I'm currently doing some conversion work and painting to get a supply of command figures for my next lot of Spanish line infantry, and in the breaks - since I have the brushes and the tools out - I am taking the opportunity to do a few other bits and pieces. Tidying up, finishing things off - that sort of stuff.
Here is an example. This, you will see, is a British artillery caisson. I have a few such caissons, and there are still a couple more to be finished. Most of them are models by Lamming - the older the better, to get the scale right. This one is slightly different - the limber and the caisson (actually, I think it is officially an Ammunition Car) are both from the lovely old Hinchliffe 20mm series - long gone; the horses are Hinton Hunt, the driver is a converted Minifigs S-Range RHA gunner. Nothing particularly notable in the mix, I think you will agree - all the castings date from the 1970s. If you were to be a little fussy, you might suggest that the horses are a tad small for the rest of the kit, but that is certainly my fault for removing them from their bases in 1972. Anyway, you wouldn't suggest it out loud.
That is the point - the horses and the limber have been attached to this plywood base since late 1972. When I switched my house standard from 2 gun limbers per battery to just one, I had a few spare limbers like this kicking around the place. Last year I got hold of a matching caisson from the same maker and the same vintage, and added a suitable driver. Some very slight freshening of the paint on the original bits and here you are - a brand new addition to my Allied artillery which has only been 40 years in the completion.
If something is worth doing, my grandmother used to say,
it’s probably worth doing over again. Here I was, quite happy with my new
Hassle-Be-Gone automated siege rules, and then some insightful comments from
Ross on my recent post and an unusually coherent email from De Vries the
Impaler sent me back to the drawing board.
One of the truly great things about blogs is that you can
get other interested parties to shine some light on your own thoughts, and you
can learn a huge amount. [By the way, any fans or students of Water Logic? – I
used to be a firm believer in all that creative evaluation stuff, though I seem
to have forgotten about it since I stopped being paid to think. I might do a
post about it sometime – you have been warned.]
The purpose of my mathematical, off-table siege rules is to
strike a workable balance between convenience and realism such that sieges can
be handled easily in the background while the campaign rolls on. The tricky bit
is finding the correct balance – rephrase that – an acceptable balance.
The part of the siege under particular scrutiny here is the
actual assault or storm. For a start, Ross raised the very good point that not
all sieges are the same. If the defenders are unusually determined, it can
change things. I carefully avoid the use of the word “fanatical” here, since it
has kind of rabid overtones. Let us merely identify that there are certain
situations and certain armies where the defenders would be prepared to fight
for every building, and to sustain unusually high levels of casualties. De
Vries’ original suggestion was that the defenders might be “Spanish or mad”,
but that won’t do at all.
Further, De Vries cited the Agustina Effect (after the
heroic lady celeb from the Siege of Zaragoza), where the civilian populace are
prepared to help with manning the guns and the barricades – i.e. commit to a
level of active combat over and beyond merely trying to defend their own
property. We also agreed that there might be situations (though I’m struggling
to think of an example) where the citizens are on the side of the besiegers,
and take a part in the attack on the garrison. To put all this into effect, I
have changed the calculations of ASS and DSS (as defined in the rules below) in
the storm – the defenders can get an extra dice if they are ready to fight for
every building (the Suicide Dice - suggestions for a better name will be most welcome), and either the defenders or the attackers might possibly get
yet another bonus dice (the Agustina Dice) if the civilians are prepared to
fight on their side, during the actual storm. All storms take a week, however
they go.
Agustina de Aragon - "No - it's OK. If she really wants to stand there when we fire, just let her get on with it..."
Ross raised the matter of levels of loss – applying an
overall factor to the complete besieging army’s strength to get the casualty
figures is over-simplifying things, and may give inconsistent or illogical
results. Prof De Vries also pointed out that calculating the besiegers’ losses
retrospectively for the whole siege, based on the “total force employed” is, to
use his terminology, dumb, for a number of reasons:
(1) Though the total
force, represented by the variable Assault Value (AV) may justifiably be
regarded as all at risk during the weekly routine Bombardment Phase (which
includes all kinds of missile fire, mining, sorties, hunger, disease, bad
breaks and random demoralisation), this number AV will vary from week to week,
apart from losses, as a result of troops being detached from the siege, or new
troops joining it.
