WSS: Test Campaign Decider - the Battle of Borgloon

 

Last night I hosted the Zoom game to settle the campaign. At this point the Allies (that's me, folks) were leading by 3 points to 2, having won an encounter battle (1 pt) at La Bienveillance (2 Divisions a side) and a medium-sized set-piece (2 pts) at Waremme (at which I defended, with my 3 Divisions partially dug in against 4 Divisions of Franco-Bavarians), while the French (JBM) won an off-table siege (2 pts) at Rijnsburg. 

Last night we had arrived at a large set-piece (worth 3 pts) at Borgloon, near St-Truiden, where each army had 4 Divisions. Because my army was rather smaller, I chose to defend. Thus the winner of this final bash would win the campaign outright. Alas, I forgot to switch off the spellchecker in Word when I took the screenprints, we have some unwanted extra colour in the presentation of the OOB...

JBM (Marshal Marsin) withheld Chatrier's cavalry as a reserve, the location of their arrival a secret.

The action was predictably hectic. The Allies had a ridge and some woodland to defend on their right, the village of Bommershoven in front of their centre, and a more open area on their left, which was held by General Vielgluck, with Austrian cuirassiers and a brigade of infantry from Hessen-Kassel. 

The French arrived, and after a fairly unproductive preliminary bombardment the various artillery batteries withdrew, and Marsin used some very fine Command cards to order his whole line to advance. The Allies had expected the main attack to fall on their left, but hadn't imagined it would arrive quite so quickly!

 

Initial view from the French left; in the foreground La Bonne's infantry surround the little village of Oude Haren, with its neighbouring orchard; in the centre are Arco's Bavarians, with Bassinet's Division at the far end making the main attack. The larger village of Bommershoven is visible in the distance, commanding the main highway to Maastricht

 

From the French right, we get a view of Bassinet's command

 

Continuing around the table, we are now behind the Allied left. In the foreground is Vielgluck's mixed Division, Austrian cavalry and Hessian infantry, none of which performed very well...

 

The French advance very vigorously, right across their front, with the main attack going in in the distance, on their right flank

 

 

Vielgluck's boys get ready to hold off Bassinet. Vielgluck is encouraging one of his cuirassier units

 

In the Allied centre, at Bommershoven, Marlborough's Regt and the Royal Regt of Ireland made a very nervous effort at holding the village, repeatedly being pushed back by some of Arco's Bavarians, but scrabbling back

 

Arco's cuirassiers in the centre, including two very shiny newly-painted regiments, had a very quiet day - there was a lot of bloodshed, but it was elsewhere

 

Both sides taking a breather at Bommershoven; Marlborough himself was called into play a few times, encouraging his regiment to please go back and re-take the village

 

On the Allied right, the British have no intention of coming out into the open, while La Bonne's lads opposite mostly stand and glare at them

 

On the French right, Bassinet brought up the Gendarmérie de France - all 6 squadrons of them! - and the Austrian cavalry were outmatched

 

A general view after about 2 hours

 

At this point the British have taken back the larger village, but it didn't last...

 

With 12 Victory Points required for a win, the French got to 5-1 in fairly routine fashion, substantially helped by the apparent inability of the Austrians and Hessians on the Allied left to stop retreating when they were required to do so

 

With the Allied left pretty much wrecked, mostly by the (elite) Gendarmes, and Bommershoven now taken permanently by the (elite) Bavarian Leib Grenadiers, the value of top quality troops and excellent dice rolls were becoming very obvious

 

At this late stage, the Allied right flank emerged from their woods, determined at least to give some kind of showing. They had a few very helpful Combat cards at this point (including the much-prized Infantry Bonus card) and James Ferguson, now commanding Charles Churchill's old Division, suddenly made such rapid progress that Marlborough wondered why he hadn't tried this earlier. The situation is pulled back to 10-6 at this point, though it stabilised more than somewhat once the fancy cards ran out...

 

So the later stages of the game were dominated by this infantry combat near the orchard and, inevitably,  the French managed to eliminate enough units to clinch the day.

