WSS: Oosterkasteel - Goodness Gracious

 I followed the calendar very carefully, and Thursday arrived right on schedule, as did Baron Stryker, having braved the perils of the high road around the capital of Scotland. We had what looked like a heavy day's fighting ahead of us, so we got off to a brisk start. If you would like to see a picture of the initial position, you'll find one in my previous post.

Our OOB was thus, Stryker's Franco-Bavarian army having 5 brigades (of which 3 were still to arrive), and my Allied force having 4: 

French Army (Maréchal de France Clément-Alibert, Comte de Rabachière)     
(13 horse; 24 foot; 3 art; 6 leaders)

Bourgeois’ Cavalry Brigade [1] (Marquis de Bourgeois)
Gendarmérie de France (6 Sqns) (elite)
Régt de Grignan (3 Sqns)
Régt de La Baume (3 Sqns)
Régt de Lavallière (3 Sqns)
Régt du Mestre de Camp (3 Sqns)
Régt du Roi (3 Sqns)
D’Arco’s Cavalry Brigade [2] (Graf Johan Baptist d’Arco) (Bavarian)
Régt de Tarnault (3 Sqns)
Dragons de La Vrillière (3 Sqns)
KR d’Arco (Bavarian) (3 Sqns)
KR Costa (Bavarian) (3 Sqns)
KR Weichel (Bavarian) (3 Sqns)
KR Wolframsdorf (Bavarian) (3 Sqns)
Pelletier’s Infantry Brigade [3] (Comte Pelletier de Montmarie)
Régt de Béarn (2 Bns)
Régt de Champagne (2 Bns)
Régt du Dauphin (2 Bns)
Régt de Navarre (2 Bns)
1 field battery
Coustine’s Infantry Brigade [4] (Marquis de Coustine)
Régt de Languedoc (1 Bn)
Régt de Nettancourt (1 Bn)
Régt de Poitou (2 Bns)
Régt de Saintonge (1 Bn)
Régt de Toulouse (1 Bn)
IR Bettendorf (Bavarian) (2 Bns)
1 field battery
Maffei’s Infantry Brigade [5] (Marquis de Maffei) (Bavarian)
IR Boismorel (Bavarian) (1 Bn)
IR Haxthausen (Bavarian) (2 Bns)
IR Kurprinz (Bavarian) (2 Bns)
IR Leibgrenadieren (Bavarian) (1 Bn) (elite)
IR Maffei (Bavarian) (1 Bn)
IR d’Octfort (Bavarian) (1 Bn)
1 field battery (Bavarian)

Allied Army (Lt Gen Charles Churchill)    
(9 horse; 14 foot; 3 art; 3 independent art; 5 leaders)

Pickering’s Cavalry Brigade [1] (Br Gen Sir Mortimer Pickering)
Cadogan’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Lumley’s (Queen’s) Regt (3 Sqns)
Schomberg’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Wood’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Wyndham’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Niederhammer’s Cavalry Brigade [2] (GM Graf Niederhammer) (Austrian)
KR Cusani (Austrian) (3 Sqns)
KR Lobkowicz (Austrian) (3 Sqns)
Leibregiment zu Pferd (Hessen-Kassel) (3 Sqns)
Spiegel Karabiniere (Hessen-Kassel) (3 Sqns)
Cirencester’s Infantry Brigade [3] (Br Gen Earl of Cirencester)
1^st Foot Guards (1 Bn) (elite)
Chas Churchill’s (Buffs) Regt (1 Bn)
Ferguson’s (Cameronian) Regt (1 Bn)
Howe’s Regt (1 Bn)
Hamilton’s (Royal Irish) Regt (1 Bn)
Duke of Marlborough’s Regt (1 Bn)
Lord North & Grey’s Regt (1 Bn)
1 field battery
Pentecost’s Infantry Brigade [4] (Br Gen Jan-Hendrik van Pentecost (Dutch))
Lord Orkney’s (Royal) Regt (1 Bn)
Rowe’s (Scots Fusiliers) Regt (1 Bn)
Webb’s Regt (1 Bn)
IR Leib zu Fuss (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Erbprinz (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Prinz Wilhelm (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Stückrad (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
2 field batteries
Independent (Part of Fortress Garrison)
3 mortar batteries

 

 

Dug in; one of Pentecost's British batteries, waiting for the French attack

My early tactic was to sit tight, firing my guns as occasion presented itself, otherwise waiting to see where the arriving French intended to press. Some kind of narrative should emerge from the photos, though I have to say that things did get pretty hectic after the first hour, and the picture-taking duties slid a bit at times.

