The Wargamers' Annual 2020 Has Arrived

The new Wargamers' Annual 2020 by Charles S. Grant and a host of other wargamers .

My copy of the Wargamers' Annual 2020 ("Annual") arrived in the mail today. Charles S. Grant organizes and edits the Annual each year and it is published by Partizan Press. I am a regular contributor the Annuals so I get to have a brief moment of fame when one of my articles is published therein.

This year's Annual is a full-color 72-page publication with articles by 12 wargamers from around the world. While it is an eclectic collection of articles on various subjects, I am particularly pleased and honored to see that Minden Miniatures and Crann Tara Miniatures are prominently featured throughout the book:

Invasion 1744 (Part 2) by Graham Cummings. The article continues Graham's account of a  hypothetical French invasion of Britain during the War of Austrian Succession. As you can imagine, there are lots of lovely Crann Tara figures on display.

Let's Get...Small by Jim Purky. My article talks about skirmish level wargames for the Seven Year War in Europe. Again, what a coincidence, there are lots of pictures of Minden Miniatures throughout the article.

My Summer Painting Challenge Diary by Stokes Schwartz.  Stokes recounts his painting challenge to paint a large battalion of Minden Prussian grenadiers - the challenge being to finish all of the figures within one month.

The variety of articles covers historical eras such as Alexander the Great, the ECW, WW1 air battles, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, British Colonial Sudan adventures, the Spanish Civil War, Romans vs. Gauls, and how to build your own dice tray.

A quick perusal and thumb through of the book indicates that there are a lot quality, well-written pieces and I plan to employ my usual strategy of reading it cover to cover, starting with the very first article and working my way in exact page order until I reach the end. Thus my first read is Dale Smith's "Chaeronea 338BC" article. The game played out historically with the Macedonians defeating the Greeks, however, Alexander was not so great this day.

At the end of the book, there is more eye candy with the "Vignette Challenge" in which authors and/or readers submit the historical vignettes that they have painted and based. And finally, Charles mentions how walking historical battlefields contributes greatly to his understanding of the battle and he has issued a challenge for someone to write a piece about visiting a battlefield today.  Hmm, I just might take up that challenge for my article in the 2021 Annual.

Campaign Books by Charles S. Grant

Continuing on with our discussion of war gaming with Imaginations, as inspired by Peter Young in "Charge" and by Charles Grant in "The War Game", I thought that it would  be helpful to provide an overview of of six mini campaign books written by Charles S. Grant (fils) since 2008. These can be played with Charles' rules book "The War Game Rules" which were written in 2012 or with your own favorite set of rules.

A quick note about The War Game Rules; these are a recent update of the war game rules from the classic, The War Game" and have been amended and updated for today's wargamer and reflect more than 40 years of play testing, innovation and development. Now some of you might be thinking that these rules are of the "Old School" genre, but that would be far from the truth. These are very modern and current rules that represent a considerable amount of research and development by Grant fils in more recent years, making them as "modern" as any other set of SYW rules that you could purchase in the market today.

Mini Campaign Books by Charles S. Grant

 Let us now look at the titles that Mr. Grant has penned since 2008:

* Raid on St. Michel (2008)

* The Annexation of Chiraz (2009)

* The Wolfenbuttel War (2012)  and The War Game Rules (2012)

* The Siege of La Crenoil (2013)

* Attack on the Junger (2014)

* Border Raid - Pillage in Procraster (2015)

Each of these books feature the long standing struggle for power between the Grand Duchy of Lorraine (GDL) and the Vereinigte Frei Stadte (VFS). The Lorrain forces are modelled after those of France while the VFS armies represent a fairly tight agglomeration of small principalities, republics, city-states, duchies and similar entities. Some of these nations bear a similarity to the Prussian army.

In recent years, Charles has been adding actual historical units of French and Prussian/Hanoverian regiments to his armies.

The Margrafin of Wolfenbuttel

The driving force in the long running rivalry between the GDL and VFS seems to be the the Margrafin of Wolfenbuttel (known as "Tutzi" to her friends), who wears the pants in the family if you will. She has a bone to pick with the Grand Duchy of Lorraine because her young husband, the Margraf, died in one of the wars and so she has sworn undying enmity against Lorriane. It is the Margrafin (I don't know her well enough to call her Tutzi) who is constantly plotting with the generals of the VFS to launch an aggression against the GDL. She is responsible for launching the pre-emptive attack in the Wolfenbuttel War (only to have her pre-emptive attack, itself, pre-empted by the armies of the GDL. She seeks reveenge in the Siege of La Crenoil, but finds that her plans are scuppered once again and again (Attack on the Junger). 

The Raid on St. Michel

The first book in the series takes five Table Top Teasers and rolls them into a mini campaign for the 18th Century. Color cover with black and white pictures inside (ensuing books were published in full color).

The book starts with a brief background of the forces in the campaign as well as mini biographies of the commanders of the respective sides. The general theme is that the forces of the VFS are crossing the border and making a raid on the Lorraine provice of St Michel. Throughout the book, Charles Grant has written up some newspaper articles for the local papers of Lorraine and the VFS. These are fun to read and they add quite a bit of color to the mini campaign, giving it some extra context for your games.

The first teaser is "The Bridgehead" that is reminiscent of the Battle of Blastof Bridge."