(2) During the actual storm (as Ross also mentioned), only a
portion of the total available AV may be called upon to actually assault the
place – losses for that week should be restricted to this subset.
(3) In a campaign where weekly returns are made for all
units, it makes no sense at all to do the casualty calcs for a siege only when
it has ended. It is much better to perform the calcs week by week, as AV varies
up and down (or is subdivided), and carry forward the actual totals.
Though still determined to keep this manageably simple, I
accept all of this, and the re-tweaked section of the Siege Rules now reads
thus:
11.3.3 Storming:
Defenders’
Storm Strength, DSS = FV + GV + 1D6 + the Suicide Dice + the Agustina Dice
Attackers’
Storm Strength , ASS = AV(st) + 1D6 +
the Agustina Dice [BV, the Battering
Value, does not count in a storm]
Where:
* The
Suicide Dice is a bonus 1D6 available to the defenders if they are prepared to
fight for every building.
* The
Agustina Dice is an extra bonus 1D6 available to either side if the civilian
population of the town will fight for them.
* AV(st)
is whatever subset of the full current AV the attackers commit to an assault.
Results:
* If
ASS > DSS then the fortress falls and the garrison surrenders. Attackers
lose 0.25 x DSS (rounded to nearer whole number) from AV(st). Defenders lose
0.5 x ASS from GV.
*
Otherwise, if ASS <= DSS, storm is repulsed; attackers lose 0.5 x DSS from
AV(st); defenders lose 0.125 x ASS from GV
[Losses
in GV and AV are not simply casualties – they represent all manner of loss of
ability to continue – and note that GV and AV can become negative].
Each
week during a siege, losses for each side are calculated as one tenth of the
percentage loss in AV or GV for the week. During a storm, AV(st) replaces AV if
it is different. Thus, for example, if AV is reduced from 7 to 6 during a
particular week, the actual loss to the besieging army in killed and wounded is
1/10 x 1/7 = 1.4% of the troops present/engaged.
Nothing gets Breakfast
TV switched off quicker in our house than the scheduled few minutes with the
Show-Biz Correspondent, possibly live from Hollywood,
with tales of who has been seen with whom. Glossing over the fact that I have
not heard of most of the people mentioned, I really cannot believe that anyone
gives a rat’s about this stuff. Does someone out there actually care?
Not being
interestingly rich or famous myself, I have never paid much attention to the
private lives of those who are. I accept that I appear to be in a minority
here, so let’s be a bit more specific – I don’t care much about the private
lives of people who are still alive, anyway. Once, long ago, astounded to learn
on the BBC’s lunch-time national news that a Palace Spokesman had told the
world’s press that Princess Diana was suffering from a slight cold (she was
still alive at the time, I hasten to add), I complained to my wife-of-the-day
that I was once again thinking of resigning from the human race, or any other
species which spent its time waiting for daily news of this calibre. Bad move –
I was immediately skewered with a familiar laser-beam stare.
“You,” she said,
“should be trying to get in the queue to JOIN the bloody human race”.
To this day, I am sure
she was right, so since then I have tried to keep track of areas where I don’t quite
line up with the mainstream – not because I necessarily wish to change, you see,
but because a little understanding never did any harm, and forewarned is
fore-something-or-othered. Armed – yes, that was it.
All those magazines
that stare at me next to the checkout in the supermarket – the ones with an
exclamation mark at the end of the title – all plugged into some national
obsession. “Katy Price tells all – exclusive”, and there is Katy on the cover,
looking right at me – sharing her secret just with me. Good on you, girl. You
tell em. Don’t tell me, though, for goodness sake.
That’s what nearly all
kids want to be now – rich and famous. Rich = famous. I’m not so sure about
that, but there is a general assumption that fame brings riches, and you have
to be rich to be interesting. Just as well that Jesus or Gandhi aren’t around
now, then – they would get no coverage at all.
I see special
celebrity editions of shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and many of
the supposed celebs are unknown to me. There are more and more famous people,
it seems, and I’m still not one of them. I’m probably jealous – that must be it.
