Activation Systems - Again

Over the last few days, an exchange of emails with Prof De Vries has touched on the well-worn topic of Command and Activation in miniatures games. As usual, I had been banging on about some aspect of this at rather tedious length, when De Vries came back to me and said “you obviously didn’t think that two years ago”. Hey, what? - but I’ve always thought that.

So the Prof kindly directed me back to a post I put up here in October 2010, and I re-read it, and I have to say that I do appear to have changed my mind. It’s not that I have done a full volte-face, you understand, more that I have changed my ideas on the priorities.

During these two years, I have been introduced to two rulesets which I like very much, and which have re-coloured my views more than a little. These are Richard Borg’s Command & Colors (published as a whole suite of boxed boardgames by GMT, but also used with miniatures) and Victory without Quarter, for the ECW, developed by Clarence Harrison. One feature of both these games is that the Activation system is heavily restrictive. In Command & Colors (C&C), each player is dealt a hand of cards at the start, and on each turn he plays a single card, as a result of which he may “order” a number of units which is normally in the range 1-4 – occasionally more. In VwQ, each turn the game is driven by drawing the top card from a shared pack. The pack contains a small number of global orders – “Reload” being an example – but otherwise consists of one card for each unit, one for each commander or brigadier (which can activate any of his subordinate units which are within a certain distance), and a card which activates all artillery for both sides. The effect is even more haphazard than C&C, but it shares the “small moves” approach. The games both consists of short, focused turns, with a fast cycle time. In C&C there is strict alternation of sides (so that you may only do a small number of things, but it will be your turn again in just a minute or so), and the strategy comes from husbanding your hand, collecting useful cards and keeping them for use at the optimum moment. This is also sometimes described as “struggling to make the best of a bad deal”, which is maybe not a bad analogy for generalship anyway. The VwQ game is much more random – the cards may come up in any order at all, yet the game still seems to hang together logically.

Cards get a mixed press. I have become a big fan of late, despite early prejudices against their artificiality, and I think this is entirely down to the fact that the playability and entertainment value of these particular games is very much enhanced by their being card-driven. One thing neither game will allow you to do is march your entire army up and down the table every move. From my point of view this is a big advantage. I have wasted a lot of time over the years watching aimless countermarching. If I had some of that time back, I could use it to paint some of the backlog of figures, or to make some inroads on the “still to be read” shelf in the big bookcase! There was a day when the fact that a medium-sized miniatures battle took a huge amount of time to complete (if it was ever completed...) was somehow taken as a point of pride – a testament to the scholarly complexity and awesome realism of the noble wargame. It is also the reason why for some years I had serious doubts about whether the enjoyment gained from the games was worth the exhausting process of playing them. The thing that took up so much time, mostly (apart from arguments), was the freedom of the generals to move everything they had every turn. The proportion of the orders given that generated an interesting action was miniscule, players became fatigued and frequently forgot where they were up to.

I worried about this stuff for years – it is, after all, a First Degree Bummer when you are no longer convinced that you like your hobby very much, especially when you have committed so much time and money to it! The whole idea of Command rules seemed to be aimed to address this – to restrict this limitless ability of battlefield commanders to change everything in every single 5 minute turn. I became interested in a number of mechanisms – especially those from Mustafa’s Grande Armeé and its Fast-Play cousin. As I believe I have said before, for my taste these didn’t quite do the job – they introduced a little sanity and forced generals to prioritise, but the overhead introduced by the Command rules was too heavy in proportion to the benefit. Maybe I never gave them enough of a chance.

My approach at this time to Command and Activation was “introduce some inconveniences – you start off with the ability to order every single unit, but some will be too far from their commander, and  some of the subordinate commanders will have characteristics which get in the way, which will cut the scope down a bit”. The idea was good, but often it was too much work to carry out – the Universal Movement grunt had been partly replaced by the Command Tests grunt, but it was still a grunt. And it was a very particular grunt if the Command rules were a lot of work but only rarely affected the game.

I think I am getting close (at long last) to the point on which I have changed my mind. I have not changed my belief that Activation type rules are a good idea, but I have come to realise that they should be approached from the opposite end of the problem – i.e. start off with the assumption that no-one can do anything and then allow a small number of units to be activated to receive orders. It’s less work, the effort is expended on the parts of the battle where something is happening, and it produces a snappier game, with short turns, better focus and less waiting around. Yes, it is artificial, but no more so than the other approaches.