 

The initial artillery exchanges didn't really have much effect, then the French had to move their early arrivals forward, to make room for what was to follow. I was surprised to see that General Bourgeois' cavalry, on the French left, charged straight across the table, and my boys were in trouble right away...

 

We lost Cadogan's Regt of Horse, a field battery and General Pickering (and his dog, illustrated) in the first fight; that meant we were 3-0 down on Victory Pts, 10 being the requirement for the win and the main French army not yet on the table

 

From behind the Allied right, this general view shows the French arriving in the distance. After my shaky start, I was thinking nervously of the film Zulu 

 

 

The infantry in the French centre (Maffei's Bavarians in front) pressed forward.

 

At this point, Cirencester's brigade advanced 200 paces from their position on the road to Blanke; as I recall, I was thinking that if I was going to get splattered anyway then this would give me a little more room for a fighting withdrawal...

 

From behind the French left, you can just make out that the Bavarians pushed right into our front line, but they were taking losses - 4 white loss counters eliminates a unit, so some of the enemy were looking a little battered. I had brought my left-flank cavalry around behind the centre (beneath the old citadel wall), but I was 5-1 down and expecting a collapse at any moment

 

[Gulp]

 

 

The Activation process now presented me with a lucky break - Pentecost's brigade on my left got a special bonus of extra movement and extra combat dice and - since the French opposite were not rushing to attack our earthwork, we did the unthinkable, charged out of the trenches and attacked Pelletier's boys - it didn't go quite as well as I had hoped, but it wasn't bad at all - we had scraped the score back to 7-8...

 

The French attack in the centre became rather bogged down as units fell back and lost momentum, and Maffei's infantry appeared to impede the progress of Coustine's fresher troops behind them. The score got to 8-all, 9-8 to the Allies (first time we had been ahead) then 9-all...

 

Of course the photographer missed it, but over on the Allied left the Hesse-Kassel IR Prinz Wilhelm, in the village of Neerhespen, routed the 1/Dauphin and we had stolen the victory, 10-9. In this photo, the Allied survivors at Blanke have somehow driven off the main attack, and they can hear the cheering from the other end of the line

 

We finished in about 4 hours, allowing for a pause for lunch. My thanks and compliments to Ian for a remarkable fight. We both ended the game more than a little stunned - certainly the most intense game I've been involved in for a while!

I had a think about how things had gone (as one does) once I had regained my senses. The rules stood up to the grinding match pleasingly well; if I'd had a brain I should probably have used the table extension (17 x 9 instead of 13 x 9), but I've rather got out of the habit of thinking about that since the big table is tricky with Zoom cameras for remote games - no matter, the game was fine, but Ian would have had more scope for getting his army on the table without gridlock; I was embarrassingly lucky with the bonus, just in the nick of time. Oh - yes - and the mortars in the fortress were so useless that I stopped using them! 

WSS: Thursday's Game - the Initial Set-Up

 This is the battlefield which I showed in uninhabited form a few days ago. We have now decided:

(1) The action is the little-known Battle of Oosterkasteel, somewhere in a very flat part of Wallonia, probably in 1703.

(2) Stryker will be the esteemed Marshal Rabachière, with a Franco-Bavarian force

(3) I [Foy] will be Lieutenant General "Charlie" Churchill, defending with an Allied army which has British, Austrian and Hessian contingents 

(4) The Allied army, which is rather smaller, will be fully deployed at the start of the game, having spent a week digging earthworks to strengthen what looks rather like a hopeless position. This army has 4 brigades present - 2 foot and 2 horse

(5) The French are marching onto the field at the start of the game - they will have 2 brigades present at first, with 3 further brigades to follow as opportunity and activation cubes allow.

Here is the position at the beginning of Turn 1

 

Looking along the Allied line at 6am, before the French arrive. Chubby Charlie is very keen that his army should die in straight lines, like gentlemen

 

A better view of the Allied left; Niederhammer's cavalry (Austrian and Hessian) provide rear support for Pentecost's (Anglo-Hessian) infantry brigade, which is manning the new earthworks as far as the protruding section in the centre. Pentecost has two artillery batteries dug in - if I can find some, there may be a few gabions added to the batteries by Thursday

 

The Allied right flank; Pickering's cavalry on the end of the line, with the Earl of Cirencester's infantry beyond

 

This very early drone shot shows Dutch mortars in the citadel, trying to find space to deploy

 

Aha - the French are arriving. Here we have Bourgeois' cavalry in the foreground...

