Naps on the Table : Valour and Fortitude

The first of a flurry of games to be played over the next few days. Erik came for his first visit to the dungeon with a desire to test out the Valour and Fortitude rules with Napoleonics. Well that’s not a problem 😀

Rather than a historical battle the British and French forces, fairly balanced in size, would meet to contest an important village spread along a valley. There are three designated strong points along the road which would act as objectives to force both sides to get stuck in.

The french are able to activate slightly quicker with their light infantry capturing the Cross roads quite quickly.

As the battle unfolded it became clear the British were focussing on the other two objectives so the french gradually moved their artillery to the cross roads and then beyond to outflank the redcoats.

British light infantry capture the second objective, but are then assaulted by two Battalions of Swiss infantry, beyond them are two attack columns of French infantry driving the rest of the British light brigade backwards, but they are about to be flank by the British light cavalry !

After a few turns both sides receive reinforcements

The British reserves make it to the church, whilst beyond them French dragoons chase off the British Hussars.

The french cavalry takes a pummelling from the British horse artillery.

With time catching up the dragoons charge the artillery and are able to drive it away, but the french centre is beginning to struggle as the third British brigade including the Foot Guards and highlanders advance on the central objective. The Swiss put up a fight but are ultimate knocked out of the battle.

We had great fun and it was a close battle, hard to call a victory, the British had two of the three objectives but had lost a lot more in the process. That said the french cavalry was pretty much blown and their first brigade was done for. We called it a draw in the end.

Always fun of course to get the Naps on the table. If you look closely you will see the recently painted shaken markers getting plenty of use !

Thanks as always for popping by 👍

Matt ❤️

Battle of Roundway Down 1643 : ECW

A couple of weeks of Radio silence as I recover from a winter illness. A couple of games postponed due to the real world. However, plenty has been going on in the Dungeon.

First up we managed another ECW battle this time the battle of Roundway Down July 1643. A really interesting battle with the Royalists split, their Cornish Infantry in Devizes, their Cavalry attacking the main Parliamentary force under Sir General Waller.

There are lots of different maps of the battle on the internet, this one perhaps the most useful depending on the scale of the battle to be played. 

My 8x5 foot table allows plenty of space. The Royalist cavalry on the left. Regular readers will know almost every battle we play is a bespoke scenario and I always try and blend some elements of the historical battle to create further interest. In this case the accounts of the battle seem to indicate that the Royalist infantry held up in Devizes thought the ‘battle’ was a Parliamentary ruse to draw them out of the town. So they only left the town after the gun fire and noise made it clear a real battle was under way. This means the Parliamentary force has a limited time advantage to tackle the Royalist cavalry. Spoiler alert : I goofed in this battle with the timings of the Royalist infantry arrival !

The parliamentary force look out towards the Royalist cavalry

As the Royalist cannons open up the Parliamentary force decides to take decisive action and they carry out  a full assault, seeking to wipe the Kings cavalry from the field before any reserves can support them.

The Royalist cavalry have some slight advantage in numbers and on both flanks close range pistol shooting begins the engagement

Cavalry supported by dragoons

After the initial pistol shots the cavalry engage in hand to hand combat

The Royalist cavalry are holding their own but they are gradually being pinned down

Finally Horton and his infantry arrive on the battlefield marching to the sound of the guns

Despite their robust defence the Royalist cavalry is struggling to hold and the Parliamentary infantry is now breaking through in the centre

All is not lost for the Royalists who have effectively won the cavalry battle on both wings…..

Unfortunately it has taken too long and they are pretty much blown themselves, added to this their infantry reserves have arrived too late to influence the outcome of the battle. It was a well fought battle, and fun even if the scenario didn’t quite work out as planned. We need to run this one again sometime and amend the arrival time for the Royalist infantry to give Waller some real challenges.

Some painting I have managed to complete….

French light infantry, this are Fronk Rank figures, mainly bought secondhand but bulked out with a couple of new purchases to fill the unit.

Completed one of my Christmas presents a Carden Loyd carrier, this probably sits alongside the Beaverette as fun but slightly under powered British armour to defend against the German sea lion invasion.