It works. It works easily and effectively, and I can approach games that work in this way in the safe knowledge that I am going to enjoy them. That is a pretty fair bonus.

I accept that a lot of people will disagree – maybe very strongly. If it wasn’t in Charge! then maybe it should be viewed with suspicion – and it has to admitted that there is a snag. C&C games are usually played around published scenarios in which the armies are ready deployed, all set to go. I very rarely use other people’s scenarios (scenarii?), published or not, and many of my battles are fought as part of a campaign. If the action requires an army, or a large part of an army, to march somewhere – on to the table, for example – the standard card-driven systems don’t handle it well. In reality, a simple march order would keep a whole Division marching until they were stopped – simulating this by shifting penny packets of 2 or 3 of the units in the right direction when (and if) suitable cards come up is unsatisfactory. The card systems require extra rules in this type of action to allow the units to march about the place – something, as you will have noted, which the old free-for-all rules would have coped with, with no difficulty at all!

So – card systems such as C&C work excellently for set-pieces, but we need something extra to cope with mass marching. Anubis Studio’s White Mountain 30 Years War rules are heavily based on the C&C Ancients game, but they also allow a Command Card to be played as a Standing Order for a particular unit (or group of units), and it will remain in force until it is cancelled. I need to read that up again, but maybe something along those lines is what I’m after.

Whatever – I believe I have maybe changed my mind, after all. Some expression about old dogs and new tricks comes to mind.

Hooptedoodle #62 - Embarrassment of Riches

First off, may I record my delight that someone has just broken the world record for throwing a mobile phone. Apparently there is an annual mobile-throwing contest held in Finland (since 2000) - an idea which truly warms the cockles of my heart - perhaps there is hope for mankind yet? The young man pictured above managed the astonishing distance of 101 metres, which is a fantastic effort and breaks the previous world's best by some way. I hope that people all over the world will be inspired to have a go at this. The fact that the throw could be measured suggests that the item was not lost in the attempt, but it was probably not in great shape afterwards. Perhaps someone could produce an app to measure the throws automatically (yes - by GPS, naturally). Perhaps the mobile could ring you back on a number of your choice to report the distance. No - just a minute - I don't think I like that last bit.

Meanwhile, on a more mundane level, my wife has won a competition (which did not involve throwing anything), the first prize for which is a meal for two people in a restaurant. The restaurant has to be selected from a list of pretty prestigious establishments - there are two in Edinburgh we could choose from - and they will allow you a maximum of £250 deducted from your bill. £250? For a meal for two? That, you will agree, is a very fine prize indeed. An old but vaguely familiar conundrum raises its head - do you go for the most expensive items you can find on the menu, or stay sensible and select items which you like best, however cheap? This has echoes of the old supermarket "smash and grab raids" they used to hold in the UK - the winner of some kind of promotion would get an empty trolley and five minutes to fill it, on the house. The world wised up pretty quickly - after the first couple of such freebies the stores realised they would have to bar access to the wine and spirits aisles - smart customers were filling the trolley with single malt whiskies and selling them privately. Presumably there would be the odd supermarket winner who was stupid enough to fill the cart with packets of Doritos or similar, but the tendency would be to go for something expensive. We discussed this yesterday, and Mme la Comtesse said a good move would be to concentrate on the fresh meats - steaks and other high-quality stuff which can be frozen.

Anyway, to get back to the particular prize in question - apparently accommodation and transport are excluded from the £250. I guess I could indulge myself with a bottle of Sassicaia, and maybe the odd fancy cognac, but we are going to have to be able to get home afterwards. Left to myself, a nice fresh insalata Caprese with big Italian tomatoes, firm mozzarella and fresh basil makes me a very happy bunny, but that would make a dent of about £6 in our budget. This is an interesting challenge.

