could only send his troops forward in a single column one element wide, where he was promptly smashed by his clever opponent. An extreme example, mind you (and the rules for Built Up Areas changed right after that - go figure), but an example of what can happen. The other problem with a designated "deployment area" is there might be more troops present than the ground can handle. This invites what we call "rout in echelon" where Unit A runs backwards into Unit B; both then run into Unit C, and so on. Don't laugh. In the rules Shock of Impact I had that happen more than once, enough that I don't play those rules at all. Ever.

So what is to be done? Recall that the intended miniatures rules are Volley & Bayonet, Road to Glory with 3" linear bases for the foot, and 3" square bases for the horse. See the above point about the maximum amount that can be put on an 8' table. With that in mind, a deployment area of sorts becomes necessary. So, after all of this (hopefully not tedious) wandering, we come to the following:

Deployment

Players cannot deploy within 12" of either side edge of the table, and cannot deploy closer to the enemy than 24".

This gives a "deployment box" six feet wide on an eight foot wide table, and two feet deep on both sides, assuming a six-foot deep table.

Now why V&B? Well, I like it, it's simple yet subtle, and it doesn't matter if you use 2mm figures, hair-curlers, or 40mm castings, as long as you use the same base size.

That said, I sill like the idea of players suddenly realizing that they have two open flanks on the tabletop. In a lot of gamers that induces a "fear of defeat" and they get cautious. In a few others, it makes them a lot more reckless and aggressive. Just one of those things.

Intelligence

2011-02-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sabers flashing in the sunlight, the bang of pistols, the cry of horses and men. Hussars, chasseurs, chevaulegere... Not quite, but close. Louis XIV had one regiment of hussars, a total of four squadrons. Scouting and screening was done by ordinary cavalry.

There were limits on what generals could do. For example, in some armies patrols had to be from several different regiments so the loss of a large number of men (always a possibility) wouldn't heavily hurt one Colonel or Captain (who had raised the troops). Other generals used dragoons for their scouting, but dragoons were often mounted infantry, and were better suited for outposting/defensive work. Dragoons, though, often had other uses as advanced guards.

There were other, simple methods of conducting scouting. One of the easiest and most common was to develop a uniform plate. This is simply a visual of each enemy regiment. You could show this to a peasant or a town dweller, and they could point to the uniform they saw. That way you soon knew the regiments that were present. Enterprising officers would also scour the letters at the local post office, sometimes learning the names of generals who had passed through.

Getting Practical

We don't put individual regiments as counters on the map. Ideally all we have are generals. But there was often enough other information available that people would know: 2) the opposing generals; 2) a rough count of numbers. But there are big differences between "He has 50,000 men" and knowing that it is 42,500 men. So how to translate it?

So: a player can ask his opponent the names of the generals in a stack, though he doesn't have to give their seniority. He does have to give their rank. Second, when asked, a player has to give the strength of a stack within 5,000 men (he can round up or down).

This is crude and simple, but at the beginning of a campaign players have to give each other a copy of their order of battle, though without the strength of each regiment/brigade.

When playees write their accounts of the campaigns and battles, it would not be surprising if they minimized their strength and maximized that of the enemy.

Conversion to Tabletop

2011-02-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's not too soon to start considering how to convert a map game to a tabletop game. This has several parts: figure conversion, terrain, and results. There's also the not-inconsiderable problem of converting things back to the map. So let's work on the easy stuff first.

Figure Conversion

We've already done part/most of that. A strength point (SP) is 500 men, which is the scale of Volley & Bayonet: the Road to Glory (or the earlier version, too). At three SP for a field regiment of foot, and four SP for a cavalry brigade, we are well on the way.

However, you are looking at a mass of undistinguished SP in that stack of counters. How to relate them to what appears on the tabletop? You have to keep track of your foot regiments/cavalry brigades/artillery battalions. Tedious? Not quite. This is what rosters and/or spreadsheets are for. If I know IR Chef de Fer has 3 points, I can keep track of them until they lose some. Then I simply keep track of the new strength. Everything is done in 500 man increments. Besides (and here comes the rationalization), opposing generals didn't always know that the opposing army had 38 infantry regiments and 20 brigades of cavalry. They did know that it was 42,000 men.

Converting back from losses...we'll get to that in a bit.

The Battlefield

There are a lot of good methods of determining the battlefield. My favorite was to have good friend Mike Lonie sketch it out. Mike would invariably sandbag himself, making my job easier (unless we were on the same side). But not everyone has access to his talents. So we have a variety of other methods. I'll list them, and then choose one.

Use the maps in Warfare in the Age of Reason. This is a good excuse to get those rules. Roll for the map you'll use.
Place terrain the way they do it in De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA). The resulting terrain will be fairly open with only a few bad places, much like what generals preferred. The "built up area" problem will exist, but I've found that treating them as rough going solves a lot of problems (unless it is a fortified town).
Assign terrain pieces to the value of a playing card and lay out the terrain that way. You never know what you're going to get, and so this is probably more for WW2.
Take the surrounding terrain and "compress" it into that hex. This works on those game maps with a lot of terrain, such as the SPI games. This map doesn't have that. But it's a good idea for the next iteration of this system.

Do we keep that terrain as the defined battlefield in that hex? Personally I think that's a good idea as generals pretty much knew where the good fighting areas were. Maurice de Saxe commented that a province would have one, or at most two suitable positions in it. This isn't the Napoleonic period, by the way, where a fight could brew up at most any place.

So, I'm going to favor Method #2 - the DBA one. It's simple, interactive, and so on.

Deployment -

Do we keep the deployment areas of DBA? No. A clever person can make it so his opponent has no place to deploy, and while that's historical, we're not after that. Instead, the back 6" to 12" of the table is the deployment area. How close to the edge? Up to the edge.

Reconciling Losses -

This gets a little trickier because not all losses are permanent losses. Bruce Catton (in Mr. Lincoln's Army) thought an army permanently lost 60% of all reported losses. Experiences in the Napoleonic period confirmed that number. British experiences (Wellington in the Peninsula) suggested it was closer to 50-50. The truth is probably somewhere in between. But in an effort to hold down paperwork...

Look at the roster at the end of the battle, and apply the following rules of thumb.

If a unit has lost 4 hits, they get two of them back "the next day". The other two are gone for good.
If a unit has lost three hits, they get one back right away, lose one permanently, and can get the other one back by losing a step in morale.
If a unit has lost two hits, they get one back "right away" and lose the other permanently.
If a unit has lost one hit, they get it back if they take a step down in morale grade.

Players will find it wise to staff rear areas with units that are only worth one hit. Real generals didn't leave units that had been run down in the line unless they had no choice.

What if a unit is totally wiped out using this method? Well, you can end up with a lot of Morale Grade 2 and 3 units, all worth one hit. Rotate those units back to the lines of communication and/or into a fortress where they can "recruit" up to strength (they'll be available the next campaign season).

What of attrition losses? Can I take those losses from the weakest units? Actually, no. Those men are the survivors who would hang on. You have to take your attrition losses from the more up-to-strength units. If it means anything, losses in horseflesh always exceeded the manpower losses. Horse are more delicate than humans. And cheer up, high morale units tended to not lose men through attrition.

Just remember, your opponent doesn't know the strength of that unit he's facing. He could be in for a nasty surprise, or a promenade.

Odds and Ends

All general officer losses are permanent (at least for the campaigning season. Of course in V&B you don't have generals becoming casualties. So it's time to rectify that. If a general is touching or within 1" of a unit when it takes fire casualties, or that unit is in a melee when the general is touching or within 1", there is a 50-50 chance the general is a casualty (men tended to shoot just a little bit high). For humor, come up with a table that tells what happened to the general.

Why so high a chance of getting hit? Well, you peculate the big bucks, you take your chances. There is a high metallic content to the air around a battlefield, and having a general intercept some of that can be most...unfortunate.

One complete turn after a general is hit, his replacement takes over. So a general is hit on Turn 4, the replacement takes over on Turn 6.

Artillery losses are different as most artillery battalions are only worth one hit. Artillery losses from fire are reconstituted the "next day" at one morale grade loser. Artillery losses from melee are gone. Period. And as for regimental guns, a foot unit that routs loses their regimental guns (the pieces) as captured. Note, when you capture some guns you are not allowed to use them yourself. Thyey become war memorials and are put on display for people to ooh and ahh at.

So now let us turn our attention to scouting and intelligence, two reasons to have cavalry, and yes, two mutually exclusive concepts.

Siege Rules

2011-02-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

We could fight the siege out on the tabletop. I wrote the siege rules in Age of Reason, and have done quite a few tabletop sieges. It's way different than an open field fight. A field battle is kind of fluid. There's movement, and things ebb and flow. In a siege, everything feels static. But there's a certain inevitability. But, let's assume that we don't have a table to dedicate to this, or the miniature fortress.

The Basics

A siege is really an exercise in supply. By the 18th Century a siege was more or less semi-predictable. As a rule of thumb, seven weeks after the opening of trenches, the defenders should be in a position to surrender. Now this assumes a whole lot of things go right with the supply. But in 1708 a lot of the campaign focused around prosecuting or defending the siege of Lille. In fact, if one wants a mini-campaign, that is the perfect excuse.

So, the attacker has to establish a valid depot on the city. That represents the siege works. Every turn that the depot is in supply, the attacker throws 1d6 and subtracts that number from the siege value of the fortress. When the siege value is zero or less, the fortress surrenders.

Now when making this die throw, every time a six is thrown, the attacker loses a strength point. If there is a garrison other than the "automatic" one (i.e. field troops sheltering in the fortress) they move to the nearest unbesieged friendly fortress. If there aren't any, they become prisoners of war to be exchanged later.

For those who thinks this means sieges will be too short, an average fortress siege strength of 14 should be sufficient.

What of the defender? What recourse do they have? They can try to break the supply line, which keeps the siege die throw from happening.

Extra about Supply

All troops outside of a fortress lose three strength points every turn starting on the November 1st turn. So a force that is 20 strength points on the December 15th turn, will be on their third turn of attrition. Readers will note that the average depot will suddenly go ungarrisoned due to attrition, putting all sorts of people out of supply. The lesson here is to go into winter quarters in a fortress.

Troops who are in a fortress on the November 1st turn are automatically considered in Winter Quarters, and cannot come out of them.

So now we can move the troops, and feed them. We've also given a reason for the campaigns. So now we will turn our attention to such things as recon, and things like that. Then we will have to deal with the diplomatic situation, and the early stages as the armies mobilize and gear up for war.

Supply Rules

2011-02-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

"Feed me! Clothe me! Pay me!" Always me, me, me, never a thought for their poor monarch who has three palaces, a mistress, and a wife. Oh, the travails of being king (Mel Brooks notwithstanding).

Actually, supply rules can be as complex as you can stand. Let's see, this is the 18th Century, so for each combatant figure one hanger-on. Officers will have two to seven non-combatants that they support, and then we get to the general staff. There should really be a separate supply train just for the general staff. You never know when you're going to have to entertain all sorts of people. Hmm, and then there's the support staff, the necessary jugglers, acrobats, and so on. Even the Ladies of Negotiable Virtue (did you know the Croix de Guerre was awarded to two ladies of a Mobile Field Brothel for their activities in the French Indochina War?)

Let's say one man consumes one unit of food and one unit of water every day. An army of 50,000 would consume 50,000 units of food and 50,000 units of water every single day, whether they are in camp or marching. But then there are the horses. it turns out that the 18th Century average for a 50,000 man army was 30,000 horses. it's not just the cavalry, it's the artillery, it's the ones pulling the wagons, and so on. A horse consumes roughly ten times what a man consumes. A man can eat meat, a horse can't, but let's skip over that. And they both drink water. So This 50,000 man army needs 350,000 units of food, and 350,000 units of water every single day. This explains all of the campaigns in the river valleys of Northern Italy and those in the Low Countries. That's where the food and water were.

And I haven't even touched on the hangers-on, lackeys, servants, wastage, and so on. They would often destroy more than they would eat. No wonder soldiers were perpetually short of food.

When I do the calculations for a 50,000 man army, I come up with the food requirements of China. The spreadsheets to feed, pay, and clothe these people would be a game in itself. So let's try the Freddie the Lesser game system approach.

A Simpler Way -

A stack of counters can be fed out of a depot or a city if they are within six movement points of that source. The line cannot travel through an enemy occupied hex, so you can't supply an army from a besieged fortress (I saw someone claim that he could in a different boardgame). Now if that depot is within six movement points of a city, it can supply troops six further points away from the depot, and so on. You can have a line of depots stretching across the map, provided they all are connected to a depot (that's connected to a depot, that's...) that sooner or later connects to a friendly and unbesieged city.

That depot must be garrisoned by at least three strength points. Someone has to work the ovens and so on.

To establish a depot, a force of at least ten strength points spends an entire turn in one hex doing nothing but establish the depot. The beautiful thing is you don't need a general in order to not move.

Attrition from Supply

Oh my goodness, something has happened to the supply lines. If this was the Napoleonic period it would probably be that Corsican fellow. But it's not. So we get to have rules about what happens when there is no food.

Simple. Every stack loses one strength point per turn when the stack is out of supply. This is actually fairly benign, but it suggests keeping all of the men in one place. Independent columns are subject to the same thing.

Let's add that you cannot roll for the conclusion of a siege when the besiegers are out of supply. Fighting battles to interrupt a siege was very 18th Century.

But Wait! There's More!

So let's stick an addenda into the movement rules. Something to encourage people to spread out a bit so they can move, because moving 50,000 men and 30,000 horses down a single road is almost impossible. Think traffic jams, for starters.

So, if a stack has more than, oh, 30 strength points in it, it has one less movement point available from whatever it rolled. This modifier is applied after the die roll and checking for attrition. If it has 60 or more strength points, it has two less movement points available, again, after the die throw and checking for attrition.

So, march divided, fight united. This sounds Napoleonic, but it was obvious much earlier. Marlborough used it during the Siege of Lille.

So that is the basis for the supply. Astute observers will note that I spoke in terms of movement points, not hexes. Supply lines through rough terrain will be shorter, and they will be much longer on roads. That's the idea.

Movement

2011-02-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

Basics

In the game Frederick the Great, a turn is a couple weeks. That originally seemed too long; but after doing some thinking, that could amount to 30 turns in a campaign season.. So that seems adequate for a game, and means we don't have to tie ourselves down to a specific movement rate. Aside, I can remember a treadhead getting upset because "everyone knew" that a Panther tank could move at 30 miles per hour, and the movement rate in one game implied that they only moved at 10 miles per hour. Somehow the concept that tanks were not ships couldn't sink in.

The basis of movement is the hex. The map for Blitzkrieg is covered with hexes. Movement from one hex to the next costs one movement point. But the different terrain types will cost more. For rules purposes any terrain other than clear costs one movement point more. Thus rough terrain is woods, and hills. Crossing a river or entering a an enemy occupied hex costs one movement point more.

It might seem odd that there aren't different kinds of woods, and we don't take into account mountains. Armies tend to stay away from jungles, The Wilderness, the Alps, and so on. That's because armies have to eat. There's a good reason armies campaigned in rich agricultureal districts.

What about rivers? These are rivers significant from a military obstacle. This means th the stream that barely comes to the knees won't effect an army, but the Rhine is. So crossing a river might involve a ford such as the Rappahanock, or a bridging train. So one extra movement point more.

Roads are not your ordinary dirt path, or the ones that go from village to village. Roads paved with good bridges, drainage, and things like that. So roads negate terrain, and forces on a road pay only 1/2 movement point as long as they stay on the road.

Initiative

Troops cannot move without a general (well, there's one exception, but this is voluntary movement).

Generals are rated for their 'get up and go'. Take a look at the Kipling poem "Stellenbosch". Some generals are more willing to move than others. In Freddie terms, this is a number that you add to the throw of 1d6 to to find out how far the general moves (and the men with him). Some generals are really sluggish, and this number is negative. Some will march their troops into the ground, and have the initiative of three. The most a stack can have is six movement points. If the resulting modified die throw is greater than six, there will be attrition (which we'll cover later).

Generals have ranks, and they must be moved in the order of their seniority. The highest ranking general in the stack is the one who controls the whole stack for initiative.

What about cavalry? Don't they move faster? Well, yes, and no. Horses get tired, need periodic rest, and so on. In the American Civil War there were cavalry raids galore, but the horses walked, didn't trot. Cavalry commanders out-thought their pursuers, not outran them. After all, the column gains its strength from all of the men/horses together, so losing them due to stragglers means you weaken their power. So they move at the walk, which is about the same as a walking man. While this isn't intuitively obvious, horses aren't motorcycles or bicycles. They need periodic rest, food, and water.

What about force marches? Actually, this isn't a column running, it's troops marching when normally they would be resting. The Union VI Corps, on its march to Gettysburg, did a force-march and traveled 31 miles in 24 hour period. Marlborough's men, on their way to Oudenarde, did a force-march, and covered 50 miles in one day! Note, 10-15 was normal.

So all of this will move stacks of troops around the map. Next we'll cover what happens when they need to eat. Supply can be complicated (I've written some complex supply rules), but they can also be simple and yet effective.

The Project

2011-01-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't given up on miniatures gaming, I've just been terriby lax about it. But any hobby you've pursued for 48 years cannot be put aside completely. So this is the inception of The Project.

What is it?

I have often felt the best tabletop games are generated by a campaign system. Years ago Jeff Cox and I did a campaign using the old SPI map for Cobra, and fighting the battles with the King's War Rules. It was a lot of fun, and we soon had a result. We also had a lot of battles that had reasons for being, and were not even fights on even terrain. Back in Indiana I took part in a WW1 Naval Campaign in the Med, and we mostly used General Quarters to resolve the fights, though some other rules were used for small ships and small-sized actions. We had really interesting fights that involved unequal forces, and the battles had strategic consequences.

This latter is often missing from most tabletop games. Oh, you're told that seizing this town or that ridge will give you a strategic victory, but too often there is a fight to the last soldier. With a campaign you have to preserve your forces for another day.

IMHO one of the best campaign systems around for boardgames was Frederick the Great, originally by SPI, but later Avalon Hill. You quickly learned that you could fight lots of battles, and have no army left, or you could preserve your forces, fight only when the situation warranted it, and spend a lot of time worrying about supply, your objective (usually a fortress), and so on. Whole campaigns could be fought without a major battle. Or you could rush right out, find the enemy, smash at him, and trust everything on one roll of the dice. If you lost, you could see your fortresses fall one after another, helpless to do anything to stop the onslaught.

The germ of the idea.

Two of the minor countries from the old Avalon Hill game Blitzkrieg are gearing up for a war. The political differences between Ober-Bindlestiff and Saxe-Schweinrot are many and deep, and mostly rooted in dynastic concerns. It's the 1730s or 1740s. Such fanciful things as cadenced step and so on are not around. I'm going to "write" the rules for the campaign (based on the Frederick the Great system), and then fight it out. The battles will be fought in miniature with the Volley & Bayonet, Road to Glory rules, though there might be a few modifications made to those rules if we hit some sticking points.

The Armies

The Foot in both armies is the multi-battalion regiment. In theory a regiment has 2,000 men, though some 1500 take the field. The rest are held back as training cadre (the depots). In V&B terms, a regiment in the field starts with three hits, or 100 men. As units get worn down from attrition and combat, replacements will be sent forward from the depots to make up the numbers.

The Horse is a mix of armored and unarmored cavalry. Regiments vary wildly in size, so they have been organized into Inspections, each of which fields a brigade of some 2,000 men, or 4 hits in V&B terms. Again, replacements are sent forward as needed. But the real replacements are in the winter. So armies will get smaller as the campaign goes on.

The Artillery does not have a depot system. Guns are expensive to make, but the men can be trained. They are organized in three components: first, the artillery assigned to the infantry. These are 'dedicated guns', or what were also called 'regimental artillery'. Then there are the field artillery, organized in battalions. These are assigned to a field army. Lastly are the fortress guns, and this includes a siege train for each army. These gunners train at the fortresses, and garrison them (with the depot battalions),

The Dragoons are not many, and don't appear too often in the major battles. They are mounted infantry, and are used for the outposting, recons, and so on, what light troops did later on. There most decidedly aren't hussars, chevaulegere, or the like.

These forces are all gathered under an army general, who has subordinates to assist him. And that will assist in the movement system.

So there will be more to come as the campaign rules are put out for people to see.

The Fall Campaign - Part 3

2009-02-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

The Situation

Simply put, the French Army is scattered between Sedro Wooley, Mount Vernon, Conway, Arlington and a few points in between. The main chunk of the Allied Army is leaving Arlington after a night action at Swede Hollow with the intent of crossing the Stillaguamish River at Conway and escaping northward (or at least to Fidalgo Island).

Other parts of the Allied Army are north of Burlington, at Conway (on the west side of the river), or guarding the approaches to Fidalgo Island. The French Army is attempting to cut off the Allied Army at Conway. That seems simple enough...sort of. Did I add that the Allies are low on ammunition, have one company of artillery, and a lot of unorganized men who could be a problem? I didn't think so. Life is not rosey for the Allied commander.

There is a ford at Conway (as well as the Bridge). The two French Blesois Regiments are dug in at Conway, in two redoubts and the town itself. And the French Army is marching to relieve them as fast as units can get straightened out and on the road.

Referee's Notes - I had to do some calculating, along with TripMaker and Map Quest. Both Allied and French troops were converging on Conway, and I had to calculate how long it would take to get them there ("there" being within 1 mile of Conway). I assumed the following:

Couriers travel at 8 mph;

One hour after receiving orders, units march;

Units march at 2 mph, including cavalry;

Proper march discipline would be followed.

The Situation "Develops"

The Allied Army had left Arlington at 10 AM. They had rested, had eaten, and had managed to resupply some ammunition. They had even recovered some guns and artillery ammunition that the French had not yet sent south as trophies (enough to form a battery). They were planning on marching to Bryant, then west on the Stanwood-Bryant road, then north on the main road to Conway. They had a total of 16 miles to go. They chose this route as it bypassed the French forces west of Arlington, and it might disguise where they were going (for a bit). Unbeknownst to them, all of the Allied cavalry was put in the van, leaving none to cover the rear. The Atrasos Cavalry promptly scouted them, and I arbitrarily ruled that they soon knew which way the Allies were going. The earliest the Allies could get to Conway was 6 PM.

The French Commander Ponders....

Starting at 7 AM, the first couriers went north from the small French force holding on west of Arlington. This merely reported the facts, as known at the time: the Allies had attacked from up the valley and Arlington was swamped with fugitives. The commander of the Atrasos Cavalry reported that the pursuing force sent after the Allied army was in full retreat or scattered (he had no word from the 1/1st Germans, they had been falling back under pressure when last seen), and that the Allies were now entering Arlington. More couriers followed:

8:00 AM - The Allied army is in Arlington, looting, and so on. French forces west of Arlington are 3rd Germans, Atrasos Cavalry and fragments of 2/1st Germans. Even allowing for exaggeration, something bad had happened. Patrols were now attempting to ascertain more, but ther was a lot of Allied Cavalry around Arlington (he named the units);

9:00 AM - looting has subsided. Reports are that the commander of the Allied army is at Arlington. This is based upon scouting and direct observation;

10:30 AM - Allied troops are marching north on Route 9. Patrols have been sent north on the main road with orders to scout the Stanwood-Bryant road and report both to HQ and the commander of the Atrasos Cavalry

Another Referee Note - I was playing the part of the French Commander west of Arlington. The French were coming from Sedro Wooley (14 miles), Burlington (9 miles) and Mount Vernon (5 miles). But they had to get their orders. And that could occur only after the French commander realized what was going on.

...and Acts

The French Commander was at Mount Vernon, along with 14 battalions of infantry and four regiments of cavalry. Mount Vernon is 22 miles from Arlington, 25 if you go by side-roads. The first courier arrived at 10 AM. Just after the noon courier had arrived (sent at 9 AM), the French commander began sending his own couriers. By 1 PM the couriers had arrived at Sedro Wooley and Burlington, and the troops were on the road by 2 PM. The forces at Mount Vernon had marched at 1 PM. They would start arriving at Conway at 3:30 PM.

The troops from Burlington would arrive at 6:30 PM. Those from Sedro Wooley would arrive at 9 PM (dark is at 8 PM). Clearly this was going to be a mis-match, but on who's side?

