FoB Terrain Modifications Buscao Ridge

Our recent game in Montreal really taught me that scenario design is a lot more complicated then just throwing two balanced forces together. I had looked quite forward to the game, we were going to use a set of rules that I like but had not used in awhile, and I really enjoy recreating historical battles. It ended up being a bit of a debacle, mostly because I really failed to consider the complex nature of the terrain in the scenario in respect to the ruleset.

Onwards to the Busaco Ridge

Well it is off to Montreal tomorrow. Should be a great weekend, I am playing SAGA on Saturday with Nicolas of Nowhere to Lead Soldiers. He has been painting up an Anglo-Dane (well I think they are dwarves actually) 4 point warband, his painting and especially his shields are really great, have a look at his website. I am bringing my Skraelings and Viking war bands. 

Escape to Valdelacasa: Action Report for FoB

I received the Black Powder rulebook the other day, it is quite nice and has a nice peninsular scenario. It always puzzles me that battalion level rulesets (each side having no more than a corps with the basic maneuver element a battalion) appear to be the most popular, but at the same time there are few scenario books out there for this level of action. Especially lacking are scenarios for the peninsula.

The Perry brothers designed this scenario for the book. They say it has parallels in the Battle of Corunna, which made it immediately attractive to me. They have played it out on a 12x6 foot table, mine is 12x5 so I think I will be ok.

I need a break from painting, so I think I will play a game, also need to use my terrain as well. I will use Field of Battle rules. The movement distance is much smaller in FoB than in the BP rules, but I suspect I will be ok.

The basic scenario involves a small British force being pursued by a larger French force. To win the game the British force has to get over the bridge to the village of Valdelacasa. The larger French force starts the game in the town of Valdeverja. A single French battalion is garrisoned just south of the bridge to Valdelacasa. If the British can get 60% their units over the bridge in a four moves then they will win the game.

For the fun of it, I changed the fictional town names to real places, so although the battle is fictional, the locale will be real. The places and river exist in the Salamanca province of Spain. I suspect some of you will recognise the village of Valdelacasa, as it is the place of the first battle in Sharpe's Eagle. I do not think I will have Lt. Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson to lead the British though, as they would never have a chance to win.

from google maps

I had most of the figures required for the scenario so had to make few substitutions. I use the random generator on the FoB Yahoo group site to assign combat and defense values to each unit.

Order of Battle

Here is the British Order of Battle, these units all served in the Peninsular wars, mostly in the Light and Third divisions. I will make Wellington CinC.

Here is the French OB, most of these units were in the French Army of Portugal; 6th corps, aside from the Guard Lancers, I need to paint more cavalry. I will make Marshall Ney the French CinC.

The Terrain

Fortunately, I had terrain pieces already made that would work for the scenario. I made Valdeverja a walled town with stones walls to the south. It is a large garrison town for the French Army of Portugal. All units can move freely within footprint of the town and out of the town without movement penalties. As you will note the town is in 2 levels with the French infantry brigades in the upper level. The Anglo-British army is coming from the east along a ridge. The ridge is accessible from the extreme north and along it's western edge at one point only. No movement penalties are associated with the 2 access points. There is a large walled farm north of the river, which can hold a maximum of 2 infantry battalions. The river is uncrossable, except at the bridge. The forests are all impregnable. They act to obscure the eastern ridge so they block artillery and small arms fire in both directions. I elaborate on terrain planning here.

Looking south from the town of Valdeverja. Note the northern access point to the ridge. The French can choose to attack the British from behind.

Five French brigades, 3 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery; all in column of march.
Marshall Ney.
General Wellesey.
Four British brigades, 3 infantry and 1 cavalry; all in column of march.
The village of Valdelacasa far to the south with the walled farm in the foreground.
The bridge over the river with the 26e ligne in defense.
The French position looking north to Valdeverja.
Close up of the 3rd British brigade.
Looking to the east at the British Army showing the access point.
Looking north.

The British have the first move in this scenario. Now all is left to do is to decide the tactics for each side and start the game.

FoB specific information

All terrain is class I, the forests, the river and the ridge line are all impassable, except at the grassed slopes of the ridge and the bridge which are class I terrain.

The walled farm is 2 town sections, thus can hold 2 battalions.

The town of Valdeverja is a terrain feature not a town in the sense of FoB.

There are no skirmish units.

The forests along the ridge line block line of sight.

The stone walls are hard cover (Class III) in the town and farm area.

The game ends in 4 moves, Army Morale Card failure, or when the British get 60% (12 units) over the bridge to Valelacasa.