I knew we were in
trouble a few years ago when I saw a bit of a TV show which featured people who
earned money from being professional look-alikes – being booked to turn up at
hen-parties and suchlike. I found that an interesting idea, and I thought the
Bruce Springsteen clone was really good, but there was one character I had not
come across before, and it turned out that this particular guy earned his living
from impersonating one of the then-current stooges on the Big Brother reality TV
show. Just a minute – but isn’t that a reality show, featuring real people
(i.e. non-celebrities)? Does that mean that exposure on reality TV converts
people into celebrities important enough to justify the existence of a paid look-alike?
This is scary –
especially since anyone who thinks he sings quite well in the bath can now get
publicly humiliated on Britain’s
Got Talent – are they all famous too? At this rate, everyone is going to be a
celebrity eventually. I hadn’t thought of this – if I become the last man on
earth that no-one has heard of, surely in its way that would be, like, really
exclusive? I mean, you know, such a person would be interesting enough to
warrant some media exposure. Someone should interview him on TV to see what’s
wrong with him. Ghost-write his autobiog. Hmmm.
On the radio recently
there was a pointless phone-in about something or other, and someone was
sounding off at length about the obscene amount of money Wayne Rooney gets paid
a week, and what a disgrace this is. [For non-UK readers, or UK readers who could
not care less, Rooney is a prominent football (soccer) player with Manchester
United – arguably the most gifted English player at the moment, and his private
life keeps the media and the public in a state of great excitement]. For once,
the pundit in the studio seemed to me to have something sensible to say:
(1)If Rooney
is offered a certain, very high, wage, is he expected to say (as we all would,
of course), “Oh no, that’s far too high – I’m not worth it”? Bear in mind that
a single bad injury could end his playing career tomorrow, so this whole issue
is very high-geared. The man is not a filing clerk.
(2)This is a
free market – if the complainer begrudges him the money (or envies it?), all
they have to do is apply for Rooney’s job. I’m sure that Man Utd would be
delighted to talk to them.
Is all this,
ultimately, just about envy?
I fear that, once
again, I have not progressed my ideas very far – I’ve just sort of wheeled them
out of the shed. No matter, I can wheel them back again for another day. On the
general topic of not fitting in with the times, here’s a good song from Loudon
Wainwright – this is the best clip I could find. I’m sorry that the last 4
minutes or so appear to be silent – you can stop it when the music ends or, if
you prefer, you could use the silence to meditate on a topic of your choice. I
guess LW is not rich or interesting enough to justify a better clip.
Once, back in the days
when I wore a suit every day, I was mistaken for someone famous. I was hurrying
up Charlotte Street,
in the centre of Edinburgh,
late for a meeting with a lawyer, as I recall, when I was stopped by two
middle-aged ladies with beaming smiles.
“You’re him, aren’t
you?” said one, “him on the telly.”
I was a bit taken
aback, and explained that I was sorry, but I was not him.
“Oh, come on!” said
the second lady, “we know who you are!”
I muttered something appropriately
pathetic, and continued to my meeting.
Later the same day I
was telling some colleagues about this. One of them couldn’t believe that I
hadn’t asked who they thought I was. I was a bit surprised that I hadn’t asked,
too, but deep down I’ve always known that I would probably have been upset if I
had found out, so I’m glad I never knew. Sometimes I do wonder, though.
Since it looks as though my campaign may produce a siege quite soon, I was encouraged to go back to my mathematical siege rules, since there were some bits in there I wasn't sure about. There was a post on this system a few months ago - I explained there that, though an algorithmic system for sieges is certainly not a big attraction from visual and fun-generation aspects, it is (sadly) necessary to handle sieges in this way in a map campaign, since a siege will last for a number of campaign moves (and thus must be able to coexist with armies marching and fighting elsewhere on the map in a different timescale) and also since it might be necessary to have more than one siege running concurrently.