The Armies Start Converging

The French - Fourteen battalions of infantry, a battery of artillery and four regiments of cavalry arrived at Conway at 3:30. The French Commander had been there with an Advanced Guard, surveying the scene. He sent cavalry patrols farther south, looking for the Allies, and he pressed forward right behind them. Reports came in. The Allies were advancing up the main road, but were still well short of Conway. The French Commander saw the opportunity, and ordered his men forward into the hills. They would try to occupy the same positions they had occupied before, only facing the other way round.

By 5:30 PM he had his troops depoloyed for battle, their front covered by a dry streambed, their left on a steep hill, their right hanging a bit, but the ground dropping steeply to the Stillaguamish. It wasn't the best position, but it would do.

The four battalions of infantry, the advanced guard that had been at Burlington, had stopped in Mount Vernon to guard the bridge. But they had two regiments cavalry with them. Those had been sent ahead. They had force-marched on a good road in dry weather, so they made 4.5 miles/hour. They arrived at 5:00 PM, and were deployed in a second line by 5:30. The force from Sedro Wooley had marched through Mount Vernon. They would not make it to this fight in time. The French Commander debated whether he should use them or not. After some thought he had them stop in Mount Vernon. This was a gamble, but if things didn't go well here, he would still have a force in being. And if any Allied troops crossed the river, the troops in Mount Vernon could also cross the river and maybe catch some of the Allied troops as they worked their way across Fir Island. Splitting his force like this was a risk, but he decided it was worth it.

The Allied Commander was a little surprised to contact the French around 4:00. He had hoped to take them more by surprise than he obviously had. But if a fight was necessary, then so be it. He didn't have many choices, but on the off-chance that something could be found, he sent patrols to his right to see if they could find a way through, say, MacMurray, and north to Sedro Wooley. Might as well cover all chances.

As the skirmishing increased the Allied Commander sent all of his cavalry forward. This shoved the French Cavalry back a bit, and allowed him to see the French position. The position wasn't unassailable, but any assault would be desperate. Still, he thought an attack could always be stopped by night. And when it was, maybe his men could escape to the right. His mind made up, he ordered his troops to shake out into line of battle for a fight.

The Forces
The Allied forces numbered 26 battalions of somewhat beat-up and tired infantry, along with eight regiments of cavalry and a scratched together artillery. Morale was not high, a lot of regiments were now M4 instead of M5. This reflected that the troops had marched and fought for the last 20 hours without adequate rest or nourishment. The exhaustion levels of the troops were changed to reflect that. All told, the French could muster (theoretically) 19,000 men for this action.

The French forces were outnumbered better than 2:1 in foot. They had had only minimal time to prepare, but the ground was broken, and the men were of good morale. One welcome reinforcement, the 2nd Germans came marching in from MacMurray on the Colonel's own initiative (actually referee's initiative). This boosted the French troops to 15,000 men.

The French were present first, and arrayed themselves in the traditional two lines, with Croissant and Navarre in the first line (left to right) and Provisionaire General, Procurer General, and the 2nd Germans as part of the second line (reading left to right). TheProvincial Grenadiers were held out of the line of battle and slightly detached to the left en potence as a flank guard. The Horse was deployed in two formations to the left of the foot, with the cavalry of the Maison the farthest out on the left. The rest of the cavalry was deployed with Bartillart and Courvoisier in the first line, and Absinthe and Crapaud in the second. The artillery was on the right next to a steep slope that protected their flank.

The Allies deployed the English on the left with the Dutch in the center. The cavalry was massed on the right in two lines. The mob of fugitives was sent to the far left. By 7 PM everyone was in position. Knowing that sunset was within the hour, the Allied Commander told his men there would be no battle unlessthe French attacked. Instead, every regiment sent out their pickets, and the men were quietly pulled back. His scouts had found a flank road.

The Allies Slip Away
The French commander ordered up the four battalions left at Mount Vernon. He toyed with a night attack (I reminded him of the first fight of the campaign), then ordered his pickets to cover the front and his men to be up before dawn. The Allied Commander rested his troops until midnight, then sent one regiment of cavarly and the mob of unorganized men wading across the ford in the Stillaguamish. The noise and uproar this caused brought the French Commander to the front to see what was going on. After some thought he ordered some troops forward to see what was happening.The troops from Navarre move forward in the dark, clashing with the troops of the 100-Acre Woods Foresters. The noise was loud, and the firing fierce, but the troops were too far away to hurt each other very much. Casualties were very few, more from men tripping over things in the dark than actually being hit by bullets.

While this was going on, the main Allied Force was quietly moving to their right, well beyond the line of French pickets. They found the road the scouts had uncovered, and the troops made their way along it as quietly as possible. Everyone was tense. By orders, no muskets had been loaded to prevent any accidental shots giving away the game, and all noisy items had been left behind in the camps. By 1 AM the bulk of the Allied army was on the road and descending from the hills onto the Conway-MacMurray road. There the leading elements were turning east to MacMurray, where they would then turn north towards Sedro Wooley. That's when trouble erupted.

Things Heat Up
The French Army had long planned to deploy on this very ground (back before the campaign started this was their chosen battlefield). The men knew every path and road in the area. And the commander of the French Maison cavalry kept hearing things to his front. So he sent out scouts. They returned with reports of Allied pickets in the area, lots of Allied pickets in the area. Being a cavalry officer, the commander of the Maison was not without enterprise. He sent for the nearest infantry, the Provinicial Grenadiers, roused his men, passed word to the line cavalry beside him, and sent a messenger to the Army Commander. All of that done, and his men ready by now, he moved forward with the intent to cause as much mischief as possible.

Referee's Note - I handled the action near the ford as a probe rather than as an attack. This meant the troops advanced until they could see "something", at which time quite likely firing would break out (throw 1d6, firing breaks out on a 3-6, I threw a 4). The men would halt to fire. This caused panic among the unorganized men (very logically) and it also pinned the English to the area (not realized by the Allied commander). On the other flank, the French commander had told me he wanted his pickets "well-forward and active". So this meant there was a chance to find out what was going on (throw 1d6, discover on a 5 or 6, check every hour; at 1 AM I threw a 6). Deciding that the nobility in the French army were likely to be head-strong and aggressive (especially cavalry commanders in the Maison du Roi), I decided that the local commander would do the professional thing (send messages), but he would also go stick his finger in the hornet's nest to see what happened. But he wasn't entirely stupid, he had those grenadiers handy, too. I decided that it would take an hour to get everything ready, so at 2 AM we would have things happening. I played this out in 30 minute turns.

The Engagement
For maximum impact the French deployed all three units in one line, the Grenadiers a Cheval on the left, Maison du Roi next to them, and the Provinicial Grenadiers on the right. They moved forward with orders to "smash everything in front of them". They hit the line of Dutch infantry in column of march. The regiments Limbeek and Westmalle, near the tail of the column, were caught totally by surprise and scattered in the first charge. The French cavalry pursued those men vigorously, while the Grenadiers wheeled to the west and hit the next unit they found, Kriek. Again, the Grenadiers closed to melee, utilizing their SHK. It wouldn't have mattered, Kriek was in column of march and unable to defend itself. But when Fortune smiles, it smiles hugely. The dice were thrown anyway, and up came a pair of 6's. Kriek was removed from the Allied order of battle. Two other regiments were behind Kriek, Dalrymple and Murray. Dalrymple had warning of what was going on and managed to deploy. The Grenadiers slammed into them anyway. Dalrymple inflicted one hit on the Grenadiers, but took two in return. As Dalrymple disintegrated, Murray had a chance to go stationary. The English were coming up behind them, and the Buffs were on their flank in support. But the French line cavalry was showing up, now, as well as more French infantry. Everyone could see this was only going to end one way. By 5:00 AM the Allied troops still present were surrendering at discretion.

The Allied Commander wanted to turn back and fight the French, but now his army was too strung out to deploy. So he pressed on, writing off a good chunk of his forces. His cavalry reached MacMurray at 6 AM, with what was left of the foot right behind them. The troops turned north towards Sedro Wooley. Safety, of sorts, was only a few miles away. As the morning wore on, the Dutch cavalry stayed behind to form a rearguard, while the English cavalry raced ahead to guard the Sedro Wooley-Mount Vernon road. By 10 AM the bulk of his men were across the river. The action was over, what was left of his army was safe, and he could now try to figure out how to explain what had happened (after he figured it out) in this most unsatisfactory campaign.

The Reckoning
The Allied Army lost all of the English Foot captured, and five infantry other regiments just removed, killed, wounded, captured. They also lost most of the unorganized men rounded up as captives (the cavalry regiment that had escorted them made it back to safety after a long and somewhat hair-raising escape). All told, the Allies lost 12,500 men from all causes (of which 7,500 were in organized units). The French lost scarcely 500 men in this action, mostly last ditch shots, or attempts to stop the Grenadiers when they got on a roll. In terms of battle casualties, the Allies lost 1,500 men.

The Campaign Winds Down

When the Allied Army crossed the river at Sedro Wooley, this effectively ended the campaign. Oh, there were still odds and ends to clean up. There were a couple of German Regiments in Allied service that could be captured if they were unlucky, but things were so confusing after the Battle of Conway Heights that nobody remembered. The German regiment opposite Conway decamped early in the morning, and marched to the bridge to Fidalgo Island. There they joined up with the other German regiment. Covered by the Frambozen Cavalry, this tiny force, less the battalion watching Anacortes, marched up Chuckanut Drive. Though it took a couple of days, they were able to arrive in Bellingham without molestation (though a bit hungry). Just over 1,500 unorganized men made the march out with them. The battalion watching Anacortes was lifted off Fidalgo Island a day later by the Allied Navy. That marked the official end of the campaign. There were no more Allied troops south of the border, nor were there likely to be any time soon. Several days later the Autumn Rains started, ending the season for marching.

The Allied Army was a mere shadow of what it had been. The French were better off, but only just.

The objectives of the Allies, to extend their control over the Skagit River Basin, and control of Whidbey Island and Anacortes and hence the lower Sound, were not met. The campaign could be judged a complete failure. The political fall-out was complex (and outside the scope of this narrative). But peace feelers were extended during the rainy season, and Spring did not bring a new campaigning. In all essentials, peace broke out. This, of course, laid the groundwork for a future war, but that is another story.

A Comment on the Tactical Rules

2008-12-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

The battles were fought using the 1st Edition of Volley & Bayonet by Frank Chadwick. All of the cavalry were on regimental bases, which made them very fragile (one hit/regiment).

If I were to fight the campaign again (and we did, sort of), I would put the cavalry on brigade bases. This is mostly because the doctrine of the time was already migrating to the use of cavalry brigades as opposed to regiments. This was in large part because of the recognition of two factors. First, that individual regimental strengths varied widely, depending upon the success of the Colonel-Proprietor. Second, that cavalry was best used en masse. Dragoons, however, would be on regimental stands because my reading of the literature of the period indicates that this was the way it was usually done.

Now the 2nd Edition of the rules is out, Volley & Bayonet, The Road to Glory. I would use these the next time the two sides face off. When will that be? Well, there was another campaign that followed the one I'm currently detailing, a campaign that emphasized scouting (one side didn't). That will get detailed later.

A word on armies/rules/&c. All of my Marlburians are for V&B. I've tried various other rules for the period, and like V&B for its subtlety and simplicity. Long gone are the days when I felt complexity gave a better game.

I saw this in a game of Wagram I read about using the rules Two Hundred Years Ago. This club lovingly painted up every battery, battalion and regiment from that battle. They rented a hall. They laid the troops out. They got through three turns(!) and then had to pick up. I read the rules and concluded that a simple time-motion study precluded ever doing anything with them aside from small actions.

Historically most wargames rules work best with small forces. This is partly because the foundations of the hobby were from (mostly) WW2 gaming, and there you didn't think of divisions, the gamers who had been through that war thought in terms of companies/troops and battalions (at the highest level). Scotty Bowden changed that with Empire 1. Suddenly my 1:20 Napoleonic army (2 divisions) became two corps! I felt like a corps or army commander, not a glorified regimental commander. And part of Scotty's secret was a time-motion study that simplified the mechanics. But even so, by the end of a battle spread over three or four of our days, we would be so exhausted that we'd just say "throw the dice and we'll look it up if it's close."

Years ago I did Alte Fritz, a 1:75 set of Seven Years War rules. I simplified the mechanics as much as I could, and you could handle a reasonable sized battle on the table. The largest we did was 35+ battalions and 60 squadrons on a side. That was an epic fight that took a good part of a day. Clearly improvements could be made.

Jeff Cox and I took the DBA concept and did Little Big Battles. There a player could handle a corps without a problem, often two. And Jeff and I did one epic battle where we had multiple corps each. But the average player had no problem handling even the extra-large Austrian corps of 1809. The secret was a close attention to time-motion, and the DBA concept of rolling morale and combat results up as one throw.

The only other set of rules that I've enjoyed for large actions (what I prefer) are the V&B rules. I confess that my first experience was very negative, but that was partly because the guy putting the game on at Enfilade! was a nice guy who didn't know the rules all that well. Jeff and I tested them by trying our best to abuse the daylights out of them. It left a sour taste in our mouths.

I went back a few months later after an ACW V&B game. True, I was hung out to dry by my Army Commander (I had Sickles Corps on Day 2 of Gettysburg), but so was Sickles, partly through his own folly. But I cobbled together a line after the initial shock, and managed to fall back in some order and pull more of my troops out of the fight than Sickles (or after he was wounded, Humphries) did. And what was going on felt like what I'd read. I decided to give the rules another try.

I did, and my Marlburians all went on V&B stands. I also mounted my 1813 Prussians for V&B, but haven't touched my 1806 French or any of my SYW troops. We'll see about what happens in the future.

Why didn't I try Napoleon's Battles? I did, and it makes an interesting story. Jeff and I were at a local hobbystore, and the guys there were putting on the Battle of Teugen-Hausen (1809 Campaign). Jeff took the French, and I was given a corps of Austrians. The main Austrian force deploys on a ridge, and my corps was coming up through some woods on their right. The French (Davout's troops) assaulted the ridge, carried it, and swept the Austrians aside.

Jeff didn't just power into the Austrians in a Napoleonic style banzai charge, get mangled, and then have to fight hard with his second division to hold his line while the Austrians massed on his flank. This was unheard of! Instead he massed his forces, and pinned the Austrians in front while trying to turn their left flank. Unheard of! In fact one of the guys who normally gamed with the rules dismissed Jeff's flank attack as something that couldn't work because "the end battalion will simply face". So Jeff got behind the Austrians and hit them from three sides. Their line folded at once.

I took one look at this, and at too many French for my columns of march to hold back. So I used my Advanced Guard division to punch the French back while everyone turned around and marched away. The Advanced Guard division fell back as a mobile rearguard, and after a couple of bad experiences the French followed up cautiously.

The same guys were going to put on Wagram using these rules, and they called me about a month before. They wanted me to take an Austrian Corps because I was "a careful, cautious commander". For some reason this sends my friends into paroxysms of laughter. I declined politely.

I didn't like the feel of Napoleon's Battles (just like I didn't like Piquet). Call it personal preferences. I have not tried Sam Mustapha's Grand Army. For now I'll stick with V&B, and if I want SYW, Age of Reason. For Napoleonics...right now it's a reworked Empire 2, or Guard du Corps. Negotiations are on-going (there are other games involved). We'll see what happens.

Action at Swede Hollow

2008-12-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Fall Campaign (continued)

The Action at Swede Hollow

Preliminaries

Three days after the Battle of Arlington, the commander of the Allied Army made the decision to cut his way out of the mountains. His decision came as a result of careful pondering (and discussion with the referee). He had the following unpalatable facts on his plate:

the nearest "safety" was in Sedro Wooley (at least), 83 miles away by his current route;

if he turned east at Concrete, it was over 400 miles before he could be "in supply";

he had precious little food;

he had almost no ammunition, except that carried in the pouches of a few regiments not engaged at Arlington;

he had no artillery;

he had several thousand unorganized men looting, marauding, and eating everything in sight;

the French were sure to get to Sedro Wooley first, blocking him in the mountains (he could not see how to get an organized force through the mountains back to Bellingham - referee input, isn't going to happen);

the French were pursuing him with cavalry (one regiment) and infantry (at least two regiments) - referee observation, he finally began scouting;

Based on the above, his choices were few:

he could surrender - unacceptable;

he could force march to Sedro Wooley and try to cut his way out;

he could try to go west over the mountains and back to the coastal area - no. This would destroy the army.

he could turn on his pursuers.

Of these choices, 2 and 4 were the most "reasonable". But Option #2 meant he would have 83 miles to go with a starving army. The French would have plenty of time to get there first and dig in. He would then have to assault prepared defenses covered with artillery. His chances of winning under those circumstances were nil.

Option #4 offered his best chances. Now that he was doing scouting (he had cavalry superiority), he was learning all sorts of things. One of the more interesting things was that his pursuit consisted of two infantry regiments, 1/1st Germans and 2/1st Germans. He concluded that a bayonet assault would do the trick, and so ordered one. But the units picked for the assault would also be the ones that had ammunition, just in case (as referee I informed him that his chances of winning any given round of combat decreased by not having ammunition, though I didn't tell him by how much - all hits he made would be subject to saving throws, and his opponent got a +1 on his chances to hit).

The Pursuing Force

The pursuing force were left in the hands of the referee with orders to "keep after them, but don't get in over your head". I asked about "digging in every night". The French commander wanted to know how long it would take, and I said "a couple of hours, at least, maybe more". As this would mean the Allies "got away" (his words), he said no, don't. Just "keep close". So I decided that the troops pursued, camped every night with a picket line out, but didn't take "extraordinary" precautions. They did clash repeatedly with the Allied Cavalry, but those were a lot of "facing and staring" contests.

The Fight at Swede Hollow - The Forces

The ground at Swede Hollow broadens out (sort of), stretching all four pursuing German battalions out so they covered the entire front. The 2/1st Germans were on the left with their left flank resting on the stream, the 1/1st Germans were on the right with their right flank resting on steep and heavily wooded (cavalry proof) ground. There were pickets from the Atrasos Cavalry in front, but the bulk of the regiment was behind the German infantry (they were on the left as the ground was "suitable"). Both German regiments had both battalions in line. They were, after all, "sweeping up" the Allies.

The Allies coming down on them were in two columns of three Dutch regiments each, followed by the English. The Allied commander also decided to push a force past the Germans on their left, cross the stream (if they could find a ford) and try to turn the enemy flank. This force consisted of the following regiments: Huegenot, Dalrymple, Murray, and the Frambozen Cavalry.

The assault columns (from front to back) consisted of regiments:


Left Column          Right Column
 Grosch               Koninck
 Amstel               Westmalle
 Grootdefeatfontein   Kofferdam

Referee decisions:

all casualties would be permanent, though most would be "fugitives";

this would be played in half-hour turns, though the ground scale would not change;

I would roll 1d6 for surprise: 4 - 6 meant the Germans were alerted and could go stationary, 1 meant total surprise and the German regiment was disordered;

Once a unit was ordered in, the player had no control over it, the unit would "keep advancing";

Swede Hollow - The Fight

The Allied commander gave the order to advance at 12:30. I rolled for surprise for each column: I threw a 3 for the right column, and 5 for the left column. The flanking column was ordered forward at the same time, but I did not have to roll for surprise just yet.

1:00 AM Turn

Grosch attacked the 2/1st Germans. Grosch went disordered (the Germans were already disordered), and Grosch took a hit.
Koninck attacked the 1/1st Germans and were disordered. Koninck took a hit and fell back.

1:30 AM Turn

Amstel attacked the 2/1st Germans. 2/1st Germans took a hit and the Germans were forced back. Westmalle attacked the 1/1st Germans. Both were disordered. Westmalle lost the melee result throw. Huegenot came to the stream and forded it well behind the 2/1st Germans. Atrasos Cavalry were now mounted and ready for action.

2:00 AM Turn

Grootdefeatfontein attacked the 2/1st Germans just as Huegenot came at them from the rear. Dalrymple crossed the stream. 2/1st Germans took a hit and routed from the melee. They ran into Huegenot and Dalrymple. Most of the regiment threw down their weapons and surrendered (referee decision). Kofferdam attacked the 1/1st Germans, and took 2 hits(!). Clearly the 1/1st Germans were not to be trifled with tonight. Kofferdam routed and was removed.

2:30 AM Turn

1/1st Germans were now outflanked. They pulled back into the trees and sacrificing their stationary status. Amstel came at the 1/1st Germans. Both sides took a hit. Both sides rolled on the morale dice (three times) before Amstel backed away. Atrasos Cavalry fell back, along with fugitives.

3:00 AM Turn

1/1st Germans broke contact (nobody could reach them), pulling back uphill deeper into the trees. Westmalle, Amstel and Koninck faced them and made a flank guard. Everyone else "kept moving".

4:00 AM Turn to 6:00 AM Turn

The Allies flowed down the valley like a torrent. The battle was over, but the Allied player was enjoying this too much and insisted we continue.

6:00 AM Turn

Atrasos Cavalry clashed with the 1st British Cavalry at Oso. No casualties on either side, the British fell back on the melee result throw. Dutch regiment te Paard comes up and deploys to the flank of the Atrasos Cavalry.

6:30 AM Turn

Atrasos Cavalry falls back before being flanked. The Allied pursuit rolls on.

8:00 AM Turn

The Allies reach Arlington. The 3rd Germans have already fallen back to west of Arlington. Referee rules that the battle is over.


Order of Battle and Losses
French
1/1st Germans..........M5,EFD,PT,NE....[ ][x]
2/1st Germans..........M5,EFD,PT,NE....[x][x][x]
Atrasos Cavalry........M5,HVY..........[ ]

Dutch
Grosch.................M5,EFD,PT,NE....[x][ ]
Amstel.................M5,EFD,PT,NE....[x][ ][ ]
Grootdefeatfontein.....M5,EFD,PT,NE....[ ][ ][ ]
Koninck................M5,EFD,PT,NE....[x][ ][ ]
Westmalle..............M5,EFD,PT,NE....[ ][ ][ ]
Kofferdam..............M4,EFD,PT,NE....[x][x]
Huegenot...............M5,EFD,PT,NE....[ ][ ]
Dalrymple..............M4,EFD,PT,NE....[ ]
Murray.................M5,EFD,PT,NE....[ ][ ]
Frambozen Cavalry......M5,HVY..........[ ]
1st British Cavalry....M5,HVY..........[ ]
te Paard...............M5,HVY..........[ ]

Losses:
French - 3,000 men present, 2,000 casualties from all causes
Allies - 12,000 men present, 2,500 casualties

Commentary

Nothing really surprising here. The Allies had the force to make this work, and they were just going to keep going until they broke through. However it might not have happened. It all depended on the surprise roll. Clearly the commander of the 1/1st Germans did what he was supposed to. But the commander of the 2/1st Germans really didn't have much of a chance. When the Huegenot Regiment came at them from behind, they were surrounded, and it was only a matter of time.

As an exercise, it was interesting. I'm not sure I would care to try it again. The victory conditions would have to be carefully crafted (look at the casualties the Germans inflicted). What was refreshing was that the Allied commander kept his overall goal in mind: get through, don't stop to wipe out the Germans. Get the army out. Thus this could be marked down as an "educational" opportunity. We'll see if he makes anything of it.

Part 2 - The Fall Campaign

2008-12-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Fall Campaign (continued)

The situation

The Allies are in a pretty mess. Their main army is retreating from the vicinity of Arlington, falling back in some disorder up Route 530. Only the Danes are still in the area, and they are marching north as fast as they can, accompanied by a host of stragglers, knocked loose from the ranks by the Battle of Arlington. There is a German regiment at MacMurray, one at Conway, and one holding the approaches to Fidalgo Island (one battalion) and blockading the very small garrison of Anacortes (with the other battalion). There is no field artillery (captured at Arlington), and the only cavalry is the Danish Cavalry regiment Bryggeri. Things couldn't get much bleaker.

Actually, they aren't. The Allied authorities in Bellingham and Vancouver found three more infantry regiments to send south, Leff, Palm, and VanZandunz. When coupled with the two of the three German regiments in the area, and the four Danish ones, a semi-respectable field force of 10 regiments, 12,000 men can be assembled (one German regiment will stay to watch Anacortes).

The Danish Commander Decides

The Danish Commander (the player who had commanded the Allies at Clear Lake) was the ranking officer in the area. He had a number of choices to make. When I asked, he listed them for me as these:

Retreat everyone to Fidalgo Island;

Mass in Burlington with the cavalry watching Sedro Wooley;

Spread the troops around, two regiments at Conway, two regiments at the east end of the Mount Vernon Bridge to Fidalgo Island, two regiments north of Mount Vernon, and a detachment of some kind at Sedro Wooley.

