New Game Room Expansion

The new two table set up.

In the picture above, the far back table has two new LED light banks installed to improve the lighting over the table. It is hard to tell from this picture, but the back table adds more light and I am pleased with the results.

I had taken down the back table and stored it away to create space for the electrician while he was installing the new lights. See below. So to the left of the center table you can see that there is no table. Compare to the picture at the top of this page to see the difference.

The one table set up.

The tables are currently set up for my 40mm Sharpe in Spain game that I am contemplating running at this year's Fall In convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The original plan was to stage the game on one 15ft by 6ft table. I wanted to get an idea of what the terrain would look like if I used two 15x6 tables. See below:

Here is a view of the second table and looking towards the main table in the back of the photo.

Here are some closeup pictures of some of my Sharpe in Spain terrain.

Sir Henry Simmerson leads his South Essex regiment on a mission.
Does Simmerson actually do any leading?

A river runs through it. The river runs across the width of two tables.

Commandante Theresa leads her Spanish guerrillas across the open terrain.

Sharpe and Harper cross the bridge of the Coa River. Rifleman Harris provides covering fire.

The Monastery of Santiago. All parties are headed to this location to find the treasure.

A smaller Spanish farm

The main town of Montego.

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My Peninsula War Terrain Circa 1810

 

Spain during the Peninsular War circa 1810

Click on the pictures to enlarge

I set up my Spanish terrain for Napoleonic games in the Man Cave last weekend and I have been adding little bits and pieces this week. My plan is to really take this terrain up a notch or two, striving for some model railroad style layout.

I want to thank one of my regular blog readers for donating a copy of the book "Setting The Table - Mediterranean Terrain". There are a lot of great ideas in the book and I will be working on some of the terrain bits that are shown in the book. One of my goals is to do a purpose-built terrain board for the Battle on the Coa River. I have to build up some of the boards to a height of 6-inches so I am not sure that these boards will be suitable for transport to conventions such as Historicon, but we shall see. The boards will have to be no larger than 6ft wide by 2ft long, otherwise they will be too unwieldy to handle.

Here are some pictures of some of the terrain pieces that I currently have. I made the large rock formations several years ago based on the techniques outlined in the Setting The Table book. Large chunks of tree bark are used to create the rock effect. I also made the road sections. The buildings are made by Herb Gundt and the war game figures are from Connoisseur Miniatures. The French cavalry are from Elite Miniatures. The rubber river sections are from Novus Designs, a company that has gone out of business. The water pieces look nice and grab your attention, but I think that a darker green or black color with lots of varnish would look more natural.

The table shown measures 6ft wide by 12ft long and it represents the type of smaller table that I plan to take around the convention circuit in 2026. You can achieve some amazing results when you add lichen to your table.

Here is a view of the whole table. The buildings in the foreground were made by Herb Gundt.

Spanish windmill made by Herb Gundt

I really like this picture of British light infantry clashing with the French on the bridge.

A few rocks were added to the scenery. I picked these rocks up while walking the dogs.

I like the look of the bridge that connects two pieces of mountain terrain.

Elite Miniatures 28mm Polish lancers trot down the road.
I like lancers - they are a weakness of mine.

I think that I have focused in on doing this game with 40mm figures and running it at the skirmish level. For larger level games (battalions and regiments) I will use 28mm figures.

I have some 40mm samples on order from Sash and Saber, Perry, and Battle Honours and I am looking forward to painting some of these figures. If that doesn't work to my satisfaction then I can always stick with my 28mm figures.

I briefly thought about doing this project with 54mm plastic figures, but it is probably time to give the 54s and double tables a rest for a year or two. I think that the novelty of my large games is beginning to wear off as I wasn't able to fill up my Little Wars and Historicon Hannibal games to the published ten players (although I had 8 players in the games and this proved to be the right amount of players for the game).

I do enjoy making my own buildings and the lure of Spanish buildings in 1/32 scale for 54mm figures is still appealing to me.

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40mm Vistula Lancer 3D Printing

 

While at Historicon this year I found a company that sells 3D printed figures for the Napoleonic Wars. Since they are 3D printed figures, they can be scaled to a variety of sizes. I bought one 40mm Polish Vistula Lancer because it looked like a figure that I would enjoy painting. And indeed I did.

The figure is a bit brittle noting that the left foot broke off on the way home, whilst carefully stored in a cardboard box. Accordingly, I can't see jumping into 40MM Napoleonics and using any brand of 3D printed figures. There are a couple of other brands that also have the same problem, but I don't care to name the names because I don't know enough about the printing process to talk intelligently about it.

