WSS: More Testing - Same Scenario, but Crazier

 Another Zoom night on Thursday to test the infant CJ Lite. JBM was there, complete with a (French) McDonald's takeway, and we were lucky enough to have the estimable Jon Freitag fly in from the US. I was host and umpire, so I got to concentrate on remembering my own rules. A few things did slip under the radar, but by and large it went very well.

 

Wargaming in the West Wing

The scenario was the same one we used last week - on this occasion JBM took the part of FM Schlick, commanding the Imperial forces, and Jon was the Elector of Bavaria, which is only right and proper, considering the distance he had travelled. 

This game was rather more strenuous than the previous test - certainly the umpire found it so!

Spoiler to start. Jon's Bavarians got off to a brisk start, then suddenly the Austrians pulled a remarkable switch, and shifted the cavalry from their right wing into the centre, leaving the flank wide open and their enemy not a little shocked. The Bavarians attacked in businesslike style, building up a good lead in Victory Points, then JBM threw in everything, including the cavalry he had shifted into the centre, and clawed it back level. The score went from 6-2 for the Bavarians to 7-4, then 7-6, then 8-all...

Then Jon, having already lost his hot-shot mounted Leibgarde on his right wing, eliminated one of Schlick's Hessian cavalry units, and won the day at 9-8. What a fight! Schlick himself was badly wounded, while encouraging his infantry in the woods, and was removed from the field, so he was not around at the end to suffer the routine abuse.

 

View from the Bavarian left, early on. Some general manoeuvring on the flanks. The villages of Sankt Roman (left) and Schießdorf (right) visible at the far end of the table. Yes, it's that scenario again

 

 

At the other end, Weichel's Bavarian cavalry are opposed by Stoltz's boys. Just probing at this stage

 

 

Though the Austrian Lobkowicz cuirassiers took a bit of a whacking from the elite Leibgarde

 

 

Early elimination of the Lobkowicz regiment evened things up a bit on this flank, since Weichel's brigade was smaller than Stoltz's to begin with

 

 

4-1 to the Bavarians at this stage; Schlick attacks in the centre, Furneburg's infantry brigade going in through the woods. On the right of the picture you can make out Niederhammer's cavalry brigade, on the Austrian right flank, beginning their surprise move into the centre

 

 

In next to no time, Arco's brigade on the Bavarian left found that they were opposed by a large space. Arco himself had been an early casualty, so there may have been a little hesitancy over what to do about it

 

 

From the Bavarian side of the field you can see the big Austrian push building up in the centre

 

 

Around the villages, the troops are slugging away

 

 

Wheeling round behind the Austrian army, Arco's brigade came upon one of the battalions from Furneburg's brigade, with Furneburg himself attached. This little action didn't take up a lot of time - the infantry unit was eliminated, though Furneburg himself survived. He took an option which may be familiar to C&C veterans: he retreated off the table, thus denying the enemy the chance of gaining another VP by capturing him and, since the rules do not allow him to return, he was able to get an early table for dinner at the Wilder Mann in Passau

 

 

Around this time the Austrians managed to get 4 consecutive activations, which is unheard of, and took full advantage. As the Elector stated after the battle, "they came roaring back". The just-visible red cube marker in the woods is evidence that Schlick was still present at this point - eventually he was wounded at this location

Throwing in everything within reach of the centre, including the relocated cavalry of Niederhammer, the Austrians got the VP score back to 8-8. At this stage, it is customary to say "it could have gone either way", but on this occasion that's a little too obvious, even for me

 

When the Bavarians finally drew an activation cube of their own, after being starved out for a while, they eliminated one of Stoltz's cavalry units in a relatively quiet part of the field, and they had won. Deservedly, but it was certainly tense at the end

 

 

...the woods are full of Austrians - 20mm wonderland - 50 year-old soldiers and 60 year-old trees...

 

 

...but the wise old scoreboard knew the truth; he deals only in facts, and he has seen it all before, boys and girls

Very pleased with the game and the testing; the rules stood up well to a bit of stress. The very few issues were down to the author of the rules forgetting (for example) to allow cavalry to evade when attacked in close combat, otherwise all very positive. It is all a learning process. My sincere thanks to my guests for a very jovial evening, and for their enthusiasm and companionship. Jon did very well with the unfamiliar rules (though they are similar to several things he has played regularly), and I know he is a very busy man at the moment, so I appreciate his visit. JBM upstaged us all with the food delivery - never even offered me a chip.