The second teaser takes place several days after the Bridgehead and is titled "Rear Guard". A small force of Lorraine defenders are attempting to buy time for the garrison of St Michel to get ready for the forthcoming attack.

The third teaser is the actual battle of St. Michel. Having successfully crossed the border and swept aside the Lorrain rear guard, the VFS army has arrived in front of St Michel and are preparing to attack.

Teaser four is called "Counter Attack on the Bridgehead" in which a separte a separate Lorrain force not involved in the battle of St Michel attacks the VFS guard at the bridge in an attempt to cut off the main VFS army from its line of communication.

Teaser five, the final action, is called "Heading Home". The VFS army, having captured and looted the town of St Michel, is heading home with a wagon train full of the treasury of the town. This is a fun river crossing scenario that you will find challenging and fun to play.

The Annexation of Chiraz

The principality of Chiraz is in the uncomfortable position of being georgraphically located between the Grand Duchy of Lorraine and the VFS. This land has been fought over for several centuries and we find, once again, that the aggressive VFS is up to no good in this mini campaign. It seems that the heiress to the throne of Chiraz is expected to marry a nobleman from the Lorraine court and this would undoubtedly lead to a de facto annexation of Chiraz to the Grand Duchy of Lorraine. Obviously it would be in the best interest of the VFS to prevent this from happening.

Teaser number one is called "Seizing the Arsenal at Petresville" which calls for the VFS to attack this walled town and capture the gunpowder arsenal to deny its goods to the opposition.

Teaser number two "Invasion" is a pontoon crossing battle that will encourage you to purchase a lot of our Fife & Drum Miniatures pontoon wagons and pontoons (LOL!).

Teaser number three is "The Encounter at Drew" which is another battle to capture some bridges at a key river crossing.

Teaser number four is "Return to the Arsenal at Petresville" which features a relief force of Lorraine troops that are trying to recapture the gunpowder arsenal.

Teaser number five is "The Defense of Cressay" in which another Lorraine army is defending the town of Cressay from the attack of another VFS army.

The book includes battle accounts in each teaser and ultimately the Grand Duchy of Lorraine ejected the VFS army from Chiraz.

The Wolfenbuttel War

In my previous post I made reference to this book, having read it during my recent vacation, and what a good read it was.  The campaign is a thinly disguised play of the Hundred Days leading up to the Battle of Waterloo. Actually, it is not even disguised as Charles states upfront that the scenarios and battles are the actions at Ligny, Quatre Bras, Wavre and Waterloo. 

The battles can easily be played as stand-alone games or linked together in a campaign. For example, losses in a battle are deducted from each regiment and the reduced numbers of men are carried forward into the next battle. Grant provides instructions on how to set up the campaign and manage it without too much paper work.

I have to say that The Wolfenbuttel War is my favorite book of all the campaigns.

The Siege of La Crenoil

This mini campaign has six stand alone scenarios based upon the progress of a fictiitious siege, with rules to run the seige itself, so this is a very useful book. 

Once again we have the VFS as the aggressor, conducting another crossing of the rivers that separate the Grand Duchy of Lorraine and the VFS. The VFS is still smarting from their loss of the Wolfenbuttel War and seek revenge by invading the Lorraine province of Chantilly.

The scenarios are as follows:

1) The Run for the Fort

2) Storming the Grammon Ravelin

3) Attack on the Siege Park

4) The Sally

5) Storming the Breach (the Forlorn Hope)

6) Fight Through the Town (two versions)

As you can see from the scenario titles, there are plenty of ideas for actions associated with a siege from building trenches, sally attacks on the siege lines, storming the breach in the walls and the bloody fight in the town.

Attack on the Junger

This mini campaign features two small actions, two medium size actions and finishes with a large battle. So there is something of interest for everyone.

Once again the VFS army is on the march into the Lorraine province of Chantilly, but this time it is led by the legendary General Fritz von Tarlenheim. Will the VFS finally have some success in its never ending war with the Grand Duchy of Lorraine?

1) Surprise Attack at Haux

2) The Attack on FALOUX

3) The Action at Tasque

4) The Battle of Haux

5) The Battle for Blaise - Day One and the Day Two scenarios.

Border Raid "Pillage in Procrastor"

The Margrafin of Wolfenbuttel and her entourage were captured in the previous campaign and imprisoned in La Crenoil, ironically, for breaking the terms of surrender of the VFS army in the previous campaign. Well, that should seem to put an end to all of the VFS aggression, right? Oh come on, you know the answer to that question. The high council of the VFS has decided to make a quick dash into the neutral state of Procraster and seize its herds of fine horses so as to deny them to the army of Lorraine.

Day One - The Raid Begins

Day Two - A Gathering Storm

Day Three - Actions and Ambush

Day Four - The Chase

Day Five - End Game

I shall not reveal the outcome of this mini campaign other than to say that it consists largely of small actions that are both interesting and won't take long to play.

Conclusion

Well, there you have a review of the six campaign books penned by Charles S. Grant (fils). I hope that you have found my review of interest and that you will want to purchsae one or more of these mini campaigns to play out on your own table top.

In the United States, you can purchase the books from On Military Matters while in the UK, Caliver Books is your go to source.

Finally, I would reiterate the point that you do not have to play all of these battles and actions as part of a campaign. Each scenario can be played independent of the campaign and provide a nice variety of small actions, medium sized engagements, and large battles - something for everyone.