The restaurant we have selected specialises in French cuisine. One of their offerings is a Chateaubriand steak for two people, which might be a good idea. It's complicated - one has to worry a bit about what sort of unsophisticated baboon one might come across as. I'm sure people with real class would order something moderately priced that they really loved - apart from anything, that would also suggest that eating out in a restaurant of this calibre is not such a novelty. Yes, that's good. On the other hand, the pricier exotica might be just the sort of thing that a genuine epicure would go for. Tricky.

I'll have to prepare for this, mentally. It is not unknown for me to agonise over the choice between three things I really love on a menu, and then - feeling under some pressure to get on with it - I might just panic and order something I don't like too much. I don't know how this happens, but sometimes it does. Another commonplace in restaurants is that when you see the waiter carrying someone else's meal to them, you suddenly know for certain that that is what you should have ordered if you had only thought of it. One thing is for sure - even with plenty of time and lots of deep breathing, there is no way we can run up a dinner bill of £250 for two people, so the skill will be in making sure we fail in a way which makes us happy.

Not a bad problem to have, though. Well done, Mme la Comtesse - nice one! 

Hooptedoodle #61 - Glentress, and the Lumberjills

Been walking again this week - taking advantage of some fine weather at the end of the school holidays (so this was family walking), and trying to get some more miles in toward my build-up for Hadrian's Wall next month.

On Wednesday we walked from North Berwick, along the John Muir Way as far as East Linton (this is all East Lothian, South-East Scotland), which is a straightforward walk, without any particular hills - the only challenges were some rough conditions underfoot around field margins, with long grass and some marshy bits, and a remarkably smelly compost works to be passed by.

Looking South across the Valley of the Tweed, between Peebles

and Innerleithen, from the edge of Glentress Forest

Today we were in hilly parts again, at Glentress Forest, near Peebles. This was a bit more demanding in the up-and-down department, and we had a good walk - around 6 miles of pretty vigorous going in woodland - but I got a real surprise - I felt, literally, like a visitor from another century.

Peebles and I have a lot of history. It's a fine little town, on the River Tweed, and I've spent a fair amount of time there. For a while I had occasional use of a holiday cottage there, but I've also done a lot of walking in those parts (Glentress and Cardrona Forest Parks), played tennis and cricket there, even done a little fishing - an easy drive from Edinburgh, it has always been a good watering-hole and relaxing place. When my first lot of kids were young we must have walked hundreds of miles in the Peebles area - at Glentress especially.

Anyway, today we estimated it was three or four years since we were last at Glentress, so it was time we went back. What a change. The place is unrecognisable - they have constructed a very ambitious mountain-biking facility - this is obviously a huge money maker for the area, and though we were a bit taken aback by how busy it is now, it is great to see so many people enjoying the countryside and getting exercise. The downside, sadly, is that they have taken a lot of trouble to keep the walkers and the bikers separate - which is eminently sensible - and the poor old walkers are now restricted to a small number of rigidly-defined walks in the edges of the forest area. We had a nice enough walk, and I enjoyed it, but a small part of me is a little sad that it has changed so much.

In the forest we came across an unusual (solar powered) monument to the Women's Timber Corps of WW2 - the "Lumberjills". A branch of the Land Army, these girls worked in the forests - in the East of Scotland there were a lot of them, mostly making pit props as far as I can see. The little monument was set up to play some audio selections - the recollections of local women who had worked in the forests, along with some excerpts from wartime newsreel clips on the subject. I had a look round the online Pathe News library when I got home, but couldn't find anything relevant.

There is a traditional tale told of the Land Girls in this area - the choice between being called up for the ATS or working on the farms and getting to meet Italian PoWs was regarded as something of a no-brainer...

[Late edit] The John Muir Way - In reply to an email from the US - yes, this is the same John Muir, naturalist and explorer, who is famous for mapping and opening up Yosemite and other places in North America. He was, in fact, a Scotsman - a native of Dunbar, which is about 10 miles from here. Old JM is now commemorated with the big coastal walkway from Musselburgh to Cockburnspath - named after him - and there are statues, a permanent exhibition in a dedicated building in Dunbar High St, and - the ultimate tribute - the HQ of East Lothian County Council is now called John Muir House. However, this huge surge of pride has all been comparatively recent, as far as I can see - he was little known in his homeland until the 1970s, and most of the impetus for raising his profile here came from visiting Americans asking questions about the great man and getting blank looks! 