My recent switch to the smaller cans of Red Bull meant that I had to have two of them. No-one complained that this might indicate some Austrian bias. As a result I was still in great form when reading my gardening books at 3am, so it definitely gave me wings.

Thanks again, guys. My next steps will be to polish up the rule book a little, and then try to set up a multi-player Zoom game. Hmmm...  

Bavarian Army (Elector of Bavaria)                   (7 horse; 12 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Arco’s Brigade (Generalmajor Johann Baptist, Graf d’Arco)

Arco Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Costa Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Monasterol Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Santini Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Weichel’s Brigade (Generalmajor Rademel Von Weichel)

Leibgarde (3 Sqns)(elite)

Weichel Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Wolframsdorf Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Brinkelhof’s Brigade (Generalmajor Gottlieb Brinkelhof)

IR Bettendorf (2 Bns)

IR Haxthausen(2 Bns)

Boismorel Grenadiere (1 Bn)

Leib Grenadiere (1 Bn)(elite)

1 field battery

Maffei’s Brigade (Generalmajor Alessandro, Marquis de Maffei)

IR Lützelberg (1 Bn)

IR Kurprintz (1 Bn)

IR Maffei (1 Bn)

IR D’Octfort (1 Bn)

IR Spilberg (1 Bn)

IR Tattenbach (1 Bn)

1 field battery

 

Imperial Army (Feldmarschal Leopold von Schlick) (8 horse; 11 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Niederhammer’s Brigade (Generalmajor Heimo Niederhammer)

Alt-Hannover Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Cusani Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Gronsfeld Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Aufseß Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Stoltz’s Brigade (Generalmajor Johannes Stolz)

Jung-Darmstadt Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Lobkowitz Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Leibregiment zu Pferd (Hessen-Kassel)(3 Sqns)

Spiegel Karabiniere (Hessen-Kassel)(3 Sqns)

Furneburg’s Brigade (Generalmajor Michael, Furst von Furneburg)
[3 units have battalion guns]

IR Alt-Salm (1 Bn)

IR Gschwind (2 Bns)

IR Palffy (1 Bn)

IR Thürheim (2 Bns)

1 field battery

Backer’s Brigade (Generalmajor Jean-Pierre Von Backer)

IR Lothringen (3 Bns)

IR Scharfenstein (2 Bns)

1 field battery

 

 

Hooptedoodle #478 - Don't Go Down the Market, Daddy - Death by Cookies

This post may be for Neil, I'm not sure. This is something that happens to me now and then.

A couple of evenings ago, I was reading the website of MSNBC, which - if you don't know (and even if you do) - is an American news and media channel with somewhat liberal leanings. I was attempting to catch up with the latest doings of the FBI*.

While I was in there I was interested - pleased, you might say - to note that the bots that work for the agencies who buy advertising space on the site had sent me a personalised ad. Imagine, if you will - they had used unauthorised access to the personal and location information on my computer to target this ad just at me. I was flattered. Maybe I fit some desirable class of potential client - wealthy? sophisticated? Maybe this is why YouTube sends me all those notes from single women in the Ukraine? Maybe they also know I tend to buy Terry's Chocolate Orange Minis when I visit Tesco's? I'm digressing here, but you will gather that I was a bit excited.

I mentioned this to my friend, Charlie Farley, who knows about these things. He was disappointingly sceptical. Since the advertisers seem to know all about me and where I live, I was surprised they had not found a better picture of North Berwick harbour, which, as far as I remember, looks like this:

 

I was also concerned about these spare 2024 cruise cabins; did this mean that I would have to take my reduced-price cruise in 2024? How does this work, Charlie?

Charlie dismissed the whole deal as a con. Not only are there no actual cruises available, says Charlie, but if I click on this ad something very bad will happen to my bank account, and those trainers I bought from Hotter last month for working in the garden will no longer fit properly. Someone in the old Balkan States will steal my identity, and then absolutely everything will go down the toilet.

Of course I am disappointed that I am not getting a cheap cruise out of this, and I am also scared by what seems to have happened to That Internet, but I'm also not a little angry. I have come to trust MSNBC to tell me the news with the sort of spin I approve of, but they will not let me read it unless I allow these adverts to appear. That in itself is not too serious, but it seems there is a layer of scuffling piracy in there as well - there are, as Charlie says, invisible, bad people just waiting to trip me up and leave my body somewhere behind the recycling bins down at the harbour.

That really is a bit much. I might add, in passing, that if someone does pinch my identity then I hope they get better value from it than I did.