Even if you are not interested in campaigns or scenarios, the "eye candy" quotient is extremely high with lots and lots of color pictures of 18th Century armies (I'm pleased to say that there are many Minden Miniatures gracing those pages.)

A Compendium of the Charles S. Grant Publications

Two of the Charles S. Grant books from his most recent series, "Refighting History."

A Grant battle always features big battalions of 53 figures and cavalry regiments of 27 figures. The above picture depicts one of our "Batailles de l'Ancien Regime" (or BAR for short) battles last year. Our 60 figure battalions and the rules are inspired by The Wargame Rules, in part.

In the course of looking up some information in one of Charles S. Grant's books, I started to write down the various titles of his books and publications so that I could go back and find articles or stories that I might be looking for in the future. So I figured that I might as well post that list on this blog so that others could benefit from it too.

The list does not include any of Grant's books on the Napoleonic Peninsula War, Egypt or any of his books on Marlborough.

The Wargame Series

"The Wargame" - originally printed in 1971 by his father, Charles Grant, and reprinted in 2007 by Ken Trotman.

"The Wargame Companion" - (2008 - Ken Trotman) a paperback supplement to the original "The Wargame" book. This is one of my favorite Grant books because it provides a lot of the background story to the original book and is chock full of anecdotes about his Father and Peter Young that will bring you a good chuckle or two.

"The Wargame Rules" - (2012 - Ken Trotman) a paperback publication that puts all of the original rules found in the book, The Wargame, and includes all of the rules additions that the Grant family has added over the years. With all of the rules adjustments, the rules have advanced far beyond the "Old School" designation and are a modern set of rules that are a joy to read and easy to play.

Wargaming In History Series

These were a set of 12 hard cover, full color books published by Ken Trotman from 2009 through 2015. Seven of the titles were writen by Charles S. Grant and cover 18th Century topics, other than one title for the Peninsula War. The first two volumes were co-written by Phil Olley, with Grant going solo after that.

Volume 1 - Krefeld, Sandershausen and Lutterberg - 1758 (2009 - Ken Trotman).

Volume 2 - Dettingen, Fontenoy and Laufeld (2010 - Ken Trotman)

Volume 4 - Hastenbach, Rossbach and Leuthen (2011 - Ken Trotman)

Volume 5 - Minden, Kunersdorf, the Action at Torgau and Maxen

Volume 7 - Peninsular Actions (2012 - Ken Trotman)

Volume 9 - Lobositz, Reichenberg, Prague and Kolin (2013 - Ken Trotman)

Volume 11 - SYW Small Actions (2015 - Ken Trotman)

Battle Games Magazine and related Publications

"Battle Games Table Top Teasers - Volume 1"  (2008 - Battle Games Publications). 

This is a set of 12 of the Table Top Teasers that appeared in Battle Games magazine. It features a reprint of the articles, but then does something unique: employes a group of wargame writers to play the scenarios on their own and then report how their game went.  Many of the teaser reports conveyed the scenario to a completely different historical period. For example, my contribution takes a SYW action and transfers it to a battle during the American Civil War.

Battle Games Issues with Grant's Table Top Teasers

Issue 1 (March/April 2006) - Pontoon - using pontoons in river crossing scenarios.
Issue 2 (May/June 2006) - Can you demolish "The Bridge at Kronstadt"?
Issue 3 (July/August 2006) - The Tactical Use of Forests in Your Wargames
Issue 4 (September/October 2006) - Plunder and Pillage - a raid scenario to fetch supplies
[NOTE: this issue also contains a marvelous article about a refight of the Peter Young "Battle of Sittangbad" from his "Charge"book, that accurately recreates all of the forces and terrain featured in the Charge book.]

Issue 5 (November/December 2006) - Trouble on Treasure Island - a lighter Beer & Pretzels game.
Issue 6 (January/February 2007) - Napoleon's troops rob Egypt of Ancient Antiquities
Issue 7 (March/April 2007) - River Convoy, or "Messing About on the River".
Issue 8 (June/July 2007) - Seize the Pass, "The Battle of Soggy Bottom".
[NOTE: this issue also has an article about a recreation of the Grant "Mollwitz" scenario at Partizan. Grant himself participates in the game and brought all of the original plastic Spencer Smith figures that featured prominently in the book, "The Wargame".]

Issue 9 (August/September 2007) - Turning the Flank, or "Losing Two Fords".
Issue 10 (November/December 2007) - Siege Train, or "Caught on the Move".
Issue 11 (January/February 2008) - Insurgency, or "All's Well That Ends Well".
Issue 12 (March/April 2008) - Fighting rearguard actions.
Issue 13 (May/June 2008) - Fighting withdrawal, or "Over the hills and far away".
Issue 14 (July/August 2008) - Reconnaissance in Force
Issue 15 (September/October 2008) - Visitors with Intent. 3 different sides, each with own agenda.
Issue 16 (January/February 2009) - Confrontation on the Islands. Crossing 2 islands in a major river.
Issue 17 (March/April 2009) - A Dashing Rescue. A small skirmish raid style of game.
Issue 18 (July/August 2009) - Breakout! or "Tonight there's going to be a jailbreak".
Issue 19 (September/October 2009) - Gaining the Initiative (by Charlie Grant) - a battle that carries over to a second day's new action.