Action Report

Turn 1

Die thrown:7IP, British up first per scenario.

British Cards: Lu,TA,Lu,AF,Lu,AF,IF; Well that is a pretty boring start.

French Cards: IF,Mo,L,TA,Mo,L,AM,Ma; Well some movement anyway.

Die thrown:4IP, French up.

French Cards: Me,IF,L,AF; no change

British Cards: IF,Mo,IF,L; The British start their advance.

Die thrown:9v9, Turn ends prematurely.

Positions at end of turn 1.

Turn 2

Took a little longer than I thought to complete Turn 2. Work has really got in the way of having fun, but one good thing about solo wargaming is that you can pick it up whenever it is convenient. I do shift work and have to work every second weekend, so it is hard to organise something with other gamers. Turn 2 was also held up because of debate that arose in my mind over the ability of an infantry unit to test to form opportunity square when being attacked by cavalry. I polled the FoB Yahoo group, after some discussion decide against it.

Well it was quite an exciting round, a lot can happen in a single turn in a game where the the moves are decided my card generation.

Should have been in square....

The first action involves the cavalry brigades of each side. The British Light Dragoons and the KGL Hussars engage the 26e ligne in the rear, they lose 2 UI points and fall back, the Light Dragoons go out of command and pursue. A number of separate cavalry actions ensue and the French get mauled, the 6e Dragoons, 3e Hussars, 15e Chasseurs as well as the HA get destroyed by the British cavalry, the RHA and forward elements of the 3rd Infantry Brigade. The Polish Guard Lancers are routed by the 74th. The only Anglo-Portuguese loss is the rout of the 9th Portuguese Line Infantry.The British Infantry Bdes are almost off the ridge. The artillery element of the Light Bde fires down on the 1e infantry Bde moving in column along the road, the 2/69e ligne loses 2 UI.

Things are looking good for the British; they have decimated the French cavalry Bde, the sole French unit protecting the bridge, the 26e ligne is being engaged by the KGL Hussars and can not even get into square. The other units of the cavalry bde have turned north to face the oncoming French Infantry and the forward British infantry bde is already at the farm. Looks like the game is over before it has even gone 2 turns.

Marshall Ney then makes a daring move. He commands his Artillery Bde to move within 300 yds of the British infantry columns and form into a Grand Battery. He has no infantry support, a very risky move. The French guns unleash a devastating volley at the flank of British 2nd infantry bde. They are destroyed with the only surviving battalion, the 1/5th Regiment of Foot in rout. On one card and some superb dice, he has destroyed 20% of the British forces.

The French infantry start to form into their dreaded attack columns. Finally, if that is not enough, the last card of the turn is a Leadership card and the French brigade commanders are able to rally a silenced artillery battery and the Polish Guard Lancers, who immediately about face and make ready to charge elements of the 3rd British infantry brigade!!!

I believe Marshall Ney is pleased with himself, but those cannon are quite exposed....

Positions at the end of turn 2. Both sides have lost 19 Army Morale points.

3rd Turn

The third turn started with the French starting to rally and move forward. Unfortunately this turn for the British was characterised by extremely poor leadership and poor dice throws; a lethal combination so it appears in FoB. The British consequently could just never cease the initiative.

The French Grand Battery of 32 cannon was lethal and their artillery commander was clever enough to place his howitzer behind the grand battery so there was a continuous lob of shrapnel on the columns of British has they came down the ridge.

Marshall Ney instructed his generals de brigade to form into the dreaded columns of attack. They engage the British 2nd and light brigades in their flanks causing considerable loss. The British just can not get a maneuver card or throw an even dice, they get stuck in march formation. The 2/52nd, 1/43rd and the 1/95th all get routed off the table, clearly their D10 commander was not Black Bob Crauford.

The French cavalry general despite losing 2/3 of his men was able to repeatedly rally his Polish Guard Lancers from rout. The 16th Light Dragoons are routed and the 4th Portuguese Dragoons are routed and destroyed. The British 3rd Brigade manages to make it to the bridge, 2/88th engages the 26e ligne with some success. The 74th and the 9th Portuguese follow closely, the 94th somehow or another get out of square and start to advance to the bridge. Even the 5th, the sole surviving battalion of the 2nd Brigade is rallied from rout and rapidly moves toward Valelacasa. The British and Portuguese foot artillery batteries limber up and start to move slowly forward.

The excellent leadership quality of the French infantry commanders reveals itself when a series of 3 Leadership cards are drawn and they are able to rally multiple UI points for their units, even the weak colonel (D10) of the 26e ligne is able to rally his troops from rout on a D4vsD8 throw!!