I asked him for his decision. He asked my input. I told him that, speaking as the politicians, he should defend everything, or, failing that, he should mass everyone in Burlington to defend the approaches to Bellingham.
After some thought, he ordered Option #2:

The Danes to retreat to Sedro Wooley, break the bridge, and move to Burlington, the cavalry would watch Sedro Wooley and fall back on Burlington if pressed;

The Germans at MacMurray to join with the Danes;

The Germans at Conway to stay where they were for one day, then to fall back to Fredonia if pressed or threatened;

The Germans watching Anacortes and the approaches to Fidalgo Island to stay there;

The Dutch regiments from Bellingham to march to Burlington.

His plan (when pressed) was to defend the direct route to Bellingham, and yet leave something to watch Anacortes. He figured that when things settled out, that place could still be taken. He also figured that any force that marched up the Skagit River to fight the Main Army would have its flank threatened by whatever he put at Sedro Wooley.

The French Pursuit

The French were trying to do a number of things:

Pursue the beaten Allies toward Darrington;

Round up the fragments of the Allied army (the Danes) headed north;

Seize the road from Sedro Wooley to Concrete to trap the main Allied Army in the mountains;

Seize Mount Vernon

The map here to the left will help sort out some of what everyone was considering. But keep in mind that the Allies had few supplies (and little ammunition), they had 83 miles of mountain marching from Arlington to Sedro Wooley, and they could expect to fight a battle at the end of it.

A few minutes of pondering these objectives will show that few of them are mutually exclusive. You have to have enough force to chase the Allies, and get enough force to Mount Vernon, and yet move fast enough to get to where you want to go, and.... The French Commander had already sent a force up the river after the Allies (1/1st and 2/1st Germans and the Spanish Atrasos Cavalry). He then ordered the following movements and dispositions:

The bulk of the cavalry and the Aquaviva Dragoons to go to Mount Vernon to seize the bridge;

After reaching Mount Vernon, one cavalry brigade to press up US 20 to find the Allies;

Advance on two fronts:
1. the Right Wing French to pursue the Danes. They will probably head directly for MacMurray and then Sedro Wooley. This force will attempt to bring them to battle and destroy them.
2. The Left Wing to advance up the main road through Conway to Mount Vernon. They will try to seize the crossing over the Skagit at Mount Vernon, head-off the Danes, and, perhaps, snap up any of the German units in the area.

The Spanish infantry to follow the right wing;

The 3rd Germans to occupy Arlington, the 2nd Germans to occupy MacMurray.

The French commander concluded that these measures should be sufficient to bottle up the Allies and bag the whole lot.

The Allied Commander Ponders

The Allied Commander was in a bad situation, and he knew it (after a brief conversation with the referee). He had lost a lot of men and all of his field artillery, and he was trying to sort out what to do next. He had a force pursuing him, and he had very little in the way of supplies. Most of his wounded (except the walking wounded) had been captured, so the army he had left was mostly fit to fight (sort of). He had an 83 mile march ahead of him, on mountain roads with little food or supplies. And he knew the French would be waiting for him behind fixed defenses when he did show up. He didn't fancy making a series of frontal assaults on redoubts. It hadn't worked at Mount Vernon, why would anyone think it would work now? He studied the roads, trying to find a way out. The only one he could see was to continue to Concrete, then take US 20 over the mountains, and then turn north. The trouble was, assuming he did that, and assuming he could find the food, and assuming he could then either get far enough north as to get on a road that led him back to his bases (and that would avoid the bad weather, how much of an army would he have left? (Referee answer: none, but I didn't tell him that. I did tell him that it was 408 miles, and it was autumn, and let him draw his own conclusions). That meant he had to try something else. He weighed the possibilities and came up with an answer.

The New Allied Plan

First, the Allied Commander took stock of his forces to see what he had to work with. It was not encouraging. Then he shifted a few things around, and ordered his troops to turn and march back to Arlington. He knew he had the 1st and 2nd Germans behind him, he figured a night bayonet assault should chase them off. And then it would be a forced march to Arlington to gather whatever food he could find, followed by an escape. As turned in to me, the plan was:

Night bayonet assault to cut through the pursuing German regiments;

Force march to Arlington to find food and anything else lying around (such as ammunition);

March north on the main road to Conway;

Cross the river at Conway (by bridge or ford) and march to La Conner and north to Fidalgo Island;

if possible, continue past the Fidalgo Island crossing and get to Burlington;

if he couldn't get to Burlington, either turn on to Fidalgo Island, or proceed to Chuckanut drive.

Referee's Reaction

Well, on the ballsy scale, this had to rank right up there. I had to do the terrain for the night bayonet attack. What with one thing and another, I would play the part of the commander of the Germans. Then I would see what happened. This, I concluded, would be interesting (a much over-used word).

The Plans put into action

The first two days after the Battle of Arlington, the Allies slowed to 4 miles/day. The French moved to MacMurray, and then on to Sedro Wooley. The Danish commander, by ordering forced marches, managed to get to Sedro Wooley with the Allies hot on his heels. There was a spirited little action at the Sedro Wooley bridge, but the French commander decided not to push it. The Danes had gotten away.

The German regiment at Conway saw the French Army descending on them, and pulled back to the little redoubts on the west side of the river left over from the Spring Campaign and rebuilt during the initial actions of the Autumn Campaign. The French commander dropped off two infantry regiments (both Blesois regiments) to watch them, and continued north. He had a brigade of cavalry and the Aquaviva Dragoons with him. These troops stormed across the bridge at Mount Vernon, and ran into the new Dutch regiments. These troops were on the hills just north of Burlington, and were basically unassailable by the forces on hand. Their regimental guns bombarded the French troops, so the French fell back to just south of Burlington. The French Craupad Cavalry Brigade was sent to Fidalgo Island to watch anything in the area.

The Allies struck on the night of the third day after the Battle of Arlington. Surprise was complete, but the fighting was fierce. The referee decided to style this as the Action at Swede Heaven. The Atrasos Cavalry covered the retreat, at least until daylight, when they rallied at Oso. They made a front that slowed the Allies briefly, until the Dutch Cavalry regiment te Paard and the English 1st Cavalry came up. After a cavalry skirmish Atrasos withdrew. The 1/1st Germans had been cut off when they made a stand north of the Stillaguamish River. After some fighting, they were contained, and bypassed. Now they withdrew deeper into the hills and sat for a day, finally emerging after the bulk of the Allied army was past. They did grab up a few stragglers, but that was all. The fate of the 2/1st Germans was a bit harsher. They had been overwhelmed in the fighting, but fragments managed to fall back with the cavalry. Most of the fugitives made their way to Oso, where they surrendered after the retreat of the Atrasos Cavalry.

The stream of fugitives alerted the 3rd Germans that something was amiss. They tried to set fire to the accumulated stores, and then fall back across the battlefield of Arlington, taking refuge on the heights to the west of the battlefield. There, in the late afternoon, they were joined by the Atrasos Cavalry and the remnants of the 2/1st Germans amounting to about two companies worth of very disorganized men. The Allied cavalry raced into town with pre-emptory orders to fight any fires and secure the area. The first infantry on the scene were moved north over the Stillaguamish River as a flank guard, while the rest helped put out the fires. Most of the stores were saved, and the Allied Army dined well that night.

The French...React(?)

Contact with the troops at Arlington was interrupted by the Allied attack. But the French commander didn't get word that something was amiss until the next day. His first reaction was to send cavalry south to find out what had happened. He had spread his cavalry far and wide, it would take at least a day to get anyone south far enough to find out anything. So he sent infantry patrols as well. They ran into Allied patrols at Pilchuck Creek, and a brief skirmish erupted with almost no casualties on either side. A few travel-stained soldiers from 1/1st Germans came into the lines after the clash. The local commander sent out additional patrols that night. There were an awful lot of Allied soldiers where there shouldn't be. He sent that information, and the men from the 1st Germans north. At the same time couriers from the Atrasos Cavalry picked their way north along the old highway. They got across the river at Milltown, and within a couple of hours their reports were in the hand of the French commander. The entire Allied army was present at Arlington. This wasn't a feint (the reports from the Germans had made him think so). The officer on the heights west of Arlington had spent some time patrolling and gathering information on the Allied units present. Except for some critical ommissions, this was the entire Allied army. A few might still be on the road to Darrington and Concrete, but probably not that many.

The situation was now "clarified". The French commander decided that if he couldn't trap the Allies in the mountains, he could trap them elsewhere. He resolved to march south to at least Conway, and block the Allies there. He reasoned quite simply: they would have to attack to get through him, he would not have to attack at all. He had a chance to trap the Allied army and destroy it. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. He issued orders that all troops were to gather at Conway for battle. He did detail that a force of two regiments was to dig in at MacMurray, along with the well-traveled Aquaviva Dragoons. He didn't want anyone escaping that way, and the units involved, Chef de Fer and Royal Boullibaise should be able to fight perfectly well from defenses despite their weakened condition.

The Forces Gather

The one thing the Allied commander lacked was time (the French commander lacked this, too, though he didn't realize it). After a rest and a meal (and an important re-supply of ammunition), he had his men on the road north of Arlington (Route 9) before first light. A rearguard was detailed to keep the bivouac fires still burning. The Allied commander's plan was simple. March to Bryant, then west to the main road, then north to Conway. Then he'd cross there to Fir Island. If he moved fast enough the next place anyone could block him would be west of Mount Vernon.

Referee's Note - now we had another foot race, again to Conway. For being a town consisting of a tavern, a grain silo (very small), a motel and a couple of stores, plus that all-important bridge, it was amazing how it kept figuring in the decisions made in the campaign. The French regiments of Blesois were there already. There orders were to hold until relieved (I'd asked for orders for them). On the face of it, the French are closer, but they're scattered, and orders have to go to them (at 5 mph - average courier speed). The Allies are more concentrated, and the commander has told me he wants "forced marches". Interesting may be an over-used term, but it is accurate.

Narrative Resumes The commander of 1st and 2nd Blesois had a good idea of what was coming - the entire Allied army. He considered his situation - not good. He did not see many options, not given his orders. He had a couple of redoubts, and he knew help was coming (the courier got to him quickly). He put his men in the redouts, dug the rest into the hamlet, and prepared for a last stand.

The Stand at Conway continues in the next part.

Losses At Arlington

2008-11-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Battle of Arlington

The Battle of Arlington

                 Order of Battle:
English    English Foot  exh: 14 Lt. General Sir Percy Poundflesh
Lord Lovaduck’s.........M6,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
100-Acre Wood Frstrs....M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
d’Escoigne-d’Escoigne...M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
The Buffs...............M5,PT,EP,BN [x][ ][ ]
Lord Rakehell’s.........M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
Bartleshire Yeomanry....M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][ ]
Lestrade’s Rgt..........M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
McAlpin’s Fusiliers.....M5,PT,NE [x][x][x]
H.M.O.R.L.EB.5th.Fus....M5,PT,EP,BN [x][ ][ ]  
.
English Cavalry exh 3 General Sir Humphrey Passingas
1st Regiment............M5,HVY  [x][ ]
Buffs/Irish Mtd Fus.....M5,HVY  [ ][ ]
d’Escoigne-d’Escoigne...M5,HVY  [ ]
.
English Artillery exh 1
Light Gun...............M5,PPA  [x] captured
.
Dutch  Dutch Infantry exh 16 General the Elector von Hesse-Lickenboot
Van Kofferdam...........M5,PT,EP,BN [x][ ]
Grosch..................M5,PT,EP,BN [x][ ][ ]
Amstel..................M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
De Koninck..............M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Huguenot Regiment.......M4,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ]
Limbeek.................M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ]
Hoegaarden..............M4,PT,EP,BN [x][ ]
Westmalle...............M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Grootdefeatfontein......M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Kriek...................M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Dalrymple (Scots).......M5,PT,EP [x][ ]
Colyear (Scots).........M5,PT,EP [x][x]
Murray (Scots)..........M5,PT,EP [ ][ ]
.
Dutch Cavalry  exh 4 Lt. General Minor Picadillo
Dopplebock Cavalry......M5,HVY  [x]
Trippel Cavalry.........M5,HVY  [x]
Frambozen Cavalry.......M5,HVY  [ ]
te Paard................M6,HVY  [x]
de la Gruyere Cavalry...M5,HVY  [ ]
van Emmenthaler Cav.....M5,HVY  [ ]
Bluntschli Cavalry......M5,HVY  [x]
.
Dutch Artillery exh 2 Major van Klickenhammer
Medium Gun #1...........M5,PPA  [x] captured
Medium Gun #2...........M5,PPA  [x] captured
Medium Gun #3...........M5,PPA  [x] captured
.
  Total = 75 hits = 37,500 men
.
French  Right Wing  exh 9 General Pain-grillé
1/Intendant General.....M5,PT,EP,EFD....[x][x][x]
2/Intendant General.....M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
1/Blesois...............M4,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
2/Blesois...............M4,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
1/Chef de Fer...........M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
2/Chef de Fer...........M5,PT,EP,EFD....[x][ ]
Royal Boullibaise.......M4,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
.
Germans  exh 7 Lt. General von Struttenmarsch
1/1st Germans...........M5,PT,NE,EFD....[ ][ ]
2/1st Germans...........M5,PT,NE,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
1/2nd Germans...........M5,PT,NE,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
2/2nd Germans...........M5,PT,NE,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
3rd Germans.............M5,PT,NE,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
.
Left Wing  exh 9 Mestre-de-Camp Pollo e Vino
1/Croissant.............M4,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
2/Croissant.............M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
1/Navarre...............M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
2/Navarre...............M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ]
Provisionaire Genl......M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
Grenadiers..............M6,PT,NE,SHK,EFD[ ][ ][ ]
Procurer General........M4,PT,EP,EFD....[x][ ][ ]
.
Maison du Roi  exh 2 Lt. General Le Comte d'Langoustine
Maison du Roi...........M6,HVY,SHK......[x][ ]
Grenadiers a cheval.....M6,HVY,SHK......[ ][ ]
.
Line Cavalry  exh 3 Mestre de Camp Margrave von Schnecke
1/Bartillart............M5,HVY..........[x]
2/Bartillart............M5,HVY..........[x]
1/Courvoisier...........M5,HVY..........[ ]
2/Courvoisier...........M5,HVY..........[ ]
Duc d’Absinthe..........M5,HVY..........[ ]
Crapaud.................M5,HVY..........[x]
.
French Artillery exh 2 Major van Marteau
Heavy Gun #1............M5,PPA..........[ ]
Heavy Gun #2............M5,PPA..........[ ]
Medium Gun..............M5,PPA..........[ ]
.
Spanish  Spanish Foot  exh 11 General Lope de Vaca
De Vaca.................M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
La Mancha...............M5,PT,EP,EFD....[x][x][ ]
Dulcinea de Tolosa......M5,PT,EP,EFD....[x][ ][ ]
De Borracho.............M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
Governor General’s......M5,PT,EP,EFD....[ ][ ][ ]
Torta...................M5,PT,EP,EFD....[x][ ][ ]
Don Juan................M4,PT,EP,EFD....[x][x][ ]
.
Spanish Horse  exh 3 General The McTavish of McTavish
Atrasos Cavalry.........M5,HVY..........[ ]
1/Governor General’s....M6,HVY..........[x]
2/Governor General’s....M6,HVY..........[x]
Santiago................M5,HVY..........[x]
.
Total is 85 hits = 42,500 men

The Battle of Arlington

2008-11-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Arlington

The Ground

The ground west of Arlington is flat, broken only by South Portage Creek (dry on the day of battle). There was high ground on both sides of the flood plain forming the battlefield. To the north was the Stillaguamish, to the south there was just open ground. There was a knoll behind each line, both sides put artillery on their respective knolls. The infantry engagement took place north of Portage Creek (for the most part), while some infantry, and all of the cavalry, was to the south of the creek.

The Plans

The French Plan envisioned a hook with the left wing turning the Allied flank and advancing into the town of Arlington.

The Allied Plan was to press the French all along the front and use the superior numbers and quality of the Allied infantry to beat the French.

Referee's note - though the Allies thought they outnumbered the French, and they did in terms of troops in theater, the French brought more men to the battle. This was a rude surprise to the Allied commander. Both commander's plans were...not well thought out, as will appear in the narrative below.

French Deployment

French Foot

The French Foot was divided into four columns. With the exception of one Spanish regiment, the various national contingents were kept as separate columns. By dividing his force this way, the French commander said he wanted a certain amount of flexibility. He had some idea of the consequences of the Exhaustion rule, and thought this was a nice division between exhaustion and rallying.

1st Column - French (right to left):
1st Blesois, 2nd Blesois, 1st Chef de Fer, 2nd Chef de Fer, Procurer General, 2nd Intendant General, 1st Intendant General

2nd Column - French (right to left):
Provincial Grenadiers, 1st Croissant, 2nd Croissant, Provisionaire General, Royal Boullibaise, 1st Navarre, 2nd Navarre

3rd Column - Spanish (right to left):
La Mancha, Don Juan, Borracho, Dulcinea de Tolosa, de Vaca, Torta

4th Column - German (right to left):
3rd Germans, 1/1st Germans, 2/1st Germans, 2/2nd Germans, 1/2nd Germans, Governor General's

French Cavalry

The French Cavalry was divided in terms of quality rather than nationality. Thus Governor General's Horse served with the Maison du Roi.

1st Column (right to left):

1st line: Grenadiers a Cheval, Maison du Roi, 1st Governor General's

2nd line: Santiago, Atrasos, 2nd Governor General's

2nd Column (right to left)

1st line: 1st Bartillart, 2nd Bartillart, Crapaud

2nd line: Absinte, 1st Courvoissier, 2nd Courvoissier

French Artillery

The French heavy guns were deployed on the knoll behind Royal Boullibaise (behind the second line). The French medium guns were kept limbered between the Germans and the French 2nd Column.

The French Army was deployed with the 1st Column in the front line with the Spanish to their left. The French 2nd Column formed behind the 1st Column, with the Germans behind the Spanish. All cavalry was massed on the French right flank. The 1st Cavalry Column was deployed to the right of the cavalry, with the 2nd Cavalry Column to their left, both columns in two lines.

Allied Deployment

The Allied commands were divided up by Nationality. After rereading the Exhaustion rules, the Allied commander decided to go for large forces that would be harder to exhaust. The other side of this is that rallying disordered units becomes very difficult when the action becomes general. This contributed to the Allied problems in the battle.

English Foot (right to left) in one line
Lovaduck, d'Escoigne-d'Escoigne, Bartleshire Yeomanry, Buffs, Rakehell, 5th Fusiliers, Lestrade, 100-Acre Woods Foresters, McAlpin's Fusiliers

Dutch Foot (right to left) in two lines

1st line (left of the English): Hoegaarden, Amstel

2nd line (behind Hoegaarden and Amstel): de Koninck, Huegenots

2nd line (behind the English): Dalrymple, Colyear, Murray, Grosch, van Kofferdam, Grootdefeatfontein, Limbeek

Dutch Horse (right to left)

1st line (next to the foot): Frambozen, van Emmenthaler, Dopplebock

2nd line (behind 1st line): Trippel, Bluntschli, de la Gruyere

Anglo-Dutch Horse (right to left)

1st line: te Paard, d'Escoigne

2nd line: 1st Cavalry, Buffs/Irish

The Allied Cavalry was deployed to the left of the Dutch Foot, with the Anglo-Dutch Horse on the far left flank. The English Foot was one command. The Dutch Foot were one command except for the regiments of Hoegaarden, Amstel, de Koninck and Huegenots, who formed a separate command. The cavalry were divided into two commands: Dutch, and Anglo-Dutch. The English Artillery was with the Scots (Colyear). The Dutch artillery was between the Dutch commands in the second line.

Action Commences

10 AM Turn

French - Everyone advanced on the enemy (10"). Bands played a spirited selection of airs.

Allies - The Allied line advanced 11". The Hoegaarden command was pivoted to the left to present a refused flank.

11 AM Turn

French - The French commander noted he overlapped the English line on his own left. He advanced the Spanish to melee, with La Mancha getting on the flank of Lovaduck's and firing into their flank. d'Escoigne-d'Escoigne broke, opening up a gap in the Allied line and isolating Lovaduck. The rest of the French infantry held, going stationary. The French cavalry advanced to melee the Allies, only the Grenadiers a Cheval holding out to one flank. The English line recoiled with heavy losses. In the cavalry scrum, 1st and 2nd Bartillart and Crapaud were destroyed, rendering the entire French line cavalry exhausted. The French 1st Cavalry column was thrown back on morale throws.

Allies - The Dutch line cavalry advanced to engage the French 2nd line, only to be thrown back. te Paard and the rest of that part of the Anglo-Dutch column advanced on the French Guard 2nd line cavalry sending the French horse reeling. At the end of the turn the Spanish Horse and French Line Horse were exhausted. In the infantry fight, the English fell back to straighten out their line and try to get fresh units in the front line. Desultory fire continued on this flank.

Referee's comment - This incident in the battle did not sit well with the referee, not because of the tactics, but because of what happened. See the Referee's Notes from this battle for further comment.

12 PM Turn

French - The Spanish surged forward again, and once more got around the English line, smashing Lovaduck from front and flank, and flanking the entire English line. In the center the French advanced, engaging the rest of the English. The fighting was heavy without a clear winner on either side. The cavalry fight died down, with both sides busy rallying.

Allies - The English counterattacked, shoving the Spanish back with heavy losses (to the English). The Scots advanced to form a new flank (refused). While Dutch cavalry rallied, the Anglo-Dutch cavalry advanced, chasing off the French opposite them.

Referee's comment - This was the one valid Allied attack with their foot. The Allied player seemed upset that the English didn't sweep all before them by virtue of their being English, and seemed really annoyed that it was the Spanish who were doing him the most harm. He clearly did not like rules that did not give a "special advantage" based upon Nationality.

1 PM Turn

French - the Spanish and Guard Horse fell back precipitately, forming column and marching away to the west. The Germans advanced behind the Spanish while the Spanish reorganized their lines. Firing continued to rage in the center as the English counterattack spent itself. The English Foot went exhausted.

Allies - the Dutch cavalry attacked the French 2nd line horse, only to be thrown back with severe losses (they went exhausted). The Anglo-Dutch cavalry reorganized (i.e. they got back under command/control).

Referee's comment - the Allied commander has now received an education about flanks. The French commander managed to parlay a small advantage (an overlap) into a tactical success due to aggressiveness, and the Allied commander's ignoring his flanks.

2 PM Turn

French - the French Guard Horse re-entered the battle, deploying on the west edge of the battlefield. Anyone trying to turn the flank of the French foot would have this cavalry on their flank. The Provincial Grenadiers and 1st and 2nd Croissant refused a flank, forming behind the dry slough that crossed the battlefield right here. Elsewhere, the Spanish and Germans advanced together, turning the Scots flank and shoving them back hard. Other German units renewed the advance in the center, putting more pressure on the Allies.

Allies - the Scots were pulled back yet again to form a new flank. The Hoegaarden command came under pressure from the Germans and was pulled back. Generally the Allies now had one line of foot.

Referee's comment - Initiative now resides strictly with the French. Their mounted arm is in a sorry way, but their foot, especially the Spanish, are well on the way towards winning this battle.

3 PM Turn

French - 2nd Governor General's advanced unhindered into Arlington (winning the battle). Meanwhile the Germans and Spanish meleed the Scots and the remnants of the English, routing them all. They had now clearly flanked the entire Scots/English/Dutch line. The Germans continued their pressure in the center, preventing any detachments to that flank.

Allies - the cavalry was pulled back to form a new front facing the foot. The foot was pulled back as much as possible (6") and the right flank was refused yet again. Grosch and Kofferdam counterattacked (with Hesse-Lickenboot at their head) throwing back the 1st Germans in a rout en echelon, and unhinging the Spanish and Germans long enough that the rest of the foot could begin to march away.

4 PM Turn

French - things were in a real mess with troops all intermingled, and command and control all messed up. The troops stopped while they were sorted out and command and control were re-established.

Allies - the Allied foot broke contact and marched away.

Referee's comment - A debatable pause by the French. He is in a position to totally smash the Allied army, but the French player was getting confused about who was in which command, and so paused to straighten it all out and get everyone back in line. Keeping the pressure up might have yielded much bigger results than had occurred so far.

5 PM Turn

French - the French lines advanced, with troops joining 2nd Governor General's in Arlington. North of the town fresh troops were seen in earthworks, so the pursuit was called off.