 

* Fat, Brainless Idiot

WSS: A Rules Testing Night - Corporal John Sheds a Little Weight

 My Corporal John game is working well now. It's a card-driven game, derived from Richard Borg's Tricorne, which itself is a Command-&-Colors type boardgame for the AWI. I have come to realise that it would be very useful also to have a variant of the game that can be played without the cards and without the custom Tricorne dice. 

1. At present, to play a game via Zoom, each of the participants needs to have the card decks, which is a bit of an overhead if they may never play it again. A different activation system might make this a lot easier.

2. Same problem for remote players and the special dice; it should be a relatively simple task to substitute standard D6s, and just map the required rolls accordingly.

3. Anything which makes Corporal John easier to play by Zoom would be welcome, especially since it is likely that remote play will represent a growing proportion of my gaming in the future. The proposed changes would also make it possible to play with more than 2 players, which is potentially a big step forward.

4. In any case, I need a cardless version of Corporal John to handle the tactical bits of my siege games, and this has been on the shopping list for a year or two.

Enter CJ Lite, whose name is deliberately as unpretentious as I could make it. At heart, it is still Corporal John, with C&C style movement and combat systems, but the fancy dice are replaced by normal D6s, the cards are left in the box and the activation procedure is borrowed (with permission) from Jon Freitag; coloured cubes are drawn from a bag or a "bucket", activating a brigade at a time. Once a brigade is chosen and activated, the game unashamedly reverts to being C&C until the next cube is drawn.

The Jolly Broom Man very kindly joined me yesterday evening for a first test game, using Zoom. JBM and I have played a lot of  Corporal John remotely in the past, but it has only been possible because he has the cards and the dice. Last night's effort was a repeat of the Münzkirchen scenario I played a few weeks ago with David (who also has the cards and dice), so it was useful to have a direct comparison using the new game system.

Outcome? Enjoyable game - one might almost describe it as rollicking; a lot of action, all over the table, and we fought to a result in a little over 3 hours. Considering that we were in uncharted waters for much of the time, and thus had much to discuss, I reckon we should be able to play out such a game (with about 2 dozen units a side) in around 2½ hours when we get good at it.

A lot of useful notes were taken (thanks, JBM) - some things we agreed to change on the fly, some require further thought. There will be some tweaks emerging, but nothing life-threatening. The game works. It was even a lot of fun. The Austrians won again, but then their commander had played the scenario before (and wrote the rules). I shall not bother with a detailed narrative, and I only took a few photos really, but here are some bits of the action to look at. After the pictures I'll mention some thoughts about how the activation system changes the feel of the game. 

Miniatures Games Played with Cards

I don't necessarily include games which use normal playing cards as a source of random numbers or cues for events; I'm talking about games such as (in my rather narrow experience) Piquet or the Commands & Colors family, where each player has a hand of cards (i.e. cards published as part of the game or ruleset) which scopes what he/she may do next. Some people hate this with a vehemence which surpasseth understanding - often from some ancient race-memory of a cult war between boardgamers and miniatures fans; some people are disciples of card-controlled games.

Personally, I am quite a fan, but I am aware of some issues, which I shall attempt (sketchily) to mention.

Advantages of Card-driven Games (based on personal experience)

* Can add a lot of narrative colour and some welcome surprises to a game. Some of the narrative colour can be spurious, however; for example, telling a period-specific story about what special training has done to the Stand of Pikes performance of your Foot is just window dressing, if what the card really means is "Order 3 units in your Centre". On the other hand, a scarce card which allows you to issue orders to all your cavalry this turn is not to be sniffed it. Narrative, as they say, lies in the ear of the listener.

* This could be seen as a well-maybe advantage - I like the tendency of C&C type games to have lots of short turns during which you may activate a small number of units. You can't do too much in your turn, but it will be your turn again in just a minute; everyone remains involved. This is one reason why I found C&C stimulating when I first got involved.

* A major plus is that cards can be a big help for the solo-player.

Snags

* Cards can be over-prescriptive, reducing the player's role to acting out some nightmarish, randomly-generated script, which is not always a huge amount of fun (depends what you like, of course). I am not speaking of Piquet, by the way. Well, not necessarily.

* Especially in C&C, generalship can become a firefighting activity, as players try to make some sense of the cards they have been dealt, and find something in there which fits with what they can remember of what they originally planned to do. Not unlike attempting to perform Swan Lake while the audience squirts firehoses at the stage. [feeble analogy, but it amuses me]

* The ritual of reading aloud each played card, to see what is to happen next, and check the players have an agreement of what it means, is a sensible step to include (especially for a project team building a power station) but takes time and can even get a bit wearing. 