The turn nears it's end, the British have lost 7 of their 20 units, one more and the game is over. The Light Dragoons are in rout and only the 2/88th is over the bridge. The turn ends.

Should I end the game, the situation appears hopeless, the British have been at zero AMP for what seems like forever. Lets throw the dice, maybe they will finally gain the initiative and throw some good dice. D12vsD12. Game over. C'est la vie.

The final position.
Summary

I really liked this scenario. It was fun to play and it did seesaw back and forth. It really made me appreciate the Field of Battle ruleset as a solo wargamer, it was impossible to favour one side over the other. If I was going to change something, I would have not used the random generator for FoB to get the Leadership ratings. The British had quite bad Leadership die with 2xD12, 2xD10 and 1 D8. The French had 5 D12 out of 7, I think it made a difference. I will definitely play this scenario again.

(9888)

AR for FoB: Engagement at the Ventosa

For my second go at solo wargaming using the Field of Battle Rules, I thought I would do the Engagement at Ventosa, the action on the left flank of the British forces in the Battle of Vimeiro fought in August 1808. For a brief synopsis of the battle see Wikipedia. The order of battle is here.

Junot, the commander of the French forces was badly outnumbered, and hoped that a flanking maneuver would give him an advantage. He sent two infantry brigades north and then to the east in an hope to surprise Wellesley on his left flank, northeast of Vimeiro. On reaching the farm at Ventosa the lead French brigade commander Solignac could see some British skirmishers west of him on top of a small hill. He ordered his brigade to attack. What he did not know was that on the other side of the hill were the 3 British brigades of Nightingale, Ferguson and Bowes. Solignac's only support was Brennier's infantry brigade with an attached dragoon regiment, which was almost a mile east of Ventosa.

I took the idea of the scenario from the General de Brigade rulebook, thus there are some alterations in the order of battle. It will be a 3 turn game.

Order of Battle

Terrain (scale 1"=25yds)

Vimeiro is in the extreme west. There is a class III forest north of the farm at Ventosa. The hill has 2 access points (both Class I terrain), the one to the east is 250 yds wide, the other on the northwest face is 150 yds wide, the hill is otherwise class III. The rest of the terrain is class I. The Maceira river, the town of Vimeiro, and the features in the corners of the terrain should not come into play.

The position of the 5 brigades is described below, all units start the game in a column of march, except the 1/95th which are attached to Nightingale's brigade who are in skirmish order. The other 2&3/95th are in line at the beginning of the game. The 3rd Dragoons attached to Brennier's brigade are just off the table and come on with Brennier's first move card. Nightingale's and Solignac's ADCs assume the Group Commander role for their respective brigades.

Looking from west to east with the town of Vimeiro in the foreground. There is Wellesley west of the river!!!

Victory Conditions

I am still thinking about this, maybe I will poll TMP. ...................Well, that was useful!! So let us decide on some victory conditions. Well if the British or French drive their opponent off the hill at the end of 3 turns they win. If at the end of 3 turns both sides have men on the ridge the calculation will depend on the total AMP lost. Well on to the game.

First Turn

Here is Brennier's brigade at the far east of the terrain.

So the cards were shuffled and the die were thrown, both D12 leadership dice: French throw a 12 and the British a 4; 8 Initiative ponts, French take first go and have 8+ cards to turn. Not much happens, poor cards turned, some movement, the dragoons get on the table, both French brigades creep forward, Solignac's brigade maneuvers into attack column.

The British move forward, Nightingale's brigade maneuvers into line. History repeats itself!! Bowe's brigade moves forward.

Desultory die throws occur, cards are slow, but then suddenly the French throw again for 8 IP and the game moves quickly. The 3e Dragoons move into line and advance, Solignac's brigade moves forward. The 1/95th skirmishers spot the 3 French infantry battalions advancing rapidly in attack column.

Solignac's brigade crests the hill, the 95th opportunity fire; no effect. The 29th Foot opportunity fire and the 58e ligne fall back out of command. The 12e léger and 15e ligne advance to engage, they hold their fire.
More move cards are drawn (the French have a superior deck), Solignac's brigade is relentless. The 12e légere and 15e ligne fire and the 1/95th are routed back, the French smell blood. The 12e engage the 82nd in melee and the 15e and the 58e engage the 29th in melee.
The 15e rout the 29th, but not before the 29th rout the 58e, but the unit integrity of 29th drops below zero and they are destroyed. The 12e rout the 82nd and fire into the retreating 82nd, their unit integrity drops to zero.