The particular bit I wasn't happy about was the section on Storming. Without getting too deeply into the nuts and bolts (again), the idea is that the defenders have a couple of numbers associated with them - a Fortress Value (FV), which represents the strength of the place and its guns, and a Garrison Value (GV) which indicates the fighting capability of the guys in the fort - this is a kind of lumpy amalgam of numerical strength, attitude, and their current ability to carry on - for whatever reason. Similarly, the besieging force have a Battering Value (BV), which is a measure of their heavy artillery capability, and an Assault Value (AV), which is the amount of force they could bring to bear in the event of (you guessed) an assault, but this number also makes allowance for the men who are available for digging ditches, carrying stuff and just constituting a threat.
The detail of the siege rules is set out in the orginal notes, here and here, so I won't go through all that again, but the idea is that bombardment and (implied) sorties and mining etc wear down these numbers. At the point that a storm is attempted, the appropriate section of the rules is set out in its new form below, with the odd explanatory annotation here and there. The inclusion of a dice roll for the defenders and the besiegers is intended to reflect performance and luck on the day. The calculation of losses bothered me - something struck me as counter-intuitive. If the totals for ASS and DSS (as described below) were very close - in other words, if the result of the storm was a close call the casualties would tend to be relatively light, which intuitively seemed completely wrong. A close-fought storm might have the heaviest casualty rates of all, so I've made a couple of changes - I now use the absolute values of DSS and ASS, rather than the difference between them, when calculating loss, and have changed the formulae slightly. It's a minor tweak really, but I'm a bit more comfortable about how it works now. In a campaign, losses have a lasting significance.
Here's the revised section from my Campaign Rules:
11.3.3 Storming:
Defenders’ Storm Strength, DSS = FV + GV + 1D6
Attackers’ Storm Strength , ASS = AV + 1D6 [BV, the Battering Value, does not count in a storm]
* If ASS > DSS then the fortress falls and the garrison surrenders. Attackers lose a final, further 0.25 x DSS (rounded to nearer whole number) from AV. Defenders lose 0.5 x ASS from GV.
* Otherwise, if ASS <= DSS, storm is repulsed; attackers lose 0.5 x DSS from AV; defenders lose 0.125 x ASS from GV [Losses in GV and AV are not simply casualties – they represent all manner of loss of ability to continue – and note that GV and AV can become negative].
Whenever it is necessary, at any moment during the siege (or when the siege is broken off or completed), actual casualties may be computed as one tenth of the %age loss of AV or GV since the start of the siege.
Example – if a successful besieging force started out with AV = 8, and end with AV of 6, then they have lost one tenth of 25% = 2.5% of the total force present; if the defenders started out with a GV of 5 and end with GV = -1 then casualties are 1/10 of 120% = 12%; if the fort surrenders, the remaining 88% will become prisoners.
[It occurs to me that if I don't actually get to a siege in the campaign then it doesn't really matter that I've improved the rule, but it's the principle of the thing!]
Ciudad Rodrigo - General Reixas checks that everything is ready
Week 13 - Narrative
Having received further prompts from Paris to carry the fight to the Allies, with the objective of invading Portugal, Marmont detached D’Armagnac, with two infantry brigades (6400 men) and the Italian foot artillery battery (8 guns), together with the siege train and engineers of the Armee de Portugal. This force marched to Zamora, where they joined with Clauzel’s command.
Jourdan, with his newly assembled force, carried out a splendid piece of forced marching, travelling from Toledo, via Madrid, to Avila without any straggling.
Karl, Baron Von Alten
Karl von Alten, with the Anglo-Portuguese Light Division, the KGL Hussars and Maceta’s Spanish volunteers, became aware that there were now French forces to the north and the south – Maceta’s contacts among the civilian population confirmed that the force at Avila (Jourdan – though the Allies did not have this information) was large enough to cause concern. The combined Allied force accordingly fell back to the area around Ciudad Rodrigo, since their relative lack of cavalry would make it impossible to withdraw if attacked.
General Barbot
Concerned about the possibility of sea-borne landings on the north coast, the French moved Barbot and his garrison troops at San Sebastian to Bilbao, replacing them at San Sebastian with a force of 4000 National Guard plus artillery from the Bayonne reserve.
Gregorio Cruchaga
Gregorio Cruchaga has been appointed in Navarra to lead the irregular partisans formerly commanded by the Gomez brothers.