I have to say that these are very attractive looking figures and my mouth drools over the thought of looking at a 24-figure regiment of these Vistula Lancers. Fear not, I don't intend to jump into 40mm Napoleonics. I know that there are a few of you are doubting me on this and I completely understand why.

On the other hand, 54mm Napoleonics...

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Return of Marshal Soult - Part 2

The Battle of Rio Mondego Continues

Well let's see, when we last saw the intrepid brigade of Brigadier Alexander Sinclair at the Battle of Rio Mondego, it was close to being driven off of the front table and back onto the center table in our war-game  (originally played on Saturday March 5, 2016).

As always, click or double click on each of the pictures to see an enlarged view of the action.

Sinclair advanced the 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment onto the first table to relieve the beleagured 94th Regiment. The remains of the 94th are off camera to the right of the 45th.

It seemed like the French always drew the first fire card each turn, so the 45th  Regiment  received casualties almost immediately after it crossed the aisle onto the left-hand table in the game.

Eventually the French compel the 45th Regiment to retire back to where they came from. Mermet brought up his battery of 8-pounders to create more discomfort for the Red Coats.

Meanwhile, in the center of the table, the French division of Delabord was coming on in the usual style - l'ordre mixte.

Sinclair forms a new line to protect the road leading to the harbour at Cabo Mondego, where the Royal Navy transports await.

By the time that Sinclair had established a new line of defense on the center table, anchored by a small village on his right flank, it was readily apparent that victory would go to the French.

The Swiss Regiment Arrives (its first battle) - Elite Miniatures painted by John Preece for the collection of Bill Protz

The Swiss Regiment, shown above, entered its first battle as a wargaming unit, and thankfully, they did not come under fire.  They can observe the battle carnage that preceded them, shown via the casualties that are laying on the ground.

It was a fun and well-fought game by both sides, but at the end of the day, Marshal Soult (the Duke of Damnation) and his French prevailed over Major General Pettygree's outnumbered British army. As I mentioned above, the cards were not friendly to the British, who rarely drew the first firing card on any given turn, but sometimes it is just not your day.

My French opponent, General Mermet (Kurt B.) did a masterful job of utilizing his voltigueurs to great effect - they came after the British not just in single companies, but rather in whole clouds or swarms of skirmishers. My previous opponents had never used their skirmishers in such a matter (much to my relief), but Mermet knew what he was doing. On several occasions, I had to waste my first fire bonus on the skirmishers, rather than saving my fire for the columns of advancing formed infantry. The only way to drive them off was to advance towards them, forcing them to fall back. However, this then exposed the British to the fire of the French battalions.

I have no idea what was going on at the other end (right and center sections of our line) of the table. I gather that General Delabord smacked the Royal Horse Artillery around quite a bit and drove off all of the British cavalry. Delabord's French division was following up fast on the heels of the survivors. Pettygree's Red Coat infantry seemed to be holding its own in the center  (off to Sinclair's immediate right flank).

The Butcher's Bill

Here are the roster returns of Brigadier General Sinclair's brigade at the conclusion of the battle, once they were safely aboard the Royal Navy transport ships.


45th Regiment: 34 casualties out of its original strength of 72 figures (47% casualties)

94th Regiment: 48 casualties out of its original strength of 84 figures (57% casualties)

83rd Regiment: 17 casulaties out of its orginal strength of 84 figures (20% casualties)

5/60th Rifles: they were scattered to the winds, maybe 50% losses?

Grant's section of 9-pounders RA: 2 casualties out of 12 figures (17% casualties)

You can see that the 94th took a hard pounding from the French, as it was the unit deployed the furthest forward and was faced off against two or three battalions at a time. It was my plan that they should be sacrificed to delay or stop the French for a few turns in order to buy time for Pettygree's infantry to march down the road to Cabo Mondego. Then the 94th was to fall back to a prepared second line where the other two regiments would take on the French. The 45th came to the aid of the 94th and got mauled as well, losing 47% of its effectives. The 83rd Regt. was held in reserve, but still took 20% casualties.

Post-game, I rolled dice to see what the fate was for the casualties. On a D6, a roll of 1-2 was Dead; 3-4 was Wounded; and 5-6 Recovered. After the Dice Gods spoke their piece, the following results were achieved:

45th Regt. = 6 dead, 6 wounded and 10 recovered. 60 of 72 original figures survived to carry on and the 6 wounded would come back eventually. So killed represented only 8% of the orginal 72 figures.

94th Regt. = 8 dead, 13 wounded and 14 recovered (nice die rolling there!). So the killed represented 10% of the original 84 figures.

83rd Regt. = 7 dead, 4 wounded and 8 recovered or 8% of the original 84 figures died in the battle.