Issue 20 (November/December 2009) - An Affair of Outposts - an introduction to map moving.
Issue 21 (January/February 2010) - Night Moves. Preliminary action leading to main action.
Issue 22 (March/April 2010) - The Defense of Twin Peaks. A desperate rear-guard action.
Issue 23 (September/October 2010) - Cavalry Encounter. An exciting all-cavalry scenario.

Going forward, Battle Games were only numbered by issue number, without the month dating.

Issue 24 - Run on the Bank, or "A Bridge too Far?" This is the last Grant Table Top Teaser to appear in Battle Games, as Charles needed to devote more time to his growing book publishing commitments. Going forward, Battle Games used the Table Top Teaser format in a new series called "Command Challenge". Similar to TTT, but writen by different authors, including several that I wrote.

Refighting History Series

After Ken Trotman ceased publishing new books in 2015, Charles started a series of larger format hard cover, full color books that are published by Partizan Press. The first three titles (I assume that more are in the works since this is an on-going and active series) are listed below:

Volume 1 - SYW Fighting Withdrawals (2016 - Partizan Press)

Volume 2 - WAS Mollwitz, Chotusitz and Sahay (2016 - Partizan Press)

Volume 3 - WAS Hohenfriedberg, Soor and Rocoux (2016 - Partizan Press)

Charles S. Grant's Mini-campaign Series

Charles has developed and published (via Caliver Books) a series of six mini-campaigns, each of which are independent of the others. Each campaign has five Table Top Teasers that you can play linked together in a campaign, or fought as an independent scenario.

This is a nice way to fight a series of related battles in a short period of time, wherein the results of the earlier battles bear on the troop strengths of the succeeding battle. The campaigns generally involve Grant's own Grand Duchy of Lorraine (France) army fighting the Vereingte Frei Stadt or "VFS" for short (Prussia and its Electoral allies), but one could easily substitute one's own SYW armies or any other Horse and Musket period wars and armies.

"Raid on St. Michel" - (2008 - Caliver Books) a collection of 5 table top teasers.

"Annexation of Chriraz - (2008 - Caliver Books)

"The Wolfenbuttel War" - (2012 - Caliver Books) a mini-campaign based on the 1815 Waterloo Campaign, but played with SYW era armies.

"The Seige of La Crenoil" - (2013 - Caliver Books)

"Attack on the Junger" - (2014 - Partizan Press)

"Border Raid - Pillage of Procraster" - (2015 - Partizan Press)

The Wargamers' Annual

In 2009, Charles commenced publishing an annual magazine on wargaming which featured written contributions by an All-Star list of wargamers including Phil Olley, Barry Hilton, Stokes Schwartz and many, many more including, ahem, myself. I apologize for leaving anyone's name off of this short list. The magazines were probably inspired by the ones that Duncan MacFarlane did for his Wargames Illustrated publication (these were the four issues with the yellow covers). All of these new Annuals are published by Partizan Press. In 2014, Charles had so much content available that he added a second Summer Special issue for each year.

2010 - Volume 1 Annual for 2010 (78 pages)
2011 - Annual for 2011 (88 pages)
2012 - Annual for 2012 (88 pages)
2013 - Annual for 2013 (increased from 88 pages to 112 pages)
2014 - Annual for 2014 (120 pages)
2014 - Summer Special for 2014 (72 pages)
2015 - Annual for 2015 (72 pages)
2015 - Summer Special for 2015 (72 pages)
2016 - Annual for 2016  (72 pages)
(there might be a Summer Special, but I am not sure of this)


Links to Book Reviews that I have done on my blog

The following is a list of book reviews (click on the links to my blog reviews) that I have done on my blog. It looks like I need to do a few more:

Wargaming in History Volume 1

Wargaming In History Volume 4

Wargaming in History Volume 9

The Siege of La Crenoil



Conclusion

Well there you have, nearly all of the articles and books writen or published by Charles S. Grant listed in one place and at your disposal to find and peruse. For a long time I had been trying to find the TTT scenario that I finally found in Issue 17, so in the course of gathering all of the information, I happened to stumble upon the scenario, much to my joy.

There are probably a number of other Charles S. Grant articles that I have missed, notably those prior to 2008 when I first became acquaited with Charles' articles and books. I like his writing so much that I will usually buy the books sight unseen, because I know that the content therein will provide many enjoyable hours of reading or the playing of wargame scenarios. There are some other Grant articles in Practical Wargamer magazine, which is now out of print, edited and published by Stuart Asquith.

I continue to be enamored by the continuing conflict between the Grand Duchy of Lorraine and the Vereingte Frei Stadt armies. I am a bit partial to the VFS side of the frey since it has a Prussian-like quality to it. I have no doubt that there will be many more books to add to this list in the future.

mm

Minden Cavalry Pix

Minden cavalry in the employ of the VFS surge forward to confront the forces of the Ducy of Lorraine, from the collection of Charles S. Grant (click to enlarge)

Mass cavalry melee from the collection of Charles S. Grant (click to enlarge)

I am rather quite taken with the above pictures that Charles Grant took of one of his battles. Not withstanding that most of them are Minden figures, the pictures really conveys what the SYW is all about: orderly ranks of soldiers, tricorn hats, colorful flags and uniforms and a few other intangible factors.