 

...and here Alessandro Maffei's Bavarian infantry brigade; the French have 3 more brigades to arrive after the preliminary artillery battle

 

A general view at this stage shows the French avoiding the earthworks...

 

Specially for Matt, who has a thing about guys with big hair, here is Charles Churchill

 

and the Comte de Rabachière, who will be along soon with the rest of his army

 

and Alessandro Maffei, born in Verona, one of a bewildering number of Italians who held high command in the Bavarian army during the 18th and 19th Centuries 

Stryker has sent word that his boys are to rest on their arms until Thursday. I believe the terminology is correct, but it sounds uncomfortable. 

Hooptedoodle #499 - Yet More Family Archives

My mother died in November last year. I've had in my possession some boxes of her private papers for a few years; I've been looking after them for her. Now that she definitely does not want them back, it's time to take a deep breath and sort out what's there.

I have done some preliminary tidying up a little while ago. I threw out masses of wedding photos of complete strangers (usually the children of my mother's work colleagues), greetings cards to and from people I never heard of. There still remains a stack of assorted birth certificates and so on, which I shall have a look through.

Also in there is a parcel of unfinished family research which was carried out by my late cousin, Dave. Sadly - as is often the case - Dave started on this project after he found out he was terminally ill, once he was no longer working; he achieved a lot, and I shall be interested to have a nose through what is there, and reduce some of it to short notes for my own information. The thing to remember is that nobody actually cares any more; I've tried to pass on some family history to my own sons in the past, and they were polite about it, but very obviously weren't interested!

I hope to have a fascinating few weeks trawling through Dave's final efforts. One thing I found quickly was some information about yet another unknown soldier in the archives, Lt Col Ralph Hindle (originally from Chorley in Lancashire), who commanded the 4th Bn of the Loyal North Lancs Regt and was killed at Cambrai on 30th Nov 1917. I reckon he was my maternal grandmother's uncle (or maybe second-cousin) - my maternal grandmother being the infamously eccentric Preston Grannie who is quoted here now and then. I never heard of him before, anyway.

The Loyal North Lancs had rather a convoluted history - I think the 4th Bn may formerly have been a Territorial formation - no doubt I'll find out more as I get into the paperwork. The family were mostly Lancashire people - Dave learned quite quickly from his research that a great many of the Hindle males were named John or Ralph, and the females were usually named Mary or Alice (or both), so some care and attention to dates of birth is required to sort out who was who. Again - quite apart from war casualties - when you look at family details it is astonishing how high a proportion of the children died in infancy in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries in Northern industrial towns. Hmmm.

I have tidied everything back into a single box for the moment - there are hundreds of old photos in there, so I'll need to get very organised. 

 

 

WSS: Game Coming Up Next Week

 I've started putting together a battle for next week. The following introduction is shamelessly cribbed from my email to Stryker today - apologies, Ian - I can only think about anything once a day.

The scenario is influenced (a bit) by the Battle of Neerwinden 1693 (aka Landen), though it is 10 years later (and therefore has no pikes), and is not (of course) the Battle of Neerwinden - it is much smaller, for a start.

An Allied army (Anglo-Hessian, this time) is in an area near to a small (but interesting) fortress, to protect it from the attentions of the French. As it happens, the French have decided to clear out this protecting army, and have sent a larger force to deal with them. The Allied commander has opted to stay in the area, and his men have been busy digging some earthworks to strengthen their position. 

The earthworks are not that formidable - if someone is defending them then they will be a nuisance, but if there is no-one there they can be walked through - even by cavalry. 

On the edge of the table is the citadel, which is really just a bit of extra scenic interest, and is pretty much off limits, since the French do not have their Siege Train with them (this time, though the intention is to come back with the siege train once they've cleared the defending force out of the area). The (Dutch) garrison is small (about 2 battalions) and cannot be attacked, and is not available to the Allied side as a reinforcement - also the Allied troops cannot enter the fortress; it  does, however, have a few mortars available which can provide a bit of supporting fire for the Allies. Mortars have a long range, but are prone to misfires, which might just mean that the shells don't detonate, but could also mean that the mortar suffers damage right up to a complete write-off (if the shell explodes in the barrel, for example). The self-igniting shell is still some years in the future. The French army is quite a bit bigger than the Allied, and they have 5 brigade cubes to the Allies' 3 (probably). The mortars in the fort are not a brigade, but may be activated along with any of the Allied brigades (only once a turn, obviously).