Thus the cumulative brigade totals, after recoveries and wounded, were 22 dead, 23 wounded and 32 recovered or about 9% of the original 240 infantry died at Rio Mondego. The wounded will eventually come back after a couple of months and rejoin their units. Were we to have another battle in a month or two, we would deduct the dead and wounded from the regiments at the start of the game.

We haven't played a BAR Napoleon game in several years and so I was glad to have the opportunity to bring the lads out onto the table once again. I hope that we get another chance to play some more Iberia games in 2016. One of our regular British players moved to Florida and with him went 4 or 5 British and Portuguese regiments, which severely depleted the forces that are available to General Pettygree. So unless some reinforcements arrive soon from Olde Blighty, the Duke of Damnation may soon be taking up quarters in Lisbon. We can't have that.

Never fear, Major General Pettygree and Brigadier Sinclair will march again, so be sure to come back here (probably in June or July of 2016) to see what happens next.

Return of Marshal Soult in Iberia - AAR Part I

Marshal Soult

Marshal Soult, the Duke of Damnation, gave the British army of Major General Pettygree a bloody nose and a rough handling yesterday at the Battle of Rio Mondego in Portugal.

Map of the Iberian Campaign south of the Duro River - March 1810.

The previous game in our Iberian Campaign had been the Battle of Aveiro, just south of the Duro River and Oporto. Marshal Soult's French army had crossed the Duro and met the British army commanded by Major General Pettygree at Aveiro.

You can read the account of that battle by clicking on the link below:

Battle of Aveiro

While that battle was somewhat of a draw, the threat of Pettygree being outflanked and cut off from the south by a French Corps commanded by Mermet, caused the British to make an orderly withdrawal south, where they took up a new position south of the Rio Mondego river. Pettygree was ordered to march to Cabo Mondego where his army would meet up with the Royal Navy and be transported back to Lisbon.  As such, the British mission for the wargame was to retire all of their forces to the port at Cabo Mondego where they would board transports provided by the Royal Navy.

The initial table set up and terrain are depicted in the three following pictures. The advance guard of the British army, commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Sinclair (45th, 83rd, 94th and 3 companies of 5/60th Rifles plus Captain Grant's two-gun section of 9-pdrs of Royal Artillery) was tasked with stopping or delaying the attack of two French division under the commands of Mermet (left wing of the French army) and Delabord (center).

A makeshift earthen redoubt was occuppied by the British 4th Regiment, which was tasked with guarding the two bridges across the Rio Mondego. The river was not fordable in the center table, hence the importance of holding the bridges open until Pettygree's army could pass.

The Coast Road to Cabo Mondego - you can see the main body of Pettygree's army marching toward you. 

General Pettygree (right) watches as the French division of Merle advances on the near side of the Rio Mondego. Brigadier General Sinclair's advance guard of the British army has deployed a regiment (94th Foot) of infantry and two companies of 5/60 Rifles in the copse of trees.

Sinclair elected to deploy one regiment of foot - the 94th (Scotch Brigade) on the lefthand table to delay the French advance. His remaining two regiments (45th and 83rd) were posted in reserve on the center table along with Grant's battery of RA. The 45th Regiment can be seen below, nearest to the table edge, while the 83rd was kept in reserve near the port of Cabo Mondego to keep the road open to the rest of the army.

The port of Cabo Mondego can be seen in the center background. The Royal Navy transports would be waiting here for Pettygree's army.

All of this quiet was soon erupted as the French division of Mermet surged across the table towards Sinclair's position.

The 94th faces off against Mermet's division, deployed in l'order mixte formation with  a center battalion deployed in line, flanked by two battalions in colomns of divisions. Voltigeur's preceded the French attack.

The British countered by throwing their own light company out in front of the 94th, but these lads were chased off by a squadron of French Chasseurs a Chavel.

Things are starting to look desperate for the Red Coats as the left wing of the 94th bends back. Actually, it was trying to create space so that the 45th Regiment could advance on its left flank so as to present a frontage of two battalions instead of one against the French.

You will notice that we left the casualties where they fell during the battle - something that demonstrates the advantage of using single mounted figures on sabots (movement trays). You can follow the course of the battle by looking at where all the casualties are.

Another view of the 94th Foot

Mermet brought up four 8-pounders, but these were initially screened by their own troops.

Mermet also sent several battalions to try to outflank the 94th on its right, which was protected by two companies of 5/60 Rifles. This part of the Rio Mondego was fordable.

I will post Part II of the battle report tomorrow so come back and visit us again.

Battle of Aveiro in Portugal - British Right Flank

One section (2 cannon) of Royal Artillery 9-pdrs open up on the French. A company of 5/60th Rifles and the 5th Regiment (in the trees) provide support. All figures are from Elite Miniatures. (Click to enlarge pix).