I have recently adapted the Grant idea of dividing my cavalry regiments into two or three smaller squadrons of figures, ranging in size from 8 horse to 12 horse. The effect is to create more cavalry units on the table that adds a more realistic ebb and flow to the cavalry melee as compared to operating the same number of figures as one larger regiment. This is not a new idea, by any means, as I've seen it work to good effect in Peter Gilder's In The Grand Manner rules for Napoleonic warfare. I'm not as familiar with The Wargame Rules by Grant Pere, but I imagine that cavalry were used in squadrons in this set of rules too.

We have also been using cavalry squadrons in our big battalion games using Bill Protz's Batailles dans l'Ancien Regime ( or BAR for short) going back to 2005 -- gosh it doesn't seem like it has been that long ago when Bill and I started adapting his Drums of War Along The Mohawk rules for the SYW. I can recall one game, Lobositz, that we hosted at the Little Wars convention in the Chicago area and it was probably the most fun that I have ever had at the war game table. 

Two lines of Austrian and Prussian squadrons would meet in the center of the field; some would win and pursue into the next line of infantry or cavalry; others would rout or retire back to their own lines. If you planned things correctly, then you had a reserve of squadrons waiting to stop the enemy break through, or exploit the success of your own cavalry. It was like the ocean surf ebbing out and back in. You never knew what was going to happen next.

At one point during the battle, Frederick, who was perched atop the Homolka Mound with his artillery, watched in horror as his own dragoons fled between the cannon, pursued by a pack of Austrian hussars. Fortunately, two squadrons of the Garde du Corps intervened and hurried the hussars back to their own lines.

That was some kind of day.

Book Review: Wargaming In History Volume 9

My own, well-thumbed through copy showing a little wear and tear on the corners of the dust jacket. The picture on the cover depicts the Battle of Lobositz.

I received my copy of Charles S. Grant's latest wargame book, Wargaming In History - Volume 9 (SYW),  last November (2013) and I have been remiss in not getting around to giving it a review. The book covers the first battles of the Seven Years War in 1756 and 1757 and include Lobositz, Reichenberg, Prague and Kolin, so this book dovetails nicely with Volume  4, which covers Hastenbeck, Rossbach and Leuthen. Taken together, Volumes 4 and 9 virtually cover the whole opening campaigns of the SYW.

Grant usually begins his books by giving the reader a peek into the structure and organization of his famous VFS and Grand Ducy of Lorraine armies as well as any new ideas or tweaks that he has developed for The Wargame Rules. Volume 9 starts with a discussion of rules changes covering the use and deployment of grenadiers and his new cavalry organization (the same number of figures as before, only now they are organized into two squadrons). Additional comments regarding "dead ground" and how it is handled in the rules is also discussed.

Next part, the pictorial section covering the Grant wargame armies, is usually my favorite section of the book. This time, Charles does not fail to please as he provides pictures of some new elements, such as Sappers Pompier (firemen), the artillery train and siege park (with some rather stunning pictures of the whole siege park), various support wagons and camp scenes. The reader will find a lot of useful ideas that are worth stealing, um, er, I mean, borrowing, for one's own armies.

Part III - Lobositz

The battles of Mollwitz (1741) and Lobositz (1756) are probably the signature Grant family wargame battles/scenarios, as they were the ones featured in the original version of The War Game. While I have only played Mollwitz a few times, I never get tired of playing Lobositz. The book begins with the historical background to the battle accompanied by some of  Christopher Duffy's maps, a complete order of battle for both sides of the conflict and some present day pictures of the important Lobosch Hill. From here, Grant lays out the wargame scenario for fighting Lobositz, complete with game maps so that the reader can copy the scenario to his own tabletop. Included are victory conditions for both the Austrians and the Prussians.

Finally, we get into the meat of the game with a battle report of the scenario, as played by Grant and his  daughter, Natasha (commanding the Prussians). The battle played out over the course of two days and encompassed 30 game turns before reaching resolution.  I am happy to report that Natasha led the Prussians to victory.  I count eleven color pictures of the battle in progress and the large "Wargame Rules" battalions look very splendid indeed. How could one not be inspired to try the Lobositz scenario after reading this chapter of the book.

Part IV Reichenberg

The next scenario covers the battle of Reichenberg, fought on April 21, 1757, between von Bevern's Prussian column and the Austrian general Konigsegg. As many of you probably know, Frederick invaded Bohemia in the spring of 1757, descending into the province with four separate and converging columns of the Prussian army. Their objective was to link up near Prague and fight the decisive battle of the war and hopefully end it right then and there.

This was a smaller battle than one usually finds during the SYW, with 14,000 to 16,000 soldiers per side. The battle occurred as a prelude to the battle of Prague and is one that does not get a lot of mention or coverage in either the history books or in the wargaming forum. Thus Reichenberg will be a new battle for many of the readers, which makes the book worth the purchase for this reason alone.

This time, Charles and Natasha switch roles, with Charles commanding Bevern's Prussian army and Natasha conducting a fighting retirement from the defensive position at Reichenberg. Again, I am happy to report that the Prussians won the wargame, just as they did the historical battle.

Part V - Prague

Prague is a significantly larger battle than the previous two scenarios in the book, and so Grant describes how he approached the task of boiling the battle down to a suitable action on the wargaming table. The scenario focuses on the far right flank of the Austrian army, as it shifts the facing of its battle line to counter Frederick's attempt to march around the Austrian flank. This scenario involves a lot more cavalry than either of the previous scnearios, and some of the pictures of the massed regiments of horse in hand to hand combat are truly stirring stuff. The battle follows the familiar format of presenting the historical background, the order of battle for the historical forces, a description of how Grant reduces the forces to create a "doable" tabletop game, and finally, a description of the actual wargame augmented by lots and lots of pictures. As with history, the Prussians won Prague again, but the Austrians gave a good account of themselves and it was certainly no cake walk for the Prussians.