 

12-6! A decisive victory indeed, which also meant that the French won the campaign, 5-3 on points. Very well deserved too, my hat is appropriately doffed to the victors. Each army lost one general on the day, seriously wounded - Vielgluck and Bassinet were carried from the field. In case you are wondering what happened to the French cavalry reserve, it turns out that they were to come on behind their right flank, but they weren't needed - there was no-one for them to fight at that end of the table!

 

For Neil's benefit, this is what a trouncing looks like on my old scoreboard! I produced some army flags for the occasion. The personal arms of Louis XIV (top) seems sound enough, but I have failed to find any record of a flag for the Grand Alliance - not even the League of Augsburg, so just put up an Austrian flag. Just out of interest, does anyone know of a flag for the the unified army of the Alliance in the WSS? 

 The tabletop rules seem to have settled down nicely, and have coped with everything, including occasional memory lapses, without drama. The campaign rules are a little odd, but worked effectively. If I got anything wrong, I think it was in making the recovery rates for "legacy casualties" too generous. Attrition didn't really bite hard enough as the campaign went on - this is easily fixed, so I'll make the rallying rules more miserable!

My thanks to JBM for his help and wisdom, and for his companionship during the games.

A good time was had by all, but I really do want to know how much we are paying for these Hessian mercenaries...

 

WSS: Test Campaign - the Last Battle - Borgloon - Getting ready

 The eve of a fair-sized battle.

We know fighting will take place tomorrow. I have the table more or less ready, my Allied army is in position, waiting for the French to finish their petit-déjeuner and rock up for action. Although strictly I have the initiative for this battle, I have chosen to defend because my force is rather smaller than the enemy.

The field artillery is out front, ready for the official preliminary bombardment. You will see that 3 of the British infantry units also have battalion guns. My senior field commanders are in little groups of 3 figures; Marlborough (overall C-in-C) is on the prancing horse, Prince Eugène in more sedate posture.

The French and Bavarian troops are boxed in OOB, ready for laying out when they arrive. I still have to get the movie cameras set up and find all the dice, cards and counters, but everything is in hand. I even have time for some photos, just to prove we were here.

What could possibly go wrong...?

WSS: After You with the Sticking Plasters

 A couple of years ago, while setting up a little photo-shoot with my British WSS army, I managed to break off an officer's sword blade. These are Les Higgins figures, and the bayonets and swords are famously fragile, so I did a patch-up job with superglue, and got my photos taken.

I have always known that I'll have to make a better job of the sword repair, but to tell the truth I rather lost track of which unit it was. They all looked reasonable, and there is always a small chance that a quick repair might last indefinitely...

Nah - I didn't really believe this, and this afternoon, while I was sorting out the troops for what will be the last battle in my current campaign. it was suddenly made clear to me which sword blade it was, as it fell off again! 

Righto - today was the day fate had lined up for the proper repair, before I managed to lose the detached blade (it has happened), so I drilled out the officer's hand, carved a little tang on the hilt-end of the blade, and superglued it in properly. Job done. I still have to touch up the varnish a bit, once the superglue is cured, but I'm pleased with the result. The boys are all ready for a fight tomorrow.

 

Grenadier stand of Scrope Howe's Regt, now repaired. The extra superglue is a bit obvious, gleaming on the officer's hand, but I'll sort that out later, once I am confident I am not going to wreck an expensive brush with superglue which hasn't cured yet!

The campaign is very close, but the last battle is tomorrow evening, and it's a 3-pointer, so the winner of this battle will definitely win the campaign. I shall write up some form of report (unless I lose, of course).

WSS: Battle of Waremme - Test (Solo) Campaign

 The days were accomplished, and on Thursday evening it was time for my Zoom game with JBM. I posted a description with an initial photo a few days ago. Subsequent discussion confirmed that we should switch from my extended table (17 x 9 hexes) to the standard size (13 x 9); the big disadvantages of having an oversize table for a Commands & Colors type game are:

* There is a temptation for both generals to stretch out their forces to fit the space, which is historically inappropriate for horse and musket warfare, and 

* The Command Cards and the Centre/Flank table sectors don't work properly if the armies are grouped in the centre, leaving the flanks empty!