Holy Moses! - Franznap

In an email received from Rod this morning, there was casual mention of Franznap, a new figure manufacturer of whom I have never heard. It is possible, of course, that I am the only person in the world who doesn't know of them, but I checked them out.

The range is in its infancy, and the online shop is not running yet, but the website is certainly worth a serious look. 1/72 Napoleonics in metal or resin - the sculptor/proprietor is Francesco Messori, an Italian living in Amsterdam - an architect by profession.

Have a look and a drool. Come on chaps - we want this guy to be successful! - we want lots of these...

ECW – In Darkest Lancashire

I’m doing a lot of reading at the moment about the English Civil War, and especially about my chosen wargaming theatre of Lancashire (and Cheshire, and North Wales...).

I chose this area for a number of reasons; firstly, I was born and raised in Lancashire, so it adds a personal touch to things, secondly, I am an awkward beggar at the best of times, so going for a “minority” aspect of the war suits me in a number of ways, one of which (thirdly) is that it is relatively poorly understood, which leaves a lot of scope for making stuff up where the history is sketchy. Almost an “Imagi-County”, which is particularly satisfying.

One advantage of coming new to the ECW at such an advanced age(!) is that I don’t have any preconceptions, other than the sort of folk legends which we are all brought up with. I am also able to judge what I read from a mature viewpoint – or at least I like to think so. A couple of things stand out for the newcomer:

(1) Some of current received wisdom is as beset with legends and silly bias as was my childhood. There are people who are rightly held to be experts – including some of the movers and shakers in the re-enactment fraternity – who appear still to be actually fighting the original war, and distortions do creep in. This is not new – some of the earliest of the “modern” writers are identifiably partial one way or the other. Fair enough – stand by with the odd pinch of salt.

(2) Some of the real history seems to have become confused with – in some cases partly replaced by – the activities of Sealed Knot regiments which have titles or associations founded in history. This is neither a poke at the Sealed Knot nor even a complaint, I hasten to add – it is just an observation that if you enter “Lord Molyneux’s Regiment” into Google (for example) you will learn far more about the recent activities of the re-enactment unit of this name than you will about the real unit back in the 1640s. Again, I wish to emphasise that this is a perception thing, and there is not necessarily a conflict – the re-enactors themselves are devoted to maintaining the correct traditions and to preserving the true history, and I have nothing but praise for their efforts.

(3) The particular situation of Lancashire is remarkable for the asymmetry of extant knowledge. I have acquired some splendid books on the subject – notably

A General Plague of Madness – The Civil Wars in Lancashire 1640-60 – Stephen Bull

Massacre – The Storming of Bolton – David Casserly

The Siege of Liverpool and the Lancashire Campaign 1644 – John Barrat

The Finest Knight in England – Stuart Reid (this is a booklet about Sir Thomas Tyldesley and his various regiments)

Sir Thomas Tyldesley

plus a couple of small publications by various local history societies and – of course – the relevant sections of the more general works.

I have done some pretty diligent note-taking, and a lot of scratching around on the internet, much of it directed at the rather humble and very personal aim of putting together an approximate OOB for my forthcoming miniature armies. It is very evident that there is about 5 times as much information available for the Royalist forces in the North-West, compared with the Parliamentarians. This may be for a number of reasons, and – again – I am coming to this subject for the first time, and I am learning all the time, so maybe I just haven’t hit the right sources yet:

• Lancashire had a remarkably high proportion of Catholics in the 1640s – some of these had undoubtedly arrived from Ireland to escape the troubles there, but also a good many of the prominent families were Catholics (and thus Royalists by default).
• There is an unmistakeable whiff of the Royalist side having somehow been the Good Guys – I guess this is connected with the retrospective view which came with the restoration of the monarchy. Whatever, it feels as though the individuals who had been prominent on the Parliament side tended to make rather less noise about the fact after the wars.
• An absolutely invaluable source of information about Royalist officers and their units is the list of Indigent Officers published in 1663. This is a list of officers who had held commissions in the King’s armies, constructed to allow a £60,000 bonus fund to be distributed among them by Charles II. There is no equivalent record for the other side.
• A good proportion of the Royalist units which fought in the area came in from elsewhere, involved prominent colonels and already had a significant reputation and war record. The Parliament side, by contrast, included a number of rather humble, local units which were effectively town guard or militia bodies – John Moore’s “Regiment of Foot”, for example, would appear to have consisted of Moore’s own retainers and citizens of Liverpool, armed very simply – on the wargames table, these might well be “clubmen”.
• I have been very surprised how often identified units in Lancashire – even Royalist ones – do not rate any mention at all in (for example) Colonel HCB Rogers' Battles & Generals of the Civil Wars 1642-51 – the standard work. Unless they were at Marston Moor, of course.
• All of this is absolutely fair enough – I have chosen to take an interest in what was, relatively speaking, a backwater sector of the war, and it is probably what I would expect.