There will be a preliminary artillery exchange - haven't had one for a while. 

I'll probably make another post once the soldiers arrive.

 

 

My old ECO plastic Ritterburg looms on the table edge - mostly to add a bit of visual interest, but the defending side will be able to call on a few of the fortress's guns for support

 

 

The defending side has put in many hours of spadework, which I am sure they hated, but they may gain some benefit from the time spent

 

 

Haven't yet decided which general will command which army. We do know there will be some bonus victory points if the French take any of the villages. Residents should probably check their property insurance policies

 

 

Hooptedoodle #498 - It Was Only a Matter of Time

It seems that the Almighty Festering Lard Barrel has decided to interfere in the World Cup. Well of course he has; what took him so long? 

He truly is an inspiration to us all. I'm writing to the US Supreme Court this afternoon, to see if they would like to review a few VAR offside decisions from Scotland's brief involvement in the competition. It must be worth a shot, you would think?

WSS: A Little Gentle Solo Rules-Testing for a Wet Afternoon

 This is a first step at getting back to what passes for normal at Chateau Foy. Last game I played here was in January, when David Crenshaw visited, courtesy of Zoom. Since then there has been a stream of excuses - all good, but too many in number (check out this old post of mine, from back in the Dark Ages, for the theory). I lost weeks of late evenings, studying online the fine details of the Scottish Courts' guidelines for submission of probate on inherited estates, meanwhile we had decorators working here, so we had rooms out of action, and in addition I had persistent problems with my eyes - all very tiresome and not at all interesting. If you sampled the link above, you will observe the mystic count of three excuses...

The decoration is complete, Edinburgh Sheriff Court (Gawd bless them) finally became fed up with trying to think up new reasons to bounce my application, and relented, and my eyes are now improving - slowly but indisputably, so it has become time to get out the toy soldiers and see how it might go.

No problems at all. I took the opportunity to run a game to test some recent changes in my rules concerning the effect of fordable rivers and streams. I have had some concerns in this area for a while, and a solo game seems the right occasion to try this out. I can describe the testing very quickly - it worked well, the new rule changes produced no snags - all good, but I still have to say that the presence of a significant river - even a fordable one - does not enhance the excitement levels in the game!

The OOB for this game was the original one for my January Zoom game, or, rather, what that game would have featured if I had not cut it back a little because of time constraints.

There is no back narrative - it was just a solo test game - an encounter - 9 Victory Pts for the win. If you like OOBs, here it is. 

French Army (Maréchal de France Clément-Alibert, Comte de Rabachière)     
(8 horse; 13 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Bourgeois’ Cavalry Brigade [1] (Marquis de Bourgeois)
Gendarmérie de France (6 Sqns) (elite)
Régt de Grignand (3 Sqns)
Dragons de La Vrillière (3 Sqns)
Saint-Gervais’ Cavalry Brigade [2] (Marquis de Saint-Gervais)
Régt du Mestre de Camp (3 Sqns)
Régt de Lavallière (3 Sqns)
Régt du Roi (3 Sqns)
Régt de Tarnault (3 Sqns)
Pelletier’s Infantry Brigade [3] (Comte Pelletier de Montmarie)
Régt de Béarn (2 Bns)
Régt de Champagne (2 Bns)
Régt de Languedoc (1 Bn)
Régt du Dauphin (2 Bns)
1 field battery
Coustine’s Infantry Brigade [4] (Marquis de Coustine)
Régt de Navarre (2 Bns)
Régt de Poitou (2 Bns)
Régt de Saintonge (1 Bn)
Régt de Toulouse (1 Bn)
1 field battery