End of Turn 1. So history may not repeat itself, the French are in good position as they have only 1 unit in rout, have lost zero Army Morale Points, have a lot of leadership cards in their deck and hopefully Brennier is close. The British have lost the 29th, and both the 1/95th and the 82nd are at zero Unit Integrity. They have lost all their AMP. Not a good situation!!

Second Turn

An 11 vs 7 for 4 IP in favour of the French is thrown. Brennier's brigade moves forward, they are at the base of the hill. Solignac is able to bring his units back in command. The british get their Foot Artillery up the slope and the rest of Ferguson's brigade advances. The 3e Dragoons maneuver into attack column and advance and engage the 6th Foot in melee, they are repulsed. On the third IP throw, evens are thrown and turn 2 comes to an end.

Third Turn

The French again capture the initiative, the 3e Dragoons again attack the 6th but they stand firm. The remaining units of Bowe's brigade; 2/95th and 32nd Foot form square.

Almost all of Brennier's brigade is on the summit, the French advance is relentless.

Brennier's and Solignac's brigades can now smell blood, they advance rapidly firing as they go, the 6th Foot and the 2/95th are routed.

The French maneuver into position, the British initiative is lost, poor cards are drawn and the leadership fail to rally the troops.

The French move forward in attack column firing as they go, the 2/95th and the 6th are destroyed. The Foot Artillery battery is enveloped by multiple French infantry units. The situation is hopeless. The French are victorious.

Game Over
Well the French certainly trounced the English in this scenario. The British had lost all their AMP by the first turn and by the end of turn 3 the French had 5 extra AMP. What happened, well maybe I favoured the French a little in this scenario; I have a tendency to favour the underdog. At the same time the random generator had given the French a average card deck and the British a poor card deck. The die also seemed to favour the French. The turn ended before the British were completely turned off the hill, but it was very close to happening.

I still do not really have the rules down. I missed that on the lull card, the opposite side get a chance to turn a card. I am also still struggling a bit with close in movement, but a re-read of the rule book (thankfully very short) cleared a lot of things up.

AR for FoB: Engagement at the River Coa

After 4 years of painting toy soldiers, making terrains and dithering over rule sets, 5 days ago I told myself to take a rule set and play a game. I made one previous attempt with Le Feu Sacre, but got bogged down in the details and did not finish the game. An informal poll conducted by myself on TMP appeared to suggest that Field of Battle and Le Feu Sacre are the most popular mainstream rulesets played by solo wargamers, like myself.

I like historical scenarios so I picked the Engagement at the River Coa, with which I was already familiar. I used the following order of battle. I used the random die generator on the Piquet Yahoo Site.

Order of Battle

British (9 units, 7AMP,excellent sequence deck)

Crauford(D10): (C-in-C) Light Division
Beckwith(D10): 1/43rd Light(D10,D8), 2/95th Rifles(D10,D10),3rd Portuguese Cacadores(D10,D8)
Barclay(D8): 1/52nd Light(D12+1,D8), 1/95th Rifles(D10,D10),1st Portuguese Cacadores(D12+1,D8)
Anson(D12+1): 16th Light Dragoons(D12,D6),1st KGL Hussars(D8,D8), 1 Bat RHA(D10,D10)
French (18units, 20AMP,average sequence deck)
Loison (D12+1): (C-in-C) Ney's VI Corps French Army of Portugal
Simon (D12): 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D8,D6) Btns/26e Ligne; Legion du Midi(D12,D4); Legion Hanovriene(D10,D4); 1 Bat FA(D10,D6)

Ferey (D12): 1e(D12+1,D8)2e(D10,D8) Btn/32nd Leger; 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D12,D6) Btns/66th Ligne; 1 Bat FA(D8,D6)
Lamotte(D12): 3rd Hussars(D12,D6), 15th Chasseurs(D12,D6), 1 Bat HA(D10,D8)
Gardanne(D10): 15th(D10,D6) and 25th Dragoons(D12,D6), 1 Batt HA(D10,D8)

I have no line hussars or chasseurs painted, so I had to use some guard and line lancers and some guard chasseurs.

Terrain (roughly 2x1 miles)

I have a 9x5' modular terrain table(no roads yet), so I set up something similar to the historical setting. The River Coa is in the extreme west, the class III town of Almeida is in the north central and the Vale of Maida is 2/3 of the terrain east. There is a class III forest blocking direct access to the bridge of the River Coa, with class I terrain, north of the forest. A small forest represents the vale. The River Coa is not fordable. The rest of the terrain is class I.