Grant reports that his new grenadier and cavalry rules received a good work out in this game and that they produced the intended results. Dividing the cavalry regiments into smaller squadrons seemed to have the desired effect of creating more ebb and flow to the cavalry melees and so I am tempted to apply some of these ideas to my own rules and armies and see what happens.

Part VI - Kolin

I have refought Kolin on a number of occasions (at least 4 times, if I recall correctly) and the battle is a large one that includes a number of problems in its transference to the tabletop. Charles rightly focuses the scenario on the Austrian right wing, near Krechor village, rather than trying to set out the terrain for the entire frontage of the Austrian position atop several hills. Grant gives us two different Kolin scenarios: one is the larger attack on the Austrian right flank and the other is a smaller scenario that involves the fighting in and around Krechor village (called "Clearing Krechor"). The latter scenario will probably interest the majority of gamers as it is a smaller action that requires fewer miniatures to play, thus making the game a doable event for most wargamers.

Part VII - Cavalry

The next section of the book covers aspects of cavalry in the mid 18th Century augmented with 13 colour plates drawn by Bob Marrion - wonderful plates and very useful as uniform painting guides.

Part VIII - More on Cavalry & Grenadiers

In this section, Charles provides more detail about the changes in the cavalry organization that he is now using for The Wargame Rules. While the regiments still retain the 24 troopers and 4 officers organization, he now divides the regiment into four squadrons of 7 figures. He then explains how the changes affect a cavalry charge in the rules so that you can implement the changes into your own games. There are also sections regarding "the first volley" and the new organization of grenadiers in the rules. This section is also sprinkled with more pictures of Charles' grenadiers in their converged battalions.

Conclusion

Well there you have it - a rather comprehensive review and overview of Wargaming in History - volume 9. I heartily recommend adding this book to your collection if you have an interest in the Seven Years War. You get orders of battle for all four of these important battles, ideas for converting the OOBs into wargame scenarios, after action reports, and lots and lots of colour pictures of big battalions of Minden Miniatures, RSMs, some Eureka Miniatures, and probably several other brands. If you buy Volume 9, I would also recommend buying Volume 4 so that you can tack on Rossbach and Leuthen scenarios and have the whole 1757 year in wargaming.

Minden Inventory Arrives In the USA

Royal Ecossaises in French Service. Minden Miniatures from the collection of Charles S. Grant.

I have been busy unpacking five boxes full of metal castings that Frank Hammond shipped to me last week. There is a final shipment of three more boxes that are scheduled to arrive early next week. At this point in time, I have everything in stock NOW except for the British and Hanoverian infantry, the Prussian Personalities, and the French Hussars.

More Minden Miniatures from the Grant Collection. Click picture to enlarge.

So the Minden Store is open for business. For now, you will have to give me a description of what you want and the quantity, just like you did when you bought your figures from Frank. I am working on assigning product code numbers to every Minden figure in anticipation of building a web site with an on-line shopping cart capability. We hope to have the new web site completed by the end of November 2013, but in the interim, you can find the information that you need for ordering on the new Minden Miniatures with Fife & Drum blog.

The New Minden Miniatures with Fife & Drum blog

Austrian Musketeers, work in progress Regiment Andlau, painted by Der Alte Fritz. click to enlarge.

Prussian Regiment von Winterfeldt

I hope that you enjoyed some of the eye candy that I have posted here today.

The Siege of La Crenoil, by Charles S. Grant

Cover photo of Charles S. Grant's new book on his siege warfare and related campaign

Just before departing for Historicon a couple of weeks ago, I received a packet from the UK containing a copy of the latest work from the prolific pen of Charles S. Grant: The Siege of La Crenoil, Fleisher's Revenge and only now have I had an opportunity to look at the book in detail.

The purpose of the book, of course, is to guide the reader through the inner workings of how to conduct siege warfare on the table top and then tie it into the on-going war between the Grand Duchy of Lorraine and the Vereinigte Freie Stadt (or "VFS" for short). The thought of trying to replicate sieges on the war game table has always intimidated me to a degree, as I held the preconceived notion that such games are inherently complicated. Smack me on the side of the head for that, because Mr. Grant proves that siege games are easy to play and that there is a wealth of scenario ideas that can be played out on the tabletop that are both challenging and fun.

The frame work for the siege campaign lies in the mid 18th Century war between Lorraine and the VFS, circa 1754. The book picks up where the preceeding book, The Annexation of Chiraz left off. The Grand Duchy of Lorraine had spoiled the VFS's attempt to annex Chiraz and they then launched a counter-strike into the state of Wolfenbuttel (see Grant's book The Wolfenbuttel War ), leading to a humiliating defeat of the VFS. Now the leaders of the VFS are plotting their revenge which will see their army advancing into Lorraine territory to invest the key trading city of La Crenoil.

The book then lays out seven Table Top Teasers, all linked one to the previous TTT, which enables the game to string together an informal campaign that can be played out over time (weeks, months etc). The Teasers are all done in the usual Grantian manner or format, beginning with a brief background to place the scenario into a context, followed by a description of the terrain and tabletop layout, a description of the forces that are available to each side, and finally, a set of victory conditions for each side. Grant then follows up with a brief after action report of the scenario, which helps to convey to the reader how to play the scenario and how it might turn out.