I have also been painting up some shaken markers, these for my Napoleonics

In our AWI campaign we have reached the battle of Germantown. As a large battle we have decided to break it down. Famously this involved the fight for the Chew House

I realised I didn’t really have a suitable stone house

Whilst I didn’t want an exact model, so I could use the house for other scenarios and periods, I thought this war bases house would be a good start

All the bits painted before construction

Then I set to with milliliput modelling clay and some extra cardboard, I also found I had some pillars from a previous project. A slow process but as I wasn’t doing much else it was fine.

Then onto painting with plenty of dry brushing

Happy with the result 😀

Well that’s it for now, my health is not ideal but I managed to build my Tirpitz model over the last couple of days.

Thanks as always for popping by 

Matt ❤️

Battle of Paoli September 1777 : plus lots of other stuff

I seem to be busy on other stuff so posting less often which means a bumper catch-up this week.

First up the next instalment of our AWI campaign, after the battle of the clouds General Wayne has pulled back his force. They are encamped in a wooded area close to the Warren Tavern in Chester county. The British under General Grey carry out a night attack. Historically this was a chaotic engagement in which the British were accused of carrying out some brutal murders of surrendering troops, giving rise to the name of the battle the Massacre of Paoli.

This map gives the overall position of the British advance

A more fun period map of the engagement

Our scenario once again for R&P starts at the point when the British have driven off the Northern pickets, so the alarm has been raised and the Americans have formed up to escape. The American still have three pickets to the south as shown. The Americans must try and get 50% or more of their army off the table to the left. All ranges reduced to 12” as it is dark. Part form their skirmishers and light troops the British, will have to stop and load as they went into the combat with unloaded muskets to avoid alarming the Americans. The British are veterans and aggressive as they have their bayonets already fixed . The cannon blocking the exit in the fence must be activated on a reducing D6 to open the gap (this blockage occurred historically causing some of the American confusion). To give some variety the British will arrive randomly from the three location shown rather than all in the centre.

The alarm raised in the camp as the meridians prepare to exit left ?

The British flood on and their light infantry chose to open fire, other infantry moves forward to assault the stragglers in the camp

Some of the american pickets are brought back to try and hold the British advance, the cannon is starting to move after turn 3, but some of the Americans in the rear are now isolated

Three units of american infantry find themselves separated in the camp, they are brutally dealt with in hand to hand combat.

The camp now nearly clear but the rest of the Americans are being chased out of the camp.

Unfortunately for the British their commander General Grey advances from the Tavern and makes slow progress, with his troops unable to shoot he advances only for them to be surprised by and temporarily thrown back by some American pickets.

Having despatched the last units in the camp the chase continues but now the Americans have the advantage as the British don’t have time to load their muskets

Hot foot the Americans make their escape

The final British shots ring out into the darkness but the Americans have managed to escape with about 2/3 of their force. So ultimately a win for the Americans given the victory conditions we had set. A fun battle and As always the battle felt close and tense right up to the last couple of turns and there was certainly no guarantee the American would get enough troops off the table. The British failed a couple of key activations and it didn’t help with two units coming on around the tavern which was too far away to impact the battle. 

I have been painting and prepping lots of stuff but the only finished unit is the last ! Of my french Curassiers, these were a slightly mixed group left over, some of which needed repainting but the unit has come out ok, I think I need a French cavalry parade ?

Other games in the last week or so, I met anther wargamer through George who invited me down for an ECW game, a beautiful collection. Using his house rules we played through the Battle of Adwalton Moor.

Beautiful collection of ECW in 28mm but. Tough battle for the Parliamentarians who are heavily outnumbered.

We did make a good fist of it though and nearly chased off the Royalist infantry, we’re just planning a return trip up to the dungeon, and I have a few possible ideas to adapt our KoW rules?