Allied Army (Lt Gen Charles Churchill)    
(8 horse; 12 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Pickering’s Cavalry Brigade [1] (Br Gen Sir Mortimer Pickering)
Cadogan’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Lumley’s (Queen’s) Regt (3 Sqns)
Schomberg’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Hay’s (Scots) Dragoons (3 Sqns)
Whitstable’s Cavalry Brigade [2] (Br Gen Lord Whitstable)
Wood’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Wundham’s Regt (3 Sqns)
Leibregiment zu Pferd (Hessen-Kassel) (3 Sqns)
Spiegel Karabiniere (Hessen-Kassel) (3 Sqns)
Cirencester’s Infantry Brigade [3] (Br Gen Earl of Cirencester) [3 Bns have battalion guns]
1^st Foot Guards (1 Bn) (elite)
Duke of Marlborough’s Regt (1 Bn)
Chas Churchill’s (Buffs) Regt (1 Bn)
Ferguson’s (Cameronian) Regt (1 Bn)
Howe’s Regt (1 Bn)
Hamilton’s (Royal Irish) Regt (1 Bn)
1 field battery
Pentecost’s Infantry Brigade [4] (Br Gen Jan-Hendrik van Pentecost (Dutch))
Lord Orkney’s (Royal) Regt (1 Bn)
Lord North & Grey’s Regt (1 Bn)
IR Leib zu Fuss (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Erbprinz (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Prinz Wilhelm (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
IR Stückrad (Hessen-Kassel) (1 Bn)
1 field battery

 

    

 

Since this was a day about fighting with wet feet, it was essential to deploy the swans on the lake. You know it makes sense

 

Initial set-up; French on the left, Allies on the right, with a dirty great river dominating the field

 

I won't attempt a detailed account - the idea is just to offer some pictures to look at. This is Lord Whitstable's cavalry brigade, on the Allied left

 

The Allied Commander (another outing for Charlie Churchill) has a look at the old Butter Market in the village

 

Another general view at the start - this time from behind the Allies' right flank

 

The French commander, with his staff [I must try to arrange for some blank 5mm mini-dice, to identify the army without giving a fake brigade number for the Marshal...]

 

Regrettable lapse in elegance here - one of the French battalions does that embarrassing thing of balancing sideways on the bridge. In fact my infantry, if detached from their sabots, will form a very convincing column of march which is narrow enough to fit on the bridge, but it's fiddly. and this is a solo test, with the dining chairs still in position. A unit in the centre of the table gives too high a chance of dropping everything in a heap - especially given an operator with dodgy eyesight - so I played it lazy but safe. You know that for a proper game I'd have put them in column specially...

 

Splish-splash...

 

 

Nuts-and-bolts testing photo, warts and all - that dice roll inflicts one hit and one potential retreat on the enemy. The red cube indicates that this general's brigade (Pentecost, I think) has been activated this turn. The blue Tesco tokens show units which are ordered. Since Zoom is not used here, I reverted to the official black loss counters

 

British unit advances across the river (why us, serge? - because we're 'ere, lad)

 

Unusually for one of my battles, the cavalry only really got involved late in the day

 

Situation after about 3 hours shows a large hole in the middle of the French army. The Allies won 9-3 on Victory Points

 

The Bone Yard at the end. Lost units are classified as "Rally Fails" (i.e. "legged it") or "Eliminated" - French trays at the top here. The classification is meaningless in a single encounter game, but in a campaign the proportion of hits recovered for the next game depends on which tray the units finished up in, how many hits they suffered and what kind of a victory it was. Death by spreadsheets.

 

Hooptedoodle #497 - In the Garden Again

 Just a quick postscript to my last post - things are sprouting and flowering and all that. Here are just a few additional photos.

 

An old friend, always welcome; our white lilac, Madame Lemoine, is a lovely thing, but you have to be quick to catch it at its best - not quite in full flower yet, but the first heavy shower will wreck it!

 

Vigorous signs of being ready to go again - our Cotinus is a bit of a monster (in a very nice way)

 

The little red apple tree (with red blossom, and red fruit with bright red flesh) is looking good. The dry summer last year gave us quite a lot of apples, but they were small and as tough as conkers - I hope the wasps enjoyed them...

 

Appropriate alpines have been planted in the pockets in the old herb garden - I have a little spreadsheet which tells me what they all are...

 

 

...to keep the Professor happy, they are (from the far end round to the left): dianthus (Inchriach Dazzler); arenaria (montana); armeria (maritima Deep Rose); sedum (Cape Blanco); campanula (Blue Clips); oxalis (adenophylla); phlox (McDaniel's Cushion); Delosperma (Table Mountain); erodium (Bishops Form)