* Card based games are a no-no for remote play (since everyone has to be equipped with a deck), and coping with multiple players, or hierarchical command, needs special systems. It's possible in a multiple face-to-face game for the appointed commander to delegate cards to his subordinates, but there is a considerable risk that a subordinate may have a rotten time if he is in the wrong bit of the table. [Check your phone texts]

That's really a fairly inadequate stagger through the pros and cons, but it sets out most of what I see as the significant stuff. In the past I developed an alternative, dice-based activation system for C&C games which, among other things, made remote play possible during lockdown. I called this Ramekin (named for the little pot that a player's stash of activation chips is stored in), and I tried to keep the number of new activations each turn consistent with what you might expect from the C&C cards. This worked well enough to keep me playing during the Covid years, but I didn't care for the loss of colour and surprises arising from the loss of the cards, and I particularly disliked what happens if you give a player a small number of activations, even if you don't tell him in which sector of the field to use them.

What happens is what was always intended to happen; the general has to carefully identify priorities, and use his allotted orders shrewdly. Bad news is that the current hot-spots will use up all the orders, it is difficult to generate enough spare orders to start an initiative elsewhere, and the battle develops dead zones where the armies just snarl at each other and not much happens. This became a regular feature of Ramekin, and is why whenever possible I have gone back to the cards in C&C type games.

Last night, the new draw-cubes-from-a-bucket activation system worked well (I've used this type of system in Jon's Zoom games, so I know it works). The system activates a brigade at a time, and these brigades are not so much larger than the number of units activated by a C&C card, but since the process cycles through the brigades (it is unlikely that both armies will get through all their brigades before the Game Turn ends, but that's a detail), it means that there is stuff happening all over the field. By C&C standards, last night's test was a riot.

I had a think about this, and I perceive that the way I [we] play it has to take on board the way the new activations work. In Corporal John, the chances of getting a really useful card in your hand are not always so great, so the instinct is to make use of them, and do as much damage as possible, as and when they turn up. [This, of course, is why any kind of strategic plan in C&C is likely to last a couple of turns at most.] 

The new "cube" system is not very like that at all, and one thing I am going to have to think about is that when a brigade is activated it is not necessary to have every constituent unit rushing into the attack, or doing something dramatic. It is possible to have units, or even brigades, which are not supposed to be doing much at the moment. There could be designated reserves who are not simply waiting for a decent card. Suddenly I detect a possibility of strategic thought which may encourage a more nuanced approach to commanding toy armies. Hmmm.

I'm aware I've gone into this particular aspect in rather tedious detail, and I must repeat that thus far I am very pleased with how the new variant works, but an important part of testing is to see how the game will feel. This, after all, is why Corporal John's predecessor in my laboratories, Prinz Eugen, which used more time, effort, cleverness and deep study to produce than the Scottish Parliament building, did not survive testing. It was an interesting game, and it worked, but it was a real drag to play.

Things are looking good. You will hear more of this. 

 

 

 

Hooptedoodle #477 - Årstid and the Acer - a week for time travel

 No garden progress this week, since it has been raining steadily (which is, of course, perfect for new plants). I've been doing Other Things, an underrated pastime in my opinion; as ever, Nature likes to chip in with the odd minor accident or inconvenient coincidence, but it's all part of the Great Plan.

Årstid

I really don't wish to know how this is pronounced. One small event which could have been a big nuisance is that the bedside lamp in the attic room has packed up. Broken switch. Needs to be replaced, and the first obvious issue here is that it must be 25 years old. I realise these little domestic mishaps are sent to test our faith, so I don't take it personally.

I had a look online to see what is available, and felt a familiar sinking of the heart as I was confronted by the riches of endless, bewildering choice. I find much of this choice is not what I'm looking for, since, stupidly, I have no interest in a lamp which is rechargeable, or has a USB socket for charging my devices, or is dimmable, or is touch sensitive, or can be spoken to, or switched on while I'm still on the train, via my phone, or is light sensitive. What I do want is something very like the old one, which takes big, screw-in bulbs, is tall enough and has a big enough shade to light up the room yet not be scorched by the big LED bulbs I use. I want it to have a simple pull-switch, which I can operate without upsetting everything when I wake up - in the dark, for goodness sake. Cheap and simple would be good characteristics.