Allies - there was no clear retreat route away from the battlefield, and the army headed east in small groups, passing south of Arlington and seeking the safety of the hills.

Aftermath

The French had cut the Allied retreat route, so the referee ruled that there were "substantial" Allied losses from straggling. The Allied army retreated through the night, trying to reach one of the fords over the Stillaguamish River. French pursuit over the river was stopped by the Danes holding the bridge over the river, while the Danish horse covered the main road west of Arlington. Some French troops pursued along Route 530, intercepting Allied troops near Trafton, which led to a brief action.

The Danes held until the next morning, when they withdrew, blowing the bridge behind them. The main route was forced in the morning, and French troops were sent north towards Conway. The cavalry were ordered to try to reach MacMurray.

Battlefield Casualties

Allies - 8,500 men out of 37,500 (22.67%)

French - 4,500 men out of 42,500 (10.58%)

Commentary

To quote a French general of another war, "Well, sire, you have had your battle, and it is a lost one." The Allies were going to get only fragments back from this battle. To a large extent, this battle decided the campaign. There were still things to decide (siege of Anacortes), but that would settle itself out as minor notes to the crescendo of this battle.

From set-up to take-down, this battle took 3.5 hours, including 2.5 hours of actual playing.

The Battle of Clear Lake

2008-11-19T19:52:00.001-08:00

The Embarrassing Little Affair at Clear Lake

Pre-Battle Narrative

While the main armies were contending with each other west of Mount Vernon, the commander of the Allied forces at Sedro Wooley nursed his grievances. His part in The Plan had been clear, he was to occupy Sedro Wooley. He had done so. That he had been a day later than expected, that his troops had marauded through friendly territory, that the enemy had gotten away from Sedro Wooley and broken the bridge south of town, those weren't his concerns. He had done what he had been ordered to do. Was that any reason to take troops away from him?

He had just been ordered to send virtually all of his troops back to the main army, but he had been specifically ordered to stay in Sedro Wooley. From being a column commander with an important and difficult role in the campaign, he had been reduced to an outpost commander lacking enough troops to even defend his own front. He felt the injustice keenly. And he resolved to do something about it. If he forced his way over the Skagit River at Sedro Wooley, and planted himself firmly astride the enemy line of supply, he would have won the campaign in a single blow. And if his Commander bungled his operations around the fringes of the Sound, as he suspected was all too likely to happen, then the only logical replacement would be the enterprising officer at Sedro Wooley who had performed brilliantly despite being hampered by his superior.

He studied the maps of the area, finally finding a ford well upstream of Sedro Wooley at the very small town of Hamilton. He would march upstream to Hamilton, force a crossing if necessary, then march on old roads down to Clear Lake. From there it would be a short two mile walk to put himself firmly astride the enemy line of supply. He pondered the risk, then issued orders. If he moved fast, he could accomplish this before anyone realized what he was up to.

The French commander opposite Sedro Wooley was the commander of the Spanish Aquaviva Dragoons, Colonel Don Juan de Amore Apropriado (a gallant Spanish gentleman). He had his men constantly patrolling between the bridge at Sedro Wooley and Mount Vernon. He even had a few enterprising men slipping across the river every night to keep tabs on the Allied camps. So it was no surprise when the Allied infantry suddenly drew three days of rations and were seen in the evening light to be filing east from Sedro Wooley.

He pondered crossing the river and seizing the town. But the Allies had left a battalion behind, more force than he could evict with a handful of dragoons. He considered other options. The Allies were clearly up to something. They could be going upriver to Concrete, but why? There were three possibilities: first, they could be going to exact contributions of food from the up-valley people; second, they could be part of an elaborate feint designed to draw the dragoons out of position; or, third, the Allied commander could be trying to outflank the dragoons and force a crossing of the river.

These all made sense, though he thought #3 was a bit of a reach. But he could send patrols up the river on the French side and see what was going on. He had no doubts they could move fast enough to get ahead of the Allies. After all, his men were mounted, the Allies were on foot. And, further, he was only sending patrols, not an entire marching column.

An hour after the first Allied soldier started east, patrols of the Aquaviva Dragoons slipped eastward into the darkened hills to shadow them.

At midnight the situation changed. Allied infantry swarmed across the ford at Hamilton and formed up on the south side of the Skagit river. After some confusion, guides found the right roads, and the men marched southwest. When the last troops were across, the Allied commander ordered a halt to let the men rest. Dawn was still a couple of hours off, and he used the time to consult with his guides. By the map he still had 12 miles to go, 12 miles of rugged mountain marching. He decided that he could make better time during the day, so he would wait until daylight before resuming.

Don Juan was now convinced that he had a real problem on his hands. He had at least 4,000 Allied troops bearing down on him, and the only help he could count on would be a few troops he might be able to coax out of Mount Vernon. He sent several couriers off to lay out the situation as he saw it, and plead for at least a battalion of infantry. But even if they marched the moment they received the message, the earliest they could possibly arrive would be mid-morning. In all likelihood they would be even later than that. Until then, everything was going to depend upon the weapons his men carried. In the predawn darkness he rode east and southeast, looking for good defensive terrain.

Dawn lit the sky, and the Allied commander got his men moving. He could hear a distant murmur from somewhere to the west; to his trained ear it sounded like an engagement of some kind. He dismissed it because there was nothing he could do to influence that battle. But secretly he was pleased. If there was a battle going on, it meant his commander had miscalculated in some way and had run in to the French troops. That could lead to all sorts of problems, possibly even a disaster. And if a disaster happened, who could they turn to but the officer who had succeeded when everyone else had failed?

Don Juan found the right battlefield for his dragoons in the woods southeast of Clear Lake. His right flank was protected by a lake. His left flank was open, but the woods he was in were very thick and the ground was steep. He was on slightly rising ground with a stream to his front and clear communications to the rear. The road the enemy was using ran right through his position. It was better than anything else his men had found. He issued orders, and the men began throwing up a hasty little breastwork, just a few logs and bundles of limbs piled one on the other so they had some protection. After all, he had just a few hundred dragoons against 4,000 infantry, and he needed every advantage he could get.

The hours crawled by, and the Allied infantry struggled towards Clear Lake. The sounds of battle to the west grew sharper and sharper, then finally dying away. The Allied commander began to worry about his holding troops out of that fight. But if he could seize the crossing at Sedro Wooley, it would negate whatever mistakes his superior had made. He stressed that to his officers. Heartened, they urged their men on.

Contact was finally made just after noon. The Allied force came marching up the road towards Clear Lake with just a few pickets out in front. The men crossed the creek by a small bridge and started up the slope. As they did so, all hell broke loose.

Referee's Notes

This was done as a mini-campaign while the main battle at Fredonia was raging to the west. See the map to the right. The Allies were approaching from the right edge of the map, and the Dragoons were deployed behind the line of breastworks running vertically on the map. The lake is just off the lower edge of the map, but the ground between the end of the breastworks and lake is very steep and filled with fallen trees.

The campaign system was right out of Charles Grant, though the scouting system was from On to Richmond. The trouble is, one commander sent out patrols, the other commander didn't (guess which one). The Allied commander, who was treating it like a board game, walked into an ambush. He had three linear regimental stands, and was facing an enemy of unknown size in a draw. He had neglected to do any scouting, so he had no idea what he might be walking into, or what force he was facing in front of him. When he did make contact, the odds were against him.
He had thick woods and a stream to cross, going uphill. Admittedly it was against skirmishers, but the situation did not look good. His men were piled up behind him, and it would take time to sort everything out and get a proper attack going. Add some mishandling of troops, and the situation was one that could get out of hand in a hurry.

Game Narrative Resumes

12:00 turn

Allied phase The leading Allied unit, Van Kofferdam, moves into contact with the French dragoons, stopping when contact was made (per the rules they may not be in contact, so stop ½" away).

French phase French troops advance and melee Van Kofferdam. Morale - Van Kofferdam fails, being disordered by the woods and in march column. Allies throw 1 die, hitting nothing. The French throw and cause a hit. Van Kofferdam, being already disordered, routs, running back through the other two units and pushing them back, and causing a disorder on each.

1:00 turn

Allied phase The Allied commander decides to deploy. Everyone has a disorder on them, the lead regiment, Van Kofferdam, is routed. He rallies them. At the end of the turn everyone is deployed with disorder on them. The Allied commander isn't sure what is in front of him (he neglected to study the listing of enemy uniforms he had). He decides to find out by simply marching up to it. That will happen next turn as he sorts through the traffic jam.

French phase The French sit in their hasty works and crack jokes at the Allied expense.

2:00 turn

Allied phase Grosch advances up the road, now deployed for battle. They stop just in front of the French works, and open fire. A 3, they miss. The Dragoons fire back. A 6, a possible hit. The Allied player rolls a saving roll, and fails it, a definite hit.

French phase French sit in their hasty works and hope their reinforcements show up. They shoot, and miss. The Allied return fire misses.

3:00 turn

Allied phase Advance to melee! The Allied infantry is already disordered, and attacking the French in their hasty works in the woods. They check morale. A 4, a failure. They are already disordered, so they rout. The French check morale: a 2, they're happy as can be.

French phase Even though the urge to smash the Allies is there, the French commander keeps in mind that he has skirmishers against formed line. He stays in his works and waves his flags defiantly. His only positive action is to send yet another courier off, pleading for help.

4:00 turn

Allied phase This isn't getting anyone anywhere. He has two units with permanent disorders on them and has lost 2 SP with nothing to show for it. He sends Amstel to his right to outflank this position. They can only move at half speed, so this will take a while. In the mean time he pushes Van Kofferdam back into musket range of the French to pin them in place. He fires, hitting nothing, but neither do the French with their return fire.

French phase As expected, here comes the flanking maneuver. Well, it was a nice little fight. But it will be at least next turn, maybe the one after that before the Allies can do anything (the woods and the hill makes them move 3" per turn.). With nothing else to do, he fires. A 4, nothing. The Allies return fire, also a 4. Nothing.

5:00 turn

Allied phase Ponderously the Amstel wheels so they can charge the French in the flank. In the meantime the desultory fighting over the hasty works continues with no hits on either side.

French phase Sunset is at 7 p.m. The French commander knows he can't stay here, but he is sure he can keep the Allies amused until 7 p.m. by falling back and making a new fight. Reluctantly he pulls his men out of his works and marches west. He doesn't mount up.

6:00 turn

Allied phase At last! They're gone! Amstel occupies the hasty works and presses west. They see the French occupying the hamlet of Clear Lake, but can't get to them to engage them. They also see two battalions of blue-clad infantry, the medium blue favored by the German infantry in French service, not the dark blue worn by the Germans in Allied service. That changes things. Clearly the opportunity is gone. The Allied commander fails to notice that the way is clear for him to march north to the bridge at Sedro Wooley. Instead, he turns his men around, picks up what wounded he can, and falls back.

French phase Don Juan was never so happy as he was the moment he saw the first infantryman from the 2/2nd Germans show up. He mounts his men and pulls back behind the Germans. Everyone has seen the Allies pull back, but nobody knows if this means they will resume their attack in the morning, or if they are conceding defeat.

7:00 turn

Allied phase The Allied commander puts his men into column and marches east, back the way he came. Stragglers lose themselves in the woods. He won the engagement, sort of, well, he held the field of battle. That has to count for something. He marches 2 miles, and then camps. He decides he will cross the river in the morning. In the mean time he will have plenty of time to compose his report on this reconnaissance in force. Yes, that's what it was. Just probing the enemy's positions on the south side of the river. And somewhere, in the paperwork, he'll muddy the trail on his losses.

French phase The French send a few patrols to keep an eye on the Allies. Everyone else makes camp and starts telling stories about their bravery during the day. One troop of dragoons marches back to the broken bridge at Sedro Wooley to remind the Allies who owns this side of the river.

Orders of Battle:

French

  Aquaviva Dr ..........M5,EFD,PT,SK [ ]

  2/2nd Germans ........M5,PT,NE,EFD [ ][ ] unengaged



Allies

  Van Kofferdam ........M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][ ]

  Grosch ...............M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][ ]

  Amstel ...............M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]



key:  x = casualty

Losses:

French losses were insignificant ("an officer reported an epaulet shot off").

Allied losses. On paper the Allies lost 4 SP, which works out as 1,000 men. As the French did not follow up, the referee ruled they recovered 50% of their losses and all of their routed. Their net loss was 250 men out of Grosch and 250 out of Van Kofferdam. Both regiments initially lost their regimental guns, but as the French did not follow up, they stopped and collected them as they retreated.

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Commentary

This was a nice little "affair" that was a sideshow from the main action happening a few miles to the west. It was a frustrating day for the Allied commander. He wasn't sure how much he had opposing him. He compounded it by not scouting, and walked into an ambush, which cost him one regiment (don't play against a late modern era gamer who knows the rules, and, more importantly, understands how to do an ambush). He then got his second regiment bloodied, though in fairness, with line troops against skirmisher he had a good chance to win that one (the breastworks made the difference, otherwise it's no contest).

It was just bad luck on his part. Then, having tried to bull his way through, he now sought to outflank the position. Again, a pretty good idea. But the trouble was, he was in heavy woods on broken ground, which reduced his movement to 3" per turn.

He had a time limit and he just couldn't get it done in the time. When he saw the regiment of infantry deploying in front of him, he stopped. His command wasn't exhausted, but they were close. And he would be disordered, with cavalry (he wasn't sure they were dragoons as he did not know the enemy uniforms; he saw mounted people and that was enough) on his flank. It was better to call it off, cut his losses, and leave. One thing I did ask him, and, no, he never thought of putting two regiments side by side and trying to bull through.

The French player was very happy with the whole thing. He had lucked out in the one serious attempt at combat, but wasn't going to complain. This was a much better end to the whole thing than he'd thought it would be.

Final notes: the mini-campaign part took 30 minutes to do; the battle took about 20 minutes to do. If I had it to do over again I might try a different scale. But maybe not. This one worked pretty well as it was.

The Battle of Fredonia

2008-11-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Fredonia

That Confusing Mess in the Flattest Land in the World

Preliminaries to the battle

Both sides had frittered away troops on various tasks-all of them important, so neither side brought their entire force to bear for this fight. See below for the

Order of Battle.

The Allied Army moved southwest from Burlington on two roads. The leftmost road was taken by a column of infantry, consisting of the Dutch. The right column, advancing half an hour earlier, contained all the rest of the cavalry, the British infantry, the rest of the guns, and the wagon train. Their job was to make contact with the forces guarding the approaches to Fidalgo Island. The troops marched slowly and quietly. The night was cool, there was little dust-it had sprinkled briefly in the hours before sunset. Battalion commanders had torches carried at the head of each battalion to help the men keep on the road.

The French crossed the river at Mount Vernon, and spread out, their cavalry moving rapidly southwest to cut off the forces at Conway. Their infantry, preceded by a single vedette of cavalry, marched directly west to re-open the route to Fidalgo Island, and to incidentally try to capture La Conner. The French commander had the idea of snapping up these forces, then sweeping around the right of the main Allied army and forcing it to give battle in unfavorable circumstances. It was a quiet night march, broken only by the sound of feet, a bit of dust, and the bobbing of torches at the head of each battalion.

The Battlefield (such as it was)

The land to the west of Mount Vernon is a flood plain. Years of tillage and the existence of small sloughs or watercourses, had eliminated any dominating elevation. The ground was as flat as nature and the human hand could make it. The only breaks were the tree lines and the previously mentioned watercourses. As it was late in the season, most of the latter were fairly dry (including Dry Slough, mentioned in reports by both sides only for the irony of its name). The deepest slough found a soldier could splash across without risking getting more than the top of his boots wet. The most dominating feature of the battlefield, at least for the first two hours, was that it was pitch black. There was no moon, it was partly cloudy and dawn wasn't even lighting the horizon. By the third hour visibility was a theoretical few hundred yards, less actually from powder smoke. By 6 AM the sun was up, there was a slight breeze, and visibility approached normal. In to this darkness both armies were about to descend, to flail at each other with lethal intensity in the flattest place anyone had ever seen. In this map, the Allies approached on Highway 20, and the French on Highway 536. The town of Fredonia is on the left edge of the map. North is up.

Contact!

At 3:30 AM, before the pre-dawn twilight had even begun to backlight the mountains to the east, advanced pickets of both infantry columns ran into each other when they met where the road from Burlington met the road from Mount Vernon. There was some initial confusion-this road was supposed to be clear. Both sides attempted to maintain quiet-orders were to keep the noise down. Troops on both sides were taken prisoner. Orders were garbled, confusion worked its way up the chain of command. Officers pushed forward to find out what was going on.

Both sides had reported their opponents as minor patrols, however unexpected they were. But within a few moments someone raised the alarm, guns flashed. The infantry regiments behind each set of pickets quickly hustled up to lend their weight to the problem. Troops piled up on the road, so officers began to try to find their own way through the mess. Bullets whistled through the air, men were hit, officers shouted for order, melees broke out. Within minutes things were completely out of hand. The only thing anyone knew was that the enemy was in front of them. From the reports they could not number very many. A few more troops could make all the difference. And the troops were at hand.

4:00 A.M. Turn (visibility ½")

French Turn - the leading regiment 1/Blesois, deployed and advanced to contact the leading Allied unit (Dutch Hoegaarden). Both passed morale (the Dutch threw a 1!). Melee - the French scored 1 hit, the Dutch none (the Dutch were still in column of march). The Dutch fell back. 2/Blesois deployed alongside 1/Blesois, with 1/Chef de Fer moving up on their left. 2/Chef de Fer deployed next to the road, but couldn't advance any further.

Allied Turn - the Hoegaarden regiment was out of it for the moment. But Limbeek and Huguenot were at hand. They were quickly deployed and sent ahead in the darkness. Murray (Scots Brigade) came up as well. Contact was made. Everyone passed morale. Limbeek scored a hit on 2/Blesois, and Huguenot scored a hit on 1/Chef de Fer. Limbeek took a hit in return. Melee results showed Limbeek fell back. But 1/Chef de Fer fell back as well.

5:00 A.M. Turn (visibility 3")

French Turn - both Blesois fired at Huguenot to no effect, Huguenot hit 2/Blesois. 2/Chef de Fer deployed and fired at Murray. Murray returned fire, no hits. 1/Navarre marched up and deployed to the right of 2/Chef de Fer. 2/Navarre deployed refused to the right of 1/Navarre. 1/Chef de Fer was rallied.

Allied Turn - General Overbore was up on the scene, providing command/control. He rallied Hoegaarden, then put Colyear and Dalrymple to the left of Murray and sent them at the end of the French line. Dalrymple got around the flank, all three regiments concentrating on 1/Blesois. Blesois stood their ground heroically (no hits) and fired back (to no effect).

6:00 A.M. Turn (visibility 12")

French Turn - Because it looked like 1/Blesois could be charged in the flank, they were pulled back. No sense in letting the Dutch roll up the line. 2/Blesois had to shift to the left as well. The French line temporarily looked like an arc. 1/Croissant was deployed to give a second line (mainly because they couldn't reach the front line, and there was no room on the right due to the river). Scattered firing from 2/Chef de Fer, but no hits on either side.

Allied Turn - the entire line advanced to pound the French. In the exchange of fire the Dutch took 3 hits (1 each on Colyear, Murray and Huguenot), and inflicted 1 (on 2/Navarre). Limbeek was rallied.

7:00 A.M. Turn (normal visibility)

French Turn - General Pain-grillé was now up as well. He thought the Allies couldn't stand an attack, so he ordered the entire line to go advance at the Dutch and roll them back with superior numbers. The French line (from left to right) was: 1/Blesois, 2/Blesois, 2/Chef de Fer, 1/Navarre, 2/Navarre, 1/Croissant. The second line was 1/Chef de Fer, and 2/Croissant. The whole line rolled forward to engage the Allies in melee. Morale checks put a disorder on 2/Chef de Fer, 2/Navarre, Murray and Huguenot. Nobody was stationary. Hits were scored on: 2/Chef de Fer (1), 1/Blesois (1), 1/Navarre (1), 2/Navarre (1), 1/Croissant (2), Murray (1), Colyear (1), Huguenot (1), Hoegaarden (1). Murray, Colyear and Hoegaarden fell back on the Allied side. 1/Croissant fell back, as did 2/Blesois and 2/Navarre.

Allied Turn - Still in melee, Dalrymple put a hit on 1/Blesois, took one itself, and fell back. Huguenot and Hoegaarden each took a hit and fell back. English units appeared more than a mile away, moving towards Fredonia from the west (this certainly changed things).

8:00 A.M. Turn

French Turn - The English were in the left rear of the French. This could be potentially embarrassing. Though the Allies were falling back, there was no cavalry on hand to turn their defeat into a disaster. And now the French felt compelled to fall back. So they did. Additional troops were marching up from Mount Vernon. Now they were turned around and marched back to town. The French straightened out their line and faced the English as well.

Allied Turn - It was at least one hour before the English could intervene, but the Dutch could use the respite. General Overbore began rallying units and straightening out the line. Firing died away.

9:00 A.M. Turn

French Turn - The main column was now marching to the rear. The worst hurt regiments changed to column of march and moved away. That left three regiments (1/Navarre, 2/Croissant, 2/Chef de Fer) as a rearguard. Instead of staying to be squashed, they simply marched south towards Conway.

Allied Turn - The French were out of reach. The Allies considered pursuit. Going towards Mount Vernon looked useless. That column could get over the bridge before anyone caught them, and there was enough force on the far side of the river that nothing could be done (charging across a bridge lined with guns and artillery did not seem wise). Pursuit to the south stopped very quickly when French cavalry was seen. Instead the battlefield was policed up.

Immediate Aftermath

The French force marching back to Mount Vernon arrived there amidst much confusion. The bridge was prepared for demolition. The force that marched south attacked Conway. The Allied force there was prepared for the attack, but when the commander saw troops moving down to bottle him there (and he expected an attack from Mount Vernon), he abandoned his position. He moved into the high ground south of Conway. He was cut off, and desperately began seeking help. The French force crossed the river at Conway and (amazingly enough) marched back to Mount Vernon. Gratefully the Allied units slipped back down from the heights and reoccupied the town. The fury of the French commander when he found this out can be imagined (they may not be speaking to each other yet). The Allied hold on Conway basically made Mount Vernon untenable, and he was going to have to evacuate the town. He began sorting through the mess, finally getting troops started towards the rear.

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Losses:

Dutch 15,000 present; 3,000 casualties

French 18,000 present; 2,500 casualties


Dutch (15,000)

Dutch Infantry exhaustion 11
De Koninck ...........M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Huguenot .............M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
Limbeek ..............M5,PT,EP,BN [x][ ][ ]
Hoegaarden ...........M5,PT,EP,BN [x][x][x]
Westmalle ............M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Grootdefeatfontein ...M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]
Kriek ................M5,PT,EP,BN [ ][ ][ ]

Foreign Troops exhaustion 5
Dalrymple (Scots) ....M5,PT,EP [x][ ][ ]
Colyear (Scots) ......M5,PT,EP [x][x][ ]
Murray (Scots) .......M5,PT,EP [x][x][ ]

French (18,000)
Right Wing exhaustion 9 General Pain-grillé
1/Intendant General ..M5,PT,EP,EFD [ ][ ][ ]
2/Intendant General ..M5,PT,EP,EFD [ ][ ][ ]
1/Blesois ............M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][x][ ]
2/Blesois ............M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][x][ ]
1/Chef de Fer ........M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][ ][ ]
2/Chef de Fer ........M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][ ][ ]

Left Wing exhaustion 9
1/Croissant ..........M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][x][ ]
2/Croissant ..........M5,PT,EP,EFD [ ][ ][ ]
1/Navarre ............M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][ ][ ]
2/Navarre ............M5,PT,EP,EFD [x][ ][ ]
Provisionaire Genl ...M5,PT,EP,EFD [ ][ ][ ]
Provincial Grenadiers M5,PT,NE,Shock [ ][ ][ ]

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Analysis

What a confusing mess! The battle swayed back and forth a bit, with very little order, at least at first. The Dutch were definitely getting the worst of it when the English arrived to change the situation. Fighting with EFD/PT troops is difficult! They aren't near as nimble as later troops (no surprise). There was no cavalry present, which changed things, and, curiously enough, nobody went stationary. I expect that will change in future battles.

Both commanders were unprepared for the way the battle developed. One was a lot more aggressive than the other (the French commander). This could have gotten him in trouble, but he lucked out with the melee dice. Their tactics were bull-headed, there was only one attempt to turn a position. This could cost them in the future.