My draft OOB at present is just a list of notes, and it is based on units I can identify as having been in the area in the period 1643-44 – to date I have the following [no laughter, please! – if you know better, or you have some good information on this period, please do get in touch – all clues will be most welcome!]:

Royalist

Prince Rupert’s Horse

Prince Rupert’s Lifeguard

Sir John Hurry’s Horse

Col. Marcus Trevor’s Horse (ex Lord Capel’s)

Col. Henry Washington’s Dragoons

Lord Byron’s Horse

Sir William Vaughan’s Horse

Lord Molyneux’s Horse

Sir Thomas Tyldesley’s Horse

Prince Rupert’s Foot (ex Henry Lunsford’s)

Col. Henry Tillier’s Foot

Col. Robert Broughton’s Foot

Sir Michael Earnley’s Foot

Col. Henry Warren’s Foot

Col. Richard Gibson’s Foot

Lord Byron’s Foot

Col. Robert Ellis’s Foot

Sir Thomas Tyldesley’s Foot

Lord Molyneux’s Foot

which is probably more than enough to be going on with, though I also have a goodish list of Royalist units which are known to have fought at Malpas and Nantwich (Cheshire), but may not have got to Lancashire

Parliamentarian

Sir William Brereton’s Horse

Sir William Brereton’s Dragoons

Col. Henry Brooke’s Regt (foot?) (this is not Lord Brooke, of purple uniforms fame)

Col. Robert Duckenfield’s Regt (foot?)

Col. Henry Mainwaring’s Regt (foot?)

Col. Ralph Ashton’s Foot

Col. John Booth’s Foot

Col. Philip Egerton’s Foot

Col. Richard Holland’s Foot

Col. John Moore’s Foot

Col. Alexander Rigby’s Foot

Col. Richard Shuttleworth’s Foot

Col. Robert Aspinall’s Regt (foot?)

plus some 12 or so unnamed units of horse, most of which appear to have been descended from the Northern Association, and thus originally from Northumberland and Yorkshire. It seems that the Parliament troops in Lancashire were particularly impoverished in local cavalry.

So - where am I? Well, for a start I cannot promise that all the above units ever appeared on the same field at the same time – in fact I’m pretty sure that there are a number of instances here of impossible combinations – units that may never even have existed at the same time. I do not intend to worry too much about such technicalities at the moment...

I have to crack on with my reading – in particular I want to find out more about the Northern Association. I really am having a whale of a time!

Uniforms – very little known, overall. I have a good idea about some units and even some of the flags, but a lot of my first guesses are going to be just straight fiction. A number of the Royalist foot units who had fought in Ireland (e.g. Tillier’s and Broughton’s) are thought to have worn green, though whether there is an actual correlation I have no idea. Tyldesley’s lot wore red, probably, and Prince Rupert’s units were in blue, and it seems that a good proportion of the more soldierly of the Parliament units were probably uniformed in good old Northern grey or off-white. Booth’s Foot are thought to have had a black flag. There may have been a fair amount of civilian dress - I’m working on it!

Solo Campaign - Weeks 20 & 21

The Earl of Aigburth - a portrait painted by his wife, showing him in

the ancient regalia appropriate to his position as Governor of

Berwick on Tweed

There's been a bit of a delay, with holidays and a computer problem and a few other distractions, but here are the next two weeks of the Peninsular War campaign. Wellington has now been notified of the change of command, and his successor, the Earl of Aigburth (that's Tarleton to you and me) is at Porto, and  will arrive at Almeida to review his army in a week or so.