My wife, who is extremely good at this stuff, found that what we currently have is an old IKEA design called Årstid. She also found - wonder of wonders - that IKEA still sell it, and it is very cheap. Here it is:

With a bit of luck I should have a new one up and working by tonight. My ability to read in bed is depending on this, so it is not a trifling matter. One great thing about this big old-fashioned model is that modern LED bulbs will create an astonishing amount of illumination without offending the current or heat limits of the old 40w-rated design. 

The Acer

Tonight I am hosting a Zoom wargame to test a modified version of my Corporal John rules. This version is deliberately designed to facilitate remote gaming, and also to cope with games involving more than two players. I mention this (briefly) to remind myself that this is supposed to be a wargaming blog, but will say no more for the moment, other than to take this opportunity to thank Jon Freitag and the Jolly Broom Man for their generosity, patience and wisdom in helping me with a couple of the proposed changes in the rules. Gentlemen, I am in your debt.

Part of the changes requires some thorough testing of dice systems for combat, and, as often happens nowadays, I found myself lamenting that I no longer have access to my old QBASIC facility on the PC, which made it very simple to run extended series of simulations, varying the conditions and the numbers of dice. Stochastic testing for idiots, which I used to find enjoyable and useful. Same thread as the broken lamp story; the world has moved on. It is probably possible to install a virtual environment to simulate DOS on my iMac or my current Windows laptop, but - while such a project would have been very stimulating some years ago - I find the very idea of attempting it now brings a great weariness. To be honest, I would rather have a cup of something and get on with my book.

The laptop screams at me, every time I switch it on, that I had better upgrade to Windows 11 or I shall be excommunicated. A few key programs (that's "apps", sorry) will not run if the machine is not connected to the Internet, since the software has to check online that my licences are up to date. Sapristi. 

I find that in some ways I miss laptops which I had in the past, which were less user-friendly but actually let you use the machine in useful ways by getting behind the Eternal User Interface (EUI) without going on a nightschool course first.

And then, out of nowhere, I remembered that, somewhere in the bottom of the Junk Trunk in the attic, there is a little Acer Aspire One which I bought in about 2009 - specifically so that I could keep in touch while on holiday. It has a 10inch screen, runs Windows XP, and will allow me to duck behind all that front end and run in old-fashioned DOS. The QBASIC editor should be there, along with my old testing suites, not to mention various bits of the old Elan game I wrote to manage solo Napoleonic miniatures games (last time I played Elan was with Clive Smithers, about 15 years ago, and he was impressed enough to take a copy of the software, though he never installed it. Life is a bit like that). 

I still have my QBASIC textbook - if this works, I could get a little useful fun and keep a few neurons firing.  

Because the Acer will not be able to connect to the Internet (since we have changed our modem/router/hub at least 3 times since it was last switched on), I can't think of any reason why DOS and Windows XP shouldn't still work. If they are not supported into the future, well I couldn't care less. I have found the machine - it looks OK, and is charging up now. I suspect the wireless mouse may have died, but I have a few suitable museum-piece mice with wires which will do the job. 

That should keep me entertained for an hour or two tomorrow.

In the meantime, today's priority task is to set up the table and the cameras for the Zoom test game.

Busy, busy.

Hooptedoodle #475d - Garden Project [5] - Armed Shrubbery

 It is done. New plants all installed and watered on Sunday.

 

It was a nice, sunny day for planting

 

Just as a reminder, here's a photo taken the day before planting; this is the long bed where the big hedge was flattened by Storm Babet, back in 2023, and was subsequently removed by Michael and the Tree Men. The mulch is all ready, as you see

 

And most of the new plants went in here. The aforementioned Bonaparte is just to the left of the yellow Forsythia - of small stature, but standing proud. The apparently dead twig in the right foreground is a Weigela, which is expected to be "a riot of colour" in a couple of months

 

Next to the old fence (which must be 50 years old, but hasn't been seen much until the hedge fell down) the new plants look a bit on the small side, after all the excitement, but I am assured they will grow. That's what it says on the label. The two Photinias against the fence should each get to be 6 to 8 feet wide, which is why everything is spaced out. A lot of thought and discussion went into colours and target sizes. Next up will be some Hebes and shorter things, for ground cover. It was suggested that we might pressure-clean the fence, but I suspect that the moss is holding it together, so we swerved that idea

 

One of the shrubs was destined for a different bed, next to the back lawn. This is a Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire' which should be really beautiful when it gets going. This one needed some peat and some fancy compost to make sure it is happy in its new home

In case anyone is alarmed, the gardening blog posts should calm down a little now. I could, of course, publish details on the blog every time I cut the lawns, but that's getting a bit like Facebook. If anything significant happens, I'll put something in here. One of the happiest living things in our garden now is a robin, who made great friends with the new gardener, who was obviously here specifically to dig up lots of fresh worms. Every time I step outside, the robin appears, waiting for me to do something useful.