The battle didn't really decide things. What changed the strategic situation was the failure of the French infantry to stay in Conway. That would have kept the lines of supply open and probably captured the Allied troops there (referee ruling). As it was, the way was now open for an Allied advance through Conway. The French would have to fall back farther inland. Unless some sort of action could be generated in the rough ground, the next stop was Arlington.

The battle took about two hours of player time.

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Background to the Coastal War

2008-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

A handy primer: Ober-Sitzenflesch is basically French, with a Spanish contingent (Spanish Netherlands). Saxe-Schweinrot represents the Maritime Powers, Dutch and English.

The campaign represents the sum total of my Marlburian forces at the time. I used Volley & Bayonet, 1st Edition. This means the foot is on regimental stands, and the horse is on brigade stands. Dragoons, being dismountable in this period, are on regimental stands with a skirmisher stand that can take their place. Foot are worth 3 hits per regiment (1500 men); cavalry brigades are worth 3 hits per brigade.

Most of the foot on both sides varies between M4 and M5 (those are morale grades), with one M6 on each side. Most of the horse are M5, with a few M6. All foot (with one exception) are Partially Trained with Poor Muskets.

The battlefields are laid out as I saw them by driving to them and looking around; I live just north of Seattle about 20 minutes, and my brother lived in Sedro Wooley at the time, and I would look at the battlefields as I drove up to see him. My job takes me back and forth around Arlington and Oso, so I had time to actually walk those battlefields. Some of them, like Freedonia, are river delta and flood plain, and are literally as flat as pool tables.

I did find people at a local game store to tactically command the battles. I refereed.

That done, now let's look at one of the battles. That comprises the next post.

The Great Coastal War

2008-11-16T14:38:00.001-08:00

What follows is an account of the war between Ober-Sitzenflesch and Saxe-Schweinrot. First will be an overview, followed by more detailed studies. The maps (northern Puget Sound) will give a general idea of the maneuvers of this campaign.

Note - none of the hyperlinks are active yet. Those will be filled in soon.
~~~~~~~~~

The Northern Sound War

Preliminaries

The Stragegic Situation

To anyone familiar with the state of internal affairs in the Allied Coalition, a continuing state of war was no surprise, even after what had happened during the Spring Campaign. Despite what had happend, the Allies were firm in their goals. They were still determined to wrest control of the very fertile Skagit River delta, and just as firmly determined to capture Anacortes and Whidbey Island and thus establish themselves as the controlling power in the lower sound, they recognized that the French might not willingly acquiesce to a debasement of their power. To that end the Allies decided that they would secure their desired fruits of conquest by military means.

War, raw bloody war, that would do it, and so they set about raising an army. Regiments were called in from Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley, the rolling hills north of Bellingham (the fortress city that guarded the southern border), and other points farther in the interior. Cavalry was mustered, infantry ordered and drilled, and artillery accumulated. In fine, everything was put together to assure the Allied possession of the the Lower Sound.

The French were well aware of the Allied build-up. They tried peaceful negotiation, they tried subtle diplomatic pressure, they tried everything they thought reasonable and prudent. Nothing worked. In the end they decided that the only thing left was to call up the Army. Regiments were called up or hired, and the whole array was drilled and marched to the theater of war. There they massed south of Conway, preparing for the expected Allied attack. At the same time they started construction of defensive works at Mount Vernon.

The Allies High Command demanded the French demolish the defenses they started building at Mount Vernon. When that didn't work, the Allied ambassadors immediately issued a joint declaration of war, citing "threatening defensive preparations" as the causus belli. They announced that they had no choice but settle the issues between them and the French by the use of the military. (The Allied logic was as follows: the French were building fortifications. The only reason they would do this would be to free up regular troops. And the only reason they would be
freeing up regular troops would be if they were going to use them for an attack on the Allies. Thus, by this logic, the Allies had no choice but to go to war to forestall an attack).

Referee's Note - I recruited two players (initially, they each recruited one more) to command the armies. I did not tell them very much of the campaign rules. Both played Warhammer^® Ancients quite regularly. Both thought it would be interesting to try a "different" period. But the way it worked was simple. They issued their orders, I carried them out. I would also give them reports, but only upon request. A lot of their orders came by E-Mail.

Both armies undertook extensive training regimes. The cavalry, which had always maintained their level of proficiency, was ready in a few weeks. For the infantry, though, it was a daily diet of drill, firing practice, more drill, and more firing practice. The fancy evolutions of the prewar army were forgotten as leaders emphasized the drill and tactics they had found applicable on the modern battlefield. In three months both armies were in some form of shape and ready for the Autumn Campaign.

As the armies gained in numbers, the generals on each side studied their maps of the area, the Allies with a view to attacking the French, the French to defend themselves. The map to the right shows the general theater of campaign, and will serve as a handy reference during these opening moves. But, in essence, the French held Mount Vernon, with videttes north of Burlington and Sedro Woolley. They also held most of the major ports in the area. The Allied army, mustering near Bellingham, felt obligated to drive the French out of the Skagit river delta and secure that area for itself for the winter. That, in a nut shell, was the strategic genesis behind The Plan.

If the French could be driven farther south (which is off the lower edge of the map), so much the better. To this end, while their armies readied themselves for the campaign by marching all over ground north of Bellingham, the Allied politicians and generals engaged in an extended series of planning sessions to iron out the details of the campaign.

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Good Plans

Good Plans are Simple Plans. It does not follow that Simple Plans are Good Plans. Nor does it follow that Bad Plans are Complex Plans, but it certainly seems that way. It is unfortunate that when plans are proposed to higher authorities, complex plans will often win out over simple plans. The reasons for this are many and varied. Undoubtedly the foremost reason is that the higher authorities know that military matters can be very complex, and so they think, logically, that military plans must be complex. A more cynical appreciation is that complex plans are more dazzling, and like all bright and shiny gewgaws, appeals to the kind of minds that go into politics.

No general reminds them of the other adage: no plan survives contact with the enemy. Political leaders don't want to hear that. They believe, right or wrong, that you can plan out a successful military campaign to the last button and flint. When they look at plans, they want to see plans like they see in civilian life--one politician likened it to planning a building, with everything laid out, one thing inevitably following another. They want to see completeness, they want to see an end result. They have nothing but contempt for the general who tells them: "We will hit the enemy and see what happens." That is not the way it is in Politics, and, politicians have been assured, war is just politics carried on with the a little more violence than normal.

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The Plan

The Plan that the politicians blessed was complex. It grew out of two things: a desire to avoid shoving troops south into what appeared to be a grinder, and the paucity of roads in the initial campaign area. It also capitalized upon the local command of the sea, though that was a condition everyone recognized was open to some dispute, and not really valid south of Fidalgo Island.

The Objective of The Plan was the conquest and occupation of all the desirable ground in the Skagit River Delta before the autumn rains shut things down. This would mean fighting at least one battle with the French, but the Plan envisioned doing this only after dividing the French into smaller groups. That way superior force could be brought to bear in each battle, and the French comfortably crushed.

To accomplish the Objective, four forces were set in motion. We will examine them one at a time, in the order in which they were expected to contact the enemy.

First, the Fleet would transport three infantry regiments and two regiments of cavalry to capture Stanwood. This would be a naval descent, and it was hoped to seize the town by coup de main. The regiments would garrison the town, while the cavalry would launch a raid on the main supply line of the French army only a few miles away.

Second, a day later, the Fleet would land a force of two infantry regiments as close to the bridge to Fidalgo Island as they could. Their job would be to capture the bridges granting entrance to one of the many local islands and set up defenses to repulse any enemy attack. These islands would serve as an advanced base for the army, a thorn in the side of the French, and, possibly, an advanced base for the Navy. The commander of this force was not told that his troops were really a feint.

Third, on the same day as the forces landed on Fidalgo Island, two regiments of cavalry and four regiments of infantry would descend on Sedro Wooley from the north. They were to capture the town (note, due to poorly worded orders, the all-important bridge was not mentioned).

Fourth, two days after steps two and three, the main force, the rest of the infantry and cavalry, and all the artillery, would move directly south on the high road, headed right towards the main French army. If the diversions had worked fully, the French would be scattered trying to re-open the road to Fidalgo Island and Anacortes, facing the Allies at Sedro Wooley, and trying to re-capture Stanwood. Even if the diversions worked only partially, the French would not have their full force present, and could be defeated by superior numbers. And if the diversions had not worked at all, then the French would have their flank turned by the troops from Sedro Wooley and would be defeated and driven south in wreck and ruin.

In essence, then, the Plan was for a series of blows that were designed to catch the enemy off-balance. The Plan was bold, it was detailed, and it was clever. The Plan was examined by the High Command. It was pronounced to be Good. Great praises were heaped upon the officers who had devised such a clever plan. The defeat of the enemy was held to be certain, though privately every senior officer conceded that if it just chased the French south out of the Mount Vernon area that it would have achieved a level of success as well.

It is, perhaps, a pity that the French did not get a copy of the Plan so they would know the role they were supposed to play in the campaign.

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The French Plan

At this time it seems only fair to consider the French Plan (yes, they had one). The French had many meetings to discuss their plan. The staff was directed to consider "all" alternatives, not a wise thing to order when dealing with certain literal minded staff officers.

In the three months since the previous campaign ended, the staff surveyed every possible approach that the Allies could use. Each route, down to foot paths frequented by hunters, was examined for food, water, road grade, and security. Each route had a number of defensive positions surveyed. Each route was given its own document listing the way the campaign should be fought, assuming the Allies used that particular route. This was all carefully compiled, and presented to the Defense Minister during his inspection tour in the weeks following the closing of the Spring Campaign.

The Defense Minister, well-trained by his civil servants, duly took the presented documents under advisement. The staff relaxed, suffused by the glow of hard work successfully accomplished…until it was asked what if the enemy came by multiple approaches? The staff resumed their study, trying out every possible scenario involving multiple approaches over every possible route. The paper budget for the staff tripled, then tripled again, then tripled one more time.

What the hey, it kept the staff busy and out of mischief.

The General, of course, had his own plan. But it was not one to gladden the Defense Minister. The General personally surveyed the principle routes near his army, and selected a concentration point that surrendered the ground north of Mount Vernon to the Allies. He stationed aggressive cavalry officers at each major road (he rejected the minor roads as impractical for supply wagons). Their orders were simple: when the Allies moved, these French cavalry units were to go as hard as they could at the Allies in an attempt to gain information. Once they had identified the infantry units involved, they were to fall back on the main body, keeping in contact with the army.

While this was going on, the General would concentrate his troops. He designated one force as his rearguard, and spent a week rigorously enforcing the baggage regulations, sending the jugglers, cooks, clowns (this included some subordinates) and other "impedimenta" to his central concentration well south of Conway. When he had identified where the Allied main body was, he would organize a counterattack to drive them back. Hopefully, though, the Allies would be induced to attack him in his prepared positions in the rough high ground south of Conway.

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Execution of The Plan

There have been many compliments paid to the Allied Army. Precision and celerity of maneuver was not one of those compliments. Bad winds, drizzle, heavy clouds, "driving" officers, lethargic officers ("daybreak in the morning" was interpreted in a different way by each commander), slow wagon trains, bad map reading, poor intelligence, worry about flank security, mud--everything conspired to throw off the Allies careful timetable. It is instructive to look at each Allied force, and consider when they came into action. See the General Map for details of what followed.

The Advance on Sedro Wooley

The first force in action was the column aimed at Sedro Wooley. They came into view early in the afternoon of the 9th. They spent the balance of the afternoon deploying and preparing for a formal assault on the town. Little effort was expended to discover just what was in the town. The commander had been present at the Battle of Burlington the previous spring, and so he assumed that this important post would be heavily garrisoned.

The French commander of the force at Sedro Wooley mustered his single squadron of dragoons and the single section of 3# artillery in the town park. He had little else to do, couriers were already racing south with the news of this attack. As the Allies were deploying, he reviewed this force with all of the solemnity of a Marshal reviewing a large army. Then, when he was convinced that every last button-hook was accounted for, and that all of the officer's had settled their bills with the local establishments (there was later a scandal when it was found that 13 florins 3 were still owed a tailor in the town by one of his officers), he ordered his main body to the south bank of the river. The bridge had long since been prepared for demolition. All the fuses were double-checked. He only awaited the Allied advance.

Eventually, at 6 PM, the Allies advanced. The French dragoon commander fired his carbines, fired the 3# cannon his men had found in the basement of the local ale house, and withdrew across the bridge. The men carefully removed the flooring for the center span behind them. His men, already spread out in individual sections along the river, kept watch through the evening for any attempt to cross the river. There was none. The Allied commander's orders were merely to seize the town of Sedro Wooley. Nothing had been said about the bridge just south of the town.

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Fidalgo Island

The second force was the two regiments landed to cut the road to Anacortes and Whidbey Island. They had been delayed by the force headed towards Stanwood. In one of those farcical events that would not have been believed in a fictional account of the campaign, ships to transport his troops had been requisitioned by the Stanwood force. An unseemly tussle ensued over the transport ships, senior officers wrestling with each other on the docks. Eventually the senior colonel of the Fidalgo Island force, acting on his own initiative, simply occupied the nearest boats he could find, and, with the other regiment following close behind, simply put to see. He decided that success would justify his theft, and that he didn't want to be in close proximity to any senior officer when they found out what he had done.

In the middle of the night of the 9th/10th, a day late, his troops splashed ashore, finding no opposition. They quickly set to work building a pair of redoubts. Dawn found the redoubts complete. The men lay inside, tensing for an attack they expected at any hour. They would have been disappointed to discover that the French didn't learn of this attack for another day, and then only because the regular mail courier didn't show up.

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The Attempted Escalade of Stanwood

The third force had been dispatched for a descent on Stanwood. It had the trickiest approach, and suffered in a way that clearly highlighted every fault with The Plan.

First, the approach was by sea. This made it dependent upon the winds and tides. The winds were light and variable, and the tide was generally against the ships. Ships, the staff had forgotten, could not move with the alacrity and regularity of troops marching on a road.

To reach Stanwood, the approach had to pass one of two choke points. One proposed route took the force through Deception Pass. With any sort of seaway this was hazardous in the extreme. The other route took the force down the west side of Whidbey Island, then north between Whidbey and Camano Islands, before finally reaching Stanwood. French observers could watch the force for nearly the entire length of their voyage. Worse, there were enough French naval forces on hand in those waters to intercept and utterly ruin the approach voyage by this route.

These difficulties were not unknown to the creators of The Plan. The general commanding the force ordered the naval commander to chance the passage through Deception Pass. This limited him to an approach only when the tide was favorable. Worse, he could not get more than a third of his force through the Pass on any tide. He chose to push one of his three regiments through on each tide. What The Plan envisaged as taking two hours, took 18. Nevertheless, he led the first contingent through the Pass and pressed on to Stanwood.

The Plan had envisaged a naval borne coup de main on Stanwood. When the Allied force arrived outside Stanwood on the 12th, they discovered that there was no harbor for them to penetrate in the dead of the night. There were docks, of sorts, the kind used in river traffic. But the weir upstream of Stanwood had been partially closed, reducing the flow of water near the docks. The only approach was through a channel-the defenders had thoughtfully removed the buoys that marked the channel to prevent just such a descent. The attacking force found itself 200 yards short of their goal, with no way to reach it.

The naval commander wasn't without some enterprise, though. Balked at Stanwood, he decided to put his troops ashore where they could do the most good. He sailed north a few miles, and landed a cavalry regiment across a beach on Whidbey Island. While this was in progress he sailed back to Deception Pass. This did two things-it got rid of the meddlesome column commander (he was with the cavalry), and it gave the Allies a presence on Whidbey Island, which might be important in the future. He also considered landing the embarked infantry regiment on Whidbey Island as well. But that regimental commander saw no reason why his regiment should be isolated on Whidbey Island and subjected to who knew what perils. After some argument, the Hesse-Fizzenpop Regiment was put ashore at La Conner.

Strong Allied naval forces in Skagit Bay did not go unnoticed by the French. Several French squadrons sailed north to see what was going on. This led to a running scrap that lasted most of the day. The Allied commander was more interested in withdrawing through Deception Pass than he was in securing a naval victory that would otherwise be barren. In late afternoon, as the wind picked up, he withdrew. The French, who had been getting the worst of the encounter, were glad to see him leave.

The other infantry regiments of this force (the two Prussian regiments), along with the remaining cavalry regiment, landed on the west side of Fidalgo Island later that day. The infantry pressed inland enough to secure the beachhead while the cavalry got itself into shape. The next morning the cavalry pressed up against the walls of Anacortes, driving the garrison back inside the defenses. One infantry battalion was left to support the cavalry while the other five battalions marched to the bridgehead held by the first force landed two days before. After some discussion, this force left two battalions behind and marched to link up with the regiment in La Conner. This gave them a total of 9 battalions of infantry. They were in a bit of a precarious position, isolated as they were. But the commander of the force had an idea. He sent one courier back to find the cavalry brigade commander, while another courier picked his way through the back roads to carry word of their success to the main force commander. While these men were carrying their vital messages, his infantry marched 6 of the 8 miles to Conway, and then rested without fires. Then, in the middle of the night, he hurled 5 battalions straight at Conway and its newly rebuilt bridge.

Surprise was complete, nobody had told the two companies garrisoning the town to expect trouble. The bridge was taken intact, troops were pushed astride the main north-south road, and two of the redoubts the French had built on the high ground overlooking Conway were occupied by Allied infantry. The commander braced himself for an onslaught by the obviously aroused French.

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The Main Body

The fourth force was the main body. The Allied commander had tried to regulate his progress by that of the flanking force going to Sedro Wooley. Owing to the narrow mountain roads of the approach march, this was almost impossible. And an enterprising commander in the advance guard pushed ahead, seizing the crossroads and intact bridges at Burlington on the evening of the 10th. The main body came down out of the hills on the next day to discover the French falling back behind a rearguard, and no battle. Undaunted, the main body pressed aggressively forward the five miles to the French position at Mount Vernon. There they paused. The river was unfordable, and the main bridge was so sturdily built it could not be demolished. A quick survey showed fully four redoubts parked at the end of the main bridge, along with another 30 guns set to sweep the northern approaches to the bridge. Attacking here would be a noisy way of committing suicide. So, on the afternoon of the 11th, the two main armies confronted each other at Mount Vernon with no way to get at each other.

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The French Reaction

The French were more puzzled than anything else. The commander of the French received reports of the French at Conway. He reasoned that this was a raid. He had heard rumors of the attempted landing at Stanwood, and decided this had to be a feint. He sent two regiments of cavalry to Conway to investigate matters and chase the raiders off. He was more interested in reports of the force at Sedro Wooley. That force, apparently, was attempting to slip across the river farther east. He ordered his dragoons in the area to push patrols up the river to keep an eye on things.

The day after the capture of Conway he finally rode the few miles south to see the situation for himself. After just one glance he decided that he had an opportunity squarely in front of him if he would only reach out to take it. This Allied force was isolated, and if he could cross the river and drive west, he could cut them off and capture the lot. There was a ford somewhere near Conway that the Allies had used before, but he suspected it was covered by the Allied troops in the town. He knew there was a perfectly good bridge at Mount Vernon that would do just fine. He detailed his German regiments to watch the Allies, gathered up the rest of his force less a regiment of cavalry watching Conway and the Dragoons watching Sedro Wooley, and at 2 AM, crossed the river at Mount Vernon headed west.

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New Plans

The Allied commander had spent two days at Mount Vernon staring across the river at the French. The courier from the south had been very welcome, and the plan dropped into place neatly. He would link up with the force from La Conner, and after a day of organizing things and resting, would advance through the bridgehead at Conway at dawn. That would give him all day to align his troops on the heights over Conway and prepare for a battle he knew his opponent wouldn't want to fight, but would be forced to.

That decided, he had to gather all the troops he could. He needed to thin out his troops in Sedro Wooley, and ordered the patrols sent up river to be called back. That evening all of the troops at Sedro Wooley save three infantry battalions and a troop of cavalry were ordered to make a short march to join the main army at Burlington. He left the four regiments of the Danes to watch Mount Vernon, along with one of his three battalions of artillery. With everything else he turned west, and then south, marching in the pre-dawn darkness towards Fidalgo Island and a link up with the troops there. The stage was now set for the first battle of the campaign, the The Battle of Fredonia.

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Fredonia and Clear Lake

Fredonia was a chaotic affair, and Clear Lake was a frustrating one. Worse was to come. At the same time as the affair at Clear Lake, the Allied Commander decided on a bold stroke. He would strike directly at Mount Vernon with his troops. The only ones immediately available were the Danes: two regiments of grenadiers, two regiments of line troops, and a regiment of cavalry. He also had two battalions of medium artillery that could help.

Unfortunately, the bold stroke that was conceived for the Battle of Mount Vernon was a failure. Things did not go according to plan. But the French pulled out of the city, the Allies occupied it, and the Allies claimed the victory by virtue of occupying the battlefield. The French deployed their army above Conway, the Allies considered an assault. This time there would be no mistakes.

The stage was now set for a big, set-piece battle.

For a brief referee interlude, click here.

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The Maneuver on McMurray

A Change of Heart

The Allied Commander took stock of his forces. The Plan was in utter ruins, but that did not bother him. The French Army was now in front of him, and he meant to hit them a blow from which they would not recover. The British were fresh, the Dutch were a bit shot up, and the Danes currently had low morale (well, M4). And the Germans were busy holding the far side of the bridge at Conway, as well as La Conner. One regiment (Hesse-Fizzenpop) was blockading the approaches to Anacortes.

He studied his proposed battlefield (i.e. he drove over it while returning from Bellingham). To attack he would have to cross a small stream with steep banks fordable nearly everywhere but probably a serious obstacle. Then he would have to advance uphill against the French, who had thoughtfully dotted the hillside with redoubts. And he would have to leave a substantial force watching his left flank because he knew there were forces (reported by the commander from Sedro Wooley) back down that way (estimated at 18 battalions, but surely it couldn't be that big). He read the Reference sheet for the modifiers, and began to think that, just perhaps, the French would hold a lot of the advantages in this battle. Just perhaps it was he who would be smashed, rather than the Allies.

He began thinking about that. All that infantry was in front of him. Now, if they were here, there couldn't be that many troops guarding their flank. If he left, say, the Danes and some of the cavalry near Mount Vernon, and happened to descend on that flanking force in the early morning with everything else (except the Germans), then he could turn their flank. That would force them back, and he could pursue, looking to snap off a piece of them. That sounded a lot better than a massive frontal assault.

He issued the orders at once. The Danes were ordered to keep the fires burning below the heights so as to help the deception (part of the actual orders he issued through the referee). Almost everyone else would make the march to MacMurray and turn the French flank.

The French commander was well pleased with what he was seeing. His front was guarded like it was a moat, and he held most of the advantages. His troops would be stationary, while the Allies would not. He could have cross-fire between his little redoubts. He had cavalry who could counterattack when the Allied infantry wavered. This was looking better and better. The only thing bothering him was the amount of troops massing in front of him. Every time he looked there were more (the referee was telling him what he could see as troops deployed for battle on the flats). He thought of the 18 battalions on his right. He could leave two regiments there, along with the dragoons, and mass the rest on the road below the heights. When the Allies were fully committed to the attack he would hit them with that force, crush their flank, drive them against the Skagit river, and destroy them. Oh, a few would get out through Conway, but he would have the rest.

That sounded good, so he issued the orders. He left the 1/2nd and 2/2nd Germans there, and ordered everyone else to march to where he wanted them. They were to move that night so nobody would see them move.

The Next Move(s)

So here we had the specter of the two forces sliding past each other separated by the hills to the southeast of Mount Vernon. The Germans duly marched. As did the Allies. Dawn brought the Allies face to face with the two German regiments (he had said everyone else, so they brought the Dragoons with them).

The referee ruled that the Germans would not do a fight to the death, but instead pulled back up on the heights and watched the Allied force go by. They sent couriers off to explain what they saw. And then the Dutch were sent up in to the hills after the Germans, who quite sensibly marched away on a side road. The Dutch set up permanent possession of the small town of McMurray.

The French commander was aghast. There went his nice battle. He sent the Aquaviva Dragoons down the road to check things out, while everyone else got on the main road and marched south. We were finally in a "walking war". The dragoons found the Dutch firmly ensconced in McMurray, reported that, and pulled out as a rearguard.

The French commander looked at his map. His next stop had to be the land to the west of Arlington, between Stanwood and Bryant. He could get there and force the Allies to turn to face him somewhere in that area. If he could hit them hard enough, they would have to go back north. If not, well, there had to be some good fighting ground somewhere around Arlington. The only question in his mind was who would get there first?

The Decision for Battle

The Allied commander arrived in Bryant near sunset. His men were weary. They had marched from around Mount Vernon to Bryant, 25 miles, almost without stopping. The army was in no shape for a fight. But he forced some of the regiments onward, grabbing a crossing over the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River at Arlington. That kept his options open, in case he wanted to move farther south. But for now, it was time to rest his army. His men made camp between Bryant and Arlington.

The French commander sent cavalry patrols into Arlington. They clashed briefly with the Allied Advanced Guard. Other cavalry patrols, riding the Stanwood-Bryant road clashed with Allied cavalry. The French commander considered the reports, and decided to give battle. He would attack Arlington, and bottle the Allies up north of the Stillaguamish River.
His army wasn't as tired as that of the Allies, and they had just been reinforced by three more infantry regiments (Royal Boullibaise, Procurer General, and the Spanish Regiment of Don Juan). His men had had a 13 mile march from the heights above Conway to where the main road intersected the Stanwood-Bryant road. He ordered an early camp. The preliminaries were over, now things would be settled by battle.

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The Retreat from Arlington

The day after the Battle of Arlington the Allied Army managed to get across the Stillaguamish at Cicero, but only because Grootdefeatfontein, Kriek and Westmalle fought a successful action against the pursuing troops of 1/2nd Navarre and the Provincial Grenadiers. There were about 500 casualties (2 hits) on the French, and 250 on the Allies (1 hit on Kriek) before the French withdrew (more Allied troops were on the way).
Once the Allied troops got over the Stillaguamish, they had a variety of bad choices. The Allied commander elected to follow Route 530 through Darrington and Concrete. It was a melancholy retreat, with the bonds of discipline slipping, men and horses going hungry, and deserters slipping away every day.
The French Army sent a force of the 1/1st and 2/1st Germans and the Spanish Atrasos Cavalry up Route 530 to keep up the pressure. Their orders were to avoid action and to fall back a the slightest sign of resistance, but keep up the pressure and drive the Allies. The French Commander sent still other troops to get to Sedro Wooley and other points in an attempt to get ahead of the main Allied army.

The Danish commander north of Arlington now found himself the senior Allied officer in contact with anyone. The French Army was preparing to cross the river and outflank him, and he had positive orders to fall back, resisting the French at every step. Meanwhile the main Allied army would fall back through the mountain valleys to the east. He sent couriers back through MacMurray and on to Mount Vernon, Sedro Wooley and Fidalgo Island, informing them of the situation.
There was nothing to stop the French from seizing Mount Vernon. The Danish commander ordered his troops to march north through MacMurray, with the cavalry leading. The infantry would follow hard on their heels, and any straggler who couldn't keep up would be captured.

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More on Tinkelwasser

2008-07-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a map as a .jpg of the Bishopric. Cities are not named, neither are towns (that's for later).

I created the map in Campaign Cartographer. Took me about 15 minutes, most of which was spent with the rivers. I've found that CC2 is one of the more versatile mapping programs around. It's a vector system, but it gives you the option to save in a variety of formats. I chose .jpg because I was comfortable with it.

The map is oriented with Upper Tinkelwasser being to the south, or upper part of the map. There's a large lake to the east (Lake Tinkel), and some rivers that flow into the Tinkelwasser itself. Minor details will be added later.

Volley & Bayonet

2008-07-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

Bluebear Jeff asked about Volley & Bayonet for the WSS. That's all I use. I've tried the rest and found them wanting, getting too much into the minutae that I used to love, and am now impatient with.

A few notes as an overview: V&B is top down. A regiment is on a 3"x1.5" rectangle, a brigade on a 3"x3" square. You, as Generalissimo, do not care about all of the nitty-gritty going on at the battalion level. You could care less whether they reload in 9 motions, or 12; there are sergeants to handle that. You don't have to order them into square if charged by horse, you have junior and field officers to do that. Turns are one hour. A lot can happen in that time.

There are differences between the combat systems in the WSS, and it is accounted for. There's modern drill, and early muskets, or Early Firelock Drill. The former, when stationary, shoots with 4 dice; the latter, when stationary, shoots with 3. You hit with 6's. Foot units are a little stiff for maneuvering, and if you can bring multiple units against one, you get to throw a whole lot of dice. The maneuver element is the horse. They don't have the facing change restrictions of the foot, and so they are the part of your army that can turn the tide and win the battle.

Artillery is useful to have because, in part, they cause morale checks on the enemy. But they aren't absolutely required.

Now as for the differences between 1st and 2nd... 2nd edition has the glitches fixed that were developed through a lot of playing of 1. There weren't many, but they always seemed to crop up at the most critical times. The rules were originally set for the 19th Century, but people with a great deal of knowledge gave critical feedback for the 18th Century, and one gamer did the League of Augsburg (1689-1697) variant.

A good game of V&B in the WSS can be had with 1st edition. That said, the refinements in the 2nd edition make them worth the money.

A New Country

2008-07-09T16:14:00.001-07:00

There are many reasons to have more countries in this imaginary continent. The simplest is to explain allies. Thus the Frei Bishopric von Tinkelwasser.

It starts with the army as I gradually weed through my Froggies and convert them to Marlburian. Of course this will be so I can eventually play with my Froggies in a Volley & Bayonet War of the Austrian Succession game. It also allows me to utilize some of my new figures and mix them with the old.

Tinkelwasser is an Hereditary Bishopric. It sits in a relatively inaccessible part of the Imaginary Alps, and happens to sit on several very large and extremely profitable silver mines (and a couple of iron mines). This means it has money. It also has a small riverfront section on the Wasser River, right where the Tinkelwasser joins in. The Bishop's summer palace is there in the town of Tinkel en dem Wasser. This is also home to the largest brewery in the land, which employs most of the townfolk. Just about the only (relatively) flat land is around this town, and the people who don't work at the brewery raise horses.

Most of the Bishopric is a series of interconnected valleys that have a disturbing number of young men without room to inherit anything (all the tillable land is taken). The solution, of course, is to put them in the army so they aren't sitting around home causing trouble. This is why the army is the size it is.

The base of the army will be my 18th Century Swiss. That'll be four regiments of foot, all in red with blue distinctions and black leggins (a new innovation because the Bishop was tired of paying for new shoes). The horse (unlike the Swiss, there'll be horse) will be a kuirassier brigade dressed in the Austrian style (pot helm, back and breast, white coat, half with red shabraques, half with blue). There probably won't be any artillery, but I haven't decided on that as yet.

This force will be a "swing" force that can be on either side to balance the scenario, and I'll use my writing skills to work out the narrative of how they got there (did I mention that I sold a story? Woot! Woot! Woot!). That fits how we usually do things.

There'll be more on Tinkelwasser in future posts.