Following on from the hectic activity of the end of May, these two weeks have been spent resting and re-shuffling the armies. The French have now withdrawn from Portugal, though they now hold the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, which they are repairing.

There is a possibility that the Spanish Supreme Junta may request that the British Army second Wellington to the Spanish service - but this may just be a mischievous rumour.

Week 20

Random Events and Strategic Notes

Wellington is still not aware that he is to be replaced by the Earl of Aigburth, and so continues to command in the field.

After the fighting at the end of May, both armies require rest and some re-organisation.

Housekeeping

Following General de Divn Nicolas Guye’s wound at Balsa, General Casapalacios commands Guye’s Divn of the Armée du Centre, and Casapalacios’ own brigade of Bonapartist Spanish line troops is temporarily commanded by Col. Hugo of the Regt Royal-Etranger.

Following the death of the Earl of Dalhousie at Almeida, Maj-Gen Von Bernewitz has temporary command of the Anglo-Portuguese Seventh Divn, and Von Bernewitz’s own brigade is temporarily commanded by Lt.Col Eustace of the Chasseurs Britanniques.

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 4, French 5 – French elect to move first.

Moves

French (5 allowed)

1 – 3 Bns of H (Chassé) leave Ciudad Rodrigo garrison and join up with Jourdan’s Group K...

2 – ...leaving behind the battalion of the Regt de Prusse, to be joined by Col D’Orsay (3 bns of 122e Ligne – Group C), who marches from Salamanca to become new garrison

3 – O (Clausel) and I (Maucune) join at Ciudad Rodrigo to become new Group I, under command of Clauzel...

4 – ...and they rest for a week

5 – N (Marmont, at Orense) rests for a week

 [Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

Allies (4 allowed)

1 – A (Wellington, at Almeida) rests

2 – B (Graham, at Braga) rests

3 – C (Von Alten, at Almeida) rests

4 – Sp B (España, at Braga) rests

 [Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

None

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

Each battalion present with the garrison rolls 1D6 each week, giving 4D6 – every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 2 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 5 4 3 2, so the Fortress Value remains 2. Not good enough...

Week 21

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The Earl of Aigburth has arrived at Porto, and will join the Allied HQ at Almeida next week.

The main priority for both armies is re-organisation – Jourdan’s Armée du Centre, for example, currently has no cavalry at all.

It is extremely unsatisfactory for the Spanish Central Junta to have España’s part of their 3^rd Army serving in Portugal, so it is a priority for the Allies to move him back into Spain as soon as is practicable.

The Central Junta is also debating whether to request that Wellington be seconded to the Spanish service, if he is not required for the British...

Housekeeping

This is the week ending closest to the 15^th of the month, so replacements, reinforcements and returns from hospital are added to the returns for all armies.

Details of additions (in CCN "blocks"):

French – 2/25L (+2 blocks), 3/25L (+3), 2/59, 5/82, 6 Dr, 11 Dr, Regt de Francfort, Neuenstein’s Tirailleur Bn, 1/It 2L, 2/3 It, 2/5 It, 1/69, 2/76 (all +1), 3 Huss (+2), 1/Gd Gren, 1/Gd Fus, 2/Gd Fus, 13 Cuir (all +1) – total additions approx 3400 infantry, 600 cavalry

Allies – 1/21 Ptgse, 68^th (each +1), Chass Brit, 1 Dr KGL (each +2), 1 Ptgse Cav, 11 Ptgse Cav, Bull’s Troop RHA (all +1), 1/Coldstreams (+2), 2/24 (+1), 2/KGL (+2), Gardner’s Bty RA, 1/43^rd, 3/95^th (all +1), 1 Cac, 2/95^th (each +2), Ross’ Troop RHA, 1/36^th, 1^st Sevilla (all +1), 1.Lanc de Castilla (+2), 2.Lanc de Castilla (+1) – total additions approx 3400 infantry, 840 cavalry, 6 guns.

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 4, French 8 – French elect to move first.

Moves

French (8 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan) marches from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca

2 – N (Marmont) marches from Orense over the hills to Zamora. Since this is a difficult road, a test is required:

2D3 = 4 +3 (Marmont’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - march is completed with no problems

3 – Marmont detaches Maupoint, with the cavalry of the Armée du Nord...