Spoiled, I reckon. Dig em a hole and they want a handful of dried mealworms. [By the way, dried mealworms smell delicious - like roasted peanuts...]

Hooptedoodle #475c - Garden Project [4] - Boney Joins the Ranks

We are now moving on to the shrubs and bedding plants phase, and a first instalment was delivered today, to be planted on Sunday. In the meantime, I have them lined up in the shade on the north-east side of the house, and shall keep them nice and moist until then.

More photos will appear when we've done something, but in the meantime I have to mention that one of the new arrivals is a cherry laurel, bred in Germany, named Prunus laurocerasus 'Bonaparte'. 

Well, it had to be done, hadn't it?  

This is a stock photo for the moment, but no doubt Bonaparte will be standing proud in the long bed by next week. Nine new potted shrubs to go in this week. I hope to publish the evidence here.

Hooptedoodle #476 - Macdonald Road Library (Leith Walk, Edinburgh)

 I read recently that the public library in Macdonald Road was 120 years old last year - I confess that I was rather surprised to learn that it is still open; Leith is well out of my usual stomping ground these days, and public libraries are not doing too well, I fear, since Google has made it unfashionable to actually know anything.

Why mention it, then?

Well, back in the early 1970s I had a fleeting acquaintance with the old place - bear with me, and I shall attempt to explain in a pleasantly businesslike manner...

 

Appropriate monochrome photo of the library in 1930 - note the tram cars in Leith Walk. For some reason, my memories of Edinburgh in the early 1970s seem to be monochrome as well - maybe it was that sort of place

 

 

I think that military and wargaming books were indexed under code U - not that I wasted my study time with such matters, of course

Back in those days I was working as an actuarial trainee with a big (old) insurance company in Edinburgh, and part of the deal was that I got two half-day study periods a week during the winter (90 minutes each, in fact), which I had to take in the designated study room, in the attic above Accounts, which was filthy and unheated, and my recollection is that most of the students chain-smoked. Grim.

One winter my department moved. This sort of thing didn't happen often at the time, but the company's group pensions business was expanding quickly, and some of the pensions departments were relocated to a new building, in Leith, a good distance from the main offices in George Street. If the mention of a new building sounds promising, it must be borne in mind that the building in question had been built as an investment, but the proposed new occupant (Scottish Gas, I think) disliked it so much that they ducked the contract, so my employer cut their losses by using it themselves; it was probably good enough for us peasants in Pensions, anyway.

I now had an additional snag in that my twice a week study periods would be on the other end of a 30-minute journey each way. I made the mistake of asking the Personnel people if some other arrangement might be possible, and contempt was served up from a great height. If I chose not to use the facilities which were so generously offered, then that was my problem, etc etc.

As it happened, my boss was a nice old guy, and I agreed with him informally that I could absent myself on Tuesday mornings, and spend 3 hours in Macdonald Road library, which was only a few minutes away.

This worked well. The library was large, and very quiet indeed, and my 3 hour visits were much better for serious studying than the filth-hole up in George Street. I was surprised how deserted the place was - there were 3, sometimes 4, pensioners who came in to keep warm in the cold weather, otherwise there was very little happening. Maybe it was crowded in the evenings.

One of the pensioners was always very busy, scribbling away - the others seemed to sleep most of the time.

Eventually I struck up a nodding-terms relationship with the librarian in charge - Miss Gilhooley, who was a rather timid-looking young lady - pale, with red hair - and sometimes she would offer to make an extra cup of tea for me. This was kindness of a sort that actuarial trainees were not used to.