On August 3, 2013 we convened in Brown Deer, Wisconsin to resume our Iberian Campaign between Major General William Justinian Pettygree and Marshal Soult (the Duke of Damnation, Himself) near the village of Aveiro, just south of the Douro River in Portugal. A very good battle report is provided on the Campaigns in Iberia blog:

Campaigns In Iberia: Battle of Aveiero

My brief report will post some of the pictures that I snapped of the British relief column, on the right flank of the British defensive position in Averiero. As I recall, Brigadier General Kinch had marched north from Lisbon with the intention of linking up with Pettygree's two brigades of infantry and one brigade of light cavalry. The Duke of Damnation had apparently stolen a march on Pettygree and was descending on Kinch's position with two full divisions of French infantry and gobs of cavalry. Kinch was to hold on until relieved, or withdraw from the town, at his discretion, if it meant saving his brigade from destruction.

My role, as Brigadier General Alexander Sinclair, as one of the two infantry brigades in Pettygree's main army, was to advance from the right flank (the French left) and intercept any French forces to my front. Brigadier Peter Young's brigade (5th and 9th Regt.s) and Paget's light cavalry brigade was deployed to my left and those two brigades were to make the primary thrust to relieve Kinch's brigade in Aveiro.

A view of the wooded area on the British right flank. The French would be advancing from the right hand side of this picture, just beyond the iron support pole. The rest of the British team await the appearance of the French.

The French left comes over the ridge, with a screen of chasseurs a cheval covering their front.

The French brigade advances forward. They don't see anything yet, or do they? Note that the chasseurs have now formed into close order squadrons. 

The French chasseurs see the vanguard of Paget's light cavalry brigade arriving on the field to their left.

Sinclair's brigade is screened by a company of the 5/60th Rifles and the light company of the 2/83rd Regiment. They find a company of French voligeurs in the woods.

Sinclair's 2/83rd, commanded by Lt. Colonel Charles Gordon, had hoped that the French columns would pass his front without seeing him, allowing him to strike the French brigade in the flank. However, the French have spotted the 83rd and they begin to deploy their battalions into line formation to meet the British threat (to front and flank).

Brigadier Young's brigade (5th and 9th regiments) attack the front of the French brigade, which is now formed with a dangerous bend in their battle line. This is not a good situation for the French.

General Pettygree has a little surprise waiting for the French: a six gun battery of Royal Horse Artillery 6-pdrs prolong over the ridge and open fire on both French infantry and their supporting squadrons of dragoons on their right flank. Pettygree appears to be having FUN.

Towards the end of the battle, the French left hand brigade of infantry decided that it would be best to disengage as best they could. Their chasseurs a cheval covering their front while the infantry battalions fell back to the back table.

Lt. Colonel Gordon was content to watch les Crapauds retire without moving his regiment closer and risking needless casualties. When your foe is doing what you desire of him (in this case, retreating) it is best not to intefere in his plans. So the 83rd was content to herd the French off the battlefield with no more loss of life. In a campaign, where casualties reduce your effectiveness in the next game, there is a time to attack and a time to hold back.

Sinclair's activity was limited in this game. His skirmishers and supporting section of Royal Artillery, commanded by Lt. Harry Pearson, did most of the damage to the French. The French commander in this sector appeared to be protecting the left flank of the main French assault on the village of Aveiro, so he did not advance up the British held ridge to his front or be overly aggressive, i.e. rash. He played his hand the correct way, in Sinclair's opinion.

Tomorrow is always another day.

I have no idea of what happened in Aveiero as it was too far away from Sinclair's position. I have heard that Brigadier Kinch held off the French attack for several hours, before finally retiring from the village. The French brigade, though, was badly mauled in the attack, as was Kinch. Both of the brigades in this sector had casualties approaching 40-50%, from what I could tell from a distance. It was a very bloody affair.

Battle of Aveiro in 1809

This evening, I plan to download the pictures that I took at last weekend's Napoleonic BAR rules game that we played as part of our Iberian Campaign. I have some good pictures taken on my iPad, but if I download directly from iPad to Blogger then one cannot enlarge the image by clicking on the picture. So I will have to do the tedious task of emailing the images to myself and saving them onto our desktop computer, then uploading them into Blogger. There must be a better way of doing this and I'm rather amazed that the Blogger App isn't more like its desktop version. As Stokes would say, "sigh".

In any event, here are a couple of teasers from the battle for your enjoyment. For a more complete telling of the story, check out Bill P.'s story on the Campaigns in Iberia blog.

Campaigns in Iberia

Royal Artillery Section of 9-pdrs supports the British Counter-attack