4 – ...who march to Salamanca...

5 – ...and join Jourdan (K)

[Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

Allies (4 allowed)

1 – A (Aigburth, at Almeida) absorbs C (Von Alten, at Almeida)

2 – Sp B (España) marches from Braga to Orense. Since this is a difficult road, a test is required:

2D3 = 5 +2 (España’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - march is completed with no problems

3 – E (Clinton) marches from Porto to Braga. Since this is a difficult road, a test is required:

2D3 = 4 +2 (Clinton’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 5   - march is completed with no problems

4 – E (Clinton) merges into B (Graham) at Braga

 [Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

None

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

Each battalion present with the garrison rolls 1D6 each week, giving 4D6 – every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 2 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 6 5 5 3, so the Fortress Value regains a further 1, becoming 3. 

Hooptedoodle #60 - Walking in the Pentlands, and Hadrian's Wall

I'm in training, you see. Yesterday I spent the day walking in the Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh, with my friend Chester, who is a veteran of the Appalachian Way and various other Very Serious Walks. It was a terrific day out anyway, but it was all in aid of getting my general fitness up in preparation for a walk along the length of Hadrian's Wall next month, of which more later. Yesterday we started our walk at Flotterstone, and then walked along the switchback of hills which forms the eastern end of the Pentlands.

We went up Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill and Scald Law. There is a single track which goes right over the top of each in turn (which must be a modern phenomenon - Ancient Man would have been sensible enough to walk around the hills, you would think, unless he was looking out for someone). The individual hills are not very high, but they are steep, and the cumulative effect of coming down one and then up the next is interesting, shall we say. Originally we had thought of continuing the chain to East Kip and West Kip, but in the event we decided to head back after Scald Law. My recent experience of walking in the Alps has definitely helped in the heart-&-lungs department, and I have to point out that it wasn't me that wanted to miss the last two hills, though I'm probably glad that we did! The hills are all around the same height - I think the top of Carnethy is 573 metres - but the dips between them are around 200 metres, so it gets your attention when it goes up again.

After Scald Law we cut north, down into the valley, and walked past Loganlea and Glencorse Reservoirs back to our starting point. Probably 9 miles all told. The photos are by Dave Henniker, who does some lovely work in this area.

Looking back from Carnethy Hill towards Turnhouse - gives a good idea

of the surrounding landscape.

Scald Law

As Chester said yesterday, it really is very easy to forget the lovely places we have almost on our doorstep. I worked it out - last time I did this particular walk was 13 years ago. Hmmm.

I'm sure I'll say more about Hadrian's Wall on another occasion. I shall be doing that walk with a couple of other friends. We are attacking it West-to-East, which is not the "normal" direction, but we chose to do it that way because it puts the prevailing wind (and rain) at our backs, and it is far easier to get transport home from Newcastle than it would be from Bowness-on-Solway at the other end. No, they probably aren't very good reasons, but that's how we are doing it. We are also doing it the softies' way, arranging for a courier to handle our main bags from base to base, and carrying only a light day pack, and we are pacing it pretty gently - about 12-15 miles a day. It will not be anything like as strenuous as what I did yesterday, but walking 12 miles in an exposed situation and then getting up the next morning to do it again brings challenges of its own. We will have 6 days of walking, and we're planning to have time to see a few sites on the way.

Another faint disadvantage of doing the wall the "wrong" way is that we can't find any guidebooks which do it in this direction. You would think that it would be easy to reverse-engineer a walk from a guidebook, but I've tried, and it isn't. The maps work OK, but looking out for landmarks doesn't work very well in reverse at all. If I disappear without trace, you will be able to guess what happened.

Hadrian's Wall is not very far from where I live, but I don't often go there, and find some bits of it quite affecting. If you stand at the north edge of Housesteads Fort, actually on the wall, and you face north, then that was the end of the civilised world. Behind you, the Roman Empire stretched to the Black Sea - in front of you were the barbarians. For some reason I find that very moving, and remember that the poor sods who were stationed there included the SAGITARII HAMIORUM, who were Syrians and must have found it a bit chilly.