It turned out that Miss Gilhooley lived somewhere on the South Side, as did I, and on one occasion she sat next to me on the morning bus into the city. I learned a little of daily goings-on at Macdonald Road. It seems that the pensioner who did all the writing was a Mr Duguid [I have no idea how or why I remember this stuff], and what he liked to do was to bring in a ballpoint pen, and fill in all the letters o, e, a, b, d, p, q (etc) in the library's public copy of the Scotsman newspaper - he also liked to draw spectacles on the photographs of people in the news. I am pleased to add that as far as I know he didn't do anything worse than this, but what he did was relentless - he worked at it for most of the day. Miss Gilhooley used a cunning plan, and would lay out an old newspaper for Mr Duguid's use, but this didn't work, since one of his companions could read (Mr Duguid could not), and tipped hm off that it was not today's edition. Mr Duguid refused (quite correctly) to waste his effort destroying an out-of-date newspaper, so a Plan B came into use. Miss Gilhooley did a very brave, unofficial thing, and ordered a special second copy of the Scotsman for Mr Duguid. This seemed to be working, though the auditors would no doubt find out eventually.

Miss Gilhooley's worst experience had been a morning when another elderly chap came in, but he was wearing a Rangers FC scarf. This caused an actual punch-up with the regulars - Macdonald Road is right in Hibernians territory - and Miss Gilhooley had not witnessed hooliganism of this sort before or since. The only casualty was the maintenance man, who was struck with a fire extinguisher - or claimed he had been.

As I recall, my visits to the library only lasted for one winter. I can't remember why, but I know that you didn't get study time if you had to resit an exam failure, so maybe there is a clue in there somewhere.

Lovely city, Edinburgh, but I have a strong memory of it being a cold, grey, unfriendly place for a young man far from home! And there is some lingering whiff of the Council's disinfectant...

WSS: Battle of Münzkirchen - March 1703

 Yesterday (Thursday) I hosted this little-known action; a post from last week included some pictures of the initial set-up. My Zoom opponent was David, and we used my Corporal John rules, of which David has had some limited experience previously.

 

Scene-setting photo shows part of the Austrian left wing; General Backer (a Lorrainer) in command of his brigade, just outside the village of Sankt Roman

Background - Briefing Note and OOB

Following the defection of the Elector of Bavaria to the side of the French king, the Holy Roman Emperor orders that attacks be made on Bavaria right at the start of 1703, to inflict punitive damage and to make it clear what repercussions might be expected.

Feldmarschal Leopold Anton von Schlick has been sent to seize control of crossings over the Danube and the Inn in the area around Passau. The Bavarians know all about this expedition, and the Elector leads a strong force to contest the area. The two armies more or less blunder into each other near Schärding.

The two commanders are regarded as being competent, and the forces are roughly equal. In Corporal John terms, the commanders each have a hand of 5 Command Cards, and an initial allocation of 3 Combat Cards. Capture of either of the villages of Sankt Roman and Shießdorf will result in 1 temporary Victory Point [this means that an army entering a village which it does not already hold will gain 1VP, and will be regarded as holding that village until the enemy enters it – it is not necessary to leave a defending force in the village – if a village changes hands, the temporary VP will be transferred across]. 8 VPs wins the day.

The forces are of very similar make-up – the Bavarians have 1 extra unit of foot, the Imperialists 1 extra unit of horse. Neither army is trained in platoon fire. The Bavarians have two elite units (Leibgarde and Leibgrenadiere), and three of the Austrian foot units have attached battalion guns.

Position at 8am is shown on the map. David chose to be the Elector of Bavaria, which meant that I was Feldmarschal Von Schlick for the day, and a dice roll decreed that I would go first.

 

Bavarian Army (Elector of Bavaria)                                (7 horse; 12 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Arco’s Brigade (Generalmajor Graf d’Arco)

Arco Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Costa Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Monasterol Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Santini Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Weichel’s Brigade (Generalmajor Weichel)

Leibgarde (3 Sqns)(elite)

Weichel Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Wolframsdorf Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Brinkelhof’s Brigade (Generalmajor Brinkelhof)

IR Bettendorf (2 Bns)

IR Haxthausen(2 Bns)

Boismorel Grenadiere (1 Bn)

Leib Grenadiere (1 Bn)(elite)

1 field battery

Maffei’s Brigade (Generalmajor Marquis de Maffei)

IR Lützelberg (1 Bn)

IR Kurprintz (1 Bn)

IR Maffei (1 Bn)

IR D’Octfort (1 Bn)

IR Spilberg (1 Bn)

IR Tattenbach (1 Bn)

1 field battery

 

Imperial Army (Feldmarschal Leopold von Schlick)       (8 horse; 11 foot; 2 art; 5 leaders)

Niederhammer’s Brigade (Generalmajor Niederhammer)

Alt-Hannover Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Cusani Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Gronsfeld Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Aufseß Dragoner (3 Sqns)

Stoltz’s Brigade (Generalmajor Stolz)

Jung-Darmstadt Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Lobkowitz Kürassiere (3 Sqns)

Leibregiment zu Pferd (Hessen-Kassel)(3 Sqns)

Spiegel Karabiniere (Hessen-Kassel)(3 Sqns)

Furneburg’s Brigade (Generalmajor Furst von Furneburg) [3 units have battalion guns]

IR Alt-Salm (1 Bn)

IR Gschwind (2 Bns)

IR Palffy (1 Bn)

IR Thürheim (2 Bns)

1 field battery

Backer’s Brigade (Generalmajor Von Backer)

IR Lothringen (3 Bns)

IR Scharfenstein (2 Bns)

1 field battery

 

A narrative of sorts should emerge from the pictures.  