TTT #1: The Run For The Fort sees General Fleischer leading a small strike force to cut off a Lorraine supply convoy before it can deliver its supplies to the soon to be invested city of La Crenoil.

TTT#2: Storming The Grammon Revelin has the VFS attempting a daring night attack on a key defensive position of the city's works and an escalade of the same.

TTT#3: Attack on the Siege Park finds the Lorraine forces mounting a daring raid on the VFS artillery park, with the hope of disrupting the timing of the VFS siege.

TTT#4: The Sally - Lorraine forces stage a raid on the nearly-completed VFS siege trenches, hoping to cause maximum damage to the entrenchments.

TTT#5: Storming the Breach (The Forlorn Hope) there is a practicable breach in the city's walls and a VFS forlorn hope force must attack the breach and gain a lodgement in the town so that the rest of the VFS army can storm the city.

TTT#6-V1: Fight Through the Town sees the final storming of the city by the VFS.

TTT#6-V2: Fight Through the Town is a variation of version 1.

The book concludes with some examples of how to wargame the siege and how to organize a simple  (i.e. easy to play) campaign that leads to the siege of the town.

Charles S. Grant illustrates his book with plenty of wonderful color pictures of the two armies in action, and I daresay that I am suitably impressed by the depth and detail of the armies that he has built up over the past 5 or so years. There are vignettes galore and unusual wargame units such as the La Crenoil Fire Brigade, the VFS pioneers and siege train forces. The book concludes with a glossary of siege terms (something that I find very helpful) and a pictorial section featuring some of the famous leaders of both armies, such as the VFS leaders General Fritz von Tarlenheim, Brigadier General Pottsdorf, General Fleischer, Brigadier von Sprackel and of course, the Margrafin von Wolfenbuttel-Oldenburg (otherwise known as "Tutzie"). The Lorrain leaders include General Count Chambrey, Major General Louis Reynaud and Colonel Remy Martin.

As you might guess, I am very impressed with this book and am glad to include it in my collection of wargame books. You can never go wrong with a book produced by the Family Grant and this one should provide hours of fun and reading and/or playing entertainment for you. Now, I had better start getting to work on my entrenchment terrain pieces so that I can start the business of trying out one of these siege games.

The Erbprinz Arrives in the Vereinigte Freie Stadte Capital of Kranz

The Erbprinz Karl Friedrich (center) with the captain of his Garde Jager escort (left) and his ADC, Captain Jakob Berkebiel. Click photo to enlarge. The Erbprinz is a Minden Miniature British officer painted in the uniform of a Hesse Seewald general.

One of the two companies of Garde Jagers of the Hesse Seewald army that provided an escort for the Erbprinz in his recent journey to Kranz, VFS.

Today a message arrived by courier to the Herzog Friedrich von Hesse Seewald announcing the safe passage and arrival of his son, the Erbprinz Karl Friedrich in Kranz, the capital city of the Vereinigte Freie Stadte ("VFS"). The Erbprinz has been sent to the VFS to learn the art of military science from one of the prominent military captains of the 18th Century, Baron von und zun Trinksblut und Eisenessen.

There is much rejoicing in the Ducal Palace at Gotha, as there were some concerns that the Erbprinz's party might be ambushed by agents of Herzog Wilhelm von Sachsen Raschstein. See the picture below for some of the naer-do-wells who were trying to find the Erbprinz:

Bercheny Hussars on the prowl for the Erbprinz's traveling party. These are Minden Miniatures -- the new French Hussar figures -- painted by and in the collection of Charles S. Grant. Click to enlarge.

*********************************************

To His Excellency the Herzog Friedrich von Seewald of Hesse Seewald


Sir,

I am delighted to report to Your Excellency that the Erbprinz Karl Friedrich has just arrived at Kranz and presented himself to the Military Council of the Vereinigte Freie Städte. I am bidden by the Council to say that he is indeed most welcome.

His recent experience during the campaigning against the vaunted Gallian army during the recently concluded War of the Saxon Duchies will stand him in good stead and we look forward to his first had account of this campaign.

The Erbprinz Karl Garde Jäger have made a very fine impression. They are exceptionally well equipped and make an imposing sight. I understand that I have been invited to review them in training once they have settled into their barracks and I very much look forward to this.

At this stage I cannot provide details but I can assure Your Excellency that both the Erbprinz and his Garde Jäger will find themselves on in action before too long.

Your Servant

General Baron von und zu Trinksblut und Eisenessen

Austrians at Leuthen

Austrians draw up battle lines around the Leuthen churchyard. Front Rank Austrians provide the garrison and support. Buildings, trees and roads scratch built by Herb Gundt. Click the picture twice to enlarge.

We received our first appreciable amount of snow last evening in Hesse Seewald, so even though it was but a slight dusting of the white stuff, my thoughts are turning to the Leuthen campaign in December 1757. I was scrolling through my iPhotos archives and found some nice pictures that I took of the Leuthen game that Bill Protz and I ran at the Seven Years War Association convention in 2010

I have also been reading Charles S. Grant's "Wargaming in History - Volume 4" covering the battles of Hastenbeck, Rossbach and Leuthen of late. I carry a copy in my brief case and read it during my one hour train commute from Hesse Seewald to Potsdam, which I do every day.