Last weekend we had our annual shopping trip to York wargame show ‘Vapnartak’, actually I didn’t want to buy much as I have a lot in the various lead and plastic piles already but the bring and buy is always fun. The show was noticeable reduced in terms of traders with quite a few spaces and a further reduction in games on display. But there were plenty of punters and it was busy right up to when we left around 14:00

What looks like random stuff but all super bargains from the B&B. Yes I now have a Tirpitz to make in 1/350 scale it is over twice the length of the destroyer I blogged a couple of months ago !!!! The only disappointment was the green American truck which I thought was a WW2 artillery transporter, but on closer inspection when I got it home it turns out it is probably an M8 artillery tractor from around 1950, so too much of a stretch to squeeze it into Sicily. If anyone can think of a use let me know. It came with the two halftracks for next to nothing anyway. The packets contain 1/3000 WW1 ships and I have been putting together a small force for. Few games later in the year.

Finally for this post this morning I was down to George’s to continue (finish) or early war French campaign. Once again a beautiful table setup, one of the most complex battlefields in the campaign book. Germans on the attack again, loads of cover. George I’m sure will cover the battle in more detail.

The Germans took their time deploying in cover in the woods and moving up to take the station, after some exchange of fire on the German left the french started to pull back.

But Gaston a local Nazi sympathiser was behind them and started taking pot shots with his shotgun ! Whilst the french tried to deal with him.

The German panzer IV got lucky hitting the french tank as it rumbled down the road. The tanks actually exchanged several shots but it was the Germans who rolled lucky and got the decisive hit. Actually I was pretty lucky the whole battle with multiple double turns and loads of 5/6’s when I needed them. At this point the french decide the battle was up and the Germans would inevitably break through to win the campaign.

A great campaign with several difficult battles for both sides, perhaps the Germans have the edge but then they are attacking most of the time which is generally harder, looking forward to our next campaign ?

So certainly keeping busy and likely an ACW battle on Saturday, and I now have the Tirpitz to make 😂

Thanks as always for taking the time to check what I’ve been upto.

Matt ❤️

The Battle of Maida July 1806

With a couple of games postponed due to real-life the dungeon hasn’t seen that much fighting. However, Saturday saw the Napoleonics back on the table. The battle will be well known to many as it is a popular one giving a fairly balanced and modest sized Napoleonic battle.

One of the many maps on the net showing generally accepted setup, historically the French probably shouldn’t have attacked and forced the British to, but they did in massed formation which was their undoing against the thin British line. Some might say the scene was set then for the whole of the Napoleonic period

Our setup, in reflection when tidying up I think I might have missed a unit off for the French which as the French general was a bit annoying next time perhaps ?

The setup form the other end of the battlefield.

The French advance of course otherwise we wouldn’t get much of a battle, the British reserves will arrive on turn three.

The accounts I have read discuss the lack of British skirmishers as they had been combined into Kempts’ light brigade so I stuck with that, the french of course had plenty, the British open up as soon as the french are in range.

They throw their columns in on the broths right only to be wiped out, other french Battalions chose to reform into line for the attack. (Historical hindsight of course)

To their left the french do charge home, but are also held for now

Coles brigade arrives to bolster the centre

The french Chasseurs charge in as well but their combined strength can’t quite break the combined grenadier battalion, they do shake it though and it is subsequently broken under artillery fire !

The British have now held their left

And the battle turns to the french left

Under heavy fire the Polish Battalions charge in and Acland’s brigade is just on the point of collapsing and fleeing the field, but somehow they pull out a fortitude save and hold on the field 🤬

In the final turn the french are forced to retreat with two of their three brigades broken and running from the field. It was a close run thing though and a splendid evening gaming 👍 you might just see, at the rear the French commander has left his Brandy on the field of battle. Perhaps it might have been different if I had given the french that extra battalion but it was close and fun which is good for me.

A bit of painting, although these are technically Turks, Woodbine figures, I had them spare from a previous bring and buy, rather than languish in a box I have painted them up as Albanians with their characteristic white Fez’s. The Albanians provided several brigades to support the Italian invasion of Greece and by some quirk their uniforms were very like those of the WW1 Turks. The rifles may be slightly wrong but I can live with that. 

Much of the rest of my time has been preparing Greeks, basing etc and revamping my painting station to create a bit more space going forward.

Well that’s it for now several more battles on the cards in the next few weeks 

Thanks for checking in

Matt ❤️