 

Right at the start, Schlick was concerned about the artillery battery which was exposed on his right, so he ordered up Niederhammer's cavalry brigade to cover the flank - Arco's Bavarian cavalry responded, and brought on a desperate cavalry fight which swung back and forth throughout the day. View is from behind the Bavarian flank

 

Here you see it from nearer the ground - Arco with the cuirassiers in the foreground

 

General view of the centre, early in the day, from behind the Elector's lines

 

The Bavarian right flank, looking towards Schießdorf. Weichel Cuirassiers on the left of the picture, then the elite Leibgarde (in light blue)

 

Opposite them, the Austrian left surrounds the village of Sankt Roman

 

Counter-battery fire is rarely very effective in these games, but the Bavarians certainly had the edge on this day - here the Austrian No.2 battery is immediately getting lumps knocked out of it by the Bavarian guns across the valley

 

General view from behind the Austrian left, around 9:30 - things quiet apart from artillery fire at this end and the mad cavalry scrap in the distance

 

...as you see - Aufseß dragoons in the right foreground, helping out - it was a feature of the battle that the dragoon units in the cavalry performed pretty well

 

Bavarian centre, with central heating radiator

 

Backer still waiting for orders, a situation which lasted most of the day. Unit on the right of the picture is the 3-battalion IR Lothringen, also known as the Bishop of Osnabrück's Guard, which is always welcome on the miniature battlefield because their green uniforms provide a bit of welcome variety [these are ex Eric Knowles troops]

 

And still the cavalry battle between Arco and Niederhammer continues - red-coated Bavarian dragoons looking a bit exposed here, but they did quite well

 

Now some helpful cards present themselves, and the Austrian centre pushes forward

 

The Bavarian Bettendorf regiment has a moment to prepare itself for the onslaught...

 

...before the Austrian Gschwind lads arrive and punch a hole in the Bavarian line - this looks like a critical moment

 

[meanwhile] Maffei's Bavarian infantry are undisturbed by the drama to their left...

 

...and the situation is saved by the Bavarian Leibgrenadiere...

 

...(here in close-up)...

 

...and General Brinkelhof, with the Haxthausen regiment, which quickly routed both battalions of Gschwind. Situation stabilized, but some big gaps in the centre now

 

Still the cavalry on the flank are hard at it, and the Bavarians are showing a lot of damage

 

Some new spaces in the centre...

 

In the wood you can see Feldmarschal Schlick in person [please note] bringing forward the Imperial Regiment Thürheim to attack the Bavarian grenadiers

 

At this point the cavalry fight ended in the Austrians' favour, as Arco was seriously wounded, and the Costa cuirassiers were finally routed from the field. The Victory Points score was now 9-6 to the Austrians, 8 being required for overall victory

 

Here is a little study of the Bavarian Santini dragoons...

 

... and the Bavarian Red Grenadiers - the Boismorels - with Lt Col De La Colonie in command, thinking up a positive spin to put on his regiment's performance in his memoirs

 

The Elector (without hat) begins the job of organising a retreat

 

Final stand-off in the centre

 

Close-up of 1st Bn IR Thürheim, complete with their battalion gun. This is another ex-Eric unit, though I supplied the command figures

 

And the official scoreboard shows 9-6 to the Empire - tell the auditors

 

Since the scoreboard is not visible through the Zoom cameras, we also have an extra scoreboard on the table. The coloured counters are bonus VPs for holding the villages

My thanks to my worthy opponent - as ever, it was a close game - there were moments in the centre late on when either side could have suffered a major collapse. No problems with the rules, except that the Command Cards allowed us to leave the Bavarian right and the villages pretty much untouched. I forgot to drink my Lucozade, so I must have been busy.

 

 Time to get tidied up - General Backer finally gets the order, late in the evening, to tell his brigade to stand down. It seems that his side won...