Action Plan

The French units all start east of the Vale of Maida, with the orders to advance to the bridge over the River Coa. French victory point locations were placed just west of the Class III forest north of the River Coa and at the north edge of the bridge.

The view looking from east to west with the French forces in the foreground.

The British situation was a little different as I tried to mirror the historical situation. Crauford starts the game with Barclay on the south side of the River Coa, he has deployed Beckwith far forward in around Almeida. Anson is deployed north of the River Coa, but west of the class III forest. Even though all the British infantry units are light infantry only the Cacadores are deployed in skirmish order. Crauford has ordered Beckwith to reconnoitre forward, Anson is deployed in order to protect Beckwith, in case he engages the French. Barclay has been ordered to hold the bridgehead to cover any retreat of Beckwith and Anson. British victory points are placed north and south of the bridge.

Fitting the Rules to the Scenario

I do this with trepidation as this is my first go at the FoB rules and I know little about wargaming. To make the scenario work, I need a few extra rules though. Since this is a reconnoitre/retreat scenario for the British. I need a visibility rule. Using standard FoB measures, I make visibility at 1/2 mile (36"). That seems simple, but I also need some way to spot the French for the forward British units, plus a method for Command Groups to communicate with each other. So if the French are spotted (come within 36" of any British unit), then the British unit or the CG Commander needs to move in order to contact either the CinC or another CG Commander in order to activate the specific CG's orders. Contact is defines as being 1/8 mile (9 inches). This does have the commanders running about, going out of command with their units. We will have to see how it goes. Maybe in the future, I can work out some ADC rule to serve this purpose. So here we go!!!

Looking north at the town of Almeida, the 3rd Cacadores are deployed forward.
Looking from west to east.
The Game

Turn 1:

The French advance with Simon's brigade leading the way.
Barclay deploys the 1st Cacadores east.
The 3rd Cacadores are enveloped by the leading French brigade. The 26e ligne fire, the legion du midu fire, Cacadores fire and fall back. The legion du midi engage in Melee with the Cacadores (down 3UI), they rout back. The 43rd retreat back out of command. The 2/95th have to extricate them selves from Almeida (lucky Sharpe is there!!!). Beckwith's rally attempts fail.
Routing cacadores.
Barclay informs Crauford that the 1st Cacadores have seen the French advance. Crauford contacts Anson, he then advances through the forest to support Beckwith's withdrawal. The RHA are left with Crauford to protect the withdrawal. Barclay sends the 52nd forward and deploys the 1/95th in line to protect the bridgehead.
Back at the front, there is lots of action. Anson has broken through and is causing havoc among the French (lucky die throws help). Legion du midi are destroyed in Melee. Great cards for the British, the Light Dragoons destroy 6/26e and the KGL Hussars destroy the legion hanoveriene. The 2/95th somehow or other escape intact from Almeida and withdraw.

Turn 2:

The British cavalry take Gardanne's cavalry units in the flank. Multiple fires from the French FA and HA, as well as elements of Ferry's infantry brigade soften up Anson's cavalry. Eventually both the 16th Light Dragoons, the KGL Hussars and French 15e Dragoons are destroyed and the 25e Dragoons rout off the table.

Aside from the cavalry the British withdrawal is going well. But then tragedy strikes Crauford roll a D12 survival test and gets a 1 and dies. Beckwith of the 95th is promoted to CinC and MG Picton gets teleported in as GC for the Beckwith's brigade. The French cavalry under Lamotte advance west of the forest with Ferry's Infantry brigade following. Picton successfully rallies (it must be the tophat) his new brigade and they start their withdrawal to the bridge.

Turn 3:

The advance of both the British and French forces is quite rapid, but on the second IP generation the die is equal, the cards are reshuffled.

Turn 4:

All elements of Barclay's brigade are south of or on the bridge. The 1/95th and 1st Cacadores are in position to give flanking fire to the French advance. The 2/95th are attempting to deploy in line to also provide flanking fire. The RHA under Anson is in position. The 43rd are almost there.
The RHA, 1/95th and the 1st Cacadores fire with devastating effect (and good die). The 4/26e ligne and the 3e Hussars (masquerading as lanciers polonaise) rout and the 5/26e fallback.
But alas, the 43rd taking a flanking fire from the French FA and are destroyed.

GAME OVER as all the British units are now south of the bridge.

The Reckoning

I think I have probably made some errors in the counting, but I got as follows.

British: 3 units lost, 2 victory points achieved and at least 17 AMP's lost.

French: 5 units lost, 1 victory point achieved and at least 14 AMP's lost.

Who won, I am unsure, I will let you judge. I did have a fun and I will definitely continue to use the FoB rule set.