~~~~~~~~

Historicon is next week, and that should mark the publication of Volley & Bayonet, 2nd ed.

House Rules

2008-06-26T14:27:00.001-07:00

I can't think of any gamer who plays the rules straight out of the book...not for very long, at least. So, with Ober-Bindlestiff gearing up for a war against Saxe-Schweinrot, it's time to lay out the house rules.

First, the base rules - Volley & Bayonet, 2nd Edition. Where there are changes in those rules, the house rules will be reconsidered.

Routing - when a unit routs it loses one hit; not going to do that with the Marlburians. The reason is that these units are only worth, at max, 3 hits. If they were worth more, then yes, we'd use it.
Hamlets – a hamlet is a small group of isolated buildings, not enough for a garrison, but enough to provide cover from flanking fire. They do not break the line of sight.
Small Wheel – a change of facing for Partially Trained troops of a 1" wheel or less costs 3" of movement, not half of the movement. This is not allowed to troops rated as militia.

Campaign movement will be with a new map and Freddie the Grouch rules referred to in a previous post. Oh, one thing missed in the post on losses. When totalling up the losses, count only 250 men/hit.

~~~~~

So, with all of that, orders are being sent out, the first battle is in the books, and both sides are frantically repairing their losses and mustering their strength. Nothing was settled by the first encounter. A true trial of strength is coming.

Campaign Nitty Gritty

2008-06-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

One of the problems in any campaign system is to resolve losses. Here's the system that I developed and have been using.

1. All losses are calculated on the tabletop unit. This is brigade of horse, regiment of foot, and battalion of artillery.

2. Half of all losses come back the next morning. These are the 'just scratched', those who ran away and came back, and so on.

3. An additional 1/2 casualty can come back for a drop in morale grade. This does not apply if the unit only suffered one hit. A unit that lost only one hit cannot be restored to 3 hits, but has to remain at 2.

4. Artillery battalions that are knocked out other than by melee are allowed to recover, but they drop one morale grade. This is the only exception to the "one hit" rule above.

An example: the von Plotzdorf foot, MG=5, EFD, PT, EP (morale grade 5, early firelock drill, partially trained - i.e. don't march in step with drill to match - elites - grenadiers - present) lose 1 hit. They are now 2 hits, MG=5, etc. If they'd lost 2 hits, they'd get 1 back, and still be MG=5, etc. If they'd lost 3 hits, they'd get 1 back automatically, round the 1/2 up for a drop in morale grade. So they'd be 2 hits, MG=4, EFD, PT, EP. After a while on campaign, troops get run down and have to be sent to the rear.

5. There are no replacements except by whole units in the campaign.

An example: von Plotzdorf is reduced to MG=3, 1 hit. They cannot be recruited back up to full strength during the campaign. Instead they go to the rear to be recruited up. The Katzenjammer Fusiliers show up as a new unit, MG=5, EFD, PT, EP.

No provision is made in Volley & Bayonet for command casualties. I like them, Frank doesn't. Maybe we'll do it someday. That can be sort of fun.

Other things we'll try:
a) all of the neat rules in version 2.
b) subordinate commanders have their units "in command" by touching, not by 6". This is controversial (i.e. there was a lot of discussion about it). This also means that before we do that we'll have to try lots of small commands vs. a few large commands.

I can't wait to play some more VnB.

The Battle of Ansell

2008-06-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

The climactic battle of the campaign came after weeks of intricate maneuvers. Troops marched here, troops marched there, and then they marched somewhere else. It was all terribly confusing, and in the end the two sides stood staring at each other outside the town of Ansell, each determined to drive the other from the field.

A note here, battles in this period were more by seduction than brute force. Oh, the fighting was certainly nasty enough, but you had to lull the enemy into battle, you did not have the ability to force it upon him. That was what happened here. Each side thought they would gain by a victory, each thought they would lose by a defeat, and that the consequences of defeat, while bad enough, were outweighed by the dazzling promise of a victory.

Because of the woods on one flank, and a river on the other, this was going to be a head-on slugfest. So much the better, then neither side could claim that they were cheated of victory by some sly trick of marching. The ground itself had a few hills on the flanks that had not been farmed and so were rough. But most of the battlefield was flat and easy for the men and horses to march over.

The Elector interleaved his forces, wanting to throw a combination of attacks at his opponent. Most important of all, he kept a reserve back out of the fighting, putting it behind his right flank. The Duke went for a heavily weighted right of his own, but otherwise had his troops in a standard formation with foot in the middle and horse on each flank.

No battle goes quite the way it is planned, which might explain why generals prefer sieges. In the Battle of Ansell, both sides surged forward. The cavalry clashed in a repeated series of charges and countercharges before mosytly retiring behind the foot. The exception was the Rijktwats Te Paard. They got cut off in the enemy’s formation, and caused all sorts of consternation as they beat back attack after attack. In the end they too had to retire, but only after having repulsed all attacks. But on this flank the Duke’s forces had been so badly confused that night fell before they could sort out the tangle of units and press forward.

The decision, though, was on the western flank of the two armies (right for the Elector, left for the Duke). The cavalry did not have room to maneuver, and after several fruitless charges against the lone Electoral cavalry brigade in the area, they had to withdraw. The foot got engaged into a long series of musketry exchanges. The Elector’s troops shot a little straighter than the Duke’s. The latter’s troops clung to their line manfully, but in the end the punishment they were taken proved too much and they fled from the field.

The sun set on a long battle. Gallantry was displayed on both sides. The foot stuck manfully to their task, while the cavalry on both sides displayed an excellent espirit de corps that bodes well for the future. The Elector had brought 46,000 men, and lost 2,000. The Duke's forces suffered the worst (especially when their morale collapsed), losing 9,000 men out of 45,000.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay - this was a VnB ver. 1 linear battle. Some friends came over and I put out the troops. Almost all units were involved except the dragoons.

This did not include Partially Trained troops or Early Firelock Drill, both of which I'll use starting next month. We did not use the "when a unit routs it loses one hit automatically" rule. This seems to work for when units have 7 or 8 hits, but when they have 3 hits, nobody was sure it was needed. We might try it, though. But with commands going exhausted, a collapse was inevitable. Things sure go bad when half the army suffers a morale collapse.

One of the complaints was that there weren't enough generals. This is an issue in Volley & Bayonet, and a house rule might be put in. We also like the idea of offing these lead generals, and are always open to a house rule. Neither side had battalion guns. That's awaiting 2.0.

I'm going to upgrade my markers for various conditions. Colored slips of paper didn't do much.

The above description doesn't do justice to how the fighting went. In the future people will resume a practice of keeping a log of events. But this was very much a frontal battle with all of the losses that you get from that.

As a measure of the game, people were talking tactics at the end. Everyone was comfortable with the rules.

A Brief Divergence

2008-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Campaign Systems -

I'm wedded to the Volley & Bayonet rules for my Marlburian miniatures gaming. This is (as of Historicon '08) the 2nd Edition of Volley & Bayonet (referred to from now on as VnB2). I've been lucky to have the playtest version.

At Enfilade! this year (2008) I got to watch Bruce McFarlane's Battle of Torgau using the Humberside Extensions of DBA (aka DBA-HX). I have been experimenting with them and how to convert back and forth between a favorite campaign system and the miniatures table. The first tests were quite successful.

The campaign system is the boardgame Frederick the Great. It captures much of the feel of 18th Century warfare. I've tried the box-to-box system, and while it is very good, and given to much calculation, I've settled on the FtG system because I can do it in my sleep, and it has a CRT for use if you don't want to actually game out a battle.

Some things don't quite transfer over from FtG and DBA-HX and back again. Think of them as something I'll deal with in the future. But for right now, they work quite well.

So what was this playtest?

I found a local gamer who knew the game FtG rather well and was relatively experienced with DBA 2.2 (and the unwritten rules thereof), and emailed him a map I made up with Campaign Cartographer 2 (copyright Profantasy). We dickered back and forth about die rolls and the size of forces. We settled on the long-awaited disagreement between Saxe-Schweinrot and Ober-Bindlestiff. There is some dispute about the exact location of the border, and Saxe-Schweinrot wants a barrier of fortresses. Since few, if any, of the fortresses on the border are fortified to any real extent (they have a curtain wall and covered way, but that's about it), this is an issue.

Both sides mustered the forces allowed by the map. This resulted in 12 brigades of foot and 5 of horse for Saxe-Schweinrot, and 14 brigades of foot and 6 of horse for Ober-Bindlestiff. What followed was "normal" for anyone who has played FtG. We didn't rush out and have a mighty clash of arms. Instead we each sought to snap off some towns and deny others to the enemy. There were a couple of stare-downs where we tensed for a battle, but it didn't happen. In both cases (at least early in the campaign) it was because the forces were too even. Experience with 18th Century miniatures and FtG suggest very strongly that you avoid battle if the numbers are close to even.

Then my opponent sent a flying detachment deep into my territory to snap up a couple of barely defended depots. He was successful, too, causing me to start suffering attrition until I could get back in supply. I ignored that when he made a mistake with his route and I was able to come down on him with most of the main army. In FtG terms I had 15 points, he had 5. We decided not to game this one out. The CRT gave him 40% losses, I had 5%. He lost 2 SP destroyed, and 2 captured. The leader got away with 1 SP, and was demoralized (no fooling!). I lost 1 SP.

With most of my troops snapping off that detachment, my opponent attacked on another front and captured two towns. By now I had my supply back in order, and marched out to fight him and regain the towns. He had 8 SP, I had 11. This one we put on the table. The dice ignored me through the first half of the fight. In the end I lost 20% (roughly) of my force, and he lost 25%. Each lost 2 SP, so there were no prisoners, and nobody was demoralized in FtG terms. But in miniatures terms I broke two of his three commands while he broke only one of mine. One of his fled, one was pinned in position. Mine refused to move. In miniatures terms he lost, but narrowly.

How to resolve this discrepancy (draw vs. loss)? We decided that it was a narrow victory for me. His force fell back grudgingly at the end of the day, not at all convinced that it had lost, and most definitely not demoralized. It had been roughly handled, but ended the day with forces still in hand. Our after-battle conversation centered more on tactics (neither of us were that familiar with DBA-HX) than on rules.

With both sides run down in numbers, we agreed to a truce for the balance of the season (only five more turns anyway). A ceasefire was put in place and we drew a line on the map to show the border. Neither of us is satisfied with it, so a future conflict is almost assured. Both of us have ideas on how the campaign system can be tweaked.

So, with that in mind, go to the DBA Resource Page at http://fanaticus.org This is a great resource, and you can follow the links to the Humberside Extensions, aka http://ermtony.pbwiki.com/DBA+and+HOTT

As for Freddie the Great, check around. There were two versions, one by Avalon Hill (bought out by Hasbro) and one by SPI. They are identical.

I admit that the report doesn't give much detail of the campaign. That might come later as we iron out the kinks (and create more elaborate maps).

New Ennoblement

2008-03-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

His Excellency the Elector announces the newest member of the nobility in Ober Bindlestiff. Please, one and all, welcome the von Tap family. The eldest member of the von Tap family was raised to the nobility for a singular accomplishment without peer in this modern realm.

Ritter Horace von Tap invented a means for dispensing beer from a barrel to a mug. In his honor it will be called a 'beer tap'.

Among the singular appurtenances of nobility, Ritter von Tap will be graciously allowed to raise a company of troops for the Army. It is hoped that it will be a cavalry troop because he is a Ritter. Further details will be announced as they come forth.

New Regiment

2008-02-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

A new regiment has joined the Army. It is the Dublin Boozeleers, under command of General Guinness as Colonel-Proprietor. Red coat, dark brown cuffs, white trim on the hat, silver buttons. The flag is a Guinness label imposed on a field of dark brown.

Origins - I was browsing through www.mudcat.org one day, looking for some specific lyrics, and came across a song entitled General Guinness. I immediately had to raise them. I have the figures, the only question I had was if they would serve with Saxe-Schweinrot or Ober-Bindlestiff. After going back and forth, they will serve in the Saxe-Schweinrot army. It'll be a bit before I have the flag done.

There are a lot of things to be found while browsing through folk songs. The people at Mudcat (aka Digital Tradition) have some gems there. That's where I raised McAlpin's Fusiliers (from a song about the navvies who were building the infranstructure in Great Britain).

Rumors, More Rumors, and Even More Rumors

2008-02-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

Rumor #1

Word has come to the palace that a border clash occurred between Ober-Bindlestiff and the Electorate of Tinkelwasser. The army fought bravely. Kudos for all sorts of people.

Er, Ober-Bindlestiff doesn't share a common border with Tinkelwasser. Rurislavia is in the way. We asked famed international traveler Prince Tedron of Methylonia about what had happened as it seemed he had some knowledge. He muttered something about 'map reading errors' and was last seen at the art gallery frowning theatrically at various works on display.

It appears that eight regiments of foot and three brigades of horse may have crossed the border into Tinkelwasser, and there encountered a similar force. A battle quickly blew up in everyone's face, and inertia on the part of one commander caused the battle to be either a defeat or a hard-fought draw. Casualties were heavy on both sides.

Who is the Electorate of Tinkelwasser? It's a Prince-Bishopric that is famed for beer. Little else is known reliably at this time.

(We fought a battle using Volley & Bayonet, I turned the enemy's right flank by seizing a village they were holding, but had no reserves to exploit the situation. The enemy counterattacked on the other flank and pushed it back, but couldn't turn that into a rupture. Both sides went exhausted shortly after that.)

Rumor #2
A distant land (the Rebbeinate?) has announced that its women do not wear shoes as they are considered decadent. Far be it for us to dictate fashion to other countries (though millners worry that the taboret worn by the ladies of Baritara and Arles are low enough that those ladies might suffer from chest colds). A subscription is being raised to pay for a ship to travel to the Rebbeinate to see if this rumor is true. It is filling up fast.

Rumor #3
At the Annual Charity Ball the Electoress and the First Mistress appeared in "native costume" that is said to be worn in the Bindlestiff Virgin Islands. The dresses were shockingly short (rumor has it that you could actually see their ankles and calves -- and such pretty calves they were!), and daringly deep, even for modern fashions. Why one observer suspects that the First Mistress may have left her corset behind to flaunt her natural curves! What is this modern age coming to?

Rumor #4
The Elector spent this season Coursing with the Hounds. The Hounds family "grows them well, if you know what I mean". He is rumored to be returning to the capitol.

Rumor #5
The more pedantic may have noticed that certain unnamed conventions are no longer being followed in these notes, specifically the location of commas/periods and quotation marks. The Elector has decreed that we are to immediately disregard this particular odious practice as the comma/period are not being singled out for emphasis.

Rumor #6
Upon the return of the Elector, the entire city will be geared up for the Winter Ball. This will undoubtedly result in the traditional Autumn Confinement nine months from now, and so plans are being laid. Tickets are available through Ticketmeister, or by directly contacting Ticketmeister's owner, Paul-Allen v. Bajillions-of-Bucks.

So-called Light Troops

2007-11-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

There has been considerable buzz in the cafes about "light" troops. According to rumor, these are either troops made out of light, perhaps the mysterious "eighth ray", or some such. Others think they are soldiers who weigh less than other soldiers, and thus cost less to feed or clothe. Finally, though, word has come from the Elector's Palace describing these "light" troops.

Light troops are soldiers who are used for outposting, scouting, and raiding, much like our dragoon squadrons are today. However the term appears to come from the weight of the horses they ride (less than those in the regiments of horse), and for their habit of having "light" fingers, and snatching up everything that isn't nailed down (Count Furioso has noted that most light troops have clawed hammers for those things that are nailed down).

The Elector appointed a panel of experts to study the subject, and they concluded that there might be a use for such "light" troops, but only if they refrain from looting. The Colonel-General of Dragoons has also studied such troops independently, and concluded that their use would be similar to the already well-equipped and well-trained dragoon regiments. Why, he asked, should we duplicate something that already exists?

This valid point was not lost on the Elector. Apparently he modeled the uniform, and found it less utilitarian than gaudy. It consists of tight breeches--the ladies would like that--a tight dolman or tunic with braiding across the chest, a half-jacket that hangs from the shoulder but is insufficient in size for the trooper to close it, and a hat that looks like an inverted flower pot.

The soliders who viewed this were not impressed (and neither were the generals). It reminded some of Zirconi the circus rider, only twice as gaudy.

After much deliberation the decision was made to raise another brigade of dragoons instead.

St. Mary's

2007-11-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

...and of course no visit to Ober-Bindlestiff would be complete without a visit to St. Mary's.

St. Mary's is an old and venerable institution in Ober-Bindlestiff, predating the actual formation of the country. Where monasteries devote themselves to beer, St. Mary's is involved in other things that bring pleasure, all of them quite open and aboveboard, and not involving anything even suggestive of carnal sins or carnal pleasures.

Spokesperson for St. Mary's, Sister Mary Margarita, put it best when she said, "There are a lot of things you a visitor to our halls do, our chapter has devoted itself to one of the more harmless ones."

Echoing her are other sisters of the Order. "Even the most impoverished nobleman, or even those of modest upbringing and means, can stop in our sacred lounge and have a few," Sister Mary GinFizz said. "We provide a restful atmosphere from the cares of the world," Sister Mary Vodka Martini said. "We've decorated with everything a discerning patron could want."

Unlike some other establishments, St. Mary's caters to both genders. At first they kept separate rooms, the women on one side, the men on the other. But in the last few years, with a bow to modern principles, they have allowed the genders to mix. Sister Mary Whiskey Rocks put it best when she said, "It's the natural order of things, and provided they behave themselves, who are we to criticize?"

The Order of St. Mary's of the Lounge was founded in the late 1500s, but really did not flourish until the 1680s. In 1681 the Mother Superior of the Order, Mother Mary Scotch and Soda, discerned a need to end the public drunkeness so rampant in the city. Her Order had produced mixed drinks for over a century, but she helped set up a lounge, complete with ferns and a harpsichord player in the corner. Aware of the needs of a modern gentleman in that bygone era, she even provided a dueling ground to handle any untoward disturbances.

This dueling ground is still in operation, but things have changed with the times. No longer do participants duel to the death. Instead honor is deemed satisfied with first blood. And Sister Mary Menopause, who is noted for her ill-temper, enforces the rules.

Those seeking more carnal pleasures are directed down the street to the Convent of Our Lady of the Night St. Jezebel, which is under the control of Mother Superior Lilly Marlene. Others, who find they cannot navigate the streets of the town due to having imbibed a large amount of spirits, are escorted across the street to the Monastery of St. Ignacius of the Flophouse, where they can be put up for the night.

Let it not be said that St. Mary's shies away from those who wish to merely make a purchase and leave. Many orders are fulfilled to speed people on their way into the evening. The Order has many arrangements with the Yellow Cartage Company to see people home. Truly, what other Order is so thoughtful.

So the next time you are in town, be sure to stop in at St. Mary's. It will truly be a night you may even remember the next morning!

Flags!!!!

2007-10-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today, after some work (and a lot of searching), I present the national colors of Saxe-Schweinrot.

The field is green, and because a certain culinary style is so popular in the country, the mottos on the flags were obvious.

Saxe-Schweinrot was settled by people from the Franco-Spanish border region (displaced by Louis XIV during the numerous court cases that proved all of these lands devolved to him (thus the War of the Devolution). This explains the motto on one side in Spanish, and the motto on the other in French.

Enjoy

News from Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-07-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Gleamings from the Ober-Bindlestiff Chronicle:

The Office of the Official Mistress is pleased to announce that her eldest non-succession son has graduated from Ober-Bindlestiff Trade School. He majored in Three Card Monte. The Office is looking forward to him having a long and fruitful career (away from Ober-Bindlestiff). When pressed, the Office admitted that while his marks in the double-shuffle were not high, he did exceptionally well in the crossover pass. Due to his size and build he also scored well in Glowering and Dealer Protection.

The Chef of the Begneit Regiment was traded to the Chef de Fer Regiment for a Sous Chef to be named later. This is seen as having a far-reaching impact on the readiness of the Chef de Fer Regiment as the Begneit Regiment is notorious for being alert in the morning. Sugar requisitions are not expected to markedly increase in the Chef de Fer Regiment.

The Electoress, warmed by the esteem shown for her well-being by various foreign powers, has vowed to respond in kind. While it was too late to invite the respective Ambassadors to a soiree at her hunting lodge, she has agreed to give private interviews to each Ambassador in the near future. As is well-known, these private interviews are public events, being considered private only because servants are not allowed within 20 feet of the Electoress' table. Volunteers are being sought for "really, really double-secret private interviews" to be held on the Electoress' private barge. On a private note, nothing untoward (for Ober Bindlestiff) occurs at those interviews, though many of the participants are known to take a rest cure afterwards for exhaustion.

The Elector, with a change in the seasons right around the corner, will be interviewing graduates of the University of Ripplestadt for a position in his household. All positions are welcome.

The Convent of Our Lady of the Night Saint Jezebel thanks all of the donors to their recent campaign to install street lamps in all of the cities of Ober-Bindlestiff. This was headed up by Sister Lily Marlene, and the Composer's Union in Ober-Bindlestiff is commisioning a song in her name as a means of thanking her.

With the harvest coming in soon, preparations for the Thank You Tour of the provinces are well underway. This is the annual tour where the male members of the nobility thank the hardworking milkmaids for their efforts, while the female members of the nobility thank the hardworking farm lads (big, husky farmlads) for their work. This Tour is looked forward to each year.

When elements of the Navy returned with reports of new and impressive islands in the South Seas that were now available for investment, a more serious matter arose at the same time. It seems that the crew of the ship returned with a number of grass skirts, leading the fashion industry to wonder: a) how could petticoats be worn beneath them; b) when sold in stores, were these to go in apparel, or food?

Relations with Saxe-Schweinrot have cooled in the last few months--when have they ever been warm--leading to some suspicions that there might be trouble in the future. As is well known, both countries scrupulously refuse to fight across their common border as this would potentially depress the land prices in the area. However this does not prevent the respective forces from being shipped to other locales to settle their disputes. Even as this is written, agents are fanning out to find such locations.

2007-07-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