Charles S. Grant's book on Leuthen etc. published in 2011 by Ken Trotman Ltd.

I really enjoy the way that Charles tackles the subject matter: starting with a brief historical overview of the campaign, an order of battle for the actual forces and another OB that downsizes the historical forces into a manageable pair of wargame armies, and then finally, a summary report of the battle. Of course, each battle is illustrated with wonderful color pictures of Charles' wargaming armies and I do enjoy the pictures of Charles' "big battalions"  (53 infantry figure battalions and 24 cavalry regiments).

Charles' breaks down the battle of Leuthen into two separate wargames: Battle One is the attack on Nadasty's Corps on the Austrian left and Battle Two encompasses the main Prussian attack on the village of Leuthen. Given that the required depth for the wargame is greater than the size of the average gamer's table, Grant develops a "rolling battlefield " terrain concept that is pretty neat to behold. As the Prussians advance on the town of Sagchutz, Grant removes the terrain behind the Prussian attack and advances the terrain forward by resetting the location of the village and the opposing battle lines. This process is made easier if you use terrain tiles on your tabletop because you simply pick up one row of tiles and place them behind the Austrian line to "advance the table". I thought that this was a very clever way of tackling the problem of table size.

A similar rolling terrain concept is used for the larger Battle Two so that the Prussian assault on the  town and Lucchesi's cavalry charge can be depicted on the same tabletop.

I know that it is probably too late to order a copy of the book in time to place it under the Christmas tree this year, but if you do not have a copy then take it from me, you will truly enjoy Grant's presentation on how to bring these large battles into the home as easily played wargames. More later...

Wargaming in History - Book Review

On saturday I received a long awaited shipment of books from Ken Trotman Ltd. ( www.kentrotman.com ) containing the latest book written by Charles S. Grant, with Phil Olley, titled: Wargaming in History Volume 1 The Seven Years War, Krefeld, Sandershausen and Lutterberg - 1758. This is a hardcover book of 140 pages published by Ken Trotman and promises to be the first in a series of books that are designed to emulate the old Knight's Battles for Wargamers series that were published in the 1970s and early 1980.

Here are some of the particulars: the book is divided into five chapters (An Introduction to Wargaming; The Seven Years War; the 1758 Campaign in Western Germany including the battle of Krefeld; the Campaign to Sandershausen; and the battle of Lutterberg). The text is complemented by 29 color photographs of the three battles in various stages of progress and 17 original colored drawings by noted wargame illustrator, Bob Marrion. There are also 5 campaign maps and 3 wargame maps showing the reader how to set up each of the battles as a table top action.

Each of the battles has a different and unique focus. The first one, Krefeld, is a large set piece battle that will appeal to anyone with a bias towards the big battles (you know, someone like me). The second action, Sandershausen, is a smaller delaying action that can be fought in its entirety without scaling down the historical forces in order to fit everything on the tabletop. And finally, Lutterberg is a big battle, but is an example of how to take a smaller slice of the battle and convert it into a wargame scenario for almost any table size.

Let me just come out and say it, this is the best wargaming book that I have ever seen, and read, and I think that it even surpasses The Wargame by Mr. Grant's father, Charles Grant. I am certain that ten or twenty years from now there will be wargamers who talk about how this book stimulated their interest and excitement in wargaming as a hobby. It is that good.

Mr. Grant's writing style is a pleasure to read and has a conversational style that makes the reader feel like he is there in the game room having a chat with the author. One of the things that I like about the book is the way that Grant provides the reader with the background to the battle, then he goes through the explanation of how he would wargame said battle. There follows a narrative of the game in process, with both Grant and his partner, Phil Olley, talking about how they approached the tactical problems of the game and how the outcome compared with their expectations. Sometimes a game narrative can become a plodding affair to read, but not so in these three battles. I think that many a reader will go back and want to read the accounts over and over again.

And did I mention the high "eye candy" quotient in this book? There are 29 color photagraphs, by my count, composed and photographed by Phil Olley and each picture is a little gem. Charles Grant recounts how he has had to replace his venerable Spencer Smith plastic figures, due to brittleness and breakage of the plastic over time, with RSM and state of the art Minden Miniatures figures for his French-like army of the Grand Duchy of Lorraine. Phil has opted for an all Front Rank Figures army of Prussian-like Pils Holstein infantry and cavalry. Both armies are colorful to behold and grace some simple, but fabulous looking terrain.

It is fun perusing the photos in detail and picking out some of the famous buildings made by Grant Pere that we all came to know and love from The Wargame and from countless Tabletop Teaser articles. Grant Fils is equally adept at constructing wonderful looking buildings and terrain pieces - like father like son, it is all good.

Finally, I should make mention of the color illustrations drawn by Bob Marrion. These are found in a section titled, "A Taste of the Exotic" and cover the various light infantry and cavalry that fought in the small Kleine Krieg actions during the war. Subjects include full color treatment of Prussian freikorps units, Austrian Grenzers, French light troops and some Hanoverians. Each picture would make for a suitable painting guide for any wargamer.

There are no shortage of good things that I can say about this wonderful book, so I shall conclude by simply stating that if you like wargaming (especially the 18th century), then you need buy this book and add it to your collection. Like me, you will probably find it hard to put down and you will read and reread it over and over again.