Scenario? Well, this action was triggered by my (beta-test) campaign system, the vehicle for a try-out campaign, with which the Jolly Broom Man is very kindly giving me a hand. The game generator indicated that this particular event was to be a "medium-sized" set-piece attack & defence situation, with a Franco-Bavarian force under Marshal Marsin attacking an Austro-British Alliance force commanded by the Duke of Marlborough. Preliminary dice-rolling gave Marsin 4 Divisions, while Marlborough had 3; since the defending force was outnumbered, some further dice-rolling allowed the Allies to bolster their defensive position by spending the night before the action digging some modest breastworks on their right flank.

 

Start of the day's action; one of the Bavarian guns engaged in the preliminary artillery bombardment

The action took place at the farm of Oude Wieg, in open country outside the Wallonian town of Borgworm (Waremme in French).

I've posted the OOB previously, but here it is again. Some form of narrative should emerge from the photos.

Victory required 10 Victory Points (there are no bonus VPs for strategic objectives). 

 

Right at the start the French advanced all along their line; here you see them on the left of the picture and the Allies on the right, racing to occupy the central farm. Marsin has the French Division of La Bonne at this end, Lützelburg's Bavarians in the centre and Maffei's Bavarians extending into the distance; he kept his reserve Division (that of Bassinet), off the table at the start. On the Allied side you see Handschuh's Austrians in the foreground, with Charles Churchill's British at the farm and Lord Orkney's British holding the earthworks at the far end.

 

Early fighting was mostly around the farm. The Bavarians gained an early foothold, but were driven out fairly quickly, and from that point, though there were repeated attacks by Marsin's forces, the British held the farm for the rest of the day.

 

 

Attempts to take the farm and its fields cost the French army a lot of casualties; in very little time there was a large gap in that early French line. At this stage the Allies have accumulated 4 VPs, as indicated by the counters at the end of the table!

 

Tragedy for the British, quite early in the day; General Charles Churchill, the brother of the Duke of Marlborough, was mortally wounded by a musket ball at the farm, while encouraging his own regiment (the Buffs). The fatal dice are shown here...

 

Still contesting possession of the farm, the Boismorel Regiment (Bavarian "Red Grenadiers", who were mostly Frenchmen) are here hanging on to the kale field in the foreground. It was certainly vicious while it lasted.

 

General view from the Allied right gives a clear view of the earthwork.

 

After a couple of hours, it was revealed that Marsin, who was concerned about the extended Bavarian division on his left, had committed Bassinet's reserve Division to appear on that flank. Here they are just starting to arrive, while Bavarian dragoons nearer the camera have a good look at the British earthworks, and wonder what to do about them.

 

 

And still the scrap at the farm goes on, but is just about decided. The Boismorels have been driven out of the kale field by Ferguson's Foot (Cameronians).

 

Concerned that he might have to shift troops to his right to oppose the French reserves coming on, Marlborough deployed his limited cavalry to threaten the infantry on the French right, to buy a little time while the other flank developed.

 

A general view after about two and a half hours shows that the French had done very little with their right flank, had suffered heavy losses at the the farm, and had avoided the fortified flank at the far end, though the reserve troops coming on Marsin's left were worrying Marlborough.

 

Around the same time, here is a better view of the other flank.

 

Bassinet's reserve troops now clearly visible reaching the battlefield on the French left, but this part of the field was relatively quiet throughout.

 

With the VP score now 7-5 to the Allies, Marsin began an offensive on his right, against Handschuh's Imperial troops.

 

 

Then it became 9-5.

 

And still Orkney's little redoubt is under very little pressure.

 

The attack by Marsin's right late in the day once more got Marlborough anxious, as the VP gap started to close. In a lengthy game, the luck is always likely to swing at some time, but the game ran out with a 10-8 victory for the defenders.