News from Ober-Bindlestiff

Somebody recently asked me that if this was a blog about an Adult version of Saxony in the early 18th Century, where was all the sex?

All right, I'll oblige.

SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX-SEX

There, that's out of the way.

On a more general note, the Erbprinz of of Ober-Bindlestiff was recently sent off to Countess Furioso's School for Educating Nobility. Here he will learn all of the proper things a nobleman needs to master in this modern age: card playing, dice playing, horse racing, seduction of chambermaids, seduction of milkmaids, seduction of young ladies casually met on the side of the road while out hunting (and the proper method to install them temporarily as a mistress), and dealing with lackeys.

The Elector holds out great hopes for the Erbprinz's educational progress. His Excellency hopes that this will stop the Erbprinz from lifting young lady's petticoats to find out what lies beneath because he will know. The Elector has long felt that there are more productive reasons to lift a young lady's petticoats than merely to indulge in idle curiosity.

Other news about the Electoral Family - the Erbprinz's sister Genevieve has recently returned from her succesful tour of Yon Province. One note that caused some concern: during her routine trip her entourage was set upon by ruffians seeking to rob everyone. Genevieve took charge of the situation, and through a very forward use of her womanly charms not only turned aside the attack, but recruited several of the better equipped ruffians into her own personal guard.

Ladies in Thither Province recently held a fundraiser for the troops quartered in that province. While details are lacking, the correspondent has learned that it did involve paintings created just for this occasion. There is one rumor that the material painted was canvas, but there are a large number of rumors that a more personal material than canvas was used. A large amount of money was thus raised. It is comforting to know that if the troops ever do leave the province, they will be supported.

A messenger recently arrived from the Ministry of the Navy bearing news that one of the ships was recently seen making its way back from the Southern Ocean. Many rumors about concerning their discoveries. The entire fashion industry in the Electorate is waiting breathlessly to learn the customs and clothes of that ocean. It is confidently expected that these discoveries will be featured in next year's fashions.

The Colonel of Regiment Chef de Fer has announced a series of cooking competitions. Details will follow.

The sisters of the Convent of Our Lady of the Night has undertaken a subscription to raise money to increase the number of streetlamps in each city as the ones in use are getting too crowded. People are urged to contribute to this worthy cause.

Students at the University of Ripplestadt have reportedly developed a new method of torturing those people who visit their city. Songs that were composed and ably sung by trained and experienced musicians will now be performed by untrained and inexperienced people with little or no musical training. The Ministry of Justice is investigating this as a method to get stubborn prisoners to confess. Credit for this innovation is being given to Don Juan Kar y Oakee, a Spanish gentleman who is in Ripplestadt, he says, to take the air. Members of the Ministry of Justice worry that this "torment" may be too barbaric for modern and refined tastes. Studies are proceeding.

Look for more news later.

Foot Regiments of Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-06-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

1/Intendant General M4,PT,EP,EFD
2/Intendant General M4,PT,EP,EFD
1/Blesois M4,PT,EP,EFD
2/Blesois M4,PT,EP,EFD
Royal Boullibaise M4,PT,EP,EFD
1/1st Germans M4,PT,NE,EFD
2/1st Germans M4,PT,NE,EFD
1/2nd Germans M4,PT,NE,EFD
2/2nd Germans M4,PT,NE,EFD
3rd Germans M4,PT,NE,EFD
1/Chef de Fer M4,PT,EP,EFD
2/Chef de Fer M4,PT,EP,EFD
Provisionaire Genl M4,PT,EP,EFD
Procurer General M4,PT,EP,EFD
La Vielle Putain M4,PT,EP,EFD
1/Croissant M4,PT,EP,EFD
2/Croissant M4,PT,EP,EFD
1/Navarre M4,PT,EP,EFD
2/Navarre M4,PT,EP,EFD
Grenadiers M4,PT,NE,SHK,EFD
Eu de Cologne M4,PT,EP,EFD
Bourbon et Branch M4,PT,EP,EFD

Explanations: M is morale (4); PT is Partly Trained; EP is Elites Present; NE is No Elites; EFD is Early Firelock Drill; SHK is Shock. All of these are V&B terms.

These were converted from a different set of rules, so that's why there will be 1/ and 2/ regiments.

Foreign Regiments of Saxe-Schweinrot

2007-06-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Regiments of the Isles in Saxe-Schweinrot Service:

Lt. Gen. Sir Percy Poundfoolish
The Foot
1st Brigade exh: 8
Lord Lovaduck's M4,PT,EP,BN blue distinctions
100-Acre Wood Frstrs M4,PT,EP,BN green distinctions
d'Escoigne-d'Escoigne M4,PT,EP,BN red distinctions
The Buffs M4,PT,EP,BN buff distinctions
Lord Rakehell's M4,PT,EP,BN orange distinctions
2nd Brigade exh: 6
Bartleshire Yeomanry M4,PT,EP,BN white distinctions
Lestrade's Rgt M4,PT,EP,BN yellow distinctions
McAlpin's Fusiliers M4,PT,NE fusil caps & yellow distinctions
H.M.O.R.L.EB.5th.Fus. M4,PT,EP,BN white coats with red distinctions
3rd Brigade exh: 1
Shropshire Rgt M4,PT,EP,BN light blue distinctions

A word about the above things. These are set up for Volley & Bayonet. M4 is morale 4, not the greatest. PT means partially trained - nobody maneuvers in step. It's too new-fashioned for Saxe-Schweinrot (or Ober-Bindlestiff). EP means there's a grenadier company present. NE means no elites (McAlpin's are also the Marines). BN means battalion artillery present. H.M.O.R.L.EB.5th Fus. is Her Majesty's Own Royal, Loyal, and Excessively Brave 5th Fusiliers.

Unit name origins:
Lord Lovaduck - a Marx brothers movie
100-acre woods foresters - Winnie the Pooh
d'Escoigne-d'Escoigne - A Tale of Two Cities
The Buffs - all units with buff facings are REQUIRED to be called the Buffs
Lord Rakehell's - from my wife's romance novels
Lestrade's - from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories
McAlpin's Fusiliers - an Irish folk song about the navvies who built things in England
H.M.O.R.L.EB.5th.Fus. - a Hoka story
Shropshire Rgt - from a Daffy Duck/Porky Pig cartoon about the Shropshire Slasher!

The Horse
Household Brigade M6,HVY,SHK - blue cuffs
Buffs/Irish Mtd Fus. M5,HVY - buff/green facings
d’Escoigne M5,HVY - red facings

HVY means heavy cavalry, SHK means they get 'shock' in a melee.

Obviously the d'Escoigne regiment (on a VnB regimental stand) is the cadet branch of the family, hence only one "d'Escoigne".

There's also an artillery train of one light battalion of artillery.

Enemies & Rivals

2007-06-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

After much debate, and a couple of successful mini-campaigns, I've decided I have no choice but to create an opponent for Ober-Bindlestiff. This will be the neighbor, of course, Saxe-Schweinrot, whose flag features a red pig.

The basis of Ober-Bindlestiff is a hotted up Saxony in our world. This means a lot of suggestiveness and innuendo about the pecadillos of the ruling family. So what would be the basis of Saxe-Schweinrot? Well, the other day, while pursuing customer service problems in the town of Snohomish, I happened to pass by the Barbecue Shack with their cavorting pigs. Now these pigs were the subject of controversy because they were clearly cartoon pigs, and they weren't wearing pants!!!!!!!! Oh shock and horror! They also didn't "fit in" with the "ambience" of 1st Street in Snohomish, which is full of antique stores (and bars).

So the basis of Saxe-Schweinrot will be...(wait for it)...food.

Specifically barbecue. Now I belong to a couple of discussion groups on the web, and I've observed that nothing gets people worked up so much as barbecue sauce. It isn't politics, it isn't religion, it isn't sex, it's barbecue sauce. Perhaps that's because you can discuss it online in public with children and those of hyper-sensitivity present. Suffice to say, Saxe-Schweinrot will be based on food (and food jokes). Expect a few from the Food Network, too.
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All right, what does this mean for my armies? Well, first, I can make the division between the Maritime Powers and the Continental Power. The latter, of course, is Ober-Bindlestiff, with it's French/Spanish flavor (my troops are Marlburian). That means my English and Dutch will now become the basis of Saxe-Schweinrot.

This won't be a coalition, though. Just a lot of troops "in service" to Saxe-Schweinrot. Think of the Low Countries and the English, as well as the Dutch habit of hiring troops (in part to keep them out of the Service of France).

More to come later!

Foreign Matters

2007-06-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, foreign matters. In Ober-Bindlestiff the phrase 'foreign affairs' has quite another connotation entirely.

This announcement was just put forth by the Foreign Ministry:

"Yesterday, in a stunning rebuke of Franzonia, the Ministry of Fashion published a scathing review of the fashions paraded by several ladies of the court. Their dress and hair designers were ridiculed unmercifully, though the ladies were praised for putting up with wearing such trash. The taborets on their dresses were considered a finger-width too high for court wear, and several severe comments were made about the hemlines of their dresses rising so far as to only brush the floor. The Minister of Fashion allowed as how this was only to be expected of the designers to the Court, and expressed an earnest wish that in the future better designers more in tune with current fashion would be engaged."

This just in:

"The Minister of Fashion has deplored the bright shade of red on the heels of the shoes of dandies in the court of Saxe-Bearstein. However the Minister thought that if perhaps the ruler of Saxe-Bearstein were to not have such clean streets in his capitol, this would not be a problem. The Minister has directed that mud be offered (at cost!) to Saxe-Bearstein to help alleviate this problem."

Uniforms & Regiments of Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-06-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

The basic uniform color is white, though sometimes undyed wool is provided instead. All equipment is natural leather, but the longer a soldier stays in the army, the darker the leather will be. Stockings are part of the uniform. The coat is not turned back, but the cuffs are. Button color is the same as the hat lace.

In some regiments the officers will have reversed colors, as will musicians (though with more lace). Non-commissioned officers uniforms will vary from those worn by commissioned officers in the fineness of the cloth, tin instead of silver, and brass instead of gold. White tape and yellow tape line the hats.

Distinctions are found in: hat lace/buttons, stockings, lining of coat, and the waistcoat. Some of the fancier regiments (richer Colonels) will have lacing on the waistcoat in the button color. The regiments from Yon Province will have chords on the left shoulder in the cuff color.

Now for some specifics:

Foreign regiments will all wear colored coats. Blue is popular for the ones from the rest of "Germany", while "Red" are either the Scottish Regiments, or the "Regiments of the Isles". By the way, the Elector thought they said the "Regiments of the Aisles", so by special decree from the Electoress (to avoid confusing her husband), those soldiers are allowed to be ushers at whatever entertainment that has been organized by the Army. The one "Russian" regiment wears green, though it has been likened to mildew rather than the more solid green.

Native regiments, with the exception of the Electoress's Personal Escort, the Gondolier Regiment, and the Mistress's Regiment, wear white.

The Gondolier Regiment wears white pants and are bare-chested (oil is provided to give their chests that "sheen" the women delight in so much. The men are barefoot (of course). Entrance to the Gondolier Regiment is by competitive singing. Each company sings in a different key. The men must be able to pilot a gondola while signing.

The Electoress's Personal Escort wear leather, and the fewer questions asked about them the better, save that they are very thoroughly disciplined.

The Mistress's Regiment wear "Electoral Red", sort of a faded red that has been likened to a muted Polish Crimson.

Officers of the Auditor General's Regiment wear black, though the men wear white. The musicians of this regiment wear red. The cuffs/stockings, and linings are red.

Artillerists wear blue with red trim for the field companies, and white for the fortress companies.

Cavalry obey the same rules for clothes as the foot, except that some of the native units wear dark blue instead of white.

Generals wear any damned thing they please, but those who belong to the Gondolier Regiment as well may not wear their Gondolier Regimentals while accompanying any other troops.

There are grenadiers, and they, for the most part, wear a little mitre, except those that wear a fur cap.

Pioneers wear aprons and carry axes, though it is rumored that there is a contingent of pioneers in the Mistress's Regiment that have lace on their aprons. This is not a subject that is best brought up in front of those men.

There is a mountain regiment, but nobody remembers what they wear. There is some suspicion it might be light gray, or white, or brown, or something like that.

There are two Dragoon regiments. One wears yellow, the other green.

There are no light troops in the army. When asked about light troops, the Marshal-General had everyone weighed, and determined that no one regiment was significantly lighter than any other.
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Weaponry - the pike has been officially suppressed, so only a third of the army trails that noble weapon, and those units are not front line units. Everyone else in the Foot uses a fusil, except, of course, those units that use a matchlock. Horse relies upon swords, with each man carrying two pistols. Dragoons carry a carbine (as well as pistols), and have not only suppressed the pike, but discarded it as well!

Artillery carriages are painted in whatever color could be purchased in the depot city, which is why some are dark blue, and others are a dark red; all have dark iron fittings and bronze guns.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If we ever find the Navy we'll tell you what they wear.
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Court versions of all of these uniforms are fancier with more braid and feathers. Rumor has it that the Electoress's Personal Escort's uniform while attending the Electoress in her private quarters is much less than what is seen in public, with only certain strategic places on their bodies being covered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A complete listing of all uniforms by regiment was mislaid as recently as 30 years ago, so is probably incomplete. But if it is found, it should be illuminating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
None of this covers the militia, though they all wear white (white coat, white breeches, white waistcoat, white stockings), and have hats that are not turned up in a tricorne. The militia do carry pikes. They generally have muskets, too.

King's War

2007-05-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

This is the obligatory post about King's War, and is only indirectly related to Ober-Bindlestiff.

King's War is a set of pike & shot rules. It was originally written for the period 1660 to 1678, but was relevant to the closing stages of the Thirty Years War and the English Civil Wars. Later refinements now include Eastern Europe and the Turks, and go up to 1695.

A "unit" is a regiment/battalion of infantry, or a regiment of cavalry, or a gun battery. Foot includes shot, pikes, and those armed with melee weapons only. A typical regular foot unit is 12 shot and 6 pike on 6 stands of 3 each. A typical mounted unit is 3-4 stands of 3 each. Horse comes in cuirassier (3/4 armor and more), horse, lighter horse, and irregular horse. Dragoons in this period were a breed apart, often used on the fringes of the battlefield and in outpost work. They can dismount.

Units are grouped in brigades. Experience has shown that 2-3 regiments of mounted, or 3 regiments of foot make good, handy brigades. Turkish "brigades" are organized with 5-6 units, some mounted, some foot, some irregular horse, some "heavy" horse. Guns are either attached to the CiC, or to individual brigades.

King's War uses a card activation system. Each brigade has two cards. When a unit's card is drawn it can move and fight. When a unit gets into a melee, that is determined at the end of the turn. There is also a "Reshuffle" card in the deck that ends the turn (yes, it is possible for a unit to not move at all in a turn). The CiC (who has two cards of his own) can activate a nearby brigade. Thus it is possible for a brigade to move/fight at least three times in a single turn.

When a unit fires at an opposing unit, and hits it, that unit tests to see what it does. It is entirely possible for that unit to shoot back! The first unit, if hit, tests its reactions, and might shoot again! Thus we could have a nasty little firefight between a couple of units who lose sight of everything else around them as they hammer each other.

Hits are really disorders. If a unit accumulates enough disorders, it dissolves and flees from the field. Generals clear disorders. This is important because a unit with even one disorder on it cannot advance, and the disorders effect combat. My view is that a battlefield is a very disorderly place; it is very easy to get disordered, and takes time and trouble to straighten things out. By the way, there is no direct corelation between the number of casualties a unit has taken and disorder.

Movement - I like things simple, and I read accounts of battles where the generals and other officers went to a great deal of effort to make sure everyone moved at the same rate. The only ones who move faster are generals and cavalry charging. Everyone else moves 6" per turn.

Odds & Ends - Generals intercept their share of the metal in the atmosphere. When that happens, they roll to learn their fate. Be warned, you may get to gasp out some famous last words if a general is mortally wounded.

Melees are dealt with in the order in which they occurred, after the "Reshuffle" card is drawn.

There is a time limit on the game based on the number of cards played. Thus you don't quite know when the game is going to end. You may decide for some 'last turn heroics', only to find there is at least one more turn, and your units are hung out to dry.

The rules are available commercially. A local (for me) store is The Game Matrix in Tacoma, WA (well, Lakewood). Google them if you are interested in getting a copy of the rules. These are often played at local gaming conventions in the Pacific Northwest.

And before you ask, I've done testing of the system for later periods.

Personalities of Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-04-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Famous Personages

Hereditary Elector Karl Gustav Rurimondo Gaspode Klement Pavlovovich von Hither, XI (his mother was popular, and named him for every man who could have been his father—ironically, he doesn’t look like any of them). Commonly known as Karl XI. He is someone who enjoys a good time. Very conscious that he is the Elector, though he seldom stands on his dignity. He likes the jobs, especially the perks. He is fond of the palace wenches, most of who were chosen by Lucinda, his Senior Mistress, and are in her pay. If there is a party going on, he can usually be found at it. He likes to dance, and has been known to dance the night away.

Helga Matilda Marie Bridgitte von Hither, Electoress of Ober-Bindlestiff—known popularly as Electoress Marie. She is much given to thigh high leather boots, tight leather corsets, spiked heels and whips, all usually covered with black velvet (the fabric, not the drink, though she’s been known to cover herself with the drink from time to time and let her current suitor lick it up—well, she enjoys herself, and it’s a great honor for the young gentleman to be with her). She is referred to as “Mistress Marie” (though not to her face). The common joke in certain circles is that the Elector has two mistresses living in the palace. Not given to artificial beauty marks, she is petite, with soft blue-eyes, red-hair, and smooth, soft, porcelain like skin. She is originally from one of the more prominent families in Thither (Lucinda was her earliest and best friend, and still is, for that matter). She concerns herself with the domestic and economic well-being of the country (knowing more about money than most people in the country). She runs the palace with a “firm” hand (the palace staff is the most thoroughly disciplined palatial staff on the continent). She has been married to Karl ever since he was a young Erbprinz “with prospects”. She is considered quite charming by everyone who meets her at parties (especially the men), and has been known to flirt away an entire evening.
While she came by some of her recreational habits naturally, an earlier lover encouraged her interests in leather and some of the creative things that can be done with it. Her natural inclinations took her from there (much to the delight of most of the men in her life, especially her loving husband). She is the Colonel Proprietress of the Electoress’s Own Regiment of Horse, having auditioned and chosen the junior officers personally. She has inexhaustible endurance and imagination, and successful officer candidates must last the night with her, and still turn out in proper style for regimental parade the next morning.

Marshal General Stanley Bouffré—Commander of the Army. He is related to the famous Major General Stanley (Garrison Commander of Penzance in England) and Lord Stanley of Umbrage, Army Commander of Gottingen-Hoff. He is an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to music with, alas, a tin ear. As a result, the operas he stages are known for being loud rather than good. He has an on-going feud with most general contractors in the capitol as he keeps seeking to either add on to his opera house, or to build a new one. He is quite wealthy from having captured a baggage train almost single-handed during an earlier war, as well as having been gifted with various lands. When he’s not arguing with contractors, he is a student of the military classics, the earlier the better. When he was much younger he served under the famous General Count Raymondo Furioso. As a result, when faced with a military problem, he constantly asks what Count Furioso would do, then he tries to the exact opposite (which is probably why he is reasonably successful). He is married and spoils his wife tremendously (which she is not really aware of). He is one of the few senior people in the country who does not have a mistress (his lack of a mistress is considered an amusing eccentricity).

Count Rudolofo d’Extravaganza—Chancellor, Minister of Foreign Affairs (he is in charge of recruiting numerous mistresses for the nobility), and, incidentally, Governor of the Province of Yon. Of the Venetian Extravaganza’s, famed for his parties, his wit, and that he has a (very) distant claim on the throne as his family would inherit if something happened to the Elector’s family, something he is loathe to let happen as it would all be such a terrible bother. He is an elderly gentleman much given to writing bad love sonnets to his two mistresses. He plays the violin wretchedly but enthusiastically. He was chosen for his post, in part because of his diplomatic ability, and in part to give him something to do (otherwise, who knows what kind of mischief he might get up to). He is a tall, thin man with a balding head, a prominent Adams apple, and a taste for imported brandy. He gives an air of being amused by the world around him...generally, and is perceived by most people as a kindly man. He can also flay the skin from a subordinate’s back with a few well-chosen words, and hides a ferocious and impatient temper. In earlier years he served in a variety of diplomatic missions, from which he grew quite wealthy (he sold trading licenses to blockade runners in a previous war). He is the Colonel-Proprietor of Infantry Regiment Procurer-General.

Marquis Viscoso d'Serpente, Governor of the Province of Thither. He is a very private person, interestingly enough, he is a bit of an ascetic. He dresses in dull clothes, lives in a dull house filled with dull paintings, along with a dull wife and several dull children. His only hobby is peculation. He loves to play cards, having graduated from the University of Bindlestiff with a degree in Three Card Monte. He is the only senior member of the government who does not own a regiment.

Admiral Lord Sitandwait—Admiral General of the Navy (or what there is of it, we have one around here somewhere...don’t we? I thought I saw it last week, or year, or something) and Colonel in Chief of the Gondolier Regiment (he is a baritone).

Countess Lucinda Esmerelda Obrigata, Free Proprietress of Thither—Senior Mistress of the Elector. Known as Lucinda, or, to her friends, ‘Cinda. Never as Lu or Luci (or, worse, Luci-Duci)—the last to call her that was given the honor of leading an escalade of a fortress while in foreign service. She is the Colonel-Proprietress of Infantry Regiment Saint Jezebel. She is a lifelong friend of the Electoress, they grew up and went to school together in Thither province, and the story goes the Elector could not choose between them, so he chose both. Her official duties include providing the back-up heir in case the Electoress does not. She is also the official head of the Electoral House of Fashion, and as such helps design all the latest fashions. Scandalmongers have stopped whispering about her as she openly admitted that not only were all of the stories probably true, but they didn't know the really juicy ones. She is enthusiastic in practicing her duties, and is reputed to hand-pick all of the officers of her regiment. She is also in charge of all of the other mistresses, her office administering their incomes. She is a lush, dark-haired beauty, voluptuous in the Italian sense, though without the hips. She is much given to dressing in the daring peasant style, though she certainly likes her silks.

The Government

The government of Ober-Bindlestiff is comprised of three parts: the Privy Cabinet, the Select Cabinet, and the General Cabinet.

The General Cabinet is composed of delegates from each province (appointed by the Governor of that province and numbering 10 in number) who “advise” the Elector on matters concerning their own province. The Elector (sometimes) heeds their advice.

The Select Cabinet is composed of the Heads of the Departments of the Government: Foreign Affairs, Postal, Cultural and the Exchequer. They have the same power any Permanent Undersecretary has (which is to say, quite a lot).

The Privy Cabinet is composed of the members of the Government that the Elector wants to see at any given time. There is no standing membership in this Cabinet, except for the Exchequer.