Strategic Note
With the Allied army occupying Galicia, the French cannot get into Portugal without getting past the fortresses at Almeida and/or Elvas.
Marmont is convinced that the Allies will not attack him across the mountains from Galicia. Since he is once again directed by the Minister of War to invade Portugal, he has detached his siege train and some of his infantry to join Clauzel to the south.
Jourdan has moved from Toledo to Avila, and the French now have some interesting possibilities:
(1) If Von Alten stands his ground at Salamanca, attack him with some combination of Clauzel’s and Jourdan’s forces – then move to lay siege to Ciudad Rodrigo, which would require two weeks march to receive support from Cotton (who is at Orense).
(2) If Von Alten sees the threat and retires back to Ciudad Rodrigo, there are choices – either pursue him and attack him there with the combined Clauzel/Jourdan force or (riskier but potentially more decisive) hold him there with Jourdan’s force while Clauzel (now reinforced by Armagnac’s 2 brigades), attacks Cotton and Espana at Orense. Defeat for Cotton would leave Wellington isolated in Galicia and allow more time for a siege at Rodrigo.
Either way, Rodrigo is the objective.
The roads from Lugo to Almeida are not good, even in decent weather, and it would be difficult for Wellington to support Rodrigo quickly or force a siege to be lifted. He is really obliged to move south now, back into Portugal, even though this may allow the French an alternative (tortuous) route to Lisbon, bypassing the border fortresses.
The situation of Maceta, whose Spanish troops are currently in Ciudad Rodrigo alongside Von Alten’s, is interesting. He and his troops belong to the Junta de Castilla, and will not serve in Portugal. If Von Alten is forced to retire into Portugal, Maceta may have to separate his forces and head for Caceres instead.
Quiet week in the Peninsula - Wellington survived a vote in the House by the skin of his teeth, the French are busy collecting together small forces into bigger ones and Karl von Alten is marching off to Salamanca [...do you think that's wise, Captain Mainwaring?].
Higher profile? - Marshal Jourdan
Lower profile - a contemporary sketch of Pedro Gomez
Week 12 - Narrative
A vote in the British Parliament was tabled, but voting was narrowly in favour of keeping Wellington in command in the Peninsula.
Since this is the weekend nearest 15th April, reinforcements, replacements and returns from hospital have arrived. The French have an increase of 2820 men, the Anglo-Portuguese 4010 plus 2 guns, and the Spanish regulars 320 men. No-one knows accurately the strength of the Spanish irregulars, which are diced for as occasion arises.
The Gomez brothers have been removed from the command of the irregular troops of the Junta de Navarra who were defeated at Ancenigo. In fact, they appear to have disappeared completely.
Karl von Alten, with the Light Division, and the Spanish volunteers and irregulars commanded by Maceta, have marched into the Salamanca area. Attempts to scout northwards into Zamora were foiled by superior French cavalry. All Alten knows is that there are French dragoons there.
Marshal Jourdan is now in command of a new, consolidated French force at Toledo – this comprises Neuenstein’s Confederation brigade, Maucune’s division of the Armee de Portugal and Treillard’s cavalry from the Armee du Centre. The intention is to give them some extra artillery from the fortress at Badajoz [but they didn’t have enough orders left this week]
The Anglo-Portuguese army, apart from Von Alten with the Light Division, is holding position at Lugo and Orense, on the assumption that the French will not attempt to attack through the mountains on the border between Castilla and Galicia. [If the French do attack, and if they are successful, Wellington will be accused of inactivity as well as his other problems].
Foy has rejoined his Division at Leon – he is reported to be walking with the aid of a stick.
The fever epidemic among the French (Confederation) force in Burgos appears to be over – there have been no new cases, and troops are starting to return to duty.
Hermogenes at Falcata Miniatures sent me some of the first pictures of their forthcoming 30 Years War figures, which will be available later this year - after the Summer, Hermogenes says.
I thought it might be a nice heads-up for anyone with an interest in 1/72 metal figures for this period. They aren't in the catalogue yet, but the catalogue is worth a look anyway - check out the Carlist Wars figures, and I fancy some Isobelinos for converting into late Peninsular War Spanish.