I feel that my account maybe doesn't do justice to what was really an exciting little game. JBM (Marsin) and I had a productive discussion at the end; we agreed, I think (entirely with the advantage of hindsight on my part!), that he had probably been over-cautious around the earthworks, and that if he had committed the reserve troops to appear on his right, instead of the left, he might have had the weight to drive the Austrians from the field.

The campaign will continue in a week or so. Great fun - thanks again JBM.

We came up with a few slight wrinkles in the rules covering how artillery are handled if they come under attack, and one or two areas where the problem was that I didn't quite remember the details of the rules. All fine - a little pondering and some further discussion should sort things out nicely. 

No problems. Nice game.

WSS: Solo Campaign Test - ready for Waremme

 My Assisted Solo Campaign is trotting along quietly in the background. I have benefited a lot from the Jolly Broom Man's preparedness to help me through this - the testing of a home-written solo game cannot possibly be carried out solo, or I can convince myself that anything at all is OK. I was about to make a resounding statement about JBM bringing the sanity to the party, but then I remembered that the man himself would make some joke about this being a measure of how desperate things are.

The facts, then, are that we have already had one small(ish) encounter battle, which the Allies won (just), and there has been a small siege, in which the French captured a Dutch-held town with very little effort. Next step is set for tomorrow night, when we are to fight a set-piece battle, in which the Allied force (that's me, folks) will be attacked by the French (who are led by JBM). 

I have set up my army; I have a day to prepare for the arrival of a rather larger Franco-Bavarian force. Because the scenario gives me something of a disadvantage numerically, I am allowed to do a little digging, and some breastworks have been thrown up on our right flank.

Here you see my chaps, all ready for tomorrow evening, in the open countryside near the small town of Waremme, not far from Liege. I have the British Divisions of Lord Orkney and Charles Churchill, with the Imperial Division of Graf Eberwald Handschuh on our left. We have a total of about 10000 infantry and about 1000 horse and, as you see, our field artillery is deployed out front, ready for the preliminary bombardment phase allowed by this scenario.

Marshal Marsin will arrive tomorrow evening.   

Strolling Along Nicely

 Soldier painting is progressing quite well - I'm keeping the sessions down to a couple of hours, since my eyes get tired, but I'm happy to be getting back to it. I have a couple of units close to being finished, and that will be an important step psychologically, apart from anything else; if I have a problem with a painting job, or if it gets stuck, this has always discouraged me out of all proportion to the seriousness of the issue. Energy sapping! This week should help a lot, in a number of ways. 

 

 I've also had a chance to get back to testing my solo campaign rules for Corporal John, which are coming along very well.  

Last month I got as far as the first tabletop battle in a fictional campaign. this was the action at La Bienveillance that I featured in a post at the time. I'm pleased that the Jolly Broom Man has been able to provide some very useful help and support via Zoom. To restate an idea about which I have become convinced, I believe that it is impossible to test anything original on one's own. Even if it is a solo game, we will always read the rules as though they say what we meant them to say, so the testing is invalid right from the start.

The bold JBM appeared last night, complete with a very intimidating set of whiskers, and we advanced the campaign a little without too much effort, and with no real problems.

We managed to start a background siege running, for the first time. It didn't last very long. The French laid siege to the small town of Rijnsburg, sending the siege train and the divisions of Lützelburg (Bavarian) and Bassinet (French). Rijnsburg was selected, not least, because of the mediochre reputation of the Dutch commander, Colonel Wiegman, and the result was the quickest collapse we have seen yet in a test siege. The investment was only 3 weeks into the job when something bad happened to the garrison - Wiegman asked to surrender, unconditionally, and the remains of the garrison and poor Wiegman were sent off to the hulks. The French now hold Rijnsburg, and obtained 2 Campaign Points for very little effort. They will have the job of repairing about 30% damage to the fortress.

We also got to the initiation of the next field action, which will be a biggish set-piece in the open country outside the town of Waremme, in Wallonia. The French will be attacking, and the Order of Battle will be:

I have to send some choices of battlefield terrain to JBM, and we can have a crack at it when opportunity allows. I also have to remind myself where to position the Zoom cameras for the extended version of my table - it should be OK, since I have done it before [hands up if you are convinced].