Independent of these are, of course, the Army and the Navy. Administration of the Army is left in the capable hands of Marshal General Stanley, while Admiral Sitandwait manages the Navy (or at least he says he does). If someone can find our Navy, please send a post to "The Navy Society, The Palace, Ober-Bindlestiff". Please include a SASE for any reply that is made. Do NOT send it postage due as this will assuredly invite a hostile audit by the Auditor General of the Army.

Other Miscreants

2007-04-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Just a brief word today (you don't want to know how many times I fiddles with that post involving pictures). But another site to visit is:http://saxe-bearstein.blogspot.com for a look at another imaginary country. And of course if you have a sense of humor, and you enjoy gaming for the entertainment value, you might want to check out the Society of Daisy on Yahoo Groups.

Tomorrow (or the next day) I should have more about the Army of Ober-Bindlestiff, and may even include information about the Corps of Guards that accompany the Electeress wherever she goes. Suffice to say they are the most thoroughly disciplined unit in the army. And all goes well, I might have a word on the selection process for cavalry officers.

Pictures of Action!

2007-04-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Our intrepid photographers have provided us with pictures of troops from the countries that later would become Ober-Bindlestiff in action. This was during the War of the Bindlestiff Succession. As those who are gifted in math can figure out, this means it was probably the matchlock and pike era. Yes it is, and the rules in quesiton were King's War.

Here is a tense moment with battle already joined against the forces of Gehen-Sie-Broke. Due to the multitude of uniform styles and colors, it is impossible to say anything about who was on which side.

A different perspective of the same moment captured on celluoid (the Electress has banned the word cellulite from use in Ober-Bindlestiff -- miscreants who use it in her presence will have a 'C' branded on their tongue!). There must have been a strong wind, otherwise we would see smoke from the muskets.

For those in the know, the red chips are disorders on a unit, the more, the worse the situation, culminating in the unit falling completely apart and being removed from the battlefield.

Overview of Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-04-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Above is the Electoral Bunny, which adorns a great number of flags in Ober-Bindlestiff.

The Hereditary Electorate of Ober-Bindlestiff is one of those countries that just sort of happened. It is made up of a lot of little duchies, counties, free states, and other odds and ends that sort of got swept together into three provinces: Hither, Thither, and Yon. The core of the country is the province of Hither, but even this is subject to some confusion (the histories are silent on some of the details). The other two provinces were acquired as part of the Peace of St. Vitus-Where-He-Danced. There is a pleasant story that the Electorate gained the provinces because nobody else wanted anybody else to have them, but this can’t be confirmed.

The Electorate was originally the County of Gehen-Downtown. At that time the Elector was the Count Karl, Hereditary Count of Gehen-Downtown, an ancient family that traced its roots to the time of Frederick Barbarossa. During a campaign against the Infidel Khafooli’s, Frederick’s Army had settled in siege around the famous fortress of Khafanni-Khafooli. While the troops were laboring at their siege works, someone had the bright idea of holding skits to pass the time. Count Karl took part, and lampooned Frederick so thoroughly, and with such telling effect, that Frederick exploded in anger. He roared that Count Karl should “...go hither to his estates!” and banished him from the army, along with his entire retinue of playwrights, actresses, clowns, jugglers and acrobats. As a result Count Karl thought it necessary to rename his County Gehen-Sie-Hither.

Count Karl’s grandson married Esmerelda, the only child of the Hereditary Duke of Kommen-Sie-Often. Together they had four children (separately, 23), and were rumored to host the wildest parties seen since ancient times. Esmerelda, though, was insistent upon settling some sort of future on each of her children. She developed and practiced a shrewd diplomacy involving gauze curtains, breathless sighs, and tabarets that were a finger-width lower than those worn by other Countesses. Her personal diplomacy resulted in the elevation of her husband to the rank of Elector, and the position being made Hereditary. This was just in time for the Seventeen Year and Five Month War.

That war drew heavily upon the resources of the newly created Electorate. But the people of the Electorate were up to the requirements of modern war, and created some of the best baggage trains yet seen on the continent. And, mindful of the effects of their acting on Frederick Barbararossa, the skits and plays were always tastefully done and of the highest tone (the same, however, could not be said for the actors, actresses and card sharks that populated the baggage trains). The people of the Electorate grew rich on the war, many of the actresses sending money home, along with little bundles of joy. The infusion of money and noble blood enriched the Electorate beyond all expectations. Not only was the wealth of the peasants greatly enhanced by the war, but so were the various families.

The support role by the Elector’s people did not go unnoticed. When the peace conference finally opened, the Elector agreed to host it at the quaint town of St. Vitus-Where-He-Danced. The delegates were quite taken by the pure rustic charm of the town, and the (not so) pure rustic charm of the local maidens. There was one thorny issue that threatened to bog down the talks: what to do with two provinces that nobody else wanted. Each side did not want the other to have them. For a time it looked like the war would resume, but this impasse was brought to an end by a clever solution. It was proposed to offer them to the Elector of Gehen-Sie-Hither as payment for the sacrifices his people had undertaken in the common cause (the people of the Electorate had, by then, a very well developed self-promotion industry). Very few people commented on how both sides in the war were in debut to the Elector for support (his people had formed baggage trains for all armies).

The Elector demurred, at first. But then the spirit of noble self-interest broke out--by having three provinces, he actually was granted a non-revocable vote during the elections. He feigned reluctance as he took over rule of the provinces of Thither and Yon. At first he thought of using the same name for the newly enlarged electorate, but after some thought, chose Ober-Bindlestiff to commemorate the nomadic lifestyle of the people directly responsible for his newly created country.

Twenty-six years later the country was torn by civil war. The event was the War of the Bindlestiff Succession. For a number of reasons the Electoress had not produced an acceptable Heir. As given by custom, though, the first born son of an Official Mistress would succeed to the title. Unfortunately for all concerned, at the time there were several Official Mistresses who were great with child. Two happened to give birth on the same day, and both produced a male child. There was no record as to what time of the day these children were born, and this led to the disputed succession.

As a civil war, the WBS was a decided success. Both armies did their best to avoid each other (both sides were trying to be civil about this war, after all). Once, when both armies came to the same crossroad at the same time, one army civilly stopped to allow the other to pass. But the war spilled over the borders when a small but aggressive neighbor, the tiny Duchy of Gehen-Sie-Broke, attacked in an effort to seize a part of Ober-Bindlestiff.

Both Successor armies united long enough (they resented anyone intervening in a family squabble) to thoroughly thrash Gehen-Sie-Broke, winning a stunning triumph against inferior odds (though that is not the way it is written in the history books) at the famous Battle of Burg-und-Fries. Other battles quickly followed as the two Successor Armies took turns battering the army of Gehen-Sie-Broke. The battles roll off the tongue: Stadtdorf, Obersitzenflesch, Muhlhaus unter der Wasserdam (Millhouse behind the Watergate), until the Duchy surrendered to the Successor Armies. The armies, their reason for uniting behind them, resumed their campaign of march, counter-march, and demi-marche.

Meanwhile, in the background, negotiators were resolving the differences between the two sides. In the end it was decided that whichever of the two children would fill a diaper the most in a single day would inherit the country (this was called the Grand Poop-off--the official who presided at the event was later granted the ennobling title of the Grand Poop-bah, later shortened to Grand-Pooh-bah). The loser would be compensated by inheriting the now vacant throne of Gehen-Sie-Broke. The negotiators also decided that the latter Duchy would be merged with Ober-Bindlestiff when that successor died. This happened a few years later when the new Duke of Gehen-Sie-Broke died (fortunately without an heir) while he and his number two mistress were sporting on horseback. His fall settled any succession problems at once.

The current Elector (grandson of the successful pooper) assumed the at the age of 26. He concerned himself with many important affairs, among which can be numbered the affairs of state. He was married to his wife while both were of the tender age of 19.

Now let us look at the provinces in more detail.

Hither -
Technically speaking this is the County of Kommen-Sie-Hither, composed of the Barony of Gehen-Sie-Hither, the Barony of Hither-und-Dither, the Duchy of Kommen-Sie-Often and the Duchy of Gehen-Sie-Broke. Hither is a well-populated province, with an open, rolling countryside a (relatively) adequate network of roads, canals and rivers, a warm and sunny climate, and four major cities. The transportation system is best described as adequate. All four cities are developed, three of them are fortified, the same three recognize the legitimacy of the crown. The other city (Ripplestadt) houses the famous University of Ripplestadt. The same three cities are well-developed, Ripplestadt has well-developed coffee houses where wretched poetry and bad songs are served with the morning coffee. Ripplestadt also features more newspapers per capita than anywhere else in Ober-Bindlestiff. By decree of the University Chancellor, a free press has been instituted. Since, by that decree, all newspapers are free of charge, this has given rise to a flourishing pulp and paper industry, and the best practiced bankruptcy lawyers in Ober-Bindlestiff. Ripplestadt also has the least expensive printing presses in the entire country. It might be noted that the University is in the more elevated, up-country, part of the province, and, by decree, all university buildings are painted alabaster white (they couldn’t import enough ivory paint).

The people of west Hither (around the city of Grootdefeatfontein--see below) are sort of like the Dutch in that they are willing to negotiate anything, if the price is right. This has resulted in the one known festival in the west country, the Haggling Festival, where people haggle and bid on merchandise they could never hope to own. The people of central and eastern Hither tend to be fun loving, with numerous parties, festivals, and other holy days (the days spent celebrating the Festival of St. Bacchus are known as the High Holy Days).

Yon -
Yon is the furthest from the capitol (to the east), an open land with a pleasant (warm) climate and one major city. What is it about the people of Yon that mark them as different? Think distant relatives you aren’t normally wild about seeing. That is the attitude of the people of Yon towards the rest of Ober-Bindlestiff, and that is especially the attitude of the citizens of their provincial capitol, Ober-Jonder. The transportation system is the charitably described as execrable, though parts of it rise to merely wretched. Ober-Jonder is homogenized (more in the culinary sense than in the population--their chief products are cheese and milk duds). However they do recognize the legitimacy of the ruler--perhaps the fortifications have something to do with that, perhaps it was the way in which the Elector acquired them. The city fathers (in every sense of the word) are currently in competition to build the biggest Opera House in the country, bigger than the one they completed two years ago. It won’t be as big as the famous Yodel-Hall, home of the Yonder Yodel Hall Corps d’Ballet. However, the new Opera House will be big enough to seat hundreds of people in moderate comfort while they listen to the works of the great Masters (Barney and Siegfried Masters). The new Opera House also features the first bronze spittoons (not that cheaper brass) in the whole country.

Thither -
Thither lies between Hither and Yon. This province is definitely difficult going, with lots of small valleys and thick woods with poor transportation (think eastern Kentucky), and one city, Polka. Geographically Thither is the largest province of Ober-Bindlestiff. Thither is also known (at least in Hither Province) as the back country. It is part of Ober-Bindlestiff simply because it never occurred to anyone that they could be part of any other country. They are also somewhat conservative in their manners, and cling to their allegiances with a stubborn pride that does not even allow a hint that they might be better off somewhere else. The people of Thither are a rustic, simple people, who practice a hedonistic lifestyle full of feuds and in-breeding. Every valley seems to be a separate political entity. Their chief exports are sons (hired out as mercenaries and servants in everyone’s army), daughters (the girls of the local “nobility” are trained in all of the arts of the coquette at the various Convents of Our Lady of the Night, Saint Jezebel, the other orders make some of the best domestic servants in the country, and apply their own native talents to their domestic “duties”). They also produce strong liquor made from tree bark and other unidentified vegetable matter, and some of the finest nosewhistle players seen this side of the north pole.

Many touring companies of actors and musicians can be found in Thither, where they are “honing their skills” before trying to land a gig in the capitol.

The people of Polka recognize the legitimacy of the ruler, their attitude being “If he leaves us alone, we’ll leave him alone”. This equitable arrangement has been a pleasant working relationship between the rulers and the ruled for years.

Cities:
* Ober-Jonder - the capitol of the province of Yon. It is fortified, and the people prefer the current ruler of the country to most others, perhaps recognizing that others would intrude into their private lives and thus be worse.

* Krashtinkeldorf - this is located in Hither province. It is the home of several world-famous porcelain factories, and currently the only place where commemorative plates are manufactured (be the first to collect all six of the set “Famous Mule Teams of Thither”). Krashtinkeldorf was originally composed of two smaller towns (Krash and Tinkel) divided by the Splash River. The porcelain factories are in Tinkel. The people of Krash annually celebrate the Great Cattle Fair by driving their cattle through the streets of the city (both cities, actually). Young men demonstrate their bravery by running in front of the cattle, attempting to incite them to stampede. In this they are usually successful.

* Polka - the capitol of Thither Province, and home of the (in-)famous Polka Opera Company--it is not often you hear opera sung with an oompah backbeat (provided by accordions and accompanied by horns) while dancers in clogs perform in the foreground. Truly it is an...experience. This city is unfortified, just hard to get to due to the primitive transportation system. It is a city only because all of the local competition is not. Polka is also a religious center, and home to several Holy Orders that practice salvation through penance in old age. Of course one can only achieve salvation by having sins one can repent, so the early part of one’s life (the first 30-40 years) is spent accumulating those sins that one can repent later in life. Polka is also home to Our Lady of the Perpetual Audit, a very poor religious order that preaches salvation through double-entry sinning--you must commit sins to offset all the good deeds you did when you were an innocent young child (and ideally end up with just one sin outstanding for man is a sinful creature). This Order also teaches double-entry bookkeeping to those who are interested (which is very few). Polka is also home to the famous Pig-Squealing Contest, in which contestants are supposed to squeal like a “stuck pig”. Pigs are provided, gratis, as a comparison for this contest.

* Grootdefeatfontein - in the western part of Hither Province. Named for the most stunning defeat the country ever had (at the hands of the Khafoolistani’s who looted it during the Great Pirate Migration of only a few hundred--well, several hundred--years back). The city of Grootdefeatfontein is the home of most of the Anabaptists in the country, who obviously prefer their sins without the patina of religious blessing. The city is the banking capitol of the country, and is located on an estuary (or what passes for one). This dour people do not have Opera companies, or Chorale groups, or any other form of entertainment (except taverns, of course). This is the home of the country’s Mint Works, producers of mints and other confections that are created from produce drawn from the nearby countryside. The city is a hereditary fee-for-service city (as opposed to other cities, which are Preferred Provider), which means you pay as you go rather than as you get...serviced...by the local monopolies. As a result it has very flourishing market dealing in anything that can be traded (the famous Black Market, so named for the black soot that covers the walls of the buildings. These are from fires--did I mention that Grootdefeatfontein has the worst fire department in the country?). It is ruled by the Stellenbosch family (who later emigrated to South Africa where they founded a Pension and Half-Pay Club for British officers, but that is another story). Their ruling concept is that you can do anything you want, provided you bought a license for it, first (in later years this will be known as licensed anarchy). This even includes overthrowing the Stellenbosch family (the license for that is very very expensive). Grootdefeatfontein is the terminus for the famous Worsted Fiber Route that tried to carry Worsted Fiber to Cathay in exchange for silk (it was not a financial success). As far as cities go, it is even reasonably developed--the streets are paved, there is a sewer system (of sorts), and they have recently installed street lights (red in certain districts...well, most districts). The city is known for having the least crime in the country, the various large financial houses and major families hate freelance competition.

* Grösser Bindlestiffdorf is, no surprise, the capitol of Ober-Bindlestiff. This is the city home of the Elector (well, his winter home). This city has more concert halls and stages per capita than any other city in Ober-Bindlestiff. The city is well-developed (both in the citizens as well as in the city infrastructure; the city is famed for its breastworks, both those of the city's fortifications, and also with the distaff side of the population), featuring a sewer system, paved streets, street lights, and a large number of breweries and wineries. The city is a leader in chocolate, wine, and has a flourishing trade in crème de menthe. The city is also well-known for linen, lace and gauze production. Spring is the favorite time of the year as that is when the new fashions are displayed by the fashion salons of Ober-Bindlestiff, many featuring the aforementioned lace and gauze. Every year the latest fashions are displayed in a series of Spring Fashion shows. These clothes have recently caused a great deal of comment. Men now can add padding to their silk stockings, while the hemlines of women's dresses have scandalously risen so they only brush the ground, rather than drag on it. The bust lines on dresses have plummeted to the point that chills in the evening are a very real possibility. Life in Grösser Bindlestiffdorf features many parties, festivals and other entertainments.

* Ripplestadt is the home of the University of Ripplestadt, and was formerly the capitol of Gehen-Sie-Broke. The city is divisive and poorly developed. Every proposal to fortify the city is turned down by the Elector’s government; in case of student riots (a tradition in Ripplestadt) the government does not want any fortifications for the students to hide behind. The government has stated openly that anyone who conquers Ripplestadt will take it, but they doubt they can keep it--they believe that garrisoning the place to hold the students down would take more troops than anyone could afford. Aside from the University, Ripplestadt is famed for a large number of taverns, cabarets and dives. These often feature bad poetry, worse folk-singing, and very bad musicianship. There are other entertainments offered in Ripplestadt appealing to the baser instincts of the student body. There is the pleasant story that there is more drinking done in Ripplestadt than by the rest of the populace of Ober-Bindlestiff put together. This story is repeated very often by the purveyors of the city’s only domestic product, Ripplestadt Ripple.

Creating Ober-Bindlestiff

2007-04-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

The hobby of wargaming has many interesting side quirks, not the least of which is the creation of imaginary countries. This dates back to the days of Brigadier Peter Young and Charles Grant, and their two imaginary countries that were locked in a perpetual struggle for supremacy somewhere in Germany. The reasons for this are many, but let's focus on why I want to do it.

I get to design the country the way I want to. I don't have to worry about a past history, or other historical baggage that might get in the way of enjoyment. This means I get to write the history, and it can be as serious, or as absurd as I wish it. And the country can contain as many odd little ins and outs as I want. It is, after all, my sandbox, and there were more than 300 tiny little German countries in the 18th Century. Who's to say this couldn't have happened?
When I design the country I can do as many stupid and silly things as I want; for example, have a Royal Mistress's Regiment with their pink coats. Or have clerks who mismanage the paperwork in creative and amusing ways.
I get to design the uniforms. This can be great if you like fanciful uniforms. Or it can be as simple as settling on white, and coming up with regimental names. By the way, I chose the latter. Though there might be an English contingent, probably expatriates. They aren't Irish, so they aren't Wild Geese. Oh, let's try something else. All right, these are the Wild Robins who left England (it's before 1708 so it isn't Great Britain) because of...well, that's their secret.
I can be a monarch, at least in my own mind. This strikes some people as dangerous fantasy. But why is this worse than pretending you are the Doom Warden of the Western Marches in a D&D game. I know, that's a game. So is this. Only this doesn't have any rules; I make those up as I go along. But being a monarch means being as extravagant as possible (Louis XIV). For example: the army is such a bother -- feed me, pay me, clothe me, always me, me, me! Never a thought for their poor ruler with his three palaces, a mistress, and all of the other obligations of royalty.
I can write the history (which I've done). That can be entertaining in its own way.
It gives me an excuse for wargaming. As if I needed one anyway.

My earlier attempts at creating an imaginary country brought forth two: first, my Napoleonic country, Gottingen-Hoff, which was sort of a French country. And second, my Bronze Age city state Kwazituya (pronounced "What's-it-to-ya").

The latter was one of those small city-states that could muster a lot of warm bodies, a few chariots, a few real troops, and otherwise kept to itself in the fervent hope that Egypt or the Hittites would ignore it. Gottingen-Hoff was part of a larger continent that included my arch-enemy, Quackenbruck, and a number of "allies", Methylonia, Doff, and Pfaffenhoffen. These were part of an on-going campaign, that was done by fighting the battles, and then creating the campaign that led up to the battles. In an inverted way, it worked.

By the way, why France in the Napoleonic wars? Why not somebody else? That was because I felt more comfortable with the methods and techniques of the French Army, not because of some awe of Napoleon. I "fought" my Napoleonic battles in a French style, and so I settled on a French country. I later tried adapting to an Austrian style for my 6mm figures; that is another story. But wargamers fight their battles in distinct styles. There is nothing sadder than watching somebody flounder with a system they are not comfortable with; see my earlier reference to Austrians in 6mm.

So it is early in the 18th Century. Ober-Bindlestiff, an electorate somewhere in Germany, has a history, has an army, a government, and a many and varied population. It has a government based on the more lurid versions of the Court of Versailles and the Electorate of Saxony, only without the poisoning. More details will be forthcoming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now a word about related matters. I'll be linking to other blogs with their imaginary countries, and I hope to be putting up pictures of the army. I settled on Marlburian because I've been on a Marlburian kick for several years, and have a lot of figures for it in 15mm. Besides, this is before the Prussians upset everyone's applecart by actually getting serious about war. Oh, and it also takes me from 1702 to 1755. Focusing on the Seven Years War only gives me about, well, seven years.

Rules - yes, what's wargaming without rules? For mid-18th Century I've used Warfare in the Age of Reason by Tod Kershner and Dale Woods; used it, as a matter of fact, for a long long time (since 1983 I think), and even wrote the siege rules for them. For the period of Ober-Bindlestiff, I use Volley & Bayonet, 2nd edition, playtest copy as modified from the Age of Frederick for the Marlburian period. My modifications, by the way, but everybody seems to agree with them. My reasons for using these rules are many and varied, and I won't get into the particulars here.

Links - as I get them I'll link. But as a first cut, this is from Ambrowsehawk: http://frankzonia.blogspot.com/ via the Society of Daisy. There will be others as I sort through all of this.