Wednesday 26 February 2020

Black Seas

At the RECON show in December, Steve purchased the "Master and Commander" starter set for Black Seas.  With 6 of the ships completed, 2 frigates and 4 brigs, he felt it was time to try out the basic rules and get a feel for the game.



Two views of the completed frigate model.  The ships are fairly easy to assemble and Steve found that painting the parts while they sere still on the sprue made the painting process easier.  What proved to be more fiddly was the rigging, but there are tutorials on You tube and good diagrams in the rule book which comes with the starter set.

Our first game, of one frigate each, was very short.  A couple of broadsides which did minimal damage and then in my next broadside I rolled a 1 (which means a critical hit).  A d6 roll came up '6' which caused a fire on Steve's frigate.  He attempted to put the fire out, but failed and his ship exploded!

The British fire a close range broadside
For our second game, we introduced a brig to each side and this time there was more manoeuvring to gain the 'weather gauge'.  Once again the initial broadsides did little damage, it was only when the range closed that the effects were felt.  Steve's British frigate seized the advantage of sailing with the wind and got in the first close range broadside, which did a good bit of damage.  The French response was poor and when an ill-advised manoeuvre gave the British the opportunity of raking the hapless French, they seized it with both hands.  With casualties on the gun deck and struggling to increase speed, the French were sitting ducks for a final broadside which caused them to strike their colours.

After lunch we played a third game, this time using three ships a side.  This game lasted c 90 minutes and once again was a pounding match between the various ships.  A shift in the wind caused problems for the French and the British gained an advantage which  they held to the end.

Overall we found the games enjoyable.  We used the basic rules, all the crews were trained and the types of ships had the same characteristics, (advanced rules allow for variety in these areas and for marines and special factors).  Gaining the advantage of the wind was an important element of the tactics of the time and this is well represented in the game.  There were one or two minor quibbles over the design of some of the playing aids, (measuring sticks and ship cards) which we thought could have been better designed.  However, the game is easy to pick up and although lacking some detail for combat between small numbers of ships, on a larger scale, with fleets, it will allow big actions to be fought.  (That is if you can afford the models)

Sunday 9 February 2020

Marmoutier; a Grand Alliance scenario using Pike and Shotte

With one thing and another my reports on our games have been delayed by several weeks and in an attempt to clear the backlog the next few will probably be rather shorter than usual.  This recent game featured a force of Hessians, English and Austrians trying to prevent a French advance towards the Rhine.  Graf von Grommit had taken up a defensive position covering the direct route and had sent an urgent appeal to the Austrian commander, Count Maximillian Landeck und Rothenstein to march to his aid.  For his part, the French commander, our old friend the Comte de Salle Forde had assembled two infantry brigades, each of 4 battalions and a similar number of cavalry brigades, each of 3 regiments.  An urgent message had been sent to a reserve brigade of 3 battalions to hasten to the battlefield.

The French left wing cavalry close on the English cavalry

With von Grommit outnumbered in both infantry and cavalry the initiative lay with the French and Salle Forde lost no time in ordering his men forward.  Both French cavalry wings advanced with vigour and drove back the leading Allied units.  Resistance was stiffest on the Allied right where the British cavalry rallied and  forced the Spanish Horse to retreat.  On the French right, the prestigious Cuirassiers du Roi seemed to be happy to let the humble line cavalry do all the fighting.  This they did, driving back a unit of Austrian Cuirassiers

Aubusson defeat the Austrian cuirassier
With the cavalry covering their flanks, the French infantry marched forward; one brigade made for the Hessians, whilst the other moved against the English foot.  The English had the support of a battery and this caused significant casualties on regiment Languedoc.  What stopped the attack dead was the devastating volleys from the English foot, particularly Erle's regiment, which drove regiment Toulouse back in disorder.  They then defeated an attack by regiment Bavaria.  However, the Hessians were having more difficulty holding their position.  Wartensleben and Lowenstein both suffered heavy casualties but managed to rally.

A volley from Erle's regiment

The Bavarians driven back
After a lull the cavalry battles on the wings resumed.  Now, fortune seemed to favour the allies as the English horse drove back their French opponents.  Disordered, they paused, giving the French just enough time to rally.  Any thoughts the French had of resuming their attack evaporated when the leading elements of Count Rothenstein's force began to deploy on the French left flank.  Salle Forde's reserves, a weak brigade of regiment Remaze and two units of dismounted dragoons were ordered to the left to form a defensive line.  The remains of the French cavalry did what they could to cover the infantry's deployment and were aided by the Rothenstein prioritising sending his infantry to reinforce the allied position covering the lines back to the Rhine.  The Austrian cavalry were stalled by a gallant attack by the Spanish horse and the English cavalry, weakened by their earlier efforts, were unable to break the dismounted dragoons.

The struggle on the French left
The Wettigny dragoons stand firm
On the French right, the cavalry melee swayed back and forth with neither side able to get a decisive advantage.  Salle Forde decided to make one last effort to break the Hessians before the Austrian infantry arrived.  Once again the French infantry advanced; once again their volleys disordered the Hessians, but the order to charge was not carried out.  Twice the D'Humieres regiment  received the order and twice they hesitated.  Seizing their chance, the Hessians rallied and then surged forward in attack.  A scattered volley failed to stop them and soon the French infantry were tumbling back in disorder.

D'Humieres rout
Salle Forde had no option but to order a retreat before his whole command was overwhelmed.  Von Grommit was fulsome in his praise for the Hessian charge late in the battle, but later made time to congratulate the brigadier commanding the English foot on his men's excellent musketry.

Tuesday 4 February 2020

Vapnartak

Another round of wargames shows began today with a visit to Vapnartak at York.  A very smooth journey across the Pennines  meant we arrived in good time to set up the Lance & Longbow game; Tannenberg.  This was being put on by Will whose collection is predominantly 20mm plastics, using the version of 'Lion Rampant' which we usually use in our participation games.

General overview from behind the Teutonic army 

The grandmaster and his reserve
Polish-Lithuanian right wing
Will ran the game twice during the day and each time attracted members of the public willing to join in.  Particularly encouraging was the number of youngsters who took part.



Two shots of the action.  I was pretty busy on the society stand for most of the day, so can't give any details.

On the upper floors were a number of games which caught my eye.  Grimsby Wargames Society put on a WWII game "Retreat to the Dneiper".  There was plenty to catch the eye:

One of several crossings of the river

Plenty of detail in the ruins


Further along were Harrogate Wargames Club with an ancient period game using the "Infamy Infamy" set of rules fro Too Fat Lardies.




There were plenty of very nicely painted figures



There were a few changes to the show layout this year.  The tabletop sale moved up to the top floor and this enables the traders to spread out a bit.  That certainly helped people to get around and made the venue feel a lot more spacious.  Up to lunchtime there were plenty of people about and many of them seemed to be carrying purchases.  Of course these shows give you the chance to meet up with old friends and at York Steve and I were able to get a good chat with Alasdair and Phil.  For more photos check out Will's blog

Thanks to Will, Andy, Bob and Steve for their support for the game and Dave and Lynne for providing the much needed tea and coffee to keep us going.